Steve Jobs' 2005 Stanford Commencement Address

very inspirational indeed

An Inspiring Love Story for A Beautiful, Special Someone

perfect healthy appetizer

Location: Beijing Garden, Pacific Place
Country: Hongkong

When in need of something tasty, light and healthy, please order this tofu covered spinach for appetizer. It is appetizing as well as acceptable for those taking care of their health or body weight..Amazing combination..

best banana pudding

location: Thai Basil
Country: Hong Kong

The best ever made banana pudding topped with caramel ice cream and crunchy granolas...how i wish my banana pudding could taste like this someday..

perfect farewell letter

EULOGY BY MINISTER MENTOR AT THE FUNERAL SERVICE OF MRS LEE

KUAN YEW, MANDAI CREMATORIUM, 6 OCTOBER 2010

The last farewell to my wife

Ancient peoples developed and ritualised mourning practices to

express the shared grief of family and friends, and together show not fear or

distaste for death, but respect for the dead one; and to give comfort to the living

who will miss the deceased. I recall the ritual mourning when my maternal

grandmother died some 75 years ago. For five nights the family would gather to

sing her praises and wail and mourn at her departure, led by a practised

professional mourner. Such rituals are no longer observed. My family’s sorrow is

to be expressed in personal tributes to the matriarch of our family.

In October 2003 when she had her first stroke, we had a strong

intimation of our mortality.

My wife and I have been together since 1947 for more than three

quarters of our lives. My grief at her passing cannot be expressed in words. But

today, when recounting our lives together, I would like to celebrate her life.

In our quiet moments, we would revisit our lives and times together.

We had been most fortunate. At critical turning points in our lives, fortune

favoured us.

As a young man with an interrupted education at Raffles College,

and no steady job or profession, her parents did not look upon me as a desirable

son-in-law. But she had faith in me. We had committed ourselves to each other.

I decided to leave for England in September 1946 to read law, leaving her to

return to Raffles College to try to win one of the two Queen’s Scholarships

awarded yearly. We knew that only one Singaporean would be awarded. I had

the resources, and sailed for England, and hoped that she would join me after

winning the Queen’s Scholarship. If she did not win it, she would have to wait for

me for three years.

In June the next year, 1947, she did win it. But the British colonial

office could not get her a place in Cambridge.

Through Chief Clerk of Fitzwilliam, I discovered that my Censor at

Fitzwilliam, W S Thatcher, was a good friend of the Mistress of Girton, Miss

Butler. He gave me a letter of introduction to the Mistress. She received me and

I assured her that Choo would most likely take a “First”, because she was the

better student when we both were at Raffles College. I had come up late by one

term to Cambridge, yet passed my first year qualifying examination with a class

1. She studied Choo’s academic record and decided to admit her in October that

same year, 1947.

We have kept each other company ever since. We married

privately in December 1947 at Stratford-upon-Avon. At Cambridge, we both put

in our best efforts. She took a first in two years in Law Tripos II. I took a double

first, and a starred first for the finals, but in three years. We did not disappoint

our tutors. Our Cambridge Firsts gave us a good start in life. Returning to

Singapore, we both were taken on as legal assistants in Laycock & Ong, a

thriving law firm in Malacca Street. Then we married officially a second time that

September 1950 to please our parents and friends. She practised conveyancing

and draftsmanship, I did litigation.

In February 1952, our first son Hsien Loong was born. She took

maternity leave for a year. That February, I was asked by John Laycock, the

Senior Partner, to take up the case of the Postal and Telecommunications

Uniformed Staff Union, the postmen’s union. They were negotiating with the

government for better terms and conditions of service. Negotiations were

deadlocked and they decided to go on strike. It was a battle for public support. I

was able to put across the reasonableness of their case through the press and

radio. After a fortnight, they won concessions from the government. Choo, who

was at home on maternity leave, pencilled through my draft statements, making

them simple and clear.

Over the years, she influenced my writing style. Now I write in

short sentences, in the active voice. We gradually influenced each other’s ways

and habits as we adjusted and accommodated each other. We knew that we

could not stay starry-eyed lovers all our lives; that life was an on-going challenge

with new problems to resolve and manage.

We had two more children, Wei Ling in 1955 and Hsien Yang in

1957. She brought them up to be well-behaved, polite, considerate and never to

throw their weight as the prime minister’s children. As a lawyer, she earned

enough, to free me from worries about the future of our children.

