Lifestyles Ideas Management - Wendy Hamburgers

Dave Thomas, founder of Wendy’s Hamburgers is the only founder among America’s big companies whose picture in the corporate annual report shoes him wielding a mop and a plastic bucket. That wasn’t a gag either; it was done intentionally so that he could lead by example. At Wendy’s an MBA does not mean a “Master of Business Administration,” it means “Mop Bucket Attitude” service at the lowest levels makes for great success. How many of our fast food joints or eateries where managers and owners serve at the lowest levels. You can find this lead by example in the heartland food stall owner where he could not afford to hire another assistant, he have to do all by himself from cleaning, washing, cooking and serving.

Today’s papers published Starbucks takes a coffee break, the world’s largest coffee chain, Starbucks closed all its 7,100 company operated outlets across the US for 3 ½ hours on Tuesday to retrain its 135,000 employees on the proper method of pulling shots of espresso as well as other beverage tasks. Starbucks has 15,011 stores in 42 countries.
The training shutdown is necessary because of slow sales and increasing competition particularly from fast food restaurant Macdonald’s. I do not think it is just Macdonald’s as there are many fast food joints in States competing for the American tastes.
The stock slide about 50 percent since last 2006 and it made sense to address the basic services. The employees have got so used to pulling shots of espresso and they forgot all about the aspects of front line services. The thank you customers, smile and make eye contact when they hand over the drinks. They got used selling at the counter and forgot all about the personal touch which is so important. The personal touch can create so much loyalty from customer who will return for a drink to meet their polite serving crew. Such lack of services always happen to big joints and it was a good move by the Chief Executive to quickly step in the brakes of retraining. Whether this retraining will improves sales but it is a good and applaud move.

If all our managers can have the “mop bucket attitude” what a great success it will be as it is serving at the lowest level by example. Can you imagine being served by the Chief Executive of Starbucks one morning as you step into the Seattle Starbucks Coffee joint! The CE was dressed in their corporate uniform minus his expensive blue suit and matching tie. No one can recognize him at all and later being told that that person serving me is the top executive. How would you feel? That is a top of the world feeling!
Of course that will not happened at all, when you are so high, high up there, you will not be able to see your own toes, unless you deliberately bend down to take a look!

The starbucks coffee break for 31/2 hours is refreshing! More corporation should join in and have a break!

Lifestyles Ideas Management - Beware of the honey-trap!

Do you know what is a “honey trap” or “honey trappers”?
Suspicious wives and husbands here are using private investigators agencies to bait their partners with attractive, flirtatious honey trappers. Honey attracts and “honey trappers” attract wayward men. There is a sting, these men has been set up by their wives, who hire women to test their husbands’ fidelity. The “honey trappers is a growing trend in Britain and here in Singapore. When checked with private investigator agency here, they readily offered the honey-trapper services. One agency offered that their honey trapper goes all the way and one drew the line at physical intimacy. It is usual the wives that hired these services to entrap their husbands, some husband will test their wives fidelity by hiring handsome men as bait.
A typical scenario:
The honey trapper will bumps into him asks to borrow his cell phone or simply drop a file. A friendship may result. Or more directly she drops him a flirtatious message or phone call. She may claim that she got his number from a friend. If an exchange of flirtatious calls and messages follows, she will ask for a meeting. And 90 percent of the time the will fall into the trap.
Some private investigator finds such entrapment distasteful and prefers that good detective work was enough to uncover such evidence. Resorting to honey trapping is unethical and it is not fair to the target. But they know their husband is cheating on them and they want to get evidence in case of a divorce. Some want to find out if their husband will be faithful enough to resist the temptation. Some husband, too suspicious of their wives’ fidelity has engaged male honey trappers and usual the good looking party types boys.

There have been rising cases of cheating wives. Couples spend a lot of time apart and this increases the opportunities and inclinations for affairs. Singapore saw an all-time high of 7,061 divorces in 2006 up from 6,909 in 2005 and 6,388 in 2004. Today, men can cheat so can the women. A lot of women travel or are posted overseas and many get involved with third parties. These married women are usually career high fliers in their thirties.
Many travel often as part of their job and usually get entangled with their bosses or colleagues. Hiring such honey-trappers services is not fair to the target and it is setting him up instead of finding out the truth. It seem like a lifestyles ideas of not trusting the one whom sleep on the same bed and what is in the marriage if there is not trust at all!

There is a real life story which happened to my family ten years ago on cheating wife while husband was out station for degree study. Looking back I wondered how my brother struggled and yet able to come out of the pit. The culprit got free and both victim is scared for life.

Lifestyles Ideas Management - Don't Give Up

Is this an email that my friend Rosy sent to me sometimes ago.. I thought it will be good to post while I begin writing about the most unforgettable character.

Dear Friends
Here is something for you to read.ENJOY!
Don't Give Up.....One day I decided to quit...I quit my job, my relationship, my spirituality...
I wanted to quit my life. I went to the woods to have one last talk with God.
"God", I asked, "Can you give me one good reason not to quit?"
His answer surprised me..."Look around",

He said. "Do you see the fern and the bamboo?"
"Yes", I replied."When I planted the fern and the bamboo seeds, I took very good care of them.
I gave them light. I gave them water.

The fern quickly grew from the earth. Its brilliant green covered the floor. Yet nothing came from the bamboo seed. But I did not quit on the bamboo.
In the second year the Fern grew more vibrant and plentiful.

And again, nothing came from the bamboo seed.

"But I did not quit on the bamboo. He said."

In year three there was still nothing from the bamboo seed. But I would not quit.
In year four, again, there was nothing from the bamboo seed. I would not quit.
He said."Then in the fifth year a tiny sprout emerged from the earth.
Compared to the fern it was seemingly small and insignificant...
But just 6 months later the bamboo rose to over 100 feet tall.

It had spent the five years growing roots.

Those roots made it strong and gave it what it needed to survive.

I would not give any of my creations a challenge it could not handle.
He asked me. "Did you know, my child, that all this time you have been struggling, you have actually been growing roots?".

"I would not quit on the bamboo and likewise I will never quit on you.""Don't compare yourself to others."

He said. "The bamboo had a different Purpose than the fern.

Yet they both make the forest beautiful.""Your time will come",

God said to me. "You will rise high" "How high should I rise?"

I asked. "How high will the bamboo rise?"

He asked in return."As high as it can?" I questioned.

"Yes." He said, "Give me glory by rising as high as you can.

"I left the forest and brought back this story.
I hope these words can help you see that God will never give up on you.

Never, Never, Never Give up.

For the Christian Prayer is not an option but an opportunity.

Don't tell the Lord how big the problem is, tell the problem how Great the Lord is!

Heavens door open this morning, God asked me..."My CHILD, what can I do for you?"

And I said, "Daddy, please protect and bless the one reading this message."

God smiled and answered, "Request granted."

