Orchard Road 開放日

Orchard Road was very heavy with traffic last weekend. But it is flooded with not the usual kind of traffic but with human traffic. It is closed for traffic and let people wander around on the road.

The closure of road is for the celebration of 聖誕節。There are many activities around such as dances, parade and singing.

The most interesting part I would say is the mass social dance. This attracts many passersby and they can also join in the fun. But most of them are senior citizens and many dance very well. 不要小看他們喔﹗

我愛 Kuala Lumpur

I just came back from a 4天3夜 Kuala Lumpur trip. It is a rather relaxing trip. This time round the trip is more towards shopping and eating as Malaysia coincidentally is having its Mega Sale. I will give a more details update on this trip in the upcoming days. 敬請期待﹗

葉問 - 拳拳到肉! 讚 Man ..

葉問 talks about 一代宗師 of the same name who 發揚光大詠春拳。 He is humble, 講義氣 and 不貪生怕死。Then, it goes on to talk about how he united the Chinese people during the War World 2 against the Japanese. This story sounds a bit like 霍元甲 except 霍 is portrayed as a bad person and only become good at the end.

Donnie Yen acted as 葉問 and he carried the role rather well. The fighting moves look like very 精心設計﹗打的人開心﹐看的人過癮﹗呵呵﹗But the ending is rather expected as usual. But overall, it is a very exciting and fast moving movie. 絕無冷場﹗

上頭的 "Christmas present" - 手表

Lately, I told my friend I got a free watch from 上頭. They said I am joking. Ok, strictly speaking it is not from them.

But due to them, I indirectly got a free watch. This is because I need to pay a certain amount of money due to them. So coincidentally, there is a credit card promotion going on.

This 促銷 is if you spent over X amount of money, you can redeem a fashionable watch from Kenneth Cole Reaction. From what I know, it is worth > $100. I did what I have to do - charged and redeemed.

I have to say this is one of the best "Christmas" present ever (except for those I bought and gave myself). "From" the top and slightly more valuable. Cheers!

Kuishin-Bo 讓你吃個夠!

Jurong Point has just opened a new Japanese buffet restaurant - Kuishin Bo. It is well liked by many people and it is no wonder it is very crowded when we had our lunch there.

那里種類繁多。Salmon, soups, teppanyaki, pastries, sushi etc.. You name it, they have it. This eat all you can buffet lunch costs about $31 per person. I feel that it is really 物超所值﹗Take salmon for example. One five slices plate can costs $5 elsewhere. But I can easily eat 3 to 4 plates and they taste really sweet! Great value for money if you are into Japanese food!

食在新海山菜馆 Sin Hoi Sai Eating House

座落在 Blk 55 which is near to Tiong Bahru Market, there is this 新海山菜馆。I have never tried eating at this place before. It is suggested by my girlfriend's sister. This place is not near to any MRT station and have not many avaliable empty lots. So parking is a bit challenging. However, you can try parking at the carpark above Tiong Bahru Market.

This restaurant has two main shops, one displaying the seafood and the other is the sitting place. They also has a 2nd storey. We ordered a few dishes but I heard their more famous dish is called 蝦醬雞. But I prefer the 魚頭爐 and crabs. Overall, the food is not too bad. But remember to bring more cash as this is the only mode of payment.

新天地 - West Coast Plaza

Still remember Ginza Plaza in West Coast area? Yes, a boring place where nothing much there. But that is 過去。It under went a major overhauled and transformed into the new West Coast Plaza. Though it is new, the mall is not very crowded which I like!

The interior structure has not much changes but they brighten up the whole area with many new specialty shops. The anchor tenant is Cold Storage. I wonder if there is business for this supermarket cos it is usually more expensive and caters to more upmarket. West Coast Plaza is situated in heartlands though many Japanese expats lives nearby. So it remains to see if it can attract more local customers. But other than that, there are more new eateries that sprang up which I feel is a good tactic.

One restaurant you can find here is New York New York. It is famous for the free candy floss but the machine is not open when I have my lunch there. Any way, it is more a magnet for children. I ordered one cup of 飲料 called Bloody Eyeballs which looks cool! Lychee stuffs which black glass jelly just books like eyeballs looking at you.

Then, it has a Tully's Coffee which is like Starbucks or Coffee Bean. I order a Camel Macchiato and it tastes great! But just that the 份量 like a bit less than others.

