stormkloud77

Tokyo 9 - 18 Nov 2007

2007-11-25T22:17:00.000-08:00

Just got back from Tokyo. Happening! It was a really nice experiencing what people call a First World city. Anyway, won't write too long a intro, this post is quite picture intensive. MAKE SURE YOU ARE VERY FREE THEN READ ELSE YOU WILL NOT ENJOY!!! kekeke...

Reach Narita Airport at 7am. Waiting for the airport limousine bus. Here cannot take taxi, a trip from Airport to Shinjuku will cost about S$300! We made a mistake and took a cab after drinks 1 nite. We tot what the hell, only 4 train stations away, end up the cab fare cost us S$50+!!!

Too early to check in so dump our baggage in the hotel and went to look for makan. Our 1st Udon store. Pretty nice and quite cheap, 1 bowl is about S$8. This store only sell udon or soba. but damn good!

The skyline from our hotel window. Looks damn congested!

We had the privilege to have the company of Jacq's ex-colleague who is also there on work then extend. His fiancee and sister came along as well. Our first yakitori dinner. There was a small area near our hotel that has all the very small yakitori stores. Looks interesting. The food is good but we sat upstairs and was totally smoked out from the smoke of the grill and also smokers!!! Not that I'm complaining but the smoke from the grill is really bad!!! We were tearing to the end.

The view of the yakitori store from the front. As you can see it is really small.

Had drinks at one of the more ang-moh pub, Motown at Roponggi.

Quite a nice place, but it is a pub for foreigners.

2nd day - Went Disney Land and Disney Sea. I tell you, Hong Kong one no fight!

One of the more scarier rides, Tower of Terror. You basically sit in a lift-like thing and it goes up and then free-fall. In between the windows will open so you get to see the outside view. Not too bad but given a choice I would rather enjoy a mug of Asahi!

The main water show of Disney Sea. The show was very spectacular. Wonder how much they spend on each show? And they do it on a daily basis!!!

Taking the Disney train to Disney Land.... Check out the Mickey Mouse windows!

Entrance to Disney Land and be prepared to be enchanted...............

3rd-Day - It was spend walking around Shibuya and Harajuku. Bought 2 of the J-League jerseys, Urawa Reds of course being the champions last season and yokohama FC. Sorry no pics on the shopping. The Yakitori at our place was so good we decided to go again. But we tried another store which is bigger and more like a restaurant. The food there is EVEN BETTER!!!!

4th-Day Went fishing in tokyo bay. (See below)

After that more walking around Shinjuku area. Walked so much until my legs wanna break!!! Decided to give ourselves a treat to a more fancy place. Check out the menu, only 4 items, take it or leave it. Click on the menu to enlarge. Basically we spent more than S$150 for our meal there, but every cent is worth it!

Do you know why this dish is called Shabu Shabu? Ask me when you meet me the next time!

We tried all the dishes. This one is called Sukiyaki.

A VERY SATISFIED CUSTOMER although pocket a bit broke after this meal!

The fishing that was done earlier in the day. Our trused boatman, Hasegawa-san!

Basically the fishing was quite good. We don't use live bait. Instead we use lures which is fake fish. We started with smaller lures and the catch rate was good. 5 fishes within 20 minutes! Even Jacq, who is doing it first time, got 2!!! SURE CATCH AH!!!

Then after that, boatman changed our lures to heavier ones, hoping to catch bigger size. :( Sad to say no action after that. This boat trip costs us about S$300 for 4 hours. Expensive in local terms but sure catch leh, what more you want!

This trip is mainly on food. Not much shopping done as the clothes there are expensive.

One of the small sashimi place at (can't remember where liao) Die lah, after eating these in Japan, Singapore no fight leh.... Sigh.......

The sea-urchins (Uni) is also damn good!!!!

The famous Tokyo Rainbow bridge.

6th day - woke up early to go to see the Tsukiji fish market auction. Reached the place at 5.30am!

Then ate sashimi and sushi at 7am!!!!

Yum Yum..........

When we were at Roponggi the other day, noticed this store selling udon got damn long queue. Us being typical Singaporean and noticing that only locals are queueing up. Decided to come back and try during off peak hours. Check out the size of the bowls!

We were looking for a place to club and was walking around Shinjuku. Suddenly remember this place, Loft being mentioned in the Lonely Planet book. So went in. for a moment blur, cannot speak Japanese some more. then found out it is a place where budding rock bands perform. And that nite was a line-up of the more famous bands. Cover charge was 3000 yen (S$40) with a glass of beer served in plastic cups!!!

But when we went in, the atmosphere totally changed our mood. It was happening. Like some mini-nirvana / oasis concert. People were slam-dancing and body surfing. Although we don't understand a word the band is singing but the melody was catchy.

In the end, even bought one of the band's T-shirt and CD. You can see a clip of their performance in the video below.

After that more eating, a famous chain of Ramen store. I call it the Piggy Ramen!

Jacq found this theme park called Fujikyu at the foot of Mt Fuji. The rides there are happening.

This King of Coasters is commended by Guiness Book of Records as the highest coaster in 1990 or 1995?

This is the full view of the coaster. Height is at 80m. About 35-40 storeys high, I think??!!?

There is another one that accelerates to 172 km/h in just 1.8 seconds!

Definitely not for the faint-hearted and me!!

Was at Tokyo Dome City cos there is another coaster, sigh.... Apparently there is some Anime festival so all the young people there are dressed up. Only managed to take one pic cos some of the others do not allow. Maybe they are there without their parent's consent.. *Naughty naughty* But it is very interesting, they really go all out to look just like the japanese comics.

Our final sashimi and sushi place.

Video of "Die Like Dogs" performance...

Actually there is a lot more that happened but lazy to write. If you want to find out more, then gimme a call lah. Then you have excuse to catch up with me mah!!!

Cheers!

Headache! Headache!!!

2007-04-09T07:45:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I blogged. SORRY! Nothing interesting so far. Except for the last 3 weeks, it has been hell!!!

Well, actually my wife and I have been scouting around Singapore for a new place. Been to Oprah Estate, Sin Ming, Serangoon Gardens, Hillview, Thomson, etc. Never really found a place that we like. Either too expensive or too old and it will cost us a bomb to rebuild. It was made worse with the property boom. Even the private owners are taking advantage of this boom and just anyhow whack prices. I was at a point telling my wife that maybe we should just hang on for another year then see how.

Then 1 weekend, nothing much to do so decided to just drive around to look see. Ended up at an estate in Macpherson. Then came across this very unique and beautiful place. Decided for fun just call, I was thinking should be quite ex as it is newly rebuilt. When the agent told us the price, we were surprised???? Valuation is at 810K and owner asking for 750K!!!! Freehold!!! What a catch!!

Ok la, the land area is kinda small, only 1100 sq ft. But just nice, 3 bedrooms. Then now I can move my office back home.... And further more, it is a corner terrace so more space for my pets.

Decided to view the place. It feels good... can really picture myself staying there. Decided not to sound so keen so told them we will arrange to meet the agent again next week.

Then next week arrived sooner than expected. Agent advised us to try 730K and see if owner accept so we just decided the hell with it. I figured I can never find a place at this kinda price and furthermore freehold and newly constructed so we just paid the 1% booking fee. A few days later, the agent came back to say he accepted.

