A Summary of 2016

On the reflection of the past few NYEs, 2016 started off rather slowly, with trips to Penang in May.  Boracay diving in June, Shanghai in July, France in October, Korea in December.

big events included moving out of Funan into Plaza Singapura for Red Dot Photo's retail store. Roseberg winning F1, Year of Olympics, with crazy Schooling's Gold.  Pokemon craze taking up much time and getting so much fun (never have had in soo many years) (which finally died when the radars were nerfed).

Notable concerts included 起飞, les miserables, NDP, Dick's Lee 50th, Comedy club, etc and more. :)

To a mindful 2017!

Oakley adventures

USD169 less 50%. how not to buy?

adding to the collection of 1 pair every 18-36months...and it's been >10 years! ooh #lifelong fan

2016 Formula 1 - Roseberg takes the title!

Amazing final race. Happy for Rosberg! Consistency pays off. Being hungry for continued success is not easy at all.

Tip for Max verstappen to be a champion within 5 years!

Pokemon GO Adventures

the crazy month from 6th august is still not letting up with the Pokemon craze.

particular mention here for the most favored hunted - Snorlax!

Nothing beats seeing a CP??? meaning it's going to be a monster CP!

Snorlax 0. -the one that got away. sgpokemap is really helpful in the planning/hunting. One sunday night on the way to my in laws, the popping up of Snorlax along Paya Lebar Road (near the church) had just detouring and chasing after the mon. Mine got away and Wenhui got her first (CP~1k)

The first Snorlax - It was a perhaps 2 weeks ago, on the way home and with Wenhui, we spotted it on Sightings but it's not on any radar, so the made rush to do the triangulation. thanks to the light traffic late at night as well as the awareness of the roads in my 'hood', before long the blue/white popped up.

1st was a CP319/84/400 IV 87 mon.. Headbutt/ Earthquake. YAY!

2nd is CP1026 / 153/1300. IV 67, lick/earthquake

3rd was a drive OTW home again, the blue white boy popped up and it was Onan road, a U-turn and a mad dash there,we didnt' realised it's a one way road, and had to make a 800m or so detour. By now, the hunt is not locate the exact address, but to look for crowd/traffic/jam! Finally a slow drive thru and we bought caught the fat boy. 

3rd: 482/102/600. IV one of the poorest, with 0 Stamina on all accounts!? But still every Snorlax is a good Snorlax!

12th Sept. The trio. It was Haji, and the day started off lazy. A look on the sgpokemap shown a fresh spawn at Ubi Road 2, and wifey and I went hunting, easy enough, it was a huge mon for me

4th: 2097/217/3500 IV max87 lick/body slam (good defender?)

A good pogo buddy sighted one at Woodleigh (a common spot it seems for Snorlax), and it was another short drive. Locating this aint' easy as the mon will be inside private condominiums. A frantic walk/ up/down for a few minutes yielded a 5th!

5th: 2012/212/3500  Lick / Hyper Beam.

The night started with a visit to a friend in Sengkang and I was at punggol to hunt for charmanders (mostly poor IVs) and after picking up the friend at Sengkang (with him driving), and within minutes en route else where, Snorlax popped up FIRST in my sightings. It was a scramble to make a round-about to hunt. It was my friend's second attempt and i held 3 phones (wifey's, friend who was driving, and mine), wifey's snorlax was easily caught.) then i rushed down to join the crowd with 2 phone left. My spawn the latest and after a few rounds of berries/ultra, mine was settled. Finally my poor friend's snorlax refused to stay and it ran away! (CP 19xx!!)

6th 1731/197/2500 zen headbutt/ body slam

it was a superb day with 2 eggecutor and a few other goodies, but 3 snorlax in a day? Can't really top that. 

13th september. after a wine dinner, it was a 'tour' of my 'hood' for a friend from Malaysia to hunt for dratinis and the like. It went full steam when snorlax appeared on the map, firstly on sims avenue!

7th 1489 / 182/ 2200, iv max 89, lick / hyperbeam.

And i thought we were done and can go home, after picking up 2 pikachus along the way too,

 yet another Snorlax showed up, this time at Ubi road ~4.

8th. 1781 / 197 / 3000 iv max 51 / lick/earthquake.

17th Sept. a regular saturday, house keeping at the studio and after all the sweeping/mopping/moving stuff around, the wifey called and said Snorlax appeared at Ubi Road 2, 10 mins to go. It was off chasing on my bicycle.reached there with 3 minutes to spare!

