dandenong market and st. kilda

we went to a couple of interesting places in the last couple of days. at least it offers the kid a refreshing change of having to step into another government office or another house to view. we drove to dandenong wholesale market on thursday to take a look at some of the fresh produce that we can buy next time. and today, we drove to st. kilda to mix in with the tourists and locals alike to enjoy a bit of r&r in the sun.
dandenong market
the trip to dandenong was made possible by an ex-colleague who settled here 2 plus years ago. in fact, john has been instrumental in helping me settle down without getting into too many newbie's woes as with someone who is new in any environment.
dandenong is a pleasant 20mins drive away from vermont south. i understand that it is one of the major satellite cities in the state of victoria. we were there mainly to familiarize ourselves with the wholesale market there. the market itself is big, though nowhere near the size of queen victoria market in melbourne city. obviously, the former is designed for practicality while the latter is a tourist destination. the first thing we noticed were the relative affordability of the fresh produce there. this is especially true when one buys in bulk. trays of strawberries in 10 punnets goes for a mere $10. closer to town, one pays $3 for a punnet in a coles or safeway. if one is into carbo-loading, dandenong market is a must-stop because you can get a sackful of potatoes weighing 10kg for only $5. the list goes on. of course, you can buy in smaller quantities for a smaller family like ours, but dandenong market makes a good monthly visit at least when we plan to stock up our fridge. the same goes for poultries and seafood. prices are generally lower.
we ended our trip with a short walk to the town centre and a meal at the market where i was introduced to a southern chinese migrant called sam. sam runs a small chinese eatery at the market. it is a popular joint amongst caucasian and chinese alike. we were treated with some nice fried beef kuay teow and mingwei had singapore noodle. i couldn't quite figure out why is it called so since it tastes like nothing we found back home. i guess the important thing is mingwei lap it all up. he must have missed singapore.

(more pictures below. click on picture to enlarge)
salmon prices are almost half of what we can find in vermont south.

munching snacks while waiting for their mother.

tv addicts caught on camera. this interesting `art piece' is found along a pedestrian walkway in dandenong.

st. kilda
we drove to st. kilda with our new ride today(sunday, 30/11). the forecasted rain did not materialize and we were treated to beautiful sunshine with temperatures hovering around the 28 degrees celcius. st. kilda is a place to see and be seen on a sunday. there are many alfrescos that line the streets there; and there's luna park for those who are seeking thrills in the form of rides and the st. kilda craft market is also a nice stroll away if one is looking for knick knacks and have a spare buck to spend on things you don't really need.

needless to say, it was very crowded today.
we didn't really spend too long there as the parking were exhorbitant there to say the least. $7 bucks for 2hours parking. when we were in dandenong, parking was $0.20 per hour. so, we just stroll around o'donnell park and its surroundings to just familiarize ourselves with that area and soak in the atmosphere. we promised the kids that we will bring them to luna park before too long as it was very crowded today. we watched street performers and like in singapore, no trip is complete without the mandatory stopover at mcdonalds :-( we had ice cream cones and apple pies there. the kids then had a good time feeding our leftover popcorns to the pigeons and a short run about at the park before we drove home.

(more pictures below)
watching street performers just outside the entrance of luna park.











run about at the park.








strolling along the pathway at the st. kilda sunday craft market.

the sad truth is, come monday; we are back to the same grind as last week.

trick or treat

#1: car petrol prices are cheaper on tuesday evenings and wednesday mornings. (i am not sure if this apply to the whole of australia or unique to where i am staying now)

