we are going to the ZOO, zoo, zoo. how about you, you, you??

It has been ages since I went to the zoo. The other time I was there, I think I was less than a metre tall. This time round, I got lucky in my first time application for the corporate complimentary card! And I was a reversal of role, because it was me who brought my parents to the zoo (It used to be the other way round)!

OK, a little about Singapore Zoo first. Singapore Zoo is a world acclaimed zoo, with most animals able to wander around more freely in a man-made natural environment instead of being locked up in enclosure. We spent almost 7 hours strolling through the park, and catching the animal shows.

天堂鸟

A mother kangaroo with its joey in her pouch. See the awkward position the joey is in.

Australian Wallaby

The white tiger looking at its reflection.

The graciousness of the flamingo is something I admire

Meerkat, more commonly known as Timon in Lion King

That tall monster.

The giraffe sticking out its black long tongue, hungry for some potato sticks.

The sea lion doing its ballerina spin, and splashing water on the excited kids.

Elephants struting their stuff at the twice daily shows.

That's a terrapin!

Some information on tribes in Africa.

Naked mole rats - blind, wrinkled, but live a long life.

And how can any visit to Singapore Zoo go without visiting our dear Orang Utan?

10 new facts that I learnt during this trip:
1) There are penguins that are able to survive in Singapore’s ambient temperature, and this species of penguins hail from Africa.
2) There are 9 sub-species of giraffes that can be found in the world, and they are differentiated by their spot patterns.
3) The young of the black and white tapir actually has white strips on their black bodies for 5 months, because they change totally in colouration to what we see them as normally.
4) Rabbits actually eat their poo to aid in their digestion!
5) Under that white fur coat of polar bears, actually lies a totally black skin.
6) Lions sleep for 20 hours a day, while giraffes only close their eyes to rest for 4 hours a day, in a standing position.
7) ‘Kangaroo’ means ‘I don’t know’.

8) Naked mole rats do not rely on their eyes for sight, instead they use their whiskers to feel the surrounding. Their longevity (lifespan of 28 years) as a rodent, is also an area of interest for scientists!
9) White tigers are not albino tigers, the pale colouration is caused by the presence of a recessive gene.
10) Turtles stay in water; terrapins alternate between water and land, and tortoises are entirely on land.

hongkong: day 4 of 6, STANLEY

The mini bus service from Causeway Bay to Stanley Market was hard to find – it was well hidden in a narrow back alley. I secretly suspect the drivers of these mini buses received trainings from Michael Schumacher himself in cornering the many bends at such high speed! Stanley Market was a kind of it’s own, I suppose. It sells souvenirs which the tourist would be interested in buying. The beach beside it make it look like it’s a pasar malam near a resort.

There's an eatery through this small alley

Dilapilated house

Lunch at one of the crowded restaurant was just superb. However, the drink was other wise. Having an adventurous spirit, I decided to give Lemon coffee a try. The mixture of taste from the lemon and the coffee was something indescribable. I left more than half a cup left.

The plain-looking-but-delicious roast pork rice

Lemon coffee which doesn't please my palate at all!

The peak tram to get up to Victoria Peak was flooded with people, especially so on a holy day like Christmas. So instead of seeing the nightly displays of lights from the Peak, we headed for the Harbour where there were music to compliment the lightshow.

Symphony of Lights

hongkong: day 3 of 6, MACAU

With our passports in hand, we made a small trip out of HongKong – to Macau.

The uncle whom we bought the last minute discounted ferry tickets from was really funny, he shouted and screamed at us as if we were his disobedient children. The rockyness was unbearable for some passengers and the cabin reeked of stale vomit smell. It was all bad.

European architecture

Other than the architecture that still apparently displayed the Portugese influence in Macau, there was also the egg tarts. The taste didn’t come across very remotely as us, but it was also the best Portugese egg tarts that I’ve had so far in my life! Yum yums.

The ubiqutious casinos were the main reason why Macau constantly receives so many tourist. We stepped into one, and we were HKD 500 poorer. Bleahs.

Flora and Uki, whom I have not met for 2 years, do seem to have changed a little when I met them again. They recommended mini clayport rice for dinner.

The oh-my-god-long-queues

The friends from Czech Republic

Christmas creeped passed, without any of us noticing, because we were all engaged in our own conversations in that quiet bar in Soho. But still, we wish you a merry christmas, we wish you a merry christmas, we wish you a merry christmas and a happy new year!

hongkong: day 2 of 6, LAMMA island

Of course, how could any of my trips be without much walking right? And especially so in HongKong where there are many well marked trails available, we just had to do some hiking.

Lamma Island is somewhere where you would like to escape to from the hustle and bustle of city life in HongKong.

Tin Hau Temple

Lamma Winds

The road up Lamma Winds were steep and long. But the view up at the top was definitely worth it, if the soothing wind that made the wind turbine feasible did not. Another thing that should not be missed is the fresh seafood dinner right by the sea.

Steamed scallop with tung hoon

The wait for the ferry back to Hong Kong Island was torturous. By nightfall, the soothing wind had turned chilly and did not fail to raise every single hair on one’s arm.

Greeting displays on buildings in their business district

Giant Santa in International Financial Centre

Lan Kwai Fong next. We tried Jello-shot, a alcohol laden jelly packaged in giant plastic syringes. The taste was terrible – with every shot in your mouth, you get the alcohol vapours right at your nostrils. The track mix at the club on the opposite street however, did wonders. It had been quite some time since I stepped into a club, and with MTR services till late, we grooved the night away.

hongkong: day 1 of 6, NGONG PING

Our flight to HongKong was an early one at 7.55am, but by the time the 4 hours flight landed and we took the public transport in search of our accommodation, and got all ready to explore the city, it was already 3 pm. HongKong, populated in a similar dense manner as Singapore, also took quite a while to get around even though the country is not huge.

