25 years

This month once again marks my birthday and-pardon me for the melancholia-is a reminder of mortality. My days have been spent teaching and being occupied with its various trappings, together with self-absorbing activities. I feel this great restlessness within me. Play and work all we want~but ultimately what do our lives count for?

As a sharp juxtaposition to the mood of the above, here is a recommendation of the following:

Fantastic Lebanese food and great ambience, both indoor and al-fresco. The waiter who served us is an Egyptian who conversed in Arab with his colleagues. Anyway, the cous cous was good, and I highly recommend it, whether vegetarian or not, together with its accompanying vegetable stew. Art had grilled chicken which is unlike any that we have usually eaten, and you get to taste well marinated chicken more than the grill. For starters, we had grilled eggplant together with pita bread, which is sourish and raw-tasting~not bad to date. If you have an average appetite, I would suggest you give the starters a miss and go straight to the main course.

Following the extremely full but palatial satisfying meal, we took a stroll to Clark Quay and had a drink at Forbidden City. Art chose this medicine-tasting banana-melon-rum mix which he insisted was good (no comments~i swallowed it quickly with my usual strawberry magarita). Overall it was not a bad night, I will certainly return to Sanobar again to try more Lebanese cuisine, and Forbidden City has a nice layout with music that is of the right volume and type. It was so unlike Tapas, which I persuaded my JC friends to venture with me two days before as a celebration as well: extremely expensive dishes that we did not wait for as more than an hour and a half had lapsed without our order giving a show. In the end, that night, we just left and dined at Manhatten Fish Market, which---served too much fried food too cold.

Latest 'glamour' shots of my baby

Haha, Pebs decided to try out my fresh new bedsheets before I did, twisting and turning to test its comfort level. Needless to say, my mum was less than pleased. Think Pebs is literally climbing all over my head. Just last night she was having a strange game balancing on my body ( I was sleeping face up flat) and walking up and down from the end of my stomach to my chest to sniff at my face. I was sub-consciously aware of a 3kg moving thing on 4 sharp legs squeezing the life of me and tickling my face with whiskers. If I am not wrong, she is pretending that I am dead and is experimenting with what it feels like to walk and prowl on a dead prey like a tigress.

My 2 recent local escapades

Geylang Serai-Hari Raya Celebrations





Ok, I remember years ago, a group of friends and I stumbled upon the Geylang Serai outdoor market when it was at its heat of preparation for Hari Raya. In the vague recesses of my memory, I thought that it was a very nice experience. So recently, I dragged Art with me to relieve the experience. Now about 10 years later, the market is undergoing a renovation (like Singapore is a country in perpetual construction can...it is never developed and in completion) and a temporary market is set up near the MRT. It is like a Pasar Malam times 100 and sprewn over several different directons. It is really really crowded and hot! And of course in my craze, I led the both of us into the thick of each crowd that I see in my demented and over-excited attempt to soak up the atmosphere of the events. Lots of Kerbaya and bedlinen and curtains on sale. We emerged from the experience bathed in sweat and dizziness. The photos suck, cos I am not good with night shots, and there were simply too many people around. And being the 'petite' sleuth that I am, as you can see, I could mostly capture only walking heads. The third photo is of Katong Complex whose surroundings is infested with outdoor shops.

Pulau Ubin-Chek Jawa


On the bumboat ride to Pulau Ubin-this looks so 'sua-ku' and touristy but oh well what's the harm right? *wink* =)

The oh-so-sute mongrel which greeted everyone with curiosity at the arrival hut. He was playing with the policemen there by trying to chew on their well-polished shoes. They tried to maintain their composure by gently nudging him away (while trying not to use force as I was staring hard at them). I fed him a bit of Art's mum's muffins =)

After trekking in a drizzle on a dirt-path for 40 mins, we FINALLY arrived at Chek Jawa (Look at Art's shagged face..hehe). All the other visitors whizzed past us on their bicycles, but due to the rain, there were long streaks of dirt all the way from their backs to their shorts, and overall, they formed a really raggedy and dirty-looking bunch (HA!)


On the Mangrove Boardwalk


Scenes from and of the Boardwalk



Verdict: Well overall it was a nice day out. We had dropped by the Greenhouse manned by the GVN first to drop off some dog and cat food for the strays at Ubin (Aside from being dirty, they are actually healthy looking with bright eyes and gullible guises). The walk to Chek Jawa itself is rather tiring, and I can't say that Chek Jawa itself is really worth the 40min trek, though of course it will be good for cyclists. The scenary is alright, not much of a deal, and I think Sungei Buloh is more interesting. But please do not take my 'tourist' gab seriously..ya know..the musings of a city gal who expects paradise upon a trek to nature. I think that this conservation initiative is of course a great one, in a country where heritage and nature is almost nothing compared to obsessive urban and consumerist developments.