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Learn@Singapore 2006

The place where I worked at, Shuqun Secondary School participated in the Learn@Singapore competition. It was a yearly affair hosted by the ministry of education to promote the use of technology in daily life.


Jeerin, Jean and Darshan

We went to the Singapore discovery center for this year’s event. This year, we are supposed to complete a teasure hunt and the clues are given through 3G messaging.

It was loads of fun trying to decode and find the clues and getting to the next challenge. It was interesting to note that we took our time and breeze through the clues while other teams were so frantic and pushed each other while trying to complete theirs

We completed it earlier than most teams anyways 😉

Many participants from various schools

Opening ceremony

Little George is a robot with artificial intelligence

One of the stations we went to

Sending the answers and then receiving clues through the 3G phone

And at the end of the event, the team are supposed to create a moblog and blog about their experiences, what they have learnt and about the theme of the event.

There was a similar competition last year while I was attached to another school. But due to certain events, I didn’t pursue it any further. But I wonder how the team will do this year.

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Beautiful Terengganu

What can I say? Terengganu is one of the most beautiful beaches that I’ve seen. Wonderful coastline and soft powdery sands. Simply breathtaking. Two days isnt enough time to experience the things that I would have liked to see and do.

Terengganu is located on the east cost of peninsula Malaysia and it overlooks the South China Sea.

We left on Thursday night and took the overnight coach to get there. Dont the reason why, but all overnight coaches are freezing cold! I could still feel the bite even in my jacket. Luckily for me, I packed my body towel along to wrap myself in.

The next day, tired and groggy, we stopped at Kemaman for morning prayers and breakfast. Loads of food to eat! Younger bro and sis each had Nasi Lemak (Coconut rice) each. Mum and Dad had Roti Canai while I had a plate of Kuih (cakes) and my favourite Teh Halia (ginger tea)


Teh halia!


Roti Canai is similar Roti Prata, best eaten hot and with curry. Their version is a little spicier though. But still delicious!

It was a hearty breakfast. Bro and Dad had second helpings even till everyone was full. We spent $18 Ringgit for a family of 5. That was so awesome. 🙂

Unlike Singapore, there were plenty of animals roaming around. Like sheeps and cows and there were plenty of cats there. I had a ball of a time playing with them.


Err .. hello, what happened to you?

Later we stopped by a batik factory and saw beautiful batiks being made. Batik is made of a silk cloth, where the beautiful pattern are usually handmade.

Hot wax is put into the tool called chenang while the artist draws pattern on the cloth

The pattern are traced in wax and then coloured with cloth dye.


This is a tool where you dip in wax and then pressed on the silk. Another type of batik.


Mum choosing some batiks for us. I’m going to look like a SIA girl! Haha!


Man with glass crafting demonstration near the batik demonstration

We then went to Pasar Besar Kedai Payang (translated to Big Market Shop Payang). It was such a kaleidescope of colours. And in the morning, with a bustling of activities of people buying their daily needs.

There were loads of things being sold there, from fresh vegetables being heaped like hills, to cakes, to fresh flowers. There were many things as far as the eye can see.


Turtle eggs that can be eaten. It has a slightly bitter taste.





Colourful keropoks made of different type of seafood

Terengganu is famous for turtles and seafood. Keropok, a type of food made of fish paste is also a famous snack here. Mum decided to buy some turtle eggs and keropok while I observed around. Even though I was malay, the natives here has a different way of talking. They tend to speak their words with an additional ‘g’

“Saya nak makang”
“Satu, dua, tiga, engpat, lima, enam, tujuh, lapang”

It took me a while to get used to the way they talk.

We had lunch together. My parents had baked fish each and dare I say that it was truely one of the best ones that I’ve eaten so far. It may be a simple dish, but it really tasted so good.


Yummy!


Bro couldnt understand this cute little boy who asked him, “Have you paid for your drinks?” Children here are so cute I swear. They are always playing and smiling

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At length in the evening, we reached our hotel – the Awana Kijal hotel. By then we were too tired to do anything. I would have liked to do a bit of water sports (there’s kayaking here! Jet skiing! Catamaran!) or simple things like seeing the fireflies. Unfortunately it was too late to do any thing because it was already 5pm and bookings will be closed by then.

Thats the thing about group tours that I really dont like. That we have to comply to do things that is in the schedule. Oh well. Maybe we’ll go there again the next time, but we’ll do it free and easy 🙂

The hotel was pretty nice and had a lovely view of the sea when we opened the curtains.



