1 Out of 7 Billion
The world is getting smaller everyday but a lifetime is not enough to explore it. My adventure starts in Singapore.
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Hardly Home but Enjoying Life Outside of It
March 29, 2009
I have been hardly home the past few weekends.
Let me tell you why.
1) IT Show
No sign of recession at Suntec City. People were going out with flatscreen TVs or printers on strollers or carrying semi-bulky boxes of hardware.
Don’t know if it’s just me but I think this show drew thousands of people more than previous shows I’ve caught. It was so difficult to move around that I kept thinking whether I will push or get pushed. In the end I just went with the flow as there was hardly room to take strides, only little steps.
I’ve heard so much about the Mac that this year, I seriously thought about shifting to a Mac environment. I was told it was not as multi-functional as a PC so I postponed my purchase. Maybe I’ll make a decision by mid-year.
Had some good purchases from the show: (1) HP Laserjet printer, (2) Linksys Wireless Router (works brilliantly so my home is now wireless), (3) Nintendo Wii (an impulse purchase but happy that I’ve increased the entertainment value of house gatherings/parties with this game console).
2) Birth – Singapore Poly Grad Show 2009
Two of my friends had their works showcased during their grad show held at Marina Square so I visited the exhibit to catch up with them and see what their classmates have done too. Congrats Marvin and James!
3) Dinner at Double Bay Resto
Had dinner with Wee Siong and Kristy at Double Bay restaurant in Raffles City. It’s an Aussie resto that serves predominantly fish main course meals.
I asked the waiter where Double Bay is located and he couldn’t answer me. Later on, I figured it is in NSW and remembered being there during one of my trips, either through Ben or Adam.
Sticky Date Pudding - yummy - try it
Would recommend this resto and will surely come back when I have the chance.
Double Bay (252 North Bridge Road, #01-22 A Raffles City Shopping Center, Singapore ; Ph +65 6334 6530) Nearest MRT : City Hall . Upon reaching Raffles City, look for Timberland on the ground floor and exit through the door next to it.
4) i-Weekly Roadshow
i-Weekly is a Mediacorp publication. It’s both a TV and lifestyle weekly guide. It’s in Mandarin so I buy the English equivalent instead (8 Days).
i-Weekly is changing its layout and introducing a 2nd magazine for the same price so it had a roadshow at Bugis Junction one Sunday.
I happen to be in the area after Sunday afternoon errands so stuck around for a bit and left shortly after the downpour started.
Bugis Junction -- If a funnel of dark cloud extended from the sky to the ground, I would be running for my dear life!
Local celebrities don’t get much attention here in Singapore though, either because people are busy to watch TV or because celebrities remain down to earth and simple they easily blend in with the crowd. Both a good and bad thing I guess.
I only recognise Patricia Mok (red shirt) in this photo.
Belinda Lee (white), Dai Yiangtian (black), not sure who was wearing yellow
5) Veria’s surprise birthday party
Eugene organised a birthday surprise for Veria over at their place. It’s great when surprise birthday gatherings actually surprise the celebrant. We hid in one of the guestrooms and greeted Veria when she discovered where we were.
Veria's girl friends
Rodin, Daryl, me
Veria about to discover our hideout
Happy birthday, Veria!
Veria with loving hubby Eugene by her side
6) Kumar’s show + Chillout at Keppel Island
Watched Kumar’s show, “Stripped, Bare, and Standing Up” at the Esplanade with Julius, Karl, and Wish.
1.5 hr show — laughed most of the time and got majority of the local jokes. Haven’t seen Kumar perform in any of the bars he frequents. Finally glad to have done so. He’s one of the most popular cross-dressing stand-up comedians in Singapore.
Guess who laughed the hardest
Show ended around 10pm so most of the places nearby were filled with people. Decided to go to Prive Bakery in Keppel Island for supper, dessert, and some (ahem) modeling. Ha.
Milkshakes - so thick and creamy we could finish only 90%
I managed to complete this entry after a lazy Sunday afternoon spent at home. Relaxing especially since it’s raining heavily outside.
Wang Lee Hom Heart Beat Album
January 3, 2009 — 4 Comments
There seems to be people searching for Wang Lee Hom’s latest album being directed to my site probably because of a previous entry I made on his Singapore concert.
I just got a copy of “Heart Beat” yesterday. Not sure if this is what people are looking for but made an entry anyway. Might be of help to them.
