gUnZ reFleCtiOnS: 06/01/2007

Vietnam & Sunburnt

>> Friday, June 29, 2007

Just returned to Hanoi from Sapa via the overnight train and we are all sunburnt!!!

I'm blogging now from my hostel in Hanoi as we alighted from the train at 4.30 am. My arms and neck are really red and the skin should be peeling in a few days time.

I guess this isn't the best time to visit Vietnam as Hanoi is quite hot and humid as well. The scenery in Sapa is really nice and we will be leaving for Ha Long Bay in 1 hour's time.

Departure

>> Sunday, June 24, 2007

Will be leaving Singapore for Vietnam in about an hour's time. Will be back here on 5th July.

Busy Day!

Had k-lunch with Ks at Cine from 11 am to 2 pm and spent the next 2 hours shopping at Robinsons. There is a storewide 20% discount which is exclusive of the other discounts already implemented on many of the items there. Bought a Nike bag for $22 (damn cheap right?) and 2 other polo tees.

Met up with Sang Ju, Yining, Say Yong, Sheng Hua and Qizhi in The Vilage at Heeren next. Thanks to Sang Ju for taking his time out to see us during his short stay in Singapore! Hope to see you soon.

At The Vilage (Heeren)

Anyway, after our late lunch there, we were loitering around orchard area and finally settled down at Mac and chatted there for a few hours.

Met up with my jc friends at Cine to watch Hot Fuzz. I shall do a short review as i haven't packed my backpack for my Vietnam trip tomorrow.

Hot Fuzz is about a top-notch cop, Angel, who gets transfered from London to sleepy town Sandford as his colleagues and even superiors are jealous of his achievements. Angel is not accustomed to the slower pace of living there and he does not compromise on enforcing the law. He teams up with an eager but very inexperienced cop there who occasionally annoys but their friendship strengthens as they gradually learn from each other. Also, there is a string of murders in Sandford which sends everyone into a frenzy and mayhem soon begins.

Some people might hate Hot Fuzz for the storyline which contains an incredulous twist. But the show is definitely entertaining with the witty jokes, the numerous spoofs, the committed acting from Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, the way-cool action sequences, the snazzy film editing and cinematography, and the tight pace of the story. Not the smartest movie out there but an enjoyable one indeed.

***1/2

Hong Kong Trip: Hong Kong Day 6 (Part 1)

>> Friday, June 22, 2007

It's Christmas Day! We woke up at around 9 plus and we set to go at around 10.30 am. We asked Stanley, our super friendly hostel owner, for breakfast recommendations and he told us of a nice dim sum restaurant not too far from the hostel.

We followed his instructions and found the restaurant. There were really quite a lot of people in 稻香超级鱼港 restaurant. We waited for about 20 minutes before finally getting a table. We ordered quite a lot of food and it was indeed quite yummy. The bill was also very reasonable and each of us paid around S$12 for a very full meal.

In the restaurant

Outside the restaurant

After our nice breakfast, we headed to Central (中环）via MTR to visit the Mid-Levels Escalator. It is the longest outdoor covered escalator system in the world.

Taking a shot of a tram along one of the main roads

A lot of maids picnicking and chatting inside one of the covered walkways

At Mid-Levels Escalator

There are actually many escalators forming the chain and some do not lie in a straight line

We had a break at one of the cafes along the way and continued up all the way until we hit Conduit Road which is the border of Mid-Levels. Jim used to stay at one of the housing along Conduit Road.

Jim and his ex-house

We walked along the road and proceeded to HK Zoological & Botanical Gardens. The admission is free and we decided to go there and take a look.

One of the road signs along the way

We followed the directions on the map and reached the zoo within 20 minutes of walking. Passed by many condos with mostly expensive cars in the carparks.

Cutesy looking tortoise

Me with the animals which cannot be seen in this photo

Really nice looking herons, i think

Leopard-time

We toured the entire compound of the zoo and it was not very big. We didn't really tour the botanical part of the compound and proceeded back to the Central area.

Fountain near the zoo

An interesting fengshui-influenced architecture of HSBC building (note the fake cannon)

To be continued...

