Our trip via Tiger Airways was fairly uneventful, and only took less than 2 hours total flight time. Coupled with pre-arranged transportation from the airport to the resort, we got to where we wanted pretty quickly.

My lovely travelling companion

If you ever travel to Krabi, I highly recommend that you stay in Railay - as long as you don’t plan to do much shopping. Railay is completely surrounded by tall cliffs and is only accessible by boat, giving it a much more secluded and private feel compared to the other resorts in the main town and Ao Nang beach.

Our cozy little 'Privacy Cottage' - with its own outdoor garden, deck chairs and jacuzzi!

Where we were staying, surrounded by imposing cliffs perfect for rock climbing enthusiasts...

As we still had the evening to ourselves after checking in, so we decided to go for a quick seaside swim and watch the romantic sun set at Railay itself (the bay faces West).

Catching the gorgeous sunset at Railay on our first day there

Some little buddies wanted to tag along too!

Our dinner consisted of some mediocre Thai fare (Spicy chicken with basil, Green curry soup) at a neighbouring resort restaurant. We also booked seats for our next day’s agenda – a snorkeling and island hopping expedition to Koh Phi Phi to the south!

Leaving Railay for our full day trip to Phi Phi islands - 45 km and 45 minutes away by speedboat..

The bad sunburn experience from Mt. Apo has shown me just how important sunblock is!

Our first stop at Phi Phi Leh was the famous Maya Bay itself. Accessibly only by boat between November and April due to the shallow waters, this was where Danny Boyle shot his adaptation of Alex Garland’s ‘The Beach’. Simply beautiful – you could just wade out into the crystal clear waters and swim with the large colorful fishes. Now if only there weren’t so many people…

Phi Phi Leh's Maya Bay - Every bit as perfect as I imagined..

Panoramic Shot of Maya Bay - click to enlarge!

Was hoping to find a lost settlement of friendly natives, but this idyllic path leads only to the toilet...

Fine white powdery goodness! Guide said the sand here was amongst the Top 10 in the world. I thought that was a bit far-fetched, but it's still pretty damn nice.

Our boat then took us to another nearby bay for some snorkeling. Highlight was catching a view of a long silver sea snake!

Crystal clear waters at Lohsamah Bay

Gross stuff! The slimy thing actually turns hard when it wants too, and squeezing it a little makes it squirt water! We actually eat these things?

A huge deep cave at sea level, named after ancient paintings of boats found in it. Now accessed by a private company who pays royalties to the Thai government to harvest swallow birds nests from within.

A short 10 minute stop at Monkey Beach..

Big monkey doing what he does best - annoying the female monkeys..

And off to a nearby wide expanse of sea where we snorkeled some more..

Open sea snorkelling at Hin Klarng, a large coral reef formation.

Our guide actually dived down to bring one of these guys up! Looking at them up close, I never knew they had small little legs that allowed them to slowly crawl over the sea bed..

And our final stop at Bamboo Island.

It's amazing that you get to see hordes of colorful fishes right by the beachside..

Back at our resort with 2 more hours of sunlight remaining, we decided to explore Railay a bit more (and by exploring, I usually mean monkeying and climbing all over the place)

Poser Taken along the myriad cavelike formations on the cliff side as we were walking to Phranang beach from Railay

My pants nearly came off while doing this. but nice shot thanks to April! Wading around a shallow cove with overhanging stalactites and rocky caves = adventurous fun!

Right at the base of Phranang cave, was a colourful shrine dedicated to some phallic deity - strange awkward silence as we paid reverence to penile sculptures..

I did some additional research, and it seems that this ‘phallic deity’ was actually in fact the Hindu god Shiva. The penile sculptures (aka lingams) symbolize virility, fertility and good health and are left there by fishermen as sacred offerings. The cave itself has legends regarding a Princess Goddess that is said to reside there. As to how this princess legend and Shiva came to merge – hmmm..

The gorgeous Phranang Beach, just a short walk south of where we were staying.

