talking about revolution....

Tokyo Rewind

2010-10-30T21:46:00.000+08:00

day 8

snowflakes on plane's window... very pretty.

sayonara japan!

last meal in tokyo, at the airport.

curry-san

last shots in our 'weekly mansion'.

looks very drab on the outside but rooms were cosy and clean. thks to k's recommendation!

day 7

since the two pals weren't interested in museums and parks, i headed to tokyo midtown and design sight 21_21 in hinokicho park myself. and surprise surprise... they had lighted up the park! magical!

design sight 21_21 set in the park full of autumn colours

cows are going home....

at the entrance walkway of a restaurant in tokyo midtown.

view of hinokicho park from tokyo midtown, in the day time, before it transforms to a magical blue wonderland at night.

giant paper cutting at tokyo midtown. looks like lovely lace.

morning walk in the ueno park alone - as mentioned, pals were not interested in parks and were in fact more interested in snoozing. i bumped into emperor akihito in the park. he was in the car driving, waving like, well, an emperor. i was walking by and saw a 'queue' lining up alongside a wide footpath cum road. i thought, wow, these people really wanted to get into the museum or something. i walked right into the middle of the wide footpath and was stopped by a policeman who went on and on in japanese. i said, sorry i don't understand, i'm just trying to get to the other side and i was thinking of telling him i'm not interested to join the queue for the museum. he got agitated and gestured and looked like he was about to lift me off the ground and put me on the side of the road where i belonged. before he yelled at me, i walked across and joined the queue out of curiosity. minutes later, the emperor and his motorcade drove by. but... my camera's card was full! aaaaarrrggghhhhh... i desperately tried to delete photos to free up space, but it was too late. i only had enough time to wave back before the motorcade went by. sigh... no photos of the emperor.

i love j-lanterns. somewhat ghostly.

modern interpretation of lanterns. plasticky material looks cheap, but the idea is clever - reminiscent of sunlight glowing through shoji doors. very j.

autumn leaves, i like!

neko-chan, i also like! in seiza position.

day 6

okonomiyaki & monjayaki feast at Tsukishima Monja street, quite near to the Tsukiji market. the chef does a remarkable job, but.... i still don't like the dish.

explanation on how to cook a mean okonomiyaki.

ice cream dessert for dinner

day 5

on the way back from nikko to tokyo

bbq fish. quite delicious although looks quite scary, the way it is skewered makes it look eel-like.

kegon waterfall - during period between autumn and winter. not so great. i imagine it would look amazing in fall or magical in winter.

day 4

toshogu

wedding at toshogu

exhibit 'A'

autumn drive - from tokyo to nikko

day 3

taking train back from tokyo sealife park to shinjuku

view of ferris wheel from tokyo sealife park

tokyo sealife park - by yoshio taniguchi

the snowball fountain nozzles that toyo ito architects asked us to take reference from for the fountain waterfeature at belle vue. retro.

to get to tokyo sealife park, must take the non-express train that stops at every stop. we were none the wiser and took the express one, which went straight past the kasai-rinkai koen stop and brought us to the outskirts of tokyo and sensing something amiss, we asked someone and crossed the platform to backtrack.

before tokyo sealife park we had a fishy morning..

at tsukiji market

which was just a wet market... don't understand the hype. maybe because the angmohs who hype it up are only familiar with supermarkets.

long queues for fresh sashimi...

maguro toro... oooooo

in raw or should i say, pre-sliced form.

view of harbour

day 2

sumimasen float! for roadworks

shinjuku lights.

roadworks barrier.. kawaii ne!

autumn walk from shibuya to shinjuku

at smoke-filled and salary-men-filled izakaya

morning at asakusa temple and surrounds.
looking for famous tempura shop.

huge bowl of ramen meant for very hungry people. we couldn't even finish half a bowl.

our weekly mansion - so nice and spacious... by tokyo standards.

ahoy pinoy summer!

2010-07-31T00:39:00.000+08:00

pinoy = filipino. summer = oven-baking hot. first trip to philippines. read about butandings (whale sharks) in donsol few years back and been wanting to go. finally booked budget flight on cebu pacific air to manila! woo hoo, watch out butandings!

planning for the trip was pretty challenging. the resorts we wrote to were not forthcoming with information, and appeared bent on fleecing tourists. internet search proved futile as well, as there wasn't much information about donsol, besides the famed whale sharks. our flight was for 6 days stay and we weren't about to spend a whole week swimming with whale sharks, no offence to the gentle giants. we eventually decided to book the first two nights of accommodation at donsol and make plans along the way when we get there.

our adventure started at the manila airport. arriving at 4am, we had around 4 hours before our domestic flight to legaspi. we heard that the resorts world manila was right next to the airport so we thought that might be a good place to catch a snooze. it was right next to the airport alright, but..... separated by an expressway. there was a macdonald's across the road, too. very enticing at 4am. for a joke, someone built a half bridge from the other side of the road. well, jay-walking across shouldn't be difficult, but.... the trouble is getting out of the airport grounds. the architect for the airport was given a brief to make it impossible to get out without taking a cab. the design was very successful. the airport grounds was barricaded with a wall + fence that stretches for a kilometre or more on both sides - see the graphic below. it may be more than a kilometre, it looked endless.

they were charging an arm and leg at the cab counter in the airport. if you just walked out and hailed any cab, it would be much cheaper. can't remember how much it cost exactly, but you can ask random people hanging around. ask at least 5 people as each may tell you a different story.

be warned that if you stepped out of the airport, just as much as one step outside the auto sliding doors to ask the security guard for directions, you cannot step back in. you will have walk to another entrance door to queue, and walk through a metal detector gantry to get back into the airport. also, at the building apron, you cannot get from basement to ground floor. you have to get back into the airport building and take the elevator/escalator up to ground floor. don't say i didn't warn you.

the adventure didn't stop there. the check-in counter at the airport wanted to charge us for overweighted luggage. we said we'll hand carry some of our heavy dive gear but they insisted that it's a policy that dive gear cannot be hand carried and we would surely be stopped at the immigration counter. bonz insisted that was nonsense, and then we proceeded to transfer some stuff out of the check-in luggages to the hand-carry bag. they didn't stop us and we eventually passed the immigration without any fuss and we didn't pay any excess baggage charges.

the flight from manila to legaspi was less than an hour. plane-eye view of legaspi - check out the chocolate-like hills. don't have to make special trip to bohol to see chocolate hills!

airport with foothills in the background and very blue skies.

many touts at the airport clambering for business. we negotiated for a tricycle to bring us to the bus terminal for i think 50 or 60pesos. there are a few bus terminals in legaspi so remember to tell the tricycle person that it is the terminal to donsol. quite near, around 10 minutes.

the passengers + 4 huge luggages overwhelmed the little tricycle.

street in Legaspi adorned with election flags.

tricycle dropped us off at the waiting area for minivans bound for donsol. we have to wait for more passengers to join the van before it sets off. price of the ride to Donsol is 60peso per person and takes around 1.5 hours.

before they demand additional fees for our huge luggages, which could take up 3 seats, we quickly suggested that the luggages should go into the boot and proceeded to stuff them in.

while waiting for other passengers to fill the van, we took turns to amble around the terminal.

the famous philippines' jeepneys!

i like!

the van dropped us off in a nondescript place in donsol which got us a little worried about how to get to our booked accommodation.

luckily there were some tricycles that rode by. we stopped one and negotiated for price (around 60 pesos) of sending us to our accommodation + some others to check out prices before we make our decision on where to stay. after checking out one or two other resorts, we decided to stick with the one that we pre-booked - vitton beach resort (T: 0927-9126313). looks clean, comfortable and has hot shower facilities plus it is right next to the Tourism Office, which is the place to book the whale shark interaction tours.

after checking in, we immediately headed out to book our whale shark 'tour' for the next day and also fireflies tour that evening. we were told that we could only go out with the 3rd batch for the whale shark tour, i.e. later in the morning as the early morning batches were fully booked. they asked us if we would like to wait for 3 other tourists to join our boat and share the cost or pay for 1 whole boat ourselves. so happened that there were another 3 persons who just booked the tour so we joined up with them.

we had an entire afternoon to waste after that so we ambled around to check out if there is anything else to do in donsol.

the 'main road' in donsol - no one! only a few cows mooing in the padi fields!

we've come to ulu town! and stuck here for 2 days... groaaaaannnn.... nothing else to do so we walked down to the next resort, amor farm beach resort, for lunch.

this is not lunch, its chicken feed. so attractive looking.

this is also not lunch. whale shark decor in fish tank - for tourists who are so unlucky that they don't see the real one.

the vacuum cleaner under the dining table. will clean up any scraps that fall off the table.

lunch is.... butter prawns.

and chicken adobo (chicken in dark soya sauce) and calamari. quite yummy, even though the butter doesn't taste like butter.

after lunch, more ambling around. stroll down the black sand beach.

then back to room cos nothing else to do. very spacious and quite clean, plus the hot shower works.

nice balcony with sea view.

at dusk, we made our way out to amor farm beach resort for fireflies tour.

random shot of padi field along the way.

the good thing about booking the fireflies tour with amor resort is that they head out from the beach in front of the resort. so we don't have to take a tricycle and make our own way to the head of the river ourselves.

gorgeous sunset.

mt mayon in the background simmering away.

random shot of mangroves. that's all.. no shots of fireflies tour cos too dark!

after fireflies tour, dinner at amor farm then back to room. nothing else to do!
next morning, we headed to the Tourism Office an hour ahead of our set off time, cos i was paranoid that the tourism officers were pulling a fast one on us when they told another group to report at 9am and told us 10am. i was thinking maybe they want us to miss the boat and then we would have to pay for one boat all by ourselves! well, that didn't happen so we spent our hour shopping for souvenirs.

