Journey through Life

Elephant Parade 2011 - Singapore

2012-01-15T11:24:00.002+08:00

What is Elephant Parade you might ask. In short it is installation of open art to create public awareness and support for the cause of elephant conservation, particularly the Asian Elephant. If you wish to find out more please head to the official website here.

One day I received an email about this event being held in Singapore and since I stay so close to one of the exhibition area decided to drop in and take a few snaps. "a few snaps" is an understatement and before I realised I already embark in one of the longest and tiring elephants "fad".

I am not about to swamp my post with all 162 elephants (Okay okay! I am lazy!) so I'm just going to collage some of them.

The _____ (naughty was missing) and the Elephant

Here's Naughty...... very naughty indeed, don't you agree?

The most expensive elephant in this parade, adorned with Swarovski crystals

Elephant + Evil intention = Hellaphunt

Unicorn + Elephant = Unicelephant

I believe I can fly.....

Spiderphant?

Miniatures... How adorable

Power Ranphants!!!

Goodbye Elephants, you've been great fun to me.

and now I can finally relax.......

Royce Nama Chocolate - Rum

2011-07-16T15:35:00.000+08:00

It's been a long while since my last purchase at Royce. While shopping for apparels I happened to walk past a Royce store at ION Orchard and spotted this Rum flavoured Nama that I've never tried before.

Seasonal flavor - Rum

I was surprised when I get this blue cooling bag instead of the normal silver packaging.

The blue cooling bag

I prefer this compared to the Champagne flavor. You can distinctively taste the rum.

20 blocks of heaven

Feeling a little greedy (who can resists good chocolates?) I bought a chocolate bar to indulge. I've tried the almond bar before and decides to go for the dark this round.

Indeed high quality and good in taste

I'll update this blog when I've opened the bar. I've got too much food at home!!!!! (But I'm not sharing it with you.. MUA HA HA HA......)

Pristine Visit to Pulau Ubin

2011-05-07T10:57:00.000+08:00

Quarry

Pulau Ubin is a small island situated in the north east of Singapore, to the west of Pulau Tekong. Granite quarrying supported a few thousand settlers.... but before I bore you to death with history here's a link for self-read.

Charred

14 years I've been in Singapore and this is the first time I visited this tiny islands full of wonderful sceneries, not mentioning the laidback lifestyle - a far cry compared to the main island. You don't get ERP here and you don't have to waste time on traffic lights.

Welcome to Celestial Resort

The journey to Ubin only takes around 10 mins from Changi ferry terminal and costs a mere $2.50 per person. The boat carries up to 12 pax and will only leave when it's full house. There are lots of boats at the terminal and despite the super long queue (usually during weekends and public holidays) the waiting time is surprisingly short. Kudos!

They got you covered

Upon arriving, a short distance walk and you'll be at the town centre where you get your meals fixed. Nothing beats a cold coconut drink under the heat and one is never enough!

Town Centre

If you are travelling in a group of 10 it will be better off to hire a mini van (taxi equivalent) for the whole day. You can then ask the driver to bring the group to places you want to go i.e. Chek Jawa, the quarry, Mamam beach, etc... Well, unless you plan to cycle in Ubin but mine was a photography trip.

The first destination is the quarry. There's a short uphill path that you need to climb once the van drop you off at the gravel path.

Zen

The second destination is Mamam beach. Personally I don't really know not what to shoot here except for the stilts that you can see stretched out along the inner perimeter. I've no idea what they are for. One thing worth noting is the presence of a large amount of sand "insects" (I use the term insect here as I don't know what they really are) digging for burrows. It's amazing how hard working these insects are as I observed them for nearly 15 mins!

The third and final destination is Chek Jawa. Frankly speaking, this place is the reason why I was in Ubin. Pretty disappointed with the fact that the tide is at 2.4m and sea water covered the entire floor below the boardwalk, no macro shots for me :(

Lone Warrior

The Island

Welcoming the night

Withstand nature's punishment

Important lesson from this trip: check tidings (and weather) prior to the trip.

Year of the Rabbit

2011-01-25T22:45:00.000+08:00

It's that time of the year again where you see Chinatown painted in red, which happens to be my favourite colour!

One of the most prominent happenings that you will see in Chinatown is the unnatural long queue of people buying Bak Kwa (BBQ pork slice). Commuting to office in the morning I can't help but notice around 30-40 people forming a queue at both Lim Chee Guan outlets, as early as 08:30 AM!!!

I remember reading from the news that Kim Joo Guan is Lim Chee Guan's supplier so one day while the bus was cruising along South Bridge Road I stick my face to the glass panel trying hard to spot for any unnatural long queue at Kim Joo Guan. When the coast is clear I pressed the bell and hopped off the bus. Making my way to the store there's a "Thank you for your support. Our BBQ pork slice are sold out for the day. Please...." BUT to my delight they still have the trimmed corner; which happen to be my favourite!!!!

