Office Lunch

Started to rain just before 12pm which meant I couldn't get out for lunch. So I decided to order lunch in for the first time ever. Ordering in is pretty common for employees in Vietnamese companies for two reason. First, they can avoid walking under the sun. Second, they can save time by staying in and eating quickly - which allows more time for siesta, which follows immediately after the meal.

Anyway, my office lunch was pretty alright. Got the tray of food below for just VND8000 = S$0.8 = US$0.50. Cool eh?



1. Green banana: looks can deceive - it's ripe on the inside.
2. Pack of soya sauce + 2 chillis
3. Plastic the food came in and some gnawed chicken bones (pic was taken halfway during lunch)
4. Tomato and cucumber salad
5. Yam or Tapioca soup - can't really tell what it was exactly...
6. Chicken cooked in dark sauce with ginger + rice

Half-year ramblings (Part 3)

I call Vietnam the land of the rising sun. Not because it’s developed and hi-tech like Japan, but rather it’s LITERALLY the land of the rising sun. It gets so bloody bright so bloody early in the morning that when I get up at 6am and I can barely open my eyes.

The locals don’t seem to mind however. Even before I open my eyes, they are already out on the streets, putt-putting on their motorbikes and sitting on street corners eating their beloved French loaf with paté or beef noodles.

It’s all good. I’m used to their early to bed, early to rise, early to work, even earlier to leave work style (I swear, some of the government agencies stop work at 4pm and their weekends begin at Friday lunch). Unfortunately however, meetings are not something they like to turn up early for. Rubber time, as we used to call it in the Army.

Now I’m generalizing here so please don’t bust my balls if you happen to be a Vietnamese who chanced across my blog. Look! I put up some photos of your beautiful country below…


I stay in the building in the background, just next to the "Notre Dame church"


Engine go putt-putt...


Temporary breakfast setup on the pavement

There you go, Part 3 of my half-year ramblings - seems like everything comes in trilogy these days.

Half-year ramblings (Part 2)

As I mentioned in the previous post, I’ve been here for exactly half a year now. I’ve adjusted considerably well after about just one month. In fact, I haven’t really missed Singapore that much. Maybe just the food LAH. But then again, it’s not too difficult to find Singapore cuisine here. I just had laksa for lunch today, and at times, I get my char kway teow, carrot cake, and murtabak delivered to my place – for free!

Labor cost is low here so many places staff up, some to a ridiculous extent. At times, I don’t know which is worse – an efficient society with high unemployment or an inefficient society with low unemployment. It’s interesting to walk into the meeting room and see your staff sleeping on top of newspapers laid out on the floor.

Anyway, let me introduce you to.....

Piggy’s Top Signs of Living in Vietnam!!!

1. Eating pho (pronounced “fur”) is not longer a crude sexual euphemism.
2. The final price you pay is at least 20% less than the ‘original best price’.
3. No one wears the yellow-star red tee except for backpackers and yourself.
4. You sit at two-foot high tables on one-foot high chairs.
5. Dinner on the table looks like a congregation of field slugs and animals.
6. Each meal comes with a minimum of 5 different types of fish sauce.
7. Motorcycles outnumber cars 43,000 times to 1.
8. Every road looks like the one you just passed.
9. Policemen break the law.
10. Anything can be done if the brown envelope is thick enough.

Wonder what's inside...hmmm

Half-year ramblings (Part 1)

*Eyes open*

It’s been half a year since I first stepped into Vietnam – the country that is communist by name and capitalist by nature. In the long run, I don’t think this combination will be able to hold out as the rich will eat off the poor (twisted capitalism) and the poor can’t do anything about it because they don’t have a voice (pure communism)!

Perhaps someday, the income gap will reach such a dramatic level that the people will revolt and communism will be expelled? Democracy might prevail (America hopes) but probably it’ll take the form of Singapore’s non-communist social democratic system.

In any case, all that comes with the emerging capitalism in Vietnam - entrepreneurship, efficient resource allocation, productivity, and people starting to think - is good for the country.

Whaddaloaddarubbish by Piggy.

*Eyes close*

Singlish a-la-NKF

Terminology

NKF (verb): to cheat, to report lower or higher figures with an intention to cheat, to report false figures. Eg. Ah Beng NKFed his salary to impress that chio bu he was after without realizing that she NKFed her vital statistics by wearing wonder bra.

