Beijing - Day 2 (Forbidden City)

Today is the day we go to the Forbidden City. After a sumptuous buffet breakfast at the hotel, we crossed the street to the Beijing Railway Station. After some initial confusion, we found out that this is not where you take the train to the Forbidden City. On the other side of the plaza is the metro station. At 9am, there's already a long queue at the ticket counter. This being Beijing, people try to make singit whenever they can. Not an easy task considering most of the locals do not have a concept of personal space, and everyone is just squashed together. I'm surprised to find out that metro tickets cost only RMB2 each. Doesn't matter where you are and where you get off, it's flat-rate RMB2. I reckon that's gonna change soon. Going into the station itself is another long queue with people cutting in from all sides. Everyone has to walk through a metal-detector door, and all bags have to go through an x-ray machine. That's what the traffic is all about.

We get off at Qianmen Station, and first thing you notice is how big Tian An Men Square is. Right beside the station is Zheng Yang Men, one of the city gates of Old Beijing. Since it acts as the front gate to the Forbidden City, it's also called Qianmen. Right across it is the Memorial Hall to Chairman Mao. It's been decades since Mao Zedong passed away, but even now there's still a stream of people lining up to see the Chairman and pay their respects. Since bags are not allowed inside the mausoleum, we had to cross the street and leave our stuff at a deposit center (for a small fee). We queued up for about 15 minutes to see Mao Zedong's embalmed remains for about 15 seconds. Many of the visitors bought flowers which they laid on a tray in front of the coffin. My guess is that once the tray is full, it's brought outside for the flowers to be sold again.

At the centre of the Tiananmen Square is the 38-metre (125 ft) high Monument to the People's Heroes. Along the west side of the square is the Great Hall of the People. along the east is the National Museum of China. Didn't go to either as they're too far. By the way, Tiananmen Square is officially the largest city square in the world. North of the square in Tiananmen itself, which translates to the Gate of Heavenly Peace. Once we've crossed Tiananmen, we find outselves in front of Duan Men (literally Upright Gate). Beyond that and across a big plaza stands the majestic Wu Men (Meridian Gate). Wu Men is the main gate to the Forbidden City. It is 35.6 meters high and is surmounted with five pavilions called the Five Phoenix Turrets. On each side of the gate are the ticket outlets.

Crossing Wu Men, you'll see a large courtyard called the First Courtyard. Very, very impressed with the size and scale of the place (10,000 sq. m. in size). I've seen this place many times in Chinese movies. Running along the courtyard from east to west is a small stream called the Golden River. You can see five short bridges across it, which represents the five Confucian virtues of humanity, sense of duty, wisdom, reliability and (ceremonial) propriety.

Beyond Tai He Men with the two imperial lions is the Second Courtyard, the largest courtyard in the Forbidden City. The structures just keeps getting bigger and better. Tai He Dian (Hall of Supreme Harmony) sits on top of a 3-layered marble terrace, which stands 30m high above the Supreme Harmony Square. Tai He Dian itself is 37m high, and covering 2377 sq. m., it is said to be the largest wooden palace hall in China. Placed around the marble terrace are bronze statues symbolizing longevity and stability. There's the crane, the sundial, and the tortoise. There's also a grain measure, which we didn't see. There are two quite interesting things about Tai He Dian. On its roof ridges is a trail of mythical figurines, which are placed there to supposedly protect the building from bad spirits. From the front, you have the immortal riding a phoenix, followed by a dragon, a phoenix, a lion, a heavenly steed, a seahorse, a SuAnNi, a YaYu, a XieZhi, a DouNiu, and a HangShi. Don't even try asking me what those are. Inside the hall is the emperor's throne carved with dragons all over. Around the throne are two bronze cranes and an elephant-shaped incense burner. From the gold-painted ceiling hangs a set of metal balls attached to the mouth of a coiled dragon. Called the Xuan Yuan Mirror, it is said to be able to distinguish right from wrong. And if anyone who is not a descendant of Emperor Huang Di tries to sit on the throne, the balls will fall and strike him to death.