Everything is in Gold

There was only 1 customer in the store and that's me. On the large glass plate, shone under golden light are hill of BBQ pork. Glistening in oil, sweet aroma filled the air and my stomach was shouting loud "JUST BUY THEM ALREADY!"

The sealed package

Proud "owner" of Kim Joo Guan =)

"Thank you, Sir. That's $20 please" before I walked out the store with 500g of sinful delight.

Can you resist the temptation?

I need rehab! I'm addicted!

The verdict? As good as Lim Chee Guan! (at least to my tongue). Meat is as tender as LCG yet not as sweet. If this is Facebook I will have definitely "like" this post. =)

*calling rehab hotline now*

Merry Xmas & Happy New Year

2011-01-08T21:28:00.001+08:00

"Better late than never", isn't it?

Work had been robbing me off my time. I still remember my first meal on New Year day, Mc Donald. In the office. Yup!

Time flies when you are busy, doesn't it? Can't believe it's gonna be CNY soon and I still haven't buy anything for meself yet. To make it worse, I have quite a number of items in my shopping list. Most of them are "orders" from others.

Now that work is stabilizing I hope to take some time-off to shop as well as shoot! Here are a few items that I've "collected" since xmas.

Chinese Zodiacs printed on Chopsticks

Paper Lanterns for the Festival

This is really interesting item that I got as a xmas present. They call it nanoblock.

Bird in a packet??

It's something like Lego bricks

After assembly

I name him "Kuko" (to rhyme with Cockatoo)

And that's the gist of 2011 from me.

Watch This Video and a Child With Diabetes Gets a Week of Life-Saving Insulin

2010-11-02T15:33:00.005+08:00

I don’t ask you for favors too often, but this is one of those times. All I need you to do is to take less than 2 minutes of your time to watch this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkLHgK94Z0E and tell as many friends as you can to watch it and pass it along too.

Every time the video is watched a donation will be made. As a result, a child with diabetes in need will get a week’s worth of insulin, which they need to live. The more views the video gets, the bigger the impact!

If we can get at least 100,000 views for the video, thousands of children with diabetes will be saved. All it takes is for you to watch it and pass it on.

Thanks for your support!

Electronics Failure Day

2010-10-27T09:20:00.001+08:00

The start of the saga is none other than my, part of my life, PC. After adding 2 GB RAM to speed up multi tasking while I'm on PS it ran perfectly fine for one and a half day. After that it fails to start and shows just a blank screen as if to mock me.

Fortunately I have a laptop purchased way back in 2007. Unfortunately, this is a test-your-patience laptop with only 512 MB RAM there's not much thing that I can fire up simultaneously. Good enough to let me surf the net and keep in contact with my MSN buddies.

Sometime after using it hung on me! The screen will turn perfect white, it's as if it has a soul and changed its mood according to the hazy weather. The next day the same problem occurred again and this time it's perfect grey, I'm not doing any screen calibration.. definitely not on my 512 MB turtle.

Fed up with unavailability of internet I turned to my PSP and guess what, IT IS FAULTY TOO!!! Refused to start up so I smacked it a few times with my palm, not working. Opened the battery compartment and re-insert the battery (for a few times) and finally it's working. Playing about 40 minutes it suddenly died on me! Seems like there's something wrong with the battery compartment. I guess it's time to retire my PSP-1000.

I haven't touch PS3 for a while now. I hope it's OK when I do that, probably within this week.

Keeping my fingers crossed.

Chinese Garden - Japanese Garden

2010-09-09T16:32:00.002+08:00

The Twin Pagodas

My very first shooting at Chinese Garden ended up in flop so there's no entry at all on it. Had the opportunity for a so called sunset shots there but didn't turn out pretty good (as I had in mind). Well, this place is huge since it's connected to Japanese Garden as well. I guess next time I have to explore another angle. Sunset only lasted for a while, at most 15 mins, while there are so many places to roam. *sigh*

Tranquility

Close up of the roof

There is this really nice structure, replica of the Summer House in China that the Empress Dowager always go to escape the summer's heat. The front part of the structure, facing the lake, will be made as if the whole thing sits on a ship.

As light as feather

Can you spot me?

A short walking distance away is Japanese Garden which provides you zen-like environment. Worth mentioning is the bridges that paint the whole place red.

Shou Yue Qiao (Eternal Moon Bridge???)

Another place you would love to check out is the lotus pond (or so I named it).

A short walk from the entrance (from Chinese Garden MRT) you'll see the center Pagoda and occasionally you'll see soldiers with their sniper guns camping around it. I'm kidding, the war era is long over isn't it? I mean photographers with their long lenses for birding.

Entering the "Golden Hour"

Melaka (Again)

2010-08-17T11:43:00.013+08:00

When I heard the word "Melaka", two things come to mind. First is Red and secondly it's FOOD! Since it's been 2 years since my last visit; and in conjunction with the long weekend; so when my buddies asked me to tag along......

