Very tired.... my feet are killing me.... Today was another day of plenty walking. Set off a bit later coz I was lazing around in my room (since it was Sunday after all).

I signed up for a tour to visit the Catacombs. Not cheap, 40 euros, but after the tour, I think it was quite well spent. Having a guide around to talk about what I am seeing really makes a difference.

The catacombs are a set of underground tunnels where the early Christians who were persecuted were buried. Eerie place. I visited the Catacombs of Saint Domitalla which was the burial place of over 150 000 people. They were buried in an underground structure 4 levels deep! We only got to visit parts of the first two levels. The whole place was like a huge maze underground. Very interesting visit. No pics were allowed, so I only managed to take a pic of the outside which is actually the roof of the underground cathedral.

Next, we visited the Basillica di San Giovanni which is the cathedral of Rome. The guide explained that in order for building to be called a Basillica, it needed to have a 4 things, one of which is are holy relics. The one in this Basillica is supposed to be the skulls of St Peter and St Paul! They also had a piece of wood from the table where Jesus had his Last Supper. This Basillica also had beautiful statues along the nave of the the twelve apostles. This one stood out to me... I think it was supposed to be of Bartholomew... he's supposed to be holding a his own skin coz it's believed that he was skinned alive. Just outside this Basilica was the shrine where the 'holy staircase' is. It's supposed to be the actual marble steps which Jesus climbed up to meet Pontius Pilate. The steps (together with the shred of wood from the last supper table) were brought to Rome by Helen, the mother of Constantine, the first Christian roman emperor.


The last stop on the tour was the Basillica of Santa Maria Maggiore. The relic in this Basilica is a piece of the manger where baby Jesus was laid! It's really quite interesting to see all these holy relics.




After the tour, I decided to go to Capitoline Museum. It's a huge museum and it was totally worth visiting. There were so many sculptures and paintings. I'm not an arty person, but there were two pieces which I really liked. First was the sculpture of The Dying Gaul. I found the sculpture very sad. Next was a painting of the legend of how Rome was founded. The woman in the painting is the mother of Romulus and Remus (the two kids in the painting). The man she is with is a representation of the god of the River Tiber. Click here to read about it more.











All in, another very interesting day. But my feet really hurt. Tomorrow's my last day here, still haven't seen the Pantheon. So much more to see! Hate to admit it, but I'm enjoying Rome!

I spent today wondering all around the streets of Rome. First stop was the famous Trevi Fountain. Never really expected it to be so huge. Heh.. always imagined it to be smaller. Then, I walked to the Spanish steps but on the way, I actually found a Chinese restaurant to have my lunch. I had sweet & Sour pork, sour & spicy soup & a coke. All for 12 euros... S$24.... I have already decided to forget about converting the prices or I'll probably never eat anything other than sandwiches and pizza here.


After Spanish Steps, I went on to visit this Altar of Peace. Thought it was quite interesting, how they reconstructed the entire altar from the different pieces they had found at different times.





Right next to the Altar was a burial mount but the more interesting thing was that an artist had put together some outdoor exhibition on the railings around the mount. He wasn't really charging anything for it but the pieces were quite humourous. Here's one about the 'toilette'.










After that, I took a cruise down the River Tiber. I thought it would be quite nice (cause I like to do river cruises) but I must admit I was a bit disappointed. Firstly, the walls of the river were filled with ugly grafitti. And secondly, many of the sights were kinda obscured by the trees coz the water level was way below the sides.

Then I went up Castel Saint Angelo, a castle by the river. Interesting place but no pics allowed inside. But we could go to the top of the castle and since it was actually dark by then, I could take some nice night pics (finally used my mini-tripod!). The first shot is of Vatican City and the second shot is of the bridge across the river, leading towards Vatican City.

Internet connection was down in the hotel last night.... so no updates.

Yesterday, I went to Vatican City. Really good visit. It was a little overwhelming coz there were just SO MANY PEOPLE!! I wanted to go to the Vatican Museum first, but the queue was easily half a kilometre long! Had a pleasant surprise as I was wandering around St. Peter's Square. The Pope was returning to the Vatican so there was a mini-driveby and the people were excitedly waving at him. I'm not Catholic so it wasn't that big a deal, but it was cool to be able to see the Pope (even though he was in a car).

I loved all the statues and chapels in St. Peter's Basillica. It's interesting to see how the fervour/devotion of the popes, artists & followers are translated into all these monuments. Some highlights... in no particular order: (1) seeing the tomb holding the remains of St. Peter (2) seeing the tomb of the last Pope (3) climbing the 'cupola', ie, the top of the dome.

I ended up spending pretty much the whole day at Vatican City. Great visit. First two days in Rome have been very enjoyable.

Here are some pics:















View from the top of the dome (I'm very proud that I managed to do the climb up the steps!)















The remains of St. Peter are kept in this intricate box in an elaborately designed tomb.















The Pope's car driving by.















Famous view of St. Peter's Basillica & St. Peter's Square.

