Lego X-Wing!

Here's the Lego X-Wing I bought... Took me almost 2 hours to finish building it. Doesn't it look simply awesome!?















The details are impressive. The cockpit opens and you can put either Luke Skywalker or Wedge Antilles into the cockpit. See the little R2D2 behind?















Here's a view of the back. The wings can open and close using the knob at the back. See the two sets if rubber bands on the left & right of the knob? They use the tension of the rubber bands to allow the wings to close when the knob is turned.















The whole set comes with SIX lego figures! From the left, we have Hans Solo, Chewbacca, Luke Skywalker, Princess Liea and Wedge Antilles. And in front, good ol' R2D2. Now, I'm kinda hooked on collecting the lego star wars figures... sigh... more ways to spend money.















Next, I'm hoping to get the Slave 1. Apparently, it's in very limited suppy in Singapore. A few months ago, I helped my brother to buy a Slave 1 from the Lego shop in Ngee Ann city. Now regret not getting it for myself... so hard to find....

Lego Star Wars

Was at Thomson Plaza last nite and there was a lego fair. There were some models of Lego Star Wars toys. This Imperial Cruiser is a real beauty! Now to find the hundredS of dollars to buy it... There were also the new batman and spongebob range. And no, i'm not too old for lego. In fact, bought myself a lego x-wing! Will post pics later.

The Host

This movie has been really hyped by various reviews in the newspapers & magazines. The trailer also looked quite decent. So, I decided to give it a shot, despite it being a Korean film.

Before talking about the movie, just a few words about the cinema. I finally decided to go to The Cathay cinemaplex to see how the new cinemas are. Well, it's a pity the whole mall is still not ready. So many empty shops. Quite sparse and boring. They have 2 ticket counters on the ground floor. When I arrived, there was a short queue and only one counter was open. There weren't any signs giving any directions. The queue moved really slowly so I decided to see if there are more counters upstairs. Found the cinema on level 5 and there were many more counters there... all empty. There really should have been signs at the counter on the ground floor. The cinema lobby was ok. Strange thing was that the ticket counters were all the way towards the far end away from the lifts and escalators. Thought it was a weird, out-of-the-way kinda place. The snacks counter was quite large and they tried to sell a variety of stuff. But I don't think it was quite popular. How to bring a salad into the cinema to eat? And behind the counter, I saw some sad looking chicken wings (the middle part only) drying under the hot lamps of the food warmer. Finally made my way into the cinema (hall 2) and ok lar, the chairs were not bad, but I didn't think they were very special. They were in fact quite similar to the chairs in Shaw cinema at Century Square, Tampines. One point to note, it was nice that after the movie, we exited through a proper carpetted exit which led directly back to the main lobby. I absolutely hate the cinemas that exit through dingy, smelly stairways. Unfortunately, GV is most guilty of this. It's like, 'Thanks for your money, the movie's over, you can now exit through the smelly corridors.."

Ok, on to the movie.

The Host is a weird movie. At times, they try to make it a monster horror. But then, very often, there are scenes which are just outrightly silly. So as I sat there, I couldn't decide if the director wanted me to be scared or happy. I mean... it's a bit difficult to be scarily happy right? Then at times, it also seems that they are trying to satirize politics and also laugh at their own korean people. There were attempts to mention SARS, birdflu, etc and also make fun of Americans. But then, later on, there is also an american who sacrifices himself. It's all quite confusing.

The monster effects were not bad. Done by WETA, same company that did Lord of the Rings, so quite decent lar. Basically, it's like a huge mutated... hmm... tadpole? with feet? It's not all CGI. Quite a few scenes were with an actual model (I think it is lar).

The movie is about how this father (together with his brother, sister and father) try to rescue his daughter. Again, at times, there are attempts to be hardwarming heartwarming. But then, there are times when the scenes are slapstick funny. If you watch this movie, tell me what you think about the funeral scene. I just couldn't decide whether to feel sad or laugh at that scene.

So, does this movie live up to the hype? Personally, I don't see what's the big deal. Dunno how this movie can be like a top-grosser in Korea. Must be a korean-thing. Can watch lar. But be prepared to be confused.

Heh... Finally got around to doing it...

The subconscious speaks

Last night, I had my first vivid 'freedom' dream since I resigned.

Can't remember all the details, but I was with a group of my old friends (whom I've not met in a while... must arrange a gathering soon) at some chalet/camp. I told them that I was jobless and suddenly, the dream took on a wonderful sense of flightiness (my favourite kind of dream!). Basically, the floor was wet cause it was raining and I started sliding/skating on the wet floor everywhere. I was going down corridors, swinging around pillars, flying down steps... The sense of freedom was really quite shiok! This is probably second to my next favourite dream of being able to soar through the air.

