Kusu Island (Pulau Tembakul)

Singapore is a small country and so to get out of the usual hum and buzz of an urbanized metropolitan city, where better to go than the outlying islands with nature undestroyed by humans? In this five part series, we bring you to the various islands among the 60 that are surrounding Singapore out there which could be explored and enjoyed within a day’s work. First up, one of our Southern Islands, Kusu Island!

History

Kusu Island has long been a friend of our forefathers, so much so that there are so many different versions of the long passed down legend. The infamous one is one that depicts the two individuals, a Chinese sailor and a Malay fisherman, who were stranded in a shipwreck. They both came across a giant tortoise that is so huge; it can house both of the survivors on its shell. Therefore, in order to save these two people, this particular tortoise turned itself into an island and eventually, both of them were brought to safety and saved. So as to remember the deeds of this elegant creature, give thanks and to pay respects, a temple and several shrines was built on this island, Kusu Island which also literally translates to “Tortoise Island” in Mandarin, and for the Malay name, “Peak Island”.

This island also has its humble beginnings as just two outcrops on a reef. In 1975, land reclamation allowed it to be transformed into a larger plot of land of 85000 square metres, thus altering the original shape of the island but made it into a holiday getaway for locals. Before the reclamation, this island was used as a burial ground for immigrants who passed on while under quarantine at St. John’s and Lazarus Islands.

Sights

However, going by the lunar calendar, on the ninth month, many locals will flock to Kusu Island for the annual pilgrimage to visit the popular “Da Bogong Temple” (God of Prosperity temple/ The Merchant God temple) which was established in 1923. The temple is home to two deities, the Goddess of Mercy and the God of Prosperity.

Another sight not to be missed are the three kramats (holy shrines of Malay saints) erected in honour of a faithful and devoted man named Syed Abdul Rahman and his family. In order to get to the hill top where these kramats stand, you all have to climb 152 steps and at the end of the climb, you are then able to pray for wealth, health, blissful marriage, and family harmony.

Activities

Other than for religious purposes, Kusu Island is also popular for the pristine lagoons, beaches and its idyllic environment. Make a trip there and you might be pleasantly surprised by the extra things or sights you find, like a wishing well, tortoise sanctuary, various wooden viewing galleries on stilts, and maybe a bright red warning beacon.

Getting there and back

The only way to get there is by ferry which operates to and from the Marina South Pier daily. Ferries cost $15 per adult and $12 per child (aged 1 to 12).

Tips

As staying on Kusu Island for the night is not permitted, you might want to transfer to a ferry to St. John’s Island from Kusu Island where lodgings are found if you do not want to head back to Mainland Singapore, just yet. And also, wear comfortable shoes!

Astons Specialities (6884 8816; 3 Temasek Boulevard, Suntec City Mall, #B1-043/044 Singapore 038983; 11.30am to 10pm daily; http://www.astons.com.sg/index.html; mains S$5.90 to S$15.90; City Hall) is part of a local chain offering low cost food in a restaurant grade environment which makes it popular among locals. The atmosphere is nice and cosy with dim lights in a ranch styled restaurant. Steakhouse food ranging from Grilled Pepper Fish (S$5.90) to Grade 9 Wagyu Beef (S$89.90) is recommended. Try the Astons Wagyu Burger (S$9.90) or the iEat Super Burger (S$12.50), named after a food blog in Singapore – ieatishootipost.sg. They have an extensive wine list too.

-          This is a value for money restaurant.

-          However, expect long queues during weekends and peak periods.

-          Sold out items are not uncommon and the service is only average.

-          This place is suitable for families with children but not recommended for a first date as it may get a little noisy.

-          Overall, Astons is still an excellent choice for low priced, good quality steaks.

According to an article on the Straits Times, it semms that domain names with the .sg extension are thought to be risky. McAfee did a study and turns out Singapore (or .sg domains) are the 10th most endangered domain.

.SG domains are being used for phishing and spamming, which also contains viruses. 1 out of every 20 .sg domain names were thought to be at risk.

The most dangerous country was thought to be Cameroon (.cm), followed by China (.cn). Japan scored the best when it came to security.

Here’s some general info:

Almost anyone can register a .sg / .per.sg – hence easily targeted for spammers

.com.sg – would require a business registration number

.org.sg would require that the society / organisation is registered

.net.sg – would require an IDA SBO licence

.edu.sg – requires the institute to be registered with MOE.

