30 Mar 2018 – Good Morning On This Good Friday

Wed: posting from a new FB friend – Amy is the first Friend I made online, via Facebook! I was in Norway posting away and Irene Hoe tagged her. She read the posts, commented and gave great travel ideas (she lived there). So grateful I came home and asked to meet. She’s turned out to be a like-minded person… full of life adventure fun wit. Thank you for being my friend, Amy SG Lam, online and offline!!!! It’s been such a pleasure!

Nice&refreshing to meet Jeffrey and the pleasure is all mine. Tkx for breakfast@Glory and for his kind words – pix credits to him. Grateful to Irene for tagging me to someone who enjoyed my other home in the Land of the Midnight Sun. It is such a privilege to be able to exchange&share info&experiences which are sincerely appreciated.

The Food Republic@I12 is closed – what will be there next? Do wonder how this mall survives?? The banks and GV seemed to be the only ones there since it opened.

Thu: amazing how organizing&filing a few months of paper-work for 1per can take up nearly a whole day! Can’t imagine what it would be like to have to do this for more than 1per. Thank goodness for a decent wholesome meal of rice, chicken-curry, veggies, coconut-juice+the tender flesh costing less than S$6 in my hood and is less than 5mins walk away.

Even more amazing considering that I paid S$5.90 for cup of ice kopi kosong ie, plain black coffee@Merci Marcel/Tiong Bahru just a week ago!

Tkx Lucy for this share and her comment on NasiLemak 🙂 The huge difference is for the ambience n possibly b in the company of the A listers in our society, not counting yourself of course – Lucy

Certainly will not be able to get such an affordable meal and a stone-throw walk from my 4-walls when back in Norway and the US next month!

Enjoying every moment as I will be away from here for 6+months.

Bought travel insurance with CHUBB to cover world-wide for a year, quite a decent price S$288 (20%discount for PosBank). RT airfare OSL-FCO-OSL S$274 on NorwegianAir; OW from FCO-BRI EU25 S$42 on RyanAir 1hr flight. Quite familiar with both these budget airlines considering that I have lived 10+yrs in Ireland and another 10+yrs in Norway and have flown on them.

Fri: TGIF and it is Good Fri today – must have been confused with all that paper-work from yesterday, thought it was Thu. Up dark and early at the wet-market and had my porridge breakfast.

After getting all the produce washed&put away, sat down for a cuppa+a perfect punnet of strawberries (S$3.95) when I heard on the radio – Good morning on this Good Fri… duh!!

Easter week is about betrayal@The Last Supper&Garden of Gethsemane – Kiss of Judas and Last Supper, c.1500 by Flemish School, (16th century). Good Fri, Crucifixion – Francesco Granacci (Francesco di Andrea di Marco) (Italian, Villamagna 1469–1543 Florence). The most holy week for Christians leading up to Easter Sun (Resurrection) – by Triptych/ca1510. Above images downloaded. Looking forward to be in Italy to see some paintings there.

Even my close friend, whom I trusted, he who shared my bread, has lifted up his heel against me – Psalm 41:9

20 Mar 2018 – Another St Patrick’s Day Over

Sun: Happy 44Bday to my beautiful first born Linn – awww… so pretty in pink! Love and miss her beyond words –  A daughter may outgrow your lap, but she will never outgrow your heart. Pix credits to Tracy. Also Happy Bday to grand-nephew Lam YiSheng.

St Patrick’s Day Parade 2018 with the Irish Graduates Association of Singapore/IGAS and the Ambassador of Ireland Geoffrey Keating.

Great street-party for the young and old by Molly Malone’s. Cool green outfits, even for the little furry friend. Tkx to all who celebrated and to Garry for this beautiful share of an Irish Classic PartingGlass to end 2018 Paddy’s Day celebrations.

https://www.facebook.com/LegendaryVocals/videos/222999941594098/

Above is a good clip, especially when ppl ask me if I have learnt to speak Irish after living there for over a decade! Also the part when YuMing was in the pub with the bartender’s comment about speaking Chinese 🙂

Have again been blessed this year to taste the King of YuiSang鱼生=raw fish. Last year was hospitalized in Norway and did not get to eat it. Appreciations Jessic&Frank and to Les&Ivy for champagne, Sake and wines. The only 2 dishes that can be tasted only once a year and will try my best not to miss this and the home-made KCH laksa from cousin Karen.

https://amylamsg.com/2013/03/03/28-ingredients/

Also to celebrate Kiera and her team for a great weekend at the regional round of the World Scholar’s Cup! Good job to Kiera. 

