Thorns all around

Spiky cousins

I was just browsing through the hundreds of horticulturally related photos I have in my computer, and I chanced upon this photo. The thing is, I have absolutely no clue about cacti(plural for cactus for those of us who do not know). I mean, we learnt so much about shrubs, flowering plants, trees and all that good stuff, but we haven't really touched on cacti.
We see so many of them during the CNY period, those with the green stems( are they stems?) and red heads. From what I know, the red heads are actually grafted onto their green hosts. So apparently it works, and the cactus is able to survive, until some freak accident which will leave it 'headless', sort of.
We live in a tropical island, so it's perfectly natural for Singaporeans to not see cacti often. But office-folk like them to bits because they don't need as much sunlight, and watering them once a week is probably more than enough already.

So it's a hassle-free plant to grow, but is it? Hmmmmm, I have friends who grow cacti in their offices, and water them sporadically, but the cacti still start to rot due to excess moisture. So they turn black and soggy from the bottom up and eventually fall over due to the damaged/rotting/soft/nua base of the stem. It's probably due to the humidity and soil types being unsuitable for retaining too much water. But hey, I'm no expert when it comes to these spiky organisms, they just look pretty sitting there in their little pots. I might as well start reading up on them since I have slightly more time on my hands now. =/
Time to hit the books once again!

~moey out~

Canine love

Since I was a kid, I've wanted to own a puppy. I didn't know the various breeds of dogs at that time, neither did I know how much a dog costs.But I kept imagining that one was just wildly running around my house literally like a mad dog and it would probably poop at some weird part of the house. These furry balls of fur really get to me, and when I see people on the streets with dogs, it gets me all warm and fuzzy inside. When I was in lower primary, I used to just lie in bed and curl up like how a puppy does, because they look SO CUTE when they do that. So I actually pretended I was a puppy when I was about to fall asleep. Hahaha, how weird was I back then.
But NOW I know the cost of a dog, and they can cost SO MUCH! Just to buy them, get a license and the house-keeping costs look scary.
When I think about it, it would be good to have a dog around the house, but when nobody is at home, it's going to be really hard to take care of the dog, feed it and clean up after it, so this factor always prevented from getting a dog as a pet. Well, I can only dream about having one though, maybe when I have a family of my own then maybe we might get a dog for the family. Now that would be interesting.

~moey out~

Memories!

It's been exactly three years ago since I last took up the challenge by Adrian to be a leader for a bunch of 10 year-olds who were all jumpy,talkative and mischievous. Initially I was extremely nervous and uncomfortable because of the unknown environment and people. Everything was too new to me and I was far from comfortable. However as the days progressed and session after session passed, seeing the boys grow up, learning and having fun, it just felt right to be with them every Sunday. Of course like any other family, we had our ups and downs throughout the years, tantrums have been thrown, tears have been shed, sometimes even blood too. But through all those times, something wonderful always appears soon after, and I thank God for these times which really shaped the boys in one way or another. Thinking back, if I hadn't made this bold decision to serve in the childrens' ministry, I wouldn't be the crazy and childish me. The boys really taught me how to be a child again and what it means to have a child-like faith.

One more thing which I enjoyed every Sunday was the leaders and people around me. I'm really going to miss hanging out with all these wonderful people, and they really made my days as a leader an amazing experience! What with all the time we spent together in church camps, having birthday celebrations, preparing lessons together, I will definitely feel something is amiss. It has been great serving beside all these leaders and I have utmost respect for each and everyone of them!

However the journey has only begun for all of us, the 12 year-olds have only crossed the Primary school hurdle, with a whole more to overcome. There will definitely be trials to go through, but I know we have each other to rely on and that's something which I know I can believe in. =)

~moey out~

Doing the Twenty-One

The singular most descriptive adjective that comes to mind is: Painful.
But it's not so much about the lack of stamina, but more of the legs feeling strained and exhausted. Well, it was my first time running such a long distance, and even though it's not an amazing timing, I still feel accomplished simply because I would never have thought that I could have completed such a feat. I'm sure that I wasn't the only one feeling good about this event, so many different people with so many different training backgrounds also made it to the end. A few of my friends were disappointed because they couldn't make their target time, and I guess you can "never get too seasoned at running such events."

