One Night in Beijing, Two in Shanghai

Back from a grueling winter in Beijing and Shanghai, China! Pictures here.

I spent Christmas snuggled under the sheets, feverish and sneezing from a cold in the hotel. Not very merry indeed. And New Year's Day saw me climbing the Great Wall and leaving a trail of snot...haha.

I really loved the Great Wall though, it left me the same feeling as the Grand Canyon... 'Wow.' I must go back sometime and take a few days to walk and camp through the Wall...hmm is that allowed? They don't have patrols at night do they...

I feel like I still barely know China after having toured around the Jiang nan area. We were brought about to skim the surface of cities, a touristy ride through attractions and whatnots. But i still enjoyed getting a glimpse of how locals live, from the way they dress and walk, to the houses and shops they inhabit. The tour guides of course fed us loads of fun facts and themed stories, with the occasional historical tidbit. At the end of the day, I do not feel as though I have understood any of the great cities we have breezed through.

I breeze through Life not with Wind. - George Bernard Shaw

The propaganda was surely laid on thick, from the guide's resolute exhortation that we were 'people of China with Singaporean passports" to the incessant reminder of filial piety to our parents, our grandparents, whoever that could justify buying a new silk pillow, a kilo of green tea leaves for. I am proud to say that our group has bought it all and fulfilled every shop's sales quota along the way. My contribution to the table: $8 for a bottle of pearl cream that stun my eyes horribly after applying it like a facial mask. Well done.

I will never forget the impressive sales techniques practised on us, like we were little white mice rolling on a wheel. I have a true admiration for this art - it truly is an elaborate art - of putting thoughts into the minds of others. Kinda like Genjutsu, only better.

I especially like how we are so good at rationalizing things...religion and superstitions, all buttressed by half-truths and fallacies. Another thing that was rationalized - the Suzhou Industrial Park, gave me more food for thought. In the ever-present dilemma between development and conservation, we always talk about the benefit for the lives of the many versus the detriment of the few. In reality, it's a veil in disguise; very often it's not the majority oppressing the few, but rather the few with many oppressing the few with little.

It has still been a refreshing, enriching trip through and through, and I am grateful for this grad trip that has enabled me to reconnect with all my BCG coursemates. I pray the memories we have forged together stands strong like the Wall :)

Horizons

Back after a long hiatus!

It has been a refreshing blast of activity since the exams ended. I am actually hugely more busy now than during the exam period! I guess that hints at the mindset i hold towards taking exams now... haha. I studied maybe eight, nine hours total for each paper? The rest of the time, I have been indulging my passions...studying Go, reading Herman Hesse's books, taking long brooding walks, thinking about what I want to do.

After returning from overseas, I have been enjoying my new perspective on life.

Things like appreciating the simpler things in life, thinking up little projects like creative presents for friends, taking time out to admire a thunderstorm, and slowly chewing my breakfast despite being late for lessons.

Understanding and forgiving our weaknesses, observing people for who they are, and consciously giving praise and encouragement to close ones around me.

Dissolving my temper and negative feelings away, being more patient with things, seeing things from different angles, asking more questions about everything, and being thankful and amazed to know the answers.

Making dinner at home a priority, to talk more to my brothers, to cry more during sad movies, and laugh more during funny ones.

Taking charge in projects, learning to pay attention towards my teammates rather than the task at hand, giving myself hard chores and being hardworking for once... and rewarding myself after :)

Well.

Graduation is coming up soon, and job searching has been fruitless so far... ha. And i have just myself to blame... having applied to, say, 5 firms in total?

Guess i'm really stubborn about it. I swore myself to a life not of success, but of fulfillment. And I try to act on it. I realized that success-oriented, competitive environments or jobs that do not serve the greater part of society will not go with this. Hence I chose not to apply for financial, tobacco firms, etc.

I also aspire to be challenged in open and collaborative environments, to be pushed to reach new levels in my knowledge and skillsets... and so didn't apply for starting jobs in governmental, rigid organizations either. I'd love to hear from people who can share their experiences to refute my stereotyped views, but so far all my working friends have affirmed my beliefs in this.

Who's to say I won't conform to the rest of society and 'wake up' to reality? Nine out of ten friends around me absolutely adore bank jobs. The remaining one is already working in it. I've seen encouraging movements in the U.S., but the odds are stacked against me here in the zeitgeist of Singapore. I just hope to retain the new perspectives and mindsets I gained from my european friends, and be brave enough to fight for them.

Keeping my paradoxical aim of doing something challenging in a less success-oriented environment in mind, I have been actively tossing out competitive thoughts and ambition from my mind, and yet pro-actively seeking out opportunities to challenge myself in a fun, fulfilled way.

