Square - mean surprises

Dad birthday 2010

2010-05-06T19:00:00.000+08:00

We celebrate Dad Birthday 67th Birthday on the 31-Jan @ Sherator Tower Hotel, The Dinning Room, Buffet High Tea. It is a rather Posh place

High Ceiling and a beautiful Garden at the back with waterfall.

There wasn't a crowd when we arrived. Baby Xuan got her special set of utensil for the buffet.

Mum and Dad getting Ready to eat and explore the Buffet options available.

Group Photo before starting !!!

Family Photo shot courtesy from the waiter @work

Of all food in a Buffet, I am particularlly interested in their Cakes and dessert Section. It is quite a spread.nonya Food, Nouya Food have make headlines ever since the MediaCorp Drama - Little Nouya
Donno what they call it. But Basically, it is flour with Coconut fillings...super sweet

Oreo Cake !!!

Marble Cake

Cream Puff, High Class!!!

Nouya Dessert upclose!!

Pandan Cake!! in a small cube

They even have Foudue....Chocolate...I Like but not the mus mellow

The superstar of the Buffet, Durian Moose!!

Fruits Dessert, Appetizing Longans!!!

This is the Special Order Lava Cake... Sweet and Sinful...haha..but nice

It is not call a buffet if it doesn't have the Chinese stir Fried Offering.

We have Fried Fish Roll.....

Some "WuXiang" to begin with...and alot of others Chinese stuff...but was running a little full to try all of them

Xuan Really have a very good time @ her first Buffet.

The Overall Experience @ The Dinning Room was rather OK. Not the best Buffet yet. Was actually drawn here because of the Durian

Baby Xuan is near her bed time as she is asking for her favourite pillow...

Congrat!! Minli is Married

2010-05-04T00:44:00.000+08:00

My cousin, Minli is finally tying the knot with her long time BF, Aaron. Think they have been together for like more than 4 years. I was task with rhe role of a camera man, but sadly, I haven't been practing the skill for a long time such that my Camera battery cannot be "Charged" The Battery Charger Set is lost.....

But still got a little juice left, so decided to use my S90 as a backup just in case the battery fail at the critical moments. Arrive at my uncle's place at around 7am

They must have been preparing the Gate Crash when I arrived. The only stuff i find it tough will probably be the Chilli bread

Super Sweet Carnation Milk - YUMMY!!!

Bitter gourd - Taste of life

I think they have lemons for Sour

and Chilli as in on bread.

After the Gate Crash, and the Tea Ceremony, The Bride and Groom will end their morning event at the Bride's Place for a final Buffet gathering before the night Banquet. It was indeed a wide and delicious spread

From Beehoon, Stir-fried mushrooms,fried dumplings to....

Prawn, Chickent, Beijing buns and Or-ni Dessert.

Morning Event ended around 130pm. Buffet was held @ the Rio-Vista Clubhouse. It is off back to home for rest before going to the Banquet around 6.30pm for the Dinner @ Goodwood Park Hotel.
Setting off early to the Banquet, Baby Xuan dressed in Red all super excited!!!
Mummy dress in her nines

Venue - GoodWood Park Hotel. Never been here for a wedding dinner, mostly here for the famous Durian Cakes and Buffets with their famous Laksa.

This Day, 23rd or 230110, a date to be remembered for the rest of their lives. The Next destination together beside getting a flat together is to think about kids??
Lobby is dress up with bites for guest before the Banquet Dinner. Guest Mingle along here.

Cake Cutting Ceremony is a very part of a Banquet!! Look Huge and talk here...

Banquet Dinner Dishes are like high-Class "Zi Char" ....Delicious !!!
9 dishes in total.

This is for you to "throw" at the bride and groom. Be Careful not to throw too hard onto their face.lol

Beautiful and Handsome Emcees

Must be wondering what the commotion about!!

Dinner ended around 11+. Baby is still wide awake!!! Time to go home.

The food was fantastic, and though the bride and groom are really tired from their friend "Saboing" them, I thought they have fun time and also they hired a really great photography team.

Wishing them MANY HAPPY YEARS AHEAD

Saying Goodbye to 2010 and Receiving 2011

2010-05-02T00:30:00.000+08:00

Have been a tradition for me and YK to spend the last day of every year since I came back from UK counting down to the New Year. This year no difference. But Uncle YK did tell me that he might spend his time with his Love once he find her....Well, Wasn't offended, as this are moments u want to spend it with your love.....I would want to spend this special moment with my Love under the Fireworks....how "Romantic"...lol

After our late night movie, as it is still a while before the fireworks and the countdown begins. Spend a while eating this Mee Suan from "Shilin Ye Shi" Stall @ The Cathay

The Singapore Art Museum is having a bit of a Art Illusion show. Took a couple of photos while walking towards the Fireworks display site @City Hall Station.

It seem like they shine a certain pattern display on the buildings...interesting!!!

Another different picture on display

Starlight!! Amazing...

The Christmas Tree lightings and most of Orchard Road Christmas Lights are still on display though Christmas have gone by almost 6 days already.

Crowd are starting to gather around the City Hall Area

Singaporean are known to be First in many things, one of them is Queuing up for a spot to catch the fireworks. We decided to avoid the Marina Bay and Explande Area as from our past experience, it would be super crowded. Choosing the Raffles Quay Area is also out as it is too far from the Fireworks. Thought The City Hall Area should be nearer

Everyone in the area actually shorted...5,4,3,2,1,,,,,up comes the fireworks....deafening as it is....

Fireworks can be seen both on National Day and New Year Countdown, I think the other occasion we can see fireworks must be the Lunar Chinese New Year.

Me @ the Padang. 2010 will definitely be a better year!!! One thing for sure, got to do something to my love life and start learning investment skills which I have missed out for the pass 8 years. The crisis in 2008 still didn't really settle into dust as the world is still in a state of instability. Let hope 2010 will be a more stable year.

Staying here, World Tallest Hotel will probably be priceless, the fireworks they can see. 5* hotel typically cost 500+, inline with the star ratings!!!

The Dreadful thing about going to a countdown party must be the crowd that one have to endure to get back home. MRT are running till late just for the countdown event. Think it will run till 3am. If everything fails, we still got night-hours buses running.

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!!

Celebrating Christmas @ Rio Vista 2009

2010-04-30T12:00:00.000+08:00

It has been a Culture for us to celebrate Christmas @ my uncle place who have been a Catholic for a while. Since then, we have been celebrating this occasion. It is also a good time where the family gathers and catchup with each other having last seen each other during the Chinese New Year Period

Mum, sis and Baby Getting ready for the Party

The Place where the Christmas Party is held, Rio Vista, If u have not known, during the time when this Condo was bulid, it is consider a more valuable property as this is a "private" Property by private Developer. There is another Condo just next to it, Florida, which is a Government Condo unit - EC.

Look at the Spread of Food. Courtesy of a Caterer hired.
Fried Rice!!! My Favourite, though did not have high expectation of Catered food though..lol
Smoked Ham!!with a small pressie..wonder what happen to it in the end

"Zi Cha" Quality Stir Fried Vege.

We have Chicken !!!

Spring Rolls...forgotten what was wrap inside...lol

Nugget!!??

Sushi!!! Japanese mixed

Fried Dumplings...Yummy!!

Probably the most expensive among all, Swenson's Ice Cream Cake.

Got an opportunity to Try out my cousin, Gary Lens Collection, The Sigma F1.8 50mm Lens. Below are some sample shots. Motivated to get something similar though, less expensive, This Sigma Lens cost 500+

Was amazed by the "depth of Field" Feel of the photos taken
Portraits shot are extremely Natural.

Focus on the Subject is so sharp, it make the photo jump out.

Granny in Deep thought, looking at the kids having Fun

Baby Xuan warmed up to the company and played until she forgotten where she is

It was an enjoyable evening of catching up and also pressie collection, as what Christmas is always like

Lighting up The Street of Orchard Road - 2009

2010-04-28T23:54:00.000+08:00

Wanted to give my new buy, The Canon S90 a night Tryout, Christmas Lit-up. But it is a rather disappointing trip as Din manage to find any interesting shots. Tiredness is also part of the reason, wasn't in the mood to think...

Centerpoint Decor seem interesting. A small display in front of their new extension with raindeer and Christmas tree.

The Newest and most unique shop arrange must belong to Orchard Central. Design with by An Australian Designer. The interior look more like a condo than a shopping center. But their Christmas design is rather unique. The Long Escalator up is brightly lighted up.

The building itself though not decorated as part of the Christmas light-up competition. It is still pretty amazing to watch the walk change color

Walk toward Plaza Singapore and manage to catch a shot of the Orchard Road street light up. Honestly, having seen the light-up in Singapore for years, still feel the organiser just save cost and reuse the decor over and over again, changing just the color of the lights and add a few more accessories....not impressed

Ended the photo-journey with S90 along Plaza Singapura. Did not find any fantastic shots to gaze at. Rather un-fruitful night.....Will be going for the Countdown with my Friend, YK. Hope it will be good. Fireworks installed for that night. But also lots of heads around as most folks would head down Marina Bay for the countdown.

Pearl of the Orient Day 4 : Leaving for Home

2010-04-26T00:25:00.000+08:00

As our flight is in the evening at around 8pm. We find our self with some time to spare to do some last minute shopping.

Spend the morning enjoying Hong Kong Famous Dim Sum Breakfast at federal Palace just a short walk from our hotel. Order their Porridge and a couple of others which was recommended by their staff.

Their Menu for ordering, We just tick what we like.

Though it is the last day in HK, we are still in rather high spirits, probably due to the relative all right dim sum, though we have yet to find Dim Sum that we find it to be really good..lol

Baby Xuan have a first taste of HK's Dim Sum, she love it....

Here is the Map of Federal Palace
.

After Breakfast, we decided to spend the day at CityGate Outlets to try to complete our shopping for next Year Chinese New Year. City Gate is located near the airport @ Tung Chung MTR Station

HongKong's MTR Ticket is very similar to the one use in Singapore. They have our Version of EZlink as well, They called it Octopus Card, cost around HK150

It was quite a long ride as it is very near the Airport and include a change at Tsing Yi. Took us close to an hours to get to the outlet

City Gate Outlets is deck in Christmas Decor, From Shoes to Christmas tree. Can really feel the Christmas mood in HK.

Photos we took @ CityGate

Our Home-grown Singapore Company can be found here as well. Sadly we choose not to eat here but....

At MacDonald instead. Price were a little pricier than Singapore's though

Everyone feel happy after a fulfilling Lunch. It is rather crowded here as well..

Baby enjoying her French Fries

After Lunch, We took the MTR back to our hotel @ Dorsett Seaview to wait for our bus to fetch us to the Airport. As we were still early, Some of us (me, my Sister and my bro-in-law) went out to have our dessert across the street.

The Ever Famous, cannot be found in Singapore - 許留山

It was a relative mad rush at the airport as we din expect the walking distance from the Dining area to the gate to be so far. Was running all the way as our flight were on last call.

