My Marvellous Vacation in London

 18 to 25 October 2015

 
On the 18th of October at ten in the evening, we were driven to KLIA. We took a short break at Old Town as our flight was at 2.55am. We were on an Airbus A330 that was part of the fleet of Etihad Airways, the airline of the United Arab Emirates. After arrival in Abu Dhabi International Airport, we took their so-called Cobus (an ecobus) to the terminal as the airport was colossal. It took us a fairly long time to get to the terminal. From there, we caught a connecting flight to Heathrow Airport (Terminal 4) and a black cab to the Grand Plaza Serviced Apartment, located in a peaceful array of townhouses not far from Bayswater high-street.
 
The next morning, we caught a Tube from Bayswater to Notting Hill Gate, using the Circle line. From Notting Hill Gate, we caught another train to Holborn, where yet another tube could have been taken to Covent Garden if the Piccadilly line wasn’t partly closed.

As a result, we had to walk a long way to Covent Garden where we met our friendly guide Angus Templeton, as we were going on a walking tour. We covered the Big Ben (nicknamed by an overweight man with the name Benjamin who stood by the clock) and Trafalgar Square (which I thought of as a concourse of street vendors and where urban pigeons found their staple source of food from the many crumbs and particles of snacks).

Next came the majestic Buckingham Palace, which was made humongous because of Queen Victoria who found the palace disapproving and not meeting up to her standards and therefore making plans for a private wing).

We also passed by Nelson’s Column (honouring the courageous Horatio Nelson who fought many battles on his ship life) and Westminster Abbey. I once read that Isaac Newton was buried there. We also covered information about King Henry and his six wives (with three named Katherine) and the plot of Guy Fawkes, who plotted to use gunpowder to blow up the Houses of Parliament but was caught red-handed and hanged. As a result, the 5th of November was Guy Fawkes Day, where a special poem was recited.

I also learnt that when Horatio Nelson died, he was preserved in a barrel of brandy, which was siphoned off by his crew when they were near to his burial place. At the end of the walking tour, everyone thanked Angus, our knowledgeable guide. My dad took me to St. James’s Park for a light lunch. St James’s Park is a beautiful park full of ducks, geese, pelicans, pigeons and squirrels. Sometimes the ducks get loose and you can feed them. I love watching them. The autumn weather made it very pleasant to walk in the park, with the leaves turning red, yellow and gold. After a long day of walking, our legs were exhausted.

On Tuesday, we took the tube to Holborn again for our visit to the British Museum. First we explored the Ancient Egyptian gallery. I had a glimpse of two statues of an Egyptian pharaoh, one of them having a broken false beard. I had also seen a cuboid stone with inscriptions of hieroglyphics (ancient Egyptian language) on them. Further down the room was a mummified king (of the vast field of Egyptian kings, I could not remember the name).

After that, we saw the Rosetta Stone, the key to deciphering hieroglyphics. Scientists had assumed that hieroglyphics were pictures to express ideas and could not be translated into word form. Next, we moved on to the African gallery. The gallery was separated into two sides, one for only woodwork and the other for everything else.

At the Entrance to British Museum

On the woodwork corner there was a huge gallery with things like spears, chisels, flint stones, knives, etc. There was also a wood-constructed figure of the baobab tree, known as the “Tree Of Life”. A wooden deckchair made by a Mozambican artist had the motto “the strongest thing you can do is pick up a book, not a gun”. Then I spotted a gorgeous terracotta jar (with bumps on the side) that was surprisingly shining.

“Tree Of Life”

Close to the Egyptian gallery was the Assyrian gallery. There were two tall stones looking almost like the Rosetta Stone because they had pictures on them. We also saw two Assyrian lion hunts, known to keep palaces guarded.  I was deceived by a “wooden bench” sitting in a corner of a room, not realising that it was a tomb. The Medieval European gallery was full of artefacts, mostly consisting of ancient stained glass paintings. In one area was a box of ancient gold coins that were glittering in the light. By about 4.00pm we were quite worn-out, so we decided to call it a day.
 
