beauty is temporary

Some things are best experienced.. like riding thru the most beautiful rainbow i have ever seen in my entire life.....

it's like those those full bodied, sharply defined rainbow icons u see in msn messenger..only it's about 1 km wide, with a full arc and a base like the length of a bus. the colours are so rich, it's almost tantric..buddha must have seen this before he gained his enlightenment

wat makes it so special is the fleeting glances and teases we had when we first started out from the petrol station. a quarter arc, but still thin and weak in colours in the bright sunshine slowly gaining in strength. and yet, we were riding into a storm. even then, thots of stopping to get the camera out reigned but for the sake of group integrity. when we finally did stop for the rain pants to come out, the rain was slashing down with almost 3/4 of an arc in view. the picture we managed to get doesn't do justice to its beauty. and the rain made capturing it hard.

feeling almost disappointed on missing out such a phenomenon, we trudged on and down a slope... and then the full arc presented itself on a panoramic scale. far to the west of the highway, tall trees nestle the foot of the rainbow while the other end of the rainbow starts from the tarmac of the north south highway. strong beams of sunlight thru the looming clouds contrasted as the vein of colours became ever so defined, seeing all 7 colours so clearly marked for the first time in my life. perhaps some things can never be captured... amazingly, a second rainbow curves over the main one and as i rode thru, half expecting a pot of gold, it was over.

another contrast to the contradicting beauty of the rainbow.........




...and screw the wanker who said there's gold at the foot of every rainbow.

pubicus sinusucla

sometimes, it's really nice to hear abt pple talk abt u.....

http://southernoise.blogspot.com/2004_06_01_southernoise_archive.html

look under fraser hill...

im more photopubic than photogenic......but it's wat pple think if u that matters...

man, more bragging rights...

the pathway to nirvana

life is good after a run, 5 cheese sausages and a gin tonic to perk up the night.

today, somebody asked me, "what do you want in life?" without a thought, i said, "spiritual contentment.."

now all you farkheads must be gg, " awww, nabei, ..kenny acting cheem again.." while giving me the finger...

haha...but really, i dun mean going to the temple every sunday in a weak attempt to gain enlightenment or nirvana or something like dat, or even the achievement of the spiritual tantric orgasm..

in my mind, spiritual contentment is seeing, experiencing and thoroughly enjoying every moment as i ride through the vast expanse of Mongolia, the scorching deserts of the Africa nations, the ranges of New Zealand and the choking polluted city of kolkatta. (ok, the last one is a lame joke)

as long as im doing the things i enjoy with great company, esp my beautiful girl, i cannot ask for more. taking walks with cameras in tow, riding the NS highway with the early morning breeze, experiencing the sunset in langkawi, climbing the twisties of fraser hill, swimming in the clear waters of koh samui, having a beer in geographer's cafe in sweltering lunch time heat in malacca.......

man, i gotta love my life.....

sadly, most of the time , im stuck in the office, earning the money to make it happen....farking reality...

nasal probe

let me give u a scenario: imagine u have a real farking splitting headache with tons of work left to complete and having the shivers. u rummage ard and wat u find is panadol. panadol is fine, but wat if it's panadol menstrual? can a guy pop a couple of panadol menstrual to ease the pain and suffering and not have any side effects? i mean, they are all painkillers right? unless the menstrual tablet has a mechanism which targets the pains of female cramps, im pretty sure the guy can take it.

this scenario was discussed at length in my office cubicle abt a month ago and i thot mabbe the guy would start having the time of the month too....from his nose. yeah, we laughed and all. den one day i was blowing my nose, and all i saw was blood. lots of it. yeah, i was reaching puberty at last. in the space of 4 months, i had abt 4 or 5 bleeds and this was worrying me slightly cos we all saw the MTV for "tong hua", haven't we. dear was so worried on sat when i started bleeding, eating my fav fishballs, that i was pulled by the ear to see the doc at night. the bleeding doc cldn't see any shit and so charged me 37 bucks and referred me to a specialist in gleaneagles to have a nasal probe. (big mistake: at least it wasn't the other probe in the other hole)

