My last offshore fishing trip of 2012 (18-19 July)

Yes, for the same reason that travelling via plane will not be something that I will be doing for the next few months, I have just hung up my fishing gear for the rest of the year. It is very hard to put aside something that one loves so much (and I've just acquired an ice box from Carrefour the last weekend!) but time and circumstances dictate otherwise. I'm going to miss the sparkling blue of the sea, the wait with the rod in hand, the lapping of the waves....

And of course, the thrill of a great hook-up Anyway I wanted to blog about this trip not only because it is the last fishing trip for me this year but also because of a very unusual hook-up I had this trip.

Now you might be thinking - a greasy grouper! What's the big deal? But let me tell ya, I caught this table-sized grouper on sabiki size 8 hooks! Here's the evidence below, you can see the sabiki rig and my friend's Size 12 sandal next to the grouper (to give an indication of its size). The grouper was chasing the smaller fishes that usually takes the sabiki bait and in biting its prey, it got hooked too! From the two other hooks stuck in its body, it might have tried to escape but well, with 3 sabiki hooks in it, its day of reckoning has come.

Now, this trip was a far cry from the previous trip on this boatman's boat where we had a massive haul. I guess I should have known when he said that it was sotong season but I didn't expect that the bottom fishing would be so bad with the abundance of sotong eating the prawns. The school of tenggiri which we had hunted 2 months back had dispersed according to the boatman and so back to bottom fishing we went.

Now, I have to confess that although a squid has absolutely no fight when it is caught, I still enjoy that tug on the my jig when I am casting and retrieving, casting and retrieving. The pull by the sotong on the jig never fails to take me my surprise as I am retrieving line and then it's come to Mama time as I reel in the sorry greedy squid.

We caught a sackload of squids this trip - I think I caught about 11 pieces altogether on the first day and another 10 pieces on the second day. It would have been great if I ate sotong but that's the one seafood that I absolutely detest!

Thankfully, the other anglers on board managed to catch other fishes such as a large chermin. We saw lots of leather jackets at the surface nibbling away at our baits on the sabiki but no matter which size sabiki hooks we used, we failed to hook up the leather jackets. It was frustrating to watch them take the bait and even follow it all the way up close to the surface. The boatman said it was because their mouths were too hard for us to set hook.

We had dinner at a different restaurant this fishing trip instead of our usual Restaurant Rompin Bahru. The reason is of course the proximity of this new restaurant to the jetty and our chalet. The boatman and 1 other angler caught a red grouper which we cooked with the chermin. And of course lots of deep fried squid.

This was our haul to be split from the two days of fishing after us having eaten most of the good fishes over 2 dinners. The very red fish on the right was what I had caught on sabiki too. It's in my freezer now waiting to be cooked by yours truly! And yeah, we pretty much wiped out the ang kor li clan (left of picture).

I am proud to say I caught the most of the ang kor li on board the boat - not so much by luck but by pure diligence. When we hit the ang kor li spot, I changed to a sabiki rig (large size hooks) and put prawn heads/tails on the hooks before lowering the same to the bottom and just waiting. Always the pull, the ugly bend of the rod, and then me reeling it to bring up at least 2 ang kor li at a time. Then the reaching for the pliers to shake off the fishes into a pail, and then setting my rig again before lowering it to catch more.

My friend used some of my ang kor li to go after Tenggiri/Sail Fish or I would have more to show for the trip. The other angler holding the chermin also went after bigger game but someone has got to go after the smaller fishes and ang kor li makes for great eating! My mum fried some of the ang kor lis with tumeric powder and it was all just delicious!

Dim Sum Buffet at Chynna Hilton Hotel at KL Sentral

During our weekend jaunt up to KL last weekend, we decided to abandon our reservation at Jogoya because we had a late checkout (3.30pm) from the hotel and we had to catch the 5pm bus (which was just next to the hotel) to the airport.

After some last minute searches on the net, we found out that one of the top 5 Chinese restaurants in KL was located about 20+ floors down from our room - Chynna. I made reservations for 12noon but we were too stuffed from the breakfast buffet that we ended up going down at 1pm instead.

The decor of the restaurant was definitely Chinese-style with all the lanterns but far from being gaudy, the decor was tastefully done up without being overdone (too "cheena"). For the dim sum buffet, one could either have the buffet with 1 bowl of seafood soup at RM55++ or buffet with 1 bowl of sliced abalone soup at RM98++.

