A GOURMET”S SPLURGE

It’s been awhile since I’ve gone into an adventurous food tripping expedition. Most of time, I prefer dining at familiar establishments ordering the same entrees and enjoying the same fare again and again and again. In short, I’m quite a risk averse when it comes to food choices because I don’t want to spend a lot of money on something that I couldn’t even swallow with my eyes closed. Anyway, last Sunday (June 10) and Monday (June11), I finally got tired of it and decided to try a new menu.
Last Sunday, I had lunch with my brother along with his date. We ate AZUL, a Spanish – Filipino culinary restaurant located at the Bayside of the SM Mall of Asia. At a first glance, AZUL looks like a stylish, chic – moderne, upscale bar – like establishment. It exudes an image of “class” and it is probably this “image” that deters people from patronizing the place because people actually think it’s expensive. I mean at noon – time on Sunday, only two tables are filled including ours. Now, that says a lot about AZUL’s “image” and perception. Surprisingly, however, prices aren’t really THAT expensive with price ranging from P200 – P400 per entree. We ordered Fried Squid, AKA Calamares, Pork Loin in Mushroom Sauce, and Lapu – Lapu Escabeche. AZUL serves plain rice for free and allows you to get as much as you wanted. What impresses me the most about AZUL is the presentation itself. The dishes are quite stylish in their presentation and appeared quite appetizing, which goes hand in hand with the stylish appearance of the restaurant itself. If I’m going to rate the “style” of the dish presentation in a scale of 0 – 100 with 50 as so – so, AZUL probably deserves a score of 80 – 85. Taste wise, the food taste great but nothing extraordinary that would make you crave for more. The Calamares though ok is literally “peppered” with black pepper while the Pork Loin in Mushroom Sauce has a tinge of orange in it’s flavor, which is actually good but again nothing extraordinary. To be fair though, I haven’t tried their Tapas or their Paellas yet and would like to taste it sometime in the future. In the meantime, for the fare we had, we paid something around P1300++, which translate to around P400++ per head including drinks. Not that expensive for it’s class (fine dining). Overall, I would recommend AZUL as a place for dating. I mean given the ambience, the reasonable price, the stylish food, the view of the bay……… If you choose well where you are going to sit, the time you’re going to eat, the dishes to order, it would be a perfect place for a date with a lovely lady. Beware though of their Lemongrass Ginger Ice Tea, for it has this after taste, which you’ll regret it the moment you made the first sip. I know that because my brother said so…..

AZUL
Ambience = 85 – 90
Presentation = 80 – 85
Taste = 75 – 80
Price = P400++ per person.

Sunday dinner. That evening, my brother and I had dinner at Gumbo at The Block at SM North Edsa. Gumbo offers New Orleans recipe with emphasis on Cajun and Creole cuisine that is quite spicy and hot. The prices at Gumbo are typically in the range of P200 – P400 per main entrée and are slightly cheaper than Burgoo, another New Orleans style restaurant. We ate Bayou’s Stuffed Crab with Remoulade Sauce and Seafood Jambalaya. The serving size is big if compared to Burgoo’s offerings. The Seafood Jambalaya actually tastes better than Burgoo. This is because the seafood used by Gumbo are of “choice” selections. The rice is sticky and has a tinge of spiciness. The Stuffed Crab on the other hand tastes good but somewhat “fishy”. I suspect that it would taste even better if it go with a table wine, perhaps red (if I remember right, white wine goes with red meat while red wine goes with seafood). Anyway, I’m no wine expert nor a drinker and so I can’t really say with finality that the Stuffed Crabs would taste better with red wine. For that evening’s fare, we paid P900, which translates to P450 per person including drinks. Not bad, price wise, value wise. Speaking of ambience, Gumbo’s place is a little dark and looks more like a pizza parlor than say a fine dinning restaurant.

Gumbo
Ambience = 70 – 75
Presentation = 75 – 80
Taste = 85 – 90
Price = P450 per person.

Monday Night. On our way to the airport to fetch my mom and sis, my brother and I stop by and tried Fish and Co. at the SM Mall of Asia. We were in for seafood that night and we heard from our sister before that Fish and Co is a great place for seafood. Anyway, we tried it out much to our disappointment. Value wise, Fish and Co doesn’t offer the value for your money. One could spend less and probably enjoyed the same taste. First, the ambience at Fish and Co is quite wholesome but nothing spectacular. The place is decorated with a sea theme complete with a shark replica and everything and it is located along the bay. Looks cute but when compared to the design at Pier One, Fish and Co looks amateurish and consequently, less authentic. Furthermore, Fish and Co wasn’t able to leverage on it’s location by the bay to bring out that “special” ambiance (well, it could be that I didn’t felt it because I dined there during the evening). Price wise, the cheapest menu price for it’s entrée is P300++ and it has an entrée that cost almost P1,000. Pricey, very pricey. We ordered a Prawn Fettris, their house specialty, Fish and Chips, and Grilled Salmon with vegetable. The Prawn Fettris is succulent and taste great. It was served on a champagne glass with 6 pcs of large fried prawn placed on the glass’ lips with the whip mayonnaise and lemon in the middle of the glass. Nice presentation. The prawns are large but not the super size ones you might find in Shangri – La hotel’s restaurant, Heat. Even though there are only 6 pieces of prawns served, the presentation and taste is really worth every penny of it’s P315 price tag. But I can’t say the same thing with Fish and Co’s next offerings, Grilled Salmon and Fish and Chips. To be fair, the fish served are quite fresh, of huge cuts and they’re delicious. In fact, the Grilled Salmon is a thick sliced of salmon’s belly, six inch in diameter. The only downside is that Fish and Co must have overcooked the salmon because it doesn’t taste that succulent. I mean, salmon bellies are the choice cuts and they’re supposed to be fatty and juicy but it isn’t the case with my Grilled Salmon. What is really disappointing about Fish and Co’s offerings are the side dish that goes with the Grilled Salmon and the Fish and Chips, diced vegetables and French fries respectively. I mean for P500++, you would expect a more decent side dish than what is being offered. For P300++, one could get a sizeable Salmon tail steak over a bed of Spinach sauce at Stars and Stripes and it taste equally great. Now, that’s what I call a side dish. For that evening’s less than sumptuous meal, we paid P1700++, which means that we paid close to P900 per person, quite an expensive meal I would say.

Fish and Co
Ambiance = 70 – 75
Presentation = 75 – 80
Taste = 75 – 80
Price = P900 per person.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

Got this brilliant text message yesterday from my mentor, Professor Cruz: “If you can’t find the book you wish to read, write it.” Brilliant idea! Simply brilliant! Now why didn’t I think of that in the first place?

Help Wanted: All Around Mom

I just read this post by Reuters at Yahoo! The title of the post reads, “Stay-at-home mother's work worth $138,095 a year” and is reported by Ellen Wilfhorst. The story goes like this:

“If the typical stay-at-home mother in the United States were paid for her work as a housekeeper, cook and psychologist among other roles, she would earn $138,095 a year, according to research released on Wednesday………..
The 10 jobs listed as comprising a mother's work were housekeeper, cook, day care center teacher, laundry machine operator, van driver, facilities manager, janitor, computer operator, chief executive officer and psychologist, it said.
The typical mother puts in a 92-hour work week, it said, working 40 hours at base pay and 52 hours overtime.”

I find this post rather bizarre and laughable in the sense that they even put a price tag on a Mom’s work! Talk about a materialist’s world! How can one place a price tag on a mother’s labor of love? It is simply priceless and cannot be evaluated by any modern accounting methods! I mean, if you dangle $138,095 or Php6,766,655 (at Php49:$1) as yearly salary, would any lady apply for a housewife? Errrr, come to think of it, yeah, of course, I mean where can you find a 140 gram job nowadays and in dollars (Good thing I lived in the Philippines where everything is cheap…………..)! Seriously, what’s the difference between a McDonald’s burger and the good, o’l homemade mom’s burger? Never mind about the “possible” fact that McDonald’s burger might taste better than mom’s burger but consider the effort and thought that went with the simple burger. Mom would be up early in the morning way before anybody else in the household is up just to prepare that special mom’s burger for breakfast just for you and she timed it in such a way that once you wake up in the morning, you’ll have that burger on your table, not too hot, not too cold but just right. And it comes in the tenderness, the juiciness, and the size and the portion that you always come to expect but take it for granted (even if it may not taste as great as a burger from McDonald’s). Plus, there is more to it. Mom’s burger comes with a huge free load of advice and lectures like drink your milk, eat your breakfast, don’t play with your food, hurry up and finish your breakfast or you’ll be late for school… etc (moms can be annoying sometimes). Come to think of it, can I have the Mcdo burger instead. “ ) Ok, maybe the burger comparison is a bad idea but the question I’m posing here is, “what is a mom all about?” Is she a slave of ours? Is she a housekeeper? A laundry woman? A cook? Yes and no! A mom is more than that. A mom is a person that gave us life. She is the one that cuddle us when we were young, weak, and defenseless. She is the person that nurse us to strength. She is our first teacher that taught us the ABC’s and the life long mentor that taught us the ABC’s of life. She is the person that would wake up in the middle of the cold night and cover us with a blanket without us knowing about it. Now, price that! And even though we could price a mother’s love, can we ever pay it back? And if we do and can pay that back in hard cash, would she even accept it? And granted that she did accept that payment we gave her, would we feel satisfied that we gave her, her fair due? She gave us all her youth, her vigor, her thoughts, her life, her everything. Would a wad of cash be sufficed to pay for a back made bent from nurturing us? Never. Ever! Mothers are perhaps the most wonderful person in this world and at the same time, the most under appreciated person in the world as well. It’s about time that we show them our heartfelt appreciation not by paying her for the work she has done for us in $ but by a warm hug.

Happy Mother’s Day (May 13).

P.S. That is why we have a day for Mothers.

