With Wei Chan

Few weeks ago, my very good friend and business mentor, Ken Chee and I had this very lucky treat by Fabian to fly to Melaka just to have lunch. Yes… its a to and fro trip. Basically, we simply just flew to Melaka, have lunch, and fly back to Singapore.

Pretty awesome isn’t it ?

On this trip, I also get to know another awesome and young entrepreneur by the name of Wei Chan, who is the Business Development Director for Pine Garden’s Cake.

You see, business relationship is extremely important.. and that’s how networking really comes into play. More so, remember that your network is also your net worth… the more successful people you hang out with, the more successful people you will get to know and learn from.

of course when the opportunity presents itself, you may indeed get a break through in your own life, or whatever you wish to achieve through these networks.

another little thing that I get extremely jealous and yet at the same time, find it extremely brilliant, is that Fabian owning a plane, is the ultimate networking tool.

Forget about golf… can you imagine getting on a private plane and flying to other regional countries for lunch or dinner ? In this entire journey, you can talk about business, build relationship with big names and CEOs who are sure to be impressed by you and the experience.

and if you were to combine it with golf… it really is the ultimate. – Don’t forget the law of reciprocity.. which will play a heavy role down here in whatever that will be boiled down.

So.. to me.. its brilliant. =)

My question today is, what do you have to make that “ultimate networking tool” ?

Now… while you ponder in thoughts… heres a little nice video of the short 4 hours trip. Enjoy…

Now, Ritz Carlton is the only 6 star hotel in Singapore and so.. we do expect a lot from their service. Good thing is, I am a guy who is “easy to please” lol.. and was really delighted with the service during the check in. And oh.. by the way.. they also do offer some beverages while waiting at the check in lobby. *try their strawberry tea… its good and refreshing ^^

Our room was located at the 26 floor of the hotel.. facing the marina bay. Let me tell you… the view is just awesome. I mean… from the video, you can see its pretty cool up there, but, somehow.. its just one of those breathe taking views you get from a city skyline. – Which i couldn’t get from Sydney or even Auckland.

In fact, if you do your research well enough, you probably can get a good view on the fireworks during new years eve or even the national day here in Singapore. and I promise.. the view is going to be spectacular.

By the way, the pillow from the hotel is probably the best pillow EVER. Super comfortable and cozy. I’ve stayed numerous different hotels and only 1 is probably on par with the comfort of the pillow Ritz Carlton offers and that is Intercontinental Shanghai – Though it depends on what kind of “softness” you prefer =P

Ok, I’ll not say much for now… the video below tells its all. Enjoy your weekend.

I have been to the 5th station of Mount Fuji twice, and it is probably the highest anyone can ever go.. if you are following tour groups and all… so, I did a little more research on Mount Fuji and realize that one of the most popular activities that visitors can do is to go trekking in Mount Fuji.

So.. I decided that one day, I would do that.

So on my next trip to Japan(Which so happen to be the trekking month (July and August), I brought along my torch, cap, gloves, a wind breaker, and a vest, knowing that it would be cold on the mountain top.

The main attraction for all trekkers is actually the sun rise, which provides a splendid view if you were to watch from Mount Fuji… after all.. it ain’t call the land of the rising sun if it does not live up to it reputation.

So.. with that in mind, the itinerary was set, and I were to start trekking from night till dawn, just so that I will be in time to watch the sun rise at the top of Mount Fuji… considering the average time per station is about an hour.

So from Narita, I took a train to Kawaguchiko. From Kawaguchiko, they offer a bus ride up to the 5th station of Mount Fuji, the highest any vehicle can go to. Thus, from there, if you want to reach the peak and summit of Mount Fuji, you have to go on foot to reaching the 10th Station(Top)

As night set, I took the 10pm bus up to the 5th station, reaching there at about 1030pm.

And so… the journey starts…

Now, the first few stations, 6th and 7th are pretty easy because the trekking routes are pretty straight forward. There are no climbing needed.. and all it takes is just walk.

After that, the trekking starts to get a little more difficult because you will need to climb some large rocks.. which of course is made simpler because there are handles and lines for you to grab on to. But nonethelessit is best that you keep both hands free so as to make the climbing smooth.

