20 Jan 2016 – Reflections & Memories!

Mon: welcome cousin Colleen and Greg from USA. Brunch at Raffles City Food Place.

Marina@Kepple Bay is a first-time experience for me. This is the area I thought I was familiar with after growing up there for 15yrs in the 1950s, but the habour front is now completely alien to me!

The background hills were my childhood playgrounds where Mt Faber can still be seen! Fond memories with cousin Wilki where I probably first learnt to enjoy natural lush greenery and a perfect place to hide from family dramas!

Today, it is built to station the cable-cars with fancy eating and drinking venues. And of course shops as shopping is certainly an important past-time for many!

Luxury waterfront and urban lifestyle with fancy condos, yachts, sailboats, clubs, etc for the rich. A total contrast from the childhood days where one can take a 10cents-S$1 ride on the bumboats from the former Gate9 to the outer islands.

Reflections@Keppel Bay is a 99yr leasehold luxury waterfront residential complex with 1129units on app 84,000m² of land, 750m of shoreline was completed by 2011. And YES they are not straight and NO, I have not had any shots when taking these shots 🙂

18 Jan 2016 – The Sweetest Bus-Ride Ever

Sat: went to bed before 22hrs last night and did not get up until 0830hrs this morning! Must have been tired after the 25K walk!! Surprisingly no aches or sores, must be because of the flat terrain.

Appreciations to Yoshie & friends for an elegant Japanese T-Ceremony hosted by CC. Tkx to Lucas for a taste of this fine sake.

The Japanese tea ceremony, also called the Way of Tea, is a Japanese cultural activity involving the ceremonial preparation and presentation of matcha (抹茶), powdered green tea. The presentation and elegance of this ritual always fascinate me. Fond memories of my first Japanese T-Ceremony which was introduced to me by Hiroko in Tromsø/Norway once upon a time…

Tkx to Clem for dinner at Dan Ryan’s Chicago Grill***plenty of food (enough to doggy-bag home to feed me all day tomorrow 🙂 but the service has more room for improvements. Nice to catch up with grand-nephews Stanley and Darryl. Amazing that one is in the army and the other starting his Polytechnic Education. Seems like yesterday that I visited Daisy in the hospital when Darryl was born.

What a delightful ‘sweet journey’ on the bus. Usually would have taken #36 from Regent Hotel but decided to take #16 from Orchard B to accompany Stanley making sure that he gets off at the correct stop. Got off with him at Great World City to change to #75 (16Jan around 20.30hrs heading towards CBD)  with such a courteous and nice bus-driver making this the sweetest bus-ride ever. Tkx for the lollipop, made my day.

Sun: even God needed to rest on the 7th Day and being a mortal, will need it more! This amazing shoe here is a church, yes a church and so timely appropriate for Taiwan’s first female president to fit into this shoe. Perhaps Taiwan got their fairy-tales and religion confused or maybe to them they are the same 🙂 🙂

Certainly more light in a glass shoe, but what about enlightenment?

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-35320373?SThisFB

Tkx to Clem there is still yummy food from last night to last for today. Time to snooze in the rains and more laundry to be done.

2005 AT/USA, 2012 MacLehose/HKG, 2013 C2C/UK, 2016 GreenCorridor/SIN

In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks – John Muir

16 Jan 2016 – Thru-Hiking 25km

Wed:  a day to do laundry and plan on the 25km walk Green Corridor/GC to discover that I will not be able to access it from the beginning, ie Tanjong Pagar/TP Station

Thu: yeah got my TV set up and AC serviced. Thank goodness these services were done by 12n and am I glad to recce the access for the GC in daylight!

Was hoping to find some loop-holes but the fences are as secure as ever!

Nice but hot and interesting walk thru’ Spottiswood Pk&Blair Rd.

Anyway to cut a long story short, here is where the Kampong Bahru/KB exit is when I take bus196 to as far as KB/Blair Rd junction. Got off there and change to any of these buses 61, 124, 143 or 166 turning into KB Rd, one stop and off opp Silat Ave&Orange Valley Nursing Home.

