bbq for exco & office staff at mesrc,
evans rd 30 nov 06 (thu) 6 - 10 p.m.

jurong fishery port




last night, or rather early this morning, i made my way to jurong fishery port to look into one of my options after retirement.

it is actually quite easy to get to this fishery. once you are on the kje to tuas, look out for the exit to corporation road. follow this road to the end and you will arrive at your destination.

jurong fishery port is one of the two fishery ports operated by ava. the other one is at senoko. they provide 24-hour service daily to foreign and local fishing vessels for bunkering, discharging and transshipment of fish. the port also houses the wholesale fish market where buyers can make bulk purchases.

you need to have some identification document on you, either your identity card, passport or driving licence to gain access to the fishery. you have to surrrender one of these to exchange for a pass.

parking charges are quite high; for a slightly more than hour stay, i paid $2.70 for parking. there is ample parking space within the fishery.

i met up with my former colleague's husband who is a fish merchant. i used to disturb my ex-colleague with this jibe: oh, so your husband goes around in rolled up singlet, wears a thick gold chain around his neck and spout colourful teochew expletives. the truth is far from this. her husband is an honours graduate who used to teach in one of the premier junior colleges in singapore.

mr lee told me he was in semi-retirement. he had actually rented out half of the space allotted to him to someone else. in the past, he stopped work only for a couple of days, during the chinese new year holidays. but, this year, he went with mrs lee - my former colleague -to visit their son in england and they stayed there for more than two weeks. as he was rather occupied, i did not get a chance to chat with him.

the actions at the fishery become fast and furious from 2.00 a.m. onwards. by 6.00 a.m. most of the transactions will have been completed and the place becomes quiet again.

jamming away at the
n5 kp retreat at seletar
country club on 20 nov

glam rock - end of the year get-together

the school year for the teachers closed with the event called glam rock. because of the problem of getting a place to meet our needs, the staff welfare committee decided on holding it in school, in the school hall.

as we signed in, we received our door gift - a stylish watch in a metal casing. the food was catered and the same event organiser for 2005 was there to get things moving.

kavitha's eye popping dress was rivetting. i was not prepared for the treat to my eyes when i approached the table. when diana suggested that we -kavitha and i - posed for a picture, i did not dare turn to look her way, much as i would have liked to.

shamini, her good friend and our former colleague, tried to sneak into the hall but the sneakiness did not escape my eyes. i did not expect to see her as i have been under the impression that she would be back only in december.

the curry sisters, the vampires and the thunderbirds were hilarous and comical. for a moment, everyone did not mind the school hall being the venue for such a glamorous occasion. the spontaniety and the sporting attitude of the people involved carried it off well.

many thanks to bernice and her committee for their effort and hard work in making the best of what was available.

my thoughts on retirement




now that i am officially retiring at the end of 2006, i like to share my thoughts on it. i had contemplated my retirement for sometime and came to a decision in august. i handed in my letter to apply for optional retirement after the teacher's day rally.

i am actually ambivalent about the whole thing. on the one hand, i will relish the sense of freedom. i can get up when i want to and choose how to spend the days. i can take the time to do the things i want to, instead of rushing from one demand to another. with retirement, the locus of control comes back to myself and i will no longer be driven from outside.

on the other hand, there will also be this sense of loss. i may feel disconnected and may experience this lack of purposefulness. when you have worked together with a group of people, sharing the same anguish, anxiety and frustrations, you end up having a common purpose in what you are doing. being removed from this situation may mean you do not feel connected and that can lead to feeling of loneliness.

nevertheless, i have to moved on. i must see life as a continuous journey with never ending opportunities for me to learn, give and grow. i do not have a definite plan at the moment but i do not see myself shaking legs at home and wasting my time away.

each time i am congratulated on my retirement, i feel strange. i am being congratulated for not having a job anymore and for no longer receiving a pay check each month.

i could have chosen to plod on for another two years, till i reach the standard retirement age of 60 but i think that will be detrimental to my mental health. i want to retire when i am still physically and mentally fit and i can take care of myself.