Next up is the Zhong He Dian (Hall of Central Harmony). This is the smallest of the three mains halls in the Outer Court, and is square in shape. The last hall of the Outer Court would be Bao He Dian (Hall of Preserved Harmony). On the descent from the raised platform behind the Bao He Dian is a large stone carving flanked by stairs. Measuring 16.75 meters long, 3.07 meters wide and 1.7 meters thick and weighing in at 200 tons, this is the largest stone carving in the palace. Amazingly, the whole thing is hewn from one single block of stone. To transport the rock slab from the Fang Shan mountains to Beijing, rolling logs were used in summer. During winter, they poured water along the way till it froze, then slid the rock slab along the ice.

Crossing the courtyard, we see Qian Qing Men (Gate of Celestial Purity), which is the main gate to the inner court. Guarding the gate is a pair of lions - one male and one female. Beyond the gate we see Qian Qing Gong (Palace of Heavenly Purity). On the west side is a long corridor, which currently holds an exhibition of imperial paintings and objects. West of that corridor is Yang Xin Men, which leads to Yang Xin Dian (Hall of Moral Cultivation). This is where some emperors of the Qing Dynasty actually lived. Of special note is the east room which has two thrones separated by a yellow gauze curtain. During the late Qing Dynasty, the emperor would sit on the front throne, and the Empress Dowager would sit on the rear throne, hidden by the curtain, instructing the emperor what to do.

Behind Qian Qing Gong is Jiao Tai Dian (Hall of Union and Peace). This structure is relatively small in size, having the same design as the Zhong He Dian. Inside the hall is an inscription by Emperor Kang Xi, which says Wu Wei (literally, doing nothing). This is also where the 25 jade seals of the imperial court is kept. Behind Jiao Tai Dian is Kun Ning Gong (Hall of Earthly Tranquility). This is usually where the emperors lived after they married, before moving on to the other halls.

We move on to the northernmost part of the Forbidden City, which is Yu Hua Yuen (Imperial Garden). In stark contrast to the other parts of the palace, this place is teeming with life - different kinds of trees, bushes and shrubs, and birds. Covering an area of 12,000 sq. m., this is where the emperors and empresses and concubines entertain themselves. Aligned on the western and eastern sides of the central axis are halls and pavilions, like the Qian Qiu Ting (Thousand-Year Pavilion) and the Wan Chun Ting (Pavilion of Ten Thousand Spring Seasons). Right at the very end of the Imperial Garden is Dui Xiu Shan (Hill of Accumulated Elegance). This artificial hill stands 10 meters tall and has a path that leads to the Yu Jing Ting (Pavilion of Imperial Scenery) on top of the hill. Halfway up the hill are bronze jars used to store water. When water runs down the hill, it gushes out of the dragonheads on the backs of the stone lions on both sides of the hill.

Right behind Dui Xiu Shan is Chun Cheng Men, and beyond it is another layer of fortified wall with Shen Wu Men (Gate of Divine Might) as the northernmost gate of the Forbidden City. Going past this wall and you're officially out of the Forbidden City. We're already dog-tired by this time, but there's still so much to see. Next up, Jin Shan Park and Bei Hai Park.

Beijing - Day 1

Arrived in Beijing around mid-day. The place has improved a lot since I was last here - more than 20 years ago. The airport is big and modern. People are wearing better clothes. Instead of lots of bicycles and a few cars, now it's the reverse. There's a light smog over the city, but nothing to be worried about. All in all, I'm pretty impressed with the city's transformation.

We booked ourselves into the Howard Johnson Paragon Hotel (北京宝辰饭店) because it's right across the Beijing Railway Station, which is going to be quite convenient if we want to go around using trains. What we didn't know is that the train station marks the time with an hourly chime. Even with all the windows closed you can hear the bells counting down the hours well into the night. Bah! So we started unpacking and I used the sink to freshen up. I heard a clanging sound and my feet felt wet. What?! The pipe assembly underneath the sink fell off by itself. A quick call to room service and a plumber came to fix it within the hour. Aside from that, everything else looks good. There's airconditioning, flat-screen TV, and free Internet access. What more can you ask for?

