Day 3 in Langkawi on 7 Feb 2010 (Fishing for trevally, first time catching a fish on lure and dinner again at GLK restaurant)

Due to our feasting the night before, my friend Z could barely get out of bed and we ended up going fishing at 10am instead of 8am. We had the same deckie and the same boat as the day before but this time, we headed for Datai Bay instead to target Trevallys, usually called GTs or "Airbags" because of the wheezing sound they make when they are caught. Datai Bay is beautiful and dotted with these low clifflike structures which provide shade and shelter for the fishes.

This time, we did not use any live baits at all (in fact, the day before only the deckie used live bait for the handline which yield just one coral trout) but concentrated on pure luring - Casting and retrieving artificial baits. Now, a lot of people think fishing is a passive boring hobby (at least that is the feedback I get) but it isn't. I will write an entry later about why I love fishing but suffice it to say for now that fishing can be very physically and mentally stimulating and tiring. Imagine having to cast (arm power!) your line and fake bait as far as possible to the exact spot you are aiming for. As far as possible so that when you retrieve back the artifical bait by winding the spool (as if you caught a fish), you are able to cover as much ground as possible and increase the possibility of a fish taking your lure. And when I say exact spot, it's no use at all casting to areas where the isn't likely any to be any fishes - it is a fine technique I tell you - having to cast near the rocks and NOT get your lure stuck on the branches or rocks.

That aside, imagine having to do all the above many times repeatedly without stopping under the broiling hot sun standing up on a rocking boat. Cast, retrieve, cast, retrieve. And knowing that during and after more than 100 casts, one is guaranteed of nothing. I have been luring since June last year (will write about my first offshore luring trip) about once a month with two months break...total less than ten times and each time I have ended up empty handed. While I have caught fishes, I hadn't caught anything from the sea before on lure until this trip.

So, given the extremely dismal performance yesterday and past few months where I was "fishless"fishing in the wild using lures, I wasn't expecting very much out of today either but I still go up and did my thing. It's sheer madness I tell you, caking on the sunblock, donning the UV protection shirt, the fishing hat and mask, and then casting the line out and retrieving the lure again and again and again and again. Anyway, after my 20-30th cast, I felt a take, a pull on my line while I was retrieving the lure, and I waited a bit and then struck. The fish at the end didn't put up too much of a fight ( I had a 30lb leader) but hey who cares! I got my FIRST FISH ON LURE after all those fishless luring expeditions! And my first fish on lure was a Garfish. Now, I don't care if Garfishes eat anything, but the point is, it decided to take my lure! And I managed to hook it up!

I almost wept with joy when I finally caught the garfish and no, I'm not kidding. Imagine the money I've spent on fishing trips, tackle and lures, driving 3-6 hours through rocky roads, the knots I've had to practice, squatting in the hot sun untangling the "beehoon"/"bird nest" from using my baitcasting reel, and having my faith in myself and my ability thoroughly shaken at some times. There were times when I was tempted to give up this whole business of luring and just bait where I almost always never end up "fisheless". And not having anyone who was supportive of my hobby made it all the more harder. My friends don't fish and are not keen to. So when I decided to take up this hobby, it meant having to make new friends again. What gets me most frustrated though is the absolutely discouraging remarks that I have to listen and endure from the people around me such as "Face it, you have no luck. Face it, you have not enough skill. Give up lar. You are not going to catch any fish". It got to a point where I just simply decided I wouldn't be around these ignorant fools anymore, especially not for fishing trips. I say ignorant because they aren't anglers and therefore have no right to criticize or make disparaging remarks of the aforementioned kind. Throughout all my fishing in Thailand, Malaysia and SG, I have found one thing in common - fellow anglers NEVER criticize or tell you to give up on fishing even if you end up fishless at the end of the day. Never ever. For any angler would have had a bad day fishing and knows that "fishless" days are part of the parcel. And they know how awful it feels to be "fishless", or how you could get a fish at the very last minute, so they never make such comments at all.

After getting the garfish and unhooking it from the lure, flush with success and glee, I decided to change lure and go for groupers. The first time I went luring with my shifu in Singapore, I almost got a grouper from the wild, it snapped at my lure but missed. Since then, I've been determined to get a grouper on lure by hook or by crook. So, I went back to casting and retrieving over this spot in Datai Bay. Groupers are always hiding in holes in and under rocks like the kind you see in the picture which I took below, as are green-eyed squids.

After about another 20 casts or so, and when I was quite resigned to the gar fish being my only fish for the day, as I was retrieving the lure slowly, I felt the lure getting "stuck". I thought that it was "sungkot" which is the malay term for the lure being stuck at the bottom between rocks. That happens very often when using diving lures because you need the lures to bump the rocks where the groupers are (no point having the lures above the groupers' heads) . Anyway, I gave a little jerk, and the "stuck" feeling went aware and I found I had a fish on my line. Again, because it was a 30pnd leader I was using, and the fish was not very large, there wasn't much of a fight if any and I brought in my first grouper on lure! I would have released it, given its size but as it was my long-awaited fish, I'm sorry to say that I thought it should be eaten.

Into the icebox that grouper above went, and I went back to luring over the same spot. We didn't get any more bites after that so I switched to eging/squiding by using an artificial prawn lure to get some sotongs but there were no takers. So, we switched spots and casted along the sides of each mossy island/rock thingy in the sea. And that is where I got my third fish on another lure (that lure was meant to target GTs) which was yet another grouper and an even smaller one than the first so I released it.

While we were circling about the fishing spots, we came across this scene. 4 women engaging in extremely dangerous work. According to Z, they were lookning for oysters/clams which are stuck at the side of each mossy island. A wrong slip and they would end up in the waters below and lord knows what lies under the waters - rocks with sharp ages? Jellyfishes (we saw a few in the bay)? Predator fishes (we saw a baby shark at one of the fishing spots!)? It's amazing how some of us have it so comfortable in life, while there are others eking out a living like this.

In the afternoon about 2pm, Z, who hadn't caught anything until now, and was luring for GTs, caught a barracuda. It was a larger barracuda than yesterday's. Apparently, barras are attracted to fast moving lures too like GT, but that shouldn't be a surprise since both are predator fishes.

