k r i s a n d r o

I have been hit by the flu bug since last Thursday and I am on the way to recovery except the need to blow out the phlegm through my nose every now and then. With the rise of H1N1 cases in Singapore, there was a slight worry from KuKuNehNeh (KKNN) and myself thinking that we may have fallen prey to the epidemic considering that KKNN had the flu before me and she was at Butter Factory a week shy of the supposed outbreak.

I did feel lousy but my temperature was at a measly 35.9 – 36.1°C throughout the period and that was pretty reassuring even though I did read that a large number of H1N1 patients didn’t experience fever.

KuKuNehNeh and I stayed apart for 2 days since the onset of my flu but she longed to see me and missed me to no end (Hey it’s my blog, I say what I want to say. :p) and so I decided to travel to Ang Mo Kio to let her have a dose of her bf.

With flu, a slight cough and a running nose that is out of my control, the best thing I can think of to be socially responsible is to purchase face masks and wear one for the 1 hr trip down from Jurong West.

Boy! Was it an interesting experience.

Besides the obvious lack of comfort of wearing a 3-ply mask in the disgusting, sweltering heat of Singapore, I had to sniff constantly to prevent drowning myself in my own mucus in the covered mask considering it makes no sense for me to remove the mask and blow my nose in the train cabin right?

The social aspect of wearing a mask was astounding. Despite the fact that most Singaporeans are aware of the H1N1 and it’s spread, not one human being I see on the street is wearing a mask except me. It might be just my mind but I swear people give me 2nd looks upon realizing that I am wearing a mask. I get the feeling that they are probably deducing that I am a carrier or I am extremely afraid of catching the virus.

Upon entering the train at the busy Jurong East MRT platform, I was lucky enough to get a seat and guess what? NOBODY sat to the adjacent seats on my left and right. Do bear in mind that the rest of the seats in my cabin were soon filled up and as far as I can see, so were the seats in the other two cabins adjacent to mine. There are people standing all around as the train moved from station to station and still nobody took the empty seats beside me!

I was practically smirking at situation, half amused at the elbow space I got and half amused at the reactions of the passengers around me. It was only until 4 stations later that a brave (or oblivious) man came in and sat beside me.

Very scary meh?

Many moons ago, I woke up in the middle of the night feeling extremely thirsty and feeling the need to suck on a straw that leads to a freezing cold drink. I walked groggily to the kitchen in the dark, feeling quite confident that I won’t stub my toe into a wall or my dog, and headed for the fridge. As I approached one of the greatest invention of all time, the underside of my right foot rolled over something that seemed very much like a rubber band. 2 minutes into waking up had my brain telling my foot to roll over the ‘rubber band’ a few more times just to make sure that it is one. It did feel like one and I stooped and picked it up to find out that it was a…

…Baby LIZARD!!! (a very deformed baby lizard after all that rolling)

And yesterday, as I was walking KuKuNehNeh home, I had another run-in with a lizard. As I walked up the stairs near a bus stop in Ang Mo Kio, a pair of lizards dropped from the ceiling with a loud ‘TWACK’ like a pair of wooden sticks. Of all places that they had to fall, they fell right below my landing foot. One escaped in the nick of time but one ended under a good 70-80% of my weight. The lizard was huge! I could actually feel it’s body crushing under my thick dress shoes and seeing it’s bodily fluids ooze out right after I crush it wasn’t helping either.

Let’s do this together.

EEEEWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWwwwwwwwwwwww~~!!!!!

I was probably a mosquito in my last life and had 251 members of my clan eaten by a hungry lizard but I FORGIVE YOU LIZARDS. STOP DYING THROUGH ME DAMNIT!

One of the perks (or bane) of living in such a heavily populated country like Singapore is the fact that we can be almost anywhere and hear conversations of strangers even if we don’t want to.

I was on the train with KuKuNehNeh (KKNN) on our way to Ang Mo Kio via the North South Line and somewhere along the trip, a group of 3 teenage girls boarded the cabin along with the 1,653,428,201,737 passengers that were already inside with us. They stood next to us and were talking pretty loudly and drowned most of the chatter around them. KKNN became very quiet and there is no prize for me to guess that she was listening intently at the girls conversation.

I cannot accurately replicate what they said but it went along something like this…

Girl A: “CHEE BYE LAR! I cannot stand it leh. CHEE BYE!”

Girl B: “What lar CHEE BYE?”

Girl C: “Angry for what CHEE BYE?”

Girl A: “Fucking CHEE BYE! I just cannot stand his CHEE BYE face lar! Chao CHEE BYE!”

Girl B: “Ya lar, I know lar… He is a one bloody CHEE BYE.

Girl A: “The next time I see his CHEE BYE face, I am going to slap his Chao CHEE BYE!!! Cheeeeeee Byeeeeee~~”

 

Most Singaporeans will be very appalled by the use of their language but I am thoroughly amused. ‘Chee Bye‘ is just a Hokkien word for ‘Vagina‘. So, the above dialogue actually goes like….

Girl A: “VAGINA! I cannot stand it. VAGINA!!”

Girl B: “What VAGINA?”

Girl C: “Angry for what VAGINA?”

Girl A: “Fucking VAGINA! I just cannot stand his VAGINA face! Smelly VAGINA!”

Girl B: “Ya, I know… He is a one bloody VAGINA.

Girl A: “The next time I see his VAGINA face, I am going to slap his Smelly VAGINA!!! Vaginaaaaaaaaaaa~~”

 

Not much of a foul conversation anymore is it? WAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAH!!!

Wanting to try a fish spa after hearing and reading so much about it, KuKuNehNeh (KKNN) and me finally got a chance during one Saturday. KKNN managed to find one such spa near her home in Ang Mo Kio Central called ‘Dr. Fish’.

We arrived at Dr. Fish in the afternoon to find that there wasn’t a soul in the shop. The shop attendant appeared out of nowhere and ask us to try out the 30 minute fish spa therapy that will cost each of us $28. Having some spare time before we head out for dinner at Serangoon, we agreed and entered the shop with KKNN making a snorty remark,

“He is kinda ticklish!”

“I will be fine!” I replied with a slight doubt as the said truth manifests in my head.

Under instructions from the friendly attendant, we washed our feet at a washing point and I guess it’s all part of hygiene as each fish pool can accommodate up to 5 people. That, and the remote possibility of killing all the fishes when one submerge their stinky feet into the pool.

I was the first to the pool and had no hesitation in plunging both feet into the pool and ALL the fishes swam towards my legs as though my feet were the tastiest thing ever to set foot (pun intended) in their underwater world.

The feeling of having the fishes nibbling at my feet is actually quite therapeutic! On the other hand – having the sight of the fishes swarming around my feet and making it look as though I was wearing boots probably had KKNN think twice about putting her feet in the water.

And the following two hilarious videos roughly summarized her experience at the fish spa.

 

She was so tickled that she couldn’t stop laughing and crying at the same time! WAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAA!!!

 

She couldn’t take it anymore and she asked to reduce the session to a 15 minute one even though she gamely put in her feet for slightly longer periods in the session and even managed to calm herself to take pics like this.

 

Information on the fishes used for these kind of spas can be found on Wiki. The location for Dr. Fish is at Block 710A, Ang Mo Kio Avenue 8, #01-2631 and their website is here.