When you can't do anything

Phone and Toothbrush?

Have you ever thought how a toothbrush can work with a phone? An uncle in a bus showed me how...

I was wondering why the uncle was holding a green toothbrush in his hand, no sign that he was going to use it to brush his teeth. He was practically holding it like a pen. I kept on watching him and found out why. He was using the end of the toothbrush to write!

His phone is a touchscreen phone (older version... do you call it touch screen?),where you can write and it will detect the character and show the closest match to the input received. He was writing chinese character and every stroke come down so hard, I can see the middle of the screen are all scratch! Still... I found it interesting...

People nowadays can't live without technology. It's not about not keeping up to date to the news outside, we just afraid that people are going to forget about us if we doesn't show we exist (update facebook status, twitting, texting, etc).

What to do in Singapore?

After being a tour guide last week, here are my personal recommendation on what to do and not to do during your visit in Singapore (especially if it's a short stay)

1. Hippo & Duck Tour (3.5*)
This tour takes you around the City, then straight down to the water, from Kallang river to Singapore river. First there is nothing to see in Kallang river of course, except people who are doing water sports. Then once you enter the Singapore river area, you get to see most of the attraction areas in Singapore, such as: Singapore Flyer, Marina Bay Sands, Merlion, Helix Bridge, Art Museum, and the ongoing project of City in the Garden (?).

If you have a good camera, best timing to go maybe around 6p.m. or 7p.m., when the lights on the buildings are up! Anyway, 5p.m. is not a bad timing as well, as the weather is already friendlier by then.

However, you are required to sit still on the boat. So just be patient, as the route is made so that passengers at both side got to see everything clearly (if not during the first half trip, then it may be on the way back to the land tour).

2. Universal Studio Singapore (5*)
It is a MUST go! Of course if possible, go during the weekdays. WHY?

1. Ticket is cheaper. With master card you enjoy 20% off! Imagine 10a.m. - 7p.m. spent in the fantasy world and only spending about $53 for the ticket, best deal ever!!!
2. Queue is much shorter!!!

Pray that the weather is good! Better hot than rain!

3. Singapore Flyer (2.5*)
Aha... this one... interestingly, is a waste of money... Sad to say... Why?
1. The point of getting this ride is to see the Singapore view from the high point. However, the view is blocked by the structure of the wheel. :(
2. You pay about $30 to get to half-an hour ride, the best view that you can get will pass in about 5 minutes.

Other Recommendation: If one would like to see Singapore view with 'unlimited' time, no steel blocking the view, and companion of music and a glass of liquor, and of course half the price, try One Altitude. The only thing, you may need to stand the whole time, as seats are limited in this open space concept bar.

4. Esplanade and Marina bay Sands (3.5%)

Taking picture in this area is a must for tourists! and of course, the $1 ice cream for hot day. From here, the view of the "Durian Skin" structure, the business disctric in Singapore, Marina Bay Sands, Fullerton are crystal clear! Lastly, you also got to meet the younger and youngest Merlion.

There are more places which are worth a visit in Singapore... Although, the country has been promoting itself as Food Paradise, in my personal opinion, the food here is not as unique. Most of the so called local food is similar to the food from other places. Anyway, for those who does not have time to visit every place in the world, in Singapore, you get the taste (orinigal or not) of food from all around the world, from Indonesia, Thailand, Indian, Western, Mediteranian and more...

Basic Needs

Oh yeah... I just want to revise the thing I have learnt during my secondary school. It's about the basic needs, what we know as physiological needs. These are the needs that should be met before chasing to fulfill other higher level 'good-to-have-things" in life, as elaborated in the Maslow's Hierarchy of needs.

It had been more than a month since I had trouble sleeping, soundly. Normally, I did not wake up in the middle of the night, no matter what happen,'til my alarm woke me up. However, for the past month, I will wake up around 5a.m. or 6a.m., and can't go back to sleep anymore.

Then... last week, it reached the climax! I had only 2 hours sleep in 2 days. We, human, need 6 - 8 hours of sleep daily, and can you imagine if you only have 2 hours for 2 days? BAD!!! It is no longer like school/college time, where you can skip a class and no one will chase you. (of course, if you do it too often, you might not be able to sit for your exam... blah~)

Let me remind you some facts, about human's basic needs!

1. We need to go toilet regularly, either for the "big" one or the "small" one. The business just needs to be settled!

2. We need to sleep to recharge... We have our phone, notebook and other gadgets charged to enable them working properly. How could you expect human to function well if we are not fully charged?

3. We need to Eat! Believe me that there is only odd no of people who can survive without food. If people can survive with no food, we won't need the words like "hunger" and "famine". Religiously, Buddha does not recommend the extreme way by starving yourself to get enlightment. You have not been blessed by a goddes who had blessed the Indian man who made to the headline news for staying alive and healthy food for the past 70 years.

All in all... without fulfillng the above 3 things, we are just incomplete, and cannot be happy inside out! At least, it applies for myself! So be grateful if you got to eat, you go toilet regularly and able to sleep well. Happiness will just follow~

What's more important?

On the way back, there was ticket-check on the bus. Then there was this uncle beside me with so many shopping bags, he was asleep (too tired I guess)... Then the bus ticket checker (BTC), or whatever you call him, waked him up. The passenger uncle was digging through his right hand-side pocket to find his tiny small receipt printout for the bus fare that he had paid. So... case's closed, for now...

10 minutes after that... BTC came to the uncle again...

BTC: "Uncle... why you haven't alight? You only paid $1, you have passed 2 bus stops already. "

Everyone in the bus was looking, if not listening...

Uncle: "MacPherson Right?"
BTC: "You only pay for $1... Macpershon should be $1.2"
Uncle: "$1 meh?" Digging up the receipt again... Found it... "It's $1.20" ... passed the receipt to BTC. BTC saw the the receipt...
BTC: "Owww... Sorry about that"

First of all, BTC should do a better job, making sure that his vision is not blinded with whatever assumption he had about this uncle even before checking on the uncle's receipt. I believe he had the impression that this uncle may have cheated by paying less fare, because this uncle had 'pretended' to be asleep when BTC approached him and of course from the way he dresses. Thus, he kept an eye on the uncle.

Long long time ago, there was another lady, a very decent looking lady, she paid lesser fare than what she supposed to pay. The BTC (different person that time) did the checked after the lady had passed the stop that she paid for... The lady was making excuses saying that "she thought it's only $x insttead of $x.y. It's quite embarrasing scene I thought, being scolded because of $0.y...

Things I have learnt from the two scenes above:
1. Appearance is important to 'impress' others
2. Yet... appearance may sometimes deceive our eyes
3. At the end... what counts most is integrity... doing the right thing even no one is looking...

The not-so-decent looking uncle had win, while the young decent looking lady had lost...