From 2 to about 6pm when the waters started to get so choppy that we could barely stand up on deck (the waves made the boat go up and down like a rocking horse), much less lure (need both hands - one to hold the rod, the other to wind the reel), Z managed to get 3 GTs! 1 of them was about 2kilos (the top one in the pic below) while the other two were about 1.1kg each. The size 11 sandal is placed there to give one an idea of how large the fishes are. For myself, despite changing lures thrice and retrieving at a fast speed with Z (which was extra tiring cos it meant that I had to cast more often given how fast the lures came back), I didn't manage to any GTs! BUT...BUT, I had a GT chase my lure all the way up to the boat! Z and I could see the flash of silver and the fish itself as it followed my lure all the way to the surface but unfortunately, it didn't take the lure. I cast out again but the GT apparently had lost interest and I didn't get any strikes or chasers. Ah well. Now with the grouper under my belt, guess what fish I'm going to go for next....the GT! I know, I know, I keep thinking if only too...if only that GT had taken the lure

As the sea was far too choppy, we went back to the mangrove/estuary area after 6pm and did some light trolling and casting. However, it was all quiet and there were no takers at all. This is a picture of the sunset over the mangrove area which I took from the boat.

I asked Z to join us for dinner about 8pm when we finally got back but he declined because he had other commitments. So we went back to GLK restaurant again where they cooked the fishes for us. Z offered me his barra to eat but I wasn't too keen on eating a barra because I wanted to eat the fishes I had caught - the garfish and the grouper. However, as from the pictures above, they were tiny things so I took one of Z's GTs too (the medium-sized one although he wanted us to have the largest one).

This is a picture of the Garfish I caught chopped and fried. Without its long mouth, the portions look rather pathetic. Heh. But guess what, I'm not complaining. The meat (yeah, there was meat to the fish) was white, soft and delicious. If you had clicked the abovelink to read about garfish (click here if you haven't), it is known to be a delicious-tasting fish! No wonder Z was trying to get some garfishes for himself too! The Slog Reviews: 10/10. Hey, I caught it - of course it's a perfect 10! :D

The picture below is of the GT steamed in sauce WITH the grouper I caught next to it. Without the head ( I wonder what happens to the heads of all the fishes - the threadfin we ate last night was missing its head too), the grouper looks even smaller. Well, still, I ate whatever meat there was on my grouper - a good thing there wasn't too much meat anyway because I was grinning with my mouth fit to split that I'd broken my "dry" spell and finally landed fishes on lures. :D I now believe more firmly than ever in the 10-000 hour theory. Go read Outliers if you haven't a clue what that is about. The premise behind the theory is that no one who is good at what he does spends less than 10000hours prefecting his craft while those who suck at what they do are shown to spend less than 10000hours on it. This, and only this thought is what keeps me going when I feel like giving up on something.

We also ordered butter prawns from the restaurant. The Slog Reviews: 7.5/10. The prawns weren't live prawns but from the freezer. The restaurant doesn't do a bad job of cooking the prawns this style but it isn't anything to rave about either. The cost of this dish was really cheap about RM 20+ if I remember rightly.

What was expensive however was the mantis shrimp which I had steamed. THIS, was caught live from the restaurant's tanks. It was such an hideous color of purple (from its original grey shade) after being steamed with the eyes being cooked white. Yikes, truely a nightmarish creature. The Slog Reviews: 7/10. Although I am of the opinion that fresh live seafood should always be steamed, I think that for the mantis shrimp, it would be wise to have it fried like I had the same done in KK (click here) or whatever other way as suggested by the restaurant. The cost of the mantis shrimp is RM 12/100gm.

The cost of the meal above was about RM70...I think the boss forgot to charge us for the cost of cooking the three fishes. While GLK restaurant was relatively empty while Wonderland next door was packed, I would recommend GLK restaurant still for its excellent service. Maybe the food at Wonderland is really much nicer (given the crowd) but if one cannot wait to try out the food there, GLK is just 4 steps away.

Day 2 in Langkawi on 6 Feb 2010 (Fishing for Threadfin, GLK Seafood Restaurant)

The main purpose of this Langkawi trip was to go fishing with a fishing kaki, Z, who is a Malay Malaysian running a tour agency on the island. Z offered me a great rate of RM1000 for two eight hour boat trips which is about SGD 50 more than what I pay for an offshore trip here on a cost-sharing basis with other anglers. Sometimes, I amaze myself with how far I am prepared to go for fishing - like waking up on a holiday at 6am. Z was punctual picking me up from the hotel at 8am and off we went to where his 4 boats were docked at Tanjong Rhu.

I didn't want to risk losing my own fishing gear and the hassle of watching over the same so I asked Z to provide all the gear, lures and bait. Thankfully all his reels were spinning reels - I really need far more practice using the baitcasting reels :(. We started off fishing near the nearby islands using lures. The picture below is of the shallower waters near one of the islands (Langkawi is made up of 99 islands). The beauty of the different colors of water, green in this case, never fail to astound me.

Here is another picture which I took to share the beauty of the sea. If you look carefully at the picture (which of course has not been edited in anyway), you can see the two distinct different colors - the deep darker blue and the lighter blue-green hue of the sea closer to shore. On the Pekan fishing trip, I saw three different colors meld into each other- brown, light blue and dark blue and that was what made me determined to get a waterproof camera.

And below, is another picture which I took when we were further out on the open sea. As I said, one of the reasons why I love offshore fishing trips is because of sights like this that one could never otherwise see except in pictures.

Our target for today was threadfin so we did light jigging. I had a couple of pulls on my jig but nothing. Z also had 4 strikes but nothing. It was only about 3.45pm (before that, all that we caught was one medium coral trout on handline using squid as bait) that the deckie who was also jigging caught the first threadfin! That's the picture of him and his first threadfin. In the next half an hour, he caught two more threadfins about the same size. Z and I continued pumping and jigging madly away but alas, we did not catch any threadfins at all :( Most disappointed.

About 6pm when it was clear that we weren't going to get any threadfins (the deckie didn't catch any more threadfins after the third), we turned back to the mangrove area. The sea was getting really choppy besides. We switched from casting to jigging. Z managed to get a small barracuda on lure about 7+pm.

