Passionate About Life | Escapades

+ Life | Free Phone

2006-06-04T23:00:00.000+08:00

On the 27th May 2006 marked my 1 year phone plan with M1 telco.

I received a letter from M1 for my "loyal support, we're offering you a free phone."

I get to choose either a Philips S800, a Sony Erricson Z520i or a Motorola SLVR L6 when extending a two year subscription with M1.

On top of that, they will reduce the monthly phone bill by S$11.62 for a year, irregardless whether the 2-year plan is taken up or not.

The offer will be until 18 June 2006.

After my Sunday workout at the Tampines Swimming Complex, while my son had his swimming fun, we headed to Tampines Mall for Chicken Rice dinner.

Then headed to Century Square 3rd floor for M1 Shop.

The place was packed with people in a long queue, expectedly so since there are other eligible customers like me and further more, it the start of the month... every body's pockets are "loaded" with cash.

I gave up queuing after 10 minutes since the line did not seem to move forward fast enough. Fortunately for me, I asked one of the attending M1 staff about my offer.

He told me to check for availability before queuing at any branch, and even recommended me to call M1 1627 hotline to check availability at other branches, so I would have to waste a trip.

On our way to Challenger IT Superstore at DBS Building, I called the hotline.

What a shock for me to find out that all M1 branches across Singapore has the Z520i cell phone out of stock. They are waiting for the suppliers to confirm a restock date but have no firm date yet.

I have to keep calling after a few days to check on the status.

Wow again! I have learnt that cell phones are a hot, cannot-do-without item that is already a very part of a Singaporean life. What more if it is offered free.

After loosing out on Nokia's N750 half-priced offer from Metro last week, I lost on this one too. Though there is still hope for the latter, chances are slim.

Wonder if I have to camp out all night like the Singapore Idol contestant to get a hold of what I want... nah... not that desperate.

At worst I will just settle for the Motorola... if it is still available. Well, life goes on.

+ Life | National Online

2006-05-30T23:00:00.000+08:00

No, nothing serious or political about this entry at all.

I received a letter from the Ministry of Manpower or MOM to take part in the national Labour Force Survey being conducted from 21st to 31st May 2006.

My household has been selected to participate.

The survey "seeks to obtain key national statistics on employment and unemployment to help in the formulation of manpower-related policies."

Did not see a clause if I could turn down the offer to participate, but has "under the Statistic Act (Chapter 317) which requires you to furnish the necessary information."

Well, what the heck, its for nation's well being right?

I logged onto MOM's website http://www.mom.gov.sg/mrsd/ihss to participate online with the given Household ID and Password.

In about 15 minutes, all was done and I submitted the survey.

I then received an email alert from a friend. "This, just in! National Day Parade 2006 tickets are up for grabs through "e-Ballot!"

Wow, never had that early a chance to ballot for tickets before. Never have we actually attended the NDP live before either. This is a great opportunity to attend instead of watching it on TV.

So, I logged onto to Singapore NDP website http://www.ndp.org.sg/ to ballot for tickets.

With either to ballot for Preview on 29th July 2006, or on National Day on 9th August 2006 itself, I bid for the preview, since it is on Saturday with Sunday to rest.

Our National Day is on Wednesday, so not a good idea for me to go to work the next day. I might as well enjoy the day with a family outing instead.

The bid has options to either select 2, 4 or 6 tickets. I chose the last one, thinking maybe my parents would like to attend too.

They deserve to celebrate with the nation since they have been contributing to it for the past 80 years or so.

Maybe they may even make newspaper headlines for being the oldest couple to attend NDP celebrations!

Sounds wonderful, the planning is great, but only if we get the free tickets.

All successful bidders will be notified via SMS between 13th and 16th June 2006 to collect them. Hope is high.

The fact that it will be memorable for me personally as this will be the first time for all of us, and especially with my parents... Just awesome.

The fact that I can get to see their reactions to this mammoth patriotic annual celebration... Priceless!

+ Life | Rat Trap

2006-05-23T23:00:00.000+08:00

Now this is something I questioned myself before, but I did not give myself an answer. Instead, I just think I should not do it at all.

Like on normal days at work, a group of us would go to the canteen to have our breakfast. A friend spotted a rat in the middle of the car park.

It was like in a daze, falling sideways as it tried to move into the bushes. Apparently, it must have been poisoned.

I thought nothing of it. We took our breakfast, talked and joked a little and headed back to the office once we had finished.

On the way, I saw 2 metal-wired rat trap cages at the dumping area. In each was a rat. Frantically pacing to and fro trying to get out of the cage. The baits ware still hanging in the cages.

Now, this is my dilemma... Rats are bad for human health. They are pests and bring diseases, while they irritate you and scare most women.

Now, rat population has to be controlled to not infest our homes and properties, so we kill rats by setting up traps and poison them. Alright...

Once you catch them, how do you "put them down" humanely... if that is the most politically correct phrase for it.

The rats I saw in the cages were left outside in the hot sun to die. It is the worst death sentence possible, I think. To torture them to exhaustion, dehydrate them slowly until they die.

That is the most slowest and most painful of a killing method I can possible think of. Maybe it is just me, but it seems too cruel for me.

I know I will not give a second thought when I have to crush a cockroach, but it has to die immediately, with the least amount of pain possible.

I could not bare to look at the panting rats further and walked away. My lady friend squirmed in fright and walked quickly away.

I just had to ask my the group what was the best, humanely possible way to kill a rat once caught.

One said to knock its head or bashed it to death, and other said to drown it in water, one even said his mother poured boiling water over it. Wow!

I have heard of these methods before. When I was a child, I had seen one "death by drowning" case by a neighbour too, which I could not bare to watch then either.

I am not the one to trap any, so I leave it the pest-busters if necessary. Hope I do not have an infestation of such in my home. I am putting too much thought in this, nonetheless, I need to ask.

So, is poisoning them the best way?

Or is there a fastest, most humanely possible way to kill rats once you catch them?

+ Fun | DHL Balloon

2006-05-16T20:00:00.000+08:00

The first time I saw it at Bugis, I thought it was just another advertisement by DHL. A big one though. I was going over to Wify's shop to accompany her since my son had gone out with his friends to watch Elektra.

A yellow balloon ad flying high above Bugis Junction did not really attract my attention, and I did not give any notice at all.

I saw it again when I bought dinner for Wify from Banquet at Raffles Hospital going toward Bugis Village. I went to surprise her at the shop again that Friday. This time, I notice that the balloon was being lowered down. Ad permit ended?

As I stopped to watch, I noticed there was a platform for viewing. Thought nothing of it, but I just snapped a picture to show my son what I saw, when I get home. I realized that it was a very large balloon ad when it was nearer to the ground, but disappeared between the buildings.

And I saw it again, in the early evening with the pulsing, beacon-like blue lights since it was turning dark. It was very near to the ground that my son noticed there were people with cameras on the viewing platform. Invited guests only?

Only today, it is confirmed that the DHL Balloon is the new attraction in Bugis area, when I received an email from my friend about the promotion.

30% off coupons from the usual ticket price of S$23.00 per adult and S$16.00 for children below 12 years old. Panoramic viewing for 30 minutes in the air.

Would be interesting to go up and view the area from 150 metres high or as high as a 40 story building, with a difference - being swayed to and fro a little by the wind.

Would be great to try that with all 3 of us on board; armed with a camera and strong guts.

Wify hates heights, but she trusts me. She will take roller-coaster rides as long as I ride beside her. I think she will give it a go. This weekend is good, weather permitting of course.

+ Life | Buried Secrets

2006-05-10T23:00:00.000+08:00

When I do not have anything worthy to write, I would normally turn to 3 things - check through my folders full of photos that I may write about, or blog surf to seek and maybe learn about other people's point of view, else I would be taking a Personality Test.

I have no idea why I like to stress myself by taking personality tests. Maybe I wish to "find" myself and know more about me, or maybe to convince myself that I am about as normal as the next person... maybe as weird too.

Then again, the thrill of finding out something new about yourself is overpowering.

What others may perceive you as when you are your daily self, doing your daily stuff... something shocking or something true, or something shockingly true!

Taken a Tickle Test on "What's Your Buried Secret." I am not sure, but is this website meant for women? Now that is a scary title to dive into and provoke my self-esteem, but curiosity got the best of me as always. Here it is:

Muhd Imran, you keep secrets about your Family

Whose family isn't a little dysfunctional?
Just the same, you're not gonna write the next great American novel about your family's crazy arguments and weird habits.
For you, family gossip is best left alone.
It's important to keep those dirty little secrets to yourself.
You've got a great respect and love for your kin, even if they don't always act the way you want them to.
As long as you know the truth about what's going on in your seemingly happy home, who cares what the neighbors say?
Sticking by each other — now that's what family's for!

Yes, I agree with the analysis. Uphold the family honour. That is me. Phew! No shocking revelation here.

Want to take your test? Click photo and answer a few questions truthfully. Good Luck.

+ Life | Birth Month

2006-05-05T22:00:00.000+08:00

I received an email from a friend today about a set of characters as a person generally has depending on the month he or she was born in.

My birthday will be next month. So timely enough to tell everyone the good traits of a Cancerian and the not-so-proud-but-true stuff of me in a list...

Born In Month of JUNE

Thinks far with vision - do a good one to last a lifetime
Easily influenced by kindness - fall for it every time
Polite and soft-spoken - lame, I know
Having lots of ideas - overwhelming at times, I can't sleep
Sensitive - my double-edge sword
Active mind - always something brewing up there
Hesitating - aaah... that leads to the next one
Tends to delay - so that's why I'm always late for work
Choosy and always wants the best - forgive me?
Temperamental - I can't predict how unpredictable I am
Funny and humorous - my lighter side
Loves to joke - love to laugh
Good debating skills - bring it on!
Talkative - I babble, therefore I am
Daydreamer - Sorry, you were saying?
Friendly - you'll be my buddy by the end of this list
Knows how to make friends - well... not sure about this
Abiding - black is black, white is white!
Able to show character - like an open book
Easily hurt - like a cucumber
Prone to getting colds - Nope. Strong as an ox!
Loves to dress up - just to look my best
Easily bored - this list is too long!
Fussy - maybe I like it in blue....
Seldom show emotions - I cry in silence, lie like a... Nun?
Takes time to recover when hurt - backlogs a mile long
Brand conscious - totally not! Wait Sony Ericsson is good.
Executive - less talk, more action!
Stubborn - I stand by my convictions!
Those who love me are enemies - strange way to show I care
Those who hate me are friends - better a friend than an enemy

Now that you know what kind of person I am, do you still want to associate yourself with me?

I have the other 11 months' of Character Descriptions if anyone ones to know if theirs are as accurate too.

+ Life | What Degree?

2006-05-04T22:00:00.000+08:00

You Should Get a PhD in Science (like chemistry, math, or engineering)

You're both smart and innovative when it comes to ideas.
Maybe you'll find a cure for cancer - or develop the latest underground drug.

