why germans can't rap

this is will make thomaso proud. Unpimp my ride!



There's part two here.

Ipoh, Malaysia

So we took a bus from KL to Ipoh on day 3, the day after Barcelona beat Arsenal.....Molly wasn't feeling that well, probably because she believes that Henry and her have this french connection and that when he is down so will she. Anyhoo Chinwei, local Ipoh-kia who is from my current studio, kindly brought us around and as promised introduced me to the good cheap food in Ipoh town. Seriously, one quarter of what I weigh now is made in Ipoh.

Kway tiao uncle, originally uploaded by jonolist.

Best Kway Tiao I ever had, and its in a kopitiam. The noodles just melt and slide in your mouth and lets not go into details about that clear mouth watering soup....ah...

Then we walked around with our heavy packs (we haven't found lodging yet) to some kitschy looking series of temples. Think Haw Par Villa without the water rides or ang moh tourist. It was interesting though. We saw this mother big fish...then a humongo Shitake mushroom shelter and then the highlight of the after lunch temple tour....tortoises!!! woohoo there were hundreds of them and some so huge their heads were the size of the little tortoises.

Mother big fish being fed, originally uploaded by jonolist.

Shitake shelter, originally uploaded by jonolist.

abit of ...ahem....homemade discovery travel nature progamme here.

Tortoise on tortoise, originally uploaded by jonolist.

So after the visit we went around Ipoh town looking for a place to stay for the night.........

Hollywood Hotel, originally uploaded by jonolist.

Its just one of the many dodgy hotels here in Ipoh town. We stayed opposite this one for a night at a Hotel called "Lucky Hotel", which has it own shady KTV lounge on the ground floor. No Hotel 81 or famous tau huey store here though.

Later on we took a walk around town and Chinwei recommended us the famous Ipoh white coffee.

Famous Ipoh white coffee, originally uploaded by jonolist.

White coffee isn't white but just with alot of milk which at any rate is good. Also serves the best toast with egg in the world. fullstop.

Eggs & Toast, originally uploaded by jonolist.

one of the best breakfast i ate (in the afternoon) ever!

To walk away the eggs (which was an impossible thing to do considering the amount we had) we went to the town centre which does remind me of our own old town centre with its own city hall supreme court and padang. Charming place it is.

Ipoh Railway station, originally uploaded by jonolist.

Chinwei also introduced his alma mater, ACS Ipoh. Which one first look has no real link with the ACS i came from, but the compunds did remind me of the old ACS primary down at Coleman street which i spend a few years in before we moved to Barker Road.

Ipoh ACS, originally uploaded by jonolist.

Even though it's founded by a different person and has a different school motto, some things are still the same like this statue on the dustbin. yes i said dustbin.

At night we went to have Tauge Ayam, which is simply a plate of freshly fried Tauge (or Tau Ghey not gay) and chicken with chicken rice. Simple good and very satisfying. At this point of time i would just like to share with you guys that it's good to backpack with prawn and xinjia when it comes to food. Prawn never really finishes her food and so i usually get to have her half her share. Xinjia is kinda different, she loves rice and every where we go we share the extra bowl. This kinda explains why I have a big ass now.

Ipoh Tauge Ayam, originally uploaded by jonolist.

More photos of the Ipoh leg of our backpack trip can be found here

Ipoh Mosiac, originally uploaded by jonolist.

1. Ipoh Kopitiam, 2. tortoise checking out small boy with carp, 3. ipoh sidewalk, 4. Tortoise on tortoise, 5. Tortoise, 6. Shitake shelter, 7. Mother big fish being fed, 8. Molly's scandal, 9. Kway tiao uncle, 10. Ipoh public housing, 11. Ipoh Tauge Ayam, 12. Ipoh Tauge Ayam, 13. Ipoh Tauge Ayam, 14. Ipoh Railway station, 15. Ipoh Convent school, 16. Ipoh ACS, 17. Ipoh ACS, 18. Ipoh ACS, 19. Ipoh ACS, 20. Ipoh ACS, 21. Hollywood Hotel, 22. Famous Ipoh white coffee, 23. Eggs & Toast


oh oh and let me leave you with some scandalous material. hehehehe btw the orange fella is Chinwei's friend who was very nice to drive us for tauge ayam.

