SINGAPORE SHORT STORIES

Our cable car system straddling between Harborfront Tower, Mount Faber and Sentosa which has served Singapore dutifully for the past 35 years will be finally undergoing a 7-month overhaul costing $36 million dollars. My Dear and I were just up there in one of these cable cars some weeks ago and unfortunately, the ride was nothing special to us at all! Firstly, the cable car cabin was relatively small and being non-air-conditioned, the cabin was hot and humid. Secondly, the scenary which could be viewed from the cable car cabin was far from awesome. Last but not least, the traveling distance was too short at all (even if one were to travel the furthest distance from Harborfront Tower to Sentosa). However, my Dear and I had an excellent experience with the cable cars in Hong Kong just some days ago. We traveled on the cable cars in Ocean Park and to Ngong Ping 360 from Tung Chung. I must tell you that the cable car rides there were simply AMAZING! The cable car was traveling above the

Since the inception of the 'Keep Left rule' (a rule which encourages passengers to keep to the left while using the escalators) by the Singapore Mass Rapid Transit (SMRT) corporation, there is little success: many Singaporeans are still keeping to both or either sides of the escalator, oblivious to the rules which encourages them to keep left. In Hong Kong and other regional countries, it is the 'Keep Right rule' as passengers are encouraged to keep to the right while using the escalators. The rule seems to be kicking at least in Hong Kong when I was there last week as it seems second nature for the Hong Kong passengers to follow the rule. I muse over why Singapore's 'Keep Left Rule' does not achieve the same success evident in other countries and I came to a conclusion: most human are right-handed and hence more people (the right-handed) are more attuned to turning or keeping to the right rather than the left. A high time to change the rule?

Dear Readers, I am back here in Singapore after a week retreat! And the venue of my retreat was definitely not in the Singapore jungles la.. was just joking :) I visited one of the regional countries and have such a wonderful time with my Dear there! Will share with you folks on some of the Great sights and Great food I partook of during the trip, so keep a lookout for these in my blog! I also received a couple of comments from many of you on my blog! So sorry if I do not respond to each and every of your comments, because haiz... when your tour ends and when you come back to 'reality' after holidaying... there is just so much work to do! I arrived back in Singapore early this morning and spent the whole of today unpacking my luggage and cleared my mail choked full of emails..... wow I was without internet for a week or so (cannot believe it) but I enjoy the brief respite from the onslaught of the IT! Thanks to All of you for supporting my blog! Do look out for more exci

Dear Regular Readers, Please do not be suprised if you come to read my blog few days later to find that there is no new post not only for 1 day, but for 5 to 6 days.... reason is that your Good Friend, Singapore Short Stories will be going for a Singapore Retreat in order to invigorate himself and do some 'table-top' exercise to serve you folks, all living in Singapore! I will be going on the Retreat in Bukit Timah Hill, Singapore's highest point (only 166 metres though!). There I will use the self-scape digging lesson I learnt from my army days to good use and I will dig a fox-hole and immerse myself there. At night, I will do some blood donations to the tonnes of mosquitoes residing in the mountains while I observe the cunning and slick movements of the monkeys flying from one tree to another. It is only via observing nature that you will find your true self! For many years, I am a victim of the modern day: all the hustle, bustle, stress, complications of modern living! I

My Dear and I visited Vivocity yesterday. If you are a regular there, you would (of course) know that Vivocity links with the Harbourfront Tower. As we were approaching Harbourfront Tower, suddenly we heard the loud and ear-piercing shrill of the fire alarm and right in-front of us, the metal shutter just came rolling down, sealing the entrance of Harbourfront Tower from Vivocity and civilisation! Announcements came and set in quickly, informing shoppers that it was a false alarm. Dozens of security forces descended onto the entrance of the Harborfront Tower and took action to restore Harborfront Tower. Large crowds of shoppers were left confounded and confused. 5 minutes later, the shutter came rolling up and Vivocity and Harborfront City resumed to normalcy. Singaporeans live in a very peacefully and squeaky clean Singapore. Singaporeans are fortunate to lead lives which are not rocked by political turmoils, natural disasters or civil turbulances though like any other open economy, w

I read a piece of news in the local newspapers today which left me shaken and unbelievable! The report highlighted that some of the policemen in a certain country actually have Jedi as their religion. Yes, the Jedi from the movie "Stars Wars", it seems incredible to me, but doing a check on the internet, I really found a dose of information related to Jedi as a religion! The previous unconventional religion which I heard was Scientology, of which a famous Western star was also a believer.

