Beginning
On this new year day, I'm here with my cat. The Man has gone to play badminton from 10.30am - 1.30pm and 2 - 5 pm. He said he can't change the timing or do a no-show else he will be blacklisted. Apparently he doesn't mind appearing in mine.
The night before new year eve, he happily busied himself in the kitchen marinating chicken thighs for the BBQ with his classmates the next day. It doesn't matter to him if I go along. Perhaps even better if I don't. The next day, he had bothered to pick up his classmate who lived a few blocks away from us but cannot change the timing so as to pick me up from the nearest mrt station despite it pouring heavily. I was that important. Even his classmate remembered me as he drew the names on his handcrafted cookies. No doubt, the Man ate the cookie with my name on it. In my absence.
Maybe we have grown so tired of finding things to do together. It's easier to go solo than to build a common interest. Feelings subside over time. We will get used to this.
The cat calls. I'm more than happy to oblige its calls to play, just like the Man who is obligated to play badminton today. It's much simpler this way.
to Heetler, from Melbourne
Day 28 - 1 Nov 2012, Thursday - Melbourne
It is the 5th day I have not seen you. I never thought I will miss you. In the first 2 weeks, I even had in mind that I might get rid of you. I have been sneezing non-stop since the day you arrived and it became inevitable to associate my allergy with your cat litter, cat hair (you shed a lot for a small cat), cat saliva, cat food maybe. It was most annoying to get a blocked and runny nose in the mornings and evenings and whenever I am home. It doesn't help that you are also a very dirty messy eater. You always stick your nose into the food plate and use it to move the little pellets around, then walk to me and rub your head on your leg.. ewe! I think you are trying to show appreciation and love for your master who serves you food, or maybe you are just trying to clean your cheeks? I make sure to wash my legs before I go to work. If you don't realise, I forbid you to touch me when I am changed for work.
Other times, I admit that it's amusing to watch you wrestle with the cloth; only my mum sees it as a horror. My dad has begun to enjoy your presence, and brought 3 tennis balls for your entertainment. Sadly, you have not been enthusiastic and barely pushed away the ball only IF it ran into you. Tempest and I were always joking that you are of part-Bengal breed. You appear to be intelligent and like to jump around. Look at how you can bite and tear up the tissue paper! And that one day where you were overjoyed to see a beetle flying into the house. It was stunning to watch you leapt into the air and slapped the beetle onto the ground. A few times! You were faster than the shutter can catch you in the act.
We brought you to the parents' house last Friday night because we need to leave for a holiday. That was the second visit to the house. The resident fat cat still doesn't like you. We knew immediately that the feeling was mutual when you returned her groans with loud hisses. Poor boy! You were hit many times by the Dad with newspaper because you hissed and bit him. We wondered how long it will take you to learn. Our worries are unfounded. We got a message last night from the Dad: "Your gangster cat act like king, attack fat cat once, i think fat cat don't like him and don't want to be friendly with him, they can sniff at each other without fighting now. He eat too much, your dry food will run out soon, always go and look for fat cat food and ate up the wet and dry food, then he is happy." Haha! Hee!tler, you are ever so amusing!
Hee!tler
Day 1 - 5 Oct 2012, Friday 7.30pm
I was excited. He is my first. All I kept thinking was how fluffy and cute he was. Big ears with long overgrown tufts of hair extending beyond the inner sections of the ear, medium-length hair all over-especially heavy on the front chest, black nose and a clownish smile on his face. Perhaps "Charlie Chaplin" might be more apt, but we went with "Hee!tler", playing a pun on his name as this little fellow greeted us with a very loud hiss (sounds like heee!) the first time we spotted him in a drain hole.
The whole affair was swift. The Dad picked up the boy, plonked him into the basket already seated in the boot. Next minute, he was driven a good 20m and quickly transferred onto Tempest's car, lodged in the leg room area of the front seat. I had my foot on the basket; this little fellow was very much upset and kept meowing and yowling away, and a couple of times knocking against the lid, threatening to break his way through. The usual 20 minute ride felt like an hour; I was as nervous as he was.
Once in the carpark, Tempest took over, tightened the rope against the basket and took it in his hands. It was probably no more than 5 minutes when he was transferred to his new home - the blue bathroom. It only took a bit of mini fish-shaped cookies to calm him down. Boy, we soon came to realize he was a greedy one. Once full and satisfied, he began his search of his big brother and little sister. Yowling and meowing in various tones and volume, he walked around the kitchen hoping to find familiar faces. The Dad came over a couple of hours later. He reverted to his playful ways and seemed contented. His happiness was short-lived. He needed to be locked up in the bathroom till we agree that he is capable of recognisng and using his litter box. So the yelling started, loud and clear and very long. We just hope that the neighbors don't complain.
Here is a picture of him before he was nabbed:
I say, take my hand…
… and swing it into the air. It is much about the freedom than others believed it to be. We shouldn't be one step nearer to the tombstone of love, but instead, be buried together in it. It takes courage and boy, aren't we glad that our hearts were thumping away to propel us in this direction?
I see skies of blue and clouds of white interweaved like our fingers locked in each other’s. Funny the entanglement may look, but it speaks of a tempting urge to begin a new life together. It is no wonder that the lips smacked in agreement!
This is perhaps happiness. Blue skies are always packed with fluffy white clouds and dreams, they do fly high.
Happy Valentine’s Day, my dear one.
Tip.Toe
You are taller and I am obviously shorter.
You wear shoes but I am barefooted.
You are suited in sombre black while I am dressed in lively blue peppered with perky shades of purple.
You are the man who appears, to take me away from the free-spirited world I was used to.
I am not complaining; on the contrary I reach up to meet your lips with mine. My entire weight rested on the ten little toes and they pressed hard against the coarse wooden planks. I think I almost stop breathing as even little gasps for air will un-stabilize me. And this is when Alex shouts: "hold it there... hold . it there...". Gosh, for him, nothing else should matter in this moment. He continues to hide behind the huge 3kg camera but his intent is obvious: concentrate on the act. be like the wind that tugs unyieldingly at the tail of the gown (and my hair).
