If You Care To Look, You Will See

Have you ever noticed a tiny worm at your feet, or spotted a dragon swimming in the distance? My wife's powers of observation never fail to amaze me as she would usually be the first to point me & my 90 - 400mm Panasonic zoom lens in the right direction.

Take for example, the hammerhead worm, or Bipalium kewense, which usually inhabits the moist dark forest floor & feeds on earthworms ! While the dragon in the water turns out to be a giant monitor lizard, looking for his next meal ...

Recently, we took our singing pals along for a few forest rambles, to introduce them to the simple joys of hiking & observing Nature. All this while getting fit & looking cool on the trail, which is why it's our favourite pastime (besides singing & dancing!)

Monkey Love & Babies in the Wild

This weekend, we had a very wet start to our forest rambling. Braving the rain in our raincoats, we calculated that it would ease up by the end of our hike. Enough to observe more Nature & allow me to shoot candid moments with my trusty G1.

Just as we hoped, there was a troupe of long-tailed macaques breakfasting on leaves, insects & tasty fruits in the trees & underbrush.

Love was literally in the air as you can see in this spontaneous kiss between 2 acrobatic young monkeys. At the same time, we spied 2 young mothers with their scrawny infants. Hovering around protectively was the group's alpha male. He was sporting a stump of a tail, presumably the result of previous monkey fights.

Beware the colour Red in Paradise

Last weekend, we took a side trail to MacRitchie Reservoir itself for a change. While looping back from Prunus Trail, a rare venomous Blue Coral Snake crossed my path!

Usually it is shy & nocturnal in habit but it was about to rain so everyone, & I suspect the snake too was hurrying home. Notice its dark blue body, light blue strips & Red underbelly, tail & head. Beautiful but deadly.

As usual, I had my G1 in hand to capture the shocking moment. Somehow, hiking heightens all your senses unlike driving along a scenic country road. Even jogging doesn't allow you to observe as much.

Meeting a Blue Coral was a somber reminder that besides the usual bugs in Nature & Paradise, danger may slither in unexpectedly. Keep alert & stay alive.

Love Amongst The Rambutans

Three weeks ago, when the rambutans had all ripened on the vine, we witnessed an astonishing display of tender love. We spied a pair of monkeys perched upon their private bough. Oblivious to the rest of the world, they snoggled like a courting couple. Sweet.








It reminded us of our time when Grandma matter-of-factly offered us her mature gardens for our private use. "No need to venture too far," she said, probably thinking it was much safer than necking in the woods surrounding our reservoirs like MacRitchie's.

Students' Concert 2009

The concert was a great success ! With a near-fullhouse & a warm reception after the finale, this year's experience was definitely more fulfilling. Teacher Erick Guansing made sure everyone had his or her moment of fame & the audience got more than they had expected.

This time round, I managed to sneak in both my Nikon D90 & Panasonic G1 with telephoto lenses during the performance.

As it turned out, the Nikon's low-light performance edged out the Panasonic even though both were able to capture every nuance of expression on the singers' faces. My wife was thrilled to have her very own fanclub because our two sons & all our invited friends came to lend their support.

Singapore Street Festival (SSF) 2009

Taking singing to the next level, it was a special thrill for my wife to sing a duet with Sia Yeun on this year's SSF stage. In 2007, Ms Tay Sia Yeun, who was Teacher Erick's prodigy, captured first place in the SSF WOW Singing Awards. This year, she had her own Sunday half-hour SSF show at Orchard Cineleisure to entertain a public audience.

Erick's students each had their chance to take to a public SSF stage at various venues in the month of June. And this year, not 1, but 2 of his young talents, Jean & Elliot were amongst the top 7 finalists for the WOW Awards, testament to Teacher's nurturing style.

Next month will be even more exciting at Erick's 2nd Students' Concert, entitled "Voices Of Love" when they get to dress up & sing their hearts out. Stay tuned !

Peranakan Ball, Fullerton Hotel

After being affiliated with the National Skin Centre (NSC) for 20 years, it was wonderful to celebrate with all the staff & friends at a special Peranakan Ball. Peranakans are a special community of Straits-born Chinese whose unique culture is drawn from Chinese, Malay & European roots. For my wife, it was a great chance to dress up & enjoy a unique multisensory event.

Along with dinner, we were treated to song & dance items by both staff & professionals. My wife's voice coach, Erick Guansing, who has always been with the pharmacy of NSC, was naturally the star of the evening's show. He sang the music of Dick Lee, like "Bunga Sayang" from his musical Kampong Amber.

