A Singaporean [Quitter] in Maesai

On the plane....

2010-02-28T13:30:51Z

Its another 2 and half hours flight back from Bangkok to Singapore and I had no videos in my netbook. So I have plenty of time to jote this down in Open office and post this while I'm back in SG. So it's going to be a long post for this one :)

The reason why I had no videos is because I had recently formatted my hdd in Thailand and installed Ubuntu on my netbook. Getting sick and tired of the Windows XP constants updates and slow slow slow boot time.

Installing Ubuntu Remix was on my mind for quite some time and it works well after the intial setup and updates. I dare say open source software is really getting much more mature since. True, I get less games but hey, I have tons of mame roms and linux has its own Mame emulator too!! :)

Enough of my techie stuff and want to write about my family and hobby again.. Being a seasoned photographer (ahem!) I still find it a great challenge to photograph my kids (or other kids). But once in a while you get gems like this photo of my son.

Wife says I could print these out and sell them :P Since young mothers-to-be like to adore their bedroom with cute baby photographs (this is especially so in Thailand) as they believe that by looking at cute baby photographs, they get to have cute babies too... (genes seems not to be in their equation though)..

Anyway, I think it might be a good idea too but with the current sophisticated pirates of the digital age ... I doubt I can make a fotune out of baby photos... :P

Talking about photography, these photos (click on them to see a bigger version) were way overdued. I took them once I saw them when I reached home in Maesai on the 18^th of Feb but kept on forgetting to post them. These are fruits beared on my tree. Its a family of star fruit but I have no idea what to call them in English, its called Ma Yom in Thailand. Its bloody sour though and they normally eat it with chili here. Pretty thirst quencing as it so sour that it makes you drool saliva even when start thinkin about popping one into your mouth :P. I was bloody delightful and a bit scary to see them when I saw them.. haha.. So much fruits like a mutated tree..

Our home grown chili padi is also overgrown with chilies.. But still not enough for my wife's appetite of them. No photos as all of them in wify stomach liao :P

Talking about food, my boy is officially allergic to wheat.. :S. According to our paediatrician in Chiang Rai hospital, she says its quite normal for kids below a year old to have some allergic reaction to wheat which contains a certain protein, Anyway, she adivse us to stay away from such products as boy boy's reactions to them is quite adverse. Medication was given to us to adminisiter once we see the symptoms so at least we can control the reaction. So we have been trying for a week and it seems wheat is the culprit. We fed boy boy apple, banana, strawberries and even egg yolks and he seems fine. One day we were a bit challenging and fed him some bread and immediately he start to go red again... :P so we gave him some medication and the reaction died down.. At least now we know what we cannot feed him :P

Girl girl is unusually well behaved for the time we spent here this time.. maybe its because Nai Nai (my mum) was here... hehe. She enjoys her companionship. I also spent some great time with her. Teaching her how to use her new Fuji Instanx Mini Camera and she is pretty good at the framing and composition. Will be scanning them and post them when I have the time. She also starts to like drawing and colouring (like me when I was young) So I printed some Disney characters for her to colour and she also drew some pictures.

Finally, on the day we went to Chiang Rai for boy boy's medical appointment. We drop by Amphur Mae Fa Luang again to check on wife's status. We chatted with the Pa Lat and he apologised to me and my wife that he could not keep his promise of getting my wife's citizenship on time as the Head of the Amphur has changed (the orginal one left in Decemember last year). He explained to us that since the new official has changed, he is constanly not avialable to process all the documents. He say that the queue is quite long as there are over 30,000 people currently waiting for the signature from the head. So to shorten our time, he advised us to write a letter to the head and exlpain our predicament. He had did all he could and I sincerely believe him, As I learnt from another official at the amphur office that there is a lot of pressure from other “parties” to kick this good chap out as he refuses to take bribes. (I had tried putting an envelope of money as gratitiude for his help but he rejected it outright and actually scolded my wife for doing this). Anyway I hope he stays on as the Pa Lat as I feel he is one of the rare good officials that I had ever met in Thailand. We have already wrote in and posted the letter so its waiting time again, Again and again, the Pa Lat assured us that my wife will get her citizenship since she has her birthcert. Its only a matter of time. I wonder our Singapore officials will be that assuring anot?

Sport's Day!

2010-02-25T15:35:53Z

This actually happened this monday on the 22nd Feb. Its Sports Day in school. Well.. not really sports but games day. It was supposed to be held in December last year before the end of the term but it was cancelled due to an outbreak of the flu virus in the Northern Region. So this little games event was kind of like a "make up" for the last one.

The event started with a mini parade which the kids marched around the school block then proceed to the little field behind the school. Plenty of games were involved. The whole school were involved and the kids were spilt into 4 colour teams. They were also spilt among the classes. Girl girl was on the red team while her best pal Na Pat was on the purple team. Below are some shots of the day.

