HXM @ Madame Tussauds, Hong Kong

The kids haven't seen a wax model before, so on to Madame Tussauds we go.

This time, to the Peak, we took the 3-in-1 combo.  In this PT/ST/MT package, we get the tickets to go up via the Peak Tram, as well as access to the Sky Terrace 428 (it stands at 428 metres above sea level) and Madame Tussauds.

The Peak Tram is, unfortunately, known to have a perpetually long queue, and even once inside the tram itself, it really packs a crowd.  The last ones in often get to stand.  A car would really be a more serene way up, but there is always a reason why something is in popular demand.  In this instance, the hassle quotient gets appeased once you're settled in the squeezy bench-like seats, and watch the scenic wonders unfold as the tram trots gently uphill, pulled by heavy steel cables.  Savour the experience because this exhilarating ride doesn't last long - a mere ten minutes or slightly more, and it's over.  Oh, mama!

Once pass the exit, we were right inside the Peak Tower, wondering if we should do the Sky Terrace first or Madame Tussauds.  The weather was unpredictable.  Dark clouds were ready to pour its load. We stood outside Madame Tussauds, and because it was quite empty of visitors, we forgot that there is another more ominous load to fear than the rain.

Having already experience the "***** Swarm" (let's not state the nationality here) whereby a place almost gets overtaken whenever busloads of these tourists arrive, we should have known better. 

Instead, we got sidetracked by some shops, and then by hungry stomachs, and then got distracted by the misty views of the fog-laden valleys outside the Burger King balcony passage.

By the time we had our fill and was all ready to make the rounds, lo and behold! Madame Tussauds was swarmed with all creatures big and small, of the 2-legged kind.

You can hardly get any decent amount of photo opportunity with the more popular wax figures, since these were now totally surrounded.  Andy Lau is an epitome of popularity with his model of likeness being the most caressed by strangers, male and female alike.  Yes, even the guys didn't spare him. You could walk up and down the hall countless times hoping for a photo opportunity break only to find his wax figure almost permanently intertwined with someone's arms or legs, and often with lips of his fans adjoined to his cheek.  

In contrast, Amitabh Bachchan appears neglected.  I almost feel sorry for him.

The interesting bit about being in a Madame Tussauds wax museum is that you get to see physical characteristics up close. One of which is the height.  Many public figures have been known to be inclined towards exaggeration when it comes to their height.  Ethics-wise, Madame Tussauds should have captured the copy as close as possible to the real subjects they portray, although a two percentage allowance had to be rendered because wax shrinks.

We were surprised to see MM Lee Kuan Yew (the Madame Tussauds version) there, standing tall.

Another figure we didn't realise would be there was HXM (Huang Xiao Ming).  Apparently, the attraction had chosen him to be its first male Mainland Chinese celebrity in November 2012.  His wax likeness stands in the inner chamber.  It was thankfully less jam-packed there than the zones we had just toured, so we took a breather there.  I found myself touching the chin of this wax figure before realising it was HXM, the Condor Hero.  This time, he was dressed as a shepherd, his role in "The Guillotines".

 

 

The wax and the man.  Almost like twin brothers. 

Photo Credits: mtime.com

Each figure takes 4-6 months to create.
It costs approximately US$125,000 and more to make.

Hong Kong Disneyland Hotels un-mystified

For our first trip to Hong Kong Disneyland, we wanted very much to stay in one of the Disneyland hotels there, and so thought it's a great idea to google everything on it.

Surprisingly, instead of whetting our appetite, the pre-trip over-reading actually has the reverse effect of killing our enthusiasm.

So many bloggers have been writing on it that the Disneyland hotels has become un-mystified.  Sometimes, the reason for visiting a place we haven't visited before, is for the sense of adventure.  In the case of Disneyland Hong Kong, every bit of it is so well covered by bloggers, that we almost know what to expect at every turn.  The mystery and excitement of finding out for ourselves is gone.  The place suffers from over-exposure and even before stepping in, we have the been-there-done-that feeling.

If you are the sort who likes to have a sense of wonder first-hand, read those blogs which offers tips rather than those diary-style ones which gives you a blow-by-blow account of their experiences. Disneyland is blogged on in a much more detailed manner than other destinations, with accompanying photo visuals, and as you go through these picture diaries, before you know it, it all begins to feel overly familiar.

