tam²

While at Beijing I visited the Tiananmen Square. Or known as Gate of the Heavenly Peace Square from direct Chinese translation (what a mouthful, sounds like some formula), it is the largest public open space in the World.

It also packs the most number of policemen, from the armed police in green, the gong an in blue and the unknowns in plain clothes.

This was what I saw. A young man was aiming with his camera, walking backwards trying to get a nice shot of the Tiananmen Square. Then as he reversed, he accidentally bumped into an old lady and she fell. She made a big fuss about it and soon people from her tour group gathered and all joined in in scolding the young man. No authority in the world likes angry mob, and within seconds 02x Iveco Police patrol cars arrived at the scene, right in the middle of the Square.



I'm glad I didn't do any funny stunt or show any un-welcomed flags (read: Tibet and Taiwan) If not the next thing I know I would be pinned on the ground like a crab.

quote on arrival

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Hong Kong

.... I beg your pardon...

Welcome to Singapore.

-- cabin crew announced on landing at Changi Airport

So the Airbus A320 actually flew around in circles for 3 hours 20 minutes.

nationwide exam stress

I was in China during the whole duration of their National College Entrance Examination, something like our GCE 'A' Level examination. It was amusing (and sadistic) enough to look at other people taking exam, but to see the whole nation stressed out over it was really something.

Some parents apply leave 1 month before the exam to revise with their kids. Some kids go to hospital and breathe pure oxygen in a pressure chamber while revising (I thought only divers use that?). Some parents drag their kids to the examination venue on the day. On the exam days, some public buses were reserved to ferry candidates to exam venue. And police cars and bikes cleared the path in front. If during the exam they find the noise level too high around the exam hall, the police would set up road blockades and divert traffic. At the front gate, teachers dressed up as cheerleaders to cheer their students on...

Cheating is a criminal offense. Around the exam venue there were officials carrying electronic devices to detect any radio transmission. True enough there were people selling undergarments with transceiving device -_-. High tech cheating indeed.

On the newspaper "experts" would analyze the weather, and whether the thunder would affect the listening test, what to eat to prepare for exam, etc... and after the paper they would analyze the exam question and comment on whether it was a tough question, how to answer it... then they will report how many cases of cheating in all the provinces. On the Guangzhou Daily the topic of exam easily took up 2-3 pages from the front page.

Seriously, where else can you find this kind of exam culture?

i am back

ladies and gentlemen,

iamback
As suddenly as I decided to go on a trip, I'm back.
22 days. From Singapore to Hong Kong to Shenzhen to Dongguan to Beijing to Tianjin. It was a physically draining getaway but an extremely rewarding one at the same time. The reason I decided to book the flight back, was because I am really really really very exhausted, up to the last atoms and molecules. I still have many things yet to explore.

I guess I will have plenty of time to share about my trip after a good rest.

the other side of the wall

Phew. Just a short update and clear a bit of cobweb here. Let me see, it's been 12 days since I left Singapore on a jet plane and the number is counting. 7 days in Guangdong and 5 days in Beijing put me behind the great firewall of China. (i did visit the real brick great walk though) Plurk and blogspot were non existence but i could still have updated using mobile blogging via gmail. Provided you can find access point or choose to visit the cyber cafes, which I didn't.

By the way I'm in Hong Kong now.

Anyway, without a proper keyboard it's tough for me to write much nonsense. It's heartening to read the comments but sorry i can't reply now due to some technical problem (this excuse works everywhere).

And so, until next time!

photo no more (this is not Cantonese vulgarities)

(This is a scheduled post)

I have been wondering what photos should I take during this trip. During my previous trip I have taken quite a bit (see June and July 2008 archives of my photo blog. The tags aren't working). Anyway photos of tourist attractions are like flooding all over the place in blogs and books, and I don't usually go to tourist attractions, so most of my photos are kinda boring.

Anyway my coursemate hao has taken some nice food photos during his recent trip to Hong Kong, which pretty much sums up what you can't miss there. I wonder if his blog post has anything to do with my sudden impulsive decision to go on this trip :P

If possible I will try to mobile blog using my Nokia E51 (and its lousy 2.0 megapixel camera in the hands of a lousier 1.0 user) I'm sure the keypad will ensure that I keep the posts short and sweet.

leaving on 2 jet engines

By the time this post is published, I should be somewhere above South China Sea, flying in thin air and marveling at works of mechanical engineering (aka the jetliner, besides the air stewardesses).

If you think you are surprised, you ain't alone. Cos I surprise myself too with this sudden decision to go off for a while. Potential employers, now you know this chap can fly under short notice. I was still packing my backpack a few hours before the flight.

I guess I just want to take a little break from the job-hunting-send-resume-then-waiting-for-replies kind of daily ritual. Call it exile, escape, grad trip (who goes on grad trip alone?), whatever term you want to give it. Ironically I am going to one of the busiest cities in the world to relax *roll eyes*.

'cos I'm leavin on a jet plane

Dunno when I'll be back again

Seriously... it's a one-way ticket and I have no idea when I will be back. Again, potential employers, this kid can take extended oversea postings.

