SINGAPORE SHORT STORIES

This post may seem outdated now that the F1 show in town is over and world No.1 Lewi Hamilton was crowned the champion! I did not watch the show as I was in Hokkaido but the show must have been lovely! I did visit the race track before the race and it was stunning! There still exist critcisim that the roads were quite bumpy though, a comment similarly made last year's. These two days, it was very hazy, if the Singapore F1 were held in such hazy conditons, the Singa lion at the top of this blog post should not only don a F1 shirt but also a haze mask, like his brother !

Dear All Readers, I am BACK! And Back with more Interesting and Exciting Stories of where I have been the whole of this week! To find out more, stay tuned to my blog and I can guarantee you an Enriching Read!

Dear All Readers, Many Thanks for your support! Singapore Short Stories will be back soon! See ya!

Free Stock Photos for websites - FreeDigitalPhotos.net Have you buy yet? Buy what? Buy TOTO for this Friday's draw is going to reach S$10 million soon! If you are a regular punter, chances are that you would spend more for Friday's draw with this grand prize. If you are not a TOTO fan, there is still some chance you may want to spend at least 50 cent to wager a bet to see if you are the lucky one! However, when it comes to such a grand draw, more punters also mean more sharing the top prize! It is not common to witness 8 or 9 people winning top TOTO prizes amounting to $9 to $11 million, thus each winner would win, in effect a million or so Singapore dollars. Anyway, winning some hundreds thousands of dollars or a million Singapore dollars is already good enough. Singapore has 66,660 and counting people with US $1 million in liquidity excluding property. TOTO is always a good opportunity for one to be a member of this prestigious club.

Ms Low Shu Ming, a NUS Undergraduate is crowned the top Singtel Grid Girl last night. Ms Low will join other Grid girls in the coming F1 race this Friday. I would not be able to catch this year's F1, but if you would want to witness a piece of the F1 action, you can go to Marina Square, and what's more, if you want more comfort, just book a table in some of the restaurants in Marina Square facing the trek, the line of restaurants along the line of Lerk Mynamar restaurant.... if there is still booking left and order some great food to accompany your pleasure. Have a roaring Good weekend ahead!

I am touched after reading this true love story, if you are free, read the story too! I wish the couple a Blessed and Happy Marriage!

The Albert Centre Market and Food Centre has been closed for some years now, what has replaced it all these years is a temporary market and food centre situated close to Bugis MRT Station. However, there are reasons to cheer lately as passing by the original location of the market and food centre, I could see that the place is almost completed, at least 60%, for renovation. Many hawker centres in Singapore have been upgraded under the Hawker Centre Upgrading Programme and I must say that the programme is indeed excellent for it elevates the sanitary, hygience and comfort level in these hawker centres for the benefit of customers. And hopefully, prices of food sold in this hawker centre do not increase after the upgrading!

This is undeniably Singapore's largest mooncake! This record-breaking mooncake stands right in the heart of Waterloo Street in front of Fu Lu Shou Complex! Hmm, I am sorry, this mooncake cannot be eaten (of course) :)

Okay, I know that I am supposed to be on exile from my blog as I have declared on my post yesterday, however with still some free time on my hand, I decided to do some blogging before I go for my overseas trip with my Honey Wife soon! Today, my Wife and I went to Sim Lim Square to get some IT gadgets for our overseas trip. When it comes to Sim Lim Square, one must be discerning, shrewd enough, learn how to bargain, learn how to compare prices across shops for although Sim Lim Square is famed for its wide repository of computer, camera and IT products in Singapore, there are lots of 'dynamics' in the way different shops offer their pricing and products to customers. Just take for example, a camera memory card we asked around on the first storey, the typical price was $57 bucks or so, when we went up to the fifth storey, the price we were quoted was $31! Imagine if we just asked around the first level, we would be charged some $26 more! Since attending the recent COMEX fair with

MANY THANKS FOR YOUR SUPPORT, SINGAPORE SHORT STORIES WILL BE BACK IN OCT 09, SEE YA!

