1°17' N, 103°51' E Island Slacker

No.of Eps: 16
Yr/TV Stn: 2012/CTS
Cast:
Lan Cheng Long ~ Chang Yu Jie
Li Jia Ying ~ Xia Le Di
Nick Chou ~ Chang Shao Feng
Shara Lin ~ Wen Xi
Tom Price ~ Daniel
Mao Di ~ Mao Di
Synopsis: 
Xia Le Di is an arrogant, self-absorbed socialite before her father's backrupcy which left her penniless. She believed that it happened because his competitor stole "Mona Lisa," a revoluntionary makeup technology that his company "Miss Beauty" developed. She vows to get it back. Thus, she went undercover at JEALOUS, the rival company, working as an assistant to Chang Yu Jie, the heartless operation manager/lead makeup artist. While she focused her investigation on him, her romantic interest wandered to his charming half-brother Chang Shao Feng, who turns out to be the person in charged of developing "Mona Lisa"...
Why Watch?
I always mentioned that Lan Cheng Long is not a very good actor. Despite that, he's one of the reason for me to watch this show, which has a substandard title. Hahah! I can't say the plot is fresh, but the cast combi is rather new.
LCL is not woody anymore. He's very expressive and full of emotions. I thought his character suits him, but due to some other factors, I found Yu Jie flawed. 
I am abit skeptical about Nick Chou, who is more well-known for singing. Well, his acting was better than I thought, but still green la.
LJY is very new to me, but she's quite natural, though sometimes her acting is abit over.
Overall, it's still watchable, and it's a good "break" from Settv's idol dramas. Hahaha! 
Why Skip?
The character development is not very convincing, especially Yu Jie.  Since he clearly put down his love for Wen Xi, why still wavered and nearly got married to her? It doesn't make sense. He suddenly becomes indecisive and hurts Le Di again & again. That sort of explains the ending, which Yu Jie and Le Di did not end up together.
Saying about the ending, I don't think Le Di chose Shao Feng, since the 2 are still competing for her affections prior the last scene. I was disappointed la, but I wouldn't fault Le Di for making that choice. Haha!
Tom Price and Mao Di were under utilised, which is a waste to me. Ha!
As for Shara's Wen Xi, I think she shld remained in the past, or maybe just lost her memory for good. All the nice things about her was gone once she chose the wrong path.
Need sometime to get used to Shara's voice, and she's rather new as well, so more room for improvement.

FINALLY! I completed my North India trip review! 

No.of Eps: 20
Yr/TV Stn: 2012/MBN
Cast:
Yeon Jung Hoon ~ Ma In Tak
Uhm Ji Won ~ Yoon Da Ran
Wang Bit Na ~ Hong Mi Mi
Jo Yeon Woo ~ Kim Sun Woo
Synopsis: (edited from epdrama)
This drama is about a young CEO, Ma In Tak, who considers money is the most important thing in his life. He calculates everything in monetary terms and his success has also earned him the reputation of being a tyrant. The CEO finds himself entangled in a strange conspiracy and later he found something which is more important than money.
Why watch?
YJH previous drama 'Vampire Prosecutor' was enjoyable, and hence I had higher expectation with his new drama. I've never seen such a aloof male character in K dramaland, so I believed it's somewhat challenging for YJH as well.
UJW is very expressive and entertaining, though sometimes her voice irritates me. Lolz! YDR is a very interesting character, and I liked how she takes things to her strive.
It has been ages since I last watched WBN's drama. She is a great actress, but HMM is not a great character. WBN was a little exaggerating with her expressions and speech, but she toned down as HMM chose the "right path".
Why skip?
As much as I enjoyed YJH and UJW's chemistry, the plot was quite boring. It's actually a group of people conspring to get MIK's company and wealth. YDR unfortunately became their tool, and she was forced to get close to MIK. The drama's romance portion was not the main plot, hence I was bored with all the conspiracy storyline. It was the last few eps that pulled the drama up, however, I wished they cld have showed more on the changes of MIK...when he realised love is more important than money.

