Rantings, Ramblings & Ruminations of Reuben

Indonesia; Semarang: Earth and Fire I

2014-10-06T23:01:00.000+08:00

Achmad Yani International Airport

Facebook Album
22 to 24 Aug 2014
Accommodation: Imam Bonjol Hostel (165 000 IDR = 17.50 SGD per room per night). Review

Masjid Agung Jawa Tengah

Arrival at Achmad Yani International Airport
Lunch at Saung Dapoer Kampoeng
1. Museum Jamu Nyonya Meneer
2. Masjid Agung Jawa Tengah (pay for parking even though just being dropped by taxi inside, viewing tower fee 7 000 IDR).
3. Tay Kak Sie Temple
Light dinner at foodstalls nearby.
4. Waroeng Semawis

Klenteng Tay Kak Sie

Breakfast at Lumpia Gang Lombok
5. Pasar Johar
6. Old Post Office
7. Old City, Oudstadt (the Nilmij, Gereja Blenduk)
Lunch at Sate & Gule Kambing 29
8. Old City, Oudstadt (Marba Building, Marabunta Building, Wingko Babat, Stasiun Tawang, Praoe Lajar Building)
Tea at Noeri's Cafe
9. Sam Poo Kong (3 000 IDR local price, inner section separate admission fee)
Dinner at Toko Oen

Marabunta Building

Noeri's Cafe

10. Lawang Sewu (10 000 IDR)

Lawang Sewu

Myanmar Posts Summary

2014-06-11T21:10:00.001+08:00

A summary post linking all posts on Myanmar so far, from making a visa, itinerary and maps!

Making a Myanmar Tourist Visa in Singapore

Itinerary
Myanmar; Yangon: Shades of Gold I, and II (Shwedagon Pagoda)
Myanmar; Bagan: Shades of Gold III
Myanmar; Mount Popa: Shades of Gold IV
Myanmar; Mandalay: Shades of Gold V
Myanmar; Sagaing, Inwa & Amarapura: Shades of Gold VI
Myanmar; Pyin Oo Lwin: Shades of Gold VII
Myanmar; Hsipaw: Shades of Gold VIII
Myanmar; Mandalay: Shades of Gold VIIII

Maps

Myanmar Google Maps

2014-06-10T21:28:00.001+08:00

Here are some of the Google Maps I created with Henrietta and Gavin for our trip in August 2013, in anticipation that I would not have any Internet connection there. While I was able to get online at the guesthouses, the speed was very slow and unstable for most part. Hence, these maps were quite handy to navigate with. These maps were created to mark out places of interest, recommended food places relative to my accommodation. I hope they would be as useful to you as they were to me. I used Locus Map, an Android app to view the maps while navigating as I could see my current location, direction and even calculate distance!

Yangon

Bagan

View Bagan, Mount Popa 2013 in a larger map

Mandalay and Pyin Oo Lwin

Beijing 2013

2014-05-20T21:48:00.004+08:00

From 12 to 20 October 2013. My comments on each place can be seen in the individual photos in the Facebook albums.
Taking the overnight plane from KL to Beijing with MAS MH370. On Groupon tour with CS Travel (http://www.groupon.my/deals/travelcity/cs-travel/716398486), 5D4N tour at RM98.

Additional costs:
Compulsory tipping of tour guide and driver: RM15 per person per day.
Compulsory tour to Golden Mask Show, Chang An Night Street View, and Beijing Zoo: RM180 per person.

Tour Accommodation: Baolinxuan International Hotel (北京宝林轩国际大酒店) and 161 Hotel

Day 1
Lunch at Fuxiang floor (Xizhaosi shop) 福湘樓(夕照寺店).
1. National Centre for the Performing Arts (国家大剧院) (http://www.baolinxuan.com/htdocs/epages.asp?id=22)
2. Tiananmen Square (天安门广场)
3. Forbidden City (故宫)
4. Acrobatics show at Jin Sha Theatre (金沙剧场)
Dinner at 君粤星茶餐厅

The Forbidden City

Day 2
1. Longdi Jade Gallery (龙地美玉馆)
2. Juyongguan (居庸关)
3. Zhenwu Temple of Juyongguan (居庸關真武廟)
Lunch at Longdi Jade Gallery (龙地美玉馆)
4. Beijing Bao Shu Tang Chinese Herbal Medicine Co. Ltd.
5. Shichahai (什刹海)
6. Donghuamen Night Market (东华门夜市)
7. Wangfujing (王府井)
Dinner at 寳豐樓
Ended off with Changan Street night view, which was looking at the city at night on the bus.

