Fun on Foot 21 July 2007

The fun on foot event is back and registeration is now open online! click here to view the details and to register. Do visit the website and register before the 14 July 2007.

It is a fun event like the Amazing Race. This year the event starts from the Raffles' landing Site along Singapore River ( nearest NEL MRT - Clarke Quay) and then you move on to the other checkpoints with the clues given. Ian has been looking forward to this and I will be forming a team with him, Ms Wong and maybe Laila.

Buzz my Day

Quite a tiring day - more tiring than fun on foot! The worse part is that my handphone battery went flat in the morning. Started off from Vivocity at 11 a.m. to the various checkpoints at Chinatown, Toa Payoh Bus interchange, Singapore Post centre, Malay Village and back to Vivocity again. We did not go the Hereen checkpoint as it was already quite late. Made it back to Vivocity by 2.41 p.m. The contest was quite tough as we can only use the NE line and bus services. We took the MRT to Chinatown and we had to go to the Heritage Centre, the Indian temple and also Smith Street. It would have been easier if we can access the other checkpoints by the other MRT lines e.g. North-South line to Toa Payoh Bus Interchange and the Paya Lebar MRT station to the Singapore Post Centre. However, the rules state that we can only use the NE line and bus services. In fact, Ian was quite frustrated with the waiting for buses and the transfers we had to make e.g. we had to go to Potong Pasir station and then change to 142 to Toa Payoh Bus Interchange. There we took bus no. 28 to the Singapore Post Centre. After which, we crossed over to the Malay village - not knowing that we had to get a stamp there first. Ms Wong had to walk back to the Singapore Post Centre. After that we took bus no.13 to Boon Keng Station and back to Habourfront station.

Hougang Health Day

Our Red Cross cadets helped out as volunteers in the Health Screening for the community @ Hougang Blk 306 17 June (Sun)
Shift 1 - 8 a.m. to 12 noon - Yu Ping, Hui Si, Jia Yun, Reine, Cai Ying, Sihui, Jasmine, XingXuan, Siti, Wei Woon
Shift 2 – 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. - Xiao Li, Marcus, Yang Yew, Xin Jie, Vivian, Jia Wei, Elysia, Qiao Ni, Jia Ying, Ian, Agnes, Jian Hui, Ryan

They helped out in the various stations - registeration, BMI, glucose, bloodpressure and eyecheck. After meeting them at the bus interchange and settling them - I left at 9.30 a.m. as I experienced a sudden sharp pain in my back and had to rush home. Mrs Lai came at 11 a.m. and took over the 2nd shift. I must say I panicked a bit when I feel the pain as I had slipped disc before and I was afraid of having a relapse. My sister's disc slipped by 70% and she had to undergo an operation 2 days ago, fixing in 6 screws - in fact she is still in the SGH now. I must make sure I have a good rest next week so that I can recuperate!

Buzz my Day - island wide hunt for heritage

Just registered for the event on 23 Jun (Sat) with Ms Wong and my sons. Sounds pretty interesting as it is like the "fun-on-foot" event which Ian is looking forward to. The race starts from Vivocity and we have to complete the checkpoints answering some questions. We will be using the MRT on the NE line or by SBS buses. Anyone who is interested in the event please register by tomorrow - the details are available on the sbs website: http://www.sbstransit.com.sg/

World Blood Donar Day @Vivocity

I met Ellyn, Si Hui, Hui Si, Xing Xuan, Ming Jing, Yang Yew and Marcus at the Hougang MRT station today at 3 p.m.. Shermaine, Afidah, Xiao Li and Yu Ping joined us at Vivocity (A toal of 11 cadets). It was extremly crowded at Vivocity and the cadets finished distributing the pins (just like the the one shown in the first photo held by Yu Ping) very early. At the end they also helped in giving out lucky picks to those with the donar card like the one you see in the last photo. As mentioned earlier, this will be our first CIP in the holiday. This Sunday we will be helping SSHC in the health screening at Blk 306. I will be meeting the Sec 2 at 7.45 a.m. at the Hougang Bus Interchange for the 1st shift and Mrs Lai will meet the Sec 1 at 11 a.m.

Johor Zoo 2007

We visited the Johor Zoo today. It is just opposite the Abu Bakar Mosque and the admission fee is extremely cheap at RM2 for adult and RM1 for children. It used to be the Sultan's private zoo and I must say it is quite small.

We took a cab from Singapore all the way to Plaza Seni, which is just opposite City Square. I must say it is quite a good place to shop and I was pleasantly surprised that we reached the place within an hour from my place - no need to go down and queue etc..

Red Cross CIP

Helping out in the World Blood Donar Day event at Vivocity will be our first CIP for the holiday on Thursday (14th June)from 3.30 p.m. to 8 p.m. I will be meeting our cadets who will be in full U at 3 p.m. at the Hougang MRT. They will be helping to distribute the pins for the event. Join us at Vivocity this Thursday - Blood Donars are given a card and are eligible to play 2 games in the carnival! Please support Blood donation for a good cause!

