YOG Withdrawal or Hangover?

Yakki and I are feeling a bit down after the end of YOG.

Is it withdrawal or hangover?

Someone to cheer us up

Emmanuelle "Sloan McQuewick" Chriqui

Photos: The Total Package Promo Photoshoot for Entourage

The Art of Pausing for Applause

Anyone who watched the opening and closing ceremonies of the Youth Olympic Games would have noticed that the speeches by Mr Ng Ser Miang were very well choreographed. It was written and planned to the second, probably by a junior staff member.

This is what we think was on his hard-copy transcript.

Photo: ChannelNewsAsia

"Mr Lee Hsien Loong, Prime Minister of the Republic of Singapore,

Mr Jacques Rogge, President of the International Olympic Committee,

Friends and Colleagues,

Ladies and gentlemen,

We have done it!!

We have delivered the inaugural Youth Olympic Games!!!

(Pause.)

(Look at crowd.)

(Wait for applause.)

Young Olympians, blah blah blah. Thank you Chefs de Mission, team officials, coaches and Athlete Role Models ...

(Pause.)

(Look at crowd from left to right. Good speech etiquette.)

(Wait for applause.)

The journey for the last 2 ½ years has been exhilarating and fulfilling. Thank you friends. Blah blah blah. Thank you, President Jacques Rogge for your vision...

(Pause.)

(Look earnestly at crowd.)

(Wait for applause. Wait for applause.)

(Applause finally comes.)

My fellow Singaporeans, we have worked hard together to host the world. We have fulfilled our promises and undertakings and made Singapore proud. Thank You, Terima Kasih, Xie Xie, Mi Ker Nandri.

(Pause. Long pause if required until obligatory applause comes after awkward silence.)

More thank you you and thank you him and thank you her.

(Pause. Look even more earnestly at crowd. Soak in the atmosphere. Indulge in the final moments of glory. Just wait for applause.)

Thank you!

(FINAL pause. Final applause. Wait for fireworks. Wait for screams. Wait for clappers. Wait for cheers. Wait till everyone in the crowd and at home watching the television feel compelled to do something, anything.)"

- Phew. Finally done. Experience in PSLE Oral Examinations does come in handy 50 years on. -

Yakki's Take on Make-Up Sex

End of One Dream, Beginning of Many

Photo: SPH-SYOGOC-Xinhua

The 2010 Youth Olympic Games in Singapore came to an end last night. As the Olympic flame extinguished, it marked the end of an eventful journey. The memories of the YOG will forever be etched in our hearts.

Inspiring was one word I remembered Yakki mentioning during the first Cubs game he attended.

The Games is pretty inspiring huh.

The Flame as Last Spotted in Marina Bay

Photo: ChannelNewsAsia

I totally agree.

Pre-YOG, we squirmed when we heard that we could be fined $130 for not giving way to the YOG buses. But we knew that us fine Singaporeans do need monetary incentives many a times.

During YOG, we saw the SFI food being served to the volunteers and felt that for a $5.5 million food tender, SFI could have done a better job and not short-change the volunteers or us taxpayers.

And yes, people will whine about the $387 million spent on the Games. With one or two itching to be arrested by criticising the Government on an anti-YOG facebook page.

But let's be objective and break it down for all.

The last 12 days have brought 3,600 youths from all over the world and 20,000 volunteers in Singapore together. For many of them, what an experience it is to participate in the first ever Youth Olympics and interact with youths from 204 countries.

It did take Singaporeans a bit of warming up to react to the YOG atmosphere. We were off to a slow start with the publicity of the YOG fairly poor leading up to the opening day. Tickets are moving slowly. But once the flame was lit and kiasuism activated, Singaporeans were quickly snapping up tickets to the popular sports. The YOG spirit in Singapore suddenly came alive.

The YOG also gave us football fans something to cheer about with the success of our national team, albeit a very very young one. It's not the bronze medal success that we're speaking about, but the quality of football they displayed. Attacking, positive, spirited, entertaining and most importantly, fun football.

Cubs packing the Stadium like no other S-League match can

There will be the cynics and the critics and the skeptics and the whatevers. But we enjoyed the Youth Olympics. And if these people can deliver a better experience at a lower cost to us all, then please go ahead and indulge us.

