The Craftsman’s Forge

The family headed out to Tanglin Mall for a spot of Teriyaki Beef Noodles and Teriyaki Chicken Don, bth really excellent. But the Teriyaki Beef Noodles are simply out of this world. And…the kids know it. Kyla keeps bugging us for it every now and then. And, it really isn’t difficult to make the decision to do so, as Tanglin Mall is our favorite place to be at on weekends. Not crowded, and the shops that we need are there.

Tonight, after dinner, we headed as usual to Market Place, the supermarket in Tanglin Mall, catering to an expatriate crowd….mostly. Anyways, have been thinking of buying Kyoho grapes for some time now, and we proceeded to look for them when in the fruits section. wasn’t difficult to find really. The most expensive grapes and given prized location at eye level was the purplish black globules. A small punnet of grapes, not more than 20 to 30 grapes, costing S$10.50.

Wow….I immediately picked it up. No idea at that time whether the were the famed Kyoho grapes, as the description on the price label simple stated “Japanese Fruits”. Anyway, as we headed down the fruit section, we came across another display section of grapes. This time, it clearly showed Kyoho Grapes on a plastic label on the shelf. I looked around, and realised that there were other punnets from other farms, and the one I had didn’t have the largest grapes. I went for the largest one. that punnet cost me S$15.50 for the same amount of grapes, but significantly larger.

When we were in the car, and popped the first in our mouths, my gawddddddddddddd!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So this is why they cost so much! MAN! The very first taste in your mouth is one of rich sweet wine. The grape is large (about the size of a red globe) but very much sweeter. So much so that Ariel said it was too sweet. The flesh is exceptionally firm, and has a nectar de coco firmness to it. And the skin does not have too much acidity, and it all blends very well together. It also didn’t have any seeds!

Hang on! I thought Kyoho grapes had seeds?Hmm…….dunno man. They certainly are nice, and very expensive. I think it must be in the range of 80 cents to a dollar for each grape. I’d certainly be back for more!

Yahoo……The stats are coming back again!

Uh… ha ha ha…. um… I feel so silly…..

Disturbed by the sudden drop in traffic, I dug around, and looked at traffic figures from my hosted server, as well as Nuffnang, which both showed quite healthy numbers. Intrigued, I investigated, and finally realised that the graph I presented in my previous entry is indeed wrong! Ha! So silly of me. After changing to a new theme, I so foolishly forgot to include Site Meter’s code which helps me get the numbers! Phew!

Well, anyway, I’ve included the code now, and the numbers should reflect correctly again.

Wow… I was just checking the traffic to my site, and boy… what a shock.

I’ve been really busy in the last 2 months, and in my busyness, have not been able to really update my blog… wah….. the drop in traffic is really telling man.

Strange. When I first started the blog, I just wanted to journal and write down my experiences for a safe keep. The blog also served as a good tool to keep in touch with my friends. But… when the traffic drops so dramatically, there is a kinda twitch you feel in your heart. sigh… but never mind lah. I’m not a Kenny Sia or Mr. Brown. Have a great weekend.

Just got back from a super super long day!

It was Alison’s (My niece) 5th birthday, and the kids were at my sister’s place on the 8th floor in the same block. We just take the lift down to her place.

Then, we headed to Fort Canning Park for Singtel’s Movie Night for their corporate clients. They were showing Fantastic Four and the Silver Surfer. I had already watched it with Kyla and Ariel, but Chris and Elkan hadn’t. Besides, its our first outdoor movie, and we thought we’d give it a shot.

Needless to say, we all enjoyed it, but the kids really really enjoyed it. Besides the movie, there were fun activities like balloons, face painting, tattoos, colouring, etc, etc. There was also wine, food, free flow of soft drinks, corn, popcorn, ice-cream, and basically the works!

Wow! I can just say that Singtel pulled out the stops on this one. When driving home from Fort Canning, the kids kept asking when we could do this again. Ha ha ha…… this was one fun day, and I’m tired out…….

I find myself in anticipation everyday now, anxious to learn about what happened in one of my friend’s office for the day in question. He works for a large local retail company, which I shan’t divulge the identity of. Its always been a stable company, and thats one of the reasons why he’s been there for the past 11 years.

But, with a recent change in the GM, things seem to be taking a sharp downturn. I heard that this GM, doesn’t even have the necessary retail knowledge. This person has been systematically removing key persons form the team, and putting in the cronies. Demoting the previous head of merchandising to simply “Special Projects” and barring her from all merchandising meetings.

There is so much drama, you won’t believe it. Ha ha ha….

