Star blog gets a touch of magic

SINGAPORE - For two weeks now, bloggers Leow Ju-Len and Grace Tan have had a sprinkle of magic thrown into their weekly take on the latest news and trends, in Stomp's I Say, You Say section.

That magic touch is from Ning Cai, who is Singapore's only professional female magician, with two world records under her belt. She takes over from Zoe-Anne Teo.

Better known as Magic Babe Ning, the illusionist and escape artist promises to offer "unapologetically honest" opinions in her blog entries. She does not believe in sticking to the middle ground.

"I never sit on the fence; I'm a take-it-or-leave-it kind of person," she said.

In fact, from her outspoken candour, you would never have guessed that the 20-something had to contend with strict parents.

She revealed in a recent blog post: "My folks were extremely strict with me, since I'm the first-born and spent all 10 years of my primary and secondary education in an all-girls school too, so you can imagine how repressed I was."

But even her strict parents could not stop this feisty daredevil from following her dream of being an illusionist.

"I've always believed in living life to the fullest, without regrets and what ifs, that's why I decided to become an illusionist and escape artist six years ago," she said.

And live life to the fullest she does. She dabbles in self-taught fire and weapon stunts while wearing a sexy corset on stage, and spent nine months last year on a backpacking trip around the world, sharing her crazy Sahara desert-party story with readers.

The adrenaline junkie also enjoys skydiving, caving and Kapap, a form of martial arts. She even demonstrated on this journalist how to disarm a knife- wielding threat swiftly.

When not performing as "Magic Babe" or looking for adventure, Ning likes to bake treats for family and friends, snuggle up with poetry from E. E. Cummings and Pablo Neruda, and sometimes pen her own.

This contemplative side of her shows in her views on the rise in rape cases in Singapore.