The King of Wrong Design
March 3, 2011 Leave a comment
(Photo Taken: Queen’s Road Central, Hong Kong – Tacky? Creative? Or simply honest? Surely, his signage is definitely captivating. Can’t be wrong about that!)
Moving Day
February 21, 2011 1 Comment
5 years, 5 homes. It is amazing how my life snowballed over the past 5 years. Back in 2006 when I first moved from Singapore to Shanghai, I had only 4 boxes. 5 years on, my life ballooned. So is my size and weight. Felicia, Tracy and Elkan came to Shanghai and joined me in Sept 2007. Soon, my little room of 4 boxes grew to 20 and we moved to a bigger apartment. By June 2008, we were moving to Hong Kong. In all, we had over 50 boxes.
2 years in Hong Kong flew by in a blink. Felicia and Elkan moved back to Singapore last December. From 50 boxes down to 25, I no longer need such a spacious apartment. I found a smaller unit 500m away from my office in Central.
We started packing 2 days ago. This apartment was full of happy memories. I remembered the day when we first moved in. Elkan was helping me to assemble the cabinets. Felicia and I were painting the walls. We had so many visitors – Sam, Francis, Echo, Rovis, Chups, Mum-in-Law, Auntie Amy, my dad and mum, Cousin Bin, Mike, Kalinda, Danielle, Ida, Meijie, Yifu, Gareth, Joanne, Jimmy – just to name a few.
Indeed, this is a special place. Feel kinda sad to leave. So many blogs were written here. And so many delicious home-cooked meals. Going to miss the beautiful sea view and its extravagant club house. Especially those morning walks with Elkan to his kindergarten and our little gun fights at home. (Guess all of us will be home-sick soon!)
Well, here is our new downtown home in Central. Almost ready to move in.
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A Land of Clouds
February 14, 2011 Leave a comment
(Photo Taken: A Land of Clouds – I hate to fly, especially on a foggy rainy day. Ironically, what’s above the dark stormy sky was this beautiful vast land of white puffy clouds. So bright and calm yet deceiving and surreal – Dissolving the gloominess inside, illuminating a Dreamland.)
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Walking in the Trees
February 12, 2011 Leave a comment
Ever since Felicia and Elkan moved back to Singapore last December, I miss my hiking days with them in Hong Kong. On my last day in Singapore, Felicia brought us to explore the new hiking spots in Singapore.
We started our hike at 1:30pm. The afternoon heat in Singapore was unbearable hot and humid. (I still prefer hiking in the cooler weather in Hong Kong.) There was no way we can complete the entire 9km “Southern Ridges” trail with Elkan under such weather condition. We decided to cut short our hike (to 2.3km) and explored the two most spectacular hiking spots – Singapore’s tallest pedestrian bridge, the 274m-long “Henderson Waves” and the “Forest Walk”.
The Henderson Waves Bridge is stunning – wavy curve exterior walls and overarching ribbed canopy, providing partial shade for the hikers. This looks like a great place for the skateboarders to ramp up the walls. Elkan was having lots of fun, running across the curve walls. Standing over 70m above sea-level, this bridge connects Mount Faber Park to Telok Blangah Hill Park. We cannot imagine how well camouflaged this place is.
Crossing the bridge, it leads us to another attraction – the “Forest Walk”. The “Forest Walk” consists of many connecting elevated metal walkways over the forested area of Telok Blangah Hill. It reminds me of the “Tree Top Walk” of Perth, Australia. Walking over the metal-grills platform, we saw the dense vegetation right below our feet. The elevated bridges span over different layers and heights. At 20m tall, this is certainly not a walk for those who have height phobia. N-Park has done a great job in maintaining this place. There are many signs along this 1.3km Forest Walk which are very educational and prominent. Walking through the forest, we indulged ourselves in the symphony of the trees, bugs and birds. The Forest Walk bridges us closer to Mother Nature through modern comfort and easy accessibility. It is so peaceful and beautiful here. (Thanks Felicia for planning this wonderful outing on my last day in Singapore! It is such a pity that we couldn’t stay a little longer. I got to rush back to pack for tomorrow’s flight!)
