Kapok (Cotton) Tree

I was walking along the park connector next to Sungei Tampines at Pasir Ris when I saw a lot of cotton wool on the ground. Later, I remarked to M that some inconsiderate people had a pillow fight there. She laughed and told me I so goodnu. The cotton were from the Kapok Tree lining the river.

So the next day I went again and this time I saw this. Cotton bud from a pod on the ground!

I looked up and was amazed to see this tree and a few others along the whole stretch.

The Day After The Presidential Election

There was no catastrophic change. In fact, other than many sleepy heads, life goes on. So I guess the PE is not as earth shattering as the government and the media would like us to believe.

I am a bit gutted that the molat guy has won. Actually I don't think he win. Had there been 1 less candidate, he would have lost big. When the 4 fellas announced their candidacy, I was surprised. Is the money that good that so many people were interested in it? Surely the candidates themselves didn't believe that the job was that important. Nevertheless, I had expected the Elections Commission to reject the application of Mr High 5 and the Opposition guy. After all, they didn't exactly qualify directly under the criteria laid out. But still they were accepted. And then it dawned on me. 4 candidates means there will be split votes and only one person will get the benefit from this. And so true enough, the other 2 candidates managed to gather some votes and critically as a result, the real medical doctor borne the brunt of the outcome and lost out by a mere 7,269 votes. If only.........

The PE is over but there have been some sweet and hilarious moments which shall live on in our memories:

The High 5 guy

The Village Doctor

The Molat Guy

All the Tans

My Choice for President

Singapore is in the midst of another election fever barely 3 months after the General Elections. This time round the stake is much lower. It is a race to be the next President of Singapore. Now I really don’t know what the 4 candidates see in this job to be vying so hard for it since as far as I can see from what the previous Presidents have done, it is more a Wave hand, hello smile for the camera job. Certainly it can’t be about the money since all of them san 1 has agreed that the $4m paycheck is too big and is prepared to settle for less. But it have been 2 interesting weeks as the candidates slugged it out in the media and went about from Jurong to Tampines, Kaki Bukit to Bukit Timah canvassing for our votes. Isn’t it great to feel so wanted?

But that leave me now with the dilemma of which candidate to vote for. The gel/mol-lat model? The hi-5 guy? The good old doctor or the pro-opposition candidate?

From reading of the ground, it is clear that there are 2 camps – the ABTT and the pro-establishment ie PAP. Me? I am firmly in the ABTT camp. Why?

1. I can’t stand his pompous arrogant gel/’mo-lat’ look. To be fair, I don’t know him personally and therefore shouldn’t judge a person by his appearance but how to vote for somebody you don’t even want to look at?

2. I don’t and I suspect many Singaporean don’t like threats and the more threats thrown at us from the government, business leaders and unionists about how the economy and businesses will be affected if the ‘wrong’ guy is voted in, the more determined I am to prove that we can live with our decisions.

3. He does not appear to be able to relate to the people on the ground. Born with a silver spoon and fast track all the way, there is no way that he can understand how the common people feel, unlike say President Nathan or the late Mr Wee Kim Wee who came from more humble background. Just imagine – at yesterday lunch time rally – after the rally, he took a taxi to his car which was just parked like 2 buildings away! Can such a person understand our issues with the packed MRT and the poor bus services?

Out of the Stone Age

I finally succumb to the temptation of the smart phone and went and got me a smartphone. Actually I had a smart phone already which I got in 2008 but never did have a data plan which means I only used it as a ordinary phone. Kinda waste hor? But back then there was never a need to be in touch daily with what's was going on in the world. And this nice state of affairs could have continued except that 1) the phone was dying and 2) the office went and install some super duper firewall and banned all access to webmail/FB and a host of other sites. The final straw that broke the camel back was when during a recent upgrade, all my forwarded mails from FB and the webmail to my office's email account (my way of keeping in touch with what's going on in my friend's life) ended up in the IT Manager inbox instead of mine!

My original choice of a phone was the HTC Desire but the darned thing was upgrading so fast that the price went beyond what I was prepared to pay. I decided to settle for a lower end HTC phone but at the shop I ended up with this:

A LG phone! Ha ha so far I don't know anybody who owns a LG phone but after playing around with it I must say I am pleased with the purchase since it only caused me S$46.00!

Battery life was okay. Roughly 10 - 12 hours of standby plus some fiddling around so far. Fairly easy to use although some functions still leave old foggy like me lost but got the Princess to the rescue.

Camera quality is impressive. The 5m camera phone took fairly good pictures:

This close up photo was taken in fairly low light in the living room

This picture was taken at about 7.24 pm when the light was limited

And so now with a data plan I can now use Whatsapp, FB on the go and etc... So I am in contact with the world 12 hours a day? Heck no There is limited, actually almost no signal in that little corner where I sits in the office. Sighed! Back to square one!

