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Counting up and down for Xmas

(Something that cannot be seen in Singapore: a chocolate filled Christmas- or Advent Calender)

SANTA IS BACK IN SUPERMARKET

Exactly 1 month ago something changed. A familiar taste of lifestyle was back, at first not fully noticeable, but that blurry moment passed quickly. The music was self-explanatory and the red hats with bells marked the familiar decoration that can only come with Christmas, which usually starts now beginning of November (here in Singapore the wide agreement seems to be that decoration before 8th Nov is not prudent). Santa seems to be in good agreement with the local stores to brand public life around that time now with his distinguishable colors, artifacts and (especially) the ubiquitous Christmas songs.

ABOUT COUNTING UP AND DOWN

This is the third time I actually spend Christmas in this tropical metropolis. There are two particular things I'd like to highlight. Counting down: It is common to do a countdown in pubs even on midnight to Christmas Day (24th to 25th December), a practice that caught me totally by surprise 2 years ago when I shared drinks with a German friend at Chijmes when the croud suddeny got loud shortly before midnight; who would imagine that a venerable, supposedly rather quiet family event gets the people to celebrate it in the same way as New Year's Eve or Chinese New Year? The normal answer: 'Well, Singaporeans like to count down on everything'. Fair enough then.

(Cool? Only because of AirCon. Green? Always! Stating the obvious here..)

The second and much more important 'counting issue' is that the concept of Advent Calenders is unheard of here. While kids all around Germany anxiously open a new door on their Christmas calender each day from 1st to 24th of December to find some piece of yummy chocolate or toy (it supposedly makes the waiting period before opening presents more bearable), most of the Singaporeans I met are not even aware of their existence.

Why is this so? Christmas as an event has conquered Singapore almost fully...if it was economically and scientifically possible the country's leaders would surely try to let it snow a few times to give its people also some taste of White Christmas. But we are limited to hearing 'Rudolph the Rednose Raindeer' all around Orchard Road and enjoy the endless buying spree plus one public holiday on the 25th of December. If every possible economic niche has already been exploited, why then are there no Advent Calenders around to be sold kids?

(A Closeup. Santa's face is number one, the chocolate house next to it was in number 8. The order of numbers on the calendar is random to add some additional fun for kids of all ages. Those basic calendars are rather cheap and can range from 1-2Eur/2-4SG$)

AT THE MELTING POINT

Well, after finally receiving 2 Xmas calendars from my family in Germany via post I found out quickly why it is a hopeless venture to find any in Singapore...Letting a chocolate filled calendar hang on the wall for more than 3 weeks is simply no fun because:

1) the chocolate remains in a constant, but semi-melted physical state, where it is impossible to dig it out of the seperate 'windows' without causing a sweet little mess. No way to retrieve every last nugget of chocolate without forcefully working into the plastic form with the available and (supposedly) clean and hungry fingers

2) Due to 1) it is understood that it is virtually impossible to clean out a window completely from chocolate. What will inevitably happen to the gracefully hanged calendar? An army of well-trained Singaporean ants is going to spot an incredible feast, attacks the new target by quickly laying out a perfect supply chain between calendar-chocolate and wherever-the-nest-may-be. Singaporean ants are of course as efficient as the rest of the country and sniff such a 'free lunch' opportunity (gracefully provided by an ignorant German) in an instant, to be mercilessly exploited.

Especially fact 2) is not really desirable and should be avoided, as the ensuing ant party would spread the word quite quickly within the ant kingdom and the small guests are not likely to wait before the 24th of December to penetrate the door with the same number and the biggest piece of all.

The bitter but for Singaporeans self-explanatory solution? Off you go, to the fridge or freezer. Which takes all the fun away for me who just wanted to have a little piece of childhood back. No big red Santa hanging around in the home giving away a piece of sweetness everyday. What is obvious to the locals, is of course painful to me. Somewhat gone the previous naive feeling of excitement, replaced by one thought: Can it be that I just looked in the wrong places previously? Maybe I should go back to the stores and look in the frozen-food areas of the supermarkets...?

Wishing an enjoyable 3rd Advent!

-Maik

(Xmas Card by your friendly Investment-Banker)

A completely uncritical pledge to my new home

(The Singapore flag - Red color standing for universal brotherhood and equality of man whereas white signifies pervading and everlasting purity and virtue. The crescent moon represents a young nation on the ascendant. The five stars stand for the nation's ideals of democracy, peace, progress, justice and equality. - Shame on me, but when I first saw it in high number during the advent of National Day 2006, I thought there was an 'invasion' of Turkish people in Singapore...no comment)

IS THERE SUCH A THING AS A BETTER WORLD?

"We, the citizens of Singapore,
pledge ourselves as one united people,
regardless of race, language or religion,
to build a democratic society
based on justice and equality
so as to achieve happiness, prosperity and
progress for our nation."

This is the pledge every Singaporean knows and (according to what a friend told me a few days ago) is used to perform on every single day during school career. As I am about to move permanently from Munich to go back to the place I grew so fond of, I take the chance to revive this blog, which was always meant to illustrate the small, little anecdotes and facts I found worth mentioning from my Caucasian point of view in this 'Asian Switzerland' (as read on FT recently).

Let me therefore start by dissecting the pledge above a bit and looking at every line from a very subjective German pair of glasses.

(The pictures in this post all belong to one huge, beautiful wall painting which is open to the public at Raffles MRT station; this part depicts nicely how unity is lived in Singapore among different culture groups...Malay in the background, Chinese Singaporeans and an Indian Lady can be seen)

"We, the citizens of Singapore,
pledge ourselves as one united people,
regardless of race, language or religion,

It is still very interesting for me to see that a heterogeneous society such as Singapore, where the citizenry has every skin color imaginable, can work out without clashing into some sort of violence. It can be regarded as one (maybe the most) important achievement of this tiny place that it manages to integrate most culture groups and races without producing hatred and racism. My simple guess is that a society that is based on racial variety (such as Singapore or the United States) has to enforce strict rules in law and public culture to enable a spirit of tolerance; in comparison, the mostly homogeneous society of Germany with a lived so-called 'Leitkultur' (leading culture of the majority) of Christian-Caucasian-Western heritage has a hard time integrating a good number of immigrants (for example from Turkey) and struggles finding a way for many years.

to build a democratic society
based on justice and equality

Obviously, Singapore found its very own way of leading its people into at least economic prosperity. Some things such as the defacto rule of the People's Action Party (PAP) and certain aspects such as freedom of assembly (missing) or freedom of the press (well under control) do not match Western understanding of how things 'should' be run and draw regular attention and criticism in the Western press. Certainly, Singapore built a society that is based on justice (one very stable piece of infrastructure that contributes to the steady growth of Singapore) and equality especially across the culture groups and races. Would Germans or other 'Western' societies call it a democracy though? Most likely not, but it can be easily overlooked that in this grown-up, but young society people don't want to be educated by the West to become like them, but instead actively seek their own way to establish 'order, stability and security'...things Singaporeans clearly value much more than living with more 'freedom' to self-express or facing the higher uncertainty of very liberal societies. The classic trade-off between freedom and security has found a different, stable equilibrium in Singapore, I would say.

