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Almost 20 years ago, I came across this concept of private kitchens when we were having our holidays in Hong Kong. It was a novel idea at that time. Eat at someone’s home that was turned into a private setting for guests with dishes cooked by an experienced chef at a fraction of restaurant prices.

The appeal was to go into a housing estate, into a person’s comfort space and have an unforgettable meal with friends. It was the rage at that time in HK. We had actively sought out these venues to experience them whenever we happen to be in HK for work or pleasure.

There is a resurgence of this concept in S’pore over the last 2 years again. It has partly to do with the fact that websites had started to promote local experiences for tourists and it is extra income for hosts in a developing gig economy. AirBnB calls them “experiences” and people with time on their hands can host a dinner event for strangers for profit. It is a win-win situation which aspiring cooks can whip up great food to share with guests in a homey setting.

Over the last 2 months, I have had the pleasure of trying 3 such places with a group of good friends. Their tables are filling up fast and table booking waiting times can now be as long as 9 months!!

The first one we had was called MixTape Chef. The young chef was passionate about cooking and together with his wife, decided to turn their HDB unit into a dining venue. He called the place MixTape in a tribute to his teenage years where he liked to create his own playlist on a tape and it is now like how he does with his food experimentation.

Being very interested in the food preparation myself, we had a very good discussion on his latest experiments with the seasoning of meats using the age-old method of apply shio koji, a rice yeast. The beef was very good and after the dinner, I bought some to try on my own too. His fusion food of local and western dishes was also very interesting. He had a chicken rice risotto item that was a play on Italy and our national dish. His kitchen also appeared in a new TV series on private kitchens a few weeks later and our group photo was featured! https://video.toggle.sg/en/series/home-dining/ep6/639535

The next private kitchen I visited was called “Lucky House Cantonese”. My ex-colleague managed to book a table for 10 three months ago – the wait list has since grown to 9 months… Coincidentally, this place was also featured in the following episode of the same TV series : https://video.toggle.sg/en/series/home-dining/ep7/641335 

Chef Sam had a passion for antiques and Cantonese food. His home was a rustic place he created 2 years ago and the experience is just like coming home to a meal at my grandmom’s home. He cooks everything using charcoal to preserve the original flavours of the fresh ingredients. The 12 of us had a great time and discovered that sake paired well with his food.

Just last Saturday, our group of uni mates went to the 3rd private kitchen that featured Peranakan cuisine called the Ampang Kitchen. Chef Raymond had a pretty impressive house where he shared the food he learned from a Penang master via a 14 days one-on-one training session in 2003. The private kitchen showcases his food but his main business is on the catering sector where one can order one or a few dishes for a potluck get together.

His food was very authentic and the “lemak” was shiok! Everything was homemade from scratch and the loving care put into the food preparation was evident. We were celebrating birthdays and the wines paired well with the spicy/sour dishes. Although there was too much food, we gladly asked for the leftovers to be packed as they will taste even better over time the next day.

It is not easy maintaining a private kitchen business. Your most busy periods are in the evenings and weekends are all work time. It is labour intensive and business may be sporadic at the start. One must have the passion for the business as the hours are long and clients may be critical. My hats off to them! As locals too, we should also support them wholeheartedly. The gig economy is still developing and this is just another aspect of that evolution.

 

 

 

I have been talking about this topic frequently with friends and an event I attended this week re-enforced it. I do reflect on my peers who are all around my age group and I observe that we are all going through each of our halftime experience in our own ways.

Bob Bulford wrote the book “Halftime :  Moving from Success to Significance” almost 20 years ago. https://www.amazon.com/Halftime-Significance-Bob-P-Buford/dp/0310344441 When we were teenagers, we experienced a puberty stage as part of growing up. As we move towards our mid-life, Bulford explains that everyone will go through another halftime phase that can be a traumatic experience.

It could be as early as the late thirties, right into our fifties. By then, we have had some level of success in our careers, the family is established as kids are older and we have attained a certain level of financial independence. One then starts to question “What’s next?”. What will one be remembered for, given that more than half our lives have passed?

