Alexandra-Hyderabad

21 may 2006, Sunday 8am

Another NSS outing. Yippee! I certainly went on it with no expectations.... afterall, I had studied for 2 years opposite the spot where almost 30 of us met - at the junction of Alexandra-Hyderabad junction. The start was propitous though... Si Gium directed us inside the old dental institute, where we saw, perched on its partly 'botak' branches, 2 bulbuls, a collared kingfisher and an olive-backed sunbird.... This was a harbinger of things to come, as we discovered a few sitting on each tree we strained our eyes on. There was one where I spotted FOUR pink-neck green pigeons! Another shady area yielded another kingfisher, straw-headed bulbuls and for the (my) first time, starlings... would have thought they were juvenile crows if someone had not pointed out to me the 'evil' red ring around the eyes....

On the way, SG commentated on the flora too.... which of course, all sounded Greek or Latin to me....but there was this National Geographic Tembusu tree (you can see it on the back of our $5 note), stripped bare of its luscious crown of glory, but still standing resolutely in spite of the lightning strikes it suffered and the termites boring through its core. What's striking is that the branches suddenly turn 90 degrees skyward... as if seeking some divine intervention into its fate.....

Running ...

20 May 2006

Went to the running clinic organised by Shape magazine in conjunction with its run on 16 July 2006, which will be the fourth 10km I'm running after New Balance Realrun, Sheares Bridge run and my most boring yet best run so far... the Stanchart race. I guess being in this kind of activity, it's important to keep breaking your personal record, otherwise... what fun can there be in conquering a tedious 100000cm? It's time to take running really seriously and accord it the kind of disciplined training it deserves...

The workshop lived up to my expectations in most parts....except that they didn't cover running techniques which is the single most imporant key to bettering my personal best of 69min 8 sec. And my Brooks got rubbished by the podiatrist who unceremoniously twisted one of it 360 degrees, left and right, front and back....but at least he knowledged they're high performance racing shoes...of course! I waited TWO years for it... from T3 racer to T4 racer....

But I went away feeling refreshed after the invigorating run.... it's actually quite nice to run in the morning..... and of course, checked out the competition, which is a stupid motive given the best/professional ones don't need workshops!

Anyway, it's always good to have my ego kept in check by comparing against better runners, and there are some really serious ones... sporting the accessory all pros live by:a mini computer with heart-rate moniter masquerading as a watch....saw 3 of them with Polar, which I was praying fervently to win...

The most beneficial takeaway from the workshop is the sense of empowerment that adequate training will take me where I want...at the time I want (59min 59 sec)... am certainly inspired to draw up a systematic training plan.....hope I can sustain it....

I know my best is yet to be....

Cappadocia

18 May 2006, Thursday

For those who read my previous entries, you would know I'm an (to put it mildly) ardent supporter of food outlets or to put it more succinctly, a glutton. Anyway, the end of exams and keying in of marks are twin reasons to rejoice... hence our makan trip to Cappadocia in Rall Mall. For those in the know, I think you are likely to be a repeat client who appreciates the quaint decor of the place and the sumptuous Turkish cuisine.

All four of us ordered different dishes... which I can't replicate here because I'm seriously handicapped in foreign languages, and certainly could not rattle off the names as effortlessly as T (or is she just bluffing?). I had this really tasty skewered chicken (without the skewer), set off perfectly by the heavenly olive-drenched rice speckled with dollops of tiny raisins. The meat is salty, but this minor aberration was more than compensated by the rice.... You must really try it!

Of course any meal at the restaurant will be incomplete without dessert.... the first time we came here, the highly recommended tiramisu was already devoured by others. This time round, we ate with a vengeance with not one but two! (you may think it's nothing, but then it costs $7 per miniscule portion...) . Luckily, the price was wholly justified with its enticing appearance and melt-in-your-mouth texture. But the clincher was certainly the taste : the almond-loaded taste of heaven.... haha... indulgent.....

Post-Exam Bluessssss.......

Regular visitors to my blog will know I usually blog on Mondays, relishing in telling tales about my weekend sojourns... Sad to say there's nothing to report for the past weekends... the constant scenery between the different 4 walls of my humble abode (my room, mum's room, hall, even the kitchen! But no worries... will never mark in the toilet, for the simple reason of avoiding the temptation to flush everything down the system)

Anyway, it's been not just a hectic week but an angry one too.... It's unprofessional for teachers to complain about management....we are civil SERVANTS... yes, screaming out in uppercase....