*Click Click Click*
Phew... Hiak! Hiak! Hiak! :) Of course lah, the original raw shot does not appear as sophisticated as this one. Still a good shot, but it is his photoshop skills and artistic eye that impresses us. Healing brown patches of scars on my right leg were cloned out, color filter added to increase saturation, photo cropped and sharpened to create long cinematic effect etc. Perhaps the picture was also deliberately tilted a little over the left to compose a dreamy buoyant effect, representing the "uplifting" moment.
I am glad that it turned out fun after all :)
The 1st Session - 14 Oct 2010
My second root canal, after 4 years. I didn't even realize it was that long ago before the dentist reminded me. In my memories, it was done in 2008 (instead of 2006) and it was a rather painless affair. I still remembered myself staring into the big LCD TV above me and dozing off at times.
Today, the same LCD TV was there. The same dentist. The same dental nurse who attended to me 4 years ago. And probably a lot of other things that were unchanged. But the experience, at least from memory, were far from being the same.
He started with some light chats. It was the first time I saw his face in full view, mask-less. Heh, he really resembled Uncle T, in looks & shape. Of course, they are brothers. But back then, I thought they looked vastly different. I thought he was skinnier, fairer and with rather good complexion. He didn't talk that much then. But today he appeared in good spirits and even joked: " this should be the last time I see you... after that, you are going to take care of your teeth right?..." Sigh, but I doubt, not at least after my 3rd root canal.
So he moved on to check on the teeth that required treatment. There were 2 of them - the upper second last molar on the left jaw, and the lower last molar on the same left jaw. He looked at the teeth, poked it, knocked it, tested it with some dry cold ice-like thingy, took x-rays and decided that the lower molar was more in need of urgent treatment. Not only did it have a decay near the root chambers, but it also had a lingering pain as it was hit by the "ice".
He moved on to apply a orange-pinkish balm around the gums and tooth so that it will numb the area a bit before he injects the local anesthesia. 5 minutes later, he took the large needle and started his injections... quite a few of them, at least 4-6 shots. :-s I am not sure if it serves as consolation but this part of the procedure is actually the most painful & scary one. I kept imagining that he injected the long needle into the side jaw and then kind of twisted it like some acupuncture needle. Ewe...
As usual, he rubbed the area almost immediately as he withdrew the needle. I think that's actually a rather useful technique that all dentists should learn. Somehow, it felt less painful. It's just like rubbing blue-black spot to soothe it.
And so the usual begins.
Step 1: Anesthetize
Step 2: Put metal ring around tooth to isolate & protect tooth
Step 3: Put rubber dam and a green plastic over my mouth (hee, think green surgery cloth over the body with just the wound being revealed)
Step 4: Drill (probably to remove the 'cap' of the tooth & reveal the nerves)
Step 5: Remove pulp (some stinging sensation and slight pain)
Step 6: Twiddling within the individual chambers to remove residual nerves (involves drilling, looking into the microscope, x-ray & some small bendable wire)
Maybe I am imagining (again), there will be an alert sound whenever the small wire 'found' some nerves. Then I will feel some slight stinging again. But I don't see the wire bei
ng connected to any computer or machine.. weird.
Step 7: "tsk, your tooth is very challenging.." (Twiddle harder)
He showed signs of frustrations as he repeated his words twice... he even removed h
is front mask (the transparent one to prevent water/decayed tooth bits spraying into the eyes / face) to take a closer look into the tooth. My jaw was really tired and aching by then. It was 1 hour into the procedure already. "2 more minutes..." He tried even harder. He finally gave up. I think he also felt my irritation as I kept closing my jaw when he turned his back to take a different instrument. :-(
Out of the 3 root canals, he only managed to do up 2.5. The 3rd one is mini and he had difficulty accessing it. I am glad that he said that he will try again at the second session instead of "that's the best we can do... let's hope there's no complications". Well...
Step 8: Put temporary filler.
Step 9: Collect medication & make payment.
Step 10: Make appointment for second session
Total time spent: 1.25 hours on the dental chair & 0.25 hour on the couch waiting for medication & payment.
Overall impression: high tech clinic - imagine a dental chair equipped with x-ray, microscope, light, and even small cushions on the chair for the back. I didn't have to move out of my chair at all! And of course a big LCD TV, probably even bigger than the 32" I have at home. Soothing music in the background. X-rays gets uploaded to the computer immediately and up pops a large picture of my teeth. Cool~
Long and dreary entry eh? For $560 (1st session only leh!), I have to document my experience!!
Feedback session
I told EW that I want work-life balance.
I told EW that I am toying with the idea of quitting and looking for another place that can provide work-life balance.
I told EW that I don't look forward to being promoted and work 15 hours a day.
I told EW that I also don't look forward to work 15 hours a day without getting promoted.
I told EW that I hate KR.
I told EW that I won't grow under KR or under her since she's under KR.
I told EW to keep a look out for me on opportunities outside the bank.
I told EW to keep a look out for me on opportunities within the bank.
EW is my manager. KR is EW's immediate boss and my big boss. Throughout the 30-minute session (intended to review my objectives for the year), she kept encouraging me to see the bright side of things, that I should take the chance to pick up ISDA negotiation, to learn the full scope of work, to be nicer to KR, to at least be diplomatic with KR because he is one who remembers!
In the end, I told EW that I will give myself one year to learn the whole of collateral management from her, then I will seriously consider leaving this overly-talented team (for a less-intelligent one so that I can be the star player, work 8 hours a day and get promoted all the same). This shall be my work objective for 2010 till KR wields his stupidity and cuts short my patience to put up with his ridiculous antics. I am a racist when it comes to this type of lazy, petty, loud-voiced Indian man. Hmph!
i..*ouch!
I realised I gotta get this only after I saw the actual thing. It was smaller than it looked when it was in the box. It looked like it fitted the "bitten apple" very well when WH was holding it. Then, I knew that was my 'perfect' one.
Me and Tempest first saw the ipouch at Challenger in Vivocity. It was retailing at $35.90 for members, which Tempest was one. The material was suede-like and soft to the touch. That I liked a lot, but it was somewhat big-ish so it didn't fit exactly what I had in mind. So I hesistated, and he didn't insist it long enough. We walked away. I was confident that we can find the 'perfect' one - same soft material with a cleaning function, pouch-like preferably with no drawstring or flipping cover, sleek, nice color, and reasonably priced.
