Amazing Vietnam - Day 8 & 9 (13-14 Dec 08)

Day 8 – Rendezvous at HCM

Our stay at Danang was the shortest among all the destinations. Bob woke up early and went ahead to have breakfast at the hotel lobby with “last minute visitors”. A while later, I joined them for breakfast. As usual, we chatted, exchanged contacts with the visitors. After that we quickly pack up and check out.

Our flight was scheduled to depart to HCM at 12:05pm. After we checked in at the airport, we had another shocking news – Jetstar’s flight at 12:05pm will be delayed till 7pm due to blah blah blah! Now that’s a good way to test a person’s patient to the limit; that’s one good way to piss me off. This is the second time and it’s even ridiculous - delayed by 7 hours!!! And now we understand why people pay thousand dollars for SIA ticket.

Our problem is this - we will be flying back to Singapore from HCM tomorrow. So if we wait for Jetstar, and I’ve no idea what can we do for next donkey hours at the airport, we will arrive HCM at night. This means that we will check into our hotel, wash up and sleep. And then the next day we will fly back to Singapore. Tell me that sounds stupid to you also.

So Bob went to Jetstar’s service counter to investigate. And then we have similar option again – Vietnam Airlines will take off to HCM in about an hour’s time. Initially Bob told me that there are still economy seats available on that flight (we got to pay slightly more than S$100 per pax). I went to double check and then was told instead that economy class seats were fully booked but we can be on waiting list. I told Bob that why would we want to take back our luggage from Jetstar and still uncertain whether we can get to HCM as planned. Then Bob told Vietnam Airlines staff that we want a seat and we do not want to be on waiting list. The reply was “Business Class seats are available, sir”. That will costs us slightly more than S$200 per pax. Now this is getting better and better.

Concurrent Work

Then the “ang mohs” standing beside us clarified with Bob on business class seats availability. Immediately I wispiered to Bob “the ang mohs are asking and they are taking out their powerful Pounds, US$ or Euros”.

Bob immediately confirmed with Vietnam Airlines that we want two business class seats!!! Their flight will take off at 1:30pm and we left with about half an hour. So immediately, I demanded our luggage back from Jetstar while Bob went over to claim damages from Jetstar. After I got back our luggage, I quickly check in while Bob was filling up some claim forms.

To all my dear friends, this holiday was indeed amazing. I had never tried business class before. There was special check in counter; special transport bus to the aircraft and the seat plus service was excellent. I boarded the plane first while Bob catch up after he got some money from Jetstar. We were compensated about 500,000 Dong each - goodwill of Jetstar. I expect to see negative goodwill on Jetstar's balance sheet. There is one interesting incident inside the plane that I would like to share with you. Being in business class, drinks, papers, and warm towels were provided. After I finished my drink, I signaled to an air stewardess to clear my glass. She came to me with a tray and immediately I took the glass and empty bottle and place it on her tray. She was shock and waved at me that I should not do that; she will do it for me! Cute but I am a yuppie, and I don’t like formality.

And of course, we will claim against our insurance AIG, if they still around for flight delay when we are back to Singapore.

Final Stop at HCM

So in the afternoon, we are back to the starting point of our journey – HCM. We check into the same hotel while Bob went to his business office to meet his client. I stayed in the hotel to do some work and…. sleep! In the evening, we went out with another lady for dinner. The traffic at HCM continued to be massive. Take a look at some of my photos and try to imagine how you going to cross the road if you were there. After our dinner, we went to the popular Highland Coffee for…… coffee of course.

Then Tien and Xuan came to meet us one last time before we fly back to Singapore the following day. Remember the two ladies that we met during Day 1? And with that, we ended our last night at HCM.

Day 9 – Back to Singapore

After our breakfast, Bob left to meet his client again while I pack up my luggage. We wanted to buy Xuan a last breakfast treat as she had spent quite a bit of time with us while we were at HCM. Unfortunately, she was busy that morning. At 17:25pm, we were on Tiger Airway to Singapore.

Well, with that, I ended my amazing journey at Vietnam. I hope I had quantified and illustrated my statement that Vietnamese are really, truly and very friendly. I suppose that’s their culture. They may not be as strong as Singapore economically, in infrastructure or technology, but they have something that you won't find in Singapore. But to be fair to us, that's our trade off as we advanced ourselves in many areas. This journey totally changed my perception on the Vietnamese.

I like to take this opportunity to thank Bob for allowing me to tag along with him. But of course, he also benefited from me – I paid for quite a few meals. Nonetheless, money is not the issue. The chance and the experience is immeasurable. And to Xuan, Tien, Son, the group of accountants, Van Anh, Minh Anh, Anna etc many thanks for your hospitality. If you ever come to Singapore, please allow me to payback.

And Vietnam, I’ll be back, soon!

Amazing Vietnam - Day 7 (12 Dec 08)

Day 7 – Marble Mountain

There is nothing much to share for Day 7. Our original plan was to visit Hoi An but was cancelled, thanks to Bob’s accident. So we went to one of the shopping centres and had lunch there. After our lunch, we proceed to a place call the “marble mountain”. As the name implied, it’s all about marble.

Anna was extremely photogenic and so we were like doing an album for her at the marble mountain.

At night Bob had an appointment with his clients. So I went to the hotel lobby and had a amazing dinner – all by myself. I was the restaurant’s one and only customer. Can you believe it? Or should I say, am I cool or what?

Amazing Vietnam - Day 6 (11 Dec 08)

Day 6 – Amazing Race to Danang

This morning, we continued with our amazing race – to Danang. At the reception, Van Anh was there to send us off. Our flight was scheduled to take off at 12:05pm. So reluctantly, we hired a cab to the airport and bit farewell to the wonderful city. But remember, “I’ll Be Back”!

At the airport after we checked in, the damn Jetstar counter announced flight delayed to 4:30pm. Delayed by 4 hours! What the *&%#@(*D=^#+!!!!! Bob went to the counter to “bang their table” and we were compensated with a token of 50,000 Dong each (around S$5), goodwill from Jetstar. But there was alternatively. Vietnam Airline is departing in an hour's time. The ticket will cost us S$100 each. And Bob has the cheek to ask me to cover his costs should I choose to take Vietnam Airline. So we decided to stay grounded in the airport. Many thanks to Jetstar, we will feedback and claim damages.

Danang – City Where Dream Comes True

Finally we disembarked at Danang in the evening. Firstly on the weather – Danang has ideal weather. It is not as hot as HCM and not as cold as Ha Noi. From the map, Danang is located in between these two main cities and that explain the wonderful weather. Secondly, there was no currency exchange service at the airport. So I was running out of Dongs.

We hop into a meter-taxi and reached our 3-star hotel (Saigon Tourane Hotel, 5 Dong Da St., Danang City) in about 15min time. Danang’s traffic is also less massive as compared to HCM and Ha Noi. In sum, this town is really a peaceful town. Our friend Anna had already booked a hotel room for us. The hotel room was fantastic, the best so far. We washed up and send in our laundry. An hour later, Anna and her friend Sullie (if I remember correctly) were waiting for us with their bikes outside the hotel. So we rode off to a stretch of restaurants located beside the sea.

Bob told me that Danang being located along the coastal area is famous for cheap seafood. Singaporeans love seafood, don’t we? So Anna selected a restaurant and we ordered a few dishes of good seafood food such as big prawns, fried fish, cutter fish, chilli crabs, fried rice and Larue beer. The weather was perfect and the wave was strong. We really enjoy the dinner. To all Singaporeans friends out there, the restaurant setting there is definitely better than our East Coast seafood centre. The dinner cost us 1,300,000 Dong (around $S120) for four. Not expensive but not as cheap as I expected.

Unexpected Accident

After our dinner, we decided to go around the town area. Unfortunately, my dear friend Bob met with an accident – a motorbike accident right after we stepped out of the restaurant. I will skip the detail as it is unpleasant to share. There was blood all over his nose and mouth and abrasions on his hands. We have no choice but to send him to nearby hospital immediately. We need to determine if there is any internal injury. Cut the long story short, the doctor cleaned up his wound, gave him a jab and assessed no internal injury. So I paid 70,000 Dong for the consultation.