After we were seated and had made our selection from the menu, a waiter dressed in traditional Chinese Manchu Garb came over to our table and poured us a cup of welcome tea from this tea pot with an extremely long spout. I think only a few Chinese restaurants have that! Anyway, other than that one cup of welcome tea, drinks were not part of the buffet.

We placed our order for the dim sum items about 1pm and it took the restaurant 15 mins before serving the first item - fried Thai fish cakes which was very good. We finished the dish in about 2 mins and waited for the next dish which took another 5 mins to come. There was some sort of a cooking/steaming area at the side of the restaurant but it didn't seem like anyone was manning the counter at all. So we got a tad worried about how long it would take for all the rest of the items (this is a buffet, mind!) to be served given that we had to check out at 3.30pm.

After asking the waitress to hurry with our orders, the next dish was finally served - char siew baos. Warm and soft fluffy buns with sweet juicy fillings. Very good stuff.

My CEB ordered the porridge which I didn't have any of but he said it was decent. I on the other hand ordered siew mais which looked rather unappetizing but was in fact done very well. The pork was tender and wet, and when poked with my fork, fell apart in nice bite-sized pieces.

As you can see from the picture below, we also had beef balls, har gaos (prawn dumplings), and rice rolls with scallops. Every item except the rice rolls (which was too plain and tasteless) is worth a try!

I had a second order of the scallops dumplings (pic on the right) and another dim sum item which looks like stuffed balls of some sort - I can't really recall. My CEB had a second order of the Thai fried pan cakes. We also had other dim sum items in between but I can't recall what they are because I was too busy eating to take more pictures.

We ended with dessert - one gets to choose one dessert from a choice of 4 desserts on the menu. I ordered ice cream with red bean and this dish gets a huge thumbs down from me. Not because this is Chynna and I expected the dessert to be of a certain quality but because on its own, the dessert tasted awful - the red bean was tasteless and watery and of course, a heap of flavored ice mixed in did nothing for the dish at all.

Before we left the hotel, my CEB bought mooncakes from Chynna for his mama-in-law. A box of 4 mooncakes cost about RM80 for 2 snow skin mooncakes and 2 baked mooncakes.

The Slog Reviews: 8/10. While the large majority of the dim sum items at Chynna are definitely palate-pleasing, Chynna would do better if the service was much faster (there were only a few tables occupied at that hour and they were still so slow!) and if the quality of the desserts on the buffet menu was improved. Still, I would definitely visit Chynna if in KL and the urge for dim sum strikes me. Will be back.

Lago Restaurant at Boat Quay

So, we had 3 places reserved for my birthday dinner, thanks to my generous CEB who had offered to let me celebrate at any place I wanted.

Well, I wasn't in the mood for miniscule portions so I cancelled our reservation at Forlino in the afternoon. Red meat also didn't tickle my appetite the least so I decided to go to the place with the "Best Pepper Crab" according to my sister. I figured that given her lifestyle (fine-dining on the regular), we couldn't go very far wrong.

So, I called Lago to confirm the reservation I made 1 week ago and what do you know, they didn't have a record of it. No matter, they assured me that a table for 2 would not be a problem.

We made the mistake of parking at UOB which was all the way to the other end of Boat Quay. Lago is nearer the South Bridge Road of Boat Quay. The boss/manager was an aunty with a sling pouch across her body and she was a jolly friendly soul who gave us drinks (soft drinks) on the house when she heard it was my birthday. And that's where the good part ends.

So, the food right? She recommended kangkong which was the first dish to be served. I can find no fault with the cooking but it certainly was far from lip-smacking delicious. It was severely overpriced at SGD12 given the lack of quantity!

Even worse was the sambal stingray. It certainly tasted fresh but I think the restaurant has a darn lousy cook. Nevermind the size - smaller than 2 of your palms joined together - but the method of cooking was far below average. The fish was fresh but not juicy, just bland...and slices of onion heaped on top with some lemon slices did nothing for the dish. IT sucked and it cost SGD22.

