Vesak Day

Today is Vesak Day. Never celebrated it though cos I am not a Buddhist. To me, it is just a holiday like any.

Anyway, I came across this interesting article.

The Significance of Vesak - Buddha Day

The significance of Vesak lies with the Buddha and his universal peace message to mankind.

As we recall the Buddha and his Enlightenment, we are immediately reminded of the unique and most profound knowledge and insight which arose in him on the night of his Enlightenment. This coincided with three important events which took place, corresponding to the three watches or periods of the night.

During the first watch of the night, when his mind was calm, clear and purified, light arose in him, knowledge and insight arose. He saw his previous lives, at first one, then two, three up to five, then multiples of them .. . ten, twenty, thirty to fifty. Then 100, 1000 and so on....

As he went on with his practice, during the second watch of the night, he saw how beings die and are reborn, depending on their Karma, how they disappear and reappear from one form to another, from one plane of existence to another.

Then during the final watch of the night, he saw the arising and cessation of all phenomena, mental and physical. He saw how things arose dependent on causes and conditions.

This led him to perceive the arising and cessation of suffering and all forms of unsatisfactoriness paving the way for the eradication of all taints of cravings. With the complete cessation of craving, his mind was completely liberated. He attained to Full Enlightenment. The realisation dawned in him together with all psychic powers.

This wisdom and light that flashed and radiated under the historic Bodhi Tree at Buddha Gaya in the district of Bihar in Northern India, more than 2500 years ago, is of great significance to human destiny. It illuminated the way by which mankind could cross, from a world of superstition, or hatred and fear, to a new world of light, of true love and happiness.

http://www.buddhanet.net/vesak.htm

My Mac Hardware Overview

Machine Model: iMac G5
CPU Type: PowerPC G5 (3.0)
Number Of CPUs: 1
CPU Speed: 1.6 GHz
L2 Cache (per CPU): 512 KB
Memory: 256 MB
Bus Speed: 533 MHz

System Version: Mac OS X 10.3.9


Did i mention that i won the iMac G5 in a contest 2 years ago?

My Inner Diva & Inner Badboy!

I was uploading some of my photos into PhotoBucket when I came across this site, Meez.

And i created my Inner Diva and Inner Badboy.


My Inner Diva!



My Inner Badboy!

Do try out the site! It's really fun!

Miss Japan crowned Miss Universe as controversies reign

30 May 2007, ST

By E-von Yeung, ST Multimedia Reporter

MEXICO CITY - AS MISS Japan walked away with the fabled Miss Universe crown, trouble stayed to afflict the famous pageant.

Controversy did not go away after having reared its ugly head during the contest in the form of protests, a banned dress, and the withdrawal of one beauty queen.

To top this, the crown fell off - an ominous last straw, perhaps - the newly-minted Miss Universe 2007, Riyo Mori.

The US$250,000 (S$380,000) diamond-and-pearl crown slipped off Mori, the 56th winner of the title, when last year's winner Zuleyka Rivera of Puerto Rico helped put it on.

But 20-year-old Mori composed herself enough to keep the crown on to become Japan's first Miss Universe in nearly 50 years, bringing much joy to her country as pride and pleasure flashed across television screens nationwide on Tuesday.

Pomp, pageantry, and shame
Such pride and pleasure was not always the case, for the other contestants.

During the evening gown parade, Miss USA, Rachel Smith, slipped on the runway and landed on her bottom, although the slip didn't stop her earning fifth place.



She was accompanied by a handful of booing Mexicans in the run-up to the finals because of what they saw as US unfriendliness toward illegal immigrants.



Miss Sweden, Isabel Lestapier Winqvist, unexpectedly pulled out of the event because of complaints in her country that it degrades women. Sweden has won the Miss Universe crown three times in the past.

In another hitch, Miss Mexico was made to change her outfit for the regional dress contest after her original dress, decorated with brutal images of rebels in a 1920s religious uprising being hanged or shot, drew accusations of poor taste.

Still, Japan's Mori came away with the crown intact, to fulfil a lifelong dream. By winning, she surpassed the ambition of her grandmother, who told her as a child she wanted her to be Miss Japan one day.

A lifelong ballet dancer from a village near Mount Fuji, Mori wore a striking black gown with coloured lapels for the final.

'My mind went blank,' she said of the winning moment.

USA's Smith came in fifth place, while second place went to Natalia Guimaraes, 22, from Brazil.

The second runner-up was Ly Jonaitis, 21, from Venezuela.

Ningning Zhang from China, 20, won the Miss Congeniality award, while Anna Theresa Licaros, 22, from the Philippines, was chosen Miss Photogenic.

Dreadlocks
The annual Miss Universe pageant - which tries to present itself as something more meaningful than a swimwear parade - was first held in Long Beach, California, in 1952.

The event was taken over in 1996 by US real estate mogul Donald Trump.

This year, it attracted protesters wearing white dresses splashed with fake blood and sashes proclaiming 'Miss Juarez', 'Miss Atenco' and 'Miss Michoacan' in reference to places in Mexico made infamous by killings or sexual abuse of women.

In another quirk for 2007, the long, twisted dreadlocks of Miss Jamaica, the contest's first ever Rastafarian participant, and the close-shaved head of Miss Tanzania stood out from the lacquered manes of the other contestants.

This was the fourth time the pageant was held in Mexico, which in 1991 won the crown with beauty queen Lupita Jones.

Mori - the second Japanese woman to win the Miss Universe title - will spend her year-long reign traveling the world to speak out on humanitarian issues like poverty and disease.

Broadband Bandwidth Doubled!!

I just received a letter from my internet service provider, informing me that my broadband bandwith is now doubled with effect from 31 May 2007!

My current broadband plan is 1500 kbps and will be upgraded to 3 Mbps at no extra cost!

All i have to do then is simply log off and then log on again to my system on 31 may 2007 to start surfing with the new speed. There is no change to the contractual period though. I just renew the one year contract in Mar 2007.

I wonder if there is any hidden catch? Would my bandwidth speed really increase?

Presently, my bill for broadband comes to around $43 per month for an unlimited 1500 kbps plan. My contract is only for one year cos i did not want to tie down to a 2 year contract. So far, this is the beginning of my 2nd year with this internet provider.

I did not sign up for a higher speed plan cos i dun do online gaming. Most of my surfing is limited to web sites and email.

Prior to broadband, i was still using the 56K dial up plan. I thought i was saving money, cos i was only paying $20 plus a month. However, my phone bill did came up to about $40 or more per month.

Now I am only paying $43 for my broadband and about $5 for my phone bill. So there is a bigger savings than before after all and my downloading speed is also so much faster.

Heaven and Hell

Where there is Heaven, there is Hell.

Where there is Good, there is Evil.

I came across this paragraph from a book, "The Thieves of Heaven" by Richard Doetsch, page 301.

