Erasing History

Last weekend, I was waiting for the bus at the bus stop just outside of the old kallang Airport main gate at Geylang Lor 1. For some reason, I couldn't stop myself from drawing out my camera from my bag and started walking towards the Gate of the Airport.

I have been living around Geylang and Kallang area for a good thirty odd years and I'm very familiar with the Architecture and landscape of this area. So what I saw at the entrance of the gate was a sad sight.

What was once a regal symbol of High end travel in the 1930's to the 50's has been relegated to a skeletal structure and is barely recognisable as the former main gate of the airport. 

Standing alone, all the buildings and walls that use to connect to the gate was gone. The guard room for the gate, the wall to the right side and even the mosque behind the guard room was totally demolished. Pieces of history erased permanently from our land.

The Art Deco Design style popular in the 1920's to 30's was the chosen style for the Airport and what was left of the gate showed off that style unmistakably. Battered by rain, dirt and dust kicked up by cars passing it over the years, its once majestic white surface reduced to a ruin like appearance. Sad.

I don't want to sound like an old man but it seems that I'm finding the country I'm living in, more and more alien. I don't feel at "home" anymore, like I don't belong here. All my childhood landscapes are disappearing, replaced by soul-less badly designed Architecture and landscapes. Signs of getting old I guess.

So if you have time or happened to pass by Kallang next time, drop by the Gates of the Old Kallang Airport and reminisce about the good old times of the glamourous early air travel age before it's gone forever.

Damn!! Germany lost to Spain

Damn! Just when you thought the World Cup was predictable again, BAMM!!!! its slams you in the face again!!

I had decided to go against the Lucky Octopus prediction and placed a bet on Germany to win over Spain, unfortunately, that F***ING little eight legged piece of Jelly was right again!! KNN!!!

Now I have only two more matches to recoup my ever deepening losses$$$!!!

As they say, the ball is round!!!!

New York, May 2010

I have been back from New York for two weeks now.

The day that I came back, I went straight to bed from 3pm to 6am on the following day.

I was extremely tired from the 20 plus hour flight back and  the 13 hour flight delay did not help one bit.

The weather in May in New York is great. Cooling and dry.

I was quite suprise upon reaching New York, it was different from what I envisioned. It was completely bustling with life and vigor.

Shopping malls close late and eating places were overly abundant.

The streets were so organised as they have been using a grid system for the last 100years.

Navigation was simply moving from street to street in a numerical order.

Times Square was magnificent day or night and its packed with locals and tourist every minute.

You can't help but feel alive standing in the middle of Times square.

The neon signs that are flashing 24hours a day 365 days a year were not exactly energy friendly though.

One of my most memorable experience was looking down from The Empire State building.

The view was fantastic and was simply breath taking. The 1 hour queue to go up was not though.

There were many little parks littered all over downtown New York and they provided a little solace and relief for the working class and tourist as well. Singapore should have little pockets of these similar parks, it's like an oasis in the middle of all the concrete jungle.

It was a combination of good shopping, food and attractions that gave me a pretty good experience there. The Big Apple really lived up to its name.

I look forward to going back next year!

Milan, Italy 12th April 2010

My second trip to Europe this year was a mix of excitement and chaos. The destination this time round was Milan, Italy. My company was taking part in the Salone Internazionale del Mobile. The fashion capital of the world truly lives up to its name. The trip started of with a gruelling 18 hour flight via Singapore-Colombo-Dubai-Milan. It was really taxing mentally as well as comfort wise. I really hate these long flights to Europe, luckily the food served on Emirates was pretty good and they had big touch screens with great movie selections.

Milan weather was pretty good with occasional showers. Unfortunately, the day after we landed, Iceland had an enormous volcanic eruption, which screwed up everybodies flight itinerary going back and to other countries. I was lucky, I had to go Croatia to meet a customer and that flight was not affected. So by the time I left Croatia, all my flight schedules had resumed. Some of my colleagues were not so fortunate, they had to stay an extra 3-4 days in Milan.

I did'nt get much time to shop this trip nor get to see a lot of sights. The exhibition consumed most of our time and we did'nt even get to enjoy much Italian gourmet either. I did get to go to Duomo, the famous shopping district for a while though. The Louis Vuitton shops were filled with cash rich Chinese buying lots of bags!! Typical!!

I have to say, Milan is a very expensive city to live in. It was about 15-20% more expensive compared to Cologne which I went in January. Everything that I wanted to buy was expensive, even in the supermarket where the normal folks shop, cost quite a bit.

Due to the fair, almost  every part of the city was alive with product launches and open house. The whole city was vibrant and the design culture there was fantastic! Designers will show their work in department stores and shop windows and graphics was prominent on street walls, lamp posts, cars....etc. The whole city was ALIVE!!

The Metro for Milan was easy to navigate compared to Paris, most of the travelling was done on that and they had a fixed price ticket of EUR$1 for any length of trip. I also managed to visit a model kit shop but unfortunately was disappointed as it was very small and lacked range.

The service you get at the retail stores is really horrible. They don't like serving Asian customers and I lost count the number of times I got snubbed when asking for stock availability. In general, I find that Milan is filled with racist Italians, from the fast food joints to retail shops to even the garbage man!! And I thought Paris was bad!!! No wonder the Italians lost the war and changed sides, they are fucked up people!!

If not for the Fair, I don't think I will ever return for another visit.