The Glory Cross

During the night, this cross glows in blue neon lights. It is also visible along the PIE.
I call it the Glory Cross.



Do you go to church?

Bright HDBs and Train Tracks

Just a quick shot this afternoon, after having lunch with colleagues.

A not too long painted HDB block with a train track with the MRT passing by..



Do you take the train to work everyday? Or you take other forms of transport?
I take the bus as it is just a few stops away from home :-)

Parkview Square, it stands out literally

This building looks very different from outside from its neighbours.



One should walk into concourse and take a look at its elaborate art deco.

Have you seen cactus flowering?

This photo is pulled out from my archives. A picture of cactus flowering.



Talking about cactus, are you one of those who plant cactus as indoor plants in your office?

Squirrel running up the tree, a case of fastest finger first

I managed to quickly take out my camera to snap it. It's taken below the block where I stay.
The squirrel was fast, but I was fast enough. haha..



Do you have any small little animals at the garden where you stay?

Commencement Ceremonies: Time of great rejoicing for students

It's the time of the year in Singapore that many students can't wait to receive their graduating scrolls.

Commencement ceremonies at the National University of Singapore will be starting soon. From 3 - 14 July, it will be a time of great smiles to many students and their families.



A visit to the campus grounds, and you can see banners like these all around. It really gives a festive mood to it. During the nights there are also blinking little lights that lights up the majestic big trees along the University Cultural Centre where the ceremonies will be held.

Are Commencement ceremonies in your city as lively? Some places called Commencement ceremonies, Convocations.

Free Shuttle Buses at the University of choice in Singapore.

This is a picture of the Internal Shuttle Bus that fetches students, staff and not forgetting visitors at the National University of Singapore. (The bus is painted in the University's corporate colours)

It is a free service and during term time, it is packed like sardines, especially when students need to get to the other side of campus for lectures. But I guess people do not complain since it is provided free. Long time ago, each trip used to cost 20 cents.



If you want to find out more about NUS, visit their website at www.nus.edu.sg It is THE university to go to in Singapore, and ranks 19th in the world!

Which is the university of choice in your city or country?
Or which is the university of your choice in the world?

Love the Birds, Support Conservation : 1 more week left for the Penguin Festival

Saw this billboard. You get to see two things here, reflection of the expressway, and poster of the Penguin Festival.



One thing everyone should visit is the famous Jurong Birdpark. For our overseas friends, have you visited this birdpark?

For locals, when was the last time you visited the birds? For me, I think the last time was when I was a little boy, over 20 years ago!

This might be a good time to visit, the Penguin Festival is on! Visit www.birdpark.com.sg for more info.

Keropokman introduce Banana-man to you!

The company I work with has this annual Fruits and Vegies day, where we are given fruits to encourage people to eat more fruits and veg.

Each of us got a big delicious Nashi Pear. We also got 2 big Kiwi Fruits too.



No, we did not get bananas, but they had a bazaar where we collected the fruits, all sorts of fruits were also on sale. So let me introduce you to Banana Man! haha..

It's my habit to eat bananas on Wednesdays. Anyone wants to guess why?
What's your favourite fruit?

you need long legs for this cheeky monkey

I saw this around 2 days ago. Hmm. the seat is so high. The owner must be really tall!



Can you ride a bike? Or do you ride a bike to work? One of my colleague sometimes does.

But most of the time he drives instead. haha. He stays in the East and works in the West, so it's a long ride!


btw, is cheeky monkey a bicycle brand? or the guy just stuck cheeky monkey for fun?

Marilyn Monroe and Elvis Presley resurrects at Vivo City

This was taken a few weeks back. I saw Marilyn Monroe and Elvis Presley come alive at one of the shopping centres in Singapore.



Are you a Elvis Presley fan? Or are you totally out of the generation?

Topping up EZLink card right at home...

I just came back from a talk in the National Library. I took the train home and at the exit gate, realised that my fare card is low in funds.

There are many ways to top up the cards, but for me, I do it at home.
This is the equipment that I use to top up my card.

It's called a Felica Reader by Sony.



I think it's the most convenient way to top up and you can gain credit card points too (from your bank).

The public transport in Singapore use a RFID card. Do your country also have something similar?
I know Hong Kong, Bangkok, Malaysia have RFID payment cards too.
Click here to view how a EZLink card in Singapore looks like.

