Sometime a month ago, my mentor wrote in his column about the impending burst of China’s asset bubble. At first glance, one would think that such an article are but one of the many China bashing articles that is popping out lately in the press but on a closer reading, one would find out that his analysis (which he got from a broker friend of his) are quite true and right on the bull’s eye. His foremost thesis is that China’s stock prices, which is a proxy for the general asset prices in China is defying gravity. Whereas the global stock market is reeling from the unraveling of the US subprime debt market, China’s stock prices continue to grow to unprecedented heights. And what make this explosive growth trend quite worrisome is that the assets are very much overvalued with some stocks commanding prices of 20 – 50 times their projected 2007 earnings compared to the typical price – earning ratio of a stock is around 12 – 15 times their projected income for the year. An inflated PE ratio signifies that intense speculations are in the works. Of course, speculations are part and parcel of any trading activities and one cannot really remove it totally. Speculation exists because there is an expectation of getting a better price from one’s asset holdings vis – a – vis from the current bid price. Therefore, because of this expectation, people hold onto their assets until the current bid prices raises to match their price expectation. Speculation becomes detrimental only when the asset owner’s price expectation becomes unreasonably high to such an extent that current market demand cannot further digest such exorbitant price. Put it in another way, if a significant percentage let us say 30 – 50% of the asset price is based on pure speculation as in there is no underlying fundamentals to back the price (the value or the worth of an asset doesn’t justify the price), then the price becomes highly unstable for it could collapse anytime at the slightest provocation just like soap bubble that continues to rise but is easily burst at the slightest touch. Prices would finally fall when the asset owners perceived that their price expectations can no longer be realize because the expected demand for their assets do not exists due to that the assets become too expensive already and they began to sell their assets, “trying to cash in” while the prices are still high. Now, if they are only seller in the market and everybody else is either buying or even waiting, it’s not a problem. However, it becomes a problem or more appropriately a crisis when everybody else began to sell and this would degenerate into a panic – selling. Now if just everybody else in the market is selling without regards to their profit or loss and nobody is buying, then we have a stampede and prices will collapse way below their fair market value. And it is this scenario which we refer to as “the bursting of the asset bubble”. Going back to the present day China, signs of an asset bubble are getting obvious. Aside from the inflated stock prices, one can also see the numerous glittering sky scrapers, the new and trendy apartment buildings in the major city centers that remained empty and unoccupied up to now. That’s not all, the explosion of new factories and new manufacturing facilities all over the country added productive capacities in their respective industries in large increments. And these newfound capacities are not backed by real demand but fuelled by easy credit and the perception that good times would last forever. However, technically speaking though, these “over investments” in assets though pointing to a possible formation of an asset bubble wouldn’t be really be considered threatening or problematic as long as the underlying “value” of the assets “could still justify” the hefty price tag. There are signs however in China that shows that asset prices are getting unstable i.e., it might collapse anytime. In Chinese cities, urban dwellers are beginning to complain loudly about stratospheric housing prices prompting government intervention. Furthermore, rate of return on investments of most Chinese companies are falling and some steeply in the last year or so. This is because of chronic over – capacities due to over investments in factories. Companies facing high fixed costs due to amortization needs would most likely shade the prices of their products just in order to incur sales and hopefully break – even. This would in turn lead to a vicious cycle of price undercutting among competition which in turn reduces profitability, and eventually, lowers the rate of return in investments. Due to this development, the Chinese government has now implementing curbs on borrowing to certain sectors of the economy as well as raising interest rates on loans. Higher interest rates tend to deter potential investments especially when the expected return of such investment cannot cover the cost of borrowing to finance the investment. Beijing is hoping that the series of economic measures would be sufficient to “neutralize” the potential threats to the continuous economic growth. In addition to that, recent developments are also threatening asset price stability in China. One such development is in the export front which up to now is China’s main engine of growth. The product quality scare though has negligible effect on the long run is likely to cause a dent in China’s sterling export in the short term. The numerous limits imposed on Chinese exports by EU and other countries. Couple this with the slowing of the US economy due to the credit crisis, China’s export would likely suffer and this would only aggravate the over capacities experienced in many industries in China. Aside from that, government investments in fixed assets such as roads, harbor, ports, airports, etc. are likely to slow down as well given the completion of the construction for the Beijing Olympic Games which is one of the largest public investments made by the government. Without government money to fuel domestic demand, there will be no alternative way out for companies facing challenges on the export front. Hence, the likelihood of an asset bubble and it’s possible bursting especially in 2008 right after the Beijing Olympics according to my mentor. Probably, this is because the Chinese government would do everything it could to present “a prosperous image to the outside world” during the Games and an economic meltdown isn’t exactly showing “a prosperous image” but the story would be different after the Games. Whether or not the economic meltdown would occur as perceived, the real question that one has to answer is what would happen next if China collapses? Well, going back to history particularly to China during the 80s and early 90s, in which China received a trade embargo after the Tienanmen Crackdown. At that time, the economy is experiencing double digit inflations. Bankruptcies was also rampant as some financially weak companies facing a crunch on their cash flow due to lower ROE fails to pay back their loans. This in turn led to the banking system saddling on a huge bad loans. A particular problem that crop up during the 1980 – 1990 economic slowdown was the Triangular Debt Problem. The triangular debt problem came to fore because the State Owned Enterprises (SOE) couldn’t pay back their loans extended to them by State Owned Financial Institutions, which in turn sourced their funds from government particularly local governments. The governments in turn owed the SOE in the form of advances from capital investments in order to fund other fixed asset investments. The result is a huge financial mess. What China did back then to solve the problem was to separate the government from businesses by handing the management of SOE and SOFI over to professional managers instead to government cadres. The government also furthermore liberalizes the economy, privatizing many SOE and allowing foreign investors into China as well as encouraging local entrepreneurs to invest. Lastly, the Chinese government also tweaks the export taxation system and devalues the Yuan. This led to the revival of the economy, which sees it expanding till now. Of course, the side effect of these series of Chinese actions was to indirectly trigger the 1997 financial crisis (though most of fault lies with the various ASEAN economies, i.e., economic mismanagement). Given that, what would one expect that if China’s bubble did get burst in the near term? Well, first of all, one have to remember that China though a market economy isn’t rule by Market Forces alone, i.e., Supply and Demand. China’s economy is very much influenced by the market forces as well as simple administrative fiat of the government. And in the imperative of protecting China’s ruling party’s interest, China wouldn’t hesitate to do whatever necessary to return the economy to growth in order to forestall unrest. And one of the most probable measures is to devalue the Yuan in order to boost