Still, we feel that the Kingdom Club may add to our visit to Disneyland, and proceeded to view the options available at the Disneyland website.  There were already quite a lot of blocked-out dates, where bookings would not be possible.

It didn't help that when we were trying to place reservations, we were attended to by a rep who couldn't seem to be clear-cut about the rates that is applicable.  They have many different levels of packages and passes, so if the various computation are not clearly explained or accurately computed, the to-and-fro emailing can be such a hassle, one simply chooses the path of least resistance and either give in to sucker rates or give up.  In our case, we simply couldn't get proper communication, with the rep repeatedly cutting-and-pasting different parts from the Disneyland Hong Kong website, when those are the exact same portions we wanted clarification on. 

With time running out, we decided to skip the hotel-stay and just visit the Disneyland Park itself.  Even here, the service falls far short.  Some areas already looks quite run-down.

We like Hong Kong but all we can say is, Disneyland Hong Kong needs improvements and regeneration in so many areas. 

Perhaps, they should consider Singapore as a venue once again.

Fairer Employment Pass System to protect Locals in the Workforce

Today's Headlines - Singapore: Move towards fairer hiring with tighter EP System
Singapore is to tighten the Employment Pass (EP) framework for hiring of foreigners later this year. This is to ensure a level playing field for citizens in the workforce and build up a Singapore core.

Particularly affected are the junior to mid-level Professionals, Managers and Executives (PMEs).

The intent of this latest framework is to:-

*  Level the playing field for junior to mid-level PMEs
*  Build in more safeguards against discriminatory hiring
*  Put in place fair practices


Many Singaporean were affected one way or another:-

*  Sacrifice work-life balance.owing to pressure from foreigners who are willing to
    work longer hours without overtime compensation. For many foreigner PMEs,
    their family is not here, and work is their primary hobby.

*  Change in work nature and job scope. Locals being pressurised to take on multiple
    tasks and responsibilities within the same position that they have always held or
    face being replaced by a foreigner.

*  Pay rise stagnant or at its minimum owing to competition from foreigners with same
    qualifications but are willing to take lower pay

*  Promotional prospects reduced to nil. Deprive locals of senior positions. 

*  Company perks like educational and work trips abroad are being snatched by
    foreigners, particularly if they are familiar with the culture of the overseas country -
    since they hail from those countries. This deprives locals of opportunities to learn on
    the job.

*  Discriminatory practice by category: Foreign bosses who prefer to hire their own
    foreign compatriots.  Without proper legislation, there is nothing to remind foreign
    firms and foreigners working here of the social compact responsibility to the local
    communities.

*  Discriminatory practice by age: Singaporeans in their 40s and 50s being overlooked
    in favour of younger 'foreign talents' in their 20s and 30s. This happens during job
    application, as well as while still holding the job.

*  Retrenched or forced to leave job due to displacement by foreign worker.  Often, the
    foreign worker is recruited directly from local Singapore universities. 

*  The perks for foreigners are plentiful. 
    Eligibility to apply for Permanent Residence (PR). 
    Buy cars, government housing and land in Singapore.
    Option to convert to Citizenship. 
    For some foreign nationals, the usefulness of the Singapore passport to apply for
    work in USA, and subsequently apply for the US Green Card is hugh. 
    In many cases, they even reinstate the original citizenship of their native country. 


Singapore is not closing itself off to opportunities. It is not insisting that companies hire citizens regardless of merit.  But at the rate it was going for the past few years, many locals are disadvantaged.  Many local parents are worried about the future of their kids.  If we now live in a workforce where the average common locals are being squeezed out by foreigners, how much worse would it be when it comes to the kids' turn?

In particular, a group that needs protection are the PMEs in their 40s and 50s. The Singapore workforce worships youth. Many in this age group who find themselves expelled prematurely out of the workforce has difficulty landing the same kind of job - ever again. If the reason for having to leave a company that one is committed to, is due to the impact of foreign PMEs, then something has failed in the system.

Some safeguards are in place, and the eligibility requirements for the affected sector will be tightened:-

*  Minimum income for Q1 Pass S$3,000, up from S$2,800.
*  Suspension of work pass privileges.
*  Whistle-blowing unit.
*  The number of foreign workers a company can hire is tied to the number of full-time
    local workers it has.  Under this quota, there is a minimum salary that the full-time
    local workers has to be paid.

