Does This Rock Look Familiar?

This quiz should be an easy one for YG. At different times, he came across to me as an entomologist (insect expert), an ornithologist (bird expert) or a botanist (plant expert). I believe YG's former profession as a teacher has something to do with his wide knowledge of diversified topics, except perhaps only in investment. :p Obviously, YG made a very good teacher.

So far, YG has never shown himself to be a petrologist. That is a rock expert, not of the music kind, according to this Wikipedia link. (Hmm... I wonder what do they call someone who studies petrol?) However, as YG seems to have been all over our little island of late, he must have seen this rock before. So YG, what's your answer?

As for me, I am no rock expert myself. I only know how to talk rocks. :p

Answer To Quiz - Updated on 26 Dec 2008

YG, Chun See and Icemoon obviously knew the answer to the quiz right away but they didn't want to spoil the game for the rest. Yes, the answer is Bukit Timah Summit.



The inscription says:

Bukit Timah Summit
Ht. 163.63m
Lat. N 1 deg 21' 16.85"
Long. E 103 deg 46' 34.95"

The climb to the summit is about half an hour to one hour, depending on how fast you climb. If you do it slowly, the walk can be quite romantic.


A tree trunk with a heart-shaped cross section. Ain't it lovely?


Take your time to see nature at its best. You can admire the long-tailed macaques but don't feed them. Your act may hurt your pocket more than their hunger may hurt them. ;) But more importantly, feeding the macaques will alter their feeding habits and make them associate human beings with food. They become reliant on us for food and may even turn aggressive if they don't get what they want. In fact, I witnessed a macaque snatching a plastic bag containing a water bottle from an unwary woman. It was quite scary.


The last part of the climb is a flight of stairs. This is a shortcut. If you take the road, the climb is less steep but it is further, naturally (pun intended).

After an arduous climb (for people of my age), I finally reached the summit.


If you are lucky, you might even see some unusual sights. On the day I was there, Mediacorp was filming on location.


The man in pink shirt was Director Michael Woo.


Come on. If Michael Woo I can make it to the summit, surely you can too. Make an attempt, if you haven't. I'm sure you will not regret it.

The Bukit Timah Summit


At the Bukit Timah Summit, there is a sign that reads:

"You have reached the top of Singapore's highest natural point at 163.8 metres. The first men to reach the summit was Singapore's Resident Councillor John Prince and his contractors in June 1827.

It took them five hours to cover a distance of 22.5 kilometres of plantations, hills and swamps from the south. A white flag was hoisted up the tallest tree, which could be seen from as far as Fort Canning Hill. The access road to the summit was built in 1843.

Believe it or not! Once upon a time .... where the tigers roamed. 'Bukit Timah was known to be horrid tiger-infested, forested blob to the early Colonials where tiger roars can be heard at twilight.' - A View From The Summit"

Battle For Bukit Timah

The inscription on the plaque near the Visitor Centre reads as follows:

"Bukit Timah, which dominates the arterial Bukit Timah and Dunearn Roads leading to the city, was a strategically important point for both the Allied troops and the Japanese.

On the night of 10th February 1942, the Japanese troops from the 5th and 18th Divisions, supported by armour, attacked troops of the 12th and 15th Indian Brigades, the 22nd Australian Brigade, The Special Reserve Battalion, Tomforce, Merrett's Force, the Argylls, Jind State Infantry and 'X' Battalion. The Allied forces had re-grouped to defend the critical junctions at Choa Chu Kang, Jurong and Clementi Roads leading to Bukit Timah Road.

By dawn of 11th February 1942, the Japanese troops reported to their commander Lieutenant General Tomoyuki Yamashita that they had seized Bukit Timah. The road to the city was open."

When We Walked On Water (2)

No, we didn't have another big flood. It's only that I participated in the New Paper Big Walk On Water today. In fact, the Marina Barrage (the end-point of the Big Walk) acts as a tidal and flood control barrier. It would help in some way to alleviate floods in low-lying areas.