low-key birthday celebration



this being my 59th birthday - according to the chinese way of calculating ages - i was told to keep it a low-key event or better still, a non-event. my chronological age is actually 58. what we had was a small, family celebration with a durian cake from emicakes and some bought foodstuff.

so, unlike in past years, when i would invite members of the exco to my place for a makan, i did not have a big do this year. neither did i buy food for the office staff to eat for lunch. for the past two years. diana, in 'cahoots' with my wife lay bee, had surprised me with a birthday function. they were not so thrilled when i did not seem very surprised.

a day before that, we went to the teochew cuisine restuarant at bukit batok for a family meal. ordered the teochew imperial set, steamed squids and fried spring rolls. ida, who was at wheelock in the afternoon, bought a ralph lauren wallet for me. she insisted that i started using the wallet right away. had to empty the content from my old wallet to put them all into the new one.

personally, i do not attach much significance to birthdays, either mine or others. i did not celebrate when i was younger, not until i was way past my twenties did i have any celebration. and that also because others insisted on celebrating for me.

gipsy moth iv, the most famous yacht
in maritime history

i had lunch today at 'the wharf' at the republic of singapore yacht club. the oldest yacht club in singapore, it is located at west coast ferry road. the club was marked a historic site by the national heritage board in 2000.

after lunch, i decided to take a walk to the marina to have a look at the clipper boats that were moored there. was i surprised to see the world's most famous yacht docked by the side!

gipsy moth iv is a 54ft ketch that sir francis chichester commissioned specifically to race single handed around the globe racing against the times set by the clipper ships in the 19th century.

gipsy moth iv made maritime history in 1966-67 when sir francis chichester completed the fastest solo circumnavigation in a small vessel, sailing from plymouth to a stop-over in sydney and back via cape horn in just 274 days (226 days actual sailing time).

gipsy moth iv remained undisturbed but slowly and surely rotting away until in 2004 she was purchased by the united kingdom sailing academy for the sum of £1 and a glass of gin & tonic (sir francis' favourite tipple) and taken to the famous camper & nicholson yard for restoration.

it was reported in the straits times on thursday that singapore sailor elaine chua will be part of a six-member crew that will sail it on nov 21 to phuket. for this second voyage, which started in september 2005, the overall journey will take 22 months, incorporating 25 countries and 32 official stopovers.

something on the haze








when the smell of burnt ash assails my nostrils
the moment i push the wooden door of my flat ajar
it signals to me the advent of the enveloping haze
that wrecks havoc on the young and not so healthy

as it usually coincides with the seventh lunar month
i am apt to think that the burning of incense papers
may have added to the amount of matter in suspension
with visibilty reduced all-round by the air-borne particles

i feel for those who suffer from chronic respiratory ills
they just don't have the armour to fight this aerial spill
in schools, physical activities oudoors are curtailed
in parks and fields, active people choose to stay away

we seem impotent when it comes to combating the haze
doesn't seem to have an effective way to kill the blaze
we are at the mercy of the ever changing wind direction
and find some relief only when heavy rain comes a pouring

at the source the people continue slashing and burning
with no regard for all the harms that they are causing
the government hands appear to be tied and bound
as they are not able to apprehend all the fire starters

near drowning at
farrer park swimming pool

it is the right thing for the authorities to ban the use of certain floatation devices in public swimming pools. i had a near death experience when i used one of these now banned devices at farrer park swimming pool long ago.

farrer park had two pools - a shallow one meant for beginners and non-swimmers and a deep one meant for swimmers. i started off by using the tube at the shallow pool. then, wanting to have more excitement, i decided to use it at the deep pool. the lifeguards on duty did not stop me to check my proficiency in swimming when i went to the deep pool.

standing by the edge, i threw the tube into the pool. then i dived into the water. foolishly, i had thought that as i dived through the tube, i would be able to grab it. i dived through and down into trouble. i panicked when i realised that the water level was way over my head and i could not touch the bottom with my feet.

as i struggled to reach the side of the pool, it dawned on me that i was drowning. as my life was ebbing away, thoughts of how my mother would react to my demise went through my mind. just when i was about to give up the struggle, i felt someone push me to the side of the pool.