Ok, we couldn't help it. Not everything is beautiful here..

Our 2nd sunset at Railay, and this time April just couldn't resist..

April wanted to buy me dinner, and she chose the poshest place on the block – the 5 star Rayavadee resort’s private restaurant – Raya Dining. Everything was exquisitely prepared – even the rich ice cream sorbet dessert had a fine flake of caramelized brown sugar, a dark chocolate stick, and a butter shortbread sprinkled with cinnamon powder… Talk about some nice fine dining by the sea!

Delicious fresh buns and sesame crackers. Huge chunk of a Thai gulf white snapper. Sauteed wild mushrooms in garlic and parsley. Seared duck breast and leg confit.

And thus our 2nd night comes to a close. Sucks that we will be heading back to work and the hustle and bustle of city life the next day. At times like these, I seriously contemplate just running away and eking out a carefree life as a bartender by a beach…

Note : All the above gorgeous photos are taken with April’s trusty Lumix (the panoramic view of Maya Bay was expertly stitched by April too). My supposedly waterproof and shockproof camera decided to finally fail on me during this trip, and I have as yet been unable to salvage the photos in it (they are on a silly non standard Olympus XDCard format).

FoOie, Andrea and NicT!

Alex and Fooie!

Faizah, Fooie and Jocelyn

The opening act by Prima Donna was kinda mediocre with lots of guitar grinding tracks that didn’t sound very inspired. Kudos for their effort though, and the whole saxophone with rock thing going on.. We were all just biding our time, waiting for the legendary Green Day to come on stage.

Let the show begin!

Green Day rarely performs outside of the US, and their ‘first time ever’ coming to Singapore was a big thing for the fans in the region. There were plenty of hardcore Malaysian and Indonesian rockers in the crowd who attempted to turn the free standing zone into literal mosh pits. I nicely elbowed one guy who just kept slamming his body against me trying to get to the front, then overheard him tell his friend “aduh, kena elbow lar!”..

Regardless of the assholes the energy was insanely high and infectious, and Billy Joe Armstrong really knew how to work the crowd. We were kept constantly cheering, shouting, waving and singing along to everything.

They opened their act with songs directly from their latest album 21st Century Breakdown, and from there progressively went back through time with their biggest hits from their older albums.

Following that, they played songs from their American Idiot album before moving to their glory Dookie / Insomniac days (the REAL reason I decided to go for). Ah, to be able to scream-sing-mosh ‘When I Come Around‘, ‘Welcome to Paradise‘ and ‘Basketcase‘ along with thousands of others is something that’s 15 years overdue. Better late than never I say.

Each ‘phase’ in their performance is marked with different stylized Green Day backdrops. The main stage was equipped with pyrotechnics that was used to great effect too. Only drawback with the setup was the lack of projector screens cause lots of the shorter audiences (their female / younger fans) couldn’t catch what was going on.

Mike Dirnt!

The legendary Billy Joe Armstrong!

Billy Joe had plenty of antics up his sleeve to keep us entertained, pulling off random short covers from Black Sabbath, Elvis, The Beatles and more. He called up many lucky fans (small kids included) to sing along with him but the best was probably this spirited mat rocker with green hair who sang the entire ‘Longview‘ flawlessly to a cheering crowd.

Water hoses and supersoakers, drunken bunnies, toilet paper shooters, gas powered T-shirt cannons and silly costume props abound. Billy Joe apparently mooned the crowd too! But I didn’t get to catch it cause my view was blocked at that moment (not that I wanna see his ass mind you).

Supersoaking time!

Toilet paper madness

Billy Joe with pink bunny ears

20 years down the road, and Billy Joe could still rock away. It’s amazing how his voice didn’t waver or break at all despite shouting and singing for almost 3 hours straight (while most of us left the concert voiceless). Both Tre Cool’s tight as hell drumming and Mike Dirnt’s trippy bass lines was the stuff of legends – they sound a thousand times better live than their album recordings.