No.of Eps: 20
Yr/TV Stn: 2011/TVB
Cast:
Liza Wang ~ Xin Chao Tong
Wong Cho Lam ~ Gong Ze Lan
Louis Yuen ~ Gong Du Lan
Johnson Lee ~ Cui Xu
Toby Leung ~ Yue Jiao
Special Guests: 
Ella Koon ~ Zhou Ju Ruo (ep4-6)
Linda Chung ~ Shi Ying (ep11-14)
Aimee Chan ~ Ling Miao Sha (ep15-17)
Raymond Cho ~ Xue Zhuo (ep15-17)
Synopsis: (edited from Dramawiki)
Xin Chao Tong resigned from her official duties as a madam cop due to an investigation in a mysterious case, and opens a private investigation firm. She met three pitiful people - Du Lan, Ze Lan & Cui Xu, who are suspected of being murderer of a case. Lightning struck the 4 of them and they are equipped with special powers. The 3 guys have "intangibility or phasing" ability, "superhuman fighting" ability and "mind control (to tell the truth)" ability respectively. Together, the 4 of them use their powers, creative disguises to solve cases.
Why watch?
The drama is light-hearted and entertaining. This is probably the 1st TVB drama to incorporate songs and dances in the storyline. It's funny to see the cast singing modern pop songs which are not from the era the plot is in. The plot is set in the early days and to see the private investigators cracking cases in unorthodox manners is interesting. The cases can be pretty standard, but there are some good twists and turns as well.
The cast is perfect in their roles. Liza and the 3 guys have perfect chemistry. I like to see WCL and Louis Yuen disguise as women...lolz! Johnson seems to be more "normal' though, but he is equally funny at times. Toby shed her previous image and acted well as Yue Jiao, who's an inventor..haha!
Why skip?
The plot developments can be quite lame at times, though they are not enough for one to say "No" to the drama. 

--PSA Bunglaow @ Pasir Ris--
Thanks GC for inviting us to her bro's 21st birthday celebration, though we did not really celebrate. Hahaha! The stingrays were delicious!

It's good to see the girls again, though SC did not join us in the end.
The gal's handphone batt went dead and she could not find her way to the bunglaow, and the rest of us thought she went missing. So drama ya? Haha! (but we were really worried). Luckily, she is alright, or else I could not enjoy my bbq food properly. Lolz! 

Got to see PY's beau, Mr.E as well....a friendly guy. Hahaha!

And then we have HM, who told us how she "confronted" her colleague and left her job. Lolz! I think she repeated at least 5 times just now.

A good chatting session with the girls.

We shall meet again :)

My first overseas trip of the year will start with China....again.

Will be visiting Shanghai for the 2nd time, attend Tuan's convo and visit Nanjing as well.

Hopefully I can snap great pictures of the Bund and Pudong!

And...after 12 years...I finally get to travel via SQ!!!! Can't wait for my trip!!!

Date: 28/06/12-05/07/12
Type: F&E

No.of Eps: 25
Yr/TV Stn: 2011/TVB
Cast:
Bowie Lam ~ Song Zheng Yao
Sunny Chan ~ Liang Zheng Kuang
Nancy Sit ~ Guan Hui Lan
Linda Chung ~ Song Zi Cheng
Ngo Ka Nin ~ Song Zi Jun
Elena Kong ~ Ding Jia Bi
Sire Ma ~ Zeng Yu Fang
Synopsis: (edited from Wikipedia)
Madam Liang is the owner of a small business with eldest son Zheng Yao, second son Zheng Kuang, and 2 daughters. Yao is a worker at the Jiujiang brewery but due to a natural disaster, rewrote the lives of the Liang and Song family. Song family’s daughter, Zi Cheng, the third mistress Jia Bi and eldest son Zi Jun were separated. The Song family decided to adopt Yao as their son and looked after the business. Kuang thought Yao became the Song family's son for the sake of wealth. Just when business for the Jiujiang wine brewery were going well, Song family's long lost son returns and wants to claim back ownership of the business. This results in a major feud between the Liangs and the Songs. Finally, when Yao tied the marriage between Cheng and Kuang, he was ready to return ownership back to the Songs. Sadly, Jun causes downfall of the family...
Why watch?
The drama looks boring, but the plot is well developed and nicely paced. I felt like stranggling Zi Jun, but that also means Ngo Ka Nin's acting was good. Ha! It's not easy to find a period drama which focused a lot on relationships, and every character has his ups and downs. 
The cast was great, and I really liked Yao-Bi couple. Bowie's acting is always the same in his dramas, but he did really well here. Lots of emotions and longingness for Bi. Their chemistry was great. Sunny might be a little old to pair with Linda, but their chemistry was great as well.
Jun-Fang couple is more cheerful, and recently I kept seeing Sire Ma. Looks like she's getting lots of attention.
Last but not least, this is Bowie's last TVB drama, and perhaps this is one of his best works.
Why skip?
The drama is typical family conflict plot, with the usual conflicts.

