Pulau Dayang revisited

Does that chalet at the background look familiar?



My first leisure dive was taken at the exact same island as where I went for my open waters course - Pulau Dayang.

The decision to go back to there again was simple. Pulau Dayang has some nicely sheltered bays and other places with slightly stronger currents, which makes it a friendly for "noobie Scooby Doos" (new divers). Another point is that most of us didn't really take a good look around the place when we were doing our drills in the area on the last trip.

Things were a little different this time, apart from the fact that I am a certified diver now. This time I brought a new toy along.

Unfortunately I seem to have exceed my upload limit for the month of August and I'll have to wait till September before I can upload my dive trip photos to Multiply.

However, I can still post a few photos up on my blog as starters.




Bumped into an old friend, Yanfen, on my dive trip.


It was quite a surprise to see an old acquaintance from NUS at the resort. She was busy with her dive group activities and all I could manage is to steal a bit of her time for just a photo together.





Sea alien





GERONIMO!



I love playing with inverted colours. Makes the Crown of Thorns (sea alien picture) look more spooky and Marcus' backward roll (Geronimo picture) look more stylo-milo .

If you think this is another office hour blog again, you are W-R-O-N-G. This is an MC blog. Woke up to acute neck pains this morning and it was so bad that I could hardly move my neck. Had to see a doctor for an MC.

It still hurts. Ouch.

人生漫长
身不由己
不求留人
只求留心

What sparked my interest in photography

During the Singapore Fireworks Festival 2006, many were planning to go down to the Esplanade, Sheares Bridge, basically a location near where the fireworks were to be set off in order to get a good view.

Some were eager to bring their cameras and accessories (like me) to capture photos of the fireworks. Others prefer to enjoy the entire show without being distracted by triggering shutters.

Though no one has ever asked me explicitly: "Why do you want to go through the hassle of taking photos when it's easier to enjoy the fireworks without distractions", they did say they would prefer to go just to watch fireworks after hearing that I intend to bring my camera along.

It's quite true that no one can concentrate on taking photos and enjoying fireworks at the same time, because at least half of the time is spent looking at the camera LCD instead of the real incendiaries.

My photos were never meant for my personal enjoyment. Photographs are pictures that have captured moods and atmospheres in them. By taking photos, I can share these pleasant feelings (normally I take photos with positive moods) on top of getting 1 more momento.

Yes, it's true that I can enjoy fireworks better if I wasn't taking photos at the same time, but I feel happier sharing the photos, especially with those who are not able to catch them

The entry that came late

It is definitely not the first time that I posted my blog entries late. This entry came exactly 12 days late, and I feel compelled to apologise for posting it up only now.

13 days ago, I believed that Kenny Rogers made the best muffins in the world. 12 days ago, however, the ranking of their muffins dropped to number 2. Number 1 was taken up by muffins so special that nothing can possibly replace their position at the top of the ranks.


Kenny Rogers' muffins are well known for their aroma of generously added vanilla essence, their perfectly concocted sweetness and their wonderfully smooth texture. The muffins above all other muffins have all those and 1 more - they warm my heart as I sink my teeth into them.







The credit for this wonderful discovery goes to Qiuping, for baking muffins for me on my birthday after knowing that I was nuts about the corn muffins from Kenny Rogers.







Thank you, Qiuping, for baking these muffins for me on my birthday. Their taste will always be in my memory and your efforts will always be in my heart.

Finally, I get my chance to go up

For full set of photos, click here.


The last time I went to MacRitchie Reservoir, my main objective was to circle the entire trail around MacRitchie Reservoir and climb the (then) highest suspension bridge in Singapore - the Treetop Walk. Unfortunately, some of my friends were late and we didn't get to climb up to the bridge because we had plans for the afternoon.

My 2nd trip to the area was with Qiuping's friends. This time, our objective is purely to climb the Treetop Walk. I was hoping to get a bit more out of the trek, but perhaps Qiuping's friends had plans for the afternoon.

Nevertheless, I tried to make the most out of my trip there.





Qiuping on the suspension bridge

I think anyone who has brought a camera up there would have taken a shot at this angle. It's becoming a necessary certification to prove that one has been to the Treetop Walk before (been there, done that).

Walking the trail was supposed to allow one a chance to get a closer look at the floral and fauna of a tropical rainforest - though some claim that Singapore has no rainforest left - but you have to be rather discreet about it because loud noises scare most animals away.

Our group was anything but quiet, although I still managed to spot some interesting things, the first one being:




A cute little bear spotted on the Treetop Walk!


Click on any photo the photos to view them in full size.













Nature walks provide good opportunities for macro shots. Unfortunately, I don't have a steady hand and some of my shots were rather poor and had to be deleted away.




The Treetop Walkers


We spent less than 3 hours walking around the place, but we were all feeling hungry after emerging from the forest. Lunch venue was decided on the Prata House along Upper Thomson Road. Some of us remarked:

"The amount of energy spent on walking is hardly on par with the energy we're getting from the pratas we're about to consume".

How true.

NDP 2006 Fireworks Festival

To reduce loading time, only selected photos are shown here. For full set of photos, please click here. Click on any photo to view in full size.

Team Italy, 5th August

Team Singapore, 8th August

Team Caledonia

The picture on the right is the same as that on the left after I tried MS paint's "invert colours" function on it.

