Dîner Au Restaurant Bon Gerbil

This is one of the few nicer restaurants in Algiers. It has a good ambience and serves mostly French food with a little bit of local twist. We visit this place occasionally when we have guests. I remember being invited here for my first dinner after coming to Algeria.


Entrance



Some of our visitors from our trading company in Japan with Algerian local staff.


Cozy Interior


Selection of French and Algerian wines


Fireplace for winter season




Al Fresco Dining Area

The restaurant was almost empty when we arrive for dinner (7pm) because Algeria normal dinner time starts after 8.


Al Fresco dining in Spring time


Mixed salade: Octopus, shrimps, lettuce and springrolls


Entrecote: My dinner.

French courses are so slow, by the time my steak arrived, it was already dark...

Listomania - Top 10 MP3s

Here's a list of current top 10 favourite songs that get me through the day, in no order of preference.

1. Never Let Me Down Again - Depeche Mode
Blast from the past. This is one of my favourite DM songs and DM being one of my favourite bands.

2. Bullet With Butterfly Wings - Smashing Pumpkins
Never did gave much attention to SP until now. This song is a classic with SP fans. Heard that Billy Corgan is reviving the SP vehicle this year.

3. In My Life - Beatles
See above comments for SP. I honestly didn't know that Beatles were this good. A meangingful song.

4. Ava Adore - Smashing Pumpkins
It's this song that I adore...

5. Chasing Cars - Snow Patrol
Made me wanna watch Grey's Anatomy.

6. We Used To Be Friends - The Dandy Warhols
Neo noir high school detective series Veronica Mars theme song. Very nice upbeat and revamp of 80s synthrock style.

7. 君の好きなとこ - 平井堅
この曲が気に入る

8. Girlfriend - Avril Lavigne
I don't know about you but I just enjoy this catchy tune and naughty lyrics alot.

9. 我真的以为 - 张栋梁
虽然没有觉得很好听，不过觉得容易唱. 可惜这里没有KTV.

10. 夜空のムコウ - SMAP
SMAP didn't do it justice because some members have poor vocals but nevertheless still quite a nice song to listen to.

Having a a good selection of music to accompany me during the day can entirely uplift the mood of an otherwise mudane workday. So what are your top 10 song choices to get you through the day?

Tensions in Lebanon Again

It feels surreal to know that violence and bloodshed are happening nearby but yet I am completely ignorant until I learn about them much later.

I didn't know that fighting has started between Lebanese security forces and militants sympathetic to Al Queada in Tripoli, north of Beirut, until I read the CNN a day later. 27 soldiers and 10 militants were killed in the attack. It seems to me that those poor Lebanese boys doing national service never stood a chance against the well trained Islamic extremists.

Neither did I know about the bomb that went off in Beirut on Sunday until I spoke to a staff in my hotel.

"Did you hear about what happened in Ashrafieh last night?"

"What happened?"

"Some bomb went off at ABC"

"Wow, I was just there one day ago!!! Anybody got injured?"

"A women died."

"Wow! That's terrible. Was she nearby?"

"She was sleeping in her bed when the wall came down on her"

"Two guys from Emirates, staying in this hotel were injured also, do you know them?"

"Nope"

"One guy got a cut from a stone on his head. Another guy had his ear injured."

"Are they going to be Ok?"

"I think not so serious. Be careful, don't go out at night, if you can, stay in the hotel."

The same night, another bomb exploded in Verdun, an upscale shopping area I visited several times.

"Did you hear the explosion yesterday night?" A colleague was asking this morning? We are both staying in Hamra, which is near to Verdun. I didn't. I was eating dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe, a good distance away from Hamra.

I remembered taking a nice stroll after dinner along the beach and Bliss street before returning to the hotel. It was still difficult to imagine that just a few streets across, firemen were trying to put out fires from the explosion.

"Be careful." The same colleague said before ending our chat. Hmmm... how to be careful? I don't think I'm able to spot a car bomb anywhere.

Cleanup after Beirut blast (Source: CNN)

Movie Etiquette In Beirut Theatres

I watched Spiderman 3 at Verdun Dunes cineplex last Saturday. The movie was a good sequel to the previous spiderman movies as it had some interesting plot and character development to offer. However, I'm not going to review the movie here, instead, I want to comment on the behaviour of movie goers in Lebanon, especially at Verdun Dunes and Hamra Concorde cineplexes...

Movies like Spiderman, X-Men and Harry Potter are not children movies! Parents, please do not overestimate the attention span of your children and think that they can sit still for an entire movie. When you let them watch movies beyond their league, they become restless.

Restless children in the cinema don't behave, they started to draw unwanted attention to themselves through:

• crying
• talking to other movie goers
• running about
• standing on front row chairs and start WAVING at the rest of the audience!!!

Contrary to what parents may believe, your children stop being cute at these moments. Also contrary to what parents may believe, letting your children disturb other movie goers is not socially accepted behavior in civilized countries.

The theatre is not a country club. Do not come to the theatre if:

• you seemingly don't understand English, and,
• you prefer to chat and joke with your friends;
• you want to engage in an sms message conversaton with someone

Instead, save your hardearned 9,000 LL (SGD $9.00) and go somewhere else for coffee and snacks with friends.

When somebody shush you, it means he/she wants you to be quiet. Do not shush back and start a shushing chorus with your friends and subsequently involving half the audience. Perhaps you may not easily comprehend but people are actually there to watch a movie.

A movie is not the same as a play or musical. Movie goers do not have to clap:

• when the movie opens,
• everytime the hero vanquishes the villain,
• when the credits roll

Do not catcall or jeer at the screen everytime an intimate scene comes up. Keep your sexual insecurities to yourselves.

Having said that, I would like to add that movie going has been the most enjoyable experience at Empire ABC at Ashrafieh. The theatres seats are comfortable and well positioned to ensure a good view of the screen. And, most important of it all, a well behaved audience.

Moroccan Business Communication 101

I got this information from Yudabong. The University of Iowa's Business Communication Program website keeps an international communication etiquette resource that provides how-to information for meeting people from different nationalities. Read Yudabong's blog entry about communication etiquettes with Singaporeans here.

Working in the MENA region, I am interested to know what are some of the common etiquettes which I may not be aware of. I was able to find something for Morocco but not Algeria or Lebanon. Here are the some of the ones on Morocco I found interesting:

When Moroccans greet each other they take their time and converse about their families, friends, and other general topics.
Yeah, I'm familiar with that. I usually get asked how was my flight 32 times everyday after my arrival to Morocco.

Who you know is more important than what you know, so it is important to network and cultivate a number of contacts who may then assist you in working your way through the serpentine bureaucracy.
Right on! Things never get done if you follow the rules.

Once a relationship has developed, it is common to kiss on both cheeks, starting with the left cheek while shaking hands, men with men and women with women.
Everyone seems to be kissing everyone, I'm confused.

In business it is extremely important to verify anything that has been agreed to in front of others as it may not have been a sincere agreement and the person may have no intention of following through.
Very true! They promise the sky but upon the deadline, they look the other way.

Since Moroccans judge people on appearances, dress and present yourself well.
Dress to kill!!! *Roarrrrrr*

Moroccans prefer to do business with those they know and respect, therefore expect to spend time making a personal relationship before business is conducted.
Whew, I wonder when this meeting will ever end?

It is best to avoid scheduling meetings during Ramadan since Muslims cannot eat or drink during the day.
Better yet, avoid scheduling work.

