Upper Peirce Reservoir

Most of us are familiar with this place. Those who frequent Peirce Reservoir for their run anyway. On top of the dam, looking down on Lower Peirce Reservoir, one can see the horizon stretching all the way to a housing estate (Bishan?). 

Pic 1 - View from Upp Peirce's Dam towards Lower Peirce

On the right of the dam, is a stretch of water and lush greenery that seems to stretch forever.

Pic 2 - View from Dam towards the right side

But what is at the other end of this great expanse of water and forest? I blogged about this earlier. One fine day while exploring a hitherto unknown part of Singapore (at least unknown to me), we came to this little piece of nature which as I now realized is the other end of Upper Peirce Reservoir! 

Pic 3 - Isn't this just like a scene from one of those Nat Geo's documentaries?

Sitting by the water side and glazing out into the water, it felt so serene and I felt that I was transported to the Amazon. No human, no noisy speedboats, no blaring music, only the pesky mosquitoes. Ouch!

Pic 4 - Note the small white building on the left of the picture and compare it with Pic 2  where the building is on the right

Peirce Reservoir and especially Upper Peirce is one of the most peaceful and ‘original’ park left in Singapore. Only those with their own transport or die hard cyclists and runners will bother to conquer the 3 steep slopes that prelude Upper Peirce Reservoir. Only a small part of it is cultivated and there are no large groups of noisy families or rowdy teenagers. I supposed it’s relatively in-accessibility helps. But the reward is great. The air here is great. It is so cooling especially in the morning and it is peaceful and quiet.  So quiet in fact that a group of ‘crazy’ people have been known to frequent this place for their ‘sick’ thrill.

But for saner people, this is an ideal place to sit down have a picnic, do some mediation and just relax. Just watch out for the monkeys.

For a panoramic 360 view of the Upper Peirce Reservoir, click here.

Purple Dog

I have read and heard about people who dye their dogs but never actually see a live one until yesterday. At the funeral, this band member had his pet dog with him.

Does the dog looks really cute with all that color? Me think just like those crazy people with green or pink hair, the pet owners need their head examine. Does the dye irritate the dog? Is there a case for the dyeing of pets to be banned?

The Most Annoying Duck on Youtube

A little kid at the funeral introduced me to the most annoying duck on cyberspace. Love it or hate it, just can't resist watching the damn duck over and over again.







And this is what an annoying duck deserves


But if this is Asia, then this will be what becomes of the annoying duck

An Eulogy to a Wonderful Lady

I first got to know her more than 20 years ago. She was the ex-girlfriend’s paternal auntie. A rotund lady, she, like most people of that girth, was always jovial. In fact I have never seen her really scolding her children, grand children or the 2 boys of which she was the guardian to. She had a loud crackling laughter and was almost always in a good mood. Nothing seems to get her down. Even during this just passed Chinese New Year, when she was in the hospital and we visited her, she was making jokes about the Kid despite the fact that she appears to be in pain from the poison that was coursing through her.

Unfortunately for her and sadly for all her loves one, she eventually succumbed to the disease that was eating her up.

Sunday afternoons at Tampines will never be the same again. Who is going to eat up all the fish stomach that we do not eat? Who’s going to cook the fried mee siam that is so not available anywhere else?  

She will be missed. Gone from us physically but never from our heart. RIP.

What is this?

Funerals are supposed to be somber affairs. But most time one really can’t tell judging from the laughter and noise emitting from the tables at the wake. I always liken a funeral wake to a social gathering of old friends. In our early twenties, we meet for each other wedding and in our older years, we meet at friend’s or their families’ funeral. And so these gathering be it wedding or funeral tends to become a time of catching up, gossips and reminiscence.

Such was the case at the funeral wake I attended over the past few days. I was at a table with an old relative and some teenagers; children of another old friend. There we were talking when this old relative, as all old people loves to do, started talking about life in the past when he was staying in the kampong where most of the relatives hailed from. All of a sudden, he stopped in mid sentence, went to his car and came back with some old pictures. And among these pictures was the following

The teenagers at the table had absolutely no idea what type of truck it was. Even Uncle me had only seen it once or twice in real life before it was phased out.

Anybody want to make a guess?

And what was this guy doing? Is he a hawker peddling some 'yummy' stuff?

A little piece of Nature

In this concrete jungle, it is extremely difficult to find a natural piece of nature. Sure there are plenty of parks but all these are man made with neatly spaced out trees, nicely cut grass and shrubs. What little natural piece of green we have are confined to the nature reserve and if are not nature reserve, they are reserved by the military. So imagine our delight when a friend brought us to this little place. Sure it is still part of some nature reserve but it was not the usual MacRitchie Reservoir or the Bukit Timah reserve.

Just a few metres from the small side road and we came to this little trail full of fallen trees.

The path wind around the woods and trees. Along the way were some natural looking man made obstacles meant for the mountain bikers. 

And then we came to this sight that took our breath away. A beautiful lake that spreads out as far as the eyes can see.

So where is this place? And what is this lake? See the buildings at the rear of the picture? That's your clue:)

Maid for Army

By now everybody in Sg is talking about the army boy and his maid carrier. I think it is a bit overblown since we don't know the background behind the picture. I heard stories from friends in the Army of them getting request from parents to send in their maids to do the area cleaning (can't be true right?); parents asking for mc on behalf of their kids; parents questioning the training etc etc.

I agreed with most comments that us parents pampered our kids too much. I also think our kids are not tought enough. Our kids lack the toughness that comes from roaming outdoors like we use to do when we were young - catching spiders, longkang fish, etc etc. Nowadays, the kids are cooped up at home in front of the computer killing digital foes and creatures. How to be tough?

Anyway for those pampered spoil kids out there who are going into the army soon or already there act like a man. Do the washing, ironing, carrying yourself. For the parents, let the kids grow up. They have to take care of themselves sooner or later.

Meanwhile, here's some of the witty spoofs making the round.

From Clubsnap

From http://absoluthal.tumblr.com/post/4171727365/im-proud-to-be-part-of-the-army

From Military Nuts

From sgcollect forum