Sunday, January 13, 2013

:: 100 things to do in Singapore before I die ::

As part of my 2013 New Year's Resolution, I got hold of a list of 100 things to do in Singapore before I die. Every blog entry I do that has got something to do with this list, the tile will be "The number [insert number here]". So please read the list, and I must stress this out.... This is not the complete list! Some of the things will be changed because its impossible to do it (due to the place not being there or the company is no longer in existence).

So, this will be interesting. Talks are out there to do some of the things in my list. Most of it will be done with my close friends or with 19 frets or a family member.


1) Stop and listen to the deafening sunset bird chorus between Meritus Mandarin and Takashimaya on Orchard Rd.

2) Beg, borrow or steal a ticket to the Laneway Festival. singapore.lanewayfestival.com.au.

3) Join the Filipina dance party outside ION Orchard on Sunday evenings. Some people complain that it’s a nuisance. Some people are idiots.

4) Hit up the Racecourse on a Friday night. The thrill of the races are only part of the appeal. The other part is cheap beer. 1 Turf Club Ave., 6879-1000.

5) Down a refreshing glass of homegrown aloe vera juice at Poison Ivy Bistro, after a stroll along the surrounding country lanes. Bollywood Veggies, 100 Neo Tiew Rd., 6898-5001.

6) Contribute to Ceriph, the city’s most beautifully produced creative journal. www.ceriph.net

7) Lower yourself into a storm drain and see what you can dredge up. Or spare yourself the risk and check out artist Charles Lim’s own exploration in All Lines Flow Out, now showing at the Biennale. singaporebiennale.org.

8) Pick up some pencils and join a sketchwalk. urbansketcherssingapore.blogspot.com.

9) Try your hand at darts in a hooker bar on Duxton Hill.

10) Keep an eye out for raptors while crossing Henderson Waves; it’s a favorite haunt for migratory birds of prey. Henderson Rd., near Telok Blangah Green.

11) Toast author Paul Theroux near the site of his old house, across Bukit Timah Road from Serene House.

12) Steal a kiss on a Jewel Cable Car ride, 109 Mt. Faber Rd., 6270-8855, mountfaber.com.sg.

13) Look back at the island while getting drunk up against the border fence in JB.

14) Ask politely and plug your own iPod in at Night & Day, 139 Selegie Rd., 6884- 5523.

15) See an Alfian Sa’at play. If there isn’t one on, pick up one of his anthologies. Start with “Fugitives” from Collected Plays One.

16) Sneak into a condo pool at night. Better yet, reenact Burt Lancaster’s role in The Swimmer, and swim home from a night out.

17) Participate in a pickup cricket game in the field by Northumberland Road.

18) Overnight at least one boutique hotel. Try Wanderlust, 2 Dickson Rd., 6396-3322.

19) Down a G&T on the porch of a Black & White villa. If you have to sneak into an abandoned one (ahem ... Rochester Park) to do so, so be it.

20) Ride the length of the KTM railway line, from Tanjong Pagar to Woodlands, before it’s gone for good.

21) Have a gay old time at PLAY, #01-02, 21 Tanjong Pagar Rd., 6227- 7400.

22) Catch an EPL football game at a heartland coffeeshop.

23) Sample an APB brewery tour. It’s always Time for a Tiger. 459 Jalan Ahmad Ibrahim, 6860- 3005, apb.com.sg/ brewery-tour.

24) Track down Cut, directed by “that street-gang leader” Royston Tan. tinyurl.com/roystontancut.

25) Order the Kodo 66 at The Red Comrades, 66 Dunlop Rd., 8261- 5247.

26) Try to start a chant at an S-League game.

27) Tag along on an OH! art walkabout, organized by unconventional art gallery Evil Empire, 48 Niven Rd., 9048-2902, www.ohopenhouse.com.

28) Browse the retro collectibles at Junkie’s Corner out near Kembangan. 94 Jalan Senang, 9791- 2607.

29) Settle in for a few pints with the travellers at Prince of Wales Backpacker Pub, 101 Dunlop St., 6299- 0130.

30) Break into the Singapore Botanic Gardens after official hours with some of your friends and a few beers in tow, and wait for the aliens to land (or watch the stars). 1 Cluny Rd., 6471-7138.

31) Potter around the Dragon Kiln Village and try not to smash any of the 10,000 items on sale. Thow Kwan Industry, 85 Lorong Tawas (off Jalan Bahar), 6265-5808.