On the third day, we took the Tube from Bayswater station to South Kensington. Just a stone’s throw away from the station is the Science Museum. Firstly, we explored an array of early day complicated machines and the dreadful coal mine labour during the Industrial Revolution. Everybody worked in the mine - men, women, boys, girls, even the elderly.

Next we went to the “Exploring Space” gallery. We saw a tiny but life-changing probe manufactured in Japan. It could whiz above the universe and snap high resolution photos of the Earth and the Moon. A replica was placed in a stored case.

Then I had a whale of a time constructing a successful lander. Surprisingly, when the parachute (virtual one) was released, it came down safely without crashing (phew!). After that, I had a look at the life of probably the greatest cosmonaut (Russian term for astronaut), Yuri Gagarin, who was born in a remote village in Russia. A shining, huge, replica of the Apollo 10 Command Module was spotted in a corner. Also quite near to that was some objects from space life, from space suit to space diaper (I have taken a photo) and a typical space meal (unappetising to me). Then we went to the “Making the Modern World” gallery, where early objects that revolutionised the century of electrics and other iconic technology shaped the way to our present times, bringing us back to the 1750s.

I remembered seeing a camera invented by an inventor by the name of John Fox Talbot. His camera looked almost nothing like a real one; it was just a cube of wood with a hole for a lens in the middle. I was very curious to find out where the shutter is, or else the “camera” would have been just a cube of wood with a hole in the middle.

 

Another part of the “Making the Modern World” gallery was about more technological and advanced inventions, particularly in transportation. As expected, the Tin Lizzie (Ford Model T) was there, and an intriguing vehicle that was partly boat and partly car. Behind those two iconic inventions were two cars that were totally different from today’s vehicles on the road - the BMW Isetta (also known as a bubble car) and the Messerschmitt KR200 (a three-wheeled bubble car). A friendly elderly man told me that he once owned a Messerschmitt and had to open the roof compartment to get into the vehicle. How interesting! Other vehicles on display were a Hino Contessa (a car by the Japanese company Hino which I thought only made trucks), a Fiat 500 {not the sporty Abarth 500), a cute renowned classic Mini Cooper and a Citroen 2CV.

A more revolutionised part of the “Making the Modern World” gallery was about technology. The Apple II, the favourite computer of the early days when Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak (known as “Woz”), were embarking on their computer company which turned into a technology empire that spread across the globe. The company now produces smart phones, tablets and even watches. The monitor and the keyboard were purchased as separate parts, so once a buyer got home he had to assemble the parts together. After marvelling at Apple, another machine caught my attention. It was the hideous euthanasia machine, which three terminally-ill students used it to end their lives. After answering some questions on the machine, a doctor injected venomous drugs into their bodies, killing them in an instant second. That sounded dreadful!
 
Later, we got lost when we went to the “Engineer Your Future” gallery. We were trying to locate the picnic area but got stuck in the flight gallery where early civilian and military planes were displayed. I could remember seeing a modern-looking business plane, an aircraft with a tiny propeller made by Messerschmitt, the iconic Wright Brothers’ plane built by Orville and Wilbur Wright and the not so iconic French “Antoinette” plane. I recall seeing the Supermarine Spitfire (a British single-seat fighter aircraft) too. Some powerful plane engines were on display as well. A fantastic place to learn about aircrafts!
 
After a light lunch, I had bucket-loads of fun at a hands-on science-themed gallery. One very intriguing part was when I dragged a magnetic roll on a string and with an ink pad at the bottom up to the top of a cylindrical tube of water and let go. Surprisingly, the ink created a dark black blotch when it sailed down in a graceful fashion down to the deepest area. I joined some students who were trying out every gadgets and experiments in the gallery. Then, we headed to the “Atmosphere” gallery. A stunning 21st century sculpture called “Don’t Touch This” (because of its amazing electric effects) was standing right in the middle of the gallery. It was modelled on electric eels (the artist of the sculpture was very interested at the electric effects of electric eels whenever he went to an aquarium). The sculpture gave an electric noise and a pricking shock when it was touched. I played a game called “Energy Ninjas”, built to help children learn about the growing amount of carbon dioxide and how human could help reduce the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere to reduce global warming.
 
