Houses that Dress Up

Following the 'paganistic' holiday in the US, some Singapore houses also decorate their house too.



Have you wondered how the name Halloween came about? According to Wikipedia:
The term Halloween, originally spelled Hallowe’en, is shortened from All Hallows' Even – e'en is a shortening of even, which is a shortening of evening. It is now known as "Eve of" All Saints' Day, which is November 1st.

Are You Being Served?

If you have been surfing websites in Singapore, you would probably have noticed advertisements for "Are You Being Served?" by the GEMS (Go The Extra Mile for Service) folks.
Have you visited their site and see how some others have completed their 'mission'?

I have been asked to come up with a mission and try it out. Two weeks ago, a colleague had a phone call from a bank that she had earlier applied a credit card. The bank officer asked her for her payslip for the 2nd time. It seems they have misplaced it and needed her to send in again. They said they will send a courier over again to pick it up. But if you know couriers, they always tell you they will be there between 2-5 pm. You can't expect people to sit around and wait when you have so many meetings to attend. So she told them she does not want the card anymore. It was a long conversation with the bank apologizing etc, but my colleague had enough. She does not want a card from an incompetent bank.

So my mission is based on her experience. I am applying a card from a different bank from the one my colleague applied from. The bank that I am going to apply a card promises a card within the same day on their website. Let's see if they can do it. Will I have to wait a week for it to be processed?




How many credit cards do you carry in your wallet? It seems that most people apply credit cards in Singapore for the benefits that comes with it. Like the rebates you get or the discounts at restaurants or shops. My brother in law in the UK says credit cards do not have such perks there. (Is it true if you are in UK?) I know credit cards in Malaysia, Indonesia, HK enjoy such perks too, thus people in these countries probably carry multiple cards in their wallet!

Biker with Cam Helmet

Every now and then you see interesting things on the roads. Probably because Singapore now has more and more people living here coming from all over the world.

I saw this while I was in the taxi, so it is not a clear shot and both the cyclist and I are moving. ;-)



I wonder if anyone knows this guy and if we are able to view his videos online somewhere? It would be interesting isn't it?

Singapore's 1st Eco Mall

I happened to be at Kitchener Road (near Little India) yesterday and saw that there's yet another new mall! They never stop sprouting out in Singapore.

What caught my eye is the banner.



It says it is Singapore's first eco-mall.



I actually went to the Information Counter and ask why they call themselves an eco-mall. The lady said:
1) the toilet (urinals) use no water.
2) lots of natural sunlight that lights up the mall and
3) the food court exhaust uses some UV thingy. (not sure what it means)

But while walking around I see that they shops sells more eco friendly products. Eg, the electrical shop that has a banner that says it has the largest collection of eco-friendly electrical products you can find. How interesting!


Oh, mum and two of my aunts were with me, if you are a lady and like shopping, Metro in this mall is having a fabulous sale! The ladies bought lots of clothes!

Off to school...

Happens all around Singapore. Buses all waiting, the pre-school kids are preparing for an excursion. I wonder where they are going....



When was your last excursion or rather holiday?

Durian Lingers

This is a place I would not step into, unless I am feeling like 'turning to the dark side'. haha...



After taking this photo, I went back and did an online search. Guess what? It's an air-condiotioned durian cafe! You know what that means? The smell will linger! No wonder they are called Durian Lingers!

Sorry Durian fans. hehe..

$1 / litre Petrol at Shell Stations (and it's causing massive traffic jams!)

If you are in Singapore you would have received forwarded SMS from friends about the $1/litre petrol offer from Shell starting from 10 am to 6 pm today. Cyberians would have found out about it via Tweeter or Facebook too! ;-)

This was just taken a while ago, two more hours to go before the end of the sale and the queue's still very very long! Look they even station a fuel tanker on standby at the Station! Petrol must be running out fast!

There was two traffic marshals as well, making sure cars get in orderly. Cars are surprisingly obeying rules today. They only get into the station when the Marshall blows on the whistle!



Guess what? If you go further away from the Shell Station, you would have noticed the long queue! (Think this is happening around the island) This was the scene at Jalan Jurong Kechil. The Shell Station is I think about 200 metres away from this first car you can see on this photo. I wonder how long the queue is to!



