While certainly Instagram-worthy, unbeknownst to most, these spiral staircases allowed night-soil carriers to enter from backlanes to different levels without having to pass through the main body of the shophouse.
Thursday, April 30, 2015
Spiral Staircases
While certainly Instagram-worthy, unbeknownst to most, these spiral staircases allowed night-soil carriers to enter from backlanes to different levels without having to pass through the main body of the shophouse.
Sunday, April 26, 2015
Geocaching
Geocaching is an outdoor recreational activity, in which (most) participants use a mobile GPS device to hide and seek containers called "geocaches" or "caches".
A cache is usually a small waterproof container containing a logbook or logsheet and the 'seeker' enters the date they found it before signing it with their established code name. The cache must be then be placed back exactly where the person found it. Larger caches such as plastic storage containers or ammunition boxes may also contain items for trading like toys or trinkets of little financial value.
Geocaching may be either chicken feed or worse than climbing Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateapokaiwhenuakitanatahu, depending on what physical shape you're in. Some caches were pretty easy to locate and reach, like one we found etched between two signs, while others may be more of a challenge.
One particular geocache involved a bit of jumping (which I managed to do gracefully which prancing over a two feet wide 'longkang') and climbing before I could find it nestled sneakily under a railing which had been half-swallowed by a tree trunk.
As I removed it from its resting place, I found out that this particular cache was teeming with angry red ants, which began crawling all over it in an extremely disorganized manner, and common sense prevented me from opening it and getting a nasty surprise. I wasn't not even sure if that was how Ant-Man got his powers but I wasn't very keen on getting bitten by an aggrieved swarm of army ants. Besides, we have ample local superheroes like VR Man, Jenny Quantum and Chen Tianwen with his swizzling dance moves.
And so, like all responsible geocachers, I pranced back across and placed the cache back where I found it, but not before letting out a high-pitched muffled scream after a green crested lizard thought it was funny to jump out from the dense foilage at that moment.
For those of you who are keen to try this activity out for yourselves, there are a few dedicated groups of local geocachers around whom you can learn the ropes from. I would strongly recommend reading up on the comments left by prior geocachers before you visit any cache locations; some caches may involve encounters with creepy crawlies like the one I had,or worse, may have already been removed by non players, whom the geocaching community call 'muggles' after the people who lack any sort of magical ability in the Harry Potter universe.
Geocaching is recommended if you happen to have some free time; the sense of accomplishment after finding a cache (especially one that contains trinkets for trade) is unlike anything in this world. Maybe except for ice cream. Nothing is better than ice cream.
A cache is usually a small waterproof container containing a logbook or logsheet and the 'seeker' enters the date they found it before signing it with their established code name. The cache must be then be placed back exactly where the person found it. Larger caches such as plastic storage containers or ammunition boxes may also contain items for trading like toys or trinkets of little financial value.
Geocaching may be either chicken feed or worse than climbing Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateapokaiwhenuakitanatahu, depending on what physical shape you're in. Some caches were pretty easy to locate and reach, like one we found etched between two signs, while others may be more of a challenge.
One particular geocache involved a bit of jumping (which I managed to do gracefully which prancing over a two feet wide 'longkang') and climbing before I could find it nestled sneakily under a railing which had been half-swallowed by a tree trunk.
As I removed it from its resting place, I found out that this particular cache was teeming with angry red ants, which began crawling all over it in an extremely disorganized manner, and common sense prevented me from opening it and getting a nasty surprise. I wasn't not even sure if that was how Ant-Man got his powers but I wasn't very keen on getting bitten by an aggrieved swarm of army ants. Besides, we have ample local superheroes like VR Man, Jenny Quantum and Chen Tianwen with his swizzling dance moves.
And so, like all responsible geocachers, I pranced back across and placed the cache back where I found it, but not before letting out a high-pitched muffled scream after a green crested lizard thought it was funny to jump out from the dense foilage at that moment.
For those of you who are keen to try this activity out for yourselves, there are a few dedicated groups of local geocachers around whom you can learn the ropes from. I would strongly recommend reading up on the comments left by prior geocachers before you visit any cache locations; some caches may involve encounters with creepy crawlies like the one I had,or worse, may have already been removed by non players, whom the geocaching community call 'muggles' after the people who lack any sort of magical ability in the Harry Potter universe.
Geocaching is recommended if you happen to have some free time; the sense of accomplishment after finding a cache (especially one that contains trinkets for trade) is unlike anything in this world. Maybe except for ice cream. Nothing is better than ice cream.
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