Busy - Living, Driving and Dying in Singapore.

Last night, eight taxi buddies and I attended Ah Kow's funeral wake at the void deck of his 3 room flat in Jurong East. Ah Kow was a poor taxi driver who died of a heart attack a day earlier. He was 62, had no siblings and his parents died many years ago. As it was 3am when we arrived after our driving work, the wake was deserted. But Ah Kow had many friends who must had attended his wake earlier in the evening.

The simple coffin was placed on two wooden stood two feet above the ground and a recent photograph of Ah Kow was placed at the head of the coffin which was not sealed during the wake. As a timid person, I didn't dare to have a last look at him inside his coffin. I'm sure Ah Kow would understand and forgive me.

Foods, fruits, two paper "servants", an alter for burning of incense and two lighted white candles were placed infront of the coffin. We lighted incense, bowed as a sign of respect to the family and made a donation of a few hundred dollars to help the family defray the costs of the funeral.The donation money was a collection from all his taxi buddies in Jurong Central coffee shop. Each gave between $20 - $30. 

"James, did you hear about Ah Ong, the taxi driver?," asked Roy, my best friend who had a lucky escape from a recent heart attack.

"Which Ah Ong?" I replied with a question.

"You know... the older guy with glasses, always smoking " Roy continued.

Roy could be describing about half the taxi drivers at the wake, including myself.

"Yeah, well, last week Ah Ong went to the doctor complaining about a back ache and chess pain. Turns out he had terminal lung cancer. He had maybe two weeks to live then" Roy said in a sad voice.

"Geez... really?" I was surprised with his revelation.

"For months he figured he was just stiff from driving long shifts. It got to the point he could barely stand up."  Roy said as he demonstrated with both hand at his hips and a hunched back.

"Wow, how sad" I softly let off a grief. 

"All they can do is give him something for the pain... He finished out the week driving, then went home to die." Roy said sternly.

"What? He decided to spend one of his last days on earth driving a cab and die?" I exclaimed loudly.

"What else was he going to do? He's been driving a cab more than thirty years. That's twelve hours a day, seven days a week, every week of the year. I've been driving nearly fifteen years and I don't remember him ever taking a vacation. No hobbies. No real friends. Just driving a cab and his family. He put his two kids through university, though!" Roy said as calmly as he could.

"How old is he, Roy?" I asked

" About 65, I guess."

"That's my age, Roy."

Now, I don't even know Ah Ong but this shook me up. Not because of the tragedy of his death, but because of the tragedy of his life. I wonder if 35 years ago, at 30 when Ong first started driving, what dreams he had for himself. At 30, he was strong, full of energy, with nothing but time and his imagination standing between him and the future.

Perhaps he wanted to go to night class, travel the world as a sailor, start his own business. Perhaps he figured cab driving was a part-time, something to tide him over. Perhaps he looked at all the other middle-aged men driving cabs and told himself, "I'll never let myself turn into that, God forbid!". But who knows the future?

Then he met a girl, got married, had one kid, then another, and suddenly all those doors closed. He had responsibilities, bills to pay, obligations to keep. All of his dreams evaporated like his breath on a cold morning. And maybe years later he looked in the mirror one morning. He saw the face staring back him with the graying temples and the thinning hair and the dark circles under his eyes and he asked himself, "OMG, where did the last thirty years went?"

But then, he may have told himself, he wasn't that old- only 65.. He could still have dreams. Maybe once the kids are grown-up on their own; maybe once the HDB mortgage is paid off; maybe once the wife and he can finally save a little money and time for themselves.

But first, he told himself, he got to go to the doctor and get his back checked out. Then came the shocking news of his lung cancer and his world shattered instantly. sigh!.

Life can take a sudden turn and we've no control over it no matter how we monitor our health and safety. We all have only one shot at life and nobody knows when it will end. So, before it's too late, let's take stock of our life now. Unfortunately, for poorer Singaporean like taxi drivers, there's no much stock to talk about, when faced with escalating costs of living, scarcity of suitable jobs, no welfare, no money. To us, life is a daily struggle to place three meals on the table, paying household & medical bills and keeping the roof above our head. Don't believe?, join the rank.

I asked Roy how he, himself got into cab driving. He explained that he started as technician in the construction of the MRT lines. After MRT completion, he went driving a cab at 35. Like the rest of us, he thought it would be a part-time thing. But, one thing led to another and fifteen years later, here he is, still driving his yellow cab and surviving two heart attacks!.

Does he ever think about doing something else? "Nah, I don't give it much thought. What can I do at my old age with only a secondary education. Be a guard, cleaner or junk collector? Money not enough. Must drive to live!" Roy answered scornfully.

That's the sad reality of living in the 6th most expensive country in the world. With a 30 years HDB mortgage, children schooling, PUB bills, expensive medicine for chronic illness, etc..etc...and no much help from the authorities, most Singaporean like taxi drivers had to work without retirement till they drop dead. period! I think the only consolation is seeing the children growing up, doing well in studies and hoping they have a good job and a brighter future than themselves.

Away from the depressing reality and morbid subject of death, we kept vigil at the wake for about an hour and tried our best to lessen the grief of Ah Kow's wife. Her two grown up children were asleep beside the coffin. As Ah Kow's family was poor, the length of the wake was a single day to allow for the offering of prayers. A few hours more, Ah Kow will be cremated at Mandai Crematorium.

I spend the rest of the morning in a kind of daze. I keep thinking about those lines: "Get busy living, or get busy driving and dying." and "while we are alive, do we know how to live?. In the end, I think "it matters not how long we live, but how well with whatever we have".

"Our Model Worker. He'll works till his last breath & leaves his CPF to his children "

"Good.
Well done!!".!

Taxi Business in Singapore

Last Friday, around 10pm, I picked an interesting New Zealander at Changi Airport. After loading his single haversack into the trunk of my taxi, we set off to his hostel at Thomson Road, with him seated at my side. He seems like a friendly chap with a constant smile on his face and being a chatty cabby myself, we began an interesting conversation on the journey.

