Affording A New Automobile

Aidan's been in the family for eight years now. Unfortunately with autos, one can't (or rather, shouldn't) really hold on to them for too long whatwith depreciation, servicing and possible replacement of parts that break down...

Then the Chief got a new car last year. And so, we thought we might as well start 'scouting' around to see what we may want to consider when we ourself would change cars.To be honest we weren't really interested in cars. The only cars that caught our attention were those that had flashy techy stuff inside - like the first time we sat in a Citroen and there was a digital tachometer on the dashboard, or the Prius with all it's buttons.

Not being savvy about cars, the things we're looking for in a new car?
- the infotainment system, which definitely has to have Bluetooth connectivity with our iPhone, and better yet if it comes with CarPlay so we can futureproof against having to upgrade the infotainment system anytime soon. Bonus if it comes with GPS!
- something that can go faster with less engine, road and wind noise!
- the techy bells and whistles such as keyless entry and push-to-start, auto lights and rain sensors etc

Our biggest mistake? Test driving the Ford Focus first.

The moment we got onto an empty stretch of road and the sales agent got us to floor the accelerator...we were brought back to them Daytona days where you just wanted to rev up and go fast. That pretty much ruined the driving experience for all our other test drives where a slower smooth drive was the main idea. Got in the car, stepped on the accelerator, and...meh. We know, we know, it ain't as if we're driving a racing car or summat but still...

Tried the much-advertised self-parking feature too. In an empty basement car park, the Focus ignored most empty bays until it detected a pillar, and then began parking there...and ended up taking up two bays. Well perhaps it would perform better with other cars around. Just as well we're quite capable with parallel and reverse parking. heh.

Of course, what we were looking for in a car wasn't really based on practical reasons...whenever we went, "Ooh this is nice," we had the Chief telling us, "How much is the car?" In getting a new ride the Chief had set the budget first and then picked the car. In our case, it's more of having certain specifications and then picking a car that fits that within acceptable budget. So keeping 'acceptable budget' in mind, we test drove the Ford Fiesta as well. And it was also fun!

To be honest if we didn't test drive the Ford at all, we might have just gone with a Honda Jazz. Or City. Or the new Mazda2 (except that we didn't test out the Mazda2 until quite late, as the rest of the family's driving Mazdas and we wanted something different). Decently priced with satisfactory infotainment system. Somehow not the Toyotas, they've not appealed to us somehow.

But we did, and that pretty much coloured our experience for all the other test drives: "It wasn't as fun." To be honest we didn't try out much...the Honda Jazz, the Renault Captur...the Mazda2 did give a good impression too, it had a more premium and modern feel compared to the Fiesta. Didn't try out the VWs too. Even when comparing specifications as listed on the car companies' webpages, it boiled down to "comparing it against the Fiesta".

With that kind of mindset, yep, we got ourself the Fiesta.

First Impressions: Timbuk2 Command

After a couple of years with our Esprit messenger bag, we found ourself thinking of getting a new bag again.

Yeah, considering when we bought said Esprit bag, our requirements was for something not too big to avoid dumping too many things inside until it was rather heavy on the shoulders. So long as we could fit in an iPad, a bag of charging cables and power plug, our wallet and keys, we were good.

Carrying a small messenger bag meant we ended up carrying a few bags on occasion: the messenger bag; a gym bag and shoe bag; a laptop bag; and possibly a paper bag of other miscellaneous things. And so it's got us thinking how, asides from a small messenger bag for casual use, we could get one for our usual work week that can carry our usual stuff, our Traveller's Notebook, our laptop (or bluetooth keyboard) if necessary, and our gym togs. Then we can cut down the number of bags to just the work bag and a shoe bag if we've packed for the gym.

We just had a few requirements.

Backpacks were out. We weren't keen on carrying a backpack or knapsack. We like the messenger bag look.

There has to be good handles. Bag needs handles in addition to the shoulder strap. And if we plan to stuff in a lot of things and carry it by hand rather than strap it across our shoulders, we don't want something that looks like it can't bear a heavy load, nor something that would be painful to hold for long periods.

A good balance for laptop safety. Not too padded such that the bag is too heavy without even carrying a laptop. Yet feels padded enough that we don't worry over every bump the bag makes.

Aesthetics. Much as we like Crumpler, most of their bags are quite colourful and we wanted something slightly more subtle. True, they do have some colour combinations that wouldn't draw attention in the office but we thought we'd leave visiting the Crumpler store until we've tried looking around elsewhere first.

So we were looking around MidValley and Gardens and then came across Timbuk2 in Robinsons!

We only saw the Timbuk2 Classic Messenger Bag at first, and while it didn't really meet our requirements we decided to check out the rest of the range. Then we came across the Command TSA-Friendly Messenger Bag. And it checks everything off our list!

We were slightly hesitant as it was the M size and felt a bit too big for us (comparing with a S size Classic), but since Robinsons only had the one size for the Command...we thought. Hell with it, we're taking it. So far, it's been good. Although we haven't really finalised certain things like which compartments do we really want to keep our keys and wallets etc., we've tried carrying our laptop and gym togs (in a small Muji garment case) and so far it's been comfortable enough.

Now to balance use between this and our Esprit bag so we don't get achy shoulders all the time, nor leave the Esprit bag unused too long that it falls apart!

Buyer's Remorse

'Tis a term we learnt only a couple of months back but something which we are familiar with.

And so it happened that when the iPad 2 was finally launched here we sort of found ourself arriving at MidValley at 9am to queue up together with NaanBleu.

Now, there are some things in life that we think we should experience at least once before we find ourself unable to do so. Bungee jumping is still someone on that list, we think that we'll only be able to experience such when our wallet is as elastic as the bungee rope.

Queueing up to get a hyped-up item is another. But we do draw the line at queueing up for over a day (we were tempted to start queueing up at 11pm the day before, though, as we were driving past MidValley around the time...) but we don't see how we can actually stay in a non-moving line for over half a day, really. What if you need to answer the call of nature? Will others in the queue be good-natured enough to let you keep your spot? What about meals?

Anyways we opted to try arriving at 9am - thankfully parking was still plentiful and the queue, well, the queue was only halfway around the corridor.

Joining the queue, we realized we made one mistake: while we pretty much reminded ourself to bring along a fan, we ended up leaving it in the car. And central air-conditioning in MidValley doesn't start till after 10am. Thankfully we arrived before NaanBleu so we texted her to bring a fan for us, else we'd be sweating like mad the entire morning.

Before the store opened, staff from Machines were walking down the queue, asking everyone in line how many iPad 2s were they looking to buy (a maximum of two) and for which model and colour. Overall, we think they did this quite well, it was well organized. They had cards corresponding to the number of iPads of each model and colour, so once they'd run out of cards for a particular type it meant that said type was sold out.