i like to think that my life was returned to me because of some guardian angel who has been looking after me. there were a few other instances when my guardian angel came to my rescue: once in mlaysia, once in new zealand and two other times, in singapore.

sri bistari's ayam penyet

a fortnight ago, we were eating ayam penyet at joo chiat. today, we ate ayam penyet (smashed chicken) at sedapura foodcity, malay village. the stall, which has its origin in changi village, is called sri bistari.

comparatively cheaper, at $3.50, it is $2.00 cheaper than the ayam penyet at ria in joo chiat which sells for $5.50. however, the indonesian version has more ingredients. this one comes with sambal, tomato and slices of cucumber as well as a bowl of soup shared by three persons. jameela ordered one with sambal fish (pomfret).

sri bistari claims to be the first and original ayam penyet in singapore. aside from ayam penyet, other dishes on their menu include mee bakso (beef) and pecel ikan. all are priced at $3.50 each. for takeaway, you have to pay 30 cents more, $3.80. jameela took away one pack of pecel ikan while normala packed four ayam penyet for her parents and two children.

jameela and normala have tried the ayam penyet at both joo chiat and the malay village. normala prefers the cheaper one at malay village while jameela likes the joo chiat one more. like i always say, it all boils down to a matter of preference and taste.

one the way back to school, i stopped at geylang to buy the tanjong rhu pau. the three ladies in my car were excited by the sight of some mainland china women 'pushing up and out their paus' to entice the local men.

seng kitchen @ 45 quality road



went to look for seng kitchen at 45 quality road. this place is not difficult to locate, if you drive. take the kje and exit at jahar bahar. turn left to jurong west. keep on this road until you go past the mrt track and come to chin bee drive. turn left into chin bee drive and the next right is quality road. blk 45 is on the left side of the road. there are ample parking lots by the roadside as well as at the food centre itself.

seng kitchen is the second stall. if you go after office working hours, seng kitchen is one of the few that remain open up to 8.30 p.m. its customers at night are regulars from all over singapore and some workers from nearby workshops and factories.

the higlighted dishes are fish-head curry , teochew steamed fish, prawn paste fried chicken, 5-spice hakka pork chop, kongpo (dried chilli) cuttle-fish, chicken and prawn and oyster sauce vegetable. there are many other dishes on the menu. the menu is in chinese, so i do not know what the other dishes are.

like all good curry fish-head, the fish was fresh and the flavour was nice. the prawn paste fried chicken was fragrant and the meat was crispy. so was the hakka pork chop. the cost is kopitiam price, reasonable.

i enjoy seeking out all these makan places in the outlying areas. provided you are not there during lunch hours, there is no crowd, so you do not have to fight for seats or wait beside a table while the occupiers are still trying to finish their meal.

mt ophir



i have climbed mt ophir only once, and that was done some thirty years ago, but the wonderful memories of the trip linger. i can well understand why some people go back again and again, climbing the mountain 30 times.

our group that made the climb comprised eight teachers and some 32 students from four schools. we brought along six-man tents, cooking stoves and provisions. it was not physically tiring for us as we were well prepared for it. the only part that presented some problem was the steep rock face near the summit.

from the top, on a clear day, you can see the straits of malacca. in the night, you can see the simmering lights of the coastal towns. we stayed long enough to see all these and the sunrise in the morning.

the johor parks which now takes charge of the climbing at mt ophir has made the trip much safer and less stressful (you certainly won't get lost any more!) by making it compulsory to have guides. they charge rm$150 for a group of up to 10 people. the johor parks authority has also cleaned up the trial and the campsite from the decades of trash thrown by inconsiderate campers, so it is a much more pleasant experience these days.

it is best that you book the guide first by calling them or e-mailing them. this is because sometimes the mountain is crowded and there may be no place to camp at the campsite of your choice, especially on the popular air panas/sagil route from johor.

more people have climbed mt ophir than any other mountain in west malaysia. located at the border of johor and melaka states, it can be climbed from either side of these two states. from melaka, the trail starts at the asahan village near a waterworks and is more straight forward and easier than from johor side. the trail from johor starts near the sagil village beside a cascade of waterfalls within the grounds of the gunong ledang resort.

