English Countryside?

_MG_0980_091003, originally uploaded by iwynx.

Nope..This place is somewhere in Singapore. Honestly, I didn’t believe such a place exists till I went there myself with my wifey to celebrate her birthday in a special country side place..And true enough, this place is really worth the drive all the way from Sengkang!

We will be back for sure

The set is available here for viewing

Mykonos…

Mykonos (Greek: Μύκονος) is a Greek island and a mass tourist destination, renowned for its cosmopolitan character and its intense nightlife. The island is part of the Cyclades, lying between Tinos, Siros, Paros and Naxos.

It spans an area of 105.183 km2 (41 sq mi) and rises at an elevation of 341 m (1,119 ft) at its highest point. The island is composed primarily of granite. It has little natural fresh water and relies on the desalination of sea water in order to meet its needs. There are 9,320 inhabitants (2001) most of whom live in the largest town, Mykonos, also known as Chora (i.e. the Town in Greek, a common denomination in Greece when the name of the island itself is the same as the name of the principal town), which lies on the west coast.

Tether Boat into the Island proper. We reached the island approximately at 5pm.

Arriving at Myokonos…

Houses at Mykonos -They are built into the cliff of the island. In fact, houses in most greek islands are pretty typical, white washed walls, blue window frames and doors. It is indeed very romantic seeing all these on our honeymoon indeed.

Church of St.Nicholas – The patron saint of the sea. And it is the reason why most churches on Greek Islands have blue domes…

Panagia Paraportiani- one of the most photographed church in the whole of Mykonos

Little Venice – Rows of shops and restaurants. Yes, they serve food here, live seafood, greek salad, etc. The dinning experience with an spectular view of sunset! Yes, it is expensive and very crowded. We thought we would have chance to have dinner on another island, hence we gave this a miss and decided to go see the island more before the last tether boat back to the cruise ship at 2000hrs.

The famous wind mills of Mykonos…

A man and his weeping daughter… maybe we are feeling the same…cos the beauty of Mykonos is really an once in a lifetime sort of experience, perhaps our time on the island is far too short. Yes, far too short!

The next time, if we do get back on this island, we will definitely spend a couple of days there and have dinner during sunset, club at Mykonos..never mind the big burnt pocket…yes, be warned, accommodation on Greek Islands can be shockingly expensive!

So, that’s it from us in Mykonos…Tommorrow we headed to Turkey, to the ancient city of Epheus. Stay tuned for more.

Jumping Bean Cafe@18th October 2008

The date 18th October 2008. Today’s the official opening of the jumping bean cafe over at Tampines West Community Center at 5, Tampines Avenue 3.

Jumping Bean Cafe@Tampines West YEC

Tuck in a quiet corner within the community, what could be a better way to announce the existence of this wonderful cafe meant for youth than a rock concert by youths?

So, today, we have managed to get 3 bands to perform to give the cafe a rousing start.

XX announcing the start of the concert@Jumping Bean… And so we were treated to a two and half hour gig by youth band like CMI, Rock # 2 and Band #3.

CMI… playing to the crowd.

Band #2

The Shannon Star…I managed to find them on myspace! Here’s their url…

Many YEC Members, namely, Joanne, Matthew,Michael, Easmond, Linda, Caroline and husband were on site to help out. And of course, myself doing the photography part. The cafe conception is largely meant for youth to test out their entrepreneurship and it is also a place where youths can come and mingle have a cuppa of cafe cappuccino, latte, etc and truly a place where they can identify with themselves.

Before I go any further, some food for thought, “A number of studies have indicated that people who drink coffee on a regular basis are up to 80% less likely to develop Parkinson’s”. Well, not something you associate with youth but you get the gist, coffee can be really good for you, so come on down to the cafe and help yourself to some gourmet coffee drinks.

C.M.I doing their final tuning before their gig starts.

The bands played to a large crowd attracted by the loud music. The atmosphere is electrifying!

What I can say? Youth these days are very different and really original indeed, not only they were able to play tunes that are made famous by bands like Maroon Five, Jason Mraz, Green Day. They were equally good in composing and playing their own music with their original lyrics to boot!

can imagine in time to come, how good they can be. Truly, the sky’s the limit.

The crowd obviously enjoying the performance!

