31 Jan 2012 – Crossing paths with an Angel…

Today was another interesting day. Promised Geno to help her with getting all 164 marketing kit out. This is twice within the last 4 days on the bus and MRT to this area. This time round, changing to the Bukit Panjang LRT System to connect. Being the first experience on the LRT made it into another adventure. The address provided is Senja Link, assuming that the stop would be Senja. Could not find Senja Link on the map@the stop, but Senja Road was well-marked. Followed the main road but just to be sure, stopped to ask for directions.

Usually will have a street directory when visiting unfamiliar areas, but forgot it. And by asking for directions, this young gentleman really made my day. Not only did he bring me all the way to the correct address, he also insisted to buy me breakfast. Ming? is originally from China and he & his family have made SIN their home since early 1990s. If only SIN could have more people like him making their homes here, it would be quite a lovely place to live. Ming, if you are reading this, please contact me. Tkx.

So by helping Geno, the returns were far far beyond any expectations. Geno led me to the correct station (Jelapang) after we were done and seemingly got off one station too early this morning! Thus crossing paths with an angel. Glad for getting off at the wrong station, forgetting street directory and not calling Geno for directions! MRT gives a nice feeling of space during off peak hours 🙂

Appreciations to Geno and to her family for their hospitality with yummy home-cooked food. Good luck Geno for your project!

Mon: lunched@Changi Airport, meeting with Angelina, Kurt and baby Kiefer (50 days young) who is as cute as a button, They were on transit from KCH/Sarawak returning to BRU/Belgium. Safe journeys and all the best.

The longest journey of any person is the journey inward – Dag Hammarskjold

30 Jan 2012 – From the South China Post/SCMP (28 Jan 2012)

A brilliant pix beyond words… London tower rises as fortunes sink…

conceived in boom times as a symbol of city’s status in the world, the Shard nears completion with financial district on the edge of recession…

Repeat from posting: 11 Aug 2011 – What to say to a World in Turmoil…

♥ Peace ♥ Vrede ♥ Paqe ♥ سلام ♥ Свет ♥ Мир ♥ Pau ♥ 平和 ♥ Mir ♥ Fred ♥ Vrede ♥ Rahu ♥ Kapayapaan ♥ Rauha ♥ Paix ♥ Paz ♥ Frieden ♥ Ειρήνη ♥ Lapè ♥ שלום  ♥ शांति ♥ Béke ♥ Friður ♥ Perdamaian ♥ Síochána ♥ Pace ♥ 평화 ♥ Miers ♥ Taikos ♥ Мир ♥ Keamanan ♥ Paċi ♥ صلح ♥ Pokój ♥ Amani ♥ ความ สงบสุข ♥  Barış ♥ Світ ♥ Hòa bình ♥  Heddwch ♥ פרידן ♥
http://translate.reference.com/

Imagine there’s no heaven
It’s easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today…

Imagine there’s no countries
It isn’t hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace…

You may say I’m a dreamer
But I’m not the only one
I hope someday you’ll join us
And the world will be as one

Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world…

You may say I’m a dreamer
But I’m not the only one
I hope someday you’ll join us
And the world will live as one – John Lennon
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yNKhIJfB510

Hopefully the Dragon will puff some sense in this World to understand that spending on education instead of defense is the only way peace can move forward. May PEACE be with you all in this life’s journey!

29 Jan 2012 – Life’s journey is not about just one path!

Today is the 7th day of the CNY also known as 人日( literally translated=people’s day), the common man’s Bday, the day when everyone grows one year older. So Happy Bday to everyone!

We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we’re curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths – Walt Disney

A natural well-trodden path on the AT accessible only by foot (taken in 2005 during the thru-hike) and the rest of the man-made paths below have been uploaded. Thanks to Denise for sharing.

