Nostalgic

While many were following You from another star and going ga-ga over it (my mummy included as she just jumped on the bandwagon), I didn't managed to watched pass episode 3.

There was no particular reason but I just don't find it interesting enough to keep on watching. Funny as it is but it is just not appealing enough to me. Perhaps I will go back to it after I finished what I was watching.

I am currently following Emergency Man and Woman by TVN diligently. Initially due to running man only female cast - Song Ji Hyo acting in it but found the story to be attractive enough for me to follow through.

Then while channel surfing 1 day, I chanced upon another show by TVN- Answer me 1994. This story is based on 6 20 year old students from other provinces in South Korea pursuing their college education in Seoul and staying in a boarding house.

Watched the 1st few episodes only but it sure catches my attention. Though I don't really follow the cultures/ styles of  1994 South Korea but there are some similarities between South Korea and Singapore during middle to late 90s. Pagers, Sega games, cassette & video tapes, queuing up to use public payphones using coins/ phone cards, big ass monitors, DOS not windows. It sure stirs up the nostalgic feelings.

I love how the friendships are portrayed in this is show reminding me the close friends I made during my poly days. I like how the characters acted so naturally and is not typical South Korea melodrama where usually it is more focused on the lead actor and actress love line. Though there is also a love line in this series but the story line is about 1st love of the 20 year old which also reminds me of my love life during my 20s.

I don't know all of the actors/ actresses cast in this show, only can recognized the shorter girl who appeared in Running Man once and also Na PD(who had a cameo) because I watched Grandpa over flowers. Haha.

Most of all I like how it brings us back to the days where life are much simpler.

Suddenly I realized that TVN produces better shows than the other 3 broadcasters since I am watching their 2 TV Serials and 1 variety show -Grandpa over flowers in Spain. Hehe. But then again, it maybe me only.  

20yrs with Baby G

I don't remember when the craze started but by the time I was primary 6, Baby G was the most "In" watch of the year. It was very expensive too, costing around 120bucks? Our standard casio watch back then is only 20-30bucks.

I was pestering mummy for the longest time to buy me one back then and she wouldn't budge no matter how much I begged her.

Then PSLE results came out and she decided to buy 1 for me since I had attained what she expected. Its was the most expensive watch I ever had at 120bucks. It's purple with a velco strap and quite big in size. I remember wearing it to sleep for the 1st week mummy brought for me.

Used it faithfully for 4 years through my secondary years and mummy periodically washed the strap for me. Forgot what watch I had during poly days but certainly not this as I remember keeping it in my drawer. Mummy later threw it away as it was not working and was looking old (so sad).

Casio then came out with a 10years limited edition Baby G in 2004 which has a square design instead of the normal circular watch face. They had a range of colours and I was in love with every colour. Hubs was in the army that year and was drawing a higher pay than usual army guys cause of his vocation. He offered to buy 1 for me and I chose the blue version after many days of consideration.

The limited 10th year edition

I wore it again for a few years till the strap gave way and couldn't find a suitable replacement. Only managed to buy a plain white 1 which does not look as nice as the original. Switched to wearing watches with metal strap after stepping into workforce which is more suitable for OL look and kept the Baby G in my drawer again.

Saw a new design the other day while walking past a Casio shop and fell in love with it. At 1st I thought it was the 20th year anniversary edition and found out it wasn't during payment. Nevertheless, will treat it as 1 as this year, Baby G is celebrating its 20th year anniversary. Hehe

I wanted the pink 1 but hubs convinced me that the white 1 with a pink face looks nicer and there, brought a watch for myself for my 30th birthday.

Happy 20th year anniversary Baby G, though I switched to wearing other brands in between but will always have a attachment toward you since it's the 1st watch mummy brought to reward me. Anticipating your 30th anniversary designs :)

My new watch:)

Rain is back

Long before Hallyu wave hit Singapore shores in 2005(or did it hit but I dunno? ) I heard this song over radio named " I do, I do" by Rain (The Korean singer). Decided that I liked his vocals well enough to go buy his CD because of this song.

Totally dunno what the song is about but it has a chirpy, romantic feel to it and for some reason I like the song a lot, even till now.