Molly's scandal, originally uploaded by jonolist.

KL home girl meets Ipoh-kia. awwww...cinta in the air..

Only one head and two hands.

Only one head and two hands., originally uploaded by jonolist.

Its 2am now. I have my desktop working on a video presentation and my notebook working on a cd template. Multi-tasking is not a male thing! damn my head is spinning.

leave

leave, originally uploaded by jonolist.

I so want to leave now I wish I had not got myself into so much work of which i can't seem to get out of. Not that I'm complaing but I much prefer to wake up somewhere other than Singapore, to eat something cheap and good which severely lacks here.

I want to get lost, find new things, wake up looking forward to my next destination, pangkor, meleka, penang....taking the train, finding a bus, jaywalking busy roads, walking down unfamiliar lanes with all too familiar names...chulia, jonker, cintra ,jalan masjid. Someone take over my life for awhile as i runaway to somewhere i can get lost in.

update: and then i wake up in Serangoon North and realise that "its not having what you want but wanting you've got"....thank you Sheryl Crow, wise words indeed.

EXIT

So I spent most of the morning working on the plinths at Singapore Art Museum, in preparation for the coming Year One architecture Exhibition titled : STILL. Its gonna open on Monday night and its a big thing for all of us lah so please do visit SAM next week yah?

The new MINT toy museum just open last week and it was one of the first places I wanted to visit after the malaysia trip, Mizah Miaoling Andrea Thomas Zhiqin and Ivan went along and because the official opening is in July they are giving complimentary free visits now! So what are you waiting for? Go! It's a wonderful place to see classic/vintage toys. Its opposite Raffles Hotel and you can't miss it its all glass facade is pretty impressive.
visit their website here.

And then Mizah and Miaoling joined the thieves market gang (Andrea Thomas and I) to hunt for useless stuff. Thomas and Andrea found ermmm somewhat interesting things...Well just watch the video to know more.

Team Fong crosses the Kl roads

Team Fong crosses the Kl roads, originally uploaded by jonolist.

So we spent day two (17 May 2006) in KL where Molly brought us around her hometown. Kuala Lumpur's a really modern place with damn tall buildings, busy roads and drivers who don't really signal, probably because KL is near Sepang where Formula One races are held every year.

We took the bus from Molly's house which wasn't too far away from the city centre. Bus rides are cheap and classic, you pay cash (of which is usually less than 1 ringgit) to a bus conductor who gives you those old school vintage tickets, no EZ link or TV mobile here. The buses have that classic bells and the round red buttons and even though there is no air-con I conclude that I love malaysian buses. aku cinta bus malaysia.

KL Bus, originally uploaded by jonolist.

And then we spent most of the time walking the streets of KL by foot, traffic lights don't really help here and the weird this is those yellow stripes on the road aren't funky zebra crossings, their actually pedestrian crossing with traffic lights. Dangerous...dunch anyheow cross, look left look right then left again and then right for three to four times then run!

Team Fong cross junction, originally uploaded by jonolist.

DSC02702, originally uploaded by jonolist.

The final spot in our mini KL city tour was the Petronas Towers, yeah those two spikes which on google earth really look like over-stretched Bras from that Madonna outfit. We spent alot of time there taking photos, admiring the interior of the lobby which is also the entrance to their performance halls. Yes, concert performance halls in a skyscraper along with a gig-normous shopping centre behind and throw in train station in it too to top it all off. mother big

DSC02721, originally uploaded by jonolist.

Petronas 1, originally uploaded by jonolist.

And then it got dark and Molly's very hospitable parents treated us to damn good zhi char which really tested my stomach's capacity. Wah lau power frog legs and pork ribs. Her dad kept making Shuxian and me eat and there was no way we couldn't say no. We stayed in Molly's house for two nights where we watched Barcelona beat Arsenal, of course Molly wasn't too happy about it but heck she's happy Henry is staying on with the Gunners.

