Carrot Cake

I am back on the foodie trail again. Carrot cake had always been my favourite, I can eat it in the morning as my breakfast, as my lunch, as my dinner or even as a starter. Anytime anyday I am ready for carrot cake. Although I prefer white carrot cake to black carrot cake.

So this bring me to this stall in Bedok Interchange Song Zhou Luo Bo Gao. Judging from the steady stream of patrons, gotta try the carrot cake here.

And my verdict is, I will go there again and eat the carrot cake. The white carrot cake at least. The carrot cake itself is nimble and soft. The chilli used is spicy and fragrant. The uncle fry it with some crisps. And with the nice offering of chye poh, this carrot cake is delicious.

If you're happen to be in Bedok Interchange waiting for a bus, dont forget to drop by this stall.

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Ham

First of all need to say thanks to my buddy Victor for helping me to buy this ham. I must say this is my first time buying a 5kg ham. I think this would last me and Kim for a long long time to come.Cooked Pork Shoulder Ham. Look at the size, its definitely taller than your average spoon. Its definitely as long as my knife.

Paid something about less than $24, I think it’s a good price to pay considering the size and quantity.So from now onwards, my meals will definitely feature ham as one of the main ingredients. Ham Cooked Rice, Ham Stir Fried Vege, Ham Bread.........etc....ham ham ham ham

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Movie

It was movie weekend for me. Watched couple of movies which I missed watching. Caught Meet Dave starring Eddie Murphy, Yes Man starring Jim Carrey and Transporter 3 starring Jason Statham on dvd. I might as well say it that Meet Dave certainly surprised me. Given the fact we watched this at midnight and we thought the boring elements of this movie will doozed us off. Suprisingly Eddie's antics was comical and zany enough to serve as a triple shot of latte that kept us awake.And it helps that this movie was not draggy given the fact it just clocks in at about 90 min. Anything more than that would have destroyed the movie. As for Yes Man, I had stopped expecting anything out of a Jim Carrey movie. Although the concept of saying Yes seems quite enthralling and appealing, I would decline to say Yes if you were to ask me if this movie was good. Well if you have nothing to do on a long weekend, I guess no harm watching modern day Jerry Lewis packing a punch. Modern Chuck Norris, Jason Statham I must say have one hell of a nice ton sculptured body. He can give those Spartans in 300 a run for their money. See it to believe it.

On telly they showed Flyboys. I missed watching this and it was certainly a delight seeing dog fights between the French pitting against more superior firepower and machinery prowess of the Germans.

Highlight of my movie on last weekend was certainly Up. Pixar has done it again. John Lasetter and the crew are like pedigree horses. You wouldn’t want to bet against a good horse. And so if you're the jockey that invested millions in Pixar, you will know they run the race good and they are in it for the gold. So what can I say about this movie. Everything from the musical score, up the closing credits was priceless. Another coup for Pixar and how they turn a simple story about spending one's golden years and how life can be injected through friendship between an old man, an Asian boy and a talking dog.Bring your hankies as this certainly a tear jerker. Not that its tragically sad, but Pixar injects the basic tenets of humans emotions in every movies they produced.

Imagine, Pixar was never intended to be producing animation movies in the first place. That speaks of volume of Pixar's edge in givng the rest of the wannabes like Sony Studio Animations, Nickeledeon, and the other big boys there a run for the money for animation.

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Tandoor

On weekend, we headed down to Holiday Inn Parkview to have Indian food. Since I am such a miser and will not pay for the full price for a buffett meal, so I jumped onto the chance when I got myself a 1-1 voucher for Tandoor that serves North Indian cuisines.

Per head is $38, nett price should come to about $42++ after the 10% service charges and 7% GST.

The Garlic naan was simply delicious. I cant remember when was the last time that I ate a plain naan just by itself. The naan was not too powdery nor tough nor dry. It was made with perfection with slightly burned crisps.

Next was the yoghurt mango drink. I just couldn’t have enough of it. Its so thick and rich that I actually lost counts on how many cups I drank that day. The highlight for me in this restaurant is Murgh Malai Tikka (Chicken). This is simply one of the best tikka I ever tasted. The meat was tender and juicy. Its soft and the spices imbued in the meat just runs through your senses. Apart from the tikka, other dishes such as Fish Goa Curry, Chicken Kali Mirch and other many dishes offered are really nice.

Although I find the appetizer too exotic for my liking but Kim loves it. As you can see picture above, you just scoop the liquid and pour into the ball. The desserts are also too sweet for my liking. But I think that day, Kim had surpassed me in terms of taking a liking for Indian food. Suprisingly she now can enjoy more Indian delicacies than me. Damn!! LOL!

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Cornish Dairy Ice Cream

I am crazy about this ice cream now. I just couldnt get my mind off this ice cream when I saw it at MarketPlace. But didnt bought it then as was afraid the ice cream will melt on the way home.

But lucky for me, Kim remembered and got the ice cream when she was taking a cab. We sampled the Cornish Dairy Ice Cream last night. Simply ravishing. The milk is so rich, I cant describe the feeling but just to say the ice cream melts and evaporates in your mouth like pure milk.

I didnt see this at Giant, Carrefour, NTUC or Shop N Save. So far only MarketPlace is carrying it. Whatever it is, this ice cream simply whips my appetite for more.

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Perverse reasons pervert justice in Anwar v PP

An article by NH Chan. Read how NH Chan, a former Court Of Appeal judge breaks down the flimsy judgement given by Court Of Appeal on Anwar's case.

You might find the words in bold particularly interesting to note. I read it over 3 times, damn powerful stuffs for a layman like me.


Perverse reasons pervert justice in Anwar v PP

NH ChanJul 22, 0911:22am

I must apologize for the delay in giving this critique. The Court of Appeal gave its decision on July 1.

I received the "outline of reasons" from Ngan Siong Hing only last Friday, July 17, 2009. Without him supplying me with a copy of the judgment of the Court of Appeal, I would not be able to write this critique.

Also as I do not have access to a law library I depend a lot on his generosity to get the legal material that I need to write my essays for ordinary people to understand what the judges are talking about.

This is to enable the common people of this country to judge the judges for themselves.

The whole case can be understood just by readings 418A(l) and (2) and Section 376(l) and (2) of the Criminal Procedure Code.

Power corrupts

David Pannick in his book 'Judges', OUP, 1987, wrote, p 76: "In all societies throughout history, judges have occasionally been adversely affected by their power. An early example occurs in the biblical story of Daniel and Susanna. Two elders of the community were appointed to serve as judges. They saw Susanna walking in her husband's garden 'and they were obsessed with lust for her'.

