General elections...Singapore style!

If you hoping to see posters, buntings and symbol of political parties hanging from the highest trees in Singapore at the coming general elections at this island republic you are in for a disappointment.
General elections Singapore style is as banal and as sterile as you can get!
No fanfare or bikers zooming dangerously jeopardising lives.
I, and two other friends, were in Singapore last week to see how this republic was preparing for the coming elections. Being from across the cause way I was anticipating pictures of Lee Kuan Yew, Goh Chok Tong or Brigadier Lee Hsien Loong to be pasted all along the streets and roads in Singapore well I, we, didn't see it.
Even if there is a posters, very small ones, if you are driving and if you blink you will miss the small PAP posters, but placed at a strategic junctions. So subliminal and yet almost invisible, but the ruling party's symbols are there.
How I wish our general elections can be conducted in such a way. The recent Sarawak state elections saw many plastic posters, banners, and billboards that would be thrown away after the polls.
The thing that we have to learn from Singapore is to be more friendly to the environment and to pollute less and using less resources non-bio-degradable material, as our way of respecting Mother Earth!

I was crazy enough then, to do it!

The very USS Independence air craft carrier that I was on!

It was a phone call that I was waiting for about two years, a request to go on board a United States aircraft carrier USS Independence.
So we took off from Subang air force base and a Blackhound carrier or so called a flying coffin, a windowless aircraft where we have to sit facing the wrong way.
So we flew over the Andaman Sea where the carrier was moving towards somewhere and we made a landing, phew!!
So after an unsuccessful first harrowing attempt to land on the aircraft carrier we made it the second times. It was quite an experience, but I will never, as a civilian, do it again!

Bali reminds me of my village!

Ni Wayan Puspitasari or Pit, the grand daughter of Ketut Liyer who manages the tourists who came to the house to have their fortune told.

The garden at the back of Ketut Liyer's house where Julia Roberts and Javier Bardem strolled in between shooting the film.

The famous Ketut Liyer at his house treating a "patient".

I was again in Bali and I saw Ketut Liyer who was featured in Elizabeth Gilbert's Eat. Pray, Love and met his equally friendly grand daughter Ni Wayan Puspitasari, or Pit.
We were shown the house the garden and found out how well they live in such a beautiful environment.
At any given day about 50 tourists will visit Ketut Liyer, simply because they want to see a great faith healer who starred alongside Julia Roberts.

Finally after 38 years I finally managed to buy a set of Tourqoise jewellery...for someone!!

The Blue Mosque, Istanbul

Haghia Sophia, Istanbul

Inside the Grand Bazaar, Istanbul

The Turquoise set that I managed to buy from theb Grand Bazaar, Istanbul, for someone after 39 years!

The magnificent Grand Bazaar of Istanbul

Another view of the Blue Mosque

Inside the Hangia Sophia!

After about four decades I was again in Istanbul, Turkey, recently and it was a major emotional journey for me.
It was as though I was transported via a time machine back into the past where I actually started to do my first job.....carrying food produce from the market somewhere in Istanbul (I could not find the market on this trip). Thejib would start at three in the morning until about six thirty and then I will be paid.
With the money, the routine would be, to buy a loaf of bread, cheese, tomato and grapes. These would be my breakfast, lunch and sometimes my dinner.
Istanbul was my major long haul stop over before I proceeded to hitch hiked to Europe via Greece. You see back in the late 1968 and early 1969 I was afflicted by the flower people where everybody wanted to go to San Francisco in summer time.
Well, many ended up in Europe and I believe I am one of the few that managed to cross the Atlantic to North America and I ended up in Canada.
Well this Monday is about Istanbul and how I survived.....

Historic Inna Samudera Beach Hotel....

Marlin fish steak for dinner anyone!? Lots of fish in this part of Sukabumi, Java.


The Indian Ocean beckons you every morning when you open your balcony door!

Historic Samudera Hotel..

Has lost its lustre of once a popular hotel!

The first president of Indonesia Bung Sukarno commissioned the hotel to be built on the north most point of Pelabuhan Ratu, in the district of Sukabumi, off the south coast of Java Island.
Samudera Beach Hotel was a favourite place for Sukrno to spend his off days and many stories goes he liked this part of Java because the Sundanese women are known for their beauties!

Bali again this time for a real rest!

The protector!

The pool...water from the natural spring!

The bed

More of the backyard

The backyard

The porch!

The front

I am now in Ubud and the resort where we are staying is a little heaven on earth, our small resort is smack right near (or middle?) a rice field where there are women still working on the field! Here are some pictures of my Shang-rila!

Special thanksgiving prayer for my late mother at my house in the jungle!

Perfect day for a special prayer for my mum!

In the morning before the kenduri!

No parking space!

People that matter came!

It was a perfect day for a gathering, the weather co-operated the people that matter to me and I expected them to come, they came, and hose whom I thought were my friends came up with all sorts of excuses not to come, and I will deal with them later on in life.
The food was exquisite and I am now thinking of having more gathering in my jungle hideout and I am sure I can find something to celebrate for. Here some of the pictures for you all to enjoy!