He told me that he purposely came over to Singapore for a week of holiday after his business seminar in Australia. He felt extremely safe here, not like other South East Asian countries or the United States. He further revealed that whenever he takes taxis in New York, there is a 95% chance that the cabby is a new immigrant, who hardly speaks English but it's a reverse here. Life is easy for N.Y. cabbies, he said, as they do not have to ply the streets for 6-8 hours a day and most of the time they sit around waiting for a call booking. Then, without his asking, I began to ran a brief commentary of the reality of taxi business and life of a cabby here for his understanding.

I told him that all taxi drivers here are Singaporeans, as taxi vocational license is be given to Singapore citizen only. I don't know of any other jobs here that has this requirement, where foreigners are not allowed to take up this vocation. Even in strategically important agencies like Temasek Holding, which is responsible for investing billion of dollars of public money, it does not require Singapore citizenship for their Number 1 position. Therefore, either taxi driving is the most privileged job in Singapore or it's the last resort for redundant Singaporean workers. Of course, the former is not true.

I think the over 100,000 Singaporean with vocational taxi license, are all eligible voters. This large number of voters together with their family members, are politically important to the incumbent government and cannot be taken lightly. To lose the astronomical number of cabbies votes is suicidal and therefore, they must be pampered and their vocation protected at all costs, not like some profession with small numbers. Ironically, most cabbies never have good words for the PAP. I'm sure their votes are likewise.   

On the ground and in reality, driving a taxi in Singapore is usually the last resort when a person can't find another suitable job because of old age or after retrenchment. It's not a glamorous or ultra lucrative job. More than half the earnings of a taxi driver goes to the taxi companies as rental and fuel. A taxi driver do not enjoy things like paid annual leave or holidays. Apart from this setback, this is the only job I know where you had to pay for not working.

A typical taxi driver, drives for 10 hours a day and earns about $12 an hour. There is no medical benefits, no CPF and no pension.....Yet you can find plenty of taxi drivers here with a diploma or university education. The taxi companies do all they can to get every taxi rented out to drivers, regardless of the demand on the street. As long as rentals are collected promptly, they do not care how the drivers survive. Can you blame them? No. All companies operate to seek maximum profit, just like the way the PAP runs this place - ("PAP familiar slogon -Where the Money Comes From?"). So every year, SMRT and COMFORT report double digit earnings growth, just like the PAP with impressive GNP.

Now, my point is, Singaporeans are lucky to have some well educated cabbies. Presently, the minimum academic qualification to become a taxi driver here is a Cambridge University "O" level certificate as advertised by Comfort. In many countries, educated citizens are employed as "professionals" in various organizations. But in Singapore, PAP helps all companies with supply of plentiful cheap foreign talents to help fill those "professional" positions, so educated Singaporeans can be freed up to work as cabbies.

In the early seventies, it was usually the illiterate or jobless desperado who drives taxis. But nowadays, more educated and younger Singaporean are becoming cabbies, ladies included. The large influx of foreign talents had taken many jobs which otherwise educated Singaporean can do and surely not because a joker says that a cabby earns $7k a month. I think many jobs in the IT industries, banking & financial sectors, nursing, sales & marketing, just to name a few, are filled by cheap FT, leaving educated Singaporean with few career choices but to consider taxi driving as a viable career. This is really pathetic for Singaporean for many obvious reasons but on the other hand, it's better to be a cabby than jobless, though one has a diploma in hand, right?.

Consequently, Singapore is now a First World country with the unique distinction of having a large contingent of educated taxi drivers with at least a secondary school or diploma education. Our Best Airport in the world is now served by an army of most educated taxi drivers in the world. Perhaps this is an achievement that PAP should glorify and boast to the rest of the world too.

At the end of my conversation with my NZ passenger, I nevertheless, expressed my gratitude to this Government for protecting my vocation by not allowing foreigners to drive cabs or else I would probably be collecting cardboard boxes or drinks cans to buy my two meals in this 6th most expensive country in the world. A lot people in their late 50s or early 60s are not quite ready for retirement yet, many find difficulty in getting employment with a reasonable pay because sadly, even simple jobs like cleaners, security guards and traffic warrants are sourced to cheaper foreigners.….So, what suitable jobs are left for old, retrenched and educated Singaporean, like myself? Tell that to your MP and you'll probably get a motherboard and template answers!.

My passenger was impressed with my commentary and allowed me to have a photo shot of him for this posting. Unfortunately, he left without a tip for me except my sour throat.

      NS for Singaporean - Jobs & Scholarships For Foreigners

An Extraordinary Taxi Driver - Ah Lam

Ah Lam - an extraordinary taxi driver

Remember Ah Lam -my taxi buddy- whose taxi was hijacked at the Budget Terminal by a PRC, who then crashed and killed an Indian male cleaner there. (Link).

A year had passed since that tragic incident and what has happened to the people who were involved?. Well, that PRC is still held in remand at The Institute of Mental Health in Bungkok View for observation and a trial had yet to convene. Ah Lam continues with his taxi driving for a living. And the Indian family continues with their lives without a father in J.B. (Update : 16/04/2013 - The PRC had been sentenced to 25 months jail)

In my previous post, I wrote briefly about Ah Lam's humble character but now, I would like to share with you a few things that Ah Lam did, as a taxi driver that makes him the most remarkably kind taxi driver I ever known personally. In my opinion, his simple acts of kindness were most heart warming, inspiring and amazing.

Once, at the beginning of his morning shift, he took an Indian lady from Woodland Estate to Tekka Market in Little India. On reaching the destination, the lady discovered that she had no wallet, cash, credit cards or any valuables, except her cellphone, with her. She was supposed to do her weekend grocery shopping at the market.

