Boxing Day Earthquake and tsunami

By now most people on the planet would have heard about the devasting earthquake off Aceh, Indonesia and the ensuing tsunami that caused widespread destruction and casualties throughout the Bay of Bengal. Casualties were especially heavy in South India, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Thailand and Malaysia. See the Wikipedia entry of the disaster.

I first saw news reports of the Aceh earthquake on Boxing Day morning. Although the power of the quake was tremendous at Richter 8.9, I knew Singapore would not be seriously affected. As it turns out only tremours were felt in some parts of Singapore. Having gone thru a mere Richter 3 quake in Taipei (even then I could hardly stand upright), I wondered how terrible a 9 would be since the Richter scale is a log scale.

Little did I knew that by the time I switched on the BBC some 12 hours later, the tidal wave had travel 1600km across the Bay of Bengal and hit Chennai, Trincomalee and Male in the Maldives. The waves were reported to be 10m tall in some instances. The shock hit much closer to home when I saw scenes of devastation in Phuket and Penang on cable TV. Teluk Bahang, Batu Ferringhi and Gurney Drive were awashed in mud and water. see Penang photos by Forest Ang.

Most governments were barely able to keep track of the casualties and provide humanitarian assistance to survivors and displaced families. The Singapore Red Cross has put up a request for donations on its website. It hopes to raise S$1 million to help the victims of the quake and tidal wave. please do what you can to help!

Sally waiting for Santa

Robina brought Sally to the horse riding school. Robina was there for her riding session while Sally for her romp in the snow. Outside of Beijing, the place was always colder than the city, probably around -10C. It was so cold that Robina's nail polish cracked. even the camera was acting up since the battery power was affected by the cold.

For Sally, there was plenty of snow-covered fields to run and jump around in. after cooped up at home for almost a week due to the snow, Sally was freaking out and running like the wind. plus she was amused by the snow and liked to stick her nose into the cold powdery stuff. Being finicky as always, Sally would gingerly lower her butt to wee on the snow (cold ass!)


Sally last seen heading north...

low blow!

Otterman posted a spread of Singapore food like thosai, prata, mee rebus, mee siam on his blog.



Now that I'm in Beijing at least six hours flight away from local food, it's not good to have a marsala thosai staring at me. Some more I took those food pics (and I ate that thosai!). I guess my past sins have caught up with me. I used to take pics of fish-head curry for Siva to post on his site, I think Airani was in Toronto then.


Siva, Cynthia and me at Sammy's Curry at Dempsey Rd having a shiokalicious banana leaf curry lunch and of course, the fish head curry...

The montage of local yummies was taken during our post-brisk walk breakfasts at Bukit Timah. Al-Ameen or Al-Ahzar muslim kopi tiams opposite Beauty World. After our fast-paced walks from McRitchie to Bukit Timah Hill, the prospect of teh alia and crispy prata was always the "carrot" to force march to the BTNR summit, especially up the last flight of "stairway to heaven".

We are actually much better off in Beijing than in Taipei, in terms of the Singapore/Malaysian food situation. There are at least 4-5 decent Singapore food restaurants in Beijing to satisfy our occasional cravings. the ingredients or taste might be slightly different, but it's good enuff when you wan a quick fix. I just had some decent hokkien fried mee, mee rebus (can't beat Airani's mom's mee rebus kuah tho!) at "Boat Quay", while Robina and her frens had mee siam, yong tau hu and chicken rice at another joint "Lau Pasat" just the other day. One of Robina's kaki just made nasi lemak with sambal chilli. Robina brought some nasi lemak (made with bismati rice!) back for me and I almost cried with joy! Hallehlujah!

Another joint "Little Penang" even brought in two Indian chaps from KL just to toss prata and pull teh tarik. needless to say, their prata (or roti canai) was quite good and crispy. altho still can't beat the prata shops in Venus Drive. but like I said, "boh her hae yar hor" (no fish, prawn also can). a closer enuff substitute is better nothing.

Recently, a Peranakan joint just opened. their menu is still limited but they are expanding it as they go along. their dry mee siam is very good and got kick! but I was quite disappointed that they don have ayam buah kluak! adoi!

First "real" snow in Beijing!

this morning we woke up to a Beijing clad in white. I quickly went out to the balcony to snap a few shots. (that's my foot prints in the snow on the balcony!)



this was the most decent snow since the light dusting we received last Thursday. It snowed since morning but we think it wasn't enough! if we gonna have snow let's have at least 10 inches! the snow in our apartment garden was only about two inches. Hopefully, it keeps on snowing so that we have a white X'mas!



in the rest of Beijing, people were busy shovelling snow off the sidewalk before it starts to get frozen. the roads became dirty n slushy from the melted snow. (above: soldiers clearing snow in Tiananmen Square. reuters pic)

just brought Sally out to see her first snow (sorry no pics!). she was amused and puzzled since she had never seen snow before. she stuck her nose into the powdery, cold stuff for a sniff.

