Haven’t updated for 3 months or so because I can’t figure out how to migrate this lousy mySQL 4 database to mySQL 5. WordPress needs the DB upgrade before it can upgrade itself.

Quite a number of things happened these few months while I was gone. I’ve been to Taiwan and Korea and then I am going to Taiwan again this coming Wednesday. That’s a fair bit of travelling, and where my bonus ended up.

All in all 2011 has been a good year for me. I got the promotion, the girl and a lot of debt.

For its size, Singapore has an extraordinary amount of delicacies. You just have to know where to look.

Besides the well known I eat I shoot I post blog, I stumbled across this young man’s food blog, gourmetestorie. I like his food photos, do pay a visit if you haven’t.

I wish I am as focused as either of them with my food blogging.

I hope Google picks this up. If you are a fellow photography lover who is frustrated with the inability of Windows Explorer to display your RAW files in 64 bit versions of Windows, here is the fix.

http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=26829

You can download a 64 bits compatible codec pack from the above URL and all your RAW files will be magically viewable in Explorer.

Enjoy. By the way the picture has nothing to do with the codec, I just wanted this post to look less boring.

Allow me to apologize for my previous post. Although the post title mentioned how the US debt ceiling will affect Singapore, I didn’t really go into details to explain why or how. To the 300 odd visitors I had who visited my blog and felt cheated: I am sorry. (they spent an average of 50 secs viewing that post).

Suffice to say, if the US defaulted on their debt, creditor countries holding on to a big chunk of American government bonds/bills will be quite screwed. China will probably be the most affected creditor because it holds 26% of the debts that US owe to foreign countries. That 26% translates to roughly 1 trillion US dollars and it is a large amount of money even for China. When you talk about 2 percent interest for 1 trillion dollars…that’s like what? A nice 20 billion dollars will disappear because America decided to stop passing the bomb. No wonder the Chinese folks were pretty upset during the debt ceiling scare. A similar scenario will play out in other creditor nations like Japan, Taiwan and Singapore. I think you can imagine how much it will hurt if some one owes you a couple billion dollars decide to stop or delay paying the interest.

Enough said to make up for the previous post I guess. Maybe I will write more when I have more time. Let’s get to today’s beef, what about Singapore’s Debt ceiling? Don’t you find it interesting that we always talk about how badly others are doing but we seldom stop to think about  our own situations? When you express the debt terms of GDP, the amount of public debt that US owes is approximately 98.6% of GDP, which is 14.46 trillion dollars. It is kinda hard to visualize or imagine that amount of money without aid, so check out this extremely useful visualization if you need some help thinking how much 14.46 trillion dollars is.

The GDP per capita for USA in the year 2010 was USD$47,284. In short, every US citizen would have to pay up about 47k if their government went bankrupt and the citizens have to foot the bill. (Ok I know per capita means per head and not per citizen, but for simplicity’s sake let’s use this figure for the time being.)

So, what about Singapore? How much do you think Singapore owes? According to IMF, Singapore’s public debt as of 2010 is 98.9%of GDP. But fear not, the figure doesn’t really matter that much because we were told that the biggest holder of Singapore’s public debt is actually an internal institution, the CPF board and that we are in safe hands.

Let’s piece the facts together, the Singapore government collects money from you for CPF and then directs CPF to use the bulk of money to buy Singapore bonds. Hmm, I am not sure what I am missing here but for some reasons this doesn’t feel right. Seeing that the 10 year yield for Singapore bond is currently less than 2.5%…. I wonder how the CPF is keeping up with the additional 1% interest it pays for the first SGD$60,000 in your ordinary account.

Any way, if Singapore goes bust (choi!) and we need to pay our creditors, every one will need to fork out roughly USD$43,117 (GDP per capita for Singapore. But not factoring the PRs and FTs who will probably not be around when it comes to that point). Seeing how CPF is the biggest investor in the public debt, we will be in reality paying CPF. Wait a second, don’t I own the money in my CPF account…? Thinking about this makes my head ache… I sure hope we will never have to consider this situation seriously.

[Edit: The American politicians have reached a preliminary deal to raise the debt ceiling on 1st Aug as expected. We have postponed the inevitable financial meltdown once again to the foreseeable future. Nothing to see here, enjoy life as we know while it lasts. ]

Unless you have been living under a rock or in a cave, you must have heard about the US debt crisis. If you haven’t heard about it, well it is time to read about it now.

The debt crisis is simple, it basically means that Uncle Sam has exceeded his credit limit. Imagine USA as a person with a line of credit from the rest of the world and the credit limit is artificially set by its congress/senate. That said limit will be be reached on 2nd August if spending goes as planned. USA will no longer be able to repay all its financial obligations from 3rd of August. In short, the great US of A will become insolvent.

