Life Sucks

After a few runs in the newly opened Garden by the Bay South with nothing to remember the expensive but beautiful trees, finally went back on a non-running day to take some pictures.  Due to time constraint, we went straight to the Supertree Grove. The artificial trees with all the lights remind me of the trees in Avatar the movie. The 18 trees are actually artificial structures resembling trees but they are planted all round with real plant. We went late so there wasn't enough light to capture the plants on the trees but we managed to watch the beautiful light show which comes on nightly at 7.45 pm and 8.45pm. A little bit of creative play here The photos are not very well taken though. For a much more beautiful view of the place, visit my friend, Aram Pan's VR site for a virtual reality tour of the garden. Admission to the Supertree Grove is free but going up to the Skyway cost money. Hopefully, will be able to find some time soon to visit the Clo...

Previously when I ate at Pepper Bowl , I did not had the chance to try the Durian Brulee. I figured it couldn't look and smell good back in the office but what the heck, I couldn't resist today and went ahead. At $3.50 a pop, it wasn't cheap but it was definitely worth it. It was so smooth not like those available at the many hotels' buffet offering which is so lumpy nowadays. The durian wasn't that over whelming just nice for back in the office conversation.

The issue over Nparks purchase of the Brompton Bikes have been raging on for some time. The net have been abuzz with speculation and one smart guy even did a "CSI" investigation and came up with several theories and innuendoes. I am a bit kiasee wait kena sue so I am not going to repeat what was written but I am going to go through what our Minister for National Development said in the defence of Nparks purchase and rebut his defence. 1. Why foldable bikes? The good Minister said:  "Providing staff with bikes was thought to be a simple and effective way to raise staff productivity as it enables the officer to cover more ground and do more inspections within the same time. And if the bikes are foldable, it would eliminate the need for an office van to transport the bikes and the staff to the areas of their daily rounds. Just like a good baby stroller, NParks officers could just rely on public transport and carry the foldable bikes up and down our trains and buses,...

Those of us old enough will remember River Valley Swimming Pool. For the younger generation who have no recollections at all of what used to stood on that now bald piece of land there was once a trinity of very significant buildings, the National Theatre, the Van Kleef Aquarium and the River Valley Swimming Pool. As a student at Outram Seconday School, despite we having our own swimming pool, we use to frequent the River Valley Swimming Pool for its length and depth. It was an Olympic size pool and its deepest end was if I remember correctly, 12 feet deep. We used to try touching the bottom of the deep end either by swimming right in or "sitting in" allowing ourselves to slowly sink to the bottom. Not many of us succeed though as it was really deep and we could not hold our breathe for so long or take the pressure. River Valley Swimming Pool was closed in April 2003 as the dwindling population around the area and the opening of more modern swimming pool ...

Another year of Garden Festival. This time round we focus more on the various garden displays and exhibits unlike the previous years when I was more intend on admiring the orchids at the Orchid Show, a side event of the festival. Some of the entries These few were designed and set up by school childrens     Some bonsai and miniature plant And of course orchids. And other flowers and plants More photos here

A friend had suggested some options for dinner after the Republic Run in Woodlands and somehow we found our way to this very ulu place in Sembawang. It was tucked away in a housing estate nestled among residential houses. But I was suitably impressed by the crowd that had formed there even though it had just rained some time ago. Fortunately for us, we had booked in advance and got our place straightaway even though our party was almost 8 strong.  I like the ambience. It was a bit dim, there was nice country music and the menu look interesting. While waiting for some other to join us, we ordered some appetizers.  First off was the fried mushroom. This was big solid mushroom fried crisp golden brown. I normally don't take fried stuff but this was good. The place is supposed to be renowned for its buffalo wings which comes in different level of spiciness. We ordered level 1 and 2 spiciness but the staff suggested 1 and 3 as he claimed the d...

About the only sightseeing place that I wanted to go to in Bangkok was the Safari World having seen pictures of it in some travel sites. And I was not disappointed. or maybe I was.  There was a mini safari course where we could see some animals, actually a lot like the giraffe, rhino, camel, zebra and all sort of African birds and deers up close. Even lion, tigers and bears. The way they do it, any vehicle including coaches can drive in. In our case, our cab driver drove in all the way. That was the interesting part. The not so interesting portion was the "River Cruise" which was just a ride amusement park style. And to make it worse, there were no animals - only fake animals and figurines! Definitely something to pass over. Some poor imitation of an African dwelling The other sad part about the place was that apart from the open safari ground (which I think is a bit overcrowded), was the enclosure for the other animals. Being us...