Hong Kong - Day 3

Today is the most enjoyable day we have in HK so far. Early morning, we took the MTR to Lautau Island to visit the Great Buddha Statue. My initial plan is to take a bus to the Great Buddha Statue from the MTR station (Tung Chung) we were alighting. I am very surprised when Angie says she want to ride the Ngong Ping 360 cable car when we arrived there. So we bought round trip tickets for the ride n it was worth it. The scenery during the ride is fantastic. It's amazing that we saw people hiking along the hillside. It's more amazing that Angie is not scared at all during the entire ride. So proud of her ^_^




We spent the entire morning there, taking photos and admiring the scenery on top of the hill where the Buddha statue sits. Only letdown is the morning fog but the air is so fresh... IN the afternoon, we went back to Tung Chung Station and shop at the Citygate mall there, which houses many branded clothing factory outlets.


In the evening, we went down to Hong Kong Island and walk around Causeway Bay. We find that the people here in Hong Kong Island are more courteous and friendlier. What a big difference from Kowloon. Maybe this place is the classy area and people here are better educated. We wander around the area, saw roasted pigeons. I really wanted to try that, but Angie is not very willing. No point eating that alone. We just walk aimlessly around, walking into a night wet market at one point. Angie and I were so excited as this is something you don't get to experience and we like seeing locals in their daily lives. We end up sitting back at Times Square, people watching, laughing at the ruby fans that are celebrating and cheering after a HK Seven-a-side match. The atmosphere there is so cheerful with the fans singing and partying, enjoying themselves. We really like the atmosphere so much that we decided to give The Peak a miss. After all, it's just a night scene of the skyline of Hong Kong Island. :P



Got a bit hungry when we return to the hotel and decided to look for supper. We found this nice little cafe a few minutes walk from our hotel. The folks at the cafe are very nice and helpful. First time we met nice folks in Kowloon... We order noodles and a few side dish. The noodles are really very nice (not because we are hungry :S) and their desserts are heaven man. The sweet potato in their sweet potato soup is literally melts in your mouth. We really have a sinful and fulfilling meal tonight.

Hong Kong - Day 2

Day 2. Woke up and went to look for the porridge shop that my uncle recommends us for our breakfast. Couldn't find it anyway (turns out we were looking in the wrong area after we came back). The people here are damn rude. You try to stop the walking on the streets n ask for directions, nobody bother to stop. They treat you as you are invisible. In the end, we just dash in one n had our breakfast. Gosh their porridge is nice. Really good stuff, unlike the cheapo porridge we have in Singapore.

After our breakfast, we went down to Wong Tai Sin 黄大仙 to pray. The place is so crowded with tourists and locals. Can't imagine how the crowd was during Chinese New Year Eve here.

In the afternoon, we walk along Nathan Road and visit the various theme streets as well as search for shop to buy some 老婆饼 for our friends and relatives back in Singapore. I tell you, shopping in 九龙 Kowloon is a bad experience for both of us. The people are rude and simply bochap. You wanted to buy a pair of shoes and ask for your size, they can walk to the back of the store, come back in less than 5 seconds and tell you no stock with a look of heck care what you think. Maybe it's because we spoke in Chinese n they thought we were from Mainland China. I heard they despise Mainland Chinese but this is a first hand experience.


Anyway, in the evening, we went down to Victoria Harbor to view the Avenue of Stars as well as watch the Symphony of Lights show. And what a disappointment it is. The show is a total letdown. The show starts at 8pm and 10 mins into the show, we had a feeling of "Is that all?" There nothing special, just a bunch of building lights and rooftop spots light flashing around to some orchestra music.





We then took the MTR to Temple Street n take a look. For all the boasting how buzzing this place is, we dun find anything special about it. End up having a mango dessert at one of the 许留山 branch before ending our day

Hong Kong - Day 1

Touch Down! First day in HK. Our hotel is the Metropark Hotel Mongkok in Mongkok (where else? :P) which is pretty clean and tidy although the room is a bit cramp. After checking in to the hotel, we had our lunch in a real 茶餐厅, not those cheap fakes in Singapore. In those HK movies and drama serials, we always see the Hongkees enjoying egg tats and a cup of ice milk tea in these eateries. Now we get to be in a real one, having their set lunch. The milk tea is is really MILK tea, concentrated with condense milk, just the way I like it.



After our lunch, we immediately head for Shenzhen. We took the Hong Kong MTR to 九龙塘 before transferring to the railway service. Their public transport is quite convenient, using their Ez-Link card equivalent, called Octopus Card. The journey to Shenzhen is quite convenient and fast. The entire trip only takes less than half an hour. We got off at Lo Wu station and proceed to the Lo Wu Commercial Center. We dun dare to venture anywhere else just to play safe. Lo Wu (罗湖) Commercial building is full of bags and ladies accessories shops. When we endure the building, we almost got choke by the smell of the place. The entire building stinks of cigarettes smells as there is no law that prohibits them from smoking inside. Walking along the corridor give me the impression that I am in a brothel, with sales girls standing outside the shops asking you to go in to take a look. They are so desperate for business that when you walk out after they quote the price, they automatically slashed the price down. At the end of the day, we took the train back to Hong Kong, have a crappy dinner at another 茶餐厅 and went back to our hotel.

