Flying Made

Singapore has a very unique island called Pulau Ubin. This place is left untouched by the development that vastly affects Singapore main island starting around 1980s. As a result, in Pulau Ubin, we can find the memories of Singapore in 1980s. This is what the website said about Pulau Ubin:

Shaped like a boomerang, Pulau Ubin (Granite Island) is situated just off the northeastern corner of mainland Singapore. The 1020-hectare island was once a cluster of five smaller ones separated by tidal rivers, but the building of bunds for prawn farming has since united these into a single island. Two other islets, Pulau Ketam (Crab Island) and Pulau Sekudu (Frog Island), lie to its south.

Ubin is largely a series of undulating, granite hills. In the early days, granite mining supported a few thousand settlers. Much of the original vegetation was cleared for the cultivation of rubber and crops like coffee, pineapple, coconut and jasmine. Today, abandoned granite quarries remain as picturesque relics of Ubin’s history, while forests and grasslands have regenerated to cover up the ravages of the past.

That's why I call this island as rather virgin island, meaning that is untouched by Singapore great civilization.


Cycling around the island, watching trees (forests), bumping into stray dogs and watching some old-fashioned shops, reminded me of my childhood. Back in Indonesia, I was quite active a kid. I cycled a lot, when going to school. Did some BMX stunts with my bike though my bike wasn't a BMX (thus my bike's front wheel was somewhat bent). I climbed a lot of trees, to pick up some fruits, impress some girls from the neighbourhood or even to run away from a dog which chasing me, lol.

I don't really know what to write, dude. Just enjoy some photos that i've uploaded on my flickr

Regarding my previous posts about my russian experience, Russi@XP has been kind enough to point out some facts that I didn't know. Here is what Russi@XP posted:

Hey man,

Just randomly came to your blog...what you drank is called Kwas. Its the national drink of russia (people think Vodka is) and the dolls are called Matrioshka (made of wood).
I totally agree on the food thing, have had some hard times here. I miss my spicy food.
cheers,
Shashaank

Anyways, today I went to Singapore's Immigration and Checkpoint Authority (ICA) regarding my Permanent Resident (PR) application. I came there around 1 pm and were done with my paper work about 5 pm. Gosh... It took half of my day, but I think it was worth spending.

I guess ICA is one of the government's busiest offices. For PR section alone, according to my rough estimation, 100-300 people will come each day. That's pretty amazing. Say 100 applicants per day, in one-working week, Singapore will have 500 new PRs, and in one working month, it's gonna be 2000 PRs. Then, in 2000 weeks (38.5 years) the number of Singapore PR will be as much as the number Singapore's current population.

Haha... that was just my wild guest. Still didn't consider the mortality rate and the rate of people giving up their PR-ship. Is there anyone out there now the reasons why government provide PR scheme for foreigners? I'm not quite sure about this. I notice that Australia, HK and some countries have PR scheme also. I'm not sure with my country, Indonesia, though.

One of the celebration that I had for christmas was having a lunch with a bunch of friends at Arab Street. It was a russian restaurant. Well, my first time to taste russian food. It's VERY different with asian foods. I can say that the taste was a bit bland, not as strong as foods that we usually have in Singapore.

The restaurant served an interesting drink made from Bread (bread fermentation). I forgot what it's called. The taste is like beer but a bit lighter. Very refreshing.

Anyways, having a russian food reminds me of my good friends who speak russians, Triin and Aibek.

Well try it... no harm in doing it =P

Showing my support to the company I'm working on. It's razr with its state-of-the-art design. Sleek yet tough looking.

I don't know what this is called. It's a russian craft I guess. My friend said it's very interesting. You can find other few smaller figurines inside the bigger one.

A good comment left by my pal, Miranti. Look at the comment left for my post below. For the sake of others, i'll put Miranti's comment here:

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"So who's perfect? Washington had false teeth. Franklin was nearsighted. Mussolini had syphilis. Unpleasant things have been said about Walt Whitman and Oscar Wilde. Tchaikovsky had his problems, too. And Lincoln was constipated." ~ John O'Hara

and better still:

"The world was my oyster but I used the wrong fork" ~ Oscar Wilde

Cheers,

The Admiral :D
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PS: You rock, girl. Anyways, what're you doing while waiting for the commencement of your new job?