National day

During National Day, I met my upper secondary school friends for dinner.


It sounds very ordinary, but I haven't met those friends in about a decade. Lost in touch with them since graduation, except for those who were in the same JC or university as me.

I was quite surprised to see that I still recognise all of them, their faces didn't seem to have much changes. Everyone just looked more mature, and I felt that everyone looked better than they used to be. Maybe it's because we're all out of that school uniform.

Similarly, everyone was a bit surprised to see me, though they still recognise me (despite my shocking change in height). They just needed to stared at me for a couple of minutes or so before they can call out my name. I'm not quite used to having so many people address me by my Chinese name, as we used to do during our secondary school days. But then, I rather miss those days.

It was quite interesting to note the changes in my former classmates over the decade. The jobs they had, their current lifestyle, and even they way they speak. One of the girls (for some reason that even I don't know, I still find it apt to refer to them as girls despite their age) is due to register for marriage at the end of this year.

Unknowingly, I've reached the stage in life where people around me are getting married. And so should I, according my mum especially.

One can't get far from this topic when one is at this age...

Out with Virginie and gang

Just a little note before the start of the entry: I realise that I'm taking longer and longer to complete each entry. All the symptoms of a procrastinator are returning back to me.

It must have been at least a decade since I last went to the zoo.

My memory of the zoo was so vague that even if it hasn't undergone any renovations at all, I wouldn't have been able to remember how it used to look like. Actually going to the zoo is not that bad, just that a significant proportion of Singaporeans don't fancy a visit to the place. I guess it's because some of us don't appreciate animals, some of us find it too childish, etc etc...

Or maybe as Virginie said, "Because you're locals, that's why you don't do what the tourists do."

Perhaps she's right about that.

Anyway, we (Yvonne, Dexin and I) brought Virginie to the zoo and Night Safari on Sunday, while Yvonne's sis and nephew tagged along. The full day event started at 9 am, supposedly. We had agreed to meet at the entrance of the zoo at 9 am, but 'some people' had to be late... No finger pointing, no hints either. I was the only one who was punctual (现在的年轻人真是越来越不象话了).

Timing was important because Virginie (most of all) wanted to catch the feeding of the animals. The feeding times were staggered such that at any time some animals were being fed at some part of the zoo. Being late meant our plans were disrupted.

As a result, the first animal feeding we managed to catch was this:




Feeding of the birthday animal.


It's Yvonne's birthday! Happy Birthday! Very nice Black Forest cake courtesy of Virginie. We managed to finish the cake among the 6 of us. Could have finished a bigger one with ease, the cake was just too nice.

Right after we've entered the zoo, the very first signboard we saw was this



Click to enlarge



And Dexin had to start the morning with a hail-storm of a cold joke.


Dexin: 这只动物真可怜。

Me: 为什么？

Dexin: 因为它又瞎 (sia) 又盲 (mang)。

Me: *several drops of cold sweat trickled down my head*


I spent the entire day defrosting all thanks to him.

Shall not go into the nitty gritty bits of every detail encountered at the zoo, because I don't wish to put anyone reading this to sleep. Pictures (click here to view them) speak a thousand words and I shall let them do all the work for me.


--------A little digression here--------

The part of the zoo visit that puts me off is not the animals, but the visitors to the zoo, especially at the night safari. Visitors are warned time and again not to use flash or lights on the animals, which is very much common sense since animals in the night safari are nocturnal.

Unfortunately, there are too many people, local and otherwise, that are either

1. unable to understand spoken English
2. completely ignorant regarding what a flash is or how to disable it
3. so hard of hearing that they should have just told others they're deaf

A most classic example was that while we took a tram ride to tour the Night Safari, we passed by a lone bull elephant. The guide on the tram was explaining that the elephant was isolated from the rest because it had a particularly bad temper and should MOST DEFINITELY NOT be flashed at, but just as she finished her sentence, a camera flash went off right at the enormous creature. I tensed as I readied myself for the impact of the elephant running down the tram.

For those who have not been to the Night Safari before, most of the 'enclosures' there are actually just a ring of bushes and the animals are allowed to roam the confines of the Night Safari freely, though they seldom wander far.

Maybe someone was sent down to test the safety standards of the Singapore Night Safari (as well as the patience and tolerance of the staff working there). Never thought I'd say this but some people deserve to be trampled to death by a rampaging elephant.

Such incidents never stopped recurring throughout our visit

--------end of digression--------


We walked our legs off that day, tramping through every nook and cranny of the two attractions.






Dexin, however, wasn't satisfied until he proved a point.


Virginie made up a list of must-dos and the next one was to take a riverboat ride at the Singapore River. By accompanying her there (on Tuesday night), she said that we got to do something that we would not have done by ourselves. Personally, I don't really care about never having taken the ride before, but Virginie seemed quite happy to have the ride and our company, and that was all that mattered.

Most of the time when we were out, Virginie would ask us questions relating to Singapore's history. Her questions made me realise that I've forgotten much of our history and am still ignorant of quite a significant chunk of it. In fact, there are some things mentioned in the travel guide, which Virginie brought from France, that I didn't even know of.

Shame on me.

I shall test her on the history of France when I meet her over there, even though it's unfair that France has a history that's probably a hundred times longer than Singapore's. I don't care. REVENGE!