Weight Loss Tips, Anyone?

It's year end once again. . .

2006, an unbelievable year for me - if you check out my Internet marketing blog at http://www.rogerloh.com you'd realize I've attended many seminars within the year! It's downright crazy.

Coupled with many trips to KL, I discovered I'm almost up to the top of the scale...how frightening?!

Finally, I set my weight loss goals and began to pursue my 'ideal' body :-) I'm a believer of having constant reminders to help us achieve whatever we're doing through friends, gadgets, devices or even email reminders such as from this site:

http://www.weight-loss-fact.com

BMW Atop A Pickup Truck

I was driving along Ayer Rajah Expressway (AYE), Singapore, on my way to meet a friend. . .

And then I saw this interesting spectacle - a BMW atop a pickup truck.

As can be seen from the pic, the BMW sits exactly on top the pickup. . . I wonder how they got it up on top!

Impressions Of Shanghai

Shanghai, China - Looking out the window of the suite of Central Hotel, Shanghai's famous Nanjing Road "bu xing jie" (major pedestrian street) is impressive. . .

The night scene is just as beautiful!

Literally, tons of people throng that street lined with shops and eating places. Here, I get a taste of 17 million population in a busy city!

For the last three days, my wife and I visited several places of attraction:

Huai Hai Road - Shanghai's 'Orchard Road' - a straight, long, road of modern shopping centers. If I blindfold you and airdrop you there, you probably won't know which city you're in :)

Along this road, we chanced upon a great joint for body massage - almost the best service I ever experienced! They even serve us food after the wonderfully soothing massage. If you need the details, just drop me a mail at roger@rogerloh.com

Yu Yuan - several 'criss-crossed' streets of shopping and eating places, with a taste of ancient China, definitely worth a visit.


The Bund - the famous beach that's lined with around 30 historic buildings of yester year, some government buildings like the Russian consulate, corporate buildings like AIA, and hotels like Peace Hotel (which gotten famous through the Hong Kong TV serial, 'Shanghai Beach').

The bund is along the Huangpu River which meanders from north (adjoining from Yangtze River) to the south, cutting across the Shanghai province.

Several bridges and tunnels connect the the bund to the opposite side, one of which is an 'sightseeing' tunnel (for details, visit http://lyw.sh.gov.cn/en/scenic_spot/bundtunnel.aspx). Modern high technologies are applied in the decoration of the interior walls of the tunnel, providing the passengers with background music as well as pictures, patterns and views about people, history, culture, science and technology and natural scenery.

Opposite the bund is the Oriental TV Tower, Asian's tallest at 468m, where you can ride the elevator to 263m or even 350m at a nominal price. It is the 3rd tallest tower in the world (for the highest towers of the world, visit http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0886190.html)

Not far from the TV Tower is the famous Jin Mao Tower, currently the tallest in China. Hyatt Hotel occupies 53rd to 87th floor (where Cloud 9, a coffee house, is located). An observatory deck is located on 88th floor. It is the 5th tallest building in the world (for the highest buildings in the world, visit http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0001338.html)

The night scene at the bund is an experience you don't want to miss if you are in Shanghai! The buildings are all lit up till 10.30pm and you feel that you are in fairyland if you look from the upper floors of Jin Mao! (Thus, the crowd at Cloud 9, located on the 87th floor). Tonight, there was even a surprise firework display for a good half hour!

There's even a barge (see picture on the left) that carries a giant screen on one side that keeps playing video ads of giant companies such as Intel and Microsoft.

Xin Tien Di - Innocently-looking from the main road (you have to walk through a side road to get in), this place boasts of completely refurbished old-Chinese styled buildings It has a great night life with bars with live music, eating places and fine restaurants. . . and even live performances of opera and dance while I was there!

(Note: 'day-time' photo here is not representative of the night life there)

My FREE Birthday Cake. . .

Shanghai, China - Just an hour ago, I've got a pleasant surprise. . .

It was my birthday and I was staying at a hotel in Shanghai, China.

As I was resting, a hotel staff called and mentioned they noticed it's my birthday today! And. . . they want to send me a cake for the occasion too!