Sales have plummeted, and in fact I just heard that the recent sale didn’t do well, and as a result, the GM is thinking of some drastic measures. how drastic? …..hmmmm… how about putting up stores at the local suburban pasar malam? or what about getting a license from Singapore Pools for a 4D betting outlet in the retail store?

HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA… Even without retail knowledge and experience, I can tell that these are ridiculous and stupid decisions. Clearly the reaction of someone who doesn’t have a clue as to how to proceed. I give the new GM another 3 months. HA HA HA HA HA HA HA

Busy busy busy… thats what’s happening to me now. Ggggrrrrr ….3 year plan.. what the heck! Good thing though… my new IT manager is in, and now I have help! I’m thankful for little mercies.

Uh…what did she just say?

I’ve been in Pakistan for business for the entire week. Uh….actually I’m still in Pakistan. My flight’s this evening, so I have some time to kill. Anyways, perhaps this allows me some time to blog.

Singapore Airlines flies 3 times a week to Pakistan. Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays. All flights are return flights, that means the planes fly in and turn around and fly back to Singapore immediately. SQ 460 leaves Changi at 3:30pm, and arrives in Karachi, the southernmost and largest city in Pakistan at approximately 7:30pm (Pakistan time +5GMT) or 9:30pm Singapore time. Total flight time is about 6 hours. Then it flies north to Lahore, the second largest city in Pakistan which takes another hour and a half.

I flew to Lahore on my first stop, and arrived at Lahore at 9:30pm or so, which meant it was already 12:30am in Singapore, and I had spent approximately 8 hours in the air, and another hour or so, sitting in transit within the plane in Karachi while waiting for them to clean the plane up and for the passengers from Karachi to board.

By that time, I was already quite tired. Our country manager met my colleague (GM for HR) and I at the Lahore airport, and brought us to the largest local hotel in town, the Pearl Continental. Apparently, there is no foreign hotels in Lahore, although the Marriott has just acquired a plot and are building a hotel now. By the time I slept, it was already 2am Singapore time.

Spent the next day in the office, and our host suggested that we headed to Lahore Fort in the later afternoon for a little sight seeing. And since, there was just a power cut in the office which rendered our Internet useless, we decided to head out for a spot of sight seeing before continuing our work later in the evening.

So, we headed out to Lahore Fort. (All Pictures have larger versions. Just click on them)

The fort was first built by the Mughuls in the glory age in Pakistan in the 1200s. Since its first foundation, following generations of royals have continued to build on it, resulting in a curious mix of architecture styles. It also houses the “Palace of Mirrors” and a Harem, which was built for the King’s uh hem….women and royal family.

Sadly, the entire sight is slowly but surely breaking down, and even though there seems to be some effort to restore the building and it’s decorative features, it appears to be a little too late. Not sure if they can do anything about it.

One of the entrances of the Fort.

Many of the walls are built with red bricks made from local clay, giving it a nice classic look.

Then, there are also plastered walls, probably built by a different generation of royals.

But one thing is for sure. The architecture is beautiful. Beautiful decorative cornices.

Another example of the ornate decoration on the roof.

We headed to the “Palace of Mirrors”.

The entrance to the Palace of Mirrors. It too is intricately decorated. You can see here that it is weathered and not well taken care of.

A close up of the Palace of Mirrors with a water fountain in front. Of course the fountain is dry lah.

Heres a wider shot.

This evening veranda is made completely of marble, and it is said that the Mughul king and his wife uh… or harem sits here in the evening while enjoying the view of the setting sun and river.

Now, we’re in the actual Palace. This is one of the bedrooms. You can see that the top is decorated with glass and mirrors.

This is another look from another angle. Beautiful right?

It is said that in the days of the Mughul, the rooms were lit by candle light, and the light from the candles are reflected in the mirrors, so that the ceiling comes alive with “twinkling stars”. You can see the reflection of my flash. So, this must be true.

I couldn’t resist taking a photo with an old door. Doh! So tourist!

Tried an artistic shot of another “caked” door. Quite nice methinks.

This is one of the roads which elephants used to transport the Mughuls to the palace.

They told me that the elephants used this bridge….uh… but I find it hard to believe.

These steps are made for the elephants to transport the Mughuls to the palace, and is aptly named Elephant walk or alley, I think.

A last shot of the white mosque within the grounds of the fort.

So, will I go again? uh… definitely not alone. There were hardly ….uh no. it is more correct to say, there are no tourists except my colleague and I. She is Filipino, and I am Chinese. We were both so out of place, and the locals were staring at us. And you know something of Pakistanis? They don’t bother to hide the fact that they are staring, so it makes me feel really uncomfortable. It;s worst for my colleague MS. She really felt out of place.

But….all in all a good and educational trip.