Another travel fair happening in Singapore, this time, organized by Mediacorp, albeit on a much smaller scale as compared to the giant Natas Fair held last month. Mediacorp Travel Fiesta will be held in Suntec City tomorrow till Sunday and as usual, the travel fair is expected to draw in thousands of Singaporeans looking for cheap, quality and affordable bargains to the various travel destinations in the world! The huge success witnessed at the most recent Natas Travel Fair could be due to pent-up demand of Singaporeans for travel especially when their travel plans were hit or have to be sheleved due to the H1N1 mini-epidemic in Apr or May this year. Singaporeans are both food and travel lovers. I believe the reason that Singpaoreans are food lovers is due to the abundance of different varities of food here, while the fact that Singaporeans are travel fans is due to the scarity of land and sights of Singapore here. Thus two different reasons leading to Singaporeans being famed for fo

Free Stock Photos for websites - FreeDigitalPhotos.net Come this Sunday, 20 Sep 09, an auspicious wedding date for couples, 20-09-2009, a total of 168 couples will be ushered in a sedan to various spots around Singapore Botanic Gardens for the largest mass wedding solemnisation ever to be held in Singapore, and on this special day somemore! Singapore Short Stories would be giving all of you a surprise come this special day! What is the surprise? I will keep mum for now, just read my blog in the coming days! Islandwide, more than 600 couples will be marrying on this special day, which comes only once in a lifetime! Solemisation of the couples will be carried out in a private setting throughout a number of spots spread in the Gardens from 4pm to 530om, followed by a Grand March in at 6pm, followed by the giving of sounvenirs by Minister and a concert in the park, it will be both a meaningful, lovely and exciting day for all couples!

I spotted these pieces of art, made of common ordinary plastic bottles which most of us would conveniently dump into the litter bins after partaking the contents, outside the MacDonalds Restaurant at Chinatown Point last Sunday. Who could imagine that these bottles could come back to life as great pieces of art ornaments? Though Singaporeans can find recycling bins within a stone's throw away from their places of residences, the recycling rate here still has lots to play catch-up on. Though Singapore is a small nation, a lot of effort has been invested to promote recycling in our country. I really hope that the bigger countries could also play an active role or continue doing their parts for the environment as the number of waste generated from a larger country easily outnumbers that generated from a smaller country. Talking about the environment, Singapore witnessed haze again in the past two days with hotspots emerging in the Indonesian island of Sumatra again, the haze must be

Singapore's most respected statesman, Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew celebrated his 86th birthday, yesterday 16 Sep 2009. I would like to wish Mr Lee Kuan Yew a Happy Birthday! Mr Lee has transformed Singapore from a swamp land into one of the best homes in the world and a model of learning for many countries,all within a short span of 30 years! His achievements are unparalleled and truly outstanding. However, no matter how Singapore has achieved over these past years, Singapore would still need to keep up with the times, the mind-boggling changes in this internet era to stay competitive against all challenges. There is fear that the younger generation of today have become too contented, comfortable and no longer have the thirst and hunger to achieve and compete. There is also fear that the youths of today have become more self-centred and have forgotten all about the great effort needed to build Singapore into what it is today by our founding fathers. Therein lies the continous sear

Many of the new MRT stations such as the Promenade MRT Station (above) are already ready, now it all boils down to getting the green light for the official launch of these new MRT stations. With these new MRT stations being completed but not officially opened yet, tourists can be confused during their touring of the city as they walked to one of these MRT stations only to fine the shutters down and the MRT Station locked! Anyway, these new MRT stations will be opene d next year and Singaporeans can look forward to better and faster connectivity to many places around the island real soon!

Free Stock Photos for websites - FreeDigitalPhotos.net The case of Ku Witaya and Sia Chan Hong, the two Tampines Secondary School boys who plunged to their deaths, believing that they could 'come back' to earth to fight the demons in World War III and save the world with their deaths, has finally come to a close today in Courts. The Courts ruled the deaths of the two boys as a suicide and Ku Witaya was the leader who has incited Sia Chan Hong and other five boys to jump along with him with the story of the story of the demon slayers he has painted to the group. It was indeed a shocking case for the whole nation of Singapore that something so incredible could be perpetuated or even thought of by a group of 15-years old who should have by this age, garnered some judgements about life and mature enough to discern reality from fantasy. Ku, as a medium, has convinced easily his group of 7 other close buddies, his story of the demon-slayers and as a result of close-knitted friends

Yesterday, my Dear and I passed by the food market at Blk 531 A Upper Cross Street where we decided to settle our late lunch. It was the first time we set foot on the food market and we were not sure what to eat. Then we saw a long queue outside Ah Heng Curry Chicken Bee Hoon Mee stall. In Singapore, if you are not sure what to eat and which stall sells the best food, just join any long queue, and we would be guaranteed great food! Indeed, Ah Heng Curry Chicken Bee Hoon Mee stall was 'decorated' with lots of certificates of endorsements, accolades and there was even a newspaper cutting from a Japanese newspapers about the stall! I ordered the biggest offering of Curry Bee Hoon Mee on offer there, selling at $5.50, while my Dear settled for the smallest offering at $3.50. On offer is a medium portion of mee selling at $4.50 too. Here is what the largest offering looked like: And now the mee and curry chicken has been digested in my stomach! There is something uniquely different

Another shot of some foreign workers replacing the signal indicator inside the Outram MRT station. Singaporeans often take public facilities for granted, many would not know the labor, sweat and effort behind these convenient amenities.