I know I said this in an earlier post, but I'll say it here again... Rome is a beautiful & ancient city. Today, I had a great time visiting ancient Rome. Made my way on the metro to Colosseo station, just outside the Colosseum. Train fares are quite ok, 1 euro (S$2) for every journey, regardless of how far. Stepping out of the station, I immediately saw the Colosseum. It's really awesome. It's so hard to believe that it was build almost 2000 years ago. I decided to turn right and visit Palatine Hill and the Roman Forum first before hitting the Colosseum.

I was really lucky coz when I reached the entrance to Palatine Hill at about 10.50am, a guided tour in English (costing only 3.50 euro) was just about to start at 11am. It was so good to have a guide to explain the highlights of Palatine hill. This is the place where it is believed that Rome started out as a village on a hill. There were so many ruins to see and it was fantastic how the romans built these wonderful (and decadent!!) structures. Here's a tree which marks the location of a former temple on top of Palatine hill. The little bridge shows that the temple/shrine was surrounded by water and the tree marks the position where the shrine was. The little mount was left by the archaeologists to show the land which had covered the area before the excavation.

After the Palatine hill tour, I rushed back to the starting point of the tour to join the 12.30pm tour of the Roman Forum. Another good tour with interesting tidbits thrown in. Here's a pic of the central area of the forum. You can see two pillar structures in the pic. The smaller one on the left was part of the Temple of Vesta, home of the Vesta Virgins. Apparently, they comprised 6 girls/women chosen from the age of 6 to 10 yrs and had to serve in the temple for at least 30 years. If they'lost' their virginity during this time, they would be buried alive and the guy who caused her to lose it would be flogged to death.

Next, I went for some lunch before going on to the Colosseum. Lunch was not bad. Had some Tortellini (pasta stuffed with stuff, I think) with ice cream and chicken wings. Quite tasty.. but the whole thing cost more than S$20... and it was considered a fast food joint. Oh yah, decided to try the cappucino. It was really good. Now I can see why I was told that coffee in Rome is not to be missed.

Just stepping into the Colosseum was enough to take my breath away. The scale of the whole thing just makes you wonder how it could even be built almost 2000 years ago. It's kinda hard to describe it in words, the place is something you have to experience. I was a little disappointed that I missed the guided tour by only about 7 mins. Ended up using the audio tour. Wasn't as good as a proper guide, but it was informative. Undoubtedly, it was worth the trip to Rome to see this.

It was past 5pm when I finished with the Colosseum, so I decided to take things easy and go back to Termini for some window-shopping and dinner before going back to my hotel. Found a supermarket (at last) but sadly, thought not unexpectedly, I couldn't find any instant noodles. heh. Should have brought some. But since I was going to be away for more than 30 days, I figured bringing 5 cup noodles wasn't gonna make much of a difference. For dinner, I actually found a pseudo asian cafe called W.O.K. Ordered Yasai noodles (vegetarian fried noodles) with two sticks of Yakitori and white rice and a soft drink. Well.... it was good to have some chinese food. But the cost?... 8 euros (S$16)!! The same meal in Singapore would probably cost no more than $5 or $6. I think the only way I am going to eat anything here is to stop converting it to Singapore dollars.

Tomorrow, I'm either gonna do the Vatican or Capitoline Hill. Shall sleep on it and decide over breakfast.

Some pics of my arrival day

It's day 2, but I'm kinda lazing in my room before setting off. Yeah, the room's nice. Glad I chose it over the others which were more centrally located. This place is a little further from city centre (like 2 subway stops) but for the same price as a city centre hotel, I get a much nicer room with a good breakfast included.








Food. Now this is one area I'm a little concerned with. Firstly, it's the variety. As I looked around yesterday, it seems that almost everything is just pizza, pasta & bread. No other varieties. I'm not very adventurous when it comes to food, so while I may like pizza, I don't fancy myself eating pizza every meal, every day. Same goes for sandwiches. The other big thing.. food is EXPENSIVE. If you use the Macdonald's price index, a Value meal here costs 5.50 euros which is S$11!!! And that's the price of regular set meals. That's even more expensve then Japan!



This is my 'yummy' lunch yesterday. A quarter slice of a pizza, 7-up and some potato crochettes. 5.50 euros.





And this is Stazione Termini, pretty much the main train station in Rome. I expect to be seeing this place very often the next few days coz most things start from here. It's a huge train station (maybe not as big as the underground labyrinths of some Tokyo stations) but one thing I hate about it is the graffiti. You see it everywhere. On the right is a pic of the Leonardo express, the direct train from the airport to Stazione Termini which cost 11 euros and takes about 30mins.










I took a quick city tour on an open top bus yesterday. First impressions... Rome is a beautiful & ancient city. The monuments and buildings are really like pages from a history book. OK, guess I should be off on my first real day of exploring Rome. A bit apprehensive coz my stupid big toe is still giving me probs. Sigh.

In Rome, finally

Blogging from my hotel room in Rome right now. It's 12.15pm in the afternoon and I've just reached the hotel from the airport. Phew, it's been a long trip so far.

The plane from Singapore to Amsterdam took about 12 hours. After a stopover of about 2 hours, I boarded another plane from my 2-hour trip to Rome. Then it was a 30min train ride from the airport to Stazione Termini (the main train station) before finding my way to the hotel which took another 30mins coz I kinda got lost. That makes it 17 hours of travelling. Really feel like simply slacking in my hotel for the rest of the day. lolz.