What Advanced Degree Should You Get?

+ Life | Monday Blues?

2006-04-20T23:00:00.000+08:00

As usual I got a cab to work today. As usual, I have the Monday blues. Nothing major, it is just me not wanting to go to work after a weekend break.

This morning, I got a white SMRT Cab... with a pleasant driver who wished me "Good Morning, Sir" as soon as I was seated.

"Sorry Sir, please tell me your route because I just started working this morning," he said apologetically.

I said sure and told him my preferred route to my workplace. Then I got to hear someone's life story. A sad story that is... an unfortunate one.

Just as we turned into Tampines Avenue 10, he continued telling me that he had not worked for the past year and today was his first day after quiting his job of 3 years as a cab driver before, to take care of his wife. She had lung cancer.

They did not know about it until she had coughs that did not seem to go away. It lasted about a month even after going to the doctors repeatedly.

They finally went to the hospital to do full body medical checkup that detected their worst nightmare. She had lung cancer at Stage 4.

Shocking to him, ever devastating to his wife who did not have any symptom she might have suspected that anything was wrong with her.

She did have a symptom when they came to think of it, but it was too mild to suspect anything was amiss.

The driver said that his wife was always complaining of an onset of numbness with her fingers of both hands. She would complain feeling it while she chopped vegetables, or while doing house chores.

She would flick her hands a while and all was fine again. The one-off feeling she felt was more of a nuisance than anything else. It would go away after a few flicks of the hands. That was that.

The doctor confirmed that, that was one of the symptoms; who is to know... laymen like us?

When diagnosed in April 2005 with Stage 4 cancer, nothing much could be done. The driver did not say anything about chemo or any treatment she had gone through, but he quit his job to take care of his wife; to and for hospital until she succumbed to the disease and passed away on 21 December 2005.

So tomorrow is her 4th-month death anniversary," the driver seemed to remind himself, with a straight face and then a long pause... quiet, except the humming of the engine.

The driver continued saying that he had lots of money spent for her hospital bills, their daily expenses and his children... Yes he has 3 boys, age 18 still studying at a Polytechnic, 16 in Secondary 4 and 10 in Primary 4.

With a concerned tone of voice, he said that his 2 eldest sons are coping well their loss - the drastic change in family life without their mother, but the last one who was very attached to his mom, is the most affected. The most emotional of the 3.

His concern is very much focused on his youngest. The youngest son would come home from school with mom to greet him, but not anymore. He is slowly adjusting, but painfully so he noticed.

The driver cannot let him manage it alone, so he intends to stop work about 1:00pm today and everyday, to reach home before his son does, to greet him instead.

This now, single parent has to check and monitor his son's school work, and provide emotional support until his son is himself again.

Both a Mom and a Dad now, with a financial left-over to live on for the 4 of them, he had some regrets that he suddenly stopped talking about...

"Wow Sir, you work is quite a distance from your home?" And then changed subject.

Truly a sad fate and a touching story that man and his family have to go through.

Now picking-up the pieces from a devastating situation, adjustments to be made on every aspect and level of their lives - by every member of the family.

All that emotional load I was let to hear in my 15 minutes ride to work, on a Monday morning.

Yeah, yeah... I felt ashamed at myself with my "Monday blues", when this guy has to endure something so devastating and still has to carry on strong for himself, for his children. Wow!

The driver wished me "Have a good day, Sir!" as I alighted.

I just answered "Thank you, you take care." Obviously still grappling with the magnitude of the matter his family has to cope with. Life goes on.

Now, how is one to know anything is wrong without being paranoid or worse, become a hypochondriac... to know or be alert to the mildest symptom, that could mean between early stage detection and irrecoverable damage... between life and death?

Maybe, an annual physical check-up is the way to go for early detection? In the meantime, taking care of one's health, food that one consumes, healthy, happy living?

And another, I guess life insurance is very important, especially for the ones you leave behind.

Most of all, trust The Almighty to protect oneself and one's family, after all the best efforts one has consistently done daily... to me, this should be the way.

+ Life | Hair Treatments?

2006-04-16T23:00:00.000+08:00

I do not know why I tried it, but I did it anyway.

After the day's work, I was packing up to leave when my "new" boss came to my desk and strike a conversation with me and my colleagues that are sitting beside me.

He mentioned about our "former" boss' email to say hello a few days ago and introducing us to Sudoku - the Japanese number game.

My new boss said that he plays the game daily from Today's free circulation newspaper. He is now into Super Sudoku - the highest level of the game.

Never tried it myself before but sounds interesting would give it a try. So a friend who had the newspaper today gave me his for me to try. He was not interested though.

Yes, so far that has nothing to do with hair problem... I am getting to it now. I know I babble a whole lot. Get to the point, Imran!!!

Alright! Hold your horses!

Anyway, on my way home, in the bus, I read the newspaper and came across this innovative way of disseminating awareness about men's hair problem and the treatment available.

Not so much about the treatment, but more excited about the way help can get to those who need it.

You just have to type in your SMS with "GROW" together with your 6-digit postal code to 96-FIND-DR or 96-3463-37. You will then receive 5 return SMSes telling you the 3 doctors that are nearest to your home, with the option to have 3 more doctors if you choose to.

May be old news to many countries and within Singapore too, but it was HEADline news to me at the moment... pardon the pun.

This ad was from Dermatological Society of Singapore called HEADstart for Male Pattern Hair Loss or MPHL treatment.

More details from the local website www.seeyourdoctor.com.sg

Now, why did I SMS this in the first place? Two things actually...

One, curiosity.
Just for the fun of it to see what actually will take happen. I did it and it replied with 5 SMSes as stated. Cool!

Two, concern.
The reason for why I tried it in the first place. I have to admit, coming 40, my hair does seem to be thinning at the crown. My barber at Sri Nada has casually informed me that my hair is thinning around the crown region. That was last year, I believe.

Now, I begin to BELIEVE! Sigh...

Let me see... my Mom and Dad both have good set of hair even today, but my youngest brother is loosing his as we speak!

Maybe I might consider seeking early treatment to save my "lock-of-hair."

Surprising though, the first and nearest doctor which the SMS replies gave, is my own Family Doctor - Healthway Tampines. There you go!

Now I have to grapple with my "vanity conscience..."

Am I vain?
Is it wrong to BE vain?
Or am I being attacked by a "mid-life crisis."

Wait! I read recently from Ellen, from Coffee Granules that "life starts at 40."

I think my hair needs to continue living at age 40, and survive beyond that. Thank God I do not crave for flashy sports car! That will cost a bomb here.

I think I will give it a chance, a topical Minoxidil lotion, maybe?

I'll talk to my wife for her blessing and then talk to the doctor for his treatment.

Just to see how much an investment this treatment will costs; its effectiveness from individual to individual and its success rate so far. Just to get a HEADstart. That pun... intended.

Okay... I am vain, so shoot me!

+ Life | My House

2006-04-12T21:00:00.000+08:00

This is a drawing of a house I would like to live in. Far from it, living here in a land-scarce Singapore, a landed property is astronomically expensive and only a dream. Oh yes, that is me sun-tanning in my garden; six-pack and all. At least one can dream!

While blog-surfing, I stumbled upon this personality test with a twist at Ellen's Coffee Granules.

Draw a house and answer some questions, then the result comes out. Seems like a standard set of answers from the set of questions answered. I believe there is no analysis done to the drawing, nonethless it was fun drawing it. Like I said, one can at least dream.

The last two paragraphs are similar to that of Ellen's. Hey, it's free, its fun. Try it!

Based on your drawing and the 10 answers you gave this is a summary of your personality:

Your house tells the world that you ought to be a leader. You are good at making friends and when the joyful moment arrives, you make the most out of it.

You love your house and family. You are a gifted artist as well. Once you have a problem, you need a friend with you. Your life is always full of changes.

You are very tidy person. There's nothing wrong with that because you're pretty popular among friends. son.

You will avoid being alone and seek the company of others whenever possible. You love excitement and create it wherever you go. You see the world as it is, not as you believe it should be.

You added a flower into your drawing. The flower signifies that you long for love. It also safe to say that others don't see you as a flirt. You are self-confident and happy with your life.

+ Life | Blog Olympics

2006-03-20T22:00:00.000+08:00

Wow! My spontaneous reaction to my winning gold in the recent event. I came out tops?! Cool!

While I glee with excitment, the downside of it is the slow loading of my site and blog surfers will have to wait. That is if they are willing to wait. The wait will seem like forever for non broadband users. My apology.

I am compensating my lack of written articulation for describing stuff, with picture. Like the saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words. That is very helpful in my case, so I have lesser instances to describe stuff.

When it did come to that, I know many people had to read some sentences again in order to grasp what I am trying to convey. That way, I am doing a favour to both the bloggers and me. I do not want to have to an induced aneurysm from thinking too hard.

Anyway it looks better that way. It makes the page looks interesting, yes... never mind the content. I have nothing special, serious or profound to convey most times, anyway.

That said, a medal should be awarded to anyone who has the patience to wait by the PC while my blog loads. And read something trivial or so yesterday. I really appreciate it.

I am not beating myself up silly. It is just the way I like my blog to look. My fading memory of the many things I love from childhood is blurrer everyday with no pictures to help me remember.

I want to remember because it makes me happy. I know not to dwell in the past too long and get carried away. That is not the real world anymore. I know.

Pictures revive that feeling I felt then tremendously. It works for me. So just bare with the wait while my blog loads. Give yourself a medal when you actually see the word "Done" at the bottom of your brower when you come to visit.

Alright now! I will now tabulate all the events I participated and the results I get in this post and renew it time and again whenever I get my results. Here so far, with latest at the top:

Event #3 How many pictures are on your blog? 51 pictures
Result #3
Event #2 How Slow Do You Go? 110.84 sec
Result #2
Event #1 What a champion blog is made of? 14%
Result #1 Missed the medal!!!

Event #1 would have been quite confusing for my blog as it has branches from the MainPage, but I went through the exercise anyway with below results:

percentage similar to http://whiskeytalking.blogspot.com/

http://muscleicon.blogspot.com/ is 14%
http://mi-family.blogspot.com/ is 12%
http://mi-photography.blogspot.com/ is 12%
http://mi-tours.blogspot.com/ is 11%
http://mi-escapade.blogspot.com/ is 2%

Guess I need lots and lots of practice... Sigh. Anyway I am forging ahead with the other events coming-up soon, so look out for me!

+ Life | Blue Skies

2006-02-27T21:00:00.000+08:00

This morning marks the official blue skies across Singapore as far as I am concern. What a beautiful Monday!

The morning started off bright with the sun shining through my bedroom window.

When I was waiting for the cab at my usual spot, I noticed the sky was clear of clouds. Just dramatic blue sky!

