School Holidays

There’s a pleasant feeling about the school as the exams approach. At project submission time, students dash about to get their drawings printed. As they file in to submit, there’s a sense of anticipation, to be surprised by good works some times, or to be disappointed more often than not. The staff will then lament that this cohort is not as satisfactory as their predecessors, and wonder how we can change that.

Outside, the trees will be shedding their leaves, as odd as that may be in our mono-season climate. The brown and yellow leaves collect in patches over the shaded green lawns. There will be the holidays to look forward to as soon as the projects are graded. Some parents will be called up to talk about their children’s under-performance, but this will be for the extreme cases. By and large, the campus will be deserted. The books in the library will be fully replenished and the DVD collections will be complete again. Some canteens will remain open, but there will be no queues to suffer from. The toilets will be clean and vacant again; there will be no peak periods. Tea breaks among the staff who are not on holiday will be resumed, and even lengthened as the holiday progresses. There will be time to catch up with emails, and to plan for new lectures. Some serious reading will be done while sipping hot coffee from the vending machine downstairs, which will not be flashing its “sold out” sign for a time. We will look less haggard and harassed, and some will talk about the morning news they had actually read in full from the morning papers.

Walking on the hilly campus, you may walk along the same corridors the umpteenth time, but you will now be struck by how one minute, you’re on the second storey, next the first, then the third, without having climbed any stairs. The terrain changes itself for you. It’s one of the nicest thing about an old campus, built when Singapore hasn’t learned how to flatten all its topography yet.

In mid-Sept, I’ll be taking 2 weeks off to read and write at home. It’ll all end when school reopens in late-Sept of course, but for now, I have to pinch myself occasionally to be reminded that- no kidding- they’re actually paying me to do this.

Chup

Mosque in Jurong by Forum Architects

This is my review of a building by Forum Architects that will be published in Oct issue of an architectural periodical...

Holistic Integration

"The upgrading of a built facility in Singapore, like much else in the city-state, can be largely a matter of rational deductions. It can give rise to a sense of inevitability about it if it is well done, as a solution is mapped out from the careful negotiation of site and size. What is needed is always tempered with what you can have. The architect is then faced with the same challenge as mathematical as that of the far-sighted economist; minimise wastage, maximise resources. Whether or not the upgraded whole can be something more than mundane utility, however, to become something that aspires to, say poetry, is another proposition altogether that will depend on the depth of design thinking behind it and how it addresses issues of a larger context.

A new extension to a neighbourhood mosque by Forum Architects is a case in point. Built in 1987, before the town of Jurong grew into its current ‘regional’ status, the original prayer hall of the mosque was a modest pentagonal space covered by a pointed decagonal concrete folded plate roof. Shorn of historicism, the Al-Mukminin Mosque in Jurong is a small-scale copy of the National Mosque in Kuala Lumpur, which was built in 1957-65. The latter was then an innovative design that relied on abstract geometry and a restrained scale to showcase the progressive stance of a new country. The folded plate roof, so obvious and simple a solution to us today, was quite unprecedented in 1957. Writing on the roof of the National Mosque in “The Mosque and the Modern World”, Hasan-Uddin Khan thought it was meant “to create a monumental version of the pitched roofs of the Malay longhouses, but even more, to echo the shape of the parasol—the traditional emblem of Malay royalty.” Whatever its leitmotif, it is the roof of the prayer hall that was detached above and that defined the profile of the National Mosque, which, like its replica in Jurong, included other communitarian functions like conference areas and other social spaces. These subsidiary spaces are kept low so that they do not compete with the ‘parasol’ emblem. Indeed, the detached roofs in both the National Mosque and the original, pre-extended Al-Mukminin mosque are such a significant form that neither was ringed with gutters or rainwater down pipes. Rain water would have discharged onto a lower flat roof, or else free-flowed to the ground or water bodies below.

Such then was the finite form the Al-Mukminin Mosque in its original state, when it was half-served with a crescent-shaped annex. But over the years, keeping its ancillary spaces below the eave line of the prayer hall became untenable as its needs grew. The mosque in the context of Singapore is also a sort of community centre, and houses a madrasah, conference halls, social spaces and offices in addition to the main prayer hall. Spaces are used throughout the day by children during school hours and adults in the evenings. It was obvious that additional spaces had to be created in the place of the low annex, on the only available strip of land sandwiched between the prayer hall, which will be retained for budgetary reasons, and the boundary that fronts the elevated MRT lines. It was equally obvious that the extension would maximise to the limit what the planning authorities can allow for religious buildings, which is 4 storeys above ground and basement for parking and other uses as needed. The broad task for the architects is therefore well-defined from the start, with the added constrain that the existing prayer hall will continue to be used even as the extension block is being constructed. The subservient relation between the former annex wing to the prayer hall will be changed. The real question, if the architects are sensitive to such things, was what role the new block will play to the existing hall, or of how the new “height” will relate to old “spread”.

That the architects involved do grapple with questions of context and harmony is gathered from the aspiration once articulated by Tan Kok Hiang, their lead designer and founding partner of the firm: “If people feel a sense of elevation into the realm of the uncommon or even the extraordinary, if they pause for a while to discard their old habits and reactions, if they feel a sense of harmony between what’s already there and what has been placed there, if they experience, even for a brief moment, total concentration, if they feel an absence of an architect at work, but more of unseen forces at play, that is my wish. That is all that matters.”

