Monday, October 31, 2011
我很少那么渴望一部电影的到来。
很久以前（忘了多久以前，只记得有几年了吧），我在书局看到一本书。那时，觉得书名很特别。‘ 那些年，我们一起追的女孩’，随手拿起一看，好多艺人为它写评。作者是九把刀。这人我听说过，还没看过他的作品。心想，就买来看一下。怎么知道，这一下就让我回头买下他的其他作品。
令人感动又让人感触良多的文法，加上生动的比喻。让我深深为这美丽的暧昧没能结果而惋惜，但又觉得没在一起是件好事。因为，这样才能建立稳定又坚固的‘永远的朋友’情结。
好想回到念书的时候，虽然我没有像女主角那样，漂亮聪明，又有很多人追。想念我的朋友与同学，想念我的青春。
令人感动又让人感触良多的文法，加上生动的比喻。让我深深为这美丽的暧昧没能结果而惋惜，但又觉得没在一起是件好事。因为，这样才能建立稳定又坚固的‘永远的朋友’情结。好想回到念书的时候，虽然我没有像女主角那样，漂亮聪明，又有很多人追。想念我的朋友与同学，想念我的青春。
Mak到台湾展开他的冒险旅程。途中，他拍了一张照片，放上网让我看。看了后，我就好兴奋！！！ 拍成电影了！！！我真希望它会到新加坡来。（通常，台湾的国片很少会被带来狮城播放）。千呼万盼，终于来了！真的没有让我失望。九把刀就是九把刀。他完完全全把书中的精髓，搬上大荧幕。虽然，不是100%的跟着小说走，也有99%。
我想，对有些还没有看这部电影的朋友，我还是不多说。破坏了大家的想象，自己看才能体会它的绝。就算，读过小说的朋友，看了电影后，会发出会心的一笑。
那些年，我的青春。。。
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
I have been alighting from this bus stop at Lornie Road, outside MacRitchie Reservoir since the day I started work in MediaCorp. For the past 10 years, I have never faced an incident like today.Apparently, a tree has fallen mostly due to the heavy rain the previous night. And it blocked the pavement that lead to the overhead bridge. We were all caught by surprise when we alighted at the bus stop this morning. First thing that came to my mind is to walk all the way out to the traffic junction down the road and cross from there. However, it was really too far away.
Then the lady who alighted at the same bus stop said, 'just climb over lor.' So despite of the fact that I was wearing a dress today, I decided to climb over too. Fortunately, an uncle climbed over before me came to my rescue. Felt so unglam, and the cars were zooming behind me.
Finally after 10 years of service in MediaCorp, I have my 'first time' again...
Monday, June 6, 2011
Oh My God!!!
I really think, sometimes I really take things for granted. I have been blogging for more than a year, and I thought we can only upload 5 photos in a blog. How can a blogger website be so user unfriendly? And I even went to make a combination of my pictures into power points before uploading into my blog.
I have read blogs from others, and I was wondering, how come these people can upload so many pictures and yet I can not do it. I am thinking, maybe these blogger pay for extra space?
'5 photos at a time' and 'only 5 photos' makes a big different. Now that I know it can be done, I can upload lots of pictures in my blog.
Stay tune!
Saturday, June 4, 2011
I thought I had blog all my Taiwan trip and I can start blogging on my Bangkok trip (I know, it was very long ago already, but it is my virgin trip to Bangkok, so must blog.) and I realised I missed out the Firework part!
I never had a chance to play with Firework, and my experience were always from National Day parade. Since we were be spending a night in 清境, we bought a lot of small firework and sparkling lights. We had fun! Until a little girl told us that we could actually buy fireworks from 李大哥.
Why not!!!! We never had chance to play with them in Singapore, and now we were given a chance, we all pool in to get 2 sets. Anyway, our heroine is MPP, because none of us dared to light up the wick. This was the first time I was so close to firework. Normally we only get to see them during National Day, when it was really high in the sky. Now we were the one who lit the wick and see the sparks shot up and the explosion up close.
I did took video of them, and I really wanted to share, but something seems to be wrong with Blogspot, because it failed. After my 3rd failure, I gave up...