finally, after the long wait and watching the introduction video 3 times, it was time for the tour. one pinoy tourist sneaked up on our boat without paying! yup, it's the big-bellied man in red t-shirt. we thought he was part of the crew.

the whale-shark spotter who's perched on a bamboo pole.

we geared up with our mask, snorkel and fins and pricked our ears for the Interaction Officer's command of "NOW, NOW, NOWWWWWW!!!" with that command, we were s'posed to slide off the side of the boat without hesitation and swim towards the whale shark. the Interaction Officer will be swimming ahead of us so we just have to follow closely and the whale shark will come into view. Visibility was about 6-8m so the whale shark comes into view pretty suddenly, it's huge mouth usually the first thing we see, causing a 'woaAAHH' effect. tourists from all the boats will be zero-ing in on the same whale shark so it is quite a frenzy of legs, fins, bubbles and a lot of thrashing about near the surface, while the whale shark swims slowly and calmly about 3-6m below. you can get closer by free-diving below.

each interaction lasts a few frantic minutes and then the boat circles around to pick us up when the whale shark swims too far away from view. the boat then brings us to another area and when another whale shark is spotted, the whole frantic process of jump-off-boat, swim-to-whale-shark, gawk-at-whale-shark is repeated. after a few more jumps, it felt pretty silly and touristy. we shared boat with a young ang moh couple who were very kiasu, snatching pole positions (front-most position) for each launch-off and jumping off the boat in split seconds when the command was given by the Interaction Officer. like a SWAT team on a very important mission..

3 hours later, we were sent back to shore. goodbye butandings...

although we booked 2 nights accommodation at donsol, it was just waaaaaayyyy too boring to stay one more day, so we asked to cancel one night and asked for directions on how to get out of donsol. the resort person was very helpful and gave us directions on getting to cebu via masbate. after shower, we were out of donsol.

took a tricycle from our accommodation to the Terminal, takes 10 mins and cost around 20 pesos each person. From the Terminal (which was yet another nondescript place) we asked and were directed to the Jeepney to take to Pilar (15 mins, around 20-25 pesos each). we told the jeepney driver to please inform us when we reach the Pilar jetty where we could take a boat to Masbate. they dropped us off along the road and gave us directions on how to walk to the jetty. it was 15 mins walk but with our heavy luggage, felt like forever.

arrived at the jetty and bought our Fastcraft ferry tickets - must write the names down on the notebook at the counter. nobody said so, but i saw everyone else do it and had the common sense to do so too. the Fastcraft departs everyday at 4am, 12pm and 4pm. takes 2 hours. we had some time to kill before our 4pm ferry, so went to have late lunch. had instant noodles + rice + fish in spicy sour soup.

random shot of village at pilar jetty.

time to set off on our ferry. we were allocated with seats at different areas in the ferry. mine says 1E, but....

there is no 1E!! there's only 1A, B, C, and D. luckily i wrote my name on the notebook at the ticket counter so they confirmed that i had bought the ticket and directed me to an empty seat.

reached masbate about 6pm and were negotiating with some tricycle riders for good price to send us to a nearby hotel. a middle-aged guy who also arrived on the same ferry asked us where we were headed to and assured us that he was a policeman (showed us his card) and said we can trust him. wah lau, actually, the police pass made me distrust him! anyways, we asked the small group of people who had gathered around us, where is a good place to stay that is near and not expensive. the 'policeman' gave some suggestions and said it should cost us around 60pesos for a tricycle to send us to one of the hotels. we negotiated with a tricycle rider to bring us to a few hotels for our consideration before we decide on the one to stay at. the first hotel that we went to was pretty dodgy. we asked the tricycle rider where we should go that is near, cheap, clean. he brought us to Balay valencia. looks kinda sad from the outside, but bonz went up to the room to check it out and it was good. after settling down, we asked the hotel receptionist for directions to reasonable restuarants. we took her suggestion and it was good - filipino chinese style food. we ordered sinigang - a sour soup, very tasty!

after dinner, back to our very nice room. very quaint, like homestay.

breakfast was a lovely spread.

toast served in a basket - nice touch.

common filipino breakfast - corn beef!

fresh fruits + orange cordial...

and what's a filipino breakfast without rice? we didn't eat it though. way too much food.

to digest our food, went out for a walk. random shot of masbate street.

lechon (roast pig) - on my to-eat list from nina. but i don't dare to eat. looks scary.

our boat to cebu was at 6pm so we were stuck in masbate for a day. we read in a magazine at Balay valencia about a Buntod sand bar/marine park and thought of heading there to snorkel. based on the map in the magazine, we took a tricycle to one of the resorts along the coast, off the Buntod sand bar. we thought we could probably rent a boat from the resort or something. but, the resorts people looked at us like we were asking for the moon. they didn't have boats for rent and suggested that we try the local jetty. the tricycle rider took us there.

local jetty.

again, the boat people thought our request was ridiculous and suggested that we looked for the Mayor (say mah-yore)! we thought the magazine was kidding when it printed the Mayor's contact details in the advert for the Buntod marine park half day tour! anyways, it was sunday and the mayor's office was closed. so we asked the tricycle rider to bring us to the beach after a tough negotiation on the price - he said it was very far away, and indeed it was. we travelled through kampong area and palm plantations.

finally arrived at the beach and found out, we had to pay an entrance fee! what????

there was a lot of floating debris and seaweed in the waters and i spotted one of the 'debris' was swimming. had a closer look and realised it is a sargassum frogfish!

he came with some other friends. seahorse.

black frogfish.

pipefish.

demonstrating how the frogfish clings to the sargassum seaweed.

close up of the seaweed.

now closeup of the debris.

there was also debris in the turtle pond.

turtle swimming with prawn crackers bag, in very smelly waters. so sad.

ok, enough of swimming/snorkelling among trash. time to go. on the way back, our tricycle broke down! luckily, in the middle of a village.

villager who came out to help.

while we went around taking pictures.

election fever on the tree.

phew, repaired.

back to balay valencia with nothing else to do.

before long, it was time to head to the jetty to catch the boat to cebu.

it's a 'luxury' cruise!

we were going to share the boat with some cargo.

ship's crew who helped us with our luggage because they pitied us - the girls with luggage larger than ourselves and who refused to pay the porters the mere 20 pesos (S$0.60) to carry the luggage.

our 'luxury' cabin.

even has tv and attached toilet and basin.

outside the cabin was rows of bunk beds. many kids and they were very noisy. luckily we paid more for the cabin room.

non-airconditioned bunk beds.

alarm clock was provided on the ship - the cockadoodle doo.

shot of jetty taken from the ship.

as we had some time before the ship leaves, we went out to buy dinner. passed by a green mango vendor and bought some to try. a bit siap-siap and sour, not to my taste.

then headed to the eatery we went to the night before to have halo-halo (ice kachang) and beer.

setting off for cebu at dusk.

right after the dusk photo-taking, we headed back to the cabin for our packed dinner. a huge cockroach scurried out and had 3 screaming ladies jumping up and down the bed. the events that followed were fuzzy but the cockroach soon became mash. we threw the rest of the dinner in the bin outside the room, scared that the food smells will attract more cockroaches....

14 hours later....

arrived at cebu!

bridge that connects cebu and mactan island.

we hadn't made any pre-arrangements for travel to cebu and we thought we could book a tour when we reached cebu. first of all, finding a travel agent is a challenge. someone suggested that we try the SM mall which was very close to the jetty (around 5 mins drive) and we decided to take a cab there cos there was no way of dragging our heavy luggages anywhere. we joined a cab queue and the guard gave us a slip of paper that notes down the cab license no. before we got on. cabs that pick up passengers from this queue had to charge by meter. when we got near the mall, and i noticed the cab driver didn't keep to the left lane although the mall is on the left, i told him to Turn Left NOW. he mumbled under his breath, made a left turn then turned off the cab meter! bonz, who was sitting in the front seat started yelling at him and demanded that he turned the meter back on and when he refused and asked for more than the metered fare, she screamed at him to stop the car immediately but he continued driving. she said 'we've got your car no. to make a complaint' and opened the door slightly. that got him scared and he stopped the car. we got off and demanded that he opened his car boot so we could take the luggages out - he said hah, he's got our bags. bonz continued shouting at him, drawing the attention of other drivers around. he got scared again and opened the car boot - we took our bags out and paid him only the starting fare! tough luck.... one of the reasons why we dared to show such aggression was because he was quite old and fragile and we felt confident of pinning him down if necessary! bad girls.. tsk tsk... poor guy has to go back to join the taxi queue which had a long line of cabs but few customers. he must have queued for a long time only to get these customers who want to go to such a nearby place. too bad.... but it's not our fault.

the mall only opens in 2 hours time so while bonz guarded the luggages, nor and i walked around to check for information on how to get to malapascua. we passed by the mall's bus terminal and i asked the guard how we can get to malapascua. after a lot of hand gestures, globish and notes on my scrap paper, i figured we needed to take a jeepney to the Noag bus terminal (for north-bound buses). he gave directions to take the jeepney from the big road junction ahead. we went back to get bonz and dragged our luggages to the road junction. when the jeepneys stop behind the red traffic lights at the junction, you are supposed to quickly hop on to the correct one. the number at the front-top of the jeepney tells you which route it plies. it was frenetic, cos we weren't sure if the jeepney driver understood when we asked if it was the correct jeepney. we had realised early on that the filipino man-on-the-street would simply nod his head when you asked a question or said something, even if he didn't understand it. anyways, as the light had turned green and all the jeepneys and other cars around were starting to move forward, we quickly went up one of the jeepneys which the driver said is the correct one. being kiasu, we asked the passengers on board to confirm if it was going to the north bus terminal and were somewhat relieved when they confirmed it. it was quite near, maybe around 20 minutes or so. the bus terminal was quite chaotic too. we asked around and were directed to the bus bay for buses bound for maya - the town at the northern tip of cebu, opposite malapascua island. we verbally booked seats in one of the buses. the buses leave only when it is around 1/3 full. i think we might have waited around half hour or so. fare is 100 pesos and trip takes 4-4.5hours.

