Collin Ng's Blog

On 16 to 18 Jan 2009, we were invited to participate in Danga City Shopping Mall's Chinese New Year promotion. We were given a booth to promote our cruise and resort packages during the three-day promotion. Our very own entertainer, the multi-talented Feri performed the ancient Chinese mask-changing act concorted with his own magic acts - a change from the norm! The crowd was wowed, for sure. And not forgetting, our program manager James who was the MC on stage and he did make a marvellous introduction of Feri and our core products. The guest-of-honour on 17 Jan, Saturday was the honourable Minister for Tourism, Dato Seri Azahari, endorsing the mall as one up coming one-stop destination for Singaporeans arriving by train from Tg Pagar Railway Station and disembarking right at the shopping mall. Later in the evening, the adrenalin rush of the crowd went wild when specially invited Mediacorp artise, Jeannette Aw who starred in the just concluded 'Little Nongya' drama seri...

Held over 2 days on 10 & 11 Jan @ Suntec Exhibition Hall, this is the first ever event organised with senior citizens aged 50 & above in mind. Themed, 50+ Singapore Exposition 2009 has attracted many senior citizens to this consumer fair targetting health and travel activities. Batam View is the only resort in Batam participated in this event.

Presenting New Century Foundation Chingay 2009 float, final touch-up still needed before the big parade on 30 & 31 Jan at City Hall. Our float is the longest by far, 28 metre to be exact and there will be 700 performers around it. The highlight of this float which, by the way is the finale of the parade will end on a high with a illusion show put up by a father and daughter team.

Invited to attend a wedding dinner at Golden View Hotel recently and was shown around the reclaimed land by the owner. The reclaimed land has covered some nearly 200 hectares and is still growing. Sand is readily available, excavated from the hill near the reclaimed site. A big saving vis-a-vis if done in Singapore. The masterplan of this massive reclaimed land includes upscale bungalows/villas, an entertainment park, a ferry terminal and a marina, among others. The downside, I feel is this place is sited in Batam and it takes a mountain of a task to convince Singaporeans to invest their hard-earned money given topsy-turvy governmental policies there. The owner has even bought one Cheng Ho junk cruise from her previous Singapore owner with intention to run harbour cruises when ready. This is one of the many initiatives they have lined up. The space inside and outside Golden View Hotel is abundant, I believe it is only a matter of time they give their competitors a run for the...

Effective 1 Jan this year, smoking ban has been expanded in public areas including no smoking within 5 metre boundary outside a building. While I feel this latest ban is somewhat harsh on smokers who are already finding hard to puff away but there are still some who simply defy such ban of sorts. While heading to office for work one morning, I saw a middle-aged man holding a cigarette about to walk into the lift. There were only two of us at the lift lobby then. Before the lift shut, I told him smoking is not allowed in lift. Instead of heeding to my advice, he gave another puff inside. I was visibly upset. After shutting, the lift door re-opened almost immediately. Two gentlemen happened to press the button and one of them turned out to be the employer of this smoker. He told him that he should not be smoking in the lift. I then chipped in, telling them that I had earlier told him not to smoke but he remained defiant. I further told them that I do not want to die young, appa...

Year 2008 has been one tumultuous year, the world over and I hope to end the year with this hilarious video clip for all. May 2009 bring prosperity, happiness and longevity to all.

The Standard Chartered Marathon 2008 is the event I have been working hard for the entire year and I am pleased to have achieved the 55 minutes target I have set for the 10km. I did one better by slicing more than 8 minutes from last year's result, achieving 53 mins 34 seconds and my target for 2009 is 42km now. Daunting but I am confident I can achieve it under 6 hours.

This is a 2-minute video clip of me in last year's Standard Chartered Run where I clocked 1 hr 1 min 49 seconds in my first 10 km race. The first part of the video has glimpses of some Singapore's attractions & the 42km winner from Kenya and the humble side of me is shown on the last part (please strain your eyes in picking me up from the crowd, not that difficult I believe).

This year Standard Chartered run is my second, did my first last year. I clocked 1 hour 1 min plus in my first 10 km, which to me, was already a pleasant surprise. I did not expect to clock just slightly over 1 hour in that run because I did not do much serious outdoor running prior, mostly on the treadmills and at most 15 mins each time. My dainty CEO was game enough to attempt 21 km for this year after completing her 10 km last year, asked me to partake with her in that category but I felt I should work to better my own time clocked in 2007 run instead. A goal I had set for myself this year. Still, she earned my admiration for upping her distance while rest of my colleagues who did last year's 10km run incuding me chose to maintain status quo for 2008 run. The large part of 2008 was mainly indoor training at the gym for me, 15 mins on treadmills (no more, no less) followed by free weight to tone up muscles and the sequence was repeated over 2 or 3 times in a week. Quite fra...

In order to get out from the doldrums he had created for himself in Singapore, he therefore agreed to plead guilty for insulting our judiciary and also publicly announced that he will delete all the postings on his blogs. Had he not done so, he would have to spend more jail time here and he could ill afford to so, given his badly battered financial situation. And by the way, I read from his blog he is now seeking for donations from public to keep him afloat (no diff to a street beggar, albeit an able-bodied & educated one). Upon arriving home in the U.S., he immediately announced that he will not delete his postings on his blog and vowed to fight the cause of all Singaporeans from the outside. This is not a joke, an ex Singaporean of dubious background and had failed to win a seat as opposition on many occasions still harbours dream to be our M.P. one day. Ours is only a red dot, he will earn immense recognition if he fights for the people in his second home in the Congress, that i...