Oh well, there was an added bonus to this dream. For some reason, we had to fight a monster spider (yes, I know it doesn't make sense. It's a dream after all.) and when we defeated it, by stuffing it into some vending machine slot (don't ask me how, we just did it), a branch magically dropped (like an RPG game... obviously playing too much games... ). And you know the power of this branch? It could clean up everything with a simple wave! lolz. Talk about the subconscious speaking. I then skated around, waved the branch over the table, bed, bags, etc, and everything magically packed itself up. If only life was so beautiful. heh.

Then, as with all dreams, I had to wake up.

It was good, no, AWESOME, while it lasted.

To the podiatrist...

Decided to do something about my ingrown toenail today. I've been putting it off coz the pain seemed to have subsided but over the weekend, it kinda came back. I was a little apprehensive coz when I went to my GP the last time, he said if he cut it, I would be probably on mc for a week or two. Didn't want to be out of action for so long.

Well, I was going to my GP but at the last minute, I googled 'ingrown nail' and found a reference to the Singapore Podiatrist Association. haha.. yeah.. bet you didn't noe such an association existed! heh.

Oh well, I thought, if I'm gonna get this done, might as well go to a specialist. So I made an appointment and turned up at 4.30pm at the Singapore Foot Centre.. bet you didn't noe such a centre existed!

The whole thing was pretty easy and painless. The podiatrist took out her special equipment and uber scary nail clippers (like some wire cutter...). In less than 15 mins, she cut out the piece of nail which was digging into my toe. I wanted to post a pic here... but thought it might be a little too extreme to post a toe nail here...

Anyway, the pain has pretty much subsided and everything should clear up in a week or two.

Really wish I had gone to see her earlier.

Superstar Wannabes

Auditions at Toa Payoh central. Looks like it's time for another singing competition. Hope it's better than Singapore Idol which pretty much sucks so far.

Mobile blogging

Cool... Just found out how to link my k800i to my blog. Now can blog whenever and wherever!

RIPB Farewell

Last Saturday, the prefects organized a farewell party for me. It was really memorable and I really must thank all the organizing committee and the prefects for a wonderful time.

Started off with the emcees ushering me into the empty & dark LT. Then, the lights were suddenly turned on and I was 'assaulted' by the prefects who ran down the isles and 'poked' little stickers all over me! Hmm.. have no idea what the significance was, but must say it was a surprising start. Looking up, I saw some former prefects from the class of 2005 and 2004. It was really heartening to see that they had turned up. Thanks for taking the trouble to be there! The LT was also decorated with pictures of the prefects and events which the board had undertaken over the last 3.5 years. Great decorations!




After that, we had some party games. Quite fun actually. I really enjoyed the silliness and the fun that we have laughing at and with each other. I think being in the board is a tough job. We really need moments like this to relac and destress. Thanks to those who were involved in the planning of the games. Silly but effective and enjoyable.



Then we had birthday celebrations for July & August babies. They played this 'game' where the birthday boys had to guess a number between 0 and 1000. Everytime they guessed a wrong number, they could add an ingredient to a slice of cake. This went on till the last guy who guessed the correct number. He would have to eat the cake+crap on it. First twist, at the end, they wanted all birthday boys to eat it. Second twist, they wanted me to have the last bite. Heh.. aiya, pretty expected lar. But it wasn't that bad really. The curry powder (thankfully not too spicy) and sesame seed oil pretty much covered up the taste of everything else. Must say the lumpy cheese added an interesting texture to the whole concoction.

After the cake was the video. It was really excellent. I think the video is gonna be something I'll remember for a long time. Guess some scenes which stick in my mind are: the many handphones (which I apparently change everyday... ) and zongyi going 'BOOOYYSSS!!" into the camera... lolz. Really funny, but really memorable.

I'll admit that the next part of the programme was a little awkward coz they opened the mic to those who wanted to say anything to me. As the prefects shared, it really brought back memories of the times I had worked with them. I can't help but realize the HUGE stacks of proposals I must have thrown back at the prefects for them to rethink and rework. Of course, with some of those memories came some regrets. Sometimes, I know I'd been too harsh and there were also prefects I had not had the chance to work closely with. I'm really grateful to so many of you who took the mic to say something. It was a real encouragement to me.

Next, there was the handover of the baton to Mr Teo who would be taking over the care of the board. It's funny how the baton has become this symbol. When we did the ultramarathon, the board wanted to challenge ourselves and push ourselves beyond our perceived limits. I think in the end, this baton does represent much of the spirit which the board should possess.

Finally came the gift. Wow. It was really a thoughtful gift. First was the DIY shelf with the letters R-I-P-B in front. Then there was the book of compiled well-wishes. There was also the CD-Rom with the video and a mock-up of a mosaic poster which they had done. The last thing was also one of the most significant, a 4-level name card holder with the names and responsibilities of all th prefects which I have worked with in the 3.5 years that I have been prefect master. As I looked through the names at home, it reminded me of all the prefects I had worked with. Thanks. Can't say that enough.