Do u believe in Heaven?

Then why is it so hard to believe in Hell? They are just opposite sides of the same coin.

Hell is real and it is eternal. Hell is not some picture on the wall., some actor in a movie. (Satan) is not just a cloven-footed beast with horns.

Man has envisioned Satan and created Hell with his own thoughts: Dante's inferno, the nine circles of Hell, fire, and brimstone - they are all bullshit. That is all man's imagination.

As we cannot hope to comprehend the beauty and salvation of Heaven, we cannot hope to comprehend the torment and agony of Hell. It is dark, unrelenting, and viciously evil.

Hell is is undeserving if any name. You have no concept of pure evil but you will........Before we are through, you will know better than any man who walks this Earth what true evil is.

Ms Japan won Ms Universe 2007!

Ms Japan, Riyo Mori, won Ms Universe 2007!

Last year, Ms Japan, was placed 2nd. And the last time, Ms Japan won Ms Universe was in 1959. That was a long long time ago.

Here are the Top 5 for 2007.

5th - USA
4th - Korea
3rd - Venezuela
2nd - Brazil
1st - Japan



Ms Riyo Mori seemed to be very Japanese, judging from the question below from the Ms Universe website.

Describe where you were raised and what your childhood was like.

I was born and raised with my younger brother in a small town called Shizuoka at the base of Mt. Fuji. Shizuoka enjoys a very mild climate and is also near the sea. As nuclear families have become the norm in Japanese society, I feel very fortunate to have been raised by both my parents and grandparents under the same roof. I grew up in a very supportive and loving family, always surrounded by many energetic people since part of my house served as my mother's dance school.

Interestingly enough, my mother entered a local beauty pageant when she was in her twenties and, although I didn't pay much attention to it at the time, my maternal grandmother told me when I was a child that she wanted me to become Miss Japan before I turn 20.

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Ms Japan 2007 speaks fairly decent English in her video interview. I have seen how some Japanese speak English and somehow, they speak like some primary school kid, even after years of english classes.

Personally speaking, I dun find this Ms Japan very attractive. I mean she's attractive enough but she looks like any other Asian woman.

In any beauty pageant, there are what i classified into 4 categories of beauty.

1. Plain
2. Attractive
3. Very Attractive
4. Stunningly/breathtakingly attractive.

For me, Ms Japan is just attractive.

It has been a while since an asian won the crown and it is about time. After all, isn't it tiring to see similar Caucasian winners all the time?

And yah....did you know Ms America fell during the pageant? Either she was too nervous or her head was held too high in the air!

If you ask me who should win Ms Universe 2007, how would i know? I dun watch such shows!

Personally i dun watch beauty pagents. They bored me to death. I am simply not interested to watch a bunch of women wearing thick makeup, parading around.

I am also not a fan of football matches. I failed to see the thrill of 2 groups of guys trying to kick a ball into a goal post!

And another thing i dun watch is awards presentation show. Firstly, such shows are simply too long and I just dun have the patience to sit through a 2-3 hour show to watch famous people get awards.

Oh ya...another thing i dun watch on TV is those charity donation shows. I mean i would donate but i dun quite like the idea of celebrities risking their limbs to raise funds for any worthy cause.

Other than that, i pretty much watch everything else.

Ms Japan Universe 1959

After Japan won 2007 Ms Universe, I was curious about the other Ms Japan who won the title in 1959. It was another life time ago.

And after googling, i found her!

http://www.bellezavenezolana.net/MU/59/pics.htm

This website has photographs of the contestants of Ms Universe 1959.

This is Ms Japan 1959, Akiko Kojima. She looks a bit dated. Probably someone's grandma by now.

I wonder how Ms Japan 1959 look these days.

XX small neh neh

XX posted on her blog that some comments refer to her small neh neh.

I had a good laugh over it. But that's gross and a bit sick! What does neh neh have to do with a blogger?

Does a pair of neh neh blog? What's next? Comments on her fanny? People can be so bitchy!

I would be utterly horrified if someone left comments on my blog about my neh neh.

My neh neh is my neh neh. It is nobody's business or neh neh but mine. Lucky I am not famous enough for some one to talk about my neh neh.

Just in case, anyone is wondering.....neh neh is breasts. And Fanny is backside.

Anything, Whatever

"Anything" and "Whatever" are supposed to be unique beverages. It comes in 2 names and 6 random flavours.

"Anything" is carbonated and comes in Cola, Cola with lemon, Apple, Fizz up, Cloudy lemon and Root beer flavors. "Whatever" is non-carbonated, more tea flavoured and comes in Lemon tea, Peach tea, Jasmin green tea, White grape tea, Apple tea and Chysanthemum tea flavours.



Johnson Tan, MD of marketing company, Out of the Box (OOTB) introduced a surprise-packaging concept such that every beverage has a generic design, ensuring that consumers are unaware of the flavour of the purchased beverage until they drink it.

"The concept was developed through the experience a group of friends and I kept having whenever we were at the coffee shop or at home," Johnson Tan said. "People kept telling us they just wanted ‘anything' or ‘whatever' whenever we asked them what they wanted to drink."

One of their marketing campaign involve plastering some 450 posters of pudding cleavages at bus-tops framed by empty cans, with suggestive lines like, " I can easily be satisfied by Anything,: or "Promise me Anything and I 'll marry you."



However, just 3 days after the bus stop displays went up, 90 % of the posters were defaced, damaged or missing. People oped up the mock cans, dented the and some old folks who collected empty cans for money, "harvested" the displayed cans.

The empty cans, which in its original form were sealed shut, posed a serious dengue threat to the public after numerous cans were vandalised to the point where it could collect and store stagnant water.

In a statement, OOTB said "to our greatest regret, we realised that the empty cans at almost 450 bus stops had been tampered with, some even torn down with the flaps opened. This has caused much concern by some members of the public who felt that the opened cans posed possible dengue hazards".

"In the interest of the public, the management of OOTB has made an immediate decision today, working closely with Clear Channel to dismantle the canned drinks display at all bus stops".

The mass removal of displays, which took three days to erect, was described by MD for OOTB, Johnson Tan as a "pity" and said "even though we will incur additional cost, we feel that as this is a public concern, we will do anything and whatever to address it immediately". The losses totalled $50,000.

Tan also felt that despite the shortened run of the displays, "we have achieved our objectives of creating mass awareness and attention".

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Personally i think this beverage campaign is seriously flawed. Unique? Maybe. Refreshing? I dun think so.

Anything? Whatever? I want to know what drink or food that i am going to put into my mouth. With a name like "Anything" and "Whatever", it is like telling the consumer that it's ok to NOT have an opinion on what you are putting into your mouth. People do have their individual taste. Frankly, I myself dun like cola or lemony drinks and i know many people dun like tea flavored drinks.