Pyrotechnics backdrop - ooh yeah

He eventually ended the show with ‘21 Guns‘ and ‘Minority‘, before coming back for the first encore with ‘American Idiot‘ and ‘Jesus of Suburbia‘. The 2nd encore was simply beautiful though, with Billy Joe performing a triple solo acoustic set of ‘Last Night on Earth‘, ‘Wake Me Up When September Ends‘ and the perfect finale track ‘Good Riddance’ (Time of Your Life)’. Well I sure had the time of my life.

Thanks and credit to Andrea for squeezing all the way to the front and taking the above awesome close-up shots!

Sometimes, all it takes is just one eager fan to help form the plans to attend a concert. For Lady Gaga, there were 2 – Mei and Pei Fern. Pei Fern convinced Gerardine to go while Mei convinced me – and before I knew it, we had a group!

Our Lady Gaga tickets

I actually have Lady Gaga’s album in my iPhone and I do listen to her occasionally, but her songs are not something I can relate or singalong to. After all, they’re all gender skewed! Imagine me going “I want to take a ride on your disco stick” or “Boys Boys Boys, we love them, we love them!”. Sure explains why there weren’t that many men in the crowd..

Surprisingly, Lady Gaga did manage to command the attention of whatever men there was in the crowd too. After all, which hot blooded male wouldn’t be enraptured by a gorgeous bottomless lady hopping around the stage in her panties, shaking her awe inspiring jiggly butt cheeks, spreading her legs and revealing the occasional camel toe, while throwing profanity loaded encouragements through her deliciously sweet voice. Gaga indeed!

The crowd for Lady Gaga. Lady Gaga commanded the largest crowd amongst the 3 concerts that week (probably due to her earlier showcase in Singapore last month + that her ticketing and promo was handled by Sistic)

Pei Fern, Gerardine & FoOie

Mei (and her Cajun hot dog) and FoOie

Here's your order miss...

Lady Gaga performing 'Money Honey'

Lady Gaga's Poker Face (or should I say ass?)

And the show comes to a close..

As she only had one album, the concert itself was quite short. Not only did it start late, it was also stretched out with the occasional theatrics, LCD / projector recordings of a ‘Who Shot Candy Warhol’ mystery video, and a number of costume changes. Timing issues aside, I have to give it to her – she’s definitely got one heckuva sense of style.

I can definitely see why she commands such a huge fan base. Not only are her songs catchy – but she connects with the empowered women of today. She encourages women to speak out for what they want and be daring in their approach, public perceptions be damned. And while the crowd went wild I just stood there and let all the positive female energy wash over me.

At Starbucks after the concert..

Me and Mei made our way to the Lady Gaga after party at Zouk hoping to see if she will have a smaller more exclusive performance there. Unfortunately, Zouk’s infamous Mambo night was well underway (with young men standing on podiums and performing synchronized sakura dance moves to retro songs with dead serious expressions on their faces) and there was no sign of Lady Gaga around. When we’ve had enough at poking fun at them, we went home.

Keane – Perfect Symmetry Tour

I only found out about Keane performing in Singapore 4 days before their concert, and had a tough time finding people to go with me. My original partner Niki had to cancel due to work commitments, while fellow Keane fan Gerardine had a birthday dinner to attend. I was suddenly faced with a big decision: to head there alone, or to stay home.

That evening, I blasted Keane songs through my headset. I picked up my 8-Ball, closed my eyes, shook it and asked “Am I going for the Keane concert? Should I go? Would I enjoy myself?..”

I opened my eyes. The 8-Ball spoke to me.. “It Is Certain“.

I grabbed my stuff, rushed out of the house, and hopped into a cab. It was 730pm, the concert was about to start in 30 minutes.

Arrived in the middle of the first opening act – by Singaporean band The Fire Fight. I SMS-ed Gerardine about me being at the concert and she sms-ed back that she will try to make it after her dinner. Second opening act by French rock band Cyril Niccolai began (moshable Bon Jovi-esque songs). Just as they ended, Gerardine arrived. I was no longer alone..

