Inconjunction with our upcoming Singapore 41st National Day celebration (9th August 2006), Singapore Fireworks Festival 2006 is back again. Running in its 3rd consecutive year, the fireworks displays just gets grander & even more spectacular each year.
This year features choreographed musical fireworks display from Team Italy, Team New Caledonia, Team France & of coz our Team Singapore. A quick look at the schedules:- 5 August 2006, Friday 2100hrs- Team Italy
8 August 2006, Tuesday 2100hrs - Team Singapore
11 August 2006, Friday 2100hrs - Team New Caledonia
12 August 2006, Friday 2100hrs - Team France
More details can be found at the official Singapore Fireworks Festival 2006 Website.
Well, time to put my “clothes hanger” into good use again hehehe …
Meantime, here are some shots which I took during Singapore Fireworks Festival 2004. !!!HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND!!!
I’m always fond of visiting the quieter side of Singapore during the weekends. Not only helps to rejuvenate my soul while replenishing energies that was sapped during hectic & stressful weekdays.
There are several designated places which were reserved for farming & eco-tourism industry. And you can find many in the west of side of Singapore. One such place is Aerogreen Aeroponics Farm.
Aeroponics is a soiless farming techniques which allow growing temperate climate vegetables in tropical Singapore. The principle of aeroponics lies in the periodic spraying of plant roots with a nutrient mist. By cooling root zone (via the mist) to 20-24C, it makes the crops “thinks” that it’s growing in temperate climate.
Here you see the Butterhead lettuce been grown on “air”. The red arrow points to the mister. Excess water with then be recycled back for misting. Certainly economical in terms of water usage. Besides, the whole setup of saves plenty of farming spaces, which makes it very suitable farming techniques for land constraint Singapore.
Being soiless & housed in netted enclosure. The crops were protected from harmful pests either from air or soil. Hence no pesticides need to be used.
And finally, harvesting the crops couldn’t be any easier. Just pull them out!
Besides butterhead lettuce, Aerogreen do grown several organic produces like Okra and their very own blend of healthy drink called Lettucino. Lettucino is a blend of butterhead lettuce, kiwi & lime juice. Not only healthy, this concoction produces a nice balance taste that makes this vegetable based drinks so refreshing & delicious. (NOTE: White eggs are bought from FARMART, our very own “so called” farmers market)
Besides vegetables, occassionally there are young herbs plants like thai basil, sweet basil, mint, lemon balm for sales too. In fact, I’m really surprised to see a Rosemary here. While not too strongly aromatic as those that were grown in temperate region, I’m STILL amazed by this near impossible feat.
Well, it’s certainly a very beautiful & relaxing day! Certainly hope you would visit & enjoy our own country side as well.
I wonder if you remembered about the Season of China Lychees which I blogged last month of June. And telling how excited am I for more varieties of China lychees when July 2006 arrives? Well, sad to say, they aren’t coming here after all. I heard from HK friend that Lychees harvest 2006 were pretty much ruined by torrent rains in Southern part of China.
I did saw some Lo Mi Zi (糯米子) in small quantities but did not buy becoz of their jacked up prices. So last batch of China lychees I had early July were from Guangtung. Bright red, rougher & thicker skins. Again, the labelling seems incorrect. They were simply labelled as Guangtung Lychees.
Flesh were juicer & their oval seeds were larger than Kua lu (挂绿). Taste-wise, they were sweeter with a delightful honey overtones. Well, let’s called this Honey Lychees then
Oh well, too bad about the bad harvest. Bye bye china lychees, hope to see you next year *sniff sniff*
p.s: Well, I suppose it’s time to turn my attention to Durian now hehehehehe …
While some people are probably enjoying loads of good food & fermented grape juices at one part of Singapore, I have to content with some simple late dinner. I felt the urge for some sticks of satay, there were a few even at this hours fortunately. After a few “go-for-a-spin” therapy, I landed on Bukit Timah FC (Food Centre)
While there are satay, their ketupat were sold out. Ketupat is a compressed savoury rice cakes woven coconut leaves, they goes very well with satay & Mee Soto. Ketupat weaving a Malay tradition of making ketupat cases, sadly, they seems to be dying trend as modernization kicks in. These ketupat cases were woven by strips of coconut leaves. After which, rice will be filled in these cases and cooked in boiling water. Check out HERE for step-by-step method of Ketupat Weaving. If you can’t find coconut strips, you can always cut out strips of water for experimenting. Have fun!