Well we admit throughout the entire time we were queueing and before the fellows from Machines got to us, we were still in two minds as to whether we wanted to get an iPad 2 or not. We could pretty much justify our purchase one way or another (the Chief had, in a moment of exasperation after trying to disassuade us from getting one during the days prior to the launch, accurately observed, "If you really want it you will find all sorts of reasons to get it.". Mind you, the Chief was probably using reverse psychology but it wouldn't have affected us, we were still undecided about it till launch day...)

Even when it was finally our turn to decide on a model (which was easy: white 16GB wifi-only), during the entire time queueing up till we reached the cashier we were already facing buyer's remorse.

It's interesting. Feeling buyer's remorse when we haven't even paid for the iPad 2 and could have asked anyone else in the line if they were interested in having ours.

But be damned if we would give away the iPad 2 after queueing up for it! So buyer's remorse it was.

The queue progressed fairly slowly, even once when we were at the entrance of Machines. It's a good thing we came with NaanBleu for this, we kept each other company and occasionally chatted with others in the queue, asking others if they were going to get casings as well, or data plans, etc. We even bumped into Caipifruta's Awesomeville Aaron who was there with his dad, the lucky bugger - his dad was getting him a white 64GB (can't recall if it was the 3G or wifi model)!

Once at the entrance they had staff acting as bouncers, slowly letting the line trickle through, and when we got in we realized why...

...there was another queue once inside Machines! By this time it was nearly 1pm and our feet and legs were letting us know that they've been holding our weight for some 4 hours now.

And soon it was all over. We paid up, got the iPad 2 in a big Machines plastic bag, made our way out and started window shopping for casings while NaanBleu bought screen protectors and had the staff fix it on for her. We had ours activated within the store, and after that we headed off to McDonalds for brunch and to get off our feet.

Now this, we found the experience to be slightly tiring but it wasn't all that bad. Machines had it pretty well organized, even though with 4 cashiers payment was still terriby slow but we'd say that there weren't any bad moments to the entire experience. Would we do it again? Probably not, haha, but you can never tell so far with Apple and their magical revolutionary marketing.

Now, the Bon Odori, the idea of having to head out to get all sweaty isn't putting smiles on our face (even though it was a fun experience) but the Chief has not been to the Bon Odori before, and, well, it's almost 5 years since our last Bon Odori...

Dispensing With Automatic Impulse Buy

Just during the weekend we'd to rush into Tesco to grab some vanilla ice cream, ice cream cones, and a bag of ice for a potluck event, and we chanced upon this as we headed to the ice cream aisle.

Dettol now has an automatic handwash dispenser, that runs on batteries. We'd only time to snap a photo, check a bit of the details, then head on to get what we came for.

So during the potluck, we had the chance to tell the Chief about the handwash dispenser, and our interest in getting one.

The Chief was agreeable when we said that we were interested in getting one until we clarified that we wanted to get it for ourself, to be placed in our bathroom, rather than for use in the office.

The Chief then gave us this look that covered the entire range from Got So Much Money To Burn Ah?, You Very Itchy Fingers Ya, Whatever For?, Waste Of Money, and probably Like That Also Fun all in one, and had us bursting out laughing. We aggravated it some more by miming washing our hands.

But seriously we might just get one, depending on just how efficient it works!

Auction Awareness

There's just somethng about the PC Expo auction that had us being slightly reckless and needing to consciously keep ourself in check. Thank goodness the Chief was with us, really, to help figure out a limit to how much we were willing to spend on the items we were interested in (it was either the Garmin Nuvi 1350 GPS, the desktop, the Samsung Galaxy Tab or the Panasonic 42" LED telly).

Of course, the emcee would first inform us of the normal retail price and the promotion prices of the item to be auctioned, to make sure we were level-headed enough to not bid over the normal retail price.

Initially we never did plan to buy anything from the PC Expo, and then we saw some things we were interested in. So we planned to just take part in the auction, with half a mind to bid just for fun.

Bearing in mind, of course, that unlike playing some boardgame with elements of bidding (where sometimes the idea is to hike up the price of some item to an unreasonable price just because you know another player desperately wants it), if we bid too high a price in this auction, we were going to have to pay for it if we end up winning the bid.

And then somehow the Chief thought that we should actually try and bid for the GPS - we might be able to get it for, perhaps, around RM350 (normally RM545), or at the most, RM450.

And so the bidding began!

Everyone took part in the fun because the emcee enforced a minimum RM1 and maximum RM50 bid, rather than let some bloke bid a price that would just shut everybody else up, turning it into a game of The Price Is Right instead. And we must say that for items not too expensive, having everyone participate can be rather fun.

Because everyone would bid initially, and the starting bid of RM1 would just go up, and at some point most people would drop out, leaving only those who were actually interested to continue.

This was what happened to us! At some point past RM350, it came down to only us and another bloke bidding for the GPS. It's quite a feeling, when you realize everyone's stopped bidding and are watching you and your opponent duke it out.

And with a competitive streak, it's hard to stop sometimes! There we were nicely suggesting a price we were comfortable with paying, and then this other feller starts bidding at RM10 higher! Indignantly we would then raise the bid by another RM10 (because raising it by RM50 would only bring it much closer to the actual price which isn't our intention), and this will go own until we nearly lose track of how much we were willing to bid the item for.

Imagine:
RM1.
RM50.
RM100.
RM150.
RM200.
RM250.
RM300.
RM310.
RM320.
RM330.
RM340.
RM350.
RM360.
RM370.
RM380.
RM390.
RM400.
RM405.
RM410.
RM420.
RM425.
RM430.
RM435.
RM440.
RM450.
RM455.
RM460.

And we let the other fellow have it at RM460. Or RM470. Towards the end when we were both bidding at RM5 increments there were longer and longer pauses as both of us were considering if we should keep raising the price (competitive as we were we managed to keep ourself in check), and while the both of us were at opposite ends we had a clear view of his anguished face every time we raised the price, forcing him to deliberate if he could afford to pay another RM5 more.

And no, we didn't stoop so low as to bid just RM1 higher. No patience for that!

Anyhow it's interesting because when we first entered the PC Expo, we never had the intention to get a GPS! See just how dangerous auctions can be? One minute we're walking in, figuring out a budget for a new desktop, next thing we know, we could have been happily forking out RM500 for a GPS!

Oh well. As for the rest of the items, we lost interest when the bid went higher than half the original price, and saved ourself from an impulse buy.

The Year Of The iSlow

This weekend proved to be somewhat tiring, or perhaps we're slowing down, but it's certainly noticeable that the moment we reach home and head up to our bedroom, we can actually just lie in bed and fall immediately to sleep without changing or taking a bath.

Friday night saw us around Cheras after work, so we decided to head to Leisure Mall for our workout and dinner before heading to Old Town Kopitiam Cheras for some boardgaming. We'd no problem getting to Leisure Mall due to some handy directions on taking the back roads rather than going through the main highway, but it was our journey from Leisure Mall to OTK that was a navigating nightmare!

