Collin Ng's Blog

I played football when I was a schoolboy but at best, I can only make it to class team and not beyond. My favourite player was Kevin Keegan who played for England and Liverpool as midfielder. Admittedly, I tried to emulate him but still cannot improve on my footballing skills.  In the nutshell, I am not cut out to be a footballer. When I was stationed onboard a passenger vessel, 'Leisure World' for a short spell, I organised football game for the crew members on shore.  That was in the mid to late 90s.  The ship has many nationalities but the Burmese crew are one football craze lot.  Some were really good.  Many of our Filipino crew were not interested in football.  When we had Brazilian entertainment crew onboard, I approached a former colleague who was managing an Italian class passenger vessel, 'Renaissance' for a friendly football match.  The game was on and it was to be played at PSA Sports Club. My former colleague, Vincent was the manager f...

Group picture at the club This morning I helped to organise for my club's maiden run event, the Aranda May Day Run 2015. In all some 80 runners signed up for the run which covers a distance of 5.5 km at Pasir Ris Park. To prepare for the run, I had to wake up at 0445 hrs and quickly leave my house to pick up two staff from Aranda Country Club, Vivian and Linda along the way.  We had early breakfast at McDonald's joined by the rest who were involved in the early morning set up.  Steve, one of our house committee members who helped with the set up of the water station at half way mark joined us for breakfast too. At the start line Our flag-off was scheduled at 0800 hrs and already, some runners arrived early.  When I saw a group of young runners from F1 running group, I knew it will be an uphill task for our Team Aranda runners, the likes of Peter, Gavin and Simon and my regular run kaki, Long Chua to snatch a podium finish.  I was also expecting Vanja w...

Anyone still remembers "Pen Pal"?  I think only those in their 40s and above are aware of its existence.  With internet comes email, Facebook, Twitter and the rest of the social media stuff and this thingy called "Pen Pal" which had been part of our growing up years has regrettably becomes insignificant anymore. I was in my lower secondary school when I started to have pen pals.  It went on for few years.  It was the in-thing then.  During those days, many magazines targeting the young people would have a column which featured contacts of those who are keen to have pen pals.  One particular magazine was the Fanfare if I remember the name correctly.  Back then, such thing like spam was unheard of then.  Home addresses and names of those who wished to find pen pals were openly published.  Their hobbies and interests were also listed.   At my height, I had quite a number of pen pals but I can only remember one in particular.  She...

Taking a leaf from one famous quote, “ Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep balance you must keep going ” – Albert Einstein. Indeed, we must keep going in life.  That said, many people cycle for a variety of reasons.  In some remote areas, it is one integral form of transportation.  For others especially in affluent Singapore, it is chiefly to keep a healthy lifestyle – to each his or her own to say the least .  In recent years, we have seen a big leap with many people taking up cycling as an outdoor hobby and inevitably public roads have to be shared much to the annoyance of some motorists.  Notwithstanding, creating as much public awareness therefore remains fundamental in ensuring safety to all cyclists on roads.  “We have extensive park connectors now, why can’t these cyclists ride there instead?”, some motorists might have questioned.  Perhaps to a non-cyclist, a bicycle is a bicycle which should be off road.   There are many type...

I can say with confidence that the initial LKY resonates affectionately to many Singaporeans from the young to the old.  The acronym LKY is Lee Kuan Yew - the founding father of our modern Singapore and a legendary son of Singapore. I was born in the trying period of the 60s.  I was very young but I can still remember the racial fight between the Chinese and the Malays.  I can sense the high tension of the adults then but I was too young to understand what actually happened or fear the repercussion had that situation gone beyond control.  When I was much older, I understand that it can take a little remark poking fun at one's race or religion, all hell will then break loose. Growing up, I have only known one big figure as our PM and he was our LKY.  He continued to loom large in my life as our country started to develop from a place full of slums to a metropolis -a promise our then PM made to the nation when we were kicked out from Malaya.  Goh Ke...

I don't consider myself a "fitness bluff".  I was most unfit when I was in my 30s until mid 40s, I had never exercised one bit during that period.  It was stress, work, more stress and money woes that I completely disregarded my own health.  I was going through mid life crisis.  Then in 2007, I decided to change my unhealthy lifestyle.  I was already 45 by then.  I had my first run around my neighbourhood.  Just one kilometre into the run, I had to stop and walk the remaining route.  I was panting badly.  I then realised how unfit I was.  I went for few more runs and yet, I had to stop around the 1 km mark. I was mostly running on own until I learnt a former colleague who runs regularly.  Prior to that, he had been running in few marathons and to-date, he is still running.  He then invited me to join him and a friend for an evening run after work.  He becomes my running buddy - thanks to Long Chua for being the biggest ...