Here's a close-up picture of the barra caught on a rapala lure - frankly, I'm scared of barras - I've heard that the large ones can take a man's arm off and from the picture below, I don't think that story is a myth - unlike other fishes (say, peacock bass), the sharp teeth of the barra are located at the front of its mouth (as opposed to the back of the mouth behind the lips).

One of Z's "bros" (they call each other bro and sis here) suggested that we take one of the threadfins caught by the deckie to Wonderland Restaurant. However, when we got there about 9pm, the place was packed. As in, all the tables were taken. Appears to be wildly popular even amongst the caucasians. As I was tired and stinky (try standing under the broiling hot sun luring (cast the lure as far as possible (or rather, to the desired position) and then retrieve and then repeat like a million times), I didn't want to wait for a table so we decided to try the restaurant just next door.

The boss is a large "fattish" chappy who speaks English, Malay and Chinese. He is also very sociable, circulating from table to table and interacting with his customers. He was agreeable to cleaning and cooking the large threadfin for us too (weight was 2.4kg) so we decided to have dinner. The threadfin was so large (there were 3 of us) that he suggested cooking it in two different styles. This is the first half of the fish steamed the way I like it best - in sourish soup. The Slog Reviews: 10/10. Come on, freshly caught fish from the sea! How can that rate lesser than a ten? And the restaurant's efforts - ahhhh, what can I say about the bitingly sourish hot soup that lends its own flavour to the fish (which was cooked so well it didn't have any fishy taste) ?A Must try if you go to the restaurant...although, you'd better bring ur own freshly caught fish as the restaurant does not have any live fishes in tanks waiting to be cooked.

As for the other half of the fish, this was also steamed but in black sauce. Equally delicious. The picture below shows the thickness of the flesh of the threadfin. The Slog Reviews: 8/10. Heh, it goes without saying the fish was fresh (we caught it!), the sauce was fine, nothing wrong. But I guess my tastebuds were spoilt by the way the other half of the fish was cooked so I didn't really like this dish as much (this dish can be a bit too salty too).

The cost of cleaning, cutting and cooking the fish was RM 20. We also ordered crabs. The restaurant has live mantis prawns, live crabs and some other smaller live prawns. The cost of the three crabs below was about RM 70. The owner was so sure 3 of us wouldn't be able to finish so much food but hey, we did! Every single morsel too.

The Slog Reviews: 8/10. The crab was fresh of course, freshly slaughtered but it was cooked so well that its flesh (see pic below) was firm quivering white and sweet despite the dish being a "crab fried in egg yolk dish" I would usually recommend against having fresh seafood fried but I'll tell you that this restaurant did such a fabulous job of cooking the crab in egg yolk that the meat in the crab tasted so good as if it had been steamed. And the egg yolk batter fried with the egg added a tasty melt in your mouth crust on top of the tender white meat. Definitely a must-eat!
The total cost of the meal below (together with about 6 cups of lime juice/lychee juice) was just RM119 (SGD 40-50). A satisfying end indeed to a "fishless" day.

Day 1 in Langkawi on 5 Feb 2010 ( Car Rental, Bayview Hotel, Night Market and Orkid Ria Seafood Restaurant)

The flight from Singapore to Langkawi by Tiger Airways took one hour and twenty minutes. We reached Langkawi International Airport at 4.25pm on Friday. The airport terminal is a two storey building and one is required to walk across the tarmac from the plane to the building. Thankfully, it wasn't raining but it sure was blazing hot. This is the huge signboard that greeted us when we got down from the plane. Langkawi is a tourist island (there is only one factory on the island, a cement factory) where the population is 90% Malay and almost all the locals are involved somehow in the tourism trade.

Clearing customs was a breeze with about 6 counters opened. While waiting for the bags to be loaded on the conveyor belts, one can drop by the many car rental companies booths located a stone's throw away. Be warned that although the companies are different entities, the staff of the companies are on very good terms with each other so pitting one co against another co isn't a good idea. I was offered the rental of a honda city at RM330 for three days (5pm Fri to 5pm Mon) which 1 of the co claimed was at a 50% discount. However, I thought that it was still beyond my budget of RM100 a day so I looked around some more and after haggling for half an hour and being offered a variety of cars (rejected all the proton cars esp the waja because that isn't fuel efficient), I settled for an automatic Mitsubishi Colt at RM270 for three days. Below is a picture of the car. Driving it took some getting used to because it was the gear was located next to the wiper stick (my hand kept dropping to the empty space in front hah) and the hand brake was next to the brake pedal. The interior of the car is rather cramped though I must say (the backs of the front seats almost touched the back seats).

I had wanted to rent a GPS to go long with the car initially but the car rental staff were quick to assure me that the roads in Langkawi are very easy to navigate and there are sign boards along the road for all the touristy places. And true enough, it was very easy to drive around Langkawi to get to the attractions marked out on the tourist maps. The roads are all one lane (in each direction) and I saw police road blocks every single day I was out. Maybe it is because Langkawi is one of the two duty-free places in Msia (the other is Labuan) so liquor and cigars are dirt cheap or maybe the crime rate is so low that there isn't much else for the police to do.

I'd booked a room at Bayview Langkawi for less than SGD80 a night. The hotel is located at the far end of Kuah Town but with a rental car, the hotel location isn't a problem. In any case, the hotel is next to Plaza Langkawi which is a rather dismal shopping mall with nothing very much. There are many shop houses selling hawker food, silk clothes and local products around the hotel. The Slog Reviews: 8.5/10. Alright, this hotel isn't luxurious but it is decent enough. Clean, spacious, with a mini fridge, safe, coffee-making facilities, a bathtub and a TV (not LCD or Plasma) with some cable chanels like cinemax. Truely value for money, especially since the price of the room included a pretty nice buffet breakfast. The picture below is a pic of the breakfast area.
The reason why I would recommend this hotel is because of the excellent customer service provided by the staff. When my flight was cancelled, I called the hotel to ask for a change in dates and they not only agreed to let me change dates without any cost but even called me from Malaysia to confirm the change. The counter-staff are polite and speak English so checking in and out went very smoothly. The picture below is of a normal standard room on the 9th floor.

I had a choice between booking a sea-facing room and a hill-facing room which is slightly cheaper. Figuring that I wouldn't be in the room very much if at all, I'd picked the hill-facing room. The picture below is the view from my room (the windows cannot be opened but the rooms do not smell stale.)

