This week I worked the 9 to 5 shift just like many others in Singapore and elsewhere. No big deal you might say but peak time taxi fares and traffic jams make getting to the office a real pain. My colleague David Loh who was also on dayshift made a tempting offer, ”buy a helmet and I’ll take you on my Ducati”. This sounded like a plan to me, so of I went to Little India to buy my new helmet. After a little haggling - 50% off the first price - I left with my new silver motor cycle helmet.

The next morning David picked me up and we whizzed past all the jams to the office, faster and more thrillingly than any taxi ride so far. For the whole week we explored routes and I noticed that many homes were decorated with red banners with big golden characters. David and other colleagues told me this was already preparation for Chinese New Year which is in February.

The legend tells how long, long ago in ancient China there was a furious man-eating beast from the mountains (or from under the sea), which looked like a dragon (or  a unicorn). On the first and 15th day of each lunar month the monster, called Nian, came out to hunt people. On the days of its coming the people, in terror, locked their doors before sunset.

In one village lived a wise old man who rallied the people together to face the Nian with loud noises and fireworks. On a moonless freezing cold night the monster appeared and the moment it opened its jaws the people made frightening noises, beating drums and lighting fireworks. Wherever the monster went it was driven back by the din, time and time again until it fell down exhausted and was killed by the villagers.

 Savage as the monster was, the Nian was defeated by the concerted efforts of  a small village. From that time on the people maintained the tradition by beating drums and gongs and lighting fireworks on the coldest day of winter to drive away imaginary monsters and to celebrate their victory over them. Today, Nian refers to the New Year’s Day or Spring Festival. You can hear people often say Guo Nian, meaning ’survive the Nian’. As Nian also means “the year” Chinese often greet each other with Xin (means “new “) Nian (”year”) Hao (”good”) - Happy New Year!

Chinese New Year is the most important celebration in the Chinese calendar and year 4706 begins on February 7, 2008 - it is the year of the rat. Babies born before Chinese New Year are born in the year of the pig.

The next day on a visit to a shopping mall the shops were covered in red. Red banners with golden letters, red rats in all shapes and sizes, red lamps, red envelopes and all kind of lucky symbols …. Red and gold wherever you looked.

 One of the shop owners nicely explained to my wife and I that in ancient times most people were illiterate which was why animals that influenced people’s lives were chosen to symbolize the terrestrial branches: the rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, rooster, dog and pig (or boar). Another legend tells how one day Buddha summoned all of the animals and honoured those who came by naming a year for them. When the cat and the rat heard they have to appear, the cat said to rat: ‘We should arrive early, but I usually get up late.’ Because they were neighbours and good friends the rat then promised to wake up his friend so they can go together. However, the next morning when the rat got up, it was much too excited and forgot his promise. The rat went directly towards the gathering place. On the way, it came across the tiger, ox, horse, and realized that the other animals are running much faster. As the rat did not want to fall behind it jumped on the ox and promised to sing for him if he carried him. They arrived first and the ox was happy thinking that he would be the first sign of the years. But the rat had already slipped in front and so the rat became the first lucky animal of the Chinese zodiac. Meanwhile his neighbour the cat was far too late and when it finally arrived the selection process was over. That’s why other animals appear behind the rat (in above mentioned order) and why the cats hate rats so much that every time they meet, the cat will chase and kill the rat.

Then Buddha named a year after each one and announced that people born in each animal’s year would have some of that animal’s personality. Richard Nixon, George Bush, Marlon Brando, Al Gore, Shakespeare, George Washington, Jimmy Carter, Clark Gable, Charlton Heston, Lady Bird Johnson, Mozart and William Shakespeare were all born in the year of the rat (1912, 1924, 1936, 1948, 1960, 1972, 1984, 1996, 2008, 2020, 2032, and 2044).

Though in some people’s eyes the rat is not adorable and there are many derogatory references to rats, it heads the Chinese zodiac. Since the presence of a rat in a Chinese farmer’s home has historically been seen as an indicator of big harvests, the sign is known as a “wealth animal”.

Browsing the internet I found lots websites describing the character of rats:

The rat is recognized as an animal with spirit, wit, alertness, delicacy, flexibility and vitality. Being the first sign of the Chinese zodiac, rat people are endowed with great leadership skills and are the most highly organized. They can be charming, passionate, charismatic, practical, hardworking and strong-willed people who are keen and unapologetic promoters of their own agendas, which often include money and power. Behind the smile rats can be terribly obstinate and controlling, insisting on having things their way no matter what the cost. These people tend to have immense control of their emotions, which they may use as a tool to manipulate and exploit others - both emotionally and mentally. Quick-tempered and aggressive, rats will not think twice about revenge on those that hurt them in any way. Rats need to learn to relax sometimes, as they can be quite obsessed with detail, intolerant and strict, demanding order and perfection.