Lucky, we manage to make it on time

Here, end our first trip with Baby Xuan, it is a very interesting and tiring experience but it is priceless for sure.

Got to enjoy our Cathay Pacific Dinner before landing in the Wee hours in Singapore. And I got to work the next Morning. Looking forward to our next Trip together

Pearl of the Orient Day 3 : Disneyland at Night

2010-04-24T23:40:00.000+08:00

Weather turn a little chilly during the night in HongKong. It was like 30+C in the Afternoon, and drop to close to 20C in the night. Welcome to the Sub-Tropic Region where they have what we call Winter.

The Motive of staying till night fall, is to view the night Parade at Disneyland which are a display of people (Disney Characters) and floats light up to their full Beauty

There is really a huge crowd lining up along the street of Disneyland even hours before the parade were to being. I resign to the fact that I won't get good photos as I was unable to get close to the Parade.

Spend a little time at the gift shops along the street while waiting for the Parade to start since we can't get very good view, it doesn't matter whether we shop.

Little Baby still wide awake after a good nap in the afternoon. The Parade lasted about 30mins. Was too lazy to take photos as there are too many "heads" around.

The crowd die down after the show.

Spend a little time around the park enjoying the weather before deciding to take the MTR back to our hotel

The Huge Christmas Tree at the Entrance of the park really bring in the Christmas mood. It is one of the biggest Tree I ever seen. Very comparable to the one back in Singapore @ Orchard and Vivo, but I think this one is taller.

It is a rather long journey back to our hotel and by the time we reached, the baby is fast asleep and me and my brother in law are taking turn to carry her back..lol

Tomorrow is our last day in Hongkong, Travel time seem to past very fast. We plan to visit City gate Outlets in the morning before heading back to our hotel for our bus to the Airport.

Pearl of the Orient Day 3 : Disneyland

2010-04-22T01:17:00.010+08:00

Day 3 is a trip to the happiest place on Earth, The only one outside Japan and probably the Cheapest among all location. DISNEYLAND and also the smallest.

We brought the tickets for about HKD375, which works out to about S$65. Mum and Dad decide not to tag along and prefer to visit their Friends in HK.

We have our Breakfast at this Congee cafe near our hotel called 海皇粥店. I t is located @ Lai Shing Building, 497A Nathan Road, Kowloon, just about 5mins walk from our hotel.

Ordered You Tiao, Their Version with You tiao wrap by flour. This version can also be found in Restaurant in Singapore, though is may not be as widely available in our coffeeshops.

A Bowl of Hua Shen Porridge, Yummy!!. I prefer Cantonese Porridge to the Teochew Version. Their Rices is so much smoother.

and a Cup of Soya Bean Drink

Porridge is a standard breakfast staple in the Hong Kong Menu, but it hard to find a good one without spending time to look for one....luckily we manage to find one so near to our hotel which is off a reasonable standard.

One thing I notice in this cafe is the amount of sauce they have for their porridge. Usually it is just Soya sauce in Singapore. Here in HK, we even have Peanut, BBQ, Sweet and sour. I personally like Peanut sauce.

Typical practice in HK is that, the waitress will come over and take order, and put a piece of paper like the one above @ your table. Once u finish your meal, proceed to the counter for your bill....(Similar to singapore in some ways..lol but alot Louder and might be ruder in someways)

It's a rather big contrast in terms of the amount of activities on this street in the daytime as compare to the night time. Gone now are all the stores being setup selling from toys to food much like our Pasar Malam.

We took the MTR, which is the more econmical way to reach Disneyland them to go by their shuttle bus provided by the Tour desk which charges a surcharge for a one way trip there. Took from Yau Ma Tei and change at Lai King towards Sunny Bay for the Disneyland line to Disney Resort

The Train (MTR) at Disneyland line is a very special Train. It really depict the Happiest Place on Earth Feeling, all their train have mickey Mouse Windows Design and even their Handle Bar are of a Mickey Mouse shape. No wonder this is the happiest places..in the World...I use to have this dream to visit Disneyland when I was a kid...those day coming here is so far-fetch....Kid nowadays are so fortunate.

It's a rather hot day in HK for this time of the year (Dec), temperature is like in Singapore, just less humid. 30C....unexpected really.

There is quite a crowd, took some photos before we cross the gate into Disneyland.

The Landmark Monument from the Cartoon Fantasia.

Even before entering the park, Xuan already feeling tired. At her age...afternoon nap is a must...Let see how long she can last here..lol

The Entrance to the Disneyland Park Resort. There are a couple of Hotels within the Vicinity, We didn't choose to stay here mainly due to the cost of paying for a 5star hotel....

I have been to a number of Disneyland Park, mainly in the States, must say...the model is all the same..it is only a matter of the size of the park. It was say HK's version is the smallest....Baby Xuan is really excited by her first visit to the Park.. Afterall, Disneyland is definitely more Child-friendly than Universal Studio which will open in Singapore next Year.

This First Place when we entered the park is the Main Street, USA, here various building depict a typical Street in USA.

We went into this place called " Art of Animation" and was treated with a surprise by this Toy-Story illusion display. Pretty interesting, about your eyes play tricks on you. The Idea is that the turning of the stage cause the whole animation to come alive. Got to see it live to really explained...it...basically, everyone inside this picture comes alive...

Photo of me with Baby Xuan before proceeding to take the DisneyLand RailRoad.

With Mummy and Daddy, child at this age always have problem looking at the camera. She must be wonder what is there to look @...lol

The First Ride in the Park, To take the Train for a round the Park Ride. This Excursion stlye train will bring you for a grand tour of the Park into the 3 lands, namely Adventureland, FantasyLand and TomorrowLand.

It wasn't really a very long queue though....but thought it is a good way to see what to expect from the park.

Frequency of the Train Arrival is pretty fast, didn't wait for a long time, the next train arrived.

It is quite a long wait to departure as the staff confirm every single one is seated properly. There are a couple of "China people" who refuse to heek their advise...resulting in the long delay.

Xuan starting to feel cranky as the afternoon nap time is near.

As expected, Xuan need her afternoon nap afterall, she fell asleep shortly after we alighted. As it is around Lunch time already, We decided to stopby this Fast Food Restaurant to settle our Dinner. It look like the Disney's version of Macdonald....

There is quite a Crowd inside the Air-conditioned Restaurant, but we managed to find a seat @ the non-Air con area outside the resturant though.

This must be one of the most unsatisfying meal I have so far in HK, The food tasted bland. But there is really nothing much to expect from a Theme Park Fast Food Restaurant. Wonder Why MacDonald din want to setup a outlet here...(Must be due to the copyright or Disney's high rental rate)

But there is really nothing much to expect from Fast food as how good can they get....lol Their Fish Burger though really need improving ...

Xuan Rested for a while just in time for us to enjoy our lunch and rest for a while. Rented out this stroller for small fee or about 45HKD. She can be lazy to walk if she is tired. Anyway...she wasn't very good at it yet....so Renting this is a definite Need.

Wonder what is the big occasion that have the Local TV station Presenter, likely from their News Department at Disneyland Reporting news...!!!

The Queue at Disneyland can be quite long, though they are comparable to everywhere else in Other Disneyland, Lucky, most of the rides in Disneyland are child-friendly. Got on the "merry Go Round" Ride.

Got on the Flying Elephant Ride as well.

After going on a couple of rides...the baby is hungry for her milk...

There is this mobile Shop selling Buzz lightyear bubble gun that spray out bubbles. Baby have a fun time catching the bubble.

We later went over to The Ride " It is a small small world" boat ride. It is a really kidish ride, with lot of puppets singing. Below are some shots during the ride.

The Ride is basically a Visual Spectacular. Lot of moving puppets singing.

Took a rest after the ride watching the World gone by.

Got an Ice-cream for the kid to enjoy!!!

A photo @ the Castle.

As this is a Weekend, there will be a Disney Parade and Fireworks and there is this super talk Christmas Tree at the Entrance of the park and I am sure it will be magical at night when all the lights are lighted up..

Pearl of the Orient : City Tour & Shopping

2010-04-20T00:31:00.064+08:00

Consider how late we slept last night, this morning is a really early start for us....waking up something like 6am to rush for our half day tour @7.30am.

We waited for a while @ the crowded lobby (Full of "Da Lu" people) for our Tour guide to come fetch us. They were also late...the bus which was park opposite the Hotel came in only @ 7.40am

There were only a few folks on the bus....

Looking Sleepy...are mum and dad...

I have been on this trip aka the tour before, so i wasn't really excited, but just here to take more photos with my family.

Took us around 80mins to get from our hotel to the HK Convention & Exhibition Center, due to the need to pick up people from various hotel and the morning traffic didn't help at all......Was really hungry by the time we reached....But since the consensus of the people on the Bus is to visit the place first before Breakfast...doesn't have much choice.

Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Center

Looking @ our Hair, you know the wind is very strong, and the weather is freezing here...and the wind just make it colder..lol

Hardly keeping my eyes open due to the strong win...and I am only in Tee-shirt...lol...freezing..and on an empty stomach....does not help..

The HK Convention & Exhibition Hall is the place where in 1997, The British Handover Hongkong to China. The place was officially opened in 1988 and is a listed company in the HK Stock Exchange..Over the course of the year...they expanded the place to accommodate more exhibition....and the place have actually growth bigger.

This Structure use to represent the handover to Chinese rule. Shape of a flower....and from far is often mistaken as the World Cup Trophy.

There is quite a crowd here this early in the morning, lot of other Tour buses are also fetching people to the area.

We are actually now on HongKong island, the sea is just beside us....

I realise that there is a new skyscraper in Kowloon now...See the left-side Tall structure. Wonder what that building? probably a Hotel?

Breakfast happens at "Hai Tai" , which is included in the package Tour. Give us a chance to try out the ever famous HK's Tim sum. But I wasn't expecting much from this place....since i think they usually choose the cheapest to go with.

It's a rather crowded weekday morning...but HK people are so use to having breakfast aka "Dim Sum" ...and their working hours start @ 10am....how great......we don have this in Singapore....(8-5 or 9-6).

At the Entrance to the Restaurant, there are alot of "poster" Advertising their famous dishes....HKD$88 ofr Lobster ($16) and also "peng Cai" for Dong Zhi as well...

Set Meal menu for Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner.

Once we got to our tables, the food come rather quickly....probably also because we are late.....We have the usually Dim Sum stuff.

Busying preparing the baby for breakfast.

The "Zhu Chang Fen" of HK, very different from our typical S'pore Hawker center version. This one is "drench" with soya sauce and have meat or prawn in it. The one at the restaurant taste ok only though...

"Siew Mai", also a so so taste to it.....but food here generally taste more saltier.

I kinda like this....I think they called it "Deep Fried glutinous buns or something

We also order Century Egg Porridge. Also a so so taste to it...and it is rather watery.

There is this very funny looking Carrot cake, as they call it...and it tasted really bad...lol..It is very flaky.....and dry.

