Thursday, November 29, 2007

我看的电影

从台湾回来后, JX告诉我SG会上映R21版的原装色戒. 呵, 终于还是敌不过舆论与票房成绩吧.

这次过台湾, 已经说好要看色戒的. 花了大约SGD15, 在赫赫有名的华纳威秀, 名正言顺的入影院看R-rated片. 都上映一个多月了, 还是有70%的入座率. Eh, 听听看, 原来很多大陆观众. 看来, 目的都和我一样, 乘观光赏风光.

之前很多媒体天花乱坠地把那头号画面说得多么重要, 非要不可什么的. 我怎么没有办法感受到? 我反而觉得那些画面拍的太用心太.. 太那个过头了勒. 想要表达王佳芝被易先生的占有, 并不需要那么大幅度的交代吧. 当然, 先前说连老外也叹为观止的人体姿势, 真的是犹如缩骨杂耍或训兽师, 软硬皆具到真的叹为观止咯 (真的不懂要怎样形容). 王力宏也太粉脂味了, 听他企图字正腔圆的说中文, 都起鸡皮疙瘩了. 影片一路沉重, 让我觉得时间过得慢, 是片子太长还是我早早就看不下去了? 这般大师级的艺术著作, 应该是本人不会欣赏也.



还有.



星期三快10点场的HERO, 人数大概就10只手指有得找. 人少当然好, 银幕一览无余, 不用被大头挡, 不过lei, 冷气太冷, 话说得再小也好象很大声, 看到搞笑的想笑大声点也觉得有点为难.

难怪去年会出一个电视特别版, 就是给电影一个序. 如果不是太执着于故事的前因后果, 你大可不必为了错过电视特别版而耿耿于怀, 单看电影, 还是可以跟得上啦. 无须太多思考, 随着久利生公平的解释与画面的交代. 是延续电视剧的风格啦, 有爆笑, 有温馨, 有真理, 更有道理. 赏心悦目. 可是没想到李秉宪就出现那么一下子勒.

熟悉HERO的, 当然会理解里头的笑点... 非常爱买电视购物产品的久利生和order什么有什么的料理员~

Tuesday, November 27, 2007

好歌分享

好歌是否被你所遗忘了?

昨晚看了重播的S-POP, 耐到1点多才去睡, 因为一直舍不得把电视关了.

一些近乎遗忘的歌曲, 又很熟悉的细心听着.

超动听的

梦飞船 不值得

Saturday, November 24, 2007

朝九晚七的日子要回来了

嗯,回家的感觉很棒。 庆幸还有4天的假才回去公司。

8天的台北甜蜜双人游竟然在dear下德士后觉得很不舍。越来越讨厌这种各自回家的不舍眼神。

用了一天时间把东西整理好,写了一些特稿。老妹还取笑说,真么旅行回来了还在做功课?一路走到bugis想搭express bus回家。很奢侈的买了一个vanilla puff来吃。哟,都起价成一个$2.20了。午后的星期五怎么那么人多?一个人逛逛,企图感染最近的新加坡。圣诞装饰开始布置上来了。HERO开始献映了。

后来故意的过了人多多的红绿灯,脚步不能快的来到观音庙拜拜。没有办法理解,3点钟的星期五,人群从哪里来?这点让一个工作满6天的我来说,很不平衡着!!

回到JB理了个头发,终于把那干枯有余,自相残杀的发尾ka-ca剪了!花了点小钱,买了一些头皮护理的产品,决定努力好好保养一下头皮,等头发掉光光就后悔莫及啦。

我想我是累着了吧,做着按摩就睡着了。这两天一直睡。。 根本没想到两天后就要去上班啦,显!

Hey, Cambodia ~

Why are the kids selling souvenirs & beg for money?
I read the article of Cambodia and knew that those kids can earn up to USD100 by selling the stuff to tourists which the parents only can earn USD30 from a full time work. Therefore the kids attend the school in order to learn English in the morning then work for the parents in the afternoon. Then, it’s up to you whether wan to give yr empathy to the kids.

