ColinLand

Trip Pics Part II: Angkor Wat, Cambodia

2006-01-20T11:01:00.000+08:00

Picture riding in our tuk-tuk with Mr. Sinath, our driver.

Temple (I'm not sure which one, maybe Bayon?)

Doorway
View from the road

Tree vs. Temple - Who Will Win? (my guess is the Tree)

Delicious sunset from the top of a temple

Trip Pics Part I: Phuket, Thailand

2006-01-20T10:56:00.000+08:00

Leaving Singapore (we were flight TR152 leaving at 7am)

Patong Beach, Phuket

James Bond Island

Spelunking in the Phang Nga province

Coastal fishing town

Back!

2006-01-07T14:57:00.000+08:00

I haven't abandoned my blog, it's just been on a bit of a hiatus. But Blogging Is Back!

I'll get some pictures up of my Thailand, Cambodia and Hong Kong trip soon. It was lots of fun.

Colin

Goodbye Singapore

2005-11-27T12:46:00.000+08:00

I've been saying goodbye to all of my friends over in Singapore, and packing up my room, which somehow is overflowing with junk.

Tomorrow I leave for Phuket, starting my 3 week travelling vacation, so this should be the last update for a while.

Regards,

Colin

P.S. In the spirit of season, I updated the ol' blog with a special Christmas treat!

The Last Supper

2005-11-27T10:18:00.000+08:00

On Thursday I went for my last supper at Sheares Hall. I'm going to miss the delicious food cooked up from 10:30PM to 1:30AM every night. The tasty pancakes with strawberry syrup, the scrumptious chicken naans, and the crisply fresh lime juice. So good!

The Great Hall:

Cia, Christian and Alex:
The highlight of the evening was definitely getting a chance to say goodbye to Auntie and Uncle, who served us our dinners and suppers the whole term. They were both really nice folks, and they even let me go behind the counter for a pic!

Librarians and Busses

2005-11-16T20:19:00.000+08:00

Last night I went out for drinks with some of my dad's co-workers, some of whom may or may not have been librarians. They were all very nice! We went to the Raffles Hotel, and it was neat to walk around it some more, and check out the lobby.

On my way there, I stumbled across a Starbucks! If you look close enough, you can see a Christmas tree in the store! We didn't get a Christmas tree in our store!!

Here is one of their delicious posters. You may not be able to read their "Christmas drinks"; it's a Peppermint Mocha and a Toffee Nut Latte. So, I guess Singapore Starbucks' are a bit behind the times. We've had the Toffee Nut Latte in Vancouver a long time ago! But to be honest, they stopped giving toffee nut sprinkles to Starbucks' in Vancouver, so the popular drink couldn't be made. So for all the customers I had to told "sorry, NO MORE TOFFEE NUT LATTES!" come to Singapore!

The Christmas spirit is in the air:

Christmas lights along the street:

Even the busses have "Seasons Greetings: Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!" Which is funny because New Years is still what, 6 weeks away? Unless they are referring to Chinese New Year, in which case it's only about 10 weeks ;)

I will admit I had a bit of trouble with the bus last night. I went to exactly the same bus stop as I had gone before to go back to the university, and I got on the same bus. For some reason, the bus emptied really quick. Then the bus pulled into the bus depot, and the driver told me "End Of the Line!" I was a bit annoyed that the bus driver had deviated quite far from his proper route. Then I realized that I had got on the wrong bus, the 174, instead of the 143! But, then I got more confused. It seemed like the bus had gone the opposite direction that I needed. So, to go the right way, I had to cross the street and get on the bus on the other side. So I did (after almost taking the right bus the wrong way).

But the funny thing was, I made it home in less than half the time it should have taken from Raffles Hotel. So I ended up going the wrong direction, then crossing the street, but still getting home really fast. ??? Another Festivus miracle!

Update / Steven S.

2005-11-08T22:51:00.000+08:00

Hi everyone,

What's new in Colinland, you might ask?

I'm almost finished the term here! I have one more class tomorrow, then it's just a couple of projects and exams and I'm DONE! A-Booyeah!

I've booked my plane tickets for travelling at the end of the semester!! The plan:

November 28th: Heading Phuket, Thailand (then over to Cambodia, Bangkok and maybe some other places too)
December 13th: Back to Singapore
December 14th: Over to Hong Kong
December 20th: Vancouver!

On a slightly unrelated note, I don't usually use the ol' blog as a soapbox for reccommendations, but in this case I think I'll make an exception. Steven Seagal recently released his first music album, entitled "Songs from the Crystal Cave".

Let's be honest, is a great album? Well I don't think so, although I've only heard 30-second sound bites from Amazon. He has a pleasant voice, if nothing else. And there are some reggae-infused tracks, which is what I was hoping for. A few years ago the word on the street was that Steve was making a reggae album. But then he went to jail or something and nobody heard from him for a couple of years. The verdict? It's not entirely reggae, so it loses points for that. But it features some killer cover art and Steve's smooth-as-silk voice, so it's worth a listen. Plus, "Girl, It's Alright" is pretty catchy. I give it 3 1/2 stars out of 5.
Go to Amazon France here for sound clips of all the songs!

