zyvandal24 - Mr Sim Yumin, 36, and his girlfriend Shereen Tan, 29, pose with Mr Sim's heavily-vandalised Nissan Silvia S15. The image of the car had been widely circulated in Stomp, Whatsapp groups and Facebook from last Thursday onwards with people commenting that the car's owner had been a victim of loanshark. The Straits Times has learnt that the "vandalism" was actually a prank by Ms Tan and her friends to celebrate the couple's 10th anniversary.
SINGAPORE – He had just finished exercising at Bedok Reservoir Park when a phone call from a friend informed him there was an “accident” at the park’s carpark.
As Mr Sim Yumin rushed to the carpark, he saw the familiar sight of his Nissan Silvia S15 car.
From 50m away, he sensed something was amiss as his car was heavily vandalised.
Mr Sim, 36, who works in the storage solutions industry, told The Straits Times on Friday (April 21): “I just couldn’t walk. I was speechless. I was angry and scared at the same time. Who have I offended?”
A few seconds later, a group of 15 friends jumped out from behind a parked van shouting “surprise!” last Wednesday night.
It was a prank planned and executed by Mr Sim’s girlfriend, Ms Shereen Tan.
Along with her friends, the pranksters, who took 40 minutes to complete their handiwork at a nearby multi-storey carpark, thought it would be a great way to celebrate the couple’s 10th anniversary.
Said Ms Tan, 29: “I know that the Nissan is his (Mr Sim’s) baby. But I had told the painter at the car workshop that I would be footing the bill for the new paintwork.”
But netizens thought the Nissan, which had words like Prada Power, O$P$, Fat and Fabulous, had been vandalised by loanshark runners.
Images of his car began appearing on Facebook, multiple WhatsApp chat groups and citizen journalism portal Stomp, garnering more than 22,000 views as of Sunday (April 23) morning.
Added Mr Sim, who is now amused at the whole affair: “At traffic stops, people took out their mobile phones, smiled and snapped away. I didn’t dare look at them. Now, I just can’t wait to get my car professionally painted.”
This article was first published on April 23, 2017. Get a copy of The Straits Times or go to straitstimes.com for more stories.
SINGAPORE – You may have seen it on Facebook or Instagram, although it is not available in Singapore.
The pink and blue Starbucks Unicorn Frappuccino, available only from April 18 to 23 in the US, Canada and Mexico, conjured up a such frenzy that Starbucks baristas began complaining about making them on social media.
The flavour of the drink, which is sprinkled with shiny pink and blue powder, apparently changes as you stir it.
The pastel-coloured drink has been said to be a great “fashion accessory”, no faint praise when photogenic food rules social media.
One Starbucks outlet, at Orchard Point, meanwhile, has come up with a Singapore version of the drink.
A video on YouTube by user thejetsets posted on Friday (April 21) shows how this “tropical edition”, which he dubbed the Merlion frappuccino, was made.
The baristas seemed a little hesitant at first, but both the customer and the baristas were happy with the result – a pink and orange frappuccino that looks like a sunset.
“It’s good, they should sell it” was the customer’s verdict. According to one of the baristas, the flavour is “creamy mango”.
A post shared by Shannon || The Glowing Fridge (@theglowingfridge) on Apr 17, 2017 at 1:01pm PDT
The “unicorn” food trend started about a year ago in the United States, according to the New York Times.
Unicorn cakes, toast, lattes, cookies and bagels have popped up in cafes, bakeries and social media.
This includes anything with candy colours, and sparkly, or cute pastel-coloured decorations. Some mimic actual (imaginary) unicorns, with confection horse ears and golden horns.
Photo: Facebook screengrabs
With Starbucks jumping on the psychedelic bandwagon, there has been some interest in Singapore.
Starbucks Singapore’s Facebook page has received some queries from customers about whether the sparkly drink will be coming to the island.
At least one local cafe, Boufe Boutique cafe, serves a unicorn cake, while many do have rainbow cakes.
The Straits Times has contacted Starbucks Singapore for its comments.
Meanwhile, how about a colourful ice kacang?
This article was first published on April 23, 2017. Get a copy of The Straits Times or go to straitstimes.com for more stories.
