Autumn and Spring in Japan

All my life (though not very long), I always have this notion that it's better to travel in Spring than in Autumn. I've excluded summer as it's too hot (unless it's the tail-end) and winter as it's too cold unless I want to experience a snow like winter in Hokkaido. Most of the time, I prefer to travel in April/ May as it's Spring. Not only could I look forward to the weather getting warmer and bluer sky, I could get to see lots and lots of flowers.

The recent trip to Japan in Nov changed my perspective. I was very impressed by the autumn foliage in different parts of Japan. Even within the same region, the foliage could be so different, probably due to the terrain, temperature and the types of trees, presented different arrays of vibrant colours. The colours were so rich that one would be pleasantly surprised that the scenery was never the same. My favourite is Niko because it has intense red maple leaves while a close second is Aizuwakamatsu with the beautiful yellow-leaves ginko tree....

Travelling in nice cool temperature and feasting on the beautiful scenery is a great joy to behold. Although I still look forward to seeing Sakura blossom in Spring (I've not really seen it though I was in Japan twice during Spring, right after Sakura blossom)...I don't mind the autumn foliage.

Not forgetting the great food and onsen ;)

Mumbai and NYC

I was in a daze...from the medication as well as the news...first it's chaos in Bangkok, which I gather is stale news by now...then it's Mumbai's terrorist attack on Wednesday night.

As the event unfold, I'd a dejavu feeling. The reason being that I'd visited NYC in 2001 and Mumbai this year...a few months before terrorist attacks. Morbid feeling that I was in those buildings, WTC in NYC and the 2 hotels in Mumbai.

While WTC is a tourist attraction, only Taj Mahal Hotel in Mumbai is...Oberoi is more a hotel....I visited these two hotels in late April during my first trip to India for work. I was staying in another hotel near the airport.

Both 5-star hotels are "Indian-owned" and have beautiful interior. I remember Taj is majestic and has a great sea-fronting location. Oberoi smelled nice when I entered its lobby...not sure whether it's the flowers or from the spa.

When I read the news, I was greatly angered and saddened by the ruthess and senseless killing of the militants. While we grieved the passing of a fellow Singaporean, I was glad to know the stories of the staff of the 2 hotels. How they helped the guests, tourists and locals who were stranded inside the hotels, including one technician who took the bullets by shielding the guests. They were so selfless and service with honour. They could be "poor" physically yet so rich in "love" for others.

Although the killings have stopped, it would be hard to for everyone to forgot. Terrorism has hit home.

Fixed Deposit and Structured Deposit

While the world was caught up in two frenzy weeks, I was so unaffected by the financial crisis as I have experienced at least four since I started my work life in 1995. First was the Asian Financial Crisis in 1997, then dotcom bubble burst cum 9/11 in 2001, then SARs in 2003. So when 2008 came with all these problems (coupled with the melamine in food product), I thought it's another cycle. Just that it seems to be shorter than the theoratical 7-year period.

I thought I was unaffected by the next wave of crisis that affect even normal citizens who lost their life savings since I did not have any investment to begin with. I was so very wrong.

I was talking to my colleague on Monday about the financial crisis which brought about the rise in Japanese yen which indirectly affecting my coming trip to Japan in Nov. So somehow, I said I only have a joint fixed deposit account which earns interest rate based on the performance of the South Korea Stock Exchange. This fixed deposit is called structured deposit. So my colleague said a structured deposit is not a fixed deposit and it is usually tied to some investment tools/products. He told me to ensure that the principal sum is assured in the document I'd signed on.

When I wanted to double check the documents what we have signed on, I couldn't find any documents and my sister was away then. I surfed the bank's website and noted that the prinicpal sum is guaranteed. However, I wasn't so sure and remembered reading an article in Mypaper that tried to explain the difference between principal protected vs principal guaranteed. I decided to call up the bank but I could not get an answer. I was told that someone would call me the next day.

At 10am the next day, I received a call. I told the person of my understanding of the deposit as explained to us at the bank's Vivocity branch....to my horror of horror, my understanding is so very wrong. At that point in time, I was so MAD. I felt so cheated and taken as a fool by the relationship manager who persuaded us to put our money in the structured deposit.