Companies are hierarchical. The highest ranking person makes decisions, but only after obtaining a group agreement.
False. With or without group agreement. As point 2 is true, most of the group don't know anything or say anything, the decision gets passed by the highest ranking person either way.

Eat and drink only with the right hand.
Right for input function, left for output function. Makes perfect sense.

Expect to be urged to take more food off the communal plate. Providing an abundance of food is a sign of hospitality.
Ordering food in excess amount is a sign of opulence.

Everything else can be found here

Living It Up In Beirut

If life in Algiers is like season 1 of Prison Break, where all the action was cooped up in a restrained area, then my visit to Beirut is like season 2 of Prison Break - where the action just keeps getting better and I'm moving from places to places all the time. ...bear with me, I think I'm overdosed on Prison Break...

Anyway, I'd been back in Beirut for two weeks now. Beirut is my first whiff of freedom after months of being cooped up in Algeria with nothing to expect but work. This mediterranean city is constanting boasting of nice places to eat, shop, hang-out, club. It is full of vibrancy and life that one can only dream of while in Algeria.

They told me that Lebanon is still suffering from the unstable situation since last year. Downtown Beirut looks a bit quiet and deserted. But the bad situation didn't stop some business from running nor spoil my appetite for good Sharwarma. (Arabic skewered meat)

As expected, there are no lack of places to hangout in Beirut.

WATERMELON

Watermelon @ ABC Mall, Asharafieh was enjoying a full crowd when I visited with Xinyi. Nice thing about the restaurant? It's theme colors, menu and waiters' uniform changes according to the four seasons.

Their table mats have some liquid goo inside. They look so cool that I wish I could take one home to use as a mousepad. We were on diet and so we ordered some wings to share...

...and a salad, that's really big! (check out the depth of the bowl!)

PRAGUE

Located not on the European continent but in west Beirut, this little pub attracts a young crowd from the nearby American University of Beirut. Since me and my colleagues were staying nearby in Hamra, we like to pop by this pub after work for a dose of Almazar, a local beer, or their Nakad house wine.

er... camera 'buay' steady after 3 Almazars...haha...

City Mall

City Mall can be found 10mins out of Beirut by car at Dora (pronounced dow-rah). The first time I heard about this place I thought ... Big Deal ... sounds like my friendly neighbourhood Lot 1 kinda shopping mall, where you can see the quinessential aunties struggling over each other to dig out from the pile, the last remaining piece of maroon and green bedsheet going at $9.90.

It's not a big place compared to Takashimaya but big enough. Familiar labels like Springfield, Timberland and Nike can be found there. There's a huge Carrefour style supermarket, Geant Casino, to complete the store line-up. All in all, there several good reasons to go there to shop.

But now there's a better reason to go there after I learned that their 9 theaters cineplex has already opened for business. I've been starved of my fair share of going to the theaters when I'm in Algeria to the point of desperation. Maybe desperation is an understatement. The experience of going to the movies armed with a bucket of pop-corn (half buttered, half caramel please....) simply cannot be replaced by watching DVDs at home, unless your system is THX certified but mine isn't. Anyway, it's the big screen, big sound or nothing while I'm in Beirut...

Look ma! They also have big cineplexes in Lebanon!

Hard Rock Cafe

HRC promotes Open Wings Open Beer all-you-can-eat every monday nights. We went there on the monday night before the Labor Day public holiday, and saw the biggest crowd that I have ever seen.

I spent a really good time there with my colleagues that night. The music ranged from vintage rock anthems to latest dancey pop helped to spice up the party ambience. And I'm pretty sure the beer helped too...

Faraya

Faraya is a popular Ski resort in Lebanon for a good reason: European standards at a fraction of the price. But when we went to Faraya, it wasn't ski season anymore.

The snow was already melting. But we went up anyway to the InterContinental ski resort...

To enjoy tarts and hot chocolate...

Sadly, I couldn't find Bob, the snowman that I built when I came here last year. (I will miss you Bob~ )
But it was most definitely had been a very chillout trip for us...

Cooking Thai in Algiers (Mar '07)

"Finger like that and you won't cut yourself..." Na Min said as he demonstrated the technique to slice garlic. Na Min is one of the 10 Thai mechanics working in our after sales service department in Algiers. Na Min is an unassuming and easygoing man of average height. He looks to be in his mid 40s and for that reason he is referred by the other Thais as 'Na', which means 'Uncle' as a form of respect. And also because he does a lot of cooking for them. He was also my Thai cooking teacher and he was obviously very amused by my inaptitude with the kitchen knife.

It all started much earlier when I made friends with the Thai mechanics here. Anyway, one thing led to another, they got to know that I love Thai food. As the common wisdom goes: teach a man how to fish, it will feed him for a lifetime, so about a month ago by chance, I got the opportunity to learn how to prepare some common Thai dishes from Na Min. The recipes weren't that difficult to follow but getting all the ingredients may be a challenge in Algeria. Some of the ingredients such as the spices for green curry and chilli were brought by the Thais during their vacation back home. That means I have to stock up on Thai ingredients during my next visit back to Singapore.

The first dish Na Min taught me was Gang Keao Wan Gai (Thai green curry with chicken).

I was much surprised and relieved that one of my favourite Thai food is quite easy to prepare.

The second dish was Pad Ka Pow Goong (Stir-fried prawns with chilli and basil)

I don't eat prawns but it is easy to substitute using chicken or other meats. Cooking with basil really enhance the smell!

Finally, I prepared Larb Gai (Stir-fried Chicken Salad)

Larb is also one of my favourite Thai food. It was also surprisingly easy to prepare. They say practice makes perfect and I'm willing to spend lots of time and effort to perfect this dish.

The Verdict: Satisfactory (7/10)
Under expert supervision I was able to cook a authentic and tasty meal, even though some of the ingredients used weren't indigenious Thai. The larb dish was my particular favourite because Na Min's recipe was unlike those that I have tasted.

Join The Army They Say...

I am a trained riflemen.

Although I don't ever consider myself an expert in marksmanship and I'm also out of touch as well but I had received some pretty good training. Some of the things that you learned, you won't easily forget ... just like riding a bike or driving a car. If it comes to the crunch, training takes over and I think I can shoot pretty well.

I remembered marksmenship training to be tough. We were taught to shoot at stationery and moving targets from various positions and from different situations. I remembered seeing a lot of interesting reactions that came with people who are handling deadly weapons. But I had never seen this....




Wah lao...I am glad that there isn't this kind of bonding in my army.

Oh Baby Baby It's A Wild World

Yes, indeed it is. Just take a look at the recent outbreaks of suicidal style killings in Algeria and Morocco, two countries that I happened to be in at the time coincidentally.

In Morocco, Casablanca April 10th, 3 suicide bombers wearing explosive belts blew themselves up in Casablanca killing a policeman and wounding others. A 4th bomber was gunned down by a police sniper before he had any chance of blowing himself up. (CNN source)

Then on April 11th, a suicide bomber killed 30 and wounded 200 or more when he detonated his car in downtown Algiers. Another bomb also killed 11 people when it went off near a police station. (CNN source)

A day after my arrival in Casablanca on Friday 13th, another two suicide bombers blew themselves up near the American Cultural Center. A third suspected bomber was arrested before he could blow himself up.

And not to mention many more similar terrorist acts around the world, especially Iraq and even in the US.

Why are these people so eager to take their lives and harm the lives of many other innocent people in the process? The common justification for such kinds of action is that the aged old idea of "good vs evil" sometimes with heavy religious overtones. The perpetuators rationalize themselves as the good guys who are fighting against something perceived as evil. However, I believe that any religion worth its salt will never condone any form of reckless killing no matter how noble the ideals maybe.

