oneweirddudetravel

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

Singapore, the Beautiful Little Birdcage

I used to have fantasies of owning a big house in Singapore (or two) (or three) (or maybe a bushel of ’em). We’d travel all over, but if anybody asked where were based, I’d probably have answered Singapore.

These days however, I’m drawing almost a blank. Well, almost. I mean come on, my imagination’s pretty damn strong.

This article kind of pushed me over the edge and convinced me that we’ve got to migrate at some point.

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/singapore-aims-for-fully-cashless-transport-system-by-2020-lta-9114728

Add this to the recent proliferation of cameras all over the island, the plans to implement ERP 2 ( a system that tracks the real-time location of every single vehicle in Singapore on public roads), the recent additional laws that further restrict free speech (and this is Singapore we’re talking about here), the continued existence of the ISA (we have the dubious distinction of having held the longest political prisoner in modern history), the government’s stated overall goal of turning Singapore into a “Smart City”.

But this article and the accompanying announcement, insulting our intelligence and further marginalizing the poor. This was the final straw. Soon, Singapore too might become an almost 100% cashless society like Sweden.

Hey, do you remember the recent financial crisis? Here’s a novel idea. Why not put those same exact goddamn institutions that caused the crisis in full control of our cash?

I could write a lot more about this. But with mass surveillance, which will result in an even more docile, unimaginative population, it’s made me realize that it’s time to move on.

Being a minority here (one of the officially-designated “Others”), I’ve never really felt like Singapore was home. But it was a decent enough place to stay in.

With a daughter to raise now though, it’s troubling to imagine the kind of mindset she’d have growing up. For a two year-old, she’s got a lot of fire and energy. Very rebellious too. I don’t want this fiery spirit of hers to get dampened or worse, extinguished.

Speak up. Rebel. Don’t accept what they say. Don’t obey.

So yea, we’ll need to find another place. Being a brown Arab-looking Muslim though, the list of places is pretty damn short. But it’ll be worth it. I hope.

August 16, 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

Skiing in Neighbouring Yangsan!

Edit: This is like, my 3rd attempt to post it due to a weird problem with the app basically saying “Hey, hey, you want to post this? It’s interesting right? Yeah? NO. SCREW YOU, HUMAN! KISS MY DIGITAL RECTUM! SKYNET 4 LYFE!”

Baby’s down for her nap, and my laptop needs recharging (like, 20 mins into the series finale of Rectify) so there’s time for another post!
We went skiing! Or, as I should call it, ‘That Time My Ass Kissed the Icy Floor Over and Over Again.’

More detailed information on the resort and how to get there can be found at the bottom of this post.

We went to the Eden Valley Ski Resort in Yangsan. At night. For the first time. So yea, we got a little lost.

I don’t know man, this looks just a wee bit off than what I expected a ski resort to look like

We finally found the proper route and you can tell it is (you know, besides looking at the signs) by the increasing number of ski/snowboard gear shops the further you go.

We settled on getting equipment from here:

There was a guy in hockey mask and a bloodied machete who was pretty nice and spoke with high-pitched British accent

The place was fine, but just bear in mind that they are an independent shop.

Be very specific about what you need to rent and for how long, and remember that they do not have any say regarding the admission cost. My brother-in-law told me that the guy spoke as if he were connected to the resort. I’m hoping it was a communication issue. Yeah. Communication issue.
Anyway, I’d recommend renting directly at the resort. Easier to drop off the items and stuff.

We finally arrived:

One important thing to bear in mind, especially if you’ve never skiied before: There is no beginner -level slope. I mean, they have one, but you’ll get what I mean further down.

First, the view from the bottom:

The one on the left is supposedly the one for beginners. LIES, ALL LIES

For starters, we had to take a goddamn ski lift to get to the top of the beginner-level slope.

For beginners. That is, for you to begin crapping yourself

Aaaand here’s the view from the top of the slope:

Notice how it looks deceptively flat… that’s because there’s a super-steep decline that connects to the slope on the right

Thought I’d take one last picture of my being alive

Being the genius that I so clearly am, I’d decided to sit in the snow for a moment to rest. In non-waterproof pants. It’s amazing what a freezing ass and the threat of hypothermia can do to motivate you to speed down a death slope.

My last fall was when I’d decided to just go for it… and was speeding downwards when I realized I couldn’t stop. Because of the speed, I actually bounced off the damn ice. Oh yea, and I’d also neglected to wear safety gear. You know, all part of being a goddamn genius.

Luckily I got away only with slight cuts on the elbow which I legit thought was bleeding heavily at the time (shut up).

Would I do it again? With safety equipment, I’d say yes.

Would I recommend it to beginners?

HELL NO ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND??

Overall, an… enlightening experience.

Getting There:

We drove there at night (night skiing is from 9pm-1am), and the road conditions were pretty good.

More details here: http://english.visitkorea.or.kr/enu/ATR/SI_EN_3_1_1_1.jsp?cid=658160

January 13, 2017 0

Trip to Nampo

What we thought was going to be a relatively quick visit to the Jagalchi Fish Market ended up with our spending hours in Nampo instead.

Getting There:

Get off at the Nampo subway station and take exit 5. You’ll be at the mouth of winding pathways filled to the brim with shops and restaurants and cafés and bars. It’s a pretty hip place but also a bit of a tourist trap, you know what I mean? Definitely a must-visit if you’re in Busan!

This is what greeted us when we arrived:

Every year it seems Christmas gets bigger and bigger in Korea, if Nampo is anything to go by.

Follow the trail and venture deeper inside and you’ll be treated to a view that could only otherwise be achieved by consuming vast amounts of LSD. In other words, it’s AWESOME.

I mean, check out this huge Christmas tree!

Under the hood.

I made a new friend! Or are we more than friends? Hmm…

Check out the traditional street food.

Are you a fan of Running Man? They had some food at this stall. You know, if you’re into that sort of thing.

This one was significantly less shady than it looks like in my badly-taken picture.

We eventually settled on this seafood restaurant, after being approached by a strange portly gentleman who happened to be their promoter. This one’s in one of the slightly seedy alleys, but the food was pretty good, I must say.