The scientist-turned-explorer is next in the series of talks run by National Geographic. Albert talks about how he stumbled on one of the most significant figures in history.

Your education is in Materials Science and Engineering, but how did you bring yourself over to something like anthropology?
I think we are all anthropologists, trying to make sense of this human experience. Science and Engineering have always been important to me because it is the combination of curiosity with problem-solving. But after finishing my last degree I realised that what I was most curious about was existential. That’s why I started searching for answers in the exploration of the past, present and future but applying an engineering mindset to how I go about it.

How did you come across the story of Genghis Khan, and what interested you about his life?
Many years ago I travelled alone to Mongolia on the Trans-Siberian Railway in search of some connection to my deep ancestral past. There I became friends with an amazing Mongolian man who agreed to show me the countryside by car and horse. Throughout our journey small things that we would come across would trigger stories of Genghis Khan, and quickly I realised his history is very much alive in the everyday experiences of any Mongolian. Subsequently, when I started diving into the literature I was hooked.

Here was a person who changed the course of human history, but from the position of an outcaste nomad amidst the turbulent waters of tribal warfare. And although he created the largest contiguous empire in human history – in landmass and population – we know partially nothing about him.

Having grown up in the West, where you learn about Alexander the Great or Julius Caesar, but not Genghis Khan…I wanted to change that.

What kind of research went into digging into the backstory of this historical figure?
My team and I scoured through every piece of historical literature I could find. I also spent a lot of time with a few key Mongolian historians, Professor Shagdaryn Bira and Professor Tsogt Ishdorj – heroes of a nation that was emerged from decades of cultural repression with a strong sense of self-identify.

Did you come across any obstacles along the way?
Too many to recount, from politics to wolves to flash floods to suffocating swarms of flies. We were entering into a land that has not been open to exploration for over 800 years.

You’ve travelled far and wide in your adventures. Where have you been recently that took your breath away?
I just returned from a new project in Xian, at the burial site of First Emperor of China. This is home to the iconic Terracotta Army warriors, but so much more.

What’s one piece of equipment you can’t live without at work?
Tabasco sauce!

Chasing Ancient Mysteries With Albert Lin is on 30 August at Esplanade Theatres on the Bay.

Recent dog foster parent Catherine Flanagan talks about her experience taking in a stray dog from Save Our Street Dogs.

Have you ever pondered “I’d love to own a dog, but maybe that’s too difficult while living in Singapore…”? Well, fostering a dog provides an opportunity to experience rewards of dog ownership without long-term complications. SOSD (Save Our Street Dogs) is a charity organisation relying entirely on donations to fund the whole operation.

A large and dedicated team of passionate volunteers manage its extensive services, primarily monitoring, rescuing and rehabilitating Singapore’s stray dogs to hopefully find their ‘forever homes’.

Under typical circumstances, rescued street dogs are placed in SOSD’s animal shelter for their rehoming program. However in particular cases when the shelter is unable to provide adequate space or the right environment, SOSD seeks foster homes.

When rescued street dogs have suffered a traumatic experience, require surgery, rest and rehabilitation, or there’s the occasional litter of puppies requiring more attention than the shelter can provide, fosterers provide an invaluable step towards the eventual rehoming of these dogs. Over the preferred two-month minimum time-frame, along with providing a safe, secure environment including adequate food, drink, exercise and basic training, fostering requires observing the dog’s character during its stay.

Obviously a street dog’s behaviour will be affected as it learns to become part of a family unit, no longer relying on stealth and cunning as a sole stray or pack member. This progress provides critical feedback for SOSD, who offers the fosterer support every step of the way.

So how did we come to foster a dog? Having owned dogs over many years, we had the prerequisite experience. Our most recent dog passed away late last year and as our overwhelming grief gradually subsided, serendipity played its part. Mid-March, SOSD posted a video on Facebook desperately seeking a foster home for an adult stray dog called ‘Sunrise’. The dog had been discovered hiding in an underground gravesite by cemetery caretakers who promptly alerted SOSD.

Upon rescue, they realised she had a severely injured tail and took her directly to one of their associated vet clinics. Without this intervention, Sunrise would probably have died alone from the severe infection. Following her operation, Sunrise required regular wound dressing, rest and rehabilitation.

A picture of Sunrise.

Given such desperate circumstances, I realised we could help. We still had our dog’s belongings, and we worked from home, so we could provide the attention needed. I confirmed our offer through SOSD’s website then happily arranged dog beds, bowls, toys and blankets. With Sunrise still under veterinary care, a SOSD representative visited us to ensure our foster home’s suitability. Their on-site assessment and information exchange proved helpful.

