Tuesday, October 28, 2008

videos of j

falling in love with jay chou's latest album... the main song of the album dao xiang (literally rice fragrant) talks about how we should embrace life and live it to the fullest.. meaningful... its heartening that he's using songs to encourage people... rather than just sing lovey dovey songs to increase sales... not showing his mtv... think you can easily youtube it... sharing the song, but sung by another dude... luo wen yu...think he's quite popular in the live band scene in taiwan... check out his version of daoxiang... he's pretty cool too =)



another jay song... my itouch chose it for me while running today... the song suddenly spoke to me again... sometimes i feel songs convey so much emotions and messages... nuff of talk.. listen!

Monday, October 27, 2008

oosters!

ms j was complaining to me that i don't blog often enough... she's says she's a fan of my blog cos it has "entertainment" value... ooooh! *cheap thrill!* its always good to know that people enjoy reading my blabberings... =)

so... a post on oosters! its a bar/restaurant @ suntec city that sells belgium beers and mussels... the mussels were served in a broth concocted with beer... it was a unique dish and its pretty good! the place is a lil pricey thou!

char, mr ed and i ordered one beer each.. the beers came in really queer (erm... unique!) serving glasses.. check them out...



three diff bottles!



mr ed and i...



and finally.... me... looking greedily at my beer!

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

cats vs dogs

i envy the cats... they do nothing but sleep all day... they don't have to search for food cos they look so cute people just feed them... did i already mention that they do nothing but sleep all day? they sleep on top of car bonnets... they sleep under the cars... they sleep on the pavement... they look at you and yawn and go "blink blink"



dogs are different... they gotta fight and "earn" their food... they gotta look after the house... perform tricks... pull sleds... hunt... you name it...

a dog's life sucks!



i want to be a cat....



meow!

Friday, October 17, 2008

so long... my luckless romance



Your fingertips across my skin
The palm trees swaying in the wind
Images.
You sang me Spanish lullabies
The sweetest sadness in your eyes
Clever trick.

Well, I never want to see you unhappy
I thought you'd want the same for me

Goodbye, my almost lover
Goodbye, my hopeless dream
I'm trying not to think about you
Can't you just let me be?
So long, my luckless romance
My back is turned on you
Should've known you'd bring me heartache
Almost lovers always do


We walked along a crowded street
You took my hand and danced with me
Images
And when you left, you kissed my lips
You told me you would never, never forget
These images

No

Well, I'd never want to see you unhappy
I thought you'd want the same for me

Goodbye, my almost lover
Goodbye, my hopeless dream
I'm trying not to think about you
Can't you just let me be?
So long, my luckless romance
My back is turned on you
Should've known you'd bring me heartache
Almost lovers always do


I cannot go to the ocean
I cannot drive the streets at night
I cannot wake up in the morning
Without you on my mind
So you're gone and I'm haunted
And I bet you are just fine

Did I make it that
Easy to walk right in and out
Of my life?

Monday, October 13, 2008

ej bday - chako

celebrated ej's bday last week... not knowing what kinda present to get ej (since he already has most of the things he wanted!) we decided to treat him to a good meal =)



dinner was at a traditional japanese restaurant at hong leong gardens called chako. i call it traditional because... the deco of the place is traditional (apologies for the limited vocab) and the menu is written on paper that had already turned yellow... the words were written with calligraphy brush (mao bi) and there were no pictures on the menu... the owner had to describe the dish to us!
but... lets not judge a book by its cover... the food is really superb... however its like a chinese banquet... we had our dinner over a course of 2 hours....



dish 1: sashimi




we did not know that we had to pre-order the sashimi. according to auntie chako... her sashimi is ultra fresh because she not put it on ice. she takes them out straight from the fridge and thaws them when its needed. its the first time i've eaten room-temperature sashimi... but.... its reallyyy very very yummy!

we didn't pre-order... but luckily there was a couple who were there and they pre-ordered the sashimi... so according to auntie chako... there was some left overs for us to scavenge on...

dish 2: stir fried squid (or issit octopus) with butter and garlic...




one word - YUM!

dish 3: grilled saba




we saw auntie chako grill the fish over charcoal... that's how traditional the food are cooked.


dish 4: yaki soba




with a very generous serving of bonito flakes... i like...


dish 5: okonomiyaki (pancake)



not the best that we've had... but its still good... too much mayo & sauce for my liking though.


overall, auntie chako serves really good food... realised that hong leong gardens have about 4 japanese restaurants! will check the the rest next time!


after dinner we headed off for some dessert at cold rock @ HV... nuff said!




a very happy looking char & ej... i wonder why...