exports. Second, with the devaluation of Chinese assets and the massive bankruptcy that could happen, it is also probable that China would further liberalize their economy and allow more foreign participation. As of now, China is gradually tightening it’s control over the economy by putting in place foreign investment restrictions. And these restrictions would likely be relaxed when the time comes. Furthermore, government takeovers of private enterprises particularly strategic bankrupt enterprises are also highly probable given it’s nature for administrative fiat. So as a business people, what are to expect in case of such scenarios? Well, first, expect fierce price competition from China not only due to the devalued Yuan but also to their penchant for price competition resulting from excess capacities. Second, with the Yuan devaluating, it might trigger a round of competitive currency devaluation especially with economies whose exports are in direct competition with China. As such, inflationary pressures would be pretty strong in these economies especially if they are import reliant. Thirdly, for those exporting to China, a Yuan devaluation would make their exports expensive and hence, this would stifle their export growth. On the positive side, a bubble burst of the Chinese assets has its benefits. One of the benefits is the cooling of commodity prices like metals and oil. Commodity prices are breaking record highs lately due in part to China’s surging demand. With the China factor curbed, it is only logical for commodity prices to “fall back to earth”. Another benefit is that for importers of Chinese products either for retail or for use in manufacture, abundant supply and lower Yuan means cheaper price and hence, lower input costs, which could potentially translates to better profit or larger market share in their respective markets for these importers. Still another benefit is that with high bankruptcy rates and a more liberal economy, a fire sale of repossessed assets at rock bottom prices can be expected and this would provide investors who are left out in the current China boom a chance to gain a foothold in China. All in all, whatever happened to China in the coming years, as business people, we are intricately connected to China.
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
Sunday, September 02, 2007
NEW BOOKS ON THE SHELVES
I discovered a few good books during my recent visit to National Bookstore. In particular, 4 new titles caught my attention and these are: The Set – Up to Fail Syndrome by Manzoni and Barsoux; Marketing to Women, How to Increase Your Share of the World’s Largest Market by Warti Barletta; The Edge of Evolution, The search for the Limits of Darwinism by Michael Behe; and lastly, The Woman’s Advantage, 20 Women Entrepreneurs Show What It Takes to Grow Your Business by Mary Cantado. The first book, The Set – Up to Fail Syndrome talks about the findings of Drs. Manzoni and Barsoux, both are psychologists studying boss – employee relationships. In particular, both discovered a curious phenomenon, the Set – Up to Fail Syndrome wherein almost always the performance of under – performing employees (“laggards”) never seemed to improve but in fact deteriorated even further when their bosses intervene in their activities just to “help” them out. It is a puzzling find albeit one that holds great importance for people in leadership position be it the CEO, the floor supervisor, or even the team leader. It is puzzling since one would naturally expect that with intervention from “higher ups” in a under – performing employee’s activities, these under – performing employees would easily make the grade but the truth of the matter is, not only these under – performing employees fail to make the grade, their performance went from bad to worse. According to the authors, the culprit is pressure. Under – performing employees are under great deal of pressure to succeed and the constant “look over the shoulder” type of supervision puts an even greater pressure on them. As such, they are prone to commit even more mistakes. Furthermore, the close supervision and constant scrutiny will likely uncover more mistakes, mistakes that are previously glossed over. The solution according to the authors is to back off from “helping” these under – performing employees and instead, motivate them and coach them. In short, don’t micro – manage, maintain distance, keep your trust on them, give them a chance to redeem themselves, and let them do what they do best. It is a hard thing to do especially when you have your own performance to take care of but this is according to them, the best way to do it. The second book, “Marketing to Women” is a fairly obvious book. I mean it is general knowledge that women and shopping are inseparable and hence, it is only logical for someone to think of ways to “convince” women to shop even more (as if women need convincing)! My only reaction to the book is that what took Barletta this long to come up a book like that. It should have come out years ago. Well, better late than never. The third book, The Edge of Evolution is a very provocative book. Here the author, Michael Behe explores the common misconception about Darwinian evolution through scientific research and experimentation. His thesis is that evolution do exists but it is not as random or chaotic as what is first perceived by Darwin. In fact, according to him, evolution followed a “logical” path, which signifies intelligent design. In other words, he “seemed” to suggest that there is an intelligent being behind all the grand design in this universe but instead of popping out of nowhere, all things evolved according to a master plan. Haven’t read it though but it do make me wonder, why evolution and not straight forward creation if his thesis would so suggest? Anyway, the last book that I saw is “The Advantage of Women”, which is probably a collected anecdotes of successful women entrepreneurs on their “their secret of success”. Not that I have anything against the concept of women entrepreneurs as my mom being one of them but I am just wondering what “advantages” does a woman entrepreneur have over their male counterparts? Female intuition? I guess not. I haven’t read the book yet and I might not but I do have a few ideas about women entrepreneurs based on experience with my mom and a few customers (who happened to be women entrepreneurs) I’m dealing with. Based on my observation on Filipino businesses (and a few Filipino – Chinese businesses), women are natural accountants regardless whether they took up accounting courses or not. Probably, this has to do with a woman’s training to become a homemaker during their youth. Most of the time, I encounter women purchasing my products. By purchasing, I meant that they look for the product they need, they canvass the price and later on, negotiate the price, haggle for terms and services (alternatively speaking, this may have to do with a woman’s inborn affinity with shopping). Furthermore, in most husband and wife team engaging in business, it is the woman who handles the funds, i.e., the payment of dues, the disbursement of petty cash, the receipt of incomes, and the control of expenditures. Except for Ilocanos, I always collect the dues from the wife, rarely from the husband. I contact the husbands for purchase orders. I deal with the husbands and I shook their hands but at the end of the day, I face their wife and receive from their wife’s hand the payment for their purchases. Always, in a husband and wife business team set – up, it is the wife who handles purchasing (the canvassing and price negotiating aspect), accounting and finance. The husband on the other hand does the dirty work of the actual operations (manufacturing etc) and logistics, which generally refers to the pick of raw materials from suppliers and the delivery of finish products to the customers. The HR or human resources development and marketing functions can either be handled by the husband or the wife but generally, in my experience, if the wife is the “dominant” partner in the business tag team; both functions (HR and marketing) are also performed by the wife. For Ilocanos, the wife’s role in business is usually limited to operations. So what’s the advantage of a woman entrepreneur? Well, I guess for Filipino family businesses, it is the ability of the woman to control and regulate the cash flows of the business. Cash is the life blood of any business. I mean it doesn’t matter if the business is earning tremendous profit or actually making a killing in sales but if it runs out of cash, it is going to shut its door tight because it can’t pay its bills and most importantly, its people. I’ve seen companies (clients of mine) with tremendous potential went belly up because they mismanage their cash flow. And this is where women entrepreneurs spell the difference. This is the “advantage” of women entrepreneurs, Filipino women entrepreneurs.