But now back to the Chinese New Year, which is observed as a public holiday in countries with a sizable Chinese population. Chinese months are based on the lunar calendar. Each month, and also the Chinese New Year begins on new moon, the darkest day of the month and festivities end when the moon is brightest with a Lantern Festival. In the Gregorian calendar, Chinese New Year falls on different dates each year, a date between January 21 and February 20. This means that the holiday usually falls on the second (very rarely third) new moon after the winter solstice.

I was told that during that period Singapore slows down, shops are closed and many people travel home to visit their families. I understand that New Year celebrations may span over weeks before and after the official holidays and this is the time when businesses in the region operate in ‘holiday mode’ and its generally not the time for making important decisions or business negotiations.

The shop owner told me that Chinese New Year celebrations are marked by visits to kin, relatives and friends, a practice known as “new-year visits”. “I wear new cloth” he adds and “I already prepare the red envelopes” or red packets. These red envelopes, in Mandarin “hóng bāo” always contain money. Varying from a couple of dollars to several hundred, the notes have to be new and clean. The amount of money in the Hongbao should be of even numbers, as odd numbers are associated with cash given during funerals. Since the number 4 is considered bad luck (the word for four is a homophone for death) money in the red envelopes never adds up to $4 - and as the number 8 is considered lucky (for its homophone for “wealth”) $8 are commonly found in the red envelopes. Traditionally Hongbao’s with the “lucky money” are passed out from married couples or the elderly to unmarried juniors.

As kind of general preparation people clean their house thoroughly, decorate it with lots of symbolic and lucky words and prepare lots of food. Everyone gets a haircut and everything and everyone looks new and fresh. Well prepared for the night of New Year’s Eve, Chinese families come together for a celebration or reunion-dinner. This custom is also called “surrounding the hearth,” from the custom in earlier times of eating dinner around the family hearth. Children and adults eat together a dinner, which begins only when all family members are around the table. A table setting is placed for those unable to come home to symbolize their presence though far away. As I learned everything related to the Chinese New Year is symbolic or has a special meaning. Several of the dishes served have auspicious meaning and are indispensable to the night’s menu: mustard greens, the “Long Year Vegetable” represents long life, as well as uncut noodles, which represent longevity and long life, though this practice is not limited to the new year; a “Whole Chicken,” (must be a whole!!) symbolizing wealth for the whole family (since “chicken” and “family” sound the same in the Taiwanese dialect ); a type of clam called han is eaten since it sounds like the Chinese word for “fat,” means “becoming well-off”; and fish balls, shrimp balls, and meat balls are eaten to symbolize the three top scores earned during the civil service examination in ancient China. Although fish is on the New Year’s Eve dinner table it cannot be eaten on New Year’s Eve, since the Chinese words for “fish” and “surplus” sound the same and people wouldn’t want to eat the next year’s surplus - I also found sources saying it exact the other way around. In some areas it is customary to have dumplings for this dinner as they symbolize wealth because their shape is like a Chinese gold nugget. And last but not least: Mandarin oranges are the most popular and most abundant fruit during Chinese New Year. This New Years Eve dinner is comparable to Christmas dinner in the West, except the Chinese will have much more food.

Here is a brief guide to good and bad luck.

Good luck: 

- Fu is a lucky word. Fu - is very easy to say and is one of the most popular Chinese characters used during Chinese New Year. Around the Chinese New Year, people often put up a poster with this word on it - upside down! It’s the only time when a Chinese word is posted upside down intentionally.
- Clean the house completely from top to bottom before New Year’s Day for good luck in the coming year
- Opening windows and/or doors bring in the good luck of the New Year.
- Switching on the lights for the night is considered good luck and ’scares away’ ghosts and spirits of misfortune
- Eat sweets to make sure you have a “sweet” year.
- Some believe that what happens on the first day of the New Year reflects the rest of the year to come. Asians will often gamble at the beginning of the year, hoping to get luck and prosperity.
- Wear a new pair of slippers that is bought before the New Year which means to step on the people who gossip about you.
- The night before the New Year, bath in pomelo leaves and you will be healthy for the rest of the upcoming year. 
 