How to tour ard Angkor?
Basically, Siem Reap is a tourist friendly town, tuk tuk driver will taken care of your route to Angkor Wat, what u need to do is bargain for the price. Standard should be USD12-15 per day. Personally feel that 12-15 is pretty high for the price. Food stalls inside Angkor are much more expensive than town, we usually brought light snacks for our lunch.

How to spend yr time in Angkor?
Other than the time spent inside the Angkor, you would find lots of free time afterwards. You may get yrself a reading book, sat yrself into any café for a casual evening. I see lots of western tourist do so, some with notebook. Are they here for long vacation? -_-

The food ~
Restaurant listed in the guidebook is always full of tourist, may the food is tasteful or the atmosphere is cozy. But the local restaurant without any recommendation should be worth for a try too. We had our pizza in a local small pizza restaurant and it turn out to be a good choice! The aroma of fried noodle by the motor stalls along the road was so tempting that we finally taste it!

The tourmate ~
There were 3 of us for this trip. The tuk tuk can be shared at most 4 people. Having tourmates in Cambodia is much cheaper in terms of sharing the transportation and guesthouse. Meals can have more varieties and shared as USD5 per person. Sharing of stories while climbing up & down in the shrine/temple is much more enjoying.

The great Angkor Wat ~
To learn the majestic building arts and the beauty of bas-relief then left with a pleasant experience. That’s my 8D6N adventures to Cambodia with jx and ekit. Hurry!!!

Cambodia – Siem Reap – Last 2 days

Sunrise & Banteay Srei (5am – 10.30am)

Sat into the tuk tuk to Angkor Wat before dawn to catch the sun rise. Should be happy to have a Pierce-Brosnan Tuk Tuk driver? The speed of our tuk tuk thrills through the chilly mist, the wind like piercing through the skin. That’s cold! Again, the cloudy sky didn’t give the crowds for the best shot of sun rise.

We left the crowds and head to Banteay Srei (女皇宫), a long journey from Angkor Wat which took more than 35 mins? We fall asleep on the tuk tuk!! That’s dangerous ~

Banteay Srei is one of the protected sites famous with her finest carving on the pinkish sandstone. The people believed that they were carved by skillful female (this is what I overhead from the tour guide). Impressive fine carve, even a corner, even the eyes and nose. The whole temple is unique for the different theme of carve, the best carve other than the Angkor Wat galleries.

Way back to the town, we took the last glance at the Angkor Wat, human being is really tiny in front of this majestic wat and unbelievable human skills in the ancient century.

Tonle Sap Lake, Floating Village (2pm – 4.30pm)

After a short nap, we take the tuk tuk with USD2 per pax and the boat ride ticket of USD10 to floating village. The villages mostly are Vietnamese, Cambodian & Muslim. School, shop, church, hospital, police station almost everything floats! Poor mum taking kids begging for some donation can be seen as usual over there. An hour of boat ride didn’t impress me much and personally feel that this is the most unworthy expenses.


We spent our last day strolling around Siem Reap town. Happened to know the Siem Reap National Museum having the opening ceremony, but not open to public yet. The building was design based on Angkor Wat’s tower theme? as I can see the corn-shape tower. With an administration fee of USD12 for tourist, would u give it a try?

Bought some souvenirs along central market and old market, having a rest after a long walked, we took an hour of body massage for USD5. Cambodia traditional massage is not much different with Thai massage.

We had our last dinner at our favorite restaurant, Soup Dragon at Pub Street. We shared our views and moments in Cambodia with a tasteful and content Vietnamese Hot Pot meal.

Friday, November 23, 2007

Cambodia – Siem Reap – Big Circuit

Big Circuit (8am – 5.30pm)

Start with Srah Srang (皇家浴池), the royal bathing pool facing the east, a real big pool. Opposite of it is the Banteay Kdei with lots of Apsaras bas-reliefs on the columns. Then we came to the highlight of the day, the Ta Prohm, which we can see lots of giant roots clinging on top of the walls. You may say the roots had spoilt the structure of the temple however, the roots might actually performing as a support to the temple from collapsed.
Follow by the Pre Rup (火化场) is a place for cremation, which we can see the burning stains inside the towers. It was built using pink bricks and looks different from other temples. On top of the Pre Rup can see a wide land of paddy fields. East Mebon is another similar cremation place as Pre Rup.
We need to walk a long path to see Neak Pean (龙蟠水池), 4 square pools at each side with a round statue in the middle. With the guide book on hand, we found the 4 spouts with the head of elephant, human, horse and lion.