Cross at the traffic lights turn left to blk23
Do NOT cross over KB Flyover where St Theresa Church is
Walk along the path of blk23 or across the field till the end
You will get to a slight slope with a drain and a small bridge at the bottom
Cross there and you are on the GC

Edited – 6Mar 2016 with the 6 above pix. The missing 1km of the GC to Exit 1A completed today – tkx to the 10km GC Run and in good company of Ray&Eve. The other 25km done about 2 months ago. The TP Station is now completely barricaded for renovations to ???

Fri: yes have decided to celebrate my 66yrs to challenge myself for this 25km walk. Tkx Clem for being on time to start by 06.45hrs. A lovely cool start meeting only 1jogger with headlamp like myself.

Life from huge red ants with no tunnels and the small fire ants with tunnels. Space happenings below KB Crossing to CTE Crossing.

Some very wet sections from last night’s rains along BukitMerah. Poor Clem who will be walking with wet shoes and socks.

Past 0800hrs and a perfect spot for a 5mins break at JalanHangJebut Mosque app 4km from our stating and to meet with Hannah.

CommonwealthAve Flyover with colourful street art.

Spied 2hornbills bullying 2 other birds in the trees while applying mosquito repellent near GhimMoh market.

Constructions around the Greenleaf&Bukit Timah area. The only slope on these flat flat flat paths with some beautiful nature along with it.

BukitTimah Station for 5mins break.

Crossing the first bridge; under HollandRd and continuing to the next bridge by HindhedeDrive.

With life in this surroundings.

45mins lunch and toilet stop at the Springleaf Prata Place RailMall where I was not the least bit hungry but had a cold fresh coconut juice, ginger drink and a glass of ice water!

Continued on the bridge and saw this pleasant surprise.

Pix credit-Hannah

Felt like kids again claiming our prizes with my Swiss Army knife 🙂

HillviewRd – gone is GirderBridge but realistically the old will have to make way for the new, such is life Happy Birthday and look forward!

My heart went out to this foreign worker painting the fence in this heat. Thank goodness SriMuruganHill Temple is just around the corner if he needs some shade to rest. No bridge ahead, detouring around GiantHyper Market

Parts of the last stretches in the exposure of this tropical sun is no joke and being tired does not help 🙁 A lone tree by SgKadut watching the flow of time and hopefully will still be watching after my time by SgKadut near ChoaChuKang Rd.

4above pix credits to Clem. The rains were welcoming even with a poncho in the Woodlands area.

Much trash thru’ industrial areas and there the path ends.

Found our way to the bus-stop before 1700hrs, near the Woodlands Checkpoint. Friday traffic to JB did not look fun to be in. Thank goodness we were heading the opp direction. Appreciations to all the sites with info for The GC, especially maps from –

http://www.thegreencorridor.org/tag/green-corridor-map/

Tkx to the young people like Hannah and Clem for being such sports to walk this 25km Thru-Hike with the old auntie in this tropical heat! Memories from taking the train to KotaBahru/Malay then, in 1959 to welcome the birth of the 1st nephew&the 1st of the OrangeG, my children’s generation.

Thu3Jun2021: trying to search the best video for me to reflect&remember this hike by, but unable to find any online. IF I ever walk this stretch again, will try to make a video of it! The most informative updated link is from Nparks.

https://www.nparks.gov.sg/railcorridor/rail-corridor

Fri17Sep2021: appreciations to Sarafian Salleh/FB-Tuah Bugis for his Youtube site https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hjN4py1X0Os

13 Jan 2016 – Sounds Like A Game 🙂

Sun: RIP David Bowie and condolences to his family.

God rest on the seventh day of creation – Genesis 2:2

Mon: ACM where I have lost count of the number to times there! (S$5pp adult). This building was opened in 1865 as a court-house and has been a home of the Registry of Births and Deaths as well as the SIN Mint. Pleasant surprise to bump into Gel&Mil while Ann&Tim were looking at the displays. Nice catch up and chat.

