ORCHARD ROAD – New Buildings. Old Substance.

December 24, 2009 Leave a comment

 

There have been many new developments in Singapore since I left in 2006 – (The Singapore Flyer, New IR Marina / Sentosa, New KYE Expressway, VivoCity, The New East Coast Lagoon, F1 Night Race, Airport Terminal 3, Roof-top Walk, Dempsy, new Cathay, HK Cafe etc) Of course, all of these sounded so "out-dated" now.

Meijie and Joanne have told me about the new "Orchard Road" (the new 313 Somerset, Ion etc) I was very eager to explore those new shopping attractions. Thanks to my good old poly friend, Mok Ching – she took some hours off on Wednesday afternoon and showed me around. (Yes, she is an excellent Tour Guide). We visited the new ION, 313 Somerset and Orchard Central. Of course, we walked past the new Mandarin Hotel and Centerpoint.

My verdict of the new Orchard Road? ION is clearly overhyped, boring and disappointing. Other than its fancy "organic" exteriors, there is nothing new inside. Just duplicate of top-end fashion brands. 313 Somerset is another let down. Small low entrance, tight shopping space and raw interiors. I wonder why are we building more new duplicates of the 90s? Shouldn’t we build new "world firsts" (I thought that was our forte?) Seriously, there is nothing new to attract and offer to our tourists.

The only new place which attracted and impressed me is Orchard Central. I like the long external "escalators". I love the roof-top garden dining concept. And I love the concept of blending arts & retail. This is modern living. I really hope to see more of such "new experience" in our new IR-developments. We do not need another duplicate of the past. But something new for the world to come and see.   

Filed under Jo's Thoughts

After 7 Years…

December 24, 2009 Leave a comment

Attending Chee Heng’s wedding is one of the key reasons why I made this short trip to Singapore. It has been almost 5 years since we had the last family wedding dinner. In fact, I have been waiting for his big day since 7 years ago! It is "my personal promise" that I must come to attend his big day. Cos 7 years ago, my cousin Heng helped me so much (beyond significant value that one can imagine!) in my wedding video. Chee Heng was there on the 1st day our our journey and it is my pleasure to be there witnessing his 1st big day.

The loop is finally complete. Now seeing the same man who starred as "Young Joe" up there on the stage, happily married to his dream wife (yes, he got great taste!) – that is indeed a blissful and beautiful moment. I felt so happy for them. May their new journey is as beautiful as ours.

The Bench (2002) – Our Wedding Video

Based on a true story set in1990, THE BENCH marks the journey of a very unique 8-year courtship between Joe and Felicia. THE BENCH reveals how fate brought 2 extremely opposite characters together. THE BENCH has always been the place where they gathered, chatted and laughed. THE BENCH eventually changed both their lives.  Watch young "Chee Heng" in our wedding video and the making of the video:


Starring Chee Heng as "Young Joe in his 18s". Directed by Joe Chua. Produced by Francis Chay, Tracy Bay and Gareth Tan (2002).

Filed under Family

Greetings from the Souls of Katong!

December 24, 2009 Leave a comment

(Photo Taken – Caffeine Creative – Pre-Christmas Visit: My Creative Family!)

Filed under Wahbiang

Late Night Shopping At Mustafa

December 24, 2009 Leave a comment

 

(Photo Taken: Mustafa Shopping Center, Singapore – As Gareth said, this is "extreme ransack shopping")

Filed under Wahbiang

Senseless Killing. Mindless Leaders.

December 15, 2009 Leave a comment

I have just watched a very disturbing DVD. These images are real and the butchering is taking place right now – "THE COVE" may be this year’s most sensational activist documentary against dolphin-killing. It may be also the biggest talk-about documentary after "The Inconvenient Truth" & "Fast Food Nation". You get to witness the darkest and most ugly secret of Japan – The Untold Story of Taiji – a small fishing town that slaughtered 23,000 dolphins every year for all the possibly wrong reasons. What shock me most is the hall of "leaders" – who are given power and the authority to act against such cruelties – talk with little action against those who defended their senseless acts. Clearly, we are living in a diplomatic world – a world where leaders no longer stood firm on one side of belief but in grey zones of conflicts. My doubt is – if we cannot solve something so basic and small, how can we entrust and empower leaders with bigger issues?

This is more than just a story of innocent killing of dolphins. It reveals the stupidity of how nations and "authorities" handle worldly issues. For every conflict out there in this world – we employed a bunch of idiots (great speakers) to defend and justify their acts with a loadshit of research and claims. We then table those issues in all types of mediums / media and we wait …and wait for another to act (before we react to their acts). Leaders are only interested in doing things right and no longer doing the right things. Even a domestic divorce today fully occupied our minds of getting the right "processes, procedures and documentations" that we ignore our fundamental skillsets of managing a broken relationship / family.