Apart from the running, the whole experience was rather enjoyable, because just running the new Marina Bay area was exhilarating enough, and on top of that, all the lights and environment made it more spectacular. Sadly there was still a lot of construction going on throughout the route, but that's the only thing that sort of dampened the running scenery.

I actually met a lot of old friends along the way, and it was great to see them all. It just adds to the purpose of the event, which was to bring people together. Hardcore marathon runners, to seasoned ones and to those who were also running for the very first time, everyone did their best and ran all the way!

The anti-pain aerosol spray apparently works wonders, because I see long queues of runners waiting to get their aching legs coated with the soothing liquid. Hahaha, it really works because you definitely won't feel the pain anymore, mainly because the spray gets into the face. Into your eyes and nostrils, so the pain immediately goes from the leg to the face, LOL. But hey, it's all in the spirit of running and to get the experience of such an event!

~moey out~

Got snow?

~moey out~

Thailand

The plane touched down in the darkness of night with immediate sighs of relief and whoops of joy from the passengers inside. We were finally home. I was firmly back on Singapore soil after 3 whole weeks in Thailand.
Well, it was a rather interesting experience in all. I spent almost all of my time on the roads sending food to the field, naturally, the roads of Kanchanaburi seem like familiar roads already. However I can only provide photos taken from our R & R, which also pretty much help me portray my point.

The roads in Kanchanaburi are not very populated like ours, because it's in the slightly less developed part of Thailand. So small towns and villages scatter the main roads of the area.

The most popular modes of transportation are pick-up trucks and motorcycles. You will hardly see sedans around this part. The amazing thing is that most adults drive or ride, but sometimes youth can be seen driving as well. And I do mean really young, like 9 year old boys riding a motorcycle, or 13 year old girls driving their own pickup with friends enjoying the ride in the backseat.

There is so much land that plantations can be found almost everywhere possible. One of the most popular crop which I noticed is the tapioca, fields and fields of them can be found in a lot of the areas. Padi is probably the second most grown crop out there, and since it's the rainy season, all the better for padi as well.

Not forgetting the harsh weather as well! The mornings and nights are quite cooling and comfortable, but it was the afternoons which felt really really bad. The afternoon sun is very hot, and the heat lasts from around 10am(Thai time) all the way till around 4pm. Mysteriously, it doesn't rain the afternoons, but usually only at night, so it makes it really cold as well, not that I'm complaining though.

The scenery is rather nice to admire though. With plantations spread all over the foreground, while mountains line the back. It really made me feel at ease amidst all the rushing and chaos in the field. The view is really something to experience firsthand, no description can depict the real view there. Even the roadside greenery is a lot lusher compared to Singapore, mainly because it's more of a forested area than maintained strip of plants along the road.

The locals seem to like orchids a lot, because on the outside of almost every house is at least a pot of Dendrobium or Oncidium hanging around. There are also a lot of stray dogs all around. Only a handful of cats did I see, I can literally count with 2 hands the number of times I saw a cat(even domesticated ones). Of course with so many wildlife roaming free around the place, roadkill is something which happens once in a while as well. I saw a few casualties along the whole course of time there, but I won't describe them because it's just too sad and bad to discuss it.

Well, will I get another chance to go back to Thailand? Maybe, but even if I do go again, it will be something where I can learn so much more, both about my job, as well as the about the country. It was an enjoyable trip while it lasted, and I'm glad that I went.

Now it's farewell to Thailand and hello Singapore once again!

~moey out~

Leaving

Wow, it's been such a long time since I last had an entry here. After 2 whole months of hiatus(more like laziness), this is the post that will,hopefully, get me back into blogging once more.
No, I'm not leaving the blogosphere, but I'll be flying off tomorrow morning to the land of a thousand smiles: Thailand. It'll be for a military exercise for just over 2 weeks. I reckon it'll be an experience simply because the whole context of this trip will be military related. Well, it will definitely be fun, nerve-racking, hot, dusty, dirty, but most of all, unforgettable. I know there'll be road bumps along the way(literally as well), but everybody will make it through somehow.
So this is farewell for now. =)

~moey out~