Boat Quay – Singapore

This is my first photoshoot since i purchase my DSLR last month, don’t really have any interesting photos to show as I’m still a beginner, just to share some “edited” photos. Basically i just took photos at boat quay surrounding, mainly the buildings, fullerton hotel and the singapore river.

             

         

Above are the photos i took before the sky turned dark nearby UOB Plaza, afterthat I start moving towards fullerton Hotel.            

  

   

Below are the post-processed HDR photo, one with photorealistic and another one is surreal effects.

    

I’ve took a total of 90+ photos, however it’s impossible to attached all here thus I only selected the few of them to be showed here. Since i started this post with a panaromic view of Boat Quay taken at UOB Plaza, i shall end this post with another panaromic view taken at the opposite of the river

 

JP Morgan Corporate Challenge 2011

Attended JP Morgan Corporate Challenge 2011 yesterday, which is a 5.6km run starting from explanade bridge and ends at F1 pit-stop. I almost late for the run as i suppose to leave office at 4pm, but due to some work related issues and i only manage to leave at 4.50pm. I thought i can’t make it on time as i need to rush home to change then only go to esplanade bridge. At end i manage to reach on time before it actually starts.

This is the first time i taking part on this event, it was really crowded and an estimate of 13,000 people taking part on this event. It started with the competition ones at 6pm, followed by the first batch of runners at 6.15pm, and the 2nd batch at 6.20pm. I was at the 2nd batch and it was really crowded. Some of the roads are partially closed, which means there’s some bottleneck at certain places which is really super crowded and you only can walk and can’t overtake the people infront.

I guessed i walk most of the time, and my result was bad as i took 48 minutes to finish the 5.6km run. I not surprised with the timing as before the run start i already abit tired as i rush home from office then rush to the venue. Will train harder to improve my timing for the December Stanchart run !!

Universal Studio Singapore

It’s been awhile since my last post here, not that i’m busy with my stuff, just that i’m lazy to write….
I no longer working for UBS, no longer working long hours, infact my current job is really work life balance, and I’ve graduated from my Masters Degree and no longer studying.

I’ve bought the USS annual pass last year and it’s gonna expired soon, it cost $318 and i’ve just used 3 times, so since this weekend is not the black-out period, I went visit again and change my annual pass card to a new one as mine the printing already faded out. Moreover, i never tried the battle gallatica before so I think is time for me to try it out !!

The new annual pass card, it has my pic behind

I reached around 10am in the morning, and quite surprised that there’s a big crowd already, and everybody queueing up to take photo with the mascot, the most famous one is KungFu Panda, hahaha. I’ve been here last year on a weekdays and there’s no queue at all. Those family oriented theme all requires at least 15 mins waiting time, however those exciting ones which i wanted to play have no queue at all !!

At first i went to the revenge of mummy, an indoor roller-coaster which is fun and it will be a surprise to first timer !! after warming up from that, i go directly to the one i’m going for, “BATTLE GALLATICA” !!  It contains 2 roller coaster whereby the Human is like normal roller-coaster whereas the Cyclone is a 360 degree roller coaster. I started off with Human, there’s no queue around so i got my turn in less than 5 mins, afterthat i walk over to Cyclone and have a try on it, overall both are OK and I prefer Cyclone more !!.

As a summary, i feel that the revenge of mummy is more exciting than human battle gallatica, maybe because it’s indoor and dark inside, for first timer you won’t know when it drops and can’t see the track. However for roller-coaster ride i still feel the one at Sunway Lagoon in KL nicer, hahahah…….

 

Singtel Sucks !!

Yesterday was my b’day, so thought of rewarding myself with a new LG Prada phone, before that i’ve already call up Singtel customer service because singtel is the only one which offers free prada link. Since the online shop doesn’t provide corporate plan, the customer service told me to goto any hello shop to signup. After work, i walked from suntec to bugis hello shop…queue up for almost 20 mins, finally my turn…when i say i wanna signup for a corporate plan, the staff request to see my staff tag, and …guess wat..my staff tag doesn’t have my company name on it, and she says that she can’t accept that as it doesn’t shows my company name, and is like suspecting i’m showing some kinda tag to cheat for a corporate plan, besides that she shows a very unfriendly look and i end up going home empty handed !!
if it’s a bad day for me..i won’t remember for long, but i’ll remember this day for life as it’s my b’day !! Many thanks to Singtel for giving me such a memorable day, with such kind of frontend staff which looks like i owe her alot of $$ or i begging for her service, moreover in this current economic situation and competition, I’m sure that Singtel this year will lose more customer to the other 2 telco !! Moreover if anybody seeking my advice or opinion on getting a mobile line or broadband, i definitely will advice them not to go for singtel !!
Next month there will be IT fair , i’m gonna sign up for a new broadband line and cancel off my singtel broadband !!

