The world cup is now down to the last 8.
Germany beat Sweden 2-0. They will meet Argentina in the quarter final, who bear Mexico 2-1.

England managed another win despite not playing well. They beat Ecuador 1-0 courtesy of a David Beckham trademark free kick. They will meet Portugal, who beat Holland in a tough game that ended up with 4 sent off and numerous yellow cards.

Italy beat Australia 1-0 thanks to a controversy injury time penalty kick by Totti. It is well taken by Totti. But the manner in which it's won leaves a sour taste in the mouth. The Aussies will feel hard done by the referee. They are joined in the quarter final by Ukraine, who beat the Swiss in a penalty shoot out in which the Swiss did not score any at all. The match ended 0-0 at full time.

Brazil held of the challenges of Ghana and beat them 3-0. Their quarter final opponent is France, who beat a lacklustre Spain 3-1.

It's a 2 day break, and no more late nights for 2 days before the quarter finals.

Jun 30 11:00pm	Germany vs Argentina	@ Berlin
Jun 31 03:00am	Italy vs Ukraine	@ Hamburg
Jun 31 11:00pm	England vs Portugal	@ Gelsenkirchen
Jul 1 03:00am	Brazil vs France	@ Frankfurt

I'm a Lamborghini Murcielago!
Along with the other 7% of those who take the test. Looks like Chevrolet Corvette is the most at 27%. About 1/4 liao...


I'm not subtle, but i don't want to be. Fast, loud, and dramatic, I want people to notice me, and then get out of the way. In a world full of sheep, I'm a raging bull.

Take the Which Sports Car Are You? quiz.

Summer Breeze(夏日风) was the band everyone loves to hate. That's because they are clearly the lousiest team, and yet they managed to progress quite far, at the expense of many a good team. Well, they had been out a few weeks already.

After them, I feel Bun(馒头) is the lousiest team. They are not half as bad as Summer Breeze, but among the teams that stays, I feel they should be the team to be kicked out. Unfortunately, they managed to stay on, till the semi-finals at least.

The latest casualty is Lost Soldier(迷路兵), or some people called them Iced Milo(Milo 冰). They are quite a good band. The members are cute guys, at least that's what the judges say. They are quite creative in their music as well. Their biggest problem is that their creativity revolves around 1 idea. They can have very good arrangements., but they always sing a song ballad style in the front, and then change to rock style later. I am already sick of this few weeks back, but they were getting good reviews from the judges then. They must have felt over-confident and thus complacent in this formula. The week, that the most accredited judge point this out, and gave them pretty bad marks, they were kicked out. Such is the harshness of the world. 1 moment, they are at the vertex, and the next moment, they are crashing down.

It's the revival round next week. It's going to be interesting. The judges score is the deciding factor in this round. 5 teams are involved. Summer Breeze should be the band that stand the lowest chance of getting through. Both Amber stands an outside chance, but it will be hard for them.

Qinobe used to be the judges' darling, but they had been complained of using the same style too often for a couple of weeks before they were kicked out. Similar to Lost Soldier's complains except that theirs is from more judges and they had a longer time to correct it which they did not. They would really need something special to get back into the competition.

Lost Soldiers should stand a good chance. Some of the judges may feel sorry for them. Or they may be influenced by Xu Huan Liang comments and hope for a change from Lost Soldiers. Will have to see how they cope about this.

Juz-b must stand the most chances. They had always been the judge's darling. Even in the round they were knocked out, they were getting pretty high scores. They will continue to be seen in a good light by the judges.

We shall now wait and see which band can bounce back into the competition.

Last year, there's a chinese song singing competition in Singapore called Project Superstar. In the competition, there's a lady, called Jiaxin, who sang quite well. The judges gave her the 2nd highest score of the night. Unfortunately for her, the contest scoring system depends heavily on public voting. She must have scored quite low for that, for she was kicked out in the 1st round.

After the competition ended, I heard that she went on to join a Hong Kong singing competition and she came in 2nd. And recently, I was told that she was signed by a Hong Kong recording company. It's the same company that signed her favourite idol, Joey Yung. The company has pledged to put in the resources to make her into a big star.

All these would probably not have happened if she got voted into the next round of Project Superstar.

