Back, back into the USA! (but only for the holidays).

December 15

Let’s go Pens!

After sleeping most of the day December 15 Susan and I went to watch the Pittsburgh Penguins defeat the Los Angeles Kings 4-3 in overtime! It was nice to see them in person instead of listening at 8 am Singapore time on iHeartRadio.

December 16

East End Plumbing (run by our neighbors Art and Flo Mascilli) come over to fix our broken toilet handle and they tried to reconnect it and put duct tape on it. They also told me that they saw a “Dryer Vent Wizard” van in a driveway in the street next to us.

So, on my way to visit my brother John who was undergoing physical therapy for his back at Health South Harmarville Rehabilitation center (more on that later), I took this photo of the van.

I called the phone number and the owner told me he could stop by our place and after an hour or so, so I visited John and met the Dryer Vent Wizard owner Kirk Williams and he did a test evaluation on the dryer and said that it (a ten year old Sears Kenmore) was still working well and he reconnected the dryer vent making it look shiny and new! He said his normal evaluation charge was 49.99.

Ken worked on it I mentioned we were living in Singapore and he said he’d visited there about 20 years ago when he was in the service. I said which one and he said “The Marines.” This led me to mentioning my days at West Point and he said that he graduated from the Naval Academy in 1988 and had spent nearly 30 years before retiring and doing research on franchises before picking Dryer Vent Wizard, which he said he enjoys and it fills a needed niche.

I thanked him for his service and bragged that I had been on the West Point Bowling Team and that my high game of all time was a 267 against the Naval Academy. I’m sure this really impressed the former marine (right…) but on the way out he said “Do you have a 20 dollar bill in your pocket?” I said yes but it’s the tip I plan to give you. He said “just give me the $20, this is your West Point Discount!” I protested and said I was happy with the 49.99 plus the 20 dollar tip, but he wouldn’t take it. I was very impressed with his work and ambition so if anyone ever needs a dryer vent repair or wants to have your existing dryer evaluated for power output, I highly recommend Dryer Vent Wizard and Ken Williams at (724) 814-9433 or http://www.dryerventwizard.com. I wish him well.

December 18 – Jen and Meg returned from their quick trip to Florida and we picked them up very late at the airport.

December 20 – Fox Chapel Area Rotary Club Lunch Meeting at Field Club

The speaker was presenting a talk on Tesla automobiles and solar panels for houses so I invited my daughter Megan Hollingsworth who is majoring in accounting but also has interests in sustainability to go with me along with former co-worker Marilyn Zawoyski who recently purchased a new Tesla after a six month wait. Here are photos of Marilyn and Meg next to Marilyn’s new Tesla and next to a crossover one the speakers brought!

Also at the meeting Nancy Speed of the Rotary Club of Fox Chapel Area presented the President Wally Jenkins with a Flag from the Rotary Club In Bologna Italy. And for those of you who have been following this blog from early on you will recall that I also received a nice red flag from the Rotary Club of Singapore and presented it to Mr. Jenkins. See photos below that also have slides from my trip to Singapore on the screen behind me. Not great photos because of lighting and distance (and maybe the presenter) but you get the idea. It was a nice honor for me to present the flag since I’ve only been a member for a short time but am enjoying the Rotary connections I am making over here.

Thursday December 21

Following a week’s long work in the office for Susan we met our good friends Joe and Joyce and Marlee Deluca along with Jen, Meg and others at Caliente’s pizza in Aspinwall.

Friday December 21 – Longue Vue Club Vine Club Holiday Meeting

We attended the annual Vine Club Party that featured wine, dinner, a magician and dancing (sorry not for me with the sprained ankle….)

And, just like “magic” I continued my good fortune on drawings by having my name picked to win a case of wine! Thanks Tim Mink! Hopefully there will be a few bottles left to drink when we return. (Maybe I should be playing Powerball and Millions more often?)

We sat with Push and Diana Senan and Tim and Linda Burke and had a very nice time.

December 22 – Chris’s 4th Annual Christmas Party at Jen’s

I was told by my daughter Jen that Susan and I were to be partial “sponsors” of the Christmas party she has been having the last Saturday before Christmas, usually at her apartment but this year at our house. Apparently her good friend from high school, Chris Tomarello, who now is an attorney in New York, is the primary decorator/organizer and has been doing so for at least 4 years.

There is a cup with the title of the event, which I think is something like “Chris’s 4th Christmas Party at Jen’s”, which Jen tells me was named in the tradition of the New Year’s Eve Party my Executive MBA classmates Bob Sterdis (now retired from Westinghouse last year in North Augusta South Carolina) and Mike Melampe (who I think is near Boston). In any event that party was sometimes called “Bob and Mike’s New Year’s Rockin Eve at Jim’s” so I’m glad they are carrying on a similar event.

As you can see below, Chris, Jen and others went all out with the decorations, transforming our basement into a winter wonderland. We had a great party with the last stragglers calling it quits around 3:35 AM! The only glitch was our neighbor had a party starting an hour earlier and had parked up our road including having two cars park sideways on the cup de sac in front of our house where 5-6 cars could have parked straight in. Fortunately they moved them after I met some comers to the neighbor party. At our party it was a mixture of 22-32 year old and a few plus 39 year olds but we all had a good time. We had several attendees I didn’t recognize and I asked a couple of they were supposed to me at the other party but fortunately they were friends on Jen’s good friend Meg who had just been married. See a few photos below. (This is it for this blog!) More later!

December 10

Nice dinner with Preetha Pillai, cousin of Kumar Nandan!

Some of you in Pittsburgh, especially Tax people, may know my good friend Kumar Nandin from PPG. Kumar came to PPG a few years ago from PwC and just a few days ago was named as the next Vice-President of Tax at PPG, effective March 1, replacing John Kolling. Congrats, Kumar!

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.yahoo.com/amphtml/finance/news/ppg-appoints-kumar-nandan-vice-140800450.html

I met Kumar in 2013 at a PwC conference in Kiawah Island. (Tough duty I know but I was a speaker…).

Anyway Kumar and I got along great at the meeting and we decided to have dinner back in Pittsburgh at the Hartwood Restaurant with my wife Susan and his wife Kathy who worked for the Reed Smith law firm. It turned out that Kathy had interned at BNY Mellon about 20 years ago working for Susan so it is a truly small world.

The world got smaller when I found out that Kumar grew up in Singapore so we met him before Susan decided to take the temporary assignment and he highly recommended that she go to Singapore. And it got even smaller when he gave us the contact information for his cousin, Preetha Pillai, who is a corporate attorney in Singapore focusing on Caymans Islands law.