Other than a few weak miserable puns, the beverage absolutely has no strong selling point. No pulp, no vitamins/minerals, no special taste/flavor, no calcium etc. Just random flavor.

At some point, consumers are going to ask themselves,"What am i buying?". Frankly, only a kid would pay $1.20 for the amusement for a randomly flavored drink.

Below are the TV advertisments for "Anything" and "Whatever". Some people seemed to find them funny, but i dun.



Whatever TV commercial.



Anything TV commercial.

Photo Sharing Sites

The other day i discovered this new photo sharing site, YouREP with 2Gb memory space.

YouREP stands for You Represent. Anyway, it is still in beta stage. And I am wary of these beta sites.

I am still testing YouREP. So far so good. They do allow photos of quite sizable portions.

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The other time, i used another photo sharing site, Esnips also in beta stage. And after not logging in for few weeks, I found out that I just could not logged in anymore! And even after i clicked on the "Forgot Password" column, and changing my password, i still cannot get into my folders! Damn! All those photos and videos are lost somewhere!

The site do offer an attractive 5 Gb memory. But TRY AT OWN YOUR RISKS! Dun say you have not been warned!

Below is the email response they sent me after i emailed them my problem.

---------------------------------

Dear user,

Did you use the virification email to activate your account?

First of all let's make sure you haven't gotten the confirmation e-mail: Please go to the junk mail folder in your e-mail account and look for the confirmation e-mail there (your anti-spam software might have sent it directly to your 'junk mail' folder).

If the e-mail is nowhere to be found, try signing in to your eSnips account again, to prompt resending the confirmation e-mail.

If you don't receive it the second time (don't forget to check the junk mail folder), and have another e-mail account, I recommend that you open a new account with the other e-mail address.

(Preferably not a hotmail or your internet provider e-mail account).

Kind regards,
Meital Bichler
Technical Support

----------------------------------

What do they mean by open a new account? What about my old account? When a site loses the content of their users, they lose their credibility! And if it can happen once, it can definitely happen again!

And do they think I am some sort of retarded idiot? Of course, i read the verification email they sent me, clicked on it and changed my password! But the problem is that I still cannot logged in after that! All it appeared on screen is a blank page!

And they even spelled "verification" wrong! Where is this site operating from?

---------------------------------

Update: Jul 2007

I have tried accessing the website of YouREP for quite a few days now. I think the website is GONE! So much for beta site!

Screw you, You REP!

I will never trust another beta site again!

The Buffet Guide

By Amy Yeong, Foong Chi Hou and Esther Ng - Last updated May 17, 2007
AsiaOne

Eating is a Singaporean pastime, and what better way to enjoy your food than buffets? AsiaOne has compiled a list of some of the buffet offerings available, and we hope you'll find this quick guide useful in your next eat-all-you-can session. Bon appetite!

AquaMarine
Where: Marina Mandarin Hotel
6 Raffles Boulevard, Marina Square
(S) 039594
Tel: 6845 1111
When: 12pm - 4pm on weekends and public holidays
What:: AquaMarine's "Tunch" buffet is marketed as a "Taste of Asia", meaning the buffet is Asian rather than international, featuring three rotating menus.
Prices: $33+++

* * * * *

Carousel
Where: Royal Plaza On Scotts
25 Scotts Road
(S) 228220
Tel: 6589-7799
When:

