A Relaxing Time…

Ahh… here I am, blogging in the midst of my relaxing holiday.  If you don’t know where I am from the picture above, hey, where have you been?  It’s time you visited Sentosa!

We wanted a relaxing holiday, which hyperactive Little Guy could also enjoy.  I did consider some nearby Indonesian island resorts but eventually settled on Sentosa, as being familiar with the place does cut down a lot of stress seeking places to go, and things to do.

We’ll be here for two-and-a-half days – too many days, many people had quipped – nothing to do at Sentosa, it’s expensive, boring, blah, blah, blah.  But hey, we are enjoying ourselves!  We don’t want to have many things to do, we want to relax!  (So relaxing that Big and Little Guy are having their afternoon siesta right now!). 

And where we’re staying – The Shangri-La Rasa Sentosa Resort, Little Guy is happy to be able to frolick on the beach and then run to the pool (after a poolside shower, of course).  This guy is very happy with the holiday so far, just playing with sand and water.  The hotel has several pools and many kids enjoy the slides at the kids’ pools right by the beach.  The hotel also gave us a room with a king-sized bed, as we had requested, and the condition of the room is nice and clean and not run-down, as I had read in some reviews.  I read some bad reviews on the internet but decided to trust the Shangri-La brand anyway, and I’m glad I did!  The breakfast buffet had a good spread too, but too bad I’m the type who eats little, and Little Guy is happy with just waffles and pancakes.  Big Guy had no complaints, except for the ‘hard’ chapati.

We went to visit some of the attractions yesterday – we are determined to experience as many of them as possible, since we had always avoided them, as they were deemed expensive.  Previous visits to Sentosa were mostly spent at the beach.  But this time, we are going the whole hog as we want it to be a REAL holiday.  Besides, with the economic downturn, the entrance fees for many of the attractions (and hotel rates, too) have been reduced.  That said, we are  still going to give The Underwater World and Dolphin Lagoon a miss, as we had visited them twice last year.

First stop was the Sentosa 4D Magix attraction.  The 4D movie currently running now is Pirates.  Unfortunately, we are giving this attraction the thumbs-down.  For $18 per adult, it was not worth it.  We had expected better effects than what we had gone through there. 

Next to this was the Sentosa CineBlast attraction.  This is much like the 4D Magix except that this was much more exciting – we sat in ‘cabins’ and had to have safety belts on.  Then off we went on the Extreme Log Ride.  It was great fun and we wished it lasted longer!  All of us gave this the thumbs-up!  We had to miss the Desperados attraction at the same venue,  as Little Guy did not meet the 110cm height requirement.  But it looked like great fun too!  Grow tall quickly, little one!

I’m now waiting for the guys to finish their siesta, then we’ll be off to do the Luge and Skyride.  We will end the day with Songs of the Sea – hope that’ll be good!

So who says you can’t take a holiday in our tiny home country?  And why do you need lots of things to do on a holiday? 

I love holidays where I can take afternoon naps, with no worries about having to meet tour group mates at this place and that time, and all that rush.

Yawn!  I think I’m going to join the guys on the comfy king-sized bed now!

Siesta time!

 

Took a walk…

Nothing like a refreshing walk in the greenery of the Southern Ridges…

My favourite kind of tree!

I just love this pic!  There’s more where this came from, but I’m just too lazy to insert them here…

Let me know if you want to see more!

 

Deepavali! Holiday!!

After struggling through three weeks of work, a public holiday finally!

Now, isn’t Deepavali a Hindu holiday?

I took this picture of a sign at Tanglin Community Centre (CC):

It wished all Indians a Happy Deepavali; and I thought a COMMUNITY CENTRE should be wiser?!

Ah, well, I’m just gonna have a very happy holiday!

 

Graciousness gone to the dogs…

I mentioned in the previous entry that I witnessed a rather disturbing incident at Giant today.  Here’s what happened.

I was at the check-out counter on the upper level at about 4.15 p.m. when I heard an exchange going on, between the customer just behind me and a Giant staff.  I’ll refer to the customer as Dog Woman (sounds mean, but read on, and you’ll know why).

