1°17' N, 103°51' E Island Slacker

Just experienced an earthquake when I was having dinner an hr ago. Basically, my dining table just shook and Mr Chean moved forward towards my direction. Ho!
The earthquake lasted about 5 mins...and this was the strongest earthquake I have ever felt.
Buddha bless Sumatra~!

The mooncake box. The packaging is not that extravagant, but that's ok.
The expensive D24 Durian mooncakes. Lolz! The snow-skin was really Q & soft, and so was the durian paste. The durian fragrance was not strong, as compared to Home Favourite's, but I still liked the overall taste. Hehe!

P.S: Wanna thank E.W for taking the pics. (^_^)

IT WAS A LONG DAY....Ah Ching feeling very tired now. Haha!
--Lunch @ PS Ichiban Sushi--
Met up the gals again for our hiking trip. Had our lunch first before we proceeded to the park.
One of my usual set meals at Ichiban Sushi, sushi & sashimi with udon.
CH & SC's set meal.
--Dairy Farm Nature Park--
Took 171 and we travelled all the way to Upper Bukit Timah Rd. The weather was VERY GOOD (not quite a good news for me, coz' I was sweating like mad. Haha!)
Our two destinations of the day, Wallace Education Centre & Singapore Quarry. If u continue hiking after Wallace Edu Centre, u will find yourself at Zhenghua Park, which is near Bukit Panjang. Ho!
This is the "entrance" to the hiking trails near carpark A.
Map of the nature park.
Check out the gals who were walking under the scotching sun..lolz!

Spotted a piece of fungus on the tree trunk.

Nice view of the neighbouring condos from the park.


Got to know who's Wallace at Wallace Trail.
Wallace Education Centre.
Many of my pals thought we were gg to a farm. Not at all... Wallace Edu Centre used to be a cowshed though. Hehe! No real cows la, but we got 2 cute dairy cows here~
The centre was full of exhibits to show the changing landscape & history of Dairy Farm & Bukit Timan Nature Reserve.
The old Wallace Edu Centre vs the new one.

Saw quite a few dragonflies at the Edu Centre, but I could not snap a pic of them. We decided to proceed to the quarry. Picked the biking trail as it's the short cut, but it's a narrow trail. I gotta kowtow to the bikers who biked there, cos' the trail was full of slopes, & uneven grounds.
Lots of shades~~it's nice to hike here~
A tree had fallen off.
Not sure if this was connected to the Sg Quarry, but the rocks just looked different from the norm.
Nice view of the Bukit Timah hills.

We realised that we had chosen the wrong path & found our way back to the main hiking trail. That's a pretty long way to walk to the quarry! Haiz...Anyway, spotted lots of wild monkeys on our way to the quarry.

Wanna hide? But I had caught u! Hehe!
Finally finally! We reached the quarry site!! The place looked nice, and the pond water was quite clear.
Another side of the quarry wetland pond.
Dairy Farm Nature Park was an easier hiking alternative as compared to Bukit Timah. However, the hiking trail distance was really not that short. Lolz! It can be still tiring after a long walk ah~~I was imagining a cold gassy drink when we were on our way back to town. Hahaha!
--PS--
Had our dinner at Mos Burger. Actually I did not feel hungry la, but I would regret if I didn't eat. Haha! CH left while we walked ard the mall. HM & SC bought mooncakes at the mooncakes fair and I finally reached home at 8 plus.

P.S: E.W bought Goodwood Park Hotel's Durian mooncake!!!! Hooray!

Sunset @ 6.51p.m.
Sunset @ 7.03p.m.