Incidently the issue reminded me of an espisode in the series Supernatural that I watched recently. In the episode, the spirit of a recently deceased pastor, due to a violent shooting, started to reappear to others as a holy vision. The spirit, believing that he had become God's avenging angel, started appealling as a vision to some 'low life' (a prostitute and an alcoholic), and offered them 'redemption' by taking the life of someone, whom the spirit knew had committed or is going to commit a grievous crime. At the end of the episode, the pastor's spirit, summoned by a séance performed by Sam Winchester, defended his actions and that he was acting upon the word of God, to strike down those who has sinned against humanity. Hearing that, the mentor of the dead pastor disagreed and said, "'Thou shall not kill!' THAT is the word of God!"

Turmoil in Algiers?

Algeria made it on Strait Times Interactive today with a majoy league bad news that reads: 2 Algiers bombs kill 30, stoke security fears." According to another similar news article on sg.yahoo, it was the first time since the 1990s that the Algiers city center was targeted. The suicide bombing was targetted at the prime minister's headquarters. Hospital sources put the toll from the two bombings at 30. Earlier, the official APS news agency put the toll at 17 dead with 82 wounded. The main guerilla group, the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC), which has adopted a new name since January after it deepened its ties to al Qaeda, has since claimed responsibility. The group, now called the al Qaeda Organisation in the Islamic Maghreb, has been responsible for a number of deadly bombings targeting security forces and foreigners.

Darn!

Well at least the situation reported by the news is better than what I heard from the locals this morning. They told me there were five explosions altogether and 16 unexploded bombs discovered by the security forces. One of the explosion was just few kilometers near our office. Although there is no way of comfirming these hearsay but I believe that the locals are pretty fond of blowing things out of proportion (no pun intended).

It was widespread belief that that the islamic insurgency was a thing of the past after the issue of presidential amnesty for the insurgents (see my previous entry). Any occurences of violence are restricted to the mountainous regions while populated regions are heavily patrolled by security forces. Seems like this theory has been proven wrong.

But before everyone panics, it may be wise to look at the current situation objectively. According to the latest popular belief, the escalation of insurgent attacks is aimed at disrupting the coming general election in May. So everyone can expect a step-up in attacks from now until May. We just have to avoid public places in order to be safe. All in all, Algeria is still a safe place given the low statistics of attack occurences compared to the large numbers of foreigners here.

Does knowing this help? Hell, no. Our group of expatriates has to commute from our guest apartment to the office daily through congested and narrow city streets for about 20 - 40 mins, depending on traffic conditions, in a big Hiace passenger van. We are going to be sitting ducks vulnerable to road side bombs or sidewalk gun fire attacks if we are being targeted. Am I being paranoid? I don't think so, there had been one such attack on expatriates of an American company last year and a similar incident on a Russian company bus last month. While the situation is not totally FUBAR but it will be something to think about on the daily commute.

Man, life in Algiers is getting more interesting!

久しぶりにJAPAN ~ (Part 2) Japanese Food

I'm doing belated posts again. Working on a tight schedule in Japan had kept me busy and after arriving in Morocco, the inefficient IT at the local office thwarted my plans to blog.

When it comes to food, Japanese and Thai food take the cake. Singaporean and Malayan food only come up in second place. The reasons for my preference of Japanese food? The freshness of the ingredients-used and the simplicity of it's cooking. Like most Asians, I like soya-based (shouyu & miso) flavouring in foods. On top of it, the way Japanese foods are presented is so pleasing to the eye, so what's not to like? Lastly, the Japanese are specialists in cooking fish and they are probably even better than the Chinese. By the way, the Algerian and Moroccan ways of cooking fish leave a GREAT DEAL to be desired (Often a waste of good fish!!!)

Unlike my previous trips to Japan, which were almost exclusively in Tokyo, this time I had the opportunity to spend most of my time in Nagoya and also made a slight detour to Fukuoka and Kyoto. Of course, I didn't disappoint myself by sampling a lot of the local delicacies along the way.

When I'm in the middle east, I missed most ramen cooked in thick pork broth (tonkotsu). The one I had in the picture wasn't tonkotsu but miso based.

Japan beef (wagyu) has a marbled texture due to a well-balanced distribution of fats in the meat. I heard that wagyu are fed beer, good grains and they undergo regular massages for their meat to achieve such a texture. The most famous beef brands in Japan are Matsusaka, Kobe, Omi and perhaps others. Among the best Japanese beef, I've tried Matsusaka beef during my previous trips. On this trip, I again had good luck. The chef in the picture is preparing my Omi beef teppanyaki. Hopefully in the future, I can try Kobe beef.

After eating so much meat during my trip, it was a nice change to have something light and yet tasty. The picture shows a Yu Dofu course that I took in Kyoto. Kyoto cuisines (kyoryori) are known for their refined nature and I think tofu has an excellent and refined taste. Yu dofu literally means tofu cooked in a pot of hot water (yu). The entire course contained no meat but is made up of tofu and other vegetables cooked in different style. Very refreshing and healthy.

One of my Japanese director kindly allowed us a short stay at his home in Tajimi (Gifu prefecture). Although he wasn't on the trip, his wife and daugthers hosted us. I'm always eager to experience living in a Japanese traditional home but unfortunately, I never had the chance to participate in any homestay activities when I was still a student. The Tsuzuki family invited us to a simple but very special and delicious dinner of handmade sushi, salad, eggplant and miso soup (photo). Although the stay was short, it was very memorable. The hospitality and kindness of the Tsuzuki family best reflected the "guest-first" mentality of the Japanese Way.

This was my last meal in Japan before leaving for the airport. Mrs. Tsuzuki invited us to a meal at Yamachan's 幻の手羽先, which is known for making good tebasaki (chicken wings). Tebasaki is one of the specialty foods for Nagoya so it was sacrilegious if I didn't eat it before leaving Japan. I found tebasaki to be moderately nice but discoverd another of Nagoya's speciality "とて煮" (toteni)[bottom-right in picture] to be so much more delicious. I've now acquired a craving for this dish, which is made with miso boiled pork "spare parts" and served with rice.

I am definitely going to miss the food in Japan a lot!

久しぶりにJAPAN~ (Part 1)

I'm now in Japan on business trip. It's been a week since my arrival to Japan and I'm still in awe with Japan even after the 7th visit. However, it's only my 2nd visit to Nagoya and I'm beginning to feel that I enjoy this fourth largest Japanese city more than Tokyo. At least, it is not as crowded as Tokyo.

The past week had been the first leg of my trip in which I participated in a TWSM program to learn more about the Toyota Way history and philosophy. It was an enriching and deeply inspiration experience to learn about the men and their values that helped propel a small weaving company into the world's no. 2 automobile maker in just over 70 years. (For the interested, you can get the same information online: http://www.toyota.co.jp/en/history/index.html ; http://www.toyota.co.jp/en/vision/traditions/)

Starting this week, it'll just be meetings after meetings. But hey, I'm still in Japan, I can't complain.

Anyway, I'm going to put in more entries about my Japan trip later. Suffice to say, I'm having a great time so far. Well not 100% enjoyable. Just look at some of the food I have to endure:


Or do they mean "herbs"?

Everyday Something New

Today I "upgraded" my blogger account. And I discovered that I had received several comments about my previous posts, which I was never aware of. I'm not very adept at fiddling with my blogger account.

Anyway, my sincere apologies if you had made any comments and I failed to reply.