Susan had met Preetha for lunch before I got to Singapore and we both met her again for a delightful dinner on December 10 at the PS Cafe which is downtown and has some beautiful views and excellent food. Preetha and I both had an excellent Pork Chop and Susan enjoyed her chicken dish as well, while we toasted Kumar in a photo.

I told Preetha that I’d be happy to carry some presents back for Kumar’s two children which I did and I also asked if there was anything from Singapore that Kumar would like. She suggested “Killiney Jam” for Kaya Toast, which happened to be at the Killiney Kopitiam location just a couple blocks from our apartment. You can see it on the second one of these places below.

https://www.thebestsingapore.com/eat-and-drink/the-best-5-kaya-toast-in-singapore/

The first day I stopped in the afternoon and they were “cooking” it so I had wait till the day before we left to get it. Doesn’t look too appetizing and the description isn’t much better but I hope Kumar likes it and maybe I will try it when we are back in Singapore.

December 12 – Rainy Day and Super Dinner with Francis Braeckevelt and Andrea Chew.

On this day we met for dinner with Francis Braeckeveld who is the Asia Pacific Chief Operating Officer Asset Servicing in Singapore for BNY Mellon and his wife Andrea Chew.

Susan has worked with Francis for many years and we were excited to meet with him and his wife for an authentic “Peranakan” meal at the National Kitchen by Violet Oon at the National Gallery of Singapore.

I had done some prep work on the restaurant and what Peranaken meant as the Peranaken museum is across the street from our apartment.

Peranakan Chinese, or Straits-born Chinese, are the descendants of Chinese immigrants who came to the Malay archipelago including British Malaya (now Malaysia and Singapore, where they are also referred to as Baba-Nyonya) and Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia; where they are also referred as Kiau-Seng) and southern Thailand, primarily in Phuket and Ranong between the 15th and 17th centuries.

The Peranakan Museum is a museum in Singapore specialising in Peranakan culture. A sister museum to the Asian Civilisations Museum, it is the first of its kind in the world, that explores Peranakan cultures in Singapore and other former Straits Settlements in Malacca and Penang, and other Peranakan communities in Southeast Asia.[1] It is housed in the Old Tao Nan School building at Armenian Street, which once served as an extended wing to the artefact collection of the Asian Civilisations Museum.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peranakan_cuisine

I took the MRT train from our building and walked a couple blocks where I had another good view of the Marina Bay Sands Hotel.

I got there a bit early (surprising I know) and looked around the National Gallery a bit.

I met Francis, Andrea and Susan at Violet Oon’s and we had a great time and had a great meal. There were too many dishes to remember but some of them included Chicken Satay, Hainanese Chicken Rice, Dry Laksa noodles, Butter Prawns, Deep Fried Barramundi, etc.

During the meal we talked about their two girls and they happened to show us pictures of them on the Asia version of Harpers Bazaar where they had done some modeling so I snapped a couple of pictures. Very cute!

On the walk back to the train I took a picture of Susan’s building which is at One Millinea Tower. It is the lit building where the top looks a bit like a pyramid and the next one is Marina Bay Sands at night.

December 13 – Kevin Hart Irresponsible Tour.

The night before we left we attended the Kevin Hart Irresponsible Tour at the Singapore Convention Center that seats about 10,000. It was pretty funny but they definitely didn’t censure him like they do many of the TV shows in Singapore! We were warned about 20 times that if we took a video we would be kicked out but the third picture is a video they authorized at the very end.

Friday December 13 and Saturday December 14 – back to Pittsburgh

Our driver Kenneth Oon picked us up at 6:30 AM for our 8:20 AM flight to Toyko on Japan Airlines for 7 hours followed by a 14 hour flight to San Diego then to Chicago then to Pittsburgh where we arrived at 10 PM the same day we left with the 13 hour time change and nearly 26 hours of travel but all went well.

On the plane I watched Crazy Rich Asians for the second time. But this version was more fun than when I watched in Pittsburgh as I could say “I was there” or “I know where that is.”

Here are some photos I took from the screen on the plane.

This one is Marina Bay Sands on the left.

This one with the pyramid is Susan’s office. Don’t you think it looks just like the actual one I took 8 photos back!

The Merlion at night,

And Gardens by the Bay at night!

Our Japan Airlines flight attendant after she found my glasses after a 10 minute search underneath the seats in the seat mechanism after I’d looked everywhere.

Our 787 plane.

San Diego – Hi Ian and Allie Fetterman!

Arriving at home and watching Susan cry as Jennifer and Mark had completely decorated the house and put up a beautiful tree! It was great to be back in Pittsburgh! More to come in next installment. Merry Christmas! Jim Hollingsworth

On Wednesday December 5 I went to another Rotary Club Meeting where they required the new member to give a presentation! Fortunately the speaker was Dr. Anne Maria Guiterrez a professor and professional psychologist/mediator and she gave a great talk on “Find the Truth Feel the Love” which was a nice slide show giving tips on when people are lying etc. such as showing Bill Clinton’s face during the Monica Lewinski Questions etc.

I am starting to feel pretty welcome at these meetings as they once again had me give some info of the Fox Chapel Area Rotary Club so I’m going to have to stay on my toes!

Thursday was a pretty quiet day as I had no photos except a couple of articles from the paper.

On Friday December 6 I was to meet Susan and 6 other expats and locals from her office for a big dinner at Jumbo Seafood at Clark Quay a nice area where they used to cruise the river and still offer boat rides for tourists.

My ankle was feeling a bit better so I got an early start as I was going to stop by Marina Bay Golf Course in the heart of the city and near the Marina Bay Sands place where I had previously fallen off the bar stool and sprained my ankle. I wasn’t going to play golf but the directions via the MRT train and bus seemed fairly easy along with a “walk” but the directions didn’t say how far.

So I took the train from our building changed to another train and headed toward the “Stadium” MRT place which is near the indoor and outdoor stadiums and “Sports Hub.”

I then continued to follow the directions to the “Number 11” bus which drove for ten minutes or so across from an apartment building where I started to walk toward the golf course. After about a half mile I ran into some construction workers and asked them where the golf course was and they pointed down the road perhaps another half mile toward a small green building. As I was getting a bit tired I turned left down a road toward East Coast Park as I assumed it would also get to the golf course. (BAD ASSUMPTION).

It turned out that East Coast Park is a large bike riding area and I kept going and going and going even when the bikers didn’t seem to know if there was a golf course nearby.

Finally after about 40 minutes of walking I saw signs to a golf course on my right and headed toward them but the area was very jungly and was fenced off.

So I finally turned around and walked the forty minutes back in the 84 degrees and humidity. I finally turned left and got to a sign to the Club but it seemed a long ways from there so I called the ClubHouse and fortunately they called a taxi for me. I had them drive up so I could get a quick picture and then asked the driver to drive me to Jumbo Seafood. I checked My Fitness Pal and this excursion had racked up over 8,000 steps so next time I am taking a taxi!

