The year of 2009

During 31st Dec 2009, somehow a sense of longing came over me. I wasn't prepared to say goodby to 2009. Time is simply passing of minutes/hours/days/months..and years, but the gregorian calendar which we all use have been set upon us, that it is infact significant on many levels that the year is going to increase numerically.(+1). I met up with a long time friend, Evelyn from Victoria Junior College (VJC), and several other mates of the same school at Lunar, Clarke Quay. The same gang did have a countdown together exactly 10yrs ago, (countdown to 2000), the BIGGEST bash possible). And this countdown to 2010 was a 10yr calebration of that. *Goosebumps*. Having watched or shot fireworks (more of the latter), over the last 9 yrs during the countdown, this was a refreshing change. I still love fireworks very much (Especially so when I was editing some footage with YouTube video here. And this post serves to be a think back of the year of 2009 for me.

The biggest single event was the commencement, the graduation from my Phd studies at National University of Singapore (NUS). Having completed 4 great years of Phd and a year as a post-doctoral researcher, I also left NUS.

I"m also taking another direction in photography, I'm still shooting weddings mostly, with slightly more emphasis on travel this year and this was part of an exhibition at The Old School, while we were packing up!

Other noted highlights include travels to Hong Kong in june, Hokkaido, in October (more in my posts under 2009), and truly amazing Bali in November (with the immaculate sunset pubs such as Kudeta and Mire, which makes Singapore's KM8, Cafe del Mar look inferior). Hope to post some images of that later.

I'm also starting into wines, with a blog at http://whoisdionysus.blogspot.com, beginning a long journey to learn about this fruit from god.

I"m also a continued F1 fan, with visits to the Sepang and Singapore GP! Still hope to go Belgium GP one day!! At the Eau Rouge corner!

Lastly, I did complete my first ever marathon at a respectable? time of 6.12. With minimal training due to an injured ankle in september which refused to heal for several weeks. After the Japan trip in October, training was left to 6 weeks and injury /time management was of the essence. Taking care of hydration, over-exertion, and calorie intake, I manage a few exhilarating runs up to the F1 pit building, training up to ~18km. The marathon itself was fun and eventful, with Wenhui taking part in the half-marathon, and fellow mates Loke Yuen/Jing Mei and Guan Hui who joined the full marathon with me. There was plenty of pain, but not a single moment of giving up. The same can be said to life, as the cliche goes, life's a marathon, and 2010 will be just another click, let's ROCK ON, 2010!

Hokkaido Day 2: Furano to Abashiri

Day 2 of the trip! After a tiring first day of a midnight flight, + driving in the dark/rain/winding roads to Furano, it was a clear skies on the next day!

Chu totoro gets packing and ready to go! Outside, autumn colours!!

One of many japanese vending machines, this one dispenses TV cards to watch pay-TV in the hotel

One of the most amazing milk ever at the hotel breakfast. This small bottle would have cost ~160yen in the shops, >SGD2.

Wenhui all decked up in boots and ready to roll! Prince Furano hotel in beautiful temperate light!

Our first stop Furano Ice Milk factory, producing cheeses of local milk! Here Wenhui corresponding with the milk producer.

Yummy cheese samples for tasting! The black ones on the left are blended with squid ink! Oooh!!

The 2nd stop was the Furano Wine factory. Here an expansive shot of the entrance, aptly named Chateau Furano!! I guess the French influence on wine is everywhere!

Too used to Australian Chardonnays, blancs, some German Rieslings and some French whites, the description of this 'Ciel' wasn't in any sort of book which we have comed across! Nevertheless, we felt that this was great and we bought a couple of bottles! Ciel means 'sky' in Japanese,...I stand corrected!

The next stop was Shikisai no Oka, with cultivated flowers of a myraid array of colours! The sunflower season seems to have ended reently with dead beds of sunflowers. Here a classic view of blue skies, and rows of colours! With a white house to boot!!

Still at Shikisai no Oka, another shot which I like.

Japanese accessories/sourvenoirs are impeccably made and packaged. Here's an exmple of plastic encased flowers, in backlit situation.

Our next stop is at the Otokoyama Sake brewery. This was a great day, with cheese, wine, and now sake!! Here's 男山, one of the most famous sake from Japanese. And this is the highest grade of them all! Tasting remarkably different from regular sake, I couldn't decide if I like it! This has hints of Moutai to it rather than the usual sake signatures.

