2006 May Archive at Deadpoet’s Cave

Monthly Archive for May, 2006

Visit Chek Jawa

Published

on Wednesday, 31 May 2006

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Update An additional walk has been scheduled on Saturday, 1st July. Remember that the booking lines open tomorrow morning!

In the coming quarter, guided tours to Chek Jawa in Pulau Ubin have been scheduled for Sunday, 16th July and Monday, 17th July at 8.30 a.m. on both days.

Visits to Chek Jawa have to be managed to prevent its delicate habitats (there are more than one) from becoming wasteland. As walks can only be held in daylight hours at the lowest of low tides, dates for walks are very limited. Time and tide, as they say, wait for no man.

How do you book a place on the walk?

Well, at 8.30 a.m. on Thursday, 1st June, NParks’ Pulau Ubin Hotline - 6542 4108 or 6545 4761 - will open to take bookings for the July walks. Be patient, persistent and polite. Bookings are usually snapped up really fast. To be fair to everyone, each booking call is limited to 10 places.

If you manage to sign up, please note…

A plea from the Chek Jawa guides:
———————————
Please do not sign up and then don’t turn up.

This deprives genuine visitors of a place.

Also remember that the volunteer guides take leave during weekdays to be there for those who signed up. Just because the walk is free for you doesn’t mean that there isn’t a cost to the volunteers who make it possible.

This plea is especially directed to those who sign up in large groups.

from wildsingapore-weekly

Cross-posted at singapurathisweek.

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Werner’s Oven

Published

acroamatic

on Tuesday, 30 May 2006

in Review

. 10 Comments

On Sunday, I had dinner with Adrian and Gerry at Werner’s Oven in Siglap.

Both of them had eaten there before and recommended it.

The dish I had - Grilled Farmer Sausage - was okay. Good, without being particularly memorable.

The appetizer…

Call me suaku, but I had never heard of Fried Camembert Cheese prior to my meal there.

We ordered it on a lark. Its name stood out among the other run-of-the-mill offerings.

Fried and Cheese aren’t usually words you’d find next to each other. Unlike chalk and cheese, the diametrical characteristics of fried food and hardened dairy clicked in a cacophony of creamy delight.

For my next visit, I want to go there with two kakis who are willing to, quite literally, pig out.

There’s a $75 platter for three which includes pork knuckle and bratwurst.

Oh, and another platter of Fried Camembert Cheese, please.

Anyone?

Original photo by jetalone, modified from
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jetalone/5053769/, under a cc by-nc 2.0 license. Aiyah, didn’t bring my camera, otherwise I would have taken photos myself. Oh well, the joy of the commons! =)

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Concept Planning & MRT Dreaming

Published

acroamatic

on Wednesday, 24 May 2006

in Heritage and Musings

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A few days ago, I came across URA’s Concept Plan 2001 via a forum detailing the changing local skyline. There was something deeply worrying about the plan.

Keeping Rustic Areas

Unlike the 1991 Concept Plan that envisaged new towns at Pulau Ubin and Lim Chu Kang, the Concept Plan 2001 aims to keep these and other areas rustic for as long as possible.

Concept Plan 2001: Recreation

All well and good, except for a road bisecting Pulau Ubin. The island doesn’t need a whole bunch of mainlanders invading it. Part of its rustic charm is the fact that you there aren’t so many people on the island and that you can get away from city life for a while. Increased human traffic and activity won’t do one of our last vestiges of rural life any good.

If there’s a road through Pulau Ubin, we might as well build a Tropical Rainforest/Mangrove-themed IR there. Then the army guys can drive over after booking out from Tekong (refer to the concept plan map, if you’ve not done so already) for a havoc night out. *shudder*

I continued reading the Concept Plan. According to the plan, our rail lines now total 93 km. This is set to increase to approximately 500 km.

You read that right: five hundred kilometers of MRT lines.

In my effort to understand how this will be possible, I read Wikipedia’s entry for Singapore’s Mass Rapid Transit system. In it, there was this gem of a diagram by Calvin Teo*.

Looks familiar, yet looks different, yes?

It’s a mix of inferences and speculation. While I’m not sure about 500 km, I’m sure there’ll be at least double to triple the length of existing tracks. Pretty amazing stuff. I remember when the MRT first opened, there were only five stations, between Toa Payoh and Yio Chu Kang.

Perhaps it’s time for a Transport Museum in Singapore?

*I realise that his map is derived from the one we see in MRT stations and trains. Still, Calvin’s shown tremendous effort in researching the possibilities and creating the diagram, so I’m sharing it here. Out of interest, the current diagrammatic representation of our rail lines is heavily borrowed (or likely licensed) from Transport for London’s famous Tube Map.

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My photo has been Today-ed!

Published

acroamatic

on Saturday, 20 May 2006

in Media Watch, Personal and Photos

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Yesterday, an observant friend noticed a familiar photo published in TODAY. She told me that the photo looked something like this. —>

I checked out TODAYonline, Friday 19 May 2006, and browsed to page 60 (pdf version). Lo and behold, my photo was used - albeit slightly cropped - in an article entitled Backyard Adventures. The article was about the Museum Hoppin’ Trails and other IMD ‘06 activities.

Yesterday.sg provided me with the opportunity to take this photo, as part of a press preview. I was asked permission for use of my photos in the press. Fine with me, I agreed, as long as any photo the press used is properly attributed.

The photo in the article was not.

I asked my NHB contact - through whom I gave my re-publication consent and condition - what happened. Amelynn Liong, the writer of the article, replied to my contact, apologising for her sub-editor’s oversight.

I accept her apology.

Unlike a certain bak chor mee seller, I don’t think that sorry also must explain.

Just don’t do this to other photographers in the future, okay?

———–

The Rambling Librarian caught wind of all this. Here’s what he thinks.

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My friends rave about Botak Jones | Jean-Luc blogs

Published

acroamatic

on Friday, 19 May 2006

in Review

. 3 Comments

Photo modified from Botak 03 and Botak 04 by Tikigu, with permission from the author.

Guess who is the reliable source in this positive review about Botak Jones?

Botak Jones, for the unintiated, is a western fare food outlet at Sungei Kadut Eating House. I’ve been meaning to go there for ages. But it’s just a tad too far away.

Yes, Singapore is small. But it takes nearly 1 1/2 hours (or more) - I’m not kidding - to get there by public transport from Bishan. Botak Jones, you see, is hidden in an industrial corner of Singapore called Pioneer Sector in Tuas.

I really should go there when I’m in the area i.e. when I’m stuck in-camp for reservist and have a night off.

Or I can make my way to the Ang Mo Kio branch, as my intrepid food reviewer friends at Trail of Crumbs found out.

Another friend, Ee-wei, just had delivery from Botak Jones today; they deliver in Tuas, where she works. She likes. =)

Check out all the websites that have mentioned Botak Jones.

———-

In other news, Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the USS Enterprise has a blog.

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