The care that this translates to in practice is best seen in how the new block is conceived and articulated. Its most important context is of course the existing prayer hall, and the choice here is between enhancing its independence and reverentially engulfing it. The architects chose the latter route, choosing to flare open the ends of the corridors of the new block and stretching its new staircases to enwrap the old hall. There is an intuitive feel here for what proportion of solidity the new block will occupy and what degree of verticality it ought to play up to counteract against the low sweep of the prayer hall. Hence, the staircases that flank the opposite ends of the new block are expressed as sturdy towers, and portals of the new wing. The widened ends of the corridors are also used as external spaces of the classrooms.

Between the 2 staircases, the curving corridors are mounted with a sweeping screen of aluminium louvres. Practically, they screen off the afternoon sun and modulate the play of light within the corridors, but seen from the other sides, they are also a multi-coloured backdrop of monumental surface treatment that evokes the decorative traditions of Islamic art. The repetitive and intricately composed shades of turquoise, yellow and blue are based on the dominant colours of ceramic tile design, and they help to convey a sense of depth and animation to what is essentially a flat surface. This striking backdrop is also visible through the skylight gap between the old and new block. And it is at this junction, the precise and complex meeting point between new and old, where the geometries of a jagged roof is delicately reconciled with the arc of a curving plane, that the architects’ respect for antecedent is best perceived. (Technically, the V-shaped steel brackets that support the skylight are entirely cantilevered from the beams of the new block. They merely touch the concrete roof on the other side.)

The new block is not just a taller entity; it is also situated at the defining junction of the site, the corner where all who approaches the building will be acquainted with first. It is its new face. Hence there is a “head” to the block, where the minaret and the offices are placed, and there is a “rear” at the other end, where the toilets are placed. A concern for overall massing can also be seen in how the heights of the new minaret, new block and old hall are successively lower the further they are from the road junction.

Each of its façade is treated in a different manner from the other, as they respond to different parameters. The “head” section is a semi-cylindrical form. The long façade that fronts the MRT line is practically blank because of a fire requirement that only permits 5% of windows on its face. This then became an opportunity for further forays of pattern making, and the choice here is one that adopted a more monochromatic palette to set it off against its colourful counterpart. The dominant motif here is a diagonal splay that plays upon the dynamism of the passing trains. Over at the end that houses all the toilets, the dominant lines are the verticals, with a playful staggering of fixed windows to weave it back to the other sides. Undoubtedly, what can be seen as an undue preoccupation with surface composition here is in accord with how wall treatment has historically been the framework for Islam’s greatest arts.

For better of worse, the final form of the mosque is always a representation of the Muslim community that commissions it, the physical focal of their faith. That the Islamic Council of Singapore has chosen to an architecture that exudes function, modernity and contemporary relevance to define one of its satellite mosques is an indication of the spirit of tolerance and outreach it believes in. There is no waste here, and like Singapore, there are no areas that have been unaccounted for. But in its detached yet integrated redevelopment, it also resolves and fulfils the brief in more ways than ordinary to show what the users can aspire to. It is a community’s vote of confidence in a holistic future."
Chup

Deadwood

Finished watching the entire first season of HBO’s “Deadwood” during the May holidays, but only have time to write about it now. It’s a gritty, realistic western based on the gold-prospecting town of Deadwood in the 1870s. I’d thought it was a fictional town, entirely fabricated in the minds of the awesome scriptwriters until the episode where Wild Bill Hickok was shot and killed. I scrambled on the net and read all I could on the subject. Not only was the town real, some of the other characters were based on real-life counterparts too, albeit fictionalized for effect.

The town itself is dirty, dusty and muddy in a raw savage state. The overlord of the town is a brothel and bar owner, Al Swearengen. Even the name sounds foul, but there was actually someone like that in history. Played by Ian McShane, the character shimmers with menace. The language is consistently foul, but grammatically typical of the period. The writer said it’s a dog-eat-dog world in a mining camp, and swearing was a means of chest-thumping needed to protect your turf. Women were a rarity, and limited to prostitutes and the coarse frontier-woman, exemplified by Calamity Jane.

But the show’s greatest star is the town itself- its lawless beginnings, its mixed of noble and shady characters, its vulnerability to plagues and cut-throat violence. It was easy for me to imagine this transplanted and in my mind, I imagined this was exactly what Kuala Lumpur was like in the 1860s. Half a world away, a town was started at about the same time on the basis of tin mining. It was actually begun in a plague. In 1857, 87 Chinese were sent upriver by a Malay Sultan to check for tin. Of these, 61 died of Malaria contracted from this expedition. And later, when the town was more established (they found the tin that would compete with Perak), the town was lorded over by a Chinese owner of brothels and gambling dens, a Hakka named Yap Ah Loy. The streets must have been as muddy as Deadwood too, since the town is named after mud. (Kuala Lumpur stands for “muddy confluence.”) Yap Ah Loy was made Kapitan Cina in 1868, KL’s third, when he was only 31. In younger days, he had been a street fighter from the state of Malacca. In 1871, 79% of the population of KL was Chinese, and the exact sex ratio was 72,000 males to 14,000 females. So in a lawless town, the most influential and respected figure was a tough fighter who provided girls, games and liquor. So it seemed in Deadwood, so it seemed in Kuala Lumpur.

Chup

Forum on Details

Over 400 persons came for the Forum held last Saturday. It was well-received and the feedback was overwhelmingly positive. The trouble was that it was a bit too ambitious, in that it overran the time by about 1.5 hours! I had intended it to be a "Forum", so that the speakers would each give a half hour appetiser, which would lead to a spirited discussion later. Unfortunately, the content of each speaker's talk required more than the time allocated. Most of the talks ended up being an hour long. The sad result? No "Forum". The good thing? A series of very satisfying lectures. (Each speaker would have merited a talk on its own.) And it has set a good precedent for us to build upon.