(clearly this picture depicts the sides of progress, [military] strength and solidarity...all intended pillars of society in Singapore)

One thing I found out by talking to many Singaporeans over the past years is that people in this country often see it rather as the place where they live...without necessarily having the deepest emotional bonding to it. From my perspective there is quite a 'utility view' present towards state and government...'Dear PAP: Give me a good place to live in, a safe environment, my yearly tax payouts then I will not bother you and you can live in peace with me'.

This means in essence that Singaporeans are quite a pragmatic people who expect from their government mostly to 'deliver'. However, if this kind of unspoken arrangement works quite effectively using a 1-party-rule which can provide economic prosperity without the nastiest corruption affairs, why the hell not? 'Never change a running system' is probably what many people think and live...and which gives them no serious reason of ever supporting the opposition which would only add an unstable (unknown?) component/variable to daily life.

so as to achieve happiness, prosperity and
progress for our nation."

Singaporeans clearly achieved more prosperity and experienced progress in many ways during the past years. Does this have an effect on happiness though? This is the troublesome part...as we all now, having 'something' finally will only induce happiness itself for a short time and then will leave you back wanting more. As anywhere else, prosperity and progress can provide for a foundation of happiness, but it's up the people to make the best out of it within the framework they live in. It's those same old values of friendship and family...well-placed in a modern society which can round up the package and turn it into something 'whole'...

Thomas Jefferson once said: "The care of human life and happiness, and not their destruction, is the first and only legitimate object of good government." From that perspective, Singapore is doing a good job and I am HAPPY to come back!

Enough of politics today ;)

Cheers,

Maik

(Singapore's MRT....Mass Rapid Transport)

Crazy Hong Kong

(HelloKitty and the Olympic Games...what could be a better joint venture? The craziness of China's biggest ever event is spreading. So if you don't see a problem in spending a mere 2000€ on the golden kitty above that heralds the Olympic fire in nice fashion..)

ASIA'S WORLD CITY

HongKong branded itself as 'Asia's World City'...designated to strengthen the already good name it has grown into a very powerful financial hub in Asia and found its place in the big world out there. Using the bus to go into Kowloon (which is north of Hong Kong Island, but is itself integral part of this so-called special administrative region in China) I was astonished by the never-ending, quite run-down skyscrapers that were placed into the rugged landscape of Hong Kong merely to house all the people. The better part of Hong Kong's surface is hard to cultivate as it represents hilly and rugged landscape, so one can see big houses all along the way into the city, apparently built everywhere the land was flat enough to allow housing. This keeps me wondering where this enormous city plans to expand into. Also, a few years ago Hong Kong and Shanghai outstripped Singapore as the world's biggest ports, giving it even more clout than it already has. We spent a few days just stretching our legs in this city and in nearby Shenzhen...Let me lose a few words on some things that passed on the way.

(a normal day in busy Kowloon..this jungle of signs is very characteristic and gives Kowloon a very distinct, buzzing outlook. The north of Hong Kong Island in comparison is much more like glitzy Singapore, just with the added spice of being placed into a wonderful, hilly landscape in which you can climb up or even use the famous 'longest outdoor covered escalator in the world' to carry all those tourists up the hill; it is about 800m long with about 130m of vertical climb)

VIP PLEASE

After arrival in our hotel, we were upgraded right away to VIP class without even asking..giving ourselves the splendor of a much better room than in Singapore (who would have thought...supposedly, Hong Kong rooms are smaller most of the times than anything you would get in Singapore) and even wireless Internet (although nothing to use it with). Was this another instance of Ang Moh ('Red hair people' widely used Singaporean expression for caucasians) superiority that can be so often observed in Asia? I do not know, as I did not dare to confront anyone. A good contrast and good start indeed. Next important item on the list is of course the food, whereas Hong Kong has a cuisine that quite differs from what you would get in Singapore. Some things appear outright wrong to me in the first place...such as mixing coffee and tee together with lemon into one drink, or boiling coke with ginger. There are however numerous desserts everywhere in town that have to be tried, as well as such wonderful things as 'hairy crab' (not this time) or a kind of humongous prawns that take some mastery to open and cannot be found in Singapore in most places. My favorite dish became a simple fish soup whereas the noodles where made of fish themselves...therefore the easy name of the dish..'noodles made of fish' :-)

(very important details on the public train...please don't accidentally lose saliva, especially not in a noisy fashion. Also, previously famous things such as Ghetto blasters have also been replaced by phones that are frequently used by very young people to let everyone on the train participate in their music adventures. Of course, everybody MUST like your music and the people who play it loudly always seem to be under the immense illusion that they are the only one's who are listening to it...according to their glassy looks. I am sure this is just a new expression of altruism that I am too stupid to get..)

EXPENSIVE OR CHEAP?

I tried to buy a gadget ...a hand phone that is sold widely in the world, brand SonyEricsson. Not wanting to endeavor in something like a Chinese 'Sang Ericsson' (no joke), I wanted to have something I can even use back in Germany. Hong Kong's prices are competitive, but why oh why does their warranty only apply locally to HongKong and China through their only distributor of choice? This smacks very bitterly and strangely..and gives me reason enough to mention an article that I have read on German news a while ago. Feelings aside, China is very well-versed at copying things and not caring much about copyright infringements. Cases documented earlier that whole factories have been copied by Chinese which produced for example Canon cameras at the same quality as the originals, but were not supported by the original vendor's warranty as they were never licensed to be produced. I don't want to say here right away that most of the products in Hong Kong are counterfeit. Maybe there is even a law that the local dealers have to follow, so not to harm more expensive markets around. Will try to search further..

(here Western and Eastern cultures collide a bit...at least for me. The more China you go, the more the people seem to love food that is as fatty as possible. Ordering some pork stew will give you 3/4 of deep fried fat with some meat as bonus)

WINTER, I ADORE YOU

One very noticeable thing about Hong Kong people: Fashion and outlook. Especially the fancy female population craves to be individualistic, which shows itself in daring hairstyle and actually incompatible clothing combinations (miniskirts, winter coat and flipflops worn on the same person). Summers tend to be very hot and winters only mild. Still, one can perfectly distinguish locals from tourists as the tourists will go around in December wearing t-shirts and shorts, while the locals must feel determined to show off their fancy winter clothes...coats, nice cardigans to snuggle into, branded jackets and so on. This is quite funny to see as there really seem to be two worlds existing side by side and one can easily see people in shortest summer look (dressed according to weather) standing besides arctic-dressed and bundled up people (dressed according to calender) waiting on one traffic light to be shooed over. This is apparently perfectly fine and expected behavior..also in Singapore I see that sometimes young people pack out their cardigans as soon as the temperature drops noticeably below 30 degrees to fight any possibly upcoming goosebumps.

(When we were there, Hong Kong experienced quite a high pollution index of way above 100 , which is already going into the hazardous range. The city was under a thick haze comparable to what Singapore experienced end of 2006 after rain forest burns in Sumatra. Many locals ran around wearing mouth protections and the general taste was not nice...but after taking a ride with a tuktuk through the streets of Bangkok one can take ANY kind pollution!)

Singapore Dreaming Again

(yes, there was coffee-on-the-house for 2 hours at one afternoon in all Starbucks' coffee houses around the city; the usually rushing crowd suddenly seems to have the time to spend for waiting in a long queue; but wait...don't forget that 'EXTREME QUEUING' is an unofficial national sport)

Faster Faster! More Singapore Sling!

