Ah Min Goes Beijing

Rainy morning (26 Sep 11)

2011-09-26T08:49:00.002+08:00

Woke up to a cool Monday morning.

The laundry that we put up for drying last evening got a second wash by the rain... Mr Tofu and I decided not to do anything about them till we come back tonight

Went on the usual morning routine and got up the shuttle bus to work.

The journey today was smooth, I could see the elaborate setup for the F1 race left "as-is" on the viewing decks. The decorative balloon lights and flood-lights were still switched on. The white-clothed tables and chairs were still scattered on the deck. I could almost picture the 'gentlemen' and 'ladies' mingling with their white wines in their hands. Probably the rain last night was so heavy that the workers weren't able to carry out their work.

After entering the area near to our office, a familiar song on the radio sets everybody in a pleasant mood. Usually only Ms M sings to the radio. But today it's different, everyone sings along...

Such a feelin comin over me

There is wonder in most everything I see

Not a cloud in the sky

Got the sun in my eyes... ...

Are you in a happy mood today?

Real Snow

2011-02-10T18:31:00.005+08:00

10 Feb 2011, 7.12am

I was woken up by some noise akin to workers shoveling sand in a construction site. Today's the eighth day of the lunar new year, and the sky was still dark, what could it be?

I drew the curtains and peeked out of the window...

Weee!!!! It's white, the whole city has turned white. It had finally snowed last night! We have waited all winter for snow, but none fell till today. I couldn't contain my excitement and SMS-ed Vincent who's in Singapore right away...

Snow on the windowsill..

Look and feel... hmm.... it's like ice kachang!! ^^

Looking out from the window, five men were working hard to clear the snow from the walking path before the residents start their day. I was impressed with the condo management's efforts to clear the snow from the pathway....

Someone has gotten up earlier than me to express her love for her idols, Wu Zun (吴尊 - cute guy from Farenheit） and Zhang Yi Shan （张一山- i've never heard of this guy）. ;)

Following Yi's advice, "今天很美，赶快穿美美照相留念哟!" I charged my camera and dashed downstairs for some photos.

In the garden, kids would first collect snow in their arms, announce in

a loud voice "下雪了！" (translate: It's snowing!), and scatter them onto the floor.

The older girls were competing to see who could
throw snow higher in the "下雪了!" game...

The youngest child followed suit and squealed with delight

when the older ones scattered snow onto her.

The girl in pink theorized that the tree must be covered with snow,

so everyone helped to put snow onto the lower part of the tree.

A quiet moment - the girls found sticks and tried to draw in the snow.

Perfect snowflakes! (^___^) b

"今天很美，赶快穿美美照相留念哟!" ~ Yi

Yahoo Weather and BBC Weather were both right about today's snow. So, we shall be expecting snow in Beijing again on Sunday morning. ^^

Taipei, weekend fun

2010-12-22T17:55:00.006+08:00

21 August 2010

The Grand Hotel 圆山大饭店

The Grand Hotel reminds me of the Ahwahnee Hotel at Yosemite. Huge, grand, old, built to accommodate VIPs.

One of the reasons I wanted to visit this hotel was that it was featured in one of my favourite K-dramas, "On Air". (Here's a synopsis with the individual episode ratings which speaks for the popularity of the drama itself.) :)

We had lunch at the Cantonese restaurant in the hotel. Overall, food was ok. The view of the city from the restaurant was great. It was a clear day and we could see the Taipei 101 building from the table where we were sitting.

If you plan to eat there, I would recommend their fried rice. It's amazing how a simple dish can taste so delicious! ^^

Final thoughts... I liked the exterior of the hotel more than the interiors. There's nothing much you can do there, except to enjoy a meal, after all it's just a hotel. If you are short of time, the Grand Hotel would be a place that you can admire it's beauty from afar.

Danshui Old Street 淡水老街

After lunch, we had nothing to do. Since the Yuanshan subway station was on the same line as the Danshui station, we decided to take a train ride to Danshui.

Danshui is a river-town. The main purpose for visiting Danshui was to get the famous fish crackers. I checked with taxi-drivers, hotel staff and salesgirls in the local speciaties food shop, none of them knew of another place that sold them. The fish crackers were only available in Danshui.