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Built in 1852 by six La Salle Brothers, the Singapore Art Museum (6332 3222; 71 Bras Basah Road, Singapore 189555; Mon-Sun 10am to 7pm, Fri 10am to 9pm, Adult $8, Student $4, Child under 6 admits free, free admission on Fri night from 6pm to 9pm; http://www.singart.com/index.php; Dhoby Ghaut, City Hall) was a former school, named St. Joseph’s Institution, the first Catholic school in Singapore. It is one of the most elegant buildings in downtown Singapore today with a classical touch including a dome which has its design inspired by Bernini’s Colonnade in Rome and also blown glass installations by US artist, Dale Chihuly. When the St. Joseph’s Institution relocated in 1987, the building was gazetted and restoration works were done in 1992. In January 1996, the museum was officially opened. Greeting visitors at the porch is a bronze statue of 17^th-century saint John Baptist de la Salle with two schoolboys.

As you enter the main doors of the museum, the Glass House stands straight ahead of you. This is a multipurpose hall which you are able to watch and listen to various seminars, performances and exhibitioners. It resides inside a frameless glass enclosure, filled with brightly coloured artworks to display a contemporary image to visitors. Located on both sides of the Glass House are the Courtyards, which boost huge and idyllic spaces suitable for holding private functions or parties with a sophisticated style, enhanced by a water fountain to relax your senses. On the second level of the museum, directly atop the Glass House is the Auditorium which was formerly the school chapel. Most of the statues and artefacts were restored in detail, which included the original stained glass window destroyed during World War II, created by Filipino artist, Ramon Orlina (the first artist to carve figures out of blocks of glass using the cold method).

The whole Singapore Art Museum houses 18 exhibition galleries on three levels. The gallery spaces were created by removing the walls which had separated the various classrooms previously. The museum has an excellent collection of artworks from Singapore’s modern and contemporary arts industry as well as from visiting collections, ranging from classical Chinese calligraphy to contemporary artworks surrounding issues of Asian identity. There are over 4000 permanent artworks and visiting collections from artists like Alwin Reamillo and Li Chen, making the museum the largest catalogued collection of 20^th-century Southeast Asian art in Southeast Asia. Guided tours are available daily.

The Dôme cafe, hidden in a snug corner of the premises is also worthy of a stop to enjoy cool coffee.

-          Visit the art museum to understand the meaning behind certain artworks.

-          To see the dome with its design inspired by the Bernini’s Colonnade in Rome.

-          Experience the interior of the first Catholic school in Singapore.

-          Blown glass installations by Dale Chihuly.

-          Location is out of the way from the other museums and not of much interest to a non-art lover.

First was the iPhone exclusivity that belonged to Singtel. Then Starhub lost out on airing the EPL and Champions League to mio TV, Singtel (again). Now, it seems that Singapore may not even get to air the 2010 World Cup on local TV stations.

Sure you may argue that Starhub and M1 also sells the iPhone 3GS now, but if you think about it carefully, Singtel had the sole distributorship for about a year, of which most of the “Apple Crazy” consumers would have already gotten their mobile phone. Only an extremely small percentage would still be keen in the iPhone offered by M1 and Starhub.

So again, a huge slice of the pie was already munched on, before leaving the scraps for others. In addition I’m sure there were many people who switched from their existing telco provider to Singtel in order to purchase the latest 3GS.

At this point in time, I’m sure that the damage has already been done, and it has also been carefully calculated that revenue would not increase should Singtel retain the exclusive iPhone distributorship. Hence opening up the competition to others at this point in time.

Since the start of cable television in Singapore, Starhub was the one that aired the English Premier League, FA Cup, Champions League, and other important soccer matches. Of which I’m sure ESPN, Star Sports, are the most lucrative channels because of the huge soccer fan base in Singapore.

When Singtel’s mio TV was launched, I hardly thought it would take over Starhub’s position as Singapore’s leading cable TV operator. Though mio TV had its own target group such as some channels for kids (KidsCo), and channels that aired dialect TV shows, it was pretty obvious it still isn’t enough to be successful. Just imagine how many people in Singapore would watch Hokkien TV shows / Cartoons compared to Sports / HK TV Serials?

