Time now: 4.30AM SG Time.
Location: Terminal 1, Changi Airport
Flight Time: 6AM
Finally, it's time. SF. I'm on my way!
Still got a little time. Shall sit down and try to source for some food!
(Had a little interesting encounter with security officers - and the questions they had to ask. Heh.)
Right. Shall update when i have the chance in SF.
Alvin signing off.
Haven't been writing much recently... Reason being, i'm just being lazy. Heh. Not that there were a lot to write about recently!
Anyway, so... From popular demand (KH's demand) Here's a little happening for Sunday. Sunday is Exploring day. Let me just check the places we attempted that day:
(1) China Square Sunday Flea Market
(2) Some hills (i think its called Liang Siang Hill forget liao) in the CBD area
(3) Beautiful shophouses amidst the monstrous CBD buildings
(4) Red dot Museum
(5) Fort Canning tunnel and the National Museum
China Square's flea market is only opened on Sunday and featured a number of collectibles and antiques. There were basically old toys, models and figurines on sale and one could not be more mesmerized to walk down memory lane when you see your favourite cartoon character on sales. Smurfs, he-man, care bear whatever you can think off. Wasn't very interested in models, so didn't get anything. Thought i wouldn't be spending any money there, but still did... I bought a book! At a very very VERY (must put big big) reasonable price of $9! New book okie!
I asked the owner how he managed to sell them at such unbeatable prices compared to 50% more at Kinos, and he told us that he got them direct from warehouses that's why. Well, you'll be sure i'll be checking out his store when i want books before heading out to major bookstores. Too bad, he only have selected titles.
After China Square, we sort of out headed out to see some shophouses. Must be boring without pictures, so here's one:
(Postcard quality eh? Hahaha)
Beautiful shophouses amidst tall gigantic buildings. You can find all sorts of nice places like bars, spas and huey kuans!? Hmm... Exotic places for the rich and famous i reckon? No chance of me walking in there in the foreseeable future.
We somehow then ended up at the Red Dot Museum (and saw a sleeping security guard). And then we saw this interesting signboard:
At night, we actually went into the National Musuem. The new one is nice compared to the old and eerie one. There were nice cafes, pubs in it. (And swinging celing lights) We were wondering whether we could visit the exhibitions for free, and decided that our motto for the day is "Just push only". So we did, and yes, its free! Visited a couple of exhibitions and had fun with some "artistic imprints".
(Now, i confirm i am not artistic...)
Woohoo! My last birthday celebration for 2007 at Ichiban Sushi on 11 June! Thank you Guoxiong, Senchou and Aldo for the treat!
Hahahah! Well, just some pictures for remembrance!
Finally! I have pictures to upload!
Went to Altivo bar on Mount Faber last evening with my buddy Jieming and his girlfriend, Steph! A beautiful place, with very nice ambient, musics, live bands, and near perfect sceneries overlooking Sentosa and the sea. A very nice chill out place.
Will upload more photos of the place after Jieming send me those on HIS camera. Heh.
That's it, i cannot be a chicken farmer, pig farmer or any farmer that requires me to slaughter the animals that i rear.
I brought home about 8 of the fresh fishes i caught yesterday, all promptly prepared by my Aunt's domestic helper. As i carried it home, i already knew that i wasn't going to be eating them... I felt a stint of sadness for the fishes i carried in my hands. There were alive a few hours ago and now lay flat in my plastic bags waiting to be served on my dinner table.
Sure, it was great fun trying to catch them, and it gave me a sense of achievement too, when caught. The fishes were just plain hungry, and so they eat and got caught. They didn't want to get caught, they just want to eat.
One of them lied on my dining table this morning, mum had prepared them, although it was "disfigured" beyond my recognition, i still knew it was one of the fishes i brought home the day before, thus i could not bear to eat it.
I figured, i would eat fishes, chickens, porks that are bought from the market. Those which i have not "met" while they were alive... But i can't bear to eat anything that was alive a few hours/minutes ago and finally ended up on my dinner table.
It simply disgust me. Some more of these, i might turn vegetarian.