Mon: learning to use this new laptop is taking some time for an old hen! Could not locate the previous pix enhancer and getting use to another App which is not as smooth as I have hoped!!

Got a visit from the volunteers of the Pioneer Generation ambassadors providing some useful info, in spite missing some of the privileges by 15days (born before 1949 to be PioneerG). Suggested to them that if public transport is free for seniors (65+ tkx to Liz for the correct age) like it is in UK, perhaps seniors will be more willing to go out more – just a thought!

Tue: this hedge of flowers is on Grange Rd – such a lovely way to cover a hard-concrete fence, and amazingly by that fence chickens with their roosters are brave enough to hang there. Seen them only recently and this is by a main road which is undergoing major constructions for the new MRTsubway line (TEL).

Must be the most expensive cup of ice kopi kosong ie, plain black coffee S$5.90@Merci Marcel. Was hoping for a croissant@Tiong Bahru Bakery, but unfortunately it is closed for renovations.

Good to catch up with Sim&Chin+Pat for lunch@TiongBahruMarket & Food Centre. Sim&Chin are hoping to sell their flat on EngHoonSt opp the 2trendy locations.

We cannot stop the winter or the summer from coming. We cannot stop the spring or the fall or make them other than they are. They are gifts from the universe that we cannot refuse. But we can choose what we will contribute to life when each arrives – Gary Zukav

17 Mar 2018 – Welcome Pinky

Mon: a beautiful day being a tourist on the BigBusTours in the TsimShaTsui尖沙咀 area. Have always been fascinated with the chinese character for tsim尖=sharp and the 2 characters making up this word is little 小 on top of the character big 大

A walk thru’ The Peninsula which opened in 1928 and expanded in 1994, this hotel combines colonial and modern elements, and is notable for its large fleet of Rolls-Royces painted a distinctive Peninsula green. Heritage 1881 – The Former Marine Police Headquarters Compound constructed in 1884 is one of the four oldest surviving government buildings in HKG.

Now a private sector to preserve antiquities by revamping them into a tourist attraction. The project opened as 1881 Heritage in 2009 and what a treat@VanGogh Senses.

@Imperial Treasure Fine Chinese Cuisine 御寶 1 Peking Rd, TsimShaTsui

Must be in food&wine heaven tonight. Appreciations to all these ppl for their fine wines and thank you to Alfred Leung for a very memorable meal.

The fish-soup, goose and spring-chicken were out of this world.

Tue: Popcorn shopping mall@Tseung Kwan O將軍澳 and a pleasant surprise to see a ToastBox (SIN food-chain) here, no not that there are any intentions of going there!

Finally a bowl of delicious HKG dumpling noddle-soup+yummy roast pork&char-siu. Have been craving for this since I landed and my patience have paid off today.

Thank you to Liling Ong&Jibaan for the scrumptious PekingDuck@YanToh Heen/InterContinental Hotel/TsimShaTsui

Another fine dinning experience complimented with a bottle of Latour/1999 from Ivy&Les.

Wed: dim-sum lunch with Liling@FookLamMoon 福臨門@WanChai has an illustrious reputation of being dubbed the Cafeteria for the Wealthy as it is a Chinese restaurant frequented by the rich and famous. I like that the name literally translates=fortune and blessings arriving at your doorsteps. Also very impressed at the head-waiter who discreetly moved Lilings’s chopsticks+holder to the left-hand side of her plate when he noticed that she is left-handed.

http://www.makeyourcaloriescount.com/2013/08/hk-fook-lam-moon-impressive-michelin.html

Of course must ride on the ding-ding even for a few stops when the tracks are just located a few steps from the restaurant. Unlike my other HKG trips or any other trips, not many steps have been taken!

Dinner@Modern China Restaurant on the 7floor of Holiday Express/Tseung Kwan O , tkx to David, one of the golfers.