Now headache, last time I bought my current place, it is all handled by HDB and boy the process was smooth. Now private property, need to get quotes from banks, compare, worry about stamping fees, legal fees, etc. Furthermore, we still cannot sell our old place until July then 5 years. Alamak! So we decided to appeal to HDB since the maturity date is only 2 months difference. Now still waiting.

however, the good news is, since we have confirmed the new place, WTH, just try and see what kind of price we can get for our place. So got our neighbour whose an agent to do a valuation. The report came back at 385K. Allright, the price for my place went up by 10K. Initially was expecting to let go at the same price I bought it 5 years ago, 400K, would be a pretty good return. But guess what, manage to get a buyer on the first day of marketing at a price of 410K!!!!

Thank God! To be frank, have been praying the whole week for strength and patience to get thru this cos the numbers, procedures, people, etc is almost driving me crazy. So crazy that I did not even feel like drinking!!!

Well, the irritating thing now is waiting for HDB to approve our appeal for early release else we can't submit the Option to Purchase for my existing flat.

Anyway, the whole process is quite tedious.

Don't worry, once move in, will invite all of you to my housewarming.

Ok, pictures now...

Front view. Basically a 2 storey with attic. The master bedroom will be on the attic.

3 bathrooms, one at each floor.

Another front view.

My future office on 2nd floor.

My maid's room and also cattery.

Our master bedroom. Check it out... got balcony some more!!!

View from balcony. Not too bad, not many obstructions on view as my place is the tallest around, so far......

View of side garden.

Didn't take the living room cos at that time, my mom, auntie, cousin, sister and also the agents are around so dun want them to spoil the picture... hehe...

Well this is the next phase of my life...... dun worry not having kids lah......

Hope the rest of the journey will even be better than my previous 5 years.

God Bless!

Perth AGAIN!! 18 - 25 Feb 2007

2007-02-27T20:55:00.000-08:00

Hi Hi!!! Finally got something to blog about after such a long time. Guess what? I was in Perth again during the CNY week! Hah! Tried to siam the CNY mah.... just kidding. I left for Perth on the 1st day of CNY in the evening so still got time to visit my direct families and relatives.

As mentioned in my previous blog, I had unfinished business in Perth and after communicating with Jon via email, I was tempted to go again as now it is still summer and the fishing there has been fantastic since Dec 06. So in the end, WTH, just book the tickets online and off we go.

Arrived at Perth at about 2am, Jon was there to pick us up. Once I step out, I was surprised as the temperature is about 15-18 deg C??? I tot it is summer, apparently it it beginning to get colder the past week. NVM, cool weather is great too.... at least something that Singapore does not have.

By the time we got to Jon's place, it is already 4am so we just knock out and await the dawn of the new day to start our holiday.

First day, went to Subiaco again as my wifey wanted to do shopping, Below is one of the street at Subiaco. I really find their architecture quite interesting, something that Asia will not be able to find.

Basically the first day we only did shopping at Subiaco, however, I was also invited to Jon's friend's place for dinner. Something like a CNY dinner and Yu Sheng and gambling and all. Dinner was ok, but the gambling was quite good. In all, I won about AUD100+!! Hehehe.... my shopping for that day considered free!

The second day, Tues, we decided to check out Penguin Island. Below is the view of the island from the mainland. There are supposed to be wild penguins and their nesting ground so no harm, never seen any wild penguins yet.

We took a ferry over, however, they also have an option that you can walk over. The sea bed is not very deep, about chest high, so there are people who tried to walk over. It takes about 15 mins slow walk. Quite an experience, but we didn't try as Jon's kid is with us.

On the ferry, the skipper was introducing the island and mentioned that Penguins normally will be out feeding in the day and will return at night to the nest. So I was thinking to myself, huh??? then we go see what? Furthermore, the place operates from 9am - 5pm.... hmmmmm.....

Below is a pic of the other side of penguin island which is facing the ocean. Got pretty nice rock structures.

In the end, LL, go and see captive penguins. These penguins are basically either rescued / injured / in the senior age, therefore, they are kept in captive so the staff can monitor and ensure they are living and eating properly.

After Penguin island, we head back Jon's place. Tot of going to this place in the north, Lancilin, to fish. However, in order to satisfy our wives, we played MJ for 1 round first. hehehe..... Bo pian, must compromise mah!

So we headed out to Lancilin, it was a jetty and the water was very clear. We could actually see fishes swimming. I was surprised at the catch rate, basically, you can cast your line and count to 5, confirm got bite!!!

We were there for about 1.5hr and this is our catch: (this excludes those fishes that were thrown back cos inedible or disgusting - puffer fish) In all 6 herrings, 1 skipjack trevally and 3 sea mullets.

When we were there, something happened, the whole jetty blackout! We were instantly covered in total darkness, the only thing we can see are the stars. It was quite a magical feeling and we feel like we are in a giant dome surrounded by thousands and thousands of stars. The next thing was even weirder, the fishes in the sea started jumping out of the water. We are hearing splashes all around us but we are unable to see anything. What a unique experience!!!! Luckily the lights started coming back on again.

On Wed, we went to Perth City for shopping again. Passed by this shopping mall that is designed like Europe. Check out the street inside!

After that we headed down south to Mandurrah, Jon wanted to show me the place where we can just walk in the water to scoop crabs. However, disappointed as crab season not here yet. It will only be here in March. Thus we walked around a bit to enjoy the place. Jon brought us to view the "champion" housing in Mandurrah. Even better than his place....!

Check out the houses and their private jetties!!!

I think Sentosa Cove is trying to copy this concept but frankly I dun think it will work. Most important of all is the weather. It is cool and dry in Perth but Singapore is hot and humid. I can sit at the balcony in the afternoon having a sun tan without breaking a sweat. Not here in SG....

Before we headed back, we were walking along the coast and guess what saw 3 wild dolphins swimming around!!!! Managed to take a pic of one of them only.... What an amazing sight! People pay $ to go out sea to see wild dolphins and there are times where they come back empty-handed but we get to see them for free. Oh, I forgot to mention, at Lancilin jetty we also saw a wild dolphin frolicking near the shoreline as well. What luck!

Thurs: decided to check out the Adventure World in Perth. Sadly, it was not what we expected. The most thrilling rides are these 2 below:

There is also another called Tomb Raider. Basically, we will walk in a group of 7-8 with our hands on each other's shoulders and walk thru a very dark maze. We were told that there will be monsters that may pop out and scare us. It was kinda scary but irritating as the "monsters" are basically people with make up on and hiding in corners waiting for us to walk thru then they will jump out and "Aargh!" you.

Ultimately, felt that the $ not worth the Adventure World.

However, there is this new Koala World so went over to check it out. Basically it is a mini zoo with some emus, kangaroos and koalas.

Friday: our long awaited boat trip. This time we took Bluejuice charters as it was recommended by our friend. overall nothing much to write, the trip was very bad, only managed a red snapper - 1 kg and a queen snapper - 2kg. Some of the other people did not even get a single fish. The current was very strong so maybe that is one of the reason. Anyway, we were expecting to get a better catch the next day with Too Ezy.

After boat trip, Jon and I were tasked to prepare seafood dinner. During the past few days, we lay crab cages just at the jetty behind Jon's place and the collection was wonderful! Average of about 2-3 crabs per half day. Check them out! These are blue mana crabs / swimmer crabs. locally it is known as flower crab but different as local flower crabs does not have blue markings.

The column on the right are male and the other column are female. Amazing, right, free seafood!!!

We also cooked all the other fishes we caught during the past few days as shown:

The end-result....