After leaving our bags in our respective rooms, we took the Colt for a spin to catch the sunset at the beach along the way to Tanjong Rhu as suggested by the car rental staff. This is a picture of the stretch of public beach which we stopped at.

This beach is a sea-shell collector's heaven. There are many types of pretty and almost perfectly formed shells littered along the entire stretch of beach. Despite my resolve not to collect stuff that I don't need, I ended up picking quite a few sea-shells to take home.

A picture below of the sunset from the beach. We couldn't really see the sun go down because of one of the islands but I still enjoyed the beauty of the skies changing color. There were a few families playing on the beaches and little kids swimming in the sea. A peaceful place indeed.

The next stop was the night market which was 5 mins away on the other side of the roundabout. The night markets in Langkawi are held at different locations on the different days of the week. We had intended to go to the one at Kuah Town on Saturday but since we were around the area, we went to this night market instead. Parking was a bit of a hassle because of the number of cars parked along the side of the roads so we parked a fair bit away and walked back. The night market on Friday consist of stalls lining two sides of a lane/road per the picture below (I took this picture from the "entrance" to the night market.)

As you can see from the picture below, most of the stalls at the night market sell food. All types of food. I took this picture because I'd never seen such huge woks/cooking pots before. If not for the fact that we were going for seafood later, I would have tried out the noodles for they looked so delicious.
This is the first time I'd ever seen ketam goreng. Ketam means crab in Malay and Goreng means fried. It didn't look very tempting though despite the color and I didn't dare to try it besides because one never knows how fresh/stale the food is if it has been deep-fried.

The only thing that I ended up buying and eating from the night market was the pulut durian. Unfortunately it wasn't the durian season in Langkawi so I didn't manage to get any of my beloved fruit despite walking through the entire market. This was the closest to satisfying my urges. Pulut durian consist of a single fleshy durian seed on top of sticky rice and warm coconut milk poured over the mixture. Yes, a rich warm calorie-concoction but it was good! Maybe it's because I like durians anyway but durians, coconut milk and sticky rice...that combo is something I'll like to replicate in Singapore again on my own.

After the night market, we went to the renowned Orkid Ria along Pantai Cenang for our dinner. Parking again was an issue as most of the lots were taken up even as late as 8.30pm. The restaurant was crowded and we had to take a queue number. This restaurant is ranked number 11 by tripadvisor.

While waiting for a table, we had to stand around the entrance of the restaurant. Some of the restaurant's selection of seafood are laid out there (to attract tourists). The tiger prawns are almost as huge as the lobsters and this is the first time I've seen lobsters priced at the same price as tiger prawns too!

Because of the Pulut Durian I'd stuffed myself with and because the lobsters and tiger prawns were dead (and therefore not as fresh as caught live from the tanks), we decided to have fried soft shell crab, beancurd, sambal kangkong and butter prawns. While the drinks were served relatively quickly, we had to wait a good 40 mins before the food came. It wouldn't have been so bad if the food was good, but it was not and they gave me prawns in egg instead of butter prawns. The Slog Reviews: -1/10. This must have been one of the worst meals I'd ever eaten overseas. The person who reviewed this place as a tourist trap is absolutely right on. The softshell crabs were flour-like lumps that were so hard and tasteless that it didn't feel like I was eating softshell crabs and I left 7/8 of the dish untouched. It was that bad and an absolute waste of money. The kangkong was below mediocre leaving no taste at all in one's mouth, the beancurd was a soggy mess and the prawns did not taste fresh at all. In fact, the flesh of the prawns were so far from firm that they were just mushy tastless meat in the shells. What an absolutely waste of time and money! I'll bet that the people who have reviewed Orchid Ria and thought that it was a great place to go to must have never eaten before at Hua Hing Restaurant at Sedco Square in Kota Kinabalu! I do not agree that Orchid Ria at Pantai Cenang in Langkawi is the best seafood restaurant in Langkawi and think it nothing more than a tourist trap.

Eve of Chinese New Year (Reunion Dinner Lo Hei and other traditions)

Happy Lunar New Year! It's the Year of the White/Metal Tiger now. In accordance with Chinese tradition/customs/practices for the Lunar Chinese New Year, I (a) bought new clothes to wear on the first day (b) have new red undergarments (c) spring-cleaned my office (d) spring-cleaned my bedroom (d) made sure that I had a full tank of petrol in the car entering the New Year (e) sent my car for a good wash (f) did my utmost to clear as much work as possible (wasn't possible to clear my inbox tho'); and (g) tried to clear my "debts" (whatever owed to others); That's My Precious after the car wash at Caltex at 5pm today. There was a horribly long queue and the 3 mins carwash cost SGD 8. After I got home, I had to clean the inside of the car myself and also, apply rainact solution on the windscreen. Unlike my previous car, a charming little Daihatsu Sirion which I nicknamed The Toad because it was green, I have never, until today, cleaned the car myself. It was always easier and cheaper to send it to a car wash for just RM8 when I go to JB (and that car wash vacuums and cleans the inside of the car too!). Maybe I should start cleaning the car myself as a weekly workout - I do so like the gleam after the wash. I would have pumped petrol in JB and washed the car there too this week if not for the horrible massive jams I've been hearing about- A lot of Chinese Malaysians are beginning to start the journey back to their hometowns for Chinese New Year.

Of course, per tradition, we had the reunion dinner this evening followed by rummy-o. My mother cooked curry chicken, chap chye, braised shitake mushrooms and scallops, sharkfin soup, cod fish and stewed pork. Frankly, I don't think losing weight is a very real possibility, given how much of her good food I've eaten and given that I have two buffets scheduled for tomorrow's lunch and dinner respectively! Argh! The pic below is of the second Lo Hei I've done this CNY and at home at that (the first was at the department's lunch)! My mum usually frowns upon having Lo Hei at all because of the mess - one uses the chopsticks to lift the ingredients as high as possible while uttering auspicious Chinese phrases and the end result is that the ingredients are strewn all over the table or the floor. It's fun, but there is a lot of cleaning up to do! I've heard that this Lo Hei tradition started in, and is unique to Singapore (but has since spread to Malaysia). Each ingredient in the dish is suppsoed to symbolise something - for eg, the sweet sauce is supposed to be mixed in when one is uttering a phrase to do with sweetness in one's life, and the crackers are supposed to symbolise wealth ie the Chinese traditional gold nugget.