So.. don’t be like me… I mean, because I had a hand carry torch, it makes one of my hands unavailable, thus, making the climb a little bit harder. You can see that many climbers are actually wearing this “miner’s helmet”, which has a torch attached to it.. so.. everywhere they look, there is light and at the same time, their hands are free.

I would actually recommend getting that to make the climb easier..

Again, after the 8th station, the tracks starts to get steeper… and the time to reach the next station also becomes longer. This is because, the only way to go up.. is zig zagging up the mountain.. which.. I should say.. is pretty tiring and time consuming.

As I race against time to reach the summit before sun rise, I soon realize that there are a lot of people who are doing the same. These trekkers had actually reached the 8th and 9th station way before me, took a nap in one of the hostels before continuing their journey before dawn.

So… it can be quite packed during the dawn period.. so.. I do suggest you reach the top before the place starts to jam up… yes.. It was literally a jam up there and the pace was just too slow. This was because, many people are staying on top, waiting to see the sun rise like you.. thus.. if they dun move, you dun get to move too.. thus, causing the jam.

Finally… at the top, I saw what i came to see… and I must say… it was beautiful…

…and no words can actually describe the beauty for I struggle to take multiple pictures with my old digital camera, trying to get a great shot for it.

For all the hard work and a night’s sleep, it was well worth it.

However, the route down was tedious and super tiring… as the sun shines right onto you… and the down route was all “zig zagging”… it took forever to reach the 5th station..

That is to say… you walk like 200m, but the decent is only like 10m… and Mount Fuji is sitting at 3776m high… can you imagine the agony ?

Its funny cos I thought that the decent should be easier and more relax.. boy was I wrong..

The night climb was not so bad because it was cooling… but the day… made me agree on the old saying..

“One who never climbs Mount Fuji is a fool, and one who climbs twice is twice the fool….”

So… I am not going to do it again… lol… but the memories of the sun rise on top of Fuji mountain… will forever remain in my heart.

I love Paris… in fact, I think its one of the best places I’ve visited in all my travel endeavors.

Visiting Effiel tower has always been one of my “must see” list in my travel book. It was the first thing me and my wife did when we arrived in Paris… well.. after a good nights sleep of course.. since the plane touched down late at night.

So, it would be more appropriate to say.. we went on the second day.. but early in the morning.

Took a bus there and bypass the Arc De Triomphe… and I got really excited seeing the huge arc. Maybe because I was pretty impress with the carvings of the structure itself. The way it stands majestically there right in the middle of the road…

We did not stop however, I guess its because we wanted to see Paris Effiel Tower first hand.

So we arrived at the tower and saw this huge and tall tower… ok… most people would think it looks normal because its basically just a brown tower and all.. but I guess I just had this thing for “big”.. ahem… or should I say.. things that are magnificent and have this towering aura around.

So.. Paris Effiel tower does impresses me a lot with that standing so finally… I had my picture taken at Effiel Tower… striking off one of my to do list in my crazy traveling life.

After visiting the tower.. we then moved around and start to explore more of Paris itself, visiting the Les Invalides and also visiting the Lourve Museum… some of the must visits in Paris… and time passes really quickly when you are enjoying yourself… in no time.. its night fall.

Ok… the real highlight of the day actually comes when I suggested to my wife that we should take a nice picture together with the tower – “Night Scene”.

With that, my wife and I stayed late into the night… and just took a picture of us  in front of the tower with our hands so called.. introducing the tower…

There is a problem though. We only had a 15 cm camera stand, and there was no chairs, tables or platforms high enough for us to properly place our stand at the right angle.

So.. I had to run to and fro while adjusting the timer… and at the same.. making sure that my angle was snap correctly(angle of my hand and spot I stand). It cannot be too high nor can I stand too far or have space between the tower.

It was hard…

So.. my wife just stood there.. and I was running… snap… check.. not good.. adjust.. go back.. snap.. check… adjust…..

Ok.. so that running to and fro took me about 20 trips to finally snap a decent one.

While it was a very dramatic picture… it certainly doesn’t come easy… =P

Quit frankly, I was so looking forward to it when I did my holiday trip down to New Zealand.