Without her asking for help, Ah Lam voluntarily lend her $200 on the spot, so that she could continue her shopping without interruption. He then waited an hour for her to finish her shopping and drove her home eventually. Ah Lam was not worried that with the unsolicited loan of $200, the lady could absconded at first opportunity and abused his kindness and trust in her. She did not, luckily. She honored her obligations and also wrote to Comfort relating Ah Lam's exceptional act of kindness and generosity. Comfort subsequently rewarded Ah Lam with a $50 shopping voucher and featured his story in their newsletter.

Honestly, I could not imagine myself doing what Ah Lam did. I would probably ask the lady to credit the unpaid fare to my bank account later, at her convenience and asked her to get her family members for help. After all, this is Singapore, a small city state of 700 sq. km with world class transport facilities. Quick help is only a phone call away. I'm a decent taxi driver but frankly, I lack Ah Lam's exceptional heart of kindness and generosity in this instance. I'll never give a loan of $200 to a complete stranger, albeit a passenger.

On another occasion, around noon, Ah Lam picked an old lady in her early eighties, sitting alone at a deserted bus stop in Upper Thomson Road. She was dressed in a dark blue shanfu cloths, her hair gathered into a tight bunch at the back of her head, like my late grandmother. She had a walking cane with her and looked frail with a hunched back. She was probably waiting for her bus and did not flag for a taxi.

Nonetheless, on seeing the old lady alone at an empty bus stop, Ah Lam kindheartedly stopped to ask whether she needed help or a free taxi ride home. Most drivers would surely drive pass her without a second look. Not Ah Lam. It turned out that she was abandoned by an earlier taxi driver, as she could not clearly tell the driver her destinations. Unlike the earlier heartless taxi driver, Ah Lam, with a heart of gold, took the feeble and hungry old lady to lunch at a nearby coffee shop and tried to gather as much information about her background and history as possible, so that he could send her home safely. Unfortunately, she had no documents whatsoever with her and could not provide much help. She was dazed and lost in her own world all the time. It soon became apparent that she was a clear case of an old lady suffering from dementia.

Now, what should Ah Lam do? Call the police to take over?. Yes, most taxi drivers and myself would certainly do that!. No, Ah Lam didn't call the police. Instead, he took the old lady to his house in Tampines and decided to spend the rest of his day investigating the old lady actual place of residence!. Wasn't that the dumbest thing to do?. Not to Ah Lam, the man with an extraordinary kind heart.

I asked him why he didn't call the police for help. He explained that the police would not be able the provide the comfort of a home, while they investigate the case. The old lady would also be subjected to unnecessary stress from bureaucratic protocol and could end up in the Institute of Mental Health, like the PRC. Only Ah Lam, with almost divine compassion, would sincerely think of the welfare of the old lady first and place himself in her shoes empathetically.

To cut a long story short, Ah Lam made a few phone calls to all the nursing & old folks homes within 5 kilometers radius of Upper Thomson Road. As luck would have it, Ju Eng Home for Senior Citizen at Jalan Kayu had a missing inmate that fits the old lady description. Within an hour, the old lady was reunited with her familiar caregivers at the home.

My daughter had a preview of this story and remarked that it's boring and she could have written the same during her primary school essay assignment. She also questioned the authenticity of the story and wondered whether it was an exaggeration of Ah Lam's character. I reassured her to trust Dad's integrity, like her faith in God.

More importantly, I stressed to my daughter that the moral of this story is there are still a few rare and extraordinary kind people in the mist of our materialistic society. We should find inspirations and emulate the exemplary attributes of their wonderful character, least we are no better than animals without souls. A kind deed a day, makes our misery goes away.

London Cabs And Mobile App to find Cabs.

In today's Straits Times, there were two interesting news articles on taxi matters. The first article is a letter to ST forum on affordability of London cabs and the last is about a mobile application to help commuters find taxis faster. This old "fart" would like to add a few more words on them.

30 free London cabs for SMRT

A. London Cab Affordability.

Yes, taking the new SMRT's London cab is not going to be cheap on all counts, especially for the wheelchair-bound commuters. Standard booking fee for the London cab is $10 or $18 for advance booking. Compared to booking fees of a normal taxi, it's 67% and 72%  more expensive respectively. Sadly, some wheelchair-bound commuters can only take this London cab because it has higher ceiling to accommodate their bigger wheelchair. In addition, only through call booking they can get a London cab because they cannot be waiting along the road hoping to flag a London cab out of a miserable 30 available in Singapore.

The plights of the wheelchair-bound commuters were prominently reported in the local media and I did two postings on this matter too. (Link 1)and (Link 2)

In summary, I hope our ex-Rear Admiral, Mr. Lui Tuck Yew and his comrades in PAP would consider the following earnest requests for aids by the handicapped commuters sympathetically.

1. Make London cabs more affordable by mandating SMRT to lower their fares, since Mr. Lui specially provided them with a grant of $3.1 from taxpayer's money to manage the 30 London cabs. SMRT should not be too greedy for profit with this type of cab used mainly by handicapped commuters. Perhaps, Ms. Ho Ching can lend a helping hand on this matter.

2. Provide London cab discount vouchers through MCD for handicapped commuters.

3. With aging population, increase grant to SMRT or others to get more London cabs to run on the roads.

4. Mandate all taxi operators to have a small percentage of London cabs in their fleet to service the handicapped community.

Be Merciful. Give a Helping Hand.

B. Mobile Application to help find a cab.

Yes, the A*Star invention will certainly help cabbies and taxi commuters "match-up" perfectly but the proof of the pudding is in its eating.

Mr. Christopher Tan is spot-on to say that taxi companies are not too thrilled by the prospect of a scheme that bypasses their own dispatch system.

Imagine Comfort's enormous lost in revenue from call bookings if this new mobile application is astronomically successful. Comfort charges $3.30 per booking and does about 20 million booking per year. (pardon me if figure is not perfect). $36 millions goes to cabbies and $10 millions to Comfort. A cabby earns about $200 per month from call booking on the average, while Comfort gets about $84,000 per month or $10 million a year.. I'm not too worried because I don't do much call booking.