Do try it out if you have the chance. You will never regret it.
Sunday, May 22, 2011
Finally finished blogging about Taipei, after going MIA for more than a month. And I have not even blogged about my First Ever Bangkok Trip!!! Yes, I was too busy and also too tired. Had been working OT since April and never want to look at the computer screen again when I came home from work.
Many things happened in the month of April, good and bad. Really do not know how to start, but never mind, we go with the flow ok.
I have a great news to share, ok, not great news, it's world greatest news!!! I am no longer a lone ranger in work!!! My Sales Group merged with Group 3 and now our group has the biggest number of group members in TV Airtime Sales. Best part is I am now in the same group with Niang Niang, and we are now buddies together with Lijun and Pearlyn.
This explained my OT-ing in April. As everything as to change to the same format as Group 3, I was trying to do change all the reports that we have to submit to the same. In addition, it is target setting period. Niang Niang was busy compiling targets for both groups, and I think it is better to stay and help her in every way she needed me to. Churning out numbers, checking on numbers, checking on everyone numbers. I had a record of working to 10.30pm to 11pm every night for one whole week.
And this lead to an incident that happened to me that scared my gym family. As I had to work OT every night, I can not go for my gym classes. So Saturday is my only day which I can go workout with my gym family. I went for Jam class and Pump class as usual, and I even had a hearty breakfast, as I know I had to take 2 classes. Everything was still all right when I was in Jam class. Came Pump class and I fainted right after the 2nd track! Ya, fainted. I already felt dizzy when I put down the weight, and was trying to catch my friends' attention, but they were all loading up their weight and never notice me. Susanna saw me lying on the board in the end, but she thought I was just playing like I used to be. Pfeiffer nearly had to stop the class to attend to me. Fortunately, Julian was still around and he saw the commotion in the class. So pai sei, because so many people stopped their workout and attend to me. My gym family said I am now famous in the gym, as everyone including people doing workout outside the class and the Private Trainer all know what happen. Whenever I go to the gym now, I will have to say hello to everyone who smile at me, or asked me if I am feeling ok. Hahaha!
April was also the month for Star Awards. I had spent 2 weekends in MediaCorp and Resorts World Sentosa. Though it was tiring, I enjoyed it. This year, the concept in Resorts World was quite interesting. I was impressed that they can tied in Voyage De La Vie and came out with a circus theme.
That is how my April was.
MPP suggested this themed restaurant to us during one of the AGM, and we all agreed to go and try it out, since we have never been to it. 便所 is situated at 西门町, but it was not really easy to find, we went around a few times then we found the place. Yes, 便所 is like what it is. It is decorated just like a toilet. The seats are toilet bowls, and the table is make up of a bathtub. Not only that, the food are served in containers like sinks and toilet bowls. The food are actually quite nice, maybe we were too hungry, but overall it was quite a hearty meal.
The service in 便所 were really good. Waitress brought us to our seat, come to take our own in a short while, then food starts to serve to our table. We actually did not have to wait long, and they cleared the table once you finished. Then desserts came in after that. This shows that the waitress actually pay attention to their customers, unlike in some of the restaurants in Singapore, you have to wave hard at them then they come over and serve you.
Very nice experience, just like Hello Kitty Restaurant. You can try it out if you are planning a trip to Taipei. I have the name card above.
成品书局 is one of my favourite shops when I goes to Taiwan.
Though there are mostly Chinese books and English books are really limited there, I love to spend a few hours there to shop for my books. And not to say, I will frequent the shop more than once. Furthermore, it has a 24 hours branch!!! The books are cheaper than Singapore, and I will always have my luggages way overweight!!! How I wish I can buy all the books back and not to worry about lugguage space.
It was a very famous bookstore in Taiwan, just like Kinokuniya in Singapore. During my first trip to Taipei, I actually did not heard of it before. It was by accident that I found it. I was left alone for a few hours, as my friends wanted to go to a place that it is inconvenient for me to go with. So I went shopping alone, and went into it by chance.
