Le Bangkok

Guess where we got this from?

It's our 50th post since we first started on 1 July 2010.

I promised we'll be reviewing a product that all guys should own, but it's a dilemma if we should cross that line to present that potentially controversial gadget.

So while we deliberate on that, we shall recommend something else. A hotel in Bangkok.

Nothing sleazy, but something really really sexy.

The Le Meridien Bangkok.

Yakki, Xiao Long Bao and I flew into Bangkok for a short getaway, checked ourselves into Le Meridien and man!, it was awesome. Everything in it. The pens, the coffee maker, the breakfast, the bathtub, the bed, the chair, the sofa, the couch, the toilets (oh how I wish we had taken some shots of the toilets!). It's so hawt that we almost gave up the rest of Bangkok for the hotel.

It's nothing like Singapore's Le Meridien. And here's why..

Sexy greeting

Fancy patterns all round

Sleek sushi bar

Cyber walkways

Shanghai - Old is Gold

In our season finale of the series Shanghai, we feature the best of Shanghai. The old.

No no no (we know what you're thinking). We're not making fun of old people. Maybe we are of Shanghai.
Shanghai is a state-of-the-art city. And as with all cities, it's been so quickly developed that it seemed to have lost something. We don't see much of Shanghai in Shanghai.

Think of Shanghai and you'll picture the Bund, the Oriental Pearl tower (you know the one that looks like a phallus-looking space shuttle from Austin Powers?).

Dig deeper and you might think of the Expo and the Peace Hotel.

Further deeper, you'll get the Bund (again). Muse2 maybe. Gong Li. John Cusack.

Shanghai of now lacks depth in character. It doesn't have a strong 风味.

It's too cosmopolitan. Just like our island.

And as Yakki went searching for photo moments, only the old caught his eye.

So here we are, paying tribute to the old of Shanghai. The characters that built Shanghai.

Shanghai - Pyjamas and Arts in a Shikumen

魔娜 狸鲨

On our last day in Shanghai, we paid a visit to a transformed shikumen (石库门; pinyin: shíkùmén).

Shikumens are residential buildings whose architectural styles combine Western and Chinese elements, first appearing in Shanghai in the 1860s.

Exit city, enter enclave

Tianzi Fang of Taikang Road (泰康路/田子坊) was one such area found in the French Concession of Shanghai. As the city developed over the years, this particular shikumen has retained some of its essence despite being redeveloped into a little art enclave littered with shops art, cafes art, everything trying to be art.

Tianzi Fang's kinda overran by tourists. Located in the center of the city, it is subjected to a relentless number of DSLRs at almost any time of the day. Art pieces tend to repeat in every alternate shop.

I have a preference for 798 Artzone in Beijing, where it is less crowded by visitors and more populated with genuine art lovers.

Of course, Tianzi Fang does exude some Shanghai flair with residents displaying their own form of art.

Underwear hung anywhere and everywhere

But the cynical us doubt the authenticity of their pyjamas parade.

Likely a marketing ploy to unique-fy the place.

Still, at least Shanghai has an art zone.

I think Singapore ought to have one of its own or does have one, but we've not been there.

Wondering where where where

Anyone knows of such a place?

Don't say Esplanade ah.

Upcoming Review for the Lads

If you've been reading our past few posts, you'll realise that they've been slightly random, haphazard and perhaps lazy.

But fear not, because we're going to promise you something special very very soon.

We'll still talk about Shanghai and complete all the serious, sombre posts about the city.

We'll even throw in reviews of two very sexy places to hang in Bangkok.

However, the special post will be on something that dudes will truly madly deeply be interested in. And of course, we hope that it'll beat the Vicki Zhao post in terms of hits (that post clocked the highest number of hits in a day, mothers do sell).

Till then, get yourselves ready. Hands out of pockets.

Shrek wants to leave Old Trafford

Photo Source: soccerpitch.co.za

It comes as no surprise to me that Wayne Rooney has decided to leave Manchester United.

After all, this is a man who left his boyhood club Everton for Man U.

The same man who cheated on his wife Colleen before/after they got married (and got forgiven on both occasions).

Beauty and the Beast

Photo Source: metro.co.uk

So when he declared he wanted to stay at the "bestest club in the whole wide world" forever and ever more, you can't really take his words seriously, can you?

There's no loyalty in football.

That's why I don't subscribe to mio.

And also why Yakki's given up on Liverpool. Ha.

Maroon 5 - Misery

The age of feminism - Misery for men

Vicki Zhao in Town

According to Yahoo! Singapore, Princess Pearl star Vicki Zhao (yeah, that's how they address her, Princess Pearl) was revealed as the new brand ambassador of beauty and slimming centre Mary Chia.

Photo Source: Yahoo! Singapore

And boy, I never realised how hot she is! Having given birth to a baby girl in Gleneagles Hospital earlier this year, she can now be considered as one of the hot mamas I would love to, uhm, meet. (More photos here!)

To keep this Wednesday delightful, someone also asked me to google "HK E Cup Baby".

Photo Source: hotcute.cn

Things girls have to show these days to become famous.

And websites we have to share to keep our daily hits high.

What a sellout.

Hey, we're just keeping in line with our principles and brighten this dreary day.

A place dedicated to moments and experiences in life.

Happy Wednesday!