Edited – tkx to Desiree those balls finally have a title! 24 Hours in Singapore by local artist Baet Yeok Kuan. This is an interactive audio sculpture installation that acts as an audio time capsule capturing sounds of Singapore. With the passage of time, this sculpture will serve as a remembrance of the rich intangible heritage of our daily lives in Singapore circa 2015. The installation’s audio recordings feature familiar sounds of everyday people, places and scenes, from the sounds of traffic in suburban heartlands and MRT trains to the daily chatter in wet markets and coffee shops.

Fullerton Building – build in 1928 and most of us older generation will remember this as our GPO. The Heritage Gallery has an amazing collection of pix, maps, stamps etc dating back to 1932. Worth a visit where you can still mail in the only red pillar post box which was first introduced in 1873. Above 2pix – 1950s and now downloaded.

There is a new display The Fullerton Story at the front indoor entrance – tastefully done and informative.

The former Fullerton Building, now known as The Fullerton Hotel, was officially gazetted on 7Dec 2015 as SIN 71st national monument, by the country’s National Heritage Board (NHB). The hotel part did not come into the picture until 2001.

Bus 196 with views of the National Gallery, South Beach, Suntec,

heading to SIN Sports Hub and Kallang Wave for Ann&Tim to see this dome and to experience a ride in the MRT from my favourite MRT station. Tkx to Ivy&Les for hotpot dinner. Good to have the Chuas home after their holiday in Spain and sounds like a well-received first day of school for grandniece Kiera.

Tue: must have been tired, got to bed by midnight last night but did not wake up until 1100hrs this morning. Oh joy – laundry awaits! Tkx to Ann&Tim for farewell fine-dining at ME@OUE****

Safe journeys back to Ireland for our Irish guests and appreciations for the memories. The Thinker was created by Auguste Rodin. The pose is that a man at the gates of hell, a work of art in itself, based upon Dante’s Divine Comedy, however, the statue soon took on a life of its own, capturing the public imagination and finding itself replicated many times over.

Cogito, ergo sum – I think, therefore I am – Descartes

10 Jan 2016 – Over Norway

Fri: unsuccessful shopping in Mustafa, sold out for the TV and new stocks do get in until evening. Hello again Kinetic Rains at T1, looks like every droplets have been polished, beamingly shinny now and just as mesmerizing as ever. Was doing some shopping at T3 and decided to see Chris off. He is heading for Czech Republic for the ‘Singing Rock’ training. Safe journeys and take care there, my young friend.

A new concept to protect baggage and a colour that you cannot miss unless you are blind! $S15 per piece is worth it, if you baggage is not strong enough to go thru’ the planes’ check-ins, but then why would you get something that is not strong enough to survive the journey and a few scratches should not do any harm but give more character!

Tkx Yoshie for greetings, my first ever snail-mail from Japan. Thoroughly enjoyed my recent and first experiences there. The ancient Japanese knew about China and Korea, but they did not know of any land east of their islands. They believed theirs was the first land awakened by the rising sun. The Japanese call their land Nippon, meaning ‘Land of the Rising Sun’.

Sat: tourist guiding visitors from Ireland – Ann&Tim who have been to SIN many times but not to Gardens By The Bay. Good sport of them to go up to the Supertrees Skyway, nice views of the garden from 22m high. (S$5pp)

Here is the name of the tree as requested – Couroupita guianensis, Cannonball Tree. Was there just recently SG50 FOC then. This time round to just sit and enjoy a lovely breeze watching life on the waters around the Kallang River. Ann&Tim were in the domes (S$28pp non-SIN for both domes) which I have nicknamed Nessy 🙂 It was so relaxing that I would have dozed off if I could have rest my back or lay down…

A drive to Mustafa and around Little India to collect the TV. Glad that the MRT stations in front are completed and that the barricades are finally down at LaSalle. Such a difference LaSalle is now that a full view can be seen from the road.

Appreciations to Cathrine&Lee for dinner at Imperial Treasure at Paragon****nice to meet new people and young people, Alfonse. Tkx to good wines brought by Les&Ivy.

