Recent Captures with my Samsung U700

Singapore Kite Day @ Punggol (17 Feb)



The Lady Boss at the very popular Togi Korean Restaurant (14 Feb)

BBQ Pork Belly (Togi Restaurant)


The delicious Swanky Franky from Botak Jones @ Clementi!! (20 Feb)

Why I'm in a hurry...

It's gone..



Namdaemun when i saw it only a little more than a year ago, at the end of 2006, with my dear friend Lynn on our 9-day backpack trip to South Korea.

now, it's all in ruins.. (see article with pic and more pics)

so many sights, so many places, gone before we know it.. some even before we manage to see them... let me count.. the wonderful Lake Pichola in Udaipur (Rajasthan), where James Bond Octopussy was filmed, now all dried up (this one i saw before it happened)... the lovely Painted Storks of Bharatpur Wildlife Sanctuary no longer visit the nature reserve there because of global warming (managed to see them too.. phew)... the glaciers around the world are also fast disappearing (managed to see one in 2003)... Sri Lanka.. peace truce abruptly ended start of this year, after 6 years, making travel there unsafe again (thankfully i visited the wonderful country in 2005).. Middle East.. who knows when it is safe to visit again also.. :(.. (and i haven't even seen Egypt, Israel nor Jordan!!) plus Giant's Causeway in Ireland.. latest report by environmentalists say that up to half of it would eventually become submerged under water (haven't seen!!) and what about the amazing Pamukkale in Turkey!! It's apparently getting really dirty and damaged!! And I haven't seen that too!!

Here are more..

Quick! See them before they are gone!!! :(

Remembering Ah Meng (1960-2008)


should be easy to figure out which kid is me, ya??

(in case you haven't read the news: Death of Ah Meng)

i guess i'm who the papers described as those who "grew up in the 80s and 90s" and on whom ah meng "will leave a mark".. in those days, a trip to the zoo was a special once-in-a-blue-moon treat, so much so that we were clearly all dressed in our sunday best, with pretty dresses and sweet red mary janes for me and sis, and flowered shirt and funky pants for my brother, so we could take a pic with ah meng as a memento..

i must have been only in kindergarten or so (since i started wearing glasses once i got to primary one), which means ah meng must have been in her teens...

we'll remember you fondly, ah meng.. :,( hugs..

The Diving Bell and The Butterfly



a powerful and thought-provoking show that left the audience spell-bound and glued to their seats long after the credits started to roll..

worth watching. go catch it at GV Europa before it ends.

(the movie site)

The Complaints Choir of Singapore



Hey! I found the youtube video of one of their private performances! Sigh, there's something about the stuff that the govt bans publicly (read here the news article about them and another one about the ban) ... like the forbidden fruit, it makes me much more curious, so it was nice to still be able to find it online.. and the lyrics too! :) seems to me to be more funny than controversial.. here, have a look!

THE COMPLAINTS CHOIR SINGAPORE LYRICS

We get fined for almost everything
Drivers won’t ‘give chance’ when you want to ‘change lane’
The indoors are cold, the outdoors are hot;
And the humid air, it wrecks my hair
Those answering machines always make you hold
Only to hang up on you

When a pregnant lady gets on the train
Everyone pretends to be asleep
I’m stuck with my parents till I’m 35
Cause I can’t apply for HDB
We don’t recycle any plastic bags
But we purify our pee

*chorus:
What’s wrong with Singapore?
Losing always makes me feel so sore
Cause if you’re not the best
Then you’re just one of the rest

My oh my Singapore
What exactly are we voting for?
What’s not expressly permitted
is prohibited

“Ooh”

When I’m hungry at the food court, I see
People ‘chope’ seats with their tissue paper
To the aunty staying upstairs:
Your laundry’s dripping on my bed sheets
Please don’t squat on the toilet seats
And don’t clip your nails on MRT

Stray cats get into noisy affairs
At night my neighbor makes weird animal sounds
People put on fake accents to sound posh
And queue up 3 hours for donuts
Will I ever live till eighty five
to collect my CPF?

*chorus

Singaporeans too kiasu! (so scared to lose)
Singaporeans too kiasi! (so scared o die)
Singaporeans too kiabor!(scared of their wives)
Maybe we’re just too stressed out! (even the kids)

“Ooh”

Old National Library was replaced by an ugly tunnel
Singaporean men can’t take independent women
People blow their nose into the swimming pool
And fall asleep on my shoulder in the train

Singapore’s national bird is the crane (the one with yellow steel girders)
Real estate agents’ leaflets clogging up my mailbox (en bloc, en bloc; en bloc, en bloc)
Why can’t we be buried when we die?
No one wants to climb Bukit Timah with me

*chorus

“Ooh”

There are not enough public holidays
My neighbor sings KTV all night
Wedding dinners never start on time
My hair is always cut shorter than I want
Channel 5 commercials are way too long
Why do men turn bad?

*At first it was to speak more mandarin
Then it was to speak proper English
What’s wrong with my powderful Singlish?