The Wolfman (2010) Movie

I caught the sneak preview of The Wolfman. There weren't any other shows (too many Chinese shows in the days leading up to Chinese New Year) that my friend and I could agree upon so despite both our mutual dislike for horror films, we decided on this show because of the special effects and because of Anthony Hopkins.

There is a pretty decent plot summary of the show here and an even better one here so I shan't do my own plot summary as I did for the Percy Jackson movie.

The Slog Reviews: 7/10. Tragic ending - I thought the wolfman could be saved and not killed when the gypsy said that he could be saved by a woman who loves him. However, she meant saved as in set free, as there isn't any cure for his condition. The special effects in the film were great - watching the men transform into wolves - hindfeet bursting out of shoes, digits lengthening, snout appearing with sharpened teeth BUT and it's a huge BUT, the director went too much for the sudden effects scare. As in, the music builds up to a pitch and then there is the BOOM (close shot of hideous face, close shot of monster closing in etc). Too much of that kinda thing throughout the movie. As well as too much of violence, blood and gore. And, I mean, violence - werewolves decapitating people, ripping out some luckless fella's intestines, putting their claws through the back of yet another luckless fella's head...nauseating. This is not a show for children definitely or one who eschews violence.

KEK Keng Eng Kee Seafood

We had our department's yearly Chinese New Year lunch at Keng Eng Kee Seafood. The address of the place is Blk 124 Jalan Bukit Merah Lane 1, #01-136 S(150124).If you want to make reservations, the telephone number is 6272 1038 / 97487054. The restaurant is open from 11.30am to 2pm for lunch and 5pm to 10.45pm for dinner. There are parking lots around and in front of the restaurant but it is a night mare trying to get parking at all during lunch!

We started off the lunch with Yu Sheng for Lo Hei purposes. The server (PRC lady) prepared the dish before us by adding in the various ingredients for us and uttering the appropriate Chinese phrases. And then the 6 of us "Lo Hei-ed" with great gusto, wishing for everything to get bigger/higher/better, from the stock market to advancements in career. That's the point of the dish - using a pair of chopsticks to toss the ingredients and lift each "chopstickful"of ingredients as high as possible. For the wishes to come true, one should always eat some of the yu sheng after it has been tossed. The Slog Reviews: 8/10. I'm not a Yu Sheng fan but this dish didn't taste too bad with the fresh sliced fish platter mixed in.

We had to ask the server to clean the table for us before she started serving the rest of the dishes (she was quite ready to put the plates down on the table shrewn with ingredients!). One of my colleagues did the ordering so I can't give any information at all on the prices and items on the menu. The first dish that came was sambal kangkong which was passable, being fresh and not cooked too soggy. The next dish was the beancurd. The Slog Reviews: 8.5/10. I really liked this dish which was full of butter mushrooms, sliced Chiense mushrooms, deep fried beancurd, pork slices and vegetable in a light gravy. The dish came topped with a layer of egg white which made the dish just the right amount of gooey to have with rice.

We also had pork ribs/pork chop. The Slog Reviews: 6.5/10. I wouldn't recommend this dish at all. The meat while soft enough didn't taste very nice and it seemed like the awfully thick and too-sweet sauce was used in excess to mask the tastelessness of the meat. The meat certaintly didn't taste as if it had been marinated long enough in the sauce for the sauce to permeate the meat, resulting in one having the separate taste of the meat and sauce in one's mouth at the same time. Not good.

On the other hand, the cereal prawns were excellent. The Slog Reviews: 9/10. The prawns were extremely fresh and cooked so well that the meat was firm yet sweet and wasn't stuck to the shell. The cereal was very tasty of course, even on its own eaten with rice. I can't give this dish a 10/10 because cooked this style, the prawns are meant to be eaten with the shells on but it was not possible for our meal given how hard the shells of the prawns were.

We ended the meal with black pepper crabs. The Slog Reviews: 9/10. The black pepper sauce was just the right fiery spicy and I thought the crabs were rather fresh. The meat didn't stick to the shells. The only thing I disliked about this dish was that all the eggs had fallen out of the top shell and was mixed in with the black pepper sauce making it almost impossible to fin

The total cost of the meal was about SGD 150 for 6 of us inclusive of drinks (my boss gave us a treat). While this place is a far cry from Long Beach, No SignBoard etc, it still does pretty decent seafood for really reasonable prices. And, the service isn't too bad - you just have to speak up loudly to be heard and the dishes do not take a long time to come either.

Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief (2010) Movie

The trailer for this movie looked thrilling enough to make this movie a "must-see" for me so I did and found it enjoyable enough (the special effects!) not to leave my seat once (although I thought I had to) at all during the show. I can't find a decent plot summary anywhere at all on the web - the one on wiki seems off and lots of details are missing.

