Korean Movie: Daisy (2006)

Posted on January 31st, 2007 in Korean, Movies, Videos by yeehan

“Daisy (데이지) is a Korean movie directed by Hong Kong filmmaker Andrew Lau Wai Keung of the Infernal Affairs series, and starring Jeon Ji-hyun (My Sassy Girl, Il Mare), Jung Woo-sung (A Moment to Remember), John Tai-wai Chiang , Lee Sung-jae (Public Enemy), and Cheon Ho-jin (The Big Swindle).”

Daisy is an urban melodrama about Hye-Young (Ji-hyun), a young struggling art painter who mistakenly fell in love with an Interpol police detective Jeong-Woo (Sung-jae). She thought that he is the person who sends daisies to her everyday. Jeong-Woo eventually found out the real daisy guy: Park-Yi (Woo-Sung), who happens to be a professional hitman who admired Hye-Young ever since he saw her painting daisies in the countryside.

However, a mishap happened one day. (I didn’t expect her to become that way). Story continues to unfold and in the end, this movie shows the what one can do for his/her loved ones. This movie was shot entirely in The Netherlands, for the most part in the capital of Amsterdam, Haarlem and Epen.

Another touching act from Ji-hyun after My Sassy Girl. I think it’s a nice movie although some reviews mentioned that the director ought to shoot a better movie. Oh ya, Woo-Sung does speak mandarin in this movie.
Rating: 8 out of 10

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Daisy (Korean Movie Trailer)

Daisy Official Site

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Day 6 Hong Kong (Causeway Bay)

Posted on January 29th, 2007 in Place of interests, Travel by yeehan

My sixth day for the trip was mainly walking around Causeway Bay. Was with my friend and both of us walked around the area’s shopping centres. The stuff there are pretty expensive (I mean most are branded goods). What I can talk about in this post would be some of the interesting food that I had.

First one is milk-beancurd. It is made from milk but it has the texture of the beancurd- soft and smooth. Found it somewhere in Causeway Bay.


Second was the mango desserts. The shop is known as Xu Liu Shan. We ordered all four on the special menu. Mango Dessert with glutinious rice ball, Mango Combo fruits, XO carrot cake and Bird’s nest delicacy. Cost both of us HK$ 111 (what an amount!) for desserts only. Yup, that turns out to be my lunch too. I was too full after that. Yum yum, one of my favourite fruits.

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Along the way, I saw this electric tram (or bus??)

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After spending about 5 hours window shopping, we went back to HKUST to gather before departing for the airport. When I was in the airport, I called back home with the prepaid SIM card that I bought when I first arrived in Hong Kong. Got it from 7-11 shop. It was only HK$ 60 and I can chat for 200 minutes. Free IDD to Singapore, Malaysia and a lot of other countries. I chatted with my parents until the battery went flat. But there’s still some value left in the card. Going to use it in Singapore too. This is one of the best deal that I got. The card is known as Peoples Prepaid Card. Click here for website

This is probably going to be one of my most exciting trip that I have been to so far. I miss those places- the scenery, the weather, the environment. Hope to travel elsewhere in the coming years. :)

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Day 5 Macau

Posted on January 27th, 2007 in Place of interests, Travel by yeehan

After few hours in Lantau Island, I took MTR back to Hong Kong Island and alighted at Sheung Wan station. Reached Shun Tak shopping centre about 2.30pm and bought a ferry ticket to Macau. There are two ferry services (I guess) but I bought from TurboJet. One way ticket costs me HK$ 146. The ferry departs at 3.15pm so I took my time to wander in the shopping centre. Looked around and went to Watson to get some mineral water. Didn’t have drinking water and my lunch had only vegetarian food in Lantau Island. Oh ya, remember to bring passport along if you want to go to Macau. One of my friend forgot to bring his so he stayed in HK only (but he wasn’t travelling with me in the morning). Like Hong Kong, some countries do not require visa to visit Macau. Both the countries are SAR (Special Administrative Region) although they are part of China.

The ferry was an hour ride and it can accomodate more than 200 ppl. I sat on the upper deck. I spent my hour watching some japanese contest show. At abour 4.20pm, I arrived at Macau.