During this period of absence I will have limited access to computer. But you can try your luck with my plurk and twitter for updates.

Take care :)

corny plastic

Today is World Environment Day. Let me share with you something which is kind of related.

My final year project was on biodegradable polymers and one of the biodegradable polymers studied was polylactic acid (PLA). Lactic acid is made from dextrose by fermentation of starch, which can come from corn, sugarcane or other starch-rich products. The following is a clip from HowStuffWorks on making of corn plastic.


Not only are bioplastics biodegradable, they also free up the reliance on fossil-based resources. However it is not as simple as growing more corns. We have to consider whether it takes more energy to process and manufacture it and also the environmental impact from cradle to grave.

And, how would people react if they find their forks taste corny.

student power

Today marks the 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen Incident of 1989. On 4th June 1989, what started as a peaceful protest by Beijing students evolved into a bloody crackdown by the People's Liberation Army. While I do have my views on the incident, but this humble blog of mine doesn't seem to be an appropriate channel to talk about it. So let's talk about students.

The students who led the movement were just into their 20s. Yet they were able to mobilize the masses, including workers and Beijing residents. Putting the question of maturity aside, I can't help feeling that students from other countries seem to take things into their hands instead of blindly accepting with both hands. There is this joke about European students learning about vibration and resonance frequency by shaking police patrol car during riots. Students leaders in other countries seem to be quite active in both social and political arena. They do things like petition when their university decides to award honorary degree to human rights violators or when the government rolls out some unpopular reform. Just recently, the former president of the Hong Kong University Student Union got himself all famous in the news media just because he openly questioned the student movement of 1989. And he got deposed.

In contrast, the tertiary students in Singapore seem to be politically indifferent/ignorant. I'm not trying to say we should go back to the days of Chinese middle school riots, maybe our society is so peaceful there is just no reason to be upset about. (Orly?) Well at least I'm glad we have access to information (just whether we want to access or not). They distribute Epoch Times alongside Financial Times in campus. The rest is up to your brains to decide which one to pick up from the stand. Usually students rather pay to get The New Paper for the soccer news.

But the student leaders here do know how to rally for student support when someone goes into Singapore Idol.

went unpacked

I just came back from UNPACKED, the Industrial Design Exhibition 2009 by students of the NUS Industrial Design Programme.

This is my second year attending the exhibition and the ID guys never fail to impress with their creativity. While not all the projects are available in physical prototype form, but you can see the idea there. Even the eco-car KRUCE is there, so if you want to see some fuel cell car, head down there!

I was really impressed by the hotpot machine and the plastic bag handle. Let's talk about the plastic bag handle (see photo below). Looking like a cable holder or washing machine hose with a cut in the longitudinal direction, it works by distributing the load over a larger area on your palm when carrying heavy plastic bags. Not unlike some of us folding a piece of cardboard to the same effect but more high tech. While it seems to go in opposite direction of the use-less-plastic-bag campaign, you can't deny it solves some problem in life.





The exhibition opens until 4th June (Thursday) 3pm at the National Library Building.

capturing the cap score

I forgot to mention something kind of important. Last Friday I received my final examination result as an engineering undergraduate. Final as in, you know, last one.

Was talking to a friend about the CAP (Cumulative Average Point) score and how much it can drop in upper years. It is important as it affects your class of degree, and going by calculation it gets harder and harder to change the situation around as you go into upper years. That's the problem when people play too much (or the brain refuses to work) in lower university years.

Let's see some trend and analyse. The above graph shows the CAP score of yours truly over the past 8 semesters. The Y axis is arbitrary, so you can guess on. The dip was thanks to modules which I really didn't like, things like thermo or fluid or control. But it sure seems like you can (or, I did) pull up your score quite significantly even in your upper years, even with Final Year Project and other job hunting nonsenses bugging you. If your FYP rocks, it really can pull you up since it has a bigger weightage than normal modules.

I'm sure we all can climb up from the valley, be it academic result or the economy.

chinese medical hall

With a piece of paper with prescriptions on it, I went to the nearby Chinese medical hall to get some herbs for the mother.

Chinese medical hall. It seems like there is at least one in every Chinese community in the world, to the point that I got a feeling they have Chinese medical hall before they have Chinese embassies. Even with the advances in Western medical science, many Chinese still trust Chinese herbs more than Western pills. Many believe that while Western medicines suppress the symptoms, it's the Chinese ones that cure the root of it all. Somehow I buy that idea too. But Chinese medical halls are progressing too. It is not uncommon to see diapers, panadols, vitamin C pills and cod fish oil in a Chinese medical hall.

So back to the one I was at. I was sitting on the stool, waiting for the lady to get all the stuff on my list. Reminds me of traditional hardware shop, they always have a way to locate the tiniest of components. While waiting another customer came with her toddler son. So the mother pass the son a 5 dollars note to pay for the stuff, and guess what, that kid gave me that 5 dollars note. (smart kid, hur hur hur)

This kind of heartland feeling, you will hardly find at pharmacy.