Taiwan Trip - Day 1

Singapore -> Taiwan

Our parents had already left for China, so it's up to us to secure the house properly. Booked a Toyota Estima cab from Prime in case our luggage couldn't fit into a Toyota Wish. The booking fee was a staggering $8! I finished up the last cup of fresh milk in the fridge. Settled the house according to the checklist and we rushed off at about 9.30am, as the cab has already arrived.

It's so fat, but the doors can close on their own. So cool!

I went through the checklist and found that we did not lock the room doors. Oops.

Perfect portrayal of sunny island Singapore! Wait till you get a feel of the suffocating heat.

Yay I'm at Changi airport again after a long 10 years! Check out my flight!

Jetstar is at Terminal 1. Right at the entrance, is a giant weighing machine. Both our luggage cases weighed a mere 22.3kg. Come back dunno become like what.

Next, we looked for lunch during breakfast, taking a tour around T1 at the same time. The corridor to the T1 lift is so narrow! The lift so tiny as well! Nothing much interests me. Perhaps only the Popeye, because I have never had it before. But it's all fried food neh... not very keen on fried food at this hour. My sister just said don't want, but couldn't say what she wanted, got grumpy over it before leaving the luggage behind to fetch a brochure.

While looking through the brochure for a place to eat, we strolled to the viewing gallery. Saw a random Jetstar plane and containers... wonder if they will put our luggage in there?
Decided to go T2. Sister wanted to eat at restaurant lah. Lots of kids on excursion at T2! Went to the F&B area... but most not opened yet, except for Breeks. So Breeks lor.

Got 2 stomachaches in the middle of my meal. I was wondering what on earth I ate, then I realized it's what I drank.

It's the milk.

Forgot that milk shouldn't be the first meal of the day. Had 1 of the 2 Chinese stomach upset potion. I'm pretty sure I didn't need it, but well, just take it lah.

We went to Guardian pharmacy to buy some sweets and the good old Po Chai Pills. No time to visit T3 after all the toilet trips, so it's back to T1 to check-in our luggage. The officer changed our tickets from the middle of the plane to the 2nd row. Oops to the poor person :X Our luggage disappeared down the conveyor belt. Hope it didn't hurt. The officer said we could still keep the wheelchair until we board the plane. We checked-in ourselves too and walked around the shops... which looked pretty boring since I can't afford am not into branded goods. Bro and sis utilized the free internet kiosks, grabbed a copy of free pink newspapers, final toilet trip and it's a mad dash to catch our flight! The gate was unbelievably far from the shops! Then we got stuck behind people who didn't pack their bags properly and thus had problem clearing security. On the plane, the flight attendant said I had to check-in the wheelchair :O They took it and I could only hope that it would arrive safely. The flight attendant notifed me that I had to rent a wheelchair once I touch down at Taipei, which would cost me NT35. Ok lor.

It only sank in later that NT35 is like only S$1.75.

13:50 Byebye Singapore!

Jetstar washroom. Never used it before.

Filled in the immigration cards. 3 of us shared 2 canned drinks. Save money.

Across the aisle was a mother and super obedient baby. Totally fuss-free throughout the flight, fully contented with some pieces of sponge jigsaw. If only all babies were like it!


18:30 Hello Taipei!

Landed on schedule at Taoyuan airport. Despite waiting for the whole plane to disembark and taking a look at the cockpit, the wheelchair still hadn't arrived upon touchdown. My brother lifted me to the departure lounge where we looked at the boring scene of planes moving like snails on tarmac. An airport worker came with the wheelchair shortly. The first thing he did was to ask for payment haha. Surprise, he's there to help push it as well, and insisted on doing it. We had to let him, or else I think his boss would scold him. Passed by the duty-free shops... paled in comparison to Singapore's. He led us through the customs via express (now then we appreciated him being around), through some hidden corridors and lift (now, we REALLY need him around) to the luggage collection, where our bags were probably already dizzy waiting for us. He waited while we found my wheelchair, made sure we didn't need anymore help before leaving with the airport's wheelchair. Wow, what a steal for NT35!

Went to the washroom, where I encountered disposable seat covers for the first time. Washroom was generally clean, but it's a bit cramp and no handicapped cubicle. Dehh.

Having heard the pilot's weather report prior to landing, we gave a public display of our luggage in order to fish out our jacket. 20°C, dun pway pway! Outside the washroom was a desk for the airport staff, and on the desk was a rack of glasses for far-sightedness. Guess middle-aged Taiwanese don't like to get their own spectacles? ^_^;; Near the exit is a giant transparent bin of discs, presumably pirated. So many people kena caught eh?

Dated look.

Got out of the luggage collection. Many people were holding up signs bearing the names of the people they were waiting for. Nobody was waiting for us if course. We turned right to the Tourists' Centre to apply for the Youth Travel Card. Just had to fill up a form and show our passports. All below 30 years old, so still young, haha. While we were at it, cabbies were advertising their transfer services to Taipei for NT1200. Expensive lor... the guy I booked for the return trip only charges NT900. But bus still cheapest lah! Now I understand why Changi forces people to get ripped off by the limousine service. Touting is not a pretty scene. Those people ask non-stop one.

66°F! Meaning 19°C! Walau don't know can take it or not!

The bus ticketing counters are located at the opposite end of the Tourists' Centre. The people manning the counters were shouting out the stops, timing and charges to attract people. If I hadn't done my homework, I would have been overwhelmed by all of these, including the cabbies. Freego bus really took the effort to employ the woman with the loudest voice. We confirmed with Freego that it would drop us right outside our hotel without a need for transfer. Freego was driving off right away, so we chop chop bought the tickets for NT140 each and we went out of the airport, into the outdoor aircon of Taiwan for the first time. Alamak!

