Uniquely Singapore - Haze and Kitty :D

This morning my friend messaged me from Indonesia asking me to check if the Hello Kitty is available at the McDonald's nearest to my working place.  Right now there are Hello Kitty series sold in the outlets and they issue one model per week and the issue date is on every Thursday.

This morning I browsed my Facebook and saw many people posted long queue for Hello Kitty in various McDonald's accross Singapore.  Some even queued as early as 2.55am in the morning.  Hahaha.... Crazy no?

Source: unknown

While having lunch, the TV showed the PSI level at 1pm was 371! My Goodness!!! That was incredibly high!!! But it made me wonder how it felt like. So I decided to go out after lunch to the nearest McDonald's to witness the crazy haze and at the same time to check if Hello Kitty is available hehehe....

My colleagues were all making fun of me. They imagined me wearing mask and sunglasses (to avoid red eyes), bringing umbrella on one hand and bag on the other hand. Hahaha.... I was just laughing la... :D I felt as if I was going for a war! Lolx!

So after lunch, I really went out with 3M mask - supplied by company (for working purpose), and bag at one hand. No umbrella and no sunglasses.

It was hot outside and whitish smoke made the beautiful Singapore blurry.... Many people were wearing their masks. And also many shops and pharmacies were running out of stock of any kind of mask accross Singapore.  Also many companies were trying to protect their staffs who had to work outdoor. (So far no holiday was announced despite the haze level was hazardous. Only warning was given for us to stay indoor and less outdoor activities).

I took some photos how Clarke Quay looked like and I was so glad to witness all that hahaha... so that I can share it to all of you here :D

Well... I reached the mall. Hello Kitty was sold out. I informed my friend. She was sad to hear that and right now her sis was traveling all over Singapore to check the availability.... (This week's was the last collection, that was why you could see people queuing since so early in the morning - despite thick haze and before sun had risen).

So, here is Singapore. You can call us kiasi (scared to die) - buy mask until out of stock and kiasu (scared to lose) - queued so early to ensure you got that bloody Hello Kitty!!! But this shows how unique Singapore is. And only this way I can feel I'm home..... ;)

Combo MRT breakdown plus high PSI level

After work, at first I planned to buy some food at Chinatown then go back home. I boarded to the opened MRT happily. But after some time, there wasn't any sign that the door would close and depart. Instead, we received announcement that the trains were unable to run from Hougang to Harbour Front, and it affected the whole North East Line MRT.

I went out and thought of going for shopping first until the train could run again. But I immediately changed my mind when I saw familiar bus number that could bring me to the nearest area from where I stay. Some more I just had my period this morning.... Dun think browsing around the mall is a good idea. I boarded into the bus without thinking twice and found myself a comfortable seat on 2nd storey of double-decker bus.

The bus went smoothly until it reached Little India. It started to crawl slowly. And even slower as it was peak after office hour. Everybody was rushing back home. The numbers of traffic lights made it worse.

Ah, luckily I had a book with me. 'Have a little faith' by Mitch Albom. I read it along the way and stopped once in a while to see my surrounding.

When passing by Woodleigh MRT, we saw a lot of people was waiting for the bus.  But too bad, the buses that passed the station were mostly full and packed. Suddenly I felt very lucky that I managed to get the bus much earlier than them. I felt very grateful for what my situation was. And when I looked outside the window, I felt I was in Genting Highland where what I saw was fog an not haze and weather was cold instead of hot and dry!!! I guessed I was dreaming.

Despite sitting down inside the bus, after some time I felt tired la. And one thing made it worst.... I wanted to pee..... OMG!!! I held the urge to pee all the way. Haiz.. The journey was still faraway... due to the slow traffic and congestion. I was thinking if I should stop at Kovan to pee and have my dinner there then go home. But I wasn't sure how long it'd take for MRT to start operating again, so I was just sitting there and endured.....

I even fell asleep... I was soooo... tired..... Hoaahheeemm... zzz.... 2 hours had passed and the bus har just reached Hougang area. It took 2 hours and 20 minutes for the bus to travel from Clarke Quay to Hougang bus interchange, the longest ride I ever take in Singapore. Fyi, from Clarke Quay to Hougang, usually it only needs 18 minutes by MRT...... ^^"

Once I saw the bus interchange, I was so glad. Once came out from the bus, the strong burning smell and foggy feeling had woken me up. Oh man, what a day!!! I faster walked to Hougang Mall and find the toilet.... kekeke.... Once done, I went to Kang Kar food court and had my late dinner there. It was 9.20pm already.  I bought a bowl of noodle to warm up my hungry stomach.

There was Pasar Malam (night market) there. I decided to browse around for a while to let my food digested before continuing my journey back home. I saw many people started wearing mask liao.  Even saw some people buying the cartoon mask in Pasar Malam there.  By 9pm the MRT was back to operate. I was very tired and decided to take MRT back to Punggol and walked back home. I reached home at 10pm. What a long journey!!!

After that I found out that at 9pm, the PSI level had jumped out to 290!!! The highest in Singapore history.

Source: NEA

By 10 pm the PSI level has reached 321!!! Now everybody was waiting for the government to declare not to let people to go to work tomorrow, which is very unlikely to happen lor.. Better go to sleep and have a real dream rather than waiting for something that will never happen. Hehe....

So, it's time for me to sleep now. It's really been a long day for me. It was my first time tasting the long train delay after working hour. It happened to me once before, on the way to work.  But I was almost reaching the office so the impact wasn't that bad.

Just hope that the delay won't happen that often. And if the case like this happens again, I'll choose go to shopping centre sitting in one corner having my dinner slowly and finish it with  cup of nice tea or coffee while reading my book. And if I get bored, I'll walk around and shop. Hahahahaha....... Have a good rest everyone!!! Good night!