The cold weather in OSL created ice crystals in the air and the Northern lights have now met its match…

https://www.facebook.com/vgteve/videos/10156591217890354/?pnref=story

Seems like these phenomenon and strange but amazing lights happening over Norway the past few days may be some forms of chemical reactions and this one is not a good one, as beautiful as they are 🙁

http://www.theboredmind.com/nature/these-psychedelic-clouds-were-spotted-over-norway-theyre-beautiful-but-bad-news/

Sun: battery running low (less than 1bar) in everything and everyways! At this stage in life’s journey, one need to be realistic to recharge when needed.  My motto – take care, stay safe and keep moving forward one step at a time and one day at a time 🙂

8 Jan 2016 – In Preparations…

Wed: lunch with Clem at IKEA and also got some food there for CC. Looks like Monkey business will be the themes ahead! For the Chinese Ox horoscope, the year of The Fire Monkey will bring some major celebrations, also some major changes. Predicts that they will find love in 2016. Hahaha this is not the first time for this predictions, so take it with many grains of salt 🙂 There could be news of a pregnancy, either that or a new child born into the family – really, must ask May about this??

Campers Corner is extending both their Novena and Waterloo stores making 51 Waterloo the longest and the only one with a cork-board (finally done!) outfitter’s store in SIN.

Thu: Joy***is the story of a family across four generations centered on the girl who becomes the woman who founds a business dynasty and becomes a matriarch in her own right. Betrayal, treachery, the loss of innocence and the scars of love.

The Danish Girl****remarkable love story inspired by the lives of artists Lili Elbe and Gerda Wegener. Lili and Gerda’s marriage and work evolve as they navigate Lili’s groundbreaking journey as a transgender pioneer.

Good acting but I thought this rather a sad movie and unable to imagine what it is like to feel so out-of-place with one’s own gender that one is willing to risk everything, including life…

Fri: TGIF and a good weekend to all.  Looks like I need to do some shopping. Not one of my favourite things to do.

To be out in nature tops one of my favourtie things to do…

Girls in white dresses with blue satin sashes
Snowflakes that stay on my nose and eyelashes
Silver white winters that melt into springs
These are a few of my favorite things – Rodgers and Hammerstein 

6 Jan 2016 – With Good Memories

Mon: First day of school and so much to share! US domestic air travel will require either a traditional passport or a federally-compliant ID card called “Real ID.” State driver’s licenses will no longer allow Americans access to domestic flights, as they do now. Real ID will constitute an internal passport’.

In other words you need to find out if your whatever US ID meets the required regulations for where ever you might be traveling to. So to make it easy for those who HAVE passports, just take your passport with you when you are traveling. For those who do not have a passport, go find out before you travel.

Pix credit to my niece Candice and she is taking a vote – boobalicious or phallic 🙂 at the Pasadena Rose Parade, CA USA. Seen from this little girl’s innocent eyes, this was her favourite. The thought of the parade brought back memories when we lived in CA, USA. L&M at this parade in 1986…

Just got words that an old Irish friend, Keith is home from hospital. He broke a collar-bone and several ribs avoiding a stone on his racing bike. Had surgery and now back in his Switzerland home. Speedy recovery to him, dug out some pix from his visits in OSL and our visit in CPH 1983-86.

Appreciations to HongSze for a wonderful evening with dinner and drinks at the Tanglin Club. Good to catch up with Samantha who blooms to be more beautiful for every year.

What a pleasant surprise to bump into Billy. Trying to recall when was the last time our paths crossed?? Found a pix from his family’s visit to FL, USA when we were living there in 1990! Now he is a grandfather of 1 with 2 more expected this year!

Tue: On the twelfth day of Christmas my true love sent to me: 12 Drummers Drumming. Drum rolls for putting away all Christmas decorations! And this tree is now ready for the next season, ie if you are using an artificial tree and has storage space!

It has been many years since I had a Christmas tree and when I did we had real trees thus not possible to pack it away. The only tree I have now is an advent calendar tree and this is a no-brainer to pack nor does it need much storage space 🙂

I don’t believe in forgetting the past, Because it’s always going to be a part of my life. But I can learn from it, accept it and move on – Abhishek Tiwari

3 Jan 2016 – On Orchard Road

Sat: Happy Bday to grand-nephew Darryl. Dropped by to Les&Ivy to check that things are OK as they are away until tomorrow. Tkx for T with Daisy and good to catch up with Raymond.