Flying Off To Hong Kong

Haha, logging in this entry from a internet kiosk in T3. Yes the new Changi Airport Terminal 3... Going to board my flight soon. Angie is very excited about the trip. Got my itinerary all planned out. Hope the trip will go smoothly. Only regret is there is not enough time to hop to Macau for my trip. Will be going Shenzhen though. Will update my trip experience when I'm back... Chow....

Passport Panic

Going Hong Kong this Friday morning to HK for 4D3N free & easy vacation. Counting down now... Still yet to plan out my itinerary :P Will be popping by Shenzen for a short shopping trip. Thought of going to Macau if time allows but will see. Weather reports shows it may rain, hope it won't rain too heavy else the trip will be a white wash. ^_^

Check my passport last night and to my horror, I found out that my passport is expiring this coming July. Less than 6 months of validity. Quickly dash down the the Immigration & Checkpoints Authority (ICA) early this morning to check if I can extend my passport. Thank god, the officer says this is a common case and help me to make a new passport ready for collection tomorrow afternoon. Whew.... what a nightmare... Only thing I dun like now is my passport photo, which I took at the ICA building. Make me look like Mas Salamat buddy :(

Singapore Next Most Wanted?

P.S. For all my friends out there, please start checking your passport expiry date. The ICA officer says they no longer send out letters to inform you that your passport is going to expire

New Recreational Park

Finally, the new park at my place is almost done complete with exercise equipments. As a matter of fact, it is completed, just duno why it is not open to public with all the construction tapes surrounding it. Maybe our MP does not have a available time slot in her busy schedule to officially open the park. Anyway, the typical kiasu Singaporean neighbors of mine have ignored the warning signs and been using the new facilities... Wonder what will happen to the current roof garden when this park is open?

Working Dangerously

Saw these guys working to lift some big machinery up the third floor at my office block this morning. Geez, these guys walk along the metal platform without any safety harrness. One wrong step/move and it's three stories down. This is so dangerous...

Feel very disappointed at a friend of mine. It's one thing that you can't answer or reply my sms immediately. But at least have the basic courtesy to call back or reply later. Dun tell me his phone does not have miss call or sms inbox?

A couple of months back, I am talking with another friend of mine to see if he has anyone who can help to repair Angie's old phone. This friend overheard and offers his help, saying he knew someone who can repair it for free. So I pass him Angie's phone and since then there are no replies from him. When I finally managed to get to him last week, he informs me that the repair might cost $75 so he din send it in. At this point of time, I am very angry. Why he doesn’t inform me about it? He then gave me excuse that he is on reservists and busy. How busy you can be that you can't even make a call or sms to ask my opinion when you found out there's a charge for the repair? And he just dun follow up with it after that. It's only until after repeat enquiries then he bother to let me know the situation. He is actually quite a good friend and we have been through a lot during our NS days, but the way he behaves really let me down. Now Angie's old phone is still with him. Told him I want the phone back but till now he has not reply to tell me when he can return it back. Feel very sad and disappointed...

Woke up late today for my conference call. Anyway, no new issues to discuss so it's ok. Let my lead handle it. :P Backside itchy again. Decided to change the name of this blog to something more appropriate and suitable to me. ^_^ Dun think there will be anymore changes liao

For My Sister, Jasmine - Dun work too hard...

Revised taxi rule in CBD

That's the problem with our stupid government. They like to create a problem to "solve" a problem that does not exist in the 1st place. By changing the rules of taking and alighting of taxis in the Central Business District area, rather solving a non-existent problem, they create more problems for everyone else. Now rather than scrapping the rule, which will make them lose face, they complicate the rules some more. Another perfect example that we are paying high salaries for the PhD officials who totally lose touch the ground and posses any logic in thinking.

Till Death We Will Not Stop Working

So, Singaporeans today are expected to continue to work longer beyond 65. I like to ask who in the right mind would want to do that. If the circumstances permit, I rather retire early. For all these talks of working beyond retirement age, how many companies are willing to keep an employee who is even beyond the age of 40? When we reach that age, you can't help but look behind your back at those eyeing your job. Why should your company retain you while they can get a younger and cheaper graduate, who are willing to clock in longer hours and have lesser commitment that you? For all the talk of making companies to employ older workers, the most they will do is employ them as cleaners. I dun put much faith in my CPF when I retire. I doubt it will meet the minimum sum requirement of 120k when I hit 65. After all, it's just numbers. I doubt there is any money in there in the first place. Look at the number of policies implemented lately. It seems like they are trying to prevent us from drawing any cash out. THAT'S OUR HARD EARNED MONEY! Why can't we decide ourselves what we want to do with it? And in the meantime, our Temasek Holding and GIC companies are dumping billions of dollars into the US banks and Benetton, while the government says they facing difficulty in support the elderly and low income family. It is better to start saving and depend on yourself now.