Here’s the view at outside the ferry terminal.
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There are visitors information centre at the ferry terminal. So, you can go there and grab the information booklets about Macau. Ranging from accomodation to places of interest and things to do in Macau, you should be able to make your way around Macau. I took a map and started to find my way to the old Macau town. But you’ll need to be in Macau during office hours when the centre operates. Oh ya, when you stepped out of the ferry terminal, beware of dozens of taxi drivers. They will go right up to you and offer to take you around the scenic spots around Macau. IF you wish to take their offer, make sure you bargain hard. I’m not sure about the market rate but there were people who offered me a ride between HK$ 250 - HK$ 500. I did not take any of those. I took bus to travel around. Macau people speak Cantonese as well but they do understand some mandarin and english.

Travelling around Macau:
I feel that the transportation isn’t as efficient as Hong Kong’s. Mode of travelling around would be by buses and taxis (as far as I observed). The map does show the bus numbers so you can roughly figure out how to get your way around. If not, then go to the bus stop and search for bus route.

Since Macau was a Portuguese colony previously, I find it extremely difficult to travel around looking at their road names. Trying superbly hard to match them with the names on the map to figure out how to travel around. The photo below is an easy name. And I took this photo because it’s significant in the sense that Malacca was also previously under Portuguese rule.

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Others sound like Avenida Infante D. Henrique and Rua das Estalagens. Oh man, it’s like playing search and match on the map to locate where I am. Quite difficult for me to ask people how to reach the street. So, I point on the map instead and asked them how to go there.

I only managed to visit several places in Macau as the sun set at about 6 pm. One of the place near the terminal is the gold-plated Lotus Flower. It’s also the place where reunification took place (I guess). Sidenote: This also means I have been to both the reunification places of Hong Kong and Macau. :p

Background with the gold-tinted windows is the Sands Casino, one of the newest casinos. I went inside at night. It’s a very nice casino.

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By the way, Macau uses the currency known as Macau Patacas (MOP$). But Hong Kong dollar is also acceptable. The exchange rate is almost the same (MOP$ 8 == HK$ 8 ~~ US$ 1). If you take bus, bring coins along unless you know where to buy the tap-and-go transport card like Hong Kong’s Octopus card. I did not get Macau’s one because I was there for a few hours only.

I think the most famous site which relates to Macau closely would be the Ruins of St. Paul’s Church. This was the place which I told myself that I must visit and I did. After taking a long time to find the bus stop which has the service that reaches the old city, I finally reached there after following the road signs in the old city. My parents went there before more than two decades ago. It was really nice view from their photo so I must see the beauty of the building myself.

And yup, it’s REALLY REALLY a very nice church. (I mean the church wall). It was completed in 1602 by the Jesuits but a fire erupted and engulfed the whole building except the front wall in 1835. It was restored in the 1990s and is now a World Heritage Site.

This was me in 2007.
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This was the photo taken by my parents last time. :) The structure is still as elegant as ever.
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Here’s the side view of the church. Look at it. The building really left with the front wall only.

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You can also go up the second level of the church because they built a metal structure behind it. Must climb up when you reach here to take a look.

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And here’s the view of Macau old town from the centre window.

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There’s also this “underground” Crypt and Sacred Art Museum. And in the crypt, there are REAL bones of the martyrs of Japan and Vietnam. They are exhibited in urns, opened on the side. This is a place for worshippers to express their devotion. The huge stones in the photo could be the holiest sanctuary of the church which was built in 1602.

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In the museum, there are invaluable collections of paintings, scupltures and church regalia from churches in Macau from 16th to 19th century. Quite interesting I must say.

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I must consider myself very lucky to have come into the museum as well as going up the second level of Ruins of St. Paul church. This was because few minutes after I stepped out of the place, they locked the entrance door of the church. It was 6pm then. Well, my main mission to Macau was accomplished.

Nearby was the Mount Fortress or Monte Forte. The fort was initially built in the 16th century for protecting the properties of Jesuit in Macau. Later it was seized by the Governor, for the defense of Macau. The cannons can confirm that.

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On the hill, The Museum of Macau was built. But you can’t see in the photo because I forgot to take.

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After that, I toured around the old city to find something nice to fill my hungry stomach. Had only not that fulling vegetarian food for lunch. I walked along the alley and just join in the rest of the people when they crowd around one stall. Should be delicioud since so many people queuing, I though to myself. I realised that there isn’t many hawker stalls in Macau. But I found one stall selling “lok-lok” (Their style was fishball, vege, meat or whatever that you choose- all put in hot water to cook, then put in a bowl with curry sauce)

There are also a lot of shops selling chinese dried meat (Bak Kwa). And also there’s this Macau almond cookies. Bought one for MOP$ 28. Or you can buy four at MOP$ 100. Then again, you can get them in Hong Kong too. Of course at a higher price between HK$ 32 and HK$ 40.