Now, we came here for the crab and let me tell you, although the crab was huge (2kg right?), it was crap. It took forever to come which led my CEB to wonder if they had run out of crabs and had to go get one from another restaurant. After he took a couple of bites, he had his answer: It was probably defrosted. I am not so sure - it seemed to me that the crab was severely overcooked - barbequed to the point where the meat was all tough and tasteless instead of succulent and fleshy. It was truly again to me, an absolute horrific waste of SGD100 eating this dish. We would have done so much better at Jumbo or No Signboard.

The only thing good about the restaurant was of course, the view we had dining facing Fullerton Hotel where there was a local band playing next to the hotel. Then again, this view could be had from anywhere along the river on this side. And not at such a steep cost. The total bill for the 3 dishes above came up to over SGD150 (There is no GST payable but there is service charge of 10%)

The Slog Reviews: 1/10. The 1 point is for the service by the Aunty. This place, it deserves the one star it got on Hungry Go Where (Click here). I don't blame the (quality of the)food so much as the cook(s) who display an appalling lack of skills for a restaurant where so many tourists frequent by pure bad luck. I am not returning to this place. Ever.

Executive Lounge at Hilton at Petaling Jaya after the renovation

The last time I stayed in Hilton Petaling Jaya was May 2012 and the executive lounge was still undergoing renovation. Then, I had been given a standard room which had not been renovated and I found a painter in the toilet when I opened the door. Of course, I went back to the reception and refused absolutely to stay 4 nights in that room, especially with my Hilton Gold membership. And what do you know, where they had previously insisted that there were no renovated rooms available, I was given a renovated room on the 4th floor.

This time, I asked for a free upgrade to an executive room (being a Hilton Gold Member) and I was told that there were no rooms available. I recognized the manager and told him that the service at his hotel was a lot worse than that of Hilton at KL Sentral and DoubleTree where I would always get upgraded to a executive room. He promised that he would upgrade my room the next stay. We shall see. I will definitely be coming back to call on that promise! :D

Anyway, I was given a room on the 20th floor and there was a welcome platter all set out on the table. I would have been even more pleased if they had got the name right.

In any case, here is a picture of the room. The view from the room's window is nothing to crow about but this room is definitely larger than the rooms I had stayed in the past two times (click here for a review of the stay in April 2012).

Another picture of the room taken from the window - it's pretty modern in decor with the safe and robes tucked away in the beige cupboards. The only feedback I have about the room is the placement of the central light switches at the bedside. Now, if one is going to choose which side of the bed to sleep if one is alone, one would naturally sleep near the bedside telephone where the wake up call will come. Surely it would make sense to place the master light switch there so one can conveniently switch off the lights in the room to sleep but no, the switch is on the other side of the bed.

Anyway, given that this was a work trip, I didn't spend much time in the room. I was curious to see the lounge though which had been moved to the 21st floor so right after I checked in, I headed up just in time for the evening cocktail at 6pm.

As you would be able to tell from the pictures above and below, the new lounge is sprawling and tastefully decorated. Very very nice, especially if you consider what the old one looked like. There are plenty of different sorts of sitting arrangements - settees like the one I had, high seats by the window overlooking the highway and normal round table seats.

But of course, the true measure of a lounge is the quality of food they serve, no? So off I headed to the buffet table where there were 4 types of hot plate dishes and 1 pot of mushroom soup.

Oh, and this was the spread of non-hot cocktail food available ranging from fruits to sushi rolls to various types of pastries. Very aesthetically presented with variety and quality. Definitely a big thumbs up! I would dare say that the spread is on par with that of its sister hotel, Hilton at KL Sentral where I just came back from tonight!

But let's talk more about the hot food selection at the executive lounge of Petaling Jaya which deserves a picture on its own - the mushroom soup was done to warm soupy perfection and the prawns and salmon dishes were very well presented in dainty portions with just the right amount of garnishing to render them appealing.

However, what blew me and my colleague (and our guests) away was the smoked duck. The meat was tender, tasty and came with a delicious sweet sauce that instead of detracting from the taste of the duck, somehow enhanced it so that the juices from the smoked duck and the sauce filled one's mouth with orgasmic delight. I swear I closed my eyes with each bite, and I had more than 6 bites of duck altogether.

The Slog Reviews: 7.5/10. Hilton PJ's lounge definitely deserves a visit. It would be good though if they had takeaway boxes/doggy bags because I was rushing to work in the morning (about 7.15am) and had requested to take away some croissants (they had large delicious chocolate ones - I ate one while waiting to check out at the lounge) but was told the executive lounge does not allow one to take food away which is utter rubbish since I am entitled to breakfast. The restaurant at the lobby level allowed me to take away some croissants the day before when I was likewise rushing to go to work.

