34 hours in Malacca

November 14, 2005 1 Comment

Yes, yes, yes… I know a lot of you out there are waiting for this blog entry. Okay, I will keep this blog short and concise so that you guys will have more time for the photo viewing.

Here are the fun facts of the trip (in summary):

1) 100% Virgin Trip: This is Gareth’s first trip to Malacca!

2) Least Artistic Appreciation: This is also Gareth’s first hotel stay with the clan and his LAST one with us. He nearly went mad when the night symphony began.
3) Most Taken: A total of 249 digital images were shot and 20-minutes of footage captured for this trip.
4) Most Advanced: This is also the first time when the group use Walkie-Talkie for the entire trip.
5) Most Violent: Wendy and Joe fought in the hotel – until Wendy was fully pinned down and bled. So obvious who’s the winner huh?
6) Largest Outing: This is also the LARGEST group "elkan-cum-tour" escort for the group– in total: 12 friends (the other 3 mysterious figures couldn’t make it – so they remain "mysterious")
7) Most Decent: The is the first time Gareth and Stephen entered a CLEAN / STRAIGHT hair salon in Malaysia.
8) Most Blur: Duuk spent more than 50% of the trip in daze…or in sleep. And RM50 for a RM15 cab ride.
9) Cheapest Trip – Each person spent about RM168 for the 2-day trip (full-board).
10) Newest Attraction: It was the group first visit to the newly opened Malacca "Aircon" Bus Depot
11) Most Exotic: Joe’s first kiss with a REAL snake
12) Most Disappointing: What a waste for Stephen! Wendy nearly got detained by the Malaysian Customs! Ai yah, next time, pal!
13) Most Conjested: The group has the worst "human jam", "near stanpede" experience at Malaysian Customs on the way back home.
14) Longest Delay: Most time wasted on delay: 2.5 hours at the customs, 1.45 hours for 4 silly petrol stops (not urine stop).
15) Most RA: Joe got striped and "shot" by Meijie on bed! Joe’s got his ass captured on film while showering.
16) Most Disgusting: Stephen watched Gareth "wipe his ass" in the toilet.
17) Most Erotic: To save time, all couple went into the common bathroom together. Except Meijie and Joanne.
18) Shortest Contact: Jimmy and Serene came (for 60 minutes) and left.
19) Juliana’s strangest habit – Must rub "hong you" on nose before sleeping
20) Wendy’s strangest habit – Must "iron" bed sheet before sleeping
 
Enjoy the pix in the gallery. And if you have more fun facts to add, write it in the comments!

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The Amazing Trip – Malacca

November 11, 2005 Leave a comment


Life is just so funny. Just when you expect to have some quiet moments for yourself, all your good buddies sprang right in front of you. And when you want them to be around for a short trip, they took ages to give you a reply.
 
I was talking about this coming weekend. As my wife is taking a short trip back to Malacca with my in-law, I was expecting a quiet Sat by myself – perhaps joining my army friends for a Pulau Ubin hike. Just before I am going to park my mental preparation for a quiet weekend, some one in the group sprang up an idea for short gathering with Felicia at Malacca. I thought skeptically "yah rite, how to gather people at such last minute"
 
Somehow, it’s so unbelievable. Within the next 5 hours, we had the "yes" of 8 monkeys – Bamboo Heng, Hairy Leong, Bamboo Goh, Smoky Ang, Fatty Tan, Spicy Ivy, Obese Chong, and Specky Lee.
 
Since 60% of the group has been activated and confirmed, I tried my luck with the usual "cold list" of attendees. Guess what? Bossy Teo / Demure Serene and Stingy Tan / Saint Lusia said okay too! I can’t believe my own ears too…For years, I have been trying to get Mr Teo out of his office but he just won’t move an inch. And this time, he said yes to me within a couple of minutes  – without any hesitation!
 