SUNSET BOULEVARD

During the height of the Dukat hostage crisis sometime in March, I happened to have an appointment with the Dean for an interview that day. As I make my way home after the 1530 meeting, I got stuck in traffic caused by the hostage crisis. After some 2 hours of futile attempt to get home, I finally gave up, turned the car around and decided to go to the SM Mall of Asia and stayed there trying to wait till the entire brouhaha to settle down (after all, Dukat did promise to surrender at 1900, primetime that evening). As I got there, the first thing I did was to go to the back end of the sprawling mall and try to catch a glimpse of the world famous Manila Bay Sunset. And I did. I’d always wanted to see the sunset for myself but somehow I never got to. Well, there are a dozens of reasons as to why I wasn’t able to and not the least of them is the distance from where I lived and worked. Of course, there is this thing called the “daily living” that I never seem to get away from. Anyway, by some “funny” turn of events that day, I was able to see at last the famed Manila Bay Sunset. And oh boy! What a sight to behold. When I got there, I saw the sun began it’s descent on a not too distant island within the horizon (Corregidor perhaps). As the sun slowly descends, the once blue sky turned bright orange so as the few bits of clouds hanging onto that piece of sky. The color however wasn’t all monotonous orange. Instead, the shade varies as the sun moves away. Farther away from the bright red orange sun, the bright orange sky faded in redness until it turned into the bright yellow sky just above my head. And on top of the sea, one could see the long sparkling shadow of the departing sun painted over the blue watery canvass. The colors though strikingly beautiful are never constant. The yellow sky seemed to chased after the beautiful sun, who is trying to hid behind the shoulders of Corregidor until………. the bright reflections over the sea vanishes and the entire sky over the horizon turned yellow. One could visibly see the bright red silhouette of distant island. Is it as if there instead of an island, a volcano suddenly appears over the horizon and ready to spew out its anger but it didn’t. On the outer fringes, the sky returned to its natural blue but not for long, for the darkness would soon engulfed heaven and covered my eyes with a blanket and there will be nothing. I didn’t wait for that to happen and left………. Sometime on Easter Sunday, I came back to where I stand just a week or two before and witness again the Sunset that I again longed to see. To my surprise, it was a very different sunset from the one I saw a week or two back though it was the same sun, the same piece of sky, the same angle, the same island. In that Easter afternoon, the sky was littered one too many clouds, the low hanging dark types. Because of it, I couldn’t see the different hues of bright orange sky. Instead, everything seems grayish except for the sun, which is dull red. Dull, since it wasn’t that blinding bright but rather that type of red that is pleasant for the eye to see. Unlike the dazzling view weeks before, this sun quickly slipped behind the curtain that is Corregidor. If I would compare the previous Sunset to a symphony orchestra, the Sunset last Sunday was simply a concerto of its own. Quiet, elegant, and nonetheless beautiful. After the sunset, I was confounded with an ancient question posed by a Chinese poet a long time ago, “at what angle is the Sunset, most beautiful?” (Ji tu si yang hong). Well, I can never tell for each sunset is different from the previous day not simply because of the condition of the sky but also due largely to the beholder’s………. I always have this notion that it takes the whole afternoon for the sun to set and scientifically speaking it does but the Sunset that I saw on both occasions lasted only a few minutes, 15 – 30 perhaps. And all the while, the scene changes until nothingness prevails, which reminds me of another ancient Chinese couplet, “Si yang wu shien hong, cher ser jing huang hun”. “There is something inexplicably beautiful about Sunsets, too bad, it would be nightfall soon”. True indeed, the words of a sage. Learn to enjoy every moment…………

P.S. Based on my view, there are about two places one could enjoy the beauty of Manila Bay Sunset, one is at the backyard of the SM Mall of Asia and the other, well, is at the 21st floor of DLSU – Taft, Brother Andrew Gonzales Hall, where the office of the DLS – Graduate School of Business is located. From that vantage, one could not just only see the beautiful Sunset but entire Manila Bay area as well.

A FUNNY THING HAPPENED AT THE BEACH

I was vacationing at the beach somewhere in Subic this past Friday – Saturday and during my late afternoon “soak” (I can’t swim) at the beach waters, a funny thing happened to me. There I was all alone minding my own business, sitting in shallow waters with the sea water up to my neck and admiring the beautiful landscape in front of me while enjoying the “cool” afternoon sun when all the sudden somebody jump onto my back and grab my neck pulling me down to the waters. All along I heard “Papa, papa, papa………..”. It was kid, a boy of 5 maybe who thought that I was his father and he wanted to ride on “his father’s” shoulders. Good thing I’m sitting in shallow waters for I didn’t get drowned and good thing also that it was a kid or else I would have broke my back. The kid kept on pestering me to carry him until both his mother and wet nurse came and took him away from and telling him that I’m not his father. The poor kid was sobbing while still looking for his father afterwards. Things actually happened so fast that I didn’t know what hit until much later and by then, I was still “dazed”. I was particularly dumbfounded that some kid called me his “Papa”. Geez, the last time I’ve checked I’m still single, definitely unattached and I don’t remember siring a boy, legitimate or bastard. Honestly speaking, I don’t really mind that the little boy called me his “Papa” after all he does have a very hot and sexy “Moma”……………. Anyway, as I went back to my “contemplative soaking” at the beach, I can’t help but asked a question or two based on the incident. Wouldn’t it be better to carry something else on your shoulder other than the weight of the world or burden of your dream? Perhaps something like a little boy. Or wouldn’t it be better to just have something other than worries of life and responsibilities wrapping around your neck, choking you than say the arms of a woman you loved or perhaps something better like that (the arms) of ………………………………Paris Hilton? Now, that would be a great vacation.

10.9 WEEKS

Today (Thursday, March 22) is the 10.9th week (Friday is my 11th session or my 11th week) of my teaching/consultation job at my MBA Alma mater, DLSU. And so far my job is been a tiring one with a few surprises and upsets here and there. Thus far, I’ve been through an unflattering teacher’s evaluation, which according to my colleagues who happened to peeked at some of our student’s ratings as to be mediocre. I’ve also encountered what we Filipinos called “makulit na estudyante” (hardheaded students) at the early part of the course. We also happened to earn the dean’s ire for not “requesting” for a job interview way before we started the “job”, which we honestly didn’t know that we had to. And I personally got into a “tense” conversation (it took me almost 2 hours till 30 minutes past midnight) with one of my student’s mother who was particularly distressed that how a great institution like La Salle is turning out graduates who aren’t what she expected to be and she apparently pin the blame on me and venting her frustration on me. She faulted me for not teaching her son on the “proper outlook” on society and on fellow human beings, two things that is simply way, way out of my job description (My job is to help the candidates finish their paper for Oral Comprehensive Examination and prepare them for OCE). Aside from that, I occasionally committed bloopers, faux pas…. Also, my voice is relatively weak when I’m “discussing” in front of the class. I occasionally forgot my line and most of the time, I came in half prepared (as in I didn’t make a powerpoint presentation for my discussions but rely on the good ‘ol whiteboard and marker). Lastly, my students think that I’m a big “terror” and some are actually quite afraid of me! And come to think of it, I haven’t given anybody any grades yet as of now. On the bright side, the candidates (I don’t actually call them my students but refer them as guys and treat them as if they were my buddies, which a number of them actually are) and me and my colleagues get along quite well. The discussions are mostly informal and some of my pals could actually make a wisecrack or two during the discussions. My colleagues, Carol and Juhdes are especially helpful and supportive and helped me a lot with class management. We make a habit of discussing our class plans for the following week after each class. And most importantly, we get along quite well. I’m actually quite proud that I chose the right people for the job! As for the candidates, well, lately, I could sense that they are beginning to “understand” what I’m driving at. The strategic mindset that is essential in making a good STRAMA paper is somewhat forming though I don’t have any concrete evidence yet but I could “feel” it. The question they’re asking, the eureka moments when they understood my discussions and my mentor’s (Professor Cruz) lectures, and their general seriousness in finishing their paper, all points towards a “blooming” mind. I must have done something right albeit it must be a small part of it (a large part of it is due to Professor Cruz’s lecture). However, the real test of what I’m doing is in the OCE proper. Specifically, how many of them would pass their OCE? And that hinges on a greater part on their paper (a significant part relies also on their actual performance during OCE) and how we helped them “improve” it but hopefully with their “greater understanding”, the quality might just be better. I’m keeping my fingers cross. On the frustrating side, a few of the candidates (“mga pasaway”) are actually requesting for a submission date beyond the deadline, which happens to be on the last day of class. And that request was made as early as 3 weeks ago! Although I wished they could submit it on time, then again, not everything goes my way according to plan. I just hoped that they came up with a quality paper and actually finished it and not give up on it. Anyway, tomorrow is my 11th week and I still have 3 more weeks (4 if you include Holy Week) to go before everything is “nominally” over (nominally because we will be checking their papers after the end date). Thankfully! And Boy! Am I tired! Sometimes I do wonder how my mentor handles classes like this. Talking for 3 hours straight while standing! (I nearly lost my voice on some occasions) Handling students, which he termed as “potentially disruptive”. Teaching is no joke and the good thing is I signed on for just one term (14 weeks = 1 trimester term)!

ELECTION IS IN THE AIR

You know that it’s election season when….
Your local councilor
Hung up a large banner
Greeting everybody,
“Happy Valentines Day”
As early as the first week of January!
If that is the case, why should they stop there?
Why not greet everybody, Happy Easter, or Happy Independence day
Perhaps they should also greet everybody
Merry Christmas 2007 and Happy New Year 2008
And why should they stop at 2008, why not greet everybody
In advance for the next three years!

You know it’s time to elect your officials when ……
Your local congressman sends you
A Christmas card, A post card, and A calendar card
With his face on it along with his son and his wife
Out of the blue in January!
Strange but I never got any card from him the last 2 years
That he is in office!
Maybe I should I ask for one every year
That’s if he still remembers me after
He got elected.

You know election is in the air when……….
Roads are being repaired
Drainages are being cleaned
Potholes are being covered
And street lightings are being installed
All at the same time and
In a hurry
During peak traffic season!
And we all have to suffer
The inconvenience of
The ongoing frenzied repairs
And all those times that they don’t do their job at
Maintaining
Roads
Drainage
Potholes
Street lightings!
What the heck they’re doing the last two years!