First of all, we already made clear that we do not want to invest in anything, not even unit trust or whatsoever. We just want to put our money in the fixed deposit because this bank had the highest interest rate. The relationship manager assured us that this is a new structured deposit worked like a fixed deposit except that its interest rate is tied to the Korea Stock Exchange. So I asked what if the stock exchange goes down, he said it's all right. Regardless of the Korea Stock Index going up or down, we will get our interest as the bank will take the absolute rate. This means that even if the index dropped by 3%, we will still receive 3% of interest for that month. This sounded too good to be true and I asked what would be the worst case scenrio, zero interest? No, at least one per cent said the relationship manager.

So we happily signed a 3 year structure deposit, not thinking about it until my coversation with my colleague on Monday.

Looking at this, I felt that the relationship manager has failed us miserably. I later found out he was no longer with the bank. First of all, we are not into investment. May be he needed to meet his sales target. But I think that's blatantly cheating us. I decided to withdrawal the deposit. According to the 'new relationship manager', I need to 'unwind my investment'. I kept correcting him that it's not an investment ;p

Thank God, the amount was transacted at 102 on Monday so we can still recover our principal amount. I could feel the heartache that the people who were suffering from the financial loss. That's their hard-earn money and lifelong saving. My heart bleeds even though my money was not a lot and I could still recoup them. Please do not think I hold on to my money tightly, rather it's our hardearn money and if I used it for a good purpose/cause I don't mind. Obviously, not to be cheated in this way ;p

This morning, I read the newspaper saying that the banks will assist those who bought structured products on a case-by-case basis, starting from those uneducated and above 55 years old. While I have no issue that these people should be assisted first, I felt that if those irresponsible relationship managers choose to "con" even graduates. What can we say?

Were my sister and I stupid? I think we trust the bank and people too much. The reason being we have been very clear about what we want and objective. We are obviously mis-led.

Were we greedy? We only wanted to have higher interest rate that could not even cover the inflation rate, minimise lossing our money through inflation. We did not even think this deposit will earn us high return. In the first place, despite my poor grades in Economics, I know that high return means high risk. As a risk averse person, I will not expect high return. In fact, the relationship manager also did not promise high return.

Right after I spoke to the "new relationship manager" to 'unwind our money'. A lady from the Vivocity branch called me as a follow-up from an email. She said I should still hold on to the deposit, which earned about 1 per cent interest last year. So I told her we put our trust in this reputable bank and were cheated. I told her I don't even want to put in any more money as the trust is lost. She explained the relationship manager had sold us a product not suitable for us.

As I said lor, everyone just want to put fixed deposit. But see what happened later...

I think the relationship manager should try to regain the confidence of normal people. For the time being, I will go for fixed deposit as I always do ;p

Koyo and Sakura

Ya, I've not really seen Sakura/Cherry Blossom though I was in Japan for 3 Springs...the closest was in Fukuoka when the Sakura were at their tail-end of blossoming (shedding)....I heard even people who went in other seasons managed to see cherry blossom due to global warming...

So this coming trip I want to see KOYO (sounds funny when you read in Hokkien ;p)...The Japan website already came out with the 2008 map showing the timing of for the entire Japan. They even loaded photos of koyo in Hokkaido. I gather Japanese is just as crazy about koyo/autumn leaves in autumn as sakura in spring. This is as important as weather forecast!

I chanced upon another Japanese website, Walkerplus that actually monitors the leaves of different regions in Japan by their shades...so far only Hokkaido's foliage is turning orange for now, the rest is still green...

I'm going to monitor the leaves week-by-week and may be nearer the date, daily ;p

so that no see flowers see leaves also good ;ppp

Children's Day, First Anniversary, Hari Raya and K&W's Wedding Day

Today so many occassions to celebrate ;p...4-in-1 some more.....;p

OCBC Saga II or III???