As a free standing concert, we actually managed to get quite close to the front of the stage and had an AMAZING time watching Tom Chaplin sing (and sweat) his heart out to all of his big hits from his 3 albums. In comparison, NIN had their trademark light effects and Lady Gaga had her over-the-top makeovers while Keane only had a simple minimalist stage setup. All they had was their songs and Tom Chaplin’s incredible voice, and that was all that they needed to put on what I would say was the BEST concert out of the 3 I attended that week.

Our Keane Tickets

The 2nd opening act - French vocalist and rocker Cyril Niccolai

Keane kickstarting the concert with Bend & Break!

Things are heating up.. Tom Chaplin drenched in sweat.

Crowd going wild as Tom Chaplin approaches the front barricade

So what made it so good for me? It’s hard to say.. I guess I’ve always loved their genre of sentimental easy to love piano rock tracks, sometimes a little cryptic but always loaded with meaningful messages. But here I have to give it to Tom Chaplin again. He sang non-stop for almost 2 hours, and his strong voice didn’t waver in the slightest. His charisma, boyish looks, and friendly demeanor endeared him to all of us.

Again unlike NIN and Gaga with NO encores, Keane had TWO – the last of which he actually played a medley of (after Googling around) – Queen’s ‘Under Pressure’ and Springsteen’s ‘The River’. We left utterly satisfied.

We love you too!

Me & Gerardine in front of the Keane bunting

Oh, and another reason to keep trusting my 8-Ball? I managed to pick up Tom Chaplin’s guitar pick that he threw to the audience.

Tom Chaplin's Guitar Pick!

I guess it’s time for me to take a short break from all these parties and concerts.

Ash touching down on the Singapore’s shores two days early heralded some major partying to come as a prelude to the big concert.

Day 1 – Brewerkz, China One and Insomnia

Took Ash down to Brewerkz at Riverside Quay for dinner and to meet up with some old schoolmates from a lifetime ago. Boonchareon aka Mr. Large Libido who has been in Singapore for the last 11 years, plus Chee Mun, whom I’ve always thought of as a decent and studious dude back in school.

BBians Reunited!

We opened a bottle at China One, and drank and danced away to Tabula (for some strange reason, I keep finding myself back at this place again and again). Gerardine and Yvonne dropped by to party with us after their dinner too.

Yvonne & Gerardine

The bottle got drained, and we head out to Insomnia at Chijmes for even MORE partying. Boon opened a 2nd bottle of whiskey, while we went crazy gyrating, moshing and fist pumping to the other rock band here.

Boon's Entourage

Ash, Yvonne, Chee Mun and Gerardine

Happily drunk.. and Ash taking full advantage of it..

There were 2 different bands who played at Insomnia and they actually executed their covers pretty well. The awesome thing was how they eventually regressed to some marvelous 90’s rock (Metallica, Nirvana) near the end, the head-banging material of our generation.

Me and Gerardine had to send a drunk and cute Yvonne back to her apartment.. Along the way, she actually yelled to to the cab driver “Unkle unkle! You must give discounts to my friends here you know.. You see they are so nice to send me back! Give them discount k?” Paiseh betul haha .

Day 2 – Tapas Tree, The Rupee Room and Attica

Got to meet Ash’s uni friend Wu Tian (a kindred spirit into similar interests – books, games, movies), and his entourage of some fun-loving gorgeous ladies – Ida, Sharlane and LeRaine. We settled at The Tapas Tree in Clarke Quay for some light dinner, and then spontaneously decided to bring Ash to a bhangra club aka The Rupee Room .

Ash and his bevy of beauties

Ash bought all of us a round of shots – and the shots were HUGE! And this was when it started to go really wacko for me – as I’m not quite a drinker you see..