Appreciations to Les&Ivy for the wines, but unfortunately there was no ice in this location and could not taste the champagne and white wine. Interesting dessert, a kinda of doughnut with red-bean paste filling served with icing sugar.

Left the big-screen TV on and fell asleep but was woken up this this beautiful piano music from the one of the Pride&Prejudiced movies starring Kiera Knightley. Was somehow so absorbed with the music and continued to finish watching the movie.

Thu: Happy 13th Birthday to Ellie. Decided to try out the smoked-salmon with hard-cooked egg at the breakfast buffet since I have not tried breakfast here for the past 3mornings. Pix taken from the hotel’s interesting staircase center-piece lamp.

Had the most expensive bowl of wontonMee at the airport – HK$68 S$12 and after+++ HK$142 S$24. Has been quite a gastronomic experience for this HKG trip and the first time in HKG without out hiking! Uneventful on schedule CX flight back to SIN and crashing before mid-night. Tkx to Les&Ivy for this fine 5*dinning F&B trip and now to detox, as been told to me my 2nd born!

Fri: TGIF after about nearly 12hrs of sleep. Unpacked and did laundry. Laptop still unable to type but could receive all incoming messages. Posting pix was no problem but had to copy and paste for captions. Rather frustrating.

Sat Happy St Patrick’s Day to all celebrating. Happy Bdays to niece PatLynn and to grand-niece Beth – what are the chances that mother and daughter born on St Pat’s day?

Tkx a million Leonard for spending a whole afternoon to shop and set up this new laptop for me. Let’s hope that this ASUS E203NA S$400 laptop will remain pink in health for a looong time – welcome Pinky which weights less than 1kg! Would have got a green one today if it was possible!!

https://www.asus.com/sg/Laptops/ASUS-E203NA/specifications/

When I get to see pink elephants, it is time to check my eye-sight! But for now, hopefully Pinky will tickle me pink and keep me pink in health… 

12 Mar 2018 – Hello Hong Kong

Sat: Indonesian food@IndoChili/TanjongPagarCentre and again tried to order this beautiful combination dish but was told that it had to be done in advance. Oh well, will try to remember to call in advance to order if we decide to eat here again.

Dessert@Henri Charpentier. What a delicious combination of foods for one afternoon. As planning to see iLight Marina Bay 2018, but was too tired after all these yummy foods and do have to pack, so will have to wait till after HKG trip.

Guess who is at the Marine Parade RCs’ Chinese Lunar New Year 2018 dinner? Bon Appetité to Emeritus Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong, Yusof Lateef and to the MP residents&friends attending this celebration.

Would not have taken these pix, if not caught with the lion&dragon dancers as I was going up to my 4-walls after a lovely bday celebration afternoon in town.

Sun: up bright&early to catch the 36bus where I can admire rows&rows of beautiful Bougainvilleas (previous posting) on the way to T4.

Hello HKG – on time and uneventful after 3+hrs CX flight. Met Les&Ivy who were on an  SQ flight and were waiting for their baggage in HKG T1 while I only had a carry-on. Had planned it this way, hoping for no delays from my CX flight so that I could ride with their to the hotel.

Bus into CrownPlazaHotel@TseungKwanO took an hour on this beautiful day with Les&Ivy+his golfer friends. The views of the suspension bridges and the skyscrapers against the mountains never fail to fascinate me, especially on such blue sky like today.

View from Les&Ivy’s 45floor-suite, and silly me who was hoping to get a good view of Clearwater Bay!

Entrance and lobby.

My room on the 8floor (not much view but no complains!) for the next 4nights. T on the 47floor.

So nice to catch up with David and thank you for yummy seafood dinner @SaiKung. It has been a looong time ago since Ivy, Les, David & I got together, so long that I do not even recall when? must have been in Dublin when we were all still students there!!

Always enjoy the ambiance and scene@SaiKung. Last time here was exactly 6yrs ago after the MacLehose hike and could certainly not afford to eat here. Abundance of fresh and dried seafood and looks like Les&his group are not the only golfers here!