After a short rest, we left the hotel to check out the area. Right beside the hotel is the upscale Henderson Centre shopping mall and a few restaurants - Japanese, American, Thai, and Chinese. After a late lunch at KFC, we went to see the railway station. The size of the the station and the plaza in front of it is quite impressive. There's a few people loitering around shouting "Fa biao, fa biao." We were later told that these people buy invoices or receipts, and resell them to other people who wants tax deductions. If you're good at bargaining, you can get as much as 10% back from the value of the receipt. The weather started to become hot, so we went back to the hotel and spent the rest of the day at the Henderson Centre. Dinner consisted of Japanese beef noddle and chicken congee via room service.

The End and The Beginning

Well, it's the end of my extended bachelorhood, and the beginning of my life as a married man.

Leading up to this day, people always ask me if I'm nervous. My fiance is even worried that I might get cold feet on the big day. What, me worry? Not at all. I mean, it's not like she's gonna have a sudden change of heart and say no. As for cold feet, that's mostly due to the winter weather. The cake's been ordered, the church's been reserved, the photographers have been booked, the caterers have confirmed, the dinner reception menu has been finalized, my costume's picked up, the cars' washed, the rings bought, and I have finished my morning ritual. Did I miss anything?

So the photographers came in promptly at 9:30am for my photoshoot. I normally don't make up my bed in the morning, but for them I made an exception. With my wedding costume laid out neatly on the bed, the photographers proceeded with their work. They took pictures of me and my best man putting on our vests, my Dad helping me with my jacket, my Mom helping me with my jacket, my best man putting on my cufflinks, etc. Then we had family pictures in the living room, shots of me and the best man sitting on a ledge outside the house and running on the street. They must've noticed that my jaw has locked from too much smiling, so they left us in peace, and went to WHQ's house.

Killed time till 1:15pm then left for the church with my parents. It was drizzling a bit (sign of good luck) and there was a little bit of traffic on Burwood Road. I guess my Dad was a bit nervous because he was getting cranky and complaining about cars overtaking us. We did manage to get to the church on time, before the bride arrived. Too bad the new facade of the church was not finished it time. Anyway, it's kinda surreal to see my colleagues in a non-office setting. A few familiar faces here and there. Didn't have time to meet and greet everyone because WHQ arrived around 2pm. WHQ's best friend got everyone in position and the ceremony started with the pianist and violinist playing the much-loved Canon in D.

Eveyrthing was a blur after that. All I remembered is turning around and seeing WHQ walking down the aisle with her grand-uncle and taking her place beside me. Both us were pretty much under the control of Father John from then on. Stand here. Sit there. Come here. Face each other. Exchange marriage vows. Kiss the bride. Applause. Say this. Put ring on her finger. Say that. Put ring on my finger. More applause. Light the candles. Sign here. Sign there. Take lots of pictures. And the deed is done. Too bad the wife's Dad couldn't make it, but we did talk to him over the phone to share the good news.

By the time we got to the church hall, the reception is in full swing. There's an outdoor gazeebo with the drinks, while all the finger foods are stocked on a long table inside the church hall. I would've liked to sample the food on offer, but it's difficult to eat and drink while chatting and taking pictures with all the guests. Just when we're done with the pictures and I thought I can now eat a bit, the photographers whisked us off to the now-empty church for more pictures. Then another photoshoot at the fountain roundabout at Cabarita. The photographers seem to have lost their way, so we decided to meet up instead at the nearby Cabarita Park. That turned out to be a blessing in disguise. With the sun almost setting, the trees, the waters, the rocks, the clouds all started to change colour. Even the photographers got excited about the wonderful scenery. I bet they'll be bringing other couples to do their photoshoot here. We kept shooting till the point when the sun is almost gone and it's starting to get freezing cold, and the photographers called it a day.

The families and our friends from overseas had a short break at the bride's house, and by 6pm we all headed down for Rhodes Phoenix for the informal reception. I thought this is where my new wife and I get to relax after the day's trials. There's just three banquet tables full of guests, and no wedding programme planned. No corny song-and-dance, no awkward speeches, just a Rod Steward compilation CD providing the music. Should be a piece of (wedding) cake. Too bad my uncle-in-law has something else in mind. He's been pretty rowdy the whole night. Everntually he turned his sights on me. He started asking questions like how did we meet, how did I propose, and the like. To make it worse, everybody started gathering around to hear my story and ask more questions. And I thought everybody knew already. Anyway, in the end it was all good fun.