I actually booked my skydive package at Lake Wanaka. Upon arriving at Sky Dive Wanaka at about 1.30pm, I was told that due to the wind, the jump could not be continued. So.. I had to call them back again at 4pm to see if any jump is available at 5pm.

So.. I did.. and sadly.. the wind was still too big.. and had to be canceled. They did gave me a glimpse of hope however, that I can still do my dive tomorrow at 11am. Well.. at least its not too bad. Sadly.. it rained the next day… and I couldn’t wait till later as I had to pack and head for the glaciers.

So.. I canceled the skydiving package.. with much regret.

Arriving at Fox Glacier… I asked if there was any sky diving package available… but to my dismay… the weather wasn’t too good and we can’t jump due to that…

Oh well… guess its just my fate that the almighty didn’t want me to do my jump. So.. the very next day… we travel down from Fox to Franz Josef. I remember it was like 5pm or so… and as chances of my skydiving experience was becoming slimmer and slimmer by the minute, we happen to walk pass a book shop that offers the skydive package !

I only got 1 shot.. because me and my wife had to go for a heli-hike at Franz Josef Glacier the very next day at 11am. So.. I booked the dive at 4pm… hoping that everything will go well.

and it did…

The journey up was amazing… the views and all… no words ever can explained that. And yea… I did get a little bit of nervous as they climb higher and higher.. despite me being a “adrenaline junkie”… and as the door opened, I felt like I was almost being blown away by the wind above… then…

The rest was history… I did my “virgin dive”… IT WAS AWESOME !

I said I learned something from the start of this post… yes… I realize that I shouldn’t have went so “high” off my head… shouting “wooohoooo” through my way down… the wind speed, gushing in at 200km/hr choked me… and when the “free fall” was done.. I actually remove the goggles.. and the wind just gush into my eyes…poor me… I was teary on my way down… haha..

So.. lesson learned for my next sky dive experience.. probably at Las Vegas…

For now.. here is a video to share my skydive experience over the Franz Josef Glacier… amazing amazing view… enjoy..

When I first got to the fox glacier valley… everything felt so “pre-historic”… and I felt so small. haha… like a scene in the famous Jurassic park movie (Though my wife don’t think so).

Because we were in the valley, we were pretty much surrounded by hills and grasses.. and I was like a little kid.. trying to take photos with my little small compact camera. Well.. in fact.. I was in awe because of the huge and vast area of the place. In addition to that, I’ve always wanted to visit this place.

Well.. the sad thing is.. the camera aren’t able to capture what I wanted to bring home to you guys… so.. really have to apologize for that.

Entering the Fox Glacier Valley, it leads to a 15 minute route to get a closer view of  glacier itself. What I call the “tongue”.

Interesting enough, glaciers move up and down depending on how the melting process goes. Say.. if the bottom of the glacier, ie, the tip of the tongue melts faster, the glacier will become shorter. When the top of the glacier melts faster, then.. the glacier grows in length.

Walking through the glacier is an experience itself… well.. have to be honest, its not exactly very beautiful… because its all rocks and stones.. less the majestic view of the “jurassic park” feel.

On route, you’ll bypass clear turquoise colored water, cause by the melting glacier water. It is said that the color is cause by the rich minerals of the glacier… yes.. its not your everyday blue water but nonetheless… look picture perfect and very “fake”.

Along the way to the tip of the fox glacier tongue, there are small little streams that you will need to pass… erm.. So.. I recommend wearing comfortable shoes and all while trekking on this route.

What I really love about the people here… is that everyone is friendly with one another.. guess all of us are tourist to this area to visit one of the most visited places in New Zealand.So.. there really is a lot of photo taking opportunities when you just ask someone to help you with it.

Arriving at the tip of the glacier tongue, it was sealed up and we can’t go any further… in order to go further into the glacier, one have to sign up and get a guide to follow or something. The reason me and my wife did not do that, is because we have actually intend to do the glacier trekking at Franz Josef Glacier the next day.

At the tip of the big and huge ice glaciers, we were snapping photos like crazy.. with lots of similar shots and weird angles… haha.

I couldn’t help but still.. take my infamous “back shot” I took at Table Mountain… South Africa…