14 Feb @ 2.40am

Valentine day….haha….a day “created” as an excuse for business to earn extra $$…. a day for the couple to celebrate…but not for single like me… still not yet sleep cuz 9 more days will be my final exam for this semester…..trying to rush everything and stuck it into my limited brain memory. After switching job, i’m not as free as previously thus i really appreciate the free time i got to do revision, and because kinda busy with office work and OT everyday, whenever i got time i’ll study, and ….my results actually improved this sem !! Guess i’m the type of person which will grow stronger if there’s stronger challenges ahead, and weaker when there’s no pressure…haha….really 犯贱 !!

On Chap Goh Meh nite @ 9th Feb, 15th January of lunar calendar, the last day of CNY, and also my lunar b’day !! haha…..really thanks to all my friends who celebrate with me at partyworld @ orchard after work. Special thanks to WeiMun for the surprise b’day cake…..many yrs that i neva had a b’day cake dy…haha….. but there’s no photo to upload yet because all the photo are inside Andy’s camera.

In my new yr wishes, i wish to buy a property in SG, but recently i got another thought….y spend S$500k for a studio/2 bedroom apartment where u can spend RM550k for a nice 3 bedroom landed property in JB ?? Thinking maybe buying a house @ JB and a s’pore registered car to drive into s’pore to work will be nicer, well….still early for all this.

After my exam, will be going back to KL on 27th, to see my new property …finally it completed !! Not gonna flip it to earn, instead i prefer a long term earnings or a passive income, thus i’ll rent it out.  Will definitely bring my camera back and take some pic of my property, it’s the 1st property i bought…haha…will continue my 2nd …3rd…4th…. and so on….so that next time retire dy still got passive income fr rental =p

Almost 3am, time to sleep. Wish all ppl who view my blog a happy valentine day !!

Happy New Year 2009

Happy New Year !!  This year there’s no countdown for me, as at 12am sharp, i’m inside the cinema watching “sever pounds” at the cathay. So fast we say goodbye to 2008, and hopefully 2009 will be a better year. Looking back at 2008, there’s ups and down, the most major decision i made in year 2008 is….change of job

Memories of 2008

1. Hokkaido trip during CNY with my family, a nice and enjoyable trip
2. Sem 3 2007 exam after CNY, struggling with Corperate Accounting….which i almost wanted to drop my Masters of Accounting studies, i’ve made a decision that if i failed that subject, i will drop my studies, luckily i passed and will be graduating soon…2 more semester to go (including the current one).
3. My grandma passed away, which means i’ve no more grandparent =(
4. Hong Kong 5 days summer sale trip with 3 friends, a very good experience as this is the first time i goto another country without a guide, need to find my way to the hotel, and to places myself. Everything went on smoothly and glad to know new friends there.
5. Got a new job offer from UBS, and after thoughtfully consideration, i decided to accept their offer and resign from Citibank which i’ve beeng working there for the past 4 1/2 years, taking a huge risk at that time as that current situation is best to get hold your current job.
6. Taipei 5 days trip alone. My 3rd trip in 2008, thanks to Mouson who pick me up at airport at the early hours and offered me my first night accomodation at his house, and spend a day bringing me around yingge, sanxia and night markets.
7. My best buddy Heng Keong’s and Yvonne wedding,  i become “brothers” many times, but this is the first time i become bestman, kinda tiring but very happy for my best buddy who i known more than 10 years.
8. First time countdown inside cinema, haha…actually there’s no countdown as the movie starts at 10.30pm and ends at 12.30pm, by the time i get out from the cinema all fireworks are over and the streets are crowded

2009 New Year Resolution

1. Get used to my current new job, and excel on it
2. Finish my masters, and get some life (sacrifice too much for my studies already)
3. Get a car, or buy a property
4. Although lesser annual leave,  cut down on travelling but at least must go 2 places in 2009.
5. Earn more $$…haha

