Trekking with Missy Paris Miki and Cheetah

Ever tried going trekking with someone geared with salon set hair, full make-up, a branded handbag, wearing branded top and sunglasses? Moi just did. A warm welcome to Missy Paris Miki, you sure came in style. Bwahahahahaha! Went trekking with Missy Paris Miki and Cheetah the other day at Chek Jawa at Puala Ubin. It was Moi's first trip to Puala Ubin and I was really amazed by the beauty of this little island that is part of home.

We set off after lunch from Changi Point Ferry Terminal near Changi village. I understand that there is no scheduled departure times to and from Ubin, as bumboats set off only when there are 12 passengers. It's quite a cheap ride at S$2 per pax. It was quite intimidating initially to board the frail and old-looking bumboat that seem going to tear apart any minute. And even the sight of the orange life-vests do not seem too comforting. But anywhere we made it in one piece to Puala Ubin.

Upon touch-down, I felt like being transformed back to the Singapore in the 60-70s. Everything is still very simple, quiet and so called behind times. Time seems to get lock away on this little island. It's definitely a good change from the usual bustling city that we live in. The attap houses, the shops with the tin cans, and even a old letter box. .I couldn't resist to take out Kanon for shots after shots...there was even a cute little blackboard near the jetty that show the daily times for high tide and low tide. And everybody seems to know another by their names. It was definitely an interesting place to be. Just a 15minutes boat ride and the pace of living here is like a 100 times slower. No one seems to be rushing or worrying about time. Even the animals roam freely, lazing around, not caring a thing in the world. How I wish I can be too...

Oops...and spotted quite a few of below BIG lizard..I dunno what's they are call but they are all over. Ironically, I never spotted any big spiders that Twinny had warned me when she went to Puala Ubin early this year. Maybe the Pest Busters had exterminated all of the Spiders. Kekekeke!

We chartered a taxi to go around the island since Moi and Missy Paris Miki can't cycle. Ya ya ya!! I saw your jaw dropping. Moi can't cycle at all. =P It was a short ride from the jetty to Chek Jawa. Chek Jawa is a natural wetlands area located at the eastermost corner of Puala Ubin. The whole trek comprises of six distinct habitats - coastal forest, mangrove, sandy beach, sandflats (lagoon), coral rubble and a tiny island (Pulau Sekudu or Frog island). Since its discovery late last year, Chek jawa has charmed and captivated all who dared ventured out along a 1 1/2 hour (by foot) dirt track.

Chek Jawa : Coast forests (Bird eye view from the Jejawi tower)

Was initially quite hesitant to climb up the super tall viewing tower but cheoh by the 2 hyper ladies; Moi hardly had any choice. But it was worthwhile. The breeze was wonderful and scenery breath-taking. We even spotted an eagle soaring above. Wonderful. Majority of the trek is walking on a boardwalk that was launched last month so it wasn't any hassle or else Missy Paris Miki might broke her legs har. ^_-)

Chek Jawa : Mangrove boardwalk, Seagrass lagoon, rocky shore

We went during low tide but unfortunately did not manage to catch any exotic creatures. This was quite a disappointment amidst the lovely mangrove scenery.

In clockwise starting Top left corner : (1)Ants and its nest (2) leech (3) Fiddler Crab (4) Mudskippers

I found the fiddler Crabs rather amusing. They are found in abundance along Chek Jawa's sandy shoreline and its prominent despite their small size because of their extreme cheliped asymmetry in males. The male has an enlarged claw which he uses to attract the female or to fend off rival males. Their name came about from the feeding of the males, where the movement of the small claw from the ground to its mouth resembles the motion of a person moving a bow across a fiddle (the large claw).

Right at the exit of the Chek Jawa trek, we found a little cottage which we discovered is the visitor centre. Nice cosy place that send the 2 girlies screaming. Kekeke! This charming cottage was built in 1930s by the then Chief Surveyor, Langdon Williams, as a holiday retreat. The architecture is Tudor-style, with adapations to tropical climate, and is similar to cottages built in tea planations during the British colonial era.

