take-u-away

Today i went back to pet villa in pasir ris again, it’s a haven for rescued dogs and cats from their cruel owners. This is my previous entry -> http://takeuaway.wordpress.com/2006/06/19/visit-to-a-dog-orphanage/ for the doggies section.

However, this time we don’t have as many people as last time we came. I was quite confident at first until i opened the 2nd door to the villa. Once i opened the door, a dog kept cuddling towards me, and it starts to lick me from my legs up to my hands and still wanting to reach my face. Ok, i’m still fine, i tell myself i will get used to it, yeah! Sat there for a while and play with the dogs, well, i’d rather say played “BY the dogs”. A-hem. The dog that greeted me at the door tend to come licking with me again and again. Oh, btw, it’s name is Carrot and it’s quite large though i forgot to ask what’s its breed. And it’s not the only one, more dogs came to coddle with me for quite a while until i got quite nervous. but i finally managed to get more used to it. Yeah, this is only the 2nd time i came to such close proximity with so many dogs, so still very green.

Later, we wanted to take Happy and Daisy out for a walk, but this black doggie managed to skimp past the first door before Happy, and it refused to go back, so a bit no choice, we skipped Daisy and brought it out with Happy.

And that’s our strong Happy above, checking out the tree.

Then i found out that there is a cat section also owned by Cathy right beside the dogs’ area, so i decided to check the place out.

And it’s really full of cats! The moment i went in, i couldn’t walk easily, cos a lot of cats came shuffling around my legs. Genevie is better, she managed to shiffed past these feline creatures to sit down, telling me that cats can sense if a person really like them, that’s y they are crowding all around me, hehe.

Well, cat’s aren’t the only creatures around. There is also this extremely cute, short-legged doggie whisking among the cats. And a while later, another bigger dog joined in. Nevertheless, they are all quite friendly with the cats.

And by the way, the cats here also live in ‘high-rise’ apartments just like most Singaporeans.

but not too high, only 3 storeys, haha :p

And there is this cat that really hungers for love.

Once you stop caressing it, it will wait a while, then hold up its front legs to touch you, like asking you to give it love, so cute!!!!! I think Jo and deb will like it too :p

A little while after we came, it’s feeding time for them! Heard a helper moaning that there isn’t enough food for the cats today, only got 1 box, usually should have 5, and there are a hundred over cats here! Gosh! more than a hundred! Nevertheless, we finally came in a bit more useful practically today -> we helped to feed the cats.

If you think that feeding cats is easy, like what i thought, you are deadly wrong. Some cats are too timid to join it’s pals for lunch, some demand better service, you had to bring the food over to them, then they will eat. A few refused to come down from their ‘high rise apartments’, and again, we had to bring the food to them. Some are really too timid, and i have to feed them directly with spoons. While some others just stayed where they are like it’s not their business. Then again, i forgot about the cats in the cages/hospital. Oops! Big mISTAKE!!!! aND there’s no more cat food le….. So we decided to go to the pet store just outside to buy.

We took a little detour though, we stopped at the Barker’s Cafe to have a little meal first. Ate Ginko Barley desert, costs $1 each, but the serving size is for golden retriever :p. While we sat down at the table, i was still ‘kah jiaoed’ by the dogs around, but this time, all are owned by some people, and are of prettier breeds like husky! golden retriever! and i particularly like the King Charles Spaniel!

And so after that, we bought a few cans of cat food back to pet villa, me not enough money to buy what is enough for them. Next time, i want to buy more!!!

 Well, that’s the end of the day’s visit. Hope i can go back again soon. By the way, i googled the web for pet villa, found this blog sharing the experience there, but with better quality photos and more info.

http://hardwani.blogspot.com/2006/02/pet-villa-animal-lovers-league.html

And this is pet villa’s website -> http://www.animalloversleague.com/. They are really a non-profit organization trying to keep this small island with more love for our four-legged friends, relying on volunteers and donations to run this non-government supported charity.

Before i left, i saw a new dog limping around with a missing eye and scars on its body, didnt managed to get a photo of it, but cursing whoever did this to it.

The End!

Saw this from mrbrown's blog. wah! japanese variety shows…….

wAh…. it's near the end of month again. very soon, i will get my pay, but other than that, i also got this part-time free lance job to do. It's only to do a html newsletter for a car painting company, and for my part, i just have to get all the information and pictures from henry, then compile them, and put it up on the server. Quite easy money though, haha.

See this picture? throughout this four months, i have been looking quite a bit on some car accessories which i never knew before. Gosh! i don't know there are so many funny funny but useful gadgets for cars that people can buy and fix them on their own. Previously, i thought that's something belong only to the old, dirty garages.

Got a chance to see some super duper cool cars, haha, but only pictures lah. Great cars, someday i'll own one also, yeah.

But the most tedious part for me is the food section. I had to go find cheap and good hawker centre food, and take pictures discretely. Well, actually no need to be discreet, but i too shy to approach the stall-owners, so i usually take the pictures like some strange idiot. Neh!