After breakfast, We make our way to Victoria Peak located on the western part of Hong Kong Island.

Victoria Peak

The actual summit of Victoria Peak is occupied by a radio telecommunications facility and is closed to the public. but the surrounding area of public parks and high-value residential land is the area that is normally meant by the name The Peak. It is a major tourist attraction which offers spectacular views over central Hong Kong, Victoria Harbour, and the surrounding islands. It's height of some 560m tall....help us to a spectacular view over the sky scrapers on the island.

We actually took a different route and reach the half-way point on the peak (~250m) to see the skyscraper. As there are alot of tourist at the area all try to take shots of the skyview. We actually have a hard time trying to get a good location for photos...lol....finally got 1 shot with Dad.

Another shot for myself only...lol

See the edge of the photos where some "auntie" can't get out of the way enough....it is quite difficult to have a clean shot as almost everyone is trying to get one...

it is rather windy and cold with so many people around, baby xuan stay at one side.....feeling rather curious..why there are so many people here...

We make a rather short stopover at the peak, and were off to repulse Bay @ around 9.30am.

Repulse Bay

Primarily an upmarket residential area, sun-drenched Repulse Bay has a relaxed resort-like atmosphere. The wide, wave-lapped beach is popular with locals and visitors alike and great for sandy strolls in the early morning when the sun is up and the sunbathers are out in force, or at sunset when all is at peace. But during the Winter, only the Tourist are out in force here..lol...

There is this Temple Along the beach with Towering twin statues of Kwun Yum and Tin Hau, both protectors of fishermen dominate the picturesque gardens that lead down to the beach. It is actually a lifeguard clubhouse built in traditional Chinese style. Its ceiling is decorated with magnificent swirling dragons. ....I didn't know that the "Temple" along the beach act as a lifeguard house as well..

There is this small portion also along the beach with various Chinese folk tales structures.....and there is a bridge which make good photography and a pier to lead further out to the sea.

Manage to grab a photo while making our ways onto the bridge....my and my sister.....

And with Dad.....Dad follow us to this area...while mum and baby stay on the bus as the baby was sleeping....

One Interesting structure is the "yue Lao" structure, say to provide marriage and relationship by tiring red string to both parties involved.

There is this Rock, aka "Yin Yuan Rock" which is say, by touching it give u the relationship u wanted.....haha...I want a relationship....lol......though I only trust God to provide....

Read and you will understand...

Auspicious animal in Chinese customs....3 Goat.....

Came upon this structure where tonnes of Tourist are trying their luck to throw coins into the mouth of the fish I suppose....It was rather fun to see them "wasting" their money ....as most of the coins..including mine, didn't land in it mouth but in someone's hand which I don know who...

Aberdeen Harbour

Aberdeen harbour is home to hundreds of people living on fishing junks. Their traditional lifestyle is dramatically juxtaposed against a modern high-rise community spread over the nearby hillsides. In the evenings, the thousands of twinkling lights reflected on the water are a magical sight. There use to be even more such junk during the earlier days but they are now gone....leaving just boat for the Tourist.....and some that still make a living here...

As part of the Tour include a Sampan Ride on the harbour....which last about 30mins, As Mum and Dad have been on this trip countless time...they decided to give it a miss...

I climbed on board mainly for photography ......though.

Part of the highlight of this boat ride is to come close to this. the magnificent floating restaurant anchored here. Three storeys high and elaborately decorated with swirling red and gold dragons and other traditional Chinese motifs

This place is a restaurant for Seafood and other HK delicates but I heard that is is rather expensive....

We Sail rather near to the restaurant before making our way to see the harbour...

Beside the people who use to live here @ the Harbour, the Rich and Famous also have their Million dollar boats park right here @ the pier..

There are quite alot of richy rich people on the harbour...with their toys park here..

But a Majority are still these boat @ the Harbour....making their livelihood on fishing and Tourism.

Here are some sights on the harbour...

A Tug boat?

Small boat into big boats....lol

Fishing boat...

Groceries Boat?

These boat are park very randomly on the harbour....it could get tricky to move around here..

Salted Fish boat....part of their lifestyle..

This is the "uncle" Piloting our boat..see how relax he is....he have been doing this for years...

Among other things on the harbour, there are also lot of high rise accommodation in HK. Kinda like our HDB but taller....

Some are kinda build on a hill....and resemble a Condo...

Baby is really enjoying her first boat ride...

Occassionally point to stuff..she is curious about

Family pose......before leaving the boat..

Lunch Time

Included in the Tour package, Lunch was settled @ Xin Fu Chao Chou, which i believe we will be sampling some Hokkien Dish in HK.

I must comment that this is the worst meal so far...since we came to Hong Kong,

The vegetable is rather tasteless and the look of it seem rush out...

Eggs are way too Salty....I was told HK people like their food salty...or rather,their food taste is stronger than us Singaporeans.

A Noodle like Dish with some Salted Vege involved...tasted really weird...probably just not use to Hokkien Style of cooking...??lol

Fried Fish, and is one of those dish I did not try....I am not a "fish" eater...comment from my parent weren't great either.

Another Vege with mushroom like stuff in it....

HK's Roast Pork are suppose to taste superb but the one serve here only tasted average and is even worst than some hawker center food in Singapore..hiaz...

The only Dish I like....Egg shredded soup....with corn in it.... satisfying but not fantastic..

I didn't quite enjoy the Lunch actually and it a rush rush one for me..as I need to take care of the baby while the parents can have their lunch..lol...Turn out quite fun, I brought the baby to see a dog outside and walk around the streets ...

The baby is busy occupying herself before the actual food come...

Everything on the table including the chopsticks become her toy
Some shots of her..before lunch...

Mummy and Kid.....before Lunch...

The City Tour

Lunch ended rather late...around 2pm....we took our bus to our final literary , the City Tour on a Open Bus....This kind of Tour is everywhere...we had it in Singapore as well..basically...it is a double Decker bus with the roof-top not covered...(Aka...not suitable during Rainy Season)

The Lower deck is like a normal Double decker bus...you will be able to get a better view on the top deck though...as we are late...all the seat on top were taken up...

I Still manage to grab a few shot of the HK's Skyline while on the bus.....here are some to share...

Clouds are rather low....see how the tallest Building in HK is covered with cloud...this sight is rather rare in Singapore

Street in HK are this busy all the time.....it is like our Orchard Road on Weekend....except that this is taken during a weekday in HK.

Being in a city, Traffic-jam are a norm....

I was told housing in HK are extremely small...if you find Singapore's HDB small...HK's ones are even smaller and much more expensive....

They are also not as beautify as our modern HDB.

The Hygiene conditions look bad as well...

Our City Tour ended around 5pm....it was much later than I expected...and we request to be drop off at the ESPRIT Outlet shop to do our shopping...

Before we left our bus...our Tour guide actually ask us to take down this auspicious number for 4D.....typical Chinese tradition..lol

We spend the next hour or so...grabbing all the discount stuff @ this outlet...ESPRIT in HK is damn Cheap and nice....I spend over 500HKD in 1hrs....

After finishing our Shopping...we need to quickly rush back as the baby is getting tired and need to sleep for a while..before dinner....

Dinner @ Mido Cafe Again

We manage to get ourself ready for Dinner...after the baby took a short afternoon nap from 5pm -6.30pm. Out of Convenience, We choose to have our dinner @ Mido Cafe again....

We ordered a Dried Noodles with Pork, Delicious...much like our Singapore's version of "Sheng Mian"

And also a Beef Fried Kway Tiew... This I heard is a typical HK dish in the rank of Singapore Chay Kway Tiew...

The baby is having her moods...feeling tired after a long day...

Next up, I was thinking if we can make it on time for the Symphony of the Light Show @ 8pm @ the

Symphone of the Light Show @ 8pm

Located @ the Tsim Sha Tsui waterfront, We quickly make our way their via the MTR, HK's Equivalent to Singapore's MRT system.

The Destination is Tsim Sha Tsui Station which is about 10mins away, it is already 7.40pm...

The Train wasn't as crowded now as most of the people have probably gone back home in the other direction....we are kinda travelling toward the City...

Photos taken @ the Subway....lol

We manage to reach Tsim Sha Tsui Station @ around 7.50pm...most likely we will miss the fireworks.....as we still need to walk about 15mins to the waterfront...

Along the way...we could feel the Christmas festive mood as hotels and shops are all dress up for the occasion....much better than those "SOP" design in Singapore....or maybe it is just that we are seeing these decorations for the first time..

Hotel ...The Peninsular.....fully dress-up

The Fountain near the hotel.....

There are quite a number of construction happen along the Nathan road Region making navigation to the site much more complicated...

We did manage to find the under-pass which lead us to the location...

Although we are slightly late....we still manage to catch a short display of it.....the performance fantastic.....I must...say.....so when is Singapore doing one of this..soon...We already have similar skyline.....

A Symphony of Lights (Traditional Chinese: 幻彩詠香江) is a synchronised building exterior decorative light and laser multimedia display, featuring 44 buildings on both sides of theVictoria Harbour of Hong Kong accompanied by music. The technology was developed by Australian firm Laservision and cost approximately 44 million HK dollars. It has attracted over 4 million visitors and locals so far.

A Tripod is definitely a must here..to grab good photos.....but this shot is done without the Tripod.....but @ high ISO though....but still pretty usable...a DSLR is a must in night photography...

The photos though could have been better if I happen to be @ a better location...as there are alot of people also watching the show....

Lights are still on after the show on most of the buildings...

The Famous HK Island Skyline from Kowloon....side...

The Crowd are starting to leave after the show @ around 8.20pm.

As sis is rather tired from all the walking.....we decided to stay around for a while to rest our legs after so much walking throughout the day.......Took some photos while resting as well.....

Photos of sis with her curious kid...

Group Shot #1 - with hubby

Group Shot #2 - with me lo..

Me, my sister and her hubby.

Me trying to get the baby to look @ the camera....it's tough .....

See what I meant.....she is still not looking...lol

Mum and Dad @ the Waterfront...

Me and Dad.....

While the folks continue to take a break from all the walking...i took opportunity to walk around the waterfront area to take more photos...

These are the decoration @ the concert hall....@ the Waterfront..Hong Kong Cultural Center, aka Singapore's Equivalent of the Explande...

The Famous Clock Tower @ Tsim Sha Tsui Near the Cultural Center..

The Rows of Restaurant in front of the bayfront...

Resting....resting.....

After resting for about 30mins....we make our way back to the subway....for our trip back to the Hotel...The baby is already feeling tired...

The Waterfront now look quieter an hour after the show...

Supper Time

As the night is still young....after putting the baby to sleep ...we decide to venture out to get some supper.....mum stay behind to look after the baby...

We Came upon this store that sell....claypot rice...with alot of people lining up for...it..however as the crowd is huge....we decided to give it a miss....and probably try it out tomorrow.

We Came upon this Steam Milk Company...near Yau Ma Tei MTR Station...

Here is where the shop is...