Now, do you know that Comfort makes millions from NETS payment?. They charge an "administrative fee" of 30 cents per NETS transaction and does an average of about 20 millions NETS transactions a year. Therefore, they make a gross profit of about $6.6 millions a year just from NETS transactions. A cabby gets nothing,

A few more millions comes from their arbitrary and hefty10%  surcharge on credit & debit payments. But cabbies not only gets no monetary benefits whatsoever from these "cashless" payments, they had to wait two or three days for these "credit-fares" to be credited to their bank accounts. Therefore, understandably, cabbies prefer cash payment. Like many other "deals" with Comfort, cabbies always get the shot end of the stick.

As you call see, taxi operators and their system associates make millions from fringe services like Nets & credit/debit card payments, call bookings and advertisements on cabs, among others. So, it's not surprising that they would always try to muster as large a fleet of taxis as possible, with scant concern for cabbies survival.

Now, coming back to the mobile app, perhaps A*Star could invent something along the same principle of the mobile app to "match-up" many of the singles in Singapore to get married and produce more babies, so that we do not have to import so many foreigners to popup our population.

Irritating Taxi Surcharges.

Last night, at around 7pm, a PRC couple in their early thirties boarded my taxi at Mandarin Hotel in Orchard Road and wanted me to take them to Night Safari in Mandai Road. I hit the fare meter and instinctively knew from years of dealings with PRC tourists that dark clouds of trouble would soon be forming in the horizon. From my rear mirror, I spied the couple starring at my fare meter with disbelieve looks and mumbling with indignant expression on their faces. As anticipated, an angry voice soon pierced into my ear.

"Why your meter show two separate fares? the young man queried loudly in perfect American accent.

"Young man, you don't have to shout. I can explain thoroughly". I responded and wished I had not picked them earlier or I could kick them out of my cab instantly.

The various taxi surcharges in Singapore has given me a lots of trouble with tourists, as well as some locals till today. Explaining to those not familiar with our complex taxi surcharges is never a problem. I usually point to the stickers on the window specifying all the surcharges when they doubt my words and explanation. I also invite them to call a third party to verify my truthfulness. Sometime, I would halt my taxi and continue the trip only when they are fully satisfied and agreed to pay the surcharges.

I am not a pugnacious person but I get infuriated when some querulous customers used combative tone and is disrespectful when querying the metered fare they had to pay. Some, on rare occasion, simply refused to pay the surcharges at the end of the trip. Whichever the case, I usually bit the bullet and let them take advantage of an elderly driver. It is better to spend the time ferrying another passenger than waste it arguing with such scumbags or at police post writing statements of claim. 

As a taxi driver, I find the various surcharges rather repugnant and confusing for commuters, though it helps to bring supply of taxis to demand at certain hours and places. Honestly, my earning had
improved recently because of the many increased surcharges. On the other hand, many commuters are understandably pissed off with having to pay surcharges on top of the metered fair, like paying extras for having warm water in a restaurant.

I fail to understand why our our million dollar transport minister, with his team of brilliant scholars at LTA, is still not able to solve the dilemma of surcharges?. After decades, they still say that taxi fares and surcharges are basically commercial decisions and therefore, Government do not intervene in commercial policies. To them, it's the easiest way out of a complicated situation.

I am aware that individual taxi operators set the fare for their fleet. However, if LTA, as a regulatory body can mandate the minimum 250km/ day rule to improve taxi availability by getting rid of taxi drivers who use the cab as a personal car, surely they can also mandate a restructure taxi fare rates in the same vein.    

Now, has the current taxi surcharges outlived it's purposes? Is a simplified taxi fare structure possible and workable? Do I have a suggestion?

Yes, hear me out. It might sound absurd.

1. Remove the 25% surcharge for peak hours in the morning and evening and 50% for mid-night, together with the $3 CBD surcharge completely. Instead, factor all these complex surcharges into two simple flat rates - normal and after midnight rates. Our LTA scholars can easily do the mathematics and produce the new simplified flat rates. Comfort or other taxi operators will not do it and I will explain why later.

No CBD surcharge? The whole of Singapore is now CBD with the new rate! No fuming commuters at fringes of CBD. Drivers will still go to where the crowds are.

2. No taxi at airport, cruise terminals, EXPO and RWS?. Location and booking surcharges will remain.

3. Shangrila Hotel charges a higher room rate than Hotel 81. So, Chysler's taxi will have a higher flag down fare and the fare meter will run faster than a Toyota Crown taxi..

The fare meter will now show only a single fare, except when location and booking surcharge are applicable.

If a simple normal and after midnight rates is implemented, taxi commuting will inevitably become more expensive like many things in Singapore. It will also become a premium mode of transport for those who can afford it, like in Tokyo, London and New York. Fringe taxi commuters will be eliminated and demand for taxis will drops drastically. Taxi drivers who cannot take the heat will leave the kitchen. Eventually, an optimum level will arrive where demand for taxis will meet availability, without confusing surcharges.

I dread such a day, as I would probably end up as a security guard or kitchen dish washer and helps to alleviate the shortage of workers in these industries. However, such a day will never come. Why?. Because, Comfort's garages will be parked with thousands of redundant taxis when drivers leave them due to falling taxi commuters, resulting from my restructured meter fares! So, Comfort will never let that unthinkable situation of idling assets parking at garages to happen and therefore, will not change the status quo. Instead, they would try to muster as large a fleet of taxis as they can to popup their bottom line, with scant regards to taxi drivers survival. This is where and when LTA should step in to mandate them to set a simple, fair and sustainable taxi rates without drastic impacts or trade-offs for all stakeholders. I think LTA will continue to say that setting taxi rates is not their business. So, we are back to square one! sigh!!!. 