Bad Luck

- Buying a pair of shoes is considered bad luck because the word “shoes” is a homophone for “rough” in Cantonese, or “evil” in Mandarin.
- Buying a pair of pants is considered bad luck because the word “pants” is a homophone for “bitter” in Cantonese. Although some look at it positive as ‘pants’ in Cantonese is also a homophone for the word for “wealth” 
- Washing your hair could mean washing away one’s own luck, but modern hygienic concerns take precedence over this tradition
- Sweeping the floor is usually forbidden on the first day because it will sweep away the good fortune and luck
- Buying books is bad luck because the word for “book” is a homonym to the word “lose”.
Avoid clothes in black and white, as black is a symbol of bad luck, and white is a traditional funeral colour.

So there you are, a bit complicated but useful to know. I’m off now to Germany, back to spend time with my family and friends, like the Chinese do at New Year but without the monsters.

After a week of concentrated screen staring I escaped from Pictures of the Year 2007 to a nearby food court for dinner with my wife Andrea. We go there often as it is very close to our apartment and offers all kinds of tasty food. Normally we arrive around 2000 because by then everything has slowed down a bit and it is much easier to get a table at our favourite places.

This time as we sat outside drinking a beer, two couples arrived with babies and took the table next to us. They ordered food, fed their babies and chatted until their food arrived, then one mother opened up her laptop. I thought it rather strange that she’d should want to check her e-mails while she was eating until she moved the two highchairs together and stuck the laptop in front of the kids who can’t have been much more than a year old. 

I was so happy to have escaped my screen for the time being, I couldn’t help but feel slightly sorry for these poor little guys stuck in front of theirs, although the distraction it provided certainly gave their parents time to eat in peace and who knows, maybe maybe next time we see them they’ll be casually slipping “neigh, oink, baa, ruff, cluck, meow” into the after dinner conversation. 

After our trip to Australia I worked for just two weeks before escaping again, this time to Vietnam. We began our journey in the south at Ho Chi Minh city (Saigon) on the Mekong Delta, and travelled by minibus and plane via Nah Trang, flooded Da Nang, Hoi An and Hue (with its Forbidden City) to the northern Ha Long Bay and the capital Hanoi. Although it involved a lot of travelling and sightseeing, we had a good, relaxed time, always with an eye on the outstanding culinary delights, but that is a story for another day. 

I returned to the office completely relaxed and looking forward to my favourite job of the year, compiling the global selection of Pictures of the Year. Selecting the best pictures of the top stories of the year is a massive task and involves trawling through thousands of world class images including stunning news pictures, graphic scenes of conflict, natural disasters, sports, cute animal features and a lot of very, very boring pictures of men in suits, all too often shaking hands. There were artistic and colourful features, eye-catching stand alones and stunning sports action pictures. A huge challenge but a great job and one I still find thrilling even if I do have to look at more than 500 pictures every working day, five days a week.

At my request local and regional chief photographers had compiled their 2007 selections and while I was in Vietnam hundreds and hundreds of these images had flooded into the Singapore desk. Some were suggestions for the global “best of the best”, others targeted more locally. In the end there were more than 2,000 of them, about five times more pictures than than we needed. I whittled them down to a “short list” of about 1,000, then my boss Pedja Kujunzic and I went through the whole lot, time after time after time, discussing the merits of each picture and the relative importance of the story until we had our final cut. The hardest part was getting the blend right; ensuring that we had the best pictures of the big stories, spiced up with eye catchers to give clients everyhere a selection that was high impact and well balanced.  

In the end we moved clients some 400 Global Pictures of the Year 2007 - I’m sure you will see many of them in the round-ups of the year’s events in your papers or on the internet.

I would like to show you them all but here are a few, my personal selection.

Japanese video journalist Kenji Nagai lies dying in the street, still trying to record the scenes of violence after he was shot through the chest when soldiers fired live rounds at protestors in Yangon - Adrees Latif. (please see also http://blogs.reuters.com/photo/2007/09/2 8/shooting-to-kill/)

- Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, just visible beyond the riot shields of guards, as she pays her respects to the crowd of monks gathered outside the villa where she is under house arrest - stringer. (please also see http://blogs.reuters.com/photo/2007/09/2 5/come-in-rangoon/)

Ow! That looks painful…

- Austrian Gunther Weidlinger comes a cropper during the heats of the men’s 3,000 metres steeplechase at the 11th IAAF World Athletics Championship in Osaka - David Gray

- Christina Kim of the U.S. reacts after missing a birdie putt during a golf tournament in Florida - Hans Deryk. To me this is more of a nice feature than a sports picture, it delights my eye.  

- Glaucelio Abreu (L) of Brazil fights against Clarence Joseph of the Virgin Islands during their bout for the men’s 75 kg boxing competition at the Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro - Daniel Munoz. Maybe Daniel didn’t realize during the fight but this is a great stand alone image - it doesn’t matter who won.

