Camera vs handphone... why the fuss?

With the ever increasing sophistication of the mobile phone lens specification, particularly the high end models, it seems a no brainer that we should take photos with our mobile phone.

Nowadays, mobile phones are perpetually "glued" to us. It is readily accessible, at any time any place (I dare say). Whereas, camera is usually kept at home when not in use. We have to make an effort to bring it along with us when outdoors.

Took the following photos- one with my mid-range Xiomi HP (during blue hours), and the other one with my Sony A6000 (late evening, when the sky was dark).

taken with Xiaomi HP

Taken with my Sony A6000 camera

At one glance, the picture was sharper with my Xiomi phone. I don't have to do any post-processing.. it is what you get with a single tap on the screen.

The photo taken with my camera needs some post-processing with Darktable. If you zoomed in, the outline of the building was not as sharp as those taken with HP. Of course, this may be due to low light setting when the photo was taken at night, compared to blue hours with Xiaomi.

But I guess the feeling of accomplishment comes when you "successfully" post-process a photo, to what you want it to be!

Guess I am rather masochistic in a way!?

相亲的地方 The place where it all started...

 

Was roaming the streets of Chinatown, and took a snapshot of the above building and posted it at our Family chat group. I asked my wife in the chat group: "remember this place?". 

"相亲的地方" was the answer. Bingo!

My wife and I have our blind date right there. There was a bus stop next to the shopping complex. It was called 双鱼 then (was subsequently named CK). 

We arranged to meet up at the bus stop (located adjacent to the common walkway to the right of the shopping complex). When I reached there, my wife was already waiting for me there. 

We had never met before. The meeting was arranged by my good friend ST, who got to know my wife through his work in Kallang OPD. And of course, mutual consent was obtained before the meeting could be finalized. 

My wife looked back many years later ... even though we had not met up before, when he a "nerdy" man approaching the bus stop, she knew this must be me!

Both my wife and I can't remember where we went after that - most likely we sat down to have some tea /meals?? But anyway, as others will say, the rest is history. We married after 1 year, and have three kids along the way.

Married life has its fair share of challenges. They were moments of anger, frustration, intermixed with joy, happiness and sense of fulfilment / achievement. There were minuses here and there, which I hoped are fully made up by the haves and pluses.

Cheers for the many happy years ahead!

Lunar New Year light decors @ Chinatown 2022

Every year, the streets in Chinatown are lit up brightly with light decorations. And more often than night, the light decors have been mercilessly criticised for its "lousy" art works.

Surprisingly, this year feedback from the public has been positive. Indeed, the tigers depicted are very lifely, majestic, formidable, colourful, and energetic; some with tinged of mischief.

Went to take some snapshots of the light decors, before they are taken down after Chinese New Year.

Leaping tigers in the city

Other light decorations in Chinatown...

It is customary for people to buy some Bak Kwa (BBQ pork) during Chinese New Year. The popular brands are...

No outdoor performances are allowed during COVID pandemic. But I chanced upon a wall mural depicting watching "movies" in good old days...

Miscellaneous photos taken during the short walk around Chinatown...

Oriental Cuisines

Singapore is well known for its local cuisines. In fact, the Hawker Culture is listed as a UNESCO intangible cultural heritage in year 2020. It is indisputable that the food in hawker centres is cheap yet delicious (just like most local dishes sold in most food courts in South East Asia).

We pampered outselve to Japanese food at Mizuya @ Cavan during Chinese New Year, courtesy of CY and Kevin. It serves a variety of freshly cooked Sushi/Sashimi, and costs of eye-popping $200++ per person. The entire course took us over 2 hours.

The food was good. It came in small portion, being served one at a time. 

It was a good experience to have the food serve immediately to us by the chef. Will we go there for again? Probably not, unless it is for special occasion.

We have heard a lot about Mookata, a type of Thai BBQ. We finally made a trip to Siam Square Mookata @ Toa Payoh Central last week. We ordered ala carte dishes - the total bill cost about $160 for a group of 5 persons. It was certainly more economical than Japanese cuisine @ Mizuya. It was not bad at all!