The next day, after I made my decision, we went to the Challenger at Tampines One. Oh damn, they didn't stock the pouch! We walked around somemore, only to find it selling at $39 at nubox, some Authorised Apple Reseller. Sheesh! How I hated myself! In my pursuit for perfection at a bargain, I lost $3...
It is cool to have an iphone.. I had fun fiddling with the widgets and admiring the responsiveness everytime I swipe to move a page. Tempest had fun downloading games every weekend we meet up. All at an upfront cost of $438 after $100 trade-in, and now with added cost of $21.90 for 2 pieces of anti-glare screen protector (who wants to buy the other?? :p) and a $39
Terahedron-made phone pouch. Total of $498.90, for now.
The first 2 weekends of November
I have been attending quite a number of social gatherings this month. Given that I am an introvert, it is rather impressive :p
The first event of this month saw me swinging down a 450m long zip-line in Sentosa with 7 other adrenaline junkies! Touted as Asia's steepest flying fox that reaches heart pounding speeds at 50km/h, it was really not as scary as its advertisers make it out to be. In fact, most of us agreed that the 4-storey high vertical para-jump was more frightening. Other than me and Tempest, the remaining group of 2 girls and 4 guys are Tempest's classmates, and friend. It was quite cool that the group hit it off pretty well, even at the very beginning. Perhaps it was due to the equal mix of people, with half of them extroverts and the other half introverts. Fun-filled day. Kudos to Tempest's planning skills :p I was somewhat surprised when he managed to gather such a big group of people to pay $59 each to go through a tiring day of climbing ropes, para-jumping and flying fox!
The next day, we were off to visit one of Tempest colleagues in NUH. My, looking for her ward was already a challenge on its own. Turn after turn we took, before arriving at Wing 2. It was quite a modern building from the outside, but looks the same as any local hospital on the inside. But the single-bed ward was pretty cosy. Coming with a desk, tv, and a day-bed by the window, it looked just like a hotel deluxe room. The only reminder of it being a ward was the hospital bed. The patient was an Austrian lady. Her boyfriend of Indian descent was also present. Though it was a brief half-an-hour visit, it was still pleasant meeting new people especially foreigners (a rarity in Singapore!). She and her partner are pretty humourous and friendly beings, which made it nice talking with them. It also gave us a chance to buy flowers :p It is just the thing to do when you visit angmohs. Singaporeans will much prefer fruits and food, i guess.
This Sat, we visited G and her month-old baby boy. Nice feeling meeting up with old classmates. Just nice hearing numerous updates on people you have never met for months.. It appears that many of them are moving on to the next stage of their lives, and some already to the next next stage. Makes me wonder if I should be happy being able to stretch this stage of my life *eyes looking up*
Today, I attended my manager's wedding at The Legends. Well, speaking liberally, this guy is an amazement! He fast forwarded stage after stage of his life, all within 7 -8 months, and he's going to be a Daddy April next year. He might be a very 'J' person, wanting to complete everything in one shot! Haha. Anyway, the special-ness in this was that I actually attended the wedding. I am not a fan of such social ocassions normally. If I can avoid it, I definitely will. For this one, I just feel it important to attend, to 'show face' for I am almost on the verge of being labelled as "anti-social" by fellow colleagues. For a while, it seemed to be my own wedding when alcoholics in my table kept toasting me and urging me to finish up the glass of red wine I had. Hahaha.. Overall, I give it a 7.5 out of 10, for the pork ribs with raisins, sharks' fins and mango pomelo dessert., and the portions for we only have 7 in a table. One embarrassing moment though, there was not enough abalone slices to go around for the table next to us, and the waiter popped over and took away one of ours! Heh, perhaps the waiter should have left the guests to pick their own food, rather than distributing the portions equally.
2 weekends, 4 activities. I wonder what I will be doing in the next...
Running along with 111 years of history
I got my first pair of Saucony shoes last night! $152.10 after a 10% discount with Citibank card. This is one of my fastest buy even for a pair of shoes. My initial thought was to look-see-look-see in Running Lab, taking the advantage of having a free consultation on the type of shoes that fit my shape of feet. But the friendly salesman "Ruixiang" had taken the efforts to check my foot-type, and pulled out 5 pairs of shoes for me to try on. I felt a little bad to walk off without buying anything, even as Tempest was egging me to buy the Gel-Kayano at Queensway.
I thought it was a pretty good buy, as compared to forking out $200-ish for a pair of Asics Gel-Kayano. The latter offers better cushioning at both the forefoot and heel sections, but it comes with a tighter fit around the midfoot, and a low side-rim that kept jabbing at my left ankle as I walk. It was tolerable but I was afraid it would turn bothersome upon long usage. Plus, Running Lab didn't have size 7.5 for the cheaper blue-colored version. All things considered, I opted for the more roomy, less beautiful, and cheaper Saucony ProGrid Guide. More importantly, there aren't many retailers who carry this brand, so there are less opportunities for price comparison. I can be convinced that I got a good deal. :-)
Trivia:Saucony was founded in 1898 along the banks of the Saucony Creek in Kutztown, Pennsylvania.. Heh.. sure didn't sound American to me, just like Asics didn't sound Japanese :-p The Saucony logo represents the endless flow of that waterway, along with its boulder-strewn creek bed, depicted by the three distinct dots within the brand’s “river” mark.
Where's my cup of tea?
How do most people define 'success'? My parents are likely to equate that with the size of the paycheck. Most of my friends will see the same, with some of them placing emphasis also on the rank or title held. A manager earning $4,000 is probably more successful than an executive that earns $5,000. A handful of them might say: "As long I am happy with enough to spend, I am more or less successful". Nowadays, I am inclined towards the latter thought. I yearn for a good quality of life, with time to spare for activities I enjoy rather than immerse in long hours of work that does not even result in a sense of satisfaction 80% of the time.
I reckon that I can do the same as long as I treat my job as simply a job; quickly finish the work, and go home. Yet, the corporate culture does not tolerate anyone without an ambition to progress. Perhaps it's only my workplace that promotes such an aggresive working attitude. Everyone is encouraged to work hard, suggest improvements, handle projects, all on top of the normal workload. Work passed on from the top to the lower rungs are considered a chance for the normal executive to showcase their ability to rise up the ladder. Then when everyone is being pushed to work as hard, one has to work even harder to even think of getting an average or slightly above average performance grade at the end of the year. In retrospect, I am on the verge of regretting a job switch from a friendly family-like environment to a concrete fast-paced skyscraper. I used to go to fancy celebratory dinner treats with the entire department, and heartlander-style outings such as ktv, dinners, bbqs. Now, there are only invites to drinks, drinks and more drinking sessions, of which I only attended once, and that was because it was to celebrate the Boss's promotion. It was just so not my cup of tea.
