Chinatown: Lantern Festival

Although I've not yet recovered from the nasty Hives, but I don't care about my ugly rashes, I just want to go out and have fun!!!
Because Lantern Festival is coming!!!

So we decided to go to Chinatown during the start of the Lantern Festival.

Every year they will decorate this road differently.

This year I can see many lanterns along the road. What can I say, it's lantern festival!!! That's why it's not a surprise for me to see lanterns everywhere.

It was very crowded in Chinatown that day. Since the main road was closed for the performance at night, everyone was walking in the middle of the road. I was also eating, walking in the middle of the road.

These are special lanterns made by artisans who came from China.

When it finally became dark, Chinatown became very beautiful with all the lanterns lighted up!!! So many kinds of lanterns were hanging around us.

We went to the market every time we came to Chinatown...It's almost look the same every year. But it was fun, because I seldom come to Chinatown, maybe 2 times a year on Lantern festival and Chinese New Year.


I was looking for a lantern to carry to the Chinese Garden next time. Call me childish, but I'm a kid at heart lol!!!

Aw...Cute!!!

While we were still walking inside the market, suddenly we heard very loud sounds of fireworks. We rushed to the closed road and saw everyone were there. So crowded!!! Even the President of Singapore was there to officiate the light up ceremony.

It's exciting!!!

The iconic symbol of Singapore, the Merlion.

His costume looked fabulous and I was wondering if it's very heavy?

Smiles. Everyone looked happy with the smile on their faces.

I like these costumes!!!

More costumes.





I feel happy when I looked at this photo. The little girl was running with a big smile!!! She's cute!!!

When this drum past by, it was so loud that I couldn't hear my own voice, everyone was shouting very loudly too.

Big lion head. This is a must have thing during all the chinese festivals.

There are many dragon dance groups, but I only took photos of a few...I was enjoying so much and so excited. I think the atmosphere there made me excited?



The performance left a lasting impression in my mind. I find it's hard to express my feeling, but I was smiling and laughing a lot throughout the whole performance.

Staying at home...

My Hives is getting a little bit better, but still takes time for it to recover. I've been staying at home for a week now, playing computer games, PS2 games, surfing internet, reading books and watching TV...

There was a news about Singapore Zoo that made me feel very happy for the animals which is Singapore zoo is trying to make their animals happier and more alert by giving them some sort of games or activities, to exercise their animal instincts!!!

By keeping fruit salads in an iced plate and letting it float on water for the Polar bear, so that it can swim and get the fruits. By putting fruits in the tree trunk for the elephants, so that they can try to get the fruits inside the tree trunk...That must be fun for them!!!

I always think the animals must feel very bored when staying in the zoo. If I was an animal, I don't like to stay there at all...I'll rather stay in the wild although I know I might die because of hunger or being attacked by other predators someday... But I will be bored to death if staying inside the cage and nothing to do but looking at the people looking at me.

But back to reality, as a human being, this is the only way I can see the animals so close without being afraid that they might attack me and want to eat me...That's why I still love to come to the zoo so much.

Lately, I've been watching a program called "Weird Nature" on the Animal Planet channel. I totally love it!!! I've watched 2 episodes so far and always looking forward to their new episode. Has anyone watched this?

Nasty Hives!!!

This is the first time I've had a terrible nasty rash called Hives (Urticaria). At first I only saw less than ten bumps (swellings) here and there on my body and I thought that was mosquitoes bite. I even joked about it.

I can endure a little pain, like most of the time when I cut or hurt myself and I won't feel anything or know it until I saw the scars or the blue black bumps. However I can't stand itchiness!!!

I scratched like a crazy monkey without knowing that scratching can stimulate more hives and itching . "Hives appear as raised whitish or flesh-colored bumps on the skin, sometimes surrounded by a red blotch. Typically round or oval, hives often itch... Hives happen when the cells in the skin called mast cells release histamine, a chemical that causes tiny blood vessels (capillaries) to leak fluid. When this leaking fluid accumulates in the skin, it forms the small swellings and some may blend to form larger areas of swelling on the skin that often are itchy"

MY GOSH!!! Why I didn't know it earlier. It's been over a week now I can see many ugly bumps, even some scars on my body, mostly on my arms and legs.



I HATE IT, HATE IT AND HATEEEEEE IT!!!

I'm thinking how did I get it?
"Hives can be one symptom of a whole-body (systemic) allergic reaction to something that was:

+ Inhaled — Pollens, animal dander, molds
+ Injected — Insect stings or bites, especially bee stings, or injected medication
+ Ingested — Foods (tree nuts; fish and shellfish; dairy products; legumes, especially peanuts), food additives, medications such as penicillin or aspirin..."

Foods? Maybe not, I know what I eat. Medications? I only eat Centrum daily. Inhaled molds? Weird!!! Insect bites? Must be!!!

They say it usually goes away on its own after several weeks. But I think I can't even wait for a few more days!!!

It's almost 5am here, but I don't feel sleepy at all. Only feel very itchy right now, but I have to stop myself from scratching. Now I can tell what I hate the most. It's the itch that CAN'T BE SCRATCHED!!!

Xiao Bai : Are you alright?
Bear Bear: No, I'm not.

Kind-hearted lady

Yesterday morning when I opened the door to take my newspaper, I was surprised when I saw it was neatly folded and tucked between the door handle.

Usually I saw it's lying on the floor. Maybe the delivery-man was in a hurry to go to another place so they just threw the newspaper out when the lift opened. That's why it was always on the ground near to our door.

So I was wondering who helped me did that. Before taking the newspaper in, I even took a photo of it.


This morning when I opened the door, I saw it's tucked neatly there again! Then I saw an old lady was standing near to our neighbor's door and trying to tuck in his newspaper in the same way my newspaper was too.

So it's her!!! She comes to our place early every morning to sweep the floor, to make our place clean...And she is new here because I know the previous cleaners don't do this sort of things. I waited for her to finish and said "good morning" and thanks to her.

She smiled back gently to me and told me "don't mention it". I closed the door and started to hear her sweeping the floor...steadily...My heart felt so warm ...

Simplicity...

Woke up in the early morning and brought Xiao Bai out for a walk. Could smell the morning fresh air through the gentle wind...So refreshing!!!


On the way I saw this pair of sparrows taking a bath together in a puddle of water...I was smiling to myself and felt very blissful with my life right now...
It was raining yesterday, that's why I felt a little bit cold when I just walked outside...

Sometimes you don't need to try so hard to find your happiness. Just look around you....Happiness is around you, if you notice it, you can feel it...Simple things can make me so happy...



"It is easy to be pleasant when life flows by like a song,
but the man worth while is the one who will smile
when everything goes dead wrong.
For the test of the heart is trouble,
& it always comes with years,
& the smile that is worth the praises of earth
is the smile that shines through the tears."
~~Ella Wheeler Wilcox~~

National Orchid Garden

The National Orchid Garden is one of many beautiful gardens located in the Singapore Botanic Gardens. This time we've only visited the National Orchid Garden, I will come back to the Botanic Gardens again to visit the Evolution Garden and the rest of the park.

Crane Fountain.

Look at the shape of the long chair , how cool is it!!!

What do you think this chair looks like?



Beautiful bridge covered with flowers.





Inside the Cool House, it's really very cooling inside there...

See how humid inside...

This flower's very big, I was shocked when I saw it. It's even bigger than my head, really!!! It doesn't look big in this photo though.








































Which orchid flower do you like the most? I like the last one the most!!!

So...That's all for today. I will have busy days ahead, so don't know when I can post a new one, meanwhile hope you enjoy the photos and !!!