Funny that the ticket said that it's a non-direct ride.

The bus is the type where the luggage compartment takes up the bottom and passengers sit on the upper deck. My brother had to carry me up the narrow flight of stairs, probably the second most dangerous stunt during our trip.

The interior of the bus. Very comfortable seats, with the news tv channel on to make sure you know all about Taiwan upon arrival. No excuse to be suakoo. I figured that it would be after 8pm when we reached the hotel followed by running out for dinner right after, hence there would be no time for the confirmation calls I was supposed to make. Braved the roaming charges, call now! Meeky requested that I call him using the hotel phone later. Hmm very careful of him. It was only after I was done then I realized that I would have to brave the battery-draining as well. See lah, geh kiang never bring charger!

The bus went up the expressway. It was about 30min more before we saw the city lights of Taipei.
The Ximen metro exit we would use everyday.

The bus driver began calling out the hotel names and stopping for passengers to alight. It was not long before we left the bustling Ximending area... with only us and another person left in the bus. Getting worried...

Finally, the bus driver shouted, "内江到了". My brother executed the most dangerous stunt of the trip - getting me down the bus. The driver took our luggage out and also one that didn't belong to us. We thought another person was dropping off too, until we saw there wasn't anybody else coming down and the driver had closed the bus door. We faster stopped the bus, so honest of us! Free luggage also don't want!

Neijiang's reception is really compact. At the entrance, look left, the armchairs shown on the website are there. The lift is at the centre. Look right, it's the counter. That's it. We were given the option of paying in full or daily and we opted for the latter. When we leave the hotel everyday, we have to pass the keys to the counter for safe-keeping.

Neijiang's staircase is probably just 1m wide. The lift landing has no room a wheelchair to make turns. The lift barely fitted my wheelchair. Think lone wheelchair user cannot stay there lah. Our room is very basic, 1 double bed, 1 single bed, hairdryer, mini-fridge, wardrobe, bathtub, tv with a million channels and clean. NT2080/NT2280 per night, worth it!

Late already, faster find the 飞天麻辣火锅 for dinner! We just kept walking... and walking... until we reached 西宁南路, not giving up although we passed by several steamboats and I was already freezing in the wind. I had planned to feast on crab pincers, but they weren't fresh. Disappointed that there isn't any free-flow Haagen Daz as mentioned on the website.

Super shiok to have piping hot steamboat on a cold day. Only 1 plate of the premium meat. We had tomato soup and mala soup. No MSG at all! Only took a few sips of the mala soup, don't want to kena diarrhoea on first day of the holiday! And Singapore just had food poisoning outbreak at Geylang mala steamboat lor! The desserts are quite sad. Very thoughtful of the restaurant to provide a mini-bin and packet of tissue paper. Total bill was NT1199, which is S$59.95 for 3. Worth it!

Stopped by a 7-11 near our hotel and bought the largest bottle of mineral water we could find, because we weren't sure if we could take Taipei tap water. Back to the hotel to bathe and sleep.

Sandstorm? What sandstorm?

End of Day 1.

Taiwan Trip - Preps

Day -80 (5 Feb)
After weeks of monitoring, I decided that the prices of Jetstar can't go any lower. There goes $1290... But I will get to use an airbridge despite taking a budget airline, not a bad deal.


Day -78 (7 Feb)
With the flight secured, it's time to settle the accommodation. The hotel I eyed is only contactable by phone, so bo bian, had to make an overseas call. By my research, 019 promises to be cheap. 内江商旅 has all that I needed, but they only accept bookings 1 month in advance. Means next time still must call again lah...

The hotspring hotel I was eyeing, 天隆大飯店, doesn't seem to reply email, so I called them up too. If only they would check their email.


Day -76 (9 Feb)
Took a long toilet break at work to call Mr 吕来福, a cabby highly recommended on forums for Taroko tours. He said he was in the 水帘洞 (wa in cave still can answer phone!), so he asked me to call back later. I did, by using the last-dialled function as I always do (something I would regret later). He was available on he date I wanted and assured me that there's something to see even on wheelchair. Hooray! The booking was all verbal. I just had to call him on the day I reached Taiwan to reconfirm. By the way, his accent ah, I think a bit hard to hear over the phone haha.

Called Meeky Yang, a cabby highly recommended for Taipei outskirts tour, but he didn't pick up. Sigh.

Meeky called me back in the evening.
Meeky: 4月30号有空啊！现在才2月咧，你这么早就打来啊！
Sotong: 哦？Err怕输嘛...
Again, the booking was verbal and I just had to call him on the day I reached Taiwan to reconfirm.

All cab tours settled!

Now I can proceed to confirm my accommodation in Hualien. I had a hard time looking for a cheap 民宿 (don't stay in hotel all the time mah) that has either a lift or rooms on the ground floor. Sent an email to 被浪打到 (Ocean Bed and Breakfast) to reserve a room for 4 with street view. Staying for 1 night only, no need seaview ba ^_^. Save money! No need for any deposit, how wonderful!


Day -71 (14 Feb)
Received my hp bill and got a SHOCK. What was that $4.32 IDD 001 call? I got dial 001 meh? It must have been a mistake!


Day -69 (16 Feb)
Called Singtel up. The CSO said maybe I had used the last-dialled function, which wouldn't have the 019 prefix. Huh... I thought have lor, that's why I dared to use it mah...

Lesson learnt: ALWAYS type out the number to call, so the 019 will 101% guarantee plus chop be there. Wei... $0.02/s vs $0.00317/s is no joke lor!