I still remember those McDonald TV commercials broadcasted in the earlier years which showed young children happily enjoying their McDonald Big Breakfast, culminating in their cheers: "Hot cakes, Happy Meal". Just look at the picture of McDonald's Big Breakfast: with hot and warm omelette, chicken bacon, harsh brown, buns and a cup of hot coffee, this is the Great way to start a busy workday. However, the price of McDonald's Big Breakfast has indeed increased from the yesteryears, now the price is $5.85. Price increases are expected with inflation and rising standards of living. But I seldom eat McDonald's Big Breakfast because I do not belong to the 666,660 (and increasing) Singaporeans with a net worth of US $1 million, excluding the valuation of their housing. For me, what I earn is just some PEANUTS and I can only eat some slices ordinary bread plus some jam for my daily breakfast. Sound pathetic? But is true, because if one earns so little money like me, the

Dr Ong Seh Hong is the PAP politician in the media limelight lately. Firstly, in the ongoing Charity Scandal involving Ren Ci and Reverend Ming Yi, it was disclosed that Dr Ong had borrowed a loan amounting $60,000 from Ren Chi Charity. Some of the online community netizens were quick to ride on this latest link in the charity scandal which has created a storm of debates on this little island revolving charity accountability, the principles of Buddhism and monkhood and now evolving a Member of Parliament. The netizens were having a field day speculating on the possible causal links of Dr Ong Seh Hong and the scandal. However, Dr Ong has given a full and somewhat satisfactory reply to the mass media, the salient points being that he borrowed the money in order to pay for his corporate housing loan while still being an employee at the Government Investment Company of Singapore (GIC) and he was not a Member of Parliament then. Dr Ong has to clear the corporate housing loan first before he

A breach in data security at the NUS Career Centre on 1 April 2009 was recently reported in the news. An email was sent to some 900 alumni of the National University of Singapore (NUS) inviting them to a recruitment event. However this email inadvertently included an Excel spreadsheet with information of about 16,000 alumni graduating between 1993 and 2008 with First Class and Second Upper Honours. What transpired was that the staff who sent the email attached the Excel spreadsheet to perform a 'mail merge' function, however the staff forgot to delete the Excel spreadsheet before the email was sent out. This spreadsheet contained names, faculties, degrees conferred, year of graduation, contact numbers, mailing and email addresses of the alumni who were affected! Upon detecting the slipup, the staff responsible for the security lapse immediately recalled the email, but this recall could not be achieved in totality. NUS immediately followed up by sending an email to the recipient

Tampines One Shopping Mall opened its doors to the public last Friday and my Dear and I have visited it on the 2nd day of its opening (see my blog post on that day). As I have mentioned, there is nothing fantastic about Tampines One, except for the flagship shop called Uniqlo, which is Japan’s No.1 casual wear brand in the mall. My Dear and I could not get into the store when we visited Tampines One last Saturday as there was a ceaseless queue of shoppers waiting to enter the store. This morning, we went to Tampines One for the second time and thinking today, being a Friday morning, we would sure have an opportunity to visit the store and discover what is so fascinating about it. Just before we reached the store, we already saw a queue forming up at the entrance of the store. We checked the store and realized it would open its door only at 11 am. We were amazed that the time being 10.30 am, a queue of people has already formed! We shopped around the other shops in the mall and made ou

Gazing into the crystal ball of time, I read the newspapers of tomorrow: 17 Apr 09. The launch of Sim Lian DBSS flat at Simei, Parc Lumiere on 18 Apr 09 are heavily featured on the many pages of the newspapers. This project will be a Design Build Sell Scheme (DBSS), and I expect prices for the 4-room and 5-room flat to be between $400,000 to $500,000. $500,000 is often touted as psychological level of home buyers as with that amount, buyers would well afford a condominium!

