Again?

CM was the female MVP of last night's bowling competition. Fuyoh! Beh tahan.

TITANIC: Romantic not Erotic

"No handphone! Silent your mobile, please!"

When you go to cinemas these days, they have this ad before the show starts, to request audiences to switch off their cellphone. This is to prevent some mindless folks from disrupting the vibe of the movie simply by answering their calls and start bitching around. Even the ringtone itself can ruin the whole movie. 

Imagine when the movie reaches its climax, e.g when Tom Cruise attempts to jump off from Burj Khalifa in Mission Impossible 4, suddenly some Doraemon ringtone permeates through the air, "An an an...Tottemo Daisuki...Doraemon..."

Damn potong stim, right?

But other than the no handphone sign, I seriously think that we need another sign in cinemas.

CM and I went and watched Titanic 3D yesterday before the screening ends. All went well, we managed to reach the cinema early after work, secured the tickets, had a simple dinner and proceed to check in. We were pretty excited and had prepared to feast our eyes upon James Cameron's classic production. (My Heart Will Go On playing in the background.)

Shortly after the show started, a pair of couple made their way through and occupied the seats in front of us. And instantly they put an end to our beloved Jack and Rose epic. Reason being, the guy in front of us has this super tall spiky hairstyle, which effectively formed the silhouette of an iceberg in our view. Yes, in our version of Titanic, the iceberg appears right from the start till the end (it's 3D somemore), and we wondered why the Titanic crew had failed to notice it.

   

This is the beginning part where the submarine is exploring the Titanic wreck. Wait, is that an octopus ready to attack the submarine? (Jaws classic music in the background.)

Yucks! Old Rose has so much nose hair...eewww.

I sincerely hope that is not Rose's armpit hair...my gawd, need to throw up already.

As you can see, this dickhead is practically blocking our view throughout the movie. Why la comb this hairstyle to a movie? Maybe he has serious esteem issue with his height, hence the spikes to add a few inches. Sorry for the foul language, but I really beh tahan when some dickhead turned a romance epic into an erotic blue film. And dirty-minded people like me tend to be distracted. But frankly, this is the first time I had so much fun snapping pictures in a movie.

But seriously, I think we can't blame this dude after I took a serious look at the ticket this morning. It seemed that CM and I had purchased the wrong ticket. We were not watching "Titanic" afterall, it was ----"Tit nic".  No wonder.

So, other than the prohibition to use handphone in cinemas, can we add one more restriction please? - "No Dickhead Allowed!"

Thank you.

Fern in the Bathroom

Proceeding of a Blossom

Day 1
Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

And many more to come, I hope...^_^

My Lawn Mower and Fertilizer Supplier

Indian Star Tortoise (Geochelone Elegans)

Project Green @ Adda

Started going green 2 weeks ago...

CM has been watering the lawn daily and the SAJ bill hit double digit for the past two months. Pearl grass do require lots of attention and liquid. Due to her relentless effort, tender grass started to sprout from some bald or scorched patches.

Last weekend, we visited a plant nursery near our place after breakfast and spent some monies (other than our time) on some unknown plants, potential candidates to occupy our partition.

We brought this plant all the way from Kluang. It's called 滴水观音 or Dripping Guanyin...errr...my translation does not sound very decent:p [Anyway, the leaves collect moisture from the surrounding air. Condensed vapour forms droplet and drips when sufficient amount is collected at the tip of the leave.]

滴水观音

Erm, another UFO (Unknown Flora Ornament)

More to come...

1st English Breakfast @ HoMe

Weeks after we settled down, finally we had the time and luxury of enjoying our homemade english breakfast at home. Yummy!

Hail Homecooked Food!

Applebee's @ TripleOne Somerset

Beef quesadilla with lotsa cheese!

Shrimp skewers served fresh and succulent.

Steak!

And the signature dish - Pork ribs!

Had a hearty meal with TK and CY celebrating CM's birthday at Applebee's. We have done it for 3 years straight, it's going to be tradition now, I think.

The American restaurant is located in the TripleOne Somerset premise and according to CY, it's similar to Chilli's. Nice place (parking is a killer though), nice ambience, good service, delicious food and great company.

Australia - Land of Dream

20100528: Touch Down

We reached Melbourne at a quarter before twelve midnight. My mind was still not at peace as I wasn't sure if our visa will actually get us through. Applied the visa online back in April and it only took me 5 minutes and 40 Australian dollars to complete the application for both of us. This was way too easy. The flutter in my stomach only ceased when the immigration officer finally stamped our passports and let us through.

