gothere.sg

Talking abt journey planner, my previous post did not include SMRT buses, only SBS Transit. To know the bus route details, operating hours and frequency range of both SBS Transit and SMRT Buses, click this link. In there, you can also calculate the fares, the estimated travel time and the no. of stops of your bus journey by selecting the start and end point.

But this is useful only if you know which roughly which bus you want to take.

What if you just know where you want to go? U want to know how to go from point A to point B without much hazzle..

Long time ago, I already utilize this search engine for direction – street directory. It used to be good. But now, you can roughly find a place (near which MRT) using streetdirectory. Sometimes, it is not very useful if you want to know how to get to there!

Recently Esther recommended me a very good site - www.gothere.sg

What is gothere?

what is gothere?

Reduction in bus and train fares

I am not a bus person…

I am more of a MRT person..

I do not drive, so I don’t really know road names well. But tell me it is near which which MRT, I will know roughly where it is in Singapore.

And this is also the reason I prefer to stay near the MRT. Walking distance is good. 3-10mins is good.

Since I am not a bus person, I seldom or never really visit the SBS website.

But recently, I visited the website to check if bus 2 from my place really go to Changi Village. And viola, I had my answer. So try this if u want to check the bus route of a particular bus number. And if you need to go from one place to another, you can try their journey planner to plan your route. I shall try this service next time! =)

Oh btw, us commuters may be pleased wit this news! “there is a reduction in bus and train fares with effect from 1st April 2009 to 30th June 2010.” Yes!!

 

Have u file ur tax?

More than 536,000 taxpayers have e-Filed. Avoid the last minute rush and e-File now! 

I always felt that I pay high income tax!!

And my colleagues said that coz I have high salary!! (they r implying I have higher salary than them!!)

NOOOooOOOoooOOOOO

*maligned*

It is just coz being single is expensive.

Plus my parents are not with me in Sg.

So I lost out in term of rebates or reliefs or tax-deductions….

It is no surprise that I paid more tax $ than others who have much higher salary!!

Luckily this year government is giving us 20% discount on our tax $..

And still Singapore’s income tax is considered low among other countries… so I am counting my blessings..

So have u file ur tax yet?

Date due for Yr 2008 assessment is 15th April 2009

Click here to know how to calculate ur tax!

Tax rates for resident individuals

For YA 2007 onwards

Chargeable Income	Rate (%)	Gross Tax Payable ($)
First $20,000 Next $10,000	0 3.50	0 350
First $30,000 Next $10,000	- 5.50	350 550
First $40,000 Next $40,000	- 8.50	900 3 400
First $80,000 Next $80,000	- 14	4 300 11 200
First $160,000 Next $160,000	- 17	15 500 27 200
First $320,000 Above $320,000	- 20	42 700

For YA 2008, a personal income tax rebate of 20%, up to a maximum of $2,000 is granted.
For YA 2009, a personal income tax rebate of 20%, up to a maximum of $2,000 is granted.

Source: IRAS

The KangXi Emperor

We had free entry to the special exhibition “The Kang Xi Emperor” @ Asian Civilization Museum (ACM) on 29th March 2009. It was not our first time visiting ACM, and from our last visit, we already knew this special exhibition is coming. We are still contemplating whether we will come again..

But luckily Linda told us last minutes that last weekend 28/3 and 29/3 – it was free entrance to visit ACM. So on sunday, we decided to drop by for a while. Queue was long and once ur inside, no photography allowed. I was caught once taking photo inside =p Get a shock of my life, the guard even asked me to delete the foto, in front of him… >.<

Ok I am not sure the main purpose of not able to take foto is to disclose the content of the whole exhibition or to protect the treasures displayed in this exhibition… anyway… we just enjoyed the exhibition, quite not bad.. except it is not in a very big scale..

Me @ Kang Xi Emperor exhibition

The Kang Xi Emperor Special Exhibition @ ACM

Note that this Kang Xi Emperor special exhibition are open to public from 13th March to 14th June 2009. Know more abt Kang Xi Emperor, hailed as one of China’s greatest rulers, his reign lasted for 61 years. View some of the interesting artefacts like the twelve digit calculator, embroidered dragons socks, the armour, the seal, the portraits..etc and even a virtual tour of the Forbidden City, if you have not been in Beijing, Forbidden City.