Finally back! Now that is the third hot december I experience in a row in this lovely part of the world. It is nice to get the chance to spend a whole month at the place of choice. This town has me back for a little while and i am amazed by the buzzing development of this tiny Asian corner. What has been going on?

A famous news was to hear that the city will get the chance to host the first and only Formula 1 night race in September 2008. Fancy lighting in a metropolitan area will allow the race to take place without any compromise. Not surprisingly, hotel prices have rocketed around the track and can reach many thousand Singapore Dollars (roughly 2 Singapore Dollars = 1 Euro) per night, while the Singapore government takes the liberty to eat a considerable part of it as a special tax at the same time..

(welcome to the city of elevators and escalators. no way you should ever encounter the need to walk too much. MRT...coming your way!)

The city now really is covered with free wireless lan ('wireless@sg') almost all around the city. This comes together with the announcement to start the rollout of highspeed internet around the city from 2010 on...which will be about 10 times faster than todays fastest available DSL. Of course the rich city is subsidizing this to a good extent (700m SG dollars of a total estimated cost of ~2billion)....after all, here one really can see the advantages of being a small city, which has a lot of cash and lives a metropolitan monopoly in the region.

Also, one huge casino will be built just along the nice view of the Singapore river as the city clearly cannot see all that gambling revenue going away to cities like Macau. At the same time Singapore copies the famous london eye and places a huge skyline-changing ferris wheel (the 'Singapore Flyer') also near the river. Last but not least the proudness of the people here should be noted when the A380 took off for its maiden flight to Sidney this October, bearing the symbols of the national icon of Singapore Airlines. Singapore economy is of course also buzzing as usual (~8-10% growth a year)....so is there a catch in all that beauty?

(the waving cat...brings luck in every biz environment)

FREE LOVE IN EXPENSIVE HOUSES

All the buzzing goes along with a steep increase in anything that has to do with property. Offices space rents increased by 80% only during the year 2007. Private housing also sees steady increase of at least 20% per year...This does of course not entirely apply to state subsidized housing such as HDB (Housing Development Board), but means that living in this city becomes more and more expensive and many locals cannot keep up just like that. The official inflation rates (1.0% for 2007 and 0.4%) are a joke and must be based on a basket of goods from the year 1980, which can be a reason why they not increase. Everything gets more and more expensive and the people generally get very snuffy when that happens (despite contrary announcements by government).

So what do the people do to counteract? They conduct another national sport besides 'extreme queuing', which would be 'Extreme Job-hopping'. Generally, salaries in Singapore seem to increase by more than 10% per year, but this is rarely payed out when you stay with a company. What do the people of course do? Constantly observe the market and own value, then run off to the the next best offer as soon as the current year bonus is paid out. That's understandable human behavior I think, but this makes the local job market for professionals unpredictable and volatile. Companies seem to find it increasingly difficult to establish a continuous and stable environment where their company can flourish. Can this be negative? Singapore experiences quite a remarkable buyer's market regarding labor and some foreign companies might think twice before investing in a place where infrastructure prices are doing quantum leaps every year and your employees can jump off the boat at every second just to not miss another one which runs even faster.

Last thing I want to mention here is that despite a lot of worth-mentioning uproar against section 377 of Singapore's Penal Code, this not-so-shiny part of traditional society has not yet been abandoned. What does it say? 377 states "carnal intercourse against the order of nature" which includes even consensual, private, adult homosexual acts (377A). The penalties are either life imprisonment or imprisonment for up to 10 years with or without a fine. Interestingly enough, 377 itself has been repealed in October 2007, so that now consensual anal and oral sex is not been seen as mere bestiality by law anymore and not treated as such. It has been replaced by a law criminalizing sex with dead bodies, which was apparently not punishable before.

377A however still remains, which means that homosexuality in Singapore still happens outside the law. Facing the modern world, Singapore has announced to not follow through with criminal prosecution in these cases, so the law shall not be actively enforced. However, this still does shine an odd light on this city as the law has apparently be kept due to widespread discontent with its impending abandonment (heard a number of 70% on the news). Therefore, I personally think it's a step in the right direction with respect to public sentiment in this Asian society. This is again typical Kaizen...gradual improvement using small steps. Let's see how this progresses further...

-Maik

(the Singapore dream....your own home in a condo. Just please be prepared to dig dig much deeper in your pockets so you can afford the downpayment...)

Crossroads

(where should you go?)

Lost in Bavaria's metropolis

Munich's slogan to greet people has apparently recently changed from 'world city with a heart' to 'München mag Dich' (Munich likes you). Does that mean you have to like it back right away? I guess it's like with every relationship: some click right away, some do after a while and with some you just have to realize where your limits are.

One can think what he or she wants...Munich, as beautiful and livable as it is, remains strange to me, even after more than 8 months in this Bavarian island of good food, best beer in the world and unheard-of life quality. Salaries are high here, so comparatively high that whole convoys of cars and weekly commuters travel from their distant homes in the rest of the country (predominantly the East, I guess) to work in Munich for the week and then head back to their homes on the weekend. Indeed, according to the Sueddeutsche Zeitung, the best salaries are paid in Frankfurt, Munich and Wiesbaden (all deep in the West), the worst in Zwickau, Cottbus and Schwerin (all 'famous' East German cities). Even my wider family and countless people in my home village live this odd ritual...leaving family on Sunday night to go on your weekly journey into the golden cities of West Germany, especially Bavaria's capital to earn a decent living.

Let's talk about the weather

Why strange? why odd? It could be that you have to be Bavarian and grow up here to really fall in love with this city. Or do I lack the attitude? Maybe I just don't take the time to look around and see the wonders around, maybe work keeps me too busy. Why did I not fill these pages continuously in the last year? Because the one thing happened that was almost expected and is quite typical to Germans to I guess: Going back home from a long time abroad, it all is so familiar that there does not seem to be much noteworthy. Although there would be...

Life in Germany does to great deal take place behind doors, anyway. Weather makes it impossible to have all-year open restaurants, food stalls etc. on the street, to sit around outside all the night as in Singapore. Germans only have that experience for a few precious months in the year, usually from around June to August, when people seem to suck in life, sun, especially the gorgeous beergardens and the blue sky...everything to make up for freezing months earlier in the year and to prepare for the terrible moments (my personal view of course) when you have to take the big jackets out of the wardrobe and the season of cold feet starts again. Mood generally swings a bit around in October and November when days get shorter and colder and night seems to follow you throughout the whole day the shorter the days get.

The famous German cosiness just cannot have a place outside, but has to be lived inside. Maybe that's also why privacy and the holiness of your own homes are so very sacred here. One has to be protected against the odds out there...

(cold beauty of a different kind)

The Undiscovered Land

What comes next then? After a crazy, almost finished first year of work in a new job, it seems to be finally time to start breathing and to look around in this city of quite homogeneous beauty and attractiveness. This all sounds stupidly melancholic? Welcome to the German soul...no wonder, the word 'Weltschmerz' has been invented here. It describes perfectly the state of mood of many people in autumn and winter, but also lays the foundation to the eventual and (my view) most beautiful time of the year..spring.

So this post was very much only about weather, a topic one could say is not worth intelligent talk. But coming back from Singapore, it showed me that the mere fact of changing seasons and unreliable weather does not only provide for constant source of smalltalk-babble, it is much more: constant complaining about the weather is part of the German soul, mood swings, desires (give me palm trees and a beach and I am happy) and even enough reason to move away.