The 壓軸 program is that the Watson there has 10% storewide discount. I bought some 抗老 product cos男人 also need to take care. But after I bought, I realized Guardian has 20% storewide discount! Lugi liao. So the moral of the story is must 貨比三家。

韓流強檔劇 - On Air

Recently, Cable TV has been showing a very nice 韓劇 - On Air. It is shown on every Saturday 10.30pm. Each week 播映 2 episodes.

In order to attract me to 追看, the TV series needs to have

• 有趣而帶一點兒搞笑的 story plot but 不乏感人的情節。
• Actors 要俊，actress 要俏。
• 主題曲 needs to be very 悅耳動聽。

On Air 就俱備了以上的三大條件! SBS 韓劇 On Air story talks about the scene behind making a Korean TV series. It gives us a glimpse on what goes behind the glam and what type of problems will be encountered?

The show has 4 characters: 屢創收視神話的人气編劇徐英恩 (宋允儿飾演)、影視界的黑馬導演李慶民(朴龙河飾演)、韓國當代最上鏡女星吳笙雅(金荷娜飾演)、帶出過大批明星的經紀人張基俊(李范秀飾演)。How they met each other and hate each other but ends up need to work with each other in order to overcome the crisis they encounter. The story line is refreshing and 對白 is very nice. Not to mention their acting is good! This show 创收视新高 when shown in Korean early this year. You will also see many 大牌明星友情客串﹗過癮﹗

夜裡的 Henderson Waves

本來 wanted to walk a 9km track from Mount Faber Park till Kent Ridge Park. But 天不做美。It started raining since wee morning and rain until into evening. 聯綿細雨澆熄了我的興致。唉﹗So I end up walking around at the nearby VivoCity shopping mall and have a nice dinner at Hog's Breath Cafe.

After the food, I decided to send my girlfriend home at about 10pm. But on the way, I still 不死心 as the rain has stopped. So I suggest to check out at least the Henderson Waves. It is supposed to be the tallest pedestrian bridge in Singapore. 文案 stated:

• At 36 metres above Henderson Road, Henderson Waves is the highest pedestrian bridge in Singapore. It was built to connect the two hills of Mount Faber and Telok Blangah Hill.
• The bridge has a unique wave-form made up of seven undulating curved steel “ribs” that alternately rise over and under its deck. The curved “ribs” form alcoves that function as shelters with seats within.
• Slats of yellow balau wood, an all-weather timber found in South-East Asia, are used in the decking. Look out for carvings on the slats marking the height you are at on various points along the bridge.
• The wave-forms will be lit with attractive LED light from 7pm to 2am daily, giving the bridge an illuminative glow.

When we reached there, it is very quiet and dark. My girlfriend was very scared and resisted going there. The walkway to Henderson Waves indeed is a bit 陰森﹗Walking a bit of uphill slope, we finally reached the starting point of Henderson Waves. 夜裡的 Henderson Waves 有另一番風味。Windy and romantic. There are many couples on the bridge 談情說愛。呵呵。Though it is 300m long, we only managed to walk about 150m and walked back. But rest assure, I will be back to "征服" the 9km walk! In the morning of cos!

獅城盡收眼帘 at Equinox

很久沒去 Singapore tallest hotel 飲 high tea 了。The last time I remember having high tea at this place is about 10 years ago (though I came a few times for dinner for the past few years)! This time "舊地重游" but both the restaurant and hotel name have changed. Previously the hotel is known as Westin Stamford Hotel and now it changes to Swissotel The Stamford. The restaurant located at level 70 also has 改名為 Equinox (formerly is Compass Rose).

This time round is my brother who suggested to come here for afternoon high tea. He said he treats so of cos there is no reason for me to 拒絕他。呵呵﹗He has the Feed at Raffles card which pay 3 for 4 people kind of deal.

We reached at about 3pm but it opens for business at only 3.30pm. Although it is a weekday afternoon, there are many people! Where is the 經濟危機? So when it is about 3.30pm, everyone queue up at the lift to get to the restaurant. When I reached the top, my family and I were ushered to a window seat. The view is very nice on top. This time round there are a few additional spots which previously I did not get to see like Singapore Flyer, the floating stage and Marina City Park. 在新建中的賭場 is not far away too.

The high tea has a wide variety of food but nothing to scream about. It is mostly eastern and less on the western style. Like prawn noodles soup, sushi, fried rice, chicken wings etc... It also has pastries, spaghetti, fondue, pan cakes etc.. So overall, the food is nothing special but your 食慾 increases with the nice view of Singapore. You feel like you are on top of the world! Maybe partly is I no need to pay a single cent. I dunno how much it costs but I think should be about $40++ per pax.

