(just like) starting over

monkey bar...sequal

2010-11-02T22:19:00.002+11:00

since the big step up to completing the monkey bar a month back, fagan shows how much she improved today. we spent some time at eastern park today while on a day trip to geelong and once again; i was summoned to watch her in action....

fagan's new milestone

2010-10-31T22:48:00.002+11:00

late october, we were @ jells park for picnic when fagan excitedly summoned me over to the playground. she told me that she can now successfully navigate through the monkey bars which eluded her previously. it was a big moment for her.

being a `monkey' girl, it is not the least unexpected ;-)

spring's here...

2010-09-27T23:54:00.029+10:00

canterbury garden

...in fact, springs been here for a couple of weeks. it is only of late that the weather becomes a tad warmer, firmly leaving the cold days behind. that said, it's not wise to second guess melbourne's weather.

the last couple of weeks has been busy-fun for all of us. firstly, the kid's having their spring break and my parents visiting us here kept us all up and about. my mum's is especially excited since her daughter-in-law is expecting her new bundle of joy anytime now*. That's grandchild #5 for her.

the improving weather is a great excuse for us to all go out and have a little bit of the fun and sun. in the past 10 days, we have been to st. kilda, south melbourne market, camberwell sunday market, canterbury garden and just yesterday, picnic @ jells park. some haunts are old favourites while others were our first visits.

today is significant in some ways because we are exactly 2 months short of 2 years moving to down under. in many ways, we can be called true melbournians now. for a start, i am no longer shock at the prices of eggs here. i also don't bat an eyelid paying a$4.50 for a piece of roti telur/roti canai. `how issit going, mate?' becomes my conversation starter when i talk to fellow colleagues. i need my cuppa now (make it a skinny latte) to start my day and when we yearn for junk food, we head for the mackers....i could go on but you get the picture....

St. Kilda

Canterbury Garden

Picnic @ Jells Park with Tommy and Christine

*No, not Cecilia but our sister-in-law Zoe in Sydney.

our first ride

2010-08-31T22:07:00.005+10:00

after a few false starts this month, cecilia and i managed to squeeze time for a short ride today during lunch time.

it was slightly overcast but i was eager to get her up the saddle and enjoy the ride, what with the cool weather perfect for a workout and the scenic eastlink trail. (ok, make that cold weather)

we drove to koomba park as our starting point. with our matching blues, we were soon were up and riding towards bayswater park. the pace is relax. there were few cyclists on a weekday so that adds to her confidence. the `flexible' dahon serve cecilia well.

i enjoyed the ride with her and hopefully, (her) sore bum aside, she will join me for future rides.

spelling `help'; spelling help

2010-03-22T23:25:00.003+11:00

the littlest one came to me 3 days ago and said, "papa, i know how to spell `help'."

clearly impressed, i said, "great, how do you spell `help'?"

`SOS', she replied.

i was dumbfounded. it is not wrong but not quite right either.

i wonder who taught her that.

wasp sting

2010-03-14T23:08:00.005+11:00

fagan had the unfortunate experience of being stung by a wasp on saturday during her chinese class. it happened outside her class during her lunch break. we brought her to the clinic just to be sure.

we found out later wasps are commonly found during this time of the year. its' stings are pretty harmless. one just have to endure the pain and the swell for a few hours before it subsides.

pic: fagan at the clinic still distressed by the sting. she refuses to have a picture taken of her swollen finger on her left hand.

visit

2010-03-14T22:59:00.003+11:00

the kid's grandfather 3 weeks' visit to melbourne is reaching the end this tuesday. time flies. hopefully, it will give him some peace of mind that our rather boring, but predictable lifestyle here is a good thing.

(picture taken at skyhigh mount dandenong)

first try

2010-03-14T22:25:00.006+11:00

paisley and shankly took part in their first kids' triathlon today, aptly titled `the weet-bix kids TRYathlon'. we thought it will be a good opportunity to expose them to a more active lifestyle in australia.

the distance is manageable; shankly did a 200m open sea swim, 6km cycling and 1km run. paisley who's in the 10years old age group did left than that. both survived and enjoyed the experience.

we trained a fair bit for the event. we cycled and run around our neighborhood a couple of times a week and also swim once a week for about 4 weeks leading up to today. since it is their first try at triathlon, we didn't take any chances and it is also good to inculcate the habit of preparing for something.

the event is held at st. kilda. the sun was out in force, the crowd is great (more than 2000 registered kids triathletes) and the atmosphere were really good. shankly and paisley were joined by the children of some of our family friends, so it was a good sunday outing for us overall.

shankly at the finishing line with his finisher's medal

paisley getting ready for her race

...kids at the event

soccer player showing his juggling skills in one of the many fringe events there.

caught out....

2010-03-06T19:51:00.005+11:00

it was just another saturday today until we are completely caught out by the weather. we had just finished the children's classes at about 3pm when the weather suddenly turned belly up. like a boxer caught completely unaware of an oncoming punch, we were ko'd by a torrent of hailstones. some were as big as golf balls. luckily we just got into the car just in time but the poor car was pelted non-stop for about 5 minutes. we drove to seek shelter under a tree but it was scant consolation. the car bore the brunt of the weather's fury.

it was a terrifying experience as we have never experienced something as bad. i was hoping that the car's windows can withstand the hailstones as some of them were pretty big and nasty. luckily it held out. however, we didn't have much hope for the car body though. when things settled and i got out to look at the damage, i counted no less than a dozen dents all over the car.

when i check the websites on this freak weather, i realized we did escape the worst of it. many others weren't as lucky. some sustained injuries and others have their cars with worse damage.

we hope it is something we do not have to go thru' again.

below are some pictures that the press posted.

(all pictures from the age and herald sun websites)

ballarat

2010-03-02T22:39:00.007+11:00

on sunday (28/feb/2010), we drove to ballarat. the kid's grandfather has come over to visit us in melbourne and we thought it will be a good opportunity to drive to ballarat and see the place.

ballarat is situated in the western part of victoria and the drive from our place is just under 2 hours. the heritage of ballarat is clearly in its heydays as a gold mining haven for those who wanted to strike it rich. as it was a prosperous town in the 19th century due to its gold finds, the ballarat of today consists of buildings of great architectural heritage and a rich resource to the history of victoria/australia in those days. sprawling parks and gardens too dominated the city area.

our first stop is the ballarat botanical gardens. it is a large area surrounded with nicely manicured plants and flowers amidst the trees. i had looked forward to visit the acclaimed observatory as well after watching it on television not long ago. the visit to the botanical garden however weren't the best of trip unfortunately because the strong wind condition marred an otherwise good weather for a picnic outdoor. it became dusty and we couldn't stay for long. the observatory was also closed as it is being prepared for the begonia festival which happens on the 6th march.

at noon, we proceeded to sovereign hill, which is listed as an outdoor museum which captures the life and times of the miners in the area. workers were dressed in their period costumes to lend authenticity to the exhibits, which is essentially a recreated township(thank goodness the toilet facilities are modern!) i had my initial reservations about the place. i had envisioned it to be no more than a theme park to cater to the tourists like me. i was wrong. there are a lot of educational elements at sovereign hill that provide great insights on how minings are conducted in those areas. we went to a few shows, including gold pouring, lollies making the traditional way, tried 19th century bowling and even visited two mines underground. we ended up spending more than 4 hours at sovereign hill. the kids enjoyed themselves thoroughly. same for me.

alas, we had to leave since paisley needs to call it an early night as she has her school camp the next day, but not before we stopped over at my cousin's place for dinner in syndenham.

the teacher making sure the kids do their homework properly.

posing outside the school at sovereign hill.

panning for gold. no, they didn't get lucky.

botanical gardens with the observatory as background.

fagan

prep class picnic (26 feb 10)

2010-02-28T22:22:00.007+11:00

last friday, fagan's school hosted a friday evening picnic at the school compound.

the objective is for the parents to meet their teachers and also get to know the parents of their classmates.

we arrived at just past 6pm and it was already crowded. the weather was pleasant for an outdoor picnic. we met with 2 of fagan's classmates parents and we had a good chatting session. the kids were busy playing in between meals while us adults were busy with the food while getting to know one another well. we got acquainted by 2 nice families; a singaporean/malaysian couple and a burmese couple. we also met the teachers in the prep class.

the picnic in the school is a great idea.

this is our picnic spot.

fagan who's on her way to look for her form teacher, mrs parents to pass her the home-made curry-puffs cecilia baked.

the rest of the prep students' parent who're at the vermont primary school compound having a great time.

school starts...

2010-02-21T21:14:00.007+11:00

feb 2010 marks another milestone for the kids.

starting with the baby of the family, fagan; she starts prep school (k2 equivalent in singapore) @ vermont primary school. hopefully she will be forging lifelong friendship, learn and experience the joy of school for the next 7 years.

paisley too attends level 5(primary 5) @ vermont primary school. she a bit of a student vagabond, as this is her 4th primary in 5 years. however, being easy going and someone who mix around easily, she will do fine and hopefully will be able to see out her primary education in this school.

shankly starts his level 7(equivalent to sec 1 in singapore) @ vermont secondary college. may he continue to learn and be more independent & inquisitive in this school. hopefully, he will also forge lifelong friendship and have a truly good experience schooling here.

Christmas Outing

2010-01-30T23:15:00.007+11:00

By Shankly Chiew

During the Christmas break, my family took a 3 day trip to Albury-Wodonga, the twin cities bordering Victoria and NSW. The trip is about 300km from where we live. We set off on the 27^th December.

We did a stopover in a smallish town called Glenrowan. Glenrowan is now a tourist attraction, no less due to the infamous Ned Kelly, who made the place his last stand. We had a great lunch there with a Ned Kelly themed cafe. The cafe had friendly service with good seats and most importantly, great food. I had a beef with gravy roll while Paisley had nuggets and chips. My parents and Shi Mun shared a zucchini slice thingy which I tried which was delicious! We also had a look at Ned Kelly museum.

Our arrival at Wodonga pleased many of us especially me after that long and hard ride. We had a look around at the vicinity then went for a little shopping and retired to our cabin for the rest of the sweltering afternoon. Soon, it was time for our dinner and being tired, our mum didn’t want to cook. We drove out to Albury and ate at a Chinese restaurant.

