Southern Ridges

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I'm probably rather late in visiting the Southern Ridges of Singapore, but I only manage to steal some time during the holidays to take a trip down the 4 - 5 hours walk along the Southern Ridges - Singapore's latest development.

I started off at the Habour Front- Mount Faber ( Technically, it is just a hill)

An oasi amidst the hot , humid climate?

I know the following pictures of the Henderson Waves is probably very cliche in Facebooks and Flickr , but what the hack , I'm joining the crowd to flood the web with these pics ...

Some insect spotted along the way:

Telok Blangah Hill: still a notice for the wanted man

This is the Forest Walk. Still some minor construction.

Forest Walk or Concrete Jungle?

Durian! So many of them!!! Anyone know what's the building at the background?

Some time back I posted a flower of banana plant, here is another one:

Reflecting Hort Park

Bamboo always reminds me of tranquillity. This is a mini bamboo grove - Zen style.

A lotus in a bathtub.

Wizards of Oz:

Nursery for temperate flowers.

Canopy walk

Pasir Panjang Hill - I didn't know this used to be a battle site.

Strange fountains. It is composed of brains! This is in front of the DSO building. I suppose the people there use so much of their brain power doing research, their brains heat up so quickly, they need water to cool them down.

Admittedly, I didn't finished the entire walk. Ended at Science Park I. Isn't it suppose to end at West Coast Park? I'm not sure. Anyway, took a cab back to Vivocity and have a wonderful , and restful lunch at a Thai restaurant.

Genting Trip

There is saying " Macau to Chinese is what Mecca to Muslim" . It seems like gambling is so much infused into the Chinese culture . And Singapore is going to open up the IR ... Anyway, this year, this Genting Trip feels very much routine. Here are some photos:

A night scene:

The theme park: ( Actually I'm really looking forward to the Universal Studio in Singapore)

This is really a road less travelled in Genting. I took a 5 mins bus ride this Chin Swee Temple ( not translated as 'very pretty temple' but 'clear water temple") It's more like a park and Har Par Villa then a temple. Quiet and serene. The clutter is at the casino, where else?!?! A wonderful place for people to reflect on their lives - and repent their sins up at the casino, ha ha.

Life and possession , like cloud, are fleeting:

Lunch - coffee and sandwich - a time to quieten down and rest.

Genting sunrise:

Step up 2 - bus services

I totally understand that SBS buses are continuously improving themselves. The seats in the last row are raised so that the passengers will not be heated up by the engine.

HOWEVER, look at the number of steps needed to go up seat there! It is ridiculous for elderly or pregnant women to mingle through crowded buses, let alone climb up so many steps of stairs just to fine a seat. Actually, there aren't many seats available if you are inconvenient to climb up the stairs.

Also, as you can see from the pic, there is already a lady seated at the outer seat leaving the inner seat empty. It is horribly irritating to see people who don't fill up empty seats, and they block access to those seats; people who do not move to the rear so that more passengers can board the bus; people who place their bags onto the seats ....Let's face the truth, Singapore aren't considerate and gracious - yet.

Don't us feel embrass having notices and bus drivers to remind us to move to rear. My guess is the bus drivers used to shout and they recieved complaints from the public, so now they gently remind us

I really pity those needy. Well, I'm sure SBS is continuously trying to improve itself - that's probably one of their KPI anyway-, meanwhile those needy just have to HANG IN there ( laterally and figuratively), if they can reach the handle in the first place. Or else they can start doing the 'pole dance' when the bus starts to swirl.

Midnight show

I can't remember when was the last time I watched a midnight show.

Was going to watch Chronicles of Narnia.

Of course, before that I need my dose of caffeine to keep me awake.

于丹

I'm beginning to be a fan of 于丹, a professor from 北京师范大学 (Beijing Normal University, a very renowned teacher training college in China.)

I can never imagine myself reading Chinese books, let alone Chinese books on classics philosophy. I'm actually drawn to the books she wrote. Although I took a long time to read them, I really enjoyed them and learnt a thing or two from old chinese sayings. Wow.


She has written 3 books in this series

1. 论语心得
2. 庄子心得
3. 论语感悟

Read this first two. Hope to finish the 3rd before my next semester of night studies start in August. ( Yeah, my reading is slow) Then again, 欲速则不达. I'm taking my time. It's not how much I have read, It's how I have learnt.

Then again there is always the dvd. ha ha.

For snippet of the intro lecture:
http://space.tv.cctv.com/act/video.jsp?videoId=VIDE1202286926340461
here is the link to the series of the 3rd book:
http://space.tv.cctv.com/act/platform/view/page/composePage.jsp?pageId=PAGE1197624456765101

alternative: go to youtube and search for 于丹.

Some more pic of ACJC

During the holiday, went back for video editting course. This is 1 of the 2 courses for the holidays. Damn! On the one hand, they are interesting, they are useful , they are blah blah blah.... (you can give one quadrillion reasons) BUT!!!! it is the holidays!!!!!!!!!!!! it is the holidays !!!! ( imagine a whining , unreasonable kid on the floor of a toy store )

If the management or MOE people are reading this, just a humble suggestion - shouldn't we have some form of regulations to control the number of courses and meetings to be held during the holidays.

We already have protected time for school and departmental based discussion - called the white space . How can we call it SPACE when it is already filled ?!?! (overflown actually - it is really difficult to book a slot for meeting, I heard.) Anyway, shouldn't we have protected time for holidays as well?

So I'm making the best use of time to take some really nice ( 老王卖瓜，自卖自夸) photos. Here is a nice angle looking at ACJC. Well, for achievements, I totally agree that The Best is Yet to Be ; for workload - the worst is yet to come. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.



Well, before the video editting ... we have to record some video. I'm told this video camera costs 12K or something. Of course my hands tremble when I'm handling it!This is the new Centre of Performing Arts (CPA) building. I was officially launched a few days ago.


Some more random pics:

Singapore River Raft Race

Time really flies, it is the annual Singapore River Raft Race again. And it has been 5 years since Unity scout troop first participated in it.


What never fails to amaze me is how rafts are decorated according to the happenings of the year ( actually they are encourage to use recycle material - that is the original idea , I think)



Formula 1 racing( there were actually a number of them, but is was so crowded I manage only to take picture of one of them):
Year of the rat:

Happy Feet?