- A crocodile at a zoo in the southern Taiwan city of Kaohsiung holds the forearm of a zoo veterinarian in between its teeth after biting it off - Frank Lin. What is there to say?  

- Yang Yang, 3, kisses a Beluga Whale during a publicity photocall at the Qingdao Polar Ocean World, in eastern China’s Shandong province - China Daily.

To prove that political pictures aren’t all men in suits shaking hands here are two examples of Condy Rice.  

- U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice testifies before the U.S. House Appropriations Committee on the State Department’s international affairs budget on Capitol Hill in Washington - Larry Downing.

 - Desiree Fairooz of Texas, 50, jumps up in front of U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice before Rice testifies before the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington October 24, 2007. Fairooz, an anti-war protester waved blood-colored hands in Rice’s face at a congressional hearing on Wednesday and shouted “war criminal!”, but was pushed away and detained by police - Larry Downing.

- Majid Kavousifar and Hossein Kavousifar, his nephew, hang from the cable of a crane in Tehran. Iran hanged Majid and Hossein, the killers of a judge who had jailed several reformist dissidents, before a crowd of hundreds of people - Morteza Nikoubazl.

- An unexploded grenade lies next to the body of a suspected militant during a shootout in Srinagar. Police on Thursday shot dead two Islamic militants holed up in a hotel in the heart of Kashmir’s main city after a 20-hour gunbattle - Danish Ishmail.

- Revellers perform during a parade at the Carnival de Barranquilla in Barranquilla, Colombia - Fredy Builes.

- A Swiss flag is thrown into the air as more then 100 Alphorn blowers perform during the International Alphorn contest on the alp Tracouet in Nendaz, southern Switzerland - Stefan Wermuth.

- A protestor dressed as a clown stands beside a police officer at the Camp for Climate Action near to Heathrow Airport in west London - Stephen Hird. 

Last but not least a combination picture from Poland, showing two planes from the Zelazny aerobatics team, crashing at the Radom Air Show - Kacper Pempel. A series of images which are just as horrifying now as the first time I saw them. (please also see: http://blogs.reuters.com/photo/200 7/09/03/no-second-chance/)

If you enjoyed these you can find an extended selection here: Pictures of the Year 2007.

Travelling light and shooting for fun in Australia

In mid-October after finishing my last nightshift on the Singapore desk by moving a picture of the first snow falling in Red Square in Moscow, we decided to escape the heat and humidity in search of cooler weather in Australia. With 20 degree temperatures expectable in Perth I packed “warm” clothes. Despite only having arrived in Singapore in July my body already feels uncomfortable when the temperature drops below 25 degrees.

When travelling I always face the question what photo equipment to take? I always carry my laptop but do I go as a photographer with lots of equipment – or go as tourist with a small a happy snap camera and risk maybe missing “the picture”. For this trip I wanted to take able to file pictures to Singapore if needs be.

But I decided to travel “light”.

An EOS MarkII camera with my new 50mm lens was the key equipment. The 50mm is sharp, small, very light (290g), and fast with an f1.4 aperture. Last but not least it delivers  great image quality. I love the strong halation at f/1.4 – which gives pictures a soft, dreamy look. My all-rounder is the 1670g heavy f3.5-5.6-28-300mm which certainly is capable of producing high quality images, not as great as those from the f2.8-70-200mm but perfect for travelling. To be equipped for all situations I added the f2.8-16-35mm wide angle lens – just in case.

To complete the equipment my wife Andrea took her digital compact camera – which we use especially for close up pictures. Chargers and batteries and that’s it. All lenses and bodies packed in a wash-leather (protects the equipment and keeps it dry) in a low-key sling bag for hand luggage in the plane and when walking around.

Arriving in Australia we picked up our car to drive south. Had fun, visited touristy places, restaurants, bars, museums, art galleries …. enjoyed the nice, friendly people and our free time, sitting in the sun at 20 degrees.

But I have to admit we often enough walked in the rain at freezing 10 degrees although it was nothing a hot coffee didn’t fix. We ate typical local food served with white or red wines in the evening - perfect.

The good thing about travelling in Western Australia is that there are signs telling you where the best views are and the best places to take pictures from  (see photo position sign, taken with the 28-300 at 300mm and Andrea at the beach) these signs guide tourists to landmarks, with helpful hints for pictures or just to a nice place to rest.

Most of you know the famous road signs with the animals on it – here the emu and kangaroo sign as example. We saw more sheep and cows than anything else. I liked the picture of the three lambs (taken with the 28-300 zoom at around 220mm). Driving across the state we saw lots of interesting letter boxes beside the road. Some are just plastic boxes while others spend time and efforts to attract people’s attention. Have a look and decide yourself – my favourite is the walking “letter man”.