No.of Epis: 10
Year/TV Station: 2009/KTV & Fuji TV
Cast:
Nakayama Yuma ~ Kuromiya Ruka/Ayu
Kato Rosa ~ Natsukawa Makoto
Sakuraba Nanami ~ Takagi Kaori
Nakajima Kento ~ Handa Hiroto
Kondo Masahiko ~ Kaito
Synopsis: (edited from Dramawiki)
Ruka has yet to mature into a full-fledged vampire. His canines have yet to fully develop, which means he has not tasted human blood before. In order to get him prepared, he is cast down into the world of humans by Kaito, who's a veteran vampire. Ruka stays with Jiro, the owner of a Chinese restaurant, and enrolls in a high school. His homeroom teacher is Makoto, who's a cheerful but meddlesome. Makoto was surprised to see Ruka at first, because he looked exactly the same as Ayu, her first love. Makoto just could not stop herself from concerning Ruka, and her fiance, Fujii, is worried. Later, a vampire disguises as a teacher and controls the school. While trying to save Makoto, Ruka's vampire identity is revealed...
Slacker's review:
"Koishite Akuma" is a sweet high school romance drama featuring a young vampire. I thought the concept was nice, though the drama did not have much action or excitement. Plot wise, it was too predictable & plain. I thought it wld be nicer if they added more action for Ruka. Overall, it's still a watchable drama.
Nakayama, another Johnny's boy, is only 15 years old, and he's 9 yrs younger than his co-lead, Rosa. I did not think there's a mismatch problem here, and Rosa looked young for her age. Haha! But acting wise, Nakayama gotta work harder lo. He's really stiff & expressionless throughout the drama. (I know vampires gotta act cool...lolz!) Luckily, his smiles were lovely enough. Haha!
I thought Rosa really led this drama, cos I felt that the plot was revolving around her. Honestly, without Rosa, I don't think I would watch this drama. Rosa's acting has improved a lot, and the girl was very lovely as well. I liked her natural acting here, and the last few scenes with Nakayama were really touching. (Imagine Makoto gotta lose her beloved one for the 2nd time).
Other support cast was alright. Kaito & Ruka's relationship has always been interesting. Ruka was always "working against" Kaito as he refused to suck blood. But till their last scene, I thought Kaito was convinced that Ruka was just someone different.
Makoto's fiance was an irritating character, while Ruka's classmates were alright (there were the usual "boy crazy" girls). Sakuraba & Nakajima did reasonably well as Ruka's classmates.
Theme song "Akuma na Koi" is sung by Nakayama Yuma with B.I.Shadow.

19/09/09

Ah Ching is officially jio-ing ppl to join me in the following activities.

1. Vignettes in Time: Singapore Maps and History through the Centuries @ NLB.
2. Dairy Farm Nature Park or Labrador Park or Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve. (The hiking date is on 27th Sept, venue is Dairy Farm NP. Ppl gg: KH, GC, HM, SC, CH & Ah Ching.)

OR

suggest some other activities/locations.

22/09/09

Anybody wanna go view the SG maps exhibits @ NLB?