I've now reached 10,000 visits. Each visits can contain 1 or more page loads. All these in 1.5 years. Some of the popular blogs achieve this in 1 day, but I am happy enough. Thanks to all who come. Please remember to come back. More. :)

Iran drew 0-0 with Angola to confirm both their exits. Iran was already out before the game with Angola having a slight chance, which is gone now. Argentina win Mexico 2-1 to top the table.

Czech crashed out with a 2-0 lost to Italy while Ghana sneaked in with a 2-1 win over USA.

Saudi Arabia finish their tornament without a point when they lost to Spain reserves 1-0. Ukraine gets through by winning Tunisia 1-0.

And so, for the next round, the games are as follows:

Jun 24 11:00 pm	Germany vs Sweden	@ Munich
Jun 25 03:00 am	Argentina vs Mexico	@ Leipzig
Jun 25 11:00 pm	England vs Ecuador	@ Stuttgart
Jun 26 03:00 am	Portugal vs Netherlands	@ Nuremburg
Jun 26 23:00 pm	Italy vs Australia	@ Kaiserslautern
Jun 27 03:00 am	Switzerland vs Ukraine	@ Cologne
Jun 27 11:00 pm	Brazil vs Ghana	@ Dortmund
Jun 28 03:00 am	Spain vs France	@ Hanover

I've not updated this blog for a few days. Quie a number of World Cup games have played.

Since then, Portugal has beaten Iran 2-0 to book their place in the last 16. Ghana kept their World Cup dreams by stepping up a gear and beat a striker-less Czech 2-0. USA did likewise when they drew with Italy 1-1.

Japan also kept their hopes alive by holding Croatia to a goalless draw. Brazil secure their place by beating Australia 2-0. France continue their lacklustre run by drawing South Korea 1-1, and Switzerland beat Togo 2-0.

In group H, Ukraine thrash Saudi Arabia 4-0 and Spain continue their majestic run with a 3-1 win over Tunisia.

Poland restored some pride with a 2-1 win over Costa Rica in the last inconsequential game, and Germany beat Ecuador 3-0 to top the group. England drew 0-0 with Sweden to book a place in the 16, facing Ecuador. The score also condemn Trinidad and Tobago to a early exit. It doesn't make any difference in the end as Paraguay beat them 2-0.

Ivory Coast, despite playing well, was knocked out after 2 games. At least they restore some pride by beating Serbia & Montenegro 3-2, after falling to a 2-0 lead early in the 2nd half.

Holland And Argentina played to a goalless draw this morning and that sums up the World Cup to this point.

Saw this at W3 Schools.



Customer: "I want to download the Internet. Do I need a bigger hard disk?"

Download the Internet here

Portugal win Iran 2-0 as expected.

Czech lost to Ghana 2-0 and with 1 man sent off. They were harshly awarded a penalty against them. And the defender carried his protest too far and was shown a red card. I wonder why it's a red card. I thought these kind of offence is only a yellow. Anyway, the penalty did not go in, but Czech is already 1-0 down at that time with Ghana having the better game. I had wanted to bet on Ghana. But Czech gave quite a good performance in the previous game. Though they have Kohler injured, it still is risky betting against them. And I don't think Ghana will be easy pushover, so I abstain.

I had a better feeling about Italy beating USA. So I put some money on it. It ended in a 1-1 draw... I did not watch the game, but it seems like a rough game. Italy have a player sent off in the 28th minute, and USA 1 sent off in the 45th minute and 1 more in the 47th minute.

No, I did not get to bed chicks. This is about football.

There are 3 games playing on Thursday night. The 1st game I did not have much interest in it. Ecuador vs Costa Rica. Ecuador won 3-0.

The 2nd game is England vs Trinidad and Tobago. I supported England, though I don't see them progressing very far. And T&T is not a bad team as well. I wanted to bet England win but the odds are a bit too hard, so I did not bet. England did not play well again. Owen is almost non-existent and Crouch missed a lot of chances. But at least he put himself in positions to take the shots in the 1st place.