So Bob ended the day with pain all over whilst I ended with…. what we say in Chinese “哭笑不得” (cry also cannot, laugh also cannot). To make thing worst, because of his injury, Anna decided to cancel our next day’s trip to Hoi An. It was part of our itinerary. Sigh!

Amazing Vietnam - Day 5 (10 Dec 08)

Day 5 – West Lake

This morning, at about 9am, Bob’s friends Minh Anh and Fuong (hope I spelt correctly) came to pick us up. They waited for us outside the hotel on their bikes. We came out to greet them and then rode off to the West Lake. Like I say, there are many lakes in Ha Noi. West Lake is much bigger then Hoan Kiem Lake. The weather was really cold especially when you are on the bike. We visited the Tran Quoc Pagoda (镇国寺), the oldest pagoda in Ha Noi. Minh Anh was super friendly and when talking to her, you don’t feel any distant. Very different as compare to Singapore context (sorry ladies, but read on and I’ll prove my point). Then we proceed to a restaurant nearby to have our breakfast and coffee. Some intro here - Minh Anh is working for NGO on HIV prevention. As for Fuong, she is working for a Malaysia milk distribution company. During the coffee, Fuong tell us that she needs to return to office after the breakfast. We told her not to worry about us; we could hire a cab.

After the breakfast, Fuong rode off and Minh Anh said that she'll hire a motor cab for me. Yes, she said motor cab!!! I told her that I rather take a car but she kept saying that taking a car is expensive. But what the hack. Since I wanted to understand Vietnamese lifestyle and culture, I should not be stubborn. Minh Anh hired a motor cab for me while Bob shared her bike. We went to a big museum and Minh Anh told us not to take out our camera until we are inside the museum. This is because, besides the entrance fees, there is extra charges for photo taking. This is determined at the point of entry when you hold a camera on your hand. It is quite a big place inside and we took lots of pictures. We saw many newly wed inside as December is a good time for marriage. There was also wedding dinner preparation in the museum compound.

Lunch at Minh Anh’s Place

Minh Anh told us that we are invited to have (late) lunch at her place. Her mom is preparing a meal for us. I was like “huh, really ah”? I felt rather shocked and uneasy at first because this is not a common practice in Singapore. Bob was teasing me “丈母娘看女婿”. So again Minh Anh hired a motor cab for me and we went to her place. It was a small narrow street, a bit run down with uneven road. There were minor construction work here and there, and dirty water along the street. Minh Anh stays at level four if I remember correctly and so we need to climb up. There is no lift and the steps of the staircase are totally uneven. It is difficult to explain here. I did not take any photo as I think it’s rude to do that especially when we were invited guest. We are not short of manners even as we were in foreign country. Inside Minh Anh’s house, the small living room is just slightly bigger than my bedroom in Singapore. Her bedroom and kitchen are linked and totally open concept – no door.

Minh Anh stays with her mom and sister. Apparently, Minh Anh’s mom was at her grandfather’s place that afternoon while her sister was attending class. I look at Bob and whispered to him “she brought two men back to her house”!!! I bet with you to my last cent that most Singapore girls will never do this. That’s why I kept saying that Vietnamese are super duper friendly. Although she knows Bob, but they are still considers an acquaintance. And Minh Anh starts to prepare for the lunch!!! I tried to stop her and persuade her to have lunch at a restaurant (Singaporean mindset) instead but she insisted.

The cooking was quite fast actually and Minh Anh prepared for us traditional Vietnamese food meant for special occasion such as a function or for invited guests. Altogether, she prepared five dishes for three of us. And really it makes us feel like VVIP. I can’t help but to request for photo taking. I told Minh Anh that I want to show my Singapore friends on her hospitality and traditional Vietnamese food. It was totally amazing!

During our lunch, I asked Minh Anh a few questions:

James: Is it ok to invite (male) friends to your house especially when your mom is not around?
Minh Anh: No problem, both of you are my friends.

James: You invited other foreign friends to your house also?
Minh Anh: Yes, I have many other foreign friends from Spain to Australia, businessmen and non-businessmen. Some of them had meal with my family more than once.

From the pictures I taken, you can see that Vietnamese love spring rolls and to eat raw vegetable. I was deeply thankful for her hospitality. After our late lunch, Bob shared with her on his business trip and offered her the opportunity. And in appreciation of her time and food, I actually offered to cover part of her costs of doing business with Bob. Bob was shocked when I volunteered. I told her that since she treated us as personal friends, I would also like to see her living a better life, providing the best for her mom and sis. Subsequently, Bob brought her to his business office for further discussion while I make my way back to hotel to rest.

Ultimately and unfortunately, Minh Anh did not accept our offer. It was a rare and attractive offer (especially from me) but she didn’t take it. We were disappointed. Such opportunity comes and goes. Nonetheless, I still wish her good health and all the best in her career.

Amazing Vietnam - Day 4 (9 Dec 08)

Day 4 – Taking A Break

Today, Bob is meeting his client and I do not wish to follow. So I decided to stay in the hotel to take a break and do my work. Yes, I have lots of work to do ranging from my own study, office work, blogging etc. Actual there is one “most go” place in Ha Noi – the Halong Bay. Unfortunately we need at least two days to visit Halong Bay but we are flying off Ha Noi in 2 days time. Plus the fact that Bob still has business appointments, so we have to give it a miss. But mark my word – “I’ll Be Back”!

After Bob left, I climbed down the stairs to the reception to send in my laundry. The friendly receptionist Van Anh was at the counter. I chatted with her and asked if I can order for lunch. It is a budget hotel so there is no room service. Van Anh replied that she could help me to order for lunch. I asked her whether if she is ordering from a restaurant. She nodded. I was a bit puzzled as I don’t recall any decent restaurant nearby except those located along Hoan Kiem Lake. But those restaurants are not cheap. Apparently, the hotel staffs also order their meal from the same source. Then I asked whether if it is ok for me to dine with the hotel staff. I mean come on, what’s the point of eating in my room alone. I should mingle around, networking and understand people’s culture. Van Anh invited me to join them with delight. I was in the mood and so I told Van Anh to order for more food like fish, pork, chicken and everything and it’s on the house.

At around 12:20pm, I got a call from the reception “sir, your lunch is ready”. I walked down the stairs again and jokingly reminded Van Anh that my name is "James", not “sir”. There is a table in font of the hotel reception and I saw three lunch boxes. When Van Anh opens it up, oh gosh it was just three simple lunch boxes – rice with meat plus vegetable. That’s all. Each box came with different selection of meat. And you can tell that the food was prepared by certain “household” and it was very cheap - 15,000 Dong per box, equivalent to around S$1.50. Actually my intention was to order for many dishes and we (hotel staff and myself) can all share the dishes together. Then came in another young and humble chap by the name of Yog (I don’t know the exact spelling). I invited him to sit down to eat together. A bit of intro – Van Anh speaks good English, the best I encountered so far in Vietnam. That probably explain why she is hotel line. She attends the language class after work. She joined the hotel for couple of months whilst Yog had joined for at least a year. Of course they asked about my job, my holiday here, my feedback and all the usual stuff.

After the lunch, Van Anh said that she wish to give me a treat for the lunch. I rejected the offer. I replied that I am on holiday and she is working so I can’t possibly let her buy me lunch. Instead I paid for all the lunch boxes.

Meeting The Accountants

In the evening, Bob’s group of friends came to invite us for dinner. All these people are accounts professional including a senior management accountant. One thing about Vietnam hotel you need to know is that Vietnamese girls are not allow to enter into the hotel room. This is especially so for 3-stars and above hotels. Foreign girls are ok but not Vietnamese girls. I’m sure you know why. Prostitution is strongly prohibited in most hotels, if not all. Vietnamese government spare no effort in fighting against HIV. If you brought along a Vietnamese wife, then I suppose you need to produce your marriage cert. Vietnamese girls know the rules; they hardly enter into the hotel room unless there is very good reason to do so. So Bob’s friends waited for us at the reception. As usual, we always let the local friends decide the venue since we were still new to this place. We hired a cab and so the ladies brought us to a famous place to eat. It was the same place (quan an ngon) that we had our dinner the night before (with Son). But we have no problem going into the same restaurant since there are many other dishes that we have yet to try. When I look around, there were indeed many foreigners dining inside the restaurant. And many of them look like some big shots to me. I chatted with one of the lady (Lan) who is a senior management accountant. She does budget/forecast for her company and managed a group of accounts personnel. And guess what! I am also doing budget/forecast for my company! But, I don’t do accounts and I don’t have any accounts staff. I felt so small!!!!