This morning was the 5th edition of Men's Health Urbanathlon run event.  It was my second and my first was in 2010, their inaugural then.  I did not sign up for the subsequent events as I did not like to crawl in mud water which we did in our first edition.  My new Nike shoes were total soaked in mud and was never the same anymore.  After checking all the obstacles listed except the mystery obstacle which was to be revealed on race day, there was no mention of mud obstacle and I then decided to sign up for it to test my endurance.  It was a 14 km run and there were 9 obstacles to clear along the way. I got up at 0530 hrs and in ten minutes, I was really out.  The start up venue was at the Kallang Practise Track near Sports Hub which is not too far from my house.  Originally I was thinking to take the bus but the first bus was to arrive at 0605 hrs, I decided to walk to the venue instead.  It was a three km walk and it was still dark.  I...

I spent one year in our town office before I resigned sometime in 1990.  I asked for a transfer to the ticketing/reservation (PO) department on hearing there was an opening.  It was granted by the management.  My intention was to gain some exposure in ticketing before asking to do sales and I did express to our then 'fearful' UG (country general manager), Mr Kardinaal in one of the interviews by him.  Our town office was at Mandarin Orchard. The manager of PO department was Katherine who was mostly in her room typing away.  There were some young and pretty ladies in the ticketing department then.  Well, let me recall all the ladies in my department then, we had ever smiling Maryanne, sweet Janet, helpful Zawyah, friendly Michelle, 'kangcheong" Komala (I think I spelt her name wrongly), serious Irene and cool Sadiah.  The other guy in my department with me was Thia.  He was a very stout man, suave and sported a head full of black hair.  I h...

China is one of the world’s oldest civilisations with thousands of years of continued history.  The recorded history of China goes back to as far as the Shang Dynasty (1700 – 1046 BC).  However, historians still remain unclear the exact beginning of the Chinese New Year celebration in China.   Suffice to say, it was said to have started from the year end religious ceremony in Shang Dynasty (1766 – 1122 BC).  A few countered that it started from as early as Emperor Yao and Shun (~2300 BC) according to some historical records. Notwithstanding, the date of celebration in ancient times varies from mid-winter to early spring until Emperor Wu (157 BC – 87 BC) of the Han Dynasty established the first day of the first month as the start of the new year when the solar base calendar was established.  It is also called the Han calendar which is still being used till today.  Chinese New Year is the most important celebration for all Chinese. According to ...

“ I don’t understand why Cupid was chosen to represent Valentine’s Day.  When I think about romance, the last thing on my mind is a short, chubby toddler coming at me with a weapon ” – Anonymous Indeed one does not need to dig deep to understand but in ancient Roman mythology. it is said Cupid is the famous of all Valentine symbols and he is the boy who is armed with bow & arrows and piercing hearts.  He is best known as a mischievous, winged child whose arrows signify desires and emotions of love.  He aims his arrows at Gods and humans, causing them to fall deeply in love.  If any, he has always played an important role in the celebration of love between a man and a woman.  Today, Cupid and his arrows have become the most popular of love signs and what better time for his love signs to be prominently featured other than on Valentine’s Day which is celebrated the world over.       Everyone knows February has long been...

Still on my airport comrades between 1985 to 1989.  I was in my early 20s, fiery and was quite a jackass myself.  As I was still new, I tried to learn as much from the senior colleagues.  On whole, I got along well with them though most of them were much older than me.  Before my memory fails me, I will describe some of them here.   Andrew Lim who was our deputy Station Manager interviewed me for the job and he was the one who eventually chose me.  There was another candidate, a friend of mine too but I think I probably impressed Andrew during the interview stage.  I can still remember he tested me on current affairs too.  He asked me to name some ministers and the headline news in Strait Times. Fortunately, I provided the right answers I think.  Andrew is a slow and steady guy, never buckle under pressure. Even major flight delay won't stumble him.  He would just go one corner, puffed his cigarette and think of next move. Mariam wh...

It is the last day of 2014 to a start of another year ahead.  It is a "ritual of sorts" for me to post my last thought for 2014 on the last day of 2014.  How did 2014 go for me?  For starter, the year did not augur well for the aviation industry, most particularly Malaysia Airlines when the world received a rude shock on hearing the missing MH plane in the early part of the year which has yet to be found.  The sombre mood worsened further when another MH plane crashed from the Ukraine internal war conflict some months later.  While the world has yet to fully recover from the double whammy, days before the year is over, AirAsia Indonesia plane crashed while enroute to Singapore from Surabaya.  Like many I do empathy for the affected families and hope they will recover from their grieves soon. On a personal note, I do find year 2014 not that bad a year for me though not fantastic to say the least.  However, I do get to know more nice people through th...