REACH, the Government's feedback channel for Singaporeans to air their views and suggestions on policies and national issues, announced March 18, 2013, that in a telephone poll of 927 citizens, close to 9 in 10 respondents were supportive of measures to tighten foreign worker inflow:

*  86.6% support measures to raise Foreign Worker Levies
*  89.3% support reducing the Dependency Ratio Ceiling in the Service and
    Marine sectors
*  88.5% support tightening the criteria for S Passes and Employment Passes
*  69% support the Wage Credit Scheme, in which the government co-funds
    the wage increases for Singaporean employees earning up to a gross monthly
    wage of S$4,000, to encourage businesses to raise wages of these Singaporeans.

Email reach@reach.gov.sg to register for public dialogues.

SME Red Tapes

Forum - Straits Times: Set up body to look after SMEs' needs

ST reader Tay Boon Suat made several good points in his letter:-

*  There are 160,000 SMEs in Singapore. 

*  Many SME bosses have to visit various government agencies to resolve issues.

*  Although there are Aid agencies like Spring Singapore, Singapore Workforce

    Development Agency, etc., many SMEs are unable to tap it owing to lack of

    appropriate help.

*  SMEs contribute about half of Singapore's gross domestic products, so they deserve

    a dedicated body to take care of their needs.

*  He suggests that the Government consider setting up an SME board, similar to

    those in Britain and Germany, to look after the sector's future development and

    well-being.

The purpose of such a board should ideally be to:-

*  Take charge of the development of SMEs

*  Coordination with other industry sectors

*  Become the single government agency to direct the SMEs to the appropriate help.

*  Help SMEs tap the relevant aid schemes

*  Coordinate information and schedules of all courses relevant to SMEs

He is correct.  To set up an SME, a business has to deal with quite an assortment of agencies:-

*  ACRA (Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority)

    Although the guys at ACRA are immersely helpful, and willing to stick it out until you get

    it, we surrender and just resort to a Secretarial Firm to help us register the licence.

    For specific businesses like money changers, travel agencies etc., you deal with the

    other related agencies as well.

*  Secretarial Companies

    We shop around 5-6 places before landing with an ideal one that has friendlier staff.

    It sure makes life simpler when a supportive team handles complex stuff which

    requires explanation. We avoid those with itemized charges, and chose a package

    that also covers basic accounting requirements.

*  Banks with Corporate Banking Facilities

    There is one bank that has very very poor service!

    It's mentioned in forums.

    We went for it as it seems to suit out needs, then find the bank's errors ends up

    clogging time and cluttering paperwork.

    Don't touch it!

*  IRAS (Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore)

    During initial registration, the e-Services Authorisation System (EASY) Access Code

    actually turns out to be not so easy. It involves a trip to IRAS's Revenue House at 55

    Newton Road, before we figure out where this EASY Access Code comes into the

    picture.

    They are very helpful folks, even when you call by phone. 

    They have enabled simpler form of SME reporting for some SMEs, one of which is

    by abolishing the need to file ECI (Estimated Chargeable Income).

    Nevertheless, we also surrender and just hire an Accounting Firm to do the

    tax-related works.

*  AGD (Accountant-General's Department, Singapore).

    We knew the Attorney-General of Singapore's office exists.

    But we never knew the existence of the Accountant-General's Department until we

    become SME. We had some tricky acts dealing with bank codes and other stuff, but

    the lady there resolves it well. 

      

*  CPF Board

    Payroll matters if you need to pay CPF and Medisave to staff.

    There are penalties for late payment.

    You can pay an Accounting Firm for this accountancy service as well.

*  GeBIZ (Government Electronic Business)  

    In order to bid for Government projects, you need to first register with GeBIZ

    (Government Electronic Business) as a Government Supplier (GeBIZ Trading

    Partner).

*  EPPU (Expenditure and Policies Procurement Unit)

    For some tenders, you may also need to be registered as an Expenditure and Policies

    Procurement Unit (EPPU) Supplier or Building and Construction Authority (BCA)

    Supplier. Select the appropriate EPPU categories of Supply Heads.

   

    Next, pay and submit to the ACRA-appointed agency.

    Await confirmation of the minimum Financial Grades required for tender qualification.

*  Aid Agencies for sponsorship, courses, appropriate help.

    Helter Skelter encounter for many.

    With so many processes and strings attached, tenacity is required before help is found.

So despite having good secretariat and accounting support, SME bosses still have quite a bit of homework to do on their own.  