When she resisted their advances they falsely accused her of infidelity to her husband.
'As they were elders of the people and judges, the assembly believed them and condemned her to death.' A young man named Daniel protested that an enquiry should be made into the judges' allegations.

He accused them of giving 'unjust decisions, condemning the innocent and acquitting the guilty'.

Under his careful cross-examination, the judges were proved to be liars: 'Daniel and Susanna' in 'The Apocrypha'. The English Bench has had its fair share of bad judges. . . .In the seventeenth century, the Bench 'was cursed by a succession of ruffians in ermine [most notably Jeffreys and Scroggs (Sir William)], who, for the sake of court [royal] favour, violated the principles of law, the precepts of religion, and the dictates of humanity': John Lord Campbell, 'Lives of the Lord Chancellors' (5th edn, 1868), vol 4, p 416.

The misuse of power

In 'The Family Story', Butterworths, 1981, Lord Denning said, p 179: "The law itself should provide adequate and efficient remedies for the abuse or misuse of power from whatever quarter it may come.

No matter whom it is - who is guilty of the abuse or misuse. Be it government, national or local. Be it trade unions. Be it the press. Be it management. Be it labour.

Whoever it be, no matter how powerful, the law should provide a remedy for the abuse or misuse of power.

Else the oppressed will get to the point when they will stand it no longer.

They will find their own remedy. There will be anarchy. To my mind it is fundamental in our society that a judge should do his utmost to see that powers are not abused or misused.

If they come into conflict with the freedom of the individual - or with any other of our fundamental freedoms - then it is the province of the judge to hold the balance between the competing interests.

In holding that balance the judges must put freedom first."

And at page 180, this was what Lord Denning said in 1949 in the Hamlyn lectures:

"Reviewing the position generally, the chief point which emerges is that we have not yet settled the principles upon which to control the new powers of the executive.

No one will suppose that the executive will never be guilty of the sins that are common to all of us. You may be sure that they will sometimes do things which they ought not to do: and will not do things that they ought to do. But if and when wrongs are thereby suffered by any of us, what is the remedy?

Our procedure for securing our personal freedom is efficient, but our procedure for preventing the abuse is not.

Just as the pick and shovel is no longer suitable for the minning of coal, so also the procedure of mandamus, certiorari, and actions on the case are not suitable for the winning of freedom in the new age.

They must be replaced by new and up-to-date machinery, by declarations, injunctions, and actions for negligence: and, in judicial matters, by compulsory powers to order a case stated.

Not our task

This is not a task for Parliament. Our representatives there cannot control the day-to-day activities of the many who administer the manifold activities of the State: nor can they award damages to those who are injured by any abuses.

The courts must do this. Of all the great tasks that lie ahead, this is the greatest. Properly exercised the new powers of the executive lead to the welfare state: but abused they lead to the totalitarian state.

None such must ever be allowed in this country. We have in our time to deal with changes which are of constitutional significance to those which took place 300 years ago. Let us prove ourselves equal to the challenge.

"That lecture was given in 1949. Now, 30 years or so later ('The Family Story' was published in 1981), I think we can say that we have achieved what I then hoped for." wrote Lord Denning.

"We have now new and up-to-date machinery for the winning of freedom." he wrote, "We have declarations, injunctions, actions for negligence, and judicial review. All that is needed now is for the judges - and the Bar - to get to know how to use it."

I write about this in order to show how the common law was developed by great judges and Malaysia is a common law country. So that most of us will know how and why we have inherited a great deal from the English common law which is the cradle of it all. The common law is mostly the experience and the combined wisdom of great judges throughout history.

It took the British judges 700 or so years to have their common law as it is today.

The USA has a common law history of about 250 years. In Malaysia we have about 50 years since independence.

Let us be humble and learn from the mistakes of others.

But for the moment, it seems that our present crop of judges have stopped in their tracks as far as the development of the common law is concerned.

Some of whom, especially those in the higher echelons, are sorely lacking in competency.

Using the tools of justice

All that is needed now is for the judges to know how to use it.

The Bar certainly knew how to use the new machinery to fight the abuse or misuse of power by the powers that be. But not so the judges of the Court of Appeal in Anwar Ibrahim v PP. But first, let me show you the relevant provisions of the Criminal Procedure Code that applies to this case. I start with s 418A(1) and (2), thus:

41 8A. (1) Notwithstanding the provisions of section 417 and subject to section 418B, the Public Prosecutor may in any particular case triable by a criminal Court subordinate to the High Court issue a certificate specifying the High Court in which the proceedings are to be instituted or transferred and requiring that the accused person be caused to appear or be produced before such High Court.

(2) The power of the Public Prosecutor under subsection (1) shall be exercised by him personally. This draconian piece of legislation gives the Public Prosecutor the power to transfer any criminal case triable by a subordinate court to a High Court of the Public Prosecutor's choice. But who is the Public Prosecutor? For this we have to refer to s 376 of the Criminal Procedure Code. It reads: Tainted hands are biased hands

376. (1) The Attorney General shall be the Public Prosecutor and shall have the control and direction of all criminal proceedings under this Code.

(2) The Solicitor-General shall have all powers of a Deputy Public Prosecutor and shall act as Public Prosecutor in case of the absence or inability to act of the Attorney General.

Subsection (2) allows the Solicitor-General to act as Public Prosecutor in case of the inability of the Attorney General to act as such.

This means that if the Attorney General is disqualified to act on account of bias, as in this case, then in such a situation he is prevented from acting as the Public Prosecutor in as 418A application.

In which case the Solicitor-General shall act as Public Prosecutor unless the Solicitor-General is himself tainted with bias - in this case for supporting the Attorney General for what he had done that amounts to bias.

But justice is still served as the defendant can still be tried before a subordinate criminal court.

We are entitled to question the motive of the Attorney-General. Why should he, in the mantle of Public Prosecutor, be so insistent and selective in the choice of a court to hear the Anwar Ibrahim sodomy case?

To everyone in this country the charge of sodomy against Anwar Ibrahim is no different from any sodomy charge against any other wrongdoer, unless, the Attorney-General as Public Prosecutor wants to have a particular High Court to hear the case against Anwar Ibrahim.

But why so? What is so special about Anwar Ibrahim? Is he the Attorney-General's or someone's nemesis?

Such an act creates an impression to the general public that the prosecution wants to ensure a conviction by choosing the correct court to hear the case.

To all of us right thinking Malaysians, this is unfair and unjust treatment of anyone who is accused of a crime.

Real motive formoving case

If the reader has the patience to read this article to the end, you will be shocked to learn of the real motive of the Attorney-General's insistence on a High Court of his choice.