Whenever we stopped there were examples of the 3000 West Australian wildflowers to take pictures of. Even if we didn’t know their names they were nice to look at. All of these pictures were taken with the IXUS on the macro setting. Fast easy and good. This small camera produces nice images. Since I like food I very often take close ups of my plate. Fish and chips might not be an extraordinary dish, but it seems typical for the region and goes very nice with a West Australian white wine. At least I learned why people say wine goes well with fish … useful when you have a macro setting to show what was printed on the label of our bottle: “MAY CONTAIN TRACES OF FISH AND MILK”.

I was happy that we did not find any fish bones in the bottle or worse …. better off not thinking about that. Maybe that is the reason why travelling Germans like their beer brewed according to the German “Law of Purity”.

Just like being back in good old Europe – there was a man selling roses in the restaurant – this time equipped with a very special, unique light system. (50mm, f1.4 1/8 sec)

Like many tourists we shot pictures from the plane of the beautiful islands and interesting constellations of clouds.

Back in Singapore we edited everything. The high quality of even the compact camera means we can easily print our images to 30 x 40 cm – maybe not the one with the fish and chips but maybe some of the flowers.

Talking of food reminds me that I am hungry, so I’m off to the food court for something delicious - maybe tandori chicken tonight … or sushi – what a decision. But more of that later.

Having been in Singapore for three months now, my wife and I recently joined the German Association a meeting point for some of the more than 5,000 Germans living and working in Singapore. The club was founded 1856 and is one of the oldest foreign clubs in town. Beside guided tours through various interesting areas of Singapore like Chinatown or Little India, there are coffee mornings, inline skating and Doppelkopf events (next to Skat probably the best known card game in Germany). The club also offers the preparatory classes required for those who wish to change an existing, valid international driving license to a Singaporean licence. Personally I see no reason for an extra test but it is mandatory for all foreigners and I will let you know when I pass it.

Last Friday the club organized an evening out to celebrate the ultimate event for fans of beer and group jollity: the Oktoberfest. Traditionally, Oktoberfest takes place during the 16 days up to and including the first Sunday in October. This year, the ‘real’ festival started in Munich on September 22. In Singapore Oktoberfest only runs from October 3 to October 9, although the city has plenty of places where thirsty people can meet at “belated” beer-festivals.

Our destination was the Paulaner Brauhaus, established in 1999, and located at the Millenia Walk – opposite Suntec in the city centre. This microbrewery offers freshly-brewed beer and traditional Bavarian cuisine. Beside the bar on the ground level it has a restaurant on level two with a traditional Maibaum (Maypole) in the middle of the room. Brew meister Alex makes two signature beers; Munich Lager - a bright, golden brew with a smooth taste and 4.7% alcohol and a Munich Dark which contains 4.8% alcohol with a full body, intense malt flavour and a deep dark colour. Additionally customers can get special seasonal brews like Salvator beer (in March), Maibock beer (in May) as well as the world-famous Oktoberfest beer. All the beers are brewed according to “The German Law of Purity” using only 4 natural ingredients; water, hops, malt and yeast. There are no chemicals or artificial enzymes added – and the only beer sold is freshly brewed in the onsite microbrewery.

Once our group arrived in the restaurant the first half litre Oktoberfest beer arrived ….. hmmmmm what a great taste. The waitress – definitely not Bavarian – was handing out the “Oktoberfest Dinner Menu”. We really enjoy the Asian food here and the more spice the better, but after three months my body was crying out for a real portion of meat. The menu was reassuringly familiar and wonderful - Wurstsalat (sliced Regensburger sausage), Leberknoedelsuppe (liver dumpling in clear soup), my favourite Schweinshaxe (grilled pork knuckle with sauerkraut and bread dumpling) – and Wiener schnitzel (breaded veal schnitzel and steamed asparagus and potatoes). Decidedly not for vegetarians …. but just the job for Bavarians and beer drinkers and there are many of both here in Singapore. 

My wife went for the Schnitzel and I ordered Haxn (knuckle). Seasoned drinkers already know this, but for novices I will repeat the one simple rule of Oktoberfest - “eat properly before you start drinking the beer”. With the right ‘preparation’ you can have one or two beers more …. if you can afford it - half a litre of beer costs 16.90 SG$, which is around 8 Euros. I am reliably informed that the average cost in Munich was this year between 7 and 8 Euro per litre!