The last gallery before leaving the museum was the “Information Age” gallery. I was messages on Morse Code probably sent by Guglielmo Marconi and when the Titanic sank on its maiden voyage across the Atlantic Ocean on a screen. Braille readings were available everywhere in the gallery for the visually impaired (suffice to say that I tried reading the Braille to see how visually impaired people could read it). There was also a bunch of inventions from Marconi (known for his radio telegraph system) and Lee de Forest (wireless telegraphy also).

The following morning we made our way to the Natural History Museum. The building, designed by famous architect Alfred Waterhouse, is classically majestic and breathtaking from the outside.

We arrived there just before 10.00am, but there were already people queuing to enter the museum. Upon entering we went to the Red Zone, which was about geology and showed specimens of fossils, minerals, rocks and gemstones. A giant metallic globe, looking like hot molten rock (lava) from the earth’s inner fragments, greeted us. There were several volcanic rocks standing on labelled pedestals.

I was awestruck by the most gorgeous volcanic rocks, the Gneiss that retained a mosaic-like flowing pattern around its structure. Further down the hall was a hands-on screen for different types of volcano. I tried experimenting with the viscosity and gas amount of the volcanoes and eventually ended up discovering for myself the four different types of volcano - cinder cone, plug dome, shield, and strato.

At one part, there was a fascinating egg-shaped, smooth rock (probably came from Canada).

Another interesting display was a collection of flamingo feathers belonging to some flamingo living in an African river, probably in Uganda. It showed that the prawns and crustaceans consumed by the flamingos had turned them into plumage pink. I also learnt that a type of goose called the Ne-Ne that inhabited Hawaii had “magic feet” to protect them from the numerous number of earthquake occurrences in Hawaii, which was a volcanic island. When we were moving to another gallery, we accidentally stumbled on an earthquake simulator recording the scene of shops being dilapidated by the earthquake in Kobe, Japan. Within minutes the lights were dimmed, a sudden jolt was felt and the simulator started wriggling to its climax. A small TV screen was installed to allow visitors to have a look on what happened during the real earthquake.
 
After the Red Zone was the orange zone, namely “Darwin Centre”, honouring the renowned biologist Charles Darwin that was probably in competition with the not-so-famous naturalist Alfred Russell Wallace.  First, I visited the “Cocoon”, expecting to see collections of live insect specimens. But it turned out to be a hands-on gallery about insect cells. Through an interactive screen, I learnt about Darwin and Wallace and the three main groups of butterfly - Hedyloidea, Hesperioidea, and Papilionoidea. Another interactive screen told me about how we could prevent the spreading of mosquitoes and the identification of genes and parasites in creatures that had altered their behaviour.       

Next was the Green Zone. On entering, our eyes were greeted with a mysterious prehistoric specimen, thought to be one of the giant sloth. One veritable part was fossil collections by Mary Anning, the “Fossil Woman”. She went exploring to find dinosaur fossils with her brother Joseph Anning, and eventually ended up having a short battle with cancer and leaving behind her collections, now being displayed in many museums.

Another part of the Green Zone was an insectarium. The most interesting part was “Creepy Crawlie House No.67”. Inside, it showcased the many insects that treated a human’s abode as a luxurious hotel, even for the poorest on the spreading-wide Earth, from the common housefly to the rare wasps who started off with just one queen and her “husband” and transformed into a nest buzzing to the brim with young wasps and the wood-infesting woodlice. 

The last zone I visited was the Blue Zone, where collections of animal specimens were housed. Once we had stepped into the Blue Zone, fake and probably stuffed models of a hyrax, giraffe, zebra and lion greeted us. Unfortunately, the famous blue whale had been disassembled, so we were only able to see small fragments of the giant creature. I watched a documentary about dugongs (also known as sea cows).