Sunset @ 7.19pm.

八月要从莱佛士的办公室搬到“偏远”的蒙巴登去。
这是我第三次搬家了，非常纳闷。

咳~

All pics taken by E.W this evening.
I've not seen such an awesome sunset for quite sometime.
Spotted something up there?????
Oh that "face" is really distracting...lol! Good shot though!
The clouds look like some hurricane thingy.
Very hard to see this type of red coloured cloud!

--Lunch--
Treated E.W lunch at Suntec's Loving Hut. The food was better than my previous experience.
--Dark Shadows @ Suntec Eng Wah--
The movie is quite entertaining, not the usual vampire movies. Johnny Depp was so different here! I liked how Barnabas spoke and  the way he adjust to modern world was so funny! Michelle Pfeiffer was great but Eva Green stole the show man! She's one interesting witch.
--Dinner--
Met Mr.Chean for another vegetarian dinner. I had cravings for Monkey Head mushrooms for days. Hehe!

Last but not least, Happy Mother's Day to my dearest mum!!!


And another bad news....I got midnight testing later!!!! Why they always pick days like my birthday or mother's day????

My Daily Enlightenment book 1 has arrived!
The book is like a diary - everyday comes with a story.
Hopefully I can gain something from the book.

Book 5 is already out~

今天早上看到这只大蜻蜓停靠在厨房的窗前。能在十二楼看到它已经很难的了，而且这只蜻蜓的品种和其他的不同。
敬请欣赏吧～～

No. of Eps: 20
Yr/TV Stn: 2011/TVB
Cast:
Bobby Au Yeung ~ Jiang Dong Jian
Tavia Yeung ~ Fang Xiao Fang
Raymond Lam ~ Tai Feng
John Chiang ~ Tang Jin Tian
Power Chan ~ Tang Yong Shen
Synopsis: (edited from k-tvb.net)
Why skip?
The drama is kind of boring. I guessed the plot development was not that interesting. Standard stuff like how the blissful couple started to quarrel and doubt each other; how the foolish son betrayed his father etc.
Tavia's performance was abit boring here, guess Xiao Fang did not impress me much.

It's a gloomy Sunday, but I managed to see glimpse of sunlight! Taken at 6.49pm.

每年一如往常和家人到莲池阁寺参与上供仪式，然后太后带我们到祝福寺参观。
可能很少在大日子去比较大的道场，去了祝福寺有点“大开眼界”。哈哈！
看到太后在新的地方继续学习佛法和认识新的朋友，我也替她高兴。

今天我还做了一件事，那就是布施。
其实想定期捐款，不过得跟太后聊过后再说吧。

买了一本"The Daily Enlightment"所出版的书籍。TDE是一个独立的佛教咨询和出版商。喜布欢他们弘扬佛法的方式和概念。

Taken by E.W at 6.58pm.

--Lower Peirce Reservoir--
The weather was super duper hot today, but luckily we did not suffer from heatstroke. Haha!
Our 1st destination was Lower Peirce. It's a serene place with small crowds in late morning. There are two main boardwalk trails, and they are not as long as those in MacRitchie.







Various trails and they lead to the main road.
Wild fungi with lots of ants!

Spot the squirrel?
Not a good shot of the squirrel.

Not sure what insect is this....
Took lots of pics of this bunch of monkeys. My fav shot is the one taking up the most space :p
--Upper Peirce Reservoir--
It's rather undeveloped, but surprisingly there were many people there for picnic. Not much place to roam about as the forests were not open to public.
--Ang Mo Kio Town Garden West--
We went to the park's Lotus Pond to check out the beautiful flowers, and to spot the usual "suspects". 









Spotted dragonfly, damselfly and my first close shot of butterfly!
--Lorong Halus Wetland--
I returned to the water lily pond with my long lens zoom!!! Hahaha! 


 Glad to snap pics of dragonflies beside the flowers.

More dragonflies & damselfly spotted at the pond.
--Ikea--
End the trip with my dinner below.
 Famous Ikea Chicken Wings!
and the Swedish meatballs!!!!