We left Leisure Mall at 9pm only to reach OTK at almost 10.30pm!

Got home around 2.30am, knocked out straightaway when we laid down in bed.

Saturday now, we had the Chief drop us off at Midvalley for a quick look-see at the PC Expo (the Chief already visited the Expo on Friday didn't join us as it was too crowded).

Less then an hour and we were out of there, having made a quick skim and taking catalogues of what we were interested in. Then we headed down to Subang for pork noodle at Pomander before mooching over to Subang Parade, where we managed to get a pouch for our iPhone and a present for our niece (a good shopping experience aided by a bargaining-savvy Chief!).

After that the Chief brought us for dinner at Betty's Midwest Kitchen at Aman Suria!

There's something about us eating at such porky establishments...prior to this we dined at Blue Cow Cafe at Plaza Damas, and now at Betty's Midwest Kitchen, we order as if we were never coming back to the establishment and wanted to try everything in one sitting.

Hence we had the Classic Meatloaf as recommended, the Pig-In-A-Blanket, Crispy Bacon, the Roasted Chicken and Onion Soup, and the 'Dog Food' (fries in cheese and gravy). While we had to wait some 10-15 minutes to get a seat, our order was taken while we waited and upon sitting at our table all the dishes came almost immediately! We suppose most of the dishes were already prepared and just needed some heating up - especially because of the bacon.

The bacon turned out dry and crispy and not really salty, while we were actually expecting fried oily bacon with the fatty bits still on it, the whole thing crispy and oily and salty enough to cause our arteries to panic as we enjoy the sinful bit of meat.

Stuffed ourselves silly and, once home, napped a while before summoning up the willpower to go shower and change and catch up on our Cityville before sleeping.

And on Sunday, we had two performances to attend! First up, the Tribute To John Williams by the MPO.

A great and lively performance! Theme music from Superman, Star Wars, Indiana Jones And The Raiders Of The Lost Ark, Memoirs Of A Geisa, Close Encounter Of The Third Kind, Hook, Jaws, Yes, Georgio and E.T., and for the encore, the march from 1941.

Then we'd to rush off to find St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church after that! Just earlier last week we came across a Facebook event for a performance of Faure's Requiem, and we were keen to watch the performance. Turns out that it wasn't just any performance, but a tribute to the late Armando Chin Yong too, performed by Cantus Musicus.

We had some issues, although we're not a professional singer or musician...small issues like certain Latin pronunciations and the little mishap during a repeat performance of Agnus Dei at the end of the performance, where the organist and the sopranos/altos got jumbled up due to a miscue. The biggest issue we had was with one of the tenors, whom we nicknamed Mr Expressive. His face! Goodness he had his eyes opened wide and focusing so hard on the conductor, and his mouth always forming an O either 2 beats before he's supposed to sing (so we know when he's going to sing if we didn't already know the requiem) or when he's pronouncing certain words. It's amazing, even when pronouncing the 'em' in 'requiem', his mouth forms an O.

His singing was good but it was very, very distracting watching him. It was better after we took off our glasses.

Immediately after the performance it was back to MidValley for the auctions at the PC Expo! Arrived just in time for the auction, and was only interested in the bidding for the Acer desktop, the Dell laptop, the Garmin Nuvi 1350, and the Samsung Galaxy Tab. In all cases we didn't win the bid, although we were close with the GPS as it was within reasonable limits (we stopped at, what, RM460 for the GPS, which we were told costs RM545?).

This time we weren't as tired as the past two days, but still we found ourself dozing off the moment we were horizotal!

This may be the year of the iPad 2, but it's also the year where we start slowing down!

Countering Commercialism

This is the season for florists, and we do remember asking before the prices and one particular florist did actually quote us different prices based on when we wanted to buy the flowers (naturally, with prices on V-day being anywhere up to twice the usual price!). Hence we'd only bought just one rose previously, balking at spending for an entire bouquet (and we think The Chief would have disapproved at the expenditure). No, it's not that we were being cheap, it's just that we thought it's possible to get a nice bunch of flowers at a decent price if we looked.

And then last year as we visited Petaling Street we came across stores and stores of florists! Selling bouquets in all sizes! Hence we made a mental note to come by this Valentine's Day to see if we could get a decent dozen or something.

Last we asked at a florist near home, we were told a dozen costs RM200 (on the day itself). As for our expectations for the prices at Petaling Street, we expected probably somewhere RM120.

Parked at Pasar Seni, crossed the road, arrived at the largest florist with the entrance filled with bouquets and such, and was pleasantly surprised to see that our estimation was actually higher.

We would have gone for the bouquet straightaway but decided to take a walk and see what the other stores had to offer. And asides from the ready-made bouquets, there were also roses, wrapped up in dozens, still with their leaves and thorns, for sale. Also in assorted colours! And as we were walking off, we heard someone ask the price of those roses. Turns out to be only a fraction of the bouquets!

And so in the end we bought a dozen pink roses, a few stalks of white daisies and a vase for only a fraction of a bouquet (although admittedly the bouquet looks nicer compared to our offering)! And the florist even helped us remove the thorns and excess leaves, trim it to a suitable height for the vase, and arrange it before tying it up and wrapping the flowers to prevent damage!

A covert method of delivery was required when it came to personally delivering the flowers, so our next stop was to iKea to grab a box. No need to buy one when there's plenty of used, empty boxes for free near their Customer Service counter.

And here romanticism went downhill as we didn't realise that while we chose a box larger tall enough to fit the vase, it wouldn't fit the vase with the flowers (we estimated too little on this). Hence we'd to carry a box and a plastic bag (opaque enough to hide the fact that there were flowers inside), call the Chief to come out and take the box and plastic bag, and told The Chief that water was needed urgently for the contents.

Hence The Chief had to arrange the flowers into the vase (well, basically undo the wrapping and place the entire thing as-is directly into vase) and water it instead of receiving an already prepared gift.

Sigh. Next year we'll do better.

Sporeland Shopping Slump

The X-Mini generation 1 speakers for less than SGD30, Gamecube controllers for SGD15, and the Wii Classic Controller Pro for SGD38 at Funan DigitaLife Mall.

Branded (and not the fake kinds too, but unfortunately we couldn't remember what brand) iPhone 3GS casings for SGD10 at Harvey Norman Suntec City Mall.

Calligraphy pens and nibs around SGD18 onwards from Art Friend, Takashimaya.

iPhone 3GS casings of Battlestar Galactica, Jurassic Park and Revenge Of The Mummy going for SGD13.90, two for the price of one, at Universal Studios Singapore.

Reese's Peanut Butter Cups in a large mug for SGD35 at the Hershey's Store, Universal Studios Singapore.