To be honest, I think it was a wise move of mio TV to secure the rights to air EPL and other popular soccer matches in Singapore. Even though the profit margins would be very thin (or almost none) after fighting it out with Starhub over the bidding war, the case would be very similar to iPhone. SCV Maxonline viewers will have no choice but to switch to mio TV if they want to continue catching their favourite soccer teams live in action. (and I’m sure that’s going to be the case)

Its time to round of the year again, and Yahoo has announced what Singaporeans were searching for in 2009. Without further ado, let me list them down for you.

Top 10 Searches (All Categories)

1. Singapore Budget
   If you remember, we have dug into our own reserves for the first time. Job Credit Scheme was also introduced.
2. H1N1
   Can someone tell me again, how did this eventually died down?
3. Michael Jackson
   I think the biggest Pop sensation ever in the music industry. Who touched and changed the lives of many.
4. F1 Singapore
   2nd year in the running. Almost a flop this year with more than 50% tickets unsold just a month away from the event.
5. David Widjaja
   Famous NTU Student, who’s life still remains a mystery.
6. Manohara Odelia Pinot
   Another scandalous affair, between a 17year old model, and a Malaysian Prince.
7. Mas Selamat
   Convict who escaped, sold Ramli Burgers in Malaysia, caught by Malaysian Police, but credits went to Singapore
8. Ris Low
   Miss Singapore, who loss her crown, and then, created her own “American wanna be” English slang.
9. Aware
   I still don’t really know what this is about. A bunch of ladies publicizing their views?
10. The Little Nyonya
    The Mediacorp show that I think helped Malaysia Tourism Board by re-igniting the Malacca as a tourist attraction.

Some other popular searches includes:

Fann Wong & Christopher Lee’s wedding. As always, Singaporeans are love celebrity gossips. What’s more this is probably the biggest wedding in the entire history of the local media industry.

Geylang Serai Food Poisoning. The one that had problems with the Rojaks or something.

Jamie Yeo (goibg public about her sex life, divorcing with Glenn Ong), Zhang Ziyi (sexy beach photos), Michelle Chia (2nd biggest marriage after Fann and Chris), Fiona Xie (Quitting Mediacorp), Joanne Peh (Winning Best Actress), Andy Lau (admitting he is married), were among the top Celebrity searches.

Some interesting questions that were being searched include:

Does Ris Low deserve to represent Singapore in the upcoming Miss World pageant? (like duh~)

Tissue Chopping is it curteous? (you tell me!)

Should I tell the truth during a job interview?

And finally, Pizzas was the topped searched item in the food category. An interesting fact though was that the searches peaked during the long weekend, especially during National Day. Seems like Singaporeans still prefer Pizza Hut to Macdonalds when it comes to home delivery.

Full list can be found here

Good news to shoppers who loves to patron Orchard Road. There is a free bus service (known as The Great Trolley – how corny) that operates along Orchard Road.

The bus route includes stops at Ion Orchard, Plaza Singapura, The Heeren, and runs from 11am to 10pm daily with a mere 5mins interval. There are a total of 11 stops between Orchard Road, Orchard Boulevard, Somerset Road, and Tanglin.

Funnily enough, the free bus services are relatively empty compared to the paid SBS Buses. Probably because not many people are aware of this till date.

Do note though that the free shuttle bus service down Orchard road is a temporary one and will end in Feburary 2010, i.e. just for this festive period. So next time you see a black and white tram-like bus, just hop on for a free ride.

As Christmas is approaching, more and more movies that have the Christmas theme are proliferating quickly. A Christmas Carol is one of them; however, do know that certain parts of the film may seem scary to children. Although there are the usual Christmas jingles and cheers, there are also spirits and ghouls which are aptly taken from the classic novel by Charles Dickens back in 1843. Robert Zemeckis is a great storyteller and a master at his work seen previously in Forrest Gump and Beowulf.

We managed to watch A Christmas Carol in 3D yet again. And till now, we have not regretted our decision. Indeed, this film is not only visual candy but also an exhilarating experience of flying mastery. In short, the audiences are in for a ride of the season and it being 3D is added bonus.

During the Christmas of 2004, we are sure some of you had caught the movie, The Polar Express, also directed by Zemeckis. A Christmas Carol is a lot more advanced in plot, story, visual imagery and even technology. The improvements are made and today, we get more from this age old classic.