Lifestyles Ideas Management - My Travelogue- Part 5 Final

The next day 8 February 2008 we were on our own, the four fellow travelers were still with the relatives enjoying their home stay. We have breakfast at the hotel, plain porridge, small cakes, preserved mustard leaves and olives leaves, the delicacies in Chaozhou, small meat buns all piping hot but not quite tasty. At 9:00 am we set off to see the town of Chaozhou, a rich man’s house with about 200 rooms all in acres of land. Each room was constructed with fire escape route and what if there was a great flood, an escape route can be found on the second floor of each room. Every room has an underground refuge just in case if there was an emergency. The rooms will built with mosaic tiles and floorings from Italy, each room with different design and no one room is of the same designs. There were as many kitchens as there were many rooms. I supposed the rich man would like his descendents to live together happily ever after. I love to live in such a big mansion. What really spoiled the whole place is that some of the rooms were leased to commercial shops selling handicrafts. We went for lunch at a small restaurant famous for goose meat. Along the way we saw many goose and duckling ponds so we thought perhaps it will be good to taste some of the free range goose meat.
It was really tender and juicy, one goose priced at Yuan 200.00. Other dishes were just plain and simple home cooked fare. The door of the restaurant was tainted glass with the portrait of a naked woman, quite odd for a restaurant to display such artistic item. It seemed that in Fuzhou, such portrait of naked woman are everywhere on the front door of any shops or restaurant. This is where Fuzhou and Chaozhou is different from the rest of cities in Fujian Province.Chaozhou is a walled city and we get to climb up the stairs to the gate city overlooking to another city by the Xingzi Bridge. It is one of the famous bridges in China. My mum was not feeling well so we did not toured the Bay Bridge, Waterside Promenade, People’s square and Zhongzhan Park. The evening came up and we had dinner at the same restaurant as usual and this time I decided to order some of our favorite dishes. We also invited the Mr. Chen for dinner since we ordered his portion.

We left our mum in the hotel room and decided to take a stroll somewhere near the hotel before hitting for an early night sleeps. The next morning, our fellow travelers joined us for breakfast and we will set out at 9:30 am back to Xiamen. We talked to each other and came to know that the wife, Helen is the owner of the Pork Ribs Soup Restaurant (a famous eatery in Tiong Bahru Road. I have not eaten before but heard from my gourmet colleagues that her soup is the best in town. She came to China for the purpose of buying the famous Hong Pao tea leaves whom her customer swears by it. She told me her life story within the few hours and we arrived at the tea plantation owned by a Taiwanese. There are terraces and terraces of tea shrubs, an institution for tea culture, a restaurant for tea dishes and a hot spring hotel. It is a city within a city. The dishes were the best which I had ever tasted since our arrival in Fujian province. The tea fried rice was the best, light and fragrant in taste and smell. The dessert is tea cakes filled with tea flavored cream. Simply delicious and creative!

After lunch, we went to the tea shop where they brewed the three types of tea for sample tasting. Back in the van and the journey takes another one hour where we came across the nursery to buy some narcissi back home for planting. Ten bulbs cost Yuan 40.00.
Until today, the narcissi is still grown tall but no flowers bloom even though there is buds, perhaps they only bloom in cold season, though we keep them in the toilet. The only cold place at home is the toilet. After that we head straight to the highway and within three hours back to Xiamen hotel. Can you remember the hotel serving the most horrible breakfast! We stayed for five nights and nothing memorable except for the big and clean room. The room service is excellent and they always provided us a heater to warm the whole place. At times it was so cold that we snuggled together three persons in two beds and covered with three blankets plus the heater on high.
That night we went to a fusion restaurant (Japanese, Chinese and American food); they were so short hand with serving crew and chef that we waited about an hour for our food. The guide offered to drive us to Zhongzhan Road (a high fashion place) for window shopping and bought a warm sweater for my elder brother. Three hours later, we took a cab back to the hotel. We packed and stuffed into three luggage and two hand carry bags for our flight back home the next day.

It was a smooth flight back home and after crossing by South China Sea, we started pulling off our cardigan and put on our short T shirts as the weather in Singapore was very warm. We touched down at 4:30 pm and reached home at 5:00pm since the airport is about 15 minutes ride to home. What a cold trip and it is nice to be back home from the cold. We slept early preparing for work the next day even though I had such a bad cough and heavy head. Thanks for reading and that’s the end of my travelogue, hope I did not bored you over the detailed description.

LIfestyles Ideas Management - My Travelogue Part 4

Our luggages in the van, eight of us including the guide cum driver set off to Shantou, a small town in Chaozhou. Our newly joined travelers intended to visit their hometown and we followed along since we need to pass by Chaozhou and later Shantou and it was an eye opener for us to visit Shantou. We heard from our guide that Shantou and Chaozhou were not safe places and we need to be cautious of our handbags. Do not displayed cash while shopping in the streets as there are many snatch thieves around. Railway is the most unsafe place to visit as there were many migrants from North/West who came to seek for work and when they cannot earn a living, the only desperate way out it to turn to crimes. Sometimes they are lured by hooligans or syndicate to commit bigger crimes. There were many beggars around; the most prominent one is a man who dragged his son to beg along with him. We arrived at Shantou town where most of the residents were formerly farmers but during the last few years booming period, they create for themselves as hardware wholesalers specializes in aluminum steel plates, pots and pans, thermos flask or any appliances made of aluminum steel There were many good lands now filled up with stagnant water or became polluted ponds and dumping ground. The city infrastructure is not as good as Xiamen or Guangzhou. The streets were very untidy in the architecture display of building, old houses with new buildings. Building with first & second storey and third storey half completed smack in between abandoned houses. The streets are constructed in between one big drain in the centre served as a dumping ground for vehicles to drive by and throw their rubbishes into the big drain. The traffic is anybody game, once the traffic light is not working, the vehicles jammed into the centre and nobody gave way to no one and the horns goes on and on and on until they called in the traffic warden. See how aggressive these Chinese drivers are!
I thought there are gracious people since with Confucianism is still alive, at least there should be a display of give way to each other. What has happened in between communism and capitalism, the Cultural Revolution, somewhere has gone wrong during the dark 10 years where the rich were sent to the fields for hard labor. People are the same everywhere, when there is a gap between the very rich and the poor, in rises the middle classes, there is always the domineering and the oppressed group and the middle classes taking advantages of the poorer in turn being take for a ride by the rich. Chinese people are no exceptionally, in Xiamen I saw a rich woman having troubles trying to walk her fat poodle with nice fur and there sat a skinny to the bone old beggar on the streets. The poodle has a better life than the beggar. To the rich, this is the outcast of the society and why can they work hard than me, see I work hard for my money and carve a niche for myself. Just too bad, the poor beggar did not make it or he deserved to be a beggar. I have not seen anyone drop some money in his old dirty hat. The McDonalds is always crowded with fat boys after school with their grandmas, many rich school boys and girls with their expensive warm clothes munching their hamburgers away with one hand and the other with their latest Nokia phones. One value meal will cost the poor seven simple meals per week. I can imagine if I am a poor boy in the Chinese city and how I could not understand why the rich daddy and poor daddy concept. Why cannot Dad be able to afford to buy me a value meal at least once a week, not on special occasion?