Taipei day 4 @ 18/11/08

Day 4….i booked a 1/2 day tour to 九份 (JiuFen) which starts at 1pm to 4pm, thus i’m quite free in the morning. Slept kinda late the previous night so i actually wake up around 9am, just in time to go down to have my breakfast as the hotel serve breakfast from 7-10am daily. After that i went to Taipei main station, because i need to find a post office to post out all the nice nice and wooden postcard out. After getting it done, i slacking aroudn the shops nearby, and suddenly think of going to sit the miramar ferrywheel, thus i took the MRT to shilin station and took the feeder bus towards miramar shopping centre, unfortunately it was too early as the ferrywheel start its operation at 12pm on weekdays, abit dissapointed and take the feeder bus back to shilin, then MRT back to shuanglian, that time was around 11.30am, so goto the mcDonald near my hotel to get my lunch before joining the tour. Got myself bacon beef deluxe value meal set, which can’t find at Singapore and Malaysia.

mcD bacon beef deluxe burger

yummy bacon beef deluxe burger

After my lunch, go down to the hotel maingate to wait for the van to pick me up for my 1/2 day tour. It takes around an hour to reach JiuFen, but before that we stop by at the bitou coast side to take some photo on those funny rocks , and it was very windy that day and the waves are quite rough.

rough waves splashing on the rock

Fish rock

Froggy rock

After some photo shooting, we went up the hill to JiuFen, previously JiuFen is a gold mine, and after there’s no more gold there, that town was leftover and become a ghost town, and it was revive again when there’s a local movie took there shot there and since then it becomes famous again with tourist flooding into that small town.

Scenery taken @ JiuFen

JiuFen

Famous restaurant at JiuFen

Old street with movie poster

Jiufen have very nice view as the town is on top of the hill,  very quiet and peaceful place i can say, and there’s public bus to JiuFen from taipei. I leave Jiufen around 3.30pm, and back to my hotel at almost 5pm. After some rest, decided to go shilin market again for dinner, as this is the last night i’ll be at Taipei. Since it’s a Tuesday and it’s raining, there’s not many people there, can easily get whatever food i want to eat, no queue, no waiting…haha……=p

After having my dinner, went back to hotel and time to pack…..alot of things to pack because i bought alot of food stuff, and those stuff can’t be compressed, imagine i bought 1 handcarry with an empty luggage stuck inside it, and going home with 2 full luggage !!

X’mas gift

Kinda busy nowdays with work and studies,  as Curtin built their own campus in Singapore and all of it’s students transfer to the new campus at Ballestier, also increase the lessons from 4 to 9 which makes me mad, whereby i need to goto class every week !!

Anyway X’mas coming soon, everywhere full of X’mas decoration, and today my colleagues decorate our office, and there’s a x’mas choc souvenir from UBS to all it’s staff….kinda surprise…haha….hopefully in CNY we will receive ang pow too =p

X’mas Choc from UBS

Recession in Singapore ??

Singapore government announce that Singapore is going thru a technical recession, and nowadays you can see alot of retrenchment and pay cut news,  and the economic is gloomy…bla bla…..but what turns out to be….i don’t see any sign of recession at all. I’ve been to Ice Cold bar at Somerset and Le Bar at Tanjong Pagar on friday and saturday night, and the pubs are totally FULLHOUSE !!

So…is it recession ?? Or too many people loses their jobs and they end up going to pubs to release their stress and tension ?? People in the pub seems to be enjoying and happy, doesn’t look sad at all, so i don’t see any recession.

Sunday supposely i need to go for my JLPT exam in the morning, but due to saturday pub session, i’m too tired and dizzy to go for exam, thus i skipped the exam and met Vincent for lunch at Bugis after he finished his JLPT. We had our lunch at Sakae sushi and then after that walk around Bugis junction, there’s alot of people there as most of the shop are having X’mas sale. After that i went to Orchard alone and guess what, it was so damn crowded, some queues at Coach and Gucci at Taka, and there’s even a long queue at Gucci Paragon as Gucci is having a sale. Recession yet people got $$ to buy branded stuff, haha……

Afterthat i went back to Funan IT mall, to get myself a webcam, to replace my old one which already spoiled. Also i get myself a cute Canon compact printer which prints photo in 4R size and card size.