Until then, we will remember the good old times long after the flame has gone.

The butterflies in the stomach, the joy of bonding and the pleasure of scoring we will forever reminisce.

Chile wins Girls Football Gold

Eyes on the ball

Who says girls can't play football?

They certainly can, perhaps less aggressive, tactically disciplined and skillful than the boys, but they made up with passion and sportsmanship.

We were at Jalan Besar for the fourth time this Youth Olympics and were treated to an interesting brand of football. Girls football that is.

Future starlet for girls football?

The girls from both Equatorial Guinea and eventual champion Chile impressed us with some nifty footwork and brave challenges. But it was their level of sportsmanship that truly convinced us that the girls could teach the lads a thing or two about football.

Thumbs-up from the Guinean camp

There were virtually no Oscar-like acting from the girls after a bad challenge. No arguing with the referee. No diving. No time-wasting. They made football seem like a gentle(wo)man's game. All these coexisting with the will and determination to win the gold medal.

The Chileans won the match on the penalty shootout 5-3, clinching gold for the young ladies. And girl, did they celebrate.

Shootout Ecstasy

Chilean Flag Flying

For more pictures from the match, go to our Facebook Page.

Isabelle Li, China Born or Not?

Isabelle Li of Team Singapore won the silver medal in the Youth Olympic Games table tennis today. But many have wondered about her place of birth.

Confirm China-born la.

Ya man, she shouts and plays like one.

China written all over her face?

Straits Times Photo: Chew Seng Kim

I guess there are a lot of skeptics when it comes to Singapore table tennis players. After all, most of the senior team who won the World Championship a few months ago are born in China, then inducted into the Singapore ecosystem through the Foreign Talent Scheme.

So, we had to do our research and find out if Isabelle was China-born.

A quick check with Google seemed to confirm that she's Singapore-born.

Then, her parents lei?

Some of our friends remained unconvinced she's truly truly truly Singaporean. We found out that her mother's family name is Sim. Should be a "true blue" Singaporean, right? Sim does sound Singaporean aye?

Then, her Dad's probably from China.

...

Hopefully, Straits Times will do a feature and shed some light on the matter. I guess people simply cannot believe that a Singapore-born Singaporean can compete on a world stage in the sport of table tennis.

Sailing ok. Table tennis should be China-born. Bowling yes. Badminton probably Indo-born.

Do our athletes' places of birth matter to you?

Cubs, our Nation's Pride

Dejected Cubs congratulating the Haitians

We were at the Jalan Besar Stadium to witness our cubs' loss against the Haitians tonight. The cubs didn't play as well as they did in their past two games, but they certainly put in tremendous effort in their bid to qualify for the Final.

A combination of careless mistakes, poor finishing and perhaps bad luck knocked our cubs out of the running for the gold medal. Still, they are our nation's pride and have inspired many.

The disappointment really had to be the crowd at the stadium tonight. The grandstand fans were pretty fantastic, but the fans at the gallery area, where we were situated, were poor.

One of the few decent fans in the gallery

It's easy to cheer on your team when they're beating the Zimbabweans and the Montenegrins. It's so easy to jump on the bandwagon and start purchasing the match tickets on the back of two victories.

But it takes a real fan to stand up and cheer the team on when the team is down, when the team needs your support.

The gallery crowd watched the game like it was an EPL match shown on a tele at home. Comfortable in their seats, silent when the cubs were chasing the game, letting out the rare yelp when the cubs missed their chances. That's not the way to support your team.

Worst of all, when the cubs conceded a late penalty, streams of fans at the gallery stood up.

"Fans" emptying the terraces before the final whistle.

To leave their seats.

For the exit.

WTF seriously.

A brilliant and sublime display of true support for the team that they had recently adopted after two inspiring YOG wins. Leaving the 15 years olds in the lurch when they had been hit by penalty decision is a disgrace. The team was staring at a two-nil defeat and all these fair-weather fans could think about was beating the traffic or going for supper.

The cubs have proven that there's hope with our nation's football. They impressed. They delighted. They fought.

Taking on the world

But it's time the fans do their part and put the nation above themselves.