Here is my plot summary / plot synopsis of the movie Percy Jackson based on my recollectoin of the movie:
The movie starts with the greek God Poseidon striding out of the sea. monstrously large (taller than buildings etc) and then assuming human form. He goes to the Empire State Building where his brother Zeus is and Zeus accuses Poseidon's son, Percy, of stealing his lighning rod and tells Poseidon that Percy has 10-12 days to return the same, failing which there will be war. Cut to Percy who is shown to have a reading disorder in school. When he gets home, his stepfather orders his mum about, smacks her butt in front of Percy and reminds Percy roughly whose home it is. Percy has a best friend in school Grover who appears to rely on crutches to ambulate about. Percy and Grover go on a school trip to a museum when his teacher asks Percy to step aside. She turns into a really hideous looking demon with wings, a fury, and demands the lightning bolt. Percy and Grover are saved from the demon by Chiron who is in a wheelchair when he walks amongst men. Chiron gives Percy a pen which he instructs Percy to use only in the most desperate of times. Anyway, Grover reveals that hs is Percy's protector and they rush back home where Grover knocks the stepfather out (stepfather was aggresive) and Percy, Grover and Percy's mum get into the car and drive for camp half-blood. On the way there, the car is over-turned by a minotaur and the trio have to make for the camp by foot. Sadly, Percy's mother cannot go through the door of the camp, being human and is seized by the minotaur and vanishes. Percy pulls out his pen and it becomes a sword and he fights the minotaur and kills it. However, Percy gets knocked unconscious and when he wakes up he is in the hospital ward of the camp. First person he sees is Grover who takes him to see Chiron. I couldn't recognise Pierce Brosman beneath all that hair and his horse's ass. Annabeth Chase, daughter of Athena in the camp who is practising her sword play catches Percy's eye too. Chiron organises a game Capture the Flag and the campers are divided in 2 groups - red and blue. Luke, son of Hermes welcomes Percy to join their group. Percy makes it through all the fighting to the flag. Annabeth stops him from taking it and wallops him hard (even kicking him). He crawls like a slug to the stream and his wounds are healed. He is also revitalised and manages to beat some of the other red campers and Annabeth and takes the flag. That night in the camp when the campers are feasting and celebrating, Hades makes an appearance in a hideous fire form and starts throwing fireballs about while yelling for Percy to show himself and give up the lightning rod. When it is revealed that Hades has Percy's mother, Percy steps forward but denies he has the rod. Chiron tells Percy that the way to save his mother is to go to Olympus and convince the Gods there that Percy is not the thief. However, Percy doesn't listen and in the night, tries to sneak off. Grover catches him and insists on following and so does Annabeth. They have no idea at all how to go to the Underworld. Annabeth thinks Luke may have an idea so they look for Luke who supplies Percy with a shield, a pair of shoes with wings and a map on how to get to the underworld. According to Luke, they need to find 3 Pearls laid by Persephone and finding each pearl will mark the way to the next pearl and then to the underworld.

The first destination they have to go to is this garden somewhere. They drive there in a beat up truck to find many stone statues in a large garden. To find the pearl, they separate from each other. Grover finds a statue that looks a lot like his uncle down to the mole and realises something is wrong. Annabeth is seized by an old lady who jabbers on about someone turning people to stone. Annabeth and the old lady are confronted by Medusa whose hair is initially in a bun. Medusa then persuades the old lady to open her eyes and turns her to stone. Annabeth refuses to succumb and Percy distracts Medusa. Annabeth manages to break free and with Grover, use their old truck to ram Medusa down. Anyhow, in the end, Percy uses his pen/sword and slices off her head. Grover uses his shirt to wrap it up and take it along with them. The pearl was on a bracelet on Medusa's arm and indicates the next destination is some museum in Nashville.

The trio make their way there and hide in the toilets till the mueseum closes because they easily spot the pearl on the crown of a very large/tall statue of Athena and plan to use the sneakers with wings to fly up and take it. Annabeth uses her crossbow to shoot the 6 night cleaners and render them unconscious. Just as about Percy is about to take the pearl, the night cleaners appear and speak in a uniform voice demanding the return of the lightning rod. They then transform into a hideous large multi-headed monster breathing fire. The pearl is dropped and Percy tries in vain to get it. He slashes off all the heads of the monster but then two heads grow in its place. As the trio run towards the door which is locked, Grover has an idea and uses Medusa's head to turn the monster to stone. The pearl then indicates the next place they have to go is to Las Vegas Lotus Casino.

The trio get there and are tempted by the free food, lotus flower which looks like sushi. They start speaking slowly and forget why they are at the casino and start having a good time. Grover even gets his hoofs painted and dances around. Percy however hears the voice of his father warning him and he wisens up. He spots the pearl on the roulette table and refuses to eat any more lotus flowers which alerts the security guards who know he is percy. Percy gets Annabeth and Grover who are enjoying themselves and then grabs the pearl. The trio get into the lucky draw sports car and drive off. The pearl shows them that the final place they have to go to is hollywood.

They get to the place where the word Hollywood is spelt out on a hill. A hole opens indicating that that woudl be the way to the underworld. They go in and meet the boatman. The guy who ferries the dead across (can't remember his name). Grover gives him cash because the boatman wants souls and on each cash bill is the face of a president. The boatman burns it all. Percy is inspired and gives him the coins that he took from Medusa garden and the three get a ride in the boat. They end up at Persephone's and Hade's palace where they are first met by Persephone's hellhounds (ugly huge beasts). Persephone is attracted to Grover but they are summoned by Hades before she can do anything. Percy asks for his mother back. Hades summons back Percy's mum but Percy admits that he does not have the lightning rod to trade. During the ensuing scuffle, he drops the shield that Luke gave him and there, the lightning rod is revealed to be hidden. Delighted, Hade seizes it and orders Persephone to send the three to the lost souls. However, Persephone uses the rod to knock Hades out explaining that it is because he is a cruel person etc. As there are only 3 pearls and 4 of them, Grover volunteers to stay behind.

Percy, his mum and Annabeth then step on a pearl and end up at the empire state building.They are about to step into the doorway which would take them up to Olympus but Luke appears. He admits that he stole the lightning rod and tried to frame Percy. Percy and Luke fight then and Percy summons his powers as a demigod to use water and flush Luke away. Percy, his mum and Annabeth then make their way through the doorway to a lift that takes them to Olympus. Percy's mum cannot get out of the lift because she is mortal so only Percy and Annabeth enter the hall of the Gods.

The Greek Gods sit around ready for war at the stroke of midnight (by going to the Lotus Casino, 5 days passed by although Percy thought that they had been there just a few hours). Percy returns the lightning bolt to Zeus and tells Zeus who the thief was. War is therefore averted. Poseidon asks for permission to speak to Percy and he explains to Percy that he was forbidden to have contact with Percy after becoming too human by being with Percy. Percy is seen to shrug Poseidon off and not embrace him warmly the way he later embraces his mother.

The show ends back at the camp where Annabeth and Percy meet up and kiss. And the show ends.

The Slog Reviews: 8/10. An entertaining enough teenage/children movie with great special effects and the opportunity to see James Bond with a horse's ass.

Sing Ho Hainan Chicken Rice

I had dinner at my mother's favourite chicken rice place. The shop is located at 266 Middle Road a few steps down from the famous Rochor Beancurd and is open from 11am to 11pm.