Just like you people to muse over a question and tell me your views....

If you want to change a system, how would you do it?
Join the system to beat it , and risk being sucked into all the filth in it? OR
Stay outside and just write complaint letters???

Or are there any other possibilities? Maybe it's only because my imagination is limited.....

Birdwatching at Bukit Batok Nature Park

I'm glad to pronounce myself as a fledging (no pun intended - English is such an interesting language!) birdwatcher as of 7 May 2006 (Sunday) with my third birdwatching outing at BB Nature Park, but which marks the first serious excursion with my Nikon Monarch binoculars (10x42; powerful!).

The signs of a fruitful outing were all there. I was greeted by a full-coloured, descriptive signboard which proudly proclaims the resident birds staying in this place at the junction of BB Ave 2 and 6.

First on the menu (haha! a word that scares the hell out of birds) was the laughingthrush, a cute, oversized version of a sparrow (I'm not sure if they are from the same genus). Distinctive with its completely white head, as if draped in a pristinely-white scarf, and one of the less bashful birds, they are easily seen on the ground (or maybe because it's fat??) and they are literally just an arm's length away.

Andrew, an old bird (pardon me, can't resist it) at birdwatching (this park is literally his backyard since his block overlooks this place), said that it's common to see laughingthrush at the birdshop nearby, to visit their other feathered friends and of course, to partake in some of the leftover bird seeds there...


As the walk went on, more treasures were to be discovered at the watering hole for birds and the more shady areas-

• the common yellow-vented bulbul, which a lot of NSS members voted for as the national bird of Singapore, but it lost to .....
• ... the crimson sunbird perched high up on a 'botak' tree - Evelyn's (another teacher who I got to know today) and my favourite tree, for obvious reasons - which has a body similar to ..... It's now the unofficial national bird of Singapore
• .....an olive sunbird, which I was sure I know how to identify one, till I saw the ....
• .....flowerpecker, and ....
• spidercatcher... Aaaaarggh! all of them look the same with their dainty size, long beaks and proportionately rather short tail... (will study how to differentiate the three)
• 2 species of kingfisher: white-collared and white-throated (I finally know the difference!)
• a white-bellied sea eagle sitting prettily on the Singtel "Eiffel Tower" til its 'eagle' (eager) eye caught us spying at it
• a woodpecker
• the omnipresent black-naped oriole
• a greater (I think, with the double rather than single racket) racket-tailed Drongo. I've been told this is the name you should quote if you want to masquerade as an expert... and most of the time, you'll be right! Very common in this area, they mimick sounds of other birds. The biggest and most spectacular of their species in this region, it's very easy to identify them while they're in flight... from the idiosyncratic silhouette of an elaborate 'V', with exaggerated rounded dots to start and end the alphabet , trailing across the sky....
• at the carpark, just as we were about to adjourn for a makan session, we saw this barbet throwing a fig around

We trekked up to Hume Heights, where we saw another kingfisher and a raptor (?) chasing a pair of birds, which was too fast for even the most experienced to identify...

The 'experienced' refers to :

• our leader for this trip , a 20-year old NS boy (so young! but an oldie in birdwatching age), who recommended the 'cheap' ("Borders selling at $39 only! ") bird guide by Craig Robson
• his friend Ting Li (?) who chased birds all the way to the remote islands of Indonesia. He's going to Flores next, next to komodo dragon haven, called (what else?) Komodo Island. What's impressive is that he can actually mimick the different sounds of a few species of birds of the same genus! And sometimes, the birds do fall for it and reply....
• Andrew, the 'old bird', bachelor, ex-diver, ex-sailor (such an exciting job!), joker, wanderer(!!)
• Si Ghim, a joker, seasoned trekker (one trip being F&E from Melbourne to Uluru or Ayers Rock) and the guy I remember because of his powerful fieldscope I used at Khatib Bongsu. Expensive! Should cost more than 2000 bucks, which makes the $400 I spent on my Monarch sound like a pittance... nevertheless a princely sum for my modest means....

So what's the allure of this activity that captivates us so much that we spare no expense in chasing after birds? Maybe it's the thrill of the chase of an ephemeral meeting with these elusive creatures... or pursuit of a never-say-die activity....

To get into the psychology of birdwatchers and the 'spoils' we can get, go read
http://besgroup.blogspot.com/

and Ya! forgot to state earlier we saw a loving flowerpecker feeding its baby inside a nest constructed in a cosy piece of real estate nestled in the shade....

