Happy Vesak Day! 卫塞节快乐！

Happy Vesak Day to all Buddhists! Today is a sacred day, commemorating Sakyamuni Buddha's birth, enlightenment and parinirvana. As a Buddhist, I try to follow Buddha's teaching. Buddha taught us to be compassionate to all sentient beings. I try to eat more vegetarian food and meditate. Thank you Buddha for your selfless teaching for 45 years. Amitofo. 阿弥陀佛

Did you know that there is a Bodhi tree aka the sacred fig at Singapore Jewel airport? It is located at level 5, Canopy Garden. Buddha was enlightened under the Bodhi tree. 祝所有佛教徒佛诞节快乐！今日是釋迦牟尼 佛陀诞辰、悟道与涅槃的神圣纪念日。身为佛教徒，我谨遵佛陀教诲。佛陀教导我们对一切众生心怀慈悲。感谢佛陀四十五年无私传法，我心怀感激。阿弥陀佛。 

你知道新加坡樟宜机场有一棵菩提树. 它位于5层的Canopy Garden区域。佛陀正是在菩提树下悟道成佛.

Story of the Buddha

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Dim Sum at Tim Ho Wan

I like the high tea set from Tim Ho Wan,  

Dutch Art and Pink Tulips Dutch Art and Pink Tulips 荷兰艺术与粉红色郁金香

Today is the last day of Tulipmania at Gardens by the Bay, Singapore.  I like this year theme as I got to learn from Dutch arts even though they are replicas and explore beautiful tulips. 

         I painted pink tulips in watercolour learnt from video. 

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Splendid Tulips And Iconic Dutch's Arts 璀璨郁金香与荷兰艺术杰作

Experience the breathtaking diversity of tulips at this year’s Tulipmania—from fringed, triumph, and lily-flowered varieties to living replicas of Dutch masterpieces by Rembrandt, Vermeer, Van Gogh, and Mondrian. All of this unfolds in vibrant, colour-filled tulip rows that recreate the spirit of the Rijksmuseum. 

Blooming Magnolias!

I love these stunning magnolias! Magnolias are not only beautiful and fragrant, they are living fossils that evolved over 95 million years ago! 

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Botero: Heart of Volume Exhibition in Singapore

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AI Story: The Story of Persian Cat and The White Eagle

AI is really powerful, Now AI can create short video. This AI generated video of Persian Cat and the White Eagle inspired from the Chinese wuxia and current Iran war. Anyway may this war end soon and peace reign. 

Chick-fil-A at Singapore Bugis+

This Tuesday, I met my friend for lunch at Asia's first Chick-a-fil outlet at Singapore Bugis+. My friend who is vegetarian had the Mac & cheese and salad. I opted for the Deluxe sandwich meal which comes with waffle fries and drink, and large Mac and Cheese. I enjoyed the meal and will come back for the Mac and cheese and deluxe sandwich with fresh tomato and chicken.

We reached at 11 am so luckily we managed to order immediately. Do take note that there be long queue around 12pm.

Orchids Renanthera Singaporeans

 Did you know that there are orchids known as Renanthera Singaporeans dedicated to Singaporeans?  

Day Trip to Johor Bahru

I finally explored my friend's home in Johor Bahru, Singapore's neighbour. Special thanks to my kind friend who spent the whole day showing me around Johor for delicious food and shopping last weekend (14 March 2026). I also had the opportunity to explore her big cluster 3-storey house where there are 7 bedrooms and 6 toilets in her Johor home! 

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Elegant Cymbidium Orchids 优雅的兰花

Cymbidium Orchids

Happy Yuan Xiao Jie Chap Goh Mei 元宵节

Today is the 15th day of the first month 正月十五 in the lunisolar Chinese calendar which marks the end of Chinese New Year celebrations. Just had a sumptuous home-cooked dinner and yusheng with my family.  What about you?

Delicious dinner with my family. 

Rich fragrant soup with fish maw, fish balls, vegetables, quail eggs and many more ingredients.

I like these fried crispy prawns prepared by my mum.

Fried crispy dumpling.

Singing Getai Performance at Tampines West

Was wondering what is the event as people are setting up performance stage at Tampines West. Then I saw the bright red poster as shown below. There is Getai performance and 8-course dinner today at Tampines West, just outside Prime supermarket. 