We saw how the rich relatives of our fellow travelers, they could afford to invite them to four kings of the seafood banquet table. The four kings will be lobsters, abalone, shark fins and sea cucumbers and it costs a bomb compared to an average worker six months wages. They have three big houses on huge lands and employed a few hundreds workers. Our van moved on after sending them off to their rich relatives, they do not dressed well but they were rich. The rich country folks cannot dress well, their mix and match even they are branded looked cheap. Their dressing sense is out of color and design. It is good to set up joint venture business “Dress beautiful dot com” as image consultant to teach the rich how to dress well to their image. I am very sure this business will be a hit in China as there is a growing middle class yearning to carry this image as outward appearance is now a very important assets in waking China. Trust me I am very sharp in business start up ideas.

Now back to Chaozhou after two hours ride, we went to visit a famous temple (don’t know the name) built in the mountain side. We climb up the rock stairs and get a glimpse of the Chaozhou city landscape. The weather was turned cold about 13 degrees C with wind blowing, I felt my nose blocked with coldness. We saw lots of streets vendor selling their famous tangerines, sugar canes, water chestnuts and did not stopped to buy some.
Mr. Chen, the guide and driver is more a driver than a professional guide; his commentary is short and abrupt. But he is not pushy as a guide and did not insisted that we dropped by a certain shop to buy things so that he can receive his commissions. Not unlike Huang the first guide busily working on his mobile phone he mentioned that such visit to certain shops is compulsory and important in the travel itinerary. We stopped for lunch and dinner at the same restaurant which is famous for the Chaozhou dishes. The owner of the restaurant is a very nice Chaozhou lady, who specially prepared the steamed cake upon our request. I lost quite 2 kilos in weight which was what I was looking forward to as I ate one small bowl of rice for lunch and dinner with morsel portions of fish and vegetables and some meats. Now back home I should be putting the 2 kilos back in no time. The hotel was on the main street facing the similar restaurants and near a night market which is quite pathetic, the stalls sells old fashion clothes and shoes. We engaged a private rickshaw rider to take us around the vicinity and it cost about 10 Yuan. We booked him tomorrow at the same time after dinner and he stood by his appointment the next night. He was from North province and came to Chaozhou ten years ago with wife and two sons. One of his sons is in the University and his younger son is still in high school. Life has been good to him as he retired and living on pension, working as a rickshaw rider to pass his time. He tipped him heavily as he is honest and trustworthy; drive us around in safe driving skills. Three of us in his rickshaw are kind of heavy for him and yet he did it cheerfully. His tips were equivalent to our body weights and this was the first time that a Chinese man mentioned that the money given was too much for him. We insisted and put into his pocket. Along the journey, we bought him a leather glove for his cold hands. He must be touched by our generous hearts and he started telling us about his life story. We brought him joy that day!

That reminded me of the same rickshaw man I met during my half day trip to Laos from Thailand border. I met the same honest rickshaw man who took me around the city tour. He must have been laboring with his rickshaw for many years and life must be hard living for him and his family. He kept quiet all the time and he cycled with each familiar step around the city with few cars. He will only turned around and see whether we were safe behind. We tipped him generously at one stop and after the last stop; he shuffled a few new local currencies in my hand as souvenir with grateful eyes. I still have these new currency notes in my drawer. That was 1992. We brought him joy that day!

Lifestyles Ideas Management - My Travelogue Part 3

I am now attending the last lesson of Webmastering in ITE East campus and decide to make use of the lesson time to post My Travelogue Part 3, will be find some time writing Part 4 & 5.

Part 3.....
After a hearty breakfast, for so much to eat you just need to pay Yuan 10.00 (a sign board advertisement at the front of the dinning hall).
So much to eat but too little space to take in all, we left immediately after breakfast to Fuzhou. Huang talked so much of the Buddha jump over the wall (a chicken soup dish with abalone, mushroom, shark fins and scallop in double-boiled) each dish cost Yuan 200 per pax. We ordered at a restaurant for dinner and thought that it must be delicious.

On the way to Fuzhou, we stopped for lunch, a local traditional Fuzhou cuisine, cannot remember what I ate, must be something ordinary cooking, otherwise I should be able to recall. The restaurant was not filled up, but the noise level was very loud, eating in such a noisy environment can caused indigestion. We finished our lunch quickly and washed down with Chinese tea. Most of the time, we asked for hot water for drinking as I was already down with a bad sore throat. After that we proceed to Drum Hill, over 1000 meters high topped by a huge drum shaped boulder. We visited the thousand years old Yongquan Monastery which was built in the early part of the 10th century. We visited the West Lake Park (almost similar to the one in Hang Zhou, though it is bigger in size). Flowers everywhere added to the park, quite a number of people walking by, older folks were not playing Chinese chess but Black Jack or Poker. The older woman was playing the olden day Black Jack (slim and long card written with Chinese characters). They probably played for fun as I do not see any stakes on the table.
Life has changed so much in China. In the early ’84 and ’94, park were always filled with people doing their graceful sword display as a form of exercises, everyone will be doing brisk walking. Now most of the older folks were sitting down playing card games, what happened good old form of healthy exercises?

Flowers were so pretty, tulips everywhere and reminded me of Holland, though the ones in Holland is bigger in size, chrysanthemums in all kind of colors in a row in the backdrop of willow trees everywhere near the lakeside. The weather was too cold for rowing boat in the lake and too cold for sitting down to play cards.

After that we visited a DR TEA, the name spelled clearly as all tea varieties. The tea girls welcomed us into a small room and tea ceremony started with tasting of three types of tea for our tasting experience. We ended up buying three boxes of flower tea which I bought to my office for my colleagues to drink them. I am not so much a tea drinker but sometimes, when my throat is a little hoarse, a good tea does help to ease it. Otherwise coffee is a much better choice. After that we went for feet reflexology, three young men washing our feet after four days of walking. It was refreshing after a massage and we bought the herbal feet solution for us to soak our feet back home.
We stay two nights at this hotel and the next morning we are supposed to catch a 4:00pm train to Mount. Wuxi. The railway station was bombarded with refugees from Guangzhou who were going homebound for the New Year’s holidays. Our ticket is soft class with seats and waited until 5:00 pm, announcement came with bad news that the train was delayed to 8:00 pm and not confirmed. So we supposed to camp in on the railway transit lounge with few hundred people sitting down, munching away their hamburgers, fried chicken, french fries and husks of sunflower seeds strewn on the floor.
Groundnut husks, sweet wrappers, spilled pepsi and nobody cares much of the floor at all. The railway staff busily distributing bottles and bottles of mineral water to tired travelers who were here camping for days.