Miss you Baobei....

Tonight my son will fly to my home town and enjoy his holiday there for a week.  Yesterday afternoon, just to think about separation, it made me sad and missed him badly.  'Cos on Sunday I did the housework for a whole afternoon and took a nap in the evening for few hours, didn't have time to entertain him when he was feeling lonely and needed someone to talk.

So I decided to call him yesterday afternoon. Like usual, the conversation would be how was he, has he had his lunch, what he was doing and so on.  After that before closing the conversation, I told him that I love him and passes a kiss to him and he replies me the same.

And yesterday night after reaching home, he was asking me why I called him. I replied, "I missed you mah, cannot meh?". He immediately replied me, "Can......."

This morning while working at the office, I received a missed call from home. As I was busy, I only called him back after few minutes later.

It's my turn to ask him, "Just now you called me yah?" "Eheh.. (means 'yes')" "Why?", I asked.  "Nothing. I miss you mah, cannot meh?", he said exactly what I told him yesterday.  Hahaha... and we continued our conversation...

"Waa... now then you miss me yah?", I teased him. "Nolah, I have already missed you since this morning..", he replied. Deep inside me, I was touched... hehe... Because usually he would call me just to ask me if he could play computer or Ipad, but not this time. He called me just to say he misses me :)

Perhaps there is a good thing in temporary separation. It made us realize how important him or her when he or she isn't around and how much we miss their existence in our life.  

Good that it is just temporary :)

Thank you Baobei for loving me. Although sometimes I am not a good mother to you (especially refused to play Minecraft with you - not even tried how to play that), I want you to know that no matter what happens in our lives, I will always love you, just the way you are. Remember that ok? Love you Baobei... Muach... Enjoy your holiday and take care!!!

With lots of love,

Your dear Mom :)

Hazy Singapore - 17 June 2013

Early this morning, once I opened the house main door, I could smell a strong burning smell. I had a thought of canceling my cycling session but sinceI had already prepared with the gear and the bike, I decided to continue my mission.

As expected,  I saw less people exercising this morning (especially the groups of people who were usually seen marching and exercising their breath every morning). Hmm.... They seemed so experienced and knew when they shouldn't come out for exercise, unlike me :(

However I still managed to finish one hour cycling and headed back home.

After that I went out to work. Once I came out from MRT, I could smell the burning smell again (even inside the MRT station). As I walked up to my office, the smell followed me all the way up to my office door. (Our office is located at Basement near loading bay where there was no barrier towards outside air). For the whole afternoon we could smell it. Poor receiving auntie and the two porters who had to work near loading bay :(

In Facebook I could see many of my friends taking photos of hazy Singapore from many different areas. North, central, east and west. All showed almost the same situation.

Below is the PSI reading measured by NEA (National Environment Agency).

PSI reading:
- 0 -50: Good
- 51-100: Moderate
- 101-200: Unhealthy
- 201-300: Very unhealthy
- 300 and above: Hazardous

And below was taken at 4pm from the area of where I stay. 

We always have this problems almost every year. It was due to forest burning in Sumatra island of Indonesia. But usually the rate was not as high as today. It would go around 70-90. So today's haze is considered as exceptionally high and it can harm our body if continues like this.

Taken at 1 pm this afternoon

So people is advised to stay indoor especially children and those who have breathing problems.  Hopefully the haze can end soon. And if tomorrow it's still like this, I won't go for my cycling as I have to love my lung more hehehe...

Taken at 7 pm outside Punggol MRT

Right now it is still hazy outside. However the sky above still shows a beautiful color as sunset is coming.....

Latest update at 7.15pm - PSI has now reached 117. By 10pm it has increased to 155.

Share with you Singapore's city view this morning 18 June 2013 courtesy of Mr. Yap

Below is the message brought to you by Singapore General Hospital.

Happy Sunday :)

Below were photos taken this morning at Punggol Waterway. I woke up at 5 am and did my cycling.  I didn't see the usual 'Willpower Human' that I normally met on weekdays. Perhaps they were resting on Sunday hehehe... like what I always did ;P But today I had an urge to see the sunrise la 'cos on weekdays I wouldn't be able to wait until it rose as I need to prepare myself for work.

I saw lots of cyclists who were purposely going there to watch the beautiful sunrise, just like me :)

This morning the sun rose a bit late. I even thought that it couldn't be seen today.  I almost gave up and wanted to return back home. But suddenly I saw a round orange egg yolk appearing from afar. Wow!!!

I ran towards the middle of the bridge to capture its beauty full of excitement and then realized that I almost left my bike alone... hahaha... The sunrise was so captivating my heart and soul. I felt blessed!!! :)

I love to see sunrise because it holds an important lesson for us that we're reminded again and again to always treasure each moment and opportunity that passes by and comes into our lives. Time passes by and things changed so fast all the time. Once it passed by or missed, it would go forever and might never come back. No same moments repeating twice ever!

Today is a lovely day! It's a Father's Day! Happy Father's Day to my dear Father!!! :) I have wished him this morning and yesterday I even managed to buy him a Father's Day present. Hehehe... Perhaps this will be my first Father's Day gift to him.

He loves reading but no time to read. When I went to the book shop, I saw the books written by Master Hsing Yin, the monk from Taiwan, that I attended his talk before with my two best friends. There were 3 series of the book but it contains short stories in each book so he can read the story one by one (light one) and it holds lots of wisdom that might be useful for him to change his view about things in life.

My dear Baobei will go back home this week for holiday and attend my cousin's wedding. I ask him to pass it to him :) Hope he likes it :) Have a great Sunday everyone!!!