Glad to be here...

The temperature now is about 3 deg C and I am not going to the Porter's Lodge tonight (to check if there is mail for me) even though it is just a short walk from my room. I just want to stay within the confines of my room and enjoy the warmth from the full-blast heater.

As I sat back to think about my assignment, my mind suddenly went back to Japan. Did some mind arithmetic, it must be 9.15am there now. If I was shivering in cold, Niigata must have been white by now! So I did a quick search on the temperature there. It was not too bad at 1 deg C. Haha....oh well, I expected something worse....maybe below freezing or something. But sometimes the numbers could be deceiving if you are not at the place.

The Big Swan Stadium in Niigata City. Still no snow yet.

Aerial view of Niigata City. Snow is still absent in this part of the city.

And this part too....

So, I did a quick run to Japan and into Niigata. I managed to check out some really interesting sights there. Aha! Niigata city is still not inundated with snow yet. But other areas were. I thought, hmm..what about Urasa? I could not find it, probably the place was too "unheard" of in Japan. Even the Japanese have attested that! Haha.

The other part of Niigata that has snowed

So, I tried other places. The nearest I could find was Jomo-Kogen, Joetsu, Nagaoka and Tokamachi, which were good enough places to extrapolate what I wanted to know. Voila! These places were partially white. So it's really snowing there already!

The scene from Jomo-Kogen. Ski-lifts are open for business now!

Must I say that I have "escaped" the mad winter there and pile of snow that do me no good in creating the mood to study in the most dreadful season, where the sun appears for a couple of hours before disappearing again by 3.30pm or so. I know my time will come where the snow will fill up the roads here and temperature dropping below freezing, but at least I still have a few more weeks or so. In fact, I don't think the snow here would be as much as Niigata, which is a good thing for everyone here. I'm just glad to be here now....

SMOKEY & Public Inquiry

I just went through one of the most interesting and challenging days in Cambridge. We had a gruelling 2.5-day mock Public Inquiry(PI)on the Marchwood Incinerator Plant in Hampshire, Southampton. I was nominated as the group leader for SMOKEY, an anti-incinerator NGO expert. As our "mission statement" puts it...

"SMOKEY is a UK-based non-profit organisation that supports a toxic-free world without incineration. We advocate the creation of a closed-loop, materials-efficient economy where all products are reused or recycled back into the marketplace or nature."

I created the logo to better position ourselves. What do you think about it? We are the NGOs and we have a statement to make!

The PI was an intense and rigorous inquiry process. The independent inspector was solicited from a reputable consulting firm for this case study. It was more like a court proceeding to me.

One of the typical scenes for group discussions in class

Getting all prepared for the PI. Firming up on a few more points for SMOKEY before the excitement kicks in.

The 6-member group in SMOKEY

Inspector in chair

The PI was an important learning point for us as it would prepare us in future as engineers to be able to stand as witnesses or professionals in delicate cases. The different roles played by different people gave everyone an opportunity to dwell into the characters of the stakeholders, the advantage and disadvantages of certain positions and the challenging roles of stakeholders in defending their mission and interests at stake. Like in the case of SMOKEY, we wanted the incinerator to be shut down, but we are not anti-development. We advocate the creation of a closed-loop, materials-efficient economy where all products are reused or recycled back into the marketplace or nature. We are talking about waste reduction, increase in recyling, reuse and reduce, alternative waste management methods like anaerobic and biochemical digestion. So, we are a bunch of techy, non-fantasist anti-incinerator group who thinks that there are better ways of managing waste.

After a tedious 2.5-day run up to the consensus building process, we chilled at the bar with others.

....and mend the rifts that may have occurred during the intense mock inquiry.

End of term and running-up to Christmas

It's the end of Michaelmas term. That means I have completed a full term in Cambridge. Yoohoo! Can't believe time passed so fast, or the length of term is just too short. 8 weeks to a term! The next term, Lent, would begin in mid-January 2007. So, does that mean that I have a holiday from now until next year? No way!

Isn't that sad... I guess we're one of the unlucky ones who have no break until the 16th of this month and have to come back by the 3rd of January. Even that, we have 2 lovely pieces of 3000-word assignments to complete within that 2-week break. So, it's not really a break for us, well at least it isn't for me. But I'll definitely not want to go through Christmas, cold and lonely here.

Apart from the grim, grey and gloomy picture that I'm painting, the fact is, it's Christmas season now!! Yeh!!

Mince pie is not what I thought to be pie with minced meat or seremban siew pau...hahaha..that was what I thought initially!
It contained plum, raisins and donno what. Taking the humble pie, perhaps?? But I heard it's vegetarian, so there may be mincemeat pies actually.



The running kaki from Wolfson College having an early Christmas party. Mulled wine, orange-ginger conconction and hors d'voures.