NKF (noun): an organization whose modus operandi are dubious. Eg. Ah Lian left that company because she found that it is an NKF.

TT Durai (verb): to secretly take and take money from company, to secretly maximize entitlements or privileges. Eg. Ah Seng regretted not TT Durai'ing as much as possible from his ex-company before he was sacked.

Peanut (noun): a unit of currency equivalent to S$600,000. Eg. The jackpot for the Toto this Thursday is 2 peanuts (S$1.2m)

New entry in Singlish lexicon
du·rai ( dü ri )

1. Loosely used with matters pertaining to buffoony, idiocy and related concepts.
   eg. Don't be a durai leh! (tone will indicate spectrum from nincompoop to idiocy)
2. Might be used to indicate evasiveness
   eg. Don't durai durai hor! (stop fudging the issue!)

Turnips

Showcasing some of my buddies. Have we ever done anything serious together??? Hmmm... Nah! But it's always barrel of fun hanging out with them. It's a shame that we're in three different countries now though...


Tzu-ern + Nipples = Turnips (Tzuernips...never mind, inside joke!)

Interesting nicks

Someone on my MSN just signed in. Her nick was "Super good facial cum massage..." Is it just me or do you all see something wrong with the nick???

Couldn't she just say "facial AND massage"? I guess it was a Freudian slip of sorts...hehe. Anyways... it spurred me to run thru my MSN list and to look for some of the more interesting nicks. Here are some of them:

Pure quotes:
- "Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever..."
- "Believe your beliefs and doubt your doubts"
- "if you do your best, whatever happens will be for the best"

Pure travel:
- Sawadikup Bangkok!
- ...going to taiwan wiz XXXX!
- heading to Taipei for short hol

Pure feelings:
- ~unappreciated~
- ...I'm Sooo Lazy...

Pure hate:
- FUCK THE TERRORISTS

Pure joy:
- I've been promoted!

And of course, the purely strange:
- Durians curry puff
- merry xmas!!! (piggy: what da...it's as far from Chrismas as it can get)
- super good facial cum massage!

PS. Do you think I'll get more hits today when people Goooooogle for "facial" or "cum"? :p

Whale of a Member

Holy guacamole! Take a look...


Click pic to ENLARGE (as if it's not big enough already...)

NKF’s losing battle in court

I’ve been following the NKF v. SPH legal battle these past few days and it’s really been entertaining. Man, the way the court dialogue pans out is like something coming out of The Practice!

Just take a look at the dialogue. But before that, here’s what you should know:

Background:

1. Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) published an article in 2004 about the National Kidney Foundation (NKF) and its CEO, T.T. Durai. In short, the article implied how Durai and the charity NKF had misused public funds to install gold-plated taps and expensive toilet bowls in Durai’s private office suite (one of many misuses of funds as discovered later).

2. NKF and Durai take SPH to court on a defamation suit.

3. The fun begins.

Some misuses of funds:

1. Durai’s salary: $25,000 per month + 10-12 months bonus per year = approx $600,000 per year

2. Durai’s Mercedes-Benz: road taxes paid and maintained by NKF

3. Durai’s business trips: first class tickets

4. And of course… Durai’s toilet

The cast:

1. Plaintiffs are the NKF and CEO T.T. Durai, represented by Senior Counsel Michael Khoo.

2. Defendants are The Straits Times (SPH) and Ms Susan Long represented by Senior Counsel Davinder Singh.


Ding ding ding...FIGHT!

Finally, here you are! Three entertaining court exchanges:

1. Durai-Singh exchange about Durai’s Mercedes-Benz…

Davinder Singh: So the donations which are being given by the public also go to repairing a Mercedes-Benz that is used by your wife?

T.T. Durai: By the family and also for the NKF.

Davinder Singh: And the donations which are given by the public are also used to pay for the maintenance and road tax for a Mercedes-Benz for your wife?

T.T. Durai: No, it is also for the use of the NKF at times.

Counsel suggested that in fact, the car was not for the NKF's use. But Mr Durai stuck by what he had said earlier.

Davinder Singh: What really happens is, your wife and family have the benefit of one car, and you, whenever it pleases you, have the benefit of another with a driver. All from donations, correct?

T.T. Durai: These are my entitlements and I use them.

Piggy: Ouch! He’s a CEO and he’s talking about entitlements??? Gimme a break!

