The Day I Talk About My Genting Trip

This is long overdue.

I realized that I've been too lazy to blog, no thanks to my new love, Twitter. And so, instead of posting tl;dr paragraphs that may bore you to death, I decided to make a slideshow that includes all the photos that I've taken during the trip. This is what I call the magic of iPhoto '09. Simply upload photos onto iPhoto, select a theme for your slideshows, export & voila! You've got a made-to-order video for viewing pleasure.

Enjoy!

The Day I Share A Video For My Tweeples

Like I promised, here it is (if you haven't already seen it).
Thanks for all the love & support! :)

The Day After Pink Dot

Last November, one man stood up for what he believed in, and like minded individuals stepped up and gave him a hand. We believed in it and spread the word. Six months later on 16 May 2008, we made it happen and history was made.

Over 2500 people turned up to participate in making a stand against misinformed prejudice and discrimination. It was heartening to see a collective of gay people and their friends and family, straight and gay, turning up and showing their support for the freedom to love and the freedom to be loved. The reality was this: the weather was horrible, and yet people still turned up in throngs to make a statement.

I didn't actually feel it until the events started and saw Hong Lim Park come alive with sincerity, happiness and genuine love. When you're surrounded by everything that represents what you believe in, it really hits home. No words can begin to describe the amazing feeling of being understood and embraced. The formation of the Pink Dot was like an unspoken declaration, of emphatic unity and our collective hope for a better, more inclusive future.



It was a moment that I'll never forget.

I am proud to have been a part of Pink Dot and what it stands for, albeit only having played a minuscule role as a volunteer on the actual day of the event. I feel that by giving as much as I can to something I believed in, nobody would be able to take it away from me.

Today is also the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia (IDAHO). May 17 was chosen as the day of the event because homosexuality was removed from the International Classification of Diseases of the World Health Organization (WHO) on May 17, 1992.

In the words of Neo Swee Lin, "We are born alone. We go to our graves alone. But there is no reason why any of us should have to live alone in this life." Support Pinkdot. Support the freedom to love. I look forward to the next Pink Dot and more in the years to come.

The Day I Pledge My Support For Pinkdot.sg

To find out more about Pinkdot.sg and pledge your support, please visit the official website here.

I'm making a stand.
Are you?

The Day I Talk About My Malacca Day Trip

The day trip to Malacca was a rather eventful and fruitful one. I managed to discover and learn more about Malacca in a day than I have on all of my previous trips there collectively. You really do learn more about a place by walking around and interacting with the locals instead of driving through the streets and passing by everyone without so much of a second glance. Since this trip was mainly for the purpose of sending Mummy on her business visits, I spent most of the day with Dad. As I barely hang out with him anymore, I felt that it was a good opportunity for the two of us to bond.


1) Coconut Milk + Gula Melaka + Crushed Ice + Kachang = Cendol



Our first stop was Tan Kim Hock. It is Malacca's most famous tourist pit stop for a pick-up of durian dodol (durian flavoured sticky cake) as well as the state's renown gula melaka desert, cendol. I ordered the normal version while Dad had the durian one. Personally, I found the cendol a tad too sweet for my liking, and the coconut milk that was used didn't taste very fresh. The durian cendol was basically what I had, except that is was topped with mashed durian dodol. Nothing particularly spectacular.

2) Pose, Snap, Snap...and Scene



After the refreshing dessert, I told Dad to leave our car at Tan Kim Hock cos we've never actually walked anywhere in Malacca before except in the shopping malls. He was hesitant at first because he felt bad for parking there and not buying anything but I reminded him that our 2 bowls of cendol cost 7RM (at that point he went "Oh ya hor.") And off we went. We walked along the old shop houses and marveled at how Malacca has managed to keep the "colonial feel" of its ancestors handiwork.

And you know how trigger-happy my Dad is when he's with his camera around (and how much of a camwhore I really am). So I shall let pictures do the talking:









3) Somewhere beyond the sea...