Anyhoo the train rides in KL are almost like MRTs here just that the announcer is a guy with a husky voice. The train squeeze and kiasuism is present there too, trust me, never stand outsite the yellow box unless you want to see three trains go past you before you squeeze you face on the other side of the train window.

Xinjia KL train, originally uploaded by jonolist.

This is Xinjia on the train trying to take a Team shot. She does this camera stunt all the time, stick out the camera above her head, lean back a little and just snap away. Half the time she gets shots of our hair or just empty sky. Please do visit Xinjia's new blog where this melayu guy infatuated, R&B soul hearted Bedok girl writes about her interesting perspectives on all things hipperning. Zhai boh!

More photos of our KL trip can be viewed here.

Kuala Lumpur Mosiac, originally uploaded by jonolist.

Undertaker Melaka

Undertaker Melaka, originally uploaded by jonolist.

Similar to the one Thomas took, we went to the exact place in Melaka to take a group shot.

Shuxian Me Molly Xtina Dawn and Xinjia

back!!!!!!!!!!!

And for the past seven days i Klanged, KLed, Ipohed, Penanged, Melakaed with Molly Prawn Xinjia Xtina Lloyd Shuxian and met up with Huilian and Chinwei. Its been tiring, exciting, fantastic, eye opening all at the same time. It feels like 7 days of Discovery Travel and Living, I think I caught the travel bug. Penang again anyone? Damn I woke up today craving for half boiled eggs and toast only to realise that I wasn't near a old kopitiam anymore and breakfast doesn't cost 2 Ringgit, which kinda makes all forms of breakfast suck in Singapore.

Here's the first set of photos taken on our first day in Malaysia where we met up with Huilian in Klang and visited her fantastic house where her whole family are artists. Thanks for the bak kut teh, thosai and damn good chendol.

klang pasar malam 1, originally uploaded by jonolist.

Photos we took in Klang can be viewed here. I'll upload Kuala Lumpur Ipoh Penang and Melaka next. Now to get some sleep, its been a long day of catching up with work.

klang mosaic, originally uploaded by jonolist.

1. klang train station, 2. klang train station 2, 3. klang train station 3, 4. Christina with train pass, 5. huilian's jeep at carpark, 6. huilian, 7. bak kut teh breakfast, 8. klang bak kut teh, 9. huilian's jeep boot, 10. huilian's jeep boot 2, 11. shuxian in boot, 12. DSC02569, 13. jetty trolleys, 14. ropes and metal, 15. DSC02582, 16. DSC02583, 17. bra for two, 18. huilian's jeep, 19. wanton mee gone, 20. DSC02593, 21. Molly and Dawn, 22. half Dawn Xinjia and Shuxian, 23. klang Chendol, 24. DSC02603, 25. klang roadside, 26. klang mosque, 27. klang mosque 2, 28. klang mosque 3, 29. klang mosque 4, 30. klang mosque 5, 31. klang snake temple 1, 32. klang snake temple 2, 33. klang snake temple 3, 34. klang snake temple 4, 35. klang snake temple 5, 36. klang pasar malam 1

here i go!

here i go!, originally uploaded by jonolist.

1. Backpack - tick

2. 7 Day travel insurance aka waste of money - tick

3. Passport - tick plus chop for new photo which took me 2 hours in ICA to update...stoppit queues

4. Moolah - ringgits are friggin sweet tick! you know when the Brits convert pounds to Sing? i feel like that too.

5. Inform Grandma I'm going Malaysia - tick and she just handed me a mission brief: tau sar piah from Ipoh not Penang, yes Ma'am

looks like i'm all set! YAY!

back on sunday nite.

the thing at the side makes me erpz

"~jia: omg.gosh gosh

Andrea: shit i can never show my face in studio liao la.... i shy leh... cannot cannot... i go and cry now... all jon's fault

xtina: hahaha yah coming frm a girl, i know how it feels. jon u're horrible!