Preah Khan (圣剑寺) with two statues holding a sword each at the entrance. Most of the passageway and corridors are badly collapsed.

We get ourselves on top of Bakeng at 4.30pm expecting to see another sunset but it didn’t turn out to be a beautiful show. Since when sunset and sunrise become another highlight and must see list in Angkor?

We went straight to Dead Fish tower for dinner, a set meal with USD5, and a short performance of Apsara dancing. Silence was among 3 of us during the dinner, perhaps we were too hungry and tired by the whole day walks.

Cambodia – Siem Reap – Small Circuit

Tourists as us need not to worry about how to visit the whole Angkor. Every tuk tuk driver will introduced the route with us using a map. It is mainly divided into 3 routes: the small circle (Angkor Wat & Angkor Thom), the big circle (Banteay Kdei, Sras Srang, Preah Khan..etc) and the most far route to Bantaey Srei.

Transportation will be taken care by the tuk tuk driver, some tourists will hired a tour guide for explanation, heard that it is USD25 per day. Ho, along the visits, lots of Cambodian guides speak in different languages!! The most heard language is French. Impressive!! For the backpackers like us, the guide is the travel books!!!

Small Circuit (8am – 3pm)

Angkor Wat (吴哥寺)
The sunlight was so dazzling that we hardly can lift our eyes up to see a clearer picture of the tower. The most significant of this wat is the 5 corn-shape towers (but me & jx felt that the tower look like a few layers of lotus) and the bas-reliefs (浅浮雕) galleries which surrounded the whole Angkor Wat as the most outside enclosing walls. The bas-reliefs tell the stories of ancient battle, the Vishnu god..etc. We took the guide book for self-story-telling. So funny that a Chinese couple approach us and asked us few question on the bas-reliefs and would like to join us touring around. Another Vietnamese Chinese passed by and gave us an “impressive” compliment. Well, all these have to be thanks to jx that done the reading while doing explanation to us. Keke.

Angkor Thom (Bayon 巴戎寺, Terrace of the Elephant, Victory Gate.. etc)
Bayon is famous with the 54 towers, total 216 nos of faces. Unlike Angkor Wat, the layout of Bayon is not in order. Really impressed by the skills at that time.. how can the faces be repeatedly look alike? It was noon and the sun was extremely hot, we are tired after walking along the terrace of Elephant with bas-relief of elephants and others sites.

It was 3pm when we back to town. Without hesitation, we went into the Blue Pumpkins for a drink. Another tourist hot spot with free wireless internet, cozy sofa and drinks. We have plenty of rest time before our dinner at Khmer Kitchen for the Amok dish. Our dinner always end as early as 7pm, and we start to have our 2nd round of beer session which others still searching for dinner! Can’t believe that both juices and beer are selling at same price! That’s indeed good news for jx & ekit!!!

As usual, both my tourmates could sleep soundlessly easily, is it becos of the beer? I have to wait for the hair to dry b4 I could sleep.. lucky there’s plenty of tv channels entertaining me.

Cambodia – Way to Siem Reap

Previously, I mentioned that Angkor Wat was announced officially as one of the 7 wonders, but it was incorrect ~ -_-. Angkor Wat was not in the list that announced on 7th July 2007. Instead, Angkor was one of the World Heritage Site under UNESCO. Anywhere, who cares abt what nomination? As long as I had step onto the land of the world wonders!!

Along the narrow road to Siem Reap, could see the simple built house along the main road scattered around with an endless view of paddy fields or just a swampy land? Apart from the tourism as financial income from Angkor Wat, agriculture and handicraft should be their next income?

Clockwise from top left: the paddy fields or swampy land, yq on the bus, the small hut & piles of grass for cows, hardworking jx

Siem Reap is a small town, the central was full of tour agency, guesthouses, souvenior stalls and western style bar & restaurants. This is a city developed for tourism. Restaurants and bars are decorated in order to suit western tourist?