Juyongguan, the Great Wall

Day 3

1. Some silk shop
2. Beijing Zoo (北京动物园)
Lunch at Great Northeast Restaurant (大東北)
3. Summer Palace (颐和园)
4. Zhu Xian Nu Shop
Dinner at Classic Fresh Garden (经典食苑)https://plus.google.com/112803559999902839850/about?gl=sg&hl=en
5. Qianmen Street (前门)

Summer Palace

Day 4

1. China Academy of Traditional Chinese Medicine (CATCM)
2. Temple of Heaven (天坛)
Lunch at 龙华春大连海鲜酒楼
3. Some tea shop
4. China World Trade Center (中国国际贸易中心)
5. Silk Street (秀水街)

Temple of Heaven

Day 5

1. Fu Tai Yong An Jewelry Club (福泰永安珠寶會所)
Lunch at Jade Restaurant, National Jade Hotel (国玉大酒店)
2. Beijing National Stadium (国家体育场)
3. Beijing National Aquatics Center (北京国家游泳中心)
4. Another jewellery shop on stadium grounds
Dinner at another Great Northeast Restaurant (大東北) branch
Check-in to 161 Hotel, Lishi Hutong.
5. Nanluoguxiang (南锣鼓巷)

Beijing National Stadium

Day 6

Breakfast at Nanluoguxiang (南锣鼓巷)
1. Chairman Mao Memorial Hall (毛主席纪念堂)
Lunch at Haidilao Hot Pot (海底捞火锅)
2. Beihai Park (北海公园)
Dinner at Ghost Street at Huda Szechuan Restaurant (胡大饭馆)

Nanluoguxiang Hutong

Day 7

Breakfast along Lishi Hutong
1. Thirteen Tombs of the Ming Dynasty (明十三陵)
2. Drum Tower (鼓楼)
Dinner at Dayali Beijing Duck Restaurant (大鴨梨)

Dingling, the Ming Tombs

Myanmar; Mandalay: Shades of Gold VIIII

2014-03-15T08:24:00.000+08:00

Facebook Album

Accommodation: Aung Shun Lai Hotel (42USD? a night for double room, breakfast included)

(12 Aug)
1. Diamond Plaza Shopping Centre
Dinner at Marie Min Vegetarian Restaurant (9100MMK for two)

(13 Aug)
1. Zaycho/Zegyo Market
Depart out via Mandalay International Airport.

Post by Reuben Lim.

Myanmar; Hsipaw: Shades of Gold VIII

2014-02-10T07:09:00.000+08:00

Accommodation: Hotel "Lily The Home" (8USD per person per night, common toilets, breakfast included)

(10 Aug)
1. Hsipaw City Hall
Dinner at Ngwe Hline (less than 1USD per person). Great food and super cheap!

(11 Aug)
1. Produce market
2. Central Market
3. Sao Pu Sao Nai, Guardian Nat of Hsipaw Shrine
Brunch/tea at Mrs Popcorn's Garden (1000MMK for fruit cocktail)
4. Eissa Paya
5. Little Bagan
Lunch at roadside stall near the hotel, delicious local noodles (several hundred MMK).
6. Sunset Hill
7. Shan Palace (Opening hours from 1030 to 1200, 1630 to 1800, free, donation)
Dinner at San Restaurant (4000MMK for two)

(12 Aug)
Travel to Mandalay via ANO minibus (8000MMK, pick up and drop off anywhere), but breaks down repeatedly so after Pyin Oo Lwin we transfer to a pickup (2000MMK) to Mandalay, and motorcycle taxis (1000MMK) to our hotel. (0715 to 1500+).

Post by Reuben Lim.

Myanmar; Pyin Oo Lwin: Shades of Gold VII

2014-01-22T22:04:00.000+08:00

Accommodation: Tiger Hotel (11 000MMK per person, with breakfast) (TripAdvisor Review: http://bit.ly/1imO6LL)

(9 Aug)
Travel from Mandalay to Pyin Oo Lwin by a leaky car as it was raining heavily (5USD per person?).
1. Market
2. Peik Chin Myaung Cave (camera fees 300MMK)
3. Maha Ant Htoo Kan Thar Pagoda (free, donation)
4. Pwe Kauk Falls/B.E Falls (500MMK)
5. The Candacraig, now Thiri Myaing Hotel (free to visit)
6. National Kandawgyi Botanical Gardens (ကန်တော်ကြီး အမျိုးသား ရုက္ခဗေဒ ဥယျာဉ်, 5USD)
Dinner at Golden Lion, in-house restaurant of Tiger Hotel. (14300MMK for three persons)

(10 Aug)
Train to Hsipaw at 0800, 6USD for upper class for foreigners.
1. Goteik viaduct (ဂုတ်ထိပ်တံ)

Bonus Video:

Post by Reuben Lim.