Then came a master substitution from Sven Ericsson. David Beckham was playing on the right flank. He doesn't run to the bye line to cross. He prefers to cross early. The T&T defenders are getting used to defending against him and they did a good job. Then winger Aaron Lennon came in for right back Jamie Carragher. Beckham dropped to a more defensive position while Lennon took over the right flank. He is not afraid of taking the ball and running at defenders, running to the bye line and cross. Faced with totally different style of playing, the T&T defenders are starting to find their hands full trying to adapt. In the 83rd minute, a long pass to the right flank found Lennon. Instead of bringing the ball down and dribble, this time he head back to Beckham. Beckham now find himself with more space as he's in a deeper position. His marker is now on Lennon. He deliver his trademark dipping cross onto Crouch, who stood 18 cm taller than his marker and headed in. The goal sure came late, but better than never they say. Steven Gerrard then put the icing on the cake when he deliver a powerful long shot from outside the penalty box into the goal in injury time. Liverpool players to the rescue. :)

The last game, I bet on Sweden. I was on the edge of my seat the whole night. They are playing against Paraguay, and I thought Paraguay played better than Sweden. Luckily Sweden defence held. At the 86 minute, Sweden scored. And I am relieved.

Then last night, I bet on Argentina in the first game. They were playing Serbia and Montenegro. S&M have 1 man sent off, and Argentina won 6-0. Sweet.

Holland vs Ivory Coast is the 2nd game. I bet on Holland. Like the Sweden game, the opponent is playing better. In fact, I thought Ivory Coast is dominating the game. It's a wonder that Holland managed to find themselves 2-0 up by the 26th minute. Ivory Coast managed to put themselves back in the game at the 38th minute. From then, I am on the edge of my seat again, until full time. Fortunately, the score stay the same till the end.

I did not bet on the last game. Mexico vs Angola. Samwin bet on Mexico win. Luckily I did not follow him. It ended in a goalless draw.

ÿmimiÿ is a Thai friend of mine who may be coming to Singapore for holiday. She asked me some questions...

ÿmimiÿ (03:26 PM) :
In Singapore has Great Singapore Sale,right?
CleverFool (03:26 PM) :
yep
ÿmimiÿ (03:27 PM) :
What kind of product?
CleverFool (03:27 PM) :
alot alot
CleverFool (03:27 PM) :
shopping centers all over singapore have sale.
CleverFool (03:27 PM) :
whole singapore sale.
ÿmimiÿ (03:28 PM) :
ohh.

I hated it when ESPN decided to increase their license to our cable TV company and hence an increase price in the subscription of the sports channels. I am against the increase, so I choosed to cancel the subscription of the sports channels. I'll probably end up paying more for my alternate means of watching the soccer games, but I am just unhappy about the increase in price.

Now is the World Cup season. In the past World Cup, sports channel subscribers get to watch it free. This year, sports channel subscribers have to pay an extra sum of money to watch them. Non sports channel subscribers have to pay an even larger sum of money to watch them. The cable TV company has got exclusive rights to the World Cup games, therefore our main broadcasting company is showing only 4 games. Our neighbours, including Malaysia and not-so-developed Indonesia get to watch it for free, Singaporeans can't.

There were a few ways of watching World Cup without paying our cable TV company. If you live in older HDB flats, you can connect your TV back to the old TV antenna instead of the SCV port. This way, you get to watch both RTM 1 and RTM 2. The SCV port can only let you watch RTM 1. RTM 1 and RTM 2 have combined to show all the matches of the World Cup.

Or you can buy an antenna and hook it to your TV and see if you can receive Indonesian Channel SCTV. The signal for SCTV have improved over the year and it's much more clearer now.

You can also of course go to your favourite pub/kopi tiam and watch the games from there.

And finally, you can download and install a P2P movie streaming player like TVU player". The image quality is not bad, and if more people are watching, you have better reception.

Everybody in Thailand is wearing yellow. Well, almost. Most of the shops have their uniforms changed to the yellow t-shirt. Most of the yellow t-shirts have the words "I Love the King" in Thai on it.

The Thais really love their king. How many people wear red to the national stadium? Anyway, I saw some of t-shirts being sold have the words in English. But when I went to enquire about it, they only left the big sizes. It's a waste. I thought the t-shirts are nice, but I don't want Thai words as I'll never wear it again. At least if it's in English, I won't mind wearing it in Singapore.

Anyway, I saw this cap selling in the streets at night, and bought it. I collect caps and I don't wear them, so it's alright. :P

I went Chijmes to watch the Spain win Ukraine 4-0. I would have preferred Father Flannagan as they have a better atmosphere for watching soccer. But for some reason, Eric say he don't like it and chose the restaurant next to it. The restaurant is quite spacious, I think it's missing the feel. And the food is expensive. Last night's game is the first game that I betted, and the money I won just about cover my expenses that night.

