07 MAY 2011

Our fates will be left hanging until this big day arrives.
This fateful day will determine if we will continue to stay in the ruling party's ward, or under the opposition rule.
Most exciting event of the year.
Stay tuned...

Source Code

--Eng Wah @ Suntec--
My last movie was 3 mths ago, and also by Jake Gyllenhaal. I had no intentions to watch "Source Code", but there's no other movies to choose from. Haha! Anyway, I did not regret my choice. It's an interesting movie with a nice twist.
A soldier, Stevens, woke up as an unknown man and he was in a train which would blow up in 8 mins. Stevens realised he was in a mission and his task was to find out who set the bomb. So, we got to see Stevens travelling back and forth to the dimension whereby he was in the train as Sean.
Plot was rather simple, but the interesting part is this whole thing called "Source Code". Actually I find the US army scientists kinda idiot. Why don't let the soldier rest in peace instead of making use of their minds to save people? Ya...one way of thinking is they can still serve the nation in another way, but it's also very cruel to their families and the soldier themselves.
I hope this does not exist in reality...hahaha! It's really damn pathetic.
--Shopping--
FINALLY! E.W found a nice shoulder bag from Adidas, and she bought an expensive track pants as well. Now I know that track pants can also trim your figure~~Haha!
Walked past Charles & Keith and I bought a bag as Tuan's birthday present. (I know it's still early~~haha!) It's not easy to find the bag she wants la...so bought it without much hesitation.

Nature trip in the North East

--Lorong Halus Wetland--
It was a hot Friday morning.
Our first destination of the day is Lorong Halus. Initial plan is to park our car at Punggol estate and walked to the wetland through Punggol Promenade Riverside Walk. However, the riverside walk was not near the main road, and we did not know where to enter. So in the end, we drove directly to the wetland instead.
Lorong Halus, a quiet road.
Lorong Halus is known for being a landfill many years ago. As Sungei Serangoon becomes a reservoir, the wetland provides additional fresh water into the reservoir. It's nice that this piece of land has been given a eco-friendly new look.

Did not managed to find many water lilies though.
Lots of Cattails grown here.


This is the bridge which connects the wetland to Punggol Promenade Riverside Walk.
Many cyclists and joggers cross over here.
View of Punggol New Town across Sungei Serangoon.
Well, the wetland is small, and even though it's a "wetland", don't expect to see mangroves like those found in Pasir Ris Park or Sungei Buloh. A little disappointment is tt the place is really too small, and the vegetation there was rather limited.
--Punggol Point--
I have not been to this place for 10 over yrs. My last memory was the seafood restaurants near Punggol Jetty. Still missed the fried squids, and E.W missed her Punggol Mee Goreng.
Punggol Point is turning into a park, but it's not ready yet. In the future, I cld cycle to Punggol Point from Punggol Park!
I had long forgotten the beach here. The sand is so white~! Many rocks found along the beach as well.
The jetty. A place for fishing lovers.
We walked to the new park which is not opened to the public yet.
Cld see Pulau Ubin from afar.
We'll get to see water lilies in ponds like this in the future.
On our way to Sengkang...the old Punggol road.
--Sengkang Riverside Park--
Another wetland-themed park in Anchorvale neighbourhood.
The park is pretty big, and it is split into two parts, but there's a underpass connector to connect them.
Anchorvale street and Sengkang LRT across Sungei Punggol.
We walked to the park's main attraction, Floating Island. Got to see mangroves here.
Bridge across Sungei Punggol.
It's not easy to find such a view in a modern HDB neighbourhood.
Educational info of Sengkang Floating Wetland.
Vegetation on the floating island.

Nature trip in the North East (Preview)

--Nature Trip--
Tomorrow's Good Friday activity is to check out the new parks in the North East!
First stop is Lorong Halus Wetland. Then, E.W & I will travel to Punggol End (a.k.a Punggol Jetty).
Our final stop will be Sengkang Riverside Park @ Anchorvale.
Hopefully the weather is good, and I cld snap good pics tmr!

TV Drama Review #287 - Taisetsu na Koto wa Subete Kimi ga Oshiete Kureta 是你教会了我重要的一切