Our other favourite is Ding Tai Feng .. particularly its dumpling, fried rice, drunken chicken, spicy Mala soup. We didn't try it during Chinese New Year though.

Ding Tai Feng @ MacPherson

Mouth watering dumplings

Lunar New Year outings

CY was finally able to fly back from Melbourne to Singapore via Vaccination Travel Lane (VTL) this year. It has been two years since CY was back home in Singapore. This time round, she brought Kevin along with her. 

There are several rules to be adhered to during travelling via VTL - specifically, pre-departure Antigen Rapid Test ART (for COVID) in Melbourne, and on arrival nasopharyngeal PCR test at Changi Airport, followed by daily ART for next 6 days (two of which have to be done under supervision at dedicated centres). And lastly, pray hard that there is no last minute change to the flight schedule because of unforseen circumstances (e.g. manpower crunch).

Apart from family gathering, catching up on lost face to face meeting/chit-chating due to COVID pandemic, the highlight for the trip is local cuisine and sightseeing.

CY and Kevin had a field day gobbling down local food delights - fried oysters, prawn noodles, laksa, mee siam, Hainanese chicken rice, LorMEE, satay, kopi (local coffee) and teh (milk-tea), and not forgetting LoHei 捞鱼生 (a traditional festive dish well-known among Chinese in Singapore/Malaysia/Indonesia). We ordered black pepper crab and Chilli crab for dinner, before both of them flew back to Melbourne.

We brought them to several touristic spots -

1. Morning hike from Telok Blangah Nature Park to Faber Hill

Hiking towards Henderson Wave Bridge

View of Reflection @ Keppel from Henderson Wave Bridge

Walk passed Henderson Wave Bridge to Faber Hill

Hiked up the slope for a view of the wishing bells

At the peak of Faber Hill

2. Drive pass Chinatown, viewing the light decors for Chinese New Year (didn't stop for photo taking)

3. A stroll @ Marina Bay (and Marina Bay Sands) and Marina Bay Barage

4. Explore the Light to Night light decors, and a brief visit to Fullerton Hotel.

City Hall light decor

Victoria Concert Hall

Fullerton Hotel

Inside Fullerton Hotel

School of Koi Fish in Fullerton Hotel

5. Morning hike from Mac Ritchie Reservoir to Tree Top (a grueling 5km walk)

All of us were visibly exhausted when we walked out from the Tree Top. We decided to take a shorter walking trail to Windsor Natural Park (~3.5km) and took a Gojek ride to our car @ Mt Alvernia Hospital (we parked our car there).

6. A visit to Haw Par Villa and Labrador Park

The iconic arch at the entrance

                                   Various artistic statues depicting characters from Chinese folklores

Monkey God's 花果山

Romance of Three Kingdom 桃园结义

八仙过海

Entrance to Haw Par Villa is free. It is a good place to get to know some of the ancient Chinese folklores and appreciate the colourful statues. 

The 18 Level of Hell which depicts various punishments leveled on past misdeed before death is now housed in a museum - the entrance ticket costs $18 per person. It used to be free in early days many years ago. It can be quite a scary experience for young impressionable children (be warned!). We did not visit the museum.... it was closed at 5pm. Furthermore, we didn't it was worth the price to visit the place (since we have seen it before).

A short walk @ Labrodor Park, enjoying the view from the waterfront.

7. A visit to the last fishing village in Singapore

Fishing village

                             

Yishun Dam

Rower's Bay Park

Rower's Bay Park

8. A visit to the Hives aka Dim Sum Building @ National Technology University (NTU)

Waterfall at Nantah Lake

Yunnan Garden

      Hearsay that the Hives is the obligatory photo stop for tourists visiting NTU.

The Hives

Interior view of the HIVES

And of course, there was traditional visits to relatives on the first and 2nd day of Chinese New Year. 

Overall, it is a good time for family gathering! I am glad that Kevin could come along with CY to spend Lunar New Year here.