Myanmar; Sagaing, Inwa & Amarapura: Shades of Gold VI

2014-01-16T06:39:00.000+08:00

With Gavin Cheah and Henrietta Woo.

Accommodation: Fortune Hotel (47SGD for three per night, with breakfast, TripAdvisor Review http://bit.ly/1cCHLDG)

(7 Aug)
1. Mahagandayon Monastery (free, donation)
2. Sagaing Hill (စစ်ကိုင်းမြို့) (free I think)
3. U Min Thonze Caves (free)
4. Swan Oo Pon Nya Shin Pagoda (300MMK for cameras)
Lunch at Kyan Taing Aung Restaurant.
5. Inwa (အင်းဝမြို့) (Combo ticket, 800MMK boat return, horsecart 6000MMK for two persons)
a. Yadana Sinme Pagoda/Yadana Hsimi Pagoda
b. Bagaya Monastery (ဘားဂရာ ကျောင်း)
c. Palace Tower (Nan Myint Watchtower)
d. Maha Aung Mye Bonzan Monastery
6. U Bein's Bridge (ဦးပိန် တံတား)

Bonus video:

Post by Reuben Lim.

Myanmar; Mandalay: Shades of Gold V

2014-01-15T20:59:00.001+08:00

With Gavin Cheah and Henrietta Woo.

Accommodation: Fortune Hotel (47SGD for three per night, with breakfast, TripAdvisor Review http://bit.ly/1cCHLDG).

(6 Aug)
1. Shwe In Bin Monastery (free, donation)
2. Mahamuni Buddha Temple (မဟာမုနိဘုရားကြီး) (200 MMK)
3. Mandalay Palace (မန္တလေး နန်းတော်) (Combo ticket, 10 000 MMK)
4. Kuthodaw Pagoda (ကုသိုလ်တော်‌ဘုရား) (free, donation)
5. Sanda Muni Paya (free, donation)
6. Maha Thetkya Marazain (Kyauk Taw Gyi Pagoda) (free, donation)
Dinner at Nepali Indian Restaurant.
7. Night Market

(7 Aug)
Myanmar; Sagaing, Inwa & Amarapura: Shades of Gold VI
Dinner at a bar opposite Moustache Brothers
1. Moustache Brothers Show (free for that night)

(8 Aug)
Visit to Nandaw Hospital to have a surgery to drain an abscess on my lower back. Takes the whole morning, with loss of some blood. Total = USD 300+.
Lunch nearby the post office.
1. Mandalay General Post Office
2. King Galon Gold Leaf Workshop
3. Atumashi Monastery (အတုမရှိကျောင်း)
4. Shwenandaw Monastery (ရွှေနန်းတော်ကျောင်း)
5. Mandalay Hill (မန္တလေးတောင်) (1000MMK camera fee)
Dinner at Shwe Taung Tan Restaurant (10900MMK for three persons)
6. Mintha Theater (8000MMK)

Unfortunate events: Abscess required surgery, Par Par Lay died.

Bonus Video: Fortune Telling at Mahamuni Buddha Temple

Myanmar; Mount Popa: Shades of Gold IV

2013-11-09T10:37:00.002+08:00

Accommodation: Mya Thida Hotel (TripAdvisor Review)

Facebook Album Link
(5 Aug)
1. Nyaung Oo Market (ညောင်ဦးမြို့)
2. Bagan Cottage Industries
3. Taungkalat Monastery (ပုပ္ပားတောင်)
Lunch at Mount Popa Resort (13USD per person).
4. Bagan House (http://www.baganhouse.com/)
Dinner at Malar Theingi Restaurant (3000MMK per person).
Night bus to Mandalay (Shwe Man Thu Express, 8000MMK per person, arriving 0300).

Unfortunate events: Missed buying flake sweets.

Bonus: Video of Feeding Cow and Grinding Groundnuts

Post by Reuben Lim.

Myanmar; Bagan: Shades of Gold III

2013-10-02T05:32:00.001+08:00

Accommodation: Mya Thida Hotel (TripAdvisor Review)

Arriving at 0430, we find ourselves deposited at the ticket building, and a sign saying that the ticket is now 15USD (it was increased from 10USD in July). Shocking! Also, we were told by our guesthouse that the taxi ride should cost 6000 to 8000MMK from Nyaung Oo bus terminal (more a parking space) to New Bagan, but the crush of taxi drivers started their pitch with 5000MMK for each person, so 15000MMK for three. Took fifteen minutes to wear the price down to 7500MMK for all of us.