End of Part 1 (9.30 am to 3 pm)

Prof Dan's Farewell Dinner

Edwin, Terence and I met up at Chinatown in the afternoon to change SGD to USD currency. Each of us changed about 250 to 300 usd for use in Vietnam. We then headed to the nearby hawker centre for some food.

Met up with my uni friends at Brewerkz for Prof Dan's farewell dinner cum drinking session next. Bing Feng and I were waiting at Clarke Quay MRT from 5.30 to 6.15 pm and no one else arrived! We then walked over to Brewerkz and Dz and Ys were already there. Almost everyone else were late except for the 4 of us.

More and more people came and the room that can accomodate 48 people soon became quite crowded. More chairs had to be brought in as there wasn't enough seats. Some of our juniors came as well and there were also quite a number of Prof Dan's friends.

Drinking and eating

A very funny wig, cute balloons and farewell gifts given to Prof Dan

We played some games to speed up the drinking process and some of them were "Zhong Ji Mi Ma", "the 7 multiples game", and "connecting words game". It was quite fun as everyone was having a good time and laughing at each others' mistakes.

Last photo together with Prof Dan

All the best to Prof Dan and his future endeavours.

Hong Kong Trip: Hong Kong Day 5 (Part 5)

>> Wednesday, June 20, 2007

Continuing the Madame Tussauds tour...

The musicians and singers section

Some singers

Michael Jackson

Beatles

Joey Yung

Twins

Miriam Yeung

Ex-James Bond aka Pierce Brosnan

We spent quite some time in the wax museum and finally left the place after a few hours. We proceeded back to the viewing gallery to see the cityscape at night. There were tons of people there and we had to squeeze our way through.

I tried to take a clear picture without the use of a tripod

It was very hard for us to take photos there were many people blocking and the use of tripod was essential to take good night shots. Thus, Edwin and Shiqi engaged the photo personnel to take a good shot and bought the photo at the photo shop inside the shopping centre. We went around looking for food as it was already past dinner time. However, the shopping centre only had really expensive restaurants and we went over to the another shopping centre opposite.

It was the same over at the other shopping centre and we decided to find some food at other places. We queued up at the long queue at the station and waited for around half an hour before sitting on the tram that takes us down to the city. We decided to walk over to Lan Quee Fang, a bars and restaurants area.

My expert navigational skills brought us to the street and there were many policemen stationed there. We then realized that there will be a Christmas Day countdown and thousands of people were swarming the area.

At Lan Quee Fang

Check out the massive crowd!

We tried to find some restaurants there with reasonable prices but to no avail. It's the holiday season and restaurants in prime locations all have jacked up prices. We stayed there only for a while as we did not want to squeeze here squeeze there with other people with growling stomaches.

We took the mrt back to Mongkok as the variety and price of food around Mongkok is still the best! We went to a nice cosy restaurant near our hostel and we loved the food there. The only thing that i don't like is that smokers are allowed to smoke inside the restaurant.

Anyway, we bought a cake for Gs as it was his birthday and celebrated in the small hostel room. Poor Gs had to rest in the hostel coz of his stomach flu after he went to the clinic.

The 5 of us

End of Part 5 (8 pm to 11 pm)

Pulau Sekudu Part 2

>> Tuesday, June 19, 2007

Continuing the Pulau Sekudu low tide intertidal zone tour...

Larger than average crab that we found but smaller than average crab in Chinese restaurants

Cake Sea Star (Anthenea aspera)

The behind of the Cake Sea Star (according to Ks, it's a rare find in Singapore)

Large jellyfish which is stuck in the intertidal zone (We didn't touch it of course, ha)

The 5 of us posing beside a rock while Gerald was the photographer

This is an organism that sticks to a stone that looks like faeces but is not

The break of dawn

The risen sun with the lighthouse in the background

The intertidal zone which is covered with a thin layer of water

I love the subtle contrast in colours of the clouds

For most people who don't know, Pulau Sekudu is also known as Frog Island as there is a huge frog-like rock on the tiny island. The eyes and mouth are deliberately drawn by people previously.