view of the bus terminal.

the bus picked up many more passengers along the way to maya. some food/drinks and even a sunglasses vendor boarded the bus to peddle their stuff then alighted a few stops later, while the bus was still in cebu city.

shots of the city and the eastern coast of cebu, taken from the bus.

halfway stop for buying snacks or for toilet break.

near to maya, we were the only passengers left on the bus! no one else on the full bus were going to maya... makes me a little nervous....

reached maya jetty around 2pm or so and the only tourists there were those who had arrived there from malapascua. we hadn't booked our accommodation so had to figure out a way to get a boat transfer to malapascua. a group of j-tourists said they stayed at Bantigue Cove which was 'very nice', but we don't trust them, cos j-tourists are known to be a prime target for getting fleeced. at the jetty were several advertisement signboards on various resorts. we called a few up to check rates and asked if they could send a boat to pick us up for free. tough luck. they said if we had pre-booked the accommodation they could have arrange for that but if we wanted them to send a boat now, that would cost an arm and leg. enter the boat scammers. they told us that there were no more boats heading out to malapascua but they could arrange for the special transfer if we paid for the whole boat at 1500 pesos (S$45). we said no thank you, we will wait for other passengers. they told a very convincing story about our bus being the last one to arrive in maya (oh, how unfortunate) and so there will be no other passengers arriving. refusing to be fleeced, we were all ready to spend the night at maya. after fierce bargaining, i think we settled for 100 pesos per person, which is double the normal fee of 50 pesos. not wanting to give singaporean tourists a bad name for driving such a hard bargain, we said we were from malaysia, heh heh...

as it was low tide, we had to take a small sampan to the bigger boat.

we thought it was a free transfer and happily hopped off the sampan to the big boat. the sampan man motioned to us and mumbled something. another passenger, a filipina, told us we needed to pay the sampan man 10 pesos each. the sampan man mumbled something to her and she immediately turned around and said it's 20 pesos each. what the....?? she didn't have any vested interest in the boat, she was just another passenger and yet, without hesitation, colluded with the sampan man to cheat us tourists! not wanting to create a commotion over 20 pesos (S$0.60), we paid up.

glad to have secured a banca-boat transfer. actually, there were a few other filipino passengers on the boat, which is contrary to the story that the scammers told us that there were NO other passengers and we had to pay for the WHOLE BOAT ourselves. grumble grumble....

the banca dropped us off at the Bounty beach, which is on the southern side of the island, where most of the resorts are located. getting off the boat is a balancing act down a wooden plank, which was especially precarious with our heavy and huge luggage. we headed to the nearest resort Blue Water Beach resort. the resort staff offered to carry our luggage but we said No thk you, even though our faces were turning blue, until they said, don't worry, no charge. hahahaa.... again, we claimed to be malaysian tourists. the resort manager said she thought we were singaporeans because the caller ID showed a singapore number. we said we were all working in singapore hahaha (nervous laugh). we asked to see the room before we confirm the booking.

quite spacious and clean and the hot shower was working. but, there was a funky smell which they assured us was coming from some rubbish outside the room - we found out eventually that the smell arose after each flush of the toilet. grosssssss...

room + dive package rate was pretty reasonable. i think it was 3000 pesos per night for the triple share room so each paid 1000 pesos (S$20). dive - can't remember but i think was about S$50 per dive.

spacious room.

but disturbing sight - houseflies everywhere.

bright, airy balcony with beach view. nice and great for sunning wet clothes!

first dive was pretty uneventful. we went to the cleaning station of the thresher shark @ Monad Shoal and waited and waited but no luck... there were some mantis shrimps scurrying around but otherwise, nothing much else. disappointing....

second day, we dove Monad shoal again... within minutes into the dive, an eagle ray came by... followed by a manta ray. felt lucky already. we headed to the cleaning station and the divemaster pointed frantically to the blue and everyone quickly got into kneeling position and watched as the thresher shark zipped by and in a moment he was gone. we waited some more but he didn't re-appear. everyone came up smiling from cheek to cheek... dive checklist completed!

after that dive, nothing else mattered. can't even remember much about the other dives. i think there was one with very strong currents and we dived ping-pong style behind the rock. the divemaster didn't brief the old angmoh couple from australia about the ping-pong style so they dived around the rock, finning like mad against the currents. poor things. the old man came up deathly pale. i think the divemaster didn't like them very much..

lovely beach at dusk.

kids harvesting sea urchins.

nice beach bar around 5 minutes walk from Blue Water resort.

dive sites map.

quaint resort, divelinkcebu, in the village.

hanging around in the village, which is at the back of the row of resorts fronting Bounty beach.

sunset was incredible. not photoshopped. the colours were really this brilliant. nice finish to our short stay in malapascua.

as the jetty is quite a far walk from our resort (about 15mins), we arranged for porters to carry our darn heavy luggage weighing more than 20kg each. i think they didn't expect two pint-sized girls to be have such heavy baggage so when they came and lifted the bags, can see regret on their faces. they never could have imagined how we could lift up those bags on our own when we first arrived and refused to let them carry it for 20 pesos.

poor porters...

last shot of boat in very blue waters.

waiting for banca transfer to maya (cost 40 pesos).

husky wannabe.

another sampan transfer to banca. we learnt early on that you must get small change ready so you can pay the exact fare. not sure, but we guessed that you will not get any change back if you pay with big notes.

random shots.

on bus on way back from maya to cebu. very very crowded and very hot like a sauna. cost is about 80 pesos.

we asked the fellow passengers + the bus ticket issuer person (remember the rule: ask at least 5 people as they may tell a different story) how to get to the airport and they said we should get off at blah-blah-blah and take a taxi and told us how much it roughly costs. so when we reached blah-blah-blah, they all told us we should get off NOW. it was in the middle of nowhere along a main road but there were a few cabs that came by and one stopped for us, who agreed to charge by the meter. we told him we wanted to go to the cebu airport. along the way, we ('Malaysian' tourists) chit-chatted and at some point, he said this is the bridge built by/for blah-blah-blah and is the bridge that crosses over to mactan island. mactan????? we were very alarmed and told him that we wanted to go to cebu airport to fly back to singapore, why are we going to mactan??? we thought he was bringing us on a merry ride. he was very amused and said there is only one airport and it is in mactan. he seems like a honest guy so we trusted him.

arriving at mactan international airport. at least it has an 'international' in its name. after checking in, felt relieved that we got to the correct airport.

end of the philippines adventure!

NZ Part 14 - Otago peninsula

2010-02-07T22:23:00.002+08:00

at the dunedin tourist information centre, bonz picked up a brochure on penguin place lodge, right next to penguin place, a yellow-eyed penguin conservation park. we booked a night's stay there through the info centre. sidetrack - the thing i love about nz's tourist info centres is that they function like a travel agent and you can find ANY information you need there and book accommodation and tours through them without paying any service fee. pity the travel agent companies though...

so anyways, we headed to otago peninsula, which is like an appendix branching off from the main nz south island.

view of the coastline while driving out from dunedin to otago peninsula.

the penguin place lodge was set in the hill, and very lovely. we were the only guests that night and had the whole lodge to ourselves. it comes with a living room and small kitchen. the living room is very cosy and has beautiful views of the hills and otago harbour. the bedrooms are pretty basic but also have great views.

view of the lodge from the entrance. doesn't look so hot but....

the inside is pretty cosy and has such beatiful views!

has a homely feel. After booking a slot at the penguin place, we headed out to Taiaroa head to check out the royal albatrosses. along the way, made a slight detour to pilot beach (to get there, instead of driving up the hill to the lighthouse/royal albatross centre, drive downwards to the beach just below the lighthouse. surprise find - many seals and sealions there!

according to the information board, these seals are battered males who lost the fight to the alpha males and escaped to this place, away from the colony. poor things have to endure all the excited gawking tourists snapping pictures of them.

kawaii ne?

on the beach, someone pointed out penguin chicks in a crevice. so cute!

also spotted a sealion lying around on the sandy beach. hard to miss.

blissful sleep.

kiwi bengs plotting how to disturb sealion.

taiaroa head - where we were sposed to see royal albatross but we didn't spot any.

back to penguin place for penguin tour. passed by farm where horses were basking in the sun.

playing dead.

penguin place is a penguin conservation park where they built mini homes/shelters for penguins and plant certain types of native plants / tall grasses to re-create the natural environment of penguin nesting/roosting place.

happy penguin chicks. looks like fluffly soft toys.

mama/papa penguin. the yellow-eyed penguin parents take turns to guard the chicks while the spouse goes fishing to bring food back for the chicks. this one appears to be skiving/taking afternoon nap.

the gray lump under the triangular structure is not a giant dust-ball, it's a penguin chick taking a snooze.

these tunnels were built to allow close viewing of the penguins with minimal disturbance.

shelters with viewing slots.

penguin making his way back through the grasses.

the penguin has to walk such a long distance across the sandy beach, then climb up the hill to find their chicks - tough job!

next, back to pilot beach at dusk to check out the other type of penguins - blue penguins coming back to shore to feed their chicks. pilot beach is the beach where we looked at battered seals in the afternoon.

waiting waiting... at dusk, some penguins started coming back to shore but cos there were too many people on the beach making too much noises, the penguins stopped at the beach, waiting... while the chick wailed pitifully. when it got really late and was freezing cold, families with kids started leaving. the noise died down and the penguins started making their way up the shore. it was pitch dark and the penguins cldnt see us. one of them came so near, just right next to my feet. he stopped for a moment, then walked away.

after viewing so much wildlife in their natural environment at such close range, otago peninsula ranks as one of my favourite places in nz.

next day, we'll be heading back towards christchurch. adios beautiful southland and otago...