Our next CIP event will be this Sunday (17th June). We will be helping the SCHCC in the Health Screening Exercise at Hougang Blk 306. The sec 2 cadets will help out in the morning shift and I am meeting them at the Hougang Bus Interchange at 7.45 a.m. Mrs Lai will meet the Sec 3 and Sec 1 at 11a.m. for the afternoon shift.

Our 3rd CIP event will be on next Friday which is the Street Sales for the Red Cross Charity Draw tickets fromm 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.

We will also be helping the SCHCC in their Flag day in August and will be visiting the Toa Payoh Eldercare centre again somewhere in Sept.

I am also planning for a Malacca trip for the Red Cross Members. They will visit a school in Malacca to see how the Red Crescent unit functions as well as to take part in a first aid competition. The students will also collaborate with our unit in a treasure hunt event along Junker street. We will also visit a local home in Malacca for CEP.

Definitely a long line-up with preparation for the Red Cross Current Affairs and First Aid competitions in the following months!

Geography Challenge 9th June 2007

I met the team at Hougang MRT station @ 7 a.m. to top up their EZlink card as well as to give to them some money for lunch. As we reached Clementi MRT quite early, I decided to give them a treat @ MacDonald. Afterall, they had made their way to the final round and deserve some credit!

We reached LT13 at 8.30 a.m. and after registeration, the team went into the LT. I expected them to come out of the LT13 earlier as we were among the first few to register. However, it seems that they have to complete a word search before they can start on the race. Once they have completed the word search, they are flag off in batch of 6. I waited impatiently and I think our team were the 3rd batch to be released, almost 20 mins after the first batch (RI, RGS...).

I think our team was quite unlucky that day. Though they could identify the 1st clue which was at Bishan quickly, they were given the wrong envelope at the first station. When they arrived at the second station, which was at Harbourfront, they were told that there was no envelope for them. At the end the team wasted more than an hour and Wasiur told me they went up and down the Dhobby Ghaut Interchange 6 times! They were also quite unlucky in that when they reached the Pasir Ris Park, the station was closed for lunch.. and they wasted more time. At the end they only completed 4 stations and were 2 mins late! Sean had to rush off to a hockey match at Tampines.

The Award Ceremony cum final round for the top 3 teams started at around 5.10 p.m. The Quiz was very challenging and caught the attentions of all the participants, as we also tried to see whether we could answer the questions. At the end, RGS emerged as the champion. As there wasn't any sponsor this year, the finalists were not awarded any prizes, unlike 2 years ago, when Zhidong and his team actually got some book vouchers for getting into the final round. In fact Prof Huang mentioned that they almost wanted to cancel the Geography Challenge this year as there was no sponsor!

I called for a MPV Cab to take in all 5 of us back to Hougang Mall. Along the way, I think Wasiur and his gang were like teasing Jauhari over the phone? It was a tiring day but I hope that the team had fun and learnt much more about Geography from the competition.

Red Cross Camp 5th to 7th June 2007

Click on the links below for more photos:

Red Cross Annual Training Camp 2007

Day 1 5th June 2007
Hike at Mt Imbiah, Sentosa 5th June 2007
Day 2 6th June 2007
Campfire 6th June 2007 - Many thanks to Mr Fahizal and the scouts as well the invited guests from NPCC, NCC and the girl guides.
Day 3 7th June 2007

I must say God has really blessed us as the weather was fine throughout the 3 days. I am thankful for the help rendered by Mr Fahizah and the scouts in teaching our unit campcraft as well as in setting up the campfire.

A lot of paperwork and planning were involved before the camp. I must really say that Xiao Li and her committee had done a good job. She had actually reccee Sentosa twice to plan for the route for the hike. In the midst of planning, there were some misunderstandings and sad to say, one of the seniors did not turn up for the camp.

Of course, I must really thank Marianah, Afidah and Yi Rui for staying with their juniors and helping out through the camp. I had to apply for budget for meals, subsidy of the T-shirt, exemption from the use of MOE tender for meals ( to get the meals from Rashidah which is cheaper), sent the T-shirt design to the supplier, book the bus for the hike, order the items for the camp such as additional tents, mess tins, solid fuel, bread and other food items as well as getting Mr Fahizal to help to order the firewood and Kerosene. We also had to print the Packing list for the students, the map for the hike at Sentosa, notes for the Total Defence and RCK lessons as well as the test papers. After the camp, we need to apply the outdoor activities badges(Bronze for Sec 1, Silver for Sec 2 and Gold for Sec 3), the heritage badge (Sec 1), the total defence badge (Sec 1), RCK ( Bronze for Sec 1 and Silver for Sec 2). I am glad that all the Sec 1 (except 3 students who cannot make it to the camp) passed the tests and are eligible for the 4 badges.