The Beginning of the END?

"This world is mine. In time." Lucifer in Constantine (2005)

The above statement is quite true. Look at what's happening in the world around us. Global warming, environment destructions, pollutions, spread of deadly diseases, drug abuse, corruptions, war, terrorism and violence. There are problems occurring at every level of our society and all caused by us. We are moving down the path of destructions and no one seems to be concern about it. Makes you really wonder is this THE beginning of the end?

Finally it stop... After raining for so many days, Mr Sun finally decide to show up. Really miss the sun for the pass few days, it's so cold and wet.

Do you experience those days where you just dun feel like doing any work in the office? All you do is surf the net and can't wait for time to pass to get out of there ASAP? Today is the day for me... spent the entire morning typing 2 lines of codes, pretend to do some testing, while most of time research info for my Hong Kong trip at the end of the month. Shit man... heard there is a flu outbreak in HK. Better pay the doctor a visit tomorrow with Angie to have a flu jab as a precaution...

I Learn Something New Today

Learn a new windows application trick today from my company IT newsletter.

Viewing two applications on the same screen side-by-side.
It is common for one to work with two or more applications concurrently on the same screen. The usual process is to open up one application, MINIMISE it and then bring up the next application on screen. Some would go through great lengths to adjust until 2 applications appear side-by-side on the screen.

A shortcut technique for displaying two applications side-by-side, either vertically or horizontally, is as follows:

• MINIMISE all your applications until you see only the desktop screen.
• HOLD the CTRL button, click the 1st application you want using the LEFT click of the mouse.
• Continue to hold the CTRL button, now RIGHT click the 2nd application and a drop-down menu will appear. You may select either HORIZONTAL or VERTICAL view and both applications will appear sized to proportion. Go try 4 screens…cool!

Flood At Changi Terminal 3

Less than 3 months after the Changi Airport Terminal 3 open, the first screw up appear. That was fast. Seems like we for all our reputation as a world class city, we still get this type of cock-ups in our mega-projects. Remember the the Singapore Esplanade ceiling leak problem? So what's the next screw up? Singapore Flyer cannot turn? Singapore F1 night race flood lights failed?

Singapore's Very Own Prison Break II

So the man is at large and our police force is still showing their incompetent n naiveness. By releasing bits n pieces of info here and there, they only succeed in reducing the chances of apprehending the guy. ACCURATE information must be released out ASAP. First, he is said to be limping, the next day he only limp when he runs. 5 days later, we are told of the clothes he wore when he escape. What's the point of withholding the information? To confirm with everyone everything is correct to avoid being mah lu anymore? Capturing the guy back now is more important than saving face lah. The entire incident shows the authorities are not sure about a lot of things and how to go about finding the guy. So far, all I see is random searches. It takes them 4 hours to inform the public of his escape. How big is the detention center? Why they need 4 hours to confirm of his escape? Most doors in the center are locked n the place should have a lot of CCTV cameras, there are not many areas he can go to or hid in the center.

Read this very well written article by Yawning Bread on this entire incident.

By the way, there are growing number of conspiracy theories on the timing of his escape. Some claims that Mas Salamat died during ISD questioning n this is a cover up. Others says the escape is used to divert attention of the angry public in the miscalculation of the budget deficient figure. The most probable reason I believe is that his escape may be to create a fear among the nation to bring the population back under the government control. By inciting fear, it will keep the people under check. Anyone seen V for Vendetta?

No Plans of Mine

Time sure zoom by fast especially if its the weekends. Like a blink of the eye and I back in my office again. Sianz... feel like I did nothing over the weekends. Wasted... I dun like to plan my days or schedule my tasks. I always end up failing to get things done. Maybe I am not discipline enough but something always cock up and mess up my plans. Or maybe it is because i pack too many work at one ago. Whatever it is, I have given up planning in details. Just a rough draft of what to do is good enough for me. So most of the time, it impromptu work or a sudden rush to get something done...

Watching the World Passby

Singapore's Very Own Prison Break

Well my friends and family members, my advice 2 u is stay home this weekend. Or better dun ever go out until the "limping terrorist" is caught. With this "security lapse" as explained by our Home Affairs Minister Wong Kan Seng, I have totally lost the respect n faith (not that I have much in the 1st place) I have in our police, army or whatever names they want to call themselves. So much about putting their skills to use everyday or being a decisive force advertisements. I dun tink they can even jagar my dog. For all the facts about how dangerous this guy is, how the hell did he manage to limp out of the detention center in the 1st place? Repeat DETENTION CENTER! Not some maximum security prison where such dangerous criminal should be. For displaying such efficiency in stopping James Gomez from leaving Singapore, they can't even have keep a dangerous criminal in custody letting him escape at 4.05pm. IN BROAD DAYLIGHT! THROUGH THE TOILET! An over-used escape route often depict in the movies and they still let it happen.

