Please be patient...

Seen at Marina Bay on 30 Dec 2011.
The next day there's gonna be the countdown to 2012 here.



Taken with the iPhone4S, posted earlier on Instagram.

Last day of Logos Hope docking at VivoCity, Singapore

I remember when I was young, dad will bring us up MV Doulos where we will pester him to get us books. The Doulos has since retired and the sister ship, Logos Hope is the only floating bookshop left sailing around the world.

Today's the last day that Logos Hope's bookshop will be open to public. It's open till 10 PM tonight if you want to visit the ship. Entrance is free. A few days later, the ship will sail to Cebu, the Philippines.



I went up the ship last night and bought a book.

I did not take many photos, if you want to know more about this ship and the ministry of bringing books around the world, visit: http://www.gbaships.org/

Gloomy Skies in Singapore

Although there is no 'winter' in Singapore, there's the monsoon season.
Rains have been pouring and Singapore joins the rest of the world in getting floods.

Looks like man made structures can't defeat what nature intends to do.
If nature wants to pour rain down, even Orchard Road floods.



This was taken earlier today when I was going for lunch.
It looks like it's winter in Singapore. Trees with not much leaves, skies so gloomy, it looks like London a colleague said.

Let's hope for better weather soon!

Blessed Christmas Day!

Wishing all a very Blessed Christmas Day!



The church service I attended at 7:30am on Christmas morning.

It was a combined service, where 3 services that usually meet at 7:30am, 9:30am and 11:30am meet together at 7:30am. If you live in the Bukit Timah area and you are looking for a spiritual home, visit www.glorypresbyterian.net

LV

Different people see different things.

What do you see here?
I was just looking at this glass building, and I thought to myself, it's a huge jigsaw puzzle!
Look at the sizes of the glass panels, it seems almost every piece is of a different shape and size.

Must be a nightmare fixing them up!



Or maybe it's just optical illusion.
Most of it are of the same size and shape but the eye is tricking you into thinking otherwise.

Glass buildings are attractive don't you think?

Flyer, Supertrees and the Flower Dome

Too bad it was a gloomy day, it was raining and I was out.

We were crossing the DragonFly Bridge that links Gardens by the Bay to Marina Bay Sands and saw this. The Singapore Flyer, 3 of the many Supertrees and the Flower Dome.



Probably the most interesting place that I saw over the weekend was the Flower Dome.
My brother told me that the Flower Dome and the one next to it have the world's longest span single length braces.

I think there should be some National Geographic or Discovery Channel show about how it was built probably? Can't wait to watch it if there is one.

Supertrees at Gardens by the Bay

Was at the last day of the preview of Gardens by the Bay and it was awesome!

Yes, there were insane crowds. Did not know that there are so many nature lovers in Singapore. Everyone's going to the Gardens!



These are the SuperTrees at Gardens by the Bay.
They are 25-50 metres tall, which is like 9-16 storeys tall.

Beautiful isn't it?
Google / Yahoo / Bing around the net to find out more about them.

GovCampSG - The Power of Social Media in Government 2.0

Have you heard of BarCamp?

It's like a conference that is not really what a traditional conference is. It's a conference that participants provide the content, asking questions and everyone providing possible solutions or maybe more fodder for thought. Technology being the enabler.

GovCamp is BarCamp with a focus on how Government and Citizens can work together to improve our lives with technology as the enabler. GovCamp Singapore to be held on 18 Nov 2011 is where the people in Singapore will discuss what is "Government 2.0"


More information provided by the organisers of GovCampSG:

The event will see citizens; government officers, businesses, bloggers and online communities come together in a dialogue on "the future of Government". Grass-root events like this one, are crucial in our growth as a nation.

Why?

Conversations taking place online today, show that Singaporeans today expect a higher degree of engagement from the government than ever before. They also expect to play active roles as citizens - in developing policies and citizen services. GovCamp Singapore brings citizens, corporations and the government together in open dialogue on how to make Singapore a better country, and a better place to live in.

The upcoming GovCampSG bears the theme "Connecting People, Data and Ideas." We will focus on two key subjects: Engagement and Open Data - how governments should engage citizens through social media; and how data should be made available and harnessed for the greater good of the country.

Sponsored and organised by Microsoft Singapore with the support of IDA Singapore and NUS, the following people have been invited to participate as well.