No one saves us but ourselves. No one can and no one may. We ourselves must walk the path – Buddha

Pursue some path, however narrow and crooked, in which you can walk with love and reverence – Henry David Thoreau

In charting our course to the future, we are mindful of our path from the past – Brad Henry

It’s one thing to feel that you are on the right path, but it’s another to think yours is the only path – Paulo Coelho

Every path serves a purpose – Gene Oliver

Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail – Ralph Waldo Emerso

28 Jan 2012 – after nearly 2hrs!

Sat: what an adventure and a lovely way to spend an afternoon. Appreciations to niece JenLeng for gathering her branch of the family (2nd bro’s Kwok Kiong) for a delicious lunch. It has been some years ago since the last visit. Left the flat 1120hrs with bus#135 connecting to E-W Line@Paya Lebar MRT passing 16 stations to change@Jurong East N-S Line 5 stations to Kranji. Then 4 stops on#160 bus.

All those buses & MRT for under S$1/senior fares! It was such a pleasure to be able to walk a green path. Enjoyed the neighbourhood gardens and park.

Nephew JenMun is the eldest, 53yrs of the orange generation (L&M’s generation) and JM son and JL’s son are the eldest/23yrs of the purple generation (grandchildren’s generation). Bro KK passed on in 2000 leaving sis-in-law Geok Siew, niece JL (2 children/KeeYang & QiYing), nephews JM (1 child/SuiChang), JenWee (2 children/Vanessa & Valerie) and JenHong (2 children/YiYan & YiSheng).

So nice to catch up. The purple generation had their own program but since they are all on FB, will be able to keep contact. Wives to JW & JH were busy with their side of the family.

Fri: such a treat to have some quality time with Adeline. Thanks for sharing a salad@Republic Plaza’s basement and tea@TWG Tea Salon & Boutique. What a decadent place to enjoy a pot of tea and a scone in white linen table-cloth and napkins! Great to meet up with the two Lindas from the path of The SIN Shawl days. Thanks for veggie dinner@Fortune Centre and yummy cookies.

One never reaches home, but wherever friendly paths intersect the whole world looks like home for a time – Hermann Hesse

26 Jan 2012 – with a Long-Lost Friend!

Wed: the last time Tony crossed my path was in Dublin/Ireland in the early 1970s. Delighted to see him after all these years. An early morning walk on the East Coast with take-out breakfast and then back to my flat to exchange more news and pix. He has been living and has his own business in Melbourne/Australia since the 1970s. Now visiting his mom (over 90yrs) who lives down the road. Tony is the bro of Kitty who was here recently visiting from Africa and whom I have not seen since 1968!

Later met with cousin Wilki & Patty for mutton soap@Tekka Centre, Little India with the best Indian mutton soup filled with cholesterol 🙂

Was so tried that the eyes could not stay open while waiting for Clem. He was so surprised to have to wake me at a bench for our dinner. Pho Hoa Vietnamese***@Suntec hit the spot for the craving of soup. The snooze was needed to be able to have an enjoyable dinner.

Thu: met up with Grace for lunch@The Food Place/City Hall to hear and check out her pix from her month hike on the AT/for the NH & ME sections. Bought back such lovely memories. Tkx Grace for sharing. We will hike the Park Connectors & Green Corridor in SIN when they are completed…

Carrying info, pix, etc from the ancestral hall and house in China to share with Wilki & Patty@Pearl Bank. Tkx cousin for the crabs and durians, king of fruits! Until our paths cross again, safe trip back to HI/USA.

CNY is about yummy food, catching up with family and friends from here there everywhere… that is what makes CNY so special!

My weaknesses have always been food and men, in that order – Dolly Parton

24 Jan 2012 – Second CNY day…

Today’s visit brought back much memories from the 1950s. Good to see Ken who is visiting from London. Auntie Kwok made the best butter cookies and they were thin enough to practically melt in your mouth. Have not tasted anything like her butter cookies since.

She is now 97yrs and doubtfully even remember that she was once my mother’s closest friend. Our families + the Leungs would meet up every weekend back then!

Kenson & Peggy are the childhood friends from the 1950s and today we try to meet up annually to somewhere that none of us have been. Kenson is also May’s godfather! Now that say something for friends for over half a century 🙂

Auntie Kwok is the only one still alive from the 3 families of her generation. Uncle Vincent & family immigrated to Australia in the mid 1960s. Uncle Vincent, auntie June and my parents are long gone. Kenson’s father and my mother left us in the early and mid 1960s.