Chup

Home-cooked Curry Noodle

This is my first attempt in cooking curry. Aunt Rose had left behind all the necessary ingredients. All I needed to do was to get some chicken, potatoes and coconut milk. For my virgin attempt I thought it was not bad at all. Not as hard as I thought it would be. Except for perhaps putting a tat too much of 'orange leaves', I think my curry was quite yummy :) Then again, Chup would be in a better position to comment.

...the one who is experiencing itchy tongue. Anyone knows the cause of this?

I have been robbed twice!

Incident One
It happened when I received the bill for my income tax earlier this month. The amount due from me was more than my my whole month's salary??!?!?!! So I quickly called the relevant Authority knowing that I would be imposed with a penalty of 5% on any unpaid tax and additional penalty of 1% up to max of 12% on any unpaid tax for each month that the tax remains unpaid. I was certainly eager to settle the payment but unable to because of its inaccuracy. To my disappointment, they do not handle queries by phone. They asked me to fax in my relevant documents with a letter explaining my query.

2 days later, nobody called. That is despite putting an "URGENT" Font Tahoma Size 26 on my cover page. A friend suggested I should refax and state "2nd reminder" under the word "URGENT". And I did. And still nobody called.

As anxious as I already was, I called the said Authority again. They said they won't be able to check and I should just wait as the process would usually take 3 weeks.

So done. I don't even know if they have received my fax. Shouldn't they at least acknowledge receipt and inform me that my request is being processed?? Now, if I should ever get fined for being late in payment, all of you shall be my witness!

Incident Two.
Remember Dotty Cafe? I visited them again on 22 Aug 06 with my brother, Kiem. He was craving for chili crab and the cafe's chili crab was supposedly a MUST-TRY. Also, I have been wanting to return there to eat the delicious grilled parrot fish (See previous entry for picture) So there we were... Hungry and excited.

We were careful not to be conned with the S$5/glass watermelon juice this time. We ordered a bottle of mineral water for S$2. It's confirmed. They don't provide drinks menu. Instead they will introduce verbally what they have. Lime juice, watermelon juice, beer... Unsuspecting diners would merrily order and be shocked later when the bill arrives. Having prior bad experience, we had successfully avoided this booby trap.

Since it was just 2 of us, we ordered only 2 dishes. A medium size chili crab and BBQ sting ray. And not forgetting a plate of mantou to deep into the chili crab gravy. The parrot fish was not available that night.

Crab was quite delicious I must say. Except for a few red ants that kept coming near my plate to share the gravy, I must say the crab was fresh and mouth-watering. Sting ray tasted entirely like a piece of rubber. Major disappointment. We suspect it was probably because business had been quiet and the ray had hence been kept frozen for quite a while. Totally unfresh, dry and overcooked.

However, the crab certainly made up for it.

We asked for the bill. In the mean time, we played 'guess the bill'. Kiem guessed S$60. I said can't be so expensive. Around S$45 I guessed. Winner will get S$5 rebate we agreed. And the bill came. It was dark so we had quite a difficulty figuring out how much it was. When we finally digested the bill, we almost flipped and died on the spot. That simple dinner, and mind you it was without watermelon juices, was S$95++!!!!

Here's the breakdown:
1. ONE gold-plated diamond-laced and probably almost extinct Crab $65
2. BBQ Rubber $12
3. Mantou $4
4. Mineral Water $2
5. Ikan Bilis starter, napkin, GST, service charge $12++

The bloody crab was S$50/kg??? Totally unheard off.

When we made our payment, I commented:
"Wah Aunty, your crab is very expensive you know. I know average ranges from $25-$33 but I have never heard of $50/kg"

She just looked at me and said nothing.

We settled the bill and swore never to eat there for a long long time...
And I would have to downgrade their rating to ***

...the one who couldn't keep the golden crab in my system for longer than an hour!

Musicals

Like musicals? I’ve loved them since my secondary school days. In those days, the early-80s, there was no video disc and the video tape (remember those?) was only 1 or 2 years old in Malaysia, afforded by only the richer families. "Grease" had come out in 1978, and introduced me to the genre. But we had an annual drama competition in school, and some seniors had put up “My Fair Lady” when I was in Sec 4. I think that was when I got really hooked and when I was in Lower 6 (JC1), we had girls in the classroom with us for the first time, and it was time for us to have some fun. The arts class was mounting “The King and I” for the Drama Competition. We were the science class, and we put up “Hello Dolly!” in the last minute as the rival. We got the whole class to study the video, then we condensed it and performed it to the hilt. It was our coming out party. We were the seniors now, and the school looked up to us to set the standard. We were a bloody science class for heaven’s sake, and we outdid the arts class, winning in all the major categories. We were on a high, and it was a hell of a way to end the high school years.

Since then, I’ve sampled every musical I could, and even moved on to operas when I could afford to buy the CDs and watch the concerts on my own. My Japanese friend once asked me why I like music if I have no education in it. I said you don’t have to know how to do something in order to like it. He liked jazz, so I asked him whether he played any jazz instrument. He said yes, he played the saxophone. Well, he liked soccer too, so I asked if he played soccer. He said yes, he plays the striker and his record was 5 goals scored in one match. So he had me there for a while. Still, I insisted we can enjoy something even if we can’t do that thing ourselves. I should’ve asked him if he enjoyed the movies, because I knew he didn’t make them. But it’s always my regret that I never bothered to learn music. It would’ve made life richer I’m sure. All those silly years spent on physics, chemistry, biology and mathematics, how much more fulfilling if they had gone into the piano instead.