Without ketupat to go along with satay, I decide to settle for fried bee hoon (rice vermicelli) & Ngoh Niang (Meat rolls) to fill the void. These fried mee hoon were usually simple way to fillup stomach for breakfast. Simply stir fry bee hoon (rice vermicelli) with some dark soya & light sauce, some shallots, garlic & dried shrimps and you are done.
On the other hand, Ngoh Niang (meat rolls) takes a little more work. Bean curd skin wrapped with minced pork, some fats/lard, mushroom & seasoned with five spiced powder. They are steamed initially and then finally, bean curd skin given a nice browning by deep frying. Cost me S$1.70.
These are chinese style satay, meaning they are not so strongly spiced like Malay Satay. Besides that, I can have Pork satay, sandwiched with sinful but yummy fats here. Pork option weren’t available for Malay due to religious reasons, so please don’t make this terrible mistake of ordering Pork satay at the Malay foodstall. Also, there is some differences between Chinese & Malay peanut dipping sauce, the chinese version would sometimes comes along with tangy grated pineapple, it certainly adds up some zest. While the malay version will be sweeter, perhaps to counter the additional spiciness from the malay style satay. These cost me S$3.50 for 10 sticks of satay.
And just right in front of the FC, there seems to be some prepartory works for some celebration. Well, this is none other then the Hungry Ghost Festival which will arrived in a few days time. Chinese believed the hell gates will opened during such time and ghost will be roaming around during this period.
In order to keep the ghost entertained, public shows like chinese wayang & concert were held. And chinese also believed that you can accumulate good karma by being generous. Hence public auctions of auspicious items were held with profits being channelled to temples or charities for good course.
Interesting, all these activities were held pretty close to nearby church (upper left). Well, all these are pretty norm & usually not offending to the christians there. A good show of what’s Religion Harmony are all about. Something which I’m very proud of as a Singaporean.
Head feeling heavy, spinning. Not too sure what happen, but when the spinning comes, it times for the “go-for-a-spin” therapy. Works most of the time for me. Sometimes, would just go to somewhere quiet, with smoothing sound of the sea waves, gazing idiotically at the far away horizon. So “GLAD” that I’m back to this WORLD (again!)
Anyway, I wonder if you’re shocked that I’m choosing this as song for the week. I mean looking at the title“Because I’m a Girl”, but doesn’t that sounds too girlish right?
Well, of coz I’m not a girl, but the guy in the Music Video (MV) bears some resemblance especially on cameras, photography & motorbikes. While it quite clear that I’m fond of photography, probably many may not know about my another *obsession*, Motorbikes.
Motorbikes were my very first personal transportation on wheels (excluding the bicycle lah!) that I could afford back then. I can still remember the exhilarating feeling when I got my very first 125cc Yamaha bike after passing Class2B. And then the 400cc when I got my Class2A with many memorable trips to the North as far as Kedah & Terranganu.
However, after getting the Class2, I find I no longer have time to bike to the North anymore. While I do love to have something like the Honda VFR or maybe sport-tourer like Honda super Blackbird., (which unfortunately been ?discountined?), riding these big bikes in SG proves to be difficult especially when you stucked in the traffic jam. Yeah, probably gives you much fingers & legs muscles training but it’s really really very tired. Besides it’s not really practical & not to mention expensive. So I ended up with a Scooter with CVT (Continous Variable Transmission). Just twist & go, no brainer hahahaha ….