I also happen to come across a nice business quote of wisdom if I may say. I got this from the book, “The Three Tensions” by Dodd and Favaro. This is actually a business book on finding a “solution” to the age old business problem of balancing sales revenue and profitability, of balancing short term success and long term viability, and of balancing investment and financial health. The quote goes like this; one day, a divisional manager approaches his CEO and complains about the tasks put forth on him that of growing the revenues through increase in sales and at the same time, maintain a certain margin. The divisional manager complains that if he wants to attain a certain revenue growth objective, he had to somewhat cut down the price in order to generate demand but in doing so, he inevitably won’t attain his profit goals. The divisional manager is in a bind on what to do. The CEO then told him the story of a mud hut. In olden times when there is still no electricity, the only way for the people living inside the mud hut to see what they’re doing is to punch a hole in the walls of the hut. To maximize daylight, more holes are needed but the problem is, air; cold air invariably got into the room full of holes. Logic dictates that in order to maintain the warmth inside the hut, there should be no holes on the wall but that would deprive the occupants of the light. So what’s the best solution? According to the CEO, it is not determining the number of holes in the wall needed to maintain just enough warmth in the hut as well as provide the minimum amount of light needed but to discover glass that could allow light to pass through and at the same time shut out the cold air. The moral of the story, never waste your time trying to decide the trade – offs needed to satisfy multiple objectives. Instead, focus your effort in thinking out of the box for a genuine solution to the problem – inventing the glass.
I also happen to come across a nice business quote of wisdom if I may say. I got this from the book, “The Three Tensions” by Dodd and Favaro. This is actually a business book on finding a “solution” to the age old business problem of balancing sales revenue and profitability, of balancing short term success and long term viability, and of balancing investment and financial health. The quote goes like this; one day, a divisional manager approaches his CEO and complains about the tasks put forth on him that of growing the revenues through increase in sales and at the same time, maintain a certain margin. The divisional manager complains that if he wants to attain a certain revenue growth objective, he had to somewhat cut down the price in order to generate demand but in doing so, he inevitably won’t attain his profit goals. The divisional manager is in a bind on what to do. The CEO then told him the story of a mud hut. In olden times when there is still no electricity, the only way for the people living inside the mud hut to see what they’re doing is to punch a hole in the walls of the hut. To maximize daylight, more holes are needed but the problem is, air; cold air invariably got into the room full of holes. Logic dictates that in order to maintain the warmth inside the hut, there should be no holes on the wall but that would deprive the occupants of the light. So what’s the best solution? According to the CEO, it is not determining the number of holes in the wall needed to maintain just enough warmth in the hut as well as provide the minimum amount of light needed but to discover glass that could allow light to pass through and at the same time shut out the cold air. The moral of the story, never waste your time trying to decide the trade – offs needed to satisfy multiple objectives. Instead, focus your effort in thinking out of the box for a genuine solution to the problem – inventing the glass.
Thursday, August 23, 2007
TWO NEW BUSINESS THEORIES AND A GREAT BUSINESS QUOTE OF WISDOM
I recently learned of the development of two new business theories. The first one is the “Long – Tail” theory and the second one is “Competing on Analytics”. Actually, there are books on these two theories and I haven’t bought them yet. To be quite honest, I haven’t quite grasped the concepts yet but I do think I understand something about the theories. The “Long Tail” theory is actually a business strategy theory. According to the theory, consumer preferences can actually be plotted into a graph and this will appear like a bell shaped curve with its tails extending indefinitely in both direction (the normal curve distribution pattern). The horizontal x – axis in the graph represents consumer preferences while the vertical y – axis represents the number of consumer actually interested in the specific preference (pardon me for the crude drawing).
