H.P.V = Hot day + Photographs + VodaVoda?

I haven't been to Haw Par Villa in a very long while already... Last time I went was more than a decade ago, and apparently I got frightened after the boat took a nose dive down this steep slope!

So I decided to go again, this time with 2 of my friends, one of whom I've never seen in about 3 years already haha.

The entrance sure hasn't change, but that's as far as I remember the place. I can't even remember if there used to be any other entrances to the place. During the 90's, this place was renovated and refurbished into an amusement park by the name of 'Dragon World'. Needless to say, who would want to 'have fun' at a place that has already been plagued with images of death and suffering?

It's also interesting to note the different names this place took since it's construction in 1937. It started off with 'Tiger Balm Gardens', which was the most obvious choice since the brothers that constructed the place were developers of Tiger Balm, an effective ointment that I myself use for mozzie bites, aches and such. In 1979, the place was sold to the Singapore Tourism Board, who then renamed the place to Haw Par Villa in 1985 before reopening the place in 1990 as 'dragon world'. This would shock you a lil' but they used to charge SGD16 just to get in!

That's all for history! Once we set foot on HPV, everyone started snapping away - Me and Wei Choon with our DSLRs and Gladys with her cute lil' T77.

The place is so quiet and remote that even bees decided to build a nest inside one of the decorations!

Don't know why, but when I was taking this shot, I felt a sense of uneasiness. It was as if there were people looking at me...

We spent about a dollar to enter the 10 chambers of hell. In earlier days, parents would bring their children here to see the kind of punishments people would get for doing wrong, some of them included things like having your innards dug out (cheating in exam) as well as dismemberment (plotting murder).

For a $1 entry, the place was reasonably entertaining. Taking pictures inside the place was a pain though; the place was coloured only by ambient light and using any form of flash would give you a brown picture everywhere!

We then headed out of hell and towards more gut pleasing attractions such as:

A misplaced statue of liberty


A very disturbing set of figures


Last but not least, a very scary looking bird thing


That's all, until next time :)

Superstitions or Tradition?

Yesterday was 端午节, better known to the English loving Singporean society as the Dumpling festival. So the story goes that this guy jumped into the river for his country (i'm too lazy to get the full picture so do yourself a favour and google about it!) and the people wanted to prevent his body from being eaten by the fishes. The idea was to throw rice dumplings into the river while at the same time riding around in long boats to search for his body.

Here in singapore, we do equally funny things. Fine, MY MOTHER does equally funny things. Here's what happened...

Apparently, the 12pm sun on this day is very 'powerful'. As a tradition passed down by my late grandmother, she decided to hang her wallet out to sun. According to my mother, her mother used to bring EVERYTHING out into the sun at this hour. Of course, now that we live on the 16th storey, that's not possible now is it? Nevertheless, I seriously found it amusing that anyone would do that. I've never even heard of this practice!


That aside, there are other practices that most of us Singaporean youths know of:

1. Eating Dumplings.
EAT YOUR DUMPLINGS! DON'T THROW THEM INTO THE RIVER! While the idea of stuffing rice with random stuff and wrapping in a leaf might not sound appetizing, I assure you that it's a unique taste everyone would love!

2. Dragon Boat races
This has become an annual event. As dragon boats require superior coordination between 20 men, as well as crazy endurance, this event has become an interesting sport to spectate.


3. Showering at 12pm
Similarly for the sun, water at 12pm is also considered powerful. As such, everyone in my family takes a mandatory shower at the sacred time. Even if we're out, we'd make the effort to wash ourselves with a towel or something, maybe wipe the face and arms and stuff.

Anything else?

Fact: One of my grandfathers (both of whom have passed away before I was born) died from eating rice dumplings! Apparently, he was feeling bloated after eating the delicacies and thought that fizzy drinks could aid digestion. A few days later he was announced dead in the hospital. Moral of story? Don't drink fizzy drinks when you're feeling bloated hehe

Snapshot Bangkok

Graduation! What's next? GRAD TRIP!

So immediately after the graduation ceremony, 6 of us headed off to the Land of a Thousand Smiles, Thailand!

While it was unfortunate that we went during the rainy season, I must say that the trip was enjoyable thanks to the company we had. Valuable lesson learnt too, although I shall not share about it anymore.

ANYWAYS! I took the liberty of taking some photos whenever I had some 'Bruce Time'. That's when I walk around alone with earphones blasting. Call me weird but I like being alone sometimes.





ALPHABET OF THE DAY!

royal escort on it's way















i love this auntie, she kept my stomach full for 5 months during my internship!



BOO!

For Sale: 1999 Macau Returns to China Commemorative Coins

Selling this set of Coins for $4,000. No separate purchases since we're clearing them.


1999 "Macau Returns" Commemorative Gold Coin.
Face Value - 1,000 Patacas
Mintage - 1999
99.99% Pure gold
VERY RARE
Sealed


1999 "Macau Returns" Commemorative Silver Coin.
Face Value - 100 Patacas
Mintage - 38,888
Has a 24-karat gold piece embedded.
Sealed


Macau Specimen Set.
1999 Macau Uncirculated Coin Set
This was in Conjunction of Macau's return to China in 1999.

Feel free to email me at matsukaze69@gmail.com for enquiries

The Obsessive Compulsive Post

I do not have Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), neither do I have anything against OCD. This is just a simple observation I made. If you have any problems with this post, you seriously need to get your brain checked, or rather your logic will do.

