Shades

Taking afternoon walks under the scorching tropical sun can be quite punishing. Especially nowadays, when the temperatures are one to two degrees Celsius higher than the norm. Luckily for me, there are plenty of trees along my walk route to provide shade, so that walkers, joggers and users of the route/path can carry out their activities without too much discomfort.

“The beauty of shadow comes from the beauty of light!” - Mehmet Murat ildan

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‘Safety Distancing Officer’

The ‘Safety Distancing Officer’ was a robot. It was making its rounds in a shopping complex. These ‘officers’ came on the scene during the pandemic when people are supposed to keep a one meter distance. I didn’t actually see them in action then. I guess it will advise people to keep apart in a recorded voice.

Now that we are at the stage of ‘living with Covid’, where there are no more restrictions, I wonder what their functions are. Indoors, maybe they will ask you to put on the mask. Outdoors, I suppose they could be patrolling and making their presence felt.

This robot seemed to be in a bind. It had stopped when it came upon the leg of a chair. I was curious to see what it would do. It stopped for a couple of seconds, and then it inched a couple of inches to and fro, turning slightly each time until it was able to free itself of the obstacle.

This was another ‘safety distancing officer’ at the Gardens by the Bay. At one point, there were some kids playing with it, trying to block its way. That provided some amusement for the kids and some of the visitors.

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Coconut Palms

Coconut trees are a member of the palm tree family, and coconut is the name of the fruits of the palm.

Coconut trees are also known as tree of life because it provides food, fuel, cosmetics, folk medicine and building materials, among many other uses.

The flesh of the coconut is white and can be eaten raw or grated and used in cooking, or baking. It is used in many food to enhance the flavour. Coconut oil is extracted from the kernel of mature coconuts. They are used for cooking, or as ingredients for cosmetic products. Some cultures believe that rubbing the coconut oil onto the hair will give you healthy hairs.

Coconut milk, derived from the flesh of the coconut is used in cooking, baking and added into desserts and drinks for flavouring.

The flesh of the coconut, as well as the coconut milk extracted from it, forms a regular part of the diets of many people in the tropics.

The young leaves of the coconut palm can be woven to make pouches to hold food. Dried leaves can be used as material for roof thatches.

The ‘veins’ of the leaves can be made into brushes and brooms. The fibre of the coconut can be woven into rugs. The shell is relatively hard. Properly split, it can be used as containers, or crafted into ladles or art pieces. It is up to people to use their creativity. The husk of the coconut burns easily and are used to start fires.

The great thing about coconut palms is that they are easy to grow and very hardly. They can survive very harsh conditions. Their trunks might be bent out of shape, but they still thrive.

Coconuts can float on water, and are sometimes carried by the water to the surrounding islands where they germinate and grow. That is why you see many coconut palms on/along the coasts.

Perhaps that is why thinking of coconut trees bring to mind idyllic sandy beaches, especially in the tropics.

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Rhododendron ‘English Roseum’

“Where flowers bloom, so does hope”. - Lady Bird Johnson

Rhododendron is a genus of 500 to 900 species and includes both of what we commonly call rhododendrons and azaleas.

The Rhododendron ‘English Roseum’ is a dense and showy evergreen shrub. Like most plants, they grow well where there is sunlight and good soil drainage.

If you would like to know more about the plant, you can have a look here 👉 HERE

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Xing Hua Restaurant

The name of the restaurant is Xing Hua. Two friends and I dined at the place in February this year. It was a festive occasion then. They had a festive menu which we tried. We were happy with the quality of the food. That is why we decided to go back to try their a la carte menu this time and see how they fare.

There were four of us this time. Here are the dishes that we ordered. It seemed like a lot. But we finished every bit of the food and nothing went to waste.

The Chinese way of dining is called communal dining. We order a number of dishes, and we all partake in the meal. In this way, we get to taste many dishes. If we order small portions of each dish, we get to taste even more dishes. A nibble of this and a nibble of that. We can then keep in mind what is good and what not to order for our next visit.

If there were more people in the group, and we had a bigger table, the restaurant would set a ‘Lazy Susan’ on the table. No, ‘Lazy Susan’ is not a lazy waitress. ‘Lazy Susan’ is what they called a turntable or rotating table. It is where you put the dishes. If someone from across the table wants the dish in front of you, instead of having to pass the dish halfway around the table, he or she just needs to turn the ‘Lazy Susan’ and the dish will go to him/her.

A very useful invention - the 'Lazy Susan'. If you want to know how 'Lazy Susan' came about, have a look 👉 HERE Unfortunately, the bit of trivia about how the name came about seemed to be lost in history.

We didn’t have a 'Lazy Susan'. There were only four of us, and we are all old friends, so we could simply stretch across the table for the dish. Maybe if it were a formal dinner with dignitaries, we would ask for a 'Lazy Susan'. It will be more refined and dignified.

Anyway, these were what we had at the restaurant the other evening.

Cockles. One of my friends love cockles. He had the dish to himself.

Duck with tomato and salted vegetable soup. A bowl of soup for each of us.

We shared the rest of the dishes. Chilled tofu with century egg

Claypot vegetables

Xin Hua drunken chicken

Stir fried kailan with beancurd skin

Stir fried vegetables with prawns and scallops

All the dishes went nicely with a bowl of rice – rice being our staple.

A glass of chrysanthemum tea to wash it all down and also to help with the digestion.

The quality of the food on the a la carte menu was good. Price wise, they are reasonable for that class of restaurant in town. It’s certainly an alternative when considering dining out at a reasonably posh restaurant.

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Chinatown

I went with some friends to Chinatown for dinner last week. After dinner, we had a stroll around Chinatown, to walk off our dinner, and also to see what Chinatown is like nowadays, now that we are all ‘living with Covid’ and travel restrictions were eased.

Surprisingly, Chinatown was still very quiet. I was really surprised that it wasn’t busier. I guess it takes time, for tourists to start coming in again. The shops were still empty of customers. There were a few more people on the streets than before, but by not many, really.

A fruit stall selling durians – the king of fruits.

And bags of mangosteen – the queen of fruits.

Empty shops mostly.

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Nice Reflections

The stadium sports complex underwent a major renovation recently. This unit on road level is still being renovated. Workers inside the unit were still hard at work. The inside of the glass facade was pasted with white paper giving the glass a very nice reflective surface.

From the reflection, you can see a clear image of what’s outside the unit, and across the road.

These units were on the upper level. Most of them are still unoccupied.

This is the entrance on the second level. A ‘glass structure’ – maybe facade is more accurate, reflecting the housing flats and the sky.

I had a quick walk around the second level. It has quite a big area, with many units still undergoing renovation.

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