Gone are the days of TV – which government used to broadcast their scripted content into our minds. Gone are the days when we only rely on 2-3 channels for opinions and info. Yet our reaction speed to resolve issues are still hindered by so many "secret agendas and untold objectives". It takes one day to start a war but it take another 10 years to end it. Which school of thoughts of calculation do leaders rely on today in making their final decisions? Perhaps a good PR speech and lots of data.

Filed under Jo's Thoughts

Wetland Park (Hong Kong)

December 13, 2009 Leave a comment

Thanks to Harshad’s latest buy (he finally got his new Nikon DSLR) – we planned our first "semi-professional photography trip". Finally, I found the right occassion to bring out my paparazzi-look-alike 100-400mm Canon L-Lens. I spent quite a bomb on this lens and I only used it thrice. It is a very heavy lens and not ideal for our usual weekend activities. And what is the venue this time? Well, it is another 1-hour bus ride up north – to the Hong Kong Wetland Park.
 
We were so excited and looking forward to visit the park. Afterall, it is very highly publicised and we wanted to visit this place since last year. We have all visited Singapore’s very own Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve and would like to check out the Hong Kong version. 


The Hong Kong Wetland Park is situated just opposite a big housing estate. Somehow, the surrounding reminds me of our own Seng Kang/Punggol Estates. Compared with our very desserted & 95% truly natural Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve, the Hong Kong park was way way too crowded and artificial. To me, it is a pretty modern wetland. It looks too tidy and man-made. Perhaps only 15% of the entire place is natural. Nevertheless, it is very pretty tourist/family/kids/old folks-friendly. Just not bird-watcher/photographer-friendly.

This is a park for wild birds and swampies but I feel the viewing towers and swamp walking platforms are built too close to the wild life. Despite many signs telling the public to keep quiet, the kids and adults were way too noisy. Therefore, I dun get to see many birds / wild life. In fact, there were more pretty girls than birds to ogle at. This isn’t an ideal place for Harshad to test his new camera. We all agreed that the Hong Kong Island Park at Admiralty has more birds than here.

Well, all of us did enjoyed ourselves. Tracy, Harshad, Hong Fei, Felicia and myself were tigger-happy. I managed to bring home some good shots of nature.


Filed under Life in Hong Kong

Sai Kung

December 12, 2009 Leave a comment

Our trip to Sai Kung was filled with many uncertainties. First of all, we have no idea where is the place. Or what to expect. Best of all, we have no idea how to go there. By MTR, Taxi or bus. In the end, we took those hell-rider-mini-buses there. (Why hell-rider? Beisde the speed-breaking rides, those mini-bus drivers are one of the rudest people you find in Hong Kong. Certainly not tourist-friendly.)

It was a great trip. Throughout our 60-minute journey, we were "teleported" into another era of Hong Kong. It looks so different and very undeveloped. Yet, it has its own unique character of charm and beauty. It has a mixture of mini Taiwan-Malaysia-Vietnam. For those back home – think Changi Village-cum-Pulau Ubin. The funny part is "Sai Kung" to a Hokkien sounds like "Shit Hole".

Right after we alighted the hell-ride, we saw an interesting water feature. Man, I love those gigantic paper boats. It made such great first impression. I wanted to put Elkan in one of those paper boats and snap a photo of him inside. But my uncooperative (super Kiasi) son backed out last second! (Of course, he created a commotion and made me look really stupid in the water!) 



At the waterfront (where you find a row of seafood restaurants), we saw many boats lining along the jetty. It was an interesting sight. The buyers were standing on the jetty, pointing and bargaining. The sellers were standing clamly on their rocky boats, fishing and showing their "live products". This reminded me of the "Floating Markets" of Thailand, but a smaller and systematic one.

As it was early, we walked around this small rusty seatown. We even checked out the property prices here. Verdict – Not cheap at all. However, all of us do agree that Sai Kung is a good place for retirement (it is so slow and peaceful). 

Dinner time – I turned to my most trusted travel bible. Lonely Planet recommended the "Grand-Daddy of Seafood" – Cheun Kee Seafood. We tried it and it was so-so. Honestly, the fish didn’t even taste good at all and it was expensive. So far, I haven’t try any seafood better than the ones we had back home in Singapore or Malaysia. Maybe we didn’t know how to order the other "exotic-looking creatures". Confirm: No more HK-style seafood for me anymore.  

