Incredible Travel Stories:
A Tourist Under Suspicion - Part 3
Dr Sing Kong Yuen, BVMS (Glasgow), MRCVS
7.23 am, August 26, 2011, Singapore
Continued from Part 2.
"Perhaps, 'black-marked' is not the correct word," I replied. "If I accept your offer not to enter Hong Kong and go to Macau directly, the Hong Kong Immigration Office will stamp my passport with a secret code letting all other countries' Immigration Officers know that I have been denied entry into Hong Kong today. Maybe the correct word is 'blacklisted."
The MIO had said that he would chop my passport "Transit in Hong Kong" on the way to Macau and that would show that I had not been denied entry into Hong Kong on August 20, 2011. I had been classified as a tourist under suspicion. Either I accept his offer to go direct to Macau transiting Hong Kong or be sent home on the next plane.
In reply, the MIO said: "If I want to let other immigration officers know that you are blacklisted by us, the information will not be inside your chop "Transit in Hong Kong. It is done another way."
I guessed it would be some codes encrypted inside the passport and understood only by Immigration Officers.
"In 1988, I was a member of the Singapore Turf Club's task force invited by the Royal Hong Kong Jockey Club. There was no problem."
The MIO said: "Hong Kong is no longer under the British rule. Since 1997, Hong Kong is the special administrative region (SAR)of the People's Republic of China."
I knew about SAR but kept quiet. Well, I had no friends in Hong Kong as referees and had not visited Hong Kong for the past 23 years. So I used the only reference I had. But the name of the Racing Clubs cut no ice with the MIO.
The MIO said: "If you go to Macau from the Hong Kong International Airport, there is a direct link and you need not step into Hong Kong. Then I need not send you back to Singapore on the next plane. I consider it a hostile and unfriendly act."
"What have I done wrong to be a national threat to the security of Hong Kong?" I asked as if discussing the prognosis of my canine patient suffering from cardiac tamponade. The prognosis would be poor and I would ask the dog owner to spend the last few days with her old dog.
The MIO said: "You have not done anything wrong. However I am not allowed to let you know the reason."
So, here I was. Two and a half hours had passed. My last few minutes inside Hong Kong. No more second chances of visiting Hong Kong again if I accepted this offer. There were more implicatons than just being banned from Hong Kong.
"If Hong Kong bans me as a threat to its national interest, I will also be banned from entering Macau since Macau is also part of China," I believed that both share the same blacklists of tourists under suspicions since Macau is also part of China, being one of the two special administrative regions under the one-government two-systems policy of China.
"No," the MIO said. "Macau has its own information system as to who to prohibit from entering Macau."
I did not ask him how he was so sure that I would also not be welcome in Macau since both SARS have their independent system? Don't they share a blacklist of undesired person? That would be logical since both are part of China. I might also detained for a 3-hour questioning and Macau would do the dirty work for Hong Kong Immigration Office by sending me back on the next plane.
I said: "China will also ban me since Hong Kong has me on the blacklist."
The MIO said: "I see that you had visited China and had no problems."
I did not retort that it was some 2 years ago so as not to offend the MIO.
"Does it mean that I will not be able to visit Hong Kong forever?" I asked.
"Not necessarily. Things may change with time."
"I am 60 years," I said. "I don't have time on my side." Besides, I don't realistically see any changes for the better for me once I accept his offer not to step into Hong Kong now.
"I am suggesting that you go to Macau as sending you back on the next available plane is a hostile act. I don't want to commit an unfriendly act. You can spend your next four days visiting Macau."
I said: "My main purpose was to visit Hong Kong. To see the changes since 23 years ago. Macau is just a side trip as I have never travelled to Macau before."
"What do you want to do in Hong Kong?" the MIO asked.
"To see Times Square," I said off my head.
"You come to Hong Kong to see Times Square?" the MIO rolled his eyes in surprise. I guessed I had provided an incorrect answer.
Friday, August 26, 2011
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
Never discharge a spayed dog with a "hole" home
I was in Hong Kong when I received a phone call from an owner who said that his dog still had a "hole" some 10 days after spaying by Vet 1. "I thought all vets will not discharge a dog when she has a wound that does not heal," he said from Singapore, rather annoyed.
As I was not in Singapore, I told him that I would check the dog out. In the meantime, I asked Dr Vanessa to examine the dog and get the infected surgical wound re-stitched. It was not her case. I had to make sure that I communicate with the owner and that she would do so as the owner was very upset.
I made a phone call to Khin Khin to ensure that she contacted the owner on my behalf and to ask him to bring the dog to Toa Payoh Vets for treatment. It was a Sunday and I felt that it was not Dr Vanessa's job to phone the owner and therefore I phoned Khin Khin. She did that. When the dog was re-stitched, I ensured that Khin Khin phoned the owner to let him know too.
Post-operation wound infections do occur to every vet. It is important that the vet check the dog carefully and not discharge the dog if the spay wound is infected.
