World's tallest architectual structures - Taipei now, Dubai later

The tallest building in the the world, a title widely coveted, is being claimed by 3 cities, namely

Kuala Lumpur Petronas Towers
Chicago Sears Tower
Taipei Taipei 101

On measuring the height of a building, various definitions exist. Depending on which one you use, the answer is different

1. Height to the structural or architectural top (including spires and pinnacles, but not antennas, masts or flagpoles). Taipei 101
2. Height to the highest occupied floor. Taipei 101
3. Height to the top of the roof. Taipei 101
4. Height to the top of antenna. Sears Towers

But Taipei 101 will not hold its record for too long. In Dubai, a structure is going to surpass all previous records, and can claim to be the tallest building in the world, without any doubt. It is still under construction. When completed, it will be about 800 meters tall with 160 floors. As of now, it is already one of the 5 tallest buildings in the world, set to climb up the ladder as construction goes on. Every time I drive by the building, it is amazing to see that it grows, little by little, to the sky. At night, the building is illuminated by construction lights, like a big white torch

For more information,

Burj Dubai official website

Wikipedia entry on tallest buildings in the world

Kuwait's oil dependency

Kuwait is a major oil exporting country, and it's economy is highly dependent on the oil sector.

Here is a piece of interesting statistic that I'd like to share. Below is a list of the 10 largest industrial and service sectors in Kuwait, and their contribution to GDP. Oil is the largest sector, bigger than all the 9 other top 10 sectors combined

While the economy is booming now due to high oil price, this situation should not be taken for granted. If oil price plummets, the economy will face big problems. It should diversity its economy away from oil to better react to oil price fluctuations

GDP contribution from each sector
2005 figures, in USD millions

1. Energy, Mining and Quarrying (24)
2. Public Administration, Sanitary and Personal Services (8)
3. Business Services (3)
4. Real Estate & Dwelling (2)
5. Petroleum Refineries (2)
6. Financial Institutions (2)
7. Retail Trade (2)
8. Wholesale Trade (1)
9. Communications (1)
10. Transportation & Storage (1)

The data can be obtained from the Central Bank for free, or international data vendors, e.g. Global Insight, at a cost

Central Bank of Kuwait

Ministry of Planning

2 related stories - An Autumn's Tale (秋天的童話) and Daniel Fung (馮華健)

Life is full of surprise. At one of the Jumeirah hotels in Dubai, I randomly bumped into Daniel Fung (馮華健). He was with some African delegation then

Daniel is quite an influencial person in Hong Kong. A few years ago, he was narrowly passed over for the Secretary of Justice, now belongs to Mr. Wong Yan-lun. He is now head of the Hong Kong Broadcasting Authority, the city's regulator of mass media. Apparently Daniel is not a fan of pop culture. Recently, he ruled against broadcasting one of my favorite movies, An Autumn's Tale, or Chou Tin Dik Tong Wah (秋天的童話, or 流氓大亨), in full

An Autumn's Tale is a classic in 1987, starring Chow Yun-fat (周潤發) and Cherie Chung (鍾楚紅). It tells a lot about how life used to be in New York's Chinatown. The script was so well-written that some phrases are still well remembered among people in Hong Kong. No wonder Daniel's decision has triggered much public outrage

Here are some phrases that resonate among people in Hong Kong. I only wish I had the talent to write something similar
1. 船頭尺：「女人真係茶煲。」十三妹：「你話乜野係茶煲？」船頭尺：「茶煲呀，Trable (Trouble)，你唔識英文嘅咩？」
2. Vincent：「Woody Allen講過，愛情要好似條鯊魚咁不停向前游架。」船頭尺：「阿倫邊有咁講過啫！阿倫凈係話『這陷阱！這陷阱！偏我遇上』之嘛！Bullshit！」

Daniel doesn't want the movie broadcast on TV in full because it contains vulgur expressions.
Based on what I heard from the movie, let me list them out
1. 你老母
2. 仆街
3. 躝癱
4. 隊佢
5. 你阿媽，大減價，益你阿爸！
6. 做乜成晚去痾尿