Well, I'm slightly retarded on the IT side. Blame my genes.... =P

Happy Lunar New Year!

WOW! My first post in 2007.

Just want to wish my non-existent readers a Happy Lunar New Year!

Christmas Eve Dinner @ Casablanca

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Christmas is not a holiday here so I was hoping to spend Christmas in a quiet sort of way. On Christmas eve, Xinyi and I didn't do much but lounged in our hotel rooms until it was dinner time. (Check out the things that we did since we got to Casablanca).

Our Christmas eve dinner was Japanese food. Turkey and stuffed meat, foods that are traditionally associated with Christmas, are pretty usual fare in the Maghrebian diet anyway. Moreover, I had a craving for Japanese food.

Kiyotori, one of the two Japanese restaurants in Casablanca, not far from our hotel was our choice. Other than sounding Japanese, Kiyotori does not have any meaning in Japanese. It was also not easy to find the restaurant because it was located in the middle of a inconspicuous and deserted alley. Ridiculous name and location aside, Kiyotori is really a popular restaurant with the hip and up-market crowd because of its pricey exotic fare and lush interior design.

The menu items @ Kiyotori are the usual culprits on a typical Japanese restaurant menu like teppanyaki, sushi, tenpura, kushiyaki (skewered meat) and sashimi. The missing items are donburi (rice bowls), udon and ramen because perhaps they don't cater to the local tastes. For novelty, the restaurant does have specialty sushi rolls with rather interesting names like dragon roll and anaconda roll.

To be able to satisfy my craving for sushi while being thousands of miles away from Asia, I think I cannot complain much. Actually, I consider the food @ Kiyotori quite tasty in its own right, especially the dragon roll, which nicely blended the tastes of unagi (eel) and avocado.To compare, I would position the taste of the Kiyotori above Sakae Sushi to somewhere on par with Sushi Tei. Kiyotori gets a small plus over Sushi Tei for the freshness of its seafood, while losing out a little to Sushi Tei for authenticity.

Shadow Divers: The Movie

It seems that I now have to wait for two more years before Shadow Divers will hit the movie theatres. According to IMDB, the show will start production only in 2009 instead 2008 as originally scheduled. Also announced was the change of director from Ridley Scott (Black Hawk Down, Kingdom of Heaven) to Peter Weir (Master and Commander, Dead Poets Society).

There are not many scuba-diving-related literature in popular culture, therefore, I was very thrilled to learn that Shadow Divers will be made into a movie based on a very successful book. The book written by Robert Kurson, is about a real life account of the discovery of an unidentified WW2 U-boat by 2 American technical divers. The book became an instant favorite of mine because the topics are about diving and military history. As Kurson received much collaboration from the 2 divers Chatterton and Kohler themselves, the book was not only rich in the technical aspects and risks in deep wreck diving, but he was also able to accurately portrayed the emotional ups-and-downs and the enormous risks that the protagonists went through during the 7 years that it took to unravel the identity of the sub, during which, some members of their team died and their personal lives were also destroyed.

I'm really eager for the book to be made into a movie. After all, with a captivating story like that, how can the movie not work? Moreover, my expectations of movie adaptation from books were raised after Lord of the Rings. The choice of directors from Ridley Scott to Peter Weir were top-notched. Fox pictures seem ready to throw in a lot of resources to make this movie work.

Personally, I did have some reservations towards Ridley Scott as the director. I felt that he did a average job on Black Hawk Down (the book was so much nicer than the movie). There is a lot more focus on the action than the characters in the movie. So I tend to agree with some reviewers on the net that with Peter Weir coming to the helm of the picture, Shadow Divers will be more emotionally complex in tone similar to the book.

Back To The Future: Vacation in Singapore

Work, it seems, always get busier right before and just after any vacation. I was kept busy after returning from my vacation in Singapore so there was little time for blogging. After almost two months since my last posting, here's an update.

It is true. Going back to Singapore from Algeria was like going back to the future. I dare say that Algeria is 30 years behind Singapore in development. Things I had taken for granted in Singapore, such as the ubiquitous supermarkets and an extensive public transport network, are so uncommon in Algeria that I do have a better appreciation of these things now.

Back in Singapore, I did enjoy a sense of familiarity and "rootedness" to a place, especially after being away. While going out, I can blend in with the crowds and not stuck out like a sore thumb as a foreigner and that certainly made me feel more relaxed. Nobody stared at me like I was an alien from outer space. It was certainly nice to resume a bit of the familiar life in Singapore for a change.

I divided my time while mainly between spending time with Xinyi, my family, shopping and meeting up with friends. Xinyi had recently quit her job in TMAP and to join me in the Middle East by taking up a job in my company. Our time together were spent preparing for her to make the trip over.

There was quite a lot of excitement in my family since my sister had given birth to another son in March. I now have two monkeys as nephews. Of course I am inclined to think that my return has caused some of the excitement as well.

It was definitely fun to be back having chats over dinner with my friends. For some of my honors classmates, it was a bitching good time over desserts @ sixth avenue. Yah, call me "suaku" but that's really my first time there. For the Ewores, we had our reunion @ Henry's place. Henry's a dude who is one step ahead and doesn't waste time. He's ahead of all of us now that he's already a father. There were many other friends that I would like to meet up with but unfortunately timing wasn't great.

Oh, did I mention my shopping? I love shopping, especially for clothes. Surprisingly, I didn't get any clothings on this trip. After months of being a refugee, I learned that there's a lot of things which I don't need, especially clothes. So what were the damages? -->

With this, I won't get bored on any flights that don't have a decent entertainment system anymore. Yes, that includes you, Air France! Also a reason why I haven't blogged for so long! =P

& a new mobile phone, which cost a freaking SGD$500 because I have to buy without contract

The flipside of my vacation in Singapore was of course, the haze! The pollution was getting quite bad during my stay, sometimes going up to 140+ PSI. Thinking that I was well adjusted to adverse environment such as the dusty air in Algeria, I would have no problems with the bad air. I found out that I was wrong. Half the time during my stay, I had to suffer a sinus problem which caused my nose to drip, and a sorethroat. The haze also made the weather really smoggy and unbearably hot and humid. It was also a huge bummer that I lost my camera charger. I realized it during my packing before my trip, which, was the reason why I couldn't take any pictures in Singapore.

The thing about vacations is that time is never on your side. Three weeks just flew on by and before I realized it I was on an Emirates flight back to Casablanca. See you next year!

Returning to Singapore

Yes, my dear non-existent readers, I am finally going back to Singapore for my annual vacation starting from 8 November!

It has been about 11 months since my last return. It is very exciting and interesting for me to see my country again after being away. Shopping and Eating are definitely on the top of my agenda. =)

My poor flight planning is evident again. I am going to spend 17 hours in Dubai before catching the next connecting flight...*duh*

Anyway, I'm glad to be going on vacation!

新人培训：感想

一转眼五个星期的新人培训在上个周末结束了.课程结束之后，新生们都会分散回国，然后被调到不同的单位工作.离开前一天，上完最后一天课后，负责培训的我们就让新生自由发言表示他们在这一个多月的感想和意见.大家都说在这几个星期里学到了很多商业和职场的知识，也说自己能结识到这么多不同国籍的新朋友而感到高兴.要和不同国籍和背景的人相处固然不简单，但是做得到也算是一种成功.