On Wednesday, Aug 24, 2011, I was back at Toa Payoh Vets. The dog was OK. Dr Vanessa had stitched up the dog. The wound was clean. No inflammation. I phoned the owner to update him. He was quite happy that everything was OK. Many unhappiness and complaints and litigation can be avoided with good updated communications. This dog was not spayed by me. However, it can be quite time-consuming in answering to complaints from authorities and lawyers even if I am not involved. I will still have to be a witness and write reports. So, I normally handled such post-op complications of other vets with as much care as if they were my complications. A happy owner will seldom bad-mouth a practice.
The important thing is to keep spaying simple. No fanciful subcuticular sutures. But each young vet has his or her own ideas. In this case, there wasubcuticular sutures which could have had hindered healing of the skin incision or introduced infection. I don't know as I did not see the "hole" but I had asked Dr Vanessa to take some pictures. As every vet will encounter post-op complications and infections, it is best to keep skin suturing simple. I use horizontal mattress.
I note that Dr Vanessa has her own appositional stitching as she has her own success with them and experiences. Both type of stitching pattern will work. Some dogs just can't stand the stitching or they could be allergic to them. Not all dogs but a small percentage and subcuticular sutures would be very intensely itchy.
Even with e-collars. The spayed dog could just rub her tummy directly onto the floor, the mat and get the wound opened up. Hence the complaint of the "hole"
As I was not in Singapore, I told him that I would check the dog out. In the meantime, I asked Dr Vanessa to examine the dog and get the infected surgical wound re-stitched. It was not her case. I had to make sure that I communicate with the owner and that she would do so as the owner was very upset.
I made a phone call to Khin Khin to ensure that she contacted the owner on my behalf and to ask him to bring the dog to Toa Payoh Vets for treatment. It was a Sunday and I felt that it was not Dr Vanessa's job to phone the owner and therefore I phoned Khin Khin. She did that. When the dog was re-stitched, I ensured that Khin Khin phoned the owner to let him know too.
Post-operation wound infections do occur to every vet. It is important that the vet check the dog carefully and not discharge the dog if the spay wound is infected.
On Wednesday, Aug 24, 2011, I was back at Toa Payoh Vets. The dog was OK. Dr Vanessa had stitched up the dog. The wound was clean. No inflammation. I phoned the owner to update him. He was quite happy that everything was OK. Many unhappiness and complaints and litigation can be avoided with good updated communications. This dog was not spayed by me. However, it can be quite time-consuming in answering to complaints from authorities and lawyers even if I am not involved. I will still have to be a witness and write reports. So, I normally handled such post-op complications of other vets with as much care as if they were my complications. A happy owner will seldom bad-mouth a practice.
The important thing is to keep spaying simple. No fanciful subcuticular sutures. But each young vet has his or her own ideas. In this case, there wasubcuticular sutures which could have had hindered healing of the skin incision or introduced infection. I don't know as I did not see the "hole" but I had asked Dr Vanessa to take some pictures. As every vet will encounter post-op complications and infections, it is best to keep skin suturing simple. I use horizontal mattress.
I note that Dr Vanessa has her own appositional stitching as she has her own success with them and experiences. Both type of stitching pattern will work. Some dogs just can't stand the stitching or they could be allergic to them. Not all dogs but a small percentage and subcuticular sutures would be very intensely itchy.
Even with e-collars. The spayed dog could just rub her tummy directly onto the floor, the mat and get the wound opened up. Hence the complaint of the "hole"
Syrian hamsters can be housed together without fighting
According to the pet shop girl I wrote about earlier, she said Syrian hamsters live harmoniously and therefore new batches can be housed together with older ones. Not for dwarf hamsters.
559. Bald backside neutered dwarf hamster - due to dominant male
August 22, 2011. I was in Hong Kong. A phone call from a gentleman who asked me whether he should buy the cream from the pet shop. "No problem with the dwarf hamster you neutered some time ago," he had still housed the neutered one with the dominant male to keep each other company.
"It is usually due to the neutered hamster being mounted by the dominant male," I said. "Creams will not be of any use. Separate for two weeks and the hair should grow back."
Usually such bald backside hamsters are the ones housed together. In this case, the dominant male must have disturbed the neutered one many times. Pet shops in Singapore do sell cream for any hamster hair loss or tumours. It is part of their marketing.
I was in Hong Kong restaurant eating dinner in a spacious Chinese restaurant called Foo Lum (Auto Plaza) near The Royal Garden, Tsim Sha Shui. Excellent steamed small lobster with noodle + cheese or without cheese at HK$138 or S$20. Good roast goose.
At least 3 waitresses were selling the restaurant made moon-cakes to me. 100% made in Hong Kong, not from China. Bought one box. As Sing dollar is high, it seems that the moon-cake with double yolk ling yong with plastic spoon, knife and fork and metallic box of lotus flower is really much cheaper than in Singapore! I am debating whether to give this box to a friend or not since I bought only one box.