After that I moved to a dimmed lounge with a small screen, which showed a video about how dugongs spend their daily life cruising about in the ocean, grazing on sea grass and low-growing vegetation in the ocean like cows would do. I also learnt about how whale hunting evolved. It all started with the meaty blue whale, but eventually the population began to become so scarce that whale hunters had no choice but to hunt smaller whales. Because of that practice, each whale’s population would become so scarce that soon whale hunters will hunt the smallest whales. Since 1966, many countries started to ban whale hunting. However, later into the 20th century or possibly in the early 21st century, some countries commenced whale hunting again. They had decided that some native tribes living near oceans and seas could proceed, and scientists could kill them for scientific purposes. Some countries, including Iceland and Japan, wanted to commence whale hunting. One fascinating part of the Blue Zone was learning about the sounds dolphins make. Dolphins have almost tens thousands of different squeaks, whirrs, grunts, chits, cheeps, whistles and they are mainly for communication.

Last but not least, there was a screen displaying the population of endangered animals. There are a few categories - extinct, extinct in the wild, endangered and vulnerable. The Malayan Tapir, Yangtze River dolphin and Sumatran tiger were critically endangered. One animal called the quagga (a zebra that lived in South Africa) was already extinct.

Tower of London

On Friday, we took the tube from Bayswater to Tower Hill Station, which was probably the furthest I had travelled on the London Tube. Just a stone’s throw away from the station was the Tower of London (a historic castle). The tower, located on the north bank of the River Thames, was majestic and there was a sidewalk underneath for people to explore. The tower was founded towards the end of 1066 as part of the Norman Conquest of England. Up on the decks where the ancient soldiers attacked upcoming enemies, there were cannons, bows and arrows.

Another part of the Tower of London was used as a prison before (Elizabeth I was there before she became queen). People who were greatly disapproved by the queen were sent to the Tower and immediately beheaded.

If we had joined the Yeoman Warder tours, we would have seen the graffiti scratched on the walls by prisoners 500 years ago. It was believed by King Charles II that if the ravens (a black bird) left the Tower, the fortress and the kingdom would fall. So, at least six ravens are kept at the Tower at all times. Just in case the myth was true, the tower’s Yeomen Warders kept a close eye on the ravens, which were a popular tourist attraction. 
 
The next destination was the Tower Bridge (often mistaken for London Bridge, may be because of the song “London Bridge is Falling Down”). The bridge is already over 100 years old. We strolled down the pavement, up a flight of stairs and onto the majestic bridge and walked across the River Thames. I could see vehicles passing by. The bascules of the bridge will be raised to allow a vessel to pass through. While on the bridge, I caught sight of the HMS Belfast (originally a Royal Navy light cruiser which is turned into a museum ship). I also saw one flat stone that was possibly to commemorate the many citizens who contributed to the construction of the Bridge.

Tower Bridge

Tower Bridge

After touring the famous tower and bridge, we went to the National Gallery in Trafalgar Square. I was not disappointed, the building was magnificent (could not believe that it was built more than a century ago).

The gallery housed the many paintings of renowned artists, from the 13th to the early 20th century (categorised into Early Renaissance, High Renaissance, Baroque, Impressionism and Post-Impressionism). First we went to Early Renaissance gallery (13th-15th century), which displayed paintings by Bellini, Botticelli, Leonardo, Mantegna, Raphael and Van Eyck. Some of the renowned paintings were Virgin of the Rocks by Leonardo da Vinci, Aldobrandini Madonna by Raphael and The Arnolfini Portrait by Jan van Eyck.

But the painting that was the bee’s knees was Botticelli’s “Venus and Mars”. Believe it or not, I had to undergo a tedious wait to take a picture of the painting as there was a huge crowd with the same intention in mind.

Next was the gallery for 16th Century paintings, which were from renowned artists like Michelangelo, Titian, Bronzino, Bruegel and Gossaert. “The Adoration of the Kings” painted by Jan Gossaert was on the Top 30 Paintings in the gallery.

Bacchus and Ariadne by Titian

“Venus and Mars” by Botticelli

I also saw “Bacchus and Ariadne” by Titian, which was considered one of Titian's greatest works. I noticed that artists loved to paint venus, cupid and figures related to Christianity.

I have also learnt that some paintings in the two galleries were painted with egg tempera (a fast-drying painting material). Egg tempera was more common in the first gallery before oil paint was invented and Leonardo da Vinci was probably the artist who invented egg tempera.
 
