Today 15 years ago, SQ 006 crashed during take-off from Chiang Kai-Shek International Airport,Taiwan killing 83 out of 179 people on board.

A Russian airliner has crashed in central Sinai with more than 200 people on board, the office of Egypt's prime minister has confirmed.
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One reader of my blog at www.bohtong.org was upset when he could not find something he would like to read here through the link I stated in that blog.
He slammed me saying this particular blog was boring with things like weather report etc.
One of the reasons for this blog is also for my foreign country readers. Examples are those living in Ontario, Canada, USA, Australia and they are interested in the weather report. Most used to live in Singapore and are delighted to see the familiar hawker foods that I post here.
Therefore, I seek your understanding if you're unable to find things that you would want to read.

Since the haze has almost gone away, I took a train down to Marina Bay last evening and spent some time over there.These were some of the photos I took of the waterfront, the Marina Bay shopping areas and Garden by the Bay. The Marina Bay Sands Casino is nearby. Had an enjoyable time there.

The header photo was snapped by me yesterday evening. It is the Esplanade - Theatres on the Bay.

Sunny without much haze

Photo @ 1pm with PSI @ 58


Steward purportedly robbed and beaten in Shanghai,China.

Concerning the Shanghai case whereby it was reported that a steward was robbed, I was told it was a rumour and the steward was not involved.
However, whether the case did happen or not, it serves as a reminder to all crew to be vigilant during their nightstops.
In the past, many were robbed, traumatised and even harmed during the nightstops.
I remember one case in HNL where a steward was beaten up badly by several unknown people at a hotel carpark. He was not robbed.
At the same place, a leading stewardess was robbed off her money and the company's bar sales money. She was badly traumatised and submitted her resignation immediately upon return to Singapore.
A steward was robbed in his London hotel room by a man who claimed he was a hotel employee going into his room to check the bar items in the fridge. The steward was slashed in the neck after refusing to surrender his Rolex watch.
There were many other cases too but the few cases I have mentioned will sufficed.
Therefore, for the Shanghai case whether it existed or not is unimportant but it serves to remind us to be extra vigilant when going out alone in a foreign country.



Japanese Oden for brunch (home cooked)

Oden (おでん?) is a Japanese winter dish consisting of several ingredients such as boiled eggs, daikon, konjac, and processed fishcakes stewed in a light, soy-flavoured dashi broth. Ingredients vary according to region and between each household. Karashi is often used as a condiment.
Oden was originally what is now commonly called misodengaku or simply dengaku; konnyaku or tofu was boiled and eaten with miso. Later, instead of using miso, ingredients were cooked in dashi and oden became popular.

Oden is often sold from food carts, and most Japanese convenience stores have simmering oden pots in winter. Many different kinds of oden are sold, with single-ingredient varieties as cheap as 100 yen.

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 Haze almost gone

This photo is taken at about 9 am from my apartment. It is sunny and almost haze free. The wind is now blowing from north east and at least for the now, the sky is clear. PSI@ 3 pm was 56 which is in the "Moderate" range.

Grocery shopping & breakfast at Tampines Giant

Alcoholic pilots and cabin crew
Free and cheap access to alcohol plus loneliness may have contributed to some pilots and stewards to be alcoholics. A very small percentage of around 1% to 2% of the crew population of 9,000 (pilots & cabin crew) were alcoholics. I am not talking about the occasional social drinkers.
Most alcoholics were male crew. The bad thing was that most of these people were smokers too.
A cabin crew could easily "off-load" liquor from the aircraft bar for free. Some would filled up the 1.5 litre mineral water bottle with a choice of their alcoholic drinks like whisky ( most popular), brandy, vodka etc and bring them to their hotels to keep them company during their night-stops.
You may ask me how did they get the liquor free of charge? The answer is simple. All the crew had to do was to write off the amount of alcohol as "consumed" by their passengers...no question asked by the airline.

One steward drank so much that he had to be literary carried down from his hotel room for his flight. Another who had his superior on the same dared not drink but later collapsed on arrival at their destination. He was diagnosed as suffering from ADE ( Alcohol Deprivation Effect). One senior steward was drunk to the extent he didn't realised his wig was worn the wrong way.

A pilot was sacked after another pilot from a foreign airline reported the former for being half drunk while checking out of his hotel for his flight.

Some pilots were nice to the senior stewards who were in charge of the bar so they could have their liquor "canisters" filled up free of charge.