9th: 1798/202/3000 IV not great. lick/ earthquake.

17th sept. Again, ont he way home, Radar on and it was a decent catch of my first Lickitung, a Charmeloen (my first wild, weak IV),  a Flareon (ultra weak IV/CP), and finally a Snorlax! A super jam at Mel's place, I ignored Google's map GPS and went my own route ( minimizing right turns), and it was a super packed Mel's place. I was on East Coast Road heading east, and it was impossible to do a U-turn. A wind down window and popped out a Snorlax! CP 42! One red ball and boom I was on a left turn up still road home. Then let him helm a gym

And i managed level 25 the same night!

18th: A lazy Sunday with regular Yoga. And on the way to work, Snorlax appeared at Balam Road! A 1min cycle and I was there, to just 3-4 pax around. CP 1100/154/1600 makes a weak Snorlax for level 25 player. Nevertheless, a great day to start! CP11th,00!

20th Sept.

I was out and about and the blue/white popped up at Bedok Reservoir, v gentle giant and 1-2 ultras and it was mine!

13th: CP2196 / 218 / 4000. link/hyperbeam, level 25/151/15/7 82% 290kg. XS

same day, with https://sg.appx.hk/map, audio alerts possible and the snorlax popped up right on Circuit road! A short ride and an ultra,

14th: 233/71/400, IV80 max,lick/bodyslam. 502kg.

(sighting @bliss but no Radar to hunt!)

22nd, past midnight, a bit reeling from the non-snorlax capture @ Bliss, the radar alert a 84% Snorlax @ Ubi Crescent, it was a hunt finally! Though the

15th:  was to be a a 136/54/200 Headbutt/body slam 'display piece'!?

23th. an early day
#16 near circuit road, U shape HDB

#17 Potong pasir Ave 3 otw to Sentosa

Lapras damn far away. 

a Charizard appears and cheong it was , my ran away. manage to get for Wenhui and Dave. :(

Snorlax came up almost concurrently, ~200meters away deep. Frantic find,

my #18!

24th Sat. all day in office, no good sightings, waited all night while continuing work, finally at 1030pm, snorlax appeared, Balam again! #19! Lost Muk and a CP106 Gya finished up the day.

Pokemon GO Adventures

the crazy month from 6th august is still not letting up with the Pokemon craze.

particular mention here for the most favored hunted - Snorlax!

Nothing beats seeing a CP??? meaning it's going to be a monster CP!

Snorlax 0. -the one that got away. sgpokemap is really helpful in the planning/hunting. One sunday night on the way to my in laws, the popping up of Snorlax along Paya Lebar Road (near the church) had just detouring and chasing after the mon. Mine got away and Wenhui got her first (CP~1k)

The first Snorlax - It was a perhaps 2 weeks ago, on the way home and with Wenhui, we spotted it on Sightings but it's not on any radar, so the made rush to do the triangulation. thanks to the light traffic late at night as well as the awareness of the roads in my 'hood', before long the blue/white popped up.

1st was a CP319/84/400 IV 87 mon.. Headbutt/ Earthquake. YAY!

2nd is CP1026 / 153/1300. IV 67, lick/earthquake

3rd was a drive OTW home again, the blue white boy popped up and it was Onan road, a U-turn and a mad dash there,we didnt' realised it's a one way road, and had to make a 800m or so detour. By now, the hunt is not locate the exact address, but to look for crowd/traffic/jam! Finally a slow drive thru and we bought caught the fat boy. 

3rd: 482/102/600. IV one of the poorest, with 0 Stamina on all accounts!? But still every Snorlax is a good Snorlax!

12th Sept. The trio. It was Haji, and the day started off lazy. A look on the sgpokemap shown a fresh spawn at Ubi Road 2, and wifey and I went hunting, easy enough, it was a huge mon for me

4th: 2097/217/3500 IV max87 lick/body slam (good defender?)

A good pogo buddy sighted one at Woodleigh (a common spot it seems for Snorlax), and it was another short drive. Locating this aint' easy as the mon will be inside private condominiums. A frantic walk/ up/down for a few minutes yielded a 5th!

5th: 2012/212/3500  Lick / Hyper Beam.