As you can see from the picture above, the shop set-up is that of a rather aesthetically challenged coffeeshop. By the time I got there about 9.30pm, there was only white chicken left (the stall does sell roasted meat too). On the stall-front are an assortment of newspaper articles and food "awards" given to the stall for its achievement(s) in the chicken rice arena. However, the stall does sell other types of local dishes such as fried beancurd, vegetables (sambal kangkong, kailan etc), wanton, chicken noodles, laksa etc. The stall is operated mostly by PRCs who are able to speak limited English.

The Slog Reviews: 8.5/10. The chicken is thickly (but not too thickly) sliced, tender and tasty with just the thinnest layer of skin. The kangkong isn't spicy and rather cheap at SGD 3 only. The cold beancurd with floss however is rather bland-tasting (the sauce is rather thin and tasteless) and not worth trying (SGD 4). The chilli is hot enough but nothing very special. However, unlike Hainanese Delights, one can pay for the food after one has eaten and one can walk the few steps down to Rochor Beancurd for some dessert after.

NB: This restaurant has been closed since end Aug 2010

MPH sale extended till 26 Feb 2010

I was informed by a colleague yesterday that MPH at City Hall was still having a sale. Per my previous post, the sale was supposed to be till 31 Jan 2010 only but it apparently has been extended until 26 Feb 2010. The sale this time, is even better than before. There are books sold at SGD 3, 6 and 12 and for all other items, there is a huge discount on the books. For eg. Books priced at less than SGD 25 (ie between SGD 1 to SGD 24.99) are only sold for SGD 6. Definitely worth a trip there. However, be warned that travel books and most languages books have been snapped up and all the books are mixed/jumbled on the shelves. The only visible separation between the books are between children and adult books.

Anyhow, I bought another 3 books today, one of which was Being Beautiful, the book that I'd wanted to buy last month but hesitated. Ended up saving SGD6. The other two are self-improvement books with attention-grabbing titles. I'm not sure when I'm going to read them, much less write about them here given that to date, I'm at least 4 issues behind my Time magazines which sit on my desk waiting to be read, still have yet to finish my 3 library books (Fooled by Randomness, Black Swan, One Min Manager), owe 1 of my best friend 2 books (Blink (which I've finished) and The Lost Symbol) and am 7/8 through What the Dog Saw. Oh yeah, and all the books I bought the last time from MPH? I haven't read a single one yet. Go me. And there I was, feeling bored. Hah.

Nijyumaru Japanese Restaurant at Johor Bahru

So as I was running low on gas last Thursday before going to Langkawi, I decided to go to Johor Bahru for dinner at the same time. By the way, white cards are required again (started yesterday apparently) by the Msia customs and the new white cards are different from the old ones. I also learnt today that all Touch N Go Cards have an expiry date of 10 years. The cost of one card is RM20 with a stored value of RM10.

I had been wanting to have dinner at Nijyumaru Japanese Restaurant for some time after reading on someone's blog that it is supposed to be one of the best Japanese restaurants in Johor Bahru. The address is at No 24 Jalan Permas 10/5 Bandar Baru Permas Jaya 81750 Johor Bahru, Malaysia and the telephone number is 607-388-9813. If you drive in from JB using the Permas Jaya Bridge, you will pass the BP station on your left and take the first left turn after the station, drive all the way to the end and turn right. They have another outlet at Taman Sutera, Skudai next to Sutera Mall at the row of shophouses near the restoran pekin side of the mall.

The picture below is of one of the walls of the restaurant which my table was facing ( I had to take off my shoes to step on the platform). The decor of the restaurant is very well done by JB restaurant standards and there are partitions for seperate side rooms (without a door) located off the main dining area. It is advisable to make reservations because I was asked if I had made one upon entering and was apparently only given a table because of the lateness of the hour.

The restaurant has a pretty comprehensive menu with a page dedicated for lunch specials which are cheaper than the other set meal options. There is also a large range of Japanese wine offered together with various types of ramen ranging from RM 13 to RM 16. There is a set meal named after the restaurant which is about RM 38. There are sushi and sashimi options on the menu too which are priced almost similarly to that of a decent Jap restaurant in Singapore. This restaurant isn't the sushi conveyor belt kind of restaurant. Anyway, I ordered the Unagi Tempura set meal per the picture below. The cost was less than RM 30 (I can't remember because I didn't pay). Other than the tempura and unagi, the set meal came with miso soup, 2 small slices of watermelon, tuna and some greens. The Slog Reviews: 7.5/10. Nothing impressive, nothing remarkable unfortunately. The unagi sauce was a tad too salty and the tempura consisted of one prawn and two pcs of veg.

However, I did like the "Sharkfin" Chawan Mushi (RM 10) per the picture below which was chockful of ingredients - mushrooms, pcs of meat, crab stick and "sharkfin". The Slog Reviews: 8/10.
The total cost of the meal for 2 pp was about RM 60 which is SGD 24 at the current exchange rate. It would not be possible to have a meal for the price in a restaurant like Nijyumaru in Singapore so if one happens to be in JB and one likes Japanese food, this could be a restaurant to go to. However,I wouldn't deliberately go to Permas Jaya just for this restaurant, much less drive up to JB for a meal here.

Pocketful of Sunshine :D

The song Pocketful of Sunshine describes perfectly how I'm feeling today - definitely upbeat, cheerful, optimstic and just a tad hyper.



Maybe it's to do with the fact that I'm going on a holiday tomorrow.

Ooooo....(per the chorus of the song)

"Take me away
A secret place
A sweet escape
Take me away
Take me away
To better days
Take me away
A hiding place"

Bee Cheng Hiang's Mini EZ Cheese Bak Kwa

I can't stop myself from eating these. Despite my resolutions for 2010, I had four (4!!!) of the mini ez cheese bak kwa in the past fifteen mins. Go me. My boss introduced these little snacks to us a couple of years ago. She, like the stuff she introduces, is good stuff. The Slog Reviews: 10/10 - oh sin, glorious sin. The bak kwa in each packet is oily, succulent and tender. Coupled with cheese, rich yellow melted cheese - how can one possibly resist these calorie-laden delights? The perfect Singapore gift to give to friends overseas (provided these friends are not vegan, vegetarian, halal or weight-conscious haha).