Some people has the wrong assumption that taxis are essential public transport services like buses and trains. But they are not. Taxi companies are essentially private business enterprises and taxi drivers are self-employed workers, both without Government subsidies, though they operate under LTA regulations. It may be good to re-examine some old assumptions and make wide ranging changes. At the heart of every change, there will always be trade-offs and impacts. Most importantly, trade-offs and impact must be sensible and sustainable.

Now, coming back to the PRC couple. They paid the full fare at destination after my thorough explanation.

My Dear Reader,
If you have a suggestion like what I tried to do, please pen your valued suggestions or comments here. However, please don't be abusive or offensive to anyone. Thank You.

This is Mr. Lui Tuck Yew, Minister of Transport. (Link) and his tall trees and mushroom story.

145 Teck Whye Ave - Bee-Hoon Fishball Soup.

Block 145, Teck Whye Ave.

Except cemetery, there is no places in Singapore I won't go as a night shift cabby. But of course, given a choice, I would prefer to ply in the bright city areas at night where customers are plentiful and with surcharges.

As luck would have it, I often had to send late night customers to deserted places like Tuas South, Lim Chu Kang,  Sembawang Park etc. etc. While the destination itself is not a major problem, it could become an issue if I get hungry like a wolf during the wee hours of the night at these isolated places.

If unbearable hunger struck, my mind would instinctively hunt for the few nearest 24 hours coffee shop to have a decent meal expeditiously. Minor hunger could be easily resolved with a quick bite of tip-bits in my cab. But to know where to have a decent meal quickly in the wee hours of the night at deserted places, comes from knowledge through research and experience.

This bring me to share with you a 24 hours food stall that sells tasty food at Teck Whye Avenue. Many night shift taxi drivers frequent this stall for its variety of affordable and delicious Bak Chor Mee, Dumpling Soup, Bee-Hoon Fish Ball Soup and Laksa. Parking along the main road (albeit double gig-zag lines) is convenient, while coffee & tea are sold at 60 cents, specially for taxi drivers.

The stall is cheekily called "Ai Mian Zi"爱 面 子  (Love Face) and it has a few branches in other parts of Singapore.

An attractive and young PRC lady own and manage this stall at night, while her female PRC partner does the day shift. A year back, they bought the franchise for this stall. To cut costs and more importantly, to attract more customers to their inconspicuous stall, they handmade most of the main ingredients themselves, like fish/meat balls, dumplings, fish cakes, laksa soup and chilli sauces.

Out of the many varieties of foods at this stall, I specially love the "Bee-Hoon Fish Ball Soup". The crystal clear soup is made from boiling pork ribs bones, sugar cane, chicken & dried sole, without MSG, overnight. It has a strange sweetness that suit my liking. The toppings come with bouncy fish balls, made entirely from yellowtail without other fillers, a generous portion of crispy heart-killer pork lard, sea-weeds, sliced pork belly meat, half-cook pork liver and the usual vege. It costs $3.

Their homemade crescent shaped meat dumplings is another "must-eat" item and comes only in boiled style. The skin of the dumplings is perfectly sized and is made from flour and water dough. The filling is sweet with meat, shrimp, vegetable and minute water melon. If my earning for the night had been good, I would have an additional bowl of dumplings to go with my bee-hoon soup. In this case, a decent meal at this stall would rob me of about $6 but it's worth every cents because its not easy to find a stall that still sells delicious food in the wee hours of the night at dissolute estates.

I am not an adventurous foodie, so pardon me if I had inadvertently written an rhetorical food posting.

By the way, here is a popular "Chinese dumpling"  水 饺 joke for your amusement.

In Mandarin, "Shui Jiao" 水 饺  (dumpling) sounds like "Shui Jiao" 睡 觉 (go to bed) and "Yi Wan"一 碗 (one bowl) sounds like "Yi Wan" 一 晚 (one night).

PRC lady shouts: " Shui Jiao Yi Wan San Kuai" 水 较 一碗 三 块 (One bowl dumpling $3).
An old cabby responded: "Wo Yao San Wan" 我 要 三 晚 ( I want 3 nights!)

Music - Kenny Roger

I don't have any musical gifts but can pitch and sing a bit. Only now, in my twilight years, that I started to enjoy singing in Karaoke clubs, although music has filled my life since as a teenagers. I wish I have the voice of one of many idol -Kenny Roger, to hold my friends attention in awe and admiration.

Too many of us are engrossed in the pursue of material things that we often neglect to appreciate and enjoy the simple things in life. I could visualize vivid images from the past on hearing the familiar tune of Kenney Roger's The Gambler". Music soothe my soul, gives me peace, connects me to my past, colors my life. Whenever I hear my favorite songs from the sixties to the eighties, it triggers fond memories of my youth. From time to time I would like to share with you some of these song. For now. it's Kenny Roger's the Gambler.

 

 Another of my favorite country and western song is "North to Alaska" by Johnny Horton

 

"Lo-Hei" in the Year of the Snake -2013

On a rainy night, three days ago, a group of about thirty elderly men and women converged simultaneously at a coffee shop in Jurong Central. It was close to mid-night and the sudden commotion abruptly pierced the silence in the otherwise empty coffee shop that was our regular hang-out.

"What's going on"? the coffee runner asked.

"These are taxi uncles having their yearly "Lo-Hei", the boss answered.

For the uninitiated, "Lo-Hei" is a Chinese New Year traditional dinner celebration with salad. It stems from a Cantonese's phrase meaning ‘tossing up good fortune’ using Yu Sheng or Fish Salad that symbolises ‘an abundance of wealth and long life’. The word "hei" or ‘rise’ is in reference to a thriving business and thus, its popularity with businessmen during the Chinese New Year. Consisting of white and green radish, carrots, capsicum, turnips, red pickled ginger and such, this dish is usually served as an appetiser where families and friends gather to toss the ingredients while saying auspicious well wishes out loud to bring in good luck. It is also believed that the higher you toss, the greater your fortunes will be.