Our Cubs Rock!

Football is a funny game and Singaporeans are funny supporters. Having beaten Zimbabwe in their opening match, fans began to ravage the YOG ticket website and stream into Jalan Besar Stadium on the back of the impressive victory.

Yakki and I, being the ardent Lions fans, got our tickets (preliminaries, semis, finals) way before the euphoria began. Self pat on the back.

All would have known by now that we defeated the Montenegrins 3-2 with goals from Muhaimin Suhaimin, Jeffrey Lightfoot and Brandon Koh. A great display by and of our multicultural setup in Singapore.

Minutes before kickoff, we were off to a beautiful start on a breezy Thursday evening when we spotted a fan outside the Jalan Besar Stadium.

No need for more description. See pictures for thousands of words.
Lightfoot's Cool Head

Brilliant Tackle on Montenegrin Ballerina

Fans and players showing appreciation

Anyway, the press always covers a match in great detail when we're doing well. So needless for us to say more when you can them on the official papers and websites.

For more Yakki's action photos of the match, check out the album on our Facebook Page.

Rain and More Rain

It's been an interesting year for Singapore, weather-wise. Instead of the usual hot and humid or very cloudy or heavy thunderstorms and showers expected all over Singapore, our Met service now has access to the word "flood" in their limited vocabulary.

The rain has caused many problems to us Singaporeans. Some losing their cars. Others having their condos' car park or landed property filled with sexy brown water. We too had our problems with the rain.

Bad Bad Rain

Remember we were gonna do an article on "Birds". Yes, 鸟. The rain has forced us to cancel many early Sunday morning trips to the birds' sanctuary. So you'll have to wait a little longer for the "Birds" article.

Anyway, back to today. As I was driving along the surprisingly-only-damp Bukit Timah Road, I wondered about my insurance's coverage for a drenched car, and then about changing to a more flood resistant car like an SUV or a crossover.

The new Kia Sportage

Speaking of which, Yakki and I should be test driving some new crossovers (in flood conditions preferably) in the coming month, so keep a lookout for that.

The new Peugeot 3008

But on a serious note, we should be thankful that the floods here have not caused any loss of life as seen in Pakistan and China. We are really a fortunate bunch of people. Be grateful.

Cubs' Scorcher against Zimbabwe

Video Courtesy of Yahoo! SEA

Our Cubs Are Toothful!

Die-hard Singapore fan

The inaugural Youth Olympics has begun! And after a fairly lacklustre build-up to the Games, Singapore seemed to have finally woken up and come to life in the past three days.

The YOG opening ceremony was quite impressive with the fireworks and water displays capturing many spectators' and audiences' attention, but I think 12 year old boy Low Wei Jie's 15 km run over 2 hours to follow the Olympics flame as well as Singapore's brilliant start to its football campaign have really contributed significantly in stirring the nation's enthusiasm in the Games.

A great pre-match huddle

I was at the Jalan Besar stadium for Singapore's opener against Zimbabwe and within 10 seconds of the game, our Cubs stole possession from the Zimbabweans and unleashed a scorcher to put the Zimbabweans in their place. The Africans had boasted about beating us by a minimum scoreline of 5-0 prior to the match.

Cubs' style celebration

Ten minutes later, a diminutive Muhaimin calmly placed the ball past the 'keeper after being set up by his team-mate to put the Cubs 2-0 up. The fully filled Jalan Besar Stadium was rocking!

More celebrations from the Cubs

The Cubs continued their form and finished the Zimbabweans 30 minutes into the game with another brilliant team movement.

Singapore 3 Zimbabwe 1

I'm looking forward to the next YOG event and really hoping to get tickets to the Singapore-Montenegro game on Thursday.

And for more reasons to attend the Games, we spotted a few YOG personnel/volunteers/fans worth a second look.

Times Square Kiss

V-J Day in Times Square, 14 August 1945

Source: New York Times

Iconic photo of a sailor kissing a nurse by Alfred Eisenstaedt. Must have been a great advert for the US Navy.

What is an Alpaca?

Alpaca noun
A long-haired domesticated South American mammal related to the llama, valued for its wool

Before shave; After half-shave

Photo Source: www.bordom.net

More alpacas
Cute aye?

