The Craftsman’s Forge

With a privilege of a little extra cash in the bank and some other instruments, Chris and I were thinking and contemplating getting another property. There were two options basically, either a pure and simple investment option where we buy the property, and sell it later on for a (hopefully) substantial yield, or to to get a property just to rent out, so that we get a monthly dividend. Both could potentially yield at least 6% to 10% returns. The argument was fairly compelling.

With that in mind, we did a little research over the last two days, browsing through the classifieds and various property websites to understand what we were intending to get into. We made a couple of visits to property sites as well. One, to a new development project, The Evernia, a Freehold property just along Upper Paya Lebar Road, and 3 units at Evergreen Condominium at Hougang Ave 7.

The math works out, but we both felt we were stretching it a little. By early afternoon, we both felt more comfortable redeeming the property loan we have on our current HDB apartment. So, Chris will be finding out how much of the repayment needs to be in cash, and how much can be from our CPF. Hopefully we would be able to complete this before the end of March.

Once this is done, we’ll look at getting the 2nd property next year after building up a little more reserves. And hopefully by then, the property market would be a little more in line with our expectations. We really do thank God for being able to be in a position to contemplate such options.

OK….I’m back in Singapore, and managed to find some time to get some photos uploaded.

Boy….have I got lots of misconceptions about this beautiful country. Before I flew to Sri Lanka, I had of course the usual basic geographical knowledge of where the country is located on the world map, but apart from that, nothing. I suppose, being so close to India, I suspected the country had lots of Indians, but only came to realize, after speaking to my colleagues, that they aren’t Indians. They’re Sinhalese. He was adamant they were a completely different race all together… short of spending some time on Wikipedia to find out, I’ll take his word for it, but I can’t help but suspect some kind of a distant relationship between the two cultures/race as its impossible for me to tell an Indian and a Sinhalese apart. Anyway, Sri Lanka is located on the south eastern tip of India, and is a 3 hour 40 minutes flight away from Singapore. Singapore Airlines flies there once a day on a round trip. Its 2.5 hours behind Singapore, so the 7:05am flight from Singapore reaches Colombo at approximately 8:05am. The return flight leaves Colombo at 9:30am, and reaches Changi airport at approximately 4pm.

On Tuesday morning, when I touched down, my conversion began as soon as I had walked out of the Boeing 777 into Colombo’s Bandaranaika International airport. I had half expected a dusty, old, mosquito infested airport much like India’s Mumbai Airport, but was extremely pleasantly surprised when I really walked into a fairly modern, clean, air-conditioned airport!

This was really starting to look good. My initial negative feelings about traveling to Sri Lanka during this time of internal civil turmoil between the government and the LTTE (Tamil Tigers) was starting to shake a little. A country with a nice airport shouldn’t be too bad. But then again… you never know.

Getting out of the airport was quite a breeze, and when the Hilton Hotel folks picked me up at the airport with the hotel car, and when I got onto the roads and traveling towards the city, my impression changed even more. I had again, the wrong impression of dusty and dirty roads, slums in the city like India and Pakistan, but I was greeted with roads and streets that were clean, paved (in most parts), much like Indonesia’s and Malaysia’s. With tropical vegetation like coconut trees, lush cow grass and many of the same types of trees we see in Singapore/Malaysia/Indonesia, I could have thought I was in a slightly more rural part of Malaysia.

You can see that they have the same types of “Tut Tut” taxis as India and Thailand. I found this photo that gives quite a good view of the roads and general building landscape.

It took me about 50 minutes or so to reach the Hotel, which I learned was smack in the middle of Colombo, near the President’s house, and just 1 block away from Colombo’s World Trade Centre. Whats more, the Maldivian President was visiting the for 2 days, and arriving on the same day as myself, and guess where he was staying? Yup… The Hilton, Colombo. Yeah… security was high for sure, but then again, this would be the best time for a highly visible target to be picked off. So… I guess I was two minds about the whole thing of the Maldivian President being in the same hotel I was in. Thankfully nothing happened.

This is the view from my room at the Hilton. It overlooks the edge of the Indian Ocean at Galle Face. Simply Stunning! I didn’t know Sri Lanka had such a beautiful beach!!!

Some more photos of the beach.