This shop that sold fish crackers and fish-related products at Danshui was packed with customers. Everyone was buying the crackers in five or ten packet bags. The girls at the shop were young, pretty and down-to-earth. They were full of smiles and would happily chat with you even though their hands were busy packing your purchases.

It was a hot summer afternoon, so we stopped by one of the 创冰 (translate: shaved-ice) shops to enjoy a cool dessert. The brown syrup on top is called 黑糖 (translate: brown sugar). So, this dessert is called "黑糖创冰" (translate: shaved ice with brown sugar syrup).

In typical shaved-ice shops like this, you'll get to choose your favourite 'side dishes' to go with your shaved ice. We chose red beans, glutinous rice balls (white and pink), grass jelly (black), koniyaku jelly (transparent).

Kids get to enjoy different types of traditional games in the main attraction street.

There are many shops selling all kinds of snacks and knick-knacks in Danshui. This shop sells live insects as well as insect specimen.

"Wow, the chicken spicemen in this are so life-like!" exclaimed Vincent.

Well... erm... of course, cos they are live chickens! Hahaha... :D

Leaving Danshui with my prized fish crackers (^ ^)v

Shilin Night Market 士林夜市

Shilin Night market is a must-go for everyone visiting Taipei.

The main attraction here is the FOOD so the pictures will do the talking. :)

Deep fried stinky tofu with pickled cabbage (rest assured, no stinky smell at all)

Fried oyster pancakes (tastewise, very different from the Singapore version)

Gigantic Taiwanese sausages

Hot's Fried Chicken (豪大炸鸡) the stall with the longest queue in Shilin Night Market

Taiwanese jelly with lime drink (柠檬爱玉冰)

Biscuit-pancake-wrap (大饼包小饼)

Sliced-almond brittle candy (杏仁酥)
Fresh and yummilicious, great souvenir to take home with.

A young mother selling shoes in the night market. She has two very cute helpers. The little boy in green waves his hand at the display of shoes, shouting "两百，两百，全部两百" (translate: NT200, NT200, everything here is selling for NT200).

At the other side of the night market, kids were playing pinballs, with their parents watching over them.

What a contrast...

Taipei, not too far back in time

2010-12-09T17:29:00.007+08:00

20 August 2010

Si Si Nan Village 四四南村

The most memorable part of the trip was visiting the military village 四四南村 (Translate: 44 South Military Community) at Xinyi 信义. I didn't read much about it other than hearing from the friendly grandpa whom I met at Taipei 101 earlier that morning.

"The villages to house the workers and dependents of the military factory were divided into four areas, North, South, East and West. Living quarters were allocated to the workers according to their rank. The one in the South that was for the lowest level factory operators. During wartime, these people from the 44th military factory in Yantai, Qingdao, came to Taiwan by boat." He seemed to know exactly what this place was about.

"There won't be anyone there (in the village). No one stays there anymore."

"It's too hot today... Don't go there..."

As stubborn as a mule, and already set on going there since the day before, I walked out from the cool air-conditioned Taipei 101 mall to look for the village at 50 Songqin Road with a city map in my hand.

It wasn't easy to find the place. I walked round Xinyi Elementary School many times, but still missed it. Nonetheless, it was a pleasant walk, capturing these along the way:

Taxi-drivers meet for a puff under the banyan tree (榕树）.

Squirrels admiring music played by a lovely young cellist.

Nursing mum with toddler.

Facade at the entrance of the cultural museum.

Si Si Nan village was made up of three rows of preserved houses. All of them were locked, except for the first row which was converted to a little 'showroom'. True enough, like what the old grandpa said, it was just me and the curator inside the exhibition hall. There were collage displays of old life made by the ex-residents as well as some mock-up displays of a typical home.

The words on the red banners read “我舍不得离开四四南村 ~史荣高 ”
(translate: I can't bear to leave Si Si Nan Village. ~ Mr Shi Rong Gao)

"Memory treasure box"

记忆百宝箱

"Memory treasure box"

记忆百宝箱

One exhibition wall had a poem on it. This poem was made into a song and a famous veteran singer, 齐豫 (translate: Qi Yu), sang it. The title of the song is <橄榄树> (translate: Olive Tree):

        不要问我从那里来
        我的故乡在远方
      为什么流浪
      流浪远方流浪...    (poem by 三毛)

It reminded me of my own situation and I became a little teary.