Facebook Album Link
Places Visited: (3 Aug)
1. Lawkananda Pagoda (လောကနန္ဒစေတီတော်), with horsecart for 25 000MMK a day. Cut short after this pagoda because of illness and paying 5000MMK only.
Dinner at Silver House Restaurant (4000 to 5000MMK per person)
2. Eight Faces Paya

(4 Aug)-Guide and transport by Thein Than (tthanbnyu@gmail.com), 30USD for guide fees and 50USD for transport for the day.
3. Shwesandaw Pagoda (ရွှေဆံတော်ဘုရား)
4. Shwezigon Paya (ရွှေစည်းခုံဘုရား)
5. Gubyaukgyi Temple
6. Htilominlo Temple (ထီးလိုမင်းလိုဘုရား)
Lunch at Golden Myanmar 2 Myanmar Food (3000 to 4000MMK per person).
7. Ananda Temple (အာနန္ဒာဘုရား)
8. Tharabar Gate (သရပါ တံခါး)
9. Shwegugyi Temple (ရွှေဂူကြီး)
10. Dhammayangyi Temple (ဓမ္မရံကြီးပုထိုး)
11. Sulamani Temple (စူဠာမဏိ)
12. Pyathada Temple
Dinner at Malar Theingi Restaurant (4500MMK per person)

Unfortunate Event(s): Diarrhea, ticket price increase.

Bonus: Video of Male Longyi Tutorial 2

Myanmar; Yangon: Shades of Gold I, and II (Shwedagon Pagoda)

2013-08-22T22:25:00.000+08:00

More than Golden temples, some other things are 'golden' too...
Accommodation: Hninn Si Budget Inn (TripAdvisor Review)

Exchange rate on 31 July 2013 was 1SGD to 767MMK, 1USD to 967MMK. Rains were sudden and heavy, sometimes lasting for hours. Most of taxi rides (Botataung to Bogyoke Market, National Museum to Shwedagon, Shwedagon to New Delhi, Inn to Central Station) were between 2500 to 4000MMK. Not recommended to visit during rainy season

Facebook Album Link
Places visited: (31 July)
1. Botataung Pagoda (ဗိုလ်တထောင်ဘုရား) (USD3)
2. Bogyoke Aung San Market (ဗိုလ်ချုပ်အောင်ဆန်းဈေး)
Desserts at front of FMI Centre and Bogyoke Aung San Market
3. Yangon heritage buildings (Holy Trinity Cathedral, Central Fire Station, City Hall, Sunni Jamah Bengali Mosque, Emmanuel Baptist Church, High Court, Department of Immigration and Registration, Myanmar Posts and Telecommunications) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yangon_City_Heritage_List)
4. Sule Pagoda (ဆူးေလဘုရား)
Dinner at nearby teashop.

(1 August) Golden Harp Taxi Service (30USD half day for 3 people)
5. Aung San Suu Kyi's House, also from across Inya Lake (အောင်ဆန်းစုကြည်)
6. Yangon University Convocation Hall (ရန်ကုန် တက္ကသိုလ်)
7. Bogyoke Aung San Museum (ဗိုလ်ချုပ် အောင်ဆန်း ပြတိုက်) (300MMK)
8. Kandawgyi Lake (ကန်တော်ကြီး) (2USD)
Lunch at Feel Myanmar Restaurant (>25USD for four)
9. National Museum of Myanmar (အမျိုးသား ပြတိုက်) (5USD)
10. Shwedagon Pagoda (ရွှေတိဂုံစေတီတော်) (5USD)
Dinner at New Delhi Restaurant (between 2500 to 4000MMK per person)
11. St. Mary's Cathedral

(2 August)
12. Yangon Circular Railway (ရန်ကုန် မြို့ပတ် ရထား) (1USD)
Tea at Lucky Seven Teashop (2000 to 3000MMK per person)
Night bus for Yangon-Bagan with Bagan Minn Thar Express (15000MMK? per seat). Need to travel to Aung Mingalar Highway Bustop, more than an hour from Yangon. Taxi was 6000MMK for three people.

Bonus: Video of Male Longyi Tutorial 1

Making a Myanmar Tourist Visa in Singapore

2013-06-07T22:50:00.001+08:00

Thought that this should be useful as there doesn't seem to be such information out there.

To visit Myanmar, a tourist visa is needed, even for ASEAN nationals.

From the Embassy site:

A valid passport with entry visa is required for all visitors. A tourist visa allows a stay of 28 days extendable for an additional 14 days. A business visa allows a stay of 10 weeks, extendable up to 12 months on case-by-case basis. Visa on Arrival is granted on prior arrangement with the Ministry of Hotel and Tourism. Infants and children also require a separate visa even traveling on parent's passport.
Visa Hours
(Monday to Friday) Morning : 09:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. (Visa Application Hours)
Evening : 04:00 p.m. to 05:00 p.m. (Visa Collection Hours)
Processing Time Two working days

The times are wrong as the opening hours start from 9.00 am to 12.30 pm, while collection is from 5.00 to 6.00 pm. More details about the documents required and fees are listed on the site.