She saw the price I paid for not having mastered Mandarin when I

was young. We decided to send all three children to Chinese kindergarten and

schools. She made sure they learned English and Malay well at home. Her

nurturing has equipped them for life in a multi-lingual region.

We never argued over the upbringing of our children, nor over

financial matters. Our earnings and assets were jointly held. We were each

other’s confidant.

She had simple pleasures. We would walk around the Istana

gardens in the evening, and I hit golf balls to relax. Later, when we had

grandchildren, she would take them to feed the fish and the swans in the Istana

ponds. Then we would swim. She was interested in her surroundings, for

instance, that many bird varieties were pushed out by mynahs and crows eating

up the insects and vegetation. She discovered the curator of the gardens had

cleared wild grasses and swing fogged for mosquitoes, killing off insects they fed

on. She stopped this and the bird varieties returned. She surrounded the

swimming pool with free flowering scented flowers and derived great pleasure

smelling them as she swam. She knew each flower by its popular and botanical

names. She had an enormous capacity for words.

She had majored in English literature at Raffles College and was a

voracious reader, from Jane Austen to JRR Tolkien, from Thucydides’ The

Peloponnesian Wars to Virgil’s Aeneid, to The Oxford Companion to Food, and

Seafood of Southeast Asia, to Roadside Trees of Malaya, and Birds of

Singapore.

She helped me draft the Constitution of the PAP. For the

inaugural meeting at Victoria Memorial Hall on 4 November 1954, she gathered

the wives of the founder members to sew rosettes for those who were going on

stage. In my first election for Tanjong Pagar, our home in Oxley Road, became

the HQ to assign cars provided by my supporters to ferry voters to the polling

booth. She warned me that I could not trust my new found associates, the leftwing

trade unionists led by Lim Chin Siong. She was furious that he never sent

their high school student helpers to canvass for me in Tanjong Pagar, yet

demanded the use of cars provided by my supporters to ferry my Tanjong Pagar

voters. She had an uncanny ability to read the character of a person. She would

sometimes warn me to be careful of certain persons; often, she turned out to be

right.

When we were about to join Malaysia, she told me that we would

not succeed because the UMNO Malay leaders had such different lifestyles and

because their politics were communally-based, on race and religion. I replied

that we had to make it work as there was no better choice. But she was right.

We were asked to leave Malaysia before two years.

When separation was imminent, Eddie Barker, as Law Minister,

drew up the draft legislation for the separation. But he did not include an

undertaking by the Federation Government to guarantee the observance of the

two water agreements between the PUB and the Johor state government. I

asked Choo to include this. She drafted the undertaking as part of the

constitutional amendment of the Federation of Malaysia Constitution itself. She

was precise and meticulous in her choice of words. The amendment statute was

annexed to the Separation Agreement, which we then registered with the United

Nations. The then Commonwealth Secretary Arthur Bottomley said that if other

federations were to separate, he hoped they would do it as professionally as

Singapore and Malaysia. It was a compliment to Eddie’s and Choo’s

professional skills. Each time Malaysian Malay leaders threatened to cut off our

water supply, I was reassured that this clear and solemn international

undertaking by the Malaysian government in its Constitution will get us a ruling

by the UNSC (United Nations Security Council).

After her first stroke, she lost her left field of vision. This slowed

down her reading. She learned to cope, reading with the help of a ruler. She

swam every evening and kept fit. She continued to travel with me, and stayed

active despite the stroke. She stayed in touch with her family and old friends.

She listened to her collection of CDs, mostly classical, plus some golden oldies.

She jocularly divided her life into “before stroke” and “after stroke”, like BC and

AD.

She was friendly and considerate to all associated with her. She

would banter with her WSOs (woman security officers) and correct their English

grammar and pronunciation in a friendly and cheerful way. Her former WSOs

visited her when she was at NNI. I thank them all. (Listed in Appendix A)

Her second stroke on 12 May 2008 was more disabling. I

encouraged and cheered her on, helped by a magnificent team of doctors,

surgeons, therapists and nurses. (Listed in Appendix B.)

Her nurses, WSOs and maids all grew fond of her because she

was warm and considerate. When she coughed, she would take her small pillow

to cover her mouth because she worried for them and did not want to infect them.

Her mind remained clear but her voice became weaker. When I

kissed her on her cheek, she told me not to come too close to her in case I

caught her pneumonia. I assured her that the doctors did not think that was likely

because I was active. When given some peaches in hospital, she asked the

maid to take one home for my lunch. I was at the centre of her life.

