SCSM 2007

8 more days to the Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon 2007! Registered for the 10 km Men's event this year, and went down to Suntec City today to collect the race pack, which included the official singlet, Bib number tag and ChampionChip timing device. Although the collection started at 11 am, there was already a long queue forming when we reached Hall 603 at half past 11.

As it is the school holidays, several student helpers were on-site to distribute the race packs. Fortunately, processing was efficient, and the queue moved fast. Within half an hour, we were out of the hall, after walking past several booths selling fitness and health related products and services.

Looking forward to the run on 2 December, and aim to complete the 10 km race within an hour.

Phuket Photos

Finally posted some photos from a recent trip to Phuket on Facebook. Enjoy!

Muay Thai

Had the opportunity to watch a 'live' Muay Thai match during my trip to Phuket last week. 'Muay Thai' or 'Thai kickboxing' is a popular sport in Phuket, with the contestants coming from various Thai provinces.

Although we were allowed into the indoor stadium at 8 pm, the first match only started at half past nine. There were a total of 8 matches, each with five rounds, each round lasting about three minutes.

The first match was between two young fighters, barely 15 years old, each with a past record of about 20 matches. The winner was declared only after five rounds, as there was no knockout.

I felt that the sixth match was the most exciting, with the sparring becoming more intense as the match progressed. Eventually, there was a knockout in the fourth round.

The last match, which was an 'exhibition match', appeared to be fixed. An Australian fighter was pitted against a Thai counterpart, and the Aussie was on the defensive in the first round. Miraculously, the Aussie issued a knockout punch to the Thai fighter in the second round, and the stadium erupted in wild applause, thanks to the numerous expatriates in the audience.

The five of us took a Tuk-tuk back to Patong Villa after the last match, which ended just before midnight.

Day 1 of Conference

Finally posted some photos from Day 1 of Prof. C.N. Yang's birthday conference on Facebook. Happy viewing!

C.N. Yang Conference

What a week it was! A week of many firsts. On Monday, had lunch with my boss for the first time at a Chinese restaurant near the Nanyang Executive Centre at NTU. This was after an organizing committee meeting to finalize the details for Professor C. N. Yang's Birthday Conference to be held at Swissotel Merchant Court from Wednesday to Saturday.

Attended the opening ceremony for the conference on Wednesday, which was graced by none other than Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam, the Minister for Education. During his speech (an excerpt shown in the above video), the minister highlighted the need for students to think creatively and to see things from different perspectives, and the importance of taking intellectual risk, initiatives which the Ministry of Education is currently working on.

Also managed to catch the public lecture by Nobel Laureate Martin Perl, from Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC), on the topic of speculation and innovation in science and engineering, an example from the search for massive particles. Due to editorial work commitments, returned to office after the tea-break with three other colleagues.

On the second day, had the opportunity to attend the conference banquet hosted by NTU president Professor Su Guaning, which was indeed an eye-opener. Caught up with both local and foreign professors at the pre-banquet cocktail reception, and requested the invited guests to sign their birthday wishes for Professor C. N. Yang on a paper scroll outside the ballroom.

The dinner itself was grand, with President S. R. Nathan and the first lady gracing the occasion. After a short address by my boss, Prof. C. N. Yang spoke briefly on his career in theoretical particle physics. The dinner programme was interesting, with a Teochew opera performance and a Sichuan face-changing performance. Shared a table with two colleagues from the art department, two other professors, and a research scientist. During the dinner, various international scientists such as Kerson Huang and Paul C.W. Chu also gave short speeches. It was nearly 10 pm when President S.R. Nathan took his leave, and the banquet came to a close approximately half an hour later. I felt that this formal social gathering was a great learning experience - another 'first' for me.