Then he fell of my radar after a while because there wasn't much emphasis put on Kpop at that time. Haha

While watching latest running man episode, I realized he had made a comeback.

With the help of YouTube and a Chinese mp3 website,  I chanced about his latest ballad- Marilyn Monroe. Love his husky vocals belting out ballads though I think he still excel in his dance hits (if you watched the videos).  Welcome back Rain, it's nice to hear your songs again after so many years, reminds me of the times when I played back your CD again and again years ago. Haha

On a side note, rain is also back in Singapore. The scenery around us changed from autumn to spring. Everything turns from yellow to green. Yeah. Spring is here :)

R.I.P MH370

Nearly 3 wks after MH370 disappeared from the radar, how many of us are still following the news closely?

Except for the families, I guessed most of us would have moved on with our daily lives.  Even I am guilty of that, though I am still following the news daily but sometimes I will be too caught up in my things to read the updates.

Watching the news last night, it was finally said that MH 370 had thought to end at South Indian Ocean dashing all hopes of the family members waiting anxiously for the returns of their love ones.

Though no bodies were found as yet and details of what is found are stretchy, but I'm sure the authorities will have certain confirmed information to support their statement. Else it would be stabbing the heart of the families twice at the same place.

It was a deadly blow to the family members who are holding on hope that their love ones survived but are just waiting to be rescued. I cannot imagine the pain that went through them when the news broke.

What I also cannot imagine are the last moments of the people on board MH370, whether they are conscious or not. No one will know how they would die but this is certainly 1 of the most painful way,  physically and emotionally. They don't even have time to bid goodbye to their love ones.

I knew the pain of saying goodbye. It's so painful that you will be numb for the next few days and it still stings whenever you recall the parting. Not having a proper parting makes the pain multiplied by dunno how many thousand times since in your heart, you might not registered the fact that this is it, the end.

As we await more updates from the news, I sincerely pray that all the lives lost on board are on their way to a better place and they did not have to suffer much during their last moments. This is the only thing we as side watchers can pray for. Hopefully the recovery of the plane will be smooth and will shed more light on this mystery and bring a closure to their family members.

My thoughts and prayers are with families and may the victims find peace. R.I.P MH370.

Birthday trip to KSL& Legoland- KSL Hotel & Mall

 We arrived at KSL hotel at around 7pm, went to get our luggage from our car and proceed to check in. Checking in was relatively easy since I had booked online and only need to provide 1 passport for them to verify.

Counter staff was polite and nice and the best thing is we get free wifi haha. This is essential for most Singaporeans youngsters I think. I requested for rooms to be on the same level during check in but since there is a high occupancy rate and we checked in late, they couldn't promise anything except for telling me they will try their very best.

 Since the difference is about MYR 30, I booked the deluxe room over superior room hoping for a more comfortable stay. They were unable to locate a double and twin room on the same floor and we settled for 2 twin room which comes with a queen and single bed. Not a problem since we can still squeeze into the queen bed though a king would be much better.

Shower

 What was disappointing for Mr Love is he is expecting a bathtub in the pricer deluxe room but there isn't 1. Nothing we can do.

I think the deluxe rooms are located at the upper level while superior rooms at the lower level. We were given rooms on the 25th floor which overlook the whole Johor Bahru city.

The houses here are single storey, there isn't much of an issue even your room is on the lower floor, you still get to see the whole city.

Full of houses

 We settled in quickly and proceed to find dinner. Decided to go for Seoul garden in the mall. Had wanted to try the hotel buffet dinner @ MYR 60/pax but the food doesn't look appealing to Piggy bro after he went in to walk 1 round and we sticked to our original idea.

Given our conversion rate, food here is much cheaper as compared to home. Total bill for 3 buffet dinner at Seoul Garden set us back by MYR140 which bro picks up the tab since it my birthday. Yeah:)

We wolfed down the food greedily as it was 8pm by the time we started eating. Piggy bro went for a haircut after dinner while Mr Love and I took a walk around the mall after the super fillinf dinner.

All retreat back to our rooms by 9pm and we couldn't get our ass up to go down for the 10.50pm movie we initially wanted to catch.