On 24 June 2008, a CT scan revealed another bleed again on the

right side of her brain. There was not much more that medicine or surgery could

do except to keep her comfortable.

I brought her home on 3 July 2008. The doctors expected her to

last a few weeks. She lived till 2nd October, 2 years and 3 months. She

remained lucid. They gave time for me and my children to come to terms with

the inevitable. In the final few months, her faculties declined. She could not

speak but her cognition remained. She looked forward to have me talk to her

every evening.

Her last wish she shared with me was to enjoin our children to have

our ashes placed together, as we were in life.

The last two years of her life were the most difficult. She was bedridden

after small successive strokes; she could not speak but she was still

cognisant. Every night she would wait for me to sit by her to tell her of my day’s

activities and to read her favourite poems. Then she would sleep.

I have precious memories of our 63 years together. Without her, I

would be a different man, with a different life. She devoted herself to me and our

children. She was always there when I needed her. She has lived a life full of

warmth and meaning.

I should find solace at her 89 years of her life well lived. But at this

moment of the final parting, my heart is heavy with sorrow and grief.

------------

7

Appendix A

Minister Mentor’s Private Office

Principal Private Secretary: Chee Hong Tat

Press Secretary: Yeong Yoon Ying

Personal Assistants: Wong Lin Hoe, Koh Kiang Chay, Lilian Ho

Security Officers and Woman Security Officers:

Alice Lim Siew Cheng, Alice Goh Siew Hiang, Catherine Tan Noi Keo, Goh Ai

Hoon, Silver Ng Su Meng, Karen Ng Poh Ling, Mae Teo Siew Inn, Joey Leong

Kai Mun, Joyce Chong Ai Lin, Jillian Phua, Teo Cheng Piau, Tan Yew Eng,

Mervin Kwong Hoong Fai, Tong Ming Ming, Mok Suay Kheng, Angie Lee Ai

Chern

8

Appendix B

Doctors:

- NNI: Dr Lee Kim En (Neurology), Dr Ivan Ng (Neurosurgery), Dr Francis Hui

(Neuroradiology);

- TTSH: Dr Suresh Sahadevan (General Medicine), Dr Chin Jing Jih (Geriatric

Medicine), Dr Karen Chua (Rehabilitation Medicine), Dr Kwek Tong Kiat

(Anaesthesia); Thomas Lew (Anaesthesia)

- SGH: Prof Fong Kok Yong (Rheumatology); Dr A Balakrishnan (ENT)

- NDC: Dr Yuen Kwong Wing (Senior Consultant), Dr Marianne Ong (Consultant)

Nurses:

- TTSH: Wong Mui Peng, Ranbhir Kaur, Lily Ng, Tina Tng, Ten Siew Hwa, Heng

Mui Chu, Lily Toh

- NNI: Tan IL Fan

- KTPH: Liu Xiao Yan

- SGH: Elaine Yek, Eileen Robert Jacob, Li Ying and Jacqueline Teo

Therapists:

- Physiotherapy: Susan Niam, Seah Wei Wei

- Occupational therapy: Chan Mei Leng, David Zhang

- Speech therapy: Leow Li Pyn, Sharon Wu

Masseurs:

Heng Li Hoong, Lynne Teo

perfect desert in bali

Location: Metis
City: Bali, Indonesia

For the first time in a long time, I experienced the best dining ever in Bali. The starter was good, entree was excellent and desert was fantastic i.e perfection for someone that has sweet tooth, and favors chocolates over white rice. see picture below, for the famous Grand Mainer Souffle and block chocolate  selection wonderfully melts in your mouth when bitten together with macaroons and melted chocolate served on the side. Ultimate heaven...

Transformation of Singapore: Article (Good reading)

Singapore swing: Playing for wealth crown

Reuters - Friday, October 1

By Raju Gopalakrishnan

SINGAPORE - Along a sun-splashed cobblestone street in central Singapore, coatless bankers with loosened ties quaff imported beers in a neighbourhood of gaily painted shophouses called Duxton Hill.

The scene is almost European. And for long-time residents of this Southeast Asian city-state at the crossroads of some of the world's busiest shipping lanes, a bit bemusing. Just a couple of years ago late-night revellers used to tumble out of ill-lit pubs and grimy, illicit brothels on Duxton Hill.

The transformation is a microcosm of the reinventions Singapore has undergone to keep an island with almost no resources and roughly the size of New York City competitive in a neighbourhood of fast-growing emerging markets.

Boutique funds, advisory firms and brokerages are putting down roots in a revamped Duxton Hill, where opium and gambling dens run by Chinese triad gangs flourished last century.