I had to take a picture of Pinevale Condominium across my block as the building earthy tones contrasted very much with the blue sky. Picture perfect! With my Panasonic S700i 1.3Mega pixel camera-phone.

I just go crazy with clear blue skies... go figure!

It reminded me of when I was on vacation in Cairns, Australia with my family. The open skies, the wide horizon, as far as the eye can see. Such an awesome sight, especially for people like me, a free spirit who is deprived of open spaces and limited to little pockets of nature to content with.

Man, I will definitely scan the photos there to post in my Escapade Blog. I have to scan them first though, since the photos were taken with my traditional film, Canon EOS 500 camera.

Came out at lunch-time and there again, bright cheerful blue skies over the factory building. I just had to tell all my lunch buddies about it.

They thought it was nice, but nothing to get excited about. They could not understand my simple joy and probably thought that I was "loaded" when I also snapped a photo of the most lame of scenery - a factory building.

That's just me. The simple beauty brings me joy.

I left work at around 6:00pm today. The sun was still shining, the skies, well had become cloudy, but dramatically.

As I passed the overhead bridge, I just had to snap photos of the sun behind the clouds. Very nice, divine like.

It reminded me of Andrew's cloud from Past Tense "Foreshadowing" and his recent "Far Away Thunder" posts. The pictures were dramatic and mysterious too. The words, made my mind wonder...

This gives me an idea. I will start taking photos of clouds, lots of beautiful cloud formations since the blue sky as the backdrop is awesome in it self.

Yeah, yeah, yeah more insignificant "insights", a waste of server space... but hey, at least I am making me happy. One extra happy guy in the world.

Yes, The Clouds - Heaven's dream, the life-giving portal that feeds the earth with water from the heavens... What am I blabbering about?

Mondays are my least favourite day of the week!

NOW I believe I am "loaded!" With joy...

+ Life | Longer Weekend

2006-02-17T21:00:00.000+08:00

Incidently, My current Desktop picture for the few weeks

The weekend is here!

Basically there will be tons of stuff that go through my mind on what to do on weekends, but the weekend is just never enough to spend with extra time to spare. Yes, that is how greedy I am when it comes to weekends.

I "trick" myself, yes trick, that is how pathetically desperate I am to prolong the weekend psychologically, since I cannot prolong time itself.

I would ask my family (yes, I am that self-absorbed when it comes to maximizing the weekend) to go out with me after work on Fridays. We would go out for dinner and a stroll or go watch a movie. Just spend as long a time outside on Friday nights.

And when I wake up in the morning, I feel as though (really feel) it is a Sunday morning for a little while until I get my bearing either immediately after the sleepiness wears off, or late in the morning when I start to read the newspapers.

I will get happy to know that I have another day of such "waking-up" to the correct Sunday the next day.

That is how wonderful it feels to prolong a weekend with my method of self-psychological manipulation or chronic psychosomatic delusion (that was a mouthful, am I using them correctly... anyway...) I put myself to "squeeze" the extra hours out of an otherwise normal, 2-day weekend.

There, I said it. It is out there now. Well its great. It's the weekend again! Now to firm up the plans after sifting through the tons of stuff in mind to do and enjoy!

+ Life | Sunny Days

2006-02-13T22:00:00.000+08:00

With the monsoon rain finally over, the cloudy days are floating away to give a turn to sunshine and blue skies.

Not so fortunate for our closest neighbour though. The state of Kelantan in Malaysia is flooding its low lands and are displacing many homes and families as I am writing this entry.

Hope their authorities can minimise the devastation it brings.

The first two months towards the end of last year and the first month of this year was a very wet one. We had a record continuous downpour of over 12 days with little reprieves from time to time, only to continue the downpour.

Incredible how gloomy the skies were for the whole 2 weeks!

Not my kind of day. I am a sunshine person.

Anyway, we just had to go with the program, so to speak. We made the most of it by staying indoors at home even on weekends, curled-up in our sofa and watched movies, lots of movies. With that came the binging as well, lots of snacks.

Fortunately I have my HomeGym to burn-off the extra calories as a result.

Puffy had my son's full attention as his playtime options was reduced to indoors only.

So the welcomed sunshine is heavenly! Never been so happy to see the morning sun shining down on my bedroom floor.

I notice the roadside trees and shrubs are starting to grow flower buds waiting to bloom.

The people start to stroll outside and the various clubs start to have soccer trainings again.

Just like spring-time in Singapore! A great opportunity for me to take more photos with the sun out.

Yes! Life is good.

+ Fun | Word Cloud

2006-02-09T23:00:00.000+08:00

Saw it first at Barbara's Trying to Catch Up when she saw it from Running2K and then started to see everyone owning one.

Well, it sounded like fun so I jumped into the bandwagon and got myself one too, though short of ordering a T-Shirt. My apologies for using its services without buying one. Thanks anyway.

You can get one too for free at SnapShirts.com

+ Work | Brontok Virus

2006-02-08T20:00:00.000+08:00

Today was definitely a non-productive, frustrating day for me at work.

After a good start of the day with a con-call with a customer in the US, I got to clear some emails from yesterday since I was off work to accompany may Mom for her precheck-up for her eye surgery.

She has cataracts on her right eye and is going to have it removed this Friday afternoon, 10 Feb 06 at SGH's National Eye Centre.

Then the impending thing happened. Just before tea break, my PC was infected with the Brontok Virus. A first from Indonesia. Thought you would be proud that an Asian from Asia did something impressive. Depressive instead. Good at doing no good.

From that moment onwards, I could do nothing productive after tea break and after lunch. I was stuck at my PC trying to eradicate the virus off it with the help of my IT Engineer.

Two other office people had the same virus too, except one was mercifully detected by our common Hauri Antivirus program. We were not fortunate at all. Did not open any attachment or anything. My MS Outlook email was routinely auto-downloading emails periodically when it struck and gave an error message.

My Winlogon file was replaced with the virus that rendered me not be Administrator of my PC any longer.

A check in Hauri Website indicated that they have an update for the antidote, but after downloading it and did a scan, the anti-virus program returned a nil detection. WHAT!!

I had to resort to my long trusted free AVG Antivirus program. My IT Engineer helped to download it and installed in on my PC. Once scanning was in progress, all the Brontok related executable files were detected and deleted.

Thank you Grisoft.com for the Free AVG Antivirus program. You are still the best in my dictionary!

A reprieve finally felt at bout 4:30pm. Did all important stuff that I needed to do before I left for work. Not a good day. Nothing good came from this at all.

How come smart people are so stupid as to waste their own talent and time to ruin other people?

+ Life | Weird Stuff

2006-02-07T23:00:00.000+08:00

I have been tagged by Ellen from Coffee Granules and so I have to list my 5 weired stuff even though I am going to regret and embarrass myself after. So... here goes nothing.

My 5 Weird Habits:-

Itchy Throat. Will suddenly choke and cough violently in a packed and quite bus or train even if I have no cough at all. What pycho phobia am I having?
Itchy Fingers. I will somehow secretly re-sort a little, stuff like CD or Xbox Games titles on a supermarket shelve if it is mixed. A bit like the TV series Monk. What a psycho!
Finding Lost. When it comes to a fork path to find a place, I will surely go the other way, get lost, and back-track even if my gut feeling tells me that I should have gone the opposite direction in the first place. When can I trust my own instincts?
Fickle Memory. I can remember things that happened in the past 20 year ago with amazing details, but not remembering something so simple as what bus I took to a place last week. Is my memory ditching me?
Not Satisfied. When we dine out, I always feel that my wife's or son's choice of food ordered is a better choice than mine. I will secretly tend to feel that their portion is more than mine if we ordered the same dish. What the heck is that all about?

There! I listed them down. It is out there now. Thank god I had to list only 5. Else I think I will have fewer than none online friends now.

Below are the RULES of this weird chain:

The first player of this game starts with the topic “five weird habits" of yourself.
People who get tagged need to write an entry about their five weird habits
As well as state this rule clearly.
In the end, you need to choose the next five people to be tagged and link to their web journals.
Dont forget to leave a comment in their blog or journal that says “You are tagged” (assuming they take comments) and tell them to read yours.

Alright... now I have to tag 5 bloggers to reveal their own weird habits. Sorry ladies and gents, I have no choice:

Sister Celtic from Lopez Island Life
Barbara from Trying To Catch Up
Carol from A Revision
Alex from Life And The World
Uisce from Whiskey Talking

Good Luck!

+ Work | Red Packet

2006-02-01T20:00:00.000+08:00

An Ang Pow and 2 oranges for me

It is the first day of work after a long, restful weekend.

So far the activity had been slow at the operations side and most of my office colleagues are still on leave off work. Some coming back tomorrow and some all the way till next week Monday. Lucky them.

The Company Tradition

Like every year, all those who report to work right after Chinese New Year will be greeted by our CEO with the traditional Chinese New Year greeting - a handshake with greetings followed by an Ang Pow or a Red Packet in Hokien dialect with a token of S$10.00 in it, and two oranges.

I am a Malay, but they treat me all the same.

All employees present today will get it directly from the CEO. Personal. Neat.

The Chinese Tradition

Not sure if I understand it correctly, but do not take it from me. The Chinese give out Ang Pow as a gift from the elders to their unmarried charges, while the two oranges are for good luck.

Even numbers are good for festive periods while the orange colour looks like gold, to symbolise wealth and wish you good fortune.

Many of my office Chinese colleagues, well... all of them are Chinese with the exception of only me, a Malay, would keep these oranges in the office's desk until these oranges both get dried-up to "keep" their luck close to them and for as long as possible and then throw them away after 15 days.

That is how long the celebration is.

For me, I eat my "luck." Yes, I eat it because I cannot resist Mandarin oranges. It is one of my favourite fruits.

With any luck, the digested oranges will keep me full of fibre and good health. That is how I use my luck.

With a heads-up announcement from the Operations Manager that our CEO was coming, the next thing I knew, he was already inside our office with his entourage.

The first firm, handshake from the CEO was followed by a trail of handshakes from the other big bosses, the "big guns" with New Year greetings.

A very nice gesture. Still very rooted in Chinese tradition for this modern, high-tech, public-listed company of more than 20 years in existence.

The day is still slow and not much of activities today since many companies are still not cranked-up to the fast-paced momentum yet.

You would hear Lion Dance drums on and off, here and there as the companies welcome the troupes to "bless" their organisation for better luck and prosperity for this Lunar New Year.

Heard from a friend the market going rate for a blessing costs S$370.00 this year. A small price to pay for the bountiful of wealth the company owners hope they will reap the Lunar New Year.

Lions blessing the canteen

The First Time

At lunch, I get to witness the Lion Dance giving blessings to the canteen owner. It was my first time actually witnessing the whole blessing session while we eat our lunch. Great! A meal and a show... an edutaiment!

The canteen has 3 alters - 2 small ones and one large, main one.