The judgment of the Court of Appeal in Anwar Ibrahim vP P The judges of this Court of Appeal are Abdull Hamid Embong, Abu Samah Nordin and Jeffrey Tan Kok Wah JJCA.

Remember their names for posterity so that the bad judges of this country will be etched indelibly in our memory.

The judgment of the court was delivered by Abdull Hamid Embong JCA.

It was a unanimous decision so that the travesty of justice caused by the decision implicates all of them.

He said in his judgment which is in numbered paragraphs:

52. In signing this certificate, the PP cannot be said to be exercising a quasi- judicial function, but merely an administrative one, and one that only he can exercise. (see PP v Oh Keng Seng [1976] 2 MU)

53. In this case, we are of the considered opinion that the rule that a person under a suspicion of bias should not act as an adjudicator is not applicable to the act of the PP in signing this certificate. We would apply the exception that natural justice may be overridden by a statutory provision as enunciated in Franklin & Ors v Minister of Town and Country Planning [1948] AC [87], an exception which is applicable in both administrative and legislative process.

54. We rule that, in this instance, despite the allegations of bias and conflict of interest against him, the PP being the specific and only officer authorized by law to sign the S48A certificate, may do so. His act cannot be impugned by reason of the imputed bias or conflict of interest. (see Mohd Zainal Abidin bin Abdul Mutalib v Mahathir Mohamed, Minister of Home Affairs and Anor [1989] 3 MU 170).

Fallacy of reasoning in judgment

In paragraph 52 (see above), the judge, Hamid Embong JCA, said that the Public Prosecutor was not exercising a quasi-judicial but an administrative function which only he as Public Officer can exercise.

This is not the law.

The misuse of power may come from any quarter; it need not be from a person sitting in a judicial or quasi-judicial capacity.

As Lord Denning has put it: "No one will suppose that the executive will never be guilty of the sins that are common to all of us.

You may be sure that they will sometimes do things which they ought not to do: and will not do things that they ought to do.

But if and when wrongs are thereby suffered by any of us, what is the remedy?"

Nowadays there is always a remedy against the wrongdoings of public officials.

The Attorney General in this case, is no more than a salaried civil servant - he is subject to the remedy against the wrongdoings of a public official.

His employer is the Government of Malaysia and the CEO is the Prime Minister.

On the other hand, an English Attorney-General is a Minister in his own right and an elected representative of the House of Commons.

In The Queen v Gaming Board for Great Britain, exparte Benaim and Khaida (1970) 12 QB 417, 430 Lord Denning MR said: It is not possible to lay down rigid rules as to when the principles of natural justice are to apply: nor as to their scope and extent.

Everything depends on the subject-matter: see what Tucker U said in Russel v Norfolk (Duke J) (1949) 1 All ER 109, 118 and Lord Upjohn in Durayappah v Fernando (1967) 2 AC 337, 349. At one time, it was said that the principles only apply to judicial proceedings and not to administrative proceedings.

Bias cannot stand in court

That heresy was scotched in Ridge v Baldwin (1964)1 AC 40, 77-79 per Lord Reid, 133 per Lord Hodson. Ridge v Baldwin was a decision of the House of Lords.

It was followed and applied by the Federal Court in Ketua Pengarah Kastam v Ho Kwan Seng (1977) 2 MU 152.

This makes the common law decision of Ridge v Baldwin a part of the common law of this country.

So now, we know it is utter rubbish to say that the principles of natural justice applies only to a judicial or quasi-judicial function.

Ridge v Baldwin and Ketua Pengarah Kastam v Ho Kwan Seng have changed all that. And it is also rubbish to assume that only the Attorney-General can be the Public Prosecutor.

(See my explanation of s 376(1) and (2) of the Criminal Procedure Code which I have discussed earlier in this article.)

Next is paragraph 53.

The substance what this Court of Appeal is saying is that the Public Prosecutor is NOT an adjudicator so that the question of bias does not apply to him.

As pointed out above, that heresy has been scotched in the House of Lords' decision of Ridge v Baldwin. He was merely doing his duty as Public Prosecutor, says the Court of Appeal, to put his signature which according to him is a mechanical act required of him by s 41 8A of the Criminal Procedure Code.

But the question is, what if the Public Prosecutor acts in bad faith to transfer the case to the High Court of his choice?

Surely, in such a situation the decision to transfer the case to a High Court of the Public Prosecutor's choice cannot be allowed to stand on account of bias.

The Court of Appeal relied on Franklin v Minister of Town and Country Planning (1948) AC 87 where the headnote reads that the House of Lords has held that the Minister of Town and Country Planning has no judicial or quasi-judicial duty imposed on him, so that considerations of bias in the execution of such a duty are irrelevant, the sole question being whether or not he genuinely considered the report and the objections under the New Towns Act 1946.

Authorities cited not good law

We know now that after Ridge v Baldwin in 1964, Franklin v Minister of Town and Country Planning is no longer authority for any such proposition.

It is quite unbelievable that these judges of the Court of Appeal could ever dream of misleading the general public of this country by citing as authority, a 1948 decision when they knew, as I am sure Haji Sulaiman or any competent counsel would have informed them, that Franklin is no longer good law.

Not only that, Ridge v Baldwin in 1964 has been approved and applied by our Federal Court in Ketua Pengarah Kastam v Ho Kwan Seng (1 977) J 2 MU 152, thus importing into the common law of Malaysia the English common law decision of Ridge v Baldwin.

Furthermore, they, the judges of this Court of Appeal, even try to mislead us by saying in paragraph 53: "We would apply the exception that natural justice may be overridden by a statutory provision as enunciated in Franklin & Ors v Minister of Town and Country Planning (1948) AC 87, an exception which is applicable in both administrative and legislative processes".

I have read through the judgment of Lord Thankerton, all 12 pages of it, many times over but I am unable to find the proposition of law that Hamid Embong JCA states in paragraph 53 of his "outline of reasons" was the ratio decidendi of Franklin v Minister of Town and Country Planning.

The Court of Appeal has put words to the House of Lords decision in Franklin which were not found in the judgment of Lord Thankerton.

And now, on to paragraph 54.

For the reasons given above, what the Court of Appeal says in paragraph 54 is not the law.

Ridge v Baldwin in the House of Lords and our Federal Court in Ketua Pengarah Kastam v Ho Kwan Seng have scotched the heresy.

If it can be shown that the Attorney-General had misused his power in the victimization of Anwar Ibrahim, that is enough to disqualify him from acting as the Public Prosecutor to sign the certificate under s 418A of the CPC.

Shocking condemnation

Finally, I will leave this to your own judgment.