We moved on to the 17th century Baroque gallery, housing paintings by artists like Caravaggio, Claude, Rembrandt, Rubens, Van Dyck and Vermeer. I saw Caravaggio’s famous painting “The Supper at Emmaus”. The painting “Lady Standing at a Virginal” painted by Johannes Vermeer was placed in a dimly lit room which I thought to be dedicated for Dutch painters. Rembrandt’s (also Dutch) “Self-Portrait at the Age of 34” was a hit. Rembrandt had worn early diplomat outfits to make him look like a renowned artist. I can’t remember seeing the work of Claude and Van Dyck (never mind, they were not so famous).
 
Lastly, there was the Impressionism and Post-Impressionism gallery for artists like Canaletto, Cezanne, Degas, Goya, Ingres, Monet, Seurat, Turner and Van Gogh. This is the gallery I liked most because I had seen some of the paintings in books and on the internet.

Bathers at Asnières by Georges Seurat

“Bathers at Asnières” an oil painting by the French artist Georges Seurat was the bee’s knees. Seurat liked to use rather abstract style and he had a habit of not painting facial features on humans in his paintings, making them look rather modern for his time.

Sunflower by Vincent van Gogh

Vincent van Gogh’s “Sunflowers” was probably the most popular in this gallery. “The Water-Lily Pond” and “The Bathers” by two French artists Monet and Cezanne were also displayed here. I also saw paintings by renowned English artist J. M. W. Turner.

My last day of sight-seeing in London was Saturday. Early morning we took the Tube from Bayswater to Blackfriars, where we visited the St. Paul’s Cathedral (not to be confused with the St. Paul’s Church).

St. Paul’s Cathedral

We snapped a few pictures of this spectacular Baroque style building with a majestic dome. We only took a quick glimpse of the interior of the cathedral, with shimmering candles and medieval mosaics on the top corners of the walls.
 
Another side of the cathedral had a narrow passage that led to the concealed restaurant, English teatime sets were available. Just a stone’s throw away from the cathedral was the Millennium Bridge, constructed in 1998 and opened in June 2000. It was built with steel and stretched all the way to the Tate Modern. It was nicknamed “Wobbly Bridge” as pedestrians felt the bridge swaying, leading to restoration and reopening in 2002.

Millennium Bridge

Just across the Millennium Bridge was the Tate Modern, which was once the Bankside Power Station. If anybody was wondering what is Tate Modern, the answer is another art gallery but this time, a gallery of “modern” paintings (from 1900 to present).

Lee Bul

A new Tate Modern (an extension) is under construction and planned to be opened on the 17th of June 2016. Something very abstract greeted us upon entering the gallery. It was a row of overlapping pots (with plants growing in them). What caught my eyes was a sculpture that looked like a group of hanging bull horns preserved in white dye, made by Korean artist by the name of “Lee Bul”.

I quite liked most of the paintings, but the best was probably Andy Warhol’s painting of famous celebrity Marilyn Monroe. The painting is known as “Marilyn Diptych”, one of the artist's most famous works. Each row ranged from a lively, colour-bursting portrait to an old-fashioned, 1940s style of black-and-white portrait. I also saw a painting and a sculpture by Pablo Picasso as well as a painting by the famous Russian painter, Wassily Kandinsky. There was an abstract painting of just completely white paint that I could neither understand nor appreciate.

“Marilyn Diptych”

Abstract Painting by Wassily Kandinsky

After leaving Tate Modern, we took a stroll on the riverbank and were greeted by a street performer. I could not believe my eyes, because he was “hanging” in the air with only one hand on a poll. Then we passed by the Shakespeare's Globe, a well-known theatre that stage plays from May to October. We walked towards the Borough Market, one of the oldest food markets in London. Arcades of food stalls filled the market and would probably take a food critic six to eight hours to try everything.

Street Performer

Squeezing through the crowds, I first tried a piece of fudge (too sweet!) and a large white chocolate cookie. My lunch was a delectable hot dog filled with German Bratwurst and sauerkraut (fermented cabbage). After lunch, we joined the crowds wandering from one stall to another.