Update: Some high-quality sound clips available at Steve's website, www.stevenseagal.info

My BDae Partee

2005-11-04T00:04:00.000+08:00

I had a small gathering with some folks from Sheares Hall to ring in my 20th a few days ago on October 31st. We went to the rooftop of one of the residence blocks. As you can see, it was off the hook!! Off teh hizzle!

From left to right: Gary, Steve-O, Sheri, Winson, Manuel and Cia:

Winson, Manuel, Gary and teh chips:

Me n' the gang:

It's That Time of the Year Again!

2005-10-29T22:22:00.000+08:00

Taken Oct. 29th, 2005:
Also taken Oct. 29th, 2005:
It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas in Singapore!

Colin the Rockstar Pt. 2

2005-10-27T23:35:00.000+08:00

Thursday night marked the second (and final) gig I had with the Sheares Hall band. This time we upped the stakes and travelled down to the very swanky Furama WaterFront Hotel, along with the rest of the performers under the Cultural Management Board umbrella.

We played for SSSS, or the Singapore Structural Steel Society. No joke, that's their real name, look them up!

Anyway it was another night of great fun, even if it was a tough crowd - my guess is they weren't there for the music.

Setlist:
Five for Fighting - Superman
Howie Day - Collide
4 Non Blondes - What's Up?
U2 - With or Without You

IMHO some of those songs wouldn't have been my first choice, but they all worked out well. We did a bit of a softer set in the hopes of appealing to our target audience.

So here are the pics!

Steven and I carrying our gear up to the Green Room (which wasn't actually green, as you can see):

Kenneth, Steven and I warming up.

Right before we are about to play:

This is me playin' the bass with my trademark "Concentration Face".

From left to right: Eley, me, Kenneth, Steven and Wen Lee, during What's Up.

A shot of us with the conference room and our SSSS friends in the background:

Making our exit out of the hotel:Back at Sheares, I finish off the night with another fresh juice - this time it was lime. Mmm fresh juice is delicious!
---> BONUS! ChEcK iT oUt!!! <---

Here is a videoclip of us performing Superman: Right-Click Here and Save to your Hard Drive!

The Shining Trailer

2005-10-25T17:05:00.000+08:00

Theatrical trailer for the Stanley Kubrick hit the Shining:
http://www.ps260.com/molly/SHINING%20FINAL.mov

Definitely worth a download.

(Thanks, Ian and ODK :)

Toilet Troublez

2005-10-24T10:01:00.000+08:00

Today: A retrospective of the toilets in Singapore.

Before coming here, in the travel books I had read about government officials who posed as washroom patrons, but instead were posted in b-rooms to dish out hefty fines to people who neglected to flush public toilets. Alas, I have yet to come across one of them (but I always flush). However, I do see a lot of these neat posters.

This one is particularly poignant, as the floors are often wet:

This one plays off a universal truth:
And I can't even count the number of times I've accidentally got my foot lodged in the toilet bowl after squatting over it:

Here's a shot of my residence bathroom. They spruced it up nice with some potpourri and a nice potted plant in the far corner:
I also like the inspirational posters on each of the toilet/shower stalls:

There you go! Toilets in Singapore!

The Most Delicious Juice in the World

2005-10-23T19:04:00.000+08:00

Last night I went out to a Thai restaurant, and I drank The Most Delicious Juice in the World.

Actually I had two kinds, the first was Orange/Tangerine and the second Grapefruit. Both were very delicious - you could taste that they were made from real fruit, and they were very fresh and refreshing.

Raffles Hotel

2005-10-19T22:05:00.000+08:00

On the weekend I went to the Raffles Hotel, which in my opinion is one of Singapore's top natural heritage buildings, mainly because it is so old (150+ years). It's also the only landmark of Singapore's that I had heard of before coming here. S'pore landmarks are kind of a big deal for me, because I'm taking a Singapore geography course (Course tag SSA2202 for those of you who want to browse the course syllabus on the NUS website ;).

Rudyard Kipling and Joseph Conrad both have stayed there, which is a source of pride for the hotel. Booyeah!!

But the asking price for most rooms is $500USD and up. That's USD folks, not S (Sing dollaz)!

Anyway, it was nice visit, and they light it up nice at night:

-C

Bandstravalaganza!

2005-10-12T20:54:00.000+08:00

Last night was Starlight Rhapsody, a celebration of culture at Sheares Hall! Bands, drama, dancers, other stuff, it was neat! It was held just outside the lobby of our residence.

My band, the Fresh Tomatoes, did a cover of Under the Bridge by the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Thanks to the wonders of technology, you can actually listen to the song while your browse da blog!

Thanks, technology!

Anyway it was lots of fun. I've never played bass before so that was kind of tricky, but good tricky. And we really r0cked 0ut, so we were well received by the audience, which was also a plus! Hutch!!

Below: gettin' ready to go out on stage!

Below: The Fresh Tomatoes, from left to right: Steven (from UBC!) on guitar, Norman (from NUS) on vocals, me on bass, and Wen Lee (from NUS) on the drums.

Below: Kickin' out the jamz at Starlight Rhapsody

Close Call

2005-10-11T23:50:00.000+08:00

So y'all may have noticed some tasty changes to the blog.