Those in Singapore, how do you always top up your EZLink card? Giro? The GTM Machines at MRT Stations? or Transitlink kiosk at bus stations? Or like me, using your own Felica Reader?

It's a monthly thing. Cleaning it all out.

If you live in a HDB in Singapore, the surroundings are swept and mopped daily.
Once a month, the front of every house, from the top most floor to the void deck is jet sprayed cleaned. You can see the water flowing down along the staircase.



This is the jet spray used to clean up all the dirt.
Do you like doing cleaning in your house? Do you do it yourself, or hire someone to do it for you?

Korean UFO on the table..

It is Father's Day and we went to a Korean Restaurant to celebrate it.
We had Korean BBQ.



Look at the hot plate, does it look as if a Korean UFO has landed on our table? haha..
Do you like Korean BBQ?


Wishing all Father's in the world, a very Happy Father's Day.

Changi Airport - Air Traffic Control Tower

Changi Airport (IATA: SIN, ICAO: WSSS) was where I landed last Tuesday after 6 days in Bangkok. This was taken while the plane touched down on Changi and was taxi-ing on the runway.



Can you see the Air Traffic Control Tower behind? I guess no one shows it this way.
It was raining quite heavily when the plane landed, but it was a smooth landing.

You can read more about Changi Airport at Wikipedia.

When was the last time you went for a holiday and where to?

white classic : the national library | (+ talk by Kevin Lim on youtube & beyond)

This is a side view of the very elegant National Library of Singapore. It consists of 2 16-storey blocks. It's a beautiful white building with fluid clean curves and lots of glass. It is located in the city at 100 Victoria Street, Singapore 188064.

This elegant building is also a very energy efficient building and it has won the Singapore Green Mark Platinum Award.

The National Library Board is having a Read Singapore project. Read about it at: http://readsingapore.nlb.gov.sg

Hey Daily Photo bloggers in other cities, do you have reading projects in your countries?





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While we are talking about this building, let me include a promo for Kevin Lim, who is giving a talk on "Youtube and beyond..." (sounds like Buzz from Toy Story? haha...) in this building!

Here goes:

“Youtube and beyond: What you want to know but never knew who to ask”
A public talk on the present and future of online video sharing by Kevin Lim

When
Tuesday, 19 Jun 2007
7:00PM - 8.30PM (Kevin will be there at 6pm for the early birds!)

Where
Multi-purpose Room, Central Lending Library
(Basement of National Library, Victoria Street)

What
Youtubers, Videobloggers, Video podcasters, or anyone who wants to get started with sharing videos online, this interactive session is perfect for you! Here are 5 reasons why you have to join in:

* Explore the world of free video sharing services -> going beyond Youtube
* Learn tips to producing great video for web -> high quality, small file size
* How to protect yourself by staying legal -> copyright, Creative Commons
* See the future of online videos -> Lifecasting and searching within videos
* Make friends and show your clips with fellow video bloggers!

Plus: If there’s time, learn how to videocast without spending a bomb on web hosting, by integrating Internet Archive with your blog.

Who
Kevin Lim [of theory.isthereason.com] is currently pursuing his PhD in Communication and is teaching in the Educational Technology Center at the University at Buffalo (SUNY). He studies the wide-ranging cultural affordances of technology, focusing particularly on the pedagogical aspects of social media. Being passionate about making and sharing videos, Kevin is currently challenging notions of virtuality through his modular “sousveillance” backpack. In an attempt at enhancing the usefulness of video, this unique backpack allows him to experiment with lifecasting, ambient intimacy, and video as a form of memory prosthetic (also see eyetap and wearcam).

a school gets old and it got turned into a museum

This is the Singapore Art Museum. A wonderful place to visit and admire modern and contemporary art from South East Asia.

This building as you can see from the photo, was a school. It was the old premises for St Joseph's Institution. As this is a mission school, they also have a very pretty and cosy chapel. One of my colleague got married here! It was fabulous.



To know more about SAM, as it is fondly known, visit : http://www.nhb.gov.sg/SAM

Saturday Late Night Movies anyone?

Anyone interested in watching late night movies?

Cathay is one of the newest cinemas around. Some of its theatre has the new High Definiation Digital Screens as well!



Spiderman 3, Oceans 13 and Shrek 3 are both worth to watch movies! Caught both of them recently. What else is there to watch..

hmm.... realise all of them have 3 in the title? This posting is posted on the 13th as well....