The X-Mini generation 2 speakers for under SGD50 at Urban Write, Orchard Central.

Various Super Mario Bros soft toys to bring to make the nostalgic gamer in us go crazy, from Boos to 1-Up Mushrooms and the Starman, not to mention Civilization V for PC for about SGD48, at Funz Centre at Orchard Central.

THESE ARE A LIST OF THINGS WE DID NOT GET WHEN SHOPPING IN SPORELAND. Because we were not in the proper frame of mind when shopping ie was trying to prioritize getting Christmas presents for family instead of shopping for own self when all we wanted to do was shop for ourself, and had absolutely no idea what to get for family in the first place, hence, aimless wandering in stores.

In the end we only got a couple of Zig Calligraphy pens for ourself, and at least had a night of excited shopping going through the Christmas decorations at Tangs in preparation for Christmas parties over the weekend when we were in Sporeland.

Christmas Isn't Christmas...

...till you've bought all your presents!

So last year we were rather late at shopping for presents for everyone, and vowed to begin early this year, preferably starting at the end of November. And we did begin shopping by the end of November!

Only...it's now the middle of December, our company Chirstmas meetup is looming close by, and we still have not bought any gifts for the Christmas gift exchange, nor have we bought anything for our colleagues.

Let's not even talk about presents for half our relatives. We're still stuck on what to give our baby niece asides from wee clothes and soft toys.

The best bit is that, after the initial scurry to shop for presents (and wrapping them), inertia has slowed and we've lost that sense of urgency to finish our Christmas shopping. And yet we've only about eight more presents to get! Eight! Why can't we just run down to The Body Shop and pick out their prepacked gifts or to a supermarket for a box of Ferraro Rocher immediately?

We guess it's just that we're not in the mood to shop just yet.

Casinos & Universal Studios, Sporeland Style

So during the end of last month we made a trip down south to Sporeland with a few things in mind, and among the planned activities were paying a visit to the two new casinos and Universal Studios! Even though we'd planned for a nice long weekend there, the days were packed with walking and commuting and games from morning till late night, that we were quite grateful that we'd arranged our trip to leave on Monday night (by the overnight train, of course) and arrive back on Merdeka Day, giving us a day of rest before starting work again.

Imagine. By Monday our legs and feet were aching even after a leisurely stroll and by noontime we were considering heading back to our sis' place to rest instead of going about shopping. If we stayed till Tuesday, and headed back on the overnight train and arrived home on Wednesday, we would be in no condition to do anything productive.

So anyways Thursday night we made our way down, arrived in Sporeland on Friday morning, headed to settle our luggage and freshen up and our sis' place before heading out to have lunch at Kuishin-Bo. We were starving when we left our sis' place that we would have stopped for lunch at Suntec's Food Republic, where we did stop for a while to take photos of the decor.

If we recall this is not the first time we'd noticed the library-like decor at the Food Republic, but it's the first time we're paying attention to it. The Chief hurried ahead to leave us alone to suaku take photos like some awestruck tourist.

Propaganda attack: Dollar for dollar, you can enjoy a nice Japanese buffet lunch for $20-something, unlike back here where you have to break a fifty, or two.

Kuishin-Bo Suntec had this lunch offer where if you're done eating in under an hour, you pay only SGD21.90++, otherwise it's SGD28.90++ (we think we got the prices right). Certainly had our fill as we were already starving! A lesson learned here is to avoid the little chocolate desserts if we plan to make full use of the buffet spread in under an hour.

A leisurely walk around Suntec City (and our first hands-on on a working, jailbroken iPad) and Raffles after that, and by night we were back at our sis' for boardgames with the bro-in-law and his group of friends.

Till...3am.

Saturday noon was off to Marina Bay Sands! Only, we forgot to bring our passport along, and so wasn't allowed entry into the casino. So we walked about the shops, took photos of the rain oculus, and like many other people, threw coins. Except we weren't throwing it at the eye, but trying to roll the coin in a spiral towards it. Fail.

Then later inside we saw the rain oculus from below. There were boat rides going on, and we wondered if anyone in the boats got hit by coins (honestly we keep picturing rich tai-tais screaming in pain as a coin pierced through one eye). The Epicentre there was full of people so we didn't get another chance at the iPad, and so we made our way to Orchard before heading back to get our passports. The night before's gaming session told on us as every time we commuted or whenever we sat down to eat, we would go into standby mode now and then. The Chief, patient martyr, let us rest and either played Mega Jump on the iPod Touch or looked out for when to get off the MRT/bus.

The Marina Bay Sands Casino was nice, and quite modern in some ways too - like for Baccarat Punto Banco, the croupiers at Genting Resorts World had to key in the results, while in Marina Bay Sands the system somehow catches the results (we're not sure how, the Chief suggests via CCTV) and displays it automatically without the croupier doing anything. After about nearly an hour on the main floor, we explored the upper floor and discovered the non-smoking section. Bah.

As we had to make our way back to get our passports, we ended up at Marina Bay Sands rather late, and so left rather late too (no, we missed out on heading up to see the infinity pool on the rooftop) and had to catch a cab (fairly quick and easy from the hotel) back. Where we found our bro-in-law and friends having another night of boardgaming.

We showered, played Starcraft a while on the bro-in-law's pc, joined them for a round of Agricola when they started a new round, and ended up sleeping at 4am.

Sunday was to Universal Studios! Initially we planned to go Universal Studios on Saturday but they were sold out for then, so Sunday it was. And since we were going to head on to the Resorts World Casino after Universal Studios, we packed along an extra shirt, predicting our time at Universal Studios to be rather sweaty.

The Universal Studios Globe.

And the Store, where we spend a long time inside but ended up with not much.

We'll say that Universal Studios Singapore is actually not that large if compared (rather hazily due to poor memory) Universal Studios LA, but it worked to our favour as we could cover everything in one trip. We arrived at noon (thanks to yours truly who stayed up late gaming) after brunch, and managed to go for all the rides, save the kiddy ones found at the Madagascar and Lost World bit and the Battlestar Galactica rollercoaster as it was under maintenance. If we arrived when the gates opened, we could probably fit in extras like taking photos with characters (we'd only managed to get photos with Beetlejuice and some Egyptian guard as it was) and seeing a few other shows.

What we really liked about Universal Studios was how thematic it was, down to the small details! Umbrella stands were made to look like a barrel to hold weapons in the Far Far Away, in the walls of the Lost World you see amber with mosquitos in them. Of course, if you never watched the shows, you might not appreciate some of the details, but there's lots of other stuff like how toilet signs and decor differ depending whether you were in Madagascar, Far Far Away or in Ancient Egypt, that help make you feel like you're in some fantasy land and more importantly, feeling like a kid again.

We went trigger happy with the camera taking photos when in Far Far Away!

And the stuff we came across the Lost World were a tickle, from their clothes shop...

To the refreshment counter!