Dog Woman:     It’s ok now. I’ve put it in the bag, … blah, blah… (short pause)
                               Make so much noise over a small dog!

Giant staff:         Sorry M’aam, I’m just following orders.

Dog Woman:     I’ve been here before to buy some things and nothing has
                               happened.

Giant staff:         I’m just following orders.

Dog Woman:     Then you’re a dog who only knows how to follow orders.

Giant staff:         Excuse me, what did you say?

Dog Woman:     You’re a dog, you only know how to follow orders.

Giant staff:         (Raising her voice)
 I’m not a dog!
 I’m a human being.
 How can you call me a dog?!

Dog Woman:      You follow orders.

Giant staff:          I’m a dog lover too but I have to follow orders.

Dog Woman:      I don’t want to talk to you anymore.
You’re wasting my time!

Now, I did not turn around to look when the exchange was going on. I only did so after it stopped, when the Giant staff walked away.

I turned around to see a rather short Chinese woman (a Singaporean, I presume, from her accent), dressed in black, carrying a large bag. As I was much taller than she is, I could look into her bag, and yes, there was a small-breed dog inside! I think she must have been carrying it in her arms earlier, and thus got spotted by the Giant staff.

Dog Woman looked to be in her early forties or late thirties, with overly mascara-ed eyelashes and thick eye make-up. I wouldn’t call her a tai-tai, but more of a tai-tai wannabe type.

I couldn’t believe my ears when she called the Giant staff a dog!

In retrospect, I should have turned around there and then and said something. But I didn’t! Shame on me! I guessed I was too shocked – I probably would have ended up blabbering – I’m not good at all at catfights.

And Dog Woman looked like one of those seasoned catfighters.

Huh?! Dog Woman a catfigher?? Told you I’d probably blabber!

 

Shopping Day for sardines

I’m going back to work next week, after taking a one-year break. 

I’m feeling a little apprehensive – new job, office, colleagues, etc.  I hate the feeling of having to start all over again.  Got to crank up the rusty old work engine and also adapt to a new culture and environment.

Having dressed casually the past year, I thought I had better update my wardrobe.  Tangs was having a sale, so I headed to VivoCity, leaving Big and Little Guy at home.  I prefer to shop alone when I have some serious shopping to do.

The crowd at VivoCity was incredible.  Perhaps I’ve got used to shopping during off-peak hours this past year, I found the Hari Raya holiday crowd unbearable.  There were people everywhere. 

I managed to buy two very nice dresses for work at Tangs for a total of less than $100.  I haven’t been so satisfied shopping for a while now.  As the crowd thickened at Tangs, I headed to Toys ‘R’ Us to get a toy for Little Guy who had clung on to my legs at home, refusing to let me leave him.  That clever boy sure knew how to blackmail me!  I thought, ah well, it’s Children’s Day, I’ll spoil him a bit!

Toys ‘R’ Us was super-duper crowded – I believe all the kids in Singapore must have been promised either a trip there (like to a playground) or a toy as a gift for Children’s Day.  The place was like a madhouse, a circus, or whatever other words you may have to describe it.

I grabbed what I wanted and made a quick exit.  Curiously though, the queues at the counters were rather short.  People were probably there just to fiddle with the toys and not buy them.

I stopped by at Giant next, to grab some stuff for cooking dinner.  The crowd was bearable, but I witnessed a most disturbing incident there (will write about it in my next entry).

Feeling tired and harried after a few hours at the mall, I made my way to the bus-stop.  It was brimming with people, people and more people.  The bus I boarded was also packed with people, 80% of them foreigners.

I think I’m going to have to find a better time to shop in future.  Shopping on public holidays and weekends just wouldn’t cut it for me!  Too crowded!

And whoever said we should target a 6 million population?

 

Mid-autumn festival blackout!

We were at the Telok Blangah mid-autumn festival celebrations at HortPark earlier tonight.  Little Guy brought along his brand new dinosaur lantern, all eager and excited to walk around the park.  Several hundred other people were there too.

