March Trip Confirmed!

Just book my air tickets to Hainan this March.
This is probably the most impromptu decision to travel...within 2 mths.
I left about a month to "vomit" out my itinerary...haha!

A good training for China F&E before my grand Silk Road trip later this year.

Farewell Lunch for YW

--Lunch @ Food For Thought--
It's another farewell for my temp, YW. Haiz~~I've been doing this a few times last year. Anyway, CY led the way & brought us to this restaurant.
I liked the decor of the place. and their menu was interesting as well. However, food choices were rather limited.
Have to apologise as my pics did not do justice to these my colleagues' meal. Haha! This's CY's Basic Works (breakfast w/ scrambled egg & mushrooms).
YW's Basic Works (breakfast w/ scrambled egg & bacon).
My Root Beer Float. Nice~!
YJ's Broccoli Bacon Risotto.
My Calamari, Prawn & Salmon Risotto. This is my first time eating risotto. Tasted like some Asian rice cuisine. Hahah! I guess I still prefer pasta...

E.W's belated birthday celebration

--Ling Zhi Vegetarian Restaurant @ Liat Towers--
Celebrated E.W's belated birthday at our favourite vegetarian restaurant. Their food was good as usual, but not so for their service. Not sure if it's because their staff were nt experienced enough.
My favourite dish for the day, Gong Bao Monkey Head Mushroom.
Broco & fungus. The vege tasted like a mix of broccoli & cauliflower.
Blended Asparagus. This is the white one, nt as delicious as the green Asparagus.
Chinese Yam Mushroom.
Teochew dumpling, char siew buns & crystal dumpling.
I forgot to take pic of the Ee Mian!!! Aiyo~~
--Ion & Wisma--
Mr Chean went to Sim Lim Square, while the women shopped at the malls. I did not have plans to buy any more stuffs, but in the end, I bought the most! Aiyo~~Spent alot this Jan ne :(
Let's see what I bought.
Cardigan from Zara, a pair of boots (with heels) from Mitju, a jacket from G2000 & 3 pairs of socks from Converse.
Tuan was looking for a bag, but the hunt was not successful.
--Sun With Moon @ Wheelock--
Used my 20 bucks voucher for dinner. This restaurant is really popular sia. Endless queues.
Our Paradise Punches. Tuan's Mango, E.W's Passion Fruit & my Kyoho Grape.
Tuan & I had Unagi Kamameshi Set.
The unagi was simply delicious!! Hoho!!

Upcoming Trip (Ver 2..0)

Hainan this march.

Any takers?

29/01/11:

Now Jetstar's cheapest airfare is in late Mar. Have to make a decision soon or else the cost will hit 400plus!

March Trip

Looks like I have to postpone my Silk Road trip to later part of the year.
Have to clear my annual leave, so most likely I will plan a trip in March.
I have a place in mind...but have not decide on anything.
Air ticket price is not waiting for me.
I have to make up my mind soon. Haiz~

TV Drama Review #276 - Song Pradtana

No.of Eps: 22
Year/TV Stn: 2010/Ch 5
Cast:
Pong Nawat Kulrattanarak ~ Tee Yot
Paula Taylor ~ Pradtana (Bplaa)
Pimmada Boriruksuppakorn (Pim) ~ Pradtana (Nueng)
Guy Ratchanon ~ Sarit
Rujira Chuaykua (Khem) ~ Nichada
Synopsis: (from AsianFuse Wiki)
Song Pradtana is the story of two women who happened to have the same name and last name, neither side knows that there is another person who has the exact same name. Both of them lives their own life, thinking that in Thailand, there's only one person with this name and last name. Everything would have gone as usual if one of them didn't mysteriously die suddenly. The other one finds out that her bank account, in which she had millions, has been closed by someone. What she has never thought possible before happened, she will then look into who the other person was.
Slacker's review:
Finally! Pong's new drama was out! My expectation was lower for Song Pradtana as the plot did not seem to be interesting, though it was rather different from the norm. Most Thai lakorns are romance-based, but Song Pradtana was more on solving the mystery of the 2 Pradtanas. Romance plot was rather weak here, and there were a serious lack of chemistry & emotions b/w the couples. As much as I wanted to see Pong, this drama is rather plain & boring.
I thought Pong's performance was really restricted! I hardly see his scenes, and most of the time, he was being accused of being the real murderer. Finally, when Tee's name was cleared, we hardly see Paula as she is pregnant, so they cut down her scenes. There's simply no chemistry b/w Pong & Paula! Very disappointed ne~! Tee was pretty one dimensional, but it's nice to see Pong acting as a pure good guy la. (Most of Pong's characters have the bad boy image, but women cld not resist him~Lolz!)
First time watching Paula. Bplaa was not the typical lakorn female lead. She got the american accent and she's not those poor & pitiful woman. She's curious and loved to challenge Tee. It's fun to see how Bplaa bickered with Tee, though she might seem to be quite dumb at times. I wanted to see more Bplaa & Tee scenes, but they really had too little scenes together towards the end of the drama.
Pim is another female lead of the drama, and to me, she's the actual female lead. Why? Coz' Neung's development was the main story! She faked death, planned for revenge & found her true love. Paula's Bplaa was more of a support role - the woman who found that her bank a/c was closed, and she went to investigate. I was not interested to see Neung's romance scenes with Sarit, but the last few eps of the drama were more on this couple :(
Guy's performance was okay, but he still has a long way to go. Kinda stiff to me. I did not like him as he kept working against Tee! (I'm biased~)
Last but not least, Khem was bloody hell good in her evil role as Nichada. This woman got the most scenes and she gave scary stares. She always survived somehow until the very last minute. She killed so many people and she lost her humanity. I've never seen such an evil woman in any lakorns. Nichada won hands down! Haha!