2. Durai-Singh exchange about Durai’s first class travel…

Davinder Singh: Can we have a straight answer to this question and listen very carefully to it: Using NKF's funds, have you traveled first class? A straight answer, you are on oath.

T. T. Durai: Yes, NKF has not paid for...

Davinder Singh: No, no. My question is very simple. Using NKF's fund have you ever traveled first class?

T. T. Durai: No.

Davinder Singh: Is that the honest truth?

T. T. Durai: I have traveled on NKF's business-class entitlement. I have used it to travel first class.

Davinder Singh: I ask you one more time. Forget entitlement. Money. NKF money used. You travel first class?

T. T. Durai: Yes.

Davinder Singh: You have?

T. T. Durai: Yes, on business-class entitlement.

To further questions, Mr Durai said he knew that an SIA business-class fare was higher than first-class fare on other airlines.

Davinder Singh: So effectively, what you have done is you have used money from the NKF ostensibly for business-class travel but really for first-class travel.

T. T. Durai: I have used...

Justice Tan Lee Meng: Yes or no?

T. T. Durai: Yes. Can I explain why?

Judge: You can but I would appreciate if you answer the questions.

Davinder Singh: You see, Mr Durai, this is public money. Isn't it your duty as a trustee of people's money to make sure that you get best value on a business-class seat instead of deploying this clever tactic of using one of the highest published rates to get first class on another plane?

T. T. Durai: This is a decision made by the board. I used the entitlement.

Judge: The question is not who made the decision.

T. T. Durai: The board gave me...

Judge: Please answer the question.

Davinder Singh: Isn't it true that as a trustee of people's money, you have a duty to ensure that you get value for that money?

T. T. Durai: True.

Davinder Singh: Isn't it true that you need to fly in business class for business-class comfort?

T. T. Durai: This is an entitlement given by the board to me...

Judge: That was not his question. His question was, the directors feel that you deserve business-class comfort.

T. T. Durai: Yes.

Davinder Singh: And because you deserve business-class comfort, you are given a perk of business-class travel.

T. T. Durai: Yes.

Davinder Singh: Using the money donated by the man in the two-room HDB flat.

T. T. Durai: Yes.

Davinder Singh: Who has never in his life seen a business-class cabin?

T. T. Durai: I would not know that.

Davinder Singh: So you set your perk at SIA business-class rate, use that money to go first class and sue people who say that they have seen you in first class?

T. T. Durai: At that point (of the 1998 lawsuits) I didn't travel on first class. But in the past two years, the board has given me entitlement to travel business class on an SIA ticket. So I have taken the liberty to travel first class... That is what the board has decided. They know about this.

Piggy: I think Durai and the board are going down hand-in-hand...

Davinder Singh: NKF does not pay for first-class airfare from Singapore. Does this say that if Mr Durai flies from Singapore, we only pay business class? But if Mr Durai flies from other countries back to Singapore, it is first class?

Therefore, is this statement by Mr Yong to the reporter Susan Long, meant for the public and donors, true or false?

T. T. Durai: It is not accurate, yes. Your interpretation is not accurate.

Davinder Singh: How will the public read this? You have sued two people who alleged you traveled first class.

T. T. Durai: They will have a different view of it.

Davinder Singh: They will read it to mean that none of NKF's executives including you fly first class using NKF's money, correct?

T. T. Durai: Yes.

Davinder Singh: And that is false, correct?

T. T. Durai: Yes.

Davinder Singh: Is this transparency or is this deliberate concealment of facts? We had come to this court to justify the lack of transparency. What we have now learnt is far more egregious than that. Is this a matter of transparency or an orchestrated attempt to lie to the public?

T. T. Durai: No. The board has made a decision on the entitlement - I have used my entitlement to travel the way I want for the purpose of business. It is not something I have done deliberately to deceive the public.

Davinder Singh: Are you now going to do the right thing to go to the two persons you took money from (in the 1998 lawsuits) to return it to them and to apologize?

T. T. Durai: No. I want to explain because at that time I was not traveling using NKF's money to buy a first-class ticket. I paid the difference and then traveled on first class...

Mr Davinder Singh asked several times why Mr Yong felt it necessary to mislead the public with a statement that was not true, and why Mr Durai had done nothing to correct it.

