Bintan!!

Went to Bintan last weekend! Took a day of leave on Friday and boarded a trip down to the island for a quick getaway.




The basic plan was to go there and relax. To rejuvenate. To recharge. To NUA.



I parked my butt on the hammock and let myself sway along with the winds, catching the breezes from the sea and taking my mind off everything. Disconnecting from Singapore really eases my mind alot, well, basically disconnecting from my work will ease me anytime.

Went to the "shopping haven" they call Pasar Oleh-Oleh, but there are only 10 shops there and hardly any visitors around.




The big bus that we sat in only carried a 6 person load and when we got down, the 2 aunties behind us asked in Hokkien, "Like that only ah?"

We did get something out of it though - we went for spa/reflexology!




I didn't take any photos during the session but I am telling you, when the guy was doing his reflexology thing on my legs I was almost tearing like I had listened to Michael Bolton for 24 hours straight. The funny thing though, is that right after it my legs felt really light. Kinda like wearing the real Nike AIR.

And besides lazing the weekend away, we ate.



And ate.



And er... ate.



And... yeah. And we ate.



Oh, we spotted some interesting green blob washed up on the beach.



Anyone who has the slightest idea what it is, drop me a note. For the moment, I am dubbing it "Flubber".

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Epilogue

When I went back to work on Monday, I was charged up and tackled my tasks with renewed vigor, never saying die like an Energizer battery. Things went smoother even though its the same shit and the same problems.

By Wednesday I was drained out.

I used to laugh out loud at the idiosyncrasies and humour at Dilbert comic stopes before I started working full time. Now, all I could do was empathize.

How about you, you, you?

Took leave from work to go the zoo about a month back and it was pretty fun, walking through bits of childhood as memories of Primary School excursions lined around the compound. It is largely still the same and the animals like the penguins, monkeys and the elephants seem to be at ease in the zoo.





The white tigers on the other hand, exhibit very obvious side-effects of captivity. They are over weight and the male tiger is walking around the same spots marking his territory.



The horses really seems to be suffering. They looked really passive when people approached them and the pair just stood there, inert.



Holding the visitor's information pamphlet, we tracked our way around the zoo systematically and caught a couple of animal shows. The show with the seals are a disappointment, mainly due to the fact that we went there late and could hardly find a hole for us to peek. In the end we stood near the side walk and leaned over the railings to watch 3/4 of the show.

The show with the dogs (forgot the name of it) is really geared towards children and it is not something that gets your champagne bubbles rising.



All in all, it was a nice way to break away from work and I'll leave with a couple more photos.

A couple of photos

My new workstation!



Really cool looking, though its much easier for my boss to be behind me looking at what I am doing.



Caught The Campaign to confer the the Public Service star on JBJ 1 week plus ago. Just for those people who don't go to watch dramas and plays often, the book in the above photo is NOT free. I saw alot of people going over to the desk to realize with big beady eyes that it costs $2. Come on guys, only $2. Do support the art scene if you can.

I will leave the review of it open, since alot of people have ALOT of differing views on it. My statement is only geared to those that told me that all the actors (both of them) did were to complain and poke fun at others. My feel will always be that art need not necessarily provide a solution, it can simply be the medium through where we derive it.