indoor golf

A friend bought a Groupon deal ($38 for 1 hour of golf with free coaching) for MaxSwing Indoor Golf, so we went to have a swing at it.  MaxSwing is located at Level 4 of Orchard Central. Prior reservation is required.

golf simulator room

computer screen

panel that controls the height of ball

Our coach turned out to be Mr David Lim Yik Ong, a multi-talented man. He won the inaugural 1st Malaysian Senior Open in 1999. He's also into golf course design, in particular Malaysia and China. Affable and likes to joke.

We started off with some introduction from the coach, his experiences and our exposure to golf. Our exposure to golf? Zilch. Zero. Of course, I can't count my experience in playing the PC version of golf, right? At least I know what's a bunker, sand, wood or a fairway! Hahaa!

Anyway, next he briefed us on some of the basic information about the clubs. We did some basic exercises before having our first go at swinging the clubs. Got to know the open-shut technique to swing. Rolling the knees from right to left.

David and me

Sad to say, I don't have any natural born talent in golf. The swing was awkward (maybe thousands of swings later, I should improve?), can't aim properly (the ball was just right in-front but I was swooshing the air!) and much less driving the ball to where it's suppose to go. -_-'''



Nevertheless, it was fun.


Here are some links to Mr Davd Lim:
http://www.asm-singapore.com/playerprofile.asp?sortby=LastNameDesc&offset=180&PlayerID=202
http://www.championsgolf.com.sg/contact.html

special encounter

Was in the shuttle bus yesterday and up came a special child. He was small and thin, and had to be carried by his maid. He had a hearing aid on his ear. He was wary of strangers and so did not return my smile the first time. Then the bus started moving. He'll steal glances and I'll smile. But still, he did not show any response.

Then, he started making some small short sounds. Each time he did that, I'll look at him and give him a response like a smile, a nod etc. Then he pointed to the window (I was at the window seat). The window had curtains drawn. So I lifted the curtain abit and he can see the road and cars and whatever that we passed by then. For a few seconds only, and then I moved the curtain back to original position. He looked at me, I smiled at him. Then, he pointed to the curtain again (probably trying his luck). So we repeated the same thing. Lifted the curtain abit, he saw the lights outside, then I closed it back. It was like a game.

In the beginning, the idea was to give this child some form of control....since he doesn't have much control over his bodily movements.  Think he enjoyed 'remote controlling' me pretty much! Hahaa. Because after three or four repeats, he had a smile on his face whenever our eyes met.

Our journey together was short. Probably less than 10 minutes. But when it was time to get off the bus, I mouthed 'byebye' and he did the same and gave a big grin.

conversation

Went to an ex-colleague's wedding. Our table consist of people that we're familiar with and 2 person whom we're not familiar with. Nearing the ending of the dinner:

YH: Was he married when he was in the company or before? (talking about the groom's previous marriage)
Me: Err.. not sure....
YH: I think it was before he joined....
Me: Err.. let's not talk about it. It's all in the past!
Others: Yea.. it's in the past already!


Maybe I tend to think too much.. but what's the point of bringing up about previous marriage when the occassion is to celebrate the groom's current union with his wife?

homecooked food and mid-autumn

While back at home in Kajang, how can I not request for home cooked food? But alas, we were in a middle of shifting house (the DIY bit by bit kind of style), so environment not quite conducive for cooking. My sis made homemade char siew though.

homemade char siew

pork belly char siew so yums!

She said the pork belly in its raw form costs RM15. Meaning, that plate of char siew would've cost like, maybe RM25 when cooked? Wah...

homecooked food with char siew, vege, rice and soup. The roasted goose was flown in from HK

For 中秋节 (mid-autumn festival), we had steamboat (with specially requested item: steamed fish) and of course, mooncakes.

steamboat

steamed fish :)~

After dinner, we waited for quite a bit (because too full!) before starting on the mooncakes.

mooncakes, yam, ling kok and tea

this is called '菱角' or ling kok in cantonese or chinese water chestnut in plain English

coconut flavoured mini-mooncake

mango and matcha jelly 'mooncake'

teochew mooncake

traditional 金腿(nuts and ham) mooncake (mom's favourite)

pandan flavoured lotus paste mooncake

Ok, I think I had eaten one whole year's worth of mooncakes!

wash it all down, with copious cups of hot tea

Hope your Mid-Autumn was equally fun!

travelling home

Taking the train for the first time since the abolishment of the Tanjong Pagar Railway Station. Nowadays, the train is taken from Woodlands CIQ. Just need to alight at the usual taxi stand at the Woodlands CheckPoint, then go up and queue. Think they'll only allow the people to go to the immigration counters about half hour before train departure. Go through the Singapore customs first, then go through the Malaysian side and wait for the door to open before going into the train.

economy seats with 'superior' tickets

chugging along the tracks

Train travel is now slower than ever.. minimum 7 hours. And for some unknown reasons, the morning train does not stop at Kajang anymore. Instead, need to alight at Seremban (one stop before Kajang), buy the kommuter ticket and take the kommuter train to Kajang (!). Side note to non-MY readers: Kommuter trains are like the shorter MRT trains (probably just 6 carriages) but running on railway tracks. Just our luck, our train reached Seremban an hour late, so by the time we managed to buy the stupid kommuter tickets, the kommuter had already left and we got to wait for another half hour... @%&#%!

waiting for kommuter.. next train, 30 minutes later *sobs*

need to pay another RM4.60? (insert own curse n swear here)

Anyways, made it home nonetheless. This time round, we were tasked to help shift stuffs from old house and clean up the new one.