It a rather small shop typical of a HK Cafe, but serve very good steam egg dessert....yummy...

Cost around 20 HKD per bowl.....around S$4. It really worth coming here and it open till 12am..

This is their shop recommendation, The double layer steam egg..

Another late night ....to end off with....it already past midnight when we came back to the hotel.....Tomorrow we are off to Disneyland...having got our tickets @ the hotel Tour desk....we opted for just to tickets as we think travelling there by MTR is rather convenient.

Pearl of the Orient Day 1 : City & Hotel

2010-04-18T13:55:00.010+08:00

Only the 2nd Trip for the year, and it's not to some place I haven't been before. The only difference is that we are travelling with a baby of 14mths.

Pearl of The Orient --- Hong Kong

Depart to HK : 1010

Reach HK : 1405

Flight : CX736 (Cathay Pacific)

We didn't go with the idea of a Budget Airline like Jetstar or Tiger mainly because of leg room concern, and it would also be more convenient to travel on a Full-Fledge Airline if you are travelling with Kids...

Bro-in-law actually got us book on 2 cabs to fetch the whole family to the Airport on time, but only 1 cab turn up on time...the other one was almost 30mins late (7.45am). As we are the ones holding on the Passport, the folks have to wait for us to arrive before we can check-in (Bad idea)....Always leave your Passport with the ones who will arrive @ the Airport first......They can at least queue up and save us some time...

Breakfast was settled @ Subway....as we didn't manage to find the Coffee shop located in Terminal 1, as we didn't want to be rushing too much, we settle down here..

After breakfast, we proceed to the departure lounge to wait for the boarding of the plane. The baby was excited to see so many people waiting in the lounge...

Sis and Mum...waiting for the announce....1 very funny and really annoying thing I must comment about Cathay is the way they handle EY Class Passenger...they really make us look like "3rd Class" people, they make all the EY Passenger line-up in rows and watch the First Class Passenger take their walk to the Plane....I thought this could have be done much more gracefully.....(Pt minus, SIA 1, Cathay 0)

The Plane probably arrive early this morning....and is now ready for boarding...

Not Much Plane alone Terminal 1, All SIA flights now depart from T3

The Flight Took off on Time @ 10.15am....

We Can see the Singapore and Malaysian Landscape once we were Air-borne...

Long Stretch of Road Toward Changi Exhibition hall...lol

Review of Cathay PAcific inflight Service & Entertainment.

It have been a while since I actually took a Full Fledge Airline....The last time I took 1 was when I went over to Taiwan on an SIA Flight.

We were serve some beverage upon air-borne....it include a cup of drink of your choice, I choose Orange Juice, a packet of nuts and disposable Towel.

I think probably SIA is the only Airline that give out Hot Towel to Passenger. Not Sure if they still do it.....but if they do....the score would be (SIA 2, Cathay 0)

Lunch was serve on board as the flight would only arrive in Hong Kong @ 2pm in the afternoon. Order a Chicken with Carrot Rice. Taste was within expectation.

In flight Entertainment was never expected to be near SIA's KrisWorld Level, and I am not surprise. The number of Channel and Games and not as much as those on SIA.

The Earphone....which is not noise cancelling...so....u cannot actually hear the "stereo" music well with it.

Very Similar to KrisWorld Remote.....rather user-friendly, nothing to fault here.

Crew members are generally prompt and polite...and the Captain periodically updates on weather and arrive status.

Photos taken on the flight @ 30,000ft...this are all over the South China Sea I suppose.

The baby soon fell asleep mins into the flight...Was rather surprise as I thought the Altitude difference would make it rather difficult to fall asleep added that the cabin noise from the Engine is quite loud.

Waking up only 1hr plus into the flight....having 2hrs to go before we reach HK. The Theory of the Engine noise and Altitude Difference make a shorter power nap for her..

Baby with Mum...on the small EY Seat...As this is her first flight in her entire life...she is curious with almost everything..

As we approached the Hong Kong 's Lautau island, where the Chap Lap Kok Airport is located, we begin to see hilly structures....HK though is larger in size compare to Singapore, but the amount of usable land is limited as most of them are hill and mountain...than explain why Property prices here are higher than that of Singapore

We can see some of the island development as we approached the Airport....The New Airport unlike the old one is located on a rather remote part of HK.

We landed at Chap Lap Kok International Airport @ around 2.15pm in the Afternoon. Weather was a sunny Afternoon, and I am glad it is still a little cooler than Singapore...25C.

Cathay Pacific Planes can be seen everywhere...

As the Airport is rather large and travelling between airport is done via a MRT like system...aka Sky Train in Singapore Context. Rather troublesome....

The sign in the Airport are Big and Clear...we proceed to for immigration and in no time we are off to collect our baggages.

Collection of baggage was fast....no complaint about that....

There is a Direct Train to the City from the Airport...but since we are on a tour...kinda....we have Airport Transfer included in the package..

We manage to spot our tour guide shortly after arrival, but were call to wait in line as there is quite a number of pick-up today...we waste no time in settling the baby's Lunch...A bottle of MILK...

As The Christmas season is approaching, there are decoration in the Airport to mark the Atmosphere of the season.....

Wasted no time to grab photos of it...while waiting for everyone to arrive..

Mum with baby xuan...

The wait was rather long as it was a rather big group and some of them are stuck in the immigration and baggage collection area...

Baby is getting sleepy after waiting for so long...lol

Baby's mum & Dad can't help but to take more photos with her since it their first outing outside of home...

As We don really know when we will be setting off...we didn't really wonder off very far to explore the Airport. Took photos with the Decorations and walking around the check out the temperature.

I Explore their auto-Octopus Card Transaction System. This is something really new, as back In Singapore, we have yet to find this. Am Really surprise there is still 30+ HKD inside my Octopus Card which I brought it since 2005.

One Advantage of using the Trains in HK is the fact that they have a Direct Link from city Center right to the Airport. Cost around HKD$300, which translate to around S$55. Include in the package is a return ride to the Airport and 3 days of unlimited MTR ride....quite worth it if u are travelling in groups of 2.

The group finally arrived in Full Strength, and we are guided by the Agent to the Bus Terminal at the lower floor of the Airport where we board our Bus that lead us straight to the Hotel. Time Check : 4pm.....Almost whole day gone...I guess today will probably just be a shopping and walking around.

As the Airport is located on an island, if I am not wrong, is Lautau island, we need to cross the "Green Horse" Bridge to reach the Hong Kong mainland, Aka..."9 Dragon"

As we approach the City....It take us about an hours to reach the City..

Hotel : Dorsett Seaview

Honestly speaking, other than during the time when i was very young....the rest of the trip to HK, this is the only Hotel I have stay in so far...it is by far the cheapest I must say. Estimated to be around S$100 per night per room depending on the season.

The Hotel seem to have gone through a make-over, and it is for the better. I use to remember the hotel as being extremely small, Toilet so small, if one fell, the whole room plus the next can hear that happen. But this impression was changes, the photos will do some justice.

Now the room look more spacious.....We book a room enough for 3, I remember, the other time when I was here, a Room for 3 mean having 3 beds, so this was quite good. Now LCD is part of the deal....very good deal I must say....and Cable TV was included, and I didn't remember there were so many channels....the upgrade to HD TV helps...here.

Even the toilet also receive a major face-lift. Though it is still rather small, but alot of space saving feature make the toilet more spacious and enough to fit a shower room door...

Small Sink but very much usable.

Space saving feature.....

The Shower section, amazing they are able to increase the size of this place...with all these space saving features

Corridor remain very much unchanged though

After Settling down and washing up for a while, it is rather late, realise that the wait for all the other people really waste alot of our time.....A morning flight resulted in an evening check-in @ the Hotel....see the time wasted?

.....As it is Dinner time, we headed to our first and probably a regular food stop since it is just next to our hotel ....Mido Cafe...

The Restaurant is located both at the ground floor as well as the 2nd floor, but there are more places or seat on the 2nd floor. Their recommended dishes are all displayed on the wall, have a really hard time trying to decide which one to eat with so many variety...

I remember having some delicous food here the previous time when I was here, but I can't remember the stuff that I ordered. For a Start, Food in HK are generally more expensive than in Singapore. Here a Drink will cost u around $2.50(HKD12-14) and the main course will cost u between $7 to 12 (HKD 35-65)

As we are really hungry, we follow what the folks at the cafe recommended....there was this helpful guy....who i suppose is of a "Senior" position....who kindly recomended a few dish for us...

The Dish didn't take too long thoughWe order their HK's "Hor Fun" with prawns. Not too bad as well....but I thought they really put quite abit of MSG.

Fried Rice....Taste a little salty than the ones we have in Singapore....HK's taste are a little on the salty side..

I Order a Sweet and Sour Pork Rices...and it prove to be the worst of all selection

It is just way too sour and I think they put vinegar which make this dish taste funny...but I still finish the meal though....as quite hungry

The guy actually recommended they "Chao Pai" dish...aka prawn Baked Rice....and this was really good.....very very tasty...Highly Recommended...

Beside those dish, I order their ever famous Ying-Yang, aka Coffee + tea....their mixture here is more balance than that of those at home where they either put more coffee or Tea, though the former is more likely

Although there isn't much here for the baby to eat, she still get her fair share....and YES...she does eat "Adult Food"...lol

After Dinner, as it is still early...7.30pm only...we decided to talk a walk to the famous Ladies Street to see if we can get some cheap Tee and bags..the other time I was there..I brought a bag (Only)...in the Direction of Nathan Road...

Photos taken along Nathan Road...Although it is not like below 20C...but it is still Cold if the wind is blowing....

Me Along Nathan road....I am without my Jacket so the temperature is still bearable...

Trying to take a photo with the kid...

Took us around 20mins to walk from our hotel area to Ladies Street...it was a rather quiet night as there wasn't alot of tourist walking around....wondering if it is due to the "Acid" incident...which happen quite near this area....anyway...was rather disappointed by the amount of Chinese goods at this area....they don look to authetic...anymore...

Ladies stuff such and famous handbags are everywhere on the streets stores

I regretted not getting one of these since I have been look for a bag like in the longest time....and these look seriously Authentic...(I meant the backpack @ the background)

As we didn't find anything that we like, we actually finish walking the street like in 30mins....as the baby is starting to feel tired...we decided to walk back to the hotel.....

This Cafe, was still at the same place..the last time I visited, The Name : "Hui Lau San", aka Xu Liu Shan, is a place that Sell Mango related Dessert. I think we have 1 in Singapore which I heard it @ Holland V, but I didn't see it...before..lol

The menu is still the same as per the last time I was here.....

Ordered the Fruit and Mango Pudding, Consist of Various fruits like strawberries, papaya and watermelon to name a few....SWEET!! , HKD$30 (SGD$5)

Peanut and Almond Paste, not as good as I thought as the Almond and Peanut paste is not strong enough for my liking...