To answer Wilhelm Busch's famous question whether the educated cannot talk about the weather anymore without any inhibitons?...yes, in Germany they can! Everyone can!

-MS

Time for prescribed FUN! It's Carnival...

(A very mediocre looking pseudo-Mexican punishing his air-filled-guitar)

CARNIVAL?

I've always been suspicious of Carnival, or any event that tries to produce happiness just by setting a date for it to happen. Fair enough, it works with parties in general and therefore is merely a function of relaxation, present people and mood (possibly certain narcotic beverages as well). But Carnival was a closed book for me and actually still is. But one after another.

Carnial (or 'Fasching') has a long traidion in Germany, but luckily enough it was not contagious enough to spread into every little corner (I could grow up relatively undisturbed in my home village in Saxony). It is most widespread in North Germany and refers to the days before the 'Fastenzeit', a time of fasting and penitence by the church (indeed: the word 'carnelevare' is Italian for 'take away meat', an imperative for catholics to renounce meat for 40 days). It is mostly a catholic fest and celebrated with exuberant parties, processions with decorated wagons that proceed through villages and cities. Carnival usually begins on Nov 11th, 11.11am and ends on Ash Wednesday (this year 21st Feb 07). The Monday and the Weekend before that last day usually feature the biggest parties and processions. My friend Nantha decided to go visit a friend in the small village of Königsbrück (near Dresden), I decided to join him for the weekend and especially a supposedly great party on Sat night. You hear me saying 'supposedly'...

BAD THINGS HAPPEN TO GOOD PEOPLE

Of course, the weekend had to start with Nantha's luggage getting lost on a ridiculously short flight from Munich to Dresden with FLYDBA (yes! you deserve to be negatively highlighted here!!) Unbelievable..After we had arrived on the airport only 30min before departure and did make it on the plane still on time (puh), we were foolish enough to feel safe. But of course, Nantha's great just-bought-for-110€ Admiral-of-the-sea costume waited patiently in a neat little suitcase that somehow had been forgotten in Munich (as the ONLY piece of luggage on the plane, of course!). Well, blessing in disguise: Nantha's friend Marco could provide him with an even better solution...a fantastic black/white nun costume that just looked gorgeous. Time to move on!

(isn't she/he/it gorgeous?)

On Saturday then we had the 'luck' to board one of the open-top, decorated procession wagons, enjoy free-flow booze (of course just only sipped ;-) and throw kilos of confetti on the grimmest looking grannies that we passed on our way to the market. Of course, the V-belt of our traction engine had snap only after a few minutes, so a dozen weirdly dressed people had to push the heavy thing right to the village market, where we were then surrounded by the wagons which boasted loud thumping techno, folk and pop music. However, the 'Finale' was still to come..

LOOKING FOR BAD PARTY IN SMALL VILLAGE

I guess everyone of us knows the feeling of being at a party where one suddenly realizes that there is total and absolute incompatibility between the humble self and almost all the rest of the present people. I could have hardly felt more displaced than during this night at the official carnival-party in the town hall of the village Königsbrück. Me, who is fond of clubbing in the great venues in Singapore, Bangkok and Hong Kong, who has had the luck to experience nasty, loud, smelly and pitch black three storey clubs in Jakarta, was suddenly stuck in a surreal German country village party picture without the ability to interface with the people. Weird games, even weirder carnival-committee rituals were only interrupted by the most undancable music that I personally can imagine: Discofox (a social dance that evolved in Europe seventies according to Wikipedia and is widely popular in Germany and Switzerland)! AAAAHHHHH.... Nantha observed the scene as 'interesting', since as a Singaporean, it was the first time he saw something like this in his life and still could take some pleasure in it. But I felt lost, had to give in and admit that I had to get away as soon as possible to remain sane. Of course, it is not fair to even start comparing an Asian metropolis' club with this, but I simply could not stop. And it made me mad.

Isn't it weird that some gatherings of people just disgust us and trigger our instincts to sit alone in the corner or just run away? Guess, that is human nature and I have been away for too long to appreciate something like this (have I ever..?) Luckily enough parties and clubs in Munich are way more international..usually there is less chance of an unfortunate encounter with an evil discofox ;-)

Thanks God this Carnival is OVER!
...
see you next year..

Maik

(The drunk Singaporean nun...a very special custom-made costume ;-))

Back To Life

(Figure 1: Reality shock, shows the disparity between aimed workload and bitter reality when writing a graduation thesis..everybody who as ever done a thesis should know exactly what I am referring to..)

Why?

Some time in November my diploma thesis opened up in Word 2003. She (of course female) was angry: 'Listen Maik, you want me to evolve in a beautiful way, see me flourish, thrive and prosper? Now, get DOWN AND DO IT!' The problem is (as laid out in Figure 1) there's always less time than work (same as there is always more month than money). And even IF there is enough time to conduct something as a thesis in 6 months, the typical student's brain seems to be conditioned to auto-compensate this overabundance of time by finding ever more elaborate ways to procrastinate. What happens? Acting busy and the unavoidable consequence of riding the angry blue curve above, whatever best intentions one might have had in the beginning (same as in the beginning of every semester anyways..).

Long story short: Made it, sent the final softcopy from Melbourne while I was already on leave, handed the Diplomarbeit in on time (thanks to the kind help Ronny and Sandy, who printed and handed it in for me in Dresden!!) and was awarded with 'Very Good' :-). A good end at last...but that's WHY I did not have the free brain capacity in November and December to produce anything on this page that would have made much sense..

When?

This first period of time in Singapore ended after a fantastic 14 months on Jan 3rd. Thesis finished (at least almost), future job in Munich mainly secured, I headed to a four week vacation in Asia and Oceania to finally touch down on Munich soil at the beginning of February...my new home for probably the next years. This week should see my first day at work and hopefully the signing of a rental contract for my own flat..

Where?

Time passes by more quickly than one can imagine...This is just a short roundup of what happened..There are many things to tell about places such as
- Jakarta (quite Indonesian..clubbing in the craziest, darkest, drug-infested places I have seen in my life, quite before the current devastating flood of course..)
- Krabi and Koh Phi Phi Island (Thailand..Krabi as an authentic Thai village, where one can have fun dancing with the locals and Koh Phi Phi as an outpost of the well-known looking English booze-machos and countless similar-and-sorry-but-boooring-looking blond Finnish girls..'The Beach' with Leo DiCaprio was shot there, by the way..)
- Macau and Hong Kong (where the Winter fashion somewhat seems to be to wear thick coats and flip-flops at the same time in the subway..a colorful combination that left my mouth wide-open when I saw it..)
- Melbourne (Australia, where we found out that there is a crossing between Kangaroos and Wallabies, called a Wallaroo!!)
- New Zealand (where the 2nd most favorite food in the world comes from ;-) See pic at the end!)
- Dubai (United Arab Emirates, where according to some friend's information 70% of all cranes in the world do their work right now...apparently a dubious number spread by the German Infotainment show 'Galilio', but the visual impression came close..)
- Paris (obviously France, where everything is so ridiculously expensive that you wonder how the normal Jacques-Le-Francais can afford his daily breakfast wine-shot..at least I did not suffer from the Paris-Syndrome!)
- Munich (where the public escalators in subway etc. are running at about 50% of Singaporean speed..and the request for spicy Chili sauce in a Burger King is greeted with the most repulsive look one can imagine..)