And how does that affect you and I living here in Singapore? The impact will be huge. Remember the 1998 Russian financial crisis which caused Singapore’s GDP to contract by 1.4% in 1998? That was when Russia defaulted on its domestic debts. America looks like its heading that way as well, if the Republicans and Democrats cannot reach an agreement on how to run their country. (Something to bear in mind when you ask for another voice in the government, in doesn’t always work out, just like in a one party county)

If you think the 1998-9 financial crisis which caused Singapore’s GDP to contract was bad , the US debt crisis will be much worse. Yes, even worse than the recent 2008-9 sub prime mortgage melt down that caused Singapore to dip into a recession. This will be like the real thing, the real financial crisis that has been waiting to happen. Jobs will disappear, money will be scarce, spending will shrink and people will be generally very, very pissed. You won’t want that to happen.

And you know what’s the funny thing about it? We can’t do jack shit about it besides hoping that the politicians on the other side of the globe come up with a compromise. There is high chance they will do just that. After all nobody will want to be remembered as the person who triggered the financial melt down. Markets are betting that the will come to their senses. I sure hope they are right.

Address: 201 Victoria Street, ILUMA @ Bugis  #04 – 08/09/10 Singapore 188607
Tel: 6238 1011

There is nothing like a bowl of ramen when you are in need of some comfort food. So how about having six of them at one go?

Ramen Champion (Facebook page) has just opened its doors at Illuma with 6 authentic ramen stalls that hail from Japan. How authentic you ask? Well the owners themselves were around when I paid them a visit yesterday. They will probably not be here all the time, but that’s as close as you get I guess.

The place operates in a manner similar to Marché, you get a card to record your purchases and you are free to sit at any where you want. Though I seriously suggest you to not do things like ordering from stall A when you are sitting at stall B’s counter. The Japanese chefs take their ramen seriously.

And you get one of these wireless “beepers” after you have ordered. This thing will beep when you noodles are ready to be collected, so you don’t have to stand at the stall to wait. It’s a pretty neat idea.

But I digress, no matter what neat tricks a restaurant employ, the most important aspect remains to be the food served. Fortunately Ramen Champion doesn’t disappoint at all in this aspect. With great perseverance I have managed to try 4 different stores out of the six stalls. You probably don’t want to know the details, so allow me to introduce the 4 different bowls of ramen that I tasted.

Menya Iroha – Black Shoyu Negi Ramen (7.5 /10)

One of the best shoyu ramen that I have ever had. If you like the taste of shoyu (soy sauce) as much as I do, this is a must try. Though, my other non shoyu loving friends had some reservations over the strong soy sauce soup base. It was too salty for their liking. I find that the addition of “negi” (leek) helped quite a bit to smooth the taste to an acceptable level. The pork char siew and the runny egg were both up to standards as well.

Bario – Jirokei Ramen ( 8/10)

According to the brochures, The Guardian UK recently named this ramen as its “50 best things to eat in the world”. It is also my new favourite bowl of ramen in Singapore. The tonkotsu based soup broth is rich and over powering in taste. Just the way that I like in my bowl of ramen. Then again, not everyone has the ability to stomach a bowl of ramen such as this, most will prefer the lighter kind of tonkotsu broth such as the ones you find in Santouka.

Gantetsu – Miso Ramen (7.5/10)

Miso ramen has always been a safe choice when you try a ramen stall for the first time. Gantetsu delivered just what I would expect for a “safe choice” ramen. Creamy miso soup with a sumptuous amount of corn and bean sprout toppings. It’s an excellent rendition of the classic miso ramen recipe. No wonder it was awarded as the winner of Sapporo ramen for 3 consecutive years.

Ikkosha – Hakata Ramen (7/10)

Another bowl of tonkotsu ramen, though completely different from Bairo’s. Ikkosha’s ramen tries to differentiate itself by appealing to the crowd that prefers a “lighter” tonkotsu experience. Not exactly my kind of ramen since I like them strong and flavourful. But I am sure those who are seeking the experience will be satisfied with Ikkosha’s creation.

To sum it all up: If you are a ramen lover like I am, there is absolutely no better place to be now than Ramen Champion @ Illuma. Go and support your favourite ramen chef now!

You see this fellow up here? He got himself into a lot of trouble recently. – Photo source: Temasek Review.

I got a link to this article titled “Narrowing Racial Divide” from Facebook. You might want to take a look at it before continue reading. In a nut shell, the article painted a picture of Singapore Chinese and Singapore Malays coming together to ward off migrant worker because of how Zhou Hou behaved against a Singaporean Malay dude.

I was surprised to see that “racism” was involved in the article. I thought Singaporeans were merely coming together to condemn an outrageous act committed against another person. There was really no need to turn this into an “us against them” mentality. Unless the author is suggesting people would have behaved differently if this incident occurred between two Singaporeans.

Bullshit. If this happened to anyone, regardless of the race or nationality, I am sure the netizens of Singapore would have responded the same way. We don’t condemn the person because of his race or where he came from. We condemn him for the act that he has committed. So why would any one lump these irrelevant issues together and paint a big grand picture that all Singapore Chinese and Singapore Malays are against migrant workers? What’s the hidden agenda behind it?

