Daffy's Jurassic Mile

The Jurassic Mile route that runs from the eastern end of East Coast Park to Changi International Airport opened to great fanfare in the third quarter of last year. 

The excitement amongst everyone was rife- not just because there was now a new route to the airport (which everyone loves)- but (also) because we were all surprised that the distance between the easternmost point of East Coast Park and Changi Airport's Terminal 4 was less than 5 miles (7km thereabouts). 

The distance didn't seem so short when traveling on the expressway. 

Honestly I was surprised too. 

As in... that was it? 7km?

It certainly didn't feel that way whenever we turned out from the same Tanah Merah Canal exit towards Changi Village! 

Okay so maybe the (old) TMCR did run parallel to the runway, but still, who would have imagined that it were just a mere 7km away to the edge of the airport? 

I was also quite eager to take a look, but was advised to maybe wait till the crowds had lessened and thinned lest we be squishing and squashing both Daffy and Blue on the (narrow) route. 

Also to let them iron the structural kinks out. 

So it was only until the early part of this year that we rode Daffy to Changi International Airport (Terminal 4) via the Jurassic Mile. 

We went there twice. 

First time we went there we got rained out. 

Seriously rained out. :D

What happened was that we had actually ridden through the Jurassic Mile all the way to the car park at Terminal 4- it was a mere drizzle then- but because we weren't sure whether there was parking over at Hub & Spoke in Terminal 2 (quite a distance away) we decided to park our bikes at the car park and then make our way there on foot instead. 

Of course, that would be the moment when the rains really started coming down. 

We didn't mind. 

Just looked at each other and walked through the rain. :)

Except that the rains- which I absolutely loved- made us so cold and hungry that by the time we got to Terminal 2 and finished our dinner we were so pooped that we decided to leave Daffy and Blue there, bus back and come ride them back the next day. 

Second time we cycled on Jurassic Mile was in the evening, and the view, I thought, was better. 

It's not a complicated route from East Coast Park, by the way. 

All you need to do is to keep heading east. 

Go past the lagoon, go past the Village Food Center, go past Bedok Jetty. From there, keep going on the path all the way until you reach the Sailing Center. Go past that along the trees towards the chalets and the bridge, then it is just another short distance further until you get to a sign that directs you towards the intersection road. 

Cross the road, make a left and keep heading on that route until you get to a cute little bridge. By then there'll be enough signs to indicate that you've reached the start of Jurassic Mile. 

It's straightforward from there after. 

The route is fenced up on either side (as well as over the top after one too many stray golf balls flew into the route from overhead) so all you need is to keep moving on. 

Towards the end of the route when you're reaching Terminal 4 there'll be a few turns here and there, but generally all you need to do is to follow the red path and you'll get to Hub & Spoke over at Terminal 2. 

I'm glad to say that Jurassic Mile is prettily lit up at night. 

Not only is it easy to see who it is in front of you (especially when they're taking pictures with the dinosaur figures), not only is it easy to be charmed by the beauty of the path all laid out in front of you, the lights actually make the place look kind of surreal. 

I don't know.

Maybe Changi just looks different when night falls. 

Or maybe because it's quite a different perspective seeing the 3D life-sized dinosaurs all bathed in a prism of colorful rainbow light. 

Whichever it is, I didn't take pictures of the dinosaurs. 

I took pictures of Singapore Airlines sitting on the runway instead. 

CNY 2021

The Chinese New Year of 2021 seemed to be one of those celebrations that quietly came into the season, and then, without much fanfare, quietly made her way out again. 

It wasn't that you didn't feel like celebrating. 

It was more like you didn't know how much you ought to celebrate- what with social distancing, rule restrictions, and everything else in the mix. 

Generally it felt more subdued- even in the heartlands- and whilst it might have been thought appropriate, still, many probably quietly wished for the clang and cymbal of past Chinese New Years.     

Mine, too, was on the quiet side. 

But that's how it has been for a while now. 