Big Guy was trying to light the candle in the lantern when we were approached by an NParks staff.  She told us something that made our jaws drop.  She said that there was to be no naked flames in the park.  This was because it is a hazard – to who and what, she did not mention.  She said some lanterns got burnt earlier (and so the hazard) and they have decided then and there that no one should have a lantern with a lighted candle.

WTF!  (I was thinking this, I didn’t utter it!).  Lantern walk with unlighted lanterns?  How ridiculous!  What rubbish!  Who doesn’t know that carrying such lanterns came with the risk of them getting burnt?  In fact, isn’t that part of the fun?  And imagine walking around the park with an unlighted lantern?  Won’t we look ridiculous?

I was dismayed and you can imagine Little Guy’s disappointment.  It would be useless arguing with the NParks staff though, as I can imagine them just repeating the same thing over and over again.

Imagine!  Fire crackers were banned a long time ago - will it come down to banning lanterns too?  Haven’t we been enjoying lantern walks in parks for a zillion years already?!

We quickly left HortPark and made our way to West Coast Park instead.  I’m not sure if enough people protested to make them change the ridiculous rule later.  We certainly did not want to wait to find out!

At West Coast Park, people were having picnics by the moonlight and hung lighted paper lanterns on the trees next to them.  Many others were strolling with paper lanterns lighted with candles, and no NParks staff were around to stop them.

(the ghostly red/orange lights in the middle of the pic came from the lanterns hanging from the trees)

Little Guy could finally take his dinosaur lantern for a walk!

Please lah, NParks, don’t be ridiculous!

 

Walk with me, look at trees!

Autumn in Singapore?

One of my favourite trees is the sea almond tree.  More so when its leaves turn orange before turning brown and falling off the tree.

Saw this big guy when I walked to the supermarket and back.  Too bad my lousy phone camera did not do justice to the beautiful tree.

And guess what?  My new pedometer measured more than 3 km for that walk! 

Crazy, you think?  Walking 3 km to the supermarket and back?  I love it!  And according to the trusty pedometer, I did more than 5,000 aerobic steps by doing that!

Yay!  My fitness programme is on track!

 

Pilot dreams…

We made it to the RSAF Open House just past 5 p.m. today.  The crowds were not as large as we had expected, probably due to the rain earlier in the afternoon.  Finding a parking space wasn’t a problem, and we were pleasantly surprised by that.

After clearing the security checks (bags, watches and contents of pockets through scanners), we made our way to the fairground.  We were first greeted by one of The Black Knights fighter jets and what do you know?  Standing right next to it, entertaining visitors was LTC Philip Chionh (yes, Zoe Tay’s husband).  He cut a real dashing figure in his black uniform, sunglasses and cap, and many people clamoured to have their photographs taken with him, even though there were a couple of other Black Knights around.

Of course there were other planes being exhibited and Little Guy was very excited.  Besides the fighter jets and helicopters, there were other planes (ok, I’m real bad at all the names of the planes, other then the F16 – go to the first link above to find out more as they are all listed there!) and other military equipment.

We had to queue to get up close to the planes and have pictures taken while seated in the cockpit.  Little Guy got into quite a few of the planes and other vehicles and I could tell he totally enjoyed himself.  Although we did not make it in time for the hot-air balloon, helicopter and plane rides or the aerial display, it was good enough for us.  I intend to bring Little Guy to every open house in future and get on those rides when he’s a little older.

I tried to get pics of the planes but it was impossible to get one without any body spoiling the pic, as there were people posing with the planes at every angle.  So what I did was to aim high – and the next two pics did not turn out too badly, did they?

It was a well thought-out open house – with booths selling souvenirs, T-shirts and aviation related toys.  There was even a huge F&B area where you can fill your stomachs (I didn’t venture in as it was crowded).  The two hours we spent there were enough to tire Little Guy out.

I did notice that most of the children visiting the open house were boys.  Why?  Why do parents decide that their daughters may not be interested in the RSAF or aircrafts?  Why do they stereotype their girls?  Strange, huh?

Anyway, I can be quite sure that most of the boys left the open house wanting to be pilots when they grow up.  Little Guy was no exception.