There is also a guide on applying for visa produced by the Visa Section by the Myanmar Embassy in Singapore.

Making a tourist visa in Singapore is only open to citizens or long-term pass holders. So those holding immigration cards are not eligible.

To skip having to be at the Embassy early to queue for a number, make an online appointment first.

Prepare everything required, although the name/business card is not compulsory if you don't have one, and photos can be smaller than 1.5 by 2.0 inches.

15 St Martin's Dr, Singapore 257996

Travel to the Embassy on the appointed time. People can enter to wait before 8.30 am. There will be a line forming for the queue number, but if you made an online appointment you can skip it.

People place their belongings in order of arrival, and sit at the waiting area waiting for the counter to open. All instruction signs are in Burmese, so it would be confusing to a non-Burmese reader. Ignore the numbers shown on the screen if being there before opening hours.

Check to see if counter 8 or 9 has people manning it inside those doors. Once there are people, you can enter with your documents in order for submission. There is also a photocopier inside for paid public use. The lady in red was waiting before I entered and this was her third time trying to get a visa without making an online appointment because she didn't know about it!

I went in at 8.40 am and left at 8.50 am. The visa was made ready that same day for collection between 5.00 to 6.00 pm. The price is SGD 35 for the visa, and SGD 10 as service charge. All in all, this is very impressive!

Side note: This was pasted on the wall behind the counter:

Bro Charles

2012-10-14T14:39:00.003+08:00

It was an innocent Facebook notification from Pei Sin that directed me to this news.

GEORGE TOWN: Datuk Brother Charles Levin, a former brother director of St. Xaviers Institution here, has passed away. He was 85.

He died of sepsis at the Penang Adventist Hospital at 4.14am Sunday.

Levin, whose real name is Karl Henry Theodor Wolff, was born in Germany on May 21, 1927.

His body has been placed at the school chapel of SXI in Farquhar Street for the people to pay their last respects.

His funeral will be held on Tuesday. Details will be released later.

Quite shocking, but not unexpected. He has had repeated visits to the hospital for various ailments afflicting him in his later years. I feel sad that now SXI has lost one of its most vocal and active Brothers from its grounds, as he literally did live there.

So many times in he past years whenever I went back to school I would try to look out for him and chat. He was able to remember my name from the German classes I attended for three years taught by him every morning about 45 minutes before school started. He would talk at length about what project he was currently embarking on to make SXI's legacy remembered, either in making physical reminders in the school structure, writing on the history of how SXI came to be and speaking to students as he went about everyday.

He also mentioned going to the hospital on social work-type visits, to comfort and encourage those in pain and need. I marveled that even when he was in his 80s, he was still a caregiver to another old Brother, Brother Brendan, who was wheelchair bound and had several ailments too. Brother Charles himself was very strong and mobile, going about without the help of a cane.

About the band he also told me about how it was in his days, where there were Scottish dancers accompanying the musicians, and how the teachers were also part of the players. Concerts were a regular occurrence, and the band excelled both on the field and in the music hall.

I guess the biggest loss would be SXI now has no more Brothers roaming its hallways in their white robes, where greeting the Brothers with a "Good Morning, Brother" was a unique experience in reminding us of the Lasallian heritage SXI is part of.

Rest in peace, Brother Charles.

Waiting for Something

2012-09-23T18:58:00.001+08:00

It seems life revolves much around waiting for something. Sometimes we wait for an event to start, wait for the hour to come to signal the end of the work day, or wait for public transport or pedestrian lights (a lot in Singapore). Heck, even waiting in line for the checkout or food can be quite draining.

I've been waiting for most of this year to get a smartphone. Since I did not have net income, I postponed that intention to after I started working. Then it went on to waiting for the first pay. Then waiting to get enough people to sign up together to get the multi-liner discount.

Save up to 35% by bundling lines with M1 Multi-Line Saver13

^Applicable to customers on Free Incoming Calls Plans and Broadband Plans.

Then it came t0 waiting for COMEX 2012 at the end of August. I thought that I would be able to get it at long last. However, when I went to the counter with my employment pass, I was told that my work period was too short, and so I could not enter into any contracts "except get prepaid stuff." That was quite crushing.

Then now it has come to waiting for Samsung Galaxy Note II to be available in Singapore. It has already been announced on 29 Aug and will be out in Europe next week, but still no news for here.

The more ironic thing is of course most of the phone's usage should be while waiting for public transport, or waiting to arrive at the destination on public transport. Oh well I guess I shall wait some more.

I'm Back!