Compassion for life?
(Still i would like to go fishing! I will catch and throw them back into the water loh!)
Can you believe it? I went fishing today! At yet another exotic location just slightly off the borders of Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve.
The place, a privately run fish farm, water plant nursery and a big pond toppled off with beautiful sceneries, wild cats, wonderfully lively dogs and plenty of fishes!
The place seems to be off limits to the public, but when you have the right connections, different, heh. My Aunt. She has a fair share in the farm and brought me there today. The day started with me and her bringing my grandpa to the hospital for routine checkup, while the hospital-trip ended, she asked me if i would like to go fishing. Fishing? I have not fished for like donkey years, but i was free and i was very interested in the places that she said.
Aunt was an avid traveller when she was younger, an explorer she said.
So off i go with her, sitting in her Mercedes C-Class, together with her personal helper and loaded with pails, fishing lines, prawns and breads and headed off towards the far end of Kranji. Sceneries were beautiful along the way, the Kranji Reservoir has two views, one of scenic Johor Bahru and the other of sunny Singapore. The air smell of old kampong fresh air and the roads were narrow. We passed through a couple of established fish farm, got stuck at a one-way traffic light and finally reached the old fish farm which greeted us with an almost 60degree slope that i had only ever encountered on a military landrover. Well, her european car has no problem with that.
The farm was quite a run-down place on first look, but treasures always beholds run-down places. And you just have to look. Our first encounter was with "Scooby Doo". I was wondering who was Scooby Doo when my Aunt told me that well, its a very friendly dog. Friendly dog. Cool, i love friendly dog. Okie, so i went to meet Scooby Doo, MY GOD, she is such a HUGE dog! Frankly, its the BIGGEST dog i ever come into contact with, a beautiful dog though! And definitely very friendly, i love it! She had a companion, a much much smaller dog and equally affectionate! She jumps at us when we approach and keep running around us! She is just so adorable lah, i almost wanted to beg the owner for me to bring her home. All-in-all, i counted 7 dogs, of which one looked really cute but is REALLY fierce! (That one was locked up)
Then, there were cats too... and kittens! Oh my god, this is paradise!
After our little episode with the doggies (and kitties), we finally head off to the pond! The water was half-dried up (a lil disappointing) but the fishes were not! There were plenty! And fishing there definitely made a person feel accomplished. It was almost easy to catch them. First, throw some breads into the water to lure the school of fishes, load your lines with prawn baits, throw em in, and wait. I did not have to wait more then 1 minute before i got my first catch! (A pretty small fish which i forgot its name though...), but i soon got pretty smooth at it! This was also the first time i tried to remove hooks from the fishes' mouth (If you have not done so before, live fishes are EXTREMELY slimy, they splattered a lot and leave dirty green substances on your hands).
I think we caught over 20 fishes in total (and threw back countless smaller ones). We got tired after an hour or so (or maybe the fishes got tired of us), so we stopped. I asked Aunt to show me around the farm. The owners were breeding many unfamiliar water plants, fishes and crickets. Yes, crickets, they breed and sell crickets. I didn't know crickets can be so expensive.
There was a kid who i think is the owner's grandchild, he fished with us and talk a lot with me. It was all great fun!
Oh, i forgot to mention the toilet! I asked the kid to show me the toilet. He brought me to a covered up area and I looked at him blankly, "Toilet la, i want to go..." Then he said, yea, this is the one. ... ... It was just a hole, a 0.5m-by-0.5m hole filled with water and god knows how deep! Wow... That was very interesting, and new. And so i used it, i peed into it, thinking how cool it was, peeing into a hole in the ground. Haha yea.
It was pretty soon time for us to leave. I have memorized the way to get to this farm and i sure hope the owner can remember me as the nephew of their co-owner. Coz I'm coming back, to see Scooby Doo, little-miss-affectionate, kitties (okie they would have grown up), the boy, the two old owners, and of course to catch more fishes!
(Darn, i FORGOT to bring camera this time! If not there will be beautiful pictures!)