That's right, the width has been increased so you can read it
without there
being two
words on
every line
(like this).

Also I changed the background colour! What do y'all think of dark dark blue?

But there was a close call when I was editing the HTML to increase the width. The width increased nicely, but so did the size of the font of all the post titles!!! So all the tiles were HUGE while the rest of the text was tiny. Uh Oh! Ohhh boy! There were a few intense minutes as I frantically scanned my HTML source code, hoping to find the problem. I tried resizing the fonts, but that didn't work! Oh man!

What happened next?

Tune in next time to find out!!

Below: We all wonder what happened next - how did the titles revert back to regular size?!? (P.S. yes, that is Cody on the left!)

New Developments

2005-10-10T22:07:00.000+08:00

C00l stUff:

1) I joined the band at Sheares Hall! That was exciting. Tomorrow is our first show, along with all of the groups under the cultural management board (CMB) at the hall, so that includes band, dance, a cappella, and drama. Booyeah!

2) I'm incorporating more of the local slang into my speech! This includes:

a) parts of Singlish, like saying "lah" a lot, which loosely translates into the Canadian "eh". So, par exemple, by answering the question "Can you come out for dim sum on Saturday?" instead of answering "Yeah that sounds good, eh!" I might say "Yeah that sounds good, lah!"

b) other Singlish, like answering a question efficiently by responding w/ "can" or "cannot". So instead of answering "Can you come out for dim sum on Saturday" by saying "Yeah that sounds good" I might just say "Can!"

c) or BOTH can be mixed, for my personal favourite. So one might answer "Can you come out for dim sum on Saturday" with "Can, lah!"

d) also I say y'all a lot more because of the American exchange students in my residence. ;)

Radioactive Kitten

2005-10-05T17:04:00.000+08:00

Room with a View!!

2005-09-22T20:46:00.000+08:00

As promised I'm putting some captions.

All of these pictures are from my mid-semester break. I travelled to the rainforest and Kuala Lumpur. The highlights were walking through the canopy of the rainforest (5om above ground, and it went on for 500m!) and the Chinatown night market in Kuala Lumpur.

During the day in Chinatown, there are tons of booths out with basically the same wares that are available at the night market. The main difference is the night market is actually on the street, and their prices are unlisted. So a smart shopper could look at the prices during the day so they wouldn't get hoodwinked at night. Here is an example conversation (paraphrased) between me (henceforth "Me") and a night market guy hawking t-shirts (henceforth "NMG"):

NMG: Hello! Friend! Hi! (he steps in front of me) You want t-shirt?
Me: Yeah, I guess.
NMG: OK OK come look! Hey mate, hey amigo!! Where you from?
Me: Canada.
NMG: Oh! Canada! Special price for you! (I took this to mean a higher price than normal)
Me: How much for this sweatshirt?
NMG: I give you my best price, 90 Ringgits (about $30CAD).
Me: Oh, that's okay then (then I start to walk away).
NMG: Ok wait wait! I give you even better price, 80 Ringgits! (I am still walking)
NMG: 79 Ringitts! Best price!
NMG: Ok, fine, lah, how much you want it for??
Me: I'll give you 30 Ringitts.
NMG: No way! No profit that way!!! (he turns away)
Me: Everywhere else sells them for 30 Ringitts.
NMG: But I have better quality. Look at my quality!
Me: It's the same quality everywhere in the night market.
NMG: Okay, okay, 30 Ringitts.
Me: Actually, it doesn't really fit very well, I'm going to keep looking...
NMG: Okay, you want 25 Ringitts?
Me: Okay, fine.

Phew! Repeat that for several times per item. It always panned out like this unless you didn't buy something, in which case they acted either really angry or hurt. But it was kind of fun once I got used to it.

Anyway, this is the view from Petronas Tower. In the pictures below you can see the Skybridge between the two towers - that's where we were.

Another view:
Cia, Tyler and I on the Skybridge:

Kuala Lumpur!!

2005-09-22T20:41:00.000+08:00

Pic of the sleeping berth on the train I had from Jerantut (near the rainforest) to KL:
KL Sentral Station (where the buses and trains all meet):
View of Chinatown from near the Wheeler's guest house where we stayed:
Petronas Towers (we were up 41 floors in the Skybridge in the middle):
Petronas again:

Radical Rainforest!!

2005-09-22T20:33:00.000+08:00

View from the boat on the 3-hour trip up to the little town of Kuala Tahan, which was by the rainforest entrance:
Another river picture, this time at the swimming area in the rainforest:
Kuala Tahan:
Some delicious friends that decided to show up overnight in the hostel:
On the canopy-walk above the forest:

Teman Nagara and Kuala Lumpur

2005-09-15T10:00:00.000+08:00

Hello!

The mid-semester break starts tomorrow and goes until next Thursday! So you guessed it, I'm going away!

I leave Friday night on a night-train to get to Jerantut, a smallish town in the middle of Malaysia. Then I am cabbing to the ferry for 9am and taking a 3-hour boat ride up the river to get to the small town just outside the rainforest. P.S. the rainforest is is the national park of Malaysia, known as Taman Negara.