~jia: jon jon jon...so how ( ala erwin)...drea will be faceless liaos

prawn: drea, i hold a piece of jon scandal. you know who to look for when you want revenge. BAD JON, bad!"

okay now I really feel bad here's the re-edit.
prawn please don't start posting pictures of me checking out Nazim's ass please....no......

all hail the new photosets

finally convinced myself that a flickr pro account which cost more than 10 rolls of Ilford 100 film was worth the credit card punching. now i have a 2 gig upload bandwidth and infinite photo sets! yay!

here are some of them, feel free to browse, comment, leave notes, and use it on your own blogs. emjoy yes eemjoy

12 May 2006 Supper Nite

FOOD

Studio Photos

Andrea & Co Seng's Birthday @ chomp chomp

Rally 2006 Worker's Party

Ann Siang

Singapore Snaps

and last but not least

Team Fong
expect more of these team fong ones soon cuz we're heading to Malaysia!! (everyone sing...truuuleeeyyy aaaasiaaaaaaa).

yes i'll be taking the train down to KL tomorrow night. back next Sunday, hopefully Molly lets me use her computer at her place. Then its uploading galore! woohoo!

ciao

while waiting again...

While waiting for Xtina and Lloyd to purchase the train tickets to Malaysia (yes we are backpacking there!! woohoo!), I was walking around Ann Siang Road (yes again!). Its interesting how come I feel so trigger happy while waiting, so yes friends if you're meeting me up, let me wait at nice places like tanjong pagar or macritchie or city hall.





anyhoo... we walked down to Keppel Road to the train station...its very "Amazing Race" like to buy 6 tickets on a whim. woohoo.

six tickets! yay! 10.15 pm!

food night

all in all we had tonnes of fun. food was great and even though i was home at 4am, there never was a tired moment. Thanks Thomaso for the ride.

days were the those...F1 racing

damn and i thought back in 2000 F1 was the most exciting thing on earth, back 25 years ago this was what happen. Fookin heow...this makes the current drivers look like they just came out SSDCL

Playground @ Macritchie

Playgrounds: swing 1, originally uploaded by jonolist.

Playgrounds: joints, originally uploaded by jonolist.

Playgrounds: beams, originally uploaded by jonolist.

Playgrounds: slide, originally uploaded by jonolist.

While waiting for Thomas to go for our Macritchie run I happen to pass by this really interesting playground besides the carpark. It's odd how you find interesting shapes and texture in the playground.

one Angmoh one Chinese and one self confessed bubble blowing queen

yes we were this bored after the museum meeting yesterday. What a fun thing to do on hotthenrainythenhotthenrainyagainthenpouring day.

Andreas Place 8th May 2006

So Andrea invited us to her place to cook. Blue horizon is a nice condo and the Japanese food nearby at ginza sells damn good salmon steaks (at a hefty price).

Anyhoo here's a short video of what happened.



Damn I love to have my own friggin cooking show.

Easily Swayed

the elections are over! And after going through some semiserious/fullystupor thought about the campaigning and all the other BS that has been going on in the news, I think i have concluded what really can win my vote. (in the most disgustingly selfish way...apart from lift upgrading)

You can win my vote by

1. Bringing back chewing gum

2. Getting rid of Dick Lee in Singapore Idol

3. Getting the rest of the judges off, but Dick Lee must go first.

4. Wearing Blue

5. and if no.4 was not obvious enough , NOT wearing white

6. Banning iGallop

7. Reviving old classic SBC dramas like "The Unbeatables"

8. Stopping the Merlion from wasting water (read vomitting)

9. Making Milo peng affordable

10. Asking Tom Cruise to stfu and stop Mission Impossibiling. IT SUCKS

winning isn't everything

HDB, originally uploaded by jonolist.

Everything is calm after all that has happened and even though I didn't vote the eventual winners, my support still goes to the team for their valiant effort against all odds. you guys rock my socks

was going to blog about something funny that happen over a msn conversation but I guess prawn already did it. Damn funny! go read it! And erm.. the gospel joke i made...was from someone else and its a spoof on the current debunking/decoding/breaking the da vinci code news everyone is talking about now. No offence xia.

link

My first Rally!!!

It being my first visit to a proper rally, of course I had to pick the opposition. Worker's Party had one in Serangoon and since it was on the way home I thought I gave it a try.