Pictures ...or picture... FINALLY!

Thanks, Wee Kiat, for all that advice on posting pictures. In the end, it's just a matter of saving the picture in hard disk.... was retrieving the picture from Yahoo photos earlier, which obviously doesn't work.

Anyway, please look under my entry dated 16 April 06 for the picture. I'm sorry to say the first picture posted on my blog wasn't taken by yours truly. But I couldn't resist posting it because I want you people to share with me the wonders of looking at a mesmerizing wildlife photo. It's a leaf out of a National Geographic page (my favourite!!!). I can't help but marvel at how true to life it is! The sense of life ebbing out of the helpless lizard is so palpable that you feel you are at the scene witnessing this bloodless murder.... this word seems too vividly cruel. But I think the impact of the slaughter is (unjustifiably?) mitigated by the capture of the stream of water droplets cascading from the lizard's tail. Somehow, the swaying motion lends a surreal touch of grace and beauty to the scene ... so much so that initially, I was immune to the suffering the poor guy went through while his life was snuffed out prematurely, in probably a split second....
such is the fragility of life.....

This brings to mind what I often heard at the zoo.....

Animals in the wild don't die old.

A special thanks to WT for letting me use his picture. What wonders an SLR with high shutter speed and long lens can do .... but of course, credit must be given to his patience and a good camera eye ready to pounce on fleeting moments of wildlife adventures.....

Istana

Hot on the heels of the zoo visit, my family and I went to another S'pore icon - the Istana - on May Day, a day dedicated to workers. We didn't get to meet the President but it was enough just covering the sprawling grounds, admiring some unique-looking trees and running after Caleb down the lawn and up to the fountain. Here, a familiar sight which greeted me - the stately main building of Istana, last seen on TV at the swearing-in ceremony of PM Lee (aka 'The Son') . Of course, I had some fun making a fool of myself in front of the perfectly stationary, still-as-corpse guard-of-honour standing ramrod straight at the entrance before I posed with them for pictures as remembrance for my first trip here. (will upload the pic once they are ready.)

Another sight I'll remember fondly are the images of beautiful and BIG (not an exaggeration to say they're the biggest in S'pore) hibiscuses basking in the sun - the sweetest shade of pink, most flamboyant of red, and a rare yellow.

But it was all too short... and we gave up the opportunity to enter the building, preferring to surrender to our rumbling stomachs instead....

S'pore icons

Sunday 30 April 2006

What places do people/tourists think of when the word 'Singapore' comes up? Am glad to say Singapore Zoological Gardens is one of them, and even happier that I'm part of such an institution in the annals of S'pore history (and future)...

The duty at zoo turned out fine....though I was late by one minute.... no thanks to the long bus wait and the ominous decision to take a route I don't usually use....only to find that the path was closed as the zoo has finally decided to spuce up the home of our komodo dragons. But I won't begrudge that. Surely, they deserve an upgraded enclosure to befit their status as the largest of all lizards.

Duty went well. Kym turned up, unexpectedly for I thought all that email exchanges had only one conclusion - for me to do duty alone. Anyway, it was quite a memorable duty for me. I almost exhausted my knowledge of King Cobras while doing the feeding commentary, as the zookeepers were no where in sight five minutes after the scheduled time, leaving me to face a rather disgruntled Indian tourist grumbling about the feeding not starting.... My attempts to engage him in talking about snake-charming in India fell rather flat, and he left just before the keepers appeared to dangle a delicious but small piece of retic that one of the ravenous KC lapped it up greedily...

I think it's time to revisit my wishlist of books ...... an encyclodepic volume on KCs alone
... just in case such a situation arises again....

In between showing visitors our (rather-morbid) dead exhibits (stuffed iguana, whom we affectionately call 'Iggy' , stuffed baby croc, dead baby king cobras....), we enjoyed ourselves with chatting about her binoculars, bird haunts to visit our local feathered friends and even amused ourselves by tracing the incessant calls by an unidentified 'bird' . This fellow turned out to be a squirrel scuttling up and down a tree... reminds me of the 'squirrel tree' in Sri Lanka when I went hunting for Indian ethnic with L and my beloved T....

Anyway, I have set my sights on the Nikon Monarch model. Will throw in a stabiliser as well so that any shakes of my butter fingers, magnified a million times in a lower-grade model, will not make birdwatching a dizzying affair...