So Saturday afternoon I'll be trekking through all the leeches and trees. I think around Sunday night it'll be time to bus to KL (Kuala Lumpur) and I'll be there until Thursday, when I'll bus back home.

Booyeah! Again my cell phone should work, at least in Kuala Lumpur, but it might not. We'll see!

Mid-Autumn Festival

2005-09-12T10:13:00.000+08:00

On Saturday I went down to Chinatown to check out the ongoing Mid-Autumn Festival. The big celebration isn't until the full moon (Sept. 18th) but there are still lots of things going on for the entire month, like lanterns!

There was also a bustling night market:

But the market closed at 10pm! So we went to Clark Quay, the trendy part of town:

There were lots of nice restaurants and clubs and bars. It was nice, as it all was on the waterfront. And there was lots of live music, and since everything was so open, you could hear everything on the sidewalks.

Booyeah!

Har Par Villa

2005-09-07T22:16:00.000+08:00

Har Par Villa was a tourist destination that showed Chinese mythology through lots of statues. A big part of it was the journey through the 10 Stages of Chinese Hell (there are apparently actually 18, but this exhibit only showed 10). There are incredibly gruesome consequences for bad behaviour; it was quite graphic. For example, the penalty for rumour-mongering is either a) your tongue is pulled out, or b) you are thrown into boiling oil.

Below: Ox-Head and Horse-Face, the guardians of Hell who take your soul to be judged:

But the rest of the garden didn't always make sense. Like the following vignette. ???

Monkey Bizzness

2005-09-03T23:35:00.000+08:00

I share a warm embrace with my new monkey friend! This was at Har Par Villa, near the university.

More to follow!

...(C)

Singapore Botanic Garden

2005-09-02T17:44:00.000+08:00

Last weekend I went with Cia and Seung to the Singapore Botanic Garden, which is also the home to the National Orchid Garden.

It was a nice little excursion, despite the fact that we couldn't find the right bus stop so we decided to take a cab. But the cab driver thought we said we wanted to go to the "Chinese Garden", despite saying several times that our destination was the "Botanic Garden". So we ended up at the very edge of the earth, or at least the very edge of Singapore, which really isn't that far from the rest of Singapore, as the city isn't very big. But we had to take a bus, then MRT (like our Skytrain) then another cab to get to the garden. Phew!

It was interesting to see the gardens as I am using them in a case study for one of my courses, Changing Landscapes of Singapore. The case study looks at the use of nature in Singapore, and how nature is used for the betterment and development of the nation, rather than for conservation or nature preservation. For example, the main "goal" of the garden is to be known worldwide as a tourist destination, and all of the natural "green lungs" of Singapore have been transplanted and are man-made - little of it is truly natural. But more on that in another blog post, here are some pictures:

WAT'Z Upp Y000?

2005-09-01T22:23:00.000+08:00

Just a quick update of what's up:

1) Group projects! As there is much more of an emPHAsis on Continuous Assessment instead of just a midterm/final format, there is always some fun assignment or two! But it's hard to juggle so many schedules! I have 5 classes, each with a group project that has started. And the groups are from 4-7 members in size. Assuming an average group of 5 members, with 4 other members per group (besides me) * 5 groups is 20 different schedules! That's CRAZY.

2) Supper. Mmmm starting this week the Hall started serving supper. I know you are probably thinking...wha??? They didn't use to serve an evening meal. Well, they did. But it was "dinner" from 6-8. Supper refers to a late meal, you can go and buy something from anytime between 10.30pm and 1.30am. That's CRAZY. They have lots of tasty treats too, like pancakes and chicken naan, which is basically a McChicken in a naan instead of a bun.

3) Western Food. Since we're on the subject of food, let me describe to you the standard "Western meal" we get about once a week on the ol' meal plan:
- french fries (unsalted)
- cabbage or mixed vegetables from the freezer
- a piece of white bread spread with margarine and folded in half (this one is key)
- fried chicken or fried fish, heavy on the batter
- a 5+ tbsp. dollop of mayonnaise on the fried chicken or fried fish (I ignzzre this for the most part)

Needless to say it is quite the treat! Well to be honest I prefer the Chinese food.

Multimedia Extravalaganza!

2005-08-25T23:51:00.000+08:00

Hey everybody!

I have a guest in my room...and I'm sure it's sleeping here overnight. My residence roolbook would deem the guest a "squatter" and my residence privileges could be taken away.

That is...if they can find my guest. Or if I can, for that matter.

That's right, there's a LIZARD in my room! And I have the .avi file to prove it.

Download this and enjoy the Vanishing Lizard. Where did it go??? I have no idea!! But I've seen it at various places on my desk for the past 3 or 4 days!

www.freewebs.com/colindodds/lizard.avi

And I meant to put up my post entitled "Toilet Troublez" a few days ago, but something went wrong with the Blogger upload again, so I'll try for that sometime in the near future.

Turn Up The Fun! (TM)

2005-08-23T17:14:00.000+08:00

Anybody in the mood for a delicious Malay soft drink? I didn't try it but the slogan almost tempted me to. Actually my guess is that it's made and bottled by the Coca Cola Company, a lot of the drinks here are:

BONUS: Some other shots of Malaysia.