And ah boy was there to cheer his sister up..... more like staring at the kids though... hehe

My little Froggie

2010-02-23T06:45:11Z

For those who follow my facebook would know that recently my boy has adverse allergic reaction to certain food substance. The current suspects are either artificial flavour or colourings. Which is a big headache for us as almost all the food here in Thailand contains them.

The rashes normally starts from the mouth and then spreads all over the body. The recent attack was so severe that Boy boy was admitted to the hospital in Chiang Rai. That was 2 days before my trip back to Maesai.

He's now more stable and we are very careful on the food we place in his mouth now. Its a bit of a problem whenever we eat as he is quite a greedy little bugger. If we don't give him some, he starts to complain... Anyway, this is also a little blessing in disguise as the reaction scares the hell out of my wife and so she stops feeding my kids all those junk food.. :P

He's still a bit sticky to mommy now (as usual for kids when they are not feeling well) but at least he allows me or my mum to carry him around. Much more mellow then his sister.

Ah boy now can crawl and sit but not for long. His crawling style is like doing push ups... hehehe damn funny and he gets active when he's on a bed or on soft ground. Once in a while, he positions himself like a frog and starts to leap forward. Can really "jump" quite far leh.. A bit scary when we see him to that but he seems to enjoy doing it. I tried capturing this on video but its so fast then I still have not get the footage....

All in all, wish to thank all my concern friends on his status. All is well here in LOS and we are still waiting for my wife's status.. Seems like we are still in the queue as they have not processed my wife's village yet. Our hopes are not that high (since its more than 3 months) but still just hope that day will come sooner or later.

I see Strollers...

2010-02-11T13:40:07Z

First of all, I wish to declare that I have nothing against strollers. In fact, I have bought one myself even before my daughter was born (no thanks to my wife's constant bickering). And sincerely, I only used it once or twice as my girl would never want to sit in it.... maybe Ah boy will be different.

Its actually good to have one if you are walking in the park or going some place which needs a lot of walking or moving around. As it does have compartments for you to off load baby necessity items on it. Such as diapers and milk bottles. I sincerely think they should be an age limit to kids using a stroller. And the reason I say this is because I get to see ridiculous situation of Singaporean parents taking their 6 or 7 year old kids in a stroller. Pushing them around like nobody business... This is not healthy at all for the kids. Can't they walk?

When I told some friends of my observations, they were a bit shocked and skeptic of what I say. So I was lucky that day when I went to the airshow. As there were tons of kids in different varieties and styles of strollers that I could not help myself and started taking photos of them. I find them more interesting than the planes that were on display... So here are some of the highlights...

First we have the old classics! I used to sit in one too until I was 3... Think my parents gave it to someone else once I could run... Wonder how old is that girl.... looks like 5 to me...

Next we have another varient of the old classic with the sun shades down. Check out the happy kid in it!

Next we have the tray attached. This allows the kids to eat or place their toys while their parents/guardian push them.

If you have twins or 2 kids. We can have the double deckers!!! Looks so cool and that huge wheels...

And here is the newer strollers with removable bags that you could carry addtional stuff in it.. The seat is also foamed and cushion to give a more comfortable ride..

I won't be surprise if 3 years down the road the kid in the stroller will be the same size as his brothers. We already live in a very comfortable environment and we are still pampering our next generations.. How are they going to serve the NS and defend our country?

And for the finale. One of the most ridiculous scene I saw.

The kid and his family was on the same shuttle bus as I was and I actaully followed them to the showground to take this shot. All the way, this boy was in the stroller!! Even from the bus which his parents or guardian lifted him down the bus. And there's nothing wrong with him as I clearly saw him playing his little PSP on the bus.

I'm not sure what the parents were thinking. Its just plain stupid and sad to see these kids being trapped in a stroller.... I know its tiring and tough to bring kids out for a trip (my own girl is hyper and I know!) But that's also the fun part isn't it?

Busy Weekend

2010-02-08T13:19:59Z

Last weekend was full of activities. I was working Night shift all the way since last Wednesday. Our office will be renovated and our data centre was shifted to a new location (actually just next door)

It was hectic. All sorts of issues,funny incidents and bloody cock ups... Anyway, the official shift was on Saturday and since I was on night shift, I managed to "siam" (escaped) this major event. Instead of catching some Zs during daytime. I made a mistake and went to the airshow 2010. Main reason was to see the A-10 Thundervolt II. My all time favourite war plane :P Its pretty cool but I got sun burnt... :P

You can check out the photos from my facebook by clicking on the photo below.

Singapore Airshow Album

So came back from the airshow, took a bath, rest a bit and went back office to work. Wa... Office was in chaos and there were serveral issues.

