Germany Part 10 - BMW Isetta 1955 to 1962

Isetta at Verkehrszentrum

Isetta at BMW Welt



Entrance is via the front



Isetta at BMW Museum

The Isetta at Verkehrszentrum is the most original, worn out and used.  It reflects the true condition of a car that is 60 years old.

The Isetta at BMW Welt is the most refurbished unit with new colours and distinctive wheels.

The Isetta at BMW Museum is modified with a different window panels, a back rack for storage and silver chrome trim across its body.

Original Specification
Engine: Single Cylinder 4 stroke engine
Displacement: 245 cm3
Power: 8.8 kw (12 hp)
Speed: 80 km/hr
(Source: Deutsche Museum Verkehrszentrum)

According to BMW Museum, by early 1960s, more than 160,000 units of Isetta were manufactured.

Germany Part 9 - Beers

In my short stay of a week, I have drank beers from 2 restaurants. Both are in Munich Marienplatz.

1) Augustiner - Founded in year 1328. Cost less than 4 euro.

2) Hacker-Pschorr - Cost less than 5 Euro

 

Both were equally smooth and good.
Germany is famous for it beer production.

Germany Part 8 - Nice Car Mercedes Benz 300SL Gullwing

Mercedes Benz Museum in Stuttgart.

Looking at the large car sill next to the driver seat, it will be interesting to see how the driver enters the car. The central rear mirror is placed on the dashboard and the instrument panel looks good.

Germany Part 7 - Food

The food I had eaten in Germany:-

Schweinshaxe (Pork Knuckle about 20 Euro including beer)

German Bratwurst (My favourite, 4 Euro)

















German Pretzels (seasoned with salt) and Cakes

Subway (3.99 Euro)

Pizza

Germany Part 6 - A tale of Banana

Viktualienmarkt, Munich

I bought this 4 pieces of bananas in Viktualienmarkt in Munich. It cost me about 4.5 Euro, which is equivalent to S$6.75 (at 1.5 exchange rate). In Singapore, the 4 pieces of bananas would probably cost S$1.50. In other words, it was 4.5 times more expensive in Germany than in Singapore. I bought it out of mistake because the display sign was in German and it showed 2 Euro. I realized that it was possibly 2 Euro per unit weight. (maybe 2 euro per 100 gram).

With this expensive bananas, I started to think about some facts about Germany. In Germany, the consumption tax (value added tax) is 19% except for certain products.

The minimum wage in Germany is 1473 Euro (as at Jan 2015). The average gross and net salaries are 2977 and 1889 Euro respectively (as at 2013 from wikipedia). The income tax rate for a person earning 100,000 Euro annually is about 42% (after deductions and relief).

A typical meal consisting of fast food including drinks is between 4 Euro to 10 Euro. I had a Subway burger with drink for 3.99 Euro (promotion).

It appears that the cost of living in Germany is not low. However, I am sure that there are ways in which the locals can save through experience. Example, through purchase in supermarket. Even for their trains for transport, there are cheaper means for locals. For Arts museum visits, if one purchases ticket on Sunday, the ticket will only be 1 Euro.

Germany is the most powerful economic country in Europe. It did it through its industry, well known products and an efficient labour force.

Lastly, it could be that banana was a off season fruit and that Viktualienmarkt is a tourist market.

Germany Part 5 - Energy and Environment

S-Bahn showing an outside temperature of 33 degree celsius

In summer, Germany ambient temperature can go up to 33-34 degree Celsius. It is considered hot but fortunately the humidity is low, hence the skin will tend to cool faster as perspiration evaporates. There was report linking higher ambient temperature to carbon emission.

The Deutsche Museum Verkehrszentrum has 1 interesting display that shows the impact of technology on carbon emission. It shows a comparison of the distance that Man can travel against the quantum of carbon dioxide emitted from the technology. The highest being travelling by airplane and the second highest being by car.