It is just so strange. Suddenly, I have the whole group of friends (14 of us) packing their bags, taking urgent leaves, braving expiring passport, driving their cars, taking their parents and children – all going Malacca with us. Tickets are booked, hotel rooms are reserved. With all thanks to the internet and easy MSN coordinating. In less than 60 hours, we got everything prepared and everyone is ready to roll.
 
It all started with a small objective (Feli’s mum wanted to go back) and we ended up with one of the BIGGEST Wahbiang Overseas Gatherings in 20 years. It is just so unbelievable. When the 14th friend said "yes", I just sat there, shaking my head, amazed by the fast and hot response. It is SUPERBLY IMPOSSIBLY AMAZING. This is just a normal weekend – no special holiday or long weekend. Why?
 

Well, this gathering is no ordinary case of coincidences:
1) Jimmy is able to make it becos his parents are also dropping by Malacca to visit his sick granny.
2) Gareth happened to clear his annual leave this Sat and he hasn’t been to Malacca.
3) Felicia is sending her mum and our child to Malacca.
4) It is a good break for the gang; especially the tired and depressed souls
5) The rest dun mind the short trip, and for some – just dun want to miss out the fun.
 
Well, the surprise isn’t over yet. 3 more mysterious people will be there in Malacca for us too. And yes, it is also a unbelievable coincidence. We shall see them on 12th Nov.
 
Friends – always bringing smiles and surprises to your life when you least expected – I am really one lucky chap to have them all. Guess it won’t be a quiet Sat weekend for me afterall.
 
(Author: Wait for my photos and news release on 14th Nov. Miss the presence of Tracy, Yifu, Lilian & Kalinda)
 

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The Season of Love

November 6, 2005 2 Comments

November is always special. It has that special scent in the air… I often tell my friends "the Season of Love is here, I can smell it".
 
I was only 12 when I noticed the air of November has an unique scent. Perhaps, it marks the start of the rainy season. Somehow, the scent and nice cooling weather just make everyone so lovely and ready to fall in love. Or it could be my childhood love which registered this scent mark inside my head.
 
1987. I spent my last primary school vacation at my granny’s terrace house. I had just completed my PSLE and was looking forward to secondary school life. That vacation, I met a lot of new friends who stayed around my granny’s house. That November, I had my first taste of love with a girl around my age. 
 
No, there wasn’t any opening lines like "I am your boyfriend or you are my girlfriend". Perhaps we shared the same thinking and personality, it was naturally how we were able to connect like close buddies on our 3rd day of friendship. There was no hidden sexual urge to bed anyone, simple just 2 young kids who wanted pure, innocent companionship.
 
Many times, we would found ourselves slipping out of the group and ventured out to the streets together. We would just walked the long street of Joo Chiat, chit-chatting anything – basically what 12-year-old would talk about. Once, we were just resting alone in her living room (with her parents around) when her hand found mine under the sofa cushions. For the next twenty minutes, she held my hand, looked really shy and just smiled. It was a very very sweet moment.
 
The next 2-3 weeks were simply magical. We became very close friends, sharing more stories and thoughts. She was also the first girl who stole my first kiss away.
 
All feast in this world must come to an end. That vacation, her family was moving out of Joo Chiat. It happened on that particular week when my parents took me home. She didn’t managed to leave any contact behind – perhaps she didn’t even know her new address. However, she did left a message with another neighbourhood friend to inform me that she was leaving. And that was it.
 
By the time I returned to my granny house (with high hopes and lovely thoughts of her), her house was already emptied. When the news reached me, I was so so sad about it. Heart-broken, I dun know. I spent the last 2 weeks of December, waiting by my granny’s gate, hoping for her to return to say bye. The air was different, I thought. It has a special scent.
 
I never get to meet her again. However, she left me with such a deep impression that Novemeber. My memories not only contained the feelings I had for her but also the scent, the songs that went by that November.
 
Coincidently, I have many friends who fell in love in November, including me and my wife. Perhaps it is the weather or the festive seasons (christmas, new year). People generally feel good at the end of the year. It is like completing a year-long journey, looking forward for a brand new year.
 
Enjoy the Season of Love. The air is really different.
 