As the evening progressed we learned that most of the other expats at the table were from southern Germany and familiar with Oktoberfest and Schweinshaxe. So it was no wonder they were completely at home when the Munich based “Scharivari Sextett” from Munich started with their oomph-pa-pa music . It felt just Oktoberfest in Munich – the food, the beer and the toasting “Oans, zwoa, drei – gsuffa” which means “one, two, three – toast and drink”. After each song and “Oans, zwoa, drei – gsuffa”, drinking a mouthful of beer lifts everyone’s spirits higher. The packed restaurant (half Germans and half Singaporeans) was turned into a Bavarian beer tent by the music and the toasting. Prost! is easy to understand and pronounce in most languages. Many guests were inspired to dance and some even attempted to join the band.

What a great atmosphere. Up to this point the Singaporeans I had met had been reserved and quiet but this was very different. It was ”Oans, zwoa, drei – gsuffa” PROST, until  early Saturday morning. Thank goodness I had swapped my early shift for a later one.  That reminds me not to forget the planning for Maibock beer days off ….  the brauhaus sells 30 litres kegs for home consumption. Break out the BBQ.
 

After testing numerous Mooncakes I have come to the conclusion that most are delicious. The Black Forest Cherry Mooncake is a cracker, but I actually prefer the “original” style. Despite the immense number of calories I have consumed the process of sampling  mooncakes all over the place has been very enjoyable, particularly since my colleagues have taken to ensuring there are always fresh mooncakes around when I arrive at the office.

This week’s Tuesday afternoonshift was very busy with the top story being the protests in Myanmar (see previous blogs).  In addition to hard news pictures, the Singapore desk sees many other interesting images from around the world – sometimes just nice to look at, sometimes real eye-catchers.

Here are a few from that afternoon shift.

1. Britain’s Foreign Secretary David Miliband listens to speeches during the annual Labour Party conference by Dylan Martinez, proving that although party conferences may be boring there is no reason why the pictures need to be. 

2. In the Siberian city of Barnaul, Andrey Kasprishin pictures an enormous baby girl Nadia (L), who weighed 7.75 kg (17.1 lbs) at birth.

3. With his image from the FIFA Women’s World Cup in China of an excited Anja Mittag talking on the on the telephone after Germany beat Norway, Alfred Cheng Jin shows us that a good soccer picture does not always need a ball in it. 

4. Max Rossi’s impression of the Roberto Cavalli Spring/Summer 2008 women’s collection from Milan is pure eye candy.

By the handover to the next shift at 2300 our team of Avantika, Deurborn, Janice, Kirk, Shilpa, Stanley and Yuen Hua had edited and moved more than 500 pictures to clients worldwide – a busy shift.

The following morning with those Mooncake calories in mind and needing to wind-down a little, I set off for the gym. As I was about to leave the apartment I became aware of a loud noise close by. I’d heard the noise in the distance before and sometimes noticed a wisp of smoke without paying much attention to it but at this range it was impossible to ignore. The noise became steadily louder, then out of a cloud of smoke a figure in a yellow mask appeared - I was face-to-face with the ExTerminator! He was walking from house to house, wreathed in billowing white clouds equipped with his portable “fogger” generating huge quantities of smoke and leaving behind a stink like diesel exhaust.

Once back in the office I learned from colleagues that in Singapore this kind of encounter is a regular occurrence. These ‘fog men’ are an essential aspect of life in residential areas, where their weekly visits help eliminate disease-carrying mosquitos in an attempt to control Dengue fever.

From the internet I learned that Dengue fever is transmitted to humans by the mosquito Aedes aegypti. Aedes aegypti, commonly known as the yellow fever mosquito, can host the dengue fever, Chikungunya and yellow fever viruses - and other diseases as well. The virus can cause flu-like symptoms of fever, severe headache, joint and muscular pains, vomiting, diarrhoea and rashes. There is no commercially avaialable vaccine for dengue.

Unlike malaria-transmitting mosquitoes that stick to rural areas and swampy waters, it prefers clean and fresh water. It breeds largely indoors, needing only tiny pools of water to lay its eggs. Under optimal conditions, the egg of an Aedes mosquito can hatch into a larva in less than a day. The larva then takes about four days to develop into a pupa, from which an adult mosquito will emerge after two days. Three days after the mosquito has bitten a person and taken in blood, it will lay eggs, and the cycle begins again.

In 2005, there were more than 13,000 cases of Dengue fever cases in Singapore from which 19 people died. The outbreak peaked in September and October, when it caused hospitals to cancel some surgery due to the need to allocate more beds for dengue patients. Singapore responded with public awareness campains and regular “fogging”.

Beside a lot of noise and smoke it made some interesting pictures of an aspect of life in Singapore of which I had been completely unaware and will hopefully have been of interest to Reuters readers elsewhere. 

One thing is certain, like the exTerminator, I’ll be back. 