Somehow I got to Jumbo Seafood around 6 Pm but learned they had changed the reservation to 7:45 pm.

Civilization at last.

Closest I got to the golf course. Next is Boat Quay and Jumbo Seafood.

Once everyone arrived we had a great meal with Carin hosting along with Vincent and Zorine all from Singapore and there was Steven from Belgium, his childhood friend Oliver visiting from The Hague, and Terri, Jim and Susan from Pittsburgh.

We had a fantastic meal consisting of Chili Crab, Black Pepper Crab, Cereal Coated Prawns, Mocha spare ribs, noodles etc.

Steven, the hairless one from Belgium, and Oliver on the left who is in charge of cyber crime at The Hague left us and Steven had the unfortunate experience of having his cell phone and wallet taken out of his bag at another establishment at Clarke Quay. He never found it but came close to tracking it down using his computer. Must have been a foreign tourist as the crime rate here is extremely low but I guess you always have to guard valuables. (I know funny hearing that from the guy who had his passport wallet and headphones stolen in August at the Miami airport when I left them unattended while searching for a lost cell phone that I did find in the bathroom.)

Following the dinner Susan and I went next door for some great salsa chips and half price pitchers of Margaritas at the iguana Bar.

On Saturday we kind of chilled by the pool reading the paper about some recent riots in Kuala Lumpur and Malaysia infringing on Singapore territorial waters so our timing of going there a couple weeks earlier was very good as employers were warning expats to avoid KL.

That evening we went across the street to CineLeisure movies to watch Bohemian Rapsody a movie about Freddie (formerly Farouk) Mercury and the band Queen. We both thought it was excellent.

On Sunday we had the treat of being invited to Susan’s coworker’s house in the suburbs of Singapore. Eva Roejkjaer is an attorney in the BNY Mellon Office and her husband Christian works for IKEA developing the entire South Asia and Mexico territories. Yes Mexico. He apparently has worked for IKEA and for the IKEA founders for the last 20 years or so and they are from Denmark. It was easy to see after talking with them why Denmark was voted one of the happiest countries in the world.

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/03/16/these-are-the-top-10-happiest-countries-in-the-world.html

Also joining us was their 12 year old son Aksel who impressed us with his trampoline and swimming skills and their 16 year old daughter Anika and her local boyfriend Oscar.

We had some great steaks and sausages from a Swiss butcher and a “decadent” cake that we brought. The evening ended with them inviting me to join them fishing in Singapore after I tried to impress them with my Panama Marlin photos and asking if they had any rich friends who want to go with me back to the Tropic Star. Next week is a short week as we get ready to return to Pittsburgh and Chicago December 15-January 2 so we look forward to seeing a lot of you. Jim Hollingsworth (Photos follow).

We started Saturday staying in Singapore with breakfast and swimming 20 (me) and 40 (Susan) laps in our pool before dodging a few rain drops before we finished.

We were picked up at 2:30 Pm in an Audi A-4 by Perlita Tiro of the Rotary Club whom I met when I exchanged flags from the Rotary Club of Fox Chapel Area with the Rotary Club of Singapore. I will present the Singapore flag to Fox Chapel on December 17.

Perlita had graciously agreed to show us around Chinatown and to sample some items from the “hawker” food booths there.

Along the way I complimented her on the Audi which she had had for three years. She mentioned a law in Singapore that you may only own a car for ten years because of stringent emission standards. And there is an auction process to buy a car so as a result the prices are among the highest in the world and Singapore ranks second in the world in terms of used car sales since people have to get rid of them. You can apply to extend the ten year period by 5 years by paying a fee which for her small Audi is 6,000 Singapore Dollars a year or 4,800 USD per year – Crazy! I’m glad the public transportation via the MRT (Mass Rapid Transit) or public buses is so easy and taxis are also readily available and not too expensive except at peak hours.

She drove us to Chinatown which is only about ten minutes away but then again the entire width of the entire country of Singapore is only about 31 miles across by 16 miles deep.

We parked in a crowded parking garage using the EPS (Electronic Parking System) which is similar to EasyPass except that it monitors the time you spend parking and automatically bills you. It does seem like they monitor almost everything here such as with “red light cameras” and general monitoring cameras and signs with messages such as “57 shoplifters arrested in 2018 in Singapore malls” etc.

We had a nice time with Perlita showing us around the many booths in Chinatown and we shared a nice meal of chicken fried rice and a beef dish with fresh coconut juice drinks. A few of the photos are included below but I will share a couple more after Christmas since we bought a trinket or two for presents and don’t want to give those away!

We returned to the apartment amongst the hectic shopping crowds and for dinner Susan just was wanting a place we could sit outside since it is still 77-80 degrees at night. So I searched around and also asked the front desk people who are very nice and just across the street from Orchard Road and all the malls is a quiet older street with three outdoor bars/restaurants on Emerald Street called Emerald No. 5 (cocktails), Que Pasa (wine bar) and Ice Cold Beer (Stella, Hoegaarden and others), so they are pretty organized!

We sat outside Ice Cold Beer as they still had Happy Hour pricing and we also had great chicken wings and pizza (before starting diet challenge on Monday). It was truly a respite from the city life and in the photos you may be able to see the old buildings and the new mall across the street.

On Sunday we went to a delightful brunch place called Symmetry by first taking a taxi and then walking about a half mile to take the MRT back to our place. The waffles with ice cream were great and they have “the best” coffee in Singapore according to reviews.

Then for Sunday evening at 8 Pm I reluctantly took Susan downstairs to the Oriole Restaurant in our building. I say “reluctantly” because a few days before when she was working late I went down there and ordered margarita pizza, pasta and a bottle of red wine and brought it upstairs to our place and served Susan while she was on 10 Pm calls back to the US.

When I was carrying the food away from the cash registers one of the servers “Missie” noticed I was hobbling with my ankle and knee and she was saying “be careful, be careful” to me and offering to help me carry up the food but I declined. We chatted a bit and it turns out she works at Oriole at night but also is an auditor and a physical therapist during the day so I told Susan about her “keen” eye noticing my hobbling. (Of course anyone who wasn’t blind might have noticed me.)

She told me that her husband was from England and that he worked for a travel company and that he would be back in town on Sunday for dinner at Oriole if we wanted to meet them. So, not being one to pass up a double connection (physical therapy and a travel advisor at one time!) Susan and I stopped by around 8 Pm and Missie waved us down.

We had a great chat with them and got some good touring advice as Dominic has been in the travel business for like 30 years and actually coordinates tours before turning things over to “locals” such as he did the week before in Thailand and Malaysia. He looks like a weight lifting instructor for The Pit but said he belongs to GymBox which apparently is a chain of fitness centers.