All trains were stranded and only one railway track were opened for running. My mum looked worries and my sister put on a serious face, someone has to make a decision. I prayed and told Huang that we wish to cancel the trip to Mount Wuxi and head back to Xiamen with no refund of losses. Huang looked happy as he will not be responsible for our meals and he can pocket the food money.
We were happy back to Xiamen after a four hours flying trip by van, the driver speed all the way, traveling at 80 miles per hour, limit speed is 60 miles per hour. He took the highway and we ended up having dinner at 8pm in a small restaurant. The steamboat soup was so salty that none of us drank the soup at all. We complained to the cashier and he just listened and smiled, perhaps we were the only ones complaining on the soup which were well with other diners. I paid for the dinner and Huang pocket the dinner money. So at this junction, you should know that Huang may have lost lots of money in shares market.

The next two days we spent our time in the hotel (this hotel with the horrible breakfast).
I was down with a bad flu and after breakfast I fell fast asleep, only waking up for lunch and dinner, slept through 48 hours. My mum and sister explored the town and managed to buy some good collection of Chinese movie CD. They found two good restaurant and takeaway food for my lunch and dinner.

The third days, after the horrible breakfast we were met by a new guide Mr. Chen who will guide us into Chaozhou/Shantou/Zhangzhou.
This time we were joined by four other Singaporeans, a couple, their son and his girlfriend, nice and friendly though the husband looked quite proud and arrogant.

Lifestyles Ideas Management - My Travelogue - Part 2

We are having our first Xiamen Cuisine in our room, the food was sent by two young girls from the next to the hotel restaurant called “small eyes”. Maybe the restaurant owner has small eyes so he named it such, or his daughter was born with small eyes, either way is the reason, or the wife. We always called in from the room so did not get to ask the owner what is the reason behind the name. The Xiamen Cuisine is made up of fried oyster omelet, stir fried green vegetables, the seaweed soup and fresh water fish.
Since this was our first night, the dishes were very delicious as we were hungry and tired and eating at the comfort of the room makes it all the difference.

The next day, the breakfast was horrible, plain porridge (no grains with a lot of water) the grains were scooped by earlier guests. At 8:00 am it was considered late for the Chinese as the break of the day, they ate at 7:00 am. The famous China luncheon meat, the meat looked pink in color fired with oil and looked oily. The stir fried celery, the hard and not crisp peanuts, hard-boiled eggs, plain mantou (steamed dough), and instant bean curd drink. It does not take much effort to whip up such a horrible breakfast. I really looked forward to lunch as a consolation. Huang met us at 9:00 am in the lobby and in the van we went zooming in the traffic and watched the city came alive, people were going to work in small walking steps not the hurried scene we used to see in Shanghai.

We were going for an island tour to Gulangyu, got its name because of huge reef surrounding it. Then the tide comes in, waves pound on the reef making it sound like the beating of the drum. This island is then known as “Gulang”. Gu meaning drum and lang meaning waves. At the pier, it was like a smaller version of the Bund in Shanghai. The ferry ride across the 1km straits to Gulangyu island. We can catch a glimpse of the Riguangyan (the Sunlight Rock) the peak of the magnificent Dragon Head Hill. Standing tall and majestic, it was once the platform for directing naval exercises by Zheng Cheng
Gong, a national hero in the Ming Dynasty. These islanders, most of them are music lovers, owned large numbers of musical instruments and quite a few professional musicians have emerged from among them, Hence another nicknamed of the island is “Island of Music”. Once embarked we can hear the sound of music coming from the speakers install near the embankment area.

By walking to cover whole of island takes about hours non-stopped walking, not leisurely by brisk walking style. My mum cannot walk for long distance, she need to rest her legs every ten to fifteen minutes, so it probably takes us the whole day to cover half the island. We took the buggy ride with a driver and our guide, Huang. Each of us paid Yuan 60 for this ride. The buggy operated by electric cell for sake of green environment and no honking is allowed. It was a comfortable ride but too windy when the sea breeze blows through our hairs, a wig will be blown away and lost in the nearby beach. We stopped to watch the historical reef that does not make the sound any longer. It is a forgotten reef without any name marked on it. There was a few small fishing trawlers parked near the beach and I guessed that some of the older folks still make their living as fishermen.

Along the park there were sculptures displayed by the art student as there is an art academy school and other academic school for the islanders. We stop at a seafood shop that sells all kinds of dried seafood and it is definitely cheaper back home. The dried stuff was freshly sun dried scallops, small ones. Those big scallops were imported from Japan and back home our price is cheaper. Baskets full of sea cucumber of many varieties, cuttlefishes, and all the treasures of the sea you can find in this shop. As usual we were invited for Chinese tea where a pretty young girl will brew tea and pour them into small white porcelain cup and offered to you. On the table were many small snacks of delicacies that go well with the tea. If you liked it and feel free to buy them back.
That is a good marketing tools – tea with snacks at 10:00 am, it was a good light snack since after that horrible breakfast this morning. Huang told us to take our time and he was so preoccupied with his hand phone, scrolling up and down. I took a peek and saw the screen of all the shares trading on the bourse. So this was the side income beside the main remuneration as a full time guide. He left us alone in the shop and sat drinking small cups after cups of Xiamen Wulong teas. My mum bought 2 kgs of scallops, one kg of sea cucumber and few other things which can filled up one hand carry luggage, there goes one more luggage for checking in. I was against buying preserved snacks of cuttlefish as it tasted quite strange, not forgetting the food poisonous scare of recently, the Chinese dumpling (in Japanese Gyoza). We were quite cautious when it comes to buying some edible stuff for giving to relatives and friends. Before the trip, I reminded myself not to buy any preserved foodstuffs, Chinese snacks, melon seeds etc…just to be on safe side.

My trip to Xiamen for keepsake, I intend to find a skilful craftsman to make eight pieces of signature print on marble for my lovely eight colleagues in the office. I reckon this piece makes such good mementos for the years to come, as remembrance of our friendship. I found the skilful craftsman in Quanzhou and thankful that his carving on marble are excellent and perfectly done. This kind of craft is no longer available in China as it is a dying trade. The three Chinese words carved on marble cost Yuan 90 inclusive of the marble piece. In 1984 the same piece will only cost about Yuan 10 ~ 20 (cheap and good). All prices has rose so high that it is no longer cheap to buy things in China except that our 1 dollar is equivalent to 4.9 Yuan. The exchange makes good for spending.
I was very delightful to find him so willing to carve eight pieces within four hours timing and sent them to our hotel in the evening.

We ended our tour of the island after three hours, spending an hour or so in the seafood shop and the pearl counter. I bought few strands of pearl and ten earrings for my church friends. One strand of pearl I gave to my enemy as love token to love my enemy, she was filled with joy when I gave her and hope she liked it. Anyway she liked it so much that she wore consecutively three days in a row with matching clothes. The strand of pearl on her looked expensive, radiates her face so well.