I really have a lot of respect for my this Aunt, not only is she an established woman in her career, had a wonderful family, she is also very nice to me in many many ways. Hereby so, i would like to extend a little tribute to her (even though i know she will never read this and i don't intend for her to. Heh). Sometimes, i really envy my cousins very much.
Okie, i'm officially 24! And officially 1 step closer to being called "Uncle!".
The past fews days has being a myriad of going out, catching up,
Thank you ALL for remembering my birthday! Thanks to ALL for your SMS wishes! And thank you ALL for the gifts thus far! (More are welcome!)
Okie, a little updates about what's going on over the past few days:
Saturday
Birthday celebration with Jiaqi, NianNian,
Nevertheless, the 3-person ktv was still very good, and everyone gets to sing to their heart's content! I especially had fun with the 小鬼/卓文宣 song "爱的主旋律", initially wanted to sing with Nian, but after a while, she found that she wasn't sure of the song, so i song for both 小鬼 and 卓文宣， and it was hilarious! Heh.
Later, Nian and i had LJS, while Jiaqi pangsei us to go "meet other people". And something really annoying happened there, shall not talk about it since this is suppose to be a happy entry. I had a good chat with my supervisor, and that was a good gift too =) So i went home a happy man, just in time to catch my weekend Taiwan Variety show. Heh.
Sunday
Met up with Ying Ying and had dinner at AMK Hub. Some japanese eatery that we both found okie. Thanks to Ying for the Namecard holder! I did mentioned that i liked it very much, didn't know you actually remembered...! Now i got the same namecard holder that i gave to my placement supervisor!
Probably the most memorable thing that happened that day was the "Amazing Race" at the AMK Hub simply looking for a photocopying shop! I needed to make copies of test papers for my tuition student, and the whole freaking AMK did not have one! So we spent about 30minutes running around just to find one -which luckily we finally did! The ktv was unplanned, but it sure was entertaining too! Heh.
Monday
A planned meet-up, an unplanned celebration! Met up with Hwee Ping (and later KC). Initially the plan was to catch a movie, but the schedule wasn't right, so i ended up shopping with her for shoes. She wanted to watch Blades of glory (No offence, but i'm not interested in male ice skaters in tights -on which i only realised when i saw the poster at the theatre! So, lucky no tickets! Hah)
Oh, i learned something new that day. When a lady buys shoes, is "Does it look comfortable", not "Does it feels comfortable". -Lesson courtesy of HP. She kept asking me that, on which i later ask "Aren't you suppose to feel comfortable rather than look comfortable in it?", on which her reply "Ladies buy shoes that way." Okie.... ... So the reply is "Yea, it looks comfortable. ;)"
We "conned" KC to join us after his first day at placement and had dinner at Central Cafe! Ate instant noodle! (Hey noodle was good okie!) That was my birthday treat! Thank you! Really had an enjoyable day!
(I forgot to take pictures!)
Hwee Ping: I'm actually quite "touched" by what you said on your blog, thanks! =) Have an enjoyable placement and just don't stress yourself out okie! Talk to me if you don't feel good, don't just keep everything to yourselves okie! Since you're working nearby, we can easily meet up le loh ;)
Tuesday - My actual Birthday!
The morning was pretty much relaxed. I woke up only at around 10, bum around a little and decided to go for a run! (Yes a run! I have not run for months since i injured my leg, so i decided to try today and YES i can run!)
I ran to Sengkang, via Buangkok MRT, passed Jieming's place, along SBSTransit headquater and ended up at Gerald Drive (some private estates in Jalan Kayu area). It was a short run i think, but i was pretty tired after i reached there, so i walked all the way home, passed Lor BuangKok again and back! Its cool! To run in the afternoon sun, although i resisted the idea initially. I just regretted not bringing any money and ended up looking desparately for a toilet just to drink water!
Later, the plan was to go collect my new Specs at Causeway Point (Yes, the Specs is my birthday gift to myself, heh! And i love it! - Thanks to Jiaqi and Guoxiong for helping me to choose!). But Nanyang Optical was very funny, i called at 10 to ask if my specs were ready, they told me have to wait for 2-3 more days, but later called at 2pm to tell me its ready. Hmmm... So i went to collect it anyway, since i plan to anyway.