He currently works for Tucan Travel but is trying to get a job in Singapore since he and Missie (probably in her late 30s) have only been married for 7 months and this was their “anniversary”.

So we volunteered to pay for dinner because of all the travel and physical therapy tips we received and because it was their 7 month anniversary. Dominic even mentioned Chiang Mai in Thailand which is an Elephant Sanctuary that Meg and Jen mentioned visiting if they visit next year.

This (the 7 month “anniversary?”) sent up some warning signs which were exacerbated when her “co-worker” asked us what room we lived in upstairs when she handed me the bill.

I was a bit taken back and Susan was thinking “home invasion” but I didn’t blurt out the room number and instead said “why do you ask” and it turns out that some people renting apartments daily can charge meals to their room. But since Susan’s employer is getting charged directly for the room we just paid using a credit card although it would have been nice to stick them with the bill!

So I think that was just a false alarm and we exchanged contact info and hope to see them again some time. No pictures sorry!

So the weekend ended with Susan thanking me for filling my role of meeting people and exploring new places!

Jim Hollingsworth

Sorry (for some of you for not posting lately) but it has been slow still icing ankle and not walking much.

I did see my physical therapist today who said the swelling is better and said I could swim and keep icing it a few days more. He also massaged it along with doing a myofacial massage release on my back which was also still hurting from the fishing in Panama but doing better.

So after taking it easy during the day and learning that Susan wasn’t coming home till 9:30 PM I ventured down to the pool. After carefully navigating the ladder and dealing with the initial chill of the pool water even with it being 82 degrees outside I started swimming some laps paddling more with the left door than right and doing breast strokes also I ended up swimming nearly a half hour doing 20 laps and it felt pretty good. It for even better after going to the hot and cold hydrotherapy pools and the steam room.

When I got back to the room Susan had brought back some Texas Chicken.

This one covers Sunday November 25 and is a bit longer than usual due to a lot of activity and staying in Singapore for the next couple of weeks.

Day 2 started in KL with a nice breakfast in the Hilton Executive Lounge followed by an excellent 25 percent off 90 minute massage for Jim while Susan drank coffee and played Candy Crush. (Actually I don’t know for sure If she did but I think it is a good guess.)

After the spa treatment I looked at the pool outside the 8th floor of the hotel – pretty nice!

Ameer picked us up promptly at 1 pm and we drove straight to the Batu Caves.

Batu Caves is a limestone hill that has a series of caves and cave temples in Gombak, Selangor, Malaysia. It takes its name from the Sungai Batu (Stone River), which flows past the hill.

Entrance to Batu Caves with the Murugan statue: (stock photo).

And now our photos here and at the end of the blog. As you can see there are 272 colored steps to the left of the Lord Murugan Statue which is the tallest statue of a Hindu deity in Malaysia and second tallest statue of a Hindu deity in the world behind the Kailashnath Magdev Statue in Nepal. (I doubt if we will make it there this trip!). It is 140 feet tall and took 3 years to build and was unveiled in January 2006 during the Thaipusam festival. (I haven’t looked that festival up yet.)

Our driver parked and said he’d wait in the car or in a restaurant if we wanted to walk up and down the steps. Susan was always up for it but I had some trepidation due to my sprained ankle but once I surmised that the “restaurants” were mainly shacks without air conditioning I decided to give the steps a go based on my recent training at The Pit Fitness Center in Singapore.

Squatting – Benefit Number 1

For the select few of you who are not only following this travel blog but my Singapore Fitness and Nutrition Blog (quite a bit shorter I’m sorry to say), you may remember that I started some of my physical training by hiring a personal trainer from The Pit, a gym in Singapore focusing on weight training, general fitness, mixed martial arts and boxing. (Who knows which ones I will do?).

At the same time I began the 28 day Squat program listed below and am currently on Day 8 or 9.

This program is listed here:

https://blog.myfitnesspal.com/the-28-day-squat-challenge-youll-want-to-start-now/

I explained to my trainer at The Pit that I was doing squats also and he helped reposition me to do them better.

Well, the squats must have helped my leg strength because even with the sprained ankle I was able to make it all the way up and down those 272 steps into the large cave where we admired the paintings and statues. It was quite impressive and I’m really glad that I decided to do it. We took it slowly and after spending a few minutes inside the cave we made the round trip in about an hour so it felt like a nice accomplishment. So making it up and back is what I call Squatting Benefit Number 1 as I think the squatting helped my legs out a lot. We took our time and the only semi-scary part was when I suddenly looked up and almost touched a monkey perched on the railing on the way down. There are many of them searching for food and water and I was so scared that I screamed loudly as I’m prone to do and a few people looked at me but just continued down. So fortunately I didn’t fall or get bitten by a monkey and have to make another visit to a foreign hospital.

(Yep he is the one that almost bit me before he went for the water.)

After finishing the Batu Cave we bought some souvenirs and I purchased a Diet Pepsi and some Indian snack food which was sort of like a trail mix and quite tasty, but Susan didn’t like it.

So we met up with our driver Ameer and started toward the airport stopping at Putrajaya.

Putrajaya is a city in Malaysia, south of Kuala Lumpur. It’s known for its late-20th-century architecture including the Putra Mosque, made from rose-colored granite with a pink dome. Nearby is the immense, green-domed Perdana Putra, which contains the prime minister’s office complex. The 3-tiered Putra Bridge is inspired by Iranian architecture, with 4 minaret-type piers overlooking the man-made Putrajaya Lake.

It was a modern, “built from scratch” city primarily for government workers including the Prime Minister and all of his departments such as Treasury, Finance, etc. as well as the Federal Court of Malaysia.

The Federal Court of Malaysia (Malay: Mahkamah Persekutuan Malaysia) is the highest court and the final appellate court in Malaysia. It is housed in the Palace of Justice in Putrajaya. The court was established during Malaya’s independence in 1957 and received its current name in 1994. (See Photo).

Judge term length: Compulsory retirement at age 66

Composition method: Royal appointment with the advice of the Prime Minister.

(Susan’s good friend from Duke, Libby McKeever, might be out of a job if she was in Malaysia since she currently works for a Federal Judge in his 80’s who has a lifetime appointment. And 66 is not sounding that old anymore…)

There were a large number of buses and tourists and a lot of children spending their Sunday in front of the Prime Minister’s house and at the mosque. I thought it was interesting but for some reason Susan thinks that there must be a country directive that all taxis have to stop by Putrajaya on the was to the airport! (She could be right.)