Very sad, Too Ezy cancelled the trip :( due to weather reporting strong winds for the day up to 25 knots. So never go.

In the end, Jon just brough us around for a bit of sigtseeing. Below is the place called Burns Beach where during seaon, you can go and pluck abalone. No kidding! Their abalone can be bigger that you whole hand!!! But there are restrictions on weight of abalone per person and during season, there will be wildlife wardens guarding the beach. But can you imagine, just snorkel and pluck abalone from the sea!!!

Was a bit disappointed about not going for the Too Ezy trip so in the end, decided to heck it and go back Lancilin again. THis time round it is more exciting. Caught a lot more herrings, skipjack trevally and even squid!

This is how the jetty looks like...

Our total catch.....

There were more but released back, mainly puffer fish and trumpeters.... later in the night, we were visited by 2 giant rays! Their size is easily bigger than those olden kopitiam round tables!!! We quickly tried to lure them to bite our bait. In the end, the bigger mama ray decided to take but of all the rods, she took the weakest one. thus no fight, even before we can strike, the line burst.... what a waste!!!!!

Overall it is a fun trip, however, seems like I still have unfinished business there. May plan to go again in Dec 07 where the timing is just right.....

In any case, depends on how my business is this year, else dun say Perth, even Sentosa also got problem!!!!

Lastly, Gong Xi Fa Cai to all and may your 2007 be a happy and prosperous one!!!

2007-02-25T07:06:00.000-08:00

My thousand apologies for not blogging for so long.

Has been a hectic couple of weeks for me.

Was in Hong Kong for a short shopping trip over the weekend before CNY. Main objective is to buy new clothes for CNY and also to change my whole office wardrobe. Have gotten flabby around the tummy area.... fa fu!! Spent a bomb at G2000 but I have to say, the shirts and pants there are cheap compared to Singapore!! You can get a good office pants for less than S$40! My CNY shirt was bought from this shop owned by a gay. His shop is somewhere near Lan Kwai Fong. I have to say, his designs are very unique. Of course there are some which are outright gayish but there are others which I think is really cool! Already bought 1 before and this time, must go there and get one more for CNY. His shirts are not cheap, about S$120 each. But what the heck, the designs are really cool and can't be found anywhere else, to my knowledge.

Then CNY came, for me, I took this opportunity to siam and go to Perth again to visit my friend. My wife and I left on the first day of CNY after visiting our direct relatives and grandmas, then off we go! Spent 7 days there. In fact, just got back! Damn shack and think falling sick somemore!

For HK, never took pictures as it was more like a very focused shopping trip but for Perth, will load up the pics in a few days' time.

As for details of my Perth trip, please look out for it in the coming days. Now just tot of putting in a short blog to show that it is more updated.

Anyway, had a hectic but fun past 2 weeks, a lot of travelling. Now it is back to work and hopefully can plan another trip in June or something.

For now, it is pia all the way until June!!!

Sigh!

F*#KING ASSHOLES!!!

2007-01-07T22:53:00.000-08:00

Whoever that stole my laptop bag from my car last Thursday at Sims Ave, I curse you!!!

You actually got the check to force down my window so you can reach your filthy hands in and take my laptop!!!

I never would have thought that this would happen to me in Singapore!!!

No $ then go and freaking earn $ instead of taking other people's property. No proper upbringing with brains smaller than peas!!!

By the way, if you happen to read this, I have already filed a police report and also informed Dell. Good luck to you if the notebook break down, once you send it back to Dell then you will f*#king get it! You have no choice but to send it to Dell.

My notebook is a Dell Inspiron 9400. The serial number is tagged. Dun you even try to sell it cos the police will be able to track the serial number too!!! But you know what! If you got the balls to take, then have the balls to return as there is no way you can sell this in Singapore!

Wah damn pissed man!!!!

$ not the issue, but all my work and important files are inside! Backup also not updated enough.

CR 27 Nov 2006 at West Side

2006-11-28T16:56:00.000-08:00

Finally my drinking buddy, Jimmy is able to take a short break after his 2nd baby girl is born. It has been more than 3 months since we got together. So one week before, he has been trying to organise a fishing trip together.

I met up at his place at 6.30am. Then we took his double cab to pick up the rest of the kakis. One in Bedok, then Tampines, then Changi to get our live bait (1kg prawns) and then Teck Whye to fetch the last kaki.

We reached our destination at about 9am. I was quite shack initially as I only slept for 3 hours since I wanted to watch the Man U vs Chelsea match.

Once we reached the pick up area, we saw our boatman came in a small boat, almost like a sampan. I tot, WTH??!!??

Then realised it was just to ferry us to the actual fishing boat. Sigh! The fishing boat was quite spacious. Though not as luxurious as my other trips before but it is a basic fishing boat. The boatman is quite senior, looks like 60+ to me. Have been fishing his whole life from the time Singapore was still a fishing port.

This is how the boat looks like:

The day started on a quiet note. Fishing spots are somewhere around Tuas and Jurong Island. Went to first 2 stops, no bite at all. Only at the 3rd spot, then one of the kaki caught this 1kg Guhood on handline.

Then it was quiet all the way. Rain started at about 3+pm. It was quite disappointing. As I started to reel in to check my bait, One of my kaki, Louis, saw a live sotong attached to my bait. So we scooped the bugger up and tot maybe can try changing from live prawn to sotong to see if it helps. So I hooked on the live sotong onto my Shimano TLD30 and then released to bottom. Within a minute, my rod started tapping! Immediately I rushed to it and started reeling back! It felt heavy! What a surprise when it came up! A nice size grouper. The weight is confirmed at 2.2kg.

With that, it got everyone excited! And we started to be on our attention. Soon after I got another take on my other Shimano 8000. It wasn't as heavy as the first but it felt good to catch something again. Up came another smaller grouper, weight is slightly less than 1kg. But this time it was on live prawns. Jimmy was mentioning that the water is warming up thus the fish is starting to feed.

Within another 5 mins, I got another take, This time it felt fierce, the fish was darting everywhere. In my mind, could it be a Diamond Trevally? I was hoping for one. However, up came a nice Parrotfish. The biggest I've caught so far. In fact the grouper was also the biggest I've caught so far. The weight is about 1kg

Thus this concludes the action for the trip. Louis was cursing and swearing cos the whole time he was in between my 2 rods, only about 0.5m away. But my 2 rods kept gettting hookup and he didn't.

So it is true to say that fishing is 70% luck and 30% skill. And I guess I was the luckiest one that day!

Overall the trip was not as good as I expected however, I had the most catch so no complains.

Can't wait for the next trip. I believe Southern Islands may be more productive, so will try to orgnanise one there.

That's it for now.

Trip on MV Southern Comfort 21 Oct 2006

2006-10-23T22:43:00.000-07:00

Had a smashing good time celebrating my birthday on 21 Oct 2006. Decided to do something different so since Eileena's birthday is also on the same day so came up with a suggestion to rent a boat and do BBQ and also fishing at the same time! Was glad that everyone was quite supportive of this so decided to Just Do It!

So the logistic, food and drinks are all settled. We had curry chicken, friend bee hoon, BBQ squid, BBQ stingray, hotdog and chicken wings all prepared thanks to my maid, hehehe....

For drinks we had Chivas, Red Label, Moet & Chandon and a carton of Heineken. Hope it is enough.

