2 Apr 2013 – Haeundae – Busan/PUS

Sun: after 5hrs 15mins on China Eastern Airlines landed in time from SIN at Shanghai/PVG (above 2 pix uploaded from different sites) with 10hrs layover. Slept on the airport chairs – in spite of the impressive airport, it lacks service and facilities. Paying S$480 SIN-PUS-SIN, one cannot have the best connections! Considering some of the shelters which gave a roof over this tired body over the years, this is luxury 🙂

Mon: breakfast at the PVG airport, one cappuccino and an order of dumplings CNY100 S$20, ouch!!! A full flight on schedule PVG-PUS, 1hr 25mins and tkx to Audrey for meeting me at the airport. 1+hr  on the bus KRW7,000 S$8 to Haeundae.

Busan 부산 area 767.35 km^2/296.28 sq mi, pop 4+mil is located on the SE coast of Korea with a complicated history as far back as 300-400AD. Busan is known as the summer capital of Korea since it attracts tourists from all over the country to its six beaches. Luxury hotels and a carnival boardwalk line the beach at Haeundae, the largest beach in Korea, nearby where Audrey lives on the 31st floor with a panoramic view.

Walked on the streets lined with cherry blossoms was such a feast to the eyes. Red camellias and magnolias are also in bloom. Wow wow wow what a treat.

In the cherry blossom’s shade
There’s no such thing as a stranger  – Kobayashi Issa

Apr birthdays:

2 Apr – Happy Bday Marianne HUSTAD

4 Apr – Happy Bday Richard YUNG

8 Apr – Happy Bday Torill WISTNER

12 Apr – Happy Bday Peggy TAN

15 Apr – Happy Bday Lynne ONG-MICHEALS & Aileen KOH

17 Apr – Happy Bdays Anne STENSETH, Sharon KOH & Sara LAM

21 Apr – Happy Bday Gilbert CHAN

22 Apr – Happy Bday Ike LAM-BOROWSKY

29 Apr – Happy Bday Stanely LAM

30 Apr – Happy Bday JohnWT CHENG

31 Mar 2013 – En route to Busan/S Korea via Shanghai

Thu: all went well at dentist appointment with cousin Ken/NationalDentalCareNDC. And time to catch up with the latest family gossips 🙂

Lunched at World Peace Cafe**vegetarian place around the corner on NeilRd with John&Cathleen who is working at Kerry Hill Architects on CantonmentRd.

Glad that the shophouses there are nicely preserved and hopefully will be kept that way. With the police complex just across the road, they should at least be pretty safe unless the heritage concept changes!

Fri: Southeast Asian Film Festival 2013, Liberta***is a docudrama about a suicide survivor who journeys towards Ayers Rock to find answers. There she encounters an unseen power. Directed by SIN local talent Kan Lume and produced by his wife Megan Wonowidjoyo. Faye Kingslee is the main cast in this monologue script. Liberta was awarded Prize at Cinema Digital Seoul in 2012.

Sat: Japanese dinner in Tampopo**at Liang Court with Clem, followed by a pleasant evening walk along ClarkQuay. Been a while since the last time, quite a glitzy night-life!

Headed towards FullertonHotel to catch bus 196 and was again lucky to catch light show in the moonlight…

Sun: The last Easter with immediate family was 2005, when Katy was 3+, Ellie new-born and I was preparing for the AT thru’ hike! Easter Sun today, will be in SIN & Shanghai airports en route to Busan/S Korea to visit Audrey. Hopefully the cherry blossoms (Audrey’s pix) are still in bloom. With the tense situation there at present, is this wise? If not, then so be it, time will tell 🙂 🙂

Easter 2014, plans to be in CAE/SC to celebrate Linn’s 40th and hopefully May&family will also be there. Been some years since we were all together, 2010 in CAE/SC before James & Olai were born.

Was going thru’ pix searching for some old Easter ones, but could not find any during Ireland or Norway days with an Easter theme. Only one found was from FL/USA 1989 when Claire was visiting during her sky-diving days.

Dublin days seems another life time ago. Pix from those days were mainly colour slides. Need to sit down and really organise them before the colours fade with the memory! Difficult to focus with all these preparations for the travelling. So much to do and so little time.