Still I always try to do something different- however big, however small- and this year was no different. 

One of the things I did was to go down to Chinatown. 

Never mind the fact that there was no bazaar. 

(Well, actually there were- the cookie people, the flower people, the decor people, and the melon seeds people had rented a couple of stalls here and there all around the place, and the waxed meat people I heard had hidden themselves discreetly somewhere)

Our dinner was also at Chinatown. 

At this casual Thai-Chinese eatery place called Soi 47- at the back of Temple Street- where we decided we'd not have our usual orders and instead have a pot of green curry beef, fried spring rolls, fish maw soup and a whole steamed fish- because it was the end of one year and the beginning of the next. 

All very easy, very comfortable.

There were no crowds to deal with, no queue numbers to take, no hassling with other hungry diners nor with overworked service staff trying their best to accommodate everyone under the restrictions.

(It isn't that I eschew formal restaurant settings- I have had my fair share of them and I know my etiquette well- but these be times where competition is rife, and if I can enjoy myself with a happy, casual, fun meal, even during an annual occasion as this, why, so be it.)

It was the same attitude which we carried the next couple of days during the holidays. 

There was a (specially requested for) mookata at one of our favorite places along Selegie Road because it had been some time since we had had it, I kind of missed it, and I didn't think they would inflate the price.

There was a single-pot hotpot buffet at this place in Bugis Junction which was a newly opened one and we thought it quite interesting and reasonable to try.  

At the mookata, besides the meats for grilling, we decided to have more crayfish and scallops than prawns. We also decided to have more lettuce and seaweed in the soup together with the cheese tofu, the enoki mushrooms and the sweet corn.

And at the hotpot buffet we decided we would have two different kinds of soup- one tonkotsu, one chicken with collagen, trays of vegetables- I wanted to have lots of mushrooms and yams- and trays and trays of beef. 

 

Of course, CNY 2021 was not all about food- and food alone. 

Aside from the festive meals we had, aside from the wonderful plate of siew mais which I munched on happily at home, the plate of lo hei which we managed to have on the last day of Chinese New Year, there were also long bus rides that I went on my own, because I was not going to not celebrate Chinese New Year without doing something I used to do, and which I still hope to one day do. 

Home for CNY

I brought home a cow plushie for Chinese New Year this year. 

My parents chuckled. 

As I well knew they would. 

Their daughter is known for bringing home plushies that she finds significant and special. 

Christmas? Birthdays? Chinese New Year? Vacations? 

There will be a toy.

I once brought home a wombat I bought from Brisbane. 

Another time I brought home a moose which a visiting festival performer from Canada had given to every staff in the theatrical company I worked in. 

This year being the Year of the Bull, I brought home a bull- a cow-whatever. 

I also told them I'd try to bring home a plushie every year for the next 10 years so that we could have the whole Chinese Zodiac. (We already have a rooster) 

Again they chuckled. 

But this be the charm of how we do our celebrations at home. 

We do them whatever way brings us the most joy. 

No rules. 

We don't need new decor to mark the beginning of a new lunar year. 

We don't need (the usual) foods to define what marks a family celebration and a brand new year. 

What we need is laughter, harmony, peace and togetherness with each other. 

Which we have.

This year we brought out the decor that we had made last year. 

We also brought out the rooster which had been snugly wrapped in a plastic bag for the entire year and which we debated whether to remove it for the sake of the picture. (We didn't)

The plastic plum flowers (however a little faded) were there in the big blue vase by the corner. 

On the table were the foods that we regularly buy when this season of Chinese New Year rolls around. 

It was cool. 

There was a packet of individually wrapped orange sweets coated with sugar which I make it a point to have every year because it looks just like sliced oranges, it has a bright cheerful color, and we can snack on it throughout the year. 

There was the pack of chocolates which they had bought and which sat wrapped in cellophane paper in its own box.

And there was the jar of almond cookies which I had selected this year to mark the occasion. 

