E V E R Y D A Y . B E A U T I F U L . P U R P O S E F U L
October 16, 2011 Leave a comment
(Photo Taken: Marriott Phuket, Thailand – It was a very tiring underwater shoot. It was much easier taking photo of Elkan than these chaps. Just discovered that most of them couldn’t hold their breathe and sink underwater. Especially fat-based Harshad – he cannot sink at all. He is a natural floater.)
October 15, 2011 Leave a comment
(Photo Taken: My Super “4-man” King-Sized Bed at JW Marriott Phuket, Thailand – Seriously, no one really believes me when I told them I can fit at least 5 persons on my super large bed…Not until 4 of my beautiful and faithful angels + a hot “eagle” came by my room at 2am to witness it…See, I still have room for another 2 more angels.)
October 15, 2011 Leave a comment
We are indeed the Masters of Tastes. On our last day in Phuket, every one graduated with a “Master Chef” certificate at the famous Blue Elephant Mansion. It was a challenging task. Each team has to cook 3 popular Thai Dishes within 60 minutes! I was very amazed by the outcome of the results! All the teams’ dishes looked very impressive and tasted surprisingly good! Superb teamwork and skills! My team won the “Best Team” Award! The judges were pretty impressed by some of the dishes. Maybe some of us can seriously consider a career-change. (Scroll down to see the winners of Action Phuket 2011 Awards!)
After 3 days of tough competition, here are the Winners of Action Phuket 2011:
Best Team for “Island Challenge”: Mike, Harshad, Kurt, Kelly, Paul and Dorothy
Best Team for “Master Chef”: David, Joe, Chowpo, Phylis, Stephanie and Ricky
Most Courageous Award: Tracy Bay
Most Determined Award: Chow Po
Best Team Player Award: Paul Ho
Best Entertainer Award: Harshad
Best Master Chef Dish: Valerie and Wing
Special Apple Award: Subu
October 15, 2011 Leave a comment
(Photo Taken: Patong Phuket, Thailand – Happy Hour no more. Patong is old, messy, ugly, boring and overrated. Yes, the man with the sign is right – it is 100% “Cheap Shit”!)
October 14, 2011 Leave a comment
After waiting for more than 6 months, Team Action is finally here in Phuket! This is my first trip to Thailand (a big surprise for many) and it is also my most enjoyable and rewarding team-bonding trip ever! The combination is perfect – Beautiful beach resort at JW Marriott Phuket + superb weather + exciting activities + united colleagues & friends!
It was more than just good food and lazing by the beach. It was tough. Imagine playing Survivor, Boot Camp, Fantasy Island, Big Brother, Master Chef and Amazing Race – All in one! For the past 2 days, the team spent a lot of time together – bonding and competing for 2 top awards – “Best Team” and “Best Individual” Awards.
Yesterday morning, we set off to a private island where all the teams fought fiercely for the top spot. I am talking about real sweat and blood. It was very physical – the teams swam, canoed, cycled and ran for 4 hours! I just realized my body couldn’t take the “fairly-strenuous” activities. I was outran, outwitted and outplayed by those young people in the team. In the end, my team lost by a very narrow margin to a bunch of Iron-Men+Women! (That reminds me that I really need a good Thai massage later.)
After a long tiring afternoon, the team returned to the resort and chilled out by the beach and pool. Sunset was stunningly beautiful – a colorful display of day and night. What an enchanting magical moment! (Wish I have my loved ones beside me.)
We ended the day with great food, drinks and very entertaining performance by our very own Bollywood star – Harshad. Lots of happy team photos and videos. The team partied till 3am back in their rooms. (I could hear Harshad and girls chattering loudly outside my room at 2am!) A big thank to David, Chowpo and Tracy for organizing such an awesome event for the team! I am already looking forward to the next one!
September 13, 2011 Leave a comment
(Video Taken: Fun wet moments with Elkan, Bintan Indonesia)
September 8, 2011 Leave a comment
This week, it is school holidays and I promised my boy another adventure. He likes the trees, the beach and the sea. Felicia and I decided to bring him to back to his favorite island – Bintan. We were thinking of Tioman Island but the 2-hour coach ride doesn’t sound appealing to us. Moreover, I have never been to Bintan. I have heard so many “erotic escapades” and “romantic tales” of this island. During my dating days, Bintan was a very popular getaway for young unmarried couples. Some of my friends have stayed at the famous Banyan Tree Resorts where lovers literally go Full Monty in their own 100% private villa-pools, watching the sunset. Sounds like “Temptation Island”.