Red Lodge & Golden Temple guesthouse was FULL, such a hot pick guesthouse, then I realized that whatever restaurant or guesthouse being introduced in lonely planet, they will have good business. In the end, we settled our accommodation in Be Quest guesthouse (USD13 for a double bed room) which near old market (pub street). We hired the tuk tuk with USD50 for 4 days traveling.

We need to purchase an Entry pass in order to get into Angkor site. 3 Days pass with USD40. Only can bought at 5pm and it’s FOC for the first day, 3 days start from next day. Got the pass, set into the tuk tuk, we are on the way to ANGKOR WAT!! After a few mins of forest road, we saw the quiet pond.. then we saw the significant towers.. and finally the long passageway! Such an amazing complicated feels.. The first sunset on top of Bakeng (the best sunset location) did not give us a nice one, but I start to feel the crowds! And there we start to Climb..climb and climb. The sunset did not impress me but some kind of excitement was filling up me!

Clockwise from top left: the crowds on Bakeng, ekit in a tower, jx with a V, the sunset at Bakeng

Cambodia – Phnom Penh

B4 check in at Changi Airport, saw a group of ppl that I believed to be volunteers or some organization, moving lots of big packages writing stationery, clothes..etc. A clear picture and realization that the place I’m going is a country that needs help, for the donation and needs for the children. The poverty of country haven’t come to my mind till I saw it with my own eyes.

The capital – Phnom Penh

Most tourists will miss this capital and go to Siem Reap directly but we chose Phnom Penh as our first stop. Airport pick up is USD7 as per standard, fetched by the guesthouse owner, head to our first night at Top Banana Guesthouse. Along the way saw lots of big hotel written in Chinese words, probably for the Taiwan & China tourist. Top Banana is unique with his cool decorated lounge and paintings on the walls.

The next day, we spent the whole day travel ard Phnom Penh, by walking and tuk tuk. With the guide map prepared by jx on hand, we highlighted a few must see location and here we start our exploration in Phnom Penh.

As Top Banana is at the south side, we planned our route north-wards. The first worth taking picture that welcomes us is the Independence Monument. We thought it was in concrete color when we saw it the earlier night, but it was in red color. Surrounding was decorated with flowers and only few days later we found that their Independence Day was ard the corner and there will have a formal celebration ceremony there.

Royal Palace is really a big site containing fabulous palace and graceful pagodas, admission fee is 25,000 Reils (abt USD6.3). The Throne Hall used for the royal coronation ceremony is gorgeous! The Silver Pagoda is named because of its 5329 nos of silver floor tiles. We didn’t notice the silver plate at the beginning as the floor was covered by carpet!! The moment we left the exit gate, the kids can’t wait to step forward selling tour guidebook and drinks. I can only the big contrast between the Royal life of government and the poverty life of residences, especially the kids.

Though National Museum is just beside the Royal Palace, but we didn’t give it a chance to enter this dark-red sandstone building. Walked towards Wat Ounalom, another important site in Phnom Penh, from there we walk towards the riverside, the Tonle Sap River, before heading back to Top Banana to check out.

Clockwise from top left: Royal Palace, Independence Monument, National Musuem, Wat Ounalom.Taking a tuk tuk in Phnom Penh is a standard charge of USD2 per trip. We hired a tuk tuk for a few locations with USD6. Went to Russian Market for shopping, didn’t buy much stuff, it was stuffy and crowded. Didn’t stay for too long, the tuk tuk driver bring us to have lunch at the Buddhi Tree guesthouse, just opposite Toul Sleng Genocide Musuem. We rest at the restaurant under the lush garden like shade, wait for the museum to re-open at 2pm. With admission fee of USD2, we see the former high school turned out to be a prison under the Khmer Rounge where detention, interrogation and torture took place. One may not feel comfortable seeing the tortured pictures, room with iron bed, building with wires around and the bricks-made tiny prison cells. A place that you walked out with a sense of heavy mood and grateful to what you have now.

We check into another guesthouse which is nearer to the quay side and central market. We learnt a lesson after we check in at Angkor Chay. The room was old and not clean, moreover no hot water, with insects at a corner. We went out to source for another guesthouse and decided to return the room, it was less than 15 mins but the staff said they can’t return the fees to us. In the end we need to pay half of the fees and leave that guesthouse immediately. Lesson to learn is always take a look at the room before any payment.