HONG KONG – Aaron Kwok was in high spirits at the opening of luxury goods company Louis Vuitton’s time capsule exhibition, three days after his wedding to model Moka Fang.
The 51-year-old pop star was beaming and doing twirls for photographers last Friday, and did not miss a beat when he was asked about rumours that Fang, 29, is expecting a baby. “The character for ‘double happiness’ is composed of two characters for ‘happiness’,” he said with a smile, reported Ming Pao Daily News.
Is he waiting for the customary three months to announce the pregnancy? “This is a good question. Give me more time. I’ll share it at an appropriate time.”
He said he wanted his mother to witness his major life events and he was “more moved than her” at his wedding, reported Apple Daily News. He hopes to give her a grandchild next, he added.
How many children will he have? “We haven’t decided, we’re going step by step, milk money isn’t that expensive, though.”
Kwok announced his relationship with Fang in December 2015. A year later, they got engaged on Christmas Day, he said.
His family and manager planned the wedding because he was tied up with work. He has two movies to film next and no plans to go on a honeymoon yet, but he will take three to four days off between the movies to make it up to his wife, he added.
On Facebook, film producer Chiu Li-kwan wrote that she had been left off Kwok’s guest list, which included his close friends, fashion businessman Sham Kar Wai and singer Julian Cheung. “If I marry later, I won’t ask you either. Humph!” she said.
Kwok said last Friday: “Big Sister Kwan is someone I respect. She’s always liked to joke. We don’t need to be too serious. She also called my manager May to congratulate me.”
This article was first published on April 23, 2017. Get a copy of The Straits Times or go to straitstimes.com for more stories.
SINGAPORE – The eggs sold at an Ang Mo Kio coffeeshop are real, the Agri-Food & Veterinary Authority (AVA) said in response to a video posted on social media.
Facebook user Jerome Junior claimed that synthetic eggs from China have “hit Singapore” in a Facebook post on Friday (April 21).
However, AVA said that their investigations show that the eggs sold were real.
“Our investigations have shown that the eggs sold there are real, and were imported from an accredited farm in Malaysia,” AVA said in a Facebook post on Sunday afternoon.
The Authority clarified that Singapore does not import eggs from China, as China is not an approved source.
“Both imported and locally produced eggs are also regularly sampled for food safety and compliance with AVA’s standards and requirements,” AVA said.
This article was first published on April 23, 2017. Get a copy of The Straits Times or go to straitstimes.com for more stories.
BURGER KING: 1-for-1 Ultimate Selection value meal with UOB mobile payments till 28 April!
Burger King: 1-for-1 Ultimate Selection Value Meal (U.P. $8.90 – $9.90) with UOB mobile payments
Enjoy 1-for-1 Ultimate Selection Value Meal (U.P.S$8.90 – S$9.90) at Burger King when you pay via UOB mobile payments. Choice of Mushroom Swiss Angus Beef, Classic BBQ Angus Beef or Tendercrisp Chicken
More bicycle racks will also be built in Ang Mo Kio as an increasing number of residents take to cycling.
A child tries a hoverboard at a road safety event at Cheng San Community Centre in Ang Mo Kio. (Photo: Chan Luo Er)
SINGAPORE: Ang Mo Kio residents can look forward to more bicycle racks and new lockers for their personal mobility devices as the town gears up to become car-lite.
According to Ang Mo Kio GRC MP Ang Hin Kee, personal mobility devices like electric scooters and unicycles, as well as hoverboards, are getting more popular with residents.
To provide storage from them, lockers were launched at the Cheng San Community Centre (CC) on Sunday (Apr 23) during an annual community event for road safety.
Lockers for personal mobility devices now available at Cheng San Community Centre, next to Ang Mo Kio MRT station. (Photo: Chan Luo Er)
The centre is next to Ang Mo Kio MRT.
“Whether it is for users who come to the CC or are enroute to other places – since there is a walk-to-ride scheme and there’s sheltered linkway – they may ride here, leave it here and then move on to take the MRT to somewhere else,” said Mr Ang.
From now until May 1, users will not have to pay for the use of the lockers and usage time will follow the CC’s operating hours from 9AM to 10PM. This will allow the CC to gauge community usage.
MORE BICYCLE RACKS
Mr Ang added that more bicycle racks will also be built as an increasing number of residents take to cycling.