Can you imagine waking up to this?

I persuaded my (already tired) family to see the sea. “If not now, when?” We were tired from the long journey but it was such a treat to see the wondrous sight. And we viewed the cultural show which was going on, on the way back to the hotel.


My beautiful mum by the sea


My dad walking along the sandy beach. The white thing is whole sea shells.


Diana admiring the sea


A scene from the cultural show – This guy is very handsome!

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We had to leave the next day (Bwaaah! Thats not even one day we spent there!) We spent time on the bus again, stopping now and then to eat. We must have eaten lots!

Sis loved eating Sata. boneless fish marinated in spices, wrapped in banana leaves and grilled over charcoal fire. My parents bought lemang, bamboo stuffed with rice and cooked over coals for several hours. While I had keropok lekor, delicious fish sausages that is eaten with chili sauces.



Sata is made of marinated fish paste and wrapped in banana leaves and then grilled. Really delicious when eaten hot


Lemang – rice stuffed in bamboo and cooked over an open fire


Keropok Lekor, made of fish paste. Can be eaten as it is like this


But I prefer it fried and crispy

Sigh. There really is something special about eating authentic food.

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Would love to visit again. Truely is paradise on earth.


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The reopening of Jurong Lake Park

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Went kayaking with my mum and brother today at the beautiful, newly opened Jurong Lake park. That was a whole load of fun! Initially mum was so afraid of falling in the water while in the kayak but after a short while, she really enjoyed herself pedalling smoothly in the lake that when the time was up, she didn’t even want to leave!

I really like kayaking. It probably started in Outward Bound School I think. One try and I really liked it. One of the more memorable experiences that I had was during the trip to Thailand with my best friends Juli and Hema. We went through mangrove swamps and the open sea and the experience really felt like a discovery channel show with all the nature that we saw.

Hema and guide in the front kayak with me and Juli at the back I miss this. I’d love to go again

Will there be a kayaking club in Jurong, I wonder? The instructors didn’t say, but I think it would be lovely to have one on lakeside, with all the unused water catchment area. I’d join in a heartbeat!

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Night classes has been interesting. It was lovely to see some friendly faces but that nervous feeling is there. The feeling of unpreparedness, especially after one economics class when the tutor asked us a question and I just sat there feeling very blank.

I turn around to the person behind me.

“I don’t know how to do this. How do you answer it?”

“Oh, when the marginal propriety consumption goes up, the marginal propriety savings goes down. Thus, in the graph, it shifts up and the consumption graph, it pivots. Pretty easy right?”

“Huh? Err .. yeah, yeah yeah … easy …”

Just what the heck are you talking about?

I really need to buck up. I’m just too tired to do anything. Is it possible to have a burnout before anything even started?

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The opening of the new park in Jurong and Natas Fair

The lingerie fair at IMM was lovely. I got myself a stylish pierre cardin bra and panty with matching camisole for only $50 dollars after my old bra trade in when regularly it would cost $40, $14 and $39 individually.

Do you like my new camisole?

I could have gone crazy there though. So many lovelies. And cheaper too. Even some of the ones that I bought just last november went on sale, 2 pairs for $29. Unfortunately the choices were limited though, and some of the lingerie that I saw from the website wasn’t there. And I don’t fancy the dressing room that they had there which was so cramped! There wasn’t enough space to extend my arm forward. It felt a bit coffin-like even.

But anyways all in all I had a whole load of fun with all the lovelies. Great deals like that dont come very often. I’m surprised there wasnt more people coming over though. There were just a handful of ladies when I was there. More for me I guess 😛

After some months of construction, the new Jurong Greens park was officially opened today with a fitness carnival and there were so many people. It was lovely to see so many excited and happy faces as they participated in the various activities.

When I arrived there, there were many people queuing up, waiting for to try out the different games there.

There were many happy children there too, playing with their friends and it was such a delight just to see them laughing and smiling as they played around.

Near the concourse, there were a few activities too, such as the taekwondo and juggling display as well as the break-dancing display.

Soon after came the announcement of the lucky draw winners. Hamish Brown, radio personality for class 95 was there. How funny it was to have him smile in my direction as I casually took a picture 🙂

The happy faces of the proud winners!

