Everything Is Awesome At Legoland

My nephew's birthday came up and I asked to accompany him on a trip to Legoland. This amusement park is in Johor Bahru and not terribly accessible from Singapore without a car. My sister acquired tickets from Groupon or some other deal site for entry tickets that came with bus rides to and from Golden Mile. How ingenious of local bus operators to create day trips into Legoland. I guess Singaporeans and tourists here are a source market. So we all gathered at Beach Road at 9am on a Sunday morning for the pilgrimage. The kid was ecstatic, the adults weary and muted.

I think some Singaporeans were disappointed that Legoland decided to open up in Nusajaya instead of Singapore. It seemed more logical to open here with our more affluent customer base and 'nothing to do on the weekend' gripe. The land that Legoland sits on isn't that big - some corner of Woodlands or Tampines would have sufficed. Maybe we like to keep all the good stuff for ourselves. Well here's kicker no.1 - now it really does become an adventure. Singaporeans having to travel across the border with passports to have fun. Like a real holiday. Kids love it. Any chance for a long bus trip is my nephew's piece de resistance. When we were in Woodlands, we'd take 969 to hang out at Changi Airport. He loves a long journey.

I was partly skeptical of course. How good could Legoland be. Amusement park for kids, what would grown up do there? Dismissal, pessimism, a wet blanket. Boy, was I wrong. It's so fun!!! We started out with the waterjet cannonmobile ride. Just 60s of being pushed out by centrifugal force over water being shot at with water jets and splashed from water bomb spray. Woohoo! Nephew and I did it twice. (I think he had another go later in the evening.) Then we did the 4-seater roller coaster. The first drop was scary and it was smooth sailing after. I screamed my lungs, my defence against pent up fear and acknowledgement that I was no longer in any control of my fate. My nephew was almost scared shitless. He refused to do the next roller coaster. Well, he'll get over it.

 

I didn't do well at the spinning rides. The pseudo teacups drove me mad. I had to keep looking at the ceiling so that my brain wouldn't go dizzy. I'm also not normal with unprotected height. I compelled myself to go on a elevator ride with my nephew. It involved sitting in a pair of bucket seats and pulling oneself up with a rope some 10m up into the air. There's nothing but a bar across ones waist to prevent any unfortunate calamity. The moment the seat was jacking itself up I felt my legs go weak. It was eerily discernible fear. My nephew on the other hand was ecstatically yanking himself and our mutual seat higher and higher, sending my adrenaline levels through the roof with each centimeter higher into open air. Yikes. It was some of most terrifying moments of recent history.

All in all, it was a good day out. Bushed by the time we had to leave. The bus came back to pick us up at 5pm. The rain came in the morning and it was a torrent when we left Gelang Patah. That made for a gloomy but thankfully cool rest of the day. Otherwise I'd advise a good hat and lots of water. One downer is that guests can't bring their own food into the park. Hide your goodies! There's a mall of sorts outside Legoland with a KFC, Burger King and many other shops. We didn't venture because we timed ourselves just right for the return trip. If you're not puckered out with all the running around having fun, then perhaps the mall will do you in.

Here's the second kicker. Everything's in ringgit. I hate to rub it in but the Singapore dollar is 2.5 times stronger than the ringgit. (I guess that’s why my Malaysian relatives hardly visit us) When we go to places like Sentosa, the zoo and other local attractions, we end up paying quite a lot on food, merchandise and transport. At Legoland, lunch was RM15-20 per person. Simple but tasty chicken and fish choices. Three shots at a tin can pyramid was RM20. It made it easier not to care. I bought some stuff from the store because I felt like I was on holiday and the stronger dollar made spending less discretionary. I have a Lego mug, umbrella and stickers for my temporary carefree ways. For this I am quite glad that Legoland is in Johor Bahru.

There was a sign of a discounted price for an annual pass for Johor residents. If I stayed in JB I'd be the first to buy that ticket, and make weekly trips to ride the coasters. My only regret was not riding the biggest roller coaster, the Dragon. Next time, I shall slay the monster.

2048 And Math Love

2 + 2 = 4

4 + 4 = 8

8 + 8 = 16

16 + 16 = 32

32 + 32 = 64

64 + 64 = 128

128 + 128 = 256

256 + 256 = 512

512 + 512 = 1024

1024 + 1024 = 2048

Math, or maths as everyone in Singapore calls the subject, has always been intriguing to me. I loved A-Maths in secondary school with all the calculus, trigonometry and coordinate geometry. Things got hairy with vectors and group theory. Then stats came along and made things interesting. That x^2 could equal -1 was mind-blowing. That one could prove that the hypothenuse is always longer than the sum of the lengths of other two sides of a right angled triangle. (Then I went to NS and became stupid. But that's another story.) 