Overseas calls are more affordable than I thought.


Day -64 (21 Feb)
I think it was around this time. Jetstar fares fell by more than 50%! WA HEART PAIN!


Day -61 (24 Feb)
Jetstar sent a notification about a new flight itinerary. Everything pushed back by about 1hr.


Day -56 (1 Mar)
First thing when I woke up - CALL NEIJIANG! Faster book, must be number 1, else nowhere to stay in Taipei! With such kiasuism, it's little wonder that I reserved my desired room. But the confirmation will only be done 1 week before arrival :(


Day -35 (22 Mar)
I read the horror stories about people taking Freego bus from hotel to airport and it happily went in circles picking up fares, causing the passengers to almost miss their flight. And the driver had the cheek to show bad attitude. With a few hundred dollars at stake here, I decided to book a cab transfer for NT800 (S$38) from 小李服務圑隊 via email.


Day -34 (23 Mar)
五角船板 seemed like a restaurant popular with tourists. Deciding that I could somehow squeeze it into my itinerary, I called them up to check out their reservation policy. The only accessible seat is downstairs near the door - hardly pleasant. And they only accept reservations for minimum of 6 (I think) pax. Bring my whole family also not enough lor. The CSO said it should be safe to not reserve if we come right at opening.

I guess it's not worth the effort to travel specially there by cab since there's nothing else in the area that interests me.


Day -33 (24 Mar)
小李服務圑隊's reply was so fast lor! Within the hour of me sending the enquiry email! Like they were sitting in front of the computer waiting for email! But I only saw it 2 day later lah. I replied to book and within minutes, someone called me to confirm the booking. Efficient!


Day -31 (26 Mar)
We were taking forever to decide on our hotspring hotel. I wanted to be adventurous and go to 礁溪 instead of 北投 or 乌来 as most Singaporeans do, but this also posed a difficulty as there wasn't any review on cheap 礁溪 hotsprings on any of the forums I go to. What to do, google for the local's reviews lor. I was being choosy. Accessible, new (so there will be no stains on the tub), open till midnight, cheap, got place to sleep, honest...

My sister picked 三光礁溪溫泉旅館. Everything pass, but looks a bit old ley...

I found out there are 民宿 with hotspring too. 松语墅 (Pine) caught my eye. Look at that rooftop tub!! I think can swim in it lor! But it's on the 4th storey, don't know got lift or not.

Pine has a regularly-manned message board, but some things are better asked personally instead of ding dong to and fro. I called them up, and had the most difficult Taiwanese phone call EVER! Wa the lady boss' accent! Anyway, the outcome was that there is no lift (expected), the room was available and I can book without giving a deposit (yay!).

I learnt that in Taiwan, when a person says that a place "有雷", it means "有地雷", meaning dishonest.


Day -28 (29 Mar)
It suddenly struck me that I didn't have to wait for Neijiang's confirmation to get the free amusement park ticket - I already have a confirmation from Ocean BnB! So I forwarded the documents to my sister for her to ask the Taiwan Tourism Board to mail the tickets to us.


Day -27 (30 Mar)
4 storeys is too cruel to my brother, so I decided on a room on the 2nd storey. I called Pine to confirm, but this time the boss asked for a deposit. I said last time she said no need ley, and somemore I'm a foreigner and don't know how to do fund transfer to Taiwan. As a reassurance, I volunteered to call her once I reach Taiwan. So the boss said ok lor. Heehee!


Day -20 (6 Apr)
Been putting off the insurance for too long! Tenet, which was suggested by my friend-cum-financial advisor, seemed good afterall, so I got him to help me purchase it. And if got anything, can ask him to claim!

Why aren't 3 siblings counted as family? :\


Day -8 (18 Apr)
Online train ticket is available 2 weeks in advance. I contemplated waking up at 6am to catch the system opening hour as we were traveling on a weekend, thus tickets may run out. But my brother said don't be crazy lor, and I really like to sleep in on Saturdays (I think more weightage for this). I spent quite some time understanding Taiwan rail, ticketing, stations, services and how to book tickets online. I think the whole world is confused about the ticket booking, going by the number of queries posted on forums. It didn't help that all the vital reads in the Taiwan Rail website (which opens a new window for every hyperlink) is all in traditional, formal Chinese. Vomit blood!

With help from this very helpful guide to booking train tickets, I secured our Taipei -> Hualien tickets.

I was just trying my luck, but the next day's tickets are bookable already! Excitedly, I tried to book our Hualien -> Jiaoxi tickets, but failed for my desired timing! Huh so fast full already?! I attempted to split up the stations by trying Hualien -> Yilan -> Jiaoxi and Hualien -> Luodong -> Jiaoxi, but some legs are also full! Wa Taiwanese mega-ultra-kiasu lor! Worse than Singaporeans! Bo bian, I booked a later timing instead.

The ticket-booking and payment system are not integrated. I found that I should designate my tickets as child/adult/handicapped here. Damn, I was looking high and low for the option at the booking website. Anyway, the online system didn't allow me to book the half-priced handicapped and companion tickets as they are for locals with some handicapped booklet only :\


Day -7 (19 Apr)
It's 8 days away from departure, but I didn't want to be making phonecalls at the corridor at work again, so I confirmed with Neijiang. Luckily they didn't say something like "pls call tomorrow, I said confirm 1 week before". My confirmation number was 042701. Wa first customer of that day lor!


Day -6 (20 Apr)
Book and paid for our Jiaoxi -> Taipei train tickets. HSBC had better give me a good rate.


