I am finally travelling......yoohoo..!!

I finally getting out of the country...after a long 2 years. Yes...I been staying put in the country for a good full 2 years..without evening stepping foot to our neighbours....(Malaysia)

Going over...to Hanoi, this end of Sep. Let hope for good weather...This trip would be challenging...as we only book the flights and hotel. No Tour....we shall go there and see how..

From my Chicken friend who has been there...language seem like a problem. I shall demo my artistic flare...there....then...lol

Upcoming...is another exciting trip. Not that I am visiting a completely new place. But is the company that I will be travelling with....

Well..it will be another challenge....as she now weigh some 10kg and still not able to walk yet...

Looking forward...but also bit "heart pain" as I have to part with some $$ ...which I could have use to buy more share....but...the trips are really exciting.....

Let's just consider this as another form of investment....an investment into happiness and knowledge..lol

Mr Ng and Mr Wong's 5th of Aug

The month of August is best remember with 1 event which is usually the night when all got themselves drunk...

Those were the days....(aka...when I was still young)....nowadays....it is more like a meal session.....

The Birthdays Celebration of these folks..Mr Ng

And Mr Wong...Same day Birth...wonder who is first...

Crystal Jade is the place...for Lunch....though we have the typical food we use to have when we were here....

Century Egg Congee...I think this is their best..dish...I still have not found any store that beat it

meat chang fen - Std Fare....Cantonese style

Fried Tou poh?

Silver fish...but This is super tasty but also super sinful...

and Glutinous Rice bao...this is something new...never eaten this combination before....

Bad Hairdo day for Mr Ng...that I can't really get a good photo of him...except me with Mr Wong..aka...the goat king.. though my hair is of concern here..lol and I look fat.....

I seldom get the treat these folks here...probably due to the fact that they earn a few time my pay-check....but it an afternoon well spend especially when we get to visit Mr Wong new Nest...which we can look forward to for a house-warming...lol

My 44 experience of Singapore

From 1965 to Now (2009), It has been 44 year for ths history of this small island, and out of which I been around for 34 of it....lol

National day has never been some special day for me ever since I left School and the Army, Was thinking of writing this to see

how the experience this small island I call home have make me. Here's goes.

1. Primay--> Secondary--> Poly.

That the education I have here....gone are the days where the teachers are in control. Now is all about complaints and performance..lol

I use to complaint how come they don setup enough university here....but I think the Gov is working on it..

2. SBS--> SBStransit--> SMRT--> LRT

We started off with noisy and smelly buses to Air-conditioned ones. We try out the MRT seats and then we

got our trains.....we even have small train to link towns....Now if only they can control the cost of transport

(They does look like good singapore asset to own -- Aka Share of Comfortdelgro and SMRT)

3. Hawker-center --> Foodcourt --> Food Republic--??

I still prefer the food at the hawker center, though not as posh or clean, they serve better and cheaper food

Foodcourt becomes a Franchise and Food Republic start charging >10 for Yong Tao Fu....lol

4, From Electronics Manufacturing --> pharmaceutical --> Casino

During my younger days, thinking of a Casino was like it will never happen and here we are with 2 Casino opening in 2010

Electronics are exiting one by one and counting...lucky the Wafer Fab are still here to stay...and pharmaceutical is the new

Manufacturing Drives.....hias why didn't they tell me early....I got a Degree in Electronics le....

5. Cost of Living - Gone are $1.50 mee and chicken rice...now the price can be as high as $5,

This is what we call Inflation...which no-body cares about back then....and now...it is on everybody mind

6. From 1 or 2 major running events to > 20 events per year.

Back in my Army days..it has been a drag to run the Army Half Marathon FOC...the ironical thing is that now

I am paying to run in it....Singaporean has really growth more health conscious now....Go to any run and u will

see how pack and difficult it is to run in them...lol But I am sure enjoying

7. Gone gone Pirates rats - No more cheap games and s/w

Pirated games and discs movies, are so common where one can easily find it in HDB flat and stores are gone forever

ever since the Free Trade with US is signed...that the end of this moves...but good thing is the Original

movies are getting cheaper but not the games and software....how lame...

8. Opening up of the Financial Market -- I got my first Trading Acc

I know this has been there like the longest time....donno when, but I only recently came to know how easy it is to

invest by myself than to depends on "evil" agents bluffing off your money for their commission which give poor return,

worst of all, they don care whether u earn or not...

9. The shift toward Family building....

During my younger days, I was being told to work hard....but now....as i grew older, I realise it not all about

working, but spending time with your love ones is way more important. I glad the Gov is supporting this..

10. We are larger now...

though we cannot tell. Still look the same to me. We are actually larger now then we use to be some 44 year ago...According to Stat,

We are almost 700Sq Km. Look at our Downtown and see how much it has changed....

11. We have more people also

4.84M to be exact, 35% are non singaporean. Now u know why there are so many foreigner on the streets

now? Good and bad though....

12. National Services from 2.5yrs to 2

They should have implemented it early..haha....But I did enjoy my time of service there.....lol

13. CPF withdrawn limit keep going up...

Not sure if this is a good thing..but with inflation...the gov is worried that we "silly" folks donno how to manage

our money.....I sure won't want to be those silly folks.....that why I am investing....

14. Have more childrens

it goes from Stop @ 2 to now as many as possible....(ideal >3). I spoke to my sis which just got her first

kid, nowadays is not about quantity. It about Quality and Cost.....So I think we need more incentive....else

the next 44 years, we will see lot of oldies(me included) on the streets...lol

15. Rivalry with our neighbours.

U know who we are talking about. First We have Water, land and bridge and so many more which I can't

remember already. This kind of Rivalry even reach our level when I was studying in the UK. They aim to beat

us at studies...how silly...

