Jurong Bird Park

din know wad to write on this weekend trip.... so will post photos instead!!
Enjoy....




















"huan yin guan ling"
"welcome"
"selamat datang"
to the Jurong Bird Park





















hmm... i've nv seen this fast food branch b4....? not in singapore... ex thou..

















look how excited she is...

haha... cute butt!

i shld learn how to slp like tat huh... to catch up on lost slp everyday on mrt!

this is a very cute lory that moves sideways along the railing went we walk near to it.. hehe.. sideways with head slanted sideway too...haha..

apparently food motivation can help them forget their fear for visitors....

they feed by licking the liq... for solid, they dig with beak and they'll lick their beak clean!

almost forgotten to take our couple photo!!

red fruits on the trees!! oh, birds...

heron

turkish vulture.. dancing turkish vulture...

other than the colour, i dun see other similarity le leh...

ppl say they we look more and more alike...

here we r at the world tallest man-made waterfall!! it's towering 100m high!! (actualli it looked kinda tiny.. mayb one of the smallest one i've seen....haha... and we came to this conclusion that it's the world tallest juz because not one else makes waterfall...)

i see birds.....

the 2 neighbouring hornbills are fightin... tearing a small hole in the barrier between the 2 enclosures... tough neighbours huh..

final stop, the birds of prey show.... it's a damn cool show!! the birds were all damn huge with wingspan of up to 2 metres!! too bad the camera is not able to to take photos impressive enough to show my point.... they're too fast anyway...

time to go home le.... dinner!!

sucked into the tv....

kaoz... juz look at how many ppl are squeezing into one little bedroom... everyones' souls kena sucked in into the tv set.... reminds me of the times when TV were rare in the kampung days... all neighbours juz crowded ard some house with 1 little black and white tv... hmm... my ma looked like she's fallen aslp....

anyway not everyone's here la... pa is outside slping... very antisocial hor? he's getting like tat these few yrs... dunno why also... also dunno wad can i do... not that i've nv tried doing anything... but he always denies going out as a family one.... say this troublesome that troublesome.. ask us to go ahead ourselves.... *sigh~*
















ooh... bro bought this for my for my bdae... cool!! i think this is my 1st gift ever from him....? yb says he zhang da le!

post-bdae post!

i wasn't expecting very much this yr for my birthday, like any other years.. was expecting to haf a dinner with yan.. and that's abt all... but she did mentioned abt "surprise".. but i din wanna haf my expectations set too high... they say the higher u get, the harder u'll fall... and in the workplace, i was expecting everything to go on as usual.. i din think ppl will do anything special....

was down at BRC (Bio Research Centre) doing exp in the morning and when i came up to my desk, i saw a paper bag and a cactus placed on my table... inside the paper bag was apparently a cake and a case of candy.. the candy had my company logo on it... so i became very puzzled... i've nv seen anyone having cake delivery for their bdae from the company b4 lehz...im THAT special mehz???

then there's a card attached to the cactus, tog with the delivery note, with the full company address and everything... *got more confused* so i took a look at the card content...

".... Lotsa love and XXXXXX, your Dearest Buddy"

that brought a smile onto my face... hehe... thanks dear!!














colourful hor??

"blistered" cake... very riCh and creamy choc!!! very nice!! juz too small...

coming to lunch soon... christian told us last week that we'll be having lunch as a team, with the new scotish student arrival and we'll be going to Raj, this indian restaurant juz across the road in Biopolis...

Catherine came over our cubicle..

"hey where u guys going for lunch? is it for everyone, or juz PDDM?"

*silence*

"it's for chiu right...?"

*shrugged and i looked at christian.."

"it's for u..." christian said.... and looked at cat with slanted eyes *oops*

*smileSS* "Thanks!!!"

food wasn't that excellent... a bit costly.... but i din haf to pay!! wahahaa.... lalalalaaaa....

and i got a "promotion"!! offcially im now the CEO of the company!! Paul even presented the name tag personally to me....!!

oh there's no candles-blowing thou... but it's ok! i told yan tat i can forfeit my wish.. coz i'll be wishing to be happy... and already i m!!

