Moon Watching

I have to send my aunty to the airport for her very early morning flight . Setting off at 4.30am,I was on my way back home by 5am. Along the way,I cannot help but keep looking at the moon.

I was totally mesmerized by the moon. There were no clouds in the sky and the moon on this 16th day of the lunar month was as bright as it could be. I was almost unable to keep my eyes on the road and I decided to get home as soon as possible to look at the moon before the sun takes over.

As soon as I was home,I quickly grabbed my camera and a glass of brandy..took a few pictures and enjoy my moon watching with sips of brandy. Looking at the moon bring back many flashes of memories..

Getting Married...(Wedding Dinner?)

About 5 months earlier, I made the decision to want to settle down and start a family with the girl that I love. My wedding date is set on 30th November 2009 and I thought I got all the time in the world to prepare for it.

Altough I had planned for a simple wedding, now with barely a month left,I seem to be running short of time. I have already more or less got the wedding album ready, finalized the wedding dinner location, got our wedding bands, contacted florist for all the flowers I need, getting to a photographer for the actual day..sounds like I am almost ready?

Maybe I should mention what needs to be done instead..

The guest list for the wedding dinner is quite difficult for me..I cannot just invite all the people I know. I want it to be a small simple event..in fact,a wedding dinner was not even on my plan originally. How did this idea took its roots on my wedding plan..? I think I probably can attribute it to a long-standing Chinese tradition to have a dinner to celebrate a wedding..hmm..why not just say its my mum's wish?

I started looking out for the smallest location I can find to hold a wedding dinner for my relatives and a few friends. After trying out a number of places..I thought I finally found the perfect location that can house the maximum of 15 tables..Peach Garden@ Novena Gardens. My mum violently objected to my proposal. Reason: no stage(for 15 tables)! Gosh..why do we need to have a stage for a wedding dinner?? Why can't I just sit and eat like everybody else?

The search is on again and I contact a friend of mine from the army whose father operate a restaurant: Beng Hiang Restaurant. I arranged for my family to go try it out during one of our dinners. The food is delicious, they can accommodate the small number of tables I requested and it's got a stage! Guess what? My mum complained that parking is inconvenient,have to walk through construction sites etc..etc..

I almost wanted to give up the idea(or rather my mother's idea) of holding a wedding dinner when one afternoon,while I was driving, this place suddenly popped up in my mind. It was a place that I frequented with my family since I was young, but stopped going in recent years since my grandparents passed away. I immediately told my friend beside me that we need to take a detour to go check out this place. This place is the same age as me,I already feel a certain affinity to it even before I reach it.

I arrived when they were having an afternoon break,but the captain wast there to answer my queries. I knew immediately that this is the location I want and should my mum reject my choice again, the dinner will be off my wedding plan. The only catch is that I need to get a minimum of 20 tables..well..my wedding plan just grew bigger :P

Anyway,allow me to be secretive about the location of this place until all my guest have receive their invitation cards..I promise I'll write about it later.

Let me move on to my guest list...and why its not so easy..

10 tables were assigned to my mum for all the relatives. So I need to plan for only 10 tables.. and I do so table by table..and it includes some of my collegues from Propnex, some senior agents from my ex-company McDowell Realty Network, Primary School friends, Secondary School friends, Junior College friends, Army friends, fellow Workers' Party members and also some friends whom we used to hang out a lot together.

It is very touching for me to have some of them replying my sms almost immediately with their address asking me not to forget to send them the invitation..etc etc..

Some replied asking me who I am because a few phone upgrades,they no longer had my number on their phones,but I called them back immediately and glad they recognize my voice still.

Some called back saying they cannot attend because they are getting married near my date(it is not auspicious for Chinese to attend weddings within say 3 months of their wedding date), or they are on overseas assignment.

Of course,there are some who have yet to reply. When I look at my list again,some tables are full,but some barely half filled and I don't intend to combine tables. .

Looks like I'll have to wait a few more days before I send out the invitation cards..

In the meantime, I'll have to look into the preparation of the Thailand side(my wife is a Thai)..and the furnitures, and the air-tickets,and the translator,and the upcoming visa application,alcohol purchase and 101 other things.