You know it’s election time when …………
Mayors dole out
Relief goods
To the poor
Even if
There is no calamity
But on occasions like
Their birthdays!
And on Valentine’s Day!
And during times of calamities in the last two years of their tenure
Relief goods are hard to come by!

Election is definitely in the air and you could smell it when …….
Politicians started talking like showbiz personality and
Showbiz people began talking like politicians!
They say art imitates life
Or
Was it the other way around?

The foul smell that is politics and election is noticeable when ………
The corrupt politicians speaks out against corruption
And the incorruptible remained mum
On their corrupt party mates!
Or when sleaze balls talks about principles
That they don’t understand
And principled men
Lay aside their principles
In favor of
Realpolitik!

It is time to vote when
Would be politicians
Started courting your votes
By being charitable
Giving away
500 pesos
And at the same time
Ask you a favor,
Vote for me.

Politics stinks during elections especially when
Best friends became
Bitter foes and
Mortal enemies became
Friends dearer than brothers!
I remembered Disraeli once said,
“Nations have no eternal enemies nor
Permanent friends but
Only interest.”
I guess that also applies to
Politicians as well.
And banks?

It is during elections when you hear
Politicians rarely speak of
Platforms of governance
To the people
To educate them about
What the country needs
Instead
You see the politicians
Dance on the platform
Just to woo votes.
And I thought we are
Electing officials
To run our country
To improve our lives
And not
Electing representatives of
The Filipino people
To the
American Idol!
Simon! You’ll be the judge!

Elections is definitely here when……
We ponder on
Our choice of candidates
That best represents
Our interest
That has the best qualifications
To lead our country
Our city
Our community
And we enthusiastically
Tell others about
Our choice
And why it should be their choice
And when they didn’t
Approve of our choice or
Didn’t vote our candidates
We call them
BOBO!

And during election days
We jealously guarded
Our votes
And NAMFREL
Diligently guarded the
Ballot boxes
And yet,
We never hear
Politicians conceding defeat
But instead hear them
Cried out that they’re being
Cheated!
In the Philippines, there is no loser in the polls
But only being cheated out of their office!

Elections in the Philippines happen every three years.
Which is just right
For if it were to be held
Every year
We might get tired of it.
And
Bored to death
By
The same antics
And if it were held
Every six years
We might get anxious of it
And even
Bored to death
Waiting for it
After all
Elections in the Philippines
Is the greatest show in the country!
Er, I mean comedy.

P.S. Remember everybody to go out and vote! By the way, I’m running for President of this country.

Food Critique: Super Efficient Service At Din Tai Fong

One of my favorite restaurants during my short visit to Singapore is the Taiwanese food chain, Din Tai Fong, which New York Times lists as one of the top ten restaurants in the world. And indeed! Din Tai Fong truly deserves that distinction. It service was simply impressive. Nothing in my limited experience comes second to that. Incidentally, Din Tai Fong is literally translated to “the topmost of the Mount Tai Peak”. Mount Tai or Tai Shan is Ancient China’s tallest mountain (nowadays is one of those peaks in the Himalayas in Tibet). The topmost of Mount Tai peak simply signifies the top of the world, the ultimate, the best of the best. And really, the name is no exaggeration for their food is great and their service is even better. What’s more is that their great service is not based on some complex system but rest on very simple concepts.
FOOD
Din Tai Fong is a mid – priced Chinese fast – casual type of restaurant that serves Dimsums and noodles and offers one or two rice variant in addition to that. It has around 20 items in it’s menu and of which the most popular is the xiaolongpao, or the mini – siopao but is actually more of a siomai like dimsum rather than a siopao. Xiaolongpao is actually a popular delicacy in Shanghai, where it is also originated. According to my sister, Hong Kong’s variant of the xiaolongpao tasted better than Din Tai Fong’s and Shanghai’s xiaolongpao is reputedly taste better than that of Hong Kong’s. In any case, according to wikipedia, Din Tai Fong is the best xiaolongpao you could get in this part of the world and it is without doubt correct. There is actually a “novel way” of eating Din Tai Fong’s xiaolongpao. You first pick up a xiaolongpao with your chopsticks and dip it in the vinegar soy sauce and then placed the xiaolongpao on your soupspoon. You then puncture a hole in the skin and sip the rather delicious soup contained inside the xiaolongpo. Afterwards, you eat the entire xiaolongpao. It is “novel” in the sense that the all the dimsums at Din Tai Fong and not only the xiaolongpao have soup inside it whereas the internationally popular Hong Kong dimsums are “dry”. In my opinion, it is actually this novel way of eating the dimsums that make the food at Din Tai Fong standout and delicious (I don’t know if the Shanghai version have soup in it and I’m regretting that I haven’t taste one during my last trip to Shanghai). The siomai at Din Tai Fong is also different. It is actually shaped like a lotus with the shrimp on top and like the xiaolongpao, contains soup inside. The noodle dishes taste good but nothing exceptional although the noodle strands taste “fine” and not “coarse” indicating that it is made from the finest quality material. The dimsums and noodles are best served hot and it is actually the case in Din Tai Fong (it was so hot that I actually “burned” my tongue). Average prices of any item in the menu is around S$7 – 8 (Php210 – Php240, pricey for a dimsum, which cost only Php50 – 70 in Ongpin) and a person on the average spends S$20 (Php600), which according to wikipedia is the average price of a mid – range food establishments in Singapore.
SERVICE
Better than their food, Din Tai Fong’s service is the stuff of every MBA’s case study of process efficiency and superior service (their service so impressed me that I actually can’t help but study it while I’m having my lunch there and I was able to finished it as soon as I finished my meal). To the untrained eye, there is nothing extraordinary about Din Tai Fong’s service. This is because most people view the end result and one has to have go beyond the surface and see the inner working of their system, the tight coordination between their processes, the clockwork precision of their performances just to fully understand and appreciate the “extraordinariness” of their service. Din Tai Fong is one of those “new” fast – casual type of a restaurant, fast food service married to casual dine – in experience. In fact, in my limited experience, Din Tai Fong is the “only” fast – casual restaurant I knew. Many tried to be one (fast – casual) but never comes close like that of Din Tai Fong. In a classic casual restaurant, a diner would usually start by queuing up for a table in the restaurant especially during peak hours. Once seated, a waiter would be at hand to take their orders. The diner would probably browsed through a “booklet” of a menu just to find what he/she wanted to eat. The waiter would sometime suggest some dishes for the diner to order. This order – taking process usually takes sometime and probably by the time the waiter is done taking orders from the diner, a good ten minutes would likely elapse. After taking in the orders, the waiter would hand over the orders to the kitchen and the cashier for billing. The order triggered the “production” process in the kitchen with the cook preparing the meal as ordered. The production process in a restaurant is actually made up of three steps. The first step is preparation, which is actually preparing the ingredients; marinade the meat, chopping up the meat and vegetables to their intended sizes, preparing the soup base and broth. The second step is actually the cooking itself. The third step is serving the cooked dish. In most cases, the preparation step of the production process is actually done way before the opening of the restaurant for business that day and what is left for production during the business hours are only the cooking and serving part. Once the dishes are served and sometime this alone takes time because of the availability of the waiters, who might be busy attending the customers. In any case, the meal is usually immediately commenced once the dishes are served to the diner. After the meal, the diner would usually ask for the bill from the waiter (others might wanted to relax a little before billing out). The billing process is actually done immediately after the order was turned over to the cashier and handing the bill to the customer is actually a fairly easy task, which requires little time and effort. However, because of the nature of the food service business, most patrons tend to come in roughly at the same time of the day (lunches and dinners) and generally leave at the same moment. This causes a rapid inflation of volume for billing request resulting into a huge queue (although there is no physical line involved). Compounding this is the “temporary” shortage of manpower as the waiter has to take orders, serve the food, and generally entertain the request of the customers like refilling their drinks among others. This causes unnecessary delays and so it is not surprising to see diners getting exasperated over their “long delay” for their bill and their subsequent departure. It is also not an exaggeration that at times, for the wait to take longer than their actual meal. At any rate, after receiving the bills, the customer would then review the bill and then pays it via credit card or cash. Sometimes, the waiter would wait for the payment but it is not uncommon to actually “wait” for a waiter to pick up the payment for the payment processing, which again is a relatively simple task but actually take sometime (as in a good 5 – 10 minutes). Sometimes the wait could be so exasperating that it is even advisable to pay the EXACT amount in cash and no longer wait for the receipt. As can be seen, in a classic casual restaurant, the processes are highly sequential in nature and are also highly dependent on the previous process and given the general inefficiency in the processes to cope with the sheer volume of transactions, a lot of the time of both the customers and the establishment are wasted in idle waits. The sequential nature of the processes cannot actually be avoided in a casual dining business especially the par between the order taking and production process simply because of the sheer volume of offerings. It is common for casual restaurants to offer some 50 more or less dishes in their menu. And since not all of the offerings have high turnovers (frequently ordered), one cannot simply “stock” them beforehand i.e., one cannot simply cook the dishes without a definite order. And this is the fundamental constraint of a classic casual dine – in restaurant. A fast food on the other hand doesn’t have the constraint of a casual restaurant. The production process is largely independent from the order taking process. And this is only made possible because of the limited menu that a fast food offers, which is it’s hallmark. With a limited menu, customers’ choices are limited to only a few select dishes being offered usually numbering around 10. This greatly increases the turnover of each (frequency of order) as against if there are more dishes to choose from. With no worry about the “saleability” of each dishes (since the chances of the dishes being purchased increases with the “limitation”, assuming of course, the dishes offered are palatable in the first place), the kitchen can produce “at will” even without an order. This enables the kitchen to adopt mass production techniques and assembly line set – up, which not only speed up the production process but also greatly reduce cost. Furthermore, they produce each dish by batch, i.e., making a certain quantity per production cycle and monitored visually it’s purchase or depletion until it reaches a reorder point (the critical quantity whence the kitchen started producing another batch). It is this system of batch production and visual monitoring of reorder point that regulates the production process in tune with the ordering process in a fast food restaurant. Another obvious advantage of a streamlined menu is the simplification of the inventory that a restaurant kept. Just imagine the stocks of raw foods in the fridge of a casual dine – in restaurant offering 50 dishes! With the production process largely independent from the ordering process and working parallel with the latter and not in sequence to it, the queuing time is largely in the ordering process. It is here where the long lines can be seen, i.e., the long lines at the counter. It is also at the counter where the “delivery” is made, i.e., where the food is served and as well as the billing process is done. Aside from the multiple tasks being done at the counter that results in the long queue, another significant factor influencing the queuing time is basically due to the delays on the ordering itself. Sometimes, some customers can’t still make up their mind on what to order even after the long queue. Though the service at fast food establishments is efficient and fast, the dining experience is totally different from that of a casual dine – in restaurants. Diners actually received more services than that in a fast food joint but are not necessarily better served than in the latter, i.e., one cannot simply ask for the waiter to refill their drinks and in countries outside the Philippines, the diner is also the one to discard the leftovers of their meal. Furthermore, the atmosphere in a fast food is decidedly “dynamic” while that of the casual dine – in, subdued and relaxed. It is in this observation that fast – casual restaurants came into existence and Din Tai Fong exemplifies such. At Din Tai Fong, the first step, the ordering process starts the moment one lines up for a seat. One has to register first to the hostess for a seat and is given a queue number and an order form with a pen. While waiting to be seated, which is usually about 10 minutes more or less, one looks up at the menu board (which list the dishes being offered complete with their respective pictures and prices) and proceeds to list down their order. The self – ordering tack is actually a neat trick because it distracts the would – be diners from the boringness of wait as well as reducing the time wasted on order taking (that is when one compare it to the classical order taking model of a casual dine – in restaurant). In fact in most cases, by the time people finished choosing what they wanted to eat, their turn just came up. As one is ushered in to their seat, the floor supervisor (who happens to be a lady) would then take the order and punch in the order into the computer, sending the orders to the kitchen and the servers as well as printing out the billing. She then puts the bill of the order on the diner’s table faced down. At first, I was actually flabbergasted by what she (the supervisor) did (sending the bill to you before they even serve the food). I haven’t eaten yet and she already sent me the bill?! “How could they do that?” was all I could think then but then again, I realized that I actually paid first my orders before eating my food in a fast food restaurant and what’s the big fuss then? (It is only then that I got motivated into “studying” their model) Anyway, after sending out the orders, we waited out like a few minutes before the waiter started serving our orders, fulfilling it by piecemeal. They were able to do that because their operations are basically similar to that of a fast food. Din Tai Fong’s menu offerings are largely made up of dimsums, noodles, and two(?) rice topping variants for a total of 15 – 20 offerings. And like the fast food joints, Din Tai Fong’s limited choice of offerings plus the fact that dimsums can “easily” be stocked for “latter” consumption allows it to have a virtually “independent” kitchen operations running in parallel to the other processes. And this is the “fast” part of the fast – casual restaurant model (actually half of it). The casual aspects of the fast – casual restaurant on the other hand relates to the actual dining experience once the food is served. This not only refers to the atmosphere and environment where one is taking their meal but also the prompt services that one receives while enjoying their meals. Unlike in most casual restaurants wherein the overworked waiters “tried” to avoid customers and generally ignore their requests, the waiters at Din Tai Fong are more cheerful and are generally attentive, which is something rarely seen but appreciated. After finishing the meal, we relaxed for awhile before deciding to leave. I literally picked up the bill and walked up to the counter and pay the bill. It is only then that I realized the importance of serving the bill beforehand immediately after the relaying of our orders. It reduces waiting time for the bill. Aside from that, instead for the diner to wait for the waiter to get the bill, serves it, receives the payment for it and then transmit it to the cashier for processing and returning the processed payment to the diner and all the while hogging the dinner table, the very act of picking up the bill and walking to the counters immediately frees the table for the next diner. Simple, practical but effective. All in all, if one takes the entire system at Din tai Fong into consideration, one could see their deliberate effort in reducing waste, that is the waste of time without reducing the patron’s dinning time and therefore compromise the quality of their dinning experience. Amazing feat. Because of the reduced wastage of time in taking orders, cooking, serving, and billing, the turnover of customers is fast leading to a high volume of transactions. This is evidenced by the fact that it took them 10 minutes more or less to seat 20 tables (which I’m included). Again, an amazing feat. The streamlined system furthermore reduces manpower requirement and as well as reduces stress on the waiters. It reduces manpower requirement because Din Tai Fong doesn’t need the service of order taking waiters, which not only have no impact on the value but also waste time and money (which the customer isn’t willing to pay for). The system reduces stress on the waiters because two non – value added tasks are removed from them, namely, order taking and bill serving. This therefore frees them to fully focus on serving the diners’ needs and giving them “extra” attention. It is no wonder then that the waiters at Din Tai Fong are generally cheerful. After seeing this, I wonder if the entire system was a product some deliberate planning. But whether or not such system is a product some ingenious deliberate planning or some intuitive evolution, one thing is for certain, that the entire system is simplistic, practical, and highly effective. One just wish that such (the service at Din Tai Fong) were more common and widespread and not only confined to just one store (or chains of them) and certainly not relegating merely to a case study of a food tripping MBA. No wonder, Din Tai Fong is the world’s top ten restaurant! It service speaks for itself.

