Collin Ng's Blog

This is my last posting for 2015 and typical of me, I will do it on the eve of the New Year before the clock strikes past midnight going into 2016.  My Chinese horoscope has indicated 2015 will be a good year for those born in the year of the tiger and, phew...I am among them.  No, I am not the superstitious type in case some think I am but 2015 on whole has proven to be not too bad a year for me.  That said, Chinese horoscope has indicated 2016 will not be that smooth sailing for those who were born in the tiger year.  Notwithstanding, I believe in working hard, be truthful to ourselves and to others and it does not matter what one's horoscope says.       When I decided to leave my comfort zone more than 3 years ago, where I used to draw a decent pay,  I was already contemplating to go into organising outdoor event or training related stuff.  Some concerned friends did advise against leaving my comfort zone to go into uncharted territory ...

Group Picture Taken At Ya Kun I have not been running SCMS event in the last two years until Feng messaged me to replace her in this morning Ekiden event under 'Team PainKillers' and I agreed right away since I didn't sign up many run events for this year.  There are 6 runners to the team and each of us will have to run 7 km to complete the 42 km distance and passing the sash to another runner when one runner holding the sash has reached the designated checkpoint.  In our team, I only know Daniel.  On the eve of the event, I managed to be introduced to Norman who will be taking over the sash from me.  The order of our relay team was as follows: Daniel will take the first leg, I will be the second runner followed by Norman, Andrew, Max and Raymond. Picture Taken at Padang I got up this morning at about 0345 hrs and drove to Leisure Mall to catch the shuttle bus which will take the Ekiden runners to their respective start points.  My start point was a...

Everyone should have encountered frightening moment at least once in their life.  I have had encountered few but I remember two incidents fairly well. That year was 1982 and I was still serving NS.  It was our hard earned 3 days rest & recreation trip (R&R) in Brisbane city after more than a month of army training in the wilderness.  We went to Dream World, it was already a highly developed outdoor entertainment park then.  My army mates and I were queuing up to board a boat which will take us through the man-made river and into the man-made safari.  At the entrance, there was this big notice warning us that a lion had escaped from the zoo and was on the loose.  I happened to read that notice but it didn't bother me.  As we were slowly moving, there were crocodiles in the river and some other animals.  We knew these were not real.  As we went into this man-made cave, it was quite dark and while the boat was gliding through, I saw a...

When we served our recruit days during NS stint, each of us was assigned a buddy.  Both buddies had to work together and if one happened to have erred, both were punished as a result.  It is called buddy system and I believe it should still be practised now. I was from the first mono-intake which means we did our recruit training and after passing out, continued on as guardsman vocation till we ROD in the same unit throughout our NS stint.  My unit was called 3 Guards located in the rustic Kranji area then.  The camp has since been re-located where the present Yew Tee HDB flats are.       Upon enlisting, everyone was assigned to their buddy but I had two buddies, as we were the remaining last three after evenly sorting out the rest.  Lang and Tong (not their real names) were my recruit days buddies.  Both used to live in the same neighbourhood and prior to enlistment, they know each other in their growing up days but they were not close ...

Australia is everything Singapore is not.  They have no shortage of land while we are land-scare. They have abundance natural resources while we have none of it.  They are generous with handouts to their citizens while we are definitely less generous.  Australia can afford to change five Prime Ministers in short span of five years but many of us here do not believe abrupt removal of Prime Minister one time too many will do us good.  Given their sheer size and wealth aplenty, they can afford to shut away from the outside world and still survive while we will sink almost immediately once we shut our doors.  Suffice to say, Australia is an ideal destination any immigrant would dream to settle on.       My first encounter with Australia was in 1982 and it was my first overseas trip.  It was not a holiday trip for I can barely afford as a young adult.  It was an army stint as a NS soldier. Australia was already a highly developed country w...

I am always been on the side of ruling party since the day I am allowed to vote.  PAP has been too domineering and in the early years, I can still remember when election was called, they were immediately returned to power as more than half of the seats were not contested by opposition parties.  It happened not once but I think at least twice.  Lives were much simpler then.  People were content with a roof over their head and enough to eat.  Without a hinterland after gaining full independence, the government under LKY were focused on making sure the 'needs' of the people more than the 'wants' were met.  We were a rapidly growing economy. We were named the 'Four Little Dragons' of Asia, an accolade we shared with Hong Kong, South Korea and Taiwan. Lives are so much better now than before though we complain about high cost of living here.  Our people are better educated now and have travelled to many places.  Then, we were mostly relying on mains...

