oneweirddude

2020

Oh man. I think it’s been a whole year. Longer, actually!

It’s kind of funny because on the main page, I can see a post titled “2019, Finally!”

Posted in… February 2019. Yep.

And scrolling through the sheer number of images on my phone to choose the featured image made me realise just how much has happened since then.

First things first. 2020 has been… Hoo boy! Quite the year so far, hasn’t it?

I mean damn, when news of Covid-19 (the coronavirus) first started coming out of China, people made jokes about pandemics of the past… but we’re in March now, and no one’s laughing.

Fortunately, we seem to have a grip on it here in Singapore.

Brief panic-buying aside, even with the Malaysian lockdown (scheduled to end in a few days), there haven’t been any shortages or even unusually long queues.

Yea OK, he’s wearing a mask a precaution but that’s about it, really

Psst, any Australians need a toilet roll hook-up?

We’re expecting a rise in cases though, and I haven’t been to the malls since the new social distancing measures were announced a day or two ago.

On the bright side, I have to say that working from home really agrees with me. Until I’m doing proposals at 3am… but yeah, that’s… that’s not really a major difference from what I’m used to so… yeah.

Maybe in times like these, it’s best to remember the good things that have happened, and try to stay as positive as possible, though it can be as hard as scaling a mountain with business shoes at night (which I kind of did in Hong Kong). Would not recommend it.

From Victoria Peak, and I’ll write more about my trip to HK in a separate post soon… eh, probably never.

So yeah, a lot has happened. From my mother-in-law finally making the move to Incheon (and just before the outbreak!) to a close friend getting married, to my first-ever trip to Hong Kong, to my return visits to Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur. It’s been quite the year!

Infamous Bangkok traffic (just, um, ignore the opposite road)

There’s so much more to write about… but it’s 1am and I’m exhausted.

So I’ll leave you guys with a few pretty pictures taken recently here in Singapore.

Multi-colour sunset at Gardens by the Bay

The Flower Dome at… Gardens by the Bay. I took a lot of pictures on that day, OK? It was a great day, dammit!

Oh, and I’ve only just learned how the new “Gallery upload” function works in the updated WordPress format. So… yeah. Eh, I’ll post more pictures later.

March 28, 2020 0

West Coast Park on the First Day of Chinese New Year

To get warmed up, I figured I’d write a little bit about our trip earlier today.

For those who don’t know, here in Singapore the Chinese New Year and the day after are official holidays. Unlike the other holidays mostly celebrated by minorities but we ah… we don’t really talk about that here.

Anyway, two days off! WooHoo!

Hadn’t had much time to spend with the Littlest Dictator, and Jenia recommended West Coast Park. Perfect!

It’ll probably be empty, I thought. I foolishly thought. How very wrong I was…

Lengthy queues for… MCDONALD’S. DEAR GOD…

And yes, it’s basically the only place here where you can get food… unless you’re in the mood to go fishing for your lunch.

Jenia said that the last time she saw queues like this here, she’d waited an hour.

I quickly glanced at the McCafe section and the queue was short! Managed to place an order fairly quickly.

Unfortunately, we had to settle for their… sandwiches. Look, they’re not horrible by any means… but if I had to choose between their burgers and these, I’d go for the damn burgers. Yep, that’s where they’re at.

They’ll do in a pinch or during the apocalypse, is what I’m saying

The Himalayan Tea Latte was pretty good though, as always.

We then moved onto the park!

OK fine, fine… it wasn’t like it was overflowing with people. Just many more than I expected. And more than what I prefer… which is close to zero.

The weather wasn’t too bad, and it kind of hovered between sunny and just about to rain, with the dark clouds over the water seemingly too shy to cross over. The wind wasn’t shy though, which made it quite nice.

The Littlest Dictator was so excited to play, and she’s at the age where she’s eager to make friends (and burp directly in my face, but that’s a different story).

As we all know, it can be hard to immediately join a group, or even hang out with someone you’ve never met before, you know? Especially for little kids still learning social skills.

So I… sucked it up, and made friends with a few other kids and we played for a while until it was time to go.

Oh and fortunately this time round, none of the other kids called me “daddy”, which happens occasionally. And it’s never been not creepy.

They were great actually, and even cheered her on at one point, which made her really happy and proud. Always a huge bonus.

Also, WHY DO I ALWAYS END UP BEING THE ONLY ADULT WHO PLAYS WITH THE KIDS.

Now don’t get me wrong, it’s not like I mind all that much, and I do like entertaining kids.

And watching The Littlest Dictator having fun, socialising and being part of the group is totally worth it no matter how tired I get. Every time.

But yeah, it’s EVERY. TIME. I get the feeling I’m on the receiving end of a long-running prank I’m unaware of.

Ah, you know what though? If it means she gets to have fun each time and feel great about herself, then bring it on.

Yeah, a pretty good day.

February 5, 2019 0

2019, Finally!

Oh man, I’ve been meaning to write this for ages. Specifically on the first day of 2019. As you can tell, I’m an expert at procrastination.

So many things have happened since my last post, but two main things have remained the same. My mother-in-law, Raya, is still in Busan, and we’re still here in Singapore.