Stadthuys (Town Center)

After checking into Hotel 7, a very nice and clean budget hotel along Laksamana Cheng Ho, we head straight to the town center. On foot, it's only around 15 mins and along the way you couldn't help but notice very rustic old Melaka town. I won't blame you if you take 1/2 hour to reach because you just couldn't help yourself but snapped here and there along the way.

Scene of Jonker Walk

Red Cog

The long queue @ Jonker 88

Due to the long weekend people from all over Malaysia and Singapore were flocking into this tiny town. Long queues were seen almost everywhere whenever there's eateries. One of the hot spots is Jonker 88 and they're famous for the Chendol. There are variety of them starting from the original plain chendol up to the 8 Treasure Chendol with Durian paste (if I recall correctly that's what it's called) which I ordered. If I were in my teens I would've love it to death, they pour generous amount of gula melaka on it and the chendol is of good quality they didn't harden in contact with ice shavings.

Chicken Rice Balls

When you are in Melaka you have to try the chicken rice balls which they are quite famous for. I had this idea of rice stuffed with chicken meat and rolled into balls. Apparently it's just balls of rice in place of your normal rice. The one I tried was one along Jonker Walk, building is red in colour with beautiful ornaments decorating the place such as chinese lanterns, bronze-like wallpaper and even a king's throne where you can have your photos taken!!! The chicken rice balls..... is disappointing. Instead of the normal knead-by-hand you have a processed rice balls that almost taste like frozen rice gruel. A really really let down.

Baking the pancakes

Amoy asoy! (Means delicious)

I chanced upon this cutesy fish shaped kaya pancakes called Amoy and I'm so mesmerized by the auto-baking machine. I admit I stood almost a good ol 10 minutes observing the little mechanism. I guess I have a fetish for automation. Does anyone know what's the name for this fetish?

Were told that Kafe Geographer has a really nice rustic interior, alas, we didn't step foot into this 2-storey pub. Will definitely pay it a visit on my next trip.

A'Famosa

If you are in Melaka a trip to A'Famosa is like a religion. It's a small place, won't take longer than 20 minutes of your time.

Kueh Pai Ti

Feast @ Nancy's Kitchen Restaurant

One eatery worth mentioning is Nancy's Kitchen Restaurant which serves authentic Nyonya/Baba food. Despite queuing for an hour, we have a big group, when the food came out we forgot all the leg cramps. From the picture above here's what we ordered that day:

Ayam buah keluak
Babi pongteh
Sambal prawn
Assam fish
Ngo Hiang
Otak-Otak
Green veggie (sorry, can't recall what leaves it is)
2 small plates of Belachan

For those who can't stomach spicy food you should refrain from anything spicy. If in doubt check with Nancy and she can give you suggestion and recommendation, very nice lady. Nancy's Kitchen opens from 11 am onwards, close at 5 pm to rest and resume for dinner from 7 pm.

"Hard candy, anyone?"

There's a river cruise available throughout the day. Ticketing booth is located just across the street from where the Stadthuys is, it's the little red colonial looking structure.

Melaka River

Entrance to Jonker Walk

Melaka River

If walls could talk

Jonker Walk "pasar malam" (literally translates to night market) only operates during the weekend and one should expect the amount of crowds be it locals or visitors. Roads will be cordoned from vehicles from 7pm onwards thus giving visitors to have more walking/breathing space.

Beautiful Chandelier @ Renaissance Hotel

And on the last day while loitering in the lobby of Hotel Renaissance I took a snap of the great chandelier that's decorating the high ceiling since I didn't quite get it on my previous visit.

Punggol Beach - World War II Site

2010-08-17T09:48:00.000+08:00

I never know that Punggol Beach is so inaccessible. Besides being out-of-sight it's out-of-place as well although there's a public bus which goes in (and only one, sorry I can't recall the number).

The creepy looking trees near the outward bound ground

As soon as you are there you will noticed the big sign saying World War II site, there's also some information for you to read. The slaying of how many hundreds of people during the Japanese occupation.

Lizard???

There are two paths for you to explore from the main entrance, Left or Right. The right leads to the Punggol beach where it's a common fishing ground for them who love to fish. The left leads to ?????? So I decided to tread this path first.

Leaves and Boulders (not a band name)

Soon I realised that there's nothing much to shoot around that area (or it's just that my creativity wasn't working at the time) so there are just a few to share here. There were a Buddhist procession towards the end of the walkway and I stopped there, making my way back to the entrance again.

Abandoned sofa

Got myself a nice icy ice cream cone before making my way to the beach. One word to describe the beach condition: FILTHY!

The heavily polluted Punggol Beach

And here's the random lucky shot for the day:

The birds were showing me the direction

Goodbye Punggol Beach, that's my first and last time visiting you.

New look. Old feel

2010-04-01T16:35:00.001+08:00

Have been wanting to change my blog's layout since years ago but just plain lazy to look for compatible ready-made template (minus the hassle of migrating the widgets etc) till I stumble upon google update while checking my gmail.

*click - read read read - fell in love - apply*

And so I've decided to stick with this rather retro feeling look. How do you like it?

Insomniac? Try these!