The following is taken from the judgment of Steve Shim who was then the Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak in the case of Zainur bin Zakaria v Public Prosecutor (2001) 3 MU 604, 613-614:

To my absolute horror and disappointment Abdul Gani Patail used the meeting and the death sentence under s 57 of the ISA as a bargaining tool to gather evidence against Seri Anwar Ibrahim.

He had with him the letter I had written to you and copied to him.

He was waving the letter about and kept on saying, repeatedly, "I am not impressed" and suggesting that he would not be impressed with my plea to a charge under the Firearms Act, but instead he wanted more.

This "more", and it came across very loud and clear, because Abdul Ghani Patail laid it out in very clear and definite terms, was:
1. That Nallakaruppan was now facing the death sentence.

2. That there were other charges also under the ISA that he could prefer against Nallakaruppan but that if they (AG' chambers) hanged him once under the present charge what need would there be to charge him for anything else.

3. That in exchange for a reduction of the present charge to one under the Firearms Act, he wanted Nallakaruppan to cooperate with them and to give information against Anwar Ibrahim, specifically on matters concerning, several married women.Abdul Gani kept changing the number of women and finally settled on five, three married and two unmarried.

4. That he would expect Nallakaruppan to testify against Anwar in respect of these women.

I was shocked that Abdul Gani even had the gall to make such a suggestion to me. He obviously does not know me. I do not approve of such extraction of evidence against ANYONE, not even or should I say least of all, a beggar picked up off the streets. A man's life, or for the matter, even his freedom, is not a tool for prosecution agencies to use as a bargaining chip. Blackmail and extortion

No jurisprudential system will condone such an act

It is blackmail and extortion of the highest culpability and my greatest disappointment is that a once independent agency that I worked with some 25 years ago, and of which I have such satisfying memories, has descended to such levels in the creation and collection of evidence.

To use the death threat as a means to the extortion of evidence that is otherwise not there (why else make such a demand), is unforgivable and surely must in itself be a crime, leave alone a sin, of the greatest magnitude.

Whether the means justify the ends that he seeks, are matters that Abdul Gani will have to wrestle within his own conscience.

You can read the rest of it from the law reports. I cannot stomach this anymore. Possibly you can approach a website to show the entire judgment of Shim CJ on their portal with the permission of MU or any other law report. All I can say is that, if Gani Patail is a member of an Inn of Court he would be disbarred as a barrister. I am sickened by the perversity of the office of the Public Prosecutor.


NH CHAN is a former Court of Appeal judge famous for his 'All is not well in the House of Denmark' comment regarding judicial corruption. He was referring to the Kuala Lumpur High Court's commercial division located in Wisma Denmark. The quote is based on Shakespeare's 'Something is rotten in the state of Denmark'. He now lives in Ipoh.


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Life

Life. I must attest to the fact that sometimes I take for granted simple things in life. The fact I am still breathing and writing this post is a blessing. Me and Kim like to patronize this stall for breakfast when we were still staying in Potong Pasir. Our pick always was Tosai Masala. We like the gravy, the spices and most importantly the tosai itself which comes with rich serving of potatoes inside.

So when it was time to move out of Potong Pasir, I must admit that I kinda miss some of the food there.

When we went back for breakfast on Sat to our old joint for breakfast, we were surprised to be greeted with picture of the seller with a chain of flowers on it. I instantly knew that the nice friendly seller has met his Maker. Kim was less oblivious to this fact since she knows little of Indian culture.

I chatted with the guy I presume his son now mending the stall. Seems like the uncle passed away while making dough. This happened like 1yr and 3 months ago. Just like 5 months after we moved out of Potong Pasir. Its kinda sad to hear this story. Although its not like we were really closed, but somehow knowing that you wont be tasting his food again is kinda sad. Plus we tasted the tosai masala. And it seems like the ooomph factor is gone.

And I still remember they certainly serve nice value for money breakfast. If you take their breakfast of rice and chicken wing, you can be sure you can skip lunch. For $2, you can be sure you had settled breakfast and lunch altogether.

To mix food and talking about life might seems surreal to some of you, but maybe its something easier for me to relate about life and food. For him, he lost his life while preparing food. But I told Kim for what its worth, I think he might have a good life, having his own stall, having his family by his side, working with him. I wish to believe that he had live a good life before his passing.

That’s his story of masala and life………


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Noodle House Ken

On Sat, we headed down to try authentic Japanese food. Okay before I proceed any further, I must confess I am a self confessed idiot when it comes to Japanese food. If you ask me to verify authenticity of Penang Char Keow Teow, then ok-lah. But Japanese food, I gotta rely on Kim's taste bud to authenticate the food.

Our destination over the weekend was Noodle House Ken at 150 Orchard Rd, #01-17/18, Orchard Plaza. I had Chashyu Ramen while Kim had Shoyu Ramen. Think my food is priced at $12 and the final bill should have a 10% service charge but no GST.

Overall for the price we paid, I can say that there is absolutely nothing special about the food there. Kim is a tad dissapointed as well with the taste, citing that its not Japanese standard. The chasyu to me is a little dry and tough. I would have love if they cut some fatty parts and try to do something to the meat to soften it. As for the soup, its said that its simmered at least 8 hours. But then again, its not that sweet.

However, I do like their gyoza. Usually gyoza have problems of thick skins making eating it such a bore. But for this shop, the gyoza skin is razor thin. When I actually put it inside my mouth and my tongue was running through the skin, I can feel the razor thin skin and feel the fragant of the minced meat inside. So the gyoza was indeed an eye opener for me.

Overall, okay place to go if you wanna read some manga, and eat some Japanese food.

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Cat Talk

Its good to be a cat that doesnt need to work for a living except I need to catch some mice, and occasionally I need to rummage the trash for food.

Saw some stupid humans going to work today....hahahaha..........I pity those suckers........

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5 Reasons Why Transformers is Not As Good As I Expected It To Be

Well the movie bombed, as Transformers's sequel really was way off my taste. I could see people moving out of the cinema, just not sure whether they went out to take a leak due to the super long duration of the movie or they simply gave up.

Lucky I didnt wait till the closing credits roll to its final curtain call, because there wasnt any teaser scenes.

5 Reasons Why Transformers is Not As Good As I Expected It To Be
1. Too much screen time for humans but too little screen time for the robots

2. A lot of unnecessary scenes which makes the movie a drag and a bore

3. Optimus screen presence is seriously missing here, and so is the characterizations of other robots making some of the more notable Autobots & Decepticons as eye candy only.

4. I have myself to blame for setting a too high of an expectation for this movie.

5. Michael Bay has really outdone himself this time, this movie was too bombastic.

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Which?

