The first annivesary of the Asian Tsunami passed by 26 Dec 2005 with the usual reflections on how the situation has progressed in the year following the disaster. Many affected areas are still in ruins with NGOs preferring to rebuild sites that will more likely feature in news features rather than in harder to reach areas that has seen little or no help for the past year.

Disasters seem to continue to plague asia with record cold weather and a horrific earthquake in Pakistan.

The world seems no nearer to peace with Iraq still in a state of civil war and North Korea and Iran playing dangerous games with their nuclear programs.

Me? I have found a new life. Since being let go, I've realized that the world I live in, Singapore, has changed so much. I've been travelling around the region so much over the years that I've really neglected to look around my own neighborhood, In between getting my career and life back on track, I've discovered little niches of Singapore.

I smoked a hookah along Haji Lane more than a few times savoring its Moroccan and Egyptian fare..... I've not smoked so many cigars in the last 10 years than I have in the last 10 weeks! I've really taken this opportunity to love my Cuban cigars!

Jan has nonetheless been hectic for me. First I was flown over to Auckland for 5 days for an interview with a Cook Islands incorporated offshore bank. In the past I never really took New Zealand seriously....until now. It is a wonderful city with friendly folk and a cost of living still very much affordable. I put up with an uncle for a couple of nights and realized that.... hey there IS life and opportunities outside of financial and commodity derivatives. This is a place I could well find myself retiring or setting up a 2nd home in a couple of years. Great air.

Several days after my return from New Zealand, I flew over to north Vietnam to Hanoi. Its so different from Ho Chi Min City in its slower more relaxed pace.... motocycles still far outnumber cars by 30:1 ...... and more importantly..... Beer Hanoi costs 50cents a bottle. This city is alot less commercial than its southern cousin.

I loved wandering around the Old Quarter in pleasant 20 degrees C weather during the day. Their diet seems heavily biased towards wheat and rice noodles and despite their simple situations, I saw so many genuinely happy faces in Hanoi.... very much like the Thai 'Mai Pen Rai' attitude towards life.

Last week I was in Bangkok for 3 days to attend Kim and Kaz Pathomsak's official opening for Merchant Securities Ltd. What a grand occassion with the Thai Vice PM, the Chairman of the Thai Stock Exchange and Miss Thailand gracing the occassion with Bangkok's Who's Who. I still love Bangkok for its vibrancy and traffic jams!

With the Hanoi trip, I'd also put up a new Vietnam folder in my Galleries section...... as usual I apologize for not having too much salon eye candy images !

These damned spammers should be quartered, drawn and hanged upside down. Nowadays theres this program going around websites clogging up Guest Books with rubbish entries for Texas Holdem Poker, Cialis, Viagara, Free Backgammon and such. I'd thought why I got popular all of a sudden with 300 new guestbook entries initially ...... until I'd opened the management file and saw the rubbish. Hopefully my web designer will be able to provide me with a quick and painless 'trash can' solution soon...... I mean.... do you think I'll even consider buying viagara from these spammers after the damage they've done???

Hopefully I will be able to put up my next diary entry in a couple of week's time