Snakes on a Plane

We watched "Snakes on a Plane" last Friday evening. The synopsis looks ok, the caption reads "Sit back, relax, enjoy the fright". Soon, after munching half of the "Large" bucket of caramel popcorn later, and some previews including of Spiderman coming soon in May/June/July 2007, I was thinking if we went into the right place when it began. The show began with people having a fun time in a beach in Hawaii, and the song blasting away sounds something like "Kokomo". When does action thriller movie start off that way?? I must have been out of the movies for a long time?

Anyway, slowly the story began to unfold. A cute young guy witnessed some bloody murder, and before he even know what is going on, he was tracked down by the mafia and the FBI. Soon, people were boarding THE plane, and mafia fella came with a brilliant idea to bring the whole plane down with some boxes of poisonous snakes.

The snakes started to wriggle their way around, attacking all the "sensitive" areas.. it was like all hell broke lose after awhile, National Geographic snakes enjoying their limelight in Hollywood style. Jeez... I won't like to be in a 4D cinema in that kind of movie. Makes my bulu roma stood up seeing all those reptiles. However, there were some scenes where it was so TOTALLY FAKE! Like how would a big long snake coiling out from a guy's mouth?? Come on... the snake should be EATING IT up, not venturing into its mouth and stomach to see what is in there??!! And the other scene where out of nowhere, there came this HUGE ANACONDA!!!! (Jaws dropped, head shaking, really couldn't believe it!)

Anyway, being a mom, I can't help feeling "kan cheong" to see little children in danger. There was a mom travelling with her baby, and there were 2 brothers, the elder looking over the younger one and they were travelling as minors. Miraculously, the baby wasn't hurt a bit though people were dying around him, and many snakes partying around. As for the 2 brothers, the "ko ko" protected his little brother from any harm, and gave him support and warmth, which made me feel "oh.. I wish my sons would have a bond like that..."

I don't know, I think I would feel very heartbroken going home if these kids were harmed in the movie. I think the director knew it's not going to look good if he makes us mothers cry all the way home from the cinema. And I now know I won't cry in other love stories anymore but cry ever so easily seeing little children safe and sound at the end of a movie.

As for the verdict, I won't say it's an A+ movie, but it has its thrills. As long as I can take a break from the routine, no children dying in the movie, the good triumphs over evil... I am a happy woman.

Side track a bit, on a different note..

We went for a course over the weekend, it's something to do with negotiating skills in "something" (we were sworn to absolute secrecy!). Anyway, now, something very unlikely happened in that event.

When the course began, the speaker wanted to "break the ice" and came out with his idea of a little "lucky draw". There were 20 of us in the audience, some of us just put some name cards in, while those without cards (like me!), just wrote our name on a little piece of paper and put that paper with those cards.

Now, both KT and I weren't ever so lucky in lucky draws. We put a few "tens" of entries for lucky draws when we were staying in Brunei, and never ONCE came out a winner of any of those prizes before. So, I wasn't anticipating our names to be called.

But hey, you probly can guess it now, yes, KT came out the first person drawn, both of us were like, "oh wow!". The 2nd fella was called, and hey, the 3rd lucky person was ME!!!

Well, to have one of us drawn, well, we considered, unlikely, but possibly. BUT.. to have both of us in that draw... how do you count the probability?? 1/20 times 1/18?? To me, it never EVER crosses my mind. So, I think both of us were VERY lucky that day...

Don't ask what the prize is.. that's not important. The important thing is THIS really happened! Nevertheless, I didn't go to buy 4d, or what-have, we went home, ate dinner, took the kids for a ride on the monorail to BTS and rewarded with Joshua's statement when we were going home, "Today is a happy day".

Family album I

We paid a BIG sum of money to take all these studio pictures. That was some years back in Taiwan before we packed our bags to leave the place for good.

Though there were only 16 pieces in the album, it were only a small fraction of the total shots we took. That day was quite tiring and stressing...spending 4 hours being the paying models. Little boy was equally stressed, he was quite a bit ok after taking a short nap in between.

I like to search for a deal to take family photos again though, now that we are more than just 3 of us. It is surely nice to look at the pictures back after several years, and proudly showing it off to anyone who cares (or doesn't care).