Crystal Jelly with Extra Mango, the pudding here does add to improve the taste...GREAT!!, HKD$30, around SGD$5

The Classic Mango Dessert, Sago in mango juice with extra mango, You will like this if you like Mango..I did....YUMMY!!, HKD$28

Mum and Dad definitely enjoy the dessert, though they actually try it a few time before...when they visited HK a few year ago

It's their first time in the Special Administration Region....so this is something very new...

Shot after the dessert, like I say...sweet things make people HAPPY, evermore so after a tiring day travelling from Singapore to here..and carrying a 10kg baby around....who can hardly walk.

Temple Street just happen to be just beside our hotel, so we took a little time walking the street to check out the stuff on sale...here they mostly sell toys though....up further are various "makan" places where most of the local frequent.

There are also some imitation goods such as caps and winter wear on sale as well....

Toys here are usually a bargain, but you will need to negotiate with the store-owner for a good price...I didn't fancy anything here..though..but if you are look for cheap display toys...this will be the place...but if u are into genuine toys, that it is better to go to those place that sell toys....

But it definitely make the baby excited..lol

The Street get more crowded as u move further up into the streets, here you will see rows of chairs and table that are setup here for the Hong Kong Version of our Local Clay-pot Rice....but their version is kinda subtle compare to ours which I think is richer is taste....but still there are lots of people here..

As the night is getting late.....it is around 10pm when we finished walking the street, we come across this store that sell, HK's version of "Hao Jian", aka oyster fried in eggs

Look like there are alot of customers ordering as well...these Oyster cake as they call it here are all prepared, but ours is not taken from here...

We actually have to make payment with a store on the opposite side of the road, take the receipt here to collect our stuff....Cost HKD$20 per cake, we brought 2 for our supper....(super sinfully, but it a holiday anyway..)

We got 2rooms for the trip, one with my parents, and one with the baby and my sis, but as Room 215 is bigger, so we decide to sway rooms and I got to stay with the baby to help out...looking after her..lol...wonder if I am of much..help though.

The Family taking a photo in front of the Christmas Tree....All tired though.

@ the Lift to the rooms on the 2nd floor.....

Although there is breakfast in the hotel, it was not provided in the package that we booked with the hotel...so tomorrow morning breakfast...we need to find place to eat..lol

Our Sinful Supper, taste was alright, there were lots of oyster inside, much more than the ones in Singapore but smaller. But the Taste is on the lighter side until we pour the chilli inside, bad choice, it make the whole stuff very salty.

Didn't know HK's chilli is so salty..lol

We will go on our included half day Tour tomorrow morning...@7.30am....lucky..

Breakfast is included.....

I am Back !!

2010-03-23T00:06:00.004+08:00

If u have notice, I have been MIA from the blogging world for a good 3 months....not that I have nothing to write....but I am just plain lazy and tired......

But the mood is back...u will probably find me "back-dating" my blog for a while....talking about what happen way back from Last Dec'09

What is there to look forward to....

Hong Kong Trip in Dec'09
Christmas Dinner 2009
Christmas Lighting....(Share some of my masterpiece)
Countdown 2010
Men's health Urbanalthon.
Dad's Birthday
CNY 2010
My 35th
Genting 2010
Safari Run 2010
North-East Run
Run 350.....and many more....

My PB : Standard Chartered Marathon

2009-12-24T23:50:00.006+08:00

It's my 2nd time running a marathon and this time round, I am much better prepared. Having been running quite a bit, though I would have hope to have train more...since....the maximum distance I clock was only about 15km but I am running more often this time round.....I expect to better my 6hr40+ timing I did in 2008. Though I am hoping for 6hr30min.

I didn't got my request to collect the race pack at the floating platform in Marina Bay, but that was ok, as I was out of town on that day. This year Official race pack collection day starts on 3rd till the 5th of Dec.

Last year, me and my colleagues actually drove here to collect the pack during Lunch time and the queue really surprises us....and I learnt my lesson, so I came down after work and was pleasant surprise by the turnout....Guess the Marina Bay Early collection helps

I am collecting a few packs on behalf of my colleague, luckily the queue was short and fast...I got everything done within 5mins inclusive of all the goodies collection on my way out of the hall..

Here is what in the pack. Was rather disappointed with this year offering...since like the Economy downturn affected Standard Chartered and NB. They shrink their offering to a sling bag..instead of a full-sized bag...(Consider how much this event cost...I think it not a good deal, Lucky, I only pay 30+ for the Full marathon...)

Manage to take a ride from my Cell Leader to the run and since they are also running the 42km Full Marathon, I thought it would be good motivation to start off together.....Looking at the crowd, it is no doubt this is the Running event of the year, if u only run 1 race a year, this should be the one...

Just the 3 of us....the rest came in at a later time....honestly, when this photo was taken, the starting bell have already rings....but there were way too many people and thus, we took our time....

Pace was good, and I thought I am performing really well, when I clock a 68mins for my 10kms points...but I got the toilet rush...when I entered in to ECP and wasted about 15mins queuing for the cubicle.....Caught up with my cell leader......at ECP.....Pace was still all right....when I u-turn from the 21km mark, I was still clocking a nice 2hr 50mins....my mind was telling me...I have a high chance of doing my personal Best..

Along the way, both my cell mates and leader really give me a good motivation to contining running and catch-up...and also since my bag is in WH's car, it make me want to run faster just to not let WH wait too long for me...lol

I was at the 40km mark when this beautiful Singapore skyline appears...2 more Km to go...I already doing the Walk and run method here and my legs are super painful and look like it might be breaking very soon...

1 more Km to go....I blasted with all my strength here...and my good buddy at work is actually waiting for me at the end-point to take a photo-shot...

I manage to clock a PB of 6hr and 6mins....I make a 30+ min improvement.....Chicken Queen's timing was even more amazing....clocking in 5hr 28min.....its' feather must have help him achieve this....I decided to give this a miss since u need to make a booking and the waiting time is some 30mins....at least..

We Waited for everyone to be back.....alot of people are queuing for drinks....

Here is some of the photos taken by A Nikon SLR Camera...by my buddy at Work....it really very nice of him to stay behind till so late..to do this....I thought I look quite ok here..lol...still smiling at least..

I met up with him after the race...before going to Fitness first to clean-up and head home to sleep....feeling super warm...after the race...

Last by not least, I must say I really enjoy the run alot.... especially with my cell mates running along...really motivated me and make me feel that God really plan thing well ahead for you....everything fall-in so nicely on this day....I will definitely be back in 2010.....this time run to better the timing to bring it down below 6hrs....(Targeting a 5hr45min timing...but See how I perform in Sundown)...yes...I registered for this race already....

Penang Day 3 : The Run

2009-12-21T23:58:00.019+08:00

Sunday morning and it "wee" Morning to be exact. The Starting time for the 21Km, Half Marathon is @ 3.30am. What a Weird Timing...I was trying very hard to sleep from 6pm after visiting Perankan Place to no solution, I wasn't sleeping at all....end up.....I didn't sleep and was off to the site at 11pm.

Took a cab (Board it just outside our hotel, Tune Hotel) for MYR20. This event, The Penang Bridge Marathon is quite famous in this part of town...

Reach the site at around 1130pm though.....Lots of people are already at the site....Police are already there guiding the traffic...probably some motorist are still not aware of the road closure...

Since we reach the place so early, We take sometime to walk around and take some photos...Can't really find a place in the cafe to seat through the night....so we sat an a corner to wait...and also to dooze off for a while....Temperature was also unexpected...wonder is it due to the afternoon rain...it feel like 25C which I thought we will never feel this even at night....plus it is also rather windy and feel like it might pour anytime..

The Organiser are still busying setting up the Start and Finish Booth....First time I saw such setup, as back home in Singapore, setup is probably done the night before and race don start so early as well....so we don really get to see the setup process..

Even the bag deposit areas are so empty and u would have guess we are just way too early....for the race...no choice...in order to save on cost of midnight charges.

Took sometime to explore the area, here is a tentage setup for runners to rest....most runners stay here to wait for the race to starts. It was pack to the brine expecially as the time to start approaches...(Photo taken @ 12am)

The Row of Toilet, though there is plentiful, we still need to queue up for it..

There is also a fun run category which start at 7.30am....still a long way to go..those folks are probably sleeping now...

One of their sponsor arrive...that they are not ready to serve yet...would have been good that they start serving out the Milo....3hrs is a long time to past....but do understand the organiser concern, they may not have enough to distribute at the end of the race if they start giving out so early.

The Winners tent-age, this is probably the area for the Top 10 or 3 runners of each categories to wait in for their price presentation.

There is suppose to be a concert around, but since it still so early,,,,no-one was actually there...Looking at the list of singer coming on board....I don recognize a single name.....it's more for the Malaysian I think...

Since still got so much time, 3hrs to be exact, I took time to read up on the exhibition on the History of the Penang Run.....Looking at the picture, make me wonder whether this run is tougher than those 21Km I did back in Singapore....the Slope are super high...lol

Penang Bridge Marathon have been held since 1985 and it's the only time where the bridge is closed for a few hours to accommodate the race.

Photos showing the starting point of past races..not sure where this place is...does not resemble the place I am at now?

Lots of Rubbish on the floor...common is all races.... especially with fruits and water being distributed..

Look like support along the run is GREAT....

The slope of the bridge look intimidating....Are they really that high?

Down slope should be easy.....it the up slope I am worry....

This is the proof...of how crowded the place can be as the time to flag off get closer, especially at he tentage area.

Photos taken at the starting point of the race....the 42km run have a cut-off timing of 6hrs....way beyond my previous effort.....

Looking at the "crowd" behind, these must be one of those faster runners....

The 21km is the event where there are more runners....the queue from the starting point is long....compare to the 42km event..probably due to the fact that the cut-off time for 42km is 6hrs whereas the 21km event's cutoff timing is 3hrs...which is still manageable.

This is the 42km Flag-off situation...alot lesser runners...

Overall the run was not as tough as I thought, my IPOD went dead (no charge) due to my mistake of not checking whether it is full charge back in Singapore. I have to rely on my Hand phone's radio to accompany me during the run....and I got to say Malaysian Radio station do play good and catchy music..make the run enjoyable

I enjoy a great part of the run when it was on the Penang Bridge, the wind was especially refreshing and cool making the run bearable....and the water points are well positioned...though I find it wasteful that they give out full bottle of water instead of cups...it would have been much more environmental friendly this way....cos I just drank a few mouthful and throw the bottle way...as I don want to carry it along when I am running (Already carrying a phone and a camera)

This is the part where we are climbing up the tallest point on the bridge...it is funny how the slope look when it is far away, and when we approach the area, we can hardly see the slope up....just feel that the pace slow a bit due to the climb....(look at be deceiving)

The duration of on the bridge though not long, but we cover about >10km on the bridge for the 21km run.....about 10km spend running to the bridge and back to the finishing point and the rest on the bridge itself (11km)

Finish the race in 1 piece, though not my PB, I did clock a normal pace, the one I am used to, 2hrs 37min....the same as my 2008 timing.....and faster than my 2009 Safra Timing...my timing are not fantastic, alot of the folks are already back...resting...