The plane ride was not too bad actually. Yeah, KLM doesn't have personal entertainment systems like SQ and some Northwest flights, they only have these small TV screens located here and there. There wasn't even the big screens in the main cabin. But like I'd said, I wasn't really bothered with it. Spent some time playing on my DS lite, then watched 2 movies on the small screen (Devil wears Prada and Over the Hedge) and caught some snoozes in between them all. Flight was not packed, but unfortunately my row was full, so no empty seat next to me.

Food was ok. They served a snack (ice cream or nissin cup noodles) sometime in the middle of the flight. That was kinda gross coz the water in the cup noodles was already luke warm. They had prepared it a few minutes earlier, so the soup was kinda bleargh.

But on the whole, I thought it was quite ok, it wasn't the nightmare which I had read on some web reviews.

The hotel is very nice. For the same price (but a slightly off location) I've chosen a hotel which is really comfy and the internet is free! Was kinda worried that I would get a crappy room. heh. Shiok. At least I can surf and maybe catch up on some WoW at night. Will post some pics later.

I'll be spending the next couple of days in Rome before flying to New York.

OK, I'm starting to feel somewhat hungry. Think it's time to go out to look see look see & find food.

Nothing much to blog about this week except the usual movies... tv... slacking...

I admit, it's getting a little boring.

I went to watch AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH. I don't really know what to make of this movie. I'm not really an environmentalist but the movie does bring out some very compelling points. Basically, the movie is like a filming of one of Al Gore's talks/seminars. He has been going around giving this talk ever since he lost the presidential elections. According to the movie, he says that this has always been one of his concerns ever since before he entered politics. Well, I dunno if it's a coincidence that this movie is coming out just as the US presidential race is starting up once again. I wonder if he is running again. If he is then this movie would give him pretty good publicity. The thing is: If everything in the movie is true, then it's kinda hard to understand why the governments around the world aren't taking a more serious/active stand to combat it. Of course, in the movie, he blames the weak political wills of governments due to the demands of the huge corporations. If you're in the mood for this kind of talk/documentary movie, then give it a shot, it's quite interesting.

I've also finished watching the TV series COMMANDER IN CHIEF. This is an excellent show! Geena Davis is great as the first women American President and the stories are really interesting. The issues they discuss are quite real. I wonder, will Singapore ever accept a female Prime Minister?

Today, I dropped by the X06 event. I was sorely disappointed. It was supposed to be some showcase of the xbox360 & Singapore is like the first stop in Asia. All I can say is... YAWN. It was quite boring and it wasn't very different from any demo booth at the computer fairs every holiday. Singapore really has far to go when it comes to these gaming exhibitions. There's supposed to be a big games convention in September next year. Hope it's infinitely better than this X06. Even the design of the domes was actually quite boring.. From afar, it jsut looks like two boobs...

I've finally confirmed my travel plans. Will be off to the US next week. Quite excited coz of a few reasons:
1. I'm doing a cross country (New York to San Francisco) again. It's been more than 10 yrs since the last time I tried this. This time, I hope to visit more of the southern states in the US.
2. I'll probably be going for a Star Trek 40th anniversary convention. Yep. I'm a trekkie at heart.
3. I'm actually gonna do a Rome stopover before going to New York! This is a first time for me. I've never EVER been to any part of Europe/London. The ticket deal was not bad and allowed me to do a Rome stopover, so I thought 'Why Not?'
4. I'm travelling by KLM. This is the first time I'm flying by KLM. Hope it's not too crappy.

After this trip, I'll really have to settle down and get a job.

Sinking of Japan

The trailer for the movie looked quite interesting and furthermore, me being a lover of all things japanese, wanted to see how Japan could possibly be destroyed due to it sinking into the sea. So, I decided to catch the preview today. Boy, did the movie suck.

It was only about 1h 45 mins long, but it felt so much longer than that. In fact, I thought the movie was already ending (or maybe I was hoping it was ending) so I looked at my watch, only to realize it had only been an hour since it started. bummer.

The biggest problem? I think the director couldn't decide what kind of movie he wanted. He didn't know whether he was filming a disaster or romance movie or a documentary or... I dunno what. The movie was a mess. It had so much potential but nothing was really fleshed out. I mean, you have a movie about the total destruction of Japan, we ought to feel sorry for the japanese right? I dunno, but the movie doesn't really make me feel anything at all. They could explore the problems with relocating their citizens to the other countries, but it was touch and go. And the love story... sigh... the love story... it was so fake and unbeleivable.. and LAME. And then you have this scene where the girl tells the guy point blank, "make love to me". I almost laughed out loud coz it was just so out of place and awkward.. Then, guess what, the guy says... "NO"!!! lolz... and proceeds to give some lame reason which I really didn't understand... I wished he'd said "No... coz... I'm sorry, but I've been hiding this from you.. I'm gay!".. Now that would have given a much needed twist to the really boring story.

B-grade movies are fine. They are in a class of their own. But this movie is just plain boring. Don't even consider it. I guess as the saying goes "Go up a mountain frequently enough and you'll meet a tiget"... guess after the recent chain of good and not-too-bad movies, it was time for a bad one.

