A Pseudo-tourist

It is common or a must to visit the local sights & tourist spots whenever people travel overseas.
Then again, as a local, how much do we know about our local tourist attractions or even visit them??? This got me inspired to be a pseudo-tourist this holiday & try touring some of the sights locally, hoping to see my home country in a new & different light.

Places I've hit so far are as follows:

1) Zoological Gardens
(the rainforest section was good! - letsyou get upclose with some animals like fruit bats, mousedeers & butterflies; can generally be a spot for the city folks who're not blessed enough to see many animals in an urban country like ours)
2) Lim Chu Kang farms
(Amazed that there's still such a place that's tucked at a remote corner & looks nothing like the rest of our developed city; getaway spot if you want some fresh air)
3) Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve
(Defnitely a bird-watching spot if you visit at the right time! Escapade spot from the city - low reception from local telecom companies & this is good if you'd like to be uncontactable for awhile ;P)
4) Science Center
(cool exhibits to educate the general public & of course a good fieldtrip spot for students =D; love the Kinetic Garden - this is no ordinary playground, it has different stuff to play with to teach basic physics concepts)
5) National Museum
(not all the exhibits are exactly enjoyable, depending on personal choice I think? Of the various galleries, the one on tradditional food & fashion through time was the more enjoyable ones - probably because these were themes closer to my heart)
6) Peranakan Museum
(a must-visit spot if you're interested in finding out more about the Peranakan culture ;) )

Although nothing compared to the exotic sights of some other countries, I must say these spots have got their own selling points in some ways (some might disagree) - which is for you to find out, be it local or foreigner ;P

Reel or Real Holiday???

It's my last holidays proper as a student...but there seemed to be endless stuff to do still...
stuff that is still somehow related to work...sigh~~

Travelling Philosophy

My traveling philosophy:

1) Travel light
2) 4 is a comfortable number - 2 guys, 2 ladies (the best combination); 6 is not bad either
3) Dress comfortably, dress down
4) Camera is an essential
5) Walk more, see more, experience more
6) Souvenir-shopping is part of my itinerary
7) Sending postcards home make nice souvenirs
8) Free & easy or self-planned trips are preferred over tour packages for better control of itinerary
9) No no to a trip that is solely shopping/eating/recreational activities (i.e spa, massage, theme parks etc) - variety is needed to better experience the local culture (i.e. shopping, sight-seeing,
recreation，eating)

My Nature album

Here's some of the photos which I've taken of Mother Nature that has made me feel somewhat satisfied with my skills as a newbie.

Thumbs up for my Fuji camera for now =D

Nature & Photography

I've always felt that Nature is a beauty in itself - the wide array of flora & fauna out there that make up a painting that will never be tiring to look at, with the rich amount of details it has to offer.

Been in contact very much with nature recently, what with farm visits in LCK, 4 trips to SBWR in the past 3 months and to the zoo just yesterday. Of these encounters, I recall a memorable one whereby I had sat at a viewing station and bird-watch for the whole of 2 hours. I was amazed at how many types of birds I could identify with my $2 SBWR booklet.

A number of photos of flora & fauna have been taken during these trips. I must say the image surfing on the internet of wildlife photography & my own encounter with Nature has made me gradually interested in nature photography.

Was browsing the mini-library at SBWR visitor's center during the recent visit last week & the pictures in the wildlife books simply captivated me. At that moment, the thought of getting an SLR to capture more of Nature flashed across my mind.

The temptation of the SLR stayed on for the rest of the week. Stopped by several camera stores to browse around out of curiostiy. But then again, having photographer friends around me, I knew it would be a bottomless pit of temptation to fill as photographers would constantly want to upgrade their equipment.

Oh well, I guess I shall see far my Fuji camera can bring me then.

Zoo trip

The last time I went to the zoo was about a year ago when I took Biodiversity in university. I must say it's pretty much a fresh new experience with each visit to the zoo, what with different people, different purpose .

This time I learnt much more about both the colleagues who went with me and about animal diversity. Thanks to a widely-read colleague who shared in-depth knowledge about the different animals & their adaptations, evolution and diversity, that we all had an enriching trip at the zoo.

Another colleague brought her newphew along. With a kid around, we've come to realise certain things about ourselves as well. Things like whether we still behave like a big kid or not; things like how far we are in becoming good potential parents or not. LOL.

Being teachers, it was also typical of us to make an effort to teach the kid some facts something everytime we chanced upon a teachable moment or object - an occupational habit (or is it hazard?) I'd call it.

Sense of Achievement

Conducted an outdoor classroom amidst the flora & fauna of the nature reserve. During the post-evaluation & reflection, nothing beats when your boss gives you a pat on the back & tell you: "Great lesson!", "Creative use of teaching aids!" ; nothing beats when your kids show that they are captivated by what you've got to teach, actively chip in to the lesson discussion and taking the lesson games & activities seriously =D

Might sound like small perks that are pretty much nothing to people. But I must say all these made my day & I guess these "small perks" are really things that keep one going on in the career =D

*Noob Blogger*

Used to have the conception that blogs function like the convention diary whereby people pen down (oops in this case not literary quite that sense) all their thoughts, emotions and personal encounters. Except the difference would be that one has the intention of publicizing the entries in the case of a blog as opposed to keeping things private in the case of a conventional diary.

However, as I started reading and visiting some blogs, my perception began to change. Blogging - common tool that is popular with many these days. Not only is it a personal space for individuals for multiple functions such as selling stuff, online diary, it can also be a place for people to share and critique on their photos.

Blogging is a common tool used in today's classroom as well. Subject blogs are used by some teachers to provide a platform for students to discuss about issues outside of the syllabus to extend the curiosity of learning; it can be used as a tool by language teachers to encourage students' use & improvement of the language; of course there's class blogs which is a common space to keep everyone in the loop of the recent happenings through photos, announcements and messages etc.

Prevalence of blogging amongst students and even a teaching tool has got me interested to try it to have a feel of what it's like and to keep up with times as well. Being a newbie in blogging I must say I've got lots to learn! Pardon this "old" teacher here...hopefully I won't be lagging in keeping up with the students & the times! ;)