The night started with a visit to a friend in Sengkang and I was at punggol to hunt for charmanders (mostly poor IVs) and after picking up the friend at Sengkang (with him driving), and within minutes en route else where, Snorlax popped up FIRST in my sightings. It was a scramble to make a round-about to hunt. It was my friend's second attempt and i held 3 phones (wifey's, friend who was driving, and mine), wifey's snorlax was easily caught.) then i rushed down to join the crowd with 2 phone left. My spawn the latest and after a few rounds of berries/ultra, mine was settled. Finally my poor friend's snorlax refused to stay and it ran away! (CP 19xx!!)

6th 1731/197/2500 zen headbutt/ body slam

it was a superb day with 2 eggecutor and a few other goodies, but 3 snorlax in a day? Can't really top that. 

13th september. after a wine dinner, it was a 'tour' of my 'hood' for a friend from Malaysia to hunt for dratinis and the like. It went full steam when snorlax appeared on the map, firstly on sims avenue!

7th 1489 / 182/ 2200, iv max 89, lick / hyperbeam.

And i thought we were done and can go home, after picking up 2 pikachus along the way too,

 yet another Snorlax showed up, this time at Ubi road ~4.

8th. 1781 / 197 / 3000 iv max 51 / lick/earthquake.

17th Sept. a regular saturday, house keeping at the studio and after all the sweeping/mopping/moving stuff around, the wifey called and said Snorlax appeared at Ubi Road 2, 10 mins to go. It was off chasing on my bicycle.reached there with 3 minutes to spare!

9th: 1798/202/3000 IV not great. lick/ earthquake.

17th sept. Again, ont he way home, Radar on and it was a decent catch of my first Lickitung, a Charmeloen (my first wild, weak IV),  a Flareon (ultra weak IV/CP), and finally a Snorlax! A super jam at Mel's place, I ignored Google's map GPS and went my own route ( minimizing right turns), and it was a super packed Mel's place. I was on East Coast Road heading east, and it was impossible to do a U-turn. A wind down window and popped out a Snorlax! CP 42! One red ball and boom I was on a left turn up still road home. Then let him helm a gym

And i managed level 25 the same night!

18th: A lazy Sunday with regular Yoga. And on the way to work, Snorlax appeared at Balam Road! A 1min cycle and I was there, to just 3-4 pax around. CP 1100/154/1600 makes a weak Snorlax for level 25 player. Nevertheless, a great day to start! CP11th,00!

20th Sept.

I was out and about and the blue/white popped up at Bedok Reservoir, v gentle giant and 1-2 ultras and it was mine!

13th: CP2196 / 218 / 4000. link/hyperbeam, level 25/151/15/7 82% 290kg. XS

same day, with https://sg.appx.hk/map, audio alerts possible and the snorlax popped up right on Circuit road! A short ride and an ultra,

14th: 233/71/400, IV80 max,lick/bodyslam. 502kg.

(sighting @bliss but no Radar to hunt!)

22nd, past midnight, a bit reeling from the non-snorlax capture @ Bliss, the radar alert a 84% Snorlax @ Ubi Crescent, it was a hunt finally! Though the

15th:  was to be a a 136/54/200 Headbutt/body slam 'display piece'!?

23rd morning: 

16th, just before heading to work, a Snorlax spawned an trigged the audio alert on the HK app, 

A lovely 758/130/1000 499kg snorlax

23rd Sept: 17th a spotting at Potong pasir on the way to Sentosa, pretty easy 322/85/400 538kg lick/hyperbeam. 

18th was a scramble right after missing Charizard (ran away), and looking for an elusive corner in Sentosa. 1181/167/1600  lick/earthquake 469 half decent Snorlax! the 19th was merely missed at Eunos /PIE exit by 1min.

The month of August!

An interim look at the year... with special mention to the first Gold Medal that Joseph schooling achieved, with Singapore finally having the Olympics shown live at the 11th hour, I was shouting at the TV at 930am and it's just unbelievable that JS touched home first... it really didn't matter who was second.

Continuing on the olympics, Usain Bolt's completion of the treble treble is just out of this world too.

Other mentions is the launch of the Pokemon GO on the 6th August, and all hell really broke loose in terms of record user engagement, downloads, and my personal time spent catching these Pokemons!

It's also my birthday month, and what a list of great wines from Gervey Chambertin, Vougeot, CDLR/Chambertin themes and all the fabulous food. The wish this year is not for 'youth' like many other years, time seems to slow a little too, and I'm grateful for more 'mindfulness' in this coming year.

Onwards to the rest of 2016!

A look back at 2015

2015 is a year of many events, the pace is slower, or I've made it slower. There were times to think and reflect, amongst the constant daily grind.

