Civil Servant spluring on cooking holiday...

I read this from ChennelNewsAsia...

A senior Singaporean civil servant has been reprimanded for publicising his family’s vacation at a top French cooking school when his country is suffering from a recession, a minister said Monday.
"It struck a discordant note during the current difficult economic circumstances when it is especially important to show solidarity and empathy for Singaporeans who are facing uncertainties and hardship," Defence Minister Teo Chee Hean said in parliament.
The civil servant, Tan Yong Soon, wrote early this month in a local newspaper about his family’s experience learning to cook at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris.
He said he attended with his wife and son. Tan, permanent secretary at the ministry of environment and water resources, showed "a lack of sensitivity" and poor judgement, the minister said.
The online community did not pull any punches describing Mr Tan Yong Soon’s article on his family vacation as insensitive. Some even labelled him arrogant.
Mr Tan is believed to have spent at least S$45,000 on his holiday in Paris where his family attended a cooking course.

So many people in Singapore are blogging about this issue.. some were saying he should not have publish about his splurging S$45,000 cooking holiday.. Some were saying his S$45,000 could be put in a better use during this recession period... A minister said it was insensitive for him to wrote such article during this period.. wrong timing...

Well my point of view is that... The money is his hard earn.. civil servant are humans too and they too need a break from work to rejuvenate and be with their family.. He spend his own money from his own pocket.. NOT from the the public.. Even Presidents and Prime Ministers around the world deserved a break once in a while... Why people would want to comment about his holiday?..

The article he wrote in the newspaper was just an holiday ideas for family.. I believe he is not trying to brat about how much he is spending on his holiday, but his intention is to tell public that cooking holiday is also another way for family bonding.. There are so many holiday destinations offering cooking lesson.. for example the "Boat House" in Phuket, Kimchi making lesson in Korea.. etc... Some people even go for wine tasting in Australia and France..

Let give them a break and stop criticising about civil servant's holiday.. Must civil servant always be on a pilgrimage trip or volunteer overseas community trip? Can't civil servant indulge in their favourite interests and activities during their holidays??

Company Dinner on 18 Jan 09

Sunday, 18 Jan 09.. was our company dinner... The dinner was at 6.30pm and we finish work at 6pm.. thus we all gather at our office and walk over to Spring Court Restaurant..

Established in 1929, Spring Court Restaurant remains a family-run restaurant and is the oldest Chinese restaurant in Singapore specialised in Cantonese dishes. We occupied the VIP room on the 5th storey with Karaoke facilities.

We had a 10 course dinner:
Lucky Raw Fish Salad
Braised Superior Shark's Fin
Braised Abalone with Dried Mushroom
Quick- Boiled Live Prawns
Deep -Fried Soon Hock Fish
Roasted Peking Duck - Signature dish
Dried Oysters with Black Moss
Dried Scallop with Vegetables
Pan-fried Noodles
Fresh Water Chestnut Paste with /Coconut Milk

I love the Roasted Peking Duck.. crispy on the outside.. and i was so surprise that the meat was so tender and not at all oily.. I have never tasted any duck meat that is so tender in my life before.. i got myself a few helping on that dish.. Then i realise this is their signature dish and it need to order it 3 days in advance...

At first everyone was very quiet.. and i took my initiative to break the ice by being the first to kick start the karaoke.. Then everyone was enjoying themselves singing and eating.. Some of my colleagues are very good singers...

Finally a new Mobile Phone...

After enduring my "Auto Switch Off" Sony Ericsson K610i for a few months.. Finally i decide to buy a new mobile phone.. Initially i was eyeing Sony Ericsson W595 Walkman slide phone.. but after browsing through SingTel Shop web site.. something caught my eye.. the LG KU990 Viewty - touch screen phone...

I love the white colour version... very cool, modern and trendy.. But unfortunately the last piece of the white one was grab up.. so i got no choice but to take the black one.. It cost me $98 for a 2 yrs contract...

This is the black version... The main feature of this phone is it's 5 Mega pixel camera with 4x digital zoom, photo-light and flash.. 290hrs of standby time (not very impressive on this)... Support Chinese character (you can use the stylus to write Chinese characters)... Display resolution: 240 X 400 pixels, 3inches... Input: touch screen... Internal Memory: 60MB... Expendable memory up to 2 Gig... Tri-band (GSM 900/1800/1900).... FM Radio, GPRS, HSDPA, Blue tooth, Java, Games, Video Recording, MP3 Player, Media player, SMS, EMS, MMS, Email....