Singapore has attracted hundreds of such firms in the past decade, lured by its light-touch registration requirements and relatively benign regulatory climate, even as Switzerland, the world's leading wealth manager, gets tougher on bank secrecy.

"Our vision of this place is the Singapore version of London's West End," said Ed Peter, 47, a Swiss-born fund manager who has been buying up shophouses in Duxton Hill.

The neighbourhood, in truth, bears little resemblance to London's theatre district, but it's also a far cry from its shady past.

"It's going upmarket. It's cool. It's funky," said Peter, speaking effusively at his office in a three-storey building which housed an Elvis impersonator bar just two years ago. "You've got half the financial community here."

Next door, the raunchy Aristocats pub closed shop a few months ago, providing space for Daun Consulting, a private equity adviser, to expand from its upper-level offices.

Peter, Deutsche Bank's head of asset management for Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa before setting up his own firm in Singapore, manages about $650 million .

The squeaky clean city of 5.1 million, nicknamed the "nanny state" for its propensity for micromanagement, is fast emerging as one of the world's hottest destinations for wealth -- and the wealthy, who now have casinos and theme parks for play, and seaside mansions and penthouses to stay.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore at end-2009 -- the most in Asia and up about 40 percent from a year ago.

The Boston Consulting Group estimates private banks alone in Singapore manage about $500 billion in assets. The numbers are dwarfed by the estimated $2 trillion in private wealth managed in Switzerland, but the growth in Singapore is startling, wealth managers say.

"In the last 10-12 years I've seen Singapore really take a leadership role in changing the landscape of the wealth management industry," says Deepak Sharma, chairman of Citi Private Bank.

"The regulatory environment in Singapore is one of the finest. It has one of the best standards in the world, but at the same time, it is consultative. It engages the industry."

GO EAST YOUNG MAN

The big players, including Swiss giants UBS AG and Credit Suisse who have a global stranglehold on private wealth management, are among those looking East. UBS, usually chary about its plans, says it will hire 400 new staffers in the Asia-Pacific region in the next few years.

Credit Suisse said net new assets from clients in Asia climbed to 11.5 billion Swiss francs in 2009 from 8.4 billion in 2008. In the first six months of this year, net new assets came in at 7.1 billion Swiss francs.

Morgan Stanley plans to double its Asia headcount in wealth management over the next three years, largely focussing on the top end of the market.

JPMorgan Chase & Co plans to triple its private banking assets in Asia over the next five years and plans to increase its headcount in the region by 40 percent over the current 400, a company spokesman in New York said this week.

"I believe Singapore will be the true private banking hub," said Massimo Hilber, managing partner at private Swiss bank Marcuard who, like Peter, has an office on Duxton Hill. "All the big players are here, and the smaller players like us. You have to be here."

Why Singapore?

First, assets held by Asia-Pacific's high net worth individuals -- people owning more than $1 million excluding home, collectibles and durables -- surged 31 percent in 2009 to $9.7 trillion, overtaking Europe, according to CapGemini/Merrill Lynch.

Second, high net-worth individuals seeking high-return investments are turning to emerging markets. Accordingly, portfolios of such individuals included 22 percent in Asia-Pacific investments in 2009, up from 19 percent in 2008, and will soon overtake Europe, the CapGemini study says.

Many of these changes are focussed on Singapore, which is at the crossroads of new wealth being created in China, India and Indonesia, some of the fastest growing economies in the world.

Singapore, which has the world's highest concentration of millionaires, is poised to grow its own economy 13-15 percent this year, possibly the fastest rate in the world.

Hong Kong is Asia's other big financial centre, but tends to focus on investment banking and deal-making in China rather than in the management of private wealth, bankers say.

"Hong Kong probably makes great business sense from an investment banker perspective, but I don't think it has invested as much in itself in creating a place for families to live," says Nick Pollard, Asia chief executive of private banker RBS Coutts.

"What Singapore has done very well is that it has almost created a whole infrastructure, not just a place to work, but also a place to live, a place to educate your children, a place to have great fun."

FINE CITY

Stuffy. Staid. A "fine city" where every minor transgression attracts a fine. Where the sale of chewing gum is banned, and caning is prescribed for offences such as vandalism.

That was, and in some cases still is, Singapore.

But about five years ago, the government launched a concerted effort to change the image. Two casinos sprang up this year at a cost of about $11 billion in a city where gambling had been banned. It's the only country in the world where the Formula One Grand Prix is held at night.