y-axis
a max b x-axis
The apex of this bell curve (max) represents the most popular product preference/variations because this is the point where there is the greatest number of consumer who are actually interested or who have actually bought it. However in real life, most companies offer more than one choice/variations for the consumer to choose from and most of the time, they try to attract the “greatest number of consumer” at the least cost, i.e., the least number of product variations. This is because the more product variations that a company offers, the more that the company has to invest in terms of productive capacity to produce such variants not to mention the overhead costs associated with offering such variants like marketing and inventory stocking. Now if that product variant doesn’t really have that much consumer buying, then it may not be worth it to carry it in the first place, i.e., it is profitable. So therefore, most companies offer a limited product variant range that caters to the greatest number of consumer and in this case in our graph, it is the area under the bell curve between points a and b. That area is called the mass market or the regular market. Because of the huge size of this mass market, it becomes the prime target of most companies who focus their efforts in terms of money and resources on it in order to capture a significant portion of this mass market and hence, this is also the most competitive part of the entire market. However, this mass market is by no means static, i.e., its borders being fixed. With the advent of modern manufacturing techniques and business practices, companies can produce more variants cheaply and henceforth, what was once outside the “mass market” universe is now part of it. However, everything changes with “The Long Tail Theory”. What the theory suggest is that instead of focusing on the atrociously competitive “mass market” (the area under the curve between a and b), focus on the markets outside the mass market (the area under the curve beyond a and beyond b, the so – called specialty markets). The reason being is that these markets are relatively untapped and has few if not non – existent competitions and as a result, could be quite profitable as one can charge a “handsome” but not “exorbitant” price to a specific set of consumers. Furthermore, the cost involved in catering this market is no longer “exorbitant”. This is again due to modern manufacturing techniques that allow flexible, smaller scale production without cost penalties associated with small quantity manufacturing and modern business practices like outsourcing. In short, the old industrial era, mass production thinking of “the more (you produce), the cheaper (the products’ costs gets)” is no longer relevant. Scale is no longer important. Now, put together lower cost and higher price plus less competition, the result would be a nice return on investment/capital. The Long Tail Theory is similar to Niche Marketing but not the same. Niche marketing is a marketing strategy (how a company sells its products) whereas the Long Tail theory is a business strategy (where’s the direction that the business is heading). The Long Tail theory like niche marketing focuses on a specific segment of the market but more. The proponents of the theory suggests that in order to fully exploit the “long tail” of the market behavior bell curve, one needs to leverage on the internet in order to expand ones reach. This is only but logical. I mean, in a localized regional market (as in one country or one geographic part of a country), the number of consumers having that “odd” preferences from the regular market could be quite small. Probably, too small to even break – even. However, with global reach, the numbers could add up to be quite attractive. Furthermore, because the “Long Tails” of the bell curve extends indefinitely, there is infinite niche available. In short, one can indefinitely segment the specialty market into innumerable “odd” preference based market segments and with global reach, total demand for each smaller segments of this specialty market is more than enough to be profitable. Now, if we pair this Long Tail theory of business strategy along with the Japanese manufacturing concept of Mass Customization, wherein one utilizes mass production techniques to produce customized products with a lot size of one, the potential could be very, very attractive…… in turn of profit of course. On the other hand, the Long Tail theory has some serious issues to consider. Foremost of these issues is that what if the market preferences shifted? What if the market changes? I mean yesterday, being hip is wearing a low waist pant and very short t – shirt that exposes ones belly button and then all the sudden, the next day, everybody thinks that wearing clothes that covers the neck down to the toe as cool. What would happen to the business? Or for that matter, what if once the oddity of all consumer preferences becomes the “in” thing among the mass market buyers, instead of being the one and only unique and different, you become one of the many. In short, you lose the premium pricing power of being unique. Market preference shifts can either bloat a company’s customers or pull it out underneath it. Another issue that the Long Tail theory has to address is the advances of newer manufacturing technologies and business practices which increases the ability of traditional companies selling to the mass markets to produce more variants cheaply and henceforth, allows these companies to sell outside its traditional market. At any rate, I felt that the Long Tail theory is something worth to explore further.
The second new business theory that I learned recently is “Competing on Analytics”. Competing on Analytics is about utilizing Business Intelligence to develop Competitive Advantage. Business Intelligence is about extracting useful information from the data of customers’ buying behaviors. Business Intelligence also sought to quantify such behaviors. Competitive Advantage on the other hand is a strategy developed by a company in order to win its nearest competitor. Competitive Advantages usually involve being faster, better, more, or cheaper than competition. In short, Competing on Analytics is all about developing competitive advantage based on hard quantifiable facts and not just base on perception per se, which is in most cases the basis in crafting a competitive advantage. You see, most companies created their competitive advantage based on what they perceived as what customer wants according to surveys but not on the “why”. People wanted to buy a pizza that can be delivered in 30 minutes or less and your competitor is delivering it at 29 minutes. In the old perception based competitive advantage, logic tells that you have to deliver the pizza in 28 – ½ minutes or less but do companies ask why? I mean why should somebody buy a pizza from you that can be delivered in 28 – ½ minutes? What is the reason they wanted to get their pizza fast? Is it because they wanted it hot? Is it because they are busy and they have short lunch breaks? If one could know the true reason why, then it is possible that you don’t have to deliver the pizza in 28 – ½ minutes. Instead, the solution might be is to open a shop beside the office or in every office building in every corner, in every street, etc…… As of now, I haven’t read the theory yet nor have I studied it’s framework but I think this is a pretty interesting theory.
Lastly, I also happen to read a really great business quote which I got from browsing the book, “All the Teas are in China” (?). The quote states in this way, “The best revenge one can give to a lousy customer is to sell more to them!” Great quote! The best I’ve heard in years! I mean, we all have our fair share of difficult customers, the so – called “customers from hell”. Never mind that they paid well. We always think that it is a good riddance to drop these customers and we’re better off without them. In fact, we can’t wait to throw them out! However, no matter what, that customer will still buy regardless what you do to them and if they can’t buy from you, they’ll buy from your competitors. Now that’s not good either. You’re giving up a good paying customer to a competitor? Must be nuts to do so. So the best way to deal with it is to sell to them, the customers from hell. But don’t just sell, you have to take your revenge. You have to sell with a vengeance. Sell them MORE! Sell them in such a way that you milk them of every penny from his/her pocket/s but why stop at their pockets? Milk them of every penny from their bank accounts, from their children’s educational trust fund, from his/her inheritance, from his/her spouse’s assets and heirlooms, and from his/her retirement funds. Milk them of every penny until you see the whites of their eyes ..….............................................. Now, that is ………… business.