I did notice that there were wind mills and solar panels installed at the country side. I also read that the amount of power generated in Germany through Green technology had supplied more than adequate needs of the country to the extend that electricity was exported over to neighbouring countries.

While the automotive industry had previously been producing cars with high capacity hence higher carbon emission, recently there was attempt to make hybrid green car. Eg BMW i series and the Audi A3-e tron. And before the hybrid cars, BMW had created the hydrogen fuel car. With the current fuel price, it is hard to see how these 2 green car can be successful. It is good effort thought as lesser carbon emission with lead to better environment.

BMW hydrogen fuel car

BMW i8

Germany Part 4 - Audi A3 e-tron

When I had finished visiting Audi Forum at Ingolstadt, I noticed a car being charged at the car park. It was a Audi A3 e-tron. The car was painted in FC Bayern Munchen colours with the front Audi circles shifted to accommodate the charging port.

Statistically, this car achieves a 188 mile per gallon of fuel (which is about 79 km per litre). This is extraordinary compared to a standard Audi A3 1.4 litre, which typically goes between 14 to 15 km per litre of fuel. A green car indeed provided there is availability of charging point.

In my earlier post, I had seen a Renault car being charged in the same manner in Singapore.

Germany Part 3 - Einstein Birth Town

Albert Einstein as shown in Mercedes Benz Museum

 An enlarged narrative from the pic above



Ulm Hbf

On my way to Stuttgart from Munich, I passed by the town of Ulm. This was the birthplace of Albert Einstein.

Germany Part 2 - Porsche

Porsche 911 Carerra 4 GTS

I sat in a Porsche Carrera 4 GTS (991 version). It was my first time seating in a Porsche (although not a moving one).

My immediate impression was that the seat was rather tight fitting and body hugging. Probably it was so because it was a GTS meant for racing.

Secondly, the steering wheel was rather ordinary. The only feature it had was a paddle shifter. There were no other buttons or gadgets. Again probably it was to allow the driver to focus on the racing event than any other function.

Thirdly, the tachometer in red was eye catching.

The main function of GTS means that the key component lies in its engine, transmission and aero-dynamics. However, this car is a convertible.

There were recent news reports showing that Porsche 911 had a few accidents, involving death of the driver. A simple reminder that it was not easy to control a rear engine car.

Nonetheless, Porsche 911 is considered one of the most beautifully designed car.

In Germany, a brand new Porsche 911 Carrera 4 Black edition costs about 116,000 Euro, that is equivalent to S$172,480 (at 1.49 exchange rate). See photo.

Price of Porsche 911 Black Edition in Germany

Germany Part 1 - 12 to 20 July 2015

Marienplatz Munich

I visited Germany from 12 to 20 July 2015.

Places I visited were:-

(i) Munich
(2) Fussen - aka Neuschwanstein Castle
(3) Stuttgart
(4) Garmish Partenkirchen - aka Zugspitze
(5) Ingolstadt - aka Audi Forum

In Munich, I had visited the BMW museum, 3 Pinakothek (Alte, Neue and Moderne), Deutsche museum and Deutsche Museum Flugwerft Schleissheim. In Munich, I had also visited Dachau, the concentration camp.

In Stuttgart, I had visited Porsche and Mercedes Benz museum.

It was summer and there were plenty of crowd/tourists. Fortunately, the efficient Germans' DB trains were running punctually and there have been no trouble travelling around.

I stayed in Letomotel at Trudering, a basic no frills hotel at the east side of Munich. As most of the time, I am travelling around, I am fine with this basic hotel. It was built fairly recently and I can see the amenities were new. The S-Bahn and U-Bahn at Trudering requires a 5 minute walk from the hotel. There are 2 convenient stalls near the hotel and a bakery next to the entrance of the hotel.

Germans are generally friendly and helpful. There was an occasion in Laim when I was looking at the Bahn (train station) display showing the various time of trains and platforms. A young German walked up and asked whether I needed assistance (in English). It was my last day in Munich and I knew the system pretty well but was undecided as to where to go next. I am grateful to the young German and was impressed.