毕竟大多数的新生都是刚毕业的年轻人，所以还没有在社会上工作的经验.对他们来讲, 这次培训能够让他们见识到什么是职场的心理准备。因为他们还没经历过工作的磨练，所以很纯，感情非常丰富.有好几位在发言时，可能是回想到培训中的苦与乐，还有将要和新朋友离别的事实，激动到哭了，话也只说了一半就说不下去.有一位来自摩洛哥的表示他曾经上过几家公司的训练，但是没有遇到过这么会照顾新人的培训员.听了这些感激的话，我们都感到很欣慰.

大家离开之后，我却因为行程的关系，在饭店多住了几天.每天下班回到饭店，看到Lobby空荡荡的，和之前以经熟悉看到那里一大群人集合在聊天说笑的情景相比之下,觉得气氛很不一样. 这段时间大家在一起生活的情景不断在脑海浮现，感觉满温馨的.

这次培训我参与的部分最少，跟新生接触的时间也比较少，不过跟大家相处了也有一段时间，觉得他们都有成长.有一位阿尔及利亚的男新生，在培训开始时，因为没有自信心所以一句英语都不敢讲，但是在最后一天，他却在大家的鼓励之下，在众人面前大胆的用英语发表自己的感触.虽然英语还是说得很烂，可是他却得到了很重要的自信心！

我参与这次公司办的新人培训（其实是没有选择）而却能够做出一点小贡献，让这些刚毕业的公司新生学到在社会里工作所需要的宝贵知识和态度（比如自信心，尊重他人意见之类），我也算尽了份力吧.

Casablanca: Freshmen Orientation Camp / Being a Teacher!

I'm way overdue in updating my blog *checks the date* for like more than a month. This period had been very hectic for me because of work. First a little update, although the crisis situation in Beirut has subsided much, I still don't have plans to return to Beirut because of work commitments. From the looks of it, I will not be returning for quite some months.

Freshmen Orientation Camp
It's quite unheard of for a company to run a Freshmen Orientation Camp for its new associates. Actually, this is the second one conducted within our organization and the number of freshmen has increased from 7 to 40+!

The Camp began at the end of August and will run it's course until end of September. During these 5 weeks of Freshmen training, the 40 or so management trainees will receive an education on a variety of topics ranging from the TW foundations, BR Kaizen principles, vehicle, service and parts marketing. This kind of training is rare even in TMC group.

Our "camp" happens to be a very plush compound that calls itself Casablanca Appart Hotel. The place reminds me of the Hollywood-ish apartments in popular soaps starring A-list wannabes suntanning besides the pool. Anyway, it's a great place with great hospitality and great food. I'm definitely missing it after September. My involvement in the camp was to be a trainer and coordinator for the freshmen.


My Worst Nightmare: Being a Teacher!
If I knew that in the course of my job I have to lecture to a big class, I will think twice before accepting the offer. Teachers are not in my good books and I have a deep dread for public speaking.

My involvement in the Camp is to be one of the trainers and coordinator. When I learned about it two months ago, I felt shivers down my spine. Panic buttons couldn't stop ringing. Then the "top" assigned me my topics: Vehicle Marketing, Logistics and TW Sales and Marketing.

Are you kidding me?...I was thinking to myself. I never had a day of marketing lesson in my entire 16 years of education (kindergarten excluded). I didn't even know who is Kotler or what the 4Ps are until last month! And I was expected to stand in front of 40+ people, including a number of marketing graduates, to tell them about marketing and selling vehicles for 3 days!?

And then came the late nights trying to cram what I can glean from borrowed texts and the internet into a presentation, all the while thinking to myself if I have enough content to last an entire lecture. Fortunately, the late nights came in handy as I was too tired to worry on the night before my lecture.

The Lesson?
I didn't give the best of lectures but I didn't ruin it entirely either. The deep fear of speaking in public quickly subsided after a few minutes into the lecture. I was defintely nervous throughout but the fear didn't turn out to be a big ugly monster that I thought it will be. The responsive audience helped alot in easing the tension. Sometimes my mind run blank and no words came but asking the audience questions gave me sometime to think about what to say. And the best trick to avoid public speaking? Throw a couple of questions and break the audience out for discussion groups. Once the ball is in their court, they must now do the talking now. I just need to listen. =P

(...having sweaty palms)

The Epitome of Cute

Three years old Cleopatra Stratan is the youngest and cutest singing sensation in the world today. She hails from Romania. Watch her MTV "Ghita" here.

She recent gave a concert! Someone blogged about her concert here.

Can anyone be any cuter?

在外国的第一个国庆日

昨天是新加坡的国庆日。

刚好新加坡时间七点是我这里的午餐时间. 于是我便上网想看国庆日典礼, 希望能看得到放烟花的项目. 但是不知道为什么收不到Streaming Media, 最后决定放弃, 只从国庆日官方网站下载到今年的NDP Theme Song.

今年的首选是Kaira Gong的My Island Home. 我想应该是新人吧, 名字很独特. 她的Profile上说她像孙燕姿一样在台湾发展. 难道新加坡人都要到外国去发展才会出头吗？

除了去年有Taufik一个男生以外, 近几年的NDP Theme Song好像都用女歌手来主打. 本地男歌手, 好像全部都跑去做幕后了, 还是都退休了？

看My Island Home MV时, 觉得拍的比较商业化. It doesn’t stink so much of nationalism. 我想这样比较好，那种Nationalistic, 为国为民的片段看多了会想吐. 为了制造效果，MV拍的有一点暗. 外国同事看不明白，告诉我: 你们新加坡建筑物太高，遮住太阳了。

妈的! 今年没有烟花看!

Crisis in the Middle East: I Is Refugee

I read today on Channel NewAsia about the story of how student Samantha Kudus and businessman Gerald Anthony were evacuated from war-torn Lebanon. According to the report, Ms Kudus and Mr Anthony were assisted by the Singapore Consulate in Acharafieh to evacuate through Tripoli in the north to arrive to Damascus in Syria.

They probably will never forget the experience of their evacuation from Beirut. If there wasn't a war to escape from, it would have been a pleasant drive up north this time of the year in the beautiful Mediterranean summer. As Lebanon get once again engulf in war, they probably wondered like I did if there is another chance to visit the magnificent ruins of Balbeck or the crusader fort in Sidon. Both Balbeck and Sidon are currently being hit by the Israeli military.

Reading the report, I felt glad that they safely got out of Beirut eventually. For them, the war now may seem to have nothing to do with them, except for Ms Kudus who still has a boyfriend in Lebanon.

It is a different situation for me. Living in Beirut for almost a year, it has become a home for me during of my expatriation. Fortunately, I was already out of Beirut when the crisis broke out. Now the problem is that I can't get back into Beirut. It is anyone's guess as to how long and to what extent the conflict will go on.

With the escalating tension and unabating violence, it is certain that the crisis will be a prolonged one. So now it is certain that there is a war to wait out before I can eventually return to my home in Beirut. At the meantime, I am "surviving" on a small suitcase with 3 change of clothes and 300 US dollars because I originally had the intention to travel only for one week until internation politics spoilt my plans.

Life is pretty comfortable as the subsidiary company is now providing for my basic needs. Hopefully, diplomacy bring about a resolution in months to come. Already things are beginning to look bright, we have accounted for all our twenty-one Lebanese staff, including several living in Hezbollah active areas. They refused evacuation and have chosen to re-open our office and continue working. Perhaps I will be able to return in the near future. Certainly, that is not too much for a "refugee" to hope for right?

Crisis in the Middle East: Private Concerns

When Israel invaded Lebanon few days ago, I was away on a business trip to Morocco fortunately. I am very grateful to those who tried to contact me out of concern for my safety.

