When the Blue-eyed Cockatoo meets Major Mitchell's Cockatoo

This is the highlight of this visit to the Jurong Bird Park.

Did not expect to see these birds in action.

It started with the two cockatoos from the adjacent cages flew to the wire-meshed 'wall' with its claws firmly hooked the body onto.

It was interesting to see how they move towards each other... step by step (or perhaps should be "square by square". As they inched nearer to each other, their heads seemed to lean towards each other and they seemed to be talking to each other too! 

Here, quite obvious when one spoke, the other tried to listen...

Opposite attracts?

Now, they are ear to ear... speaking (or whispering) into each others' ears.

Welcome to the Cockatoo world! 

Jurong Bird Park裕廊飞禽公园 ... 我的记忆，我的感触

Jurong Bird Park... a place that sounded so far... It's at Jurong. It's a hard-to-reach place, for someone who always resides in the eastern part of the island, though Singapore island is not big, and indeed, for every work day, I make my journey to the west. 

It's an excuse? No... my journey to the west has a purpose - a practical one.

Recently, it came to the news... because it is moving out after so many years (almost as old as me), to be 'integrated' to its other Mandai Parks. This announcement has probably brought back lots of businesses - for people wanted to make their last visit before it's gone. It's common. Isn't it? 

Bird Park - my only impression is the open aviary where there's a huge net that cast over a huge park where birds can fly freely, and the waterfall that I read in my Chinese textbook then... telling us that the waterfall at the aviary is tallest man-made waterfall in the world... yes, the impression, and the very first one that bring a 'wow' that I was so proud what an achievement the small nation had (at that point of time). Birds in the park did not leave any impression at all, but the waterfall. Funny?

That happens when one is young and has little info available. In addition, back in the 1970s/1980s, there was no internet, unlike today, where information is so easily accessible at the finger tips. Every piece of information was news and precious, when one lived in an enclosed environment. The only sources of information came from book, television, radio, newspapers. Our knowledge of who we (i.e. the country) are is highly dependent on these sources, hence these channels shaped our mental model, too. 

I was moved when I read about how the bird park came about, though unclear of its full intent behind that "... Singaporeans would be inspired by a bird park..." 

To me, it's about bringing the world to Singaporeans. Remember in the 1970s, Singapore is still in its early years of nation building. It is a real luxury for commoners to travel. Yes, I use the word commoners as most of the popular would not be well-off enough of even thinking of going out of Singapore (except Malaysia, probably more for work). When most people would not travel out, one way is to bring the world to the small country to open our minds, to heighten our awareness. 

I recall it was always exciting when I heard there would be an excursion. How often do we get to go elsewhere apart from schools? Shopping is like an 'excursion', too! where I would be fancied by the range of products out there... the many different types of notebooks, pens, etc... mind you, that time, brands like Pilot and Pental are not common, "Popular" bookstore was not so 'popular' - the only one I knew of was the one in Bras Bersah. 

How time has changed... OR maybe I should say, how much Singapore has progressed. 

With Singaporeans so well-travelled, especially those of my generation who have been travelling out of the country quite regularly, what was big to us, what was impressive to us in Singapore has been 'shrinking'.... it's no longer as impressive as what we had thought of many years ago. 

Here's an example... For those who have travelled to Australia to see the King Penguins or have seen the sea of penguins in South Africa will not be impressed with what we have here... a few pathetic king penguins that are kept captive in a small enclosure that tried to 'simulate' then environment. 

Well, for those who have not see a real penguin, it makes a difference! It's a penguin! 

Today, when will we hear this exciting response? Probably only for kids who have yet travelled overseas to see a real one. 

Something that I'm still quite impressed, for the work of about half a century ago, the architecture or designer of the enclosure had studied and adopted the mirrors to create effects that we saw commonly used in palaces in Europe countries - the space and 'crowd' effect. 

I am thankful to the Singapore Founding Fathers... your foresightedness and the ground work.

This is an example of what you did may not seem still relevant in today BUT it was this first step that bring us forward to open our minds and path.

Hawker food... to what extent are we willing to queue?

 Singapore's hawker food culture?

With the opening of the new stretch of the Thomson-East Coast (TE) line, it has made some previously less accessible places more easily reached. 