Truffles Store

A stall with the words “Smell Me” caught my eyes. It was a stall selling truffles. I smelt a few different types of truffle and tried some bread with black truffle oil. Wonder why people pay some much of money for this edible fungus. I loved the stall that sold different types of olives.

The last place I visited in London was the Victoria and Albert Museum, considered as the world's largest museum of decorative arts. The museum founded in 1852, was named after Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. Upon entering the museum was the Sculpture Galleries, filled with sculptures from England, Italy, France, Spain, Germany and Asia.

“Neptune and Triton” by Bernini

I read that the museum has one of the best collection of sculptures from around the world, like “Neptune and Triton” by Italian artist Bernini and “The Three Graces” by Canova.  This museum has a massive collection of ceramics, glass, Asian art and design, furniture, textiles, jewellery, silver, ironwork, and many more. I first visited the galleries that housed beautiful jewellery, followed by galleries on glass collections and metalwork. 

Another part of the museum was a gallery on architecture with displays using models and photographs. Lots of worldwide landmarks from France and Britain to the Middle East to Japan and China and Africa were housed in glass boxes. There was so much to snap there. The museum also has a section on Asian objects, which include South East Asia, China, and the Islamic world. It seemed that the Persian Empire, the rest of the Middle East and China had much to contribute.

Replica of Tragjan's "Column" and Michelangelo's "David"

An interesting part of the museum is the Cast Courts that housed a full-scale replica of Trajan's “Column” (actual one in Rome) and a replica of Michelangelo's “David”. Apart from all the wonders of this museum, hands-on music and videos were available. I learnt how people made delicate snuff boxes and listened to some medieval music with English translations.

V&A Rotunda Chandelier by Dale Chihuly

I also saw a bunch of cool stuff, including a twelve feet glass sculpture by Dale Chihuly, known as the V&A Rotunda Chandelier, hanging over the reception area. After spending close to three hours at the museum, we were exhausted and decided to end our sightseeing.

On the 25th of October, we departed from Heathrow International Airport with a heavy heart. Our flight to Abu Dhabi International Airport was 7 hours and from there we took a connecting flight back home. England is such an intriguing country; I vow to come back again to explore other parts of the country.

Written by,
Koh Chee Yuan

An Exhilarating Trip to Putrajaya Car Show

 On the 27th of September 2015, I could not sit still. I was fidgeting uneasily in my seat, for it was the “Asia Klasika” vintage car show. We parked on a grass patch full of other eager people joining the vehicle fest at Pullman Hotel, Putrajaya. After we crossed a bridge over a colossal pond laden with different koi fish were a few Citroens. I snapped a photo of each of them, except for a fairly new-looking one sitting to one side. On the entrance cutting into the real car fest, there was an antique on one corner. It had metal plates around it and wheels that didn’t resemble a new car.

In the entrance, there were different models of cars. Minis, Jaguars, Lamborghinis, Ferraris, it was just so difficult to fit each and every one in! So I decided to start from scratch and do the cars closer to the entrance, which were two racing BMWs. They stared in the spotlight, with their many badges shading their sleek, sporty, racing bodywork and their leather seats inside, glossed fully black. My interior shoots of those cars weren’t too great as the glass windows reflected light onto the photos.
 
Next was a Mini sitting in the corner. It was possibly a Moke open-top, not the roofed type that featured in the Mr. Bean franchise. That was better, as it enabled me to take a perfect, reflection free photograph. On another corner sat the olden day Jaguar F-Type; it was also an open-top, but it had an open radiator compartment, so I could feel the heat streaming out of the vents. The bold badges it had were a big photo attraction for me.

A bit further away sat a pointed Ferrari, newer than some of the others. It had white bodywork, with open ventilation again. There isn’t very much to say about this sporty vehicle, but at another angle sat the most beloved, majestic car when Henry Ford was alive, the Model T Ford. On the high pedestal step sat a vintage interior and was paired with an extreme luxury that time- a steering wheel. It was really a car that had dramatically quaked its era. At the back, the trunk compartment was full of English badges, though Ford was American. A few cars away was another Ferrari. A couple standing near had opened the trunk and engine compartment. The trunk was chaotically small- it was possibly able to fit two or three quart mugs and an apple. Not a car for globetrotters indeed.