Now, like a wink of an eye, Chinese Lunar New Year was upon us again. Last year, we had "pot- luck" for our "Lo-Hei" (Link). But this year, the organizer (Mr. Roy - an Hindu Indian) suggested a proper seafood dinner and all agreed. It amazed me that an unlikely Hindu Indian was the driving force and organizer behind our Chinese "Lo-Hei" celebration and this ironic fact alone, truly reflects the deep acculturation of diverse cultural and religious practices in our small city-state.

Each driver paid $50 and invited guests paid half. Some drivers brought their wives and friends. We had steamed sea-bass, craps, vegetable, hor-fun, fried rice and the must-have "yu-shen" from the coffee shop "zhe char" restaurant. There were lots of beers and soft drinks. Some contributed a bottle of gin and "Martell". The "zhe char" seafood was "ordinary", nothing to scream about but the fresh steamed sea prawns (not reared) specially bought and cooked by Mr. Roy was super delicious.

To those drivers who had hand-over their taxis to the next-shift drivers, there was nothing to stop them from getting drunk but none was drunk that night. Most drivers had soft drinks instead of beer, because they knew that if they were caught for drink-driving, their rice bowl would be shattered instantly and probably had to change trade to become security guards or cleaners.

Amplified songs from CD, loud shouts of "yam-shing" and "huat".... "huat" created a ruckus through the night. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed the celebration.

I was overwhelmed at the spirit of comradeship and endearing friendship displayed at the simple celebration. We may be poor taxi drivers, each plying our trade individually on the road but we know how and when to get together to celebrate and enjoy ourselves in a cheap, simple and fun way. I believe there are many other groups of taxi drivers in Singapore doing the same thing like us in Jurong Central.

As usual, many taxi stories were exchanged at the tables but most stories were mundane and trivial, involving unreasonable customers, lecherous peters, prostitutes and benevolent strangers. Only one from Mr. Roy was out of the ordinary and I would like to share it with you briefly.

A few nights ago, Roy picked this attractive Chinese lady of twenty-something at Amber Road. Without giving a destination, she offhandedly asked Roy to just drive. Though taken aback, Roy was smart and hit the ECP expressway towards AYE in the direction of Tuas. Driving a paying passenger at expressway was the easiest way to make a few bucks. Apart from the fare meter clicking furiously, Roy also had the pleasure and freedom, for the first time in his driving career, to decide where to go instead of the passenger. 

As he turned into KJE nearing Tuas, the fare meter showed $35. Roy instinctively sensed the gospel truth of "there's always a catch" and asked. "Where are we going now".

"Just drive" she repeated.

"You mean you don't care where I go?"

"Just drive"  she repeated and gazed out of the window like she did for the journey thus far.

"OK". Roy pressed hard on his accelerator and went through BKE - SLE - TPE towards Changi airport. The meter displayed $90 near the airport.

"Please" she said suddenly, "take me back to Amber Road".

"Wonderful, now I know where I should go after driving almost a complete round of Singapore" Roy heaved a relief.

As Roy pulled up to the same spot where he picked her, the meter showed $102, with all surcharges included.

She placed three $50 notes on the middle hand rest and left without saying a word.

To Roy, the extra money was a Chinese New Year's "ang pow" (gift) but he was left to wonder for the rest of his life what the hell was going on with that lady.

That was the end of Roy's story. Now, let me tell you the true story of what happened after our "Lo-Hei".

There was a balance of $119 after paying everything for the celebration. That balance money was used to buy six tickets of system 7 of the $10 million TOTO draw. Wow!, as luck would have it, we struck $4,386. Each got about $160. Not only we had a free "makan"( Malay for food) but a small "ang-pow" too!.  Maybe we should get together more often to celebrate and hope to win bigger lottery prices. Huat! Huat!! Huat!!!

Mr. Roy - Nickname "Teochew Keling"

Becoming a Cabby is a Viable Career Choice?

Mr. Christopher Tan, a senior correspondent on transport matters, wrote a concise and factual report of a "surge in numbers seeking to drive taxis" in the front page of today's "The Straits Times".

In summary, he says that because of an improvement in taxi drivers nett earning of 3.5k to 4k per month, work flexibility, independence, use of the taxi like a personal car, "boss-status" and other positive factors, more people are flocking to get a taxi licence. In the last decade, it was about 7,880 yearly, today, it's 9,100 yearly - an increase of 16%. The pool of taxi licence holders has increased to about 96,000, verses fewer than 90,000 before 2007, though only half are active drivers. Many get the licence as a backup in case of unemployment or drive part-time. (Ex-SIA pilots should consider this option)

Younger people and more women are joining the industry as they find the flexible working hours blends in well with their household chores, like picking kids and running errands. More time are also available for the family. In essence, the value of a taxi licence had increased tremendously and becoming a taxi driver in Singapore is a viable career choice.

However, Mr Tan did not say a word on the negative aspect of a cabby's job. I suppose his report was only to highlight the factual surge in numbers and the reasons behind it. After reading the report, which gives the impression that it could be the best job in town, a normal reader would now mull to become a cabby. All taxi companies and training centers should thank Mr. Tan for his invaluable help in their recruitment drives and potential increase in business.

Honestly, as a taxi driver myself, I'm not worried about more competition in this business. It has been a "cut-throat" business for a long time and how much worse can it get. With nearly 26,000 taxis available for service, another few thousands is only ripples in the ocean. My point is, some folks might quit their jobs to join this industry for the wrong reasons.

Besides the "attractive" aspects of a taxi driver's job, as highlighted in Mr. Tan's report, the prospective taxi driver should also look at the other side of the coin, such as the following, before he hands in the resignation letter.

1. Lack of Benefits
 A taxi driver is self-employed, with no benefits whatsoever. He won't get pay increment, annual bonus/leaves, free medical/dental expenses, employer's CPF contribution, career advancement etc.... Uniquely, a taxi driver has to pay to rest or while in sick bay. If company's benefits are factored in, a salaried worker with a face salary of $2,000 would actually get close to $3,000 monthly. Presently, the median monthly income of  half of all full-time employed Singaporean is about $3,248, inclusive of employers' CPF contribution.