2012-09-08T22:32:00.001+08:00

First post for this year since stopping for more than nine months. I think there is some value in penning down my thoughts and opinions, as I seem to be doing very little writing these days after being freed from school life. Watch this space for more news soon~

Stolen

2011-12-08T20:46:00.001+08:00

I just got this in my email. Saw the first sentence in the preview and thought it was weird.
Now it seems the thief has contacted me, thinking I am a gullible fool who will hurriedly
transfer cash to help this poor sod out of his predicament.

Romanian Consular Office Edinburgh infoconsul.edinburgh@yahoo.co.uk via ISV03.stf.nus.edu.sg

show details 6:06 PM (2 hours ago)

Hope you get this on time, I made a trip to Madrid, Spain and had my bag stolen from me with my passport, cash and credit cards in it. Unfortunately for me, I've made contact with my bank but they are not providing a fast solution. I need you to lend me some money to sort my self out of this predicament, I will pay back as soon as I return.

Western Union transfer is the best option to send money to me. Let me know if you need my details(Full names/location) to make the transfer. You can reach me via email or the hotel's desk phone +34962463149.

I await your response....

Dr Mihai Delcea, Minister Counsellor
Head of Romanian Consular Office in Edinburgh
Tel: 0131 524 9498 Fax: 0131 524 9499
7-9 North St David Street, Edinburgh EH2 1AW

Awake Intentionally

2011-12-01T05:48:00.001+08:00

I set my alarm and woke at 5.30 a.m. this morning to prepare to meet Ying Wei at 6.13. She planned to go to Bedok Reservoir to do her leaf litter sampling. But unfortunately it was already raining. So it got postponed. This is one of the few times where I actually set the alarm to wake up so early. Generally I wake up between 5 to 7 am daily, so no need for alarms. Guess the rain has been a bane for Honours students with projects out in the field. It disrupts nearly everything, from being able to go out in the field, observing or collecting data/samples, or just being a very real danger. The unpredictability of the weather was one of the reasons why I chose a non-field project, as I already experienced the abject helplessness when I did UROPS and couldn't go out because of the rain.

But I didn't anticipate that non-field projects also face another kind of dire problem. If you're growing plants, time will also be an issue. You can't exactly double the growth rate if you're short on time. My project involves a lot of dependence on human factors, as it is part compilation a list of official biological emblems of the world and states of selected countries (Australia, Canada, US so far). To confirm what such emblems they have, the local name, scientific name and date of selection, I emailed representatives of each government of UN-recognized countries in the world. Naturally, there will be data gaps, for especially the date of selection. And of course, for certain countries in turmoil (Afghanistan, Somalia, Libya, Syria), I'm not too sure they have people checking the emails, much less respond. But the others, either they can't read English (I have re-emailed those yet to reply in both English and the local official language), the email addresses for many of their contacts are useless, or those handling these accounts are complete dimwits.

A field-project will be able to obtain 100% of their data from the pre-arranged plots or areas barring environmental factors. Meaning, as long as you are willing to spend the time to collect the data, in the end you will achieve completion. You can go every day of the week, as long as needed (with helpers if needed which is also another difficulty), and in the end it will be done. Some people may have already finished their data collection by now. But as for me, even reaching 50% of my intended target is proving to be maddening. I thinking that the remaining gaps will require exponentially more effort to fill, as I need to contact the same people again, look for new contacts that could answer my query authoritatively, think of new avenues to try my hand at getting this data, and each step takes more time and effort just to collect the same thing for other countries. Multiply that by the 193 countries, all biological emblems (plant, animal, fungi), information required (local, scientific name, date/year of selection), and you have many thousands of rows in Excel to fill. That's just the first step. After that, I need to collect more information to analyze the data collected.

This is if everything goes well. Otherwise I would be referred endlessly to different people in various positions and institutions, and never get the information I require after a few months of this. Or there would be a single response, but not giving me much information besides the local name, and then stonewalling my emails thereafter. Or the scientific name provided is either incorrectly spelled, an obsolete one, or its position is in dispute. A misspelling is the easiest to resolve, as Google does well that way. An obsolete one can be easily resolved by using databases that have the most recent name and other misapplications or synonymy listed. If not, there will be a goose chase of trying to use floras, revisions, monographs to match the old name to its current one. Finally, if the position is in dispute or name invalid, expert opinion would be sought. Contacting these would also be as tedious as the countries. Using various ways to obtain their most recent contact information, explaining what my question is and hoping that they would have the good graces to lend a helping hand.

Oh well, that's just a rant. So far I've just completed re-emailing the C countries. Hope to finish till Z by this week so I can do something else next week.