Singapore impeccably conducted its third F1 race on September 26, with Fernando Alonso winning on a balmy tropical night, driving his Ferrari through 61 laps around the city's business district.

Top music acts including Mariah Carey, Sean Kingston, Chris Daughtry and Adam Lambert performed at different areas around the circuit. Some of the jet-setting crowd partied after the race at a newly opened rooftop bar at the $5.3 billion Marina Bay Sands casino resort, built by Las Vegas Sands on reclaimed land around the mouth of the Singapore River.

Sentosa island, just offshore Singapore, is being redeveloped as a home for the seriously wealthy, with golf clubs, a sailing marina and sea-facing bungalows priced at $20 million and more. Genting Singapore's Resorts World casino and Universal Studios theme park opened in February, raking in S$503.5 million in the first three months.

"Rebranding Singapore as a global city and tourism hub fits in very well with its natural advantage, which is its strategic location in the centre of Southeast Asia and good transportation links," said Kit Wei Zheng, a Citigroup economist.

The aim is simple. Make the city more attractive for high-end foreign talent and wealth. Turn tourism into a money spinner. Focus on services as manufacturing shifts to lower-cost countries in the region. And make it easy for foreigners to work.

It is the latest incarnation of a city that emerged from British colonial rule in the 1960s as a gritty port town. Founding father Lee Kuan Yew and his People's Action Party -- dressed in trademark white shirts and pants -- set out to scrub the city clean of corruption in all its manifestations.

By the 1970s, the port had become one of the world's busiest and was soon complemented by the opening of top-ranked Changi international airport.

By the 1980s, Singapore was a regional manufacturing hub, particularly for electronics. Then it reinvented itself as a financial hub, and by the 1990s was one of the world's leading centres for foreign exchange trading. A decade ago, the PAP patriarchs began building an education and bio-tech hub.

NUMBER 10

The common denominator for each Singapore incarnation has been to make it easy to do business. Be the fastest shipper, the most proficient manufacturer, the state with the least red tape.

For the Singapore financial industry, that comes from what they call "Number 10". That's 10 Shenton Way, not Downing Street but the address represents an institution similarly powerful -- the headquarters of MAS, the central bank.

"The regulatory environment is fair as opposed to arbitrary, random and difficult," says Peter, the fund manager. "The rule of law is incredibly important. This is probably the best-managed country on the planet. It's managed in a pro-active business-friendly way."

Funds with less than 30 institutional investors can set up shop without a licence from MAS. While MAS is set to introduce tighter rules next year, Singapore remains one of the easiest jurisdictions for funds to begin operations.

But as regulation is tightened in Europe and the United States following the 2008 financial crisis, and Switzerland responds to concerns about its bank secrecy laws, Singapore, too, has come under the spotlight.

In November, Singapore was taken off the OECD "grey list" of nations not implementing international disclosure standards, but has yet to sign a tax treaty with the United States.

"The business model for private bankers is going to change -- they can no longer tell customers just to put their money in Singapore and they will make sure no one ever knows about it," said Edmund Leow, principal at law firm Baker & McKenzie, Wong & Leow.

"Instead, bankers are already marketing themselves as providing the best advice on how to legitimately minimize the amount of money their customers have to pay in tax.

"This is a global trend. I think Singapore is doing what most other countries are doing and shouldn't be disadvantaged compared with other wealth management centres."

RISKS OF REINVENTIONS

Singapore's seismic reinventions were possible because the government nipped any political opposition in the bud and voters who have seen their per capita incomes grow seven-fold over the years were not inclined to grumble much.

But as Singapore undergoes its latest manifestation as a "global city", with an ever-mounting proportion of foreign residents crowding the roads and competing for space and jobs, the government is having to soothe escalating criticism from the "heartland", the sprawl of government housing blocks in the interior of the island where much of the citizenry lives.

Take, for example, Pipit Road, where a public housing compound is set amid factories and warehouses. People there live in tiny one-room apartments and are among the least well-off in Singapore.

Elderly residents shuffle along through corridors to the open area at the ground level, many with vacant stares.

"Look at my life. Do you think I have the time?", said Seet Siew Buay, a 49-year-old woman when asked if she had seen the casino resorts or heard of the F1 race. "I have to look after them," she said pointing to a 26-year-old son with learning and speech disabilities and an unemployed common-law husband.

They subsist on the S$300 given to the son each month in welfare, and Wong's savings from his days as a carpenter. Singapore households earn an average income of S$7,440 a month, according to government statistics, but the bottom 20 percent earn only S$1,274.