Here are the remaining photographs of the visit.

Reference sites:
Web project done by a group of 12-13 year old students (English & Chinese): http://library.taiwanschoolnet.org/gsh2006/gsh4294/index.htm
Morris's blog (mainly photos, Chinese): http://yuminghui.pixnet.net/blog/post/22939121
Wikipedia (brief intro of the village, Chinese): http://zh.wikipedia.org/zh/%E5%9B%9B%E5%9B%9B%E5%8D%97%E6%9D%91
Wikipedia (explains the formation of military communities in Taiwan, Chinese): http://zh.wikipedia.org/zh/%E7%9C%B7%E6%9D%91
Taiwan Travel Website (opening hours, Chinese): http://travel.network.com.tw/tourguide/point/showpage/102597.html

Taipei - the Arts

2010-12-08T18:48:00.006+08:00

18 August 2010

Exhibition: From Manet to Picasso, Masterpieces from the Philadelphia Museum of Art

Taipei Fine Arts Museum 台北市立美术馆

Marine View with a Sunset, by Claude Monet, 1874
http://www.philamuseum.org/collections/permanent/104452.html

Entering the unpretentious exhibition hall, I was greeted by the glow of sunlight from this tiny (49.5 x 65.1 cm) painting. Foggy but yet emitting a warmth that could almost be felt on my cheeks. A short paragraph accompanying this Impressionist painting, tells the story, "In the twilight view of the basin, two sailboats glide along the Seine..."

I wish I could take photos of everything to show you, but there are rules to follow in a museum gallery:

1. No photographs ~ Wow, no one tried to even steal a shot with his handphone. This will never happen in Middle Country.

2. No pens ~ Ok, I'm the country bumpkin. Even kids know this. Many children were sitting cross-legged outside the barrier posts, armed with coloured pencils, trying their very best to capture the works of these great artists. A nice museum worker handed me a pencil to continue my scribbles.

3. No food and drinks ~ That's the easiest. :)

Artist I am not. So I'll just post some photos of my scribbings and postcards from the gift shop for your viewing pleasure (and a good laugh!). :p

Above is a painting of Madame Renoir made by artist Renoir. His works are mainly portraits. I thought it was very nice of his wife to pose for him (to practise/). And I do hope the both of them won't mind my over-simplistic sketch of the painting. ^^ ^^

Left: "Portrait of Emilie Ambre as Carmen" by Eduoard Manet, 1880

Right: "Woman with a pearl necklace in a Loge" by Mary Stevenson Cassatt, 1879

An innocent remark by a four-year-old boy with reference to these two ladies above, "好丑!" (Translate: So ugly!) "好漂亮!" (Translate: So pretty!), made everyone in the hall laugh. ^^ ^^

Please excuse me, Madame Emilie, I didn't mean to make a bad sketch of you. To prove your beauty, I'm posting your lovely portrait printed on my ticket here:

Other pretty ladies painted by Cassatt about twenty years later:

"Family Group Reading", 1898

Some arty-farty paintings:

Top: "Women and Children" by Pablo Picasso

Bottom: "At the Circus (The Mad Clown)" by Rouault.

A late lunch at the museum cafe:

Reading in Taipei

2010-12-08T12:21:00.005+08:00

17 and 19 August 2010

Eslite Flagship Store, Xinyi (誠品書店)

I went into the store expecting to find books, instead I saw specialty clothing shops. Proceeded to second floor for books. Full collection of magazines here, but limited selection of topic-specific books. Nevertheless, enjoyed myself immensely reading the Japanese translated craftbooks!

Photographs from top:

Scrapbooking guide

Promotional poster in store

Great selection of local and japanese fashion magazines

Quick lunch from the foodcourt at the basement (肉羹 was v nice)
Quick lunch from the foodcourt at the basement (鲁肉炒米粉)

19 August 2010

Page One Bookstore, Taipei 101

A surprise find. I didn't expect there would be a bookstore here. Maybe because this is a touristy mall, the collection of travel books and English books here is better than other Taiwanese bookstores.

Heard a familiar Singlish phone conversation. Realised the person speaking is that guy who appeared in a reality show where Singaporeans go to another country to engage in the local activity. This guy appeared in one of the episodes whereby he went to some puppeteers in India. He made puppets with the Indian puppeteers and presented them with scissors as a gift before he left. Don't know his name though...