A wider view of the rock and the surrounding scenery

The sky, the rocks and the water

See the contrast in the colours of the rock? The black region of the rocks signify the level of water during high tide.

Lots of seaweed in the intertidal zone

As the tide begins to rise, the intertidal zone begins to get flooded and we left the island at 7.30 am. We had taken many photos already and it was a rather satisfying but tiring trip. Walking around for hours in the early morning took a toll on me physically and mentally. This shows how unfit i have become now.

Anyway, i love the landscape of Pulau Sekudu and it is nice to visit an untouched and natural place in Singapore.

This lovely shot from the boat reminded me of the boat in Cambodia

Me on the bumboat back to Singapore

We had breakfast at Changi Village hawker centre next and headed back home feeling sleepy. Luckily there were people in the car as well or i might fall asleep while driving. An interesting expedition indeed.

Relief

This isn't the best solution i hoped for but at least the problem is over. Finally i can look forward to my upcoming Vietnam trip and let go of the problems that plagued me yesterday.

Troubled

I want to blog coz i'm really troubled. I'm really worried that the worst will come true. And i can't help but think that the odds are too overwhelming. There is not just 1 major issue but 2 major ones. I'm afraid that i will disappoint some people due to some stupid regulations. Tomorrow will either be the day i face the consequences or the day i jump in joy. Really hope for a miracle.

BBQ

>> Monday, June 18, 2007

Met up with some of my jc friends at AMK Hub in the afternoon to buy the barbecue stuff and utensils. There were really a lot of people in the new shopping centre.

We made our purchases and went to Edwin's house to barbecue. We prepared the food and the rest of the people arrived late as expected. When Meibin arrived, she dropped a bombshell and my mood dived into a bottomless pit. She can't make it for the Vietnam trip as she just started working as she is broke after her exchange. Hope that Gs and Terence can make it for the trip. If not, i probably have to rope other people in or the air ticket would be a waste of money.

Anyway, we spent a long time starting the fire and it was finally done after an hour or so of work. The barbecuing started at 8 plus and the food we churned out was either too "chao ta" or too raw. Ha... Probably all of us hadn't bbqed for a long time.

The gals plus Derrick had a career talk discussing which company is good or bad as most of the gals have started working already, while the guys are busy churning out food.

Couldn't finish all the food that we bought and we continued chatting until around midnight.

Us plus Edwin's niece

Priceless

>> Sunday, June 17, 2007

After getting back my sleep from the tiring island trip, i read the newspapers and saw that Priceless is having the last few screenings at Lido. Watched the movie with Derrick and both of us enjoyed the show thoroughly.

The show is about a beautiful female escort, Irene, who mistakes a hotel bartender, Jean, for a filthy rich millionaire. After spending some time together, Irene got to know of the truth despite Jean's efforts in concealing the truth. Jean doesn't give up pursuing her and depletes his entire bank account just to spend time with materialistic Irene.

Some people might think that the show is just lightweight entertainment but there is much depth within the romantic comedy. The sheer brilliance of the acting and the impeccable comic timing works wonders for the audience, and we get loads of laughter, loads of entertainment, and the message that true love is indeed priceless. The chemistry between the two leads Audrey Tautou and Gad Elmaleh is incredible, and they work their charm not only on each other but also the audience.

I'd love to... I'd like to... Those who watched the movie will definitely burst out laughing when they hear this line again.

****

Pulau Sekudu Part 1

>> Saturday, June 16, 2007

Ks organised a predawn trip to Pulau Sekudu and there were a total of 6 of us who went on this trip. We met up at Changi Point Ferry Terminal to take the bumboat to Pulau Sekudu at 3.45 am. The timing of the trip is based upon by the tide as the tide would be at its lowest when we reach the very small island near Pulau Ubin.

It was rather pitch black and there were several people camping overnight on the island. We had an amphibious landing on the island and i had changed to my army boots. All of us had brought along torchlights to see the organisms living on the coastal region.

Ks taught us many of the names of the living organisms and visit his nature blog if you are interested.