Reads: CEO- Chief Entertainmen Officer
*juggling 5 balls...(????)*

back to office and sitting ard trying to decide how to display my new tag.... when aveline came by...
"eh ah zui, happy bdae and hope u like this..."

cool!! more presents!!
she was missing at lunch apparently she dun take indian food... and so i assumed herself and cat went bought this pumpkin phone holder during lunch... see see!!

like halloween....

yan picked me up from work today!! i left office late and she din even complained a bit!! i love my birthday....... *hmm~~

Dinner was at Restaurant 211 @ Holland Village... intended to go Ikoi for jap buffet initially but yan wasn't feeling too good in the stomach... so... next time bah!

Ppl usually go 211 for outdoor dining... we too tried it... but it was too damn humid that day lor... and the sky was filled with dark clouds... decided to move in after sitting down for 2-5 min... even b4 we ordered our food..

*devouring my prey....*

Ipoh dimsum~!

woke up at 7am on a sunday morning juz to haf dimsum!! the uncle told us tha previous day that the Dua Bao gets sold out as early as 6am in the morning sometimes!! thou we r not great fans of Dua Bao, we din wanna go there and not able to even find a seat..















we did a recce to check out the place on our 1st day and man!! there're lotsa ppl standing ard coz there's no seats!! and it was abt 10am that day.... so now u know why we so ganjiong to go so early le...? but even so, we cant find an empty table and need to share to order our breakfast fast.... anyway end up we din take any photos of the food coz we cant accumulate enough for a nice pic with such a small portion of the table to ourselves... remember there's still the teapot, tea cups, sauces, cards....

wad is the best thing to do after breakfast?? to nap of coz!! haha... now i understand why din i feel especially tired reporting to work on monday morning str after i came back singapore...

we were supposed to check out by 130pm so we did.. and went for lunch after depositing our barang barang at Grassland.. we had yong tau fu (ytf = why the fu*k) curry mee, again, from the same stall the bus uncle pointed out to us the previous day.. anyway this was lunch part 1... lunch part 2 on the way later...















we're done being tourists the previous day le...so today we shall do some town-exploration!! ipoh is generall known to be divided into the "old town" and the "new town".. reasion being that the old town is the original ipoh region where the current train station is and had seen much history of the colonial past of ipoh.. u can actually see that the old town has many buildings that has france influences as well as chinese/indian cultures... much like malacca and penang... ipoh day 1 was spent mainly in the new town where our hotel is, and the new town was there due to the expansion of the old town... hmm... getting complicated....

anyway..... juz a personal comments we had... the old town looks newer than the new one!! i think it was the effort to preserve the place la... at least it was done very tastefully... unlike malacca... where all the buildings were painted so damn bright... the old town was damn lifeless thou... all the shophouses were unoccupied... some of the eating/drinking places recommended by Lonely Planet were not in operation anymore... at least they looked like they're unoccupied... not sure if they'll come alive when night falls...















the bridge that links the old and new town...
















a whole black of apartments with national flags!! national day coming meh? passed loh....



















aspiring lawyer?
















the train station of ipoh... majestic huh... we din go in thou.. yan says wad if it's lousy inside... it'll spoil all our praises for it....

another shot of the train station

"We, the citizens of............. Malaysia boleh!!"

age is catching up.... *tired*

dunno wad building this is... but it's nice nonetheless...

*thinks**damn it! she's late...*

















late and still acting pretty....

oh im at the edge of ipoh!! this bridge goes over the railway and wad lies beyond is unknown to us....

we roam in circles... literally.... passed the little india twice.. the old majestic colonial buildings twice... and finally get to the chinese shophouses... we chanced upon this closing coffeeshop and then yan suddenly exclaimed!!

