Shanghai, China

My maiden to mainland China - Shanghai - 14 September 2010 to 18 September 2010.

Due to last minute instruction from the Client, I have to make this trip to Shanghai, supposedly for a valve testing, but in-fact the purpose of me making the trip is to source for bus shelter for the Client. Because of the last minute instruction, I was not able to fly with the rest on MAS, and was booked to fly Cathay Pacific via Hong Kong.

The first and last day was basically for traveling and the only time for sight-seeing in the fourth day. We covered 3 spots in one day. Starting the day in City God Temple (城隍庙) area, then lunch. After lunch, Shanghai World Expo and finally the Nanjing Pedestrian Walk to the Bund.





Shanghai World Expo 2010





Our very own Malaysia Pavillion

Indonesia


The Chinese Pavilion, the most popular of the Expo. You need to make a reservation in order to get into the pavilion.






















The futuristic Saudi Pavilion - 4 hours queue to get in













Taiwan - another 4 hours queue to enterf















The Magnificent Lupu Bridge








What to do when you dead tired in the Expo? You can either lie down on one of the many benches, like this below:


or, get one of these stools which are sold outside the Expo:

Ireland Pavillion

Outside the Norway Pavillion

Inside the Norway Pavillion

We only managed to get into 5 pavilions: Malaysia, New Zealand, Mongolia, Nepal and Norway. Queue time for the 5 pavilions: 20 mins, 5 mins, 0 min, 5 mins and 10 mins respectively.

Queue time for some of the more popular ones are: Japan, Saudi Arabia, Taiwan - 4 hours.



Nanjing Road Pedestrian Street- This is Shanghai at night for you (夜上海)

Getting out from the Metro Line 2 at the People's Center Station, will lead you to this famous shopping strip in Shanghai. Walking down to the end of the road will lead you the famous Shanghai Bund. To me, the Bund really lives up to its name. I was completely overwhelmed by the sight and lighting of the Bund. A highlight for Shanghai at night.










One thing impress me a lot. It is cleanliness of the city. This is cleaning up of the street when everyone leaves.

Italy 2010

This is just to briefly record my trip to Italy last May-June.

27 May 2010 (night) - Fly out from KLIA to Rome.

Day 1 - 28 May 2010
Touch-down Leonardo da Vinci airport Rome early in the morning. Took a express train from airport to Roma Termini. Then walk about 15 minutes to reach the hostel - M&J Hostel. Newly renovated. Quite a nice place. It is actually about 10 minutes walk from the Termini, but since it is the first time, need some time to find the place. Could not check in until 2pm. Leave the luggage at the storage room, then went to grab breakfast, enquired about the Roma Pass at the tourist information center and then visited a few churches which are nearby to the Termini. Then it was 2pm and rushed back to the hostel to check-in and shower.

After a short rest, then went out for Part 2 of Day 1. Took a metro to Spanish Steps. It was not as pictured in the travel books and as shown in the many websites. Was slightly disappointed. Feel it was overly rated. Then walk along Via del Condotti - the high fashion street of Rome - where all the branded labels are found along this road. Went into Prada and LV to enquire about the bags my sister asked me to find out. Then walked to Trevi Fountain. Had dinner nearby. Took tons of photo. Then it's walking back to the hostel for Day 1.

Day 2 - 29 May 2010
Rome - Florence

Took a morning train from Rome to Florence, about 1hr30mins journey with Trenitalia. Stayed at this place, Hotel Perseo. Walking distance from the Central Train Station and the city center. Very friendly receptionist staff. Strongly recommended.

In Florence - visited the Academia (for the David's), Uffizi Gallery, Michaelangelo Square for sunset.

(Click here for photos of Florence and Pisa)

Day 3 - 30 May 2010
Florence (Pisa)

Morning, walked around Florence. Afternoon, took a train to Pisa for the Leaning Tower.


Day 4 - 31 May 2010
Florence - Venice
(Click here for the photos in Venice)

Day 5 - 1 June 2010
Venice

Day 6 - 2 June 2010
Venice

Day 7 - 3 June 2010
Venice - Rome

Get that Roma Pass. I think it well worth the money.

(Click here for the photos of Rome and the Vatican)

Day 8 - 4 June 2010
Rome

Day 9 - 5 June 2010
Rome

Day 10 - 6 June 2010
Rome - KL. Flew out from Rome on 6 June 2010 (noon). Reach KL 7 June 2010 (morning). Evening drove back to JB. Back to work on 8 June 2010.

The following four are my top personal favorites (not in any particular order) - the four attractions that just took my breath away:

1. Colosseum, Rome
2. St. Peter's Cathedral, Vatican City
3. Leaning Tower of Pisa
4. Grand Canal, Venice

Biggest disappointment - Spanish Steps.