If you happen to makan at Old Airport Rd and you happen to park your vehicle at 49A, you definitely wont miss this funny sight if you're not taking the stairs.

Okay here is the tricky part, rushing horde of crowd dashing in, you being a noble helpful human being would like to offer your helping hand. Oopps this is tricky. I had never faced this before ever in my life, which button should I press. Left or right? Both buttons are showing the "open button" But we all know its not possible. Which one will you choose? The crowd is rushing in….damn…..errrrr right, left, right, left…………..

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动力火车

I started to listen to 动力火车 when I was in my uni days back in 1996. I had a coursemate who is crazy as well about 动力火车 aka Power Station. He will lend me his collection of 动力火车 cds which I gladly accept. Since then, there was no turning back for me. Had been a fan then, and now still a fan. Artists come and go, but 动力火车 had always stayed true to their roots.

Recently got their new album Moving On - 动力火车. It was indeed nice after a 4 year hiatus for this band. And I gotta admit, its even sweeter than I got the album at 50% at Sembawang Music Centre, so ended up paying $12.50 nett.

Now Kim is also a fan of 动力火车. But I think I didn’t do anything much. I just played their songs from their CD and MTV on tv, and she instantly became a fan of the band as well. Unlike other sugar coated, pop manufactured bands, 动力火车 had always stayed true to their essence. No gimmick, no bullshit makeup make real kind of persona. What you see is what you get.

And trust me, in the entertainment industry today, its quite hard to find an artist that still stays true to who they are and what they represent.

As for me, its karaoke time when I get home, gonna arm myself with the hanyu pinyin lyrics and sing my heart out. Hopefully I am ready for a solo for the next karaoke session belting out 动力火车 songs.

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Flag

I am sure many of us will know the significance of a flag. In ancient times, often in war, the flag bearer will charged forth together with his batallion and do battle. And usually the opposite camp, will try to grab and trample on the flag to declare victory. The same goes when you managed to achieve a certain feat, for instance mountain climbing. You stick the flag on the pinnacle point at the summit, or if you're an astronaut, you will place you flag proudly on the moon or wherever you're at.

When you're in the Olympics, the 3 winners will have their flags raised up in unison. And when the flag is raised in the school assembly, you will stand still as a mark of respect.

But MCA has not learn the essence and importance of the flag. Or should I say, selective respect. While they let their MCA flag fly proudly, look at the state of the 2 other flags, the Penang and Malaysia flag. Its in a torn diliapitated state, I feel disgusted seeing how MCA treat the flag. This picture was taken in MCA branch in Kg Baru. Utter disgrace to me. If MCA cant learn how to respect a flag, they can never learn to respect the people which the flag represents.

I remember there was once, people got prosecuted for flying the flag upside down and the authorities wanted to bring charges to those who do not respect the national flag. So now please please is someone doing anything about MCA?

P/S: Pic was taken on 30th May. Maybe they had replaced the flag by now…………….maybe……….

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5 Eating Myths I know………do you know any else?

5 Eating Myths I know………do you know any else?

1.Do not consume Mentos and Coke together as your stomach will explode

2.Do not consume durian and liquor together as you will either die or get a bad stomach ache, take your pick.

3.Do not boil water more than once.

4.Eat overnight boiled eggs for males will result in large testicals.

5.Eating potato sprouts kills you or make you go crazy, take your pick.


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10 Reasons Why Transformers Revenge Of The Fallen will kick ass

10 Reasons Why Transformers Revenge Of The Fallen will kick ass (in no particular order)

1) New Divide the theme song of this movie by Linkin Park is awesome. Listen to the song and you can see and feel Transformers playing through your mind.

2) Megan Fox alone is good reason enough for the price of the ticket into the cinema.

3) Constructicons is in the sequel. So is Mudflap and Skids. What does this tells you? It means we will see Autobots and Decepticons combining with each other to become a bigger robot. This is so unreal!

4) Megatron now can transform into a jet, tank and a mega gun? I must see it to believe it………I made this up..hahahah…don’t think it will happen here, but no harm hoping.

5) Decepticons are never complete without Starscream and Soundwave. See Raptor jumping out of Soundwave…….awesome.

6) Michael Bay has confirmed that the sequel would be 4 minutes longer, so simple maths add up to 147 minutes, running over 2 hours of pow wow action!!

7) Heard there will be a sequel in about 3 years time. So if you don’t watch this, you might end up cursing yourself for missing this one.

8) After the movie, everyone can feel inspired and toys sales of Hasbro for Transformers action figures will soar sky high, thus saving the economy from the doldrums.

9) Fallen will be featured in this movie where he was one of the original Transformers created by Primus which subsequently betrayed him. Sounds like he is more of an evil bastard than Megatron.

10) The leader we all love, Optimus Prime, remember the ending scene of the first movie where he stand high with his fellow Autobots. That’s classic. And that’s an understatement for Optimus.

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Malaysia From Now On.......

Something I wrote before but was never published. I submitted it to Malaysian Insider, guess its not good enough to be there, but its good enough to be in my own blog hahahaha...

Malaysia From Now On.......
Theodore Roosovelt once said, " People ask the difference between a leader and a boss…The leader works in the open,and the boss in covert. The leader leads,and the boss drives." When the rakyat took to the polls in 08-Mar-08, the rakyat exercise their roles as the boss and gave BN leaders a jolt they never see coming in 5 states and the voice for change reverberated across the nation. BN leaders must understand that the wind of change was not only evident in Malaysia but many other countries across Asia such as Taiwan and Thailand. The bosses has finally spoken.

If BN still have an inkling of hope to win back the support of the masses, it needs to go through a tremendous reinvigoration in strategy to fix whatever is lacking in them. With the increasing penetration rate of Internet, more and more people will have unlimited access to news without censorship. In a way, the old school media will have a tough time racing against time and of course to up the ante against the new media. Media revolution has certainly transformed the landscape of politics in Malaysia, and even in the US, the Obama team did a credible job in reaching the Americans using a combination onslaught of phone messaging services and the internet.

It needs to be foretold that BN do not longer hold absolute control over the media because with the coming of the digital age, there is a new carved segment in media which can be deemed as a no man's land. As Noam Chomsky pointed out in his book "Media Control" on US invasion in Vietnam, " It was necessary to make that the official and well understood picture. That's worked pretty well. When you have total control over the media and the educational system and scholarship is conformist, you can get that across." With BN losing its grip on the media, the people have found a new stream of unsanctioned unrestricted information which opens up a wholly new world with the flow of information so rapid and seamless, information is finding its way into the deep heartlands, into the kampung and new villages via print outs and words of mouth.