During the start of the crisis, most of my expats co-workers were either travelling or on vacation with their families. It has been decided to temporary set up our office at our distributor office in Morocco. For the time being, I am going to be based between Morocco and Algeria.

At present, there are few personal concerns over the situation in Lebanon

The first concern is to the colleagues who are still in Beirut. As the telephone lines and internet are down and the office closed, we have no knowledge of their well-being. At this stage, I think Beirut is still pretty safe but it is very difficult to speculate what will happen next. If the situation worsen, they will be endangered.

The second concern pertains to the relocation of our office. Even if the crisis ends in a few months time, it will be in the best business and employees' interest to relocate to another country. The question is when and where?

The third concern is whether I can ever get back to my apartment in Beirutto retrieve my personal belongings. If I do return in a few month's time after the end of the crisis, I wonder if my landlord will give me a war time discount and not charge me months of unpaid rent? The content in my fridge must be spoilt by then and it will be difficult to clean up.
As each day passes, we follow the news closely to grasp the situation in Lebanon and hope that the situation doesn't worsen.

Culinary Challenge: Spaghetti Alla Carbonara

When I'm not freeloading my colleague's dinner table (95% of the time), I attempt to cook (5% of the time). I'm not an experienced cook so most of my cooking usually ends up OK and in need of a little fine-tuning.

My Plan: Making Spaghetti Alla Carbonara for dinner...

The Ingredients:
1/4 pound (100 g) pancetta or bacon
1/2 cup (25 g) grated Pecorino Romano
4 egg yolks and 2 egg whites
1/4 cup (60 ml) heavy cream (optional)
Olive oil, salt, and pepper
A pound (400 g) of spaghetti

Serves 4
(source - http://italianfood.about.com/od/meatsauces/r/blr0076.htm)

What I Did?

1. Reduce the measurement of the available ingredients for 4 to 1 by guess-timation...

2. Boil the pasta with salt.

3. In a bowl, mix egg and cheese. I had substituted the grated Pecorino Romano with Kraft's grated Parmesian cheese for the simple reason that Pecorino Romano costs 20 times more. (Yes, I'm not yet ready to invest in myself as a cook!). Into the mixture also add salt and pepper. Heavy cream was not an option to me because it sounds like a lot of fat.

4. Dice and saute bacon in some olive oil (I only use extra virrrrgin) until crispy.

5. When the pasta was done, drain and transfer pasta to a plate. Pour in the egg/cheese mixture, stir and expect the heat of the pasta to do the cooking. Add bacon crisp and serve

Reality Check and The Verdict

The pasta was perfectly al dente. A marked improvement in my history of cooking pasta.

Well, the heat from the pasta didn't cook the eggs or melt the cheese completely as the recipe intended. In my hurry to transfer the pasta to avoid losing heat, I failed to completely drain the pasta. Some residue water evidently went on to the plate. Hence, the pasta was slightly "soupy". Finally, I had to put it into the microwave for several minutes to complete the cooking process.

Result: As Joey Tribianni will say, Eggs good! Cheese good! Bacon Good! Pasta Gooood!!!! What's not to like about it?

While most commercial carbonaras are way too creamy for my taste, my home-made pasta was eggy and cheesy, which was more suited for my taste buds. Since the cheese didn't melt well from the onset and there was a little bit of "gravy" due to incomplete draining, the taste wasn't as rich as I'd like. This was easily resolved by adding more cheese to the pasta.

As for my next attempt, I believe that sauteing the pasta in a pan will greatly enrich the taste because it will bring out the flavour of cheese and egg even more. Now I will need to find a "guinea pig"...

Algeria: A Former Hell

A Dangerous History
Sometimes it is easy to forget that Algeria used to be the most dangerous place on earth before there was even Iraq or Afghanistan. According to sources, the post WW2 history of Algeria was a bloody one.

According to Wikipedia, the 133 years of French colonialism was brought to an end by one of the bloodiest revolutions in post WW2 era. Although independence was achieved in 1962, conflict continued between the military and the various Islamic rebel groups for control over the country. During the conflict, both sides committed atrocities towards the Algerian people. Entire towns and villages were massacred by the rebel militants and possibly also the military in disguise as rebels. The perpertuators would infiltrate the towns and villages by night and visit house by house executing everyone inside including the young, old and women. While slitting of throats was the method of choice, survivors had reported witnessing the beheading of babies and the burning of womenfolk and aged. Approximately 100,000 lost their lives during the civil war.

Throughout the years, the military was able to gain ground. The Islamic militant groups slowly weakened due to assasinations carried out on the leaders and internal dissent. In 2003, The GSPC (The Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat) with about 300 fighters was the remnant of the rebel faction still willing to carry on the fight.

Restored Peace and Economic Development
General peace and stability was ushered in following the election of Mr. Bouteflika as president. He enacted a policy of clemency to encourage the militants to surrender. Economic development was probably seen as a way to eradicate poverty and unemployment (causes of anti- government sentiments)

Rich with oil and natural gas, Algeria hit the jackpot when the price of oil soared. The national debt was reduced and there was sufficient money to be injected into the economy. A USD60 billion budget was allocated to support an economic development plan for five years. Among it many aims were the plans to build 1 million low cost homes, to construct a nation highway linking the east to west (USD14 Billion) for promotion of commerce between the cities, and to introduce incentives to promote local enterprises.

Foreign direct investments were courted as partnerships were concluded with nations like China, the US, Korea. A Singapore delegation led by SM Goh visited on April '06 to secure economic alliance particularly in port operations, housing and resources management.

...But We're Not Out Of The War Yet
The prevailing climate of peace and economic optimism often makes it easy to neglect the fact that Algeria is still in the midst of a civil war. Politically the civil war never officially ended because hundreds of GSPC fighters are still at large to continue their terrorist tactics.

In 2003 February, the GSPC was responsible for the kidnap of 32 European tourists visiting the Sahara, all but one were later released unharmed in Tunisia? Just last month in April '06, 13 customs officers, including 2 regional directors, were gunned down while enroute to a conference in the south. The military retaliated by hunting down and killing the perpetuators. Two weeks ago, a brother of one of our dealers was picked up and held for ransom while driving a few kilometres from Algers. Last week, a group of colleagues visited our showroom in the south. Even though a police escort was arranged for them, the Landcruisers they were in were travelling at breakneck high speed. When asked, the drivers replied that they were driving so fast to prevent car-jacking by the "terrorists".

Although Algers is now generally immuned to terrorism, it was interesting to learn that preventive measures taken during the period of turmoil are still existing today:

1) All tree trunks had their lower halves painted white to prevent snipers or ambushers hiding behind trees.

2) There are no traffic lights. Cars do not stop because stopping make them vulnerable to terrorist activities.

3) People do not go out at night. Actually, there were no reasons to because there are virtually no forms of popular social entertainment like malls and theaters. Fast food franchises like McDonalds and Burger Kings are virtually unheard of. While restaurants are aplenty, they are costly and out of bounds to the general population.

Despite the occasional acts of terrorism and crime, Algeria is now very safe and peaceful. However, the dearth of popular entertainment venues probably makes Algeria one of the most boring place on earth!

References:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algeria
Pelton, Robert; The World's Most Dangerous Places

Help Needed For Better Flight Schedule Booking

This is a much belated blog entry because I had been on business trips and I didn't find the time to blog.

I had to admit that although I am a frequent flier for years now, I am still very bad at planning my flight schedules.

