My Random Thoughts on Being Singaporean

Of late, I have been uncomfortable picking up news and observations about life in Singapore from the lens of a Singaporean. As I read more online posts, forum letters, newspaper commentaries and so on, the lingering discomfort got stronger.

In no order of sequence or synthesis (and take this as me mumbling to myself in some disorganised, random way), these are the issues that triggered my thoughts:

1. Housing - yes, the perennial election hot potato. The runaway property market prices and insanely tiny shoeboxes are recipes for disasters once interest rates revalue and rise.

2. Universal insurance coverage - the unhealthy minority that all insurance companies reject and avoid will ultimately become societal's healthcare and fiscal cost. Unless there is mandatory state regulation to cover this group at higher premiums (spread out) for all. It is not a question about economic efficiency, at least not directly because there is nothing efficient about cover already- or have-recovered sick people. The decision to make it mandatory or not cuts to the core of what do we want really as a society and nation.

3. Singapore, our home - I'm tired of reading yet more reports about how Singapore is the XX (insert any high-ranking number) most desirable place for some unknown foreigners or overseas Singaporeans who have the world to choose from. Imho, Singapore should be the MOST desirable place to live and work for Singaporeans. If it is not, and if we are 'stuck' here out of no choice, then something is seriously flawed.

4. Income inequality - that runaway Gini coeff has made Singapore the most 'unequal' place in Asia. Such, everyone can tolerate some measures of inequality so long as everyone else has enough. The flyaway nouveau rich gap against the rut-stuck poor has widened. Globalisation and growth are no longer seen to be delivering the golden fruits as they once promised. The benefits are diffused and not clearly seen, but the costs are becoming localised and painfully felt.

5. Inflation another culprit - Any econs student will tell you that Singapore is an open economy, with trade in our lifeblood at 3.5x our GDP. As such, we are very susceptible to imported inflation onto our shores. However, as one newspaper commentary recently pointed out, the sources of our recent 5% (persistent) inflation is not so much directly imported as domestically generated. Eg. high property prices (from hot money) and transport prices (from COE system). On the other hand, wages have not been rising at 5%. one does not need to be a maths whiz to figure out that we are actually poorer by the day.

6. Cars and a warped COE - Every newcomer to Singapore is astounded by the high prices we pay to own a car. The expensive thing called a COE that one has to bid for. When I studied Econs in school, COE was a clear-cut demand-supply illustration, very straightforward, very easy to understand its policy mechanism and rationale. But I wonder if sometimes this is also a case where policies constructed in a very engineering way ignores the unintended social consequences. With a tightening of COE, car prices have been shooting through the roof. The warped outcome is that people see no value in paying an expensive COE for a normal Honda or Toyota sedan (the usual family cars) as it is not worth the price in proportion to the cost of car. As a result, COEs are being bid up by car collectors, people who are buying the Lamborghinis and Maseratis. So the average resident who needs a car to get by with his family, elderly or children, is unable to get a car. The above-average resident gets to buy a car for showroom purposes.


I look at my colleagues - young elites - who easily earn more than the combined household incomes of many median families, by him/herself, and I wonder if they really empathise with the average median Singapore. I look at my friends, we and their children are considered lucky because we can afford to make choices, offered a life of comfort and opportunities. To operate from a position of having options is to operate from a position of power. The more options, the higher the power. Again, I wonder if these young children will grow up being able to empathise with their many counterparts who do not have such luxuries (now termed necessities) in life.


This is my selective random rambling to self (I like 'talking' to myself :)). I just wanted to get it jotted down somewhere and off my chest, so there. It is not so much a critique (hardly organised enough to be one), but thoughts gathered from simple daily observations as a Singaporean. I have no solutions, except to repeat that Singapore should be the most desired place for a Singaporean. Otherwise, it is time to reflect.

.... I think I should go for a run soon. It's much easier than mulling over these issues. Run, yes!

First Swim, Totally CMI

This is our 1 week of term break before the crazy schedule starts again next year, and I was savouring the relaxed, un-rushed mode. :) A tad chill-out, if I might add.

Went to Safra in the evening for a swim. Yes, a swim. That activity that takes place in chlorine-filled water. My last swim was in July 2011, almost a year ago, at the Port Dickson race. I since stopped swimming after that, until today.

I only had 30min and only managed 20 laps. Even then, my arms were aching and my head was giddy from the turning around. And there was water in my ear, as usual.

Totally CMI imho. Will think about whether I will be in shape by July to take part in a race or not. I think I will be very happy just driving up to Malaysia as a supporter too.