We can see part of Singapore from our room

 Breakfast the next day was with the hotel which costs MYR41/pax. It was expensive alright but initially we were bringing mummy along, I don't want to risk having no breakfast for her as it would make her cranky.

End up she didnt come with us due to passing away of her god-pa.

Breakfast voucher

 Told bro that we would sleep till at least 9am the next day and he can go ahead with breakie if he wakes up earlier.

Smoked beef and hashbrowns

 But he whatsapp me at 8.30am telling me to hurry up since the restaurant is crowded and we wouldn't get a seat that fast if he leaves. So we washed up and rushed down to find him sitting there guarding our table with a boring look. Haha Thank god for him, else I think we will need queue for at leats half an hour to get in.

Omelettes

 The food served here cannot be considered as international spread. Instead, it has more to a Malaysia flavour. Was lucky that we have similar cuisines and we tucked in happily.

Pratas

 Piggy bro was not impressed with the buffet breakfast and excused himself a while later. I think he would prefer the coffee shops outside haha. But I didn't know there are coffeeshops around the hotel. Now that I knew, I would not pay for their buffet breakie if I ever stay here again.

Cereals

 Unlike piggy bro, Mr Love and I tried nearly everything they have to offer here till we are full. Why waste our 41 bucks? It was actually not worth for the price we paid but at least we knew already.

Porridge

 We decided to laze in the room till check out time at 12noon. Its a gloomy morning and I am glad for the sun yesterday since we can still get to try all the rides. If it is raining, we would have wasted the trip.

I saw this amazing phenomenon of the rain slowly moving towards our direction. The area far out is raining already but our area is still dry. Then as the clouds moved, the rain starts to approach slowly till it started to rain outside. How cool is that?

Can see the rain approaching?

 We went to checked out at 11.30am after a nap since we didn't want to be caught in the queue.

Went for lunch at KSL mall before going home.

Corn shaved ice

Bubble tea

There are lots of nails saloon and hair saloon here though the prices varies from shop to shop. I was tempted to try but the guys did not have the patience to wait for me. Hehe

It was overall an enjoyable trip, having to finally visit Legoland. Was talking about visiting ever since it open. But I am glad we did it only now since my colleague and younger bro told us that it was super crowded when they visited during the initial opening stage. Also. some of the attractions are opened at a later date so they didn't get to try some of the rides we took.

I reckon that we will not be visiting Legoland anytime soon but perhaps we would can have another short stay at KSL in near future if we wanna get a break from Singapore.

Birthday trip to KSL& Legoland - Legoland (4D show, Legoland Hotel)

 Last attraction for the day will be watching a 4D show @ Lego Studio. We were lucky that the timing we were there coincide with the next timing at 4.15pm and was the 1st 1 in queue.

Planned to rest for the day after this show and wait for our bus to pick us up back to hotel.

The act cool piggy

 I was exhausted by the time we went into the theater and fell asleep with the cooling aircon blowing. Haha. And so I missed the 1st 10mins of the show as I struggled to open my eyes in between the show.

Turning red

 Truth to be told, the 4D effect here is not as good as our version Universal studios Singapore. My seats didn't even move when the characters are running up and down. The only effects are water sprinkling which is pretty common in every 4D show, some laser lights and foam which is is to simulate rain or snow I think. Not every impressed with the show but I welcome the rest time.

 We came across Dunlop playground and went around taking more pictures as we explored the last part of the park that we had not seen. Then we slowly walk to the entrance where piggy bro wanted to check out the hotel which we are not gonna stay in.

I was secretly hoping that they would have a cafe there as I am hungry at this point. But to my disappointment they didn't.

Giraffe in front of a family restaurant

Baby giraffe

Dino

Musical fountain

It looks like our bird park here

 And we proceed to check out Legoland hotel after we exit from the park. It just right beside it.
Though I would love to see their rooms but I didn't book here for the night. For it is more expensive as compared to KSL and it's pretty out of the way with no shopping except for the 2 rows of shops beside it.

While I am not planning to shop here in JB but it wouldn't kill to have some shopping choices before we rest for the night. Since KSL hotel is linked to the mall beside it which boasts a cinema it would definitely be a better choice. Besides, it is easier to drive to KSL from Singapore as compared to Legoland which is further and I am not familiar with the roads in Johor.