2010-03-16T14:52:00.001+08:00

Not a really an insomniac myself, my mom is, I came across this handy article online and thought of sharing it with you. Without much delay here are the alternatives before swallowing that little pil:

1. Herbal Tea

Herbal teas, also known as tisanes, aim to soothe and calm the senses. The most well-known of them is perhaps chamomile tea, which is widely available at supermarkets. This caffeine-free floral tea is a traditional European remedy for insomnia and anxiety.

2. Aromatheraphy

Aromatherapy is supposed to calm your senses, and, depending on the type of essential oil being used, induce a state of relaxation. Popular essential oils for inducing calm and sleep are lavender, chamomile and mandarin.

You can use aromatherapy in many ways. One of the most common methods is to warm up the essential oil in a burner to diffuse the scent. Alternatively, drip a few drops onto your pillow or bedsheets. Some even prefer to add a drop of lavender essential oil to a non-scented body lotion and massage it into their skin before they go to bed.

3. Keep your hands and feet warm (Wear socks and/or mittens to sleep)

If you often have cold hands and feet, wearing mittens and socks to bed might help you to sleep better. A 1999 study showed that poor circulation in the hands and feet is linked to insomnia. The study's authors postulated that increasing the temperature of the hands and feet should help induce sleep.

4. Homeopathy

Homeopathy is an alternative medical system that uses tiny doses of natural substances to stimulate a person's immune and defense system.

*Never heard of homeopathy before, apparently it's a form of remedy to be ingested

5. Light

One way of telling your brain that it is time to sleep is to turn down the lights an hour or two before you go to bed. Avoid staring at the computer or television screen during this period, as the glare simply tells your mind to stay awake.

6. Music

Music has been found to improve the quality of sleep. It can help one relax and induce a state of calm - all which are conducive to sleep. Do choose music that is soothing, rather than jarring, e.g. classical or New Age instrumental music. However, if heavy metal music makes you feel sleepy, then go ahead.

In addition, keep the volume of the music at an audible, but not overly-loud, level. If music is played at too loud a volume, it would be counterproductive and keep you awake instead.

7. Meditation

Meditation helps one relax after a stressful day and calm down the busy thoughts in one's mind. There are many forms of meditation out there. Do some research on which method you feel most comfortable with, and try to practice it for 10-15 minutes every evening before you go to bed.

People who have practiced meditation regularly for a long time report better sleep and less tension than those who do not meditate at all.

8. Yoga

If there's meditation then there's Yoga too. It is supposed to release chemicals that aid sleep, calm the mind and relieve stress. The stillness and concentration required in all forms of Yoga can help one to de-stress, thus indirectly promoting sleep.

Experiment with any of the above, find one which is most comfortable for you because there's no definite method to fix insomnia. What works for one person might not work for others.

Happy sleeping!

The Wonder of Internet........ Not

2010-03-05T09:15:00.006+08:00

In the latest technology advancement almost everything has got internet capability built-in.

Aeons ago, Cellphones are primarily used for calling and then texting and then came all those wi-fi which enable them to go online. Not long after that there are watches with GPS tracking system. Follow suit is Camera, also with GPS built-in.

And now..... FRIDGE! Yes! Refrigerators!!!!!!! *bow down to Internet*

Following are news excerpt taken from Yahoo!:

SEOUL (AFP) - – South Korea's Samsung Electronics Thursday unveiled a hi-tech alternative to the fridge magnet -- a refrigerator with Internet access that can display family photos or recipes on a screen.

The door of the "Zipel e-Diary" features a 10-inch (25 cm) touch screen equipped with locally developed wi-fi software, allowing users to monitor Internet news and weather and store or display pictures and data.

It also can send and receive pictures from mobile phones.

The Zipel e-Diary, priced at 2.49 million won (2,174 US dollars), targets domestic consumers and Samsung has no immediate plan to sell it abroad.

Cool eh? Sooner or later we'll be seeing people standing for hours in front of their fridge fidgeting their cellphone trying to "sync" with the fridge. How about sitting in front of your fridge (blocking all those who need to access the fridge) to surf the internet?

And oh. Did I mention that wireless broadband and modem are not included?

Cloak Bag

2010-03-04T11:35:00.004+08:00

While surfing through the website I stumbled upon this great innovation, Cloak Bag. A quick look at how it works.

And it comes in two flavors.

How it looks like when you wear it.

Unfortunately, it's meant for smaller bodies and short lenses. For pricing and further information head on to the official site Cloak Bags.

*can I have red pleaseeeeee*

Marina at Keppel Bay

2010-01-23T15:51:00.003+08:00

Panoramic view of Sunset from Keppel Bay

A friend of mine just got his Canon 500D recently and was asking me whether I'd like to go shooting together. Knowing that I've been to the usual shooting spots he suggested Keppel Bay. Perfect spot, I don't even know where that is!!!

View from the harbour

My initial impression when I saw the berth, with yachts docked, was "Woah". As my eyes trailed the fences setup along the bay finally my vision's fixed on a what I call the "Viewing Spot" .I hurried my pace, planted my tripod, fixed my camera and waited for the sun to set.

