Love is all around
Quick update before I hit the sack.
1. The earthquake has been upgraded to 9.0 on the Ritcher scale.
2. The quake caused 1 200 km of seabed to "break apart" - whatever that means.
3. The quake caused tsunamis that went out as far as Somalia, in east Africa. The tsunami arrived 6 hours after the quake and wiped out quite a few coastal villages there.
4. Attached is a short appeal in the Singapore Straits Times today:
Dec 29, 2004
How the public can help
(Aid) Requested by Sri Lanka
Tents, pre-cooked or ready-to-eat meal packs, water purification tablets,
wheat flour, rice, other staples, medicine (paracetamol, antibiotics), wound
dressings, suture material, vitamins, rehydration salts, vaccinations for
cholera, malaria tablets, saline intravenous infusions, portable generators,
clothes and blankets.
Drop-off venues
For Sri Lanka: Ananda Travel's branches during office hours. Tel:
6435-8422/18.
Virar's Rehab Centre at 553A Balestier Road.
No 2, Changi South Avenue 2,Singapore 486354.
Small parcels can be sent to SriLankan Airlines, 133 Cecil Street, Keck Seng
Tower, #13-02, Singapore 069535.
Donations can be sent to the Sri Lanka High Commission, Goldhill Plaza,
#13-07/12, 51 Newton Road, Singapore 308900.
For Sri Lanka and Indonesia: Restaurant 1827, The Arts House, Old Parliament
Building, 1 Old Parliament Lane.
General collection
Singapore Polytechnic, at counters along the walkway between Dover MRT
Station and the polytechnic. 6pm to 9pm.
Donation of essential food
From Jan 1 to 31 next year, the public can buy NTUC FairPrice Food Relief
Packages, comprising milk, rice, tuna and cream crackers, for $10. The
purchased packages will be directed to Mercy Relief for airfreight to
stricken areas.
Donation boxes are available in NTUC FairPrice outlets and Shell petrol
stations islandwide.
IP Address:203.116.59.24
5. Went to get some medicines for the Sri Lankans today. To cut the long story short, my friend and I were immensely thankful and touched by the staff of the Eastpoint Unity Pharmacy. They donated a total of several thousand dollars worth (easily $10k, I would think) of medicines and medical supplies. They really deserve our deepest admiration as they scrambled to find all the usable stuff for us to send over to the Sri Lankans.
6. We are also thankful to the helpful staff who were manning the collection centre at No 2, Changi South Avenue 2,Singapore 486354. This is Yusen Air Cargo (or something like that). They are collecting stuff on behalf of Sri Lanka Airlines and they had been most patient, accommodating and appreciative of all items they receive. For the willing donors who are not sure where they are really situated, the place is within walking distance of the Expo MRT station. As you exit (with the Singapore Expo behind you), the collection centre is at your 2 o'clock position. It's the first compound on the right-hand side of Changi South Avenue 2.
7. News today carried reports of an outpouring of donations from Singaporeans. However, most of the officials from the affected countries request for basic medicines because these are the most urgently needed items now.
Some of the stuff we bought/donated by the pharmacy included:
Paracetamol (go for the generics - they are a good 80% off the branded item!)
Alcohol swabs
Lomotil (anti-diarrohea medicine - again, go for the generics)
Charcoal pills
Gauze
Hypoallergenic adhesive tape
Saline for injection
Saline for irrigation
Chlorhexidine (for disinfection)
Chlorhexidine handwash (does not require rinsing)
Antihistamines (such as piriton/chlorpheniramine)
Therma Dots (disposable thermometers, where temperature is shown by the dots which have changed colours)
Syringes
Hydrating salts
Thermometer sleeves
I suppose other required items might include vitamins (e.g. A, B, C, D, E...), Dettol disinfectants, bandages, etc.
Do approach the pharmacists/staff in the pharmacy and tell them your intention to donate these medicines to the quake affected countries. Give them your budget and they will be able to recommend some stuff for you. For ease of purchasing, go for two or three items but in large quantities (but we tried not to exhaust supplies in the pharmacy). This could help in reducing confusion when the medical personnel are sorting out the stuff.
Get the stuff packed in boxes before dropping them off. One step which is very useful is to list the items inside the boxes. This is something we failed to do today and then we realised that the unpackers will have a hard time finding stuff.
8. All these people who have chipped in to help shows that there is still warmth and caring in our concrete jungle. Singapore, I'm so proud of all of you!
Wednesday, December 29, 2004
Monday, December 27, 2004
Boxing Day 2004
Boxing Day 2004
Started my secondment on 15 Dec 2004. Wasn't a good start - went on two days' sick leave right after reporting. Damn! The flu bug is a resistant one. The cough is still there.