"Kong Heng!!!"

apparently it was recommended to her by an ipoh colleague.. i checked up lonely planet and indeed it was also in the map... hmm.. but too bad, we're slightly too late... walking abt in too many circles... her friend said the stall is good for their popiah and snacks...

so we continued our walking and we found another coffeeshop that's unusually bz considernig that it's already abt 4pm in the afternoon, way after lunch time le... then we realised there's another one that's right opp. the road that's even more packed!! hehe... of course we chose the one that's almost impossible to find seats to haf lunch part 2 la.... ppl there were mainly eating chee cheong fan.. at 1st i tot it's those usual hongkong style chee cheong fan that were steamed on the spot and has charsiew or prawn fillings kind... apparently not... there were juz the usual ones but were diced so thinly that they look juz like kuay teow!! i ordered 2.. one dry with sasame oil and soy sauce, and the other wet with curry sauce...(hmm???) and a white kopi-peng! i was thinking is it this thing that ppl know as ipoh horfan coz other than this, we've not seen any other places that sells anything close to being ipoh horfan...

ipoh horfan?


we ran out of places to go le... and we're still 5 hours from boarding of bus... more shopping at ipoh parade!! we din buy much this time.... oh no we did... we bought loads of comics!! haha... cheap thou...secondhanded ones... im still not done with reading any of the series till now....

our last dinner at ipoh! horfan!! dun think this is ipoh horfan also...it's juz the usual soupy horfan with lots of eggs... but it's nice!

Grassland big bus with videos and music and games!! but i juz wanna slp... next day gg str to work... *sianz*

Ipoh horfan~!!

was away in ipoh over the weekend... u muz be thinking "siao boh" over the weekend go away muz be very rush... actually ok la... if mind rushing then where can we ever find time to go traveling then? quit our jobs mehz...???

we arrived at 5++am in ipoh and were trying hard to orientate ourselves... were expecting to be dropped at where all the long-distance buses were but we forgetten that we took bus with Grassland!! anyway we spend the morning till 7++am walking in circles (literally) to get our bearings right... good thing that yan doesn't seem to mind it a bit and was gladly enjoying the morning breezy walk with me! =) oh we had prata too! light breakfast with indian teh tarik.. nice and sweet!! sweet like nmalaysian style... in case u dunno, so far all the teh and coffee we had in malaysia were all potentially diabetic-causing....















the trees by the roadside were all trimmed into cubes!!

finally located our hotel of choice and tried to check in... but it's fully occuppied!! luckily we asked further... there'll be vacancies after 10am... hmm... u'll wonder how come ppl check out at 9am in the morning... anyway so meanwhile we go find breakfast part 2.... curry mee!! we sniffed out this stall (im serious!!) while getting our bearings right and wad better way to kill time other than eating?















curry n mee and lor meat!!


while we were at our breakfast pl we caught the attention of a family with 2 kids... apparently dad and mum realised we're from singapore coz we were speaking eng on and off... they wondered why did we chose to come ipoh coz there actually isn't much things to play ard here... not much tourist attractions, it's doesn't haf any worthy shopping arcades...

"we come here walk walk and eat eat lor!"

"then how u know that curry mee frem this stall is nice?"

"coz we got this book!! *points to Lonely Planet* actualli we followed our nose and the crowd that we saw lah..."

"that book actually got say where are the nice eating places huh?? then it got say the bean sprout chicken over there nice? *uncle points to an alley across the road*"

and the uncle/auntie goes on to telling us abt where to find good dimsum, chinese pastry, where to take bus if we wanna visit the cave temples of ipoh, which direction to go for shopping arcade etc etc... a couple of nice husband and wife huh...? oh and all the while they're talking to us, their kids were still finishing their breakfast at their own table...

after a short nap to catch up on lost slp on the nite bus, we went ahead and be tourists!! visiting the "holes"... they call the 3 temple caves shan dong.. the 3 holes... sounds obscene in english huh.. anyway i was expecting sth more majestic and grand from the 3 holes... perhaps my expectations were kinda high.. so they din live up to it...

Ling Sen Tong, at the entrance to Sam Poh Tong





















hey matching attires with the deities!! oops and some disrespects..
















li yu yue long men!! (koi leaping over dragon gate)

















so steep!! no wonder our legs got wobbly on our way back...





















told u we were getting wobbly.....!!

















some of the tortoises were huge!! the biggest was near a metre in length i think!!


getting tired.. and bored.... we decided to skip 2 holes!! haha... perak tong and kek lok tong.. but they did say that perak tong supposedly to be most popular of the 3... next time mayb... the tong won't run away right..

