Goal No.5 - New Country Visited + SRS Portfolio as of 10 Dec 2023

This is probably an overachievement year for Goal No.5 to travel to 8 new places or experiences. 😎

I visited 3 new countries in 2023 - Portugal, Norway, and United Arab Emirates and I will visit another 3 new countries during Christmas. 

This was my first visit to UAE and I have to say that I am pretty impressed with what they are trying to do there. The first and second generation rulers of UAE has done very well for their citizens (and foreigners) and I would venture to say that they have been very progressive. Contary to my pre-conceived perception, there is religious harmony (and tolerance), they welcome foreigners, women has almost equal rights, it is very safe and alcohol is easily available. The rulers are known to be "fans of Singapore" and I find many simliarities between UAE and Singapore except they have great abundance of oil. They took advantage of the petrol dollars to transform UAE into a modern metropolis and the rest of the region, including Saudi Arabia are now trying to play catch up. 

One of the top attractions in Abu Dhabi is the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque and it is very impressive. 

Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque

The mosque is clad in Macedonian Marble and is a fusion of Mughal, Moorish, Ottoman and Persian architecture. It took 11 years to complete and the mosque is also the burial place of Sheikh Zayed Al Nahyan - which is high revered in UAE (similiar to how LKY was)

Outer compound of the Mosque 

The mosque can house more than 41,000 people and the persian carpet in the main prayer hall (see below) is the largest hand-knotted carpet and took two years to be completed. 

One of the 3 chandeliers with handwoven carpet below

The other site that took me by surprise was the Abrahamic Family House, dedicated to the pursuit of peaceful co-existence for generations to come and it contains 3 houses of worship. Eminence Ahmed El-Tayeb Mosque, St.Francis Church, and Moses Ben Maimon Synagogue – offer the opportunity for worshippers to participate in and learn about religious services, listen to holy scripture, and experience sacred rituals. Everyone is invited to learn about any of the three faiths.

Signing ceremony 

The three houses of worship are designed of equal stature, size and materiality to eliminate any sense of hierarchy. The three structures border an elevated landscaped garden that becomes a shared space for gathering and connection.

The Mosque is oriented towards Mecca, the Church towards the East and the Synagogue towards Jerusalem.

The Church is dedicated to St. Francis of Assisi, a 13th century friar

The wall of delicate latticework designed to allow the light to filter through

The Synagogue symbolises the traditional shelter for prayer.

Now you can appreciate and understood what I meant by religious tolerance and the forward thinking of the UAE rulers.

SRS Portfolio - 10 Dec 2023

I have been very lazy for many months now and it is reflected by the high cash level of almost $150,000. There is no dividend or distribuitions received  since my last update except that the value has improved from $388k to $393k. 

In my last post, I opened an Endowus account but it is still not active yet as I have yet to complete my KYC. As you know, Mr IPO prefers to be a Ninja and don't like to be KYCed. Guess there is no choice this time ... Happy SRSing.

SRS Portflio as of 10 Dec 2023