And so we ended the night early as we (or Bob) have an early appointment next morning.

Amazing Vietnam - Day 3 (8 Dec 08)

Day 3 – Ha Noi

We woke up early in the morning and booked a cab to the domestic airport. Similarly, the traffic in the morning was hectic – massive bikes and thunderous honking. Fortunately we were inside a cab. And indeed you must take heavy traffic into consideration while planning your travel in Vietnam. Inside the airport, after we checked in, we were waiting for the bus to transport us to Jetstar. We asked the airport staff at the holding area whether if we could take pictures. She obliged. We were surprised and delighted as this is not allowed in Singapore. So we took lots of pictures during boarding and alighting at every Vietnam airport. After we boarded, again I asked an air stewardess if I could take picture of her. She replied that it’s ok to take picture but not on her. Well, I had been naughty and discreetly took pictures of her…. heehee!

When we disembarked at Ha Noi airport, the temperature was totally different from Ho Chi Minh. It was cold with temperature of around 24 degree but still bearable to us. We were still able to walk around in our T-shirt without coat/jacket. I went to ANZ Bank counter in the airport to change for more Dongs. The rate wasn’t that fantastic as compared to HCM and they charged me 3% commission in US$!!! Crap! Ended up I got about 980,000 Dong for S$100; slightly lesser then what I got at HCM airport. Then we approached the airport staff to get us a meter taxi. But after we boarded, damn the meter wasn’t running. Bob asked the taxi driver to turn on the meter but the driver uttered some craps that we don’t understand. Or should I say we actually understand – he intends to crop us like carrot cake. And indeed, he charged me 350,000 Dong when it should be 250,000 Dong (Bob checked with the tourist information centre subsequently). Bob requested for receipt but on the receipt, the driver dare not write down 350,000 Dong. But I decided to rest the matter.

Our hotel (Hanoi Lucky Hotel, No.47, Ngo Huyen Hoan Kiem) is located along a narrow street, so narrow that our taxi couldn’t go in. The hotel was quite cosy and we were allotted the highest floor – level four! There is no lift so we need to climb the stairs. After we unpacked and sent in our laundry, we decided to roam around the nearby area. Along the street of Ha Noi, there are numerous hawkers beside the road. Locals just sit around on small stools to have their meal. I bet no Singaporean dare to try the food due to (presumbly) undesirable hygiene. But surprisingly, the “ang mohs” dare to eat along the roadside. The traffic of Ha Noi is similar to that of HCM except that the road is narrower. IMHO, it’s just as bad. But there again, people drive slowly, honk frequently, and will give way. There is no vulgarity or road-bully.

We visited a big old church before we reach “Hoan Kiem” lake (还剑湖). From the street directory, it seems that Ha Noi has many lakes. Hoan Kiem lake is beautiful and I just love walking along the lake under cold weather…. It would be perfect if my companion is a lady. We went into a few banks to enquire on money changing service but were told that they only accept US$. Damn, should have change for more Dongs at HCM! Then we had our late lunch at a restaurant beside the lake. The scenery was fantastic with cool weather. There are two unique things about Vietnamese food:

1) Vietnamese love to eat vegetable uncooked.
2) Vietnamese love to eat spring roll. They have various types of spring roll, not just the fried one.

After our late lunch, we continued to walk along the lake and visited the Ngoc Son Temple. Nothing impressive to the two men and after that, we decided to bash through the streets. We dare not buy anything as we were supposed to be “carrot” in the eyes of locals. Many mobile hawkers were trying to sell goods such as lighters, wallet and food to us. Then came a smart girl selling a few bananas and pineapples. She let us take pictures of her. We were interested as she was wearing Vietnamese hat (I don’t know what they call in Vietnam). It was fun and so we were obliged to buy bananas and pineapple from her. Good marketing approach and I granted her wish.

Ha Noi’s Night

After we wash up in our hotel, Bob’s friend Son came to pick us up in his big Honda. Not many people in Vietnam can own a car, let along a big car. This man is a CFO of a company. The usual corporate rank in Singapore context should be a Vice President. He brought us to a popular restaurant in Ha Noi – “Quan An Ngon”. And indeed, the place was cosy and there were many foreigners eating inside. Again, we had different spring rolls and our rice or noodles came with raw vegetables.

After our dinner, Son drove us around before bringing us to the Ho Chi Minh museum. There were soldiers guarding the whole compound. Son told us that Ho Chi Minh’s body is still lying inside museum for public viewing but only during daytime. The weather then was very cold, below 20 degree I think. Initially we wanted to wait for the last parade (flag lowering) at 9pm but we still have half an hour to go. No choice we gave up the idea and proceed to a pub for a drink to warm ourselves. One last thing to mention, Vietnamese really love to honk while driving, with or without traffic. IMHO, it’s more of a habit than safety consciousness. Son honk at least once every minute even at late night (clear road) while sending us back to our hotel. I kept quiet for courtesy. Anyway, I did not give Son my blog address so it’s ok I share here. Also CFO has no time to read my crap.

Amazing Vietnam - Day 2 (7 Dec 08)

Day 2

Xuan and Tien scheduled to pick me up for breakfast at 9am while Bob has meeting with his client. The ladies were late and coincidentally, Bob’s morning appointment with his client was also cancelled last minute. So four of us rode off to a popular restaurant named “Pho 24” for our breakfast. Another thing to highlight on Vietnamese restaurants is that they are usually “heavily staffed”. You can see many waiters or waitresses standing by to assist anytime. And many of them are really really polite. It’s like as if they had attended special training on customer service.

During the breakfast, Tien tell us that she needs to rush for her part time job in the afternoon. She works part time as Master of Ceremony (impressive!). She added that she is an MC for a wedding ceremony around noon. I casually asked if I could observe her performance. I mean excuse me, you think it’s easy to be an MC? Surprisingly, she obliged. So we rode off again to Tien’s workplace. I didn't expect that this ultimately ended up to be one of the most memorable event. It took us quite a while on the bike to reach the location. The temperature then was rather hot and the traffic was magnificent. It was heavy flooded with bikes and honk. Unlike Singapore where traffic is well regulated, traffic in Vietnam is very challenging and “lively”. Vietnamese drive slowly at an average speed of around 40km/h. A driver must really find opportunity and take initiative if he/she wants to make a turn. Waiting for traffic clearance is not the way to drive on Vietnam road. It was a bit scary initially but after a while, I get use to it because of:

1) confidence on my driver
2) people driving at slow speed and do give way to each other
3) There is no road-bullies, no vulgarity

In addition, you need a mask when you drive as the pollution level is quite bad. There are lots of uneven ground, still water and sands along the roadside. So if you ride your bike behind a big vehicle, your nose will have to work hard to filter out dirt.

Four Weddings

And finally we reached Tien’s workplace. It was a stretch of restaurants that looks more like a community centre in Singapore. And lucky us, there were altogether four wedding ceremonies that afternoon. Tien was MCing for one of the ceremonies. Outside the main entrance to the building, there were two rows of beautiful young ladies in pink welcoming the guests. It was unique and special and I was very tempted to take pictures of them. As Tien had left us to prepare herself for the event, I asked one of the guys in smart attire whether if I could take pictures. I am not familiar with the country’s culture and certainly I don’t want to get wallop or arrested by communists police for “undesirable character”. He nodded. We took a few pictures and many people were looking at us as if we were “star searching” (or maybe we look like clown). But there again, Vietnamese are really friendly. And since we really look like tourists, I guess they understand.