Huang suggested that we have our lunch at the same restaurant which ate the first day. This time we had the same piping hot soup and some changes in the dishes, it was delicious and good with piping hot rice. I looked across other tables, their dishes is so different from us, big prawns, big scallops on shell and steamed fish. Our dishes were simple fare local cuisine, meat, vegetables and fishes – again the famous fried oyster omelet. It was what you paid was what you get. The Chinese probably think that Singaporean do not like to eat seafood but love simple dishes with less salt, less sugar and less oil. Everywhere we go, the guide will repeatedly told us that they know what we had in our mind when it comes to ordering food. Everything must be less salt, less sugar and less oil. After lunch, we thought of going on our own to take a cruise down the city of Qinmen but my mum was hesitant that the weather may turned very cold. So we went back to the hotel at 6:30pm and as usual the guide suggested dinner in the room.
The dishes were a little different this time around except the fried oyster omelet was still ordered just because we did mention that it was delicious, but not again.

Lifestyles Ideas Management - My Travelogue - Part 1

Alas! I managed to sit down every other evening to finish some writing on my recent travel to south China and will be posting part 1, part 2 and part 3, stop at part 3 and will continue to write part 4 and part 5 until the last day there. Enjoy reading!

January 31, My Paper the free edition published
Singaporeans are still going ahead with their travel plans to China despite the severe weather conditions there. Those who have made plans to squeeze in a getaway to the country over the Chinese New Year are monitoring the situation. Local travel agents interviewed said they have been receiving between two to five calls a day from customers who have booked tour packages to China. But none of the five tour reported cancellations. Popular tour destinations among Singaporeans such as Jiuzhaigou, Shanghai, Beijing and Xiamen have not been affected much. In big cities such as Shanghai, Beijing or Guangzhou will have enough facilities and manpower to clear the jam. We are talking with our agents daily on the updates and arrange for contingencies should the weather worsen. Some 6,400 vehicles with more than 10,000 people are estimated to be still stranded on a 116km stretch of frozen highway in Hunan province. China has deployed 460,000 troops to fight the country’s biggest battle at the moment: the worst snowstorm it has seen in 50 years. The soldiers fanned out across parts of China to clear ice and restore crippled power and food supplies. The will also help to ease the transport gridlock caused by heavy snow, sleet and ice rain that has hit 14 provinces in central and southern China. It has resulted in the death of at least 55 people and affects about 77 million others. China Premier went on public relations for a second straight day wading into crowds of marooned train passengers in the southern city of Guangzhou for days. Trains services have been paralyzed by a crippled power fine.

The same day, January 31, three of us my mother, sister and myself went straight to the airport Terminal 2 at 4:30 am to catch 7:30am flight by Silk Air to Xiamen. The day before we threw in long johns for my mum just in case the weather turned frozen cold,
a week before we doubled up our warm clothes. We checked in two big luggage and two hands carry bag for our thick overcoat (just in case upon arrival, the weather turned terrible cold). The flight across the South China Seas was smooth although there were short period of turbulence and all passengers were asked to return to their seats with belt fastened. Minutes before touchdown, the Captain announced over the system, the weather was 13 degrees C, drizzle and windy. Everything went smoothly from customs, baggage claim and clearance. We saw one stocky man carried a plague “Visitors from Singapore” so we approached him and verified our identifications. Then the local guide appeared from nowhere and ushered us into an elevator that took us underground car park. Huang is the name of the local guide who will guide us from 31 January to 6 February. He told us that two persons have cancelled their trips and three of us with him and driver will traveled together for one week. We were not quite impressed by his commentary, short and simple and he seemed too preoccupied with something else. Anyway, we were here to enjoy ourselves guide or no guide, we can speak the local language and native tongue. The van traveled in the highway completed two years ago. We visited Xiamen in 1984, 2004 and 2008. The changes in1984 and 2004 were minimal, not quite spectacular but the changes in 2008 are big tremendous efforts by Xiamen Provincial City Planner. Everywhere there is skyscraper building shrouded in net, construction everywhere. Yet the city is not polluted despite the on going constructions, the noise is kept at minimum. The only noise is the honking of the vehicles at the back, somehow the impatience shown up in the drivers. Cars are everywhere and few bicycles, just the reverse in 1984, few cars and many bicycles with their ringing. Now it is honking and honking!
Many changes took places and hardly can recognize those places I had seen in 1984 and 2004. Most of the old buildings have been abolished and new building spruced up in its place. The old Xiamen city is lost in the booming economic structures, what a pity? The dirty old lane in between the narrow old buildings is no longer found. In place is the concrete jungle out there with slim and high skyscrapers. Quite uninteresting sight!
The city tour is quite blurred through the windows as it was drizzling all day, the van window wiper goes “zip zip” with the sound of the wheels splashing the rain water.
No commentary and the tour went off quietly, no music from the player and I thought it was good of me to bring along “sentimental popular hits” so that the driver can played while we traveled through city- town- villages and province. I anticipated there will be overland vehicle trip from city-town-villages and province.
Our first stop was lunch and the food were local fare dishes, very delicious well at least the rice was steaming piping hot, soup were very hot and so were all the dishes. It was such a good welcome lunch with everything on the table piping hot and you could see the smoke twirling from the dishes. This is what I was looking forward when one came in from the cold outside. I really enjoyed watching the layer and layer of steamer filled with meat dumpling or dim sum and when the streamer cover was opened you could watch the piping hot smoke rising from the steamer, glorious and wonderful food!

After lunch we were quickly ushered into the van and out on the road as if we were late for something spectacular, it was actually a visit to the Nanputo temple, it is renowned ancient temples in South Fujian Province. It is highly recognized for its splendid architecture with its elaborate ornaments and fine Buddhist statues. True, indeed but the drizzle spoiled all the fun of looking at the elaborate ornaments. I took few pictures in the drizzle of the temple roof with the fine ornament arches. We did not expect much to see and explored in the first day, a more sensible program will be to head back to the hotel for a good rest. The rest of the afternoon was spent traveling on the road with brief explanation on the latest development of an underground highway that cut through the waterway from Xiamen to Quanzhou, some form of an underwater highway. That reminds me of Moses and the parting of the Red Sea. Then there is couple of luxury condomium sprucing up along the coastal line overlooking the South China Sea, this are meant for the very rich people who found their fortune during the bourse killing period and those who strike rich selling off their vast land to private developer for housing project.

We reached our hotel at 7:30pm and the guide suggested that we have an early night sleep and dinner to be sent up to our rooms. We were quite impressed over his concern on our having good night sleep. Later, did I found out that we are supposed to visit the night snack street about two three streets away from our hotel. Anyway, Huang was in the hurry to get rid of three and hurried home and there was a good reason for it.
That is so much for the first day first impression!

Lifestyles Ideas Management - Not A Time to Get Away

Tonight is the last day of the Chinese New Year and most families will wrapped up the New Year with a big reunion dinner. We have our dinner just now with traditional spring roll (more like a salad topled with peanuts, crackers and fish flakes all roll in a thin flat floured pancakes. It is delicious as my mum is the expert in this Hokien traditional dish. I ate four rolls and seven piety cup. This is a health meal with lots and lots of vegetables.