For the past 6 months or so, I have been thinking of alternatives to get myself out of this corporate challenge. Never has the desire to do something different or start something new been so strong. I had to think of a work that provides sustainability, reasonable income to maintain at least my current standard of living, and yet flexible enough such that I can do it whenever and wherever I want to. So there were the options: 1) start my own business, 2) patent something, 3) produce something that earns royalties.
Heh.. Tempest and I had a discussion some time ago on profitable activities. And he thought writing children's stories is a good way to earn money. Parents are so willing to spend on loads of books for their kids. Writing a story isn't really too difficult, especially some ridiculous fairy tale with talking animals. That's almost a breeze :p But neither of us know how to draw, and kids' storybooks rely on colorful illustrations to make a point. So there goes the wonderful idea...
Too bad I ain't savvy in investments, otherwise I could hole up in my bedroom with my laptop, alternating between playing facebook games and trading equities on POEMS. Whatever said, it's all empty talk till now. Sometimes, I also wish that I could just leave here and start anew elsewhere, maybe in a European country where life is more relaxed and people do enjoy taking time off to sip coffee and watch the crowd pass by. I could be serving expresso in a al-fresco cafe, or working with volunteers n a non-profit organization, or take up courses and turn into a professional yoga teacher! Or simply any place that does not boast of a structured hierarchy. A big place often comes with huge politics and unnecessary aggression.
Sigh.. I hate the state I am in now.. neither motivated to strive and earn the 'Best Employee' award nor sufficiently enthusiastic to pursue a new direction. Argh!!!
The crazy little adventure trip to Mt. Bromo - Part III
Mt. Penanjakan:3am, the hostel staff knocked on our room door to wake us up. What personalised morning call! Hehe. Hoo.. it gave us the chills when our bare feet touched the cold floor. We were glad for the rented jackets. Midway up the steps to the waiting area, Tempest felt a twang in his stomach and had to return to the room to use the toilet. I continued my way up; it's too tiring to climb up and down in the cold dark morning. I saw quite a number of guides waiting for their tourists, and another group of tourists and guides waiting for their jeeps. Udin was there too! He was to bring 2 other angmoh females to Bromo. While waiting for their jeep, Udin took chance to play with his dog and introduce it to us. 'Jacky' was a medium-sized mongrel with black and white patches. Apparently it had been up to the observation point with Udin on several occasions!
Shortly after Udin and group left, Tempest arrived, but yet had to descend to our room again to take the flashlight that we purposedly bought for the sunrise trip. Hehe.
Our driver was late for 20 minutes! And for the first 15 minutes of the jeep drive, that young guy probably in his early twenties, was almost always talking away on his handphone! Luckily it was kind of flat ground we were travelling then, otherwise we might have fallen over the edges of the volcano. He was probably slow in his driving too, as quite a few jeeps overtook us. Argh!! The second half of the journey was much faster and smoother when we travelled on well-paved roads. Following that was a 15-minute trek uphill to the observation point. Along the way, we saw several touts selling sock caps and renting thick jackets. There was also a stretch of shops selling hot drinks, snacks and souveniers. We were particularly caught by the smell of grilled sweet corn sold by a roadside stall, but we had no chance to even think of buying it since our guide was already ahead of us.
By the time we reached the top of the observation point aka Mt. Penanjakan. it was crowded with tourists, most of them caucasians. They, not only have the natural advantage of being tall, but were also hogging the front rows of the viewpoint!
The entire place is structured like an amphitheatre, with rows of benches on cut steps in progressive elevation. With the "stage area" already packed with tall westerners, we had to settle for a standing space on the first row of steps. Even that only got us a partial view as the angmohs started to either sit on the railings or stand on the ledge leaning against the railings. One guy even went as far as to sit on top of a short stump of block, effectively blocking most people of a full view. Really annoying!
The sky started to brighten at about 5.15am. We waited for 10 minutes or so but there was no signs of the sun rising. Some of the spectators who got favorable standing area began to leave their hard-earned lots and moved away to take pictures of the volcanos (located further east) which were beginnning to be unveiled as the mist dispersed. Just as I was resigned to an unsatiable sunrise viewing experience, 2 ladies got off the bench seats at the row behind us. Woohoo! Another Asian man also saw the opportunity and was trying to shout for his partner; seeing that, I quickly stood on it before calling out to Tempest. At times like this, you gotta be aggressive! :) And I was well-rewarded with an awesome sunrise at full view!
My first seeing the entire process!
OOH-LALA!!!
I am so happy that we made it for this trip! :-)
Tris wanted to bring us downhill to take a closer look at the volcanos. I strongly rejected his invitation while Tempest eagarly trodded along. Dunno why, but the slopes appeared daunting and I doubt I could make it without falling over. On hindsight, I should have gone down with them; the photos Tris took of Tempest were quite nice (like the one below). Hee, but they did bring back a bunch of mountain flowers - edelwiess and some herb that stops nose bleeding (Tris mentioned some latin name that I can't make out) and a handful of sourish wildberries! They looked like blueberries, just smaller.
The one sprouting smoke is Mt. Bromo. And the tallest one in the background is Mt. Semaru, the most active volcano of East Java; it is said to have small eruptions every 10 minutes. In the foreground is probably Mt. Batok, an already dormant volcano.
Tris was also telling us that Mt. Bromo erupts every 5 years and it last erupted on 8 June 2004 and killed 2 tourists (one Singaporean 13-year old boy and another local). So that means it could erupt any moment now! O_O BUT upon arriving home, I checked up the web and some sources recorded its last eruption in 2007, but I couldn't find any details on it. *puzzled* But if the 2007 eruption holds true, then it's pretty scary when the guides were not aware of the latest information and were saying the wrong things to the tourists. Hmm..
On our way to Mt. Bromo, Tris brought us up a ridge for some photo-taking (while most other tourists were contented to stay by the road). It is a good thing that he used to like photography and often pointed out good places to capture nice pictures. The one at the blog header was his idea. Hee.. really nice!