All the sea food and moon cakes can be quite addictive and high cholesterol- need self-restraint if one does not want a heart attack.
"It is usually due to the neutered hamster being mounted by the dominant male," I said. "Creams will not be of any use. Separate for two weeks and the hair should grow back."
Usually such bald backside hamsters are the ones housed together. In this case, the dominant male must have disturbed the neutered one many times. Pet shops in Singapore do sell cream for any hamster hair loss or tumours. It is part of their marketing.
I was in Hong Kong restaurant eating dinner in a spacious Chinese restaurant called Foo Lum (Auto Plaza) near The Royal Garden, Tsim Sha Shui. Excellent steamed small lobster with noodle + cheese or without cheese at HK$138 or S$20. Good roast goose.
At least 3 waitresses were selling the restaurant made moon-cakes to me. 100% made in Hong Kong, not from China. Bought one box. As Sing dollar is high, it seems that the moon-cake with double yolk ling yong with plastic spoon, knife and fork and metallic box of lotus flower is really much cheaper than in Singapore! I am debating whether to give this box to a friend or not since I bought only one box.
All the sea food and moon cakes can be quite addictive and high cholesterol- need self-restraint if one does not want a heart attack.
558. Pied roborovski hamsters
"Not for sale," the pet shop girl said to me as she had a sign on the cage of two dwarf hamsters. I thought every hamster should be sold as this was a pet shop.
"These are for creating awareness of this rare-coloured dwarf hamsters. They are pied hamsters."
Size between dwarf and roborovski hamsters. Sells at $90/pair. Still she had insufficient stock to meet demand. Originated from Holland. Colour - light brown and white. Hard to breed, like Roborovski. So, she kept a pair. The following is from this pet shop girl who has hands-on experience in breeding hamsters, purchase and network with breeders
INFORMATION ON DWARF HAMSTERS IN SINGAPORE
1. Hard to breed - Roborovski and pied dwarf hamsters. According to the pet shop girl, roborovski sprints so fast, therefore, hard to breed. "Why not cool them down with air-conditioning?" I asked. Not practical as the cost would be higher. She had not tried.
2. Maturity. 2-3 months of age, NOT 5 weeks as in hamster books (usually written by Caucasian authors). Syrians - usually 7-8 weeks. Usually 3-4 months in Singapore. Depends on diet - a high protein-based diet (extra oats, alfalfa and vitamins).
3. Gestation. 3 weeks usually. If >3 weeks, dead.
4. Pregnancy. Abdominal bulge. Behaviour - aggressive when usually docile, restless.
5. Demand - Syrian hamsters not in great demand in Singapore. Grows up fast. Lots of stools to clear. Not worth stocking up. Therefore, not selling Syrian hamsters. Main demand from Singaporeans is dwarf hamsters.
"These are for creating awareness of this rare-coloured dwarf hamsters. They are pied hamsters."
Size between dwarf and roborovski hamsters. Sells at $90/pair. Still she had insufficient stock to meet demand. Originated from Holland. Colour - light brown and white. Hard to breed, like Roborovski. So, she kept a pair. The following is from this pet shop girl who has hands-on experience in breeding hamsters, purchase and network with breeders
INFORMATION ON DWARF HAMSTERS IN SINGAPORE
1. Hard to breed - Roborovski and pied dwarf hamsters. According to the pet shop girl, roborovski sprints so fast, therefore, hard to breed. "Why not cool them down with air-conditioning?" I asked. Not practical as the cost would be higher. She had not tried.
2. Maturity. 2-3 months of age, NOT 5 weeks as in hamster books (usually written by Caucasian authors). Syrians - usually 7-8 weeks. Usually 3-4 months in Singapore. Depends on diet - a high protein-based diet (extra oats, alfalfa and vitamins).
3. Gestation. 3 weeks usually. If >3 weeks, dead.
4. Pregnancy. Abdominal bulge. Behaviour - aggressive when usually docile, restless.
5. Demand - Syrian hamsters not in great demand in Singapore. Grows up fast. Lots of stools to clear. Not worth stocking up. Therefore, not selling Syrian hamsters. Main demand from Singaporeans is dwarf hamsters.
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
557. A Tourist Under Suspcion - Part 2
Incredible Travel Stories:
A Tourist Under Suspicion - Part 2
Dr Sing Kong Yuen, BVMS (Glasgow), MRCVS
August 20, 2011, Room 1231, 5 am
The Royal Garden, Hong Kong
The MIO was a gentleman looked to be in his 40s and has an air of confidence and experience in catching crooks, I guessed since he was more senior in rank than the previous officer. I was a lieutenant in the National Service in Singapore Armed Forces' Provost Unit Dog Company some 30 years ago and his two piques would be equivalent to the rank of lieutenant in the Singapore Armed Forces.
He offered me the use of the bathroom at the far end of the room or drinking water in the office. The cups were a cone made of paper with no fanciful trimmings unlike the more expensive ones in Singapore's office. They were the paper equivalent of ice-cream cones and that was good for it meant less trees would be chopped down unlike those fanciful cups.