There are many unhappy people though. Unhappy people are honking at Queue jumpers! I can hear horns blaring every now and then. Sigh. I think it's only worth the wait if you have more than half your petrol tank empty.

The bus who thinks it is a cow

Recently in Singapore, there's a new species of cows!
Cows made of metals and they like to be bright, colourful and pretty.



Notice the horns on the front of the bus and the tail on the back? LOL...
The honk of the bus does not produce a "mooo" sound though. Maybe the next generation of it.

I installed Windows 7

Today's 22 October. The day Windows 7 is released.
There was a queue forming at a local store last night to be the first person to own a copy of Windows 7!



But if you are a computing student at (the best and name starts with National) local university, you would have been able to download from Microsoft itself legal copies of Windows 7 way before that. It's for students to test and play around with it.

That's me installing it on an old old notebook! Look at the storage space! LOL..
Surprise, surprise, it works and it works well!



For this blog sake, a capture of the Country or Region during the installation. :-)

Are you a windows or a mac person?
I use Windows and Unix person at work, and a Mac person at home. Do I sometimes get so confused!

Where's the shade? On the road!

I feel warm by just looking at this photo. The sun's shining so brightly and I think the temperature must be around 32 Celcius.



Do you notice something? Where's the shade? It's on the road where the cars are! The pedestrian way is totally unshaded! Wrong time to walk on this side of the road.

Are you a sun lover? Do you avoid the sun or do you embrace the rays? ;-)

Posers at ION

No, I don't know them. But I took a photo of them.
There was a lady taking photo of her friends.



It seems everyone likes taking photos with them. :-)


By the way, are you a shopaholic? :-)

the red man reading papers at ION Orchard

No idea what's the name of this sculpture. I should have looked.




But do you have the habit of reading physical newspapers? Or are you one of those who like to read e-papers?

Happy Deepavali

Wishing all my Hindu friends and readers a very Happy Deepavali!



This is Rangoli a very popular artwork that's drawn especially during Deepavali / Diwali.

East Coast Parkway Emergency Landing Runway

Was on the way with Momo to send off sis to the Airport. This is the East Coast Parkway (ECP as it's more commonly known).

It's common knowledge that this expressway is the most well maintained so that tourist who arrive from Changi Airport gets to see the most beautiful tree lines expressway. I think it's quite beautiful.



It's also common knowledge that this stretch of the expressway is also designed to be an emergency landing runway if needed. But thankfully it has never been used. The potted plants in the middle can be removed.

Will be missing sis.

Soaring Helix

If you work at the Suntec / Millenia are in Singapore, you might have noticed this. It must have been there for the longest time!

This is Soaring Helix by Philip Johnson.



It doesn't look very interesting unless you are a mathematician! Why? There's this group of Mathematics students in Singapore who are have an interesting page about Mathematics in Architecture!

They calculated that the angle rotation of each square is 3.6 degrees. Read what they say about it here.

NETS Flashpay

NETS Flashpay, another provider of the CEPAS payment card. Oh, I was hoping it comes with a chip. But it doesn't. You still need to get another card if you want to use it as a Chip Cashcard.

Anyway, I bought it. Why? Because they are giving $7 credit if you purchase from the iNets Kiosk. That would be a few free trips for me. :-P



Hmm which card is better? I guess it is about the same. But my cousin who saw it said, hey, it's so cute. I want one! LOL

the macdonald house at Orchard Road, Singapore's first air-con building.

I take photos as a reminder to myself to do something. I took this photo earlier today on my way home so that I can read more about this building.

From Wikipedia I read that this building has a very interesting history. It has been around since 1949, before Singapore became independent.

Built in 1949, it was one of the tallest building on Orchard Road. It also happens to be one of the first building in Malaya to be air-conditioned! (Singapore was part of Malaya in 1949)



You can read more about it at this page at Wikipedia.

view of sunset from the Singapore Flyer...

Admiring the sunset from the Singapore Flyer. It's amazing how fast the sun descends down the horizon.