What you see above is the easiest pictures, just spend a few dollars and simply take these close-up pictures. I hope that is all that will be needed, but i still have to take pictures of the stall, hopefully when they are in the process of cooking. Neh, i never have that. Haha.

Then, like what i did just now before i write this blog, i am supposed to write a review for the stall. Hmm……  i always thought i am better at writing already, but i still struggle everytime when i try to write the review. Really don't know what to write. Spend quite sometime googling for some ideas. I didn't find anything useful just now, however, don't know how i end up looking at some super famous blogs, wah! even got award sia, the "weblog awards finalist 2005"!. Quite cool sia, i now put them in my links, got miyagi, mrbrown and xiaxue. Hmm….. hopefully someday this blog can also get in some awards, haha, then maybe i can just live on advertisements on my blog…. haha. Dream on…

In the end, for the sake of finishing, i wrote some super "kwa zhang" comments, haha, like the food judges in japanese manga, all sorts of out-of-this-world, hyperly wonderful comments. Yeah, the food i recommend are good, but its still on planet earth.

Well, if you are interested, take a look at this -> www.adsm.com.sg/news/news.htm

Oh, btw, i didn't design the design layout hor, i don't quite like it. tOo SQUARE for me, but nevertheless, it's meant for easy reading, so that is just nice. And you are very welcome to click on the "subscribe" link at the bottom of that site to receive updated copies of the newsletter :p

Today after cg, i went to a very “doggy” place in pasir ris with my cgm. The place is called “Pet Villa”, located at pasir ris farmway 3. It is a ulu place but quite near to hdb estates, therefore, it’s not really that inaccessible.

We took a cab in, was quite lost at first, until we saw genevie strolling with a doggie by the road. I forgot what is the breed, but it’s name is “Happy!”. Happy! is a cute little dog, female, weighing about 40+ kg i think, well, that’s just a very rough estimate. It’s not very big, medium size i think, reaching only to my knees when standing on all fours.

Haha, i think it looks more like happy is pulling genevie very hard, so i offer to take the ….*ahem, helm of the dog (i dun know what the dog collar strap is supposed to call). Yeah, this is the first time i tried walking a dog! I never had a dog before, although i really wish to, my mother doesn’t like animals. Hmm! Until i get my own house, i want to keep dogs, cats, rabbits, hamsters, fish……. I walked happy along the farmway 3 road for quite a distance, ocassionally stopping for marking, shitting, sniffing, racing, eating,…. It’s not too odd to find a piece of chicken bone, but guess what, there is a plastic bag of raw meat lying on the grass….hmm….. luckily happy isn’t interested with it. Nowadays, dogs only eat processed or cooked food, just like humans, haha.. So we continued until weijie and the rest caught up with us. Then we decided to go to our final destination - the pet villa.

Well, you can’t spot it along the road, cos it’s situated inside a dog park, which i forgot the name already :p . It’s some kind of dog haven, there’s a large training ground cum park for the doggies to play and mix with other dogs, quite a social ground for them. There’s a small pool, a bathing spot, a dog supermarket, an exam hall for dogs under training, a small eatery (that’s for humans though). We went past all these to the Pet Villa.

It is a place owned by someone taking care of numerous abused dogs. There are over 20 over dogs, all rescued from their abused owners, all under the care of the kind-hearted, loving owner here. We need to go through a double gate to get in, this is so that the dogs wont run away.

At first i wasn’t too comfortable, i’m ok with dogs, even if they are quite big-size (got the “training” whenever i went to tienyao’s place for guitar lesson), but being surrounded by around 20 dogs is another thing. Took me quite a few minutes before i can put down my bags and touch the dogs. They are all very friendly, harmless dogs, wanting to be loved and have affection. They are very friendly with our intrusion, and they never barked at us for that. Instead, they came over to touch us, sniff us, and for our “dog king” - weijie, got lots of hugs and kisses from these beloved big size doggies. Haha, wasted didn’t take pictures of this intimate encounter.

There is this 3-legged dog.

One of it’s hind limbs was amputated, and its now walking on 3’s, poor dog. But although it only has 3 legs, it didn’t show any significant signs of limping, It can still walk fast, but i thing it’s really strenuous walking on 3’s, occassionally, it rest itself on the backs of other dogs, putting it’s front legs on another dog, and standing on 1 leg. And the other dogs also pity it, at least i didn’t see them rejecting to help our poor but strong fellow.

There is also this handsome dog.

The colour of it’s hair is very nice, although you really can’t see it from the pictures above. It’s eyes are blue, and it’s facial features resembles a husky except for it’s colour, like a mixed blood of an asian and a caucasian.

And there is this shar-pei!

  The skin on it’s legs are too dragging down like over-sized socks. Looks like it’s wearing boots from far. Poor doggie.

However, what caught our attention most are the two mongrel puppies in an enclosed fence. They are just a few weeks old, really very adorable.

Both are female, and one is named “ah-lian”, the other one - “ah-hua”. Haha, what names they have. According to genevie, although they will grow into quite big size when they turn adults. Hmm… wonder if they will really turn into “ah-lian ah-hua” to bully other dogs when they grow up, haha.