Old Days "Refrigerator"

We are all familiar with the refrigerator. From basic storage of food in all sort of temperature to churning out ices and even internet surfing! But what about the days before the modern day refrigerator was invented? How does people back then store their food?

Storm in a Curry Pot

It looks like the CMC has generated a storm in a curry pot. For those who are still blur about this, where have you been? To recap for the benefits of those who are totally lost about this curry war, on 8 August, a mediator at the Community Mediation Centre(CMC) in a Today newspaper article gloated about her satisfaction in achieving a solution between 2 neighbours. Apparently, a PRC family living in a HDB flat objected to their neighbour, an Indian family cooking curry as they(the PRC) could not tahan the smell! The CMC solution was that the Indian family could only cook curry when the PRC family was not in.

Picture stolen from www.sailusfood.com

Obviously, that was a most ridiculous and stupid solution and this immediately led to an outcry on the web as bloggers, forummers and everybody took up the cudgels for the Indian family with many baying for the blood of the PRC family, presumably to cook curry! Ha ha but fear not,  they just want the PRC family to balek kampong. The other half of the vitriol went to the mediator and CMC for proposing the solution. And of course the gahmen got slammed as well for neglecting the rights of local and championing that of the FT. What type of silly solution is that? Next we know, some other FT will complain of durian smell and  durian will be banned from HDB flats or worse the country! I think those buggers at CMC need to be sent for a course on learning how to mediate. 

Hai Kee Teochew Char Kway Teow

I have been eating char kway teow since young and my absolute favourite is Hai Kee Char Kway Teow. This stall used to be at Margaret Drive and my family used to patronise the stall when we were staying in the area. Thus I can safely said I seen the young man grew old and he seen me grew old as well! But then again, he still looks younger than me! Must be the secret ingredients that he put into his CKT!

Anyway, with the closure of the Margaret Drive Hawker Centre, he has now moved to Telok Blangah Crescent. Since the move late last year, I have not been there and so I was all excited when a friend invited us there to sample his father's Char Kway Teow and it turns out his father is the famous Hai Kee Char Kway Teow!

So a big group of us gathered for a Char Kway Teow feast and we had CKT with hum (cockles), more chilli, less chilli, no hum etc. After a rather lengthy wait, (son also got to queue up), we finally got our order.

Photo by Francis Chia

A lot of time, after a stall has been relocated or even the hawker centre upgraded, for some reasons or other, the taste change. Or maybe due to a change in the ingredients, (like trying to do a healthier version), the taste change and most time for the worst. Did the taste changed in this case?

Thank goodness it did not! It still taste the same, not too wet and not too dry and comes with a generous heap of cockles. Mind you, this is sinful food and not for the health conscious but I enjoyed every single bit of it and slurped down every single morsel even before the rest of the noodles came for the other people in the group! At $3.00 a plate, (I think price has increased), it is still worth every single cents if you don't mind the cholesterol inducing oil and lard!

Photo by Jancy Yap

Hai Kee Teochew Char Kway Teow is now at Blk 11 Telok Blangah Crescent Hawker Centre opposite Safra Mount Faber. They also have a facebook page and a blog.

My Singapore - The Birthday Song 6

What makes a good Singapore birthday song?  The song should bring a lump to the throat and maybe even a tear or two. And this song, certainly did.

  Happy Birthday Singapore!

My Singapore - The Birthday Song 5

What make a Singapore birthday song? I like this not so official one I think. Fun and a bit irrelevant but not the rousing type. This one don't make the cut but it's worth a listen.

My Singapore - The Birthday Song 4

What makes a Singapore birthday song? This official "unofficial" version from the people at Pungol who decided to pen their own version. Good effort by all the VIP including the now so famous Yam Ah Mee. Close but somehow it lacks that little bit extra to qualify as our birthday song.

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My Singapore - The Birthday Song 3

What makes a Singapore birthday song? Certainly not his so called flash mob doing a Step up Singapore at Ion Orchard. And its a bit scary when flash mob goes mainstream, the govt gets into the act and become official.

  

My Singapore - The Birthday Song 2

What makes a Singapore birthday song?  This is the official one for this year. Okay nice but somehow it lacks that little bit extra, that oomph and rousing effort. Give me the good old Stand Up for Singapore, Count on Me Singapore or Home.

My Singapore - The Birthday Song 1

What makes a Singapore birthday song? Certainly not this rip off.  Whatever possess the NDP organiser to take a pop song and rewrite the lyrics for their own?Not that it was ever contemplated to be one but thank goodness, some common sense prevail and we won't see this at the actual NDP although it will now live on forever as another blot on our little red dot.



Whoever approved this need to be thrown off the floating platform and fed to the sharks!