A Trip to Singapore

The first thing that hits me when someone mentions Singapore is very-open-minded or in simpler words, horny, teens. And that's exactly what I got to experience during my recent trip to that small island. I'll come to that "interesting" part later. Patience boys....

To escape the massive traffic jams that usually occur during any festive period, my family left the house at 6.40 in the morning. I was supposed to drive but then my father said that there would be too many police road blocks. So, I couldn't drive to Johor Bahru neither on the way back.

As I mentioned, we drove down to Johor Bahru, parked our car there and then took the bus across the Causeway. I was pretty excited to visit Singapore as that was my first visit to that island. A few minutes after the immigration clearance, I finally set foot on the land of Singapore.

Luckily for my family, my mother has a friend staying there and she offered us to stay in her place while we were there. On that day, we were pretty tired and didn't want to visit any place. So, at night, my mother's friend's husband took us to the nearby Rivervale Mall. That's where I saw something very "interesting". I'll keep it for later.

Next day, as usual, I was the first one to get up as I had to do my morning stretching. Then, after breakfast, we visited the National Science Centre. One thing that I really liked about Singapore is the public transport system. It's really very efficient as most-if not all-the places are accessible by bus or train or a combination of both.

The National Science Centre was really nice but I wouldn't say it's great because they didn't have anything much on space exploration. Well, keep that part aside and you'll have a great time exploring the place. Outside the centre, there is a Kinetic Garden where simple inventions which actually shaped our world such as the Archimedes screw and trampoline were on display to be tested.

Just before going in, for the first time in my life, I got a chance to watch how a bird takes it's bath as a random bird was doing that in a water fountain outside. As we went in, we were greeted by a huge aptosaurus sculpture. On that day, the main theme of the Science Centre was dinosaurs. There was a dinosaur exhibition inside with huge partially moving dinosaurs.

Besides the dinosaurs, there were many other science related displays there. One thing that caught my attention was a section which explained how people get attracted to each other. There was also a room where I watched a video on how the foetus forms and grows in the uterus. That was in 3D and it was really nice.

The next day, we visited Little India. It was a nice place which was bustling with activities and various people were plying their trade at every corner of the town. It was truly like India as it was crowded with Indian people and a few tourists. That day, I had my lunch at the Tekka Centre which was just beside the train station.

After lunch, we headed to the National Museum. Honestly, the museum is many many times better that the one in Malaysia. There were exhibitions on Singaporean food, fashion and theatre throughout the years. The most interesting part was the National History section.

There, we were given a device that had earphones and an electronic player that would give descriptions of the things that we see inside the museum. We just have to type the different numbers on the floor of the museum in the device to listen to the explanation.

After a one hour walk inside the National History section, my father and I walked a little further from the main museum to the Philatelic Museum. I actually found out about the museum when I stumbled upon a brochure on the Philatelic Museum in Little India. As I was a passionate collector of stamps and currency, that was a place I surely had to visit.

However, due to lack of time, I couldn't really view the stamp exhibitions in the museum. I just had a look-around in the museum shop and got myself a few wonderful stamps for 15 SG Dollars. That museum was truly one of a kind as I've never seen nor heard of anything like that before. The next time I'm in Singapore, I'll surely pay another visit.

After that, we went to the Esplanade. We were greeted with an erhu performance outside the MRT station. As we walked towards the famous landmark of Singapore, the Merlion, I was stunned at the sight of the majestically built Marina Bay Sands. The architecture was outstanding and the scenery was excellent.

The vivid atmosphere was made even better with the marvelous lighting and laser show from Marina Bay Sands. I snapped quite a  number of pictures there at sunset. There was also a river cruise but only my sister went for it. After dinner, we headed back to Malaysia that night itself so that we won't have to go through the traffic jam on the Causeway the next morning.

Chinese New Year sucks in Singapore. 87.5 % of the residents there are Chinese but they seem like they don't want to celebrate their new year. There were only a few minutes of fireworks unlike in Malaysia where the fireworks go on all night.

And there were many Chinese people working that day. It was a festival and instead of spending time with their families, they were serving others. And the worst part was that some of them actually wore black clothes that day. Chinese New Year is surely celebrated very differently there.

