初恋

《初恋之美》

初恋之所以美，
是因为那时
青春无邪
有天真的我
有热情的你

而后来才发现
再也不可能回到当初的
青春、天真与热情
留下的只有
美丽的回忆

《初恋之后》

初恋是一个季节

过去了，便逝去了

迎来的是一个新的季节

要给新的恋情一个机会

虽然不可能再有

初恋的体验与纯真

但要用从初恋的创伤中

而成长和成熟的你

去迎接一段新的恋情

取材自韩剧《Reply 1997》

The Karimun Inscriptions

I've never heard of the Karimun Inscriptions until Ven Dhammika mentioned it. When he organized a trip to see the inscriptions, I was eager to go along.

According to Ven Dhammika, the inscriptions are oldest archelogical evidence of Buddhism within the close vicinity around Singapore. It is found on the Indonesian Island of Karimun Besar which is about 2 hours boat ride from Singapore.

On the 9th March, we took an early morning boat ride to Karimun. The main town on the island is Tanjung Balai. The inscriptions are found within a granite quarry in the northern part of the island they called Pasir Panjang. According to the locals, the granite is exported to Singapore as material for construction.

We charted 2 MPVs for the return trip from the ferry terminal at Tanjung Balai to the quarry and it cost us S$100 (S$50 per vehicle). The drive is about 45 min.

This is the shrine housing the inscriptions

Ven Dhammika examining the inscriptions

A fresh water pool which Ven Dhammika speculated was the reason that ships might stopped at this part of the island.

Some one in the group came up with the idea of pouring water over the stone which made the inscriptions showed up more clearly.

This is the foot print near the inscription which was probably the foot print mentioned in the inscription.

Offerings at the inscriptions. Apparently, there are people who come here and pray at the inscriptions.

For information on what the inscription says, refer to Ven Dhammika's blog.

To get there, take a ferry from the Harbour Front Ferry Terminal to Tanjung Balai (Pulau Karmun Besar). There are 2 ferry companies that have regular ferry services there: Indofalcon and Sindo ferry. You can do it comfortably as a day trip, taking the 8am ferry there and return with the 4pm ferry operated by Indofalcon. Tanjung Balai is a very laid back town. Not much to do there, but there are quite a few hotels there if you want to stay the night.

Vegetarian Oyster Mee Sua @ City Square Johor Bahru

Was at City Square Johor Bahru today trying to look for vegetarian food. There used to be a food court on the 5th floor with a vegetarian stall but the food court apparently has closed down. I've read about a vegetarian restaurant on the 2nd floor but I couldn't find it.

When I saw a Taiwanese dessert stall selling a vegetarian oyster mee sua, that was the only option I had.

The desert stall was on level 3 of City Square (unit MF-10, near Delifrance).

The noodles came in a small disposable container and looked some what disappointing. There is not much ingredients -- just some mushrooms. But when I tuck into it, I found it very delicious. It is Taiwanese mee sua and the soup is very flavorful.

If you like Taiwanese mee sua, do check this out!

The stall is a chain from Taiwan known as Beanstalk (Beans/talk, Bean/stalk -- get it?). Besides City Square, JB, it also has branchese in Aoen Bukit Indah and Sutera Mall. http://www.beanstalk.com.my