How we react to this halftime experience will help us prepare for the next phase in our lives. When you are fifty, you probably wonder where all those years went and can you live for another 20 more years? That forces you to set your priorities right, rather than just focusing on more monetary gains.

Mine came when I was suddenly retrenched at the peak of my career at 46. I went from hero to zero overnight. It was as if my knees were chopped off. I struggled to find another job and a friend suggested that I read this book. Over the next couple of years, this strive for significance gained traction and meaning for me. How can we give back to society was more appealing to me than comparing salaries. One can still cut down on your expenses and still feel happier. Just solely focusing on gaining material wealth alone can start to feel so hollow.

I look around me and see more friends, especially the male ones, facing this phase of confusion and uncertainty. How do we face it and prepare for the journey forward is important. Talking about it with like-minded people helps, to share each other’s unique experience.

I started to also observe some success stories of people who had managed to move from success to significance and I am encouraged to learn from them. One such event I attended this week was a good example. I was invited to a dinner to celebrate the creation of an endowment fund in honour of a man who had dedicated his life to the university that he had help steered for many years.

As he had to get financial support through a scholarship during his undergrad days, it was fitting that this endowment fund will also be helping more students financially. He had also recently retired from his role and this will be one of his moves to significance, to give back to the society that has been so generous to him. He will be able to spend more time now to do more things that will be more meaningful for him going forward.   https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/nus-starts-new-endowed-fund-in-honour-of-former-president-tan-chorh-chuan

I do wish everyone well as they face their personal halftimes. While I can share my experience with them, each person’s path will be unique which only the individual can understand, overcome and conquer on his own. Recognizing that you are experiencing your own halftime is a good first step in the right direction.

 

 

It has been a relatively quiet week for me. I am still giving tender loving care to my first batch of vegetable seedlings in my new hydroponics experiment, watching a lot of youtube videos on this topic as well as daily comedy channels about American politics.

What stood out this week for me were 2 separate introductory meetings I had that opened my eyes to what the younger generation’s aspirations are in the fast changing world of ours.

On Thursday, I had coffee with someone my Myanmar friend had told me I should meet. He introduced us and we arranged to have a chat on investment opportunities. I was pleasantly surprised to meet a young well mannered Millennial who had just gotten married. The discussion went along well as we introduced ourselves to each other. He was in the midst of getting more work experience in a venture capital firm with a goal to eventually managed their own family office setup based in S’pore with his brother.

His dad had been very successful in Myanmar and is looking to retire in Australia now. Hence they are cashing out from most of their current investments and leaving it to the next generation (him and his brother) to figure out what to do next. We both agree that there are exciting opportunities to be discovered in Myanmar as the country opens up.

As he was raised there for the first 18 years of his life, he had the unique added advantage of having a circle of friends who were in the who’s who list of that country, being on first name basis with the children of the important decision makers who will be the next generation of entrepreneurs growing up in a country that had shut itself from the world in the last 50 years and only opened up in the last few years.

He is well positioned both financially and experience wise to take advantage of the rapidly growing middle class in Myanmar as the resource rich country opens itself up to the global stage. Politically, it is still at an infancy level but I believe that they are smart enough to learn from the mistakes of their neighboring countries and hopefully not to repeat them.

I had recently participated in the mentorship program of my uni and had just accepted to take on 2 mentees for the next 12 months. To kick start the program, I had lunch with one of them on Friday for us to get to know each other better.

He had just completed his military national service to begin his first year as an undergraduate in a very interesting degree course in the faculty of Science called Quantitative Finance. The department only takes in a class of 30+ students per year and it is a combination of Finance, Maths and Computing topics.

http://www.nus.edu.sg/nusbulletin/faculty-of-science/undergraduate-education/degree-requirements/bachelor-of-sciencebachelor-of-science-hons-programme-requirements-b-sc-b-sc-hons/quantitative-finance/

I believe that with the way banking and most industries are going, technology like blockchain would make most current jobs redundant as we strive to increase efficiency with less manpower and Uberize everything. This course should be the way to go for future graduates looking to enter banking.