Was feeling a little sticky and tired by then but to make our trip worthwhile, we got the taxi to bring us to visit the "famous" quarry at Puala Ubin.

Saw many lovely flowers along the way which Moi took some photos... dun ask me to name them...i dunno lah!!

We finally made our way back to the main island and decided to try the famous XO Crab Bee Hoon at Shen Ji Seafood Garden at changi village coffeeshop. It was simply delicious. The crab is very sweet and fresh and the soup is very tasty with a light touch of cognac and evaporated milk, not too strong. Just nice. It really reminds me of the other yummy Crab I had over at Pie Shop. Yummy!!

XO Crab Bee Hoon

And if you thought we had enough, we also tried their curry crab which was fried not in the usual thick curry gravy sauce but the dry version. Equally delicious though it send me and Cheetah to the running tap. Kekekeke!

Curry Crab

Missy Paris Miki recommended the satay at the same coffeeshop and the taste was not too bad too. I heard that they grill the satay the traditional way, on charcoal.

Made our way down to Bar Cocoon @ The Forbidden City in our stinko stinko state for a round of drinks before we called it a day. Yup yup!! I suspected the servers must be holding their breathe while serving us. AND we sure were lucky cause we caught fireworks @ Clark Quay.

Our drinks : Shirley Temple (Non-alcoholic) for Cheetah, Wine cocktail for Missy Paris Miki and Mango Margarita for Moi

Shen Ji Seafood Garden
BLK 5 Changi Village Rd

Bar Cocoon @ The Forbidden City
by IndoChine
Blk A #01-02
Clark Quay
Tel : 6557 6272
Website : http://www.indochine.com.sg/

Nostalgia of the Little Red Dot

The little red dot left a very big impact on Moi's life and still has a lot of influence. In fact what I am now is greatly greatly because of my experience in the island of the little red dot. As I was reading Supermodel's blog on her trippy at the little red dot, it brought back fond memories that Moi had have over there. The friendship I fostered, the good and bad experiences i had there, the laughters I had, the tears I shed. It's too many.

Re-called the days, where Moi and twinny (2 little girls) all alone adventuring into kansai, travelling between Kyoto and Osaka, and even landed ourselves in Love hotel. Hohohohoho!!! Love hotel is those hourly hotel that couples just checked in for 1-2 hours of pleasure and then left. I was too overjoyed to find such a cheap hotel to realise that it's a love hotel... and was sharing with my friends why was the whole room in RED yucking looking bedsheets. Kekekeke! I can't recall how many a times I got myself lost in the complicated subway system till I was so good that I could give directions to the Locals. ^_-) How I trained myself to do the 1 minute dash from Platform 3 to Platform 6 to get to the next connecting train in time. How I learnt to get out of the way of the rush hour and squeeze inside the sardine packed trains.

I still remember the funny time when Moi and Twinny spent all our money on the way back from Sapporo to Tokyo and my pitiful stare at the cheapest Bento set at the train station softened the shop owner's heart to let me have it at the amount I could afford and how dearly both of us shared that little Bento together on the train back to Tokyo. How I mischievously "cheated" the train fare and tried to escape from the train master.

The land of convenience where one can easily get nearly all sorts of things from the vending machines even clothes, shoes, bags, flowers, porno, pleasure items .... convenience or open culture? I leave the answers to you. I still recall my first trip to the pub when I was 20 and the whole gang kept asking me if I was underage that why I wasn't drinking or smoking. Comeon, in Singapore, the legal age is 18 and I was already 20. But I refused to budge. And the cute Dude that sat beside me and asked me in his Japanese-accent english if I was still a V****n. Culture shock!! The crazy girl that got drunk and told me she was worried sick that she might had AIDS from her boyfriend whom she knew was sleeping around. In the night-hours, after a few cans of alcohol, everyone seems to go crazy. It's not uncommon to spot pretty ladies in their prink and proper one piece, suddenly squat down at the corner of the train station, pulling out her cute little panties to pee. Yup. It's common for a lady thus not least a man. YEEKS!!!?