The blogs name has to change as well, I guess...

Maik

(Chili mussels with cheese crackers and edam cheese, freshly squeezed Feijoa and Orange juice, plus my favorite assorted nuts..could not be happier!)

About living in a picture

(Rawa island impression...wooden chair, coconuts and ferns...I should just have just stayed there)

WHAT THE... IS GOING ON?

Long time ago in a galaxy far far away there was a blog to be written. It seems like eternity when I last managed to continuously write for a few consecutive weeks. Too many things have been happening simultaneously and successfully kept me away from doing anything but writing emails or blog entries. Mainly, I started to realize that a graduation thesis does not write itself, especially when you are situated in an exciting area like South East-Asia and that it indeed involves plenty of work (I might not be the first one to have this grand and unique realization, nevertheless the treatise haunts me now). Some visa hassles that I will not detail any further needed attention to be resolved, which took away much time and increased my heartbeat. Additionally (and unpreventable of course) the weekends were busy with lots of really exciting trips that I have not yet come down to talk about. Stay tuned for more in the upcoming days :-)

(Where are we? Located at the East Coast of West Malaysia, Rawa island is a tiny piece of land)

TURN THE AIRCON ON!

I am just now writing this from Munich, where I am for Business for a few days. Chrissi was so incredibly kind to let me stay in her flat. Thanks a lot, IOU! Maybe the evenings this week do give me time (what a gentle wish) to process all the photos and experiences. Munich is in deep autumn now...streets are filled with colorful leafs, the air is wonderfully fresh and cold (like somebody switched on the AirCon outside...how great would that be in Singapore? ah..few more years down the road the Asian buzybees will find a solution for the heat. unfortunately, one cannot order the temperature down). And it is a great pleasure to finally get into a pullover and a jacket again and not to transpire heavily after only a 300m quick walk. Naturally, Caucasians are suddenly everywhere (I miss the Asian faces) and I was devastated to find out that I arrived on a Sunday when ALL shops are closed. One cannot even get some bread...

(Rawa island on a Saturday morning...never been to a model island like this, Mom you would have loved it ;-)

RALA? RAVA?

Well, I will shortly go back to a few highlights of the last months. Rawa was certainly one..my new friend and Qimonda-colleague Herbie and me went there for just the typical intern-weekend (means Friday afternoon to Sunday). It is a tiny island located somewhere between the city of Mersing and the bigger island of Tioman. Strangely enough, 99% of Singaporeans would not know Rawa and were questioning my sanity when I told about the upcoming trip then ('Rara? Rala? huh? are you SURE you know where you're going?'). I was close to thinking that it was an 'intern-only' island to be inhabited by semi-poor Germans, Dutch and Englishmen only. Luckily, I was proved otherwise. However, our resort was mainly occupied with a large Singaporean (female, but not our style) Tai Chi common interest group, some couples and elderly people. Yes, very exciting. We had a lot of -fun- with them playing bingo.

(peacocks were everywhere...exercising roof-hopping, giving short screams and running around the beach area. beautiful, colorful creatures...)

The island could only be reached via a ferry and was so small that the accessible beach could be walked from one end to the other in less then 5 minutes. Two hotels (Safari and Club Rawa) exercise perfect price discrimination in that they jointly offer rooms from one end of the price spectrum to the other (although it's still not cheap in Club Rawa, which was supposed to be the budget place). So what to do here? Drink the beer and wine that we had brought with us (too expensive on the island; staff was pretty angry at us after two days of continuously requesting ice cubes ;-)), trying out all the different hammocks that were available; becoming wanna-be experts at pool billiard and of course letting the white sand play with the skin while practicing the sport of extreme idling on the beach.

Some more pictures can be accessed via the the Rawa-Foto-badge on the right side pane. Not an exciting trip, but a fantastic chillout place that could have been taken from the catalogue.

Bummer that this small, very romantic island could hardly offer us any female company to clink the glasses while sunset. It is definitely a place to remember and should be revisited with the romantic partner of choice (sorry Herbie, but it did not quite work out with us ;-))

Maik

(me at Mersing harbor while waiting for the ferry to Rawa)

Anniversary Thoughts

(am back, yes! graduation thesis and other things eat up plenty of time..future posts will be shorter but more frequent, I hope ;-)) (children's physical education cannot begin early enough...not a niche market in Singapore)

SINGAPORE FLING...

Singapore has seen quite some events during the past weeks of my not-writing. The IMF meeting that took place here a few weeks ago let the world see what can happen in a country where the assembly or procession of 5 or more people in a public area is considered an offence under the so-called Miscellaneous Offences Rules. Some organisations were not let in at all, which made Singapore face a lot of criticism..Sometimes Singaporeans who I tried to ask about their opinion here just decided not to answer at all...maybe that's safer than blabbing out something that could eventually fire back. At least the bright side was that the country flourished in all possible ways to give a nice picture. Little India's Deepavali festival preparations were brought forward because of the event..therefore that part of the city is already now an ocean of lights and colors.

Also, the city is under a thick haze these days, which is due to large-scale rain forest clearings in the close Indonesian island of Sumatra. Reports say that some people are already experiencing small health problems...I only realized the slight smell of smoke after a friend told me today and I had a very deep breath around lunch time ;-) Not so bad...Singapore's still the cleanest spot around in Asia...also, one more reason to sit it a safe AirCon'ed office all day..

(yes, this does exist. Not so often, but to a certain degree tolerated by the officials)

...IS OVER? NOPE

I find it quite remarkable that I have been in Singapore for one year now (except of course all the trips that I did including the one break in Germany). But on paper it does say one year...and I do feel a change happening. I am currently passing the honeymoon time...the initial Singapore fling is over and I feel that I gradually see this place more from the eyes of a resident. This includes that I begin to take formerly odd things for granted and that I have to really convince myself to go to the tourist attractions that I have not yet seen. And then one tries to distinguish from the 'normal' caucasian tourist (which is a nutty and stupid behavior, but it does happen). Even the 8 months that I spent studying and travelling in New Zealand in 2003/04 look like a distant tourist trip in comparison to how I feel adjusted to this city now. I start thinking that one has to go beyond a certain threshold of time to feel this...a growing intuition to know a place but never being able to really be part of it.

Do I want to stay here? Maybe...as time passes, the growing social net of friends and colleagues makes it more and more difficult to finally turn away...China and especially Beijing do still look very appealing for my first real employment next year, but have I really seen all of Singapore? Or have settled down and got infected by the standard sickness of not exploring the place where you live but always travel somewhere else?

(A chinese shrine just outside an open clothes shop...goods to be offered to the gods)

THE SMALL THINGS...