Lunch: Noon - 2:00pm High tea: 3:00 - 5.30pm Dinner: 06:30pm - 10:30pm Supper: 11pm - 3.00am Prices: Lunch buffet is $33.50+++ on weekdays and $35+++ on weekends Dinner is $42 on weekdays and $49 on weekends. High tea is $23.50 on weekdays and $28.50 on weekends Supper is $19.50 daily What:: The food here is halal, so Muslims can now join in the big fuss over the big buffet. * * * * * Cafe Brio's Where: Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel Singapore 392 Havelock Road (S)169663 Tel: 6233-1100 When: Breakfast: 06:30am - 10:30am Lunch: Noon - 2:30pm Dinner: 06:30pm - 10:30pm Sunday Bunch: Noon - 3.00pm Prices: Breakfast American: $27.00+++(adult) and $13.00+++ (child) Breakfast Continental: $18.00+++ (adult) and $12.00+++ (child) Buffet Lunch: $36.00+++ (adult) and $18.00+++ (child) Buffet Dinner: $40.00+++ (adult) and $20.00+++ (child) (Sun - Thurs) Buffet Dinner: $42.00+++ (adult) and $21.00+++ (child) (Fri & Sat) Sunday Brunch: Brunch only: $62.00+++ (adult) and $25.00+++ (child) (With Champagne/Wine/Beer: $78.00+++) What:: Brio's offers bites like mini hot dogs, burgers and chicken nuggets. There are also activities such as magic shows and balloon sculpting. Diners get a choice of staying indoors or to dine under alfresco settings. * * * * * Changi Village Hotel Buffet Where: 1 Netheravon Rd (S) 508502 Tel: 63797018 When: Lunch and dinner What:: It features both conventional buffet offerings and seafood as well as barbecue items for its dinner buffet. Prices: $38+++ (adult); $18+++ (child) * * * * * Cherry Garden - Weekend A-la-carte dim sum buffet Where: 5th level, The Oriental, Singapore 5 Raffles Avenue, Marina Square (S) 039797 Tel: 6885 3538 When: Saturday & Sunday, from 11 am to 3 pm What:: It features an extensive selection of more than 20 exquisite handmade dim sum – complemented by a variety of double-boiled soups, congee, fried rice and noodles, appetizers, special dishes and desserts – all served a la minute upon order. Prices: $38 per adult and $19 per child (6 to 12 years old) * * * * * Ellenborough Market Café - Buffet Lunch & Dinner Where: Swissotel Merchant Court Singapore 20 Merchant Road (S)058281 Tel: 6239-1848 When: Lunch: Noon-2.30pm Dinner:6.30pm-10pm High Tea: 3.30pm-5pm Prices: Lunch: $26.90+++(adult) and $17.90(child) Dinner: $32.90+++(adult) and $19.90+++(child) (weekdays) $33.90+++(adult) and $20.90+++(child) (weekends) High Tea:$22.90+++(adult) and $13.90+++(child) What:: A large spread of nonya oriented food awaits you. Ellenborough found fame in 1997 and the star remains the durian pengat, a sweet concoction of mousse. Be sure to try the slipper lobster in black bean sauce and abalone mushroom noodles. * * * * * Goodwood Park Hotel - Local High Tea Where: Coffee Lounge Goodwood Park Hotel 22 Scotts Road (S)228221 Tel: 6730-1746 When: A La Carte & Buffet Breakfast: 6am - 10:30am Lunch: Noon - 2pm Dinner: 6:30pm - 9:30pm Local High Tea Buffet: 2:45pm - 5pm Prices: Breakfast: $25.00+++(adult) and $12.50+++(child) Lunch: $24.80+++(adult) and $12.40+++(child) (weekdays) $26.80+++(adult) and $13.40+++(child) (weekends) Dinner: $28.80+++(adult) and $14.40+++(child) (weekdays) $30.80+++(adult) and $15.40+++(child) (weekends) Local High Tea Buffet: $20.80+++(adult) and $10.40(child) What:: The buffet blends local offerings with an international selection. There are also cooking stations that whip up roti prata and popiah. One of the highlights is the dessert: apom berkuah with banana sauce. * * * * * Greenhouse - Sunday Champagne Brunch Where: Ritz-Carlton, Millenia 7 Raffles Avenue (S) 039799 Tel: 6337 8888 When: 11.30am-3.30pm every Sunday Prices: $132+++ (adult) and $76+++ (child) What:: The extensive spread includes 25 appetisers, 50 types of farmhouse cheese from France and local, Indian and Western specialities. There are 16 sections in all, including the popular oyster, sashimi and souffle. Wash everything down with Moet & Chandon champagne. * * * * * Hotel Royal - Tropical Peking-Style Steamboat Buffet Where: Jade Room Restaurant Hotel Royal 36 Newton Road (S) 307964 Tel: 6251-8135 When: Lunch: 11.30am-3pm Dinner: 6.30-11pm daily Prices: Lunch: $13.80+++(adult) and $9+++(child) (weekdays) $16.80+++(adult) and $9+++(child) (weekends, eves and public holidays) Dinner: $18.80+++(adult) and $12+++(child) (weekdays) $19.80+++(adult) and $12+++(child) (weekends, eves and public holidays) What:: Diners can choose from 32 items, including sea cucumber, fresh prawns and peking dumpling, which they then cook steamboat style. The dipping sauce in particular stands out. For those who want more, 10 cooked dishes are also available. * * * * * Hotel Phoenix - International Buffet Lunch & Dinner Where: Phoenix Garden Cafe Hotel Phoenix Basement 1 277 Orchard Road (S) 238 858 Tel: 6233-6129 When: Buffet Breakfast: 7am to 10.30am Buffet Lunch: Noon to 2.30pm Buffet High Tea: 3.30pm to 5.30pm Buffet Dinner: 6.30pm to 10.30pm Prices: Buffet Breakfast: : $21.80+++ (Adult) and $14.50+++ (Child) Buffet Lunch: $24.80+++ (Adult) and $16.80+++ (Child) (Mon to Sat) $26.80+++ (Adult) and $17.80+++ (Child) (Sunday) Buffet High Tea: $16.80+++ (Adult) and $10.00+++ (Child) (Mon to Fri) $19.80+++ (Adult) and $13.80+++ (Child) (Sat & Sun) Buffet Dinner: $26.80+++ (Adult) and $17.80+++ (Child) (Sun to Thurs) $29.80+++ (Adult) and $19.80+++ (Child) (Fri & Sat) What:: Has a wide spread of Asian and international food of almost 50 different items in the spread. It is well known for its roti prata and other local goodies like oyster omelette and chilli crab. * * * * * La Terrasse - Porridge Buffet Where:Orchard Hotel 442 Orchard Road (S) 238879 Tel: 6739 6565 When: 7:00 PM - Midnight (Sundays - Thursdays) 7:00 PM to 01:00 AM (Fridays, Saturdays and Eve of Public Holidays) Prices: $19.65 (adult) and $11.80 (child) (Sundays - Thursdays) $21.65 (adult) and $13.80 (child) (Fridays, Saturdays and Eve of Public Holidays) What:: This well-known porridge buffet features an a la minute porridge station serving four different kinds of porridge. Other dishes include Crispy Bean Curd Skin, Braised Peanuts, Soya Bean Fish, Sweet & Sour Pork, Fried Mussel with Sambal, Sambal Sotong and La Terrasse's Signature Pork Belly simmered in Palm Sugar. * * * * * Melt - The World Cafe Where: 5 Raffles Avenue Marina Square (S) 039797 Tel: 6885 3082 When: Breakfast: 6:30am-10:30am Lunch: 12noon-2:30pm Weekend High Tea: 3pm-5:30pm Dinner: 6:30pm-10:30pm What:: Awarded "Best New Restaurant 2006” in Singapore Tatler’s Culinary Hall of Fame, the restaurant has 30 chefs in show kitchens presenting a multi-cultural cooking theatre. Prices: Lunch: $42+++ (adults) and $21+++ (child) daily Dinner: $52+++ (adults) from Sundays to Thursdays, $58+++ (adults) on Fridays and Saturdays. * * * * * One-Ninety - Sunday Brunch Where: Four Seasons Hotel Singapore 190 Orchard Boulevard (S) 248646 Tel: 6831-7250 When: 11am - 3pm Prices: $43+++ (adult) and $25+++ (child) What:: A semi buffet of appetizers including dim sum and pasta and desserts, with an a la carte main course, topped off with a wide selection of deserts. * * * * * Orchard Cafe Where:Orchard Hotel 442 Orchard Road (S) 238879 Tel: 6739 6565 When: Breakfast 06:30 AM - 10:30 AM Lunch 12:00 PM - 02:30 PM Dinner 06:00 