Dance to this Song

A tribute to predictable Pop songs.

Dog Putting Wally to Shame

Chilled Dog on Scooter

Photo Source: FT Facebook

See The Motorscooter Diaries for the shame.

Happy Birthday, Singapore!

On Singapore's 45th birthday, we ask our friends to offer well wishes to the nation.

Perhaps we mis-communicated the meaning of well wishes to the nation, so we got a whole lotta wishes instead.

More public holidays for you and me and all the Singaporeans!
I wish we could either reclaim more land or take over XX. It's getting too damn crowded here.
Less taxes for citizens, more taxes for foreigners!
I just want the nation to write off my school loans!
Huat ah!


We had some in Chinese.

我XXX在这里祝新加坡长命百岁月！

朱门酒肉臭
路有冻死骨

Celebrating with 大白兔奶糖

We also received a wish for our leader.

May old Lee live long and prosper!!

And we got a few cautioning our future generations.

I just hope Singaporeans will not become too materialistic.
Another great 45 years! Just hope we don't get too complacent.

Then we had a really random one.

Going for 2 hour combat at parkway, wanna come?

...

Face of Patriotism
Happy National Day!

Krabi - A Series of (Un)fortunate Events

In our last installment of the adventure of Wally and Yakki in Krabi-land, we sum up the unfortunate events that occurred during our adventure.

Scooter scratched
Toe gash
Engine died downhill
Engine died uphill
Feeling useless over and over again

Behind the scenes with Aunt Pad Thai

As we ate at the roadside stall outside our hotel, we reflected on the trip. We realised we belonged to a pampered nation, a strawberry generation.

Looking back, we were not that unfortunate, we were not sibei sway. In fact, we were very heng, very lucky. We were thankful for the tom yam that we were savouring, the pad thai that we could still devour.

What could have happened instead,

Scooter scrapped
Toe loss
We died downhill
We died uphill
Never feeling ever again

Dark but fluffy clouds

Last but not least, we could have gotten the vomit-diarrhea effect (上吐下泻) after that roadside dinner, but all we had the morning after was a Kings of Leon tune in us.

"You, your ass is on fire..."

Krabi - Engine Overheats

The alarm clock rang at 10 am. It was wakey-wakey and time to make our journey back to Krabi.

Becoming smarter by the hour, we asked the receptionist for a route with the least treacherous terrain out of Phuket. We grabbed a proper map (for once) and left Hotel Ibis.

Taking the route towards Kamala Beach, we were driving up a small hill when the temperature meter showed us the red. The engine was overheating once again. We were by now immune to such occurrences and calmly stopped the car for an assessment.

Sexy Transformer Metal

Wally and Yakki Present: What to do when your engine overheats?

1. Turn off the engine - As with any machinery, when in doubt or on fire, switching off the appliance/equipment is the most obvious option. After doing so, di gong (pretend that nothing happened) for a few minutes to regain composure.

2. Recall all the old man talk - When my old man mentioned that my car's engine coolant required topping up, I thought he meant that my wiper fluid had ran out. He went on to teach me the ways of life by explaining that water could be added to ensure engine coolant is sufficient for driving.

3. Check with petrol-heads - If you're not sure what your old man taught you is in line with the current generation of petrol-heads, call or text one to ask him for advice. He will tell you that it is okay to add water to coolant, but it is better to add the real coolant. Also, check for radiator leakage by looking under the engine compartment as that might be the cause of the insufficient fluids.

4. Still unsure? Hitchhike to the nearest petrol kiosk for help! - Daniels and Yakki braved the rain on a scooter without helmets. It was how the Thais travelled. Three men on one scooter for 200 baht. A helpful mechanic brought some water to top up the coolant. Upon seeing the radiator, the burly mechanic assessed that it was leaking and required some patchwork. It cost us 500 baht to restore our car for the return trip.

We knew we lacked practical life skills, but Thailand exposed our ignorance.

Lovely weather on our return

A few hours later, we returned to Krabi safely, having graduated from the college of himbotics.

Krabi - Wally and Yakki Go to Patong Beach

Spot the Difference!

Answer: Half-naked man on right picture.