P.S. If you can’t understand my techno – babbling, I suggest you eat at Din Tai Fong in Singapore or in Taiwan to better appreciate. “ )

UNIQUELY SINGAPORE PART 2

THIRD DAY (January 1,2007)
We woke up early that day since we wanted to start the New Year on a positive note and aside from that, it was also my sister’s lunar birthday. The first thing we did that day was to skip the lousy breakfast at the hotel and went to the neighborhood Kopitiam to try the traditional Singaporean breakfast that wikitravel was raving about. The traditional breakfast actually consist of 2 Kaya toast, 2 soft boiled egg, and a cup of hot milk tea and costs only S$2.50, which my sister ordered (I ordered the more “loaded” one wherein ham and fried eggs sunny side up replaced the soft boiled eggs. It cost S$3.50). The breakfast was good, particularly the Kaya toast, which is tasty. The Kaya toast is actually made up of two loaves of semi – burnt toasted bread with sweet red mongo paste and butter filling. At S$2.50 or roughly Php70, it wasn’t really expensive and is comparable to the cost of a Jollibee breakfast back home except that the latter is much heavier. Anyway, after that rather delightful breakfast, we headed to Jurong side of the island and visited their Botanical Park, which is really just a huge outdoor garden type park. Apparently, the place is quite popular among Singaporeans because we could see a lot of them there with their families picnicking. Aside from that, we could also see some locals who are health buffs jogging around the place. The Botanical Park is not just one garden park but actually made up of several gardens. There is a Japanese garden, a European themed garden, an Orchid garden. It was a place to get some fresh air and a lot of exercise. I was not only drenched wet with my own sweat from simply walking half of the park but was also panting. Geez, I must be in a terrible shape! Luckily, I wore my walking shoes that day, which is why my feet didn’t give up on me then. We didn’t venture to finish traversing the entire park as I got enough exercise for that day. We proceeded to visit the Science Centre nearby after a few minutes rest. The Science Centre is actually a wonderful place to visit if YOU HAVE KIDS! This is because the place is really for kids. It is a place where you open the YOUNG MIND to explore the world of science and not for the dull adult mind like mine. Anyway, I was really there to watch their 3D show, the Mars Rover show but was dismayed to learn that they would be showing it only in the late afternoon as it was a public holiday that day (I had other plans that afternoon). The only saving grace was that the Centre has also some exhibitions for “adults” like the future lifestyle concepts involving information technology. There was a TV where one could see different “part” of the show being aired if you view it from different angles or the toilet bowl where it measure you weight analyze your dung whilst you’re doing your “daily morning rituals” to determine how healthy you are (great! a talking toilet). Also on display at the exhibition is a sleek futuristic concept car from Toyota. The design of the car is simply wow! But the best part of the exhibition was riding the Segway Transport. The Segway Transport (I learned of its existence 5 years ago from watching TV) is actually a two wheel vehicle with a handle and driven by an electrical motor. It has no steering wheel and no paddles or levers for speed control and brakes. The only way to control and operate the Segway was through shifting one’s body weight. There is a microcomputer at the bottom of the Segway beneath the feet that monitors subtle changes in the rider’s center of gravity. If one leans forward, the Segway moves forward. The more you lean forward, the faster the Segway would move forward. If you shift your weight on your right slightly, the Segway would turn right at an angle of which depending on how much the operator lean on his right. If you arch backwards, the Segway stops and further arching backward would back the Segway altogether. The concept of the Segway was to use the natural weight shifting of the body that a person does during walking or running. So therefore, there is no need for a “special” driving school for it. Just don’t froze stiff like what my sister did. Anyway, I was a natural with the Segway mastering it in just 15 seconds on it. I never wanted to relinquish the Segway and was rather disheartened to give it up to somebody else as my turn was up. Someday, I’m going to get one of those Segway for myself. It was already noon when we finished the exhibition tour and we went directly to the Peninsula to greet my mom and brother who had just arrived and had lunch together. After lunch, we took a cab went directly to Sentosa Island, a beach resort island and in which according to wikitravel is Singaporeans favorite weekend getaway. There are 2 main ways to get to Sentosa, via car through a land bridge or via cable car. We took the cable car and boy! What a queue! There are three cable car stations, one in Sentosa, one in Mount Faber, Singapore’s tallest peak, and one midway between the two. We hitched in the midway point. The cable car could carry six people in it and though it was relatively safe, I do have uneasy feeling riding it. From my vantage point inside the cable car, I could see Singapore’s skyline at least in the Harbor Area. Over above Sentosa, I could also see the “murky waters” that hug the shoreline facing Singapore. At Sentosa, the atmosphere was totally different. The air is filled with a party atmosphere so much so that you think you are in another country and not in Singapore. There is not much to see in Sentosa except for the Oceanarium and the Dolphin Lagoon. Transportation within Sentosa is by bus and is totally free but it is always jammed packed especially the line going to the Oceanarium and to the Dolphin Lagoon. For our first stop, we visited the Oceanarium, which according to the Singaporean government is the world’s largest. Like the previous day’s trips, this one is also a highly educational one. Inside the Oceanarium, one could see a vast array of marine life such as fish, coral reefs, sea horses, turtles, crabs (the giant ones and definitely not for consumption), sting rays, manta rays, and sharks! Baby Tiger Sharks to be exact. Lots of them. Pretty interesting visit. In fact, it was so interesting that we stayed too long and wasn’t able to catch the Dolphin Lagoon which closes at 1600. According to wikipedia, once could ride and play with the dolphins at the Lagoon. Anyway, I was also in a hurry at that moment to get off Sentosa and reach the top of Mount Faber in time for the sunset view at the Pillow Case(?), mountain top restaurant. We again took the cable car out of Sentosa and up to Mount Faber just in the nick of time for the sunset view. There was a slight drizzle at that time and a little bit cloudy but the sun is still there and didn’t miss my appointment. Though the sunset was in no way comparable to Manila’s, it was nonetheless great with the view of the harbor and slowly sinking sun. As sun sets at the horizon, we all took the cable car for the last and went to our first starting point. From there, we took a cab to Clarke Quay, another popular food destination in Singapore. Since it was my sister’s lunar birthday, we decided to splurge a little and chose to eat at Jumbo Seafood Restaurant by the Riverside. Wikitravel is recommending that visitors to Singapore should try Jumbo Seafood’s Chili Crab, Singapore’s national dish. Wikitravel also recommends that we ordered a side dish of steam buns, which we fortunately did. The Chili Crab was delicious but somehow disappointing because we were expecting a “bigger and meatier” crab. At the price they are charging, one could get more and meatier crab at Emerald Garden in Manila. The Chili Sauce bathing the crab wasn’t that hot but it was superb especially when used as a dipping sauce for the 2 inch wide and long square steam bun. In fact, I like the steam bun dipped in the Chili Crab sauce more than the Chili Crab itself! And I regretted that I didn’t order more buns because we still have more leftover sauces. At S$0.40 per bun (roughly Php12), the bun might be expensive but worth every bite. We have 2 other side dishes that evening and our total bill reached almost S$50 (Php1700), which is not that expensive when to be objective about it but one could literally have a more sumptuous meal at any seafood restaurant in the Philippines.
FOURTH DAY (January 2)