Photo of Ah Min taken by friendly grandpa here

25 and 26 August 2010

Eslite 24-hr Bookstore, Zhongxiao Dunhua

Best thing about this store? It never closes. :)

May it be early in the morning before the malls open, or late at night when you are done with your shopping. You can go there whenever you have spare time and that bit of energy for books.

You must be thinking, "China also has Chinese books ma, why go all the way to Taiwan to buy?"

Ans: Different crowd. Different atmosphere. Most importantly, entirely DIFFERENT collection.

Ok, finally, Vincent borrowed the store's discount card from his colleague and I was able to start the buying spree. The book collection here is better than the Xinyi store, I happily 'brought' three books on cooking, three on craftwork, one on painting and two on religion home. Nine altogether. Imagine the weight of nine books in my luggage! Will there be weight for other goodies??.....

Photographs from top:

<Tree in Cage> seen while walking from subway to bookstore

<The Sweet Trick> by Patissier eS Koyama小山進

Cooking books by <型男大主厨> Chefs 阿基师 &詹姆士

Illustrated books by 高木直子

Taipei, the modern city

2010-11-30T21:24:00.192+08:00

20 August 2010 - Taipei 101

Taipei 101, by itself, is a nice mall to hang out. If you aren't prepared to pay NT$400 to take the view from the 101th floor, you will be delighted to spend an afternoon in the cozy coffee houses, restaurants and bookstore that surround the open square on the 4th floor.

Looking up, I discovered the lovely transparent roof structure that's letting the natural light bathe the activities here.

While I was happily snapping away at whatever catches my eye, I heard a voice saying, "Where are you from?". Hmm... oh an elderly grandfather calling out to me. Out of respect, I responded.

"People who love to take photos never have a photo with them inside." he said, kindly offering to take a picture of me with my camera.

When I was reviewing the photos back home, I understood why he said that...

The old man invited me to sit down for a chat. Not rushing anywhere, I obliged. He asked where I was heading to for the next few days. I fished out my notebook and rattled some names which I had copied from the travelguides in the bookstores.

"四四南村, 剥皮寮, 林安泰古厝..."
(translate: 44th South Village, Bo Pi Liao Street, Lin An Tai Mansion... etc) I said.

"你怎么选的都是台北最老最旧最脏的地方啊?你应该去那些好一点的地方才对!"
(translate: Why do you choose the oldest, dirtiest and most tattered places to visit? You should visit the better places!)

Hahaha... I burst out laughing...

My reply? See last paragraph of this entry.

Browsing through the photos, I realised that I had unknowingly taken him as part of the landscape here. Hmm, how careless I was not to notice him staring straight into my camera... :{

Freedom to choose where to go is the best thing of an F&E trip. I'm really glad to have the luxury of time and independence to explore this beautiful city.

I like Taipei!

2010-11-30T20:36:00.052+08:00

Taipei trip ~ 16-28 August 2010

With clear skies, well-mannered folks, familiar Mandarin accent, TV programmes, books and yummy food, Taiwan felt so much like home.

Vincent and Ah Min's first meal was something they can never find in BJ - fried bee hoon, accompanied with fishball soup, kang kong, pig blood soup, Taiwanese-style.

Taipei 101, one building, many looks.

The rest of the trip, Ah Min went (at a very leisurely pace) to:

Taipei 101
Eslite Bookstore @ Xinyi
Taipei Fine Arts Museum
44th South Military Community
Tong Hua Night Market (aka Lin Jiang St Night Market)
The Grand Hotel
Danshui Old Street
Shilin Night Market
Keelung Guanyin Temple
Yehliu Geopark
Shin Yeh Restaurant
Ximending
National Science Education Centre, Taipei
Eslite 24-hr Bookstore @ Zhongxiao Dunhua
Shenkeng Old Street
Hualien
Taroko Gorge
Chishingtan Beach

These lovely places were covered in Sep 2008.

Other visit-worthy places in Taipei,

Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall

Going to school - Graduation

2010-11-17T09:07:00.029+08:00

How time flies, the four week class (Jul 12 - Aug 14, 2010) ended just like that... Ah Min was surprised that the certificate bore the title "DIPLOMA".

