Travel to "Teochew Land", Shantou(汕头), China Part 2

Time really flies..today is the last day of this month and I almost missed to keep to my target of putting minimum one blog a month.


Let me try to catch up from where I left off.


In Shantou, there are many temples. In fact, about 70-80% of our places of interests are temples.
The below pic is an example...



You have to read the name of the temple yourself as I cannot read the 3rd word..(it's like Dragon' Spring..something).




The special' thing about this temple is right at the entrance.Many people treat it as a wishing well..me too, I threw in some RMB. However, according to our tour guide, there is a belief for folks around there..If you wana have baby..especially baby boy..you must go and touch the boys' backsides...!!


I was a bit skeptical..but thanks to my niece Shiya, I  managed to join in the fun! We shall find out if the belief here is really true in time to come ;)


The other temple that we went too..its special too. They do not just use incense sticks and candles, they also use firecrackers here! I have never seen so much firecrackers altogether at the same time!





In fact, they do have a proper designated firing point for you to set off the firecrackers. Safe! 






Thats all for temple for now. I will try to finish up the whole of my Shantou trip over the next few days..please bear with me..

Travel to "Teochew Land", Shantou(汕头), China

I am a Teochew just like my parents and grandparents, but all my life, I did not manage to visit my grandpa's homeland until early this month. It is made more easy with Jetstar Asia opening up a new direct flight from Singapore to Shantou Airport.



In fact, it was so easy that even my little toddler niece, Shiya, managed to tag along with her grandparents on this trip!



Our travel agent was very mindful that after the flight,we should be very hungry. Therefore, its very nice of them to get us straight to a traditional Teochew Restaurant(yes,that is the name of the restaurant after translation) for lunch 1st thing we got out of the airport.



It was a very simple meal of porridge with braised goose meat, preserved vegetables, salted eggs and oyster omelette. I was very hungry and rushing to devour my food, so not much pictures on food in this travel to share here. 


The destination after lunch was to go walk about in a garden..I will call it the 'Rock Garden' for easy reference..



Of course, my main purpose of this trip is not really to walk in parks nor go to temples..but some how, there seemed to be a lot of such places of interest on our iternary. I will very roughly go through these places if possible.







All these gardens look more or less the same to me..



Anyway, we did take a stroll along the riverside..the weather is pretty cool..



The following few pictures are from some of the scenes I saw during the trip..see if there are any that may be of interest to you.






I shall take a break here while I upload the rest of the photos. Do look out for part 2 and 3 of this series.

Of Blue Label & Free Ang Pow packets.

Chinese New Year is just round the corner..its just 2 more days to reach the Year of the Tiger!

Every year around this period before Chinese New Year, its always a very exciting period for me. The only differences this year boils down to 2 things:

1. This year, I am giving Ang Pow(red packets) instead of receiving it.
2. This year, I am on a training course till the eve of CNY with exams immediately after!

This means that this normally busy period is extremely busy for me as I am not left with much time for my own.

Being the 1st year that I will have to give out Ang Pow, I pay particular attention to Ang Pow packets this year. Every year around this time, banks and many retailers hand out free Ang Pow packets to their customers. I used to pass most of the Ang Pow packets to my friends and relatives as I don't really use much of it. This year,I retained most of them.

There is this very supportive UOB bank staff that gave me 18(180 pieces) stacks of Ang Pow packets. Hong Leong Finance gave me 4 stacks. Cold Storage gave me 2 stacks. I have yet to find time to collect from other banks and retailers,but hope to do so if possible. With so many Ang Pow packets..maybe I should be financially savvy to just put a $2 note in each of the Ang Pow :P~

At this same period, I managed to acquire 3 bottles of Johnnie Walker Blue Label for consumption during the CNY season. My main concern is whether I have time to enjoy it because of the upcoming exam..

Time, has become a very important component of my life..I wish I can have more of it.

Behind the scences of Singapore Airshow 2010

I recently had an opportunity to go behind the scene of the upcoming Singapore Airshow 2010 and would like to share some photos here.

In order to get to the venue,you'll have to drive into a private road: Aviation Park Road. This is the 1st private road that I know of in Singapore and I wonder how any private entity can own a road this long..

Of course,when I was at the venue itself, there were nothing much for me to see yet as the contractors were still in the process of setting up and building the various show booths.

Although I did not managed to see any aircrafts yet, I got to see a jet engine being delivered in its protective casing..

...and also some local Singaporean(ST Engineering) invention/production that arrived early..

I was hoping to see the planes instead... :(

Helping hands for Victorian Azri

Helping hands for Victorian Azri

Wishing all my Friends "Happy New Year 2010!"

As we live this last day of the year,

hopefully smiling from ear to ear.

Be it a year of tears or fears,

be it a year of happy cheers.