Praying At Taoist Temple

This year people with Chinese horoscopes like Horse, Rooster, Rabbit and Rat are advised to pray to Taisui at temple. It is said that people with the above horoscopes are “offending” the Taisui. For peace of mind, I just went to pray at a Taoist temple in Tampines today. 

Even though I’m Buddhist, I also follow Taoist traditions since I grew up in a Taoist family. (By the way Kuan Yin is based on Buddhism). I believe in teaching from both Buddha and Laozi. 

If you also need to pray, do so before next Tuesday, 3 March 2026 or the 15th day of January 正月十五 based on Chinese calendar 农历。Do pray again before Dongzi or winter solstice day in Oct/Nov this year. May everyone be safe in this fire horse year. 

Impressive Chinese New Year Show 2026

Impressive Chinese New Year performance by China. Some highlights include Hong Kong stars like Jacky Chan, flowers segment and the Chinese martial arts and robots . May this strong fire horse year herald a brand new beginning!

Looking at these historical figures made me wonder what did my ancestors do during the Han, Tang and Song dynasties. 

Plum Flowers 梅花

Plum flowers 梅花. To read more,  visit Blooming Flowers and Arts blog here. 

Gorgeous Peonies Gorgeous Pink Peonies 美丽的牡丹花

Peonies are known as the "King of Flowers" in Chinese culture. It is a symbol of honour, wealth and royalty. It is also used in traditional medicine and art. 

Today is the first day of Chinese New Year. Wishing you a prosperous and great health in this Fire Horse and may there be positive sweeping change.

牡丹在中华文化中被誉为“花中之王”，象征着荣誉、富贵与皇权。它还被用于传统医药与艺术创作。

今天是农历新年第一天。祝您马年吉祥如意，身体健康，愿万事焕然一新。

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Happy Chinese New Year Eve

Just had sumptuous reunion dinner with my family. We had typical Teochew dishes like ngoh hiang and the flavourful seafood soup with many ingredients like prawns, fish balls, fish maw, scallops, quail eggs, cabbage, carrot, radishes. 

Chinese New Year is based on the traditional lunisolar Chinese calendar and not lunar calendar. Really weird when people greet lunar new year. 

This month is quite hard to lose weight as this Spring month I’m also celebrating my birthday. I have free cakes from restaurants this month.

May next year Fire Horse bring positive sweeping change and may all children be cherished and protected. How you treat the vulnerable speaks volume of your character. Wishing to all my friends and kind readers a prosperous and healthy year ahead!  祝我的朋友和善良的读者心想事成，万事如意，马到功成！

Year of Fire Horse! Year of Justice

There is a Chinese saying, 纸是包不住火 or paper cannot hold fire which means truth cannot be withheld.This year is an extremely "hot" year in Chinese metaphysics Bazi, it is 丙午年 or fire horse. Both heavenly stem and earthly branch are fire elements. Maybe this is why this year secrets will be exposed and crimes by the rich and powerful will be revealed and there be justice finally. Content in epst file is really disturbing. America department of Justice is not doing their job and the rich and powerful are not charged. It seems like there are two sets of laws in USA, one for the commoner and the other for the rich and famous. It's time to told the perpetrators accountable for their actions. 

Those who abused vulnerable and innocent children must be prosecuted. Pedophiles abusing children are committing crimes against humanity. How could people bear to hurt fellow humans? May there be justice. Karma or cause and effect is real. It's just a matter of time.

Ironically this is written by the "spiritual guru" Deepak Chopra who appeared in the  epst.. file. Time to throw his book.

Hydrangeas 绣球花

My friend L and cousin M love hydrangeas. This short video is a dedication to them. I will do a video on hydrangeas compilation maybe in March. Last Friday I visited flower dome again for Spring Blossoms and I was delighted to see plum flowers, dahlias and other flowers in full bloom! Will do  videos on these beautiful flowers soon. Stay tuned. 

What a coincidence! I saw two ex-colleagues at the flower dome. They asked if I plan to return. I shared that I don't want to go for any interview anymore. As a Buddhist, I believe in fate. If I'm meant to work or meet the people there, I will work there. 随缘自在。If the organisation needs my service and I enjoy the work then I work lor. 

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