After all the food (and cake) have been packed in takeaway boxes, after all the guests have dispersed, after all our flatmates have retired to their room, it's just me and my wife in our specially designed red-coloured wedding room. Good night.

Time Stopped for Labirinto

What time is it? For my beloved Swatch Labirinto, it's time to call it a day. I bought this Autoquarz watch way back in September 2005, and it's been running fine ever since. Swatch has long discontinued the Autoquarz line, and with a non-replaceable rechargeable battery keeping the watch ticking, it's just a matter of time before it gives out. Just didn't expect it to go so suddenly. And no amount of wrist-shaking is gonna bring it back to life. I'm gonna miss you, my friend.

Sydney in a Day

WHQ's friends from Manila flew in today. After a short rest, we brought them to the city for a tour. We traveled along Canterbury Road, then Paramatta Road, through the CBD to Hyde Park, passed by Oxford, followed the City2Surf route, and ended up at Watsons Bay. It was lunchtime by then, so everybody had fish and chips and seafood at Doyles. The weather was colder that what we expected. After some picture-taking at The Gap, we went to the Macquarie Lighthouse for more. Since we're so close to Bondi, we made a detour and spent the afternoon at the beach.

By the time we arrived at Circular Quay, it's already late afternoon. Inside Customs House, there's the Green Void installation by architecture think tank Laboratory for Visionary Architecture (LAVA). On one side inside the Red Room is an art installation called Doves that Cry, featuring a canopy of white LED lights above a black piano. At the Customs House forecourt is the Lumenosity abstract installation using coloured light cubes.

This being their first time in Sydney, we spent quite some time taking pictures at the Opera House, then at the MCA. The original plan was to have early dinner at Pancake at The Rocks, but as usual the queue is way too long. The girls had their dinner at City Cafe, while the family celebrated Dad's birthday at Neptune Restaurant. We could've toured a bit more, but the girls are dog tired already, and E's not feeling so well, so we went home afterwards.

Taking a Light Walk

WHQ and I decided to do the Light Walk today. Part of the Smart Light Sydney project, it's a self-guided walk running from Observatory Hill through The Rocks, around Circular Quay, then to Sydney Opera House. On show are interactive and performance-based art displays and light sculptures.

We got off the bus at Circular Quay and the first thing we noticed is the coloured light box display called Lumenosity in front of the Customs House. The boxes have varying heights and colours. Kids in particular like running around the boxes and playing hide and seek. Crossing the train station and making our way towards Opera House, we pass by a flight of stairs at East Circular Quay, which is wonderfully lit up. From afar, we can already see the Opera House with the funky lights on its exterior shell. The designs are by Brian Eno, and the display is called Lighting the Sails. I don't know about you, but I didn't like the designs. Looks more like multi-coloured bacteria viewed under a microscope. We doubled back to the Museum of Contemporary Arts to check out The Electric Canvas being projected on its facade. We stayed around for a while checking out the displays, and all I can think of is, "I can do that." Further down at the International Passenger Terminal, we see these trees encircled with blue neon tubes. In front of the trees are stationary bikes with electric cables attached to the tubes. People are encouraged to get on the bike and push on the pedals. The mechanical motion is converted to electricity which in turn powers up the neon tubes. Cool.

Crossing the street to Cadman Park, we see the Vessel of (Horti)Cultural Plenty. From afar, it does look like a vase of flowers. Just behind it, outside the Billich Gallery is the Rainbow, so called because it bathes one side of the wall with a continuous hue of rainbow colours. Kids seem to like this particular one, too. We proceed further on to the The Rocks and make a left at Argyle Street. The underpass at Argyle Cut is lighted with strange lines and patterns, which doesn't really make much sense to me. At this point, WHQ is getting a bit bored. I asked her whether she wants to go home now, and continue the rest of the walk on another day. She said no way, let's get this done and over with tonight!

So we passed by Garrison Church and the matrix of green lights called Fire Flies across the road. Going up the stairs, we got to Observatory Hill. The pavilion on top of the hill is bathed in a eerie blue light. Inside, a slideshow of the sky is being projected on the ceiling. Quite a good view of the Harbour Bridge and the surroundings up here. Having seen most of the major light displays, we quickly made our way back to Circular Quay for our ride home.