An SME hub where all the related agencies are represented would help immensely.

Buying Mattress from Forty Two (Formerly Beds.sg) Online

Our super maid agent Claire introduce us to Beds.sg online (now called Forty Two), when we wanted to purchase a mattress for our maid.

Beds.sg pre-sales gave quite good recommendations and help us pin down the mattress suitable to our needs, after we read several users review and still could not make up our mind.

Unfortunately, we weren't around during the delivery, and our maid didn't check the mattress for obvious flaws.

We noted a palm-size tear in the thick plastic covering, went "Oh-oh", and true enough, that portion exposed to the outside world was a darker, dirtier patch.

Shouldn't the delivery guys have noticed this already?  And still dump it on us?

Unfortunately, there was no stock.

So this mattress took up precious space in the house while awaiting the next delivery which arrived 16 days later.

To Beds.sg credit, at least they bother to give us a $8.85 (5%) refund.  They say their margin is low, and couldn't offer more. 

$8.85 can't make up for the inconvenience caused.

But a nice gesture, at least.

The S$177 Magic Koil Good Morning mattress performs well.

Khaw Boon Wan: Prices of new HDB flats remain affordable

In Parliament Today - Singapore: Khaw Boon Wan: Prices of new HDB flats remain affordable

$$$$$

We don't understand.  Yet another minister says HDB flats are affordable. When the pricing of HDB is increasing year-on-year and is now at an all-time high. When salaries remain near stagnant all these years.  You can't blame our incredibility for being stretched.

New flats are pegged too closely to the resale flats' prices to be able to be anything but HIGH. The price of a current resale flat of 67 sqm is anything from S$300,000 to S$400,000. And that of a 120 sqm anything from S$475,000 to S$750,000 and above! The housing grants for first-time Singaporean buyers has rather stringent rules imposed, and pales in comparison to the price increase of current years.

Compared to this, an average worker's gross pay in Singapore is a mere S$3,000 a month - if you are lucky to have a job paying this amount, that is. And with this average pay, you're hard put to keep up with the cost of daily living and monthly bills, not to mention set aside anything for housing.


Space

Expensive?  Then go for smaller, we are told.
Some families of 6-7 or more, cramp into a space of 67 sqm space. You can call that affordable as well but a human should not be deprived of proper space.


Time

A large part of the price increase is owing to the BTO (Build-to-order) system.  With pressing need for housing, it is puzzling why the BTO system is still in place.  A spot for the preferred area must be balloted first before go-ahead for the construction starts.   Goreng here, goreng there, waste of precious time in admin processing, pay a $ percentage first, and then the waiting game of another 3 to 7 years to move in starts.  All in, making life so much more stressful for Singaporeans. With such pressing need for housing, go ahead and build already!  Like in the good old past, when housing is meant to serve the needs of the people.

At the very least, the BTO should apply to some areas, not a blanket rule like it is now.  By building so slowly - and the BTO system is by it's very nature a snail-pace system - the supply of HDB flats is held back amidst high-tension bottled demands.  How could flats ever be affordable when demand still exceeds supply?

The latest proposal to cut HDB prices for new HDB flats comes with caveats.  Hopefully, it does not apply to far-flung areas only.  And hopefully, not another wait of 5-7 years.


Don't forget.  Affordability is measured in terms of money, space - and time as well.

Not many can afford to wait, and may be forced to pay the exhorbitant resale rates.

Taxi in Singapore during Peak Hour

There is always peak crowd — human and traffic jam — on Fridays, especially at Orchard Road.

We queued for a cab at Paragon Taxi Q for roughly 40 minutes.
To Paragon's credit, they make sure their taxi stand area is pleasantly landscaped, and efficiently manned by queue wardens.

Despite our heavy carriers of shopping bags, we should have walked a bit to the Orchard MRT Station or the Somerset Station, though.

Because this is the bill we got travelling in a cab from Paragon to Changi City Point:-

START JOURNEY .............. 25 January 2013 @ 1850 Hours

DISTANCE RUN - 18.2 KM
TRAFFIC CONDITION - Heavy Traffic along 3-quarters of the journey

METER FARE ..................... = $16.40
ERP ...................................... = $  1.00
CITY AREA SURCHARGE = $  3.00
PEAK HOUR 25% .............. = $  4.10

TOTAL FARE ..................... = $24.50

AMOUNT PAID = $24.40

Fainted.