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!