6th Jan - 1st Day Pt 2 - Jasmine Lodge, Siem Reap

After the moto ride with Makara for about 20 mins, we reached Jasmine Lodge. I didn't realize it was recommended in Lonely Planet (LP) and I booked it online due to its super cheap price (USD2/night). The pic above is the common dining area with a pool table. It's actually on 2nd floor so it's quite nice at night too. A comfy sofa inviting the guests to lay down and rest.

That's my USD2 room. With basic amenities such as bed, a small stool to put my bag on and also a small piece of mirror, there's nothing complain about. At least the bedsheet is acceptably clean and not causing me itchiness or skin sensitive.

The room is actually a single room with no attached bathroom. It's wooden and with no window. I was proud of myself being able to save some USD for my subsequent trip indeed. Anyway, it's good experience and nice story to tell hahaha.....

Post Holiday Syndrome

I was having serious post holiday or rather Post-Cambodia-cum-Vietnam syndrome when I did this:

1. I start to complain about the hot weather after enjoying nice cool weather in Hanoi, which is 15-18 deg C.
2. I start to complain about the scorching hot sweaty humid weather in KL for the fact that I have to wear a formal working attire with long-sleeved shirt and work pants while under the same hot scorching sun in Cambodia, I can wear thin revealing (as if there's any to reveal) singlet and get some tan without anyone battling an eye due to the fact I'm a traveller!
3. The Starbucks costs me RM15 while a cup of NICE Vietnamese coffee just costs me USD 0.5 which is only about RM1.75 but ok..... I got free WIFI in Starbucks fine.....
4. I missed the start-to-familiar faces of Annor, Lotte, Sharon, Chate, Nares, Renato, Amelie, Yann, Kim, Jun and so many other travellers I met on the road!!!
5. OK, I gotta get ready for work and get a cure for my post-holiday syndrome!!!!!!!!!

More write-up and pics of my travel on the way............

6th Jan - 1st Day Pt 1 (KL, Malaysia - Siem Reap, Cambodia)

This was the first ever picture I took in Cambodia, on the plane which everybody can fly now. I guess the swampy area is Tonle Sap which will be fully flooded when it's raining season and will be the biggest lake during the time. Very much anticipated the start of my trip. I arrived in KL on Jan 5 and spent a night with my best buddy who's cutely pregnant. Really appreciated her as she drove me to the airport!!!!!!!!!!! Nice to spend time before the trip....

Oh yeah... there was a group of Malaysian Chinese onboard the plane as well and it was one shameful moment. They were sneering and spoke loudly and made some improper remarks about the air stewardess in Cantonese and it's really a pain in the ears. There were a few foreigners who's obviously disturbed by their endless rude and loud chats not to mention laughing out loud along the flight. Luckily it's just around 2 hours I guess.

Met a French guy (oh... couldn't be sure actually cox I forgot to write down his name) who was on transit a night before in KL. He couldn't get a plane from Spore to Siem Reap so he ended up making a detour (macam Amazing Race Asia pulak) to detour to KL by bus and arrived around midnight and took the same flight with me to Siem Reap. He walked alone in the Pudu area and luckily he's safe. I met him in Siem Reap a few times with his Singaporean friend as well. Oh yeah... when he asked me where should they go when they're in KL few days later.... I was dumbfounded!!! I mean after seeing Angkor Wat and was asked to recommend a place in KL? U know what I mean??? Other than Petronas Twin Tower.... I dun have any other worthy suggestion. Did take a pics with him and the friend but due to some unforeseen circumstances (another story in the next post), I couldn't post it up here...


You may think that the pic above is some museum or palace but it's not. It's the Siem Reap international airport!!! Unique right? Even Bangkok airport is not traditional-architecturally built like that! Oh yeah.... Malaysians need no Visa for both Cambodia and Vietnam so we save almost USD80 for both. That's my 40 days accomodation in Siem Reap!!!

I brightened up the pic above a lil bit to show the face of the driver, Makara sent to pick me up at the airport. Yes, you are right, for an accomodation of USD2/day (RM7/day), I got free transfer from airport as well!!! And name printed in Welcome Card??? I felt so privileged!!! Though it turned out to be a moto, I was still very impressed. He drove me with my backpack on my back (not knapsack) for about 20 mins (well.... with about 72kg of my weight and 15kg on my back, he can't drive fast can he?) to Jasmine Lodge. Romantic journey if it's a gal who drove me and no scorching hot sun on top haha.........

(part 2 on the way......)