Wu Tian, Ash, Sharlane, Leraine & She-Man

There was this big-sized tranny that followed us into The Rupee Room and seemed to hover around Sharlane and Ash. It kinda kept me on alert, lest he/she decides to pull something unexpected. Once when we were on the dance floor, there was this over-enthusiastic bhangra dancer vigorously dancing near us. As he was pretty amusing, we pointed him out to our friends and smiled. The tranny must have thought the dancer was invading our space, for he/she actually took the guy by the waist and shoved him away! Imagine the shock on our faces lol.

Sharlane driving us boys a little crazy

The Three Stooges

That’s us three, utterly wasted. We were singing Bon Jovi songs out loud + arguing over movies (like who is best suited to play Thor) in the cab back to Wu Tian’s place at Bayshore Park. Hooboy, does Wu Tian have a dream condo – filled with all the right kind of books, 50″ TV with PS3, and his very own dedicated poker table. It was the perfect bachelor pad. Had I not just signed my contract for my new HDB in Kallang, I might have considered staying with him .

Day 3 – Nine Inch Nails Wave Goodbye 1989-2009 Tour

The day we have been waiting for – Nine Inch Nails Live in Singapore! Met Ui Hua and his friends near the entrance, and then met up with Lincoln as well before the concert started and we got separated. SHOULD have taken photos with them .

Our NIN Wave Goodbye Tour Tickets

The pre-concert stage. Those are some CRAZY lights!

Ash, Niki and Me

Nine Inch Nails!

Trent Reznor in person

Mr. Francis Wolf!

The concert was a BLAST, as Trent poured all his energy into his act – screaming away and throwing his mic stand around. It was fortunate that he played most of his biggest hits from The Downward Spiral and The Fragile as I didn’t know most of his newer songs. Just a tinge of regret that I did not go closer to the stage to mosh to some of his more energetic tracks..

And there you have it – the long Singapore National Day weekend comes to a close, and back to work I go.. The fun has yet to end though, as Mei will arrive 2 days after this for Lady Gaga while I plan my Keane concert away…

Well, Mei has already pretty much written everything there is to say about this trip at her blog here and here and here and here (she’s also a MUCH more punnier and funnier writer in comparison to my standard dry wit).

Day 1

First off, SORRY Mei! For not checking my phone at your scheduled arrival time – but I guess you had ample payback playing the role of jilted pregnant ex-gf with luggage come stalking me at my office and embarrassing the shit out of me

Over at Geylang's famous froggy porridge with Phyllis

We walked and we walked and we walked through Geylang but did not get to see any eye candy (roadside hookers). Seems that plying their trade at the roadside was illegal, and there was a clampdown on the area due to it being so near the Singapore National Day. Dang.

Yvonne, Gerardine and Me at J Bar - in support of Surat's band Reverie

Mei all cheerful after her pint of stout

J Bar was a pretty cool place with a nice classy ambiance. Too bad the experience was spoiled by some of the most shamelessly funny old fat uncles dancing to 70’s rock n’ roll the whole night away.

Day 2

Rollerblading at East Coast Park - Mei, Yvonne and Gerardine

My first time on blades, and boy was it fun! Tripped a few times, but didn’t crash my bony ass thankfully. Felt sorry for Gerardine though – she nearly gave me a few heart attacks. Can’t wait to try again – practice makes perfect!

Enjoying the night sea breeze (and resting our weary legs)..

Nothing like chatting by the seaside.. until a bloody cockroach had to come crash the party. Well, at least the cockroach is sorta crash/crushed now.

Rejuvenating with dinner at Marutama

I still think the Black Pig Ramen at Tampopo is tastier!

Singapore really is damn small lor..

Four of us, still hungry for more fun, went over to China One for some drinks while I nearly got hustled by Yvonne at pool . Just as we were about to leave however, I bumped into Niki, Jovy, Robert and their colleagues there!

Day 3

OMG, dragged myself out of bed on a Sunday morning to accompany hyperactive Mei for her sustenance (and also to check out Ion Orchard).

MOS Burger Love (ever since they discontinued it in Msia)

Ahh.. women..

Went to meet up with Mei’s ex-colleague Adam and his Japanese gf Mami over at Holland Village. Never been there, but it sure was a nice little collection of eateries on a sealed off road. We had dinner over at the Crystal Jade branch there.