We talked about our backgrounds and discussed about what we hope to achieve from this program. I remember that during my time in the uni, the outside working world was a mystery until we actually graduated and started working. Hopefully, I can provide him with some guidance and share with him my experiences to help him crystallize his goals and the career path he eventually would like to take.

It was refreshing for me to have spoken to 2 young Millennials this week to hear about their aspirations and thoughts about their future. As a parent, it will also help me to better understand what my sons are going through now from their perspectives.

The fear of the generation gap is always going to be there, but by sharing, I hope to bridge the divide and learn more. I must remember to listen more and not to sound too preachy or forceful in my conversations with them in the future. We aim to strive for a win-win result where the experience will enrich both parties.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Over the last few weeks, I have had the opportunity to share with some friends and new acquaintances my experience on building a new stream of passive income for retirement via REITs (Real Estate Investment Trust). While I had blogged about this before, this topic is worthy to put down in writing here again. I hope I could provide this link to friends in the future, to encourage more people to take it up as part of their retirement planning. One should also read up on the many materials on the web first to get a better understanding before investing.

REIT  stocks are well established in the developed countries and they have strict criteria which the trust has to follow in order to ensure that they qualify to maintain their REIT status.

Basically, they have 2 main rules to follow. (1) 90% of their net profit must be distributed as dividends, (2) while they have real estate assets in their portfolio, they are not allowed to borrow more than X% for financing (S’pore sets it at 45%).

Bottom line, REITS are relatively attractive investments because of the following:

• There are registered as a Trust utilizing a single purpose SPV (Special Purpose Vehicle) structure
• They hold actual assets (property as collateral)
• They are not overly leveraged due to the borrowing restriction
• The stock price movements are less volatile historically
• An investor gets regular dividends payouts (quarterly or semi-annually)
• There are many types of REITs in various sectors which an investor can choose from – hospitality, commercial, retail, retirement concepts, healthcare, country-specific etc
• If a REIT does actually fail, it is collateralized with real assets which can be sold off

S’pore has the most number of REITs in South East Asia, numbering about 30+. You can easily obtain summarized details from the newspapers or online (eg. reitdata.com). Current yields range from 5 to 9%, so they are pretty decent.

As a starting point, I will eliminate the highest yielding ones from my portfolio construction list as they will carry the highest risk (risk/reward ratio). I will then study the nature of each REIT to see what sector they are in, whether they have overseas exposure (which I try to avoid) and the type of property in their portfolio (by visiting their website).

For example, there are 2 shopping malls that I like – Clementi Mall and Suntec City. I frequent these places and I personally witness good human traffic with a healthy retail flow. I will zero in on the REITs that own them and add them into my preferred list.

Next, I will look at the historical candlestick charts (eg. using websites like  investing.com). I will look for support and resistance trend lines to get a gauge of entry levels that I am comfortable with. Once that is decided, I place in my orders and the waiting game starts. Once my buy orders are triggered, I usually hold them for quite a while as I collect the periodic dividends which will lower my average even more over time.

Soon, my portfolio of REITs is built up. It consists of about 15+ ones that I like and have entered at technical levels I like. I try not to have more than $30k invested in each of them. On a quarterly or semi-annual basis, the DPU (Dividend Per Unit) is announced by the REIT and the proceeds will be credited directly to my account. I can get about a few thousand dollars each time. This is better than putting my cash in deposits that earn only a fraction of the REIT yields.

I have also been investing in REITs listed in the US. They have a much deeper market there and the REITs can even be created as a fund of funds concept. As I am very big into retirement villages and healthcare for the seniors, I mainly invest in the REITs that support this theme.

REITs are also attractive to Real Estate companies as they become vehicles for them to offload assets at a reasonable mid-price to a trust to manage more effectively, freeing up much-needed cashflows.

It is not easy to own a property in S’pore and there are many regulations and taxes involved, plus required holding periods. REITs provide another alternative for an investor to indirectly hold property assets which they like, without the administrative hassles and liquid stocks mean that they can easily be sold.