The 3 lions paid their respects to these alters before the headed for the drinks counter where the canteen owner stood to start the Lion Dance. Deafening drums and cymbils accompanied the dance.

It lasted about 10 minutes with some "offerings" of oranges and vegetables given to the lions to "eat" from the canteen owner.

None of my Chinese friends know what the significance of the offerings suppose to be. They were expecting a blessed Chinese word to be formed by the lion when it moved away from the offerings, but none seen.

The dance was nonetheless interesting, with the lions animated so lively with its stomach breathing, blinking eyes and fancy footworks, but it catched everyone's attention when it "eat" the scattered the orange peelings high and about as though satisfied with the offerings in zest.

Before you know it, another troupe of Lion Dance arrived just before the earlier one finished with its blessings. The two groups approached each other and did some challenging... teasing, the way I saw it.

And on with the next Lion Dance. Guess S$740.00 is nothing compared to the hope of prosper days ahead for the new year.

The universal saying is true... it takes money to make money.

+ Beach | East Coast

2006-01-31T23:00:00.000+08:00

East Coast Beach Park on Chinese New Year

Would have left home early in the morning, but since my son has tuition coming to our home this late morning, we left home at 2:00pm instead.

We headed to East Coast Beach Park over at Marine Parade. Still good weather, though the sun played hide and seek amongst the clouds most of the time, but good for a tanning anyways.

Had ourselves lunch at Marine Parade Hawker Centre. Wifey and I had the usual - Tom Yam Seafood Noodles, while my son had Chicken Rice and yes... Ice Milo, his favourite drink ever.

Not as crowded as I expected it to be, being a public holiday and all. We see more cyclists, roller-bladders and joggers than picnickers. Most certain because many Chinese are still going visitings to relatives.

Well, more space and more choice for locations for us to set down our mat and stuff.

The tide was low, so the water was not that great, but never we mind. WeI did some swimming, but I laid on the sand most of the time sun tanning, while my son search for the elusive sea shells.

Yes... more sea shells to collect, but for some reason, East Coast Beach did not have that many sea shell to be found, let alone interesting ones.

Wifey sat on a bench under a shelter listening to the MP3 music Danish downloaded into his DigiLife CamCorder and snacking.

Everyone relaxing and just soaking in the sea breeze, the staring far out to the open horizon. Me, just being a human sun-dial for a few hours.

We were there for about 4 hours and as fast as we were there, it was time to leave.

We overshot our time at the beach that we did not have time to rent bicycles to ride along the beach as we planned earlier. Danish was terribly disappointed.

I did not really get a dark enough tan, so maybe another session this weekend? Let's see.

Walked to the nearby Parkway Parade Shopping Centre to get some groceries at Giant Hypermart for the home. Wifey wants to cook something extra special these few days and I chose cheeze cake for desert. Sweet!

Yes, yes, fattening but I will work harder on my HomeGym to rid that extra pound I will put in. Wifey will have to run on her threadmil too.

All that shopping made us hungry. We eat Burritos meals at KFC, talked about Puffy, our addopted "part-time" hamster and joked a few. Made out way back home in a cab at about 7:00pm.

Felt so satisfied to have sun on my face and some colour on my pale body. The sea has been so therapeutic to me, I feel energized for work tomorrow.

Oh, work tomorrow!

I am expecting a slow one because many locals are still continuing their holiday, with some taking the 3 days off to start work Monday next week onwards.

May be a bit of a rush for me filling-in for my Engineers who are still not back at work yet, but I am happy this long weekend was great for me personally.

Nope, no camping by the beach as initially planned. Too many things happened this long weekend that we had to take several short outings instead of a good overnight camping by the beach. Sigh...

But... instead of camping, we get to go to 2 different beaches - strolling along Changi Point for the cool clean sea breeze the night before and picnic at East Coast for the sun, among other outings. Sweet!

Anyway, put them all together and we had a great long weekend!

Now, back to the real world.

+ Changi | Dinner Out

2006-01-29T23:00:00.000+08:00

Changi Village Chalets and Shops

Like every year, during Chinese New Year, that will mean no shopping or Kedai Kopi or Coffee Shops open for business for 2 to 4 days at a stretch.

The major shopping centres and department store will be closed for the 3 days. Basically ghost town for the shopping centres.

Since the majority or 60% of Singaporeans are Chinese here, and mostly are the ones with the stores and Coffee Shops and department stores, these few days are the most boring days in the island for the other races here.

It is not necessarily a bad thing, its just that its the holidays, and everybody wants to have a rest - moms not cooking, families go outings and eat out.

Not many places though, so the Malays comprising of 30% and Indians are the ones cashing in the monies opening their stalls, setting-up make-shift stalls outside the Coffee Shops and in the void decks to "feed" the people for these few days.

That said, our family is no exception. We went out to Changi Village to have our dinner.

Wow! The crowd at the hawker centre was incredible. Practically all Malay and Indian stalls were open.

The queues were long and many favourite dishes were sold out. There seemed to be only Nasi Lemak or Rice in Coconut Milk dish that were available in many stalls.

On normal days, you would order your food at the stall and they will send it to you, but not these few days.

You have to queue a little longer and self-serve - wait there for it to be prepared and collect it yourself to your table. Great that we could find a table to have our meals.

Not that anybody mind, but the situation is a bit panicky. You just have to settle with what is available for these few days.

You always have McDonald's, KFC and Pizza Hut to choose from. They are always open for business.

After dinner, we bought a few snacks and drinks and headed to the beach.

The Sungei Changi Bridge is the separator between the hustle of food rush and the tranquility of the sea.

We sat down at the bench facing the sea and snacked on Kuaci or dried Sunflower Seeds like 3 parrots skillfully separating the shell from flesh with our tongues.

The night was clear and the sea breeze was cooling. A quiet spot and a relaxed atmosphere. We talked and watched people fishing, campers barbecuing and children running about care-free.

It is always a nice night out whenever it's at the beach. 2 more days to relax!

+ Surfing | Blogs Galore

2006-01-27T23:00:00.000+08:00

My blog celebrating Life! & Much Ado About Nothing

Came back from what is to be the start of a long weekend. 4 days of no work, just leisure!

Since my wife and son had left for his cousin's birthday party, I am left home-alone.

Bought myself a packact of Nasi Goreng Ikan Bilis or North Indian Fried Rice with Enchovies for dinner from the neighbourhood Indian stall, sat down andhad my "TV dinner".

Nothing interesting on TV, so I turned off the TV and turned on my PC instead.

No important emails from work, replied a few especially from a wonderful person, Sister Celtic on the Japanese Illusionist's clip she sent me. Just awesome!

Checked my blog for number of visits and started to "blog-surf" to each of FFMB members' pages.

Read hours of captivating entries, though some are too "foreign" and western for this Asian to truely understand and appreciate, but for the most part - just lots of interesting, insightful, witty and just enjoyable everyday stuff to read, to understand more.

I especially like the many funny comments that come with it after reading the blog entry. Its just like talking to a group of friends, only that it is at the global roundtable.

Never have I surfed that many a blog in one sitting before! It was my first time to leave so many comments on so many blogs at one go. The urge to say something about the some entries after reading it.

All thanks to Sister Celtics from Lopez Island Life for introducing me to many good bloggers. All I had were commercial blog sites commenting into my blog.

That was an irritating phase in my early blogging days. Thanks again to her for reminding me to use the word verification funtion. It helped a lot, and effectively to.

Hope I do not become a pest instead and get her in trouble with my unwelcomed comment or uninvited "infiltration" of someone else's thoughts.

Always looking forward to everyone's next entry. The freshness, unpredictable element of it all, across the globe, every day.

I have linked all those I know in my Main Passionate About Life Summary Page at http://muscleicon.blogspot.com

Cheers to FFMB bloggers! Interesting people.

+ Beach | Long Weekend!

2006-01-25T20:00:00.000+08:00

Bus Service 293 with Chinese Traditional Headdress Ad

With all the goings on at work, I am really in need of a break, a longer break.

Mentally, I am tired and a little depressed and physically I need sunshine on my skin to keep the blood warm and pumping. I want to recharge. January has not been good to me so far.

Singapore is celebrating Chinese New Year early next week, on Monday and Tuesday, 30th and 31 January.

With this weekend kicking in, that means I am getting 4 straight days off work, my son Danish from school, and my wife Azi from house chores! Sweet!

YES! I cannot wait!

I have been counting down for this long weekend since begining of this year, but it did not re-ignite my excitement until I saw the bus Service 293 passed me by this morning, while waiting for a cab to work.

With the distintive 3D Chinese New Year advertisement from Quaker Oats, I just had to snap a photo of it.

To all my Chinese Friends,
Happy Chinese Lunar New Year!

To all non-Chinese,
Happy Holidays!

East Coast Beach Park

With two more days to go, we have already started talking about going camping at the beach. Which beach now....?

Changi Beach Park... our default family haunt, secluded and tranquil, or
Pasir Ris Park... one of the largest children's playground by the beach, or
East Coast Beach Park... the happening beach with rows of shops and eateries.

All these planning are fine, but the weather is kind of unpredictable these past months.

It has been raining and raining hard for several weeks but looks like its clearing up. We got sunny days for a few, but overcast weather most of the time for now.

Nonethless, we are going to brave it, let rain or shine we are going to be prepared with our "all-weather spirits" and camping gears and what not. Bring it on!

Long weekend, here we come!

+ Work | Weird Day

2006-01-24T23:00:00.000+08:00

My taxi spot at Tampines Street 71

Had the weirdest day today.

Was awakened by my son last night. He kept waking up through the night for some reason. So I accompanied bunking with him until he woke in the morning for school.

Got his breakfast ready and his runny noise medicine given. He left for school and I was left tired and deprived of good sleep.

Decided to take a 10 minute nap but ended-up waking up at 8:00am instead! A cool 1-hour nap!

8:00am! That is when I should be at work! I woke up in shock so fast that my head spin for a second.

Got the roughest shave, the quickest teeth-brushing and the driest shower ever. In 15 minutes, I was at the roadside frantically flagging for a cab. Lots of cabs, but none available.

Finally called for the driver was late coming. He unfortunately thought it was Street 71 Pasir Ris instead of Tampines. What more can they do to me...?

Oh yes, they can do more!

Work place in AMK Ave 5 Industrial Park 2

Work was good, but let's just cut the story short.

On the way home, I missed the bus Service 72 before I could reach the bus stop. It was a double-deck bus, my favourite ride. Well there would always be another one coming.

And came did another one, and another one, and another 2 more!

None of the buses could stop to pick any more passengers because the buses were all already packed tight with passengers.

By then, there were already more than a dozen people at the bus stop with obvious agitated faces, waiting for the 5th one after a 30 minutes wait! What in the world was happening?!

Stood there for half an hour but seemed forever when I noticed the antics of a woman in her mid 30s acting weird.

She began to mumble to herself softly at first. Then it became louder as and when bus after bus passed by our stop full of passengers. Well, I am agitated too, I thought.