After that, immediately headed down to Bedok to meet Kuanghong, had dinner and we promptly headed down to Selegie for Rochor Beancurd! Thanks to Kuanghong for (1) having the craving for tao huey (2) being so understanding and willing to accomodate me coz i'm meeting other friends in town (3) the Levi's "belt-hook" whatever you called it! Its now on my new bag as well, until i have enough keys to hang it around my waist, haha!
My last "event", movie Shrek3 with Jieming and Steph! Movie was darn funny, short though, but funny! I just love how they put all the fairy tales people together and make them do nonsensical things! Like Puss-in-Boots becoming a "cute-little-poor-kitty-by-the-window". Hahaha. Thanks to the both of you who are "willing" to sacrifice your after-work hours to spend my special day with me! I'm really happy!
Thats it! Thanks all for making my birthday 2007 so much so enjoyable than i thought! I had not plan on any "big-time" celebration or anything, but all these are enough to make me a happy boy (man)!
One more, the last one, coming up on Mon. See you guys then!
smooching
1:58 PM /
0 comments
Was browsing through some old photos when i found this:
Doesn't it look like there were "smooching" =p
kekeke.
For the confidentiality of the people in the picture, i shall not reveal names! =p
It was the spur of the moment. The weather was great, and i have nothing to do. I decided to take my bike outside and do some exploration!
Lorong Buangkok. Was where i was headed to.
Lorong Buangkok is the last surviving kampong in Singapore. Amongst the metropolitan cityscape of the urban Singapore, Lor Buangkok remains as serene and peaceful as it was years ago before urbanisation. There, you don't find traffic lights or high-rise buildings nor can you find Giordano and NTUC.
I believe Lor Buangkok is a preserved piece of land by the URA and will remain as a village even tough urbanisation may take place in its surrounding.
Cycling along the dirt track, what amazed me was the simplicity of their dwelling area. Low-level houses, probably built by the dwellers themselves, simple wooden chairs and tables, nice gardens and the surrounding air of peacefulness. Please don't start thinking that these rural dwellers are poor people rejected by the nations. They are far from that. The houses have got electricity (from the buzz of the television i can hear), adequate sanitary while some of the houses i came across even had a car (a fairly new one too that started with a SG_ carplate) parked beside it.
It is a good mix of kampong lifestyle with an urban touch. Chickens run around some of the houses and wild dogs clobbered the streets while Kids Central were showing on TV. Its amazing that there is such an exotic place remaining in Singapore, and so near my home somemore.
On the way back, I then stumbled upon this hill that overlooked Sengkang, the SBStransit headquater and IMH. The place was amazing, its cool, undisturbed and most importantly, i "discovered" it. (Yes i know people have been there, but i have not mah!) Spending about close to 20minutes there, i decided to head back, since i really needed a drink and i wanted to explore a little of IMH.
I'm really glad that i took this little "roadtrip" today and i will do it again soon! It seems that, if we looked a little harder, there are always some surprises that surrounds us. So start looking!
Kbox
12:26 AM /
0 comments
I can't believe it, i went to KTV twice over the weekend. One was planned, the other was not. (Now i feel so broke...) But there were many new songs, i like! =)
KBox (AMK) did a really dumb thing to their toilet. Remember this new local movie that's coming up, called "鬼阿！鬼阿！"? Kbox allowed them to push their marketing campaign to their toilets by putting up ghostly posters in the toilet...
Once i closed the door to my cubicle, i am faced with a lady ghost poster offering me toilet papers... I mean, its meant to be a gimmit, but i'm really not sure if i would have enjoyed my toilet routine better while facing a lady in white offering me cleaning equipments for my butt...
And it dosen't help when she's also there to bid me farewell while i was exiting the toilet. Can KBox remove those posters please?
(The music playing now is a song i "discovered" while at KTV, i like it! Its by Linda and a Korean Singer JunJin - Forever!)
