geometry lesson at forest walk

the forest walk is mainly a 1.3km interlinking grated metal walkway. i especially like this stretch of the southern ridges because you can still enjoy your walk in a cool and shaded environment even after 8.00 a.m. another attraction here is the usually large number of birds like the mynahs, drongos and the orioles on the saga seed (adenanthera pavonina) and albizia trees.

it is interesting to note that the majority of the steel gratings are in the shape of an equilateral triangle. they must have a mould to make most of the triangular gratings. however, if you take time to examine them, you will find that some are specially cut and welded to fit into the odd corners or spaces.

so if you take young children along the walkway, you can get them to look for triangles, equilateral ones and right-angled ones, quadrilaterals and pentagons.

are the triangles of the same size?

are there other shapes?

how many triangles make a pentagon?

there are so many things to look out for to make the walk more interesting rather than just walk to cover the distance.

'must eat' food in melaka

most of the time, we may plan what to do and when it comes to doing, we end up not doing according to the plan. before we set off for the trip to melaka, i had actually drawn up a 'must try' food list. the list includes chicken rice-ball, satay celuk, peranakan food, pork satay and ikan bakar. when we were in melaka, we managed to have two of the five items on that list - the chicken rice-balls and the pernanakan food. we did, however, tried some other food not listed, like cendol, yong tau foo, teochew bak kut teh and hotplate noodles.

when we arrived at melaka, it was almost noon. i suggested eating hainanese chicken rice and the others were agreeable. we headed for the chung wah coffee shop, the home of the original hainanese chicken rice-ball in melaka. although it was not yet lunch time, nearly all the tables were occupied. i told nah that we should order the so popular fish-balls as every table seemed to have that dish.

it soon dawned on me that the five balls on each plate were the chicken rice-balls. the last time i ate chicken rice balls at hoe kee and a famosa, the balls appeared larger. the meal, which included chicken, rice-balls and drinks came up to a reasonable rm$19. however, we still prefer our own boon tong kee's chicken rice.

for the second night's dinner, we decided it had to be peranakan food. we went for the tried and tested ole sayang restaurant at jalan melaka raya. we had the daily special which was ayam kunyit, chap chye, sambal prawns, sambal sotong and assam fish.

we always look forward to eating peranakan food in melaka, usually at one of these three restaurants - ole sayang, makko or bibik neo. it is also a 'tradition' for us to visit tan kim hock and the yong tau foo stall next to the defunct federal cinema.

markers of my former kampong


















to most people, these two flights of stairs that lead to nowhere in particular are insignificant but to me, who once lived and played in the vicinity, they serve as a bearing to the location of a kampong which once existed near that area but which has since been obliterated from the singapore streetscape. the road after which the kampong was named does not exist anymore.

the stairs once led to the living quarters for employees of the tan tock seng hospital. there were about six or seven blocks of three-storey buildings. when i was teaching at balestier hill technical school, i used to walk up one of these flights of stairs and past some of the blocks of flats whenever i took a short cut to get to school.

those who occupied the quarters were the hospital amahs, cleaners and general workers. i can still see in my mind's eye the uniform worn by the workers, especially the men. they wore a white shirt with khaki pants.

before the quarters came up, that area was the site of an old chinese cemetery. i remember, when i was a young boy, there were still visitors to some of the tombs during the annual qing ming festival. bush-fires were quite common here during the hot and dry months as the cemetery ground was usually overgrown with tall lallang grass.

the fire brigade would be summoned once in a while to help put out the fire as the kampong folks were afraid of the fire spreading to their very vulnerable attap houses. however, even before the arrival of the firemen, the men and boys of the kampong would pitch in to help kill the fire. we would break off branches from small trees and used these to beat the burning patches and grass.

in time to come, these vestiges will disappear and the last markers of where there used to be a kampong will be lost forever.

this parcel of land bounded by sinaran drive and irrawaddy road has been successfully tendered and a private hospital will be built on the site in a few years' time.

the name of the place is kampong chia heng.

locking up motorcycles - the melaka way

in melaka, where the motorcycle is a popular mode of transport for the working class people, they have a unique way of securing the motorcycles at the motorcycle-park. at this place, next to the mahkota parade, motorcyclists can park their bikes and have them locked up by the attendants.

the motorcycles are parked neatly in rows and each of the parked bikes is secured by a lock and a rod which is passed between the spokes of the front wheel. the attendant, who has a master key, will lock up the bike and issue you a ticket. i think the charge is rm$1.00 per entry. when you need to retrieve your bike, you just show him the ticket and he will unlock the padlock for you.

it is a neat, safe and secure way of leaving your motorcycle in a parking area.

there is another service available to motorcyclists in melaka which is not found here in singapore. those who do not wish to lug their motorcycle helmets around with them when they go shopping or when going for a stroll in the park can actually leave the helmet in the care of some people for a small fee of 50 sen.

our b&b experiences in uk & new zealand


ida outside mrs jeffreys' cottage in covelly












breakfast with mrs woodill at bay view, kaikoura

bed and breakfast, also known as b&b, is a term, which originated from the united kingdom. it is used for an establishment that offers bed accommodation, and breakfast in return for payment, but usually does not offer other meals. typically, bed and breakfasts are private homes with only one or two bedrooms available.

in our travels to the united kingdom and new zealand, we opted for b&b and met some wonderful people (hosts). in the case of new zealand, it was during our second visit that we went for b&b after our pleasant experiences in the united kingdom.

b&b should not be equated with budget accommodation because you have to pay extra for breakfast and the opportunity to get a feel of the real country and to get to know the people. in new zealand, for example, not all the b&b establishments are private homes, some are actually hotels or guest-houses.

the most suitable time to arrive at a b&b place is late afternoon, and it is best to leave before 10 a.m. in the morning. in the case of new zealand, we pre-booked all our b&b accommodations whereas in the united kingdom, we pre-booked once only and in all the other instances, we would look for the 'vacancy' sign when we reached a certain town and then made enquiry.

most b&b homes have ensuite and private bathrooms which are for your exclusive use but there are some homes where guests have to share a bathroom. breakfast is usually quite substantial and it usually consists of toast, eggs, bacon, fruit, cereal and tea/coffee.

in england, we felt most welcomed at the home of mrs jeffreys at covelly in north devon. she lived on her own and took in boarders for her two rooms. she gave us both rooms. our two girls had single beds while we had a double bed. mrs jeffreys' own children lived about 16km away, in bideford.

in new zealand, we enjoyed most the warm hospitality of mrs margaret woodill whose place at kaikoura was called bay view. margaret, who lived alone in the 5-bedroom house, had an award-winning garden. she was the only host who joined us for our breakfast.

b&b is a good way to see a country and meet its people.