 
 

Filed under Jo's Thoughts

I Drunk the Most

November 5, 2005 3 Comments


The gang crashed at my place tonight. Duuk and Juliana just came back from their holidays at Taipei and they brought back a lot goodies and photo to share.
For Juliana, she also brought back her lucky charm. This evening, the gang introduced a new drinking game “Bluff”. It was a dice game – loser will be asked to drink up a glass of red wine.
Strangely, I was the biggest loser tonight. Glass after glass, I bottomed up many rounds of red wine – all thanks to Juliana. I was “executed” and “sabo” badly under her play. In the end, I think I had drank about a bottle of wine. I was so helpless but I can only say Juliana was very lucky tonight.
In the end (at 3am), every one has a chance to drink up the red wine. Felicia was burning hot after her 4th glass and her face turned really rosy red. Tot Feli looked better and fresher with the red rash on her face. Haaa… That goes the same for Wendy, Meijie and Duuk. They ARE RED after 2-3 glasses of wine.  For Joanne and Juliana, they were the luckiest monkeys tonight, escaped with only 1-2 glasses of wine.
Stephen? I think he was drunk. He mumbled his words, accused me for being tipsy and mumbled his words again.
For me, I didn’t feel tipsy or drunk… just happy. The red wine really have a good after-effect… it just make my sleep so warm and comfy tonight. .

Filed under Life in Singapore, Wahbiang

Am I paying for movie or commercial?

November 5, 2005 7 Comments

It is becoming a drag to watch a movie at the local cinemas.

Why? For those who comes in punctually, you will be tortured with up to 15-20 minutes of cinema commercials. Movie screening time has been compromised; we can afford to come in late for our movie. I am talking about the leading cinema-chain owner here.

Face it, no one likes to watch commercials – especially the dry and boring ones. At home, TV commercial gives us a chance to go to the loo or a break to loosen our bones, relax our eyes. It is different from screening movie previews. Cinema used to be a great place to catch some of the upcoming movie previews. Right now, it can be an ass watching those repeated commercials.

We pay money to catch a movie and thus we have the rights to watch the movie according to the scheduled time. Movie at 9:30pm will only start screening at 9:50pm. To many movie-goers, they don’t mind the delayed screening of their movie. In fact, for the latecomers, they welcome the extended commercial screenings.

However, I strongly believe the ethnic in doing business.

Yes, cinema is a great media to sell product. But I am talking about the purchased rights that a movie-goer should enjoys. Why pay an-ever escalating ticket price of $8.50 when we have to endure a 20-minute of delayed screening? We paid for HBO at home for pure movie-screenings; do we have to go thru any long commercial screenings before the next HBO movie? No, all screenings are according to the stated time.

What’s more, cinema owners are getting MORE REVENUE by selling commercial-time slots at our very own expenses. So, I am now paying $8.50 to watch a 20-min commercial + 120-min movie. Who needs it, anyway? Then, if the cinema owner is making more money selling commercial space (using our time), shouldn’t we (the movie goers) be subsidized too? After all, you can’t show commercial to an empty hall. Our time are as precious too.

So, by “tricking” the audience with a fake screening time, the cinema owner got us seated within that time frame. Then, they started airing boring commercials for us to see. They made money 2 ways – from both the advertisers and the naive audience. Not to mentioned the “no outside food” policy when they themselves sell you snacks and drinks at exorbitant price.

While we enjoyed one of the world’s cleanest and comfortable cinema environments, we often neglect our very own consumer’s rights to those sly businessmen. Protest, Singaporean!

If the cinema owner wants to make ticket sales, then cut the crap of selling airtime for commercial. (Thanks goodness, SIA Kris Flyer didn’t do that onboard) I believe we can balance the timing, keep it to 5 commercials and start the movie. Seriously, we aren’t interested to watch commercials at your cinema. Dun cross that line of logic.

Same "boos" go to the new original DVDs that we purchase from the store. Cut the pre-loaded compulsory DVD advertisements (that I can’t skip), just get me to that menu.