As the sun was going into hiding

Minutes before the sun set

I have to tell you that it's not everywhere you can get a nice breeze in Singapore but here at Keppel Bay, "abundance" is the word. Not only that, somewhere close to the "Viewing Spot" is a big patch of grass field where you can roll with your pets but no cows or horses please. I don't want to see balds.

As the sun set further

As if that's not enough, there's also a spacious road, like those for plane landings, where I saw kids cycling around - worry free.

This "sculpture" is within the grass patch

As we were busy snapping away a security guard was on her patrol on her bicycle. She told my friends that tripod are not allowed (BUT photography is allowed!!!). I still can't figure out what's the reason behind this. Not wanting to argue with her, we packed our tripod and took a few snaps before we left the area.

The colour of the skies is indescribable

There are a few restaurants available near the entrance to the harbour. There's a Japanese restaurant and also TCC (The Coffee Connoiseur) though my friend told me the TCC is unusually more expensive than other TCC outlets islandwide.

The droplets

Let's usher in 2010!!!

2009-12-31T09:13:00.009+08:00

1 day away from the new year has put me in a reflective mood. What have I achieved?

2009 is:
- the year where I reconciled with my long lost cousins & friends
- the year where I attended most weddings
- the year where I started to neglect my blog (thanks to Facebook)
- the year where my camera was in "overdrive" mode

In short, 2009 has been a good year BUT good is never enough for me. *off I go to look for greater years*

Has 2009 been as eventful for you?

Wishing one and all a fantastic year ahead!

Firefox is sluggish while playing Facebook games?

2009-12-11T09:56:00.005+08:00

So I encountered this problem since aeons but only decided to act on it when a friend of mine asked me whether I have any resolve to this matter. It took me quite sometime before I hit the jackpot.

Details below are reproduced from http://web.rbk.net.nz/teknews/home/hacks-for-windows/speed-up-firefox. All credits should go to them.

1. Type about:config into the address bar of firefox

This will bring up a warning if you are sure you want to continue ( messing with the wrong settings could stop firefox from running correctly )

2. Search for the following settings and double click any of the following settings to change there settings

      1. network.http.pipelining
      Set to true
      2. network.http.pipelining.maxrequests
      Set to 32
      3. network.http.proxy.pipelining
      Set to true

3. Create network.http.pipelining.firstrequest by right clicking any where within the browser and selecting new Boolean.

     On the first prompt that pops up type network.http.pipelining.firstrequest
     On the second prompt set it to true

4. Create nglayout.initialpaint.delay by right clicking any where within the browser and selecting new Integer

     On the first prompt that pops up type nglayout.initialpaint.delay
     On the second prompt set it to 0

These tweaks will increase the speed of webpage load times especially pages with loads of pics.

I hope this get your Firefox a little faster. If it's not at least you'll get faster loading time when you are viewing pages with lots of pictures.

Margaret Drive

2009-12-04T23:45:00.002+08:00

It's already December, Christmas is just around the corner and my blog is pretty much in-updated. Before I forgot what I wanna say it's better I post it up. Gonna be really busy this month.

Where we are going today is Margaret Drive. It's really a small alley but it's a quiet place and there's a community library, a big green field with lots of trees and most importantly hawker centre. (That means food!)

This is my first and last time eating at the hawker. Heard that everyone is craving for the chicken rice so decided to check it out on the second floor. Nothing to hoo-haa about, I wonder what's with the craze. Nonetheless, generous amount of chicken meat.

Block 40A is where the hawker centre is

Just after meal I noticed this on the tree, took out my camera and snap!

Just across the street is Block 6C. Oh yeah, come to think about it I still haven't mention why am I posting this up. That's because this part is going to be tore down by the government to make way for new HDB flats. So the pictures that I'm posting are those that have to go, well except for the bird. ^_^

I've been through this road multiple times back when I was still living in River Valley area but never actually stop. Also I couldn't notice anything since I always passed through the area at night. I'm amazed at how much fine details this place has.

Look at the chairs! Archaic!

Just beside the clinic is a skateboard shop. Wonder where will it relocate to after the place is torn down. Just out of curiosity we decided to go up to the block and see what kind of view we get. Pretty nice I would say.

That's Commonwealth MRT track

View of the block from another angle

Besides Block 6C there's still another block that has to go but I didn't bother to visit that place since it provides almost the same thing. Skipped that and went straight to the National Library. Visiting this place reminded me of my Poly days where my classmates and I spent hours and hours inside the library prepping for exam. Oh... those were the days.

The NLB is very colourful and blends in well with the neighbourhood

I'm very amazed by the fact that coconut trees exist here!!!

Another building that I have been seeing ever since I'm settled here in Singapore is this building below:

In the past there would have been countless drawn movie poster here

I'm just wondering why are there not a single developer who take over the place and develop into something new like a shopping mall for instance. Instead it's left abandoned for God knows how long.