In terms of scenery, I am impressed by Neuschwanstein Castle and Zugspitze. In terms of knowledge, I am impressed by all the museums that I have been to.

I will elaborate my visit to Germany in various parts.

South East Asia Games 2015 - Singapore

SEA Games Cauldron at 19.2 metres tall

28th SEA Games at Sports Hub

From 5 to 16 June 2015.
Photos taken from Singapore Sports Hub
The last time Singapore hosted SEA Games was in 1993.

Memories of My Childhood

Public Bus
When I was about 11 years old (1980), I started to take public bus from School in Queen Street to Toa Payoh. Once I was seating on a public bus and when the bus turn in a corner, the emergency exit door of the bus gave way and I saw an elderly woman (probably 60 plus years old then) flung out from the door as she was leaning on the door. I was shocked as she was seating only a couple of seats in front of me. The bus stopped and the driver went to check on the injured. I could not remember whether an ambulance was called.

The location of the corner was the junction between Kallang Road and Lavendar Street.  (Near the present ICA Building). The bus was number 145.

Fire

14 & 15 Queen Street (from Google)

When I was Primary 3 or 4 (around 1978/79), we were studying in class when suddenly someone noticed a fire broke out at an abandoned house a few block away from the school. We were so excited that we ran out of the classroom to look at the burning house. The fire was so intensed that the flames were seen flying off the roof of the building. The abandoned house was so dilapidated that walls had collapsed and bricks were seen lying on the floor. The fire engines came fast and we were told to go back to class. It was not common to see fire and it was memorable.

The location of the abandoned house is currently around 14, 15 Queen Street.

The other time I saw a fire in my childhood happened in a provisional shop at the ground floor of my childhood HDB flat. I could remember going to the shop a few days/weeks later to find the blackened walls and a smell of burning.

Musical Instrument

A Recorder

I was playing a recorder in Primary School. I was selected by my Music teacher, Ms Lee to play in the School Music Ensemble which comprise of other instrument such as the angklong, melodica, castanets, xylophone etc. While recorder was the main musical instrument, I also learnt to play the angklong.

We were representing the School in nation wide competition and also played in normal school days in assembly playing the national anthem and the school song. A great highlight was to be able to perform at various locations including the demolished old national theatre, Singapore conference hall and being filmed by the then Singapore Broadcasting Corp (SBC). I recalled that there was a rumour then we would go overseas to perform. That was an incredible rumour as I was honour to represent the school. However, it didn't materialised.

As member of the Ensemble, we were wearing a white shirt with yellow sleeveless jacket and a red checked short pants. I could recall there was a hat too as we using the recorder to spin the hat.

Up till today, I am not sure why my Music teacher picked me to represent the school.  But some how playing the recorder is simple enough with few notes to master. I was lazy to learn to play musical notes involving staff, clef etc. How I learn to play was through musical notes represented by A, B, C etc.. and also by memorising the tune of the song.

I learned that Ms Lee had passed away. Thank you Mdm for the coaching and teaching us to play this simple musical instrument.

Soft Drink Cap

In the late 1970s, soft drinks were in glass bottle. The bottle has a metal cap and these caps have 2 functions for children. The bottle caps were firstly used in a game and the objective was to roll the caps over and above the oponent caps. If you were good, you could collect a bag full of bottle caps. Back in the 1970s, these were cheap and entertaining games for children.

Secondly, at the underside of bottle cap, they used to have an elastic liner which could be scraped up. Marketing companies wanted to increase sales and sometimes used the liner as a lucky draw tool. If you were lucky, you could scrape a liner that had printed notification of a free trip overseas. I recalled that Pepsi had a lucky draw for a free trip to San Francisco. At that age, I had no idea where San Francisco was but was interested in this city. Of course, I didn't win any lucky draw. It was only in later part of my life in year 2000 that I visited San Franciso.