After that, it is forever a Must Go place in my itinerary. Many people might think what so nice about a bookstore. There are many things you can find in the store. Not to say all sort of magazines and books, there are also stationeries and diaries.
Do go and take a look if you have time, and you will find your own 'treasure'!
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Friends who know me well, know I love Xiao Ding Dang. (During my time, it was known as Xiao Ding Dang. Many years later, it become Doreamon. I insisted naming it as Xiao Ding Dang, as it has my dream.) It has always be my childhood favourite cartoon character. Hello Kitty fans love the Hello Kitty Hotel, and theme park in Japan, but I never heard of any Xiao Ding Dang hotel or theme park.I was overjoyed when the 小人国 theme park actually have exhibition of Xiao Ding Dang in it. it's like a dream come true all these years. All the characters are right in front of me, and I can see them in the living room just like what I seen in the comic books.
Can't have enough of it.
We went to 3 different Night Market (夜市) , 2 in Taipei (士林夜市，通化夜市), 1 in Taizhong (逢甲夜市).
Out of the 3, 逢甲夜市 was considered completely new to me. I had been to Taipei 3 times, but I had never travelled out of Taipei. So this night market is highly anticipated. It was the last night market we went, considered the last stop before we travelled back to Taipei in Taizhong. We arrived at the night market at 4pm like that, and we already see shops opened for business. Though it was a very short stop, we managed to but shoes and bags. Things are considered cheap, and they can still offer discounts. Nope, we never buy clothes, because it's winter, and we could not possibly buy winter clothing for Singapore.
士林夜市and 通化夜市 were no stranger to me. I have been there a few times, shopping and eating. Frankly speaking, 士林夜市changed quite a bit, so it's like a new place for me to see. However, these 2 places never failed me. i still get to see a lot of interesting things, like shoes and bags and other accessories.
I think if Singapore will have night market like this, it will be very popular. There are always new things to see and shop, and I believe night owls will be delightful to have a place to go to. Too bad...
观星园 was another home stay we went during the 'out of Taipei' trip. It was located at the top of the mountain in 清境. It was one of the best experience, based on my previous blog on 情景. We travelled all the way up to the top of the mountain, where it was only 4 degree. Freezing like standing inside a fridge, I had the winter experience that I never have before.
Arrived just in time to watch the sunset, and we made it a point to watch the sunrise the next morning. The home stay was managed by 李大哥and his wife, we called her 李大嫂. They have a very beautiful dog called Toby, which it has 1 blue eye and 1 green eye.
Really very cozy place to stay in despite of the temperature, and the host prepared steamboat for dinner, as they know we will love the hot soup to keep our body warm. Everywhere is dark and we could only see the lights of the houses down the mountain, however we found our enjoyment by playing with firework. First experience again, we can not play with firework back home. Haha.
My first sunrise, and I could see it in another way. My friends told me, everywhere is dark, and slowly the first ray of the sun will show. After that, the sun will rise up slowly. This is Sunrise. On the other hand, I experience like wise. We set our alarm to wake up early to see the sunrise. We had a shock when we woke up the next morning, the whole sky was bright. We all thought we missed it, but when we went downstairs to the open space, an uncle told us, the sun has not rise up yet. As our location was at the top of the morning, we will see the ray of sunshine first, before we see the sun. This is the first time we heard about it, and we continue to wait despite of the cold weather. All of us went into the tent to hide ourselves from the cold wind blowing on our bodies.
When the sun rise, I knew I will not regret waking up so early and bracing the cold wind. It was something that I would never experience, and I do not know if I would have the strength to do that again in the future as I grow older. Haha.
This is the place I would like to recommend to all of you, if you consider going up to 清境. You will have different experience as the others.
MPP suggested we can stayed in Home stay (民宿), during our 'out of Taipei' trip, as it would be so much cheaper than staying in a hotel. Furthermore, the experience will be quite nice, as most of them are family business.In Sun Moon Lake, we stayed in 水社海, which is allocated quite near the lake. According to 黄先生, he said we picked the right home stay to stay in because the boss worked well with the other attraction of the place, so we can get tickets at the cheaper price. Anyway, everywhere is walking distance, so I think the location is quite good.