I'm among those who took advantage of the new line and visited the Maxwell Food Centre twice (indeed). Obviously, several stalls here were featured in some of those food critics' blog/ website. 

It's unbelievable (to me) that people started queuing even before the stall opens and they are willing to wait more than half an hour just for a plate of noodles! 

It is quite evident which are the popular stalls where the queues never cease, at least during the lunch hours.

Will you queue to wait for the food just because its name appears in some top 10 or top 20 websites?

Some friends responded in the Facebook - there are other stalls that sell equally tasty chicken rice. 

I would not... 

Back in the NUS days, I recall, for efficiency, I would go for the roasted meat stall that has the shortest queue... to get the food quickly, finish it and return to the lab.

These days, I would not mind to pay a little more if the food is good but comes with a criteria: I do not need to queue or wait long for it. 

The Moon

The moon tonight is round and bright... simple yet beautiful.

Obviously, my phone camera has not done justice to it. 

Evenings, I would look out to find the moon. 

Sometimes, it's "blur"... is another kind of soothing beauty. 

Regrettably, I only learnt to appreciate the moon when I was in Paro - an accidental encounter - when my late friend, Karma Wangchuk brought me to the attend a local ritual at night. 

It was known to be the only lady with a torch in Paro town as I always walked with my torch on when darkness came... especially in the late afternoon during the winter. All the locals had no trouble walking in the dark... in other words, no one in the town would get noticed in the dark except me. Still, I did not learn to appreciate the moon till when I was in the village attending the ritual (after the dinner).

The villagers were supposed to walk across the field to carry out some rituals. Oh! None of them carry the torch... because, the field was brightly lined up by the moon! That was the first time I found the moon so amazing! It was amazing bright! Beautiful. 

From that instance, I learnt that the moon is no longer insignificant (which I had that idea because it is only visible because of the sun). I feel the warmth that embraces it! 

Since, no matter where I go, especially when I'm overseas, I will look up to find the moon.

Yes, that's the "common" er... same moon that we see from anywhere on the earth... it also serves to connect us with each other... 

Thanks, Karma!

Local Production (20221204) Sibeh Strange by Chestnuts

Hardly go for local production. Most of the time, I would choose the "bigger" productions from overseas as I'm equally attracted to the props/ settings apart from the story line. Was looking for something to substitute some of the holiday emptiness (as I'm not travelling overseas this year).

Bought the ticket to Sibeh Strange, I think, together with tickets to 2 other local productions - Don't call him Mr Mari kita and the LKY musical. While Mr Marikita was 'called off' (as a few cast members were Ag+), I managed to catch it online during at a National Day online event. It was a nice one! Where I got to learn more about the composer, more importantly, his passion through the songs, which I could resonate though many of them are in Malay. Actually, there wasn't much of a cast, but it's the songs that I enjoyed. Indeed, I wondered if I would have enjoyed as much if I had watch it live? (LINK)

The LKY Musical is worth the value of money, I felt. Not because of Kit Chan (that was the first time I listened to her live) but as a whole - the story and the characters. Of course, the cast, as a whole, too. There were some parts where humour was subtly integrated into the play, more importantly, not over-doing it. It's quite refreshing - to learn a bit about LKY in the pre-LKY era (i.e. before his premiership). The story line is strong and clear, though predictable. Respect - to the character, to the cast.

Chose to watch "Sibeh Strange" as I had not watched a more 'contemporary' local performance for a long time... with a local story.... I recalled the last one I watch... probably was Dim Sum Dolly, which had a pretty nice and funny story line - with a bit of the sitcom flavour. So, why not - try Sibeh Strange?

The started with 2 ladies hoping to get the role of Kwa Geok Choo in the LKY musical. Sounded similar? Oh yes, somehow... but I wonder... if I had not watched the LKY musical, would I be able to figure out and appreciate what the 2 actresses were trying to do? Along the way, it brought back several scene, but "adapted" or "distorted"??? from the musical with more 'humour' injected into the dialogues. The audience laughed... but I was wondering, where's the respect to the character, or the original show? Something not quite acceptable, from my perspective.  

The show adopted the 'metaverse' style to bring the audience through various 'spaces' with different "revisits"... Maybe I'm not used to this rapid "jump around" - I found it chaotic and lack linkages. There's effort to bring in some of the more 'current' topics... However, they didn't leave much impressions.