Another one! Mt. Penanjakan is quite a good place to view all the prominent volcanoes. We even saw a couple taking wedding shoots at the ridge. Pretty amazing that the bride could make it to the more rocky areas with the gown and stuffs. (As she lifted up her gown, she revealed her pants..ahh.. so that was how.. now I wonder what shoes she was wearing...)
Sea of Sand:
He also stopped us in the middle of the
Tengger caldera floor (aka Sea of Sand) for again some photo-shooting moments. In fact, we were the only jeep that stopped there.
Tempest: "Hai.. too bad we don't have a container to carry the sand home"
Me: "But this is a national park... we are not supposed to.."
Tempest: "They have so much sand here!"
Oh well...
Mt. Bromo:It took a short 15 minute or so drive to Mt. Bromo, where our horses were waiting for us. We reached the base of Mt. Bromo via a 10-15 minute horse ride across the caldera floor. Here, we dismissed the idea of bringing back any volcanic ash/sand... the entire floor was covered with blobs of smelly yellowish poo of the horses. YUCK!
Look at the number of horses and their guides waiting for the return of their riders! There's the Hindu temple at the far back. We didn't bother to stop there for photos since it looked pretty empty.
Meet the hunchback of Bromo Land! 250 steps leading to the crater rim. Look at how well-prepared we were.. N95 mask! Most people we saw were using scarves and paper masks. It was not as smelly as Mt. Ijen as the crater is much smaller. It was more to ward off the sand that flew about as the wind rose. Oh, and the hunch, that was our North-face daypack hidden underneath Tempest's jacket. He did that cos Tris was telling us to take care of our belongings back in Mt. Penanjakan.
The not that impressive Bromo crater.
I was a bit sad that I didn't get the white horse instead. Come to think of it now, maybe the guides assign us to the horses according to our color of our attire. Haha.. The brown one that I was riding was in fact foaming at the mouth. Tempest also noticed that the animal pooed a large blob of shit and fell out of the bag that was strapped underneath to hold the shit. And his stupid horse stepped over the poo. Wahaha!
The horse guides were also very blatant in asking for tips: "maybe you can give something to the horse.." So Tempest flipped out a $50,000 RP note and handed it over to my horse guide. "For the 2 of you," he said, pointing to his own guide as well. Back at Lava Hostel, Tris also reminded us to tip the jeep driver. We were a bit reluctant actually, after all the driver was paid to do his job, and he didn't provide good service either! Still, to keep things happy, we tipped a $20,000 RP note to the driver. And of course, another $50,000 RP to Tris. He was quite a good guide, bringing us to ulu scenic places, taking photos for us etc.
And that was it. Back to Lava Hostel for our "buffet breakfast".
The young man at the counter would ask how you would like your eggs to be done - scrambled, omelette, or sunny-side up. Other breakfast items include local fruits, toasted bread, fried rice with no ingredients, butter, jam, coffeee and tea. Truly basic, but enough to fill the tummies.
After some packing, we were ready to check out and return to Surabaya city by 9.30am.
Bambang said he would bring us to 2 places including visiting the mud flood. Driving out to the city took about 4 hours and we arrived at a roadside restaurant for lunch. This time round, the menu at least had english descriptions. The previous restaurants we went to only had menus fully in Indonesian, and we had to rely on our guides to recommend dishes.
The usual bbq Gurame fish, fried kang kung with shrimps, and my favorite tahu telor! Their version is flattened, unlike the towering ones sold in Singapore. This one even has the peanut dip by the side. Really tasty!
After lunch, Bambang drove us to the
mud flood. If not for the factory roofs that were still showing up, I wouldn't have realized that the entire village had been submerged. Ewee... imagined being drowned in mud...
The mud flood was caused by excessive drilling of the gas pipes which resulted an eruption of hot mud from the gas well. To think I thought it was some mud volcano.. heh.. There were some motorcylists who claimed to be victims of the mud flood; one even showed me some kind of pass they had been given by the government as proof of their identity. These guys were selling vcds of documentaries of the mud flood, and even offered to bring us to the site of the eruption for a small fee. When we rejected the offer, he then requested us to "give us some rupiah or something".
I was pretty glad that Bambang didn't add stuff like: "maybe you will like to give them something.." :P
After that, Bambang brought us to some open plaza with statues depicting the nation's struggle for independence. It was hot and boring, and got him to drop us at some shopping mall instead. It's very much like those in Singapore, even the shops and brands they carry. Nothing too fancy or extraordinary. We could have stayed back in Lava Hostel, and relax till check-out time at noon, before going straight to the airport. Bleh..
Nonetheless, it was still a very memorable impromptu trip! A lot of firsts too - first time riding in a jeep, first time riding a horse, first time watching sunrise, first time climbing a volcano, first time seeing a crater lake, first time wearing a sock cap, first time flying with Silkair, first time wearing a N95 mask.. hee..
Of course, our parents were not very approving of our methods. Visiting a volcano is considered dangerous enough, what more joining a tour package with just the two of us and a total stranger guide! Frankly speaking, we were quite glad that we didn't meet with any danger. :)
Total expenses: $216 nett airfare with Silkair; USD200 for a 3D2N tour with Global Adventure Indonesia (covers all lodging, meals, entrance fees, horse rides, jeep ride, return transfer to Airport); about SGD 50 for tipping (the most we have spent on tipping so far!)
I need more of such crazy adventures!!!
The crazy little adventure trip to Mt. Bromo - Part II
Bondowoso - Mt Ijen:We checked out of Palm hotel at 4.30am for our 3-hour bumpy drive to Mt Ijen. In fact, the journey would have been much shorter if not for the lousy roads which was full of sand, small rocks and potholes.
At Ijen, Bambang initially wanted us to trek up the 3m to the crater lake on our own. But I thought I wanted a guide. So he arranged for Bak-Im to bring us up. This was a tanned and skinny man about my height. He sprouts only a few english phrases and taught us bahasa indonesia along the way up. I distinctively remembered "pelan pelan" (I thought I heard "blan blan") which meant "slow slow". He was quite nice and helpful, finding us walking sticks, pointing to us the good trails to walk on, and holding on to me by the arm when he saw that I had problems going down slopes. He would say "pelan pelan", "no problem" whenever we lagged behind him. Also a very environmentally conscious being, he was constantly picking up rubbish and sweeping away loose twigs off the foot path. We could also tell that he was quite popular among the workers; he was almost always chatting with the continous stream of workers (who were carrying as much as 70kg of sulphur!) going downhill, and greeting foreigners of other groups. One angmoh even offered Bak-Im some cookies.