No.of Eps: 10
Yr/TV Stn: 2011/Fuji TV
Cast:
Miura Haruma ~ Kashiwagi Shuji
Toda Erika ~ Uemura Natsumi
Uchida Yuki ~ Mizutani Aya
Takei Emi ~ Saeki Hikari
Synopsis: (edited from Dramawiki)
Natsumi and Shuji, who are teachers in a high school, are set to get married in half a year's time. However, the night before the school year's opening ceremony, Shuji becomes involved with the young Hikari without realizing that she will be a student in his class starting the next day. As Shuji struggles to help Hikari deal with the mental complex she is suffering from, he is also torn inside by his betrayal of Natsumi. Meanwhile, Hikari attempts to get closer to Natsumi, driven by feelings of jealousy and a desire to destroy the couple's relationship.
Slacker's review:
I think many ppl were led down by the plot. We were lost as the plot seemed to lose its direction, as if we were in a "merry-go-round". The characters seemed very confused themselves, and even the ending did not convinced me that they had "learnt" something. It was a weak "Mon9" (this is the prime slot for Fuji TV's dramas). The storyline was kinda weak, but it's actually a character-driven drama, so there were more depth for the characters' development.
Miura and Toda were no longer new names in the Jdrama world. Toda's name kept popping out everywhere. She's really hardworking, but lacks a role which cld make her stood out from the crowd. Toda's performance was much better than Miura, as the actress's acting was natural and expressive.
Miura, on the other hand, looked a tad old with his old fashioned hair styling. Seriously, he's too young to act as a matured man, and a teacher? Nt quite convincing to me. I don't like weak characters, so it's hard for me to like Shuji. He's a nice responsible guy who can be quite contradicted.
The actress who stole the limelight is Takei. A young actress who looked older than her real age. Her acting was quite convincing and rather natural. As for her character Hikari, I did not like her initially as she tried to come b/w Shuji and Natsumi. However, we got to know Hikari a lot better, and she's a girl who lacked her parent's love and understanding.
Theme song is "EXIT" by Porno Graffitti

TV Drama Review #286 - LADY~Saigo no Hanzai Profile~ LADY～最后的犯罪画像

No.of Eps: 10
Yr/TV Stn: 2011/TBS
Cast:
Kitagawa Keiko ~ Kazuki Shoko
Kimura Tae ~ Yuki Akira
Hiraoka Yuta ~ Shinbori Keisuke
Sudo Risa ~ Okui Marie
Kaname Jun ~ Terada Takehiko
Yusuke Santamaria ~ Tsuge Masaki
Synopsis: (edited from Jdrama weblog)
It is early days at the newly established Criminal Profiling Support Team (‘CPS’) by the Tokyo Metropolitan Police, when the first call for help in a full-fledged murder case comes in. A married couple has been brutally murdered and their only son has gone missing. There has already been two similar cases at different locations recently. At the direction of chief profiler Yuki Akira, Katsuki Shoko, a new profiler with the CPS and Terada Takehiko from the same unit, go to the scene of the crime to perform an analysis. Shoko and Terada link up with the First Investigative Division’s Tsuge Masaki, who has just finished his investigation of the scene, and start to tell Akira and the rest back at the headquarters about the crime scene through a wireless live camera feed. Shoko focuses her attention on images of the criminal’s actions while analysing the scene. The investigation task force views the murders as multiple crimes committed by a group of foreigners, but Shoko remembers the sense of discomfort she had felt at the scene and states that this murder and the previous two cases were the work of a lone criminal. At the CPS, everyone is engrossed in criminal information analysis, but the analysis does not quite get anywhere. Then, just as Akira had feared, the investigation task force receives a letter from the criminal. The members of the CPS are asked for the profiling. Akira announces it, but Shoko, who perceives the murderer’s feelings from the words in the letter and is unable to contain herself, bursts out with her opinion. The next day, the investigation task force publishes the letter in the newspapers according to Shoko’s opinion, but the brutal murder of another married couple occurs...
Slacker's review:
The recent trend of detective drama is to play with psychology. Psychology cld be used in many aspects, though I am not sure if such departments really exist in Japan's police force. We saw 2 kind of similar dramas last season. "Lady" is one of them, while the other is Fujiki's "Control". I gave up "Control" as the drama was boring, and the leading actor & actress had zero chemistry. "Lady" was slightly more interesting as there's a mystery ard Kazuki (her dad's case).
Seriously, I am quite bored with detective dramas (there's at least one every season). Well, what's made "Lady" different was how they cracked the cases, and it's interesting to understand criminal's mindset and worked your way out to nab them.
Acting from the cast was alright. I can't say they did well as such roles are nt challenging. Kitagawa has yet to impress me with her acting, but I preferred her in roles like Kazuki rather than some rich spoilt girl (Moon Lovers).
Good to see Kimura again. I thought her performance was better than Kitagawa. We cld see internal struggles of Yuki with regards to Kazuki's dad case.
Same for Santamaria. Tsuge was a fair guy, but he's quite mysterious in the drama as well. The veteran actor handled this mystery aura well.
Theme song is "Mukei Spirit" by Shibasaki Kou.

Shop~!!!