Special thanks to all my friends who offered their help..but a lot of the things that I require,I got to oversee them personally.

Yeah..I manage to keep up at least a blog update this month :)

F1 Singapore Night Race 25th-27th Sep 2009

My apologies for taking so much time to update my blog. I had wanted to strive to update my blog at least once a month and guess what? Today is the last day of the month..and updating my blog is not on my 'to-do' list!

If its not on my 'to-do' list and I do it,i'll consider it as 'fire-fighting'. Anyway,I have been busy being in direct participation in the recent F1 events and I would like to share with my readers what I saw behind the scenes. This,I believe even people who paid $5k for the sky suites tickets may not even get to see ;)

1st,the Pit Straight,one of the best locations especially if you want to look at the teams in the pit lanes. Being straight would also means the highest speeds is likely to be here(so is the start & end of the race)..one bad thing though..they were really so fast till you almost cannot see the cars when they zoom right past you. Here's a view of the Pit Straight from the Corporate suites.


Night view of the Pit Straight from the Sky Terrace..

Since this a night race,a lot of lighting are employed to illuminate the tracks..much more than last year. This is to ensure that its brighter to the video cameras(which is different to the human eye) covering the events for the world audiences. The following view is from Pit Entrance Grandstand.

In fact,the lights are so bright that they seemed to illuminate the whole town too..

One of the best places to watch the race from in hot weather Singapore is from the air-conditioned Club or Sky suites.From here,you have the option to go out thru a glass door onto the private outdoor grandstand should you wish to...

...if not,you can still enjoy your free-flow wines and champagne inside..you cannot bring any glasses out of the glass door for safety reasons..

Anyway,the original cost for a sky suite ticket was sgd$7500,but nearer the event,they did dropped the price to $5000. This makes the corporate suites very restricted in access due to the free-flow F&B.



The most restricted areas in this event is actually across the track on the opposite side: - The Paddock area.In this area, authorized people are issued a paddock pass and they will not care who you are,they will only recognize the pass. Security is especially tight in this area as the racing teams and their cars are located in the pits here.


The Paddock building at night..

Right beside the Paddock building behind the race offices,I came across 2 interesting areas. I always thought that they must have a gasoline station to supply fuel for the race cars,but I could not be more wrong. All these cars use very special fuel which is some what different from what our ordinary cars uses. They come in "200kg" steel oil drums and are stored inside air-conditioned containers..these rows of containers make up the Fuel Store.

Can anyone make a guess which is my favourite team?? :)


Next to the Fuel Store is this area known as the Gas Compound. Each team have their cylinders of gas ready.Nitrogen,Helium,Hydrogen..can you guess what they are used for?

When I heard that the cars arrived,I was so excited as I have never seen them for real so up close before..so I made a trip to the pits..

When I got there, my excitement was a bit dampened because the race cars are not unpacked yet :P


Anyway, the F1 night races in Singapore has been so far so good. The Singapore GP learned a lot from their maiden event last year and made improvements to this year's race.


I am very sure that the patrons to Singapore Night Race enjoyed themselves very much. Next year's F1 in Singapore could be the last time they will be using the Marina Bay Street circuit..I would like to invite you to come and soak up the atmosphere to get the full experience.
I am very glad to have the opportunity this year to go behind the scenes for the event; It makes me understand more how everything came together to make up this international event rather than just sit at home or at the grandstand to watch the race.

Happy Birthday Singapore!

T T Tan wishes Singapore and all its residents a Happy 44th National Day!

The run-up to Singapore's 44th Birthday.

Every 9th August is a significant date for my homeland..this little red dot on the map celebrates its 'birthday' on this date since 1965.

Visitors and residents alike will be able to feel this vibe in the air come August where a lot of households would hang the National Flag of Singapore on their public housing flats.

On top of the hanging of flags, you may have noticed that on the streets there are banners of different colour,shape and sizes to mark this yearly event. I still remember that when I was just a kid, this was how I 1st got to see the Singapore Emblem- the Coat of Arms.

