Singapore Dream: Pay $20 to Queue All Day

It has been said that Singaporeans love to queue. I can now officially claim to have had a taste of this unique Singaporean love, and frankly, it's not all that enjoyable.

Last Sunday I went to the Airshow 2008. Since I heard the performance was scheduled to be from 12.15pm to 1.45pm, I took my family to breakfast and arrived at Pasir Ris MRT station slightly after 11am. I was expecting a queue, but what I saw really made me want to run away and hide. There was a big queue snaking right around the whole station before winding it's way many times on the nearby field.

Everyone was irritable, and lots of people just thought they had the right to walk past others. Surely any problems would have been identified on Saturday by the organizers, when they first opened to public, and Sunday would be a lot smoother. This was not so. There are a lot of bottlenecks which could have been better managed, especially when it came to actually boarding passengers. Needless to say, we missed all but the last few minutes of the show.

With nothing else to do, we bought some mineral water (at $2 per bottle!) and went around the displays. There was nothing very interesting, you couldn't even touch the planes. Taking photos was a hassle as there were just too many people walking up and down. After walking around aimlessly for a bit we just decided to go home... we just didn't have enough energy to go through the displays.

Going back presented yet another problem. We queued another hour or so just to get to the buses. An obvious mistake was letting those willing to pay $5 to take the bus to Expo queue together with those waiting for the shuttle bus. From what I heard, it was total chaos on Saturday. So they thought to solve it by making the queue longer with more guard rails. Did nobody think to just have more queues?

To say we were disappointed would be an understatement. I had wanted my son to see the Black Knights' performance. Not only did we miss the performance, there was additional aggravation and frustration from all that disorderly queuing. All I could think of was "Please don't tell me I PAID $20 for this". Why were so many tickets issued if they were not able to deal with the crowd? Why was there only 1 performance show? Why was no ample warning given?

I think many people will agree with me that it was just too poorly organized and absolutely not worth the time or money. I'm sure the organizers made a lot of money as the papers reported, but to me, the public show was a complete failure. I want my money back, please!

Christmas 2007

Christmas is upon us again. This is one holiday where all retailers rejoice. Singaporeans all get to indulge in their favourite pastime, whether they celebrate Christmas or not. Not that I'm complaining.

What I enjoy about the holiday is that shopping malls will try to outdo each other and try to be the best decorated. I haven't seen anything really nice this year. I did see a statue of Santa at Great World City that looked like it was made from a blow up doll.




He must be saying "Ho! Ho! Ho!" or something. Anyways, enjoy your Christmas, everybody!

Singapore Fireworks Celebrations 2007

So we went to the Singapore Fireworks Celebrations on Friday night at the floating stadium. The crowds were unbelievable. It was such a hassle getting in that we were soon thinking 'This had better be worth it.'

There were kids games and food stalls outside but we were quite late so we didn't stop to see. Anyway I don't think we would enjoy the inflated prices anyway. There was a Singapore Duck Race booth and as I took a picture of the ducks, the people ran up to me and asked me if I wanted a photo taken for $2. I ran away with my camera...



Go adopt a duck if you haven't already. http://www.duckrace.com.sg/

We went up to our seats which were pretty close to the stage. There wasn't much of a pre-show. Loud blaring music and 2 MCs that I unfortunately did not pay attention to. I think they tried to make the crowd do a wave. Without much success...

The show itself lasted 15 minutes, and I must say (for me and my kids at least), it was worth it. There were thunderous booms that shook your body, exploding lights that seem to jump at you, and lots of cheering.



I've uploaded some videos to youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zn1mbVu6wXE (link if you cannot see video above)


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJSUAnbCeJM (link if you cannot see video above)

More Pictures of Kuching

Here are more pictures I took while back in Kuching. The contrast between Kuching and Singapore is pretty great. I know it took me a long time to get my vacation pictures in order and that makes the posts here seem disjointed. :(

This is a picture of what you will typically see in Kuching. Lots of shophouses. Lately the streets are overflowing with cars and crime is rampant. This really saddens me. I cannot help but feel disappointed with the state of affairs in my birthplace.

Every where I go, I see people eking out their lives on low incomes. Stories of corruption are whispered. It all seems so far away, and surreal while I am in Singapore. To actually be there and experience it is a different thing.