To sum it all up, it was indeed a very successful event as the cafe manage to attract a large crowd and announce its presence in the community center in a loud way so to speak. What’s next? More frequent performances to come? Well, we got to keep the business going!

She’s enjoying her drink at the jumping bean cafe. And so should you! So, come by the cafe, get a drink and chill. More pictures can be found here.

You will get $300 for every 2 days of hopistalization, isn’t that good?

MY FOOT!

Some sales people! What’s so good about being admitted to hospital. If she wants that 300 bucks, she can probably admit herself into hospital

“asking singaporeans to marry early”

Wahaha…

First thing first…I am not anti marriage. My wedding is next month and getting married with one uber nice lady. Okay, I will leave it at that.

In singapore, getting married as least for most people, means setting up your own family, i.e. buy your own place, etc. That’s getting more and more expensive, my dad paid for a 4-room in 1990 for 110K. I paid for mine in 2008, 2xxk for a smaller 4room. A whooping 100% increase. Over the past 18 years, who can stand forward and say their salary doubled?

Amongst all things that you need to worry about for a wedding. Costs are running very high, banquet goes like almost 1k in most decent hotels and it is set to go up further. And the rising inflation just doesn’t help!

I been thru all these for the past two years, I know what large amount is needed to get married. I seen friends spurging 10k for their wedding photos, to date I still have no clue why? Well, the mantra is simple, though wedding is once a lifetime…a marriage is a lifetime journey!

Anyhow, long story short, there are something in life you cannot engineer, like getting young people to get married by setting up more SDUs, etc. You gotta set up a condusive enivronment where one feel less stress and feel better with oneself, then and only then will people have time to find love and think of setting up a family…Actually, I believe given the current situation in Singapore, more people are not taking the marriage cost when they are having issues making ends meet.

For me, if I cannot ensure my next generation’s well being, why would I even want to bring them onto earth? Anyway, this is no longer a farming society we have here in singapore, where numbers usually makes a difference in the fields.

Happy Together…

…A reflection of my mood maybe…yes, it could be….no, it must be!

the iphone won’t be cheap :’(

Saw this from another wordpres blog, the writer is based in New Zealand..Here’s vodaphone launch price for the iphone…

Looks like we  will be able won’t get it for cheap in Singapore when it is launched, likely to be in Sept or Dec….

Vodafone NZ announces iPhone launch info & pricing

July 8, 2008

Vodafone has officially lifted the lid off its iPhone pricing. So lets get straight into it:

iPhone plans:

The iPhone will be available with the following plans:

Vodafone offers three great iPhone plans – iPhone 250,
iPhone 500 and iPhone 1GB

iPhone Specific Plans	iPhone 250	iPhone 500	iPhone 1GB
Cost per Month	$80	$130	$250
Included Minutes	120	250	600
Included TXT	600	600	600
Included Data	250 MB	500 MB	1 GB
Additional Usage
Per minute	$0.69	$0.55	$0.53
Per TXT	$0.20	$0.20	$0.20
Per MB	$0.10	$0.10	$0.03
iPhone with plan
8GB iPhone	$549	$449	$199
16GB iPhone	$699	$599	$349

To purchase an iPhone 3G with no plan you’ll need to visit
a Vodafone retail store.

iPhone only	iPhone 8GB	iPhone 16GB
	$979	$1129

Ermh…We are offering a free Financial Health Checkup….

…..Very skeptical….

I should try this next time…

Agent: Hi Edwin, we are offering you a free financial health check…

Ed: Ermh, Thanks..How about finding me a job first? I have been jobless for month..so financially, I am really unwell

I really wonder what would they say after this.. lol..Sorry, I hate such cold calls especially when I am so bogged down with work matters…

 

My Pain is Nothing……

And yes, I do mean it…after reading and watching news about the suffering of people in Sichuan and Myanmar..

My knee pain is nothing compared to what they are going thru now..

http://media.theaustralian.com.au/multimedia/2008/05/13-quake/index.html

 

Atrina Almost Ready…

TV Console+Half Feature Wall


Yellow Clock…

Dining Area… Sorry for the slight overexposure

Dining Area

Another Look at The Dining Area

Salt& Pepper Doggies

Cosy Corner within the study room.

Rise The Red Latern

Fountain of Wealth….

The Kitchen…still have some missing appliances.