I LOVE Criminal Minds the drama. Their quotes at the beginning and the end of every episode always ends with a thought-provoking quote.

Here is one of my favourites:

What we do for ourselves dies with us. What we do for others and the world, remains and is immortal. ~ Albert Pine

Fucking bored at work now.

Hiding in my room, safe within my womb,
I touch no one and no one touches me.
I am a rock,
I am an island.
And a rock feels no pain;
And an island never cries.

Today has got to be one of the most exciting days in my life. Pardon me, but it’s the first time I got to see a real live disaster in Singapore. It’s 10pm, and dear and I just finished the movie “Shinjuku Incident” at the new shopping mall at Bugis (the one beside Bugis Village. I duno the name) He’s hungry so we headed to the prata store opposite Fortune Centre, when we realised there was heavy smoke and a strong burning smell. Immediately we realise there must be a huge fire nearby. The indian man at the prata store confirmed our suspicions – Rochor Centre was on fire.

We quickly finished our meal and walked over to Rochor Centre out of curiosity. Initially, we thought the fire was over already, but upon arriving on scene, the firemen were still braving their lives to fight the raging fire. The source of the fire came from a store selling those stuff for praying at the temple – all very flammable. The roadside was cramped full of excited onlookers (even got ang moh tourists showing as much k-pohness as everyone else). The firefighters did not open the doors to the store, settling for spraying water from outside first instead (maybe to prevent the fire from escaping too quickly or got huge dramatic explosion), and whenever the fire starts to seep through the top of the metal gates, everyone in the crowd starts to go “”WOOOO!!!’” and “AHHHH!!!”.

Ultimately the police chased everyone away la….so ppl gotta watch from across the road instead. Well, we didn’t stay till the end of it, but we sure got some pretty good shots of the fire! Check it out!

Thank goodness it’s not DBS on fire. Think of all the moolah!!!!

The strong billowing smoke….

Everyone else’s busy snapping away too.

Joe Hisaishi is officially my No. 1 composer/musician. Love every single one of his songs. Latest soundtrack by him, for the movie Departures, is absolutely stunning and captivating. It adds depth and emotion to the picture, making you cry and laugh along at every major moment.

By the way, if you haven’t seen the movie “Departures”, make sure you catch it! Best foreign language film at this year’s Oscars, and rightfully deserved too. And did I mention the music is downright FANTASTIC??? Can’t wait for the DVD to be out. Definitely worth collecting!

P.S. PEE FUU!! The male lead looks abit like Alan leh!! haha!!

i feel my life is so boring i constantly have nothing to blog about. or maybe its my lack of writing abilities to convey my daily thoughts and experiences in a captivative manner. or i just dun bother anymore. i duno.

anyway, i want a dog. but tt’s not gonna happen. period.

7th Feb, Saturday.

Scorching sun, blithering heat. All these did not stop YC and I from heading to Haw Par Villa. Okay, I was convinced by him to go and since I haven visited that place since donkey years ago (the only memories I had of that place was literally nil), I readily agreed. (Yep, the once famous tourist spot is still open! and it’s FREE!)

I must admit, being in the events industry as a contractor really has its effects. The moment I saw the entrance’s amazing sculptures, I was in awe of the finishing and the skills required to sculpt it. It is AMAZING.

All the sculptures and statues from the entrance all the way in were so well carved I guess one can only appreciate them if you visited it at a later age. So full of expression and life and colour. Very awe-inspiring.

The best was definitely the 10 courts of Hell (no 18 courts leh…). Really gave me the creeps. Anyway, this requires S$1 admission fee, the only thing you pay throughout the whole 2-3 hours free & easy self tour and photography frenzy.  Go mad with the camera, photo-whore like mad. hahaha!

You can see the most popular Chinese myths and fables told in 3D sculptures, along with Chinese philosophies and teachings. I guess another attractive section would be the mythical creatures – Mermaids, turtles & frogs riding ostriches…

Anyway, i could go on forever about the place. But I shall just let the pics do the talking. Enjoy!