I realise that in this high-paced maddening society, relationships between loved ones can often be strained as a result of poor communication and neglect due to the rapid passage of time, join me as we reaffirm the promises to our loved ones. 1) Please have patience when dealing with me. 2) Place your trust in me. Through good and bad times, I will always be by your side. 3) Never forget that I have a heart too… just like you. 4) Whenever I don’t listen to what you say, always remember that there is a reason. 5) Talk to me. I may not understand all your words but I understand your voice when it speaks to me. 6) Let’s not fight. Remember that I could hurt you but have chosen never to do so. 7) Even when I grow in age (and probably grow slow or weak), please be kind to me. 8) My life may not last as long as yours. Please make every second we spend together count. 9) You may have other friends, other activities. Please remember that for me, there’s only you. 10) When I leave this world, p

My Dear and I just returned home from COMEX 2009 which was held at Suntec City Exhibition Hall level 1,2,3,4 and 6. I can tell you that the crowds are really maddening! Right from City Hall MRT, we can see the snaking long crowds as thousands of Singaporeans descended upon Suntec City for the best buys at COMEX 2009! COMEX actually is the abbreviation for Computer Exhibition. But the COMEX we visited is more than a computer exhibition. Spanning 5 stories, COMEX offers a myriad of IT gadgets and there is also a slew of financial service providers promoting their services. It is very ambitious, highly impractical and seeming impossible for one to visit the hundreds of stalls spread over the 5 stories. Luckily there is a number of panels highlighting the type of stalls on each storey. To get the best buys, one must come to COMEX 2009 with a sense of purpose, like what you seek to buy; it is the same prinicple as in life: one must first have a goal and then seek what you seek and you will

I was told by a 9-year old kid just 3 hours ago that tomorrow he is going to celebrate Lantern Festival. I told him he has made a mistake as Lantern Festival comes only on 3 Oct 09. The young kid then told me that it is Taiwan's Lantern Festival. Sure or not, I thought to myself as I have always believed that lantern festivals are celebrated on the 15th day of the 8th Chinese Lunar month for every country. I went home, did a Google search and then realised that lantern festival is really a big festival cum event in Taiwan. See the link here. Wow, I become enlightened by a young boy, if not for me, I would not have known that Taiwan Lantern Festival is so much grander than Singapore's. One of the child's parent or both of them should be Taiwanese. Anyway, the young boy taught me a new thing today!

Singapore is gearing up for the Mooncake Festival on 3 Oct 09. Though it is still a month or so away, just look at the photo above, Chinatown is being dolled up already! Somehow. I find that whenever the month of June comes, the year will just pass in a rush! A number of holidays will soon ensue right after Singapore's National Day in August. Coming up this month, we have Hari Raya Puasa on 20 Sep 09, followed by Lantern Festival on 3 Oct 09, followed by Deepavali on 15 Nov 09, then soon it will be Hari Raya Haji on 27 Nov 09, followed finally by Christmas on 25 Dec 09, another week later, it will be the start of another brand new year! IN RETROSPECT, I GASP AT THE PASSAGE OF TIME! Please visit the respective lightup occuring now or sooner: Hari Raya at Geylang Serai, Mooncake or Lantern Festival at Chinatown and Deepavali at Little India. TIME really passes so fast, ALL OF US MUST REALLY MAKE THE BEST USE OF OUR TIME, PURSUE OUR GOALS, LIVE OUR DREAMS, STOP WASTING TIME ON UNPRODU

Free Stock Photos for websites - FreeDigitalPhotos.net As I was walking towards the MRT station this morning, I saw a disturbing scene, which prompted me to write the blog post for today, which is titled as such. Before I let the cat out of the bag by telling you what this disgusting reason is, let us recall the more common, saner, more ‘aesthetic’ and more normal reasons of why you should make it a point to go home and partake home-made food. Firstly, as what the government has been encouraging us to do so via its ‘Eat with your Family Day’, eating homemade food will only bring the family closer together as it may be the only time when the whole family sits together as one and interact among themselves over a wide range of topics and issues from mundane musings to thought-heavy matters. Secondly, eating homemade meals at home is a blessing! The meals prepared by your mum, yourself or your spouse (or a combination of any one of them) are peppered with the tender loving care symbiotic