Have you caught the above movies?

World's First Oceanarium RFID System @ Underwater World

Thanks to Momo for taking over the last few days. I am back!
It was great holidaying and eating lots of different food the last few days.

----
Now still on holiday mood. So, here's some things I can do to be a local tourist.

The Underwater World in Sentosa Island is quite famous. I saw this poster, and hey, I think it's another of the things I can do when I do a pretend to be a tourist weekends. hehe...



It's time to visit Underwater World again. I think I have not stepped in since I was a kid! 30% off too!

My.Playground

"It's my choice" - that's the theme of the newly opened expansion area of Suntec City Mall, Level 3. It features funky streetwear, latest fashion, lifestyle must haves (wonder what's that?).

Over the past 2 months, some parts of Suntec City Mall went through some expansion as well as renovation to bring in some new shops to attract more people to shop there.



A question to you: What's your choice of lifestyle or what is your lifestyle must have?

Singapore Zoo - 4

Today will be the last post of the Singapore Zoo series. And in this post, will feature the largest land animal that is alive today ie the elephants! Most elephants are from Africa and the most visible difference would be their ears. African elephants have bigger ears. These featured below are from India and they have smaller ears.

Was at an elephant show at the zoo and the elephants performed some tricks that delighted the audience.



In one of the tricks, this elephant was trying to place back the straw hat back on the man.



And finally the elephant got close enough to place the hat on the man's head :)



Finally when all the tricks are done, the elephants were gathered in a row to curtsy to the audience :) And you should have heard the applause from the audience! No wonder the elephants did the bow so well!



Hope you enjoyed this series.

Singapore Zoo - 3

Today we look at white tigers. Thought that white tigers are rather rare, as usually we see the ordinary orange ones. If i am not wrong, was told by a friend before that white tigers is the same as the orange ones, but they have a genetic condition that causes the colouration.



Here's how the whole tiger looks like and its smiling to the camera :)



I find the white tiger more beautiful than the usual oranges ones.

Singapore Zoo - 2

Continuing on another sight from the zoo. Another interesting bird i caught was the peacock (also known as peafowl, for males. Females are known as peahen). There was only the white peacock, not the usual Indian blue species.



And any peafowl has a beautiful plumage (or tail) which is used as part of courtship to the peahen.



Hence, it takes the appearance of the peahen to see the sight above.



And even when the peahen is about to walk away, the peafowl still maintains his beautiful plumage, until the peahen is out of sight! How vain ;)



Its interesting how this courtship goes on between peacocks and i always am amazed by the peafowl to look his best in front of the peahen. Hope you enjoyed this!

Singapoore Zoo - 1

Have you been to the Singapore Zoo? Its one of the "must-go" places when you visit Singapore. Its surrounded by the tranquil waters of the Seletar Reservoir and have a rather dense forest.



One of the interesting birds that the Singapore Zoo has is the flamingo. I caught a couple of flamingos on my trip there recently. Isnt this pair lovey-dovey?



More information here on the flamingos

If you would like more information about the Singapore Zoo, do visit: http://www.zoo.com.sg/

Keropokman's on Holiday...

Later in the day, I will be flying off somewhere for holiday.
It's a country that still does not have a DP yet, or else I will get to visit the DP there!

My friend, MoMo will take over for the next week. She's will guest blogging while I am away.
Let's see what she will be posting! Let's all welcome her!


I got to go pack now, I have not even planned my itenerary, I shall do it in the plane later. haha...

Just look at that! Those are spiderwebs! Beautiful right?

Wondering what are those patches and so many of them on the field...
It's actually spider webs!



A closer zoom in. Each patch has a spider on it.

In the afternoon, the field has no webs at all, but by evening, all the spiders have spun their web. This was taken around 6:45 this evening.



Sorry, the photos are not very clear, I did not take my time, I just snap and rushed off because I was late! haha..

Aliens Froze Them... or izit Pirates of the Caribbeans?

I was just watching the previous series of the Pirates of the Caribbeans shown on TV. After that, I saw this picture, I thought.. oh... they are under the moonlight! haha....

Err, if you did not watch it, you might not get the above. My apologies..


This is the works of Ju Ming, a sculpture titled Living World.
It is right outside the Singapore Arts Musuem.