Many seems to lament the fact that many in China fighting to get home for Chinese New Year holidays, many in Singapore are “fighting” to get away. Our Prime Minister is calling to “preserve the filial ties and bonds that hold our family units together” by spending time for reunion. While this calling is noble and appropriate at this time of the year where family bonding is an important however it does not necessarily take on traditional forms.

I have experienced each reunion dinner with joy, pain and regrets at time. Many of my brothers, sisters, sister in law, nephew and grown up nieces were dressed in their best.
Here we were, me and my sister will had to slave tireless behind the stove. I will be cooking, steaming, broiling, grilling and my sister will be dicing, chopping and opening tins and cans of abalone, button mushroom and bamboo shoots. Our preparation started 2 weeks before Chinese New Year. We will spent hours after office work to clean, wash and soaked the shark fins (we do not eat shark fins if we could help it after watching the documentary show on how the crew hand cut off the fins and kicked out the shark body still shivering from the pain), sea cucumber. I will have to list down the menu and worked out what to prepare and store on countdown days. What to cook first in and last out dishes so that everybody get to eat hot dishes. It was year after year of nightmares when everyone will as usual came at the perfect timing when the dinner is ready to serve. No one came to our rescue, with the usual excuses of spring cleaning the house and last minute shopping of buying flowers for table decorations.

No one offered to cook for the year’s reunion and we cooked and cooked and cooked until two years after Dad’s mourning period was over, I decided to take a bold step and knocked at the door of the travel agent as early as November/December period. I reserved a short holidays for three during the Chinese New Year’s period. We went away for nearby short getaway in Batam, Turi Beach for the first and second day of New Year.
As usual, we are expected to cook the reunion dinner and because it was an early morning boat trip, we suggested that reunion dinner ended early for trip preparation.
Subsequently the following year, it was also a short trip and the third year it was a long trip following the start and end of the New year period. The first few years, my family members could not accepted the “fighting” to get away, now they expected us to get away during the New year. Somehow it settled in their minds that reunion dinner is no longer a traditional of family bonding. For me, the reunion dinner has lost its purposes and meaning, the ones who do not helped in the dinner preparation get to enjoy the union and the poor chef me has to slave and ultimately when I get to sit down to eat my dinner it was way past 8 pm. I was too tired to eat and it was as usual plain rice with soup poured into it and ate them quickly just to satisfy the groaning stomach. My leg was swollen from standing at the stove, creating 10 to 12 dishes on large portions for thirty persons coming to dinner. The thought of it still send shudders down my shoulder.
I wondered how I managed all these years, it is such a relief now.

Breaking away from traditional does comes with a price to pay, some of my family members were too upset with me and relationship is distant now. Relationship is about caring and show concern on one and another but not to take other for granted, and definitely it is not about “food” all the time. Family bonding is not about get together to eat and eat, it can be visiting one another and sitting down with a cup of good coffee. It can also be time for my brothers and sisters to show their hospitalities to poor me and sister who had been cooking all these year, to take a good rest and enjoy New year as it meant to be. Nothing of these initiatives came at all.

All these years besides reunion dinner, I organized dinner get together, birthday parties and it was always me who will foot the whole party bills. No one offered to pit in their shares and if I suggested equal portion to be shared by everyone, no one was keen.
So, besides reunion dinner, I skipped dinner get together and birthdays and all.

These days, I reserve get to together dinners and Japanese sushi hand roll dinner for special few family members. Dinners will be on seasonal food available from the gourmet supermarket and special air flown item as it is for special people in my life. Generous portion of food and because the group is small, I can get to sit down to eat together, that is what I enjoy best. To cook for small group is something which I enjoy doing these years, where food can be cooked from stove to the table. There is time for desserts, coffee and conversation through the night.

There are people like me experiencing this evolution in their own family with the gradual passing on of older folks. Coupled with small family, sometime they are the only one left in Singapore. Take for example Anthony : over the past few years I have had fewer and fewer relatives to visit, with none for the past couple of years. My own sibling configuration has also evolved, with a deceased sister, a brother-in-laws in Malaysia, and one brother with two married daughters in United States. My older son lives in London with his wife. Reunion dinner on Chinese New Year’s Eve has been reduced to connection with only one brother and his family, my younger son in Singapore.
I suppose this sort of change must be happening to other families here, as older folk pass on and nuclear families remain small in size. From what I have observed, most of those who do get away are families spending time together away from Singapore. It is their form of family bonding (how wonderful that at least some on understood my intention of getting away, though mine real motive is to get away from organizing the reunion dinner). In this sense, we must expect family bonding to take place in different forms. May we not lament what is happening to family traditions during Chinese New Year period. Instead, let us embrace the inevitable change that is taking place that binds families together regardless of where and when this may occur.

Lifestyles Ideas Management - Two horses

A good friend sent me this story of two horses and I thought it is encouraging to know that we have a friend in Jesus.. do you know this song? Whatever may happen, it is good to know what we have a good friend up there who listening quietly and understand us deeply. Our thoughts and our actions He knows it all. Be encouraged and always know life have its ups and downs. When you are down look up to the sky!

Just up the road from my home is a field, with two horses in it.From a distance, each horse looks like any other horse. But if you stop your car, or are walking by, you will notice something quite amazing....
Looking into the eyes of one horse will disclose that he is blind. His owner has chosen not to have him put down, but has made good home for him.This alone is amazing.If you stand nearby and listen, you will hear the sound of a bell.!

Looking around for the source of the sound, you will see that it come s from the smaller horse in the field. Attached to the horse's halter is a small bell. It lets the blind friend know where the other horse is, so he can follow.

As you stand and watch these two friends, you'll see that the horse with the bell is always checking on the blind horse, and that the blind horse will listen for the bell and then slowly walk to where the other horse is, trusting that he will not be led astray.

When the horse with the bell returns to the shelter of the barn each evening, ! it stops occasionally and looks back, making sure that the blind friend isn't too far behind to hear the bell. Like the owners of these two horses, God does not throw us away just because we are not perfect or because we have problems or challenges.

He watches over us and even brings others into our lives to help us when we are in need. Sometimes we are the blind horse being guided by the little ringing bell of those who God places in our lives. Other times we are the guide horse, helping others to find their way....

Good friends are like that... you may not always see them, but you know they are always there. Please listen for my bell and I'll listen for yours. And remember... be kinder than necessary- everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle.Live simply, Love generously, Care deeply, Speak kindly.... Leave the rest to God

Lifestyles Ideas Management - Stress

Yesterday,I just finished writing one A4 size page of my travelogue part 1 and decided to call it a day since it was 10pm. I will continue writing only when the weekend comes. Hope to be able to post early next week 9.

A lecturer when explaining stress management to an audience, raised a glass of water and asked, 'How heavy is this glass of water?'
Answers called out ranged from 20g to 500g.

The lecturer replied, 'The absolute weight doesn't matter.