Day -3 (23 Apr)
Been OT-ing every single day since April. Today my boss came to ask me can postpone my trip or not. Of course cannot lah! I chop in February ok! Imagine not putting any developer into a project! Can you ask yourself if you ever had such a smooth-sailing project or not?


Day -0 (26 Apr)
Sandstorm in Taipei! NoooOooo!

The exchange rate has been really sucky. In all, we changed S$5509.26 for NT119900, with a mean rate of 21.76.

Blur Sotong Goes For a Haircut

While my colleagues have gone for the merger celebration, I used the time for a (hopefully) queue-free haircut in town. For going in the afternoon, I have saved myself from ERP at ECP and also enjoyed smooth traffic along the way.

I reached earlier at 3.40pm when my appointment was at 4pm. My stylist was away, so I sat down to wait.

She returned 5min later with a few packets of food. I asked if she hasn't had her lunch yet and she said yes. She put the food down and served me.

Halfway through my haircut, a customer walked in, but there was nobody available to serve him. The other customers were doing some chemical treatment and I looked like the next to finish.

"If you had to serve him, your lunch will become dinner." I commented.

"Ya, it's like that in the service line, what to do?"

All of a sudden, it dawned upon me that I'm the reason why she couldn't have her lunch yet.

Shit. So much for coming earlier and hoping to go home earlier.

SGZ1557J

Sometimes the queue to enter IBP grows a bit long outside Boon Lay Way, so some try to jump the queue, but gently.

This ang moh fellow had to pretend to be going straight and then suddenly swerve threateningly left towards us and got honked at by 2 vehicles first thing in the morning.

Not all rude drivers are Singaporean.

Mapletree the Bloodsucker

When my father came to pick me up this evening, he said that we would have to pay to enter the carpark from now onwards.

How Mapletree went all out to earn $1.30 from a poor IT worker
Earlier, they shifted the carpark barrier to the carpark and loading bay entrance, but there was still ample space for my father's bike to pass through.

A few days ago, they installed poles at the gap, but my father's bike could still pass between them.

This afternoon, they put a chain across the poles.

There was no grace period. The charge is 65 cents per entry. Effectively, I would be paying $1.30 daily for drop off and pickup. More expensive than a day of parking.

Why did they need to do this when there was never any congestion in the carpark? Neither was there a problem of people taking advantage of the free bike parking.

I feel targeted.

So why am I using the carpark for pickup and drop off when there's a proper drop off point at the entrance of the building?

The ramp is unfit for handicapped usage.
1) The handlebars are so fat that they are for hugging, not grabbing. Maybe they should be renamed handle "trunks".
2) The handlebars are so freaking dusty that I don't want to touch them. It wouldn't help even if I do; my hands would slide off them.
3) The floor is so dusty that I could be dust-skiing if not for my trusty Scholl shoes.
4) The ramp is open-air. I'm ok with being unshaded from the blazing tropical sun and scalding my hands on the railing made from a heat conductor. But I'm not ok with having to walk in the pouring rain with more water pouring down the slope than an average level floor. It's a life hazard.
5) The problem does not stop when the rain is over. The water at the turn of the ramp takes ages to dry and before it does, the sky pours again.
6) Late at night, the ramp is unlit. Plus the coat of dust, I really can't see where I'm putting my foot.

Actually, even if all the above flaws are resolved, I would still not use the ramp.
1) Walking up a ramp already poses a difficulty to me.
2) I still need my father to walk me up and down, so he would still require parking.

All I could do was to ask the department secretary to help me request for a grace period, or purchase a season ticket if there's any in the first place.

Hey Mapletree, do you know that 2 tiles have popped up and they have been lying on the floor for the longest time?

Seriously!

SGR3448U

At the Bukit Batok East Ave 3 exit, this car was happily following the lane marking towards the slip road when it suddenly decided to swerve right to go straight instead.

Make up your mind earlier damn it! Our brakes are not as powderful as your mighty car!

Freebies I Paid For

Going on holiday soon, but no travel-size facial scrub to bring! Can't imagine how much dead skin I will be accumulating over 10 days, cannot! Fr3b, help me!

Eucerin DermoPURFIYER Scrub
Nice scent, not too abrasive, but skin still feels exfoliated. No tight feeling after use. And best of all, it's perfect for traveling!

Will buy it in the future :)

---
Product Information

Deeply cleanses and refines pores, without over-drying. So, it's gentle enough for every day use.

Instructions:
Wet area to be washed with warm water. Apply to hands and work into a lather. Gently massage face and other affected areas, avoiding eye area. Rinse thoroughly. Use regularly morning or evening followed by Eucerin Clarifying Facial Tonic.

Attributes:
- Gentle, pore-refining microparticles
- 1% Lactic Acid beads
- Soap-free
- Oil-free

Benefits:
- Noticeably clearer, smoother and more visibly refined skin.

Retail Price: SGD$18.60/(100ml)

Ingredients: Aqua, Cocamidopropyl Betaine, Decyl Glucoside, Sodium Myreth Sulfate, Polyethylene, Lactic Acid, Hydroxypropyl Starch Phosphate, Acrylates/C10-30 Alkyl Acrylate Crosspolymer, Polyquaternium-10, PEG-40 Hydrogenated Castor Oil, Mannitol, Microcrystalline Cellulose, PEG-90 Glyceryl Isostearate, Laureth-2, Benzophenone-4, Phenoxyethanol, Methylparaben, Propylparaben, Parfum, CI 77289


Dermalogica C12 Concentrate
I figured I should get a few more items in the same delivery to save on stamp.

No more potion for lightening my pigmentation. Don't know what to buy, so look for sample first. This seemed like the most expensive around, so I got it :P

No lah I didn't get this huge bottle for a sample! 1 sachet nia! I'm supposed to use it all over the face, but since the sample was so small, I only used it on my pigmented spots.