I’ve actually been doing a ton of traveling, mostly for work, and at first I’d wanted to continue posting, but I’d made the mistake of getting an iPhone SE with only 16GB of memory, which means I had to constantly back up and delete pictures which became a major pain.

BUT! I now have an Android-powered Huawei P20 Pro! More pictures! And with better quality! YES!

Anyway, before I get into the other stuff, our plans have changed quite drastically. After considering France, we’d agreed that it might not be practical, and Raya decided on Jeju-Do instead. I was pretty stoked. But again, there’s no direct flights to it, and since most of her siblings are on the mainland, it made her understandably concerned about being somewhat isolated.

In the end, she settled on Incheon, which is where the main airport is located, which you’d fly into to get to Seoul! Gotta say, I’m stoked about this too! At long last I might see Seoul! And of course, the ticket prices are gonna be cheaper too, since we’d be able to take direct flights.

Right now though, there’s a sort of property downturn, and no one’s buying or selling. Hell, she’d even drastically reduced the cost of her luxury apartment, and yet there are no buyers still. Not even prospective ones. So she’s staying put in Busan for now.

In the meantime, things are going pretty well for me in my current role! Been traveling often to KL and even been to Bangkok twice, hopefully with more trips to come.

There really is so much to write about, but for now, I’ll share a few pictures of the places I’ve been.

First, Bangkok!

View from the roof of the Avani Riverside Hotel, in Bangkok

On one of my quests to find Halal food in Bangkok

Next, Kuala Lumpur!

Actually, I haven’t had the time yet to take many new pictures so um, keep tuned!

Anyway, it feels good to be back!

February 5, 2019 0

West Coast Park

After another long week, we finally got our one day away from the Littlest Dictator.

Now don’t get me wrong, I love my daughter. But any parents who claim not to want a break from their baby are either lying or have already gone off the deep end. Kids will do that to you. They’re like those Velociraptors in Jurassic Park, and you’ve always got to be on your toes or you’re well and truly screwed. It gets exhausting.

Anyway where was I? Oh yeah, the day off. So we headed over to West Coast Park.

I had a rough idea of where it was, but didn’t know exactly how to get there. And I wasn’t going to use Google Maps because dammit, I used to cycle past it on the way to work four or five years ago and I don’t need a damn phone to tell me how to get there.

I totally needed my phone.

We reached there eventually after walking about maybe 30 mins from the Clementi Bus Interchange.

We had a sandwich at a Subway-like place, at an newly-refurbished old, three or four-storey building in an equally old neighbourhood.

The many “licensed moneylenders” and pawnshops made it a little bit depressing. Clementi is what property agencies call a “mature estate”, which means it’s been around for longer than most, and is relatively well-developed.

The old housing estates and low buildings with shops on the ground floor and apartments on the floor above have got a kind of charm. Brings back nostalgic memories for me. And some not-so-pleasant ones.

I grew up in a tiny two-bedroom apartment, and as the years went by, slowly realised that we were on the lower portion of the income scale. Not dirt poor by any means. But yeah, quite lacking in certain areas.

By the way, as we walked through the neighbourhoods to get to the park, it only occured to me to take pictures once we’d arrived. So ah, you’re just gonna have to use your imagination for now. Put all those Sesame Street hours to good use!

After walking for a while and wondering if we were lost, and ng refusing to check my phone because I’m a man goddammit, we finally arrived!

Beautiful place. So green and windy and bright. Last time I was there, all I could remember was some tiny boats tied near the shore and nothing much else. Hadn’t been there in more than 15 years.

I was quite pleasant surprised.

Looks like it’s windy often because there were quite a few people there flying kites. Maybe one day I’ll show the Littlest Dictator how to fly one.

Usually a trip to a park in Singapore is accompanied by massive amounts of swearing and feeling like a perpetually melting chocolate bar. But this time it was pretty good. Weather was just perfect.

And even on a Saturday, there weren’t many people.

Yea I wouldn’t mind heading back there at all.

September 24, 2017 0

Visit to the Esplanade and a Few Other Places

It’s been a busy couple of weeks, months? And now on the last day of Ramadhan, I finally have a bit of time to write about some the stuff we’ve been up to.

By the way, I’m writing this while watching the Littlest Dictator feed herself.

A few weeks ago, we visited PIP’s Playbox, located on the fourth floor of The Esplanade.

It’s sort of like a little library and play space for little kids.

Yeah, it wasn’t too bad!

I did get a little annoyed by parents who allow their kids to snatch away toys from the Littlest Dictator while she’s playing with them.

I have a new policy now: if the kid snatches away a toy, I snatch it back immediately. Gently but firmly. Waiting for some parents to do the right thing is like waiting for snow to fall in the Sahara Desert. Or the nee season of Attack on Titan. Just… just trust me on this.

BUT! It was hard to stay annoyed when you’ve got one hell of a view:

Then we went for a walk outside along the river.

Hmm, let’s see where else we’ve been to. Oh yeah. LOL Playland at JCube, an indoor playground near Jurong East MRT. Can’t recall if we went before or after The Esplanade though.