Singaporeans just love their touch-screen phones. Almost every local were playing with their phones in the trains and buses. I don't know if they were just trying to show off their fancy phones. Who knows, some of them might actually be owning a China-made phone.

Well, now to the interesting part that all of you have been waiting for. I saw many free shows from inside to the outside. That day, in Rivervale Mall, as I was standing in the queue to pay for some of the things, I saw a couple who were waiting in the next cashier, romantically playing with each other in the midst of so many people.

Then, they were kissing each other and the guy actually lifted up her blouse slightly. The lady standing behind them was totally disgusted by their act. I think the girl (who was being kissed) would have undressed for him when they got back. When I was getting back to the apartment, a couple were French-kissing each other at the zebra crossing while waiting for the green light to walk across the road. The lady was drunk by the way.

Honestly, the Singaporean girls aren't that pretty or cute or beautiful (maybe because of their hectic lifestyle) but they are just plain sexy. I mean every where I went I just saw hot stuff. I don't go looking for them but opportunities just fall in front of my eyes. So, don't call me a pervert. It's just an inborn ability of mine to detect opportunities.

Some of the girls dress "smartly". They where a dark coloured T-shirt/blouse and a similar coloured shorts to make it look that they are wearing a very short dress. I fell for it a few times but I got used to it soon. Now, I'm not surprised at all why sexting and news of girls losing their virginity at 15 is so common in Singapore. I think I would have lost my virginity early had I been brought up there.

One important thing that I had learned from my trip to Singapore is that people's behaviour are very much influenced by their surroundings. The old people or senior citizens of Singapore are actually very humble and nice. I still remember a random old lady who wished me 'Happy Chinese New Year' when she was in the bus and I was sitting in the bus stop. The point here is that she lived most of her life in the stress free Singapore of the olden days.

However, the modern Singaporeans who are going through the hectic lifestyle are very very money minded and don't care about social life. Many of them are very competitive and some even work during their festival, living up the the term "kiasu" or scared-to-lose attitude that is usually used to describe them.

Their faces also change and they become less beautiful or cheerful because of the stress they face. That's the reason the young generation put loads of make up and dress sexily just to make themselves attractive. I think their obsession with their smart phones proves me right.

Another thing about Singapore is that they are a truly multi-racial country, much much better than Singapore. There are no double standards nor rules that favour one race over there. And all their public transports systems have notices in English, Mandarin, Malay and Tamil. Maybe Malaysia has a thing or two to learn from them.

I have to say that the trip was one of the best holidays I've ever had. I don't know if it's coincidence but my family visited the places that would have been at the top of my list of travelling destinations in Singapore. And the Singaporeans taught me how your interests in life can change the way you live. A great trip indeed!

Money Or Happiness???

This is one question that must be bugging many school leavers like me. When each one of us reach the crossroads of life after school life, we are handed a situation, sometimes a very difficult one, to choose our next path in our lives. And, most of the time, a ferocious battle takes place between our mind and soul.

It's always the same question. All of us have our own passion or interest that we want to pursue in life. The problem arises when we have to choose our career. We might be stuck or simply clueless on which path to choose-to follow our hearts or minds.

At times, our passion might just be the right catalyst (or that's how our parents perceive them) for the future. However, most of the time, what we love to do just isn't in favour of the big bucks life and consequently our parents' mind.

Each decision we make has it's own pros and cons. If we were to choose money, we might pursue a career that we might not like (or in some cases hate) but will be earning a hefty sum every month (or week). We might become rich in a short time and live a luxurious life, all at the expense of giving up what we truly love to do.

If we were to choose happiness or satisfaction, we will also be very happy to do something that we are truly passionate about. For example, most artists (like the middle income ones, not Picasso) live a very simple life as they make beautiful pieces of art daily to satisfy their lust for the paint brush. However, as I mentioned, they live a not-so luxurious life.

I've met many people who have chosen (or forced) to take different paths in their life, deviating far, far way from their true passion. For example, I've got a friend who really aspires to be a musician. I still remember him sharing with me his dreams of making it big in the music scene. Right  now, disappointingly, he's planning to pursue medicine.

Another friend of mine-so much associated with the entertainment industry that I used to think that this guy would surely become some television celebrity-is now currently looking at options to do aeronautic engineering. I kinda felt pity for him that he had to follow orders and do something that would surely, undoubtedly bring him money but take away most of the happiness in him.