Easily-absorbed and non-sticky, it did help with the newer spots, and a bit with the older ones. I like the non-drip, non-oily texture too.

But so expensive lah! Siao lor, how to buy?

---
Product Information
A silky-rich, high-potency brightening treatment that helps minimises and prevent future discoloration while helping to improve skin clarity.

Retail Price: SGD$205/30ml


Paid a total of $1.60 for these 2 samples. Samples are free, but packaging, labor and stamp are not. Getting expensive!

Refilled My Stash!

Weird Lunch

Wanted to eat chicken rice for lunch, but it was late already and roast and boiled chicken have run out. So were the noodles. So I settled for this Chicken Cutlet rice from the chicken rice stall.

Comes with chicken rice's rice and mayonnaise on top. Very weird! The mayonnaise overpowered the rice. Chicken was very crispy. Nice overall, but I felt plain rice would suffice since I couldn't taste the chicken rice.

They gave the chicken rice chilli as well. Totally weird.

Galileo - Yougisha no Henshin

等到脖子都长了! Finally laid my hands on a proper DVD version!

No Water At Work

What could be worse than:
- Going to the toilet the moment you reach office, to find that some inconsiderate bitch hadn't flushed.
- Tried to flush on her behalf, only to realize you have maligned her - not that she hadn't, but she couldn't, because the flush wasn't working.
- Overheard people outside saying there's NO WATER in the whole building today. Not even downstairs. The security also didn't know the reason.

After adding on to the soup in the toilet bowl, I attempted to wash my hands. The tap still managed a trickle. Hey, why is there a trickle here, but none for the flush? If the tank were to be filled by trickles, it would still fill up, right? Annoying.

Within an hour, we can all guess the state of the toilet.

The secretary asked the building's management, Mapletree, what was going on, only to be told that they were "looking into it".

There's still enough water to fill my own bottles for the day, but by 9.30am, our office's supply has run out. The poor auntie would have to spend an hour to fill our boiler with that 细水. But will it be 长流?

We need a water-rationing truck, badly.

Soon, I had to go toilet again. Walau... dread it lor... how would the toilet be like now? W's vivid description of China's diarrhoea and vomit toilet(without doors)? No water to drink, nevermind, can buy. But no water to flush toilet is the city girl's nightmare!

O not so bad, it seemed like the cleaner had manually flushed it before. But the floor a bit wet ley, dangerous. Have to mop the floor with tissue paper. Sorry trees...

Where did the cleaner get the water from anyway? Take an hour to fill 1 pail with that tap? Bring over from the building opposite?

The air started to get stuffy. Wa, as if no water not enough! No air, no water, want us to die!

Meanwhile, the secretary kept bugging the management. No improvement, standard reply.

Normal services resumed after noon. Must have been hard on the cleaners.

Happened exactly on the first working day of March. Really makes me wonder if the management owed utilities fee, hence our supplies were restricted to teach them a lesson.

Or perhaps, Mapletree being owned by our dear TH, which has recently made some high profile losses due to the financial meltdown, has been affected, hence this cost-cutting measure.

Or because of the above reason, they did not pay the utilities bill.

Whatever it is, all I can say is that the management of the building has gone from bad to worse ever since they took over from JTC. Last year, they took more than 1 month to replaced some popped tiles, when it took merely a few days in the past. We always had to complain about the aircon's temperature (too hot most of the time) and they always took a long time to fix it.

O, a good deed was that the carpark gantry was relocated to prevent vehicle buildup on the slope to basement in the event of a screwup. But they had to waste money by building a new room for the carpark warden 10cm away from the old one. Wonder why cannot just use the old one?? Bad 风水, so the gantry always spoil and the cars jam?

Buildings under Mapletree beware, it could happen to you...

Mellben Reloaded

It's really cool to have friends who love crabs and don't mind getting our hands dirty in a non-aircon place. W and J were having crab cravings, so it's time for Mellben again! Looking back, the last time I was there was 1+ years ago! This day is a perfect day since I will be on half day in the afternoon, can go earlier to queue :D

Things have changed drastically over the year. Now Mellben has bought over the whole coffeeshop.

Got water feature and renewable decoration on the walls! The place has a kelong-like feel, with wooden flooring for the seats outside. There's even a main entrance like a regular restaurant where you are supposed to queue for a table and order food, before they show you to your table.

Not sure what's the SOP, but the impression I get is that you get to sit down only when your dishes are on the way. So I played the compassion card to order my dishes seated. Hehe still quite caring lah, the people there.

I ordered the usual fare. When the waitress asked for the size of my crabs, I used my hands to form the size. She saw and said, "O, 中的har?" Wa, something considered large at Ah Yat, is medium here lor! Standard very high!

Got a card stating my waiting time after placing my order. Then someone came along to ask if I wanted any drinks.
Haven't had coconut for years, but not now, when I'm going to be filled with crabs shortly...

Got a hot drink since it rained in the afternoon, and it would have the whole night to cool down.

Barley. Forgot to ask if it's fresh before ordering. They serve the instant type! Yucks.

The purpose of this picture is to show the colored LCD CCTV above the guy's head.

The yummy crab beehoon with extra soup and noodles behind it! This time, it's as tasty as the first time!
The black pepper crab. Less spicy than Ah Yat's, so it's better for me.

The fried seafood tofu. Very nice when it's crispy and warm.

W and J ordered pear juice. Never heard of people ordering this! It's nice btw, that I wished I could have it. When their drinks were served, they had to pay. Funny I wasn't asked to pay for my barley.