These days two friends from Germany (Ronny and his girlfriend Nicole) are visiting me here...and just by realising how they see Singapore for the first time do I understand how I got accustomed to so many details. The eternal fight to find cabs at rush hour, the crazy mugginess and heat every day, the hot spices and chili that I don't care about anymore, the Mandarin chitchat everwhere that is so funny and enlightning, the incomprehensible bus system that stands out in crass difference to the flashy MRT trains, the latest bluetooth headsets Ipods slimphones pdas that everyone seems to have, the nature of singapore as being one big wifi city hotspot, the crazily overprized starbucks-cafés that became my second home, the endless range of gleaming flashy shopping malls, the street cafes and hawker centres that are overcrowded almost the whole day, the cleanliness and rule-obedience that easily meets German standards (if this is now good or bad..), the escalators that can be found everywhere even in dance clubs, the big German limousines that one can see on the highway just next to a load of Indian workers who sit on a truck's loading space, the always slim Asians despite a diet that sees so much unhealthy fried food, the friendly looks of some people who automatically think one has to be important to live and work here as a Caucasian...

to be continued ;-)

Maik

(Singapore...land of escalators, pic taken in a MRT station)

Fine Feathers and Tibetan skin boiler

(no, I will not abandon this blog...no worries :-) my recent -and only recent- infrequency here merely marks my growing understanding of truly busying Singaporeans..do I turn into one?)(a very late Football world cup addon: two originals...one from Bangkok, bought by my friend Christoph for the incredible amount of 5 Eur and the one from Germany, where you can add another 55 there *sigh*. There are slight differences recognisable though...but one can see that they spent some effort on making it look right...but to differentiate enough to prevent ANY copyright discussions, of course..)

FINE FEATHERS MAKE FINE BIRDS

I feel quite blessed to work in the IT department of my company. It enables me to show up in a very casual look most of the times...which means t-shirts (mostly Infineon or Qimonda-branded of course) and Jeans. Only yesterday I decided to wear my best combination again...finest Bangkok custom made trousers and shirt with cuff-links to impress some HR Ladies I was supposed to meet for lunch :-)

(what a nice way to hang out during the day...just take an armchair, place it somewhere in the landscape and enjoy slow Malaysian lifestyle; Pictures in this post are still mostly impressions from Malacca, MY)

Well, my tired brain already noticed a change in the morning when I was on my way to office (tired because with shirt one has to leave a bit earlier than normal...arriving only at 9 in office would mean to show considerable sweat marks because of the omnipresent heat). People suddenly look different and even longer than normal and I can almost see the question in their eyes 'What position might he have?'.

Entering the MRT at 8.15 in the morning is like being among Managers only..all men are in nice shirts and trousers...90% of the women still have wet hair from their morning showers and keep checking themselves so eagerly as if this was the first day in a new job. It was only in Singapore that I became aware of how wonderful and sexy Business look can be. Fierce competition indeed produces incredible outcome. (ok, but this is still nothing against a typical Singapore mall on Sat afternoon, some of which often act as public stage and catwalk at the same time).

(well...I am sure something would definitely come up on a brainstorming about what a HOT BLAST therapy might be..I definitely do NOT know..)

It was crazier in the evening when I decided to have a little walk after work to a food stall, still in my finest combination. I have not felt so scrutinised in a long while (ok, it is flattering..but considering my real position as a student and intern it is ridiculous at the same time). This amplifies and suddenly I catch myself walking down a pedestrian crossing in a played statesmenlike stride just to see what happens. And yes, women's looks are suddenly like glue and I wonder how more superficial this can ever be...it felt simultaniously hilarious and sad..

INHALING THE EXPERIENCE

Still back in Malacca (Malaysia) about two weeks ago I decided to go for a foot massage on one evening (I do have knee problems while running since then..maybe it was not soo conducive after all). It was already 8.30pm that night and I caught the 40ish year old Chinese heritage guy just leaving the place. Good Business man as he was, he quickly decided to reopen and ushered me in.

(a signboard found inside a foot massage place -YES, only foot massage-; the left and right character means 'careful', the upper and lower 'cheater'...so it says: 'BE CAREFUL, CHEATER'!..The owner told that once a nicely dressed Arabic guy came in to book massages for 6 wealthy customers who where waiting down the street. They wanted to go for dinner first though and could not pay because the restaurant would not accept any credit card. So the owner 'borrowed' him 100 Ringit..about 20Eur and the guy never came back..)

The place had enough space to serve 5-6 customer simultaniously, but I was the only one then. It felt a bit weird in the beginning but I decided to follow my still positive belly sensor. He did not even want me to clean my feet before (was he into smelly odour?), but I insisted. It was still a relaxing thing...and the fact that he was a guy and only doing a foot massage minimised the danger of inappropriate offers (minimise, but not avoid..I have to add. Of course, he wanted me -as a fine and of course happy customer- to come back the next day and receive a special full massage skillfully conducted by one of his female associates).

A special add-on for the massage provided my final approval on using a miraculous, green tibetan powder on my feet and legs. He was so excited about it that I finally had to try..However, I was not so sure if they were from Tibet though..for a price of approx 2 Euro this could still be, but I guess that's just what I paid for the little Placebo. What it finally caused was to heat up my skin after he wrapped my feet and legs in seperate towels...felt like my outer skin was boiling and made me wonder whether there would be any skin left below my knee to massage the next day.

(We are in Muslim Malaysia after all...prayer rooms can be found in many places. Please mind that there is strict gender seperation)

Finally, I really had to insist on my NO (with an easy heart) regarding his repeated offer to provide me with pure oxygen during the foot massage..I already had to bite on my lips when he tried to persuade me by telling about Michael Jackson's habit of sleeping with pure oxygen all the time (yes, this guy is indeed a positive example!). But I could not believe my eyes when I turned around in my seat and looked at what he pointed with his finger so encouragingly: a McGyver like 1.8m high gas cylinder...badly overpainted with beige color and saying in thick, blue handwriting 'O2, REAL PURE OXYGENE'. Would ANY sane person put on the oxygen mask that leads to this tank? Good Lord, I wonder whether I would have discovered a black/yellow skull, if I only had scratched a bit on the bottle where the paint looked extra thick...

Funniest thing though was that he always claimed that his BOSS was watching all the time (via numerous cameras in the room...which I thought were all fake). That was probably to make his customers feel safer, but even more to give himself a good excuse why he could not do any price negotiations himself. After my request to see his boss he only replied that he was very shy and did not want to see customers tonight...haha...I limped home then with my pulsing, boiled legs.

Maik

(the door to a tiny tatoo studio in Jonker Street, Malacca)

Malaysia vs. Singapore

My blog has moved.

lease access this post from here:

http://www.maikschroeer.de/bl/?p=45

Cheers!!

Where are all the Nationalist Turks?

Well, a few days have past since my last post. I am honest: mood was in the way. That's it. No white lies anymore..

(When I really noticed this flag for the first time a few months ago, I thought that the family owning it must have been a Turkish one. Big mistake..It was only a few weeks ago that the amount of flags suddenly mushroomed in town and I started to wonder where all those Turkish people came from all at once ;-))

Turkish Invasion

Singapore's most important day passed just 9 days ago..on August 9th this small young country became 41 years old. Not an incredibly long time that has passed since the independence from Malaysia in 1965, but quite a considerable and visible change that this place must have gone through in the meantime..(for example a street called Beach Road, which used to be located somewhere close to the water according to what I heard...but now is quite in town..all due to massive landscaping since then..). I wonder what it must have been like to walk around Raffles Place or Orchard Road in the 60s..(did they even exist then? Or are they just an invention by the tourist board to please mall and glitter-hungry tourists/locals?)

(as one can see, Singapore does not have a problem showing the national colors. The density and completeness on outside walls increased considerably the closer one gets to the National Day and the nearer to the National Stadium, where the big parade was held..)