You may not want to give it a miss if you know that out of the 95 artefacts displayed in this exhibition, 80 are rare treasures from the collection of The Palace Museum, Beijing, on show for the first time in Southeast Asia.

The Kang Xi Emperor brochure

ACM is located 5mins walk from Raffles Place MRT Station, enjoy exclusive discounts to Kang Xi Emperor using PAssion Card. Oh, and from the brochure, it seems that there is discounted admission every Fri 7-9pm. But best to check with them personally.

The Living Courthouse

Visited the Supreme Court – The Living Courthouse with Joanne, Esther and Linda on 14th March 2009

Packed with many people, first time visiting the Supreme court, very big place with 8 storeys, saw a colleague,  Eugene, there too, went around to get answers to get stamps for shoe bag souveniers..

Understand also some of stereotype topics like do judges or lawyers wear wigs, do judges use gauge to keep order, How you call judge in court…

interesting..

Had enjoyed myself on this day..

juskawaime had a day in Court

Thanx to Linda for forwarding this invitation to us.. and this also fit Jo’s plan about knowing Singapore better.. What other better way of knowing our Legal system than this? And it is free somemore! *Woohooo*

 Queue was long, but was orderly and fast.. we were lucky we didn’t listen to people’s saying that it will be too crowded to go.. otherwise, we would have miss all these!

Group pic at Court House

 We didn’t able to see the criminal enactment – “Who pushed Humpty?” though… as it was long queue and not moving! I was curious who is the culprit! Who Dunnit! And my answer was shown below, pointing at the most prime suspect – the big bad wolf! Well all evidence was againts him!

WHO DUNNIT?

And you know who is the culprit eventually?

I asked Eugene… and got the most unexpected answer…

The story is ….

Humpty was sleepy… so sleepy that he…. fell off the wall and resulted himself in concussion.

*cheeeyyyy*

hahaaaa

PM’s National Day Rally Speech 2008

National Day Rally

The rising cost of living was highlighted as the hottest issue for Singaporeans by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in his National Day Rally speech on August 17.

He said the government will provide help for Singaporeans from all income groups. This includes an increase in the second payout of this year’s Growth Dividends by 50% as well as a 50% increase in this year’s U-Save rebates.

Mr Lee also spoke about the need to create a more gracious society, pro-baby measures as well as easing rules on political activities and outdoor public demonstrations.

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s National Day Rally
English	Text and Video
Malay	Text (In English)	Watch Video
Mandarin	Text (In English)	Part 1: Watch Video Part 2: Watch Video Part 3: Watch Video

 

Source

 

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s National Day Rally English Part 1: Our Economy – helping to cope with rising costs Text Watch Video Part 2: Our Society – making Singapore a gracious society Text Watch Video Part 3: Our People – helping singles get married Text Watch Video Part 4: Our People – pro-baby measures to boost birthrate Text Watch Video Part 5: Our Future – preparing our society for new media Text Watch Video Part 6: Our Future – easing rules on political activities, public demos Text Watch Video Part 7: Conclusion Text Watch Video

Source

Good fight, Singapore!

The Table Tennis Women’s Singapore Team have given a good fight to China’s team in the final, fighting for Gold (1st place) in Beijing Olympic 2008.

This game is so impt that the National Day Rally live-telecast by PM Lee Hsien Loong is postponed one day later to Monday, instead of tonight.

THE Prime Minister has changed the telecast timings for his National Day rally speech, so that Singaporeans can watch and support the finals of the women’s table tennis between the Republic’s and China’s teams, to be broadcast ‘live’ on Sunday evening.

PM Lee Hsien Loong’s Malay and Chinese speeches will still be telecast ‘live’ on Sunday at 6.45 pm on MediaCorp channels.

However, the English speech telecast will be delayed to Monday at 8 pm, said a statement from the Prime Minister’s Office on Saturday.

The rally itself will proceed as normal at the University Cultural Centre.