Vivocity

Like the rest of Singapore, I had to go visit Vivocity as well. Actually, I went there two weeks ago but I was too lazy to transfer the pics from my phone to the computer to blog about it.. until now. heh.

Going to Vivocity is really very convenient for me. Just need to take a feeder bus to the Serangoon MRT and from there, it's barely 30mins via a comfy train ride. Vivocity is really pretty huge, as everyone who has been there would say. But again, like what everyone says, it is basically one of Singapore's many cookie cutter malls. Yeah, they try to bring in special 'brand names', but when you look around, it's pretty much more of the same. Wonder how many more of such similar malls can they build.

The interior is quite nice. But what I really liked was the nice rooftop garden. Although somewhat spoilt by the haze, the scene was still pretty nice. I'm sure Vivocity will make use of this rooftop by holding events here to draw in the crowds.

Of course, I was there to try out the new GV Vivocity. The cinema was not bad, I watched World Trade Centre there. Fairly spacious seats. But the supposed huge screen didn't seem so huge... I thought it wasn't that much different from GV Grand's cinema 6. What I HATED, and I've said this before, is the totally disgusting exit after the movie. This was definitely one of the worst. Not only was it dusty and devoid of any signages, it was a nightmare trying to find my way back to the mall! I ended up going around in circles (with a small crowd of the other cinema-goers) and cutting across a car park just to get back into the mall. Total put-off.

Went to Toys R Us, which they advertised as one of the largest in South East Asia... like real lor. Although the selection was decent, it didn't really feel all that big. What caught my eye was the super SCARY geoffrey the giraffe (the mascot) at the entrance. Now tell me, dun u think it's pretty ghastly? Almost like it's been crucified.

This has been a really slack week. If it weren't for my toenail prob, I would have been on my way to the US by now. Instead, I'm stuck at home, trying to find things to keep myself occupied. Sadly, I appear to be approaching my super-bored-coz-there's-nothing-to-do stage. Well, went to see the podiatrist again yesterday and it seemd to be getting better. So, I might be able to go for my trip next week. Guess I'll have to keep my fingers crossed.

So, what have I been doing?

Firstly, watching TV series. Yep. After SURFACE, I've finished watching PRISON BREAK and am halfway through watching LOST. Quite tiring actually, but it's so much more fun to watch a tv series at one shot rather than wait week after week after week. Prison Break is really really good. The simple premise is how this guy has planned the entire escape from the prison and of course, how he handles the problems that pop up along the way. The characters in the show are pretty interesting... the serial rapist/murderer, the mob boss, the robber, etc, etc. Season 1 was awesome. Now i have to wait for season 2 to be available. I'm seriously considering getting the itunes card so that I can buy the episodes from the itune store. I'll look into that when I visit the US.

Movies. Yep. More movies. This week, I've caught The Prestige, Deathnote and The Guardian. Here are my mini-reviews:

The Prestige: Although there are many good reviews for this movie, I personally think that it's a so-so movie. Fine, the acting might be ok and there are interesting plots but there are two things which I didn't like. (1) I didn't like the direction. There are three time periods in the movie and it was really tough trying to decide which time period was going on because the director just kept switching from one to the other without any obvious markers. It made it worse when all the time periods concern the SAME people! So, everytime there was a scene change, I had to spend a couple of moments to try to figure out which time period it was. I found that quite irritating. (2) I wish there was more magic and less science. And sadder still was the fact that the science they used was kinda lame. I mean.. involving people like Tesla?? A bit far-fetched lor.

Deathnote: Let me first say that I've not read the manga, so I went for the movie without any idea what is was really about. I think the premise is quite interesting, a notebook where anyone whose name is written in it will die. While the whole story was not bad with some interesting twists, I guess I thought there could have been a little more moral conflict about the whole idea of killing criminals to make society safer. I guess that might have made the movie kinda philosophical and heavy-going. The CGI devil was decently done. Nothing too fantastic since CGI nowadays are generally pretty good. Quite a fun movie overall.

The Guardian: This movie is a bout the coast guard rescue team. It stars Kevin Costner and Ashton Kutcher. It's funny. I dunno why Kevin costner seems to like water disaster movies. The movie was quite ok. It's basically made of two parts: the actual rescue events (which made up the start and the end) and the school for the new trainees (which made up the entire middle chunk). I must say that Ashton Kutcher was not bad in the movie. He was definitely trying to break out of his usual goofy roles and I think he succeeded to some extent. Decent movie. Worth watching.

The last thing taking up my time is comics. Been catching up with some of my comics and I started off with the collection of Infinite Crisis. Halfway through right now. Pretty good.

Oh yah, discovered this awesome site yesterday: www. viidoo.tv. It actually allows us to watch american tv over the net!! It's not prerecorded, just streamed. The connection is not too bad. I tried a few channels and it was quite smooth after the first couple of minutes. Awesome. Don't you just love the internet?

The new Sony Bravia Paint commercial

This is an excellent advert for the Sony LCD TV. It has exploding paint fairworks! Apparently, it's all real, no CGI involved. Take a look.