Trips included a Penang tripd in March, Bangkok trip in May, wine trips to Tuscany in May and Champagne/Burgundy in October, a business trip to Shanghai in July.

A few thoughts, that humans live on memory and experiences, time is fleeting, our bodies and mind fragile, monetary possessions transient.


We've witness the passing of Mr Lee Kuan Yew, whilst we camped  for several hours in the early hours, and mourned with fellow Singaporeans for a full week. It was either eternal gratefulness that our generation can reap the fruits which our forefathers have planted.


A hopefully yearly shot of the family.


My dad's 70th Birthday.


The passing of grandmother in May this year. Every Chinese Near Year we visited, and 2015 turned out to be the last.


And 36 candles were celebrated with the elixir of life, oysters!


A year of fabulous wine&dine with life long friends.




Continued practice/strive of Yoga.



The passing of our favourite cat Tommy, truly reduced me to my emotional core, and realised with more clarity on what 'really matters'. It was 1 week of roller coaster ride at the Vet, cat blood donors, transfusion, steriods, the beautiful passing, cremation, closure with the ashes of Mocha, Junior & Tommy combined and 'went home' together.

It was a very tearful farewell, but like Mr Lee Kuan Yew, it is indeed good Karma, or fate/luck, to be able to pass on with charm and dignity, almost at perfect timing, and indeed we're blessed.

Without a doubt, 2016 will be the continued journey, with each passing breath, heartbeat, to look for memories that take my breath away, with renewed friendships, new acquaintances and more.

2015 Singapore Airlines Singapore Formula 1 Grand Prix!

It's a double happiness, the 2015 F1, with one of my favourite sports (as a spectator), + bucket-list-worthy Rock band of all time - Bon Jovi, it was a no brainer to get tickets to the 8th edition of the Singapore Formula 1 Grand Prix! Check out the very first F1 in Singapore at the 2008's edition.

This time, on Saturday, we went for walkabout tickets and hang around Turn 7, the only potential overtaking spot on the whole track. It was a 34 degree night with extreme humidity. I've also 'let go' of my cameras and turned to a 'true fan' for the first time and just watching the qualifying. It's also a first which I had 'live' update via Fox Sports Plus on mobile (via subscription from Starhub). The 1 hr session used up 1Gb of data, which is pretty decent, considering a 'Kangaroo rental unit would cost $100?. It was off to Maroon 5, as the missus idolises Adam Levin. Sorry no images here as we stood against fellow fans like sardines for 45mins to wait for the band to start at 1120pm in a high heat/humidity environment. The concert was pretty good, with Adam showing his vocal poweress and the band mostly playing supportive roles.

 On saturday, I parked at Purvis street which was within walking distance to Padang Entrance 3, but it was a heck of a jam out of Padang towards esplanade underpass to Exit 3. On Sunday, the strategy shifted. Entrance 4 was right next to Padang and we parked at Funan and walk a very short distsance to the entrance! It was off scouting for a decent view, with Turn 10 here very near to the guard rails and cars passing accelerated out of turn 10 before a slight lift to slow for the right turning Turn 11! The Fox Sports Play stopped halfway at ~2GB total download and no matter what I did, the program won't no longer play. It was off for beers and freshments at the Padang while waiting (Seated down!) for Bon Jovi!

 Oh did I mention Ferrari broke Hamilton's duck of potentially 8 straight poles and drove Mercedes off the podium completely for the first time this year?

It was then Bon Jovi's turn, which started earlier at round 1020pm. The band immediately sounded fuller and better than Maroon 5's previous performance. Bon Jovi Live in London 1995 is one of the best ever concerts I've seen on DVD, though 2015 is 20 years passed and especially without Sambora, the Bon Jovi is a tad different. It was still a superb show, with many goose-pimple moments of watching a 'life long dream' fulfilled. I'm pretty much a bigger Cranberries fan or even Roxette's, but Bon Jovi to me is not so much a 'sing along' band, but a really Rock type of band. Special moments include the acoustic version of Saturday Night Live, showcasing Jon's voice to the fullest in a quieter song. Jon did miss quite a few high notes during the latter songs but I wasn't too bothered. Runaway (1984) in the encore, was really memorable, being literally their first ever hit single during a time when Richie wasn't an official member of the band yet. The finale Livin' on a Prayer is an fitting hit for this 'once in a life time' experience!

Finally we're back after the the 2008 and 2009's edition. 2010/2012/2014 were spent overseas and the other 2 years were spent watching the Telly!