好久沒有寫政治文了。

最近常上PTT看一下台灣人對時事與政治的看法。難聽的話先說，都是嘴炮居多。

不管哪一個政黨執政，年輕人總是有意見。創意都用在批評政治人物上。我倒是還沒有看過有想要投身政治來為台灣未來出一份力的人。

現在最夯的話題還是離不開台灣與中國之間的愛恨情仇。嘴巴上說要獨立但是身體卻不想要去擋子彈的人似乎日益俱增。不知道是不是自由慣了沒有吃過什麽苦頭，還沒有當兵前的人好像認爲民主與自由是不需要任何的付出與代價。今天說要台灣獨立的人不知道他們是否有為國捐軀的覺悟。看他們沉迷在玩物上，就算他們有捐軀的意思我看對台灣獨立也沒有什麽幫助。

台灣需要的是有能力的政治家。一個能停止政治惡鬥，提高人民的政治素質的領袖。很可惜的，這一代並沒有像樣的人才。

成龍其實說的很對，中國人對於民主的認識還是不夠也沒有能耐來擔當自由的責任。的確是欠管。

說是天下無敵，做是無能爲力。

Various parts of Singapore were hit by flash flood this morning. Exactly one month after the “Worst flood in 50 years” that happened in Orchard we see that the same problem occurred again.

This immediately reminded me of what Prime Minister Lee has to say about this topic. “…but it is not possible to expect Singapore to be completely free of floods. The realistic objective is to prevent widespread and prolonged flooding, and limit the risk to lives and damage to properties, and to have contingency plans.”

In any other countries, for example, Taiwan. The opposition and the media would have scream for blood when the country’s highest leadership blatantly admit that they cannot stop the flooding. Taiwan is an island that’s hit by yearly typhoons, and floods are almost the norm, something to expect every year during the summer season. On the other hand we have Singapore, an island sheltered from almost every natural disaster, barring the haze and the occasional tremors we get.

And we are told that we cannot be completely free of floods. Seriously? No reasons or explanations at all?

So did the contingency plans kick in this morning? Looks to me that they just waited it out.

The PM needs to get some heat from the parliament and the people. The ruthless and aggressive kind.

Remember this during the elections.

Under the recent immigration policy of the Singapore government, there is a torrent of Chinese nationals getting PR or citizen status in Singapore.

They are cheaper to hire and most work as hard as the average the Singaporean. Some of them also don’t mind doing the “dirty” menial tasks that the educated Singaporeans loath.

Before you know it, the less competitive Singaporeans are complaining that they are out of jobs because of these “China man” who are willing to work for less. What if the person holding the post is an “ang mo”? I wonder if the Singaporean will just admit his inferiority.

But the Singaporean argues that the ang mo got the job simply because he is an ang mo and people think ang mo are superior. They get paid more even though they are roughly of the same caliber, at least in terms of academic qualification. Interestingly, if you think about this by switching the ang mo with a typical Singapore graduate, and the complaining Singaporean with a Chinese national… does the argument still hold water?

Prior to 1819, Singapore was under the rule of a Malay-Hindu Prince and was a Hindu state. The people on the island, if any, were Malay aborigines. When Stamford Raffles inked the deal to start a trading post, he started a Malay settlement. As a free port, Singapore attracted the attention Arab and Malay traders as well as the Peranakan Chinese in its early years. Then came the explosion of Chinese immigrants, as in the ones from Mainland China, during 1827. They flocked to Singapore to escape the economic hardships in China and many worked as coolies and indentured laborers.

That’s right, the Chinese people that Chinese Singaporeans are so xenophobic about actually share the same roots. And that common root is actually not too distant in time. Less than 200 years ago, that’s just like 4 generations, a typical Chinese Singaporean’s great grandfather is probably a coolie who worked for pennies on the docks.

They will probably turn in their graves when they hear their great grand children complaining about the “Ah Tiong”.

Address: #03-02 Millenia Walk, 9 Raffles Boulevard, Signapore 039596
Tel: 63377166
Web Site: http://www.nantsu.com/sg/index.html
Google Map:

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One of the two new ramen joints found at the renovated Parco Millenia walk. Located at a some what odd location but apparently still good enough to attract the crowds. I was there on a weekend with my regular ramen girls at about 2pm. A queue was still there and we waited for about 20 mins before we got our table. Thankfully the waiters will take your orders while you are still waiting in the queue. The noodles were served promptly once we were seated.