Then she started to pace up and down the bus stop and as she walked, she would stomp her right leg ever few steps.

Then she started tugging and snapping her plastic bag making plastic crunching sounds in front of all the other people as she paced to and fro.
Okay... one angry lady, "crazy" angry lady!

When the 5th bus finally came with more than enough standing room, all the restless Service 72 passengers boarded the bus, but she did not. Saw her mumbling as the bus moved away.

Okay... that fed answer to my curiosity.

The whole day was a bad transportation experience, all this festive season can drive you... well, crazy!

+ Retrospect | The Bully

2006-01-22T20:00:00.000+08:00

Bullying a girl I like? What's that about?

I read Carols' "Early Years "on bullies and the link to Barbara's "Sometimes You Don't Know Why". It triggered the guilt I thought had subsided through all these years.

Here's the flip side of the story. Many will hate and think differently of me for this, but here goes...

I have to confess that I did some terrible things when I was a kid. I was once a bully myself. Puny me. I could not believe it myself.

Not a nice feeling to recall my acts of stupidity. It would be even more hurtful to the victims. Well in this case victim, but it should hurt all the same.

I remember the one incident that stuck in my conscience till today.

My friends and I teased an Indian girl who was our classmate. I tugged on her braided hair and made her cry. It was suppose to be fun? It was an act of bravado for my friends, I guess, though I don't recall exactly why.

What I do know was that I think I kind of... liked her. Yes, it was a funny way, no... hurtful way of showing it. And yes, it was a stupid way of showing it! I am ashamed I did such a nasty thing.

I guess I could not understand what I was feeling then. I find her interesting and I liked her. She was taller than me, she looked pretty in her school uniform, and she was a quiet girl and an obedient pupil. She is everything nice.

Maybe I wanted to have some form of communication with her, befriend her, but I didn't know how. I was in my second year of kindergarten!

Yes, I was a twisted kid back then as I am now. The kid I mean! I am no longer twisted. Well I like to think so.

I remembered she screamed in shock when I pulled her hair, and remembered that she cried for a while.

That made me stopped and felt guilty. I was not thinking or afraid of what would happen to me afterwards, rather, I felt really bad. It was not fun at all.

What was I thinking?! Come to think of it, I was out of character. What had just happen?

Strangely enough I was not reported to the teacher, nor did her parents confronted me or my parents for my act. I still think she did not tell her parents about me. Why is that?

Till now, I regretted deeply what I had done. The guilt still feels strong whenever I recall that very incident. Saw her big eyes looking at me as if asking me what had she done to me to deserve that.

I cannot recall her name, nor can I ever imaging how she would look today.

If only I could turn back time and undo my terrible act. What is done is done, but only if I could say that I'm sorry to her. I deeply am.

No one should be treated or feelings hurt like that. No one!

I can never have closure. It is my punishment.

I hope I did not do any permanent damage to her. I hope she forgave me. I hope she had totally forgotten about that incident.

I hope she is a happy and successful individual with lots of wonderful kids like herself.

+ Work | Friday 13th

2006-01-13T21:00:00.000+08:00

Poster on loan from KETV7

Never a superstitious person all my life but Friday the 13th came barely two weeks into the new year!

The day at work started off great and all seemed normal. Through mid day, as I was coming back from my Friday Prayers, I overheard a teenage girl talking to her group of friends in the shuttle bus, complaining about the bad day she was having and mentioning "Friday the 13th."

"Oh yes, today is Friday the 13th... how about that..." I thought to myself. Hmm... Jason!

The most memorable scene came to mind. Thought all was over in the morning, and then Jason grabbed her from behind off the boat and into Crystal Lake.

I thought nothing of it as I believe it is a old but still "popular" western superstition made even famous by Jason, well, Mrs Voorhees at first of course!

Or was the number 13 in itself, like the eventful Apollo 13? Read once that it was an ill-fated space mission that was launched at 13:13 hours, from launch pad #39 (the 3rd multiple of 13), and aborted on April 13th 1970...

Well anyway, once I reached my office I started reminding my friends about the date, knowing they tend to freak out since some of them like to talk about superstitions and what not, just to see their reaction.

None of them remembered the date. They acted normal and just said "oh ya..." as if to indulge me. That was as much a "freaking-out" reaction as I could get. Well... whatever...

The day went by as usual until late afternoon when my boss called me to the conference room to drop a bomb!

Down-size! I then owed him a list of names to better streamline the operation side to suit the "present situation."

I know better than to mention such "sensitive" matter, let alone write about it, but Friday the 13th did become really unlucky, not particularly for me, but for the people under my charge. Sigh...

Darn it! I hate doing this part of the job. Being Jason and "slashing off" people's livelihood away! New year, new beginning? We were into the 13th day of the new year!

Wait a minute! Am I being superstitious now?!

Everyone in my team is great, but yes, the situation renders it. We were not as "busy" with orders to sustain everyone for quite sometime now. A man's got to do, what a man's got to do... submit it by Monday!

Darn it. Sigh...

Superstitious, I am not! Praying and Hoping I will. And I really hope there is a silver lining behind everyone's dark cloud. There always is!

PS: And I love cats, whatever colour it may be!

+ Work | Morning Ride

2006-01-04T12:00:00.000+08:00

Malay Kampng House off Punggol

Never thought I would write this bit in Escapade section related to my work, but here goes.

Had a ride in a cab this morning, the first day of work in year 2006.

Was quiet along the way but the cab driver started to chat half-way through the journey from my home to my work place. Did not catch his name or his cab number though.

JUST REMINISING...

A very intresting and educational ride I must say. Exiting from TPE and ascending uphill via Sengkang East Road, he started to talk about his childhood days when he was still living in the Kampong in Punggol. He is in his fifties now.

He was living in a Chinese village beside a Malay Kampong overlooking the Punggol River. The spot we drove by was about the place his home was way back then.

When his family saved enough money, his father bought a patch of land beside the Punggol School. It was up the hill about 6.8M high, the highest point in Punggol at the time.

His father said that the place had the best Funshui or good geomancy, because the hill behind them seem to protect them as the Chinese expression says that they have "the mountain behind" to "back" them up against bad luck.

To him the place was high and the scenery was great, overlooking the village below and the canopies of the surrounding trees and the ultimate river view.

They were farmers, raring chickens, ducks and pigs, but poutry was their forte.

He remembered having to row a sampan or boat from Punggol to many parts along side the river to buy chicken feeds for their farm when he was just in high school.

He admired the Malays, having no big patch of land, but a village of their own. Each house had their home and surrounding compound kept clean and tidy.

They did not have much money and the state of many people living at the time was poor, but the Malays were happy people.

They lived harmoniously among themselves and with the Chinese too, while his family had to endure hard labour and work from when he was small to accumulate wealth that never seemed to be enough.

They could fetch about $10,000.00 a month of profit but still toiled hard day in and day out for more.

With all that money, his home still did not have electricity. So when he was in his high chool, Saint Andrew's Secondary, he had problems after when his teacher asked them to watch some Sharespear shows to talk about the next day.

He just had to pretend he watched it and discuss with the class even though his house did not have a TV set. All that wealth, no minimal luxury available.

With a hint of regret, I felt he was robbed off his childhood from the hardwork he had to endure suppoting their farm.

CHICKEN TRIVIAS...

Then came the educational part of the conversation.

He told me that there are several types of chickens - the layers, the broilers and the breeders. I am sure he said there was another category I left out, but can not recall.

The layers were their specialty.

A chicken would live up to 2 "productive" years. That is to say, from chicks, the chickens will be laying eggs at age 3 months ro so and be laying about 98 eggs out of every 100 days, for about the two years.

After the productive years, the mature chickens will slowly but surely lay less eggs until it could only lay 2 to 3 eggs a month.

Upon which, these chickens will be sold off to make chicken essence, etc. There was a time that they sold the mature chickens to Malaysian businesses to make chicken nuggets, which is the right age for such meat - succulent and tender.

LESSONS LEARNT...

The farming era in Singapore ended and they moved to leased their land to small industrial businesses making abastos ceilings and moulds. They would also earn about S$10,000.00 a month from the rents.

The hardship has taught him the value of money and dealings in business. He now lives in a terrace house - landed property that is a dream for many Singaporeans to own and shop in a shopping centre which name I forgot.

I guess him being a cab drive is to while his free time. If he was me, I would have gone on tours to see the world instead in my golden years. With that much money has has, I would think he already has done that.

Since I am always a sucker for reminising old Kampong days and the simple life... well, may be for the Malays, not the Chinese or him in particular.

It was a nice start to work this new year. Thanks to Mr. Cabby who has refreshed my spirit to welcome the possibilites this year may hold for me. Insyaallah.

+ OUB | Sunday Setup

2005-12-05T20:00:00.000+08:00

Chic Couture Booth at OUB Centre Christmas Bazaar 2005

Last Sunday, 4th December 2005 was a long day for us.

My son stayed home alone, while my wife and I went off to OUB Centre at Raffles Place to set-up her Chic Couture booth for the Christmas Bazaar. She was to start on Mon, 5th December 2005 and the business will open till 24th December 2005.

We were the first tenants to reached there at about 10:00am.

Off we went setting-up our booth. Her friend whom shared the booth rent with her was coming later in the afternoon.

Already had a visualization of how the set-up was going to be.

To maximise the layout for the most display panels possible without cramping the halve of the booth while the other was occupied by her friend.

The tent was 9x9 Ft while the tables were 3x3 Ft.

To maximise the display panels and allow customer to browse all four sides of the display, we split the two tables apart. Now we have four sides of the tables, with sixteen display panels back to back.

Secured the metal frames onto the tables and tie-wraps the four frames together in the centre. Add some Christmas garners and ornaments with glowing lights to complete the look, and were were set.

On the ceiling, I tied three rows of fishing line strings and hung two sets of pink net fabric and silver balls hung by a shinny red ribbon each, while my wife placed all her jewelleries onto the metal frames.

The day was extremely hot. The tent was red in colour, so the heat was almost unbearable. The fan in the tent did not help at all. Infact, it blew down the hot rising heat back onto us.

Her friend Jenny came by at 2:00pm and start on her portion of the tent. We helped her fix-up the two poles and dress-up her two tables with our garners webought for her.

Have to admit, our tent looked polished and impressive. Airy, lots of room to encourage the Customers to come into the tent and nicely decomrated to lift the spirits up for shopping.

All that set-up joy had us finished at about 8:30pm. So drained from the hot weather we reached home at about 9:00pm.

I could not wait to take a cold shower. I was practically a salt making machine - rub my skin, I could feel and see salt crystals flaking off.

My son had his own plans and a great day at home.

He invited his cousins from Sengkang to our home and they had X-box play and Starwars movies to watch with pizza for dinner.

Putting my sore muscles flat on my bed was the second most relief I felt after the long bath. I was asleep before I knew it. What a day!

