The Spirit of Adventure

Went on random hike from my home to Chinatown and to Bugis last week on friday. And you thought I'd be sick of hiking after all those route marches. Here's the route:

DISCLAIMER: This route is not the exact route taken and is a only an estimation

Ok, I admit it's hard to figure out the route.

-SP is start point.

-The blue route ends at Ann siang (try to make out the words

-2nd half of the day is the yellow route

-I think you can see the s'pore flyer words

-And there the End Point (EP) near city hall mrt

Sister was supposed to train and condition herself for her ultra marathon in the sahara desert but we ended up exploring shops.

Here are 2 interesting signs along balestier road:

Saw the "drop inn" sign on the way home before. clever puns.

Popped into a few shops on the way to Ann siang. Along kandahar street where the famous rich and good cake shop swiss rolls lay, was the house of Ginza chocolate - Blue Ribbon. Tasted the chocolate ice cream as I could ill afford the expensive pieces of chocolate/truffles and I wasn't too impressed. The lady didn't warn that they had mixed in different fruit flavours with the ice cream, a cardinal sin to a chocolate purist like me. Sister and I had a long chat with the owner, examining the variety of chocolates on display and determining whether this shop was worth returning. I guess not.

We moved on through Kampong Glam and pass the one shop where innocent young primary school kids were frequently conned. (don't have a picture but I think you can recall) You might remember a perfume shop with mini perfume bottles at a dollar each. On a school trip to Kampong Glam, long queues of us, halflings eagerly took our turns to choose between the perfumes. I remember the day I brought 2 home, hoping to impress mother, only to be reprimanded for purchasing such "smelly" perfumes. I think the bottle sat cold on my bathroom counter top for ages until I disposed of them years later.

We strolled through the reputable haji lane known to house a cluster of boutique stores(supposedly owned by tai-tais / fledgling designers). It was noon then and most shops opened at ard 1pm so we were a wee bit early to weave through these shops. Came to this tiny street once, and it was alive mostly with teens folded on rolled out carpets smoking sheshars and playing cards.With nothing to check out, we headed straight to my favourite haunt and the best kept secret in town - Shaw towers.

Shaw towers looks as shabby as any other shaw building. In the interior, it isn't any much different. What makes Shaw towers a hidden gem is actually the variety, uniqueness and affordability. The dining areas on the ground level look decent and are pretty packed during lunch hour.The eating joints there serves thai, korean and vegetarian (western) and there's an interesting ice cream parlour to end off your meal. Uncle Tom's Palette boasts a wide array of ice cream from apple pie to sesame and depending on the season eg. CNY, you could get luo han or pineapple tart! A scoop's about $2.50 - almost half the price of Ben & Jerry's. It's definitely better than Island Creamery (if I spelt that correctly) and truly value for money. My only grouse is that the ice-cream can get a bit jelat as there's distinct creamy taste in every flavour that irritates me after a while. If not, it's worth visiting especially for amiable owners who'd be more than willing to allow you to try every single flavour (no kidding!).

On the second level, directly above Ah Yatt Seafood market, you'd often see crowds of indians. Don't be surprised because there's a bollywood cinema there. I haven't patronised it before but i believe it was converted from the former Shaw Prince cinema. Along the aisle of shops, there're magic, dvd, manicure and skin treatment shops. My favourite's (no prizes for guessing) is Xotiq chocolatier (for more info go to my hungrygowhere.com entry) which sells my alltime favourite chocolates. After I restocked on my supply of chocolate, we proceeded to Ann siang - widely acclaimed for its beautifully decorated and arty stores.

I guess I'll write up on Ann Siang another time! Have to leave to India for a month.

Sarcarsm and sincerity

I find it amusing how people use sarcarsm before giving a sincere response. Shooting a sarcarstic remark actually gives the other person an idea of your typical sarcarstic response and hence, he/she can generally identify how you'd reply sincerely. In some way, sarcarsm elevates the level of sincerity when you're giving genuine responses (when in fact, you don't really mean it altogether).

I think it's a pretty useful communication device especially when you don't feel like giving a frank answer. It's a little deceptive but I think it's a good way of staying away from offending someone ;) (Anyway, I don't really employ this method of communication much, this post is a product of observing other people)

Right.

As a child, I was raised and taught to abstain from anything or any form/depiction of evil that may eventually induce me to negative conduct. That's not to say that I didn't watch cartoons with villains but, ultimately good trumps all in those animated series. So that wasn't anything that involved moral dilemmas.

As idealism and images of a perfectly-run world of law and order get washed away with time and experience, beliefs in realism form a core of my principles; my eyes now see a world of grey. Religion tries to define what's black and what's white. Ironically, it makes things all the more grey. In attempting to draw a line, the line actually creates a new split and an additional school of thought; generating more confusion, conflict and endless debate.

I've been wondering why we shun the sight of evil when in fact, it grants us the ability to empathise with victims of evil. I don't mean that we should participate in all these acts of horror or allow ourselves to be influenced by them. Is it wrong to see how POWs get tortured? Wrong to witness the brutality of humanity? I say, if we get a grip of ourselves, disallow ourselves from being shaken by these images, we receive that very gift of empathy. We share the pain of these victims, we understand the state of their souls, we grow to care for others.

There may be other means of caring for others without having to undergo the traumatic experience of reliving the victim's story. You can say that you can love the person, love every single person in the whole world and so you'd care for everyone. Love everyone for who they are. But you won't truly know the circumstance of each individual. It's hard to see how you can artificially effect an emotion without having a proper stimulus. Yes, I'm a realist. I believe in opening one's eyes to see events or people who are forgotten in the illusion of utopia.