41

Found this leaflet stuck at my gate. It is in 4 languages. It says ‘It is difficult to predict when an emergency will happen, so we need to be ready and prepared at all time.’

Some items it recommended: rice, cooking oil, biscuits, instant noodles, canned food, beverages, sugar.

Then I was thinking of emergencies……diseases, wars, disasters, food shortage.…...

When I was in HK, there were typhoons in China (HK only mildly affected) and earthquakes in Indonesia. Someone commented in a Chinese newspaper that HK was fortunate.

Are we not fortunate too.

On our 41st National Day, I wish that we will have infinite years of good fortune, be spared the natural disasters and diseases, and the sufferings caused by human acts.

Majullah Singapura! Happy National Day !

For Love of Country

On Sunday there was an article entitled For Love of Country – It is all inside the heart. The columnist seems to imply that loving the country is the most important, it doesn’t matter whether you display the flag or not.

True, displaying the flag doesn’t prove you are patriotic or if you don’t display the flag it doesn’t mean that you are unpatriotic.

I look at it this way:

Displaying the flag is just a small way to show our affection. Is it too troublesome? And if a lot of people think this way, then there will be only a few flags hanging out. It will look pathetic.

Do we not buy presents for people we care for on mother’s day and their birthdays? Why not save the money and just tell them ‘it is all inside my heart’. And why even bother to wrap the presents nicely.

Doctors

There is a clinic at a block nearby but the consultation plus medication fees are quite high. So I only see this doctor when I have dizziness, sprained angle, stomach fever or such ailments that make walking difficult.

My regular doctor is further away. He is very experienced. One important thing is that his medication is usually very effective. When he is not in, there will be a temporary doctor to replace him. Before I go I will call the clinic to ask if the doctor is in because I do not like to see replacement doctors.

In that case I will see another doctor at the other end of the road. This doctor is very friendly and you can talk to her about other things also. I think she is very sympathetic to people in my profession. Whenever my temperature is 38 or above, she will say ‘You have a good rest. Don’t worry, I’ll give you 2 days medical leave’.

Don't put up The Flag

It was a warm humid evening. As I was dozing off on the sofa, there were knockings at the door. A sweet voice came through, “Hello! Hello! Anyone in? Hello!”

I sprang up and went to open the door. A lady stood outside. She had a cheerful disposition.

“Miss, can I help you?”

“Sorry to disturb you; it is like this.…We have put up the national flags at your block. Please do not put up your own flag.”

“Can I put up an extra one?”

“No, we put the flags in a way to form a certain shape. If you put extra one it will be out of place, not nice you see.”

“I see. Thank you for taking the trouble to inform us and putting up the flags, very thoughtful of you all.”

“Thank you, bye.”

She did not introduce herself but I think she is a member of one of the residents’ committees. Since last year the RC has put up flags at our block. Before that I used to put up my own. Then only about one-third of flats in my block did that.

That was yesterday. This afternoon I went to the top level of the opposite block to see what shape it is.

Here is a picture……..click on picture for bigger version.

花月影

广乐余韵 The Cantonese Chamber

15 July 2006, Singapore Conference Hall - presented by the Singapore Chinese Orchestra

The performers: Ni Huiying and Li Junsheng (well-known cantonese opera artistes from China) Yu Qi Wei (Gaohu specialist from Guangdong) and the Singapore Chinese Orchestra.

Conductor: Tsung Yeh, music director of SCO.

Yu Qi Wei


Ni Huiying and Li Junshen


Ni Huiying and Li Junseng sang 5 songs ( 帝女花之香夭, 紫钗恨, 梦会太湖, 2 songs from 花月影 )

Yu Qi Wei led the orchestra with 平湖秋月, 双声恨, 步步高, 旱天雷.

Imagine cantonese operatic songs sung to the acompaniment of a chinese orchestra with over 70 members. Wouldn't their voices be muffled by the sound of the orchestra?

Well, it didn't. Ni and Li are skillful artistes and have strong vocals and their singing and the words of the songs came out clearly. And they sang well. They were in ordinary clothes for the first 4 songs but were in opera costumes complete with make-up for the last song.

平湖秋月 and 双声恨 were performed with the full orchestra and the pieces were rearranged and didn't sound quite the same as the traditional ones.

步步高 and 旱天雷 were performed with a reduced orchestra consisting mostly of gaohu players.... and a yang qin player. These two pieces have more of the original flavour.

旱天雷 was a rousing piece and the last part was very fast-paced. You could see Yu's wrist vibrating, flickering the bow to and fro across the two strings of the gaohu at a frantic pace. Although there were many hu qin players, their movements were synchronous. It was a pleasure to watch and to listen.