I'm facing a similar situation as well, but still not as worse as them. My ambition is to become an astrophysicist. However, due to the limited job opportunities (that's what my parents think even after Yahoo! announced that that job has the highest employment rate), my parents are trying to talk me out of it.

They tried to do the same thing for running but they've given up now as they've realised that my aspirations are not going to change. But, they aren't going to go down so lightly with my career. And, I don't think I'm going to let them interrupt me this time either.

To be honest, to know what path in life to choose, you have to look at what you actually want in life. Some people want money but  everyone wants happiness. The truth is, life rarely gives you both in abundance. It's either you have a lot of either one or you have different percentages of them.

Some people think that a lot of money will lead to happiness. This sort of mentality is usually implanted naturally in the minds of materialistic people who love to shop for things. They need the money to satisfy their needs for electronic components just to flash them around in pride.

I'm not saying that that kind of mentality is wrong. Those people feel really happy when they go for luxurious holidays and get a chance to mix around with the upper class. For them, happiness is only felt when others look at them and praise them for their wealth. Their proud feeling makes them happy. Like it or not, if one of you actually have this kind of mentality, you'll disapprovingly agree with what I'm saying.

While that kind of people look for the happiness form the outside, people who chase after their passion actually look for happiness from the inside. They seek what they really want in life. They get the sense of satisfaction from doing their job. No matter how difficult the job is, that person will use all his might to complete the job as perfectly as possible.

Then comes the question of money. Trust me, a person who does what he loves will always find ways to survive. He/She will not necessarily meet the expectations of his/her parents but I'm sure they will find ways to cope with their challenging lives.

People who go after their passion live meaningful lives. They work hard and reap the benefits in the sense of a little money (on most occasions) and a whole lot of satisfaction. On the other hand, people who go after money will just never be satisfied because there's just a lot of opportunities out there for money that they can't stop craving for.

At times though, it is possible to do something you don't really like for a career and then still continue your passion as your hobby. This is a technique that some use to take their minds of their hectic lifestyle and spend time with things that they love to do. By doing this, a certain level of satisfaction can be achieved.

I'm sure that some of you strongly disagree with some of the things I said. But, it doesn't really bother me because different people just have different perceptions about life. Choose your path wisely, but just keep in mind about what I've mentioned in this blog post. I'll let your future do the explaining for me..............

A Lonely Adventure

The STAR Education Fair was held in the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre and I was very keen on attending it as I've never been to an education fair and it was the right time for me to go. I wanted some company but after asking a few friends, none of them could make it.

That Sunday was a surprisingly lucky day for me. I managed to get on all 4 trains in a couple of minutes (or in some cases seconds) upon reaching the train station. It was my first time going to KLCC by train. So, after checking out which trains to take, I bought my first ticket to KL Sentral and there was already a train waiting in the station, about to leave.

During the one hour ride, I was pretty lonely as I rarely took the train to other places alone. Then, I realized that it was probably better if I got used to travelling alone, in case I want to go travelling to other countries in the future. After slightly more than an hour, I got down, bought another ticket (actually a coin-shaped chip) to board the train on the Kelana Jaya Line to KLCC.

When I got into KLCC, my worries of not finding the Convention Centre evaporated as I found the signboard to my destination after a 5-minute walk form the train station. Another factor that made it easier was that I had been to a place close to the Convention Centre before-The Aquaria in KLCC.

About half an hour after reaching the place, the first talk was given by some person whose name I can't remember. The real reason I decided to go for the Education Fair was to listen to the talks by various professionals on post-SPM topics.

The first talk session consisted of speeches by 3 different people on choices after SPM and career guidance. I found those speeches really useful and inspiring in some ways. One talked about the common mistakes that we make in our life when choosing our education options and another spoke about how to start planning our future.

After that first session, I went for lunch. One shop which caught my eye as I was making my way through Suria KLCC was a shop by the name Fresh Food Store. They had food which were just made and can be bought on a take away basis. I got myself two slices of pizza and headed back to the hall where the speeches were conducted.