Phew! Talking about customer service. Now they got me talking as well as blogging too :-)

In case you want yours too, be sure to stay at Central Hotel, Shanghai for your next birthday! Their web site is located at:


http://www.centralhotelshanghai.com/

MUST READ! "Because the Customer" - It's Beautiful

I heard this last Friday at the Direct Selling Association of Singapore (DSAS) Public Forum, Singapore and I really love this - it's truly BEAUTIFUL!

Here's what I heard...

A Slogan For Customer Service At The Federal Reserve Bank of New York:

“Because the Customer”

Because the customer has a need, we have a job to do.
Because the customer has a choice, we must be the better choice.
Because the customer has sensibilities, we must be considerate.
Because the customer has an urgency, we must be quick.
Because the customer is unique, we must be flexible.
Because the customer has high expectations, we must excel.
Because of our customer, we exist.

------------------------------------------------------------------
I've also written a SPECIAL REPORT on this Direct Selling event which I learnt lots about the global/Asian direct selling status. It was truly an eye and ear opener!

Download your FREE COPY here

A Nice Yet Reasonable 24-Hour Chinese Restaurant

Here's one that's definitely recommended...

This is a HONG KONG Chinese restaurant located in Upper Serangoon Road, Singapore at the far end of Heartland Mall, just adjacent to the row of petrol kiosks.

The interior decor is superb with a wall hung graphic of the Hong Kong map, extending from Lantau to Hong Kong Island, Kowloon and New Territories.

There's a wide choice of selection of food plus nice tasting hot and cold tea, coffee and 'yinyang', a mixed concoction of tea and coffee.

And the best part is... The prices are very reasonable.

My WIfe Said I Have A Bad Spending Habit...

I discovered a way to keep my hands clean after eating with my hands outdoors...

Have you ever eaten some food that you need to use your hand? Like chicken wings, chilli crab, steamed prawn and stuff like that. If you don't use your hand, it won't be 'shiok' (meaning 'no fun')

But yet, after eating, sometimes we don't have a proper place to wash our hands or maybe we're simply too lazy to leave the table and walk to the wash room :-)

So, what I do nowadays is to order a bottle of mineral water...

And then I'll drink only one-third of that and guess what?

I'll wash my hands with the balance two-third of the water :-) And she'll say, "That's expensive...paying a dollar just to wash your hands. You've got a bad spending habit!"

Singapore's Delicious Hokkien Mee

I finally got my taste of this Singapore's delicious hokkien mee...

Every time I drive along Upper Serangoon Road past Kovan MRT Station on my left and Heartland Mall on my right, I would notice this hokkien mee stall right at the corner of Simon Road that generates a lot of smoke! And it's often crowded with lots of people.

For months, somehow I can't get to taste this as either it's not open, too crowded or they're closed early about 11 pm.

Tonight, with GOD's blessings, I drove past there again in search for my late dinner. After parking, my wife thought it would take at least half an hour...

I was a bit hesitant as to wait or not wait? Well, time is so precious these days... And then, when we reached there, there was an empty table right in front of this popular stall.

And then, just after we sat down, the hawker assistant came and ask me whether I want the plates already fried! Hey, that's a MIRACLE. Instead of having to wait half an hour, I got my hokkien mee immediately. And it did taste nice.

What a Blessed Night...thank God!

P.S. Haha... I almost forgot - the chicken wing there is EXCELLENT! No kidding...the sauce is 1st class :-)

How I Survived My First Lions Club Meeting

I just got back from my 1st ever Lions Club meeting.

It was a friend, my ex-BNI Chapter member, who invited me. I told her how I have some friends in Lions but somehow they never invited me :-)

It's like when I was not yet a Christian a few years ago. I was studying various religions and was waiting for someone to invite me. It took an ex-colleague two years before he extended an invitation to me... It's really strange how things work.

Anyway...back to this first meeting which was conducted in a beautiful pre-war shop house in Tessensohn Road, Singapore. It's not a very big club but the members were closely knitted and committed to the cause which was much more important.

On that meeting, dinner was provided, coffee break and even a birthday cake for 3 of the members including my friend who invited me. In fact, she, along with 3 others, were actually inducted as new members that night. Plus, 2 visitors beside me actually committed to join on the spot!

Obviously, the pressure was on me :-) However, I know my own commitments and this is certainly not time yet for any additional commitment. My friend was very nice, very understanding and she said she'll not pressure me... Oh what a relief :-)

By chance, the District Governor (DG) was there who graced the occasion and gave a brief description of how Singapore, East and West Malaysia were divided into districts. She, a very graceful and long-serving lady, also gave a wonderful narration of those worldwide events where delegates come from many, many different countries and mentioned that the next is in Chicago and encouraged us to attend.