Two Birthday Parties in a Day

M. is having his birthday party at Cabarita. WHQ prepared some salads, and we bought a Chocolate Gateau from Michel's on our way there. Weather's very good, considering it was raining buckets the past few days. Started raining again in the afternoon. By then everyone had their fill, so we reconvened at his house. By 5:30pm, we went to Ashfield for M.'s 40th birthday party at the Crocodile Farm Hotel. Haven't been to Ashfield for a while. Surprised to see the Crocodile Farm Hotel looking better. And there's a new Chinese restaurant beside it. As usual, we got there early, so as usual we helped out with the balloons. Gotta work for you meal, you know.

Third Time Unlucky

Another case of dinner disaster. Went to Samudra Shark's Fin Restaurant to try its Crispy Duck with Lemon Sauce. Just from the name, I'm sure it's yummy. The dish costs 70k. I reckon with the 25k rice and 22k Aqua bottled water, I should still be ok. The waitress brings out a hot pot with duck, eggplant and sauce. The duck isn't really roasted and the sauce doesn't taste like lemon. After a few more bites, I'm pretty sure that's not what I ordered. After my meal, I verified with the waitress. After some checks, she confirmed they gave me the wrong order. Bad, bad, bad. Anyway, the good thing is that the dish costs only 45k, plus the rice and water and tax, the dinner amounted to only 90k+. Turns out I still need to pay 23k because the voucher covers only food. What?!

Training and Shopping and Dining

More on the latter two. After the training course, I went straight to Plaza Senayan. Taxi fare is only IDR 10,000. Lots of botique stores, but I'm only interested in Sogo and Metro (on either end of the mall). Shoes on sale, shirts on sale, pants on sale, even luggages on sale. At Senayan City across the street, it's Debenhams. On an impulse, I bought an IDF150,000 shirt and a Delsey cabin-size expandable trolley bag at 60% off. I've done this before. Pulling two trolley bags across airport terminals is not easy, but can be done.

Back at the hotel, I decided to go to Samudra Shark's Fin Restuarant for dinner. Too bad it's blocked off for tonight and closing at 9pm. Went to Orient8 instead. The lady at the door mentioned that they're having a special event and it's buffet night tonight. I asked her if my IDR100,000 meal voucher is gonna cover the buffet. YES, she says. (Orient8 currently has award-winning chef David Thompson to cook some Thai dishes.) So I had steamed tofu, chilled spicy minced chicken, fried chicken, grilled scallops, stir fry beef, deep fried prawns, grilled chicken with lemongrass, battered mushroom, chicken spring rolls. Dessert is Vietnamese coffee ice cream. Everything is very nice, except for the bill. It came up to IDR193,600. Just the buffet is already IDR136,000. Ah, went over the limit again. I wish the lady would've told me earlier.

Edogin Dinner

With the IDR100,000 voucher in hand, I head to the Edogin Japanese restaurant. I reckon if I order something simple like, say, chicken teriyaki, then I'm not gonna go overboard. The waitress asked if I wanted something to drink. A bottle of water sounds safe enough. And a bowl of steamed rice to go with the dish. The chicken teriyaki is the best I've tried so far. The chicken pieces are thin and crispy, but still juicy. And the accompanying sauce is quite flavourful, not sweet. Then came the bill - IDR152,000! Thanks to GST and service charges and 22,000 for the water; 25,000 for the rice. Oh well, you get what you pay for anyway.

My Kind of Hotel

This is my second time to stay at Hotel Mulia Senayan, but I've already forgotten how nice it is. Buffet breakfast is served at The Cafe, and the food selection is very impressive. There's a section for fruit juices, Japanese cuisine, Chinese dimsum and dishes, breads, cakes and pastries, and fruits. All noodles are prepared on-demand, and so are the eggs and omelettes.

The hotel also provides complimentary taxi ride to the office. Not sure if they provide this for all corporate clients or not. I just need to tell the hotel staff my destination, and they'll write a voucher to the taxi driver. All expenses paid, no questions asked. Or maybe they're footing the bill because the office only 10 minutes away, which amounts to about 20,000 rupiah.

I later found out that Internet access is actually free. Normally, it's 140,000 rupiah for 24 hours, but as part of my packages, they're waiving the fee for me. Seems to be capped at 1Mbps. Use of the gym facilities is not complimentary though. The hotel did give me four 100,000-rupiah meal vouchers for use within the hotel.

