edenstrauss

I just found out from a brochure that this is known as the: Shakyamuni Buddha Sand Madala : The celestial abode or mansion of Shakyamuni Buddha Isn't it beautiful? Sand mandalas have also fascinated me because it's amazing how it could be produced with coloured sand with such precision... as if it's printed by a computer or a machine?? And I saw many devotees circumambulating the Shakyamuni Buddha Sand Mandala while I was busy clicking on my camera to take photographs of the sand mandala.

And this is the very first time that I came across such huge versions of "huat-kueh". Perhaps the size of smaller honeydews or rock melons... No exaggeration! They were really huge and caught my eye while I was praying at the makeshift altar.

Although I had been visiting Sakya Tenphel Ling for several years on a regular basis, but this is the very first time I have visited the temple during Vesak Day. It was already quite crowded by the time we reached the temple at about 11.45 AM. And as we hung around after eating vegetarian beehoon, large groups of people came in for prayers and pujas. The counters for donations, sponsorship, devotion to deities simply got congested with huge crowds that formed long beelines. The festive mood was indeed infectious and everybody on the temple grounds were smiling, including myself. Both my hubby & myself couldn't help but feel fascinated by how colourful everything was on the temple grounds. It made us feel like the 7 rainbow colours had been blended into the scene, which was imbued with such intensity that we could only say that everything was simply so so beautiful and exciting to us! These beautiful & breathtaking array of colour palettes ranged from flower arrangements, fruits, candles, toma offerings (which will be featured in this thread) and other offerings which were made to the deities. The cabbage flower looks really gorgeous with 2 of such bouquests flanking both sides of one of the altars:

I have decided to start a topic on the recent Vesak Day dated Tuesday, 17th May 2011 at Sakya Tenphel Ling (The Singapore Buddha Sasana Society). The photographs that I have taken at the temple on this eventful day are so rich in colour and beautiful. It'll be a great waste if they were not uploaded or shared with others. I hope that you will enjoy the vibrancy of colours as many of us had during this festive ocassion at Sakya Tenphel Ling. DISCLAIMER: Permission has been sought from Sakya Tehphel Ling for photographs to be taken. Kindly note that this thread is not catered for the purpose of promoting the temple or anything suggestive of religious inclinations. As such, any insinuating or insulting comments will not be entertained. Additionally, I do apologise for any inadequacy in explanations pertaining to rituals & practices as shown in the photographs. Thank you for your kind understanding.

Nope, it's made of PVC panels encased in aluminium frames. The same colour as my vanity drawers. It's the light that passes through it that made it look like glass. I've not peeled off the plastic protective film yet, otherwise, it'll look glossy. Have u gotten your kitchen doors already?

Please google up HDB's contact number and ask the hotline for advice. The policy makers would be able to give you the correct answer.

Hi guys, I have finally bought my LED E27 holder type of LED bulb. From Julian at Citilights, Jalan Besar. He had been very helpful & has offered us valuable advice on what is suitable when we shared with him on our needs. And didn't want us to spend the extra $. We finally settled on Optied's 2-watt "ping-pong" bulb at $38. With 3 years warranty on bulb failure. So since there is such a long span of warranty, then it goes to show that the quality is good & the possibility of failure is very low. When I have the time, I would upload photos of the bulb & how it looked like on my E27 holder. But for those of u who have designer homes, u'll see our fixtures as wierd & awful

Hi bepgof, WD40 is a very useful item. We used that for all rust padlocks & hinges for windows, doors, etc. But after this gruesome incident, I would think that town council would relook at their procedures & have a more stringent control over rooftop keys. And I supposed all the foreign workers who were carrying on with their hanky-pankies up there on the rooftop would be cursing & swearing this murderer.

It cost us $300++++ but it really depends on site measurements. I supposed that single panelled kitchen door should be cheaper.

Hi bepgof, did u read neubie's post on the recent murder case of a maid & her corpse being dumped into the water tank??? in woodlands??? whoa that is really very scary leh...

Yes that was really scary! It will affect the valuation of the flats in that block & probabbly those nearby.