Perhaps, what irked me the most about such a beautiful beach, was the fact that it had a train line cutting across this beautiful prime land! Crazy! My colleagues brought me out for dinner on Feb 14th (Yes…. I spent Valentine’s Day dinner with two guys!) at a seafood restaurant on the edge of Galle Face beach, and we had to park the car on the edge of the road, walk over two railway tracks before reaching the sands of the restaurant!

This is absolutely crazy! According to my colleague, the tracks were built in colonial days for transportation. What were the British thinking!

I think what really surprised me, was that this was no Hindu country. The dominant religion here is Buddhism, followed by Catholicism. Indeed, I saw only one Hindu Temple, but tons of Buddhist Statues, Temples and a number of Churches and Cathedrals.

I have never been more wrong about any country. As I learn more and more about Sri Lanka, I am sure I will discover more things about this country that will surprise me. But having spent the last 4 days in Sri Lanka, I find that I really appreciate this country for its beauty, easy going, friendly and relaxed people, and beautiful culture. I would really consider bringing the family here for a holiday if it was safe. Unfortunately, the fighting in the north is still ongoing, and the LTTE has begun appearing in Colombo itself, and has evidently been targeting civilians in the last month or so. This is such a pity for this country. I understand from my hosts that the government is spending a large portion of their budget on the war against these terrorists. So sad….

I’m in Colombo, Sri Lanka now for a business trip. Suffice to say, its been quite an interesting trip so far. I have some photos, but it’ll have to wait. Can’t download it from my blackberry now.

But, I was pleasently surprised to see that my trip coincided with the Maldive President’s trip to Colombo as well, and what more….. we are staying in the same Hilton Hotel. So, I am enjoying the added security of the hotel, which makes me feel quite safe.

But guess who I met this morning at breakfast!!?? SHIV KUMAR!!!!! You know….. Shiv from U21? an ex-colleague at the university I used to work at.

ok. Thats it for now. Oh.. one more thing… Sri Lanka is a really beautiful country. I have so many mis-conceptions about it.

The Woman

When God created woman he was working late on the 6th day

An angel came by and said: “Why spend so much time on that one?”

And the Lord answered:
“Have you seen all the specifications I have to meet to shape her ?”

“She must be washable, but not made of plastic, have more than 200 moving parts which all must be replaceable and she must function on all kinds of food, she must be able to embrace several kids at the same time, give a hug that can heal anything from a bruised knee to a broken heart and she must do all this with only two hands”.

The angel was impressed.

“Just two hands….impossible!“

And this is the standard model?!

“Too much work for one day….wait until tomorrow and then complete her“.

“I will not”, said the Lord. “I am so close to complete this creation, which will be the favourite of my heart”.

“She cures herself when sick and she can work 18 hours a day”.

The angel came nearer and touched the woman.

“But you have made her so soft, Lord”

“She is soft”, said the Lord, “But I have also made her strong. You can’t imagine what she can endure and overcome.“

“Can she think?” the angel asked.

The Lord answered:

“Not only can she think, she can reason and negotiate.”

The angel touched the womans cheek….

“Lord, it seems this creation is leaking! You have put too many burdens on her.”

“She is not leaking….it’s a tear” the lord corrected the angel

“What’s it for?” asked the angel.

And the Lord said:

“Tears are her way of expressing grief, her doubts, her love, her loneliness, her suffering and her pride.”

This made a big impression on the angel; “Lord, you are genius.

You thought of everything. The woman is indeed marvellous!”

Indeed she is!

Woman has strengths that amazes man. She can handle trouble and carry heavy burdens.

She holds happiness, love and opinions.

She smiles when feeling like screaming.

She sings when she feels like crying, crys when she is happy and laughs when she is afraid.

She fights for what she belives in.

Stand up against injustice.

She doesn’t take “no” for an answer, when she can see a better solution. She gives herself so her family can thrive. She takes her friend to the doctor if she is afraid.

Her love is unconditional.

She cries when her kids are victorious. She is happy when her friends do well.

She is glad when she hears of a birth or a wedding.

Her heart is broken when a next of kin or friend dies.

But she finds the strength to get on with life.

She knows that a kiss and a hug can heal a broken heart.

There is only one thing wrong with her

She forgets what she is worth…

I LOVE You, Christine…

Had lunch with DD today at the cricket club, and as usual, he was toting his Canon….. he got some awful shots of me.

Go here to take a look