Why Hawker Food Tastes better than Food Court Food

I ate a beef don at Thomson Plaza yesterday and I was amazed (or should I say disgusted?) at the food quality. There were like just 6 pieces of beef and the rice was soaked in a gravy that did not really taste japanese or anything. The miso soup was also terrible and tasted nothing like miso soup at all. All this cost me $5.50 and I would most probably never eat that again.

All the years in my life, I have always wondered why hawker food tastes so much better than food in the food courts.

Now, I think I know the answer why.

I used to think that it was the air-con in the food court that somehow affected the quality of the food. I then realised that it was not necessarily the air-con but the people that made all the difference.

I believe that most food court stalls are not actually owned by the people running it. There might be a small exception but I believe most stalls are actually owned and managed by the food court themselves. Many of them are actually hired by the food court themselves to operate the various stalls. These people (usually PRCs) are hired and are not the business owners.

They simply do not care about the quality of the food or the service that they provide. They are just there to make a living without having to bother about profits and customer service. I have seen these PRCs trying to speak Mandarin to Malays and Indians before... totally oblivious to the fact that these people do not understand them!

Compare this to the hawker centre where the stalls are runned by the owners themselves. The owners put in the effort to make sure that they smile at you (okay, some of them do smile) and at least maintain a reasonable standard of the food quality.

Hawker food for me always tastes way better than food court food. I don't know if it is true for you but it certainly is for me.

Not only is hawker food much nicer, it is often much cheaper too!

How to Get Your Credit Card Annual Fee Waived

Today, I managed to get my credit card annual fee of $150 waived.

How did I do it?

It is simple. All it takes is a simple phone call to customer service.

I have a DBS credit card and all I did was to call the customer service hotline. I waited for roughly 5 minutes to be put through to an operator.

All I asked was that the annual fee be waived. The customer service officer was extremely polite and did not even ask for the reason why. She just said "Okay" and it was done.

She then went on to inform me that I had some points that were expiring and advised me on what to redeem which she proceeded to help me with too.

Just a few simple steps and I saved $150!

Most banks are more than happy to waive the annual fee as long as you ask. If they refuse to budge, you can threaten to cancel your credit card and place your business with other banks. That should make them budge.

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Travelling and Reading Broadens My Horizons

If there are two things that adds to my learning, I would safely say that it is travelling and reading.

Travelling brings me to new places, allows me to see new sights, experience different cultures, face unique situations, taste new food, feel differently about home and lots more. It engages my five senses and makes me more aware of my surroundings.

During travel, there are also lots of stories to tell. One's experiences during travel are perhaps richer when compared to the mundane day to day living in Singapore.

Of course, one could learn as much in Singapore but sometimes this makes it difficult as we are just not as receptive to learning as when we are overseas.

Reading is another good platform for learning.

Through reading, we can learn from the experiences and knowledge of other people. People have poured in effort in the writing of their books, articles and blogs.

This allows us to learn from their experiences, shorten our own learning curve and avoid the common mistakes that are made in lives.

Together, they allow us to see the world differently. We become more aware of our limitations and who we really are.

The process of discovering how little we know about this world is indeed a refreshing idea.

A book in one hand while travelling the world is one of my dreams.

Centralised Planning Versus Disciplined Pluralism

I was reading John Kay's The Truth About Markets as I was touring recently.

In it, he mentioned that there were many instances when centralised planning fails and how a market economy could actually achieve better coordination compared to an economy which had some form of central planning.

Take for example the queues in a supermarket. Shoppers are out to protect their own interest and based on their own judgements, join the queue that they perceive to be the shortest. This sort of decision making without any form of centralised control (i.e. a supervisor of the shop directing shoppers to join the shortest queue) is efficient by itself.

That is why you seldom see supermarkets employing people to help people get to the shortest queue. People who are looking after their own interests will automatically search for the shortest queue to join. This is how a successful market economy ought to function with disciplined pluralism.

In another example, no one discovered the personal computer. Instead, the industry emerged from a process of unplanned trial and error within a framework of disciplined pluralism. We are all well aware of how the founder of Microsoft himself was not even certain of the need for such powerful machines for an individual when he said: "640K ought to be enough for anybody."

A look at the failures of Mao in his attempt at the Great Leap Forward also shows the failures of a centrally planned economy. We idolised Jack Welch because it is hard to believe that a large corporation like General Electric remained successful because of decentralised decision making amongst thousands of individuals in the organisation.

So what does all this have to do with my tour?