Malacca

2005-08-22T09:10:00.000+08:00

I have returned from Malaysia. It was a good trip!

I went with Sheri, Gary and Cia, all exchange students from my Hall. I have not yet introduced Cia - she is (well was) studying at McGill. That's where Tyler D. (my brother) was during the summer!!! Coincidence? Probably.

The bus ride was a breezy 4 hour jaunt through up to the north of Singapore and over the causeway linking Singapore and Malaysia. For those not in the know, Singapore really is its own island, but the bridge/causeway linking the two countries is no longer than the Lions Gate Bridge. The ride was fine but they showed the latest Chucky film on the TV screen in the bus, with the sound blaring out of speakers all throughout the bus, so everyone was subjected to watching and hearing the film, which quite frankly seemed a bit to violent for some of the youngsters who were also on the bus.

We arrived in Malacca (also spelled Melaka) at 10PM and tried to find a cab to the hostel we were staying at. The cab driver suggested 20RM (Malay ringitts) which seemed like a rip-off and we found a different one for 15RM. In actuality, $1 CAD equals 3.1 RM, so it's a pretty good deal exchange-rate wise. But still we almost got served by the first cabbie.

To make a long story short, we happened to be located in Chinatown, so we went to the night market before going for sleep. It was just closing when we got there, but there were some neat things to be seen. As we were going back to the hostel, many people on the street were burning money and incense on the sidewalks or edges of the street. I don't want to get this wrong, but apparently burning money (it was fake money) appeases Chinese spirits, and this has to be done on the 7th month of the Chinese lunar year (as September is the 8th month).

The next day we walked around. There were many temples and it was nice to be out and about. Malacca is MUCH less urbanized than 100% urban Singapore, and many of the streets were very narrow and contained much more interesting architecture than the many malls of Singapore. We also visited the main tourist area, and some other stuff.

We stayed in a different hostel that night. That night we went to a mall (again...) and in the morning we tried to find Portuguese Village but couldn't. I'm not even sure of the significance of said village, as we couldn't find it. Blah blah blah nothing of note after that, we bussed back to Singapore.

Funnily enough, I saw Cody Dart (of high school fame) in the bus terminal!!! What a small world!

This is Colin, signing off.

Colin

Melaka

2005-08-18T22:47:00.000+08:00

Hello everyone, I will be in Malaysia this weekend, in the town of Melaka, from late Friday night to late Sunday night. I was told to inform friends and family whenever leaving the country, so here it is!

I will have my cell phone with me, and it should work in Malaysia, but if not, you know why.

I will have an update with pictures upon returning!

Colin

Camera Pictures!

2005-08-11T20:31:00.000+08:00

After an unpleasant encouter with a local shopkeep, I decided to order my Canon A510 from www.bargaincity.com.sg They were much kinder and grown-up than the shops I had been to, and no haggling was required. So I took a lot of pictures with the camera as soon as I got it!

This is my room in residence. Not too shabby, eh? The only problem is it is on the ground floor next to the street, so strangers like to look in and see what's up. And no, your eyes aren't fooling you, that's not an unfitted sheet on my bed, that's an elastic-less fitted sheet!

From left to right here is Sheri and Gary. Their names rhyme! They are exchange students who also reside in Sheares Hall. Sheri is from Hawaii and Gary is from Texas! I hope they don't mind me using this picture!!

From left to right is Jonathan (I think?), Nicole and Tyler. Nicole and Tyler are both from UBC. I think Jonathan is from Norway? But I'm not even sure if his name is Jonathan. Sorry Jon!

This is a picture from National Day events we were off to in the community of Jurong East. Along with a parade, and a huge marketplace/bazaar type thing, there were also tanks and other military vehicles on display, and young children were taking turns sitting in the cockpits. It was interesting. Singapore definitely prides itself on national defence, and all men have to serve for 3 years in the army following high school.

Well that was another blogalicious entry! Blog it up!

More Picalicious Pix

2005-08-11T20:19:00.000+08:00

Hello again!

I took a well-deserved break from blogging to start my courses.

But I have more pictures!

This is of Little India on Sunday night. This was almost two weeks ago, but anyway it is neat because there are so many people on the street!

This is Rag Day, NUS' version of orientation, like UBC's Imagine. All the halls of residence and the faculties spend months (their summer holidays) putting together floats made of recycled material, and perfecting 5 minute dance routines. Below is the Sheares Hall (my residence) dance which won best dance/float. However, they didn't win overall because a bigger portion of the orientation challenge is Flag Day (a few days earlier than Rag Day) where donations for charity are collected.

Bizzelow is the Bizad float. Bizad stands for "business administration" and sounds much cooler than "commerce"!

This is a rain cloud on campus. It does not rain often, but when it does, it rains REALLY HARD and it takes only five minutes for the sky to cloud over from a completely blue sky. Mercifully it gets much cooler with the cloud cover!

Kojak vs. Rojak

2005-08-05T21:15:00.000+08:00

This is a record-breaking blog entry, so many in such a short time!

Today I would like to compare two things: Kojak and Rojak.