Davinder Singh: Mr Durai, one last chance before I move on because if you don't have an answer, we know what it is. Why was it necessary to mislead the public?

T. T. Durai: You ask Mr Richard Yong [board chairman] that question. I don't know.

Mr Durai disagreed that his method of using his business-class entitlement to travel first class amounted to mismanagement of NKF donations.

Davinder Singh: The reason the public has been misled is that you know that if the public knew the truth, they would be upset that these methods were being used to get yourself on first class. Isn't that right?

T. T. Durai: No.

Davinder Singh: The public would be upset.

T. T. Durai: No.

Davinder Singh: That is why you are not telling them the truth. Why hide the truth?

T. T. Durai: I am just like every other CEO entitled to benefits and rights. We run a business organization with a turnover of $120 million.

Judge: Why hide the truth? The question was, why hide the truth?

Davinder Singh: Why hide the truth? You see, if it is completely acceptable, completely above board, why not tell the public this is what you are doing? Why create a totally false impression, as we have seen in this article?

T. T. Durai: On hindsight, we should have done that - to say I travel on first class using a business-class airfare.

Piggy: The judge didn’t seem too sympathetic eh?? Must've contributed some money to NKF himself :P

3. Durai-Singh exchange about Durai’s salary…

Davinder Singh: So, for the past three years, you have earned about, what $1.8m?

T. T. Durai: Yes.

Davinder Singh: From the NKF?

T. T. Durai: Yes.

Davinder Singh: Should the man who earns $1,000 a month and takes out $50 from his pay packet thinking that he's going to save lives not know that that is the kind of money you earn?

T. T. Durai: There is nothing wrong with the money I earn.

Davinder Singh: I am not talking about anything wrong. Please do not get defensive.... $1.8 million. I wonder what is wrong....

Should the man who takes $50 out of his $1,000 pay packet... thinking that he is going to save a fellow Singaporean, in the bed... should he not know that some of that money is going, or has gone into the $500,000, $600,000 pay package for you?

T. T. Durai: Surely he knows.

Davinder Singh: Tell me how does he know. Please show us the document to back up the statement you have made on oath.

At this point, Mr Durai tried to explain that people donate money to the NKF's dialysis program to save lives but the judge cut him short…(nasty judge at work again!)

Piggy's comments:

Good fun??? Lessons learnt - Don’t mess with the press. Don’t mess with Davinder.

On a serious note however, I don't want to see the kidney patients or the NKF organization as a whole suffer from this debacle. The Board and Durai are the ones to blame and they should be removed. The public has to keep the faith that the charity is here to help and not use this saga as an excuse to cut back on their donations.

But by the look of this photo, it may be too late...


Vandalism at the NFK headquarters

MBA and CFA?

I just read the 2005 Investment Management Compensation Survey done by Russell Reynolds, an executive recruitment firm, and noted some intriguing findings. For example, the median salary for an investment professional with 10 years experience working in Singapore is US$133,700, and for one working in the US is US$147,000. Not too big a difference. Also, you’d expect that they will pay more in Japan (high cost of living, etc), but in fact, the same professional only gets US$124,800. In fact, Japanese investment professionals are amongst the worst-paid lot.

Anyway, the most interesting finding, I thought, had to do with the qualification-linked compensation:

1. People with no CFA and no MBA earn the same as those with an MBA.
2. Holders of the CFA charter earn more than holders of MBA degrees.

Point no 1. Imagine spending US$100,000 on an MBA, not to mention the opportunity cost of no income for two years, and coming out to earn the same as the guy who didn’t go to B-school!

Point no 2. A CFA would have cost you less than a tenth of the MBA, with no opportunity costs as you can study at your own pace (and work at the same time). Hmmm… this surely would make you think twice about getting an MBA if you’re in the investment line, no?

With that being said however, the CFA is definitely not a piece of cake. I know many friends who have taken it. Some have failed, some have given up, and some are slowly pushing towards the goal of passing all three levels.

All I know is that I wouldn’t want to be in the same boat as them – weekend studying, getting stressed and losing sleep. For now, I’m content knowing that, on average, the MBAers have nothing over me. :)

p.s. if you would like a copy of the survey, pls drop me a note!

Mac's

Received this email from Esther today. :)


Why MacDonald's in Japan is doing better than MacDonald's in Singapore

Google Earth

Check this out - amazing stuff!

