Batam trip june '07

Well… What story is there to a simple Batam trip?

Over the course of those 3 days, we didn't visit a single touristy landmark, because there were absolutely none to begin with. Nor did we trek through any exciting Indonesian nature spots, because our surrounding lands were desolate as far as my squinted eyes could perceive. We even eschewed the idea of trawling for bargains in vast malls and bazaars, plainly because the city district was too far out of the way for us. And your impatient question now, marked by an incredulous face, must be what exactly did we do there all this time???

We feasted, and we gorged, then we snacked some more. I remembered once remarking how stuffed I still felt from the last meal, but my mind was already picturing the next, and all this while my hand dipped ceaselessly into a bag of chips like a vulture's beak picking at carcass haha.

This may not be Hara Bagus, but it's Dim Sum Sedap nonetheless!

We found this bastard child of the Pizza and a Curry Puff here, which turned out to be indeed quite tasty.

She always complains I'm feeding her to become rounder and rounder, but see how wide she grins when the Teppanyaki chef served! :)

Each of those dumplings has two succulent prawns wrapped up inside them, just look, it's as large as her cheek! :D

And when we aren't stuffing ourselves silly, we look to the buzzing itinerary we had planned. Which, as you might have guessed, is mostly centered around doing nothing haha.

Reading leisurely by the poolside under a pleasantly toasty sun...

...then taking long afternoon naps, followed by sumptuous dinner spreads. That's resort life :)

This picture always makes me uneasy, then one day it dawned on me that pairing hairy legs and fingernail painting together in a picture has triggered off the subconcious response similar to that of seeing a Changi Bapok.

We drew on each other two very hardy animals to symbolise the stable and enduring love we share, something like the Branchel's pair of couple watches if you will. Though I do admit that a crudely drawn tortoise and cockroach aren't the best of representations...haha.

Violence on the TV

Don't ask me, I just think it's hilarious.

Sheng's bar open house

Ok, so us lads had benefited (A euphemism for freeload haha) from the generosity of the Liu Brothers for a long time now.

Sheng’s very own humble little bar is the birthplace of countless cocktails, and our dear bartender, a metaphorical midwife, always so eager to refill our glasses with new and fabulous concoctions. And his big brother, Xian is ever the one to “delight” us with his repertoire of bad jokes delivered with frightening spontaneity, which he follows up with a display of not-so-nimble dodging between flung chairs and other assorted projectiles. And whenever we gather at their place for a night of gaiety, all of us will be seated around having Sex on the Beach, smiling and winking at one another…oh wait that sounds rather wrong haha.

What I meant to say was, plenty of the memories the boys shared together in the last decade, had been firmly planted in the settings of Xian’s house, draped across his couches and around the porch. Be it birthdays and other important occasions, or just warm nights with nowhere to go and nothing better to do than to talk cock with a drink in hand, Xian’s place was the choice place.

And now, there finally is a deserving tribute to this faithful old haunt, already a second home for the guys. What better way, than to drink some more of course, meaning also to mark the “official” opening of Sheng’s Bar (What really happened was Sheng just bought a couple more new bartending accessories, invited everyone over, and declared his bar open despite already serving up for months. Suppose he was just excited about his newly completed collection of drinks mixing gizmos eh? Well nobody minded, because we aren’t here to ask the questions, we just dutifully drink up haha.)

And as usual, the imps of mischief always manifest themselves after we’ve knocked back a few glasses. The photos are proof.

No one is safe from Andrew's practical jokes, especially his good friends, as Tay soon found out.

Anal Tay meekly poses for a trophy shot with the bounty hunters.

KH's signature maniacal laughing face, and Andrew's kinky swimming trunks masquerading as a headrest cover - A vision from hell haha.

Jerry never suspected a thing. Before the picture was taken, he was rubbing the back of his head against those spandex trunks with a smile of the blissfully ignorant. hehehe

Money no enough (as usual)

This is perhaps the best time for a windfall of fortune to befall me.

Nope, I don’t covet a million bucks, a flashy car, or even designer threads. I’m only asking for a few simple things, which practical worth actually matches their price tags.

1. A Fender 4 string beauty which I have been eyeing for a long time now. Because it pays off to invest in quality equipment early on.

2. A pair of Ray-Bans when I’m fishing, to ward off the blinding glare of the relentless afternoon sun. I’m not going to settle for a shoddy imitation, and risk contracting eye cataracts at forty.

3. Even my phone has turned rebelliously unreliable, and I’m already looking to replace the mutinous bastard. Arrr!

There’s no way in hell my measly allowance is going to allow me that kind of expenditure. Besides, I’m not going to fritter away a couple thousands from my savings, because I’ve promised Jolyn we’ll see Hong Kong at the end of this year. :)

And so, in a typical display of the true Singaporean spirit of optimistic doggedness, I had tacked my Toto ticket for Thursday onto my work desk CPU, and written in black bold ink to better catch Cai Shen Ye’s attention (I hope he reads blogs), are the words:

Riders to the midnight sun

I’m almost done with an excellent travelogue, Riders to The Midnight Sun, written by a Marc Llewellyn. The book is based on his journey with his girlfriend, across the former Soviet Union, all 4500 kilometers of the straight line from one end in Ukraine, across the Baltic States, to another end in Russia. The amazing thing was they accomplished all of this on bicycles, hence the title of the book.

Marc’s first hand accounts offered much insight into the lives of the people in each individual country after the dissolution of the USSR. The many colorful characters and incredible incidents he runs, or rather, rides into, sums up to a pretty interesting read, and more importantly, has dug up some quite thought provoking subjects for both the author and the readers themselves. He even contributes some of his existentialism philosophy, which are scattered all about inside the book, and I have extracted my favorite bit out to share with you:

“..Life is a process of dying and renewing yourself, and there are certain circumstances that allow you to do that; and the best of them is travel. The journey is one of those frequent opportunities in life to take stock and to renew. Remove yourself from your normal occupations and you are free of them; you can shed your old skin and become anyone you want to be. You can try on a different personality. No-one will ever see you’ve changed, except when you come back, of course. It’s like falling in love, when your personality thaws a little, and allows for a little change in shape, before it refreezes again.

But you can’t change, of course, without reflection. The real traveler is active, not passive. He moves about but actively reflects on life and what is happening to him and lives each moment as it arrives. So many tourists go away and let new experiences wash over them like plankton in the sea, without grasping them and allowing their imagination to flower – you can travel down to the end of your street, and experience it differently every time, as long as you are aware, and have new eyes to see. And you must be there, in the present, like the Buddhists who close their eyes and walk all day barefoot on the warm ground just to feel it under their feet and know they are alive.”

Man, I’m itching to throw everything down and go backpacking right this very instant haha.