The choices and taste of the cakes at Brunetti***Tanglin Mall has yet to disappoint me. Today they had this new cute cake name Walk With Me – looks good and rich but was not hungry enough to try it.

After Walk With Me, decided to walk from Tanglin Road down Pedestrian Night on Orchard Road. Quite a novelty to be able to walk in the middle of this usually busy traffic road. To my surprise it was not as crowded as I thought it would be.

Strange but nice to be able to stand still in the middle of Orchard Rd to get some decent shots. Other shots in the camera were from a moving bus thru’ the glass windows.

Thought it was going to be the whole of Orchard, but as as it turned out, was only from the junction from Scotts Rd to Cairnhill Rd – 660m.

After The Heeren at Cairnhill Rd the traffic resumed and most of the Christmas displays were already down around Centre Point and Gateway. Good to still see people enjoying this pleasant evening. Walked from Tanglin Mall to Plaza SIN, app 3+K

Sun: another cloudy and lovely day keeping the temps comfortable to open windows and no AC needed in the pad! Nice day to organize paper-work, etc before starting on the logistics for E1, which will be one of the last big challenges in life’s journey!

On the tenth day of Christmas
my true love sent to me:
Ten Lords a Leaping

And yes I need those 10 Lords not just leaping around but to make themselves useful and help me put away decorations and clean up this pad 🙂

1 Jan 2016 – Welcome 2016

Tue: need to rest the muscles and joints after yesterday. Just show how unfit this body is. Have to do something about it before the heart and the rest of the organs like the stomach unfriends the mind…

Wed: Before We Go***two strangers stuck in Manhattan for the night grow into each others most trusted confidants when an evening of unexpected adventure forces them to confront their fears and take control of their lives…

Carol****based on the novel The Price of Salt, the movie is set in 1952 following a young dep-store clerk, Therese Belivet, who dreams of a better life. She then meets and falls in love with an older, married woman named Carol, an alluring woman who is trapped in a loveless, convenient marriage…

A tad slow pace but excellent acting from the women.

Thu: on this last day of 2015 and the seventh day of Christmas my true love sent to me 7 Swans a Swimming – the exact origins and the meaning of the song are unknown, but it is highly probable that it originated from a children’s memory and forfeit game.

After qualifying the MDA Assistance Scheme and M1’s visit, decided to shop around for a small affordable HDM1 ready TV. Another learning and new experience as this will be my first TV here in SIN.

11.00hrs: started with the Expo and there was nothing there within my choice or budget. The MRT station is more interesting than what was inside the Expo!

11.30hrs: continued to Mustafa in Little India. Lucky me, 3 choices there. Do like shopping there when there are no crowds – the only 24-7shop of this kind in the world with everything under one roof. And there are as many entrances as there are exists to get totally lost!

Slightly disoriented when I got out and had to ask for directions to Tekka Centre! A young lady who gave me directions back to the main road advised me to take the MRT. By looking at me, she thought it would be too long a walk!!! How sweet and considerate – I thank her for directing me back on the main drag and took an enjoyable stroll.

Always enjoy this colourful and glittery stretch on Serangoon Rd passing Sri Veeramakaliamman temple, now newly painted.

The goldsmiths on this road seemed never-ending with beautiful Indian women decked in their finest painted on the pillars and walls. Somehow, this is what I kinda imagine what India is a little bit like, but somehow I also know that it is also an illusion knowing the poverty issues there! The ironies of life…

Tekka Centre, where my favourite biryani chicken rice and mutton soup are located and to be packaged to eat in the comforts of my ‘bechelotette pad’, term used by my nieces and nephews referring to my living quarters 🙂 Yummy NYE’s dinner. Another fun 5-6hrs day on the feet feeling grateful to families and friends who have crossed 2015 life journey’s path and made days, weeks and months memorable. Am blessed and ready for 2016.

Fri: Happy New Year from Kiritimati, the first location to have just passed midnight. Doubt that I will be able to stay awake to keep the mid-night clock going around the world.

Thank you Henry for his company and for sharing a New Year’s dinner with me.

