Some have been blogged, some not - too numerous recount. Still I hope to share snippets of these wonderful experiences before I embarked on another new journey.

For those who have previously expressed interest in my new journey, I will be informing you of this new place soon (Probably early Apr 2008)

THANK YOU & ADIEU!!!………..

North Thailand 2002 - Roof of Thailand @ Doi Inthanon National Park

Japan, Tokyo 2002 - Tsukiji fish market

China, Beijing 2003 - Simatai (司马台) Great Wall

Taiwan 2003 - Wild Vegetables cuisine at Wu Lai (乌来）

Korea 2004 - Autumn foliage at Mt Sorak

HongKong 2004 - Wishing Tree @ Lam Village

Vietnam 2005, HCMC - Embryonic duck egg

Japan, Kyushu 2006 - Bicycle ride around Kumamoto countryside

I was in Hokkaido briefly back in 1999. Took the Shinkansen from Tokyo to Morioka - switching to ordinary train onwards - going via the undersea tunnel that connects Honshu to Hokkaido.

Hakodate was the first stop on Hokkaido island. I only stay a night, enough time for me to visit the spectacular night view on top of Hakodate-yama and gorging some seafood at their morning market.

Back then, Hakodate was just a small train station. I remembered fondly how I was taking naps on their old wooden bench while waiting for train onwards to Sapporo and Morioka (when I was heading back to Tokyo).

Today, Hakodate Station has become an ultra modern building. I still missed the old quaint station that it once was. *sighz*
Wikipedia: Hakodate Station

It’ve been 8++ long years, I think I ought to pay a visit again.

happiness \ha-pe-nes\ n 1 : a state of well-being and contentment; also : a pleasurable satisfaction 2 : aptness - Merriam-Webster Dictionary

I remembered years ago there was some talk from Bhutan folks on their country GNP (Gross national happiness). Not surprising, it was followed by a fairly heated discussion on happiness of Singaporean, and if government is doing anything to make Singapore a better & happier place to live. LOLz

Not surprising again, a whole slew of theories on happiness brewed in no time. From Zen to Happiness Quotient - plenty of choice enough to keep you busy from thinking about your happiness. How ironic!

If happiness is “a state of well-being and contentment”, then satisfying these condition will brings you happiness. And before you know how to “get satisfied”, you will need to know “your wants” - in short, look within yourself first. Your happiness is in your hands and not dependent on others.

So in 3 simple steps, you get happiness.
1. I WANT
2. I DO
3. I GET

If “your want” is simple, it’s simpler to attain happiness; and if it’s complex, things will just get complicated - it’s that simple, no?
…………………………………………………………………………
Tau Pok @ Clementi Brothers Rojak
Blk 449 Clementi Avenue 3 #01-211

Tau Pok - Crispy & soft bean curd with crunchy vegetable fillings, sinfully covered with back gooey prawn paste & finally dusted with granulated peanuts. Wonderful marriage of textures!
Cost: $0.70 per piece.

Lazily sipping free Coffee at IKEA while watching the world go by. Thanks to the sudden drop in temperature, the Pink Mempat (Cratoxylum formosum) tree is flowering lavishly.

BONUS: I tested the USB-SATA gadget - it works! I’ve already started my data transfer ~~~ HAPPY!

But I have to get the data out first. I did have the USB/IDE (Integrated Drive Electronics) portable harddisk case, unfortunately this ASUS uses newer SATA (Serial Advanced Technology Attachment) drive.

So my hunt for that SATAN really starts weeks ago, but haven’t been successful at finding a 3.5″ portable USB/SATA casing. While there are many 2.5″ portable casing, 3.5″ seems a rare breed. Well, actually I did found one but I’m reluctant to pay $80++ just to transfer my data out. I mean I could just get a 2nd desktop and hook up as 2nd drive.

Choices are plenty, but looking for economical one isn’t that easy. So today, as I was looking for other item (i.e LCD screen protector) - I finally found my SATAN!

USB-SATA/IDE connectors. It supports both SATA & IDE drives. Yes, it didn’t comes with casing, I didn’t really need one anyway. Being without casing means it can be used on 2.5″ & 3.5″ drives.

In fact, it comes with all the necessary cable bundles & power connectors. Real complete solution and thanks to China, it only cost $25! Though I haven’t even started yet, my hopes (of salvaging the data) are pretty high now. Hope to start in next few days *finger crossed*

You can grab it at Chamoxa - Funan #05-10/11. Of course, if you miss it and need it urgently. I would be too glad to “lend” (READ: rent) you for a fee

My tummy growls, so we had to stop to fill up. This seems like a very popular eating place - any foodie with sound basic instinct would have their curiosity aroused. Ordering the food is easy - basically, you will be given a plate of rice, just pick whatever food you want. Someone would come & estimate the cost later. Though I enjoyed the food, getting used to eating environment where everybody are using their right hand to eat isn’t so easy. I’m the only one with fork & spoon!

oh well, no photos of food. Instead, i took photo of a fully “clothed” kampung chicken & chicks. Sure, I see these often in the supermarket, but those are cold naked ones. Hence it gives be great pleasure to be seeing a living & fully “clothed” chicken. Yes, they are indeed hot with their beautiful feathers, any hotter means they would be called panggang ayam (BBQ/Grilled chicken) instead.