To a Christian, Easter Sunday means everything, when we celebrate the resurrection  of Jesus Christ – Bernhard Langer

28 Mar 2013 – Then and Now

Classmate from CHIJ/1962 Angela LOKE’s home was next to Lido (opened 1958) then and we used to have lunch in her house and hopped over the fence to the movies when it was one large theatre. Remember watching Ben-Hur there. There was intermission in the middle of those long movies when one can go out and buy drinks, snacks or use the rest room without missing any parts of the movie! Above pix credits to Jerome LIM, who has an excellent blog on SIN’s past and present:

http://thelongnwindingroad.wordpress.com/2010/04/16/my-big-strong-and-maybe-a-little-less-than-friendly-experiences-at-the-corner-of-orchard-and-scotts-road/

Shaw’s iconic Lido Theatres reopened its doors 2yrs ago to the public after a make-over with 11 halls including one featuring SIN first and only IMAX’s Digital Theatre System then. Like the open space concept, especially when not crowded, also a good view of Ion and the Marriott Hotel on Orchard Rd.

Tue: The Croods***computer-animated film set in the prehistoric era, when an earthquake forces a caveman, Gurg & his family to leave behind the only world they know. The situation becomes even more complicated when Grug’s eldest daughter falls for a nomad, whose quirky and imaginative search for ‘tomorrow’ is at odds with Grug’s reliance on the traditions of yesterday… a constructive message when the older generation can learn from the new!

Shopped for Korea trip. Audrey tells me that Sun-Maid CA raisins are not available in Busan/S Korea. Unable to get online to confirm reservations, thank goodness the airport is a short trip of 20mins by bus costing OW/S$0.87cents (senior fare). Took the opportunity to shopped at T3 NTUC (10% senior discount on Tue), where there is no GST. Also to confirm with China Eastern Airlines for travel on Sun.

Wed: tkx for dinner sis Jo for an early celebration. She will be celebrating her 76 Bday this Sun when I am away in Korea.

It  is not our differences that divide us. It is our inability to recognize, accept,  and celebrate those differences – Audre Lorde

26 Mar 2013 – Peranakan shophouses

Fri: walked around the Joo Chiat area checking out the cane furniture to discover that they are rather costly nowadays. This area has a history dating back to the early 1900s when plantations owned by CHEW Joo Chiat were located then. As more people moved into Joo Chiat and along East Coast Road, there was a big demand for housing. Chew divided his land into building lots and sold them to developers to build houses. Today Joo Chiat is best known for its colourful rows of traditional Peranakan shophouses that line its narrow streets.

Peranakan Chinese and Baba-Nyonya are terms used for the descendants of late 15th and 16th-century Chinese immigrants to the Indonesian archipelago and British Malaya (now Malaysia).

Sat: lunched at home with John&Cathleen. Have not seen John for a while and good to catch up to hear how these young people are doing. Looks like he will be moving on after 3+yrs in SIN.

Good luck to them and hope to be able to visit after they are settled somewhere!

Sun: Campus’ Corner Weekend Carnival and to pick up a new silk sleeping bag liner. The old one from the AT hike has finally seen its days but it has been most useful and have been with all my journeys since 2004.

Use it when staying overnight as guest to save the work of stripping and washing bed linen.

Tkx Les&Ivy for a cozy Sun family home-cooked dinner. The unforgettable fish! Empurau, the most expensive fish was delicious. Unfortunately unlike the fish, forgot to take pix of Sat lunch and Sun dinner… am losing it!! Pix of J&C are downloaded from his FB.

Helter Skelter: meaning chaotic and disorderly haste! Lilico undergoes multiple cosmetic surgeries to her entire body. She’s looked upon as an icon for beauty. As the toll of her multiple surgeries begins to take its toll, she makes the lives of those around her miserable as she tries to deal with career and personal problems. This Japanese flick is not my cup of tea, even with the good acting…

Chaos  was the law of nature; Order was the dream of man – Henry  Adams

21 Mar 2013 – And Tasmania Today

Wed: had to wait for the gas-man to check that the public gas pipes are in good condition. Thank goodness no leakage!

Evening slide show with Tasmanian wines and cheese at Campers’ Corner on two of Tasmania’s walks, World Heritage listed Cradle Mountain/Lake St Claire National Park and the Bay of Fires. Absolutely beautiful nature, well-marked trails and luxurious accommodations with fine dinning, ie for hiking standards! If not for the budget, hiking with daypack without roughing it out will be my future kind of hikes 🙂

Thanks to Calvin & Seng Hock for their presentations, appreciations to Calvin for the invite and for bringing back memories of a 1986 trip!