While these expressions may not be the most polite ones, I hear them ALL THE TIME! Be it at school, at work, in Chinatowns of US cities. This is just one way how some people communicate with each others

For more information

Profile of Daniel Fung

More on An Autumn's Tale (秋天的童話)

Autumn Tale's DVD

News coverage about Daniel Fung's rulings on An Autumn's Tale
Singtao Daily
Yahoo News

Flight timetable software

For frequent fliers, finding the best route is a constant headache. People always want to find flights that

Meet their time schedule
- For those who travel during the week, flights departing 7 - 9pm are the best. Then you can work the whole day in one city, travel to another and start the next day

Have the least number of stops, or ideally, non-stop

Have the best timed connections
- You don't want to wait in Heathrow for 8 hours for your connecting flight. Examples of well-timed connection are flights from Taipei to Shanghai, via Jeju Island. Barring direct flights, this is the shortest route between Taiwan and Mainland China, with travel time just ~4 hours

These are some tools that help you plan your trips. Using these programs, you can look at flights and find the route that best fits your need. An handy feature of these programs is that you can use them on the go, without the Internet. The timetables are downloaded automatically when you're online, and are stored in your computer. They also support Palm and PocketPC

Star Alliance trip planner

Skyteam trip planner

OneWorld trip planner

Volunteering for Beijing Olympics

Beijing Olympics is coming in a year's time. There's one way to see your favorite sports star, free of charge! (This is not scam) The way is to become volunteer

Applications are open to Chinese living inside and outside China, Taiwanese, and foreigners. Many types of positions are available, so you can either apply the skills learnt in your normal job in the Olympics, or acquire a new skill via volunteering

Deadline for applications will be March 2008. But don't miss the opportunity - so apply early!

The official website isn't a one-stop shop. People from different regions have to apply differently. Here's a brief guidance on where you should go, depending on where you are. Hope it helps!

Applicants from Taiwan: www.bjtx.org
Applicants from HK: www.hab.gov.hk
Applicants from Macau: www.sport.gov.mo
Overseas Chinese: http://www.bjqb.gov.cn
Non-Chinese volunteers: www.ebeijing.gov.cn

More information about Beijing Olympics

Site for volunteers of Beijing Olympics

Beijing Olympics official website

American soliders in Iraq - mental health survey

The Pentagon has released a report on the mental health of American soldiers in Iraq. The results are worrying. My read on its findings

Factors affecting soldiers' mental health, pretty logical, no surprise
1. Soldiers are more likely to have mental problems the longer they stay in Iraq
2. If they are actually engaged in combat, they get significantly higher stress levels
3. Marines and soldiers suffer equally (dismissing claims by many that marines are better, tougher fighters)

Soldiers' attitude towards treating non-combatants, reflecting their status of mental health. Alarming!
1. 41% of soldiers and 44% of marines believed that torture should be permitted if it would save the life of a fellow soldier or marine
2. 36% of soldiers and 39% of marines said torture should be allowed to extract important information about Iraqi insurgents
3. 47% of soldiers and 38% of marines felt that non-combatants should be treated with dignity and respect, as required by the Geneva Conventions

While acknowledging the problems, remedial measures listed in the report are largely tactical short-term fixes. Not sure whether they'll yield any significant effect

For more information,
View the Economist's coverage

View the full report at the US Army website

Kuwait airport satisfaction, or dis-satisfaction?

I have always had bad experience with Kuwait International Airport. Lately I've spent many hours just waiting for visa to be issued. They employ a lot of people, but they don't seem to care about passengers. Rather, they just play with their phones, smoke, make fun of each others, in front of many disgruntled customers! The tip from me is to always have visas pre-arranged before you reach Kuwait soil. That'd save you 2 hours PER TRIP!