MacBook Air 2015

Apple Logo

Apple MacBook Air 2015

Bought my first Apple product - The Macbook Air with 13 inch screen. It has a intel i5 core processor.

First impression is that it is light, thin and portable. Good for those who use it to move around.

Being not familiar with iOS, I have quite a hard time trying to know how to navigate. The ports are also not familiar for me.

The first time I had used Apple product was when I was a secondary student, using an Apple IIe. At that time, users had to be familiar with the Basic computer language. See link:- http://e21s.blogspot.sg/2014/03/apple-iie.html

Quote of the Month

"If you want to make money, be a farmer not a financier! ....... there is a phenomenal opportunity ahead of farmers and investors. It's the old adage of buy low and sell high. And if you are 19 years old and you like the outdoors, get ahead of the curve and become a farmer. You will be the one driving the Lamborghini one day."
.................. Jim Rogers May 2015

For more information on what Jim writes, the link is :-
http://olamgroup.com/blog/want-make-money-farmer-financier/

BMW 3 series 40 Years Anniversary Video

I do not usually embed a video. But this is an unique BMW video. it shows the generations of 3 series starting from the E21 to the current F40.

The BMW E21 3 series was my very first car which I owned. A photograph of it can be seen in the link http://e21s.blogspot.sg/2008/07/cars-year-1998-2001-bmw-e21-3-series.html

For the E21, there was no convertible. It was only available in 2 doors coupe style. There is a wide range of engines to choose from. Mine was a 1.5 litre 316.

When I bought it, the car was already 17 years old with quite a number of faults including the risk of a dead engine in the middle of the road. Beyond 90km/hr speed, the manual gear shift would rattle loudly. There was a problem of a faulty hazard light which would spring out when hot.

Despite its problem, it was a beautiful car to own given its unique C pillar and the kidney grille which were the signature of BMW even up till today F40.

I have personally sat in a E30, E36 and drove a E46 330 with the famous in line 6 engine.

Before purchasing my A3, I had taken a look at the BMW F40 316. But it was priced more than S$170,000 then which was beyond my budget.

The car ownership policy in Singapore doesn't encourage vehicle ownership beyond 10 years. The road tax structure increases once the car is beyond 10 years and there is a need to renew COE. Couple with a higher maintenance cost, these discourage drivers from keeping cars beyond 10 years. Hope that in future, this will change.

Update

BMW 3 Series Family

I was fortunate to be in BMW Museum in Munich in July 2015 and took a photograph of the 3 series family. The family includes the 2002 (known as the predecessor), E21(known as the first generation), E30, E36, E46 and E90. It excludes the F series. What a nice lineup!

Tetra Fishes

Tetra Fishes

Bought 11 tetra fishes recently. Found that they were really cute and shy. They were staying with my big marble angle fish, 1 remaining molly and 3 platy in a 2ft tank. The tetra would always tried to avoid contact with the marble angle fish but when food was around, they would swim out openly to feast. They swam in group and would always tried to stay in a group probably due to their small size. Hardly could see their eyes and mouth.

The fishes had colours that were neon bluish and greenish. The gills and the tail section were red in colour with the main body in silver. Amazed by the colours of these fishes.

1 died on the day of purchase with its head bitten off.

The fish reminds me of ikan bilis (anchovy).

Lunar Eclipse 4 Apr 15

Lunar Eclipse captured on 4 Apr 15

The news reported a total lunar eclipse in Singapore but I am only able to take a photo of the earth partial shadow on moon. The earth casts a shadow on the moon and when the earth shadow fully encapsulates the moon, a total lunar eclipse occurs.

The image quality is bad, probably due to wrong setting. ISO is set at 6400.

Quote of the Month

"You know the Singaporean. He is a hard-working, industrious, rugged individual. Or we would not have made the grade.

