Chinese New Year Garden Party 2007

Last Sunday, I was invited to the Chinese New Year Garden Party for Grassroot Leaders 2007 held at the Istana. The invitation was for two but my partner had another important event taking place at Changi Airport.

This party is a whole day event but due to the big number of grassroot leaders and the limited space, we were invited at different time-slots. The purpose of the party is for all grassroot leaders to be able to meet the Prime Minister and his Cabinet Ministers. This is the time for us to rub shoulders with our PM and MPs!!!

The invitation card had been pre-autographed by the Prime Minister and Members of Parliament! So there was no need to rush for autographs.

That is the Istana above and the party is at the garden below which is a walking distance from the stairs.
This fountain is at the centre of the garden.

Nice display of oranges!



The Singapore Chinese Orchestra performed live and they took a group photograph with PM Lee.

This group was standing-by to get a snapshot with our PM.




Do you recognise these two MPs?

Yummmy!
Food glorious food!




Eurasian handicrafts were being displayed.
Look at how they decorated Miss Piggy!

The art of Chinese calligraphy. That is the sign for the Pig.

The Malay group wrote in Jawi.
You name it, we write them!

The Indian Society provided henna painting.
Look at the intricate patterns.


The crowd is everywhere!
But where was I?



Yup! Posing in front of the Istana.


Everybody was given a doorgift which is a bag containing two oranges and a red packet (hong bao).

Gong Xi Fa Cai

I would like to extend my sincere greeting

to all those concerned a

Happy Chinese Lunar New Year.

May the year of the Golden Pig

bring you prosperity

and good fortune

all year round!

Of Oranges And Eyewear.

This morning, I overheard my mom talking to my sis that she had this awful craving for oranges in the middle of the night. Being concerned, I asked my sis what type of oranges would be good for mom and she told me --

'Lukan Oranges because they are sweet!'

Secretly, I left the house and walked under the blazing morning sun, heading straight to the NTUC FairPrice outlet. I was not sure whether my sis was correct about Lukon oranges but the guy that was manning the stall reaffirmed me about the fact. I asked him why is it that for my case I need to get Lukan oranges but not the Swatow oranges and he simply answered that the latter is for long-lasting storage. He knew that I was buying to eat and not to keep for the Chinese Lunar New Year.

Having heard that, I bought a box of Lukan oranges for the whole family and it costs me $13.85

You know what? They are really sweeeeet!

Later in the evening, I had a wonderful time with my Sayang Manja.

We went to the Ministry of Education to get some paperwork done and headed to Holland Village.

We chilled there and waited for the rain to stop before proceeding to Queensway Shopping Centre.

We happened to pass by an optician shop and I was just curious to know about why my eyesight is deteriorating.

I told the lady that my eyesight needs to be checked as I have problem focussing and seeing things. She got hold of my spectacles and started looking through the lenses. She then called out to her male colleague and both of them started looking through the lenses.

I was surprised at such a reaction and turned to my SM.

'Hmmm ... I'm having problem seeing and they are looking at my lenses intead of checking my eyes!'

My SM signalled to them and told them that I have already passed 40 years and have been wearing progressive lenses for almost 4 years.

With that statement, they sounded relieved and explained that the reason they were checking the lenses was that they thought the spectacles was faulty.

Ahem ... they complimented on how young I look (although to me this was just a gimmick to make me want their services more).

Having had my eyes checked, it turned out that the degree for my right eye had gone down by 25 and the astigmatism level of my left eye had changed by 10degrees.

This was the cause for my not being able to focus! I was to be given high-density Hoya lenses and they can be colleted by March.

Oh yes .... the cost of the lenses replacement is $300/-

I don't care how much I spent. What I care is to have quality time with my Sayang Manja because I love her sooooo much!