To contribute to the world's body of knowledge on airport satisfaction, or share some of your dissatisfactions with your fellow travelers, feel free to fill in this survey

Alternatively, if you are impressed by the service that an airport has offered, you can nominate your airport of choice for the World Airport Award. In the past, the winners have been Singapore, Hong Kong and Dubai. Coincidentally, all of them used to be British colonies. If only Heathrow can match them in terms of waiting time, I'll be 10 times happier

Old consulting joke

This is an ever-green joke that has been circulated among the email joke community for a long time, and I receive it again today. For the guys who laugh at it, I'm glad you understand the similarity between the two occupations. They are both showbiz

Are you a prostitute or a consultant?

You work very odd hours.

You are paid a lot of money to keep your client happy.

You are paid well but your pimp gets most of the money.

You spend a majority of your time in a hotel room.

You charge by the hour but your time can be extended for the right price.

You are not proud of what you do.

Creating fantasies for your clients is rewarded.

It's difficult to have a family.

You have no job satisfaction.

If a client beats you up, the pimp just sends you to another client.

You are embarrassed to tell people what you do for a living.

People ask you, "What do you do?" and you can't explain it.

Your family hardly recognizes you at reunions (at least the reunions you attend.)

Your friends have distanced themselves from you and you're left hanging with only other "professionals."

Your client pays for your hotel room plus your hourly rate.

Your client always wants to know how much you charge and what they get for the money.

Your pimp drives nice cars like Mercedes or BMWs.

Your pimp encourages drinking and you become addicted to drugs to ease the pain.

You know the pimp is charging more than you are worth but if the client is foolish enough to pay it's not your problem.

When you leave to go see a client, you look great, but return looking like hell (compare your appearance on Monday AM to Friday PM).

You are rated on your "performance" in an excruciating ordeal.

Even though you get paid the big bucks, it's the client who walks away smiling.

The client always thinks your "cut" of your billing rate is higher than it actually is, and in turn, expects miracles from you.

When you deduct your "take" from your billing rate, you constantly wonder if you could get a better deal with another pimp.

Everyday you wake up and tell yourself, "I'm not going to be doing this stuff the rest of my life.".

Kuwaiti and Croatian friends

I'm extremely delighted to be able to spend time with two fine gentlemen, a Kuwaiti (Mr. K) and a Croatian (Mr. C). Because of them, I truely feel how fortunate I have been. Both of them have experienced wars first-hand. Mr. K with the First Gulf War and Mr. C with the Yogoslavian war in the early 90's

One of the conversations with Mr. K goes like this
Me: What do you think about the US?
Mr. K: Well, I can't say that I agree with the US foreign policy. But I have to be thankful to them. Without America, there's no Kuwaiti. By the way, our security depends on the US now. So we are friends
Me: Do you feel happy being a friend of the US?
Mr. K: I know their intentions. They didn't help us because they really love Kuwaitis. But I was in Kuwait City during the whole duration of Iraqi occupation. Life was tough. When the Iraqis retreated, they took everyone they could see hostage. No matter how evil their intentions are, the outcome is that the US saved us
Me: Do you like to continue working with the US?
Mr. K: Sure, we're making a lot of money. We supply them a lot of things - drinks, rubber, oil, power. Their money is helping us build our industry. It's good to have American military bases here

Triggers of development - Buj Al Arab in Dubai

Although the fate of cities often may depend more on luck than meticulous planning, Governments often try to spearhead development by launching grand projects. Officials are perhaps inspired by the few success stories, and the glory that come with them

One rare success story is the Buj Al Arab hotel in Dubai
Before the hotel, Dubai was a small town in the Gulf. Without much oil, it was economically and politically unimportant than UAE's capital, Abu Dhabi. Completion of Buj Al Arab has marked Dubai's transformation to a vibrant international city. Overnight, people have started flocking in. It gives hope, showing that nothing is impossible, if you have a dream. So the Dubai dream has attracted many international talents to work there. The city then enters a virtuous cycle. Everyday, new buildings are added and new grand schemes announced. It's now one of the most dynamic cities to be in