Hi neubie, do u have any idea how come the culling of the pigeons didn't seemed to reduce the mynahs? I thought that ALL birds are supposed to be adversely affected? Those mynahs were heard singing & screaming outside windows and were a nuisance to many neighbours when they left their poo-poos as sourvenirs before they flew off. And we sort of learnt their language of departure over time. They would say something like *phew phew* then take off. I wondered what they meant when their feathers were fluffed up into a furry ball and they started singing songs & nodding their heads... I used to have pet mynahs when I was a kid. They were brought in as babies and in general, they seemed to be tamed when brought up by humans from infancy. We had tried to let them go on several instances but they would refused to fly off and even hop back to their cages! When it's going to rain, they would greet my aunt the way we kids would and they call my dad by his English name. They were our family's darlings until they fell sick & died of old age. Still missed their presence but not their faeces of course...

This is the current condition outside our flat after we counted down to 6 days from last Thursday when we last washed the exterior of our flat during a heavy downpour: Isn't it so much better now?

It seems that that the pigeons are gone for now... didn't see them at all for the past 2 days. Town Council did say that they will be getting pest control to cull them... I had this horrible pang of guilt troubling me. A nagging sensation that said GUILTY GUILTY GUILTY, etc... I felt very guilty as a Buddhist to partake in their slaughter but we didn't have a choice as the situation was a health hazard for us owners. In fact, when I visited the Sakya Tenpheling temple today, I think the bodhistavas could see a guilty expression & helplessness written all over my face. But I have figured out that I need to be chanting sutras to liberate them from their suffering arising from our actions of lodging complaints to the government agencies, which ultimately, led to their deaths If I could have communicated with those birds, I would be telling them to leave immediately & don't come & poo-poo all over our flats but jux didn't know how to... *SIGH* Oh and now, the pigeons are being replaced by ... mynahs! Many of us saw those mynahs flying into the "cave" between the rooftop & those sloped sun shades. The never-ending cycle of bird droppings. Yuks!

Hi neubie, Those special sun shades acted as a shield to both rain & sunshine since those were "roof-top" units. Do u think it'll work if TC (town council) attached netting from the top of the roof top down to those sun shades? There were gaps between the roof-top & the shield. They looked like some kind of "cave". Those pigeons would always hop into the "caves". We wouldn't be surprised if there are nests in there too. The aunties staying across in "roof-top" units had their fair share of complaints. Their parapets were littered with lot's of bird droppings. I'll try to see if I could take photographs of their units & tell u what I meant by netting to seal up those "caves".

We used to have many crows at our place. And we noted that there is this fierce crow who built its nest on a mango tree near the bus stop. Whenever we spot it screeching away, we would avoid taking the stairs near the tree to go to the bus stop. My hubby claimed that the crow is guarding its nest of babies or eggs there and it'll get violent & start attacking anybody who is viewed as a threat to their nests. In fact, quite a number of us were attacked by crows while crossing the road near our home. One little kid in a pram was enjoying his burger when the crow flew down & snatch off the last mouthful in the toddler's hands! That freaked out both the kid & all the adults who witnessed such aggression by crows. And yes, NEA tracked them down & wiped them out. We don't seemed to see any of them around our place now. As for those horrible bird droppings at our place, if u read on, they aren't droppings of crows...

Yes I heard of such theories too! When the chinese say that a person step on "sai" (the hokkien definition for faeces), it meant that the person is extremely lucky & in for very good luck. But water - does it include the urine of the birds? I can associate splashing of water to Loi Kratong i.e. the water festival in Thailand. We bought a garden hose to wash the exterior of our MBR - some aunties staying across our block, with their side of flats facing our MBR, saw me washing the "sai" with the hose. They smile or laugh & we would wave at one another & shout our greetings across. Quite fun to get to know one another thru splashing of water outside our MBR leh... But of course, we do not want to relive the same nightmare. Never! yuks!

Hi neubie, I was told by the North-eastern sector of the NEA office that they take a very serious stance when there are complaints over crows. Because of their aggressive nature, the NEA officer claimed that they could take action against those crows even if we are staying in flats. They would send their professional shooters down to your place & slaughter crows with their rifles. U know what? Even with needle-like mats placed on top of the aircon compressor, the birds can perch on top of the aircon brackets (belonging to the unit directly above us) & poo-poo down while above. Then, we'll end up with... bird-caked mats! But it's a useful suggestions. In fact, a neighbour staying further away from us almost resorted to creating his own nail bed but had second thoughts when it becomes a great danger should the nail bed get swept off by very strong wind & injure somebody walking or standing on the ground floor.

