趁着年初三没有开工，我在太太的建议下，往武吉支马山晨运。
已经好久没有爬此山 （想来有5-6年了）。原本想顺道带上我家的狗狗“螳螂”，但网站标明宠物不可步入自然保护区，也只能委屈把它留在家里。
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| 禁止宠物前进。。。 |
在宗教意识逐渐偏向极端的时刻，能目睹不同宗教和睦共处，确实难能可贵。昨天在四马路观音堂参拜时，就看到不少华族信徒在观音堂参拜后，顺道在隔壁的兴都庙参拜。
Imaging people of different faith offering prayers in a Hindu temple during Chinese New Year. This is unheard off in other cultures, but not uncommon in South East Asia (particularly in Singapore/Malaysia).
There is a Hindu temple situated just next to the renowned Goddess of Mercy temple in Waterloo Street. Many locals go there for prayers, particularly in the first day of Chinese New Year. Inevitably, people will also offer prayer in the Hindu temple next door.
农历新年正月初一，去岳母及大舅家拜年后，因为下雨的缘故，挪后了去四马路观音堂拜拜的行程。
这也是我们第一回带Mantis去拜年。
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| 新年新气象 |
回家稍息几个小时后，在下午4点左右，便驾车去四马路拜拜。抵达那里时，发现一条蛮长的人龙整整齐齐的在离观音堂还有一段距离的街道旁缓缓移动。因为当时还下着雨，每个人都撑着形形色色的伞；这构成了一幅色彩缤纷的画像。
民间虔诚的信徒确实蛮多。
Time flies - today is first day of Lunar New Year (2026). As usual, we went for traditional family visits (拜年) - typically to pay respect to elders in the family. We went to my brother-in-law's place first, then to my mother-in-law's place. It rained from 10am (when we were still in my brother-in-law's place). The rain didn't stop till about 6pm.
This year round, we brought our pet dog Mantis along for the family visitations. He was quite excited, walking around in the house, hardly had time to laze around on the floor.
We usually visit Goddess of Mercy temple after that (around lunch time). But because of the heavy downpour, we decided to defer the trip to later part of the day (hoping that the rains would dwindle by then - but it didn't). When we reached there in the afternoon, there was still a long queue of people lining up patiently and orderly to enter the temple (despite the ongoing rain).
前些日子往日本东北自驾游，到山形的山寺一游。登山到临近山寺顶峰时，在一个瞭望台往下俯瞰。山底下被白雪铺盖的小镇，与环绕着小镇的白雪茫茫的山峦，构成为一副及其令人震撼的水墨画。印象中，也只有东方世界才会有如此逼真耀眼的水墨画。
让我不期然对白雪茫茫景象感触良多，并勾起对中国山水画逼真画像无不佩服的头一回，是在好几年前登上武当山的某个早晨。
中国与日本的水墨画，有点异曲同工之妙。
Visited Yamadera in Japan last month - was totally captivated by the scenery from viewing deck up in Yamadera. The scenery resembled that of black & white painting commonly seen in eastern civilization (particularly in China).
是在等人，抑或在分叉路上碰到难题，一时无法决定该往那条路向前走。
Is he waiting for someone, or hesitating on which road he should embark on? or seeking advise from Google???
Went to take some snapshots of the annual Light to Night SG 2026 last night.
This year, the light decor seemed to be a bit " tame" compared to previous years - the colours displayed were not as vibrant as before.
我居住的公寓，正在做每5年一次的全面粉刷；我也乘这个时候，雇用了同一组工作人员来我家粉刷一番。
选定颜色与日期，并敲定价钱后，便预先把家里的墙壁稍微清洗一番；就在今天，7-8个小时以内，把整个单位油漆完毕。刚好再过两周便是农历新年，恰好来个迎新去旧。
It costs us 1.7k to have our apartment painted - we chose 2 colours - one for living room, and the other for bedrooms. The whole process was completed in 7-8 hours, by a group of 5 workers. They are the same workers who are engaged in painting of our condominium; they worked outside their regular work hours to earn extra income. They were very diligent!