mt kinabalu in sabah

one of the things i will like to do upon my retirement is to scale mt kinabalu in sabah. i will have to prepare myself for it so that i can enjoy the climb. i do not see it as something formidable. i know myself. i will be able to make it to the summit.

the climb up kinabalu is one reason why many visitors go to kinabalu national park. despite its intimidating size, kinabalu is one of the easiest mountains in the world to climb. no special skills or equipment is needed, and each year thousands of visitors undertake the expedition, which takes two to three days. accommodation is available all along the climb, the highest lodging being the sayat hut at 12,500 feet/3 810m.

though the kinabalu park is famous largely for the climb, the climb is in turn as famous for the beauty of its route as for the view from the top. kinabalu's slopes possess a wealth of plant growth and a large variety of birds, and much of the climb's interest and beauty lies in tracing the transitions from one ecosystem to the next as one reaches ever higher altitude.

the first 6km of the 14km summit trail, from the timpohon gate up to the laban rata hut, where climbers spend a compulsory night, are straightforward steps following a clear path. the effects of the altitude can be perceived from early on - once out of breath it is difficult to get it back- so the key is to take the ascent slowly and steadily. there are six shelters on this first stretch, so it is possible to take regular breaks. the climb to laban rata is estimated to take four to five hours.

usually, at 3am, the following day, the final ascent to low's peak will begin. this normally takes about three hours, the idea being to watch the sun rise from the summit. this final 3km of the climb is much steeper and more technically difficult, and a pretty daunting prospect in the dark.

i remember my friend tsung kok weng and his wife doris made the climb many years ago without much hard training or serious preparation. from his description of things, it should not pose a big problem for me.

alkaff mansion & garden terrace @ telok blangah hill park




yesterday, i made a shocked discovery: the alkaff mansion that sat atop telok blangah hill was hoarded up and without any sign of life. according to a report, the restaurant ceased operation in august 2004.

i had been there for a birthday celebration many years ago and had attended a wedding banquet there in the 80s. although it was not air-conditioned, it had a certain class of its own.

originally known as mount washington, alkaff mansion was the home of a wealthy arab family in the 1920s. it opened as a restaurant in 1990. the rijsttaffels - buffet, indonesian style with dutch influence - was very popular. so was the western food.

later, i made my way to the garden terrace. climbed right up to the top to catch a panoramic view of the surroundings. could see mt faber with its cable cars in the distance. by 2009, when the pedestrian bridge is ready, park visitors can walk from telok blangah hill to mt faber and also to kent ridge.

[on 6 november 1989, it was announced in the straits times and business times, of the government's plans to construct a 140 m long and 4 m wide suspension bridge linking mt faber park and telok blangah hill park. estimated to cost $5m, the approximately 27 m, about nine-storey high "mt faber-telok blangah hill bridge", will be built across henderson road at telok blangah green. in future nature-lovers will be able to jog or walk from mt faber to telok blangah hill when singapore's tallest "pedestrian suspension bridge" is built to link these two parks.]

the bougainvilleas planted on the terraces did not appear to have been getting the due attention. in fact, they looked a bit neglected. some pruning had been done recently but the leaves and the cut stems were not removed.

staghorn ferns @ canopy walk, kent ridge park





these days, if you are at the canopy walk, you will come across a lot of staghorn ferns. they have been physically attached to the trees by the park people. you can see the thin, colour wires which they used to tie the plants to the trunks of the trees.

staghorn ferns are epiphytic perennials or 'air' plants. they can be found high in tall trees attached to, but not growing 'in' the bark. staghorn ferns do not need or use soil. they get their nutrition substantially from the air. stags are in the same class as orchids, which also grow on trees with no soil.

the staghorn fern has two types of fronds. the sterile fronds, located near the base of the plant, are round and flat. they begin pale green but turn brown and papery with age. the fertile fronds are also pale green. they are the fronds that look like a stag's horns, and they hang down from the plant. on the tips of the fertile fronds are the brown masses of spores.

bright light but no direct sun is ideal for stags. stags do not like windy conditions.