Monday, October 06, 2008

i'm back!

many apologies for the hiatus... bro and kat came back for a 2-week holiday and all my available time is spent with them :)

i never used to appreciate going home to a family... once upon a time i used to think bro was such an annoying pig (althou' he still is today!) and that he's constantly hogging my computer, tv, etc... but now i kinda miss that feeling. i guess i never realised how close we were when we fought all the time while growing up... i remember him kicking my arse and giving me black eyes when we were young... all the memories!


bro and kat at sentosa

went to bali with dad, bro and kat during their stay here. think bali is a great place... the beaches are beautiful... many cultural/historical sites to visit and we had lots of fun haggling over prices =) yes, auntie behavior.
the not-so-fun parts were the constant complaints of bro who was suffering from knee pain... and so we were constantly stopping and having a cuppa along the streets... its sometimes fun to people watch... most imptly, we know where the good cafes are now.. hehehe... the bad side thou, was that we stopped and snacked so much that we never really had a stomach for good meals. i was told by many that bali had several pretty good restaurants (eg. ku-de-ta), but sadly i didnt get to try them! will try them the next time i visit!

a brief overview of my itinery there:
arrived on thursday midnight and checked into a splendid serviced-villa @ Seri Suites...


private pool!

day 1: Ubud
hired a cab to take us to ubud, the art centre of bali which was a 45-min drive from our villa... settled for a reasonable price with the driver and he agreed to take us there and back and be our tour-guide for the day as well... he brought us to a batik factory, which sold extremely expensive batik... and eye opener thou!


women working on batik...

then he took us to an art gallery... on the way there we saw many many (& many!) shops with paintings hung all-over but he advised against buying from there as most of the paintings did not have certificates and may be "copies"... he took us to this gallery that was HUGE and showcased artwork of many different genres, contemporary, abstract, traditional, nature and many more which i dont know how to describe :P



artists working hard at the gallery

in the end bro and kat bought 2 paintings and i bought one...


my "million" dollar painting... serenity...

then the driver took us to some place that sold very yummy fried duck... apparently a bali delicacy (for tourists of cos... i dont think i ever saw balinese in any restaurants...) up next was shopping in ubud district itself! lots of sundresses and little ornaments... branded clothes were available too... although i really doubt their authencity :P


day 2: sight see-ing!
hired a day-driver i found from the internet.. very pleased with their services cos they give good introductions to the place and walk with you through the attraction!

first item on list: batubalan dance - barong & keris dance. basically it talks about the good fighting the evil and of cos, good triumphing over evil... good to watch this cultural dance although i thought it was a little pricey...



cultural dance!

next was goa gajah (aka elephant cave) according to the guide, its a cave where royalty will go to meditate (in the past of cos, bali is now ruled by government)...



view from the top of the area ard the cave


Menstruating women are not allowed to enter... hmmm...


entrance to the elephant cave

then kintamani village, a village built around a dormant volcano... its pretty high up so its a little chilly, good escape from the heat! had a buffet meal in a restaurant overlooking the volcano... pretty!



volcano view from the restaurant

last stop was tirta empul (holy spring temple), according to the guide the spring water can do wonders (wasn't paying attention to what he's saying! :P)



kat and i in front of some shrine

day 3: shopping!
walked all day today... from seminyak to legian to kuta... i think we walked for at least 10km... but it was good... experiencing all of bali city on foot!


memories of the bali bombing...

took a night flight back and met a jap guy at the airport... he thought i was japanese and spoke to me in a string of japanese, heh... obviously i wouldnt understand!


the "huang" family as kat described...

and eversince i came back from bali... its been good meals all the way until bro and kat left... i think i put on alot of weight during their stay here!


so artistic!