Too bad, they confiscated our "bak gua", gifts for our friends in Aussie. Luckily the shrimp roll and broiled cuttlefish were undetected.

We felt the chilliness of the early winter even before we stepped out of the airport. We wrapped ourselves up with layers of winter outfits, mittens, scarves and hats and pushed our carts like two walking rice dumpling and headed to Thrifty to collect our transport. They upgraded us from a Toyota Corolla Ascent Hatchback to a Hyundai i30. Cool, though I don't know the difference:p Anyway, the i30 is really a good ride.

It was time to put our newly purchase Garmin to the test. We missed quite a number of junctions being fairly new to the device, fortunately it proved its valour despite kept directing us to the toll way (which after, we learnt from EC that we could set the device to avoid it). We finally arrived at the hotel at the wee hours in the morning. After a relaxing spa bath, we tucked ourselves beneath the cosy quilt.

20100529: Rise and shine to Philip Island

Woke up at 8.30am, scheduled to meet EC for breakfast at 9am. Met EC on the way out to grab a tube of toothpaste from 7 Eleven. EC brought me two kathmadu fleeces and lent us one of his cellphone. After a brief breakfast with our dear friend, CM and I hopped into the car and head off Philip Island. We stopped along the way whenever we came across any nice sceneries, starting only two blocks away from where we stayed. Pls pardon us because to "suaku" like us, any scene is breathtaking and worth cam-whoring:p

Churchill Island Heritage farm is a nice place to hang out and to get hands on the several farm activities like milking the cow, sheep shearing...etc.

Penguin Parade - It's fascinating to watch the penguins emerge from the sea after dark, preen themselves on the beach and taking counts before parading off to their nests. Too bad, I am not allow to take any pictures.

20100530: Melbourne City Walk

After a pleasant breakfast beside the manor operated by a Korean couple, we drove to the city, which was not a sound idea as it was pretty challenging to drive with so many traffics in a foreign land with weird rules like the hook turn, and scarce parking spaces. We finally landed a parking lot after wrestling with the seasoned city dwellers and risked almost being run down by the tram. ~wipe sweat off forehead.

There are many magnificent buildings and structures which caught my attention like St. Paul's Cathedral and Flinders Station. Even went to the Old Melbourne Gaol to check out the Ned Kelly legend, he is probably the guy who invented the first kevlar vest.

Went to Mulgrave to meet EC for dinner. It is a nice suburb he is staying, but he is moving to a better place:) EC brought us to Kingsway which is saturated with Asian food and we had a bud-tantalizing bowl of pho (Vietnamese beef noodle)! After dinner, we dropped by at the Philips in Boxhill, another suburb known to be occupied by many Malaysians. The Philips are staying in a rented heritage house, the exterior looks old yet cosy and the interior is spacious and homey. Love the kitchen, living room, and the veranda!

20100531: Great Ocean Road

We woke up pretty early for this as the GOR stretches more than 200 km. Along the way, we stopped anywhere we wanted to as EC's saying goes, "This is the beauty of free and easy tour."

We stopped at Bells Beach for some photo and had brunch at a little town in Anglesea. Right at the roundabout before the town, a grey kangaroo hopped like nobody's business beside us, overtook us and bounced across the roundabout and vanished into the bush across the road. After the meal, CM bought her shades and we moved on to Split Point Lighthouse, Aireys Inlet.

Pam, the tour guide at the lighthouse is a jovial petite lady and made us felt at home immediately with her cheerful laughter. We toured the lighthouse with 3 Indian dudes and 3 local ranchers from Queensland.

We made another stop at Separation Creek near Wye River as I was attracted by the wooden bridge at the river mouth.

Stopped at Apollo Bay tourist centre at about 3pm, the staff told us that we will be able to reach the Twelve Apostles by 5.30pm to catch the last glimpse of light. And this is the part where I started to drive like a rally driver, with my co-driver dozing off:p The GOR does not stick along the coast all the way, it leads towards inland somewhere after Marengo as it slices across Otway National Park.

We reached the Twelve Apostle at 5.15pm, still sufficient light for me to shoot some nice pictures. We think that the greatness of nature can only be felt there and then, no postcard-like picture is able to convey the message across entirely. Discontented with the time we spent with the rocks, we decided to stay overnight at the nearby Port Campbell, which was not in our plan.

We had a sumptuous dinner at Waves before we went searching for a place to put up for the night. We checked out a few places before settling at Port Campbell Hostel for AUD25/night, which is the all time favorite for backpackers. Pretty decent stay for such a cheap price, clean bathrooms and toilets.