Only in Jakarta

During my stopover at Changi, I quickly called the concierge at Hotel Mulia to arrange for airport pickup. The guy on the other line took my hotel and flight details and gave me some specific instructions. After immigration and customs, go straight to the Golden Bird kiosk. Do not go anywhere else. Lots of people will try to talk to you, but ignore them. If I can't find the kiosk, I am to look for their airport representative, wearing a suit and a green(?) tie. Make sure he shows me his airport ID because there will be impostors wearing the same and pretend to be from Hotel Mulia. And if I go with them, they'll do bad things to me. Okay.

Upon touchdown, there's a mad rush for the immigration queues. Good thing I remembered that I'm supposed to get my visa-on-arrival first. Last time I was here, I was already lining up at immigration when somebody mentioned I need a visa. I had to go back and buy me a visa. So the guy at the visa counter asks me how long I'm here for. Five days. Doing what? I'm seriously tempted to say for holidays. My colleague mentioned that if you say you're on a business trip, they'll ask for company referral letters, you'll have to get a business visa, etc. But then, I don't look like a tourist. And I've seen enough Border Security and Border Patrol to be afraid of being sent back if I am caught lying. So I said I'm here for a training course. What training course, he persisted? I don't think he'll understand "FI Service Awareness", so I just gave him a vague answer. Back at the immigration, I had the same dilemma. But this time I have to lie because I've already put in holiday on the arrival card as reason for travel. Good thing the guy didn't ask. Whew!

So I go straight for the Golden Bird kiosk, and this guy guides me outside to the taxi queue. True enough, a guy followed us shoving a business card with the Chinese words for "Miss" printed in bold. No thanks, dude. My fiance reads this blog. Halfway through my taxi ride, I noticed that the meter is active and running. 100,000 rupiah already! I thought the pickup service is complimentary? By the time we got through the security bomb checks and into the hotel foyer, the meter's reading 200,000+ rupiah! Good thing the driver didn't ask me to pay. Whew!

Because I wouldn't be able to pay him. I'm only left with 10,000 rupiah from my previous trip. And how much is 10,000 rupiah? A$1.24! And I was just wondering beforehand if I should bring AUD because 10,000 rupiah seems a lot already. Hah! So I needed to get some money and quick. Concierge tells me that the nearest mall is Plaza Senayan, which is a few blocks away from the hotel. There's buses, but he recommends the taxi for foreigners like me. I have no money to pay for taxi, so I asked him how long to walk. 15 minutes. Let me tell you, the time or distance is not the problem. The problem is you're walking along a busy thoroughfare with no pedestrian lanes on the sides! I managed fine at first, then the cars keep edging closer and closer. I rushed over to the middle island where there's a patch of grass (and rubble) to walk on. Finally got to the section of Plaza Senayan, but I had to wait for about 5 minutes before I was able to make a mad dash to cross the road. The road was that busy.

First task at hand it to change some money. Normally, I would've checked out the rates of the money changers, but at this time of night, there's only one open. The quoted exchange rate is 10,275 rupiah to one USD. Fine. The guy looks at my $100 bill and says the rate is now 10,075 rupiah because my bill is from the old series and there's a small marking on the bill. Uh-huh, ok. I got him to change $50 only because this guy could be pulling my leg. Later, I went to Senayan City across the street to try my luck. Only one money changer open and it's the same one as in Plaza Senayan. Their rates are also the same. When I tried to change my new-series $50 bill, they gave me the same excuse. The guy explained that because my bill has some markings, it's considered flawed, and they have to give me a lower rate. Uh-huh, ok.

KrisWorld Movies

Set Off
Not worth the time to watch. This is getting typical of Chinese mainland movies. Weak male roles, strong streetsmart women, guy meets girl and they get to know each other better while trying to resolve a situation. Happy ending.
In this case we have this guy whose wife dumped him for his friend. His associate back in Cyprus is selling off the restaurant without his permission so he needs to rush back. On his way to the airport, this girl commandeers his taxi and his luggage and passport ends up locked away in her apartment unit. Meanwhile, some shady characters are after the girl because her no-good boyfriend stole a huge stash of dollar bills from his gangster pal. Turns out the bills are counterfeit. The bills, when arranged properly, actually contains a map of a secret tunnel underneath a museum. In the end, the bad guys are after the museum treasures. Confused yet? All you need to know is that the guy solves all of the girl's troubles, and they later became a couple.