PM - 12:00 AM (last order 11.30pm) Prices: Breakfast min $28.00 Lunch min $32.00 Dinner min $40.00 What:: Helmed by award winning Chef Eric Teo, Orchard Cafe's buffet spread is among the the most popular in town. Expect Asian favourites, fresh seafood and shellfish, live cooking section, noodle specialities, and a wide array of deserts. * * * * Olive Tree Restaurant Where: Olive Tree Restaurant InterContinental Singapore 80 Middle Road S(188966) Tel: 6825-1061 When: Lunch: Noon -2.30pm (Mon-Fri) Dinner: 6pm-10pm (Daily) Prices: Weekday Lunch: $38+++ (adult) and $16+++(child) for lunch. Child (6 years & below) dines free with every paying adult. $10.00+++ per child without any accompanying adult Dinner: Sunday to Thursday $57.00+++ (adult) Friday & Saturday (Seafood Night) $62.00+++ (adult) Child (7 - 12 years old) $19.00+++ Child (6 years & below) Dines free with every paying adult. $10.00+++ per child without any accompany adult What:: The spread is a showcase of Mediterranean cooking. Popular items include the popular seafood on ice and pasta. The menu changes daily. * * * * * Paulaner Brauhaus' Sunday German Brunch Where: 9 Raffles Boulevard Time Square @ Millenia Walk Singapore 039596 Tel: 6883 2572 When: 11:30am to 2:30pm (Sunday) Prices: With free flow soft drinks: $30+++ (adult) With free flow Paulaner beer: $40+++ (adult) What:: Buffet spread of German and international dishes with free flow soft drinks at $30+++ ($40+++ for free flow of Paulaner beer). Children aged 12 and below pay according to their age and children under 5 dine for free. Sunday brunch is available from 11:30am to 2:30pm. Parents can place their kids at the kids' corner where a child minder is available to entertain them with activities such as face-painting and balloon sculpting. * * * * * Plaza Market Café Where: Raffles The Plaza, Level 2 80 Bras Basah Road (S) 189560 Tel: 6431 5255 When: Noon - 2.30pm and 6.00 - 10pm daily; high tea from 12.30 - 5pm (Sat, Sun & public holiday) Prices: Lunch: $32+++ (adult) and $18+++ (child) Dinner: $42(adult) and $22+++ (child) High tea: $25.50(adult) and $14+++ (child) What:: The Peranakan Buffet is offers authentic Peranakan dishes, a dazzling fusion of Chinese and Malay cooking, spiced up with international cuisine. The buffet includes a salad counter, selection of main courses and 'live' cooking and carving stations. * * * * * Pete's Place Where: Pete's Place Grand Hyatt Singapore 10 Scotts Road (S)228211 Tel: 6732 1234 When: Lunch: 12noon-2.30pm (Mon-Sat) Brunch: 11.30am-2.30pm(Sun) Dinner: 6pm-10.30pm * What:: Pete's Place is an Italian restaurant which prides itself on simplicity and authenticity with classics like Cioppino, a spaghetti with half lobster, scallops, clams and prawns in seafood sauce and fresh herbs and Pam Pam Pizza. The salad bar has four types of dressing, seven types of bread and a whole range of vegetable selections. The sauteed butter mushrooms are recommended. Prices: Italian Buffet Lunch: : $26.00+++(adult) and $19.50+++(child) (Mon - Sat) Soup, Salad and Dessert Buffet Lunch: $19.50+++ (adult) (Mon - Sat) Sunday Brunch: $45.00+++ (adult) and $25.00+++ (child) *non buffet * * * * * Princess Terrace Cafe- Penang Buffet Where: Copthorne King's Hotel Singapore 403 Havelock Road (S)169632 Tel: 6318-3168 When: Lunch: Noon-2.30pm (weekdays); Noon-3.30pm (weekends and public holidays) Dinner: 6.30pm-10pm Prices: Lunch/Dinner:$33.00+++(adult) and $20.80+++(child) What:: One of the most famous buffet selections in Singapore, it now offers 40 different dishes to choose on. The most popular dishes include the laksa, hokkien mee soup, char kway teow, all done Penang style. * * * * * Raffles Hotel - Curry Buffet Where: Tiffin Room Raffles Hotel 1 Beach Road (S) 189673 Tel: 6412-1190 When: Breakfast: 7.30am - 10.30am Lunch: Monday-Saturday: 12 noon to 2.30pm Sunday: 11.30am to 2.30pm High tea: 3.30pm - 5.30pm Dinner: Daily: 7pm to 10.30pm Prices: Breakfast: $41+++(adult) and 28+++(child) Lunch:$45+++ (adult) and $28+++(child) High tea:$37+++ (adult) Dinner: $49+++(adult) and $32+++(child) What:: The Tiffin Curry Buffet, featuring traditional Indian and Asian cuisine, is a spicy break from the usual international menus. The menu changes, featuring numerous types of curries from different regions from time to time. * * * * * Ristorante Bologna - La Grande Abuffatta Where: Marina Mandarin Hotel 6 Raffles Boulevard, Marina Square (S) 039594 Tel: 6845 1111 When: Every Sunday, 12 pm to 3 pm. What:: Expect delicious antipasti, fine cheese, and other mouthwatering Italian fare with Prosecco and limencello. Prices: $58+++ (adult) and $29+++ (child) * * * * * The Buffet Restaurant Where: M Hotel Singapore 81 Anson Road (S) 079908 Tel: 6421-6222 When: Lunch: Noon-2.30 (Mon-Fri); Dinner : 6.30- 10.30(Mon-Fri) (2 Seatings for Buffet Dinner: 6.30pm and 8.30 pm) Prices: Lunch: $32+++ (adult) and $15+++ (child) Dinner: $38+++ (adult) and $19+++(child) What:: The Buffet Lunch features an exhaustive International spread to feast on during lunch. A small sampling of the range includes morsels of fine sushi, fresh sashimi, Asian and Western cuisine, salads, desserts and a whole lot more. The Buffet Dinner is a steamboat buffet served during dinner daily with a wide range of seafood like drunken prawns, oysters and yong tau foo among other perennial favourites. * * * * * The Line Where: Shangri-La Hotel Orange Grove Road (S) 258350 Tel: 6213 4275 When: 6 to 10.30am (breakfast, till 11am on weekends), noon to 2.30pm (lunch), noon to 3pm (brunch - Saturdays and Sundays), 6.30 to 10.30pm (dinner), 10.30pm to 6am (supper) What:: International cuisine is featured over 16 culinary stations while the Bar offers a large selection of premium wines, juices and smoothies for the health conscious. Prices: $43 for lunch (Mon - Fri). On Saturdays, it's $45, and Sundays, $68 and $95 (with champagne). $78 for brunch. On Thursday nights (seafood buffet), dinner is at $88. * * * * * The Square Where: Novotel Clarke Quay Singapore 177A River Valley Road (S) 179031 Tel: 6338 3333 When: 06, 13, 20, 27 May (Sunday brunch) What:: The French Brunch, in conjunction with the Voilah! French Festival, will feature fresh oysters, foie gras, French mussels, cochon de lait (suckling pig), cuisine des regions and a wide selection of French cheese and home-baked bread. Guests will be entitled to a shot of Pastis Aperitif at the beginning of the meal. Prices: $50+++ per adult * * * * * Triple 3, The Buffet Restaurant Where: Meritus Mandarin Singapore 333 Orchard Road (S) 238867 Tel: 6831 6271/72 When: 12pm - 2:30pm (Lunch); 6:30pm - 10pm (Dinner, Mon - Thurs); 6:30 - 10pm (Dinner, Fri & Sat) What:: The International Buffet features a wide spread of Eastern and Western flavours with a fresh selection of cold cuts, seafood, as well as desserts. Menu changes monthly. Prices: For Lunch Buffet: $45.00+++ and $27.00+++ (child) For Weekday Dinner Buffet: $60.00+++ and $36.00+++ (child) For Weekend Dinner Buffet: $65.00+++ and $39.00+++ (child) * * * * * Top of the 'M' - High Tea Where: Meritus Mandarin Singapore 333 Orchard Road (S) 238867 Tel: 6831 6258/88 When: Every Saturday, 12pm - 2pm or 2:30 pm - 4:30pm What:: French and British High Tea. Prices: $35+++ * * * * *