My hobby with Photoshop

I have a passion with editing pictures using different photoshop softwares. Last time when I have more time in my hands, I used to spend the time taking pictures of my children and editing them to give a different feel and look.

There was even a time I exchanged and shared ideas with a friend of mine who's equally enthusiastic about this hobby.

I started a project to do this for a friend I get to know in Brunei. The couple are pretty decent and nice to get along with, and her girls are absolutely pretty.

They were celebrating their 10th wedding anniversary, and I sent them a blueberry cheese cake for their special occasion. It was a great feeling doing something for people and knowing they had a pleasant surprise and enjoyed the cake.
(It's another 2 years now! Happy 12th anniversary, Carol and husband. I wanted to send another cake, but it's too far away....)

We often had parties, either at their home or some others. The most enjoyable I had was the little Mooncake festival party where we had korean styled BBQ dinner which was followed by playing with tanglungs and candles.

I was so engrossed into the editing work for her album to commemorate her anniversary and her MBa graduation that I worked until 2am on some days. Then, of course I would looked like a hag the next. Nevertheless, I enjoyed the fun of it tremendously.

Have a look at them... I personally liked the last few pieces. We went to Berakas Beach for a picnic to take some photo shoots and had a romantic family time by the sunset.

I'm back!

It's been 6 years exactly! Wonder what the effect is after 6 years training of changing diapers and cooking meals for the family is like. I'm now back! Leaving stress from home at work and handling stress of work by the comfort of the home. Confused what I am babbling about? Ask me!

Next stop @ Phuket

Though it was less than 6 hours of sleep that nite, I somehow, miraculously managed to wake up to catch the beautiful work of God on the sky just in time. I shook KT up, and he suggested to go up on the top deck to have a better view of the skyline with Phuket in view too.

Near the jetty area.


















A "tree" on the top deck.























The area was peacefully quiet and serene, it's like the whole place belonged to us, we could walk around in our pyjamas without washing up yet.











The ship has its own helipad.Isn't it so cool?



















Watching sunrise from the ship was fantastic. The Greatest show on earth.















































Apparently, I came to know that sometimes Virgo dock at the Patong beach, where cruisers walked on a long walkway to the beach itself to disembark. That would be so fun as Patong beach is famously known to tourists. Unfortunately for us, we dock at the jetty area, where going to Patong would take 2 hours or more to and fro by cab.


The star of the show "Kingdom of Kungfu" on our first nite was hanging around as well. So, we took the opportunity to take a picture with him. He told us he performed on board for about 4 months already and he came from Shaolin, China. I wondered if he was one of the "dropouts" from school and needed to give performances to make a living?? He gave a superb show anyhow.



We quickly went back to wash up, had our breakfast and eagerly await to see Phuket.



*Wolf whistling*.... That's one sexy pair of leggies, don't you agree?






















The taxi quotes were too pricey around the pier area. We were told that more taxis are available if we to walk out, say about 5-10 mins away. We took that advice, even though we need to walk under the hot sun. (Shows how far we can go in order to save some money!) Warm greetings awaiting us... it was pretty scary, in fact, everyone were talking to us in Thai, it was like being mugged.


KT found a guy who could speak "pass-able" English, and quoted us half the price of the taxi fare from where we started. The guy turned out to be quite a nice guy, and the car was a comfortable spacious 10-seater.










He took us to a "shooting" gallery. KT paid 890 Baht (that's RM89, bugger!) for 10 bullets. He made a pathetic 35% score.















Then, just nearby, there were elephants for sale. Not the elephants-la. Elephants ride, that is. And the fee was ridiculous. It would be silly to pay that much to experience the bumpy ride on the back of an baby jumbo under the scorching sun and worse, in that unbearable stench! We just took a look at the little jumbos and continue on with our Phuket-one-day tour. Forget about snake watch or cock fights, all the entrance fee were way too unreasonable. Or is it just us?



We then went to a temple. It was much too hot, and with the guide realising that too, he took us to "cool down" in a shopping mall, similar to Carrefour. Then, lunch was near a seaside and was "butchered" left and right by those bloody thirsty leeches! (spent about RM160 for just fried rice and noodles! The tom yum soup was great tho.)