Absurdistan
Should've steered away from this comedy film from Russia. Plot sounds interesting enough, but the movie's no good. You have these two childhood sweethearts living in a village where the only source of water is from a pipe running deep inside the mountains. They're now into their teens, and their raging hormones are telling them to do it. For some strange reason, the cute girl is holding back. They consult her astrologer-granny for an auspicious day, and she gives them one - 4 years in the future. According to granny, they're supposed to take a bath together the day before. The day comes and the water pipe has pretty much dried up. Smart guy diverts all remaining water into an improvised bath tank, and they have their bath. Before the guy can take her, she runs off and insists he fix the water problem permanently. Most of the movie shows the women going on strike - refusing to have sex with their husbands until they fix the water problem. The horny guy goes into the mountain caves with a spare pipe and manages to plug the underground reservoir, thus forcing the water upwards to their village. He (and all the other males of the village) are now happy campers.

Okuribito (Departures)
Won the 2009 Oscar award for Best Foreign Language Film of the Year. Well-deserved, too. They don't make movies like these anymore. Slow and calm and simple and meaningful. Unemployed cellist Daigo becomes a nokanshi to support his wife. As a nokanshi, his job is to cleanse, dress, and make up corpses before they are finally placed in a coffin. Not a job to be proud off, and his wife leaves him when she found out. He stuck with the job and learns to like it, even if other people look down on him. In the end, his wife understands the value of his work and how it gives happiness to the grieving families.

Off to Jakarta

Happy Mother's Day. Note to self: All moms are the same. Some are passionate, some are cold, but no matter what happens, they always have your interests at heart. you many not know this now, but in time, you will.

WHQ dropped me off at the airport about 1.5 hours before departure. The Internet check-in queue is longer than normal. I guess more people are doing online check-in because it does save you a lot of time. I had the option of printing my own boarding passes, but a check with the lady at the counter confirms that this is not working at the moment. You can print them out, but they won't be accepted.

The trip to Singapore was pretty uneventful. Just a bit miffed that I chose to sit on the right instead of left. A few hours into the flight, the captain announced that to the left of the plane, you can see Ayers Rock. Bah!

Mother's Day Fireworks

Celebrated early Mother's Day at Hurricane's Grill Darling Harbour. We also wanted to watch Harbourlight, so we drove to the city early. Hurricane's Grill found us seats around 6pm, and told us we have to finish around 7pm. The food came to us around 6:30pm. Go figure. Strangely enough, we finished all our food (without hurrying) at 7:10pm. That give us just enough time to head down to Cockle Bay Wharf and find good spots for Harbourlight.

As part of Darling Harbour's 21st birthday celebration, there's fireworks at the wharf every Friday and Saturday night for the month of May. You also have a group of jetskis circling the waters with fireworks spewing at the back. Quite a good show.

Philippine Cultural Day at St. Marys

Never been to St. Marys before. I made it a point to check out the Philippine Cultural Day event because I was having visions a big stage showcasing Philiping song and dance numbers and stalls selling turon and fishball and pork barbeque (a la Aling Nene). Too bad it didn't materialize. There's a mini-park on a street corner, and that's where the even it being held. Got a good-sized crowd though. Had to drive down a block before we found parking space.

There's a couple of stalls promoting Philippine tourism. One stall selling pancit and palabok, another stall offering free Magnolia sorbetes (gold coin donation), and the last stall selling Filipino foodstuffs. On stage we have some folk dances, song numbers, then a fashion show displaying the country's national costume through the years. Strangely enought, we can't find any nearby Filipino restaurants. Drove to Rooty Hill, but can't find the Corregidor Filipino restaurant. We did see Kamayan and Little Quiapo, but they're more like takeaway shops. One of the storeowners was helpful enough to give us directions, so we eventually found ourselves having lunch at The Corregidor Entertainment Centre and Restaurant at 3pm. The place is more like a function hall. All spruced up for a concert dinner later in the evening. We had lechon kawali, sinigang, kaldereta and pancit - all of them very good.