NZ Part 13 - Dunedin

2009-10-19T23:25:00.007+08:00

dunedin is pretty charming, with several conserved buildings, a feeling that time stood still or passed by very slowly.

the town centre is located at the Octagon, which is a misleading name, cos silly tourists like me go looking for a octagonal-shape plaza, not knowing that it is formed by roads and there really is no sense of octagon spatially.

to identify the town centre, the easier thing to do is look for the conserved gothic building, St Paul's Anglican Cathedral. next door, on the right, is the Municipal Chambers, trying to squeeze into the picture. Once you find this, it will be easy to spot the Visitors Centre, which is near by.

we had a few hours to spend in dunedin and decided to check out the botanic gardens.

some phallic-looking cactuses.

close-up cactus.

greenhouse where all the cactuses are grown.

many native grey ducks 'Parera' at the pond. has a nice blue feather under his wing.

close-up

very cute maori boy,

on his very cute bike

another interesting characteristic of dunedin - some streets and houses are built on very steep slopes. the hostel we stayed in, Dunedin Next Stop Hostel, was on one such slopes.

love the murals on the wall.

random shot of random view

NZ Part 12 - We're at Catlins!

2009-05-12T23:30:00.020+08:00

Curio Bay
These are not just rocks - it's a fossil forest. Can you spot the tree stumps? There were also some sealions lying around, looking like rocks.

Lots of fleshy bull kelp lying around. check out the thick yellow stem.

there were several Oystercatchers, a native bird, foraging. has a sharp red beak, useful for picking up his favourite food.

an elaborate feature staircase (in nz standards, that is) leading to the fossil forest.

we planned to catch sunset at Nugget Point, so we zipped straight off to Baclutha from Curio Bay without stopping. checked into our cosy hostel, Balclutha Backpackers, before dusk, dropped our bags and rushed to Nugget Point. what busy tourists we were...

on the way to Nugget Point, in close proximity, we chanced upon a penguin viewing hut. This bay is a fav hangout of yellow-eyed penguins. we were lucky to visit during the penguin nursing season. have to keep very quiet, and wait for the penguin parents come to shore, bringing food to feed their chicks, who wailed very loudly and pitifully.

we thought we would have a better chance of spotting them at dusk so we went off to Nugget Point. here's Nugget Point - breathtaking views!

golden brown chicken nuggets anyone?

sun is setting, time to go check out the penguin parents returning home to feed their chicks.

this is the quiet bay where we waited to watch penguins.

there they come! 3 penguins walking across the sand, can you see them?

very nice to settle into cosy room after such a busy evening. ours was a cat-themed room. so cute eh? the hostel manager even placed a candy on the bed, such a nice touch.

neko-chan on the pillow

chasing a mouse

tiny kitty

having a conference around the fireplace

the chairman

sitting pretty on the sill

looking grouchy and sleepy

pretty picture

we were supposed to meet up with the guys at the hostel but it was pretty late already and they had not arrived. we had a serious discussion about whether to head out to look for them. while we were discussing, they suddenly arrived at the hostel. it turned out that they had an accident - their car skidded and went down into the ravine. gasp! a couple of phone calls were made to the car rental company to discuss how to rescue the car in the ravine, and how they were going to get a replacement car.

so the next morning, we split up with the guys, heading off to explore the Catlins, while they stayed behind at the hostel to wait for the towing company to get the car out of the ravine, pick them up and send them to Dunedin where we would regroup. however, the towing company never came for them, they were chased out of the hostel by the very strict hostel manager who was adamant that the guests leave on the dot at the specified checkout time, and they sat outside the hostel in the cold, waiting for hours.... very pitiful but in cold-bloodedness, we ditched them to look for sealions.

the really helpful staff at the tourist information centre advised us to head to Cannibal Bay and Surat Bay at like 10am (or was it 11am) and we will get lucky because the sealions will be swimming out to feed. btw, the tourist information centre is worth a visit not only for the useful advice, it was a nice urban (re)treat in such a rural place. was pretty impressed with the effort put in details such as playing bird chirping sounds in the toilet...

anyways, we headed out to Cannibal Bay at the timing advised and true enough, saw our first sealion frolicking in the calm waters in the bay. he was very daring, swimming very close to the sandy shore, to our delight.

we sat down far enough from the waters edge and waited. the sealion felt safe enough to get out of water and run about a bit. very fascinated with the fact that we were watching sealions in their natural habitat, running wild!

this is as near as we got before he dashed into the waters.

next on our checklist was the waterfalls.

matai falls - check.

short, pleasant trek through beech and podocarp forest to get to purukauni falls.

purukauni falls - check. splendid!

NZ Part 11 - On the way to Catlins

2009-05-03T22:48:00.012+08:00

From Te Anau, we headed to Catlins, passing by Manapouri and Invercargill on the way.

Manapouri is a serene small town, a launch off point to visit Doubtful Sound, which is much less commercial than Milford Sound. We only had enough time to stop for a while, run down to the lakeside, wet our feet in the very cold waters, took some pictures, then went on our way.

next was Invercargill, the southernmost city in NZ. it is an ah-beng town (in nz, ah bengs = racer boys), kind of rough. didn't take any photos there - scared to take! we avoided eye contact with anyone, had quick coffee at starbucks and left in one piece.

on the way to Catlins, passed by the beautiful landscape of Southland. rolling green hills and sheep and cows here and there. don't be fooled into thinking the yellow flowers carpeting the hills are lovely. it is actually an aggressive weed, Gorse.

we stopped by at Clifden suspension bridge not because it was lovely (it was not) but there were no toilet stops for a long way and it seemed to have great potential for having a toilet!

after great relief, we headed towards catlins, stopping by at Te WaeWae bay, straining our eyes to look as far as we could, hoping in vain to catch a glimpse of Hector dolphins, the world's smallest dolphin - no wonder we couldn't spot them. very windy and cold here!

NZ Where to Go

2009-04-15T00:45:00.004+08:00

some places i enjoyed (in random order):

south island
-> Te anau - do the glowworm caves tour. very magical experience
-> Otago peninsula - visit Penguin Place, a conservation reserve where you can view yellow-eyed penguins up close. will be good idea to also stay overnight there - they have a backpackers hostel there with beautiful views of the fiord, has a cosy living room and is equiped with small kitchen. if you're lucky, you'll get the whole hostel to yourself cos so few pple know about it. before dusk, head to Taiaroa Headland, a short drive away from the hostel. you can see NZ fur seals and sometimes sealions in their natural habitat - the rocky shore. can walk up close, right next to them. at dusk, blue penguins come up to shore. needs a lot of patience as they are wary and get startled with slightest sounds and wait till it is all quiet and safe before coming up to shore. it gets crazy cold at night.
-> Catlins - can see Hooker sealions frolicking on the beach, swimming around. best to go to the catlins tourist info centre to ask where and when is best time to view the sealions. they give very good advice. i saw the sealions at Surat Bay at their most active in the morning - swimming around and running about on the beach. Also check out Nugget Point - best time to go is sunset. View of the Lighthouse at sunset is stunning. At dusk, head to the hide/shelter (short drive away) to view yellow-eyed penguins coming up to shore.
-> Catlins - Curio Bay - you can see fossil forest/petrified forest here, looks just like rocks though.
-> Catlins - a number of small but beautiful waterfalls - McLean Falls, Matai Falls, Purakaunui Falls. Not to be missed is the Niagara Falls.
-> Franz Josef and Fox Glacier
-> West Coast - Maruia Falls, Charming Creek, Fantail Falls, Thunder Creek, Blue Lagoon, Lake Matheson (best viewed in early morning)
-> Mount Cook. Can do a short trek, pack your lunch and picnic by the river.
-> Queenstown - touristy place with many touristy activities to choose from - skydiving, whitewater rafting, jetboating etc.

north island
-> rotorua to see geysers, boiling mud pools. check out the Waiotapu geothermal park

NZ Part 10 - Milford Sound

2009-03-02T22:16:00.008+08:00

from queenstown we headed to te anau and spent new year's eve there. there was a potluck party which we decided not to join cos we were being selfish. we figured these young backpackers staying in the hostel wouldn't be very capable of cooking up some gastronomic delights and we would be at losing end if we contributed our delicious chicken curry. very kiasu.. hahah...

we monopolised the space in the kitchen, cooked up a storm, seemingly for the potluck party, but then secretly carting all the cooked dishes back to our private room, which came with an attached dining room, kitchenette and balcony overlooking the lake. we had our selfish private new year's eve party, ate to our heart's content and all felt very pleased... by the way, we checked out what was offered at the potluck party and were very convinced that we made the right decision.

we joined the gloworms cave tour on our first night at te anau and it was a fantastic experience. the tour included a cruise across the Te Anau lake to an obscure location where the cave was. in the cave, there were waterfalls and whirlpools - the lighting was done beautifully to highlight these. the main highlight of the tour was taking a short boat ride through the dark grotto, surrounded by hundreds of gloworms. the experience was surreal. no photos allowed though.

the following day we headed to milford sound. there was only 1 way to get there and it is via the Milford Road, a one-lane road. we had to set-off early to avoid the hordes of tourist buses headed there. along the way, we passed by Mirror lake (which is really just a very still pond with a fancy name), a big field of vibrant-coloured lupins, and a stopover point called Kea point (for a reason). At Kea point, we had some encounters with alpine parrots called Keas, one of which tried to attack/eat my car and i had to shoo him off. he dropped a feather on my windscreen in the face-off. it was pouring when we got to Milford sound and we decided not to take the cruise cos the views would be obscured by the heavy rain. we had coffee then headed back, stopping mid-way at the only clean flush toilet stop along the 2 hour Milford Road route. I have attached the picture of the toilet stop so you can recognise it and not have to hold your water for 2 hours.

