Pigs can fly

Temperatures around the world has risen a notch since the last weekend. I am not talking about the warmer weather due to climatic changes. Rather, I am referring to the number of people getting temperatures after being infected with the swine flu, if that’s the aapropriate name for it.

Perhaps it is fortuitous that the swine flu struck instead of the more fatal, unless proven otherwise later, H5N1 avian flu strain which the world has been preparing for over the last few years.

While deaths related to the swine variant of the flu is still contained to people in Mexico, the speed and extent of its spread is astounding. No thanks to the highly connected network of international air travel these days.

Since the time I first heard of the outbreak in Mexico, last Sunday, countries across the globe have started to report cases of infection. US, Canada, Spain, Australia, New Zealand, are just a handful of countries with ‘confirmed’ cases while a dozen others are awaiting results on tests conducted on suspected cases.

While I would normally be concerned with such adverse developments, this potential flu pandemic is more worrisome since I will be flying off to South Korea later today.

Well, there’s only so much one can do. Just need to ensure that my hands are properly washed before touching my eyes, nose and mouth. It’s surprising that one will unconsiously touch these body parts multiple times within an hour. I know since I have tried refraining such contact in preparation for the more stringent ‘efforts’ once I enter the airport and board the plane.

It’s gonna be a painful experience.

Well, my bags all packed. I am just looking forward to a nice holiday over the next couple of days.

10 Things I love About London

In no particular order… 

1. Ease of travelling around the city (via the uber system of the London Underground tube lines)
2. Cultural diversity
3. Buskers in the tube underground walkways (who put our Singapore Idols to shame)
4. Cheap tickets for theatres (three cheers for Queen’s Les Miserables!!!)
5. The staricases/steps in the London Underground (which keep Londoners, and I for 2 weeks, fit and lean)
6. Fashionably dressed crowds (yay, even in the tube)
7. Cheap sandwishes and wraps (in London’s context. Extremely expensive in S’pore!)
8. Free museums/galleries (now that’s something Singapore could learn from)
9. Good chinese food in their Chinatown
10. Bagels and scones (for breakfast and tea)

Most importantly, everything’s lovely cos I had my wife along with me.

Bonjour!

Got back from Europe last Thursday. Despite the long rest since, I am still suffering from some jetlag resulting from the failure to sleep a single while flying back from London. Guess I will have to put up with the nagging slight headache and this interesting sense of lightheadedness as I head back to office tomorrow.

The trip to London and Paris was great! It was my second time visiting London while it was a first for Paris. This trip was made the more meaningful and fun since I am travelling with my wife.

London is definitely the ‘in’ city to be in right now. Its streets oozes with the buzz which the painfully uncreative Singapore is trying so hard to emulate. Every trip on the fame London Underground is a unique experience. I got to see people, be it Londoners or pligrims (like I) to this global city of buzz, from all cultures and walks of life. There were smartly dressed Londoners on their way to offices, fashionably dressed shop assistants, chic looking students and the obvious tourists holding the ever trusty map of the tube. And we were all, at that very moment, shared the wonderful experience of chugging along in the round underground tunnel in London’s aged trains.

I visited most of the ‘must see’ sites in London. These included, The British Museum, London Eye, Tower of London, Buckingham Palace (for the changing of the guards), Tate Modern, St Paul Cathedral (where Princess Di got married), Westminster Abbey, Covent Garden, Harrods and we also caught Les Miserables at the Queens Theatre.

Thanks to the strong S$, which stood at 1 pound to 2.89 S$, things were more affordable then when I last visited the city. Despite the better exhange rates, a simple meal of braised beef brisket rice in London’s Chinatown at Leceister Square still set me back around S$17.40.

My most memorable, and also the most expensive meal, was the seafood rissotto which I had at Cafe Pasta along Holborn street. I have to say that it was the best rissotto I’ve ever had. The seafood was both succulent and fresh. The rice was just nice, neither too mushy or too sticky. It was just heavenly to stuff spoon after spoon of this mouth watering dish into my mouth. It felt was if I was in paradise then.

I am glad to be back home. But for some reason, I feel that I fitted in better in London or Paris than back here. Guess it the fact that both cities ozzes with culture and hertiage has a big part to play with this feeling. Suddenly, I feel disconnected with all the modern highrise and oddly cold and characterless buildings around me. Singapore lacks the soul, or the heartbeat, which makes a city beat and throb.

Anyway, I will upload the photos as well as another post on my experience in Paris once I am done with my unpacking. Now I have to find some way to satisfy that cheesy aftertaste which the rissotto left on my palate. Any recommendations of a good Italian makan place in old boring Singapore?

江南

Nope. It is definitely not the title of the latest Chinese pop song. Neither is it a novel on the martial arts “武侠” world which the media depicts. It’s the place, or rather places, which I visited during the Chinese Lunar New Year two weeks back. 江南 is a very beautiful place. As the saying goes, 上有天堂，下有苏杭. See, going to the country does improve one’s ability in that particular language.

If you have noticed, I have changed my blog’s banner with a photo of some 梅花 which I took during the trip. Apart from the fact that I love the beauty they portray, they also signify the change in season and denotes a welcome for the new year.

The trip took me to 上海，无锡，富阳，苏州，and 杭州.

Here are some photos of the trip.

My flight was delayed from 10.10am to 2pm. It was a long wait…

I love the leave-like shape of the shelter outside T2. Adds a nice airy and natural feel to the place.

Trolleys.

This house used to be the residence of some big-shot official in Suzhou. You can tell by the nicely manicured garden. I wish I had such a garden to go to each morning and evening. Such a relaxing place. You can feel stress easing away just standing by the garden and enjoying the serenity of it.

Now I fully appreciate the Chinese saying 开门见山. You literally see a “mountain” at every door. Fancy that!

Hangzhou is as lovely as what the Hangzhou people would have you believe. 西湖 is really picturesque. The lake is so still. The breeze so cool. One can just lose oneself in the peaceful surroundings. I am definitely visiting Hangzhou as a single stop in the future.

This was a postcard moment. Not an easy shot as I had to jostle with hordes of other tourists. Love the atmosphere of old ancient villages. By the way, this is 西瑭, a very old village near Shanghai. The place was bursting with tourists. Pity we only had time to dine there.

This is none other than a shot taken in the famous 城隍庙 in Shanghai. You guessed it. It’s the Year of the PIG! Oink! Oink!

Inspired by the wishing tree in Hong Kong, the opportunistic Chinese erected one of their own, with golden leaves to boot, in the middle of 城隍庙 so that people can toss a slip of red paper with their wish on it onto the branches of the tree. The belief is that is the slip manages to hang onto any of the branches, one’s wish will come true in the next year. By the way, each slip costs 5 renminbi, or S$1. And look and how “red” the tree is. Bet the owner of the tree threw the first wish, with the word “prosperity” on it.

And that my friends is a short pictorial journey of my 江南 trip. There will be video clips in YouTube later once I edit my very first movies filmed using my new Handycam. Do look out for it.