There is some anger in the Pipit Road housing block at what is seen as the headlong rush to attract foreign investment and w wealth.

"The bloody government will get the money," said a middle-aged man, who called himself Jack. "We will get nothing. But somehow we still vote for them."

Having a super-rich pool of foreigners in the city poses the risk of accentuating social tensions. Already, housing prices are rising faster than in the rest of the region. Porsches, Jaguars and Ferraris flash by in the streets. The number of international schools in the city catering mostly to foreigners has risen five-fold in the last decade or so.

The number of overseas workers -- mostly for menial and blue collar jobs -- has also risen rapidly to around 1.8 million, a figure that also includes foreigners who have become permanent residents. That means one in three people in Singapore is a foreigner, one of the highest such proportions in the world outside the Middle East.

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong addressed those rising concerns in his August 9 National Day speech saying that without an inflow of workers to make up for "the shortage of workers and the "shortfall of babies in our population", the economy and society would stagnate.

"I understand Singaporeans' concerns about taking in so many foreign workers and immigrants. Some of us wonder: Will it change the ethos of our society? Will it mean more competition for us at work, or for our children in schools? Will the new arrivals strike roots here? Can they adjust to us, and we to them? These are valid concerns which we must address."

One way to ensure some trickle-down effect from Singapore's rapid growth is on public spending.

The government plans to spend $44 billion alone in the next decade on extending the commuter rail network to cope with a population projected to grow another 25 percent in the next few years following a 25 percent increase the past decade.

"There is a certain degree of discontent, but it is not brewing over and spilling out into unrest," said Gerald Giam, an executive councilor of the opposition Workers Party. "It is something we need to keep a watch on."

ST. JACK

Over at Duxton Hill, it's getting to evening and executives are winding their way home, some hailing a cab, one or two clambering onto bicycles.

It's still a ribald place around the edges. Some of the old bars still operate. In a few corners, one can almost imagine Jack Flowers, the protagonist of Paul Theroux's novel "St. Jack" about Singapore in the 1960s, rifling his deck of porno cards in a seedy shophouse doorway and asking a tourist: "Can I get you anything? Anything at all you need?"

For Peter, the fund manager, Singapore has what he needs.

"This place works," he says, strolling down the cobbled street on Duxton Hill. "Take a look at the airport. In how many countries in the world do you find your luggage on the carousel when you come out? In Geneva, you wait 25 minutes. In the US of A, you worry, will your bags show up?"

Peter, who worked in private banking in Europe and Hong Kong before setting up in Singapore in 2005, is also involved in a chain of wine shops in Singapore, and vineyards in Australia.

On Singapore's social tensions, he becomes reflective and says: "It's a new risk that's worth watching. Is it a big risk? No." Then reverting to his natural ebullience, he says: "This place has the potential to be Monaco and Luxembourg, and Geneva or even London."

City of Dreams

Location: Mountain side
City: Macau, Hongkong

It has been a long time since I publish another write up on a city. Just came back from hongkong and macau, was amazed by the development of the city since I last visit 3 years ago. The City of Dreams consisting of newly built casino hotels have been developed and running. Up and coming hotels are amazing not forgetting the Casino empire built by the famous Stanley Ho and the famous brands such as MGM, Wynn, Crown Hotels, Hard Rock, Grand Hyatt and many more. This developing city is building itself to become the Asia Las Vegas. Cheers to the City of Dreams.. and the city of entertainment and pleasure

searching the perfect expo

Location: China pavilion
City: Shanghai, China

Imagine the hours of waiting in line to enter this mega US$160 million estimated China Pavilion built for the world expo at Shanghai. Honestly the wait was ridiculous but was pretty amazed what China portrayed inside the building. The architecture is almost perfect and every little detail is taken care of, including restrooms inside this mega building.

inside of the pavilion, educating the chines with its interiors

i am trying to capture the moving pictures that are meters long..amazing animation..

searching the perfect xiao long bao

Location: Nanxiang
City: Shanghai, China

Have you ever eaten a jumbo xiao long bao, filled with tasty soup that requires straw to sip in....a must try at nanxiang, yu Garden, Shanghai...Please do not follow the crowd at the 1st level, just go directly up to the highest floor for the most expensive and tasty xiao long bao in the whole world..