Here’s the night view in the old Macau city.

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I tried to find some Macau memento but most of the shops have closed. Tried very hard to find and in the end, I only found one shop. It sells the replica of Ruins of St. Paul church. Though the price didn’t fit the memento, I still bought it. At least I came to Macau before. That’s my personality- to try to get something from the place that I have visited.

I started to walk again based on the map in my hand and found my way to Casino Lisboa, one of the most famous casinos. The original casino and 12-storey round hotel tower were built in 1970 by Stanley Ho. Went into a casino for the first time in my life. I thought that it would be Genting’s one but I ended up going to Macau’s. Decided to see how people bet. And I must say- they bet like nobody’s business. Win or lose 10 k chip is nothing to them.

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I wanna just try my luck on the jackpot machine although I knew I’ll lose for sure. And this is how I realise another thing. You cannot use Macau COINS in Macau’s casino (for Casino Lisboa). They accept Hong Kong notes, Macau notes and Hong Kong coins but NOT Macau coins. Very very strange. I cannot even exchange the coins at the counter. Only way is to use Hong Kong note but I only had big notes at that time. So I thought it’s just not my day to try my luck on the machine. My Hong Kong coins were in my bag which was deposited before I enter.

After 45 minutes in Casino Lisboa, I left and decided to go to another casino- Sands. Walked all the way there and saw a lot of casinos along the way.

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Compared to Lisboa, I feel Sands is a totally different class. Lisboa was old, dirty and smoky. Some gamblers just spit on the carpets in Lisboa. On the other hand, Sands has a higher class look. And the place is big too. I was in Sands for a much shorter time. My feet grew bubbles and my muscle ache after carrying the heavy bag along.

I walked back to the ferry terminal and bought my return ticket to Hong Kong at HK$ 176 (night ferry is more expensive). I reached there at 9.30pm, thinking that I will be able to catch the 10pm ferry. To my surprise, the earliest would be 11pm. Or I can choose to pay additional HK$ 200 for the First Class seat for 10pm ferry. I decided to keep the money to myself.

So I spent my time in the terminal watching Hong Kong drama series. Didn’t feel like taking a walk anymore because I was just too tired. Oh ya, sidetrack: There are lots of shuttle buses at the ferry terminal to bring the visitors to the casinos. And they are really many many of them. Maybe this is how Macau overtook Las Vegas to be the highest turn-over gambling location.

Reached Hong Kong at 12am and I’ll spend another 45 mins to go back to hostel. It was really a tiring day. But it was also a memorable day. Many sweet and (one real) bad memories. (my camera and tripod). One last day in Hong Kong before my flight back to Singapore. I do miss the places.

Oh ya, this is my 100th posts. Wow, didn’t know that I’ll write so much.

Popularity: 2% [?]

Day 5 Hong Kong (Lantau Island)

Posted on January 21st, 2007 in Place of interests, Travel by yeehan

Place of Interest

Back to my writing. Have been busy with school stuff and students’ union work. Anyway, one of the famous attraction in Hong Kong is the Tian Tan Sitting Buddha which is located in Ngong Ping Village in Lantau Island. It’s very near the airport. More details here.

Transportation
Before that, to reach Ngong Ping Village, you can either take bus or taxi from the Tung Chung MTR station. Alternatively, you can choose the Ngong Ping 360, a Skyrail which is a cable car ride. Click here for the official site. The cost is HK$ 88 for a return trip. There are other packages that you can take like visit to the Monkey’s Tale Theatre and Walking with Buddha. You can find the packages available in the official site. I only decided to visit the Tian Tan Sitting Buddha. The first cable car is at 10am so I tried to catch the first one. Yup, I succeeded in being the first passenger of the day. (Wow, what an achievement. Err…) And when I reached there at 9.30am, the queue was already building up. I was the tenth person. When the door opens for purchasing of tickets, the 9 person in front of me were busy at the counter looking at the packages available. By the way, there are a lot of ticket counters- 15 of them if I’m not mistaken. Since I’ve decided to only visit the sitting buddha, I just bought my return ticket and walked to the cable car boarding area. First person and I also have the whole cable car for myself. That’s awesome. The ride was about 20-30 minutes and along the way, you’ll see very nice views. You can also see planes on the runway taking off in the international airport nearby.