It has been a while ago since the first and last trip to Tassie/Oct 1986, when the historic site in Port Arthur was under renovations. A small town and former convict settlement on the Tasman Peninsula, Port Arthur is one of Australia’s most significant heritage areas and an open air museum and Tasmania’s top tourist attraction, located app 60km/37mi SE of the capital, Hobart. Today it is a UNESCO site.

The Port Arthur massacre of 28 April 1996 was a killing spree in which 35 people were killed and 23 wounded, mainly at the historic Port Arthur prison colony.

Cloudy day in Tessellated Pavement/Tasman Peninsula, 1986.

Giant chess game in Franklin Square/Hobart, 1986.

Battery Point/Hobart 1986 where Mures Fish House**** was located then served delicious seafood. 2 nights stay at the Four Seasons**** then was less than $140! Hopefully another visit again soon but not this year.

In those days it was scrap books, thus still have the pix and scraps! And now it’s blogging…

I have seen Tasmanian devils battle over a carcass. I have seen lionesses crowding a kill, dingoes on the trail of a feral piglet, and adult croc thrashing its prey to pieces. But never, in all the animal world, have I witnessed anything to match the casual cruelty of the human being – Terri Irwin

15 Mar 2013 – for St Patrick’s Day

Thu: Happy 8th Bday dear dear Ellie, 2nd grandchild. Will always remember the year she is born as that was also the year when I completed the AT thru’ hike.

Surprised Lawrence by meeting him at the airport and had lunch at Terminal 3 before heading into town to Les&Ivy. Tonight the St Pats celebrations kick off with dinner for UCD visiting medical doctors, dean, professor, John, Muiris, Patrick & Patrick and also in good company of Bebe and Stanley.

Food by Nor Afandi Awang and champagne and wines to compliment the dishes.

2 bottles of Cristal Champagne/2002 with foie gras, smoked salmon and a few other finger food for starter. Bâtard-Montrachet Grand Cru/1995 with Duo Soup and Singapore Style Noodle with Lobster. Clos de Vougeot/2002 with pasta and sorbet. 2 bottles of Chateau Latour/1989 with the Lamb. Chateau d’yquem lur-saluces/1998 dessert wine with Pina Colada.

After such an evening, had to stay the night as the last bus was way gone. No need for dreams or imaginations of leprechaun! Woke up this morning to wonder if there is any life in the body. Gave myself a cold shower to get back into reality… 🙂

Not even the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow can give this selection of wines and food! This would bust the budget for a year of bills and expenses for me! Soooo blessed to be included and as always much appreciations to Les&Ivy for their gracious generosity and hospitality.

Fri: how wonderful to be able to catch up with CHIJ classmates from 1962 class. This is in honour to Lynne Ong-Micheals who is back in SIN for a short stay. Hope to visit her in Cornwall before or after the UK Coast to Coast hike this summer. Thank you Evelyn for arranging this lovely evening in good company of Penny, Rebecca, Peggy, Lydia, Sylvia, Shirley & Pat at Kepple Club PeraMakan***

A passer-by watched two Irishmen in a park. One was  digging holes and the other was immediately filling them in again. ‘Tell me, ‘said the passer-by, ‘What on earth are you doing?’  

‘Well, ‘said the digger, ‘Usually there are three of us. I dig,  Fergal plants the tree and Sean fills in the hole. Today Fergal is away unwell, but that doesn’t mean Sean and I have to take the day off, does it?

12 Mar 2013 –  to Liquidate a Company!

Thank you to Lawrence&Mabel for their gracious hospitality and for putting up with me.

Fri: tkx to Chuan for dinner and a bed for the night. Appreciate the time with his family.

Sat: AnnChee & JiaJia helping and volunteering their time at the Society for KCH Urban Poor. Sat & Sun Market’s new location Medan Niaga Satok where only a few stalls are occupied, probably due to higher rentals. Most of the vendors are behind the building, outside at the parking lot where they have set up their own stalls. KCH has its own way of doing business!!

Some random KCH pix. Drove to meet Lawrence and Larry at the airport in the evening. Thank goodness traffic was not too bad.

Condolences to 14th uncle Danny LAM Tin Chong in KL/Malaysia for the passing of his wife,14th auntie Jamilah YACOB/1935-2013 (Tue 5 Mar). Lawrence who was recently in KL returned with this sad news. The last meeting with 14th auntie was Apr 2009…

http://amylamsg.com/2009/04/21/kuala-lumpur/

Sun: a good briefing by Larry for the Mon meeting. Appreciations to Lily & Danny for a lovely dinner at The Venue***

Mon: meeting went OK, hopefully next trip to KCH will solely be for pleasure! A touch of humour for any meeting. Also a reminder to be specific and clear with words so that there can be NO miscommunications and no more of who said what. Everything should always be documented in black and white, but of course that does not always help where a culture of bribery is the norm…

Tue: unfortunately human decency goes downhill in pursuit of materialistic values. Corruption is not just accepting brides, it is also about the vain attempt to satisfy greed and power.