Collection day arrived. With excitement – balanced by trepidation – we met our SOSD representative at the vet clinic. Enter, Sunrise: a trembling pooch with ‘movie-star’ eyes, still recovering from anaesthesia, clearly not enjoying being the centre of attention. Essential calmness prevailed and with antibiotics, iodine and bandages in hand, we set off for home.

There, we introduced Sunrise to our property, inside and outside. Firstly, leading Sunrise to the area where we wanted her to relieve herself, repeating ‘prompt’ words to create future association. Then we led her through the areas where we were happy for her to go. In most domesticated dog cases, puppies rarely enter into an area where they have not been introduced. We weren’t sure if the same applied for an adult street dog, but thought it worth a try. Introductions over, Sunrise was happy to lie down, curl up and sleep, sleep, sleep!

Over the next two weeks, we regularly changed her dressing, allowed her space to come to terms with her new situation, provided regular reassuring contact plus some structure to her day. Sunrise appeared content with her new situation but was cautious about showing any playful enthusiasm at first, as if fearful to let her true sweet nature show.

However over several weeks, we witnessed a butterfly-like metamorphosis as our timid foster dog blossomed into an adorable, genteel lady – the quietest, least demanding dog we had ever met. Initially, we were unsure how much of this angelic behaviour was due to her slow recovery from the operation versus an intrinsic part of her street dog primal instincts.

We were delighted when Sunrise’s all-day lethargy became little bursts of energy between regular naps, which didn’t strain our home office-based lifestyle. After each nap, Sunrise performed a very dainty stretch. Her behaviour then started to vary on a daily basis; episodes of heartening progress contrasted moments of entrenched jumpiness or fear. We juggled attention, encouragement, patience and firm correction, always ending with positive reassurance. Where Sunrise once approached us with caution, she now approached us confident of a pat and a cuddle from us.

Our most significant training exercise occurred after we discovered Sunrise would not walk beyond our front gate. When she had fully recovered, on leash, we cajoled her out to the street-front. Once there she firmly planted her feet, refusing to budge, clearly wary of the great unknown. Recalling some sage advice – “The only time to train an animal is when you have more time and patience than they do” – I sat alongside Sunrise at a leash’s length away, tugged firmly a few times, then waited. After a long pause she sidled up to me. After some verbal encouragement, I moved away again, tugged, waited and after another long pause, she moved closer. Fast-forward a few days, Sunrise was happily trotting around the neighbourhood with us!

For longer-term obedience training, it should prove helpful that Sunrise, like most street-dogs, has a strong food drive. Street dogs also distinguish themselves through their heightened senses, especially at night time. Sunrise’s highly sensitive hearing means when we are on our walks, she detects a car coming and attempts to move out of its way, well before we hear or see it. Her extremely keen eyesight distinguishes every person and dog we encounter on our walks, long before we do. However Sunrise conducts her most endearing performance when she doesn’t want to go anywhere – she will simply hit the deck and her whole body becomes completely limp. When we physically encourage her up again, she eventually agrees to stand, thereby conceding surrender. Quite an effective delaying tactic!

Our most rewarding development occurred a few weeks after Sunrise’s tail bandages were removed. At first, she often looked back to where her formerly long tail would have been, but didn’t wag her remaining short, stumpy tail. Gradually, along with her growing trust in us, we noticed a tentative tail-wag. Now we’re delighted to see Sunrise enthusiastically tail-wags every morning when she greets us, clearly happily adapting to her new life as a family pet. Some socialisation work with people and dogs remains but with SOSD providing behavioural assistance at the shelter, Sunrise should soon become someone’s beloved companion in her ‘forever home’. Our fostering helped start Sunrise on her new journey. We hope our experience might encourage you to try fostering a dog from SOSD as well.

There are a number of criteria the fosterer must fulfil to qualify, which SOSD specify on their website.

Get a taste for Singaporean flavour at this lively hawker centre, Carolyn Beasley says.

Many expats in Singapore love their local hawker food. But there’s one hawker centre that’s famous among Singaporeans and frequented by only a handful of locally based expats. Welcome to the popular Chomp Chomp Food Centre.

The wok smoke is laced with chilli, and it creates a mild eye sting. Like all the others, I’m wading through Chomp Chomp prowling for a table. About to admit defeat, I spy my kids waving excitedly. They’ve performed a manoeuvre known as ‘the hover’ and pounced onto a large table upon it becoming free.