Till today, I still read up on and listen to music, looking at a fantastic world from the outside. The musical theatre continues to fascinate, and last month, I caught Mozart’s “The Marriage of Figaro” and Toy Factory’s “Cabaret” in the same week, which was a bit bizarre, because they span the very polar opposites of the spectrum. In between that would be the heavy Verdi and Wagner stuff, and then the genius of Puccini, and lighter operetta fare of Lehar and Gilbert/Sullivan, and down to Rodgers/Hammerstein. It's not that operas have died. It's just that operas performed around the world today are invariably the 19 cent operas, except for "Porgy and Bess", I suppose. And the best composers working today are found in the service of the movies, the premier art form today. Or else, they are working on the musicals. Perhaps the best decade for the modern musical is the 1950s, with the legendary quartet of “The King and I” (1951), “My Fair Lady” (1956), “West Side Story” (1957) and “The Sound of Music” (1959).

Can one compile a list of “greatest” musicals and not be controversial? Perhaps I should just say; here are my top 4 all-time favorite musicals. It’s partly subject matter, partly sentimental reason, but mostly because of the musical coherence and unity of each piece, and glorious music that suits the character and plot (and that rules out “Beauty and the Beast” and “The Lion King”). So here they are, in no order of preference: “Hello Dolly!” (for its recreation of America in an age of innocence, and also because I once adapted, directed and played in it), “Sunset Boulevard” (Glenn Close was sick the night I was in the audience and was replaced with a capable understudy), “West Side Story” and “Miss Saigon”. But in merit, the greatest of these; because it welds together a complex range of music from vaudeville to bebop to latino to operatic ensemble, and because it is the child of Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim; is "West Side Story". Long live, the most popular form of live entertainment.

Chup

Dian Xiao Er
Rating: ***1/2
Add: Marina Square #02-203/204
Tel: 6337 1928

The waiting area outside the restaurant would be especially packed during weekends.

The restaurant specializes in herbal roasted duck. Simply melts in your mouth!

The set meals can be quite value-for-money. The set for 2 is actually large enough to feed 3.

...the one who is feeling really hungry now. I am craving for ice cream!!!

My Super Ex-Girlfriend
Rating: **1/2
Cast: Uma Thurman, Luke Wilson, Anna Faris
Genre: Comedy

Watched on 14 Aug 06 with Chup

In my opinion, you would have watched everything by just watching the trailer. A colleague loved the scene with the shark which I thought very silly.

... the one who is going for durian feast tomorrow. They are in season again! Yoo hoo!!!

QQ Noodle House
Rating: ****
Add: Parkmall Basement 1 (across Watson)
Price: below S$5/pax

The magic is in the texture of the noodle. Apparently this is traditional noodle from Sabah. The taste and aroma reminds me of my favourite noodle back home in Medan.









Order Item 1 on the menu. It's a MUST EAT!


Besides noodle, the restaurant also serves nasi lemak and claypot curry, all of which I never had the chance to try because my trip will seem wasted if I don't eat their best-selling-noodle.







the place can get quite packed during lunch hours. My advice would be go early or extremely late.


...the one whose country will be celebrating its Independence Day tomorrow

Ghim Moh Food Centre
Rating:****1/2
Add: 5 minutes walk from Buona Vista MRT
Price: S$4/pax

This is my hangout almost every weekend! It's like a one-stop-hawker-centre that you can find all of Singapore's most loved cuisines.

Here, I would like to share with you several stalls that will have perpetual queue. Whatever day, whatever time... Another characteristic most of these stalls have in common: hostile service! But if their food is good, let's don't let such trivia spoil our mood :)














Left: Heaven's Indian Cuisine. Chup orders from this stall ALL the time. I love their plain apum
Right: Hakka Yong Tao Fu. Always crowded but I thought the food is just so... so...








Roasted meat stall








Fried Kway Teow










Dessert








Hainanese Chicken Rice








Chwee Kuey (cheapest food known to me)




Fried Carrot cake (My personal favourite)
I usually award myself with this after blading 10km by the canal near the Food Centre



...the one who received many unfriendly stares while taking these photographs. So you better go try!

Hoodwinked
Rating: *1/2

Watched on 1 Aug 06 with Chup at Tiong Bahru Plaza

The animation depicts different scenarios of what actually happened to the Red Riding Hood.

We watched this movie because it was the only movie that we can watch using our S$2 off coupons.

I would say, skip this!

Hard Candy
Rating: ****1/2
Cast: Patrick Wilson, Sandra Oh, Ellen Page
Genre: Drama Thriller

Watched on 4 Aug 06 with Chup, Li and Bur at Plaza Sing.

Lily was literally squirming at her seat. Most of the show is just conversation but it definitely kept us very tense and worried.

From Chup: So, was the guy castrated or not? I thought he was. The 3 girls thought he wasn't. No reviews would state categorically one way or the other, because that would be a spoiler. But it still doesn't detract from how effective the movie was. Like "Before Sunset", it's just 2 persons talking the whole time. But you're rarely bored.

Homesick

Caught the last show of “Homesick” at 8pm, 6 Aug 2006 at the Drama Centre, National Library with Nan and Lini. It is an angst-ridden rant, but Lini enjoyed it and the topics seem to have resonated with Nan, who became even more cynical after the show. There was also a responsive crowd sitting around us, and many of them are youngsters. The play is about a family whose members are diverse and convenient mouth-pieces for the playwright. They are less characters than caricatures, and at times it is like watching an inter-school debate, and about as engaging. There are witty lines, close-to-the-heart issues, burning questions, and polemical clashes, all without the restrain of an adjudicator. An anglophile who renounces all trace of his roots. A teenager who changes his mind over National Service for the sake of a father’s mistress. A Peranakan matriarch who limply gives in to the new woman. A filial son who sides the father’s offence against the mother. They are plausible characters, but not probable. More damningly, they talk like puppets reciting snippets of monologue. And that is what the play is made of: stretches of sewn together monologues.