Ferrero & peanut butter ice cream, handmixed and mashed with Ferrero Rocher and a chunk of chocolate brownie.. MmMmMMmm

Adam's camera was pretty cool

Will definitely return to Holland Village JUST FOR the Cold Rock Ice Cream.

And there you have it. A fun filled weekend comes to a close as Mei heads back to KL the next day, while I fall back into my dreary Singapore routine

All 3 times, I traveled back to KL by bus to attend their weddings. In our circle now, there are only 2 remaining who have yet to fall – me and Ash.

Too bad both Terence and Ang do not actively MSN or Facebook or use any social media app, and thus I’ve yet to receive any shared digital photos of their weddings from them. Here’s some of what have of the three weddings though (mostly Roy’s great shots).

Terence forced to write a love letter to his future wife, as we all look on

At Terence's wedding dinner over at PJ Hilton. L-R : Ang, Ash, Roy & Steph (next on the list) and FoOie

We were forced to eat bugs encased in jell-O on Roy's behalf!

Steph’s ji muis were plain out cruel. EATING BUGS was the least of it. Roy was also put under tremendous stress to answer tough as heck questions while his heng tais endured cold feet standing in pails of ice water..

Taking one for the team. As you can see from our expressions, it does NOT look pleasant

Roy & Steph's Dinner at Noble Banquet. L-R: Chin Li, Nic Thooi, Andrea, Faz and Sue Ann

My table, and the other 3 couples. L-R: Alyssa & Ang, Terence & Florence, Charlie & Ziet (my younger bro)

The Four Heng Tais giving a short talk for Roy

Roy kissing the bride. While surrounded by women.. hahaha

Ang sacrificing all of his leg hair (or patches of it) for his wife haha..

I guess it’s only a matter of time before we have little versions of ourselves bouncing on our laps and sharing our teh ais during the next mamak session. No longer will we spend time debating on the intricacies of lascannons vs heavy bolters. Soon we’d be sharing tips on diaper changing instead. THE HORROR..

So.. am I pressured? I don’t know. You’d have probably realized by now that I’m pretty jaded towards relationships (and what they sometimes stand for), dangling between a strong reluctance to commit or just not having met the right person that could sweep me off my feet (damn I sound like a damsel waiting for his white knight).

On top of that, I may also have to find a way to resolve some of my deeper insecurity issues which I shall not delve into here. But until then, I am most definitely enjoying my bachelorhood down in Singapore. Having my own pad, the freedom and flexibility to do whatever I want, and with a whole bunch of friends who are living their own independent life here to hang out with, adds a whole new perspective to life. There’s still SO MUCH MORE I have to experience and I can’t tie myself down just yet!

Don’t get me wrong, as I couldn’t be happier for all of them. The Dark Side is strong and tempting at times.. They’ve all begun their first steps on a brand new adventure in their lives, and I can’t help but envy them for that. Then of course there’s my parents who are patiently waiting (with occasional verbal reminders) for a grandkid to pamper and play with – but I think they’ll have to depend on my younger brother first haha. Don’t worry Pa and Ma, I will definitely find the right person and get hitched with one day, but one just can’t rush these things .

Oh well.. It might take awhile before Ash finds HIS significant other, so I guess I still have some time left. Anyone up for some casual dating?

I don’t think I have ever felt as devastated and emotional over the loss of someone unrelated to me. I was midway clubbing when I checked my mobile and saw the horrible news. As I sat in the cab on the way home after excusing myself from my friends, the tears just came flowing naturally.

Yasmin Ahmad was one of the greatest Malaysians ever in my book, a truly selfless compassionate soul. She had a natural talent for identifying simple meaningful moments in our lives, and craft beautiful short clips and films out of them to remind us of all that we take for granted.