Went to the Natas fair at Suntec City afterwards. The Natas fair was where different travel agencies have their annual fair to promote their packages. This is where people were supposed to get good deals. And thus, with the long Easter break coming up as well as the June holidays, there were a huge crowd there, from the ticket booth :

To the entry :

To the inside :

Narima, a ex colleague of mine whom initially wanted to go to Italy complained that it was super crowded and quickly left after spending less than an hour there. I could see what she meant by that.

One of the prettiest display I’ve seen

This poor thing got bullied by kids who kept kicking and poking it. I was tempted to scold them if not for their parents right next to them. Why didn’t they say anything? 0.o

Turns out that the Natas fair was catered more for packaged tours. And I wasn’t interested in that. However, there were about 2 or 3 agencies that offered plane tickets to Rome.

Funnily enough, the prices for the plane tickets weren’t competitive plus most of them said, “You HAVE to book today! Last day!” and I was left to think that I might as well book a ticket online anyway, which I did at fare.net.

I do hope I get a plane ticket.

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An Open letter to Tourism Management of Singapore

To whom it may concern,

I came across with interest with the advertisements that you have publicised in the mass media recently about the Miss Tourism competition that you are organizing. I perked up with complete rapture at the host’s voice asking me saucily, “Do YOU have it takes to represent Singapore as tourism ambassador”

Okay, so I’m slightly shorter than 1.65m as what the terms and conditions specified and that my body shape would most definitely not put me in the modelesque category and neither do I have the fair caucasian skin that talent scouts are always fawning about.

But why vote for an ambassador based upon by how they physically look like?

Everyone here is special, and everyone has their own experiences that are special. Having lived here all my life, I’ve formed bonds with people here. I’ve experienced different cultures. And I’ve walked in the different senses that is unique to this country.

Every few weeks I find the simple joys of exploring Singapore and see what different things that there are in this country. We may be small, but there are always interesting people and things to see if you search well enough.

Without the need to resort to using famous television actors nor singers or models, there are already many fascinating real life people here. Like the Indian uncle with the cool long beard who makes delicious teh tarik, or the friendly Chinese man who would chat with you while you order a potong ice cream from him on a blazing hot day. The interesting auntie that shows you how to handcrafts slippers using tiny beads.

The esplanade is a gorgeous and beautiful monument. Sentosa is a lovely sunny island getaway. But there are also beauty in the simple things, like the coffee-shop that we visit. There you see people of different creeds having their communal breakfast together and you close your eyes and hear different accents and bustling sounds of the atmosphere in the morning.

I’ve experienced joy, gratitude, remourse, excitement, sadness … and a whole load of phetora of being a citizen here. And like everyone else, I struggle … like every one of us, we struggle to reach our goal, our hopes, our dreams.

Since my mother has been more active in attending different community events, I’ve come to appreciate things that I would have never noticed before. The people, the festivals and the joys.

So I refuse parade in a bikini. Thats my freedom of choice. So I have a distaste of having a fake smile and posing like an insipid living doll like what I’ve failed to avoid to see on TV mobile – The Miss Universe pageant. Just seeing these contestants smiling vapidly, beckoning viewers to “Vote for me” sends a chill down my spine.

Why is it so wrong to have a more regular, person to represent? Why is it so wrong to have someone from the heartlands?

So you say that these beautiful vapid dolls will attract more demographics. But you have to remember that beauty is only skin deep and what makes a person is their character, their knowledge and their experiences.

I don’t believe that any one of the current contestant have the passion nor the dedication to ‘represent’. Maybe I could be wrong about that but till the day when I see the chosen delegate doing anything significant to promote tourism, I’ll still be firm in my stand.

Excuse me for being insolent while I look with helpless dismay on our passionless future ambassador.

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Mosaic Festival at the Esplanade

The mosaic music festival was fun to watch yesterday. There were many different types of genres of music going on simultaneously in the different parts of the esplanade building.

I was bumming around yesterday and decided to roam around just for the heck of it. Initially I thought of attending a talk conducted at Suntec City but I found out that I was too late then I thought maybe I could go to the hospital to donate blood. Then I found out that it was closed.

Finally, I let my legs take me where it wanted to go and finally I ended up at the esplanade. Boy was it full of life with loads and loads of people. Some were wearing casual – typical jeans and tee shirts, but there were many well heeled people in an almost formal attire of heels, dresses and jewellery. But they all looked to have some fun.

