Kelong Trip

I'll be away for a kelong trip to Malaysia with my colleagues. Back tomorrow afternoon.

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Wisdom extracted

Had 2 of my wisdom teeth extracted last week and it was bleeding quite badly on several days. Woke up with my pillow stained with blood on 2 consecutive nights and went to a doctor to stop the bleeding.

The doctor said that the stitching was not done properly and caused the continuous bleeding. When i went back to remove the stitches, i complained to the dentist that i lost a lot of blood and he said that i'm being too dramatic. What a totally ego guy!

Bloody wisdom teeth

I'm allowed to keep my 2 wisdom teeth after the operation. They should have washed away the blood before packing them into the airtight seal.

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Dinner and Movies (Part 2)

After watching Underdog, we headed to Chijmes for dinner at Cosafe Maid Cafe. Due to the higher price of the food there, we decided to have some starters and drinks instead.

The cosy setting at the Cosplay Cafe

We headed to Raffles City and Marina Square to walk around next and Derrick decided to join us for dinner. He suggested an Indian restaurant along Race Course Rd and drove us there.

We ordered a lot of dishes and everyone's stomach were filled to the brim.

Flaming mixed grill set

It's yummy and tender!

Garlic naans

The rest headed back after the satisfying dinner and Derrick and I watched a midnight show at Ps next. We watched Savage Grace, a true life story of the Barbara Daly Baekeland and her family.

Extracted from Wikipedia. "Barbara Daly Baekeland was a wealthy socialite who was murdered by her son, Antony Baekeland on November 11, 1972. She was the wife of Brooks Baekeland, grandson of Leo Baekeland, inventor of Bakelite plastic.

Before meeting Brooks Baekeland, Barbara was a model and would-be Hollywood starlet. During their marriage she was known for her unstable personality, rude outbursts and bouts of severe depression. She led a decadent lifestyle of drinking and risqué sexual encounters. In time her husband Brooks left her for a younger woman, which was followed by divorce. This led to severe depression and a suicide attempt.

She had a bizarre relationship with her homosexual son Antony. There were no distinct lines of privacy– they shared everything and every experience, developing an intense dependence on each other, resulting even in an incestuous sexual relationship."

The show stayed true to the controversial storyline and I didn't know it is a true story until the end of the show. I even had thought that the show was too dramatic and exaggerated towards the end of show when the tragedies began to unfold.

The show started off great with its interesting characters and storyline, and good acting from Julianne Moore as Barbara Daly Baekeland. She was unpredictable and hot-tempered, which gradually takes its toil in her family. The characterizations are good and the story engaging with the themes of decadence, dysfunction and incest. The movie is unsettling and tragic, a cautionary film that examines the causes and results of the series of unfortunate events.

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Dinner and Movies (Part 1)

Met up with a bunch of aerospace people on friday night for dinner after work as it was the start of their 1 week break. Went to Vil'age at Heeren and NYDC next for dessert. Nice to see them as I haven't seen some of them for at least a few months.

Saturday, met up with Dz, Qy, Ys and Aaron for movies as Dz's cousin had the cheaper tickets for sale. We watched Underdog, a show about a dog which is accidentally genetically altered to possess superhuman strength and agility. It is taken care of by a kind-hearted security guard and a strong friendship develops between Underdog and the security guard's son. The mad scientist who altered the dog wants to find Underdog and lots of drama happen.

I did not like the show at all but i didn't hate it as much as i hated Rogue Assassin. The show has a bit of humour and light-heartedness which is definitely not enough to save the show but at least it didn't make me hate it. But the story is too ridiculous and i feel that the show should be restricted to children who are 10 years of age and below.

I dozed off for more than 5 times during the entire length of the show and i couldn't help my slight contempt towards the movie. Kids movies can be enjoyable and entertaining like Stuart Little, but this kid movie is dimwitted, paltry on action, and full of unoriginal and uninspiring scenes.

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Daughtry's Showcase

I won a pair of tickets to the Daughtry's Showcase at St James Power Station via the Samsung fun club online contest. Asked Qy along for the mini concert on thursday.

We headed to Vivocity for dinner before the concert and queued up for about 40 minutes before entering the venue. We were lucky that we had the VIP queue or else we would have to wait for at least 1 hour before entering.

Before dusk

Swarm of people queuing

After we entered Power House, there were so many people jam packed inside that we were stuck behind the bar counter. Luckily, we followed a staff into the massive crowd and got to the back of the main area.

Andrea Fonseka was the host!

Daughtry rocks!

They sang a total of 7 songs including It's Not Over, Home and Breakdown. Chris Daughtry's voice is incredibly powerful and he really channels the emotions of the songs very well.

Andrea Fonseka asking the guitarists some questions

Andrea Fonseka trying to make his female fans jealous

They really can rock

Squeezing our way out of Power House after the concert

All the people who attended the concert were allowed to go to other clubs with the UV detectable stamp on our wrists. We decided to check out other clubs and bars in the power station like Dragonfly, Tiger Live, Bellini Room, etc.

We went to Dragonfly and found that Sylvester was performing inside with 2 other singers. The 2 singers beside Sylvester are really good singers, better than Sly himself. We stayed inside Dragonfly for 3 songs and i think the atmosphere is quite nice inside.