The home stay is very nicely decorated, very cozy homely feel. We booked a room for 4 people and we were quite comfortable. The only bad experience was hearing noise throughout the night. We heard people walking to and fro up stair and it went out till morning. Maybe we were too tired, so it did not affect us a lot. I found out from 黄先生that he also heard the same thing in his room, which was just a level above us.
Set aside this issue, the stay was quite good, and comfortable. I would like to recommend this place for all to stay if you go to Sun Moon Lake.
Franking speaking, I have never heard of 清境before until MPP suggested visiting it. To me, it was a new place and I thought why not? Since we all agreed to travel out of Taipei for 2 nights.
Before the trip, I went to ask my friends, and most of them said it is a 'relaxing' place, meaning there is nothing to do there, but they said something that interest me, 'It's Nature.'
And I really saw nature! Different structure of mountains up and down, with lakes and streams along the way, I really love seeing them as we do not really get to see them in Singapore. All these which I see from pictures in magazines, all come up close and personal to me. Though the weather was really freezing at that point of time, I felt so relax and fresh, maybe because the air is fresh up in the mountain too. I watched the best sunset and sunrise, though it was my first experience.
Of course, I visited farm and stayed in 民宿in 清境, that will be blogged about in the next entry.
Saturday, March 19, 2011
Ate a lot of food during this trip. The 4 of us tried not only ate our favourite snacks in Night Market, we also went to Theme restaurants to try out.
The first one we went was Hello Kitty Restaurant. It was located around Dun Hua road (apologies, I just can not remember the exact address.) The whole place is decorated by Hello Kitty pictures and toys. If you are a Kitty fan, I believe you will love this place. From the wall, to window pane, to the food and dessert served, as long as it can dough into a kitty icon, you will have a full exposure of Hello Kitty.
The food was quite delicious (maybe we are too hungry...), the place is very clean and beautiful. However, I think I will only go again, if my friends want to go.
Actually I am a fan of Xiao Ding Dang. Hahaha!!!
Friday, February 4, 2011
Sun Moon Lake (日月潭) is really very beautiful. I heard about the place. We arrived in the night and there was nothing to see because it was too dark.Dinner at the restaurant recommended by 黄先生. We will told that Sun Moon Lake is famous for President Fish (总统鱼). It was said that the dish was served to the President when he visited Sun Moon Lake, and he loved it a lot. This is how the fish got it's name. This fish has the amazing amount of fish bones in it. You will never believe how many small bones inside a small piece of fish. All the 4 of them were super careful, because we do not want to get choked by fish bones during our holiday.
I was really taken back by the scenery in the day time of Sun Moon Lake. I love to see the nature, so basically I was so happy to see that we were sort of surrounded by mountains. This is the wonderful creation of Mother Nature. The best way to enjoy the scenery is to take a ride on a boat. Though I know I will suffer from seasick, I still went along to take one with the rest to enjoy the beautiful scenery. Singapore is a small island, we can only see hills, but we will not be able to see mountains.
阿嫲的茶叶蛋has made a name for herself in Sun Moon Lake. The old lady had been selling the tea leaf egg for many years. Before water traffic was so accessible, she was young and healthy then, and carried the eggs to the opposite island to sell for a living. Now she has grown old, she is still selling eggs with her children. Maybe I am hungry, but the taste of the egg is indeed very good.
If you like to see mountains like me, you will like Sun Moon Lake.
If you have see the TVC of Welcome 2 Taiwan, with Jolin Tsai and 吴念真, you will not miss the part when you see him 放天灯. If you have read my previous blog, I did mention that I did that.
MPP mentioned that we could 放天灯 in 十分. I was quite amused because I have never done it before. I mean, I keep seeing it on TV, hearing people saying it, but I have never done it, despite I had been to Taipei twice already.
黄先生brought us to a shop to buy these lanterns. The auntie could not really tell us, what does the different colours of lanterns mean, so we simply picked the colours we like. It was the first time for all of us, so we had no idea what to do. Anyway, I think the Taiwanese are really friendly people. I saw 黄先生chit chatting with some uncle while waiting for us, later then I realised they are also drivers waiting for their passengers too.