I thanked him for the kind offer and sat down in the same room to be interrogated. I enquired politely as to why I was detained. "You are not detained, you are being interviewed," he replied courteously. "If you are detained, you will not be in this office." I imagined I would be in a dungeon underground and hand-cuffed going there since I had never encountered an Immigration interview in my 60 years of living.
In any case, I was about to be sent packing to the airport on a one-way ticket to Singapore without even eating the delicious tim sum and sea food of Hongkong after 18 years of absence. The power is always in the hand of the Immigration Officer on the ground. Of course, Hong Kong is a civilised and most developed country, not a banana republic and a mad and angry tourist under suspicion can be got rid off without reasons being given.
In any case, I was not angry. Each country has a right to deny visits from foreigners. The world is never fair. I just did not want to spend 4 days and 3 nights sight-seeing in Macau as a substitute to visit the fastest growing capitalistic one-China-government-two-administrative-systems. I just wanted to re-visit the old places I went to when I was marketing Orlando,Florida properties in Hong Kong some 20 years ago. Wanchai, Times Square, Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, see the trams and see the ordinary Hong Kong people.
Yet the MIO thought otherwise. No friends in Hongkong. No visits since 1988. Unusual for a Singaporean. A tourist under suspicion. But what was so serious that I would be denied entry into Hong Kong?
"You have not committed a crime," the MIO told me when I suggested that the squad who black-marked me interview me. Why not? They have the fish in the net now.
"It is not that simple," the MIO explained. "In any case, what do you mean by 'black-marked'?"
A Tourist Under Suspicion - Part 2
Dr Sing Kong Yuen, BVMS (Glasgow), MRCVS
August 20, 2011, Room 1231, 5 am
The Royal Garden, Hong Kong
The MIO was a gentleman looked to be in his 40s and has an air of confidence and experience in catching crooks, I guessed since he was more senior in rank than the previous officer. I was a lieutenant in the National Service in Singapore Armed Forces' Provost Unit Dog Company some 30 years ago and his two piques would be equivalent to the rank of lieutenant in the Singapore Armed Forces.
He offered me the use of the bathroom at the far end of the room or drinking water in the office. The cups were a cone made of paper with no fanciful trimmings unlike the more expensive ones in Singapore's office. They were the paper equivalent of ice-cream cones and that was good for it meant less trees would be chopped down unlike those fanciful cups.
I thanked him for the kind offer and sat down in the same room to be interrogated. I enquired politely as to why I was detained. "You are not detained, you are being interviewed," he replied courteously. "If you are detained, you will not be in this office." I imagined I would be in a dungeon underground and hand-cuffed going there since I had never encountered an Immigration interview in my 60 years of living.
In any case, I was about to be sent packing to the airport on a one-way ticket to Singapore without even eating the delicious tim sum and sea food of Hongkong after 18 years of absence. The power is always in the hand of the Immigration Officer on the ground. Of course, Hong Kong is a civilised and most developed country, not a banana republic and a mad and angry tourist under suspicion can be got rid off without reasons being given.
In any case, I was not angry. Each country has a right to deny visits from foreigners. The world is never fair. I just did not want to spend 4 days and 3 nights sight-seeing in Macau as a substitute to visit the fastest growing capitalistic one-China-government-two-administrative-systems. I just wanted to re-visit the old places I went to when I was marketing Orlando,Florida properties in Hong Kong some 20 years ago. Wanchai, Times Square, Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, see the trams and see the ordinary Hong Kong people.
Yet the MIO thought otherwise. No friends in Hongkong. No visits since 1988. Unusual for a Singaporean. A tourist under suspicion. But what was so serious that I would be denied entry into Hong Kong?
"You have not committed a crime," the MIO told me when I suggested that the squad who black-marked me interview me. Why not? They have the fish in the net now.
"It is not that simple," the MIO explained. "In any case, what do you mean by 'black-marked'?"
556. Travel Stories: A Tourist Under Suspicion - Part 1
Incredible Travel Stories:
A Tourist Under Suspicion - Part 1
Dr Sing Kong Yuen, BVMS (Glasgow), MRCVS
August 20, 2011, Room 1231, 5 am
The Royal Garden, Hong Kong
"I offer you a way out. You go to Macau direct from the Airport and spend your time in Macau," the female Immigration Officer (FMO) said to me after an interview and logging onto her office computer to check out my background at www.toapayohvets.com. If I did not accept her offer, I would be sent back to Singapore on the next plane. If I accepted her offer, my passport would show a stamp "transit" in Hong Kong. In this way, there would be no record of me having been denied an entry to enter Hong Kong.
On August 19, 2011, I had arrived in Hong Kong at 5.45 a.m, from Singapore, flying Cathay Pacific. The Immigration Counter Officer took longer than usual to check me out on his computer. Then he wrote on a white slip of paper with the heading "Restricted." A young thin Immigration man who was directing passengers to the various Immigration Counter then detained me.