Woke up at 6.30am and headed for the apostles again where we practically own the entire lookout deck all to ourselves. More cam-whoring before we dropped by Loch Ard Gorge and marvelled at the work of nature, how the wind, waves and rain craft the natural sculpture skillfully with time. And the best part is, it ain't finish till the end of the world.

20100601: Ballarat

We checked out from the hostel and had our breakfast. The owner has a collection of artwork, mainly paintings on the rocks and the port, it is ther work of the owner's mom. Refilled our fuel tank, and off we go to Ballarat in search of gold!

We visited Sovereign Hill, a mocked up gold mining town recreating the gold rush yesteryear in the 1850s. I was awestricken at the mining technology these people invented back then, how strong is the will of man to achieve something they strongly desire. And also we observed the dire condition our fellow Chinese ancestors were put through back in those days when they were lured to this barren land to seek fortune. At least now their younger generations live in a place where they can freely call home. Sovereign Hill is highly recommended for family with kids because you can shop, dine, and have fun all day long.

Next, we moved over to the Gold Museum which is opposite Sovereign Hill. Our eyes glittered at the generous showcase of gold nuggets and gold dust. The good news is that you're still able to stumble upon this precious element if you look for it hard enough in Australia. Who knows, you might find a nugget while you're gardening in your own backyard.

We returned to Mel city in the evening to meet up with CM's secondary school classmates, JY and HL. Initially, JY intended to treat us to Gordon Ramsay's restaurant but once we reached the place we turned him down as it's too posh for us:p So we detoured to a Greek restaurant for kebab.

20100602: Dandenongs

Yay, it's zoo and wine day! Healesville Sanctuary is located 61km to the east of Melbourne. It was a relaxing day since we do not need to travel very far. And so in the morning, we reached the sanctuary at about 9.30am and stayed there till noon. Saw the emu, roos, koala, tasmanian devil, wombat, platipus and dingo, which are the only one we were interested. And then we moved on to Yarra Valley to visit the vineyard.

Was back in the hotel at 6.30pm, waited for EC to pick us up and go to Little Italy. Sort of like a farewell dinner before we depart for Sydney. And again, it's not about the food or wine that night that matters, it's the moment together that counts. How unpredictable life can be when 2 years back, we hung out in Penang in search for local delicacies and 2 years later, we were dining in Aussie. God knows where we will meet again years later.

Singapore Sling

~ perfumed, decent

菩萨

昨晚，在两个roti prata和两杯teh tarik之后，CM终于领悟了朋友和法侣的分别。在公车上回家的15分钟车程里，我上了一堂佛法课。

发现

昨天，CM发现她喜欢华文的原因。

Rewind to Oct 3

Got a call from the company for last minute assignment. There goes my sweet weekend and my mood to celebrate. My initial intention was to go home and be with my family. Last minute meetings to finalize the presentation on Friday, met up again on Saturday afternoon. Digesting the MOU and the CBs gave me butterflies in the stomach and I realized age has finally caught up with me.

Called home and told mom I was not going home for the weekend.

Slept soundly, for the first time after many late nights. Needed the rest desperately. CM closed in to wake me up at 9pm and asked if we want to go to West End, the western restaurant which Calvin brought us before he left for KL. Why not? Work is not everything in life. And so, we took a cab to Pasir Panjang Village and had a sumptuous dinner.

Thank you, baby.

Saturday Night Fever

It's been a long time since CM and I chilled out.

And after a romantic dinner at a place without signboard beside the Singapore River and a leisure stroll in Marina Square, we ended up in K-Box for 4 hours straight. The sad thing was that we realized that we were really outdated as there are many contemporary songs which we didn't know how to sing.

The interface to search for songs is pretty cacat and so we have to enlist group of songs that we were keen to sing by different singers and it was not surprising the Faye Wong era lasted longer than any other Tom, Dick and Harry. And I basically sang most of the songs from a customized album compiled by my secondary schoolmates in a cassette.

仙家凉茶

最近发热气，喉咙有点不舒服。赶紧到中药店买了一瓶凉茶，咕噜咕噜的一口气就和秋媚喝光了。怎么知道喉咙还是痛了。正在纳闷那瓶凉茶没有效的时候，拿了瓶子重新审视一番。忽然眼前一亮！

原来，此凉茶是“仙家”的。

连续忙碌了几个月，没有好好休息的铁人媚，终于病倒了。今早去看的诊所很KNS，还好老子我有的是时间，不然可能当场就要发飚开演一场“天龙八部”。此帖是趁秋媚正在酐睡时随兴所发。希望妳早日康复，爱人。 老妈老爸这几个月也奔波劳碌了不少，希望他们多买一些补品和保健产品来保养身子，不需要为老姐、老妹和我这个书生客气。

老子两点就要回实验室开工了。

Happy Birthday, My Dear

Hope you enjoyed the food and the ambience:)

We are leaving Block 38...