7

2011-11-22T09:52:00.001+08:00

Many people consider the number 7 as lucky or 'auspicious'. This is my seventh semester in NUS. The second last one before I graduate. Unless I fail something and have to resit =p

I had my first final paper for Introduction to World Religion on Saturday. There were 8 questions, and we had to select three to answer while comparing at least between two religions covered (Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism). I chose:
1. Is divine intervention necessary for the achievement of personal religious salvation?
2. "World religions are either monotheistic or polytheistic."
3. "It is ok to kill as long as it is part of religious duty."
All of the questions were quite general, and therefore there are many ways to answer them.

This is my last Arts module, next sem will be fully in Science. For the last seven semesters, I have had at least an Arts module every sem. Most of them were in fulfillment of a Political Science minor (Introduction to Politics, Introduction to Public Administration, Southeast Asian Politics, International Politics of Southeast Asia, Singapore's Foreign Policy, Politics and the Visual) although I did take others for interest or better understanding of other political science modules (Government and Politics of Singapore, Chinese 1, Public Administration in Asia, Introduction to World Religion).

With two more final papers to last till next Monday, the final examinations this time has been less stressful. 40% reduction in the number of finals does wonders for stress levels, although it can be argued that stress is higher at all times during final year because of Honours Project. There are still on average about 30 countries that have not responded AT ALL to my emails which I have sent to the relevant ministries, agencies, departments, diplomatic missions (embassies, high commissions, permanent missions, consulates), educational institutions and local NGOs. About another 30 only confirms they either have no plant or animal emblems, but not both. Further emails to clarify are unanswered.

Now I'm restarting at the top of my alphabetical list again, and including herbaria, botanic gardens and zoos to email for those that have not replied, and even translating my emails in the local language. Thank God for Google Translate. The Armenian script looks quite elegant: Հիմա եմ վերսկսելու վերեւում իմ այբբենական ցուցակի կրկին, այդ թվում եւ herbaria,Բուսաբանական այգիների եւ կենդանիների տեղը կենդանաբանական այգում է, որ այդնամակը չեն պատասխանում, եւ նույնիսկ իմ էլ թարգմանում են տեղական լեզվով. Փառք Աստծո համար Google թարգմանել. Որ հայերեն սցենարը շատ էլեգանտ տեսք ունի:

Worse is some dimwits give me conflicting information, like saying their country doesn't have any such emblems that I'm looking for, and then another saying they have, and this is ONE of them. This of course casts doubts on whether other countries have such emblems or not when they tell me they don't. Oh well back to emailing...

Update

2011-11-05T07:36:00.002+08:00

Trying out the new template. Let's see how it goes.

My friend shared this on Facebook yesterday. Really like it. From: Kira Treibergs

This is a design Laurel and I made for the Oregon Institute of Marine Biology's fall term t-shirt contest! Here at OIMB we celebrate organismal diversity as it should be, with the spotlight on invertebrates. Message me orLaurel Hiebert if you would be interested in buying a T-shirt.
Thanks for all for your enthusiasm!

— with Laurel Hiebert in Charleston, Oregon.

Gonna meet up with Mei Ying, Joseph, Yi Min and Prashant later as Mei Ying is in Singapore now. Hope it doesn't rain.

I shall be in Penang next weekend for Yong Hu's wedding. After that reading week begins and then it will be two weeks of finals.

I intend to compile all biological emblems available on US state government sites and contact them by end Nov. Current progress: 35/50 states, completed to Ohio.

Also, will email the countries that have not responded to my emails by emailing all their diplomatic missions in the world. Now at: San Marino.

1/3 of the world's countries have confirmed their official biological emblems (local name, scientific name, date/year of selection). The rest either have not responded (above statement) or keep redirecting to someone else, or stonewall after initial response.

I hope that my species page on Oecophylla smaragdina (Asian Weaver Ant) is done once and for all. Stupid formatting keeps screwing the layout. The link shall be posted once it is on public domain.

I've been watching many series to the current airing episode in the US over the last few months, namely House, Amazing Race, The Big Bang Theory, Glee. Completed season one of The Glee Project, and started New Girl yesterday.

2011-08-27T11:52:00.003+08:00

http://mzl.la/pPRD92

http://mzl.la/mZpv6R

2011-08-27T11:52:00.001+08:00

http://mzl.la/pPRD92

Update

2011-08-10T06:50:00.002+08:00

New post after more than three months.

It's very obvious that the novelty of blogging has been lost. I guess if I do continue to blog, it would be more for my own benefit than for anyone's. Today is the official final day of the vacation before school begins. After that, my final academic year as an undergraduate in NUS begins.