The other neighbours below us were shielded by our aircon compressor so they were spared of such dire circumstances of bird droppings being spluttered all over the exterior of their MBR. We started experiencing these problems only after the unit directly above us had removed their aircon compressor. The unit which was above them, had a badly corroded aircon tray which was on the verge of unhinging itself & dropping down. So because it was dangling on both sides where the corrosion took place, the aircon tray was skewed to one side. The pigeons saw this as an ideal location for setting up their homes i.e. nest. The Town council spotted the nests from their binoculours. When HDB approached the neighbours with the corroded aircon tray, the owners were very cooperative & quickly got the tray removed - we are very grateful to have such good & cooperative neighbours

I mux say many big "KAM-SIAHs" (thank you-s in Hokkien language) to the neighbour who removed their highly corroded aircon tray, TC (town council) & HDB for solving our yukky problems. And as for NEA, I would be updating them on what TC & HDB has done for us. Please scroll down to see photographs of the current situation outside my MBR after TC & HDB have taken the relevant actions.

Both town council & HDB worked very closely and because the badly corroded aircon tray risked becoming killer litter, the HDB technical officer had visited the owners almost immediately. And these owners were very cooperative & responsible people. We're thankful that we had such good neighbours. They got the aircon tray removed the following day. After the removal of the aircon tray by its owners, the condition has improved drastically much to our relief & delight. We could leave our windows opened as & when we wish to. We are keeping our fingers crossed to ascertain if such good condition is sustainable. I would be uploading photographs of how the exterior of our MBR looked like right now even after days of not washing it. There are still bird droppings on & off but it wasn't as bad as before.

I wrote several emails to NEA, town council & HDB. NEA told me that they cannot get involved in such matters pertaining to HDB and would forward my email to town council. The town council officer has attempted to investigate on the cause of such a huge mountain of bird droppings outside our MBR. He went up to the block of flats facing our master bedroom (with his colleague so that he wouldn't be accused of being a peeping-tom) & looked around our flat with a binoculors. And sure enough, he found the unit on the highest floor had a badly corroded aircon tray, which was on the verge of falling off from where it was danggling at now. After the owners of the unit directly above us removed their aircon compressor, we were no longer shielded from bird droppings. On the contrary, the bird droppings simply made its way down to the top of our compressor & our parpet. And this explains why the bird droppings were found spluttered all over the exterior of our master bedroom.

And zooming in with my camera lens, just take a look at how severe the situation was on the parapet and the top of the aircon compressor : Don't you guys think that this is a health hazard? We cannot open all our windows throughout the day and night, which effectively meant that our MBR is not ventilated at all. And we also cannot bear turning on the aircon becox the bird dropings would be sucked into the compressor & chopped up. For all we know, both my hubby & myself would be breathing in air that's infested with germs, bacteria & whatever all of us can think of! What was worse is that I spotted a variety of insects meandering among the bird droppings, be they intact or broken up. There were red ants, flies & a type of teeny weeny (tiny) bugs making their way among these bird droppings. In order to relate my grave concerns & urgent request for immediate resolution, I took 2 other photographs using my digi cam's zoom in function the following day. And just look at how frightening the situation is based on the photographs below. Can you spot the difference among the previous day's bird droppings and what had been new & "freshly" dropped from above?

SEVERITY OF THE SITUATION: To substantiate the claims in my story, these photos here would prove our predicament as owners of such a flat. Let's start off in taking a look at how the exterior of my master bedroom looked like after we had to spend gallons of water scrubbing & cleaning up the place during a heavy downpour & isn't it so clean? And this is what happens a few hours (approx. 3-4 hours) after we took the chance to wash & scrub like crazy during a heavy rain... Look at the windows; they were fully coated with contents coming from bird ****!

MY STORY : The exterior of our masterbedroom had been severely plagued by bird droppings several months ago eversince the neighbours staying above our unit removed his faulty aircon compressor. It wasn't just bird droppings found on the parapet at the exterior of our window. The bird droppings went as far as being found on the entire glass window, window sills, the walls flanking both sides of the windows and the top of our aircon compressor. Those bird droppings weren't neatly placed onto these places but I would like to highlight that they were SPLUTTERED all over. Meaning that, the bird faeces were being dropped down from a higher magnitude, resulting in the contents being thrashed out in all directions in view of the high impact fall from a great height. To illustrate why I would suggest the above, I'll like to use an analogy of a watermelon being thrown down from a greater height and it reaching the ground. What happens then? Well, the high impact fall causes the melon to split open and the contents thrown out in all directions. And this was precisely what had happened to those bird droppings found on the exterior of my master bedroom windows!