What's more, this is not the first time a criminal managed to slip through our security so easily. Ah Hao of Wang Na's murder case, former NKF Richard Yong all managed to get out of the country without much effort. My guess is the man's long gone. Time for our security forces, as my sergeant used to say, to wake up their farking idea and stop doing wayang acts like posting a soldier every 5 metres (as if the terrorist will walk limp right up to them even after seeing them from afar). The handling of the entire incident smells of incompetence. Whether this terrorist will come back to haunt us or not, I feel Mr Wong Kai Seng should just step down now instead giving us all those crap excuse. This is NOT a honest mistake anymore. Heads must roll this time!

“Limping Terorist” escapes - 10 questions for Wong Kan Seng

Yet Another Honest Mistake?

So the government calculator must be faulty. How else can one explain the difference in the budget projection from an initial deficit of S$0.7 billion to the final reported surplus of S$6.4 billion? Poor Thamam... He just step up as Finance Minister and he have to take this. But the calculation is not done by Thaman and we all knew who is the previous Finance Minister ;) That joker must have knew the results way before hand. Hence quickly hand the post to some other bootlicker. For such a "great n brilliant" leader, he definitely can't be seen making such big mistakes. Yet another honest mistake or this is preplanned?

Another Honest Mistake?

Finally, someone step up n spoke out that government have push grow n world recognition at the cost of its people. but isn't it a little too late now? y they dun voice this out when all the hikes r implemented? They too smart to use their brain n just goes along with what is proposed? Or is this another good cops bad cops acting to pacify the public?

Lost in HongBao Toto Draw Again

Another Hong Bao Toto draw another year empty handed. Thought things might b different this year by using the $10 hong bao money given by my company. As it turns out, things remains the same. Looking at my tickets, I find there is something suspicious about it. Even though they claim that the quick pick ticket numbers are randomly generated, they dun really seems so to me. Look at the ticket below. Out of the 10 sets, 7 sets have identical numbers like 10 or 1 in them. I am a software engineer n I know how computers generate random numbers. But having the same number appearing so near from one set to another is too coincident to me. I smell foul play here. One explanation is at the particular point of time, generated number sets most likely will be pick from a particular smaller group of numbers. Hence, the same number will keep appearing. Therefore, if one set does not match the winning numbers, chances are the subsequent sets will not too. So the next time I want to buy Toto, i make sure it is from different outlets and time. No more placing all my bets from the same outlet at one go. Wish me luck.

Sentosa Flower Festival

This entry is kinda out of date liao. Went to the Sentosa Flower Festival last Saturday with Angie. The place was quite crowded with many there to catch a last glimpse of the flower on display before the show ends on Sunday. The flowers are very nice although some are starting to wither.

Valentine's Day Surprise

It's Valentine's Day. Both of us did not plan anything special, no expensive dinner and flowers. I just left office slightly earlier and went home to have a nice dinner with Angie. After that, we decided to go down to Hougang Mall for a walk about. A short pak tor for the two of us. It's as if something directed us, we somehow decided to walk into the M1 shop there and enquire if they have a pink W580i. Surprising the shop has it and it is the last set some more. Imagine our surprise when the shop assistant says she has a set available. I even have doubts wondering if she is lying until she shows us the set.

Angie has been yearning for this phone since she saw someone using it. Problem is it seems like only Sony Ericsson Style shop carries it and they dun have any contract offer and Angie is unwilling to part with $400+ just for it. I actually found a shop that sell it at Far East Plaza for slightly less than $400 and plan to get it for her as a Valentine's Day cum ROM anniversary gift. With my M1 contract qualify for a hand phone upgrade in 2 days time, the phone will cost $238 if I sign a new contract. My cute wife immediately pleaded with the lady to reserve the set till Saturday, which she dully agrees to.

It was joy for both of us. Angie finally got the phone she dreamt of. I found the perfect gift for her (I paid for the phone, the shop assistant even help us me save a further $10 by playing around with the paper work ^_^) and see how happy Angie is. Everything is so coincidence, all this would not have happen if we did not go out or go for our Valentine's Day walk.

Side Note: The M1 shop lady really provide excellent service. She does not have the obligation to help us get the $10 discount and phone reservation but still do. She even offers to load some MP3 songs into the phone and setup the phone. Will definitely go back there for future hand phone upgrades.

Hot Gossips

The most talked about gossip right now in my office is the news of our CEO's wife got sued for slapping a SIA stewardess closely followed by the Edison Chen sex photos affair. As the first gossip, news reported that the wife slap the stewardess for talking to her husband. Either the wife is a big jealous pot or the stewardess is really behaving very slutty during her conversation with our CEO. The stewardess must have done her homework knowing that by suing the wife she will definitely get a big fat out-of-court settlement fees. Smart woman. Our poor CEO must be very piss now that the entire Venture Corp is talking about this news. Must buy 晚报 for more detail news. Hehehe. Btw, did you notice that our CEO, one of the richest men in Singapore as claimed by the news, is sitting in the business class? Hmmm....
Updated: The news have now been upgraded to Straits Times. With pictures!