The film started with Ebenezer Scrooge (Jim Carrey) attending the funeral of his friend and co-partner of his firm, Jacob Marley (Christopher Lloyd). In this creepy scene, the film manages to make the audiences want to laugh about the frugality of Scrooge, wanting to keep even a single coin placed on the deceased eyes in a funeral ritual. This miserly curmudgeon, Scrooge is then visited by 4 ghosts on Christmas eve with the first being his business partner’s soul returning to warn him about his fate if he continued the way he is and tries to help him redeem his Christmas cheer by reliving his past and allowing him to understand how and why he became what he is today.

And so, the visual candy begins when the various ghosts appear – Marley’s ghost, Ghost of Christmas Past, Ghost of Christmas Present and Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come. Zemeckis have been faithful to the book, the original text and also the dialogues of the characters. Children would either feel that this film is extremely cool or, be forewarned, extremely afraid of the ghostly effects and sequences. The animation is awesome but the scene of Marley’s ghost coming back to haunt Scrooge is enough to even make some adults jump out of their seats due to the sudden clinging of chains and crates flying towards you (thanks to the 3D glasses).

Old English is sometimes used in the conversations between the characters so some research into that would be helpful. While facing his oncoming demise, Scrooge pleaded for mercy and is somewhat strange and chilling because of his sudden high-pitched voice. All in all, an astonishing film full of surprises, detailing of the various locations, characters’ emotions and expressions and also, the complete understanding of Ebenezer Scrooge is fulfilling.

So make a date and catch it in cinemas now. But as mentioned above, beware of the spirits and if you are bringing children, make sure that they are mentally prepared as you have been warned and also, do not label this as a “Disney bomb”. It is a timeless classic on its own, by its own way. And always remember, this was written back then as a ghost story of Christmas and its essence that was first written by Charles Dickens have been retained mostly in this film by Robert Zemeckis. Check your beds this Christmas, children, as you might see the silhouette of death lingering before you with a bony finger.

Be happy this season, and be rewarded!

The pineapple king dies… mysteriously. Or so, it seems.

This film by Glen Goei is one of the best “local” movies in Singapore. However, since it is categorised under Singapore/Malaysia in reference to the mixed cast from both nationalities, I would leave it as that. Glen Goei’s last movie was Forever Fever which was screened some 11 years ago so The Blue Mansion is actually a strong and powerful return of Glen Goei and his vivid imagination. Listed under mystery/murder/comedy, this film is masterpiece interlocking a satire weaved with clever touches of dark humour.

The movie is mostly shot at one of the UNESCO World Heritage site in Penang, the Cheong Fatt Tze mansion, recognisable by the brilliant indigo colour of its front walls. Waking up from the dead with a pure gold pineapple ornament and walking stick by your side is not exactly a good way to leave this world in peace. Especially when you have such a huge empire that you have built from scratch and your later generations are just not interested in your funeral.

As we slowly attempt to strip down the various characters, we notice that they render such close resemblance to a certain family in Singapore, the Lees. The cast was carefully picked and put together be it by chance or by a way of comparison. The children of Wee Bak Chuan (Patrick Teoh), consist of two sons and a daughter. All of them have a dark secret which they hide just like the house they live in, beautiful yet shrouded in mystery. Following certain hints being dropped along the way in the film, the audience would slowly find out that one of the sons has an extra-marital affair, one is a gay, and the daughter is an alcoholic!

The vast similarities between the two families in question, kind of hold the whole movie together. The ways of a family patriarch, the rules in a nanny state which moulds our mentalities. It fully depicts our last actions where we are not allowed to defy orders and follow instructions which are for our own benefits. As a Singaporean, we can all easily relate to this film, and more so, by seeing ourselves in each character that each of the siblings portray.

The wife of the pineapple king is a smart woman who can singlehandedly hold up his empire. However, she also slipped into a serious illness and pass away not long after her husband.

This movie is similar to the one which Colin Goh and Woo Yen Yen explored in Singapore Dreaming back in 2006. They looked into the psyche of Singaporeans and why we act the way we do. Wee Bak Chuan, the pineapple king built his empire from nothing and we see deeper into the calm facade of the characters. Various issues are being touched upon like favouritism to rivalry like the wandering thoughts of the various visitors to our country.

And so, we come to the funeral rites of the pineapple king and his wife and how he views racial differences during his days wandering as a spirit around his home. Then comes the funny part but we would not spoil it for you – imagine seeing your own wife’s funeral. Go watch it. It is good and highly recommended.