OCBC extremely bad service never failed to amaze me. I still had not received the application form from them this morning ;p So I called them, the customer officer told me the form was posted out since I called on 20 Sep. I clarified with her that I'd in fact called on 13 Sep as well as 20 Sep. I'd never been so conscentious in checking my mails and calling OCBC Bank.

My goodness, I told her my application form had gone round the world a few times even if it is not in F1 racecar speed ;p

Due to whatever delay, I asked her to get a courier to my office before end Sep (only 2 days left)...actually I already thought of that last week, but I have faith in our SingPost system (I should have trust my instinct but this is not SingPost fault either).

Later she called me and told me it would take another day. So she helpfully suggested that I download the application form (now then tell me) or go to an OCBC bank to settle it. I told her I could have been told two weeks ago. I told her no printer (even though I have also may not be able to print since I've not used it for a long time) and no OCBC branch (the one near my place just have OCBC ATMs, no human beings.)

Plus I don't want them to tell me that they have not received my form. A courier is an eye witness.

So I gather if u want to vomit blood or have a taste of bad service, apply for a OCBC Bank credit card, they will not fail you.

OCBC vs Standard Chartered

I have an extremely bad service experience with OCBC credit card.

I am a Robinson OCBC credit card holder. In the first place, I was 'forced' to apply this card as I was previously a Robinson card holder. After OCBC Bank 'spilt' from Robinson, existing Robinson card holders were to apply for this card to continue enjoying the priviledge. For the sake of getting good deals in Robinson and M&S, I signed up for this card ;)

In late June, I received a promotion material to upgrade my existing card to a plantinum card (no big deal since nowaday every card is a plantinum as the next upgrade is titanium. At the rate credit cards are changing colour, I should be getting a titanium card soon but don't ask me what is the next colour to replace titanium though.) I called up OCBC Bank to check because in order to enjoy this promotion, my supp card holder must sign off. Since she was out of town, I decided to give this promotion a miss. (Basically, this is not an attractive promotion to begin with.)

Just last week, I was 'informed" via my bill that I must replace my current card by end Sep. So last Saturday, I called up and clarified. YES, I have no choice and must replace my card. So I told the call centre to send me the form.....so I waited and waited, checked and checked until yesterday, I still did not receive any form yet.

Yesterday morning, I called...and to my horror, if I did not replace my card in time, I have to pay all my instalment in FULL. Well well, I was extremely frustrated because I was 'forced' to replace my card within such a short notice and I've even done my due diligence to check on the promotion in June. OCBC still asked me whether I could fax the application form or whether my supp cardholder has a fax...'crazy'...I asked the person whether she was going to pay for the postage.

I told them that until yesterday, I've yet to receive their form....personally I have much faith in our Singapore Post than OCBC Bank. Sometimes, I'd received mails within a day. Unless OCBC Bank has sent the form around the world. Even then I remember receiving air-mails in less than 7 days from USA. Well, as I've no recourse, I told the call centre to ask someone to call me as I don't want the same incident to happen, i.e. no mail for the next 7 days again.

Finally, someone called me in late afternoon...well. may be he needs to trace the whereabout of the application form...I've even feedback to OCBC Bank that as a Standard Chartered credit card holder (I only own two credit cards for practical reasons, more discounts and convenience) even when I was forced to upgrade to platinum card, I only need to sign on my new card. No questions asked or forms to fill. Best of all, they still keep my previous account running on paper (for example, my charity can continue to deduct from this account until I informed them of my new account number).

Just today, when I read my Standard Chartered bill and saw the annual fee being charged to this account, I know they will waive it without me asking them to. Sure enough when I call and ask them about the annual fee imposed on this account, the person immediately said he would waive the annual fee "WITHOUT ME ASKING". He even told me to take my time to inform my charity before I terminate this account for reason of convenience. This is what I call REAL GOOD SERVICE.

Two banks, both upgrading credit cards but two different approaches as well as services. Who would you choose?

Unless I die die must shop in Robinson and M&S, else OCBC Bank credit card is useless to me. One saving grace is that I don't have a banking account with OCBC. I definitely don't want to suffer this kind of bad and slow service.