I wonder if this is how Ronald McDonald's baby will look... Creepy isn't it

Today was a serious day of vegetating. I decided not to go anywhere today so I basically sat in my comfy recliner and watched TV pretty much the whole day. I bought this TV series 'SURFACE' when I was in Medan so I decided to get down to watching it. It's quite interesting. Basic premise is the discovery of a new species of giant mammals at the bottom of the ocean and how this is linked to the destruction of the world. There's this scientist who kinda discovered them, but her research was taken away by the government in an apparent cover-up. Then there's this guy whose brother was dragged away by the monsters when they were diving. And the last main character is this boy who finds an egg and basically breeds one of the monsters as a pet.

The irritating thing is... I've finished watching all 14 episodes of season 1 but I've found out that NBC has cancelled the series and there won't be a season 2. SIGH. So, I will probably never resolve the cliffhanger. Why do tv companies torture us like this?

Hmm, what next? Have plenty more dvds to watch... might vegetate a few more days! haha...

Toenail Probs again

Went to the Podiatrist again coz the toenail on my big toe was giving me problems again. I tell you... the pain was indescribable. The last time I went, it was a quick snip and I was done. This time round, it was a different podiatrist and she just went at it like doctor frankenstein on his project. Basically, it appears that the nail wasn't growing out well and had started growing in again and there was some inflammation. To add to that, the other side of the nail was also growing wrong. AARGH. She basically took out her tools and snipped and filed away at the nail... with the raw wounds surroundin the nail. It was an experience which I can only describe as being worse than being in a dentist's chair. Yes. It is that bad. I'll be honest. I closed my eyes throughout the whole thing. I wasn't gonna watch her mangle my toe.

Well, at the end of it, I saw bloody bundles of cotton on the table. And my toe was wrapped up tight. Now, I have to go back in a week and it looks like I'm gonna have to postpone my travel plans. Sigh. Ok, I guess the pain is not as bad as before, but it sure feels sore.

To my dear readers: please take care of your toenails. Yes. You'd better.

Movies, movies, movies

Been on a movie-watching blitz since I came back from Indonesia. One a day. Decided to do some mini-reviews instead of the long ones.

WORLD TRADE CENTRE
This movie could probably be any other disaster movie. The director, Oliver Stone, concentrates more on how the different families deal with the fact that they don't know what has happened to their loved ones. Of course, in the context of the Sep 11 attacks, it makes the whole movie much more real. Although a little slow moving at times, I must say that some moments are pretty heartwrenching. Those moments come from the wives and family members. One thing I didn't really feel was the enormity of the World Trade Centre towers coming down. Guess that's what the director was going for. The human side of the story. Watch only if you need some emotional stimulation. Don't expect special effects fest or action sequences.

THE DEPARTED
Yes, it is inevitable to compare this to Infernal Affairs. After all, it was based on the Hong Kong movie. Jack Nicholson vs Eric Tsang... Jack wins, hands down. He is the epitome of craziness. He has this famous 'act like a rat' scene... hilarious... yet scary. Leonardo Dicaprio vs Tony Leung. I'm gonna go with Tony Leung. I think Tony made the character more conflicted, more sensitive. And his relationship with the Inspector came across so much more personal. Matt Damon vs Andy Lau. I'm gonna have to go with Matt Damon on this. But as far as I am concerned, I loved Mark Wahlberg. He wasn't in the Hong Kong movie. Mark was really good. I loved his foulmouth-ness. He probably never spewed so many vulgarities in a single movie. But the vulgarities were funny. So... hong Kong vs hollywood? Hmm... I am gonna say Hong Kong. Maybe it's coz I watched Infernal Affair first. But I think the characterization was tighter and I especially like the bond Tony Leung had with the inspector. (heh.. kinda strange to say that a Hong Kong movie has better characterization than an american one, considerin that most Hong Kong fare are quite lousy). Go watch (if you are 18 and above). Quite good.

TALLADEGA NIGHTS: THE BALLAD OF RICKY BOBBY
I don't really kknow why I went to watch this one. I'm not a race car fan and I don't really like Will Ferrel. I think it's because (1) the reviews were not crap and (2) I had nothing else to do. lol. Anyway, TN:TBORB is a nonsense show, trying to have a heart/moral. Some of the jokes are quite in your face. You have the gay french guys, the foul-mouth kids, the sexy wife who only goes for winners, etc, etc. But for me, although the entire movie was a so-so, there was one scene which made it all worthwhile. It was basically a knife-in-your-thigh scene. And then how the others tried to take it out.... by twisting it... using another knife... you know what I mean? Hilarious and totally squirmy! So, I guess if you're a race car or Will Ferrel fan, than this movie is for you. Otherwise, maybe you can save you money.

OK, that was my movie marathon for the last three days. Hmm.. maybe I should go watch something today and make it four in four days....

This is my first time to Medan and only my second time to Indonesia. Took the 8.40am Silkair flight there. The flight was quite uneventful. Actually, I slept most of the way. heh. I had a pretty late nite packing for the trip and ended up sleeping less than 2hrs. Service was not too bad. Must say that the flight attendants were quite cheery... at least they were cheery whenever I was awake lar. heh. Upon arrival, we walked down the gangway to the tarmac. Managed to grab a pic of the plane. It was quite funny, coz the bus we boarded travelled less than 100m to the arrival hall! haha... I think it was probably only about 50m or less. Could've just walked.