y-axis
a max b x-axis
The apex of this bell curve (max) represents the most popular product preference/variations because this is the point where there is the greatest number of consumer who are actually interested or who have actually bought it. However in real life, most companies offer more than one choice/variations for the consumer to choose from and most of the time, they try to attract the “greatest number of consumer” at the least cost, i.e., the least number of product variations. This is because the more product variations that a company offers, the more that the company has to invest in terms of productive capacity to produce such variants not to mention the overhead costs associated with offering such variants like marketing and inventory stocking. Now if that product variant doesn’t really have that much consumer buying, then it may not be worth it to carry it in the first place, i.e., it is profitable. So therefore, most companies offer a limited product variant range that caters to the greatest number of consumer and in this case in our graph, it is the area under the bell curve between points a and b. That area is called the mass market or the regular market. Because of the huge size of this mass market, it becomes the prime target of most companies who focus their efforts in terms of money and resources on it in order to capture a significant portion of this mass market and hence, this is also the most competitive part of the entire market. However, this mass market is by no means static, i.e., its borders being fixed. With the advent of modern manufacturing techniques and business practices, companies can produce more variants cheaply and henceforth, what was once outside the “mass market” universe is now part of it. However, everything changes with “The Long Tail Theory”. What the theory suggest is that instead of focusing on the atrociously competitive “mass market” (the area under the curve between a and b), focus on the markets outside the mass market (the area under the curve beyond a and beyond b, the so – called specialty markets). The reason being is that these markets are relatively untapped and has few if not non – existent competitions and as a result, could be quite profitable as one can charge a “handsome” but not “exorbitant” price to a specific set of consumers. Furthermore, the cost involved in catering this market is no longer “exorbitant”. This is again due to modern manufacturing techniques that allow flexible, smaller scale production without cost penalties associated with small quantity manufacturing and modern business practices like outsourcing. In short, the old industrial era, mass production thinking of “the more (you produce), the cheaper (the products’ costs gets)” is no longer relevant. Scale is no longer important. Now, put together lower cost and higher price plus less competition, the result would be a nice return on investment/capital. The Long Tail Theory is similar to Niche Marketing but not the same. Niche marketing is a marketing strategy (how a company sells its products) whereas the Long Tail theory is a business strategy (where’s the direction that the business is heading). The Long Tail theory like niche marketing focuses on a specific segment of the market but more. The proponents of the theory suggests that in order to fully exploit the “long tail” of the market behavior bell curve, one needs to leverage on the internet in order to expand ones reach. This is only but logical. I mean, in a localized regional market (as in one country or one geographic part of a country), the number of consumers having that “odd” preferences from the regular market could be quite small. Probably, too small to even break – even. However, with global reach, the numbers could add up to be quite attractive. Furthermore, because the “Long Tails” of the bell curve extends indefinitely, there is infinite niche available. In short, one can indefinitely segment the specialty market into innumerable “odd” preference based market segments and with global reach, total demand for each smaller segments of this specialty market is more than enough to be profitable. Now, if we pair this Long Tail theory of business strategy along with the Japanese manufacturing concept of Mass Customization, wherein one utilizes mass production techniques to produce customized products with a lot size of one, the potential could be very, very attractive…… in turn of profit of course. On the other hand, the Long Tail theory has some serious issues to consider. Foremost of these issues is that what if the market preferences shifted? What if the market changes? I mean yesterday, being hip is wearing a low waist pant and very short t – shirt that exposes ones belly button and then all the sudden, the next day, everybody thinks that wearing clothes that covers the neck down to the toe as cool. What would happen to the business? Or for that matter, what if once the oddity of all consumer preferences becomes the “in” thing among the mass market buyers, instead of being the one and only unique and different, you become one of the many. In short, you lose the premium pricing power of being unique. Market preference shifts can either bloat a company’s customers or pull it out underneath it. Another issue that the Long Tail theory has to address is the advances of newer manufacturing technologies and business practices which increases the ability of traditional companies selling to the mass markets to produce more variants cheaply and henceforth, allows these companies to sell outside its traditional market. At any rate, I felt that the Long Tail theory is something worth to explore further.
The second new business theory that I learned recently is “Competing on Analytics”. Competing on Analytics is about utilizing Business Intelligence to develop Competitive Advantage. Business Intelligence is about extracting useful information from the data of customers’ buying behaviors. Business Intelligence also sought to quantify such behaviors. Competitive Advantage on the other hand is a strategy developed by a company in order to win its nearest competitor. Competitive Advantages usually involve being faster, better, more, or cheaper than competition. In short, Competing on Analytics is all about developing competitive advantage based on hard quantifiable facts and not just base on perception per se, which is in most cases the basis in crafting a competitive advantage. You see, most companies created their competitive advantage based on what they perceived as what customer wants according to surveys but not on the “why”. People wanted to buy a pizza that can be delivered in 30 minutes or less and your competitor is delivering it at 29 minutes. In the old perception based competitive advantage, logic tells that you have to deliver the pizza in 28 – ½ minutes or less but do companies ask why? I mean why should somebody buy a pizza from you that can be delivered in 28 – ½ minutes? What is the reason they wanted to get their pizza fast? Is it because they wanted it hot? Is it because they are busy and they have short lunch breaks? If one could know the true reason why, then it is possible that you don’t have to deliver the pizza in 28 – ½ minutes. Instead, the solution might be is to open a shop beside the office or in every office building in every corner, in every street, etc…… As of now, I haven’t read the theory yet nor have I studied it’s framework but I think this is a pretty interesting theory.