(when i took the pics, i was not close enough because i have this fear of height - acrophobia.)

st george's church @ minden road

located at minden road, near dempsey road and opposite the botanic gardens. built of red brick and featuring a beautiful stained glass window above the altar, st george’s has been the place of worship for many people of different races and nationalities throughout the years. it is a haven for those seeking peace and solace amidst the hustle and bustle of the city.

today, i attended the 8.00 a.m. service in this splendid, old colonial style building with no air-conditioning. this church conducts traditional anglican worship with 3 services on sundays. built in 1911, it did not become a civilian church until 1971. it has since been gazetted as a national monument.

the church has a seating capacity of 650. at this morning service, i estimated there were about one hundred people in the congregation. for a moment, i thought it was a catholic church because there are cushions for those who need to kneel to pray.

after the service, there was free breakfast for everyone at the back of the church. they provided cakes, sandwiches and biscuits. there were even chwee kueh. i did not help myself to the food. instead, i went to ghim moh market for my favourite chwee kueh.

makan trial in johor bahru

told diana i would pick her at 7.45 a.m. ten minutes before the appointed time, she was already waiting for me. must have been looking forward very much to the makan trip to jb. picked shin huat and luca from the bus-stop along avenue 7 at 8.00 a.m. clearing singapore's side took a bit longer than clearing the malaysian side, which was a breeze.

our first makan stop was the famous beef noodles stall at jalan kuda lumba. missed a turn in the road and got lost for a while. but like i always say 'you cannot get lost for long in jb'. reached the crowded shop at 8.45 a.m. managed to get a table. while we were finishing the beef noodle, we decided to order a plate of braised duck.

our next stop was supposed to be a fish head curry shop along jalan wong ah fook. either it was a non-existent shop or the building in which the shop was located has been demolished. shin huat told us that the herbal roast duck in hoppy restaurant was good. tried the tong gui duck and it was really good.

went back to city square where we had parked the car. bought slices of secret recipe cakes. although the price is slightly higher than s'pore's, it is still cheaper. for example, a whole cake costs s$55 here. in johor bahru, it costs rm$65 ( in s'pore dollars, $29.25).

shin huat is right. secret recipe started in malaysia. they have 35 outlets in malaysia compared to 2 in singapore.

flying electric rc airplane @ woodlands

was on my way home after buying banana cakes at blk 15 woodlands loop when i decided to make a detour to the road leading to christ church secondary school. saw a few vans parked by the side of the road and some grown-up men flying model airplanes at the open field.

when i approached them, i recognise one of them as someone i know. coincidentally, i had spoken to him that morning. rolan told me he picked up this hobby about six months ago.

the 6-volt nimh battery that powered the rc airplane costs more than a car battery. with the help of a friend, the plane was launched into the air. it was not as noisy as a fuel powered model plane. he told me that a battery powered rc plane's flight time was rather short, about twenty minutes at the most. however, it was easier to fly and also easier to fix and replace parts.

he then demonstrated to me that the plane could climb quite high, around 600m above the ground. according to him, beginners tend to push the plane to a greater height because it gives them more time to manipulate the controls. it cannot be flown for too long, otherwise the engine will overheat and fail and that will result in a crash. other factors like the wind, mechanical problems and poor control can also cause the plane to crash.

swimming pool at mt emily




the very first public swimming complex in singapore was the mt emily swimming complex which opened sometime in 1930s (no specific date was recorded). this complex was converted from an old reservoir which supplied water to the kandang kerbau hospital. however, the swimming complex was demolished in 1983.

so, up to the early eighties, there was still a public swimming pool at mt emily. i preferred mt emily swimming pool to farrer park swimming pool because the former was not so crowded. although the pools at mt emily were not the standard olympic size type, we had a lot of fun swimming there. it was easier to swim the breadth as well as the length of the pools.

there was something else that was unique about mt emily swimming complex. they set aside different days of the week for males and females swimmers. there were also days when mixed swimming was allowed. so, if you turned up on the wrong day, you would not be allowed admission to the complex.

after a swim at mt emily, we would walk down the hill to the lane next to the rex cinema for our food and drinks. there were stalls selling indian rojak, satay, mee and the ice kachang and chendol.

(the crest was on the wall of the entrance to mt emily park)