It's an eye opening experience. One can never experience such open culture and behaviour in our Sunny island. Definitely a NO NO. We even had cameras installed inside the lift to watch you pee har. The ironical part is despite all these openess, the basic culture is still very conservative and restrictive. Like bowing, exchanging of gifts in business, wearing proper for office, the standard loooooooooong japanese phrases that one has to memorise by heart to get your way through. Yup...it's a crazy place. But those were the days....

Yup. I so missed it and I can't wait to back-pack there alone again.

Mata Aeru..

New running kaki

Got an unexpected guest to join Moi for run yesterday. I have not meet Ariel for a long time because she was pursuing her degree in Australia and only came back 4 months ago. Hahahaha. How times flies. The little girl is back already. With a tiny frame and sweet face, she can still pass off as a teenager of as most 17yo. Kekeke! Guys, she is cute. =P

Ariel did well during her polytechnic and University IT studies. In fact, I recall she received an award in her polytechnic (Ngee Ann) for her outstanding results. She also has a good working attitude. But after back for 4 months, she is still doing free-lancing and not able to land herself a full-time job. Discrimination, misconception and non-accomodating are the reasons. Ariel has severe hearing loss in both her ears. Though she can articulate rather well, her funny accent might be a little difficult for comprehension for the hearing world. It might be a little difficult to talk to Ariel as you need to stand facing her so she can try to lip-read you and at times she might require you to put your words down on paper. She signs but it might be too much to ask the company to learn signing to accomodate her. But with today's technology advancement, face to face communication is not necesssary at many times. We can use email, msn, sms to chat and transfer information. Dumbers always think that Deaf people cant talk, they are mute and they are dumb. Most Deaf people can talk or articulate sounds. It's not clear and more difficult for them to pick up speech due to their inability to hear. Cover your ears and learn a new lanaguage and you know what i mean. Ariel is a university graduate. I got other friends with hearing loss who are lecturers, lawyers, copywriters, engineers. I definitely wont call them DUMB. But only few got matching jobs to their abilities. Only few companies are willing to make slight accomodations to allow them to work and to allow them to be on par.

The RUN is for creating awareness among Employers that Deaf can work and we hope society can accept and accomodate them. Well, Ariel did a good clocking for her first attempt at about 55minutes for 3-ish km. Kekeke! Better than Moi lah. And we are pairing up to go jogging more often from now. Hoooooooooo!! Ya...I am so F-I-T. ^_-)

Run Run Run...

Happy Birthday Bubbles

This post has been removed by Twin1 as today is not Bubbles birthday. =P

Les Choristes

Movie Title : Les Choristes
Year : 2004
Director : Christophe Barratier
Main cast : Gérard Jugnot, Jean-Baptiste Maunier
Language : French

The story is about a teacher called Clement Mathieu who arrives at a boys boarding school (a bit like boys home) to teach having failed his dream of becoming an accomplished composer. Despite the school's strict and unsympathetic system of "Action, Reaction" - containing corporate punishment and periods of confinement set by the nasty headmaster, Rachin, the students continue to misbehave. After several failed attempts to discipline his students, Mathieu decides to try and get through to them with music. He soon turns his class into a choir and composes songs for them, finding great inspiration in finally having someone perform his works. This manages to capture his students' interest and slowly alters the environment of the school--the students generally behave better, and even the other teachers are impressed with the choir and the children's subtle changes in attitude. Two characters to look out for is Morhange, a musical prodigy who sang so well inside the movie and Pepinot, a cute orphan that always waits for his parents on saturday at the gate. The film explores the pain of a child's separation from his parents, and the transcendence of music as the greatest form of expression. It's really a very wonderful and moving movie especially the last part when Mathieu was being chased out of the school and the students sang to him from their locked rooms and throwing many paper airplanes with letters for him out of the window.

The film was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film; the song "Vois Sur Ton Chemin (Look To Your Path)" was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Song.