In its glory days I'm sure tens of people would have been queuing up for tickets here

Just beside the cinema is a Bowling Centre

Resting from all those photo taking there's an NTUC where we stopped for a drink. And just outside is a playground still with very distinctive colour as though it's just newly built/renovated.

Will this go too?

Mooncake Festival

2009-10-04T18:02:00.016+08:00

Aerial view of Chinatown

What?! October?! Already?! Geez... and I still have a few entries to post. Now now now... where can I buy time?

These are the more traditional shape lanterns

One month after the Hungry Ghost festival comes the Mid-Autumn (Mooncake) festival. This year I got luckier, I didn't taste a single mooncake last year but this year... APLENTY!!!!

Two things that you must do during Mooncake festival:
1) Eat Mooncake
2) Show off your lantern

These are modernised lanterns with fancy shapes

Talking about lanterns I still remember those days when I was a kid, dad would make sure to get one for me. My first lantern was made of paper and you have to light a candle up and placed it into the placeholder in the center of the lantern. Years after that I would get an electric one and comes with many shapes, Doraemon, Power Rangers, Ultraman, almost anything you can think of. They even comes with music too! *I feel like buying a Jacko lantern for keepsake*

Being a superhero ain't easy. There are moments like this too.

The busiest part of Singapore during this festive season is none other than Chinatown. Streets are done up with long stretches of lights.

There are always surprises every year

In conjunction with Mooncake festival there are lanterns on display. There's the biggest recyclable lantern in Singapore, made wholly from used mineral water bottles and CDs. Bottles are kindly sponsored by Ritz Carlton Hotel.

The giant lantern

There are a lot more lanterns done up by students from recyclable materials.

User beer bottles on plastic sticks

Disposable plastic cups with orange stickers at the bottom

Used mineral water bottles with colour liquids

Disposable paper plates cut and "weaved" together to form a huge ball

And like any other trips, good food is certainly a necessity so here goes. (only desert this round)

Almond Jelly, Mango, Kiwi

Looking forward to 2010!

Clarke Quay & Boat Quay (At Night)

2009-08-28T22:58:00.013+08:00

Panoramic of Boat Quay

I'd been slacking!!! When I saw that my last entry was in March, omigosh, that's 5 months ago! I don't need to think long and hard, the answer to that is FACEBOOK!

The Reverse Bungee, G-MAX in the background

I am always confused which one is Clarke Quay and which one is Boat Quay. Frankly speaking, up till now I still can't differentiate between the two. So please pardon me (and correct me) if I am referencing them wrongly.

MICA Building Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts

The Quays are one of many favourite places for tourists when it comes to night time. Not only can you find good beers, you'll find good pubs here too. For those who want to keep a memory of their visit in Singapore this is a good place to snap a picture. The skyscrapers with their reflection on Singapore River is really a sight.

The 5 Star Fullerton Hotel & Cavenagh Bridge

Near the mouth the river is the infamous Fullteron Hotel, a night in this hotel doesn't come cheap. (and I've yet to step in) Since you are in the area, it doesn't hurt for a little historical study of the Cavenagh Bridge.

The CBD (Central Business District)

In Clarke Quay, where most of the bistros are, there's a very interesting ice cream man. He call himself the Turkish Ice Cream. Unlike the traditional scooped ice cream on a cone he will actually play with you. If you have children with you, let them have an ice cream for the fun as well. What kind of play? You have to see for yourself. (It's not easy to explain as well :p )

Raffles Hotel

If you traced the way to the end you'll eventually end up at the Parliament House. In front of that building sprawled a very big grass field and that's where I took this shot of Raffles Hotel above. That place is surprisingly serene and cool at night, a perfect spot to sit down and chit chat. *Do note that the surrounding is quite dark so please have a friend with you*

Please Take Care

2009-05-25T09:28:00.003+08:00

With the recent widespread of the H1N1 virus (better known as Swine Flu) I urge all of you to practice good hygiene.

Simple act like covering your mouth; when you are sneezing or coughing; with your palm is good enough. Better still you may want to use your arm instead, to do this just fold the joint of your elbow to form an L shape. If you carry a handkerchief or a tissue you may use that as well, they are even better than the previous two.

So eat well, exercise well and rest well. We all can combat this, I'm sure of that.

The Last Kampong of Singapore - Kampong Buangkok

2009-03-09T17:07:00.008+08:00

Welcome to ....

Being a heavily urbanised country, it is close to impossible to find a suburban kinda lifestyle here in Singapore. With that in mind, I answered "YES" immediately when a friend of mine asked whether I am game to go for a shooting.

Lost and found this abandoned looking place

Because this place is so secluded, there is no public bus that goes into the place. We have to do a little amount of walking (provided you do not get lost like me) before you finally saw the entry sign. The whole area is pretty quiet, there's no hustle and bustle of vehicles, there's no smoke pollution from exhaust pipes but there were quite a lot of photographers there!

