27 June, 2006 Even without the aid of beer, the last few months seemed to whiz by in the blink of an eye. Here's a quick re-cap of what we've been up to. April 25 was ANZAC (Australia and New Zealand Army Corps) Day. It is a time-honoured tradition of remembering those who had made the supreme sacrifice. Mr Jeyathurai represented The Changi Museum for the wreath laying ceremony.
Somehow every year the weather is always perfect on this particular day. The simple but meaningful ceremony held at Kranji War Memorial was bathed with a warm rosy glow by a gorgeous sunrise.
After the ceremony, The Changi Museum (which, as you know, is affiliated to Journeys) offered half-hour tours at the Kranji War Memorial to the public. No ANZAC Day is complete without having a gunfire breakfast i.e. having rum in your coffee. Need we say more?
May was a busy but pleasant month, with no scandalous events to share. June saw The Changi Museum participating in Changi Village Day where photo-story boards prepared by the museum were displayed. The community living in this eastern end of Singapore sure enjoyed looking at how Changi transformed from a jungle to having a world-class aviation centre.
Coincidentally, while June ushered in the World Cup Fever, many of us were hit with the actual fever! Some of us were down with a bad case of the flu and in the office sniffles, coughs and occasional delirious babblings were heard.
However, we had cause to celebrate because we got together for Savita's birthday - and we did it in style! We all headed to a Middle Eastern fusion type joint at Kampong Glam where we ate and drank in honour of Savita! Now in case you want us to reveal Savita's age, let's just say we're all grateful for recovering from flu and don't wish to end up at the doctor's again only this time for getting beaten up. So we're just going to say that Savita is forever young!
3 March, 2006 Hello we're baaaaaack! We've been quiet the last few months as we were buried under piles of paper work and projects. But you've been on our minds all this while. It's going to be a long blog because we've so many wonderful as well as embarrassing snippets to share!
For those of you who happened to be on today's Walk (On Forbidden Ground™ ) may have noticed that Loone's smile was extra wide! That's because he won Tourism Host of the Year, Tour Guiding 2005.
Last night we attended the Singapore Tourism Awards. We went in full force as we had our colleagues from Changi Museum too. Among us is a new addition to the Journeys family. We happily welcome our new colleague Angela J. She handles operations and marketing with Charmaine. And yes! Angela passed our beer test (if last night's drinking was any indication!)
We were all in a celebratory mood for many reasons. Dhobis, Saris & a Spot of Curry™ and Secrets of the Red Lantern™ were finalists in the category for Best Sightseeing/Leisure/Educational Programme 2005. We were and still are very honoured that both Walks were selected to be in the finals. Loone was up against some very good tour guides, so it was a great achievement to have won. And how did we make our presence felt at the event? Dressed up to the nines, looking all debonair, yet the moment we heard “The winner is Muhammad Razeen Chan Ying Loone!” all subdued behaviour was out the window as we whipped out our party favours and gave it all we got! You can imagine the noise coming from us. Last year we did it too when we won for Sultans of Spice™… hmmm wonder if that's the reason why they seated us all in the last row this time round?
Check us out!
Faces may be blurred but smiles are clearly evident!
All smiles are definitely genuine (although for most, the smiles were enhanced by too much wine!) excuse the blurred photo of us, we suspect either our photographer was trying to be artistic or he had trouble juggling the wine glass and camera.
It was also Marianne's birthday (according to her, she is forever 25). So after the awards, last night we headed off to… where else… a pub! There was a fantastic jazz band. Marianne was called on stage where everyone sang her a birthday song. She was asked to dance, but after a few poor attempts at trying to look co-ordinated, she opted to wave like the Queen of England instead. (A message to the youth of today – This is what happens when you consume too much beer.)
But the ultimate story was when a fortune teller doing her rounds came up to Savita and read her palm. She told Savita very seriously that she was “…sometimes smart, sometimes not so smart.” Of which the immediate responses from all of us were “What do you mean sometimes not so smart, always not so smart!” Oh Savi, you know we love you and think you're the best! You know what they say, we always tease the ones we love the most!
And on that note! We just want to add that while winning awards are great morale boosters, we've said it before and we'll say it again. We always feel like winners because we get to meet all of you on our Walks! By the way, keep checking our website as there are new tours in the pipeline. See you soon!
20 December, 2005 Helena was doing her usual Red Clogs Down the Five-Foot-Way™ Walk when her group passed by our office below. It must be something in their morning tea as Savi and Marianne stuck their heads out of the second floor window and waved like lunatics or royalty to them. We believed they were photographed! So if you took a picture of them, please do send us a copy by e-mail!