The National Emblem was on almost all the banners hanging from lamp posts and also on the tiny triangular flags of various colours.

In recent years however(and I could not remember when it all started),probably due to the advance of technology and bigger and bigger budgets, the banners and even billboards put out to celebrate Singapore's National Day have all evolved to a point such that I would not be surprised if foriegn visitor should walk up to me and ask me if Singapore is going through General Election at this time!

Let's take a look at some of the banners/billboards you may see on the street this year..

We begin with the following banner I saw on a street near Kallang MRT: Dr Lee Boon Yang from Jalan Besar GRC,with little children from probably different races. Not a single word about Singapore,just focus on Jalan Besar GRC.



The banner I saw kind of makes me curious about what other banners I'll get to see, and especially in opposition wards too. The next estate I happen to visit: Potong Pasir (under MP Chiam See Tong)

The banner above has four adults and one child and no Mr Chiam See Tong on it. But the word 'Singapura' is on it..Then something else caught my attention. At the most central location in this little town, I saw this banner by Mr Sitoh Yih Pin:

hmm..or is it really by him?

Anyway, I thought that was all about banners I could see in Potong Pasir. However,as I was getting out,I managed to chance upon Mr Chiam's banner 'hidden' under a tree.He wishes all his residents a Happy 44th National Day.I was wondering why they do not place the MP's banner in the more central location..


After I seen the above,i was growing more curious and I head straight for Hougang.I entered Hougang from the swimming pool side and came across the billboard by Aljunied GRC(it sounds so much like election yah? :)
BTW,why is this blk 5XX in Hougang under "Bedok Reservoir Punggol"?

The MPs for Aljunied GRC with a lot of children(why do they prefer to place their photos besides children rather than ordinary adults?). Luckily,the bill board do state "Happy 44th National Day". I guess that is a form of wishing the resident bah'..

Right across the street,under opposition MP Mr Low Thia Kiang,this was exactly the kind of decoration i saw for National Day when I was a kid..no MP picture with many kids..My questions here are whether Hougang SMC has a tight budget(who pays for this kind of stuff anyway??) and wonder why Mr Low is not 'publicizing' himself like other MPs?

Banner of children(again) with no photo of Mr Low on it.


I went around the estate trying to find at least a banner with his face on it..but there just wasn't any.I did come across something interesting instead:

On the banner,also a Mr Low(but not the MP),wishes all residents a happy 44th National Day. If I do not know of Mr Low Thia Kiang, I may have thought that Mr Eric Low is the MP for Hougang instead!

Of course,I am sure many would be curious how PM's bill board may look like..


I wonder how AMK GRC can combine together with Yio Chu Kang SMC for such greetings..? Are they going to merge soon?Why not combine Aljunied GRC with Hougang SMC too? why not combine all estates in Singapore and make it a super big bill board?

Business trip to Shunde/Foshan, Guangzhou, China.

It is unusual for me to wake up early when I go on trips. Due to the long day ahead and the fact that we are taking the public transport to Foshan(佛山)in Guangzhou today, I woke earlier than usual.

1st,we take a public bus..

I noticed that every time the bus pulls into the last station,there will be cleaners cleaning up the exterior of the bus. Therefore even the air is more polluted,the bus still look cleaner as compared to Singapore..I wonder how often are our SBS buses given a wash..
The interior of the bus is clean and quite comfortable. No matter how far your destination,as long as you are on this route,you pay 2RMB..This is what I call "public" transport..

The bus interchange is at the famous Guangzhou Railway Station..I have never seen so many people walking about all together at the same time before I came here!

We had to take the inter-province' bus at the Provincial Bus Station nearby..

and arrived at Foshan Bus station..

and switched to take a taxi to get to Shunde..

In Shunde district is this approximately 10km(no,I did not type wrongly) stretch selling furniture..the Shunde Furniture Wholesale Market.

It looks something like this..many of them 3 to 5 times the size of Ikea Tampines stretching as far as the eye could see..

In fact, the interior of the furniture super-mall looks very posh and it was really out of my world to know that they are all selling furniture.

..and they classify each section by using the word "World"..not an over statement to me..