Below: Kojak

Below: Rojak

I conclude the difference is in the first letter, "K" and "R".

Anyway, that was just an excuse to get a picture of Kojak up.

Today I ate at a small hawker centre in Clementi, which is the closest shopping centre. About 80% of Singaporeans live in owner-occupied public housing. These flats are all centred around shopping centres where you can get anything you like, including food. On a personal note, I noticed that this is what they are trying to do with trendy Vancouver apartments/condos, such as putting a Whole Foods or an Urbane Faire on the bottom of an apartment building. Interesting, no?

Anyway, in Clementi I decided to try Rojak, which is a Malay dish. I did not know what was in this dish, but it looked good on the sign. Also, there were many accolades and newspaper clippings extolling the virtues of this particular hawker.

However, I wasn't a fan. I think it was cucumber and pastries resembling "Churros", and it was smothered in a very strong peanuty kind of sauce. At least, I think it was peanuts. Tyler (Schofield, not my brother) did not think it tasted like peanuts, but he did not like it either.

This is a bit of a long-winded post considering I am just talking about what I had for lunch. But that is what blogging is all about, is it not?

Until next time,

Colin

Chopsticks and Texting

2005-08-05T19:29:00.000+08:00

Just a brief note to mention two things I have gotten considerably better at:

1) chopsticks
2) text messaging ("SMSing")

Especially text messaging though. I can practically message something faster than I can say it. But not faster than I can think it. Because that doesn't make sense.

I also added some music to my blog. I like how it is conveniently centred at the top of the page, with a "Now Playing" featurette situated directly below. What will I think of next?

(C)

The Ol' Bait n' Switch

2005-08-04T21:27:00.000+08:00

This afternooon included another trip down to Orchard Road, the main shopping district in Singapore. It consists of many large malls all the way down the street, with several street vendors outside and other little foodstalls and stuff like that.

I was in the market for a digital camera. I had heard the best places to go were either Simlim Square or Orchard Road. Simlim Square is a big boxy building with four floors that sells only electronics, only from vendors (no brand name stores). All of the vendors basically have the same goods in their shops, but their prices vary wildly depending on if they think that a) you are a tourist, or b) you don't know what kind of price range electronics cost.

But anyway, in one of the malls along Orchard Road is a section that is basically a mini-Simlim Square.

So I was checking for the Canon Powershot A510 (found here). I was first quoted $340S, but the next place I went to quoted $265.

From FutureShop, with the conversion to Sing dollars, it is about $350S. I should have keyed in then that $265S was too good to be true, but I didn't. So we agreed on the price (including a full international warranty), and the guy "called the shop" to deliver the camera in the next five minutes. This is when I got a bit suspicious, but I stuck around.

At this point in time one of the shop guys told me that Canon actually makes really bad cameras and there are better cameras out there for a similar price. I told him no thanks, I'll just take the Canon, but he proceeded to try to sell me what I knew were inferior cameras, and he also tried to sell me memory cards at extremely inflated prices. I must have told him 10 times that I wanted the A510 and nothing else. "But oh, I'm just doing my job, trying to make the customer happy".

Anyway after waiting for 10 minutes it turns out that, surprisingly, the camera was out of stock. Especially after the fact, it's surprising how transparent the shop was. In the end, the only thing I lost was 10 minutes, but it wasn't a pleasant experience.

To their credit, I think most of the electronics shopkeepers are on the level. Just not all of them. I ran into a similar problem when making a purchase off eBay.

But, just as eBay has accountability (positive, neutral or negative feedback), so does Singapore, in a way. It is possible to report shady shopkeepers to the main Singaporean newspaper, the Strait Times, and apparently this is what shopkeepers fear most.

So I am going to return to the store to write down its name and address, and file a complaint to the newspaper, to try to stop this kind of thing. I talked to another shopkeeper about it, and he was well aware of this kind of thing.

But in the end, I still don't have a camera. I heard the university has some sort of sale in mid-August, so I'll try to check that out, but if anyone has any other ideas for getting one (including shipment to Singapore), I'm open to suggestions.

Phew!! Hope you enjoyed the read!

(C)

RAIN

2005-08-04T10:14:00.000+08:00

I just fell on the pavement for the second time while here.

The first time I was walking and talking about how the ground got very slippery whenever it rained, and I was liable to slip on it sometime. As soon as I said that I fell, and I skinned my elbow.

And this time I was walking out of one of the Arts & Science buildings, trying unsucessfully for the second time to add a course/module. I have to go back there for a THIRD time to speak to the only person in the entire university who has the authorization to add this course for me. Anyway I skinned my elbow again, although thankfully it is about an inch away from last time.

So I think I need to find sandals with better traction, or something else, as we are entering the rainy season.

Little India, Hats, Food, and Shaving

2005-08-03T09:32:00.000+08:00

What's new in Singapore?

Little India:
Well, on Sunday we took a trip down to Little India, and it was quite an experience. There were many many people out, the streets and sidewalks were crowded. Also, it was a stark contrast from say, Suntec City (Singapore's largest mall), which, while busy, was not as exciting as Little India. Also the meal we had certainly seemed more "authentic" than the fast-foody places of Suntec City, although I think that big shopping malls have become a big part of Singaporean culture, and could be thought of as authentic, even if they aren't steeped in tradition or culture (other than pop culture).

