No Fighting!

A house on my street is being renovated. There are various notices on the gate, including a cute and unexpected "No Fighting!"

My friend Abbi said, "Maybe we should have that notice everywhere."

Syncretism on Rangoon Road

I was cycling past this shrine on Rangoon Road in Singapore (that's my bike in the photo), when I noticed that it has Taoist deity Tua Pek Kong cohabiting with Hindu deity Ganesh.

In front of Ganesh, there is a bottle and a can of Strawberry Fanta. Ganesh keeps healthy.

Balestier Buildings 2: Whampoa Colour Centre

Sometime back I drew one of my neighbourhood buildings on Balestier Road, and although it was my only such drawing at the time, I optimistically titled the post Balestier Buildings 1 because I was hoping it could be a series.

I suppose there need to be at least two to call it a series, but would I ever get round to making another drawing? If the suspense was keeping you up at night, worry no more: I hereby present the second drawing of the series.

Whampoa Colour Centre may be visually less interesting than Lam Yeo Coffee Powder Factory, but it's a part of my life because I go there to develop colour film (I process black-and-white at home).

The shop is run by a man in his 60s or early 70s ("Uncle", as we call him). One time I wanted some inkjet prints, and he said it would take about five minutes. I also needed a baguette, so I said no problem, I'll quickly pop by the bakery next door.

Uncle shook his head in exasperation. "You people, always rushing, rushing. It just take five minutes. You wait!"

I waited. Sometimes, it's good to slow down. After all, that's one reason I still shoot film too.

Nice Light in My Flat

7:07 AM

7:30 AM

7:37 AM

6:31 PM

7:00 PM

Two Chinese Puppet Shows

I went to two Chinese puppet shows in the last year, which were both interesting but very different.

The first one was by Ge Yi Hokkien Opera & Puppet Troupe at Hong San See Temple. It was free to attend, but for the performance that we went to, my friend Carol and I were the only audience. Although Carol was saying that the performance is mainly intended for the temple gods, so maybe publicising it for and attracting a mortal audience is not high on the temple's agenda.

The dialogue was in (possibly archaic) Hokkien, and although Carol is fluent in Mandarin, she could only understand bits and pieces. But I thought it was cool that they had live music, and we could see "backstage" simply by peeping around. I love the handpainted sets and backdrops too.

In the photo below, you can see one of the puppeteer's hands.

The other show was much more lavish: Journey West: Mount Fiery by Paper Monkey Theatre. It was in the air-conditioned auditorium of the Singapore Chinese Cultural Centre, and a ticketed performance, although I got a complimentary pass from my friend Redwan who was one of the musicians.

In the photo below you can see two of the puppeteers, clad in outfits that bear an amusing resemblance to beekeeping suits.

The story was mostly enacted through puppets, but for some bits, they also had human figures in costume, which was more like traditional theatre or opera.

Journey West had higher production values, and English surtitles which helped me follow the plot. But as a cultural experience, I have to say it was the temple performance that I enjoyed more.

New Hobby: Kombucha

For my birthday which was a couple of months ago, my friend Violet (who has Many Hobbies) gave me a layer from her SCOBY and thus initiated me into a new hobby: brewing kombucha.

There are lots of online resources, but if you're not familiar with the process – which I wasn't, until recently – here's a quick summary of how to make this funky fermented tea.

The SCOBY is a living thing, short for symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast ("yum," said my friend Abbi, when I told her what it stands for). It has the texture of a rubber mat, and typically floats on the surface of the brewing vessel.

Well, I say "typically floats", but when I started my second batch of fermentation, my SCOBY sank partially, ending up suspended halfway down the jar. I looked online to see if it's a bad sign, and found reassuring comments like "Nothing wrong with the scoby sinking!" and my favourite: "Scoby does whatever it wants to do."

Anyhow, now it floats again.

For the first fermentation (F1), you put the SCOBY, water, tea and cane sugar in a jar, cover the mouth with cloth, and let the microorganisms do their thing. I use loose-leaf oolong tea from Fujian province, purchased from NTUC. Here you see the tea being steeped in hot water, before I strain out the leaves and use the liquor for F1.

After about a week of F1, it's technically kombucha, and ready to drink. However, most people do another fermentation step (F2), which is when the drink is flavoured and carbonated.

F2 takes 2–3 days. You simply pour off the kombucha – leaving the SCOBY and a bit of extra liquid in the jar for the next round of fermentation – into a sealable container like a flip-top bottle. Then you add whatever you want to flavour it with, such as fruit juice, purée, herbs or spices, and seal the bottle. These are two bottles from my most recent batch: strawberry and mint (left) and pomegranate (right):

If the flavouring agent has some sugar content – like puréed fruit, which is a popular choice – then that should be enough to carbonate the brew. Otherwise, e.g. if you're just adding herbs or spices, you can add cane sugar for carbonation.

For my first batch, I made two bottles: dragonfruit and grape. Violet said her kombucha is not very fizzy, so I figured mine would be similar. Most people recommend F2 for 2-3 days. I gave it 3 days, to ensure adequate more carbonation. This is what happened when I opened the bottles:

The video on the left (dragonfruit) is playing at regular speed, but the one on the right (grape) is at 3x (I sped it up to fit). I suspect the grape kombucha was less fizzy because after 3 days of F2, I kept it overnight in the fridge, which slows down the fermentation process and also makes the gas more soluble.

I'm lucky the bottles didn't explode – thanks Ikea. Since then, I've reduced F2 to two days, which seems about right. My kombucha is fizzy but not excessively so.

Healthy SCOBY grows thicker with time, forming more layers – so you can peel off a layer and give it to a friend. Violet bought her SCOBY online, but then she gave some to me, and also to our mutual friends Chiok and Guofeng. So now we all make kombucha, experiment with different flavours, and compare notes. I took this pic at a recent tasting session at Chiok and Guofeng's place.

Since then, three more people have asked me for SCOBY. Soon this SCOBY will colonise Singapore, with only the wild boar for competition.

Lizards in Two Countries

I took this photo a couple of years ago in our backyard in Kolkata:

...and this one at Tampines Eco Green in Singapore:

They look different but I'm pretty sure they are the same species: oriental garden lizard, also known as changeable lizard because they can change colour. Wikipedia says:

The ground-colour is generally a light brownish olive, but the lizard can change it to bright red, to black, and to a mixture of both. This change is sometimes confined to the head, at other times diffused over the whole body and tail.

Jewel-Like Jumping Spiders

Sometime back I posted phone pics of an electric blue jumping spider, and said "someday I hope to get a good macro shot of one of these beauties".

Since then I've been carrying my camera more frequently when I go for walks in the Botanic Gardens, and keeping an eye out for spiders – and you really do need to keep an eye out, because these guys are tiny!

Besides the electric blue jumping spider (Phintella vittata) that I saw earlier, there are at least two other species with a jewel-like blue-green carapace (this post was very helpful for identification).

1. Cosmophasis thalassina (sea green jumping spider)

With their big round eyes, jumping spiders are incredibly cute and photogenic. Wikipedia describes them in more sedate terms:

the large anterior eyes of Salticidae are adapted to detailed, three-dimensional vision for purposes of estimating the range, direction, and nature of potential prey, permitting the spider to direct its attacking leaps with great precision.

2. Cosmophasis umbratica (shiny jumping spider)

3. Phintella vittata (electric blue jumping spider)

Another reason I love jumping spiders is because they are so curious, often gazing up at me and my camera – perhaps sizing us up as potential prey – and even jumping onto my bag (as in the photo above) or my arm (below). That's my forearm hair, in case you needed a reminder of how tiny they are.