Departure
On 17 April I travelled to Bangkok via Dubai. My flight from Beirut to Dubai has only just landed did I realised that my next flight out of Dubai was at 2245. My flight had landed on 1510. Not once did I realise this when the ticket was issued to me about 2 weeks from departure. So it came to be that due to my "excellent" flight scheduling, I have more than 7 hours to kill in the Dubai International Airport.

Fortunately, the airport is a spacious and well equiped place to kill time. An entire floor was devoted to duty-free shopping and there were plenty of comfortable seating in the transit lounge. It occured to me that I actually enjoyed the sight of Asian faces around me. In addition to the ubiquitous Asian travellers, most of the employees working in the terminal were from the Philippines.

The first thing I did was to visit the bookstore hoping to get a book to read and kill time. The bookstore in the Dubai airport has a good selection of books including many titles on the Middle East. But some inconsiderate idiot has stuck a piece of chewing gum to an Edward Said book that I was browsing and some of the gum stuck to my fingers, making me swore all the way to the washroom.

Actually, the 7 hours transit time was well spent in retrospect. It was very nice to do things leisurely once a while. The bulk of my waiting time was spend reading a paperback I bought at the bookstand over a huge cup of mocha. In fact, I was so engrossed in my reading that I only checked in with barely enough time to catch my dinner before boarding the flight to Bangkok

Arrival
My poor flight scheduling was evident during my return flight to Beirut on the 24th. My transit time in Dubai was less than an hour. A total farcry from the 7 hours I had on the previous trip. To make thing worse, I had a cold and my head hurts during the entire flight from Bangkok to Dubai. Unfortunately, I couldn't sleep it off because my neighbouring passenger, a tourist from Saudi Arabia kept chatting with me. Actually, he was a very sociable guy and I would have enjoyed chatting with him if not for my cold. I hope that I didn't strike him as being abrupt and curt.

The consequence of giving myself less than an hour's allowance of transit time was that although I made the flight, my luggage didn't. When I arrived they told me that my luggage will be coming on the next day's flight. Fortunately, things work out well the following day. I did receive my luggage on time as well as a small compensation fee from Emirates.

Inshallah

凡是跟阿拉伯人打过交道的人都会很熟悉‘印沙阿拉’这个口头禅。“印沙阿拉”是阿拉伯语代表“愿真主应许”的意思。当你问他们一个问题的时候十个有八个会常用“印沙阿拉”来回答。而且是问什么都可以这样回答。

煎茶：。。。好，我们下个礼拜再见。
他：印沙阿拉，希望下个礼拜能再见。

其实这样讲也没有错。人生无常吗，一个礼拜可能会有很多事情发生，搞不好还真的是见不了面呢？谁说得准？“印沙阿拉”也反映着回教徒的思想和文化。因为对他们而言，阿拉真主是主栽着一切的。

但是就有一些人喜欢碰到任何难题时，根本没有用大脑想过，就满口“印沙阿拉”的叫。这就变成是滥用！尤其在商业或工作场合时滥用，给人一种很不负责任的态度。遇到这种情况有时候会气死人，可是有时候又很好笑。有一个同事的太太到店里去买鸡肉：

她：请给我2公斤的鸡胸肉。
店长：对不起，今天卖完了。
她：请问明天会有货吗？我再来买。
店长：印沙阿拉，步库拉 （愿真主应许明天可能会有）
她：@_@

做生意的连明天有没有货都不知道，那他就玩完了！不过在中东这是很标准的回答。可能是他的供应商也跟他“印沙阿拉”吧，所以他没办法只好对客人“印沙阿拉”咯。而且最近鸡在生病，所以店长这样说也可能没有错。　

我在工作时做贩促企划时会跟一些代理商贩促经理开会了解市场预测和贩卖预估，往往也都是一问三不知。代理商他们设贩卖目标，但是都没有想过怎么样去达成目标，只是希望阿拉会保佑。他们喜欢自己被处在被动的角度，所以有什么事情他们都不用负责任，因为阿啦都不答应还能要他们怎么办。记得有一次开会，一个营业所经理在发表他的贩卖动向：“印沙阿拉！我们应该能够多卖出几十台吧？”他一直“印沙阿啦”的叫，后来代理商总经理受不了就说：“你是营业经理，叫你多买几十台车你都要叫阿拉保佑你？”

人算不如天算百密中有一漏，事情往往会有一些预想不到的效果。如果做事尽了力，那么剩下来就只有印沙阿拉了。这是可以理解的，受不了的是那些喜欢把这句当借口，好像什么都不能怪他们。我有一个建议，就是找一些有创业性的音乐制作人把那首“爱拼才会赢”的福建歌翻译成阿拉伯语然后在中东发行，教育这些害群之马的下一代“七分靠打拼，三分天注定，爱拼才会赢”的真理。。。

Lebanese War Victim

"You know I used to own three shops" said the taxi driver as he negotiated the Peugeot 407 round a left turn. "I imported leather jackets from Italy," the driver added as his left hand pulled at the leather sleeve of his right hand which stayed on the wheel.

The taxi driver was driving me back from the airport to my apartment after my Algeria trip. I had recently dropped off my colleague who travelled with me. We started a conversation of small talk and then the topic drifted to this.

"Then the war came and I lost everything" he continued, "They bombed all my shops. I lost about 500,000 dollars..."

I looked at the driver wondering how I should respond. He looked in his 60s, well groomed, mild mannered and spoke decent English. He must have seen better times but now he's driving a taxi.

"When a man falls down, he can get up again. But in a war, when he falls, he can never get up again. Halas! I can never recover what I had." he said with a tinge of hopelessness in his voice.

To a man who had lost his hope and future because of a meaningless civil war that ended 15 years ago , what should I say to him? Finally I managed, "Is your family still with you?"

Bad move. What if someone in his family was killed in the war?

"I have two children, a son and a daughter. My daughther is in the university, my son is in school. My mother stays with me and my wife" He said. I was lucky. I successfully steered the topic from material losses to focus on the intangible wealth that he still possess. "Well at least you have you family with you. That's is more important than money, right?" I offered. He agreed. Perhaps he had already made peace with the past...but would he have brought it up if he had?

The taxi driver has not lost any loved ones but only his fortunes. A victim of war nevertheless.I felt pity for his hopelessness and I hope his family is happy.

The taxi made a turn and ended up at the entrance of my apartment block. I paid him, got his card and promised to call him if I need a ride to the airport the next time.

Can a Singaporean, accustomed to a sheltered and provided life, truly understand the pain and anguish of someone who had lost something precious to heart in a war? How does one deal with a loss that has no meaning to it? In the Lebanese Civil War where there were no victors or losers, a loss of a loved one or one's fortune can never be justified with any causes. As can be seen increasingly in recent wars, civillians are paying the ultimate price no matter which sides are winning. The question remains, can people truly let go of their feelings of loss and move on with their life?

Lunchbox in Algeria

For the past eight days, lunch arrived in a box. Sometimes dinner too if there's no dinner appointments. The lunchbox in our Algerian office is no simple fare. Here quantity means everything, sometimes more than taste. Within the box is a box of salad, a bag of baguettes, a box of main course with sides, a packet drink and a fruit. There used to be another box of starter inside consisting of some meats until it was voted out of the menu to save cost.
I think I'm eating more than the recommended daily servings of vegetables for the past few days at lunch. I tend to keep my expectations low when it comes to lunch boxes and airline food. Tasty food don't seem to come hand in hand with aluminium foil packaging. But I'm somewhat amused by my colleague, who is suffering from eating too many lunchboxes during this trip.