9 Mar 2018 – Chaco Sandals

Tue: FB reminder that it has been 6yrs ago Grace & I hiked the 100k HKG MacLehose Trail, started at Section10 (2Mar2012) and ended at Secton1 (6Mar2012). Wow – am impressed that the young handsome LokMan remembered that we met at Tai Mo Shan 957m 3,140ft (Big Hat Mt) then!

https://amylamsg.com/2012/03/09/maclehose-trailday-2/

The Mercy***a true story of amateur sailor Donald Crowhurst and his attempt in 1968 to win the 1stGolden Globe singled-handed round the world yacht race. Being a fan of Colin Firth, had to see this movie even when I knew the ending. Firth is good as ever, playing the role of someone with the sense of selfishness&foolishness who’d sooner drown than admit defeat. Glad that neither sailing nor pride are in my blood!!

Tkx to Ivy&Les for dinner – best melon (Crown) I have tasted is from Shizuoka/Japan, tkx to Yoshie for the melon info. Glad to be able to make some plans for this Sun dinner when we get into HKG.

Wed: condolences to Christine, Steven and Carolina for the passing of their father. Not that they remember me but I recall uncle KanYuetFai as the smiling kind gentleman who visited my father regularly after father’s stroke. Wanted to pay my respects.

Have not been to MtVernon for a while and was slightly confused with the new 4-lanes+turn-lanes road and constructions of new blocks on both sides. The old 2-lanes UpperAljuniedRd is now a dead-end, but the trees are still as lush as as ever.

Thu: Happy International Women’s Day and here are some interesting combinations of these Chinese characters.
女 nǚ= woman
安 ānn = peace by adding a roof over 1 woman
好 hao = good by adding the character child next to woman

2 more characters using 女 which were omitted in the poster!
女女 nuan = quarrel by adding 2 women together
姦 jian = adultery by adding 3 women together

We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men and women are created equal – 

Had fun meeting with Jeffrey today – tkx for MeePok lunch and appreciate the FinnishLiquorice he brought back from Norway. Spent a lovely afternoon relaxing on the trendy & portable chairs, sipping beer@Campers’ Corner Summer Sale. Could not resist buying 2pairs of Chaco (S$50 per pair). Jeff also bought 2pairs+a portable chair.

Considering that I have been wearing Chaco for nearly 20yrs – first pair was destroyed in the house-fire 4yrs ago and got another pair after the fire. So these 2 new pairs should hopefully last for this life’s journey!

Winter pix credits to Mette who took it from her place in OSL today. Beautiful as it is, do sometimes wonder how I survived over a decade in those Norwegian winters, especially those darker winters in Northern Norway??

Fri: TGIF and Happy Birthday to SueLynn. It is Bougainvillea time and this is what you will see on your way to and from the airport on the ECP – the only SIN expressway which the last letter behind uses P! Many overhead bridges are also full with these beautiful Bougainvillea blooms too. ECP pix credits to Nparks.

5 Mar 2018 – But Forgot The Camera

Fri: 196 bus to BedokInterchange and a free shuttle for a shopping trip to Giant&IKEA@Tampines took a whole afternoon. Discovered that there is a FoodCourt@Giant but was not hungry enough to eat there.

Had KwayTeow@Bedok Interchange FoodCentre – personal preference is still the ZionRoad KwayTeow. Clement had the chicken curry-noodle, tasted a bite and it was OK.

Sat: appreciations to cousin Karen for her yummy home-cooked KCH laksa and the delicious roast duck from an auntie in Sibu. Stayed for a short while to catch up as her parents, auntie Ngor/Anna and uncle Kuan could not make it to SIN this time round. Karen’s maternal grandma and my paternal grandma, CHAN SweeNgor were sisters from KCH.

Tkx for great company, Brian&Helen and Leonard. So nice to catch up again, just like the good old days when I first met them 20yrs ago – still looking the same, but have all Aged To Perfection. These lovely young ppl made me feel welcome when I moved back here in 1998. Brian&Helen’s kids are now away in boarding-school and Leo back working in SIN, finally some time together but forgot the camera!

Sun: Thank you for delightful performance@EsplanadeConcourse 

Rit Xu, Gabriel Lee, Joachim Theodore Lim, Jonathan Shin (Lorong Boys) with an adorable boy admiring his percussionist father. Thus ends this 2018 Huayi – Chinese Festival of Arts 华艺节

All members of the Lorong Boys graduated from the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music. After putting up an impromptu performance to commuters in MRT trains in 2014, one of their videos went viral and thus gaining their popularity.

