Thursday, January 25, 2007

Earthquake

Earthquake is very common in Taiwan. We have it almost every minute. It is only a matter of BIG or SMALL. The BIG ones are those you can feel. This evening about 7PM, there was a 6.2 degree earthquake in Tai Dong and of couse it was big enough to feel it. I was in my office at that time. By the way, my office is at the 52 floor of Taipei 101, the highest building in the world up to now. Everyone in the office started to ask each other if there was really an earthquake as we can feel the shaking. One of the colleagues was on overseas call and reported the live news about how we felt at 52 floor of Taipei 101 during earthquake.

To be frank, I was a bit worried about earthquake issue when talking about the location of the office at the beginning. However, that was not really that bad up there. Maybe it's really because of the structure and construction of the building.

Sunday, January 21, 2007

Executive Search Consultant

Would start my career as Executive Search Consultant officially tomorrow. It is a totally different field though I would still be targeting IT related industries. It is a big switch from hardware to service. The mindset, attitude and interpretation could all be different from what I used to have, but guess that's the change I'm looking for.

Actually, I came back to Taiwan two weeks ago. In the past two weeks, I sorted out my room, bought some essential stuff, some winter clothes and identified one Hot Yoga studio in Taipei. I tried to find a way to continue the lifestyle I have established during the past five years in Singapore.

Things are getting quite ok other than some arguments with my parents. I can't really understand how they can make the whole apartment like trash field as they collected back everything they think it's still working though they don't really need it at all. We have four bedrooms and all of them are full with stuff which are redundant to me as none of us is going to use them at all. They just keep everything because they think these things are still working. What I can do is to defend my room with only things I want and need and ignore every other corner in this apartment. Otherwise, I think I would get crazy and arguing with them everyday.

Anyway, it's quite relaxing and enjoyable two weeks and I shopped like crazy as I know I would not have time to do all these once I start tomorrow. The other day, I visited the office and my supervisor showed me my three months plan and the target they set for me. I really got to perform immediately and I think that's also my expectation on myself.

I WOULD MAKE IT!!

Monday, January 08, 2007

Farewell

Today, 7th Jan, is my last day in Singapore as I would be flying off on 8th. Therefore, I arranged our regular Sunday Dim Sum as my farewell. Actually, the Sunday Dim Sum was started by Yen and Alex 6 years ago I think. The group was getting bigger and bigger after the Novena Gang including Alex, Grace, Sandy, me and others joined. We really had it every Sunday at that time but we did not continue since SARS period. That was a very enjoyable period of time as all of us are foreigners in Singapore and that's like weekly family gathering to us. Therefore, I decided to have Dim Sum for my farewell.
Farewell DIm Sum Lunch
Farewell Dim Sum Group
I would be flying off in 11 hours and end my 5 years and 5 months stay in Singapore. I did not thinking of staying here for such a long time when I first arrived. However, opportunities and different events of life just came along and I really stayed here for quite a while. I'm really very happy that I'm here for the past 5 years plus and I did have a lot of advancement in life, viewpoints, education, and career development. Now, it's time for my next stage in life for some more new and different challenges. Good luck and all the best to myself. : )

Sunday, January 07, 2007

Singapore National Museum

Visited the Singapore National Museum once when I first arrived Singapore. I remembered it wasn't impressive as most of the exhibits were quite normal and I could get more detail and better exhibits back in Taiwan actually. They just finished the renovation which started two years ago if I remembered correctly. A lot of people told me about that and all the comments are very good. Therefore, I decided to pay it a visit before leaving as well. Actually, I was planning to go during either Christmas or New Year long holiday but was busy with some other stuff I guess. So yesterday is the only day left for me actually.
Main Entrance of National Museum
Singapore National Museum
Entrance
National Museum
National Museum
Cafe Area of National Museum
When I first stepped into the entrance, I was quite impressed as I like this kind of bright and white environment a lot. I only visited the Living and History parts as I think that's really something about Singapore. There are four section in the Living Galleries: Fashion, Food, Film & Wayang, and Photography. I like the Food section the most as there are some documentary videos showing people making the various local food and their life in the past. As to the History part, that's also quite good as they used a story telling style to guide visitors through the history of Singapore from 14th Century. There are some nice dining and cafe places there but I didn't have time to try on Sat.
Chou & Rico at National Museum
KT & Yen
Jenny & KT
Jenny, KT and Yen
Today, after my farewell Dim Sum lunch, I visited the cafe at National Museum together with KT, Yen, Chou and Rico. The place is really quite nice as I like the bright and white setting but the cafe is so so only and quite costly. Overall, we had a very interesting and enjoyable chatting. It should be a wonderful ending of my time in Singapore.

Saturday, January 06, 2007

My Humble House

Had dinner with Jessica at My Humble House on Friday night. I have been thinking of visiting this restaurant as it is quite famous but was either considering the high price or just fully booked. It's the same case on Friday originally because it's fully booked until 8:30 PM. However, I just want to finish the list of places I want to visit before leaving. So we just decided to wait.

They have both set menu and a la cat. There are three set menus but the first two doesn't look interesting at all. So we decided to order one set of the most expensive celebration menu which is S$88+++, one spinach tofu and one chawanmushi to share. The food really tasted very good and the settings in the restaurnat is quite unique also. Overall, it's quite a nice place to go if not considering the price. Can try to arrange a lunch or dinner there if you got people to cover the bill lu. : )

Starter
Winter Kisses – Crisp Fried Prawn in Wasabi Mayo & Crisp Fried Prawn in Honey Mustard Dressing
Deep, Deep Ocean - Braised Half Tailed Black Truffles infused Selected Wild Mushrooms in Superior Stock
Sizzle, Sizzle, Sizzle - Roast Marinated Rack of Lamb with Shiso Leaves, Raisin and Pine Nuts, in White Wine Reduction

Tuesday, January 02, 2007

Wild Rocket

Had lunch with Ying at Wild Rocket, one of the restaurants on my visiting list before leaving Singapore. From the website and review, that place seems to have a nice view though it's located at a higher end backpacker hostel. I only thought of calling them to book a table late morning. Surprisingly, it's FULLY BOOKED until 1:30PM. I reached the place around 1 plus to wish there might be table available earlier. However, it was really FULL.

The place didn't really have a nice view but I like the setting. It's very bright, clean and neat. The most important thing is the food is really quite nice. We shared one set lunch with soft shell crab, the signature burger, the pudding and strawberry cheese cake. Guess we were really quite hungry as I only remember to take picture for the starter. We went straight to the main course and desserts directly without thinking of taking pictures at all. ;Q
Starter at Wild Rocket
Jenny & Ying at Wild Rocket
All I can say is the food is really nice and I think I would come back again for some other dishes and desserts. It's such a pity that I only found out this place 6 days before leaving. Anyway, I would come back to Singapore again sometime somehow and would surely visit this place again.