There were also oranges. 

As were carbonated apple drinks and pink guava juice. 

In the center of everything was a plate of store-bought siew mai which we had earlier bought, steamed up in the rice cooker and which we now served with fried seafood balls, cherry tomatoes, chili sauce and mayonnaise.  

There is something special about having the plate of siew mais sitting pretty on the dining table. 

Maybe because it is one of my favorite selections at dim sum. 

Maybe because every time I see it I mm reminded to be thankful that I have a brand new celebration to be in.

And maybe because the colors, the texture, and the familiarity of it all is complementary to every dish we have on our table at celebration time. 

I always try to take a great picture of it. 

Then of course there were the noodles. 

Don't laugh- noodles are a very meaningful dish to me. 

They are a part of my life. 

They are a part of our family. 

Doesn't matter what flavors they are (or if they have any flavors at all), the dish- when prepared in a certain way- brings back wonderful memories of us slurping them up as we sit around the dining table on cold, windy, rainy afternoons, and of leisurely weekend meals with our favorite DVD in the player.

It's all very special. 

Made even more special when our noodles have all my favorite frozen balls (cuttlefish!), lots of green leafy vegetables cooked really soft, lots of juicy tomatoes that give the soup a sweet-sour tang, bobbing cheese sausages, and- because it is Chinese New Year- big button mushrooms as well. 

Bus Ride Sights: Orchard to CCK

There hadn't been much time in recent weeks for cross-island bus rides, but with this being the Lunar New Year holidays, and with me wanting to spend some time just stoning and staring out the window, I decided post-lunch (at Plaza Singapura) that the day was apt for a long bus ride.

I knew I didn't want to go to the east. 

I knew the east quite well. 

Neither did I want to go to the west. 

I'd gone there not too long ago. 

So, in between this route and that, a northwesterly direction seemed to make the most sense. 

There are two buses on Orchard Road that head towards the northwest. 

One is 190. 

The other is 972.

At the bus stop, I decided I'd hop onto the first one that came. 

It would be 190. 

The route this bus takes is an interesting one. 

From Dhoby Ghaut it goes down the entire back stretch of Orchard Road through the lane at the back of Ngee Ann City, then turns out from ION before turning right into Scotts Road. 

Down Scotts Road the bus goes before turning into Stevens Road where it then goes along the entire stretch, past the Metropolitan YMCA, past lots of condominiums, and several hotel properties, including Mercure before finally reaching somewhere near the Mount Pleasant Veterinary Hospital. 

From this little hill, it turns into the PIE and off it goes all the way northwest until it hits the BKE. 

I don't know how it is after the bus exits the BKE, but it turns into the Teck Whye (I think) housing estate, it trundles past part of the old KTM (now Green Corridor) route, and then it somehow finds its way past a community center and a collection of neighborhood shops before it reaches the Choa Chu Kang Bus Interchange. 

The best part of the route has to be the expressways. 

Maybe it makes me think of those long coach rides on the north-south highway in Malaysia where the journey just seems to go on for hours and hours on end. 

Maybe it makes me think of palm trees and hills and more hills. 

I don't know. 

But there's a subtle- no, obvious- change in the atmosphere the moment the bus turns from the Veterinary Hospital into the PIE. 

It feels as if the world suddenly shifted from the Urban to the Rural, where the Land no longer has skyscrapers and concrete rising out from the ground, and where the stresses of the City are left far, far behind. 

That particular stretch was very therapeutic, I assure you, and it made me kind of sad when it had to end. 

I had really enjoyed it. 

Because even though it might have been a mere twenty minutes, I got to see natural forests, I got to see space stretched out beside me, and I got to see structures (those weather satellite things) which I don't normally get to see. 

Corporate Demands don't Come Cheap

Several years or so ago, someone came to us with a job to design a website. 

It was to be a simple, functional, no frills website meant for an NGO. 