This was the first time that I participated in the Big Walk. I went with my wife and my younger son. Big Walk was first started by the New Nation in 1984. The New Paper, which was introduced later, started its first Big Walk on 16 June 1991.


Flag-off was at the Fountain of Wealth at Suntec City at 7.30 am.

There were several wacky characters who contributed to the carnival atmosphere of the event:


The "Amara man" (looked more like a fruit tree to me).


The "creative green duo".


And an enterprising "phonecard seller".



Even what appeared to be a faceless dog walked along. I had a hard time telling whether it was moving forward or backward because its both ends looked so similar. :p


Some 20,000 of us trudged along the 5-km route in the hot sun - a scene that reminded me of the annual visit to the Chinese cemeteries in Peck San Theng during the Qing Ming Festival.

Luckily, there were some interesting sights along the way to break the monotony and the dreariness of the long walk.


We caught a glimpse of the "Ayers Rock of Singapore".


A not-so-common and not-so-shy dragonfly posing for our cameras.


At some point, it even looked like the great exodus.


Almost 3 hours later, we finally saw signs of the oasis Marina Barrage.



We saw big droplets of water everywhere but it was only a mirage barrage. ;)


This was one "f" word which we were most happy to see.

And no wonder why there were so many "danger" signs on the water. Can you spot the cannon? Hmm... could it possibly be for the purpose of protecting the barrage?


But to me, the real danger you face when participating in a Big Walk is when you wear inferior footwear, just like what some people found out, too late:

A Walk After The Talk

Immediately after Chun See's talk on "Blogging For Senior Citizens", I went home to pick up my family. We were eating out because it was our 17th wedding anniversary. We ate at an old nondescript eatery in Chinatown, Lee Tong Kee:

The eatery is famous for its sar hor fun.) Its prices are quite reasonable. A simple meal for the 4 of us costs less than $50, an amount which even a kiam siap (stingy) civil servant could afford. What's more, there's no "plus-plus" (service and GST charges). However, that amount does not include desserts or drinks.

After a very satisfying meal, we decided to have dessert at a very famous dessert shop nearby. Since we only heard of the shop before but had no idea where it was located, we asked some shopowners. The first one we asked actually pointed us in a wrong direction. While we went astray, we ran into this famous grilled sausages stall set up by Mr Erich Sollbock, an Austrian who was one of the 40 honourees of the Spirit Of Enterprise Awards in 2005.


We also visited the Chinatown Heritage Centre where we bought two old games:


The above photo shows the chatek which I paid $2.50 for. I used to make my own chatek for free. After my mother slaughtered a chicken (in the olden days before bird flu, this practice was common), I salvaged a few long wing feathers for making my own chatek. Of course, I left the colour of the feathers as au naturel, i.e. brown. I used to be able to kick the chatek more than 100 times at one go when I was a kid. Now, I am lucky if I can manage 5.


The above photo shows the $3.00 see sek (4-colour) cards which I used to see adults play when I was a kid. Up till now, I still don't know how the game is played.

After a short walk, there was still no sign of the dessert shop which we were looking for so I asked a second shopowner. He directed me to the shop just round the corner:


In our opinion, the desserts were not that fantastic but were passable. After my family had their desserts, they were unanimous that it was my just desserts to walk all the way back to Sago Street where the car was parked and drive it to Temple Street to pick them up. I had no choice but to oblige. Whilst taking a short cut via a backlane, I found out that food and childhood games were not all that Chinatown had to offer:



Too bad that the children missed an opportunity for an early lesson about the bird and the bees. (I have blogged about a 'not so traditional shop' in Chinatown before.) I conclude this post with a quote from an article in Today dated 27 Nov 2006, written by Mr William Lim, a 74 years old architect and thinker:

"Chinatown for example is culturally dead, it's a theme park and tourist trap today. The tourist board has had a hand in cleaning it up, and that's the point - you want the genuine chaos and excitement, not the tourist catering stores."

Chinatown has been cleaned up? Far from it. In my opinion, it is getting as sleazy as Joo Chiat, if not more. And these sleazy businesses may not be 'tourist catering stores'.