And it's buzzing with activities everywhere in town, with lights, sales, turkey, mince pies, wine, blah blah blah, all on sale now! You get to hear little children bugging mummy to buy their favourite toys, early teens talking about the Nintendo Wii as Christmas gifts, and the students here about flying home, their clothes, whisky, wine, liquor and more liquor. Colleges and societies are throwing early Christmas parties, musicals and carols lined up for the season, decorations hung all over the place in colleges, etc. The atmosphere created relives the early childhood fantasy of Christmas. It makes one go humming the "Jingle Bells" or "Santa Claus is coming to town" tune while strolling away, soaking in the environment.

Hanging out at the bar at St. John's College

L to R: Blaize, Ulrich and me. Blaize and Ulrich are from South Africa.

The gothic looking dining hall at St John's College

I have ended the term with a formal hall in one of the famous colleges in Cambridge, St. John's College, the place where Manmohan Singh, Prime Minister of India studied. It was another superb experience with the Harry Potter setting. But minus the need to wear a gown since I am not a member of John's.




3-course meal

I heard the Singapore Marathon was in the same weekend too. I wish all the runners in Malaysia or Singapore who are running for the event a safe trip and all the best in your timing! Gosh, I missed out on this big race!!!

My birthday in UK

As the days were getting nearer to 25th, I was not any more excited than previous years. Deadlines and assignments were getting to me and the fact that my birthday would be a quiet one added to the nervousness. The friends whom I made, well, the friendship hasn't matured to the level where we exchange personal stuff like birth dates and all. So, it was kind of a no-brainer that I shouldn't be expecting anything fanciful; even a simple meal by myself in the kitchen and a slice of cake from Fitzbillies would have been delightful.

Just as I have settled for something less, many things came out on 25th. God must have intervened. There was an early Christmas party and the varsity match against Oxford. Out of this, my family and Malaysian friends emerged to be the most wonderful source of joy and happiness. Birthday cards, personal phone calls, e-cards, emails and all came pouring in and that cheered me alot.

I was fully bloated that night with great food from all over the world. Desserts nearly killed me. The drinks must have been spiked with 200% alcohol or something and that the people must have thought that the house was giving away gold for free or something. It was packed to the doorstep!

Though no one knew about my birthday that night, I did not feel intimidated. Why would I, c'mon? In fact I felt really nice to engage in the festive mood with people chatting away, talking about their life in Cambridge and aspirations. Different people from different parts of the world. Fine people, really great to be with. The night went on with more drinks and desserts. The cheese and chocolate cakes never stopped coming out of the oven and fridge. It was freshly baked and I just couldn't resist having a few slices of the plethora of cakes on the table. I think I ended up having 4 slices of different types of cakes. I nearly exploded myself in the hall.

Then, there was a talk about the meaning of Christmas. People were in rapt attention when the speaker engaged everyone into the idea Christmas, how does the world celebrate it, what is the real Christmas etc.

In the end, what I thought could be the worst birthdays of my life turned out to be something I could not wait to blog about....

Varsity March Against Oxford

Donning a thicker top to prevent the cold torture and the authentic face paint!

It was Saturday, it was my birthday, it was also the Varsity Match against Oxford (Oxon). Could lady luck shine on me? I wished...

Joe and Ulrich, both ran for Wolfson College. Ulrich finished 2nd while Joe 6th.

The day started on a fine note. It was bright and sunny. But as we reached the meeting point at Wilberforce Sports Ground, the sky started to turn dark.

The invasion of dark clouds!

The clouds were coming and I was telling Ulrich (another Wolfson runner) if it was gonna pour! It looked it was going to be the perfect storm! Bloody hell, it better not rain! But it rained anyway. I don't know if I should be happy about it. Apparently, it gets less cold after a pour. So, it makes running less torturing. Anyway, as soon as we reached Wandlebury, the rain stopped and the temperature was perfect to start the race. Just in time.



Well, to cut the long story short, I ran against Oxon and had a hideous performance. I finished on the bottom of the pile. I was 2nd last. Gosh, I never meant to document it in this blog but I was also proud about it. Because when I did the Chris Brasher run the week before, my finishing time was 48 minutes, and I was 10th spot from the bottom. Then in this match, I finished 45 minutes but I was 2nd spot from the bottom.

I never knew what it was like to be cheered as the last runner crossing the finishing line until I was cheered myself...hahahaha!!!

In fact I was amused. I felt that I could not have achieved that time in Malaysia, especially when it was not a road race but a big plot of green land race with lots of sheep faeces and damp soil (due to the pour). There was no way I could outrun Oxon or Cantab. Not in this life. They were just too strong. It's like asking you to run with the likes of Lil' Khoo or Iwata or Uncle Don in the entire race! Maybe I am abit/very muka-tebal, but I am kinda proud of my new timing actually and the 2nd spot from the bottom that I have earned is a befitting gift for my birthday too. To know more about the timings, do visit:

http://www.srcf.ucam.org/cuhh/competition/resultsarchive/20062007/iiivresults.php