Along the way, we passed by the Maritime Museum and decided to pay a visit to it since we have yet to set foot in there before. And at 3RM per person, it wasn't too expensive. It was very informative and detailed how the control of the Straits of Malacca had changed hands from the Portuguese to the Dutch and ultimately the British before the eventual independence of Malaysia. More photos:


I love this shot!


I approve.


View of the canal from the museum.


Daddy is a camwhore too!


...and he thinks he's the next Jack Sparrow. Not.

4) Jonker Street



After the long walk, we headed back to our vehicle and drove towards our next destination in search for our lunch: Hainanese Chicken Rice Balls. Before long we found ourselves cruising along a stretch of road that vaguely resembled out Chinatown back home. We were in Jonker Street (also known as Jalan Hang Jebat). The buildings were very well maintained and filled with many antique shops.


The Geographer Café


A shop selling their local brand street-wear


Entrance of the Hokkien Huay Kuan (福建会馆)

As we were happily snapping and jalan-ing, we came across a stall selling what we were looking for and proceeded to have our lunch. What we had was this: 9 rice balls, Hainanese steamed chicken, lotus root and chicken feet soup, stir-fried vegetables of the day, and home-made barley water. And guess how much it cost us? Only 14.80RM (SGD$6.40)!



Before


After

You see, grown men don't waste food! We are gluttons! I actually prefer our local Hainanese chicken rice to the rice balls tough. The balls have an...acquired texture to it. I guess novelty is novelty, eh?

5) Chilling & Passing Time



Well-fed boys need to rest, and so we did. Daddy drove us to Mahkota Parade (a very old shopping centre which I've been going to everytime we visit since I was in Primary school) and we sat our fat-asses down at Starbucks for 2 hours. I have never in my life seen any Starbucks as empty as the one in Malacca. Maybe it's because one drink costs 13RM and for a Malaysian who works and spends in RM to spend that much on coffee is actually pretty ridiculous.


Emptiness...

6) Sayang Sayang



Our usual dinner-place (Ole Sayang) was closed, as they usually are on Wednesdays, so we went hunting for a new Peranakan restaurant. Mummy's sharp eyes almost immediately caught sight of one called Manis Sayang in the parallel street. The food there was actually better than Ole Sayang's (in my opinion)! Their cendol was heaps better than tan Kim Hock's. It had a more balanced flavour and they used very fresh coconut milk, so it was really delicious. Will definitely pay them another visit the next time I'm there.






After dinner, we headed straight for the Causeway and managed to make it back to Singapore in less than 3 hours. I enjoyed myself tremendously (good food does that to me). It would've been better if I wasn't down with conjunctivitis though (see the last photo for evidence of my red-eyes). And that's all I have for today.

Till next time.


Footnote: All of the photographs were taken with my iPhone.

The Day I Get A New Running Companion

Guess what the mailman just brought it?
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.


My brand new iPod Shuffle!!!

Ok, I understand that some of you might think that I'm being decadent, by the fact that I already have an iPod and and iPhone, but I'll vouch for myself and say that this is perfectly justifiable. You see, I like to run. On top of that, I like to run with music. I used to run with my bulky iPod, and thereafter my iPhone after I got it (yes, my iPod has become a glorified...portable hard-drive), but they're both pretty heavy to lug around. That is why I purchased this pretty baby after much deliberation.

Besides,



...it was made for me. We are destined to be together.

HAHA! I'm kidding. In case you've been living under a rock, engraving comes free with any online purchase of an iPod. If you look closely in the photo above, you'll see that my name is stuck together. Likethis. Somehow when I was keying in the words to be engraved, the website wouldn't accept "Justin(space)Jap". It was only after I played around a little more did I realize that Apple does not accept any vulgarities or (seemingly) derogatory words for engraving. So I guess my last name is a derogatory term. So now you can scream "JAP YOU!" "Don't be a JAP" "Get the JAP outta here!" etc and still feel as good as you do when spurting any other obscenity.