While Hilton PJ is definitely a much better hotel after all the renovations, it still has some way to go in treating its hotel guests, especially its Hilton Gold members. It would do well to learn from its sister hotels like Double Tree and Hilton KL which does a far better job overall.

Hyatt Hotel at Kota Kinabalu and its Oxtail Assam Pedas

There was an airfare promo some months back and I'd booked a short weekend getaway to KK for us on the first weekend of August.

I'm really glad for it because this break from the stress factors of the past month has recharged our marriage even though (or maybe because!) we had a most unpleasant experience together on our first night at Hyatt Hotel.

We reached the hotel about 9pm after a RM30 airport ride from the hotel and the check-in was fuss-free at that hour. Unfortunately, our request for a complimentary upgrade to a seaview room was denied (though I had the Gold card) and this was the view from our room in the morning. I'd stayed in a seaview room before at the Hyatt and the view was awesome (click here) so I'll say that if you had to choose, just pay that little bit extra for the seaview room.It's worth it. The mountain/city view is hideous.

We had an hour's complimentary internet access (WIFI as well as wired) which came in quite useful. As the hotel's restaurant only served buffet dinner till 10pm, we decided to order room service for the hotel's famous oxtail assam pedas. We were delighted to find out when placing our order that there is no tray charge and the cost of the hotel's famous Oxtail Assam Pedas for room service is just RM35 (with taxes and svc charge it works out to RM40) compared to the cost of the dish at the restaurant which is RM42 (without tax and svc charge).

My CEB went to the shopping mall next door to see if the shops were still open and when he returned, dinner was served literally. The meals came with rice and a glass of ice-cold water.

Now, make no mistake about it - the oxtail assam pedas is delicious. No two ways about that. There is lots of succulent tender meat cooked to tasty perfection and the sauce is thick and flavorful without being too spicy or too "coconuty".

We enjoyed our meal very much and retired to bed shortly after....only to be awoken up by our tummies less than an hour later! Everything exploded out of my tummy with a huge gush the first time I rushed to the toilet bowl. As I sat on the bowl, my CEB called out to me that his tummy was not feeling too good and he needed the bowl. So I got off and he got on. I was tired from being awake the entire day and fell asleep without waiting for him to be done, only to be awoken up two more times in the next two hours by my rebelling stomach. Liquid from the wrong place! It was awful!

At 7am, I asked my CEB to call the hotel to ask for charcoal pills as my stomach felt shaky and the hotel suggested that we go to the clinic instead. Now, I was exhausted from all the trips to the toilet and definitely was not happy to get out of bed at 7am on a holiday to go to a clinic. So I decided to go back to rest and hope for the best. My CEB and I both fell asleep till 11am when he woke me up.

The first thing I did was call the guest services to complain. They had the assistant manager call me back . He explained that it was the hotel's policy not to dispense medicine and urged us to go to the clinic. I did not see the point of so doing since everything had been purged during the numerous trips to the toilet. He told me that this was the first time any hotel guests had complained about their famous oxtail assam pedas giving them diarrhoea. I told him that this was the first time I had ordered room service that I had such a stomach upset - not even room service in a South Africa hotel had given me an experience like I just had!

I even had to tell him specifically that I was not going to pay for the food that had given us diarrhoea. He did not offer to take it off the bill. And he definitely did not offer to compensate us in anyway to make us feel better. If this is all the Hyatt can offer, and to its Gold member, then I'm definitely glad that we have chosen to maintain our Hilton Gold and SPG Gold memberships instead.

PS: I gave Hyatt feedback by referring this post to them and what do you know? They took almost a week to respond and all the manager said was that they would take the cost of the meal off my hotel bill, something which they had already done. There is absolutely no way I'm going to support the Hyatt group of hotels ever.

Lotus Desaru Beach Resort and Desaru Fruit Farm Tour

When I came back from UK, my CEB surprised me with a short weekend getaway - a 2D1N stay at Lotus Desaru Beach Resort that came with a complimentary Fruit Farm Tour and return ferry tickets. All that, together with free parking at Changi Ferry terminal, complimentary entry to the Water Park, a buffet lunch at the Fruit Farm and ground transportation in Desaru taken care of for only SGD99 per head seemed like a jolly good deal.