It has been decided that Singapore will have its very own, first in the world: Singapore Blogger Day to be held on the 31 Jan of every year! The date 31 Jan has been choosen as the first two characters of the word 'Blogger' : Bl gives rise to 131. The first Singapore Blogger Day will be celebrated in Singapore with a LOUD BANG on the 31 Jan 2010! It is a date that Singapore Bloggers have been waiting for! 'It' refers to Singapore Short Stories who feels that Singapore should have a day to celebrate blogging in Singapore. This is my very idea that I will hold copyrights haha... nevertheless I am floating this idea with some of the most famous bloggers in Singapore...

On the heels of the infamous Geylang Serai Indian rojak mass food poisoning, some Singaporeans are quick to lambast the relevant authorities for its lax control on the hygiene standards of the temporary markets and hawker centres, which was exemplified in the capture of 122 rats in the vicinity of the Geylang Serai market. These Singaporeans are quick to shift the buck to the local authorities for failing to ensure the cleanliness and hygienic standards of the Geylang Serai market. Even the Minister for the Environment and Water Resources, Dr Yaccob was blamed in the internet world. But are the Minister and his authorities to blame for this latest tragedy, which has claimed 3 lives (including a foetus)? In my most personal and humble opinion, the real culprit behind this latest episode is GLOBALISATION. Let me explain why: In the past kampong days of Singapore, when there were lots of mobile make-shift stalls, barring those extensive transgressions of hygienic food handling, many Singa

This afternoon, with a craving for Western meal as lunch, I queued up at the Western food stall for a platter of chicken chop. I was second in the queue, in front of me was an old man, who was waiting for his dish of chicken chop too. Once the stallholder handed him his plate of freshly cooked, tender and juicy chicken chop, the old man seemed too delighted, turning to me and remarked proudly how succulent the chicken was and how tasty it would be when the chicken were to later land in his stomach. I gave me a smile and wished him a pleasant lunch. Finally, it was my turn to be served, and I had in my hands my plate of nice, tender, succulent chicken as I went to take my seat at one of the tables in the hawker centre. Moments later, as I was busy disintegrating the chicken, I happened to see the old man, sitting a table just beside me, starting to enjoy his lunch as well. Minutes later, I heard a cry, I turned my head around to the source of the commotion and saw the old man, stood up

Click on this link and look out for the lady called Eng Kai Er, who was a National Science ASTAR Scholar (PhD) studying Biomedical Sciences (Infection Biology) at the Karolinska Institutet. Eng Kai Er, 24 and her male friend, Jan Philip, 21, showed the world that Singapore can be on-par with some of its western counterparts when she and Jan paraded Holland Village on the night of 24 Jan 09 wearing nothing at all! The two are currently facing charge: they could be fined $2000 or be jailed for 3 months.

Geylang Serai Indian Rojak hogged the headlines these days when 2 people died, one woman miscarriaged and many others hospitalised as a result of eating the poisoned Indian Rojak. Picture above is a typical Rojak, only in this case, it is a Chinese Rojak. I have personally not tried Indian Rojak as I always love Chinese Rojak. A good Rojak s one which has crispy and hot fried doughsticks, laden with creamy peanut gravy, and a host of other Rojak ingredients such as cucumber and some fruits. In my personal opinion, the Geylang Serai mass food poisoning case was caused by a 'Rojak' combination of factors. The authorities are still investigating this food poisoning incident though the spotlight of the media seems to focus on rats as a possible culprit. Rats may be the culprit but if we would to zoom in further the issue, we would really note that in the recent years, the rat population in Singapore has really increased! I can just walk around my estate and it is easy to spot a l

My Dear and I visited the MEGA Fair (an electronics fairs organized by Courts Singapore) and Times Book Fair at the Singapore Expo today. A raft of stalls at the MEGA Fair selling digital products and electrical appliances from all brands. The price was, however not the lowest. For example, a camera which I bought for $289 was sold at $329. However $329 is the market price, just that I have my own ways to get the lowest quote in town! The Times book fair at the other exhibition hall was far more interesting with an array of books from different genres. Books and more books greeted us! There was a couple of good titles and latest editions somemore, selling at good prices! The selection of books this time round was much bigger than the previous Times books sales. Tomorrow will be the last day of the two exhibitions, thus if you are book-lovers or yearning for some attractive good electronic buys, do not wait!

