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!

Poor hygiene practices in Singapore

Poor hygiene can lead to disease, illness and even death. In a time when we are so concerned about bird flu, SARS etc., people should take more care of what they are doing to ensure proper hygiene practices are enforced. Let's take a look at some of the poor hygiene practices that I have discovered while I have been in Singapore.

Cleaner picking rubbish from the trash bins
I find it strange that cleaners at shopping centres use tongs to pick rubbish from trash bins. Instead of visiting every bin and picking out individual rubbish items and putting it into another garbage bag, why don't they just empty the whole bin or just take the whole bag away? Is it because they want to save on garbage bags? What if the cleaner picked up a tissue with some flu germs? Or when he was reaching into the bin, the germs got onto his hands and arms? Isn't it more likely that germs can be spread easier by picking up the rubbish scraps one at a time than if the rubbish was emptied in one go.

Food trays not clean properly
What about food trays? Cleaners at coffee shops just wipe the trays and replace them for use again. Did you ever consider how many times the towel has been used before it was washed?

Mixing food preparation with handling of money
Have you bought roti prata from a guy who handed you the cash as well as made your prata by hand? Did that guy wash his hands before making the roti prata? Did you know that money is very dirty. One of the studies done revealed that money contains many traces of bacteria and germs. It doesn't surprise me, since money is occassionally dropped on the ground, perhaps even in the toilet, touched by dirty hands and never gets washed.

No sense of dirtiness
I have seen the cleaner in my condo, standing and jumping on top of the rubbish to flatten it out so that he can close the large bin. The bin contains all sorts of stuff you probably wouldn't want to know about. The germs and bacteria would have certainly got into his shoes, clothes and parts of this body. I don't think he would have taken a good shower or bath afterwards.

Nose picking in public
Another disgusting thing is people picking their noses in public. I was having Teppanyaki at Tampines Mall Basement 1 recently. As I was eating my pepper lamb, there was a girl in her late twenty, sitting right in front of me, picking away at her nose! Totally disgusting! Why couldn't she have gone to the toilets and did the cleaning there?

e-Waste Disposal/Recycling in Singapore

I mentioned before that Singaporeans are quite enamored by tech gadgets. They take to technology like fish take to water. I wasn't all too surprised at all the spending reportedly done during the PC Show 2007. But all this got me to thinking: There must be tons of consumer electronics and gadgets in all the homes in Singapore, so where do they go to die? All those electronic components, and batteries, is it even environmentally safe to just throw them out with the trash?

I did some internet searches and enquiries and came upon the term 'e-waste'. Yes, just prepend the ever useful 'e'. Apparently there is initiative to manage and even recycle e-waste. But when I narrowed my searches to be Singapore-specific, most of the search results were merely articles about Singapore e-waste management companies. I did come upon this article from CNA, which seems to reflect a less-than-rosy situation.

Well, I can see recycling bins around town for paper and soft drink cans, so I know Singaporeans are generally conscious about being environmentally friendly. In terms of this e-waste situation, I think we just need to step up the effort as well as raise awareness. Frankly I was a bit disappointed. Being a green city, I thought for sure Singapore would have some tough measures in place for corporations, and public programmes readily available to the public. I certainly am guilty of chucking out my unused PC monitor and other assorted electronics before this, and I'm trying to turn over a new leaf. But no one else seems to be bothered much. :(

So what do we do with all our PCs, laptops, digital cameras, handphones, MP3 players, CD players, TVs, etc then? The obvious answer, as mentioned by the article, is to do a bit of work ourselves and sell/donate the item to someone who could use it. This is, of course, if the item is still in working condition. You may think your item is too old and would not sell, but you might be surprised. If the price is right, it could be snatched up pretty fast. eBay and Hardware Zone are places you can visit if you are interested to put up an old item for sale. You can even search for similar items to see what price others are asking for first. Be sure to document the condition of the item to be fair to buyers.

If that fails, just donate the item. Salvation Army ? Or you could just pass it to one of your unsuspecting friends or neighbours.

Another option is to check with the manufacturer of the item. They generally have some sort of programme where they help you dispose of old products you purchased from them. Multinational corporations normally have these programmes in place overseas due to legislation or community responsibility, and they just have to replicate the programmes here. Again I looked online and am listing links to those companies with information on their recycling programmes that are easily found.

Motorola's ECOMOTO - Drop-off points

Dell Recycling - Scheduled pickups

HP Supplies Recycling - Drop-off points for printing supplies, pickups for large volume of hardware

There are others but I couldn't find more info on their websites within a few clicks after searching for the keyword 'recycling'. Yeah... I'm lazy... :)

Drop me a comment if you have other tips concerning e-waste.