Global Warming in real time

The oil refinery on Jurong Island has been particularly active lately. The right hand flame in the video must be over 50 meters tall and has been like that for a few days now. It is usually the size of the one on the left. It is like a giant candle lighting up the South China Sea. That's a lot of carnon dioxide. I'm sure it is visible from Indonesia and Malaysia. Do you feel warmer?

The Empire Strikes A Note

This is a Salvation Army bellringer on Orchard Rd! They looked taller on the big screen.

"Hang a shining star upon the highest bough."

Wishing my devoted readership 'season's greetings'. This is Ryan and I at the 'Conrad Continental' for a very enjoyable conference dinner. Look carefully at the composition of the Xmas tree.

Tomorrow the photographer and I are road tripping through Malaysia to Fraser's Hill. Our itinerary is: Day 1 Johor Bahru, Day 2 Malacca, Day 3 KL, Day 4 and Xmas, The Smokehouse at Frasers Hill and Day 6 unknown before returning to Singapore. The forecast is for solid rain :-(

Random shots

You have to admit, it isn't easy finding a theme to unite these three images, although the first two can be tenuously linked. The 'famous last words' on the left came from some arrogant knob prior to the fall of Singapore. The second is where that arrogant knob probably uttered those words (a WELL known colonial hotel in Singapore). And the third is by a Vietnamese poet who probably has trouble getting a girlfriend (but I do applaud the sentiment).

CCBB

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (the musical) has come to Singapore and we saw it at 'the Durian' to support a young relative of the photographer's. She was one of 8 local child actors who supported the London cast, which included Richard 'Someone-or-other' from Rocky Horror as 'The Child Catcher' (a tailor made role for a 'timewarper').

Lombok Triathlon

I haven't been to Lombok for 10 years. It is the beautiful but poor relation of Bali amd I competed in the first Lombok Triathlon - billed as 'the toughest race in Asia'. Perhaps this was ill conceived marketing and perhaps 'most beautiful race in Asia' might have attracted a bigger field. The distances were the same as the Phuket Triathlon (1800 swim, 55 km bike and 12 km run), but the run and particularly the bike were hillier. I finished 2nd in the 45 - 49 old blokes category and won this unique trophy.

Happy Deepavali

Much has happened since my last post - the'festival of lights' for one. In our 'condo' we've celebrated the end of Ramadan (Hari Raya Aidul Fitri), Halloween and now Deepavali in the last month (and the Xmas lights are up on Orchard Rd).

Another Riau island

This is Batam in the Riau archipelago. Only 30 min from Singapore. We stayed at the Turi Beach resort which is undergoing renovations. I wouldn't recommend going until they are complete, but we still enjoyed the view towards Singapore and a glorious massage.

'Death Island'

We spent this weekend doing the tourist circuit. A highlight was lunch on Mt Faber followed by a cable-car ride to Sentosa (previously Pulau Belakang Mati - 'island of death behind' - referring to a malaria outbreak or possibly its pirate heritage) and a tour of Fort Siloso - a British fort unsuccessfully employed to defend the harbour behind Sentosa from invasion. It fell to the Japanese early in WWII because they first captured all the British airstrips in Malaysia and then could bomb it (and the rest of Singapore) at will. The guns were not used to sink japanese shipping trying to invade Singapore, rather to shell Singapore itself, because the Japanese had came the other way. Fort Siloso was then used as a POW camp. Just 60 years later it is a wax-works museum.

Hanoi - Perfumed Pagoda trip

A short bus trip from Hanoi through rural Vietnam, followed by a boat ride (courtesy of an indefatigable peasant woman) is the Perfumed Pagoda - a working Buddhist temple in a huge limestone cave. The scale of the dark cave, the rhythmic chanting and the incense is hypnotic and reminiscent of an Indiana Jones movie. For more and better photos see http://planetjannet.blogspot.com/

The last photo is the view from our room of the Win Hotel in Hanoi - highly recommended and only US$30 per night.

Hanoi - Harvest Moon Festival

Hanoi is full of young people and on the night of the Harvest Moon Festival they all came out on their motor scooters and did loops of the lake. It was raining, but no one was deterred. Some wore masks, angel wings, devil horns or carried balloons ('click' the icon to play the video).

Hanoi -day 1

I had my handphone pinched on my first day in Vietnam by this young 'Artful Dodger' (right). I wouldn't have known but a passerby saw it happen. This tourist trap is the entrance to the 'Turtle Temple' in Hoam Kiem Lake in the centre of Hanoi. Legend has it that a turtle returned the King's sword from the bottom of the lake (I think).

More from the Aw Boon bro's

The only part of the Garden's that requires an entrance fee is the 'Ten Courts of Hell' depicting the fate of 'nare-do-wells' for such crimes as 'lack of filial piety (which seems to have been the most serious sin). Good taste prevents publication of those tableaus here, but you'll see the punishment for 'cheating' in the Eighth Court of Hell'. This was accompanied by figurines having their intestines pulled out! Not sure why Sumo's and Koala are also included in these Chinese gardens.

Tiger Balm Gardens

Many older visitors to Singapore remember 'Tiger Balm Gardens' aka 'Haw Par Villa', named after the Aw Boon brothers, Haw and Par who made a fortune from Tiger Balm in the 1930's (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haw_Par_Villa). The brothers Aw Boon were not conventional men and made these grotesque cement figures for the garden of their mansion. Some of the tableaus impart a moral message on such vices as gambling, cheating on exams (see post above) and being lazy. Some of them have a hidden eroticism, possibly reflecting life at the mansion?

More fruit-salad for ANZAC Day

Last weekend was the Interfaculty Swimming Carnival. Competition was not fierce in the Staff Category and I won a bronze medal for the 100 m freestyle (in 1:28), 4th in the 50 m free (in 37 s) and our Science relay team came first to win the Gold medal on the right. The silver medal in the centre is for participating in the inaugural 'Singapore 70.3' half ironman on 3 Sept (6hr and 39 min!).