As much as I love Singapore for its relatively good governance, its security and a relatively good standard of living, of late, I am feeling the stress and ennui of living on this little island we called home. It is understandable that bereft of natural resources, Singapore’s only resources in its people. Singapore has excelled economically over the past few decades but fast forward to today, it is increasing evident that neighbouring countries have been catching up, and catching up FAST! With China and India, the next super global powers rising rapidly, Singapore is also looking forward to leveraging on the opportunities that these two giants will be presenting. It has become a trend that Singapore is bidding on international projects to boost its economy. Singapore has bided for the F1 races, Youth Olympics and international exhibitions and conventions to be held locally, this is a phenomenon that is not seen in the earlier years. Singapore has to constantly clinch projects regionall

I just received the news that DBS CEO Richard Stanley, 48, has passed away from Leukemia. Earlier in the week, DBS Chairman Koh Boon Hwee has told media that Richard is coping well with the Leukemia treatments though it was also reported in the news that Richard's condition has deteroriated unexpectedly. With Richard's passing, I believe average Singaporeans could only think of the very good income Richard draws per month as a CEO of a top Asian bank, rather than remembering his contributions to the development of the banking industry in Singapore. This view is not unexpected as the income divide between the rich and poor in Singapore is increasing.

Tampines’ third shopping mall, Tampines 1 opened its door to the public yesterday and already more than 40,000 shoppers have thronged the shops in this new shopping mall since opening. Today is Good Friday, being a public holiday, super-large crowds descended on the 3 shopping malls in Tampines collectively: Century Square Shopping Mall, Tampines Mall and last but not least, the newest shopping mall which saw the largest crowd: Tampines 1. It suddenly rained around 3pm and I must tell you that it was real chaotic between Tampines Mall and the MRT station. Hundreds of people were jamming the limited area outside Tampines MRT station, walking in both direction (to the station and away from the station). This stretch of road was already congested with human traffic on a normal day and the crowd got even worse when it rained today! As anticipated, Tampines 1 shopping mall was choked with people and more people. The most popular shop in this new shopping mall seemed to be UNIQLO, Japan’s nu

Norani Kassim, 59, whom I blogged about yesterday fighting for her life in hospital after eating the Indian Rojak from Geylang Serai which was poisoned has passed away. Second death in Singapore's latest massive food poisoning case! How an innocous Indian Rojak can kill a normal person! It is not the rojak that kills, it is those deadly virus. I shudder to think that though we humans are billions of times much bigger than viruses, all it takes is for a single deadly virus, measuring less than nanometres to penetrate into our bodies to wreck havoc! Meanwhile, Indian rojak stallls in Singapore have been hit by this latest food poisoning case. Its a double whammy for them, as having already been hit by the economic recession, their livelihoods are now broken by some other people who failed to keep their food safe for others. To foreigners reading this blog, a Rojak is an uniquely Singaporean dish... made up of a fusion of different food, fruits and sauce. You may want to come to try

Just a few days ago, I have reproduced in my blog on a reader’s horrible shopping experiences in Sim Lim Square. I have searched the net and uncovered just 2 of the many hundreds of unpleasant stories told of Sim Lim Square in the cyberworld: http://forums.gameaxis.com/showthread.php?t=1490139 http://my.ocworkbench.com/bbs/showthread.php?t=82265

I miss those good old cookies that are housed in a jar, which my relatives used to bake for me. Its not only about the delicious yummy cookies, its all about nostalgia as well as the kind and warm family bonding. Having discovered nam's bits recently , the intricate feeling of bonding and warm ties welled up in me once again. The delicious look of the chocolate cookies, neatly presented in a transparent container, aroused my appetite once more. These nam's bits cookies , together with customized gift are also great gifts for friends as these gifts are not only ordinary gifts, as being customizable for your friends, they embody the friendship you treasure to your friend recipients.