Minh's Jazz Club in Hanoi

The jazz club is nice. Good that Hanoi is blessed with such a talented Mr. Minh who actually dreamed of having his own jazz club. Certainly a must-go for jazz lover

Vietnam - The Healthy Country

I wanna say.... I'm amazed by the way the Vietnamese devote their time to exercise...
It was dark just now and the park was full of aerobic dance ladies and others were busy jogging and sweat the day off!!! Amazing!!!

Safe and Sound in Vietnam......

I started my journey from Phnom Penh around 10am after awaited for about 1.5 hrs at the bus stop and only reached Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC or Saigon) at 9.15pm. It's a long and winding road.... oh not only road cox I traveled along Mekong River as well.....

Anyway, safe and sound and ready to continue my journey. Tom will be some roaming around in HCMC and more updates and post will be available... Tonnes of pics hahhaha..... Stupid me doing promo for a blog with no reader!!!!

Cheers

A Long Awaited - Downgraded Trip

"yan ga" will go on a trip to Cambodia and Vietnam for about 2 weeks and hence, no post will appear unless i report some interesting stuff along the way..... well... not tat i write a lot of post in december but........

take k, cox "yan ga" will too........

Block

太阳雨. Almost everyday. Old legends says that it's a sign of bad luck. Hm.....

It's Aaron.... AGAIN?????

OK, I tried to calm myself down.... Aaron Kwok snatched the Best Actor in the Golden Horse, AGAIN??? However, I haven't watch his winning work this year so, no comment yet.....

It's 10 Years - Long Vacation 悠长假期

It had been 10 years now. This year is the 10th year anniversary of the Japanese Drama . This Japanese drama not only launched and boosted the career of so many stars, i.e. Takuya Kimura (木村拓哉), Yamaguchi Tomoko (山口智子), Takenouchi Yutaka, (竹野内丰), Matsu Takako (松隆子) and Hirosue Ryoko (广末凉子), but it literally epitomised the whole J-culture in Asia in general. It also explored the sort-of taboo topic of 姐弟恋. Lots of unforgettable things associated with this classic J-drama. The elastic ball. The piano. The red and orange sofa. The best soundtrack of a drama series ever produced (think "What Will I Do" and "La La La Love Song"....)

Speaking of which... what had I do in these 10 years???

http://www.jdorama.com/drama.239.htm

The best quote from the movie.... 当人生不如意的时候，就当放了一次长假. As for me, I had DAMN long vacation.................... hahaha............

And of course.... Don't Worry, Be Happy (in the billboard)......

Junebug + Grey's Anatomy

Not a mainstream movie but this movie took my attention when one of its actress was nominated in last year's Oscar for Best Supporting Actress category. Amy Adams. She was great as a typical 阿嫂 in the kampung area, no offense. She is the mirror image of those woman whose life is surrounded her own family and neighbourhood friends. Her husband is distant and she hopes that with the baby being borned, he will spend more time and affection with her. Her performance is the best part of the movie, not to say the movie is a let down but her performance really outshines everything. You can't help but relate to her as you will certainly remember someone as annoyingly naive as her though she's not hate-able. However, the whole movie centres around family, especially for ones where some family members left the family to pursue their own life, which maybe totally different from the one they had when they were small. The issues were very relevant and close-to-us and there's no overdramatic scenes to accentuate it.

This brought me to last night's episode of Grey's Anatomy whereby George's O'Malley's character connection with his father and brothers. He is the most outstanding one among the family (as per general perception of the society definition of success) and he felt that his siblings and father never respect him for his achievement and always undermining him. But it turns out he is also the one who alienate his own family in the first place. So, who's to be blamed? To me, no one. As the father character put it, "we maybe different but we are still family". So spot-on. Another reason to watch Grey's Anatomy... always managed to make me think..... Last night's episode is also featuring the Thanksgiving. Always like that celebration. We should be thankful everyday but some of us tend to forget about it, taking it for granted so Thanksgiving Day will definitely ensure us to take some time to be thankful for everything we have.......

So, advanced Thanksgiving Day this Nov 30!

The Meaning of Travel 陈绮贞 《旅行的意义》

I always like Cheers Chen's songs. Being a philosophy degree holder, her lyrics are simple yet to the point. Of course my literal translation below didn't do any justice to her beautiful lyrics but the Mandarin lyrics coupled with her voice is so soothing and healing as a matter of fact. So, have you ever ponder, what is ur 旅行的意义?