Shops in town filled with red 'Singapore' shirts and I was told that on National Day most schools let their students show up in red shirts to respect the importance of the day. Also, the streets were marked by big election-like billboards announcing the NDP..which (as as German) I always but only for one second mistook as an ad for the German Far Right National Democratic Party (which definitely does not deserve any further commentary due to the mere stupidity and backwardness of their neonazi-agenda). According to firsthand information, I was not the only German who had to face this little psycho-effect. We are apparently pretty conditioned in this respect and that is also the reason why I always associated something ugly with the billboards. It is something one cannot influence..like upmarket shops that influence the mood and stay time of customer with special music and smells. And by the way, NDP of course stands for National Day Parade.

(Laksa...the wonderful dinner I had while watching a few minutes of the parade on Wednesday evening. This particular Laksa has been consumed by me in Katong in the supposedly oldest and most genuine Laksa stall in town. Thanks for showing me, Mabelline! The coconut-sauce is extra-thick and the meal is served with a Chinese spoon only..the noodes are cut in such a way that there is no need for chopsticks. Also, the color is brighter than the EastCoast Laksa, since it is not 'preloaded' with lots of Chili...absolutely YUMMY and certainly remains my favorite dish here in Singapore!)

The biggest and most important event on that day was a parade that took place in the National Stadium. Unfortunately, I only lerned about its existence when all tickets were already given away, so I could not even attempt to find a way in there (would have been odd anyway for an Ang Mo to be inside, I guess.). The ticket issueing process was basically a lottery with not much chance to get in except you're lucky or have the right connections, of course. The usual Singaporean is used to watch it on TV at home anyway.

The event itself (I had a glimpse at a few minutes while I ate my Laksa at a street stall) felt like a proud combination of the presentation of all army branches in finest service dress (plus a multitude of tanks, etc..) and the opening of the Football World Cup. Colorful lightshows and the presentation of Very Important VIPs were accompanied by a uniform mass of red-clothed spectators at the grandstands who fervently waved flags and pennants and even had the flag painted on the cheeks (as I said, like World Cup)..I found the effort taken quite impressive, but I still cannot understand why there is no way to let this parade use the streets of Singapore.

Fortunately enough, this has been a public holiday as well. :-)

Maik

(The picture above is somewhat a probable sneak preview to my next post..I will head off to Malacca in Malaysia for a few days which is a centre of rich peranakan-culture. What you see on the left is a typical Nyonya (= peranakan expression for female) Baju Kebaya dress, which actually gave inspiration to the current uniforms of the Always-Pretty-Always-Smiling Singapore Airlines cabin crew)

Plans For The Future

(Finally, Ronald McD offers a new and yummy Mc Cockroach…to be fair, I have to add that this is not a familiar sight in Singapore McDs though. And no, I will not the reveal the location of the branch..no need to ruin the lives of the employees yet…as long as my ‘Oreo McFlurry’ is still of tolerable quality and does not come with insect leg flavor)

WHERE ARE THE BABIES?

Just a few weeks ago, I attended a friend’s housewarming party. He and his girlfriend had recently moved in to a new apartment, a so-called HDB flat, which stands for Housing Development Board. These are usually flats in apartment blocks, provided by the state which are then sold or rented. As opposed to the more sought after Condominium apartments, they don’t come with any facilities, like gym or pool. ‘Government provided’ does not necessarily mean here that they are of bad quality though...it is not synonymous for poor people's housing. The standard ranges from low standard to Condo-like apartments..it is just a matter of price which can reach mind-blowing ranges (they ususally start at about 300.000SGD)

It is widely popular here in Singapore to buy apartments right away and not rent them. However, young people are only allowed to purchase an HDB flat if they are married. As a single this permission to purchase is dependent on the age..one has to be at least 35 years old. I guess this rule is to some extend an example of basic government family planning, which from my point of view fails quite miserably. The current total fertility rate in this country is tremendously low with about 1.05 children born / woman (in 2005), which is even lower than Germany with its current 1.38.

COLLATERAL DAMAGE OF MODERN LIFESTYLE

Apparently, this is an attribute of a society where the usual 'carrot and stick'-approach (as mentioned in the last post with regard to the army) does not quite work. The Singapore government introduced tax reliefs and for example a range of educational subsidies, but as one can see with only little effect. A female friend told me that the working environment in Singapore is still not quite family-friendy. Maternity leave is very limited (if accepted at all) and most companies seem to have a 'Gentlemen's agreement' to sustain a highly inflexible working environment (no way for different working hours).

Then there's the yuppy concept, which of course lets young people pursue their personal goals (including career) first...usually kids come last here and to be honest..I am not even remotely an exception, since it is exactly the same case in Germany. Last but not least, it is also a contributing factor that single mothers are not entitled to the same tax incentives as married couples and still scorned upon by many..a social stigma as my Singaporean friend put it.

(Dengue fever [or breakbone fever, dandy fever] is a disease caused by a virus carried by a certain kind of mosquitoes. Symptoms are mainly joint pain, stiffness, pain behind the eyes and a characteristic rash. Patients also should be isolated in the first three days, when the mosquitoes can pick up the disease from them. Usually, it can be ‘only’ lethal to young, elderly and sick people. Mosquito prevention measures are widespread in Singapore, mainly focusing on the removal of any stagnant water. Well, most ‘stagnant water’ in this concrete town stems from condensation puddles of the beer glass in your hand..and I did not get one mosquito bite in my whole time in Singapore….just for the record...)

Ok, I can guess it is an eternal truth that the wealthier a nation and the more business and career-focused its citizens are, the less children there are around (‘because there’s never the right time for children anyway’). However, my friend told me that many Singaporeans don’t know if there will be a bright future in their country. Some fear that the low number of children, the non-existence of raw materials and the uprising of China / India etc. will eventually put an end on Singapore’s economic thriving. Personally, I am more concerned about the political side…especially what is going to happen after Singapore's holy mentor Lee Kuan Yew (currently 83 years old) will eventually not be here anymore and somebody else will have to take the helm and use the admittedly very concentrated power in an equally informed and hopefully sane way. Good luck on your further way, Singapore!

LONG-TERM STRATEGY

One thing that strikes me most about buying any apartment in Singapore is the fact that most of the time one does not really BUY it, in the sense of obtaining in exchange for payment. Basically, when one ‘buys’ a flat, it actually means the purchase of the right to use it for the next 99 years (there are also contracts available that go for lower amounts of years, but it is usually ‘Double 9’ for apartments). When this near-century is over, the place will go back to the state automatically and one has the right to rebuy it.

The starting point of thinking here is, that the state in fact ‘owns’ the whole country and therefore all premises. Space is very limited here on these 683sq km (Denmark for example is about 60 times its size), which was the main reason for the decision to remain in control. The state then decides (depending on region and importance) if an apartment / house can be rented for 99 years (‘double 9’), 999 years (‘triple 9’), or if one can even purchase a ‘free-hold’ license, which never expires. Of course, the prices differ from scheme to scheme. If a flat costs you 400.000 Singapore Dollars (~200.000Euros) for the 99 years, it will easily go into a high 7 digit value for 999 years.

Even 'free-hold' does not automatically mean that you can build your own castle including trench and live totally on your own. If the state thinks that a new highway has to be built right through your living room they have the right to take it back (of course compensated).