Canon Selphy CP770

Have tried test printing 2 photo, 1 from my HP..another one my Taipei trip photo, the quality looks nice, just like sending to photo shop for printing.

Today suppostly going to Sentosa, but due to the weather..which rained whole day, we cancelled our plan. After dim sum at red star, we went for a movie at GV Marina Sq. A funny RA21 movie called ‘Zack and Miri make a Porno”, first time watching RA21 movies, haha but the movie is quite funny, with some sex scene. After movie, have a cup of coffee at Killiney before heading towards Orchard. Had my dinner at Carl’s Jr, which quite expensive compared to McD or Burger King, but the burger was really BIG, i can’t finish the whole burger !!

Taipei day 3 @ 17/11/08

Today i’ll be taking the taiwan tour bus 1/2 day tour in the morning to 基隆 (kee lung), and yehliu, after that going to yingge to find my friend and he will bring me around sanxia and yingge. Waited infront of my hotel for the van to come pick me up, and it takes about 30 mins drive from Taipei to Kee Lung, when reach Kee Lung, the driver drives around Kee Lung town to show us the landmark of the city, but we didn’t get out of the van. We only stop in one of the Kee Lung temple, which is quite famous because the temple is the combination of buddhisht and taoist.

Front view of the temple

we just enter into the temple and took some photos. As the temple is located on a hillside, we can have a nice view of Kee Lung harbour, and I try climbing up the Kuan Yin statue, actually nothing much and quite tiring as it’s 5th storey high, and the stairs are so small till have to walk horizontally like a crab when climbing down.

Kuan Yin statue

Kee Lung harbour view

After that, we went to Yeh Liu, to see the famous “Queen Head Rock”, it takes like another 30 mins to reach there, and the road are zigzag and uphill like going up Genting Highlands…haha…when we reached, there’s alot of tour buses there already, and guess what….alot of tours from Singapore, student holiday trip….due to holiday season in Singapore…..

Yeh Liu Geopark entrance

Besides the famous “queen head” rock, there’s alot of funny funny rock there too,  like…the rock which looks like  a sandal, snoopy….parrot…and also a rock which looks like the island of taiwan

Queen head rock

Sandal rock

2 dog (snoopy) kissing

Parrot rock

Map of Taiwan

Scenery at Yehliu Geopark

After Yehliu Geopark, that’s the end of my 1/2 day tour, i request the driver to drop me to Taipei Main Station instead of dropping me back to my hotel, as I not going home yet, need to take Taiwan train to Yingge to meet my friend as he will be taking me to tour sanxia （三峽）and yingge (鶯歌).  I gave a call to my friend when I almost arriving at Yingge train station and he ride a scooter to pick me up there, and bring me to a famous stall to buy a box of sushi for my lunch, as his mum already prepared lunch for him. After getting my sushi lunch box, we goto his house to have our lunch then we ride scooter to Sanxia, a very famous place for it’s building, which looks like a japanese street.

San Xia street entrance

Metal Road Sign

The street is quite short, after that we walk around SanXia and went to a temple to take some pictures of the architecture before leaving to Yingge.

At Yingge…the first place we goto is my friend’s stall at Yingge night market, his parents have been selling 水煎包 for the past 30 years there, and i’ve tried some of that and it’s really nice, too bad it’s delicious till i forget to take a photo of it…hahah….anyway for more info on that you can visit my friend’s blog which i tagged in my blogroll =p

My next destination of cuz is the street which sells ceramic vase, that Yingge is famous for. Nothing much there as I’m not interested on those ceramic thingy, just buy some souvenir and then we headed to Yingge train station to take a train to Taipei City, and switch to MRT to goto Shida (師大) and Gongguan (公館) night market for our dinner. Shida night market was kinda small,  but Gongguan is bigger, but not as big as Shilin. Actually nothing much there too, and maybe because it’s Monday thus not much people, compared to the past 2 days at Shilin and Raohe.

After browsing thru 2 night markets in 1 night, we still got some time, so we went to Ximending walk walk, it was crowded eventhough it’s a weekday, alot of young people there, before leaving, decided to goto a shop called 新東洋 to buy muaci, pineapple biscuit, sun biscuit, bla bla….alot of food to bring back to Singapore and KL…..haha…that’s the end of 3rd day in Taipei =p