This is an ideal vehicle for a person to build up a portfolio with regular streams of income like a bond, but yet have the ability to participate in real estate assets with an acceptable level of risk. You just need to study them, then pick and choose the ones you like in order to build a basket of them to further diversify the risk.

 

 

 

 

Myanmar has changed a lot since my first introduction to the country in 2015. I started a new relationship with this country again 9 months ago and this week’s blog will be my record of this journey so far.

Before that, a bit of the background building up to this new role of mine is needed. In one of my previous job, we were working on joint ventures to start or take over financial institutions in emerging markets around Asia. Subsequently, I had developed my in-depth work experiences with countries like China, Vietnam and Cambodia. Being linked to a sovereign fund, the for-profit company had to also ensure that it has value-add to the developing countries from a social and economic angle.

Over the years, we focused on the microfinance sector as it was a relatively unbanked niche which could greatly benefit the bottom to low middle-class segments of the society. Most had no access to any lending facilities and it was a poverty trap which they cannot get out of. If only they could have a loan to tide over their tight cashflows or to buy inventory, it could mean a life-changing experience for small-time vendors in the wet markets or rural farmers. We also worked with many SME (Small and Medium Enterprise) companies which could be mom-and-pop provision shops to egg/chicken farmers to retailers in a large resale/resellers centre.

The loan amounts need not necessarily be big and they can range from an equivalent of a few hundred US dollars into as high as half a million. Most of them were previously seeking funds from loan sharks who could charge anywhere from 50% per annum to north of a few times the notional amount for interest. Most microfinance institutions in the world charge anywhere from 20 to 30+ percent. This relatively high rate is still necessary as it is a very labour intensive process to disburse the loans and collect repayments and we need to make a case that the business is viable.

I had chanced upon this financial consultant role late last year as my ex-colleague from the previous company became the CEO of this Myanmar microfinance firm in Jul 2017. We had worked together on starting similar businesses in Cambodia and Myanmar during 2014-2016. The company has been having 4 years of losses since they started in 2013 and was unable to break even. As a result, the owner had decided to do a management change and appointed my friend. He identified multiple gaps in the current business and set about to strengthen the infrastructure with robust policies and beef up the framework for future growth.

With my experience in Treasury and Capital Markets, I was tasked to lead the asset and liability committee (ALCO) and assist the senior management team. We hope to become a more professionally run company with proper processes in place and a better ability to forecast the near future rather than do last minute firefighting all the time.

The first meeting started in Jan this year and I have been flying into Yangon every month for 2 to 3 days at a time to chair this 2 to 3 hours long meeting. In between, I also did monthly one on one sessions with the Risk, Finance and Operation head to listen to what issues they might have and help flag any potential problems that may occur.

The first 6 months were tougher than expected as we had to start from ground zero to formulate a more organized framework to monitor. Slowly, we were able to identify and pinpoint specific issues to tackle directly. Strategic directions were also fine-tuned to suit our management style.

The following 3 months from Jul to Sep was when we went into the next gear and challenged the team to perform at higher levels as the new strategies kicked into high gear. I am glad to know that at our last meeting this week, we were able to report a slight profit for the quarter, on route to a breakeven year for fiscal year up to Mar 2019. We are also nearing the completion of getting an equity injection from a new partner (IFC – owned by World Bank). This is a positive move.

It is a rewarding process for me to be able to see potential and then cultivate the team for success. Along the way, we had fun and got to know each other better. The young country is growing at a fantastic rate and the middle class is rising rapidly. there is still so much potential in this country which had closed itself to the world for almost 50 years. Its time will come eventually as it takes baby steps to connect with the rest of the world.

 

 

 

Mentorship – the providing of guidance by a mentor, especially an experienced person in a company or educational institution to another person, normally known as the mentee.

As I reflect on the various stages of my life, I begin to wonder if it would have been better if I could have had someone older and wiser to guide me along the way, rather than having a trial and error approach towards my life journey. Talking with friends worked sometimes, but most are probably experiencing the same situation like me without any experience to fall back on.