The rear view looks like a digit camera....

Naruto Anime...

Recently i have been hooked on the Jap Anime "Naruto". It was my daughter who introduce this anime to me.. and we watch it together from Monday to Friday night...

It is about the story of a boy orphan name Naruto Uzamaki.. is an ongoing Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Masashi Kishimoto. The plot tells the story of Naruto Uzumaki, an adolescent ninja who constantly searches for recognition and aspires to become a Hokage, the ninja in his village that is acknowledged as the leader and the strongest of all.

Naruto Uzumaki is a young boy who has the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox sealed within him after he was born. Twelve years before the start of the series, the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox attacked the ninja village Konohagakure, slaughtering many people. In response, the leader of Konohagakure – the Fourth Hokage – sacrificed his life to seal the demon inside Naruto when he was a newborn.

Many people however, regarded Naruto as if he were the demon fox itself and mistreated him throughout most of his childhood. A decree made by the Third Hokage forbade anyone mention the attack of the demon fox to anyone although Naruto soon realized about this. Years later, Naruto graduated from the Ninja Academy by using his Shadow Clone Technique, a technique from a forbidden scroll that he was tricked into stealing, to save his teacher, Iruka Umino, from the renegade ninja Mizuki. That encounter gave Naruto two insights: that he was the container of the demon fox.

Naruto was then team with Sakura and Sasuske under the guidance of Kakashi, a great ninja.

Here is the link to the online comic of Naruto

http://manga.gamestotal.com/?/en/read/Naruto/1

I brought the Ninja headband for my daughter as her Christmas present and she loves it.. Then i got one for myself.. Men will be boys...

India Pilgrimage Tour Seminar....

Recently i just attended a "How to Sell it Right" Seminar organise by the India Tourism Office. This seminar is about Spiritual Tours or Pilgrimage Tour in India...

Ven (Dr) K. Gunaratana give a brief introduction to Buddhist Pilgrimage Tour in India

India is the birth place and scared site of many religions.. like:

Hindu - The most popular and oldest religion in India

Buddhist - Buddha got Enlightenment in Budhgaya

Christianity - I'm surprise of the many historical churches in India

Sikhism - Their famous Golden Temple in Amritsar

Islam - The second most popular religion in India

Judaism - Jewish

Jainism - Sky Clan and White Clan

Zoroastrian - They worship fire

We were given some sample of itinerary of different religion's pilgrimage tour. I learn about the places of the scared places where pilgrimages will be interested to visit.. and it inspire me to work on a 9D tour package for Buddhist pilgrimage, covering places like Lumbini, Budhgaya, Kushinaggar etc... I spoke to Ven (Dr) K. Gunaratana during tea break, to have a better understand of the Buddhist pilgrimage's tour.

It is an eye opener for me and i do learn a lot from this seminar.

MagMyPic - F1 Driver of the Year

Do i look nice in the Magazine Cover? It is fun. You may like to check out the link...

http://www.magmypic.com/

Create Fake Magazine Covers with your own picture at MagMyPic.com

CNY09 Bazaar in Chinatown..

On Monday night, me and my family went down to Chinatown to feel the atmosphere of Chinese New Year (CNY).. As i blog in my previous posting.. this year CNY lighting were not fantastic, due to economy downturn, the budget was low... So, the decorations and lightnings were fewer then last year..

Here are some of the pics i took on the CNY bazaar in Chinatown.. I use my mobile phone to take these pics so not very good quality pics....

CNY cookies and goodies

'年糕' a tradition Chinese New Year sweet & sticky cake

Some traditional Chinese New Year sweets

"步步高生" Lucky Bamboo, a symbol of progress

Stalls selling CNY goodies

The busy CNY Chinatown bazaar

Stalls selling Taiwan's CNY goodies

Chinatown Bazaar

Hong Kong's Red Bean Cake

Hong Kong's Red Bean Cake

Chinatown CNY bazaar

Kids Chinese Cheongsam

Stall selling CNY decorations

Stall selling CNY hanging ornament

Turing the windmill symbolise changing from bad luck to good luck

Stall selling fruits

Stall selling sweets and Taiwan's goodies

Busy street in Chinatown

Colourful artificial flowers for CNY

More CNY sweets and goodies...

The Chinatown's CNY bazaar will end on the eve of Chinese New Year (CNY)... Thus thing will sell very cheaply with great discount during the eve of CNY...