I went with him into a room as he waited for the Immigration Counter Officer to return back to him. I noted a change of shift work as another new Immigration Counter Officer, together with others, entered the booths with their silver boxes and chops. So, the original officer who stopped me from leaving the Immigration Area had gone home.
The young Officer consulted another officer. Then he led me to a big room which had white walls, working desks, computers, around 8 rows of blue chairs and closed circuit TV. A lady officer had unlocked this room, switched on the lights and asked me to wait. After some half an hour, the FMO whom I mentioned in my first paragraph interviewed me and made the offer I should not refuse.
She was a young serious woman in her 30s. "It is a random check on passengers," she had said earlier as she asked and scribbled on a piece of table, information about me, my family, my brother and sisters, my purpose in coming to Hong Kong, the amount of money I had, my credit card. I said I had no friend in Hong Kong as I was not much of a net worker and that probably was against me. Then she offered me the above-mentioned proposal not to enter Hong Kong for national security reasons.
"Why am I not allowed to enter Hong Kong?" I asked. This was the first time I had been rejected from entering a country.
"It is for Immigration reasons I am not permitted to tell you," she said.
|
"Did somebody commit a cheating scam in my name?" I asked. I deduced that I was not a criminal since she did not throw me into the cells. In any case, my life is that of an ordinary Singaporean.
|
"No," she said. "I am not permitted to tell you. If you go to Macau straight from the Airport, your passport will be stamped "transit" and there will be no record of you being denied entry to Hong Kong and sent back to Singapore (by the next available plane).
"If I accept your officer, it means that I have had done something wrong. Your immigration records will tell that I have had been denied entry into Hong Kong."
"No," she said. "It will show that you have transited via Hong Kong Airport to go to Macau."
"I don't know how the Immigration works," I said. "How can I trust the Immigration system? Surely, it will record that I was denied entry to Hong Kong and that I then agree to go to Macau, avoiding the prospect of being sent back to Singapore on the next plane." This would be the way all bureaucrats would work. I was a bureaucrat once.
I continued in a cordial tone: "How can I trust that the Hong Kong Immigration would just forget about the fact that I was detained and interrogated for around an hour and just record that I transited via Hong Kong to visit Macau? My travel plans were to visit Hong Kong 2 nights and Macau 1 night. Now, you advise me to visit Macau for the whole duration."
The FMO was silent. She was always polite. It was a very strange first encounter in my 60 years of living. I seldom tour countries as I built up a practice on my own and raised a family and paid mortgage. It was 18 years ago since I last visited Hong Kong and here, I was a suspect, in my opinion. A dangerous man. Well, we have "dangerous dogs" under the Singapore's veterinary regulations. So why not "dangerous tourist" under the Immigration regulations.
It is the prerogative of any government not to permit foreigners to enter the country. But there is more than meets the eye. So, I said: "This is Hong Kong, not a undeveloped country where government officials can do what they like.
The FMO offered the same proposal again as she apologised that she could not reveal the reason I was rejected.
I said as if discussing a dog's clinical case to the dog owner: "Your poster on your wall has stated a value - Integrity and Impartiality. Yet I am asked to leave Hong Kong without being given a reason (as to why I was discriminated)."
The FMO repeated patiently as a teacher would do to a dullard: "It is in the national interest of Hong Kong. I am not permitted to tell you more than that."
I said: "If I accept your offer, the Singapore Government will be after me when I return to Singapore. I will be investigated as to why I accepted your offer not to land in Hong Kong. The Singapore Government officer would ask me: "If you had not committed any offence, why did you accept the Hong Kong offer? And I will have no answers."
"Wait," she went to consult another officer in an office to the left of the main door entrance. An older slim woman in blue uniform. Some 60 minutes had already passed. Julia phoned me at the bag collection counter as she had no problem entering Hong Kong: "Where are you?"
I said tersely, "The Immigration Officer stopped me and is interviewing me." I did not want to talk too much. "For security reasons, a video recording is in progress" notice has been tacked to the notice board in this office. A few strategically place big blue glassed "eyes" were spying on anyone in the room. I presume there would be somebody in the CCTV(closed-circuit television) room monitoring my action and speech.
Was I a suspected terrorist? That was what my first thought was. I was not permitted to enter Hong Kong as that would be against the national interest. A drug dealer? A Triad or Mafia boss with a veterinary practice in Singapore as a front? A big-time money launderer flying Cathay Pacific economy class to throw off the scent of the government hounds?
After some time, a male Immigration Officer (MIO) wearing a white shirt with epaulettes showing two stars and in blue trousers arrived and cordially invited me to an interview in the same room and asked me more questions as well as the previous ones as he wrote the answers on a piece of paper: "Where do you wish to visit when you come to Hong Kong?" he asked.
"Times Square," I said, off the cuff, truthfully.
"Times Square," he asked incredulously. I wondered why.