(A styled-up car with an impressive rear spoiler that is surely of very good use for the sprint to the next traffic light)

I don’t think I would feel very comfortable, knowing that I am actually gratefully allowed to use the place for a long, but limited period. This might come from my German point of view that property rights and the ‘holiness’ of the own home should be secured in a basic law. Although I can absolutely not imagine to buy an apartment or house (feels like dropping the anchor, or should I say putting on shackles?) I would not want to miss the feeling to really OWN my place…usually, when Germans build a house they build it for eternity, hoping that their children would take it over years later. I think this is just different here, with the common acceptance that the state is the only big real estate manager.

THINKING AHEAD

Hmm.. I don’t know when the scheme was introduced in the first place. The generation that bought the apartments will most probably not be on this earth anymore. Will this lead to a clash between their descendants and the state? After all, one could get the impression that this is just another way to collect a death duty, whose introduction would be unthinkable in a still family oriented society as Singapore's...

I just guess that some 50 years down the road there will be a massive and steady new inflow of cash into the treasurer’s casket as this source of income finally opens up. I call this insidious future planning on the true assumption that people in these fast-paced times just are not able to think even years ahead in the future, let alone a century.

Maik

(Auntie sells home made Hakka food on the streets..The social system in Singapore does not really provide the elderly for any stable flow of income from the state (edit: wrong, see end of post), so one will see many working around the city..selling small things or working in street stalls)

Edit (2006-08-08): I was wrong with last picture's capture: According to Mabelline (thx!) each Singaporean aged 60 years+ is entitled to receive money from the Central Provident Fund, a comprehensive social security savings plan for citizens.

How to effectively prevent household mishaps

(This Wednesday, the so-called Chinese ghost month started...a traditional Chinese festival that is usually celebrated on the first and the last nights of the 7th lunar months. The offerings that can be seen on the picture as well as the burnt 'hell money' are supposed to help pleasing the ghosts and spirits that come out of the lower world to visit earth that very day...)

DO YOU BELIEVE?

Last week, I met the owner of the condo apartment I currently live in for the first time. He moved to Shanghai only recently to join his girfriend there and just rented out the place to my flatmate and me. I was already told earlier that some of the items in the apartment are basically off limits and should not be touched, let alone moved. Hmm...why, you ask? They are at the same time carefully placed items according to Feng Shui laws, which I already outlined to some degree at the last post. At least I'd like to portray the more visibile results of the 800$ worth consultation that has been conducted by a local Singaporean Feng Shui Master in my apartment.

Well, I do not quite believe in superstition and directing the flow of chi with coins, bricks, flutes, vases and plants is really not the first thing that would come up my mind while moving into a new place. However, I generally try to understand motivations for certain actions here in Asia and although many people shake their heads when they hear about Feng Shui, it is apparently still an integral part of a good number of building projects not only in China, but also in Singapore. The application of Feng Shui (which means the careful placing of artifacts and application of certain 'rules' regarding the architecture and the alignment of buildings) follows more of a practical wisdom: If I cannot be absolutely sure that it is total nonsense, why don't I just pay the little money and arrange a few things in my flat in a certain way and thereby eliminate the residual risk and enjoy a good night sleep?

INFLOW OR OUTFLOW?

Unfortunately, the depicted door above is not a very supportive one for the successful and healthy wallet development. Actually, one should stay away from this one, because as a 'TIGER'-door it lets money flow out of the flat. How lucky the family must be just opposite our flat, since their 'DRAGON'-door enables them to collect just the money that flows out of our apartment. How to differentiate? It is dependent on the way the door opens from the outside. If it does to the left, you are facing the purring felidae. Luckily, the Feng Shui Master found a countermeasure by suggesting to place a red brick in a box just behind the door (within the red marked circle). Good. I am not sure what a superstitious insurance would have said if we missed out on placing that brick and were subsequently robbed ("So sorry Sir...but isn't it obvious that your little Tiger has been toasted by a greedy Dragon...?")

THE EVIL KITCHEN

According to Feng Shui, every apartment is divided into 9 equally sized squares and each of them does stand for a different meaning. The Feng Shui Master would have been really horrified by my uninformed decision to place the fruits I bought just at the marked corner next to the sink. Why? The architect of the flat must have a had pretty bad taste of placing the kitchen in square 5, which is the one to avoid, because it means bad luck. The Master apparently even had some kind of gauge which enabled him to easily identify not the cause (it is unpreventable) but the centre of the evil kitchen spirit. Of course, the place where I used to store my fruits happened to be the very spot that radiates the most bad luck and should therefore not be used for anything (except for some countermeasure of course...some small vase filled with grains I could not identify...not to be seen on the pic)

A HOME FOR MY WALLET

Where there's darkness, there also has to be some light. So despite the actual fate of coping with a TIGER-door and an evil kitchen, there is still hope, especially to be found in the Wealth-spot just between window and TV. Some Chinese are quite superstitious with numbers and even pay horrendous amounts of money to purchase mobile phone numbers that contain as money 6s and 8s as possible (the literally deadliest choice would be 4, since the chinese expression 'si' for four resembles the word for death). So there is no wonder that there are exactly 6 flowers with 8 leafs on the upper level, which is also placed exactly 68 inches above the ground. The flowers have therefore no specific meaning, they just stand for luck. The ship below is directed to the inside of the apartment; it carries wealth back from the sea into the home port (and is therefore very welcome). Why not place the ship on top? No clue...one might have to ask the Master. I wonder if it helps to place the piggy bank on the glass table just below..

WATCH OUT!

According to the Feng Shui Master, the placement of AirCons just above doorways all over the aparment is a complete failure. Everytime one walks through, one has to expect that the own soul is sucked directly into the device. Atrocious imagination, but at least my soul won't have to sweat in hell then..:-) It is also quite relieving that one can remedy this threat easily by placing a specially blessed coin inside the Aircon. If all things in life were just that easy..

DON'T LET THEM SLICE YOU UP

The picture above partly shows the not-so-pretty view from my master bedroom. Just try to guess for a minute what the attached stripes could be there for before reading on..
Well, one can see that other building's corner apparently points directly into my room. The obvious effect is that it slices me up, splits me in two parts which of course cannot be too healthy...When and how this could happen I don't know, but the remedy is already in place and therefore guarantees my undisturbed good night sleep. The three stripes do not stand for 'san' (which means the number 3 in Mandarin), but are a Chinese symbol for wood. Hence, both my windows have been fortified with thick wood and block the vicious corner that tries to find it's way into my home and castle. No chance! I just forgot to ask what would happen if I opened the windows...do I have to wear a helmet?

Ok..enough with Feng Shui for time being. I will try and see if it has some effect on me on one way or another. But how could I know anyway? I have no way to compare..maybe it does at least limit household accidents, but then it is a very bad sign that the kitchen had to reveal its evil nature...

A confused Maik

(Please note that it is not allowed to carry any Durians on the MRT-Trains, but there is no fine for doing so..Isn't that weird? Looks like the Singaporean officials have to conduct some Realpolitik here. And last but not least: Think twice before letting yourself being seen peeing in a lake. The fine may involve 5000$ (~2500Eur), as well as 1 year of prison and 3 canings)

Edit (06.08.2006): The fine for peeing in a lake is not just 5.000$ but 10.000$. And no, I did not commit it to find out ;-)