I find that strangely, my initiative towards things has actually increased as a result, while trying to be driven not by achievement but by fulfilment. To be pushed not by thoughts of myself, but of others as well. To be excited not by the chance to earn money but the opportunity to make a difference.

I set myself a midterm goal: to set up a nonprofit tech firm, something like Convio.

In the short run, I've recently made contact with Singapore's governmental agency in charge of volunteer orgs in Singapore, and managed to convince them to do a collaborative project with me and maran!

I have a dream of regular people, each and everyone of us, volunteering every so often for causes we believe in, people we want to help. I have a dream of reaching out to people, especially youths, to create a kinder, more caring society. It's an easy dream as far as dreams go, isn't it?

At least i know Technology can do this.

We're creating a mobile application that serves as a platform for people to freely logon, check out the latest volunteering events, and signup for them. Users can search for causes they're interested in, for events they have the time and energy to help out in. The best part? After using it for sometime, the app will smartly recommend the user what he's interested in, based on a model the app has constructed of him. That's what I call Artificial Intelligence :)

And to engage the youths and keep users going back to the app, we're making use of fun and social elements, such as achievements and reward points, and sharing on FB and twitter to invite friends to join the same event. How's that for viral marketing?

I'm really aiming to create something impactful and useful to society. We're in the heat of the action now, and some of my friends are joining me in this too, though we're still tight of manpower. Hopefully our creation will nudge up Singapore's volunteerism rate by at least 0.5% within the next six months. I'd really love to see that realized!

I don't think I would have gone this far in this project without my new perspective in life gained from my exchange in europe. I like that the lessons you learn, you experiences you gain, the people you meet, the memories you hold from traveling...they don't disappear the moment you leave, but simmer in your mind slowly, absorbed into your soul like little bits of your life.

Ah, what am i saying? Doesn't that apply to everything in our lives? Ha...

Anyway, that's all I have to rant for now. I guess it's a good enough update for these few months! Well, time to get back to work on my coding.

P.s.

It feels so good to realize that life is long, and meant to be good.

Thank you for teaching me that.

A Networking Dinner

A break from my travel posts! I still have a backlog of travel logs from Copenhagen to Rome...it's going to last me till next year haha.

Tonight we attended a networking event with alumni from a couple of industries: a full range of financial sector players as well as the accounting Big 4. I roamed about and spoke to many different personalities... (one of whom was drunk, haha!)

I wanted to jot down some of my after-thoughts. Firstly, i felt that i could observe the 'comfort circles' they have built for themselves. It shows pretty clearly, from the things they talk about, the attitudes they portray towards certain issues such as career choices and development paths. It appears that based on the values and mindsets you hold towards the world around you, the same environment can provide different insights and knowledge for different people. You even absorb information selectively, to support your pre-existing perceptions perhaps. It's very interesting. I acquired some very valuable AND different advice from different personalities.

Of course, it makes a difference that they are from different industries. Yet I feel that these people have actually drifted towards the place where they feel they belong. And once they fit in snugly in these comfort circles, it reinforces their attitudes and perceptions towards things. I guess this is probably necessary for a stable, happy life: to find somewhere you belong, and mould your environment as you see fit. The environment may be simply the decor of a home (this is big for my dad!) or the way you make out the world to be.

I cherish my student life now, because we have the time to explore our passions and interest, to forge and reforge ourselves in a continual journey of learning and growth. To constantly be able to throw ourselves into new, uncomfortable places. I am truly grateful for the opportunity to go on exchange in Europe, and to travel alone around the US and Europe. I just had the intuition that i could not find the next stage of self-development in Singapore. And i was right. I wish that i am able to convey the lessons learnt in my travel logs.

In the meanwhile, though, I will continue striving on, in this next phase of learning. Let me pray that i will never fall into a comfort circle - yet. It's just too early to stop learning, to stop failing and making mistakes, to stop doing what i love, to stop having fun...

It's too early to stop living life the way you want it. Differently.

... and farewell, Steve Jobs. Your life will be forever remembered as an inspiration to all.

Experience, Barcelona

The Media always gives you a distorted picture of the truth.

A brief snapshot, to be precise, of a long chain of events, bits and pieces that form up history. If you didn't know any better, you would probably come up with a perception shaped exactly by pictures, videos of the dramatic incidents shown by the Media. Yet the only way to feel and understand the present is to be there at that very moment.

The world, 2011, has seen the Arab Spring, and in Europe, a long summer of discontent arising from the financial crisis' still ongoing reverberations. I was there, ignorant and unaware of the historic Spanish protests recently. All over Madrid, and later Barcelona, young people demonstrated against high unemployment and the political establishment. What better way to feel the current situation than to live with my 20-ish host Joan, who is a university graduate and yet, like many of his peers, can't find a full-time job in one of the economic capitals of Spain! He had to accept a pay-less internship now for months, and survived on his own savings over the years.