But let us also recognise that he is a champion grumbler"

                                                                                               ......................... Lee Kuan Yew (1923 - 2015)

Mr Lee Kuan Yew Passing Part 2

Queue at Parliament House, Singapore

"To the Family of the late Mr Lee Kuan Yew;

Thank you and Mr Lee Kuan Yew for your guidance, passion, continuous efforts to make a successful and First World Singapore." ................ My words written on the condolence book for public.

29 March 2015 - Funeral of Mr Lee Kuan Yew

Mr Lee Kuan Yew Passing

Flag in Half Mast for Singapore Founding Father

The passing of the founding father of Singapore on 23 March 2015 at age 91.

A charismatic leader who lived by principles. Very few Asian would have such a good oral skill with robust convincing power. One who delivered results and brought Singapore from a third world to where Singapore is currently. Strong in mental strength against all his adversaries.

As it is commonly said, the right environment creates the right leader.

Rest in Peace, Sir.

SGD 1 Million

After working for 21 years, I have finally attained SGD$1 Million in asset excluding property value, money in Central Provident Fund (CPF) and monies in insurance.

This is done through hardwork, savings, some small returns on investments and the success of the Singapore system.

Aquarium & Fishes Part 2

2 lab cichlids with bright yellow scales

Zebra cichlid with a blue cobalt cichlid in the background

Astronomy Numbers

Some numbers in perspective

Age of the Universe : 13.8 billion years old
1 billion : 1,000,000,000    / 1 trillion : 1,000,000,000,000
Largest Galaxy : IC 1101, 6 million light years in diameter, distance is 1.04 billion light years away
Estimated number of Galaxy in Universe : 100 to 200 billion (highly inaccurate due to observable universe)
Each galaxy contains: between billions to 100 trillions stars

Milky Way: 100,000 light years in diameter
Milky Way Centre is about 25000 to 28000 light year from earth in the direction of Sagittarius
Centre of the Milky Way : Believe to be supermassive black hole
Estimated number of stars in Milky Way : 400 billion

Largest Star in Universe: VY Canis Majoris, diameter 1.975 billion km, distance is 4000 to 5000 light years away
Our Sun: diameter 1.391 Million km, about 8 minutes of light year away
Nearest Star : Alpha Centauri, about 4.4 light years away

Age of homosapien : About 400,000 years old

Hottest Planet: Venus 465 degree celsius due to greenhouse effect cause by massive atmosphere (93 bar) of carbon dioxide

Note 1: 20 Feb 15, I had watched 'Journey to Edge of the Universe' via youtube, a documentary first released in 2008.
Note 2: The Star Canopus is shining brightly when I sleep. It is the only visible stellar object from my window facing south. Location confirmed by Google Sky. Canopus is about 310 light years away
Note 3: Scientists are known to make mistake as seen from human history.

Chinese New Year 2015

Raw Fish Salad during Chinese New Year

One of the most significant Chinese New Year food that Singapore has created. The 发财鱼生 which is raw fish in a salad. Created by 4 chefs in Singapore back in the 1960s, it is a delicious dish with many good chinese idioms accompanying the ingredients. The action of tossing the salad is also unique in food culture.

Ingredients include: white radish, carrot, pomelo, ginger crackers, sesame seed, plum sauce, cooked oil, grinded peanuts, cinnamon powder and most importantly raw fish.

A great accomplishment by Singaporeans.

Electric Car in Singapore

Electric Car being charged.

Charging inlet instead of petrol

An electric car in Singapore being charged by electric charging station at ITE College West. The car is a converted Renault.

The body artwork says 100% Electric and zero emission directly from the car motor. However, it will still have carbon footprint because in Singapore, electricity is produced by burning fuel which power the generators.

The concern for electric cars is the lifespan of batteries. It is still rather expensive at this point in time but technologies will probably make it cheaper in the future. With the current oil price at around US$45 per barrel, it may be difficult to push for the agenda of green technology. Secondly, the charging stations are also not commonly found in carparks around the island.

Nonetheless, it is a good effort to maintain a social responsible green initiative of reducing carbon footprint.