The break in between was kinda short and when I finally made it into the hall, the speech on educational funds by the Kuok Foundation had begun. It was followed by a speech on scholarship opportunities form the STAR Newspaper's education fund by a person named Susanna Kuan. The disappointing fact was that the offers were only for private institutions.

The next session was another one that I was anticipating that day. It was a session where 3 different speakers were going to explain about opportunities in America, Australia and Hong Kong. The speeches were very useful (especially the one on USA) as I got an insight of what I should expect should I go overseas next time. And the speech on Hong Kong was really funny as the speaker kept on discouraging the listeners from pursuing studies in Hong Kong with funny remarks about their workaholic ethic and the level of pollution (which is actually true).

After that talk session, I went to the exhibition halls to check out the colleges' and universities' booth. Surprisingly, I found a few of the booths very informative on what I want to pursue in the future. The informative booths even offered me informative books which I have not gone through yet.

At around 4.40, I got kinda tired and decided to board another 2 trains home. As I said, I was lucky with the trains and reached back home in the fastest possible time. It was a lonely journey but I think I enjoyed that adventure away from my usual life at home.....

A Quick End To The Beginning

It was HELL. I mean I loved the job-mingling with screws and nuts and motorcycle parts. But the person in charge of the shop really made me take a U-turn. Here's an account of my little adventure.

I was pretty excited to join work in the motorcycle repair shop yesterday. When the shop opened, the owner asked me to cut out the metal tubes from the tyre tubes. He gave me a metal scissors to work with and after much difficulty, I managed to complete that.

Then, he asked me to move one of the motorcycles to the roadside. When I lifted the stand, disaster struck. The motorcycle was just too heavy and I dropped it. The owner of the motorcycle shouted and called me 'stupid' for that. Great start! (sarcastically)

I was doing pretty great with repairing bicycle tyres. The problem only arose when I wanted to take out the motorcycle tyres. Taking out the front tyres was easy. However, that wasn't the case for the back tyres. I always forgot the position of the screws. That made the shop owner angry at times.

The next difficult part was changing the tyres. I had to pull out the tyre and the tube inside it form the rim and then replace it. I really struggled at first because the tyres were just too hard. I was using all the strength I could conjure yet nothing much happened. This made him angry as well because he thinks it easy. It would certainly be easy for him as he does it every day.

In the evening, another unlucky thing happened to me. There was this guy who came and told me to change the 'blake' in his motorcycle. I was clueless. Then, I asked him again, pointing to the parts and all that he could say was 'blake'. Then, he came closer and showed me what he wanted me to repair-the brake.

When I was loosening the screw, I heard him conversing in some Chinese dialect and (with my little knowledge about Chinese languages) heard him call me 'sohai'. I was pissed off. Why did he have to call me that when his mother didn't teach him how to say the 'r' sound? That time, I really fell like cursing him but I decided not to.

I went back home at 8.20 p.m. It was approximately 12 hours of work. I was dead tired. When I reached home, I could feel the strain on my knee ligaments whenever I bent my knees. My back felt like it was going to break anytime. Sleeping time on my bed felt like heaven last night.

This morning, when I woke up, I felt something strange about my hands. When I tried clinching my fingers into a fist, I realized that my right hand was swollen. I couldn't clinch my fingers properly. I had to force myself to do my morning stretching for my adductors and then quickly had my breakfast to go to work.

Today, things just got worse. He kept on complaining about how useless I was. I joined work with no knowledge about motorcycles and was determined to learn. But, he just expected me to know a lot of things. He kept on saying "Itu semua orang pun tahu" (Everyone knows how to do that). I felt like telling him "Go ask your wife to do this and see if she knows".

His nagging just continued. I was really sick of it. The thing is, he doesn't teach how to remove the tyres from the motorcycle properly and expects me to learn form watching. My problem was, every motorcycle seemed different and I didn't know why he took out or when to take out some screws. Half way through the morning, I knew I was going to quit.

And that's what I did. I said I'm going back home for lunch and I didn't go back to work after that. Right now, I'm sitting in front of my computer and blogging about that nightmare which just ended a few hours ago.

I really really love doing some hands-on work on motorcycles and bicycles. If only the shop owner was more patient to teach me step by step. If possible, I would like to join work in a similar place where I can strengthen my muscles and mental strength. Or, I might just decide to work as a promoter in a gym or sports shop.................