Source

I was hopeful that Singapore may win the Gold medal. But I guess China team is just too strong…and I was wishful… coz China has won the Table Tennis Olympic game every time!!! The no. 1 player in the world, Zhang Yining, is just superb!!

S’pore gives as good as it gets

In Prize Ceremony, Wang Yuegu, Feng Tianwei and Li Jiawei (L-R)

CHINA won the gold medal in the women’s team table tennis final, after fighting off a strong challenge from Singapore to win the final 3-0 on Sunday evening.

The top-seeded hosts were led by Zhang Yining, the No. 1 player in the world. They picked apart second-seeded Singapore with near-flawless execution, dishing out shots to the edges and corners of the table.

It was China’s 17th gold medal at the Olympic table tennis competition since its national sport was introduced at the 1988 Seoul Games, Xinhua new agency reported.

The star-studded Chinese women pushed, chopped and smashed, proving too powerful for Singapore before an enthusiastic crowd of more than 4,000, though Zhang and veteran Wang Nan dropped a game.

Finishing second, Singapore won its first Olympic medal in 48 years since a silver by weightlifter Tan Howe Liang in 1960.

Wang, who is often slow in finding her rhythm, failed to take a lead but brushed aside Feng Tianwei 9-11, 11-3, 11-8, 11-6. The team title was the fourth Olympic gold for Wang, the most decorated players in table tennis.

The battle between Zhang and Beijing-born Li Jia Wei of Singapore was full of long rallies across the table, with Zhang winning 9-11, 11-3, 11-4, 11-7.

The singles and doubles gold medalist in Athens then paired with world champion Guo Yue, quickly finishing off Li and Wang Yue Gu 11-8, 11-5, 11-6.

Both China and Singapore had steamrolled over all before them with stunning victories since the start of the Olympic team table tennis tournament, which take the place of the doubles. They did not meet each other until the final.

A near-capacity crowd at Peking University Gymnasium chanted ‘Go China’ throughout the evening. Chinese President Hu Jintao and International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge watched from a VIP section.

Source

I have enjoyed the exciting game live-telecast in Channel U and Channel 5, followed by a prize-ceremony… Many years… since our Singapore flag is raised so high and proudly for a prize ceremony…. yes 48years of dream has come true!! A weightlifting silver in the 1960 Rome Olympics by Tan Howe Liang has stood as the city-state’s only Olympic medal. What amusing to read is his recent entry/interview saying it is time for Singapore to get an Olympic team, if not every 4 years, he need to answer the reporters’ qs as “what does he feel to be the only Olympic medalist for many decades…. hahaaa

Next to look forward to is the Table Tennis Women’s Single competitions, may Singapore has another achievement then! =) See Schedule here.

Congratulation Singapore team for the Silver medal!! Welcome S$750,000!! *WooHoooo*

Feng Tianwei (SIN) vs Wang Nan (CHN) 11-9, 3-11, 8-11, 6-11

Li Jiawei (SIN) vs Zhang Yining (CHN) 11-9, 3-11, 4-11, 7-11

Wang Yuegu/Li Jiawei (SIN) vs Yue Guo/Zhang Yining (CHN) 8-11, 5-11, 6-11

View more details on the results here.

4th and 5th game was not played, since China won 3 games against Singapore.

You can get read the live-blog-of-this-game here

Singapore Athletes

The list of the Singapore athletes competing in the 2008 Summer Olympics.

Athletics
Calvin Kang Li Loong / 100m (M)
Zhang Guirong / Shot Putt (W)

Badminton
Ronald Susilo / Singles (M)
Xing Aiying / Singles (W)
Jiang Yanmei / Doubles (W)
Li Yujia / Doubles (W) + Mixed Doubles
Hendri Saputra / Mixed Doubles

Sailing
Koh Seng Leong / Laser Standard (M)
Lo Man Yi / Laser Radial (W)
Xu Yuan Zhen / 470 (M)
Terence Koh Seng Kiat / 470 (M)
Toh Liying / 470 (W)
Deborah Ong / 470 (W)

Shooting
Lee Wung Yew / Trap (M)

