Monthly Archives: September 2007

Chinese Gardens

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We had a lazy morning but visited the Chinese Gardens in the afternoon. We dropped by the food court on Dover Rd for some iced coffee. For “take away” (= “to go”), they give you the drink in a plastic bag with a handle and straw. I guess it’s more eco-friendly than styrofoam or a plastic cup. It’s an interesting Singapore phenomenon.

We ran into Ron’s classmate Timo and his partner Elina as they were having lunch. Since they didn’t have plans, they accompanied us to the Chinese Gardens.

When we got near the gardens, we heard some noise coming from the water. Apparently they were having 5-crew dragon boat races, it was almost the last race so we went to check it out. There is actually a company there called Water Ventures where you can learn sailing, kayaking, windsurfing, rafting, powerboating, and dragon boating. You can also rent equipment. Seems like they have a few locations so maybe we’ll check it out sometime. Ron thought it would be good for a team building event since they said there will be a 10-crew dragon boat race in November. We’ll see…

It’s the time of the Mid Autumn Festival so the garden lights up with lanterns! Admission is S$12 for adults during this time but usually visiting the Chinese Gardens is free. We arrived at the gardens around 5pm but they don’t turn on the lanterns until 6:30pm and it doesn’t get dark untl after 7pm. At the door they gave each of us a paper lantern with candle included to light up for the night. The day was warm but the garden is well shaded and there was a light breeze so we wandered around until dark. We had a light dinner of chicken, beef, and mutton satay and fresh mochi with peanuts. As it got dark, the lanterns looked really cool so we took another walk around and took some more pictures until heading home.

You need to be able to view flash to see the following slide show…


We decided to take the MRT home and along the way had some ice cream. The ice cream carts here serve it as a “block” either with sweet bread or biscuits. It’s only S$1 each so it’s actually a pretty good deal for ice cream. Ron is eating raspberry swirl sandwich. They also come in flavors like Durian, Sweet Corn, Chocolate, etc.

Wakeboarding

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Today was a rather quiet day for me. I think I stayed out too late last night so lost my voice this morning and my cough returned. Ron had already planned to go Wakeboarding today so he went while I stayed home to recuperate and clean house like doing laundry and cooking.

He went wakeboarding in the north at a place called WakePirates. He went with three other people for a 2 hour session. Each person got to wakeboard for approximately 30 minutes each, for S$50. We’d been wakeboarding in California at Lake Shasta. Actually, Ron went wakeboarding, I just stayed in the houseboat :). He said it was really strange going wakeboarding in saltwater because when you crash, a mouthful of saltwater is not pleasant.

If I plan on trying wakeboarding, it’ll be at a place like the Ski 360 Cableski Park where you’re attached to a cable line and go around in a circle. It is supposedly much easier to get on your feet and the water is much calmer.

I cooked dinner tonight in our little kitchen, mabo tofu (spicy tofu) and green beans with rice. I visited the Ghim Moh wet market last week to pick up some veggies so figured I should cook them up.

I’m going to a cooking school on Weds for a free day of demos so if things work out, I hope to learn how to cook more!

Foodie Night

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It’s been a week of recuperation for me. I feel much better but still have a dry cough. I went on a formal interview at NUH with HR present and they presented me with an employment contract which I accepted. I won’t get to start work until I get my employment pass (EP) which may be 2 weeks. More on the job later on.

Tonight was our weekly get together known as “Foodie Night”. We went to have some Malaysian Food on the East Coast of Singapore (we live near to the West Coast). There was a small group of us this time because there were various other events going on. The street we went to was lit up for the pre-Hari Raya celebrations. There were people all over and tons of stands set up selling celebration clothing, food, shoes, purses, and even cars!

For more on Hari Raya, check out Wikipedia!

Here’s our yummy dinner 🙂
You need a flash player in order to see the following slide show.

Afterwards, we took the MRT home and a BBQ was still going on around the pool. We dropped by to say hello to everyone and headed over to a club called Zouk for some dancing and continued socializing. It was a fun evening but I was exhausted and I’m ready to sleep.

Sick as a dog

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Thank goodness I visited NUH yesterday so that I could drop by the pharmacy for medication. At first the medicine was for Ron because he had fevers and chills the night before but then I started feeling sick. The medicine you can buy over the counter here is different and they’re known as “pharmacy only” medicines since they don’t sell them in the supermarket. Things sold in the supermarket or 7-eleven are things like Panadol (Tylenol).

So these were my meds for the day:

Fluimucil A 600 (acetylcysteine 600mg) helps by breaking up mucous to help you bring it up easier to cough it out. This stuff works really well. It’s known as a mucolytic agent.

Difflam (benzydamine HCl 3mg) lozenges are basicially sore throat drops. It’s an NSAID like ibuprofen or naproxen that works topically and it numbs your mouth and throat so you can swallow and I think it helps so you cough less.

Procodin (promethazine 3.6mg/codeine 9mg/5ml) syrup for cough especially during sleep. It suppresses the cough really well so that I could have a good night’s sleep. If you’re naive to codeine, it really does cause constipation (!).

The pharmacist I interviewed with was very helpful in advising me on the correct medications since I was pretty unfamiliar with the first two. Shows me that I’ve got a lot to learn before practicing here.

Fever and Chills

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We are safely back from Kuala Lumpur and I thought I got over my cold from last week… but I guess not. I have a fever and chills and very sore throat. Good thing I went to the National University Hospital (NUH) for an interview today so went to their outpatient pharmacy to buy medicine. I’ll update when I feel better.

Sept 22: Entries are updated back through Sept 12th 🙂