NZ Part 9 - Queenstown

2009-03-01T21:29:00.009+08:00

we stopped for lunch at lake wanaka then headed to queenstown. arrived at the YHA youth hostel in queenstown in the evening and were miffed that they gave us a shared bunker room. we kicked up a big fuss becos we booked private rooms. we managed to cancel the rooms without paying any cancellation charges and headed off to the next door Rydges Hotel. it was even cheaper than what we would have paid in YHA! becos they had a 4-bunk bed room in the hotel - surprise surprise.... the room had carpark view but at the rate they were charging, no complains.

we went whitewater rafting at shotover river the next day. lovely scenery and water was so blue - different from rafting in southeast asian waters which was usually brownish water.

we were planning to do skydiving in queenstown but weather was not good. pity. the other touristy thing we did was the luge. had to take a gondola up a hill, where we could get a bird's eye view of queenstown. very touristy but view was spectacular.

NZ Part 8 - Haast and other West Coast delights

2009-02-07T22:15:00.024+08:00

we arrived at Haast so late (becos of the Bee Farm incident) that the hostel gave up our room! we were not able to contact the hostel cos there was no phone signals. so in the end, we took a smaller room with 4 beds and put 1 mattress on the floor. ah well.... btw, i found a picture of the bee farm.

and the lonely west coast road devoid of traffic, such that we could not flag down any help...

anyways we did get to haast eventually, in one piece. haast is a good stopover place to rest before heading off to explore the waterfalls, rivers, lagoons in the west coast.

the thunder creek falls

passing through the gates of haast where a gorge rages below

fantail waterfall, i s'pose named after the fantail bird cos it flares out like the bird's tail?

a dead tree installation getting in the way of a good picture.

santa's helpers here to remove it

having a cold dip

walking though temperate rainforest to get to the Blue lagoon.

for those collecting bonz's funny shots, here's one of the best. to prevent sandflies (very ferocious in this area, worse than tropical mozzies) from biting the tummy.

that's all of west coast pics. now heading off to lake wanaka. some miscellaneous shots along the way.

NZ Part 7 - Lake Matheson, Gillespies Point & Fox Glacier

2009-01-18T22:52:00.009+08:00

On the way to the next rest stop at Haast, we stopped over Lake Matheson, Gillespies Point and Fox Glacier. What a busy troop we were...

Lake Matheson
This is a must-see on the tourist checklist. On a clear day, s'posed to see Mt Cook in the background. As you can see from the picture, it wasn't a clear day for us. But a mesmerising view nevertheless.

The platform that allows people to jump into the lake.

but before you do that, check out what lurks beneath... long-finned eel! this guy was right under the platform, waiting quietly for unsuspecting tourists.

Gillespies Point
Next on our to-do list was to search for seals at Gillespies Point. Apparently there is a seal colony there according to our map.

where are the seals??

a huge expanse of nothing... just sea and multi-coloured rocks. unless you're a rock fan, suggest to give this place a miss. btw, even though it looks sunny, the waters were too cold for swimming, in case you were wondering.

Fox Glacier
One last destination on our checklist, before we head off to Haast - Fox Glacier. I found this glacier more dramatic than Franz Josef, and much less touristy. Plus, we could walk right up to the terminal face and lick the blue ice. We were happily posing for pictures at the terminal face when a sudden loud rumble sent all of us running for our lives. turned out to be a false alarm and we had a good laugh afterwards.

NZ Part 6 - Franz Josef

2008-12-13T22:13:00.034+08:00

was telling ber today, how lazy i am to blog nowadays cos it just takes too blody long to upload photos. and there are gazillion nz photos so i've to be very selective, otherwise it would take 10 years to upload all of 'em.

anyways, enough complaining. back to nz.

along the way to franz josef, we had a little mishap due to our eagerness to take photos of the astounding ocean views along the west coast. we unwittingly drove into a bees' farm off the highway, got stuck in there cos the exit dirt track was very steep and offered no friction to my car's wornout wheels. we got out of the car to look for some logs, while being very afraid of mass attack by bees. you would think that it would be easy to find some logs lying around in the very forested south island west coast, but no! the area we were trapped in was all bush, no trees (it's a bees' farm, remember?). the sun was setting, our mobile phone was not receiving any signals, and we were getting quite desperate. so we tried to flag down the cars that were whizzing by along the highway. very luckily, weiloong and george, whom we were sposed to meet up with in franz josef, came along. george managed to get the car out - so thankful! we reached franz josef safe and sound, without any bee stings.

at franz josef, we trekked to the terminal face of the glacier. it rained the day before causing the river level to rise. there were huge ice blocks swirling around in the milky river, resembled milo ping. check out the pictures below.

NZ Part 5 - Hokitika

2008-12-13T21:25:00.008+08:00

the plan was to stay the night at Franz Josef and meet up with the rest of the gang there. Along the way, we made a detour to Hokitika gorge. Was a long detour, maybe around 40 mins off the main west coast highway, winding through farmland. the long detour drove our expectations up so it was quite a disappointment when we finally got there and it was not as jaw-droppingly beautiful as we had expected. i think we spent not more than 10 mins there.

NZ Part 4 - Greymouth

2008-10-31T23:35:00.027+08:00

greymouth is the largest town in the west coast of nz south island. note that it's largest, but is not large at all, from my perspective. at the town centre, most of the buildings are like 1-2 storeys high. it's a bustling town and quite popular as a base or stopover point to explore the west coast. some pictures of west coast on the way to greymouth.

reaching soon... welcomed by a massive rock wall

we arrived at the town at dusk. checked into the hostel and practically ran out to catch the sunset. the beach at greymouth is one of the best places to catch sunset. see what a brilliant sunset it was! it was worth the dash.

back to our hostel. for a backpacker's hostel, this place is luxurious! i would say it is an attraction in its own right. it was beautifully decorated with african art, lounge was large and furnished with plush sofas, kitchen was spacious and spick and span... what more can i say? let the pictures do the talking.

they even offer free kayaking!

wished we had more time to enjoy the stay at the hostel.. but it was time to carry on our journey. before we left, walked around town and came by the press house, which had an elaborate mural.

NZ Part 3 - Along the way to Greymouth

2008-09-06T14:27:00.025+08:00

From Westport, we headed along the west coast to Greymouth. Along the way, stopped by Tauranga Bay to see NZ fur seals and sealions. can you spot them?

there they are! there are baby seals, too...

a view of the rocky shore and the bay.

next stop - punakaiki. this is the place to see the pancake rocks and blowholes and it is most dramatic at high tide.

we checked with the tourist information centre at westport and timed our arrival to catch the high tide. the waves swirled and roared in the blowhole - totally phenomenal!

NZ Part 2 - Westport 17 dec 07

2008-09-02T22:45:00.031+08:00

The drive across the Southern Alps via Lewis Pass took longer than we expected, and we had detoured to see the Maruia Falls along the way, finally arriving Westport in the evening in pouring rain. Despite the weather and late hour, in a crazy moment, we decided to venture out to do the 2.5 hour Charming Creek walk. We practically dropped our bags at the Bazil's Backpackers hostel and ran out, ala Amazing race style. We got some directions from the nice lady at the hostel - she said to drive down to Seddonville, turn right when we see the lone pub, drive straight on and we would reach the starting point of the walk. it was exactly as she had described, except that where we had driven in, it looked like the backyard of a mining factory and we wondered if we had unwittingly trespassed restricted area. We had to drive across a disused railway track to get to the carpark. there was narry a soul around, not an uncommon situation in nz, even in good weather. i think it was about 6pm or so when we started, and we had no torch with us, so we had to walk very quickly to make sure we complete the walk before it got dark, but not without stopping every now and then for photos and even choreographed video shoots.

bonz taking picture of the raging river (Ngakawau Gorge).

turn up the volume to hear the roar of the river. this was the kiwis' idea of a charming creek....

choreographed video #1 - walking through ephemeral waterfall

choreographed video #2 - walking through dark cave

coming out of the cave, a gushing waterfall came to view. we ooh-ed and aah-ed and took many pictures of it.

the waterfall was right next to the walkway.

mission accomplished, we headed back cos it was getting dark. settled in nicely at Bazil's Backpackers. we were once again lucky to get a great room facing the garden. it was a triple-sharing room (cheaper than doubles) but the third bed was not occupied, so we happily sprawled all our things on it, keeping our own beds neat and tidy for a good night's sleep.

after looking through all the pictures we took of the waterfall and realising that all the shots were blurry becos of insufficient daylight and low shutter speed, we decided to make another trip to the Charming Creek walk the next morning. we came prepared this time...

gearing up for walk through mini waterfall.

see, this way your hair won't get wet and messed up by the waterfall.

when we reached the waterfall we photographed the day before, bonz noticed a swing bridge in the distance and suggested that we check it out. this is a video documentary of the walk across the bridge.

we realised we got excited over the 'wrong' waterfall. this is the 'right' one, the Mangatini Falls, the real highlight of the walk.

chocolate river runs through it...

milo gao with cream topping, anyone?

some shots of the vegetation. looks very much like a tropical rainforest, no?