Thank you Chuan for breakfast and for driving to the airport. Bidding farewell to the Cat City, riding on the Tiger safely back in the Lion City without any scratches… 🙂

Power does not corrupt. Fear corrupts… perhaps the fear of a loss of power ―    John Steinbeck

8 Mar 2013 – Happy International Women’s Day

Wed: Arr KCH (1hr flight time) safe and sound ahead of schedule on TigerAir. Appreciations to Chuan for meeting me at the airport. After running errands and a yummy bowl of KolokMee, it was time to catch the bus (MYR20 RT/S$8) to Damai Beach Resort*** app 45mins drive north from KCH center. 2N3D inclusive breakfast (MYR410 nett/S$165). Reasonable and decent buffet breakfast. Tkx to AnnChee for the bookings.

Blissful and idyllic ambience located on the coast, this resort commands a panoramic view of the S China Sea with Mt Santubong in the background. The sound of waves crashing onto the shore is comforting. Places of interest include the Sarawak Cultural Village which is just around the corner but have been there a couple of times; Santubong jungle hike, been there done that.

http://amylamsg.com/2008/03/10/santubong-jungle/

The legend attached to Mt Santubong is of intrigues, jealousy and murder. When view from the S China Sea, the profile of Mt Santubong is supposedly to look like a woman lying on the horizon – my thoughts, any thing is going to look like a woman in the sailors’ imaginations who have been some time away at sea 🙂

The first 3 days of this trip is for relaxing and reading. The SPA did not look too tempting. No internet without paying and thus no posting until back in KCH. This resort was originally a Sheraton 20+yrs ago and must have been quite something in its heydays. Holiday Inn took over next and now this is the third proprietor. The maintenance could be better but being by the sea, it must be extremely costly to keep things spick and spam!

Room (1207) with a view and 188 steps down to the beach or an efficient shuttle pick-up. Was quite alone up in the hills but a perfect get away from the main drag. The chalets are ideal for families.

Strolling at dusk and dawn was the only time comfortable and was back in the room before dark. Being alone up on the slope, horror movie The Shining/1980 with Jack Nicolson came to mind. No REᗡЯUM but red flags along the beach indicates the danger to swim in the sea and the other danger, Beware of Falling Coconuts 🙂

No dangers in capturing some these beautiful natural sand art made by the waves that only lasted a few minutes before they are completely wiped out by the waves. Sweet fragrance flowers fallen from the trees, but was told by the gardener that the locals call this Putat laut, botanical name Barringtonia asiatica tree

Life lasts but a few scratches of the claw in the sand – Wislawa  Szymborska

3 Mar 2013 – Beyond any Doubt, the King of YuiSang/鱼生=raw fish

http://amylamsg.com/2011/02/14/king-of-yuisang%e9%b1%bc%e7%94%9f/

http://amylamsg.com/2012/02/12/a-28-ingredients-dish/

Starved all day to taste this dish so that the flavour can linger till the next tasting 🙂 Have been blessed again to taste this dish by Frank NG’s family 3yrs running. Tkx to Jessie&Frank for sharing the ingredients (some not available overseas).

Appreciations to Ivy&Les for including me. Thank you to Jessie (Ivy’s cousin)&Frank for all the cutting and for sharing the secret in good company of porpor, sis Jo, Angelique&Paul, Sharon&Harry (Ivy’s cousin). The champagne and wine complimented to this most scrumptious YuiSang, tkx to Les.

Preserved ingredients: 1.Vegetable  2.Cucumber 3.Red sweetened ginger  4.White sour ginger 5.Brown melon 6.White melon 7.Leeks. These 7 preserved ingredients can be bought at: Sin Hwa Foodstuff/Senoko South Rd/SIN

Dried candied ingredients: 8.Winter melon 9.Chinese mandarin orange.

Fresh ingredients thinly cut: 10. Two varieties of lettuce/iceberg&romaine 11.carrots 12.Large celery 13.Spring onions 14.Coriander, also known as cilantro, Chinese parsley 15.Red chillies, remove seeds 16.Fish ikan–parang is Malay for wolf-herring/brandy for seasoning, optional.