Final Year Project has indeed been quite taxing. Listed under Project 11202 (nice number) in the Science Intranet as National, State and City Biological Emblems of the World. Here's the description and objective:

Description:	Many countries, states or even cities have biological emblems symbolizing these entities or representing specific qualities that they want associated with these, national or state flowers, national animals, etc. Each has been chosen based on historical, political or cultural reasons. No comprehensive study has yet been made of these to determine the bases of choices and the impact of conferring this status upon the taxon.
Objectives:	a. To compile the list of all biological emblems of countries, states and cities. b. To describe selected emblems in detail, e.g., national flowers of ASEAN c. To determine if there are correlates for various characteristics by analysis of the data matrix, e.g., conservation improvement, native or non-native species, preference for specific taxa (angiosperms, mammals, birds), etc.

It will change over time, I'm certain. Now the chief problem is the absence of online info for certain entities, and how I will be able to obtain these from official sources. Another would be the date of proclamation. How other to get it besides contacting those who are in the ministries and diplomatic missions I don't know.

I'm still waiting for my training completion letter from Penang Botanic Gardens. It has already been a month since my last day, but no letter has arrived in my letter box in Penang. I'm going to see how long it takes for them to deliver a single letter. I couldn't even get a simple timeline such as how long can I expect to wait before receiving it. There shall be more action taken should I not receive it soon.

Human to a God

2011-04-18T10:57:00.001+08:00

One of the reasons why I like Gaelic Storm.

Just a small request from this human to a god
Let me ask of you a favor, it might seem a little odd
I’m at a loss
I need to cross the ocean wide
And I need to do it soon, like tomorrow afternoon
If that’s okay

Loan me some wings for a day
Loan me some wings for a day

They don’t need to be angel’s wings, I’m sure they’re in demand
Something better than a chicken or a penguin would be grand
I just can’t wait
She’s set the date to marry him and it really should be me
Which explains the urgency
I can’t delay

Loan me some wings for a day
Loan me some wings for a day

I promise I won’t use them for a daredevil career
I won’t buzz the White House or race seagulls at the pier
I won’t get caught
Doing naughty things with pigeons or cropdusting in Des Moines
And I won’t run off to join Cirque de Soleil

Loan me some wings for a day
Loan me some wings for a day

Loan me some wings for a day
Loan me some wings for a day

I wouldn’t ask this of anybody else
I’m sure you sympathize
Cause you’re the one who made those lips
Put the sparkle in her eyes

It’s not your fault I said the things I said
I don’t blame you for making me a fool
But with these wings, I’ll fly straight to her side
This time I’ll follow through
Oh, come on, God, I’d do the same for you

Just a small request from this human to a God
Before she throws that last bouquet

Loan me some wings for a day
Loan me some wings for a day
Loan me some wings for a day

Why is Visual Aspect of Politics Important?

2011-03-14T21:56:00.003+08:00

Since I haven't been blogging for super long, I thought I may as well post a piece of my work here. Just to fill some space =p Not that I got a very good grade for it though. This is the first 2 paragraphs.

PS3260: Why is the Visual Aspect of Politics Important?

If politics is the “activity through which people make, preserve and amend the general rules under which they live”, then the enabler of such acts would involve the production of ideas, propagation and clashing of such ideas, deciding which idea should dominate, formulating rules that decide human action and social behaviour and the transmission of such rules (Heywood, 2002). Visual ability aids in allowing politics to occur, being so important that it is highlighted literally by the saying “In the kingdom of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.” Being able to see is understood as conferring a great advantage, and delving deeper into the meaning behind this would be that those who are able to comprehend and understand something that others don’t provides them leverage and power over those that don’t. The process of politics itself has a significant visual aspect, from the act of identifying the self as a citizen of a state through flags and maps; to the recognition of a political party symbol on the voting slip. This paper will trace the visual aspects behind the political process, from the conception of ideas to the enforcement of rules supporting a certain norm.

The basis of every political theory is an idea. Many such theories incorporate ideas and characteristics from other pre-existing theories and systems of thought, amalgamating them into a workable unified theory or drawing ideas from what was observed from nature, the physical surrounding or the social environment at the time. This involved acts of physically being able to see and observe the occurrences that took place every day. Karl Marx first developed what was to become Marxism through his experience of the oppressive conditions, poverty and exploitation that he saw around him in the slums of London and the streets of Paris (McGuire, 2002). Edward Burke, questioning the excesses of the French Revolution and drawing pragmatically from his experiences, sharpened and expanded on conservative ideology (Huntington, 1957). The incorporation of the swastika symbol by the Nazi Party to connect Hitler’s struggles to the Aryan heritage implies that symbols represent more than just an idea, but are malleable to become part of a certain new ideology (Mundorf & Chen, 2006). By recognizing the symbol in its new context, the identity of the symbol is transformed to represent something new. This highlights another visual aspect of politics, whereby symbols and existing ideas can be reused and reinvented for contemporary use.


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