And finally, we had food, and the prefects also put the huge styrofoam crest we had used for almost 3 Prefect Investitures. Hard to believe it's really been so long.



I've said it many times in this post, and I'll say it again, Thanks to everyone for a really great farewell party. I have enjoyed my time as prefect master. This is due very much to all the prefects I had the opportunity to work with. Thank you and good luck!

(More pics can be found in my album.)

"Go confidently in the direction of your dreams,
Live the life you've imagined."

Pretty much describes the the point in my life which I'm at. Thanks.

Japanese Potty Training

Japanese Potty Training

Wow... the japanese have videos for everything... saw a snippet of this at the Emmy Awards and found the whole thing on Youtube.

Take a look. Beware of extreme toilet action.

WoW Stuff

Oh yah, never posted this the last time. I bought these World of Warcraft stuff from China on my two recruitment trips.

First pic are a pair of rings. One says 'WARCRAFT' and the other "WORLD OF WARCRAFT'. If I remember correctly, they cost about S$10 each. Really cool. I think these are the official WoW merchandise in China. The second pic are four rubber key chains. They only cost less than S$1! Obviously not official stuff. heh.

Yes, I admit. I'm seriously addicted to WoW. Sigh.

Long Hu Men (Dragon Tiger Gate)

Hmm, I'm jobless today. Unemployed. In other words, no income. :P For the next few months, gonna have to live off my savings.

Got up at 9am today. Bummed around a little. Read the papers then decided, what the heck, it's Day 1 of my jobless life, so back to bed I went. Woke up again at 12noon. After scanning through the day's news, decided to go catch a movie - Dragon Tiger Gate.

Actually, I've heard really mixed reviews for the movie. I think I've seen reviews giving it 1 star to reviews giving it 4 stars (out of 5). Well, Eng Wah cinemas were having a $5 special so I decided to give it a go (not say any other good movies out there lar).

Dragon Tiger Gate (or Long Hu Men) is based on the popular chinese comic of the same name. I never read those comics. Chinese not good enough. I never could understand which were the names of the people and which were the names of the kungfu strokes. Confusing.

DTG has got pretty good action sequences. The fighting is well choreographed and I especially like the finale fight scene. The whole movie should be like that lor. They had all the special kungfu moves with the accompanying special effects. Very cool.

But unfortunately, that's about all that's good about the movie.

The storyline was VERY boring. If not for the fighting sequences, I'd be bored stiff. Hated all the attempts to work in a romantic storyline. Hated the predictable bad brother-good brother scenes. Hated the bad-guy-turned-good-guy plot.

The actors. Hmm.. You really need to look the part. For most of them, the cast were ok. The biggest problem to me is the main star, Donnie Yuen. He's a great fight choreographer & martial art fighter. But he needs to realize that he just can't carry a movie. He was so uncharismatic and you can't help but wish someone younger, and more wuxia-like had taken on the role. He basically looked like a lao-ah-beng in the movie. Donnie should really just concentrate on doing what he's best at and stop trying to be a movie star.

For 5 bucks, I think DTG is a decent movie. If you've not watched it, go catch it, but only for the kung fu scenes. Forget about the storyline parts. Go buy popcorn and drinks or go to the toilet everytime they start talking. lolz.


Here's the movie poster as well as a cover from one of the Long Hu Men Comics. Just for comparison.

Farewell to 1Q 2005

Like to thank 1Q (2005) for the farewell party they put together for me last Thursday.

It's been my pleasure to have been your FT last year. Thanks for being such a spirited class. I've enjoyed being both your Physics Teacher and Form Teacher. You are such a diverse class but at the same time, I'm really glad that you were pretty united. Sure, there were the occasional hiccups and arguments, but by and large, it was great to see you all get along so well.

Thank you for the video. Really brought back memories. Especially the one with you guys in the fake ponytails. Yeah, really like it's RGS Youth day rather than RI Youth day.. heh.... You guys just wait. If any of you ever get famous or important, I tell you, these photos will come back and haunt you! I will keep the video safely for a long time... might help in my retirement fund next time! lolz.

Thanks for the very meaningful present. Dunno if it was intended or otherwise, but I really like the fact you used the mirror frame from last year. Made it so much more thoughtful. Most self-loving class indeed! haha.



It's hard to thank all of you individually. So I shan't try in case I leave out anyone. Thanks to the whole class for putting the farewell party together.



They served me anti-grav cakes! Wow.. must get the receipe.

Well 1Q (2005), good luck for your next 2 years in RI. Enjoy your last few months together as a class. Don't bully Mr Jee and Mdm Kwek.

I'm sure we'll meet up again in the future. See ya!

Free!

It's just past midnight and 28th August 2006 is over.

So, my last day in RI, is officially over.

Free at last!

