I started my day seeing a traffic accident outside Newton mrt station. A taxi bumped into the rear of a mini-van at a traffic junction. Luckily, it was just a small bump and there wasn't any visible dents on either vehicle. I was rather shocked though because it happened right in front of me and it occcured so fast.
I took a bus to meet my JC friends in orchard afterward for dinner. I arrived 15 mins before the meeting time and wandered around 2 cd shops in orchard mrt. Coincidentally, i met my sec sch friend who was also waiting for his friend. Felt rather nice to talking to someone whom i lost contact with for a long time. Then, I sat on the stairs within orchard mrt to wait for them. Read my magazines to pass time as all of them were late. GS was playing computer games until he lost track of the time, clarence was waiting at home for the rain to stop, derrick was at stefanie sun's mini-concert at zouk, edwin was joining us after fetching his girlfriend home and terence was eating dinner at home before joining us. I waited 1 hour from 6 pm to 7 pm!
But i wasn't frustrated or angry because i am a perpetual late-comer too, except for today! Each of them started appearing after 7 pm and we walked along orchard road wondering what to eat. Derrick who went to stephanie sun's mini concert has finished watching and he suggested going to Turf City's unique seafood restaurant for dinner. We agreed and he drove to orchard to fetch us. I was quite surprised that the concert ended so early. He told us that Stefanie only sang 5 songs and the whole concert was only around 1 hour. He also commented that stefanie has become a bit more pretty, with her face pores less visible (maybe it is because zouk does not have bright lighting).
We arrived at turf city and there were not a lot of people there. I had been to unique seafood with my family before and some of my classmates did not know about the choosing of a huge array of live seafood. We left the picking to Derrick who loves seafood. He chose bamboo clams, 2 crabs, quite a lot of prawns and a "jing1 mu4 lu2" (can't remember the english name for the fish). I addition, we ordered kailan, chicken with diced chilli, friend rice and sheng1 mian4. The food in general was not bad. There were not much customers although it is a weekend. 2 other restaurants were undergoing renovation works. Really enjoyed the meal as i haven't ate seafood in quite some time and the meal is a belated birthday treat by Derrick. The bill turned up to be $175 which is lower than what we expected.
We spent some time deliberating at the open air carpark on what to do and where to go. We decided to watch a movie at Balastier. I suggested a R-21 movie Kinsey, which garnered 3 golden globe nominations for 2005 and The Aviator, which garnered 6 golden globe nomiations. Some of them were interested in Kinsey which focused on a highly provocative and sexual storyline. When we reached Balastier, we were definitely disappointed when we missed the 10.45 pm timeslot for Kinsey. The movie duration of The Aviator was also printed at the box office which is 2 hours and 50 mins. Some of my friends were put off by the long duration and were worried that they might fall asleep in the theatre. Thus, we decided to go to another place to watch Kinsey. I used GPRS on my handphone to check the movie timings for other theatres and decided to GV Great World which had a timeslot of 12.10 am.
We headed there wasting the parking fee of $1.52 at balastier carpark. Parked at the free parking zone opposite Great World City and took some time finding the way into the building as the main entrance was closed. There was quite a lot of people there and we went to buy the tickets. I had my worries about going GV to watch R-21 shows because GV is reputed for the strict enforcement of checking identification for many age-restriction shows. The cashier asked whether we are all above 21 when we were purchasing the movie tickets and we said yes. But when she said id will checked before entering the theatres, i was a bit worried. True enough, the ticket tearer checked everyone's 11b. He was prepared to let us in as he confirmed 84 for the starting numbers of our ic numbers. But an aunty walked up to us to double check and checked our birthdays. She then explained to us that by right we have not turned 21 yet and were not allowed into the theatre. We were all worried that there will be no refund but the manager of the branch was rather reasonable towards us and we got our refund back. Some of us was rather embarrassed by the minor commotion we caused. I was really quite pissed and disappointed that we did not get to watch the movie. I wanted to watch another critically acclaimed show, The Sea Inside, but most of my friends never heard of it before and were not very interested. So we went to an empty table outside McCafe in level 1 and we ate a tub of ice cream which we originally planned to eat in the theatre. I was really in the movie mood and still pissed off by GV's stringent rules.