Looking forward to Pong's new drama with Noon this year. Hehe!

CC Gang Gathering: CH's advanced birthday celebration

It has been ages since I last travelled to Marine Parade area. Nothing has changed much, just more eateries along Tanjong Katong Rd.
Met up with the ladies at Parkway Parade. Initial plan was to cycle at East Coast Park, but 呆呆二人组 wanted to go shopping instead. I was like..."why go shopping at Parkway then??"
--Jack's Place @ Parkway Parade--
We ordered set lunches at the restaurant. I think Jack's Place's steaks are not that nice anymore~
Garlic bread.
Lobster Bisque. Quite delicious~
My N.Z Sirloin Steak with onions. My beef steak was medium cooked, and it tasted average.
My dessert.
Anyway, I was surprised to find out that SC's attending a wedding dinner next month. Same date & place as me!!! Just that the bride & groom are different. 太巧了吧！CH was looking for handphone and camera as well! (Hey! I have been looking at those items for months~!) Lolz!
So after lunch, we decided to check out Teo Heng @ Katong Shopping Complex, and they did not have any available rooms. Must book in advance next time lo~
We decided to head for Tampines, but the bus we took did not go to Tampines Central! We found ourselves in Pasir Ris instead. So, we went to Downtown East and decided to catch a movie at Cathay. Haha! Sometimes, no plan is good plan.
--Burlesque @ Cathay Downtown East--
I was interested in this movie. Not for the cliched plot but for singing performances by Christina & Cher. Well, the ladies were terrific! The whole movie was entertaining & I enjoyed the songs & dances. Plot was really typical...a countryside girl decided to go for her dream in a big city. Found herself at a club & worked her way up to the stage...thanks to somebody's sabotage. Just found out that one of the male leads, Cam Gigandet, actually acted as James the bad vampire in Twilight. Hahaha! He looked so much better in Burlesque.
I gotta thank the bdae girl too, as I only paid 7.5 bucks for a wkend movie. Woohoo~!

Hopefully the gang cld meet up once again next mth...with all members present :D

Love and Other Drugs

--Shaw Cinema @ NEX--
My first visit to the brand new Shaw cinema @ Nex. The theatre was alright, but I found the seat a little too hard for my liking (despite it's well cushioned). I read many good reviews abt "Love & Other Drugs", but the movie turned out to be ordinary & typical Hollywood-style romance. What was I expecting then? Maybe I thought the plot was not be that shallow. Haha! Cast performance was great, especially Anne Hathaway. Maggie might seem to be those kind of women who wants no string attached for having sex, but the truth is she did not want the other party to get hurt as she suffered from the incurable Parkinson's disease. Anne managed to bring out Maggie's agony through her acting, and you also get to see her nice body. Lolz~! (That's nt the main focus of the movie!)
Jake Gyllenhaal was very good in his casanova role as well. Jamie's really good with women, and he too, did not want to get into any serious relationship. It was interesting to see how he wanted commitment with Maggie.
There were many other funny scenes from Jamie's fatso brother, the doctors, and Jamie's rival. This is a light-hearted movie with a nice touching ending. It's just that I was expecting more from the plot. Lolz~