No.of Epis: 10
Year/TV Station: 2009/KBS
Synopsis/Cast:
Epi 1 - Kiss of the Vampire
The death god made a mistake and seperated Hyun (Kim Ji Suk)'s soul from his body. Hyun's body was bitten badly by bats, so he could not reincarnate as human & became a vampire. The death god told Hyun that he has to suck 9 young girl's blood in order to return as a human. As Hyun was in the process of targeting his victims, he met Yeon (Lee Young Eun) & fell for her. However, they were chased after by the shamans & Hyun was in a dangerous situation...
Epi 2 - The Grudge Island
Jung Yeo Rip (Kim Gab Soo), the main culprit for a rebellion was to be sentenced to death. A troop of soldiers was sent to the Bamboo island for the 2nd time to search for Jung's corpses & other officials. Nam Sang Hyun (Jung Gyu Woon) volunteered to join the soldiers as he wanted to find his beloved fiancee Mi Hyang (Jo Yoon Hee). Sang Hyun witnessed how the other soldiers were killed while they were searching for Jung's body. Sang Hyun, Commander Yoon Hong Gook, & Hong Gook's right-hand man Seung Ho were the remaining survivors, and they were going to find out the truth behind this whole incident...
Epi 3 - Come with Me to Hell
Jang Hee Jin ~ Soo Jin
Kim Tae Ho ~ Yi Rang
Cha Seo Won ~ Mi Rim
Epi 4 - The Wooden Dol
A young boy was tied up to a big tree as he had an infectious disease. He found a wooden doll near him and brought it with him ever since. Lady Seo (Han Kyung Sun) happened to find the boy & brought him home. Kim Chu Suh (Ahn Suk Hwan) was trying to develop vaccine to cure his sick son, but to no avail. Kim thought the young boy was healthy and decided to test the vaccine on him. The young boy started to utter words that reminded Kim about his deceased adopted daughter...
Epi 5 - The Surrogate Womb
Ho Seung (Park Joon Hyuk)'s wife could not bear him a child, so his mum decided to get a surrogate woman to bear him a child. The woman happened to be Kaeddongi (Heo Young Ran), who was Ho Seung's lover before he's married. Kaeddongi was killed by Ho Seung's mum later on, but Ho Seung was unknown to it. Ho Seung treated his wife well and forgot about Kaeddongi. Kaeddongi returned to look for her son, but found out that Ho Seung's wife was feeding him poison. Filled with anger, Kaeddongi seeked her revenge...
Epi 6 - The Forbidden Book
Hyeon Deok (Kim Sung Eun) helped a bookshop owner to write/copy novels. Her husband, Jeong Hee (Yoo Hee Suk) was a brutal court official. One day, Hyeon Deok met a strange woman & followed her. She found her way to a strange bookstore, and borrowed a book stained with blood. Things started to go wrong after she brought the book back home...
Epi 7 - The Quiet Village
Kim Da In ~ So Yang
Choi Soo Han ~ Hyo Yeob
Jin Ji Hee ~ Hyo Eun
Kim Dong Wook ~ Eul Soo
Epi 8 - Nine-tailed Fox
So Ho (Jun Hye Bin) was a gumiho, and her parents were killed by gumiho hunters. Yeon Dol (Ahn Jae Mo) happened to meet So Ho, who cried for help, and brought her home. Yeon Dol's mum asked So Ho to be his bride. Initially, So Ho could not stand living with humans, but soon, she fell in love with Yeon Dol. One day, So Ho told Yeon Dol that there was plenty of salt in the mountains. So Ho & the family processed the salt while Yeon Dol sold the salt in the market. Soon, Yeon Dol earned lots of money & the family became rich. Yeon Dol became a womaniser and started to dislike So Ho. Yeon Dol's business was destroyed after the officials found out that he got the salt from state's land. After knowing that So Ho was a gumiho & lacking of money, Yeon Dol got the hunters to chase after So Ho...
Epi 9 - Mojeong's Pearl
So Won (Jo Yeo Jung) was an average looking palace concubine, and she was ignored by Emperor Im Geum (Lee Jong Won) on their wedding night. One night, So Won found a pearl on the ground and picked it up. Palace Lady Lee (Kim Dong Joo) advised So Won to return the pearl, but So Won refused. The next day, Concubine Hong (Seo Yoo Jung) & a few others were surprised to see a very beautiful So Won, and they saw her wearing the Mojeong's Pearl as an ornament. Concubine Hong was jealous as Emperor Im Geum started to notice So Won. Mojeong's spirit started to haunt the concubines as she seeked her revenge. Finally, Mojeong met Emperor Im Geum, who used to love her....
Epi 10 - Fake Mask
Lee Il Hwa/Lee Min Hee
Slacker's review:
I gotta apologise for the incomplete synopsis, as I could not find any sources for epi 3-10. I managed to recall a few epis, but some details are lacking here & there. Anyway, Hometown Legends returned after a successful comeback last year. Rating wise, unfortunately the 2009 sequel was competing with top-rating drama "Queen Seon Deok", thus the drama cld only attract single digits, which was a far cry to the 2008 sequel. Nonetheless, there were some nice & exciting stories in the 2009 sequel la. I found that many stories were more horrifying with the effects & makeups of the ghosts. (That's a great improvement as compared to the 2008 sequel, as I found the ghosts to be too pretty. Lolz!)
Basically, epi 4 -9 had interesting plots, epi 1,2 & 10 were ordinary, while epi 3 hardly left me any impression. The gumiho story was reused again, but the 2008 gumiho story was far more impressive. The 2009 version was more of a sad love story, but it's nicely done. Epis 4-6 had interesting twists in the story, Epi 7 was a little confusing to me, but drama had an interesting development.
There were a few well-known cast in the drama, such as Kim Ji Suk, Jung Gyu Woon, Kim Dong Wook, Jun Hye Bin & Ahn Jae Mo, plus veteran actors, such as Ahn Suk Hwan & Lee Jong Won.