Me, posing with my medal....tired and definitely worth it...thinking hard whether to come back here to run next year...but probably I would stay someplace nearer...(Let's see how things go...it still a long time to decide).

I miss my photo moments at the finishing point due to a long queue at the finishing line....I am surprise that the Malaysian Sponsor are really generous as they provided the photos FOC....a rare gesture in Singapore

Before I left, the runners are still coming in....and we still have the 42km folks yet to come in....(i don mean the 2hr + 42k runners, but those normal ones...clocking 4hr +)

Malaysia is 1 place nearer to home where u can flag a cab on the Expressway...I Did it here in desperate ways to get back to hotel to sleep...super tired....I didn't sleep for the whole 24hrs...and "Chicken Queen" is already fuming mad...during it's morning mood swings....We got a bargain price of MYR20 back to hotel....MYR10 cheaper than last night's trip....

Anyone...game enough for 2010's race? Let me know.....

Penang Day 2 : The Perankan Place - Little Nouya

2009-12-18T15:32:00.001+08:00

Since the "Queen" want to visit the Perankan Place in Penang, and he highlighted that this is one of the filming place of the Popular MediaCorp Drama Serial, Little Nouya, I gladly agreed.

However, the mood of the "Chicken Queen" was extremely volatile and soon got angry and sulking along the way, blaming me for not contributing to the trip (How Weird, since these are the places it wanted to go and he didn't ask me to lead....why complain now? Cannot ask properly one meh...probably the way chicken culture are so different)

But Anyway, I wasn't prepare for this and me being the lousy map reader don help....(So the Chicken got extremely volatile....and sulking as he try to find a way....which was actually a big loop to find the place)

We eventually reach the place in time....(The Map showing the Opening time was not accurate, it states that it closed @ 3pm on Saturday)

Cost RM10 for Entry

We were lucky to be in time for a narrated tour, conducted by the museum. Alot of people are starting to come in now...

Here, the museum create a typical home of a rich baba from century ago, allowing us visitors to catch a glimpse of their lifestyles, customs and traditions.

This building is build during the end of the 19th Century by this person "Hai Kee Chan" who once served as the residence and office of apitan Cina Chung Keng Kwee, not sure what is place is about though. (FYI, he wasn't a baba)

3 main places to explore, the main staircase up to the 2nd floor.

At the Ground floor ware the Dinning Area. Kitchen and their so call, entertainment areas.

Main Hall....

Entering to the Kitchen Area, there is this table....probably an area where the servant prepare food here and also to have dinner...Do the Rich Owner have their meals here, I doubt so....thought I saw on TV, that they usually have it in their main hall outside...

Traditional Tea cups, we don use this anymore in modern day Singapore except maybe in traditional style restaurant?

Old Kettle....and container to store food, I seen these during my kids days when I stay with my granny.

More Cups of different designs.....only the Rich can afford so many similar looking cups with just the print that are different..

The Olden Day Grinder? Having enough strength is a minimum requirement to work in the kitchen....

All the utensil to prepare Food, some of these tools are still use in the "Zhi Cha" stores...in Modern Day Singapore.

Steamboat anyone?

Beside the kitchen, which is a place for meal, they also keep their plates and utensil in the cupboard, in a separate corner.

The Ground floor is also where the richy baba have their meal as well, this is outside at the main hall area. European style though.

Detailed layout, and very westernized

Another Long table at the main-hall area....probably another meal area table....seen this also in the drama serial...or a place where the men discuss business...

These look like wedding stuffs...where they brings...goodies to the girls home....to ask for her hand...

The main-hall is also where they entertain guest with their luxurious furnitures

Very Traditional designed seats

Displayed Cabinet...

And an Entertainment corner, in those olden days, gambling probably is the only fun thing around...during those days.

Time to head upstairs to see the bedrooms.....the view from the 2nd floor....this building is actually very luxurious... especially during those time when it was build.

The 2nd floor consisted of mainly rooms where the owner of the house and relatives stays...Notice there is always a small table in the rooms, like the one above. This is probably area where people can seat down in the room rather than on the bed to chat....

Another one in another room, the decor here is different.

Yet another one...All different in design...and at a different room....

In the olden days, bedroom wardrobe are unlike modern wardrobe that is long and have lot of spaces in it. Traditional Nouya wardrobe are usually simple and just for hanging of clothes.....

These bed look like a typical wedding bed....even the clothes are on the bed.

Make-up Corner...make-up in olden days are less sophisticated...but probably more env-friendly...

There is also another room which appear to resemble a room of the newly weds....Take a look at the bed...decorations...

\
It was say in Chinese tradition, the way they put the pillow down to the colours and who should go on bed first matters...

Down to even the water basin the couple will use the next morning...

In This Room, the Wardrobe are huge, storing all types of different clothes and cloths...

I think this corner, you can actually ask for your photos to be taken in traditional nouya clothing.....but no one was here...They do have a huge collection.

They even put on Display , the male Head Accessories used during the Wedding

And the Female Head Accessories as well

As well as other Accessories such as gifts and the musical instruments used during the wedding

The Main Hall on the 2nd floor is very similar to the ones on the ground floor, they have long tables, tables place in the middle of it..

And seats for guests...(here, probably meant for tourist to take photos)

A olden days Camera placed just outside the hall, this fellow only took B&W

The Hall have this very special Arc make from longans.....designed....I forgotten what they represent though...need to refer to that "Chicken Queen" travel blog to find out more...will update it's link here once it updated his version.

This is one tool, the nouyo use to make those "seed" fruit they eat.....as seen in the drama serial.

Handicraft corners......they make their own shoes as well

Bags....

A View of the top.....

The show that came over here to be shot....Our Mediacorp Drama was one of them...and they are feature here alot...(Hard not too, that show make people in Singapore took notice of Nouyo Culture)

A Few photos of me...at the Perankan Place

A Funny shot I am Attempting to...lol

Before leaving the place....

Penang Day 2 : 极乐寺, Temple of Supreme Bliss

2009-12-15T00:20:00.002+08:00

Today, a Saturday, start off at a local Coffee shop, very typical of Singapore, try out their Prawn noodles, vast different from the Singapore's version.

Here their prawn noodles was rather different from Singapore's version whose soup base is dark brown in color. Here the soup base is dark orange and tasted a little chilli....probably the way they prepare the soup is different (Penang's Version has both Prawn and Pork Based soup mixed together) and they put in chilli paste into their soup and some hard-boil egg slices in it.

Though the prices here are not consider as super-cheap, they do appear cheap to Singaporean. The Exchange Rate of 1 : 2.44 helps...

This Morning Agenda, To Visit the Temple, 极乐寺. I was actually rooting for Penang Hill, but that Chicken queen isn't keen and since the weather is not too good as well, it is starting to rain again...I decide not to press on for Penang Hill (which I think the Queen isn't keen at all)

Took a cab here costing around MYR20. Located on a hillside , 极乐寺 is the largest Temple in South Sea Asia, situated in Air Itam in Penang. It Consist of this tower call, Ban Po Thar (Ten Thousand Buddhas Tower)

The Cab took us to this building, which is the Entrance to the Temple. It was rather early in the morning and not much people were at the temple yet...(the Weather probably helps)

It use to be a tradition to use joss-stick to worship, but i think the joss-stick is causing some problems to the cleanliness of the temple which i believe is how this sign came about.

The sign does work...it very very clean

Since it's still very early in the morning, there isn't much joss stick here yet

I think this design outside the temple tells a story....

Although a Temple is consider as a place of worship and people are suppose to be serious...but BE CAREFUL!!, they do play "prank" on others. Location : Temple lower floor...Gift Shop...lol

The Empty Corridor of the Temple...

As the Ban Po Thar is located on a hilly part of town, climbing here is needed. But it's not too steep though.

There is this small pagoda structure in the "garden" of the Temple.....

Trying to Capture both the Pagoda and the Ban Po Thar together, but the lighting is not too good...

Photos along the climb to Ban Po Thar

Me in the Garden along the Ban Po Thar backdrop.

We need to climb a climb of steps, as seen in the photos. Here is Ban Po Thar From a different viewpoint.

With me

As you can see...it's not a very steep climb....the last flight of steps before reaching Ban Po Thar.

The Ban Po Thar, consist of step where u can actually climb up to get a good view of the city (though not much is visable due to the rain)

Me at the step...of Ban Po Thar, the steps are located directly straight ahead....the Tower is about 30m in height and we need to climb about 7 tiers to reach the top.

7 storey high to be exact, start counting...

Not tough to reach the top as it not that high, only 30m...lol....the cooling weather does help, though I still sweat....a little...lol

At 30m and on Top of a already tall hill-side, the scenery is quite Good, here...although there isn't much to see here in Penang with the City so far away and rural area around. Here is a good view of the whole temple.

We can also see the "Guan Yin" Statue construction here....we need to take a "sky-train" up to see it.

We decided to take a 1 way ride up temple to see the statue, a round trip cost RM$4, and since we are taking a 1 way ride, it is RM$2 only. The ride is a short, about a minute to reach the Top.

I am a photo-freak.....I like taking photo of everything....and also with myself in it..as well...

The Hill-top Station, There is a Car-park on the Top of the Hill, it u have got a vehicle, u can actually drive up here....(on first gear probably lol)

In 2002, a 36.5m bronze statue of the Kuan Yin was completed and opened to public. It replaced the previous white plaster Kuan Yin statue which was damaged due to a fire a few years earlier.

Currently, they are building a pavillion to protect the Statue. It is still work in Progress while I was there...so photo aren't good at all...

This is the mini-train ride up the hill....Got a shot of it..from the top.

Another of my "Creative shots" but I think the depth of field is not prominent here..(I only for F3.5)

There is also a small section near the statue which have all the 12 zodiac animals on display.

My Rabbit Zodiac Sign...

though not the sign of my friend "Chicken Queen" but this resemble it alot....with all the morning mood swings and unexplained complaint...which it refused to talk nicely....and ask...expecting me to "understand".....Well....A human don communicate well with a Chicken...

Beside the traditional Zodiac sign display, I notice at a corner, probably their storeroom, they have this rather modernise display as well...wonder what they are used for..

There is also another small section with a pond...but forgotten what pond this it though...there is lots of Gold-fish in it....

Well....Got my shot taken with the statue as backdrop and headed down hill for our lunch

Since we didn't got the return leg ticket, it a walk down to take a bus....Walk under the tracks of the train....lol

I notice this Large building which I suspect is like a hostel or accomodation for the monks who live here.....

The Entrance to the Top of the Hill for the "Guan Yin" Status. The main road down-hill is right ahead...

Finally reach the bottom around 10mins I think, Took a photo at the Entrance before leaving for Lunch.....the moody Chicken took a "half-past six" photo with the cut-off structure....hiaz...what can u expect a moody person to perform....well....