The more censorship BN puts on the internet, the further they drift away from convincing the masses that BN is in it for the long haul. With liberalization policies promised by the new alliance, Pakatan Rakyat, the hope of a new dawn is more enticing than BN's archaic policies. Malaysia could make history with a change in government at the federal level but the question now is at what cost? With the world economy in turnmoil and prices of oil heading south, Malaysians might be running out of time and wits to save the country. Can Malaysia afford to wait for the next white knight in shinning armour? Only time will tell.


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Lamp

After moving in, I felt my room was still lacking of something. First of all, my side table. Got that sorted out on Tues when I went to Silver River to buy a $99 side table. Then something is still lacking still. A table lamp. It shouldn’t be a problem if I had not being careless by breaking the Ikea lamp I bought last year. And it came to me as a surprise that when you least expect to look for it,. I managed to buy my lamp yesterday while I was at Kallang Leisure Park to watch Terminator Salvation. And yes, John Connor kicks ass.

Although I find the lamp a little pricey, but it certainly beats the same old lamps I see from Ikea. So I bought the lamp above at $34.00 minus the bulb. It came in assorted colours, but we settled for the colour red. Price Mart is located at Kallang Leisure Park, this shop certainly have a myriad of funny interesting stuffs that’s good for gifts or home deco. As I had pointed out before, although it’s a little pricey, but the designs certainly does appeal to me.

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Talisman

Recently I moved in to my new home. Everything is fine except for the smell of burning joss sticks keep blowing into my home. But I think I can live with that by closing the door and the windows. Also I get occasional noises from upstairs too either they are clumsy or they really love to stomp their feet on the ground. That’s fine for me too. My house is kinda warm too, but that’s okay, I am now either half naked from waist up or I just wear a singlet and pump up the fan.

Basically I am a non believer in mambo jumbo superstitions. I never look at so called "good" dates when I moved into my current home. I never put up red cloth when I moved into my new home. But what really spooks me is my neighbour, which I believe should be him, pardon me if I had falsely accused someone here.

My unit is just located by the side of the lift. And to my surprise 2 nights ago, we found this talisman sticking at the wall beside the lift. Okay so it’s the common corridor, you might say its okay. But look again. Does this talisman looks as if the figure in the picture is facing his back? Meaning this figure is looking directly into my home!! To be specific, if this figure got X ray eyes, its looking right into my bedroom corridor and right into my living room. Geesh man……what can I make out of this? I don’t even understand why my neighbour would want to paste talisman like this along the lift corridor.

So freaking weird. Anyway, the cleaner removed the talisman on the following day. We also found some stains near the wall. So not sure if they had splashed something as well on the wall.

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Phillips HR2094 Blender

If its one thing I dread eating is fruits, believe it or not. I don’t hate eating it, but just plain lazy to actually move my ass to the supermarket to pick some good fruits. Worst of it all, I am not a good picker when it comes to having a knack of picking nice tasty fruits. So when we decided to get a blender, I told myself okay, I will be eating more fruits from this day on. But not blended vegetables juice though.

So here we have above, a nice mixture of pear and banana. The results? Its nice. But I am more of a fan of banana juice, mixed with vanilla syrup and crush it with ice, this blender lets you create your own smoothie at the comfort at your home at a fraction of its price. Got this baby in Phillips Warehouse Sale 2 weeks back. Cost me $100 which I think it’s a small price to pay to make me eat more fruits. No kidding.

Phillips HR2094 comes with a 1.5L glass jar, and trust me, its pretty heavy. The base is shiny aluminium and it certainly makes the Philips blender a stylish accessory to the kitchen. I tried lifting this blender up and I found it to be stuck on the base. Why? It comes with hefty suckers to keep it on the worktop without sliding all over the place. Considering the fact when you blend it, it stops the blender from any unwarranted movements and it certainly helps if you're one heck of a clumsy freak that prevents you from knocking this baby off the top.The other postive aspect of this blender is the filter for juicing. Try blending carrot or apple, and you would certainly need a filter to filter all all the pulps.

The stainless steel blades are easily removed for washing and this blades certainly does it job when you select Crush mode. It crushes the ice effortlessly. So overall I am pretty satisfied for the price I paid for this blender.

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Kok Kee Wanton Noodles

It was my first time at Lavender Food Square, not sure what to eat, I usually go for stalls that have a decent or long queqe. If it's a long queqe, it better be good. So the stall that caught my eye was Kok Kee Wanton Noodle. So first look for me was the price. I am kinda in a dilemma to choose between $3.50 or $4.50 serving. Looking at the other patrons in front of me having their $3.50 portion, I am dead set for the $4.50 portion.

Whats special? Its different from other wanton noodles. First of all, the auntie will pour the gravy (soup based) into the wanton noodle. Rather than being the conventional dark sauce wanton noodle, this one is more clear based. And boh oh boy, the gravy is nice. Plus with the chilli, and the spongy noodles, this wanton noodles pack a killer punch. But cant say the same for the char siew. Its just so so for me. The same goes for the soup that comes along. But don’t let that take away the fact that this wanton noodle is unique and nice.

And by the way, I think it’s expensive for a wanton noodle serving. But I think once in a while, I am allowed to spoil myself with something nice.

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Koon Yew Yin

Who is Koon Yew Yin? Beats me. And I am sure many out there are also in the dark of this person. But those who are abuzz in the internet might have caught his names here and there in the various articles and commentaries he wrote in some of the well known news portals.

Why Koon Yew Yin? Well, to my surprise Koon Yew Yin handed a cheque worth $200,000 to DAP on behalf of Pakatan Rakyat.This is to support PR election fund according to YB Lim Kit Siang. To many, Koon Yew Yin is a retired chartered engineer. But I don’t buy that. So I did more snooping on who is Koon Yew Yin.

Koon Yew Yin is a 76-year-old chartered civil engineer and was one of the founders of IJM Corp Bhd. He was also secretary-general of Master Builders Malaysia for nine years and a member of the Board of Engineers Malaysia and Sirim. Now he is proclaimed to be fully retired. And there is even a scholarship for higher education students setup under his name Koon Yew Yin Scholarship.

This brings to mind, how many corporate figures out there who is giving back to society? DAP's biggest coup when it comes to a corporate figure is Tony Pua. PKR has Khalid Ibrahim. How many corporate figures out there who are willing to stick out their necks and "berkhidmat" to the people? I sincerely hope more will step forward and make Malaysia a truly better place to live in.

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Home List

Above is the shopping list that broke a hole in my pocket recently hahaha. But it was worth a one time spending to built up my home. Some of the items above might be cheaper now since most of those buys were made in Apr. I was already scouting then for items I wanted and those which fits into my budget and also my requirements.