• Jane Fountain (Keynote Speaker), Professor of Political Science and Public Policy, Director, National Center for Digital Government, Director, Science, Technology, and Society Initiative. University of Massachusetts Amherst
• James Kang (Keynote Speaker), Assistant Chief Executive Government Chief Information Office Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore
• Rodrigo Becerra Mizuno, Managing Director of the Government Industry in Worldwide Public Sector for Microsoft
• Prof Ashish Lall, Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore
• Prof Pallab Saha, The Institute of Systems Science, National University of Singapore
• Local bloggers who are deeply passionate about Gov 2.0 issues will also play an active role in hosting conversations.
• Ms Grace Fu, Senior Minister-of-State for Information, Communications and the Arts will be Guest of Honour at the Event.

It's a FREE event and here are the details.

Date: Friday, 18th November 2011
Time: 3pm to 10pm (Breakout sessions start at 6pm)
Venue: The Rock Auditorium, Level 3, Suntec City (near Tower 4)
RSVP: http://on.fb.me/govcampsg
Twitter: http://twitter.com/govcampsg

I will be there, will you? See you there!
This is the 2nd GovCampSG for the year. The first was held in NUS earlier this year.

Future Memory Pavillion @ National Museum of Singapore

I was at the National Museum of Singapore 2 weeks ago and took this photo.
How unique it is to have cubes of ice blocks out in the sun and letting them melt!



It's only after reading what it is all about then you realise the significance of it.

Do you know that long long ago, before there were refrigeration and ice making machines, Singapore imported ice blocks from countries with cold climate?



Click on to http://futurememory.sg/ to read more about this Future Memory project.
It's quite interesting!

Church of Our Lady of Lourdes

What attracted me take the photo is the number on the wall.
1888!

I was in a moving vehicle when I took this, so the photo is not very nice.
Just discovered that this church has a Tamil congregation.



Took a sneak peak of the interiors on wiki and found out this cathedral is where many TV shows film weddings! It has such a nice interior.


The church website: http://www.lourdes.sg/
Wiki Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_Our_Lady_of_Lourdes

Free movies, all day, all night...

Guess where you can get free movie screenings all day and all night?

I just discovered that you can if you are flying out of Changi Airport Terminal 3!
(Terminal 2 also has a movie theatre that is showing Star Movies)

Some might say it's not technically free, because it's included in the Airport Tax of SGD21.



Something I discovered too was that there's a clock like the one you see on the photo above inside the theatre. It's to remind you of your flight time! LOL




It's not very big inside, but looks comfy enough.
Lots and lots of leg room because you can bring in your luggage with you!

Curious to know what's being shown? This link will 'show' you.

Are you a movie addict? I think I only watch movies on airplanes!
This year I think I have only been to the real theatre once or two times only.

Theme Day: Fences

It's Nov 1. Another new month, another new theme for CityDailyPhoto Bloggers.
The theme this month: Fence.



This is one of the unique fences you can get in Singapore.
The fence of Haw Par Villa.



It's probably one of the places where you have to pay to go to 'hell'.
(There's a hell exhibit that you need to pay to get in. The rest of this place is free. It's quite a nice walk inside!)

With the opening of the Circle Line, this place is now very accessible!
If you want to read more about Haw Par Villa, click on to Wikipedia!

Want to know what other photo bloggers in the other cities around the world are posting?
Click here to view thumbnails for all participants

the whole household got the iPhone 4S

The 3 of us in the household has been waiting for the new iPhone 4S.
BUT... we are not those who will queue for it. A colleague queued 6 hours for it on Friday (a day earlier)!

It's not us to queue that many hours for it. We are hoping to just walk into a shop and hopefully there is no queue and we could just pick up the phone and leave. Possible?

It was Saturday afternoon. We heard people had queue for hours in the morning and the phone has been out of stock in several shops. As Presbyterians our believe is that all things are predestined. If it is for us, it will be! We decided to go to Marina Bay Financial Centre to try it! We know that place is like a partial ghost town during the weekends.

Oh... there was no queue! Only 1 person in front of us! We asked if there were stocks of the phone. Oh yes! Three sets please. 2 White 16GB and 1 Black 32GB. Thanks!



Two out of the 3 boxes. A black and white one here.



After getting the queue number we walked off. We don't need to wait there too!
The system will SMS us when it's almost our turn. We walked around the quiet mall. Around 35 minutes or so, it was our turn. We had 3 numbers, so it was like parallel service by 3 persons.

Told the wife and sis. Make sure:
- phone plans are correct, check that you are all correctly tagged on Corporate Plans. (show your ID and you get around 10-30% your bill)
- opt for 'pay as you roam' for roaming and swap it for another 12 months of caller ID. (to got 24 months of free caller ID)

We realised this telco here is quite good. They offered even without us asking the things I wanted wife and sis to say! Hint: it's the telco that did not offer preregistration this round for iPhone 4S purchase.