Back to the game. It's a good game to watch. Rudy placed a bet on the game finishing goalless and another bet on it being a 1-1 draw. Spain being the perpetual underperforming giant must be the main reason he placed such bets. His dreams were smashed by the 17th minute. Haha! Spain dominated the game. Not even the presense of Sheva help Ukraine. The heat may have played a part in it. The Spaniards must have been more used to the heat than the Ukraines. And the last goal by Torres is simply fantastic. Soccer fans who missed it should try to catch a replay. Simply beautiful.

I did not catch the other 2 games, but I was quite glad to see that Germany had beaten Poland. I thought this new look Germany is quite good. And serves Poland right for dropping Dudek. Haha!

And in the last game of the night, Tunisia drew 2-2 with Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia must have thought they have won the game when they scored to make it 2-1 at the 84th minute. But too bad their defence did not hold out till the end. Equalized at the last minute. Heartbreaking.

Holland wins Serbia & Montenegro 1-0, Mexico wins Iran 3-1.

Portugal wins Angola 1-0. Some people were upset that Portugal only win by 1-0, but still, a win is a win.

Czech wins USA 3-0, which I think is the biggest scoreline so far.

Italy wins Ghana 2-0, which is sort of a surprise to me. Italy will be the favourite, but Ghana is not a weak team. And Italy are traditional late bloomers. They always perform badly at the start of tournaments.

Australia wins Japan 3-1. This result have broken a number of Asian hearts. I have a few friends who were expecting Japan to win. But I thought Australia is quite a good team. If there is to be a black horse that upsets all the favourites, I would think it's Australia.

Brazil is playing their first game tonight. The whole world will be watching.

3rd day



Belle had her alarm set too early. Thai time is 1 hour before Singapore. That means if it's 7am in Singapore, it's 6am in Thailand. So, if you want to wake up at 8am Bangkok time, and your watch is still in Singapore time, you should set it to 9am. Belle set it to 7am. So I woke up at 6am Bangkok time. 2 hours ahead. I washed up, and it's still very early. The 2 of them managed to sleep thru the alarm and the snoozes. I surf a bit of web and fell asleep.

I woke up agian at 9am Bangkok time. the others are not up yet. I hurriedly wake them up, finish packing all my stuff and hurriedly go downstair for breakfast. By the time we were ready to leave, it's already 10am. Luckily there's not much jam on the way to the airport.

[IMAGE: Makkasan Seafood]

I found this brochure in the taxi. This is the place where I had dinner on the First day, the one that cost the 3 of us a whooping 4334B. The address is there, you can go try if you want. The food is quite nice actually, though at 4334B, i think it's way too expensive.

[IMAGE: The airport]

They have a very wide road to the airport and another toll way running on top of it. It's a Monday morning, and it's holiday today and tomorrow, so i guess not that many people are going to the airport, and the traffic is very good. But on reaching the airport, the road leading to the entrance is a 2-lane road. We were stuck there for a bit of time. It's a bit stupid that they have so many lanes going to the airport only to have a bottle neck in the 2-lane road.

[IMAGE: Pimporn Travel]

I saw this travel agency right opposite the airport. With the words "Pimp" and "Porn" in the name, I can't help but imagine that it's for sex trips...

Anyway, we are still early when we reached the check-in counters. After we cleared the customs, we were shopping in the duty free shops. I know they sells nice mango with sweet glutinous rice desserts, but when I approached them, they told me they only started selling at 12. And my flight is at 11:35. Too bad.

When we board the plane, we found that the seat is arranged further from 1 another. We were puzzled about it as Jetstar's planes seat arrangement are not like that. Then we realized it's a Valuair plane. Add to it that Belle and my seat are at the emergency exit door, which has a even greater leg space. But the seats there cannot be reclined, and it's a pretty uncomfortable journey. Alex was assigned to a seat behind us. His seat can be reclined.

There seems to be some problem in Singapore. Right after we landed, we have to go through security checks on our hand lugguage. The security check counters were not there before. After we collected our check-in lugguage, we have to go through 1 more security check for them. Wonder what trigger the enhanced security.

Anyway, before we came to the lugguage belt, we were in the liquor duty free shop. Alex wanted to get a few bottles of vodka, and I gave him my quota. I had wanted to get a bottle Chivas as it come with a nice haversack, but it's only for the 18 year Chivas, which cost about $150. The 12 year Chivas cost only $40. So Alex can get more vodka.