New place, new people, new routines, new environment, new politics, new information, new challenges, new working style... Except no (re)newed enthusiasm. Well, it's all right for me. I'll just learn whatever is there and equip myself with the skills needed to do the job well. Hey! When's my next promotion? My neck's growing and soon I'll be a giraffe... with a pig's body.
So, Christmas has come and gone. Boxing day is what I am more concerned with in this post.
This year, Boxing Day took on a new meaning. Before much of south Asia could unwrapp their presents, they had to place many of their loved ones and visitors into empty "boxes". A major 8.9 earthquake hit Indonesia, off Aceh, and sent tidal waves crashing into other countries like Sri Lanka (where I had just returned from a fortnight ago!), India, Bangladesh, Sumatra (Indonesia), Phuket (Thailand), and Penang, Kedah, and Perlis (Malaysia).
The death toll so far has exceeded 10 000 and is expected to rise. This is probably one of the biggest misfortune to hit this year.
In fact, it may seem quite out-of-place here but my travelling companion will tell you that I've actually mouthed that a major calamity will hit Sri Lanka while I was on my trip. I even told him it won't be 6 months before the even occurred and this event will wipe out most of the coastal regions (especially from Hambantota all the way up the Capital city, Colombo).
It seemed contrite now to say so but the signs were obvious. I stayed one night at the Unawatuna Beach Resort after visiting the Tea Plantation in Nuwaya Eliya, and at the UBR, I was terribly irritable and jumpy. Nothing felt right. The entire room looked downcast and forebearing. I was crumbling under the weight of the atmosphere in the room and this, to me, does not bode well.
Dinner and breakfast were terrible and I just wanted to get out of the UBR. Actually, there was a reason for not mentioning this during my earlier post - it could be just me or my demanding standards not being met. It's not fair to run down a beach resort establishment just because I feel awkward. But it's very rarely that I get so worked up over a stay there but it just didn't feel right. I simply hated that place.
The morning that we left, I told my travelling companion that UBR is facing something that could just wipe the whole thing out. It's just so bad and "evil".
Enroute, I had visited the Galle Reform Church during my visit and while I was in the toilet, the entire toilet turned a crimson shade of red. I thought it was me or my eyes making fun of me but I noticed the sunlight between the roof and the wall and nothing changed and then the room shone red again.
I finished my business, scampered out of the loo and resolved to stand at the gate of the church, never to step foot into it again. (A meditation master told my mum last week, as she recounted my experience, that this could mean that there is imminent danger and it could be a warning for me to get out of that place.) But who would have thought?
I went up to another resort at Wadduwa, up the western coast. I didn't enjoy my stay at Wadduwa either. The waves were exceptionally high that day. It was just about to rain and just for that, I could see the waves rise like 2 metres. There was an angry roar of the waves all throughout the stay. I commented to my partner that if the waves came in any higher, the pool, which lies between the sea and the rooms, would be entirely over-run, and if it were just that much higher, the rooms would be hit.
I cannot imagine the state that it's in now.
The entire feeling was simply not that good all the way up on the coast. To think about it, the first night when I arrived, I asked the porter, who was leading us to our room, if the hotel building housing our room was ex-British army barracks. I was told it wasn't but it still didn't diminish the feeling that I'm "descending" into "hell" as I walked towards my cell...
I'm just so glad that I'm back safely and yet, I'm so saddened by the fact that a simple ripple could do so much damage. Many of these places are enjoying an influx of tourists who are there to escape the harsh winters. Unfortunately, they could not escape the rising waters.
It will be a long while before these countries can get back on their feet again.
Boxing Day would never feel the same again for many many people.
Started my secondment on 15 Dec 2004. Wasn't a good start - went on two days' sick leave right after reporting. Damn! The flu bug is a resistant one. The cough is still there.
New place, new people, new routines, new environment, new politics, new information, new challenges, new working style... Except no (re)newed enthusiasm. Well, it's all right for me. I'll just learn whatever is there and equip myself with the skills needed to do the job well. Hey! When's my next promotion? My neck's growing and soon I'll be a giraffe... with a pig's body.
So, Christmas has come and gone. Boxing day is what I am more concerned with in this post.
This year, Boxing Day took on a new meaning. Before much of south Asia could unwrapp their presents, they had to place many of their loved ones and visitors into empty "boxes". A major 8.9 earthquake hit Indonesia, off Aceh, and sent tidal waves crashing into other countries like Sri Lanka (where I had just returned from a fortnight ago!), India, Bangladesh, Sumatra (Indonesia), Phuket (Thailand), and Penang, Kedah, and Perlis (Malaysia).
The death toll so far has exceeded 10 000 and is expected to rise. This is probably one of the biggest misfortune to hit this year.
In fact, it may seem quite out-of-place here but my travelling companion will tell you that I've actually mouthed that a major calamity will hit Sri Lanka while I was on my trip. I even told him it won't be 6 months before the even occurred and this event will wipe out most of the coastal regions (especially from Hambantota all the way up the Capital city, Colombo).