The next day, we woke up early and got ready for our trip to the Wonga Wetlands. Unfortunately, it was closed! So our trip up there had resulted in nothing. Next, we were supposed to go to the Albury Art Gallery but guess what? It was closed too! So we moved our schedule up and watch a movie. We decided to split up with my father, my sister and I watching Avatar in 3D. My baby sister and my mum watched Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakel. After that, we went to a park and played around and went home for our second night sleep.

On the last day, we packed up our things and checked out, but not before we made a few other stops, like the visiting a bakery with the world’s biggest rolling pin, spending time at the Albury Library, visiting Lake Hume and its dam, and a memorial for WW1 called Monument Hill Reserve.

The trip was really pleasant for me and I really hope I can go again, but this time more relaxing and less bustling about going to different places.

preparing for school next year

2009-11-26T17:00:00.008+11:00

fagan's preparation for prep school, which is a milestone here in australia's education, is going well. she has been attending her orientation/assimilation program into vermont primary school every fortnight for the past 6 weeks or so.

she is in kinder now.

the program's objective is to allow these young children to blend into primary school life. the slow but smooth transition from kinder to primary school here are done in a fun and participative environment. children are encourage to get to know each other even before school starts. each week, fagan will attend activities in the school; be it art lesson, story-telling session or some physical fun. parents are encouraged to mingle with fellow parents and there are also parent sessions where teachers are on hand to brief parents on school matters and clarify any concerns.

the entire transition last about 4 months and is well thought out. today, school uniform fitting day. we went to the school to get fagan her new school uniform. she's suitably excited.

by the way, her sister paisley will also attend the same school next year.

one year on...

2009-11-23T22:40:00.004+11:00

today is just like any other monday for us; the homemaker in da house woke up early to get the kids ready for school, i was doing my routine for the day; work followed by a bit of cycling with a friend in the evening, kids have a bit of some outdoor time post-dinner and bed by 9pm.

however, it is actually a momentous day for us as it has been exactly 1 year since we lay our hats here in melbourne. on the balance of things, i am sure my better half would agree that there have been more positives and negatives, in fact very few of the latter. in many ways, we all still miss singapore. loved ones and food top the list. that said, i guess we need to be forward looking and make the best of what is our family lives now.

my personal observation of the changes that took place:
1. wife's a (way) better cook now
2. kids actually look forward to school
3. the sports side of paisley is blossoming
4. shankly is a more assertive boy (in a good way)
5. fagan is more independant; and more talkative
6. we have dinner together almost daily and that probably brings us closer
7. i (actually) take walks
8. kids enjoy the outdoor more

the major milestone here is we bought our own place (though we won't we living there for some time yet)

looking back, we reckon we made the right decision to come here to start afresh. we obviously still have a long way to go, but the last 12 months has been a blessed one for us.

looking forward, we hope to build on the positives and hopefully our kiddos will better shape themselves to be someone closer to what their heart dictates, inching closer to their own callings.

we must also extend our sincerest appreciations to all our relatives, neighbours, present and new friends made here who extend their help, support, prayers, friendship, advice and more that help us come through unscath in the first 12 months.

for the next 12 months, we look forward to:
1. moving into a place we will call home
2. shankly starting his secondary college, a new phase in his student life and,
3. all of us hopefully finding (more) time and space to pursue our personal interests.

thanks for sharing our journey with us so far....

11th aunt's visit (24 Oct 2009)

2009-11-05T21:09:00.004+11:00

from left: shankly, paisley, cecilia, fagan, 11th aunt, nanyau and nanyi

something to remember

2009-10-28T22:08:00.010+11:00

this week, the children came back with the stuff they made in school.

shankly came back with a `i-am-not-quite-sure-what-it-is' clay sculpture. it's good effort though; even leonardo starts from the bottom.

paisley's penguin and dove are probably the most recognisable of the lot and....

fagan's parachute is not something you would like to be in possession with if you are doing sky-diving.

in my eyes, all great stuff!

getting away being overweight

2009-10-06T21:21:00.010+11:00

"mr chiew, the baggage allowance is 20kg and you are way over..." 3 minutes later, "we will allow excess baggage without charge for you just this time. please bear in mind in the future the luggage weight limit"

since i lost my frequent flyer status in may, i am been flirting with overweight baggage charge by packing to the brim; and testing both my and the ticketing officer's resolve to not charge me. basically, i am bringing remnants of stuff left over in singapore. one could argue that it's not worth risking the overcharge, as every kg over is $60/kg but. still, i get a kick out of seeing if i can get away with this everytime i travel back down under. so far, the score is 4-0 to my favor! my luggages (typically i check in 2 pieces of luggage) weigh anything from 29 to 35kg.

i kind of figure out the following to get the odds in my favor:

a. it helps if you travel with the airlines more than once. it gives you ground to tilt things to your favor.

b. altho' the weight limit is 20kg for economy (provided you do not have a frequent flyer status like pps or krisflyer gold), you can still get away with about 25kg, easy. every kg after that is a risk you take and you need to figure a way out the tangle.

c. it helps to check-in early. typically when the plane is `empty' earlier on, the ticketing officers are more lenient to a lesser extent. if you check-in late, you will not be able to leverage your position especially if that particular officer has checked-in previous passengers with loads of luggage.

d. `choose' your ticketing offer if you can. i once let a passenger behind me thru' because the ticketing officer who's supposed to serve me is rather `strict' looking. i will eye the 1 or 2 options i have where i think the officer is `friendlier'. it worked in that instance altho' i will never know if it was a good call on my part.

e. always smile and don't get defensive. you are basically at their mercy so you will never win if you `exchange words' with the officer. it will also help to casually ask if the plane is full prior. if the plane is half full, you can use this fact to your advantage if needed.

f. always feign ignorance and over-dramatize to look shock when they tell you the weight of your luggage. and then asked if they can waive it. looking distress can help sometimes; pleading works too...

g. if all things fail, asked to see the duty manager. they have the power to over-ride the officer. you need a bit luck though at this stage.

h. a good ruse is to mention that it was your brother/sister/mother-in-law/any close relative that pass you the items to bring over to your brother/sister/wife/any close relative, hence you have little control over the weight of your luggage. sometimes they sympathize with your plight and you get away with it. i did this once when i told the duty manager that it was my my mother-in-law who packed `the other bag' full of foodstuff to her daughter/my wife and that if i can't bring it with me, i will have to discard them in a rubbish bin, rather than to pay the exhorbitant fee. i got away that time too.

i. last but not least, if you were ever once a pps, star alliance (gold) member or any of the frequent flyer privilege card holder, mentioned that you were once their preferred customer. it was the financial crisis that resulted you not traveling so frequently and you ramained a loyal customer to the carrier regardless. sometimes, it can worked as well. unashamedly, i use this trick too once when i was going nowhere; and it worked too.

admittedly, one needs a lot of luck in such instance. but as they say, the more prepared you are, the better your luck will be.

good luck!

disclaimer: i think all of the above will certainly not work if one travels on a budget airline. so, don't even comptemplate it. and of course, i tested the above only on a couple of carriers. i have not tried the others, so don't send me with a lawyer's letter if you got hit with a hefty surcharge if you attempted any of the above.

orange alert, sydney!

2009-09-23T22:22:00.006+10:00

i was awakened early this morning with a truly unusual sight of sydney. i looked out the window from the 42nd floor of the hotel (see picture) i was staying in the heart of the city; what i saw the entire city was blanketed with a glowing orange tint. initially, i weren't sure if it was the window tinting on the hotel building playing tricks on me, or that the sun's glow at dawn is overwhelming or that i am simply still sleepy.
as i continued to be awed by the sight, i realized it was dust when i switched on the tv and the local headline news explained the phenomenon. it was a surreal sight, and for a moment, i weren't sure if i should just stay in or if it's safe to go outside.
from then on, it wrecked havoc to what would have been another typical busy working wednesday in sydney. health alert went out to those with respiratory problems to stay indoor. those driving took extra precaution as visibility on the road plummeted. it didn't dawn on me that flight will also be impacted. i have a scheduled 2pm flight back to melbourne the same afternoon.
after my work in the morning, i decided to leave slightly earlier to the airport after a colleague wagered that i will not be able to make the flight. a chaotic scene greeted me at the airport. since i was early, i was able to check in an `earlier' flight even though it is delayed. information from the airport on flights schedule was few and far between. many flights were either delayed or cancelled. as only one runway was used at the domestic terminal for safety reason, flights that are scheduled to take-off have to endure a long queue. my flight finally got the green light to take off at about 4.45pm. as i was waiting at my gate to board the flight, i overheard the announcement that my flight that i was originally scheduled to fly out to melbourne was cancelled. i thanked my lucky stars that i was allocated a seat on an earlier flight.
the flight was bumpy through-out due to the strong winds but when dj842 landed in melbourne at 6.10pm today, i was a tired but happy man. i made it to melbourne by the skin of my teeth.

p.s. i read in reports later that the dust storm is the worst ever pollution that hit sydney. it was 1500 times the normal pollution level in sydney. the dust storm travelled 1500km to hit new south wales and covered almost 600km across the coast of the state. it dumped about 75000 tonnes of dust every hour! it dust storm eventually hit brisbane.

chesterfield farm

2009-09-21T16:59:00.011+10:00

school holidays' here again. it is the spring break and the kids have 2 weeks away from school to chill out. we decided to do something fun for them on saturday since weekdays are bad for me. we shortlisted a few places where we can take the kids out for a bit of fun; and after speaking with them, we narrow it down to the melbourne zoo or a farm visit. we decided on the latter since they enjoyed their last farm visit in adelaide.

chesterfield farm is actually not too far away from where we lived. it is located in scoresby and is about 15mins drive from where we live. it sits on an expansive 58 hectares of land. there are many facilities there including picnic areas where visitors can bring their picnic basket and spend a leisurely late morning or early afternoon just soaking in the wonderful spring sunshine. of course, things wouldn't be complete without bbq pits. you can find that too at chesterfield farm!

we arrived at 10am and being the first day of school holiday, there are a decent numbers of visitors already. the demographics are all too similar, young families with young kids in tow.

the animal playpen is the favourite place for all as they get to play & cuddle with lambs, rabbits and goats. in fact, that's where she spent most of her time. we stayed for the animal show too where fagan bravely milked a cow. there was also an interesting demonstration showing how a sheep dog herd and guard sheeps from the vast enclosed field.

