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An interesting insight into how various oversized parts of the world's largest airliner are brought together from many different countries and assembled in Toulouse, France. The logistical task of transporting the major stuctures of the airplane is just as daunting as developing something on this scale.

Buoyed by the high I got from my recent photodocumentary trip to Calcutta Rescue, I embarked on a short stint to Kupang, West Timor last week at the invitation of a friend. Pak Budi and his wife Peggy run the Roslin Orphanage which is situated in the outskirts of Kupang. They were hosting a visit by a number of young Singaporean adults who were spending 2 weeks performing community work in and around the Kupang area.

The group was comprised mostly of polytechnic and university students, while others were just starting out on their careers. I had originally thought it might be interesting to observe how a group of pampered Singaporean youths adapt themselves in an environment that was lacking in many of the basic conveniences they were used to but was pleasantly surprised to learn that most have been on such trips to places like India and Cambodia in the past and their expectations were quite realistic.

I'll be breaking this post into 2 parts, the first of which will focus on life at the orphanage and the second will be a short photodocumentary of the student group as they work in their new surroundings.



Starting the day off with a bath and a fresh set of clothing.




This little one followed me around before asking for a photo of herself.




Breakfast time.




The children aren't put up for adoption as Budi and Peggy adopt a holistic approach to their upbringing, preferring to perform the role of foster parents to all their young charges. They firmly believe in instilling a set of sound values in the lives of the children and that's why they tend to take in kids only at an early age.




The children are given a proper education to at least a secondary level and the more promising charges are given a shot at tertiary schooling.




Given the environment that the kids are in, they tend to exhibit early signs of independence. Many are able to feed themselves from the time they're under 2 years old. Most would have been toilet trained by this age too, diapers have no place here.




The orphanage is entirely self funded by Budi's salary from working in Singapore and through some personal donations. They receive no government concessions.








The Roslin Orphanage is just one of the many projects which Budi and Peggy are managing. In addition, they provide a mobile library service, employment opportunities to the locals in their stores and farms, running a college which provides technical education and a whole host of other community activities too vast to mention.

Labels: Travel

Ever since Gary Brolsma burst on the scene with his lip sync video of the Numa Numa Dance, a whole host of copycats have started churning out their own webcam videos.

Google recently started their own brand of American Idol in the form of Google Idol, featuring these new wannabees and their often funny creations.

Two particularly hilarious ones are Pomme & Kelly (who says the Dutch don't have a sense of humor) and The Back Dormitory Boys from Guangzhou and their endless stream of songs from the Backstreet Boys. Their rendition of I Want It That Way had me in stitches.

I've been putting off on getting a webcam for the longest time, maybe it's time for me to take my rightful place in the lip sync world. I could probably dance like the way those guys lip sync... hmmm, a dance sync video? Mrs Sanguine wouldn't know where to bury her head.

Got an unexpected treat at The Line in Shangrila this afternoon. I couldn't help but share this pic of my dessert.

The warm weather this morning was a stark change from the last 2 days here in Manhattan so I took the opportunity to do a long walk. Took the subway to 116th Street and made my way from Morningside, to Harlem, through Central Park and finally back in Midtown. All in all, it took 4 hours and a bit. Some of the sights my camera captured while in Morningside.



Certainly one of the most imposing structures in this area is the Riverside Church. Construction of the church began in 1927 and it was styled after a gothic cathedral in Chartres, France. The church tower stands 392 ft tall or 24 storeys high and contains 74 bells ranging from 10 to 40,000 lbs.



Many famous historical figures have spoken from the pulpit of Riverside, including Martin Luther King, Jr. and Nelson Mandela.



Looking back towards the entrance of the cathedral.



Low Library, Columbia University. The building last functioned as a library in 1934 but still retains the name of then president, Seth Low.



A nanny with her young charges. She's going to have a tough time with the undulating terrain in Morningside with that load in her cart.



A curious canine peeking out of a sidewalk window.

Drinks at Loof on Tues night. I love the huge signboard hanging over the rooftop bar, too bad not all the light tubes were turned on that night.

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Click Me!

I came across this gem of a website quite a while back and it seems to have grown tenfold. If you've ever wondered what life is like as a terry cloth monkey, go check out hi! monkey, it's filled with whimsical humor of everyday life... and Monkey is a great cook with wonderful recipes too.