Bye-Bye Wijaya Baru

30 October 2009 - This day marks the end of another chapter of my working life. After 3 years and 4 months (since 1 July 2006), I finally left Wijaya Baru Sdn. Bhd. This is the second longest working period for a company after GB.

It was good experience. It is probably the least pressure work in my life, and it is also the least importance of me as a Manager in the company.

It back south for the next chapter, but entirely south. Stop short at JB. First time working in JB. First time with a PMC, and first time 5-days work week. Can wait for it.

Movie No.17

10 October 2009 - Tsunami at Heundae.

Was very lazy to post this. But as October is approaching an end, need to put this up, just briefly. Supposed to see this 2 weeks ago. But caught if anyway. I think for an Asian standard, this special effects for the tsunami is credible. I actually like.

My rating: 4 of 5.

Movie No.16

26 September 2009 - Movie No.16 - A Perfect Getaway


This is not the movie I wanted to see. After failing to get a ticket in the normal box office for that Korean tsunami movie, I checked out if it is available on Gold Class. The TV monitor shows that it is on for the 9pm show. So I thought, that with the EON-GSC Credit Card, it would be Ok to catch it on Gold Class. And after all, it is also a treat for my buddy's birthday. So the first time in Gold Class. The entrance to the theater is a long walk along a carpeted aisle from the elevator - I think it is probably to make it grander. The seat was like those recliner chair, where you can make it flat and watch the movie in style and comfort. And there is a blanket to cover in case if cold. The price of a ticket is RM50. Using the credit card, get 10% discount. Therefore cost is RM45. For 2 tickets - RM90. And with my bonus value, deduct another 50%. Therefore I paid only RM45 for 2 Gold Class Saturday night movie tickets.

The shock came where I found that it was not the movie I wanted to see. But this 'perfect getaway'. A cast of total strangers for me. Never seen or heard about them. The best scenes from this movie are the excellent of Hawaii. The story lines probably stole from a well known phrase - the actual villains are the most unexpected ones. It also boast of 2 very memorable scenes (to me) - the pulling of a dagger by a lead lady from her thigh after she was stabbed, and later she took the dagger to stab the bad guy on the hand.

My rating - 2.5 of 5.

Movie No.14 & 15

12 September 2009 - It's been quite a while since the last movie. So, I decided to go for a double dose today.

But first, let me introduce the new card in the market - GSC-EonBank Credit Card. I just got the card last week. Using the card to buy tickets, enable you to get RM0.50 or RM1.00 discount from each ticket depending on the price of the ticket. However, even with the discount, it is still more expensive than the Wednesday tickets. Therefore this is only good for non-Wednesday tickets. You can't get discount for Wednesday tickets. But the best thing about this card is that you will be given free value of RM50 for Gold card and RM100 for Platinum card to be used when purchasing ticket. Every time you buy a ticket valued at more than RM10, you can use that free value to get 50% off the total ticket price until the whole free value is consumed. And the first year fee is waived. Where to get??


Movie No.14 - Where Got Ghost? Another of Jack Neo's production.


To me, the star of this movie, which consists of 3 short stories is this guy - Richard Low, whom appeared in the first story as a bogus monk. He is a well known face in Jack's movie. Perhaps the most memorable one is that 'I Not stupid' famed for that phrase - 'Limpeh kar lee kong'. In terms of acting skill, he far surpassed that of Henry Thia. He is even better looking than Thia. But Thia's lucky star shines brighter than his. But anyway kudos to this guy.



However this fare from Jack seems to be a little disappointing, especially in the last story which he and his 'best buddies' appeared. Their acting is just average and the jokes contained within are meager. In contrast the acting from the guys in the first and second stories are far superior. From the poster shown above, there are the ones on the left and right of the picture. They are well know faces in Singapore drama serials as 'care-leh-feh' (or better known as extras). They provide the saving grace for Jack Neo's in this movie.

My rating: 2 of 5


Movie No.15 - The Ugly Truth


A romantic comedy. My type of movie. The review from the The Sun paper shows that this is quite enjoyable. So the decision. However, was much disappointed. Compared this with The Proposal, this one is pretty bad.

Firstly, the chemistry between the 2 leads, to me, was not there. They are much prettier and better looking than the pair in The Proposal but the superiority stops here. Acting wise, they lose out flat. This movie depends heavily on the sexual connotation to provide the laugh. The biggest laugh is that in the restaurant and the vibrator courtesy of Ms. Heigh, whom is also the co-producer.

My rating: 2 of 5.

So two below average movie for one night. But it was well worth because I only pay RM8.50 for 2 movies.