There are a few popular shopping malls spaced all over Kuching. The picture above shows the only MacDonald's outlet I know of. It's a 2-storey affair, where they still serve your food with steel cutlery and ketchup in bottles. I'm not sure why there is no competition between KFC and McDonald's here. KFC is pretty much every where. The local fast food chain, Sugar Bun, is also worth visiting. They serve local food as well as fast food.

The picture above is the riverside. This, and the nearby malls, is where I used to hang out with friends during my school days. Whenever I think of it, I am always amazed how we managed to meet up every time without the aid of handphones.

These are the cat statues in the middle of town. In case you did not know, Kuching (kucing) means cat in Malay. Kuching is the Cat City. We even have a Cat Museum. There are 2 other statues nearby but I did not manage to take their pictures.

Finally, this is a picture of the Tua Pek Kong temple. Whenever I see gigantic joss sticks around this temple, I know some religious event or other is upcoming.

Well, I hope you enjoyed the photos. It's not easy taking photos with my handphone. I hope to get a cheap digital camera so that I can get better pictures next time. Thanks for reading!

I'm addicted to Tibetian food

For half a year now, my wife and I have been going to a Tibet Restaurant in East Coast Road for dinner at least once a week. When the restaurant was first open, there were a number of girls dressed in traditional Tibetian dresses outside the restaurant to greet the customers. Inside, the place is decorated with maps and wall hangings from Tibet. At first my wife was a bit hesitant to try Tibet food since it was her’s first time…actually, it was my first time too. We were getting bored of eating Singaporean hawker food such as chicken rice, fried kway teow, yong tofu, etc.


The restaurant sells, traditional tibetian food including dumplings, meat and vegetable dishes, fried noodle, fried rice and soup. Our three favorite dishes include – a plate stir-fried dou miao, ziran mutton and xiang la rou si (a pork dish fried with shredded vegetables and chile). The dishes have a sweetish, hot/spicy taste to them.

We like eating there (besides from the delicious food) is because the place is quiet and clean, the services is fairly good and fast; the portions are very large, the prices are pretty reasonable and we’ve never had to queue for a table. We usually spend between $25-$30 each meal including drinks. One time, we ate there with a group of eight, ordered around 10 dishes with drinks and spent less than $100.

The disadvantage of the resturants is the location – it is sometimes difficult to find car parking and there are no MRT close to it. Parking on the streets will cost you 50 cents per 30 minutes. Also, the restaurant only accepts cash payments.

Taking Air Asia to Kuching

So I went back to Kuching at the end of June. We booked the $0 but still have to pay airport tax. Also, Air Asia does not fly from Singapore so we have to separately arrange for transportation up to Senai Airport in Johor. $0 but not free after all. $$$.



So what's the difference with taking Air Asia? I can only compare against Malaysian Airlines as I used to take that, until they stopped domestic flights to Kuching from Johor. Well, for one thing, you have to walk to the plane and climb up the stairs to get in or out the plane. It's not very far, but you do need to climb and descend some steps. They don't allow photography (not sure why) but I have one taken from a distance.







The journey takes an hour and 20 minutes, with no food served. Their stewardesses announce over the comm system that refreshments are 'available at a reasonable price', without even batting an eyelid. You just have to look at the menu to know the truth.



Did I mention it's free seating? Be there early if this will be an issue for you. They used to have a special line for those with children or the elderly, who get to board first. I'm not sure why they abolished that policy. There is still an Express line. For people who opt for it by checking in online.

Everything else was pretty normal and uneventful. The crowd may seem rowdier (Now Everybody Can Fly), and the stewardesses less friendly, but you get what you pay for.

I just want to mention the curious design of the toilet at Senai Airport. They've remodeled it and it looks pretty nice. But the men's room has no urinals. I'm not sure if you can see from the photo below, but there is this wall where water constantly gushes down into a drain. You're expected to stand before this drain and pee. There is quite a distance from where you stand, to the drain proper. So you have to aim carefully. :)






I have more to post, about my time in Kuching itself, in future posts.

Back from Kuching, Sarawak

I've been on holiday the past 2 weeks. Now I'm back! I hope to post some pictures and stories about my trip. Stay tuned!