For this particular trip, we won’t be heading to Banyan Tree Resorts. Specially for Elkan, we are going to have some exciting island life! My son wants to attempt new stuffs – sleeping over in a “kampong hut”, snorkeling, kayaking, surf-boarding, motor-scooter and air-rifle. He successfully attempted all of the activities but he freaked out most of it. We had so much fun watching him attempting those activities. Elkan was both curious and timid. Like a little kitten, he bounced in and out of action. He was one of the first few who jumped into the deep ocean and the first one who wanted out. He was the first who climbed into the kayak and the first one who fell off. He was the first one who suggested air-rifle and didn’t dare to come close to the thundering firing range. It took Elkan a while to feel safe before he tried these new activities. He enjoys risks and he wants to feel absolutely safe too. He is the perfect combination of “Kiasuism” (怕输) and “Kiasism” (怕死).
Time flies really fast on the island. There are so many things to do here – at different time, at different places. We spent 4 great days in Bintan (except for some disruptive work moments). Here are our favorite top “4 Colorful Moments”:
1) BLUE – THE POOL, THE SEA & THE FISHES
Here, Elkan achieved 3 of his “firsts” – Kayaking, Snorkeling and Backstroke Swimming! Took him a lot of guts and efforts to master them.
2) GREEN – THE TREES, THE ROCKS, THE ANIMALS, THE E-SCOOTER
We roamed the island on an e-Scooter, avoided a giant bee hive in the forest hike, conquered boulder rocks at the coast and fed deers at a mini zoo.
3) BROWN – LITTLE HUTS, SHOPPING, MASSAGE, DINNERS
Just 10-drive away – food, souvenirs and massage services are 30%-50% cheaper than the ones offered in the resort. We can’t afford the expensive (and lousy) food in the resort. We came out to this small town market huts for dinner and really nice Indonesian oil massage (SGD45 for 90 minutes).
4) ORANGE – SUNSET, KELONG
Beautiful sunset and a cool breezy place to dine, here you find a floating bar and restaurant (Kelong Style) on the sea. Stunning!
August 21, 2011 Leave a comment
(Photos Taken: 5 short years, 100 over momentos (hotel cards & matchboxes) – little free tokens I took from the hotels where I stayed. They are small and compact. It doesn’t take a lot of space to keep. My favorite cards are from Westin Hotel and matchboxes from Shangri-la Hotel. It is getting more difficult to collect those matchboxes as more and more hotels are switching to “lighters” instead. Also, I have no idea what I am going to do with these match sticks collection. I don’t smoke and I don’t light up candles at home. These matches are sure useful if there is a big blackout. Maybe I shall use them to light up a camp fire for my next trip.)
July 24, 2011 Leave a comment
(Photo Taken: Beautiful “glory” (that is the name of the rainbow ring around the plane’s shadow) and mesmerizing “contrail“ (smoke trail from jets) – on my flight from Singapore to Hong Kong. Normally, I would draw down the window shade after the seat-belt sign is off (and watch the inflight movies). I am glad I left the shade up today. I was greeted by some very rare and up-close displays of glory and contrail in the clouds. Certainly a great way to fly!)
July 22, 2011 1 Comment
The last train left on 30th June 2011 – This week, I managed to find time to fly back to Singapore to take my first & last heritage railway walk before the 38km-track is removed by the end of the year. Currently known as the “Green Corridor” of Singapore, this stretch of railway was owned by Malaysia. Singapore finally won back this stretch of land after many years of shaky negotiations. Already, many portions of the old Singapore-Malaysia railway track have been barricaded and dismantled.
This afternoon, we hopped on a cab and told the taxi-driver to drive us to the railway track. The driver gave me a blank look and said all tracks are barricaded. We decided to try our luck at the 79-year-old Tanjong Pagar Railway Station – hopefully to find a way to “sneak inside”. When our cab arrived at the station, there was clearly no way we can sneak into the station. I started to search on Google for recent blogs and news. Unfortunately, many of the links didn’t reveal “access point” to the tracks. Out of desperation, I scanned the Google Map to trace the railway track – and I managed to recall an access point at Rifle Range Road. And I was right.
It was Friday afternoon and we were surprise to see a lot of people at the track. We saw 2 big groups of students and many young couples strolling along the track. It was pretty hot today but the dense vegetation shaded us from the baking sun. It was quite a cooling walk. Like us, many were here to experience their first and last railway walk. Some even marked their names on the 100-year-old bridge.
We saw many “casualties” on the track. Not road-kills but discarded soles from famous sport brands. Guess the graveled-track proved too strenuous/deadly for the common sports shoes. The rocky path was indeed difficult to walk. But it is worth preserving the “Green Corridor” for our next generation as it is part of our heritage. Along the track, I spotted many species of butterflies, bugs and wild fungus. It was an extraordinary hike for both of us. We covered only 2km (50mins) and exit at Bukit Timah Reserve.
THE WAHBIANG BLOG 