Wenhui putting on a 男山 costume, ready to make her own sake!!

Light was falling fast, we spent too much time on cheese, wine and sake, and this was enroute to Abashiri at Ryusei & Ginga falls. It was really windy and conditions were very cold. I didn't bring any ND filters nor tripod and can't pull anything more than 1.3 seconds on the shutter and this was the best I achieved with limited gear.

With light fading fast, the skies changed and we stopped to snap when we felt like it. Here Wenhui's dad capturing the last light of the day.

Trees beginning to be barren in the autumn.

My usual practice, start stripping shoes etc and take a shot of the hotel, here at hotel Abashirikoso with a traditional tatami seating area.

The gigantic portions of the dinner, what you see is not the complete set for ONE person,YET!! Hurray!!! We tried our first Onsen (common bath/hot spring) tonight and I didn't really enjoy....seeing naked men all around...sigh.

A long and satisfying day of cheese, wine, sake, great lunch (not shown here), cold afternoon, nice sunset, fantastic dinner!

Hokkaido, Nagoya 2009! Part 1

A wonderful trip, in several chapters, between 10th October to 19th October 2009. A fly-and-drive trip, with Wenhui and her parents, have us set off on the 10th October onboard an SQ flight at 1am. I had thought they would serve food on board, and I was starting to be damn hungry, and a leading stewardess said, oh..we only have biscuits. I'm like.. WTF...trying to pull crap? And she instructed another stewardess to pass the biscuits to me. And the biscuits were crap, similar or worse than Toh Guan stuff. But I had to eat, and chomping I went. After I almost finish my plate of biscuits, the leading stewardess came back and asked if I wanted instant noodles. Not a newbie SQ flights, this is terribly disappointing to have them offer this at a late stage. I wasn't full, but I wasn't hungry..and I let it go. The rest of the trip was tough, a 1am flight is never fun and we reached the transit at Osaka ~6am local time.... and the rest of the magical journey begins!!


A beatifully lit Osaka terminal greets us as we left the aerobridge.

In search of better food than SQ crap, we started fumbling at orders. Here's the REAL deal!! Everything in Japanese!!!

A plate of 8 Tako (Octopus) balls constitutes a meal for them. This is extremely starchy, and after the 3rd or 4th..it gets really quite tough to continue...hee

One of the many Japanese wonders, a solution analyser to ensure that your water bottle is safe to be brought onto the domestic flight..to Hokkaido!!!!

More beautiful light on the ANA plane. Very nice interior and great service!! The stewardesses greated every single one, and sincere and wide smiles throughout!

A hand at a 'grabber' before the flight..hee. Arcade games are terribly expensive at >100Yen and above (Exchange rate ~100yen to SGD1.60)

After meeting our tour leader and collecting our car, it was straight to the first place of interest, the setting sun of a temperate country is... wow..here backlit lavender? flowers.

A field of crops again backligt in the setting sun.

It was bloody cold...(~12C? with howling winds), I was in a dry fit tee and the thinest wind breaker but enjoying the hell of the time!! It's like enlightment to be faced with the fresh cold air and light from heaven. Here's Wenhui burrring in the cold..hee.

A quaint little house of Gelato magic.

Amazingly flavourful, not too sweet with the right body, this was my favourite gelato for the entire trip!

A super long and ardous journey across dozens of winding roads in RAINING and PITCH DARK conditions brought us to our first accommodation in Prince Hotel at Furano. One of the most luxurious meals (~4000-6000yen) awaited and this was...*slurp*..an unforgetable meal!

Till the next day....

Formula 1 Grand Prix Singapore 2009!!

Some of my shots taken over the F1 weekend. It'll be a 'car-only' post instead of a general write-up of the whole event.

Here fisichella passes the finishing line in the midst of a practice session in the twilight with the Singapore Flying in the backgrond. One can also see the podium where champagne will pop!

A Brawn GP car carving out a nice line. A white/green car riding a white/green line.

Another shot of a Brawn GP car taken using slow shutter and panning technique.

City view, again in twilight.

Coming out of one of the most famous bridges (Anderson bridge) in Singapore, another panning shot taken here.

Another panning shot, here I like the trail of colours above the force India car matching the livery of the car itself!

Here's a panning shot in portrait mode, to show the retarding green/white stripes.

Over all I'm happy with the shots given the limited views and various fenced up area. If any has offers to Paddock Club/Pit passes/Photography vests, do let me know ok!!