Hats:
Yesterday I took a trip down to Orchard Road and looked for a hat, often known as a Tilly Hat in Canada, or an Angler's Hat in Singapore, or a mixture of the two. After shopping for hours, I still couldn't find one that fit my large, rather bulbous, head. All of them were two small. However, I did manage to find new sunglasses as I had lost my previous pair in IKEA.

Food:
Food is delicious here, but lacks some variety. There are several choices of rice, noodle, soup and wanton dishes, and they are all tasty and extremely cheap. An average meal from a Hawker stall (independent food vendors who all sell foods in the university canteens or mall food courts) costs anywhere from $2.00 - $4.00 Sing dollars, but it's usually around $3.00. A drink costs $1.00 for a total of around S$3.00 or S$4.00 for a full meal, which is only 2 or 3 Canadian!!

However, the only problem is that these dishes are loaded with grains/carbs, mainly rice and noodles. There is often also a sizable portion of meat, but unless you specifically order vegetables, they usually only come as sort of a garnish. So there are some deficiencies, according to the Canadian food guide, to my current diet:

1) dairy
2) fruits
3) vegetables

Luckily, the Hall I am at gives sizable portions of veggies and also a piece of fruit for dinner, which is nice. So I am getting on track. But dairy is still almost non-existent. I have yet to have a delicious slice of cheese here, or a real (fresh) glass of milk, although preserved milk is available if you look hard enough.

Below: Delicious pau.

But still, it is very delicious. My favourite food so far might just be pau, which is apparently pronounced "bow" (as in "L'il Bow Wow). It is a delicious food that has a kind of doughy outside (that is steamed) and delicious surprise fillings on the inside, from yam to chicken to honey chicken to egg and chicken to vegetable to bean curd. Apparently it also shows up as a dim sum dish, but here it is almost always available from a little cart that is often in canteens, and while I think it is more of a breakfast dish, you can get it 24/7!

I was happy to note that my meal plan at the hall affords me two pau in the morning, and a cup of hot drink. That's 2 free pau per day!!!

But more on food later as I have mostly eaten just at the hawker stalls and on campus.

Shaving:
I discovered the secret! To a smooth, close shave, that is. The pantry (aka kitchen) on my hall floor has a dispenser for cold water and near-boiling water. I tried shaving (for the first time while here) last night, using the near-boiling water, with some cold water mixed in because I didn't want to melt the plastic cup that was holding said water. To my amazement, it was a REALLY good shave, and I was excited because there was very little irritation.

If this is the case every time I shave with really hot water, I think I will have to boil water to shave all the time, as it really is much easier.

End:
Well I hope that has sated your appetite for all things Singapore. I should get more pix next time, and have other interested tidbits (tidWhats?) to tell.

(C)

Pictures of S'pore

2005-07-31T12:21:00.000+08:00

Hello again! Today I am borrowing some shots from Tyler, as I have yet to find a nice digicam (short for "digital camera"). There are lots of neat sights around Singapore.

This is a pic of the campus. There is a lot of greenery, trees and interesting landscaping throughout; it looks more like a tropical resort than a post-secondary institution.

This is another picture on campus. As Singapore was once a British colony, there are subtle reminders of this, like driving on the left side of the road (and when on escalators, people who are not walking are supposed to be on the left side too). Also, they use words like "queue" instead of "line-up", "lift" instead of "elevator", and "sweets" instead of "candies". Thankfully, "booyeah!" is still the same here or there.

This is a picture of the International Student Orientation. There are a lot of international students here. Thus far it appears that the highest populus of int'l students from a single country is Germany. Also apparently there are 20-30 UBC students here this term, but I haven't quite met that many (yet).

Here is a picture of Tyler and I at the NUS bus stop. We are taking the (air-conditioned) bus over to Clementi, which is a nice little area of open-air shops and a couple of squares where people eat food, shop, and... well actually that's about it. The busses and the MRT line (which is like the Skytrain) have a neat "EZ-Link" card where you top it up at kiosks in the bus station so you don't have to fumble for change! But you have to make sure to swipe the card again when you exit the bus, or else you are fined.

This is a picture of said bus. It looks full, no? But it is usually quite comfortable because of the air-conditioning. Air-conditioning is very nice!!! Actually the A/C can even be set at around 25 celcius and it still seems REALLY cold. The weather network regularly reports temperatures "feeling like" mid-forties, factoring in the intense humidity.

And here is a shot of Clementi, where I was able to find electrical adapters, clothing, bedding/sheets, slippers (flip-flops) and lots and lots of other good stuff. There is also a ton of food here.

So that's about it for now. There is actually lots more that I am not caught up on - yesterday it was raining torentially so we went to Suntec City, Singapore's biggest shopping mall (shopping is big here). However, it really just felt like 2 Metrotown's strung together. Tonight, Little India is supposed to be jumpin', so we'll hit dat up.

Until next time, where I plan to discuss the food, my room in residence, and other particulars about this country.

