Using the gun and the bow, Kangxi reportedly shot 135 tigers, 20 bears, 25 leopards, 96 wolves, 132 wild boars and hundreds of deers at Mulan over the yeas. His personal best it seems was 318 hares in a day.

Something I learnt at the Kangxi Emperor exhibition at Asian Civilisations Museum.

I've been to some interesting places these two weeks and it makes me want to write a teenagey post where I list out all I've done complete with mind-numbing details.

Nah, I won't. Briefly:

- The Kangxi exhibition was interesting. I liked the giant portraits and amazingly long scroll paintings - one was something like 22 metres.

- I went to a chalet. Barbecues on two nights, late-night bowling followed by excessive DVD-watching while eating leftover BBQ crabs made it all very enjoyable. I actually really like barbecues at chalets and at rented pits by the sea. Nobody shares my fancy, unfortunately. The preference is for BBQs at home. Much more comfortable but ultimately charmless.

- Playground hunting. Vandalised since I was last there. Pissed off.

- Visited Month of Photography Asia exhibitions at ACM and Lasalle locations. Life Before Death: Journeys by Deanna Ng got me a bit choked up.

- Eye é City photo exhibition at Bras Basah I really liked. It's a visual account of the last 24 hours of 2008 and there were lots of great stories there. It's always interesting to see the quirks of this country through the eyes of fellow Singaporeans.

- This afternoon I was hell-bent on eating in a coffee shop. It was hot and sunny like always. Yet I wanted to be cooled by fans instead of cushy AC for a change. Spur of moment decision to drop by Maxwell for Tian Tian chicken rice. Against a symphony of 4pm hawker centre buzz, loud whirring of fans and Teresa Teng, it hit me that somehow, the moment was perfect.