we stayed till the weather turned gloomy in the early afternoon and decided to called it a day and return to our familiar urban domain.
we rounded up our trip with a `yum cha' session at knox city. (interestingly, it is my first `yum cha' since i got here)

you (really) can't hurry love in australia

2009-09-15T22:37:00.003+10:00

of late, i was very perturbed by the manner and the efficiency level on how things are done here. while i appreciate the thorough manner in which things are processed here, there are also some that borders on sheer indifference and the complete lack of urgency in sorting out matters. this is really getting onto my nerves of late.
last week, i called a state agency to clarify a business matter. not only is the officer is non-committal in his answer (i guess to safeguard himself against any wrongful advise given), i was asked to make an appointment for a face to face meeting to clarify the matter. the problem is they can only accomodate a time/date 3 weeks later. i am not sure why it needed such a long time for them to help clarify on what i feel is a straight forward clarification i sought.
another thing which i quote can't grasp is that one needs to make an appointment to see a doctor. what i don't understand is getting sick is not something we plan for, hence making a doctor's appointment prior is something i still don't quite get it. however, this is something i have to manage regardless.
lastly, i was most unimpressed with the pace of the renovation work i am doing on a home we bought. we engaged a drafter to draw the house extension and the elevation plan that we need to submit to the municipal council for approval. to date, which is almost 3 months to the day we appointed the drafting service company, there is no progress at all. we are still waiting for the drawings to be completed. by no means are we building the next empire state building, it is just a simple extension on a few corners of the house. it is exasperating dealing with them. i resorted to daily calls in the last 2 weeks hoping that they will get their act together, but to no avail. today, they told me plain a simple that they will need `more time' to finish their work. getting a completion date commitment from them is next to impossible. so this begs the question, are they not keen to collect the payment from me quicker so they can move on with the business? i was told the only reason for the delay is due to them having too many jobs on hand. they pick and choose which one they wanted done first, and because of my relentless pounding on them in the last 2 weeks, they may have move my job to the back of their queue.
many sage told me patience is a virtue.
i think they have not been to australia yet.

shimun and shiqi getting older

2009-09-15T22:25:00.004+10:00

shimun and shiqi both reach a new milestone in their age this month. shimun turns 5 last sunday and shiqi will be 10 in a couple of days.
as always, we kept the celebration a small family affair where we got them a small cake and enjoyed the moment.
both received presents too from their aunt in singapore and nanny.
time flies. how they've grown!

p.s. yes, we do have a cluster of birthdays in sept. my mum turned 70 yesterday as well. i would like to wish her a belated birthday and may she stays happy and healthy for many years to come.

flowering perennials @ canora

2009-08-17T22:05:00.006+10:00

we have what i believe are hybrid kingfisher daisy (felicia bergeriana) perennial outside our house front that i am especially fond of. it's really brighten up one's day just by looking at them when in full bloom every morning. and late into the day, it too look forward for a good rest with petals closed.

the key

2009-08-11T21:36:00.004+10:00

today is a significant day, albeit a low-key one (pun intended).

this humble key will shape the next few years (maybe decades) of our lives.

favourite bedtime story II

2009-08-09T21:53:00.003+10:00

dr seuss is starting to leave an impression on her of late. fagan's grand-uncle gave her a dr suess story book last month in adelaide and that got her going.

this week, `green eggs and ham' is required reading. luckily there is an accompanying cd in this book we borrowed from the library. i will pop the cd in the cd player she can listen to it when i am done reading it umteenpth time.

as i write, `sam-i-am' is ringing in my ears.

9 august 09

2009-08-09T21:22:00.004+10:00

as i write, singapore is probably in the thick of action with her usual dazzling national day parade at marina bay. we never did see a parade `live' other than on tv and on occasions, we drove closer-by to witness the spectacular fireworks. in a way, we miss the excitement this year.

we kind of commemorated this with a small gathering of singaporean here for a makan session at my place yesterday. kok wah and family, who migrated here about a year earlier than us, joined us with chin yuen and his wife. kok wah is a colleague and my cycling kaki now. chin yuan and his wife will live here for 3 years as his wife is on a singapore government scholarship doing her doctorate at the melbourne university.

after a short cycle session at the eastlink trail, we replaced all burnt calories had a hearty meal of decidedly singapore fare of ngo hiang, prawn noodle soup, curry chicken with bread, bubur cha cha, tapioca cake, amongst others.

it was a very nice catch up for all of us.

happy 44th, singapore!

mcg - afl - richmond tigers

2009-08-02T23:43:00.010+10:00

Richmond Tigers is the football (Australian football) team I support. As part of the AFL multiculture program, Michael, our football coach said that we could get free tickets to a Richmond game. I was so excited and I couldn’t wait to tell my parents. I told my father and he was excited. My family and I went the MCG, we were amongst the first people to reach the stadium.

We waited so long that I thought that the coordinator won’t be able to make it but finally we got the tickets. We got in and it was so cool how we could see the entire field. This was my first time ever watching a football game live. At first, Richmond was leading but Melbourne caught up, but then Richmond fought back again.

We had to go home at the last quarter. When we got home, I was pleasantly surprised when my father told me that Richmond won the game. Richmond won by a last minute goal. It was so cool. I thought that Richmond was going to lose like the last time.

I enjoyed myself. by Paisley Chiew

paisley embraced the footie and richmond tigers when the team did a school visit earlier this year. her interests in the team grew a little fanatical when she started a scrap book on all things tiger. even her clothes' choice of colors are tiger coordinated on match day. so when her school offer the opportunity to watch the tigers in action this sunday, we thought it is a good opportunity to spend sunday doing what many melbournians do; attending a sports event.

richmond tigers is well over a hundred years old and has cult followings amongst victorians even though success evaded the club for quite a while already. today, it is a mid-table club that's struggling a little bit.

unsure of the crowd or traffic condition, we left early. when there, fans are already there mingling. there is only friendly rivalry between the tigers and the demons fans. i guess it is down to the fact that we are 2 teams from melbourne competing and crucially; the two teams are not really contending for honors this season. as i said, tigers are a mid-table team while the demons are the current wooden spoonist in the table standing.

the mcg is truly an extraordinary sports venue. it has a mammoth 100 000 capacity and a rich sporting legacy. i would love to explore the sports museum and its surrounding on another occasion.

i was completely ignorant of the footie game but admittedly, it has grown on me. i would say i understand about 60% of the game. prior to that, i am always bewildered by this game where grown men run around an oval and inevitably getting into a flare-up at every game. however, once one has basic understanding on the footie, it is quite a remarkable spectator sport.

we left towards the end of the 4th quarter where the 2 teams were neck to neck in the score and exchanging leads. in the end, richmond tigers prevail. and that made someone in the family (very) happy.

match stats:
richmond tigers - 86
melbourne demons - 82
crowd: 37,438 at MCG

1 august 2009

2009-08-01T20:55:00.002+10:00

afternoon stroll at the bellbird dell reserve, which is a stone throw away from our new (future) home.

off topic - before and after

2009-07-31T23:41:00.024+10:00

i am lucky to have been to china in the last few years for work. the transformation i witnessed is truly astounding. one of the my favourite `side activity' is to take pictures at the same spot over the years so i can see what changed. i recalled reading a news article on beijing that the city map needs updating every 3 months because there are so many new sights and developments completed that changed the cityscape, especially in the pre-olympic years. here are 2 iconic landmarks that helped define the new beijing.

cctv hq building - i literally saw this imposing beauty rise from the grounds up from the 16th floor on my office building opposite this site. it's hard not to stare at it everytime the sight of this building beckons. of course, this building is still unoccupied due to someone's folly of letting off fireworks in an adjoining building late last year. it razed that building into a black shell.

beijing olympic stadium, the bird's nest - nuff' said

circus

2009-07-29T20:26:00.003+10:00

the circus came to town last week and we caught it over the weekend. we drove past the circus site on our way home a few times prior, which is just around the corner of where we lived. so, on sunday, we decided it will be a nice change from our `stay-at-home' sunday routine. we walked there; with a haversack of snacks.

the frank gasser's circus olympia that we saw was a slightly watered down version (i think) from what i read about circus olympia. this one is basically a group of travelling circus performers from siberia that is leveraging on the name to draw in the crowd. that said, they are clearly a talented and hardworking bunch. hardworking because most performers also double up as ushers, popcorn sellers, etc. before the show and during intermission. clearly the sign of the times. unlike the good ol' days where the circus is a family treat that most will look forward to and will pack in the crowd; today there are just too many other distractions to draw the crowd into the big tent. there were only about a 150 circus goers in the show we were in.

we enjoyed the 2hr show thoroughly. for weiqimun, this is their first circus; so they had a jolly good time as well. the performers were consumate professionals; they gave their best despite the (small) crowd. mingwei enjoy the fire-eating segment and i personally like the finale, where the `elder' of the circus troop (who's at least 50yrs old and also doubles up as a clown in the earlier segments) entralled the audience by climbing up a 30m high straight pole with a 45kg girl standing balanced on his head. it is hard to imagine, you have to see it to believe it. what strength!

we are unlikely to see another circus in the foreseeable future; that said, we hope the good old traditional circus will be around for a long, long time. they can still elicit smiles from the young and old as they did on sunday, and that can only be a good thing.

downball

2009-07-24T21:51:00.005+10:00

Downball, it’s a game that I play with my friends’ the majority of the time. I play it during recess and lunch, that is, when the best walls aren’t taken. The wall we will have to use if that happens is a low wall. It is lousy, because if you hit it too high, it goes on the roof…

Now about Downball, for those of you that aren’t too familiar with it, let me explain. It’s a game that you have to survive in by chucking a ball at everyone. Just kidding, to play it you have to repeatedly hit a Spalding ball or (bouncy ball as my little sister calls it) on to the all mighty and magnificent wall that we always have to dash out to ‘book’ as soon as our teacher dismisses us when the bell rings. As I was saying, if you hit it on the wall, you wait till the ball comes to you after someone else has hit it and you or someone else hits it again. Sounds boring? Well, not if you play it.