The table is on the decking outside, the ultimate smoke-free seating position. Beside the prized table is a banner, which trumpets: ‘Chomp Chomp Food Centre – Singapore’s Favourite Hawker Centre, 2011 and 2012.’

This unassuming hawker centre of 36 stalls in Serangoon Gardens is swarming with locals, and its favoured status is clear. While there are other hawker centres just metres away with tables available, it’s Chomp Chomp that has the name as well as the history.

A delicious plate of prawn wanton noodles arrives on the table and the vendor wipes her hands on her apron as she explains: ‘Our family has been working this stall for over 50 years. We took over from my husband’s parents 40 years ago. Our stall started as a cart in Kensington Park Road and we moved here in 1972 when the centre was built.’

Many other stallholders have stuck around too. Mrs Tan and her husband bought the family sugarcane juice business 20 years ago. She declares: ‘Chomp Chomp is the only place in Singapore you can get a one litre bucket of sugarcane juice!’

Massive as the sugarcane juice is, the real star here is the BBQ seafood. Try the quirkily named shellfish dishes of gong gong (pearl conch) or sambal la la (clams), both at $10-$15. For a quintessential taste of Singapore, the BBQ stingray packs a spicy punch ($10-$20). For the non-seafood eater, the carrot cake (which is neither cake nor carrot) is a winner at $3 – it contains steamed cubes of rice flour, radish and an omelette-like egg.

The BBQ chicken wings ($1.20 each) are: ‘By far the best in Singapore, especially with this chilli sauce.’ The stall assistant enthuses with wide eyes and profuse head nodding: ‘My boss has stalls all over Singapore and everyone knows they’re the best!’

To serve more of its famous dishes, Chomp Chomp stays up late, one of the main differences to other hawker centres. It opens at 5pm, and the dedicated stallholders churn out the fare until 1.30am, when other vendors are tucked up in bed. By midnight the place is still humming, with partygoers sharing plates of smoking seafood and a large Tiger beer on their way home.

But tonight, it’s early and I notice a family standing beside our table. The mother stares at me expectantly and I realise I’m getting ‘the hover’. Our time on this table is up, and as I eye the dregs of all the legendary dishes, and the hoards that are waiting, I now understand.

Chomp Chomp is not just about the food. It’s about traditions, continuity, heritage, and of course, the food.

Chomp Chomp Food Centre is at 20 Kensington Park Road, Serangoon Gardens, 557269.

The sixth annual Volunteer of the Year Awards celebrated the generosity ANZA’s volunteers give year-round to enrich our association.

Close to 200 turned up to the Australian High Commission in May to thank ANZA’s dedicated volunteers, who constantly offer more of their time and effort to the association than was ever expected of them, at the sixth annual Volunteer of the Year Awards. Australian High Commissioner to Singapore Philip Green and Deputy New Zealand High Commissioner to Singapore Mary Thurston – as well as Charities Patron Antonia Kidman – came to help present awards to the winners.

Whether it’s through our sporting groups, monthly tours, interest groups or charitable work, ANZA volunteers are truly the dynamic force of our community. Each and every volunteer has been – and continues to be – an integral and valuable part of the ANZA team.

We have over 300 active volunteers in ANZA, all helping make the association what it is today, and it’s this willingness to help others that has helped keep ANZA flourishing for almost 70 years.

This year we received more than 100 nominations for almost 50 nominees. Reading through the nominations was a moving moment for ANZA staff, further proving how much our members treasure the hard effort put in by every volunteer.

The Australian High Commissioner to Singapore Award

Sarah Anglade

ANZA Soccer
On the ANZA Soccer committee for the last five years, Sarah can be found pitch-side every Saturday; and Sundays at grounds scattered across our Little Red Dot. In addition to her regular duties, she was the lead organiser for this year’s SEA Cup, which ANZA staged – and won – in March. Sarah also continued as the Saturday U14 Age Group Coordinator and Sunday Senior Competition Coordinator. She has volunteered tirelessly as ANZA Soccer’s Age Coordinator for four years.

The New Zealand High Commissioner to Singapore Award

Louise Pike

ANZA Netball
A wonderful ambassador for ANZA Netball, Louise promotes fair play and healthy competition. Volunteering a great deal of her time over the last five years, the working mum with three kids still manages to organise so many aspects of the netball season. Louise takes on a big role in ANZA Netball – not only does she organise the Perth trip, but there are always emails from her keeping everyone informed. She can be found at netball every Saturday and is always happy to help.