Colleague: *Sighs* Same things everyday!
Sencha: Like in the army. They serve the same food in the army everyday.
Colleague: How is it?
Sencha: Not too bad today...
Colleague ate some chicken croquet
Colleague: Yewww...This is nice?! You must have loved army food.
Sencha: Yeah I can live with army food

SG Election Blog

好奇的我今天想到新加坡’06年大选不知道进展如何所以上网找资料。我Google到一个叫SG Election Blog就点进去看。。。

他妈的！

既然中了Byte.Verify的Trojan病毒！到底是怎么搞得？

(Algeria) Lost In Translation

For the past few days, I'd been feeling what Bill Murray's character felt in the movie "Lost In Translation". Except that I'm in Algeria, not Japan, and everyone was speaking French. It was a meeting to evaluate and enhance our Algerian distributor's organizational efficiency. I'm here as part of an advisory support team. French is the business communication language in Algeria and we doubtlessly have to respect that.

It's funny how the mind play tricks on you. Remember the animated version of Peanuts? When Charlie Brown and gang were in class, the grown-ups spoke to them in incomprehensible tones that goes something like...wang wang wang wang wang... Five hours into the meeting, I suddenly woke up from my reverie because I thought I'm hearing that! So I started looking around to see if there's a beagle sitting at a corner with his little feathered friend, Woodstock. But no...I didn't get lucky.

And who says French is a sexy language? It's doesn't sound so sexy especially if you are the poor schmuck staring at the full wrath of the Country General Manager, who gave you a 15 minites lecture for failing to achieve your task. Poor bugger, I mused.

Not that the meeting was very successful anyway, at least from the point of view of efficiency. The famous Algerian lack of sense of time was blatantly obvious throughout the meeting. The 8 hours meeting felt as if like making a French guy watch an entire Taiwanese drama serial with a Chinaman...Excruiciating long story, full cast, lots of drama, all happening in one single set, foreign language and lost in translation.

剪头发

最近有很多的初体验。

上个星期也是我在Beirut第一次剪头发。有一个Filipino同事带我去他常去的一间理发店。在Beirut其实有很多间Barber Shop收费很便宜（新币大楷5，6元左右），但是我都不放心给他们剪，因为他们让我想起了那些本地的Ah neh barber shop，会剪得很难看。我那个同事的发型看起来还不错，所以就听他的介绍。

同事介绍的理发店在Hamra购物区附近的饭店隔壁。理发店地方很小，只有一个理发师还有几个帮手。还有一些闲杂人等不知道在干什么，只是在那边说话。店里
有客人， 所以需要等才到我。那个理发‘头手’叫Wissam，看起来功夫不错，好像那些法国，意大利著名的发型设计师一样。在旁边剪我头发的时候还很有poise，剪头发的style又很独具一格，而且剪下来的头发还会飞，我还以为我在参加发型设计展。可是Wissam在剪头发时使足了劲，好像要把我的头发都拔下来才甘愿，而且还会有一点痛。到要好的时候他一边帮我吹头发，一边好像喷蟑螂似的帮我喷了大量的发型设定济。发型设定济很刺眼，害我可能因此而瞎掉！在经过洗，剪，吹，喷， 甚至还有烫过之后，最后结果看起来还蛮不错的，弄到有一点J-Pop的style （可是第二天就不见了!）。那些当偶像的原来是要受那么多的苦的啊？

在离开之前收费时Wissam跟我说下次我来他会剪得跟好，因为这一次算是第一次。他收费也蛮便宜的，这一次只花了我大概16新元。从技术跟价钱角度来看我想我还是会回去给他剪第二次吧。

Lunch @ Dora

On Sunday yesterday, I took the bus again. Mrs. Cheek, Judy, Jeff and I were heading for Dora (read: Dowrah). It was the same bus service that took us to ABC Mall the day before. Passing the ABC Mall in Ashrafieh on the route back to Hamra, the bus took a right turn up to the Highway north of Beirut and headed towards the direction of City Mall. We got to Dora about 10 minutes later.

We got off the bus at a large roundabout where the Center for International Technology (CIT) is located. My first impression of Dora was of a down-to-earth part of an Asian city. In fact, the facade of conjoining shop-houses and low-rise buildings looks almost similar to older sections of Bangkok, Manilia, Kualar Lumpur and even Singapore.

Actually, Dora is the Serangoon (Little India) of Lebanon although its not usual to find many Sri Lankans and Filipinos here. It still puzzles me to find so many Indians/ Lankans here as if they suddenly popped out of nowhere. I mean, during my half year stay in Beirut, I have not seen many Indians working here. Filipinos are common, as most of them are employed as domestic helpers or waitresses. And then suddenly, I came and I saw hundreds of Indian/Lankans congregated here in this small town completed with the quinessential "mama" shops and restaurants.

We headed to one of these restaurants located at the second floor of a "mama" shop where we ordered lunch. Our lunch was roti Chennai and Tosai. For those who don't know and I only just found out, roti Chennai IS also known as ROTI PRATA in Singapore!

It is difficult to believe that I can get Prata here in Lebanon! And it's one of the most delicious prata I've tasted! The fish curry was excellent too. The ambience was as authentic as any prata shop in Jalan Kayu or Fong Seng, complete with oily tables and Indian waiters walking around taking orders and dishing out free masala and curry. The restaurant serves only kosong prata, but after some convincing (and some language help from Judy), the cooks were able to come up with 2 delicious telok bawang prata (eggs and onions) for me and Jeff. The price was reasonable too as each prata cost about 1,000 L.L (SGD$ 1).

After lunch we shopped for a while at the "mama" shops, where I bought some green beans for boiling soup. There was also a departmental store that markets the cheapest kitchen ware I've ever seen in Beirut.

We left Dora in the late afternoon. Mrs Cheek and Judy alighted before we did to continue their shopping in Ashrafieh Spinneys supermarket, while we continued on to Jeff's apartment. We hung out for the rest of the evening in his pad watching "Terrorism Week" on National Geographic and the movie "Blade 2".

Riding the Bus in Beirut

Last weekend, I took my first bus rides in Beirut with Jeff. The first time was on Saturday, we rode the bus from near Karakan el Druze to the ABC shopping mall in Ashrafieh to catch "Cheaper By the Dozen 2".

The bus service in Beirut runs on a fleet of Mitsubishi Rosa min-bus. Similar to Hong Kong,
passengers can get up and get off anywhere along the designated route. We both agreed that the bus is another good way to see Beirut because it moves much slower than cars. Also, they usually go through the residential parts of the city so we can observe the scenes of daily social life outside the bus window. It is also an extremely cheap form of travel, costing only 500 Lebananese Liras (about SGD$0.50) regardless of distance.

Bus travel in Beirut should be understood in context with travelling by taxi. Actually taxis are the most convenient and quite inexpensive way to travel in Beirut for obvious reasons. Usually, they charge between 1,000 - 5,000 L.L but in case of foreigners, they sometimes overcharge. All expats I know had been exploited by taxi drivers including non-Lebanese Arabs, even though they speak the same language! Moreover, a lot of time is wasted on the wait for the
willing cab to take me to my destination for the right price. Therefore, travelling by bus is sometimes more convenient, economical and hassle-free - if there is time to kill.

That's right, the buses can be incredibly slow at times! The driver will deliberately slow down the bus at certain parts of the route so that more passengers can be let in to fill up the seats. In addition, the bus service is not widely accessible in Beirut and concentrates mainly in local residential areas. Unfortunately, to my best knowledge, there are no bus service operating near the vicinity of my apartment yet.