天使的歌聲

前幾天經過HMV，看見一件超值的特價品：

Barry Manilow 是我最喜歡的外國歌星之一。事實上，我第一次聽 Sir Andrew Lloyd Weber 的Memory 並非 Elaine Page 的版本，而是 Barry Manilow 唱的。

Mandy, Even now, Lonely together, I write the songs, Copacabana, 等等，都是百聽不厭的。在八十年代的後期，Barry Manilow不再活躍了，聽說他的聲帶出了問題（好像是腫瘤）。然後有一段很長的時間沒有他的消息。

這個專輯並沒有新歌，但特別之處是他選了一些別人的歌及自己的老歌，重新的錄音。更妙的是，他用了近乎清唱的方式演繹。

他唱別人的歌更是驚喜。從來沒有聽過一個男性唱“The way we were” 及“Close to you” 這麽動聽。然後是“Bridge over troubled water”。我對這首歌要求很高。我覺得這是Art Garfunkel 的專利，惟有他配唱， 就是Paul Simon 也不能勝任。但Barry Manilow 做到了，是完美的聲音。他配合另一女歌手 Duet 唱“You’ve got a friend”, 更能表達歌曲的意境。“He ain’t heavy, he’s my brother”, “The long and winding road”, “If”等歌曲在他演繹下，就更不用多說了。

這樣的一片CD，只售港幣九十九元。我不是在賣廣告，只是覺得貶低了它的價值。

Mumbai, a sad city

My first time to Mumbai.

I'm no stranger to India, though. I've been to Delhi a couple of times last year. Mumbai is used to be Bombay. (Just like Chennai, with an old name as Madras.) I am managing the risk of typhoon in Hong Kong, so I fly directly from Dubai to Mumbai on Sunday. (Even I went back to Hong Kong, I could only stay for one night.)

The front page of the complimentary newspaper (The Times of India) this morning was full of sad stories.

Three teenagers got drown at Juhu beach (in Mumbai) on Sunday. And this is the second case withing a month. Three other swimmers were saved on the spot, by fishermen. Where were the life guards?

A woman was found unconscious, bleeding, lying naked, on board a train's first class ladies compartment near Mumbai on Saturday night. Even worse, nobody bothered to help nor alert police. The train passed a couple of stations before someone finally offered clothes to cover her body and called the police. Will the same thing happen in Hong Kong?

At least 15 persons were crushed to death as an under-construction-flyover collapsed in Hyderabad. Due to poor management and bad traffic, rescue work was delayed. Flyovers in India have risen dramatically. Taking Mumbai as a reference, 47 out of 52 flyovers in the city were built only in the last 20 years. Who should pay the price of prosperity? The rich or the poor?

More tragic news. Nearly half of all female deaths in rural areas in India are below the age of 20. Why? The girl child is barely looked after. The first case of influenza or whooping cough sooner or later will come. There is a good chance that the girl will not be able to survive it.

Economically or politically, India is getting stronger and stronger. In terms of population, India will soon take over China. But how could they allow this to happen?

All rise, the President of the United States of America…

This is just another interesting group that I come across in Dubai this time. There are people from Egypt, Lybia, Sudan, Syria, Russia, UK, Algeria, Saudi, Iran, India, Pakistan, Kazakstan (the country that beat China’s Football team in the Asia Cup) and finally I have a participant from Iraq.

The number of children they brought was a record as well. All together we have 7 children attending the group dinner. As usual we play the game “who’s who” during group dinner. One of the Lybians put down something about he cheated his wife. He did not realize that we would do it in front of everybody, including his wife. Fortunately we only disclosed their secrets in the next morning.

In a leadership activity, we asked the participants to play a TV commercial as part of the marketing campaign. The most interesting shot would be the Iraqi playing the role of the President of USA. A Lybian would be the Secretary of Defence. We all laughed at it and said it might bring peace to the world.

This is also the first time that I do not pair up with Brad, the Australian trainer. Sarah, my partner this time, is a Welsh who lives in Manchester. Not surprisingly, she’s a big fan of Manchester United. Although she’s a Welsh, she has no relationship with Ryan Giggs. Sarah said she wished to have the money of Giggs.

Etisalat welcome you back to UAE

“Etisalat welcome you back to UAE.”

That’s the SMS text I received when I arrived Dubai last Saturday. This is the 5th time I come here this year. That means the local service provider keeps my data and the “machine” recognizes that I am a “returnee”.

Every time I come here, there’s something new. There are plenty of cranes around the city and there are always some building or structure under construction. I have been staying in the same hotel and I can see all the construction taking place across the road. In front of the buildings there are pillars. It will be bridges and fly-over all over the place. Their leader, Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, is also putting lots of investment in education. He is building the “software” and “hardware” at the same time. He is really a visionary leader.

Talking about building, very soon the “Burj Dubai” (Tower of Dubai) will be completed. It will be the highest building in the world. I heard that they have kept extra parts. If there is a higher building somewhere else in the world completed later, they will add the extra parts immediately to maintain its no. 1 status.

Ria Bintan

Ria Bintan is a small island in Indonesia, located at the distance of an one-hour-ferry, south of Singapore. Small is a relative term. It’s much bigger than Lantau Island. And that’s the destination for our vacation this year.

Getting there was a bit indirect. We needed to fly to Singapore first. Then we traveled to the ferry terminal to take the fast ferry to Ria Bintan. Fortunately Singapore is a small country and it was just a short journey from Changi Airport to the pier.

Since Indonesia is one hour behind Singapore, we arrived at Ria Bintan 15 minutes before we departed Singapore. Getting in and out Ria Bintan also brought us 3 sets of immigration stamps on our passports. Ria Bintan is famous for golf. But we are no golfers. We were heading for Club Med.

Club Med stands for Club Mediterrannee. Obviously it was founded by a French guy. The first Club Med was launched in Paris in 1950. The service team members are called GO’s (Gentils Organisateurs, meaning gracious organizers) and we as participants are referred as GM’s (Gentils Membres, gracious members, not General Managers). The GO’s were multi-talented and friendly. They could be an sports instructors in the day time and suddenly became dancers in the evening. The GO’s would also join the GM’s over meals. In our last evening, the Circus Team of GO’s even invited us to join their special dinner.

This is our second time to visit a Club Med resort. Great improvement since then. Compared with what we had in Bali 5 years ago, the food has been improved a lot. The all-inclusive-package also covers drinks and snack now. And there is a richer variety of sports and activities. If you have kids, Club Med can provide sort-of-baby-sitting programs such that you can have some private time together. For kids who are 4-18 year old, their programs bear no additional cost. There were different programs for different age groups: 4-5, 6-7, 8-11 and 12-18. For those who was 2-3 year old, they have special program called Petit Club but you need to pay. Some resorts also provide baby-sitting service for under-2-year-old’s.

You can just leave your kids from 9:00 am until dinner time. Or you could choose to join just part of the program. In Club Med, there will be a variety show every night. Sometime, the kids will be invited to participate. On Saturday night, Joy was part of the “Four Seasons” show.

I was also invited to participate two times: once as a judge for a GO’s competition and the other time as a participant (acting as a rocking tree) in a comedy show. We have quite a number of first time in the trip. our first time to learn golf; our first time to learn catamaran sailing. And most exciting of all, we attended circus school!

Jocelyn learning the tricks:

It's Jonathan's turn:

Joy attended the school for kids, with similar challenge:

And one rainy morning, we painted our own shirts:

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