Day 9 - another sunny day

It's mid-week! And the skies are clear blue. Lovely day.

The number of new cases hit 300+ yesterday, and we need to wear masks when we step out of the house. Hope that the transmission is already hitting the peak.

Day 8 - 300+ new cases in one day

There was an increase in more than 300 new cases in one day yesterday. Most of the cases were spread in worker dormitories, it's really going to be a big headache for the authorities to control and contain the virus.

Everyone plays a part, stay home is a must. I hope it'll be over soon, I don't live a caveman lifestyle!

Day 7 - First working day the week after CB measures were announced

We opened the windows to the house today. Despite being a Monday morning, there are few cars on the expressway near our place and the constructions in the area were put on hold.

Most importantly, our neighbours didn't smoke.

So the windows were opened and we had great fresh sweet smelling air of trees from the park coming into the house.

It's a beautiful day!

Day 4 - Good Friday Holiday

Yesterday was Good Friday.

It was also the day that Final Fantasy VII Remake was launched. I had a great time cruising through the game yesterday, despite being skeptical that the remake would meet my expectations.

Today is work day for my part time job. I hope to get things done soon so that I can go back to the game. Hahaha

Day 3 - The day before Good Friday

We were home yesterday - I didn't even go out to jog. And I worked.

This made me realise that I really truly loved and enjoyed the outdoors.

No matter, today is public holiday and grocery run! I went out to get food for breakfast this morning. Can't wait to go to the supermarket later. I hope there isn't much crowd given that I chose to do so in the afternoon!

Day 2 - First day of circuit breaker (including schools)

We stayed home yesterday, I went out in the morning for a jog and there were many people in the parks, but the exercise stations and playgrounds are off-limits. All practiced social distancing.

I also worked from home, we had noodles for lunch and rice & such for dinner. Wednesdays are meeting days, and despite working from home, the productivity doesn't improve. The time was taken up with back to back meetings and discussions, so I didn't get much actual work done. But luckily only Wednesdays are meeting days, the rest of the days will be productive. It'll be a productive day today.

And it rained heavily yesterday afternoon. I enjoyed being home and see the rain outside the windows. The smell of rain plus the coolness it brings comforts me and makes me happy. I'm a rain person.

A bit bored here, going to start work soon, and will continue this tomorrow!

Day 1 - Last day of school during Circuit Breaker

Yesterday was the last day of school before closing for the month of April. The Government also announced tighter measures to contain the spread of COVID-19, such as disallowing people to engage to private gatherings irregardless of the number of people there may be. In short, this upholds the spirit of Circuit Breaker - stay home where possible.
(see bill here: https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/covid-19-social-gatherings-private-and-public-moh-12617800)

I can only think that there's 3 reasons which we can go out.
1) you need to see a doctor,
2) you need to get food, or
3) (maybe) for exercise to build health fighting against the virus and retain sanity of cooping up at home

So we went out yesterday to see doctor, and got some groceries on the way back. We are fortunate to have a family car which we can borrow for this purpose, so that we reduce the chances of physical contact with strangers. Masking up in malls and public areas (especially air-con areas) is necessary, and we chose to visit a mall to get our groceries which is far from crowd.

There's <almost> no one in the mall, except for the supermarket. Even in the supermarket there are fewer than 20 people including us shopping around - there's definitely social distancing observed in this big space. When we're at the grocery supermarket, food is still available (thank goodness!) and after getting food we made our way home. Mask up in the mall.

Honestly, we're not used to doing groceries and planning grocery shopping in our daily lives. After we reached home we found out that we're missing some stuff. Hahahaha

We'll have to do another grocery run again this week.

Stay safe!

Day 0 - COVID-19 Circuit Breaker in Singapore

Since that now I am working from home, I decided to re-start daily posting on this blog to note down this phase of my life, which is both the 2nd most depressing but yet the most exciting time to come.

Last Friday the Singapore Government announced measures to stop the spread of COVID-19 admist rising cases in Singapore. Termed Circuit Breaker, these measure are considered drastic and uncomfortable, but if we do this right, we can keep the situation under control. The number of new cases rose to 120 the day before, but it fell to 66 yesterday. I am hopeful, and I hope that cases will continue to drop, people recover and life goes back to normal. It's depressing to stay at home and the rain throughout the night just accents this emotion.

And we are expecting our little one early May! Going for a review with the doctor this afternoon. Hope he is growing well. Pray much for his health and smooth delivery.