A note about Singapore Motorcycle license. They are categorized by class 2B, 2A & 2 which determines the engine capacity you are licensed to ride. Class2B : up to 200cc
Class2A : 201 - 400cc
Class2 : Any capacity Also, there must be a laspe of a year before you could take lessons & test for the next Class (e.g from Class2B -> Class2A, Class2A -> Class2).
Enough of Motorbikes & back to MV. Besides the above, the MTV intro showed some Autumn scenery, I love Autumn, I always believe I’m very much an autumn person. And finally probably bacause of the Girl too! The MV actress, Goo Hye Jin, certainly looks pretty cute & adorable. Heh! ;P
Sang by Korean pop group called KISS, not to be confused by K.I.S.S which is a Rock Band. I believe the group, comprising of 3 young korean ladies, already broke up.
So there! The song is nice & storyline of MV is really touching. Thanks to youtube uploader, tykz, for sharing this MV. You got English translation below with Korean text above for you to hum along, if you so wish.
So Ladies, go get your tissues paper NOW!
p.s: it’s sleep time, will try to make any replies tomorrow
Isn’t it great that weekend is here again? And while I was in Queenstown this week, I spotted this beautiful rays shooting through the clouds when the sun was setting. Of late, I’ve been getting interesting in cloud spotting hmmm … and there seems to be at least 2 types of clouds here worth checking out their name. Gonna be in the library, soaking in cool aircon comfort while attempting to identify these clouds. Think this gonna be fun!
HAVE A WONDEFUL WEEKEND! p.s: Do remember, this BLOG “operates” from Monday ~ Friday only. Well, maybe there will be occassional weekend specials, I will inform if that’s the case.
*Phew* finally reach the last set. Snipped off quite a few so as to squeeze into this last post on Vietnam, HCMC. Ben Thanh Market are made up Groceries, Wet Market & food section. They are well organized and easy to follow. While they are open till the evening, it may be best for morning visitwhen activities are brisk. Here are some selected shots which I hope you’ll find them interesting.
Queenie of Offals. Probably the most photographed lady in Ben Thanh. Need I say more?
Offals closeup … hmm hope you had your meals before you look at these
Mini crab “disassembly”
Mini crabs “disassembled”
Assortments of crab meats
“Pedicure” for piggy knuckles. Well, he’s really pulling out the nails *ouch*
Moi brekkie. Bi Cuon & Goi Cuon washed down with a glass of ice cold vietnamese coffee.
Closeup. Bi Cuon - Pork rice rolls (Left), Goi Cuon - Shrimp rice rolls. They are only a mere 2500 ~ 3000 Vnd (about 25 ~ 30cents) per piece. My only gripe is that the rice paper are pretty much dried up.
Well, that’s it! It’s ceratinly a lovely experiences in Vietnam, HCMC. You can be sure I will be back for more … maybe Hanoi, Hue, Dalat or even Sapa next time?
OK, let’s paused a while for some foodie break. It been a long wait for the reopening of new “Taman Serasi Food Garden” ever since the closure of old food center 4 years ago. The new Taman Serasi has been relocated to the new Singapore Botanic Garden (SBG) Main building. They are officially opened on 15 July 2006 along with the “soft opening” of SBG Main building.
I decide to take a peek at the new food court, I need to have my late dinner anyway. Situated at the mid & lower building, the Taman Serasi features airconditioned indoor dining
As well as Alfresco dinning, perfect for those bringing their beloved pet along.
Floor imprints of various leaves at the entrance welcoming visitors to this lovely tropical garden.
Interesting nature theme decor like these leave shaped aircon ducts, and various plant imprint on stones, reinforcing ones natural feeling furthur.
Auspiciousf flocks of fengshui fish, Arowana, displayed outside which purportly to bring good luck , good business to Taman Serasi Food Garden
All looks well, I decide to settle for HK style Wanton Mee from Jia Le Roasted Food. At S$4, it’s priced a bit high then the offerings in other Food Court. Fortunately, freshness of igredients with robust broth make up for this.