The Sec 2 set up the tents much faster than the group last year and we could managed to go for our hike on time. However the bus was 20 mins late but we managed to arrive at Sentosa early. We arrived at the coach station near the visitor centre and I bought the coach entry permit ($10) and the admission tickets (@$2each). After that, the coach dropped us at the beach station and we started our hike along the beach all the way up to Mt Imbiah. At the top of Mt Imbiah, the students had 2 evacuation drills and they also learnt more the heritage of the place. It used to be a lookout point for merchant vessels and was later converted into a gun emplacement area under the rule of the British.

We hosted a combined campfire on the 2nd day. The different UGs were invited and they also put up a performance. Thanks to all, especially the scouts, the campfire was quite a success.

Renie did not feel well that night and I woke up at 2 p.m. to check on her. I hope she is feeling better now.

Sunway Lagoon 2007

Our very first stay at Sunway Lagoon.Posting this from an internet cafe near to the hotel as my sons wanted to log in to Maple story. The charges are quite reasonable - RM3(around S$1.40) for an hour. The hotel charges RM20 for the use of the internet from the business centre for half an hour! We set off from Golden Miles Complex at 8 a.m. in an Excecutive Class Coach - pretty good as it has a personal entertainment centre ( either games or movies) at each seat which kept my sons occupied through the 6.5 hour journey. I was pretty mad at the check-in though. The receptionist told me that my tour agency did not pay them for the extra bed. I showed him the hotel voucher from the agency which stated that I had paid for the 2 rooms with extra bed. Not a very friendly guy as he refused to call the agency and asked me to call them instead! I will never book a tour with Five Stars again! How could they not pay the hotel when I paid them more than a month ago! I finally got it settled and checked into our rooms which were on the 9th floor. I must say that overall the hotel service is quite good - the room service is prompt and the rooms are quite spacious and comfortable. And I LOVE it for its proximity to the shopping mall - just through a linkway and we can shop and eat at the restaurants anytime!

We ate at Pizza hut and BBQ Plaza on the 1st day. I love the sauce served at BBQ Plaza. The con is that the hotel does not have a swimming pool. In order to use the swimming pool, we have to cross over to the Sunway Lagoon Resort (same management). However, the swimming pool is great and my sons had fun in it the first day. The spread for the buffet provided by the hotel is quite good. Ian had 2 servings of the Nasi Lemak. I took the Tosai and toast. Chris did not have any appetite for breakfast and Lee was still sleeping in the hotel room!

I think the highlight must be the Sunway Lagoon theme park which we visited the 2nd day. The waterpark was fun and my sons really enjoyed it, esp at the Kalahari Kids' corner and the surf pool. I rented a float for them at RM10 (another RM10 as deposit) and they floated along the Little Zimbabwe (which is like a canal around the lagoon). Definitely worth the money here. However they did not enjoy going to the Wild Wild West - probably because the rides were more for adults. We went for a ride in the simulator and we paid RM15 each. We also looked at the limestones exhibit - they call it the scholar rocks! We went to the interactive zoo and paid 10MR each to enter - nothing much inside except that we got into a small train and rode around the park. We also took a photo with a python which cost us RM20.

We went back to the Mall for lunch at Delicious Kitchen - we ordered a set meal for 5 and additional 2 bowls of noodles. My sons love the noodles and finished them all. The meal is very economical at around RM35. We had steamboat in a Thai restaurant. The ambience is good and the spread is good but a bit more expensive as compared to the Chinese Restaurant.at around RM70. On the 3rd day, we decided to check out Berjaya Times Square and Chinatown.

We took the cab from the hotel (RM50 for a MPV) to Berjaya Times Square. I thought my sons will enjoy the rides in the indoor theme park but it proved to be a disappointment. They could not go into some rides as they are terrified of the height. They were not allowed to go into the playground and some of the children rides as they were above the height limit. For the 1st time, Ian felt that he is tall!

After that we took the monorail to Chinatown ( Maharajalela station), which is only 2 stops away from Berjaya Times Square (Imbi station). There was nothing much to see in Chinatown, just a lot of pirated DVDs and imitated bags and wallets. As it was still early, the stalls selling food stuff were not out yet. We had our lunch in a Taiwain restaurant inside a small shopping mall opposite Chinatown. The beef noodle was really good. After that we took the LRT form Pasar Seni station all the way to Kelana Jaya Station. The train was very old and crowded - quite a disappointment. From the Kelana Jaya Station we took a cab which cost us RM15 back to the hotel.

We went to the Chinese Restaurant opposite the hotel for dinner in the evening - a set meal for 5 and it cost me around RM60. The food was good and I highly recommend the restaurant as even the locals patronise it. I went for a foot massage at night and discover an internet cafe amongst the row of shophouses opposite the hotel. After the massage, I brought my sons to the internet cafe so that they can play Maple Story and I could check my emails. Nothing much on the last day - we check out of the hotel at 12 p.m. and kept our luggage at the concierge counter. After that we went to a food court opposite the hotel - much more variety and you can really taste the local food.

We left the hotel at 3 p.m. in our bus. The bus was old and some of the personal entertainment systems didn't work! My sons could not play games either and I felt that I am being cheated of the $150 upgrade charges for this bus! As mentioned earlier - I will not book with Five Stars anymore!

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