and so the appt was fixed on tues morning (today) and the doc assured me the cost of the probe would be abt 100 odd and i can see my inner nose as the probe goes in. how very nice, indeed.
as soon as the doc saw my ears and nose superficially, i was sprayed some anasthetic in my nose passage to prepare for the invasion of my nose. the dripping anasthetic didn't smell nor tasted good as it dripped into my throat but the numbness soon overwhelmed the nauseous feeling and the feeling of drunkeness struck. as soon as i went into the "probing" room, there were 2 tvs with my name etched in beautiful prints headlining the tv image. having seen the steel probing device the doc was carrying, i felt prepared for my virginal probe. wasn't too bad actually, no pain but its feel quite uncomfortable having something gg so deep into the nose and ending up into my throat. the image of my nose and epigolottis (thanks dear), as the probe went deeper, moving in regular harmony had me spellbound at the beautiful state of my nose.

the probe was instructed so that they can verify that there wasn't any "cancerous" growth up the nose and throat and having said the word "cancer" didn't calm me down a bit. so u can imagine my relief when i saw the pink healthy state of the nose.

<>
yeah, looks like an arse isn't it? i didn't know i had one up my nose. anyway, the small rupture in the right nasal passage can be seen on the top left pic while the the right one shows the left nasal (free of growth!) the other two are pics of the easophagus (the throat) they didnt snap the nasal hair though i thought they looked rather nicely curled.

having decided that there was a rupture, the doc and the nurse immediately set off on a "procedure" or operation to "weld" the bleeding point. they are gg to use electricity to somehow burn the bugger to bits or something and den another round of anasthetic, this time a cotton wool stuck in my nose and i really felt my right side of the face gg numb after a few minutes.

when the doc came in, it was over in just 20 seconds. i felt some jolts in my nose and some electric effect, and dat was it. no fuss, no nothing. damn i sworn i could have done it myself. as soon as i got out, i was already thinking how much these procedures are gonna cost. i thot mabbe 200 to 300 cos of the extra procedure. hoping for the best in one second, i wallow in failure the next.

the bill came up to a whopping $614.33! 160 for the ENT endoscopy and 330 for the electric cautery. 85 for the consultation and the rest is freaking GST. i only thot of gg home to sleep this bad shit over, but i had loads of work to do. i dun even have the mood to eat my "fav yu pian tang" back in my neighbourhood, preferring to bury myself in work to get it off my mind. bloody hell, really truly brokenthis time. first the bike, den the camera now the unwanted piece of shit.

at least the day ended on a higher note with my company's bowling tournament. today's the first round and teams of 3 guys and 2 females compete in a best of 3 games out of six scoreline. our team (HQ B team) played pretty well in the first two games moving to 9th out of 16. (top 8 qualify for the finals.) then the 3rd game sucked. 3 more games await in the following week to kick ass again.

HQ teams A,B,C..well..at least some of them...

after the whole day, the only consolation is that i only lost my nasal virginity and not the anal one. (i intend to keep it that way, thank you very much)

and oh, i still dunno whether it's fine to take panadol menstrual. but i dun think i wanna try in case i get it 4 times in a month again.....

signing off.........................................

cameras and monday blues

yeah man...yesterday i finally got something i really wanted for a pretty long time. a heavy and macho looking digital camera which passes off as an SLR. hahaha...in fact, the bigger and more macho looking it is, i more desirable it became. but really, i was looking for the konica minolta z5 or z6.

alan photo was a shop recommended by 3 separate pple on different occasions. the name just pops out like it's THE place for digital imagery products. and boy, i dun think u can get any better than the talk i had with the saleman over the cameras. haggling with bike mechanics and dealings with the sales pple in the past gets me sick and tired of them. some farkers just give u the middle finger look on their farking face and pisses me off while those uncles with the classic "can i help phew?" phrase are just plain lazy and cant be bothered selling u anything.
i just need someone to help me do comparisons and give valid suggestions and alternatives. for one, my suspicions will surely be aroused in me when you promote a product as though it is flawless. cynical me would think that that camera prob sucks and is prob more expensive than the better ones. (which is usually true)

so it was a welcome surprise to get a comparison straightaway without me asking them. and showed me in which areas were which cameras better and a live demonstration of the comparisons done in front of me. in the end, a cheaper but definitely more powerful alternative was put across to me. really impressive if u ask me...but mabbe im just used to poor service. wat else do u expect in singapore?