One week since my last post. Hmm, looks like I might be losing interest in blogging... haha.. no lar. Just a little difficult to blog coz the last week has been quite busy with things like prefects interviews and packing up my stuff in the staff room.

I spent the whole afternoon clearing up as much of my stuff as possible. Really... 5.5 years of rubbish. I really have a lousy habit of hoarding stuff. My room is also like that. Plenty of stuff which I think I might use some time, some where. Today, it was just throw, throw, throw, throw, throw.

Tomorrow's my last day in RI. Can't believe it was 3 mths ago that I'd made the decision to leave. 3 mths really do pass by very quickly.

1Q (2005) and the prefects threw farewell parties for me. They were very memorable. But I decided that I would blog about them and my thoughts about leaving only after I've left. So, there should be plenty of updates in the following week. Check back if you are interested.

For the last two days, I've been amusing myself with Mr Brown's podcast about PM Lee's National Day message. The song they did making use of PM Lee's voice was hilarious! Wonder if he'll be permanently shut down! lolz. Maybe the gahmen is being tolerant since PM Lee talked so much about embracing IT developments. If you haven't heard it, pop by mr brown's blog and try it out.

Well, before the actual posts come out, if the guys from 1Q 2005 and the RIPB pop by here, I want you to know that your farewell parties have really encouraged me. Please accept my heatfelt appreciation for the effort and planning in putting the parties together!

I went to watch Lake House today. Yeah, I know, total chick flick. But for some reason, I really wanted to watch it. I think it was partially the idea that Sandra Bullock and Keanu Reaves was pairing up again. And I thought the story was kinda interesting (though hopelessly flawed, as are all time-paradox stories).

Well, this post is not so much about the movie (which was kinda ho-hum anyway) but about the service at GV Great World.

The movie was scheduled to start at 2.20pm but then at 2.30pm, an announcement was suddenly made, saying that due to techinical difficulties, the movie would start 10mins late... ok lor.. so I waited. And waited. Then at 2.45pm, they said they were still working out the problems (heh, in not-too-good english) and that the movie would start in about 15mins. Haha... people started to leave the cinema. I decided to just wait it out. Nothing much else to do on a Sunday afternoon.

As I waited, I couldn't help but wonder why didn't the cinema staff do something to like, make us a little happier. I thought, a small packer of popcorn or small drink... really wouldn't cost much to the cinema. Yet there was just waiting and waiting. Finally, at about 3.10pm, the movie restarted.

So ok lor, watch lor.... about 10mins into the movie, the manager (at least I think it was the manager) crept up to each of us in the cinema, apologised and gave us a complimentary ticket for a GV movie. I thought... not bad... was a nice end to the 'saga'... heh. At least they tried.

Hmm, wonder if I can get a job at GV? Might be interesting....

Countdown

8 days to go. Then things will change.

It's hard to say what I am feeling right now. Must admit, there is a sense of freedom, relaxation. But then again, there's so much to do before the end.

Todae was kinda surreal. Was flipping through the Recuitment Ads in yesterday's paper when I saw my job being advertised. Heh. Was a strange kinda feeling.

Oh well. I've made my choice. Now to look forward.

Photo Album updated with pics of Dinghu Mountain

It's good to be home

Yeah, it's really good to be home. Home sweet home.

As per usual routine, time to go for laksa & chicken rice.

Guangzhou was interesting, but we were only there overnight coz our flight home was on Friday, not Thursday. Although only a short few hours, I managed to find their toys & gifts wholesale centre.. .and it was like discovering heaven! It was basically 6 storeys of shops doing wholesale for toys and gifts... you know, things like soft toys (I bought a totoro soft toy for only $3!) and handphone straps, etc, etc. It's so huge but I had only 2 hours to explore the place. Got myself a small lava lamp for $5 and an electrostatic discharge globe (you know, the scientific looking glass globes with lightning-looking things inside) for only $12! So shiok. I'm seriously thinking of taking a short trip to Guangzhou to properly visit the place!

Well, whatever it may be, it's still good to be home. :-)

Finally, I had to include this pic. Around the park were some billboards of comic works. It's quite funny coz I don't think they realize what the english words really meant! I mean, this is supposed to be a family oriented park and I thought it was funny to find the 'F' word displayed so prominently at the entrance of the park!

There was a cultural park near the start of the trek. Supposed to have some cultural performances there but we missed them coz we went on the trek. Here's the huge urn in the park. Makes a pretty picture with the mountains in the background.

Here's a pic from the end point of our walk, near the top. There are two waterfalls. One obvious one on the right (which is actually part of the 'ren-pu' and the other one is hidden in the left. Can see?

But the trek basically brought us to see the various waterfalls within the area. Quite nice actually. There were about 3 or 4 waterfalls. Tiring, but beautiful. This is a pic of the 'ren-pu' or 'human-waterfall'. It's so named coz it was formed with two waterfalls at a angle, looking like the word 'ren' which is 'human' in chinese.