On Sunday, our HK team decided to have a little steamboat party in office as it will be the last time we get to see our office as the whole room and furnitures would be tore down for something new. Took my Diana F+ and instanx back to shoot some Polaroids for the event. Then we started to do some "creative" stuffs by posing in silly positions...

Steam boat event at office with Diana F+ and Instanx back

Over in Thailand side. Wife complaining ah girl very naughty :P Used the scissors to cut our kitchen table cloth.... We had a short video conference and I tried to chat with her but she seems a bit nonchalant.. not sure what really happened.. Need to find out more.

Ah boy can crawl liao and not feeling that well. Wife said they are doing the buring again (same old shit we get here from Indonesia) and its getting worse. So ah boy has started coughing on Saturday and a bit feverish today. Wife sent him to the clinic again... hiaz...

2010 seems like not a very good year for us. Chinese New Year is coming, hopefully can bring us some better news....

My New Phone - Google Nexus 1

2010-02-02T13:43:01Z

Its been 2 years since I got my HTC touch cruise and its showing its signs. Takes longer to charge and getting slower to use everyday. And although I hard reseted it to make it go faster. It still slow compare to the latest smartphones out there in accessing the web. Blame WM 6.1...

I have been using smartphones with windows mobile ever since when I was in the army. Its a pretty good PDA Os( first device was the casio E500 :P before my iPaq)

So HTC touch cruise will be my last Windows phone. Especially true when I saw my friend's Hero running Andriod. I have read much about it and already planned to get such a device. When the hardware and the OS is mature enough. The phone was released only recently and you could only buy it via Google web store. As usual, I read about it and was still undecided until another geek friend of mine who used to own an iPhone bought it and show it to me. And I'm sold.

I have been using it for more than a week and so far so good, it met my expectations. There are 3 cons I find concerning this phone which I hope they will be improvements..

1st thing is that the apps can only be installed on the phone main memory (SD card for notes, photos, videos and music nia) 512MB and preinstalled with stuffs.. which left only 192mb for your other apps.. This is ridiculously small in this era leh... I do heard they are working on this and I hope they will come up with an update on this issue.

2nd is a missing stylus... yes, I still enjoying poking a screen with my plastic pen on my WM devices... Just a habit I need to get rid of. Onscreen keyboard is good but I like ease of copy and paste using a stylus on WM. Even the iPhone did a better job in selecting text with their magnifying glass highlighting oiption(although still loose to a stylus though).

3rd is the battery life. A bit weak as I am already a light user and it could only last less than 48hrs (less than 2 days)

So some may ask.. why not get an Iphone?? 3 reasons

1)Bloody Itunes sucks big time as a syncing software. And you need to connect physically with the computer to copy music and files. No such issues with Andriod. No such issue with WM too since active sync allow bluetooth syncing too! :)

2)Closed Source. Can't change or hack the device easily as its closed source. You can root it but confirm spoill the warranty of the device. Again, no such issues with andriod phones., easier to root (if you want too) and you can unroot it back :P

3)Too many iPhonies , this is a lousy reason to some but I just hate to be one of the crowd... I like to be different (call me wierd but its just me..) People using canon and nikon cameras and switching camp while I still stuck with Sony/Minolta hehe..

Price with GST included is a whopping $825. My most expensive phone till date... But its practically a mini computer (bloody 1 Ghz processor leh). Will last until it spoils or the Nexus 6 model is released.. :P

Encountered another Car Bully (Funny)

2010-01-27T12:42:11Z

This happened today and its so interesting that I have to quickly note it down. I went to Chinatown in the morning with 2 colleagues to do some photography street shoot. Then since my pay is out. I dropped by Golden Mile Complex to TT my monthy income to my wife.

Was walking down Beach Road towards Concourse and passing the carpark gate of Golden Mile Cinema Complex when I heard a loud "BEEP".

Jolted so I stopped and a White Honda Hatcback zoom pass me, inches away from where I stand. Furious on such display of dangerous driving, I immediately kick the car with my feet. The driver (big fat ugly 20 plus guy) stopped and opened his door and ran out to confront me.

Practically he was shouting verbal abuses loudly and screaming at me for kicking his car. I talk backed nicely and asked him why he drives so dangerously and he pushed the matter aside by saying the road is your father's one ah (in hokkien of course)continued to say I vandalised his car and want to call police. So I retorted and ask him to call police then as I feel he is also threatening my safety by being abusive, moreover the road also does not belong to him anyway :P (I think I was being cheeky anyway and he could not stand it.) The next thing is his friend came out to confront me too and so I say are you two going to punch me or what? And the driver loudly declared. "If this is not Singapore, I already punch you one, but I call police, when police come you better pay up!!" "Wah, I so scared!" I said... hehehe.