Sitting at another corner was a Toyota Celica with two other “antiques”. It was not that the car looked new, it looked about as old as an old Nissan Sunny, but it just wasn’t as old as the vehicles around the corner. I thought of shooting the interior but it was not an open-top, so the view gave out reflections.
 
Not everything at the car show was vintage, though. Over a covered shade sat some new Jaguars like the new XF, XE, etc. There was one Jaguar that used Aston Martin themed doors that you pressed to let out. All models were respectively fitted in the two genres that Jaguar built their cars in; luxury and sport. 
 
To a corner were about five or six orange Alfa Romeos with the four-leaf clover, the marking that Irish considered luck. All parked parallel in one neat line, I took a photo of the car in the front row first. Like the Model T, it had badges on the front.

The trail of vehicles led us to a pedestal where the new Range Rover and its first descendant sat. High up, I snapped a photo of the stylish but bulky new model. That joined with the cycle and led us to a humongous shade area parked to the brim with new vehicles. It happened there were some Dyson bladeless fans there on show too. Over there, there was the CLS Shooting Brake from Mercedes. There were also two Mercedes limousines, one I believed to be a 230 SEL and two Chevies sponsored by Hot Wheels that were really stretchy, plus an Aston Martin I thought was a Vanquish.

We grabbed a flyer from another environmental wildlife promotion also happening before heading home. This was really an exhilarating day. I can’t wait to experience another one of this automobile show again. 

Written by,
Koh Chee Yuan

Fictitious Story of My First Day at School

 9 September 2015

I can’t believe the day I just had!  As soon as I entered the classroom, I saw Mr. Sebastian (Mr Seb) accidentally clicked a button on the whiteboard. I gulped. True enough, we saw sparks flying everywhere for two seconds. Then soon, we all felt drowsy. Snoring echoed through the halls.

Mr Seb was frantic. He clicked the button twice. Then three times. Then four times. But on his fifth time, when he released his hand, the whole school shrank. It then, grew little wings. It did not seem to have an exact flight pattern, although there was a steering wheel in front of Mr Seb, who the only one who had not shrunk. No matter which direction he manoeuvred the shrunk school, it zoomed around in the wrong direction. Finally, we came to an abrupt halt. Mr Seb looked out of the window. Oh no, he found us stuck in a tree full of bees, hornets and wasps! When we found out where we were, we began whispering to each other on how to get out of the situation. But Mr Seb had an idea. He whipped his house keys. Then, with the aid of a fork, he scratched a doorway in the wall. Then, he ordered the gym teacher to push his trampoline down. It took almost four hours, since the gym teacher had shrunk too. Finally, he managed to push the trampoline down. Bravely, the gym teacher jumped down. Mr Seb needed him to make sure no one disturbed the bees and hornets.

Mr Seb then raced to the construction site, a stone’s throw away from the school. “Excuse me Sir, could you let me borrow your bulldozer?” he politely asked. “Oh, I’m not sure what you need a cumbersome bulldozer for, but a fair request is no refusal. You can have it,” the man replied. So Mr Seb set to work. First, he mixed a can of insecticide with bee drowsiness smoke. Then he sprayed the mixture directly onto the tree and hurried back into the bulldozer. After making sure that all the stinging bugs were in slumber land, he carefully revved his engine. Next, he ploughed into the tree like a lion pouncing on its prey. The tree toppled over and so did the school.

Mr Seb quickly picked up the shrunk school, which was just as light as a red kidney bean. But when he reached the huge amount of land that the old school was built on, he nearly became a bull in a china shop. The school was still small, and the trampoline has to be back into the building. To top it off, the school was badly dented from the fall. Just then, an older student tossed a pepper bottle at Mr Seb’s feet. The label said, “All New Construction Yeast from Yigley Acme”. Mr Seb sprinkled some of it on the school. Gradually, the school rose from a bean-sized to its original size. The students and teachers grew as well.

I hope I won’t have another day as zany as my first day at school.

Written By: Koh Chee Yuan