Singapore 0-5 Liverpool F.C.

I went to the Singapore National Stadium (yes, the one that is supposed to be demolished last year) to watch Liverpool Football Club played our national team. Well, Singapore played well for the first half but all was crumbled and lost after the first goal was conceded at the end of the first half. When Liverpool unleashed its big guns later on, the flood gates opened.

The game showed two things. One, Liverpool's second team is no where as good as its first team and Liverpool needs to toughen up its bench to challenge the long season to come. Two, Singapore needs to be able to concentrate for a much longer period of time and plays its stated formation strictly and not give away the ball cheaply. Singapore is playing Thailand this November and there can be no silly mistakes.

Following are some pictures and videos I took of the stadium's crowd.

SingTel is so f@@ked up!!!

I was reluctant to write this post initially as I thought the lady at SingTel Comcentre had borne enough of my brother's wrath at the IPhone 3GS collection last Saturday. But no... SingTel has to demonstrate to me their stupidity and lousy customer service. Despite me having reserved for an IPhone with a $50 deposit, I was informed I had to wait for 5 to 6 hours in a queue, without air-con, just to collect it. What the hell? Why couldn't SingTel just assign a queue number or an estimated collection time for people who had pre-ordered? Absolutely no common sense... After my brother managed to make enough noise, we were entertained by someone to allow us to buy the phone online and have it delivered to my house. Okay, I was more or less pacified though no less irritated.

Then the SingTel stupidity struck again. Today, I received a call at work by the delivery guy, informing me that he couldn't hand over the phone to my family member at home because I didn't leave any authorisation letter for someone to receive the delivery on my behalf. I couldn't believe this! I already had the phone paid for and SingTel has both a copy of my NRIC and my address on the bill. What's there to verify? My house won't run away even if I am not at home. Besides, I gave my authorisation over the phone and the call is initiated by the delivery guy using the number stated on the invoice. And the thing is I wasn't told to have an authorisation letter ready so who is to blame here?

Anyway, another angry phone call by my brother (by the way, the IPhone is his while using my line to recontract) to the SingTel lady managed to get the delivery guy to come back in the evening after I got home to sign for the delivery. So now all I have to say is that this is the last draw. This is not the first time I had a lousy experience with SingTel customer service so I hereby swear that I will not have any dealings with SingTel again. I will switch to StarHub when my contracts expire one by one.

Kuala Sedili - where my childhood memories were

 

Jetty to Sedili Besar

The only Chinese restaurant still there

I managed to hitch a ride by my uncle-in-law (a last minute rush decision) to go back to Kuala Sedili of Kota Tinggi, Johor, West Malaysia, on Friday. It is a small fishing kampong (village) where my maternal grandmother used to live 20 years ago. My last visit was also more than that, and no one in the family has visited since my grandmother moved out to Johor Bahru. I still remember the 2-hour journeys we had to endure to get there from Singapore, with my dad being the sole driver. We used to go there every Chinese New Year and every alternate school holidays. The Chinese New Year trips were the most trying as they usually involved embarking just past midnight to avoid the massive jams at the Woodlands customs at the causeway. However, all the hardships were worth it as I had some of my best childhood living in the rural environment: looking at the cows and goats, fishing at the jetty, and playing on the secluded bay beach.

The kampong is now a slightly bigger town. There are more people and better facilities though developments are still modest. There is now a bridge linking Kuala Sedili and Sedili Besar where only ferries could reach just a few years ago. Our old house has been taken over by an unknown owner and is in a dilapidated state. What a shame that I wasn't old enough to be able to do something to preserve the house then. Besides, it wouldn't be practical to keep it anyway. There are chalets and resorts at the Jason Bay we used to have so much fun and near the village now so we still can stay the night if we do visit again. Some of my grandmother's neighbours still live there and they do remember my parents well enough so the place is not entirely unfamiliar to us despite the changes.

Childhood memories in an old place...

Fishing boats at the jetty

May Day Trip

It has been a long time, about three or four years, since I last crossed the causeway. Hence I decided to organise a trip with my parents to visit my grandmother in Johor for the Labour Day holiday. It felt so wonderful to be out of the city and be with my grandmother, aunts, and cousins. One and a half day of eating, mahjong and shopping following an hour of driving.

Speaking of shopping, we went to one of the two shopping malls, Jusco @ Bukit Indah. Though only three storeys high, it occupies a huge amount of land area, giving rise to a large floor space of about 70-80 stores per storey.

A point to note while shopping in Malaysia though. If you want to pay by credit card, ensure that your credit card is one that contains a smart chip. Singapore does not have this requirement yet so my only card that has such a chip is my Citibank Dividend which I conveniently didn't bring along. The cards I had with me then could not be used so I had to ask my aunt to pay for my purchase first.