Stuck on a jam.

Rally Traffic Jam, originally uploaded by jonolist.

The entire bus load of us were heading for the stadium and most of them don't even live in Serangoon/Aljunied/Marine Parade. They don't even vote because they come from walkover contituencies. See! Who says the general public doesn't give a damn. I feel so Proud to be a Singaporean today and everyone on the bus were talking, yes complete strangers talking to each other about the elections. How untypical is that? wah lau i love my country man!

Rally, originally uploaded by jonolist.

Rally, originally uploaded by jonolist.

Worker's Party puts up one heck of a party(no puns intended) . Its a friggin rock concert I tell you. Even the overhead bridge was packed. Damn the whole stadium was packed with people. Like what I heard from this guy next to me "wah lau, mountain people mountain sea"

Rally, originally uploaded by jonolist.

Here's an Ah Ma with her chair, damn everyone was there, school kids, ang mohs, africans, I even saw a guy who sat the through the whole rally carrying his dialysis bag. Wah. It just shows how much we bother.

Ah Ma at rally, originally uploaded by jonolist.

I managed to squeeze to the middle of the field which put me 50 meters away from the podium but it was packed and I couldn't move any nearer. The best part of the rally was when everyone recited the pledge (which Darryl reminded that it was drafted by a PAP member). I feel so Singaporean man, its even better than the ones in National Day when no one really recites it (come on, its true! I've been through too many to realise that). Both English and Chinese were recited and I tell you if it ever existed the pledge would have been done in Teochew and Hokkien. I leaked a tear man. Here's a video.

wp rally 5 May 2006, originally uploaded by jonolist.

Andrea was at the rally too and we met for prata at her place after the rock concert. We happen to meet some of the younger WP members. Wah they are like me, we eat the same food, visit the same place, i am touched.

prata house guest, originally uploaded by jonolist.

Whatever your choice is remember to vote the right one and don't belive those rumours about your vote being traceable. It isn't! Don't be paranoid. And don't tick! cross!

Green Man is no cross, originally uploaded by jonolist.

Nothing is wrong

And so tomorrow I vote and here's how I think there really shouldn't be any change in my choice because nothing is wrong for the moment. Here are my reasons

1. Nothing is wrong with our education policies now. Not when half the population of NUS is giving part time tuition.

2. Nothing is wrong with the transport system now. Not when Bus fares are priced almost near taxi fares and you have to wait 30 minutes for 151.

3. Nothing is wrong with the economy. Not when we brag about our god-like powers which can control the price of oil. Damn even the US can't do that. We rock

4. Nothing is wrong with our HDB flats. They're a class of its own, 12 storey flats that don't stop on every floor, no other country can brag about that. No other tall building can inconvenienced their users in such a elegant gesture. Who was the friggin genius who designed it man? My middle finger kowtows to you.

5. Nothing is wrong with Singapore Soccer. Because it sucks so bad no one actually gives damn.

6. Nothing is wrong with Healthcare. Not when everyone likes to wait and queue up for five hours in an A&E to enjoy the aircon.

7. Nothing is wrong with our Military. Not when Mr Piano Man gets to skip Army with just a fine and many others go to jail for not applying leave. Its damn fair, Justice rocks.

8. Nothing is wrong with the media. Not when our newspapers dedicate one page on opposition and ten pages on everyone dressed in white. Its the fashion now, white is the new black.

9. Nothing is wrong with my GRC. Not when every five years I can change my location without moving house. I used to live in Marine Parade and now i live in Ang Mo Kio. In 2011 i guess I'll live in Hougang. How friggin schweet is that?

10. Nothing is wrong with our culture now. We have a casino, a larger turf club, more legalised gambling centres and the best show on earth "Eye for a Guy"

There everything rocks in my world now. Remember tommorow you cross-out the party you like don't put a tick. Because we are different we cross. this is so Rock my socks man

Frank Gehry Has a Documentray...bleahhh

And so Sydney Pollack does a documentary on Frank Gehry...that guy you know the one we like to diss off in architecture con class. Wah liew I want to watch xia.

view trailer here

And then watch this really funny Simpson vid here.