goodbye missed junction

one finds out quickly about his/her (true) competency in a particular matter/area when `the going gets tough'. we had been driving around the vermont south/burwood/glen waverly area trying to take a sneak peak at houses we hope to shortlist for rental. taking pride of my map reading skill and armed with a 2006 edition melway (street directory book), we navigated our way in the last 4 days. whilst we get to our destination eventually; a lot of time were actually wasted and patience tested because often times, I have to pull over to the side of the road to recalibrate my position and recap on the routes to our destinations. not to mention numerous missed junctions and 3 point turns i made. i lost count. my own patience is wearing thin. after 4 days, i ate humble pie.
so i bought a gps navigation system today.
checking with my cousin han chung and also scouring the internet to find out the best value gps navigation system out there, i settle for the mio moov360.
i bought it from a harvey norman(hn) store nearby my place. (truth be told, i have never stepped into a hn shop in singapore to buy anything from them) i paid $348 for the device which i thought was excellent value. thanks to a large part to everyone who told me to bargain. i have never thought of bargaining in an electronic superstore, but i was told in no uncertain terms that i must counter-offer. the sale price was $368, which for a start is a $35 saving from the original sticker price. when i casually told the sales associate that i had a lower offer elsewhere, he immediately offered to match the price. i was actually unprepared for the amount i was willing to pay but i blurted out $348 as the price offered. this brand/model is not available in the nearby shops, so i was surprised when he agrees to sell me at the said price after a couple of minutes of checking around. i bought it with a grin in my face.
the gps system will be godsend for cecilia, who has a poor sense of direction. i guess she will be the biggest benefactor from this. i plan to key in her all her favourites/frequent destinations before i return to singapore so she can look like a pro navigating around melbourne.
so, goodbye melway 2006, hello mio moov360 (australia edition)

taking care of business

the last 2 days are frantic days as we try to get as much done as possible in terms of getting all the administrative work done. the checklist that i aggregated from friends and relatives on what to do include the following:

1. get tax file number for all members of the family. (done)

2. get a local mobile number since one will need it for contact information. in most government and private transaction, an australia mobile number is required. (done)

3. register with centrelink. went there but were told to attend a phone interview first before our application can be processed. (pending)

4. register with medicare. was told that the immigration will need 10 days for the our entry record to be updated so we need to return in early december 08.

5. driver's license conversion. tried on monday but were told that we need to attend an interview. not sure why but we were given an appointment this monday to do our interview and conversion. (pending)

6. set-up a bank account and get a credit card. (done)

7. buy a car. (done)

8. call up and visit real estate shops to pick up the rent list (partially done)

9. driving around the suburbs to get a feel on what is a good place to live (on-going)

the 2 biggest ticket items are housing and car. i am keen to get the latter done quickly so i can focus on the former. plus i only had the rental for a week.

of the two, getting a house has proven to be the most daunting so far. unlike back home where these real estate agent bend over backwards to get your business; here, it seems like i need to be the one doing the pursuit. when i called up agents to register an interest, calls were unreturned in some cases and in others, i was told to leave my number and they will call me back. when we did a house visit earlier today, the agent made no attempt to tell us what's good, what's not about the house. after a while, we didn't bother as well. i guess it is still a seller's market out there. this will be my main worry. i need to secure a house so i can register my children in a school. and my container is coming. so, good timing is paramount here.

getting a car is the 2nd hardest thing we need to sort out after housing. as mentioned, i am keen to get this out of the way asap. luckily, my cousin han chung has been really helpful with the sites on where to look for car sales online and also doing checks online to ensure that the car is in good order, i.e. not written-off or stolen. so, i am able to do a bit of homework prior to the actual car-hunting. and since the car will primarily be driven by cecilia [i plan to commute to work by cycling, but the hilly roads in the glen waverly/vermont area is really daunting; so this will be another story in another day ;-)], i need to consider her requirements as well. she wanted a 7 seater since she anticipate that she will need to ferry her relatives who may come over to visit her. i wanted a strong and safe car for her as safety is paramount here since she will be new to the driving environment here. we had thought of getting the same car we had in singapore, which is a japanese mpv, but since there is a new model due in april 09, i decided against it as the value will depreciate a lot faster and japanese car safety feature will not match the continentals. knowing that she will not venture far, i decided on a volvo 7 seater wagon as the kids can take the 3rd row seats in the event there are visitors. it also will be bearable for them as the distance covered will also be short. i have originally wanted a v70 wagon but the one i was eyeing got sold by the time i got here, so i settled for the xc70 instead. the seller is really a nice guy. he is volvo-trained and run a service workshop specializing on volvo repair/maintainence. he threw in 2 free services for the next 12 months, so i reckon it is a good deal since i won't have to worry about where to send the car to for servicing if i were to buy from another car dealer or a private seller. coming from singapore, i (obviously) did a bad job at bargaining as i was accustomed to high car price back home. so, i am pretty sure i came out short as i only managed to take off a$200 from him after a protracted negotiation. i guess i need to do a better job next time.
by the way, shi qi loves the car. you could tell by the picture.

