Bukit Timah Hill

I usually have a long day for Friday; practical lessons ends at 4:30pm. This week, ACJC, J1 is having mid year exam. Took this valuable 'early' Friday to join my scout group for a hike at Bukit Timah. Wonderful to be in touch with nature and catch up with fellow scouters - before the marking for mid year exams and SPA ( Science Practical Assessment) starts.


Also catch some monkeys doing some - monkey business.



For pictures of scouts, click the follow link:
http://unity-unicorn-scouts.spaces.live.com/?_c11_PhotoAlbum_spaHandler=TWljcm9zb2Z0LlNwYWNlcy5XZWIuUGFydHMuUGhvdG9BbGJ1bS5GdWxsTW9kZUNvbnRyb2xsZXI%24&_c11_PhotoAlbum_spaFolderID=cns!1A81AA4A4C10298B!396&_c11_PhotoAlbum_startingImageIndex=0&_c11_PhotoAlbum_commentsExpand=0&_c11_PhotoAlbum_addCommentExpand=0&_c11_PhotoAlbum_addCommentFocus=0&_c=PhotoAlbum

New Plant

I have forgotten to bring the old bonsai back during the school holidays; it dried up. So bought a new one. This is similar to the old one, but it has some fruit and flowers already. Must make a mental note to bring this back home to water during the December holiday.

Hong Kong - a day trip

A day trip to Hong Kong proves to be a tiring one. After taking an hour long ferry to Kowloon, I took some time to orient myself in the urban jungle. Ferry berth at Tsim Sha Tsui, the CBD+shopping place. The place is so complex there are people nicely dress in coat to work, tourists shopping around, people in t-shirts delivering goods ( is there a warehouse?) ... Shops range from international & expensive boutique like Trussardi, Mont Blanc .............. tonnes of them, and along the streets, there are local shops .............. tonnes and tonnes of them.



This is a picture of Hong Kong, taken from Kowloon. Rather foggy, or smoggy to be more exact. There is a touched-up version at the PicasaWeb that looks more pleasant.


And there are residential amidst the chaos! Goodness! How do they survive living there? Well I suppose, to earn big bucks, that is the way to live in a complex, diverse city like Hong Kong.

Macau - other attractions

Shoppings and Sight Seeing
There are other attractions besides gambling. There are actually a few nice places to shop around in Macau. And the buildings left behind by the Portuguese are really something.



There are common shops such as Giordano, Samual & Kevin etc ... along the way to Ruins of St Paul Cathedral . One should also try the local shops, but like most tourist attractions, there is a bit of touting which is rather irritating.

However, some must-try goodies includes:

• Portuguese Egg Tarts
• Almond Cookies
• asorted Ba Kua (sweetened roast meat) - from pork, beef, ostrich, wild boar ...
  

Grey (not exactly) Hound Race

According to the Lonely Planet I bought for the trip, Macau hosts the only Grey Hound Race in asia. It's worth a visit. I'm surprised how fast the dogs can run. Before the visit, I was asking myself:
Question: Unlike horse race where a man can ride on the horse to control the direction and speed, how does the dogs know how to run round the track?
Answer: A motor controls a mechanical rabbit (a white furry thingy) rounds the track. The hounds chase after it.

And of course, needless to say, there is betting.

Macau - casinos

The Muslims goes to Macca for pilgrimage; the Chinese goes to Macau. With the direct flight, budget airline Tiger Airways, servicing there, going to Macau can't be any simpler. A 3 1/2 hours flight and you are there. The taxi to most hotels are about 10 mins - Macau isn't that big.


People goes to Macau for one reason - gambling. After Sands ( a Las Vegas based casinos) operates in Macau, the smaller and older ones are finally bucking up. A walk on the streets will see renovations and building activities. I must say that Sands has set a new standard for gambling: gambling is not just about winning money; Sands has make the process of gambling ( and actually losing money) - enjoyable. I can't take pictures inside the casino, but imagine Suntec City Convection with super high ceiling and escalators ... now replace the shops and exhibition hall with gambling tables and jackpot machines. Sands is a 4 storey high casino!