We are happy people. The battery life, you need to configure something like what I did on iOS5 on 3GS too. Configure it right, and the battery will last....

If you are on the train or on the streets, how to you differentiate a iPhone4 and iPhone4S?
Look at the top side of it. The 'slit' for the 4S is on the side. The 'slit' for the 4 is on top. ;-)

The iPhone Queue starts at Orchard Road

Aha! The madness begins yet again.
Fans of the iPhone4S have started to queue up, and I wonder what time they have been there!

I was passing by Paragon at 5:35 pm earlier today and I saw these people already waiting in queue for the phone.  Young and old, they are all in the queue!



These two young teenagers are probably the first 2 persons to get the phone from telco M1.
Some folks in Singapore would have already bought it from the 'grey market'.




The queue is not as bad as I thought.
It's shorter than the recent H&M queue!




Hmm. This is not my current telco for my phone, but it's the telco for my fibre line.
I wonder if I should jump telco! My 'green' telco has not been particularly nice recently. 

I have a feeling that all the telcos have been given limited sets, probably too few thats why M1 and Starhub are not doing pre-registration. Singtel's preregistration ended a short while after it started stating it's sold out.

I am still thinking if I should get the new iPhone. Maybe when I have decided, it's sold out!
The wife's gonna get hers!

Singapore Writers Festival

KopiKosongGirl (previously known as Momo in this blog) and I attended one of the events at the Singapore Writers Festival yesterday.

It was a Panel Discussions titled: Drooling over Food Porn: How to Write Deliciously.
The title was already titillating? LOL



Singapore Writers Festival is back.
There are free events, events that needed the Festival Pass and many other ticketed events.

One thing that we must say though, we could not get tickets as easily as I thought it would be! Probably because we are last minute people. We wanted to attend events that needed the Festival Pass.

Sistic was suppose to the place to get tickets so we went the Sistic outlet at Wisma Atria and we were told they don't sell it anymore. Huh? How can it be? There was another person beside us who wanted to get it too! We walked out of Wisma and saw the TicketCube box. The helpful ladies there also could not help us as the event had been taken out of the Sistic system.

We did not give up and decided to go the Singapore Writers Festival main venue at the Singapore Management University. If you want to get the Festival Pass, the Sistic temporary booth there sells it!

The main venue (in a big white air-conditioned tent) has books for sale, author's autograph tables, and also a venue for book readings. We heard book readings that is so captivating there!





About the Drooling over Food Porn: How to Write Deliciously Panel Discussion, Damian D'Silva,  Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan and Christopher Tan were talking about their food writing experiences. Very enlightening and funny as well. With K.F. Seetoh of MakanSutra as the moderator, any bored moments were quickly added with more flavour!

The audience asked appropriate, funny and yet intelligent questions, which added to a very enjoyable panel discussion.  It was part serious, part humorous. It was an hour that was worth spending. We were kept quite entertained! If only it was a 2 hour session!

We are still looking at sessions that we want to go since we paid for the Festival Pass. ;-)

A Small Shell Petrol Kiosk

Most Petrol Kiosk in Singapore are fairly big.

In fact, one petrol kiosk near where I live has recently been torn down and they are building over it shops and studio apartments. I was quite shocked that they can fit in 41 shops where the petrol kiosk used to be!





This is up to now the smallest petrol kiosk I have seen in Singapore. Well, there may be smaller ones.

It reminds me of the petrol kiosk you see in small Malaysian towns.
Come to think of it, if you are traveling in rural Australia, it is also so small!

Sungai Buloh Wetland Reserve

It was so silly! Momo and I were at the Sungai Buloh Wetland Reserve, but we did not go and have a walk! When we got there, we realise it is almost dinner time and we need to be back home for dinner!

Don't be like us! Plan your time correctly next time!



We just took 2 photos and we left!
Civilization in the midst of the deep jungle!




We shall be back another day, we want to walk and see the species of plants and animals that call this place home.

SIN: A Singapore Instagram Exhibition

More about Instagram and the Singapore 'Chapter'.
There's currently an Instagram Exhibition at the National Library.

A collection of photos taken using the Instagram App on the iPhone.
It's being curated by Mr Goh Eck Kheng, Dr Tan Ngiap Heng and Mr Chia Aik Beng.



It's been going on for a weeks now and it would be ending at the end of this month.
No, I don't have any photos there, only the better ones are there ;-)


Date: Saturday Sep 17, 2011 - Sunday Oct 30, 2011
Time: 05:00 PM - 09:00 PM
Venue: Level 8 - Promenade in National Library Building

Instagram Singapore

If you are an iPhone user, you might have Instagram installed on your mobile phone.
With Instagram, you follow each other and like or comment on their photos.