Santa's little helper

Robina got Sally all suited up for X'mas. Sally seems not to mind her santa costume too much altho she does look goofy in it. if anyone needs a X'mas mascot, we can send Sally over, she will work for food! see here for more pics.

no snow yet in Beijing, so it might not be a white X'mas afterall. but no complains from me, don relish freezing my ass off!

Monster spiders?

apparently, stories were floating on the net about "Fallujah Spiders" endangering US troops in Iraq (I thot RPGs would be a more serious threat!). These were actually solpugids or commonly known as "camel spiders" or "sun spiders". Solpugids are arachnids, close relatives of regular spiders.

this bring to mind of my army "daze" jungle training in Brunei. Our canteen was infested by huge cicadas that were attracted by the flourescent lighting. The cicadas fly inside and get swiped by the spinning ceiling fans. our soldier boys often have to duck from the ricochet of dismembered cicadas. Our "hokkien peng" comrades (hokkien speaking NSmen) used to collect cicadas to bring home. They vowed to show their girlfriends about how tough life was in the Bruneian jungles; even the "houseflies" are so BIG!

Earliest Evidence of Chinese drinks

New Scientist reports that chemical evidence from an excavation in Henan Province showed that ancient Chinese were brewing fermented alcoholic drinks from honey, grapes and hawthorn at about 7000BC. This will probably push back the date of the first hang-over from 5400BC in Iran.

It was a historical fact that the ancient Chinese from the ancient Xia and Shang dynasties loved their drink. In fact, the last kings of both dynasties were tyrants infamous for their atrocities and debaucheries (lubricated by copious amount of alcohol). This seeming coincidence was linked by historians by the theory that the kings was suffering from arsenic poisoning due to the alcohol reacting to the bronze drinking cups. Only kings and nobility at that time could afford wine and bronze ware.

China can probably claim another invention other than paper, gunpowder, compass and movable-type printing. The Chinese can also claim another innovation in using green tea (the bottled, slightly sweetened kind) as a mixer for Chivas Regal and Johnny Walker scotch whisky. Their manufacturers are probably laughing to the bank since the Chinese guzzled expensive imported whisky like mineral water, but the purists are also aghast at the sacrilege that green tea is used to dilute 12-year old scotch and even red wine.

Singapore girl

read a good article from the Malaysian paper, The Star: "Singapore Girl losing out in love" by Seah Chiang Nee, 5 Dec 04. It's interesting to see ourselves from another perspective from across the causeway.

The article highlighted recent coverage on Singapore media about the trends of male blue collar workers in Singapore who can't find wives and the other end of the spectrum with highly qualified Singapore women who find it difficult to marry upwards.

The Star report also pointed to the increasing number of Singaporean men who are seeking their brides in Vietnam, China, Kalimantan and other regional countries.

I saw the episode on "Get Real" mentioned in this article. strangely, most of the men interviewed said "No" when asked if Singaporean women are hard to love. it was mainly the women who answered "Yes!" very interesting...

Most of the debate ended up with each gender blaming each other. gals saying guys too stoned, too square, unromantic. guys blaming the gals for being too demanding, lacking understanding etc.

I think it is a clear sign that Singapore society is highly strung and stressful. too much pressure is piled on the shoulders of both men and women...

well, this is no an "Uniquely Singapore" problem. just look at "Sex in the City" (until recently not available on Singapore cable TV) or "Bridget Jone's Diary"...

earlier I emailed this article to my friends. Here's the response from one of them to give the ladies' perspective:
"Basically, the way I see it - very simple: women nowadays have more options. The better educated you are, the more options (and money) you have. Pleasing men by being docile and gentle is no longer our top priority. But this doesn't mean that we are career-minded and not interested in setting up families. It just means that there will now have to be more negotiations, accommodations and compromises in a relationship. Yes, we have indeed become more demanding in a relationship - both sides would have to work harder to keep the relationship going. There are many more issues to be discussed and negotiated between couples. The question is whether the men could rise to this challenge."

Sally in winter gear

Sally just had her fur trimmed so she looked slightly more presentable and less scruffy. she's making herself more comfortable on our bed. she usually like to create a "nest" by pushing the quilt covers aside and lying against the pillows. we usually discovered that she has slept in our bed after we returned home. somehow she managed to push our bedroom door open (slightly defective!) and enjoyed an afternoon nap!


Sally trying out some warmer winter clothing that Robina bought. contemplating a bunny suit for her next time...

foggy bottom

It has been foggy in Beijing for the past two days! In fact it is more foggy today. Visibility has been reduced to about 100m. Distant buildings in the cityscape can only be seen in outline. Many flights in BJ international airport has been delayed or diverted. some stretchs of the expressway has to be closed to traffic.

but daily life in BJ has not been badly affected. actually Robina and I found the weather quite pleasant since it is slightly more humid and not so dry. We can expect snow plus rain (i.e. slush) tomorrow. The foggy weather will probably clear up by this weekend when a cold front from the north moves in. That means a colder weekend (several degrees below zero).

welcome to our first Beijing winter!