At the main entrance.

Tickets to “Hell”.

King-kong??

 

Sumo! My kung-fu poses not bad eh! hur.

Statue of Libery in Haw Par Villa?!?! Go figure.

With Mermaids.

Back from Bangkok! And I’m amazed at the changes since my last visit to the city. With so many new shopping malls, one occasionally wonders if they are in Thailand. The shopping malls are HUGE and filled with so much to see and eat. We visited the Siam Ocean World (yep, in the shopping mall), experienced a Sanyo 4D show and watched a 3D IMAX movie. Superb!

Even Chatuchak is so different from what i remembered. (since 5 years ago. ok…i know i’m outdated…) Now i will never buy clothes from Bugis, knowing that the same designs can be found there at a quarter of the price. My favourite part of the market was the Pet’s section. Loads of puppies and kittens for sale. But it’s kinda cruel….the way they keep so many of them in small pens. and some are too young to have left their mothers. Nevertheless, they are the cutest things in the world!

Now that I’m sitting in front of the laptop, back in the rat race and materialistic world, i miss almost everything from the trip. The mess along the streets, the stench from the canals, the aromas from the streetside hawkers, the tireless tuk tuk drivers on the prowl, the heat, the cheap massages, the delicious streetside hawker food (50 cents bubble teas, $2 chicken rice and beef noodles), the street vendors, the temples…..

Now I can’t wait for my next trip. Regardless will it be a short wkend getaway or a week long escapade. I simply love travelling. Mmhmm!

Got a 30% off haircut voucher at Fox salon at Shaw Centre, and figured, “Hey! Might as well go ahead with this expensive salon since got discount. Might not experience it again. Y not?” Big mistake.

Entered the salon and was warmly greeted – good sign. Then an old and rich looking guy approached me, whom i suppose is the boss la. Thought to self, “Hmm, i should be in good hands.” He suggested perming or colouring my hair, which were both refused immediately by me. Okays, so he goes on to cut my hair. “Skills seems quite good leh….fast cutting strokes..hmmm…”

- In between cutting my hair, keeps going away to greet regular customers -

Then he starts to blowdry my hair, when halfway thru hurriedly passes on the task to a female assistant who was chewing gum and totally doesn’t look friendly. Chewing gum girl blows, and three-quarter way thru suddenly passes the hairdryer to yet another girl, this time the china girl who washed my hair earlier on (The china girl happened to be the one who provided the best service here).

Finally, finish blowdrying. Mr. Hairdresser boss comes back, continues to snip somemore, and asks again whether i wanna colour my hair. “No, thanks!” I sense a hint of annoyance from him…..Tada! end of haircut.

Okay….the blowdrying seems to make it look not bad…but can tell it requires ALOT of blowdrying. Shit. Now, it’s the 3rd day since the haircut. And i honestly say it sucks. The end is cut totally straight across, thick, no whispy pretty ends. Hair still sticks out like crazy at the ends. argh. Now im so gonna spend again to cut again – this time at my hse there. S$17 can get a decent haircut alr. kana sai. waste my money. and it really cost alot at Fox even after discount. Don’t ask me how much. Kana conned. Kana sai.

10 reasons to love Chinese New Year:

1. The festive mood
2. The crowd at Chinatown – hear the auctions, and taste free samples given by vendors selling taiwan muah chee and nuts
3. The cheesy new year songs
4. The rich gold and red colours everywhere
5. The ugly decorations in malls and along orchard road (seriously, it’s horrible compared to Christmas decos)
6. The delicious new year goodies – love letters, bak gwa, kueh bankit….
7. The Hongbaos
8. 2 official days off work
9. Reunion steamboat dinner
10. It being a traditional chinese festival (pardon me…i really cannot think of anything else. let me know if you have more reasons to add in)

Anyway, some pictures here taken during the visit to Chinatown.