TV Drama Review #275 - Mary Stayed Out All Night 玛丽外宿中

No.of Eps: 16
Yr/TV Stn: 2010/KBS
Cast:
Moon Geun Young ~ Wi Mae Ri
Jang Geun Suk ~ Kang Moo Kyul
Kim Jae Wook ~ Byun Jung In
Kim Hyo Jin ~ Seo Joon
Synopsis: (edited from Dramawiki)
Wi Mae Ri is a cheerful, pragmatic daughter of a failed businessman who got used to being constantly on the move to escape from debtors. She becomes fast friends with the free-spirited indie singer Kang Moo Kyul when she nearly ran him over in a car. Meanwhile, her father Wi Dae Han is saved from his debtors by his old friend, Jung Suk, who had just returned from considerable success in the Japanese entertainment industry. Jung Suk, who had harboured a secret love for Mae Ri's mother, sets up a deal with Dae Han to have Mae Ri marry his son, Jung In. In her desperate to escape this predicament, Mae Ri begs Moo Kyul to pose as her husband, and finds herself in even more trouble than before when her father proposes a 100-day period in which she has to divide her time equally between Moo Kyul and Jung In, after which she has to decide who to marry.
Slacker's review:
I did not have high expectations of this drama, because the plot did not seem to be interesting. I watched for JGS & MGY. Their acting was great, but they cld not save the drama from poor ratings & criticisms. I thought it wld be a rom-com, but it seemed more like a melodrama. Too much tears from Mae Ri, too many misunderstandings b/w the couple, contract marriages...The storyline seemed to be going round & round towards the end. In the end, what turned out to be interesting was the r/s b/w Moo Kyul & Jung In. Lolz~ Bromance rules!
Nice to see MGY returns with a younger & cheerful image. "Cinderella Sister" was too stressful for me. Haha! MGY did pretty well in the drama, but I did not feel much for Mae Ri. The character was too predictable & normal. Chemistry with JGS was good, but I thought her chemistry with KJW was much better....maybe Mr Kim was more matured than Mr Jang. Ha!
Jang Geun Suk returned with another singer role, but Moo Kyul was not the ordinary idol singer. I liked how they styled Moo Kyul and he was really cool. However, the cliche plot destroyed the drama...
I was rather impressed with Kim Jae Wook's performance. His eyes expressions were really "seductive" and I liked to see how Jung In fell for Mae Ri slowly. I think many people wld want Mae Ri to end up with Jung In instead, coz' sometimes Moo Kyul is simply a jerk. Lolz~~
Have nt seen Kim Hyo Jin for ages. I did not give Seo Joon much attention, but I thought KHJ's performance was not too bad either. I still think it's a waste of talent to ask KHJ act in this idol-ish drama. She shld be leading a drama with a more sophisticated character.
OST was alright. Do check out the songs sang by Jang Geun Suk.

MP4 dying soon...

My MP4 can't even wait till March IT Fair!
Super sian...It is showing signs of "spoiling soon".

Damn....must find a new replacement soon!

Pompeii - Life in a Roman Town 79CE

--National Museum--
Finally I cld visit this exhibition after months of waiting. Took off today and went out with E.W & Tuan. The exhibition was smaller than I thought (maybe not a lot of exhibits), but there was a good display of artifacts.
Entrance.
The first section we saw was "The Eruption of Vesuvius and its Victims". I bet most of you have seen some of these resin casts on newspapers. Above is the resin cast of a guard dog.
Resin cast of a couple.
Resin cast of two young women.
Resin cast of a shackled man.
This guy is famous. Haha! Resin cast of a crouching man.
We moved on to the section of early history of Pompeii, and commerce in Pompeii. Above are 4 different amphoras.
Check out the layers of volcanic ash & soil...
This is a wooden reproduction of balance with original bronze parts and new cord. What a big balance!
Various potteries.
This is a wooden reconstructed box with original iron and bronze fittings. It was used to store medications and medical instruments.
Bronze gladiator's helmet.
Plaster copies of wall relief of Vulcan, Minerva, Neptune & Mercury.
This is a marble funerary statue found in a grand tomb.
Some alabaster cremation urns used for burial and a marble memorial marker. It's interesting to know that Ancient Romans cremate the dead (alongside with normal burials).
Various burial objects which were meant to accompany the dead on their journey to the underworld.
Bronze container for oil or perfume.
Bronze fountain head with copper and silver inlays in the form of a satyr bust.
Various miniature statues.
Bronze lamp stand.
Two bronze curtain tie-backs.
Wooden reproduction of a day bed.
Marble busts of 2 females.
Marble statue of Venus.
Marble herm. The herm presented two faces of god Bacchus.
More ceramics and kitchen wares.
Terracotta oven & portable stove.
Fresco of Bacchus & Ariadne.
Mosaic fountain.
Samples of volcanic rocks from Somma-Vesuvius.
Pictures of the excavations in Pompeii.
--Lunch @ Domani--
We had lunch at one of my favourite restaurants!
E.W's C-Power & my Royal Purple.
My usual Sambal Marinara. Simply delicious!!!
--Shopping @ Orchard--
Tuan managed to buy a few things, while I bought a decent working pants from G2000. Lots of sales going on now, but nothing really caught our eyes. Haha!