Two memorable occasions come to mind for me. Once, when I was in junior college, I suddenly felt a deep sense of loss and unease for days. The funk made me question the meaning of life, the purpose of studying. A wise friend finally pulled me aside and comforted me. He told me that he had also gone through this phase too, that everyone goes through this unease and it was perfectly OK because in will pass. Years later, I realized that I was probably going through a puberty stage. The hormonal changes within a teenager could likely be the cause.

Another event happened when I was suddenly retrenched at 46 and had a difficult time trying to look for a job (10 months, 60+ interviews and counting). A friend recommended that I read the book Halftime by Bob Bulford. Again, this helped me to understand that everyone goes through this mid-life crisis stage in life where we will be forced to seriously reflect on our career achievements. Eventually, one’s thinking will evolved to a chapter of aiming for significance in the second half (Act 2) of our lives.

During my banking career, I had the opportunity to mentor a number of  younger colleagues. I hope that I had value added to them by sharing my life experiences and lessons learnt. I do believe in sharing, being transparent and walking the talk. If I can shortcut the learning process for them, why not?

At this stage of my life, it will be about seeking significance and giving back to the community. While work and making money is important, there is more to that than life itself. Perhaps we have another good 20 to 30 years left and looking back on the past 50 years, our priorities should change.

In the last few weeks, I have started to reach out to the schools I attended to offer my time to the alumni groups. I had a meeting with my secondary/Junior College alumni team 2 weeks back to have a preliminary brainstorming session to see how we can reach out to tap the powerful group of ex-students. The idea is to bring like minded people to be able to offer to give back to the school in many other ways, not just financially. Increasing the profile of the alumni association will be a good first step, in my humble opinion.

I had also signed up for the mentorship program in my uni a few months ago. I was accepted and we had a meet your mentor/mentee dinner get together on Monday. This was my first year of participation. The program had already been running for 6 years.

We were assigned to specific standing tables to position ourselves while the undergrads mingle around us to get to know us better. Our mentor profiles were given out to them a few days earlier and the tables were based on the industries we were in. I was in the financial sector table and met a few familiar ex-colleague faces there.

Overall, I had a few sessions with groups of students for a friendly get to know you chat. If a mentor hit it off with a mentee, both persons could immediately match each other and fill out the forms at the end of the evening. I had provided my LinkedIn profile prior to the dinner and wanted to see how many would do their homework before the dinner and connect with me prior to the dinner. A hand full of them did.

While I thought that this program would be more applicable to final year students getting ready to join the workforce soon, the majority were made up of first and second year students. I guess the seniors are too preoccupied with their exams, overseas attachments and internships.

I eventually spent most of my time with a few students and had a fruitful discussion. I was trying to evaluate the undergrads whom I can value add to based on my experiences. I was also looking for commitment as it takes 2 hands to clap in a mentor/mentee relationship. Last thing I want is a reluctant mentee going through the motion and non-commital to the program.

After sleeping over it, I decided to emailed the organizers the next day on my choice of the 2 candidates. I think we will make a good match and that I can add value to them as mentor. One of my selected student emailed me the following day to thank me for my time and inform me that I am his first choice. Great to know we have a match! The organizers subsequently confirmed for both parties and the mentorship will begin next month, after the undergrads’ term exams. I am excited to see how this will turn out in the next 6 months and hope to establish a good rapport with him.

Off to an early night cap tonight. I have to get up early tomorrow for my slightly less than half marathon (18.45 km) run at 5 am.

 

 

 

 

 

 

It has been 2 weeks since we returned from our amazing south Italy adventure. Prior to the trip, I wrote in my blog about taking stock of what I had done so far and then deciding on what I want to do next. I believe that things are starting to gel together as I aim to move towards a path that veers towards seeking significance at halftime.

A friend had shared with me his idea of a portfolio career for senior PMETs which he believes in, which is to do a number of things not for the $$ alone, but which interest the heart and gives personal satisfaction beyond money. Helping others with no hidden agenda is a refreshing change and it nourishes the soul. It is a recipe for staying happy while counting your blessings. I believe that my journey of discovery is continuing and a number of events this week is starting to shape the path I will take.