After lunch, we then made another shopping tour at Robinsons, but there were nothing much to see or buy too. We had to leave Patong beach for the next round, as it was getting pretty late. The cruise guidelines clearly state that they wouldn't wait for late boarding cruisers. So, we went back "home", and made some last minute shopping right at the "doorsteps".



























































This is the market place that's right at the "doorsteps". I bought a scarf for a blardy 400 Baht, and a piece of beachwear plus a little frock for Chloe was 250 Baht. These blood suckers, they are not even interested to bargain with you, they prefer to entertain the angmohs lurking around.

When I was done and about to get back onboard, I couldn't find my ID card. This ID card is important, if I lose it, that would mean I am an illegal, and I can't get back up there. Panicked for some few mins or so, when I saw KT and his parents and my mil asked if it was in my pants pocket. I was relieved to find it there. Whew! The adrenalin was really pumping all over, and I had to take a few long breaths to cool down.

The cruise departed earlier than scheduled, probably everyone was back up again. We had to take a good rest, as it was exhaustive, mostly because of the heat, I think. The gala dinner was in a few hours time with code of attire "smart casual". Everyone is expected to "dress up" a bit, and there would be a cocktail party at the Grand Piazza to meet with the executive crew.


The meal was a grand 8-course dinner, portion was more than enough for us as the 3 little ones were counted as 3 adults. Everyone had about 3-4 bowls of shark fin soup.




Before dessert was served, we were entertained with some performance from the waiters and waitresses. It was planned to details showing their appreciation for us being there. Not sure how they felt inside though. Just imagine if you were them, your job doens't only cover waiting on patrons, but dancing happily and monkeying around to entertain them as well... tough, isn't it?
I think it's just a matter of getting used to, huh?





Then, we met and took picture with the captain and had a look at the executives of the crew.

Later on, we watched another performance by the same people from the first nite, I think. It was pretty late, as they arranged the time so we won't have to rush over the dinner. But bad news was, Chloe got pretty uptight with the lack of rest she had the whole day, and I had to missed the highlight of the show. Heard it was a good show with acrobats balancing on some teeny weeny string... something to that effect. Anywya, I missed it as I took Adrian and Chloe back to the room, and they went to slumber almost immediately.

Later in the nite, the 3 of us excitedly left the kids in their grandparent's care, for another "highlight" of the whole cruise. It's the "FEVER Las vegas styled topless revue". Yes, not a typo error there, it's TOPLESS, ok?

I haven't seen a topless show before, and it was so cheap.. only SGD20 per boobs, err.. person. It starts at 12 midnite, and wanted to make value for money, we went at 11+ to make sure we get good seats with a nice and clear view.

The people earlier than us probably thought the same, I think, and they were 95% men! Both of us (female) felt rather weird coming in from teh doorway, and so, we quickly took a seat. We sat on the 3rd row, where the first 2 were almost preoccupied with these ham-sup-lo. When KT went out for a while, I felt very uncomfortable, it was the feeling of being surrounded by these men all over. I suggested to Jm to move a seat back, and she quickly agreed. It was much better then.

What a long wait, but we had our own entertainment meanwhile. Being early has its advantage, at least, we don't get judged when we enter the hall. So, WE look at the people coming in, and talk about why they were here etc etc. Quite a nice watch.

The show finally began. Juicy. But what the heck do you know.. I almost fell asleep because I was wayyyy too tired. Then again, I didn't let myself down, I did watch until the end, and enjoyed the glory of it. Boobs are really beautiful, aren't they? Ok lah, the dancers danced beautifully too, with their happy smiles slapped all over their faces. There was some parts of the whole show I particularly liked. Too bad they don't allow cameras, it would surely attract viewers here.



The next day was a leisurely day, we took our own sweet time getting out of the bed, having american breakfast by the seaview window (with just both JM and I), lazed around, walked around, until we reached back to where we started out.




Very punctual. We arrived at 7pm, disembarked at 7.30 sharp. Bye bye, my dear, it's nice cruising on you. We'll be back!

Docking at Penang shore.

Early next morning, by the time I opened my eyes, the sun was shining brightly thru the drapes(dammit! I missed the sunrise!). If you asked me, I would say I won't mind sleeping in till afternoon, the ship was rocking lullabies, ok? It was completely sensational, no wonder babies liked their parents to carry and rock them to sleep. Well, of course, the ship doesn't look like a big rocking cradle. I don't feel it moving most of the time actually, unless I see the view outside the window. But lying down on bed, you couldn't miss that slight little swaying left to right, right to left...... zzzzz.....