I also took pictures on the poster of one of the couples. It caught my attention because the bride is very pretty and the groom was smarting handsome (resembles the late Leslie Cheung). Then we saw Tien again outside one of the restaurant entrance briefing the groom on the process. She was on traditional Vietnamese costume and, oh man, she was gorgeous. I asked her whether if I could stay in the restaurant to observe the ceremony. She made the arrangement and so Bob, Xuan and myself entered and stood near the entrance to video the event. And oh my god, they had fantastic performance before the ceremony. I’ll put it on You-Tube to share with all. The performance was excellent, sweet and the song was really romantic.

And Vietnamese toasting method is also different from Singapore Chinese style also. We usually shout “yam seng” but Vietnamese will shout “mot-hai-ba-yo!” (1-2-3-cheers!).

(Subsequently Bob and myself frequently use Vietnamese toasting style when drinking with Vietnamese friends. They were delighted.)

I asked Xuan whether I if can bless the couple with an “ang bao”. I felt that it’s rude for us to just went in and video cam. I mean so what if we were tourists. This is not a zoo! Xuan replied that it’s ok if I felt obliged and 200,000 Dong will do since I am just an outsider. Usually friends and relative will bless with at least 300,000 Dong per head. As I was a bit shy so Bob helped me to explain, delivered the “ang bao” and blessed the newly wedded. The groom was honoured and invited us to dine with them. But that would be a problem as we will need to prepare more “ang baos” for another three headcounts. In any case we have itinerary to follow so we excused ourselves.

We walked back to the public "bike-park" to get the bikes. I felt so good and proud that I asked to observe the ceremony. That’s the way to go for holiday; understanding local culture and tradition. We then rode off to Chinatown to buy souvenirs. I’ll skip the boring shopping details. We also went to Windsor Hotel to change currency. There were beautiful x’mas décor everywhere and the ladies spare no effort to photo down everything. After our shopping, we departed and Bob continued with his business appointment.

Around 9pm, the ladies pick us up again for a drink. And my dear friend Bob selected the Sheraton Hotel. It was a high-class hotel including the bill but still affordable to us. We went to the highest level for a drink. There was live band and the drink was expensive. The price is about the same if you drink in Singapore. Bob pulled Tien into the dance floor and let their hair down. Me? I’m shy, remember?

Amazing Vietnam - Day 1 (6 Dec 08)

Truly Amazing Vietnam (6 – 14 Dec 2008)

If you ask me to summarise my impression on the Vietnamese with one word, then it has to be that the Vietnamese are very, very, very friendly. Why repeated adverbs? I’m sure that Singaporeans are friendly too, well at least most of them, and the Americans, and the Australians, Chinese etc. But IMHO, comparatively, the Vietnamese are really super duper friendly. Perhaps you will understand better after I shared my amazing experience each day at various Vietnam cities. Actually two friends invited me to tag along for holiday this December. One is going to L.A., US and the other one (Bob) to Vietnam. I chose the latter and I think I made the right choice.

Itinerary

Bob is going to Vietnam for his business trip while I tagged along for holiday. He promised to make time for my holiday purpose. And this trip will cover two main cities (Ho Chi Minh and Ha Noi) and another town (Da Nang) located just around the centre of the vertical land. Just for your info, Ho Chi Minh is the economic capital whereas Ha Noi is the country’s capital. Altogether, we need to fly five times in order to cover all these locations. We decided to plan for a budget trip since we are going to many locations but I’ll skip the finance details. Our itinerary as follow:

6 – 8 Dec – Ho Chi Minh

8 – 11 Dec – Ha Noi

11 – 13 Dec – Da Nang

13 – 14 Dec – Ho Chi Minh

14 Dec – back to Singapore

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奇妙越南旅就此开始

D-Day

On 6 Dec 2008, we flew to Ho Chi Minh (HCM) by Tiger Airway. We reached the city in the evening. The weather is similar to Singapore. At HCM international airport, Bob told me to ignore any cab driver offering us a service. This is because these cab drivers wanted to negotiate and fix a (high) price. We should look for a meter-cab. The best carrot is none other than the tourists isn’t it? It is the same situation in any country. We don’t blame them. We hired a meter cab and it took us about half an hour to reach our hotel. The traffic was massive and messy. When I got out of the cab, the kind driver carried our luggage, crossed the road and put it at the hotel entrance (hotel is on the other side of the road). I was like “how the hell am I going to cross?”. Then the hotel staff, apparently understand their customers’ concerns, came to help us to cross the massive traffic.

After checking into our hotel (Spring House Hotel, 221 Pham Ngu Lao street, District 1), we decide to walk around and ended in a restaurant for coffee. The restaurant’s staffs were very polite and humble. We ordered french fries and Vietnamese “drip coffee”. This is very common in Vietnam. What they do is that they have some sort of coffee container on top of the cup to drip down the coffee. The taste or the fragrance is a bit different from the usual coffee in Singapore. The only thing is Vietnamese coffee is very thick and concentrated. I don’t think Singaporeans can get used to it so Bob and myself always ask for extra cup of hot water - to add onto the coffee. They sell Tiger beer too. APB has been very aggressive in expanding their position and fight for bigger market share in Vietnam. Within a few years, you can see Tiger beer and its poster almost everywhere.

Another interesting thing to highlight is the Vietnamese building. Most of the buildings are quite narrow and usually built up to level four. Take a look at some of my pictures and you’ll understand what I mean. Perhaps it is expensive to expand a building horizontally. So the alternative is to build it tall. However, the local authority controls the height of their buildings so usually people built it up to four levels. Anyway, we are not very sure.

My First Motor Bike Ride

After the coffee, we proceed to Bob’s business office. I will not talk about his business in my blog. After that, Bob’s ex-colleague, Xuan came with her roommate Tien to pick us up – with their bikes. Most of my friends and colleagues know that I don’t ride bike and that applies to many Singaporeans. But in Vietnam, this is just the other way round. Most Vietnamese own a bike as not many can afford a car. Well, I don’t have much choice then since I need to behave like a man in front of two young ladies. I told Tien that I had never ride a bike before so to pardon me if I look stupid. The traffic was massive even at night. We proceed to a restaurant for dinner but along way, we met with heavy downpour. Bob was lucky as there was extra raincoat for him. Tien took out her one and only raincoat and wanted me to “hide inside her rain coat” behind her. It’s like hiding inside Superman’s cape. I was extremely uneasy because:

1) that is rude to do that to a lady and can amounts to molest
2) it is dangerous as I will be blind to the traffic

So I got out of the bike and found a shelter. Tien was polite and she understands. She drove off to buy a raincoat for me.

(Later after the end of our holiday, then I realized that in Vietnam, it is always man driving and lady sitting behind. And only lady covers herself inside the man’s raincoat from the back seat. I was given special treatment as I am a foreigner and do not understand their culture).

A little bit of intro here - Tien is an undergrad doing her last year marketing degree. Both ladies are able to communicate in English although we need to speak slowly in order to understand each other. In fact, when you converse with Vietnamese, try not to “sing” or slang like “ang mohs”. It makes communication difficult. Xuan was previously working for APB (Tiger Beer) in Vietnam and that’s where she gets to know Bob. Bob was the internal auditor then. Both ladies are staying in a rented unit and must be back before 11:30pm otherwise they will be lockout.

After we departed, Bob and myself went to a pub for a drink. It was a very small pub with a couple of tables. There are many such small pubs at HCM. And lucky for the lady boss that I was in the mood that night so I ordered lot of drinks. I spent about 500,000 VND (equivalent to S$50).

S'pore PMI shrinks in Nov

Singapore's manufacturing industry shrank for the third consecutive month in November as new export orders slipped and the tech sector contracted on the back of a worsening global economy.

The Singapore Institute of Purchasing & Materials Management said on Tuesday its purchasing managers' index - a leading indicator for the manufacturing industry - stood at 44.3 in November, down from 45.8 in October.

A reading below 50 points indicates that the manufacturing sector is contracting.

The contraction was due to a fall in overall new orders and new export orders, as well as declining levels in production output, imports and employment.
.
(Source: BT 2 Dec 08)

US manufacturing index falls in Nov

US factory activity fell in November to its weakest since 1982, according to an industry report released on Monday.

The Institute for Supply Management said its index of national factory activity fell to 36.2 in November from 38.9 in October, below economists' median forecast for a reading of 37.0.
A reading below 50 indicates contraction in the sector.