After several combinations of team working various morning and afternoon shifts, this week was time for a whole new experience: The main shift of the day: our night shift which begins at 1500 gmt/2300 local time. From 2300 until early in the morning there at least one EiC is on duty awith typically from five to seven sub-editors. The night shift is most certainly our heaviest shift with up to 1000 pictures landing over an eight hour period on a busy nights.

I arrived at the office at 2200 to give me plenty of time to read in, look through all the pictures moved during the day and catch up on our top-stories.

And sure enough we had one : The Indonesian island of Sumatra ihad been hit by a powerful earthquake, which toppled hundreds of buildings, killing at least 10 people and burying many others The previous shift already moved pictures and taken some TV grabs from remoter areas. In addition to our pictures wire I  monitored the file of our TV colleagues so as not to miss any potentially useful images fthey may have.

So my first overnight began shift began busily but I was to find out very quickly that this was just the beginning. My colleague Altaf was quietly getting on with editing and processing the file from the ICC Cricket World Cup Twenty20 from South Africa while the rest of our team was filing the pictures from some 22 Euro 2008 qualifiers and friendly soccer matches (Germany beat Romania!!), European Basketball from Madrid, US senator Obama giving a speech, military bands performing in Red Square , a huge file from New York fashion week, a boy practicing boxing at ” Fights for Peace project ” at a slum in Rio de Janeiro, pictures from the 32nd Toronto International Film Festival and preparing the images to accompany stories from the Reuters features desk . did I already mention England beating Russia 3-nil?

At about 0600, an hour before the end of the shift the incoming flood of pictures began to slow down. Thanks mainly to sub-editors Altaf, Deurbon, Gary, Jacinta, Kerk, Rina, Tom, TZ, and Wei Yang who are incredibly fast we had processed and filed more than 900 pictures in a single shift.

It was time to depressurise and relax a bit after seven hours non stop, without a break.

While drinking a coffee I find a nice story in a local magazine about ‘moon cake’. No big deal you may say, but I read that there is a local hotel making Black Forest mooncakesle which is irresistable for a boy from the Black Forest, like me.

My colleagues explain the mooncake, is a significant part of Chinese culture playing an important role in the lunar Mid-Autumn Festival, which this year falls on September 25. Usually packed in a box of four, the palm-sized round moon cakes symbolize perfection and family unity. Most mooncakes are baked and consist of a thin tender golden brown skin enveloping a sweet, slightly oily filling. It may contain one or more whole salted egg yolks in its centre to symbolize the full moon. The saltiness of the yolk balances well with the sweet filling in the mooncake.

Traditional mooncakes are decorated with the Chinese characters for longevity or harmony on top, along with the name of the bakery as well as additional imprints of a moon, a woman on the moon, flowers, or a rabbit for additional decoration.

Over the years, mooncakes have slowly evolved from a Chinese delicacy to something as common as any other cake. Adjusting to Westernized lifestyle many bakeries offer miniature mooncakes as well as a fat-free version. Some are made of yogurt, jelly and fat-free ice cream. To be competitive, bakers boast about how little sugar and oil they use. Customers can pick and choose the size and filling that suits their taste and diet. However, the traditional bean-paste filling with egg yolk mooncake is still very popular. According to an analysis a baked mooncake with four egg yolks contains some 975 calories and 46 grams of sugar which is half the recommended daily calorie intake for an adult .

However, the launch of a champagne truffle snow-skin mooncake in 1994 by a Singapore hotel triggered a wave of modern mooncakes and ended in a Black Forest Cherry Mooncake.

Which reminds me, I must go as I have an important errand to run before the Black Forest Cherry Mooncakes are all sold out!

The second in a series charting Editor in Charge Joachim Herrmann’s move from the Berlin bureau to Reuters global picture editing desk in Singapore.  

After exploring miles and miles of the islands shopping malls, I finally began my job as Editor-in-Charge on the Global Pictures Desk. Over the past few weeks I have observed colleagues working all three desk shifts, asked questions, searched for useful homepages and requested usernames and passwords, transferred data ata from Germany to Singapore. Oh man! All new, all different and hopefully I will remember everything.

But watching and learning from the six EiCs I have been shadowing is only the half of it. I feel ready now  and while I still have many questions about procedures and rules I have no hesitation about working with the pictures themselves! No matter where you are, Berlin or Singapore, working with pictures is the same all over and good fun to boot. Editing, cropping, tweaking and fine-tuning is the main part of our job on the desk.

My first shift, morning shift gets me up at 0600 hrs. What an unfriendly time! After a short ride in a taxi, (cars are quite expensive here in Singapore and when compared to a German autobahn the speed limit here makes driving here seem no fun at al),  I arrived in the office to replace my colleague David after his nightshift. He and his team had handled lots of pictures from various points all over the world and cleared the backlog. What a good start!