Total damage was $93.

I want to go back already.

I never found the pear juice anywhere near my workplace. Sian.

I Know How Much's Inside This Angpow...

... without having to open it.

その時、ハートは盗まれた (Sono Toki, Heart wa Nusumareta )

Chinese translation of the title would be "是谁偷走我的心". Found this extremely old dorama starring Takuya Kimura up for download. How old is extremely old? Check out the screenshots!




Look at that hairstyle! OMG right! So you see how old this is! When he was still young enough to play a high school student!

Downloaded it out of curiosity. It's only 5 episodes long. This was screened in 1992. Quality damn lousy, probably a videotape rip? It's so bad that I can't blow it up much beyond the default resolution.

It's very teen, probably a bit forward for its time for the hint of lesbianism. Overall, so-so lah, teen show what.

Synopsis here.

Busted My CC For The First Time

Reached home at 7pm to find a missed call from a withheld number on my handphone. Want to return call also cannot lah, too bad. Anyway, must be some cold caller trying to sell me something.

Over dinner, my father asked me if I had busted my card as he had problem with it at the petrol station just now. Nahhh how can? No matter how I spend, also not possible one! And I have just topped up $1000 recently. Lousy Caltex.

After dinner, my brother told me that the bank called him to confirm that he had indeed made some purchases like subscribing to a magazine from UK.

Wa suddenly so many doubts regarding my card. I logged in to check my card balance. With our efforts combined, we bought getaway air tickets, magazines from a faraway land and pigged out at Sakura for the equivalent of 23 pax, to name a few.

I busted my card alright.

Especially, the abovementioned activities happened within close proximity of one another. Looks like a card got stolen? Alert bank! Good! I like!

So how? Manually return $3000 first lor. Must show them it's not that I don't have money.

Lesson learnt: Pay up all credit cards before going for my holiday.

Sotong's Out-of-Control Spending Spree 3

On the same day that we bought the uSqueeze, we also decided that we needed a new computer table.

My brother swiped $1143 at Ikea.

Still got credit left in my card or not?

Sotong's Out-of-Control Spending Spree 2

We decided we should get the uSqueeze for our mother. Called up the AMK Hub branch, but they were unable to give us the same price as offered by the Suntec roadshow. So lousy! So my father took my sister to Suntec to get it. She came back by cab as the huge box couldn't fit on the bike. Somehow, the delivery offered yesterday wasn't valid anymore :\

$648 down.

Sotong's Out-of-Control Spending Spree 1

CNY coming but no new clothes! Actually got lah, I bought 1 for my DnD, but worn before already mah, not counted! And I also have a $10 Ben & Jerry's voucher to spend. Last day already, as usual. In view of the expiring voucher, it's destination Suntec City. Then it would be ramen dinner at Gallery Hotel's Miharu and hop across the road to CornerStone for drinks using my sisters' free stored value card. And if time permits, CNY street market at Chinatown?

First stop was a budget lunch at the foodcourt. Char kuay teow, haven't had for a long time! But my brother asked for prawns instead of hum :\ The beef noodles I had last time seemed to be gone. What a pity, it was nice.

After lunch, we took the lift to level one. Right outside was a boutique Fond and the clothes caught our eyes. Price was affordable too, so in we went. Don't know why, but the sized there looked rather big. The S was like L. We decided on 2 tops. I couldn't resist getting a pair of earrings from there. Afterall, it has been like, 1yr+ since the last time I bought earrings! The hooks were of dubious material, but fear not, I still have plenty of Firemountain silver!
First stop only, and we have busted almost $100 :O

The lunch has already gone further down our GI tract, so it's time for a snack. We looked at where the Ben & Jerry's was supposed to be, and it has become some cafe selling soup! OMG! Closed down liao! It didn't make sense to go to Raffles City to spend a free voucher, so we forgo it. Sad.

Passed by an accessories shop. 20% discount for 2 items, 35% discount for 3 items and 50% discount for 4 items and above. The things are not cheap to start with, easily costing at least $15 for the simplest pair of earrings. I only found 2 pairs of earrings that I liked. My sister found a bear necklace. The sales assistant went through great lengths to convince us that by getting something like a camisole top, with the 50% discount, we would be paying the same sum for 4 items instead of 3. We were taken in and took a brooch and ended up paying almost $50. Only then we realized that the sales assistant meant it when he said "IF you buy a spaghetti top..."
No, I'm not going to show you the clothes and accessories I bought, lest you copy me!

Went to get our caffeine fix from the Starbucks outside Carrefour. Saw Chen Shucheng walk pass quickly. Nobody bothered him. Well-behaved Singaporeans.

Next, a spin in Carrefour since we wouldn't be anywhere near a supermarket after dinner. We stopped by OTO to take a look at the OTO Power Foot. Then we went down to the food level and saw this amazing $88 promotion for Lipton tea because it's in a metal tin.

Ok, we actually do know it's meant for the hamper.

Went to Guardian to buy my Avene Very High Protection Emulsion 50+SPF 50ml. There was a promotion pack with Thermal Water Spray 50ml, Cleanance soapless gel cleanser 25ml, all for $39.90. Considering that the sunblock itself cost about $33, it's quite a good deal.

Passed by The Face Shop. I just had to get a new bottle of nail polish since the last bottle I got 2yrs ago was drying up. Left the shop with a pink tint glitter, in the nick of time as my sister had no more fingers left to test.