People sit down during rock concerts
We have to pay for tap water at restaurants
ERP gantries are everywhere
But I can still see traffic jams on the road
All the bus stops have tilted benches to keep you off balance

*chorus

Comrade of the Red Star

My newest acquisition: a painting by local artist Lau Sheow Tong

i love it!

Wondrous Moment
by Alexander Pushkin

The wondrous moment of our meeting ..
I well remember you appear
Before me like a vision fleeting,
A beauty's angel pure and clear.

In hopeless ennui surrounding
The worldly bustle, to my ear
For long your tender voice kept sounding,
For long in dreams came features dear.

Time passed. Unruly storms confounded
Old dreams, and I from year to year
Forgot how tender you had sounded,
Your heavenly features once so dear.

My backwoods days dragged slow and quiet —
Dull fence around, dark vault above —
Devoid of God and uninspired,
Devoid of tears, of fire, of love.

Sleep from my soul began retreating,
And here you once again appear
Before me like a vision fleeting,
A beauty's angel pure and clear.

In ecstasy the heart is beating,
Old joys for it anew revive;
Inspired and God-filled, it is greeting
The fire, and tears, and love alive.

CNY 2008 @ Chinatown



brought the fotog club students down to chinatown yesterday evening for their annual photoshoot fieldtrip.

nothing much has changed since last year (what's new?) except the stalls are now stacked high with cny ornaments adorned with rat/mouse designs (mickey minnie are just plain annoying but ratatouille is ok) instead of piggy designs (though we noted designs from past years were still on sale, albeit at a good discount).. and there was an apparent dominance of chinese from china manning the stalls and shouting out for customers instead of the usual singapore aunties and ah bengs (these were still there though, amusing us with their tireless jingles) .. the variety of stuff on sale was palpable, from magic window cleaners to unbreakable pencils, gold plated pumpkins, dvds of mute-deaf chinese dancers, recycled animal shaped metal sculptures and more..

snack stall holders were a tad bit aggressive though, shoving samples of everything from taiwanese muah chee to nuts to strawberry chocolates and braised mushrooms into our faces and hands, refusing to take no for an answer even when we insisted we were sick of trying the food. it was clear they were getting desperate, with the end of the pre-cny shopping period in clear sight..

yay.. long weekend coming... :)

Looking for bear


If anyone knows where i can find this bear, please email me..

Of Sea Angels, Jellyfish and New Beginnings

celebrated my birthday with my yearly visit to Sentosa and the Underwater World to see the beautiful sea angels as well as other amazing stuff they have there.. the construction of the IR has gone into full swing and we should see the island looking quite different a year or two from now..



but for now, the lovely sea angels continue to thrill me... :)



and how wonderful.. i've just been given (repeatedly, mind u) permission by the people around me (who are closest to me and who love me the most) not to grow up as quickly as my age implies.. haha.. yay.. i get to stay young for a little while more.. :p

Happy Birthday to me!!




May I grow to be wiser, kinder, wealthier, healthier and even happier this year! :D

Trip to Batu Pahat 12 Nov



accompanied my mum and a gaggle of aunties (10 in all) some two weeks ago to Batu Pahat for their regular "Arapaima touching" plus temple visiting plus seafood eating excursion.. i love to join them 'cos they can be quite funny and they are all so nice to me.. hahhaha..

pretty amazed at the variety of rituals temples have devised to make aunties part with their money.. there were prayers for 4D and Toto numbers by spinning wheels of all kinds, touching the head of the gigantic south american arapaimas (which can grow up to 5 metres long - you can see my mama in the top picture with 2 of them), washing of feet and bathing with the special "well water" at the room designated for you depending on your chinese astrological sign (pic above), prayers for family safety and harmony by floating lotuses on the murky river next to a "floating temple"; and praying to a shrine with a hundred idols (very economical use of time).. there was supposedly even something called "hugging the pineapple" though i didn't see any auntie doing that.. haha..

some of the idols and prayer items are downright whimsical looking.. like the stylised drawings on the prayer paper and the ferocious looking statue on the top right hand with 4 sets of eyes on his body.... ummm... and the odd incense container in front of my mum as she lights the incense sticks.. there were many more (like gods with fish and shrmp heads and pearly white "buayas" (alligators)) but i couldn't fit them all in..

the last pic shows the really rustic kelong, with good coastal bird life like egrets and herons (just before a light drizzle), that i relaxed in front of as the aunties (including my mum) repeatedly cajoled the arapaimas to be touched in the two large ponds in the temple complex.. so i had a good 2 hours or so to just sit and chill.. :) it was a nice day out..

An Afternoon at Qian Hu Fish Farm

as a colleague of mine quite aptly puts it, I'm a real sucker for any heartland stuff that the Straits Times recommends (see here for newspaper article).. haha..

So here i was, right after the cruise last Sunday, at Qian Hu Fish Farm trying out the faddish fish spa thing with a bunch of friends, letting the "Turkish spa fish, of the Garra rufa species" nibble on the dead skin on our feet. It was a surprisingly rather therapeutic experience, albeit a little weird at the start. Haha.. anyway, quite hard to get pics cos it was very dark by the time we got there in the gloomy evening..