Still, it is a new play from a very talented and versatile playwright whose future plays I will look forward to seeing. Being a new play, it was billed as “World Premiere”. That is on the assumption that this play will travel well. From what I can hear during the show, it went down well with the local audience. But is there a universal voice here, an exploration of the human condition? Is it art? Probably not. But then again, that may not have been the intention of the play in the first place. It may have been aimed squarely at a small segment of the local society; the almost marginalized English-speaking art crowd. They chuckled away and cheered it.

Chup

Traveling Theroux

It was Alexander Pope (1688-1744) who first used the phase in his “An Essay on Criticism”, in 1709: "A little learning is a dangerous thing; drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring: there shallow draughts intoxicate the brain, and drinking largely sobers us again." This was the phase that kept running through my head as I sat listening to Paul Theroux give a talk at the National Library on 27 Apr 2006. The crowd was probably 200-strong, half of which sat on the carpet floor, including Koh Tai Ann.

The topic of his talk was how Time will proof the Truth of something. He gave examples of writers popular in their time but who had no literary longevity and unpopular writers who were post-humorously acclaimed. And political figures like Nelson Mandela who was vindicated late in life. At this stage in his life, the question of what survives him is understandably a pertinent preoccupation. But what irked me and evoked Pope’s phase was his simplistic asides. He compared himself with Dick Cheney, whose birthday he shares, and cites him as a man blinded by politics who cannot esteem the worth of Mandela. He wondered whether the audience knew that Lee Kuan Yew commended the Tianamen crackdown. (I did, and I also remember that while LKY said it was inevitable politically, he also felt it was too high-handed and overdone.)

Extensive traveling, in the case of Theroux, did not make him wiser, or indeed, humbler. He traveled with a blinkered view, and went around searching for anecdotes that reaffirms his preconceptions. It was as if his education had stopped before he began traveling. Curiously, some of the wisest men in history never traveled much. I can’t imagine Lao Tze, or Confucius or Homer for that matter (who is reputed to be blind) having ventured far from their surroundings. But their minds were open, and their thinking deep. Theroux, an unworthy comparison, is a writer looking for or getting into ironic situations that leads to easy generalization and quotable sound bites. He is prolific, courageous and adventurous. But he is anything but humane, when that is the quality I prize in a travel writer. His mind is made up before he arrives. At the heart of his philosophy is, “Power corrupts”. He is stridently anti-authority, and has trouble belonging to any form of organization, whether it is the Peace Corp or the University of Singapore. Is this the result of having been ‘inducted’ in that revolutionary decade of 1960s? In fact, one of his mottos is, “I want trouble. There’s something to write about here.” What little learning he acquired as a student; freedom is good, conformity is bad; became his life-long gospel.

Read how he belittles Singapore in The Great Railway Bazaar, and how he said he would never come back. And here he was, back again after 33 years, as part of a vanity project to “retrace” his footsteps undertaken some 3 decades ago. (Was it Nabokov who said only second rate writers write about themselves? And here we have a writer writing about himself going through the same journey that he himself had undertaken. At one point in the talk, he even congratulated himself on beating aspiring writers to this novel task.) “Singapore is unrecognizable today,” he said that night, “like a bloated man when one remembers the lean one.” Another wonderful quote. But the implication is clear; the Singapore he knew was better off than the one we inhabit today. And yet, here’s what he says to a journalist later. In a newspaper interview published in Today after the talk, Theroux said: "I never looked deeply into Singapore, and (now) I don't want to be negative. I don't want to be one of these people who comes and says: 'There's no culture'. I'm very impressed. It's the people who make a country, not the government or leaders. This is a place where people buy and read books, what could be better?" That’s another sly, glib quote; a negative compliment, in spite of himself.

In person, his voice is strangely high-pitched, somewhat like Woody Allen’s whine. This has the somewhat unintended effect of disarming his rudeness. It doesn’t sound as rude when spoken with a touch of high-strung nerves. One almost feels sorry for the speaker. But when the words are etched on hard paper, they acquire a bravado and finality quite detached from the real thing. They also occasionally achieve a poignancy and insight that hits close to the core, like his autobiographic account of his relationship with V.S. Naipaul, which I enjoyed because it was a subject that only he could be the expert on. I said “core” instead of Truth because Truth is easily abused with a little learning. (A broken clock is right twice a day.) Truth can also be relative, and it is the lack of relativity, the vision of a larger picture, that ultimately grates. A one-sided argument, like his take on Singapore, may be entertaining to read, but it should not be ennobled to the status of an enduring Truth, which Theroux seems to think he has a monopoly on when he travels.

Chup

My Hairstylist

I just cut my hair! Colleagues have been pestering me to cut my hair because it has been 1/2 year since I last cut my hair! :)

So I did.

I went to visit my usual hairstylist, James. He was introduced to me by an ex colleague in IFS and I have been his loyal customer for the past 3 years. Simply love his cut! He has been working in Cos Lab in West Mall until he started out on his own recently.

If you are one of those who are still searching for THE hairstylist, try him.

Salon: Hair Image
Add: Jurong East Central
(Opposite Citibank and CPF Office)
Hairstylist: James
Tel: 91914767
Rating: ****1/2
Price: *****

Unlike typical hairstylists, he doesn't push products (Familiar?). He gives careful examination before proceeding to cut your hair. If he thinks a particular hairstyle is not suitable, then he would advise you against it.