Filed under Jo's Thoughts

Roving Clouds, Shooting Stars and Fireworks

November 2, 2005 1 Comment

The sky above us often displays the most spectacular emotions. In a clear breezy day, you could see cottons of roving clouds, forming shapes that are only limited by your little imagination. At night, you see millions of twinkling stars spread across the dark galaxy, dazzling across the dark mysterious sky.

Singaporeans are too busy to admire the enchanting sky. We are often surrounded by clusters of skyscrapers and urban canopy that blocked our sight of the horizon. While the trees and shaded walk-ways protect us from the harsh tropic sun and rain, it also cluttered our vision of the beautiful sky.

I guess the only time you find Singaporeans look up, gazing at the sky is either during a “well publicized” lunar eclipse, planet alignment, festive seasons or on 9th August – when the local will gathered in thousands near Esplanade at Marina Bay to watch those dazzling fireworks.

I have never given a damn thing about the “sky-gazing” – not until my first visit to Australia. For some reasons, every photograph (outdoor) turned out superbly well – without the aid of a colour-enhancement filter. The Aussie has the greenest fields, bluest sky and reddest sunset. 

Winter Night, Year 1999 – During our first farm-stay at Bunbury, after dinner, Felicia and I sat decided to take a night stroll along the pond – just 5-min walk from our chalet. That night, we were both greeted with the most enchanting night sky.  In that perfect dark setting, we stood there (under 8 degrees), counting shooting stars and roving clouds. There was no street-lamp or exposed lightings to deter our vision for the clear “starry starry night”. It was an unforgettable sight.

Last night, both Felicia and I watched a marvelous display of fireworks just outside our windows at Eunos. No, it wasn’t the Deepavali fireworks. Neither has it got anything to do with the Hari Raya celebration. It was simply a gift from Mother Nature.

Streams of lightning flashed actively across the dark red sky. Strangely, it wasn’t thunderous. On the contrary, it gave us a very soothing and peaceful mood. Switching off all the lights in our house, we rolled up our window blinds, stood by our windows, gawking at nature’s most spectacular fireworks. (See photos).

For that few minutes, my fear for lightning has been replaced by a sentiment of love. Hypnotically and electrifying, it was indeed a very beautiful and breath-taking performance.

Filed under Cool Stuffs, Family, Jo's Thoughts, Life in Singapore

Halloween Night

November 2, 2005 Leave a comment

There is no dress-up, make-up or going “treat-or-trick”. Simply just the 3 couples (Meijie, Kalinda, Felicia, Joe, Stephen, Wendy), spending our lonely holiday eve at KBOX Parkway, singing. (It was Stephen’s 1st karaoke session with us in 5 years and Wendy’s 1st with us since childhood.)  We missed the presence of good singers like Gareth, MC, Jimmy and lovely hostesses like Duuk, Joanne, Juliana and Tracy – the usual karaoke entourage.

Filed under Wahbiang

Really “Bread” Habit! (Updated)

October 31, 2005 2 Comments

It was Stephen who pointed out all our “bread” habit. He noticed that all our friends had rather unique and exotic ways of stuffing our breads. Here are some of our really strange-but-favorite “bread” habits:

Stephen: “Chocolate Bar with Bread” (doesn’t melt in your hands) 

Juliana: “Bak Gua / Bak Hu” with Bread” (toasted or microwave)

Duuk: “Real Banana with Bread” (fibre-rich diet meal)

Joe: “Fried oily onion peels / Fried ikan-belis with Bread” (rich taste, fragrant)

Tracy: “Mushroom Cheese with Bread” (for vegan)

Wendy: “SeaWeed with Bread" (for Jap-Cutie)

Yixi: “Wasabi with Bread” (he assumed green paste as kaya)

Wonder if YaKun is keen to upgrade their menu…

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Steamboat Party

October 31, 2005 Leave a comment


Finding a new Sat Night – Those weekend nannies of mine (friends that came over to visit Elkan and us) are finding ways to break the monotonous weekend sessions at Hotel 25. For the past 30 Saturdays, these nannies had been accompanying us without fail, popping Hotel 25 with snacks and stories to share.

