Thursday, March 11, 2010

A holistic approach to National Service in Singapore

Virtually all Singaporean male citizens are required to do 2 years of military service in Singapore once they reach 18. Its a tough ask - as lives are disrupted, gf relationships broken up, and real life plans get put on hold. For many lower income families, the temporary loss of their son, causes tremendous financial hardships - especially for widows who have only that one child who is also helping the family business.

The way I look at it - the whole process needs a serious re-think.

First off - physical fitness. In the past, this wasn't such a big problem. Most kids' leisure time was spent doing sports like football, basketball etc.. Nowadays, kids grow up on a diet of computer games, playstations, and a tremendous amount of junk food. Its no surprise that obesity levels are increasing sharply and fitness levels fall sharply.

The problem facing the military, esp. the infantry, is that the batch of male recruits they get - have a lot of fat kids who are quite simply human sofa chairs who cannot hope to attain the same overall levels of physical proficiency as their predecessors. 

Its really too hard to get a 18 year old couch potato and turn him/her into a fit army soldier in 3 or even 6 months. Thats a bit like getting a student who has spent the past decade slacking off and trying to get him to successfully pass his pre-Uni exams. Yes, a joke.

They need to incorporate the physical fitness of students into the school syllabus in a bigger way and factor it into the national health.



training - truck driving, people management skills

national service = benefits - subsized education health care for family,


 

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Similans: The Barren Sea

Just came back from a dive in the Similan Islands, Anderman Sea.

The first day diving was very promising - East of Eden was truly spectacular in terms of beautiful coral life. There were avenues of brilliant yellow colored soft coral - overhanging from the massive boulder rocks that cover the area.

The visibility at times was also pretty good - 20m+

Then we ventured to West of Eden, Deep Six, Elephant Head, North Point, etc.. the currents got a bit more stronger and tougher and the thermocline - waves of current of different temperatures - cold and sometimes hot - got more frequent.

At North Point - a massive brown thermocline wall, filled with coral sea debris, billowed towards us. I initially thought it was the wall face. It was an experience.

Sadly, the fish life is somewhat lacking in the Similans. And I think I know why. At Island 8 - the Ko Similan Island, I witnessed scores of fishing trawlers moored in the sanctuary area, then fishing within a 1 - 2 km radius. Whats the point in having a sanctuary if poachers go unchecked? I can imagine their large nets would have caught sharks, manta rays, whales sharks - minced them up and sold them off as cat meat.

I didn't have time to go to Richelieu Rock - but apparently the fish life is more abundant there.

It didn't help that the toilets - all public - on Siam Divers malfunctioned because people kept on dropping paper etc.. into the septic tank. And to make matters worse, some fucker had dysentery and kept on repainting the toilets with a muddy shade of shit. Unfortunately for me I had a bit of a close encounter whilst brushing my teeth. I got myself all nice and clean, flossed and brushed my teeth. Someone left a "present" in the toilet bowl but the flushing mechanism wasn't working - again. So I couldn't flush it away. Just as I was about to leave - the toilet bowl erupted in an unholy geyser.

I shit you not. A volcano eruption was spewing from the toilet bowl. Shock and disbelief came to horror as I tried to open the rusty twisted toilet door bolt to make my escape. It took me awhile to open the damn door. Enough time for me to be covered with gallons of  waste water. And no, the piece of excrement wasn't there anymore.

It turns out the Thai boat plumber was trying to pump the sewage at the same time from one of the other toilets. They had a good laugh when I told them what happened.

I didn't get sick but the whole thought of that disgusting incident still leaves me slightly nauseated.

I now have a very fond affection to private ensuite toilets.

Siam divers was also rather crowded as they took in day trip divers who arrived by speed boat. No, not a good idea to share the crew space with day trippers - in this case, it was a bunch of Japanese and old Asians.

I had to bunk with one chap who had left his alarm on Tokyo time - which gave an almighty wakeup at 4am.

Yes, its probably cheap. But no, I don't think I'd dive there again and not with SD.


Tuesday, March 09, 2010

Similans: The Barren Sea

Just came back from a dive in the Similan Islands, Anderman Sea.

The first day diving was very promising - East of Eden was truly spectacular in terms of beautiful coral life. There were avenues of brilliant yellow colored soft coral - overhanging from the massive boulder rocks that cover the area.

The visibility at times was also pretty good - 20m+

Then we ventured to West of Eden, Deep Six, Elephant Head, North Point, etc.. the currents got a bit more stronger and tougher and the thermocline - waves of current of different temperatures - cold and sometimes hot - got more frequent.

