Shen Ri Kuai Le
A Jingle Ma film. Think along the line of Di Xia Tie and Xiang Zuo Zhuan Xiang You Zhuan.
The last time i felt so moved by a chinese movie was Xin Dong eons ago starring Takashi and Gigi Leung. Dat was like in Sec 3 or 4? *Gasp*
Watch it if you’re into sad romantic tragedy stuff.
Skip if you can’t stand slow movies where guy stares at girl and girl stares back at guy... Dat sort of thing.
Warning: If you’re the weepie type (me not), pack along tissues and go light on eye make-up.
Warning to Bfs whose Gfs are the weepie types: Pack loads of tissues and wear a wrinkle free shirt.
A week in Cambodia
Traipsing about Cambodia was exciting and hot..seriously HOT... it didn’t rain once during my stay!
Day 1: 29th Dec - Setting off. Flight 3K 593, SIN to PNP.
Lugged along my luggage to work and charged off to Changi right after the Year-end party wrapped up. Checking in at the JetStar queue was rather messy, reason being we’re weren’t sure which snaking line to join. Eventually we were all checked-in, got seats in the same row and no one lost any luggage. Verdict: Pass but Barely...
The Phnom Penh airport though tiny by international standards was very nice, clean and new. Clearance took forever though, attributed to the ‘New Computer System’. Travelling by budget air means we don’t get an aerobridge, gotta walk across the tarmac. Thankfully there was no rain!
The real Phnom Penh became apparent after we stepped out from the airport. The free pick-up from our guest house turned out to be neither a van nor a car … (Moi was still rather hopeful after crossing the airport carpark --> ‘Oh, the guesthouse save money don’t park at airport!’)
… Only to be greeted by 2 Tuk Tuks.. *Gulp*… so 3 of us squeezed into each Tuk Tuk hugging our belongings. Traffic in Phnom Penh is quite amazing.. or rather it is the way drivers somehow manage to get by with like almost non-existant traffic lights, motorbikes with a whole family on them, zippy Tuks Tuks which we discovered can swerve like bikes when turning fast enough…and oh there are no restrictions on whether the steering wheel is on the left or right. Anything goes.. Despite how messy it sounds, its somehow quite orderly. talk about order among the chaos.
Btw, the ubiquitious rich man car is not the SLK or BMW but the Lexus SUV - figured its Mighty enuf for the hazardous traffic. The Lexus drivers are every inch as snotty as our local SLKs’!
______________________________________
Onward to
Happy Guesthouse for the nite. Unlike its name, it wasn’t a very cheery place. Firstly, there wasn’t enuf rooms for us, and after a rather tense half hr or so, we settled down in a triple room for the 4gers and the guys shared a double.
Next, the boss told us ‘No more bus ticket to Siem Reap’. We had placed orders for the Mekong Express Company. But well, expect the unexpected. So he booked another company which cost USD$6 instead of 12. Half price so wat's not to love? And after spending the night in a so-so room where Kexin caught a roach, we had breakfast by the river and made our way to the bus pick-up.
______________________________________
Day 2: 30th Dec
Now the USD$6 ride was another surprise.
1. Aircon which hardly coughed out any air.
2. Mosquitos – whipped out insect repellant
3. Almost non-existant suspension which ensured a super bumpy ride.
4. The half hour stopovers at like 3 pick-up spots.
5. Overbooking!!! This one was quite scary. Folks were made to sit on little plastic stools along the aisle. Moi started scribbling our seat numbers onto the tics cos some tics apparently came with numbers and some without. It din help one bit since the driver cum ticketer cum seat assigner tore off the portion I wrote on…But thankfully non of us were evicted from our seats.
6. The little ger in front of me decided to open the window for ventilation. Ventilation’s good but wind gusting against your left cheek with loads of dust is no good. Its like blackhead heaven...
Anyway we reached Siem Reap at 230 instead of the promised 1230. Since our free pick-up was waiting for us at the Mekong Express Bus terminal, we had no transport, which meant we were in rip-off heaven for the Tuk Tuk drivers.
To be continued ... still 'optimising' the pics. Part 2 will be pic heavy.
Sounds of the morning
As predicted, after a mere few days at work, I’ve all but morphed back into the bitchy city ger. Another scrambling ant in the buzzing CBD. Scramble on the train, many arms sticking out towards the lone handrail, shove shuffle bumped, beep beep beep beep. Train doors closing.. off to the east bound train. Scramble up the escalator, beep beep beep, pass the gantry, clop clop click clack, grab Today’s Today. Join the Mr Bean queue, xiao jie yao shen meh? Wen1 de3 yi4 bei1. Pancake ma? Bu2 yong4 xie xie. Clop clop clack clack. Another morning. As it is repeated every morning by many denizens of the worker ant economy.
Pedi Luv
Moi just blew some hard-earned moolah on a much-needed pedicure, what with all the dust, sand and soil that got into my fake berks.. which turned into liquefied dirt whenever my shoes got wet… Can’t even begin to imagine all the toe jam.
I simply love pedicures. Frankly I don’t enjoy manis half as much, since most of the time, I’ll chip off nail polish in under 5 days. So it just becomes a waste of money. And a source of constant heartpain whenever I look at the missing bits. Even shorter lifespan if it’s a dark shade and chipped dark nails are painfully obvious. Dark colours are precisely the reason why you get someone to paint your nails anyway (with the exception of French and nail art), since it’s that much harder to get a smooth matt dark shade right when you DIY.
As I floated home on rubber slippers, (packed them along in my work bag) having chucked my heels into a ziplock bag post-pedi, I had a rather morbid thought. If I got into some road accident, at the very least I’ll depart with nice feet. Anyway that’s besides the point.
Dipping tired feet into a hot hot tub of slushing water, having my soles filed, ridges buffed and smoothed, cuticles tidied up and toes massaged is such a wonderful feelin, awww…I feel so comforted and pampered that I wish all the pedicurists in the world are male, then perhaps I can marry one of them and enjoy lovely toes forever and ever. Amen.
Feelin' Lucky
I've been walking around feeling pretty 'lucky' and appreciative these few days. This is going to sound totally idiotic but i'm still gonna say it. When i was walking to the bus stop on fri and as usual, the feeder bus jus jus jus left, I was about to cuss when I told myself to be thankful that I'm stepping on tiles, there's shelter and there's a good bus to take. While celebrating Andy and Dawn's birthday at Helios, I was glad there were such creature comforts.
While walking through the neighbourhood park, i felt thankful again that its such a safe city, i can walk around without worries, kids are playing happily at the playground, we can all go to school, etc ...
While eating Yong Tau Hu at Kopitiam, i was glad the food is good and cheap. And my tap water is clean and dont smell of copper.
While watching Blood Diamond, I was glad to have never experienced the pain of civil war or war of any kind.
The list goes on ....
And nope i haven't turned all religious or anything like that.
Figured i had better jot these down before i morph back into the kiasu, materialistic Singaporean tomolo. I'm sure the CBD air and the morning MRT rush will wipe out any feelings of contentment and thanks in no time at all.
So let me be appreciative for just one more night.
Year end syndrome
As we transit from 06 to 07, some of us turn increasingly pensive, reflecting on the past year, our lives, and churn out a list of new year resolutions.
In the month of Dec, I found myself thinking about my life a lot, what i wish to do, to have, and what i have done so far. I call this the year end syndrome. I'm not big on making resolutions.
But i would like to do a few things - such as being happier, more positive, more decisive, quit dwelling on stuff i can't change and improve on stuff i can ... negative traits which i want to improve. and very very importantly - get a new job come April.