The ferry was due to depart at 9.30am and we reached the ferry terminal at 8.50am despite the fine print on the form stating that we had to be there at least an hour before departure. I think we were the last to pick up the ferry tickets but there was no trouble at all. Surprisingly, there were quite a number of foreigners in addition to the groups of older folks waiting for the ferry to Desaru but all of us cleared the 2 booth customs checkpoint at the ferry terminal and boarded this ferry to Desaru.

I was incredibly tired from having slept little the night before and fell asleep on my CEB's shoulder. When I woke up, I thought the ferry hadn't moved because the view outside the windows looked the same. But apparently, we had completed the 45mins journey to Desaru. As we had chosen to sit indoors (which had aircon) as opposed to on the deck, we had to queue a bit to clear the Malaysia customs at Desaru ferry terminal. Although I had the MAC card, the customs officer insisted on stamping my passport. 1/3 pg of the precious few pgs left, sacrificed.

There was a tour leader waiting for us once we cleared customs and he directed us onto the wrong bus. After waiting 15mins, we were told to disembark and board a smaller bus which took us straight to Desaru Fruit Farm. Our driver directed us to join one of the English speaking tour groups which were filled with middle-aged and older folks from Singapore. Thankfully the weather was just right as I hadn't brought my umbrella and despite my fears of being bitten by mosquitoes and other bugs at the farm because my mosquito repellent was in the luggage, I survived the entire 1 hour tour without incident.

The tour guide at the fruit farm was a lady who looked to have helped herself generously to the farm's produce and she spoke really good English. Despite our initial reservations and resignation to a boring meaningless tour, the tour turned out to be pretty informational. Stuff that I either had forgotten or hadn't learnt back in school.

I didn't take many pictures of the Cat's whiskers, durian trees, pineapples, pomelos and other native fruits, herbs and vegetables but I could not resist taking the picture above of 2 young girls posing for a photo with the giant jackfruits, and of this banana plant. The tour guide told us that the many little bananas symbolizes fertility for women. I've never seen anything like this before!

After wandering around more shrubs, trees and waiting for the other folks to take pictures of and pose with fruits and plants that we see in the markets, we finally got to the halfway mark of the tour - the pond below. Some folks had bread with them and they threw that to the koi fish in the water. The sight of so many kois surging forward to eat the bread was quite unforgettable. We also had a chance to buy bottled drinks made from the farm's produce at RM2 before proceeding to the mini-zoo. My CEB fed an ostrich while I chased a duck around and clucked at some chickens. There were rabbits for sale and lambs for petting too.

At the end of the fruit farm tour, we were picked up by the farm's vehicle for the 3mins ride back to the main building. The rest of the other folks rode in their air-conditioned buses. There, we found a table with our names and had quite a decent but very basic buffet. The folks at Desaru Fruit Farm were very well-organized and friendly. Definitely a thumbs-up in terms of service but one should not expect fancy fare (whether food or to buy back) there. The supermarket had an extremely poor selection of stuff to buy back (mangoes mostly) and I didn't see any mangosteens which the tour guide had informed us is 1 of the best source of anti-oxidants and has cooling properties.

After lunch (which really was not worthy of a picture), our driver sent us to the resort. He helped us to check in which took all of 8minutes while we waited in the lobby with our bags. The resort had a shuttle service from the lobby to the various blocks so we hopped onto one with our bags and had a tour of the buildings and club house before getting off at our block (Block B). Now, I have to say that the resort is very much like First World - the appearance of the buildings is definitely far from attractive, with each block painted some awful faded dull shade of pink, blue, green, yellow...you get the drift.

I didn't hold out much hope for the room we had either which was a long way from the lift and had to be accessed by stairs. However, we were pleasantly surprised to find ourselves in a spacious chalet which had 2 floors and came complete with a kitchenette. The next 2 pictures are of the ground floor. The TV was surprisingly small (32inch or less) but it had cable tv. And in place of a sofa in the living room, 2 armchairs were provided. Maybe to discourage additional guests from camping out in the room, or to allow for more chairs to be pulled up to the smallish dining table.

A picture of the bedroom on the second floor and the en-suite. My CEB complained that there was no TV and I have to say that if I hadn't brought a library book, I would have been bored out of my mind. The WIFI signal in the room was terrible, even on the ground level.