Swimming
Tay Zhirong Bryan / 200m Freestyle (M)
Tao Li / 100m + 200m Butterfly (W) + 100m Backstroke (W)
Quah Ting Wen / 100m Freestyle (W) + 400m Individual Medley (W)
Teo Wei-Min Nicolette / 100m + 200m Breaststroke (W)
Lim Shu-En Lynette / 200m + 400m + 800m Freestyle (W)

Table Tennis
Li Jiawei / Singles + Team (W)
Wang Yuegu / Singles + Team (W)
Feng Tianwei / Singles + Team (W)
Gao Ning / Singles + Team (M)
Yang Zi / Singles + Team (M)
Cai Xiaoli / Team (M)

Source: CruzTeng

Gold or Silver

Today about 3pm++, our office started to be quite noisy…

So it turned out that some of us have been logging onto the Olympic website and following the online result for Table Tennis Women’s Team Semi-Final of Singapore team vs Korea team. This semi-final game started officially on 2.30pm today and there was also live-telecast of this game on Channel 5. Team Singapore also organized a “Live” screening of this game in Bishan Junction 8, Level 3, top of the 8. But too bad we need to work… or else we will be watching the live-telecast or the live-screening..

Anyway by abt 4pm, I also joined in and continue to monitor the game progress – A TV will be good at this moment. But we donot have … so we can only rely on seeing the livecast score. But only watching the scores was really not enough.. So I tuned into radio.. and found 2 channels – TVMobile 89.3FM and Capital 95.8FM — we need to hop on onto a bus!! hahaa =p

That is also where Li Jiawei has lost the 2nd game to Korea’s Kim Kyung Ah.. Korean team was indeed a strong team, giving Singapore a very tight fight. So the standing between Singapore vs Korean then was 1: 1 (we won the first game – Feng Tian Wei vs Korea’s Dang Ye Seo). So I followed the double game of Li Jiawei and Wang Yuegu vs Korean’s Park Mi Young and Kim Kyung Ah. Was very happy with their good score – So we are back to Sg leading 2:1

4th game by Wang Yuegu vs Korean’s Dang Ye Seo — LOST! so we are back to 2:2

GOSH!!!! making my heart beat sooo fast!!

Last match game — by Feng Tian Wei vs Korean’s Park Mi Young. I was hopeful as Feng Tian Wei seemed to be in good form and has won the first game. And yes, she WON!! I was almost worried that her score will be like Li Jiawei’s single game – win 1 set, lose 1 set, win 1 set, lose 1 set — match set … and then lose the match pt … *broken glass*

Luckily my heart did not have to go thro such excitement… Feng Tian Wei won 1st 2 sets, though lost the 3rd set, she finally won the match set by 2 pts. So we need not go for 5th set.

Feng Tianwei saved the day

Feng_Tian_Wei

All/most credits should go to Feng Tian Wei as she won 2 games for Sg — she performed very well despite great pressure on her last game (the determining game). Congratulation to our Table Tennis Women’s team – Feng Tian Wei, Li Jiawei, Wang Yuegu and Sun Bei Bei for making into the finals. Now Singapore is assured of an Olympic medal (Gold/Silver) after 48years!!! *WooHHoooo* I am proud! =p

The Table Tennis Women’s Team Final will be this Sunday 17th Aug 2008, 7.30pm, live-telecast in Channel U. I am sure many will be at home or some ‘live screening locations” rooting for our Singapore team against China team.

But I got the feeling the China’s supporters’ loud rooting voice will dominate the whole stadium then… =p =(  I will look forward the day that Singapore team beating China team.. Can we??

S$1.5million or S$750,000???  