Architectually, the hotel is a masterpiece. It combines Dubai's tradition, sailing, fishery and pearl, with the most ultra-modern materials and design

I've learnt a lot from Buj Al Arab and Dubai. One lesson is that every great city needs a triggering structure. It needs to be stunning and inspiring to everyone. It needs to bring hopes to people and encourage them to dream bold. This makes me think of another masterpiece, the Eiffel Tower

For more information about the UAE's economy, see the Economic Development section in the UAE 2006 report. Official sources, of course, will never associate a city's success with emotional buildings

Team room culture - long hours, low satisfaction

There is one thing I absolutely hate about today's working environment. On projects, I sometimes work in the so-called "team rooms"

These creatures are usually 10 feet x 10 feet rooms without windows (although sometimes smaller), originally designed as storage. They have found another use - to host unwelcomed guests. Working conditions can be compared with those experienced by child laborers at the start of the industrial revolution. Usually 5 people cram into those boxes and labor for 16 hours a day

They make my life less pleasant than they should be, and make my workdays 3 hours longer, on average. In my opinion, they are special structures designed to humiliate every worker, except for the manager. Managers like team rooms, because they can keep annoying each person, and shout to them whenever they want

A much better setting is separate desks for work, and rooms designed for meetings only. That'd allow much better concentration and employees can work at their own place. After all, The much-laughed cubicles may not be too bad

City design in East Asia vs. the Middle East

Having spent many years in East Asia, cities in the Gulf are amazing to me. Highways are everywhere, everybody drives, the poorer people take taxis. I still miss being able to walk across the street and buy groceries, travel to work by subway, and going to remote tours by train

Density in Gulf cities are a lot lower than in Asia. You'll quickly notice this when looking at Google Earth, even without the help of official statistics. Zoom to the same scale, say, 5000 feet. East Asian cities like Tokyo, Singapore, and Taipei are full of buildings. In Doha, Kuwait City, and Abu Dhabi, it's a yellow background punctuated by houses and grey highways

This means
- Gulf residents have to own cars to meet their daily needs
- The poor, elderly and disabled are more disadvantaged because they're unable to drive or afford a car
- More roads are needed to move the same number of people

Even though oil is cheap for them, perhaps the heads of the Dubais should think about more compact city design, so their people will spend more time on the ground, less in their cars

Links on the topic of city planning
The Compact City and Social Justice
Melbourne 2030 - an important element in the plan is increasing pedestrian friendliness and use of public transport, while reducing use of private cars

Vietnam economic development

From the Economist magazine, I learnt about an opportunity to do meaningful work in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. Some donor governments have set up an agency to develop economies in the so-called Indochina region. They need a team of people from overseas to kick start the project

To me, it's an exciting opportunity. The Indonchina region has so far bypassed the economic miracle enjoyed by other Southeast Asian countries. They have lots of natural resources and a young labor force. Right now, they're a big exporter of drugs and prostitutes

Their people deserve better

Security in Iraq - opportunity for Kuwait?

Recently, I've heard comments that Kuwait is well positioned to become a major logistics hub in the Middle East. This is because Kuwait can serve as a gateway connecting Iraq and the world for imports and exports. Sounds like the Singapore-Malaysia and Hong Kong-China relationships in the past. But is it realistic?

Some logistics companies on the ground say it's difficult, as it's still dangerous to transport goods in Iraq. Some of their drivers, who were brave enough to transport supplies into Iraq, got kidnapped on the way. Their bosses had to pay ransoms. Now who wants to be the drivers if he may be kidnapped?