For the Edison scandal, I feel that it is a case of stupidity at work. You should erase or transfer your personal stuff elsewhere b4 sending your laptop to repair. Judging from the number of photos seen so far, this guy is basically collecting trophies of his conquests. And with everyone involved coming out to apologies. It is a indirect way of saying the photos are real even though the artistes company claim otherwise. Personally, I feel there is nothing wrong with the entire incident. It is just a case of a playboy taking photos of his sexual romps. I saw the uncensored photos, nothing disgusting about them. The reason for the big hoohaa is because the affair occurs in Asia n involves too many female artistes, whom we all along thought they were as innocent as they look.

Naughty Cat Disturb Dog.

This cat is really playing punk...

Park Ride

Monday blues feel extra bitter today after a long break for Chinese New Year. Everyone look tired n having a hard time starting their engine. Angie and I went to Elias Park in Pasir Ris last Saturday morning. We rented a twin bicycle and ride from one end to the other of Pasir Ris Park. The bicycle track runs along the beach and the sea breeze provide a cooling feel. There are many people camping along the beach. Most of the campers are Malays and Indians, obviously there to escape the CNY shutdown everywhere. There are so many of them, it looks like a kampung down there as we can clearly see that some of the Malay family form some sort mini villages with their tents. We really enjoy the ride along the beaches although we prefer a better bicycle. The one we rented is a bit too low and really show us the meaning of "a pain in the butt" :P. After we return the bicycle, we went down to Changi Village and bought 2 packets of authetic Malay Nasi Lemark and had our lunch at Changi Beach. However, it was high tide during that time and the waves soon starts to splash on us. In the end, we ended having our lunch in the car. It was a simple outing but we thoroughly enjoyed it. No need expensive dinners and tours. Just a nice outing to enjoy the simple things in life. Will definitely do it again. ^_^

Copycat Jack?

Looks like Jack Neo has lost his touch. I find his films lately are no longer unique or as funny as his first film, Money No Enough. This is especially true for his latest showing, Ah Long Pte Ltd (aka 老师嫁老大). Damn it is a direct copy of the Korean version, My Wife is a Gangster. He basically just localized it. The Straits Times ran a article on the similarity of the two. It is so similar that there is no difference even in the setting of certain scenes, narrative and overall plot. And when questioned by the press, Jack Neo claims he did not watch the Korean movie but only heard of it. Come on Jack! You really thought we are idiots ah? We seen through it all after being trick so many times by the government using the same trick. I saw the movie trailer and Fann Wong no matter how hard she tried just doesn't look like a bad-assed triad boss. Jack must be forced to use her by Raintree or Mediacock. At least Mark Lee did well in portraying a Malaysian with his Malaysian Chinese accent. Since I have watch the original version, dun expect me to go to the cinema to watch this cheap remake. Not worth my time and money. I rather wait for the DVD version to be available for rent, provided I feel like renting it. And kudos to the Straits Times giving the show 1 out of 5 stars. I thought they usually very biased towards the government n Mediacock? Well.... maybe not or... this show is really so bad that there is no way to give it a better rating. :P

Updated: Oh just realize a local magazine gave the show a half star out of 5. That's really pathetic.

Woke up last Saturday n found my left eye like this. Looks like I am infected with the rage virus. heehee. Went to the company doctor and found that it is just a burst blood veins like a bruise, either due intense rubbing of the eyes or violent coughing. Probably will take 2 weeks to heal up. I can still see clearly without any pain but Angie does not like to look at me now. She say the eye gives her the creeps. :P

Men & Women Contradictions

Men:
1. All men are extremely busy.
2. Although they are so busy, they still have time for women.
3. Although they have time for women, they don't really care for them.
4. Although they don't really care for them, they always have one around.
5. Although they always have one around them, they always try their luck with others.
6. Although they try their luck with others, they get really pissed off if the woman leaves them.
7. Although the woman leaves them they still don't learn from their mistakes and still try their luck with others!

Women:
1. The most important thing for a woman is financial security.
2. Although this is so important, they still go out and buy expensive clothes and stuff.
3. Although they always buy expensive clothes, they will still say that they never have something to wear!
4. Although they never have something to wear, they always dress beautifully.
5. Although they always dress beautifully, you hardly care.
6. Although you hardly care, they still expect you to compliment them.
7. Although they expect you to compliment them, when you do, they don't believe you!