Lastly, I also happen to read a really great business quote which I got from browsing the book, “All the Teas are in China” (?). The quote states in this way, “The best revenge one can give to a lousy customer is to sell more to them!” Great quote! The best I’ve heard in years! I mean, we all have our fair share of difficult customers, the so – called “customers from hell”. Never mind that they paid well. We always think that it is a good riddance to drop these customers and we’re better off without them. In fact, we can’t wait to throw them out! However, no matter what, that customer will still buy regardless what you do to them and if they can’t buy from you, they’ll buy from your competitors. Now that’s not good either. You’re giving up a good paying customer to a competitor? Must be nuts to do so. So the best way to deal with it is to sell to them, the customers from hell. But don’t just sell, you have to take your revenge. You have to sell with a vengeance. Sell them MORE! Sell them in such a way that you milk them of every penny from his/her pocket/s but why stop at their pockets? Milk them of every penny from their bank accounts, from their children’s educational trust fund, from his/her inheritance, from his/her spouse’s assets and heirlooms, and from his/her retirement funds. Milk them of every penny until you see the whites of their eyes ..….............................................. Now, that is ………… business.
Thursday, August 02, 2007
LIVING BY THE CODES
This I noticed just today. That in this modern time, an average joe like me lives a life governed by codes. Of course, by codes, I am referring to the 7 up to 10 alphanumeric digits that allow you to access to your “life” (among other names, it would be referred to as password, ID, PIN, authentication key, etc). And what’s more surprising is that, you needed more than 1 code just in order to get through the day. I mean when I woke, I opened my cell phone and my phone would “ask” me for my PIN number so that it could unlock the SIM card. Then, at work, you open your computer and the computer would require you to log in and punch your password so that you could access to their work files. Then, when you went online, you need another password just in order to open your mails. Now if you have more than one email account, you would also need that many password and codes in order to access those emails of yours. Now you could add a few more to your list if you have a Friendster account, a MySpace account, a Messenger account, a Blogger account and so on and so forth. The list keeps on growing but that is not all. You have an account number and a PIN number for your bank account, another set for your ATM, and still another set for your credit cards, then there is your SSS number and so on and so forth………. All these codes, there are too many of them. Of course, there is no rule that state that you should have as many codes as you have accounts, files, email accounts etc. For all you care, you could have just one (and that is usually your birthday) but that is not exactly the safest or the most prudent way to protect you “life”. On the other extremes, one could have many codes but that is not practical since one can’t remember that many and not to mention that it could potentially drive people to insanity. So the best way really is to use only a handful of codes for a plethora of accounts. According to psychologists, an average human mind can store up to 7 related items give and take 1. That means, an average joe can remember only 7 sets of codes for all his accounts that need protecting. 7 codes! 7 codes to run your life. Great! So how do we get to this in the first place? Well, there is always technology to blame. With technology, time and space is fast losing relevance and the world shrank (it has been going on for the last 2,000 years or so). It shrank and shrank until it becomes too crowded for comfort that we begin to feel the need to protect our identity, to separate what is ours and what is not ours; to carve our “space”. We need to protect our identity from being usurped, from being “misused”, abused, and destroyed. We need to protect what is ours from others. And thus, the code was born. This says a lot about human beings that regardless that how much we needed each other, we still needed to “protect” ourselves from each other. We still have secrets. We still value privacy. We still wanted to be on our own.
Friday, July 27, 2007
ON BEING 33
It is that time of the year when I add one to an ever increasing number that represents my age. And yesterday I turn 33. So what about being 33? Well, I am “too old” for success already. Julius Caesar once wept in front of Alexander the Great’s statue when he was 33 years old claiming that he is too old already and have done nothing of relative importance yet; same here with me. Alexander the Great died at 33 at the height of his power and empire. At 33, Julius Caesar was at the start of what would be an illustrious path to power. Same with Temujin, the feared Genghis Khan, who at 33 has just managed to unify the Mongol tribes but still faced a formidable challenge. So does Qin Shih Huang, the first emperor of China. The latter began his unification wars when he was 33. Napoleon as First Consul has consolidated his hold as the undisputed master of France at age 33. Augustus Caesar was already the emperor of Rome by 33, having just won the battle of Actium one year before. And Bill Gates is already a billionaire by 33. And where am I now that I’m 33? Still nowhere! It’s time now to get things going.
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
IF CIRCUMSTANCES WERE DIFFERENT