For a long time, he has refused to cut my hair short. I need hair to cover my long neck, he said.

When I visited his spanking new salon on 5 Aug 06, it was his 5th day of operation. Business was breeze but far less crowded than the Cosmo days. I requested him once again to cut my hair short. And to my surprise, he agreed! Later he confessed that he never agreed to do this request the last time because his previous salon was always full (Indeed it was!). And to cut short hair, he needed a lot of time to ensure a good cut. In that mad rush, he would not be able to do a good job.

I asked him if I should colour my hair. Perhaps next visit he said. Let your hair rest so that it won't be so dry. (Any other salon would have jumped to this opportunity to jack up your bill).

And, here you go... All for just S$22!!! So shocked I was I had to confirm the price 3x.






5 Aug 2006



And for my own record and reference, I thought I will summarize my hairstyle for the past 3 years. Enjoy...!







Jul 2006








Nov 2005










Jun 2005







Oct 2004










Dec 04







Jul 04











Dec 03

Jun 03

...the one who is very pleased with my new haircut

Castration

All of us were having a splendid dinner in Istanbul, hosted by the Village Head.
Long tables with hundreds of diners.
Wine and meat were aplently.

Then the Village Head made an important announcement.
Something that we were not aware prior to booking the Mediterranean Cruise.

"All the female tourists here would have to be castrated tonight!"
It would be a D.I.Y. procedure with witnesses to ensure that nobody was missed out.
D.I.Y. so that everyone would be in charge of their own instruments making sure that the instruments were properly sterilized.
We were supposed to make a straight line cut across the 'u know where'.
Lady inspectors would then go around with a white linen.
A clean swipe would be performed across the named area.
Presence of blood will confirm that the procedure had been carried out.

We were the only ladies at the table that looked totally flabbergasted.
In fact some ladies were seen very enthusiastic about this holy event!
They were giggling and squealing with excitement to be privileged enough to be part of this thousand-year-old-tradition.

I asked the Village Head, "Did your daughter have to do this too?". A question which I later regretted asking. Seated next to him, she was garbed in black robe with black headgear and veil, revealing only her eyes.
She kept her head down throughout the dinner.
To that he answered, "But of course! She had hers done when she was 9 years old.
In fact, we even reversed the skin to ensure that she is thoroughly cleansed".
Eventhough I didn't exactly know what he meant, it sounded like the creepiest horror movie to me already!

It was at this exact moment, the 4 ladies who were travelling with me left the table angrily.
I did not, fearing that this will make the Village Head fuming mad.
If he is angry, God knows what other 'punishment' he might have for us.

After dinner, everyone was allowed to go back to their rooms to shower themselves clean for the ceremony.
3 guards were waiting outside my room to ensure that I adhere to the instructions.
I tried to delay the impending moment of horror by taking the longest time to choose my choice of attire for the night.
The guards got impatient and entered the room.
They looked at the chips in my room and hollered if they could eat them.
It wasn't really a question because I don't think I could have said "No".

So I showered and changed.

Everyone were lined up in the large quadrangle next to our rooms.
The atmosphere was somber and tense (at least for me).

Next, a voting was to be carried out.
Those who were against the procedure, would have to form a separate line.
Around 10 ladies formed themselves to a new line. Including by 4 friends.
I remained in my line with hundreds of others.

5 minutes that seemed like eternity later, an announcement was made: "EVERYBODY!!! You are now dismissed!!"

And the crowd dispersed.

I was very puzzled.
What happened?
So there won't be any ceremony?

I later found out that, as long as there was one single objection from any ladies in the crowd,
the ceremony would then be deemed cancelled.

What a relief!

And to my greater relief, I later found out that the whole thing was just a dream!!

...the one who woke up in fear this morning.

F Embassy

There is this certain Embassy at Cluny Park Road which my friends and I simply cannot stand. Yet, every year I have to pay them a visit to beg for SCHENGEN Visa. This year is no exception... The worst is, I am not even going to that country. I am going to another country in the Mediterranean which does not have an Embassy here in Singapore. And like how Lily has so aptly asked, "Of all Embassies, why do they have to collaborate with F Embassy?"

Sitting behind the bullet-proof glass wall, their favourite phrase the moment they look at your documents would be: I would have to send you home. I swear this is said with a smirk hidden behind those expressionless faces. It seems like at the end of the day, the one who sends more people home wins the game! During my pilgrimage visit last year, I witnessed a desperate housewife who was probably there for the 3rd time and was still not getting it right for her Visa Application Documents.

You didn't make copy of your Application form? ----> Home you go, come back tomorrow
Background of your photograph is not white? ----> Home you go, come back tomorrow
No employer's letter? ----> Home you go, come back tomorrow
No bank's statement? ----> Home you go, come back tomorrow
You didn't make copy of every stamped pages of your passport? ----> Home you go, come back tomorrow
Not enough money to pay for the Visa fee? ----> Home you go, come back tomorrow
No evidence of your hotel reservation in F? ----> Home you go, come back tomorrow
You are staying in another country 1 day more than you are staying in F? ----> Home you go, come back when you have the Visa of that other country
And the list goes on.........

To welcome you, one will be greeted by an indifferent Security Guard (again, same face year on year). He seems to have forgotten how to smile I think! Upon surrendering your Identity Card, you would then be allowed to enter the building that is flanked with menacing sky-high concrete wall.