The #ANZA Award

Laura Gordon

ANZA Cycling
Laura is the social media guru for ANZA Cycling making sure that #anzacycling is a constant on Instagram. She has spent countless hours over the last couple of years as ANZA Cycling’s unofficial travel agent. She has seamlessly done all the grunt work for trips on a regular basis – from Malaysia to Indonesia and Taiwan. Whether serving banana bread from the support car or ‘herding the cats’ on Saturday ride send-offs, she provides a friendly and informative guiding hand for cyclists old and new.

The ANZA Action in the Community Award

Sandra Poh

ANZA Action
Sandra is a quiet achiever for ANZA. A long term member of over eight years, she has been an integral part of the New Members Committee, helping people to settle into Singapore. Tirelessly enthusiastic, she goes beyond her committee duties, networking, encouraging people to join activities, setting up ad hoc groups for outings, charity events and various interests. She also volunteers for four of ANZA Action’s charities regularly, and is always the first to put her hand up to help out when required.

The Outstanding Service to ANZA Award

Gina Kubal

ANZA Soccer
Gina has been involved in ANZA Soccer for 19 years, starting when her eldest of her three sons was 5 in 1995. Serving on the committee for 12 years, Gina no longer has children involved in ANZA Soccer, yet continues to serve the community. She has brought a management approach with older teenage boys – whose reliability varies with the levels of testosterone – that keeps the boys in line, but is also committed to the wider team. She has a generous, gracious presence on the committee.

The Outstanding Service to ANZA Award

Halyna English

ANZA Soccer
Halyna has been with ANZA Soccer for eight years, and as one parent has said of her, ‘There would be no ANZA Soccer without Halyna’. She gives her time generously, and is always positive and upbeat, no matter the situation. Her rapport with the players and parents has made ANZA Soccer a welcoming environment. Halyna is passionate about having a well-run and fair competition, and shows genuine concern for all the players. She has a wonderful bond with the players, parents and coaches.

The ANZA Members’ Choice Award

Marcel De Bruijckere

ANZA Soccer
Marcel passionately believes in motivating young soccer players. Marcel has also shown a knack for engaging parents, making them more involved with other team parents and the rest of the team – and his rapport with other coaches has genuinely helped bring the ANZA community together. Marcel is a fantastic coach, and an organiser of the Jakarta trips and ANZA Youth Soccer teams for several tournaments. He tries to include kids with different skill levels, and is extremely positive.

The President’s Award

James Mansfield-Page

ANZA Scouts
Having been a Scout with 1st ANZA himself when growing up, the recent Baden Powell Award-winner returned after doing National Service as he wanted to give back and pass on the many useful skills that he learned. For almost four years he has been a fantastic example to other Scouts. The Scouts often see him as something of a big brother as well as a leader, as he effortlessly crosses the boundary between being one of them and also being able to instantly take charge. He is an inspiration for all.

Nominees

One of the charities ANZA has supported for years has closed, but not without one last special moment.

Riverkids has been supported by ANZA through various arms – from the continual fundraising of ANZA Action, to events like the annual ANZA Ball. For over a decade, this Cambodian-based charity has worked hard to help hundreds of families struggling with child abuse and trafficking in the slums of Phnom Penh.

Riverkids have sent hundreds of children to school – some have reached university –fed malnourished babies so they grow into chubby toddlers, and sheltered frightened women and children – helping them find the courage to rebuild their lives.

This year’s ANZA Ball, which saw over 600 people turn up, helped raise a whopping $50,000 through prizes donated by our partners. This money was divided between Riverkids and ANZA’s other supported charity, Melrose Home.

By the time of the event however, the fate of Riverkids was sealed – at the end of May, the program would come to an end due to lack of funding. It was Riverkids’ final goal that the families under their care would get the resources to build a better life.

At the beginning of May, 104 bicycles and helmets arrived for the kids of Riverkids Project’s scholarship and mentorship program, as well as the older children of families in the charity’s Lifeboat program.

Set up on the grounds of Westline, a school Riverkids has partnered with, every child in the mentorship program got a bike, and all the older children in the Lifeboat families too got a bicycle for school. The day was filled with cake, music and fun for all the kids who were there.

Riverkids has been working closely with another NGO to try and continue its Healthy Mother, Happy Baby program – helping keep mothers nourished so that their children are born healthy – and ensuring that the new kids are enrolled into school for the year.

We’d like to thank everyone involved in helping donate their time, money and effort into really changing the lives of families involved with Riverkids. It’s truly made a difference.