Guess, we need to find another programme soon. The weekly routine was getting stale. The guys were struggling with their “Mission Impossible” Ghost Recon 2 games repeatedly every weekend. The ladies were either sleeping on the couch or on the papasan chair. 
 
So, we decided to inject new activities into our boring Saturdays. The gang proposed dining out and going movies. It is difficult to round everyone for a common activity. It works like a rotating trend – a “season” of activities – while novelty lasts. We used to have mahjong sessions week after week before we got bored of it. Then, we switched board games, mid-night suppers at Lao Pat Sa, roller-blade, night cycling, weekend shopping and movies, xbox games at home etc.
 
However, this Sat was different. Joanne is starting a brand new season of activities. She has this sudden urge for home-made dinner. She wanted to plan a “popiah” party at Hotel 25 but it was too last minute and we could not locate the supplier. The gang then came up with a steamboat party and started preparing for it. Within 2 short hours, the gang brought steamboat, food, dessert and red wine to my place.
 

Stephen even brought house-games (dice, Old Maid, Donkey, Snap!). I was feeling a little moody this weekend but the gang cheered me up with this mini-party. Coincidentally, 29th Oct is Stephen-Wendy 1st Anniversary and is also the eve of Juliana-Duuk Taipei trip. Everyone enjoyed the 4-hour party, ending at 2am.
 

So, what’s up next Sat? Guess what, it is “popiah-DIY” party.

Filed under Wahbiang

The night when I rejected Elkan twice.

October 28, 2005 Leave a comment

There are many goodbyes in life. Some was routine, some was temporary and some was for good.

Last night, I had my first heart-breaking goodbye with Elkan.

 
I was clearing some toys from Eunos and bringing it over to Tampines for Elkan. It was supposed to be a "drop-&-go" affair as I had a dinner appointment later. Elkan was playing in my mother-in-law room when he heard me at the gate. He crawled out and start crawling in my direction – really excited and happy. I picked him up and hugged him for a while – he was so happy and smiling.
 
As I have a cab waiting for me downstairs, I told my mother-in-law to hold Elkan back. Elkan was put down and standing by the closed gate, stretching his hands out and calling me. I said gently to him: "Elkan, go back, daddy got to go. Tomorrow pick you up, ok?"
 
Unlike all our previous goodbye-session, Elkan displayed a very emotional feat last night. Elkan often cried when Chups or Stella went out to work. But last night was different…
 
He kept calling out and stretched his hand out for me. I was standing at the lift-lobby, waving bye to him. For the next 10 seconds, Elkan started screaming (still with his hand stretched out). My mother-in-law started to carry him. I then said "no-no" and was backing my steps away from him. When Elkan knew I wasn’t going to be there for him anymore, he started panting loudly in anger, gave me a very painful stare and turned his head away from me. Both my mother-in-law and myself were so shocked! Elkan has never displayed such unhappiness in front of us. He showed so much rejection and anger for once.
 
When my lift door opened, there was a "ding" sound. Elkan immediately recognised that as the lift door. He quickly turned his head around and took a small peek at me. I stood there, smiling and saying bye. He tried again – this time, softly calling me and stretching out his hand, with a little smile. I still said "no" and shook my head. Just when I was about to walk into the lift, he burst out in tears. I came out of the lift and said "bye". Like the first rejection, he felt betrayed by my absence of attention. Elkan stared at me in tears and turned his head away, sobbing in my mother-in-law’s arms.
 
Feeling pain and sadness…I came out of the lift and walked to the gate, coaxing him. My mother-in-law (who was holding him all this while), tried to turn Elkan to face me. Elkan was so hurt, he refused to face me, no matter how we tried turning his head to face me. He continued to sob sadly…
 
Feeling so sad to leave my son behind, smiling at my mother-in-law, I left Tampines with a very heavy heart.
 
p/s (Tonight, I will bring Elkan back for the weekend stay)
 
 

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