"Well, I would like to visit Times Square which I went in 1988," I just could not figure out why Times Square was not on his list of tourist attraction to Singaporeans. "To see the changes after 18 years. I would also be going shopping."
A Tourist Under Suspicion - Part 1
Dr Sing Kong Yuen, BVMS (Glasgow), MRCVS
August 20, 2011, Room 1231, 5 am
The Royal Garden, Hong Kong
"I offer you a way out. You go to Macau direct from the Airport and spend your time in Macau," the female Immigration Officer (FMO) said to me after an interview and logging onto her office computer to check out my background at www.toapayohvets.com. If I did not accept her offer, I would be sent back to Singapore on the next plane. If I accepted her offer, my passport would show a stamp "transit" in Hong Kong. In this way, there would be no record of me having been denied an entry to enter Hong Kong.
On August 19, 2011, I had arrived in Hong Kong at 5.45 a.m, from Singapore, flying Cathay Pacific. The Immigration Counter Officer took longer than usual to check me out on his computer. Then he wrote on a white slip of paper with the heading "Restricted." A young thin Immigration man who was directing passengers to the various Immigration Counter then detained me.
I went with him into a room as he waited for the Immigration Counter Officer to return back to him. I noted a change of shift work as another new Immigration Counter Officer, together with others, entered the booths with their silver boxes and chops. So, the original officer who stopped me from leaving the Immigration Area had gone home.
The young Officer consulted another officer. Then he led me to a big room which had white walls, working desks, computers, around 8 rows of blue chairs and closed circuit TV. A lady officer had unlocked this room, switched on the lights and asked me to wait. After some half an hour, the FMO whom I mentioned in my first paragraph interviewed me and made the offer I should not refuse.
She was a young serious woman in her 30s. "It is a random check on passengers," she had said earlier as she asked and scribbled on a piece of table, information about me, my family, my brother and sisters, my purpose in coming to Hong Kong, the amount of money I had, my credit card. I said I had no friend in Hong Kong as I was not much of a net worker and that probably was against me. Then she offered me the above-mentioned proposal not to enter Hong Kong for national security reasons.
"Why am I not allowed to enter Hong Kong?" I asked. This was the first time I had been rejected from entering a country.
"It is for Immigration reasons I am not permitted to tell you," she said.
|
"Did somebody commit a cheating scam in my name?" I asked. I deduced that I was not a criminal since she did not throw me into the cells. In any case, my life is that of an ordinary Singaporean.
|
"No," she said. "I am not permitted to tell you. If you go to Macau straight from the Airport, your passport will be stamped "transit" and there will be no record of you being denied entry to Hong Kong and sent back to Singapore (by the next available plane).
"If I accept your officer, it means that I have had done something wrong. Your immigration records will tell that I have had been denied entry into Hong Kong."
"No," she said. "It will show that you have transited via Hong Kong Airport to go to Macau."
"I don't know how the Immigration works," I said. "How can I trust the Immigration system? Surely, it will record that I was denied entry to Hong Kong and that I then agree to go to Macau, avoiding the prospect of being sent back to Singapore on the next plane." This would be the way all bureaucrats would work. I was a bureaucrat once.
I continued in a cordial tone: "How can I trust that the Hong Kong Immigration would just forget about the fact that I was detained and interrogated for around an hour and just record that I transited via Hong Kong to visit Macau? My travel plans were to visit Hong Kong 2 nights and Macau 1 night. Now, you advise me to visit Macau for the whole duration."
The FMO was silent. She was always polite. It was a very strange first encounter in my 60 years of living. I seldom tour countries as I built up a practice on my own and raised a family and paid mortgage. It was 18 years ago since I last visited Hong Kong and here, I was a suspect, in my opinion. A dangerous man. Well, we have "dangerous dogs" under the Singapore's veterinary regulations. So why not "dangerous tourist" under the Immigration regulations.
It is the prerogative of any government not to permit foreigners to enter the country. But there is more than meets the eye. So, I said: "This is Hong Kong, not a undeveloped country where government officials can do what they like.
The FMO offered the same proposal again as she apologised that she could not reveal the reason I was rejected.
I said as if discussing a dog's clinical case to the dog owner: "Your poster on your wall has stated a value - Integrity and Impartiality. Yet I am asked to leave Hong Kong without being given a reason (as to why I was discriminated)."
The FMO repeated patiently as a teacher would do to a dullard: "It is in the national interest of Hong Kong. I am not permitted to tell you more than that."
I said: "If I accept your offer, the Singapore Government will be after me when I return to Singapore. I will be investigated as to why I accepted your offer not to land in Hong Kong. The Singapore Government officer would ask me: "If you had not committed any offence, why did you accept the Hong Kong offer? And I will have no answers."
"Wait," she went to consult another officer in an office to the left of the main door entrance. An older slim woman in blue uniform. Some 60 minutes had already passed. Julia phoned me at the bag collection counter as she had no problem entering Hong Kong: "Where are you?"