Was so happy what we visualize happen according to plan. Next is the business itself.

+ Changi | Beach Park

2005-11-20T23:00:00.000+08:00

PART 1 - Tanjong

There were lots of tents pitched on the beach. Most probably from the morning and the over-nighters. After all, the December school holidays have just started.

As soon as we found a spot and layed-out the mat, Danish went straight for the water's edge, looking for seashells.

He has been collecting seashells, from the day I showed it to him when he was very little. I collected a few for him and he continues collecting till today.

Now he has jars of seashells lined on his bedroom shelves. Seashells from beaches in Singapore and from the many places we have been - neighbouring Malaysia to as far as Perth Australia and Mauritius.

I remembered his first time to Changi Beach when he was only about seven months old, against old Malay superstitions of babies and wondering spirits of the sea.

He liked it instantly when his feet first touched the sand. Was not that excited about the water though.

The crashing waves splashed on his face and frightened him at the beginning, but once I carried him into the water, he smiled and splashed it with his little hands.

My wife and I will never forget those moments.

From then on, Changi Beach has been our family escape for the weekend.

I have lost count of how many times we have picnicked there, camped there and stayed overnight there, either just the 3 of us or with the whole of my side of the family.

To this day, we attribute his tanned skin to all those hours in the sun, all those years.

He was born fair-skined just like my wife, but now he is even darker than me. He does not mind though, its the fun that counts.

As for me, I could only remember being there when I was about 5 or 6 years old. The place was a Malay Fishing Village. I remembered going in and out a relative's house - a wooden hut on stilts with attap roofs by the sea.

I remembered my Mom brought us there, and we kids would go in and our of the house without the need to use slippers or flip-flops to play on the beach. I do not remember the faces of my relatives though.

Mom and Dad would bring us there for picnic whenever they could. We were still living a wooden house with zinc roofs ourselves. The journey would take two hours.

We would have to walk 20 minutes out from our village in Lorong Ternark to the bus depot, and take a SBS Service 50 from Kaki Bukit to Geylang Serai that would take another 20 to 30 minutes.

My parents would then buy food for lunch and tit-bits to munch at the beach. That would take another 10 to 20 minutes. Then conitnue our journey taking Service 2 from there to Changi Village, a 30 minutes ride.

Seemed we took all the time to be there and still have enough time enjoying ourselves. Life is a "unidirectional goal" when you are a child. Have only one goal at any one time - to only have fun at the beach. Nothing else matters.

We would swim and play until our last energy spent and went back home totally exhausted, sleeping all the way in the bus, and if we were lucky, get carried back instead of walking back into the village.

We would have terrible sun burn and watery eyes from the long exposure, and would somehow still felt the waves crashing on our bodies long after we reached home.

Now, its me taking my son to the beach. So fortunate that my wife likes the beach too. Most times she would suggest we just go to the beach and have a quite time there, just the 3 of us.

It is even easier for us now since we live in Tampines, just about 15 minutes away by taxi from Changi Beach Park.

Though the rustic charm has been transformed into a modern reclaimed beach, some spots are still reminiscent of the old Changi Beach I still remember - the concrete Arch Bridge across Sungei Changi or Changi River, and the scenery from Telok Paku Road leading to Changi Point.

With the many face-lifts Changi Beach has gone through, it still is our favourite family recreation spot nevertheless.

+ Istana | Kampong Glam

2005-11-06T22:00:00.000+08:00

Istana Kampong Glam beside Sultan Mosque

Believe it or not, it was my first time stepping into the Istana, as if tracing my roots.

It was the official residence of Sultan Hussain Muaazzam Shah ibni Sultan Mahmud. He was and Temenggong Abdul Rahman, ceded all Malay sovereign rights to rule Singapore to British India Company.

In return the British rebuilt the palace in 1840 and recognised that Kampong Glam enclave or Kota Raja to remain in the Sultan's family and his decendents with annual stipend.

Believed to be designed by George Coleman, the island's first European architect.

It has 3 arches on the front and decade and windows that are similar to other historic buildings here - previous Parliament House and Armenian Church.

The Istana compound was landscaped beautifully and the whole Istana was protected witha perimeter wall. Kampong styled houses were built around this for the Sultan's kins.

Not until a year ago the Istana was lived by the Sultan's royal decendents, but now has been restored and turned into a Malay Royal Heritage Museum.

On the left of the main entrance, stands a large grand house traditionally painted in royal colour - yellow, the locals called it Gedung Kuning or Yellow Mansion.

Once occupied by Sultan's decendants up to Tengku Mahmud, Tengku being Prince.

It was sold upon his death to a local Javanese businessman Haji Yusof and his decendants. Now it is turned into a Traditional Malay Restaurant - Tepak Sirih unfortunately.

All this enlightenment of our Malay heritage when we "stumbled" upon it from our walk for dinner from purchasing our display console from La Cafa at Furniture Mall.

+ Life | Human Mind

2005-10-22T20:00:00.000+08:00

Human Brain X-ray Scan

While waiting for my wife to discuss our next project for the Christmas Bazaar booth that we are taking-up this December, I surfed the net and Sister Celtic's blog came to mind.

She posted a very interesting phenomenon about the human mind. A study by the Cambridge University amazingly proves that the mind is indeed powerful. Read below paragraph and you will see.

CAN YOU READ THIS?

Olny srmat poelpe can
Cdnu'olt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae.

The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Amzanig huh? yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt!

With the evolution of SMS or short-text messages, and now this, my son's English Teacher's days are numbered! Just kidding.

+ Life | Hello Uncle

2005-10-21T22:00:00.000+08:00

Tampines Mall beside MRT Train Station

Coming back from work late so I had to break my fast by having dinner outside at Tampines Linkway FoodCourt. Felt awkward eating without my family.

I have never eaten a meal alone for the longest time I can remember. Had my fill and went off to Tampines Mall to look for a pair of jeans I have been hunting for a while now.

My last few hunts would be at a Giordano store.

Went inside and was greeted enthusiastically by the young male salesperson, but.... he said "Hello Uncle!"

Whamp! It hit me unaware like being smashed head-on into a brick wall. I have yet to realise (or in self-denial?) that I am now 39 years old and look like someone's uncle.

Felt bewildered a while but kept my composure with this "new" brand of reality.

The salesperson was about 19, 24 the most. Always pictured myself and felt like his big brother or something of that age range, never an uncle. I cannot register in my mind as being above 35, I guess (that self-denial again?)

Gave a node and a light smile to him and went browsing at the clothes and jeans section away from him to give myself time to digest this new reality.

One good thing that came out of this incident was that I finally found the pair of jeans I wanted. Pre-faded and rugged-looking enough but not over-the-top "rebellious teenager, fashion-statement" kind of look, just casual.

Never have I bothered so much about a pair of jeans before. Mid-life crisis?

Anyway, he came back to serve me and gave me my size 31 I asked for. Was very helpful explaining to me the different cuts available and checking for available fitting room and showed me the way.

It was a size too big at the waist. Took a peak outside the fitting room door and there he was reflected off the mirror and saw me guestured at him to come.

He gave me size 30 and it fit me just fine. I never looked good in jeans, but this particular pair of jeans was so fine when I saw my colleagues wore it. I just had to own a pair too.

Went to pay at the cashier and this young bubbly lady salesperson served me with such impaccable customer service, friendly with wide smiles, but very importantly she was sincere.

Reminding me if this was my bithday, I would enjoy a 15% discount. Fortunately not. I would be 40 then.

I looked around and saw everyone in the store was young. The salespersons, the customers too. I probably was the oldest person standing there. Sigh.

Would have felt good if there was another person of my "generation". No...wait a minute! I would not want that. He might come in with his son to buy him stuff instead!

I have always grown with brand names like Giordano, HangTen and U2. The polo shirts, the wide-width black belts, the socks and undergarments, even the umbrellas. Not that young anymore, but still I like the style of clothes.

Guess I still am young at heart. That is the best thing I can tell myself.

Anyway, I feel the standard of service at Giordano Tampines Mall is one of the best in Singapore. Well done Giordano! This old guy will be back nonetheless.

+ Life | Crane Vs Crane

2005-10-19T20:00:00.000+08:00

Bus Service 72 Route from Yio Chu Kang to Tampines Interchange

Yesterday was a rainy day. The day started sunny when I left for work but started to rain heavily late morning onwards.

Took a cab to work and just had to take a photo of the heavy duty cranes at a construction site in Sengkang East Avenue junction. The rapid development of the island. These cranes can be seen everywhere.

The rain continued on and off through the day until I left work for home, when it reside to a light drizzle.

Took Bus Service 72 from Ang Mo Kio Avenue 5 and had a good ride with very few people on the bus, I got to sit and read a book called "The One Minute Enlightened Millionaire" peacefully.

Yes, I dream to be rich just like the next guy. And yes, it would be nice to be wealthy, a millionaire, but it would be fantastic to share your abundance with everyone you love and the ones who need help.

I will save that for later as I have yet to finish reading the book and absorb its contents and do practical stuff it tells me to, in my quest to be an "enlightened millionaire".

The bus stopped at the junction of Tampines Road and Tampines Avenue 10. I saw for the first time in Singapore, cranes of another kind: the migratory Little Egrets in the wild, on the open field next to HNS Factory.

Easily, there could have been more than a hundred of the shy, yet magnificient birds. Like specks of white in a green field.

The sight made me so happy inside like a child seeing his favourite animal in real life at the zoo for the first time.

I did not get to snap a photo of it but will be ready everytime I pass that area. Wish my son could see that awesome sight too.

+ Life | Lighter Side

2005-10-12T22:00:00.000+08:00

Received and email from an office colleague today about potatoes. Office politics taters to be exact. With the many little life's irritants, below are some truths but from a humours point of view:

Some people never seem motivated to participate, but are just content to watch while others do the work. They are called "Spec Taters".
Some people never do anything to help, but are gifted at finding fault with the way others do the work. They are called "Comment Taters".
Some people are very bossy and like to tell others what to do, but don't want to soil their own hands. They are called "Dick Taters".
Some people are always looking to cause problems by asking others to agree with them. It is too hot or too cold, too sour or too sweet. They are called "Agie Taters".
Some people say they will help, but somehow just never get around to actually doing the promised help. They are called "Hezzie Taters".
Some people can put up a front and pretend to be someone they are not. They are called "Emma Taters".
Some people love others and do what they say they will. They are always prepared to stop whatever they are doing and lend a helping hand. They bring real sunshine into the lives of others. They are called "Sweet Po Taters".

Hats off to whomever created this humor. Now, which one am I?

+ Life | Life's Irritants

2005-10-07T22:00:00.001+08:00

I was late for work today even though I was on time leaving home. Just one of those days irritating days, I guess.

While waiting for a cab for more than 10 minutes and finally had to call for one, it set me thinking. Why is when you really need it, it is not there?