Earlier in the week, I was connected to an executive development career coach introduced by a mutual friend. We hit it off right away as we have many similarities in life – same schools, 2 sons, halftime mid-career direction change etc. We shared experiences with each other and it is a privilege to see the roadmap of someone who is a few years ahead of you, to learn from it.

Like puberty in our teens, we do experience a similar mid-life crisis of sorts during our halftime period. How we react to it is very important. We need to have a game plan in order to map out the next course of actions required. Getting clarity of your innermost goals by verbalizing it will be the first step towards a to-do list action plan.

Two months back, my wife and I attended the founder’s day of our alma mater as our older son was to be presented an academic prize from his junior college. It sets us on a discussion on how we can give back to the school as it was so instrumental in setting us up on the right framework to approach life so many years ago in our secondary and JC days. It need not be financial but it could include intangibles like providing our time to projects relating to the Alumni office.

After a series of email exchanges with the Alumni office, I finally had a face to face meeting with 3 of them on Thursday. It was a fruitful brainstorming session on how we can better connect with the alumni population. I shared with them some of the stuff we had done previously. I had previously worked with my brother in law to fund the 6 years school fees of a boy in this school through the youth wing of a clan association. We had also set up a small annual university bursary named after our boys via the NUS Campus Couples initiative.

I think the approach is 2 prong: Firstly, the Alumni office has to actively reach out to as many old boys and girls as possible to raise its profile. This can be done via social media. We should not be surprised that there are many pockets and groups of people keeping in touch via this medium. Our generation probably is more nostalgic to want to meet up now. Once this connection is established, we can then gather like-minded people to organize reunions. Eventually, I hope we can get more financial support for the school or for some of them to give back their time to the school (eg. as mentors or sharing of life/work experiences for career guidance etc).

The other thing that happened was the progress I made on getting 2 parties together for a discussion on a possible deal to trade raw materials in bulk, for me to act as a middleman. I came across someone from another investment discussion who has traded raw materials for years, primary for the China market. He is constantly looking out for import and export of new materials opportunities. I spoke to another good friend based in Indochina and he came up with some suppliers for the production of certain materials that may be of interest to the buyer. I finally connected them together this week. It is still early days but at least it is a start. There may be other opportunities in Myanmar as I go there every month for my microfinance consultancy role. Let’s see how this develops.

Lastly, I have finally kick start my first little hydroponics vegetable experiment. After my Aquaponics course in May, I have been studying this field and buying/gathering materials like seeds/systems to test my green fingers. If this is successful, I will then embark on a bigger hydroponics setup before eventually graduating to an aquaponics structure.

It has been a meaningful week for me as the building blocks of my halftime journey is starting to form. Where it takes me, I have no idea. But it is better to have gone somewhere and done that, rather than just sit on my butt and do nothing and slowly becoming a whinny, complaining/bitching old uncle.

 

 

 

We just returned from a lovely 2 weeks vacation in south Italy. It was part of the celebration of my wife’s birthday and also to attend a fantasy wedding of a friend. The journey brought us slowly down south as we move towards the island of Pantelleria – the southwestern tip of Italy.

We landed in Rome on 21 Aug and took a train to Naples, then to the Amalfi coast before heading to Sicily and finally towards the 3 days wedding event in Pantelleria.

Naples was a rich empire that started its decline in 1870 when Italy was unified and the northern cities of Rome, Milan and Venice took over. Before that, it was a prosperous empire with a rich history that spans into Sicily.

After 2 days in Naples, we headed to the Amalfi coast and visited Pompeii on the way down. It was amazing to see a town frozen in time more than 2,000 years ago when Mount Vesuvius suddenly erupted in 79 AD. At that time, the citizens were not even aware that it was a volcano as it was dormant for more than 800 years!

Next stop was Sorrento. I was pleasantly surprised with this festive place as I was expecting an old town with a slow pace. It had a holiday vacation feel to the place which made it very enjoyable. The guided tours gave us a well-covered understanding of the place within our 2 days there Sorrento Small-Group Food Walking Tour.