Thank you Mr. Postman

Comparing this kampong (translates to village in English) with what I had been to in Indonesia, this is considered a really modernised kampong. Why do I say so? Because the flooring is already made up of cement and not dirt. The one I'd been to was really made of dirt and they just lay a rattan carpet on it to sit and sleep.

Construction in progress

Heard from my friend that this area was threatened to be "shut down" by the government. A small number of residents apparently complained and it still survives till today. I am surprised that there are a lot of constructions taking place. So people still want to live there. To escape the hectic city lifestyle? To blend in more with the nature? I don't have the answer to that.

Collection

The old weighing machine

The kampong was pretty quiet when I visited, there were not a lot of residents roaming. There were also no sign of activities from inside the house (they couldn't be sleeping, it's already noon). Because of that, I was free to roam and shoot without asking for permission. Hehehe.....

Drown yourself. Forget everything.

I've told you I am not good with flowers

Not again..........

The village is surrounded by moderately dense vegetation. I hope someone actually fumigate the area to get rid of mosquitoes and other harmful insects or else dengue can easily spread within the community.

Plastic mobile vehicle

Coral

Walking around the village, I spotted a cage full of kittens!! They are so cute; at the same time so pitiful that they have to be cramped into a cage; all four of them. When I put my fingers out, they were trying to touch it. The warm and softly padded paws brought even more sadness. I wish I could open the cage and let them roam around freely.

Kittens. Sad looking, aren't they?

The soft pinkish foot of a kitten

Trying to get our bearing to town we spotted a Shell station. And inside the station is a 7-Eleven store. And inside the 7-Eleven store is Slurpee. And because the weather was hot and dry what else besides a cup of icy cold refreshing drink to quench your thirst?

What's that at the end of the sewer???

Ooohhhh, somebody dropped some balloons there.

Visit to the Admiralty Park

2009-03-07T12:58:00.008+08:00

The weather was quite co-operative that day I visited Admiralty Park. I mean, it has been raining cats and dogs lately with each pour lasting for 15 to 30 minutes. So I would like to take this opportunity to thank...... bla bla bla.

Near the entrance pathway are well manicured

For those of you who are wondering where Admiralty Park is, it is just beside Republic Polytechnic. Where is RP you ask? It's just a few minutes walking distance from Woodlands MRT. Where is Woodlands MRT? Geez... Give Admiralty Park a miss. Hehehe... Just kiddin. Here you go.

Pink Lotuses

Near the entrance are well manicured garden-like settings. There's even a restaurant, just beside the amphitheater, overlooking the flower pond.

Purple Lotuses

To fully enjoy the park you must travel to the "forestry" area. The path will transform from well manicured to gravel path. Before entering the area, pay attention to the barrages of warning signs located throughout the park.

3 Don'ts, 1 Do (What does that tell you?)

Macro and bird lovers will definitely love this place for it is rich with such objects. I noticed at least 4 types of birds there (pardon me for my inability to identify their type... not an avian lover lah!)

Hoppers (Wish I could remove that distracting leave in the middle)

Just a short distance before entering the forestry area is a long stream. Look carefully and you should notice a lot of terrapins around, sometimes sticking their head out of the water or just sunbathing on a piece of rock. Now now now... Don't get too carried away and started feeding them. (Remember the 3 Don'ts?)

Hopper

I don't know what that bug is. Honestly

Besides birds and insects, the park is full of varieties of flowers as well. And again I failed to identify them as I am not a flora fans as well.

Flower pods?

You should notice the wooden sign pointing the direction to the swamp. Worth a visit. Besides serene you might just see birds feeding there. If you are unlucky (I was), don't worry, you still can catch the mud skippers.

You can find mudskippers in the marsh region

Towards the end of the trail, growing on top of the green green grass, are fungi. It's been raining lately remember and they are growing really well.

A few solitary shrooms

They looks good but sadly, not edible :(

I noticed that a few fungi are starting to dry up due to the strong sun light that day. In paying back for the photo opportunity that they gave me I watered them in return. I hope those you can see them on your visit. And please don't forget to water them as well. :)

Melon? Think again, it's mushroom!

Hort - Board -- Barrage

2009-03-02T20:31:00.012+08:00

After months of photography absences I have finally decided to go out for some shootings. Journey started from Hort Park (yet again) because the car had to be sent in for service at Queensway area.

This flowers have to stay in air-conditioned room

Since last round, Hort Park has changed a lot. Renovation works are going on at the park area. It doesn't look as nice as it used to. Some fountains are not spurting out any water at all, leaves are dried and yellow and orange and brown. The place looks really messed up. I hope that once the renovation works are done, it will be nicer than it used to. *cross my finger*

Flower within a flower

There's nothing very much to shoot so I paid a longer visit to the flower shop inside Hort Park and took a few snaps at some of the miniature plants.

Venus Flytrap. Looks scary (and hungry), don't they?

The sky looked pretty bad, dark clouds enveloped the sky. Went to IKEA for lunch, the smell of new furniture and wooden planks never fails to lure me. Because of that IKEA is always in my list of favourite places to visit. I have a tendency to buy stuff on every visits. Wanna know my favourite section? It's on the 1st floor, the glassware section. Lookout for miniature cups/mugs/glass (the list goes on). They are simply irresistible!!!!