Medan is very similar to parts of Malaysia like Penang & Malacca. There aren't many tall buildings and I think there are only a handful of malls. While I was there, I went to the two bigger malls, the famous Sun Plaza and another one which I can't remember the name, but has a Carrefour in it. Sun Plaza is huge mall. It's kinda like Takashimaya mixed with Lucky Plaza. There are upmarket shops but also many small shops selling everything from pirated DVDs to children's toys. Shopping in Medan is quite so-so. I guess if you;re interested in clothes and stuff then it'll probably be a bit cheaper. But since my main interest is electronics, games & videos, Medan's shopping doesn't really appeal to me.

There aren't many sights in Medan. As far as I know, Medan is more of a trading port coz of all the plantations there. I spent a couple of days in Brastagi, about 1.5 hours from Medan. Brastagi is up in the mountains, so it was pretty cooling there. Although I pretty much spent my time in the resort coz of the workshop, I did manage to catch some of the beautiful architecture/structures on my last day. Here are some pics. Apparently, this architecture is influenced by the Batak culture in the highlands. It's really unique. just take a look at the pic of the church on the bottom right.


Grand Mutiara Hotel where the workshop was held. Just look at the beautiful sky. Oh yah, there wasn't any haze in Medan. The haze is in Kalimantan, not Sumatra, where Medan is.


The local marketplace. Plenty of local shoppers and tourists looking for souvenirs.


A monument in the middle of the roundabout of the small town.


A bus stop. If I'm not wrong, the people actually sat INSIDE. Just compare the beautiful designs to our clinical bus stops in Singapore.


Here's the church which I thought was really beautiful. Click to see the really detailed designs on the wall.

When I asked my former boarders from Medan, the one thing they told me to enjoy in Medan is... FOOD! Wow... Medan food is really pretty good. One of the places I went quite often was Taipan. This is a really beautiful chinese restaurant and the food is really really REALLY good. It's really hard to describe yummy food over the blog. If you are ever in Medan, give Taipan a try. It's a MUST.


Decor at the main entrance of Taipan

One last comment about Medan.

It's really interesting (and to some extent, a little disturbing) to see the huge disparity in wealth among the Medanese. There's really a huge gap between the have and the have-nots. You have to be there to really appreciate what I mean. And I guess, I wonder if there really is any way to narrow this gap. I heard stories of how even people holding diplomas end up simply being maids simply coz it's so difficult to find a job there.

In reflection, I wonder if this is happening in Singapore. Of course, there are the rich, not-so-rich, and the poor. The government talks about education & opporunities being the equalizing factors. But I think, even in my middle-class status, I don't really understand what the poorer Singaporeans go through. I plan my trips, buy my psp, ds, ps2, etc... and yet I think there are definitely Singaporeans struggling to make ends meet. I guess, here, it's just not so obvious. But perhaps, I need to get out of my small little ivory tower more.

Leadership Challenge in Medan

Have been very lazy the last two days. Actually, must admit there's no real reason for not updating my blog. So... I'll admit, I've just been super-slacking. :P

Last Thursday, I set off to Medan, Indonesia. It's my second trip to Indonesia. The last one was more than 10 years ago when I brought students to Jakarta. This time round, I was invited to go to Medan in Indonesia to conduct The Leadership Challenge Workshop for teachers in a school there. Although it was quite exciting to get the opportunity, it was also quite scary. Quite a few firsts:
1. It's the first time I'm conducting TLC for more than 70 participants! previously, only had to handle no more than 40 people. So this was quite a challenge - to capture the attention of so many participants!
2. It's the first time I'm conducting TLC for a diverse group of people from different countries. There were Indonesians, Singaporeans, Australians, Filipinos, Americans, Chinese...
3. It's the first time I'm conducting an actual TLC for adults. Previously, when I trained teachers, it was more about how they could use it to mentor student leaders. This time, it was about the teachers' personal leadership development.
4. It's the first time I'm working since I resigned! haha.. didn't expect to work until next year, but hey, when opportunity knocks, open the door, right?

So, with apprehension & excitement, I prepared my materials, reviewed my workshop, packed up and left for Medan.

The workshop was help on 7 Oct in Brastagi (up in some mountain), about 1.5 hours away from Medan itself. On the whole, I think the workshop went quite well, considering it was my first time. It definitely wasn't perfect. I think if I'm seriously going to do more of this, I'm gonna need to really go more in depth and do more reading/research. The participants were a very enthusiastic lot and I might add that they were pretty forgiving too. heh. At the beginning, I was kinda overwhelmed, coz it was really difficult to connect with such a big group. But the eagerness and warmth of the participants really helped. At the end, I think that majority of the participants were able to pick up some tips on how to apply TLC for their own leadership development. The feedback was quite positive. Still, at the end of it all, I wonder if this is something I really want to do in the long term. Something to think about in the next few months.

Back from Medan, Indonesia

Hi, have been in medan the last few days and the net access was not very easy to get, so no updates. Just got back. It's good to be home. :)

Saw this tree on my way to the bus stop... (yes.. I've been quite good in taking more buses & trains nowadays). My bio sucks and I have no idea what this is, but I thought it looked really ugly so I decided to post a pic here.