A word of caution though. Some of the prices might be nett price or gross price depending on the 7% GST. I was too lazy to recalculate some of the items.

Hope the list serves as a good guide.

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Star Trek

I wanted to catch Star Trek, 3 wks back when it was first released. Suffice to say, I always try to avoid 1st week of release especially for a box office hit like Star Trek. On the 2nd week, I tried going to 2 cinemas on a Sat and all the good seats were unavailable. And thanked God in the 3rd week of its release, I finally got to watch Star Trek given a breath of new life by JJ Abrams.

Verdict is, it hits me sprawling on the floor gasping for more. Its that good! I get goosebumps watching Star Trek reboot. I wouldn’t call it a prequel because JJ Abrams had changed the storyline as a vengeful Nero, a renegade Romulan was sucked into a black hole thus reversing the past and altering the future.Its good to see the crew back again in USS Enterprise.Its kinda weird seeing the younger Spock played by Zachary Quinto meeting up with the older Spock played by Leonard Nimoy. Now can someone please bring William Shatner back in the upcoming sequel rumoured for release in 2011.

I only have one complain in the movie though. I still cant get over the fact that the character Sulu is played by James Cho, the guy from Harold & Kumar. I still think he is too comical for the role and he is better off getting burgers from White Castle. For the rest of the crew, Abrams had solidified each characters in their positions. Captain James Kirk had always been brash, arrogant and the kind of leader that gets his hands dirty. As opposed to Captain Jean Luc Picard who is more of a diplomat.

I am a Trekkie / Trekker, and to see the movie comes alive again is simply a feeling which is hard for me to describe. I still remember spending hours alone in the Star Trek exhibition when it was here in Singapore. Or when I was still studying, staying up late at night waiting for Star Trek Enterprise to come up on air after the midnight news ended on TV3. Star Trek theme had always been acknowledging the diversity of the many species in the universe (cue, take a look at the crew), that human spirits always prevail in the face of adversity, and no matter how superior our opponents are, with a little bit of courage and brains, human will prevail. Maybe its just what we need in the world today.

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LCD TV

Recently I got myself a 40 inch LCD tv. I was tossing between either getting Sharp, Samsung or Sony. I am impressed with Sharp mainly due to the price and I am so so satisfied with my Ipod Touch since its using Sharp panels as well.

I was eyeing on the A63, 37 inch model from Sharp, but ultimately Sharp did not bring it down to a price I am willing to pay. Though they had offer for their A53 series, it was not a Full HD tv but only a HD ready tv. Since LED tv had enter into the fray, I was thinking if I were to get a HD ready, I would be like 2 generations back. Though sheepishly I do admit that I doubt I will use the full functionality of the Full HD features.

So, in the end, I purchased my LCD tv at Harvey Norman warehouse sale on 03-May.I was quite impressed with Samsung Series 5, 40 inch but in the end I didn’t get it as I was kinda pissed with the salesman lacklustre of integrity. First of all I ask him, "Does this model have a USB port?", he said "yes". And he proceeded to turn the tv to show me the so called USB port. Either my eyes are playing tricks on me but I couldn’t find the port at all. So nevermind, I asked him again, "Can I have that brochure over there so that I can evalute the specs?", he replied, "don’t bother, this model is not featured in the brochure". But I was adamant, and I took the brochure and surprise surprise, this model was featured inside. Okay, this is already Lie #2 from him. I asked him, "Hey, can I see what kind of mini hi fi set this LCD is giving out for free?". He said, "Sorry, the set is not here." As I turned the other way, I saw the set featured there.Lie #3. So I told myself, screw him. I don’t feel like even buying a pen from him.

Next stop was Sharp booth, they were throwing some freebies in the form of a $100 NTUC voucher to early birds for the 42 inch A53 series, HD Ready model. So deduct $100, you basically are just paying $1,099 for the tv. But then again, Sharp warranty for its panels is only 1 year. Kinda odd and not per industry standard if you ask me.

Finally, Sony's booth. I was actually here in the warehouse sale 2 days ago. So it was my second time here, and I already sort of know what I wanted to get. Of all the LCD series Sony has, I decided to settle for their low range model, the S series. So I got myself S Series - KLV-40S400A. Purchased it at $1,799, but they are giving out $250 High Choice voucher from Sony, $100 High Choice voucher from Harvey Norman themselves plus a HDMI cable which I think the retail price should be on average at around $80. On a rough count, I am paying about $1,369 before GST.

The TV came about 6 days later, and I had been watching it since. Next stop is to subscribe Starhub cable to get a more crystal clear resolution. The S Series above comes with features below
· Full HD 1080
Sadly, I don’t have a Blu Ray player yet and also I am not so sure which tv channel comes with HD resolution, so I guess it be a long time to come before I can utilize the full potential of this feature.
· BRAVIA Engine 2
This is a feature where apparently Sony claims its intelligent enough to adjust contrast and eliminate noises in the background. How true is it? Beats me. I have so far not realised anything yet.
· Improved Advanced Contrast Enhancer (ACE)
This feature is mainly focus on dark scenes, so if you're watching horror movies, or movies with dark background such as Sin City, or a Batman movie where Gotham City is always gloomy and rainy, this feature I believe will come in handy.
· MPEG Noise Reduction
I tried this feature last night, but kinda weird, it seems like the sound sounds same to me. Maybe I should use it when ChannelNews Asia is covering some protest in some parts of the world.
· Intelligent Picture
This feature claims it can boost weak broadcast signals (RF). Does it work? Again I wouldn’t know. I am currently tapping into my flat antenna, so I really don’t know if it works and if I subscribe to Starhub cable, I doubt I need this feature ever again.
· S-Force Front Surround
It says there it boost virtual surround sound. Whats virtual sound? What the heck is that? Plus I am not expecting much from TV speakers, no matter how surround it is, hahahaha.
· BRAVIA Sync
It says I can control all my other devices hooked to this tv with a single touch of the button, what I am not so sure is that can it sync with a non Sony product? We all know Sony make their products compatible with each other, but not really friendly to non Sony brands. I don’t blame them for having this strategy, but to me its kinda like shooting their own foot strategy.
· 24P True Cinema & Theatre Mode
Again, I think I will not be using this feature anytime soon as long as I don’t have a blueray player.
· Ambient Light Sensor for Energy Conservation & Reduce Eye Fatigue
Okay, I admit this is a smart feature. I can see the tv trying its best to adjust the contrast and brightness each time I switch channels.
· 1 Tuner PAP
I think I should be using this feature when I am greedy and I want to watch telly and my DVD movies.
· PC PIP
When watching a video from an external source, a TV program can also be viewed as a smaller window (Picture and Picture) and can be moved around the screen’s four corners. Interesting, I will try it one fine day just to see how it works.
· Swivel
I am dissapointed with this frankly. It can swivel at a 20 degrees angle only. I sometimes watch tv while eating. Although 20 degrees is basically good enough, but it be great if it can do a 40 degrees turn.