At North Point - a massive brown thermocline wall, filled with coral sea debris, billowed towards us. I initially thought it was the wall face. It was an experience.

Sadly, the fish life is somewhat lacking in the Similans. And I think I know why. At Island 8 - the Ko Similan Island, I witnessed scores of fishing boats and trawlers - at least 5 - moored in the marine park, then fishing at sunset within a 1 - 2 km radius of the island. Good grief. Whats the point in having a marine sanctuary if poachers go unchecked? I can imagine their large nets would have caught sharks, manta rays, whales sharks - minced them up and sold them off as cat meat or fish balls.

I didn't have time to go to Richelieu Rock - but apparently the fish life is more abundant there.

It didn't help that the toilets - all public - on Siam Divers malfunctioned because people kept on dropping toilet paper into the sewerage. And to make matters worse, some fucker had dysentery and kept on repainting the toilets with a muddy shade of shit which he didn't bother cleaning up.

Unfortunately I had a bit of a close encounter whilst brushing my teeth. After dinner, I got myself all nice and clean, flossed and brushed my teeth. Someone left a "present" in the toilet bowl but the flushing mechanism wasn't working - again. Just as I was about to leave - the toilet bowl erupted in an unholy geyser. Turns out the boat plumber was trying to pump the sewage at the same time on the other side of the boat. It took me 5 seconds to open the door and exit but it felt like an eternity. I didn't get sick but the whole thought of that disgusting incident made me nauseous for the rest of the trip.

I now have a very fond affection to private ensuite toilets.

The Siam Divers boat was also rather crowded as they took in day trip divers who arrived by speed boat. On Day 2, a fat Japanese roommate was squeezed into my room cos the boatmaster was too lazy to put him in one of the many spare rooms. My roomie had an old school bell alarm clock which he thoughtfully for 5am in the morning.

Yes, Similans is probably cheap. But no, I don't think I'd dive there again and not with SD.


Similans: The Barren Sea

Just came back from a dive in the Similan Islands, Anderman Sea.

The first day diving was very promising - East of Eden was truly spectacular in terms of beautiful coral life. There were avenues of brilliant yellow colored soft coral - overhanging from the massive boulder rocks that cover the area.

The visibility at times was also pretty good - 20m+

Then we ventured to West of Eden, Deep Six, Elephant Head, North Point, etc.. the currents got a bit more stronger and tougher and the thermocline - waves of current of different temperatures - cold and sometimes hot - got more frequent.

At North Point - a massive brown thermocline wall, filled with coral sea debris, billowed towards us. I initially thought it was the wall face. It was an experience.

Sadly, the fish life is somewhat lacking in the Similans. And I think I know why. At Island 8 - the Ko Similan Island, I witnessed scores of fishing trawlers moored in the sanctuary area, then fishing within a 1 - 2 km radius. Whats the point in having a sanctuary if poachers go unchecked? I can imagine their large nets would have caught sharks, manta rays, whales sharks - minced them up and sold them off as cat meat.

I didn't have time to go to Richelieu Rock - but apparently the fish life is more abundant there.

It didn't help that the toilets - all public - on Siam Divers malfunctioned because people kept on dropping paper etc.. into the septic tank. And to make matters worse, some fucker had dysentery and kept on repainting the toilets with a muddy shade of shit. Unfortunately for me I had a bit of a close encounter whilst brushing my teeth. I got myself all nice and clean, flossed and brushed my teeth. Someone left a "present" in the toilet bowl but the flushing mechanism wasn't working - again. So I couldn't flush it away. Just as I was about to leave - the toilet bowl erupted in an unholy geyser.

I shit you not. A volcano eruption was spewing from the toilet bowl. Shock and disbelief came to horror as I tried to open the rusty twisted toilet door bolt to make my escape. It took me awhile to open the damn door. Enough time for me to be covered with gallons of  waste water. And no, the piece of excrement wasn't there anymore.

It turns out the Thai boat plumber was trying to pump the sewage at the same time from one of the other toilets. They had a good laugh when I told them what happened.

I didn't get sick but the whole thought of that disgusting incident still leaves me slightly nauseated.

I now have a very fond affection to private ensuite toilets.

Siam divers was also rather crowded as they took in day trip divers who arrived by speed boat. No, not a good idea to share the crew space with day trippers - in this case, it was a bunch of Japanese and old Asians.

I had to bunk with one chap who had left his alarm on Tokyo time - which gave an almighty wakeup at 4am.

Yes, its probably cheap. But no, I don't think I'd dive there again and not with SD.