We got up pretty late that day largely because we overslept. It was somehow regrettable that we did overslept that day because we were leaving Singapore that afternoon and we still have places to go notably, Little India – Bugis, Orchard, and Chinatown. Again, we had our Kaya toast breakfast at Kopitiam (I sure do began to have a liking for Kaya toasts). After which, we went to see my mom and my brother sent them off to the Botanical Garden and the Jurong Bird Park. My sister and I then ventured to Chinatown where my sister went shopping. The Pagoda street in Chinatown is a hawker street filled with bargain vendor stalls and Chinese eateries. It was named Pagoda street because at it’s corner stands an old Hindu temple, the Sri Mariamman Temple, reputedly the oldest Hindu temple in Singapore. A few steps away from the temple is an Islamic mosque. This is a living testament to the ethic and religious plurality and harmony in Singapore. Interesting sight. There is no better proof than this. Anyway, Pagoda Street is really short and is the equivalent of Divisoria in the Philippines except that Divisoria is a hundred times bigger and way, way cheaper and much, much more to offer than at Pagoda’s. According to the local taxi drivers, Pagoda Street is the cheapest place to shop but I was unimpressed not because I hate but the prices are ridiculously high in my point of view (average price range for the “little give away stuffs” is around S$2 – 10 or roughly Php70 – 330, which is cheaper than say in San Francisco where a key chain cost US$2 or Php100 at the least but one could always get a similar item in the Philippines at Php50 or less) and doesn’t commensurate with the value it offered. Shopping at 168 in Divisoria is cheaper and better. But then again, my sister wanted to shop and I did promise her that (as her birthday gift from me). Anyway, by noon, we headed back to Orchard and again ate at Din Tai Fung, one of my favorite restaurants in Singapore for lunch. While waiting to be seated, I manage to scout around the place and came across a Chinese bookstore where I bought a book entitled, the “History of the Chin (dynasty)”. Chin dynasty is China’s first imperial dynasty and the only Chinese dynasty that doesn’t have a history book written about it. Every imperial dynasty in China wrote a history book posthumously about their preceeding dynasty, all except for the Chin. The Han dynasty that succeeded it didn’t wrote anything about it because historiography wasn’t that established yet at that time. The book, “History of the Chin” was written in the early 20th century during the tumultuous Republican – Warlord period of modern China. It was a momentous book because it filled a missing gap in Chinese history. Furthermore, it was a book that tells a very interesting subject matter in Chinese history, the Chin dynasty, the founder of the Chinese imperial system that last for 2000 years. Too bad, the book only contains the fragmentary pages of the original manuscript, which make the book all the more precious. The author, Mr Wang, had as ling life long ambition to write a history book like no other and he embark on this project when he was young and maintained it consistently all throughout his life. He finished the book sometime before the Second World War but the original manuscript was totally destroyed in the holocaust of the subsequent War. Fortunately for him and for all of us, fragments of his secondary copy was still intact as well as his research notes. He then painstakingly rewrote his book only to be destroyed in another holocaust, that of Cultural Revolution. Only fragments of his work and his notes survive the disaster that befell on him but he never quit and again begun piecing together his opus. What finally prevented him from finishing his work was the death of his wife, which devastated him so much. Too bad, the book was well written. It was well research, scientific in it’s approach vs the myth laden story telling of the ancient histories probably this has to do with the “spirit of the age” where he is born into. The book debunks a lot of myths and legends and present history in it’s purest unadulterated form. Furthermore, it was written in the classic Chinese prose that only a few “ancients’ like me would love to read. It was a work of a genius and worth every penny that I paid for (S$15 or Php500). Buying that book completes my day and I was ready to go where my sister wanted to go and I did. We went back to Chinatown for more shopping and I didn’t complain. Later, while waiting for our plane at the airport, I chanced upon the Airport bookstore and “discovered” a new book just hot off the press, “Measuring Marketing, 103 key metrics every marketer needs” by John Davis. It sells for S$53.95 (Php1,782). Not that expensive considering a book of it’s caliber. Fortunately for me, they’re offering a 15% discount and I bought it at S$45.86 or Php1,500 roughly the same as in the Philippines (the book came out of National Bookstore in the Philippines just last week and sells at roughly Php1,500). Not a bad day for me at that time.
SINGAPOREAN FOOD
Singaporean food are all delicious but expensive by Philippine standard even if the prices are comparable in some cases but one could get more value and the same delicious taste in Manila. However, by American standard, Singaporean food is cheap and way, way more delicious than the average American fare, which sucks by the way. Furthermore, Singapore manages to develop it’s own cuisine; it’s own identity, which they vigorously market as unique in the world. Indeed! Some of their dishes are in fact unique though they are mostly derived from Chinese and Indian cuisine. Dish like Chili Crab, Kaya toast, Roti Pratak(?), Suntay (a barbecue dish with spicy sauces), Bakut Teh soup (spareribs boiled in herbal tea) are some of the prominent examples. Too bad, I wasn’t able to try all of them partly because of their prices and partly because I’m particularly gastronomically adventurous at that time.
SINGAPOREAN TAXI
Singapore taxis are quite efficient and relatively high tech. They are continuously connected via wifi and are computerized and could communicate via text message. In fact, you could pay with a cash card or a credit card. One can travel to any point in Singapore under 20 minutes on light traffic days and the fare wouldn’t exceed S$15. However, most places in Singapore are within walking distance (10 minutes or less) and it would be expensive to take a cab, which usually runs to S$4 (Php130). However, that is a small price to pay considering if your feet is killing you from all the walking you had while touring. Although Singaporean drivers don’t overcharge their customers, they do intentionally take the longest route to what is otherwise a short distance destination. Care must be exercised though in choosing the cab to ride on. In Singapore, there is such a cab called Limo – taxi. Mercedes Benzes dressed up like a taxi. Don’t make a mistake riding in one because I did in a hurry. The fare in the Limo – taxis are much more expensive than the regular taxis (S$3.50 flogged down rate compared to S$2.50 + mandatory tip of S$2 for the limo, the rate per kilometer is S$0.5 for both if I remember it right) and though it was more luxurious than the regular taxi, it doesn’t really make any difference in terms of comfort unless of course, one is vain (as in you wanted to be seen riding in such a luxury vehicle). Another thing about Singaporean taxis is that their drivers are talkative. I did chat with taxi drivers and jeepney drivers in the Philippines before when I was still commuting but only a couple of times (less than 8 I suppose) and not regularly (by the way, the drivers initiate the conversations and not me). In Singapore however, I manage to have a conversation with the drivers on three separate occasions. It is usually high considering my length of stay. Well, it helps that I’m Chinese and I look approachable. Anyway, we talk a variety of topics like the sights in Singapore, the Philippines, the women in the Philippines (how they are sweeter than Singaporean women according to one driver), Filipino words and phrases, the Singaporean work life. We talk largely in English and occasionally in Mandarin but never in Singlish, which is basically English with Chinese term juxtaposed in them much like Taglish. About the Singaporean subway, I never rode on one. Well, that is because it is hard to find and out of the way. Unlike in Hong Kong, where there is a subway entrance on virtually every corner, Singaporean subway entrance are not that geographically dispersed and are also not that visible and such that only the locals could manage to find one.
COMPARISON WITH HONG KONG
Singapore is invariably compared with Hong Kong so much so that it is viewed as a rival. By comparison, Hong Kong is bigger and looks “older” at least in some sections of Hong Kong. Singapore by contrast looks younger but it’s architecture are not in a league with Hong Kong’s much less Shanghai. In fact, Hong Kong has a higher density of sky scrappers than in Singapore and Shanghai would look like the “universe” by comparison. Hong Kong has a better stable of tourist attractions like Disneyland, Ocean Park, Victoria’s Peak (for lovers only according to my uncle who lives in Hong Kong), and Museums (where I had my first visits to such a place). Singapore on the other hand, has more to offer from my point of view like Jurong Bird Park, Singaporean Zoo, Night Safari, Sentosa, etc. Shopping is cheaper in Hong Kong than in Singapore especially for luxury goods according to some “testaments and experience”. Prices in Singapore seemed somewhat higher than Hong Kong but I cannot accurately tell. Personally, if I were to be asked where I would rather be, I would choose Hong Kong without second thought mainly because of familiarity (and to most people I’d talked to). Hong Kong was like a second home to me because I had relatives there but truth to tell Singapore is a better place to stay because it is “greener” than Hong Kong.
THE LURE OF SINGAPORE
Singapore has no great monument to history. It has no wonder of an architectural gem. It doesn’t even have a breathtaking spectacular scenic attraction like the Grand Canyon or the Yang Ming Mountain in Taiwan. It has none of those. So what is the lure of Singapore? It is none other but Singapore itself. The luscious green landscape of Singapore could easily fool anybody into thinking that one is in the suburb and not in the city. It is as if the City is cut out of the forest and not the forest being inserted into the City. Merging that with the Jurong Bird Park, the Zoo, the Night Safari, the Garden, and even Sentosa, what emerges is that Singapore is not just an eco – friendly city but what a city should really be. A lot of people saw that (the various attractions) but few people understood and appreciated the significance. And the significance is that Singapore has proven that Man and Nature could co – exist and that Civilization, Progress, and Ecology could actually work hand in hand. After visiting Singapore, one would invariably ask the question, “why can’t my city be like Singapore?” And this is why Singapore is unique. Now as for me on whether or not I’m returning to Singapore? Well, perhaps I would. Maybe sometime March 27,2007 just in time for the opening of the Singaporean run of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s opus, “The Phantom of the Opera”. “ )