Had a great time chatting with the brothers from AlphaDSLR, followed by the short walkaround shoot with Willis and Terry.

After the tiring night, I decided that perhaps it'd be a better choice to take bus 147 home instead of the MRT since I can sleep on the bus throughout the hour-long journey.

Unfortunately I couldn't, I don't know why...

It was then that I observed something really interesting.
Apparently there was a slightly OCD (I think) uncle seated 2 seats in front of me. He seemed OCD enough, constant scratching his forehead in the same manner every 10 seconds or so.

What occured to me as interesting wasn't the fact that the uncle was OCD, but what happened to the people around him.
With the presence of the uncle around, the other passengers began to scratch themselves too! It's like looking at the uncle scratch himself makes them feel itchy! At this point I couldn't help but smile and look away...

Rarity at Macritchie

Hong You, Sean and I decided to take a trip around Macritchie Resevoir on May Day, since the 3 of us had nothing better to do and the LAN gaming shops were bound to be packed...

How happy I am to have gone for the trip instead! The trip was filled with rare events!
1st up, a squirrel!


Next up, a monkey that looks like Sean!


And another monkey that has 2 tails! (i'm just joking...)


As we travelled further, we came across this skink giving a demo on how reptiles keep warm.


At the treetop walk, I tried to take some shots of this guy... Until someone walked over and said that we're not supposed to overtake, while he was overtaking me...


Another rare sight! A Bat sleeping in the open sun!


As we were walking back via the boardwalk. We came across a magnificent sight. A middle-aged lady tried to walk by the inner side of the path in an effort to avoide the snake, only to be greeted by a downpour of snake poop! Had i shot this earlier, You would be seeing a burst of poop instead of just the snake's ass... Still a rare sight, nonetheless...



*points to above*As I was shooting this, some people walked by. One of them stepped on this, totally oblivious to what it was!

Yes, it's half a rat.

Right before keeping my gear and heading out, I shot this. Sure, monkeys are very common there. But have you seen one doing this?

Misfortune in the Celestial Hall

So we all know what happens when the superiors take leave - things go slower, perhaps for the better; there's no one to report to and get feedback from; the employees' workload doubles.

I wonder what will happen if the same situation takes place in the divine realms of heaven............

It's just like any other day for Dong. He's just returned from his regular patrols around the farm. After all, he's been under strict orders not to let those pesky environmentalists in lest videos of 'inhumane treatment' gets published.

Some days he'd think back and reminisce the days where he'd sit on the rocking chair, looking out into the backyard where the chickens would run around head bobbing and all. Yes he is a convert of what we call intensive farming, a process that has turned his farm into a factory, fronted by chickens that develop their muscles rapidly through genetic selection and jabs from chemicals with names you need to be a literature graduate to pronounce.

At least he's feeding the family well, he thought. That was until a freak accident caused him to get himself injected with the same growth chemical. 2 weeks later he died from extreme muscle growth around the neck that constricted his airway.

His misfortunes didn't end there though...

Dong woke up to the sight of a long tunnel with a strange light at the other end. "This must be it," he thought as he walked towards the tunnel.

To his surprise, the tunnel was equipped with a travelator, how convenient! Along the way the radio on the walls explained to Dong about the upgrades that the PRA (Punishments and Reincarnations Authority) has undergone. The place sure looks much different from the last time he visited (His mother dragged him out of his dreams and begged him to burn him a HDTV after showing him that all the other tai-tais in heaven had one).

So he went through with the usual process, looked into his past and present life, walked through the 10 chambers of hell and eventually reached the judgement hall.

"For what you have done to thousands of innocent little lives, I have decided that in your next life, you shall be reborn as a duck!"

"EEEEEE" (being a duck 做鸭 also refers to being a giggolo in the Chinese context)

Of course, he had no say since the judge had already disappeared off to the skies above the Pacific for his well deserved holiday, and it doesn't help that the gaurds had him at spearpoint.

So off he went to the reincarnation bridge. Dong took a sip of the soup and jumped into the portal hoping not to end up on a dinner table.

Isn't he lucky... Dong's reincarnation got selected to become a delicacy in the Philippines, Balut. This dish requires the cooking of a fertilized duck egg that has been incubated for 17 days.

Passing through the portal, Dong found himself falling several feet... and landed right at the entrance of the tunnel with a strange light at the other end yet again.

It didn't help a single bit that no one knew why he came back that soon; everyone just rushed him off to the judgement hall where another judge told him to just head to the portal.

"lets see your past life..."
"but i have no past life! i dropped here immediately after the portal!"
"wait... how did you know about the portal? GAURDS!"

Dong was locked up in the torture chamber filled with celestial poo for a week, during which Meng Po's soup acted up and Dong forgot everything.

With no where to go, no clearance for the portal and not even a single clue of what is going on. Dong has been spending the rest of his spiritual days at the Cafe of Restless Souls.

A decade has passed, Dong is still alone at the cafe until one dirty looking man walked in.

"nice to see someone pass by once in a long while... What's up with you?"
"judge sentenced me to reincarnate as a blade of grass for 1000 times."
"that's harsh..."
"and to make matters worst, I spawn a meter away from my old place."
"what's so bad about that?"
"there's a cow grazing around"

So the two of them sat by the al fresco area drinking their never ending cup of kopi-o, until one day when the grass decides to finish his remaining 888 reincarnations at least...