Whinges of an Alien

After those near-violence experiences with the cashier , on instructing them not to provide a plastic bag, I now bring my own container for any food purchases. I came to this very famous and popular Southeast Asian-style bakery in the heart of Singapore, with my little reusable food container. I just felt like having some Cassava cake tonight. Guess what? When I revealed my little box and said that I want my pastries placed in it, both the shopkeepers looked at me, puzzled. Yes, please, I said, I want my purchase to be placed in the box, and no extra plastic bag please. Guess what? When I wasn’t looking, the elder shopkeeper stuffed two pastries into a plastic bag before placing them into the box! Arrrrrrgh! This time, I made sure I told her repeatedly that I want the other items placed straight into the box, without any bag. Guess what? She looked at me, “huh? Straight into the box?” I said yes again. She then said, with that where-the-hell-did-you-weirdo-come-from look, “what? No bag...

If you ever come to Singapore, you would be impressed with their efficient public transport such as the trains and the buses. They are not short of taxis either, however, these taxis may not be of your service at all time. After a human-bashing (verbally) dinner with my sister (may or may not be another Erisian) who came for a training trip, we headed for the taxi stand to get her back to her hotel. The moderately long queue didn’t put us off. We thought: this is a highly ‘developed’ country equipped with such efficient public transport system, how difficult is it to get a cab? Moreover, I see taxis on the road all the time, loads of them! 5 minutes. 10 minutes. 20 minutes. The person at the start of the queue stayed unchanged, and the queue got longer. Yes, there were taxis driving into the stand, but they either had the “On Call” sign on, or were just dropping off some passengers. Those with no “On Call” sign on, would come in and pick a random passenger whose destination appealed to...

Recycling, in many human’s mind, is a process or action whereby you dump something used or unused into something called the recycling bins. These bins are often painted in different colours according to each designated category of recyclables. Of course, human being human, they need to be educated n terms of what goes into which coloured bin. Despite that, you can still find them shoving the wrong stuff into the wrong bin, or worse – treating them like a normal rubbish bin! Obviously, human need a hell a lot of programming in recycling. After all, this is such a new thing to them. They have been taking greedily and thoughtlessly from their mother earth for millions of years! How do you programme the recycling act into human? First and foremost, the authority (Yes, it’s got to be an authority. Anyone without a title can never convince a human being) has to let these people know what can be recycled. Hence, the different coloured bins for different types of recyclable materials. HOWEVER,...

“KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 17 (Reuters) - Malaysia's health ministry is considering a ban on fast food advertisements because the meals they promote are considered "silent killers", the Star newspaper reported on Saturday.” The health ministry said they want to send a strong signal to the consumers. They do not allow advertising for cigarettes and liquor, and in their opinion, fast food should be treated in the same way as alcohol. Wow. That -- is BIG news. Are they finally awakening from the fast food dreamland and realising its evilness, or are they simply jumping on the bandwagon – since the US and the UK are already moving towards that direction – thinking that this is the way to fight against evil? Whether fast food is equally evil as cigarettes, what good would it do by banning the adverts, while these fast food outlets are still out there? Are you going to chain these consumers and not let them get in there? Because that’s the easiest way out. If they don’t see it being ad...

You would think that this is a highly developed country, with everything so modern and advanced; then its building must have very well planned structures abode by the most basic health and safety regulations. Yeah right. I just had a big slip last night, on the top of the really steep driveway right outside my apartment, thanks to the slippery road – as it has been raining cats and dogs in Singapore for the last couple of days. But rain isn’t at all the main culprit. And that was not the first time I’ve slipped! The first time brought me a bleeding knee, this time a sprained lower back. You see; this apartment block has a weird landscape structure that is not exactly ergonomic. The driveway is way too steep to walk down safely, never mind, as it wasn’t built for pedestrians anyway. But the steps and stairway leading down to the entrance of my apartments are too steep too. Take a look at the photographs below: instead of making the platform at a 180-degree horizontal level (see the red ...

Another hard-to-decide-where-to-dine lunch time. I came to a café, and was looking for a table. Here comes the problem: almost all tables are 4-seaters. I have this impression that Singapore in a way is trying to promote "unity", "community", "togetherness" or whatever they call it; that is why, every food place I go, most tables are meant for at least 4 diners (except on Valentine's Day , some restaurants would rearrange the tables for couples). But the ironic truth is, most people -- as I observed -- come out for lunch alone! So what you would normally see in a restaurant or café is, most of these 4-seater tables are occupied by just 1 person. What a clever scheme to campaign for so-called "togetherness". Huh! However, I still have to eat. So I have no choice but to sit at a 4-seater table. I look and feel really inconsiderate, but what choice do I have, being in a country like this, on a planet like this? While I was eating, a girl came to...

Here is the most miraculous moment I have ever encountered this morning. I was looking out from a local coffee place, and saw smoke coming out from the top of the hedges. Oh no, it’s on fire! However, pedestrians kept walking pass it but no one noticed it or paid any attention to it. I walked to the hedge and took a look. It was a cigarette lying on the top of the hedge, burning and releasing smoke. And it is not quite done yet. I had to take a snapshot – priceless! But I did not put it off because some very fierce gangsters may have left it there for later, or may be, some very generous smokers have decided to share his joy! And funnily enough, as I turned away from the cigarette, these 3 Chinese men sitting next to the hedge were staring and glaring at me as if I was some kind of an alien. And they were right. Note the pictures below: The first being the mysteriously unattended, burning cigarette; the second shows that the cigarette was on the top of a hedge (red arrow) right next to...