Then it was Sunny from Tampoi all the way Singapore custom, giving me ample dosage of Vitamin D along the way. Along BKE (Bukit Timah Highway), the dark face beings to congregate into real nasty forms again. Sure enough, I was being poured cold water by the time I reach AYE (Ayer Rajah Highway).

Fully drenched but not out yet. I took a quick bath & change into something comfortable before going out for my errands again. Funny thing is - it stopped weeping! While it’s certainly helpful to be getting balanced amount of sunshine & moisture naturally, I’m afraid this (hot & cold therapy) STILL doesn’t leaves me with any new insight & inspirations.

Not only they are one of the largest palm in the world, they also produced inflorescence of 6 ~8 m in length, the biggest in the flowering kingdom.

The flowering stalks bear over 2 million tiny creamy perfumed flowers, which turns into golfball-sized fruits that take almost a year to mature. It’s such a pity that I didn’t make a follow-up trip to check their fruits.

And so, eventually, the palm trees dies. But fond memories of these delightfully scented flowers & impressive view of these massive palms remains with me forever.

THE BEGINNING OF THE END FOR SLURP! BLOG
I remembered when I first started my blog in Oct 2005, I didn’t have a slightest idea what I want to blog about. So I just followed what the others are doing.
slurp! @ blogspot

On Sep 2006, I decides to move over to blogsome
slurp! @ blogsome

And now in Mar 2008, I guess I finally my found my new directions in life! I may (or may not?) announce my new blog / identity by end of this month. So do watch out, otherwise you could just drop me an email, and I will inform once it’s ready.

I remember my first masthead was this beautiful sunrise. For this month (Mar08), I have chose a delightful sunset for the closure. How apt, isn’t it?


Cheerio!

So for typically Motorbike day trip, a daytrip backpack, basic first aid kit, sunblock & GPS are my essential. Not shown in photo are the extra T-shirt, water bag, energy snacks). I only need to thrown in extras like insect repellent since i anticipate I may trek a little.

One of the more useful gadget I acquire is this portable GPS. While I may not have use them frequently for short trips & familiar routes, I still find them useful in helping to remember POI (Point of Interests) as well as occasion location verification just to ensure I’m right on track. Previously, I have relied on map & compass. But after my driving trip around North Thailand (Mae Hong Son Loop), I find the compass & map to be difficult to use especially on winding terrains / roads.

So there, just sharing some of my travel experiences … have a good weekend!

Lately, I found that he has a website @ http://www.haikee.com.sg/
I wonder why he would ever need to have that *chuckle*, the long queue is always there daily!

Hence, always sadden me when I see such irresponsible drivers / riders on the road. Just look at the worn-out tires! Besides, this is a huge commercial truck, it would be disastrous in event of mishaps due to tires.

And to add salt to the wound, their spare tires weren’t in good condition as well too. I sincerely hope Johor authorities do something so control this situation.

However, sometimes, you just couldn’t get away to very far. Fortunately, Malaysia Johor is just a bridge away, perfect for quick day trip. Usually I would have plan my route & place to visit, but this time, i decides to forgo with any trip planning. Just hit the road and let my silliness decides where to go next.

So with my trusty 2 wheels, we hit the road. My silliness says go Jusco Tebrau for s start. But as I was approaching, my silliness saw Kota Tinggi and decides to go there instead. Once at Kota Tinggi town, my silly tummy says its hungry. So we had silly sinful arteries choking claypot pig trotters for lunch. It was quite well done & delicious. (Cost: RM7.00)


Sorry, no address, but it’s a small town so should be easy to locate. I wanted to ordered Bah Kut Teh initially, but have sold out for the day.

Then we hit the road again, Kota Tinggi reminds my silliness about the waterfall @ Air Terjun.

But as we are are approaching, my silliness saw this plateau and decides to change destination to Gunung Panti

We nearly got lost in the rubber plantation. Fortunately after asking for some help from locals with my part broken melayu, part english & sign language, we found the entry point to Gunung Panti.

We met some tall ginger-like plants with strange florals (maybe wild costus?)

Strange blue foliage (Saleginella) from fern-like plant

Interesting miniaturized Pitcher plant (Nepenthes) that seems to grow out from the ground


Frightening half crab half spider lookalike creature … fortunately just its empty shell.


And this cute & shy stick insect who also come to greet us!


But we realize it’s getting darker as we trek up, so my silliness decides to go back down for fear of meeting the big foot alone.


However, I will surely be back again, this time without my silliness


On our way back, my silliness spotted Kulai (Route 94). So once again, we on our way through these palm tree highway to Kulai


Once we are at Kulai, we tried to find something unique to fill our tummy. Unfortunately, Hainanese chicken rice seems to be common there, there is even a SINGAPORE duck rice! shesssh … all the way here to eat Singapore duck rice? *faintz*. So we settled for simple food - Chee Cheong Fan (RM1.10)


We also found these simple Luo Han Guo drink to be absolutely divine (especially after extended sun-tanning along the road)


At a mere 50sen per bowl, suddenly I felt I have been transported back to the past. Quickly, I down 2 bowls to drown all my silliness before I head back to Home (Singapore) via North-South highway.

- end -