23 November, 2005 From beer bellies to buff bodies, we decided to go on a health kick! This month saw us attempting (the word here is attempt) to play sports. Although Marianne insists she gets enough exercise at work already from jumping to conclusions and beating around the bush. Our exercise regime consists of badminton together once a week and we have tried to keep to that schedule. It's loads of fun, although everyone avoids playing with Mr Jeya because he makes us run all over the court trying to keep up with him.
28 October, 2005 Recuperating from the exciting events of September, October was a little more restful. But then again, nothing is ever quiet in the office (and we wouldn't want it any other way). Journeys is expanding (and judging from our expanding waistlines from all that beer the staff count isn't the only thing increasing around here)! We are happy to welcome Charmaine Goh to Journeys who will be handling operations and marketing. We've seen her drink beer and happily welcome her to our family.
21 September, 2005 September was a very special month for us. The 60th commemoration of World War 2 took place and Journeys was very excited to see lots of people coming for our Changi Museum War Trails™. As part of the offerings for this commemoration month, two events were of extra significance to us. On September 10, Changi Museum held a memorial service and a launch of new exhibits. Colleagues from our associate companies Singapore History Consultants and Changi Museum survived on months of sleepless nights, working non-stop to prepare for it. The other event that saw us working round the clock preparing was the highlight of the month. At the crack of dawn on September 12, veterans and non-veterans from all over the globe made an effort to attend Kranji War Memorial Dedication Service. This year's Dedication Service was a very emotionally rewarding time for us as we met many of the war veterans and/or their families who came to commemorate this special event this year.
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Dignitaries lay wreaths in honour of those who sacrificed their lives. |
An poignant moment for veterans and their families |
3 May, 2005 You may have noticed two new faces when you come for The Original Singapore Walks. Or you may have come across two additional names in our latest brochure. Can you believe it? They were lucky (or should I say crazy) enough to join our Walking crew! We are very happy to extend a warm welcome to both Devika Misra and Choong Soo Ming as our Journeys guides. Devika whom we have dubbed the “Tai Tai” (come for her tours and ask her what that means) and Soo Ming with her crazy sense of humour (and you thought Loone and Simon were bad!) definitely add more spice and flavour to our bubbling brew of delicious Original Singapore Walks (nothing like blatant self praise for our Walks heh heh)! We just love entertaining our guests with new stories and anecdotes; hence we're in the process of coming up with new tours. So watch this space (best to keep a look out for our latest brochures) to discover more!
25 April, 2005 Most of us woke up at four in the morning to head for Kranji War Memorial. No no we weren't health fanatics going for a brisk morning jog nor were we part of some crazy cult ritual. It was ANZAC (Australia and New Zealand Army Corp) Day and a ceremony was held there. Many important dignitaries, war veterans and the general public attended it. The ceremony was simple and meaningful. Somehow the sunrise creating a rosy hue everywhere just made waking up, at a time when even nocturnal creatures are sleeping, worth it. There was a wreath laying ceremony and Mr Jeyathurai represented The Changi Museum. As rows and rows of wreaths were placed, it created a very touching image in our minds. We hope that future generations will continue this time-honoured tradition of remembering the war brave. Of course the gunfire breakfast was a pleasurable incentive to be there too. Gunfire breakfast traditionally meant having rum in your coffee. Ms Jeya knew just the right amount to splash in the coffee for a good kickstart to a Monday morning. After the ceremony, The Changi Museum (affiliated to Journeys Pte Ltd) offered half hour tours at the Kranji War Memorial to the public. We don't know if it was the gunfire breakfast, but many were rushing to sign up for the tours after they had their breakfast. :) We recognised many of the guests who previously turned up for The Original Singapore Walks so it was like meeting old friends.
1 March, 2005 ITGD 2005 was very successful and everyone enjoyed themselves on our Walk. The Kampong Glam Walk went down well with everyone (it helped that the tours were all free of charge too!)