.

(Source: BT 1 Dec 08)

NLP Workshop

Last evening, I attended a workshop on “Roadmap to Success” with a friend. My ex-manager Cayden Chang that I had shared before in my blog, conducted the workshop. He is the founder of the company Mind Kinesis. Today, I would like to share with all what the workshop is all about and highlight something important that we all should take note of.

Firstly, the training programme that Mind Kinesis offering is a NLP tools - Neuro-linguistic Programming. In layman’s term, it’s about giving you tools such that you will achieve your intended results. This is nothing new to me as I had been trained by Cayden in someway when he was my manager. I benefited from his training while working under him. Ever since being trained/influenced by Cayden, including reading books on positive mindset, I becomes demanding on myself and somewhat affecting (or pissing off) people around me. For myself, I set targets and I will “cheong” to get it. Although I’ve yet to reach Cayden’s level of mind focusing, I do behave in that manner. Let me illustrate. Again, if you are my colleague and you are reading my blog, please keep it to yourself. Nonetheless, I’ll still try to “restrain” myself on my sharing.

I was posted to a new job in mid-2007. For that new post, I had zero experience although the manager (not Cayden) was willing to give me a chance to try. This is because he knows me as a colleague and also my experience in our company’s operations is an added advantage. It was a huge challenge because the new post required totally different set of skills. But I never doubt that I will make it. I set targets for myself - within half a year, I will learn and complete everything that the new post required me to do; and I’ll take another half a year to learn my peer’s area of responsibility. This means to say that in one year’s time, I will learn EVERYTHING there is to learn in that (new) office. If you feel that I’m bragging, then I’m sorry. But like it or not, I met my targets although there is still room for improvement.

Well, since I behave in this manner, I becomes…. somewhat demanding.... to others. I will not elaborate on this since some colleagues may be reading my blog. Now back to Cayden’s workshop. He is offering something rather different as compared to his competitors. For example, he gave attractive discount and guarantees 100% satisfactory, i.e. if you don’t get your intended result after the programme, you’ll get full refund! This is what I want to talk about today. My friend who attended the workshop with me was thinking about the programme fee. I thought he was contemplating whether if the programme is expensive.

In my opinion, offering a lower fees was unnecessary other than encouraging more people to try it. Or perhaps there may be other reasons that I’m not aware of. I told my friend that I felt sorry for those who signed up or didn’t sign up merely because of the fee. This is because he/she had been myopic and failed to see the bigger picture. Think again. If your intended result is to earn a passive income of at least $2,000 a month, or to move up the corporate ladder to be Assistant Vice-President and the programme guarantees to help you to reach it otherwise money back, then it doesn’t matter whether the programme costs $2,000 or $5,000. Your target or objective worth many times more than that.

During my recent ICT, many ex-colleagues asked for my help in portfolio management and they are willing to entrust their money with me. I told them that I charge a 2% commission on the gains and only when there is a gain. Straight away they responded, “no problem, 5% also can”. Do you know why they are so generous? This is because they only pay when there is a positive result or else I will do it for free. The only difference here between these two situations is that for Cayden’s training, you need to pay first and he will help you to get your intended result. For my fund management service, you only pay after I produced the result. The sequence is different but the idea is the same. You only incurred a cost when you get your intended result. And this applies even when you are buying self-enrichment books. I said in my blog before, don’t buy self-enrichment books so that you “feel better”. Whenever you pay for a book, you’re helping the author to reach financial freedom – passive income. You should only help him if the author is going to help you in return. For example, if you buy a book written about Warren Buffett, then you must expect better investment returns. And if your learning curves taper off, you should stop buying these kind of books.

So my friend, do not be shortsighted and focused on the returns. You must expect results. In this case, you achieve win-win situation.

“You walk and talk but did you sign up for the programme?”

I did not! I didn’t not because of the fee but because I don’t have a “desperate” target currently. If I attend the training now it will be a waste. Once my desperate and difficult target arises, I will sign up and seek Cayden’s help. His programme is supposed to help me to get what I want. And I want to make it challenging for him.

My Weight Reduction Secret

Today I will not talk about investment or economy but a topic that interest all women – slimming (瘦身男女). I started to put on weight while I was in the Army. Funny isn’t it, putting on weight while in the military organization! Don’t laugh, it least I still physically fit and I passed my physical fitness test.

And my weight has been maintained at 72kg (with std deviation of 1kg) for a decade. I tried many methods to reduce it but was unsuccessful. Methods I tried previously includes:

1) Regular exercise
2) Products that increase metabolism rate.
3) Products that prevent food from breaking down completely for body to absorb.
4) Any of the above combination.

They all never work. Go on diet? I also know that lah, don’t need you to teach! But to go on hunger strike might as well ask me to die. Somewhere in Jul this year, during our usual lunch gathering, one of the senior colleagues shared with me a cheap-and-easy method to slim down. He witnessed how it works on his Pastor. That is:

Eat fruit lunch (even without strenuous exercise)

His Pastor used to be quite fat but after fruit lunch plus regular exercise, he slims down completely. Actually we all know about eating more fruits and vege but my question is, does it really work. In fact, one of my ex-colleagues Ms Jenny mentioned this method before. Now let’s stay focus; we want to see result, don’t we? Everybody tries to come up with his/her own monkey secret that will help a person to reduce weight. You just get disappointed many times. But my colleague’s statement is very strong – fruit lunch, don’t need exercise (though his Pastor exercise regularly). And he GUARANTEES that it will work and I will see result in 3 months time.

The Challenge

I don’t believe but I am ready for the test. On 19 Jul 08, I declared to a few close colleagues that I will start fruit lunch challenge for 3 months. And these are my plan to be followed closely:

1) Only eat 3 times a day, including the fruit lunch.
2) Ban snacks and supper completely. Actually I don’t usually eat supper.
3) No exercise (otherwise don’t know the cause of the result)
4) Target weight: 65kg

And as you know, whenever you want to try to achieve something difficult, you’ll find more friends/colleagues trying to pull you down rather than encouraging you.

“Aiya, you just had a lunch at Fish and Co. so all your effort wasted liao”
(one lunch at Fish and Co. and all the effort will be wasted, can you imagine such motherhood statement?)

“No lah, the key lies in your fruit combination. Your current combination is not good so it won’t work”
(I didn’t know that only certain fruits have fibre while the rest has zero fibre)

“no lah, without exercise no way you can reduce weight”

Remember the movie Pursuit of Happyness staring Will Smith? He said this in the movie, “when people can’t do something, they want to tell you you can’t do it”. That’s human nature. Anyway, I followed through my plan exactly for the 1st month. Come to the second month, I got a problem – I was recalled back by the Army for training. So I could not follow my plan anymore. It’s the Army, not your grandfather’s organization that you can do as you like. Also due to the stress level plus ample of tidbits from my comrades, my slimming programme was totally disrupted. After I completed my ICT, I continued with my plan, only that I changed from fruit lunch to fruit dinner. The reason:

1) It is difficult to have fruit lunch with my colleagues. They are enjoying good food and so it was very tempting.
2) It is cheaper and easier for me to eat fruit dinner than lunch.
3) If you stop taking food after lunch (other than fruits for dinner), your body has very long hours without fatty/oily foods – from lunch to next morning. Imagine the impact!

The Result

Recently I bought an electronic weighing machine but dare not try it. I dare not face the result although somehow I felt that my pants are loosened! But you know, it could be just psychological. It was only a week later that I think I must know the answer. So I jumped on the weighing machine and voila it shows my weight to be 68.8kg!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I kept trying and it still shows the same result.

I am not convinced. So I went to the gym to use their machine. Their result shows that my weight is 69.7kg. Ok, so now I know that at least my weight has indeed dropped by at least 2kg. Yesterday, a few ex-colleagues from the Army called me out for a gathering. When I arrived, one of them immediately shouted out “eh, you slim down ah!”

Oh my goodness!!! Another view from someone I’ve not met for more than half a year, cannot be wrong. Thus I declare to the whole world that:

“I had tried fruit dinner method to reduce weight without strenuous exercise. It works!”

