脚踏实地

A good friend of mine send me a very meaningful article. There was no profound knowledge or new discovery in it. It was just a simple sharing call "being down to earth". Many of us would have heard this teaching many times during school days but after we step into the society, we want "fast track to success". While some are genuine skills, many fell into his own trap - greed.

And I always wonder, if there is really a sit-at-home-and-get-rich method, and everyone becomes millionaires, then what is the value of a millionaire?

From all the stories I heard from friends or in the paper, it seems that usually the teacher/trainer himself actually gets richer. As for the hundreds of students or followers.......

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（联合早报网讯）台湾中国时报报道，台湾第一夫人周美青最近疯棒球，连马英九都笑称「她本来只是个小球迷，已经快要变成大球迷了」。不过，周美青不只看棒球，还在部落格发表文章，以美国职棒年薪最高的打击名将A-Rod服用禁药的例子为教材，教育全国小朋友「脚踏实地胜过取巧」。

周美青在部落格撰文指出，美国职棒年薪最高、被视为最有希望超越邦兹七百六十二支全垒打纪录的打击名将A-Rod，承认自己曾因压力太大、力求表现而服用禁药，这个事件让所有棒球迷感到震惊与失望。 　　美国总统奥巴马在记者会中被问到对这事件的反应，除了表示沮丧外，也希望所有的孩子在看到A-Rod承认违禁的转播时，了解到成功是无法取巧，没有捷径的。

周美青指出，功利主义社会下，人比较躁进而没有耐心，凡事追求迅速、快捷。看书要速读，学习要速成，吃饭有速食，行车要飙速，书店里充斥教人如何迅速致富、快速减肥、一分钟成为各种达人的书。 　　但她认为，做事积极、讲求效率当然很好，人格的养成、知识的学习、技巧的磨练，是需要一定的过程、长时间的潜移默化、日以继夜反覆训练的，一味追求短时间内达到目标，往往揠苗助长；最坏的情形，是为了快速成功，不择手段，摒弃了道德良知。

「抄捷径也许短时间可以达成目标，但因未经磨练，所以经不起考验。」周美青强调，许多事情「过程」比「省时」重要，应该注重孩子学习的过程与品质，而不是学习的快慢与成绩；成功没有捷径，经济的复苏亦然，脚踏实地、安分守己的态度才是最重要的。周美青撰文：脚踏实地胜过取巧

What Time Is It?

I’ve been hiding away from stock market for almost a year. I literally stopped updating on business/financial/economic news. It’s a total stop since early 2008. You only get to see some of my holiday pictures on my blog. But this is going to change now as I am back to business again! As you can see, this is my first article in 2009! But hold you horse!

Recently, a few friends had been asking me whether if “now is the time”? This is because, while some had made quick bucks from AIG or City Group, others were motivated with strengthening of indexes around the world.

The important question is – how to assess/predict whether now is the correct time? When is the correct time? Can any human being possibly know when is the correct time? Does holding an MBA in finance or CFA give you an edge in predicting the right time?

Answer is NO!

There is a way to predict the right time but unfortunately, this method is also not possible. That is to have the ability to read all investors’ mind. My point is indexes are just flashing numbers that reflects all investors’ action/decision. Unless you are able to read their mind, by looking at these numbers will not help you a lot unless you want to speculate. Furthermore, most of the time, the decision of these huge masses is wrong! I am not bragging. I always like to share with my personal friends one of my findings on stock investments – don’t follow the crowd, they make mistakes very frequently.

So if staring at the indexes is not advised, then what other better approaches? The answer, I would like to repeat again is the economic health especially of the world largest and most powerful country – the United States. Is U.S. economy on its road to recovery? Any convincing evidence? How about U.S. job market? Certainly high unemployment and low income will hit the manufacturing sector. And when U.S. manufacturers shrink their production output, Singapore manufacturers are going to suffer.

Recently a lady came to my company for an interview. She is an accounting professional currently working for a manufacturing company. Unfortunately, her company cut working days by a hefty 40%! That would mean a huge pay cut for her, temporarily. She has no choice but to find another company although she likes the working environment/culture in her present job.

The following are excerpts from the Business Times that hopefully will give you a feel of the economy.

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“As Wall Street put to bed the first four-week run of gains for the US stock market in nearly a year and a half last Friday, market strategists were already debating whether the nascent bull run can stand up to the challenge of an especially grim first-quarter earnings reporting season.

……. On Friday, stocks continued to rally despite another awful, estimate-beating employment report. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained almost 40 points, or 0.5 per cent, to end at 8,017.59, its first close above 8,000 since Feb 9. The S&P 500 climbed eight points or one per cent, reaching 842.50 at the closing bell. The Nasdaq composite added 19 points, or 1.2 per cent, to 1,621.87.

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While a global recovery is possible in 2010, Mr Soros said the timing will ultimately depend on the depth of the recession. China, he said, will be the first country to emerge from recession, probably this year, and will spearhead global growth in 2010.

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The report comes after government data on Friday showed that the US unemployment rate rose to a 26-year high of 8.5 per cent, as employers slashed 663,000 jobs under the strain of recession.

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'The lead economic indicators have not shown any sign that there is a bottoming or a recovery, or there are no concrete signs of that,' said SIAS Research vice-president Roger Tan.

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'It's a bear-market rally because we have not yet turned the economy around,' Mr Soros, 78, said in an interview on Monday with Bloomberg Television.

….. Mr Soros said the banking system is 'seriously under water' with banks on 'life support'. 'They are weighed down by a lot of bad assets, which are still declining in value,' he said in the interview. 'The amount is difficult to estimate, but I think it's in the region of maybe a trillion-and-a-half dollars.'

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.