Actually the Visa department is only manned by 2 persons. The same 2 persons year after year (I visit them every year remember?) Let's call them B & W for easy reference. From their body language and icy glares, it doesn't take a genius to tell that B & W hate each other. Yet they are forced to sit shoulder to shoulder every day every hour every minute. B seems to be more senior in terms of number of years he has been working in the Embassy but W seems to be more senior in terms of designation. When you pass your Application to W, he will ask you to pass it to B. When you ask B a question, he would signal you to check with W. I believe final decision still lies with W.

During my visit last year, I asked W, if I call the Embassy, who should I say I want to speak to? W said: "Over here, there are only 2 of us. It's either him (motioning to B) or me".

Our recent encounter was simply unforgettable. It involved Li, Bur and I. Bur and I were secretly gloating that once our Singapore Citizenship has been approved, we would never have to ever visit this place again. No, maybe we would visit them one last time to show them our bio-sensor spanking new Singapore passport!

We were the only applicants there. Our Visitor passes shows No 2, 3 and 4. There was only 1 other applicant before us! It was already 11.45am, 15 minutes before their closing time.

Li was first. She went to the B. She seems to have a pleasant history with B. After all, Li's sister married a French. I think the 2 sisters are spotted in the Embassy quite often. B could even memorize the full name of Li's sister.

B looked at her Application and said....
B: I have to
send you home
Li: Huh? How come?
B: Because
the background of your photograph is red. It is supposed to be white.

But of course Li came prepared. She fished out an envelope of photos of various backgrounds and sizes. B took his time to choose the photo of his choice.

W was looking at Bur's application.

B: where is your address in Santorini?
Us: Address? But we are only making a day trip there. We are not staying overnight
in Santorini. We spend our night in the cruise.

B: So you cruise would have to dock there, right? Then give us the office address.
Us: Office? We book with Star Cruise. Can we give you their address in Singapore?
B: No, if they dock there, they would have office there. And we want the address.

So we called Star Cruise. They only have representative office in UK and Australia.

B: I am sure they have to work with an agency in Santorini?
Otherwise they won't be able to dock.

And we called Star Cruise again. They had to check with their International Sales Office. Everyone sat there waiting.

B: So what are we waiting for?

Us: errr... we are waiting for Star Cruise to call us back. B & W busied themselves with their work in the mean time.

After what seemed like forever, Star Cruise finally called back with their Santorini's contact. I scribbled down the details and later passed it to B. As usual, he had to check with W, who was on an endless phonecall at that moment.

Bur approached B and said: Can we have back that piece of paper with the
Santorini's contact? We will write it nicely for you on another piece of paper.
B looked at us with a smug and said: We can read

**Faint**

Finally W was off the phone. He concluded that we would need a letter from the Santorini's agent to confirm that they are the official agent for Star Cruise in Greece and they are aware that we would be travelling to Santorini on that particular date.

Us: So we have to come back again?
W: Yes, you have to come back with the letter. We cannot process without the letter.
B: No need to be 3 of you. Just one person will do.

(At this point, 3 of us has to flash our most pathetic miserable look...)

W: Why, you cannot take leave?

Us: Ya... It is very hard to take
leave like this to go to the Embassy. Could you just take the Applications first
and we would follow up all the supporting documents through fax.

W rolled his eye and finally said: Alright, I tell you what. I will take all
your Applications, keep in the Safety Box but please note that we WILL NOT
process it, ok?

They have heart after all :) We nodded eagerly.

My turn.

B scrutinized at my Application and said: Your photo is too
small.

Me: Too small? I have other size (Of course, I went prepared
too).

I purposely fished out my largest photo out of my collection of photos.

B passed form and photos to W.

Me: Can I have back the other photograph which you are rejecting?
W looked at B and snapped at him: This is of course too big. We can't accept.
B kept quiet.
W then looked at me: This photo is too big and the other one is too small, but I think it should be ok.

Satisfied with my intention of a little 'revenge', I submitted my medium photo to W.
To this he said: This is perfect.

Us: Can we have your fax number please?
(This time I will not ask who should I look for when I call)
W: It is 6880... You will see it in the form later. Now, S$70 please.
Us: Huh?
W: Payment, you have to make payment for the Visa? 3 persons,
total S$210. Thank you.

... the one who finally left the the F Embassy 1.5 hours later.

Reminders reminders!!!

On average, I have around 8 reminders a day! From my handphone and from my microsoft outlook. Be it for work or personal. Colleagues sitting around me often get so annoyed when another reminder sets off and I was nowhere in sight to turn it off.

My memory span has fallen so short, I hardly can remember anything anymore. 2 seconds after I shake a person's hand, I have already forgotten his/her name. Especially if the name is a common one. Was it Jacqueline? or Jasmine? or Sharon? or Cheryl?

In order to avoid all the frustration of forgetting, I have come up with this brilliant idea. Handphone reminders! :) Greatest invention ever.

I remind myself on anything and everthing:
- wake up
- call customer
- snooze if I didn't wake up the 1st time
- vegetarian day
- wish someone happy birthday
- eat my vitamins
- bring home my shopping bag
- steam pao for breakfast
- reminder on appointments

and you know what was my latest most original reminder to-date?
to put fried shallots into my soup when I drink it!!!

...the one who finally finished the stock of fried shallots at home

Dotty Cafe (Seafood and Beer Garden)
Rating: Now *** (In the past ****1/2)
Add: Bukit Chermin Road (Keppel Marina)
Turn in from Telok Belangah Road (Next to Keppel Club)
Tel: 62708575
Price: S$12/pax if you refrain from ordering watermelon juice

PS: To be read together with my latest entry on Dotty Cafe.