Here are a few Putrajaya photos with the second one being the Federal Court, the fourth one the Mosque and the fifth one the Prime Minister’s Palace. By the way I forgot to mention that KL is also building a new building (The Exchange 106) that will cost 10 billion, will be 133 feet higher than the Petronas Towers and will be among the 15 tallest in the world. Ameer was mentioning that the former Prime Minister was the one pushing for this but he didn’t mention the intrigue in this New York Times article. The sixth picture below shows it a bit to the right of the motorcycle but the article has better depictions. It was supposed to be done in 2018 but I don’t think they will make it. More text and other pictures are after the pictures below.

https://www.google.com.sg/amp/s/www.nytimes.com/2018/07/24/business/exchange-106-kuala-lumpur.amp.html

After Putrajaya, Ameer took us to the KL airport where we had three hours to wait for our crowded plane back to Singapore. After going last quite a few fast food places like Burger King, McDonalds, Garrett Popcorn, etc. we settled on a place serving “local” food and I had a nice order of chicken satay and tempura prawns. Then we headed toward the gate after one more stop…

Squatting – Benefit “Number 2”

I think the picture speaks for itself and Susan cautioned me against using it but then again she says “he has no filter!”

This of course is one of the famous “Malaysian Toilets” which the article below calls the “worst” toilets in the world. Some of you have likely seen similar ones in other parts of the world such as in parts of China or even in the one of the office buildings at the steel plant U. S. Steel acquired when we purchased a steel plant in Smederevo, Serbia and later sold it back to the government for 1 dollar after investing several hundred million that “went down the tubes.”

In any event, those who know me at all know that balance is not my strong point, but with the recent squat training I was able to display “the equilibrium of a Kung Fu Master” as described in point 5 of the article and I escaped the toilet dry and intact!

https://thetravelmanuel.com/why-malaysia-has-the-worst-toilets-in-the-world/

I do hate to end this blog on a down note because in general we had a great time in KL and would like to spend more time in other parts of Malaysia which has many beaches and historical towns such as Penang in Northwest Malaysia along the coast. It had been nicknamed “The Pearl if the Orient” due to its rich culture and high standard of living. This is where Susan’s good friend and classmate from Duke, Mary Kimmitt Laxton and her husband Steve Laxton have two good friends so we are hoping Mary and or Steve come see us and go to Penang with us.

After a short flight and quick customs visit now that we have our Employment Pass and Dependant Pass (yes that’s mine and how they spell it) we met Kenneth the driver and headed back to our apartment in Singapore.

We’ve already scheduled Kenneth to 1) take Susan and me to the airport on Friday December 14 where we fly to Tokyo, San Diego, Chicago and Pittsburgh with tight connections taking only about 24 hours to get to Pittsburgh just after midnight the morning of December 15 due to the 13 hour time difference.

We will stay in Pittsburgh until the 29th because the kids bought Susan and me tickets to Chicago where we stay with Susan’s sister Betsy Jaeschke and her family on December 29 and then in a hotel in downtown Chicago on our “first” wedding anniversary on December 30th and then we stay at friends Ray and Shirley Parpan’s on December 31 where we attend Chuck Jarik and Andrea Bacon’s annual New Year’s bash with 2018 trivia.

We fly out of Chicago back to Singapore on January 2 arriving January 4, through Tokyo again but skipping San Diego! Next trips we know of after that are to Hong Kong for business the week of January 14 or 21st and then likely to Siem Riep Cambodia for Chinese New Year on February 2-6 but more on those trips next year!

The blog will probably be a little quieter the next couple weeks although the Past President of the Rotary Club in Singapore is taking us to Chinatown this Saturday along with a couple of dinners next week and Kevin Hart on stage on December 13 before we fly out the next day.

If the left foot and now right knee (which gave out unexpectedly yesterday) are OK I will try to check out more Singapore sights or golf in Indonesia while Susan works.

Whew, we wish everyone a great holiday season. Oh, yeah here are a could holiday scenes, the famous rainbow bread ice cream sandwich at the Takiyama Mall and a Polo Store so Chuck you would feel at home here! Jim Hollingsworth

(Updated again at 2:16 Am to clear up a few typos sorry. And I still want to get yo by 9 Am to hear if the Penguins can finally win a game and to see the snow in Pittsburgh while it is still 80 degrees here.)

With a flight time of 9:30 I arranged in advance for private driver Kenneth On to pick us up at our apartment at 7:30 Am. Kenneth is the one the Pan Pacific Orchard Suites hired to pick me up from the Singapore Changi Airport when I had first arrived and I had kept his card.

Kenneth is a very experienced driver and had just spent a week driving Malaysian dignitaries around Singapore for the ASEAN economic conference a couple weeks ago that Putin, Pence and many world leaders attended.

We took the 45 minute flight to Kuala Lumpur, the capital city of neighboring Malaysia, or “KL” as the locals and most others in Asia apparently call it.

I think we picked this place as it was one of the shortest and least expensive flights from Singapore (often under 100 dollars) so we thought it would be another good start to our mini trips after doing Bintan Indonesia last weekend. More than one person had told us that “all it is is a big city with the twin Petronas Towers” but a couple others really liked its vibe, etc. so we decided to give it a go.

The flight on Jetstar (Australia’s Quantas Airlines budget carrier) was very easy so we may try them again as they go to a lot of places from Singapore. I had originally tried logging onto “Scoot”, another budget airline with a “yellow” color scheme and prompts at every booking turn that looked suspiciously like Spirit Airlines in the US if any of you had squeezed into their no frills seats with questions at every turn like “are you sure you don’t want to upgrade” or “pay 15 dollars for 3 more kilograms of weight” above their maximum of 7.5 kilos which is about 17 pounds. I even endured all that and added taxes and fees but had trouble getting it to take my credit card so I finally gave up and used Jetstar which was actually about 100 dollars cheaper!

Jennifer Hollingsworth, you would be proud and amazed as the only piece of luggage I carried was my gray breathing machine bag where I also stuffed in power adapters. toilet articles, a pair of underwear one shirt and my medicine! And I carried it down to the scale in our fitness center and it i it weighed 3.9 kilos! Turns out they didn’t really check or weigh anything unless it was obviously oversized but it was nice to carry one bag rather than 2-3 that I normally take even for a short trip.

It did take us a while to clear customs in KL but when we got to the Arrival Hall, our driver Ameer was waiting for us with a sign. I had researched several tours and on Trip Advisor KL Taxi a particular driver “Rosli” kept coming up with glowing reviews.

Ameer was very nice, spoke good English and was quite knowledgeable when you asked questions but he didn’t volunteer information on his own so apparently “he was no Rosli” but he did know him and said that Rosli was usually booked up two to three months in advance so future travelers keep that in mind. Phone number for KL or maybe just Ameer for our future reference is +60 176848253 although I think we hit most of the KL highlights.