One morning sometime in the weeks past, I woke up and gazed at myself on the mirror and realized a question, “what if circumstances were different, would I be the same person as I’m now?” It is the question that occupied my thought for sometime. I don’t know why I ask this question but probably this has to do with what I am now (I mean I’m getting “older”). I mean, everybody asks this question at some point in their lives especially when they tried to look at their past. The gist of my question is really is “are we really the authors of our own fate?” or “are we merely the product of fate itself?” Put it simply, if we are the authors of our fate, then no matter under what circumstances be, it is we that determines who we are. Else, it is fate then that dictates who we should be. One of the popular theories in the study of history and philosophy is Arnold Toynbee’s “Theory of Challenge and Response”. According to Toynbee, when civilizations and to the lesser extent, human beings are faced with a challenge be it from Nature or from other civilizations or from other human beings, civilizations and human beings responded by learning, adapting, changing (at times, radically) their behaviors to meet and overcome the challenges. Failure to adapt and change would lead to the demise of a civilization or of a human being. Now, it is a given that though certain events and circumstances were wrought simply by our own doing, most of it were forced upon us whether you like it or not. And in cases of major challenges, we responded by learning, adapting, and changing our ideals, our beliefs, our morals, and even our principles, at times drastic and at times radically in order just to survive. And as a result, for better or worse, we became a “different” person entirely, a “victim” of fate. Although I believe in the freedom of choices but there are times when the choices simply boil down to “to be or not to be”. And most of the time, the choice of “not to be” isn’t exactly a choice at all. It is this conclusion that I hold onto for a long time until recently. You see in my recent reflections I discover that though I did “learn my past lessons” and adapt to it and even going to the extent of “adjusting” some of my beliefs, my ideals, my morals, and my principles and at times changing them radically to suit the new circumstances, I also discovered I’m essentially the same person that I was 10 –, 20 – or 30 – years ago. I am still me. I mean that once upon a time when I was still young, I was a dreamer, an ardent idealist that viewed the world in the most simplistic of all views. Circumstances in life however intervene and I was forced to adopt a more pragmatic view of life and take the most practical of all actions and responses to a given challenge. Still, I noticed that I still harbor that idealism that I hold dear in my youth. Watered down maybe, tempered probably but it is still the idealism that I once knew. The methods I employ now maybe pragmatic in form and style and at times, probably Machiavellian but my goals, my objectives are somewhat idealistic. I may no longer be a dreamer but I’m definitely a romantic. Another thing about me that didn’t change is my love for books or the more underlying reason, my constant curiosity about everything around me. The thirst for knowledge, that need to answer the question, why is still very evident in me after all these years, after all the things that happened. I bought books when I was young (though not in the scale that I’m acquiring books right now) and at the present time, I’m still gobbling up books like there was no tomorrow. Maybe if the circumstances were different and I don’t have the means to acquire the books that I have right now but still I doubt it that it would deter my voracity for knowledge or impede my quest for answers. After all, there are ways to acquire knowledge without actually buying up books. I remembered that when I was younger, I was “angry young man”. Angry of being limited, angry of being hold back, angry of the status quo (or far from what is ideal), angry for not being able to remedy it. Now that I am older and supposedly, wiser, I’m no longer “angry” but impatient. Impatient of success, impatient of slow progress and at times of no progress at all, and most of all, impatient of not being able to remedy it as fast that I would have wanted. Of course, there are a lot more about me that I finally found out that is still me even after all the things I’ve been through and it is quite heartening to know. I guess what I’m trying to say here is that no matter what happened our basic character still persists. Our core essence as an individual still permeates and this influences how we “respond” to changes. This is why some people may find themselves a contradiction, i.e., saying this and doing exactly the opposite because of circumstances while others find themselves a bag of inconsistencies, i.e., constantly “reinventing” themselves all throughout their lives, again due to circumstances. The reality however is that there is no such thing as contradiction nor there inconsistency. People feel they’re a contradiction or inconsistent simply because they didn’t “understand themselves”. And to know thyself is to know the world around us. For example, one maybe simply greedy and they never knew it and hence, they would react in a certain way given the circumstances. But this doesn’t mean that they aren’t greedy if that particular circumstance didn’t happen. They still are. Now, going back to the question. “If circumstances were different, would I be the same person that I’m right now?” My conclusion would be no, I would be a different person for I would have change my ideals, my views, my beliefs, my morals, my principles just adapt to reality but I wouldn’t be far off either for I am what I am, what I was, and what I will be. I would still be me regardless of the circumstances.
Monday, July 16, 2007
A Mom Like This Doesn’t Deserve To …………!!!
Just learn of this ad posted at Friendster Classified, Philippines. A mother is selling her 1-year-old baby boy because she is no longer capable of raising him!!! What the …….?! I’ve heard of outlandish, crazy ideas before, stupid, outrageous ones even but this?!!! This tops them all!!! The ad was posted on Friendster Classified, Philippines last July 13 at 11pm complete with the baby’s picture (You can look up at http://olx.friendster.com/i-m-looking-for-good-parents-to-buy-my-child-iid-2555432 or go to Friendster Classified, Philippines under the heading, FOR SALE subsection BABIES – INFANTS). I don’t know the authenticity of this post whether or not this is a joke or a real offer but if this is somebody’s idea of a sick joke. Well, it ain’t sick at all! It’s demented!!! Now, if this is a real thing, well, I could forgive her for giving up her child if she can’t raise him. Poverty is not a reason for someone to condemn another person’s act of desperation but to actually “sell” her child for monetary gain?!!! It’s just sick!!! I maybe a capitalist and an advocate of “everything has a price” but even I have my limits. I wouldn’t put a price tag on a baby’s life and future! This is so wrong!!! It’s just sick!!! Now, if the mother is really serious about her child’s welfare, give him up to a foster home or to an orphanage or put him up for adoption but WITHOUT ANY MONETARY CONSIDERATION!!! If she persists with the offer then she doesn’t deserve to be called a mother at all but a monster or a beast that devours her own young. She deserves a fate worse than hell!!! Calling her a mother would bring shame to all the mothers in this world!