(just like) starting over

time flashes by in the last 48hours. we are in melbourne now.

a couple of days back, we were doing last minute preparation for the move and now, we are on our second day here. things have moved in a blur.

firstly, the trip to the airport was a low key affair. we have relatives from both sides seeing us off, mingwei's nanny too made a special trip with her 2 children. i think everyone held up well because i did not see anyone wail uncontrollably. so, no drama of any sort. just the way i like it. after the cordial handshakes and good wishes, and the mandatory photo-taking, we are off. i guess giving them a 10 month notice help.

mingwei had migrane unfortunately, so he will remembers little.

after a slight delay, sq237 departed singapore and headed south. taking the midnight flight has its distinct advantage if you have 3 or more kids. they are just too tired to cause any commotion and ruffle feathers of other passengers in the plane. we board the flight, we slept (ok, i had supper) and we woke up when the plane is nearing melbourne.

we touched down at 1005hrs.

being as prepared as i have; we moved like clockwork in clearing the custom, got into our hertz rental car, whip out my direction notes on getting to the place we rented and off we go. no mess up of any kind. (ahem)

we rented a 2 bedroom townhouse on the south of boxhill. it is a really nice crib for 2.5 weeks for us. a lot of the basic amenities are there like supermarket and restaurants.

we intend to spend the first week to clear all the prep work we need doing; set-up a bank account, buy a car, convert our drivers' license, apply tfn for the family, register with centrelink and medicare, call up real estate agents, house hunting, get a mobile line, the list goes on. the kids will be on the receiving end of it all because nothing of these is exciting. we hope they will be patient and understanding. our plan is to have some r&r with them this weekend.

other than that, we are treating this like a vacation for a start. just that we are not enjoying as much......

the townhouse we are living temporarily now.

d day

we leave for melbourne today.
it will be another day of just get things in order for me. what i have lined up for the day, in these order are as follow:
1. pop by the office to clear some last minute emails and clean up my desk a little bit
2. drop by the bank to bank in the cheque of my consolidated funds
3. meet abhi for a quick cuppa and a chat just before noon
4. go back to my home to do a last `sweep' around and see that everything is (still) ok
5. transit in my uncle's place to hand over the legal document to him since he's the power of attorney regarding matters to my home
6. drop by tong aik to hand over my trusty and beloved vespa for safekeeping
7. mrt my way back to my in-laws place and get ready to head to the airport.
simple. piece of cake. a cinch!

things i will missed II: various

1. the uniquely singapore music of humpback oak and concave scream. they are the best singapore bands in their era; 90s and early 2000s. why they did not have greater success than they should have (still) baffles me. when i have withdrawal symdrome down under, i will just turn on their music to soothe me.
2. the stretch of sembawang road between upper thomson and nee soon. the slightly winding road with tree canopies covering the most part of the road is one of the most pleasant and picturesque drive in singapore to me. passing this stretch of road makes my riding/driving a lot more bearable everytime i return home from work.
3. upper pierce reservoir. be it a short scooter ride there early morning weekends or cycling past it at night, the tranquility and peace the location presents is blissful. a great place for me to clear my mind and get in perspective.
4. tackling the mandai ave `hills' during my cycling rides. mild to many but this is my most dreaded part of my ride route. the return journey is always the most `siong'.
5. zoo. we are `friends of the zoo', so we visit it quite often.
6. sembawang park. we picnic there quite often whenever the opportunity presents. sembawang park changed little over the years and i like the nostalgic look of the place. it is however undergoing a massive makeover now, but i guess it is high time its facilities improve.
7. last but not least, the expansive view from the balcony of my place. on a clear day, we can see the city skyscape and whenever during the national day fireworks display when the parade was held at the padang, we can catch up from my place as well.