With 40 different local times in use, it takes 26hrs for the New Year to encompass all time zones. And much of US Minor Outlying Islands including Baker Island, Howland Island are finally in 2016. Happy New Year to all around the world. May PEACE find a place to us all and also to the world.

2 – Happy Bday Darryl

5 – Happy Bdays Gerald  & Leonard

6 – Happy Bday Cindy

9 – Happy Bdays Judy & Lee

10 – Happy Bday KeeYang

15 – Happy Bdays Angie  & me!

18 – Happy Bday Isabelle-SunSun

19 – Happy Bday Kari

21 – Happy Bday Michael

22 – Happy Bday Katy

24 – Happy Bdays 15th uncle  and Ole K

29 Dec 2015 – The Survivour Naps…

Sat: the stomach and body need to rest. Seems like napping is getting to be a norm and good company – hahaha. Could not bring myself out of the comforts of this tiny AC studio-apartment. Time to catch up with the 2015 Season’s Greetings mail and to open gifts.

Perfect paper napkins for both Christmas and the CNY. The pineapple is recognized as a traditional expression of ‘welcome’ throughout the South and in areas along the Eastern Seaboard of the USA. And for the Chinese – Pineapple (凤梨) – wealth, luck, excellent fortune, tkx Linn.

Looks like the Christmas village has to go up again in future now that these lights arrived, tkx May. The piano looks kind of empty without the village for this Christmas!

For 2016 I should be welcoming good fortune and luck with bright starlight.

Happy Boxing Day and St Stephen’s Day on this 2nd Day of Christmas when my true love gave to me Two Turtle Doves. Gledelig Jul and not God Jul as L&M paternal great-grand-mother Emma would say after Christmas eve is over.

This share from FB made my day 🙂 Must have given Ferrero Rocher Chocolate to just about everyone for this season – so let the humour in again, and I even like Brussels sprouts.

Comment from Mario, an Irish friend –  Ha ha, beautiful !! After a couple of drinks would they even notice. My reply – I learnt to like Brussels sprouts in Ireland and from the Irish I learnt to drink with a humour.

Sun: the mind and the stomach are not friends 🙁 Decided to give it a miss for the Christmas lunch. Apologies Bev, do not usually cancel at the last moment, unless of real ouch! This place looks like it serves good key-lime pie. Sorry to miss Two Bakers, one of the newer faces in Jalan Besar’s cafe scene. The two chefs here are Le Cordon Bleu Paris-trained so you can be sure that their food here is of standard. Pix credits to Ting.

A lovely evening catching up with AudreyW, Clem & Sue. Glad that they could swing by to keep company with an old auntie 🙂 🙂 🙂

Mon: Happy Birthday PP. Really enjoy our annual trips together and looking forward to our next. Great to catch up with Grace and tkx for the goodies from Myanmar and Vietnam.

App 3+K starting from Marine C to Fort Rd, muggy and warm having to stop for some mins for shelter from a rain storm. Continued with a light drizzle to Fort Rd. Glad for the recent completion to cross safely. Another 2+K from there to the Gardens by the Bay/Bay East crossing the Marina Barrage to the domes/Bay South. Tkx for the company Grace, my SIN buddy hiker.

The best with this location is that cycling or walking on paths without cars – app 5-6K (1 to 2hrs depending on your pace) walk from where I live.

Been wanting to check out the Christmas display and to see the Cloud Forest which is my first experience. Thank goodness the crowds were not at its worst! The usual cost for entry into these 2 cooled conservatories is S$15 for seniors now being SG50 FOC for SIN seniors, note that there are only 3 more days for this offer.

A short visit to the Flower Dome to capture and see these displays. Have been there many times, so no need to linger with the crowds.

Cloud Forest: quite an experience walking around the Cloud Mountain, accessible by an elevator and descending it via a circular path where a 35-m/15ft waterfall provides refreshing cool air.

Bright colourful lights at the Supertrees with music and crowds making merry for the evening. Feeling all the aches in every muscle and joint after 5hrs on the feet, it was time to find the Bayfront MRT station!

One of the most tragic things I know about human nature is that all of us tend to put off living. We are all dreaming of some magical rose garden over the horizon instead of enjoying the roses that are blooming outside our windows today – Dale Carnegie