I was standing by the foyer, overlooking the sea and I saw a crowd with some comperes talking to the crowd and I approached it and saw that there will be a band starting. A group started and played the samba and salsa music. The hypnotic rhthymic beat made everyone in the mood. It even made some people stand up and dance to the music too! It certainly felt very festive.

As far as my eye could see, there were people everywhere. From the completely full cafe’s alone the esplanade, to the entire granite seatings by the sea.

I felt quite lonely tho as everywhere I saw, everyone walked in two’s. Everyone! From the point where I walking from the foyer to the other end of the bridge. Till I even got teased by complete strangers for walking by myself.

But anyways, I’m sure Cart would have loved to see the music festival. Him being an avid music lover and that his ultimate favourite band, the Pat Matheny trio, was playing here too during the mosaic festival. He would have gone wild!


Finally someone with naturally volumed hair like me

I then went in the building and there were flamenco dancers and guitarists. And I watched the dancers clapping their hands and sang lyrically in a language I couldnt understand.

So very cool. Yes I liked it. Couldnt find the jazz section, I bet that would have been cool too. I liked acid jazz – brand new heavies is one of the bands that I liked to hear. Maybe they’d have that in next year’s mosaic festival

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Badmi-Chingay


A lovely morning spent playing badminton. I didnt know that that the community center was opened for public just like that. (normally, you’d have to be a member and pay fees) but since mum said that the organization that she was in, booked the hall, I thought I’d drop by.

And oh my gosh. I was totally out of it! Its been at least 2 years since I’ve played badminton so my skills were extremely depreciated. I couldnt even serve the ball. It keeps falling and I cant aim properly. Argh! Need more practise.

Anyway, the chingay parade yesterday was quite nice. It was super crowded! People everywhere. To the left of me, to the right of me. It wasnt pleasant being in the crush like that (especially when there were some very interesting bodily smells abound)

And it was hard to see anything either. Everybody were standing up. I craned my neck. They craned their neck some more. I tried to tip toe and they stood upright even more.

Ahh .. times like these makes me wish I were taller.

Anyhow, here’s a video montage of the parade 🙂 Not a super quality as everyone were taller than me and I had to lift the vid-camera up high over my head and after a while my arms got sore 😛

No point even trying to take a picture hehehe. What do you think?

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To cycle from there to back again!

Awesome! We cycled about 12.5km all the way to Clementi and then back again. When I reached home, my legs felt like jelly and felt like it was about to fall off.

Well, thats what you get for not exercising for years! I was so tired that I went to bed early from the exhaustion.

To be honest, I was more amazed than anything as if we took the bus or the train from where we started, it would take a good half an hour to 45 minutes to reach the destination. If taking into the consideration for waiting for the bus to arrive, and queueing up and other things.

Compared to public transportation, cycling felt different too. We could slow down and look at the different sceneries, breathe in the fresh air and stop where ever we wanted to.

We travelled mainly by the AYE highway (quite dangerous I know, but unfortunately the sidepath wasnt big enough for bicycles) and used the pedestrian path as much as we possibly could.

Thankfully, it was still a ghost-town because of the Chinese New Year and there were hardly anyone around the sidepath and there wasnt that much traffic on the road.

I could breathe in the ‘jungly’ smell of Teban and see the scenic view of Pandan River. Nothing beats the feeling of the simple joy of rolling downhill on the bicycle with the wind in the face.

We reached Clementi in about 30 mins. Ahh .. clementi. The place where I spent alot of time, during my days in Jurong Institute. Plenty of memories here as I walked around the area with my brother.

I told him of how I had to leave the house early to get to the Clementi Interchange to get to school on time. And how we spent time roaming around the different shops when we needed a break from all the studying.

There were hardly any shops opened but I reminisced about the area.

There were so many memories.

Like the time when we still had A&W Restaurants here. A couple of friends and I would go there on Tuesdays to order mugs of Root beer (in those lovely frosted mugs) and Coney Dogs and sometimes waffles with ice cream on top.

I also encountered stupid situations like having blind dates over at A&W. Ahh the carefree stupidity of youth. In fact, many of my teenage blind dates happen at fast food restaurants. I wonder if I should make an advertisment script for that 😛

Camera zooms in to a girl in A&W, gingerly sipping her root beer and looking expectantly for her date to come.

A boy comes in, with a loud shirt and overdone hair – he just looks odd!

Girl is repulsed until he whips out…

A coney dog!