Look how proud Ah Min, Yi and Wei were with their "DIPLOMAs" @___@

The oldest student in the class, 62 year-old Aunty Wang Fengchun from Jiangsu.

Going to school - Potluck lunch

2010-11-17T08:44:00.047+08:00

At the beginning of the course, Ah Min was a bit shy and wary of the Chinese. Towards the end, Ah Min found some friends sharing the same likes - FOOD! :D

One of the girls suggested a potluck lunch. Ah Min was the laziest, she pan-fried Thai Tumeric chicken marinaded in a ready-mix sauce. She tried to make it up by cooking rice...

Clockwise from bottom right: Tumeric chicken with rice (Ah Min), Duck braised with beer and dark soya sauce (Wei), Pan fried prawn with peppers (Yi), Stir-fried potato strips with ginger box 1 (Ping), Steamed buns (Yi), Stir-fried radish strips with ginger (Wei), Stir-fried potato strips with ginger box 2 (Ping).

Clockwise from bottom left: Chef Wei, Chef Yi, Chef Ping, Chef Min

Going to school - Miscellaneous

2010-11-16T08:33:00.010+08:00

These are things that Ah Min finds interesting cos these seemed to be commonplace in BJ.

Old-fashioned Vacuum Flask
The Chinese like to drink hot water, even on very very hot summer days.

Top Model Student
This guy cleans the chalkboard EVERY SINGLE DAY during breaks. He also takes vacuum flasks (photo above) for topup at a nearby block EVERY SINGLE DAY. (*__*) wow!

Nice Volunteers
Trying to concentrate on a sunny mid-summer day in a 36 degree room is unimaginable. How could anyone survive..... (@__@)
Finally, the white chiffon curtains arrived one week after class started and the tallest guy in the class and his buddy volunteered to climb onto a desk to hang them up.

Guy with Tired Leg
This guy had been putting his foot on the back of the previous row of chairs for more than an hour. He might had finished a marathon the day before. Hee hee... (^__^)

More Tired Classmates
Too tired or too comfortable? After we moved to the air-conditioned classroom on Week 3, more and more people fell asleep during class.

Going to school - Food

2010-11-15T08:42:00.010+08:00

Canteen food is cheap in China's standards. Buying from the free-selection cai-fan counter is the most flexible. Veggies cost RMB1-2, meat cost RMB1.5-4, staples (rice, porridge, buns) cost RMB1-2. So a meal usually costs less than RMB10.

Students just scan their card (similar to our Ezilink card) to pay for food. I think it's good to use this method as both the sellers and the students won't have to dirty their hands handling money.

The northern people love to take their meals with buns (馒头).

Ah min likes soupy stuff, eg, porridge ^__^

I like this zhajiangmian ( 炸酱面). It costs only RMB6 a bowl. The portion is HUGE. It can feed 2-3 Singaporean girls.

Going to school - Biology class

2010-11-15T08:20:00.009+08:00

Ah Min likes biology lessons because what's taught are the tangible parts of the human body. These are more straightforward and easier to grasp than intangible stuff like qi and meridians in TCM >__<

Going to school - Massage

2010-11-14T17:42:00.001+08:00

Massaging and tuina are different things in TCM. Tuina can only be practised by qualified doctors, whereas massage can be practised by anyone (eg, beauticians, blind people). Here, I'll refer to all massaging as tuina cos it sounds more professional ;)

I felt the most connection with tuina teacher, Prof Zhang Jian Bao (张健宝). Know why? Haha... Cos he has a typical Cantonese-Singaporean slang. Whenever he lectures, I feel like giggling, cos he sounds so much like one of my uncles. Eversince I came to China, I've been looking for people that speak with the same slang as I do, but they are really difficult to find. Prof Zhang is the only closest match. He's from Fujian Province, same as my ancestors.

This is Prof Zhang showing us how to "adjust" (搬) a patient's spine. He looks so cool and sporty! ^__<

We were assigned beds for tuina practice.

In this picture, Ping and I looked as if we were molesting Wei's buttocks.... hahahaha.... :D

Nobody will smile like that when being 'molested'... hehehehe.... (^__^)

Clockwise from bottom left: Wei, Yi, Ping & Ah Min

Going to school - Ear plastering

2010-11-14T15:38:00.008+08:00

I don't know what this is called English. It's not acupuncture cos no needle is used. All you have to stick a special plaster onto your ear reflex point and some part of your body will start to self-heal. So I call it "ear plastering".