All of them came over to teach us how to light up the lantern, how to let it fly up to the sky properly. We were supposed to write our wishes on the lantern, lighted it up, hold it till the hot air filled up the lantern and let it fly up. My lantern was lit up by MPP, (haha, I dare not lit it up myself). I am really overjoyed to see my lantern flying up to the sky. I do not know how to describe the feeling. I just think that, my message will go all the way up. All of us will be blessed.
This is the biggest lantern I ever have. Though I only own it less than an hour, but I find it very meaningful.
Thursday, February 3, 2011
I have never heard of Shi Fen (十分) before. MPP said we can 放天灯 (I will blog about this later) there. I was thinking at that time, how come there is 九份，and now there is 十分. Sometimes the names that Taiwan give really funny.
It is a very beautiful place. I love to be close to nature. I saw mountains, and the air is so fresh. Though the weather is cold, and I have to put on layers of clothes, I never really mind.
However, it bothered me a lot to see stray dogs along the way. According to 黄先生, these poor dogs are abandoned by their owners. When these people get tired of the dogs, they just brought up the mountain and left them there. I think this is very bad of them. Keeping a pet needs full life commitment, just like taking care of their own children.
Never the less, I feel very relaxed in Shi Fen, maybe because of the serenity of the surrounding.
I heard about Jiu Fen (九份) from my ex boyfriend long long time ago, and I had been to Taipei 3 times. I had never been to the place once. MPP suggested going to this place, and I had the 'Ah... Finally...' feeling.
It is indeed a very beautiful place, full of interesting things to explore. The snacks are delicious, the things quite interesting and special. (At least I do not get to see them in Singapore).
I wonder if the place is always crowded with people, or is it a tourist attraction? I saw tour buses bringing groups of people to Jiu Fen, people speaking Japanese, Cantonese, and tour guides telling members to meet at a certain time.
Another interesting scene I noticed was there are dogs roaming on the street. They are tamed and seems to know where they are going. I overheard one of the shop keeper telling the customer, that particular dog belongs to the guy, whose shop is just further down the street. After that, I realised all the dogs know how to go home to their owner after strolling. Very well trained indeed.
I regretted not taking a picture of the 'Peanut Popiah' to share. The snack is like Popiah, wrapped up with ice cream, with full spread of peanuts. Despite of the cold, CSB and I decided to try, after recommendation from MPP and SQ. I gave it 2 thumbs up, the ice cream does not melt easily. Super delicious!
I shared 粉圆 with CSB, as I heard many good reviews from TV variety shows, friends and people around me. However, I was a bit disappointed. Maybe expectation was too high. I admit that it was indeed very nice, but I think I prefer the Peanut Popiah more.
You want to try it yourself?
黄先生is the driver who we booked his service to drive us on a one day tour in Taipei.
We actually wanted to go 九份，十分 on the 2nd day we arrived in Taipei. As MPP was asking for the direction on how we can travel to these places in the shortest time, the hotel offered us a package, that the driver could bring us to these 2 places, and along the way dropped us at nice spots to take pictures and shopped.
All of us agreed on the price and off we went in his van, to some nice spots in Taipei. The first experience was quite good, as he kept reminding us to take care of our wallets, and the heavy traffic in Taipei. He hinted us not to buy things from shop recommended by the hotel and apologized that he had to follow instruction. As he dropped us at 士林夜市, he still called MPP to check if we arrived in the hotel safe and sound.
As we wanted to travel out of Taipei for 2 days, and he offered us a reasonable rate, we decided to engage his service to drive us to Sun Moon Lake, Qing Jing, Tai Zhong and back to Taipei. He was quite professional in his job, bringing us to places to places safely, stopping the van for us to take pictures when we requested.
He was quite good, except he was a bit naggy, kept reminding us on the time, rushing us on schedule. SQ and MPP got a bit annoyed, but I was all right, as long he did his job well. Maybe I was used to the 'nagging salesperson (NS)' in the office, so I thought his nagging was nothing compared to NS. Hahaha!
In case you want to engage his service, here is his namecard.
;;
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