Pix postings are from the 1950s and 60s, except the coloured one of auntie Kwok with Kenson.

A double rainbow was sighted a few days ago and in Chinese culture, a double rainbow is considered auspicious and a reason for reflection and meditation… !! 

By three methods we may learn wisdom: First, by reflection, which is noblest; Second, by imitation, which is easiest; and third by experience, which is the bitterest – Confucius

23 Jan 2012 – Goodbye Rabbit Year

The visits started 1030hrs with 4th auntie Poh Kow. Good to see cousin Wilki & Patty visiting from HI/USA, Jay & Daisy and their 3 sons Josh, Jordan & Jagger (4 generations together). Continued to 10th, 11th and 13th aunties.

Thanks for lunch and wines@Les & Ivy with the siblings and their families. By the time the camera was ready, bro Steven & family had unfortunately left to do their visitings. Grandnephew, Lucas’s new toy to check out everyone’s heart and probably also to make sure that his baby sister will be delivered on time, adding another purple generation in Mar!

The visit continued to a long-lost cousin, Karen! Her parents are visiting from KCH/Malaysia. Met with auntie Ngor and uncle Kuan a couple of years ago. Auntie Ngor is father’s cousin on paternal grandmother, CHAN Swee Ngor side. Not capable of covering this branch. Another cousin, WingKei living in Christchurch/NZ is taking care of this branch. Appreciations to Karen for including me in their lovely condo@Seaview for their delicious spread.

After 12hrs of visiting, it is time to crash. CNY always bring back good childhood memories with the anticipation of new clothes, yummy food, fireworks, games, house filled with joy & laughter together with families & friends and not to forget red packages etc… 🙂

In every conceivable manner, the family is link to our past, bridge to our future – Alex Haley

21 Jan 2012 – Happy Bday to Katy for tomorrow

Amazing, eldest grandchild turns 10 tomorrow and from now she will count her age in two digits! No internet where the suitcase is, so in libraries etc to get online. Unlikely to be online the next few days. Thus time to be wishing each and everyone –

Kung Hei Fat Choy 恭喜發財/A Healthy, Happy and Wealthy Dragon Year

Since the forecast for the rabbit year was sooo hopping way out, let’s see if the forecast for 2012 dragon’s year will be another PUFF 🙂

http://amylamsg.com/2011/01/22/forecast-for-the-year-of-the-rabbit/

Dragons are legendary and mythical creatures from many cultures. European dragons from various European folk traditions, derives from Greek δράκων(drákōn) which probably comes from the verb δρακεῖν (drakeîn)=to see clearly. Dragons have major spiritual significance in various religions and cultures around the world. In Asian cultures dragons 龍/lóng are representative of the primal forces of nature, religion and the universe. They are associated with wisdom—often said to be wise and possess some form of magic or other supernatural power.

The predictions for the Dragon year to people born under the sign of the Ox! Dragons is the only mythical creature in the Chinese zodiac signs. Capricorn, another mythical creature in the Western zodiac and my sign, so does that mean we are in for an unreal year 🙂 🙂

People born 4 Feb 1949 to 4 Feb 1950, year of the Ox are sturdy, earthy, no-nonsense. Affectionate and easy-going, the Ox can show a fierce temper when agitated. Neat, tidy, quiet and studious, with a great love of the home. Music can be a great love. Family life and a loving partner are high on the Ox’s priorities. A wonderful loyal friend.

Despite what appears to be an easy and plentiful harvest for the Ox in the Year of the Dragon, it would be wise to keep that yoke tightly harnessed to the plow. Should that not always be the case! 

You will need to toil and slave on your own just to keep your head on straight. Yeah like anyone will do that for me.

You hate noise. Wow 100% on. Dragons are all about keeping the decibel level high. NOT for the Ox! Get ready for the clanging of cymbals and beating of drums. I will disappear on some trail.

There will be more than a romantic glimmer for Oxen in this Dragon year. Hahaha. That attached person you had your eye on last year may indeed become single again. Like I care.