你看过了许多美景

you saw before a lot of beautiful sceneries

你看过了许多美女

you saw before many pretty gals

你是在地图上每一道短暂的光影

you are the short-lived light beams on the map

你拼成了夜的芭比

you matched the Barbie of the night

你踏过下雪的北京

you stepped on the snowing Beijing

你收集书本里每一句你最爱的真理

you collected every quote you love in every book you read

却说不出你爱我的原因

but you just couldn't tell the reason you loved me

却说不出你欣赏我哪一种表情

but you just couldn't tell me which expression of me that you admire

却说不出在什么场合曾让你动心

but you just couldn't tell me what occasion made you fall on me

说不出离开的原因

can't tell the reason you left me

你累积了许多飞行

you amassed a lot of flying experiences

你用心挑选纪念品

you picked travel memorabilias

你搜集了地图上每一次的风和日丽

you been through sun and rain on the map

你拥抱热情的岛屿

you embraced the passionate islands

你埋葬记忆的土尔其

Turkey, where you buried your memories

你留恋电影里美丽的不真实的场景

you remembered the beautiful yet surreal scenes in the movies

却说不出你爱我的原因

but you just couldn't tell the reason you loved me

却说不出你欣赏我哪一种表情

but you just couldn't tell me which expression of me that you admire

你却说不出在什么场合曾让你分心

but you just couldn't tell me what occasion distracted you

说不出旅行的意义

couldn't say the meaning of travelling

你勉强说出你爱我的原因

you forced yourself to say the reason you loved me

却说不出你欣赏我哪一种表情

but you just couldn't tell me which expression of me that you admire

你却说不出在什么场合我曾让你动心

but you just couldn't tell me what occasion made you fall on me

说不出旅行的意义

couldn't say the meaning of travelling

勉强说出你为我寄出的每一封的信

you half-heartedly say that every single letter that you sent to me

都是你离开的原因

are the reason you left me

你离开我就是旅行的意义

but leaving me is the meaning of travelling

多事之秋 Eventful Autumn

Though autumn maybe over, depending where you are, it's really eventful.....

Cabinet considers foreign owning of Proton Holdings share.
Razak Baginda being detained to help investigations of the murder-bombing of a Mongolian gal.
Our beloved Tun Mahathir was admitted to Institut Jantung Negara. Badawi visited him for 20 mins.

Democrats broke republican's monopoly. Did you get the message Mr. Bush? His immediate response? Sacked accidental-rifle-sportsman Rumsfeld.
Bombing again in the Southern Thai province.

As for me? Seriously thinking of my career path.......................

可可西里

Having the thought of watching this movie for quite some time especially after it won last year's 金马奖 最佳电影. Finally watch it tonight with my parents in an open-space food court in conjunction of Chinese 100 years of Cinema. It's semi-documentary and I still remember that there was some controversy of plagiarism. Having said that, it's depressingly good haha.... Simple story line based on true story.

OK, side story.... there's an uncle who sat next to our table talked in a volume as if he was Tun Mahathir being shouted to shut up!!!! He just couldn't lower his voice when the movie was shown on the screen and babbled non-stop about his travel. He said Brazil gals are hot and couldn't leave him alone cox wanted to take pics with him, about Medan and Lake Toba, about AirAsia etc etc......Finally it rained and we moved the table and he FINALLY shut up. Thank god.

Wild Sex (U-Rated)

First of all, let me clarify that this particular post is definitely not R-rated but very family orientated, just like my whole blog by the way. It’s the title of the program I saw in NGEO (National Geographic Channel), portraying unexpected and surprising features on the sex of the animal kingdom (take out human, if you wish to cox the program leaves out human sex of course!).

I still remember I read a book on praying mantis by a Taiwanese author 刘庸. He reared the mantis as a pet and monitored its life as some kind of experiment and observation purpose which he slickly translated it to the relevance of life. Good read I would say. One of the things I remember from the book is that upon mating, the female mantis will actually bite off the male’s head! Talk about the pleasure of sex or rather in this case, the price of sex!

OK, the animal sex is actually more varied and confusing as portrayed in the program. One species of male shark actually had to bite the fins or the female shark in order to insert its reproductive organ into the female’s organ and left permanent mark on its body. So SM right? Not forgetting about all the fight among the males before they get the privilege to mate? Most of the male species ended up died or severely injured, proved the logic of the Chinese sayings, 红颜祸水. Minx can mate for 8 hours straight! And mussels are indeed an inevitable mobile uterus for bitterling fish! (Both males and female dumped their sperms and ovum into the mussels and mussels will carry them as their surrogate mother!). And some of them are very selfish and possessive too! I forgot what species but the male will inject some chemicals into the female body after the mating ritual, which will be able to eliminate the sexual libido of the female so they will not stray around and 红杏出墙. Unbelievable!

I couldn’t help but relate it to human beings’ love relationship. Not mentioning about the SM thingy, but love really can hurt and left permanent scar in one’s life. Fight among the males? Normal. Surrogate lover? Temporary stand-in lover? Selfish and possessive lover? So….. human do reflects some animal behaviour indeed.