Led by our doctor, Dr Melati who has managed to garner volunteers in Batam and some of our colleagues from Singapore to visit this orphanage located in an island in Barelang (southern tip of Batam) on 16 Nov, Sunday. An hour bumpy boat ride is needed to reach their destination. This is an initiative by the staff of Batam View in their personal capacity and when words were spread around, many of our colleagues in Singapore willingly chipped in generously. They have managed to raise S$1,050 which were used to purchase necessities for these kids. Special thanks should go to Dr Melati for initiating this charity drive, Mag & Era for volunteering their time to tend to these kids, Chooi Nee for her untiring effort in getting the donations from our colleagues (her sweet smile did the trick though, on the guys) and all the unsung heroes shown in the pictures. Charity begins at home and it is really heartening our little efforts have given hopes to these underprivileged kids. We hop...

With the recent High Notes saga still not completely over yet, the unofficial ‘spokesperson’ for the affected High Notes investors at Speakers’ Corner in Hong Lim Park has finally revealed his political ambition in today’s Sunday Times and quite frankly, I am not the least surprised at all. I am no savvy investor or the ignorant one but the economic instability especially the abrupt collapse of Lehman Brothers did make me pay a little more attention to the saga. Prior to that, the name Tan Kin Lian was complete alien to me though he was once the CEO of government-owned NTUC Income and his meteoric rise in recent times, did raise an eyebrow or two. Had Tan not readily volunteered his 'voice' to the aggrieved investors in this tumultuous period, will our MAS not act to protect the interest of these investors? I believe MAS, as a responsible authority will still act to protect the genuinely affected investors, with or without Tan's timely intervention. I was sharing a casual l...

I don't know know this person, Gopalan Nair personally but I detest enough to pen my thought of him on my blog. In recent times, he has been making wave here, one after another since he had openly challenged our judiciary in his 'protected' & deemed to be safe capacity as a second class American citizen. He felt injustice of sorts inflicted on the infamous Chees siblings' recent court tussel here, therefore decided to play hero the way he thinks any American will do. And by the way, he was a former Singaporean who was educated in the world-renowned, Raffles Institution and under our rigid education system, he became a lawyer (no thanks though). But having failed to secure a seat in parliament in as many tries under Workers Party's banner then (a great relief to us), he reckoned he is better off holding Uncle Sam's passport. Challenged he did, so openly on his blog and even announcing his hotel room number just to make sure our ever efficient pol...

My friend who is neither a hairstylist nor barber, concern perhaps has taken the trouble to create some new hair-dos for me and if my crowning glory still allowed, I would go for my 1968 style. However, after so many years, I should maintain status quo...sigh!

The Nongsa Cup is an annual affair and it is the initiative of Batam View Beach Resort, Turi Beach, Palm Springs Golf and Tering Bay Golf incepted in year 2006. This year Nongsa Cup had received tremendous response, only 144 golfers were accepted and many were politely rejected. We have had more sponsors for this year than the previous years, recession or not. Some 90 prizes to be given away as lucky draw, most golfers walked away with at least one prize. Golfers played two rounds of 18-hole games @ Palm Spring and Tering Bay and accommodated @ Batam View or Turi Beach. Nongsa Cup is the golf event of each calendar year now. Three cheers to the organising committee for the great job...hip hip hip, hooray x 3!

Dainty she may look but guys out there, try challenging her to a 5 km run if you dare...for she packs a lethal finishing to the tape. And she is none other than Winnie - my running partner. This morning GE run (26 Oct, Sunday on a Deepavali holiday) organised by Great Eastern for all the fitness conscious ladies was for a charitable purpose and proceeds to the cancer cause. Two events, the competitive 10 km was flagged off @ 0730 hrs and the fun 5 km run flagged off one hour later @ 0830 hrs. More than 5,000 runners participated in each event and in all more than 10,000 female runners from all walks of lives. It was cloudy of sorts but not likely to rain any moment though, cooling enough to say the least. After the flagged off for the 5 km @ slightly over 0830 hrs near the Esplanade, I slowly inched my way to the finishing point at the Padang. Got myself a vantage point slightly away from the finishing line, carefully timed my watch for in half an hour time, I should be wat...

(Jeannie on the far right & Irene seated behind her. Ada is just behind me and further back, Dion) The much awaited get-together of long lost colleagues dated back during our airport days in the swinging 80s finally took place at Sakura Orchard recently. As it was a lunch gathering, a pity many of our former colleagues could not make it due to prior work commitments. Well, yours truly me, so happened to be the only thorn among the roses, an honour indeed! We certainly have had good conversation, and much catching up. Oh yes, I have not met Irene for at least some good 20 years (not to be reminded of our age though), she is still keeping that cool look & suffice to say, pretty enuf and this is probably thanks to CX for their fine grooming of their cabin crew. We have the unmistakable sweet smile of Dion (ex Mary) who, by the way is a hairstylist and a boss herself still reminds me of that young & chatty lady at the airport then. Regrettably, she won't get to do my...

This young Korean toddler is just 5 years of age, born blind who is adopted by a kind childless couple but the amazing talent in music she has in her is simply unbelievable. She really touched the hearts of many, I am moved just by watching this video. She is a gem.