No doubt there is still a distant away from my target, but since there is initial result, I will press on. Below is my photo taken a few days back. Other then my face, still like a balloon, look at my waist or tummy. Therefore, from this day onwards, fruit dinner will stay with me till deaths do us apart!

“Whose that girl on your right?”

Well, for me to know, for you to find out…. along New Tiew road.

What's The Weather Outside

I’ve not been contributing anything to my blog for weeks due to extremely poor market sentiment. Global stock markets are in very bad shape especially the Dow Jones. The economic outlook is still as gloomy and there seems to be no light at the end of the tunnel. US elected its first black President but could Obama really get US out of the recession threat? If you are sensible in your analysis, you should know that the Frederal Reserve has really done a lot to avoid a recession. I mean they used people’s money to bail out banks and financial companies and dropped interest rate to 1%. What else can be done? I think Obama may protect local industries and jobs. If this happens, in my opinion, the first victim will be China – China’s cheap import. Of course, China is not going to keep quiet. They will complaint to WTO and then bilateral relation will turn soar etc etc.

The following are some worrisome headlines in Business Times this week:

- DBS chops 900 jobs.

- The US unemployment rate bolted to a 14-year high of 6.5 per cent in October as another 240,000 jobs were cut, the government said yesterday. Unemployment has now surpassed the high seen after the last recession in 2001. The jobless rate peaked at 6.3 per cent in June 2003.

- Shares of Las Vegas Sands Corp fell 29 per cent yesterday after the casino operator's auditor said in a regulatory filing that there are doubts about the company's ability to continue as a going concern.

- Planned layoffs at US firms surged to their highest in nearly five years during October, with cuts in the financial and auto sectors leading the charge as the economic outlook worsened, a report by outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas said on Wednesday.

- Australia's central bank cut its benchmark interest rate yesterday by a bigger-than-expected three- quarters of a percentage point as the global financial meltdown threatens to drag the country into recession.

I don’t intend to write a long story. But to my friends and colleagues reading my blog, my advice remains the same:

1) Avoid investment during this highly uncertain period. If you place your money with the bank, the value will be eroded due to inflation. Unfortunately, you don’t have a choice. If you invest it, chances are, you may make tremendous losses. I repeat again, you have to study the economy if you want to invest successfully. Monitor the US economy and its impact on Singapore. My bet, as of today, is we are heading to a global recession and hopefully not a DEPRESSION.

2) If you really want your money to work hard, you can consider our lovely CPF. CPF offers very attractive risk-free returns, which I had repeated many times in my blog. For more info, you can visit CPF website for updates.

3) As for job wise, stick to company with strong fundamental. Avoid joining company whose business has a strong correlation to the economy such the manufacturing sector and construction sector. Also avoid joining SMEs, sorry to my fellow countrymen. Let’s face it, we had heard of stories during previous economic downturn on how smaller companies “control cost” - cut in performance bonus, freeze annual increment, deferring the AWS, retrenchment etc. Also smaller companies may fold up.

Sentiment and confidence around the world is quite bad now. Employers' are holding back recruitment and now with retrenchment on the headline. And I bet that household are controlling their expenditures. Therefore you must understand that this may cause recession to become a self-fulfil prophesy. Not even Warren Buffett can stop it. Although Singapore will not be spared if US enters into recession, I strongly believe that we have great leaders governing the country, strong fundamental and solid reserve. We are certainly capable of surviving next recession.

中國毒奶粉的事件

Lately a friend sends me an article on China’s milk poisoning issue. Not sure how accurate but still decided to share it with all. At least good as a warning.

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中國毒奶粉的事件讓大家都很害怕,每天看新聞報導,說法卻變來變去。沒有人清楚告訴我們到底什麼可以吃？什麼不能吃!!! 這時候該怎麼辦呢？

1.毒奶粉到底是什麼？

就是「三聚氰胺」。這是化工實驗室裡的「三聚氰胺」

「三聚氰胺」原本是做什麼用的呢？它是一種工業原料主要是用來製作「美耐皿」碗盤

還有家裡裝潢一定會用到的「美耐板」

「三聚氰胺」是一種工業原料,根本就不能吃!

2.為什麼「三聚氰胺」會出現在奶粉裡？

奶粉是由牛奶製成的,牛奶最重要的營養成份就是蛋白質。「三聚氰胺」跟蛋白質一樣含有「氮」

偷加「三聚氰胺」,製造廠商可以省下牛奶的用量、降低成本。下面都是「三聚氰胺」,是不是跟奶粉很像？它沒有味道,所以不容易發現。

3.是怎麼發現的？

2007年 美國貓、狗暴斃,在中國製的寵物食品裡發現「三聚氰胺」2008年開始 中國嬰兒腎結石病例異常增多

2008年8月 中國三鹿奶粉被檢驗出「三聚氰胺」

2008年9月 紐西蘭總理要求中國政府處理2008年9月21日 台灣爆發多種食品含有「三聚氰胺」

4.吃/喝了會怎麼樣？

「三聚氰胺」結晶會留在腎裡面,形成結石,堵塞腎小管。結石很痛很痛,結石的人尿不出來,腎臟會水腫。

雖然結石可以動手術拿掉,卻會對腎臟造成不可恢復的傷害,到最後腎臟失去功能,就必須洗腎,否則很快就會因為尿毒症死亡。

洗腎是什麼呢？其實正確來說,應該叫做「洗血」就是把身體全部血液,抽到外面繞一圈,經過機器過濾再送回去。

整個過程大約4個小時。嚴重的人,三天就要洗腎一次,一直到死亡。

必須先在手臂上開這樣大小的洞,才能夠插管子洗腎

為什麼嬰兒最嚴重呢？因為腎臟很小,此外,嬰兒只喝奶粉,所以腎壞掉的速度是最快的。

中國目前已經有1萬3千個受害的嬰兒住院

「三聚氰胺」吃多會急性腎衰竭死亡,吃少會慢慢腎結石、腎病變它會在人體內累積。並不是吃多少的問題,而是一點點都不能吃!

5.哪些東西不能吃/喝？

只要是奶精或奶粉做成的,都可能含有毒奶。包括這些

大家只要記住:有「奶精」、「奶粉」的,都不能吃/喝。

6.毒奶事件影響到哪些廠商？

下面這些都是跟毒奶事件有關的廠商、產品

另外,這些公司也受到影響:

亞信、佳美、上田、特順香、老大房、台威食品公司、高育生物科技公司、雲林北港宗泰食品、尚效、品高、久津、維益食品公司、真口味、維士比、盛發興實業、華盛食品、鴻寶食品、雀實食品、奕瑪國際行銷、寶佳宏企業、三錦企業、魏氏國際實業、國際儲貿、萬記貿易、力遠貿易、丞泰企業、昱彰公司、麒林公司、同興實業、英時公司、菲仕蘭、開元

如果你有親友在中國大陸,必須注意的廠商有:

河北三鹿集團、上海熊貓可寶牌、青島聖元牌、山西古城牌、江西光明英雄牌、陝西寶雞惠明牌、內蒙古蒙牛牌、天津多加多可淇牌、廣東雅士利牌、湖南南山倍益牌、黑龍江齊寧牌、山西雅士利牌、深圳金必氏牌、廣州施恩牌、廣州金鼎牌、內蒙古伊利牌、山東煙台澳美多p‰Œ、青島愛可丁牌、陝西西安御寶牌、山東煙台磊磊牌、上海寶安力牌、福建福鼎市晨冠牌

7.以後該怎麼辦？

至少半年不要吃/喝上面的產品。

如果你的家人是開早餐店、小吃店、餐廳,請告訴他們,暫時停止使用、販賣奶製品。如果你家有嬰兒,請改喝母奶、或尋找其他代替品。

Stock Market Review - Oct 08 (Part 3)

5) HupSteel. This is yet another wonderful company and I am still one of its shareholders. I make capital gain out of it before and bought it again when it retreated. Only that now I stuck with this counter but without regret. This is because HupSteel is still a wonderful company earning some decent return. I remember one of ex-colleagues bought HupSteel in 90s at around $0.70. Back then, HupSteel was known as Hup Seng Huat and my friend got stuck with the company for a very very long time. However, things changed after global economy started to recover in 2004. There was huge demand for metal and HupSteel was riding on solid growth. Its share price went up to $0.60 even after the company issues bonus, rights and giving out good dividend. But today, its share price dropped to $0.215. Let’s take a look on its financial performance and position.