It was perhaps the problem solving and mental twists that I enjoyed and still enjoy. Maybe how patterns evolve into something bigger or when puzzles reveal themselves. The thrill of revelation akin to striking lottery. Well maybe not. I remember a GP essay question "Mathematics is the perfect language. Discuss." that I didn't attempt. But the thought stuck with me all this while. Is it really? What else could 1 + 1 be but 2? Fact and truth couldn't be split from equations. No conjecture. The assumptions came in with applied maths in science but the basis is always pure. 

I bring this up because I recently started playing the 2048 game on my phone. Quite simply, it's a matter of sliding squares of 2 and 4 so that same numbers add up, eventually in the hopes of joining up a pair of 1024 squares to form the coveted 2048 piece. It's driving me nuts and it occupies my time in the daily commute to and from work. Addictive because it's not simple and requires some strategy after slip-sliding the squares about their 4x4 grid. A game of "if I move here now, will I be able to match up the bigger pairs later". 

Well I enjoy it. And you can too. And now you know how horribly nerdy I can be. 

I haven't gone beyond 512 yet. 

And I just found this - Science explains why you're addicted to 2048 http://www.salon.com/2014/04/04/science_explains_why_youre_addicted_to_2048_partner/

MH370 - 4 Things I've Learned

The MH370 saga has indeed been that, a saga, a long rigmarole of an unfolding drama. It's been 17 days since the plane went off radars and in that time, we've been fed many conclusions, then have them torn apart overnight, to arrive at new ones soon after. No one's found it yet.  

I have these truths to tickle your fancy and to have nodding your head in agreement to (hopefully):

1. A plane can be lost. A huge flying piece of metal can disappear. It's a startling outcome for any lay person. Despite all the spy movies we've seen.

2. Trust is underrated. There's a lot of it placed on many people who ensure that a flight takes off and lands properly thousands of miles away in another country. We as passengers tend to assume that everyone does their job, day in day out, to a level adequate for us to be safe and sound, and cared for. Everyone from the baggage handlers, security officers, immigration personnel, pilots, air crew, radar specialists, ground crew, air traffic controllers, other countries' air traffic controllers, cleaners, aircraft technicians, aerobridge control guys, runway sweeping teams, everyone. So many people have to do their job reasonably well so that passengers on a flight make it to their destination. 

There are so many possible points of failure and yet statistically, air travel is safer than driving a car. (It's just more dramatic when a plane explodes than when a car crashes). Putting trust in all the cogs in the whole machine to work is a daily miracle. We have to trust that all the people, given how topsy, turvy and tipsy life can get, are alright physically and emotionally to do their jobs right. One emotionally distraught food handler would be enough to make a flight do an emergency landing if everyone is suddenly poisoned. Now imagine suicidal pilots, and we've had a few real life examples (Egypt Air 990, Silkair MI186). 

So smile at the aero bridge guy when you get on or off a plane today.  

3. There was an article somewhere on the 'ultra syndrome'. Explained simply, it's about countries not revealing too much about their data gathering capabilities aka spying on their neighbours. And that's sort of what happen with the MH370 investigation. When one country asks another if it saw a large metal bird flying over it's airspace, seemingly undetected, the right answer is always "no". Saying "yes" would mean a few things:

A) Yes, our radar spotted it but we didn't do a thing about it. And the associated assumptions of incompetence, apathy and nonchalance.

B) Yes, our radar spotted it and we shot it down. And didn't tell anyone. 300 lives perished. Shhhh.

C) Yes, our radar spotted it and we had a chat with the pilots and let them through because they seemed nice people.  It seems most countries took a "no but we did notice this" approach. The extra information was provided quietly to the Malaysians over several precious days.

Sigh, who's the friend you can you trust these days?  

4. Last thing, news people still get their geography wrong. Losing a plane is one thing, not checking Google Maps to make sure Kuala Lumpur is where it is supposed to be is unforgivable. Does no one care about the Asia Pacific? Does everyone only know where Bangkok is?

 And Perth too?! 

It's difficult for many of us to truly appreciate the gravity of the matter unless we had a loved one on that ill-fated flight. We're merely spectators, receiving, observing, contemplating and processing. And concluding. Others are crying and grieving. The uncertainty will go for a while. This is one of those moments when the old cliché ‘time will heal all wounds’ applies. 

We wait some more, and watch the lawsuits begin.

If The Crimeans Felt Ukrainian, Things Would Be Very Different

Singapore is a tiny island city state with about 5 plus million people. The residents are made of mostly those of Chinese descent, Malay descent and Indian descent. You'll find many foreigners working here, about 30% of the shuffling feet and tired eyes that make it work each day. There are many Bengali and mainland Chinese labourers and many Filipinos who liven up our service and administrative roles. In the city, you'll also run into many Caucasians from Caucasia. Just kidding (because no one knows where that is), they are mostly Americans, Australians and Brits. (We call them angmohs, it is not a bad word anymore, just descriptive.) A very diverse mix getting along, for the most part, waltzing along safe, well-lit streets passing too many coffee outlets. We've generally been getting along for almost 200 years. Yes, there have been skirmishes here and there, scars in history from bouts of ethnic violence. Nothing of late, maybe youths up to no good, that's all. Well maybe the recent Little India riots are a reminder of what could go wrong.