The special 7x7mm ear plaster has a tiny hard seed (the size of sesame seeds) embedded underneath to create a localised pressure onto your ear acupoint.

Photo below: Sinseh Min is giving ear-plaster treatment to classmate-patient Xiaoling. Xiaoling is pointing to the rubber dummy ear and telling Sinseh Min which points to use & where they are.

Notice two guys at the back row also studying the rubber dummy ear? This is how it looks like:

This is a demo of the points to use (done by our teacher) on a classmate's ear to help in slimming.

Going to school - Acupuncture

2010-11-14T14:46:00.014+08:00

It is amazing how a tiny needle of 0.3mm can create such big effect on the human body. We listened most intently for this topic taught by Prof Ren Xiu Jun （任秀君）.

Hahaha... I regretted letting Prof Ren stick that needle into my hegu (合谷) point.

Junyi (left) and Yi (right) experiencing the most nerve-wrecking moment of their lives with their first acupuncture experience.

The last photo, is not for the faint hearted. Click on "Read more" only if you are as brave as I am ;)

Well, this is me, trying to cure my own migraine.

Notice the 10-cent coin area surrounding the needle is turning pink? Haha... :D that means the needle is inserted at the right point & my body is reacting to the needle and trying to self-heal ;)

Going to school

2010-08-06T17:41:00.011+08:00

The past three weeks passed by very quickly cos Ah Min signed up for a TCM acupuncture and massage summer class at a local university.

Textbooks full of chinese words that looked like encyclopedias, hot classroom with fans that only work 50% of the time, classmates that come from all walks of life, needles, alcohol, cotton balls, real skeletons, preserved bodies, etc, etc... Everything is new to her.

Of course, she can't be a doctor with just a month of training ^^

She will tell you more interesting stories after the class ends next week (Aug 14).

Beijing food: Paris Baguatte

2010-07-10T11:49:00.013+08:00

One of the pricier foods that I sometimes treat myself to is this Milk Pudding (or creme caramel or whatever). I buy it not only for the pudding, but also for the bottle, for I dream of making them at home myself (^ ^)

A lovely summer treat! ^ ^

Cost: RMB12 (ex hor, but bottle can take home ma so ok. keke)

Got the desire to be high-class tai tai during one weekend, so we went to Paris Baguatte. So far, I only know of one Paris Baguatte near where I live. It's situated on the ground floor of Capitaland Mall (jiamao), which has some familiar things, for eg Breadtalk, which I will cover in another entry.

Clockwise from top left: Store entrance, number tag for food service and free strawberry jam with purchase, different flavours of milk pudding, red bean ice blend, croissantwich, baked good display area, chocholate cake.

SG embassy

2010-06-23T18:56:00.006+08:00

Passed by our embassy at Xiushui North Street this afternoon.

These people are queuing to submit their SG visa application. Many 'helpers' standing outside the queue, volunteering to assist in filling the application form.

Out of all the embassies on that street, ours had the most number of people queuing outside. Could it be because the embassy is not providing any indoor space to receive the documents? Or is it our open policy to welcome foreign talent?

I'm kinda disturbed... (-__-)

Lai Tai flower market

2010-06-22T14:40:00.017+08:00

I've always wanted to keep tiny orchids, they look so dainty and elegant. Many people say orchids are hard to keep, the Chinese florist gave me two simple tips to care for them:
1. Be a lazy gardener, give it half a cup of water every 10 days.
2. Keep it away from direct sunlight.

Cost of plant: RMB20
Cost of pot: RMB10

Vincent chose a jasmine plant for RMB25. We placed it next to the sofa. The flowers smelled so sweet at night, nicer than a cup of jasmine green tea.

To get to the flower market, just ask the taxi driver to take you to Women Street (女人街）. The flower market is in the building that has two giant white (coloured) elephant statues.

莱太花卉商城
Address: 9 West Maizidian Road, Chaoyang district
地址: 北京市朝阳区麦子店西路9号

My home - finally!

2010-06-09T17:58:00.006+08:00

Had been back in SG for almost 2 weeks, dashing here and there, busy like mad every day. Finally got some quiet time to laze around at home today.