Bye bye Ayer Rajah Expressway, and the 24/7 echo from the traffic flow. I will definitely miss you guys, but I really hope to get the adrenaline rush only when I am behind the steerwheel:)

Looking forward to occupy our new place...thanks to the ever-persistent CM and bbs...

其实爱对了人，情人节每天都过。

Hong Kong Trip IV

One glimpse at the silhouette below and you know where we were. Yes, it's the Tian Tan Big Buddha at Lantau Island. The monastery on the mountain is a peaceful place in pursuit of the bodhisattvahood. One could reach the monastery by cable car, by bus or by tracking. CM and I took the bus up and the captivating sceneries of lush meadow reminds me of "The Sound of Music".

The great Buddha statue sits on the Wooden Fish Peak (木鱼峰) surrounded by bodhisattvas like the one below. This shot was taken by CM using her compact cam, one of the best from the trip which I appreciate very much.

The best part is that the monastery actually has chalets for rent. Probably we will stay a couple of days there and help out on our next trip to HK:p

The Po Lin Monastery entrance gate with the majestic mountain as backdrop.

We made our descent via cable car and we share the same cabin with a mother, her daughter and son. Throughout the journey, they conversed enthusiastically about the trip to visit the Big Buddha, how well the government has developed the tourist spot. From their conversation, I knew that they are local. This reminds me that I don't remember hearing anyone says," Wah, the Bukit Merah Lake Town Resort is really a good place for vacation!" If anyone of you have been to BMLTRM, then you will know what I mean. Then I thought of the Visit Malaysia 200X posters I saw the other day at the railway station. It seems that the poster design remains the same every year, even the pictures. Same old slogan, just that we change the year's figure. It's like telling people, visit sekali dah cukup (once is enough). Then I thought about the drummings to beef up Malaysian tourism by our politicians every year, the budgets...then I wonder, where'd all the money gone to? Care to tell us, Datuk Azalina Othman Said?

We had our Twin Peak this day, after decending Lantau Peak by cable car, immediately we were on our way up The Peak.

This is for all Americans and the people in the whole wide world, "Bush sucks!" (my sis told me i should throw my shoes at him.)

Too bad Mahathir/Abdullah/Najib's wax figures are not (qualified to be) in place, otherwise I would do all Malaysians a favor. (BTW, MM Lee Kuan Yew's wax figure has been there don't know since when. Power!)

The Peak

(FYI, you do not need to pay HKD20 to get this view. Photography kaki will know.)

Memorabilia:

I had the best roadside seafood at Temple Street. When I say roadside, I meant that the vehicles inch past you by less than 5 inches away. Tsing-dao beer, fried mee hoon, HK-style chilli crab is indeed the best combo!

Although we were really exhausted, physically and financially, but the trip worth each and every ringgit and sen. The experiences and memories we brought back are priceless and I would like to end this by proposing a toast, "Many more to come."

NZ next?

Hong Kong Trip - Day III

Today, our plan was to visit Chow Yuen Fatt's hometown, Lamma Island.

But before that, we need to fill our tummy. The dim sum at Dao Xiang (along Nathan Road near Yao Ma Tei's MTR) is really good, more delicious and cheaper than Luk Yu Tea House.

Kiddo climbing rocks at Lamma Island

Billy Elliot
(To kids out there reading this entry: NEVER EVER RUN AND CLIMB ROCKS WITH A LOLLIPOP IN YOUR MOUTH!)

Lady with her shy pet dog.

Best sandwich we ever had...SOooo Muuuch better than Subway, only at this cafe on Lamma Island. Can't remember the name of the cafe, but it's beside the realtor office.

Old man and the dogs.

Lamma bayview.

Came across Ah Po beancurd while making our way to the wind turbine power generator.

The conventional coal power generator opposite the wind turbine.

Village settings.

CM and I.

Lamma sunset view.

The ferry that ferried us to and fro Lamma.

Yung Kee roast duck. Just order the roast duck and Yangzhou fried rice would suffice. Remember to make reservations, otherwise you will need to wait for at least 45 minutes.

Memorabilia:

• The island is a pleasant getaway for the city slickers. And you get to see the other side of the multi-facet Hong Kong, the simple neck of the wood on a humble island.
• There are lots of pet dogs on the isle.
• The sandwich is darn good!
• Almost half of the people with camera in HK uses DSLR.