It is so convenient that I think I am a bit crazy at times, taking photos and posting it on Instagram almost daily!





The Instagram community has grown quite a bit and there's kind of like a Singapore 'Chapter' to it.
Last weekend, I thought it would be fun to meet up with some people I follow on Instagram!

It's fun yet a bit scary as you have never met them before!
Are you also on Instagram? You can follow me at 'keropokman'.  ;-)

If you don't use the iPhone, you can now also view Instagram photos on the web!
Here's my Instagram photos if you are interested!

TicketCube @ Orchard Road

I noticed one evening that there was a outdoor structure that keeps changing colour on Orchard Road.
I wondered what it was and took a few photos of it.

I got home and did an online search. Oh, it's a one stop ticket shop! Looking from the other side of the road,  I thought it was just some new advertisement campaign with elaborate structure on Orchard Road.



It is something similar to London's Leicester Square, or TKTS Discount booths in New York City.



Finally! A 1 stop shop where you can get tickets from the 4 major ticketing service providers, ApeSnap, Gatecrash, SISTIC and TicketBooth.

Sometimes you wished that ticketing can be consolidated instead of being handled by different companies for convenience sake. But I realized that the because of competition, ticket charges are not so expensive. You know which company charges quite a bit for 'handling' charges.



Do you think the design looks like sugar cubes stacked on top of each other?



Which show will you like to watch?

ChunkFest 2011

It was a super hot and humid day earlier today, yet we went outdoors to have ice cream!

If I heard correctly, there was already 12 thousand people who have visited the Chunk Fest!
I guess people love their ice cream!



We were there with some friends. In fact many groups of friends were there!
It was a fun time eating ice cream! Bought $10 worth of FairCoins.




There were many things happening there, but I guess the most interesting event when we were there was the Vermonster Bucket challenge.

Somehow I knew this group will win and I took photos of them. They did win!




Look at how they finish up the bucket of ice cream!


Took most photos using the phone app called Instagram.
If you want to see those photos of this event, click here: http://extragr.am/tag-images/keropokmanchunkfest2011 

The FairCoins were rather cute!

Sultan Mosque

The Sultan Mosque or Masjid Sultan in Malay might be the most photographed mosque in Singapore. It looks so grand and beautiful and sometimes imposing too!

It looks good day or night and during the evening when the sun sets, it looks glorious! Information on Wikipedia says it is considered one of the most important mosque in Singapore.



It's designed by Irish architect Denis Santry of Swan and Maclaren. It took 4 years to be built and was completed in 1928.

It has been gazetted as a national monument on 14 March 1975.

I just realised that quite a few religious buildings in Singapore has been designed by this firm Swan and Maclaren. For example: Chesed-El Synagogue, Church of our Lady Lourdes, St Joseph's Church, Prinsep Street Presbyterian Church.

SMRT Depot

Recently I noticed that the fences of SMRT Depot has been more secure.
After having their trains vandalised they announced that they are stepping up security.



Can you see the new shinier fencing that is replacing the older green and shorter one?

Botanic Gardens Bukit Timah Gate

A new gate opens!

The Singapore Botanic Gardens have a new gate called the "Bukit Timah Gate" that's ride beside the Botanic Gardens MRT.



I am wondering, why are all the "big gates" at all the different entrances / gates always closed?
Visitors all have to enter by the side gates to get in.

A closed gate is good for photography though. ;-)

I like the design of this gate. Big and small squares.
How many squares can you spot?

SMRT Carnival @ Holland Village Station

The Circle Line fully opens today and there's a carnival at the Holland Village station.
These two photos were taken in the evening.



Some time ago, when the authorities said that there's going to be a "Real" park instead of a "car" park, many people wondered how is it possible to have a park? Isn't the area too small?

By the looks of it yesterday, it seems it is a good idea to have a park there! It's not that big, but the greenery's a good change. Looking at trees and grass does makes the place more pleasing.



Earlier in the day, a group of "makan kakis" went for a Circle Line makan trail. It was fun to eat and also meet some 'twitter' friends in person!

Let's hope more lines and stations will be built. I am waiting for the station that's being constructed near by home to be ready. 5 more years of waiting!

Ships in Singapore...

If New Zealand is known for all the sheeps there in their countryside, Singapore would be known for the ships that is around the southern seas of the island.

I really wonder at any time, how many ships are on Singapore waters and the international waters around Singapore.

The following photo was taken from Sentosa Island. When you fly into Singapore during the day time, look out the window, you can see lots of ships on the southern seas of Singapore.