When we arrived at Ancient Egypt, we were quite taken in with the effort in making monuments and impressively large statues. And then we came across guards on stilts that reminded us of fauns and satyrs.

We'd no idea who he was suppose to portray, since he was off duty and was heading elsewhere ignoring a gaggle of girls who chased after him.

We didn't find anything we'd buy from the souvenir shop, and we wonder who will actually buy this throne for SGD2,800.

We went crazy at Sci-Fi City's souvenir shop buying a few Battlestar Galactica themed souvenirs. Didn't get anything that read What The Frak, though. There's more souvenirs we're keeping track off that we didn't get this time, well, because we thought the Universal Studios Store near the entrance would have all the stuff we might come across in the other stores at their respective areas (obviously not). Good thing we decided to get the BSG souvenirs when we did, otherwise we'd have to run all the way back to Sci-Fi City to get them!

After Universal Studios, our legs needed a rest and we headed for dinner, and then we were off to the casino! A quick stop at Bread Story just outside the casino showed that thematic settings didn't just stop at Universal Studios...

Resorts World Casino doesn't have that posh feel that Marina Bay Sands has, as seen by the less formal way the gamblers dress, but at least upon entry we were in the non-smoking section. And we came across the Star Wars: Light Side slots machine there! Genting has the Star Wars: Dark Side slots, and we weren't sure if there was a Light Side version till then! And we won SGD50 playing it!

That night, once home, we played Street Fighter 4 with the bro-in-law until somewhere 2am, we think. After that, we helped him get his iPad up and running, which he bought that day and left to charge till night. There was the installing of iTunes and setting up and account which took a fair bit of time, and after that we left him to play with his new toy while we went to bed.

Come Monday, it was supposed to be a rather free-and-easy day and the Chief took us around town. First up, to Sporeland's Ikea for a look-see. We haven't been there for some four years now since our sis took us there once, and remembered it differently (perhaps because our sis brought us there at night), but we found it smaller compared to the Ikea here.

After that, we crossed the street for the Katong Laksa, ate using only a spoon. Even though our legs were hurting by the afternoon we still managed to cover Queensway Mall and Chinatown before heading back to pack up our luggages!

Sis and bro-in-law then brought us to Oasis for Taiwanese porridge dinner. The place is situated at a rather nice park, and would make for rather scenic walks if not for the humid weather.

After dinner it was time to rush to the train station! It was a close call as we arrived on time with only a few minutes to spare, and we were held up by our own customs people until another officer hollered to them to let us go and stop holding up the train.

Can't remember. Think we slept throughout Tuesday. Heh. We'll be heading back to Universal Studios probably in a couple of years, when the Battlestar Galactica and Transformers rides are up and running!

Casing Conundrums

As in, just how many iPhone 3GS casings will we buy before we stop? 'Cos right now, we're at number three:



Meet the Battlestar Galactica iPhone 3GS casing, which we picked up while at Universal Studios Sporeland for some SGD14 (honestly we can't remember if it was SGD13.90 or SGD16.90 but it's cheaper than any original covers found here). The BSG cover differs totally from the Watermelon and the Chocolate, not only in colour scheme but also in terms of size and feel.

With the Chocolate, it's big and rubbery, offering a good grip when we're playing games in landscape mode (especially with Robot Unicorn Attack and Minigore) and we can hear sound clearly because our hand won't cover the speakers. However, it does cover the camera lens slightly, so we'd have to remove the cover (very easy) if we want to snap a shot. Also, the rubbery texture worries us - will dust and dirt end up sticking and forming a rather difficult-to-remove layer in the future?

The Watermelon? Sturdy. Covers every part of the iPhone except the screen, preventing scratches, offering a fair amount of protection against drops (we've experienced that a couple of times already, and each time after our heart resumes beating at a normal pace, we found our iPhone unharmed). The only issue with the Watermelon cover is that it's the hardest to remove, and occasionally we want to remove the cover to give the iPhone and the covers a wipe.

The BSG case, now, makes the iPhone feel small! There's some sort of texture to the cover which belies its plasticky look which makes it nice to hold. When we were at Universal Studios Sporeland the first cover we noticed was a yellow Jurassic Park one. We thought, "Okay, so Universal Studios is also selling iPhone 3GS covers. No need lah." Then we arrived at the Sci-Fi area and upon entering the gift shop totally geeked out at the BSG stuff there and picked up a few souvenirs, including the iPhone cover. Too bad the cover doesn't cover up the bezel, so that might get scratched, and for landscape gaming we're not too happy with the grip. More than half the time we end up covering the speakers and we can't maintain a good steady grip as our thumbs will be busy tapping the screen rather than holding the bottom of the iPhone.

So. Three covers for different occasions and needs. We've been rotating them to suit our fancy.

We're wondering if we will end up getting a few more if the price drops drastically when the iPhone 4 gets in. Especially the Watermelon (Switcheasy Capsule Rebel) covers in different colours to mix and match, if they fit. Or maybe we'll go take a look at prices in Sporeland, see if it's cheaper there.

Phuket Revisited 2010: When We Shop, The World Gets Better

...At least, for us.

And what's there to shop in Phuket? The souvenir t-shirts? The beer branded tank tops?

One reason to shop overseas is to get stuff we can't find back here in Bolehland. And off-hand, two things comes to mind when it's Thailand: foodstuff, and Boots (it's amazing, there isn't a Boots in Sporeland too!).

During this trip we'd two malls to cover: Jungceylon at Patong and Central Festival in town.

It's a bit odd to see this on the chairs around Central Festival. Makes us wonder if kids go missing...

Jungceylon being the nearest, it was our first stop after lunch on the day we arrived. The main reason? To stock up on drinks and snacks that you don't find back here. This included a brand of mixed fruit yoghurt drinks, packets of soya milk mixed with honey and bottled water (the two bottles the hotel provide daily sometimes just isn't enough). Oddly enough this time we weren't interested in buying junk food to snack on when in the hotel, though...normally we'd jump at the sight of those little packets of Twisties or some other flavours you can't find back here.

Guess we were rather focused more on the eateries, then.

And Boots (and Watsons), also for stuff you can't find here. Both have their range of products, like Boots with their Body Wash with a watermelon and mango scent, or Watsons with their Classic Pooh creams and lotions, packaged very nicely (only recently has Guardian's packaging taken a turn for the better with their own stuff). Also not to mention we get Decolgen there cheap, and we still tend to get shocked to find contraceptives available off the shelf, along with other stuff that's considered Pharmacy Only or Prescription Only back here.

Anyways seeing how we've not used the stuff we've gotten from Boots since last year we refrained from buying more, even if they were on offer.

However, we did get this from Carrefour in Jungceylon.

Assorted pork-flavoured instant noodles and crispy pork slices snacks. Because you don't find pork flavoured instant noodles here, and the crispy pork slices go oh-so-well with the instant noodles! Supper takes a whole new turn of satisfaction.