16. We go from Malaysia Water to New Water.

The neighbours call us stupid to drink "Sai" water. But theoretical, it is safe to drink..and is perfectly clean

We build more reservoirs, the latest one being the Marina Barrage.....City Reservoir.

17. We have more ERP now....to tax our money...

lucky I don own a car...lol

18. We have Foot, mouth Disease , then SARs and now H1N1. The World is getting dangerous

U should see the contrast. During SARs nobody goes shopping...the shops are empty during weekends

but During H1N1, nobody cares...

19. 9-11, the Agfan and Iraq War.

9-11 happen like a movies in our living room on the day before I am suppose to return to Uk for my 3rd years

studies...We watch the downfall of Saddam and how he was caught. Will we See a N.K ?

20. Mas Selamat Escape

Probably one of the most embarrassing thing to happen to Singapore. They have big windows in the

prisoner toilet for them to escape? lol

21. F1 is in Singapore

We "samba" singaporean never seen F1 race car before...and the calling prices for the ticket

make me wonder how rich singaporean can be....but I must say, F1 is really loud and I

expect much greater things this coming Sep, though I not sure I will be able to afford the tickets

22. Universal Studio is in Town come 2010

We miss out on Disneyland, that one went to China, but we still have this.....can't wait

23. A380 SIA

I cannot Afford this flight, but it a milestone for Singapore Airlines....First to own it...

24. Super high Property prices in Singapore?

Why does a Condo in AMK, Cost 1Million and above, and is so near to an MRT Station which

is noisy?. How did we get DBSS to charge us 400K for a 4-room HDB flat? Is this the normal

trend in property? How rich are the Real Singaporean? These property are snapped up...like

hot cakes...

25. Charity Organisation has all started to become cheaters

We have NKF and Ren Ci and very good examples....all our hard-earn money goes to

making golden taps which we call "peanuts" and buying BMW and horses for leisure...

Updates .....

26. Olden time food are getting hard to find..."ting Ting" sweet, "G-Kuey" to name a few

The "G-Kuey" I was refering to are the ones with gravy on them....not like now where they

put "cai poh" on it...

27. Where to find $4.50 movies tickets...

In the Olden Days, we have 3.50 and 4.50 movies tickets. The back seat are worth $4.50

while the front ones are $3.50. I still remember watching back to the Future 3 and Ghost pull

leg @ amk and Toa payoh cinema...most are already not there....

28. National Day held at the National Stadium and Padang where the "Float" where all the way

to Queenways for us to see.

But now, we seldom see floats anymore, even if we do, they are only at the parade..

That All I have now....I still think of the other 19s on National Day...lol

29. We when we are 15 Vs the 15s now

The 15s now spoke a different lauguage...gone are dialects but now replace with

"lame", "Noob" etc...It really take alot of interaction to stay in touch..lol....

30. Bank goes from Trusted caring organisation to something unthinkable

We use to think that bank never lies , but the mini-notes saga prove otherwise...

gone were the days of POSB which is so close to heart...now bank are all about profits

and money....(no Wonder the bible say...never worship $$)

Last but not least.. HAPPY BIRTHDAY SINGAPORE...

The Original Song - Official

The Joker Version

Agepella Seven Year on.....

Agepella, is a group one of my Uni-Friend join like years ago. This Group Turn 7 and they have a celebration musical. FYI, Agepella is part of the Church movement. Here they sang Worship songs...Which is quite interesting and they do it without any Musical Instruments.

It was kinda an informal presentation. We got introduce to the people doing the act though they sound bit rehearse. But Their singing more than make up for the cost of the show.

Here with our Star (Aka, the one in Blue shinny) Taken after the show. Also got to know Mr Ng's 2 good friend who are not in the picture...We talked till midnight which was a surprise to me.. didn't know we can strike a conversation within the first meet-up....

Mizuno Mount Faber Run 2009

3rd Run of the year, and also one which have a 100+ meters incline along the route as well. Yup..it's the Mizuno Mt Faber Run, 10Km.

Off to the site which is in the West early in the morning...need to be there early just for the bag deposit. As we are relatively early, there isn't much of a queue. FYI, I am again running with the "chicken" friend.

It was the first time running this event, the setup is at the residential area, aka HDB carpark area. These resident must have thought we are quite a nusiance as we make suck loud noice so early in the morning.

The Setup was also relatively simply...as can see from this finishing line setup. Usually they have digital display @ the Finishing line. The Previous run I attended, such as Passion and Sub-urban run all have Digital Display. So I thought, it was probably a cost saving effort?

Flag-off time of about 7.30am. As the time get nearer, more and more runners and their support start to arrive.

A photo-grab just before the run begin...This is the color of this year Running Tee....I have seen yellow, Orange....Let hope next year run is of a better color. Don really look too good(quite bad actually) in Green.

On your Mark, Get Set....go.....The line move slowly......

Part of the run involved running up Mt faber to the Cable Car Station and down. Overall, I kinda enjoy the run. The slope of Mt Faber is not that high actually. Lot of good scenery to enjoy along the way.

But I really hated those drivers for the lack of a sporting spirit. I don understand why they have to sound their horn when such a big group of runners are already packing up the streets, Though I know they are worried that they might knock off some of the runners, but a few minutes wait is not going to kill them right?

I suggest the organiser to close off part of the running route to those public Vehicle.

In fact, I actually did better than Passion run, considering the slope involved in this run compare to passion run which was on flat gound. Time : 1hr 08mins.

After the run, most of the runners are still around, think mainly waiting for their friend to arrive while finishing up their banana and mineral water. H2O was also distributed.

Headed for breakfast at the nearby hawker. From the looks of this... I got back all my calories I have burn-off during the run....how sad....what a waste!!

Next Run --> Army Half Marathon, 21Km.