Pulau Ubin MTB

Pulau Ubin is an island just off the island of Singapore. There isn't much to do here besides mountain biking, hiking, and eating seafood - although it would be an ideal place for a scavenger hunt.

Jecil and I went to Pulau Ubin for the morning. You pay a $2.50 SGD (one way) fare to get on one of these Chinese Junks, which they term as "Bum Boats." The voyage takes about 10 minutes.

Below is the shore of P. U.
You pay between $2-15 to rent a bike here for the day (helmet not included). The bikes are generally fairly shabby - we got the best bikes we could get, and, of course, had to pay the maximum price.
I find these contraptions quite interesting. They remind me of Zambian cable-ferries (minus the shack). In the 21st century, people still do live on these things. I don't imagine they would fare on the high seas.

This is the Jecil and I at the Ketam Quarry. The Ketam MTB trail encompasses the quarry.
This is the typical form of English you will get on P.U. and throughout most of Singapore...
I had to post this picture for some of my family member(s) who happen to be associated with this picture via employment.
People still live in this place too.

The end.

More on NTU

I'm now into the 3rd or 4th week of classes. Things are starting to get a little bit more demanding. Some friends requested more pictures of the university, so I have posted some more below.

About the past week. Not too much excitement. I have shin splints in one leg - I visited the NTU doctor about it and he said that my feet are flat and that I was running too much. I'm working on finding alternative things to stay active. I played squash and visited Little India. A buddy and I are going to the wakeboard cable park tomorrow, and we hope to go to Bali or some other surfing destination next week, DV.

Below is the Nanyang Lecture Theatre Lobby. This place is colossal! See the elevators taking you to the various vomitoria (funny word - google it).

How big do you think that screen and stage is down there. See the next picture to get some visual context.
As I said, this lecture theater is huge. See the exit doors? Compare with screen and stage.
These are about half the seats. It seats 1736 people!
Self-explanatory.
The students live in buildings such as the ones shown in the following two photos.

This is the end of the North Spine. The North Spine is one of the two major "Spines" of concrete buildings.
Looking up the North Spine. I feel strangely as if I'm trapped in a Halo 2 game as I stroll to and from classes. Dad said something quite similar, "I feel like I'm in a computer game."
The end.

Chinese New Year - CNY

So this is the second group of new-year festivities I have gone through so far this year (2011). This is the Chinese Lunar New Year, and this year (2011) is the year of the Rabbit. CNY eve started on Wednesday at 12 noon - all schools and Chinese-run businesses close. CNY days were Thursday - Sunday (everything is still closed), and the festivities will continue for two more weeks. So yes, CNY is a pretty big thing over here.

I haven't blobbed for a while, so I'll just share some pictures I took during the past few days.

(Again, the pictures seem to have uploaded in reverse order.)

Below, we have Chi Wei on the left and Wee Boon on the right. On Sunday afternoon/night a group of us from the assembly went out for dinner. At the men's end of the table the conversation topic focused on parachuting (Wee Boon is a commander/parajumper in the military) and the itinerary of the Joo Chiat Gospel Hall Easter conference coming up in April (Wee Boon is checking out the proposed itinerary).

On Saturday, Wee Boon and his wife Jeziral (sounds like Jezreel) had all the young people over for a steam boat lunch and games. I've had steam boats (aka hot pots) in Canada before, but not quite as extravagant as this one. In accordance with the nature of the steam boat, we ate for 2+ hours.
Below, and early picture of the steam boat set-up. The victims of the steam boat include (but are not limited to): lamb, beef, pork, crab, clams, scallops, prawn, fish-balls, beef-balls, pork-balls, chicken balls, lettuce, noodles, among others.
This is Meng Chong. He and I are the people at the assembly who don't have family members around here; therefore, we were invited to a reunion dinner at the Wee's.
Family reunion dinners are usually strictly traditional in that only family members attend - Meng Chong and I were happy that the tradition at the Wee's house had some degree of flexibility. Here we are at a family reunion dinner on CNY eve.
Another note on the reunion dinner: Only sons and unmarried daughters are invited back to the father's house for the reunion dinner. As for the married daughters, they go with their husbands to his father's house for his family reunion dinner. This tradition is very Roman-like, and it is structured parallel to the idea of the Roman patria potestas. I conclude: When in Rome and in Asia, do as the Romans do.