Diane Reeves: Mosaci Festival 12/9/2009

http://www.diannereeves.com/, amazing vocal range, spanning 3 octaves easily. Incredible diction and clarity, with wit, humour, conversation in melody, this was...the best concert ever!!

Toy convention 2009

Many thanks to Weichang & Yiru from www.myotakuhouse.com for the invitation to cover their showcase at the Toy convention 2009! Here're some snaps from the convention!

Not a great toy fan myself, I couldn't get my eyes away from this impressive display of Transformers! The number of Optimus Prime alone was mind-blogging and I might start to understand why some fanatics have their houses converted to a collector's haven/museum!

Here's a snap of Otaku house! Covering many cosplay items plus collectibles. Check out the Qee selection!! www.myotakuhouse.com!

An example of the absolutely gorgeous and exquisite showcase of Blythe doors. The booth was swarmed with admirers all wanting a piece of this beautiful colleciton of dolls!

Here two men trying to look cool infront of the Blythe showcase.....but hiding a doll each behind them... ;)

One of my favourite stations was the Wii counters, there were easily 10+ stations set up for people to play all sorts of Wii games! This is the new floor pad...and remember to wear the correct coloured socks!! I also had the chance to go on stage to try the Wii guitar!! More images of that to follow...

Joining the 30yo club

Finally, the 'dreaded' day is here. It seem so far away in the horizon for so many years, and never thought how it would feel to finally reach here. And 'poof', it's here faster than anything I've seen.

Some say what achievements have gone through the past 30yrs?? I'm happily married to the love of my life, I'm enjoying my wisest and perhaps the most productive years to date. My 'raw speed' of thought hasn't match up to when I was 18 years old, neither has my 'pure' physical fitness now compared to when I was a teenager. BUTT!! I'm enjoying fine wines up to vintage of 1982 (that's a tad off my birth year!! 1979, which isn't known to be a great wine vintage). I've my own ride and I've taken part in biatholons and triathlons and I've just signed up for my first marathon!!! (standard chartered 2009). I've also been conferred a Phd recently. I've been fortunate enough to witness great cities and national parks of the world, and been blessed with a camera to capture many of these great sites. All in all a great 30 years!

For the next 10 years, many of the '30 club' have said that it's the best years of one's life. I look forward to be successful in my career, to carve out a path worthy to guide others on theirs, to taste the best food and wine around the world, to savour the fruits of labour with my family.

More thoughts to follow....*written after a tank of Sake!!!*..

OUT!

*part 2 of story....Here's one of my best meals I have could have imagined, great Japanese fare (courtesy of TK's arrangements & Thomas culinary skills @ Tomo, Marina square), private room, and XL bottle of Sake, 6 pax, fluid conversation and exchange of ideas = a meal close to perfection. The sake when warmed turned out to be extremely fragrant, switching on the 'right' taste buds at the right time. Here's a composite shot of the gang. From the top left, Cheng Wee, Me! and Yaozhong, buddies from Victoria School, top right, Hoe Soon and myself, trenders! and yes, that's the bottle of sake which we finished. Bottom left, wifey and I tucking in mouth-watering prawns! Bottom right, a trio with Loke Yuen grining with excessive sake blowing red on his face!

Part 3 to follow...

And it was back home for a traditional cake cutting with my parents and wifey. Damn 3 big candles!!!

This was about a week prior to the actual day, celebrating with my research group, Organic Nano Device Lab @ National University of Singapore. It's a tradition to get a cake for the 'babies' for each month. And since August was going to be my last month and it was my big THREE-O, I had to decide to get a 'good cake', and share it with the group! I chose passion meringue from The Patissier , it cost...a BOMB!! Think $XXX, but from everyone's reaction, this cake was worth it..hee.

More to follow? I think so!! watch out!

We, the citizens of Singapore...

I was very fortunate to be able to catch the NDP, albeit it was NE2, but it was the BEST NDP ever which I've watched. The creative direction by Ivan Heng and music direction by Sydney Tan was simply ..WOW.. I absolutely love the 7X8 'cubicles' and it was such a great idea! My favourite segment was the 'chapter 4', where by Singapore was in a 'Fast forward' regime with music from various generation from the 60s all the way through the 90s. The mixing of Shout- Tears for Fears, Spice girls - Wannabe, Madonna - Music and other songs were simply 'pumping'!!! Watching the parade from the Telly on NDP itself was just... so different compared to 'live'!!