"It's like their culture is against functional toilets" (HY, 2006)

Sometime ago, HY forwarded me a couple of badly-translated signs from Engrish.com, which positively tickled us. We were particularly intrigued by this sign.

What does this mean? Can somebody pls enlighten us? Does it mean that the flush system is automated or that there is no flush system at all?!

Anyway, thanks to this toilet sign, we began to regale each other with toilet horror stories. I know that Singapore's public toilets have a reputation for being dirty and smelly, but it's nothing that a regular cleaning regimen and some education (for idiots who persist on climbing onto the toilet bowl or for those who still cannot aim properly) can't solve. Singapore toilets are definitely nothing compared to some of our experiences overseas. A clear winner told to me by HY comes to mind: a public toilet in Bangkok which asks people not to flush toilet paper down the toilet and to instead dispose of any used toilet paper into a bin. Enough said.

This is one of my favourite posts from an article titled "Toilets around the world" (1999) taken from AboutMyTravel.Com.

"In China, every toilet is a surprise and cannot be explained using any kind of abbreviated code. No. In China, new criteria [need] to be drawn. A door was cause for positive comment. A flush cause for a minor celebration and the modern 'sit down' loo, with paper, a flush and a door that locked was boasted about as being definitely worth the queue!"

For those of you who are interested, Wikipedia has an amazingly long and detailed entry on toilets, ranging from history and types of toilets to social bonding, unusual uses and toilets as refuge. I also found a website which teaches you "how to use Japanese style toilet". The ending is a little gross, so don't say I didn't warn you!

Irony? I think so!

Election fever is on! Singapore's 2006 General Election (GE) will be held on 6 May 2006. I just found out today that my GRC is one of the seven contested GRCs, which means that I finally have a chance to vote this year. Unfortunately, I'm currently doing a one-year postgrad course in Melbourne and obviously have to give up my chance to vote. I'm sure fellow Singaporeans out there will be able to fully appreciate my "loss". To this date, I do not have a single friend who has voted in a GE before. Everytime the subject is broached, the most common response is "aiya, sure walkover for PAP one lah" and sure enough, it's a walkover. Let me further illustrate my point with an example. According to Channel News Asia, the last time our Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong faced a contest was 18 years ago. 18 years! That's almost two decades ago!

So ironically, for the first time in my life, I get a chance to be a voter, but I'm stuck in Melbourne! What about overseas voting you may ask. Well, unless someone is willing to sponsor my trip to Canberra, where the only polling station in Australia is, I don't think it's going to happen!

More presents!

Another wonderful day! I met HY and K at Coffee Bean to discuss QM homework #5 and they surprised me with presents!

Beautiful earrings from K


Lovely lip gloss and lip balm and cute penguin card from HY

I had a really wonderful birthday this year. A big thank you to all of you (especially J) who made it so special! :)

Happy Birthday to me!

Today was an absolutely wonderful day. After agonising over my "missing" Yesasia package for a couple of days, J surprised me at the stroke of midnight with the parcel. This is J's present for me this year and it contains a toy and 5 DVDs ordered (I ordered, he paid) from Yesasia.

Jiji from Kiki's Delivery Service

Chicken and Duck Talk (1988) starring Michael Hui

Fight Back to School (1991), Flirting Scholar (1993) (from left to right)

A Chinese Odyssey Part I & II (1994)

J surprised me with a birthday card and another present in the morning. It's a handcrafted journal by Apogee Paperkraft. According to the slip of paper that came with it, the journal is covered with Chiyogami, a decorative design silkscreened onto mulberry paper. The designs were developed in the Edo period in Japan based on the kimono textiles that the papermakers saw on fashionable ladies in the larger cities.

I just love the design!

Birthday card from J

Being overseas, I thought that my parents won't remember my birthday and was pleasantly surprised to find an e-card from my parents and a sms from my mum wishing me happy birthday.

After breakfast, we watched March of the Penguins at Cinema Nova. As it was a Monday morning, we paid A$5.00 per ticket, which is really cheap. After the movie, we took a leisurely walk to J Cafe Restaurant for lunch as planned. I was looking forward to their croquette bento (chicken cream croquette served with special sauce) and was shocked to find a sign on the door which says "Closed from 24-25 Apr". In the end, J and I decided to go to Shoya (with the help of K, who gave me their address and telephone number), another Japanese restaurant which is supposed to be good, but more expensive. It was a decision we wouldn't regret. The food was really tasty, the presentation exquisite and the ambience relaxing. We ordered grilled king fish (cheek), Quail Sansho Miso-yaki (grilled quail on skewer) and Nama Shii Hotate. I really really love Nama Shii Hotate, which is one of Shoya's signature dishes. It's quail eggs topped with shitake mushrooms and fried in mashed scallops batter. I definitely want to eat this again. We were expecting a very expensive bill but were pleasantly surprised to find that it was only A$51.30, which is alright considering that this is a classy restaurant and what we ordered.

Grilled king fish

Nama Shii Hotate

After that wonderful lunch, J and I explored David Jones' foodhall before going home. We watched Stephen Chow's Flirting Scholar together and then had dinner, instant noodles and a roast duck drumstick (unchopped) each, while watching Chicken and Duck Talk, which not coincidentally centres around a Hong Kong roast duck restaurant.

After dinner, J became all mysterious and shooed me into the bedroom. I knew he had bought a cake for me (because I saw the box in the fridge), but I was very surprised and touched to see sparklers on the cake.

Tasty double-baked cheese cake from Myer

After we had the cake, we played with sparklers on the balcony. What a perfect end to an absolutely perfect day!

Lost in translation

Cooking instructions for plain noodles

Rainbow Islands

I've recently become addicted to a very old PC game (1987) called Rainbow Islands.

Original sales flyer

The big bad spider

Special power 1!


Special power 2!!


Guardian angel


Special power 3!!!

The seven diamonds

Dessert - Nestle Heaven Chocolate Truffle flavour

OMG, I think I just died and went to heaven (pun fully intended).

Lovely colour

Nice surprise from J.

Cheap Japanese dinner

J's set (almost the same as mine, except mine didn't have sashimi)

Today's dinner was takeaway from Ototo Sushi on Elgin Street. This cosy little Japanese place sells all things Japanese, including keychains, ornaments (cute Japanese dolls, etc.), crockery and foodstuff like instant noodles, different kinds of sauce (teriyaki, etc.) and snacks (rice crackers, seaweed, etc.). Cooked food like yakinikudon is available during winter, but for the rest of the year, they sell handrolls and sushi and sashimi sets like the ones above. The staff are Japanese and very friendly. There are daily discounts on the handrolls (buy 1 get 1 free) and bento sets (ranging from A$5 to A$8) after a certain time everyday. For example, the sets above cost A$8 each instead of the usual A$11. Something tells me I'll definitely be going back there again.