It depends on how long you try to hold it.
If I hold it for a minute, that's not a problem.
If I hold it for an hour, I'll have an ache in my right arm.
If I hold it for a day, you'll have to call an ambulance.

In each case, it's the same weight, but the longer I hold it, the heavier it becomes.'

He continued, 'and that's the way it is with stress management.

If we carry our burdens all the time, sooner or later, as the burden becomes increasingly heavy, We won't be able to carry on. ' '

As with the glass of water, you have to put it down for a while and rest before holding it again. When we're refreshed, we can carry on with the burden.'

'So, before you return home tonight, put the burden of work down. Don't carry it home. You can pick it up tomorrow. Whatever burdens you're carrying now, let them down for a moment if you can.' So, my friend put down anything that may be a burden to you right now.

Don't pick it up again until after you've rested a while.

Here are some great ways of dealing with the burdens of life:

- Accept that some days you're the pigeon, and some days you're the statue.

- Always keep your words soft and sweet, just in case you have to eat them.

- Always read stuff that will make you look good if you die in the middle of it.

- Drive carefully. It's not only cars that can be recalled by their maker.

- If you can't be kind, at least have the decency to be vague.

- If you lend someone $20 and never see that person again, it was probably worth it.

- It may be that your sole purpose in life is simply be kind to others.

- Never put both feet in your mouth at the same time, because then you won't have a leg to stand on.

- Nobody cares if you can't dance well. Just get up and dance.

- When everything's coming your way, you're in the wrong lane.

- Birthdays are good for you. The more you have, the longer you live.

A truly happy person is one who can enjoy the scenery on a detour.

We could learn a lot from crayons... Some are sharp, some are pretty and some are dull. Some have weird names, and all are different colors, but they all have to live in the same box.

Lifestyles Ideas Management - 3 Steps "STR"

I am suppose to be posting on my travelogue to south China with facing fifty years of coldness and snowfall. It is really cold even the thought of it. I really have not get start writing and if I do, it will be non-stop.. please bear with me awhile. Back to the simplet something to save some folks around.
This is an email from Laura and after reading I thought it is a good idea to spread the word around by asking everylone to remember this simple something to save some folks around. It can happen while travelling in the subway, on the street and in the shopping mall.

Seriously.. Please read: STROKE IDENTIFICATION:

During a BBQ, a friend stumbled and took a little fall - she assured everyone that she was fine (they offered to call paramedics) ..... she said she had just tripped over a brick because of her new shoes. They got her cleaned up and got her a new plate of food.

While she appeared a bit shaken up, Ingrid went about enjoying herself the rest of the evening. Ingrid's husband called later telling everyone that his wife had been taken to the hospital - (at 10:00 pm Ingrid passed away.) She had suffered a stroke at the BBQ.

Had they known how to identify the signs of a stroke, perhaps Ingrid would be with us today. Some don't die.... they end up in a helpless, hopeless condition instead.

It only takes a minute to read this...A neurologist says that if he can get to a stroke victim within 3 hours he can totally reverse the effects of a stroke... totally .
He said the trick was getting a stroke recognized, diagnosed, and then getting the patient medically cared for within 3 hours, which is tough.

RECOGNIZING A STROKE
Thank God for the sense to remember the '3' steps, STR .
Read and Learn! Sometimes symptoms of a stroke are difficult to identify.
Unfortunately, the lack of awareness spells disaster.

The stroke victim may suffer severe brain damage when people nearby fail to recognize the symptoms of a stroke . Now doctors say a bystander can recognize a stroke by asking three simple questions:

S * Ask the individual to SMILE.

T * Ask the person to TALK and SPEAK A SIMPLE SENTENCE (Coherently) (i.e. It is sunny out today)

R * Ask him or her to RAISE BOTH ARMS. If he or she has trouble with ANY ONE of these tasks, call 911 immediately and describe the symptoms to the dispatcher.

New Sign of a Stroke -------- Stick out Your Tongue
NOTE: Ask the person to 'stick' out his tongue..
If the tongue is 'crooked', if it goes to one side or the other, that is also an indication of a stroke.

A cardiologist says if everyone who gets this e-mail sends it to 10 people; you can bet that at least one life will be saved. Hope you will read them and another thing is to remember it as well.

Be an effective life-saver, a little good deeds can bring lots of joy to others and stranger.

Lifestyles Ideas Management - The Secret life of Annie Lee

Annie is a rich woman yet uncontented she lead a double lives of working as a bookshop assistant and a millionaire. If only she knew that life is short and filled with uncertainty that might lead her to lead a diferent lifestyles ideas management. Being contented with your lot makes a lot difference in the lifestyles of your own choice.

Bookshop assistant Annie Lee, 43 was found dead in a canal near Sims Avenue in 2000, a shocked husband Mr Leck learnt that his wife of 19 years marriage had been leading another life in secret, a millionaire. As a bookshop assistant, Annie did not like to talked about money or appear to have much, except for the S$1,000.00 monthly expenses given by her husband.

After her funeral, he stumbled across his wife’s chest of secrets locked inside the bedroom drawer. The drawer held cheques, IOUs, promissory notes and investment contracts amounting to S$1.9 million. There were also returned cheques, police reports and some photocopies of identity cards. Madam Lee was a moneylender or involved in dodgy business deals. Her husband was shocked and did not know how she could had make so much money. Her husband found a S$10,000.00 diamond necklace which he had stopped her from buying because it was too extravagant.

When Madam Lee was 20 years of age, a secretary in an engineering firm but quit after son Ritchie was born and was then mostly a housewife for 16 years. Just before she died, she worked at a bookshop in Canberra Secondary School for S$750.00 a month.
But she never said how much she made when she played in the stock market and making a killing after the market crashed in 1987. She was constantly looking for money-making opportunities. She had offered to pump cash into their various ventures including S$400,000.00 into brother Steven’s transport firm. Madam Lee pestered her husband to start his own car business and told husband not to worry about the money. And several times she hinted that she was interested in a money-changing business and flared up when Mr Leck objected. Mr Leck also found several newspaper cuttings of companies looking for investors in the drawer. Madam Lee appeared to have responded to them.

Mr Terry Foo owed Madam Lee S$56,000.00 at a 15 percent interest. Mr Foo will mailed her a repayment cheque every month. Though she operated like a loan shark, she never harassed Mr Foo when he delayed her payment, she would only remind and give me one to two days’ extension. That night she disappeared she was in a hurry to meet Michael at Khatib ( north of Singapore). Her hushand, Mr Leck made a missing person report when his wife did not return home or answer her mobile phone.

The mystery of the man called Michael has continued to haunt Mr Leck. It appeared from documents that this Michael owed Madam Lee over S$100,000.00. Mr Leck described his wife, who did her O levels at St Joseph Convent, as plain and said she did not want to show off. Though she had two Rolex watches and some diamond necklaces she hardly wore them. You looked at her, no way you will know that she was so rich. But her brothers and friends painted a different picture. She was dressed in fashionable dresses and expensive jewellery with designer bags. She left behind S$1.2 million in shares, S$50,000.00 in her bank and more than S$100,000.00 in insurance payouts.