I said tersely, "The Immigration Officer stopped me and is interviewing me." I did not want to talk too much. "For security reasons, a video recording is in progress" notice has been tacked to the notice board in this office. A few strategically place big blue glassed "eyes" were spying on anyone in the room. I presume there would be somebody in the CCTV(closed-circuit television) room monitoring my action and speech.
Was I a suspected terrorist? That was what my first thought was. I was not permitted to enter Hong Kong as that would be against the national interest. A drug dealer? A Triad or Mafia boss with a veterinary practice in Singapore as a front? A big-time money launderer flying Cathay Pacific economy class to throw off the scent of the government hounds?
After some time, a male Immigration Officer (MIO) wearing a white shirt with epaulettes showing two stars and in blue trousers arrived and cordially invited me to an interview in the same room and asked me more questions as well as the previous ones as he wrote the answers on a piece of paper: "Where do you wish to visit when you come to Hong Kong?" he asked.
"Times Square," I said, off the cuff, truthfully.
"Times Square," he asked incredulously. I wondered why.
"Well, I would like to visit Times Square which I went in 1988," I just could not figure out why Times Square was not on his list of tourist attraction to Singaporeans. "To see the changes after 18 years. I would also be going shopping."
Friday, August 19, 2011
Do you love your hamster, warts and all?
It can get very boring viewing hamster images unless you are a hamster lover. How to educate a hamster owner with a good message? I have thought of one today as follows:
It does not have any impact unless the reader views the other images before this one.
This is the first image.
I have not written a full report of the surgery yet, but you can see the other images at www.toapayohvets.com for this period of time.
It does not have any impact unless the reader views the other images before this one.
This is the first image.
I have not written a full report of the surgery yet, but you can see the other images at www.toapayohvets.com for this period of time.
554. Events happen in twos?
August 18, 2011. Thursday
I had written about events/things of similar themes happening in threes. But yesterday, the following events happen in twos.
1. A couple (a newly married man and wife) came with a male Shetland puppy for vaccination which was due on August 18, 2011. A new client.
2. The husband had two wounds on his left leg. One penetrating wound below the knee and one big red skin abrasion further down. He was limping and I advised him to see a skin specialist as his wound was still discharging fluid. I suspect some foreign bodies deep inside when he fell from his bike onto some stones in Bali. In Bali, the doctor poured some alcohol and that was 8 days ago.
3. The husband called an NTUC cab via his mobile phone. The first yellow cab whizzed by the Surgery. When he limped out, the cab driver had disappeared round the corner. So, NTUC gave him another cab. I went outside the Surgery with him to stop this 2nd cab. From afar, actually one block away, I saw the blue cab coming. It did not bother to approach further and turned left at the end of my block. So two taxis failed him. "Let me call a cab for you," I said. I noticed that he had spent some 30 minutes and was not in good standing (being lame) and must be suffering.
I used my Surgery fax phone to get the NTUC cab for him. "You better retire your husband and come out," I said to the wife who handed the Sheltie to him. "He is kind of slow." We stopped the blue Sonata cab and they went home.
4. Soon a man came with a female Sheltie pup for vaccination. "The brother of this pup just came," I said. "How do you know?" he asked. He is one of those knowledgeable puppy owners. He had phoned for an early morning appointment to vaccinate his pup just in case parvoviruses or any disease arrive from other clients' dog during the day. I said: "Same vaccination card. Same home breeder's name and breed and date for vaccination." As Dr Vanessa had arrived, usually after 11 am, I passed the case to her and attended to the counter.
I had done a health check on the first Sheltie which was purchased on August 18, 2011 and advised no vaccination till 7 days later to observe for any poor health. The couple came at 10 am and so I handled this case and that is how I encounter events happening in twos.
5. Two new clients with two Shelties from the same breeder to the same surgery. There are around 43 veterinary practices in Singapore and Shelties are rather rare in Singapore. So, what are the chances of seeing two of them in Toa Payoh Vets on the same day and in the morning? I will say, very low probability.
So is there divine intervention or just coincidence or the internet? Nobody knows.
TIPS
Don't vaccinate a puppy on the day of purchase as the puppy is stressed out by change of ownership, environment and may be incubating the deadly paroviral disease. If the vet vaccinates and the puppy really comes down with parvoviral disease, the vet gets the blame. Actually, the puppy is already infected and has not shown signs of the fatal disease yet.
The owner of the 2nd Sheltie had purchased 1 week ago. So, it was OK to vaccinate. For the lst Sheltie, no vaccination till 7 days later. Though it is not ideal, it is better to be safe than sorry.
The second owner knows much more about puppy diseases and that is why he wanted first appointment. He prefers not to go to the vet surgery to vaccinate, he told me. But then, he will need a house call and that may not be inexpensive.
I had written about events/things of similar themes happening in threes. But yesterday, the following events happen in twos.
1. A couple (a newly married man and wife) came with a male Shetland puppy for vaccination which was due on August 18, 2011. A new client.