Comex 2009 Singapore opens today till Sunday 13 Sep 09, happening right here in Suntec City Mall, Level 1,2,3,4 and 6! Spanning 5 storeys, I cannot imagine the thousands of crowds who will turn up in full force to snatch the latest IT offerings and gadgets are great prices! Oh no, it is going to be such a SQUEEZE again! Haiz, with the throngs of people expected to reach the leagues of thousands in Suntec City, to survive COMEX 2009 is to arrive as early as possible, then only can one be able to patronize all the hundreds of stalls dispersed in the 5 different stories with ease! IT IS GOING TO BE A MADNESS AGAIN IN CROWDS AND PRICES!

The name list is out for the top 40 Singapore's richest! Together they make up US $39 billion of the Singapore's economy! 8 of the top 40 make it to the league of US $1 billion and above. They are: 1) Ng Teng Fong : US $8 bn 2) Khoo Family : US $5.5 bn 3) Kuok Khoon Hong : US $3.5 bn 4) Kwee Brothers : US $3.2bn 5) Wee Cho Yaw : US $3.1 bn 6) Zhong Sheng Jian : US $2 bn 7) Peter Lim : US $1.5 bn 8) Kwek Leng Beng : US $1.2 bn In the 9th place is Lee Seng Wee ($800 million) and Ong Beng Seng & Christina Ong ($7oo million). The list from 11th position to the 40th position is as follows: Lien Family Tan Boy Tee Chang Yun Chung Peter Fu Chong Cheng Ho Sim Guan Chua Thian Poh Kwek Leng Kee Henry Ng Vivian Chandran Koh Wee Meng Olivia Lum Chew Hua Seng Simon Cheong Ow Chio Kiat Cheng Wai Keung Ho Kwon Ping Tan Pong Tyea Lee Kian Soo Yao Hsiao Tung Ng Chwee Cheng Loo Choon Yong Kwek Leng Peck Oei Hong Leong John Chuang Goh Lik Tuan Sunny George Verghese Brian Chang Victor

An exhibition is now ongoing at AMK (Ang Mo Kio) hub which celebrates the aniversary of the shopping centre. Tomatoes adorn the many posters used in the exhibition as the Chinese Hokkien for Ang Mo Kio rhymes with the fruit tomato. I find it interesting to associate a town with the fruit Ang Mo Kio. Now if you are a visitor who is going to Singapore and cannot pronounce the word while describing to a taxi driver, simply take a tomato fruit and show it to the taxi driver!

Dear Singaporeans, You can do your part to save the earth and make the world a even better place to live in. Help to cut down greenhouse gas emission which causes global warming by simple acts by practising energy efficiency! Attend the Energy Challenge Fair this weekend at Marina Square Shopping Centre and learn more about how you can do our parts to save electricity in your day to day activities and help to protect the earth!

If you exit from Little India Station, walk a for a few minutes, you will reach Race Course Road, a road scattered with a number of excellent Indian restaurants serving a wide suite of Indian dishes from the soft and yummy nans to the delectable Indian curry. My Dear and I checked out one of these Indian restaurants on the street and tucked into a small (easily medium in many other restaurants) pot of boiling, red hot and heavenly curry fish head! Accompanying our fish head curry were bowls of white rice which went real well with the hot curry! We ate bowls of the white rice easily with the curry! It was super yummy!

Free Stock Photos for websites - FreeDigitalPhotos.net Tonight was an unlucky night! I downloaded a free verison of a free anti-virus software called AVC from the internet to help me get rid of some suspected viruses in my computer and then it was when all hell broke loose! (oh, talking about the Chinese Lunar seventh month here!) My internet connections slowed to nothingness, every browser window become blank and pending and pending. Initially I did not suspect that it was really the incompatibility of AVC on my computer that I tried all means and ways to rescue my computer. I am sorry that during my salvaging of my internet and computer, all hell broke loose from my mouth, some vulgarities spewed forth from my mouth like water from a fountain and I wondered why I became like that? I am known to everyone who knows me outside as a good boy but why did I become so mad about the hanging of my computer and the internet? It dawned to me that I have become, like many of the netizens, an ad