Ok, let me tell you the main rules… Well here goes
Firstly, I’ll tell you about the areas
-The Out Area: So, well how should I say it, Ermm well, you just can’t get the ball there. The last person to hit it before it goes out gets on the wall. Oh yeah if the ball goes out, you can serve it from there if you say SOS (Serve Out of Square) or as my friend says it, sauce.
-The In Area: It is the area the ball has to stay in.
Now for the rules
-Double touch: You can’t touch it after you just hit it or you’re out.
-Double bounce: When you hit the ball, it has to bounce only once before it hits the wall or you’re out.
-Fool: After you’ve hit the ball, if it touches the wall before it hits the ground, you’re out.
-Wedge: If it bounces where the floor and the wall meet, it’s a wedge and no one’s out.
-Rebound: If it bounces out and by some miracle it comes back in (without anyone touching it!) It’s a rebound and you have to continue the game.
-Being on the wall: If you stuff up and you’re on the wall and the ball hits you, you’re out. However, if you catch the ball before it bounces off the wall, you’re back to hitting the ball.
Well, that’s it, oh yeah one more thing, you can play the ‘Fools Rally’, you have to win by fooling.
Bye, and have fun!

By Chiew Ming Wei, Shankly

favourite bedtime story

2009-07-23T21:19:00.007+10:00

shimun's favourite bedtime story book (for now) is an unlikely book called The Story of Growl. we first read it at the library and she liked it so much that we ended up borrowing it home. it is written by a well-known australian cartoonist and illustrator, judy horacek.
we would cover the story a few times a day without her ever getting bored.
as we are returning the book soon, this is to help her remember this story about a little monster which irritates her neighbours initially with her growls but eventually ended up saving the day.

the little dancer

2009-07-23T21:11:00.003+10:00

shimun recently joined her best friend in kinder, catherine, in a dance class. her mum sends her to nunawading every tuesday for this.

here, she's getting ready to leave home for her 2nd lesson, when her elder sis returns from school.

july 18, 2009

2009-07-18T21:44:00.015+10:00

apart from some gusty wind around noon, we have a beautiful winter day today.

all pictures: nokia n95

er...you got score or not, ar?

2009-07-17T22:18:00.012+10:00

once upon a time, not so long ago (in singapore), my kids will hand us their school report card/progress report with trepidation. it is because that will set the scene for the next 6 months of their lives. whether life is good or otherwise will hinge on what's in the progress report. before you conclude that we are sadist that deprive growing children on their (computer) playtime [admittedly, we do cut down on their itouch games, ps2, gameboy, wii, psp or ds lite time (yes, we have the lots and we are working on the 360 and ps3) during the school holidays if they fell short of our expectations], like it or not, we parents have been conditioned since time immemorial that we measure our children's progress in school by how many band 1s or a1s obtained. the first thing most parent zoomed in is the exam marks. all else is immaterial. and the narratives are unimportant. i received my numerous 1 liner `can be improved' remarks from my teachers when i was young. i often wondered, "improve what ah?"
in singapore, i do know of some people who use their children's progress report as bragging rights. it becomes an intense topic of discussion and rank as high as `what car do you drive?', `this holiday going where?' and `psf, how much?' during lunch breaks. i just make sure i have a mouthful of food and chew slowly everytime such topics surface.
our 2 older kids finished their semester 1 recently. when we were (shockingly) told by the school principal earlier this year that the school doesn't have text books for the kids in school; we were more prepared this time round. still, when we received an a4 envelope of 8 page print-out each of shankly and paisley's progress report, we were pleasantly surprised by the content.
for starter, we couldn't find the exam mark or grade. of course, the kids never have exams. life couldn't have better for them. when paisley excitedly insist that i read her semester 1 progress report, i sense that something is amiss. she was never that enthusiastic about me reading her school report card in singapore. same with the boy.
instead, only grading, or rating as they called it were given on. beside being graded on the core learning subjects like english, maths and science(for shankly); equal emphasis were given on interpersonal development, thinking processes, phys ed, performing arts and creativity, amongst others. and supporting each of this rating is a thorough assessment given by the teachers on how they have performed, areas for improvement and what they have done well. for us parents, it is no longer a situation where we judge summarily if our children have done well through the score of the examination papers they took. in fact, i took a long time to read, reread and understand what is written and it has given me an appreciative view on the education our children are receiving. equally impressive is that the students' view were captured in this progress report. they have their say on what they like or dislike about the school, the challenges they relish or the difficulties they encountered. done over time, this will reinforce the students' ability to think and articulate their thoughts. and lastly, parents too have a say in this. we are encourage to pen our thoughts on what we read and pass back written comments to them. a face-to-face parent-teacher meeting will conclude the semester's progress report.
we were initially worried if our kids will lose that `study smart' competitive edge. i am sure they will not fare well in the singapore education system now, even if only 6 months out of that system. admittedly, singapore's education system has its strengths; but that said, i am personally convinced that it is the right decision to pull them out and embrace a more well rounded education system here. children's education here is more holistic than just emphasize on academic excellence. i realized that singapore's education system is evolving in this direction, but we can't wait. paisley will be a mother of 2 and i, grand-dad when that happens.
and for a change, i no longer can be `blackmailed' into `rewards' for `scoring' in an exam. that part is the gravy....

july 16, 2009

2009-07-16T21:02:00.005+10:00

for some of us, it was a meaningful day today.

shimun went to her classmate's birthday party this afternoon and had a blast.

mingwei was in a school excursion today visiting the famed melbourne cricket ground (mcg). of course, the mcg is a sacred place to most sports mad melbournian. he too had a blast trying a game of cricket with his schoolmates. i have always wanted to visit the mcg and never had the chance yet. so the boy topped me on this on 2 counts; he's been there and played a game there. for the latter, it is something i will probably never have the chance to experience.

that said, things went well for me too. i went for my first cycling ride, albeit a short one. having chatted with a colleague on riding together for the past month, i decided to walk the talk and dusted off my bicycle today. we decided a short, easy off-road trail ride. having been off the bike for a good few months, i was a little worried about my conditioning and stamina, and my triathlete riding partner added to the pressure. my mountain bike was not in a good shape, so i brought my dahon p8 for the ride. we started off just before dusk at high street, glen waverley. the temperature was a chilly 10 degrees celcius. the bike trail was fantastic; we passed by numerous parks, farm lands and other scenic places. definitely a part of the neighbourhood i need to explore more. if you can overlook the runny nose, painful ears, dry throat and being left for dead in 2 mini hill climbs, it was actually a very gratifying ride for me. nothing like getting started to get that riding bug again. we finished about 19km in under an hour. once back, i was treated to his wife's home-made nasi lemak to round things off.

lastly, i received my much anticipated ticket to the australian masters via registered post today. the big deal of this is of course tiger woods will be playing here in november. mine's a 6 days ground pass, so i will experience what chasing the tiger is all about this november.

victoria celebrates mini's 50th birthday

2009-07-12T21:12:00.018+10:00

the mini turned 50 this year. while the main gig took place in silverstone, england a couple of months ago; victoria took turn to honor the mini celebration with a 2 day exhibition in melbourne showgrounds to bring like-minded people together this weekend for some serious indulgence and celebration. this event was organized by the victorian mini club (inc).

this event makes a great family outing. there is the usual `best dress' competition where visitors will vote for the best mini on display; there are also many other activities like mini rc race, mini souvenirs for collectors, mini techies to exchange notes about carburettors and radiators and so on.

i was there with paisley.

minis of all variation and configuration are there to be admired. from the powerful to the quirky, it's amazing how the first mini that rolled out in 1959 has evolved into such a following that is almost unimagineable today. i marveled at the length to which the mini owners take to customize their mini. to me, each mini has its own story to tell.

my first car was a mini. it is a '77 mini 1000 special. i bought it in 1992 and had for 2.5 years before i traded it for something else. i enjoyed it immensely and even took it to malacca once. i also remember getting stopped by traffic police in singapore more than once who (then) asked me to open up the bonnet to check if i `mod' my ride. my then-manager at work, irene kee, christened my mini `mary jane' after i gave her a ride back to the office after a customer visit. the mini unfortunately is not a practical daily car in singapore. i sold it with a heavy heart but it has always a place in my heart.

i next encountered the (new) mini when i went to new zealand for work for a few days. the company had a high end mini cooper s to move around town. as it is a `looker', it turned heads and therefore created a lot of awareness for the company. i was smitten by it and when i went to auckland for a week's holiday with my wife and shimun the next year, i was able to borrow it. i travelled around north island with the mini and returned the car with 3 speeding tickets after.

settling here in melbourne allow me to rekindle my love affair with the mini. as cars are generally more affordable here, i am lucky enough to be able to consider the mini (again) for my ride. i got hold of the `06 r53 cooper s in feb 09 after tossing between that and the latest r56.

we enjoyed the show throughly. especially for me, it is like a kid in a candy store. paisley & i spoke briefly about passing on mary jane II to her and her brother years from now. as a beetle fan, she's not too excited at the prospect. however, i think i got time on my side.