I have always written on the quick passage of time and how time and tide waits for no man. It is always good to finish our work fast so that we have more free time to pursue our own interests. It is with this thought that I decide to buy some personalized ink stamps for my work. One just needs to chop the stamp, saving the time that will be involved in the actual writing of the text required. The personalized ink stamps and psa essentials ink stamp enable one to customize the text he wants on the ink stamps, and there is no other better place to get these ink stamps than at http://www.posylane.com/ . Besides offering these attractive ink stamps, the website also sells nam's bits chocolate chip cookies for chocolate fanatics and lovers.

Singapore experienced one of its worst massive food poisoning cases in recent years when hundreds of customers who patronized the highly rated food stall suffered mass food poisoning. Hundreds were sent to hospital for poison-related symptoms; a woman was killed and another woman miscarriaged as a result of the poisoning. At this time of writing, another lady was fighting for her life in hospital. I remember the last case of massive food poisoning was the Prima Deli Bread incident, however the magnitude of poisoning was not as great as in the latest case. I pity the woman who died and the woman who lost her baby as a result of the food poisoning. How could they know that the food they consume was contaminated or even poisoned? They have just gone as usual to eat their favorite dish, Indian Rojak at a popular stall, a stall they have always trusted. Some of those who had eaten the contaminated rojak and survived to tell the ordeal claimed that though they had detected a foul smell in

My Dear and I visited the Beauty and Health Care Fair held at the Suntec City Exhibition Hall last weekend. We were on our way to some other places around the city when we spotted a signboard at the lobby of Suntec City featuring the exhibition, thus up we went the escalators to 'jalan jalan' (visit). There were 3 exhibitons: a warehouse sales, a Bridal exhibition and not to mention, this Beauty and Health Care Fair. It seemed to me that exhibitions and fairs have become all the rage in Singapore as I have visited a number of fairs and exhibitions in the past few months or weeks . The Beauty and Health Care Fair was a well-organized event, with all the different areas of Health being represented: Health Prevention, Health Cure, Health Diagnosis. There was a raft of stalls offering things spanning from Hair Loss treatment to Skin Care. There was also a health talk where health professionals spoke on topics such as skin care and hair care. The turnout at this event was impressiv

“The sweetest music to one’s ears is his name”, how true is this adage! Everyone likes to be called by his name (provided he loves it, of course!). A Name is very important to an individual, as he will be always addressed by it in his lifetime! Parents must pay great attention to the choice of name for their children lest the latter end up being teased or even insulted by others with a wrong name. Just some months ago, the world learnt how a Western couple gave the name ‘Hitler’ to their son, and back in Singapore, we have in our accompany a Singaporean ‘Batman’ while the ‘Batman’ father’s name (Supraman) sound like Superman! A good name must one, which is meaningful to the bearer of the name, having said this, do you know the meaning of your name? How nice it would be if someone comes up with a sort of encyclopedia on all things related to names: the meaning of names and the origin of names, etc I thought. While surfing the net to find out whether such sites do exist, I found this nam

An article written by Dr Lee Wei Ling, Director and Senior Consultant of the National Neurology Institute, who is better known to Singaporeans as the daughter of Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew appeared in “The Sunday Times” today. The article was titled “Why I choose to remain Single?” in which Dr Lee shared with readers the reasons for her choosing to remain single. Dr Lee began her article describing the great love, care and bonding between her parents, especially during this period when her mother’s health is not as good as before. Few paragraphs later, she brought readers back to her reasons for choosing to remain single, though it was mentioned Dr Lee has suitors and dated before. As gleaned from the article, the two reasons Dr Lee gave for choosing to remain single are: “Firstly, my mother set the bar too high for me. I could not envisage being the kind of mother and mother she has been” … Statement 1 “Secondly, I am temperamentally similar to my father. Indeed, he once sa

Just a few days ago, I wrote about some of my experiences while shopping for some IT gadgets at Sim Lim Square, today I received a letter from a reader on his real life ridiculous experience there. Here is his story: “When I entered Sim Lim Square this evening, I casually walked into the Song Brothers shop on the first floor and was served by a young salesman, who would later provide me with the worst form of insult and threat that a shop could possibly give to a customer at all.” “I was talking with this young man on some camera models and when I asked him about the expected life expectancy of a particular brand of camera, that was when he went offensive. To my utmost surprise, he insinuated that I did not take care of my camera at all, and subject my camera to dropping etc! I was utterly shocked at such transgression of good customer service! Later on, I asked for the manager of this shop and to my another shock and utter disappointment, he actually defended his staff by saying that

