www.Go To The Mountain - Musings of a Potential Guru

Have you ever played with fighting spiders as children in the good old days? What about fighting fish?  They were very interesting and at that time, we never know that it could be cruel. Most of us would start with one. One fighting spider which a friend gave you. You fought it with others and may be won twice and lost four times and you wanted a better and stronger one so perhaps you bought it from a friend or go search and catch one in the wild. Now you have three spiders and you use your spiders depending on whose spider you are fighting with and their reputation. You are like a strategist planning a badminton game who is to be your first, second and third singles. You will do the same thing for your fighting fish but fighting spiders and fighting fishes are simpler as your best fighter is your champion so you call it your "First King" followed by second king and third king. If you are a rich man, you can have three or more cars and call them whatever you want bu

It is getting interesting so early on in the season. Unusual stuffs that is. Liverpool are winning. The best player Gareth Bale has not been playing. He did not even turn up for training. I think this is bad. I always turn up for work no matter what because my fans are waiting bro.  Spain is bankrupt but Real Madrid could splash a 100 million pounds to buy one player. A big upset has already happened. Man City v Hull - City dominated Cardiff to no avail. Since when did Frazier Campbell scored twice? But he was outstanding. So why didn't Roy Hodgson call him up for England duty when he called 19 year old Evertonian Ross Barkley and young Tottenham winger Andros Townsend. Big questions are being asked. Was Cardiff's attack so good or was City's defence non-existent? Can City fare well against a hard team? Or will they be back to conquering ways? Perhaps a backlash for the Tigers? Hull may ask a few questions but it will not be enough. Just hope the referee don't &quo

If you like me had been to the National Library often in our younger days, you will also know about MPH nearby. When I started work, besides dropping in at MPH occasionally, I would also have lunch at the nearby Armenian Street old coffee shop where you have a Char Kway Teow stall and the Ngoh Hiang Prawn Cracker. It really has been such a long time. A friend told me about this recently that he found the Armenian Street Char Kway Teow and gave me an address. One day when I remembered I decided to check out the place but disappointed to find the place closed for renovation. Some months later, I decided to recce if they are open. It was then that I realised that a fire broke out the last time that was why they had to do the renovation.  A few newspapers cuttings adorn the stall front and the price list. Please note when is their off day - Thursday. He does not fry his Kway Teow right in front of you so perhaps you will never know his secret recipe or is it just the st

This time of the year is terrible for me. First the haze then at times the Sumatran squall. Now it is the Hungry Ghost Festival with burning and all. Haze, smoke, weather change is killing me through my ultra-sensitive nose. Fortunately, Indonesians do not practise burning during the 7th month or we will become the walking dead. If I got hit by a bad bout of allergic rhinitis and you saw me on the street, you might think I just walked out from the gate of hell. Then you see me holding a glass of beer and you know I am human.  Those who drink too much are called 酒 鬼 (jiu gui). They say you should not go swimming around this time because the 水 鬼 will drag your leg and pull you down to drown you. Then those who were DOM (dirty old men) may have become "hum sup kwai". Then you have the hungry ghosts or yao gui - words used to describe greedy people.  You see some Chinese people like to have a lot of Gods as we have many types of ghosts. I wonder if Chinese ghosts will go dis

Recently in Cambodia I met a Singh. A certain Mr. Singh whom I did not know. I was waiting for friends at the hotel lobby and this Mr. Singh was smiling at me as he walked towards me. As he inched close, he said: "You are a very lucky man".  In my mind I was thinking: "Oh no, not again!" Why? Because different Mr. Singh has met me in so many different countries like Hong Kong, Thailand, several times in Singapore and now in Cambodia. It must be that I am really a very lucky fellow.  "You are going to be a rich and successful man" or "there are a few women thinking of you now". I can see it by looking at your face and your forehead".  I have seen them all and I am neither lucky or unlucky. These people could be hypnotists or mentalists. Worse, they may be involved in the "other world". There are people I know who continued talking to them and they knew things about them that they sworn they did not know. Probably they know how to

The opening week of EPL soccer got off and over quickly. Was it the same old thing? I thought so. I told you not to be carried away with pre-season results. Arsenal had a perfect start when Giroud scored and they dominated but finished upended but there were controversies but at least I got the score correct.  Liverpool and Tottenham got off with a win by the smallest margin. Can they last? Write off Man U at your own peril I have warned and they came off big winners and so too City while Chelsea strolled through easy winners. How now for the second matches? Fulham v Arsenal - Fulham surprised with a 1-0 away win over Sunderland. They can be really tough at Craven Cottage. Arsenal knew they must have a good start going into the opening match against Aston Villa to banish their bad old habits and had a perfect start but as usual they floundered. It made me wonder why they didn't sign Asmir Begovic (Stoke) and Christian Benteke (Villa). Wenger is under pressure but the 3-0 a

First of all, I did not know fish can be naked. I knew it only for humans where naked we came and naked we shall go.  We wanted go somewhere else to eat something different and so we came here. It was a Saturday and unfortunately, the place was booked for a private function. Fortunately I spotted a family eating outside along the side just outside the restaurant. It was a little warm but okay. They probably specialised in fish but are like a Han's or Jack's Place kind of joint where you will find other Western favourites as well as local delights. It is located at "The Grassroots Club" in Ang Mo Kio Ave 8 just outside Nanyang Polytechnic. When I saw that they had oxtail on the menu and stated as their signature dish then of course I have to have that. I used to visit Jack's Place at the UE Square where every Wednesday their oxtail was a sold out during lunch. The Canopy at Marina Bay Golf Club is good too.  Since you just add a little

Pagi Sore means morning and evening in Indonesian or from dusk to dawn. Since there is one here at the Amara, it is inevitable that I will have it someday sooner or later.  I looked at this poster and I said hey, I want it since I have always love our Malay or Indonesian nasi padang. Nasi Padang is Nasi (rice) from Padang (a place which is the capital of West Sumatra, Indonesia). However, Kueh TuTu is not kueh from TuTu island but is unique to Singapore and Nasi Bryani is not nasi from Bryani.  Starting with Emping Belinjo with belacan is a good and traditional way. The bitter cracker mixed with the pungent and spicy belacan is very much a part of the cuisine. They said their lime juice is special so we had to have one. Well, it did taste better than those standard run-of-the-mill type you can find everywhere. But this mango yogurt was really something else. I always love to have this whenever having a meal at any Indian restaurant. It is such a fabulous drink. Ap