(clockwise from left) me with mary jane; my short love affair in nz and now with mary jane II

melbourne-adelaide-melbourne

2009-07-11T22:26:00.056+10:00

we decided rather late to take advantage of the victoria school holiday to visit my cousin and his family who live in adelaide. the fact that his parents are there made it doubly meaningful since i have close ties with them; having lived with them in singapore for a number of years when i was schooling there. it is a short trip as we are at the tail end of the school holiday and as i just got back from overseas prior. my cousin in adelaide helped with the planning bit and we were off on thursday at 6am sharp.

we relied on the gps for optimal time efficiency. point-to-point, from my place to my cousin's place in adelaide, the distance is a (daunting) 759km as i found out.

on the way to adelaide, my better half took control of the wheel with gusto. she has never driven interstate before. for some reason, i was a little jaded that day, and she covered a good 3/5 of the total journey.

the journey took about 10 hours with stops. we saw a fair bit of the spectacular view at dawn and also during the journey. seeing the countryside is a refreshing change from the usual brick and mortar we are used to.

halfway thru' when we reached border town (the town that literally borders victoria and south australia), shankly got carsick. we stopped by a pharmacy for some panadol; and after an unispiring chinese meal there, he took refuge at the public library for some rest before resuming.
meanwhile, the youngest one took the time to do some coloring at the bordertown public library as well.

we reached adelaide and our final destination (mawson lakes) at around 4.30pm. it was relief all around and we try not to think of the return journey so soon yet. we like mawson lakes alot and have we not settled in melbourne, we are pretty sure that this will be where we will lay our hats.
it rained pretty much the whole of friday, so we spent the morning browsing at the adelaide central market, checked out the adelaide public library before heading to hahndorf in the early afternoon for lunch. the rain put paid to our plan to visit the animal farm in hahndorf where we had a lot of fun during our last visit; and fagan got her fingers painfully pecked by an emu. fagan thus never has her chance to get even.

hahndorf is full of historical flavour. it is one of the earliest german settlement in australia. it should be a `must visit' place for those who visits adelaide. only 20 minutes away from adelaide, it has quite a few attractions that one can spend the day there. a walk along main street to check out the wide range of shops selling german pastries, sausages to curios is a great way to get acquainted with the smallish town. it has great cafes as well as a (surprisingly)fantastic chinese restaurant. there is also beerenberg, a strawberry jam factory and an animal farm nearby where the kids will have a great time with animals.

meeting with the relatives is the highlight of the trip. this is a rare occasion to catch my aunt and uncle from singapore. this is also the first time we met with our adelaide cousins after a couple of years. after a great home cook meal on thursday, we met for a fine dinner at a restaurant on friday.

just as it was a great occasion for us adult to catch up, it was also an opportunity for the kids to get to know each other better. it was a short but fun time for them

on saturday, we left early to get home in good time. by 7am, both the car and us fuel up at castrol and mcdonalds' respectively to get ready for the journey back.

we had a couple of stops, mainly toilet breaks. it rained pretty much on our whole journey back, so we did not have the opportunity to stop at some of the attractions along the way.

stats:
trip stops: (blackburn south) - horsham - border town - mawson lakes - adelaide - hahndorf - mawson lakes - coomandook - kaniva - horsham - syndenham - (blackburn south)
total distance traveled: 1676km
fuel consumption: 9.2l/100km for the entire trip (best recorded mileage 9.0l/100km) on a volvo xc70

as @ 11 july 2009

2009-07-11T21:35:00.005+10:00

cold melb

2009-07-08T17:58:00.007+10:00

Frosty night as Melbourne suburbs drop below zero
Sherrill Nixon
July 8, 2009 - 7:52AM

The Age
Melburnians awoke to ice on their car windscreens and across their lawns after a night of below-freezing temperatures in many suburbs.

http://www.theage.com.au/national/frosty-night-as-melbourne-suburbs-drop-below-zero-20090708-

this was exactly what i experienced this morning when i left for work at 8am.

as there is only one car-port in this house, my better half's car got the short end of the straw on most days. today, i decided to drive cecilia's car to my office instead as we need to fill up the gas in preparation for our cross state trip to adelaide, south australia tomorrow.

on first look, nothing out of the ordinary, as the windscreen is all fog up. so i picked up a piece of cloth to wipe it clear. of course, when everything felt crusty, i realized that frost has enveloped the car.

still unsure of how to defrost a car, i drove to work with the windows down for the first 10 minutes. the car temperature reads 1 degrees celcius. and of course, 10 minutes is all i need to get into office :-(

p.s. my colleague told me later in office that one needs to just pour room temperature water onto the windscreen and things should just takes care of itself.

off topic - bird's nest (鸟巢)

2009-06-29T22:29:00.013+10:00

i arrived in beijing sunday morning from singapore.

i had thought of visiting the usual suspects like forbidden city or the likes, but decided to visit the olympic site instead. when i was last there, it was a piece of `mangled steel' work in progress. so, it will be great to be able to see china's latest pride and joy in the flesh.

i was pleasantly surprised when the concierge told me that i could take line #10 from guomao station (国贸站) where i was at. it's 11 stops away. i was doubly surprised that the ticket still costs 2yuan.
the olympic park is a sprawling place housing 2 of the most outstanding venues of the beijing olympic; the bird's nest and the water cube. i have to admit that i was little flustered by the hot weather. mid-30 degrees celcius is what i have to content with.

the bird's nest is now a major tourist attraction; it was reported that it attracts about 30,000 visitors daily from within and abroad. sunday was no different. scores of people were there; some in awe of the structures that lie before their eyes, some eagerly having their pictures taken at all possible angles. some both.
it is indeed an architecture marvel; as with the recent chinese pre-occupation with the beijing landscape reinvention we see around the city.

i balked at the 50 yuan (a$9) admission ticket into the bird's nest initially but relented anyway since it's not often i come here anyway. interestingly, touts are aplenty 10m from the ticket booth offering the same admission ticket. not sure if the ticket is the real deal, i didn't risk it.

disappointing is how i would describe the visit once i am in. there is nothing that points you to some of the historic moments in the olympics, you are just left to your own devices, wander as you like. there is actually a mammoth stage that's being prepared for the summer concert that's happening on 30.june.

after 15 minutes on the seat marveling at the structure, i walked on the ground of the stadium, on the bitumen that usain bolt set the world alight just 10 months back. thereafter, a visit to the souvenir shop with overpriced items on my way out and my pilgrimage is complete.

i walked over to the water cube but 30 yuan admission fee was enough deterrence for me after the bird's nest experience. that money can get me a different sort of water cube, the thirst quenching kind.

2 yuan and 30 minutes later, i am back in my hotel room for a cold shower.

anywhere else, the bird's nest sign will point to stuff of the edible kind

they are so proud of their high wire act that they left it all intact for all to see.

water cube - i have to say it looks better at night and from pictures you see

off topic - michael jackson

2009-06-26T23:42:00.006+10:00

tribute to the king of pop is all over with his sudden passing, so i shall contribute my fair share as well. i found out about his death early this morning from my mother, who's turning 70 this year. it says two things:
1. michael must be somebody if even my mum can break the news to me. she is not exactly into western pop.
2. the internet is not as pervasive as i thought if my mum can beat the internet in breaking the news to me. or is it just me.....
i saw michael jackson `live' in singapore many years ago when he played to a 60000 crowd at the `still-to-be-demolished-and-what-are-they-waiting-for' singapore national stadium. i think i just left school not long after and went with a close friend of mine, siti aiza. we share the same birthday.
i think i kept the ticket stub somewhere in my treasure box (not sure if it is worth something now....).
my favourite all-time mj song is `rock with you'.
i also introduced michael jackson's music to my 9 year old daugther just last month when i passed her the HIStory cd. i was hoping to convince her that her dad was `cool' once too.
rest in peace, the king of pop.

a bit of singapore down under

2009-06-18T15:28:00.006+10:00

"wow, curry puff!" was mingwei's reaction when he first saw them.

the kids have lamented about missing some of singapore's staple a while back; so the `food-gician' in the house (not me) whipped up the delicious curry puffs.

they taste as good as they look, of course with the able help from the little kitchen helper.

canora to glenora......

2009-06-18T14:53:00.002+10:00

for a change, we needn't go house viewing this weekend.
how liberating..........

City of Whitehorse

2009-06-06T22:54:00.006+10:00

let me introduce the municipal of whitehorse; where our suburb is bounded by.
we settled in the municipality almost by default. my workplace is here (forest hill), and a friend of mine who helps us settle in lives here too. we were also advised by friends, colleagues that eastern melbourne is the place to be. and since it is about 17km from melbourne city, it is not too far away if we need to be in town but far enough for a good dose of peace and quiet we crave.

the city of whitehorse, as it is called, covers an area of almost 64 sq kilometres and consists of about 16 suburbs. it has a population of about 151000 of which one third of them are born overseas. i guess we just added to that weightage.

we found that the name, city of whitehorse, almost funny and interesting initially. we later found out that it derives its namesake from a, what else, white horse dating back to the 1850s.

after 6 months, i have to say that we are completely comfortable living in this area. the suburb we are living now are peaceful and safe. there are also plenty of schools to choose from. the neighbourhood is a friendly one. there is really little (if any) that we can complain about. if there is one, that would be that it is `too hilly'; it puts off my cycling which i used to do back in singapore.

my personal top 3 reasons for living here are:

1. strong asian presence here but not imposing to where we are living now. if we crave for anything chinese/asian, whether food or otherwise, boxhill is 5 mins drive away where we can get good chinese/asian food aplenty and do asian grocery shopping. we can find our lee kum kee oyster source here, or the mjoyo mee that my wife craves for. the roast duck rice in boxhill is arguably better than any of the ones i had back in singapore. in short, it helps newbies like us settle in quicker.

2. parks abundance. this is a big plus. i found out that are more than 170 playgrounds and more than 330 open spaces within the municipality. we have a park and reserves land just behind where we live. i have recently started running again and the park serves as my fitness sanctuary; fresh air and traffic-free running paths are a dream.

