The Batam Siao-March

I went to Batam, with the people from the bygone days of NYJC Community Service Club 2002, and their friends. We grew up, decided not to do much community service anymore and therefore hauled ass for Batam, not to build schools, but to relax and throw money. Now rupiah is so small that me and liang can afford to say things like, "a few hundreds change? nevermind, keep it". We won't do that anywhere else (unless i strike Toto). Anyway just like the HK trip 2 years back, this Batam affair of ours is full of anecdotes it can qualify as a full-blown (lousy) novel when written down.

Anyway to intro the old time folks who went Batam together.

There's the random Wei, champion shopper, ntuc auntie, etc. Currently into Japanese. Turning into a Jappy Babe.


Then this is Mi Xiao (michelle). I did not come up with this nickname (wei and lz did) cos it really sounds too wrong. I prefer to come up with things classier, wittier and far less explicit. But not bad la, the ongoing joke is that she is really from batam. Her checkered shirt is the same pattern as the curtains in our room.


Then there is Frag (Fen Fang?). Anyways she really looks the part of the bodyguard, you know? the one in The Man With the Golden Gun. Don't mess with her. She'll frag you.


The same. Me and Liang. With a few hundred thousands changing hands between us. CASH.


Few more pics that do us more justice.


The Imigrasi (immigration) place at Batam


The Lobby of our place, Harris Resort. The folks there serve free bandung.


We went crazy (ok only the girls went crazy) at the first shopping place, which is a little bit like Plaza Singapura over here. While the girls went crazy over clothes, lingerie and other stuff, me and liang went on to chillax like rich people do, at their local TCC clone...


Two nice TCCish coffees, a fried anything platter and a dessert cost around 10 sing each for us. Really a bargain. When we were choosing a regular dessert, i think the manager thought us to be extremely adventurous folks, or that he had a twisted sense of humour. He recommended to us this "FERMENTED CASSAVA DESSERT WITH CHEESE AND CHOCOLATE". Sounds very dangerous but we tried it anyway. Not too bad. It tasted a lil weird, but overall is quite nice. See pic below.

And after chilling out at TCC clone for an hour or so, the girls decided that NTUC is not a good bargain at all. Some batam hypermart is even better.

And so they shopped for one year's worth of skin products there. Wei, you became a traitor to NTUC. And oh a nice shot of the adverts they have there... "Rider: The Power of Underwear". Damn power i think. So big.

Dinner was takeaway at A&W. The coolest thing is that the cabby who brought us shopping waited for us for like 4-5hours? And a two-way ride costs 30 sing per group. Not too bad.





Random shots at the resort






Indonesians have a weird sense of humour... Step into what that is so fun?



The shopping is great at the PS clone and Nagoya Hills. The girls did their hair there too while me and liang went to buy some tees, and then went for coffee again for the lack of something better to do.

One of the highlights of the trip is the KTV experience. Now ktving at harris takes a lot of skill. it is dirt cheap, 4sing per person per hour, but nothing beats the quality of the MTVs. The music is in Midi format (so retro!) and the mtv is better than those Kbox stuff (english songs) starring those random ang moh babes strolling around chinatown or beaches. Their mtvs don't have any people, just mountains and the Han River. Sometimes they even tweak the lyrics. i attempted a commie version of 十五的月亮. It is really very funny.

So there you go, the batam trip. Something worth remembering...

Happy NY and A Merry Steamboat

Happy New Year to everyone who is reading this. I just realised this is the 201st blogpost, and also the first post of year 2009. Muted Mental Musings has indeed gone very far from being a space to vent my frustration and thoughts after that relationship fiasco, to a somewhat random and totally "me" space (ok see, you don't really get what i mean, this is what i mean by so me).

Anyway, thanks all for all the birthday wellwishes, Xmas greetings and New Year greetings.

In the other news, recently we had a uni people gathering at my place, with the standard zonky pictures and the standard zonky conversations.

This is justina's potluck contribution: the fusion-ed old people braised chicken wing with chardonnay (cos we ran out of hua diao jiu). It is really very tasty.