And in Central Festival, we'd not find much in Tops but we did come across this.

Hersheys in a tin box. The Hersheys were good, and it wasn't long before we'd finished one box. Now, if only we have any idea what to do with the box...

Our best buy considered from Central Festival and for this trip, was this iPhone cover.

The Q-Pot Loves iPhone chocolate case.

We'll blame a YKLS member for our looking around at iPhone cases. While we may not be singing with them this year, we still drop by once in a while to say hello. And one day when we were visiting, we'd recently bought the SwitchEasy Capsule Rebel case (aka 'The Watermelon' as it was in two tones of green) and we were dressed in a green t-shirt and in green shorts.

So this fellow, he asks us, did we buy the case to match what we wore? No, we answered, we just like the colour green. But that got us thinking along the lines of getting more iPhone covers, although probably not the ones you can get from Machines or Mac City as those can easily cost over RM100. But even those sold outside tend to be somewhere RM35 or more, and we've not come across any other casing we'd fancy.

Until the Q-Pot. Left upside down and in the box that comes with it, it could really pass off as a box of chocolates. And while this casing is much more bulkier, we can actually stand it upright without needing a stand! Makes it easy watching Sailormoon sometimes!

And as far as we know, there's no such cover here in Bolehland yet! We've a totally unique cover! We're chuffed up over that, haha. To our shame, otousan has also asked if we could get him a Q-Pot cover too, but we're declining to do so for now (well not to mention that we aren't going back to Thailand anytime soon).

As for the Chief's best buy, it would be when we walked into McThai. With football fever going on at the moment and McDonald's having this Coke Footbal Glass collection going on, the Chief has so far three of the glasses. And when we walked into McThai, we saw this.

All the glasses, in a special collector's box, at a rather attractive price of 199 baht. It's at times like these that we feel justified in bringing a rather large and sturdy luggage even for a trip that doesn't require much in terms of clothes or shopping. So naturally we bought the entire thing!

Oh, and since the Chief's already halfway through collecting a set of glasses, the Chief's still going to finish that set. Which means we've got at least three days of large McValue meals with sundaes as we've to help complete that set. We'll get the glasses when we have a craving for fried chicken, then.

Next up, island hopping!

Wireless Belkin Breeze

Now sometime late last year to the start of this year our Level One ADSL2+ Modem Router sort of gave up on us. Couldn't figure out why we couldn't connect online with it. All the light lit up and all, but we couldn't connect to the web-based manager. Thankfully we still have the old modem supplied by Streamyx, so we switched to that.

Trust us not to realise the simplest solution available, not until we brought it to Computer War for a diagnosis: "kena thunder".

Anyways, there wasn't any urgency for us to get our wireless modem router fixed, since we've not been playing our Wii for quite a while (sadly), neither do we go online with our DS, and we've a mobile data plan for 500MB now.

We were hoping that it was somehow salvageable but we expected it to be otherwise. Better yet was when the guy at Computer War told us that our model only had a 1-year warranty, and that since last year Level One started a lifetime warranty policy on their newer products. Had to start looking at a new wireless modem router, then.

And when we started looking around, we were a bit confused. Prior to our visit to Computer War we had a look at a few other stores, and generally wondered at the difference in prices. The way the products were named didn't help. And yes, while we're fairly capable in techy things we've never been able to follow every bit of techy stuff there is. Like, we're able to fix up our wireless modem router, but get slightly lost when they ask us if we're using PPPoE or PPPoA and what is our encapsulation etc...

And shopping for a new wireless modem router wasn't any easier at first. You see why we're calling it in full? Because all this time we just thought 'router', thinking that all routers would have the functionality of a modem, a router, and wireless networking. The first router we saw was priced about RM60ish, and that led us to think that prices for routers have gone down. Then we saw another router that went for twice that price.

So we started paying a little more attention to what the words said on the box, and got lost reading about G Wireless, N Wireless, N+ Wireless etc. After asking around it was clear that the cheaper ones were just routers without a modem, our previous wireless modem router was a G standard and that N standard meant stronger wireless signal strength. And most brands don't call it a wireless modem router, they term it ADSL/ADSL2+ Wireless Router.

Now we know.

Back to when we had ours diagnosed at Computer War.

Technician says ours is fried, we think, okay, it's time for a new one. The only two brands that offer lifetime warranty are Level One and Belkin. We ask the technician if he has a Level One current model that is similar to what we have. He checks and tell us that there's no more stock at the moment, and offers us the next best thing, a model with the N Wireless standard at around RM250ish. How about the Belkin? There's a G Wireless standard at RM200ish.

The Belkin looked aesthetically much more pleasing compared to the Level One. And based on our experience with the G Wireless standard, we didn't think we needed something faster. Plus, we're not connecting wirelessly to our pc, that's still via network cable so the wireless standards don't apply. And it actually says G Wireless Modem Router on the box! Nearly plain English!

You can pretty much tell which we chose, heh.

And to cap it off, even installation was much easier! The installation CD definitely had the laymen in mind as everything was asked in plain English. And now we're wireless once again!

More Book Juggling

While we've never really got off the habit of bookjuggling, we'll now thank BookXcess for taking it a step further. Because, just last week we browsed around and came across an audiobook CD of Making Money selling at RM24.90. With audiobook CDs normally costing well over RM100, can you say, 'spontaneous buy'?

Disregard the fact that said copy of Making Money was an abridge version instead of the unabridged version. It's our first Pratchett audiobook and we want to hear how it goes. Years of reading and rereading the Discworld series and we've a certain impression of how the characters sound (as for how the characters look, Paul Kidby has certainly got them spot-on that we cannot think of them any other way!), and we were interested to hear how the narrator would voice the characters.

We already like how the witches were portrayed in the Wryd Sisters cartoon. Not so much how they look, but how they sound.



And how Lord Vetinari was portrayed in The Colour Of Magic movie, to a certain extent.



Anyways we had the CDs converted to mp3 and synced to our iPod, and next thing you know, we're listening to the audiobook while reading another book.

It's possible, due to the fact that we've read Making Money before and was rereading an Eddings book. Familiar material. Not much attention needed to do both except to laugh to the jokes from one book or the other.

Our impression of the audiobook? Plus we're listening now to the unabridged version of Maskerade.

The narrators, as far as we hear, do a good job of narrating, with the pacing is good and the pronunciation clear and understandable. Only that most voice impressions for the main characters and inflections differ from how we would do it (but then again, they are the ones doing the reading and getting money doing it!). We understand, though, and wouldn't really expect the narrators to do an accurate impression of Granny Weatherwax or some of the others. It's good enough that we can distinguish different people, especially during conversations.

Great. Now we've more books to collect!

Blessed Christmas 2009!

Wishing a very blessed Christmas and a happy new year to come!