Went to Funan Centre on Sunday (my weekly pilgrimage). They were filming the chinese talk show ????. Saw Quan Yifeng in action. I know she appears kinda 'dao' in real life, but she really is a very good talk show host. You really can't beat her partnership with Bryan Wong or Kym Ng.

On Saturday, I went back to school and brought back most of my rubbish. What you see here... 3 big boxes and 5 small boxes... are the stuff I've accumulated (and didn't throw away) during my 5.5 yrs in RI. Of course, I would like to believe that my time in RI is not summed up/defined by the things in the boxes. It's certainly more than that... I hope.

Finished putting together the Space Battleship Yamato. SO COOL. I tell you... these japanese really know how to come up with wonderful ideas! This anime is like more than 20 yrs old lar... and they are still releasing stuff for it. The whole model basically can be torn apart to reveal different details within the ship! Cool right! Here's a pic where I 'skinned' one side of it, revealing the different decks. For the uninitiated, the super-duper weapon in this battleship is the 'Wave-motion Gun' which you can see right at the front of the ship. I tell you arh.. this is a damn-worth-it buy from the Tokyo Toy Festival. More pics and close-ups in my album.

Went to J8 to meet up with some friends for coffee. Last week, I was at Crystal Jade and I was shocked that they actually had a 5-yolk mooncake on sale! Although it came as part of a set and was not sold alone, the cost of the 5-yolker worked out to be about $20. The 4-yolkers were going for about $10 each. BUt then again, the thought of a 5-yolker was quite scary... Well.. until today... I was walking through the Mooncake sales at J8, thinking of getting one for my family when I saw this massive 6-yolker!!!! OMG. And the cost? $28.35 before discount... I think it costs about $23 after discount... You know what, I think they should just make a mooncake completely out of egg yolks!

Back home!

Arrived back in Singapore at 1am. Always nice to be home. This time round, while I'm looking forward again to Laksa and Chicken rice, I will most definitely miss the cold ramen and soba....

(update)
My last day in Tokyo was actually not very nice... largely due to the fact that it rained. I had intended to do some last minute shopping at Akhihabara (which was only about 10mins away by train) but the train kinda spoilt the mood. I still went lar. But you know, it's just kinda dreary to shop in the rain. Didn't buy anything much, a few UMD covers, that's about it.

Rushed back to the hotel to collect my luggage coz I was delayed by the rain. Then I realized I was about 5 mins late for the Keisei Skyliner! Kinda like a direct train to the airport. Sucks! But luckily, there was another train, the Limited Express which also went to the airport but took about 10-15mins later. What the heck. Rather than wait at the station, I might as well sit in the train.

Clearance at the airport was quite smooth. I was however, a little irritated with myself. I had controlled myself from buying many things coz I was worried my luggage would be overweight... When I weighed it at the counter, it was only 19kg!!! Not only was it underweight, I could have probably bought another 5 kg of stuff without being charged for anything. Argh! So many things I wanted to buy lar! Nevermind, what to do? When I go US... heh.. I am so gonna buy stuff! (like maybe PS3?)

Flight back was ok. Caught some movies: Nacho Libre & Fight Club. First one was kinda crappy but second one was pretty good. Disturbing, but good. It's an old movie, but I'd never watched it. On the whole, I thought the movie selection on Northwest was not bad.

So anywaez, back in Singapore. Supposed to be preparing to go Indonesia next week to do some stuff, then I'll be off for my US trip. So looking forward to that....

Disney Magic

Decided to do something really touristy and go to Disneyland today. Yep, my way of celebrating my birthday in Tokyo! Started off the day by visiting Akhihabara again. This time, I went to Yodobashi Camera, an electronics superstore. I have never been to the Akihabara branch. I think it's coz it's located on the opposite exit of the station and I've never used that exit. Wow, this branch is really quite huge. 7 floors of electronics goodness! Too bad I couldn't explore it fully coz I was trying to get to Disney by 3pm. Bought a new casing for my Sony MP3 player and a new pouch for my camera. So tempted to get a new laptop.... heh..



Next up, made my way to Disneyland. Quite fast actually. Train ride took less than 30mins and the walk from the station was less than 10mins. Then I purchased my ticket (5800yen which is slightly less than S$90) and went in. I tell you, there's just something which I think Disney pumps into the air. As much as I've not really wanted to visit Disneyland in the last few years, the minute I stepped through the gates, you just feel so... how do i put it... happy! haha... this stupid mouse and his empire is just so darn happy. My intention of coming to Disneyland was not to take the rides. The queues were too long for that. I basically wanted to see all the shows, the fireworks, and do some shopping. And I'm proud to say, I accomplished my goal!



First up was the Halloween parade. Great fun! I tell you, these japanese are really enthusiastic lor! Before the parade, they were taught actions and many of the japanese there were trying so hard to do them, oblivious as to whether people were looking at them. It's really quite admirable. They were just out to enjoy themselves and have fun! Not self-conscious at all. Take a look at my album for more pics.
Next, I went to do this lottery to try and get a seat for the evening's 'Kooky Spooky Halloween Night' show. Heh.. damn lucky lar! Managed to get a seat, somemore inthe centre section! Must be my birthday luck! Walked around a little, spend some money, took some pics, but didn't bother queueing for any rides. Most had waiting times of over an hour.