Anyway, I bought the most recent 500gm packet from JB a week ago from the Bee Cheng Hiang outlet at the Sutera Mall. With the current exchange rate, it is about SGD 2 cheaper than in Singapore. So far, I am only aware of the outlets at Jln Wong Ah Fook and at Sutera Mall in Johor. However, I remember that back in Feb 2008 when the China project started and I was in Shenzhen for the first time, I came across a small little outlet along Hua Qiang Bei Lu (near the ParknShop supermarket). I remember feeling this swell of pride that our little red dot had made its mark in China, that Singapore was in China. Sounds a little ridiculous typing this but I have to confess that I am one of those proud of one own's country, government and leaders.

Edge of darkness (2010) movie

I caught the Edge of Darkness.

The Slog Reviews: 6/10. I've found a review on the net that describes exactly how I feel about the whole show. Click here. A show not worth the ticket price IMHO. It wasn't that I expected more from Mel Gibson since this is first movie in at least 5 years but the plot was nothing really novel - govt cover-up/conspiracy and all the baddies die in the movie. Oh, Mel Gibson dies in the show too at the end, having being poisoned by his daughter's employer, who runs the research and development center which deals with nukes and dirty bombs. One scene stays in my mind though - when his daughter is blasted in the middle with a shot gun and flies backwards through the door. Woah, talk about impact and nasty irreversible damage.

Hainanese Delights at Capitol Building

Hainanese Delights located at Capitol Building (along the same stretch as Breadtalk is) is always very packed during lunch time and after work. Even as late as 8.30pm on a Wed night, quite a number of the tables were taken when I went there for dinner.

The Slog Reviews: 8.5/10. This is one of my favourite places in Singapore for chicken rice (both white and roasted meat are good) because as we all know, it is the chilli that makes or breaks the dish and this place makes mighty good chilli sauce. Fiery spicy chilli sauce that starts a nice warm flame in one's tummy and a sauce which isn't too watery or too sweet, definitely a place for chicken rice chilli lovers to try out.



The cost of my chicken rice dish above is SGD 3.50. The egg, a mere 50 cents. The dish also comes with the obligatory cucumber slices, some pickles and a bowl of soup. The soup isn't the oily or thin-tasting "drop a chicken cube in it" kind of soup but a hearty home-cooked version with beans. I don't know whether the store charges more for an extra bowl of soup (they didn't charge me but they behaved like it was a favour they were doing). The stall sells sugarcane and lime juice (about SGD 1+), all of which are tasty and fresh. There are other items on the menu such as assam fish and fried bean curd but I'll say, save your money. The assam fish tastes nothing of assam but of a weak tomato paste and the fish looks shrunken. The bean curd does not only look unappealing, it is so unremarkable I won't even start on it.

Ambiance-wise, Hainanese Delights really isn't much to look at, very much like a coffee-shop and there is even a long horizontal table against the wall so one can sit eating facing the wall. And, one thing about this place which never fails to irk me is that they ask for payment upfront right after you order your dish and drink. If one is seated when ordering, one has to get up and go to the counter and pay before one is served.

Unless one is a chicken rice chilli lover, I wouldn't recommend going all the way to this place for a meal.

The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas (2008) Movie

I watched this movie on DVD. The solemnity and tragedy in this movie totally extinguished the joy and merriment from the earlier two movies which I watched before this one. Before the movie, I had been grinning at the TV and even rolling around the couch laughing at some scenes. After this movie, I trudged off to bed with heavy feet.

The Slog Reviews: 10/10. A good summary of the plot can be found here. However, as well-written as it is, it cannot capture the superb acting (especially by the young child actors) and the emotions that this powerful show invokes. The director captures the deviousness and the innocence of a child (the lead, Bruno), the simplicity and generosity of a child's heart (Bruno lets down Shmuel, the Jewish child prisoner, and despite a brutal beating, Shmuel forgives Bruno unconditionally and immediately upon Bruno's apology) and the complexity, tragedy and cruelty of the holocaust (doctors become potato peelers, watchmakers mend boots, jews are gassed like animals, all made to strip and packed together standing in a small crammed chamber). Some scenes are particularly painful to watch, like watching Pavel, the kindly old jew prisoner (once a doctor) being beaten (to death presumably for he never appears again and the maid is seen scrubbing the floor where he was beaten) because he split some red wine during the dinner, Shmuel playing checkers with Bruno through a barbed fence by directing Bruno where to move the pieces, Shmuel with a wheel-barrow and striped pyjamas with a serial number stitched on starving for food while Bruno of the same age is a child of privilege because his father is herr kommander of the extermination camp. Bruno is taught by his tutor that Jews are evil and the cause of the German people's suffering but the kindness and gentleness he experiences from Pavel and what he learns from Shmuel cannot be reconciled with what he is taught. This difference is all the more apparent when he watches his parents quarrel (his mother does not agree with the Reich) and sees the way his father right-hand man abuses Pavel. The ending was totally unexpected, I had expected Shmuel to die of course and Bruno be left pondering and mourning his absence but instead, both Shmuel and Bruno die, accidental victims of Bruno's father's death camp.

Rochor Beancurd

Rochor Beancurd is one of the most famous beancurd stalls in Singapore. It has been operating for more than 40 years and was featured in the media, most notably because of the family feud between the siblings making and selling beancurd. 1-2 of the siblings eventually set up a stall next to Rochor Beancurd which is located at Short Street and as of the date of this post, that stall is still in operation there.

My CEO and my boss swear by Rochor beancurd but secretly, I personally prefer the beancurd from the stall next to it. Sometimes after a department lunch, my boss will suggest having beancurd from Short Street for dessert and because I am sadly, a crowd-pleaser by nature, I end up eating from the Rochor Beancurd stall. And that is why today, even though I was alone and I had parked in front of the other stall, my legs automatically took to me to Rochor Beancurd stall.



The picture above is a picture of one of the tubs which I polished off today. The Slog Reviews: 8.5/10. It took me less than 20 mouthfuls to finish the entire bowl of the silky smooth beancurd. Each scoop brought up soft quivering white mounds of beancurd which slid down one's throat smoothly without a cloying sweet after-taste. A good place to bring one's overseas friends for dessert. However, do note the stall is not air conditioned and can be extremely crowded in the night(even weekday nights).