“We have received more feedback from the town council side saying that all the void decks with bicycle racks seem to be occupied,” he said. “I’ve had a chat with the bicycle repair shops in Ang Mo Kio – there are three of them so far, I’ve noticed – and they told me business has gone up with regards to purchase, repair, servicing of bikes. So there is an increase in demand on the ground as we see it.”
He said he also anticipates a further increase in demand for such facilities when the Ang Mo Kio Cycling network is complete.
Ang Mo Kio is set to become the country’s first cyclist- and pedestrian-friendly town with dedicated paths connecting key amenities. Phase One was launched in 2016 and works for Phase Two are expected to be done by 2019.
United Overseas Bank (UOB) has released an official statement, responding to allegations that its staff was involved in a dispute with an elderly man.
In a Facebook post at around 11pm, the bank said:
“Our investigations show that the couple shown in the video is not our UOB Toa Payoh branch staff.
“While we agree with many of you that the behaviour captured is shameful and deplorable, nevertheless we need to be fair to the innocent and therefore respectfully request that any unsubstantiated allegations not be posted.”
A clip of the incident was originally posted by Facebook user Manny Quest and went viral after it was re-uploaded by Thelocalsociety yesterday (Apr 22).
The dispute was apparently over an empty table at the hawker centre, which the couple said had been ‘reserved’ by them.
At one point in the video, the young man can be seen pushing the elderly uncle from behind. Fortunately, the table broke the latter’s fall.
The young man pushes the elderly uncle from behind. Photo: Facebook/Thelocalsociety
A witness also recounted what happened and said that the couple used expletives on the older man, who remained calm and polite throughout.
The incident has sparked national outrage and started an online witch hunt for the couple in question.
Several netizens claimed to have identified them and said they were employees at a Toa Payoh branch of UOB.
In response to the allegations, UOB wrote on its Facebook page today (Apr 23) after queries by Stomp:
“We are investigating the matter to ascertain the identities and determine if either or both parties in the video are members of our staff. UOB cannot condone such behaviour which neither reflects our values nor the standards we expect of all our employees.”
Actress Rui En just can’t seem to stay out of trouble these days.
The star made headlines last year after mounting the kerb and knocking down a parked motorcycle at Block 331, Clementi Avenue 2.
She was subsequently fined $700 after pleading guilty to one charge of careless driving.
However, she was soon in the news again, this time for flouting the traffic rules by driving straight on a right-turn only lane in Orchard Road.
In this latest incident, she has seemingly upset her neighbours in Clementi.
According to a Lianhe Wanbao report, the neighbours wrote in to the Chinese daily to complain about her behaviour.
According to them, at about 6pm on April 20, Rui En knocked on their door and asked them for a power bank to charge her phone.
The elderly neighbours did not have one, so they invited her into their home to use their landline.
However, they said that the actress slammed the phone twice when the numbers she dialled did not go through.
When she finally did get through, she reportedly told her helper that she was waiting for the latter to return to open the door.
The elderly couple told Lianhe Wanbao that Rui En appeared agitated through the entire incident, and even ordered them to head upstairs to retrieve some of her items.
SINGAPORE: For Aster Lee, going to the Sembawang Hot Spring was relief of more than one kind.
Ms Lee made her first visit to the hot spring along Gambas Avenue in April together with a group of brisk walkers. It was a place that she had been keen to visit for quite a while, she said.
The 62-year-old retiree said she had also been having knee aches since spraining it last December, but felt some of the pain ease after soaking her legs in the hot water.
At the hot spring, water continuously flows out from the taps, providing visitors with an ample supply of hot water for various uses. When Channel NewsAsia visited the site in April, Ms Lee’s brisk walking group was boiling a basket of eggs in a pail of water.
People were also spotted using the water to do their laundry.
Visitors at the Sembawang hot spring collect water with the pails lying around to soak their feet in the water or do their laundry. (Photo: Rachel Phua)
“It was a really good experience. I enjoyed the hot spring water,” Ms Lee said.
Come end-2018, trips to this northern part of Singapore might be a tad different The National Parks Board (NParks) announced that the Sembawang Hot Spring area will soon be turned into a one-hectare park. Development of the park will start at the end of this year and is expected to be completed a year later.