But of course, that also included eating lots of local food!

how about a sinful plate of char kway teow?

yummy glass of plum lime juice

going home

Will be away for a while. Haven't been home since... well, many months! Time to make a trip back. Homecooked food, here I come! (hmm.. I hope someone is cooking... )

Hahaha, Happy Mooncake Festival my friends. Monday, Moon, Tea, Pastries and Lanterns (optional). Have fun and take care! See you on Tuesday!

let it rain

life

Albert Camus once said, "Life is a sum of all your choices..."

I think, I couldn't agree more.

next path

You know. Taurians are supposed to dislike changes. And I do agree. We're kind of contradictory animals. On one hand we don't really like routine mundane stuffs but on the other hand, we don't quite like the new and unknown either. What a dilemma...

This path of work, is coming to an end soon. If I quit now, it would be by choice. If not, then you can call it as, "by nature..."

Which path do I take now?

Fort Canning

Fort Canning. The place synonymous with ROM (Registrar Of Marriage). Today was the first time I'm going there for a full moon party.

looking for directions

saw some two guys trying to take the gun away from the mannequin while the sign says clearly "No Touching"

yup, the venue for the party

yay, party balloons

Actually, would've missed the place if Ray's dad hadn't called out. Hehehe. So nice that uncle remembered how I looked like.

Baby Vella was awake, and everyone was fussing over her. So cute with her little white hairband and pretty little dress. But after two hours, the baby grew tired and she promptly fell asleep. But still, everyone wanted to hold her and take her pictures!

mini cupcakes and red eggs

After the party, went around Fort Canning and took some pictures.

some art installation

more arty stuffs, but i felt it was kinda eery, with stuffs hanging from trees....

random tree from far

random flower from random tree nearer

the fort

the gate

patch of green grass for picnic, perhaps

forever - ssnd

for what

A question that kept on replaying itself. Looks hypothetical. Surreal. Answerless. At least, for me there is no answer.

But there is a saying, "If you want it, there are hundreds and thousands of reasons.. likewise, if you don't want it, there are also hundreds and thousands of reasons." Like the another saying (perhaps Chinese?), "Angel is you, devil is also you."

But still... there is no purpose. Why flog a dead horse. If it is impossible to happen, then why put in effort in the first place? Self-hypnotism? Just to convince ourself that at least had tried? What good is that? The outcome is still the same.

Counsellors always tell people to engage in more positive self-talk. Seems like I'm going the opposite direction. Such vicious cycle! But it is hard to be positive nowadays. Not when bad news, or certain reality stares at you straight in your face.

Macau/HK trip food compilation

shrimp roe wanton noodles

century egg with ginger

roast goose

bird nest soup with hashima and lotus seed

dong po beef balls (unexpected find)

egg tart

chargrilled chicken

pork chop bun

dry stir fry beef hor fun

beef brisket noodles (yummy)

milk tea (too milky!)

yummy red bean sponge cake from Kee Wah bakery

slowly...

Went to the ATM this morning. Checked the balance and withdrew some money. As I was walking back towards the MRT station, a question came to mind. "Did I retrieve the card?" The last I remembered was looking at the receipt. So I checked my wallet. Yup, card is safely inside. Then a few seconds later, another question came to mind. "Did I collect the money?" Hmmm.. can't recall. So once again, I opened the wallet and yup, the money is inside. Wow. Talk about short term memory. The span of time was just a few minutes. Yet, I can't remember those details.

Then I went to eat my lunch. Fiddled with my phone a bit while waiting for the food. Food came, and I ate. Left after that. As I was walking away, I noticed that my mobile wasn't in its usual place in my tote. "Oh no.. did I leave it on the table just now?" Went back to the table to check. Nope, not there. So opened up my bag and sure enough, the phone was inside the main compartment. Didn't realise I had thrown it inside there...

Next, I went shopping. Looked at some Korean instant noodles, snacks etc. Spent like 20 minutes inside the shop before making my purchases. When I was about to pay, suddenly noticed that I did not zip up the tote. I always zip up my tote bag! Luckily, wallet was still in there.

Gosh. So many times in a day.

Macau new post

Macau Day 2 posting is up! It's a day trip to Hong Kong from Macau via ferries. Once in HK, our mode of transportion was MRT and walking. Lots of walking...

It's also a day of high costs. Think I've spent about SGD$130 on food, ferry rides and MRT. Enjoyable nonetheless. Experienced torrential rain and rough ferry ride.

Terracota Warriors @ Asian Civilization Museum

Happy 46th Birthday, Singapore! And to mark this occassion, Asian Civilization Museum is having a free admission day today including to its special exhibit.

Reached museum at about 1040am, and there was a queue already formed.

long queue at the entrance to exhibition halls

There was a sign downstairs that states the waiting at the gallery is approximately 60 minutes.

we're turning to the left although entrance is to the right, because it is a snaking queue....

something to amuse the kids.. terracota jigsaw puzzle

model showing assembly line to create terracota figures but take a look at the sea of people downstairs.. yup, that's the queue!

After 45 minutes of queueing, finally we went into the exhibition hall only to find another queue to enter the special exhibition section. ZzzzZzz....

queue again...

Waited for another 10 minutes before we managed to enter.

picture of actual tomb site

terracota figures

the General stands in front, has a distinctive headdress and is taller than the rest

kneeling archer, Qin Dynasty

look at the details of his shoe soles

carved doorway from a tomb, Eastern Han Dynasty

bronze vessels; washer and kettle (top shelf), food vessel and steamer (lower shelf)

collection of animal figurines

There's also a modern art installation at the exit/entrance to the exhibition halls (means first space after queueing for 45 minutes).

Left the museum at about 1245pm and there was a super long queue that extended till the outside of the museum. Wow...

Here's a wiki link to learn more about Terracota Warriors.