Penang Day 1 : Hard Rock and The Night Market

2009-12-10T22:19:00.008+08:00

One of the highlights of the Trip, beside the Bridge-run is the visit to the local Hard Rock Cafe shop. I have been a fan since my poly days where i definitely get a tee from them whenever I visit a states which have a branch. I have collection of their pins from all over US, UK and Europe. Penang seems to be one of their newer outlets.

Not all HRC have hotel attached to it, but the one in Penang have a hotel next to a beach.....how nice...but I doubt I can afford a night stay here in Penang HRC, will cost me at least MYR380++, and that the cheapest available....

Their shops which sell their merchandise can be found both inside the cafe as well as a small building beside the hotel. Though prices are not cheap with Tee start at least at S$40+ and since there isn't a city Tee for Penang here in HRC, I only purchase a shot glass.

The Hotel was model like a beach resort kinda setting...their is a buffet restaurant, wanted to try out buffet, but it over MYR70++ which I thought was quite expensive...

Lobby of the hotel, which is just next to the beach....there are pools around the lobby area and the hotel is not very tall as well..

The decoration at the entrance of the hotel make a class feel to this hotel by the beach. No wonder they command a premium.

It's hard not to notice this hotel with such a huge logo outside..

It's me outside the hotel...we walk towards the beach to see if there is a good view..

The weather is not too good as it is starting to get windy and rainy, lots of dark clouds on the horizon @ the beach next the HRC.

have to fire up the flash just to make things look good...lol

And since the rain came in swiftly, We decide to spend a little more to have our dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe...I have it before years ago in Paris...the setting was very similar.

The Atmosphere is really nice here....though it rather cold, probably due to the rain outside.

Ordered a Salmon set which tasted good but was waiting for this dish for a long time as the cook took really long to grilled this....The staff at the restaurant was really nice and polite, came over to ask if our food and other stuff are well taken care of....compliment to their efforts...

While waiting for our food...this is the kind of stuff I do...as my "Weird" friend refuse to talk due to his hungry mood swings....(lame), but I thought I did a good job here...lol

And asking Mr mood swing to take photos of me...though he is the unwilling animal here, it finally fulfill it's promise of treating me a meal....here.....I waited so long..lol....but it's ok...it's more of the thought that counts....lol

We actually didn't eat very healthy here, this dessert answer the question....i probably eaten over a 1000 calories here....and I am only running a 21km which is expected to burn only about 15oo calories.....(it is really very difficult to control here, but since we are on a holiday....it's acceptable lo, else where got fun)

Lucky, this plate of dessert is shared, my tummy is already coming out...after finishing the dish...

While taking a cab here, the driver actually told us their is some kind of a night market here....after dinner we walk our way down the street to find out what is there is explore...notice quite a number of indian stay in this region....lol

The night market is located about 10mins walk from HRC. The streets outside the HRC....consist of various restaurant, can tell that this area is very tourist friendly....(especially on the prices as well)

All kinds of food can be found in the stretch of streets, there are quite a number of Caucasian here.

Their night market is really nothing interesting, probably due to the fact that I have been to HongKong and Taiwan's version, and the Penang's version is so similar to Singapore's that it's really a far cry from the like of the former (HK and Taiwan)

Prices were also relative expensive and I could get the same quality at more than half the prices when I was in Hanoi....thus I wasn't motivated at all to get anything here...

A typical store in the night market...

Counterfeit brand bags...the rainy season do make it rather quite night to do business..

Quite, Quite...

This area is something of interest, but the quality of such DVDs are usually "doggy" and there is a risk to bring these home...lol...but anyway wasn't in the mood to see show...as I am quite particular with the clearness of the film...

This Night Market stretches a long way....we were trying hard to board a bus, but give up after walking for a long distance without seeing a bus-stop in sight....(honestly speaking...I don even know how the bus-stop look-like, probably too many shopping are already blocking the stops)

Took a cab home for about MYR30.

Penang Day 1 : QueenBay Mall, The Largest Shopping Mall in Penang.

2009-12-05T23:05:00.001+08:00

This is the area where we are suppose to collect our race pack. After collecting our race pack. We still have sometime before the hotel is ready for check-in (2pm). So We took the opportunity to walk around the mall as well as also to have lunch here.

One look at this mall, and you will find it rather different from the traditional mall in Singapore. Here this mall resemble those in larger countries like UK and US where their mall are super long. The mall stretches to 500m. The mall open some 3 years ago in Dec 2006.

The mall spans some 5 floors high including 1 floor at the basement. There is even a cinema at the top floor, called Golden Screen Cinema. Most shop are still not open when we walk the area. As it is almost 12pm , we were rather hungry.

Came across this interesting Concept Restaurant model after the "Toilet Bowl" Concept. I have seen this kind of restaurant on TV before, and since haven't really tried it before....decided to give it a try.

It's a Toilet Concept Restaurant where the seat are all Toilet bowl, and also a better looking one...

Table are design with a wash basin with a glass on top as a table top...Different colour toilet bowl seats help make the restaurant stay lively...

Though the place is not very big...it still manages to accommodate a fairly large amount of seats and table though walking around the restaurant is rather tight though

Food are all serve in miniature toilet bowls.....although the food is only average....and is not cheap as well, but the interesting concept make going to this restaurant worthwhile....I like it's concept.

Menu....

Me @ the Toilet Resturant

Overall, the shopping mall is rather large but I felt that it was located in a very "ulu" part of the island. It's not even in the Town, Georgetown, The Capital of Penang. It's also very near the airport. The Penang Bridge however is only minutes away. A Much more well connected transport network would help business. Shops are typical, nothing out of the ordinary though I notice some special hobby shop on the top floors. Spotted a Bodyglove shop which can only be found here in Malaysia, I don see them in Singapore....(Spend around 80MYR here).

After which, we board a cab outside the mall for ~30MYR to Tune hotel in Georgetown.....(Seriously wondering whether we are being con here as cab in Penang don run on meter...)

Penang Day 1 : Toy Museum, Why Am I here?

2009-11-30T23:57:00.007+08:00

One of the "Chicken Queen" Agenda was to visit the Toy Museum. Probably to update it's travel Blog which seriously, I got no interest in it(aka the place)...

Cost me about 20RM to enter the place, known as the World Largest Toy Museum. I have expect this might be an interesting place to check out...since...it's rather rare to have a chance to visit such museum which are few to come by.

The Interior seem disappointing...it give me an impression that the owner is running into financial difficulties as the setup can easily be best by house owners. Arrangement are super messy with mix of toy sharing a single cabin

Also the place is not very big...making some place rather narrow to walk when alot of people is in the place.

The only saving grace for this place is that there are lot of Good "Full sized" model on display. We have Lora Croft

From the Pirates of the Carri bean, Captain Sparrow

The Hitman guy is here as well....here he is model after the computer game rather than the movie..

Spidey from the movie version

Even Power ranger is here..but I did know they are so toned?

My precious from LOTR, that a classic.

Mr Batman....lock up here as well.

The Kid, Aka Dark vader from Starwars

Saw some of the Toys I really enjoy during the days when I am young...lol

Mask, it too bad Hollywood did not make this into a movie, they did it with Transformer already

It's a kid dream to own these toys and during our young days, the toys are super cool and can transform...though consider primitive by today standard...

It still have some of them...but their conditions are all "CMI"

I have the model car of Back to the Future when I first run to the States for a holiday

Of course my childhood Hero, Ultraman....which by today standard is pretty lame...lol

A Large Collection of toys did make this place almost worth the 20RM I paid for, but I was expecting they put good use to the profits they earn by making the place more "Sophicated" it's just bit under whelming...But I did still enjoy my time there though...we spending Almost 3hrs there...(It's not me...the queen want to stay here for this long...for it's blog).

Some photos of me posing with the Full size toys...lol

Me with the Metal hero, Ironman

and the man known for wearing his underwear outside...lol

Penang Day 1 : Collecting the Running Tee....

2009-11-27T23:56:00.001+08:00

The Purpose of this Trip was to travel up to Penang for my First Oversea Run, The Penang Bridge Marathon, I am doing the 21km as the 42km cut off time is too tough for me to meet...(6hrs). Woke up really early, like 4am to catch the Jetstar Flight @ 7.25am. Reach T1 to check in around 5.30am.

The Terminal is rather empty, typical for this kind of timing.....

Even tourist have yet to step in to Singapore yet..lol

The Morning can be tough to pass, especially with a "weird" friend who hardly talk in the morning due to it's morning mood.. I resort to taking "creative" shot to pass time..lol

Breakfast was settle quick @ Toast box.

Departure is @ D32

Our Jetstar Flight to Penang, 3K 673

The Flight Took off rather late(8am) due to the Engineer delivering the flight document late. It look like delay on budget airline are so common and they usually have 101 reasons to explain why they are late...lol

Flight was a short 1hr+. We brought a Cab to Queenbay mall for about RM$29. Tickets can be brought at the cab counter in the airport terminal itself. It a short distance from the Airport. I realize we are quite far from Georgetown.

I realize that I have to carry my luggage around till 11am before I can go back to the hotel, And The hotel don allow check-in until 2pm....think I am struck with this luggage at least till lunch time..lol

Lucky, Coffee bean is opened early..sat here to rest for a while till 11am.

The Site where the goodies bags are collected are still not setup fully. It is located just outside the mall....Took opportunity to take photos, at least showing I am going for this run..lol

The booth with people still setting up, getting for the first collection, which is us...lol. The Running tee Size "M" was so tight that I need to exchange it with the organiser. Sadly, I only manage to change it to "L" which IMO is still rather tight. No choice lo, Lucky I brought my own running attire..lol

This is the route which we will start...

This is the warm-up area....

ME in the running tee, nice color and design, but it's rather tight....My BIB no..18598...

Can't wait for the run on Sunday, but in the meantime, It's time to shop and walk around penang. That's our agenda for the weekend. Although I must say most are "chicken queen" agenda as those place I suggest it does sound keen. But since I am ok with the arrangement I thought it was ok to visit those places...for the sake of the "queen"'s blog...

The Singapore Flyer....

2009-11-20T22:05:00.012+08:00

Well, Never been on the flyer before, and since it the Company's 25th Anniversary, and we get to go off early to the flyer..from work...I thought Why not...go enjoy...

Set-off at around 3pm...yeah...basically, it was a really unproductive day..lol

O'learys Sport Bar and Grill. A rather unique chill out place..with Sport Theme and TV monitors showing sports events....Atmosphere is Great...really a nice place to chill out with friends

The First Event of the Evening....to Build a F1 Car....I was wondering ....how? ....I realise that In order to ride on the flyer, u need to earn it...lol

The Model Answer.

The Team I was in, Blue Team. Busy designing the logo, Painting the logo onto cloth....and we are suppose to wear it...

My fellow colleagues Mr J and Mr G....

Mr Sit, busy building the F1 Car...

I actually contribute to the design of our Team's logo...aka "blue Thunder"...lol

The Finish-product, Blue Team's F1 Race Vehicle...lol

Mr PK is our driver of the F1 Vehicle, and we are suppose to race in this.....