Well, instead of me talking non-stop the pictures are as follows:

This is an old pic of the boat we rented, it is called Southern Comfort. The captain, Melvin, did a good job in renovating the boat, Now it looks real good. If you want to find out more, go to http://www.mvsoutherncomfort.com/ for more details.

Of course for a party to be successful, we must have babes! These are the babes. (Sorry all are already "reserved")

When there are babes, there will always be hunks as well. These are the hunks!

This "hunk" came real late so he wasn't in the group photo. Furthermore, never catch any fish but trying to get credit for this seabass caught by Justin! Hehehe...

First stop was in-between Sisters' Island and St John's Island. The water there is calmer so good for BBQ. Of course, we can also do a bit of fishing. Nothing was hooked up on our rods but there were squid around and we were doing some scooping. To our surprise, scooped up a Nurse Shark. It's a baby!

BBQ was fun with good food, good company and good drinks! At about 11+, we headed to an actual fishing spot.

My first catch, a Blue Spotted Ray!

Then Justin's perseverance paid off with a small Seabass!

The catch of the nite, a 2kg Red Snapper (Ang Kuey)

Last catch of the nite, SweetLips.

We didn't catch much as the fishing time was less than 3 hours. Anyway, this trip fishing is not the main agenda so can catch already very good liao!

Justin was doin some scooping later in the nite and managed to scoop up a mini flying fish.

it was a memorable event and hope that everyone on board enjoyed themselves. Thanks to all (Colin, Eileena, Justin, Cynthia, Terence, Joshua, Wanling, Andrew and my wife) for making this happen as I have to admit the costs is not cheap for such an event so I'm grateful that everyone is sporting enough to contribute and share the costs.

It is a special birthday party for me!

Perth Trip 21 - 27 Sep 2006

2006-09-27T04:56:00.000-07:00

Have not been posting very long. Been busy with work. (Actually my life has been a bore so nothing to post lah ;)) Anyway, just got back from Perth. My close friend, Jonathan, has been posted there to be a fighter pilot instructor and so he invited us over. As he has also just gotten the fishing poison, so he has been tempting me with all his fishing reports. Since my wife are in-between jobs the past week, so we decided to make a trip over to check out all his tales. And in order to prepare for my trip there, I actually went to stock up on my fishing equipment. Went to KL 2 days before and bought myself a Shimano TLD30 and a 1-piece Lemax rod (max. 150lbs). These are power equipment man! I'm quite ready for the big game fishing that is to come in the Indian Ocean.

We were taking a 1.20am flight. Boy, it was quite a bad experience. Not so much for me but for my wife as she can never sleep on a plane even if it is a 12-15 hr flight. Man, that must be frustrating. We arrived at Perth Int'l Airport at 6.30am. For me I slept all the way to the extent I was quite pissed with the stewardess as she kept waking me up either for drinks, meals, etc. Can't she see I have my eye mask on???!!! It was quite irritating. Luckily the customs and immigation was quite smooth. I was quite surprised that the moment I step out, it was not as crowded or noisy as I expect from all the other asian airports I've been too. It was quite calm and quiet throughout. We boarded a cab and headed to Jon's place. His place is a Mindarie, a supposedly 2nd highest class of estates in Perth. The trip took us almost an hour and the fare costs us AUD$85!! Talking about expensive cab fare..... what is another 1 or 2 cent increase in out public transport fares. (Quit whining....)

We reach his place and holy sh*t! It is really damn solid man. It is actually a 4 unit apartments, with 2 units on the 2nd floor and 2 on the ground floor. And behind they have private jetty and also 4 covered garages. It was quite cool. Check out the view from Jon's balcony. This pic is the view from the left side.

Jon's place is directly opposite this bungalow. Imagine staying there? That is what I call LIFE! Apparently, such a unit 2 years ago only costs AUD$500K but now it is almost 2-3million!

And this view is from the right side of his balcony.

We were quite jet lag on the first day so we crashed for a couple of hours. Anyway, Jon's wife, Agnes needs to prepare her son so she can bring us out for some shopping. Our first stop is Harbour Town. It is an open air concept shopping mall / outlet. The clothes are direct from factory so the prices are quite reasonable. We had lunch there at a place called Noodle Hut. It was one of the worst Chinese food I've ever tried. And worse still, a bowl of noodles cost at least AUD$8. So why are Singaporeans complaining about Food Court food costing $4-5 per bowl???

This is the view of Perth City, as you can see there are not much tall buildings. What I can say is that the feel I get during my time in Perth is damn relac man! Everyone doesn't seem to be working. Even the shopping malls closed at 5pm everyday except on Thursday where they have night shopping til 9pm.

Jon was working on our first day. So he can only meet us during dinner. He brought us to Hog's Breath. I believe Singapore has one but I've not tried it yet. Since Hog's Breath came from Australia, I should be trying the original. The steak was good but humongous! And they still have another special order for a bigger steak portion!!! The meal is damn unhealthy man. Almost feel that the beef is choking my arteries!

Oh ya, forgot to mention the weather as well. It is Spring there so weather is still quite chilly. The day temperature ranges about 18-25 degrees celsius but when night falls, it can go below 10 degrees celsius. Especially when the wind blows.

Jon was very hospitable as he allows us to use his car so we can drive around. As he still needs to work so he could not bring us around. We were quite adventurous and as long we have the street directory, we decided to just whack and try our luck.

Our itinery for 2nd day is to visit Station St Market, Subiaco Market and Fremantle.

First stop, Station St, quite an interesting market with a lot of small shops. We didn't get much except there is this shop selling snacks for dogs. They have pig ears, kangaroo snacks, etc. So we stop by and bought some for our buggers.

This is a shot of Subiaco Market.

As we were browsing the shops along Subiaco Centre, we came across this Shar Pei. Apparently the owner needs to run some errands in the bank and brought the dog along. Since animals are not allowed in the bank, this poor bugger has to wait outside. Oh and he is unleashed! Now that's something!

Next stop, Fremantle. I have admit our recce was not all smooth sailing. We did a couple of wrong turns and U-turns but eventually we found our way. At Femantle, we parked just outside of the Bulldogs stadium. Quite a nice logo, or maybe just because we have a bull dog so no choice must take a photo.

Anyway, the Australian Football League (AFL) is on and the semis are playing. West Coast Eagles vs Adelaide. I was quite confused cos the rules of AFL are a mixture of Rugby, Soccer, Volleyball and Basketball. Just a brief description from what I gather when I watched the semis, it is played in a Rugby field with tackling done in Rugby style and played with a rugby ball, however, passing is done via Volleyball style using the hands to hit the ball to their team-mates, as a player is running across the field, after a certain number of distance, the player has to bounce the ball on the field before he can carry on holding on to the ball to run, like basketball. And to score, there are four poles at the centre of the opponent's side. The ball must be kicked in between the inner 2 poles to score a full goal of 6 points like soccer. If the ball is kicked across the outer 2 poles, then it is only a point. Sounds confusing right? Anyway, it is a big thing over there.

Basically, there is nothing much at Fremantle. A lot of cafes and restaurants.

We were recommended by Jon to eat at Kaili's. A famous Fish n Chips place. here is the pic of the logo.

We had whiting fish n chips and the meat is good. We also ordered chilled prawns and oysters. It was fresh and sweet. Gave me the memories of having seafood at San Francisco, Fisherman's Wharf.

This is a pic of the whiting that we caught behind Jon's Place.

And this is the finished product... hehe.