And as it has been for the past few years, we are still wrapping presents at the moment. Perhaps one day we will finally be super efficient and have everyone's Christmas presents wrapped up by July, but until then, we wrap in the middle of the night.

And we find nothing beats Christmas shopping stress when it comes to dieting! Just over these last three days, due to the stress of speed-shopping and wrapping presents, our stomach has shrunk significantly. What with eating only a light sandwich for breakfast, 4 small sticks of chocolate for lunch (equivalent to the length of two Pocky sticks but made of pure dark chocolate), a small kaya puff and a small potato chicken puff for dinner, and by 3.30am on Wednesday morning we were still not hungry.

Out of habit we decided to go eat, thinking of getting Indomee Goreng Double Mata Kerbau (most other places save the 24-hour fast food joints) would be closing by 3.30am, and true enough when we arrived at SS2 the mamak closed up, but we managed to order fried kuey teow from the next store before they closed up too. Halfway through our char kuey teow we felt full.

Interesting. Stress has replaced food. Now our stomach doesn't show yay!

Tonight The Super Trouper Lights Are Going To Find Me

When we carol in the concourse area of KLCC for a gig between the Young Choral Academy Singers (called so instead of the Young KL Singers because it comprised of many different choirs) and the brass ensemble from the Malaysian Young Philharmonic Orchestra (MYPO, or was it supposed to be the MPYO, goodness cannot remember).

And we were not expecting a crowd to gather and watch actually! We wonder - considering how we would stop to watch if we were part of the audience in the first place. But to have people taking videos? The pressure is on to make sure that 1) we sing loud enough to be heard over the brass band, 2) we project our voices out so that we could be heard by people upstairs, and 3) we look out more at the audience rather than at our scores.

During the sound balance check where we sang 'Deck The Halls', it was a tad obvious that we didn't hit the required volume in (1), and after 'Deck The Halls' we happen to see Earl Grey on the first floor and sign-languaged asking if we could be heard, to which he negatived our (2), and judging from the number of times we had to snatch glances at the carol lyrics we hope people don't record us failing (3).

Still, the audience are appreciative enough to applaud after each song, and our stint was a fairly short stint that took half an hour or so that we were done by 7pm! This was in a way good for us, as we still needed to go Christmas shopping. Stress.

By the time we've breezed through KLCC and Amcorp Mall we've nailed our sis' and bro-in-law's Christmas present, bringing the list down to almost complete with only dad's present to keep looking for! And we observe that in our Christmas shopping today we spent more than we did in our entire Sporeland trip (not including the accomodation charges and cab fees, but in terms of just spending on stuff alone)!

Janvier Soldat And The Big Bullet

Now this has been something that the Klangite guys, once introduced by the Eurogames Evangelist 'Nic, always enjoyed. Admittedly this game is fun to play anywhere, but when we're all up in Camland (well we only remember the Camland trips and not the rest because we've never been able to make the more recent trips, unfortunately) and you've got an apartment full of guys with no city distractions...well, this was something everyone could immediately have fun doing.

And now, it comes in a brand new packaging! We've been asking for it in a few stores already but it's always been out of stock due to its popularity. We actually would have just settled for the starter set but well, the new pack has everything for a good price and looks impressive. Take a look at it compared to our iPod Touch. Impressive, no?

And it's now very aptly called Bang! The Bullet! Very muched shaped like a shiny one too.

And inside it we find all the Bang! expansions for the game! All still currently in their packaging as we consider laminating everything as soon as possible before we start playing. And of course, we've got to start refreshing our memory of the rules of the game.

What's Bang! about? Think Werewolf/Mafia, but with more structure and using cards. The game has the Sheriff and his Deputies against the Outlaws, with a Renegade thrown in in bigger crowds to further confuse everyone! If the Outlaws and the Renegade dies, the good guys win! If the Outlaws kill the Sheriff, they win! And the lone Renegade, if he slyly gets everyone else to kill each other and emerges the sole survivor, he wins!

And from the looks of the cards and the rulebook, the icons have been updated. Still, we wonder if we'll be playing many games with the expansions, especially A Fistful Of Cards. The last time we tried playing with that expansion it became far more difficult.

Ah well. Another game to our collection! Bought this when we happened to be passing by a store in Bangsar Village and just casually asked while looking Magic: The Gathering Planechase cards. Almost ended up buying not only Bang! The Bullet! but was sorely tempted to throw in a couple of Planechase decks too!

Control...breathe...best get a couple of starters to reintroduce the Chief to the game, and with the new Magic 2010 rules.

The Labours For Poirot

Now we are admittedly big into Agatha Christie, and thankfully our school library had quite a number of her books for us to go through. Like many others we love Hercule Poirot and Ms Marple! It was sometime then too when we caught an episode of Poirot on TV3 one Saturday afternoon, but it didn't hit us then that we were actually watching a Hercule Poirot tv adaptation, even when David Suchet was the most accurate adaptation of Poirot!

Took us a while after that episode (since we happened onto that episode halfway through) when it all registered in. Moustache. French portly feller. Murder mystery.

Only...either we weren't free on Saturdays to watch it, or TV3 finished its run. Never did get to watch it entirely. Sigh.

Of course, we've been hunting about for the DVDs everytime we're shopping (even if we never do buy anything) and we've even seen the series selling at La Ramblas in Barcelona last year. Unfortunately the price tag of 30 Euros per season stopped us from making an impulse buy of all seasons we could get our grubby hands on (because we know, we just know that we won't stop at the Poirots but snag ever Ms Marple series we could find too!) and four seasons of both Poirot and Ms Marple would set us back an estimate 240 Euros.

We're not rich enough to do that. Plus it was likely to be bootlegs so we didn't dare trust the quality unless we happen to be going back there pretty soon.

...Come to think of it, we keep forgetting to check HMV when at Sporeland. But even then a price tag of SGD100 would mean we need to exercise control when buying.

But in any case, we've been checking out the, ah, local DVD entrepreneurs should they happen to stock them, seeing how they can keep all sorts from BBC documentaries to National Geographic specials. Yes we totally bypassed Speedy and the likes because they be pricey and Poirot doesn't seem like a title easily available (not to mention all the store assistants, even the entrepreneurs, would give us a puzzled look when we mention the name Poirot).

So came a time early this year when we were checking out titles at the DVD entrepreneur near our place, when we came across a DVD of Poirot! Can't remember which season but we were surprised to find that yes, we could find Poirot here!

Thing was, we already getting some other DVDs (can't recall, was it Battlestar Galactica?) so we decided to put the Poirot on hold till another day. The Chief was with us, and knowing how we were interested, helped by hiding the DVD somewhere at the back of the stack where we found it so we could grab it another day without having to hunt for it. Only when we got back to the store another time the DVD was gone. Searched through all the stacks to no avail and even the fler manning the store told us that stuff in those stacks, if you see them you better grab them, gone means gone.