Lovely Long Runs

Spent my entire weekend preparing (or pretending to) for my last paper on Monday. Prof very generously loaded us with two sets of 70pg "supplementary" readings  on Thurs night, and expected us to digest all of that over the weekend. :(  Alber was off to Kapas for the 6.5km swim in Malaysia and I was stuck at home with the stacks of papers and notes.

It poured heavily on Saturday morning, the land-sliding kind of rain. Perfect excuse not to run and get focused on my readings. Goodness gracious, the readings were so dry, it took me an average of 1h to get through 10 pages. And in between that, I managed to wipe the floor and do my laundry (that showed how uninspiring the cases were...). I finally finished the first set of readings after 6-7h! Tak boleh tahan (Malay slang for "cannot take it!"), it was now late afternoon. I decided to ditch the case and head for the trails. A short run became about 1:40h but it was nice and cool in the trails by evening time. I ran through the MTB trail, Zhenghua 3x loops, and back the MTB trail. After the run, I contemplated ordering pizza delivery, or MacDonalds, or KFC... yes all that junk! And then resisted all of that and drove to a nearby coffeeshop for dinner instead. After an entire day of cereals and yoghurt, I needed something savory.

Sunday morning, yes! Bright sunshine and very hot weather. Time for another long run, uninterrupted, no time pressure. I was about to step out when I spotted a dead bird in my balcony! The poor thing must have kamikaze-d into the glass doors thinking it could fly through, smashed right into it, thud-ded onto my outdoor table (there were feathers all over the table), before dropping dead on the floor. Ouch. :(  It was a rather pretty bird, with yellow and green feathers. Quite big-sized too.

Anyhow, I finallly managed to get to my run. It was blazing hot out there, and I sought refuge in the trails. But even then, it was extremely humid. My shirt was sticking to me and I was literally dripping with sweat. By the time I got to MR, I had almost finished my water. I extended my normal route slightly by about 30min (a few kilometres). The extension was to the Ranger Station and to the barricade, and back, before continuing with the normal MR loop. At some point I regretted the extension because suddenly my legs were feeling very unrecovered from last night's run. And I was simply wilting under the weather. But I had a study group discussion to get to, so I had to get home in time by hook or crook. So no choice, pressing on.... Finally finished the 3:30h run. Possibly about 26.5km?

Monday - last paper! Rest day too.

Tuesday - Labour Day and a much-needed public holiday. Woohoo! Again, a blazing hot day. There were some intermittent clouds, but otherwise, it was hot. I ran my usual BT-MR route, and saw Jancy & Vincent. They were training for the Great Wall marathon - wow, that's a tough one. There were many hikers and families in the trail today, and they were sitting/ resting everywhere on the open grass patches, especially near the golf course area. I was part amused by the sight (have never seen so many 'picnicking' groups before) and part worried that they might get hit by flying golf balls! I also saw a guy who managed to hook a beautiful fish - not sure what it is called, but it had a white-silver base, with black and yellow stripes. It was quite a big fish, and he then released it back into the water. Running on.... after my third bottle of water, I got out of the trails and bumped into Jancy & Vincent again. We were all drenched and dying from the heat. Managed to get home in 3h. Whew! Absolutely toxic with sweat!  But loving it. :)

Of Exams and Runs

Two days of study/ exam leave this week, and another paper next week. But never mind, run first, think later. Or else I'd be so distracted throughout the entire day and won't be able to focus on the books!

So after Sunday's hot run, I ran another 2h on Monday. I was trying on a pair of new Salomons. Ran on the MTB trail, round the Wallace trail, then to Zhenghua and did 3x the small-ish loop, and retraced my route.

Then I fell ill on Tues, the night before my paper. I was shivering and slept early, with blind faith that I had read all that there was for the exam. Alber got me some medicine and I was in between drinking it and going to the loo.

Thankfully was all up and alert the next day for the exam. The fever and body aches had dissipated and gone! Good, focus. Finished exam, 3h, 7 questions. *whew* Ran another 2h in the evening, had to head out of the trail before sunset.

And that was it... feasted an entire table of live seafood and good cakes tonight. Goodness, too full! Would need to run tmrw and burn off some crabs and shells! Then books again. :(

Post-Jeju Struggles-to-Run

We had such a good time feasting in Jeju and Seoul, I was most reluctant to get back into running mode. Random did a smattering of runs, short ones in the mornings, extremely lazy. And obviously not enough to burn off all the excess Korean calories that have been deposited on my butt.