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Maid Mate Made...?

Anyone had encounter with maids before in Singapore? I think they're a pretty common sight if society had reached an affluent state where people can afford to employ someone to enact daily chores. Or you have a segment of society where they're damn rich and don’t know where to spend their money on. Or it could be a case of having domestic help because you really really in desperate need of one.

I am not at a stage yet where I need a maid, nor do I in a financial position which allows me to hire a maid. But I had my fair share of maid terror, or whatever you want to call it. It happened a few yrs back when I was staying in Choa Chu Kang. Its kinda freaky when I think about it. One morning I noticed there was a letter slotted inside my doorstep. I opened the letter and it was written in Bahasa Indonesia. So that rules out my other housemate who cant read Bahasa Melayu. At least I got an A for Bahasa Melayu in my STPM and I was one of the 3 shortlisted candidates for RSI (Radio Singapore International) for Producer Presenter for their Bahasa Melayu programmes.

The author of the letter said she had been observing a particular somebody going out of the house at a specific time and she wants to be friends with this person. So after checking out the timing of the stated time, the person she was referring to was me!!! Lucky me or unlucky me. Days go by, I wrote back trying to find out her identity but to no avail. Then I was away for about a week, and this stalker maid start to get paranoid, asking me where I been to, why I was not responding to her mails? I was like, huh? I started to get really wary whenever I walked out of the lift, fearing some psycho will come out and take a stab at me behind my back.

I even went to the point of getting 2 of my girl "friends" to pose as my girlfriends on 2 separate occasions. I purposely left my door open and let her see that I have girl guest. Wow, instanteneous reaction, she started to query me on who are the girls, saying she felt sad I have someone special someone in my life. I finally felt that this is all a nuisance and wanted to report to the police. At one point, she even sent chocolates to me which I threw away, and I even got other maid writing letter to me asking me to layoff this maid.

And finally a reprieve. the maid said that his employer found out she was sending letters to me and the wife also not happy that her husband chats up with her. So to end all this, she was send back to the maid agency. Well on a hindsight, I felt abit sorry for her predicament. On the other hand, I find the whole episode too freaking weird.

Anyway, I also saw maids getting a public tongue lashing before by their employers. A lady once scolded her maid in a packed mrt train till tears start flowing down from her eyes. Just last week, I saw a lady scolded her maid for dissapearing with the employer's young daughter. My friend told me that her 2 Filipino maids employed by the employer she is renting the room from, forbids them from turning on the fan during the day.

But on a lighter note, I had seen maid been treated nicely by their employers, for instance sitting on the same table enjoying dim sum breakfast, going for a brisk walk with their employers, or even reading about them in papers where maids are actually sent to pursue courses. Can you believe it? Even my company don’t send me to courses citing a lot of funny excuses for not doing so.

At the end of the day, all of us are humans. I think maids should be treated in a respectful mand humane manner. Put yourself in their shoes, working everyday with only 1 day off every month, being away from your loved ones. Its never easy for them. So let us be more gracious.


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You suck!

I had been on a long layoff from blogging because I had been busy with my home move. Thought of blogging about the stuffs I bought , sort of like ala review of things I bought.

But I was called upon to blog about the rape of justice in Perak yesterday. Barbed wires, police high handed presence, samseng in black barging in the State Assembly and dragging out Sivakumar forcefully from his chair. Blatant arrests of the crowd which to me is a dastardly act of a very desperate man.

Yes BN, you have the state apparatus now under your control. You choose to stiffle democracy with force. But just wait, because the rakyat is now more matured. We will exercise our rights in accordance with the law of the country. Why? Because we respect and love the law. Not like BN hooligans and goons who stops at nothing using force to intimidate us.

Your actions yesterday, together with the assistance of the police force makes a mockery to the law of the land. The whole episode in Perak stinks sky high to me.

I spit on the authorities aggresive conduct. I salute the fighters that showed true courage in Perak. And I am just biting time to see the day when justice is served to BN and its stooges. Only then I would say, revenge is sweeter than wine.

Like former judge Datuk NH. Chan said, do we really need a judge to inteprete Article 72(1) of the Federal Constitution which says: “The validity of any proceedings in the Legislative Assembly of any State shall not be questioned in any court”. The English is plain simple and layman for anyone who reads it to understand the implication of the article.

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Fallen

There is a saying the bigger you are, the harder you fall. I am really not sure what happened to this cement truck but it seems like someone didnt pull their brakes on time. Happened yesterday in Hougang.

Not sure if anyone got hurt, but shortly after that, fire engine truck and ambulances started to make a beeline with their blaring sirens.

They would probably need a crane to lift this truck up. Any other ideas?

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P/S: At point of the writting of this post, didnt know that the driver was still pinned down inside. Apparently the driver was killed. My deepest sympathy to the driver.

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Kingmakers of Singapore Public Transport

I like to pick my nails in the train, and I am pissed so I throw my betting slip from Kranji turf onto the ground.


Most important is my bag has a seat in the train.

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I am Sivaji the Boss. Dont come and cross my path.

P/S: To be fair to the lady, she did give up her seat by sacrificing her bag when the train was crowded.

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Xing Hua Food

There is this food stall tucked away in this sheltered food centre beside Boon Keng MRT station, Xing Hua Seafood. I must say that we stumbled upon this stall by accident. Kim ordered the Xing Hua seafood bee hoon then. And ever since then, we became self proclaimed fans of this stall. Why I like this stall? For a simple reason, their dishes are peculiar.

I had never seen this dish anywhere in Singapore before. If any of you do find something similar that I can make a comparison, please flag it out to me. Apart from the generous offering of seafood, the bee hoon is sprinkled with Japanese seaweed and groundnuts that enhances the taste. I suspect the bee hoon is prepared with the soup based stock that they prepared for their Lor Mee.

Talking about Lor Mee, their Xing Hua Lor Mee is not the conventional Lor Mee with the dark black thick sauce with starch. Its exactly quite the opposite. Its prepared using seafood based soup. Glass noodles are used instead of yellow noodles. Again this dish is quite refreshing, it reminded Kim of the Korean food and we think it goes so well if it comes with kimchi as a side dish. And you know, we might do just that if we make a stopover at this stall next time.

In short, both dishes are very peculiar and nice.

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