We thought of going for a swim since our room was so near the water-park but I'll let the picture below do the talking. Yeah...what water park?! There was only 1 decent slide/ride (and not even very high) and the park is meant for kids. Like for kids below 12 yrs- nothing like Sunway Lagoon even (and I'm using Msia standards to compare!). The rest of the park consisted mainly of a giant bucket collecting water and tilting over every few mins on the heads of those who somehow found joy in being doused with a gallon of water from Gawd-knows-where.

There were other swimming pools in the resort and this is a picture of the one near the breakfast area. Good for a soak right after coming back from the beach.

In the evening, we made our way to the clubhouse. The function rooms of the resort are located there as well as some arcade machines and pool rooms. Again everything looks worn and dreary. This hotel is rather new but already like most hotels in Malaysia, it is in need of the maintenance that will never happen. I think it must be because it is cheaper to build something new than the maintain the old in that country.

So yes, dinner. As one can see from the picture below, the beach is within walking distance of the resort. The water is (still) an unappealing greenish bluish hue that makes swimming a no-no. And the beach is of a nondescript white that I feel sorry already for the foreigners who have come all the way for this. Still, beach-front dining beats the non-existent room service in the rooms so we had pizza and 2 drinks for just RM35 -this resort does not try to take advantage of guests with exorbitant meal prices. Alcoholic drinks are available and reasonably priced at the sea-facing bar.

The next day, we woke up to a very basic mass-market buffet breakfast but which left us satisfied till 430pm when we finally got back to Singapore on the 3.30pm ferry. 

The Slog Reviews: 5.5/10. Unless you have kids who are easily content with basics, or unless you have no access to a swimming pool or beach or unless you have really no dough and the beaches and pools of SG bore you, I would not recommend travelling from Singapore to Lotus Desaru Resort hotel. To put it simply, it just ain't worth the time and effort to get there. Not going back ever.

Abraham Lincoln : The Vampire Hunter (Movie) 2012

I thought the movie was enjoyable. MyCEB thought it was utter crap. You be the judge. A synopsis of the movie can be found here.

We watched the movie over the weekend at Jusco Bukit Indah. Yes, the cinema at Jusco Bukit Indah is now open and it is pretty huge. And on Saturdays, if you use your Citibank card, you can get 1 free ticket for every 1 movie ticket purchased. That works out to RM11 for 2 of us which is about SGD 2.20 per person. And parking. of which there is ample unlike Sutera Mall, cost all of RM1. That works out to be far better than catching the movie at KSL or City Square.

This isn't the only movie I've watched though in the past few weeks. I'd watched almost all the English movies showing on KrisWorld (like Jump Street 21 which was good for giggles) that I actually watched some crappy Chinese movie called "Something Swords and Dragon Gate" on the way back from the UK. However, this movie is one that has stayed in my mind. Not so much for the special effects but for the plot -the intertwining of pure fantasy with a facts/reality. And isn't that what makes the perfect lie?

SPG Gold Vs Hilton Gold

I've read somewhere that Hilton Gold is equivalent to SPG Platinum.

There's some merit to that - SPG Gold doesn't quite cut it any more for me other than the 4pm late checkouts and the wider selection of hotels available to suit varying budgets.

Hilton Gold offers free breakfast for 2, complimentary high speed internet access and executive lounge access which means - free drinks, cocktail food, wifi yada yada.

And I really dig the fact that my account with Hilton Honors is updated very promptly without my having to write in to check on the status of my points.

I had been worried that for some reason (like the fact that I've been staying in KL hotels only) , Hilton might try to deny awarding me the 40,000 points for my 4 stays at the Hilton Hotel using the Infinite Card before May 2012. However, a few days after I completed my 4th stay, I saw that my account had been credited with the 40,000 points. No chasing required.

I think that I will focus on keeping my Hilton Gold membership and possibly give up my SPG one.

Cabin in the Woods (2012) Movie

Even when we were friends, my CEB would take a certain perverse delight in terrifying me. He once booked the movie "Legion" when we were supposed to watch "Citizen Kane" and I had nasty nightmares for weeks after that. Even today, I can't forget the scene with the ice-cream man elongating to a spider and the scene with the child monster climbing on the wall.

