Oil costs and hybrid cars are in the news a lot these days so I decided to take a look at how much a new prius costs.  Take a looK:

Living here in Singapore, 23K doesn't seem too expensive (my used Nissan Sunny cost 18K usd and it has a restricted driving hours too).  How much a new Prius cost in Singapore you ask?

Click the image to make it bigger.  The list cost is 91K SGD or 67K USD which includes a COE  (that means certificate of entitlement in Singaporean English).  The certificate of entitlement is just what other people call a title and costs about 15K SGD.  Not too bad huh? The car is only 2.9x more expensive than the US.  For cheap skates like me, you can skip the certificate of entitlement and get a red license plate.  Red is the best color in Chinese culture but in Singapore, a red license plate just means you can not drive Monday-Friday 7am to 7pm & Saturday 7am to 3pm without paying $20.  If you get a red license plate, your car will cost about 17K SGD less.  My Sunny has a red license plate and although the car is still about 30% more expensive than in most other places, the system works pretty well for me.  Anyways, back to the Prius, I came across this helpful article on Yahoo.  Guess owning one in the US is actually worth it when you factor in the resale values. (click on it to see the detail.  The green numbers at the bottom are the total costs to own)

I really wanted stingray tonight but couldnt find anyone to go with me... so I went down to the corner for some Malaysian hawaker food.

 

These burgers are one of the most fattening things I have ever come across in my day.   They sort of remind me of Homer's "Good Morning Burger" on the Simpsons. (http://www.gluttonopia.com/2008/01/23/the-simpsons-good-morning-burger/)  They start with your choice of beef or chicken then add a fried egg, cheese, mayo, and hot sauce all grilled up with loads of butter.  Yum yum

Other stuff on offer is below.  This is nothing special compared to the night markets in Malaysia.  Of course... those ones don't have the wonderful Singapore prices!

 

My goodies: Fried rice, fried banana/sweet potato, and the burger.

I just might be selling the 9'1'' and 8' board I brought with me from Hawaii.  I took some pictures last weekend.  Not officially for sale yet... but feel free to let me know if you are interested.  Priority goes to someone willing to buy 1 board and the blue bag together (all 3 would be a bonus).

 

Just me again... how to eat all this food?

 

One thing that really ticks me off about Singapore is the fact that everything is so expensive here. Be it Ben & Jerry's ice cream, an ipod, Brooks Brothers Shirts, or a computer... everything is 30-80% more expensive here than in the United States.  This doesn't make sense as most of this stuff is made in Asia (so shipping to Singapore would be much less), the Singapore dollar is stronger than the USD (so things should be cheaper here), and people here make less money than in the US.  Take a look at this Acer Aspire laptop:  Singapore price: 700 SGD (513 USD) vs. 408 USD on Amazon...a difference of 25%.

 

On the other hand... the EEe PC is the same price on Pre-order (888 SGD= 652 USD).  Not sure why... maybe they order it from Amazon and ship to Singapore ;)

 

Tony, Chris, Geoff, and I had a bbq last weekend.  I was a tad late in posting...

Had a kinda bad day... so treated myself to some ice cream.   Still can't afford Hagandaz in Singapore so Buds it is again.

As everyone knows, I work for a hedge fund and the last few months have been very difficult.  I came across Brett Arend's column in the Wall Street Journal this week and one of his investing rules to toss out the window is pretty funny(take not of the last line, a real classic):

Rule #3: Wall Street bankers know what they are doing.

Reality: Almost none of them saw this coming. The people running Bear Stearns didn't even know how much their own bank was worth at the end, let alone their loan book. The head of Citigroup was still betting on subprime loans last July, months after the industry had hit the iceberg. How many Harvard MBAs and Chartered Financial Analysts does it take to lose a trillion dollars on subprime mortgages? We'll let you know when this is all over.

Mayumi is doing a good job of keeping my orchids alive in Hawaii. She sent me these pictures today..one of them is blooming:

 

Big cooking night.

 

This is what the curry that I got looked like. 

 

Start with some garlic, ginger, and onions... then chciken... then add the spices the lady also gave me (in the white bowl)

 

 

Final result: Chicken cury, Pai Gu, Fried Chicken, and honey shrimp

Had to drop Samantha & her friends off at the bus station.  This didn't leave much time for the hike I was suppose to go...so Jie Hong & I just went eating.

 

This Long Tong... It is a kind of rice cake with lots of hot sauce (Sambal) and some chicken.  This breakfast!  I also had the usal cakes

 

Next we walked over to the vege market next door. I got some fresh cury paste from this lady (see the next entry for how it turned out that night).  I also got some fresh coconut milk from the guy next to her.  He made it while I was waiting.  Now that is fresh.

 

Nasi Lamak for lunch

 

Had left over flour from last week so I made more pizza. Samantha helped me cook & eat.

Had some friends in town so I took them down the street to the hawker center for local food

 Laksa, Chicken Rice, Oyster Omelt..

I was talking to my friend Robbie a few weeks ago when he mentioned to me how wonderful "grilled pizza" was.  "Grilled Pizza," I asked? Was this possible?  Sure enough, I did a google and making pizza on the bbq grill is the best thing since sliced bread...especially over here in Asia where no one has an oven in their house.  Thanks for the idea Roberto.

 

Dough prep.

 

 

After mixing... you make 4-6 balls which are then flattened into soon to be pizza.  Make sure you do this the night before.  Dough needs to rest before cooking.

 

  

 

Some of the ingredients ready to go.

 

Tony came over to help and took these few pics of me getting ready to place the first pizza on the grill.

 

You basically cook this like a steak... one side first.. then flip. Then add toppings and done. Below is a picture of a pizza we just turned over. Brush a little olive oil on the grill and the pizza wont stick at all.

After flipping and toppings added.

 

 

This first finished pizza.  Almost and then all done.

 

Tony flipping the second pizza.

 

The second pizza had basil, spinach, sliced tomato, feta cheese, and mozzarella cheese. Add a touch of vinegar at the end

 

 

Tony making the 3rd pizza which had 3 kinds of cheese and basil leaves.

 

Fourth and final had everything.

These pictures are from my trip to Taiwan last week.  Since my camera had yet to arrive, these shots came from 瑞瑞.

 

I convinced 瑞瑞 (who then convinced her friends) to go for hike on the 草嶺古道 which is an old road between 福隆 and 大里。 First stop was to get some lunch.  We bought some 便當(lunch box) outside the station and chowed down.  Not bad for 50 NT (about 1.8usd).

 

The start of the trail leads past a bunch of rice paddies.

This is the pacififc ocean... and if you keep going out past Turtle Island (that one in the distance) is Hawaii.  I miss home.

 

On the way down

This is a farm in 宜蘭.

Another dinner at the Bukit Timah hawker center

 Sting ray, prata, tissue prata, and 2 vege curries.

There are lots of stray cats (and rats) around my building here in Singapore.  I have been feeding this little guy for a few months.  I think he is getting a little fatter off the tuna fish I keep giving him.