Tonight is a super hot night! My body is sweating profusely as I type this post! Day is hot, night is also hot! I predict the temperature now (both day and night to be 30 degree Celsius!) In this case, I prefer to be in some desert like Arizona where though the day can be unbearably hot, the night can be super cool as well! Might as well consider to migrate to Arizona, staying in Arizona real estate . Some home developments there look pretty interesting, Singaporeans should have no problem staying in Arizona’s hot climate (we can choose either the desert or the mountains) as we are so accustomed to the heat and humility of Singapore! Note: I can withstand the heat, but it is the humidity that kills me…. My skin is so sweaty, as sweat cannot evaporate! Arizona seems to be a nice place to get away from the stressful city life of Singapore, we will be overlooking beautiful deserts and mountains, and leading a simple and rustic life!

In Singapore, to own a dog as pet in HDB, one needs to register his or her dog prior to bringing the little animal home. It is generally not allowed for HDB (Housing Development Board) dwellers to own large dogs as pets in their homes. But many HDB dog owners would circumvent this law by registering the address of their friends or relatives (those living in landed properties) for their dogs instead. As we know, dogs need to be walked. I notice, and not sure whether you notice too, that at around 9pm or 10pm, where there are fewer people, all the large dogs come out from the confines of their HDB flats as the owners walk them around the void deck or park! Part of the reason is due to the fact that at such late hours, with fewer people outside, it is generally ‘safer’ for them (the owners) not to be caught! But poor doggie, I think at such hours, they would be dead tired! Anyway doggies now lead such wonderful and cosy lives, especially so if their owners are rich enough to pamper them!

IF YOU WONDER WHY THERE ARE FEW PICTURES IN MY RECENT BLOG POSTS, READ THESE: Just two weeks ago, the camera, which I bought in year 2007 and have since been using it suddenly passed on. The ‘zoom’ feature failed to project out and with this failure, it does not take an ordinary folk to deduce that the camera ‘died already!’. What a lousy camera, I thought to myself. The 1-year warranty has since passed and hence any repairs would therefore be chargeable! I bought the camera at Sim Lim Square at a cost of $240. Talking about my purchasing experience of the camera, it was an unpleasant one as I was hoodwinked by the seller, into getting the camera after he gave me a ‘good discount’…down from his initial quoted price of $280! I have before patronizing the shop, visited another shop and learnt that it was selling at $300 plus there. Thus it did not take me long to accept the shop owner’s offer and bought the camera. I thought I have a great discount and went on to another shop to compare

Singapore Kindness Movement 2009 will kickoff on Sunday 5 Apr 09. Yesterday, I experienced a kind act from a fellow MRT passenger. It was morning MRT travel to work as usual. As I was just about to ‘land my bums’ on a vacant seat, a woman signaled for me not to do so, pointing to a spot in the seat. I took a quick look and was disgusted that a small chewed up sweet was stuck on the seat. I thanked the woman and am relieved that there are still kind souls among Singaporeans.

Just two days ago, a group of students in the Singapore Management University put together a wake with a coffin and laying inside the coffin was none other than Singa, our courtesy lion. The students have wanted to send a shocking message to Singaporeans, warning them on the declining courtesy standards of Singaporeans. This prompted the Chairman of the Singapore Kindness Movement, Mr Koh Poh Tiong to express surprise and shock on this publicity blitz. He was quick to clarify that Singaporeans are still courteous and kind, just that they are less adpt to express it. Personally, I find the publicity blitz creative though it is an insult to put a lion into the coffin, though it is a courtesy lion.....for the lion symbolises Singapore and to put a symbol of Singapore into coffin is a foolish thing.

Today is 1st April, April Fools' Day, a day for all the fools in the world! In Singapore, this is also a day for Singapore's Fools. This day belong to me, I am a fool for I am always being made a fool. When you have meet with some fools everyday, its hard not to be a fool!