NZ Part 1 - Kaikoura 16 dec 07

2008-05-25T22:04:00.018+08:00

finally found some time to blog the nz trip..

first leg was from christchurch to kaikoura.

it's a touristy town, famous for whale-watching and swimmin with seals.
gearin up for swimmin with seals in 14 deg celcius waters. double layers of wetsuits, very thick and very tight - stops blood circulation and breathing.

tourist shot with the seals

having a good stretch

now for a lazy afternoon nap

wheeeeeeeeee!

tourist shot #2

and #3

strolling along the shore... very unique landscape - large, flat expanse of rock

rising up to a steep cliff on one side

waves etched into rock

thick fleshy kelp

doing yoga

whaddya looking at?

getting closer for a good shot

kelp gull nesting - this area is a common nesting area of the kelp gulls

mama and baby taking a walk

the elusive skink making a rare appearance

kaikoura offers whale-watching tours but this is as far as we got... taking a picture with the whale mural.

view from our room at the Lazy Shag.

view from our room balcony. was a really nice room. it faced the coast and had the charm of a quiet motel by the beach. even though it was a backpacker's hostel, the room we had was quiet cos it was one of the few rooms on the second storey.

we went on our way the next day towards the west coast, stopping by at maruia falls along the way. looks pretty small in these pictures but was actually pretty magnificent.

foolin around

2008-04-05T23:13:00.002+08:00

while sorting out pics.. found this interesting one. btw, pls dont try this, cos sealions can be aggressive and i dont think they would be happy about pple making funny faces behind their backs....

whatya lookin at?

2008-02-21T12:05:00.002+08:00

just a sneak preview of the post on my nz trip.... pictures are still being sorted out so will be a while before the post is up.

faith is a time rebel

2008-02-21T11:05:00.002+08:00

quoted from mdm W... faith is a time rebel.

so, faith is not arm-twisting, it is not deadlines. it is not, say, if you believe strong enough, things will happen the way you want it at the time you expect it. faith is resting in the knowledge that He makes all things perfect in His time....

i was very flustered the past few weeks, trying to sell off my car in nz. although the value of the car is no big deal (2nd hand cars in nz are real cheap), it was sitting there like a big ISSUE waiting to be settled. with the date of departure from nz impending, the stress level correspondingly shot sky high. so anyways, i m back in spore and the car is still in nz with a friend, who so kindly obliged to help sell it. owe him big time. i hv no more business fretting over the unsold car, cos my fretting does nothing to help things. so now what matters is trusting that all things will be made perfect, in His time.

everyday's a feast

2008-02-17T23:38:00.001+08:00

so glad to be back home in spore.. with all kinds of good food within easy reach.. such a relief from 1 year of my own bad cooking...

instant meals

2008-02-07T18:19:00.000+08:00

these instant meals make cooking asian delights so easy....

introducing... mee siam..

very easy... just fry the chilli paste provided and prawns, add water, add bee hoon, then hey presto... delicious mee siam...

one of the satisfied customers..

next on the menu is hokkien mee... looks delicious, ay?....

look what the cat brought in.....

2008-02-05T12:22:00.000+08:00

see... one day Rimau decided to act upon his hunter instincts.... proudly brought in a catch...

its a little bird! quite a pretty one with yellow feathers....

sniff* sniff*.... smells yummy....

here's my flatmate removing the crazy cat.

Partying in Christchurch 2 Feb 08

2008-02-03T17:18:00.000+08:00

christchurch comes alive at night! last night of partying before we all leave nz....
btw, nor will be happy to know that the jazz bar (sammy's jazz review) is no longer a jazz bar... changed management.. very sad... so we went to SOL square and then Micky Finn's instead...

uw shot of sealion

2008-01-30T21:04:00.000+08:00

uw shot of sealion swimming freely in lake wanaka... i would normally credit the photos put on this blog, but in this case, the photographer of this award-winning shot requested to remain anonymous for reasons unknown.....

new friends in nz

2008-01-28T18:27:00.001+08:00

here are the peeps i got to know while working at the orchard

the two looking a bit 'seow' at the back are tatsuya and wife, rina.
front, from left to right is james (petra's kiwi flatmate), norizah (who always takes up too much space literally), me, and petra (from czech republic)

Car Advert

2008-01-28T14:36:00.000+08:00

my car..... nice right?.... come buy, dont shy.... cheap cheap....

Fruit picking

2008-01-28T14:28:00.000+08:00

actually, had already uploaded pictures of me working in an orchard in my facebook account... but some dinosaurs apparently have not signed up for facebook. what are you waiting for???

here's just one of the pictures...

Rimau

2008-01-27T11:24:00.000+08:00

this is Rimau (malay for 'tiger'), my menacing pet at Crescent 14....

has an 'evil' eye...

looks even more menacing when waving paw

what's that thing outside the door?...

oh dear... what happened to Rimau?...

is he dead?...

naaaaaaahhhh... fooled ya.

my new pet

2008-01-27T11:20:00.000+08:00

this is kiki, the greedy hedgehog, helping himself to Rimau's food...

and Rimau's water, too...

Lost sheep

2008-01-27T10:53:00.000+08:00

richard, the patchy-faced sheep, decided to go house-visiting one day...

gazing sadly at the reflection of his patchy face...

nobody's at home... wondering where to go next....

decided to eat the bush outside while waiting for someone to open the door...

i love new zealand

2008-01-27T09:47:00.000+08:00

it's been more than half a year since i last updated my blog... by now, my dismal readership nos. must have gone into negative already. no matter....

one month to go before i head home to singapore... good time to have a short review of what i love about new zealand...

i love new zealand because...
... i can eat in my room and leave crumbs around without getting worried about the invasion of an army of ants
... i can hear sheep baa-baa-ing and cows moo-moo-ing in my backyard
... there are no rats (or i havent seen one) near my place
... the cute little hedgehog sometimes comes visiting at night, helping himself happily to leftover cat biscuits
... i can go skiing in winter
... i can see wild penguins, seals and sealions in their natural habitat and it's free!
... i can swim with seals
... i can have a picnic next to a natural river (not one with a concrete embankment and a row of garishly painted shophouses with neon lights)
... the sky is often very blue and photos of whatever against the blue skies turn out very well
... the mussels are very cheap (or free if brave enough to dive in very cold waters to get them from the sea)
... lemons are free from the tree outside my place (ok... it is looking a little bit puny at the moment but will soon grow bigger cos i have removed the tall weeds around it)
... the second-hand cars are so cheap
... the clubs/pubs don't impose any cover charge so can pub crawl without burning huge hole in pocket
... i can pick big, juicy and very sweet cherries from the tree and eat them
... ditto for peaches, nectarines and apricots
... water is very clean and can be drank straight from the tap (in christchurch)
... the christchurch art gallery exhibits pretty cool stuff and is free
... kathmandu shops are everywhere and very often have up to 50% discounts
...

will add on when i think of more...

twisted hop

2007-07-03T07:00:00.000+08:00

having drinks at twisted hop, a cool little restaurant that serves freshly brewed beer. there is a honey dew flavoured one which was light, sweet and interesting. should make a reservation if going there for a meal otherwise quite impossible to get a seat and you will have to sit outside in the cold.

i was overdressed in a woollen trench coat. brought it to nz thinking it would be cold in winter. but the weather condition here is quite mild, and the kiwis don't really bother to dress up. and you complained about singaporeans being so dress down we wear t-shirt, shorts and flip flops down orchard road. here, the kiwis don't even bother about the flip flops ok! they can shop barefeet and sometimes, even barechested.

anyways, back to the drinks session. after twisted hop, we adjourned to a pathetic little bar, vespa room for some warmth. the place was quite stinky. the kind of sweaty, musty smell of rooms with poor ventilation. but it is very warm and we made ourselves comfortable in a corner with sofas. after a margarita, mei started playing with candles.

me and my gun.

ron - the new double-O-7? with my gun...

eunice smiling for the camera

noriz looking a bit delirious after a mad mexican shot.

spring in winter

2007-07-03T06:40:00.000+08:00

what better thing to do than soak in the hot springs during winter.....

maruia hot springs is about 2.5 hours away from Christchurch. the outdoor pools have good views of the mountains. water temperature is variable. on the day we were there, water temperature was slightly lower than 40 deg celcius, which was quite disappointing. also, there was a lot of black algae floating in the pool! very grosssss.... this is typical of nz... the kiwis care so much about nature that it will be a sin to remove these naturally occurring, harmless algae...

the mountain tops were covered with snow. thank God we managed to get to the hot spring before the roads were closed a few days later due to snowfall. (yes, i suspect that it is also a sin to clear the snow from the roads.....)

forbidden fruit

2007-06-26T19:32:00.000+08:00

during the first weeks of arriving in new zealand, ecstatic about being able to eat apples off the tree....

there are cherry apples, too.. small like cherries but taste just like apples.

this sweet peach was plucked off a tree along the street.

the seasons

2007-06-24T20:25:00.000+08:00

march 07

april 07

june 07

there are no ants in new zealand

2007-06-24T20:05:00.000+08:00

you can eat in your bedroom, drop crumbs all around and not worry about being eaten alive by an army of ants while you were sleeping because.....

there are no ants in new zealand
no roaches no mossies on the stree-eets
there are no ants in new zealand
what will the pangolin find to eat...
(sung to tune of "There Are No Cats in America" in American Tail)

Yokoso japan! - Part VIII Shizuoka

2007-06-20T06:10:00.001+08:00

long trip from kyoto to ito - cost a bomb.

soba dog. soba in a hot dog bun. gross.....

traditional breakfast. rice flour cake in shoyu soup.

koganezaki park. good diving for macro stuff.

map showing where the critters live.