Next off was a day trip to Ravello and Amalfi towns. Ravello was where Wonder Woman was filmed and we could see the majestic mountain views that inspired the director to choose this location. Amalfi was a small vacation town next to the beach where we stopped for lunch before heading to Positano for our next 2 nights stopover. Remind me to never drive again in Amalfi coast – it was a hair-raising experience with the narrow roads. The first warning omen was when I picked my rental car at Hertz – the guy at the counter commented that my car was a bit too big for the Amalfi coast…

Positano was a picturesque town that was exactly like all the photos were saw. Buildings were built into the steep hills over the centuries and the colourful paints made them even more outstanding. The room we were in had a balcony with a lovely view – the bedroom even had a chandelier hanging from the ceiling! We had a lovely meal at a very homely family managed Italian restaurant (Da Vincenzo) and the Al Dente pasta was simply awesome… Thanks to my wine course last year, I learned that Italian wines consist of multiple grape varieties and each region has their own specialities that go well with their local food. Campania wines were therefore on our hit list.

The next destination was to the island of Sicily. We flew from Naples to Catania and rented a car to drive into the city of Noto which my Italian friend had recommended that we visit. The lovely city was welcoming to visitors and its food was superb. Never knew a grilled eggplant could taste this good. The tour guide recommended us to a small family restaurant Trattoria Fontana d’Ercole and I tried another most amazing pasta. Apparently, the owner was a former barber that decided to open a restaurant since his wife cooked so well!!! The stories we hear about the birthplace of the mafia via movies now looks so tame by comparison.

After 2 nights at Noto, we drove westward to Palermo with a stopover at Syracuse to visit the Roman ruins and huge ancient amphitheatre. Again, the town of Palermo surprised us with its rustic charms. It was a throwback to what Italy was in the 1960s. Which we could have stayed another night to explore the city further.

Finally, it was off to our final destination to attend my friend’s wedding in Pantelleria. The resort Resort Acropoli we stayed in was an old palace built on top of Roman ruins 300 years ago and now has a modern swimming pool with a lot of olive trees and rosemary bushes surrounding it. Our villa was called Dammuso Zafiro and it was more than 200 years old. During our 4 nights stay, we managed to visit the volcano created lake (Lo specchio di venere) to do a mud bath and did a private boat cruise around the island.

Thanks to the wedding, we had 3 days of celebrations in some of the best locations on the island. The first evening was an informal wedding reception to welcome the 100 guests, as we were all meeting for the first time. It was in a nice luxury hotel Sikelia Luxury Retreat that overlooked a great sunset.

The second evening started earlier at 5 pm with a church wedding in a small church that was built in 1725. The event was made even more unique as the groom had also invited a Myanmar Catholic priest to the ceremony and colourful flags from the Myanmar church were also hung outside the building.

The subsequent dinner was held in a stunning location that took my breath away. It was a restaurant located between a valley that was surrounded by vineyards l’Officina – Tenuta Coste Ghirlanda . We literally could pick raspberries off the roadside and grapes from the vines to eat them directly. How cool was that!?! We had a long table prepared for all the guest and they had a pretty flower arrangement set up which was made of all edible fruits and herbs. A roving live band played Italian classics throughout the night. It was magical. We stayed till 1 am and skipped the handmade desert as we were so tired by then. Most of the guest stayed till 3…

The final day was a recovery late brunch at 2 pm in another scenic venue (Altamarea) for more seafood and drinks. As most of us knew each other by now, it was an informal let-your-hair-down session to chillax and groove to the music.

We left Pantelleria with lots of good memories and had to stay in FCO Rome airport for a night to await our connecting flight home. This coastal town area was also quite quaint and we could experience how a day at the beach was like for a local family.

This 2 weeks vacation adventure was good for the soul. It was like when we were young where my wife and I travel to new places to discover new experiences before the kids came. It helps to put me in the right frame of mind to plan my next halftime career moves.