UNIQUELY SINGAPORE – Part 1

I spend my recent New Year holidays in a vacation trip to Singapore (December 30 - January 2). It was really an unplanned trip for I wasn’t really bent on going for another foreign trip late last year (my third time in a year) but I had no choice on the matter. It’s either Singapore or I’d be staying home alone for the New Year as my family was bent on spending their vacation there. I was glad that I did made the trip for it was quite a pleasant one. Furthermore, this is one trip where we did a free tour without any tourist guide. My sister and I were on our own most of the time (my mom and my brother joined us after the New Year). Singapore is a really small place and a friendly one too that it would be such a waste of money if one were to hire the service of a tour guide just to show you around. The “self made” tour actually gave me a lot of time to spend without always being in a hurry. One could leisurely travel without being hassled by the tight regimented schedules. Furthermore, “free traveling” has an added dimension of adventure involve. At any rate, wikitravel, a sub – section of the popular wikipedia online community encyclopedia was of great help and value for “free” traveling tourists like me.
PLANNING
Before the trip, I did researched on a few places to visit in Singapore through wikitravel. And boy! The information are quite useful and the insights and advice very helpful indeed! The site provides interesting facts from where to visit, what to see to the exchange rate to the taxi fare, the bus to take, and most importantly, where to eat, what to eat, and how much would it cost on the average (it helps you plan your budget). At any rate, I followed 80% of wikitravel’s advice on how to go about Singapore. I spend my first day visiting the Jurong Bird Park and The Night Safari. Spend the second day visiting museums and “tried” to join the fireworks display at the Esplanade Marina Bay. Spend the third day visiting the Botanical Garden and the Science Centre and then off to Sentosa Island and on the way home, went up Mount Faber and finally on my last day, accompany my sister to shop at Chinatown (mainly at Pagoda street). After my trip, I still have a few places that I haven’t visit notably Bugis – Little India, the rest of Chinatown (which was supposed to be on the second day but the museum tour took longer than expected), Singapore Zoo (we’re late on the first day), the Dolfin Lagoon at Sentosa (again we’re late), the shopping malls at Orchard (which is really near our place of stay but due to time constraint…), and the Singapore National Library (again, time constraint). Also, I wasn’t able to try the GMAX reverse bungee jumping ride (too bad!!!).
FIRST DAY (December 29)
We arrived at Singapore on board Sing Air at around 1100 and took the “free” airport bus service to our hotel, The City Bay view at Bencoolen. On my way to the hotel, we were shown a “glimpse” of Singapore. I was immediately taken aback by the sight of abundant trees and palms that “littered” the place and not just simply lining up in the street, which transform Singapore into one giant “suburbia” instead of a city. The luscious green landscape was pleasing to the eye and I would readily admit to being impressed by what I saw. The hotel we stayed was quite sloppy and the food taste bad by my standard (had no choice, all hotels are fully booked at that time, my brother on the other hand had a better accommodation at the Peninsula/Excelsior for an extra $20 on his New Year trip). Actually, the service wasn’t bad and the place is clean but it wasn’t exactly what I wished for. Anyway, the only consolation I got from my accommodation is that it is located in the city center and is quite accessible to the various destinations. After checking in, my sister and I first looked for a place to eat and we took a cab, paid S$4 (Php120; S$1 = Php32; $1 = S$1.5) just to get to The Paragon at Orchard, which is about 10 – 15 minutes walk from our place of stay (hey, we’re tourist who had just landed, we still don’t know how to get around yet). We ate at Din Tai Fong, a Taiwanese restaurant serving mostly noodles and dim sums. Incidentally, Din Tai Fong was voted by The New York Times as one of the top ten restaurant in the world. Indeed! It does live up to its reputation because the food was great but I’m more impressed with their service than their food. After that quick lunch, we again took a cab to the Jurong Bird Park. Admission cost like S$20 per person plus another S$4 for the panorail ride, which is an air-conditioned tram that circles around the park for a great view of the birds but one couldn’t stop over at any point of the ride. Furthermore, it is rather difficult if not impossible to take a picture inside the tram because of the speed it was going albeit it was “slow”. Luckily for me, the panorail was jam-packed that day and so my sister and I went for a “walk” around the park. In my view, the best way to really appreciate the park was to tour around it by “foot”. One could see more that way. Though at late in the afternoon, most of the bird shows are over (most of them are scheduled in the morning), but still, it was still a pretty nice tour and an informative one at that. One doesn’t have to be an orthnitologist to appreciate the birds. There are Storks, Chirping Birds, Parrots, Owls, Cranes, Eagles, Penguins, Ostrich, Swans, and especially Pink Flamingoes inside the Jurong Park. I even end up inside a giant birdcage and “feed” the chirping birds with a cup of “spiced” water (water + glucose). Incidentally, tourist actually paid S$2 just to buy the spiced drink and cup for that perfect picture moment but I was wise enough to just “borrowed” from somebody else wanting to get rid of it. Anyway, it took me and sister 3 hours to complete the tour and by that time, I was drenched in my own sweat no thanks to the afternoon sun and my feet are killing me! It is around that moment that my sister lectured me on the virtues of shopping. According to her, one of the virtues of shopping was that a shopper would have developed a set of strong calves that could endure the “long” walk. Damn, I so hate shopping!!! After a few minutes of rest, we ventured next to The Night Safari, which is beside the Singapore Zoo arriving there at around 6pm, just in time for the closing of the Zoo. Upon arriving to the Night Safari, we were immediately greeted by a long queue that stretches out for like a kilometer. After an hour of waiting, we were finally able to get into the tram and tour the Night Safari (ticket cost like S$28 per head). The Night Safari was really quite interesting in the fact that it feels like you’re in the wild as the zoo has no cage whatsoever. Most of the animals are separated from the onlookers by an earth mound or by a deep trench. And a few of those animals especially the harmless deer roams the place freely, some even blocked our tram path during our tour. The place is quick dark with minimal artificial lighting that simulates the bluish moonlight so as not to disturb the nocturnal habits of the animals (flash photography is strictly prohibited). The Night Safari kept animals like deer, water buffalos, tiger, leopards, elephants, antelopes, deer, giraffes, and a host of other mammals. Pretty interesting sight, indeed. All of this tends to give visitors a “natural” feel of the place. In the middle of the tour, we were let off at a junction for a walking tour of the snow leopard trail, which takes us to see leopards, civet cats, the “flying” monkey, the smallest monkey, and fruit bats! In my opinion, a walking tour of the Night Safari would be desirable as the limited light environment coupled with the seeming ferociousness of some of the animals would definitely add to the thrill of the adventure (the Night Safari allows such “walking tour”) but one cannot see all the places in the Night Safari as in the tram guided tour since some of the places are off limits to “pedestrian” tourists. Furthermore, there is also a problem of “cover” when it rains and it did rain a little that evening (Note: bring an umbrella for the walking tour). There is simply no place to hide because the Zoo wanted to make the place to look “natural” and indeed, it would look awkward to see a metallic waiting shed in the midst of the “jungle”. Lastly, another more compelling reason to take the tram guided tour at least for me is because of my sore foot. My foot was simply killing me after that 3 hour walk at the Bird Park and I don’t want it to be punished further by walking again for another 3 hours! At any rate, at the conclusion of the tour, we were led to see the “Creature of the Night” show featuring some of the nocturnal furry creatures performing “stunts”. This is really a show for kids and frankly, it is quite boring for “grown ups” like me. By the time the show ended, it was 10pm, we ate our dinner at the park, which is really expensive and then headed back to the hotel for a good night sleep.
SECOND DAY (December 31)