We were deciding whether to do the 'walk'. The girl at the counter said it was a fairly easy 60min walk, so we decided to give it a go. Boy was she lying... the walk was through a jungle track and there were also parts where we had to go up steep inclines (no doubt with steps cut into the rock). It was kinda unexpected, and what was supposed to be a leisurely visit ended up being quite an exercise... not something I would look forward to.

On our way to Guangzhou (our flight to Singapore departs from there) from Zhaoqing, we took a detour to Dinghu mountain as we were a little too early to check in to our hotel in Guangzhou. Here's the lake ('hu') which is at the top ('ding') of the mountain. Hence the the name 'Dinghu' mountain or 'Mountain with Lake at the top".

This is the hotel we stayed in at Zhaoqing, our last stop for this trip. The one thing which amazes us is how long the hotel corridor was! This is probably the longest hotel corridor which I have ever seen. From the lift to our rooms (which would of course be near the end of the corridor), the distance was about 100m! It's really hard to imagine what was going through the architect's mind when he designed such a hotel.

Yesterday, 5 August, was a long day of testing, interviews and marking. We had a Parent Teachers Meeting today and then some free time after that. I went to Dongmen (东门) and it was really a busy busy busy place. Here's a pic of one small corner of the place. Note the nice big MacDonalds sign in the middle? Looks like corporate America is really reaching into every corner of the world. There's also Walmart in Shenzhen and a couple of other cities that we've been to so far.



Dongmun is a huge place with plenty of shops. Unfortunately, most of them are fashion & home stuff, hardly of an interest to me. There was however this place called Comics City (动漫城) which was a wonderland to me! Basically, 2 floors of shops selling cartoon/anime/comic stuff. Found really cheap Totoro stuff. Of course, it's probably not original, but really, the quality is good and it onli costs like S$6... So, if u are a comic/anime fan and ever happen to be in Shenzhen, don't miss out on this place.

I arrive into Shenzhen on 4 August. We were really very fortunate. Apparently, on 3 August, a typhoon struck Shenzhen and over 300 flights were delayed. Flights trying to enter Shenzhen were also diverted to other cities. We were really worried that the thunderstorm would not let up but other than an overcast sky, the weather was fine and cool.

Deja Vu

Sigh.

Guess what. My wallet got stolen tonight.

I don't know why. Must be something to do with me and recruitment trips. In all my personal travels, I have never ever got anything stolen or lost. And yet, on last year's India recruitment trip, my passport was stolen and now, in this year's China recruitment trip, my wallet (thankfully not my passport) got stolen.

Basically, I was on my way back from the supermarket to the hotel. Walking along a busy stretch of road, no more than 1.5m in front of my colleagues. My wallet was in my waist pouch which I was holding by the handle in my right hand and kinda swinging it a little as I walked. My colleague suddenly pointed out to me that the zipper was open. When I looked in, I noticed my wallet was missing.

Strangely, I wasn't really upset. I mean, what's the point right? Frankly, I thought I had taken reasonably care of my wallet. Didn't even take it out to flash the money or anything. Of course, I could have held it tightly to my chest, so maybe that's something I'll have to learn.

On a sad note, in my wallet were about 400 RMB (approx 90 singapore dollars), 2 credit cards and my IC. Replacing my IC will cost about $100.

On a brighter side, they thieves didn't take my camera and brand new Sony Ericsson K800i. Heh. Joint cost of the two is many more times than the replacement of my IC and the money lost.

Oh well. Whatever will be will be. No point crying over spilt milk. Just have to be EVEN more careful next time.

Finished with Changchun (长春) and am now in Wuhan (武汉). We flew from Changchun to Beijing (abt 1.5hrs) then after a 3hr stopover, flew from Beijing to Wuhan. We were quite lucky actually. Apparently, Beijing has been experiencing thunderstorms in the afternoons. Just yesterday, over 300 flights were delayed (some by a day!) because of a thunderstorm. When we arrived in Beijing, the weather was nice and sunny! When we arrived into Wuhan, we heard that Beijing was experiencing thunderstorms with floods. Phew. Talk about luck!

Wuhan is supposed to be known as one of the four 'ovens' of China. Temperatures here can reach up to 37 degrees. Sigh. Not looking forward to the hot weather. We'll be here for just a short couple of days before we're off to Shenzhen.

Am already missing laksa and chicken rice.

Back in China

Yepz, I'm back in China for another recruitment trip. Arrived two days ago into Chang Chun. It's quite different from the other cities that I've visited. Chang Chun looks very... planned. Essentially, everything seems to be meticulously placed in a certain place. It's a very neat (literally) city.