I was greeted by Mr Gingerbread Man at the airport.

Ngong Ping 360 was on our itinerary for the first day. The crystal cabin, where the floor of the cable car cabin was see through, was definitely not for those with acrophobia.

Once there, it was like a rush for madhouse because the hill top sights would close in an hour and a half’s time.

Tian Tan Buddha, at 26.4m was the greatest Buddha statue in HongKong. Po Lin Monastery, where it was possible to spend the night there and have some Buddhist meals, was under renovation at that point of time.

As the sun lowered itself slowly, we saw snaking queues of people outside the cable car terminal, and we thought everybody must have waited till last minute before descending from Ngong Ping Peak. It turned out that the cable car system had some technical glitch, and was not operating. That was the third breakdown for the cable car in one week. I liken that to our MRT breakdowns as well. I suppose both aren’t prepared that sufficiently in times of sudden emergencies like these.

we wish you a merry CHRISTMAS

Our clique of colleague decided to have our own Secret Santa and a mini Christmas celebration!!

Our complimentary KitKat cake from Polar!!

My gift from WanQing

Cute old Santa

Wishing everybody an early MERRY CHRISTMAS..

These photos taken with effects courtesy of LemeLeme.

a WATERWAY in the neighbourhood

After much hype on Punggol Waterway, my friends were finally willing to travel to Punggol for a picnic at Punggol Waterway! Yayy, for once, I was nearest to our gathering place! Heehee, you never know how it feels like to travel to town, or even somewhere that’s more than 1km away from your house.

We met up early in the morning, because it was meant to be a brunch picnic, with some of them having to leave in the afternoon.

Assembling at the almost always deserted Punggol station.

Somehow or rather, we look like we're the same height.

We walked for a distance, from Punggol MRT to somewhere where we had an urban picnic – sitting at a concrete shelter instead of on the soft green grass. Our wide-variety brunch was really interesting, with food ranging from DIY sandwiches, to Nyonya kuehs, to Thai fish cake and fried Japanese seaweed chicken! International fare we had ya?!

Jovin, who was in charged of drinks, brought just one packet drink for each person!!

the DIY sandwich - Subway style

3 left after the picnic, and the rest attempted walking to the prawning ground at Punggol Promenade, which was almost 4 LRT stops away, we gave up after just one stop! Hahaha.

Atop one of the pedestrian bridges

Kite flying!

Bottom (L-R): PeiQin, Grace, Jovin, WengHao --- 2nd row (L-R): YaLi, Esther, Jarrod, Hazel --- Top: KangHong

We spent the rest of the afternoon playing an imitation version of Monopoly Deal at the prawning area, and we were lucky the owner did not chase us at all. To add on, the improvised version of Monopoly Deal, where there are alliances formed, was a lot more fun!

SOCCER, dinner, and more soccer

My colleagues at work has been recently very active, in the sense that there were many gatherings organised. This time round, it was a game of futsal at Hangar Futsal Court situated at Punggol Marina Country Club. And guess what! I jogged from my house to there! It’s approximately 4~5 km, but with a small backpack on, the jog was no joke!!

The game lasted for a whole 3 hours, with some breaks in between, but it was a test on my fitness. That 3 hours just warned my body that it needed to stop slacking. A few mishaps happened too – ball right in the face and eye, and also ball in the balls (if you get what I mean).

shaggg

The team

Dinner at Ban Leong seafood restaurant at Casuarina Road was OK, partly because we were all famished as well. The two cars later headed for St James Powerstation for some drinks, and of course, for the soccer fanatics, to catch the favourite team playing in the English Premier League.

Catching soccer matches at TNP Sports Bar

Just a sidenote: ZoukOut happened on that night too!! Haha, so we saw people who were dressed uniquely at Vivocity.

the HENGHAI race against racism

The poster that ChinSoon designed for the event

My colleagues have been quite a fun bunch so far!! This time round, the organised this run around Toa Payoh, and said it was for a good cause – against racism. Haha! Don’t ask me the origin of it all, I think that would be too much details. Anyway, that 4.2pm run receives quite a good response from other younger collected who aren’t usually in our clique as well!

Group photo

Anyway, this is my first attempt at blogging from the iPhone! Hopefully the formatting will all turn out nice.

FASTer, DEEPer, LONGer, STRONGer

That was exactly our motivational words during the two days of Singapore River Regatta on 26, 27 November. The first day saw us clinching 2 gold medals – Public Service Mixed, and Public Service Men Senior. And the second day, 2 silvers (Public Service Women and Public Service Men) and 1 bronze. The MND team got an overall second finishing in the public sector, finishing strong behind the Ministry of Home Affairs (Police).

Our logo

MND Dragons

3 weeks before our race day, the captain mentioned that she would like to field me for team 2 for the Public Service Mixed, where I will be racing on the left hand, something which I haven’t much trained for. Despite the team not having trained together before, we still managed to get ourselved into the semi finals, together with team 1. Team 1 carried on, to clinch the gold medal for MND.

The second day was much more eventful, with us reporting for the race early in the morning. The ladies team flustered abit, and was not synchronised towards the end of the heats, but we still managed to get a very good placing in the finals, which led us to a silver medal for that category.

The ladies team

Cam-whoring while waiting for our race

Me and my coconut tree =P

Getting ready for our race

Second!

Our moment of glory on stage

Victorious with our plagues and medals!

I’m beginning to enjoy my time with this team of people, because during trainings, it isn’t a case of for each their own. Everybody motivates each other, and you feel happy going through the tough training together! Anyway, our captain is planning a X’mas gathering soon! I’m so looking forward to that.