Basically, there are a lot of places in Perth with a view like this. Can you imagine? With the temperature at 20+ degrees, you can just sit alfresco all day and drink beer.....

As we were making our way back, we saw this humongous bird thing that might be a stork or something. Check out his size. And this bugger is just walking around as if he is one of us. He even entered one of the restaurant's entrace as if trying to get a table for one!

Oh ya, that reminds me, one bad thing about eating alfresco in this kinda place, the seagulls are damn irritating. They will just stand on the railing next to you. The moment you are not looking, they will swoop in to have a go at your food!

On our 3rd day, we headed to Scraborough Beach. I was quite surprised to see a few surfers around. The temp is still cold and these guys can actually take it. We had fish and chips again. But this time, man the food is damn salty!! They asked if we wanted to add anything on our food, we had a choice of pepper, salt, etc. I asked for salt and my fish burger was covered in salt, literally! Well, Jon did mention that the people in Australia likes their food salty.

Here is a pic of some people having some kite surfing session.

Here is the road sign of Scarborough Beach. It was stated on the web that the market here is bustling. But when we were there, it was quite quiet. I guess that only reason is that it is lively only during summer as it is a popular sea side sports area.

Now on the 4th day was the day that I've been awaiting. The fishing day! We had a charter with the captain Don. A scottish guy born in Australia. His son is with him as well. This is his boat and it is called Too Ezy. Hopefully, this trip is gonna be really too ezy man.

The swells are about 1-2m and is considered pretty calm. On some days, it can reach 4-5m. The trip to our first stop took about 40mins with a lot of bumping and rocking but was fun. Luckily no one was sea-sick except the boatman's son. But I have to give him credit, his only 12.

Althogether, there were 6 of us excluding the boatman and his son. Jon, Shamu, Sydney, Nicholas, myself and my wife.

We had a bet going to see who will land the first fish, the biggest, and the longest. Lucky me, I had the first one! A flathead. The thing about Australia anglers are that they have rules on all fishes and what is the minimum length before you can keep the fish. As for this flathead, it is below the min so I had to let it go after some photo taking.

I was hoping to get Samson and tuna. Don was saying last week he went out and the trip produced 11 bluefin tuna!!! What a catch! I was crossing my fingers for that. After dropping my line again, Don was telling us to anticipate a group of fish he has detected through his echo finder. Within a minute, I felt a tug and immediately I gave it a strike. We were fishing at about 40m so it took me a while to bring it. What a beauty! It is a pink snapper or pinkie as the locals will call it. This one is definitely within limits. It is way over 50cm and I think the weight is about 3kg.
I think it is a school of pinkies cos after my first one, everyone else started having multiple hook ups. However, only a few are keepers as the rest are below limit.
This is at our second spot. Shamu with his 1st catch. A sea bream. Not a keeper though. Then my wife's rod got a hook up. She immediately passed to me. I was shocked once I handled the rod. The line is just peeling off the TLD 15! I tried reeling back but though I'm reeling back, the line is going the other way!!! It was a full 10 mins before I decided to let Jon have a go. Jon could also not get any line back so Don decided to try to chase the fish. Meanwhile, Sdyney took over, he managed to get some line back but still not enough to pull in the fish. Just look at the pics and you will understand.

In the end, the line snapped. :( What a pity. It must be a big bugger of at least 20kg. We were trying to deduce what fish it could be. Maybe a ray? Anway, with this episode, it has gotten our adrenaline pumping. We headed to our 3rd and final spot. This is the spot for the biggies. We are at depths of 100m.

The moment we put our lines in, we had multiple hookups again. But this time, it is a school of china-man juveniles. It is poisonous so we can only take some photos and back to the sea they go.

Next I got another hookup and up came a grouper looking thing. It believe it is a estuary cod.

This is a pic of another sea bream.

One of the coral fishes being caught. Definitely can't keep so back to the sea again.

Then again, my wife's rod got a hook up again together with Nicholas. They started reeling back and to their dismay, found their lines are tangled. It was quite a bad tangle so the boatman decided to bring in both lines onto the boat to distangle. To our surprise, there are 2 flatheads at the end of each line. And boy it is a giant flathead! It turns out to be the longest fish of the day at over 1m and weighing at over 2kg!.

After a short while, Shamu got a hookup as well. As he is reeling in, he kept saying damn big damn heavy. So Don got the net ready and we were all anxiously anticipating what fish it could be. And guess what? The highlight of the day. a 11 kg Dhufish!!! Check out the size man. And Shamu is at least 1.8m tall!

Are we excited or what after that giant! I had 1 more hookup and it turned out to be this bright red fish. No one can really identify it. Once I can identify the fish, I will put the name in or maybe you can let me know by leaving a comment.
Finally, Shamu got his final hookup. Another dhufish, though not as big but still coming in at about 5kg. Check out its eyes, Shamu was pulling this guy up so fast that it suffered Decompression Illness. So bear in mind, if you are diving at depths of more than 50m do not attempt to come up within 5 mins, this will happen to your eyes!

As we are preparing to pack up, I had one more hookup. This time it is on my TLD30 which should be accustomed to big game. My rod literally bended into a perfect U shape. All I can do is to just hold my both hands on the rod to try and pull this guy up. My line is peeling off even faster than the previous one. I dun even dare to free one of my hand to start reeling. I was in this position for about 15 mins and then the line just snapped. Man what a bummer, twice and either the reel is not strong enough or the angler is not strong enough. With this in mind, I will definitely go back and pump some iron and head back here again!!!

On our way back, we had a surprise visitor. A loner seal sun bathing in the middle of Indian Ocean!
This is the pic of our total catch from 8am - 3pm.

Dhufish - 2 (11kg, 5kg)
Pink Snapper - 4 (3-5 kg)
Flathead - 2 (1-2+kg)
Estuary Cod - 1 (2+kg)
Red Snapper - 1 (1+kg)
Unknown - 2 red fishes
Breaksea Cod - 1 (1+kg)
Golden Spotted Trevally - 1 (1+kg)

Check out our happy faces!
On our 5th day, just did a bit of shopping at Karrinyup Shopping Centre. What I like about the shopping here is that the malls closed at 5pm. And due to that, it was still bearable for me to accompany my wife as normally we only will be able to start our shopping after lunch about 2pm so that's only about 2+hrs. heehee....

This is a view of Jon's apartment from his jetty. his unit is on the second floor.
On our sixth and final day, we headed to the Canine Association of Western Australia to get some show accessories for our friend Carole and ourselves.

This is a pic of the show ground. You can imagine how busy it will be on show days.

One thing I noticed, the signs here are kinda funny.

I was sitting down at the pavement and looking at this sign wondering, for how long? How am I supposed to pass this place without standing up to walk away? I am a law abiding Singaporean, you know?(Just kidding)

Go back? To where? How? (Salah, Balek!)

This is one of the best pie place. The pies here are absolutely incredible. Especially the Bacon, Egg and cheese pie. Slurp!
Maybe I am a kampung but I sure didn't know that Burger King is called Hungry Jack's everywhere else except in Asia!
Jon took us for a walk at Perth's richest and most expensive estate, the Hillary's.
Where is my boat? I remember I parked it here last nite!
Now this is called living. How can Sentosa Cove compare to this? For one, the weather is already a bummer in Singapore.