Just when the car left the workshop, it poured. Putting on a brave front we sped off to Changi Boardwark not before stopping at Funan to get a CPL filter for the 18-200mm. As a reward, we had a fine sunny sky! HOORAY!!!!!

Welcome to Changi Point Boardwalk

This place, I tell you, is very inaccessible if you don't have a private transport. I absolutely have no idea how to reach this place. There are holiday bungalows all over the place. Close to the parking lot there are big trees, took a snap and.....

Aged gracefully

I have always thought that it should be "Broadwalk" instead of "Boardwalk". This place looks like a favourite spot for wedding shots. When I was there, there's a couple. After a short walk you'll eventually reach the fishing quarters, located around Changi Beach Club.

Changi Beach Club

When you are in CPB (that's short for Changi Point Boardwalk in case you are wondering.... and yeah I am lazy) you will feel that you are not in Singapore at all. The whole setback atmosphere coupled with the nice sea breeze will instantly absorb all your daily stresses away. Take a couple of minutes standing at the fishing point and enjoy the breeze, really well worth it I say.

View of the fishing spots from the pavilion

Having to leave this place after the shooting was done, I felt reluctant. My feeling at the time was like the picture below (as people say that a picture speaks a thousand word).

The sky is still bright and we are very unwilling to call it a day. Thinking hard of a place to go Marina Barrage came to mind. Let's go there, shall we?

The dancing fountain in the middle of the reservoir

You must be wandering, "What's a barrage? What kind of place is Marina Barrage?". I am not going to do all the writeups here so I shall provide a link for those interested to read on.

The circular walkway of the Barrage

The Barrage is a very nice place to hangout. There's a big grass patch where you can sit down or play a game of balls with your friends and loved ones. I also noticed that it is also a place where a lot of people like to fly their kite. Be careful where you are flying your kite lest that it ended on the dancing fountain in the middle of the structure.

Kites in the sky

My shots were not doing justice to the Barrage. There were a lot of underexposure shots which I do not want to post here fearing that you might have a bad impression of this place. It's a really nice place, I swear!!!! I think I just have to revisit this place again for some night shots and some of the interesting sculptures.

Sunset by the Barrage

And thus the longest photoshoot involving different places in my entire life.

Lake Toba - Tuk Tuk

2009-02-13T11:34:00.016+08:00

It's been a while since my last entry. Partly because I have no inspiration on what to write and partly is because of uneventful life since last December.

It's a yearly religion for me to go back during Chinese New Year. After all it's the only time where the 3 kids are re-united with their parents. And for this round I took an unusually long leaves of 2 weeks (as compared to 1 week for the past X years).

I've shown you guys food and pictures from my hometown on my last year post so I am going to post just a few pictures this round. Each time I go back there are changes. Here you go:

A pano shot taken from my favourite balcony

They have widen the road and now is filled with stalls like these

It was GREAT fun this round. Met up with long lost schoolmates as well as relatives (ranging from 7 - 10 years of "absence") . That made me unwilling to come back to the harsh reality of working world. *sigh* We went to Tuk Tuk island for the CNY getaway. For more information on Lake Toba, Tuk Tuk and places around it, please read Wikipedia.

The town of Prapat from the ferry

You need to take a ferry ride from the town of Prapat to Tuk Tuk island which takes roughly 20 minutes and up depending on the destination of the majority of the passengers (boat captain will decide on the best route to drop everyone without making a detour). Please enjoy the breeze and scenery it has to offer you during the ferry ride.

Ferry capable of carrying passengers and motorcycles

There are multitude of resorts available along the island of Tuk Tuk, you need not be afraid of having no place to stay (for those who didn't make reservation in advance).

An overview of how resorts are located

Just another resort

Most if not all of the resorts have a unique swimming pool. So what's so unique about it? Well, the water are directly taken from the lake. They will just construct barrier around it and fill it with cement so that it is safer when there lake is rough. In fact the weather was so bad during my visit that the uptide almost swallow the pool.

One of the "swimming pool" a resort has to offer

Standing at the edge of the "pool" (Notice the water level?)

Descend to the lake

Despite the rough weather nothing stopped us from touring the island on motorbikes. Rental is really cheap and it's for almost half a day, you definitely should try it out. That's the first time I rode on a manual bike and had a really REALLY thubthumping experience. (No kiddin!!!) Do not expect a smooth road, most of the time you are either going up or down the hill.

Weather was pretty bad throughout my stay

Local kids playing with water

For those of you who loves shopping, Tomok, the town center is just a few minutes drive away. Do not miss out on local Bataknese souvenirs especially if you are not intending to re-visit Tuk Tuk. Tips: DO HAGGLE!! (I am not trying to disrupt the trade, please forgive me)

Panoramic view from resort

*phew.... finally finished this entry* Till we meet again another time, another place.