Going green

It's been a rather eventful weekend. I thought I'll make full use of it before I spend my next two weekends in midair and crossing time zones ;p

Was on Pulau Ubin on sunday and paid a visit to Chek Jawa :) Yes. The photos in the collage above are all my handywork ;p Especially like the refurbished old tudor house which has since been transformed into the new visitor center for Chek Jawa. I can still remember how dilapidated and run-down it was, 2 years (?) ago when I was at Chek Jawa on christmas eve. The visitor center is now bright and airy. It's a very comfortable feeling to just sit there, to enjoy the scenery and the gentle breeze :)

Perhaps because I have always liked old buildings :) I always marvel at the blend/ integration of old architecture and new architecture in many cities around the world. We could certainly do with more of such integration in Singapore :)

Have always had a particular affinity to Pulau Ubin. Like it for the peace and quiet it offers. The largely untouched features of nature. Not that I do not like the vibrancy of city life. But a brief sojourn to tranquil Pulau Ubin once in a while is always refreshing:)

I've brought/ guided quite a number of groups to Pulau Ubin before. So if you ever feel like a short outing to Ubin, dial 1800-kestrel ;p Hehz.

New Rules

Went for something really interesting today. No pictures to show yet ;p Will load them when I get them :)

Was the drummer (once again!) for my company's dragonboat team ;p

For the uninitiated, you must think that the drummer must be a really important person in the dragonboat team. Well, it's a "yes" and "no" answer :)

For teams who train with a drummer, more likely than not, yes. The drummer is important and will play an important role in determining the pace of the boat (if I get my facts right ;p).

For teams who do not train with a drummer, as in the case of my team, the drummer is there more for an ornamental purpose. Mainly because for competition purposes, a complete team consists of rowers, drummer and the coswain (i.e. the person who steers the boat) ;p

So, as my friends aptly put it, I qualify for the race cos I'm light i.e. less likely to upset the balance of the boat that they are used to and of cos, lighter additional load to carry;p

In any case, during last year's race, I recall I spent a fair amount of time clinging to the drum for dear life in the initial stages when I was trying hard to find my balance (if I drop off the boat, my team will be disqualified!), not really beating the drums at all subsequently (cos it felt rather pointless, no one is really listening ;p) and I was having more fun viewing the race from my vantage seat i.e. perched high on the boat behind the drum ;p

This year, there was a slight difference though. At the starting line, the announcer/umpire emphasised that "drummers have to drum their way from start to finish, if not, the team will be disqualified". No more free lunch for me. For the first time in my short "drumming history", I had to beat the drums in accordance with the pace of the boat (not that it really mattered ;p), but it felt "more like it". Must say it was a rather beautiful experience, as I felt the pace of the race so much more better from the perspective of a participant, rather than that of an observer as in the previous year ;p All in all, it was a more fulfilling experience this year :) Lesser number of bruises as compared to last year ;p *thumbs up*

Was ambling about in between races and cheering my teammates on ;) Spotted a certain company's dragonboating tee which I really liked. Won't mention names. But it's rather obvious. The design of the sleeveless tee is rather dressy. Pretty much in hard rock cafe t-shirt fashion. Back of the tee reads in pink wordings "Aircrew 2007 Dragonboat". Looks real cool ;)