The KL airport is about an hour away from downtown KL after a long immigration clearance wait so we met Ameer who had parked in an adjacent parking garage that was quite crowded so after walking quite a way we went to the sixth floor where he couldn’t find his taxi and remembered that it was on the fifth floor. But instead of going down one floor we went all the way down and then back up again and finally found the taxi so which I gave an ugly American “nice start Ameer” shout out. But we all laughed and headed out for the 55 minute drive.

Along the way Susan started asking questions about the massive number of trees along the road, most of them in evenly spaced rows.

Ameer told us most of these were Palm Trees that grow the Palm Tree fruit used primarily in cooking oil and responsible for employing over 500,000 people.

Later when we arrived at the Hilton Kuala Lumpur and I was reading the paper it turns out that we were on the cutting edge again with current news as the EU is considering banning Palm oil due to the deforestation of the trees and impact on orangutans that live there. One of its supermarket chains Iceland even started a campaign to eliminate Palm Oil from its products but even they were called out by Piers Morgan for still having many products containing Palm oil.

https://www.google.com.sg/amp/s/www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/tv/piers-morgan-slams-iceland-boss-15409808.amp

Another article sets forth a defense of the palm tree industry noting that 136 percent of Malaysia’s economy is due to exports versus the worldwide average of 56 percent and that growing is being done in an environmentally responsible manner etc. So who knew we were stepping into this quagmire with Susan’s question? Yes, this blog is not just about Jim’s mishaps but seeks to educate as well. I of course express no views on the Palm tree controversy.

Our schedule with Ameer included round trip taxis to and from the airport and this two day eight hour schedule all for about 150 dollars. Our friends Steve and Shamus had advised against trying to navigate on our own the first time in KL due to confusion at the airport etc. even though it looked like the train going next to our hotel was very easy to get. But as we walked to the car in the 85 degree heat we agreed that taking the air conditioned cab was the way to go. Here was the planned schedule:

Day 1 – 6pm – 10pm

– KL Tower

– Petronas Tower

– Merdeka Square

– Sultan Abdul Samad Building

– Chinatown

Day 2 – start at 2 pm

– Batu Caves

– Putrajaya Sightseeing

– Airport Drop Off at 5:30 for 8:30 return to Singapore.

We were dropped off at the 5-Star Kuala Lumpur Hilton around 12 noon and due to Susan’s Gold Status (down from Diamond with less work travel) we were given an upper level King Size Lake View Room, along with Executive Lounge access and choice of free breakfast downstairs or in the Executive Lounge.

We could see the Lake and gorgeous winding pool below but we left our bathing suits due to concern about the weight limit and busy schedule so too bad for us.

With Ameer due back at 6 Pm we took a nap and woke up in time for Afternoon Tea in the Executive Lounge at 3 Pm. It was delicious with scones (Hey, Marilyn Zawoyski do you remember the “scone” staff meetings I used to hold for the Federal Income Tax Group at USS back in 1987-88 and that Carl Radke continued after I took John Rowland’s place as Director of Taxes for the steel group?). I certainly did and the scones and sandwiches and hot tea were great.

Ameer showed up promptly at 6 Pm and drove us around several parts of the city including the twin Petronas Towers where Petronas Oil is headquartered and which used to be the tallest buildings in the world from 1998-2004. Fortune ranks Petronas as the 75th largest company in the world in 2013. Fortune also ranks Petronas as the 12th most profitable company in the world and the most profitable in Asia. It is wholly owned by the Malaysian Government.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petronas_Towers

We took pictures in front of the towers and then after driving past a couple of museums and nightlife areas we headed to the KL Tower, which is the 7th largest tower in the world and provides great views including views of the Petronas Towers. Unfortunately there was a long queue to get up and one of the elevators was broken so we were among the last ones to visit that evening.

We did take many photos and had “professional” ones done for the “Sky Cube” that hangs out over the tower.

When we finally met up with Ameer around 9:30 he took us to the Jal Alor which is a street area during the day but is converted into a huge food market in the evening with all kinds of food stalls. We debated rushing through before our 10 Pm bewitching hour but instead had Ameer take us back to the Hilton where we had a super dinner at the Chambers restaurant with great service by Vanessa and assistant manager TJ. Even though a service charge was included and it isn’t unusual in Asia not to leave an additional tip, I got kind of carried away and being a math major (for real) I accidentally blew the conversion rate and left a 25 dollar additional tip rather than 10 that I meant to. No wonder they were so friendly when we came back in 30 minutes later after trying the Zeta Bar that was very loud and smoky. In any event we had a very good time and were ready for our big day on Sunday where we were going to go to the famous Batu Caves where one has to walk up 272 steep steps to get there and I went to sleep wondering which air conditioned restaurant to wait in while Susan tried it. But more on that in the next blog as I think this one is long enough especially after the KL, Petronas and KL Tower Photos below. The photos begin with the beautiful Changi airport in Singapore (has anyone else hear if a “Travelator?”) and end with the view of the Petronas Towers from the KL Tower. Jim H

We hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving! For some reason it wasn’t a big occasion here, although Lawry’s Prime Rib across the street offered a turkey and prime rib dinner for “only” 128 Singapore Dollars or about 103 USD.

But not to worry, instead of that, two of Susan’s coworkers from Australia (Shamus) snd Steve) invited us to join them at the GoKul Indian Vegetarian Restaurant in the Little India section of Singapore. The Indian population makes up about 9 percent of the Singapore total.

I likely reported this to some of you separately but I took the MRT (Metropolitan Rapid Transit) train attached to our building, changed trains at the Dhoby Ghaut station and arrived at 7 PM at the Little India Station which was about three blocks away from our 7:30 reservation.

Even with the sprained ankle I made good time and was the first to arrive since Susan and the other two lawyers were coming from work.

It was very busy but I was able to get a table and Susan, Shamus and Steve arrived at 7:30. I had met Shamus last year in Pittsburgh as he was based in the Hong Kong office of BNY Mellon and was there on assignment as he was this time in Singapore.

They had been to this restaurant several times before and the workers recognized them and gave us a better table and we started looking at the menu (see photos of a couple of pages).

Having been a carnivore most of my life and having only tried Tandoori Chicken and Nan bread before, I was a bit nervous about the menu.

But Steve and Shamus gave us some great ideas and we had a delicious meal.

I had something called Paneer Makhani and Susan had Palak Paneer while her two coworkers had a Dosa which had the huge thing of bread in the pictures while Susan and I had nan bread with butter – very tasty!  