Filed under Life in Hong Kong

The Best Christmas Tree

December 12, 2009 Leave a comment

Beauty certainly lies in the Eyes of the Beholder. 3 weeks ago, Felicia and Elkan took part in his school’s Christmas Tree Competition. The creation must be a joint-effort between child-&-parents. Well, my mum-&-son tag team won the Overall Special Award of all categories. (My son broke all my previous records – this is already his 3rd creative awards!) I guess Felicia played a big role in deciding the design. Afterall, she beat me to win the 1st prize 20 years ago when we both took part in our Secondary School "Best Candle Design". In the end, I got 2nd place – surely I was feeling so sour then.

I was working in Macau when Felicia sent me the good news. The next day, I went to school and saw the prized entry. Elkan is certainly popular in his school and he is enjoying his 3-minute fame. From principal to janitor, everyone adores so dearly.

Yesterday when Felicia was picking up Elkan, she overheard some conversations between parents on the awards. In cantonese they said "What so special about the top winner? It is not attractive and so easy to do. Just a pile of crashed paper balls."

I was laughing when Felicia told me about those comments. Afterall, I do agree other entries look very creative indeed. Even Elkan felt the same when his teacher congratulated hm on his big win. Elkan said "Huh? You mean I won? But I don’t like my Chrismas Tree leh. I like Wenlan’s!"

In fact, if I am the panel of judges, I would have trouble awarding the top prize. There were many great entries. Nope, we didn’t bribe the school with any big donation nor any of my friends is sitting in the panel of judges. Both Felicia and I thought the "green concept" of our creation won the hearts of the judges. 

This competition is more than just creativity and beauty.  It is not just the creation of an art work but the building of bonds and stronger kinship. What I saw wasn’t just the 50 over entries. What I saw was 50 happy moments. It is competition like this draws the parents and child closer. Certainly, winning the top award is big bonus (of encouragement and motivation) for the family. Nevertheless, to me, every entry is a winning moment between the child and his/her parents. Picture the precious happy moment the parents spent with their kids, building their very own unique Christmas Tree. Now, that is indeed touching and heart warming. On that last note, when was the last time we spent time working together with our parents?

Surely, beauty lies in the Eyes of the Beholder. But creating happy moments of togetherness like these is simply beautiful and very very rewarding. 


Filed under Life in Hong Kong

The Return of Elkan’s Darling

December 12, 2009 Leave a comment

Kelvin and family were here in Hong Kong this week. And I couldn’t even catch up with them – It was really bad timing for me (despite Kelvin booked my time 3 months ago!) On their last night in Hong Kong, Scott and Kelvin arranged dinner somewhere in Causeway Bay. My meeting ends at 8pm and I have to stay back in office until 2am for a very important presentation the next day. No excuse and I am truly very sorry.

Despite my physical absence, I managed to be there with Kelvin and family "digitally" – Yes, digitally. Tracy video-taped me (me working in office) using her iPhone and delivered my digital voice and greetings to them. (Nice try, Joe)

Kelvin was right – we should have let our kids meet up earlier and not on the last night. While it took quite a while for Elkan and Sherry to warm up, Kelvin did a great role to connect the kids. Eventually, they did had a great time together. Back at home, Elkan was explaining each photo and the fun they had. Of course, he didn’t really want to tell me about the photo of he crying when they parted. He just gave me a sad look when we were viewing that photo.

Filed under Life in Hong Kong

Felicia’s Annual Leave

December 6, 2009 Leave a comment

After more than 18 months, Felicia was finally back in Shanghai – Happily Alone! Let’s say it was her "annual leave" (or Anniversary gift) holiday – For a precious 60-hour break, she was 1,000 miles away from her son and those back-breaking household chores! It was an impulse travel decision (made only on Tuesday) and off she flew on Friday morning. What about Elkan? For only HKD80, we parked Elkan from 9am-6pm (cheaper than a carpark fee!) at a childcare center near my office.

Just realised how fortunate we are – as soon as the group got the wind of Felicia’s solo trip to Shanghai – Scott, Harshad, HongFei and Tracy came to my rescue. All of them volunteered to babysit Elkan. Things were certainly not the same with and without Felicia. My friends become more liberal…and they even wanted to stay overnight at my house with Elkan! Even Elkan behaved very differently when his mum wasn’t around – He was 200% naughtier and nosier! Mmm.. not sure this is a good idea to grant any more annual leaves for my wife. Perhaps, I should send both mum and son away the next time.

Despite being away from her "very naughty" son, Felicia found herself surrounded by mothers-&-kids in Shanghai! Nonetheless, I bet she enjoyed her short trip in Shanghai – Over the past 2 days, she visited our good friends – Echo, Johnny and Ming. And not to mention those shopping sites where she accumulated 2 big bags of goodies!

Filed under Life in Hong Kong

← Older posts

Newer posts →