even the plants are nice to me......

lately, 2 of my most stubborn plants bloomed.

they have been my greatest adversaries to preventing me from staking my claim of having a pair of `green' hands.

i started growing a variety of plants last year and over time have gotten to be pretty ok about it. i wouldn't claim to be the male equivalent of martha stewart but most of my plants live within their normal life expectancy and i have seen many of them grown and bloom to my satisfaction.

except the 2 orchid plants and the soya bean seeds.

the 2 orchid plants were given to me by my mother and the soya bean seeds are request from my daughter paisley to `make them grow' since given by her teacher.

whenever my mum visits, she would lament at the state of the orchids; black spots on the leaves and not even visible buds. she didn't say in these exact words but `epic failure' is what she has in mind whenever she sees the state of the orchids they are in during her visits. my mother has a full bloom garden in her house and whenever i am at her place, she would never fail to tell me how she rescued some plants on the verge of death and how her orchids she grew bloomed in no time. i can only nod in approval everytime i hear her stories.

paisley gave me some soyabean seeds and told me to grow them. "should be a piece of cake", i told her. soon, we would be grinding soya beans for the milk and have homemade soyabean drinks. unknowingly, i think i raise an unrealistic expectation in her. i think all kids under 10 take their parents seriously. weeks past and nothing happened. it is as if those soya bean seeds have done gone into a prolong sleep. soon, this was forgotten and my daughter did not remember much (to my relief)

imagine my surprise when i look out on a few remaining plants of mine (the good ones were given to my dear 2nd auntie) recently, i notice the soyabean has sprouted greens and the orchid plants began budding furiously.

i was pleasantly taken aback tonight when i popped by the balcony to check the state of these plants. they are blooming beautifully, at least in my eyes since they have been most stubborn in all these times i try to nurture them.

the unfortunate thing was i will not be able to cart them with me, nor my mother or daughter will be able to see the fruits of my labour.

alas, i know that i am no dud gardener after all.

the soyabean long green stalks on the white pot.(top)
my orchids finally brought tears to my eyes.... (bottom)
[pictures taken on 14.november.08 on my nokia n95]



ps. i need to give credit to my wife who helps me water the plants while i was at work. she can take credit to some of my success but as some of you know, plants, like pets, responds well only to their rightful owner. and that would be me.

packing up and out

12/13 november 08 is another milestone for us. the freight company came and pack our stuff that is to be shipped to melbourne.

this has been our one and only home here in singapore and to pack up and then leave in about 10 days is a little sad and unsettling for me. in fact, our kids have already moved to my in-laws' place. and there is every likelyhood that we may never set foot to stay here ever again.

i was a little worried that with all the stuff we have, a 20foot container that we rented may not be big enough, despite assurances from our friendly freight agent, april. the anxiety grew by the hour as the boxes continues to accumulate and it seems like there is always something more to pack and load. the 4 gentlemen who worked with clockwork efficiency couldn't finish it in a day even though they tried.

what's interesting was a lot of dirt was unearth in our apartment when things got packed and i also found a few `lost' items. i realized i am not a stickler of cleaniness as i claim to be.

when the boxes were all stacked up at the end of day one, the box count was in excess of 100. no mean feat by the 4 packers.

day 2 began with more of the same; packing and labelling. this time round, the 20' container arrived and the transfering of the boxes began in earnest so they could make space for more packing up.

i was also a little `kiasu' with my beloved bicycles and i started adding padding to the bikes so their paintwork is protected as well as the delicate parts. the packers were a little bemused by my antics, but i am not going to risk anything.

by 3pm, the last box was loaded and when i checked, the container was filled to the brim. if i have another book to be uploaded, it wouldn't go in. when i signed out the packing list, a total of 158 boxes were recorded! what have i accumulated in the 10 odd years i live here?!?

my consolation is that the $6000 is well spent. i look forward to a safe delivery of our house items in melbourne in 5 weeks.