Ok time for dinner. Passed by Suntec's gift counter. We could redeem angpow packet and paper bag for every $88 spent. There was no queue so we decided to get them. When we went to level 1, we saw the Osim roadshow and stopped to look at the uSqueeze. My sister tested it out while my brother and I waited for her by looking at the Singapore Mint roadshow. After she was done, we decided there was no point in going down to Miharu already ^_^;; So we went back up to OTO to compare the 2 leg massagers. Then back to Osim again. Must have given the sales assistants plenty of hope eh. Osim's sales assistant offered delivery to our home as she lived quite near us. If we bought OTO, we can have the Everyday credit card rebate. Hmm...

Dinner first. Sizzler as usual. Check it out! No queue on a Saturday evening! Wa recession really bad huh. Please don't order the lamb shank. There's not enough gravy and the meat is dry. By the time the meat was torn off the bone, all the gravy has been soaked up. Had to eat with tomato ketchup.

By the time we were done with dinner, we had decided to get the Osim uSqueeze. But it's 10pm, the roadshow 收档 already lor! Too bad, went shopping at Carrefour. Saw organic toilet roll going for $1+ per roll. Waaa siao lor, must wipe and fold, fold until very very small square then can throw!

When Carrefour made the closing announcement, we knew it's time to go home. No queue at the taxi stand! Got queue of cabs! And idle cabs circling the Fountain of Fortune like they need it! :O Took the Toyota Wish for the first time. A bit higher than usual, but the seats were comfortable. The 35% surchage was over by 8pm, but I forgot about the $3 CBD surcharge applicable till midnight :\ Painnnn....

So if we had gone to Miharu... :O

Unskinned Melon

This unskinned melon was bought from TradeHub. How to eat like that? Apples, guava still can, but MELON??? I like to eat mess-free (exception granted for exceptional items), this one totally cannot make it!

To prevent juice from getting on my hands and face, I had to bite off the skin when I'm done with the fruit on it. So troublesome. Will never buy fruits from there again.

December Food

Whampoa Market Beef Noodles and Rojak

This 牛什粉 is my lunch staple whenever I go for my medical appointments. Soup is tasty, the organs don't stink and just-nice chewy.


Check out the queue! I dapao this back when there's people to share with me at home. The sauce is thick and A LOT (because I asked for more). For $5, it comes with jellyfish. Never knew they go well with rojak. And they use a nice plastic box, not leaky styrofoam or paper. Can rock it as much as I like! The down side is that the 油条 is not crispy. But not nuah until very disgusting lah, so still ok.

When I'm there for breakfast, it would be porridge from Loy Kee. It's actually a chicken rice stall that's supposed to be quite famous, but I really don't think I can eat rice for breakfast. Maybe lunch next time.

Surely there's some other nice food in this food centre? But the first few times I went, my father scanned and could only name a few. Ate the duck rice once, but duck meat is dry had a hard time eating it. The oyster omelette was good but I can't have it for lunch, right? Don't whether it's really so pathetic or we have eyes for different things. So when there's something good, just stick to it.


Mouldy Cheese

My sister brought back some cheese samples from work. This one in particular, looks peculiar. No, the photo is not blur. There is a layer of very fine, mouldy looking covering on top of it and you are supposed to eat it with the cheese. The layer is surprisingly crusty - deceived by its look! The cheese is quite creamy. Saw it in the supermarket. If I remember correctly, it's called Brie.


Ah Yat
We are back again! Because we have another $100 worth of Shaw Towers vouchers to spend, and what is more effective than a seafood dinner?

I decided to get 2 crabs of different flavours this time. I got my creamy pumpkin crab and let my sister choose the other. I knew she would choose the black pepper. I tried it before and it was too spicy for me. But she's like always dying to order black pepper, let her order lah.

Disappointment #1 - NO BAMBOO CLAMS that day.
Disappointment #2 - The drunken prawns we ordered tasted more like herbal prawns.

Delight #1 - My parents commented that the Peking Duck was very cheap at $38, so we got 1. It topped up our bill to $103.81! What would have happened if we didn't order it? Come back to eat again? Hahaha.

Shock #1 - The rice is $1/bowl.



People's Park Food Centre 水饺面

Not nice at all. First of all, it's a mistake because wanton tastes better than 水饺. I'm not even sure how it's supposed to taste like, but anyway, this one is sour from vinegar and quite bland. The noodles is Q, but still can taste the bitterness. It's a pity the name of the stall is not clear in the picture. Can only see Something Chiang Roasters.

My father ordered some duck noodle from another stall that uses this kind of noodle too. For his, 1/4 of them came in a clump. *Sigh*

So this market so big, but 2/2 of the stalls we tried cannot make it? Should have tried the yong tau foo with long long queue.

Latest Craze

At 35 now, more to come!

The Sotong is Wise

1 week ago, my right top and bottom wisdom teeth decided to do some poking at the concurrently. From then, was a spell of chewing slowly, not being able to brush my teeth properly because it got so sore that I couldn't open my mouth wide and hurting even when I wasn't doing anything with my mouth.

Sotongs should be blur. I will consider getting rid of those teeth.

My Free Movies In 2008

Thanks to the HSBC Revolution card's monthly free pair of GV movie tickets, I have rediscovered watching movies in a cinema. Which was actually why I applied for the card in the first place.

This movie thing has taught me the importance of reading the terms and conditions. Initially, I thought HSBC would mail me the tickets, but after waiting in vain for 1 month, I finally got off my ass to find out what happened. It turned out that I had to be the first 500 to send a sms on the first Thursday of the month, beginning 10am. Fine, I turned on a reminder for 7 August 9.45am. 志在必得!!


August
My last movie was about 1yr ago, The Bourne Ultimatum. This time, I was torn between 赤壁 and The Dark Knight. Both had fantastic reviews, been on-screen for a long time and starting to get crappy timings. No interesting movie was going to be released.