戲曲之旅

Some articles in the July issue of this Chinese opera magazine:

梨園群英展新姿

歐凱明 藝海無涯不進則退

韓再芬 負起重振黃梅戲擔子

Land of casinos

.....Macau.


I think this is the only city in Asia with so many casinos in one place. On the tourist map more than a dozen are marked. I suppose these are the bigger ones only. Almost every big hotel has a casino. When you walk about the city at night, you can’t miss the neon casino signboards. Some casinos require you to show your passport or IC before you can enter. The casinos here are purely for gaming, no other entertainment – unlike our upcoming Integrated Resorts.

The livelihood of many people here depends on them and so does Macau’s economy.

I went to 3 casinos – Lisboa, Sands and one in a hotel. Lisboa and Sands are the two bigger ones. There are many betting games. I was watching people betting at a ‘big-small’ gaming table at Lisboa. There were quite a lot of people at this table.

There are various betting combinations. I don’t know how they work. Your fortune is determined by the three dies. I only know that if you bet on ‘big’ and the total of the numbers of the 3 dies is bigger than half (the maximum is 18) then you win.

It happened that ‘small’ came out 6 times in a row. So most of the people placed their bets on ‘big’. You know what next – 5 on each die, total 15. Big, right? But the rule is that if the 3 numbers are the same, then whether you buy big or small you also lose. The same if the total is exactly half. I am not sure what is exactly half.

After some time we felt quite bored. I don't think I will be a gambler even I live next door to a casino.

I think Singaporeans need not worry too much about our IRs making more people become gamblers. I feel that only few will get addicted. The only thing is that those who are already gamblers will have a nearer place to go to.

First WC bet

I had placed a small bet on Italy winning the game in the semi-finals. Italy won. So yesterday afternoon, happily I went to collect money. The counter girl told me that the result was based on the 90-min game. The result : Draw. Italy scored the 2 goals during extra time, so it was not counted.

Now then I know. So malu!

World Cup predictions last updates

Teams that entered the quarter-finals:-
Germany, Argentina, Italy, Ukraine, England, Portugal, Brazil, France

Haha, I got 6 correct! 75%, not bad. But I didn’t bet a single cent.

My predictions for the semi-finals:-
Germany, Italy, Portugal, Brazil


Disappointed that Brazil lost..
I think the finalists will be...Italy and Portugal


Unfortunately Portugal did not get through although to me they looked the better team last night.
The 2006 World Cup holder will be Italy.

Generous fans

There is a Ge Zai Xi performance at Gu Cai Ba. GZX is a type of Hokkien opera and GCB is the Sheng Hong Temple at Paya Lebar. This is the temple’s website: http://www.shtemple.org.sg/


My opera-loving blogger friends have put up several posts about it. The troupe is a local one but there was a popular guest artiste from Taiwan whose singing is highly-rated by my OBF. (She had her last performance yesterday.)

The opera fans are very generous. They present cash gifts (between $200 and $2000) to their idols. The announcements pasted on both sides of the stage tell you the amounts of cash gifts the artistes got from their fans. Amai said the tw star got more cash gifts last night.

I think she got more than our MP’s monthly allowance.

This is the second place where I see cash gifts at street operas.

Slide show

喜得銀河抱月歸

This was the last show by the Zhanjiang CO Troupe on 26 June 2006. It was a simple story but entertaining and well-performed. In all it was a good show. The main characters - a handsome man, a pretty girl, a fairy and a sea demon.

From left:- the Fairy (Lum Teng), the Lovers (Leung Siu Meng & Mak Mun Kit) and the Demon (Leong Siew Fei)


Leung Siew Meng is at the second row. On his right is Lum Teng, the second dan. Next to her is Ng Kim Meng, the second sheng (not in costume). Mak Mun Kit is at the other end. The eight pretty girls in front are dancers in the show. The kids are from their Kids' Troupe. They only performed a few excerpts on Sunday.

Maids and Soldiers

Cantonese opera fans would know Leung Siu Meng and Mak Mun Kit, lead artistes of the Zhanjiang CO Troupe. But ZJ also has a supporting cast of youthful versatile artistes who play secondary roles (characters of less importance) and other supporting roles (maids, soldiers, dancers, bandits, etc). They add zest and vigour to the show. They sometimes do take lead roles in operas or opera excerpts.

Here are some pictures of these artistes. These photos, except one, were taken backstage.

Men also yak, yak, yak… about hair-pieces?


A picture of calmness. This is Ng Kim Meng, the second sheng, but he is just an imperial guard in this show.