Atmosphere: so-so 6/10, toilets are clean though :D
Taste: almost perfect 9/10
Price: $$$ for chinese resto that specialize in bao is a bit expensive
overall rating: 7/10

Perfection verdict: Will definitely go there again on my next visit, perfect xiao long bao to the smallest detail...xoxo...

searching the perfect tourist attraction_part 2

Location: Shanghai

City/country: China

How much China has changed due to the Olympics and Shanghai Expo. Imagine what future China would be...Be Enchanted by the spectacular view of Shanghai and how it has transform into such a modern city with art deco high rise buildings, architecture influenced by the british and european and creative East meet West art pieces.

Panoramic view of "ri miao" a machine that used to calculate the time and day during ancient times

Panoramic view of bund from Pudong

east version of " I love New York"

Perfection verdict: This is hard..not really perfect city to stay in but definitely a growing city that is worth visiting. xoxo....

searching the perfect ribs

Location: Nuris
City: Bali, Indonesia

Tony Romas has been rated the no 1 ribs in the whole world, well at least thats what we will order when we go there. Let me introduce you the best ribs ever yet not painful to your pocket:

Atmosphere: 4/10...you have to grab your seat and its hot there
Taste: Full flavored spicy sauce covering the well grilled ribs
Price: $$
Overall Rating: 8/10...definitely a must go when you are in Bali.

Perfection verdict: Well I would not say it is perfect ribs but definitely worth the price and the experience.
xoxo...

searching the perfect resort

Location: Bvlgari
City: Bali, Indonesia

It was certainly a wonderful experience to stay at Bvlgari Resort at Bali. Be Pampered by your own private villa and butler at your service at all times just by pressing a number on the phone. Be welcomed by all smiles from the day you walked in at the check in counter all the way until the end of your stay. A perfect and unforgettable experience.

Atmosphere: Perfection 10/10

Taste: vibrant

Price: $$$$$

Overall Rating: Staying here cost a bomb, unless you have a big budget or promotion, just go there to visit. 

pool @ Bvlgari

Perfection verdict: It is perfect experience...

searching the perfect tourist attraction

Location: Times Square
City: New York

Have you seen the spectacular view of Times Square at night? It was really the most amazing experience to be right in the middle of Times Square, right where Alicia keys sings at her MTV with Jay Z, and be awed by the people, sound and the lightings. You can feel the energy and the excitement of the city standing right there. Be enchanted by the activities around the area, book yourselves to broadway musicals; I would highly recommend Wicked or The Lion King but definitely there are a few excellent musicals for you to choose from.

Atmosphere: 10 for excitement
Taste: Full of energy and colors
Price: priceless
Overall rating: 10

panoramic view of Times Square during Tony Awards Night

Perfection verdict: Tremendous energy; definitely a perfect place for holiday.
xoxo..... 

searching the perfect brunch_part2

Location: Marina Del rey
City: Los Angeles

This is a really cute place to have breakfast, such a pity i forgot the name. The place is not very crowded but wonderfully decorated. Take look at what we ordered from brunch:

This is really the best French Toast i have ever eaten or seen. Wonderfully buttered honey thick toast cooked with perfection drizzled with raspberry syrup and top with berries and Vanilla ice cream. What a wonderful yet sinful way to start the day.

Atmosphere: 8/10...will be perfect without the glaring sun
Taste: 10/10 for this french toast
Price: $$
Overall rating: 7/10...still prefers Balthazar at new york, the french toast is their specialty and the rest of the menu is not that fantastic

Perfection verdict: Perfection for the french toast, not really a place that I will visit again next in LA but definitely a must try for those of you who wanted to get your taste buds on their french toast. 
xoxo...

searching the perfect brunch

Location: Balthazar
City: SOHO, New York City

Everyone talks about Balthazar and the amazing brunch they offer. Reservations for weekend are constantly full and the non-reservation line is always long. Is this the place i am looking for? Went there with my family without reservation, waited 30 minutes to sit on the bar and ordered few specialties on the bar menu. The whole experience be rated as:
1. Atmosphere: 8/10...loved the british influenced surrounding and decor
2. Taste: 8/10...specially loving the eggs norwegian; poached eggs cooked almost to perfection
3. Price: $$$
4. Overall Rating: 8/10

Eggs Norwegian

Fruity waffles

Eggs benedict

Perfection Verdict: It is not the perfect brunch just yet, but Balthazar definitely will be in my next NYC visit must visit list. Will continue searching...
xoxo

