How did we spend this years long weekend? Well, get out of the city and smell some green grass and fresh out – out in the course!
Day 1 – palm villa course, local food and drive around Johor.
Day 2 – palm resort course, then to paradigm mall and mid valley mall with Nandos chicken for dinner
Day 3 – palm resort course and mid valley mall for Steak
Day 4 – good massage, then head to hotel capri Johor to cap our weekend!
July 25 and August 9, 2023
Two important dates. This one for the boado annals.
August 9 is Singapore’s birthday, our adopted home. its been 23 years since arriving here. Wide eyed and only equipped with academic and work experience, credentials that I could rely on to navigate its maze. A journey that is riddled with enjoyment, exhilaration, heartaches you name it!
Fast forward 23 years later.
Now I am a grand pops! A momentous occasion! Much to be celebrated, privately held most favoured.
Baby boy Hudson came to this world from my second boy. Pocholo. The ever quiet, hardworking, no nonsense and entrepreneurial boy. Now 25 years of age, working as a lab guy, the “front liners” as they say, confided to me Aug 9. The father son bonding still strong, after all these years. Hardly keeping to his story, I was in shock and in awe how he was able to navigate thru the scrutiny with their secret affair.
Dinners are especially important for any family. For who can top winding the day with loved ones sharing stories and battle tales of ones day capped with home cooked meals !
In todays modern life or shall I say in a city life setting, the pressure to make it forces one to have less of this and more of the takeaway culture.
Hence the hawking strewn across the country state.
Its a place Where one, tight with time, can whisk away with cheap and good food- all in the comforts or walking distance from ones abode.
Today as we do our regular and routine chores at the weekend, Im reminded of my parents behaviors while growing up.
Mama is always working. When shes not teaching and checking papers for her students, her weekends are spent cooking for us, washing the cloths, bit of cleaning the house and little time left to resting.
Papa meanwhile, if not at the site doing engineering stuff, would play sports on weekends, in his younger days basketball, and eventually tennis.
Now fast forward 30 years down the road, I was reflecting and portions of these behaviors Have been passed down. Consciously or unconsciously, we mirror some of those behaviors we see our parents do.
Isnt it no wonder, when people do good or bad, we look back to how parents raise their kids. The question on nurture always comes first. Nature or the environment comes second.
And then it happened.
A quick weekend getaway to meet relatives who vacationed back home turned to reality.
We started by visiting San Pablo on a Thursday then headed to Binondo. Capping the manila trip was to watch a PSL game where Fran Yu is playing.
The day after, Friday, we snatched a round under our belt. Our Saturday was rest day and soon turned a visit to Ayala Alabang for lunch!
Sunday was dedicated to church but we decided to rest it out for the Sunday evening trip.
And soon after we headed down to Ilocos for the post weekend getaway. Stayed at Ilocos till Tuesday. Before we knew it were back in Cavite on a Wednesday.
And to cap it all up, we visited Ilocos and spend our day 4-6.
Every year after christmas this is what we residents of chinese dominated countries look forward to – chinese new year!!
This year is a bit different. With the effect of the pandemic still behind us. And its effect like inflation still beginning to rear its ugly head, our family decided to simply spend the long weekend with friends who share the same passion as us -golf.
But years ago I was shocked to experience my first CNY. Literally 80% of Singapore commerce grinded to a halt. Shophouses are closed. F and B places and nearly 70 % of mall tenants are closed as well. The only shops opened are those non ethnic chinese shop owners-the rest, closed or operating on a limited time slot.
Last year 2022 the CNY fell on valentines day. And its quite wierd. Because it was on a weekend, specifically friday and saturday. So the long weekend was only 3 days. This year the Public holiday included saturday/sunday and extended till tuesday! So we had 4 days of total no work day. It was a blast!
The first challenge? How to beat CARMageddon! That long bumper to bumper jam to cross the border right before CNY hits. True enough, we decided to hit the road at around 2 AM in order to beat the jam. It was a resounding success! We reached immigration around 245AM, using the second link. We crossed 20 minutes later. And soon, after another hour we were rejoicing! It only took us 1 hour and a half to cross, compared to the 3 to 5 or even more on CNY days.
And so off we go! Our convoy rendezvous around 445 AM. The breeze was something else at the gas station where we all meet. Its the holidays I said, and because its falling on January, the cool early morning crisp air was looming around. We decided to sleep in the car and catch a bit of sleep before we hit the tee box.
Soon we were on our way to the golf course, refreshed and excited of the thought we were able to beat that dreaded traffic jam! At around 8AM, we had our breakfast of local food, local coffee and before we knew it, its off to our first hole. We had a rough start of the championship course. But soon, the rhythm of the round is showing itself. I was surprised I scored better than expected!
As soon as our round is over, we were off to lunch to lick some wounds. Looking at the body language of our friend, she seemed super upset with her round. Before we knew it, we were off to our 36 hole adventure, this time on another course! The back 18 was an unfinished business for me, specifically on this course (Melati). For I have not broken 90 (score) on this yet.
Wow, the year is almost coming to a close! Twenty twenty two. The year that it was.
Two major events – my sons wedding and my moms passing. From the highest of highs to the lowest of lows, this year is the most memorable of all. As if not to be outdone, my car has also showed its old age. The camshaft broke down on my as my car reaches its 80K km mileage. And because it is such an important part of the engine itself, i had to burn my pocket (4K!) to get it replaced! As if not good enough, the alternator also broke down at about 60K mileage and I had to replace it with 2.6K damage to my pocket again.
My sons wedding took the best part out of all of us though. The venue was one of a kind. And this alone quite stole the show from everyone. Under the guise of simplistic yet stylish, rustic but lavish, and really covering the whole spectrum of a wedding event. It sort of eclipsed all weddings that took place throughout the year -at least in my opinion. For who would’ve thought an unassuming event would be this fabulous!
June 2022 – #BOOMPAONISH
November 2022. The expanding family in Mines View Baguio.
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