Though Singapore is famed for its wide and amazing suite of shopping centres, I am not a particular fan of the local shopping centres here.No, I do not hate the shopping centres here, it has to do with my personality. Imagine, you work for such long hours every weekday, only to go to the shopping centres on weekends to find yourselves jamming with so many other Singaporeans and foreigners, waiting for tables to be cleared at restaurants, having to consume your meals hastily with the pairs of other food patrons preying on your seats and so much more. At times though, my Dear and I do visit the suite of shopping centres here to chill out in hot and humid Singapore, other than that, we love the other sights of Singapore.There are really lots of other interesting places in Singapore besides shopping centres. My top choices are natural parks, special events as well as places of rich historical and cultural charm. Yesterday, my Dear and I visited Little India! It was definitely not our first

Singapore is a peaceful and safe country, thus if I were to ask you where is the most dangerous place in the country, what would your answer be? Geylang, Little India, Chinatown, Redhill... these 'havoc' enclaves when compared to other districts in Singapore? The answer is none of these as the most dangerous place in Singapore is our Public Roads! Story 1: Stupid Uncle Drivers no longer heed the basic road sign rules. Most of the times, when the Green Pedestrian sign is on, some cars still proceed on and on traffic crossing, drivers treat pedestrians with blatant disregard by driving through just before or after they have cross past the spot in front of their cars. This evening, I was with my Dear in Little India when we were waiting to cross the traffic light. The cars in front of us slowed to a crawl and become stationary due to the long traffic jam ahead. The pedestrian man at the traffic lights was still red though all the cars still crawled to a halt due to the long traffi

Free Stock Photos for websites - FreeDigitalPhotos.net These two weeks have been very hectic for me with more and more work assignments and challenges given to me. Well, work is not that difficult, the most difficult thing in any work is to learn to deal with people, and when I say people, I mean people of all types. Life on this planet revolves around relationships. "No man is an island", no matter where we go, we need to communicate with others and to work with them. Communication skills are such important asset to have. Not everyone is able to articulate clearly their thoughts and feelings and to understand others and be understood. Staring at computer the whole of the day, for 8 hours is really a strain to me. I go home everyday, not really physically tired but my eyes really hurt and should I go home and on the internet for recreation stuff, it is really draining. In my opinion, I think Singaporean, in particular the executives work too hard. Life is not about work pe

The annual Army Open House commences tomorrow! Details as follows: Date:03 Sep - 07 Sep 09 Time:09.00am to 7.00pm daily Venue:Pasir Laba Camp It is the event when the public can get up, close and personal with some of the sophiscated equipment of our 3G army which helps to protect our land and get to interact with the army personnel. Chief of Army, Major General Ng Kian Hong, in the interview with the Straits Times said that he is not enarmored of the 3G equipment in the Army, what he would like to see is the dedication of our army men to fight the enemies, even when they are given with a simple make-shift equipment, like a handmade equipment, well said! Free shuttle bus service is available from Boon Lay bus interchange, f or more details, visit this link now!

In the vicinity of Dhoby Ghaut, the Istana Park stands, decked in its National Day adornment and glory, gives a touch of grandeur to a precinct famed for its shopping centres, especially at night when the entrance of the park is brightly lit. It is no wonder that the park is located in this location for the Istana, the official residence of Singapore's President S R Nation is just opposite to the park. The Istana is open to the public come every public holidays and this is the chance when the public can tour the sprawling and vast expanse of Istana and may even shake hands with the affable President! I have been to the Istana several times by myself or on some other functions hosted at the Istana. Without a doubt, the Istana is heavily guarded with many policemen and rangers patrolling intensively. One most interesting personnel at Istana is without doubt, the sentry at the entrance of the Istana. Come every public holiday when the public visit the Istana grounds, the sentry will

Free Stock Photos for websites - FreeDigitalPhotos.net It just feels like an ordinary Tuesday to me. Only when I read the newspapers an hour ago, did I realise that today is Teachers' Day. Well, what is the big deal about this day, you may ask: If you are not a student, then today is not a holiday for you and hence why should you pay attention to this day? Even still, if you are not a teacher, there is no reason that you need to celebrate, no holidays for you too! Why the picture of the Starfish for this post? Well 'The Starfish Story' was a good thematic story for MOE's recruitment campaigns. The story goes like this: "One day, a young boy ask a man whom he saw on the shores why he bothers to pick the many starfishes stranded on the shores one by one painstakingly into the sea, what difference does it make throwing one or 100 starfishes back into the sea." To his enquiry, the man reverted, "It does make a difference to every one of them". Anyway,