She has written and directed countless heart warming, funny yet tear jerking festive ads for Petronas, and a number of equally moving, internationally acclaimed and award winning films (Rabun, Sepet, Gubra, Mukhsin, Muallaf, Talentime). Her messages were plentiful and always meaningful, preaching tolerance, understanding, and above all else love. Not only did she open up our eyes to what was important, she did so by bringing us together – regardless of race or religion.

Despite never being fully accepted by her own, despite tonnes of criticism heaped on her from her fellow countrymen and despite the ridiculous amount of censorship on her movies in her homeland, she forged on ahead to show us her vision and ideas of her Malaysia. And what beautiful visions they were!

Dearest Kak Yasmin, you left us too soon. You had so much more to give, so much more to teach us. Your courage knew no bounds and I have you to thank for having never lost hope in a better Malaysia. I’ve always held your many messages on racial religious tolerance, and filial piety close to heart. You had the craziest sense of humor – and your jokes never failed to put a smile on my face. Your passing is a huge loss to the collective expression of our nation. You are irreplaceable, and I can only wish that this serves to inspire more of us, and that your work will spread on to those who’ve not had the opportunity to appreciate them. You will be dearly missed.

And to think that I only saw you just 4 months ago at your special screening of Muallaf down in Singapore..

Me, Yasmin Ahmad! & Gerardine

My heartfelt condolences go out to your family and to everyone else whom you’ve touched. From a huge fan, rest in peace Yasmin Ahmad.

Other blog tributes from friends

Clairmeiz – In Memoriam
Daphnemaia – Yasmin Ahmad (1958-2009)
Christina – To Yasmin

There are these few absolutely lovely stray cats just right below Airin’s apartment at Toa Payoh. One night as I was heading home after a late gaming session there, one of them trailed me, and started rubbing itself against my leg. I would sit down on a bench, and it would jump up on my lap for a cuddle. Distracted me for a good 30 minutes before I extricated myself and hailed a cab home. It was 4am..

Early Morning Drama

Here I was chatting late another night when Jacq suddenly burst into my room saying “Did you hear that explosion? There’s a fire truck downstairs..”

Me being the kepoh case I am, went downstairs to see policemen and firemen gathered around the back of the restaurant section. Seems that there was a pressurized gas leak, and they were trying to seal it. First time seeing that much gas around.. they actually hug the floor like a dense rolling mist. I wonder what would have happened had someone tossed a lit cigarette into it..

Roy’s Bachelor Night (or what I can actually tell you about it)

I also went back to KL for a weekend in May to partake in Roy’s bachelor night before his wedding the following month. We had dinner at Souled Out Hartamas with the boys, before heading down to KL for some partying and some ’shenanigans’.

L-R : Ziet, Darren, NicT, FoOie, THE STAG, Sean & Cheong Keat

L-R : Liew Kok Keong, Yew Wai, Teak Yean

L-R : THE STAG, Sean & Cheong Keat

Unfortunately, I am sworn to silence and can’t reveal the remainder of what transpired that night, but here’s a little photo of the leftovers..

Two finished bottles of whiskey..

Edmund’s New Place

Also had a bit of spare time during that trip back and went to check out Edmund’s new apartment with Immi.

G-max Reverse Bungy and GX-5 Extreme Swing at Clarke Quay

Anyone who’s been to Clarke Quay in Singapore would have noticed these tall lit pillars accompanied by the occasional random screams as people are shot into the sky, or swung from insane heights. Gerardine and I was offered a discounted rate while passing through that area one night, and we decided to give it a go .

The first ride we sat was the G-Max Reverse Bungy where they shoot your carriage 60 meters into the sky at over 200kph, with a G-force of 5. I’ve sat this once before back during a rave in Malaysia – it was disorienting fun. Because the carriage rolls around at the top and on the way down, you can’t get a full sense of your surroundings to develop any real fear..

Here’s an embarrassing video recording of us getting tossed around like rag dolls up there .