Continue to walk to Wat Phnom (with USD1 fee), I saw kids without any clothes playing at road side, with dusty body and dropping snivel. The golden color Central market is another landmark with lots of local stalls selling silks products, silver products and food. After a long waited service dinner, we bought the Phnom Penh-Siem Reap express bus with USD8 and ready to set off to ANGKOR WAT the next day.

Clockwise from top left: The iron bed, the wired building (Toul Sleng Genocide Musuem), Central Market, Wat Phnom.

Thursday, November 22, 2007

how to start?

I'm back AGAIN.

Thinking 8 days back, I was unpacking my cambodia stuff and packing my taiwan stuff, lucky that the clothes for these 2 places are different. now, having all the clothes being washed and unpack, it means that my 16days of trips had come to an end.. still wondering how should I start my post entry.

they were asking how can yq be so daring to take up 2 trips non-stop. I myself can't believe it too. therefore i prepared something for myself.. i knew that a weak body like me won't be able to tahan such a long and hectic days.. there i started to take vitamins before the journey.. and today i'm still fine without any sickness.. should i praise all these to the vitamins i took? guess so~

The cambodia's heat.. the taiwan's chill.. different experiences.. the trips had ended.. but.. how shall the post be started?

** puzzled **

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Next Destination --> Taipei

Hi HI.. I'm back from cambodia after a fun trip with jx & ekit. Had a rest last night and i'm heading to taipei now..

though miss calls from offices or suppliers keep appearing on the phone but none did i answer. hoho..

It's still hard to believe that I still can cope well with the pace and having my best condition for the next destination.. jus check the weather in taipei and it's mostly rainy days for the coming weeks.. I hope it won't last long for a whole day. blessing for a better weather.

Ja ne ~~

@ Changi Airport

Tuesday, November 6, 2007

出发之前 ~ 昏

很快很快,明天就要出发了!搞到现在凌晨1点钟,明天还要上半天的班。

I think i will start writing in English now, it's faster.. look at the time! i wish to get in bed soon.. Well, start preparing the handover stuff since last week and gradually pass it down to other 3 colleagues.. with lots of proceduressssss.. somemore cc to the managers.. very tiring.. the reason is simple.. I'm leaving becos of the long leave, therefore i can't anyhow handover right? else will be more miserable when I'm back from leave!! If I'm leaving due to resignation.. who cares so much?!

Everone start asking whether they can call me during my leave, errbbs.. then wat for I took leave? if i can do it.. you all can do it what.. not familiar .. just follow the procedures lo.. anywhere, there's always a manager there for you to ask for ! They are managers !!

ok, talk abt my long leave.. tmr going to cambodia with jx & ekit... well well.. u all may ask.. "huh? cambodia? so many ppl going recently" .. yalor.. since alr so many ppl, why should i be missed out? I think Angkor Wat had been swarm into by the crowds since she was officially announced as one of the 7 wonders.. since there's tourmate.. let's go!

I used another week of my leave flying to taiwan.. part of the reason is bcos of littledust. she had shared with me abt her itinerary.. that made me feel like going too.. after a few nites of consideration, i finally press the confirmed button for the Jetstar tickets.

Sorry to jx.. due to my highly tighted work schedule, i didn't really study and research much on the coming trip. therefore.. xiao jie! kao ni le!! qing yuan liang wo ba~~ I spent all the lunch time and most nite time on the net reading the forum for Taiwan trip.. gosh.. too much info, whatever u search.. there's always plenty of website for u to click! really tooooo much.. the more u read, the more u confused and the more undecisive you are.. the link in the favourite list is getting longer and longer.. sometime later, u tend to forgot what u had read or where u had read certain info ~ one word 昏!

had over-stressed myself over the past few weeks.. i even bought vitamins in order to build up my body immunity and stamina!! have been sleeping late and without taking any nap during lunch.. really a tiring long work day for me.

k.. i'm going to sleep now.. look at the bag. i think i only pack 70% of it.. leave it to tmr la.. another meeting at 930am.. arh.. i have gek my chakra now .. gd nite everynite, see you all soon!

* Chakra?? -- it mean energy in Naruto (Jpn Animation)

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