It seemed contrite now to say so but the signs were obvious. I stayed one night at the Unawatuna Beach Resort after visiting the Tea Plantation in Nuwaya Eliya, and at the UBR, I was terribly irritable and jumpy. Nothing felt right. The entire room looked downcast and forebearing. I was crumbling under the weight of the atmosphere in the room and this, to me, does not bode well.
Dinner and breakfast were terrible and I just wanted to get out of the UBR. Actually, there was a reason for not mentioning this during my earlier post - it could be just me or my demanding standards not being met. It's not fair to run down a beach resort establishment just because I feel awkward. But it's very rarely that I get so worked up over a stay there but it just didn't feel right. I simply hated that place.
The morning that we left, I told my travelling companion that UBR is facing something that could just wipe the whole thing out. It's just so bad and "evil".
Enroute, I had visited the Galle Reform Church during my visit and while I was in the toilet, the entire toilet turned a crimson shade of red. I thought it was me or my eyes making fun of me but I noticed the sunlight between the roof and the wall and nothing changed and then the room shone red again.
I finished my business, scampered out of the loo and resolved to stand at the gate of the church, never to step foot into it again. (A meditation master told my mum last week, as she recounted my experience, that this could mean that there is imminent danger and it could be a warning for me to get out of that place.) But who would have thought?
I went up to another resort at Wadduwa, up the western coast. I didn't enjoy my stay at Wadduwa either. The waves were exceptionally high that day. It was just about to rain and just for that, I could see the waves rise like 2 metres. There was an angry roar of the waves all throughout the stay. I commented to my partner that if the waves came in any higher, the pool, which lies between the sea and the rooms, would be entirely over-run, and if it were just that much higher, the rooms would be hit.
I cannot imagine the state that it's in now.
The entire feeling was simply not that good all the way up on the coast. To think about it, the first night when I arrived, I asked the porter, who was leading us to our room, if the hotel building housing our room was ex-British army barracks. I was told it wasn't but it still didn't diminish the feeling that I'm "descending" into "hell" as I walked towards my cell...
I'm just so glad that I'm back safely and yet, I'm so saddened by the fact that a simple ripple could do so much damage. Many of these places are enjoying an influx of tourists who are there to escape the harsh winters. Unfortunately, they could not escape the rising waters.
It will be a long while before these countries can get back on their feet again.
Boxing Day would never feel the same again for many many people.
Thursday, December 16, 2004
Break
Break
Had wanted to write before embarking on my trip to Sri Lanka at the beginning of the month but fate dictated that I couldn't because Blogger WON'T load up. Some internal errors. We are all ridden with internal errors. We carry these internal errors and one fine day, these internal errors will do us in.
Morbid but true, nonetheless.
So, I've gone to Sri Lanka.
The journey was a tough one. It was quite physically demanding (if you are going to climb historical sites like the 220 metre high Sigiriya Lion's Rock or the 100 plus metre tall Dambulla Rock Cave Temples) and food-wise, the foodie in me found no satisfaction.
Still, the trip was remembered as a hiatus from "mankind". Not that the Sri Lankans were not human - they are terrific hosts - but the fact that you hardly get to see any newspapers or periodicals that are in your lingua franca, you feel like you can really leave the world behind.
For me, it was an escape of sorts. No doubt, it was tiring, I also had a very very wonderful time in Sri Lanka. Somehow, the serenity of the place (this peaceful country was recently rocked by protests against an Indian rock concert) makes the entire trip worthwhile.
The picturesque place is deeply etched in my memory. The feeling of being free from the world for those 9 days is priceless.
Do visit them one of these days.
Had wanted to write before embarking on my trip to Sri Lanka at the beginning of the month but fate dictated that I couldn't because Blogger WON'T load up. Some internal errors. We are all ridden with internal errors. We carry these internal errors and one fine day, these internal errors will do us in.
Morbid but true, nonetheless.
So, I've gone to Sri Lanka.
The journey was a tough one. It was quite physically demanding (if you are going to climb historical sites like the 220 metre high Sigiriya Lion's Rock or the 100 plus metre tall Dambulla Rock Cave Temples) and food-wise, the foodie in me found no satisfaction.
Still, the trip was remembered as a hiatus from "mankind". Not that the Sri Lankans were not human - they are terrific hosts - but the fact that you hardly get to see any newspapers or periodicals that are in your lingua franca, you feel like you can really leave the world behind.
For me, it was an escape of sorts. No doubt, it was tiring, I also had a very very wonderful time in Sri Lanka. Somehow, the serenity of the place (this peaceful country was recently rocked by protests against an Indian rock concert) makes the entire trip worthwhile.
The picturesque place is deeply etched in my memory. The feeling of being free from the world for those 9 days is priceless.
Do visit them one of these days.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)