Ever since I worked the London Shift begining late April this year, I hadn't been visiting the gym often. So even thought it was only a 3km hike uphill, I found it strenuous and taxing on the knees as we treaded down slopes.
What was encouraging and demoralising at the same time were the markers along the journey to the crater. 2 HM (hundred metre), 6 HM, 18 HM, 27 HM.. and finally the lake... As we approached the lake, the sulphur smell got so strong that it was choking. I was quite surprised to see some workers even having their meals and smoking and resting nearby. Frankly, the lake looks better in the pictures. I think 70% of the time, the lake is covered with the sulphurous smoke. So I didn't really catch a view of the full lake without the 'mist'. But luckily Tempest did, and captured it with his canon.
Nonetheless, half a view of the turquoise lake is still "ooh-lala", as Bak-Im called it. Coupled with the sulphurous smell, sweat, panting and exhaustion, it was no doubt an authentic breath-taking experience!Bak-Im advised us to quickly take a few photo shoots and go back, as the smell is "no good". The trek up took us about 1.5 hours and the downward return took 0.5 hour less. We were glad to stop by the cafe at the foot of the mountain for drinks before returning to the car for yet another bumpy ride downhill, followed by a long drive to Mt. Bromo.
This is Bak-Im, who can carry up to 90kg of sulphur on his shoulders! Hee.. Tempest also had a go at the 70-kg load (above), but couldn't lift it an inch off the rock.:
We had a new passenger joining us for the ride to Bromo - Udin. This is yet one other short little man, muscular, tanned and very cheerful, nonsensical guy. Weird, the shorter guys in Surabaya are always more interesting and funny than their taller counterparts. Udin was a fellow employee from Global Adventure and had just ended his tour on Mt Ijen. He would be starting a tour on Bromo the next morning and thus took a lift from us. This Probolinggo-born local entertained us with his singing, jokes, stories during the car ride. He would point out coffee plantations, tobacco plants, glue trees to us along the way. I had a really bad tummyache midway (probably due to the 3 slices of bread packed by Palm Hotel), and he was nice to buy a bottled drink from a village shop lady so that I could use their toilet as a favor to us. He also advised that Bromo could be quite cold at night, and it was best to have a thick jacket along. Upon learning that Tempest only has a pullover, he assured us that we could rent jackets at the hostel.
Lunch was not as elaborate, but still good and cheap. A grilled whole Gurame fish is only 32,000 rupiah, equivalent to SGD 4.60! This time round, Bambang and Udin ordered their own individual portions, while me and Tempest ordered the fish, kangkung and tahu telor to share amongst the 4 of us. Earlier on, we found out that Edy doesn't take chicken. Now we realised that Bambang likes egg, but doesn't like fish. Hehe.. and Tempest doesn't take vegetables. I also ordered a hot ginger drink which was sweet and spicy - good for the 'injured' tummy. I suspect our entire meal, including the guides', cost less than SGD 20.
We re-traced our route from Bondowoso to Jember to Probolinggo, then to Cemoro Lawang, and past Ngadisari village to Lava Hostel or Cafe Lava, as it is more popularly known.
The road up to the mountains was really scenic, with lotsa greenery, deciduous-like forestation, fields planted with all kinds of food like padi, maize, watermelon, banana etc, and huts and houses built at all types of precarious-looking grounds.
It was almost similar to Dalat, but the bigger variety of plants and long mountainous range add color and magnificence to the picturesque region. Comparatively, Dalat looks a bit ugly with its ruggard slums at hilltops; its huge population of coffee plantations also dull the scenary. What's even more lacking are the mist and intense blue skies that lends Bromo area its fairyland characteristics. Oh, and I forgot to mention about those cobbled stone walls that the Indonesians used to fence their houses. Cute, like some cottage in those fables.
SO we reached Cafe Lava at about 5.30pm, and checked in to Room 209. Again, pretty basic lodging facilities, but it does come with hot water, TV, and thick quilts. No air con is needed since the cool mountain air is chilling enough. The entire lodge seems to be built on wood, giving it a traditional Balinese feel. Room is considerably clean, but maybe the lights were quite dim despite having quite a few of them, so I can't really spot the dirt. Just one thing about the "heater". It uses gas to ignite fire and then boils the water that flows through the tube. So within the heater, you can see the fire burning away! Like those bunsen burner flames we see, albeit bigger. Be sure to wait a while after the first user, for the gas is used up after 15 to 20 minutes of usage, and needs time to be refilled.
A quaintly hilltop resort standing against a backdrop of mountaineous range. The cobbled paths particularly gives it a neat, manicured look! I wanted to walk to Lava View Lodge, the higher-end cousin of Lava Hostel. But it was located within the Bromo National Park, and we needed to pay an entrance fee. Thus we gave up that idea and went back to the cafe to take an early dinner at 6pm. We were assigned set meals by our tour agency. There was a bowl of vegatable soup, a plate of palm-sized grilled chicken breast with boiled vegetables and french fries by the side, and mixed fruits which we exchanged for the Javanese fried banana for dessert, and tea/coffee. The the skinless chicken breast was a tad too tough, but the fries and fried banana were good.
Goreng pisang drizzled with chocolate sauce - yummy and filling!We were seated next to the windows, so while we were eating, we constantly see the locals waving sock caps woven with the words "Mt Bromo" from outside the cafe. Since we already have ours, we waved them off :p Then this tall dark muscular looking guy came forth and introduced himself as Tris, our guide to Bromo the next morning. He went through the itinerary and informed us that the cafe staff would provide us with a "morning call" at 3am, so as to prepare us for set-off at 3.30am. Tempest was a little worried that it was a scam and we could be left at the top of the mountain with no transport back; he forgot that Bambang had told us that we would be assigned a new guide to Mt. Bromo. So back to the room, he went ahead to make a call to Edy to confirm this change. He fiddled with the phone numbers for a while before getting through to Edy who assured us of this arrangement.