Our final destination was this Chinese restaurant. It is famous for its Snow Crab with salted eggs. Finally, chinese food acceptable to my tastebuds! It was good food.
The funny thing about Perth is that though pubs are rare except in the city, they have this drive-in places where you can buy beer, wine or spirits. You can actually drive thru, tell them what you want, they pass it to you, you pay and get your liqour without stepping out of the car! The other weird thing is that with this, you might be wondering that there should be a lot of drink driving cases but the law on this is very strict. As long as you are stopped over with a open bottle or can, you are automatically charged with DUI (Driving Under Influence) even if the bottle / can belongs to your companion.

It was a sad time for my wife and I as we bid farewell and thank yous to Jon and family for all his hospitality throughout. It has been an enjoyable trip. So much so that I would definitely be making a trip back as soon as I can as I have unfinished business with regards to the fishing. I like this place. The policies here are weird at times but generally is beneficial to the citizens. Like for example, there is policy for minimum wages, a waitress is earning about $20-25 an hour. Macdonalds pay at least $15 an hour. Those man who hold road signs at pedestrain crossing for students to cross are considered hazardous job and thus the minimum wage is at least $40-50 an hour!!! But end of the day, tax is high to from a min. of 20% - 40% for high wage earners. Cars are cheap though, a new CRV only costs AUD39,900. Even the pickups are heavy duty, 5.7litre V6 engine ones man! It costs only about 30+K and is quite cool also. Check it out!

Road tax only cost AUD200 per year irregardless of engine capacity. This trip is really an eye opener as I really experienced living in Perth and not just touring. We were driving everywhere ourselves armed with just the street directory. We actually experienced the actual lifestyle instead of the normal tour groups.

Given a chance, it would be good to really live there for several weeks to a month as it really slows down a person's pace and really find time to do things in a relaxing environment. Til then, take care mates!

CR 9-10 July 2006

2006-07-11T02:38:00.000-07:00

Jimmy and I have been talking for a long time to arrange an overnight fishing trip together. Together with barbecue and stuff. Just 2 guys relaxing at our fishing spot. Errr, a bit "brokeback" is it? Aiyah, who gives a F*#k!

Anyway, we reached our secret spot in Tanah Merah and started setting up. Shelter, BBQ pit, etc. As it is high tide, so we took it easy and decided to just do some float fishing. Current is very strong and the float keeps coming back to shore so we just left it there.

Started BBQing, wah damn shiok! My wings are marinated perfectly and also sausages are something one cannot leave without during BBQ. Easy to cook and nice to eat.

Low tide is expected at 4am so we just ate, chit chat until 3am and we proceeded to move further down since the water level is low enough. Started fishing. Wah damn quiet the sea, maybe because it has been raining the whole of Sunday so water not very good and fishes are not biting. Worse still, fish not biting but damn a lot of insects biting us! Suddenly, I saw Jimmy starting reeling back very fast. I tot Ho Sei! Then up came a....

An ABL - Ang Bak Lo (Red Eyed Sea bass). Jimmy was disappointed cos he mentioned that if you catch ABL means other fishes are not biting as the water is cold and only such fishes bite. As I was very sleepy I decided to give up and go back to the car to chill. As we continue BBQing and chitchatting, suddenly felt raindrops, shit! Rain, so we rushed back to the car boot. As the shelter is hanging over the car boot, we decided to take cover there. The rain was torrentous! Luckily our shelter held. Soon we are really shack out so I moved forward to the driver seat to sleep while Jimmy crashed at the boot.

Woke up at 8+am. The rain has stopped, weather was chilly so decided to make coffee. Jimmy wanted to set up his net to put along the shore, hopefully to catch passing school of fishes. While he is doing so, I decided to continue with some bottom fishing. Happening!

Got my first catch! A grouper. Much bigger than I expected from my previous catches at this place. Should be about 400-500gms. Now the adenaline is pumping!

A good sized parrot fish! Eng kor! Should be about 800gms! What a surprise!

Then Jimmy cannot take it and immediately set up his rod to join me. For the next an hour and half, nothing, Jimmy got a few bites but keeps either getting snaged on rocks or line snapped. This is encouraging cos it means the fishes here of pretty good sizes! Then Jimmy hooked on one, as he is reeling in, ke keeps saying damn heavy damn big!

A golden trevally!!! What a surprise! Though size is smaller than he expected but this fish is a good fighter thus the feel like it is a heavy bugger! I never expected to land such a fish like this! If you have seen my previous reports, I got one from Singapore waters and it is about 3kg so I know how good this buggers are!

So it seems like the trip is not wasted after all. Then later we went to check out the net and saw fishes being caught in it. That's great! We pulled up expecting a school but only 3. Dunno what fish le but good enough size.

Overall quite satisfying trip. Will definitely be planning one more soon. Anway, just a pic to show you how we set up my car and the shelter.

So far, shoreline fishing, this is still one of the best spots. Of course, I won't reveal where it is. hehehehe....

Anyway, quite shack today. Never sleep much during the fishing trip and last nite went for Coldplay concert. Damn good! Definitely better than Oasis one. Then my wife has to go KL so got to fetch her to airport this morning at 6am!

Steam man! Need to get some rest! Ciao!

2 July 2006 - SKC Dog Show!

2006-07-06T06:03:00.000-07:00

It is my bulldog's second show and after 2 months of show training, we are hoping that he is ready. Then a couple of days before, noticed that there are bald patches appearing on his body and it seemed to get worse. So saturday, brought him to the vet and found out he got Demodex! It is a kind of mite problem which is no contagious but is hereditary. There is no definite cure, the only way is for increase his immunity system so that the body can kill the mites off themselves! Damn! and the show is tomorrow! So after the vet, was advised by Carole to seek advise from a professional expertise. Very bad comments, saying his condition quite bad and so on and so forth. So we decided to go back to our show advisor so see since he is the person who imported the dog and been guiding us in the show preparation and training.

met him late at night and after viewing Julio, he said it looks better than he expected and he mentioned that it is possible to hide them with a bit of make-up.

So next day, went to Singapore Expo about 9am and was quite anxious.

The first show was by a Japanese judge. She seems to like Julio. Since Julio is the only Bulldog puppy so naturally it is a walkover to get Best Puppy in Breed.

However was a bit disappointed that we could not get Best in Breed overall as there is another competitor which is a mature Bulldog. And I heard that dog was awarded Best in Show before!

Then, the surprising thing is, since Julio is Best Puppy in Breed, then he is set to compete in Best Puppy in Group Stage, which is all the Best Puppy in Breed from the Utility group compete for the Best Puppy in Group. There were altogether 3 competitors, Julio, a Chow Chow and a Shih Tzu. Guess what? Julio got Best Puppy in Group!! This is a massive encouragement! Cos then he will need to stay the whole day to compete in Best Puppy in Show!

Anyway, there are 2 show going concurrently, one by the Japanese judge and one by an Australian judge.

Ok, for those who are unfamiliar with Dog Shows. Let me try to explain. Hope I get it right, else those show enthusiast will blast me! Dog show is like a beauty contest. Every dog breed has what we call a Breed standard, which is the best template of a dog for that breed. In the show, judges will based on their knowledge of that particular breed standard to judge and rate which dog is closest to that standard. It is subjective though cos there is no judge that is an expert in all breeds.

So the judging starts with the handler "stacking" the dog. Stacking means positioning the dog in its best standing posture. The judge will look for bone structure, shape and aligement of body, limbs, face, etc.

Next, the judge will look at the face closely and the teeth. Different dog breeds have different jaw set, depending on the function of the dog. If the dog is aggressive or shy and does not want to show their teeth, it is considered an disadvantage and points will be deducted.