Not that it could not do with a little sprucing up.
“At first, the place looked a little unsightly,” Ms Lee said, adding that she hopes more drainage facilities, toilets and trash bins will be installed during the redevelopment as this could help keep some of the mosquitoes and ants at bay. A drink stall could be also be set up.
Said Ms Lee: “The water can be used to make hard-boiled eggs, (while we enjoy) a kaya toast”.
A brisk-walking group visits the Sembawang Hot Spring to soak their feet and cook eggs. (Photo: Rachel Phua)
Another member of her group agreed and gave some creative suggestions of his own.
“They could build a drain, just for your feet to soak in (as you) sit along an embankment,” 57-year-old Yeow Kok Hoong said.
Others Channel NewsAsia spoke to, however, wished the site could remain in its current state.
Mr Teo Lye Hock, 67, another member of the brisk walking group, hopes the place remains free of charge after the revamp, calling it a “poor man’s spa”.
Another visitor, 59-year-old Mdm Pan Hiew Lian said in Mandarin: “I’ve already been coming here for more than 20 years. I don’t want it to be redeveloped because I think it brings a sense of nostalgia. Redevelopment might make it better, but it’ll lose its charm.”
Mdm Pan added that she used to visit the hot spring once a week when she was living close by and though she lives at Bukit Gombak with her husband now, they still visit it twice a month.
Ms Lee and Mr Yeow also said that despite looking forward to the upgrades, the site should still keep its “rustic setting”.
CONCERNS OVER ENVIRONMENT, HERITAGE
Dr Grahame John Henderson Oliver, a senior lecturer at the Nanyang Technological University’s Asian School of the Environment, said that the redevelopment is timely as the area is currently very bare, but that feedback should be gathered among residents first.
“I think if you’re going to do any development in Singapore now, you do an environment impact assessment report and publish it.”
“People can review that and presumably there’ll be townhall type meetings where people with different vested interests – the local people, the development people – can all discuss and reach an agreement on how it could be,” he said.
Dr Grahame Oliver, a senior lecturer at Nanyang Technological University’s Asian School of the Environment, teaches a class of undergraduates how the Sembawang Hot Spring was formed. (Photo: Rachel Phua)
However, one historian said modifying the hot spring’s present form could also mean losing a part of Singapore’s heritage. Mr Alex Tan Tiong Hee, the honorary secretary of the Singapore Heritage Society, said the hot spring is one of the few remaining places of interest outside of the city region that serves to highlight Singapore’s heritage.
“It’s something that doesn’t just cater to the folks living around Yishun or Sembawang, (but it’s also a place to show) tourists, our friends, that outside the urban areas we still have landmarks,” he said.
Mr Tan added that landmarks such as the hot spring help create, among residents, a sense of belonging to their neighbourhood. Without it, that sense of attachment is reduced.
NParks said that it will appoint a team of consultants to help with the design and implementation of the park. The consultants will also have to give a “comprehensive report on the hydrogeological study of the site”.
HOW THE HOT SPRING WAS FORMED
According to Dr Olivier, the hot spring’s formation is linked to Bukit Timah Hill.
At 165 metres, the hill is the highest point in Singapore and when rain falls, the rainwater seeps through the granite within the hill.
The rainwater then sinks to about 4.8 kilometres underground, where it gets heated up by the surrounding rocks and mantle to about 160 degrees Celsius and 190 degrees Celsius, he explained.
As more rain falls, the water underground is pushed out through the faults and cracks that connect the ground under Bukit Timah Hill and the Sembawang Hot Spring, he said. The water then cools to 70 degrees Celsius as it reaches the surface. Source link
A child tries a hoverboard at a road safety event at Cheng San Community Centre in Ang Mo Kio. (Photo: Chan Luo Er)
Visitors at the Sembawang hot spring collect water with the pails lying around to soak their feet in the water or do their laundry. (Photo: Rachel Phua)
A brisk-walking group visits the Sembawang Hot Spring to soak their feet and cook eggs. (Photo: Rachel Phua)
Dr Grahame Oliver, a senior lecturer at Nanyang Technological University’s Asian School of the Environment, teaches a class of undergraduates how the Sembawang Hot Spring was formed. (Photo: Rachel Phua)