Driving south along Highway 402, we finally reached Phuket town.

We were to chill and grab a couple of beers before making our way back to Krabi. The destination of choice for our night out was a random bar at Patong Beach, about 20 minutes from Phuket town.

So at ease with our compass-led driving, we knew we just had to hit east on road 4020 and road 4029 to get to Patong.

As the hilly terrains of Phuket tested Yakki's mountain-driving, the mood within the Toyota Gxi was upbeat. It felt like we were about to achieve something great, something monumental.

Dudes, can you hear that?

"Nah, the radio's crap. Turn it off, man. We'll get some real music at the pub."

No no, listen.

Ten seconds of awkward machinery noises followed.

Powered by Rocket Science

"**** **** ****! The engine's dead. CB CB CB! Steering's gone."

For the second time in a day, we looked like we were in serious trouble. Our car was going downhill and all we had was Yakki's hand-braking technique.

!@#$%^& (braking sound)

Fortunately, we were at the gradual end of a steep slope. Yakki had brought the plane safely down and we were alive.

"Oh man! Did the battery die?"

Dude, that can't happen when the engine's running, right?

We were bewildered and lost. The engine had overheated. Perhaps it had overworked on the Phuket hills. A bunch of grown men boys, we didn't know what to do. Disgrace to man-kind.

Still, Yakki and I burst out in uncontrollable laughter, amused by our predicament. Daniels stood still, possibly re-enacting a concoction of Fino-Toyota disaster.

"**** it man! Let's go grab a beer."

We felt like Harold and Kumar going to the White Castle. We abandoned our car in front of a empty rental house.

Kidding!

Having drinks and returning to the wrong spot would be pure stupidity. As if we had not displayed enough of that in a day. So, we took down the GPS coordinates on my BlackBerry, marking our dead car's position.

Still, we had a mission to fulfill. We flew to Patong on a tuk tuk.

Dizzy Tuk Tuk Ride

The ice brr cold beers. Shiok.

Three hours of driving, two near-death experiences and two ice cold beers later, Yakki was drained. It would be unwise for us to drive back to Krabi. We returned to collect our car, hoping it would work after it cooled down. And it did. 谢天谢地!

We drove to a nearby hotel to get a room.

Finally, we were of some use to ourselves. We bargained the room rates from 3800 baht down to 2625 baht. Wally and I shared a room (don't worry twin beds, not double), while the bigger Daniels enjoyed the neighbouring room.

We committed room adultery, deserting our cosy Aonang Cliff Beach Resort room for the sluttier, sexier Ibis.

Krabi - Road Trippin'

Krabi town was not as lively as we thought it could be. The town was a mere 2km by 5km in size and, to us, had nothing interesting. So we decided to head back to Aonang after all the vehicular trouble we had.

With an overcast sky and an impending storm, our options in Krabi were limited. We could not do cave kayaking at the Ao Luk region of Krabi nor sail to and snorkel around the Chicken Island, Dog Island or Phi Phi Islands (pronounced as pee pee).

Brewing storm

"I heard Phuket's kinda nearby."

According to the receptionists at the resort, Phuket Island was 200 km away from where we were. According to Google Maps, it was exactly 178 km away. 178 km was a mere 2 hours of driving at 90 km/h. According to us, it was time to go.

In our excitement to leave the dark skies in Krabi, we forgot an important article for a road trip. A real map. Instead, we memorised a generic map for the journey.

See red lines for directions: go north, go west, go south.

On a pseudo-highway with scooters moving against the flow of traffic, 178 km appeared distant. After an hour of driving, our primary manual car driver Yakki began to wonder if we were off-track. Refusing to incur hefty overseas data charges on our iPhones or BlackBerry maps, we turned to a compass, scouts-style.

"I believe we should turn left to head west now, yeah?"
Yes, turn left and drive Y km, then turn left and keep going. We'll be in Phuket-land.

We did not worry about the absence of a true map or the lack of road lamps or the performance of our car's toy headlights. Because we were brave men, we did not worry about losing our way in unfamiliar territories. We had no fear. Right.

Creepy-looking skies and roads

Truth is, we had bigger things to worry after reaching Phuket.