the ching ming, or qingming, festival had just passed. the cemeteries are now clean with the weeds and long grasses all gone whilst the offerings are still left behind for the spirit of the ancestors.

i used to do a charter during this festival many years back when i was a cab driver. oh yeah...i don't think i ever mentioned of being a cab driver once. it was a long story, long ago. anyhow, i used to help this one lady to find all the lots she was visiting. she was old and couldn't remember how to get to the graves of her deceased relations. she was old and her sight was failing her quite badly. she simply handed me a piece of paper written with the lot numbers, requesting for my assistance.i managed to bring her personally to the respective 'resting places', waited for her to finish her prayers, helped her back to the parked cab and moved on to the other few old cemeteries in her list. i doubt the lady is still around kicking. and if that is sadly true, i wonder if she had anyone else in the family who helped to continue the custom, or if anyone burnt some paper money and brought offerings for her every year.

i provided the same transport service yesterday to new customers, and that brought my memories crawling back to her.

i didn't take any picture yesterday as i don't wish to offend anyone. the picture inserted was an ancient Chinese painting, extracted from a site, showing how the ching ming festival in the old days used to be a quite busy occasion for the chinese people.

i have been called for few airport transfers for the whole of last week. flight departures were as early as 3am. it has been a tiring and fulfilling week with few quick naps in my nissan in between jobs. one of those few jobs was a last minute call after their failing attempts for a cab. luckily i had just finished my shower when i received their call, and was feeling fresh to go for this long hour drive.

i normally do the pick-up two hours before flight departure, and it was usually a one-way trip. in my last airport job, a group of factory personnels booked my transport service to see their friend off. i was requested to come back to the airport after two whole hours to pick up my customers for a return trip back to their homes.

it was already midnight when i headed for home after the last drop. it was a good drive and the cool breeze was still fresh in my mind. i enjoyed the pleasant night cruising with perfect temperature before calling it a day (or should i say 'night'...or 'morning'...whatever). it helped me to relax my mind.

before i started to ferry passengers to and from airport, i took the initiative and surfed airport site for information pertaining to its facilities, terminals, pick-up/drop-off points and so on. but the changi airport site was overloaded with more information than i needed, letting me know that the place is more than just a transit point with flights and people. it also revealed all the relaxing surprises. my favourite happens to be the nature trail with all the tropical garden layouts -

• butterfly garden at terminal 3, level 2 transit mall
• bamboo garden at terminal 1, level 2 transit mall
• cactus garden at terminal 1, level 3 transit mall
• fern garden with koi pond at terminal 1, level 3 transit mall
• orchid garden with koi pond at terminal 2, level 2 transit mall
• sun flower garden at terminal 2, level 3 transit mall

unfortunately, not all airport visitors can enjoy the tranquility of these gardens as they are situated in the transit mall itself. i think it is not a good idea for such facilities to be restricted and under utilized.

and for those who love to get wet, can give it a try and pamper themselves at the balinese-themed swimming pool and jacuzzi at terminal 1 transit mall east near transit hotel.

all we need is to google.

bringing service to you

it's really cool to blog about my nissan . i will try to post some pictures from time to time of interesting places in singapore and pick-up/drop-off points for certain locations, eg. airport.