Sounds like until Iraq's security situation improves, Kuwait's role as a logistics hub remains limited

United Arab Emirates (UAE) / Dubai Internet censorship

Despite all the fun we have in Dubai, there's one thing in common that most people are annoyed by - Internet censorship

If you travel to the United Arab Emirates, you'd probably find that some of the sites you like suddenly go down. In fact, the dominant ISP, Etisalat, use proxy server blocks certain websites that they deem inappropriate to be viewed. An exact account of what sites they block is not publicly available, but hearsays suggest sites are blocked for the following reasons

1. Political
- Sites related to Israel or Jihadism
- Terrist organizations
- Sites on how to bypass censorship

2. Social
- Homosexual behavior, e.g. the Gay and Lesbian Arabic Society
- Online casinos
- Pornography
- Certain online dating websites

3. Economical
- Internet phone services such as Skype. As Etisalat is also the incumbant telecom operator in the UAE, things that can put its revenues at risk are banned

A site called hrw.org contains more information on censorship in the UAE

Whenever there's censorship, there are ways to get around it. Numerous websites publish tricks on bypassing the Etisalat proxy server (some are still not blocked). I'm not detailing the how-tos here as it's politically inappropriate to do so

Frequent Flyer Program - 2

1. Enrol in EXACTLY 3 frequent flyer programs, no more, no less

Rationale for doing it
There are 3 global airline alliances, Star Alliance, SkyTeam, and OneWorld. They cover most of the routes in the world. If you choose 3 airlines and each belong to one of the alliances, you can travel anywhere with mileage pocketed

Problem if you don't do it
Some people take flights that don't fit their schedule well just to earn miles in their preferred airlines. One of my friends, who's a Cathay Pacific member, picked a flight very early in the morning just for the Miles. Enroling in 3 programs avoids this unncessary compromise. If he is also a Singapore Airline member, he could have gotten a much better schedule between Singapore and Hong Kong

Exmaple of how this is done - Hong Kong as base city, with lots of traveling (>50 sectors a year) within Asia and moderate traveling (10 - 20 sectors a year) outside Asia

Preferred options depending on your routing. They should be complimentary, so if you have JAL already, you wouldn't want ANA as well
1. OneWorld - Cathay Pacific / JAL
2. Star Alliance - Thai Airways / Singapore Airlines / ANA / Asiana / Air China
3. SkyTeam - Korean Air / Delta / China Southern

Recommendation
1. OneWorld - Cathay Pacific
2. Star Alliance - Singapore Airlines
3. SkyTeam - Korean Air

Exceptions
If a lot of your trips involve the Middle East, enrol in 4 programs. 3 airlines in each alliance, plus the Emirates. It is essential to get Emirates status as it covers many routes from Dubai, a major regional hub. Separately, if you fly extensively to/from Taiwan, getting China Airlines / Eva membership helps

Frequent Flyer Program - 1

Many people I know are heavy travelers who take 20 - 200 trips a year. Yet they haven't found out how to utilize their frequent flyer programs to their maximum potential. Here're some tips I've learnt

1. Enrol in EXACTLY 3 frequent flyer programs, no more, no less

2. Bank your miles in 1 program unless you have to split them

3. Always check prices before redeeming your miles

Alcohol in Kuwait

In some Muslim countries, it is illegal to drink Kuwait is one example. But as with many other restrictions, people can always find ways to circumvent them. Here's one scene that I've observed

At the Dubai airport, there are shops selling pocket-sized spirits. People would buy them, and slip them into their suit's inner pockets. The medal detector do not detect liquids, so they can pass through Dubai security safely. At Kuwait arrival, customs search people's luggage, not their jackets. Here you go - a small bottle of spirit has been transported into Kuwait

Hidden inside

Google Analytics

Testing Google Analytics. Sounds like a powerful tool that tracks a lot of information. It reports who visit your website at what time. Here's a page that shows how you can set up the tool. It's handy

Silk Road revisited

More than 1,000 years ago, merchants marched through nations in the Euope-Asia continent. Silk Road brief explanation

Now, my journey has begun to experience a bit of this. It's much more comfortable - travelling by planes instead of camels and staying in hotels instead of tents. Still, the excitment and bewilderness are immense