2. Saving
It's difficult to save when daily collections are in cash. A 25 years person working in company will see a saving in his CPF when he   retires at 62, whereas a taxi driver will see none unless he buys an early endowment insurance policy.

3. Poor Health
To achieve an income of $4,000 plus, a driver has to drive at least 10 hours a day, 7days a week. Sitting inside a cab for such long hours without exercises is detrimental to health. Those drivers who does not take care of their health but stress themselves to hit a daily income quota would inevitably have chronic illness, like aches, high blood pressure, obesity, kidney/heart diseases, among others.

4. Job Hazards
Assaults, robbery, traffic accidents/fines, fare cheats, insults/quarrels, stress, lack of social life..etc are some common job hazards of a cabby.

5. Lost of Social Status
Driving a cab is not "glamorous" and sad to say, most people perceive taxi driving as a low prestige occupation. A driver must swallow own pride and come to term with this reality, especially for those who were ex-PMET. In addition, cab driving is a service orientated job that requires a lot of interactions with all kind of people and therefore a "tolerant" temperament is essential and be prepared to deal with difficult passengers. If you don't like to meet people, don't ever become a taxi driver because you're going to meet a lot of them, everyday at your wheel.

6. Dead-End Job
Cab driving is a dead-end job with no prospect of career advancement, though the income could provide for a frugal family of four in our increasingly expensive country. I would encourage young people to venture into more challenging careers or business, which offers better opportunities for successes and fortune. This job is most suitable for those above 50 years old and retirees or as a last resort when all else failed, just like what the PhD taxi driver did when he was fired from A*Star. (Link)
  
Having said the aforesaid, which are common knowledge to the well-heed, I welcome you to the taxi rank and wish you the best of luck.

Life is a Sum Total of Choices.

 
Today is my half yearly medical check-up at Jurong Polyclinic and I called it my rest day, albeit without pay.

Since I've some time on my hand, I would like to share with you an article that I came across recently that reads like a compass in life - human wisdom that provides guidance for living a good life. If I were much younger, I would surely use it as my guide in managing my life. Maybe you would like to share your thoughts, just like I did, on this topic of life's choices.

Here is the article entitled "Good Choices Great Lives" 

"Life is full of choices and opportunities. However, some choices will have a greater impact on your life than others. There are a few choices that will dramatically impact the quality of your life no matter when you make that choice. 

So one must know them and the best of them! 

Friendships:
The less you associate with some people, the more your life will improve. Any time you tolerate mediocrity in others, it increases your mediocrity. An important attribute in successful people is their impatience with negative thinking and negative acting people. As you grow, your associates will change. Some of your friends will not want you to go on. They will want you to stay where they are. Friends that don't help you climb will want you to crawl. Your friends will stretch your vision or choke your dream. Those that don't increase you will eventually decrease you.

Consider this: Never receive counsel from unproductive people. Never discuss your problems with someone incapable of contributing to the solution, because those who never succeed themselves are always first to tell you how. Not everyone has a right to speak into your life. You are certain to get the worst of the bargain when you exchange ideas with the wrong person. Don't follow anyone who's not going anywhere.

With some people you spend an evening: with others you invest it. Be careful where you stop to inquire for directions along the road of life. Wise is the person who fortifies his life with the right friendships. If you run with wolves, you will learn how to howl. But, if you associate with eagles, you will learn how to soar to great heights. "A mirror reflects a man's face, but what he is really like is shown by the kind of friends he chooses."

The simple but true fact of life is that you become like those with whom you closely associate - for the good and the bad.

Note: Be not mistaken. This is applicable to family as well as friends. Yes...do love, appreciate and be thankful for your family, for they will always be your family no matter what. Just know that they are human first and though they are family to you, they may be a friend to someone else and will fit somewhere in the criteria above.

"In Prosperity Our Friends Know Us. In Adversity We Know Our friends."

"Never make someone a priority when you are only an option for them." "If you are going to achieve excellence in big things, you develop the habit in little matters. Excellence is not an exception, it is a prevailing attitude.." 

(My thought: How true! I think we should wisely select our friends, instead of letting them select us. It's better to have 2 good friends than a dozens of the "good weather ones") 

Careers:

Making the choice between passion and practicality is something you really should take seriously in your career. I didn’t do it in my younger years and as a result my life was miserable in numerous ways. My health deteriorated, I was depressed, and I was always angry or anxiety ridden. A career takes up a significant part of your life, up to 65% of your day in many cases. If you hate what you do, then think about what kind of things you are going to attract into your life. The majority of your time, energy, and thoughts are being directed to your misery. It’s a simple application of the law of attraction at work. 

(My thought:  In the beginning of our working life, the majority of us do not have a clear idea of what we really like in a job. As we embarked on a discovery trip in our job, the picture becomes clearer and we eventually know what kind of career we really want. A perfect career fit is possible if you are willing to listen to what your family, teachers and good friends say about your personality, strength and weakness. More importantly, you must have the courage to make the change as early as possible. The reason for Warren Buffett's success is :"He does what he loves". Recently departed Steve Jobs said likewise: "The only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it." 

Relationships: Your choice in relationships not only alters the quality of your life, but the quality of someone else’s. So, if you make a bad choice you run the risk of making two people’s lives miserable. Of course the opposite is true as well. If you make the right choice then you double the joy that goes out into the world and bring more of it back to you. Have you ever noticed how at the beginning of a relationship when you start dating somebody, everything seems too be perfect. You have a great time together and everything goes smoothly and you seem to be on a roll of attracting positive experiences into your life. Then, you stop getting along, and everything else goes to hell too. So, make sure you choose wisely.

(My thought: Don't ever believe that you can change to please your partner or hoping your partner will change for the love of you. That's a delusion. Instead ask early if both of you can accept each other the way you are. Your relationship has a very long expiry date. So, be honest and practical, especially when money matters are involved.)