Had dinner at a place called 'GOOSE' last night. No prizes for guessing what dishes were their speciality. Our hosts ordered, 4 goose heads, yep, you heard that right, 4 goose HEADS for us to try. Basically, you have these 4 goose HEADs, braised, and split into half. Don't ask me how it tastes, I wasn't adventurous enough. Wanted to take a pic to post here but thought it might be a little rude to snaps pics during dinner.

Oh well, it's another two days here in Chang Chun before moving on to Wuhan. The weather here is surprisingly nice. Apparerently, it's been really hot before we arrived. I heard that Wuhan is going to be really, really, REALLY hot. I'm so looking forward to it.....

K800i

I traded in my Nokia N80 for the Sony Ericsson k800i today.

The N80 was not a bad phone. I loved the Wi-fi and the web surfing interface was really good. The screen was also very nice. But I didn't like the pictures it took (even though they were also 3 megapixel, I thought the 2 mp taken by my old k750i were better) and the battery life was horrible! The N80 usually dropped to less than half it's battery life by the end of the day!

So, I've kinda been waiting for either the Nokia E70 or the SE k800i. Unfortunately, it seems that Nokia is probably not releasing the E70 so since the price of the k800i is pretty reasonable (esp after I trade in the N80) I decided not to wait.

So far? Wonderful! The initial feel of the whole phone is very positive. Tried installing some wallpaper and ringtones and so far so good. The only slight irritation is that Sony is using their new M2 card. It's really tiny. About 2/3 the size of the miniSD card. But since it's a new card and it's Sony's proprietry media, the card is quite expensive. Nevermind for now, since the phone came with a 512mb card. Should be quite sufficient for now.


Sigh... pretty isn't it?

Ok, I think this phone must last me for a quite a while. I shall try my utter best to not upgrade for at least a year (or two if I can help it....)

It's nice to be home.

Went out immediately to see a doctor coz of an in-growing toenail. Of course, I took the chance to have a yummy bowl of katong laksa. Next... CHICKEN RICE!

Open or closed?

We were on the highway on our 5 hr trip between cities when we made a toilet stop. Here's the sign we saw... so the question is... is it open or closed? heh.



Yeah, the were a quite a few other such spelling mistakes, but I decided I shouldn't post them... not very nice, yah?

Beijing Airport

Took this while waiting for my flight from Beijing to Shanghai.

The airport is really quite large, but the pe0ple... oh the people... it was so very crowded. Basically, the one phrase that comes to mind is the proverb I learnt since primary school: 人山人海。

The whole of China is just so very crowded. The shops are crowded, the streets are crowded, the parks are crowded, etc, etc. It's something I don't really like coz the crowds do get to me. And the weather doesn't really help. The temp here hovers around 32 to 37 degrees! Just today, as we stepped out of the van, we could literally feel the heat wave hit us. It was 37 degrees at Hefei! I'm told the weather is the same if not worse further south where I'm heading for the next trip... sigh. Why can't we recruit in Winter time!?

Shopping

As is my usual practice, I sought out the electronics centre in Beijing the first chance I had. Actually, I tried to find time to take a look at the local electronics centre at the cities I visited. Here are the pics of two of these centres in Beijing.

These places are huge. And I really mean HUGE. I think one of these buildings can easily take two or three Sim Lim squares inside! And the number of shops inside? Astounding. When I was first told by the students that you could have almost a thousand shops inside, I was like 'huh?', thinking that he was just exaggerating. But no...

Here's a pic of Hai Long centre. The first place I visited.


Here's a pic of what goes on inside one of these buildings. It's a real marketplace! Many of these shops are just a small space of maybe 3m by 3m. The bigger ones have a actual shop space. The interesting thing is that there are just so many things to see. The bad thing is, there is no real order. So you can't really browse. The other thing I hate is how EVERYONE keeps harassing you to see their shop. I couldn't even just look around any shops. The moment you walk past one, you would be dragged in by the sales staff. I guess if you knew what you want, then you could easily get it. But this is really not a place to browse. This is pretty much the same in almost every electronics centre I visited.



This is the electronics just opposite Hai Long centre. Just within that area itself were about 4 to 5 such buildings. Each almost 2-3 times bigger than Sim Lim. Phew!

Culinary Delights of China

Almost at the end of my first trip to China. Will be setting off for home early tomorrow morning. I've some time now to do some blogging on some stuff.

Food was quite an eye opener. It's really hard to imagine the kind of food they can cook up from just one animal. And the thing is, we weren't even eating exotic animals. Here's a pic of a dish. If I remember correctly, it's either cow's lung or stomach. I tell you... the smell was.... simply indescribable. In situations like this, I'm really glad I don't take beef or entrails of any kind. Apparently, you have to eat it while it was hot so that it'll be nice and soft. I didn't take too many pics of other food coz I thot it was kinda rude to do it in front of guests.