(more pictures below)

a surreal picture. the items on our living room all boxed up, including the lcd tv.

mounting boxes filling up the hall

the red container that awaits the boxes to be loaded up

almost done. taking a breather as the boxes almost take up the entire container

additional TLC for my beloved bianchi. my pegoretti 8.30am received the same preferential treatment

sign-out sheet numbers 158 boxes in total

when the dust settled, the living room is clean once more, but considerably empty

the one the got away. my rear bose speaker stand managed to dodge the packers. it remained hidden in the store room until it is all too late. now, i need to lug this there myself

one for the road: amoy street food centre

cecilia and i today went down memory lane this morning as we rode my trusty vespa from sembawang to amoy street for breakfast. just like old times, we set off before 7am, brave our `favourite' expressway, cte and ended up in amoy street food centre for breakfast in good time.

amoy street food centre is a significant place for us because we ate breakfast there before and after we got married; and before and after we got kids. must be more than a dozen years.....

as i am a creature of habit, i only frequent 2 stalls there in all my years of eating breakfast at amoy; xiang chang coffee shop(#01-51)for my kopi-o kosong and tian tian cooked food(#01-52) for my fried beehoon. i particularly like the entrepreneurial spirit of the fiesty old lady at tian tian. not only does she cooked a mean and delicious plate of fried bee hoon, she has good memories too. i reckon she must be at least 80 or approaching 80. when i met her today, nothing change. she continues to deftly handle the wok like when i first saw her years back; the same vigour and energy. and when she saw me, the first thing she said was, " oh, you have not come to my stall for a long time already". i felt almost embarrass that she (still) remembers me. of course, i have good reasons of not going there anymore, my workplace is no longer in town and my wife stops working. however today, i can only manage a sheepish smile and acknowledge her good memory.

here's the best part. that plate of beehoon with an egg and a piece of tau-kwa (fried beancurd) still costs me s$1.40, the same when i first buy the beehoon years back. only the coffee price went up 10cents to 60 cents.

so, a full breakfast in town that costs s$2.00, but a priceless trip for me.

ouch! smacked by singtel

i called singtel yesterday to inquire about terminating my mio broadband/landline/mobile phone plan. i got a rude shock when the customer service person told me that it will costs me $600 to terminate my account. there is this service/admin fee, cancellation fee, early termination contract fee, one for the broadband and the other for mobile. i am not sure if there is a magic formula they apply, because the total fees amounts to the same if i were to keep my account until it expires in sept 09.

either way, they win and i lose.

war zone

a couple of days before the freight mover come to pack our items into the container, i have been doing some packing on my own. the more i boxed things in, more and more things appeared. it reached a point where i am not too sure how to pack anymore. our home resembles a war zone, to put it mildly.

i have to admit that i am not one who throw away things easily, a trait i think i inherited from my grandfather. i tend to hoard things, especially my belongings. the extend of the problem is quite serious. for instance, i kept the score/result sheets of the squash tournaments i competed in when in school. i also have all 3 years of my university exam question papers with me. i could go on, but one gets the picture. the problem is, the longer i kept this, the more sentimental values it has, so i have a tough decision on my hand. to throw or to take them overseas?

i hope one does not get a sense of me being a messy guy. my office desk is clutterless and neat. i have a habit of keeping my desk clean when i call it a day. the same with our home. we generally keep it clean. my only weakness are books, bicycles and music cds. thank goodness for mp3, i don't buy cds anymore. i have also cut down on books when i realize that i now have more unread books than books i have read.

the plus is this is a temporary mess. by thursday, normalcy will prevail. our mover delivered a stack of empty carton boxes and other stuff that they will use for packing. i fully entrust them with their professionalism and know how to help me thru this mess.