Source : Wikipeida

Journey by Angela Zhang

Can't find the version sung by Corrinne May so I am posting the version sung by Angela Zhang... she did it quite well too. Though I prefer Corrinne May's version. You can listen a part of it over her official site.



Source : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mmz9q1fSLYs

Journey by Corrinne May

Corrinne May might ring a bell..she also composed and sang "Let it Go", "Fly Away" and "Safe in a crazy world". Here is another piece.

It's a long long journey
Till I know where I'm supposed to be
It's a long long journey
And I don't know if I can believe
When shadows fall and block my eyes
I am lost and know that I must hide
It's a long long journey
Till I find my way home to you

Many days I've spent
Drifting on through empty shores
Wondering what's my purpose
Wondering how to make me strong

I know I will falter
I know I will cry
I know you'll be standing by my side
It's a long long journey
And I need to be close to you

Sometimes it feels no one understands
I don't even know why
I do the things I do
When pride builds me up till I can't see my soul
Will you break down these walls and pull me through

Cause It's a long long journey
Till I feel that I am worth the price
You paid for me on calvary
Beneath those stormy skies

When Satan mocks and friends turn to foes
It feels like everything is out to make me lose control
It's a long long journey
Till I find my way home to you
To you

Source
Her Blog
Her Official Site

Hokkaido Crab

What to do when you discovered such a BIG CRAB in your home's refridgeration?

EAT IT Lah!!

SO BIG A CARAPACE!!!

How do you put such a big thing into your mouth har? AND with such long legs...?

Part of its Walking Legs only not even the cheliped

Open your mouth bigger and use more ginger. =P

Lots of ginger, garlic and salt

To prepare family to feast on this BIG clawy monster, I made them drink red wine to warm up their stomaches and eat lots of ginger and vinegar. If you have follow this blog closely, you will know that Moi loves crab. Kekekeke! To savour good crabs, it is important that the crab is eaten with minimal seasoning and cooking. In fact Twinny loves to eat it without the ginger and vinegar. The crab is simply boiled to cook, then chilled till cold and eaten. The meat was so FRESH that it just detach itself from it's shell without much struggle and pulling. Uuuuuuuummmmmmmmmmmmmmm... truly amazing!! Oishikatta!!!!

Fried Kway Teow

I have not really been eating Fried Kway Teow since my favourite stall at NUS Arts canteen closed down donkeys years ago.... i still recall Moi and Bread Parpas going all the way down specially to have the fried kway teow before the stall closed down. So when Ballerina cheoh me for luchie and highly recommended this fried kway teow stall at Amoy Street Food centre, Moi decided to give it a try... NO REGRET!! It's yummy!! Well, Moi tends to like the sweeter dark sauce version so this is what they call the other salty version but in this case, it was not salty at all. Of course it's oily. Where got fried Kway teow no oily one. But it was really nice tasty. The noodles aren't too over cook and the taste is not too strong.

Fried Kway Teow

The Fried Kway Teow was her treat and so I treated her coffee at Ollos Diner which is just across Amoy Street. To be honest, the owner of Ollos Diner is my friend and I always try to come down to give him some support. His food is not the super fantastic kind but is nice. Coffee is nice too but most important, I like his attitude and passion to keep running this business and believing in his cafe and upholding standards. He used to work for bigger cafe like Olio Dome and starbucks before starting his own business and he had never give up despite all the setbacks. Cheers Ollos Boy. ^_-)

Cappuccino & Mochinato

(1) Fried Kway Teow
Amoy Street Food Centre
#01-01 (Just opposite the POSB ATM)

Opening hour
Daily 8am-8pm
Closed every 3rd Sunday

(2) Ollos Diner
58 Amoy Street
Tel : 6221 0889

Opening hour
Mon-fri : 730am - 8pm

HAR!?

I needed to work late yesterday and so I went over the Soup Spoon to pack a sandwich and salad. For those who dunno what is this Soup Spoon place. It's actually like a fast-food soup outlet that serves wholesome and healthy soup that taste not too bad, in fact, rather yummy. So Moi ordered a...