2. The husband had two wounds on his left leg. One penetrating wound below the knee and one big red skin abrasion further down. He was limping and I advised him to see a skin specialist as his wound was still discharging fluid. I suspect some foreign bodies deep inside when he fell from his bike onto some stones in Bali. In Bali, the doctor poured some alcohol and that was 8 days ago.
3. The husband called an NTUC cab via his mobile phone. The first yellow cab whizzed by the Surgery. When he limped out, the cab driver had disappeared round the corner. So, NTUC gave him another cab. I went outside the Surgery with him to stop this 2nd cab. From afar, actually one block away, I saw the blue cab coming. It did not bother to approach further and turned left at the end of my block. So two taxis failed him. "Let me call a cab for you," I said. I noticed that he had spent some 30 minutes and was not in good standing (being lame) and must be suffering.
I used my Surgery fax phone to get the NTUC cab for him. "You better retire your husband and come out," I said to the wife who handed the Sheltie to him. "He is kind of slow." We stopped the blue Sonata cab and they went home.
4. Soon a man came with a female Sheltie pup for vaccination. "The brother of this pup just came," I said. "How do you know?" he asked. He is one of those knowledgeable puppy owners. He had phoned for an early morning appointment to vaccinate his pup just in case parvoviruses or any disease arrive from other clients' dog during the day. I said: "Same vaccination card. Same home breeder's name and breed and date for vaccination." As Dr Vanessa had arrived, usually after 11 am, I passed the case to her and attended to the counter.
I had done a health check on the first Sheltie which was purchased on August 18, 2011 and advised no vaccination till 7 days later to observe for any poor health. The couple came at 10 am and so I handled this case and that is how I encounter events happening in twos.
5. Two new clients with two Shelties from the same breeder to the same surgery. There are around 43 veterinary practices in Singapore and Shelties are rather rare in Singapore. So, what are the chances of seeing two of them in Toa Payoh Vets on the same day and in the morning? I will say, very low probability.
So is there divine intervention or just coincidence or the internet? Nobody knows.
TIPS
Don't vaccinate a puppy on the day of purchase as the puppy is stressed out by change of ownership, environment and may be incubating the deadly paroviral disease. If the vet vaccinates and the puppy really comes down with parvoviral disease, the vet gets the blame. Actually, the puppy is already infected and has not shown signs of the fatal disease yet.
The owner of the 2nd Sheltie had purchased 1 week ago. So, it was OK to vaccinate. For the lst Sheltie, no vaccination till 7 days later. Though it is not ideal, it is better to be safe than sorry.
The second owner knows much more about puppy diseases and that is why he wanted first appointment. He prefers not to go to the vet surgery to vaccinate, he told me. But then, he will need a house call and that may not be inexpensive.
553. Veterinary costs of canine breast tumour removal for an old dog
E-MAIL TO DR SING DATED AUG 19, 2011
Hi Dr Sing
I would like to find out what is the estimated cost for breast tumor surgery? My dog is currently 10 years of age. And what mode of payment do you receive?
E-MAIL FROM DR SING DATED AUG 19, 2011
Thank you for email. Cost depends on number and size of tumours as this affects the time taken for surgery
My estimated cost/large tumour (>2.5 cm in diameter), without complications, will be as follows:
1. Sedation and general anaesthesia gas for the first 30 minutes around $200.
2. Additional $100 per 30-minute block of isoflurane and oxygen gas used.
2. Surgery - excision per tumour $150 - $200
3. Suture (absorbable) used x 1 packet, IV drip, antibiotics and painkiller injections estimated $110
4. Post-op oral antibiotics, painkillers, e-collar estimated $80
5. Complete blood test $150 is advised before surgery to know the health status of your dog and the risks involved.
The total is around $600 - $800 excluding blood test.
For small tumours, the time of surgery is usually <30 minutes and the cost is usually 50% lower. For massive tumours, the cost is usually 50% higher.
Payment by cash, nets, credit card and cheque.
Hi Dr Sing
I would like to find out what is the estimated cost for breast tumor surgery? My dog is currently 10 years of age. And what mode of payment do you receive?
E-MAIL FROM DR SING DATED AUG 19, 2011
Thank you for email. Cost depends on number and size of tumours as this affects the time taken for surgery
My estimated cost/large tumour (>2.5 cm in diameter), without complications, will be as follows:
1. Sedation and general anaesthesia gas for the first 30 minutes around $200.
2. Additional $100 per 30-minute block of isoflurane and oxygen gas used.
2. Surgery - excision per tumour $150 - $200
3. Suture (absorbable) used x 1 packet, IV drip, antibiotics and painkiller injections estimated $110
4. Post-op oral antibiotics, painkillers, e-collar estimated $80
5. Complete blood test $150 is advised before surgery to know the health status of your dog and the risks involved.
The total is around $600 - $800 excluding blood test.
For small tumours, the time of surgery is usually <30 minutes and the cost is usually 50% lower. For massive tumours, the cost is usually 50% higher.
Payment by cash, nets, credit card and cheque.
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