The kailan vegetables were well boiled with nice touch of oyster sauce. Usually, I’m not fond of Chunky slices of Char Siew (Honey Roasted Pork), but this is well marinated to the core. The Char Siew weren’t too tender though it wasn’t tough either. It was alright for me, but for those who prefer to have some more bite in its textures, this is for you.
Small shrimp were encapsulated in these mini-wantons. Quite different from the one we usually have, which usually comes along with minced pork. Nevertheless, these shrimps crunchy, sweet & fresh, they are definitely lovely.
Well done, freshness taste is there. though not the most springy I tasted. But it’s still good.
All in all, this is a really nice wanton mee. Jia Le Roasted Food seesm to be very popular stall there too. I’ll definitely be back for other items on their menu.
WHERE? 1 Cluny Rd, Singapore Botanic Gardens
Taman Serasi Gdn Foodcourst, Stall D & E
btw Jalan Kayu roti prata is there as well. And Yummy crabs have quite a handful of lovely crab dishes, best of all, Yummy crabs are offering 50% discount on all their dishes until 31 July 2006. Don’t miss this!
More HCMC photos, this time focusing on beautiful architecture of Central Post Office. Central Post Office - Exterior View
Central Post Office - Exterior View. Please look at the modern building on the left, that’s Diamond Plaza. A FULLY AIRCON modern shopping centre & food court. My haven away from those scorching heat & humidity. Just thought you may like to know hehehehe …
Central Post Office - Interior View
Central Post Office - Interior Telephone Booth
Central Post Office - Exterior View (Night)
Central Post Office - Exterior Closeup (Night)
Central Post Office - Interior View (Night)
Central Post Office - Interior Closeup (Night)
ok, one last set of Ben Thanh Morning Market scene to go ….
So what you get if you mixed up Singapore Pools with World Cup 2010? Of coz you get a football betting games for the next world cup in South Africa LOLz…..
Coincidently, one of my favourite Pop-rock group, TOTO, has a song about AFRICA.. Well, TOTO is also the name of our lottery system sold by Singapore Pools as well.
So, from their grammy award winning album, Toto IV, this song (AFRICA) reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in February 1983. When I first heard this song, the sounds of mystical drums absolutely blown me away. It’s still one of my favourite, & try listening in the dark, you’ll feel like you are fully immerised in the “Dark Continent”.
There are a few interpretation of the lyrics, some good, some bad & some pretty crude. If you like to know more about the lyrcis, click HERE.
UPDATE! Well, another interesting article about Toto’s Africa song, describing in details how the song was initially conceptualized, written, the recording & how they proven their critics wrong. Mix Online - Toto’s Africa
AFRICA - Toto I hear the drums echoing tonight
But she hears only whispers of some quiet conversation
She’s coming in 12:30 flight
The moonlit wings reflect the stars that guide me towards salvation
I stopped an old man along the way
Hoping to find some old forgotten words or ancient melodies
He turned to me as if to say
“Hurry boy, it’s waiting there for you”
It’s gonna take a lot to drag me away from you
There’s nothing that a hundred men or more could ever do
I bless the rains down in Africa
Gonna take some time to do the things we never had, oohooh
The wild dogs cry out in the night
As they grow restless longing for some solitary company
I know that I must do what’s right
As sure as Kilimanjaro rises like Olympus above the Serengetti
I seek to cure what’s deep inside
Frightened of this thing that I’ve become
It’s gonna take a lot to drag me away from you
There’s nothing that a hundred men or more could ever do
I bless the rains down in Africa
Gonna take some time to do the things we never had, oohooh
Hurry boy, she’s waiting there for you
It’s gonna take a lot to drag me away from you
There’s nothing that a hundred men or more could ever do
I bless the rains down in Africa
I bless the rains down in Africa
I bless the rains down in Africa
I bless the rains down in Africa
I bless the rains down in Africa
It’s gonna take some time to do the things we never had, oohooh