Then come the interesting part. Out of the blue, 3 Ah Bengs came out from no where with badges on their shirt and confronted the driver. One of them came towards me and show me his ID and say CID... hahah plain clothes police! The chap say they heard some commotion and asked me what happened so I told him the truth. While I was chatting with him, the other two suddenly spotted a suspicious item in his car. A bloody extendable night stick!! Ho Seh Liao! Illegal weapon! The plains clothes policeman questioned the driver why he has such a device, want to "Pa Lang" (Hit people) is it. The driver no longer shouting liao.. became a small little dog like that and kena questioned by the 2 policeman. Then suddenly more plain clothes policeman!!! haha more than 10 of them IIRC. One of the Ah Beng called a blue shirt chap (around my age but has a mostache) Sir and informed him about this incident. Think the is the captain of the team and he spots a long tail hair one leh... Ma Cham Gangster.. He questioned the driver first and actually more interested in his weapon rather then my incident. Then he say to the driver, "Ohhh, you call police liao har.. can can.. but your item here is illegal one hor. Why u carry?" The driver gave an explanation (more like an excuse) say that he travel to JB often and he need this for protection.... hmmm....

So anyway, the blue shirt chap came to me and ask me did the driver used the stick in front of me anot. So i just say no and inform him I did not know he was carrying such a device anyway. Then he ask me why I kick his car and I explain to him exactly what happened and he believes me (naturally) . Then he ask for my IC and both the driver and his companion IC also. And proceeded to make some calls (Background check .. hahaha ... me sure clean, the driver I dunno liao lo)

So 10 mins later, the policeman came and the blue chap brief them. So the uniform policeman asked me again the whole incident and he told me that there are 2 ways to sort things out. First, I did kick his car and dirtied his car (got my footprint leh! hehe) but damage is not big enough so if I don't say sorry, he need to pass my particulars to the driver and vice versa so he can proceed to civilian court to "settle" with me. So its either I say Sorry or Court Case but initiated by him.

Say Sorry?? hahah no problem as I find I in better position. So I say I no problem with saying sorry but he dun even want to listen or accept my apology how?? So the policeman say he will talk to him.

So in the end, I still say Sorry to him and he LL accepted it. (I think in the heart he want to tear me apart liao.. HAHAHA) but I am so bloody happy. Because after I said sorry and happily walking away from the scene. This joker and his friend were asked to stay behind. As he will be questioned for possessing a dangerous and illegal concealment weapon. I did not know if he got charged or arrested but most probably his weapon will be confiscated and given a warning. (I think the policeman told him he will let the other charge go if he let me go too.. :P)

What a day! The one who called the police in the end got into more trouble. And yeah, I think the policeman is right that I should not have kicked his car. But he himself brought this to himself. In Chinese 自作自受！

PS. Come to think of it... I think he was trying to make me throw the first punch but I never bother. I always win my argument as I don't believe in violence or verbal abuse. And lucky he never use that night stick on me or else I think I will be writing this in a hospital... :P

Family shots in Dec 2009 and Jan 2010

2010-01-20T10:44:52Z

Took this roll of Sensia 400 on my recent trip. Collected it today and quite happy to see the results. The good thing about shooting slides and scanned by a good lab is that you don't really need to post processed it at all. Another good scan did by KT labs, colours are more true to the slides and not too contrasty. Great job done! :)

Again, you may click on the slideshow to see the higher resolution in Picasa.

Nude!

2010-01-17T13:32:37Z

I have a roll of Lucky 100 in Thailand so loaded into my film camera and started shooting Nude...Hehe.. Since I got 2 nude models that listens to me at home, no harm experimenting some shots. Posted at Picasa web. Feel free to click on the slideshow to get a bigger version.

Viva La Vida! - PSB Domino Dancing Style

2010-01-13T09:22:42Z

Ok. Fanboy post here again for the Pet Shop Boys. They are great at doing covers. Their list of covers includes

Always on my mind by Elvis
Go West by the Village People
Where the streets have no names by U2
Always on my mind by Sterling Void.

I pretty like all of them as they managed to turn these classic rock and ballads to something dancy and poppy.. haha.. I'm more of a poppy guy. Especially the U2 melody which they mixed the song with I can't take my eyes off you.... brillant stuff.

So the recent christmas while in thailand I was surfing the web and found out they did it again with another cover. Viva La Vida by Coldplay. Actually the song was already performed on their tour recently but it was so well received that they throw the song in their special Xmas EP album.

Basically the title means Long Live Live in English. The song bascially is about a King who lost his power to rule... And what they did was again brillant stuff... merging my favourite song Domino Dancing into the song. Here's the radio edit version of the song... Watch them all fall down!