Business: dealer in steel products, hardware and property investment holding company.

Report: FY2008
Revenue: surged to S$433.7m (53% variance)
Net profit: surged to S$45.1m (45% variance)
NP margin: 10.4%

Cash: S$27.4m
Working capital: 2.34
LT debt to total capital: 1.8% (very little)
Basic EPS: 7.33 cents
PE: 2.93
NTA: S$0.3298
Yield: 9.3% (excl special dividend)

Director’s remark: demand for steel product to remain strong and full orderbooks from offshore and marine customers.

My remarks: In my opinion, current price does not reflect on the company financial performance and position – it’s under-priced. But then again, we still need to take cue from US economy. So hold on, stay tune and follow this company closely.

6) Pan United. Pan United just another wonderful company and I made a few buck out of it during recent bull run. In fact, I made money out of its subsidiary, Pan United Marine too. Both are wonderful company with strong profit growth and high dividend yield. Pan United is currently traded at $0.44. Let’s take a look at its financial performance and position.

Report: 1H2008
Revenue: surged to S$135.9m (25% variance)
Net profit: surged to S$14.5m (37% variance)
NP margin: 10.7%

Cash: S$53.3m
Working capital: 1.79
LT debt to total capital: 26.5%
Basic EPS: 4.53 cents
PE: 9.71
NTA: S$0.445
Yield: 4.1% (interim excl special dividend)

Director’s remark: positive outlook for FY2008.

My remarks: Pan United’s business is quite diverse and it’s not easy to analyse. However, the company is still profitable and trading at reasonable price. Worth a second look but no hurry.

..........To be continue

Pubs Updates

1) Lifebrandz closes Ministry of Sound

Many Singaporeans may have heard and/or been to Ministry of Sound (MOS in short). Me? Never! You always get long queue and I hate long queue. Reported in Business Times today, club operator Lifebrandz closed its Ministry of Sound outlet at Clarke Quay on 6 Sep, less than three years after operations. Lifebrandz said that it has terminated a licence agreement with Ministry of Sound International, which owns the franchise. It said that it plans to redevelop the 40,000 square foot dance club premises into an entertainment centre 'which will be different in concept from the Ministry of Sound outlet'.


2) St. James

Without MOS, we still have St. James. And do you know that St. James is listed! Actually St. James was not listed through an IPO but it was bought over by then listed company JK Technology. I’ve been joking with my friends by inviting them to “my pub” to drink. I don’t own ST. James of course. But since it is listed now, I will get a chance to own it…. very soon.

let’s take a quick look at St. James' performance for the year ended 30 Jun 2008.

Revenue: S$35m (39% variance)
NP: S$4.3m (127% variance)
Margin: 12.3%

Working capital: 1.03 (low but is acceptable since the business deals maintain in cash or equivalent)
Gearing: 0%

The group currently also own Bar None and The Living Room at Marriot Hotel. The group also announced that it has acquired the assets of former Crazy Horse cabaret and turning it into a restaurant with live music – The Bellini Grande. The restaurant is expected to open in late Sep 2008.

Dow Jones Crashed To New Low

From Nasdaq website, DJIA plunged another 508 points (5.1%) to 9,447. Nasdaq and S&P500 also plunged by 5.8% and 5.7% respectively.

.

There you see.... how you define "low"?

STI Crashed To New Low

STI plunged 128.8 points to 2,168.32 - lowest since June 2005. This is a complete reversal of the bull market few years ago.

Patience Is A Virtue

The following article from Business Times is an excellent report and I shared the same view. When you walk around city area or onboard a train, you will see adverts saying something like stock prices are low, hidden opportunity, this and that has strong fundamentals etc. I always laugh at it. It was all crap to me but I don’t blame the fund managers. This is because if people stop buying the funds and pull out their money, then the fund managers and analysts will be out of job soon.

The following is a good article especially to those with the idea of rushing into the market to buy while it is cheap. As always, how do you define “cheap”? Remember; always to take cue from global/local economy for your investment decision. The economic indicators are the leading indicators.

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Business Times - 02 Oct 2008

Time to buy? No - patience is a virtue

By R SIVANITHY

WHENEVER stock markets behave as they are now, it's tempting to ask whether it's time to 'bargain hunt'. Indeed, as each passing day brings a new low - be it 24, 25 or 26 months for the Straits Times Index - the temptation to buy probably grows stronger, aided no doubt by a steady stream of 'buy' calls from brokers, all and sundry.

So will it soon be time to buy? Maybe it will? And perhaps for the Straits Times Index, the fact that the 2,300 level has held twice in the past fortnight suggests this may be where there is strong support?

Our take, though, is that there is no need to rush and that patience is a virtue. Brokers and independent researchers have consistently under-estimated risks to the downside for the past year, so their 'buy' calls should be taken not with a pinch of salt but a bucket.

Analyst credibility aside, a major reason for saying this is that despite America's woes, and despite it triggering the biggest financial meltdown ever, US stocks have not capitulated yet. Even after Monday's 7 per cent collapse, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down only 22 per cent this year and the S&P 500 down 25 per cent - much less than the 35-50 per cent falls suffered by other markets.

From its all-time high, the Dow's loss to 10,365 was 27 per cent and the S&P's loss 28 per cent - over almost a year, compared with the 20 per cent crash in one day on 'Black Monday' Oct 19, 1987.

Seen in this light, the current losses on Wall Street could justifiably be taken to be part and parcel of a normal bear market and not really that much cause for concern.

Why has Wall Street not fallen as much as other markets? One possibility is the huge amount of liquidity the US Federal Reserve has pumped into the system. But more likely, it's the still-lingering hope of a government-led bailout, despite the initial proposal being rejected.

If a modified proposal is cobbled together before the end of this week and if this is again rejected, the full-scale removal of a 'bailout premium' will see US stocks start to reflect their true fundamental values.

Furthermore, it is debatable whether any US Treasury-led bailout would have any effect at all. Recall that on Monday, markets went into a tailspin many hours before the US Congress voted on the plan. So, even if a second plan is pushed through and even if this does push stocks up, it can only be a matter of time before reality sets in with regard to the US market and its fundamentals. And once this happens, investors might just cotton on to the fact that US stocks are grossly over-valued.

Bloomberg's analytic service gives the S&P 500 as trading at a historic earnings per share consensus analyst estimate of US$51 and a forecast figure of US$83. With banks disappearing, unemployment rising, consumer spending shrinking, no growth to look forward to, no bottom yet in housing and a possibly vicious recession just around the corner, how likely is it that US corporations will report such a big jump in earnings?

As for the local market, Citi Investment Research warned last week that it is possible for the STI to fall to 1,800 - a warning many investors reckon is too pessimistic. But if the index were to drop to 1,800, that would only take it to a four-year low which, given the huge risks to growth posed by America's problems and the unpre-cedented nature of the present bank failures, is arguably within reason.

The upshot of all this is that risks are still tremendously high and that Wall Street is still heavily exposed to the downside.

Investors should also realise that even if the STI's bottom does lie at 2,300, this does not automatically mean the start of a new bull market - stocks can drift for years within narrow bands before embarking on any uptrend. As such, it is clearly not time to buy yet.

Stock Market Review - Oct 08 (Part 2)

3) China Sunshine Chemical. Actually I don’t really want to discuss on “red” stocks in this series of stock market review. This is because my confident on China companies has always been low due to their corporate governance and internal control. Now before you jump to conclusion, I must let you know that I have nothing against China nationals. In fact I have close friends from China, I have colleagues from China and I love to visit China. But comes to business, I am really worried. I have friends importing goods from China sharing with me the Chinese’s mindset, attitude and method when dealing with business. I don’t think you want to know or perhaps you already knew. So when these red stocks found their way to the SGX, I seldom apply for their IPOs, let alone talking about investment. Yes I know many have made good money out of it, but that’s not my point. My point is with doubt on their corporate governance and internal control, I dare not invest in China companies.