電腦展﹐你的名字叫 squeeze! Sitex 2008

三個月一次的 computer show - Sitex 2008 登場。This time it is held at Singapore Expo. My colleague asked me to accompany him there to buy a LCD monitor.

After traveling for a while to the East, we are wondering where to park as I expect the carpark at Singapore Expo is a killer! 果然不出我所料~ There is an extremely long cars queue waiting to get into the carpark.

Lucky I am smart enough to come up with plan B. We park at a nearby HDB carpark. Ok. It is not that near but a 15mins walk. Any way, it is free parking and is better than stuck in the queue.

The crowd is madness! It is very crowded inside. I think whole Singapore is here! After walking around and I saw many good deals!! This time round it is very obvious that the trend is moving towards laptops, notebooks and netbooks. Every booth is selling those things! Lesser booths are digital cameras, LCD monitors and printers.

I have 2 friends asked me to help them buy external hard disks. After walking two rounds, I saw a small booth selling what they wanted. But after asking they want to charge 2% more if I use NETS. As I do not want to squeeze my way out to 提款, I paid that extra 2%. But after a short while, I 後悔。Reason is I saw Harvey Norman booth selling the same thing and they accept credit cards payment with no extra charges! So the moral of the story is dun be too 衝動﹗Hard disks nowadays are so cheap! 2.5" 320GB costs less than $118. So this means 1GB now costs less than $0.40! The hard disk comes free with a hard disk pouch and a 4GB thumbdrive!

I also subscribe 2 years of FIRST magazine at a booth for about $4.05 per copy. The usual price is $4.5o if you buy at newspaper stand. They give 3 free gifts. I choose Police Sunglasses, GP travel battery charger and 3 traveling kits. I also purchase the December issue and they throw in some more gifts. So overall, still ok lah though some items 沒什麼用﹗呵呵﹗

巴厘岛 Bali 我和你有緣無份!

I still remember October 2007, my krisflyer point is expiring. So I decided to redeem an air ticket to 可愛的巴厘岛!

After carefully selected a date in September 2008, I booked the air ticket. I asked by brother if he and his wife are interested to go as they like Bali a lot. They said yes and delayed their booking until air ticket for that date is fully booked!

Then I postponed the date to today and guess what? The news of execution of the 恐怖分子 came out early this month. So my family are quite against of going there. Twice the booking and twice the 失望! I can only say 巴厘岛, 我和你有緣無份! You are so near yet so far!

Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa

I just came back from watching Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa. Usually, the first part will be nicer than the sequel. But this time round, I feel part 2 nicer. There are actually more story line and the jokes are funnier. But the old lady part I feel is rather "bo liao". Overall, it is worth a watch.

Caucasians Professors

Over the past few years, I have encountered many Caucasians Professors. I can said those from France and Germany are very difficult to handle. They always think highly of themselves. But those others especially from USA are very nice. They are easy going and less picky. That is why now I dun entertain professors from France and Germany. I let my boss handle. Haha.

Calories

Over the past 1 week, I have to entertain a few overseas professors. I need to bring them out for lunch and dinner and this make me input tonnes of calories! I am done for! Haha! Complain no use. So I hope to take out sometime to do some exercise. Ok, I have said this umpteen times. Haha. Wish me success.

Bid

Today I attended a dinner organized by some temple. They gave 3 tables to my cousin's husband. So he invited my family to attend the dinner. There is the usual bidding items that will use to fund the next year event. One of the items is a calligraphy. The word is "Buddha" (佛). It is written by some master. Guess how much did it fetch? It was sold for more $170k! So where is the economy slowdown? I dun see it. Haha.

Volunteer Work

Today I went to a hospice for a violin performance. This is part of our volunteer work that my violin teacher and a bunch of students will come together once in a while. We want to bring music to the people. After seeing the people enjoy our music, I feel so happy.

NUS

Today I went to NUS for a seminar. Guess what? The parking lots are extremely limited!! One small area can park only a few cars! Best of all, the lots are reserved. I feel it is bad for visitors. Lucky I know NUS well and found another location to park and park at the staff lots which I dun care cos there are no visitors lot! But not all are bad experience. Two guys in front of me are going for the same seminar and ask a student for direction. This lady actually bring us to the location before she left! That is nice! So far for NUS students. Keep it up!