The second ride – GX-5 Extreme Swing – was considerably more freaky (for me at least). The carriage is slowly towed around 50 meters to the top of one of the pillars. A lever is located next to one of the seats which when pressed, would release the carriage into a freefall swing. It was NOT a pleasant experience sitting at the top, as we were strapped on with fabric safety belts that was literally supporting our entire body weight, as our ass slowly lost their grip on the plastic seats. Not for the faint of heart, staring DOWN to the floor, waiting for Gerardine to release the lever.. .

And there you have it – the two most exciting rides in Singapore. We walked away with wobbly knees and wide grins

I remembered reading about this cinema on someones blog some time ago, and was reminded of it when Gerardine brought it up as ‘one of the places she would like to visit in Singapore’ (she heard about it from Xiaxue’s blog). Yangtze cinema is quite possibly the ONLY cinema in Singapore that shows adult films. And it’s just a stone’s throw away from my office.

We watched the one at the top aka "An Isane Love". Doesn't Sora Aoi look sexy painted that way? LOLOL

There was actually quite a selection of movies there.. Thai, Western or Japanese softcore, take your pic. As the choice was left to me, I gravitated towards the Japanese one called An Insane Love – purely because Sora Aoi was the lead star in it, and she’s actually one gorgeous AV actress.

The walkway to the place was super sleazy. A few small massage parlors were located near the walkway to the cinema, and the place was surrounded by dodgy looking people. Man squatting at the stairs smoking, massage women giving me the eye, old uncles scanning the posters.. We looked for clean seats near the top of the hall, and was quite surprised to see that there was actually a number of people who were watching with us too (women included). Mostly older men though. Too bad there was no hanky panky that we could detect from our vantage point.

The movie was BORING. Girl has a terminal disease which gives her seizures. Her life’s dream before she dies? To finish reading a series of comic books. Samaritan gets to know her, and they fucky fucky all the way at the end. As the movie was in Japanese and I couldn’t read the Chinese subtitles, Gerardine had to translate the lame plot to me as the movie progressed. The projector color and sound was horrible. In fact it was so blur and so dark, Sora Aoi’s nipple was nothing but a dark smudge during what was supposedly the best part of the film. It was hardly erotic at all. PEOPLE – you do know that you can easily get better stuff off the Internet right?

Chinese Garden

With our curiosity satiated, we made our way to The Chinese Garden – a nicely landscaped patch of greenery on an island in Eastern Singapore. The first point of interest that we reached was a Pagoda near the entrance..

The torturous stairway up the Pagoda..

Gorgeous view from the top of the Pagoda

Me and my partner in crime, Gerardine

Hello little birdie, what are you doing so high up here?

It’s quite an idyllic and peaceful place, with small ponds with lotus leaves, and beautiful landscaping. Located nearby was also a small sanctuary for turtles. There were hundreds of em in there! And some very rare breeds too. Costs $5 per pax to enter.

So cute right?? Haha - a pig nosed turtle

Star tortoises - you sometimes find them in pet shops..

The awe inspiring and highly dangerous Alligator Snapping Turtle. It's HUGE!

Jar Jar Bink's distant cousin - another variant of the pig nosed turtle

The rare South American Mata Mata Turtle. Quite peculiar the way it sticks its nose out of the water to breath without moving any other part of its body..

The constipated turtle who once wanted to be Singapore's mascot but didn't make the cut..

Eek! Let me down!

I have NEVER seen these many Koi carps in one place before. It's plenty of fun feeding them (by buying fish food nearby) and watching them fight for it

Despite the sun setting and it getting dark, we tried to check out the nearby attached Japanese Garden. Unfortunately, it was closed by the time we arrived, and so we had to walk the long way back to the MRT. The little kid in me however got distracted when we passed this large playground along the way..

Jane here was much better at climbing these rope structures than Tarzan! (Tarzan taking photo)

We were exhausted and sweaty by the time we reached back my place but we still went out again anyway to meet Airin and Jey Sern for some boardgames. I was pretty satisfied by the time I got home after everything (which was quite late).. Thanks to Gerardine for the great company! I might just return to the gardens again one day just to check out the rest of the place .