The Annual Cruise to Nowhere (16-18 Nov)



The view from the balcony of my cabin on my annual (now in its 3rd year) 3D2N cruise to nowhere (in other words, cruises that depart and return to Singapore without a port of call) with my parents on the gigantic Star Cruise Superstar Virgo. 13 storeys! whee...

For the unfamiliar, these cruises (with their endless buffet spreads, 5 meals a day, 24hour casinos, caberet shows and more) are a wonderful way to experience the seven deadly sins, all at once,in a hurry... me? ha, no, i stayed healthy and wholesome with visits to the gym, jacuzzi and pool and tried to moderate my dietary intake since the mass produced food was pretty bad anyway, believe it or not... :p..

But we got a little treat on the boat! the free evening music concert was by singer Cao Ge! Quite teeny bopper with screaming teenage fans and all but I must admit I was quite impressed by his vocal range and he straddled, rather effortlessly, a couple of octaves.. quite cool for a pretty boy..

a good getaway to reflect on the good and bad of the year that is coming to an end.. and more importantly, the possibilities that lie in the year ahead.. :)

Farm Visit with My Family

sometimes I forget to spend enough time with some of the most important people in my life....

finally brought my parents and sis to see the farms at Kranji and saw a couple of old and new things, such as the still pensive looking bullfrogs at the Jurong Frog Farm, Khai Seng Fish farm (with the strange boy and his eels plus the beautiful bonsai creations by his supposedly famous uncle), the bizarre pig-nosed turtle and motoro rays at Hausmann Aquarium amongst others.. it was a good day out and we ended the morning with some good teochew porridge at the Teochew Porridge place opposite Beauty World.. btw, that's my mummy hiding behind the bonsai plant! haha..

Cao Ge's version of My Way

I'll blog a little more later.. it's all in my head now bursting and I hope it'll be there for long enough for me to put it all down.....

Who Am I and What Do I Want?



Translation from website:

Take a look at your priorities and your goals. Where did they come from? Are they the products of soul-searching, self-analysis and careful planning? Or are they a reaction to pressures from other people? Did you find them within yourself or within the pages of a magazine? The answers to these questions are important because they tell you if the person you’re becoming is someone you want to be. Here’s another way to look at it: do you want it (whatever it is), or do you just think you should want it? It’s not easy to follow your own direction in life. But it’s more possible than you may think. Question everything. Everything in your life needs to justify why it’s there. If you can’t come up with a good reason that actually comes from YOU, maybe it doesn’t belong.

Incidentally, this is what I have been mulling over for the past 2 to 3 months since I was hit by what i felt at that time to be a torrent of problems; and what I will likely continue to think about till the end of the year as I go on my various trips and have many (planned and unplanned) moments of solitude to ponder with. Nonetheless, I don't really agree that finding out what we want for our lives from within books or magazines or from talking to friends is entirely wrong because I believe different people discover things differently and seek different sources of inspiration... and besides, if we keep questioning everything, we may never actually get around to doing anything... In my view, sometimes, we just have to take a leap of faith.. besides, many things or people don't make sense at the point in time they exist or appear and can only be understood retrospectively... haha.. ok.. easier said than done, speaking from my own experience...

it's something to think about nonetheless.. before 2008 begins. :)

(continuation from above...)
last night, something (which i shall not elaborate on further) happened that triggered me to ponder more on the above topic, which is about searching for who we are and what we should be or do in our lives... whatever happened made me realise that at many points in our lives, we might have been blessed with glimpses or given clues of what makes us really really happy, or contented, or at peace... be it a beautiful friendship or relationship, beautiful moments spent with others, a nice trip somewhere, or doing something we enjoy... for these wonderful "things" in our lives, we may find ourselves wanting to capture or reminisce on those times, either in photographs, or diaries, or in conversations with others.. by so doing, we conjure up the good feelings again and soak in the sentimentality and all.... which is all well and good, i suppose... except that it just feels to me to be indeed a great pity if we do not see in these the opportunity to learn something about ourselves... about what is really important to us; and what makes us ultimately happy... i know of many people (including the individual who made me think up this bit of my blog entry) who spend their lives looking back at times of the past, at photographs, remembering the happiness they felt.. i wonder to myself, isn't making the future happy as important, if not perhaps more, than looking at a past that was? Not that i'm not a sentimental person myself (cos i do read my past blog entries too), but sometimes, holding on to the past (and not learning from it) just isn't going to help us build the future we want for ourselves...

indeed, life is full of lessons to be learnt with open eyes and open hearts, don't you think?

Kudos to Catherine Lim

as impressive, if not more, than all the great literature of hers i had to study in sec school.. like.. umm.. Little Ironies??

An open letter to the Prime Minister

Your Inner Child Is Surprised

You see many things through the eyes of a child. Meaning, you're rarely cynical or jaded. You cherish all of the details in life. Easily fascinated, you enjoy experiencing new things.

How Is Your Inner Child?

Another way of worship



this is pretty amazing..