'Course, we were plenty disappointed. Also resolved to just grab it next time we saw it. And that's how we ended up snagging both Season 1 and 2 when we saw it in another store today!

Pure happiness. And to top it, while still browsing the store we overheard some girls saying, "The Colour Of Magic," and we gravitated straight to them to find Sky's take on Terry Pratchett's The Colour Of Magic! We thought the movie was still in the works! We were looking more for Hogfather rather than Colour Of Magic, even though we're quite apprehensive of how Hogfather will turn out based on how reviews tag it as a 'love it or hate it' show (the Illustrated Screenplay doesn't calm our fears either).

Admittedly a closer look on the cover it says 'Terry Pratchett's The Colour Of Magic Part 1' but since we're on a roll why stop...and the first 10 minutes of the show gives us the impression that it's gonna be something like the Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy movie - slightly different but still humourous.

So now we have a telly series to continue now that Battlestar Galactica's done with. Gossip Girls, get to the back seat.

Quick Aside: "What Are We Getting Dad?"

So sis texts us the other day asking, "Eh, what are we going to buy for Dad for Father's Day?"

And it's a question we've been asking ourself time and again during the last couple of months and then panic 'cos Father's Day was looming and we haven't gone shopping.

Then it hit us after a while: we've all already chipped in to get him an early Father's Day mobile to replace his old Nokia about a month and a half back already.

Sporeland Jellical Ball

Jellicle Cats come out to-night
Jellicle Cats come one come all:
The Jellicle Moon is shining bright -
Jellicles come to the Jellicle Ball.

After first watching Cats on telly (TV3 we think we showing the DVD version), we thought, "Meh." Some of the songs were good, but as Cat's really was based on a children's books about cats (Old Possum's Book Of Practical Cats), there wasn't so much of story as there was about cats. So happens when we were in Esplanade for Cinderella, the Chief saw that Cats will be showing. Hence this trip to Sporeland!

Once again, the overnight train down and back - altho' this time we both killed time in multiplayer Space Invaders Extreme and Pacman Vs on the DS! Both of us were expecting to reach early, and have breakfast once again at Swensen's. Something we both looked forward to before we headed to freshen up in the gym.

To our surprise, Swensen's disappeared! And Park Hotel! In fact, the entire building's closed down! What's happened? More importantly, where are we going to have breakfast this early an hour?

Luckily, this trip we weren't as early and Paragon's lower ground food stores were already opened. We both decided to stop by The Soup Spoon for their breakfast set of Ham & Cheese sandwich and Cereal With Yoghurt.

Soup Spoon have quite an extensive selection of soups to choose from, but the soups are more to our fancy than the Chief, one of our East VS West differences. And the Chief doesn't fancy yoghurt either, and that the Chief sampled a bite before we discovered that there was honey at the bottom of the bowl to mix in didn't help.

After a shower at the gym, it was down to the Heeran for a quick looky about for clothes. NUM still doesn't do cheap clothes, and while Mook caught the Chief's eye we decided to check out other places first.

Given that we decided to make this trip a much more 'relaxed and easygoing trip', there wasn't much planned in our itinerary. But there happened to be delay in our train journey that after Heeran we'd to rush to Marina Square with only time to lunch and not shop. The reason?

The Mango Snow as featured on Hyperion's. The both of us are mad for mangos too, and since Marina Square is near the Esplanade, lunch at Xin Wang HK was the obvious choice.

We both were rather disgruntled, however, as when we asked the waitress how large the Mango Snow would be, she was vague in her answer. Thus we called our lunch, the Mango Snow, and cups of water. The Mango Snow is appropriate for THREE people - for two, you don't need to order drinks at all.

Cats was a pleasant surprise. For we were thinking we would be awake and listening to the parts we found interesting and sleeping through the rest ie. sleep through Rum Tum Tugger's and Growltiger's songs (to be honest, we did get sleepy and almost fell asleep at some point).

Okay, so we admit we didn't know just how much of a dance musical Cats turned out to be. It was very enjoyable and we respect how the dancer-singer-actors manage to do it all! Jellicle Songs For Jellicle Cats itself impressed us as how clear their singing was - when they did the bit, "'Round the cathedral, Rang Vivat! Life to the everlasting cat!" we sorely missed classical choral singing.

Still, this is one musical where we will pass buying the CD as proof that we've been there to watch it, the program book is enough. Oh and because the Chief already has the CD.

After Cats, it was down to Chinatown for a bit of walking, shopping and dinner. Oh dinner! More raw fish with porridge! Seriously, we love this dish.

The only problem with this kind if dinner is that, we're sitting outdoors in the heat and we're eating porridge. Thankfully this trip we're partly prepared and dressed light, keeping a shirt in a bag to wear during Cats only. Need to get more suitable clothes!

After dinner, it was back to the gym for another shower and change then it was onwards to catch our train back. Our overnight train back was rather interesting, as this time we had a group of aunties travelling along with us. They first made their impression when one of them quite loudly exclaimed, "EXCUSE ME, WHOEVER IT IS THAT IS SMOKING PLEASE GO OUT TO SMOKE. THIS IS A NON-SMOKING CARRAIGE!"

Mentally applauded her, although soon after we held that judgement in check when she went, "There's a smell from this side, someone over here farted."

Throughtout all the time we were in our bunk with the curtains drawn while playing Space Invaders Extreme with the Chief. And in both cases, the cause of smells were not from either of us.

At Woodlands we confided to the Chief that we were going to be worried that the aunties were going to be a troublesome lot later. The Chief consoled us by saying that the aunties will be likely to sleep early. This proved true, as their noisy chatter died down not long after we've all left immigration and were well on our way to KL.

Only we were effing woken up sometime 6am by a couple of aunties making small talk rather loudly in Mandarin!!!!!

We would have been happy to have slept until we were at KL Sentral, not up early in the morning being reminded that we have a full bladder and will not be using any toilet till we reach KL Sentral some 2 hours later!

Some half hour after being disturbed, we heard another voice, a foreign or Indian lady (intonation not clear), politely telling the Annoying Aunties that their conversation woke everyone up early in the morning.

It took some yanking our bunk curtains aside loud enough and staring out at the aunties with slit eyes (the kind of look when you wake up and everything's bright) for a couple of seconds before yanking the curtains shut that got the attention of one of the aunties - the politer one (to the left) who'd actually called for the unknown smoker to go smoke out of the carraige. Her voice quietened down while the other aunty (on right) could do no effing thing about how loud she spoke.

If they weren't talking in Mandarin, we would have also added in our bit of telling them to quiet down and let everyone sleep. As it was, we had a grouchy morning until we'd gotten back, dumped our stuff and gone for breakfast and a bit of shopping.

Up up up past the Russell Hotel
Up up up to the Heaviside Layer