Tai Chi for Wellness 2010

My wife and I attended the Taichi for Wellness event 2010 at PAHQ (People's Association Headquarters) Saturday morning. The event started at 7.30am so it was an effort to wake up earlier that we are used to. Nevertheless we were really enthusiastic and excited because Dr Paul Lam the person responsible for creating the Tai Chi for Health Programs - Tai Chi for Artthritis, Tai Chi for Osteoporosis and Tai Chi for Diabites will be present to give a talk.

Around 1800 people, mostly seniors participated in the event with a mass Tai chi workout session. There were booths on Healthy Cooking, Health Food Sampling and Free Osteoporosis Risk Assessment. During the talk, PA instructors gave a demonstration of the different forms of Taichi that the TaiChi for Health programs were adapted from; namely the Chen, Yang and Sun styles which are already popular in Singapore. While Tai chi  is typified by exceedingly slow movement, some parts of the Chen and Yang styles have a faster pace. I understand that there are still other schools of Tai Chi, namely Wu, Lee, Guan Ping and Eight Diamonds.

With Dr Paul Lam

With our teacher Mr Yap Cheng Ho

Singapore opens 2 Casinos

The Singapore government gave the green light for the building of not one but two (2) casinos back in 2005. Despite the global financial crisis in 2008, construction went ahead.

The first casino, the 4.4 billion US-dollar Resorts World Sentosa built by Malaysia's Genting Group was opened for business on February 14 2010. Sales of tickets started at 11.18am. RWS includes four world class hotels, Hard Rock Hotel among them and Universal Studio.

The second casino Marina Bay Sands is a 5.5 billion US dollar complex built by US gaming giant Las Vegas Sands. It was originally set to open at the end of 2009 but faced repeated delays caused by a number of factors, including material and labour shortages and financial problems due to the global economic downturn. Marina Bay Sands opened it's doors at 3:18 pm on Tuesday 27 April 2010. Tuesday's opening includes the casino and 963 out of 2,560 hotel rooms, a portion of the shopping mall, some restaurants, an exhibition centre and the events plaza. The remaining hotel rooms and suites, a skypark and more shops will open on June 23, while a museum, theatres and other stores will start operations later in the year. The government hopes to to attract 17 million visitors a year generating over 21 billion US dollars by 2015, boosting the services sector and reducing the role of manufacturing in the economy.

Many believe that Feng Shui (Geomancy) plays an important part in the design of casinos. Notice both Casinos have chosen the number 8 which is considered auspicious for their opening the hour. The superstitious type may want to read this very interesting article "Unveiling the Secret of Casinos" in the April issue of Prosper Times, sharing insights of "Feng Shui" in Casinos http://www.prosperwithfengshui.com

 

Credit: Vincent Travel Journal

Wheel Chair and Push Chair

For quite some time now I've been recommending the wheelchair for mother-in-law since her knees are not too good as well, but you know seniors can be self-conscious. There is this reluctance to be seen on a wheelchair in public. The last couple of weeks we've brought old lady out to the shopping centres and discovered that her knees are not taking it too well. This becomes an opportune time to push for that wheelchair ahead of the Shanghai trip.

Upon checking around I discovered that there are actually two type of Wheelchairs - Mobility Wheelchair with 24" wheels which is self-propelled by the occupant and is for people with walking disability and then there is the Push Wheelchair (or Push Chair). with smaller wheels which is attendant-propelled; meaning someone else have to do the pushing.

We found out that there is a charitable organisation, Kampong Senang Charity & Education Foundation  (http://www.kg-senang.org.sg) that lets out used wheelchair at a low cost under it's project "Wheel-of Hope" at the Mobility Aids Services & Training Centre. These wheelchairs are donations from the public. The scheme goes like this; the amount you pay (which is a fraction of the original price) is considered a donation and you get to keep the wheelchair for as long as you like.

Last Sunday we took mother-in-law to Parkway Parade Shopping Centre for a good 3 hours on the Push Wheelchair and old lady was very pleased very thankful. Mission success!