Here are some shots of the long-awaited day (31 May 2010) where we became proud owners of a tiny HDB flat:

Looking out of the window...

Left: Patterned triangular roof of Geylang Serai market & far out in the distance is Katong Shopping Centre (short dark blue building with orange bits). Beyond the distant white and dark brown tall buildings is the sea.
Top right: White cylindrical Paya Lebar MRT station, greenish-grey Singapore Post building
Bottom right: Some stupid orange-white flats blocking my view of Eunos MRT station

Commoner's market

2010-05-17T15:35:00.010+08:00

I was admiring the lovely white and lilac-coloured wild flowers outside the market entrance when I noticed the slogan "此大便者戒" (direct translation: people who poop here, stop doing that) painted in red on the fence. *faint*rolls eyes* hahahaha...

Vincent was unwilling to take the photo for me at first, but I sat there and refused to move till he did. After he took the shot, he gave me a sneaky smile (hokkien: arm-cheo) and said the shot was perfect because my fingers were pointing exactly to the slogans. LOL... XDDDDD.....

Saturday (15/5) was the first time I went to check out a commoner's market. The market was extremely clean, cleaner than Singapore's dry market. Vegetables there were fresher and cheaper than the supermarket too. Haiz... silly me, I had been buying unfresh and uncheap vegetables from the supermarket for the past month... ><

BBQ on 2 May

2010-05-10T14:15:00.006+08:00

Bozi invited us for an outdoor BBQ on this dried up river bed. 4 cars, 14 people, 6-11pm. Lots of food & drinks. Plus free fireworks display from people playing fireworks at some faraway place.

Video clip:

Men outside IKEA

2010-05-10T13:00:00.011+08:00

I had to go IKEA several times to get stuff for the new house. Everytime I alight from the cab, I see these stern-looking Men in Black (MIB) standing along the drop-off point. They don't look like they were there to welcome us (the customers). Neither were they there to protect the store against people stealing their goods as they are standing so far away from the store entrance. So what are they doing, standing there the whole day???

Finally, I picked up my courage to talk to one of the lesser fierce-looking guy.

AhMin: Big Brother*, why are so many of you standing here?
MIB gave me this expression (-___-*!)
MIB's answer: We are here to tackle those people behind you.

* I learnt that this respectful yet intimate way to address the Chinese would solicit a better response from them. Cos normally people will give I DUNNO as an answer.

In this picture, there are seven MIBs back facing the camera, and 2-3 metres across the road another three men facing the camera. The men facing the camera are the people that IKEA MIBs are trying to "TACKLE".

Reason I can guess is the men on the other side of the road operate a private delivery service and are poaching the IKEA delivery business, so, in order to protect IKEA's business interest, they hired a bunch of guards to 'tackle' the problem.

End note, in my short 20 minute observation, no customer had been successfully poached by those men and no words or actions had been exchanged between the men standing on both sides of the road. So I'm wondering if it makes any business sense for these private delivery people to stand there waiting for customers the whole day, knowing that they will be stopped by the store's guards? Cos obviously, the money that IKEA earns is sufficient to hire those extra men to stand outside their store.

Magnolias (white)

2010-04-19T09:36:00.001+08:00

This word is pronounced as [mag-no-lia] and not [mac-nor-nia]... hee... (^ ^)

Most of us should be familiar with this fresh milk with yellow brand logo. Parents with kids will know that this is the milk that comes with Happy Meals. It also happens to be the one of the most expensive fresh milk in the supermarket. Yes, the brand of this milk is named after a flower. Probably because the milk is as white as the magnolia flower...? *wonder* *wonder*?

When half-opened, the flowers are tulip-shaped:

Notice the brown furry bud shell at the tip of the petal? (it's almost like the pussy willow)

It's a very elegant flower...

Magnolia flowers can be in pink as well. The pink ones are really pretty but I haven't got the chance to get a photo of them. Here's the link to someone's blog showing the pink version.

Spring flowers

2010-04-16T17:57:00.000+08:00

Spring came pretty late this year. But I'm glad we had the chance to experience this.

Short tree full of pink flowers
I'd like to think they are sakura, but I suspect they aren't.
Mr Naniwa, do you know?

Slightly taller tree full of small white flowers

Shrubs full of yellow flowers

Reached BJ on 10/4

2010-04-16T17:55:00.000+08:00

to be updated later