There's this nice lady doing promotion for 2 new flavours of Bailey's. She was offering samples for it. I don't really have an intention of buying the Bailey's as I've given Alex my quota. But I want to try out the new flavours. They were quite nice. The lady is quite friendly and helpful. She even help Alex look for the Muddy Murphy that I wanted. But well, Alex had my quota for alcohol. :P

Belle and I had wanted to go to the staff canteen at T2 for lunch. But Alex is lazy to take the sky train, and he suggested Burger King instead. We could have insisted on going ot T2, and I think Alex will follow. But the canteen is some distance from the sky train. I think I will get a lot of Alex's complains if I insists on going there. Hence, I settled on Burger King.

And that about sums up this Bangkok trip. I've been there 2 times this year. I think that's about enough....

2nd day



Today is supposed to be sight seeing day, but we could not agree on the places to go. So we sleep more, woke up at 10am for breakfast. By the time we went to the cafe, there's not much items left. All the banana muffins were gone.

[IMAGE: Chinatown]

After breakfast, we went to Chinatown for some shopping. Bought a big load of crackers.

[IMAGE: Lunch]

Then we had late lunch in the same restaurant I went to on my previous Bangkok trip. We had the usual sharks' fin and birds' nests and some dishes. The dishes are quite nicely cooked.

[IMAGE: Big bird]

We discovered that the bird's nests there are really fresh. Being made on the spot. And by who? Big bird!!

[IMAGE: Coin Washing Machine]

Then it's back to the hotel to put down the crackers and off we go to MBK. On the way out, we saw this sign. The Thai people must have hated the metal smell on their fingers.

Ball was showing us his new phone last night. It is very small and cute mp3 phone, and at only only 4000+B, it's very cheap as well. Alex wanted to get a few of those phones back to Singapore to sell, and that's 1 of the reasons we are in MBK.

[IMAGE: Massage parlour]

I don't have anything I really wanted to buy, and Belle thought the stuffs that are sold there is not really to her liking. So we left Alex in MBK while we go Sukhumvit for some tradditional Thai massage.

[IMAGE: Masseur]

It's 2 experienced lady who serves us. Wonder is it because I came with Belle, that they send these 2. On previous times when I come with Winston, it's always 2 pretty ladies. Either they see we 2 guys, then send pretty ladies, or Winston requested it. Anyway, it's quite a painful though nice experience. I decided to give them 50 baht as tips each. I passed 100B to 1 of them, and I could see her eyes light up, and then I say "Share", and the light gone out.

[IMAGE: McDonald]

We were supposed to meet Ball for dinner at 9pm. The massage took longer than expected. It's supposed to be 2 hours, but they took 2 hours and 15 minutes. And we are late for 15 minutes. On meeting Ball, he asked me if I want to go Ba'an Kam Nam, the nice restarunt he brought us to the last time, or Lek seafood, which is nearby. Lek seafood is the equilvalent of Singapore Kopitiam Chi Cha. It's cheaper of cause, but the food is nice. I chosed Lek. Ball must be glad as this will save him money. :P

The food is as nice as I remember it to be. And we managed to snatch the bill from Ball and paid for it. I wonder if he's thinking, "So we chosed Lek because we want to save our money. :P ".

[IMAGE: Grand Palace]

We went to the area outside the grand palace for photo taking after dinner. Last night we were talking about going to the local happening disco, RCA, but I guess Ball changes his mind. :P As this is the 60th anniversary of the King's ascension to the throne, the whole area is decorated with lights and arches. Similar to what we do to Orchard Road during christmas. A lot of people were there phototaking.

[IMAGE: Monument]

This is some monument erected to commemorate the 60th year anniversary.

[IMAGE: On the way in]

These pictures are taken on the way to the place while in the car.

[IMAGE: Arch]

This is 1 of the main thing of the decorations. 1 big arch at the entrance of the road. I think there are 6 of them, but I took only 1.

[IMAGE: Arch]

This is the same arch from the back.

[IMAGE: On the street]

These were taken while walking along the streets.

And that's about it for the day. Our flight is at 11:35am the next day, which means we have to leave the hotel at 9:30am, which means got to wake up early.

Last day

England manages to win Paraguay 1-0, thanks to an own goal. They didn't look like they are going to score a 2nd, and Paraguay is looking dangerous in their attacks. Luckily, the defence managed to hold out. Speaking of defence, once again, the England coach sticks with his favourites. Jamie Carragher, who had such a good season, and had performed admirably in the warm ups, in 3 positions, did not play. But well, it's expected, I guess.