We've come to the last day of the year.

Seems like just a blink of eyes,

we talked about polar cap of melting ice.

See how time always flies,

just like the sea level will come to rise.

We've come to the last day of the year.

Good bye 2009, Welcome 2010!

This will be my special prayer,

to everyone of my visitor here.

May you be blessed with health & wealth,

may joy be around you & the ones you love.

Peace to the World of human race,

God save the Polar Bears too!

Please let the World be fill with Hope,

let there be nothing we cannot cope.

Happy New Year 2010!

<div>

Wishing all my Friends a very joyous Christmas 2009!

Dear friends and visitors to my blog,

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of you who helped me make this a good year. Merry Christmas to you and your family! Cheers!

Remember..if you drink, don't drive! ;)

Mr Chiam See Tong celebrates 25 years as Member of Parliament

Yesterday evening, I attended a dinner to celebrate Mr Chiam's 25 years as an MP for Potong Pasir. My whole extended family lived in the squatters of Potong Pasir more than 30yrs ago and I had very vague memories of the zinc-roofed house with a large square well in front of it. We had moved out to Ang Mo Kio and I believe when I was about 9 years old, that was about the time Mr Chiam 1st became the Member of Parliament for Potong Pasir(and for 6 consecutive elections).

Workers' Party had at least a table for the event,but I went with my family members. I was there early and by the time I entered the function's location at 7.30pm,most of the more than 1000 seats at dinner tables were filled up.

There were the traditional Lion & Dragon dancers and also Malay dancers awaiting patiently for Mr Chiam's arrival. Initially there was a false alarm and everyone behind stood up to try to get a glimpse of Mr Chiam when they thought he had arrived.
As the minutes trickled past 8pm, my sense of anticipation grew and I could not sit still at my table anymore. Instead, I decided to go join the crowd that had formed up at the cul-de-sac to welcome the MP. Every vehicle that drove past was subjected to the full scrutiny of the crowd who were expecting to see a Volkswagen Beetle. The surprise for me came when I was told Mr Chiam was walking over. I can see a group approaching from about 300 metres from where I was standing and I just ran forward..

I was feeling a few mixed emotions when I saw the above scene:

Unlike other MPs who usually turn up at functions late in their posh cars,this MP made me feel like its worth the wait.

Unlike the moment when I saw him won the Potong Pasir seat when I was about 9 yrs old, now at 74 years of age, Mr Chiam looks older than his age..the 25 years on my dinner ticket is not just a mere number.

Unlike other MPs who may need to surround themselves grassroots people in case of kerosene attack(s), all Mr Chiam requires is his wife to hold his hand and walk the way with him..I also feel at that moment that should there be any crazy fellow approaching with kerosene,he'll have to talk to my fists 1st..

I felt like part of a paparazzi team when I squeezed the shutter amongst the many other photographers..but I made very sure that he got ample space to walk freely while I took the photos.

As Mr Chiam approached the cul-de-sac,the crowd of awaiting residents rushed forward to give him a warm welcome. This was also the moment the Lions & Dragon and dancers roared to live under the furious beats of drums. The whole situation just reminded me of a rally on the night before the last election day where his supporters followed him all the way from the rally to Potong Pasir Town Council chanting his name.

Since most of the guests are residents of Potong Pasir, you can feel how much love and respect the residents have for their MP for the past 25 years.

When he gave a 10 minute speech on the stage, what I was most impressed with was that he started thanking everybody,including the cooks in the kitchen preparing food for all the guests..For what he said,I went behind to the kitchen to snap a photo. Mr Chiam may be physically weaker and unable to express himself as fluently like when he was younger, but the residents and supporters who have seen the legacy he had built are willing to strain their ears to listen closer to him when he speaks.
The next highlight for the evening was when Mr Chiam invited the rest of the opposition leaders present amongst his guests on stage for a toast.
The celebration, besides the events I had described was in co-operated with a concert where Mr Chiam sang a segment of the song "Rong Shu Xia" to the applause of many present.

At one point in time, two younger friends of mine came by my table and commented that the programmes are quite boring.. I pondered for a while wondering why I did not feel the same? Am I really growing older than I think I had?

To me,the concert was just a backdrop. The subject of celebration was Mr Chiam and the past 25 years with him in my Singaporean life has been an exciting roller coaster of passionate, fiery display of concern for the political well-being of Singaporeans.

To those who were bored during the celebration, it's just a night out of the past 25 years..enjoy the moment.

To those who commented that Mr Chiam could not speak properly..I hope you don't grow old or suffer a stroke while you are at it.

To Mr Chiam, thank you for your selfless contribution to our nation for the past 25 years and thank you for still trying your best. I wish you the best of health and will power to carry on the fight!