3 dead men hung over railing.

more of the coast..

wild flowers

next destination. jogasaki coast.

rocks formed by volcanic activity

king kong comes to shizuoka. showing off his tattoo under armpit

scary one-eyed polar bear. sure to be a hit with kids.

chained to king kong to prevent him from escaping this thankless job of scaring kids.

one last picture...
how about a cold fizzy drink while you are trekking through the forest?

end of trip.

Yokoso japan! - Part VII Kyoto

2007-06-20T05:51:00.000+08:00

Next: Part VIII Shizuoka

Yokoso japan! - Part VI Kanazawa

2007-05-28T21:09:00.001+08:00

this was also sposed to be a wordless post but the story's too interesting to be kept under wraps...

if you are going to kanazawa, do not stay at the yha hostel. 1. it is very ulu (isolated), on a hill 2. the keeper is a humsup (lecherous) old man 3. it is quiet with long corridors like in a scary alfred-hitchcock-type movie.

we had difficulty locating the place, even with gps. we were halfway through an expressway tunnel when the gps announced that "you have arrived at your destination". was a very funny moment and thoughts of a secret door in the tunnel leading to the hostel crossed my mind. we went to a petrol station to ask for directions. surprisingly, the staff knew about the hostel and kindly drew a map for us. maybe we weren't the first ones to get lost. finally got there. driveway and carpark was thick with snow. the hostel was in a forsaken place at the top of a hill, right above the expressway tunnel.

fast forward to the humsup man. we just had a bath and lini was doing dunno-what (maybe popping her pimples) in the coatroom, which has a basin and tap for washing the face and a large mirror. she warned us not to come out of the bedroom as she was changing. unfortunately, the humsup man opened the main door without much warning and went into the coatroom while our friend was in her birthday suit. apparently, he wanted to tell lik that the common bathroom is now available for guys to take a bath. there was different timing for guys and ladies to take a bath in that same bathroom. anyways, despite seeing the naked girl, who was screaming away, the humsup man persisted on wanting to pass the message to lik who was in the bedroom. remember that i mentioned a large mirror in the coatroom... being warned not to come out of the bedroom, and also because we were glued to the tv program of da chang jin rerun, it took us a long while to react to the screams, by which time the humsup man had left.

that was the story.. now back to the (almost) wordless post.

strawberries engineered to perfection. it is completely red, juicy and sweet and the leaf is very green and crisp with no sign of rot. so perfect they look like plastic food. can get them at a reasonable price in kanazawa market. avoid those that come framed up in a wooden box like a prized collection. those may cause bankruptcy. i reckon the ridiculous price is due to labour intensive process that used 100 of the country's top-notch scientists to produce one strawberry.

check out this ordinary (if not ugly) looking signage. look carefully. the words are actually made up of little fountains of water! the fountains changes every minute so that it tells the time.

Next: Part VII Kyoto

yokoso japan! - Part V Shirakawa-go

2007-05-14T21:43:00.000+08:00

i m getting so tired chronicling the japan trip, especially since it happened so many moons ago. i m only doing it for the sake of closing the loop so that i can start posting pictures of new zealand - everybody's badgering me to do so and i m feeling the heat.

to quicken the process, all the rest of the japan trip shall be told mostly in pictures. make up your own s

Next: Part VI Kanazawa

yokoso japan! - Part IV Matsumoto

2007-04-29T21:41:00.000+08:00

lini taking the wheel to Matsumoto. driving through glorious snowy mountain landscape.

matsumoto is famous for a castle and soba. we arrived in the evening and went hunting for the famous soba shop. thanks to the great map, we walked round and round for a long time. finally, when we found the obscure little shop, it was closed that day! bah! so tired and hungry, we settled for a ramen shop that we chanced upon. turned out to be a famous shop. very reasonably priced.

part of the charm was the very fat neko-chan living in the shop, which gave the place a homely feeling.

next day we decided to make a day trip to takayama. turned out to be a joke as we had overlooked getting snow tyres/chain for the car.
the tyre tracks and footprints in the snow tell the story... car went up steep slope, skidded, passengers panicked, evacuated car, yellow rescue vehicle with kind english-speaking man happened to come by, passenger waved frantically, kind man guided rescue operation, which was to push car while driver steps on accelerator, until car gets to more gentle slope, turned around , stop at road side while passengers happily pose for pictures, putting on record this special moment.

next day, the search for famous soba continued. FOUND! a satisfied customer. the soba is hand made and served in a basket. there are only 2 items on the menu - cold or hot soba. comes with a teapot of warm gruel - the water in which the noodles was boiled. at the end of your meal, you can pour the gruel into the teacup and add shoyu (soya sauce) and drink it.

after the hearty meal, went to the kurasu-jo - the famous castle of matsumoto.

it is a samurai castle with walls that have openings through which the samurais can shoot enemies invading the castle.

that night, the first snow fell in matsumoto....
first footsteps in the snow....

overnight, the snow blanketed everything, including our car. i had to borrow a watering can from the florist to remove the snow from the windscreen.

kurasu-jo was transformed under the snow...

the streets all covered with snow.

more snow.

that was the snowy end to our stay in matsumoto. moving on next to the even snowier shirakawa-go.

Next: Part V Shirakawa-go

yokoso japan! - Part III Nikko

2007-01-22T02:07:00.000+08:00

arrived nikko at nightfall. with GPS, finding the quaint ryokan by the riverside, annex turtle hotori-an, was a breeze.

the darkness of the night obscured the river so we heard the roaring waters before we saw it.

the ryokan had a communal hot bath fed with water from the nikko hot springs with a splendid river view. we got up early one morning when the first light came just so we can have a view of the river while having a hot bath. i am proud to say we beat all the other guests to it.

in case you are wondering, that is not me in the picture but i have smudged it out anyway to protect the privacy of the person. also, in this way, you can mentally insert whoever you wish to see having a hot bath in such a beautiful setting.

we encountered a rainy spell while in nikko. it was unusually heavy and reported all over the news. see, such heavy rain pouring down from the roof gutter.

not daunted by the weather, we bravely ventured out, armed with flimsy little umbrellas, to tour the world heritage temples and shrines. note that we used transparent umbrellas so as not to block views in the photos.

this was the first stop - Bake Jizo at the kanmangafuchi abyss, sitting pretty next to the Daiya river.

next stop were a cluster of temples and shrines. we got a combination ticket, which allows us to visit 3 temples/shrines over 2 days.

before we started on the temple tour, we visited the Shouyoen garden, a typical stroll garden of the Edo period. It is opposite the Rinnoji.

strolling along... wah neng nang.... dah-da-dah-dah-da.. ji kee sio hoh sua....hou lu dua, wa lai chao gor lee, lee lai chao gor wa (hokkien song about walking together in the rain, sharing one umbrella)

after this, we headed to Rinnoji, followed by Toshogu after lunch. it was still raining and raining and all the photos didnt turn out well. here's one of the rainy, misty, blurry shot of tosho-gu.

next day was bright sun shiny day. we went back to take pictures of rinnoji.

smouldering cauldron at entrance to Rinnoji.

next stop was Futarasan temple. an intricate pagoda in the temple grounds.

that marked the end of the temple tour and we set off for Kegon waterfall. Along the way, we stopped by in the alpine area to take a picture. we braved the strong, cold winds for this picture.

final item in our Nikko 'to-see' checklist - Kegon falls. taking a tourist shot.

Next: Part IV Matsumoto.

yokoso japan! - Part II Tokyo Outskirts

2007-01-15T23:50:00.000+08:00

christmas day.
first thing in the morning, after checking out of the hostel, we went to collect our rental car from the Nissan-rent-a-car outlet at Ueno. we had booked it online the day before from the ToCoo! website, which lini found. great thing is the website is in english, they have english-speaking staff and they offer big discounts from the walk-in rate. however, the Nissan-rent-a-car had not received the booking from ToCoo!. we knew ToCoo! could not possibly have processed the booking so soon but decided to just turn up at the rental car shop anyways. after several phone calls to ToCoo!, negotiating with the non-english-speaking car rental staff (using pictionary method), we managed to get a good deal.

our christmas 'gift' - a Nissan note (j-speak: NOH-toh) which was to accompany us from Tokyo to Kyoto, with stops at a few towns along the way.

first destination: Ghibli museum (j-speak: G-boo-ree)
was a breeze locating the place with the car's GPS. (i love GPS!)

entering the magical land....

Totoro's real day-time job is selling tickets at the Ghibli museum

other whimsical stuff at the museum

one last shot before leaving this magical castle.

wait... one more shot... ok that's all.