Trinidad and Tobago manages to draw with Sweden, despite having 1 man sent off. Sweden looked the more dangerous side and it became worrying when Avery John sent off 1 minute into the 2nd half. Fortunately, Dwight Yorke and his men manages to hang on to a draw. Shala Hislop, whom my friend say is not a big game player, and hence Liverpool is able to win the FA Cup final against West Ham. But he put in a very good performance to keep the Swedes at bay.

Argentina manages to win their opening game 2-1 as well. With former captain and legend Diego Maradona were cheering them on in the grandstand, the South American soccer powerhouse handed a defeat to the debuttans. They looked to be cruising to a victory thanks to 2 early goals, but Chelsea's Drogba gave them a scare when he score 1 in the 82 minute. But hang on they did, and 3 points to Argentina.

First day



I was the first to wake up this morning. We went to the lounge area for our breakfast. It's as bad as the last time that I was here, but they still have the nice banana muffic. :P

They have this sandwich, I think it's tuna. It looks quite ok, but some people liked the bread to be toasted, which it isn't.

So I think that's at least 1 of the reasons they have the oven toaster there. For people to toast the small tuna sandwich, and the other buns.

And please do not use the bread toaster to toast the small sandwich. First, the sandwich is so small and light that it will fly out when the toaster tried to push up the bread. Second, since it's so small, you may have a problem taking them out.

I tried to take a picture of the idiot culprit discretely, but I couldn't really get a good shot...

[IMAGE: Sugar and creamer]

I also find their sugar and creamer a bit funny.

After breakfast, we went to Jatujak. This time, I am the non-shopper. I did not get much things. Just to bring them there and act as sort of a in between. When Belle is looking at something and Alex walks too far ahead, I have to make sure Belle knows where we are, and vice versa.

[IMAGE: Iced coffee]

We stopped at this stall for a break. Alex and Belle got themselves some Iced Coffee. Business must have not been good. First, they increase the price to cover their expenses. Second, they have to save on the cupboard for their price board.

[IMAGE: 10 bath]

This is another interesting sign. I did not know they have bathing services in Jatujak. I wonder why they limit to only 10...

[IMAGE: Gelare]

We planned to go Central Ladprao at about 2:30pm. But in the end, we stayed at Jatujak until 3:40pm. And I gave the wrong location to the taxi driver. I told him Central Chitlom, which is quite far from Jatujak, but nearer to our hotel. They have this gelare ice cream shop at the basement. We ordered a cup each. They charge according to the size of the cup, and not the number of scoops. So you won't pay more for 3 scoops of ice cream on the same size cup as a 1 scoop ice cream. I chosed Hazzlenut, Rum and Raisin and Coffee. All are quite nice. Hazzlenut is really nutty. Unfortunately for Coffee, after I tasted the other 2 flavours, which are quite sweet, Coffee loses it's sweet taste. Which left bitterness...

[IMAGE: Nestle fitnesse]

We saw this selling at the supermarket. I've inspected the outside of the box. They look exactly the same, except for 1 difference, and it's shown here in the picture. I wonder what's the difference inside.


We went back to hotel at about 6pm to put down our stuff and leave for Suan Loom night bazaar at 8pm. My Thailand friend, Ball, will be meeting us there. Again, I felt I don't have anything to buy, and I wanted to watch England vs Paraguay, so I went with Ball to the food court, where there's a big TV to watch the game.

Alex and Belle finished shopping right after the game is finished and we go together to Tawandeng. Finally, I am able to go there. It's still as nice as before. Alex were quite scepticle of the place as I told him it's a German pub, which is true. But I also told him they sell nice local food. I guess he does not believe the 2nd part of our conversation. Anyway, he was pleasantly surprised and he say that he will come back to this place the next time he come back to Bangkok. Another satisfied customer. :)

3rd day

Germany manages to beat Costa Rica 4-2 in the openning game of World Cup 2006. A lot of punters must have felt releived. Haha! But I think they going to have a lot of problems. They have their captain, the star player out injured. And when he's back, he has issues with the coach's strategy. Let's see how they perform next.

On the other hand, Poland loses Ecuador 2-0. Serves them right for dropping Dudek.