Then it started me thinking more of the same situations that I have been having, this recurring phenomenon. I came up with a list of whys:

Suddenly no cabs around when you need one.

Cabs become scarce when it is your turn in the taxi queue.

Stuck in a traffic jam when you need to be in a conference call in a few minutes time.

The PC hangs-up when it is urgent to print something for the meeting.

Cannot control but cough violently when in a crowded bus or train.

Always an important family event invitation pops-up clashing with a bodybuilding event marked on the calendar months before.

Felt very sick the night before but seemed to feel well when at the doctor’s.

Pop a zit when I need to look my best for a function.

All these are trivial questions or irritants as compared to the horrid happenings around the world today. Something psychological maybe, but they still bug me since I can remember.

There should be more. I will add on to the list until I get some kind of enlightenment on each one of them and rid them off my irritants list.

+ Bali | Paradise Destroyed

2005-10-02T07:00:00.000+08:00

Was sitting and watching the TV when a news flash at the bottom read that fours bomb blast had taken place in the island of Bali, Indonesia.

I spontaneously stood-up in anger, looking for my wife to tell her of the terrorist act. She was praying, so I had to pace to and fro at the dining area trying to cool down while waiting her.

She was shocked too when told and frowned in disbelief asking why would anyone want to do such a terrible thing again to a peaceful and wonderful place. My question exactly, why?

We should know, because we had our second honeymoon in Bali. We stayed at Kuta and shopped at around Kuta Beach area too. That was the place where wanted to conceived our son, but delightfully found out that our son was already with us, in her, a few days before we left the island.

Bali is a beautiful place. The beaches are incredible. The natives are friendly and peaceful people. The crime rate is the lowest I think, because the believe in retribution strongly.

If they commit any sin however small, they may not get the wrath of punishment from their god, but their descendents may pay for their wrong-doings.

They are very respectful of their passed ancestors. They believe their late ancestors are still with them in spirit. That is why every home has a pagoda-like structure in the compounds of their home, where their ancestors live together with them, still as a family.

They bury their dead ones in a temporary grave about five years and exhume the remains for a proper cremation before they can bring home their ancestor's spirit to live with them to complete the family again.

Everyone has a skill either brought down from their parents or learnt from a voluntary institute, even self-taught, mainly handicrafts.

Handmade jewellery of silver, wood-carvings, bags, batik printed-shirts and blouses, the young ones are everywhere peddling their merchandise on the street.

Everyone is an entrepreneur to catch the tourist buck, never resort to crime to earn a living. That is something wonderful and I remember that that is heaven.

I do not understand why the terrorists are targeting Bali and killing the Balinese in the process if they are so hateful of foreigner - westerners to be exact.

No amount of vindictive retaliation to whatever wrong doings that are happening elsewhere could justify this horrible act. Being a Muslim, this is definitely not the peaceful teachings of Islam, period!

These are innocent people - peaceful natives and tourists alike. They are not soldiers ready to die for a cause.

These are cowardly acts, masking a revenge for the fight for freedom of defenseless people in their own homeland elsewhere. These are terrorists on a killing spree, nothing more, nothing commendable about it, just disgusting to me.

+ Tampines | NDP Fireworks

2005-08-09T00:00:00.000+08:00

After visiting my Dad at SGH that afternoon, my wife, son and I took a taxi back to our home.

Upon reaching Tampines, there traffic crawled slowly as we were nearing the open field beside the Gufran Mosque. The human traffic on the sidewalk was even more incredible.

Never in my life have I seen so many people on the sidewalk in my neighbourhood, at one time.

The whole place was jam-packed with traffic both on the road and sidewalk. Like other 3 GRC estates and the Padang, Tampines was celebrating Singapore's 40th National Day in a very big way.

The sight changed our mood for the better from the solemn SGH to the happening festivities.

We reached there about 10 minutes to 8:00pm. Took a good spot near the cordoned area where the fireworks was to take place amidst the thousands of people as far as Pasir Ris, Loyang and Bedok.

Saw many families were prepared for the fireworks finale bringing snacks and drinks sitting on the open field on mats and soaking-up the lively atmosphere.

I think it was a great idea this year to bring the celebration and parade up-close, practically to the heartland's doorstep.

The centre-stage was way far across the cordorned area from where we were sitting, but the happy vibes were felt all the same.

At about 15 minutes passed 8:00pm, the fireworks started. We realised we were indeed too close to it that the ashes from the blasts rained down on our faces. I could not get enough room to fit the whole fireworks into the photos I took.

The photos turned out badly as hight shots need a tripod to hold the camera stable due to longer exposure.

So a little shake though with Mega Optical Image Stablizer inbuilt to my Lumix FZ10 Panasonic Digital Camera did not help me much for my first capture of fireworks with any camera, for that matter.

The fireworks were not as large but gave the big, powerful bangs the same.

It lasted maybe about 2 minutes or so. It was good while it lasted, but everyone wanted more. At least a little longer. Then the MC on the centrestage took over.

Some songs later while everyone thought that the fireworks display was over, many slowly retreated to call it a night. Then another round of fireworks was blasted into the night sky.

That time even bigger with the fancy fan-like display from the ground up. Nice indeed. My wife and son enjoyed the fireworks display thoroughly. So did I.

The atmosphere was light and happy all around. We stayed there a little longer just in case another round of fireworks were planned, but guessed not.

Going back, walking from the open field to our flat, the whole intersection was filled with vehicles and humans, thousands of them. It was a very and never before sight that everyone I think, behold.

Very cheery feeling with the many happy people around and the neighbourhood decorated with national flags and banners.

It was a welcomed change from the gloomy feeling I personnally felt for the past 2 weeks or so, about the health of my Dad and how saddened Mom felt when Dad fell ill.

I hope the same thing be planned again, still in Tampines. We had a good time that 15 mminutes or so.

Imagine if we were to be there at the start of the celebration, with the rousing MCs and patriotic songs, the merry atmposphere, the colours around and the parade and floats in the afternoon.

It would have been very nice and might have felt even pround and patriotic that Singapore was 40.

Happy Birthday Singapore! Welcome Home Dad!

+ Bangkok | More Shopping

2005-07-12T12:00:00.000+08:00

Woke up at 6:30am and got ready to attack the shops after breakfast at the hotel.

On Saturday, most shops opened at 10am. Our half-day city tour was at 10:30am, so we whiled our time walking along the streets around the hotel until we were followed around by a pesky "tuk-tuk" driver.

Since we never experienced the ride, we caved in and took the "tuk-tuk" - a modified motorbike that could seat 4 people to bring us around the few blocks. He suggested a few places, but time did not permit as the traffic jams were sure to hold us up.

We decided on Gems Gallery - National Jewellery Centre, run by the Thai government. There, my wife had a great time admiring the many beautiful jewelleries, but could not pass on the Thai silk blouses. She bought two for 2,200 Bhat. The driver got a diesel coupon for bringing tourists there. He was very grateful to us.

Came back a different route, with some navigating help from the driver, we then knew how easy it was to actually move around Bangkok.

First Hotel, where we stayed-in was located on Phetchaburi Road, two bus stops away from Pratunam, a garment wholesale centre in between Baiyoke Suites and Baiyoke Sky Hotel, an impressive 88-storey high tower.

The BTS Sky Train nearest station called Ratchathewi Station, was a ten-minute walk to the right of our hotel. The train could take us to either Chatuchak Park Station where the infamous Chatuchak Market - Thai's largest weekend market is located, or the other direction, National Stadium Station where MBK is located - an uptown shopping centre.

We could also alight at Si Lom Station in Patpong for the night market and the other attraction, famous for the men, the bars and pubs and the infamous Thai Girls. The place started bustling with life at around 8 to 9pm, until 2 to 4am the next morning.

Finally got to meet the Thai tour agent, Kathy. Surprised we were not pooled together with the rest of the tour group who left us the airport. She gave us a tour herself instead of her tour guide in her car instead. On the way, she exhaustively explained the justification of leaving us at the airport under the pressure of group.

She also told us that Singapore agents included complimentary half-day tours to only entry-free sites like temples and markets, never at least to a paid attraction.

The normal options would have been the Thai Elephant Shows, The Crocodile Shows, The Thai Palace and their Water Theme Park or even a Calypso Show - a transvestite cabaret show. We settled for just shopping for wholesale goods. Yes, a bumber for our son, and me?

Pratunam and Chatuchak were Kathy's immediate reply. She took us to Gems Gallery again, and later arranged a free shuttle service the gallery provided to Chatuchak.

Wow! Was our reaction. The market was massive with little 6 to 8-square feet stalls, all clustered together in thousands, leaving a small passageway in between to squeeze through. You can practically find everything sold there. That was the shopping haven definitely for the ladies.

We got many bargains there and off we went to the Sky Train at Chatuchak Station headed for MBK. Had to see what was the fuss about this "Orchard Road" of Thailand.

We had to pass 6 stops with a change on the 5th at Siam Station to another line and alighted at National Stadium Station. It cost 35 Bhat or S$1.45 each to get there.

Nice and modern train, reminiscent of our earlier MRT stations, with its magnetic tickets and slot gates. Even nicer view from the four-storey high tracks. Noticed the station platform was a lot longer than the train, so we could never know where the train would stop along the platform.

At MBK Center, we finally get to sample the halal Thai dish we kept seeing being sold along the roadsides with normal working Thais slurping their meals surruptiously.

The halal Beef & Noodles Stall was on the 6th floor where the large foodcourt was located. We had to change Thai Bhat with coupons to buy food and drinks. The remaining coupons could be refunded back within the same day.

Did some window shopping after lunch. The place reeked of top-of-the-line merchandise, something like Orchard Road in Singapore, with the fancy department stores like Tokyu and all the famous brands you can think of.

We did not spent time shopping there since there was nothing unique about it. We went back to out hotel to rest and perform our daily prayers before we ventured out again.

This time, Pratunam!

Our son stayed behind in the room. We were out at 6:30pm. Noticed the makeshift pushcarts already started packing for the day alongside the pavement. We missed the buzz.

Pratunam was to the left of our hotel, we walked along Phetchaburi Road and took to the small alley on Soi Phetchaburi 21. Again, many makeshift pushcarts and some shops already called it a day. Most closed at 6pm.

A few fashion jewellery shops that were still open. Thank goodness they were wholesalers too. Got a few contacts for future purchases.

There, we found our first garment shop that had our taste for ladies blouses. Changed more Thai Bhats at Baiyoke Suite money changer across the street, for the blouses.

While choosing the blouses, we noticed new droves of makeshift pushcart vendors filling-up the roadsides and pavements. Setting-up their pushcarts with accurate locality in unmarked spots, leaving a weaving lane for cars to slowly pass through. An exhuberant sight to behold as the vendors rushed to set-up with much zest.

Night came and the whole place that was a dark alley before, now changed to a bright lively and happening night market right before your very eyes! The magic of "Thai Retail Industry", I think.