Here's something a little more palatable. The famous 'kou rou' or three-layered pork. It's amazing how they do this in China. It looks so sinful, but it doesn't taste sinful at all. Unlike in Singapore, when you eat this, the fat kinda just bursts in your mouth... kinda gross. Here, you don't really taste it. They say it's 'fei er bu ni' - 'Fatty but you don't get sick of eating it'. I had to take a pic of it coz it simply looked so sinful here!



One thing I discovered on this trip. I'm not a very adventurous eater. I kinda stick to the very safe chicken, pork and veggies. At most of the hosted dinners, I think I ate less than half the dishes that were served. Sometimes coz of the red meat and entrails, other times, it was simply coz the dish was just too strange. We went to a restuarant where one of our team members ordered goat's spine..... omg.... I couldn't even bear the sight of it! But it was apparently very good.. .especially the marrow... As far as I am concerned, I can see that presentation is everything. I'm simply not gonna eat something that looked as if it was simply chopped and mashed together. Another meal, we were served chicken and this chicken (a rooster) actually had a crown almost twice the size of the head! And our hosts actually asked us to eat the crown! I have no idea how to do that.

Yes, food has been interesting. But I am dreaming of laksa and chicken rice... soon... very soon...

Finally, I also visited the Shanghai Science and Techonology Museum. From the outside, looks really fantasitc right? Sad thing is that the inside wasn't as impressive. The displays were not too bad, but compared to many of the Science museums I've visited in Japan and US, it just felt less exciting. Still, an interesting place to see at least once.

Shanghai has an amazing skyline. This is just a sample of the buildings. Most of them are really unique and you can see much effort has gone into making each building very unique. Singapore's CBD kinda pales in comparison. Notice the two buildings on the far left of the pic? Yep, they are the ones where Tom Cruise filmed a scene from Mission Impossible 3.

This was taken from the very top of the Jin Mao building. The upper most floors are actually a hotel, the Grand Hyatt I think. From the top, they have a window looking down so we can see all the way to the lobby of the hotel. I thought this was a real awesome pic. It's amazing how they designed the hotel to have a spiral balcony... see it?

Opposite the Jing Mao building, about 400 metres away is the Dong Fang Ming Zhu. It's kinda like the building everyone is supposed to go up. I couldn't be bothered. It's shorter than the Jin Mao building and yet costs twice as much to go up. It looks quite futuristic though, in a corny kinda way.

we actually had some free time in Shanghai due to some changes in our testing schedule. I made use of the time to visit Pudong. Here's a pic of the world's 3rd tallest building, the Jin Mao building. It's too bad that the day was so foggy, I went all the way up but couldn't see anything... sigh.

After Beijing, which was generally greyish, we went to Shanghai... what a great difference! Here's a pic of the famous Nanjing Road in Shanghai. The street is just so vibrant and pulsating with all the neon lights. The buildings were also lit up very prettily. This really beats Singapore hands down. I wonder how Singapore ever intends to compete with this. In comparison, Orchard Road does look an ugly duckling. But as for the shops, I think Orchard has a better mix of shops and there;s something for everyone. In Nanjing Road, the shops are really very similar.. mainly clothes... chinese medicine...

I didn't have much time in Beijing, but managed to walk over to Tiananmen Square (almost 45 mins walk from my hotel) to snap a pic of the famous Mao Tse Dong picture. I'm using my new Sony T30 camera... nice eh? It was really crowded, but one thing about China is the huge number of touts trying to waylay you to introduce massage & other services... Quite irritating actually. It's really quite rampant, even more so than Vietnam.

My First Visit to China

It's been quite an interesting 10 days. This is my very first visit to China and it has been quite an eye-opener.

I've never really been interested to visit China so I guess it's a good thing that I am visiting it now because of school work. If not for this opportunity, I would probably not see China for at least a couple more years.

I've got some pictures to post, but might be able to do that later.

Currently, I've been to Beijing and Shanghai and right now, I'm blogging from Ma An Shan. The cities are all very very different. Beijing is really steeped in history (esp coz of the forbidden palace and tiananmen, etc) and Shanghai on the other hand is a really colourful but very very very noisy and busy. As for Ma An Shan, it's a fairly quiet place, about 5 hours away from Shanghai by road. I'm off to Bengpu and Anqing over the next few days before finally returning to Singapore (and enjoying my beloved meal of laksa and chicken rice!).

I'll post some pics and talk about some of the things slowly.

Sorry to my faithful readers for the long delay in my blog updates!

Wow... it's been a very long time since I last posted. Sorry to you guys who have been checking out my blog. Problem is, I'm in China now and somehow, I've not been able to access any blogs. Looks like blog sites have all been blocked or something.

Anyway, I'm in Ma An Shan now, and it seems I can actually access blogger to update my blog, although I still can't see my blog. Well, at least I can post some updates! Will be updating some of the happenings over the last week later.

Superman Returns

Wow. The movie was really good. Bryan Singer is really an excellent director when it comes to such comic hero movies. There were so many nice touches throughout the movie, and it basically had what X-Men 3 lacked.... heart.

