Down South

Yakkety Yak

Whoever who invented weekly Monday morning meetings must be an idiot,
or a boss.
More often than not, one of the same person.
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There haven't been many cities I've been to, in which I had the liberty to go wherever I please, do whatever I want, and eat whatever I like. And in the process of doing whatever my heart pleases to do...indulge in one of my most favourite hobbies, that is...photography.

(one of my most favourite...because sleeping still tops the list) :D

There was Australia...where I spent close to a year in Melbourne city. I didn't posses a proper camera myself then..but that never stopped me from appreciating the beauty of what a foreign country had to offer.

St.Kilda's beach...on a windy winter's day

From the pier, Melbourne CBD

I captured many cherished, photographic moments with my mediocre handphone camera...by simply opening my eyes to what I saw everyday, even if it was during my 40-minute walk to uni...or during my evening jogs at the park when it was blardy cold in the winter.

Carlton Gardens, Melbourne

And there was also Perth, in which I had the good fortune of making a stopover several times, to visit close friends :)
There really are beautiful photos to be taken everywhere, you just have to look :)

This time, I had the opportunity of making my first ever trip down to Singapore to attend a business forum, which was boring by all means, and mainly for the purposes of social blasphemy more popularly known as..'networking'.

Anyhow, after the forum adjourned, I took full advantage of whatever was left of daylight and headed out to indulge in some much awaited photography in the city of Singapore, in which this would be my 'virgin' trip down to Singapore :)

With a very comprehensive map in hand and really helpful road sings (unlike here), I brought myself to the popular touristy attractions in Singapore...

Clarke Quay

....like Orchard road.


....and Marina Bay.

Which to me, seems like some giant barracuda fell from heaven and landed on a hotel.


I also saw a the Merlion, which is Singapore's landmark of some sort.


My first impression was... 'eh why so kecik...?

Hence, a tad disappointed..that was, until I came home and found out that the actual, real Merlion is....in fact a muchhhhhhhhhh bigger one.


Anyway, speaking of real things, I saw an actual old person sitting in the reserved seat on the MRT.

Now thats a sight which takes Malaysians....some getting used to.

Also it takes some getting used to the funky Bahasa around here...

Departure = keberangkatan?

Indeed, we Malaysian's have heard so much about Singapore, being our cleaner, safer and more " efficient " neighbour.

Heck even the escalators move faster around here!

But seriously, I do admire how efficient their public transportation is, and how you can ride in comfort, minus all the dodgy people you get here on buses and trains. The streets are so safe you see women walking around clutching their handbags lightly, either busy with their phones or with ipod's stuck in their ears....which amongst others, are just some of the things I wouldn't recommend you to do in KL.

The fact that Singapore is such a livable city made it was extremely enjoyable to go out and about taking photos...because I neither had to worry about my camera getting snatched or getting mugged in broad daylight...unlike here.

Its remarkable how different two countries can be even though they're situated right next to each other, making it obvious what a good government can do for a country. We may be a much bigger country than Singapore, but the minds of some of our leaders are alot smaller.

We ought to be ashamed of ourselves, cos' while the poor people in Japan are suffering and the middle east is fighting for their freedom, our leaders here are busy inventing sex scandals and 'conteng-ing' Bibles..It makes you wonder really...about when we'll actually grow up and out of little cocoon shells, thinking that the rest of the world revolves around our little kepompong.

Amongst so many things that are wrong here, there's a bad culture of nitpicking by leaders (and so-called leaders) who lack clear vision and ambition. And this, holds us back as a nation everyday...while the rest of the world steams ahead. Rather than fixing the root of all the problems, instead, they focus on minute, trivial little matters that will contribute nothing to resolving the pressing problems we have here.

Sunset at Orchard Road

They forget that....the future, is what you invent it to be.

-@p-