Well, this time my CEB told me he would buying tickets for the movie "Lockout" and only after lunch with my family when I was confirming the show with him did he sheepishly admit that he had bought tickets for "Cabin in the Woods"

Me "Oy! U know how I hate horror movies"

My CEB "Yah, but no other shows at the timing we want"

Me "Then can don't watch what"

My CEB *big grin and starts to make scary noises till I punch him in the arm. Hard. The noises coming out of him stop abruptly,

Anyway, I'd seen the trailer for Cabin and was prepared for 2 hours of squeezing my eyes shut, or peeping out through squinted eyes (The smaller the better so I can close them faster, right?). I was of course most unhappy because at my age, the goal is not to get wrinkles in a hurry. My CEB seems to be doing everything contrary to that - tickling me when I have a clay mask on, booking horror movie tickets...ugh!

Well, I hadn't read any of the reviews before watching the movie so if you have not watched the movie...you need to stop reading. Now. Spoiler ahead.

The Slog Reviews: ?/10. After we came out of the movie, we both turned to each other and said it was 1 of the crappiest shows ever. However, I couldn't get the movie out of my head for days after and 1 review I wrapped summed up how I felt. The movie was insanely genius. I thought we were in for a Slasher Type or Evil Ghost Type of Movie but no, oh no. This was way way WAY more than this. End of the world anyone? A combination of famous horror movies in the most creative way and no, I don't mean parody. Throw in female front nudity, lots and seriously lots of blood, a ballerina with a hole in the face, the Hellraiser's Lazarus Box...you've got an unforgettable movie going. A must watch. Esp for horror fans.

Latin Aerobics Kicks Ass

Despite the weather as well as entreaties and diversions from my CEB and good friend, I proudly make it to my weekly Latin Aerobics class. There have been flashes of lightning across the sky so I park as near as I can to the community club and this effort to find a good lot comes with a hefty price - I'm late for the class. My friend is already there dancing to the music. She has taken salsa classes in University and it shows. I make my way to stand near her but the instructor has a better idea - she waves me to a position across my friend on the other side of the room. I think she figures that if we do not stand together, we will not be disruptive for the class. The problem with my spot is that I am behind 3 other ladies and I can barely see past them to the instructor who has on a pair of pants with tassels on the ass and knees. However, since I have made it there, I am determined to get the most I can out of the lesson. For the first time, the teacher incorporates jumping steps in the routine. The kind that you jump and fold your knees behind you. A lot of the ladies are unable to keep up, but to be fair, they are in their 50s to 60s. I get great delight in jumping as high and as much as the instructor does. That will show them! Those ladies go to the back of the room and sit on those chairs to watch the rest of us. I know they have a clear view of me since I am at the back so I do my best to do myself proud. Lunge, I lunge. Twirl, I twirl. Flex my biceps, I flex. Shake my upper back fats, I wobble like a firmly set jelly-o. Jump in the air, oh my, hear me land. Then the instructor does some sort of mass dance move, the kind I did in my secondary school days. She thrusts out both arms and bends her knee backwards and up. I am so caught up in the routine that I follow her without thinking. The heels of my too-big track shoes find themselves each a nesting place in my ass. Whomp Whomp one after the other. I yelp with surprise. I hear the bwahahaha above the laughter from the old ladies sitting behind. Shouldn't my friend be watching the instructor?! I tell you, Latin Aerobics kicks ass - literally.

The Flasher at Latin Aerobics

I used to believe in the power of willpower, that nothing within my control was impossible if I set my mind to it. As my good friend once told me "U Gotta Hit It with Your Mind".

Armed with sheer determination, I told myself that THIS time, yes, this time, it would be different. My friend texted me she would be late so I made my way to the class first. Despite my being slightly early, there were already 7 ladies there so I could not take the prime spots just behind the instructor, nor could I see myself clearly in the mirror. Especially since I'd left my glasses (for driving) in the car.

The music starts and I find myself jumping and hopping to the right and to the left like a drunk one-legged toad with my hands held up in front of my face and the other knee crocked at a ninety degree. The instructor on the other hand looks really cool and I figure that I am just being too harsh on myself. I study her back as intently as I can - she is wearing a muscle-back shirt and I can see the flesh on her upper back wobbling.

