Just do it.

Well, I have been busy lately with lots of paper work and management related activities which I hate to do but have to since it is part and parcel of my job responsibilities. These include software audit preparation, logistic and training planning for the incoming new software engineers that I have recruited and schedule to be onboard the company on March 14th. In addition to that, I have been told to take on new responsibilities in terms of providing software support for a newly established engineering function that has been setup recently within my department. No headcount resource addition to my team but yet I have to my team to cope with extra responsibilities that translate to extra workload with no pay increases whatsoever. Well I guess at times we are not left with much choice but just do it. The hell with ISO or BSI audits requirements. I have work long enough in the software industry to come across many companies winding up even though it boasts of various ISO and BSI achievement awards and excellent certifications. Motorola started six-sigma concept but yet take a look at that company? It is heading down the drain in terms of profit and losing technology competitiveness. Moreover, a number of Motorola mobile phones are badly designed and build. There are so many obvious firmware bugs and design issues with some of the Motorola mobile phones that I could hardly imagine its QA staffs would miss such serious design shortfall. Well, attached camera shots of Sichuan Jiuzhaigou that I took a month ago using Sony DSC-T2 camera. Time sure pass quickly. March is just around the corner and soon the weather in these places will become warmer and much more comfortable to travel. According to most people, the best time to travel to such places is during September or October timeframe. Till then it is not likely that I will be traveling to the same place twice but no one knows for sure though. Life is bunch of chocolates; you will never know what you gonna get so to speak.

Sichuan

Four and half hour flight from Singapore and additional 45 minutes flight or 10 hours coach ride from Chengdu to the final destination, a national nature reserve. Situated 4,900 meters above sea level, Jiuzhaigou, a spectacular scenic area, earmark, as one of the world heritages is located 500km from Chengdu, northeast of Sichuan province. Sichuan is the most populous province in China.

Jiuzhaigou is known for its crystal lakes, waterfalls, beautiful forests and rare animals. The locals used to call the natural reserve area ‘fairyland’ and I guess that place truly live up to its name. The panda bear, red panda and the golden monkey are some of the animal species that are unique to Sichuan. Each seasons brings forth different spectacular scenery and one must go to personally experience the breathtaking views. During late winter or early spring, the morning and evening temperature could drop as low as minus 20 degree while the mid noon temperature could rise as high as 35 degree C. Applying sun block to the exposed part of the body, in particular the face and hands is a must to avoid sun burnt and the strong ultra violet rays during mid noon. Jiuzhaigou is located in the high plains where the air is thin and exposure to ultra violet rays could result in skin irritation for those who have sensitive skins and complexions. It is truly a trip worth remembering though.

The flight from Chengdu to Jiuzhaigou were fully booked during CNY so I had not choice but to take the coach. All together there were 6 of us who took the coach ride and we did not regret at all since there were so much natural scenery to watch and appreciate during the journey. Due to the long distance, the tour guide decided to split the journey into 2 days. We spend a night stopover in ‘MouXian’ county, a semi populated town situated in between Chengdu and Jiuzhaigou. By far and large the hotel that we stay put for the night in ‘MouXian’ situated between vast range of mountains is considered the best in its vicinity. The temperature was in the subzero range when we reached ‘MouXian’ around 7.30pm in the evening and it started to snow when we finished our dinner and headed to our respective rooms.


I must comment that China’s transport infrastructure; in particular the highways and roads are very well built and maintained. Only a handsome few coach drivers from Chengdu are confident and experience enough to drive from Chengdu to Jiuzhaigou. The route from Chengdu to the final destination is dangerous at times, with steep and treacherous seemingly unending bends that cut across high mountains and valleys. The roads seems to wind endlessly in the form of reverse and forward ‘S’ shapes route. The coach seems to lose speed as it heads towards higher plains where the air gets thinner and this takes its toll on the engine that needs to burn more fuel due to the lack of air required for the combustion.

Traveling to remote parts of China has never been easier today compared to 10 years ago whereby the infrastructure such as land and air transport has been greatly enhanced and improved over the years. Barriers are built to improve road safety and warning signpost is placed in dangerous and narrow bends.

There some things that foreign tourist has to keep in mind with regards to central China heating system. Most of the restaurants and hotels in central and southern China are not adequately equipped with regards to heater facilities unlike its northern province counterparts. Standard air conditioners are used for warming, barely enough to warm a standard size room at maximum 30 degree Celsius.