Continued from Aviation Photos 4

Airlines often apply special liveries on their aircraft from time to time as a means of promotion of an event or attraction. The images today are examples of some of these liveries. Aviation spotters and photographers tend to search these "specials" out as they are usually temporary and make great additions to their image library or sighting log (yes, diehard spotters keep logs).



Los Angeles, California
This Boeing 747-400 from Air Pacific in Fiji is known as "Island of Viti Levu" and bears images of two famous resort islands on her fuselage.



Los Angeles, California
Each side of the fuselage is adorned with a different image. Incidentally, this particular airplane belongs to Singapore Airlines and has been on a dry lease to Air Pacific since 2003.



Los Angeles, California
This bright baby blue Boeing 737-400 is "The Spirit of Disneyland" belonging to Alaska Airlines. The aircraft was painted back in 2002 when major marketing initiatives were formed between Alaska Airlines and the Disneyland Resort.



Los Angeles, California
Air New Zealand took advantage of popularity generated by the Lord of the Rings trilogy and painted several of their aircraft as "specials". Commonly known as the "Frodo Aircraft", this particular Boeing 747-400 has the image of Frodo and Sam Gamgee set against a backdrop of a map depicting the Shire and Hobbiton. The special decal consisted of 240 different individual pieces which were applied by hand over an area of 600 square meters.


More images in Aviation Photos 6.

Inspired by Chubby Hubby's Cheeseburger Experiment, Mr and Mrs Sanguine just had to have a cheeseburger for dinner. Our attempt was not too shabby, though the Buerli Bun from Swiss Bake was not the best choice. It was a little hard for our taste, even with a bit of toasting on the grill. The patty was a mix of ground beef and italian sausage, flavored with hot cayenne pepper sauce, chopped onions, mustard powder, basil, oregano, salt, pepper and held together with an egg mixture. Condiments included more hot sauce, japanese mayo, fried onions, letteuce, cucumber tomatoes, and a slice of melted american cheddar.

It all turned out to be a delicious mess, wolfed down in less than 10 minutes and washed down with cheap wine and a Heineken. The grapes and sugar prunes went surprisingly well with the mass of meat. I think it was our first home cooked meal (not counting parties we've cooked for) in months. Looking to perfect the cheeseburger in the months to come, hopefully.

Went out with friends for a lunch at Ristorante Da Valentino today, I'd heard about this Italian restaurant nestled among the homes off Rifle Range Road but had yet to check it out till today. I'll let the pictures do the talking. Attentive service, great food, and wonderful ambience, I give it a big thumbs up.



Even the darn bread roll was great. Warm firm crust with a melt in your mouth center. Accompanied with a spicy pesto which hints at the amount of garlic to come in the main courses.



Simply called Salad of the Day, and boy, what a salad it was. Fresh tomatoes, rucola, roasted artichokes, eggplant and pepper tossed in a light balsamic dressing. Topped off with delicate slivers of fried Calamari and parmesan. Simple and totally yummilicious.



The Beef Carpaccio was one of the bestest I've had, not that I've had that many anyways. How do they get the slices of beef so thin?



Pasta Nero, cooked a little unusually in a cream sauce with chunks of crabmeat. But hey, no complains from me, it rocks my boat.



Some pasta thingy, was a little bland but with a bit of improvising (emptied half a glass of wine into it, out of sight of the head chef who was trolling the dining room) and hey presto!



Wow whee! I absolutely loved the egg bit. It's not often you find a pizza done this way around these parts. Best Pizza Bismarck I've had since my last visit to Italy a couple of years back.



Hand picked by Mrs Sanguine, this white washed everything down with class. Mr Sanguine isn't much of a wine guru, nor a food guru for that matter. You can probably tell from his highly untechnical description of his lunch.

"Singapore GaGa is a 55-minute paean to the quirkiness of the Singaporean aural landscape. It reveals Singapore's past and present with a delight and humour that makes it a necessary film for all Singaporeans. We hear buskers, street vendors, school cheerleaders sing hymns to themselves and to their communities. From these vocabularies (including Arabic, Latin, Hainanese), a sense of what it might mean to be a modern Singaporean emerges. This is Singapore's first documentary to have a cinema release."

- Excerpt from Singaporegaga.com

Check it out, support a local talent. I know I will, come March 29.

Chinatown, Singapore