The meeting was conducted professionally by the President, Vice President and several community projects were discussed. And yet, the people were sincere and genuine. They kept it short and sweet and there was also good fellowship!

Oh yes, my friend's mom was also a long-standing lion who gave a roaring history of this club's formation....interesting.

Overall, it was a nice evening - an eye opener for me. At least, now I know what to expect when I'm ready to take on this social responsibilty as a human being. But now, first, wealth creation...that's what I dedicate these 5 years of my life to doing... other commitments can come later...

Instant Web Site Solution For Internet Marketing Newbies

I posted on my Internet Marketing blog on an INSTANT WEB SITE solution for newbies.

For those who wish to get started with Affiliate marketing without the technical jargon and skills which take a steep learning curve, this is your way to go.


Click here to check out this solution.


Personally, I've seen 2 of my friends starting out from there and then moved on after a few months to create web sites using other full-featured software. But this is truly a STOP GAP solution so that a newbie in Internet Marketing can at least move on for awhile.

World's Smallest Teenager!

I found this interesting news today on BBC through Encyclopedia Britannica Online...

"The world's smallest teenager?

A teenager is waiting to find out if he's the smallest man in the world.

Fourteen-year-old Khagendra Thapa Magar is only 50cm high, and weighs just 4.5kg, which could be record-breaking.

He's apparently the smallest person in his home country of Nepal, and he's written to Guinness World Records to see if he can claim the world title. "

Click here for the full news article.

Jim Thompson House

During my recent weekend break to Bangkok, just a 2-hour flight, from Singapore, I visited Jim Thompson House!

How I came to know about Jim Thompson House once again shows the power of the Internet!

I was boarding at Changi Airport and was early, so stopped by an Internet station to check my mail and replied a mail to a friend, Jan, in KL. Jan was so nice to point out about Jim Thompson House in Bangkok in his subsequent reply.

If you want to know about the roots of Thai silk, check out Jan's web page at:

http://www.cameron-highland-destination.com/jim-thompson-house.html

My 1st Experience With Jetstar, Asia's Budget Airline

On my recent trip to Pattaya for an Internet Marketing seminar, just 2 hours away from Bangkok by road, I had my 1st taste with JetStar, Asia's budget airline.

The 1st thing that hit me when I boarded the Airbus A320 aircraft was the comfortable leather seats... Oh sure, we don't have the niceties of those full-service operations, but the price tag was nice at slightly above S$200 for a return air ticket SIN-BKK-SIN. (Hey! The other way, BKK-SIN-BKK cost substantially more! How do I know? Drop me a mail at roger@rogerloh.com)

JetStar Asia and Valuair, both commenced operations in 2004, merged in 2005 to become South East Asia's value for money airline, providing friendly and professional service. JetStar Asia won the Best Low-cost Airline 2006 for both the Asia and Southeast Asia categories in the Skytrax World Airline Awards.

At this time of blogging, you can fly JetStar to any of these destinations within a 5 hour radius:

• Bangalore, India
• Yangon, Myanmar
• Bangkok, Thailand
• Phuket, Thailand
• Siem Reap, Cambodia
• Phnom Penh, Camodia
• Hong Kong, China
• Taipei, Taiwan
• Manila, Philippines
• Singapore
• Jakarta, Indonesia
• Surabaya, Indonesia
• Bali, Indonesia

The 4 "Olds" Of Old Age

I saw an old man said this on TV which I found quite cute. He said the 4 "Olds" of Old Age are:

1) Old Spouse
2) Old Health
3) Old Capital
4) Old Friends

I marvel how he can look at it this way :-)

1) Old Spouse - when we get old, we want to have an old spouse by our side.

2) Old Health - certainly, we don't want any sickness and so we need old health.

3) Old Capital - we don't want to worry about money anymore, thus old capital (Shh! If you have not yet joined any network marketing business to create your residual income for old age, do visit my MLM blog at: http://www.rogerloh.com/mlmblog and choose one there...)

4) Old Friends - we surely want our old friends to be still with us (Sigh...the fact is that 36% of our friends will be gone when we reach age 65!)

That's really Old Wisdom...Haha!