Attempted the MTB trail once, but got caught in ankle-deep loose mud near Rifle Range road. My shoes sank in and nearly lost one that got stuck in the mud. Yucks. So then I switched to running on the Rifle Range tarmac. Hit the end of the road and u-turned. It was a very short route, just about 52min in the mornings.

On the first weekend post-Jeju, I ran my usual trail route to MR. Met up with W, KH and group and did three-quarters of the MR loop with them, and ran home. Was "chiu" on the way back. Age is upon me, the legs are not recovering fast enough. :(

This week was the same, a couple of random runs in the mornings and evenings. It was "study week" and there were no classes. So I could go to Safra for an evening run. Alber took me along the new Labrador boardwalk and we ran into Reflections and the newly done-up Keppel Bay area. Very scenic, it reminded me of the Vancouver waterfront.

I managed to get Alber to join me this morning for the long run. It was the same arrangement as last week, ran to MR and met up with friends for the MR loop, and ran home. It was very hot on the way back and we were melting. Alas, the run did nothing to reduce my water-retention or weight, I felt like an elephant on the run this morning. Sigh.

Back to my revisions. Studying and assignments are so detrimental to the waistline...! Too much sitting around and snacking!

Jeju Ultra-marathon 2012

My friends and I signed up for the Jeju ultra-marathon, lured by the free race registration as well as 1 night of free accomodation in Jeju. The race had a road category of 50, 100, and 200km, as well as a trail of 50mi (80km). Both the 100km and 50mi had the same cut-off time of 15h. We chose the latter (but on hindsight, might have been a better choice to pick the road 100km instead). Jeju island was about 73km lengthwise, and 64km in width. We started from the northern point. The trail race route was to go south, traverse Mt Halla and a second mountain, before ending at the World Cup Stadium at its southern end. The 200km road runners were expected to run one loop around the perimeter of Jeju island (some 175km) within 34h. 

Breakfast was ready at 4am. The race organiser put us up at a hotel just across the race start point, and we were flagged off at 6am. I was not expecting to be running 20.5km on the road right from the start. Even though a Swiss runner kindly shared the race map and tips with us, I guess it did not register - a half-marathon before we hit the trail. And a 100% upslope at that. It was mind-boggling how there could be a distance that long which was only upward going. Along the way, we saw white sakura trees lining a short section of the road. Alber and I had the foresight to use the toilet at the last petrol kiosk because there was nothing but endless winding road thereafter.

The first check-point (CP) was at 10.5km. Time check: 1:36h. We were the last to arrive. It was literally a mobile CP - it was delivered by a race organiser providing race support from the trunk of his car....! There was only water, Pocari Sweat and bananas.

We literally ran from sea level (where hotel was) towards and into the mountains. Along the way, we caught up with WH, Jo, KL and Sarge. That segment took us almost 3h(!) to get to the 2nd CP at 20.5km (1:16h). We arrived at Seongpanak, a very popular tourist spot where many Koreans go to start their trek up Halla-san (Mt Halla). The race volunteer advised us to 'accelerate' as we were close to the cut-off times.


Alas, the trek was chok-full with leisure hikers, elderly aunties and uncles on a day-hike. They were all decked in fancy colourful gear, backpacks, proper shoes and trekking poles, gorgeous looking shells and apparel. Their aim, like ours, was the summit of Mt Halla at 1,950m. We tried to overtake where possible, and nimbly skipped our way up. Then I heard loud breathing close behind me, someone was not letting up on the pace. Turning around, I realised that WH had caught up with us very quickly and within a blink of an eye, far overtook us.

Our 'nimbleness' was short-lived. We soon hit snow and slush. Yes, the race director did warn about bringing cleats to attach to our running shoes (the fact that my group of four did not get that notification email while my other group of friends did was another puzzlement) but none of us had the proper equipment. I had only a pair of trekking poles with me. So we slid and skidded our way through the slush and occasional ice. It was hard work going up and trying not to slide backwards. We were also overtaken by friends from behind. All the while, there were no signages nor support points. Even if one were to give up, it was either upwards or downwards to civilisation.

With great effort, we made it to the summit. It was an exposed section and very windy. The locals were happily seated, picnic mats and all, and tucking into their bento lunch boxes and soju with great gusto. We, on the other hand, were munching on snickers bars. We took a couple of pictures, and made our way down.

The descent was even more painful because of the slippery slush. I was bad on ice and snow, and worse without proper equipment. Alber took to it like a child's play, skipping and hopping his way down, while I was frozen to the spot (pun intended). A couple of times, he had to come back up to get me down. Part of the reason was also because my Salomon shoes were worn out and had no treads on the soles. I had zero grip on the snow unless it was very rough or slushed up. Needless to say, we lost a tremendous amount of time on the descent. The snow was interspersed with wooden steps and bridges. After a while, even friends who had the cleats gave up putting them on and taking them off repeatedly.