I bring all this up in light of what's happened in Crimea. If you’re not aware, the entire Crimea peninsula has decided to be part of Russian territory under Russian care and concern, severing ties with Ukraine. It all happened in the last two weeks. An entire land mass of 26,000 sq km and 2 million people now belong to Russia. (Imagine all the fact books that need to be corrected now. The Singapore government would bend over backwards for that kind of space btw). It's almost unfathomable but it happened. Some people are not happy about it but the Russians are apparently ecstatic and will most definitely defend its new born to the fullest extent of civilised nuclear-powered aggression.

There are lessons here for those in power, everywhere. Especially governments in charge of diverse peoples from various ethnic backgrounds. I think what the Singapore government has done right is, firstly, it’s kept its ear to the ground. There are many grassroots organisations here that are close to residents, looking out for those in need of help. Some of these are based along racial groupings, like those providing educational help. Some are based along religious lines. What's useful is that the people's feelings very quickly surface to the top and issues can be looked into proactively.

The second thing is our policy of integration and meritocracy. Everyone is treated fairly. We study together, play together, eat together and work together. We expect everyone to be civil to one another.  We respect each other for the distinct perspectives we bring from our respective cultures and upbringings but do not discriminate each other because of them. We speak mostly English, a language that helps everyone communicate and also relate to the outside world. It used to be Malay. I remember my dad, a Punjabi Indian, talking to a Chinese shopkeeper in Malay. Malay helped everyone get along with the indigenous population on the island all those years ago when the British started the economic engine that is Singapore still runs. (I believe everyone here should learn Malay because we're surrounded by 200 million of them in Malaysia and Indonesia. It'll make holidays simpler.) A friend commented some months ago that only in Singapore would Chinese, Malay, Indian and angmoh friends be able to sit at table at a bar with food and drink, have conversation and laugh at each other’s jokes.

Then there's National Education. Many poo-pooed this school-based initiative that started some 15 years ago because they felt it was too forced, propaganda-ish and perhaps cheesy. Sure it is. If you want our youth to learn about our shared history as a nation, our successes and failures, more importantly, make them think about the fragility of our existence as a tiny nation, you damn well force it on them. Make them realise that our fates are ours, and not someone else's to decide. Make them appreciate that regardless of colour or creed or language or background, we are all Singaporeans. This is our homeland, one to be proud of and to protect, because we all have a stake in it. Singapore isn't perfect but at least those in charge have got around to try to bring its people together. If the Crimeans felt Ukrainian too, then maybe things would have turned out all together different. 

I think secession is alright if it is handled the right way, measured with deliberation and democracy, subject to the will of all the people. There's perhaps the right way of obtaining self-determination and perhaps less-than-ideal methods. Quebec had a referendum where they found themselves 2% of votes shy of being independent of Canada. Scotland is planning a vote to decide if a split from the UK is the right future. It's all planned and civilised. The Crimean situation happened and is happening at the barrel of a gun. The majority Russians in Crimea decided quite unilaterally it seems to part ways with the Ukraine government, and started to put up Russian flags everywhere. I guess it helped that the Russian Navy parks its boats on Crimean shores. Soon, unidentified gunmen were all over the place. Minorities there have been given little say or choice - go Russian or get out. Some might call it some form of ethnic cleansing, with Ukrainians and Tartars being targeted. Many decry the Crimea referendum as a sham. What's worse I feel is that the Ukraine military has done little to defend its people or this land. I didn't hear a peep. No one's really sure what they are doing. Their internal crisis has made Ukrainians vulnerable and unsure. The BBC reports that many feel like their destiny is no longer in their hands. That must be a terrible, sad feeling. 

Russia has an interesting policy to protect its citizens whether they are at home or overseas. Other countries with sizeable Russian populations are feeling uneasy now. The Baltic states and perhaps Central Asian countries are especially frightened now. Imagine if the 300,000 Russians in the UK decided on self-determination in a posh London neighbourhood and asked Russia for help. It sounds insane but that's sort of essentially what happened in Crimea. That'll be a cliffhanger eh. The folks in Eastern Ukraine want union with Russia too, and they have been boisterous about their desires. It won’t be surprising if a similar ‘legitimate’ referendum happens there and everyone has to pick sides to fight on.

I can't really pin down why this situation so far away bothers me enough to write a second blog post. Maybe I feel for those who get bullied into a corner for no fault of their own. It's strange to imagine all this happening in this day and age, and all we can do is mostly sit and watch it unfold like a movie. Maybe I feel the helplessness of it all, despair squished into a short span of time. And every day something new but terrible happens.