enduro 2008

i chance on the above when the dahon forum i frequents informed me about this and suggested that we take the challenge riding round island on a folding bike. although i have laid off cycling for a while since i am busy with my preparation to move, i signed up because it would be fun to do a round island on a folding bike and for a good cause too. we were raising funds to support the down syndrome association of singapore. besides, i have done 60km ride on my road bike, so how bad can it be round island on a folding bike? (more about this later)

i got to know this guy called chin yuen (cy) when we were forming the team. cy is an interesting character. he quitted his job a couple of years ago as a teacher pursuing his dreams and ideals that he sees fit. he traveled a fair bit around the world. he typically would bring his dahon folding bike (a dahon vitesse, which i have one too) and see the world on his folding bike. the fact that he got sponsored by the dahon distributor here helps. (you can check out his interesting blog at five to spare ) we spoke about things a little bit and i told him that i am actually leaving singapore in a couple of weeks time. coincidentally, his girlfriend plans to pursue her phd in melbourne and we loosely agreed to meet up if it happens and ride together around beautiful melbourne.

i met the other 2 dahoners later and my immediate reaction was `oh oh....!'. there were 4 of us who will start off the ride and the 3 were fighting fit and looks like they are ready to kick the asphalt. if i had ride consistently, i would not have felt that intimidated. plus my bike is stock parts, while their dahons has superior parts, skinny race tires and all. not least superior rider.

after all the formalities, dr vivian balakrishnan flagged us off. i did well for the first 25km keeping up with the joneses and we reached the 1st pit stop without much fuss. by then the morning sun is beginning to scorch and i know things started going downhill for me when i reached the stretch of jalan buroh. i felt a tinge of pain of my thighs but i pressed on because i was still with a bunch of cyclists and do not want to look like in pain at such early stage of the ride. by this time, the 3 dahon speedy gonzales already left me for dead. i am pretty much on my own soon after.

just before i reached the 3rd pit stop in kranji, the 3 of them were actually waiting for me at a bus-stop. i could tell they have been waiting for quite a while and i felt really bad for them. the idea was to ride to the kranji pit stop together to show some `dahon power'. it was probably another 7km to the stop. i started off well along the straight stretch keeping up with them, but once we turn into the new tee road stretch, my cramps of both thighs started acting up big time now. i had to `drop off' the pack and felt bad. i struggled to the stop and by the time i arrived, the 3 guys were sufficiently rested and ready to go! well, i graciously begged them to go ahead and not wait for me. it would be travesty to ask them to wait for me and then to be left behind again after 300m. in any case, i wanted more time to rest. i also dare not sit down as i am not sure if i am able to stand up (ever) again if i were to. my legs were stiff and i was clearly grimacing. i rubbed the `deep heat' cream to loosen up the muscles. a nice shimano rider to me to drink lots of liquid to keep hydrated and the cramps will go away. i wonder why he hadn't told me 40kms earlier. now, it didn't exactly comes in useful in that hour.

my last leg were plain ugly. i cannot recall exactly but i think i almost black-out once while waiting for the traffic light to turn in my favour. my legs were almost jelly and i keep telling myself to just do `one pedal at a time'.

to complete the loop is a relief. `how about a 2nd loop?'. i almost punch that guy in the face for saying that; if only i could still walk 3 steps to get near him. i couldn't. walk, i.e.

all in all, it is a good experience for me. generous colleagues and friends helped donated more than $500 for the cause.

and next time, i'd make sure i train for such long rides. no more macho delusions from myself.

this is the team dahon during the start of Enduro 08. CY is on the far right.

that's me, before the start. i will spare you the `after' picture.

that's what i called progress!

my wife showed me our youngest daughter's school work a few days ago. what we noticed were not the content of her work, but her attempt to write her own name. looking through the sheets of her work, we noticed how she made good progress in a space of a couple of weeks in her penmenship. shi mun is 4 years old.

bravo! well done, shi mun.


1. dated 22.9. The teacher outlined her name so she can trace it.

2. On the 15/9, her teacher must have encouraged her to attempt her name. It wasn't pretty :-(










3. Back to square one, i.e. tracing the alphabets. (22/9/08)











4. She tries again on the 6/10. Much improved!

5. she is a lot more consistent now. Just need to work on the spacing.