Nevertheless, we took the lift from LG to 2nd level where the main lobby is. There is this play area where there are Lego bricks made of plastic that kdis can play with while waiting to check in or after check out.
 

The air con here is powerful and we decided to park ourselves here till it is nearly time to board our bus. Did a bit of exploring but not much since non-guests are off limits to many area of the hotel.

Mr Love is so happy to find a balloon sword

Piggy bro built it out of boredom

We walked out to the bus stop slowly at 5.45pm when the sun is setting. Its a long walk out. At the bus stop, there are buses from WTS waiting to pick up the day tour visitors back to Singapore. Few taxis are there if you have no transport but I reckon the price would be sky high.

There is virtually no way of getting here if you do not have a car. I guess the next best choice is to book a transport like us. Singapore has quite a few tour agencies/ bus companies that provide to&fro bus services there at certain timings.

But I think our arrangement is not bad either since we plan to go stuff ourselves silly later at a buffet after a long day here.

Birthday trip to KSL& Legoland - Legoland (Legoland Express,Project X, The Dragon, Observation tower)

 We went onboard Lego Express after lunch where the train would bring us around the park. I think there are some introductions along the way but since we sat at the last carriage, it was pretty impossible to hear what the driver was saying.

So we were in our own world taking pictures along the way.

Waiting to move off

After the train ride since we are still full from lunch, we decided to just walk around. Don't wanna risk puking out lunch over the rides. Came to the gift shop and went in for the air con. Hehe. Piggy bro was telling us that the price of the Lego sets are are more expensive than back home inspite of our favourable exchange rate (2.59).
 

Mr Lego security guard of Maybank

 Piggy bro and Mr Love spent quite some time here reminiscing about their younger days while playing with Lego. It turns out that Mr Love and his bro had a much bigger and impressive collection than my 2 brothers. Haha.

Found a Lego man that looks just like my bro

And we came to this ride that we saw earlier and was interested to try it out. Seems exciting on a 4 man car on a 18m high steep switchback track.

Piggy bro say he is not interested and offer to take our bags while we go on the ride. I doubt he managed to snap any photos of us on the ride as I found him standing quite a distance away after our ride.

On the display car outside the ride

The operator of the ride I assumed?

 This is a more exciting ride den the water slide as it has pretty sharp turns in between. The guy who sat in front of us was trying his best not to scream as I can shouted my lungs out during the ride. Haha A good way to relieve my stress. I think I am not that scared afterall but find it fun to shout during the ride.

The most scary part of the whole ride is at 1 point the car plunges down from a height. The twists and turns after that were mostly managable.

Octopus

Wall E

We mistakenly went to The Dragon's Apprentice where the roller coaster ride is for the younger kids. Went on it and was shocked that it would went 2 rounds around the track and came to a stop. Haha Then we realised the higher tracks were on the other side.

 The more exciting ride is called "The Dragon" where the ride is longer, steeper, faster and of course faster. Again, it is managable and if compared to Project X, this ride is milder in my opinion. Piggy bro gave this ride a miss too and instead opt to take our bags and stayed in a shade to wait for us.

I was begining to suspect that he is scared of these rides as the only exciting ride he went on for the day is the water slide. Then again, he might be not interested also. As long as he did not stop me from going, I am actually not going to probe further.

The Dragon ride

We went into the Imagination section and came face to face with Kids power tower where we see kids and adults sitting on the seats and pulling themselves up in a pulley system. Encouraged piggy bro to go try out his strength but he just walked away without answering me.

Kids power tower

 The last ride we took for the day is Observation Tower which will enable us to have a bird eyes' view of whole of Legoland.

To make things sweeter, there is an aircon on every other seats. A god sent in this weather. Since we were 1st in the queue, we were able to choose the seats where the air con is directly behind us.

See the aircon behind us?

We are turning tanned by then

Up up and away!

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Legoland hotel spotted far away

The power tower seems small up here

Before we went to the observation tower, we were told that there will be a 4D show at 4.15pm and thus the timing is just ride after we exit from the observation tower. It is the last attraction of the day before we end our day trip here.