Then the judge will feel the body for proportionment of the bone structure, limbs, etc. If it is a male, the judge will also feel the testicles for 2 descended testicles. Anyone missing is considered a fault as well.

Lastly, the handler will move the dog around the ring so look at the movement. As usual, different dog has different movement requirements.

So for the Australian judge, Julio only got Best Puppy in Breed. So as I say before, different judge has different opinions.

Maybe one of the reason is that the other bulldog competitor is already an adult and proven winner so sometimes judges doesn't want to take risk to award a puppy better than a mature dog??!!?

Anyway, it has been a motivating and enlightening experience so definitely you will be seeing more of Julio in the SKC shows in the future!

Below are some misc pics of him during the waiting time throughout the day. As you can see, other than those short time of showing, which is about 15-30 mins per show. Other than that, it is waiting and waiting and...

And more waiting....................................

And more waiting..............................................

and more waiting....................................................................................................................

2006-07-06T05:42:00.000-07:00

Sorry for not posting for such a long time. Things has been a bit hectic since so no time to upload my fishing pics up to my PC. Though nothing much to brag about cos no opportunity to go boat fishing since the last one. But did a lot of onshore fishing and yes you know, SG waters are not that fantastic unless you have plenty of time to spare like more than 8 hours then maybe you can get a decent catch. Here are pics of 2 short trips I had, 1 at Punggol beach and the other at Tanah Merah.

It is such a small catch report that I decided to put them into one post. That week of June is the first week of World Cup and seems like nobody is working at all so that week I actually fished 3 times!!

Here it goes:

It was 12 June and my drinking buddy is off on that day so decided to check out Punggol beach as it is high tide so cannot go Tanah Merah. Above is his son, Cody, who got the first catch there. Pretty impressive! (Shit! I lose out to a small boy, how can?) Anyway, in total Jimmy and his son got 2 Frogfish and 2 other fishes which I can't ID.

Anyway, this is my first trip out together with Jimmy and his son. And all I can say is that it has reaffirmed my decision not to have kids! Man, he kept asking questions after questions every 2-3mins. How to fish properly? No wonder I got no catch! (Hope Carole doesn't see this, hee hee...) I guess he was bored as fishing requires patience and kids are lacking that. It's like Jimmy told him to watch the rod and if it moves, means there is a bite. So instead of watching and waiting, he moved the rod with his feet and kept shouting," Fish! Fish!" It is funny now to think about it but at that time, it was just noise to me..... Luckily there was another family and they had kids around his age so later part he ended up playing with them.

Anyway, I did not get any catch there that day, Suay! But earlier on, I went Tanah Merah myself and manage to catch a good size todak.

On another day that week, went to Tanah Merah Safra club, there is a breakwater there so decided to go and check it out. Spend about 3 hours there, very bad. No catch, there were buoys along the coast so was wondering if there is a net there. If so, then unlucky man! Confirmed no fish. Was bored so decided to do a bit of rock fishing along the breakwater. Not too bad, a lot of small action. Caught a baby grouper and a baby Ang Chor Ki, too small so released. Then to my surprise, actually caught an eel. Should be a baby. It was a surprise catch. No worries, the eel is also released after posing for photos!

That's all for now. Hopefully next week can have more decent pics.

CR 13 May 2006

2006-06-19T19:00:00.000-07:00

Ok, finally got a bit of time to post my ultimate catch report. In fact the planning of this trip was a very last minute one. Charles is coming back from Guangzhou for 1 week and since it was the first time I'm booking for a fishing charter, I did not know that fishing charters in Singapore is so popular. Most of them are booked for at least the coming 3 month's weekends!! Desperation took over to the extend I started calling all the marinas in Singapore to get contacts of other fishing charters that do not advertise or do for pure commercial. Luckily, managed to get Melvin (Boatman). Then the next problem arise, not enough kaki!! The boat costs $500 and if only a few of us, then we will need to chalk out more than $100 each! So spend the last few days before 13 May to get kakis but to no avail. Finally, only manage to get 3 people. So what the heck? Just go lah!

Anglers:
Charles
Myself
Quek
QingLing

This is the picture of the boat. Quite a nice one, big and cosy with at least 3 bunks inside for you to take naps.

These are the 3 anglers excluding myself. In fact, it is a vrigin trip for all of us!

First catch! Sweet lips (Kaci) quite a good size one. Total we got 6 of these. There must be a school swimming nearby. The biggest is about 4kg.

Weiliang's 2nd catch. Barracuda! The funny thing is that the hook is caught at the side gill and not the mouth. Lucky catch?

My first catch, also a kaci.

My second catch. Queenfish. quite a good fight. I was actually talking on my mobile phone when the rod dipped so I just threw my phone aside and went to fight. Luckily I did not throw my phone to the sea by mistake! Furthermore, with the shirt that I'm wearing, no wonder I'm attracting the fishes.

Look at how the rod bend! You can imagine how the fishes in the wild are compared to those in commercial ponds.

My best catch. Golden Trevally. The fight was so strong that after that, my whole face was red. I think I fought for at least 15 mins!! This bugger even threatened to swim under the boat! I was totally worn out after this!

Then there was a period of total peace where we all just slack and enjoy the sea breeze and view.

Then action again! This time, parrotfish! Got 2 actually, this one is the bigger one. Supposedly one of the delicacy in Hong Kong.

Then Charles' rod start to dip again. He took it and look at the bend! We were all trying to guess what fish this is cos Charles sure took a long time to reel back. The fish kept swimming away. Charles can only hold on and wear the bugger out!

Finally! His best catch. Diamond Trevally. Look at his satisfied face!!

This is our toal catch from 8 hours of fishing. Details:

Sweet Lips = 4 (black) 2 (white / normal?) 3-4kg

Barracuda = 1 (1+kg)

Queen fish = 1 (2+kg)

Golden Trevally = 1 (3kg)

Diamond Trevally (Jio Beng) = 1 (3+kg)

Parrotfish = 2 (1-2kg)

Barracuda: Fried

Sweet lips: steam hong kong style

Sweet lips head : Curry fish head

So by now all the fish is in our stomach already. Definitely, one of the more memorable fishing trip. Can't wait for Charles to come back again so we can plan another one!

If you are interested to join us, let me know.

CR 17 Apr 2006

2006-06-13T08:15:00.000-07:00

Sorry guys, I know I'm supposed to put up the ultimate Catch Report but I found out another trip which is a small one with my booze buddy, Jimmy. So just tot of putting it in.

By the way, Korea beat Togo 2-1!!!! and I've won $$$. Yahoo! They were trailing 0-1 at half time and was quite worried. Luckily they staged a comeback. Whew! Sorry for those who took Togo. :(

Anyway, back to the trip.

This place is near Tanah Merah. Secret spot so can't tell you exactly where it is. Been here a few times and catch is pretty good. The only drawback is the size of the fishes are rather small. About palm size for slightly bigger. Also, can only fish during low tide as we can walk further out nearer to the deep channel leading out to sea.

First catch for Mr jimmy. Also dun know what fish it is but from the patterns on the fish, quite a nice looking one.

These are our total catch for 2 hours. Quite weak. We proceeded to Pulau Ubin and it was worse! Nothing at all!!

As for me, kena pantang. My first bite at Tanah Merah and I tried to fight but in the end lost it. So as most anglers say, first bite must land the fish else the whole day confirm cannot catch anymore. Needless to say, that's what happened to me :( Dunno true or not. however, it will not stop me fishing.... hehehe....