It was an impulse purchase as I had originally wanted to buy the DVD version of his “Music Man” concert. The staff from HMV whom I spoke with several weeks back told me one will be made available by yearend, likely the concert held in Taiwan.
The “Heart Beat” album came with a 2009 desk calendar which I gladly offered to give to Marlene whom I went with to the concert in Singapore in November.
Quite impressive packaging. CD mounted on an oversized photo cardboard in contrast with other Chinese albums which are in DVD plastic cases.
Front cover
Back cover
CD
Summary of tracks – ten in all ; have listened to all and found at least half quite nice (and I don’t understand Mandarin)
Well done to the people at Sony Music.
Good Harvest from IT Show
November 29, 2008
My sister and I checked out SITEX 2008 over at the Singapore Expo. Not as impressive as other IT shows I went to but I’m glad the major exhibitors were on just one floor unlike those held at Suntec.
Early signs of the sea of humanity…
I’m an impulse shopper but I’m glad to have been able to limit my purchases in this visit. I really didn’t have anything in mind prior to coming.
I got “OmniPage 16″ which is a software that turns paper into text documents and even turns text into audio podcasts. This is a good addition to the software that came with the Canon Lide90 scanner I bought a few months ago. I think I’m steadily moving into a better position in getting rid of extra paper at my place.
I also found the CD protector plastic intriguing so I got a few sets. This is like a jacket that exactly fits the CD and prevents it from having scratches. It can be used without affecting CD performance in the machine.
And just as I thought my debit card’s job is done for the day, I saw the Panasonic Lumix TZ15. This has now replaced my current Panasonic Lumix TZ2.
Head on comparison
(TZ15 vs TZ2)
9.1 MP vs 6.0 MP
3.0 LCD screen vs 2.5 LCD screen
New features: Face Detection, Digital Red Eye Correction, Intelligent Auto feature (digicam selects the scene/mode; this is even better than a relatively similar feature in TZ2), HD video instead of the low quality video of TZ2 which was really disappointing (for TZ15, you can also zoom in and out while recording video).
The digicam came with several freebies.
These three shots are within the first 100 shots taken from my new digicam (would recommend that you consider getting this type of cam when you scout for one next time).
Hong Kong
October 28, 2008
I spent the Deepavali long weekend in Hong Kong and what a relaxing weekend it was (my wallet got exhausted though).
This is my 4th visit within a span of two years and I think everytime I feel like going away for a long weekend I will book a flight to Hong Kong (instead of Bangkok).
Why do I love Hong Kong?
- The place gives me a sense of organised chaos which I welcome once in awhile.
- Shopping. I always go to H&M but I feel I’m missing out on a lot more good shops.
- Food
- I like hearing Cantonese.
- I have good friends who are superb hosts and fantastic party buddies.
I stayed at the Cosmo hotel which is one of the boutique hotels in the Wan Chai / Causeway Bay area. The location is not very ideal ; I always needed to take a cab to and from the place. However, the room space is just right for a short stay. Comfy bed too.
Good to sleep on a single bed for a change.
The couch area is where I would dump my shopping bags at the end of each day.
Sat, 25 October
- Got upgraded to Business Class on Singapore Airlines. It’s my 4th time to be upgraded (3rd on holiday). I initially wanted to upgrade my purchased Economy class ticket but was told no seats were available. Thanks SQ!
- Went to H&M shortly after I checked-in. Did some panic buying and shopping for family and friends. The selection was rather disappointing and I guess I can say that for most of the shops. They were selling winter stuff and I could only buy so much. May / June would probably be the best time to go next time, based on previous experience.
- Met up with Ron at Causeway Bay and walked over to William’s place. William, Grace, and Louis hosted an awesome dinner with hairy crab as the main dish. Met a few new friends as well. Struggled in eating the crab with my bare hands (havent done that in ages) but I can say it was worth the cracking and scooping effort.
Causeway Bay, one of my fave areas in HK
With Ron and William, my great buddies in HK
Hairy hairy crab
- Decided to have an early night after waking up for an early flight but managed to stay awake for an hour listening to a few singers in the bar at Cosmo hotel. I knew most of the songs so I was singing softly in my little corner. Ha.
Day 2 – Sun, 26 October
- I had to make another trip to H&M to see if any new stocks came in but since I arrived slightly earlier than opening time, I walked around to explore the central area.
Why dont we have H&M in Singapore?!