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As I’m the first person to reach the other station, it feels a bit awkward as a lot of staff looked and greeted me.

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The Buddha is just a walking distance from the station. Along the way, you’ll pass by the Ngong Ping Village. The Buddha is 34 meters high, weighs 250 tons, and is the world’s tallest outdoor bronze seated Buddha. At the base, there’s this circle structure of which when you stand right in the centre, you’ll hear even the slightest wisper. But I only heard my echo because no one was around at that time. And this is how I get such a nice shot. There’s a similar and bigger place in Beijing too. It’s in Tian Tan Temple. Check out the photos.


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Beijing’s circle was “endorsed” by the Emperor before. :)

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To reach the Sitting Buddha, you’ll have to climb 268 steps (based on Wiki facts). Po Lin Monastery and the Buddha are open to the public between 10:00 and 17:45. Access to the Buddha is free of charge. An entrance fee of HK$ 23 is charged for access to the exhibition halls below the Buddha and includes a vegetarian meal (HK$ 60 for the deluxe dinner) served on the monastery grounds (from 11:30 to 17:00). Frankly speaking, I did not find anything exceptional in the exhibition halls. I think the main attraction is actually the buddha’s relic. But I’ve seen them (a lot of them during the Buddha Tooth Relic exhibition in Singapore Expo in 2004). So, it’s not really new to me.

This is a very nice view. It feels like I have the whole place to myself.

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Halfway through the climbing up process.

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Beneath the Buddha, about to enter the exhibition halls. This picture was taken using tripod too. Had to run up the stairs before the timer ends.

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When the crowd starts to come at about 11am, I was on my way down to my next location. Before that here’s another angle of the Sitting Buddha. I love my camera and tripod. Or maybe I have hidden talent in photo taking. Oops.. Haha.

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Nearby is the Po Lin Monastery. It’s a famous temple and I think it should be crowded during the festive days.

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This is where I had my free vegetarian meal.

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After that I proceed to the Wisdom Path. It’s very large wooden inscription of the Heart Sutra set within a figure 8 to symbolize infinity. There is a great scenic view of the Tian Tan Buddha if you climb all the way to the top of the hill. But I failed to find the exact location.

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Climb up a stone to have this pic. Don’t know why but I like this shot the most. Could be the way I posed. Hehe.
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This is the Lantau Peak and the Wisdom Path Sutra in the background. But to climb up the place, you must be really careful. It’s very steep so one step at a time.
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In the centre of the sutra. In the photo, it seems like there’s no other visitors at that time too.
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Day 5 Hong Kong and Macau

Posted on January 19th, 2007 in Place of interests, Travel by yeehan

5 Jan 2007 could be one of my most adventurous mission so far. I woke up at 7am, had my breakfast on HKUST canteen and started my trip at around 8am. Brought along the Hong Kong map (you really need to carry one along if you wish to travel around. Unless you can speak the Cantonese dialect well. English and Mandarin is not very common among the Hong Kong folks although some can speak). I spent some time at the HKUST bus stop because I wasn’t sure which bus to take. There’s bus 11, 11S and 11M. In the end, after some analysing, I took the green minibus-11 from campus to the nearest MTR (Hang Hau station). One of the reason I kicked off my day early because I want to join in the morning rush hour in Hong Kong. Trust me, you wouldn’t really want to be in one of the crowds. The train is super pack, especially the Hong Kong Island Line. But thankfully, the MTR comes every two minutes or so. If you miss the train, you can hop on the next one without having to waste too much time. But every train is always full at that time. You’ll just follow the crowd to get around.

Place of Interest:
I took more than one hour to get from my hostel to Tung Chung station in Lantau Island. Why do I want to come such a long way? There’s this quite nice sight seeing place in Lantau Island; the Ngong Ping Village where the biggest outdoor Sitting Buddha is located. Before that, I alighted at one station to take a look at the Disneyland train. It looks cute, with the Mickey’s shape windows. You can go to Disneyland if you have a day to spare. It’ll take up one whole day if you really go around Hong Kong’s Disneyland. Click here for the official website. I think the tickets cost between HK$ 295 and HK$ 350.

But I didn’t go for Hong Kong’s Disneyland because I want to go to California’s which should be much bigger than HK’s.dscf0756-custom.JPG

(Writing in progress)

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