(C)

the Single Unfitted Sheet Fiasco (SUSF)

2005-07-29T01:22:00.000+08:00

So today involved more registration (well, trying to register without any luck) and more Intense Heat! It was really hot today.

An Interesting Tidbit (tidWhat?) about Singapore is that they don't sell unfitted sheets. They have lots of varieties of fitted sheets (i.e. those with elastics that go over mattresses) but not unfitted ones. They even have quilts, but not unfitted sheets. P.S. I don't want a quilt because it would be too hot with one'a those bad boyz!

Even in the IKEA of Singapore do they not have them, a trip down there today confirmed this; I assumed it would be THE place to check for unfitted sheets, single size. But alas!

Anyway I just spent the last 2 hours cutting the elastic band out of a fitted sheet but now there are little bits of thread everywhere...and the sheet is fraying, but I don't have to use my beach towel as a sheet anymore. Praise be!

(C)

P.P.S. I meant for the "bee" sound in "Praise be!" and the "see" sound in "(C)" to rhyme, FYI!

Do You Want To Reach Me In Singapore?

2005-07-27T20:34:00.000+08:00

Hello Family, Friends, and Complete Strangers,

Thanks for reading my blog! If you would like to contact me, you can call me at:

+65 9340 4757

P.S. 65 is the country code. Singapore is a small country so it doesn't need area codes.

Also, if you'd like to text me, that might be easier. I don't have many minutes on this phone plan.

Also, I'm going to get Skype so I can call y'all easier too soon. Check dat out! www.skype.com

(C)

! Singapore !

2005-07-27T20:16:00.000+08:00

Hi!

So I still need to write a BIG update about how I got to Singapore, but I may well have to do that later.

It was quite an adventure because I was supposed to my friend Tyler (not my brother Tyler) at the Singapore Changi Airport at 11:30PM, but he didn't show up...so I had to end up sleeping in the lounge of one of the residences here until a security guard asked me to leave at 6:30 in the morning. It was VERY humid and I was sweating profusely, to coin a phrase.

Eventually I got checked into my residence, and I walked around a lot in the morning. I checked to see if Tyler had found his way over at around noon, and there were no records of him checking in, but as I was leaving I managed to run into him! So that was a fortuitious stroke of fortuity.

Anyway a lot of what has happened so far is going back and forth to different places to register for things, buy things, etc. Today I finally have a cell phone, Internet connection and sheets for my bed which is nice!!!!

I also half-registered for my courses, but have to go back tomorrow to sign up for what amounts to the "section" of the course, in UBC-terms.

Next time I'll update with the more interesting stuff, like what Singapore is actually like, but I want more time to wrizzite that up.

L8z,

C~D

A Blogtastic Teaser

2005-07-27T02:38:00.000+08:00

Hello faithful readers! Welcome to another addition of the blog!

What is new? Well I am in Singapore, and I just gained Internet access. Booyeah!

What has happened in Singapore? You'll just have to wait for the next installment. This is a teaser after all! Here's a hint about what happened: it's riveting!

Until next time,

Colin

P.S. I am staying in room A211 in Sheares Hall at the National University of Singapore!

New Additions

2005-07-01T06:35:00.000+08:00

I have added some more things! I was checking ColinLand Xpress (the past iteration of ColinLand) and noticed that, as of today, I have 1615 hits on that website!

So a counter has been added to the bottom of this page. Take a look! Also, I added a link to ColinLand Xpress, although it has been collecting dust for 3+ years - I never did receive my Rings of Immortality.

Below: Remember me?

Formatting

2005-06-28T06:22:00.000+08:00

I managed to update this to a nice gold colour. And I also managed to get rid of the bar at the top of the page and the "Blogger" advertisement in the sidebar. Pr0gramming Sk1llz!

And I found no more spiders!

Below: w00t!

Spider Update

2005-06-27T15:52:00.000+08:00

I know that no-one is reading this yet because I have yet to tell anyone, but I have an update on the spiders.

I think they're gone.

At least, there are no more on the walls.

I can imagine that some people would get spiders on their walls and be upset. But I like to see the glass as half full. At least the walls aren't spider coloured (i.e. grey, black, or even a dark colour) so I am able to see them!

So I am going to go to sleep now, it's late.

First Post

2005-06-27T14:18:00.000+08:00

Hello! Welcome to the Blog. How do you do? My plan is to mess around with the colours using an HTML colour chart (like the one from http://www.edoceo.com/utilis/html-color-chart.php). Right now this space is just black and grey, with an ugly sea-foam green link colour...but that's going to change. Booyeah!

Also, right now I discovered several webs of tiny, tiny spiders at various locations throughout my bedroom, so I'm a little scared of going to sleep. I don't want to wake up with spiders everywhere. So it looks like I'm going to tinker with the blog for a bit while longer, every few minutes I look around and there's another spider there to say hello to me.

Anyway, I am hoping to use this as a vehicle to keep in touch with everyone when I am away in Singapore. So if you are reading this, hi there! Relax, you made it! Welcome to my Blog. Won't you pull up a seat? Yes, I see that smile on your face! I'm glad your having a good time here. Me too!

Enjoy,
-C (Colin)