A handsome scholar


Shengs


This is Lum Teng, the second dan. Tonight she is only a maid.


This 'dao ma dan' is Mok Yin Wun, all ready for battle.


Another 'dao ma dan', Leong Yin Har


Another lovely maid…”Pray people will notice the beautiful pink shoes I’m wearing.”


A pretty female warrior. I find that many of the dans here are pretty.


…thinking whether to add a 'butterfly'?


Everything must be correct

Backstage snapshots

The main artistes of the Zhanjiang Cantonese Opera Troupe

This is the lead female artiste, Mak Mun Kit. She was walking to the washroom. When she saw me wanting to take her, she stopped and smiled. So nice of her. Another Lin Xiu Zhen.


She with some fans


Mak Mun Kit and the lead male artiste Leung Siu Meng


Siu Meng with his personal assistant


Siu Meng again


Ling Fei, one of the senior artistes playing elderly roles


Wun Yook, another senior artiste


The lady walking away is Cheung Wah, also a senior artiste.

Xin Kwang Theatre

"........ ah ar ah are uh are ar are ah ar are ar ar arrrrrr ..... "
chang! tok! tok! tok! changgg!! chang chang chang chang chang...

You would here this if you stand outside Xin Kwang (Sun Kwong in Cantonese) Theatre in Hong Kong.

This type of singing and the clanging of cymbals is synonymous with Chinese opera.

This theatre is an icon of Cantonese opera to the people there. Throughout the year there are opera performances – by local troupes as well as China troupes. Besides Cantonese operas, occasionally there are other types of Chinese opera. The outside space is quite small and usually there are illuminated boards informing you of coming shows.

The night I was there there was a performance by a HK troupe led by two established artistes Li Long and Nam Fung.

The view from the street


The illuminated boards


This is the show I watched.


Coming performances

Hong Kong's Temple Street by Night

There are rows and rows of stalls and shops selling a variety of things from clothings, vcds to knives and torchlights. Other attractions :

Poor people's restaurant, always crowded at night


Some of the food, we dared not eat the clams which were very big. Imagine sinking your teeth into the flesh of the clams which are still half-alive. They would scream!!!


Food street


Another stall


This road has all sorts of fortune-telling stalls.


The stalls on the other side of the same road. The dimness makes them look more mysterious.


These lounges are mostly patronized by older people. The singers usually sing cantonese operatic songs. They charge about HK$20/head. You can order drinks including beer. These are not the sleazy kind of lounges.


Another one


This is not Temple Street. This is the Airport. See the heavily-armed policemen.

Zhanjiang Cantonese Opera Troupe

Leung Siu Meng and Mak Mun Kit
Leung Siew Meng and Lum Teng

Opera Channel

The hotel we stayed in in China had over 30 tv channels to choose from. Nan Fang Station 3 has cantonese opera programmes daily. This station also often shows old cantonese musical programmes from Hong Kong. Central Television has a channel dedicated to Chinese opera, CCTV 11. You can watch Chinese opera from morning to night. In between there may be China-produced movies or dramas.

One afternoon there was a Puju competition. Puju is one of the opera types mentioned by MK in her lectures. There were 5 contestants and there were 4 rounds. In each round they had to show a different skill or talent. And after each round one contestant would be eliminated. The last round in which only 2 contestants were left was the most difficult. They were given the scripts of a pop or non-opera song and they had to sing it in a Puju opera style they chose.

The contestant acting the laosheng was the first to exit. Next was the sheng in the yellow costume. You could see the dejected look on their faces. Poor things, they must have put in a lot of effort. And they didn’t even have the chance to show their other skills.

I think this system is not very fair. It would be better if everyone performed in each round and their scores were totaled up.

Contestant no. 1, the girl in the warrior costume, was the final winner.

The 5 contestants


The first to go


So sad


The winner

An Internet Cafe in China

This was my first visit to an internet café/bar. This one was in a small hotel. There were several rows with more than 50 stations. Each station had an LCD monitor, web cam and headphones. It was a weekday afternoon, only about half of the computers were occupied. There were a few westerners. Most of the people were playing games. There was a bar counter where you could order drinks.

The rate is 4 rmb/h. You pay a deposit of 20 rmb (S$4) and get a card with an ID and a password. When you check out they will deduct from your deposit. I used for less than 30 minutes and was charged 2 rmb (40 cents). I think they charge by blocks of 10 or 15 minutes.

Many sites were blocked, even blogs. I tried several sites whose url contained the word blogspot and got the message ‘the site you are looking for is not available’. So I could not see Victor’s blog or Amai’s.

My friend who has visited many places in China said such cafés were common.