Fried crisp ingredients: 17.Wonton skin 18.Pillow-shaped crispies/pok chui 19.rice vermicelli/mei fun

Sauces & Seasoning: 20.Five spice power 21.Ground white pepper 22.Thinly sliced fresh ginger 23.Light soya sauce 24.Calamansi juice 25.Finely cut scallions fried till crispy 26.Sesame oil and oils from the deep-fried scallions 27.White sesame seeds 28.Pounded roasted peanuts.

Tossing and mixing this salad with auspicious phrases and sayings.

Second course: raw fish with spring onions, cilantro, red chillies (all finely cut) and seasoning. Some like to dip this into hot congee to cook the fish, my preference is raw. And for those who are still hungry, salted duck, Chinese sausages & pickles, abalone, cooked peanuts to compliment the congee. Bon Appetit!

Please do not ask the measurements as to how much of these 28 ingredients. The art of making good food is many trials and errors, tasting as you go along!

A story about baking told by Ajahn Brahm came to mind when all these ingredients were being typed on the keys and his words – the secret to life… everything is out of control.  And my words eat, sleep, enjoy and live to the fullest – in that order 🙂 🙂 🙂

Everyone makes mistakes. The wise are not people who never make mistakes, but those who forgive themselves and learn from their mistakes – Ajahn Brahm

1 Mar 2013 – Bye-bye Feb!

Someone tell me what was the occasion 9 months ago before March??? There are at least 8 family and 19 friends’ birthdays this month and do not blame it on St Patrick 🙂

TingTing commented that 9 months before Mar is Jun (start of summer holidays). Now that says it all regarding to the timing of Linn’s birth in Mar and May’s in Sep (Christmas holidays 9 months before Sep)… 🙂 🙂

Thu: appreciations to Hannah for meeting up. Do understand that she only have very few days with her family and friends before returning to Laos. Good luck to her afternoon appointment and enjoy the stay. Trying to remember how I met this adventurous young lady, but seems blur besides that she was studying in Denmark and then ventured on to Trondheim/Norway and somehow I provided her Stenseth’s contact if she needed help…

Edited (3 Mar) and this from Hannah...umm i believe i found out about you when you had that talk about walking the appalachian, but i couldn’t make it to the talk coz i was in norway, or maybe sweden, at that time, so i got my friend weixiong to buy a copy of your book for me instead. and then i must have emailed you and started some conversation about having been on the appalachian for a week myself, and then it just started from there..!

Trips to KCH/Sarawak and to Pusan/Korea (will be the 1st and hopefully the cherry blossoms are blooming) booked and confirmed for this month. New nickname given by Margaret in France, ADA – Always Departing Amy 🙂 🙂 🙂 and will be looking forward to catching up with her in France after the UK Coast-Coast hike.

Told myself that I will watch Argo on the big screen if it wins the Oscar and being true to myself and my words I did just that. Good movie and even when one knows the ending, the suspense is directed with taste to keep me on the edge on the seat. When the real incident happened in 1979-80, was too busy raising the family but do remember vaguely.

Argo****at the peak of the Iranian revolution, a CIA was involved to free 6 US diplomats who have found shelter at the home of the Canadian ambassador. Argo tells the story of a plan to convince Iran that the six men were just members of a camera crew who were scouting the area for a science fiction film titled ‘Argo’.

Slate.com: not every critic was pleased to see Argo win Best Picture at the Oscars. After its nomination was announced last month, Kevin B. Lee trashed the film and states that this year’s worst Best Picture nominee. Disagree here but there are some valid points.

Ah Boys To Men: Part 2***a SIN production by Jack Neo focuses on the theme of the definitive path for all young men in SIN National Service/NS. It is SIN first military themed film in 10 years, as well as the first movie duology, with the first part being released in 2012. Have not seen Part I, will try to get hold of a copy someday. As the title says it all, it is about boys learning to be men and the best place is in NS, especially for the SIN boys… 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

Mar family Bdays:

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.

21 Mar – Happy Anniversary to Ivy & Leslie

31 Mar – Happy Bday Josephine

Happy Mar Bdays to: Anthony, Gel, Geno, John Lim, Natty (SIN). Soakhoon (Malaysia), Alex (BKK), Hannah (Laos), Simplicius (Australia). Amelia, Paul, Steven (Ireland), Thomas (Norway). Al, Cee, Janice, Marcella, Warren (USA).