32) Drink through all five price-timings at Brewerkz, #01-05/06 Riverside Point, 30 Merchant Rd., 6438-7438.

33) Revel in the honor of being a “citizen journalist” by posting on STOMP. Extra points if your story involves the invasion of someone else’s privacy.

34) Test your nerve with a nighttime visit to Old Changi Hospital, along Netheravon Rd.

35) Head on down to the next ROJAK; creatives from different disciplines presenting and partying. farm.sg/rojak.

36) Find a quiet space and read Allen Ginsberg’s Howl poem out loud.

37) Battle a sea bass at Hausmann Marketing Aquarium, 291 Neo Tiew Crescent, 6792- 1318.

38) Gather a group of your best friends and board your own flight with Air Charter Service. aircharter.sg, 6329-9767.

39) Ink on the design you’ve always wanted at Tattoo Craft, 28 Arab St.

40) Surprise someone you love with a drink at Mr Punch Wine Bar & Restaurant atop the Mint Museum of Toys. Perfect for nostalgic conversation. 26 Seah St., 6334-5155.

41) Request a song from the houseband at CM-PB. Journey, perhaps. #01-05 7 Dempsey Rd., 6475-0105.

42) Skinny dip off the East Coast.

43) Run a lap of the 26th story Skybridge at Pinnacle@Duxton. Befriend a resident to gain access. 1A Cantonment Rd.

44) Show your face at a Pigeonhole event. Who’d have thought worthy and cool could be combined to such winning effect? 52-53 Duxton Rd., the-pigeonhole.tumblr.com.

45) Do your bit for the environment for once and buy an eco-friendly shoe at Ecco, #01-047 Suntec City Mall, 3 Temasek Blvd., 6334-0410.

46) Marvel at the island’s last remaining Damar Hitam Gajah trees, between Netheravon Rd. and Turnhouse Rd. in Changi. www.nparks.gov.sg.

47) Charter a boat out to Raffles Lighthouse, Singapore’s southernmost point and thus the very definition of getting away from it all.

48) Spend a Friday night drinking with the kids on Robertson Bridge, behind Zouk. No pretence and the cheapest prices in town.

49) Find the German graves at Kranji War Cemetery, 9 Woodlands Rd.

50) Lose yourself in decades of song at vinyl junkies’ best-keptsecret Red Point, #06- 11 Kapo Factory, 80 Playfair Rd., 6383-3955.

51) Taste Swedish-halal food for the first time at Fika, 257 Beach Rd., 6396-9096.

52) Rip it up and start again at an indie punk gig down at Straits Records, 24A Bali Lane, straitsrecords@gmail.com.

53) Attempt to spend $100 in the ten cent stores of Little India without buying the same item twice.

54) Add The Online Citizen to your RSS feed. theonlinecitizen.com.

55) Let the flames of the oil refineries light up your evening hunt for corals at Cyrene Reef. cyrenereef.blogspot.com.

56) Slide down the elephant at Pasir Ris Park playground.

57) Play X’Ho’s latest album Singapura Uber Alles to as many friends as possible.

58) Put your arm round someone special at a Drive-in MovieMob film screening. moviemob.sg.

59) Lay out a rug and catch a performance on the Botanic Gardens’ Shaw Foundation Symphony Stage, 1 Cluny Rd., 6471-7361. sbg.org.sg.

60) Point a telephoto lens at the exit from Orchard Towers. Four floors of boorish men, who’ll try to hide their face.

61) Travel out to the end stations of every MRT line.

62) Subscribe to Underscore Magazine, produced by local design collective Hjgher. underscoremagazine.com.

63) Initiate an impromptu game of coconut cricket on the oft-deserted Lazarus Island. Daily ferry service from Marina South Pier, #01-04 Marina South Pier, 6534-9339,  islandcruise.com.sg.

64) Grab a coffee to go from 40 Hands, #01- 12, 78 Yong Siak St., 6225- 8545—as if there’s ever a seat free anyway—and explore the art deco architecture of surrounding Tiong Bahru.

65) Listen to your taxi driver.

66) Scope out Liquid City: Volume 2, a stellar anthology of SE Asian comics, edited by Malinky Robot creator Sonny Liew. www.liquidcitizen.net. Available at {prologue}, #04-16. #05-03 ION Orchard, 6465-1477.

67) Catch the prawning bug. prawnfishinginsingapore. blogspot.com.

68) Stay at ZoukOut until the bitter, sweaty end. www.zoukout.com.