Oh yeah! I went to KL for my very first business trip. First time I ever flew there, and first ever day trip. Usually it’s a major thing for me. Takes about six hours by rail, and four by car or bus.

Yeah, not too bad. an experience! The budget airline terminal looked pretty damn good.

Then we took a goddamn 45-min cab ride to a place that looked like it had been carved out of a forested area not too long ago. A pretty cool place with a hipster-ish vibe, with apartments on the upper floors of the shopping centre, and brand new houses on the other side of a narrow road.

It reminded me of a nice waterfall in the middle of a forbidding jungle.

Despite how nice it looked and… ordinary it felt, I couldn’t shake the feeling that we were so far away from the city centre, let alone the airport. Wouldn’t mind going back for a short vacation though.

Let’s see… where else? Where else? Oh right. We paid Big Box a visit. It’s a humongous shopping mall/warehouse next to Jem Shopping Centre, also near Jurong East MRT.

We’d gone there previously and it was pretty underwhelming. While it may be huge, the products sold there appeared to me to be of a cheaper, poorer quality compared to what you’d find in other shopping malls.

But I’d heard of a huge indoor playground there and thought we’d check it out.

It was pretty big, that’s for sure. Might bring the Littlest Dictator here when we get th chance.

Then we checked out their humongous supermarket.

Seriously, this place was huge. It felt exhausting just trying to look at all they had to offer. The design seems a little off though. The aisles were a little too wide, and there were white spaces nearly everywhere you turned, from the ceiling to the walls to the floor. Too many white spaces. The place felt vast but strangely sparse.

It wasn’t that bad though. Might return to check out some of the stuff they have on offer there.

By the way, this is now two days after I started writing. And now I’m attempting to finish this while watching Slap on Titan, an Attack o Titan parody. Armin is one hell of a creepy dude.

June 25, 2017 0

First Trip on the MRT in more than Three Months

It’s been almost a week since we’ve returned (5 days, 12 hours, 39 minutes) and it’s my first time on the MRT (Singapore’s version of the Metro).

Pretty sunny day.

You can’t tell but I’m melting. And it’s not even a hot day! By Singapore standards that it.

The view from Lakeside Station is always a pleasure to see, even if it is now partially blocked by the safety barriers.

Compared to the much older system in Busan, this train feels like a freakin’ mansion, even if it is like, more than 20 years old.

I’d also forgotten how quickly the train fills up these days, and the picture above was taken when I’d first boarded. It’s definitely a far cry from when I was a kid, and the MRT’s novelty hadn’t yet worn off. I kind of miss that time.

These days, I have packed-like-sardines-in-a-goddamn-can rush-hour trains to look forward to each morning once I get a job.

At least the views are nice.

February 22, 2017 3

First Day Back in Singapore

After the long flight back, during which the Littlest Dictator peed all over my pants (therefore making me look like I peed) during boarding time for the final connecting flight. Ended up with pee all over me for final two hours. That… that’s gotta be a sign, right?

And the moment you step out of the airport. The very moment, no matter how brief… it gets you. The. Heat.

But it’s really not that bad. Check out the temperature today.

It’s like being in a sauna. All the time! GREAT.

We haven’t melted yet or anything! I already miss days likes these, though.

Notice the lack of people in coats passed out from heat stroke.

Anyway, we’re back. Time to rejoin the workforce, and research toddler gyms and day care centres.

The countdown to the end of this year has begun. One final trip to Busan.

February 18, 2017 0

Two More Days

It’s a beautiful Wednesday morning, and sun is shining. Well, it’s literally shining directly onto my face.

*squints* I’m still gonna miss you! *squints*

I was heading back from the gym last night and met a mom and her son in the apartment lift.

As soon as the kid saw me, he began glancing at me with an expression of nervousness and excitement.

I’m almost used to this and it reminds me of one of the more adorable things I’ll miss about this place: the Korean kids (and some adults!) who are dying just to practise their English!

It’s one of the cutest things ever haha.

Anyway, we’ll be heading down to the beach later today and maybe spend the whole day at home and spend some time with my wife’s mom on the eve of the flight.

February 14, 2017 0

Five Days Left

Here we are, at the tail-end of our epic three-month stay. And you know what? I miss Busan already!

I’m especially going to miss waking up to this view after an afternoon nap:

It’s been almost surreal. Living by the sea, with ever-changing breathtaking scenery beckoning to me just outside the window each morning.

Now sure, there are some things that I miss about Singapore. But you know what I don’t? The freakin’ heat!

What the hell, Singapore? Even at 3am? COME ON.

It’ll be like waking up from a dream once we’re back. I’ll get a regular job again, and adjust to the standard weekday schedule most people in my line of work have.

And that’s OK. It’ll be good to stretch my legs again, you know?

Oh and I’ve got a bit in the way of motivation. Looks like my mother-in-law is delaying the move to France by one more year.

That’s right, one last trip to Busan at the end of the year, baby!

WooHoo!!

February 12, 2017 1

One Weird Dude's Busan Blog

Busan in Three Months

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