+ Bangkok | 8~10 Jul 05

2005-07-11T22:00:00.000+08:00

Really excited about going to Thailand - the exotic land of smiles, as anyone may have heard from advertisements in magazines and brochures.

Finally got to go - not for leisure, but for our small, start-up "business" with my wife and son for her pushcart or kiosk business. So three of us got on Cathay Pacific Airlines at 1:30pm Terminal 1 Changi Airport, heading for Bangkok. A three hour flight in between, and stayed at a First Hotel - a 3-star hotel along Patunam area.

Reaching there, we had the misfortune of lining-up in a slow-moving line. Never seen such a massive number of arrivals in one airport before. Lines and lines of people queued to go through immigration. A bit strange with so many continuous influx of arrivals, but so few counters opened.

Our line was held-up quite badly as compared to the next. We were stuck there for one and a half hours. The complication can be anything, but a few people in front of us, there were groups of maybe Korean or Japanese who did not fill in the white immigration forms correctly or something to that effect that they had to fill them in again while the rest in the line waited.

What a nightmare, the inching line, babies crying and toddlers getting cranky due to waiting and standing in line, in a crowd of maybe more than a few hundred people.

We were supposed to be greeted by the Thai tour agent VV Victory at the airport, but could not locate him. After 20 minutes searching for the guy in an over-crowded and congested meeting area, we had to call back the Singapore tour agent - Pinnacle, whose Assistant Manager was not as helpful as she was the day we paid for our tickets.

Instead our second call to her, she asked us to call the Thai tour agent directly. After a "good word" from my wife, she helped to"emailed" the agent to pick us up. Never knew if she did anyway. The tour agent did not show up or even call our cell phone number we left with the Singapore agent either.

My wife, as resourceful enough as she is, asked for assistance from airport security, who in turn pointed us to the Ground Assistant. She helped contact the agent who told us to wait for five minutes. After ten minutes, the agent called back to tell us to take the taxi to the hotel ourselves, as they would take one and a half hours to reach the airport to pick us up.

They told us that they had to leave us there, since there were six other people who had waited for half hour before us before they complained they could not wait any longer. The tour agent had waited about an hour for them before they emerge from the immigration.

We did not blame them, we felt the immigration was very bad at handling large crowds that day. They were stuck for an hour there themselves, anyway.

Guess it should be alright for many travelers, but for us being first timers in Thailand, we were nervous as we were told by friend who ever visited Thailand about bad incidences that could happen there.

Unfortunate, but we took the taxi anyway. True to the warnings given that the roads would have traffic jams. It was a forty minutes journey but seemed a long and quiet ride to the hotel.

Now I for some Thai hospitality.

Not being biased, but objectively, it was nothing special. Nothing as described in the brochures, advertisements, or even on some travel programs.

The hotel staff were cold - no smiles, no famous "Sawadeeka" greetings, nothing! Just a check-in formality, paying a security deposit of 1000 Bhat for the room key and off to our room without even telling us which wing of the hotel lift we should take.

We had to take our own luggage up without even a hint of assistance by the two bellhops stood not 2 meters away, and had to ask one of them which lift to use to get to our room. It was on the 12th floor room 1204.

Strange! Where they hell, did all those great propaganda came from?

Everything is so, so over-rated there.

Maybe the Caucasians get to experience the much talked-about Thai hospitality. We did not get any, maybe we were Asians. It would not be a surprise for them to be selective to whom they wish to extend their "hospitality package".

Guess the Caucasians have better spending power because of the money exchange rate and would give better tips than the Asians. I may not be totally right either, as Thais are known to like Japanese tourists too. Evident are the brochures in Thai, English and Japanese.

The room was nice, befitting a 3-star hotel. Though generally run-down with old furnishings - broken lamp shades and a dark-taped hose to the shower head, no qualms here, just glad we are settled.

We headed straight for the shopping lanes without wasting more precious time we have there, than we had spent at the airport. Wow! Were there shopping lanes or what!

Wherever you could find a small space on the footpath, you would find a makeshift pushcart. The pushcarts lined alongside the pavements on both sides. Maybe there was some kind of unspoken "system" they have here. Some vendors would set-up it pushcart on a certain spot at a certain number of hours there. And by the next maybe 6 hours or so, another vendor would take-over the spot selling other stuffs. Like clock-work, they rotated amongst themselves.

At one point, we were at Selom, Patpong, if I spelled correctly; we saw droves and droves of puschart vendors coming out from between "cracks of buildings", crossing the busy streets towards their unmarked spot on the pavement. What an exhilarating site to see them rush for the space with such zest to conquer a good spot!

My wife bought lots of stuffs for the pushcart there. Seen a lot of "scenes" too. Lining on both sides of the street in Patpong were bars with sleazy counter-top dancing girls in bikinis, gyrating to the loud music in colorful flashing lights.

Caucasian men were everywhere, drinking and having a good time. Also got to witness a fight between a Thai and a Thai-speaking Caucasian men. Kicking and punching and swearing words I presumed. My son was shocked at the sight as it happened right in front of us.

Too tired from all that walking and the experiences for me the girls, live-in-person; for my son the brutality he saw that normally you would see on TV, and my wife with the thousands of shopping opportunities, not to mentioned one incident.

We passed a massage shop with the ladies, the messeuses, I presumed, called onto me for a message. I replied "no thanks" and she replied "then you massage me". I did not know how my wife felt at the time. She did not say anything, we just walked on quietly back to our hotel to retire for the night.

+ Sarawak | Kuching City

2005-07-04T20:00:00.000+08:00

Finally at the Holiday Inn Hotel in the evening. Checked in and found out that our 4 rooms were separated between floors due to full occupancy.

My family got the one on first floor, my parents on the fourth, my sister on the seventh, and my nieces bunking together were on the eighth.

We had our first introduction to Sarawak unofficially from the bellman himself. Sarawak is made out of 90% Chinese while other races at 10%.

It has five native Dayak Tribes, mostly living in civilisation while a very small fraction of them are still living in the remote jungles where long-houses are still inhibited and most of their traditional way of living still being practised. No, no head hunting allowed by the government between rival tribes anymore. That's good.

There is one famous delicacy here that we were advised to try. It is "midin" - a type of fern shoots that are picked out from the wild and fried with shrimp paste.

It was already passed 10:00pm when we decided to venture our from the hotel after we got enough rest. Night life was still alive near and around the hotel. Starbucks, MacDonald's, Kenny Rogers Restaurant and a few more down the road could still be seen with young folks hanging around, especially in the bistros.

Our highlight of the day was having supper at Kenny Rogers and straight to bed to recover fully from the long, boring waiting we had to endure going there. We had hoped the next day to be better.

It rained following morning!

We took our time having breakfast at the hotel to wait out the rain. It finally did at about 10:00am. We explored the shopping lane called Maze Street, where rows of pre-war shop-houses lined the main street.

There all kinds of soveniors especially the replica of a Dayak's Warrior Shield carved with the Dayak's signature patterns, in hard wood that were dark brown, and some almost black colours.

Before reaching there, we walked along the Sawarak River Front where we could see Fort Margherita, which stood grandly in white at the other side of the river.

It was build in 1879 by Charles Brooke and named it after his wife - Ranee Margaret. It had since been converted to a police station.

Further up, was the Astana or palace.

Built in 1870 by Charles Brooke also, as a wedding gift for his wife. Now an official residence of the Governor of Sarawak. Unfortunately both were under renovation, so we could not take the river boat over to visit these places.

+ Sarawak | Funny Thing

2005-07-03T19:00:00.000+08:00

Should rightfully arrive at 3:00pm in the afternoon, but landed at 8:00pm in the evening instead. We lost our free time to explore Sawarak.

A funny thing happened while in flight which took a mere one and a half hours from Singapore.

Due to bad weather, the plane seatbelt sign was on for almost an hour after take off. When it finally did turn off, there was barely enough time for dinner. The cabin crew rushed to serve, but I have to admit, they still did it with poise.

While everyone was still eating, the captain announced that we were reaching Sarawak. Noticed the crew hurried back and forth collecting the trays and keeping everything locked in place. All these while the plane made its maneuver to land.

When it did touch the ground, so did trays or whatever were in the kitchen too with loud falling noises in the kitchen at the back of the plane.

Tough day for us and a tougher day for the crew too, but they were more than patient and courteous the whole journey, and apologetic at the end to everyone for the rush. Job well done, I think.

+ Sarawak | Flight Delayed!

2005-07-02T21:00:00.000+08:00

We reached Changi Airport at 10:30am and met with the rest of the family members at Burger King. Spirit high and everybody was jovial.

Noticed that the flight was "re-timed" from 1:25pm to 2:30pm. Did not mind since it was only an hour's lost being in Sarawak. Checked-in at 11:30am as planned and headed into the departure holding area. We were given lunch for the delay at the cafeteria.

Have to admit, without biasness, Changi Airport is indeed beautiful and most lively with its countless duty-free shops and modern yet comfortable layout. We started our trip with some shopping there.

Headed to gate F32 for MAS flight MH638, gone through security checks and waited for boarding. Oddly enough, out the window, there was a fire truck with the firemen in their silver fire-protection suits checking our plane's right side engine with the airport technical crew . There were policemen too and a cleaning crew waiting at the steps to service the plane.

Never saw such sight before and felt quiet uncomfortable with whatever is happening out there just before take-off. Saw a pilot came down from the plane to to meet the policemen and before we knew it, it was announced that the flight was further delayed till 4:30pm.

Already bored being kept in the holding area for so long , saw my mom's wheelchair being unloaded out of the plane first followed by everyone's luggage. Oh man!

As expected, another flight delay announcement to 6:30pm. And yes, the plane could not take off at all. So all of us were ushered out to another gate F30.

Another round of security checks and some waiting, but silently relieved somewhat, that we did have to take that plane. And yes, got to board the plane at last and took off smoothly finally.

Off to Sarawak!

+ Sarawak | 10~13 Jun 05

2005-07-01T21:00:00.000+08:00

The June school holidays have always been a great time for our family trips.

My wife and I had talked about where to go this time. On and off we talked months prior to June. We narrowed down to either New Zealand, Thailand or Malaysia.

After must deliberation, well, considered that my parents were coming along - my mom is in a wheelchair, and my sister wanted to join us as well, so we decided to tour Sarawak, east of Malaysia.

This part of the world has always intrigued me and my wife too. She had dreamt to go there since forever. This was the best choice. It is near to Singapore yet so exotic and not your normal weekend trips to Malysia either.

Wow! We were going to Borneo, the land of the Dayaks - the head hunters. Came to mind scenes only shown on Discovery Channel - with the native women half-naked and their signature long earlobes in their jungle realm.

So, there we were, nine of us - my family and my sister's family - three of us each, both of my parents and my niece. That was very different from our normal touristy trips before. Our journey of new discoveries began.