I think I shall just post this here, so you can read them and I do not need to type more words :-)

Brilliant Rose - Ladies best friend?

Looking at this Brilliant Rose bus stop, do you ever wonder what a Brilliant Rose is?



A Brilliant Rose is a diamond that is cut to have 66 facets. Normal diamond cuttings have the classic 58 cuts. There are many places where you can find information about diamonds on the web. Out of curiosity about Brilliant Rose, I have spend the last 2 hours reading it. OOoo.. information overload.

The photo above is taken at a bus stop which was covered with roses. It is advertising the Brilliant Rose cuts of diamonds by Soo Kee Jewellery. I think they are the only people licensed to sell Brilliant Rose in South East Asia.

More about Brilliant Rose at: http://www.brilliant-rose.com/

Dinner inside the cable car anyone?

This looks like a boring picture of a cable car that brings tourist between Mt Faber to Sentosa Island. But.... do you know that if you are willing to splurge, you can have dinner inside the cable car? That would make it interesting and romantic right?



Of course you cant have a-la-carte cooking. They have 2 set meals to choose from. The $98nett or $168 nett per couple pricing. I have not tried it yet. Maybe if someone sponsors, I might :-)

I took this picture few days ago after having lunch with colleages at Seah Im Food Centre. If you are a busybody, you can peek at what I had here :-)

Will you get giddy with these escalators?

This is taken at Vivo City, one of the newer malls around.

I thought this look interesting. The escalators criss cross each other. It's not the boring organised escalators at most places.



I just remembered, there's a circular escalator too in another mall. Maybe I will take a picture of that another day.

June Theme Day: View from your bedroom

It's 1 June, and it's Theme Day for all the Daily Photo bloggers again. This month's theme is: "View from your bedroom".

This giantic Mickey Mouse shape playground is what I see when I look down.



If you look closely, you will see humans standing far apart, they are doing qi-gong exercise and they have do so everyday at exactly the same time, blasting out exactly the same music over the years! (yes, over the years!). They act as my alarm clock actually!


If you would like to see other Daily Photo bloggers and their view from their bedroom, click on the following. These cities are participating in the Theme Day too.

Seattle (WA), USA - Manila, Philippines - Albuquerque (NM), USA - Singapore, Singapore - Toruń, Poland - Baton Rouge (LA), USA - Seoul, Korea - Saint Paul (MN), USA - Vantaa, Finland - Madison (WI), USA - Saarbrücken, Germany - Cleveland (OH), USA - Chicago (IL), USA - Cottage Grove (MN), USA - Omaha (NE), USA - Bellefonte (PA), USA - Melbourne, Australia - Stockholm, Sweden - Grenoble, France - Lubbock (TX), USA - Boston (MA), USA - Arradon, France - Hyde, UK - Joplin (MO), USA - Kyoto, Japan - Tokyo, Japan - Kansas City (MO), USA - Naples (FL), USA - Tuzla, Bosnia and Herzegovina - Manila, Philippines - Sydney, Australia - Stavanger, Norway - Bucaramanga (Santander), Colombia - London, UK - Chandler (AZ), USA - Nelson, New Zealand - Singapore, Singapore - Hamburg, Germany - Sydney, Australia - Tenerife, Spain - Moscow, Russia - Lyon, France - Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - Villigen, Switzerland - Anderson (SC), USA - Oslo, Norway - Evry, France - Hayle, UK - Mumbai, India - Kitakami, Japan - Wassenaar (ZH), Netherlands - Menton, France - Monte Carlo, Monaco - Los Angeles (CA), USA - Cypress (TX), USA - La Antigua, Guatemala - Paderborn, Germany - San Diego (CA), USA - Ampang (Selangor), Malaysia - Madrid, Spain - Lyon, France - Selma (AL), USA - Shanghai, China - Baziège, France - Cologne (NRW), Germany - North Bay (ON), Canada - Rotterdam, Netherlands - Stayton (OR), USA - Sharon (CT), USA - Austin (TX), USA - Hong Kong, China - Trier, Germany - Joensuu, Finland - Paris, France - Greenville (SC), USA - Wailea (HI), USA - Budapest, Hungary - Cork, Ireland - Bastia, France - Vancouver, Canada - Brookville (OH), USA - Jakarta, Indonesia - Mainz, Germany - Minneapolis (MN), USA - Zurich, Switzerland