Other new and upcoming hotel-casino-resort are:

1. Crown Casino - 6-Star Hotel-casino just opened recently a few months ago. The invited Chow Yun Fatt, the star actor for Gods of Gambler to be the ambassador for the hotel. Wonderful place - big, nice, clean. 5 storey of casinos.
2. Venetian Macau - coming soon. ( also by Sands) Integrated Resort style casinos. Looking at the model, the place looks really attractive, with wave pool and resorts and stuff ... and , of course, casinos.
   

Just outside Sands and the blocks of other hotels-cum-casinos, is the Fisherman Wharf. It is more like a theme park. And , as the pictures below, it is deserted. It's a pity because it is really a nice place. Then again, if people are going to Macau for gambling, and the casinos do not admit children, there's not much reason to bring children there, isn't it. Of course the children theme park is going to be empty.

Actually, few people goes there to take pictures.


This Alfresco style cafe is empty in the day - Macau only comes alive at night.


The earnings in Macau have already surpass Las Vegas:
http://www.china.org.cn/english/MATERIAL/189446.htm
It seems that Singapore has made a right decision to open IR?!?!? There's a big market out there - Chinese's getting richer. And of course there are the Japanese and Koreans and Australian .... Anyway, only time will tell.

Sands will be building the IR at Marina Bay. However, it's not doing well in the first quarter this year, facing competition from Wynn and MGM. It seems like Sands is taking a big gamble as well. Read the analysis from Forbes:
http://www.forbes.com/markets/2007/05/03/casino-sands-las-markets-equity-cx_er_0503markts19.html

Shameless!

I despise people borrowing basket of books - literally basket! of books in public library. The parents nowadays are so super-duper inconsiderate and selfish. They have stack of library cards, borrow books in supermarket baskets, and check them out in self-service check out counters. Goodness, where in the world they have so many library cards? friends, grandparents, babies, maids?!?!

I am wondering why the library authority doesn't do something about it. Yet, they are increasing the number of books able to be borrowed for each card. Are they trying to increase readership? Is the amount of books loaned out one of their Specific Targets set for the year-end appraisal?

Is this the way to improve the literacy rate in Singapore?

I emphasize - it is the quality of how a book is read ( how you learn and digest the information of the book) rather than the quantity of the books you have read that makes a good difference in your language and knowledge.





There is a reason why free flow drinks, chilli, ketchup are not common in Singapore's fast food. ( As far as I know, only Carl's Jr has free flow drinks; but they burgers are so big, it fills people up, they don't bother refilling much)

Gracious and Civic-minded society??? Singapore is way way way ..... away from being one.

A measure of how gracious a society is, is not whether the people obey the rules; but how people behave even without rules. It is just too common nowadays that people are finding loopholes in the system and try to squeeze every bit out of the society. The results? more rules, more specific regulations. Haven't we understand that:

Who made the rules? the government.
Why do they made the rules? people behaving badly.

The cause of 'over-flooding' of rules is people behaving badly. At this rate. The government is going to do what they do best - create more rules.

NIpping at the butt (punishment) is not nipping the problem in the bud.

Next - Michael Crichton

Finally managed to find time to read a fiction book- Next by Michael Crichton. Didn't have that much time when taking night lessons. Anyway, this a good book but not really fantastic compared to his previous Prey. Is probably because of the theme - genetic engineering.Prefer Prey which is about Nanoparticles, more physics related. I highly recommend this book. This is by far my fastest reading book ever, consider my reading speed is really slow.
Another recent book is State of Fear, about climate change and Tsunami! This book is released about a year before the Asian Tsunami striked. Guess what - it's about people trying to create Tsunami, terrorism, and effect of media ...


What I like about Michael Crichton books is that it is so related to the current science issues. Even though they are fiction, the books are so well researched that all of them seems so real that they could actually happen.