back for lunch!! bus conductor uncle pointed out a coffeeshop to us that looked quite secluded and i think usually we won't pay much attention to it coz it din attract too much crowd.. it's those coffeeshop that looks like it caters more to the local rather than the rich chinese population.. there's only like 3-4 stalls inside and ppl are very friendly.. mums bring their kids to pack lunch for families.. grandchild eating rice with curry sauce prepared by grandma at the stall... i mentioned to yan that i can spend a few hours juz enjoying a slow lunch sitting there looking at ppl..

ah boy awaiting for his lunch while ah ma (not in pic) prepares it...

our 1st ipoh white coffee!! boy she looks tired here...

more town exploration after lunch and gradually we made our way to Ipoh Parade.. the only aircon shopping area ard.. haa... spent money shopping... RM120... *pukes blood*

hehe... wanna know wad we had for dinner?? see!!!

look at the crowd!! (try to spot yan?)

short fat bean sprouts!!

yan's colleague says we HAF to try this in ipoh.. ppl call this ya chai ji, actually it's juz chicken rice with a serving of bean sprouts.. and instead of the chicken rice rice, it's either plain rice or horfan soup.. the latter is nicer of course!! anyway chicken rice is still better in malacca... chicken rice balls rulez!!

after that pasar malam shopping and buying of local produce.....

end of day 1........ *tired*

10km New Balance RealRun!!

when was the last time i ran 10 klic man??!

cant remember le!! not even at Nike Realrun 2 yours ago leh....that one end up nv run lor... due to friends songyong and everyone bangseh...
(oh we did run some distance at ATC 2 yrs ago....that was LOooooNG... got abt 20km?)

slow and steady is the way to go man....

Stand chart anyone?

"u got go there anot?"

had buffet at Coca a couple of nights ago with a bunch colleagues in "celebration" of one of them leaving the company for a job which he thinks is more suitable for him... thus "celebration"... the food wasn't that good thou... not worth the money paid...

after dinner the guys from my team went ahead for durian in Bugis Street... Christian brought along a friend to dinner whom he'd known in his studying days... so he planned on bringing Simone around a bit b4 gg home... while walking over from Concourse, we passed by this rack with those free postcards u usually see outside some cafes... one of the cards is meant to promote "speaking good english" de...

"you got go there or not?"

"did you go there?"

(the former sounds like wad we'll say usually...? haha.. )

"be understood, not only in Singapore, Malaysia and Batam"

"they make it sound so serious...!"

then i explained to Simone abt our multinational / multicultural community and wad the gahmen says abt Singaporean English as well as the recent hoohaa of the IMF thing coming up in Sept....

"But we still understand the language... and this is something UNIQUE in Singapore!"

well she does make sense huh.... that's how the Nonya started in Melaka last time too yah? instead of mixing the taste/food/culture/dressing, we're juz mixing the languages now! and i bet there's mixing of Malay and Chinese languages back then as well....

anyway Simone is in Tioman the next morning and gg to be juz there relaxing along the beaches and reading her book she says.... shiok huh.....

* ... where? up in ma head... deep in ma... *

juz something to share this with anyone who is able to relate to wad's written.... the entry was taken from a friend's blog... im the legendary "brudder zhang" btw.... muahaha....

* ... where? up in ma head... deep in ma... *

i finally, finally understood wot brudder zhang was going through.

experiencing it maself now... was at Pumpfest few days back and thoroughly enjoyed every climbing moment. simultaneously, it felt strange just standing there, being part of da audience, not doing anything to keep things moving.

that was da fifth Pumpfest i've seen in ma short twenty three years of existence. da first was at NYC park opposite cineleisure... da second was there as well. then we moved to plaza singapura... afterwhich 'twas esplanade... and this year, NLB.

in ma first year in odac, i was basically a know-nothing greenhorn. knew nothing about trekking except walk and fall. knew nothing about leading trips but i was a good follower... always trying to keep close to da guy in front (hence often falling). knew nothing about climbing, kayaking, cycling... but somehow i had da guts to slowly pick 'em up. i said guts 'cos i went on a desaru trip not knowing how to ride a two-wheel bike.

and now looking back, i guess that was da single trip why i was stuck in odac. 'cos i overcome my fear of riding... (but up to now, haff yet to eradicate others' fear of me riding... hahaha) and haff come to know a bunch of peops who are so funny, so patient and so supportive. they being spidey, zz, mindy, smallsharon, ah long and horny... when i was crawling like a turtle up da mother of all slopes, they never once abandoned me and always cycled back to check i was hokay and encouraged me to keep going.