Here's another place worth trying. Similar to Shore Restaurant but located at a less deserted corner of Singapore.





Breezy and cosy ambience without the noise of planes taking off









the Kitchen. Chili Crab is apparently a 'must try' as said on the banner. I have yet to try it though.



We learnt from the staff that it is better to keep the live crabs immersed in water rather than the usual way of placing them in a dry glass tank. This is because, the crabs risk getting stung my mosquitoes on the eyes. That is fatal. And once crabs die, their flesh 'dissolves' rendering them inedible.







View of docked boats at the side of restaurant








And of oil refineries in the far horizon



Now on the food.
Because it was only Chup and myself, we just ordered 2 dishes, ie green vegetable and grilled sambal parrot fish.

The latter was simply lovely! The owner said this dish is only available here and nowhere else. When the fish came, we are convinced. The parrot fish is first deep fried and then barbequed with special chili sauce. Once dane, it is then showered generously with pickled shallots and parsley. Simply mouth watering and fiery! A must try!





Beware when you are offered fresh watermelon juice! It is S$5/glass!! Probably the most expensive non-alcoholic drink on the menu. We discovered the price only when we settled the bill.




...the one who would be watching the psycho-thriller Hard Candy tomorrow night

Iniavans Indian Cuisine
Rating: ***1/2
Add: Chandler Road No 37
(2 minutes walk from Little India MRT Exit E)
Tel: Soma 91505403
Price: S$8/person







For the lunch on 27 Jul 06, we decided to be a little adventurous. After all, it is only 1 MRT stop away from our office. So, why not? We brought our colleague from Indonesia, Esra, as well.

There is a cluster of restaurants lined along Chandler Road. Unable to decide which restaurant we should patronize, we chanced upon actor-turned-banker, JL, through a restaurant's window. Since JL is in there, the restaurant must be good. In we went...

Besides JL and his friends, we were the only non-Indians in the whole restaurant and along the whole street too.

At the entrance, you can choose through the glass display the meat dishes of your choice. Otherwise, once you are seated, a large piece of banana leave will be sprawled in front of you and it will promptly filled with white rice and assorted vegetable dishes, yoghurt salad and pickle. Of course not forgetting, papadam. They are all free flow. Eat all you can! Soon our banana leaves were filled with an array of multi-coloured dishes. Val and I opted for garlic naan. Yummy!

We were coincidentally seated next to JL. We turned to JL and asked if he would highly recommend this restaurant? He said "It's my first time here". *Faint*

Nevertheless, we like the food. Except Esra. He is not accustomed to the taste of Indian food we figured. He finished only his rice, leaving all the other too-exotic-to-his-taste-dishes behind.



At the end of the lunch, we were served dessert. It was bright orange and contains jelly and sago. Weird yet tasty. There is taste of ginger and spices in there.




... the one who would definitely return to Little India for another exciting lunch

Shore Restaurant
Rating: ***1/2
Add: 11 Changi Coast Walk at NSRCC Sea Sports Centre (Former Safra Resort)
Tel: 6546 7703
Price: S$30/pax with wine

Accessible only by car or by very very strong pair of legs.
For those who are not familiar with Changi territory, please check the Street Directory prior to going or you may get seriously lost in that dark secluded corner.

This place was recommended by Pei who lives in Pasir Ris (even further East from Changi). I definitely won't discover this place by accident given the fact that this place is quite literally on the other side of the island for me.

Located next to the airport runway, you would expect planes taking off every minute or so. Definitely not suitable if you are going there to declare your love, or worse still, to ask her hand for marriage. On the other hand, it may be good to go with your hot date on the day you have excessive wind in the stomach (you know wot I mean, huh?).

Although in my opinion, the standard has since dropped, and the price has seen been revised up compared to 1 year ago, I still visit the place every now and then because I miss some of their dishes.






Nice ambience with sound of breaking waves in the background accompanied by deafening sound of planes taking off every minute








Avocado Salad. Must try!
The other one would be the Mango Salad. Also a must!








Tenderloin Steak which my Auntie Rose absolutely adores. The Steak used to be better, juicier 1 year ago.



...the one who just had half price Cheese Cake at Changing Appetite. Only for dine-in on Tuesdays

The Roti Prata House @ Thomson Road
Rating: ****
Add: Thomson Rd No 246, Singapore











Remember Evans Prata which I introduced before? It is gone!!!

They actually have another Branch along Thomson Road which we promptly tried the moment we discovered the Evans Road outlet is gone. Closed apparently due to exorbitant rental. The once crowded and lively Evans Road is now rather deserted. Landlord must be regretting now...

Unfortunately, the outlet at Thomson Road was disappointing. The prata and curry was more or less the same but my favourite Fried Bee Hoon with ikan bilis was no longer what I remembered it to be. The bilis was too chewy and not crispy. The chili tasted different too. Upon further investigation, we found out that the Old Chef at Evans Road was gone together with the outlet. If anyone ever locate the Old Chef, please let me know at once!! I really miss him...!

I was devastated ;@

But luckily not for long. Soon, Wil introduced me to her favourite Prata joint which is just across the road, also at Thomson Road. She literally craves for their prata every day!

So before our church session on Sunday 16 July 06, we gave the place a try.




Their prata is really different. Somehow it was extra fragrant and crispy. Is it vanilla essence that they have added, I wonder?









The Bee Hoon Ikan Bilis was good too. Of course not as good as the one at Evans Road. But definitely good enough :)









Incidentally, the place is also highly recommended by one of our 2006 Singapore Idol contestants, Paul Twohill.












...the one who is looking for the Old Chef