Hmmm…remember we told you that Sultans of Spice™ was nominated for a Tourism Award? How do we put this to you…We won! We won! We WON! And all because of you wonderful people who have been investing your money wisely by coming on our Walks! We are proud to announce Sultans of Spice™ won for best Sightseeing/Leisure/Educational Programme at the Tourism Awards Singapore 2004. It was held at the beautiful concert hall at the Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay. We were all dressed up and sat very prim and proper. The moment it came to announcing the nominees in our category, we whipped out our party favours all ready to make a raucous. And now the moment of truth “And the winner is Sul…” Honk! Honk! Whrrrr! we just went wild blowing on the paper horns and twirling the party favours. It was a terrific moment we only wished you could have been there with us. Here is a happy picture of us
It was definitely a great way to start one's first day of work with us. And that's what Michelle did. Along with the award, we are pleased to welcome Michelle who is the new executive of operations and marketing for Journeys Pte Ltd. Judging from her enthusiastic cheering, we know she'll fit right in with our mad bunch. We'll have to see if she can match up to the beer tolerance levels though… Watch this space for more words of wisdom in the future! Please do drop us an email if you've been on our Walks, we'd love to hear your comments. If you enjoyed them and wish to drop us a note, we have a website where we showcase all our ravin reviews (we're shameless we know that :) but we think it's a great chance to share the encouragements from our friends and walkers who have been such wonderful supporters of our Walks.) Or should you have any suggestions or feedback, please email us at fun@singaporewalks.com too. We're always happy to hear from you.
7 February, 2005 Waxed sausages! Red and gold decorative Chinese motifs! Loud disco versions of traditional Chinese New Year songs blasting day in and day out… yup! Chinese New Year is just round the corner. Chinatown gets more and more crowded every day. We’re seriously considering doing a flying fox from the office to the MRT station just to get to and from work. If you’re keen to learn our take on Chinese New Year click here.
30 January, 2005 Here’s an office joke. Marianne calls Mr Jeya “Boss” (we’re still not too sure if she’s being extra polite or extra cheeky) but now he’s generally referred to as “The Boss.” Let’s hope he doesn’t get any ideas to embark on a career doing impersonations of the original Bruce “The Boss” Springsteen. So far we haven’t heard Boss sing, but with the incessant loud music from the karaoke joint near our office playing non-stop, he may just be practising in his office without our knowledge.
We’d like to take this opportunity to thank you for supporting our Walks. We noticed many familiar faces as you’ve been turning up for many of our different Walks. Our day was completely made when Helena informed us some of you are so addicted to our Walks you’re planning to start a support group to handle the addiction. It’s brilliant! The Original Singapore Walkers Anonymous! We love it! If you are the person who told Helena that, please contact us because we think it’s a fantastic idea and would like to congratulate and chat with the brilliant person who came up with it!
21 December, 2004 December saw us working out (obviously not by choice! the only exercise we like is lifting mugs of frothy beer!) We had a major spring-cleaning session and furniture re-arranging in the office so that was one crazy hectic time! Our office now looks pretty cool. If you’re ever in town, do swing by and say hi! Don’t forget to tell us how great our office looks :) (Oh well, modesty was never our best trait).
Great news to share! Two of our Walks from The Original Singapore Walks® (Sultans of Spice™ & Secrets of the Red Lantern™) have been nominated for the Tourism Awards 2004. That’s not all! Fans of Helena’s will be pleased to know she was a nominee for the Tour guiding category. Savita won it the year before so looks like we must be doing something right to get these nominations. Thank you everyone who have supported and still are supporting The Original Singapore Walks® by sending in all those encouraging reviews and getting your friends to come on our Walks. As far as we’re concerned, we already consider ourselves winners on the basis we got to meet all of you!
18 November, 2004 Hello patient people! Finally! There are new pearls of wisdom from us. Thank you for your subtle and not so subtle (people you know who you are =) ) hints for reminding us that we haven’t been keeping you in the loop on our “office gossip” for some time. Either you truly love us or you definitely need to get a hobby. Fast. Well, we’re very flattered and frankly slightly disturbed that you have waaaaaaaaaaaaaay too much time to keep wanting to read our blogs. Just kidding! We love having you drop by our website. As long as you’re happy to be here, we’ll always be thrilled to keep our blogs relevant and ongoing. (Ok I lied about the relevant bit). So grab that coffee, put you feet up and be entertained by what we’ve been up to.
November saw some changes in our office staff. (Some time back, we bade goodbye to our lovely Yi Hui and Karen.) We were wondering who else were going to keep the office entertained with their crazy banter when what do you know! Some people were mad enough (or rather fortunate enough, intelligent enough, good looking enough…you get my drift) to join us. With open arms and lots of alcoholic looking smiles, we welcomed Sandar and Marianne to our office. Sandar is our designing guru (Graphic Designer cum Management Support Officer) and Marianne is the Assistant Manager, Business Development for Journeys (so she actually gets paid to mind other people’s business! oh wait! she’s minding our business! hmmm….)