so i realised that this odac wasn't about da survival of da fittest... it wasn't like school or life in singapore in general at all. in odac, peops did wot they wanted to, with very little have-tos... for da have-tos are part of da want-tos. everyone was at ease being themselves... being crazy... being stupid even if it's once in a while... cos it's not gonna go on da report cards and up there in da mountains, da peops are all you've got.

and this is wot's best about life. this is wot is so missing in everyday life. true genuine conversation... contemplation, silence, space to be free, space to be ourselves... to be able to curse, swear, make up songs and sing off-key... be humbled and rejuvenated by da sight of mother nature.

i said i finally understood wot brudder zhang felt... that da sense of belonging is slowly fading away. i guess it all boils down to time and proximity... there always comes a time when we have to let things go. things always change, they never stay da same. and maybe thats why peops hold back, not wanting to give it their all. cos they know one day you gotta let it go, and da more you give, da more it hurts.

anyhows... odac has always been more than a CCA to me. it's almost like my social life in university. da suppers, da bbqs, da walks, da runs, da sit-around-and-do-nothing, or sit-around-and-smoke-newbies... though things will never be da same again, i'll always be thankful for da peops i've met... even those whom i only brushed shoulders with on a trip or two. cos these peops haff taught me that life can be fulfilling even with just three packets of curry instant noodles... and singing a song altogether up da mountains is one of life's simplest joy. it makes you forget da trickles and beads of perspiration, da scorching sun or heavy rain, da leeches, da many more series of "five more minutes, we're almost there..."... it makes you go on and on and on... until you're finally there, looking at wot you're looking for.

and da ones whom you get to know over da years... they always teach you more than you'll ever know. there's spidey, whom can be reduced to a rolling fit on da floor just by a poke at his waist (sorry i made it public, dude). spidey taught me that if you want peops to enjoy da activities, you gotta first enjoy 'em yourselves... and always treat peops with kindness... no matter how weird you think they are. and of course, those songs.... made famous by spidey. da Traffic Light... and da Mosquitoe, created in honour of him. mwahahahahahahaha...

there's gorilla- da thinker, da clown, da man, da boy... all rolled into one. some may think it's got to do with his physique that he's da pillar of support in odac... da father/ brother figure we all go running to when we're tired, angry, confused or hungry (hahaha). i'd say it's da size of his heart.

and keatmama... man... da best comm. ever i've been in was led by da keatmama. he had a very clear vision... which he believed with all his heart and it shows. and being in da comm. and experiencing all that that happened was just magic...

and ah gu, creator of da Movers (Moo-vers?!) song... mwahahahahaha... one thing i respect about this fellow cow is how he'd always be so positive and work so hard. he does da shit that nobody does and still keeps so calm and gila. respect.

there's so many more peops... whose idiosyncrasies and characters haff made an impact on me and kept me laughing : ) ... peops who haff long gone, peops who are a phonecall away.

and da events that happened, da trips, da falling-outs, misunderstandings, wotcha-might-call-politics, petty fights, overwhelming stress, strained relationships with our own family/ other friends... we only went through them to become stronger... to know ourselves and others better.

so yeah, some things feel different but i will always remember odac this way; a family whom i'll always look forward to serve though i may not always belong.

Convocation

Gears UP!!















and President Nathan waits.....

there he is!!!

proud parents!

do we haf the same smile?

"Finally convocated!!"

some other bloopers.... hehehz...

"The Class of 2006!!"

retro

it's been a very very long weekend.....apart from the fact that i took monday off lah.... had ktv on fri nite, retro nite on sat, dimsum with mum on sunday and convocation on monday!! fully packed!!

met up with a some mates from ntu odac primarily to get some clothes and accessories for a retro nite the next day... to end the evening of gathering, we went for...1...2..3..4...5 hours for ktv session!!! only managed to slp at 5 am.... shagged.... wad a way to start my weekend.....

sat was short... considering that we woke up juz in time for lunch... hehe.... managed to borrow car from dad for the nite.... it waaaaay more convenient to drive in retro clothes!! dun wanna embarass myself in public.... hehee...















alwyn commented that this is the kind of photo his parents would take last time... hehe..














