Singaporeans - Lucky and Pampered

Somebody commented that I tends to complain a lot. Some people complain that I don't write too much about myself in the blog. Anyway some part of my life is too personal and sensitive to be put on a public blog. The rest of my life is pretty normal , I work , I teach, I mould lives and I do housework... Any way, many out there can blog about the above mentioned in a much more interesting and funny way than I do. Serious. But thank to all for making my site counter cross the 10000 mark. Please wait while I remove the smug look from my face...

Well which bring me to my boliao topic of the day - Pampered Singaporeans. It does not take a nuclear scientist to know that Singaporeans are a pampered lot. Branded stuff, walking in air conditional comfort and anywhere out of the 200m, must have transport ie wheels, travellator, escalators, or even a chivalrous gentleman to piggyback.

Singapore are well known for their picky attitude when it comes to services and of course even jobs. In a newspaper report, it was mentioned that

Singapore's unemployment rate rose to 3.9 percent in the first quarter, the government said Wednesday, as lower economic growth forced slower job creation. That's up from 3.7 percent in the previous quarter, the Ministry of Manpower said. Some 16,900 jobs were added in the first quarter - below the 32,700 jobs created in the fourth quarter.

In fact I have heard instances of people not accepting job offers because apparently it would be too much of a bother to travel from Ang Mo Kio to Bedok to work. And the alternate Saturday off was not really a turn on.

He rejected the job offer

Anyway a recent report which talked about Singaporeans' average standard of living ( Read this..) shows that even the poor and destitute can have their daily fix of class 95fm or even the latest channel 8 serials ( Have you watch the doofus Christopher Lee in the latest channel 8 serial.. but that not the point) It meant that we have almost everything , thanks to our gahmen. seriously how many of you have an emergency pack ready for emergencies like disaster or camping out for the Singapore Idol 2 audition. I can tell you people. Shockingly most of you wont.. Sign...

Well here come the best of the best when it come to utter "pamperedness"(Read this)

Jasmine Loo said, "On this type of journey we need more water than food. So I will get better prepared for that in future.

Added Peter Loo, "We have to stop here and maybe I have to go back and take my car and pick them up."

The Loo family was not the only one that came unprepared for the rough terrain and long walk.

Said Kelvin Wong, another hiker on the trail, "A lot of young parents have to bring the stroller to put the babies in. It would really help if we have more board walks, more concrete paths so that we can push the baby the larger part of the way, rather than carrying him or her plus the stroller."

Singaporeans, newsflash. You want to enjoy nature, and you want to have comfort, please go to the nearest park, and sit your ass on the nearest bench. There you can play frisbee or roller-blade or do whatever you do. You can even barbeque and even walk the dog.

Some places, you bring baby there also useless, they are too young to appreciate nature, no matter how much you think they will. Yes parents would cried in blasphemy and said all this about bonding with kids. Come mon. there is a time and definitedly a place for all this. Nature walks, canopy walks etc?? Half the time, they're sleeping, another half of the time, they get stung by mosquitoes and crying. Wait till they can walk, then bring them there.

Please, don't bring your baby stroller to the Nature Reserve, and complain that you cannot maneuver it in the reserve. Its a Nature Reserve,you fool, Not a shopping mall. And please don't even complain about the weather if it rain, there is no underground tunnel of mall or even ranger's transport to bring you and your baby back to civilisation.

If you are old, on a wheelchair, then the park is a wrong place for you. I'm sorry and I am definitely not trying to be rude of something but its Mother Nature, not a Bontanical Gardens. I don't mean it in a bad way, but its not the place for you.

So please don't make Nature bend over backwards to accomodate your demands. You cannot expect to open a nature reserve and expect to accomodate people of all ages. If you do that, you have to compromise on the experience. How about throwing in a travellator?

You want the tree-top walk to be accessible? Why not bulldoze a concrete path straight to the suspension bridge? Too much stairs to climb? Why not make level any incline, so that the road is flat ? Hell we can even make a lift if the gahmen approves it..

Why not build cafes/Mcdonalds every 100m so that they can sell you water, water that you stupidly did not bring for the trip? Why not think bigger? We can build a Glutton's Square right in the middle of the tropical forest, and sell over-priced regular hawker food.

At the same time, why not make a multi-storey carpark? Last time I checked, Singaporeans like linked walkways very much, why not build a linked walkway to the bridge, that way, you can enjoy nature in rain or shine. Good idea right? Also why not build a shopping mall, to take advantage of the traffic? So much trees, wasted space right? Think of the prime real estate.

The problem with people is that sometimes, Nature is too 'real' for them to appreciate. They need to have it dumbed down, made confortable. They want animal shows, dolphins playing with beach balls, or talking parrots. Faced with hot and stuffy Mother Nature, they complain.

So don't ruin the experience of others, so that you can enjoy what you think Nature is.

So Please , next time, just stay at home and suck thumb, watch National Geographic/Animal Planet or something, or go to the nearest heartland mall. Don't bother to go nature park lah.

(For the record, Mr Ng enjoyed nature waks and of course the occasional visit to Mount Faber where he act as a voyuer peeking young couples making out ... Other than that perverse behaviour he like to lounge in front of his 43 inch tv and watch the National Geographic and the Discovery Channel and the sweat he broke out is usually sweat from his palms from holding too long to the remote. Nonetheless, he also realise that there is a need to get his fat ass out from the sofa and start doing some exerise as the levis jeans is getting tighter by the day...:P)