Langkawi

I suppose to be on the plane to Langkawi today. But who knows? I got some urgent thing! So I am forced to cancel this beautiful trip. But I was compensated. Haha. Ok lah. What to do?

Overcharge

Today I receive my UOB credit bill and found that Golden Village has overcharge by 2 times. I recall that time is the staff swipe a few times cos the receipt cannot print. So in actual fact, the transaction did went thru and so I was charged additional 2 times. I called up UOB and they told me to approcahed Golden Village first. Very troublesome. So you see, even if your signature is hard to forge also no use. Cos it is useless. As long as swipe, the transaction will go thru.

Retreat Day 2

Today is the 2nd day of my retreat meeting. This time round I have to present my topic. So far quite ok and not much hiccups. The team building game today is golf. We are split into 4 teams like yesterday bowling sessions and compete. So the points in bowling plus golf are the final score. So the losing team has to pay for lobster meal. Lucky my team won. Haha! So I got a lobster meal!

Retreat Day 1

I am involved in a management retreat meeting for my company at Orchid Country Club. The meeting is quite relax and fun when discussing. The final program is a team building game which is a bowling game. This time round still not too bad. I am top 5 in my team. Haha.

Youtube

Recently, I a bit boring cos I am overwhelmed with work! So in order to take my mind off for a short while, I uploaded a video clip of my violin performance in March this year. Enjoy.

Sick

I am sick for two days. Down with flu, watery eyes, cough etc.. You name it, I have it. But I still went for work. Everyone was looking at me like:"Why are you here spreading virus?" But what to do? I have tonnes of work to clear and I also wish I could be in bed and sleeping away. That is life... Hope I can feel better soon.

The House Bunny

I just came back from watching The House Bunny. I decided to catch this after watching the trailer as I find it very interesting and I love comedy. After watching it, I find it surprising nice. Anna Faris once again acted as dumb blonde like what she did in the Scary Movie series but this time flaunting her good figure. The movie is funny and the casts gave a good performance too. This show has some Hollywood stars children in it. Look out for Bruce Willis' daughter and Tom Hanks' son. Overall, I would recommend this show. Very nice.

Maybank voucher

Today I want to use Maybank voucher that is redeem using my credit card points. It is a $10 worth of voucher. On the voucher, it said can use on certain restaurants. I went to the website and see the terms and conditions which I found none. So I happliy went to Crystal Jade and use. Who knows they told me only can buy bread. I went to Sakae Sushi and they told me eve of public holiday cannot use. I very angry cos so many hidden conditions which is not stated! Any way, in the end I bought $10 worth of breads and they all very nice. So anger subsidse a bit but I will still complain to Maybank.

Chinese Garden again

I just went to Chinese Garden again to see the lantern. This time I went with my parents. They said they wish to go but due to the high entrance fee, they insisted it is a waste of money. So when I know today is the last day and is 50% off entrance fee, I quickly bring them there. However, there is no fireworks today. Also this time round it is not as crowded as 2 weeks ago. There are still people but less crowds. Now taking pictures with the lanterns is a breeze as there is no pushing and no waiting. I took only less than 2 hours to cover the whole thing as compared to 3 hours previously. Overall. they truly enjoyed themselves as they said the trip reminds them of last time. Heh heh.. So I promise to bring them next year.

Disaster Movie

Just caught Disaster Movie over the weekend as got nothing better to do. It is something like Date Movie etc.. kind of show that suppose to have a theme. One word for this movie: Disaster. It is super lame and boring. Not funny at all. Though this kind of show usually got not much story line, this one super no story line. Just dump in and spoof every movie they can think of. Overall, bad!

My friend's Wedding

Today is my friend's wedding. I am one of his "brother". It is really very eventful. Firstly, it rains very heavily while on the way to the bride's house. Then, we met with traffic jam as due to the rain plus the fact that it is a working day. Then, my friend gave wrong direction and wasted a few more minutes. When we reached, we were actually very late. Haha. Then, we need to play a few games as usual. The best one is to eat chili! It is very hot! I really cannot take it. I rinsed my mouth and drank 3 packets of water!! After all these events, we went to the groom's house and then back to bride's house again. Finally, we went to the newly wed new house. But I just dumped them there and drove off as I need to rush back to office to host a meeting. Any way, my friend gave me a big ang bao for all these efforts. It really make me very pai say. So I need to buy something big when he organizes a house warming party next time.