HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Wishing everyone a Very Happy New Year and may 2009 bring you happiness and good health!

Japan Dec 08, Day 4

Enoshima / Kamakura

Japan Dec 08, Day 3

Today, we did an outing to Gotemba. It is an outlet mall near Mt Fuji. We boarded the bus for Gotemba from the Odakyu Station in Shinjuku. The bus ride took about 1 1/2 hours. We spend the better part of the day at Gotemba and I don't think I covered all the shops. The set up is very much like a US Mall.

This place is like a shoppers paradise.

In the evening, we paid one of our favorite fish restaurant in Tokyo a visit. It's called Totoichi. The best part was, the owner remembered Rus and Gerry, so despite the restaurant being fulling booked, he manage to get us a table at about 8pm.

Japan Dec 08, Day 2

What a long day. We started off from our hotel at 9am in the morning and did not return till like 8pm. We started off at Harajuku and walked ( or rather shopped) all the way to Shibuya. It was more window shopping cause everything here in Japan is so expensive. Especially recently since the Sing Dollar has devalued quite a bit against the Yen. Nonetheless, I enjoyed myself alot. I guess it was more the company.

Japan Dec 08'

Chirstmas 2008! This year my friends and I decided to spend Christmas in Japan. My last trip to Tokyo was in 2005. How time flies. Since I have access to free internet connection at the hotel, I will try to post pictures I have taken during the day. I will try to write more tomorrow as this has been a long day.

Apicius in Netherlands

I use to love to travel for work. I can still remember my first trip overseas for “work”. Well, it was more of an incentive trip for me. My boss sent me the US to attend a banking conference. I must say it was fun, attending all the talks and walking into the exhibition hall looking at all the latest in banking technology. My only task back then was to write a report and give a small presentation to my colleagues when I got back.
However, over the years, “work trips” have turned into real work. I don’t attend talks anymore. These days, my work trip are so packed, it is not even funny. I end up working like 15 hour days when I am away. But having said that, one of the perks I do get is the food, especially dinner. During my recent trip to Amsterdam, one of many I make to that city, my business partners invited me to this very nice restaurant in Bakkum, somewhere towards the south of Amsterdam. I believe it has 1 Michelin star. The pictures may not look that good cause my camera ran out of battery and I took it using my crappy iphone. But trust me, the food was good :P

Renovations, Phase 1

It has begun! I have started renovations on my new apartment. As with all renovations, it is a very time consuming process. I am lucky to have the help of my good friend Stan. I am putting a lot more effort into redoing this apartment as I see myself using the space for the longer term.
For one, it is very near my parents place so it is very convenient for me. Anyway, below is a pic of the renovations. I will put up more pictures as the work progresses.

New Topic

I better change topics and talk about happier things. This financial crisis seems to be getting everyone depress. Earlier on, I wrote about my new apartment. Well, it seems that my timing in buying the apartment was not very good but since it is for my own stay, I guess it does not really matter. Anyway, I am now busy with the renovations. I hope to get the place ready by Dec 08 so that I can do the New Year's count down with my friends. Finally, a place I can call my own :)

I will put up some pictures in my next post. 

Following up

The financial meltdown seems to have spread across the globe and credit markets froze causing huge falls in the stock markets. Trade was also affected. Countries like Iceland, unable to cope with the loss of credit went bankrupt. It looks like this crisis is going to last much longer and now more and more countries are facing the spectre of recession.
I do hope we get out of this soon.

A View on the Credit Crisis

Over the past 12 months, we have seen the financial markets around the world take a beating. At first, many thought it was only going to be a US problem but as the crisis began to unfold, it looks like everyone is going to be affected in one way or another.

The world’s financial markets is so interconnected that it is hard to imagine Asia being spared the carnage.

Now, the US government has put together a bailout package worth US$700 billion dollars. The question in my mind is whether this amount is enough. I think the financial markets may have dug a hole so big, that it will take a long time to pull the markets out of that hole.

The scary part is, have we really gotten a grip of how large the problem is for the financial markets. My own take on this matter is that we have not. We are only looking at the fallout of the mortgage market. There is another “financial instrument of mass destruction” call CDS (credit default swap). As a layman, we are only beginning to hear rumblings of this instrument.

Basically, a CDS is a credit derivative that resembles an insurance policy. The swap is basically an instrument that gives a payout when there is a default or “credit event”. However, it is in a part of the financial markets that is not regulated or monitored. With so many CDOs and bank failures, I am sure a lot of calls would have been made on these CDS. But can the issuers of these CDS pay? Looking at the amount of CDS issued, I am not sure. It is estimated that the total outstanding CDS is about US$45trillion. Even if 10% were to go bad, the amount would be in the region of US$4.5 trillion. Looking at the bailout package, it is hardly going to make a difference.

I feel the need to write this entry as I hold the opinion that our markets will head a lot lower before it bottoms out. Only time will tell if I am right.

Travelling Alone

Travelling alone can be quite intimidating at times if you are not used to it. Over the years, I can safely say that I have travelled quite a bit. Having studied in the US during my college days, flying long distances has also never been a problem for me. However, it was only in the past few years that I began to like travelling on my own; especially to regional cities like Hong Kong.
This brings me to the present, sitting here at the airport lounge in Hong Kong, waiting for my flight back home to Singapore. Looking back at the last 24 hours, I must say it was rather fulfilling. My colleague took an earlier flight back to Singapore the day before.
Being alone is not that bad. The only problem is food. It is hard to order for one person, especially with Chinese food. I have gotten over the eating alone bit sometime back.
Well, I decided to walk into one of my favorite restaurants in Hong Kong, the famous Yung Kee.
I stared at the menu for sometime before deciding to order myself a plate of roast goose rice and a plate of green vegetables (por choy) cooked in chicken broth. True to form, the roast goose was cooked to perfection. The skin was crispy and the meat was juicy. The vegetable was good but the portion way too big for one person to finish. Nonetheless, it was a very good meal. Well, at least now I know what to order when I am alone.
I best get going since it is the last call for my flight. I will most likely post this entry up when I get back to Singapore.

Another Home in Cyberspace

I did it again. First it was Livejournal, then it was my first blogspot site and now this. Well, I hope with this new location, I will be able to keep up my writings and make this my permanent site in cyberspace.

Why do I keep changing sites? I really have no idea. So what is this site going to feature? I really have no idea either. Like the roots of a tree, it will spread outwards from the trunk and as the tree grows, cover a wide area. So this blog will cover a bit of everything, from happenings in my daily life to things that I have an interest in; like food, travel and cars.

So, here is to my new home in cyberspace. Cheers!