Nice getting to know the boys with a quick bite&drink@Makansutra and a short walk in the area.

It was indeed a beautiful evening. By the time I got off the bus and to my doorstep, the moon was impressively clear, full&bright.

Mon: a pleasant day indoors getting papers&pix organised and finishing left-over foods. Tkx to Garry for sharing this awesome post with amazing wall paintings by JulienMalland (Paris 1972), SethGlobepainter. There are so many good ones, but have decided to download only the above 2 as they inspire me profound messages!

https://www.facebook.com/globe.painter

Time extracts various values from a painter’s work. When these values are exhausted the pictures are forgotten, and the more a picture has to give, the greater it is – Henri Matisse

1 Mar 2018 – Bye-Bye Feb, Hello Mar 2018

Mon: have been following the changes of this interesting house (781 MountbattenRd) which many think is ugly or an eye-sore – beauty is in the eyes of the beholder. What caught my eyes first were the feet sculpture a few years ago! Looks like BigFoot diving into a mini pool 🙂

In a garden of standing rocks with a statue, the feet are now covered by a tree from the sidewalk. Like the stained-glass window but not sure if I like the new eye-catching lime-green. Metal parasol by the pool matches quite well with the new add-on on both sides.

Interesting SIN architectural history, an attempt to conserve the old building while maximising the land use with new construction – a mish-mash of styles trying to fit in unsuccessfully. The colour would not be my choice and in my eyes it is neither beautiful nor ugly, but interesting enough to stir up comments&reactions!

Edited Sat8May2021: recently this house has created attention&comments, mainly not so positive regarding the colour&the newly added surroundings, but that is a matter of personal taste even when I too would agree with most of the comments! It has got me to sit on the upper level of bus 196 a few times over the years to capture some of the shots in this posting.  Pix credits to  FB friend for this recent before&after shot.

Sat15May2021: this is the latest shot, at least the colour is more pleasant for my eyes.

Also along Mountbatten and the junction of ClactonRd is this run-down house on a rather big site. Do wonder who owns it what will become of it?? but whatever happens, just pray and hope that the BanyanTree will stay.

No object is so beautiful that, under certain conditions, it will not look ugly – Oscar Wilde

Tue: grocery day shopping@Giant for the week.

Wed: CC to pick up some gears and bought a dress@Arc’teryx. Had this same designed dress lay-away some years ago but forgot about it till I saw another one today. Chicken-rice lunch@Waterloo St.

Tea@Asanoya

Picked up grocery@Mustafa for Sat dinner and collected eTickets at Les clinic’s new relocation, FarrerPark Medical Centre – Connexion. Easier and more convenient to get there by public transport with FarrerPark MRTstation (ExitC) just around the corner. Congratulations and good luck to him&his staff in the new clinic. Prefer this new location better than MtE, more selections with foods, etc in Little India’s neighbourhood.

Thu: tucked away discreetly behind the 70yrs old traditional HuaBee in TiongBahru,

and inspired by a yakitori-ya (traditional small grilling stalls) in Osaka, Bincho is an all-in-one unique concept. Their grilled chicken gizzards were grilled to perfection, but the chicken soft-bone could be a little bit more tender – perhaps just me with my with my not so strong teeth.

All in all, a decent set-lunch for the price. Tasted a bite of everything from Clement’s lunch as I felt like the meepok from the outside stall. A cuppa+a fresh-baked croissant from TiongBahru Bakery before heading for the bus. Difficult to imagine that we are already into Mar – the past 2 months flew by and before I know, will need to close down the place and head on to Norway and USA!

5 Mar – Happy Bday Gel

6 Mar – Happy Bday Linda

9 Mar – Happy Bday Sue Lynn

11 Mar – Happy Bday Ken

14 Mar – Happy Bday Ellie

17 Mar – Happy Bday Pat Lynn and Beth, Happy St Patrick’s Day

18 Mar – Happy Bdays Linn, Yi Sheng & Al Sosa

19 Mar – Happy Bday Thomas Heggelund

21 Mar – Happy Anniversary to Ivy & Leslie

31 Mar – Happy Bday Josephine