The emphasis was on simplicity, the guy said, nothing fanciful, just something that would put their organization out there, and which met their needs.

We quoted- it was accepted- we started. 

Somewhere along the way however it became increasingly apparent that simplicity was not in the game. 

Client didn't want simplicity. 

He wanted detail. 

A fair bit of it too.

It was to be a website that had this, had that, had this, had that, had this again, and still that some more. 

Simplicity- as we interpreted it- was confined more to the budget. 

Now there are times when we don't mind going the extra mile (a little bit more). 

And there are times when we can adjust and arrange. 

But things become no more a business when the consideration paid is a fraction of the standard-rate card.

And things make no more business sense when demands for change are over and above the regular scope according to the standard rate card.

Let's be clear.

I'm not being whiny over a difficult client. 

I don't need to write an article if I want to be whiny. 

I just go have a latte or a mug of fruit beer. 

But what I want is to simply say it straight out: That there are boundaries in business and it is a fair enough thing if those boundaries were respected and adhered to without expecting the other party to bend over backwards and give out more than what is due. 

In other words, if there's a standard rate card, there's a standard rate card. 

Follow it. 

If there are limits to which that rate card can be stretched, there are limits that the rate card can be stretched. 

Accept it. 

It is not possible- NOT POSSIBLE- I tell you- that you want to have a particular design (done from scratch) with an xx (almost unlimited) number of changes (that you have to do because 'your quality is unacceptable') at this well-below-market-rate price (since, you know, we are doing this good work).

I have to eat. 

Let's talk about design. 

Design- or UI- the user interface- is subjective. 

What that means is that it can stretch very easily from one end of the spectrum to the other- and there is no stopping how simple one wants it to be, or how detailed one desires it to be. 

A benchmark of measurement on our part usually includes the UX- the user experience- which is itself a wide scope but can range from 'call to action' to 'access to information' to 'ease of navigation'. 

There are certain designs that work well for certain industries- they are simple, they have easy navigation and even though they don't have the frills, they are suited for the industry's purpose. 

We've done them before. 

So you can't come and tell me that what works for many a similar organization will not be applicable to yours- especially since you volunteered the information of your good work on the onset (whilst negotiating the price). 

Okay so let's say that the client was familiar with more complicated sites. 

And okay let's also say that the client was familiar with sites that involved a lot of work and it still didn't matter to him that unlike back then, now speed (and cost) were of necessity.

That familiarity with a particular working environment became apparent when demands came for an "xx (unlimited) number of changes to the site because our work was of slipshot quality"

You see, it is only in those environments that a client can display that similar sort of attitude where they make the same kind of demands using the same kind of reasons. 

But we're not people who don't know what these environments are. 

And we are not people who don't know how to justify costs for the same kind of demands. 

When it's a six figure sum you are paying there, of course you (can) make that sort of demands.

In any case, the experienced ones would have buffered the cost of your demands into the quote anyway. 

Want changes here and there? 

Sure. You've paid for it. 

Want changes after those amendments have been made? 

Sure. You've paid for it too. 

Oh, want changes at a random hour and a response at any time of the day? 

No problem. Your money has paid for a person to be on call. How fast do you want those changes? Let us know. No worries. It's all included. 

But that's not something I could do. 

Not for a sum far, far lower than a six figure sum. 

What I could do was to design it (from scratch with limitations) buffering in the fairly limited budget and work from there. 

Would it be a functional site? 

Yes

 

Would it have everything that our quote said would have? 

Yes

Would there be changes? 

Yes (just not too many and not too often) 

We would do what the budget permitted us to do- and a bit more.

That was reasonable, wasn't it?

Sad to say, the client didn't think so. 

I shan't go into what transpired after that. 

Maybe they took our work and went on elsewhere. 

Maybe they decided to consider it a bad business decision and leave it at there. 

We're (technically) still waiting for them to come back to us about what exactly it is they want so that we can do what it is exactly that they want. 