I joined the airport team of KLM Royal Dutch Airlines in 1985.  I was the latest recruit and was the youngest.  I was 23 then.  Aside from Simon Oh who is of the same birth year as me and he joined some months earlier, the rest of our colleagues are more than a decade older than us.  Added to that, they had already worked more than a decade with the company.  For some, two decades.  It was just a beginning for me.  If I can remember well, Simon was few days older than me.  We even share the same birthday month in February. He was a 'little feisty dragon' at work.  He has a fearsome Chinese name called Oh Kim Leng and in Hokkien, it means golden dragon. I remember Zohri who used to work as office messenger running errands.  He was later promoted to handle simple passenger service tasks.  Zohri spoke with a unique slang, almost like an ang moh but not exactly close.  I liked to call him 'Zorro'.  Yes, I was quite a rascal...

During my airport days, I used to have this colleague who will not hesitate to extend help to strangers in distress.  As far as I can remember, she is always overlooked by the management when it came to promotion or perk of sorts.  Perhaps, she was not the complaining sort and therefore, taken for granted by the management then. When I joined the company in the mid 80s, she had already spent more than a decade with the company but still stuck in the same position.  She is one who will not complain about too much work or went around gossiping.  Most of all, she will not pull rank to the junior just because she was more senior, rather the other way around is more true.  Quite frankly, I have never once witnessed her losing her cool while handling difficult passengers. Once there was this elderly lady passenger who missed the flight, had to stay in Singapore for few days and had no money on her.  My colleague could not bear to see her stranded high and dry...

I confess I have never enjoyed doing air ticketing when I was working for KLM in the 80s due to its complex rules and regulations that one has to remember.  Like it or not, we have to know some ticketing knowledge being part and parcel of our job.  We have to know whether a ticket issued by another another carrier can be endorsed to another carrier or accepted by us.  Some tickets were simple.  It was point to point, easy to read - no sweat.  However, some tickets were all over the places and involving few carriers and in different classes of travel.  Unlike now, we use e-tickets but prior to proliferation of the Internet, only properly issued airline tickets can be accepted.  Each flight coupon had to be issued and uplifted at point of departure.  If we do not understand some ticketing rules, we will find ourselves 'stranded'.  And if we accepted the wrong ticket, we will be held liable. Our airline has already already built up a reputati...

The neighbourhood in the 70s I used to grow up with was notorius where gang fights were the norm during those days.  We shared the common corridor with each household facing one and another.  The corridor was always noisy with kids like us running up and down.  The block has since been demolished in the early 80s. I was 12 or 13, I think and I was hanging around at the playground and minding my own business when a boy, around my age and built approached me.  Without provocation, he started to challenge me to a fight.  I ignored him but he persisted to taunt me.  It got me mad and we started to fight.  Crowd gathered immediately but nobody broke out our fight.  I quickly got him on the ground, folded up his hands and sat on top of him.  He couldn't move and meekly surrendered the fight.  I then told him to leave me alone and walked home.  I did not dare tell my mother I had a fight or I could have 'eaten the cane'.  Her canin...

In uniquely Singapore, there are three important celebrations in a calendar year that relate to the three major ethnic groups.  Typically, when we refer to Chinese New Year, the Chinese will come to mind; Hari Raya Puasa, the Malays and Deepavali, the Indians.  Deepavali or Diwali is celebrated by the Hindus and Sikhs.   The meanings of Deepavali or Diwali, its symbols and rituals and the reasons for celebration are innumerable.  Deepavali celebrates Lord Rama’s glorious and long awaited return to his Kingdom of Ayodhya after his fourteen long years of exile in the forests.  It commemorates Lord Krishna’s victory over the demon Narakaasura who had kidnapped and terrorised the gopis of Vrindavan.  When the evil Narak was finally killed by Bhagwan Krishna and Satyabhaama, he begged for mercy; thus upon his entreaties, it was declared that this day of his death would be celebrated with great joy and festivity.  It is also celebrated as the day of Bh...

Rolling off at Ishigaki Port It was our third expedition but this time, we will have to fly, then cruise and cycle at each port call.   Sandy and Xuejing of Star Cruises were already exploring a ride event in Taiwan and Okinawa following our successive second edition earlier this year which took us to Penang and Phuket.  It was not easy especially for Xuejing who had to co-ordinate with many parties, the likes of the airline, the hotels and the ground operator, among others and when the program was finalised, we were left with about two months to get cyclists. Group picture at Ishigaki Port It was a 6 days and 5 nights cruise and cycle expedition, with 3 nights aboard Superstar Aquarius and 2 nights in Taipei.  At S$1,288 per person excluding airport taxes & surcharges, it is a steal.  We had scheduled to depart on 20 Sep, Saturday and returning on 25 Sep, Thursday.  We tapped on various social media platforms to get the cyclists.  Some of ...