Coming Full Circle

Was talking to my wife last night and it suddenly strikes me that the year of the tiger is just 2 years away in 2010. According to the Chinese, the year of the tiger is always considered to be an inauspicious year due to the character of the animal. From the way the US economy is heading into a recession, this might hold true when the tiger comes knocking. A look back to the last tiger year in 1997, Asia is experiencing the Asian economical crisis. The previous tiger year before that in 1985, it is the last recession. Coincidence? As you can see, the wheel has started turning. By the time, we usher in the year of the tiger, we will be feeling the full-blown effects of the US recession. So start saving your money n cut down on unnecessary spending. You have been warned...

No Youth Olympics Please

Call me a traitor, but when I heard that Singapore is one of the final two nominees for the Youth Olympics, my first reaction is to pray that we dun win. After the World Bank and IMF fiesta, organizing any big international events locally turns me off. Dun really feel like going thru the process of seeing the city turn into a police state with all the erected fences and heighten security. Wasting all the money in painting a fake picture of our country. And most of all, being ask to smile idiotically again to the “ang mo”. Another reason is I am sick and tired of hearing our government boasting how world class in the event that they won, giving them another excuse to get a pay raise.

Golden Path to Shitty Ending

Just watch the final episode of 黄金路 and once again TCS has ruined a good drama series with a crappy ending. PUI! After captivating the audience over 29 episodes, they decided to screw themselves and end the series hastily without any real conviction. Leaves a bad taste in my mouth. My first reaction when the credits roll is "That's it?!!" The whole ending sinks. Lin Nanxing’s character, after suffering so many misunderstandings against him committed suicide without his family knowing the truth about Tay Ping Hui's evil deeds. And Tay Ping Hui, get his retribution by just getting rob n murdered in some backwater country hotel room. I feel he got let off too easy. At the minimum, it should at least make everyone around him realize how evil he is n the bad deeds he has done. While, I guess TCS dun have enough budget to make episode 31. Heck, I think they dun even have money to complete the series, hence the choppiness in producing the last episode.

One thing certain is, the newer generation of artistes really CMI. Chen Liping, Li Nanxing and Zhou Chuming are really top class. Compare to them, the newer actors and actresses only know how to look pretty. Joanne Peh completes her transformation into another Phyllis Quek aka vase. Honorable mention also goes to Joey Feng (Jin Feng) and Cai Pei Xuan (Bak Gu Tek Girl). Many of my friends and colleagues believe this series will see the raise of Felicia Chin to replace Zoe Tay n Fann Wong as the Queen of Caldecott

Totally Bejeweled!

Angie and I are crazy about this game, Bejewelled, lately. Ever since my sister-in-law installed the game on my home PC, we have been playing the game whenever the PC is on, each time trying to achieve new high scores. I am so addicted that I even dream or hear the game sound ringing in my ears.

The bad week has just gone worse. So much so that I dun feel like working. Feel like staying at home to rot. Just last week everything is bright n shiny. Then suddenly things become dark and gloomy. Maybe this is my life as claim by the fortune teller. Every step I made forward, I will be force by circumstances to take one step back. Hence I am always circling in the same position all my life....

This is a bad week for me. Duno what's wrong with me. Woke up on the wrong side of the bed for the past two days. Feel very vexed and frustrated. I was feeling fine over the weekend. Maybe it's due to my work. Keep having problem in compiling the code for my project. I hate doing Windows Mobile. Stupid compilation takes damn long and is such a resource whore. Can't do anything when the build is running as if the PC steps down from a Core2Duo to a P3. Everything seems to work against me. I am piss with everything n everyone. Losing my patience easily. Shit....

Finally... X'mas and New Year celebration is over and life goes back to normal. Finally got rid of all the X'mas carols ringing in my head and guess what? They are replaced by Chinese New Year songs! Everywhere I go, be it malls, shopping centres, even the local provision shop, everywhere is playing those irritating CNY songs. It's is only 1 month before CNY and it is giving me a freaking headache. Can't imagine the type of punishment I have to endure next month? SHIT.....!

A $olution for More Problem$

Updated: After the revised taxi fare increment, a trip from Punggol to Orchard during non-peak hours.
Before fare increment: $12
After fare increment: $13.50

Verdict? From the looks of it, after the fare increase, the taxi driver earnings will increase. Or did it? Truth is, the sharp increase will make people think twice thrice before opting to take a cab or avoid taking a cab during the peak hours. Yes, they solve the problem now that there are many empty cabs available during the peak hours. No more long queues or waiting time. But it creates another. Cab drivers now will find it even harder to get a passenger. The increase in fare prices does not cover the loss in the number of passengers. So they are back to square one. This time, the jump in fare prices might be hard to swallow for a lot of us. It may take a longer time before the passenger starts coming back or will they even will?