- Ros invited me to have lunch with her and her husband Blums over at Taikoo then went around the mall for any interesting stuff.
Catching up with Blums and Ros at Simply Life Bakery/Cafe
- I was supposed to meet with Ron and William but they were fairly busy until late afternoon so I decided to go back to Causeway Bay. There were two events happening. One at Sogo which had a brief show that featured Eunice Chen, one of the popular models in HK. The other event was a promotion for Minute Maid orange juice which had official endorser Eason Chan, a pop artist/singer, making a special appearance.
Eunice Chen - took me some time to figure out her English name from the people I asked in Sogo
Eason Chan
- Met up with Ron and William near my hotel and went to a revolving resto for a drink before going to Lin Heung bakery/ tea house at Central for dinner. Peiru suggested that I try the BBQ pork while in HK so I requested them to include this in our meal. One thing that struck me is that customers soak the bowls in hot water before using them. Never seen that in previous trips. William told me that it’s the usual practice in HK. He did the honor of doing that before our meal…
William's fingers in their first-ever close-up appearance in my blog
- Lyn (my friend from Malaysia who happened to be there for work+holiday) and Dorothy (friend of Ron) joined us for dinner as well. We then went to Peel Fresco Music Lounge a few blocks away for some jazz music.
William, Lyn, Ron, Dorothy, me
Day 3 – Mon, 27 October
- No set plan but to pack neatly and reach Kowloon island for the first time in 20 years (yes, only because my previous visits were all in HK island).
Not teary eyed but quite a nice feeling being back in this part of HK.
- Had lunch at Harbour City. I officially ended my shopping in that place.
- Headed to the airport via airport (train) express, bought a few boxes of Krispy Kreme donuts for Pierre, Peiru and the SQ cabin crew, then boarded the flight. I arranged for an upgrade to Business Class previously so had a comfortable evening journey back to Singapore.
Preparing for a Clothes Revamp
September 15, 2008 — 3 Comments
It took me only one (1) hour to decide that I needed to say “goodbye, thank you for your dedicated service” to approximately 35 shirts (mix of both casual and office clothes). I wanted to create some space in the two closets I use — one dedicated to weekend wear, another for office wear. Sadly, letting go of clothes means rendering a lot of hangers jobless.
I have this habit of deciding every yearend what color to buy for the coming year. Unfortunately, I was not able to do this over the past two years due to time constraints, or shall I say due to all the activities happening before the New Year crossover.
So which ones were spared from my wrath?
Office Wear
Casual Wear
Analysis:
1. I have a lot of blue so I should avoid buying such color until yearend. I hope H&M doesn’t have much of this color; otherwise, I will be tempted to buy again.
2. I only have one pink shirt. I should buy one or two more.
3. I should go for fewer shirts with horizontal stripes. They make me look wide. Only exception would be if they are thin stripes or if the color combination is nice.
4. I should buy more shirts without collar, preferably white, green, orange with good prints.
5. I should further classify my casual wear on whether they are better off worn with shorts or jeans.
6. I need to look for more plain colors for my office wear.
Quite a nerdy approach but it works for me!
MAAD Market
August 11, 2008
In a moment of brilliance, I remembered that the MAAD market was happening at the Red Dot Museum at the beginning of August (so this is a really late entry!).
MAAD stands for Market of Artists and Designers. It happens every first weekend of the month. Lots of interesting stuff, mostly those you can’t easily find in retail outlets around Singapore. It’s a good venue for artists and designers to showcase their wares.
The Red Dot Museum has red windows.
I was able to buy several items during previous visits (i.e. customised laptop cases, transparent laptop stand, bracelets for friends). In this trip, I got a humorous book about the unique aspects of Japan, a box of postcards on Beijing, a compilation of award winning love stories and poems.
One thing that was different from this month’s MAAD was an area where you can pay SGD8 for art class students to draw a portrait of you based on their vantage point. You sit still at one spot and they do the work. I was conscious of being looked so I didnt go for it. Maybe next time.
Area for local artists to perform surrounded by market stalls
More stalls selling great stuff
I also realised during such visit that the Red Dot Museum was walking distance from the Tanjong Pagar MRT station. I usually take the cab to the musem. Always good to learn alternative ways to reach a spot.
Singapore MRT Train Network :
Red Dot Museum is very near Maxwell Foodhouse, a popular hawker center. You should try to porridge when you have the chance!