By 6pm, I made my way to the central courtyard for the show. The whole setting was just so perfect. The famous Disney castle in the background, the cool evening atmosphere... then the song and dance began. I think the Emcee was fantastic. As I watched him, I really wish more people who did campfires and emcee-ing could see this guy in action. He was sooooo into what he was doing. Maybe that's the secret, believing in what you are doing. There was more dancing and once again, the japanese lapped it all up! More floats, and pyrotechnics... the whole package. Loved the whole show. Then it was time for a quick bite (of the totally mediocre theme park food) before rushing to find a spot for the Electrical Parade. I've seen this a few times and though the music is more or less similar, it's still fun to watch everytime. I really wonder why can't Singapore do something like this instead of their totally lame floats which they put up for Chingay.

And finally, it was the fireworks. Yep, everybody's favourite. I found myself a good spot. Sat down and waited about 20mins for it to start. The fireworks were good... not spectacular... but still good. There was one firework which actually exploded in the shape of a five point star! That was quite cool.

After the fireworks, I did some quick shopping... couldn't buy much coz (1) things were really quite expensive and more importantly (2) I don't think I could pack more stuff in my luggage without risking paying extra charges. Disney is really a whiz at marketing. And these japanese buy like there's no tomorrow. People were buying baskets and baskets of cookies, useless toys, hair bands... etc, etc. Come on.. how smart can you get? Make people pay 5800 yen so that they can come in and shop??? lolz...

Anywaez, it was a really enjoyable day. I think the 5800 yen for the shows was well worth it.

yepz, last day tomorrow. Flying off in the evening. Will probably do a little last minute shopping before going off to the airport.

Before I go... found a new love... COLD RAMEN! haha!! I tried this place and I tell you, the cold ramen is to die for! Costs 640 yen (about S$10) and what you get is a large bowl of ramen and this really salty soy-saucy soup with some pork, veggies and half a half-boiled egg. So, like the cold soba, you dip some ramen in the hot soup and slurp it all up! It's a really nice feeling.. it's cold yet warm! Talk about a refreshing taste. I am sure gonna miss this when i get back to Singapore.

Today was surprisingly quite fruitful. I thought I was just gonna end up wandering around tokyo aimlessly but instead, I managed to do a few cool stuff. First off, I found out from the net that there was a Tokyo Toy Festival happening at the Tokyo Big Sight (another convention/exhibition centre). So, I made my way there. For those who are familiar, Big Sight is at Odaiba, a water front place. It's quite a cool building. Looks like four upside down pyramids supported by pillars. Took many pics, but here's one. The others can be found in my online album.
















When I reache the Big Sight, I was kinda confused coz there were not signs and posters showing the Toy fest. I suddenly got worried that I might have gotten the date wrong! Then I caught a poster which said that the Tokyo Toy Fair was going to be held in October! Sianz! I was a little fed up with myself but decided to walk around anyway to see if there were any other exhibitions being held. After walking a couple of minutes to the east wing.... I saw the small banner proclaiming 'TOKYO TOY FESTIVAL'! Happy! So anyway, Toy FEST was today, Toy FAIR is next month.













The Toy Fest was quite interesting. Basically plenty of booths selling toys and collectibles. I tell you... had to show MUCH restraint. Wanted to buy so many many things. If not for the airline luggage limit.... I would have gone crazy. Ended up buying a Replica of the Spaceship Yamato from the Starblazers series. Dunno if any of you know this series. It's one of my all time favourite anime series. Very cool. I couldn't take more pics coz many of the dealers dun like their toys to be photographed. Dunno why. Competition maybe?

After the Toy Fest, I walked over to the Panasonic Centre. Some of my students had told me about the Nintendo display there when they visited it last year. So I went to take a look and well.. it's ok lar. Small place. Also cannot take many pics except for one which I took with a statue of Mario. Then I made my way to Tokyo station to visit the Pokemon Centre! haha... Quite fun. A really small shop.. probably no bigger than 6 classrooms... but it was fun to see so many pokemon merchandise in one place. They gave out free folders for the new pokemon movie too!















Finally to round up by day, I went to Ikebukuro for some walk walk. Visited the usual Toys R Us and Animate. Didn't buy anything though. haha.. plenty of self-control! (imposed by airline)

Before I sign off, must blog about my dinner. I finally decided to try some cold soba noodles. Now, let me say that I've tried cold soba noodles before in Singapore. Many many years ago. I went to my mom's friend's place and she had prepared cold soba noodles for dinner. I tell you, after that one meal, i decided I hated cold soba noodles. It's been easily 20 years and I've not had them since! The reason why i decided to give it a shot this time was I saw other people wolfing down the cold soba noodles at this shop together with a plate of tempura. So, I thot, what the heck, can't be that bad. OMG... it was really yummy! I mean, it tasted nothing like what I had tasted long long long ago. This might just become another fave jap food for me!















Here's a pic of the yummy cold soba which converted me!