“How come you have doubt? Can you quantify?”

Read the paper lah, brother! Even if you don’t read Business Times, at least read LianHeWanBao right? And I’m not only talking about current milk powder issue. Notwithstanding my negative thoughts, I am still willing to take some risk on a few really good ones. So here I am going to share with you on China Sunshine Chemical.

Firstly, I did not make any profit from this counter. In fact since the day I invested in it, it did not perform as expected. And right now I am sitting on significant losses instead. Then did I make a mistake in my investment decision? I don’t think so. Besides, there are also other professional analysts drawing the same conclusion. Then what’s the basis of my recommendation back then? Firstly, the company is producing a type of chemical that is essential to make rubber into something like a car tyre. The company is one of the world largest producer supporting many world-renowned tyre manufacturers such as Bridgestone, Michelin, Goodyear, Pirelli etc. Most importantly, this chemical only takes up a small percent of a tyre’s manufacturing costs. And in my opinion, recession or economic boom, people still own car, F1 continue to race, buses and airplanes continue to roll out. China Sunshine Chemical is currently priced at $0.205. What about its recent financial performance and position?

Business: one of the largest rubber accelerator manufacturers in the world and in China in terms of production capacity.

Report: 1H2008
Revenue: surged to Rmb402m (41% variance)
Net profit: surged to Rmb61m (37.3% variance)
NP margin:13.3%

Cash: Rmb37.4m
Working capital: 3.84 (healthy)
LT debt to total capital: 0% (wow!!!)
Basic EPS: Rmb10.89 cents
PE: 9.41
NTA: Rmb1.01
Yield: N.A.

Director’s remark: expect to continue its growth for FY2008.

My remarks: I believe the business, to certain extent, is immune to economic downturn. There may be some impact but should not be severe. The company is currently reasonably priced.

4) Courage Marine. Courage Marine was really one of the last marine companies to perform in terms of share price. This was partly due to the fact that it was a new IPO. But what really caught my attention on this company was its high profit margin. And honestly, I don’t understand why its profit margin is so high. So early last year (2007), in the midst of the bull run, I bought Courage Marine at a very cheap price - $0.19. One year later, I sold it at 100% capital gain, excluding dividends! Actually the dividend payout can be very high if not of its high quantity of outstanding shares. Courage Marine, after recent blood bath, is currently trading at $0.215. What about its recent financial performance and position?

Business: ownership and operation of dry bulk carriers and the provision of marine transportation services.

Report: 1H2008
Revenue: surged to US$50m (43% variance)
Net profit: surged to US$30.3m (51% variance)
NP margin: 60.6%!!!!!!!!

Cash: US$68.6m (fat)
Working capital: 16.5 (OMG! Super healthy)
LT debt to total capital: 0% (OMG!!!)
Basic EPS: US$1.67 cents
PE: 9.19
NTA: US$11.75 cents
Yield: 4.65% (for half year)

Director’s remark: BDI collapsing to 5,600 level (I got no clue what’s a BDI). Company expects demand from China to remain strong and the group to continue to do well in second half.

My remarks: Similarly, if not because of uncertain global economy, I would have started buying Courage Marine.




…….To be continue

Stock Market Review - Oct 08 (Part I)

It’s about time we review SGX-listed stocks. We’ll take a look on their current status and look back on its performance few years back. I had spend a few days reviewing all the listed stocks and truth be told, most of them are currently cheaply priced. What do I mean by “cheap”? In 2004, local economy and stock market started to recover. I remember that in mid 2003, I saw the indicators and believed that we are going to bottom up. Before I quit the Army, I told my ex-colleagues that “I think it’s about time”. I launched my first wave on the tech stock/funds. And from 2004 – 2005, many stocks were lagging behind because Ms. Market was shaky; she wasn’t sure. Index was fluctuating without clear direction. As such, I spend considerable amount of time finding gems rather than following “road-runners”. I found quite a lot of it and I’ll share a few with you today. Some of my readers may have followed my recommendation and benefited from it. Appreciate if you can testify here.

In my opinion, right now most of the counters are priced at a level similar to 2005. No doubt still has room to plunge further, but really quite cheap comparatively.

The Index

As expected, STI could not hold its ground since late last year. When sub-prime woes were exposed, STI took a hit in around July 2007. However, in around September 2007, global market under-estimated the damaging power of US financial crisis, it continued to move up. And in around Dec 2007, with surging oil price, global market started to loss steam and it was “neither here or there”. And then I’m sure it’s GAME OVER. Thereafter I started to advise my friend to either hold or sell BUT do not give a single cent to Ms. Market – she is breaking down soon.

(Note: some of you may know that “Mr. Market” is a term used by Warren Buffet and his teacher Benjamin Graham to describe market behaviour. But I used “Ms. Market” instead as I find the market behaved like a girl – temperamental!)

In early January this year, STI was around 3,400 points. As at today, STI stands at 2,361.34. Approximately 1,000 points had been wiped out. So this proves my points that although there will be fluctuations along the way, ups and downs but overall it’s coming down. And unless you speculate, you will not make it if you invest along the way.

This is the downtrend of the business cycle.

Selected Stocks

1) AusGroup. Now this is really one of mine favourite stocks. I (and my all-time favourite analyst, BT Snr Correspondence, CFA Charterholder - Ms Teh Hooi Ling) found the gems before it skyrocketed. Hooi Ling visited AusGroup’s management in Australia and wrote an excellent report published on the paper. The stock was initially priced around $0.30 in 2006. And then it became a rocket surged all the way to around $2 almost non-stopped. And what is its price now? Unbelievable $0.265! What about its recent financial performance and position?

Business: supporting oil & gas industry.

Report: FY2008
Revenue: increased to A378.9m (34.8% variance)
Operating profit: dropped to A21.7m (23.9% variance)
NP: dropped to A14.4m (27.8% variance)
NP margin: 3.8%

Cash: A18.7m
Working capital: 1.61
LT debt to total capital: 28%
Basic EPS: A3.6 cents
PE: 7.36
NTA: A22.5 cents
Yield: 2.3%

Director’s remark: secured higher orders; expected FY2009 to be profitable.

My remarks: margin and yield is unimpressive. Profit may soften further but likely to remain positive. I do not expect oil price to stay below $1 next year. Overall performance and position looks fine.

2) Bonvest Holdings. This is yet another company which make me proud; make me scream. In 2005, Bonvest was a lager and I found this gems. I studied its businesses and strongly believed that it worth more than $0.55. However, Ms. Market has different opinion. So I bought in the share and within that year, I disposed it at $0.905 – too early!!! You must be shocked when I say “too early”. Yes, after I locked in my profit, Bonvest continued to surge to around $1.70!!!!!

“Wow, then you must have regretted and jump!”

No, remember that in investment, your greatest weakness is greed and fear. I’ve earned my money, I moved on. Bonvest is currently priced at $0.72. What about its recent financial performance and position?

Business: property development and investment, food and beverage, hotel ownership and waste management.

Report: 1H2008
Revenue: dropped to S$119.7m (28.1% variance)
Operating profit: surged to S$100m (238.8% variance) due to revaluation gain of $70.3m. Without it, operating profit should be around $30m (about the same as previous identical period)
NP: surged to S$86m for the same reason (266.2% variance)

Cash: S$89.5m (fat)
Working capital: 2.15 (healthy)
LT debt to total capital: 0.26% (extremely low)
Basic EPS: S$20.7 cents
PE: 3.4
NTA: S$1.65
Yield: N.A.

Director’s remark: challenging and competitive market. Minimal contribution expected from most of its business segments.

My remarks: You want to know how I feel now? I feel that there is a very beautiful lady standing right before me, single and available. And luckily you’ve stopped me otherwise I would have jump onto it like right now! I mean if you buy Bonvest now, you are paying S$0.70 for a company that worth S$1.65! Bonvest’s financial position and performance is very impressive although it may not be able to hold its ground in view of intense market competition and uncertain global economy. And that’s exactly why I’m not calling a buy but close monitoring. US economy is highly uncertain couple with high oil and food prices; we are really not sure where this is leading to.





…… To be continue