With his friendly, happy-go-lucky predisposition, however, Joan isn't pressured into signing up for any of the protests - yet. But who knows how many disgruntled young adults facing the same predicament are readying themselves to take the streets. Spain's growth is lagging behind that of Central European countries and unemployment is at over 21 percent, the highest in the European Union. While unemployment under 25-year-olds in Spain is at a staggering 45 percent. 45 percent! That is a LOT of unhappy people, folks.

My first few days in Barcelona, I explored the city with a different slant. Walking down from the Arc de Triomf to Ciutadella Park, I witnessed a labor demonstration against the Catalan government, with blazing banners, loudhailing crowds, guards with tommyguns. Chatting up some of the protesters, I found out they were showing their discontent with some of the labor laws being proposed in Parliament today.

After all the MPs entered the building, they dispersed without any fanfare. Hum. So that's what a protest is about. It sure looks scary, but it really didn't feel so. In fact, just a few steps away, the protestors marched past a group of toddlers at play.

Scarryyy.. maybe not.

Cute! 

 I feel that there is so much information lost, from being in the moment, to written and visual media. Even an accurately captured video footage cannot convey every nuance of the atmosphere, the tone, the feelings at play. There is never a substitute for personal experience, i guess.

Anyway. Back to Barcelona. I scurried through the city with the local walking tour groups, and was lucky enough to get to know a Spanish guy from Madrid, here on vacation! That's basically the first thing i do - grab someone who speaks the local tongue (well, sort of... Barca speaks a closely related Catalonian actually). It just makes it so much easier to explore and understand the city, the culture. We managed to get a great tip on a local food joint (from an old lady, no less!).

I still count it among my favourite food experiences...Especialidade de la Casa during lunch time, a completely crowded little shop that is absolutely hidden from the masses of tourists filling the streets of Barca! In fact, it doesn't even have a signboard outside. I ordered (well, my friend helped to order - ) a sandwich: Lomo, Serrano, y Pimientos, with some Morcilla and fruity rose wine to go with it. All less than SGD10, too.

In the evening, I got to meet and know Yana's two Barca local friends, Eduard, an archaelogist, and his girlfriend, a singer. They treated me to an evening at the Poble Espanyol, admiring the musical fountain performance, Font Magica, and having an amazing Tapas dinner (at a cheap joint for students of course!), with dishes like Jamon Iberico, Tortilla espanola, Morro del Cerdo, and of course Sangria for drinks. A perfect way to spend a comfortable evening with new friends, local food and simmer in the culture. Oh, and they reminded me to grab some preserved ham for Yana, and to send their regards to her back in Munich!

Self-shot Fail. 

Sometimes I wonder why all these european friends I've met seem to hold such interesting jobs and interests. I mean, archaeologist? Singer? Not to mention: DJ, Madagascar teacher, etc, etc... Singapore's career choices seem dismally woeful by comparison. I'm pretty certain a standard of living should be measured not just by economic well-being and freedom, but also socio-cultural freedom, personal freedom. Just by being here and talking to people, I feel like i'm slowly being weaned off on my ignorance of the wider range of choices out there, be it in work or personal aspects. It's a liberating feeling... and I feel happier just by this knowledge that I can live out my life in so many, different ways.

Well, to sum up the rest of my Barca trip...i went to the beach with a couple of female couchsurfers (pictures censored), caught Messi in action at Camp Nou, hanged out with leather-clad tough bikers at the Harley Days exhibition, then took the train to Reus to meet a very, very interesting host...

But that's another story, for another time :)

Travel, Portugal

One fantastic thing that travel does to you is to free you from your comfort circle and your old self. I feel most at ease speaking to strangers then, who of course no longer feel like strangers... since now the whole world is your home, and all its peoples your family. So it came to be that in Guimaries, the birthplace of Portugal, I got to meet Atty and Hieke from the Netherlands, who brought me licorice, Dutch pancakes and good company :)

We explored Guilmaries, a quaint medieval castle town, as well as nearby Braga. There we crashed a regal church wedding and listened to riveting, melodious choir music... till humorless guards chased us out. Crap. And then off we were to Lisbon, the capital of Portugal!