That is double bonus/rewards leh!! =)

 BTW, the Bronze fight between Korean team and Hongkong team will also be held on 17th Aug 2008, 2.30pm.. Hopefully there is some live-telecast as well then…

Table Tennis Women’s Team Semi-Final of Singapore team vs Korea team (15th Aug, 2.30pm, 3hrs 13 min games)

Feng Tianwei (SIN) vs Dang Ye Seo (KOR)- 11-5, 11-5, 11-2

Li Jiawei (SIN) vs Kim Kyung Ah (KOR) 11-5, 8-11, 11-9, 6-11, 9-11

Wang Yuegu/Li Jiawei (SIN) vs Park Mi Young/Kim Kyung Ah (KOR) 11-7, 11-6, 11-9

Wang Yuegu (SIN) vs Dang Ye Seo (KOR) 8-11, 12-14, 9-11

Feng Tianwei (SIN) vs Park Mi Young (KOR) 11-7, 12-10, 3-11, 11-9

Check out more details on the game results here.

Singapore songs

Since we are hot on National Day topic… am digging up all my favourite Singapore songs..

Dun complain…. just share the joy with me… I am patriotic ok!! =)

All these songs have been embedded/programmed deeply into me.. that whenever the songs/music arise, words/lyrics/melody/songs come out from my mouth naturally…. This is proven when I didn’t sing those Singapore songs for almost a year ….. so what …. I can still sing along when the Cherie Heart’s children performed the National Day Celebration on Friday 08.08.2008

Think the years in Xinghua Primary School and Cedar Girls’ Secondary School (especially) should had the most impact of my patrioticness.. Not only to Singapore and also to Cedar Cheers (We were then Track & Field Champions for the B’s and C’s divisions for 5 consecutive years!! Years of double champions started from my 1st year – 1992. It is really a great memorable times together at the National Stadium. This wonderful place contains many of our beautiful memories, proud moments, and exceptional glories)

So here they are:

Count on Me Singapore

One People One Nation One Singapore

Stand up for Singapore

We are Singapore

Five Stars Arising

And of course, there are more Singapore songs over the years… but dunno why they are not as deeply rooted as I wanted them to be… Some are nice, some ‘clicked’, some don’t..

I like some… like Home, My Home, 家, Where I Belong, We Will Get There, 一起走到, One United People, My Island Home, There is no place I rather be, Moments of Magic…etc

But well… shall do more recapping again next time =)

Happy 43rd Birthday Singapore!!

NDP 2008 Cheer

Singapore Cheer which you can see from TV these few weeks for the NDP 2008

Cedar’s cheers will be much better then… =)

Shine for Singapore 晴空万里

National Day Parade 2008 Theme Song

Shine for Singapore (English Version) and 晴空万里 (Chinese Version)

The theme for this year’s NDP is “Celebrating the Singapore Spirit” and the theme song reflects this theme by calling Singaporeans to “Shine for Singapore“.

In line with this theme, the concept of the music video aims to reflect the Singapore Spirit through the unfolding of three inspirational stories that portrays compassion, determination and the nurturing of the young.

The first story tells of how a newspaper delivery man perseveres to train for a vertical marathon by taking the stairs to distribute papers despite his old age.

Another story illustrates how a boy shows compassion to girl with a limp by designing a pair of special shoes for her, to enable her to walk normally.

The last story depicts how parents and teachers can nurture a child by being supportive and patient in understanding her creative vision.

The music video ends with the piecing up of the child’s art pieces to form a huge star – the motif of the music video that signifies every Singaporean is a star in their own way, shining bright for Singapore.

The Chinese Theme Song for NDP 2008

Name: 晴空万里
Singer: 蔡淳佳 (Joi Chua)
Theme Song: National Day Parade 2008
Composed By: Xiao Han
Music By: Benny Wong

晴空万里

Lyrics:
什么是默契
我们同时仰望夜空的时序
同时被一颗星指引
无论哪里　它陪着我　第一时间回到熟悉

什么是勇气
手握着手笔形成世界新领域
就凭一颗心可以打造奇迹
再高的天也触手可及

＊ 晴空晴万里 满载真心
就算有风雨 我们的力量像恒星
齐心合力 微弱的光芒也能燎亮天际

＃ 晴空行万里 让梦探寻
明天的歌曲 来自每个人的声音
坚定不移 只要紧靠一起

什么是四季
常年彩虹　画出彩色的回忆
在这赤道旁的岛屿　小小面积
没有什么比家更美丽

用我们的勇气　照耀着天际
拥抱晴空万里