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Have not been updating my blog regularly these days, as I am busy with a lot of things. A lot of things have happen and have a lot of thoughts and grievance to voice out. Most notably, the raise in the taxi fares. It was not too long ago the fares have been raised "adjusted", as put nicely by the relevant government spin-doctors. A 35% of the metered fare is a lot. How much more do they want to raise? If the taxi companies really wanted to help the cab drivers, they can jolly well reduce the taxi rental. But no... cutting taxi rental is a forbidden sin which cuts into their profit margins. So what do they do next? Using the standard solution of passing the problem to the consumers by raising the fares. After all, it's their problem, why should they hurt their profit for our sake? So who’s going to suffer the most for this? Not the passengers, we have a choice to reduce or not take taxi. It's the poor taxi drivers. Their earnings will reduce as people shun from taking taxi. So what we end up with? Lesser business for taxi drivers, the drivers start to do funny things to earn more money and the taxi company raises fare again to "help" out. It's a vicious cycle...

Finally, Gears of War on My PC!

Finally, one year after the release of Gears of War on the Xbox360, the PC version is out. Saw someone selling it second-hand on the net and immediately grab it. MUHAHAHAHA! Now I dun have to buy an Xbox360 liao. Just install it and the graphics and game play are damn solid. Definitely worth the wait.

My Childhood Toys

Troops Fall In!

Was packing my stuff at my parent's place when I came upon the toys that I play when I was little. Wow, bring back a lot of my childhood memories. Children those days dun have computer or PlayStation; we play with toys like this, making our own pretend play and stories. I still remember each and everyone of the toy and who bought it. Look at the Transformer toy, Hound. 20 years ago, it is the most popular toy and cartoon. 20 years later, Transformer is popular again due to the movie.

Autobots! Transform!

England Staying Home for Euro2008!

Feeling a bit moody today. Hiaz another monotone day untill I reach my office and read the news on the net. ENGLAND OUT OF EURO2008! This changes everything. Haha, serve you right, you arrogant English. Always boasting how good they are and they have the "best" league in the world. Talk about having the best league and players when you can't even beat a Croatia team, which is hardly a top team in world football. They thought they are through when Israel beat Russia and all they need to do is draw with Croatia. But no.... Croatia has other plans, beating England 3-2 at England's home is a f$#%king slap on the England's face. 天有眼啊! Serve you right, Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard, John Terry etc... HA! As for Steve McClaren, I think its time you start looking at the job recruitment ads. Birmingham City seems like a good start... Hahaha

2-3 England vs. Croatia | EURO 2008 Q
Uploaded by 90tsunni

News Around the World

Everyday there are some funny events happening around thw world. Take this for example, a Indian married a dog in an attempt to remove a curse. Bring a whole new meaning to the phrase – my wife is a bitch.

Nuts about Donuts

Thanks to the popularity of Donut Factory, the current IN thing in Singapore is DONUTS! Remember kopi buns, bubble tea and Luohan fish, now everybody is jumping onto the bandwagon selling donuts. Pop by a bakery the other day and saw the different types of donuts on display. Singaporeans are really a crazy bunch. All along we have Dunkin' Donuts and nobody is interested in them. Just because someone claims that the ones by Donut Factory is nice, everyone started queuing for it and everyone else started jumping in to grab a share of the market. Let me tell you, 6 months down the road, you dun even have to queue to buy a donut at Donut Factory. You should know why. As for me, I still prefer the plain jane sugar donut by my neighborhood bakery. ^_^

Talking Cock MPs

Another perfect example of how our government is disconnected with the situation on the ground. Mrs Josephine Teo, MP for Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC, who urge women to consider putting their careers on hold to have children first. My question is, with the raising cost of living everyday, do they really think we can afford not to work and have babies first? Even if we are working, its still very difficult to juggle between career and family at the same time. And everyone knows in the working society, women will be at a disadvantage once they have a family. These MPs are filthy rich, so they will never experience what we are facing. All they know is talk cock. Like the chinese phrase, 讲风凉话

Buying Your Own A380

Talk about having your own private jet... Now we know why oil prices sky rocketed lately...

How Cruel We Can Be

Not a big fan of Stomp but my wife brought this story to my attention. It doesn't matter if you are a animal lover or not, reading this really sadden me. How can someone be so cruel in treating an innocent animal? If you don't want the pet, you can find a new home for it or send it to SPCA. Instead, these lazy people choose the easy way out by abandoning it or rather kill it through such sadistic torture. How can they have the heart to do this? Is this what our education system taught us to be, cold-blooded humans that only care about themselves? There's this poster at Mickey's vet clinic that says, "To you, it is a dog. To him, you're everything" Imagine how the dog will feel, being betray and left to die after being so loyal to the owner. I pray that the dog will find a good home soon. As for the irresponsible owner, I hope you burn in hell.

I hardly go to movies these days. Going to the movies is so expensive, $7.50 a ticket on weekdays and $9.50 on weekends. This is only the price of a ticket, add another popcorn and drinks, you can say goodbye to your $50. Furthermore, most movies are not really worth the ticket price. A quick check in the papers show the theatres are dominated by cheap haunted movies, brainless comedies and sadistic torture slasher films. Worse of all are the action films where most of the time, all the exciting parts has been shown in the trailers already. Some of these movies story are so meaningless that you wonder why they bother to produce it in the first place. Given a choice, I rather just go to The Movie Spoiler to read about the story and its ending than waste my time and money in the theatre. Once in a while, I may go rent or download the movie to watch. But even so, I would just skip through the film quickly and go to the ending just to find out how the story ends. Think I am starting to lose interest in the movies, sign of growing up?