With all things done and a peace of mind gained, we took a quick shower and shuttle off to bed at 9pm.
Labels: ijen crater, indonesia, mt. bromo, surabaya, travel
The crazy little adventure trip to Mt. Bromo - Part I
I am back from Lavaland, unscathed!
It started with Andrew's photos on Facebook. Though less than 30 of them, each photo boasted of clear blue sky, lush green vegetation, volcanos shrouded in misty-looking clouds... it's all very surreal.. and that sparked my thoughts on visiting Mt. Bromo. With the long National Day weekend, it was the perfect timing!
So during the 10 days before our departure on National Day, me and Tempest hastily bought our air tickets from Silkair (quite a bargain at $216 nett, made even so with its early outbound and late inbound flight), booked our tour from
Global Adventure Indonesia (chosen over
Lintang Buana Tours for its slightly lower prices for 2 pax, responsiveness and friendliness over yahoo messenger), and then made last-minute purchases of LED flashlight and sock caps. Woo hoo! We are ready for our most impromptu adventure by Sunday :-)
Singapore - Surabaya:We were met by Edy Siswanto, the founder of Global Adventure, at Surabaya Airport. It turned out that he ran out of staff, so he had to hire an external driver and meet us himself . When we first checked out of the departure hall, we couldn't find anyone who was supposed to be holding on to a sign with my name prominently displayed. Then a little man no taller than 1.55m approached us. He had longish hair, wore a ketayap kopiah (Malay woven headwear), and was all smiles when he held up a plastic folder with a piece of paper printed with my name, our flight details and contact numbers. That was Edy. He made a quick introduction of himself, collected USD400 from us, and led us to the car that was already waiting in the carpark opposite the airport. In comparison to most guides we met, this little man spoke pretty good english. He was to drop us at the hotel in Bondowoso, then pass us over to another of his team member who would accompany us for the rest of the 3D2N tour.
Mapping the route of our travel... we spent nearly 24 hours driving around! This is one of our first long car drive, almost 7.5 hours including stopovers for lunch and phototaking. Nothing spectacular along the way till we reach the suburbs and villages by the sea. We stopped by one of the restaurants lining by the sea. Lunch was pretty elaborate; Edy ordered several small dishes - oxtail curry, stir-fried potato, vegetables, fish curry, fish head curry, mutton rendang, chicken curry, eggs in curry, fried chicken wings, fruits and a couple of other stuff that we didn't touch. We had joined several local land tours in other Southeast Asian countries, and this was the first time the tour guides joined us at the same table for meals. Maybe this is the indonesian style of fostering a more personal interaction.
The vastness of the Bali Sea is overwhelming, but we were too absorbed in waving off the flies that were attacking our food to admire the view.
We made a quick stopover at Pasir Putih aka White Beach, a short distance away from the restaurant. The place is akin to east coast park, albeit shorter, where locals will while their weekends away swimming, having picnics, fishing. The beach is not free for all, visitors have a token fee of few thousand rupiah to use the facilities which really ain't much, just a few shops selling food and stuff, and renting fishing boats. Honestly, I wasn't impressed; I thought our very own ECP is a lot much better. But Tempest was taken over again by the vastness of the sea, which comes "clean" without the big tankers, boats, cruises etc that we will find lining the horizon every single time we overlook the one at ECP.
There was a local who was rattling away in bahasa indonesia, trying to rent us the fishing boats. We weren't properly attired for any fishing, and I wasn't keen to wet myself on the first day, so we just smiled and walked away :-pAfter another few hours of drive, we finally reached the city of Bondowoso. But our driver couldn't find the hotel! So Edy had to make a few phone calls, got off the car a few times, asked around before we managed to locate Palm Hotel at 5.30pm (Surabaya time GMT +0700). He then arranged for us to check into our room, introduced us to Bambang (our driver cum guide for the next 2 days), went through the itinerary, helped us to choose our dinner before leaving.
Parting shot.Hotel room was considerably clean and comes with heater, aircon, small TV without satellite channels, bottled water and tea. It could be a 2 or 3 star hotel as it comes with a swimming pool, and a roof top area for KTV. There was also chargeable Wi-Fi at its lobby. We did a short stroll around the hotel, took pictures, and headed off for dinner at 6.30pm.
Dinner comprised of local stuff of reasonably big servings - gado gado, chicken satay, stir-fried shrimps, Hawaiian smoothies and rice. Oh, yes, and a what it looked like a dead fly amongst the shrimps. Truly disgusting!
Amazingly, we shrugged it off without a really big fuss and cleaned out the plates sans dead fly. I had a stomachache the next day but I doubt it was due to that fly since Tempest was perfectly alright. Without much to do, we took a hot shower and went to bed at about 10pm.
Labels: ijen crater, indonesia, mt. bromo, surabaya, travel
Tying up
My brother still doesn't know how to tie a tie. He's probably the only guy I know who can't do the knotting. Anyway, so I will help him to tie the tie, and he will take care not to undo the knots for a long period of time till the next wash. This has been going on since his JC years. It's also kinda weird that he didn't bother to learn to do it himself. What's gonna happen if he undid his tie in the office accidentally and needed to wear it on the same day? Heh, maybe he already had a few spares in the office, that's why he bought several ties.
I have always known 2 ways of tying - the half triangle and the full triangle.
I used to do the full triangle for my brother. I remembered asking him his preference in the past and he chose this style rather than the simpler half-triangle. Personally, I prefer the latter. It may appear lope-sided, but it's exactly this asymmetry that lends it a stylish look, with a hint of casualness. Thus for the past 2 times, I did the lope-sided version for him. He didn't complain, or maybe he can't see the difference. :-p
Tempest didn't share my preference. He likes the traditional full triangle, also touted the windsor knot. It is supposedly more formal and meant to be worn with wide spread collar shirts. With his broad build, it is probably also more suitable for him. Kinda reminds me of 'Dr Simon' in "Fighting Spiders" - retro .. hehe
Today, I googled and learnt that there are actually 4 ways of tying a tie:
Four-in-Hand Knot
The Four-in-Hand Knot is the most popular type of necktie knot and easiest to learn, probably over 80% of tie wearers knot their ties with this. The knot is long and straight but slightly lopsided.
Half-Windsor Knot
The Half-Windsor knot is a medium triangular knot that is considered more formal than the four-in-hand. Also my favorite!