3 idiots

copyright of PT Inti Tunggal

3 idiots Indonesian Girls version :p

Aging

I was reading an article in a magazine and came across this quote from Oscar Wilde "experience is simply the name we give our mistakes". In our teen and 20s years, we make a lot of unwise decisions and go through all kinds of stess or trouble ( despite what our elders advised or past experences) we simply will fall into the hole somewhere or somehow. In my early 20s and in a position of starting out in the harsh working world, I started to realize that being 20s is not a very good position in. We are not really sure who we are, what we want from our relationships, what we want from our careers although one thing we certainy love is our wrinkle free skin, toned skin and full of energy. It sounds cliche but don't we certainly love when you know that you are wiser and happier even if you are older. Being focus certainly helps but really if "experience is simply the name we give our mistakes", then isn't it ok to make mistakes along the way? In this harsh world, people seems to give judgement or harsh remarks to our mistakes, but why can't we embrace it or learn to forgive somehow? I guess it's really ok to make mistakes, afterall life would be boring without getting ourselves into a little trouble along the way, certainly little is enough.

Words of Wisdom

There are no ugly women, only lazy ones ( helena rubinstein)

Good design goes to heaven; bad design goes everywhere ( mieke gerritzen)

Failure is the condiment that gives success it's flavors ( Truman capote)

A girl should be two things: classy and fabulous ( coco chanel)

Age does not protect you from love. But love to some extent, protects you from age ( Jeanne moreau)

xu: means Joy

Joy in doing what you love

The inspirations keep coming in, keep filling up our minds, it has been so much easier to finish our designs meeting our datelines...Being designers can be stressful but every time we finish a project or after we finish creating a perfect composition, that sense of achievement and satisfaction is indescribable..That is the joy of doing what we love i guess. I feel such great joy to hold my Wacom pen, "performing magic" on the computer and filling up my sketch book with sketches..well sometimes it is visible..sometimes i dont even know what am i scribbling :p...Anyway who cares right? If we can come up with something exquisite out of these scribbles...thats the most important thing...Let's all hope that we can all "perform better magic" and unleash more great designs to this society...

empire state of mind

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UjsXo9l6I8

"the lights will inspire you..."

vending machine

Window Display at New York.....What a Vending Machine...wish we had that....

Target advertisement in the middle of Times Square...The city is really an inspiring city, Cheers to "Empire State of Mind"

Photograph Art piece

The composition and layout is very artzy...found this at MOMA, new york...should check it out

a composition of pictures and messages....

new motto

Dear reader, please live life with this Motto...cheersss

amazing view right? Its from my last trip to Central Park in New York...My very favorite view

Passion

I was looking back at all the things that i am doing and all the days that i was living, realized that life has been really empty. We have been so busy with work, social, family but do we realize if we are actually enjoying every little thing we do. A lot of us have different views towards what success is, what is mine...? what is yours? I came across a phrase the other day written by Albert Schweitzer, he says "success is not the key to happiness, happiness is the key to success, if you love what you are doing, you will be successful" I look back to his sentence and realized i have been so overwhelmed with everything that i do but do we realize that we are not actually happy. What is happiness to you? what is happiness to me? I keep looking back and came across my past designs that i did and i realized how much passion i had for every little concept i did and for every productions i created. This is when i created this blog, few days ago to really fill this page with every thing that makes me smile and unleash my creativity, hoping the ones looking at this page will smile as well. And i will always keep in mind that if we love what we are doing, we will be successful, well even if you are not famous, you will be happy. Life is short so why not enjoy every minute of it..cheers..Angel

Evian Roller Babies international version

Check out this video on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQcVllWpwGs&feature=youtube_gdata

Sent from my iPhone

Piano stairs - TheFunTheory.com - Rolighetsteorin.se

Check out this video on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lXh2n0aPyw&feature=youtube_gdata

Sent from my iPhone

Cute uniformed Korean dancing to Korean hit "NOBODY"

Check out this video on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouOzR8lskc0&feature=youtube_gdata

Sent from my iPhone

IMG00394-20091002-1500.jpg

Sent from my BlackBerry®
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Found this on my last trip in LA, What a sight...Range Rover in Hot Pink.....That's HOT!!

Found this in a restaurant in Bugis junction Singapore...Amazingly huge, had a huge belly after the many gulps...

1st entry

Hi there..this is my first entry to my very own blog. I have kept these amazing pictures, images and thoughts all on "my little black idea book", i decided one day i should have all of these images posted online to be shared. This little black book has been my dream, my place of comfort, an area to run away from reality...now, this blog is going to be my "cyber black book" of course you are welcome to share your thoughts....cheers, angel