Most of the F1 Vehicle Dis-integrated when we race in it....Here is one of Mr Lian's race....really funny to watch...lol

Dinner is next and is quite a spread...it kinda like western mix with Eastern Cuisine...

Dinner was quick as it is getting rather late...~8pm already...we rush up for the ride...which is the objective we came for anyway..lol...and lines were already forming when we reach the gate..

Boarding was quick...and within minutes, all 30 of us were inside the cabin...

We got folks from the other dept to help take this group photo...this are the folks that help make all the drives reliable....it's been really fun working with all of them....

They are one of the rare species I ever encountered....they are the closest of friend I have seen with such a wide age gap...lol..I hope my good friend are still close when I reach into my 40s....

Some of my working Colleague....over the new year...I have grown closer to them....Friends....

BL King, RDT King and ALT King...

Me with the new "cute" girl who keep calling us "Robert"

One of closest colleagues in the company....tea-break....lol

Funny picture time.....since we have the cabin by ourself...we can pose like nobody business..

The Ride eventually came to an end though...but the 30mins was enjoyable mostly for the company we are with...though most of the photos turn out rather noisy..

More photos taken from other camera below...

All excited before boarding..lol

Mrs Waty...joined in

The funny shot outside the road @ the Flyer

Auntie mani....the "overloaded" one...

The joker..gang.

Me and Miss D,Waty and auntie Mani.

The night will be best remember also for the Singapore Scenery..Suntec City

Singapore's ever changing skyline...matching up with that of Hong Kong.

New Balance Real Run - 10km

2009-11-18T23:57:00.006+08:00

It was at Changi Exhibition hall, right at the end of the island....This was the run which I forgotten to collect my Bib, thus I have to travel all the way to the west just to get it....I was thinking to myself...where is the running Tee when I collected it @ Bukit Batok. A Kind lady told me that they hand-out the running tee only after u have completed the run.....How SMART!!

As the place was closed for the run, and I am rather unfamiliar with the place, I thought of trying my luck to get last minute tickets at the pick-up point @ Hougang Interchange....and man was I lucky....in fact, quite a number of people got their tickets here....save me some money as it only cost $5, compare to >$10 if I took a cab.

The pick-up bus was a little late.....and there are quite a number of us queuing for it.

The run is a little different from runs I had early this year, for once, the event was setup inside the "AIR-CONDITIONED" exhibition hall.

We deposited out bag @ the counter which cost me $1.

Took a snap-shot before the run....My weird friend quickly wonder off...doing his own private business....(He is usually moody in the morning...and always run away by itself, the super-blur photo is how his mood was like in the morning....)

The place of the run was rather new for me...as the race name states, New Balance is the Sporsor, and they have booth on site as well

The stage and the lucky draw box is placed here.

Long queue even though there are numerous toilet in the hall...

Goodies bag collection after the run, it was rather well organise...arrange in term of sizing.

Though the run will only start @ 7.30am...lot of the runners are already gathering @ the starting point...there is a warm-up session before the run though.

there were 2 categories of run, namely the 10km and 15km....find it weird that they start off the 10km run first...thought the 15km folks will need a longer time to complete?

As we reach there rather early, I got to walk around the site....exploring....

The run start on time @ 7.30am.

Race though some aircraft brand names along the way. This run is unique in a way as there are 3 kind of terrain to run on.

We have the trail run....coming up first after we exited the exhibition hall area..not sure how long this lasted, think about 4km according to the map.

Next up we exited the trail and started on a better running area, the road. It's a very straight road call Aviation park Road, this is the road that we came in from into Changi Exhibition Hall.

We next turn towards the beach for the 0.6km Sand run. It took about 1-2km more to reach the beach.

We need to navigate through the park before reaching the beach @ the 7km point

I thought this should be the toughest leg of the run, but I thought I can still manage...lol only that I didn't like the slope of the beach run though..

Best of all, I manage to regain my typical timing for the 10km @ 64mins.

Me after then run...still alive..lol

Proceed to collect the goodies bag with the NB Running Tee and also mineral water and banana for free...

Of course to pay a visit to our sponsor for a good leg massage....(lucky manage to find time for it)

It was a comfortable experience..lol

The Free Shuttle bus to Pasir Ris took a while to come.. we queue when there were just a few people in the line till the queue extended to a few round...Have a "Sinful" breakfast @ Superdog which IMO tasted super bad.....

Only the chocolate drink taste all right...and it's super expensive...@ $8...damn shitty.

I enjoy the race alot...I thought the running venue was much better than the Nike Run which was more or less a duplicate of the Passion Run and SCSM. This one goes to place one usually don really go. The Running Tee was great. I am Glad I did this run this year rather than last year as the color of their running tee this year is Black, Last year was red though....

Definitely be back in 2010, running about, just a matter of choice of whether to try the 15km instead...

TVB : 學警狙擊

2009-11-15T23:58:00.005+08:00

Been a rather long time since I find time to watch a TVB Show since early this year when I watch 古靈精探, 法證先鋒II and 與敵同行, I actually only seen bit and pieces of 溏心風暴之家好月圓. Only the Exciting part I have seen....the serial is rather long...Will probably find time to watch it over again..since it really exciting..I got a little time after coming back from Hanoi, wonder is it the food and the hygenic problem, I was down with Flu for 2 days...and got the rest of the week off as a precaution....(H1N1....or HNFM??)

The Serial Star one of my favorite Actors, including Ron Ng, In this serial, though it a continue of the previous story, his girl-friend from the previous serial was not in the story...he got another gal..江若琳, Elanne Kong, probably a New Actress from TVB

Samuel Chan, who lose his love in the last serial is pair up with another girl..who behave just like him.....(Weird)梁嘉琪, Never seen her before.....though...but her performance is rather irritating...She follow the rules too much...

They bring back Michael Miu, use to act as the father and training officer to the both characters above, in the sequel, he will be the villain.

Dominic Lam, reprise his role from the last season as Captain of Organized Crime and Triad Bureau (OCTB), but this time round, he seem more reasonable...compare to the previous season.

They also brought back Kathy Chow, who has been out of action for several years, she does look a bit old now....having been out of the industry for so long....She acted naturally as the wife of the gangster..

Story

Season 3, is rather different in storyline compare the the previous 2 season which focus more on the 2 lead actors and how they become policeman....this 3rd season focus more on gangster and how the police is on the losing end fighting these mafia...

Elanne Kong is the daughter of Michael Miu, aka gangster 's daughter, fall in love with Ron Ng, who in the serial is the undercover cop.

This is the serial, most famous actor, they call him "laughing" and he did a fantastic job acting as an undercover cop as well...when u watch this show, u can't tell for sure he is the good guy until the end....

However, Mr Chan did not know this, and he shot him dead.....although he kinda did Ron a favor...

These 2 best friend's friendship was tested in the serial as well..as samuel does not under why Ron want to leave the force and become a gangster...but I must say...Ron did a better job here than samuel...partly due to the role as a gangster suit him alot....he certainly improve on his acting compare to the past 2 serial...

Ron want to put michael behind bars...but to do it...he will have to go undercover....and the ordeal is quite hard to bear....

Michael weakest link is his daughter, which Ron, kinda use to get him behind bars.

Michael and his partner, Chong really plan thing well ahead, u should have seen how they got ride of the previous gang leader, TVB is expert at this kind of gangster serial.

Summary

The show is 30 episode, it's not too draggy..most of the actor and actress perform really well especially Michael Miu and Laughing. Ron and Samuel did an ok job with Ron improving on his acting skills. It's a little disappointing that the ending was not perfect. Ron is still without love and he seem to have not develop much on his career after being a undercover, so the question is ...it is worth becoming an undercover? The Ending suggest that there is still chance another sequel is shot later....I give it a 6.5/10. Worth seeing if u like police and gangster show. the plot is smartly done...typical of TVB standard....Out of the 5 shows that I have seen this year, this one rank 3rd. It's about the same fare of 古靈精探 but definitely better than 法證先鋒II which I felt have too much new characters and the story is bit of SOP.

1. 溏心風暴之家好月圓

2. 與敵同行

3. 學警狙擊

4.古靈精探

5. 法證先鋒II

Nike Human Race - 10Km

2009-11-13T19:51:00.007+08:00

It started last year as a theme run where " the Whole World Run on the same date" Nike Human Race has enter it's 2nd year running and once Again, Singapore has been selected as the only host city in South East Asia. I have wanted to run this race last year, but hesitate due to the date being close to my 21km run last year...this year date was perfect...thus I sign-up immediate once I got to know they are open for registration.

It's was in the papers that they reach a record 10,000 runners in just a week they launch the registration promotion...As the Run start @ about 7.30am, Got to leave the house @ 6am in order to be in time for bag deposit. This year lucky no : 6190, they used an RFID tag, which is becoming common in running events compare to the older chip.

The Starting point for the race is the F1 Pit Stop just beside the Singapore Flyer...

I was rather impress by the organise way they do their bag deposit...some of the run I been to, have very complicated bag deposit methods resulting in long wait time when retrieve our bags....

the area they allocate to put their bags is very spacious.

The band were already blasting their hard rocking music early in the morning @ 6+am. I must comment...it rather irritating to be near them....

They even have a booth setup for people who have yet to collect their Tee and bid, but they have to collect their before 6.15am....what a noble idea and that also what S'porean are famous for...(Me included..lol)

Just before the race...a snap shot...at the starting point....it was still relative early...as by the time we start the crowd has grew till we are at the Far end..of the booth

The Race started @ around 7.30am by the band which sounded off their music as a starting signal...(What a unique way to start). Overall, I really enjoy this run, though I didn't make record in term of speed but I am Improving...and I actually felt that the run was easy....I kinda mis-judge certain part, else I would have better my timing...A timing of ~68mins....which is about back to where I usually reach for a 10km....It look like I am Unable to clock my Best Timing for 10km this year....(64mins is the best I did this year)

There was quite alot of freebies, such as free banana, apples, breakfast set, which I manage to grab except for the breakfast set, I look around and wonder how these folk got their set...lol. A Happy me....after the race...with a funny finger signal....

Lot of youngster gathering up after their race...with their friend..I bet these are probably school organisation.

Their hair are too long for Army guys....and I heard the numbers of Girl out beat guys this year...the ladies are probably more health conscious.

There is still quite a number of runners still coming in by the time I am starting to exit the venue...it getting rather hot now that the sun is shinning high.

Left the venue, and head to Marina for breakfast @ Burger King...

We usually got our gifts after the run which are mostly medals, Nike gives us this, something in a yellow box

It's a Wrist Strap...

With Singapore imprinted...

Nothing impressive for this year goodies bag..consist of some bottle drinks such as 100Plus, and a Nike Water-bottle which I thought was worth it...since it cost ~S$10 for the bottle....and

This Year Official Running Tee, though still in Red...but the material is softer and thinner....I thought the colors were too bright for a normal run, I would prefer a running singlet which I saw quite a number of runner "modified" their running Tee to Singlet...cool...