Do take some time to browse through the menu, Nantsutei has put in effort to make its menu more interesting than others with pictures of their..boss?

I haven’t ramen (or rather, good ramen) for a while so I was pleasantly surprised by Nantsutei has to offer. Like the other new ramen franchises we see in Singapore, Nantsutei hails from Japan. I figure the Japanese must have discovered that Singaporeans kind of like ramen and are willing to pay good money for it.

I orders Nantsutei’s plain vanilla ramen which starts at $12. It is not that “plain” per se actually, seeing that it came with the standard toppings that we have all come to expect of. A slice of tender and flavourful pork charshu, healthy amount of negi (Japanese spring onion), a piece of dried seaweed and some bean sprouts. Pretty decent I must say. Unfortunately there is no egg, in fact there is no egg in any of the default selections on the menu. You have to explicitly add an egg or expect none. I suppose the reason that they do not include one because the egg is really not their strong point. It is basically a hard boiled egg with an almost solid yolk. Don’t expect it to be of Marutama quality.

Disappointments aside, if the egg is not the selling point, Nantsutei’s broth and noodles definitely are. Its broth is a deviation from the standard milky and rich tonkotsu that we all have come to adore. A layer of black and appetite inducing garlic + sesame oil floats on the surface. You’d expect this to make the already strong broth harder to stomach, but the ma-yu (Japanese for the oil used) actually does the exact opposite. The aroma gives the broth a soothing character and somehow cancels out the oiliness, making this bowl of ramen one of the few tonkotsu ramens that I can empty without the aid of multiple glasses of water (yes, Miharu, I am talking about you, again).

The noodles go well with the soup. Though they are not the kind of hand made and springy kind that you find in certain chinese ramen, but it serves the purpose well. Nothing outstanding that takes away the soup’s limelight.

Suffice to say that the combination of the above is enough to garner the support of the ramen lovers in Singapore. Affordable price for a good bowl of ramen, I see no reason why Nantsutei will not become the new favourite for all.

Doubt that I will ever find the time to revamp this site. I wonder what I am doing with site every time when the domain renewal period approaches.

It doesn’t really record much of my life end I don’t really have anything interesting to write. Or rather I don’t bother to maintain the site.

It might be a sad reflection of my life though. Work eat Dota and sleep. The monotony is eating into me. I suppose this is better than the time I was wowing and not generating any income. Improvement nonetheless.

Report the ramen page? Write a ramen application? I need something fun. And not a new game. Save my already dying attention span.

First mobile post on desire!

Simply put, desire is the best phone that I have ever used. It hasi got every thing that I want packaged in a cool looking interface. If I really have to.come up with a downside, I guess that’d be it’s short battery life.

Ok I haven’t got it yet, but I am planning to tomorrow.

Time to see what Android is all about!

Well this isn’t going to make me rich but I figured that there is no harm trying. I guess the part in me that likes to register for Web 2.0 services caught up with me.

Maybe this will inspire me to blog more! Nothing beats monetary rewards don’t you think?

But my blog has a single digit page view every day so I think there is a long way to go.

Ok… this theme also has a long way to go as well. If i have the time and energy to redesign it.

Guess my Gyu Kaku pics can wait.

Went fishing with Ray today. I meant I went to watch him and his friends fish. I have a phobia near large bodies of water so fishing isn’t really the ideal hobby for me, but it sure is a great opportunity to take some nice pictures and videos.

Left my place early in the morning and got myself nicely roasted under the scorching sun at Kranji. If you thought fishing is just something that only requires you to sit and wait for the fish to bite the bait. You haven’t seen real fishing actions yet. It is definitely as vigorous and as exciting as many outdoor sports. The prey can really put up a fight.

Check out Ray’s fight. The lag in between was caused by the shutter, I took 2 pictures while shooting the video. Guess that wasn’t such a bright idea.

Went to Sungei Buloh after the fishing trip since it was near by. Brought my 40D along so that Ray can take shoot some photos. We managed to capture some nice shots using the macro lens (yes it is not that useless after all) on 5DMkII and the telephoto lens on 40D. Both Ray and I were pleased with the outcome.

All in all it was a great Sunday!

I promise myself to make a nice decent length post tomorrow. The topic shall be… CBT and religions. How about that?

If not maybe I will just post some of the new food pictures that I have taken. My life is not so stagnant.