My 2nd Bangkok trip this year. How I love this place. Haha. I had wanted to meet up with Shadow, but with this weekend being a long week end because of King Bhumibol's ascension to the throne 60th anniversary, she's going to Koh Samui for a holiday. Too bad then.

[IMAGE: McDonald's]

At the Changi Airport, after clearing the Singapore Customs, I bring the others to Macdonald's for a free drink.

I took a Jetstar flight this time. I've long heard about their cramp seats, and now I can confirm it. The space is really small. And worse, Alex say he likes the back row and he got us back row seats. The problem about back row seats is that they cannot recline at all. Not that the other seats can recline much, it should be better than nothing.


I had wanted to go Tawandeng after we had settle down at the hotel. However, we were told there are some closure of roads and that area is sure to be jammed. So we went to a seafood restaurant recommended by the hotel people. The food is not bad, but it's very expensive. 3 of us spent B$4337 total.

After dinner, we went to Patpong. Those 2 people don't really shop. We walked through the place in 20 minutes, and it's back to the hotel.

2nd day

At the stroke of midnight, on 06/06/06, I was at Cathay cinema, about to watch The Omen. I remember the movie title from a book my friend was reading back in secondary school 10 years eons ago. I did not read it, but I know it's about the anti-christ. Now, finally, I know what it's all about.

This movie is actually a remake of the 1976 movie starring Gregory Peck. This story is sure old.

This version is quite modern. In some scenes, the characters in the movie are using mobile phones. There sure isn't any mobile phones back in 1976. Not even in 1986 as well.

This story is about a senior politician who's baby was dead when his wife gave birth to it. The priest showed him another baby born at the same time, where the mum is dead as well. He decide to raise the baby as his own. He never told anyone else.

At first, things goes quite well. But after sometime, strange things started to happen around the kid...

What will happen in the end? I shall not post spoilers this time, and you tell me what you think. :) And I don't find the movie scary. Though I was given a number of frights. They like to play loud music suddenly to scare u. And thats about all.

Xia Ri Feng (literal translation: Summer Breeze) is the weakest group among the contestants. They always get the lowest points, and yet they are always through to the next round. They must have a lot of supporters. They were criticised by the judges for their lousy vocals, lousy dance moves, can sing/dance to rhythm, etc. They aren't particularly good looking either. And when the other bands are improving with every round, they seem to remain stagnant. Basically, I thought everybody don't like them.

There's 1 episode where they got 19 points from the judges. There were 4 judges with a maximum of 10 points from each. So 19 points is considered "fail". When their judges' score is annouced, the audience cheered. I was not there, this is what my sister's friend, who is there, told her.

I was always puzzled by their popularity. Everyweek, a seemingly better band will be knocked out and they stayed on. Where do their popularity comes from? I was inclined to believe that they cast the votes themselves. Then 1 day, a friend told me that they belonged to City Harvest Church. I don't know if her information is correct, but it makes sense. City Harvest Church is where Ho Yeow Sun came from. Rumour has it that most of the church members bought at least 1 album to support her. Some of the richer members even bought multiply copies though they did not listen to it at all. I don't know how accurate this is, but if it's true, then it makes sense that XRF survies so long. If every member of the church makes 1 call, I think it's substantial enough to push them through every rounds. And with some members making multiple calls, they just might be able to become the champion. It's my guess only. I got no idea of the size of City Harvest's membership, except that it's huge. I also have no idea at all of how much votes you need to win.

They got 18 points last night. Fail again. But I thought they don't deserve such low points this time. In fact, I thought it's 1 of their better performances. Xu Huanliang agreed with me. But 2 of the judges gave them an astonishingly low point of 3 and 3.5. Sad.

Anyway, XRF was knocked out. Either City Harvest's membership their fan base is not huge enough or they lost interest in supporting them...

I've been following the Superband competition. I realize that the teams that get more points from the judges are those with good stage presence. Therefore, rock bands will have an advantage as this genre of music is more high.

There are a number of rock bands, and the best of them is Qinobe. They had been getting very high scores consistently. Another good band is Lucify, though they were knocked out at 1 time only to come back in the revival round. Soul is not a rock band. But they have very impressive dance moves and they had been getting high scores too. Juz-B is an A Cappella kind of band. They were impressive in their renditions of the songs and they got high points too.