RETRO!!

haha.... it was good to meet up with friends in sch.. thou the retro nite event wasn't that well executed for the camp, oh did i mention that it was for a freshmen camp? we had fun thou... the old birds gathering... we even had one of us who is a teacher now dressed up in her primary sch uniform!! how original is tat!! and she was pouring alcohol and volka for everyone ard the table.......

sunken hearted

a fellow colleague is leaving the company for a career in a related, but separated field... in London... today is his last day... he was my primary day-to-day sup for my final year project and has been very very accomodating and encouraging... i truely owes him a lot...

news abt him leaving the co. got to my ears a couple of months back.... i din feel anything sad as i know for sure that it's wad he always wanted: to work in clinical studies in drug development... i was feeling indifferent.. till today... after we presented him with all the gifts we've prepared... i only got to know him early december last yr.. and he was the one who showed me most of the ropes... he brought me to the animal facilities, attempted to teach me how to do sectioning, gave me readups for immunostaining and answered my "undergraduand questions"....

thanks mike~

taxi fare hikes...

been reading abt such hikes and increase in the cost of living etc on forums these 2 days....

i like this especially....


quote:
Originally posted by verydisappointed: yahyah, then these people will come out with the same old reasons again, saying the same old things, compared to London, New York, Tokyo, Munich blablabla.....

Aiya....When increase fees, they also compare us with England, USA, Japan, France......then when comparing with standard of living, they will compare us with Malaysia, Indoneasia, India....

killer heels

it's been a rather tiring week... how come? i wonder why too.... perhaps juz not enough "passive rest"... i termed non-activity time outside slping as "passive rest"....

was on my way to work earlier this morning when i alighted from the mrt at buona vista station.. as i was making my way to to descending escalator, this girl was standing facing the track suddenly reversed and walked into me... she stepped onto my toe with her killer heel and tore my shoe!! i was walking so the fabric that covered the breathable part juz tear under some tensile stress... fortunate enough the tear din go all the way thru... but it hurts though... i noticed the tear immediately but cant possibly ask her to buy me a new pair rite? ask her to fix it for me? how??

ok knock off le.... going home to check on my toes.... din haf the chance to check earlier.... see ya....

unfriendly ppl

yb is away this weekend cousin's attending wedding and i failed to make plans to keep myself occupied!!

nthin much in plan so juz rotted the saturday away after the morning ride with chel...

i went for another ride on sunday evening after i came back from walk walk session with cousin... i was really enjoying my ride le.... the spin feels so much smoother after cleaning up the wheels and brakes a bit...though i dun really understand how it'll affect the spinning.... all was fine as i was making my way back home from hunger pangs... was riding along yck road when i went under a flyover, above me was CTE.. (usually as i merge with a slip road coming from the extressway, i'll keep a lookout eventhough im on the main road and vehicles from the side road shld give way to me....) i saw this white car coming out from the expressway and was anticipating it's slowing down to give way to the main road traffic... but it din slow down!! dunno if the indian driver expected me to slow down for him or he nv see me... i had to jam my brakes else i'll be thrown over the car le... but i did realised the car slowed down a bit as my rear wheel skidded on the dry road... but he took off again when he saw me slowed down.... so he did saw me!! but refused to stop!!

showed him the finger (but i think it's too dark le...he nv see from rear mirror)

then was riding along a path beside lentor coz the traffic was heavy in the evening... then oncoming i saw an uncle in from the opp direction.... that stretch of the path was quite narrow from the grass overgrowing onto the path so i dismounted and moved aside to give way.... as he passed i attempted to smile... but he din even looked at me!! wtf..... taken for granted!! i shld haf juz sqeezed that path with him and squeezed him into the bushes!!

mum asked me to buy dinner back since i was out cycling... kaoz... i told her next time dun ask me to buy dinner if i out cycling... so damn diff to get bike into the crowd lor... once i accidentally GENTLY knocked into a chair used to put an auntie's bag with my rear wheel... and the auntie gave a loud "AIYO!!", along with a disgusted face...( i meant i was disgusted by her face) wtf... not as if i knocked into her leg or wad wor!! KNN.....

heng i nv take all these to heart ahz... gladly enjoyed my ride.....