Once we cleared the snow section, we tried to run and catch up. But there was also a limit to how fast we could run while descending on giant rocks and steps. Sarge described them as 'melon-like rocks'. One had to be careful not to mis-step and wedge the foot in between them. There was a cut-off time of 2:30pm at the next check-point and we were all rushing to meet it. I finally got there at 2:40pm, but luckily the officials did not enforce the cut-off. CP3 was about 38km, and it too me a total of 5:43h to clear the distance between CP2 and 3 (~8km)! This CP was a restaurant rest-stop and we had freshly made rice-roll each. It was a thick uncut sushi roll, but it was limited to 1 roll per runner. By then, we had gone for about 8plus hours with no proper food. We walked and ate the roll at the same time, it was such comfort food.

We managed to run a little after that, trying to make up for lost time. We had gone up, over and down one mountain, and were running on the road towards a second mountain. So it was the same story again, running from a low base upwards to the foot of the mountain. At some point, we hit the path to Eorimok trailhead. It was a ruthless 10% incline up - the road signs said so. We walked the entire 4km of 10% incline and got to CP4, the 50km point. Time check: 2:14h for the lap, and 10:40h total.

Unfortunately, the race official cut us off then as they did not want runners to be stuck in the dark on the descent of the second mountain - said to be tougher and more technical than the first. Or so I heard, the first 7km of the next mountain would be straightup stairs. The whole lot of us (6 Singaporeans) stopped at CP4 and had kimchi instant ramen while waiting for transport to get us to the finish point. I was not too hung up about being stopped because it was already a decent effort and experience just getting to that point. We found out that 2 other friends had gone on an earlier car to the end-point, leaving only Melvin and WH still running in the trail. We were somewhat worried if they might be caught ill-prepared or get lost in the dark.

The ride back to the end-point took another 25-30km. We saw a steady stream of 100km and 200km runners as we neared the Jeju World Cup Stadium (end-point). They all looked very seasoned, some even dressed simply in T-shirt and shorts/ tights, as if they were just on another daily run. The road runners apparently had better aid stations. We half-joked that we should return next year but opt for the 100km road category instead.

At the finishing tent, volunteers served hot (but tasteless) beef noodles soup, rice and kimchi. We rested a while and took the first shuttle bus back to the hotel. It took us almost an hour by bus to drive from the southern to northern end of the island. We left messages for Melvin and WH but there was no reply. Finally at 10plus pm, Melvin got back to the hotel. He was the only Singaporean to finish the race in 14:23h, within the time limit, and received a finisher medal for his effort. Meanwhile, WH was still somewhere out there. We found out the next day that he finished the trail but made wrong detours as there were no directions to the end-point. He only got back to the hotel at 1:30am! So then I was secretly glad that I was pulled out of the race.

Verdict: 
Terrain-wise, I felt that it was tougher than HK Vibram 100k. The 15h cut-off was also very tight. In terms of organisation, there was very little race support or signages. Most participants were Koreans and obviously knew how to get around and where to run.

It was an eye-opener. I did not expect snow and ice, but it made the experience all the more exciting.Would we return in 2013? Perhaps, but perhaps not the trail category again.

Finally, a Long(er) Run

The past weekend was fairly productive in terms of running. Managed to clock a 30km on Saturday and another 12ish km on Sunday. It was getting harder and harder to make time for long long runs.

Saturday - ran to MR. That fallen tree was still in the middle of the Kampong Trail path and I had to scramble and jump over it. I met up with Winnie and we ran 10km together. After which I headed home, and was caught in a sudden downpour. Ahh the 'perils' of running through a natural catchment area. Literally from bright and scorching sunshine to rainfall. Happy for the distance. :)

Sunday - went for a leisurely run into the MTB. Loved the peaceful co-existence between runners and mountain bikers in the trail. The fallen tree on the route had been sawed and cleared. Again, I remained in awe of their upslope pedalling prowess - especially on slopes that sometimes I had to walk up when tired. Conscientious acts of giving/ making way, saying sorrys and thank-yous go so far to benefit all the trail users. Now, how come we don't have that graciousness on the roads between drivers and road cyclists?

The upcoming week looks set to be a no-life, stressful one. Two major assignments coming up, one of which I would need a major surgical overhaul. Grrrr..... why can't things be as simple as lacing up my shoes and hitting the trail, one foot in front of another....??