On a larger view, the problem of unwanted babies is not something new nor inexistent. They are as real as the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the sky we see. For one reason or another, desperate parents or moms simply abandoned their child, their flesh and blood, their responsibility because they knew of nothing else to do about it. I’ve been to an orphanage once as part of requirements of my Religion class in college. I played with the kids, the oldest of which is but 5 years old. They are so many of them and every one of them has one thing in common, they longed for someone to love them. They longed for a parent to love them, play with them. The very moment I carried one of the children in my arm, another was pulling my other hand and still another was pulling my legs, begging, crying to be carried as well. They are so many of them. They are just too many of them. And then there is one infant, a newborn whose head had ballooned to the size of a football. The baby had hydrocephalus. His parents abandoned him to the orphanage because they cannot save his life. That was more than a decade ago, I don’t know what happened to him. He would have been a teenager right now, if he had ……….. The world is ain’t fair…….. Life isn’t fair…………
On a larger view, the problem of unwanted babies is not something new nor inexistent. They are as real as the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the sky we see. For one reason or another, desperate parents or moms simply abandoned their child, their flesh and blood, their responsibility because they knew of nothing else to do about it. I’ve been to an orphanage once as part of requirements of my Religion class in college. I played with the kids, the oldest of which is but 5 years old. They are so many of them and every one of them has one thing in common, they longed for someone to love them. They longed for a parent to love them, play with them. The very moment I carried one of the children in my arm, another was pulling my other hand and still another was pulling my legs, begging, crying to be carried as well. They are so many of them. They are just too many of them. And then there is one infant, a newborn whose head had ballooned to the size of a football. The baby had hydrocephalus. His parents abandoned him to the orphanage because they cannot save his life. That was more than a decade ago, I don’t know what happened to him. He would have been a teenager right now, if he had ……….. The world is ain’t fair…….. Life isn’t fair…………
Sunday, July 15, 2007
TRANSFORMER: MORE THAN MEETS THE EYES
Watched Transformer the movie two Sundays and boy! It does brought back a lot of memories. I was in high school back then when the Transformer series was first aired. It became a topic of discussion among my friends and peers. In one of those discussions, I still vividly remember old pal Jerry expressing his incredulous observation of a three – storey tall robots like Megatron (NBE1 in the movie) transforming into a hand held laser rifle or that of Shockwave transforming from a giant 20 foot robot into a hand held (by humans) portable walkman/tape recorder or that Rumble transforming from a magnetic tape into a slightly larger than human size robot. I still remember about the discussions about how these Transformers transformed from their robot mode into their vehicle mode or aircraft mode among others. In one instance, I remembered that we discussed about how Optimus Prime, the leader of the Autobots transformed from his trailer truck into that behemoth of beauty and power. We analyzed each detail of how the headlights of the truck became his hand and arm, where his head pop out, and where his legs came from and best of all, we always wonder where his trailer has gone to whenever Optimus Prime is in his robot mode. You see in the cartoon series, Optimus Prime always carried a trailer and it “conveniently rolled off” and out of sight every time it transformed into a robot. The significance of this observation cannot be underestimated for every Transformer enthusiasts knew that Optimus Prime carries in his trailer, his weapons and his reconnaissance support named, Roller and yet, it is out of sight 90% of the time. This simple faux pas by the animators became the subject of speculations among the youths of my time back then. I also remembered a classmate of mine, Alain who expressed great fascination about the “merged” robots in the series like the Constructicons (a group of 5 robots transforming into construction type vehicles like cranes and cement mixers) merging into a giant monster of a robot called Devastator or the Thundercons becoming Minisaurs or the Protectobots becoming Defensaur. Actually, merged robots are not new at that time. After all, we do have Voltes 5 and Voltron. However, the difference between Voltes 5 and Voltron and that with the Transformer merged bots lies in the fact while the former is composed of 5 non – transformable vehicles “volting into” a giant bot, the latter are made of 5 individually transformable vehicles. It simply behooves the imagination to figure it out how they done it. More than the bots, the storyline itself in the Transformer the series was also very much a part of our discussion back then. Who wouldn’t forget the first two episodes of the series introducing the Autobots and the Decepticons and their millennia of civil war in distant Cybertron. Oh, how could I forget that epic duel between Optimus Prime and Megatron on top of the Hoover Dam or the heroic chase of Optimus Prime trying to stop Megatron from carrying all those energon cubes aboard a shuttle back to Cybertron. And who wouldn’t shed a tear for Optimus Prime when he died in the Transformer the animated movie back in the early 90s. I know I did. It’s the first time I shed tears for a two dimensional character drawn on a piece of paper! But then again, there is the death of Superman. Anyway, that’s how the movie conjure up those memories of the old and brought us back to the days when we were still young and very much into day dreaming. But that is only where the movie succeeded, the rest of the movie is just so – so in my view. For a fact, the storyline has been changed not subtly but overhauled radically. No longer were the Autobots and the Decepticons crashed landed at the side of a volcano on Earth while on board Tellus 1, the mother ship 4 million years ago while searching for a habitable planet. Instead, Megatron crashed landed alone centuries ago in the artic circle in search of the “All Spark” and Optimus Prime came to Earth to stop Megatron. Aside from that, in the series, the ability of the Autobots and the Decepticons to transform into a particular object or vehicle is permanent and brought about by Tellus 1. Bumble Bee for example is a Volkswagon Beatle, hence the name. Yet, in the movie, Bumble Bee started out as a box type car with a dubious make and later “upgraded” into a Benz – like luxury car. Clearly, commercialization has seeped into the veins of the movie. Even so, unless you are a hard – core fan who cling to cannons, I don’t see the changes as particularly “offensive”. What I can surmise is that the writers of this movie tried to “adapt” the concepts to a more mature audience e.g., people like me who grew up watching Transformer and who until now never questioned the apparent incoherence in the logic of the concept of the series. The writers have attempted to “logicalized” the concepts and adapting it more to the reality around us. An example would be Megatron. Instead of transforming into a laser rifle of the old, Megatron becomes a “pyramidal” spacecraft. Well, I can say that the writers have partially succeeded in its attempt to “logicalized” especially in the transformation part but in terms of rewriting the entire storyline, they needed to do a lot more “convincing”. The graphics on the other hand are superb. The interface between the animated characters and the real scenes are simply seamless so much so that one actually believe that they are real life robots in the real world and not simply made of pixels. The motions are fluid and the fight scenes are great although I couldn’t imagine as to why Optimus Prime pathetically loses to Megatron in the last scene since the former is a “better” warrior than the latter and that the latter can only win if he cheated. The movie is literally fast – paced and heavily – loaded with actions leaving little to character developments. I meant aside from Spike Witwicker played by Shia Le Beouf, all the characters including Optimus Prime are as two dimensional as the paper they are drawn into. Pretty shallow in my view. What’s worst was that the movie tried to etch out a love story in an action movie! Really out of place! In spite of these shortcomings, the movie is a breakthrough in the sense that it brought to life a popular animated series, a series that has both fascinated and captivated a generation of youngsters like me. It’s about time they come up with movie like this and it’s worth to watch it. Enjoy the movies.
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
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.
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.
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
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?
Thursday, May 03, 2007
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.
“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.
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
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.
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.
Sunday, April 08, 2007
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.
Thursday, March 22, 2007
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)!
Thursday, February 15, 2007
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.
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.
Tuesday, February 13, 2007
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. “ )
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. “ )
Monday, February 05, 2007
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”. “ )
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”. “ )
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