69) Meet interesting strangers with guerrilla dining operators lolla’s secret suppers (s8@lollapalooza.asia), Social Candy (social candysingapore@gmail.com) and The Ping’s Illegal Diners Club (pingskitchen.com).

70) Watch the sun go down over MacRitchie Reservoir (along Lornie Rd.). Just you, your friends and a bottle of wine. And monkeys for company.

71) Observe the no braying rule at Speakeasy. 54 Blair Rd., 9759-5111.

72) Convince someone to rent a yacht for you. boatbookings.com.

73) Don a hard hat and plead with the foreman to be allowed down to the Jurong Rock Caverns, a liquid hydrocarbon storage facility being built deep beneath the seabed of Banyan Basin.

74) Blag your way backstage at the Grand Prix. It sure as hell ain’t worth paying for the privilege.

75) Act like Spiderman, without a web. le-parkour.sg.

76) Rent out the screen at Sinema (sinema.sg). Load Boo Junfeng’s coming-of-age drama Sandcastles onto the projector.

77) Wake up early and watch the sun come up over the Dairy Farm Quarry. Off Dairy Farm Rd., inside Bukit Timah Nature Reserve.

78) Allow yourself to be caught in a full-force, midafternoon tropical downpour.

79) Take your hands off the handlebars as you freewheel down the trail from Beberek Hut on Pulau Ubin.

80) Make like Tarzan and swing from the vines hanging along Westbourne Road.

81) Visit Kampong Buangkok, the last traditional village on the island. Lorong Buangkok, off Yio Chu Kang Rd., near St. Vincent De Paul Church.

82) Crash an Indian wedding on Serangoon Road.

83) Read Simon Tay’s A City of Small Blessings.

84) Go stargazing out on the landfill island of Pulau Semakau with the Astronomical Society of Singapore. tasos.org. sg.

85) Survive a night at Goldkist Resort, voted Asia’s dirtiest hotel on TripAdvisor. 1110 East Coast Parkway, 6448- 4747.

86) Support the Substation. 45 Armenian St., 6337-7535, substation.org.

87)Get to know Greenwood. It’s a charming little suburb, and the residents have it all to themselves far too often.

88) Pack a picnic with ingredients from The Pantry Farmer’s Market. First Saturday of every month, 8.30am-2pm. 75E Loewen Rd., 6474-0441. thepantrycookeryschool.com.

89) Check out one of the coolest and fiercest independent art galleries in town, Post Museum, before it shuts in July. 107 Rowell Rd., 6396-7980.

90) Search for hidden treasure at Zouk’s quarterly Flea & Easy market,17 Jiak Kim St., 6738-2988, zoukclub.com; or Thieves Market, junction of Sungei Road and Jalan Besar.
91 Party to a Tamil soundtrack with the 10-piece live band at Jeans Live, #01-17 Balestier Complex, 262 Balestier Rd., 6256-6569.

92) Swim with the masses at Kallang Basin Swimming Complex (one of the oldest in town), 21 Geylang Bahru Lane, 9851-0052.

93) Sniff out some fun (durian or otherwise) in Geylang.

94) Man the rusting World War II cannons tucked away amid the trees of Labrador Park. Labrador Villa Rd., nparks.gov. sg.

95) Be inspired at a TEDxSingapore event. tedxsingapore.sg.

96) Brave the Chinese karoake lounges at Tiananmen, #01-00, 407 Havelock Rd., 6732-7977.

97) Track down the mysterious Muslim shrine of Sharifah Rogayah, tucked away without fanfare in Duxton Plain Park.

98) Accompany the Singapore Adventurers’ Club on one of their expeditions. sac.org.

99) Attend Sunday morning Mass at the Armenian Church of St. Gregory the Illuminator, the oldest Christian church in the country. This weekend (Mar 26-27) is their 175th anniversary. 60 Hill St., armeniansinasia.org.

100) Jaywalk.

Monday, January 07, 2013

:: New Year Resolution (Version 2013) ::

A new year for me, means creating a set of New Year Resolutions. I didn't made any last year, so for this year, I've decided to have it. Again. Well, its really short.

Wan's New Year Resolution (Version 2013)

1) Finish the Oligarchy album
2) Try to finish the "100 things to do in Singapore before I die" list (will be updated on my next posting)
3) Pamper and love Nura
4) Try to look good.

So there. Easy. 4 points to take note of. 4 very easy resolutions to do.... Or is it?