SG embassy

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

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!

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

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

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

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)

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.