So I try to shake as hard as she does to make my own back fats move in time too. It does not require great effort, having a great deal of them. Then the instructor lets out an insane cackle of laughter and starts skipping around. This makes me very excited. I want to prance too, like a pony, like a kid, oh watch me, I am young again!

Between prancing and making sure I shake every bit of me the way the instructor does, AND with my view of myself in the mirror obstructed, I forget how I look. I want to hit this with my mind, so my attention is focused fully on the person I must mimic.

When we do a side move and I get a glimpse of myself in the mirror, I am horrified. The waistband of my too-small shorts has rolled down to below my lower belly to expose my bright red panties. It is the action of moving my knees upwards to my belly that has caused this. I roll up the waist band of the shorts over my panties quickly.

I want to believe that the instructor bears me no ill will. But the next few moves involves bending over, wiping the ground and again my waist band rolls down when I bend down. I cannot concentrate any more, I cannot hit it with my mind anymore. The universe seems to be conspiring against me. How can I draw flowers in the eye or draw an imaginary violin when 1 hand has to keep rolling up the waist band of my shorts.

I tell you - it has to be a conspiracy of sorts to keep me from being the star of this show.

Hilton at Petaling Jaya

I know it looks as if I have changed loyalty but the Hilton's Gold Membership Promotion for the first quarter (click here to read) was too attractive to pass up. And hence, we have been trying to clock the 4 stays before 31 May 2012 so as to qualify for the 40,000 HHonors Points.

Now, as we all know, hotel rates in Singapore are the most expensive in South East Asia. So, paying over SGD 200 to stay in an ordinary room in Hilton Orchard isn't the most ideal way of racking up the stays. KL on the other hand, offers more attractive options for Hilton hotels and the cheapest would be Hilton at Petaling Jaya. And it was cheap (I'm talking about SGD120+ per night inclusive of 2 breakfasts and an upgrade to a room with executive lounge access) with good reason. Getting there by public transport (without a car) was a hassle. To get to Hilton PJ from the airport by train, one has to take the shuttle bus (RM9) from KLIA/LCCT to KL Sentral. There, one has to buy a ticket/token for the Kelana Jaya Line and take the train service all the way up to either the Taman Jaya Station or Asia Jaya Station. I prefer to get off the Taman Jaya Station Line BUT it is a lonely road leading to the back of the hotel and we all know that KL isn't the safest place in the world. Getting to Asia Jaya Station though is more of a hassle because it involves trying to cross more main roads and there aren't well, properly defined crossings but loads of broken pavement. Still, at least it is on the main road so one is that much safer.

Anyway, the hotel was under renovation. And all the executive rooms and the lounge were being ungraded. However, we were given 1 of the newly renovated rooms on the second floor facing the pool. So per the picture below, the furnishings and furniture and all were spanking new.

However, as with Double Trees Hilton, there was no bathtub in the room. The toiletries in the hotel were extremely well-packaged (see the pic below) but I assure you that once one removes the boxes, the contents are most ordinary. Disappointingly ordinary in fact.

Well as I mentioned, the executive lounge was under renovation so we were given access to another lounge. Needless to say, it was a far cry from the one at Double Tree. The selection of drinks and food was really limited and ordinary and although there was internet access, everything in the place was run-down, old and shabby.

The hotel provides a shuttle bus at 12noon to 1Utama but without the return service. Hence, we decided to go to 1Utama on our own for dinner. We walked the broken pavements to Asia Jaya Station and paid RM1.30 each to get to the end of the line - Kelana Jaya station. I had read that 1Utama provides free shuttle buses to the mall so we asked around and were told to cross a overhead bridge and wait at the bus stop in front of a row of shophouses (see pic of station and the overhead bridge we crossed).

After waiting about 20 mins, there was no sign of the bus so we took a cab instead. It cost RM8 one way. 1Utama was huge and had many shops including Coach. We thought of taking the complimentary shuttle back to the train station in the evening but found out that the shuttle service was only for 1Utama Card Members. The cost of being a member would be RM10 each. And even though we offered to pay a nominal fee to the bus driver to take us to the station, he refused unless we became 1 Utama Card members. So much for "complimentary" bus svc!

The Slog Reviews: 7/10. This hotel is really cheap by KL stations and for the Hilton brand but it is with good reason. I would suggest waiting till the renovation is complete before booking a stay there. And it would be advisable to rent a car or drive up from SG because this Hilton hotel is the most inaccessible of the lot.