--Ngee Ann City Atrium--
E.W & I were still early for our movie, so we walked over to N.A.C to check out the Mooncake Bazaar. I wanna check out the durian mooncakes available there la...hehe! Anyway, the atrium was jam-packed with ppl! Wah~very hard to move about. Tried out various flavours of mooncakes from the stalls. Home's Favourite's D24 mooncake was damn nice! However, I think I wld buy Goodwood Park's durian mooncake la. (Hopefully~~) Will be looking forward to the snowskin lotus paste mooncakes made by Aunt Jo too~ hehe!
--Cineleisure--
"Thirst" had a very interesting plot, though some scenes did not seem to connect or flow very well. It's not a horror movie to me, but there's lots of blood gushing out scenes. (The most "memorable" bloody scene was when Sang Hyun (Song Kang Ho) puked up blood when he's playing the recorder...the blood just gushed out from the recorder sia...omg!) Haha! The plot was not too bad, and I thought the ending was simple & nice. (rather sad though...) Song Kang Ho's performance was still gd as usual, but Kim Ok Bin stole his limelight. Seriously, Ms. Kim was not a big A-lister in Korea yet, but her acting was great. I liked Tae Joo's character, she seemed to be a submissive/helpless woman who led an unhappy life. However, just like what Tae Joo said to Sang Hyun, she's not a shy person, and that was proven during their first make out scene. After she became a vampire, she basically went on a killing spree, without any sense of guilt. Sang Hyun, on the other hand, was always struggling with his new identity, mainly because he was a priest. Thus, as compared to Tae Joo, Sang Hyun was more "controlled" by his beliefs, thus he tried not to kill anybody. Song Kang Ho's character was great too, but the development for Sang Hyun was rather predictable. Shin Ha Kyun's role as Tae Joo's husband was a support role, but his performance was great too. Sadly, his role Kang Woo was killed for something he has not done. (Tae Joo was really scheming here~)
Actually, the morale of the story was probably about greed, and how ppl tried to satisfy their desires by any means. If Sang Hyun did not save Tae Joo by letting her sucked his blood, then Tae Joo would not have turned into a horrible fella. (Perhaps letting one go is better in this situation).
Director Park Chan Wook did not disappoint me la, though I wished that he cld have cut down on the gory scenes. Haha! There were still some comedic dialogues/actions in the movie, like Sang Hyun told Tae Joo about going to hell because they were sinned for having a relationship, but Tae Joo replied she did not have a religion, so she would not go to hell. Ha! Interesting ya?