During my tour, I could not help but noticed lots of unfinished buildings that lay scattered amongst the landscape. I was told that it was perhaps due to the economic crisis that led to this projects being abandoned.

This unfinished hotels were indeed a sore sight to any tourist. The buildings looked like they could easily become 5 star hotels but were now left abandoned without any windows or paintwork.

It made me wonder how disciplined pluralism really works. Sure.. we can let all the businesses flourish and let businessmen make their own decisions. The market will decide everything and that is why there were so many unfinished hotels.

But wouldn't it have been better if there was some kind of central planning agency to estimate the actual supply and demand of tourists that were expected in the area? Of course, for all we know, the central planning agency might have failed even more spectacularly with over optimistic figures and for all I know, the landscape might have been littered with even MORE unfinished hotels.

And yet when we look at Singapore, we seldom see any so called unfinished hotels or buildings. The tight control and central planning by URA has been efficient and effective in that sense.

So which works better? Centralised planning or Disciplined Pluralism? I don't know.

2 Different Economic Lives

I was overseas and walking down a marina where boats and yatches were berthed.

A security guard stood there ensuring that no one trespassed the gates which even a 5 year old could easily climb over.

The scenery was surreal. Calm and peaceful. Two children around the ages of 5 and 7 were feeding some fishes in the marina. The water was clear and I could see the fishes swarmed to them as they tossed the bread to them.

The white boats and yatches were parked neatly in rows. I couldn't help but notice that they were all white in color and that there were people actually living in them.

I striked up a conversation with the security guard. He was tanned and looked smart in his iron pressed white uniform. Bearning a moustach, he looked pretty friendly and smiled at me as I approached.

"How much to park the boat there?" I asked

"Don't know." he shook his head as he replied in his rather broken english. It was clear that he was not good in the language.

A brief silence and then he said: " Maybe ...3000. Yes , 3000 one month"

He did not seem like he knew the answer but felt obliged to give one anyway.

"Do they need to be members or anything?" I asked further

"Yes..yes..members..., only boat berth pass holders allowed in." he replied, clearly echoing the words on the sign that was placed on the gate to warn any trespasses.

Hoping to bring the conversation further, I asked : "And these people stay in their boats? Where do they come from?"

"Everywhere...they come here and park.... then they go off." He replied.

"Boy..where do you come from??" the security guard directed this question to the 7 year old boy feeding the fishes just below.

"Singapore." the boy replied.

"Where is your daddy" the security guard asked.

"My daddy is at home. Our mummy brought us here." the little boy replied as he continued feeding the fishes.

Another brief moment of silence....

"So where are you from?" the security guard turned and asked me.

"Singapore" I replied.

"Same as that boy." he pointed to the little boy, as if I had not overheard their conversation.

I smiled politely at the security guard as I turned to leave.

Beyond the marina stood houses that had the most spectacular view of the sea. The sun was rising and it was getting hot. The day had just begun for the security guard as he continued to walk around the rather empty marina.

So different are the economic lives of the security guard and the seven year old boy. One is much younger but perhaps has experienced a lot more things compared to the security guard who probably has never left his country before.

At this point, I am just amazed at how different and far apart their two worlds are. One is here on a holiday in a million dollar yatch while the other will most probably never make a million in his entire life.

It is not because one is cleverer or smarter or more hardworking. It is simply the country they were born in and the opportunities that were presented to them.

Further My Education

A friend asked me today if I was interested in furthering my education in the near future.

That was indeed a tough question to answer.

Oh well....

If money was not a concern, I would definitely go for further studies. Perhaps in a nice European country where I can get to travel around during the holidays too!

However, with masters and phds costing so much, I am not sure whether it is worth my money to pursue such courses. And besides, providing for the family comes first. It is a sacrifice I have to make.

I would LOVE to do it..especially an overseas stint. But the MONEY just does not make sense to me.

Perhaps in another year or two when things look better =)

At the mean time, I will just have to make do with my dosage of books.

Unless some generous sponsor pops up along the way and offers me a scholarship =)

If you are that sponsor sent from heaven, do let me know!

Counting My Money

I can't sleep. I am worried about my finances.

So I am up now counting my money in all the places that I have. Sometimes I forget that I even have such money lying around.

Cash:
1. POSB Savings : $6200
2. Maybank : $17,000
3. Citibank: $6300

Stocks
1. Singapore: $72,000
2. US Stocks: $8000
3. Unit Trusts: $4000

Semi-liquid Funds:
1. Investment Linked Plan 1 = $37500
2. Whole Life = $15,000

Okay...now I feel so much better..Can sleep again =)