Everyone is talking about it and many say election will happen in September this year.  PM Lee did not attempt to hide saying it is soon in his last weekend NDP speech.  I say September is likely the month where our election will take place and I am certainly looking forward to it.  Already, opposition parties have started to make their rounds and some parties are still quibbling over who is to contest in which ward to avoid third corner fight. I live in MacPherson and it is now a single ward under incumbent, Tin Pei Ling from PAP.  This is going to be one of the hotly contested wards.  Nicole Seah of NSP then was making waves at this ward and I must admit she has held herself well despite her young age.  By my own admission, Tin Pei Ling did not fare as well as Nicole during the last election.  Nicole is no longer interested to contest and now both NSP and WP are laying claim to this ward.  WP is now a branded opposition other opposition parti...

It was a party thrown to the officers and crew onboard Renaissance One  We were still trading in Sabah water then and that year was 1994.  It was our first party celebration in appreciation to the Master, officers and crew for their support. Though I don't drink, I did drink a little so as not to disappoint the rest.  Everyone was in a party mood.  We played games, had a lot of fun and plenty of booze (non-stop, unfortunately).  The party just went on and on.  Some were highly intoxicated.  When the party was at its climax, someone reported a fight.  Dropping everything, I rushed off to the scene with a few of us.  One gaming crew was quite badly beaten up by a stronger deck & engine crew.  Before, we could even settle down, another fight broke out somewhere again.  We rushed over to check out.  Pandemonium was everywhere and it was akin to a riot onboard.  Again, another fight happened.  It was never ending. ...

It was on board one of our vessels, "Renaissance I" when a passenger complained that he felt something unnatural in the room.  Not long later, another one complained sighting familiar encounter.  Then, the Filipino crew claimed they saw something they were not supposed to see.  Soon, words went around that the ship was haunted.  Our boss was concerned it will affect our load and therefore, decided to engage a taoist priest (sifu) to exorcise the spirits. Through a recommendation, this particular 'sifu' was introduced to us.  My colleague and I brought him to the ship to conduct an inspection.  He had with him a small coffin which he carried in his hand.  When we were showing him around the ship, he will sometimes make a stop and then, placed the small coffin on the floor.  He will then open the coffin cover and then shut it, sensed around the place and then, continued on.  He repeated this few times.  After the inspection, he told us...

My note:  This is written by a former colleague in the cruising industry who is a retired master mariner and it appeared in the ST forum recently.  Given his training and profession, he has always stressed on maritime safety.  The recent Taiwan party incident which took 2 lives so far and sadly, more might follow has triggered him to pen his thought. It is my pleasure to append his article on my blog for the better guidance of the readers.     Quote At least two died and hundreds were injured in Taiwan when clouds of multi-coloured corn starch sprayed on the crowds exploded and engulfed the young revellers in flames ("S'porean among 500 injured in Taiwan festival fire". Monday, and "Colour Run to continue in Singapore", Thursday). The cause is likely to be cigarette lighters or heat from stage lights.  The manufacturer had marked the powder as "flammable" , but the organisers ignored the warning.  They said they had never heard that such an ac...

I started working for a ground handling agent at Changi International Airport after completing my national service and not long later, I landed a decent job with an airline company which I worked for 5 years.  I was last with a travel company before I landed my first job in the cruise industry and it was by default too.  That year was 1991 where cruising to many then was only meant for the rich and discerning travellers.             Then it was a friend who called me one day to ask me to join him urgently but he didn’t elaborate much except saying it was a travel job which was related to cruising.  I was excited about the prospect of working for a cruise vessel.  When I dropped by his office, I was surprised to see him so immaculately dressed up like a high flier executive.  Yep, I was so used to seeing him in his tee and Bermuda shorts but what a transformation he had turned up to be.  Even the office...

Group picture in Ishigaki on first day of ride  It has been my pleasure to co-organise this event with Star Cruises once again.  It was our fifth edition and our second to Taiwan and Okinawa on Superstar Aquarius following our first trip in September last year where we had an unusual date with typhoon "Fung-Wong" then.  This time we did not get to meet any 'typhoon of sorts' but it was the hot weather that we had to contend with in Taiwan and Okinawa. Briefing on board before our ride The cycling cruise trip was scheduled on 7 June over 6 days duration.  This time we had a motley group of some 50, from the leisure PCN cyclists to the hardcore cyclists and surprisingly, quite a number of them are senior citizens.  There were non-cyclists among them, mainly the accompanying wives of the cyclists. Much to our delight, we saw those who were with us last year and they were Andrew Lum (Star Cruises' staunch supporter who came 4 out of 5 times), Hong Choo...

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 ...