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The Bachelor’s Lair
February 12, 2011 Leave a comment
Finally, our golden bachelor Meijie got his first lair. And we were lucky to be the his first visitors to grace his new home! After so many years in congested Shanghai and Hong Kong, I wasn’t used to the big space (especially the big toilet and kitchen!) We were all so excited and we confused him with so many ideas how to renovate his new space! Duuk was suggesting to convert the storeroom into a small bedroom. I was thinking of putting a small pond outside his corridor. Gareth was already contemplating to convert one of Meijie’s bedrooms into a pole-dancing studio for Kalinda to practice. Elkan was walking around the empty house, reporting ghost & insect encounters. Poor Meijie.
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A Big Wahbiang Birthday Gathering
February 9, 2011 Leave a comment
Today is the seventh day of Chinese New Year, also known as “renri” 人日 (Human Day). The Chinese believe that this is the day when Man was created. So, it is everyone’s birthday today! (Well, according to some Christians, Adam was created by God between the 6-8th Day). This is also the original day when Yusheng (鱼生), a popular Singapore festive dish is tossed (lo hei 撈起) for good health, wealth and prosperity.
Today marks a very special day for the Wahbiang Clan too. Today, we celebrated Yifu’s belated 36th birthday. It is also the actual 4th birthday of Issac Chen (Gareth’s second son). Thanks to all, this is our largest (and most expensive) Chinese New Year gathering since 2005! The dinner was very lively, noisy and messy! (It was like a wedding dinner – starting from 7:45pm to 11pm – we have late-comers, smoky cake walk-in, 10-course dining, hongbaos etc)
The boys were a nightmare – many times, we have to use “Gareth” (our very own “Gargamel”) to tame the boys. Elkan and Jacob pulled another unexpected prank – this time on poor Yixi. They peppered (yes pepper!) an innocent-looking “Pocky White Chocolate Stick” and gave it to Yixi to eat! (When we left the restaurant, the two boys were making a chili drink quietly at the side! Darn boys!)
In total, we have a total of 16 adults and 9 kids tonight!!! (absence: Joanne, Juliana, Duuk, Wendy, Tracy and MC Family). Imagine if we have the full clan present, that will be a total of 35 people! Our clan has indeed prospered and expanded over the years! (Yes, we should book a private ball room next year for our gathering! Wait a few more years, we can organise a tele-match for the families!)
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It’s a Great Great Movie
February 8, 2011 Leave a comment
I was never a fan of romance comedy or 40-60s oldies. It’s just not my genre of movies. I always think such movies are cliche with the same old boring story lines and cheesy jokes. I always prefers the big blockbusters – original storyline with powerful special effects (like Avatar or Inception). Well, I was damn wrong about these 2 great movies.
非誠勿擾 II (If You Are the One 2) and 大世界 (It’s a Great Great World) are two great movies not to be missed! One reveals a satire of love, life and death, the other traces back the “simple yet heart-warming lives” of those who lived in the 40s. Both movies reveal the most beautiful and vulnerable sides of Man and his complex relationship with his loved ones. Simple plot but compelling story telling. These movies moved me so much (to tears)… prompting me to re-look my own priorities in life. Must watch!
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Flying Colours at the Marina Barrage
February 7, 2011 Leave a comment
We haven’t seen our good friend, Kendrick since 2005. Last Saturday, Kendrick bought us dinner at Citylink and played “tour leader” for the night. He was thinking hard where to bring us. He listed down many new places for us to pick and choose. Finally, he named one place that was “new” to both of us – the Marina Barrage.
It was a long dark winding road to the Barrage. On our way there, Kendrick told us that we can “fly kite” at the barrage. I took it literately as a local slang for “doing nothing”. When we arrived at the Barrage, we saw many colourful lights floating in the night sky. He was right – people do come here at night to fly kite! There were a lot of people there that night! Like a pair of “sua-ku 山龟”, Felicia and I were really amazed by the beautiful flying lights! Wow! This is awesome! (Shame on my Wahbiang buddies, the barrage has been opened since 2008 and none of them brought us there!)
This is a perfect spot to view the new and old skyline of Singapore – be it during the day or at night. While we were there, we can see lots of constructions at the new Singapore Downtown. The Singapore Flyer, the Marina Bay Sands, the skyscrapers at the Raffles Place CBD and our Esplanade are just so beautiful. This is a great place to chill out – spacious, windy and quiet!
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Days Away from Home
Singapore Blog Awards Finalist 2013
Singapore Blog Awards Finalist 2010-2012
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