3. convenience. suburbs' amenities are really well planned. there is no need to travel far for anything. the nearest supermarket is about 15mins stroll away. if i need anything urgently, i will cycle out for a quick errand and there is `no dramas' at all (an aussie expression i picked up). and 5 minutes drive away, we have a good size mall (forest hill chase) that we can go to and get a whole lot done. clinics, post office, etc. are all within reach.

i would like to add a fourth:

good designated cycle lanes around. i have not really gone for any (long) cycle trip yet other than in my neighbourhood but i notice there are a fair bit of cycling lanes set aside for cyclists. as a cyclist, this is heaven sent. to me, this is a hallmark of a good area to live in where the urban planners are conscious of the needs of the everyone. there are also good cycle trails close-by.

we fancy living here for a long time.

you can find out more about the city of whitehorse here: http://www.whitehorse.vic.gov.au

One for the memory

2009-06-02T21:15:00.013+10:00

the kids have their school pictures taken recently. here they are.

as for the school, we no longer are pre-occupied with grades, CA this and SA that. i am only concerned with 2 things; that i) they are enjoying themselves in school, and ii) they are learning new skillset/knowledge. for kids their age, these are the only things that matters.

shankly chiew

paisley chiew

fagan chiew

autumn

2009-05-13T18:38:00.006+10:00

(picture: Sandgate Road, Blackburn South 05/09)

autumn is beautiful in melbourne.
there is something about it that soothe the mind when one sees leaves dropping in droves or see a road or pathway that's littered with beautifully brown leaves. some times we get beautiful sunshine during the day that makes getting outdoor something to look forward to. a run, walk the dog or just hang out by the park are simple pleasures that autumn brings.

autumn is beautiful in melbourne.

there is something about it that soothe the mind.....except if you are tasked to clean up the backyard.

food fit for the empress

2009-05-11T22:17:00.011+10:00

may 10 is designated mother's day worldwide. i readily agree* to take over the kitchen for the day so my better half can have a little `take it easy' day with her.

i have no problem cooking. in fact, someone once told me that real man cooks. i couldn't agree more. early in our married life, i was the one who ruled the kitchen (besides being the breadwinner; and taking charge of laundry, ironing, general house cleaning and fixing the light bulb) i am pretty adeptable since i have lived out from my family at an early age. whipping up 3 meals a day is at the tip of my finger. in fact, when i was an undergrad, i temp at the university club house as a kitchen helper. in 2 months, i learnt how to debone a cooked chicken cleanly, down to the wings. when i showed off that skill to my mother at home, she was very impressed with me. the chef there even let me handle the kitchen knives once in a while, which is a big deal. i could go on but i better stop here, less i am accused of boasting.

it was not until about 3 years ago, when my wife first laid hand on the game,`クッキングママ, kukkingu mama' (cooking mama) on her nds lite that she started cultivating an interest in cooking. when she mastered and outcooked everyone in`cooking mama: world kitchen', she decided to try her hand in cooking for real. her interests in cooking grew from there. and there is no looking back since that day. i too hung up my apron soon after to concentrate on my day job.

i realized that 3 years can unlearn many things that you thought were 2nd nature to you. i found out the hard way on mother's day yesterday. for a start, i nearly sliced off my own finger as i attempted to `speed chop' the onions. i blamed the tool. the knife wasn't sharp enough. then i chickened out trying to chop the chicken wings in pieces. i feared parts of my hand will be amongst the pieces of meat in the simmering chicken curry pot. i resorted to using a scissor to cut the chicken to parts. i learnt this from the singapore hawker stalls. it worked to my relief even if though the chicken is raw.

critically, things turns out well. my reputation within the family remain intact. i won by a split decision** when i ask my family members to vote if the food were top notch.

for the curious soul, this is what i prepared (clockwise in the enclosed picture):

1. golden crisp salmon strips (commonly known as salmon battered in tapioca flour and deepfried)

2. special sauce sauteed leafy green with scampi champignon (layman calls it stirred fried kailan with leftover mushroom/prawn from the fridge)

3. golden l'oignon oeuf (you are probably more familiar with fried omelette with onion)

4. lechon udang kering (or `hay bee hiam' with pork. poor man's dish found mainly in malaysia/singapore)

5. golden authentic kari ayam pedas malaysia*** (most just called it chicken curry)

better not drool....

* no choice

** my youngest 4.5 year old girl splits the votes to my favor. this after i agree to include her disney's princess food mat in the picture

***thanks, prima deli!

house hunting

2009-05-09T23:56:00.008+10:00

it didn't seemed like a long time ago that we were house hunting. when we first arrived back in november 08, we spent a good 2 weeks looking for a rental place to call our own for at least the year. it was slightly daunting times then as we were newbies in the country. we weren't sure of how things will pan out. we were glad we managed to find a place we liked in blackburn south.

not long after, we began looking at houses for sale. we were prompted by a friend who thought it will be a good idea to get use to the way house sales are conducted here in australia. back in singapore, we never really moved from our first home, a hdb apartment we owned since 1997. to me, moving house in singapore is almost an oxymoron; singapore is not big enough (at least for me) to want to move to someplace `closer' (work or otherwise). we are pretty much 30-45mins from anywhere in singapore when we drive. most times, shorter. secondly, most homes are 99 year lease, we don't own the place anyway, and if we want to buy a freehold or 999 year lease, we have to fork out significantly more. thirdly, i personally get turn off by the total amount of loan interests that i need to fork out. for the most part, i will be working to pay the bank. if i could, i do not like to owe anyone money, much less the banks. paying via my cpf then is perfect. i don't fork out a cent more from my take home pay. but mostly, i don't make enough money to buy my singapore `dream home'. i prefer to live within my means and enjoy smaller luxuries than to keep up with the joneses.

so, `getting into the market', as house agent here told me; is something new to me. for the last 4 months or so, we spent some saturdays driving to open houses; mostly to understand what to look out for, pitfalls to avoid and the processes of house purchase. in fact, i did make an offer of a house i pretty fancy (then), but my offer was deemed too low. it was recently sold to an `investor'. i learnt that you also need to `walk the talk' when you want to make an offer of a house. when i told the agent, "ok, i will offer $x00k for this property.", he looked at me and for 20 seconds, time stood still. he then politely told me that in order to show that my intent is serious, i need to write a cheque of `a couple of thousand dollars', to show that i am sincere. of course, i did not have my cheque book with me, which made my offer amateurish and insincere. now, i am more controlled. i don't `anyhow' make offers anymore.

and there are these `things to avoid and looked out for' that my mother insists that i look out for when i view the house. at times, i want to tear my hair out as we may have tick off successfully the 98 points that she laid out, then #99 didn't pass the `feng shui' test. house numbers are important, obviously, inauspicious numbers like 4, 13 (never mind 13 is my favourite and lucky number), 24 and thousand other house numbers that i need to avoid. other key things to look out for are: the house frontage cannot face the lamp post, kitchen cannot be at the front end of the house, toilet seating needs to face away from the entrance door, etc., etc. and 99 other conditions. well, it probably narrows down your choice of probable house to consider to................zero. all planets need to be aligned for this to happen. that said, i do take into considerations what my mom said as i personally believe in some of those things. if you can avoid it, why not? however, i am also realistic enough to know that in a mature suburb like where we are at, it will be pretty darn hard to look for that `perfect' house. so, we will cross out some of the conditional listings if necessary. i am more concern that i can afford the place.

and suddenly, 6 months passed. our house hunting shifted a gear up for a few reasons. for starter, the australian government may revise the first home ownership scheme subsidy which stands at a$14k now. we hope to still enjoy it before it may be taken away. secondly, we didn't think that the property market will `collapse' as we had hoped earlier with all the poor economic climate and the gloomy news we read. the market in melbourne is pretty resilient in holding its prices. so, if we can find something that is within our budget and a place that we like, we might as well take the plunge. thirdly, i was told that in autumn, house price can sometimes be as damp as the weather. when spring comes and flower blooms, property prices may actually edge up as the property will look prettier with all the flowers surrounding the property. i actually believe that logic.

wish us luck!

springvale

2009-04-11T13:22:00.011+10:00

we don't go there often but springvale's stock is fast rising with my wife. springvale is like footscray. there is a heavily populated vietnamese community there, and like any other vietnamese community you go to, you find abundant of excellant pho eating house, bakeries and asian groceries around.

if west melbournian craves for vietnamese pho, they will head for footscray. and i reckon eastern folks like us will drive to springvale. for us, it is about a 10km drive away. so when we go, we willl like to do a few things at one go.

my impression of springvale is that it is probably a milder version of footscray. it is more family oriented and less crowded. the only reason i said so is because when we were in footscray last december; i was slightly taken aback because two tattoo-ed, thuggish-looking vietnamese kids started leaning against my car and litting up ciggies seconds after i parked it. i have not even gotten out of my car then. i weren't sure how to react but decided to walk away pretending i didn't take notice of them. i was not sure if i would be gunned down if i voiced my displeasure at their antics.

i cannot recalled the pho shop we went to but it is on the main mall, springvale central. there are many other pho shops there but being newbies in the area, we weren't sure which one to patronize. in the end, we took the easy way out. we headed to the pho shop that is most crowded.

when my better half sipped the last drop of the pho soup base, she promptly declared it is the BEST pho she had in australia. and she had her fair share of phos in australia in the years we visited the country. hence, her declaration carried a lot of weight because she doesn't give praise easily. for instance, in all our years of courtship and marriage, not once she called me `hey, good looking' although i have had compliments elsewhere. i also knew at an instance that this shop will enjoy good business because my wife will make it a point to bring all her singapore friends and relatives to this joint. i promptly walked to the cashier and asked the owner if they have those `get 10 stamps, get 1 free pho' booklet like what starbucks or coffeebean joints offer. alas, they did not. and i think they don't need to judging from the queues we see.

we can also get good croissant and buns at springvale. and for us, no trip is complete unless we stock up our fridge with veggies, poultries and fishes.

i discovered springvale also offer probably the cheapest haircut in all of australia. $12 for a trim by vietnamese hair professionals. this will be on my `to do' list in my next trip to springvale. like the pho, i will also look out for the shop with the longest queue.

before and after: a first look

2009-04-11T12:56:00.013+10:00

conventional wisdom and comments from friends we had so far are that we will probably `balloon' up once we settle. reasons being? cold weather will trigger increased food intake and also the relatively relaxed lifestyle are the main push factors.

well, i happen to have pictures of my kids snapped 6 months ago and as recently as march 09. let's see if we can conclude after almost 6 months living here....

here are my take using my kids as a reference point (picture on the left is 6 months old):

mingwei, i guess, lost a little weight though he is still on the heavy side. his double chin line diminished in his latest photograph. hooray!

shiqi probably put on some weight despite her tennis and swimming lessons.

shimun probably is fleshier on her cheek as well though she is still thin in appearence.

final verdict? probably too early to tell but the boy did seemed like shedding some weight but the girls are on the up.

cecilia lost weight by the way and i am holding steady. that's because she works too hard being on her own most of the time. for me, since i still travel around often, i can't tell. i do hope by being able to avoid singapore food, i can actually trim down slightly.

let's check back at end of nov 09!

swimming

2009-04-10T13:24:00.003+10:00

previously, mingwei and shiqi have swim lessons offered by chongfu primary school. they claimed to be swimmers but the reality is, everytime they took to the pool, they struggle. if i were a lifeguard, i would be half pressed to know if they were actually swimming strugglingly (is there such a word?) or begging to be saved. that's how `good' they are.
so, one of the things that is top on our list when we moved down under is to enrol the children into swim classes. personally, i think it is a great life skill to acquire.
we managed to enrol mingwei and shiqi in but unfortunately shimun couldn't get a spot in as the class in her age group was predictably full. she is on wait list.
every saturday morning, we head to nunawading aqualink centre for their classes. the centre is an impressive roof covered, heated pool with many other facilities. there is also a gym there if you want to sweat it out. however, where we are at where we have great reserves parks, i wonder if there is a need to do the threadmill. it is a lot more refreshing running outdoors.
the lesson lasted barely 40mins but because of the small number of students per group, they get good and personalized attention.
i can see that they improved leaps and bounds after a few lessons.