We learn something new everyday.



Blair approves of my iPod, and is very excited as well.

The Day I Talk About A Lazy March Weekend

After a long week of slogging away at work, the weekend finally came for me to simply let loose and bum around like an aimless vagabond. Having said that, I've come to realize that my favourite form of de-stressing isn't working out; it's pigging out. Well of course I like to hit the gym and go for runs and go for swims to let off steam and to get my mind off things, but gluttony really is the world's greatest pleasure.


Pigging Out Day 1: Saturday with Jorge

I met up with Jorge for tea (and then some) on Saturday afternoon and we did what we did best: EAT. Alot. Without th need for much deliberation, we headed to our first stop, Barcelos Flame Grilled Chicken. During our previous trip to Vivo, we decided that we'd pay a visit there on our follow-up trip because of the enticing aroma of grilled chicken that actually drew our attention away from Ben & Jerry's (which is directly opposite BFGC).



The 2 of us waiting impatiently for our food to be served.

[Insert Imaginary Photos Here]

The photos of the food were really really lousy. Hence the no-picture above. Man apologies. Anyway, the chicken was absolutely delicious and the meat was of pretty good quality. The sides (we both chose the "spice rice"), however, were a tad disappointing. Too dry and too salty. Should've gone with my gut and paid $2 more for the wedges. Hmph. Maybe next time.

Following that, we sauntered around to let the food go down. Then I came up with the brilliant idea of going to awfully chocolate for their world-famous (ok, maybe not "world" but it's definitely famous) "黑" (pronounced "Hei") ice-cream.



We contemplated between getting a scoop versus getting a pint ($3.80/scoop, $11.80/pint) and eventually settled on getting a pint.

And I immediately regretted that decision after the 1st spoonful.

Not because it wasn't nice, but because it was really sweet. One mouthful = immediate satiation of the sweet tooth. But somehow, the two of us managed to finish the entire pint on our own. Mind over matter!


The pint of "黑" in the hands of a very delighted Jorge




Digging in, savouring and leaving behind the remnants

For the rest of our day, we didn't eat anything else. Lesson of the day? Too much sugar kills your appetite. Take your desserts in moderation.


Pigging Out Day 2: Sunday with Norris


At the Paragon outlet

Maybe it's because we went to Phuket together, or maybe it's because we both share great (gastronomic) memories of Thailand. Cos everytime when Norris and I meet up, we'll somehow end up eating Thai food. Sunday was no different. I think we can safely say that ThaiExpress has become our "usual dig".

He was craving the authentic Thai Crab with Vermicilli while I wanted to have Pineapple Rice. And so we did.




When the food came, we realized that it wasn't completely authentic because they used soft-shell crabsinstead, but nonetheless it was delicious and had just enough of "wok hei" (or "锅气", as the Cantonese like to call food that's stir-fried quickly under high temperatures in a traditional wok). My pineapple rice was a pleasant surprise as well since I didn't expect there to be so much seafood in it. It came with a side of frechly diced pineapple and a generous serving of fish, squid, prawn and a light sprinkle of golden raisins.



Boys are happy when they're fed

To end off the meal, I had a cup of ThaiExpress' singnature dessert, Chendol.



The only difference in their Chendol compared to the ones we have elsewhere is the addition of red rubies on top of the existing condiments in the usual recipe of the dessert. It gives an added texture and an extra crunch that accentuates the smooth, silky coconut milk and sweetness of the gula melaka. Deeply satisfying with every mouthful and the perfect ending to a rich, warm meal.

After finishing up with our meal, we took a stroll along the main stretch of Orchard and gues what, even Juicy Couture picked up on my pigging out weekend theme!


Juicy Couture Lollipops

It's actually just a marketing gimmick that they had today in association with the SPCA Flag Day that was going on as well. Still cute nonetheless, doncha' think?