Yeah, sounds mushy I know. But the truth is, you didn't really feel much for the characters in X-Men 3. It was a fun action movie. But the characters were really quite normal. In Superman Returns, Bryan Singer takes the time to show subtle scenes to really give us a little more insight into the characters and thus making us feel a little more for them.

How was Brandon Routh as Superman? Good. Very good. He definitely carried the role well and all the flying, saving, etc, were done with an air of a super man. Really. Another thing I liked was the way he gave Superman a regal air about him. There were these bits here and there that his movement was just slowed a little, to give you this feel that he is like royalty.

Another thing I liked about the movie was their restraint. There were scenes which could easily have become cheesy, but the director didn't go overboard and held back. And the scenes turn out quite well.

So, any bad things to say?

Yeah, I still don't like the way they make Lex Luthor a semi-clown. Why can't they just use a proper evil Luthor like in the comics and TV series? So, while Kevin Spacey also did a good job, the 'evil' in the movie just wasn't evil enough. Another thing, some of you will probably find the movie a little cheesy anyway. It definitely doesn't feel as down to earth as say, Spiderman. But in my opinion, you just can't do it with a super hero like Superman.

The movie was 2h 40mins short. Yeah... short. It really didn't feel like 2h 40mins had passed. To me, that's always the mark of a great movie.

Go watch it.

I'm off to see Superman Returns.... very excited!

Done to one week before the holidays are over. This is gonna be a busy week with the last two Leadership Challenge workshops which will be held from Tuesday to Friday.

I don't really know where the last week went... somehow, the time just flew past, kinda weird really. I didn't even realize that my last post was more than a week ago!

Things are gonna be even more hectic in the new term. I am scheduled to go for two trips to China, each about 2.5 weeks long. Then there is a long list of events happening.. Youth Week, Friendship day, National Day, Open House, just to name a few.

Well, many changes are in store. These are exciting times....

One of the better videogame movies. Will try to write review later. Pity it's NC16 though. But there were some really gruesome scenes...

Review: The Da Vinci Code

I finally went to watch The Da Vinci Code early this week.

After reading about all the poor reviews for the movie, I really didn't go with any high expectations. Even then, I must say this movie was quite ordinary.

Despite having big name actors like Tom Hanks & Ian MacKellen (Magneto from X-men) and a big name director like Ron Howard, the movie never really takes off. The whole thing is just one long mediocre ride.

I dunno, but I'm guessing that this could be due in no small part to the fact that Ron Howard is just not an action/thriller director. There are parts here and there where he appears to be trying real hard to make things exciting, but it just doesn't work. For example, there was this car chase scene where they were driving backwards... sounds mildly exciting? Nah, it really wasn't very.

It could also be the subject matter. It's really kinda hard to do a movie without having to explain much of the religious significance of the symbols. But once you do that, the movie is bogged dowm by long periods of conversations and this just doesn't make for a very fast-paced movie.

The book was quite the page turner. If I remember correctly, the entire novel was basically a story told over a period of 2 days. The movie, however, was quite a yawner.

If you haven't read the book, do yourself a favour and read the book rather than watch the movie. If you've read the book, save the ticket money for Superman Returns.

Review: Cars

Watched CARS, the new movie from Pixar, a couple of days ago. Was supposed to go buy something, but ended up having to wait for it to arrive so I decided to catch the sneak preview of CARS.

I was kinda disappointed in the movie. Not that it wasn't good. I guess on its own merits, it would be a decent movie. The animation was good and the story had the usual elements of a Pixar cartoon. But when I put it side by side with the recent Pixar flicks like Incredibles & Finding Nemo, Cars is a distant third.

Maybe it's the subject matter. (1) I'm not a car-type person. I can't tell the difference between a Honda & a Toyota for that matter. Don't talk about Ferraris and Porches. (Ok lar.. I guess I should be able to identify the distinct Porche car design). (2) I'm also not much into racing. Sure, I enjoyed movies like Initial D and I like games like Ridge Racer & Burnout. But this kinda race-around-the-track-300-times type of race is pretty YAWN for me. (3) I just don't find a talking car interesting. Animals? sure. Fish? yeah. Ogres? Why not. Cars? HUH???

Well, let's put it this way. Cars is the first Pixar movie where I actually fell asleep half-way through. And in all honesty, I wasn't even tired.

Euphoria destroyed

Everything was fine.

It tested good.

It charged well.

It started playing well.

Then suddenly. It appeared. A dreaded red dead pixel smack in the middle.

*sob*

UPDATE
I'm totally elated! The shop has replied that they will change my set for me! Now, that's what I call excellent service!

Funny Web Comic

Just visited this funny comic site on the web. Basically cracks jokes about video gaming. Here's one which I thought was pretty good. If you like this kinda humour, visit www.myextralife.com for more!