CHEAP EATS: Buffet spreads for under $15

Amirah’s Grill Restaurant & Cafe
Where: 14 Bussorah Street, Tel: 9383-1994
Price: $9.90+
Buffet hours: Noon to 4pm daily
Serves: About 30 dishes, including beef casserole, Egyptian-style shepherd’s pie, a choice of mushroom or chicken soup and desserts such as creme caramel.

Restoran Tepak Sireh
Where: 73 Sultan Gate, Malay Heritage Centre, Tel: 6396-4373/6291-2873
Price: $13.90
Buffet hours: 11.30am to 2.30pm, 6.30am to 9.30pm
Serves: About 13 dishes, such as beef rendang, laksa, chickpea soup and desserts like bubur cha cha.

Yuki Yaki
Where: 03-210 Marina Square, Tel: 6338-9680
Price: $8.90
Buffet hours: Noon to 5pm on weekdays
Serves: Liquid ice cream that firms up when poured on a freezing pan. The ice cream comes in four flavours, including coffee and vanilla. There is also a choice of 16 toppings ranging from nata de coco to dried fruit.

Orient Ocean
Where: 401 Havelock Road, Hotel Miramar, 3rd floor, Tel: 6736-3677
Price: $10.80+++ on weekdays and $13.80+++ on weekends
Buffet hours: 11.30am to 2pm
Serves: A dimsum buffet with 30 items, including favourites such as har kow and siew mai.

Crystal Cafe
Where: 131 Killiney Road, Orchard Grand Court serviced apartments, Tel: 6830-2020
Price: Weekdays – $9.80+++ for adults, $7.80+++ for children. Weekends – $11.80+++ for adults, $9.80+++ for children
Buffet hurs: Weekdays – noon to 2.30pm, 6pm to 10pm, and all-day on weekends and public holidays
Serves: A Taiwanese porridge spread with dishes like braised pig trotters, fried chicken, braised peanuts and ikan bilis.

Chilli Padi Nonya Cafe
Where: 01-02 North Bridge Commercial Complex, Tel: 6339-7745
Price: $10.80+ on weekdays and $11.80+ on weekends
Buffet hours: 11am to 10pm
Serves: Laksa, mee siam and curry assam fish, with Nonya kueh for dessert.

Quality Cafe
Where: 201 Balestier Road, Quality Hotel, Tel: 6355-9988
Price: Weekdays – $10..80+++ for adults and $6.80+++ for children. Weekends and public holidays – $12.80++ for adults and $9.80+++ for children
Buffet hours: 11.30am to 2.30pm
Serves: An Asian rice lunch buffet with items like Hainanese chicken rice, pineapple rice, chilli crab and mutton curry.

Buffet bonanza

27 May 2007, ST

IT’S true that a satisfying meal can be had at the neighbourhood hawker centre for under $5.

But canny diners know places where they can eat all they want for under $15.

The hungry but cash-strapped and the budget-conscious are heading in droves to restaurants offering these budget buffets, often filling up all the tables at the seven restaurants that LifeStyle spoke to.

And with the school holidays just starting and hungry teens let loose from school and out on the town, they will be getting more crowded.

The spreads range from Japanese restaurant Yuki Yaki’s $8.90 ice cream buffet, where customers can choose from four types of ice cream and 16 toppings, to the $13.80+++ dimsum buffet at Orient Ocean restaurant in Hotel Miramar.

Most of the buffets are heavy on fillers like rice, noodles and potatoes, although they also offer meats such as beef and lamb. One of the newest kids on the budget buffet block is Amirah’s Grill Restaurant & Cafe in Bussorah Street.

Its owner, Mr Ashraf Mohamed, said he introduced the $9.90+ buffet three months ago, featuring dishes such as beef casserole and shepherd’s pie.

The restaurateurs interviewed say they do not make money from the buffets, but these all-you-can-eat feasts serve to lure customers to the restaurant.

Mr Ashraf, who also runs a restaurant in Pahang Street, says he started offering the buffet to attract people to the new Bussorah Street outlet.

“It’s like an advertisement,” he said. “If my customers like the good food and spread the word, more people will try the buffet and some will ask us to cater for events such as private functions.”

And this strategy has worked – both outlets are packed, he says, even though the buffet is available only at the new outlet. He has also had customers asking him to cater high teas and dinner buffets.

The Restoran Tepak Sireh in Sultan Gate, which serves a $13.90 buffet of dishes such as nasi briyani and steamed fish, also wants to attract more customers.

Its general manager, Madam Engku Abd Jalil, said: “Our prices are very affordable, and our customers are always satisfied with what they’re paying for.

“With more people coming to the restaurant, the more you will get advertising through word of mouth, and that is very important.”

While restaurateurs like Mr Ashraf plan to stop his “promotional” buffet in two months’ time, other restaurants have found that keeping prices low keeps customers coming.

Quality Cafe at the Quality Hotel in Balestier Road started its $10.80+++ Asian rice buffet in 2003 to attract customers, but decided to continue with it when about 120 customers came to dine each day.

The Crystal Cafe, at the Orchard Grand Court serviced apartments in Killiney Road, offers a $9.80+++ Taiwan porridge buffet and sees an average of 150 hungry customers a day.

The cafe attracted fewer than 100 customers a day before it introduced the buffet eight years ago.

But high traffic does not always result in high profits, it seems.

Most of the restaurateurs said buffet revenues do not make up the bulk of their profits. Rather, it is a la carte orders and catering jobs that bring in the money.

Crystal Cafe’s executive chef, Mr David Koh, said the buffet pays for staff wages, and added: “We want to attract families and residents living in the serviced apartments, and we cover the restaurant costs with the help of our breakfast meals.”

The customers are not complaining.

Annie Goh, 19, currently waiting to enter university, said: “These buffets are worth the money especially if they offer seafood or lots of meat, such as the one at Amirah’s.”

I like being a guinea pig

20 May 2007, ST

I see the greater good in doctors sticking wires and needles in me, all in the name of science

By Chua Mui Hoong

I USED to think only desperately ill people with no choice opt to be guinea pigs in medical trials.

You know, that you have to be gaunt, dying, in pain, with no other recourse, before you would sign up for some untested treatment that may or may not help you.

Then I became a guinea pig myself, when undergoing cancer treatment in Boston five years ago.

And I realised two things: that you don't have to be desperate to consent to be a subject in a clinical trial. And that, hey, some of it can be downright fun.

At that time, I was a graduate student at Harvard, just 20 minutes away from one of the top-ranking cancer centres in the United States.

The centre is chock-full of clinician-scientists doing 'translational research', a term that I've begun to see more frequently in Singapore nowadays, but which was already bread-and-butter for the Dana Farber Cancer Institute back in 2002.