强风和大雨

2009-04-10T13:05:00.004+10:00

talking/writing about the weather is boring. it's a poor conversation starter; however i thought that i'll document this since melbourne is notorious for her unpredictable weather.
this was actually a few weeks ago. we had back-to-back strong winds and `almost' torrential rain. i am not sure if this is unusual given the dry conditions we have been acustomed to in the last few months.
obviously the `heavy' rain pales in comparision to what we get in singapore but it did rained enough for me to fill 3 buckets full of water that i used later to wash the cars and water the plant. it helped refill the 500l rainwater tank outside our place that we use to watering the garden.
(to best enjoy the video, plug in your 5.1 surround speakers into your notebook/desktop and turn up the volume for maximum impact)

vege-garden in the making

2009-04-10T12:03:00.008+10:00

we live in an area that used to be an orchard. hence, the soil are naturally fertile. any compliment we get about the `good' state of our garden is scantly justified as we actually did little about the maintainence of our greens. obviously, we inherited these from our landloard, and even she admits do doing little to maintain the garden.

my mum who's staying with us until recently; started her vege-gardening with staples like spring onions, tomatoes, potatoes, melons and chili's. in a few short weeks, we could see the results almost `instantly'. the spring onion sprouted almost overnight and a the tomatoes are also growing in abundance.

for city dwellers like us in the past, it is almost like a small miracle to be able to grow and eat the vegetables we grow. not only we save money, we also get food that are naturally grown, free of any use of chemical/pesticide.

now, if we need spring onion for the dishes my better half whips up, we just run backyards and pull up a bunch we need.

pictures below
a. spring onion we grow on a wooden bucket on our backyard. they are probably easiest to grow.
b. chili plant. no chillies yet but hopefully we will be successful. chillies are expensive here but this is more for my wife since i can't take spicy stuff.
c. tomatoes. they grow willingly and readily and we will probably have more than we need ;-)
d. melon. not sure what kind of melon is this but we bought them and use them for soup. sprinkle some seeds on the ground and here they are now.....

school

2009-04-04T16:09:00.008+11:00

school started on 2nd feb for all of them. by all accounts, it has been a plain sailing and a fun experience for all of them.

mingwei and shiqi are in year 6 and 4 respectively. orchard grove primary is 200m away from where we live, so they have the luxury of time. gone are the days of waking up at 6am to catch the school bus to school. here, school starts 9am and ends at 3.30pm. gone also are heavy bags, abundant homework and grumpy faces. they have each been to school camps in the last 2 weeks are they enjoyed them immensely. next week, they will have a 2 week easter break.

i remained their only nemesis in the area of study/homework as i have been stocking up all the assessment books i bought from popular bookstore whenever i am back in singapore. when i am there for good from may 09, i will start cranking up the homework volume. their 6 months honeymoon ends there and then. yes, i am a sadist as far as schoolwork is concerned.

shimun attends parkmore kindergarden 3 times a week. her school hours are shorter, about 3 hours and things also move at a leisurely pace for her.

happy when it rains....

2009-04-04T15:46:00.005+11:00

this was a few weeks back in late march, when we were homebound due to a prolonged heavy rain. as the ps2 and wii are not fixed yet, the girls resorted to some good fun of miming to songs.
the props were my stereo set, wii guitar hero replica guitar and the end of my skipping rope which doubles up as a mike.
i was minding my own business but decided to tape this for the fun of it. if they pursue music careers in the future, at least they know where it all began....

flashback #1

2009-04-04T15:24:00.006+11:00

while cleaning up some of the data on my pc earlier, i came across some old videos of shimun singing and showing some of her antics. she should be 3+ when this was recorded; so this is her pre-avril lavigne and hannah montana days.

the first 75 days....

2009-02-11T02:42:00.001+11:00

come on, victoria!

2009-02-10T23:00:00.002+11:00

picture source: john woudstra, the age

we are saddened by the tragic consequence of the bush fire in our beloved adopted state earlier this week. we hope the worst is over and affected victorians will find strength and courage to rebuild their lives and emerge stronger.

be strong, victoria!

australia open 2009

2009-02-07T02:47:00.009+11:00

on 25th jan 09, we were at melbourne park to catch the action of the first tennis grand slam of the year. we were all there except my better half as she prefers the comfort of the home. (it turns out to be a good decision on her part as the sun sizzled that afternoon)

as parking in town would be a pain during the aussie open, we took the connex from boxhill and 25mins later, flinders street station beckoned.

we decided to walk along the yarra river to the venue. it was a busy late sunday morning at the riverbank with runners, bladers, canoeists and tourists all added to a bustling morning. by 11am, the crowd were steadily building already. a pack schedule awaits tennis fans all over the world.

as newbies, we weren't sure what to expect and spent the first 30 minutes wandering and just soaking up the atmosphere. we went to the canon photo booth to have our `official' photo taken (see 1st pic）.

we decided to park ourselves at the margaret court arena as there are a few meaningful matches in the line-up. first-up was the sania mirza/mahesh bhupathi (india) mixed doubles match. we thought we would support our fellow asian. and on the 3rd match on the schedule were the pairing of the awesome williams' sister, due to take on an australian pair. little did we realized that sania/mahesh and venus/serena will go on to win their finals and crowned mixed doubles and women's doubles finals respectively. apparently our `first timer' luck rubbed on to them!

it was really hot by noon time and we kept cool with lots of water and ice cream. even that, it became too much to bear for us. we decided to call it quits by 3pm. we caught a tram back to flinders street station to catch a train back to blackburn south.

for a first timer, it was a great experience for all of us. we could have been better prepared, especially for the heat and also `gunning' for the matches we wanted to catch, but i guess there is always the 2010 australia open. also, experiencing australia open is a childhood dream come true for me. to be able to spend it with my kids is priceless.

video: the wiliams sisters getting a warm reception from the crowd in their doubles match.

please stop at 48!

2009-01-29T18:52:00.004+11:00

it was reported that melbourne will experience her hottest week in over 100 years this week. in the last few days, we had to endure temperature of over 40 degrees celcius.

today it (literally) reached a new high. at about 3.30pm, it shows 48 on the car temperature gauge. kinda makes you wonder, what on earth were we doing outside in a car with this scorcher on us?

no grapevine stuff

2009-01-10T00:44:00.004+11:00

we found out not too long ago that there is actually a grape tree on our very own yard. and multiple bunches of young fruits started to appear.
we covered them with paper bags to prevent the birds from having a go at them.
what a pleasant surprise!
it should be a few weeks before they fully ripe, so....watch this space!

australia is abba-country with a capital A

2009-01-09T01:36:00.009+11:00

i have been to australia for work and leisure probably a dozen times before. i can recall in most times, when i had the telly on, there will be some kind of music program on abba or musical tributes to them. it was after a colleague told me that aussies are massive abba fans that i came to appreciate australians devotion to this swedish band. if they could be anyone other than australian, they would be swede.
little wonder when i switched on the telly on new year's eve, there was yet another abba tribute program showing during the prime time hour. as a closet abba fan, it was my best ever new year's eve in aussieland.
i proudly told my children about how abba was the biggest band in the universe during their heyday. only the bee gees rival them in cassette sales. none of them were impressed, not especially when i `robbed' them of their viewing of `spiderman 3' in a competing channel.
my eldest daughther was slightly bemused by my teen-like enthusiasm. when the program showed Björn Kristian Ulvaeus in a white space jumpsuit with his 6 inch high white platform boots gyrating and lip-synching to the song 'does your mother know?', she turned to me and asked, "are you seriously a big abba fan?" my curt reply was, "yes, and jonas brothers is crap!"
......now i can't wait for 2009 new year's eve to come.

home dining: an evolution

2009-01-08T02:22:00.004+11:00

(13 december 2008)

(14 december 2008)

(23 december 2008)

christmas day picnic at the dandenong ranges national park

2009-01-07T02:18:00.022+11:00

on christmas day, we spent some time at the dandenong park range. our first stop was the fern tree gully picnic area, which is at the base of the scenic drive up to the range.

we spent about an hour there just enjoying the great sunshine. in between munching on the food we prepared beforehand, the kids all had a good run around the ground, playing throw ball and other games.

being the christmas holiday, the park was crowded. however, everyone was gracious enough to let one another enjoy the facilities there. and lots of barbie (aus slang for BBQ) going around.

thereafter, we drove up leisurely along the scenic route to enjoy the spectacular east-bound view of the range. we made a couple of stops to just soak in the relax atmosphere and enjoy the view.

as this park is only 20 odd km from our place, we decided to make it a point to come more often. a different picnic area perhaps.

(laying the mat over the table to get some munch going)

(grilled chicken sandwich and er.......crackers)

(the sibling pose)

(plenty of woods everywhere)

(spectacular view of the Dandenong range from Kalorama Park)

(getting a vantage view of the range)

melbourne is not for little miss muffet

2009-01-06T04:49:00.006+11:00

the one thing we need to be really comfortable living where we are now with is to co-exist with bugs and crawlies here, especially spiders. as eastern melbourne is sited on fertile ground, these mostly harmless little creatures are found everywhere amidst plants and flowers. often times, they `got lost' and found their way into unfamiliar surroundings like our home. so far, i have told everyone that instead of instinctively squashing them, we should just lure them on a piece of paper, take them out of the house and let them go back to familiar territory.

sometimes when i hear an occasional shriek (not necessarily my kids), i will just put on my superhero outfit and `rescue' these bugs from extinction around our place by releasing them back into our garden.

so far, i have not problem with them all, except for this one in the picture that got me taken slightly aback. i found this in the gardening shed where this `little' spider measures about 4-5cm in length. this one, i hope will never find its way to our home.

take a load of this....