Today's main aim was to find a nice walking shoe & a bag for E.W.
In the end, I bought more things than her!
--Fossil @ Ion--
Popped by Fossil and found that they have new watch faces for my "Build A Watch" collection. I found a rare digital watch face with a row of crystals. Bought it without much hesitation, as new watch faces do not come often. Ha...pocket burnt a hole.
--Domani @ N.A.C--
Went to my fav pasta restaurant!!! Actually wanna try their Golden Lobster spagh, but they did nt have lobsters liao. Crayfish did nt worth that money so I chose my all time favourite again.
My Sambal Seafood Marinara. Loved it~!!!!
Wanted to order their Coffee Jelly Frappe, but the guy heard wrongly and gave us Coffee Jelly dessert. Well, something new for me, but I don't think I will order again. Tiramisu will still be the perfect dessert for me.
--Shoe Hunting @ Paragon & Cineleisure--
We checked out Adidas store at Ion and Paragon, but E.W cld not find her shoe with the right size. Checked out Nike, but their shoe designs were limited. Went to World of Sports and we found more Adidas walking shoes with discount! I bought my first pair of Adidas shoe!!! (Oops...I bought too many shoes le~)
We walked over to World of Sports @ Cine and E.W finally found her Adidas shoe with her size!!! (So happy!)
--Bag Hunting--
As for bags, not much luck though. Saw a very nice bag from Coach, but well...it's too ex for me. Ha! Need to strike 4D first.

Farewell Dinner

--Swensens @ Bugis Junction--
Totally forgot that JT's last day was Thursday, and I forgot abt his farewell dinner yesterday as well. Luckily JP asked me yday...haha! (Too many farewells this month~)
It has been a long time since I last stepped into Swensens. Menu is still the same though.
My Chili Crab Pasta. Quite delicious.
The choc crunch ice cream shared among the ladies.... I only ate a little. Lolz~
Oh ya, my ex-boss came to find us and chatted for a while. He's still same old.....and always looking for beer. My goodness~!

Lunch

--Watami @ Ion--
Met up GC & SC for lunch!!
Kani & Hotate Croquette. Dish was warm when we ate it...
Our daily set lunch of the day, chicken katsu with egg. We gotta crack the egg while the sauce boils. Tasted delicious~!

三月@海南 - Day 4

日期: 09/03/2011
路程：嘉积-塔洋(东桥村)-海口
--早餐--
早晨的嘉积镇。太后说跟20年前比起来，真的变太多了。现在像个城市。
龙湾国际大酒店。
我们走到对面的龙泉咖啡厅用早餐。
我的美式早餐。
--第一站：东桥村--
今天的心情有点复杂。哈哈！虽然很期待看看以前公公和婆婆住的地方，不过又不知道看到亲戚们要说什么好。（其实到最后我都没说什么，只是忙着拍照和录像。)
酒店外有位师傅肯载我们去塔洋镇。塔洋就在嘉积隔壁，不一会儿就到乡下了。
这是亲戚的新房子。太后跟他们聊天，我坐一会儿就出去拍照了。

公公的家。

小菜园。
Kampung chicken!
公公和婆婆的房间。太后20多年前来这里的时候，也住过这间房。
房间没人用了，只有杂物和一张简陋的床。
亲戚在煮饭。
午餐好了！
这是我们家的族谱。
有蒋先生的和叔叔们的名字。
如果文字太多了，还有flow chart版哦~
原来我的祖先来自福建莆田，是位进士。族谱用的中文不容易看得懂。。。不晓得是什么时期用的中文啊？
另外一位亲戚的家。
旧房。
新房。
这是婆婆的娘家。


原本这里有三户人家，不过另外两户去了槟城。。。所以只有一间房子住着人。
--第二站：琼海火车站--
探访亲戚之后，我们回酒店拿行李就直接去火车站买前往海口的车票。
D7326次动车，一等座43元。
我们的动车延误了27分钟。
16：45，和谐号终于进站了！
--第三站：海口宾馆--
17：11，我们抵达海口东火车站。雨势不小，而且气温偏低。 我们在马路旁等了很久才叫到一辆德士。在这个岛叫德士是多么痛苦的一件事啊~！
酒店离火车站有一段距离。看到海口宾馆的时候，心情沉了一下。太rundown了吧？看起来真的很旧！
不过，房间跟网上看到的一样，没有落差。房间有装修过，感觉挺舒适的。而切我的加床是mattress哦～
这扇门很有趣。
应该猜到通往哪里吧？
有点不明白为什么要这样设计呢？方便客人去厕所吗？海南的酒店厕所都挺特别的。（还记得龙湾吧? Haha!)
--第四站: 海南椰风堂@海口宾馆--
有亲戚来酒店探访。外头雨一直下个不停。最后我们只好在酒店的中餐厅用晚餐。侍应生的服务水平真的让我们“大开眼界”。去中国旅游这么多次也没碰过这么lousy的服务。
那位个子很高的waitress不耐烦也就算了。另外一位则是把茶壶“轻轻”地放在桌上，也没帮客人斟茶喔！他们的普洱茶不知道是次货还是假货，颜色那么深，而且没有味道。超难喝！
这间餐馆唯一像样的。。。就只有食物了。
好吃！
不道地的嘉积鸭。
菜都好吃！
--逛街--
吃完饭后, 我们到附近走走看看。我在Adidas Neo Label店买了一件上衣。起初因为logo不同, 我们还以为那是Adidas的冒牌货，回国后才知道那是Neo Label。。。哈哈！服务员的态度很好，我差点还买了一双鞋，只可惜穿起来不好看 :(