We went back to the parking lot where we left the 2 cars and spent some time discussing where to go next. Terence suggested Labrador Park which is rather close to great world. Since we had no backup plan when the movie trip failed, we headed to labrador park as we no absolutely no other ideas or places that we can think of. The first carpark near the entrance of the park was rather deserted and a road up into the park was blocked. Thus, we headed to the seaside area beside the park instead. When we were driving there, we noticed a huge white mansion near a deserted side road. The seaside area is very close to labrador camp which my scout platoon took a FCEP to an island for training before. There were quite a lot of cars parked in the carpark and couples and groups of people were having gatherings or strolling there. We stayed there for a short while and i suggested going to the mansion to explore. I was really excited yet scared to explore haunted places. Some of them objected and said they will stay in the car while the rest explore. I persuaded them to just take a look and we drove apprehensively to the mansion. The mansion is on a small hill and there is a flight of stairs leading up to the mansion. We got out of our cars to take a closer took. Alas, on closer inspection, the mansion is surrounded by fences and the gate at the top of the stairs is also closed. 3 of us were keen to climb up the stairs and view the mansion closer and we climbed up very slowly with our hearts pumping very fast. When we reached the gate, there was light in level 1 of the mansion with an altar within the building. It wasn't very scary except looking at level 2 of the building with no lights and windows all open. Slightly disappointed, we walked down the stairs and brought 2 more guys up to see a more clearer picture. I thought it was a deserted mansion that we could explore but it turned out to be inhabitated and fenced. Or maybe it is not occupied but the altar there is to control the evil spirits there? Maybe it is really haunted that's why the government fenced the whole mansion up. Well, we will never know anyway.
Well, we then headed to West Coast carpark which is rather close so that derrick could stop his car and open up all the doors to get rid of a mosquito in the car. We spent another 10 mins discussing where to go next. Edwin suggested haw par villa which is really close and the admission was free. However, it was already 2 plus in the morning and we knew that it will definitely be closed. We headed there anyway since it is so close.
When we reached there, the gates are closed and we contemplated climbing over the gates which is rather low. There is a notice on the gate which changed our minds immediately, guard dog on patrol. Well, another wasted trip. Saw a group of cars and vans fitted with blue and green headlights and coloured lights on the underchassis of the vehicles racing past the empty road outside. The coloured lights are illegal in singapore and we were all surprised by the amount of vehicles breaking the rule. Several motorcycles also sped past the road afterward. We decided to follow the route of the racing vehicles to find out any secret racing routes in singapore. The road was in between many private housing estates which is a long stretch without traffic lights. It was not as secluded as what we expected it to be and the vehicles were not in that area already. We were faced with the problem of going where next and we decided to eat supper at the stretch of food houses opposite Beauty World and Bukit Timah Shopping Centre in Bukit Timah.
There were quite a lot of people other there although it was 3 am. We ordered some teochew dishes at a food house which is not too expensive ($30 for 6 people). When we were about to go, we witnessed a loud quarrel between 2 aluminium can collectors. I was not sure how it started but a woman is tugging at a man's trash bag full of empty cans. She shouts and they exchange expletives while pushing each other. The woman rips the old man's trash bag in anger scattering many cans on the roadside. They shout at each other and the old man finally backs out with the aunty's fiery temper gaining the advantage. She then picks up the cans on the road cursing and swearing while doing so. Everyone in the food house were looking at them for the commotion they caused. It was lucky as the 2 troublemakers did not get too violent on each other.
Finally left for home at 3.30 am and reached home at around 4 am. Spent a lot of time writing this and it is 7 am soon. Gotta ZZZzzzzzz.......
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