There can be no multiple decks and multiple experiments, I'm afraid. 

We respect our work. 

We expect others to respect it too. 

Otherwise, there's always some sucker out there.

Oscar's CNY

(This marks the second post about OSCARS at Conrad Centennial Hotel in Marina Bay. The first post somehow got reported for malware and viruses- I have no idea why- and the whole post got deleted. Maybe the universe thinks Conrad shouldn't be featured. Maybe the universe thinks there's nothing so big a deal about a meal at OSCARS. Or maybe it is just one of those weird things that happen in cyberspace.

Whichever it may be, here's a second post about our dinner at OSCARS- and may this- as well as every single blog post that I write- be free from all this rubbish that plaque the innocent blogger who is just writing for the sake of fun.) 

So this was Chinese New Year. 

Or rather, a couple of days before the eve of Chinese New Year. 

We didn't get the Chinese New Year menu, but no matter, the food sounded intriguing enough, and I was sure it would be as good as what we had the previous time. 

Here's the funny thing: I don't exactly remember what we ate. (It's been a while) But I do have a couple of pictures... and one thing I'm very sure of is that the menu had a distinctive Asiatic-Chinese vibe. 

There was a selection of hot and cold dishes. 

There was a selection of mains. 

And there was a selection of local favorites, a selection of dim sum, and a selection of Indian as well as Straits Chinese.

There was the seafood, of course. 

No hotel buffet in Singapore can be considered a buffet of reputation if there isn't any fresh seafood somewhere.

On the menu they had crab legs, mussels, oysters, and scallops, along with a selection of sashimi, so we ordered three platters of salmon sashimi together with several servings of oysters.

The sashimi was fresh. 

So were the oysters- all of which came freshly shucked, balancing upright in their ice-filled bowls. 

From the appetizer list, we ordered several dishes, including two servings of pumpkin soup, and several little plates of peaches with ricotta cheese. 

Sounds odd, I know- because like who orders little slices of canned peaches when you're at a buffet- but, it is Chinese New Year, I have a special love for canned peaches and these here sounded really pretty with the description of a pretty flower on top and the ricotta cheese spread below. 

Not gonna lie- peaches and cheese do go quite well together. :)

From the same list, we got three portions of salted egg fried fish skin (yeah a bit overkill but we like salted egg bits and we like fried fish skin..) 

The pumpkin soup was lovely, by the way. 

It wasn't one of those canned Cream of Pumpkin soups. 

Neither was it one of those Clear soups that you boil Chinese-style in a great big pot. 

But it had a bit of East-West fusion mix- cheery looking orange-vermillion, a hint of cream artistically drizzled on the surface- and which gave the soup a bit of creamy texture without overpowering the clear, sweet flavor of the pumpkin vegetable.

We decided afterward to give a shot at the laksa. 

We also decided we'd try the stewed beef (or was it venison) on rice, as well as a basket of lotus leaf glutinous rice from the dim sum. 

The laksa was good. 

My companion finished up all the soup. 

I ate up all the quail eggs and the fish cake. 

We then shared the very big vegetable from the stewed beef/venison rice.

And with our chopsticks we tested our skill by picking at the chicken and the glutinous rice bit by bit until it was all finished. 

Dinner was an enjoyable time- it's always pleasant when you get to try out new dishes, taste new ingredients, relish in the beautiful balloon decor right above our heads, and just sit chatting with each other about festive trends, family norms, and everything related to Chinese New Year.

A dinner this good must end with dessert, and this- what you see below- is what we had. 

Little tarts (Yuzu and Mandarin Orange!) little jellies (Bandung, I think!) little cakes (Earl Grey Lavender and Chocolate Hazelnut!) and macarons (Lychee!).

Now I kind of wish we had had more. 

Next time.

Next time I'll make sure I have more room for more of their desserts- no way am I going to skip out on their chendol and orh nee offerings again- and I'm definitely going to have at least one serving of their wonderful strawberry ice cream.