Caesar Salad
Romaine Lettuce, Parmesan Cheese, Egg Slice, Sundried Tomato, Multigrain Slice, Caesar Dressing

AND a...


Chicken Tikka (Wrap)
Tandoori Chicken, Mango Chutney, Mint, Cucumber, Red Onion, Romaine Lettuce

But before deciding on the Chicken Tikka (wrap), I wanted to check with the waitress what this hearty wrap looks like and so i asked...

Me : Hi, I will like check what does your hearty wrap looks like?

Waitress : HAR!!??

Me : Your Hearty wrap. I mean is it a vietnamese paper wrap or a bread wrap with pieces of chicken and stuff in it or what.

Waitress : HAR!!!??

Me (a little irritated) : Your Hearty wrap. H-E-A-R-T-Y wrap.

Waitress : HAR!!!??

Me (super pissed) : DO YOU UNDERSTAND ENGLISH!!???? CAN YOU SPEAK ENGLISH???

The IDIOTIC waitress just gave me a blank face. SHE is such a DIMWIT!!!! D-I-M-W-I-T!!!. GRRRRR!!

The Manager who heard my SUPER LOUD voice came over....

Manager : So sorry Madam that we do not have any pictures showing our hearty wrap but it's actually a thin **** (Bread's name) wrapping minced chicken bits and vegetable.

Me : Lovely. I will have that. Thanks.

Unless you are talking to someone that you are really very close with e.g. family or closed friends, please do not use that HAR??!! to answer questions that you can't understand, did not manage to catch or it's not within your linguistic comprehension. It's damn irritating, damn rude, damn primitive. Comeon, it's not even a WORD or english. It's just a SOUND. Use that when you talk to a ape or monkey, can? Maybe they will give you a sloppy wet kiss on your lips.

PISSED!

The Soup Spoon
Raffles Xchange, Raffles Place MRT
#B1-62 (Alight at Raffles Place MRT station)
Tel: 6438 7305

Opening hour
Mon - Fri: 10.30am to 9.00pm
Sat: 10.30am to 3.00pm
Sun: Closed

Footstool Palm

Spotted below while I was running the other day. Got a little excited to find the palm trees built alongside one fullerton fruiting. To be honest I can't really tell the specific species well but I think it's a Livistona Rotundifolia (Footstool palm) judging by the color of its fruits and it's fan-like leaves but I might be wrong.... ^^;;)

Hmm...i guess it's exciting to see palm tree fruiting since palm usually dun fruit or flower frequently. Though I think i did saw the Livistona Rotundifolia fruiting before. But it's definitely a shorter period than Corypha umbraculifera (tailpot palm) which flower and fruit only once 60-80 years. =P

Livistona Rotundifolia


Livistona Rotundifolia - close up

Well, other than palms, I did meet a pretty lass running opposite direction of Moi, trying to catch my attention... well though I did feel flatter to be spotted by the pretty lass but I couldn't recall who she was. =( So paiseh. After trying very hard to recall who she was, I figured either my memory is failing or she is most probably Twin2's friend. kekekeke! Well, that's the part and parcel of being a TWIN. *wink*

Beyond Disabilities

A son who has had cerebral palsy since birth (cant talk, move his arms, cant walk) wanted to do a marathon, so his father did it with him....And they even made it together to the Ironman Triathlon and even to the Boston Run....

It is not about speed, it is about not giving up, it is about determination, faith, strength and will...they inspire many... it touches me lots..it's a true story. Dick can't run without Rick and Rick can't run without Dick.


Source : http://youtube.com/watch?v=gtDJ3NGFrRE

And Rick's message....

"When I am running, my disability seems to disappear. It is the only place where truly I feel as an equal. Due to all the positive feedback, I do not feel handicapped at all. Rather, I feel that I am the intelligent person that I am with no limits. I have a message for the world which is this: To take time to get to know people with disabilities for the individuals they are."

i hope deafboleh! run can be inspirational too...