Oh, if you are wondering...that's the reflection of the glass of the cabin.

turkish ice cream man @ clarke quay

One of Clarke Quay's so called "little entertainment attraction" is the Turkish Ice Cream man's fiddling with the ice cream that he sells. It's like a mini acrobat display!



He's quite popular and so are his ice creams. :-)

Arriving at Clarke Quay by boat

When you ask most people in Singapore how to get to Clarke Quay, they would say take the Mass Rapit Transit (MRT). That would be the easiest way because there's a station at Clarke Quay!

But the other day I arrived at Clarke Quay the way the Coolies did in the colonial era. I arrived by alighting from a boat on the river!



It kinda reminded me of Bangkok and Sydney though. Hmm... I felt like a tourist!

This car park accepts NETS CashCard only

We have been noticing that messages like this are appearing. "This car park accepts NETS CashCard only."



It's so 'entertaining' (ya, I must be bored to think it's entertaining) to read how people can argue and criticize the new CEPAS cards. Mostly about have a 'convenience fee' for Giro top-ups.

You just need to go to the Channelnewsasia.com or Straitstimes.com forums to entertain yourself.

200km per hour swing upwards for you?

I was in this touristy boat ride on the Singapore River the other night. That might be the first time I am took a photo of the reverse bungee jump at night, and while on the river.



After so many years, I still dare not risk myself being catapult upwards at 200km per hour. Would you try it?

Few weeks ago, found out that one of friends did! He said life is short and he wants to try everything. (but not for me... )

One of the streets in Chinatown

Since I was at Chinatown, I could not resist posting another photo of it.

Do you realise something? Most Chinatowns in the world have red lanterns and cloths as deco.

Is it true where you are? haha...



(psst... did they repaint that 'ugly' building behind again?)

Big Recycled Lantern in Chinatown

Walking around Chinatown, I noticed so many people taking a photo of this not very beautiful lantern. haha..

I realise that it is another 'biggest' entry to the Singapore book of records. It sure was huge! I tried to be more positive this time and though:
- it's all recycled
- those who participated in it got to know more friends while building it




The next photo is not very clear. But it's all made of recycled bottles and CDs.



Talking about plastic bottles, we got an email just the other day from our (workplace) President's Office saying that for meetings, plastic bottles of water are banned. Everyone's to bring their own cups and get water from water coolers that has been installed everywhere. Now, that's even more 'green'. :-)

Singapore Book of Records Moon Cake Making Challenge

I was walking past The Cental earlier today and saw so many chefs! What's going on?
It seems that chefs from many restaurants in Singapore have gathered to set a record for the Singapore Book of Records, a record for making Moon Cakes.



I was too tired to stay and watch what they were going to do.

Hmm.. look at one of the chef pointing at me. Was he going to make me into meat balls for taking a photo of him? *knees knocking each other*


Wishing all a very Happy Mid-Autumn Festival.
Enjoy watching the moon, eating moon cakes and sipping tea tonight!

Singtel Satellite Receiver @ BKE

When you drive into Singapore from Malaysia, you most probably will see these few satellite receivers.

Though this might not be the equipment that receives satellite TV channels, but it reminded me of it though. Singtel has won the rights to EPL, EPSN Star Sports from August next year. There's one camp of people who are happy (MioTV users) and another that is fuming mad (Starhub TV users). It does not bother me. I don't subscribe to EPL and ESPN. LOL.



I remembered a friend who used to work at Astro in KL telling me that birds would not come near these satellite dishes. Somehow the birds can sense the frequency and just avoid flying near areas with satellites. Hmm.. Any experts out there can confirm it?

City Daily Photo Theme Day - Oct 2009 - Contrast

It's the first day of another month again! How time flies. As usual, the 1st of the month is the City Daily Photo Theme Day. The theme this month is "Contrast".

See what projector lights with 3000 lux of brightness can do. This was the F1 Singapore Grand Prix last weekend. With these powerful lights, night was turn to day! Look at the 'roads' or 'tracks' that was transformed.

I should have taken another photo when it was darker to show even more contrast ;-)




Want to know how other City Daily Photo bloggers are interpreting the theme?
Click here to view thumbnails for all participants of October's Theme Day.