OK, so we dragged ourselves up, quickly ran to make it for breakfast before they close shop, and ran to the other restaurant for another round of breakfast before they close too.. imagine! Then, we regretted for eating too much and tried to burn off that extra food away by walking around. Walking around only la, it would seemed entirely out of place if you jog or run around the area, everyone is supposed to releks here, right?

So, we snapped some pics..

Mommy and daughter, cool pic, hoh? I like.


The Aft part of the ship (i.e the BACK) where the mini wet theme park lies.


So many lazy chairs for everyone.



We wanted to have a cup of tea while enjoying the breezy air, but how to do that with these running kids around?



I know, these giant chess is such an eye-sore, it's just too "norm" already. Promise I won't put in anymore of these kind later on.



There's this little area meant to be a little playground. But it's so pathetically "unexciting", the kids didn't hang around like they used to in "normal" playground.



They liked this place better. Somehow, they think they are controlling the game even it's in demo mode. Well, kids happy, we happy.



This is the western style restaurant. The menu for dinner looks yummy, we would be there for it tonite.


About noontime, we went back to our room, and coming close to Penang.



This the balcony I had been talking about. Really a room with a view. Nice.

Chatted with our neighbour who came from Perth (if I recall correctly), as we were moving closer to Penang. As usual, we were ever ready to introduce and promote the interesting places of Penang when we talk to some foreigners/ tourists.


Soon, we had our lunch, went to the disembarking point to go to Penang itself, and took this little boat across. It looks like a refugee boat from inside. And the ship looks so almighty big and grand as we move away from it. I hate to leave the ship, actually, Chloe was shutting her eyes away already and it was scorching hot. With the taxi fare charging the fee which is enough for us to drive from Ipoh to Penang and back, half of us took a U-turn and got back on the ship, the other half went to hunt for chendol and assam laksa. It was such a relief getting back onboard, it felt like returning to paradise.

Almost the rest of the whole afternoon was spent lazing around in the balcony room. They came back with mouth watering cool chendol and delicious laksa. Some of them went to take the afternoon tea while I don't know what else the rest did, I just sat in my room, gazing into the sky for nothing. Well, I wasn't bored, I just felt relaxed.

We then went to dip in the pool again. I somehow managed to get away for awhile and went to the Parthenon Pool (for adults). It really feel kinda weird swimming in there. 2 more people inside the pool, and I would feel like an invasion had just taken place. Quickly swam a few laps consoling myself that yes, I'm a bit skinnier now, I hurried back to the Wet and Wild.

Dinner was, as agreed, western but what a mistake it was. Heard the BBQ dinner at the pool area was much a better choice. The children weren't too patient about appetizers, main dishes and desserts served in big lapse of time, so it practically spoilt the fine dining atmosphere in there. Take note, everyone. Don't repeat this mistake! Go for the BBQ, heard it's damn good.



We went for another performance after dinner. It was a show performed by the crew themselves. We could see the difference immediately, but nevertheless enjoyed watching, especially the "4 divas" where 4 men dressed up in sexy, skimpy clothes and danced like christina aquilera and the like. They provided the laughs.

It was time for bedtime, and JM offered to look after Chloe for us if we wanted to go "out". How NOT to love her liddat? *kiss*, this for you, JM.

So, we went for a few hours of pak-tor. Lost 50 bucks in the casino in just a matter of seconds, no wonder they called it "rapid roulette". Then, we walked around the ship and promenade, exploring some "quiet" areas... (tsk tsk). It was midnite when we were dead tired, suddenly remembering a scene from "Titanic" where Jack and Rose found a car to hide.. now, where is that, sure it will be around here somewhere..

Argh!! Forget it. Might as well go for another round of FOOD, it was supper time. By now, I was honestly trembling hearing that word. But what to do, hubby wants to gobble down what he can after paying so much for the holiday, and I have to be a supportive wife la! Aiseh! Now I have to worry how to cut the excessive fat away, which is on top of the existent excessive fat..sigh!

I really couldn't take it anymore. My eyes can't open up, we quickly hurried back to our room before we knocked out embarassingly there and then. But it was such a lovely nite, we continued our "pak-tor" session for some extra time in the balcony room before we went to sleep. Like to know what we did? *smiling cheekily*