Mr Leck wanted the police to reopen the case as he believe that someone plotted her death and want justice for his wife. He has ruled out accidental drowning saying his wife was a strong swimmer. Besides her jewels, wallet and keys were also missing. Also if she chose suicide throwing herself into a canal would not be her way. She liked to be clean and pretty, she would not commit suicide this way.

Money appears to be the cause of friction between Mr Leck and his in-laws. He was not happy with his wife who kept lending money to her relatives. But Madam Lee told him to stay out of her family matters. She would say “it’s my money why you bother” said Mr Leck. Her brother, Steven said that even when his sister was alive, Mr Leck never once visited the family not even during Chinese New Year. He said the couple’s marriage was an unhappy one. “ My sister came home a few times crying. She said her husband, Mr Leck had a mistress. But Mr Leck denied having an affair, saying his wife was suspicious because he was busy working and hardly home.

Mr Leck added that he did not visit his in-laws because they are a complicated family and he has nothing in common with them. Mr Leck and Madam Lee got married in 1981 after meeting through a mutual friend and dating for one year. Madam Lee was devoted to their son, Ritchie taking care of his every need. He was always her first priority, not me. Three years after Madam Lee’s death, Ritchie was killed in a motorcycle crash, at 19 years of age. Mr Leck ceased all contact with his in-laws in order to avoid trouble with the in-laws. Mr Leck also declined to reveal where he lives now and whether he has re-married.

Lifestyles Ideas Management - Amazing Fruit

Hi, nice to be back to Singapore and down to get things done by the full list. I just gotten an email on Amazing fruit. This is a post which is paving way for me to get settle down writing about my China most coldest weather in 50 years , first hand news down South China. I am writing them
bits by bits recollecting the pieces of things that I saw and heard from the street.
Now back to the email from my friend Rosy.

Never, put your banana in the refrigerator!!!
This is interesting. After reading this, you'll never look at a banana in the same way again .

Bananas contain three natural sugars - sucrose, fructose and glucose combined with fiber.
A banana gives an instant, sustained and substantial boost of energy.
Research has proven that just two bananas provide enough energy for a strenuous 90-minute workout. No wonder the banana is the number one fruit with the world's leading athletes. But energy isn't the only way a banana can help us keep fit.

It can also help overcome or prevent a substantial number of illnesses and conditions, making it a must to add to our daily diet.

Depression: According to a recent survey undertaken by MIND amongst people suffering from depression, many felt much better after eating a banana. This is because bananas contain tryptophan, a type of protein that the body converts into serotonin, known to make you relax, improve your mood and generally make you feel happier.

PMS: Forget the pills - eat a banana. The vitamin B6 it contains regulates blood glucose levels, which can affect your mood. Anemia: High in iron, bananas can stimulate the production of hemoglobin in the blood and so helps in cases of anemia.

Blood Pressure: This unique tropical fruit is extremely high in potassium yet low in salt, making it perfect to beat blood pressure. So much so, the US Food and Drug Administration has just allowed the banana industry to make official claims for the fruit's ability to reduce the risk of blood pressure and stroke.

Brain Power: 200 students at a Twickenham (Middlesex) school were helped through their exams this year by eating bananas at breakfast, break, and lunch in a bid to boost their brain power. Research has shown that the potassium-packed fruit can assist learning by making pupils more alert.

Constipation: High in fiber, including bananas in the diet can help restore normal bowel action, helping to overcome the problem without resorting to laxatives.

Hangovers: One of the quickest ways of curing a hangover is to make a banana milkshake, sweetened with honey. The banana calms the stomach and, with the help of the honey, builds up depleted blood sugar levels, while the milk soothes and re-hydrates your system.

Heartburn: Bananas have a natural antacid effect in the body, so if you suffer from heartburn, try eating a banana for soothing relief.

Morning Sickness: Snacking on bananas between meals helps to keep blood sugar levels up and avoid morning sickness.

Mosquito bites: Before reaching for the insect bite cream, try rubbing the affected area with the inside of a banana skin. Many people find it amazingly successful at reducing swelling and irritation.

Nerves: Bananas are high in B vitamins that help calm the nervous system. Overweight and at work? Studies at the Institute of Psychology in Austria found pressure at work leads to gorging on comfort food like chocolate and crisps. Looking at 5,000 hospital patients, researchers found the most obese were more likely to be in high-pressure jobs. The report concluded that, to avoid panic-induced food cravings, we need to control our blood sugar levels by snacking on high carbohydrate foods every two hours to keep levels steady.

Ulcers: The banana is used as the dietary food against intestinal disorders because of its soft texture and smoothness. It is the only raw fruit that can be eaten without distress in over-chronicler cases. It also neutralizes over-acidity and reduces irritation by coating the lining of the stomach.

Temperature control: Many other cultures see bananas as a "cooling" fruit that can lower both the physical and emotional temperature of expectant mothers. In Thailand , for example, pregnant women eat bananas to ensure their baby is born with a cool temperature.

Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD): Bananas can help SAD sufferers because they contain the natural mood enhancer tryptophan.

Smoking & Tobacco Use: Bananas can also help people trying to give up smoking. The B6, B12 they contain, as well as the potassium and ma gnesium found in them, help the body recover from the effects of nicotine withdrawal.

Stress: Potassium is a vital mineral, which helps normalize the heartbeat, sends oxygen to the brain and regulates your body's water balance. When we are stressed, our metabolic rate rises, thereby reducing our potassium levels. These can be rebalanced with the help of a high-potassium banana snack.

Strokes: According to research in "The New England Journal of Medicine, 'eating bananas as part of a regular diet can cut the risk of death by strokes by as much as 40%!

Warts: Those keen on natural alternatives swear that if you want to kill off a wart, take a piece of banana skin and place it on the wart, with the yellow side out. Carefully hold the skin in place with a plaster or surgical tape!

So, a banana really is a natural remedy for many ills. When you compare it to an apple, it has four times the protein, twice the carbohydrate, three times the phosphorus, five times the vitamin A and iron, and twice the other vitamins and minerals.

It is also rich in potassium and is one of the best value foods around So maybe its time to change that well-known phrase so that we say, "A banana a day keeps the doctor away!

" PASS IT ON TO YOUR FRIENDS PS: Bananas must be the reason monkeys are so happy all the time!

I will add one here; want a quick shine on our shoes?? Take the INSIDE of the banana skin, and rub directly on the shoe...polish with dry cloth. Amazing fruit.

Lifestyles Ideas Management - Great to be Home!

Hello world,
Great to be back home after the trip though I lost my natural voice.
Tons and tons of work on the desk to be clear today in the office and no time to write on my trip. I will write about my trip and how cold was the weather at that time and the many that were stranded in the railway station waiting to return for reunion.

Hear from me soon!