No.of Epis: 31
Year/TV Station: 2008/Ch 5
Cast:
Pong Nawat Kulrattanarak ~ Monthai Mahatatha
Peung Kanya Limthaphon ~ Bee, Piachet
Peuy Parnward Hemmanee ~ Wiyada Hiranwat
Mod Kanlaya Jirachaisakdecha ~ Wipawan Hiranwat
Mor Oak Smith ~ Nucha
Apinan Prasertwattanakul ~ Pongin
Jiab Pijittra Siriwetchapan ~ Maen Wat
Synopsis: (edited from Lia's Lakorn Synopsis)
Monthai is leaving for Australia to pursue his studies. He is from a rich family but his father is a womanizer, and Nucha is Monthai's half-brother. There is a maid's daughter named Lukana who likes Monthai but Monthai already has a fiancee Wiyada, who's also from a rich family. Bee is still a child when she sneaks into Monthai's house to pluck Asoke flowers for cooking. Bee sees Monthai & Wiyada behaving intimately & she giggles. Wiyada becomes upset and beat her but Monthai stopps her and gives Bee money. Monthai's mum is afraid that her son will become like his father, and beat up Lukana for getting too close to her son. Lukana wants to prove her innocence & commits suicide. This incident made Monthai's mum guilty, while Monthai hates his mum & leaves for Australia. Wiyada's dad knocks down Bee's grandma & kills her in a car accident. He brings Bee to his household & Bee becomes their servant. Though the Hiranwats are not very nice to Bee, Wiyada's sister Wipawan always looks out for Bee.
Wiyada and Monthai write letters to each other, but he does not know that it's Bee who always sent him letters. Wiyada's handwriting is ugly so she orders Bee to write letters to Monthai. Impatitent to wait for Monthai, Wiyada cheats on him & could not be bothered with those letters.
After her husband's death, Monthai's mum is mentally unstable. She wants Wiyada to come to her house so that Monthai will also return, but Wiyada refused. Wipawan asks Bee to replace Wiyada. After 8 years, Monthai returns home & finds out that Bee is pretending as Wiyada. He suspects Bee's motive is to steal his family fortune by playing trick on his mom. He always teases Bee, and falls for her unknowingly. Monthai's mum does not agree to Wiyada and Monthai's wedding and wants Bee to be Monthai's bride. Wiyada is upset and plans to kill Monthai's mum by pretending as Lukana ghost to scare her to death. Before she died, Monthai's mum left a will which says that Bee will inherit the family fortune while Monthai gets nothing. Soon, Monthai finally realises that Bee is the person who sent him the letters, and Wiyada is responsible for his mum's death. Monthai apologises to Bee, but Bee rejects his apology. Bee learns that Monthai is leaving again, and runs after him....
Slacker's review:
Most Thai lakorns plots are purely romance with predictable story developments. It's just like Qiong Yao's dramas, old-school but you will not get sick of it. Haha! "Ngao Asoke" is not an exception here, though the background of the story was set in the 60-70s period (not a very common era for Thai lakorns). After watching "Ngao", I felt like screaming to Monthai that he's the most blinded fella on earth! Haha! Our poor female lead Bee had to suffer endless accusations until the final episode...poor girl~ Overall, "Ngao" was pretty dramatic, but without those endless troubles/incidents occurring to the leads, the drama would be pretty dead. (Contradiction ne~)
Yes, it's Pong Nawat again~! Seriously, it's hard to be sick of him...lolz! Pong gave a good performance in "Ngao", but I did not like his character Monthai la. He's the usual male lead who always choose to believe the wrong person, and he always ignore/hide his true feelings for the poor female lead. I definitely do not want to see Pong acting such a character again. Haha! I found Monthai to be pretty modern during that era, probably it's because he always wore western suits & he did not comb/gel his hair in the old-fashioned way. There were quite a few memorable scenes b/w Monthai & Bee, and I thought Pong did pretty well there, as the guy gotta do most of the "actions". About the couple's bickering moments, the only issue I wondered was if the Thais were so "open" during 60/70s period, as it should be a conservative era. Can a master pull a servant so close to him, trying to tease/insult her all the time & even did something more extreme just to vent his anger? (Hey! U're watching a drama...lol!)
Peung is a newbie from Exact (the production co), and she's 12 yrs younger than Pong. Seriously, her acting was average-her crying scenes were not too bad, but her face was pretty expressionless. Anyway, her character Bee is the usual patheric role in a wealthy household. Basically, there's no "rest" for Bee as she's constantly bullied/accused/teased/insulted by Wiyada & Monthai respectively. However, Bee was not a weak person, she's pretty strong some how. I liked how she pushed Monthai away & argued her way out, I liked how she ignored Monthai's presence & walked past him. The only thing I did not like was her loyalty to the b**** Wiyada. Ha! (Another blind person~) I liked Peung's image in the drama, very innocent & sweet looking, with the way she tied her long ponytail & her simple dresses.
Peuy Parnward is a sexy actress, and she's still very sexy in this drama. Haha! (Conclusion: So Thailand was quite open to woman wearing sexy dresses during the conservative era.) Alright, I hated Wiyada, and Peuy's acting was pretty exaggerating. I realised that Thai actresses had very thick makeups, not just Peuy, but Peung too. (I rmbed watching Bee lying on hospital bed, but her face was so rosy red..."very healthy" leh.) Anyway, I was just too happy to see the end of Wiyada...Thanks to Monthai, or else you would not survive till the last epi. Ha!
There were two other couples, forming the romance side plots in the drama. Nucha-Wipawan couple also faced many obstacles, but I'm glad that they worked their way out. As for Pongin-Maen, I did not really follow their story, but I liked the scenes b/w Pongin & Bee...Hahaha~ (watching Monthai being jealous was fun!)