(The title is just a gimmick, 喧哗取众）

Grey's Anatomy Goes to Venice

The rear view of the Bridge of Sigh (Ponte of Sigh)

Typical view of Ponte of Sigh

Watching Grey's Anatomy on ntv7, one of my fave time on TV besides the Monday treat of AXN's Amazing Race, House and Nip/Tuck. Meridith's patient is an old lady who's only have 4-5 months left. The loving husband requested her not to tell his wife the news but out of ethical issue, she did and the patient herself asked her not to ler husband know. She asked "How can a relationship built based on lies?" The patient answered something like, "It's not lie, it's the future". And she said they're gonna go to Venice. According to her, whoever went under the Bridge of Sigh in a gondola will stay together forever.... Another urban myth or tactics to romanticized Venice?

I was in Venice May last year and it was kinda devastatingly romantic but I am all alone! Of course being a budget traveller I dun have that kind of money to ride on a gondola so there's no chance to go under the Bridge of Sigh in a gondola. However I wish one day I will, with someone that matters to me hahaha...... (insert a desperate look and laugh here)

Datuk Z & Selangor Sultan, Pak Lah and Dr. M

Datuk Z : Istana Idaman and Restoran Satay in your Kg Idaman? Bodyguard in your Istana Idaman's construction site? I think he watched HK triad movies a lot and taking the cue from Johnnie To's HK movie.
Selangor Sultan : Cool ruler. Wa respect sama lu!

Pak Lah : 沉默不再是金
Dr. M : 一发不可收拾

Anonymous Wisdom

"Loving someone is giving him power to hurt you, but trusting him not to"
Anonymous

Did you give that power away? Wish you had and your trust is not betrayed.

The Pledge, The Turn................ The Prestige

It's always quite a scary affair to watch a movie which had been tauted with so much anticipation and expectation as most of the time it will turn out flat. However The Prestige is certainly not one of them. Helmed by the ever dependable casts of Christian Bale, Hugh Jackman, Scarlett Johannson and Michael Caine, and directed by Christopher Nolan and written by him and his brother, The Prestige is indeed a prestige itself.

Tight storyline with nicely layered plot intertwined with lots of flashback, it's gripping with suspense and what's-next's anticipations. Love the fact the characters were all human, e.g. not overly pure black and white with substantial amount of flaws which indeed brings them to life.

Are you watching closely? You better be...

Departed after Take The Lead

Watching Departed to me is like watching The Da Vinci Code. Having read the book, I felt that I am obliged to watch the movie. Same as Departed. Having watched the Infernal Affair, which happened to be one of the best HK movie these few years, I felt that I have to see how Hollywood churn out their version. Of course, one cannot help but comparing the two version. However, I told myself to keep my mind open as scorsese will not copy the HK version.

Just like the HK version, the supporting cast stole the limelight most of the time, as did Jack Nicholson here (HK version's Eric Tsang). However I think Martin Sheen's character was being reduced to minimal unlike HK's version Anthony Wong's. Particularly I miss the tension when these 2 rivals share the screen in HK version whereby in Departed, both only meet each other almost in the final part of the movie with Mark Wahlberg being thrown in as well. Another suporting cast I found brilliantly played is Alec Baldwin. Maybe his Emmy-earning performance in Will and Grace keeps lingering in my mind I think.

Worth mentioning is Scorsese's combination of the 2 female characters into one in Departed. I personally find that it's refreshing. It's also simpler since the focus is more on the male lead, hence saving some screen time for the more core plot, so-to-speak.

Matt Damon and Leonardo DiCaprio as Andy Lau and Tony Leung. Not a fans of Damon, I think he played his part good enough. And so do DiCaprio.

In general I thought it's an entertaining piece of movie, purportedly to be Scorsese's last work on gang triad. Having said that, Infernal Affair still triumps with its rich pretext and portrayal of the traditional HK/Chinese triad. It's rich image and subtext on the Buddhism iconism is really a rare and exquisite in recent HK cinema.

I always find myself subconsciously drawn to some feel-good cum inspirational stories. Based on a true story on Mr. Dulanie, Take The Lead is a simple predictable-in-some-familiar way kinda movie. Helmed by Antonio Banderas, he's basically the only recognisable famous face besides Alfre Woodard of Desperate Housewives fame. The story is decently good enough for an inspirational piece which draw out some memory of other films such as Save the Last Dance for Me and Shall We Dance (though both focused more on the individual conflict) and I will take it as the dance version of Music of the Heart (one played by the ever brilliant Meryl Streep and Gloria Estefan).

Enjoyable though Banderas' Spanish accent and charm can come across as unfathomable sometime.

OH YEAH! SELAMAT HARI RAYA AIDILFITRI AND BELATED DEEPAVALI!!!