Michael Hui Live Talk Show

8 August 2009 - Astro broadcast this guy first talk show in Hong Kong sometime back. Everyone knew him as the eldest Hui brother. That talk show was very entertaining and refreshing. A Chinese stand-up comedian. Not heard off. But it was reported his 2 shows in Hong Kong then were very well received. So when I knew that he was going to perform in Genting, I simply must catch that. But I bought the cheapest ticket available. RM90 for the 'mountain' seat. I reckoned that we were there to hear him and not so much to see him in performance. Therefore even with a seat far away from stage would be OK, considering that there will be giant screens available (well, that was my assumption).


It was my first at the Arena of Stars, Genting Highlands. The hall is smaller than expectation, but probably big enough. My seat is about 10 steps down from the highest seat and at the left (facing stage) most edge.





The show opened with clips of his earliest movies. Then he was accompanied to stage by a group of kompang players. There are reasons for showing the clips as during the show, he was trying very hard to relate his talk with the show, to flashback scenes from the show to his current talk. But I guess most of the audience would have forgotten them. I did except for one scene. I think it was the 4th movie - Security Unlimited (摩登保鑣). That scene where he taught his brother Ricky Hui to drive. That really brought back some funny memories.

The most disappointing thing about the arena has got to be the big screen. Firstly they are not giant screen that I hoped they were. Secondly, the quality of the screen is worst. There are very dark and one could hardly much from the screen. If this were to be a singing concert, then it would be terribly disappointed visually.





In terms of joke content, some of them were from his earlier show in Hong Kong. The only 2 local flavours (as I can remembered) was about Bangsar and Tongkat Ali. As expected, he utilised lots of his facial expression to generate laughter, as in most of his movie. His wife was probably the biggest victim, as he protrayed her as a 'san-pah'(3-8) woman in his jokes. Overall it is entertaining, but slightly short of my expectation. A 2-hours show with 10 minutes break. Ended with a Sam Hui's song, as the encore part.

Bio-Life Walk A Hunt

2 August 2009 - The third in a series of Walk Hunt by Bio-Life, after Ipoh and Penang, finally comes to KL. Wasn't sure why the organizers asked us to be there by 7am. We were the first at the flag-off point at Hotel Sentral in Brickfields. Crazily we waited until about 8am, when only they start the morning, pre-hunt, work-out session, something which they did in the previous 2 legs as well. Then the briefing and finally flag-off at about 8.30am, 30 minutes before the official flag-off time of 9am.



Despite the additional 30 minutes free time given, we finished the hunt at 1217pm. 17 minutes after the end time of 12noon. This cause us a penalty of 17 points. 1 point per minute. A record for us.

Flag-off from Hotel Sentral, Brickfields

At the end, it was good enough for a podium finish at No.5 - losing out to 1 regular and 3 other non-regular teams. The prize was a 3 smaller bottles of Bio-life product, with a market value of about slightly more than RM100. Not bad for a hunt fee of RM30.

Prizes for the Winners - but ignore those electrical goods. They were merely there for decorative purposes only. Not given out as prizes. The prizes were those Bio-life hampers on top of the table.

Well, was this a good hunt? Yes and No. Yes, because it was another podium finish, despite the master and more regular hunters were not around. No, as we could have fared better.

Again, we were let down by treasures. Only managed to get 1 out of 2 - losing out by 10 points. And that big fat penalty points - 17. We were still trying to look for answers during that 17 minutes penalty time, but we got zero answer. Therefore nonsensically wasted 17 points. So for the next hunt, must get full treasure points and NO penalty time points.

And, the team this time - WK, Angie and my cousin, Jessica.

The next leg - Mallaca, Here we come.

Movie No:13 - The Proposal

1 August 2009 - The Proposal

A romantic comedy using an old formula. But nevertheless entertaining.

What I like of this movie?

Sandra Bullock - I think she is fantastic. She don't have to resort to silly lines for the comedic effect. Her acting, expression is good enough to tickle my funny bones. And she is good. I remember her best in the 'Speed' series, but she shines too in comedy. Well done, Sandra. Incidentally, this is her first No.1 movie in 10 years.

Alaska - When I first knew that they have a Governor for Alaska, because of Sarah Palin, I have always wondered why. No doubt Alaska is a big state, but my impression is that the whole state is covered with snow everywhere. And nothing more than a snow-covered state. How wrong was I. The shooting was probably during the hotter months of the year, maybe summer. And it shows a very beautiful and scenic Alaska. The midnight sun reminded me of Bergen, Norway where I was holidaying in Year 2001.

Betty White - My favourite Golden Girls. I actually thought that she had passed away, but fortunately no. At 87, she is still elegant. And she still shines as a comedy actress. Way to go, Girl!!

My rating: 3 of 5