The answer is simple. Xenophobia. This article just serve to drum up the xenophobic cause even more. “Look at the foreigner bullying one of us! It’s time to put aside our differences and unite against the foreign talents!”

A good number of Singaporeans feel xenophobic because these foreigners take up the limited jobs and resources in Singapore. And they are right, the competition is indeed fiercer with the foreigners around. Maybe they’d feel better if all they need to do is to compete with the other Singaporeans. Though I am sure they would find other things to complain about.

Any way, I’d take a pinch of salt with what really happened. This is an excerpt from the original post by the Shan Dong fellow in Mandarin “那天下午运货差点撞了个，马来x，蛋子见车来不仅不让路，事后还故装潇洒！脚还贱起来了，一个后蹬蹄把哥货架上的几箱货给踢掉 俗话说屎可忍, 而火不可忍呢也，接着吾骄傲的自尊心告诉我，这x绝对是想找刺激, 吾愤怒的抄起木棒就跳下车，一脚踹飞他的车”  – Source here

Allow me to bring your attention to the first part (which the article omitted for some reasons). In English it goes something like “Almost crashed into this Malay XXX (racial slur), he saw my truck coming and did not give way, after that even lifted his leg and kicked off some of the boxes on my truck….” so the Chinese national claim that the Singapore Malay dude hogged the road and kicked his cargo boxes off the truck. Should you press someone on the ground and give him a slap if he hogged the road and blocked your way and kicked your car? Probably not. But that person shouldn’t be hogging the road and kicking your car either.

I can’t tell what really happened since I wasn’t there. But what I do know is that I should not look at this whole thing with tinted glasses. This is really nothing more than just two allegedly rude person clashing over a small issue. There is no need to over react.

Will you spend 880k for a 5 room flat built under the DBSS? Chances are you can’t afford and you won’t. It is way too over priced for a government flat, for that price you can get a condo somewhere else.

But why the big hoo ha over it? People are reacting as if that is the the only HDB available in Singapore. It is all about supply and demand, if no one can afford it, the prices will have to be adjusted downwards to make it affordable, after all the DBSS flats are still governed by the HDB eligibility rules, which prevent it from being bought by non-citizens or citizens who already own a property.

In short, it’s a “不爽不要買” situation. Is it overpriced? Yes, but no one is forcing you to buy it. And if some rich folks snap it up, it just means that the developers were right in setting the prices that way.

I won’t rant about the villas on Sentosa island that I can’t afford because I know that they are out of my league. I will just buy some other properties, like the BTO (built to order) flats in Tampines that cost less than 500k for a five room.

The election is over,  so let’s stop making a mountain out of a molehill. Singapore really is one of the better countries that keeps its public housing affordable, the government tries hard to give every one a viable option given the limited space that this tiny island has.

Singapore general election is now over for close to a week.

So what happened? Nothing much, Singapore remains just as tightly controlled by PAP as it was before the general election. The “watershed” moment predicted by many did not happen.

What about the overall representation? PAP has lost about 7% of the total votes. It is now 60% vs 40%. It is still a legitimate mandate, though that 40% is only represented by 5 seats in the parliament. But let’s face it, even if that 40% is represented by 30+ seats in the parliament, it is still not going to change the fact that PAP is running the show. It would just make amendments to the constitution harder. There will still be no ministers and no policy reforms from the opposition parties.

Singaporeans who want to see a change of government have to first recognize the fact that there are still 60% of the eligible voters who support the PAP. For better or the worse.

You have to agree that PM Lee catches on fast. To descend from his Parliamentary throne and to say sorry to the common folks is really something unheard of within the ranks of PAP. In fact I don’t recall hearing any thing along the lines of apology from the PAP ever.

I am sure the number of die hard irrational voters have scared him. A watershed election suddenly seems possible because how people are willing to place their own future in unknown hands just to screw PAP (and maybe Singapore as well) over. The public has accumulated so much angst that they’d rather vote for a bunch of uni students, storage assistants and self employed rather than the elites.

But why only now? Why not before tens of thousands of people showed up at the rallies of the opposition parties? As my hardcore anti-PAP friends say, it is too late to say sorry now and they won’t vote for PAP even if PM Lee kneels down to apologize. Perhaps this will stop some of the rational ones from voting in vengeance, after all they just want PAP to admit that it is not infallible and like everyone else, susceptible to making wrong policies.

Though to the die hard anti-PAP fans (which is like more than 40% of the voters), this is the sweet taste of “victory”. They have successfully wielded their irrational choice to vote for anyone but the PAP as a weapon and coerced the incumbent into making a public apology. Will this stop them from voting for the opposition? Not a chance.

It will be interesting to see how things turn out to be. After all if the PAP loses this election, they will become the opposition, and the current oppositions will be the coalition government incumbent. Then the vengeful can punish the incumbent once again, by voting for any opposition.