What is Nanotechnology

I met a friend about 2 weeks back whom I've not caught up for about half a year. He has gone into a new nanotechnology business which was absolutely Greek to me :-) (However, it's good to learn something new once again.).

Essentially, with nanotechnology, comes products like steriliser which means NO MORE SMELLING SHOES, not just legs :-)

So, hey, isn't that good news? The next time you walk into a spa and they hand you some sandals to change into, just pray that it is using these products...Good Luck!

You can read about nanotechnology from his website at http://www.nanoworld.sg, of which here is an excerpt:

=== EXCERPT ===
What is Nanotechnology:

"Nanotechnology is a rapidly growing science of producing and utilizing nano-sized particles that measure in nanometers (1 nm = 1 billionth of a metre).

The term nano particle is generally used to indicate particles with dimensions less than 100 nanometers (one nanometer is one billionth of a meter). For comparison, a human hair is about 100,000 nm in diameter, while a smoke particle is about 1,000 nm in diameter.

The smallest nano particles, only a few nanometers in diameter, contain only a few thousand atoms. These particles, called quantum dots, can possess properties that are entirely different from their parent materials.It is the material improved economical efficiency of silver with its nano particles. Nano Silver is verified scientifically that it sterilizes about 650 kinds of bacteria and virus. Silver is also harmless to the human body.

It is broadly studied as a material for medical treatment of SARS, bird flu, swine cholera and super influenza.
Nano Silver has various functions of deodorization, anti-bacterial ability and reducing electromagnetic waves with high efficiency due to its ability to combine with the cell walls of pathogenic bacteria; it directly gets inside the bacteria and quickly combines with the sulphydryl (-SH) of oxygenic metabolic enzymes to deactivate enzymes, block inhalation and metabolism and suffocate bactera."

Sarawak Kolo Mee (or Noodle) Opens Nee Soon Branch

I discovered that Sarawak Kolo Mee (or Noodle) opened a new branch recently at Nee Soon while I went for breakfast yesterday at the famous Ampang Yong Tau Foo stall.

This branch is just 2 stalls away... I didn't get to taste from there though as you can see, I was early and their doors were not open yet.

Personally, I'm a BIG noodle fan :-) And I've tasted their noodles at their head office and branch at Chinatown which really tasted G-00-d, especially their Specialty Noodle. Try it folks - I'm not getting any commission, Haha...

Delicious Claypot Mee, S'pore

If you like noodle like me, you must try this rather special claypot noodle :-)

It came in clear soup which is different from the normal claypot that I expected. Very delicious...yummy!

Visit this stall at:

Food Centre, Waterloo Centre
Block 261 Waterloo Street
Singapore

Life-long Learning...

I just watched Channel News Asia as I took a lunch break...

Wow! You can't believe it! A man just got his MBA in his 60's PHD in his 70's !!

His name is Wee Lee King. (Perhaps you like to search him out. ) Whenever he applied to the learning institutions, they either rejected him outright or queried him why he wants to study!

How ridiculous? And we always talk about Life-long Learning... So do we walk the talk?

Here's an extract from Singapore Workforce Development Agency:

"Wee Lee King [魏利庆] (74 years old, Insurance Consultant & Part-timeLecturer)

Lee King is our oldest Lifelong Learner Award winner. He is a fighter who nevergives up, having battled leukemia but never wavered in his quest to stayemployable.

Born in Guangdong, China, Wee Lee King and his family moved to Kluang,Johor, during World War II. At the end of the war, he came to Singapore to studyat the Chinese High School. "

For more details, click here.

Anyway, he persevered and got himself into MBA and then later PHD. It's fascinating that even a hall in China is named after him for his indomitable human spirit of learning.

Let's learn from him...

Land Banking

I attended a Land Banking Talk last Saturday morning.

It was an eye opener. I never really understood Land Banking till now....

Well, if the company is strong, I believe that the investment is really great! They're talking about nearly 15% per annum ROI and the minimum investment is merely $10,000.

It's really cool if we have some spare cash to stash away. The money literally doubles in 5 to 6 years with this rate of return :-)

This Is My Personal Blog

This is my personal blog where I put in my thoughts, experiences and lessons randomly...

I have another blog at http://www.rogerloh.com which focuses on Internet Marketing. That's the place where I'll share info about tips, tricks, seminars, etc.