--Kbox @ Cine--
Met up with the gang to sing KLunch. Choices for lunch were limited, either chicken teriyaki or chicken chop. Our chicken teriyakis turned out to be like chicken chop lo, and it's not delicious. Only the fries & lychee pudding were great. Lolz! Had fun singing today, and we were crazy as usual. Haha! It's a pity that PY could not join us again...when can we meet u ah? Haha!
--Ion Orchard--
Walked over to Ion and we went to the Food Hall @ B4. Ho...there were so many stalls, but many were Japanese ones la. Too repetitive ba? Anyway, tried out Taiyaki from "The Taiyaki", and I chose the Italian flavour. Er...did not know that there's a sausage inside. Took a bite of it, and it's just....yaks~! Anyway, wld check out the Food Hall again....hehe!
--Marina Barrage--
It's quite a tiring journey before we finally reached the place. I seriously think that we shld have drive there. Lolz! Anyway, we took MRT to Marina Bay, and walked over to bus stop A for the shuttle bus to MB, but from the bus timetable, we gotta wait quite awhile. GC suggested that we cld take Bus no. 400, but bus stop B was quite far away. We gave it a try & saw the bus passed by us. Damn! We started to run but could not catch up with the bus la. Haha! Sweat like mad sia~Not too sure if the shuttle bus wld stop at bus stop B, we decided to walk back to A and just nice, the SMRT shuttle bus was here. After waiting for 5 mins, the bus left the bus stop and.....damn!!! It did stopped at B too!!!! Wah piangz....
Marina Barrage~I liked the design of the building and how the walkways linked to the rooftop. I think the scenery wld be better when Marina Sands is ready.


Visited the "Sustainable Singapore Gallery". Lots of interesting stuffs inside. Gallery 1 showcases the environmental challenges of today. This is a feature wall made entirely from NEWater bottles.
This is the "organic tree" which illuminates three different colours, and it symbolised the uncertain state of our present environment.
Lots of old newspapers here~
History timeline...
Gallery 2 recounts the clean up of the Singapore and Kallang Rivers.


The gals had fun playing with this touchscreen book.
I liked how the page flipped over...cool~
Gallery 3 features the Active, Beautiful, Clean Waters programme, launched by PUB in 2007.
The gals were having fun playing with the touchscreens.
Gallery 4 details the intricate construction and operations of the dam. The innovative barrage model demonstrated how the barrage works.
Interesting facts about the barrage.
Gallery 5 shows Singapore’s careful planning and management of its limited land area to maximise its potential. The sustainable development story unfolds in five chapters featuring different Singapore locations - Central Business District, Punggol 21+, Semakau Landfill, Jurong Island and Central Catchment.

Stepping on the Sg map....
My house's location~~~
Gallery 6 displays an unwavering commitment from our 3P (People, Private and Public) sectors to care for the environment and water. There were some screens which wld capture your pictures, while other screens wld display it until u walk towards the exit.
We went to the roof and saw many ppl having picnics there, or flying kites. The weather was good, quite windy, but too hot la! Haha! Nice view of Singapore Flyer here~
The 3 trademark buildings of Marina Sands & Sg Flyer.
Took bus no. 400 back and we gotta walked all the way back to Marina Bay Mrt Stn. Had a good walking excercise today~hahaha!