If you missed this event, you can still visit the RSAF Air Force Museum any time and wait for the next open house… and bring your girls along, ok?

 

Singapore visitors get boxed!

Is this building ugly or what?  Each time I pass by it, I’ll think to myself, gee, what an ugly structure.  I finally took some pics of it today to put my thoughts into words.  I always imagined it to be two containers stacked one on top of the other and then covered by a huge whiteaper carton.  And ta-dah!  Ladies and gentlemen, the Singapore Visitors Centre!

View from the left:

 View from the right:

What do you think?  Is it an eyesore?

 

The Dark Knight – a superficial review

I finally went to watch The Dark Knight today after waiting for, like, eternity, for Big Guy to take time off from his busy work schedule.

I suppose, by now, millions of you must have watched this movie already and perhaps thousands of you have reviewed it in your blogs or read reviews about it elsewhere.  So I’m not going to do the kind of serious reviews that people have done, but a very superficial and frivolous one (for a laugh or two, maybe?).

First up – the make-up.  What’s up with the make-up artist(s)?

When the movie began and Christian Bale made his first appearance as Bruce Wayne, I went, like, urgh… I can see his thick make-up.  Looks like The Joker is not the only one with too much face paint!

Looking very plasticky, is Lieutenant James Gordon (Gary Oldman).  Everything - his hair, his glasses and moustache (and yes, the thick make-up) made him difficult to look at (at least for me).  The way he speaks is so restrained and it’s hard to imagine a lieutenant, an old-hand, being characterized the way he is in the movie.  Oh, I have digressed!  Like I was saying (about make-up), of all the characters in the movie, he looks the worse – he might as well be wearing one of those rubber masks (like those they have of Saddam Hussein and George Bush and other famous personalities).  Somehow, I don’t seem to be able to see him and his character through all that make-up and fake hair (hate the so-fake moustache!).

And then there is the very beautiful Maggie Gyllenhaal – erm… I’m sorry, but I won’t classify her as very beautiful, as many a reviewer had done.  Like, which part of her is beautiful?  When she first appeared in the movie, I was, like, huh?, eyebags?, so many lines under her eyes?  Yes, the Rachel Dawes character doesn’t have to be strikingly beautiful but I think the make-up artist could have spent more time on her rather than on Bale and Oldman?  One more thing about Gyllenhaal – my opinion is that her class of beauty is the same as that of Kirsten Dunst (MJ in Spiderman) – they both look pleasant, but I can’t quite connect them with beautiful.

Those aside, Two-Face’s special-effect make-up was great, but not scary at all.

Ok, enough about the aesthetics.  Now, about the casting.

I think Christian Bale should feel quite seriously threatened by Aaron Eckhart.  Look at Eckhart’s chin – it would look very good with the mask.  You know, the chin is an important factor in Batman – it’s the most prominent facial feature, since the mask covers much of the face.  I also found Bale too scrawny for the role.  Bruce Wayne definitely needs more charisma than what Bale carried.  And in the toilet cubicle reviews (reviews you hear in the toilet after a movie), all the girls were talking about Eckhart and not Bale!

And Michael Caine as Alfred?  I don’t know what is it about Caine – but I felt like smiling, each time he appeared in the movie.  It does not help either that he reminds me of a priest in the church that I attend.  What happened to the Alfred that I’m so used to when watching the Batman cartoons?  Tall and slim with a balding pate and moustache and all that haughtiness?  Caine’s not haughty enough!

Our very own Ng Chin Han as Lau – I like the way he speaks but… hmm… he’s not imposing enough to be some big shot Chinese baddie?  Lacks charisma!  But I’m proud that one of our own has made it to a blockbuster movie.

Oh dear, this so-called superficial review is getting a tad too long to be superficial?  Better end it now…

But before I end, I would like to say that the movie’s ok, but it would be better if it was a little more edgy, and with some real good electric guitar sounds to boot?

And, just a thought, perhaps for the next Batman movie, they could cast a black actor (my favourite, Will Smith??) or an Asian one (Takeshi Kaneshiro, Hrithik Roshan, etc) as Bruce Wayne?  Ok, ok, don’t gag!