See the little island after the ships? I think that is Pulau Bukom where Shell has its oil refinery in the world. There was a fire there recently and it's good that the fire lasted only 32 hours.

Circle Line Open House.

Last Saturday evening, Momo and I went for the last two hours of the Circle Line Open House. It was a really last minute decision, since it's free and we could get to see the stations first before it officially opens.

This is probably the nearest Circle Line station from our home. We need to take around 30 minutes of bus ride to get to this station. Kind of far isn't it? To get to the nearest East West line, it takes around 5 minutes less.

One of the reason why we are 'bus people'.



Back to the Circle Line Open Day. Wow, it's unbelievable how many people are at all the different stations! It was so packed! Stations were not very ready, but they had 1 more week to spruce things up. It was a nice ride though. Circle Line trains seems to run faster too.

As a software engineer, so proud that software powers the train. The trains are driverless, all powered by software. Just wondering, how neat the codes are written!

Mr and Mrs Shrek

A photo to liven up your week!

Introducing Mr and Mrs Shrek!
Momo and I visited them again at Universal Studios Singapore.



We are kids at heart and always feel good visiting Universal Studios.
Mr and Mrs Shrek in Universal Studios Singapore has bodyguards!

Just wondering, which weekend we will go visit other characters again.

Avalon @ MBS

There are two floating structures or they call it Crystal Pavilions at the Marina Bay Sands complex.
One crystal pavilion houses the  LV Island Maison. Avalon occupies the southern crystal pavilion.



The design attracts me and don't you think the buildings are 'photogenic'?
I took this photo last Friday afternoon.

One of these days when I am not rushing, I'll get into both buildings. Yes, they are both designed by Moshe Safdie.

Luge and Skyride at Sentosa

Few days ago, I was participating in a 'scavanger hunt' at Sentosa and I discovered quite a few interesting things to do. I have never taken the Luge and Skyride at Sentosa and found it very fun!



I probably will come again for this Skyride.
Find it very therapeutic hanging in the air while enjoying the views around.

I always wish Singapore has a nice 24 Celsius temperature all year round.  That would make outdoor activities so much more comfortable!

If you would like to find out more, check out this site:
http://www.sentosa.com.sg/en/attractions/imbiah-lookout/sentosa-luge-skyride/

Just before F1 starts

It's almost the F1 season in Singapore and the roads have closed and caused some inconvenience to the people working near the F1 track.

Momo (the wife) has to wake up early and take a different route to her office the last few days. The buses stops far away and everyone has to walk all the way or join in the super packed trains. Yes, she's complaining like many others.



While she is complaining, she's also looking forward to road closures. She enjoys walking in the evening looking at people setting up whatever is needed for the show to work.  She says it's only once a year that she gets to walk in the middle of the road!

While walking around, she has been taking photos. The above, camera testing going on, probably for viewers around the world to watch the race.

International Year of Forest

I was walking around town (Orchard Central) and saw a poster that says this year 2011 is International Year of Forest.  The United Nation has a website for it: http://www.un.org/en/events/iyof2011/

Hmm I did not know that, and I sometimes wonder if it will make any difference when most people do not really care. I guess exposing people to it might slowly educate people.



What caught my eye was the Chinese Calligraphy. Not the nicest calligraphy around, but one of the word is my family name.

Anyone knows if furniture in Singapore has labels that says it has been from a sustainable source?

Cylon or Human

The wife and I  went to Universal Studios Singapore over the weekend again.
We bought an 'Annual Pass' and had to make it more worth it by going in more often.



We took a few rides except this one.  We enjoyed looking at people scream their heads off. It's not only us, everyone there seems to enjoy looking at them scream!

Both of us are too 'chicken' to take the ride, but we just say "I know you are afraid, so I won't take the ride too". We timed it, it's a bit more than 90 seconds for the ride. Hmm...

If you have taken the ride, how is it? Which is more exciting? Human or Cylon?

Home Just Got Closer

Once in a while, we have 'these' booklets delivered to all our homes to influence our thinking to the way we "are" to be in Singapore.



Oops, someone at home said, more propaganda.

We flipped through it, it's quite an interesting read.
Err... we at home still prefer to flip through the Ikea catalogue that came just a few weeks ago!

Was the railway, no more tracks...

The railway tracks near Rifle Range are gone!
Only the stones are left.

This was taken this morning and there's someone walking along it.



Wondering how it will end up eventually. Will the stones be removed?
The next photo shows the stones section further away has been sort of scraped off.



Around 10 mins walk from where this photo is taken is the Bukit Timah Railway Station.

Bukit Timah Railway Station and the area around it will be opened to the public tomorrow - 16 Sept 2011.

Enjoy the walks!