As for the ultimate fishing trip, I promise I will post it tomorrow. Now anticipating France vs Swiss and also Brazil vs Croatia.

So which team you are rooting for?

Anyway, Good 6 to all!

CR 5 April 2006

2006-06-12T22:59:00.000-07:00

Planned to do some fishing in Pulau Ubin with Charles on that day. So boarded the boat there. Was not sure where is better but they mentioned the beach is quite good, so took a taxi there. Oh, did you know the taxis there are no longer those 1970s type of old cars? Now all are mini passenger vans, quite nice actually.

Brought us to the beach (I forgot what name already) but it was low tide and the whole beach is full of debris and rubbish. Damn unappetizing. even if kena fish also dun know dare to eat or not.

So called the taxi driver and ask him to come and take us elsewhere. So the other place he can think of is Ketam Channel. It is a channel leading thru Ubin and between some offshore islets. Should be quite an ideal spot for fishing. So boarded and proceed to recee around. Found a dilapidated jetty made of wood planks. Alas! The entrance is being sealed with planks.

Charles decided to have a closer look and found that we can actually climb around it to get to the other side. Which we did. Nice place with even rod holders available! So started to unpack and set up equipment.

Started fishing about 12pm til 5pm Not very good catch but at least got kena fish. Here are the pics:

Was quite bored and realised that there is a lot of chiam chui he (Sharp mouth fish) swimming around the surface. So decided to just use hook n line with dead prawn meat to lure them. As our hooks are bigger than their mouths, we need to slowly let them eat until the hook is in else can't hook it up. Was quite fun as the fish is chewing and swimming around so we need to follow in order not to scare them to release the meat.

This is the best catch for that day. Though small but good for table size! Quite a fiesty little fellow! After that we headed back to Singapore, there is this Tekong Restaurant which can actually clean and cook the fish for us for a nominal fee. So we sat down and enjoyed our catch. Damn good! Fresh from the sea is the best when steamed immediately. Slurp! Pardon the square around my face, it has nothing to do with my camera, I posted this pic on a public forum and did not want people to see my face, then...

Oh, I almost forget, we also caught this sea-water catfish (yellow-tailed). We never liked catfish, cos firstly dun know how to cook and also very ugly looking. So we just took a pic and threw it back into the sea to survive another day.

Stay tuned cos you are getting closer to the big catch report!!!!

CR 26 March 2006

2006-06-12T22:31:00.000-07:00

Ok since now at bit slack in office, decided to update some more. Just a story on how I picked up fishing.

I used to join my friend, Jimmy, when he goes fishing around Singapore shoreline. However, my main purpose is not to fish but to join him in a couple of booze. He is one of my best or should I say only booze buddy. We can drink the whole damn night and not get drunk. I guess our charaters match and so there is alot of things to talk about during our booze session. However, I feel that this will get less as he is starting to become a more family man with his second kid approaching. Nevertheless, I will anticipate those special occasions like BBQ parties, birthday, Christmas, New year, etc to booze with him again. Anyway, back to the main topic.

So during those many occasions, I never thought of picking up fishing. As I used to think that at the moment my career/business is more important and unless I can declare myself semi-retire, I would not pick fishing as it takes up a lot of time if you are hooked on it.

Then a long time friend, Charles, came back from Australia, as he is quite free due to not able to find a job back in Singapore, I always meet him up for lunch, coffee breaks, etc. Then one day, we were so bored we did not know what to do and suddenly the topic of fishing popped up. After much persuasion by him, I decided to get my first set of fishing equipment.

Abu Garcia 2-piece rod and a Shimano 1500 spinner. Then I got hooked. Sorry was unable to get pictures of the first few CR - Catch Reports as I did not bring my camera. But today, would like to share my first proper sea-fishing trip at Pulau Redang with my wife.

Before that, I have already acquired another 2 sets of reel and rod. One set from Malaysia, KL and the other from Hong Kong.

Malaysia: Silstar rod 6" (2nd hand from Charles) and Daiwa spinner 3500
Hong Kong: ATC boat rod 5" and a shimano spinner 8000!

Spent quite a bit on fishing equipment already, die man kena poisoned already!!!

Anyway, the pics are as follows for Redang trip.

My wife got the 1st bite, landing a baby grouper. She didn't even know it was hooked on until I told her to reel back and check if the bait is still around??!! Then when she reeled back, HEY! kena fish!

Caught a couple of these, which actually has better fight than the groupers. Still cannot identify what fish is this. Looks quite nice though :)

This is our total catch for about 4 hours fishing. Was actually persuaded by a few tour operators not to go as the sea is choppy but I insisted as I bought all my gear along. Anyway, it was a good experience for my wife. Hoping she can kena fishing poison also so I can fish more. Muahaha...!

Stay tuned for more. Especially my CR on SG offshore waters. It was one of the most power trips I've had so far!!!

Welcome! Welcome!

2006-06-12T18:48:00.000-07:00

Welcome to my blog! My purpose is to keep track of all the activities happening to me in my daily life. To give an intro to myself:

Sex: M
Marital Status: Married
Born: 1977
Star Sign: Libra
Occupation: Business Owner

This blog will showcase all my hobbies, family, entertainment activities and also some of my thoughts that may instigate some thinking on my readers as well.

Well, to intro my family:

Me and wife at Y2006 new year's eve party at CHIJMES! Check out all our red faces!

Our "children":

Nuka (Siberian Husky - Born 2001)

Lestat (Alaskan Malamute - Born Y2002)

Emoh (Norwegian Forest Cat - born Y2003)

Elfie (Norwegian Forest Cat - Y2004)

Eixo (Norwegian Forest Cat - Son of Emoh & Elfie, Born Y2005) Was sold to Canadian Lady who used to be a cat judge in Canada. Was quite surprised that she likes our kittens. Now I heard that Eixo is enjoying himself after the family re-located to Batam.

Ecko (Norwegian Forest Cat - Daughter of Emoh & Elfie, Born Y2005). Was not intending to sell but Emoh and Elfie had an accident and thus was pregnant again! So no choice got to let go Ecko so as not to distract Elfie's maternal instinct for the 2nd batch. Sold to a lady tat owns a petshop but in order to reassure us that she is not selling her for a profit, we agreed to let go since she has experience in Norwegian Forest Cats herself. Quite sad to let go but anticipating the new batch coming.

Now for the final 2 kittens from the second batch: Born Y2006. Have not tot of a name so we just decided to call them Blur F*#K and Stupid Bitch. Dun ask me why, it is based on their characters so you can guess how is their behaviour. (ha ha!)

And in Y2006, was introduced by a friend of mine to a local dog show judge who has bought in a litter of British Bull Dog puppies from Thailand. Lineage is supposed very good, from Hungary and USA. So itchy backside, my wife and I went to have a look. One look and we fell in love. Furthermore, the local judge, M**g K*k allowed us to get the pick of the litter as we are intending to show him. So here he is: Julio (British Bull Dog). The second pic is from his 1st ever show in the baby puppy category and he came in 4th against strong competition from all the different breeds. apparently for baby puppy (<>

That's all I have to introduce. But stay tuned as I will also showcase all the activites happening like dog shows (as I show my dogs especially now concentrating on my British Bull Dog) and also my newly found second love: Fishing! Will have many pics for you to enjoy and feedback.

Keep in touch!