Ann Siang Road

Ann Siang Backalley, originally uploaded by jonolist.

Ann Siang Road 1, originally uploaded by jonolist.

Ann Siang Road, was going to find the vinyl store prawn told me about. Cannot find leh... lucky i had my camera. Ann Siang Road has so much to explore.

just a little impromptu project on textures.

xia lah

"JustCurious: Hi, just a passerby to see ur blog. Hmmm, I was quite curious of whether u fall in love b4? Or have a crush? U look too decent for anything... haha.. Or u into guys but sub conscious told u not to?

JustCurious: Btw, dun worry, not a sissy or wateva bothering u.. Just a passerby with the gender of female... Just thought u look too innocent..."

I give a long hmmmmm for that (think a letter H with more M's behind than a pack of M&ms)

Me? Fall in Love B4? haha, since when love got B4 grade one? all love is A1 xia or at least b plus. You sound like the infamous archi tutor we had who once asked studio 7 if they fall in love before and which in this blog i shall not malu Darryl by telling you guys what his answer was.


crushes? tonnes and ALL of them are women, not guys not animals not buildings but some cameras yes i do have crushes on. Women with cameras are my ultimate turn on, the more old skool the better as long as its not a canon.

I is not the ghey. in fact i'm semi homophobe of the closet variety, I can accept such things and are friends to them just that i will nevAr see myself being one.....er...spine chill moment.

Seriously i have too much going on in life now, i never really give thought to such things. There so much to discover now. Busy busy. Me innocent???????? xia lah!

United States Panama Haiti Jamaica Peru

Animaniacs Sing a Long



Woohoo!!!!! Classic to the max, this is what cartoons used to be. And they were good much better than the teen angst stuff they show now.

nb if you could really read the lyrics they spelt Israel Wrong. tsk tsk

Look Ma no hands!

Look Ma no hands!, originally uploaded by jonolist.

Was at toys r us today. Yes it's WTF(We Too Free) time. Was suppose to find the prawn her birthday present. As you can see i got a little too distracted. Prawn you like red ranger from power rangers dinothunder series?

Hol Eye Days!

What started out as a late night online catching up with many a companion ended up a slumberless night cropped up in a couch with intellectual pornography

the delicious and tasty indulgence of delirious New York
"Manhattan is a counter Paris, an anti-London"
Rem Koolhaas

which after 50 enlightening pages preceded with sunrise, greeted with the morning set of lies otherwise known to many as the Straits Times, which clearly reflects on the period we live in.
Where we, led into lies...mostly unknown still go on with our daily lives.
A mere book chaser from a chaotic institution which I happen to end up in has ceased its activities and therefore I have too many minutes to waste of which I shall waste none of my "wasting time" on caring about the politics of other worldy matters. It is the holidays and I welcome it with my shoes.

Shoes that take me to 10 kilometers of familiar routes/places/views. Distance and site are not of concern here. The grand movie is the earth moving beneath the feet only separated by almost non-existent rubber soles. The music that emanates from the earphones. Lena Horne sends a spine chilling rendition of "I Got Rhythm" as I turn a corner.

"...I got music....Who can ask for anything more..."

The end line. What end? It's never the end. Ending would only mean the last song on the list which always ends up with Weezer or any other Band/Singer that starts with the last letters of the alphabet.

Never the destination
Not when one really is running one large circle (or in my case three of such). It is the journey, the air, the experience. There is no end, there is no meaning, there is no goal. What we gain though is much more, something one can only gain and never describe. Shiokness would be an understatement to what can be more than ecstasy.

Welcome to the days of aimless wander
Look forward to the days where there is nothing to look forward to
Don't Plan, don't foretell, the future is much more interesting that way.
Enjoy the now, enjoy the present and enjoy the journey, never the end.
Welcome to the holidays.

WOOHOO!!!!!!!!!!!

my own VW logo!!

my own VW logo!!, originally uploaded by jonolist.

found this at the dumpster near my block. YAY!!! i dunnoe what to do with it yet though.

but I like!!!