After some consideration, breaking the drought is:

Chose it despite the fact that my brother has watched it already and I had not watched Batman Begins. Heath Ledger's death was not a reason.

Truly fantastic action movie! Scary joker! Cool Batmobile! Can I have one too?

Then I must watch Batman Begins too! Obtained a copy from a colleague. So Batman went to some high mountain in Tibet to learn Kungfu from 2 Japanese actors (please do not take this for real)... and they changed the love interest. Good move.


September
It is indeed true that September was a boring month. Seriously, nothing was worth going out of the house for. I let my sister have the tickets since I knew she wanted to watch 12 Lotus. It's a 七月 movie, now already September, must faster watch! Strangely, she wasn't kan jiong at all. I kept reminding her, like I was bugging her to watch the movie she wanted to watch. So weird right, so I decided to shut up... until the last week of the month because the tickets were going to expire. But by that time, 12 Lotus was long gone lah, so she went to watch:

OMG can't believe it. Ultimate waste. But well, it's free.

She found out that she could redeem 1 ticket at a time. I don't know what became of the other ticket.

Anyway, Moeny No Enough 2 became available for download shortly. Your typical Jack Neo movie, but now he's trying to include more and more CG which still has convention halls for improvement.


October
Headache! Like nothing worth stepping out of the house for again! I was waiting for Max Payne to open, but the reviews were dismal. Changed target to Burn After Reading, but my brother doesn't like all-talk-no-action movies and my sister didn't know what it was about. The response for Tropic Thunder was "huh you want to watch this kind of crap?".

There was only 1 choice left, but I had no idea what it is about, who acted (couldn't recognize the Japanese names, except for 常盘贵子) and couldn't really recognize their faces from that tiny GV poster. Heard a good review, so I went for it:

A.k.a. 20-Seiki Shônen

Only when the movie started then I realized the male lead was 唐沢寿明. Got 黑木曈, and many others who acted as kay-leh-fares in various doramas, also can say experienced lah, so I thought it wouldn't be very bad.

It's really not bad ley! It gave a dark meaning to "friend". It's long - 2hr 20min to make your money's worth. The actors spent time looking at one another with the huh-I-did-it-meh look, had flashbacks, which I suppose some people might find draggy, but I thought it's rather common in manga lah. It's been a long time since I watched a movie without reading up about it first, not knowing what to expect at all. So I was like DIAO when it was revealed that there would be a part 2 at the end. Sooo long, yet still got part 2! Power!

And that's not all! Still got part 3! Now I have embroiled myself into another trilogy.


November
While looking for my October movie, 007 was under Coming Soon, hence November's was a no-brainer:

Again, I went without knowing what to expect, but I was under the impression the catastrophe to avert was something nuclear this time. Alas, it was not, and the movie ended before I knew it - less than 2hrs.

Not so impressed.


December
No, there's NO December movie. With my monthly reminder, I couldn't possibly be late in sending my sms. Since November, the lousy system refused to respond promptly, so I bombed it every 10min. For November, I got my confirmation 40min later. This time, I got a response 1hr 20min later:

All movie tickets are fully redeemed for this month. Please visit www.hsbc.com.sg.hsbc.revolution from 15 Dec 08 for new promotions in 2009.

Boohoohoo! Cannot be lor! Somemore the responses for my subsequent bombing trickled in over the next 2hrs. CANNOT MAKE IT! KELONG!

The promotion for next year is less attractive. In order to enable more people to enjoy the privilege, it has been downgraded to 1 free ticket to first 1000, and have to buy 1 ticket to redeem. In other words, it has become a buy-1-get-1-free promotion :\

Nostalgia

While browsing my favorite BT website, I came across this movie which invoked the "hahaha omg this LAME movie!" reaction.

简介：
　　色魔连环案手法变态，女警花生被派作鱼饵引诱色魔，色魔上钓，被追捕下突然自断四肢而死，一警员亦神秘死亡。与此案件接触的人亦离奇死亡。此时，通灵小说家蓝精灵出现，指其中有人被恶鬼所杀，案件亦与道教法哭灭灵钉有关。蓝精灵利用催眠，唤醒人体内潜藏意识，从而揭发真相。可是，竟连恶鬼也一并唤醒过来……







As you can already see from the title, it's a lousy B (or is it C?) grade horror flick. I think my bunch of ex-classmates from JC grabbed it as we were heading to KH's house for Xmas eve. Look, it has the same cast from 我和僵尸有个约会！It's a hilarious film, unfortunately.

J&J Sale 2008

Finally, the long-awaited J&J sale! Time for a stock-take:

• 2 bottles of pH5.5 Body Wash
• 2 bottles of Baby Wash abandoned by my sister from 2yrs back
• 3 packets of panty-liners. Should have been 1 only, when I insisted a few mths ago that we surely had some left, but my sister was too lazy to look for them and went out to buy 2 more.

Have to restock panty-liners for sure. Heard they were going for $1 each!

How about the body wash? I think 4 bottles is about the max we can use in 1yr, but it could be just nice only wor... that baby one need to use a lot right? To be on the safe side, I decided to get 2 bottles.

And a Neutrogena Deep Cleanser for my brother.

Did the shopping list and passed to my father. O well, but things had to go wrong. Apparently, the red packet Carefree was going for $2 and the $1 was another type. So I saved only 10cents, not taking into account the space they take up. So much for a sale. My father could have called me... wrote the $1 so big there :\

I think it's probably the last time I am buying from this sale. When my office move out from there (think we probably will), it won't be worth going so far for this anymore.