anyways, the camera spent much of the time in my room snapping away at my spawn collection and other figureines. and i really put it to good use for the dinner ride today to kong kong. abt 150km travelled in the trunks i reckon, but the company was really quite good. as u would suspect, many were my subjects for the photos as was dear's casio exilim.

the pics and trip report would probably be up by the end of the week...as soon as i get some shut eye...damn, another week of shit especially when the farking architects cannot make up their fickle minds.......at least there's the next weekend to look forward to...

the morning rat race

Im in the office and i haven done a single fark thing since 9am. only searching for info for a fly-ride-fly trip to cambodia which i hope can be done by next year. also went to search for info on the konica minolta z6 cos im in love with it and also a new pair of rear suspension.

everything seemed to revolve around buying. man, i wish i hit 4D...speaking of which..today is wed, a chance to buy hope. dear has been going ard taking pictures and im farking jealous. makes me so wanna get out and get a camera to snap too. my black mood isn't helped by the fact i have to take the bus to get my bike tonight.

i was so disturbed by taking the bus this morning i felt nauseous. the hot, humid and still air around the bus-stop didn't help matters, only serving to irritate the hell out of me. thank god for air-conditioners. i mean the ladies were flapping themselves with their tiny ezlink cards!

the bus ride was worse with rowdy school kids on holidays making a big din on the bus. at least the bus wasn't packed nor were there any fat farkers out to squeeze the hell out of my seat. things only got better when i whipped out my new paperback on ewan mcgregor and pal's rtw trip to read.

makes me long for paradisical beaches even more......spending long mornings wallowing in the beach with a good book.... idyllic rides into the minor roads exploring ancient temples...boat rides to mesmerizing bays...

ahh...krabi, i yearn for thee...

the american idol

this is a special event that warrants a blog of its own. i finally met my idol...he's to me what britney spears is to lonely wankers. i was nervous for the whole day actually, anticipating what is gg to happen when i finally DO meet the man and what i was gg to say and stuff. As the day wore on, my spirits lifted as they never had before on a dreary monday.

the ride there was filled both with child like glee and trepidation. how was i to make conversation with a man who writes such brilliant journals on his rides? am i fit to even talk to him? M technik (an adventure bike shop) came round pretty quickly. That's where eris is preparing to strip down the bike to reach the rear shocks. looking around, i see no sign of the big man. (at least he looks big in his photo galleries.) a pretty excited eris told me murphy and him went for dinner downstairs at a kopitiam while he prepares his surgical tools for the strip down. i look on at the legendary bike. Fully touratech fitted fuel tank and the werks on the piece of german technology all crammed into the mass of metal bringing this lonely gentleman all the way from california till now in Singapore.

Soon after, a elderly chap called robin joined in asking us where the viking was. He claimed to be a huge fan, reading his journals from the beginning and like me, was filled with wonder at his choice of words in orchestrating a piece of literary magic. but it became soon evident that he was full really getting TOO excited and was practically brisk-walking when i led him to the coffee shop.

then, i caught a glimpse and then 2...and without a doubt, here was the giant that led us thru a journey we never set out from. sitting cross legged and mouthing a plate of duck rice, he gave firm handshakes and off robin went, tooting away on how he is a humongous fan blah blah blah.....i was introduced by murphy as the guy who introduced his webbie to the vara riders and a wide grin broke out from him. to be appreciated by my idol really feels very good indeed .the only other idol who grinned at me is my godzilla figurine.

indeed, he is exactly wat i envisioned. about 2m tall with a build of a body builder, wearing huge boots and slacks (from my fav brand as well, columbia trailwear) and as usual, the "guilty" t shirt. speaking as he wolfed down his second plate of duck meat, he talked about how beautiful singapore is. actually anything is beautiful if u have spent the last month riding and camoing in the borneo jungles attacked by aggressive mosquitoes and bogged by the heavy damp air of the jungle.