Take care and stay safe,
Eric

Taiwan 2017 - Part 1 KaoShiung

A simple getaway with my wife to Taiwan. This time we decided to select places at random, to mix some new places with others that we missed out back in 2015. So this time we are going KaoShiung, CingJing, Jiaoxi (Yilan), Jiufen and Taipei. The route is hapzardly planned but nonetheless we are getting through!

Currently we are at Cing Jing Starry Hotel (http://club.mmweb.tw/mobile/11591) and the place is cloudy! No luck watching stars tonight, we'll just laze in the room. Haha.. so this post is a throwback to what we did in KaoShiung.

This trip we decided to go really slow and easy. Did public transport and walking most of the time.

MacDonalds in Taoyuan HSR station. There's 7-11, MOS burger as well. There are two types of trains in Taiwan. One is the high speed rail and the other is normal train that brings you around Taiwan. No trains go to the mountains, so you'll have to take bus or car if you are going to the mountains!

Lunch at a Japanese restaurant near the hotel! The lunch set is great! Comes with appetiser, main dish, dessert and soup.

When you go KaoShiung, you should visit Cijin Island. We took a ferry out to the island, just a five minutes ride and went around some places. There's ipass card which you can use to get discounts off most rides in Taiwan. 

So on cijin island, you can show to the beach or enjoy seafood or visit a museum with sculptures!

This is a famous wedding shoot spot. We saw at least five couples here.

This train station is a tourist attraction as well!

Balcony at the hotel we stayed at.

We went to Fo Guang Shan too.

Saw a cute statue on the way up.

And this is where the Buddhist channels in Taiwan is broadcasted from, I think.

Lovely matcha dessert...

Ruifeng night market, biggest in Zuoying district.

My Waters - ponding app from PUB

Public Utilities Board (PUB) did a desktop app titled MyWaters, which I thought was pretty neat, especially now the raining season is back! Here's how it looks like!

It's got pretty good reviews from people, and they are very legit reviews!

Here's how the app looks like, wordy but explains well the many functions of the app, which will be listed with screenshots below!

1) MyWaters shows you nearby water stations where the road conditions are being monitored for ponding!

2) Perhaps for the original intent of the app, it lets you see the road conditions real time, so you can avoid areas which are currently ponding

And it also shows levels in graphs!

3) Get to know what events are happening! PUB is always educating the public about how previous water is, after all, we rely 50% on our neighbouring country!

4) What's education without some quiz? Take one and see if you score an A+ on PUB's water quiz!

50 FasinatingFacts about our Oceans!

originally appeared on The Huffington Post

Pokemon GO is out! Stay safe while playing!

As most of us would be playing Pokemon GO, please be safe and aware of your surroundings when doing so! Safety First and Happy National Day!

Don't give up!

Be positive! Attract positivity!

No Man is an Island, Maintain Healthy Relationships

Dreams!

Apps to get Productive!

Private Tour in Jeju - Day 3

Finally onto the last day of the private tour in Jeju! We stayed overnight on this day and flew to Seoul the next day! Here's the itinerary.

Day 3: 
1. Hallim Park
Halim park is a pretty big park. It's more like a botanical garden that provides insight to different plants around the world. What's unique is there are two caves in the park where you can learn about cave formation and structures.

Map of Hallim Park

Inside cactus garden

One of the bonsai!

A story featured in one of the caves

Parrot that says an-yeo-ha-sae-yo!

Maple tree!

Waterfall in the park, I think it's man-made

And a peacock! There's also a bird sanctuary in the park

2. Hyupjae Beach
Hyupjae beach is just another beach near Hallim Park - nothing much to do there, I'm not sure why we went there. It was windy and we didn't spend time at the beach, so no photos here!

3. Mount Sabang & Suweolbong
This is the place where we had nice seafood lunch, and then watch the hanyeo show and climbed the sunrise peak. It's a pity that it was cloudy and foggy that day, however, the peak proved to be worth the climb nonetheless.

At the bay where the hanyeo show took place

Hanyeo getting ready to enter the water

Starting the climb after hanyeo show

Midway up sunrise peak

At the sunrise peak - it's actually a caldera, and despite the fog, we could still see the base of the caldera! It was super windy and thought we like to stay up there a while we decided to descend.

And the descend is literally down a flight of steps!

4. O’sulloc Green tea Museum
Being a fan of green tea, we went to the green tea museum!

Here's the green tea field!

And so this concludes the Jeju tour! When in Jeju, remember to take the seafood, pork BBQ and try their local restaurants (without the tour guide). We had 4 days (including the first day when we landed mid-day), and it was a little too much, so you can consider having three full days to cover Jeju! Nonetheless we appreciated the relaxing pace :)

Your body on your hand!

Keep going! Don't give up!