There were crew who not only stole liquor for their consumption but sold them to outstation bars and restaurants for a small profit.

Just like a few girls who shoplifted to pass their time the guys drank like crazy.

Please note that the above happened during my time with the airline. I am not sure about the present day crew's activities during night-stops.

Went for my evening walk
It has been a few months since I last went for my walk. The haze was the problem because one can't exercise with so much harmful gases and poisonous particles in the air. But today is different with the haze almost gone and the air quality has improved to "good".
Below are some pictures I took along the way. The pictures are mostly taken in the upper middle class area of houses that cost millions.
A few are pictures of the playground with children and adults from HBD areas.

"Crazy" by Diana Krall, Elvis Costello and Willie Nelson

(Photos taken from my apartment around 5:45 am)
A short respite from the haze in the form of a sudden shower  at 5:30 am. The rain came and gone within a few minutes. It must have been a passing cloud. However, the PSI still stands in the unhealthy range of 102. Perhaps the PSI reading at 6 am will show an improvement.

7:35 am:

The PSI has improved to the moderate range of 81 as at 7 am. It rained a little more since I last reported at 5:45 am. It looks like the north east monsoon wind has arrived and if it does, the haze should be gone.

10:30 am:

The PSI is 29 which is in the good range. We have not been in this range since early this year. According to the weather man this is a temporary respite and the haze could be back in the next couple of hours unless the wind direction from the north east does not change.

I live in one of those units of the block of flats. This photo was taken early this year when the haze from Indonesia had not arrived yet. The sky was blue and it was a sunny morning. Hopefully we can go back to that sunny and haze free weather again.

Visiting Japan hot spring (onsen) again this winter:

Local shop cheated tourists hauled back to court

Mobile Air became notorious after a video of a tourist going on his knees to beg for a refund at the shop went viral. The Vietnamese customer had paid S$950 for an iPhone 6 but was told he had to add S$1,500 in warranty fees.
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A Kleptomaniac stewardess

A Kleptomaniac is a person who is afflicted with Kleptomania, a compulsion to repeatedly steal "worthless" items, such as keychains, panties, stockings and handbags.
According to medical science, Kleptomania is a mental illness that inflict mostly women. It is may be caused by some form of depression.

Jenny was a typical Klepto and she would steal especially during her layover at oversea stations. She couldn't resist the urge to steal from departmental stores, supermarkets etc. She has been stealing or shoplifting for many years and was fortunate not to be caught.
However, her luck ran out when she was in London during one of the long layovers, 3 days to be exact. Jenny was caught shoplifting a bra.

She was handed over to the police and charged. She called her IFS and pleaded with him to come to the police station where she was held.

Jenny was charged in court the very next day and found guilty of theft. She was fortunate as it was a Tuesday. Her IFS paid the fine on her behalf and she was released from custody. They flew back to Singapore on Wednesday.

Till today, her employer does not know about her case. She was lucky to have an IFS who was understanding and helpful towards her.

This case was related to me by that IFS recently.


Burger King's whopper beef burger with cheesy fries

One of my favourite beef burgers

My dessert from Japan

Singapore train services

For the sixth time this year alone the train services or MRT as we call it broke down at the rush hour yesterday morning. This time the disruption lasted 2 hours. Many people were terribly inconvenienced...read more 

Busy day

Busy attending to my work whole afternoon. Had my lunch (picture below) at one of the air-conditioned foodcourts as the haze is still in the unhealthy zone. Work finished in the evening. Spotted a guy named Kris (story below).

Steward charged for allegedly stealing a lemon

He looked like an ex-steward whom I knew quite well. He was eating at the foodcourt too. I wasn't sure he was Krishnan but if he was, he must've changed a lot. He has aged and put on lots of kilos. Anyway, I remember Kris was charged by the SIA security for allegedly stealing a whole yellow lemon when he arrived home from a Bangkok flight.
At his trial or company's disciplinary inquiry ( CI ), the union was able to prove that BKK catering NEVER did supply lemon but instead green lime for the tea service on the flight.
According to Kris, he often carried lemon in his cabin bag and used it for his wavy black hair.
To cut a long story short, the company did not do its homework because out of BKK the Thai catering supplied only green lime for the tea service.
It was an embarrassment for the company and Kris was proven to be innocent.

At the food court, I wanted to approach and say hello to Kris but changed my mind because it would only serves to remind him of the unpleasant case.