We really like them very much, Xiaohui even took them out to the supermarket to buy them snacks. Got a peppermint bone for each of them and a packet of small bones. Oh, not really “bones”, although they are shaped like a bone. I originally thought they are just toys for dogs to play with and chew, like chewing gum, until xiaohui told me they are made of cow skins, like snacks to them. But just as snacks for human beings, these bones are not that healthy for them also, more like treats.

Spent quite sometime over there, until we decided to leave. It’s really a very nice, loving place, i want to go back again! These dogs are available for adoption for any kind-hearted, loving souls who are willing to take care of them for the rest of their life, hope one day i can bring back home some of them.

So we departed around 5+/6pm. I decided to take a walk around the fish farms there, wanting to buy some aquatic plants and snails for my tank at home. I didn’t got any plants, but i got 3 snails.

The patterns are quite nice, and they are the size i wanted. Haha, they shall be the cleaners for my tank, i want them to get rid of the stupid algae growing on the sides of my tank. They are the superb cleaners! Haha.

Well, that’s the end. Took a long walk to the bus-stop….

It's been a while since i moved out of hall 2, my beloved hall. That's the place where i can chill up in the afternoon, relax at night, keeping me in shape during project weeks and exam periods, and also making me solitude in this wild wild west of Singapore island. Let me jus do a brief intro to my beloved hall….

that's my room before i started moving…..

and this is what's left…..

so is the toilet.

this is my front door, looks old but it is really like a chalet to me.

take a look around my room, nice isn't it?

this is the corridor at the center of my block and the 2nd level. Gosh! Now then i know there's actually a phone in my block….

this is the laundry room, got 3 washing machine, but 2 are spoilt :p

this is the field at the centre of my hall, got street soccer court, bicycle shed, volley ball court, nice right? like chalet, haha

where else in ntu's hall do you get supermarket selling both dry and wet stuff, saloon, postbox, ocbc and posb atm?

the canteen is voted the best in ntu (by funkygrad.com), got vietnam food, china chinese food, western, v good chicken rice, waffle, hotdog, prata,….. air-con somemore, just that the ventilation is not very good, sometimes got a bit of hawker smell.

Well, that's the last pic for the day. btw, i took all these pictures on the day i moved out. Sob, no more hall le, not enough points, pray i can get back hall 2 on the 2nd round.

That's all folks!

This evening i met HC and Mel for yoga at pacific plaza. It's a super cool place, haha, very high class, and the toilet very nice, haha. Even got towels provided, of course, situated in one of the most expensive shopping centres in orchard, what else to expect?

HC is a member, and she can take us in for free classes but we must give the consultant to talk to us to join the membership. And they really enforce that!!! Haha, they kept our ICs before the lesson, tat's still ok. But what awaits after lesson???

Now, for the class. We are doing hot yoga. That means, we are doing yoga in a room that is warmed with er… air-con? to 37 degrees, so that we will sweat and it's good for detoxing, as according to HC.

The first few styles are quite ok, so i began to "heh-heh, no kick". Yah! Wait till the later ones, then the instructor began to ask us to hold one leg up to the thigh, both hands up to the air, stay there 10 counts, ok. Next? hold that leg 90 degrees with both hands and stay there for another 10 long long counts…… er…… Then got other moves lying on the mat one, and some is for focusing the whole body weight on the head one. Wah…. ok lah, the moves are not that difficult, just that i am too fat…. haha. I think i should do more stretching, IPPT is drawing near le…. Maybe one day i can do the ultimate yoga stunt below, haha.

btw, that is Dhalsim from the long long ago street fighter 2, he is a yoga master, and he is doing the YOGA FLAME!!!! Haha.

So after the lesson, we went for shower. Wah cool! the toilet is really nice, got locker, got shower foam (luckily, cos i forgot mine), got hair-dryer, got cotton bud. Enjoyed a nice cold shower there after so much perspiring. (btw, i am really sorry for the next person using the mat i just used, my sweat is dropping non-stop on it… ) Met Vincent from last time SAS too, wah, that's the 2nd time already. Singapore is so small, he also know HC, haha.

Ok, now for our ICs. We went to the counter to return the towels and locker keys, expecting to get back our ICs also. The person received them but didn't give back our ICs, instead, she took it to another place and ask us to wait in the resting room. Ok, the place is very nice also,  it got a very Zen look. I like the sunflower on the small round countainer, the stem is cut very short though, but the entire things look very cute. So we waited for a while, until the consultant came to us. He was very relaxed, and yeah, i really mean really. He can talk very well, but i dun like the way he talks, it's just too relaxed and i dun like the way he still can hold up one leg sitting with us. After all, he's still a sales-man for the membership though. Mel and I talked to him a while, but rejected his proposal. Just look at the pricing!!!! There are 2 types of membership with 2 different rates, i only remembered the cheaper one.

$500 - Joining Fee

$90 - Processing Fee

$178 - per month!!!!!

And that is for 1 year only!!!

After that, HC told us that even if we want to get it, should wait for their promotions, which they always have. It's much much much cheaper! Haha, maybe next time i richer when i working can consider, now i am still a poor student.