 The four sub-editors faced a quiet morning shift. I attend the 0830 hrs morning news planning meeting with senior editors from text and television to discuss news coverage for the day, talk to colleagues at the desk, chat on the phone or instant messenger with colleagues all over the globe and all the other desk routine.

Getting local breakfast is a challenging for me I waive the offer to get some fish ball noodle soup it is a perfect time for an espresso. But for now definitely no fish balls.

After our team processed some 250 pictures colleagues say this is a quiet shift where on average the desk sends about 600 pictures -  we sent all pictures we received and hand over to the next team at 1500 hrs.

Now its time for something else…. not coffee and Black Forest Cherry Cake, now I want Beef Hor Fun beef with noodles!

And tomorrow I start again at 0700, maybe tomorrow I’ll try the Asian style breakfast. 

These pictures were some of those which moved through the desk on my shift:

- A painted model poses for photographers at an exhibition stand at the Games Convention 2007 fair in the eastern German city of Leipzig August 23, 2007. The Games convention, Europe’s leading fair for computer games, runs from August 22 to 26. REUTERS/Hannibal Hanschke (GERMANY)

- A Ultra Orthodox Jew takes a break during prayers as workers push a cart at the Western Wall (Wailing Wall) in Jerusalem’s old city, early morning August 23, 2007.   REUTERS/Yannis Behrakis (JERUSALEM)

- USA’s LeBron James celebrates with the team after they defeated Venezuela during the FIBA Americas regional qualifying basketball tournament to decide two berths for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, in Las Vegas, Nevada, August 22, 2007.  REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson  (UNITED STATES)

- Afghan girls watch the photographer in the city of Ghazni, southwest of Kabul August 23, 2007. REUTERS/Ahmad Masood (AFGHANISTAN)

Have you ever considered working abroad? Committing yourself to a new challenge. How about the role of an “Editor in Charge” on the Reuters Global Pictures Desk in an unfamiliar city on the other side of the world, in a new office with a sprinkling of old colleagues and friends and many more completely unknown new colleagues from all over the globe?

My wife Andrea and I decided it was time for a real change, not a small step forward but a leap into the unknown, into the darkness.  OK, so maybe an internal company transfer is slightly better lit, but a leap nevertheless. 

So we leapt and left “our” Berlin behind to find ourselves in Aircon City - at home, in the cab, at the office and back again, all air conditioned - and otherwise known as Singapore.

It is just as you would expect, friendly, relaxed and hot and very humid. On our way from the airport the taxi driver told us Singapore temperatures dont change much it is either HOT or VERY HOT. In fact it stays at pretty much 30 degrees all year round, so we are going to have to get used to it, but will be considerably helped by the omnipresent airconditioning.

We went for a stroll in the main shopping district  Orchard Road. It is a shoppers paradise with countless malls: Centrepoint, Delfi Orchard, Far East Plaza (over 600 retailers), Forum Galleria, Lucky Plaza (wanna buy a suit Sir very cheap?), Palais Renaissance, Scotts Shopping Centre, Ngee Ann City, Orchard Point, Orchard Hotel, Plaza Singapura, Shaw House, Shaw Centre, Specialist Centre, Tangs, Tanglin Mall, Tanglin Shopping Centre, Tudor Court, The Paragon, Wisma Atria  need more? Try http://www.singaporeexpats.com/food -and-leisure/shopping-in-singapore.htm#O rchard . The business of shopping is a serious business in Singapore.

Best of all, thay all have aircon and if you are feeling peckish all the malls have a food court in the basement. Be adventerous and try out chilli crabs, maybe a bowl of pigs-brain soup with ginger,  a frog or two, perhaps a plate of nasi lemak! Then after a restorative cappuccino you are ready to hit the next mall, but remember, once outside dont walk fast, forget running. Find your personal speed at which you can move without sweating like a pig and as quickly as possible dive into the nearest 20 degree celsius mall. The pedestrian lights on main intersections are designed for a measured approach to road crossing. They have a timer which shows how long you have left to cross the street before the lights change -  you have 11 seconds to reach minimum safety distance, so stay cool, take advantage of every one of the 11 seconds. And to think people credit us Germans with being well organised!

Orchard Road really does have everything. If shopping begins to pall after your 12th mall just follow the example of the locals and pop in for a session of deep foot reflexology, which I can personally recommend. Of course Singapore has lots of other interesting things to see and I’ll get there eventually but first I am still trying to fit in the shopping around the day job, of which more to follow…