I was approached to do no less than three clinical trials and said 'yes' to all.

The first was serious. It gave me access to a new, promising drug called herceptin. Later, as I read more about the drug, I felt truly proud to have participated in a piece of medical history.

For the herceptin trial for breast cancer patients was part of a worldwide network of clinical trials on the drug that would yield striking results.

All sorts of doctors all over the world, including in Boston and Singapore, were collaborating to find out how effective the drug was against late-stage breast cancer, against early-stage breast cancer, what combination of drugs make it most effective, how much of it should be given, how frequently, and for how long.

For a few years after my treatment, I would follow news from the annual conference of the American Society of Clinical Oncologists religiously, knowing there would be some new study, some new insight, new information, from the wide-ranging herceptin trials.

Another clinical trial I took part in was a bit more painful. It involved having a wire-guided biopsy, which meant having a wire inserted into the breast (ouch).

I don't remember the details, but I recall I was sold on it when the doctor explained that if the trial worked and the wire helped locate the tumour accurately, it meant women in future may not need to undergo painful mammograms immediately after surgery.

I decided to be heroic. I also liked the radiologist, who said he read mammography films with his breakfast (the way I read The Straits Times with mine). I agreed.

Then there was the fun trial, to see if relaxation techniques help reduce patients' stress after surgery.

It involved having a very nice young research assistant sit by me and hold my hand before any surgical procedure. She would talk to me in a soothing tone, and ask me to visualise being on a beach, in the forest, or some such relaxing place. I would fill up questionnaires on my state of mind before and after.

For a few weeks after that, I had to take cheek swabs that would measure my stress levels, and send them in large envelopes to the laboratory. I never thought anyone would be interested in my saliva!

I said yes to all three trials for various reasons: to gain access to a promising new drug; because taking part in them didn't seem to hurt me much but may help others in future.

Underlying all these reasons, the culture of the hospital also mattered a great deal.

I had opted out of the university hospital to be treated here, at a cutting-edge cancer research centre. I knew the treatments I benefited from were built on the efforts of past generations of patients, doctors and benefactors. It felt natural to contribute my bit to this virtuous cycle.

Also, I trusted my doctors. Indeed, I rather liked the idea of being treated by doctors like the radiologist so interested in their work, their idea of breakfast reading is scanning mammogram films.

Most importantly, I had faith that the research process would safeguard my interests.

For example, that my privacy would be assured, that insurance companies won't get hold of my data, and that if initial findings uncovered something wrong with the drug I was on, that I would be told, and the trial stopped.

This last aspect - faith in the process - is crucial in Singapore's attempt to change mindsets to get Singaporeans to be more receptive to taking part in clinical trials, which is a necessary precondition to the Republic becoming a biomedical hub.

The Health Ministry is currently working to make medical records electronic and more easily accessible for good health planning.

A recent report recommends giving medical researchers easier access to patient information, but with controls put to safeguard privacy.

My antenna went up at the first bit: make it easier for researchers to access information? We all know how leaky and gossippy Singapore is, how much it resembles a close-knit village and not an anonymous urban metropolis.

Do you want any researcher who may or may not be a doctor, to be able to find out things about you?

But the second bit was more reassuring: about privacy protocols.

From what I understand, the idea is to make it easier for researchers to get hold of medical information, without them being able to figure out who the patient is.

This way, aggregate data on diseases and patients can be built up and shared easily without patients' consent having to be sought for every bit, and yet not compromise patient confidentiality.

As is well known, Singapore has no laws, and little tradition, to safeguard privacy. If anything, the need for public health or public safety will always trump the individual's right to privacy.

That being the case, more needs to be done to assure Singaporeans that their privacy will be safeguarded, and that, even when they sign up to be guinea pigs, their interests will be safeguarded.

Mum's the word

13 May 2007, ST

My mother is a firm believer in tough love. While I never doubted she loved me and my sister, sometimes, I wonder

By Cheong Suk-Wai

I REMEMBER the exact moment when I realised how much my mother loved me.

It was one of those remarkably unremarkable afternoons bathed in half-light and a drizzle, and I was just another sulky teenager helping my mother get the week's groceries at the bric-a-brac Cecil Street Market in Penang.

We usually ended off with a glass of cold soy milk each, at one of the rickety tin-top tables where other womenfolk also cooled their heels and slaked their thirst, if only for a while.

But today, my mother was nowhere to be seen, and I scanned the hordes anxiously for a good half hour, and muttered about how she might have left me a few cents to buy my drink, at least.

Then, finally, there she was, coming out of the crowd and bearing a hot plate of my favourite snack, stir-fried rice cubes with chives and beansprouts.

She was nursing a flu that day, but had queued at the market's most popular stall just to get me a dish I had not even dared ask to take away, knowing what a frustrating wait it was.

It was hard getting the snack down because of the lump in my throat.

YOU may well wonder why I even questioned how much my mother loved me.

Welcome to her world of Teflon-tough love, where the done thing is always done before any thought of personal pleasure.

She has a terrific temper to boot - the flip side of her verve for life, I suppose - with a cane as her crutch. (I still have lash scars on my right leg to show for it.)

Case in point: When I was a tyke, a neighbour called at our flat in Kuala Lumpur one day and, presumably grateful for this respite from her cook-and-clean routine, my Mum started a good chinwag with her.

Engrossed in the chat, she absent-mindedly called out to me to switch off the fan in the kitchen.

Not having done this before, my four-year-old sense told me to use something to stop the turning blades.

I used the index finger of my right hand.

So it was that I spent the better part of the next six months eating with my left hand because, as my Mum reminded me every time I winced from the wound, she could not believe her daughter was so stupid.

As my Mum liked to chastise me, the none-too-practical bookworm, in Hokkien: 'Ju thak, ju gong.' That's Hokkien for 'the more you study, the dumber you are.' How I used to chafe at that.

And I cannot remember ever having seen my mother cry, not even when my bones melt every time we rush my father to the intensive care unit. But, as she's taken to telling me these days: 'My tears fall on the inside.'

MY MOTHER was but a nugget in my grandmother's belly when World War II hit Malaya in 1941.

My maternal grandparents, or Ah Kong and Ah Ma to me, ran deep into a rubber estate for refuge, with six children and servants in tow.

Not knowing what horrors might come, Ah Ma devoured pineapple and drank bitter brews in a bid to abort my Mum. But, somehow, my Mum clung on for dear life, only to be born, and estranged from then on, by my grandmother.

Now I don't know much about genes, but it seems that that rejection, however reasonable, was seared into my mother's consciousness.

Luckily, Ah Kong, a well-to-do rice miller, doted on her and so she became the first in her family to study overseas - in London. There, she gadded about in the snow in a pricey fur coat and cat's eye glasses, even as Ah Ma tut-tutted.