Sly and 2 other singers

There is only a club with people dancing and i had the wrong impression that many of the clubs are for dancing. Tiger Live, Power House, Dragonfly are for live bands to perform.

Blue light

Headed back home after exploring most of the power station. Thanks to Ks for informing me about the contest!

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Vietnam Day 6: Ha Long Bay (Part 3)

Still at the canoeing site,

Not too sure what species of seafood this is

After about an hour or so, the canoeing people returned to our junk boat and we proceeded on our journey.

Landforms and the sea

Lonesome boat

People canoeing

Our boat stopped at a patch of the sea where it is calm with the surrounding karsts blocking the waves from South China Sea. We were allowed to take a dip in the water after they tied the boat to a fixed buoy. Edwin decided not to swim in the open water and helped the rest of us take photos.

Trying to stay afloat

It was tiring as we have to keep paddling to keep afloat and we all did not stay too far away from the boat in case of any muscle cramps. We swam for a short while, climbed back up and decided to jump in from the 2nd storey. I plunged deep into the water and luckily no water went into my windpipe. It was a little scary but fun of course.

A Vietnam flag that is erected on every boat

We were at the top deck of the boat enjoying the sea breeze and the scenery as the weather is cooling and sunset is nearing.

We were watching the people from the other boat dive into the sea and it was hilarious. One guy was too afraid of diving in from the top deck and backed out many times. After numerous demonstrations and persuasions from his other boat people, he finally dived in.

You can see how each person jumped into the water

Wings or hands

He made a big splash i think, ha...

This guy finally jumped after numerous persuasions

Unfortunately, while we were having a great time watching them, Terence received the news of his grandfather's untimely demise. We assisted him by helping him check the earliest flight back to Singapore.

The night at Ha Long Bay was the most serene and reflective night I had. Passing by the uninhabited limestone karsts, cruising slowly in the bay, and the lack of noises from vehicles, bustling streets, etc, was immensely peaceful and the passing of Terence's grandfather made it poignant.

Sunset behind the karsts

Purple sunset

Small room

60 seconds exposure didn't manage to capture a clear image as the ship is moving gently

We had an early rest as we had to wake up quite early the next day.

End of Part 3 (4.30 pm to 10 pm)

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Tasks and Movie

Went to service my van for 10,000 mileage early in the morning and went to a couple of places while waiting to collect my vehicle. Went to a bank to deposit some money, went to Automobile Association of Singapore near Redhill Mrt to get my international driving license, and went to Bugis to get my international student card. The timing was just nice and i got back to Alexandra Road to collect my van at 11.45 am.

Had a good nap in the afternoon and went to watch Waitress with Derrick at night. Waitress is a comedy-drama about Jenna, a waitress at Joe's Diner, who is pregnant and frustrated with her marriage. Her husband is possessive and a control freak, resulting in Jenna's estrangement and nonchalance towards her pregnancy. She makes incredibly wonderful pies as well and her quirky colleagues and some of her loyal customers prevent her life from becoming a wreck.

This film is sincere and brilliantly acted by the wonderful cast. Keri Russell is superb in her role as the unhappy woman who secretly plans for means to leave her domineering husband. Cheryl Hines and Adrienne Shelly are hilarious as her talkative fellow waitresses while Jeremy Sisto does a fine job in portraying the jealous and immature husband.

The character development is good and we empathize with Jenna's situation and the miserable life that she is having. This show has wonderful screenplay and witty dialogue as well. It is humourous but also with a lot of heart.

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NATAS Travel Fair

Went to NATAS Travel Fair after work today and it was tiring! It was because i was lugging so many brochures around. Check out the massive amount in the picture below.


Got the travel maps of Salzburg, Innsbruck, Vienna, Melbourne, Mornington Peninsular, Seoul, Gangwon-do, Jeju, Suwon, Incheon, Daegu, Kaohsiung, Istanbul, Philippines, Songkhla, Satun, New Delhi, Japan, Miyazaki, Dubai, etc. Got many travel guides as well. Will be keeping them for reference if there are future trips to any of these places.

Unfortunately, the only European countries that have booths at the travel fair are only Austria, Hungary and Turkey (part Europe, part Asia). The Austria booth was very informative and there are many guide books and maps. Got free nice Austrian chocolates as well! Ha...

The $3 entrance fee is worth the amount of stuff that i took indeed.

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Bon Voyage

Just came back from Changi Airport after sending Jim off. Take care man! Buy some souvenirs in UK for us when you are back. Haha...

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Vietnam Day 6: Ha Long Bay (Part 2)

Continuing the Ha Long Bay tour,

A small cave

We alighted from the junk boat to see the Amazing Cave

Going down into the huge cave

The beautiful rock formations

Colourful lights inside the cave

'Cave' men

Leaving the immensely big cave

The exit was at a higher ground and we took the opportunity to snap several pictures of the beautiful scenery.

Boats, islands and me

Edwin and I

Boats Galore

We then headed back to our boat after the cave tour and had more relaxing time on the boat. It was heading to a canoeing spot and those people who were having the 2 day tour were the ones to canoe first.

We went exploring the "kelong" style area and there was fresh seafood sold there. The prices were not exactly cheap though.

Seafood for sale

Canoes basking in the sun

Posing in front of a boat vendor selling food and drinks

To be continued...

End of Part 2 (2 pm to 4.30 pm)

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