Before & after

BEFORE (2007)

I didn't have time to catch street artist Kurt Wenner when he was in town for the re-opening of the National Museum. So on the next to last day of 2006, I dragged HB down to the museum after we had shopped for a kuali and sofa. Almost had an upset when HB led me to where his work was and it was gone!!! We found it at the rotunda entrance. Phew! The fish-eye lens took off along with the artist , but I could still examine his work up close. Went round and round to see how the picture warped at different angles. Amazing. It's as if Wenner must have a different set of lenses in his eyes!

On the last day of the old year, we took Chewie for a walk in the Kallang area to view the National and Indoor stadiums. We needed to take pictures of a couple of geocaching travel bugs - one specifically asked to be taken to stadiums, the other - Spider-Man - well, we thought it would be fun to have him trying to save the National Stadium from the wrecking ball.

AFTER (2006)

The first two days of the new year were public holidays. But guess what? I had to work. Vegged out on New Year's Day, trying to get my liver back in order after having flooded it with champagne the night before. But on Jan 2, Hari Raya Haji, we decided to look for a cache that was hidden in VivoCity. I tried to get it the first day it was posted, but there were workers about and I'd wondered whether the cache lasted. Someone else came by later in the afternoon and was declared first to find. Ah well, c'est la vie.

So we took our time. This time we got it and then treated ourselves to lunch at the Imperial Herbal restaurant and Sinchi Cafe (apparently the restaurant owner also owns the football team). Check out the kitschy decor. There's also a more conventional dining section. But the juxtaposition of traditional herbs and Chinese dining with psychedelic armchairs was really jarring.
Fortunately, the food was good. The xiao long bao here has delicate skin that managed to stay intact when picked up. We had lingzhi soup (to boost immunity) and noodles with shredded pork and szechuan preserved veggies. We also had honey glazed pork, which, judging from the picture in the menu, appeared to be served in those tiny morsels now the trend in new Chinese restaurants. Boy, we were so wrong. The plate was large. And the slab of meat came with a quivering layer of lard and steamed buns to mop up the gravy. It was good - but sinful.


Yesterday, we finally took the kites (and Chewie) out to play. Marina South was filled with families flying kites! We took our spot and set up the kites HB got from China. They were raring to go as the breeze blew, but we had not even attached the strings yet. And we were pleasantly surprised when a Malay family came up wanting to say hi to Chewie. They were careful to avoid touching her nose, of course. But, the dog was her usual unsociable self. On the way back, we stopped to snap a shot of the glorious sunset.