We had a lot of laughs and finished with a couple of good desserts and had a nice walk back to the train station through Little India which still had many Deepavali (Indian New Year) signs across the roads. I will definitely keep trying Indian food and with the strong flavors I don’t even think meat is necessary but I’m not quite ready to become a vegan!

After returning back to our apartment and going to bed we got up at 8:15 AM Friday which was 6:15 PM Thanksgiving Day in Chicago and did a FaceTime call to Jennifer who was in Wilmette Illinois with Mark and Meg who had driven to Susan’s sister Betsy’s house for Thanksgiving.

We had a great call going around the table talking with Betsy, her husband Bob Jaeschke and kids Megan with husband Steve Balderson and new baby Libby and Amy with boyfriend Eddy, her brother Kurt who also has a birthday coming up, his wife Anne and daughter Joan in from New Orleans, their friend Lizzy from England and Susan’s soon to be 96 father, Carl. Unfortunately Susan’s Mom had to stay at home as she isn’t getting around well.

It looked like they had a great time celebrating Thanksgiving as well as Kurt’s birthday and exchange “White Elephant” gifts. Susan and I were sorry we couldn’t be there but we will see everyone soon as we will be in Chicago December 29 to January 2 when we return to Singapore.

Later today as explained in my fitness blog some of you get, I started my workout at The Pit, a physical fitness gym across the street. (I know I’ve joined more health clubs I haven’t used than I can count but I wanted to pick another activity besides touring and Rotary Club while I’m here.). Some details of it are next.

I went to see a physical fitness trainer at “The Pit” which is a 5 minute walk across the street from our apartment. It had received great reviews on line but I was concerned it might be a bit intense for me as some of their web photos include martial arts training, heavy duty weight lifting, headstands etc.

But I felt very comfortable talking with the owner Irving and my trainer Harold. They explained they had a wide diversity of clients with different fitness levels, those recovering from injuries etc.

So I signed up for 5 sessions focusing on strength training (which they said if the foundation for other things) flexibility and conditioning. The mini first session included a couple of lightweight barbell exercises and squats after I told him I’d already stated the 28 day squat program I found online. He was very good at having me focus on a proper technique which include feet positioning, pressing off the entire foot rather than the toes and doing them a bit slower so it seemed like he knew what he was doing! Next one is Monday at 2 pm so I will report back.

Now to bed for a 6:30 ride to the airport to report on Saturday and Sunday visit to Kuala Lumpur! Pictures below. Anyone want to try “chin threading” advertised in second photo? Jim Hollingsworth

These just came in from the Rotary Club of Singapore. They are a lot better than the ones taken with my camera. Next blog will be a short one about Thanksgiving.

As I mentioned last posting I had a dinner on Wednesday November 21 for my first Singapore Rotary Club meeting where the club graciously invited me to attend as a fairly new member of the Fox Chapel Area Rotary Club of Pittsburgh. Susan was also busy that night as she invited to an annual meeting of financial services General Counsel representatives at the British Embassy since the normal person who attends was traveling on business to Hong Kong. (This is a fairly long Report so enjoy or read before bed.)

First the preparation:

As you have seen in a few recent photos and in this one in the VS Salon in the mall next to our apartment, my hair (what is left of it) was getting a bit scraggly and I wanted to get it cut before the dinner. So I googled “expat men’s haircuts in Singapore” and yes there were plenty of articles including ones about non-requested buzz cuts, cut ears, etc. so I was a bit apprehensive but found this one close by with good comments.

As you can see by the price chart even with the 80 percent currency conversion rate, the haircuts aren’t cheap and the cost depends on the experience level of the stylist (Leading, Senior and Director) with a 20 dollar spread for each. After some negotiation and being told that even the Leading stylists had 3 years of experience I rolled the dice and went with the 49 dollar cut rather than the 69 Senior or 89 dollar Director level cut.

My stylist “Zen” (who later told me he was actually a “Senior” level spoke good English (or is it “spoke English well”) and listened as I explained that I wanted it kept fairly similar, not too much shorter and nothing “weird” like a “Kim Jong Un” type cut.

He quickly retorted “With your hair I could do a Donald Trump cut!” I said “Whoa, not that either” as perhaps some of the yellowish tint Lisa Donovan noted a few weeks ago was still there?

So Zen started with a nice shampoo and massage and put an Indian headdress like towel on it (see photos) and started trimming away. You can also catch a glimpse of Zen in the mirror as I snapped that photo since I was in a hurry and didn’t think I’d have time for formal before and after photos with the stylist. I thought about asking for a cut like his but would need a few more months to grow it out first.

During our discussions about my daughters coming over to visit in February or March he asked if they were married or if could he meet them when they visit. So Jen and Meg, maybe I can introduce him – ha. (Perhaps what Susan says about me “having no filter” is beginning to resonate?)

Anyway, while I can get it trimmed up in Pittsburgh when we come back December 15-December 29 and go to Chicago December 30 and fly back here January 2, 2019, I think he did a pretty good job! See the after photos and suit ones.

After another quiet day on Tuesday where I did swim 20 laps and slept as Susan worked, the “pampering” continued on Wednesday as again at the mall next door I found a good nail salon, “Plush” where I had a nice mani-pedi (see mani photo).

I pulled out my suit that I crammed into my luggage as it was “business attire” for the Rotary Club meeting at 7 PM and fortunately I picked the one where the pants still buttoned, put on a tie for the first time in a long time and headed via taxi to the Tanglin Club that was founded in 1865. As I mentioned earlier it reminded me of the Duquesne Club it the University Club in Chicago and this “review” comment is typical and of course describes why I was invited:

“Venerable and dignified old club that has managed to stay with the times. Only open to members. A club with prestige and thus available to only the creme of society.”

As I got there it poured rain but the taxi dropped me off under the Porte-cochere (covered porch-like structure) and I stayed dry. (OK-I admit I texted Susan for the word and also looked it up on Wikipedia).

Believe it or not I I was the first to arrive around 6:45 except for the Executive Secretary of the Rotary Club, Bernadette Ng and her associate, Ivy who were getting the materials ready for the meeting. I took a couple of photos as it was truly a beautiful place but didn’t get as many as I wanted as my battery was running low.

Now a brief educational interlude for those of you who are wondering what the Rotary Club is. I had only been a member since around May if this year when my good friend and Longue Vue golf partner Dr. Push Senan asked me to go to a meeting and later join the Fox Chapel Area Rotary Club in Pittsburgh.

I had heard about Rotary before as my co-worker John Dougherty told me that his daughter Melissa Dougherty (who is now a lawyer and my excellent estate planning attorney from Cohen and Grigsby in Pittsburgh (shameless plug but she is good!) had received a Rotary Club scholarship to help her study abroad for a year in Brazil. Now some official history which I knew a little about but had to quickly Google to get ready for the meeting when they told me I might have to say a few words about my club in Pittsburgh.