We woke pretty late that day, somewhere around 9am (one of the virtues of “free tours”, more sleeping time!) and had our breakfast at the hotel. The Breakfast was quite “ordinary” featuring dishes that are palatable to Chinese, Muslims, and Indians (as in no pork and no beef, all meats are chicken, as if you didn’t get enough of those back home at Jollibee’s). At any rate, after that lackluster breakfast, we turned a corner down the street and visited the Singapore Arts Museum. Most of the arts on display are paintings made by prominent 20th century contemporary Singaporean artist with a few artists from ASEAN countries particularly Indonesia and the Philippines. A significant collection of the paintings done by Singaporean artists are the traditional Chinese paintings using Chinese brushes and in varying shades of gray. One such collections and one that is prominently on display that day was the work of Chen Wen Ting, an immigrant from Mainland China. One of his great paintings are about monkeys, tens of them perching on the branches of a pine tree. If I’m not mistaken, the author must have been to Sze Chuan province in China where such monkey scenes are commonplace. The “monkey” paintings in my view seemed to enliven the surroundings by projecting a “playful” atmosphere. However, the majority of the paintings on display made by Singaporean artists are of the abstract nature, specifically, the impressionists style ala Van Gogh. It is a logical progression. I mean, Traditional Chinese paintings are abstract by temperament and the progression towards impressionism is just a matter of time. There was this story about a Jesuit missionary during the Ching dynasty. He was commissioned to paint an apple and painted so realistically in full color that the apple was deliciously inviting. The Mandarin Scholar – Officials on the other hand cried that he “lost” the essence of the painting. I however find difficulty in appreciating impressionist art. You see I found out that the best way to appreciate an art was to see the painting not as a simple drawing but to see it from my perspective and interpret it as such. Then, I would try to understand the painting from the perspective of the creator and reconciliate my view with that of the creator’s perspective. A truly good painting from my point of view is the one that projects the creator’s mental “vision” to the one appreciating it. In this sense, it is easy to appreciate a realist painting (and the museum has actually an exhibit of one such Singaporean painter) than impressionist paintings because one has to delve into the “troubled” mind of an impressionist painter just understand his work. However, it is not that I didn’t appreciate all impressionist paintings. I actually liked one particular Indonesian painter. One of his paintings is about traditional Indonesian dancers in ultra bright outfit. Coupled with a pretty face, I thought she looked liked an ancient goddess. His other work and definitely my favorite is that of the night scene of Mt Meraph in Indonesia. The moonless evening, the dark surrounding and the monolith Meraph, it projects calm and serenity but this betrays what is really going on. For beneath the calm exterior and beyond the naked eye to see (it wasn’t shown in the painting) was the boiling tension that is ready to burst out in the open (Mt Meraph exploded recently). What the author was in fact conveying was that the eyes could be deceiving and that a “cold” person was in fact really all passion. Another Indonesian painter and this time a Chinese – Indonesian, painted endless about roof tops, at least the silhouettes. He is particularly fond of Chinese style roof tops and that of Borobodur in Indonesia. At one look, you would think that this is how it looks like at sunset or after a rain show of sort. Beautiful. By the time we are through with the Arts museum, it is almost noon but then my sister and I decided to continue our museum tour and have lunch later (a serious mistake actually). So with that, we crossed the street and came about the Singapore National Museum. The Singapore National Museum showcases Singapore’s past life, it’s history, a snapshot of Singapore’s society in the past. However, on that day also, it happened that the museum is showcasing an exhibit on Maria Theresa, the Hapsburg Archduchess of Austria, one of the few famous women in European history and the mother of the infamous Marie Antionette. The portrait of her from her early childhood till her adolescents, and till her later adult life showed her that she is a very, very pretty woman. Blonde hair, white skin, beautiful well – proportioned face, nice cheeks. Very beautiful indeed. Even in her late adult life, one could still see her beauty.No wonder Marie Antionette was pretty, she got it from her mother! Aside from the various portraits of Maria Theresa, one could also see a landscape drawing of Venice at around that time, the mid - 18th century. Also, the crown jewels of the Holy Roman Emperor are also at display (the Hapsburgs has been wearing the crown of the Empire since the 1400s except for Maria Theresa, the last of the Hapsburg because she is a woman; Her husband instead gained the crown to continue the line as Hapsburg – Lorraine dynasty; incidentally, Philip II of Spain from which the Philippines was named after is also a Hapsburg). Other objects on display include the dining utensils of the royal family, which are made of gold, the engraved family tree plaque made of gold, the “ancient” piano, and the dresses prevailing at that time. After the Maria Theresa exhibit, we next went to see the Singapore History exhibit also inside the National Museum. At that time, it was already 1pm and since we wanted to finish the museum tour before having our lunch we proceeded to the History exhibit. And boy was that a wrong decision, for the exhibit tour (an audio tour) took us 3 hours to complete! By the time we finished the exhibit tour, it was already 4pm and my knees are wobbly, my stomach was growling in protest and most importantly, my feet is killing me! The history exhibit tour is not actually bad. It is actually informative. However, it is unashamedly and unabashedly biased! The whole thing is pure propaganda! One thing I hate about government is their penchant in “reinterpreting” history for mind control purposes. They have no qualms in twisting and manipulating the truth for propaganda purpose. Why can’t they just simply tell the truth instead of manipulating it? Was the truth so unflattering and “discouraging”? At any rate, tired and hungry, my sister and I walked back to the hotel to cool our heels (actually mine mostly) and on our way back took our lunch at Kopitiam, which is besides our hotel. The food there is cheap (by Singaporean standard) and delicious though not spectacularly delicious. In the late afternoon on the run up to the Explanade New Year countdown, my sister and I visited the Asian Civilization Museum near the Government Buildings. The Museum showcases artifacts belonging to various Asian civilizations like China, Southeast Asia before the advent of Islam, Indo China, India, Persia and Arabia (mainly Islamic culture). Pretty interesting except that the theme is heavily tinted with religion (though nothing wrong with it since religion is a big part of culture in ancient times). The artifacts are mostly religious items like sculpture or works of arts like Buddhas with clear “Indian faces” excavated in Southeast Asia and Buddhas with Chinese features excavated in China and in Indo-China. After that, we concluded our museum tour and proceeded to the Explanade Theater, the new performing arts theater at the Marina Bay to see first hand the New Year fireworks. Boy! The place was already jam packed as early as 5pm. We toured the place a little and then decided to have our dinner there at the Explanade however expensive it maybe but was miffed that most of establishments turned us away because it was full and we don’t have reservations. So without a choice, we walk out of the Explanade and up to Boat Quay, a street famous for it’s restaurants by the river and there we have our “riverside” dinner. The food there was great but the price wasn’t. It was pretty expensive though not as expensive as their American counterpart in the US and the food in Boat Quay Singapore certainly taste so, so much better than in America. After dinner, we leisurely walked back to the Explanade only to discover that we were locked out. The open area was already and we weren’t allowed inside. Having no choice, we just stand in the sidelines on the bridge trying to get a glimpse of the fireworks. Mind you, it wasn’t really a nice place to be in. There was no seat, no entertainment, and best of all, it was packed. We had to stand there for hours like 5 hours. Then by 1030pm, a “short” firework lasting for like a minute went into works on top of one of the corporate buildings facing the bay (quite a disappointing display, my neighborhood fireworks looked better). And then, the rain poured! Everybody including me and my sister scampered for cover but there was none. Actually, it wasn’t really a downpour but it was no drizzle either and I was drenched wet. We scampered home walking from the Bay to our hotel (a good 15 – 20 minutes walk) as the rain kept on falling (there was no taxi in sight since the Bay area was closed to traffic and also most of the cabs are taken by soured holiday watchers). As we got to our room, we tried to witness the New Year Spectacle on TV but to our dismay, there wasn’t any firework displays shown in TV. The only way we came to know that it was the New Year was when the churches began ringing their bells. Definitely not like the Philippines and I do miss the Philippines that New Year’s eve. What a way to spend the New Year, inside a hotel in a foreign land on a vacation and without fireworks to see, I don’t know if I should be happy or not.