That is why I have never doubted that my Mum has always given me and my sister the mother's love she never had as a child.

But having married down by choice, her tough love meant that her daughters would learn not to pine for what they could not have.

We hardly shopped for clothes, much less make-up, well into adulthood. Somehow, I saw her point. Where had rags and rouge gotten her anyway? Only decades of drudgery as a housewife, although you would never hear her say it out loud.

That was why I was so moved by her spontaneous gesture in Cecil Street that day.

Love isn't love, really, unless it's deep.

TODAY, my mother has grown a little rounder, a little greyer and, I like to think, a little calmer.

Our relationship now is such that I call her Cutie Pie - which she likes - and she loves nothing better than to SMS me a good joke she's just heard.

So, yes, time can temper all.

Today, I see my mother for who she is - a woman who has devoted 40 years of her life to her loved ones.

That is why I shower her with treats and gifts. All she has to do is mention she likes something, say, smoked salmon, before she has smoked salmon coming out of her ears.

I have only one mother and one life to live, so I like to think that her gruff harrumphs and frowns at such extravagances are just her tough-love way of saying she likes them.

In March, as regular readers of this column may recall, my father had a long stay in the intensive care unit.

When he came round, he told his heart doctor: 'Luckily, I have a wife who's smart to spot the warning signs and rush me here.'

Looking on, my Mum beamed as I had never seen her beam before. She blurted: 'Thank you for noticing.'

Happy Mother's Day.

Speaking of race

06 May 2007, ST

Of all the foreigners here, I feel least comfortable with Caucasians. Am I nursing a colonial hangover?

By Sumiko Tan

AN INCIDENT occurred last week which I'm not proud of, but here goes.

I'd got into a minor run-in with a motorist over a parking lot, and when I realised that the driver of the other car was Caucasian, my immediate reaction was: 'Stupid ang moh.'

I went on to rant to my mother who was with me in the car: 'Who does he think he is, lording over us Singaporeans? If you don't like it here then go home.'

I continued in this vein for a bit before I stopped, appalled at my outburst.

As a Singaporean of a certain generation - I grew up in the 1970s before Special Assistance Plan schools and community self-help came into the picture and made people more race-conscious - I've been trained to be colour-blind.

It was ingrained in us in school that there were four main racial groups - Chinese, Malay, Indian and 'Others' - and that it was just not the done thing for you to point out how different others were from you.

If we were asked to describe ourselves, the answer would be that we were Singaporean.

If this sounds to non-Singaporeans as if we were being brainwashed, we weren't.

Many of us accepted the fact - even revelled in it - that living in a multiracial country meant being extra-sensitive to how others felt.

We understood that you shouldn't make a big deal about another person's race and, heaven forbid, pass snide remarks about it.

So even today, you will never find me flinging 'stupid Malay/Indian/Eurasian' at a fellow Singaporean of a different race - even if he did snatch a carpark lot from under my nose. It's just not the thing to think or say.

So how have I now become a person who, in a moment of stress and duress, defines a Caucasian by his race?

EVERYWHERE you turn these days, you are bound to see a 'foreigner'.

Although I've been drilled not to be race-conscious, the influx of foreigners has reached a point where I can't help noticing their presence.

There are hundreds of thousands of foreigners working and living here and I sometimes get the surreal feeling that I'm a stranger in my own land.

I feel it most when I'm at Great World City or Tanglin Mall over the weekend when it is packed with Westerners, or Little India on Sundays when foreign workers from India and Bangladesh congregate. As a Singaporean I feel outnumbered.

Of all the foreigners here, I am the least comfortable with Caucasians - I don't really know how to relate to them.

It's puzzling, really.

I'm at home with the English language that many Caucasians speak.

I'd friends in school who were half-Caucasian - I even went out with a boy whose father was Australian.

I've an aunt who married an Australian and cousins who married Caucasians, or ang moh as we call them (red hair, literally in Hokkien).

Goodness, my sister married one, too, making my beloved niece and nephew half-ang moh.

I have Caucasian colleagues and we have no problems getting along.

If I were someone born in an earlier era, you might attribute this discomfort to a hangover from colonial days. It's a curious condition where one suffers from either an inferiority or a superiority complex towards whites, sometimes even both at the same time.

But by the time I came into the picture, Singapore had already shrugged off its British colonial past and so I don't carry that baggage - I think.

Yet why is it that I don't feel as comfortable with Caucasians as I do with, say, Indians or Indonesians?

Is it language? That because English isn't my mother tongue I think I can't speak it as well and so lack confidence in their presence?

Is it because I've watched too many Hollywood shows and read too many Western magazines that my definition of beauty has become bound by Caucasian standards, and because I don't meet the blonde-hair, blue-eyes ideal, I don't feel attractive enough in their presence?

Or could I actually be harbouring lingering anti-colonial resentment?

Or is it simply that I haven't known enough Caucasians to feel at ease?

When I meet an Indian from India, for example, I instinctively feel comfortable because I have many Indian Singaporean friends (the irony, of course, is that the Indian from India might not reciprocate my feelings, not having grown up with the Chinese).

Or could my discomfort be that there are so many 'types' of Caucasians - Americans, Australians, Brits, New Zealanders - all with their own codes of behaviour that I don't even know where or how to begin to communicate?

Or maybe their tendency to insist on their rights scares me?

As a Caucasian colleague herself notes: 'Caucasians take things so personally and the 'I am an Individual' schtick must be a pain to deal with if you come from a culture of doing things collectively and not making people look stupid in front of others.'

Whatever the case, I do realise that the loss is mine.

If only I weren't so wary, I'm sure there are friendships to be made.

IT'S one of the sad facts of life that there will always be people who believe in a hierarchy of race - and they don't even necessarily place their own at the pinnacle.

Most of the time, people keep a lid on their prejudices, but when under stress will lash out at those they have the least common ground with.

But race is a complex thing. While being too dissimilar can bring problems, so can being of the same race.

Take the way Chinese Singaporeans view the Chinese from China.

Twenty years ago when China was impoverished, many Singaporeans either took pity or looked down on their mainland cousins.

Ten years ago when they started coming here in droves, especially the women, Singaporeans started resenting them.

Now, with China prospering and the Chinese making billionaire lists, the tide has turned. They are admired, feared and even envied.

So what is to become of Singapore as more foreigners make their home here? Will society change and will race be an issue?

Given how so many Singaporeans buy into multicultural tolerance, my bet is on how it won't, although the concern about whether foreigners are taking away jobs from Singaporeans is another matter.

Every once in a while, tempers will flare and base thoughts will flash in people's heads. I've no doubt that the motorist last week saw me as a 'stupid local'.

But in the end, that run-in - like so many quarrels between people of different races, or even the same - wasn't about race.

We were just two stupid motorists, from the same human race.