Windsor Knot
The windsor knot is a wide triangular knot that is usually worn for formal occasions, this type of knot should be worn with wide spread collar shirts.
Pratt Knot-Shelby Knot
The Pratt/Shelby knot is Semi-wide knot, when beginning to tie this knot the tie is turned outward.
Oh, and it's necessary to have a 'dimple'. I like those intentional creases. Read more abt it:
The DimpleA good knot should always have a dimple. The dimple is the little indentation right below the knot of your tie. A good dimple is made before you tighten the knot. You start by putting your index finger in the fabric directly under the knot while lightly squeezing the side of the fabric as you tighten the knot by pulling down on the wide end of the tie. The dimple should be centered in the middle of your knot.
I may not have done a perfect job, but it ain't too bad either!
Big D-isappointment
Bus 48 stops outside the famous Holland Village coffeeshop selling XO fishhead noodles. I wanted to get some lunch for Tempest and myself, so it was pretty convenient to grab some food from this coffeeshop, instead of my initial thoughts of going to the hawker centre within the Holland V arena.
Scanning through the few stalls - XO fishhead noodles, braised duck rice, Big D's Grill, economical vegetable rice, soups - I somewhat fixed my attention on the western food stall. Tempest likes western, and we had eaten at Big D's at Bedok before it shifted here. The food wasn't too bad. It was the same big tall, bald guy at the helm. He handed me over the menu and patiently waited for me to make my orders. After some consideration...
Me: "I will have a fish n' chips, and a grilled boneless chicken leg. Takeway please."
Big Guy: "Sure. There will be an additional 50 cents each for takeway. Is that alright?"
Me: "Ok".
My thoughts: What else could I have said??
Big Guy: "Please take a seat. I will deliver it to you when it's ready."
Me: "Ok".. and walked away to find some seat not too far away from the stall.
I must have waited for about 10 minutes or so, or maybe even longer as the old man seated at the same table already finished his meal of braised duck rice. Maybe I was back-facing the stall or what, Big Guy did not deliver the takeout to me. I happened to look over and saw a neatly packed plastic bagful of food and decided to check if my order was ready. Indeed, the food was just sitting there waiting for me. What happen to Big Guy's words? He promised to deliver it to me once it was ready! And Big Guy disappeared to nowhere.
Never mind. I asked the Malay chef if there were any utensils packed in the plastic bag. And he said yes. After a few steps, my intuition got the better of me, and I checked. None! I walked back to the stall and asked for the utensils. Guess what? "We ran out of fork, spoon can?" OMG! I ordered fish n chips plus chicken chop. Does he think that those can be eaten easily with just a spoon?!
Me: "No, I need forks."
He then walked over to the next stall and got me 2 forks.
Downright horrible service. It's not as if they were busy with customers. It was 2.30pm with only a third of the coffeeshop filled. I didn't even see anybody else eating western food! The signboard was plain white, with "Big D's Grill" in large black fonts, and the single 'D' in red. It was not even lit up, unlike the rest of the stalls. Kinda pales in comparison. I even thought that the stall was closed until I walked up and saw the chef busying with some stuff at the stall.
Still, I was determined not to let that incident get me down. I was feeling satisfied from the gym workout earlier. Not that I expended large amount of energy, but being able to return to a fitness regime after few months' break is indeed invigorating! So, I crossed the road and waited for bus 95 which dropped me off at Lower Kent Ridge Cresent, just before Yusof Ishak House. And sprightly walked 1 km under the burning hot sun to reach Engineering Block.
It was almost 3.15pm when I reached Tempest's lab. He was eager to have his lunch. Afterall, breakfast was ony a couple of siew mai and half a big bun at 10am. But, I just have to stop him and take the following pictures. I needed them to emphasize my complaints!
They dared to charge me 50 cents for an over-sized paper bag??!! A ridiculously high cost to recreate a teeny weeny bit of the authentic feel of ol' english fish n chips. 
2 large pieces of beer battered fish with no hint of beer. It could have been pretty crispy if eaten immediately after being served. The fries were good - long and chunky.
Palm-sized chicken chop. Nowhere did it resemble a chicken leg to me.
Tempest had a fairly good time devouring the slightly charred skin; he gave it a thumbs up. But I thought overall, the chicken was a tad too dry. The fries had also turned soggy from being soaked in the sauce for 40 minutes. The baked beans were cold, so not very nice. One commendable thing though was that they added small pieces of bacon to it, giving it an extra bite.
Given the portion of the foods, $8.90 each seems a bit too expensive, especially so with the likes of Aston and Botak Jones serving equally tasty stuffs, maybe slightly bigger portions (at least for BJ) but at slightly lower prices.
Anyway,
ieatishootipost had a pretty good review of this stall, mainly of its high-end stuffs like kurobata loin, and wagyu beef. Actually their pasta didn't look too bad. I saw its chef cooking up a dish for himself - the thick sauce clung on tightly to the pasta. If you like the dry sort of pasta, you will probably give it a thumbs up.
For me, the lousy service spoils everything.
Puzzles
Everytime I sit on the MRT, I will see someone with a book of crossword puzzles or sudoku. They are usually ladies; but yesterday afternoon, I chanced upon a middle-aged man who looked very serious in his crossword puzzles. That was the part that amused me. Most that I saw casually outlined the words. But this guy even used a ruler! Heh, maybe he could have used a highlighter instead. With the advent of highlighter erasers, there is no fear in highlighting the wrong words anymore. Plus, it's convenient and he can still do his puzzles neatly without getting a seat on the train :-p
Now and then, I also like circling words out of a maze of random alphabets. My brother and I used to have a couple of crossword puzzles lying around in the house. We probably got them cheap at a dollar or two in some book sale. When I am bored with nothing else to do, I will pick up those books and while away an hour or so. Strangely, sometimes I just feel like doing those puzzles.
At a glance, it seems like a mindless activity. But somehow, as I squint my eyes and try to uncover each word, I derive a sense of satisfaction from finding strings of letters that are purposely spelt backwards, diagonally, diagonally backwards.. Such concentration isolates the mind. It forces away fleeting thoughts on studies (in the younger days), work, friends, the future, the past, hopes and disappointment. Sounds like I got a troubled past, haha. Far from being the truth though. I simply enjoy a mind-numbing activity now and then.
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