FIRST DAY ON MY FIRST (OUTSIDE) JOB

Last Friday, January 12 was my first day of work on my first job outside the family business. It was sort of a “teaching” job at my graduate school alma mater, De La Salle Graduate School of Business. It is not really a teaching job even though I am designated as the lead “professor”. My mentor, Professor Elfren Cruz handles the lecture part of the class, which focuses more on Strategic Management and it is under his auspices that I’m working for right now. My part along with that of my two other co – professors on the other hand focuses more on the “motivational” aspect of the subject for this class is no ordinary class to start with. This class is called Special Topics in Business Management and the enrollees are mostly candidates who finished all of their academic subject save for one final test, the Oral Comprehensive Examinations (OCE) where candidates defended their STRAMA (Strategic Management) papers against a panel of 3 distinguished members of the academe. OCE is the final requirement that all MBA students had to go through in order to become a bonafide Master and it is by far the toughest and most nerve-wracking test in GSB. So much so that most students “avoided” OCE like a plague even if they have gone through all the torture of the academic subjects. Hence, the school is saddled with a situation wherein they have a huge backlog of candidates but very handful of graduates. My mentor seeing this decided to offer this so – called “special classes” and I was one of it’s early beneficiaries when it first started in 2004. Now, the special class was in it’s 3rd edition and I’m in charge of it (every edition has a new set of “professors”). The class size last Monday was about 30 people and I was told that there are a few more would be coming in the next week. Most of the enrollees had finished their STRAMA sometime 4 – 6 years ago but I do have 2 – 3 of them who finished their academics way, way back in the 1980s. The challenge here was to get the enrollees to completely update and revise their STRAMA paper and to prep them for OCE but that is easier said than done. One of the lessons learned in the previous editions of the special class was that the academics (the STRAMA review) are only a part of the enrollees’ problems. The other part of the problem was psychological (in my mentor’s term) or motivational. Most of the enrollees possessed the desire to finish their OCE but they somehow never manage to in spite of their desire. Something most be holding them back either it is the lack of confidence, fear resulting into paralysis, or simply work – life balance (in fact, 1/3 of the present enrollees are my classmates in the previous “special class”). At any rate, it is my job and that of my two other colleagues, Carol and Judhes to find out and help the enrollees overcome them. As for me, this job was my first job outside the family business. Until last Friday, I’d never worked outside before not even in OJT during college (I started working for the family business since when I was 10 years old, FYI). It is not due to the lack of job offers. As a matter of fact, I had quite a few of them and a few of those offers are pretty nice and best of all, I didn’t apply for any of them! They are just offered to me and I turned them down (including the one from my mentor) except for 2 and this job is one of the two jobs that I didn’t turn down (the other job that I didn’t turn down was shelve after a reorganization). My motivation in taking this job was simple. I want to repay my mentor for giving me a chance to finish my MBA and this is my way of “paying it forward” i.e., to help others finish theirs. Actually, my mentor has cast his eyes on me for a long time now. Ever since I took up the first “special class”, he was often telling me that I should handle the second one or the later editions. He repeated that offer sometime in 2005 when I was helping him organize the Alumni Association and I said yes. This in spite of the fact that there are according to him many of his former students who wished to volunteer for the job. Well, I was his logical choice not because I’m his favorite but because I possessed a double advantage. First, I got excellent academic qualification (I aced in his STRAMA class) and second, I was a product of the said program (the special class) and therefore understood what the enrollees are going through. And these are the very two things that are needed in handling this special class. The pay for the job was ok actually. I learned from a friend of mine who works in the school administration. According to her, a full time professor possessing excellent academic qualification (a master’s degree or better) stands to earn Php500 per unit per session or in my case, Php1500 per session in a three-hour class (that’s if I am considered “fit” to their standard) or Php21000 in a 14-week term. However, since there are 3 of us handling the class, we will be splitting the pay three ways and thus leaving me with Php500 pay per “appearance”. Not bad but considering the gas and food that I’ll be shelling out for just getting there and the effort that I’ll be expending, my work will be pretty much a pro – bono affair (my mentor on the other hand is doing this absolutely free without charge). Anyway, I’m not here for the money or for the glamour of it (if there is such a thing called glamour in this job) but simply for paying my debt of gratitude to my mentor. And so with this in mind, I started my job last Friday, which turns out to be quite “forgettable” performance for me. My mentor was already there before 6pm at RCBC when I came into the room near 6pm, not exactly a nice way to start with your boss coming in before you. Furthermore, after my mentor’s introduction followed by his Strategic Management lecture, it was my turn to speak and introduce some of the “house” rules (which occurs sometime near the end of the class like 9pm). But as I was doing that, I totally forgot what I’m going to say. Funny but I was rehearsing in my head all day since that morning what I’m going to say and then, I totally forgot. Stage fright perhaps. It’s been a long time since I stand in front and talked to a large group perhaps 5 – 6 years ago (I didn’t get some “speaking” time during my return as I don’t do much reporting in 2004). In addition to that, I was never a good impromptu speaker. Though I managed in the end to communicate what I planned to say that evening, I still left many things out and aside from that, I send my message across like a telegram or a text message without any coherent grammatical structure. Plus, I kept repeating myself and had lots of “um” and “ahs” in between sentences. I sounded more like a goof than an MBA. Pretty forgettable. Moreover, I also found out that my mentor has updated his frameworks 2 terms ago and since my colleagues and I will be checking their papers based on my mentor’s recommended frameworks, I had to “go back to school” and learn those frameworks again because what I knew is now considered obsolete (geez). One other thing about my newfound job was the status accorded to me by my peers. I know a number of the enrollees and frankly, some of them are my classmates, my group mates, my friends, and my buddies. To actually hear them call me Sir sent shivers up to my spine. The appellation of “professor” seemed to be permanently attached to my surname, which I abhor. I always find the title professor attached to “oldies” with white hair and bent back carrying tons of books and wore a thick spectacle. I may look old but I’m not THAT old! Besides, I consider myself more of an intellectual rather than an academician. However, with the choppy communication I made that evening, it seemed that my appeal to simply call me by my first name instead of the “formal” title falls on deaf ear.

October 8: Viva Las Vegas

After a long and arduous trip over the dessert from LA, we finally arrived at Las Vegas sometime around 4pm. We first stop by at Caesar’s Palace to cool our heels before we proceed to the Flamingo where we will be spending the night. Caesar’s Palace is famous for one thing and that is their shopping promenade. What struck me the most is the ceiling inside the Palace, which is painted to look like the daylight sky. This kind of reminded me of the ceiling of Grand Hall of Hog wart’s school in the Harry Potter movies. Coupled with the row of Roman themed architectural “apartments”, which are actually storefronts, the entire promenade is actually magically transformed into an ancient Roman town. Not only the “apartments” reminded you of the “Romaness” of the designs, various sculptures actually reinforced the perceptions. You have the statues of Atlases “standing” on the column and “lifting” the ceiling. You can also see the sculpture of Roman gods such as Venus, Athena, Apollo, Jupiter, Neptune, and Dionysius. There is also a Trojan horse obviously referring to the famous wooden horse used by the Greeks in their conquest of Troy. However, the central attraction of the promenade is the fountain/aquarium where the statues of Neptune and his children stands and on the surrounding dome like ceiling are painted the story of Atlantis, i.e., the sinking of Atlantis. On the appointed time (like every half hour), the statues are lowered and are replaced by mechanical mannequins that “acted” out the story of Atlantis complete with fire and thunderous roars. There was not much “acting” involved with the mannequins except for the constant flailing of the arms and the side way movements of the entire mannequins. However, coupled with the alluring story of the fall of Atlantis, it does make one nice mechanical puppet show. After an hour of window – shopping (by my aunt and sister) and picture taking, we left Caesar’s Palace for good and headed for the Flamingo. I had one thing to say about the Flamingo, although it was the nicest hotel we stayed in our entire trip, I nevertheless had the worst hotel experience in my life. It’s not that the amenities are bad rather my room and every other rooms the group stayed in there is reek with a strong lingering cigar smell. In fact, the entire room smelled like one giant puffing cigar! So bad was the smell that I felt like being suffocated and barely had any sleep that night. Anyway, after dinner at the hotel, my sister and I went straight to see the Star Trek show at the Hilton and didn’t join the “un – programmed” tour of Las Vegas organized by Eric. After watching Star Trek and getting disappointed with the failure to get a photo shoot of me in the bridge of the Enterprise, we walked out of the Hilton and began our own tour of Las Vegas with just me and my sister. We took the Mono Rail (like the MRT in the Philippines) just outside the Hilton. One – way ticket regardless of the drop off point costs 5 bucks (P250) per person. Quite expensive if I may say and the route of the elevated train passes by the back – sides of most of the hotels running in parallel to the busy and popular Sunset Boulevard. The end stop of the train took us to MGM Grand Hotel where we went to see the famous “Lions of MGM”. The Lions are actually more like or pre- adolescent cubs and they are purportedly the descendants of the famous MGM lion that one sees during the opening of any MGM movies (complete with that roar). At first, we were rather disappointed with the lions because they are actually “lazying” around sleeping (complete with drooling). We waited like for an hour or so (along with the rest of the fast burgeoning crowd of lion watchers) before the lions decided to “get up” and “strut” around, play a little, and posed for pictures like some spoiled supermodel and then conveniently went back to their business of sleeping after like 15 minutes. Talk about some superstar flair and “antics”. I guess that is their way of saying “you got what you came to see, now scram and let me get some beauty sleep”. At any rate, my sister and I got what we came for and we therefore hiked off. We left MGM and crossed the street over to New York, New York, a theme casino hotel. The main attraction of the casino hotel is the giant roller coaster ride passing through the different landmarks of New York, which are actually replicas of the real thing like the Statue of Liberty. Curiously though, the casino hotel didn’t include the WTC twin towers when it was built, which according to a superstitious few is an ominous sign of it’s fate. Of course, I didn’t believe such a crap. Next, we walked up the famous Sunset Boulevard towards Paris, another casino hotel. But before that, we first went to see the Bellagio, which is just opposite of Paris to see the famous water fountain show. The Bellagio’s fountain show was actually featured in the movie, Ocean’s Eleven, near the end. The fountain show was quite spectacular and one has just got to see it for themselves. It was just like a fireworks show complete with blinding lights, booming, crackling sounds, and deafening bangs, with eye pleasing choreography except that it is just above the waters and no fireworks are involved but just water. It was like a group dance number with a few dozen ladies dressed in golden peacock dresses and arms locked and dancing to the tune of Elvis’ song, Viva Las Vegas (the song was actually played during the fountain show, blaring from the speakers mounted on the posts) similar to the actual shows inside the casinos. It was spectacular sight indeed but best has yet to come. Across the Bellagio stood the impressive half size replica of the famous Eiffel Tower. We paid $9 per person and queued up for about more than half an hour just to get up there to the top of the tower. While riding on the glass elevator upwards, I felt an unfamiliar knot in my stomach, which I never experienced before. It turns out that I was “traumatized” by the “elevator fall” at the Terror Tower for I can’t help myself from thinking that “the elevator might fall, the elevator might fall………” At any rate, I did “survived” and reached the top. However, there was nothing really to see at the top of this “mini” Eiffel Tower for the Las Vegas nighttime skyline wasn’t that impressive. But just then, something happened. Across the street, the Bellagio fountain started dancing again. Our timing couldn’t be much more impeccable for my sister and I were able to see the Bellagio fountain show from a different angle. The entire fountain show was just beneath our eyes. This is a far cry from the view beside the fountain. If the view from the sides of the fountain were spectacular, the view from the top was simply incredible. So much so that side of the observation deck was jam-packed with people to the extent that I think the tower would collapse on our side because of the weight concentration of the spectators (again, my trauma was acting up). It was a refreshing view of the fountain show on which account I personally think that the Bellagio Fountain Show should be considered as one of the Wonders of the World that one shouldn’t miss. After 15 minutes of that spectacular show, we came from our lofty perch and proceeded to our next attraction. I forgot the name of the hotel we went but it was just the opposite of the Venetian. There we waited for a good hour just to see the Volcano show. I had to say that I’m amazed at the ingenuity of the designer of the Volcano for I can never imagine that Man could actually mimic Nature to it’s finest detail. From it’s “quiet” picturesque state to it’s raging fury, I am pleasantly surprised about the vivid depiction. The technological entertainment packs the fury of an erupting volcano complete with pyrotechnics and rumbling sounds but yet it doesn’t looked “dangerous” at all. In fact, it was quite an entertainment though it dwarfs by comparison to the Bellagio Fountain Show. Somehow, I regretted to have seen the Bellagio Fountain Show first for I could enjoyed the Volcano even more if I saw it before the Bellagio. We planned to visit the Venetian next and probably see the Pirate Show afterwards and the Circus show even later but as we looked up at the time after the Volcano show, it was already 11pm. We had no choice but to went straight back to our hotel room since we had to be up early the next morning for our trip to the Grand Canyon. I wish I could just stay for another night at Vegas for there is a lot more to Vegas than just simply gambling (and I don’t gamble). Next time perhaps?