I find that it always makes things easier traveling when you have someone who speaks the local tongue. But we can't all travel with some hyperpolyglot! My favourite solution: just keep looking till you find that person :) In this case, Joao, a brazilian named after John Paul the Second, fell right into our lap. Speaking Portuguese fluently, he led us through the town and introduced us to some cultural tidbits: Brazil's history with Portugal, (in)famous kings and rulers, 5-years-old tuna, fava beans and famous salted codfish. We ventured to a meaningful district, Belem, where we tasted the Original Portuguese eggtarts (Pasteis de Belem), and refind the excitement of the Age of Discoveries, where luminaries like Christopher Columbus, Vasco da Gama paved the way for the New World... the Americas.

Somewhere along the way, I realized that my knowledge of European and American history and famous figures was essential for me to understand, appreciate and enjoy the sights and scenes all this while. Now where did i pick this up from? Not from school, where I hated history lessons. No, i have historical games like Colonization and Civilization to thank for teaching me about everything from the discovery of the New World, the European Wars, even cotton-growing, to wonders like the Colossus, the Sistine Chapel. These were perhaps the most educational games I have ever played. Games that make history come alive.

Anyway. At night, we had a most memorable meal of Dutch pancakes with bacon and cheese, and my very own veggie soup dish :p

The next day, I was already off to Barcelona. Sunny weather, beautiful beaches and FC Barca, here I come!

Leader, Portugal

On the spur of the moment, I borrowed some money, packed my bags and flew off to Porto, Portugal, where I started on a two weeks long trip across Portugal and Spain, right smack in the middle of the semester.

I arrived at twilight, and met with Carlos, who ran a chain of gaming hardware shops in Porto. I felt his kindness and considerate hospitality in no small way, and we talked freely, randomly I might add haha. Carlos had just started to host, and had not actually ventured to travel afar often. Yet I sensed his budding wanderlust and interest for travel, and expect him to come by SG in the future!

To me, the most astonishing thing about Carlos is that he is completely close pals and buddies with his employees. In my last night, I was introduced to them over dinner (which they had nicely treated me, a most memorable traditional northern Portuguese food Francesinha!) Miguel, Favio, Daniel, all colorful characters that I will have a hard time forgetting! It was so much fun talking to them, and picking up tidbits about Portugal along the way. We even played Texas Holdem poker at night, where I got eaten like a newborn lamb :p

Regardless, I wish to take away this simple principle of his: there is no more effective leadership than that which bonds your people with you. I remember vividly my experience in chairing Hall FOC, where I worked hard to forge my own leadership style. I later identified it to be servant leadership, when I saw how it resounded deeply with Pat Williams’ book The Paradox of Power. Yet I still have a long way to go, to bond so closely that there is no difference between the leader and the follower; only you and I.

I also meditated on the past times when I was led, both good and bad. The last time was traumatic, perhaps one of the worst experiences in my life; yet it enabled me to personally feel the effects of bad leadership, and to strengthen my resolve never to fall in these footsteps. I admittedly committed the same mistakes before, and I may have regretted it then but now I swear to myself: Never again. Never to alienate, to put down, to injure.

We all learn, and forge our own identities. I recognized myself to act at times like a driver type too, forceful yet tactless, or an analytical worker, methodical yet unassertive. Now I aim to abandon all rigidness, and to adapt my style to the situation, the cards in my hand. There are no bad cards, only bad players. And though everyone might know this principle and be able to spout it freely at the tip of their tongue, few ever internalize this truth of life in the way they think and act, or realize the full significance of its meaning.

When we played poker that night, I survived till the very end, then lost with my hand of cards and all my chips.

Well.

Not bad, for a start.

Pause

It is a silent, silvery night in Dubai, where I await my flight back to Singapore after having arrived here from Munich.

These past six fleeting months have been the most fruitful, growth-inspiring period in my life. I have scarcely a moment where I am not tormented, excited, stimulated by events, environment and the people around me. I will hopefully pen down my learning thoughts over my travel journals in my next entries, but it is hard to contain the rush of ideas, the recall of memories and experiences so alive they seemed to have happened yesterday.

It feels strange now, to reflect on my past self, a distant person, a blurry image of haphazard purpose and characteristics. At this moment, I have never felt more defined, as a person, a living thing. They say travel is a journey of self-discovery and exploration. For avid travelers, it might not be the most magnificent of stunning views that stimulates the mind, but rather the simplest of thoughts. Thoughts that inspire, thoughts that are inspired.

I guess, this is the path that I took in my exchange. I ventured, I sought new experiences and inspiration across Europe, deeply engaged in introspection and conversation with people from various cultures, various spheres of society. In return, I sacrificed many things which I deeply regret. I lacked the time to fully know and understand my newfound friends from all over the world. I lacked the commitment to pursue various computer science classes, which had finally began to interest me. I lacked the focus to truly develop a particular skillset, be it coding, socializing or leadership.

But I have grown, in a deeply meaningful way. And I pray to retain this modicum of wisdom in the journey of life ahead.