Ghost month is here

This is a very common sight around Singapore today... It's the start of Ghost month, when the ghosts of deceased are supposedly released from heaven and hell to wander around the earth for a month. And so shops and eateries set up tables with food offered to these ghosts, and gold coloured joss paper and hell money is also burned so that the ghosts can use them.

Households also do their fair share of burning of incense and joss paper, to please the wandering ghosts so that they don't bring misfortune into the house. This picture above is the ground floor of our block of flats... I guess people improvise rituals to suit modern day living by doing the burning at the edge of the tiled floor area of the block.

To read more about the Ghost month, consult the fountain of knowledge - Wikipedia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghost_Festival

Do I get preferential treatment...

... on the MRT train nowadays? That's what a friend asked me today. Well, it is generally regarded as a common courtesy to offer your seat "to those who need it more". That includes the elderly, the handicapped, those with young children and the pregnant. And there are many advertising campaigns to remind the general public of this obligation.

Well, I replied, only somtimes. Maybe I don't look that pregnant yet. Pong is constantly amused by me asking him if I look pregnant. I think it rather depends on what clothes I wear - sometimes I just look fat. Although Pong now replies almost every day that I do look pregnant, regardless of what I wear. I guess at 24 weeks, it is hard to hide the fact that I am pregnant.

I think sometimes people don't offer me a seat, not because they do not think I need it more than them. (Indeed, I may not need the seat as much as them. After all, pregnancy is not an illness, but a normal life event right?) I think sometimes people are just too engrossed in what they are doing to realise who is standing in front of them or what is going on in front of their eyes. This man was so engrossed in looking at his phone that he didn't realise I took a photo of him, even though I was standing right in front of him in a crowded MRT train.