Liangyi's face shows the sheer gastronomical delight of the wings



Social workers ask the weirdest questions. So says LY in a serious tone, "do muslims like to hug dog soft toys?" (something like that)


Yea, WTH look, with fall on the floor for effect


The first bunch to make it to my abode:


The late one:
Andy Lau

Chris illustrating the intricacies of spaceship dogfighting at warp speed, followed by evasion techniques using the Chris Theorem to hypervelocise in order to escape the nominal physical rules our universe is bound in, so as to achieve happiness, prosperity and progress for our nation. (i have no idea what the cheem gesture is really about. Probably something lame).


KJ we really did save a seat for you. And left a space in the picture for you too. In spirit you are present.


The problem with corks. They don't come out of holes easily.


The epitomy of high-born aristocratic Englishness: Drinking wine in tea cups with the pinkie sticking out.






The maid:

The turnout was not bad eh? Except for eileen (too lazy? or cos of Chris?) adel (fell sick), ame (ran away with her nan ren), and hl (forgot), almost all the "red" Ruffles sorta turned up.

Happy New Year again people.

海角七号!!!

If you haven't watched this film it's ok. Since it's ending its run go find the DVD!

Ok it's not the best movie ever, nor is it the funniest. But it has a nice mix of what is nice in a taiwanese film-- real people, nice landscapes, funny and idiosyncratic hokkien and chinese jokes, romance and of course, meaningful pop songs. Won 12 awards to date including 6 Golden Horse Awards. It's the second highest grossing film in Taiwan's history (behind Titanic) and the top grossing local film in Taiwan (yes, surpassed Secret).

*Spoiler Alert*

Set in Hengchun, arguably one of the more picturesque beach sides of Taiwan, the story revolves the romance of an ex-band member Aga and his Japanese corporate handler Tomoko, and their attempts to create from scratch a local band for a Japanese singer's promotional gig. What runs under the conventional plot (yea as all taiwanese movies like Secret) is a near-mystical and historical connection between a pair of star-crossed lovers 60 years ago and the Aga-Tomoko pair. A stack of 7 love letters, written by a Japanese man to his Hengchun lover and delivered 60 years too late, brings together the 2 couples and inspires the band guy to compose the hit song 海角七号, title being the address on the stack of letters.

The cinematography is ok, and the 3D effects are a little wanting. However what rocks is the film's portrayal of small town eccentricities. It showcases the heartwarming idiosyncracies of small-town folks, underscoring the "realness" and "closeness" of the film to the people who watch it. Yea one needs a strong sense of Hokkien and a basic understanding of Taiwan to grasp some of the jokes... The horny car repairman, the angsty ex-bandmember, the despondent policeman, the irritating salesman (Malasun!), the quirky kid and even the cute old folks, these are all the characters I feel the film pays particular attention to. And the rock concert scene at the end really is the first of its kind in movie history: old man, tweenie girl and other random people cobbled into a band, with exotic instruments... the songs are quite meaningful.

I've put three songs below



A rock song, in the style of Mayday or FIR.



Slow ballad



Sad folk song

My (half-taiwanese) friend Fishie recommended the movie to me. It's a small quirky film someone who loves Chinese stuff (but not slapstick comedy) will really appreciate and love.

Post-exams and related Birthday Nonsense

OK a very big thank you to all those who plonked in money for the presents, or sent really heartfelt well-wishes, some halfway around the world, to me. Old liao. But the good thing about being old and still having birthday well-wishes and presents is that since all of us are friends this long, we will go on and on... (like celine dion).

Well special mention to audrey for the fantastic B&J cake (it was the birthday cake for three guys by the way) and company for Cape No. 7 (taiwanese movies rock ok). Thanks to celia, jiawei and the rest of the primary school gang for the gathering at our same old place (everytime!) and your slippers (even if it's taboo to give people shoes for birthday presents, i take it to mean that I'll never walk alone, with you guys around...). And special mention to the people i went Cameron with... you girls (only guy is me) rock. They gave me a t-shirt (dailou's), a card and a expresso pot for presents. ahahha!

Some visuals, ripped from Kai's and Mag's blogs and Facebook.

Some indon restaurant at Paragon: me, kai, dr n dailou





This following weird woman is really magan, at acid bar


Ok and then for the BENEFIT of chris, this ain't lizard penis pics, it's big ass elephant penis pics of Cameron


And even before Cameron... Gathering with the Work and Travel People working in Skyride Refreshments and Dragon's Inn...

long, jas, mag, yiru, wenting and bingchu (jackie)

There, onwards to Batam, kelong and Istanbul!
Oh hope everyone's results are okay...