Genting Trip November 2011 - Chin Swee Caves Temple

Went on a trip to Genting recently, with family and my sis-in-law's family, so big group... Stayed on very high floor, and the window scene is great!



Manage to finally go down to the Chin Swee Caves Temple, and indeed that is the main event for my trip this time! Was very very surprised to see the temple space area was HUGE. I initially thought that there is only a small temple but upon entering, its "WOW" all the way...



Do not be fooled by the photo's size for the Buddha statue, He is HUGE!!!!!




There is also a "Haw Par Villa"-like place inside, showing the 10 levels of Hell... Not to really frighten people, but to try to guide people into not doing bad deeds...



Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva statue... He vowed not to achieve Buddha-hood until all the levels of Hell are empty...



Some pics of the 10 Levels of Hell scenes... Don't the figures remind you of "Haw Par Villa"?...




There is also a LARGE statue of the Avalokiteśvara Bodhisattva, in the chinese depiction of course, inside... There are also the 18 Arhats statues, but due to bad lightings, I did not capture them down on pics...



The very tall pagoda! Wanted very much to climb up but seeing the levels, and my ankle is also acting up then, I decided not to... But still very magnificent building...



Got many other statues, like the Fu Lu Shou (福禄寿) which represented Good Fortune, Prosperity and Longevity respectively. (Note picture below, from right to left are Fu, Lu and Shou respectively)...



The Nine-Dragons-Wall...



The day was good weather with sun but very cool!!!!

Totally enjoyed my trip this time...

Oh, saw this "风扇" while having high tea in Resorts Hotel cafe!

CNA - Talking Point: Values and Character-building in schools

Watched the CNA "Talking Point: Values and Character-building in schools" episode... wow... education seems so important after the London riots incident... Some interesting points that caught my attention:

(1) Other than the host, the show got a JC Principal, a Sec Sch HOD, a COMPASS member, a Parent Link member, an undergrad previously from SJI (wow...) ... but strangely, No "PURE" TEACHER is involved in this "talk"... What??? !!!!!! ... Amazing CNA... This calls for "salute" 5 times.. This is especially weird that there were some related topics / discussions on eg. responsibilities on teachers (to deliver the teaching of character excellence)... So how to know their POV?

(2) Talk of the CME values Wishlist - resilience, team working, interaction of different cultures, integrity, compassion / empathy... hmm....

(3) Values are "taught" or "caught"? Hmmm... In my personal opinion, kids take the "value" into them and probably deeper if they can "feel" the "value"... ie. the "caught" / teachable moments... What is "taught" may not stay inside, or stay for long... But nevertheless, in providing an education for the mass, we can't rely entirely on seizing teachable moments ("caught"), almost impossible, so still need the "taught"...

(4) CCA - Will schools be telling that the students that it is "NOT IMPORTANT" to win, and sportsmanship is more important? ... Hmmm...

(5) Character / Holistic development should be both at home and in school, I agree with... Point is, the "talk" did not mention at which stage would this begin, and at where, and which comes first...

(6) A discussion broke out on : Parent Link member mentioned that teachers (maybe) are too stretched out to show compassion, to "walk the talk" for the students (something like this, and a GOOD POINT raised!) ... and guess what, the JC Principal says "... I don't know whether we are looking at one teacher and then blowing it out of context and therefore it becomes all teachers being this way, being stretched..." Wow, amazing statement made... So is she saying she does not know, or... ? Hmmm.... wow... I'm stumped, loss for words... sigh.... Well, we know we'll always tell our kids to be MORE OBSERVANT, don't we?

(7) Class size (reduction) : How to care for 40 students in a class when 3 kids at home already "up to here (head level)"... I salute you, Parent Link member!!! Another Good point made!!! ... and best thing is, there is no reply to this suggestion, neither by the Principal nor the HOD, nor any other person... I also "salute" you folks for this - this no-talk spirit and attitude should be shown to the soldiers in the POW course...

(8) Agreed with the COMPASS member on correcting the student's inappropriateness, eg. rudeness, before him going for, say, remedial lesson...


Kudos to CNA for organizing this topic for Talking Point!


(If you would like to see the episode, google keywords - CNA, talking point, values in school... )

Its.... SMELLY TAU FOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YES!!!!!!

Paar Malam is running in Bedok Central... and when I saw this stall, I am extremely delighted, because it is selling SMELLY TAU FOO !!!!!!!!! Yeah!!!!!


Has been my craving since trip to Taiwan, and has been lazy to drive around to search for local stalls/shops if selling, so WOW, after months, finally sent a piece of stinky mouldy bean product into my mouth (& stomach)!!! Hahahaha.... GO AND BUY!!!! DON'T WAIT!!! Especially the stall seller is so slow... and blur, hahaha... Of course, taste is 3 levels below the ones I eaten in Taiwan, but, hey, I'm not complaining!

Haul of this evening's Pasar Malam's mum-mum...

Congratulations to Bro CYQ & Sis XiuXiu!!!

Awesome Dinner!!!!

Had dinner at around 8pm... About 4 hours before that was watching 食尚玩家 - 就要酱玩, and the hosts were eating a big bowl of Moi Chye (梅菜/梅干)rice... and we (me & my folks) were discussing about the moi chye... Then later, we realized we still a pot of mui chye and some braised pork leftovers, voila!!!!



The fried egg's yolk is not fully cooked, so break it and some will flow into the rice... mix with the sauce and everything... DELICIOUS!!!!!

Stupid AHM...

Stupid organization / routing for AHM that is held today... Did not put up notice boards in early part of closed roads... Get stuck & cannot get out until after 1hr.... Spoil plan to bring folks to Chinatown brunch trip... In the end now eat in T2... Ok, time to enjoy my meal!

And Singapore has a new Elected President...

... by 35.19% of the total valid votes, just 0.34% more than the closest candidate... wow.. hmm... ok... so got to 'tan' (Hokkien for "wait") for 6 years to vote for next President... if any... wait... just need another 5 more years to vote in GE... 2016... wow... hmm... ok... sigh... Oh, had a good meetup / meeting with my old friends to discuss for his wedding plans and recce the routes... Long time did not go to Cheesecake cafe liao...