PM self-owned Himself Again

Haha, thanks to the attentive VR-Zone forumers, our PM self-owned himself again here. In another feeble attempt to try to show that he understands the plight of the public, he only ended up showing how dumb and disconnected he is.

"This morning driving out of town I was watching the trains going down into town, along the CTE, every carriage was packed and I think we need to improve the public transport system and we have some ideas what can be done. But at the same time we need to keep the roads free flowing. And there're no easy ways to improve the road traffic it means painful measures like the ERP and COE and we've to do more with them. We're working out schemes and I think they'll be ready to be worked out and start to be implemented early next year in January"

1. Since when does the PM need to drive?
2. Where from Bishan to town area does the MRT runs above ground so that it can be view from the expressway?
3. And lastly, since when does the MRT line runs along side the CTE???

Another Waste of Our Money

Once again, our esteem government has shown us how dumb n stupid they can be in coming up with idiotic ideas that in trying to beautify our city, only to cause more problems for its people. Firstly is the $40 million rejuvenation of Orchard Road.

According to the news article, I quote,

Part of the rejuvenation plans is to expand pedestrian walkways and create Urban Green Rooms, which will be used for art exhibitions, mini performances or major events like the Chingay.

The Urban Green Rooms will be constructed at the existing lane along Orchard Road that faces ION Orchard, Wisma Atria and Meritus Mandarin Hotel."

If you ever have been done to Orchard Road, you know how jam that stretch of road is and the situation are much worse during the weekends and peak hours. And now they are planning to make the traffic jam worse by removing one more lane?!! Alamak, the pedestrian walkway is wide enough for Airbus A380 to land. Together with the open area in front of Takashimaya Shopping Centre, there is more than adequate space for all kinds of events, how much space does these things take? And just because they want more space for some once in a while events, they cause a traffic congestion that is happening everyday to go worse. So is this all the many scholars, the ex-army general civil servants, or the out-sourced design gurus the government employed can come up with? It is very obvious, these people lack of a brain to think anything further away than next week. As musings puts it very well, the gov't pays $40m to create traffic jam.

On the other hand, maybe I have missed the big picture. By reducing one more lane on a busy road, they will have another excuse to raise the ERP there. Hmmm...

Talking about ERP, ERP rates are on the raise again merely a few months after the last raise. It's been the third time this year already. After raising so much, does the condition of the road changes? The only things that change are the pockets of our ministers. And when we take the public transport, what does the public transportation companies do? They raise their rates too. So rather than always using the ERP as a quick fire way to resolve traffic congestion, why can't those smart alecks in the gov't agency think of building or redesign the roads to divert/control the traffic better?

Why Dogs Hate Halloween...

Their faces says it all: "Just kill me..."

More here.

Remember the Dead

Rest In Peace: Angelia He Xueli

Updated: Judge on MC. The case is postponed to either 22 or 24 Oct 07. So coincidence, judge go MC...

15th Oct is supposed to be the trial of Regan Lee, the guy who caused the death of the car sale assistant when he crash the car during a test drive. It's been a long two years. It has been rumoured that Lee is a son of a prominent figure and this case has been delayed hoping people will forget over time. But netizens never let us forget about it, especially after the accident, Lee posted on his online blog asking for views on two high performance cars he had viewed. Remember the dead, I hope justice will be served for once.
Lee officially charged
Netizens keeping watch of the case in forums
Straits Times Report
Straits Times Video

Free Burma!

www.free-burma.org

What a Silly Question? Or Was It?

Angie asks me this question during our flight back from Taipei. Why do all the window shades on the plane have to be raised during take off and landing? Initially I felt that this is a silly question but on second thought, I ask myself, why ah? A question may sound silly but it's not when even you yourself does not know the answer. So dun go laughing at people when they ask something funny. At least they bother to think about it.

As for Angie's question, here's the answer. You learn something new everyday.

You are asked to raise your shade so that in the event of an accident you can see through the window to help you remain oriented (which way is up, etc.). Because of this, it lets you see what hazards there are outside the plane (fires, debris and such), which would be important during an evacuation. It also serves as a way to let light into the cabin and make it easier for rescuers to see inside.

Upon descent they dim the lights to help your eyes adjust to the darkness, so if anything happens and it goes dark, you're not suddenly blinded while dashing for the exits. It makes the emergency path/exit lights more visible, as these might be the only lights you see in an emergency. As with the shades, it allows you to see outside for orientation, because with the cabin lights burning brightly, the glare would make it impossible.

From here

Here's another question: Why are there stones under railway tracks? From Angie's god-daugther, Charmaine.