Rotary International is an international service organization whose stated purpose is to bring together business and professional leaders in order to provide humanitarian service and to advance goodwill and peace around the world. It is a non-political and non-sectarian organization open to all people regardless of race, color, creed, religion, gender, or political preference. There are 34,282 member clubs worldwide, and 1.2 million individuals, known as Rotarians, have joined.

The first Rotary Club was formed when attorney Paul P. Harris called together a meeting of three business acquaintances in downtown Chicago, United States, at Harris’s friend Gustave Loehr‘s office in the Unity Building on Dearborn Street on February 23, 1905.^[8] In addition to Harris and Loehr (a mining engineer and freemason^[9]), Silvester Schiele (a coal merchant), and Hiram E. Shorey (a tailor) were the other two who attended this first meeting. The members chose the name Rotary because initially they rotated subsequent weekly club meetings to each other’s offices, although within a year, the Chicago club became so large it became necessary to adopt the now-common practice of a regular meeting.

Rotarians usually gather weekly for breakfast, lunch, or dinner to fulfill their first guiding principle to develop friendships as an opportunity for service. “It is the duty of all Rotarians,” states their Manual of Procedure, outside their clubs, to be active as individuals in as many legally constituted groups and organizations as possible to promote, not only in words but through exemplary dedication, awareness of the dignity of all people and the respect of the consequent human rights of the individual.” The Rotarian’s primary motto is “Service Above Self”; its secondary motto is “One profits most who serves best.”

OK back to the story.

I was quickly followed at the meeting by two other guests visiting from Sweden and later found out there were visitors from Rotary Clubs in Nepal and India as well as a few spouses so out of 60 or so maybe 8 guests including me. The current Vice President of the club came up to me with a preprinted form asking me for history about the Fox Chapel Area Club such as when it was started, number of members, etc., why was in Singapore, etc. Fortunately their internet was working so I was able to see that the founding date was October 29, 1970 and I looked for a couple of recent projects which came in handy.

I could tell that the Rotary Club of Singapore is very active as the current President Mark Wong (photo below) recapped their price meetings and many projects and then quickly welcomed all the guests including me. I thought oh that was nice and easy and then the Vice President said that she would like to “offer a toast” to one of the guests where she proceeded to read the form where I had told her about the Fox Chapel Area Rotary Club and I was then asked to bring my glass of wine to the podium and say a few words, so I was put on the spot a bit. But, not to worry, Gretchen Haggerty (former CFO from U.S. Steel and my former boss and “twin” (born on the same day same year, same hospital, mothers), I beautifully employed (except for forgetting the brevity tip) the speaking tips you helped me learn by sending me to the Executive Speaking Course in Minneapolis a few years ago. I thanked the Club for their generosity, told them I was a traveling spouse here until April and was enjoying myself except for falling off a bar stool at their most famous bar on top of the Marina Sands Hotel and mentioned a few of the Fox Chapel Area Rotary Club projects (some of which I knew and others I had just googled) and then again shamelessly said that once my ankle healed that my hobbies included golf and deep sea fishing and that I was happy to hear about golf opportunities and would be happy to talk to any anglers about taking a trip to the world famous Tropic Star Lodge in Panama where I had just caught several large Marlins and sailfish. (OK I didn’t disclose that I have a semi-agreement with the Tropic Star for a free trip is I can get enough Singaporeans to go, but what better time and audience to set the hook for follow up discussions?)

I ended up meeting several other interesting people during and after the meeting including two couples from Germany who had lived in Singapore for 20 years and I tried out a couple of Germans phrases including “Ich war geborren in Stuttgart meaning “I was born in Stuttgart” and coincidentally one of the guys was born there also a a friend of his was actually also born in the same US Army hospital at Bad Caanstadt that I was born in. So it’s a very small world!

In addition to the Swede visitors at my table I sat next to a tax lawyer from New Zealand and his wife from Moscow who owned a “Trust” company in Singapore. Turns out he was originally from the Netherlands and had graduated from law school in 1970 and set up Dutch Holding companies and Netherlands Antilles holding companies for companies sin New Zealand and Singapore for holding their foreign investments. (Sound familiar anyone?) I may have to get to know him better as he knew some of the trust companies in Amsterdam that I also knew! I also met a past president of the club from the 1980’s who was born in 1935 and became a field engineer but his most vivid memories were walking with his father in 1942 during the Japanese occupation of Singapore when a Japanese soldier slapped his father several times for “not bowing” to the Japanese soldier. (I’m sure he would share may other stories if I see him at future meetings. He also gave each of the guests from other clubs a good looking writing pen with the Rotary Club of Singapore label and Rotary design on top of it so very nice.)

After my “short” speech the President called up all of the guest members and exchanged Singapore Rotary Club flags for Rotary Club flags from other clubs such as the ones in Sweden and Nepal and yes the one I had remembered to bring from Fox Chapel! See photos below.

Finally the meeting began with two speakers from an insurance company talking about Medical Insurance in Singapore. It was a very interesting presentation focusing on existing government programs and private care noting the likely unsustainable health costs without major changes.

One interesting point was that under a class C hospital bed plan you are placed in a hot room with no fan and under a B plan you get your own fan and air conditioning under an A plan so highly regulated as you imagine. He began the presentation by mentioning “the man with the hurt ankle” so I gave him an intro for his talk…He later came to talk to me and I told him I was very satisfied with my 45 minute visit to Singapore General Hospital which included seeing a doctor getting an x-Ray and medication all for a fixed fee if 121 Singapore dollars which is about 100 USD. He noted that was fine but that if surgery was required that residents are only covered up to 2,000 per surgery so I guess I was lucky.

The food was great at it was a mixture of several stations of sea bass, chicken, Indian curry with vegetables. Chinese rice etc. so I hope to continue to participate and meet more people. They even have a March volunteer trip to parts of remote China but Susan and kids may prefer Bali so I should get working on that. Anyway I’m glad I used my Pittsburgh Rotary connections here so thanks Push! I returned around 10:15 to the apartment but Susan didn’t get back from her British Embassy gig until nearly 11:30 pm but it did start later and was further away.

Unlike my food station menu they had printed menus with different courses including expensive 2009 Barolo wines, beef tenderloin, fish etc. They even had a speaker from London who covered the various wines and trends in business and in the legal profession and discussions among the 24 attendees. More importantly she met some very nice people from other financial service companies include those who gave advice on golf clubs and travel etc. so we hope to meet up with them later. All in all a great night and I look forward to our Indian Vegetarian dinner for Thanksgiving and hope everyone there has a great one as well! Pictures follow. (Oops manicure photo a bit out of place) Jim Hollingsworth