Friends and close family will rally for your cause when difficulties arise with your significant other. Hello am happily single. You are stubborn and sometimes obtuse. There must be a mix up with animals here. Listen carefully and heed their friendly advice or you can expect a head first topple over the nearest cliff. A broken head with no brains is the forecast for 2012! LOL 🙂 🙂 🙂 

It may be that dragons really did exist and they were so valuable they were simply hunted to extinction – Carole Fontaine

20 Jan 2012 – … or SIN Trail

Received a virus in hotmail and thanks to the computer guru, Leonard it is now clean and healthy again. The thought of changing to another email is a nightmare as there is much data in the hotmail! Let’s hope that the Dragon will puff away whatever future bugs and virus before they get near any of us 🙂

Keretapi Tanah Melayu/KTM train services to Tanjong Pagar stopped last June. The KTM railway land was returned to SIN in Jul as agreed with Malaysia. The 26km tract of former KTM railway land is open to the public from Monday, with the exception of Jalan Hang Jebat, Ghim Moh Road and Kampong Bahru Flyover. Looking forward to the completion and would like to walk the whole 26km one day, or maybe two days considering the heat and the humidity when it is located just above the equator!

For the past half-year, the authorities had been removing old railway tracks and equipment as well as levelling and turfing over the land parcel, which runs from Tanjong Pagar to Woodlands. It would be wonderful to have trail like the Virginia Creeper Trail/VA and the High Line/NY in USA.

http://www.vacreepertrail.us/
http://www.thehighline.org/about/park-information
http://amylamsg.com/2011/09/18/high-line/

The historic Tanjong Pagar Railway Station, which has been designated a national monument, remains closed as well for maintenance works and structural inspection. If they can manage a job like the National Museum, SAM and ACM, then SIN will have another beautiful Heritage monument to add to the list.

The tracks at the old Bukit Timah station, now a conserved building, have been retained though most of the 26km tract from Woodlands to Tanjong Pagar has been turfed over. Also being preserved are two historic steel bridges and their tracks, one in Dunearn Road and the other in Upper Bukit Timah Road near the Rail Mall.

http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_750774.htm

Was@SBG to check out this interesting exhibition with some good suggestions posted (now@Marina Barrage). Interesting to see the cost of train tickets in 1955! All pix are downloaded from various sites and some taken in the exhibition@SBG.

http://www.thegreencorridor.org/

Traveling is like flirting with life. It’s like saying, ‘I would stay and love you, but I have to go; this is my station’ – Lisa St. Aubin De Teran

18 Jan 2012 – Why Wikipedia went down at midnight…

CNN – Go to Wikipedia at midnight, and you won’t find any of the usual encyclopedia articles.

Instead, you’ll be greeted with a message about anti-piracy bills that are topics of heated debate in the U.S. Congress — stirring opposition from tech companies in Silicon Valley and support from media companies in Hollywood.

Wikipedia, one of the highest-traffic sites on the Internet, will shut down for 24 hours in protest of these laws, which the website says would make it very difficult — maybe impossible — for its nonprofit encyclopedia to continue to operate.

The blackout starts at 12 a.m. ET on Wednesday.

http://edition.cnn.com/2012/01/17/tech/web/wikipedia-sopa-blackout-qa/index.html?hpt=hp_c2

Imagine a World Without Free Knowledge
‘For over a decade, we have spent millions of hours building the largest encyclopedia in human history. Right now, the U.S. Congress is considering legislation that could fatally damage the free and open Internet. For 24 hours, to raise awareness, we are blacking out Wikipedia.Learn more.’>> > 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:SOPA_initiative/Take_action

‎”Breaking News: ████████ ██████ ██ ████ ██ ████ ██████ ██ ████ ██ ██████ ████ ██████ ██ ████ ██ ████ ████████ ██████ █ ███ ██████ █████ █████ ████/████ ███’█ ██████ ████████…”

Am blacking my Facebook profile pix for 24hrs in support to the Wikipedia blackout!

Assassination is the extreme form of censorship – George Bernard Shaw

You can cage the singer but not the song – Harry Belafonte