there was another caucasian at the table, nikolas. a balding chap with a thick german accent, i found out he was from greece, educated in germany and is a project director for starhub in implementing the digitisation of its cable services. he also happens to be the owner of the 1150 GS with the china flag proudly displayed on its beak. for the uninitialiated, it usually means that they have conquered that country if a flag is displayed on the bike. It also usually means that that is a dream that they have had ever since they were hooked on motorcycle touring.

for such a busy person to have the chance to go for such long trips, im amazed at how singaporeans go to handling expats. with too much respect and too much leave. anyway, i thought he had a blessed life. having rode from euope to north africa and toured much of europe, he has gone thru much of wat i can only dream of.

so he and robin started exchanging stories of laos, cambodia and thailand routes and roads. and i listened with pricked ears for bits of info which may prove to be helpful in the future. afterall, thats what i was there for. it's quite amazing what a similar hobby such as the love for the ride outdoors can do....a project director speaking abt his passion with a lab technician and a newly graduated student.

back at m-technik, eris was almost done and glen was amazed at how fast he stripped the bike. i really felt proud that eris was acknowledged and having heard glen described singapore in such glowing terms earlier, i felt the urge to stand up and sing majula singapura. eris hoped to be a BMW certified mechanic one day and a testimonial from a BMW sponsored guy could only help by leaps and bounds.

the meet couldn't have ended better. we took a couple of pictures and i had one with him and my bike...man, i really REALLY felt so damn happy.

anyway, he's also a pretty horny guy, staying up in a geylang hotel after spending a night at murphy's, but this all adds up to spicy reading on his journals about his romances. if thats the right word.

nothing could spoil this day man. not even taking the mrt back after depositing the bike at rosli's could wipe that smile off my face. wat a day!

life has only started after u start your trip....

more pics of him, me and my bike soon...

another ordinary week....

i noticed a rise in the number of pple checking this out every sunday..man, have i become so predictable? lets recap, i got a heineken on my table, just came back from a run and am bloggin. holy fark. soon, i'll have a belly and start farting for fun.

monday was spent at rosli's again...my mechanic if ur in the dark. spent the whole night locating and fixing up the reason for my vara's choking. and worse still, one of the spark plug is misfiring. anyway, fixed it up temporarily and round two of public transport is coming up tmr. i miss the bike b4 i even lose it.

striking viking is in town too! he's one of my online idols in the motorcycling world. He's in a round the world (RTW) trip with a BMW 650 Dakar fitted for a round the world ordeal. he's just finished rounding up Borneo and is the first person to do it in a motorcycle..Congrats! I hope i can see him tmr. My frens are already in touch with him and one of them is stripping his bike for servicing tmr. i hope i can make it there b4 i go to rosli's.

he really writes very darn well and notes, with wide eyed curiousity and comprehension of an american out for the truth, all the social and political commentary of lands he visited. The described the smells and and sights of India so well that i can imagine myself vividly there. his understanding of the jews and palestinians locked in battle during his visits also showed why the media at large are greatly exaggerating and pulling opinions of the americans towards a dangerously patriotic display of power over the region. and hilariously describing smiling and overtly curious pakistanis poring over his bike in the villages and cities as militants mauling him and his beast.
in short, he's one of the reasons why i yearn to be a motorcycle adventure travel writer. looking at my past blogs, i think i might have a better chance in my next life.

...home is where the front of my wheel is - Striking Viking

if ur really interested in his journals, his webbie is www.strikingviking.net. or check out the rides section in www.adventurerider.com.

another major event is the SAJC alumni dinner yesterday. i initially didn't wanna go cos it's really expensive but im glad i did. it's great to see all the past teachers again. some change, some become hipper, some became principals but all are still as dedicated to teaching as they were 7 years back. wats more, it great to see old pals and the bloody goondus we spent 2 years of our transitional adulthood times with. and oh, the food sucks.

the clowns in us were wondering if the drink stall auntie and the black bra auntie were also there and where the hell marimuthu was. we wanted to see if the hair coming out his ears reached the ground by now. and boo, winny, ashtray and yh went to fulfil their teenage dream by smoking at the jacob ballast area..muahahaha...

a pity stefanie sun and JJ lin wasn't there although i saw junyang from the superstar show. man, one heineken really has no effect at all...mabbe it's time for another......