Next: Part III Nikko

yokoso japan! - Part I Tokyo

2007-01-13T01:33:00.000+08:00

travel report: japan, 23 dec 06 - 5 jan 07

back in japan again, after 2005's trip of hits and misses (read previous japan report entrances & exits).

didnt want to spend a bland christmas and new year in singapore, so when lini asked if i would like to join her, lik and her Auntie Rose for a 2 week trip to japan, i thought, why not? in the end, i got more than what i bargained for.... this christmas and new year was to be far from bland.....

was very smooth journey to tokyo. l&l and lini's sister, cindy came to the Asakusa station to meet us. Auntie Rose's face turned pale when she saw the infinite no. of steps we had to take from the station to street level. And she turned paler minutes later when she saw how small our hostel room was.

we stayed 2 nights at Khaosan Tokyo Smile - clean, basic and close to the subway. free internet in the common room, which was great except that you sometimes have to put up with less-than-pleasant odours from other guests feet, as shoes were not allowed in that room. free flow of drinking water was actually just tap water filled into a dispenser unit that looked deceptively like those distilled-water-dispensers. lini caught the staff in action of filling up the container after a guest told him there was no more drinking water. ha-ha. the guest could have gotten the water himself from the tap next to the dispenser.

first night dinner was DIY okonomiyaki. the menu was entirely in japanese. but not to worry, they had a pictorial explanation of how to cook. also, we were lucky to have cindy with us. she speaks good japanese.

the okonomiyaki chef in action

after dinner, we headed to ginza for a walk. passed by these fantastic window displays.

the 'lips' were made of hundreds of red buttons.

the following day, beautiful blue skies...

this was the way from our hostel to the subway station...

past the famous golden 'turd' of asahi building...

then cross the Azuma-hashi (red bridge).

we headed to cindy's place at mita-cho, minato-ku. it is near the keio university. one of the tourist things to do when along the street where keio uni is: take photo with tokyo tower in background.

this is a business district so most of the eating places were not opened on a sunday morning. we were lucky to find one vending-machine soba-udon shop. this is how to order: first, look at the plastic food display outside the shop, take a good hard look at the name of the meal you want to order (all in japanese characters), then go into the shop, spend a lot of time trying to locate the name of the meal from the vending machine (all in japanese characters and no accompanying picture), put money in, press the button with the correct name, collect the receipt, present that to the counter and take a seat, hoping that you didnt press the wrong button and ordered something creepy.

this is cindy's cosy room.

rubbish collection point near to her place. you must comply fully with the rules or else the rubbish man will refuse to collect your trash and leave it there forever until you repent and rectify your mistake. the rules: monday is for non-flammables, tues for recyclable plastics, wed and sat for flammables. note that recyclable plastics is PET bottles minus the caps, as cindy had found out after her bag of bottles plus caps went uncollected for days.

after the home visit, we headed off to harajuku to ogle at the girls.

walk past this make-believe world, past a huge, old torii gate and you will come to the Meiji-jingu shrine, an oasis of green in the heart of the city.

after that, back to the make-believe world....

of bare legs in fishnet stockings on a cold winter night...

neon seal on concrete walkway...

and crystal blue trees

end of the day, went to check out our hostel's Bar Twenty Three with lini. warning: do not ever go there unless you dig bad karaoke singing... we left after 1 drink.

Next: Part II Tokyo Outskirts

dive sisters islands 16 dec 06

2006-12-18T17:08:00.000+08:00

sink like a stone

at reeffriends' survey dive at sisters islands last saturday, we realised there were not enough weights for everyone. athena gallantly gave up two weights, one to me and the other to tl. eugene contributed another weight to me. so could sink like a stone. very comfortable dive, not much current and visibility was great (for singapore standard) at 5m. i volunteered for the fish survey this time so it was a relaxed dive.

during the last survey trip, i did tape-laying and totally screwed it up by laying it at the wrong depth, and that led to jeff having to reel back all 120m of the tape, and that delayed all the surveys that had to be done for that depth and the currents swept in at that time and it became impossible to complete the surveys. i felt really upset and there was this sinking feeling, which did not go away after several days and i decided not to go for the subsequent survey trip.

anyways, it must have been more than 2 months since that screw-up and i decided to leave the emotional baggage behind and go for this one, which is possibly my last survey trip before leaving for nz.

glad that this one is conducted at sisters' islands, where the reef enhancement units (which looked like laundry baskets) are. i feel glad when i see coral recruits growing on them.

spotted many nudibranchs and flatworms here. but didnt get good pics cos still not familiar with camera.

there are pretty good reefs at sisters islands.

diveslave taking a lunch break.

the rest of the diveslaves, who all look very happy to be slaves for these surveys. well, who wouldnt be? a chance to dive singapore waters and do a little part for our reefs....

king of caustic remarks

2006-12-11T23:12:00.000+08:00

sometimes, we think yeyang inherited his 'gift' of making witty (but caustic) remarks from his grandfather. An example of what grandfather would say: ya, drive faster. the faster the better. so that can reach destination sooner. except that it will be the wrong destination (i.e. hell).

Oral Sex is now legal in Singapore...

2006-11-30T01:27:00.000+08:00

From an email about the Consultation Paper on the Proposed Penal Code Amendments..
V: you can no longer say that 'Singapore is boring because oral sex is illegal'.
_____________________________

Besides the serious stuff, e.g. inclusions to protect persons with mental disorders and minors, and the expected changes to include virtual and digital crimes, there are some interesting amendments.

These give us an idea of how society has "evolved" (read "degenerated") since the Penal Code was last reviewed in 1984.

Consensual oral and anal sex are now legal.
Homosexuality has been made ambiguous.
Transsexuals are now protected against rape.
The husband can now be charged for rape of the wife.
Girls under 16 years old can be charged for incest but not boys (Penal Code says "they are not mature enough to make an informed decision". Read "Boys are more stupid than girls").
Incest now covers sexual acts between grandmother and grandson.
It is a new offence to have sex with a dead person.
It is now not an offence to take away a married woman.

You can submit your comments at www.reach.gov.sg

turtle on a rack

2006-11-28T16:31:00.000+08:00

I recently came across live green turtles being sold at the market in Manado, Indonesia. If the turtles had been caught within the Bunaken Marine Park, I suppose we can bring this to the attention of the marine police to take action against the illegal capture and sale of the turtles. But if the turtles had been caught outside of the Marine Park, does that mean that it is under no one's jurisdiction and therefore there is no way of preventing such acts from being committed again - unless the Indon govt ratifies the CITES and brings errant fishermen to task?

I heard that some divers had previously bought the turtles and released them back to the sea. Although well-meaning, I am not sure if this may not end up encouraging the locals to catch even more turtles since it becomes a lucrative source of income for them.

There is no easy solution for this. If divers stop buying the turtles, perhaps it will give the signal that we are not supporting this illegal trade. At the same time, we need to raise awareness among the non-diving locals that divers want to see turtles swimming freely in the sea, not laid on a rack in the market.

Perhaps something can also be done to encourage dive resorts to involve more locals in the dive industry. I think the practice in Bali works, where the women and children help carry divers gear and are paid an income for that. Only if the locals benefit from the dive industry will they support it. And this support will in turn, benefit the dive resorts.

Just to air my views. Was appalled and saddened by the fate of the 3 turtles lying in the dust in the muddy markets of Manado. If anyone has any ideas or views to share about what we can do about this, I will be happy to hear them.

j dinner

2006-11-17T23:53:00.000+08:00

dinner at nirai kanai at the dinghy tanglin shopping centre on 3 nov, with yuki-chan, and whats-their-names-i-forgot. one of them kindly brought yuki's fins back from tioman. it fell overboard due to big wave or something and the dm later retrieved it.

it serves okinawan cuisine and their local liquor, awamori - somewhat like whisky but lighter. goes well with the light, tasty food made with very fresh ingredients. it can be mixed with water, lime, soda or even milk.

the place is very popular with the japanese community in singapore. best to make a reservation in advance, otherwise, you may have to sit at the counter which uses ridiculously high bar stools that are not friendly to vertically challenged folks.

due to some miscomm, whats-his-name didnt make a reservation so we ended up at the counter. yuki used her charms on the cute beach-boy-looking boss (complete with j-slippers) and we were subsequently ushered to a nice sit-down table.

they don't offer the usual j-fare that one finds in those commercialised sushi joints. so i left yuki to do all the ordering. my only t&c - no scary food. she suggested bitter gourd - but i didnt like bitter gourd. only afterwards did i find out that is their speciality! duh!

we ordered pork slices salad instead. lettuce was very fresh and crunchy and pork slices picked up the flavour of the salad dressing very well. i wanted to imitate the exaggerated exclamations of "OISHIIII", the way the hosts in japan hour always do but held back cos the two strangers at the same dinner table may get freaked out and think i'm mad.

yuki didnt bother with my t&c when she ordered pig's ears. i tried one strip and decided it is too gross to eat something's ears. the presentation of the dish was beautiful though. by slicing the ears into thin strips and mixed with innocent bean sprouts, the dish didnt remind anyone that those are really flappy ears.

another attractive dish. j pizza or hirayachi (similar to okonomiyaki but thinner), which is like an omelette with some red and green pickles and dried fish shavings. i didnt really like the taste though.

the two strangers are regulars at tioman. they dived there a week ago and said the vis was mama mia! more than 20m. so now we know when is best time to dive tioman....

the new blair witch project

2006-11-15T00:25:00.000+08:00

starring roseo as the blair witch... crank up volume of speakers to loudest for the full effect.

electric clam

2006-11-13T00:15:00.000+08:00

i finally got to see the electric clam in manado. after nagging noldi during the whole trip to find it. as usual, he delivered. and he found it even without using his torch. he was telling us in a yayapapaya tone after the dive that the dive guide from the other diveshop cldnt find it even after circling around the site for the entire dive.

i have been wanting to see it since 2 years ago when noldi posed the teaser on the last day of my dive trip that the following could be found in manado:
1. Basket Star
2. Boxer Crab
3. Electricity emitting clam
4. Pencil urchin
5. Harlequin Shrimp

being a sucker for advertisements, i was lured back to manado exactly 2 years later. this trip, saw the boxer crab (minus one claw), pencil urchin (i found it under a coral rubble) and the clam. but we didnt find the basket star or the harlequin. according to noldi, if we see everything, we won't go back again. he may be right....

announcement

2006-11-13T00:13:00.000+08:00

yeyang got into the gifted program. we are so proud of you!

flower girl for rent

2006-10-19T11:29:00.000+08:00

payment terms: she gets to choose her dress and accessories and gets to keep them after event. services valid for wedding nite only. additional services negotiable. statistics: 110cm, 18kg. interested parties can drop a comment here.

public suffocation indication

2006-10-17T14:58:00.000+08:00

singapore had been shrouded in haze the past two weeks... with the Pollutant Standards Index (PSI) reaching the unhealthy range of 100-plus, prompting ye yang to conclude that PSI actually stands for Public Suffocation Indication.