Mi Lu Bing (Literal translation: Lost Soldiers) is another good rock band. They are quite unique. They have a very rock kind of lead singer, but the drummer can sing ballads quite well. In the earlier rounds, they were singing rock songs. Then they moved to singing ballads rock style. Then they started to combine the 2 style. The drummer will start with sentimental style of singing, and finished off by the rock style singer. They started scoring high when they starting singing ballads in rock style.

J3 is not a rock band. They comprises of 3 members. 1 of them will play the keyboard, another 1 will play the guitar. The 3rd is their lead singer. They had been singing sentimental ballads mostly. The judges always say that they are the band with the best vocals. They had been getting good scores consistently, but never great scores. I guess you can't create a very high atmosphere from sentimental ballads.

In this round, I saw something that I thought is unfair. J3, as usual, sings their ballad in their clear nice voice. They added some gimmicks which I think is quite good. They were praised by the judges and get quite a high point, but you know it won't be in contention for the highest scored band. Mi Lu Bing, to everone's surprise, did not sing their song in rock style. Instead, the drummer became the lead singer and was playing a string guitar instead of drums. Their keyboardist became the A Cappella drummer. They scored very high points for this. Now I am wondering. Their performance is similar in style to J3. I don't think they performed better. And yet, they scored much better. I am not saying the judges are biased, but that the judges gave them more points just because they tried something different from their usual style. I feel grading this way is not being objective...

It's been a long time since the last time I stepped into the Science Center. It should be about 20 years quite a long time ago. *gasp! So old now!!*

And it's a big cock up for my journey there. I took bus 157 from my work place. I'm supposed to stop at Jurong Town Hall, which is where the Science Center is, but I am not sure of the exact location. In the end, I stopped at Yu Hua, thinking I am near, but I am actully 30 minutes walk away. So I was late and missed the first 15 minutes. Grr. To make it worse, I forgot where the Science Center exact location! I called a friend, and he tell me directions which I misinterpreted and walked the opposite direction. Lucikly I spotted the signboard for the Science Center and managed to make my way to it.



The movie I watched is Poseidon. The first 15 minutes is to intro the characters. I reached the theatre just in time to see the ship capsize. Overall, this movie is quite nice. The omnimax effects makes certain scenes looks more grand, but can be giddy at times. Luckily there's not much fast actions. :P

After coming out from ktv, I saw this sign.

Having won some money in my previous mahjong session, I win again on Saturday.

We were playing at Mich's place. We started at about 10 pm and finished 4 rounds at 7:30am. We did not plan to play so long. The original plan is to play only 1 round. I won $30 for that round.

I was saying that since I win, I can take the taxi. Then they said that since I am taking cab, I might as play another game before leaving. Another game became anohter 3 games. I lost $20 in those 2 games.

Overall still win. I hope this winning steak continues...

Went KTV with Mich and friends on Saturday. It's hideous. My singing I mean. Not that it's any good to begin with, but my throat has not fully, and my singing is quite badly affected. Sigh.

If a movie is based on an established story, I would normally read the story 1st before going to watch it in the cinemas. A movie has limited time to show the story. And everybody will have different interpretation of the story. I like to know the story well before watching the movie so that I can understand it better. I did it to Harry Porter, Lord Of The Rings, etc.

Some people prefer it the other way round. They do not want to read or hear about the story at all. They think that will spoil it when they watch the movie. The exciting parts are not exciting if they know what's going to happen.

Recently, I went to watch The Da Vinci Code. I did not managed to read the book first. There's a lot of things that I do not catch. How they solve the puzzles, etc. I did managed to catch the gist of it though. After that, I managed to get my hands on the story and is reading it now. Now I am able to understand those that baffled me in the movie. However, I realise 1 thing. The exciting parts are not exciting as I know what's going to happen. :P

I think I still prefer story 1st, then movie.

I just received a phone call from my credit card company. The 1 that is 8 alphabets and start with C and ends with K. Fortunately, they are not chasing me for money. It's another attempt to sell some insurance policy. I have received numerous from them.

Anyway, this girl called, with the usual "Hi Mr Tai, I am calling from C******K, is it convenient to talk?"

As usual, I replied with, "What about?"

And the girl promptly goes into her sales talk. She just keep going and going for about 5 minutes non-stop explaining her product. 5 minutes seems like a short time, but imagine listening to someone talk non stop for 5 minutes on the phone. Then imagine you are the 1 talking.

Seems like a boring job. Everyday got to go into this long speech to strangers on the phone and then at the end, the fella say "No, I am not interested". I wonder how many times she say this in 1 day.