And they both beam at each other and the girl bats her eyes, just for good measure

Erm … Okay, that sounds like a horrible advertisment. Furgedisaidabouddit.

We dont have A&W in Singapore anymore. It was still nice to remember the memories there.

We walked around and explored the area and saw many changes. Some shops has moved, like KFC wasnt at the cinema building anymore. The shopping center seems to be gone and a mysterious pizza hut and a Karaoke Lounge just popped up on the building where they shared with the polyclinic and bigbookshop.

But no dramatic things much has changed there and it looks pretty much the same as it was about 10 years ago. Err … even smells the same.

My bro and I stopped by the hawker center. By now, we were extremely thirsty and needed a break. Fortunately for us, there were still a few stalls opened and I decided to have dinner there too.

I ordered Indian Styled Mutton Chop (which is basically marinated meat in spicy tomato sauce, usually served with fries and half fried egg)

It wasnt that tasty though. It was tad bit too crispy when it should have been soft and melt in your mouth. The portion didnt justify the price either. ($4 for that? Bleh)

Bro had sop tulang which was basically cow bones cooked in savoury sauce. It takes skill to eating it as there are still precious meat left on the bones and the insides of it are the best thing to eat.

It was pretty alright. It wasnt the best sop tulang that I’ve ever had, but it was decent. the best ones would be the ones in arab street or that hawker center where Juli and Hema and I discovered when we wanted to buy tickets for our penang trip… Oh I’m craving for good sop tulang now …LOL! Maybe I could persuade someone to go out with me later 😛

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While eating, I had a thought though. About the promotion of Singapore culture. Tour agencies can promote all of the landmarks that they can here, but there is hardly anything authentic about the whole situation.

What they do, is nothing really special. Organized tours … Ho-hum! In the end, they would go back and think that there is nothing to it here. It would be so much better to experience things in the local’s context.

Eating at hawker centers like a local. Having the chance to mingle with the locals. Living in a flat, like a local. Even enjoying local hobbies.

Which travel agency has ever promoted the joys of “mahjong” or “community center events” or even “karaoke competitions”. I know that it sounds very radical but we wont know till we give it a try, right?

Something that the Singapore Tourism Board hasnt done yet and which I’m looking forward to.

I mean, all the Haw Par Villas and the Sentosa Resort is fine but we also need something authentic. I’d like to show my dearest something that I enjoy doing, and going to, on a personal basis.

Anyway, I’ll stop here for the moment. Till the next time.

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Cycling is fun :)

Reformatting the computer isnt as painful as I anticipated. Not when the important data has been backed up, everything is a breeze. No drama, no screams and no tears. Not what I expected.

How uneventful.

Anyway, a happy Chinese new year to all whom celebrates it! The school where I worked at had a lovely Chinese New year celebration which started with a visit from some children from Korea. The kids were so adorable! I could just eat them up! I love their colourful costumes and how precious they were.



And there was this little boy that I had to refrain myself from kidnapping. Oh gosh, when he smiles, it just melts my heart. He looked *just* like a kid version of the Korean actor, Bae Yong Jun. (Not that I watch Korean shows, he just reminded me of him, is all)



Can I keep him?

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Spent the day yesterday cycling on a whim, with my brother. Its been a while since I cycled. I’ve always enjoyed a nice relaxing cycle. Since it was chinese new year’s eve, not much shop was opened. The place was like a ghost town. There were not many people around exept for us and the few occasional pedestrians.

We cycled all the way to IMM, a hypermarket that I liked to visit. And parked our bicycles at the corner. We entered the building. Again, it was so deserted. There wasnt much shops opened (but there were still a number of people around who were probably trying to do some last minute shopping)

I joked to my brother that this would be perfect for a science fiction show.

Me : Maybe there was a big biological warfare going on.

H : Then we should be dead too.

Me : No! No! We have this immune system that made us impervious to the chemicals

H : Riiiiiggggghhhhhhhhtttt …. *rolls eyes*

But we had a lovely time talking and exploring around. Just bonding. Something I miss because since I was working, I didnt have that much chance to spend with my family. I’d like to do that more.

We went to explore Daiso, a shop that sold each item for $2. I got me a toy for Diana (whom I think would be bummed out by now, she’s been sick, you see) and these adorable frogs.

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Anyways, Jurong is such a lovely area to cycle. Beautiful scenery, lovely breeze. Perfect for cycling. I think I’ll go cycle again this afternoon 🙂