Tuesday 28 October 2008

Singapore Taxi

One day in the morning, I was taking a cap in Singapore to go to customer meeting.

When I waved my hand, I saw that the cap coming toward to me was a bit, hm, the luxury one. But it does not like the normal limo taxi in Singapore. When the taxi stopped beside me, I checked the fare and it was only SGD 2.00 (~ HKD 10.00) expensive than normal one. No big deal, I got on board.

When I got on the taxi, I saw two small LCD TV on the pillow. Not a surprise and it usually shows information on the TV.

Then, the taxi driver suddenly asked me: "You want to sing?"
It was earlier in the morning so my response was like "errr? sorry?"
He said again: "Do you want to sing? I have a mic here and you can sing here. What songs do you prefer?"
It was earlier in the morning so I did not really have the mode to sing, then I just replied: "No thanks, but it is a brilliant idea to sing on the taxi."

After that, the driver started to introduce himself and he was very famous. Even BBC had a program about his idea then bili bala bili bala. Finally, the driver realized I am from Hong Kong. So he switched to Cantonese and asking me "Do you want to sing Beyond?"

This time I was impressed.

Without my intervene, he started to play the "大地".


 
It was fun. I did not sing finally but I did try out the mic and it was not bad. The driver said that some people even really booked his taxi because of this.
It was a fun experience.
By paying only additional HKD 10 then you could sing few songs before home. 
Imagine that you were taking this cab from Changi airport to the city, then it is totally worth it. 

Thursday 23 October 2008

Property Agent @ SG

To rent an or to buy an apartment in Singapore, there are few ways.

- Check the newspaper for the advertisment.
- Check the advertisment on the internet.
- Check the leaflet

Most of the cases the advertisments are posted by the agents. The property agents in Singapore are independent business.

It does not like in Hong Kong, Sweden, or India, you can find a property agent company on the street. Then you can find out the market price of that area without stepping in the company. I like an area, I find the property agent over there, then I rent an apartment there. It sounds very obvious.

But the property agents are really independent business. I feel that it is actually no different than finding a job.

How independent it is?



When you flip the property page of a newspaper, not only you will find the available properties, but also you can see the agents, with their pictures.

It does not mean anything for me. But it makes me recall one thing. There was a research "Beauty and labor market" carried out by Daniel S. Hamermesh and Jeff E Biddle. Their reseach found out that a better-looking person could at least earn 5-10% more than an average looking person. An an average looking person could at least earn 5-10% more than an Homely looking person. So I always know this is true but here is another proof. Otherwise, why people snow their pictures?

Wednesday 22 October 2008

A380

Follow the First time in Sydney dew days back, I was actually taking the A380 from Sydney back to Singapore - my first travel with this air giant.

The air craft is big, but comparing with Boeing 747 Jumbo (Not sure the exact name), but I only had seen this air giant with 5 seconds and I did not have many comments about it. One of the differences was that there were four entrances at the boarding gate - lower deck 1st and biz class, lower deck economy, upper deck 1st and biz class and upper deck economy. It is kind of confusing to some passengers...

The interior is new, very new, of course it is new the people would imagine. I made this comment because I got a chance to take the new "product" from CX also. The CX's interior was supposed to be new but all ............ hm.

The front panel provides a high resolution screen, a glasses and a cup holder, a USB and a LAN port. According to the menu, you can put a USB thumb drive to see the video, pictures, PDF document using the LCD screen. I did not try it but it is actually a good idea. But I have no clue about the use of the LAN... Perhaps it will provide an internet access some days later. There is a video in connector and I guess it is similar use to the USB port, but less use. One evolution is that there is a power socket under the arm rest which is very useful for me.
The A380 also keeps the magazine pocket while CX has moved it under the chair which is absolutely inconvenient. It comes with few empty small pockets for your personal belongings.





I was unfortunately taking the economy class this time but fortunately the A380 provides an additional compartment which I like very much. The room is big enough for the pillow, blanket and my laptop bag.



Finally, I guess the above comments do apply for all the new interior for all SQ fligths, it does not matter with an A380 or not. Haha.

Monday 13 October 2008

First time in Sydney

終於有機會踏足 Sydney!

可能人老的原因,少了一種好開心好開心的感覺。
但興奮總是有的,除了有機會看到歌劇院外,各樣的名勝都有機會看過一眼。叫做了曾到此一遊。



是一個九月尾到十月的日子,春天的日子,似暖還寒。
就像 Stockholm 的夏天樣,白天還熱熱的,到了晚上就要穿上外套。

Sydney 的亞洲人很多,真的很多很多。好像見到的亞洲人多過了眼見的澳洲人。所以亞洲的餐館也多的是。
第一天的晚上嘗了一間香港人開的館子,果然又給我說中。在那些地方也好,最好還是吃當地的食物。
可惜沒有機會。



最後還有機會到 Bondi Beach,感覺得好。如果熱天來。應該是一個很"熱"的沙灘。

在 Sydney 逗留的日子不多,希望可以再到 Sydney 多看一些地方,可以爬上 Syndey 橋。

Friday 3 October 2008

Singapore F1

Singapore F1 just finished. It was the first night formula 1 event ever.

Undoubtedly, it was a big event in Singapore. Since half year back, you could see anything, anytime and everywhere could relate to F1, such as having a F1 racing cars in a shopping malls with all companies logos. All commercial advertisements were also related to F1.

After the events, when you read the newspaper. You could easily find every piece of news talk about the very successful F1. I would agree that it is a successful event. However, the news was kind of interesting. For example, one piece was about a speaker talked about this event was highly rated by people even over Beijing Olympics. And the speaker was from a local Singaporean company.

Of course the people would rate this event higher than anything. Technically, it is no different than asking me like "Do I see the balance my bank account more important than the balance of your bank account".

I have heard that many interesting point of views of the local newspaper, I see how is work this time.




This picture was taken three days before the event. They were testing the track. Many roads were actually blocked 1 week before to ensure enough setup time for the event. Haha.... Then i recall the GT3 Hong Kong track.