2009-01-06T03:30:00.039+11:00

i wrote previously how we constantly `traumatize' our freight forwarder with daily call to inquire about the delivery status of our container of stuff from singapore. we have lived for 10 days on borrowed pillows, water jug and pots and pans when the container finally stopped right outside our front yard on the 23 dec 08.

my initial relief of getting our belongings was quickly reduced to utter dismay and horror when the last of the 158 cartons were unloaded; mostly in our backyard.

how and where to we start?

the sheer thought of unpacking ALL* the boxes seemed a little too much to bear for me. for a split second, i wished the ship had sunk in the ocean instead so i can just claim insurance and buy anew. that would have been easier. however, that thought perished quickly upon seeing my 2 road bikes arriving safely as they are priceless** to me.

from having nothing much to do for 10 days since we moved in, suddenly i have my work cut out for me for the next 10.

finished we did***; like it or not. now we are comfortably settled in, this is one of the last pieces of jigsaw of settling down in melbourne that we pieced without too much fuss.

(13 dec 08, 2.00pm. boxes galore. care to lend a hand?)

(13 dec 08, 8.30pm. mostly gone, but not quite done yet)

(safe and sound. the most important items in the container)

* i never did unpack all boxes. about 25 boxes are stored in the shed, mainly my books/collectibles. i have a sneaky feeling we might move (again) in 12 months so i need to be `smart' here.

** priceless because i never did tell my wife how much these bikes cost. she might never talk to me again if she knew.

*** we were more or less done putting all the pieces in place by 30 december. my mum will be visiting on the 31st so we need to show her that we are `quite settled'. i think we pulled it off quite admirably. she couldn't tell, or she's not saying. we also took a breather on christmas day and had a picnic instead.

`love story' for a 4 year old?

2009-01-06T01:53:00.004+11:00

`love story' by taylor swift was on heavy rotation on aussie radio during the past month. we had the radio on a lot during our drive outs; and not long after, we noticed the baby in our family, shimun can sing along for most part of the song. i doubt she understand the words she's singing to nor the meaning of the song, but the emotion she puts into the song is mind-boggling to me.

here's the video of the song by taylor swift.

whatever happened to her rites of passage; `london bridge is falling down...' or any of the barney songs? hi-5 is passe to her....

i want my 4 years old girl back to being 4!!! stop growing up so fast!

first taste of school

2008-12-27T01:29:00.005+11:00

mingwei and shiqi attended school for 3 days during the last week of school term here. the idea is to get them familiarize with their new school environment sooner. not to mention they are basically bored stiff from doing nothing much during the last 3 weeks or so.

they made friends quickly and enjoyed school.

orchard grove primary school is a mere 5 minutes stroll from our place. as there are a lot of autonomy in the way school is run, the school have joint classes, level 1 consists of prep, level 2 for year 1 and 2 students. shiqi will be in level 3 where year 3 students will join the year 4 while mingwei will be in level 4. they will learn german as a second language and there are many electives where students are assessed on their interests level and placed in groups where they will taught on areas of their assessed strengths. this could be in the area of language, arts or sports.

to learn more about the kid's school, http://www.orchgveps.vic.edu.au/

first visitor

2008-12-27T01:18:00.006+11:00

we had our first visitor last week when cecilia's friend seok keng and her family dropped by during their melbourne tour.

we had dinner in boxhill and they did a stopover to look at our bare home.
(it is not difficult to tell who's local in this picture. the one with the large overcoat and scarf is definitely tourist. was it that cold in december in melbourne?)

getting there....aussie style

2008-12-09T21:48:00.008+11:00

one could tell that we have been making good stride in our effort to `australi-zing' ourselves, via the food cecilia whipped up.

(aussie burger during the first week)

(aussie burger yesterday. 8.dec.08)

definite progress!

first aussie friend

2008-12-09T21:41:00.002+11:00

we have lived here for a little more than 2 weeks and in the last few days, the kids made their first friend here in australia.
olivia sharma is 10 and is an indian migrant studying here.
the canterbury townhouse courtyard is considerably noisier with the kids playing from 6-8pm almost everyday.
unfortunately, it all ends today as we leave this place tomorrow morning.
shi qi exchanged email address with her. hopefully their friendship lasts.....

pet taxi

2008-12-09T21:33:00.003+11:00

i drove to dandenong south this rainy afternoon with shi qi to pick up the new coffee table i won in ebay when we drove past a pet taxi. shi qi was intriqued by it.

i reckon it does pet transport to different locations with/without the owner.

who says it's a dog life out there?

school for the little one (at last)

2008-12-09T20:41:00.007+11:00

finding pre-school for the shimun has proven to be harder than we thought. we couldn't find a place for her as most of the pre-school within the vicinity of where we live is already taken up. i realized that pre-school registration happened back in july, so we are a few months late.

so we spoke with the whitehorse pre-school association to seek help. they tried to match us with a school that is closest to our place and after a couple of days, we were told that a place (last slot!) has been made available to us at parkmore pre-school, which is about 3.5km away.

this morning, we rushed over to the school and gave shimun's name to the school and pay our deposit. bree, the teacher who helped us with the registration, is an extremely enthusiatic teacher.

with this, we completed another major milestone in settling down here.
(pic: shi mun at the front gate of parkmore pre-school. she starts 2 feb 09)

unpredictable melbourne

2008-12-06T19:22:00.009+11:00

'read the weather forecast before you step out.' this has been the most oft given advise to us. still, we have been caught out in the cold many a times. today is a perfect example.

it started out really chilly in the morning but by 11am, it is glorious warm, sunshine. and when we were driving from mitcham to syndenham in the early afternoon; in the space of 3 traffic light stops at around the city centre; the temperature reading in the car dipped from 31 degrees at the first stop to 27 degrees celcius 3 traffic lights later.

at my cousin's place, there were 3 spurts of moderate rain lasting 2-4 minutes each within 60 minutes; cloudy one moment, sunny the next. the same thing happened when we were back in boxhill south. we had a couple of moderate rain lasting 2-3 minutes each, interspread with sunshine. as i write now (7.30pm melbourne time), it is clear sky outside. one cannot tell that it rained earlier if not for the slightly wet ground outside.

in the last 13 days we have been here, only snow eluded us. we won't rule that out for now.....(even with summer beckoning)

our own crib (at last)

2008-12-05T21:18:00.010+11:00

we finally signed the lease of our rental home yesterday. shiqi and i went to the place today for a quick measure up so we can get some household appliances we need that would fit. this will be the place we will call home for the next 13 months at least.
this place is in an eastern suburb called blackburn south. it is a typical middle-class, quiet suburb. i really look forward for some peace and quiet living here.
what also clinched it for us is that there is a school 200m from where we live where mingwei and shiqi can enrol in; a reserve park on the back of our place so we have wide open space behind us, north-south facing so we do not get any `direct' sun and this is only about 3-4km from my office. my plan to commute with my dahon foldable bike seemed a distinct possibility. a short bike ride away will also see many amenities available; including a safeway supermarket, 24hr macdonalds, ezy video, convenient stores and asian eateries. forest hill chase mall is 6 minutes drive away. really convenient.
(shi qi posing with our new crib)
this is a 4 bedroom house with a good size backyard that the kids can have a bit of fun with. slightly compact in size, it is however very well kept. this is one of the few house viewings that we visited that we like the `feel' of it once we stepped inside.
i cannot tell you too much about this place yet as i will only collect the keys next saturday. the only reason i am ranting about this is that it is such a big relief to get hold of a place of our own after an intense search for a week. phew....

who's your mummy (now)?

2008-12-05T20:54:00.008+11:00

ever since i found out online that vicroads provide custom plates for cars quite a few months back while in singapore, i have been plotting to get one for cecilia. i think it will be a cool thing to do and also a nice breakaway from singapore where everything is so regulated.
`moi moi' is the nickname her family and close relatives call her. after some self brainstorming, i thought the name would be perfect for her. it would so much nicer than all the boring `ken 88' or `rose 168' we typically see in other customized plate cars. only a select few and those in the inner circle will understand the meaning of moi moi.
therefore, one of the things i did on the quiet once we bought our car is to go to vicroads to have this name registered to us. it really didn't cost me as much as well. 3 days after the registration of the plate, it came in the mail. i needed to keep everyone in the dark including the kids as they are the worst secret keepers (as i found out the hard way previously)
this morning, under the pretext of taking the car to the workshop for a quick fix, i have the car plate replaced. i showed cecilia later in the evening but her reaction was not the `whooohooo.....' i anticipated. she was rather muted. i had expected her to shower kisses at me on the spot.
i hope she likes it nevertheless and takes good care of the car.
(out with the old and in with the new)

not quite here (yet)

2008-12-03T21:29:00.003+11:00

earlier this afternoon, we braved the evening rush hour traffic to head to a furniture shop and harvey norman to shop for some furnitures and household appliances.
we reached our 1st destination as about 5:40pm and discovered that the closing time was 5:30pm. the same with harvey norman.
we have been complacent with our singapore mindset. lesson learnt!

trick or treat

2008-12-02T23:41:00.001+11:00

#2: when buying eggs in a tray, make sure you open the tray to check that every egg is good. otherwise, you may get a hatched chick inside.

dandenong market and st. kilda

2008-11-30T22:19:00.040+11:00

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

2008-11-28T23:00:00.005+11:00

#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

2008-11-27T19:14:00.006+11:00

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

2008-11-25T21:40:00.013+11:00

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

2008-11-24T23:21:00.009+11:00

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

2008-11-22T12:06:00.002+11:00

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

2008-11-16T02:09:00.005+11:00

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......

2008-11-14T23:22:00.011+11:00

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

2008-11-14T01:31:00.017+11:00

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

2008-11-12T01:34:00.012+11:00

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

2008-11-12T01:14:00.004+11:00

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

2008-11-12T00:50:00.006+11:00

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

2008-11-10T00:26:00.010+11:00

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!

2008-11-06T01:06:00.042+11:00

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.

things i will missed: food

2008-10-29T22:50:00.015+11:00

i will miss the following:

kajang sate haji samuri. quite possibly the best satay in malaysia

kampar fish ball noodle (i like the dry noodle)

klang's chee cheong fun (minus the sweet sauce)

penang char koew teow

subang wanton noodle

half boiled egg with toast breakfast at henderson hawker centre

maxwell road rickshaw noodle breakfast

hougang ave 3 char koey teow

amongst many others. -sigh-