After ordering our furniture and confirming the delivery arrangements, we decided to make our way back using a different form of public transport: The Subway!

The thing that impresses me about the subway train service here is the free umbrella rental service. Riders who need an umbrella can rent it by placing a 20RMB deposit and can return it at any subway stations..seems like both bus and subway service is at least a notch above Singapore's "world class" transportation system..(note in the photo below inside the office the Chinese Characters "Service from the Heart"..can someone please teach SMRT these 4 words please?)


Anyway, this trip was finally concluded when all our orders were received and loaded into our waiting container at Nantian to ship back to Singapore..

Business trip to Haizhu, Guangzhou, China.

I have got some China friends here in Singapore. One of them wanted to open another branch for his eatery and wanted to go back to China to buy everything there as it is 5 times cheaper than if were to buy it in Singapore. All my China friends go back to buy due to this reason.

Out of curiousity,I decided to go with him to Guangzhou and we got the '2 to go' offer from Singapore Airlines to fly direct to Baiyun International Airport(白云机场). 

I was seriously not expecting the airport to be pretty modern,in fact, there were upgrading works going on when I was there.



We very quickly got to our hotel,just beside the Nan Tian(南天)Wholesale Market. The hotel is the only tall building in the vicinity named Guang Xuan Hotel(广轩大厦).
This is how my room looks like..

There is basically nothing much around there..Only the wholesale market..


And its really huge! Everything in China seems huge nowadays..

And from early morning to about 6pm..its always a hive of activities. People come from all parts of China and the world to buy China made products here.

Of course,our interest for this trip is in kitchen equipment and we spent a total of about 5 days shopping in this place.(i mean ladies..can you imagine guys shopping non-stop for 5 days??)

After Nan Tian, we also have to order furniture from another prefecture Foshan(佛山).

We decided to take the public transport so that we can compare if Singapore's public transport is really world class like what the operators have claimed.I shall share my report on the next posting.

A night of simple entertainment..

It was the eve of Vesak Day and I have been informed by friends in the drinking circle to 'fall-in' for a night of drinking at Good Cheers Pub.

Under normal circumstances,I would be very happy to oblige.. but I was still recovering from my illness and my body was loaded with a few kinds of medication, so I painfully declined the invitation.

Thus, my Friday evening started with a movie "the Ramen Girl"..it kind of tickled my funny bone such that my friend Alfred thought I was crazy. Straight after the movie, there was a very strong urge for me to eat ramen(you know,the other time alfred & myself saw a stingray swam past the screen,we had a strong urge to eat BBQ stingray too..and we did!), so me & my friend visited a Japanese Restaurant off Upp Thomson Road..Have not visited this place for a very long time, apparently, we over-ordered because we barely made it to 'last order'(..the group that came in after us was send back hungry..) and the irony was that we could not finish our 'ramen'.

After the 10pm dinner,we racked our brains thinking of any location(s) that we could go next without touching any alcohol. Seems to me like there are actually very limited night life in Singapore except drinking places. To cut it short, we ended up in Arab Street vicinity with the intention to smoke the shisha', carefully chose a Reis Turkish Cafe and was seated on a carpet inside.

Along came a 6yr old boy by the name Javier, still in his kindergarten uniform,sat himself down beside me and suggested playing a card came. Boy..his card game' is super boring & meaningless, but Alfred & myself took turns to entertain him while he kept telling us what is going to happen next in the movie on show(think he watched them many times over).My main concern was why Javier was hanging at a place like this since his schooling hours and why he was not tucked in bed yet(he sat with us till we left at almost 3am)? We later learned that his mum is the owner/operator/partner(something like that) of the cafe.

Javier is like a mascot of Reis Turkish Cafe, everybody seems to know him.When I saw Javier, I insisted Alfred to use his phone to snap a picture of Javier with me. He is a very nice kid, well behaved and well mannered..this some how brings out the 'fatherly nature' in me. It makes me feel like its about time for me to be a father! :P Well..I am still a few steps away..must find someone that I can marry 1st.

Maybe I should just make a trip down today to try the Turkish food..but hopefully i'll see Javier again.