To extrapolate our personal choice onto a national level, the choice we make on polling day, determines the kind of government we want.....One that serves and take care of its citizens or one that goes after A First World status with highest GDP but with scant regard of the former.

Superstition In Singapore

Mandarin word for "Prosperity"

Singapore might be one of S.E. Asia's wealthiest and most well educated society, but bizarre superstitions are still part of daily life in our predominantly ethnic Chinese city-state.

Chinese Singaporean in every strata of society and faiths and at some points in their life, believes that "invisible spirits" are breathing down their shoulders and it's best to appease these "spirits" than to provoke them. To treat superstition as irrelevant or benign could be a terrible mistake and to temp faith with obstinacy is precarious.

Even those of you who say "I'm not superstitious!" have probably at some points cross your fingers to make a cross-sign of Christian faith to fend-off evil spirits from destroying their good fortune or make a silent prayer for help from above.

In Singapore, many participates in superstitious activities, which seemingly look irrational but perceived as rational, just to get a few steps ahead of others. Even well educated Singaporean embraces superstitious practices because of the cut-throat environment here. Hence, the prevalent "kiasi" and "kiasu" mentality permeates into every Singaporean daily struggles for a better life.

A Chinese taxi driver, before he kicks off his shift, places some fresh coins on his dashboard for good business and stroke the armlets high on his arm or the amulets hanging at the rear mirror for a prosperous, safe and accident free shift ahead.

Jack Neo does an elaborate offering of a roasted pig with other goodies to someone above, before embarking on a new movie project. And Sembawang's CEO cracks a bottle of champagne at the launch of a new oil rig.

The original design of the three MBS hotel towers, without the ship-like-structures, looks like three Chinese ancestral tablets at an alter. And that was considered a bad omen as it's related to death. So the additional structure, costing extra millions was placed.

And also, the spinning direction of "Singapore Flyer" was reversed to revolve towards the land instead of outwards towards the sea. This was done with the hope that good fortune would flow inward to the business enterprise and not letting revenue flow outward to the sea.

Many aspects of Chinese Singaporean life and even national icons are not immune to superstition and feng shui practices, which is a Chinese system of geomancy to improve luck in general.

Like many cultures, Chinese superstition here are related to good and bad luck and spirits of the unknown.

Good And Bad Luck     

These two links give many good examples of omens for good luck and feng shui ( Link 1) and (Link 2). Please take a look at these two links.

But here are some uncommon superstitious beliefs from kopitiam uncles and my taxi buddies.

1. For good luck at casinos, do not walk into the entrance of the casino at the center of the walkway. Instead, go through the entrance at the extreme ends of either sides with your head bowed. In this way, the casino's spiritual guards would not notice you nor mark you for misfortune. Also, do not touch the rails of an escalators or lean against the walls in a lift. Your lucky "qi" or energies will be drawn away through these contacts.

2. At the casino tables, do not sit right infront of the croupier as he/she would suck away your good energies with combined help and strength from his managers and supervisors around. It's better to stand at a corner of the table to avoid their attack and move about to rejuvenate and recoup your strength when luck is down.

3. Gamblers are the most superstitious of the lot. In action, no gamblers like to be touched on the shoulders or head and likes to wear red underpants to attract lady luck. Many carry lucky charms or carry out some sort of a ritual before or while gambling, like silent praying, never counting money, crossing legs or accepting $50 notes as payout. They will try a variety of things to influence lady luck to smile at them.

4. When urinating onto the ground near a tree or bushes in the open, ask permission and forgiveness with a praying palms before performing the call of nature or you might die from sickness for urinating at the "God-of-Earth" or some "Wandering Spirits".

5. Upon entering a hotel room for the night, ask the "good-brother" spirit's permission to let you sleep peacefully till day break.

6. For the not so fertile couple who want to have a child, the wife should lay down on the bed of a mother who had just given birth to absorb the fertility "qi" or goodness.

7. To get good results in any exam, the candidate should wash his face with holy water from his place of worship and drink the contents too.

8. After visiting a funeral or wake and before entering a home, the person must wash his hand and face with fresh water mixed with "shiah lui" leaves to remove all evil spirit.

9. To increase sexual vitality, man must not wear underpants in bed and drinks horse urine. Similarly, woman must immerse in goat's milk and eat raw goose's egg yolk.

10. To strike 4D frequently, one must donate generously to the God of Fortune on the 9th of Sept. of the Chinese lunar calender.

11. Do not sit at the front row of a Hungry Ghost Festival's "getai", as those seats are reserved for the "unseen guests" or they will haunt till your death when offended.

12. The incremental ninth year of a person age (example: 29, 39, 49, 59, 69 etc) is besieges with ill fortune, sickness and tragedy. Avoid revealing your age at those time of your life, if you want to live longer and have a more blissful life.

The list of superstitious beliefs and practices goes on and on, in spite of the fact that we're living in a new millennium with the most advance scientific technologies in a First World country. My philosophy on this matter is in mandarin "Ke Sin Pu Ke Mee"  i.e." Can Believe, But Don't Be Blinded".

Many Chinese Singaporean are followers of Buddhism, which do not practice superstitious beliefs, whereas Taoism followers, on the other hand, are regular practitioners. But both religion itself does not have such practices. A lot of them will just try because to them there is no harm in trying. As long as we don't let superstition control our life, believing in something that will bring us good luck is actually beneficial.

As Singapore is a cosmopolitan city-state, the local Indians and Malays have their own unique sets of peculiar superstitious beliefs and practices but it revolves around the same basic belief in luck and spirits like the Chinese.  

Tell me if you know of other lesser known superstitious beliefs in Singapore. Thank You!.

To all my Chinese readers:

Wishing You " A Happy & Prosperous Chinese Lunar New Year"
                      " May the Year of the Snake Brings Good Health &
                        Happiness to You & Your Family"