The Path Less Trodden

What a surprise we got when we decided to take an alternative return hiking trail this morning. A babbling brook, giant ferns & new photo opportunities ! It's amazing how much fun one gets, rambling close to Nature. Much more than doing treadmills in the gym.

Our normal 2 -hour brisk ramble covers an 8km loop to the HSBC Treetop Walk in MacRitchie Forest. Because we start early, before the Treetop entry gate opens, we do the Treetop segment in reverse to its exit gate, involving a total of 1156 steps up & down.

Sometimes taking a longer, scenic route turns an otherwise dull journey into a delightful voyage of discovery. That's why I always carry a nice digital camera to capture those magical moments. My current favourite is the Panasonic G1 dslr. It's compact - practically weightless & fits in the palm of one's hand. With a hinged articulating screen, one can go for that imaginative overhead or low angle shot. Even Nikon has now come out with the D5000 to allow for more creative composition. They have taken my dated D60, upgraded it with D90 wizardry & added on a flip-down & twist screen. Bravo !

Escape To Paradise

What's a long weekend for, if not to plan a quick escape to an idyllic island paradise. For us, this is a 45min ferry ride to Ria Bintan ClubMed. Good food, great entertainment & wide open spaces to entice city folk back to Nature & revel in recreation.

On previous trips with our 2 sons, ping pong & archery were two land favourites while playing in the sea surf was everybody's. ClubMed has given meaning to the phrase, "The family that plays together, stays together."

Without ever leaving its spacious grounds, one can spend delightful hours trying out different pastimes & making new friends. Indoors or outdoors, rain or shine, day & night, there is always a Clubmed activity to keep everyone happy.

Hiking gets you close to Nature

We'd like to dispel the notion that Singapore is all a concrete jungle because we actually have a few pockets of rainforest & we're glad to show some enchanted trails that you can hike close to Nature.

Besides the usual troupe of long-tailed macaques or giant millipede crossing our paths, we've seen a clouded monitor lizard foraging in the leaf pile & a rare pangolin scaly anteater up a tree.

As Dr Jill Taylor has prescribed (see earlier post), hiking is good for our right brain. It helps us remember that we are but a part of the fabric of the whole universe. Besides, as our dear friend in Boston, Professor Lee I-Min believes, it's good for your health !

Friends Sharing Music

What are friends for ? Some say that "A friend in need is a friend indeed." For us, we would rather cultivate friendship steadily, through mutual pleasures. Like singing. So it was that last month, Francis & Huey Chin, our good friends from medical school, opened up their house to their singing pals under Teacher Erick, for an evening of food, fun & sharing of music.

And for that matter, with the children "growing up" , my wife & I feel the need to cultivate time together. Like (once again) going on movie-dates, and trying out new experiences like dancing, hiking & travelling.

A Penny For Your Thoughts

What happens when a human being (a meme machine - see earlier post on Randy Pausch) suffers a stroke, and recovers? What happens when that person happens to be a neuroanatomist, a scientist who studies the brain, the very organ that generates memes. Eureka! You gain new insights & create new memes.

Jill Taylor has lived to tell her unique story, of how her brain functions shut down one by one, the day she suffered a brain hemorrhage. And how she took 8 years to walk, talk & think again. We take for granted our ability to sing, dance & surf the Net. Imagine how crippled we'd feel with a brainstroke?

Dr Taylor, however, shares with us a wonderful revelation during her darkest moment. When her damaged left brain disconnected her from our mundane world, she was able to reach into her right brain to find a profound peace, compassion & feeling of oneness wth the universe. In her book, she tells us how to achieve that, without suffering a brainstroke.

So what's the price of a life-changing thought? Maybe a 16th century "penny", enough to buy you Dr Jill Taylor's book in today's currency :-)

The Dance Of Life

What do the book "The Dancing Wu Li Masters" and the musical film "My Fair Lady" have in common? I would think it's the pivotal role that Dance seems to play in our lives. Let me explain. "Wu Li" is romanised Chinese for life energy, amongst other things & Gary Zukav chose his poetic title to introduce the beauty of quantum physics for the layperson. On the other hand, in the musical adaptation of Pygmalion, one delightful passage about dance which I simply relish, is this : "Oozing charm from every pore, he oiled his way around the floor."

While I watched the confident senior couples dance at the Raffles Hotel last weekend, these reflections became my inspiration to blog about our dance teachers, Dr Jennifer Foo & Dr George Wong. They have been married for over 50 years & continue to impart their love for dancing to new generations of converts like us. Such a wonderful couple, they have what the French call Joie de vivre !