Google Earth is a revolutionary program (still in beta stage) which allows you to explore our Earth like never before. This program, for lack of a better phrase, is REALLY REALLY COOL... It begins with a satellite view of the Earth and you can search for your destination and it will bring you there, zooming into the location. Beside the zoom feature that takes you literally down to the streets and buildings, you can view the terrain, look for hotels, schools and dining joints amongst other things. You can also rotate and tilt to get different angles to see the 3D effect of the terrain!

The negative aspect is that it still hasn't covered Asia well yet, but I expect that it should be in the works already. Also, you will need a good broadband connection or the streaming visuals will be take some time to load.

If you're all set and wanna feel like Peter Pan or Superman (whatever tickles your fancy), go download it at http://earth.google.com. .

Here are some screenshots I did :)


Overhead shot of Singapore


Buildings in New York


Terrain of Grand Canyon

Pictures from Vung Tau...

As promised, here are some of the photos taken last Saturday. Not enough? The link to the entire album is available at the gallery section to your right.


Why am I wearing a t-shirt and backpack on the beach???


We spotted Santa chilling on his day off (had to really zoom in on this one...hehe)


Relaxing with Linh (baby) and Thao (driver) after a dip in the sea...


.....with a nice cool beer!


This street won the "Most Beautiful Road in Vietnam" award a few years back. Wide, clean and most importantly, free of congestion!


Climb up a hill to stand that the foot of this Virgin Mary statue


View from the top of the hill


Three-quarters way up the climb to the Jesus statue...pretty impressive


A mural depicting the last supper at the foot of the statue


Ant's-eye view


The greyhound track (in the center lies a soccer field)


Silly dogs - they chase this "rabbit" around the track


Let sleeping dogs lie... before the race.


What's this one thinking about, I wonder?


The assistants getting ready to put the dogs into their starting cages


The assistants parade the dogs for us while an announcer lists their track records


After about 20 mins, the race is on! This is one of the two races that I won btw :)

Weekend in Vung Tau

A new week is here which means MONDAY again...

My Vietnamese lessons were supposed to begin today but it’s postponed coz my other two classmates are away for business… Mixed feelings as I really want to begin formal learning but then again, it always feels good when class is cancelled (some things never change)! :)

On an academic note, some Japanese guy broke a record for reciting Pi to 83,431 places. Pi in the sky? No, it’s true! Hard to believe eh… and here I am having trouble trying to recall what I had for lunch yesterday.

Fun in the sun

The past Saturday was great fun. I went to Vung Tau, a beach town and resort two hours southeast of Ho Chi Minh City. Woke up early at 7am and drove there with Linh. Vung Tau turned out to be a pleasant surprise. I was expecting a crowded beach with streets full of motorbikes, especially for a weekend. Instead, the streets were wide and clear of traffic, and the beach was full of unoccupied deckchairs.

The weather was erratic with sporadic showers in the afternoon and evening, but luckily the morning spent at the beach was filled with sunshine. The water is not terribly clear and the sand is not powdery white – but on the whole, the experience was fresh. I’ve been stuck in the office for the past ten months or so and I’m beginning to pale. At the beach, I managed to waddle in the cool seawater, drank ice-cold beer under the sun, and developed a nice shade of tan (actually my skin is pink and hurting now but I believe the color will change into something sexy soon…haha).

The afternoon was spent driving along the beach and circling around the town. Actually, the town is so small that we drove along the beach and circled around the town at least four times. We also did two hikes – one hike up a hill to see a huge statue of the Virgin Mary and another hike up a mountain to see an equally huge statue of Jesus. I realized that I’m not as fit as I used to be when I started to pant a few minutes into the climb. Sigh...time to hit the gym again?

Off to the races

Undoubtedly, the highlight of the trip was the greyhound racing that took place that night. We spent three hours deliberating and analyzing the track records of 80 greyhounds (10 races with 8 dogs each). There is so much to understand when selecting a potential winner – the breed of dog, its age and experience, prior performances and placing, its weight, its hyperactivity on the day – and if you win, a pure sense of pleasure overcomes you. On aggregate, I lost money (I only won two of ten races) but the entire night was sheer excitement.

Due to some technical setback, I’m unable to upload any photos now, but fret not – I will put your mental visuals into proper perspective soon. I guess I'll also have more narratives then too. Look out for them!