Take a shower could prove to be a challenge even to the toughest guy on earth during winter. One could easily catch the cold when stepping out from the shower room which has no heater element installed. A sizeable number of restaurants do not have any heater elements at all so be prepare to have lunch or dinner in sub zero freezing cold temperature.

One thing that I have learned with regards to traveling to China is that one must be fully prepared in terms of physical fitness and health. Buy travel insurance if possible. Bring adequate first aid kit pack comprising medicine such as painkillers, anti diarrhea pills, gastric pills, muscle acne plasters and etc. Bring as many winter clothing as possible if you travel during winter. Never drink from the water tap. Drink from bottled water such as mineral bottled water during the trip. Depending on location, at times it is advisable to even brush your teeth from bottled water. Bring multi adaptor plug if necessary required to charge up your camera battery or mobile phone.

Most of the Sichuan food and delicacies are extremely oily thus advisable to bring along some tidbits and cup noodles. Never take your eyes and sight off valuable stuffs. Pickpocket incidents are rampant in China.

Try to empty yourself (if you know what I mean) before setting off for the long coach ride. Almost all the coaches in China are not equipped with toilets thus advisable not to drink too much water or take too much food before the long journey. Depending on the next stopover checkpoint, you may have to tolerate 3 to 4 hours ride in between breaks.
If you really had to relieve yourself during the journey, umbrellas would prove to be invaluable because you are likely to have to do your business in the open space thus umbrella is very handy to protect your privacy. Even if there are public toilets in the rural areas, you can be sure that there are no doors at all. Surprisingly I found that the condition of the public toilets has improved tremendously even in rural and remote areas.

Most of us would tend to put the blame on the local authorities for not improving and maintaining the cleanliness of the public toilet, we seems to overlook the fact that the civic mindedness of the public toilet users plays a large role in contributing to hygiene of toilets.

The thing that irritates me the most throughout the trip is the show off altitude of some of the members of the tour group. There is this woman who goes around telling people how much money she make through property transactions and boast of being the top 50 ERA property agents. It irks me to find such a thick skin lady who is arrogant beyond description and thinks she is the most successful person in Singapore.


Someone once asked me why I spend money to go on tour instead of saving it for rainy days. I guess as much as we should save money for rainy situations nevertheless we should enjoy ourselves if time permits and appreciate the rest of the world while our health permits us to travel. After all we only live this once so the more we should pamper ourselves if possible.
Last but not least, the Jiuzhaigou and Chengdu trip has left a deep impression on me. Chengdu may not have an airport that is comparable to Changi International Airport. However, the lifestyle in Chengdu is much more relaxing as compare to the hectic life style in Singapore. Chengdu climate is humid much like Singapore however its weather is much cooler and this makes it an ideal place to relax. More and more big companies are setting up R&D labs and research facilities in Chengdu. Big names like Intel, TCL and many more have established research facilities in Chengdu. Like many other places, property prices in Chengdu has sky rocketed as of recent. This is inevitable given the increased affluent lifestyle and improve standard of living. By and large, Chengdu is pretty much self-sustaining and provincial government has great plans to transform the city into a major industrial, technological and commercial hub.

Over promise under deliver versus under commit over deliver

There are times in our life whereby we unwittingly over commit to get something done but under deliver eventually; in the sense the outcome of our efforts fell short of committed expectations. At times we may succumb to the pressure from our superiors and thus say ‘yes’ to whatever ridiculous and unrealistic demands, only to eventually lose our credibility when things don’t turn out as expected to what we have promised to deliver. Our self egoistic and over confidence altitude may also lead us to over commit to something that we may not be able to deliver down the road.

Conversely, we may be overcautious at times and lack the ability and confidence to commit to a deliverable only to eventually realize we are able to and indeed actually deliver beyond what was committed. The question that I often ponder is which is preferable, over commit under deliver or under commit over deliver? At a glance, it seems that we are better off with under commitment over deliver; we should be mindful though if we constantly under commit but over deliver, the management may no longer take our words seriously and assume we are trying to live the easy way out with regards to project deliverables by understating the ability to accomplish goals.

So in summary, yes, we are probably better off with sticking with under commit over deliver situation and circumstances, however we should exercise caution to make sure it does not becomes a habit which may result in management wrongfully thinking that we are trying to take the easy way out by intentionally under committing to a project deliverable.