Shanghai - Food Review

I think we're forcing ourselves a little to make our Shanghai review complete by talking about the food.

Stuff going into Hotpot at 豆捞

I'm not a foodie. Yakki's only slightly more into food than me and his palate is only responsive to all things bread-y than Shanghainese.

Thankfully, we had our food-wine guru Xiao Long Bao with us.

Xiao Long Bao shortlisted the eateries and restaurants for us and 滴水洞饭店 was my favourite with its famed pork ribs cooked in some spicy way.

The most exotic thing we had in Shanghai was the snake soup at 保罗酒楼 which was shark's fin soup without shark's fin, but with snake meat. Very 补. Makes your snake roar, you know what I mean.

Not the snakes we ate. Some little edible frogs Yakki saw.

And we all agreed that the most memorable dish we had was the Foie Gras in Chinese Broth at Jade on 36 at Shangri-La.

A pity we didn't take a good photo of it because Yakki's fingers were constantly covered with bread crumbs.

Aside from the amazing breads, lamb and the foie gras, the rest of the food at Jade on 36 was, well, disappointing for its exorbitant prices (we paid approx. 200 sgd each, excluding the wine, which by the way sucked to the tuck). We consoled ourselves by reminding one another that we were paying for the fantastic Bund view (again, no photos as Yakki went into hibernation mode past 10pm).

Overall food experience in Shanghai. So so for me, Yakki had his bread craving satisfied at Jade on 36, while Xiao Long Bao had all the jian baos he'd been wanting.

NEd vs David: Some Things 'Bout Love

Today I spoke to a dear friend of mine about the four letter word. He was as straight and as hard and as real as anyone could be about the touchy feely topic.

So let's compare the works of NEd Flanders (took him just half a minute to conjure this para) and the awesomest product of American Idol runner-up David Archuleta (probably churned up by some generic mainstream music producer).

Which do you prefer?

NEd Flanders

When u find someone
that u think is perfect

and circumstances kinda fk it up

and the more circumstances fk it up

the more u think it's perfect and unfair

it might be clouding your judgment

but u won't know

that's when u start trying to be logical

n throw the emotional part away

and after a while

all u are left with

are bits of logic

that feel alien

like little notes written on scraps of paper
that u have to try v hard to keep in your pocket and not lose

but u can't keep it away and lock it up and keep it safe
cos u always need to pull these scraps out

to read and remind yourself

but the more u take them out

the higher the chance of losing them

Something Bout Love by David Archuleta












Every night it’s all the same
You’re frozen by the phone
You wait, something’s changed
You blame yourself every day
You’d do it again
Every night

There’s something ’bout love
That breaks your heart
Whoa oh oh oh
It sets you free

There’s something ’bout love
That tears you up
Whoa oh oh oh
You still believe
When the world falls down like the rain
It’ll bring you to your knees
There’s something ’bout love that breaks your heart
Whoa oh oh oh…
But don’t give up
There’s something ’bout love

Are you average?

SINGAPOREANS are the fourth richest people in the world in terms of personal wealth and second richest in Asia-Pacific, according to a Credit Suisse report.

The average wealth per adult here has grown from US$105,000 in 2000 to US$255,488 (S$336,000) this year.

Wealth is calculated as the value of financial assets like stocks and bonds plus non-financial assets - principally housing - less an individual's debts.

...

So are you average?

Breast Cancer Awareness

These intelligent posters from the Breast Cancer Foundation have recently made appearances on Singapore newspapers and advertising boards across the island.

Thought we should post them up to perk up your weekend.

Ladies, do check your assets once every month (Self-examination procedures are available here).

Gentlemen, keep your hands to yourselves.

Shanghai - Happy Valley

Done with the Expo after two days, we were geared up for more queuing at Shanghai's Happy Valley (欢乐谷) theme park.

So hawt!

But blessed by the scorching sun and having half-conquered the Expo, the crowd in Happy Valley appeared small.

Good Wood: The first is always the best

Photo Source: FlyingScot

I reckon we took about 7-8 rides in the 4 hours we were there, so that's a decent achievement.

No screams on this one, just yawns

However, averaging one every half hour also meant that we were turning insensitive to every turn, curve and thrust the ride gave us.

Still, knowing that the rides were made in China added extra thrill to the whole experience. And yet, Xiao Long Bao claimed that the rides were just above average.

So, we told him to forget about going to Universal Studios.

Bye Bye!

Shanghai - Singapore Expo-sed!

Ooh we're tumbling down

We're spiralling
Ooh, tied up to the ground
We're spiralling

Photo Source: AFP

Tune into an Urban Symphony. That is the theme of the Singapore Pavilion at the World Expo in Shanghai.

We arrived at the Singapore Pavilion, having seen Angola, Brazil and Canada pavilions. There was a happy feel around the Singapore Pavilion with hawker favourites and local "produce" such as Roti Prata, Laksa, Eu Yan Sang products being sold in the vicinity.

We were really proud and expectant when we flashed our red passports to cut the long queue into the exhibit area.

Until we entered the area, that is.

Before I continue, I have to apologise for the lack of original photos. Yakki refused to take any for the Singapore Pavilion.

The concept of an Urban Symphony evoked artsy-ness. You would expect a vibrant kaleidoscope of music, colours and media on the first floor.

Instead, we were treated to low-quality musical displays and plastic-paneled exhibits depicting the costumes of the four races in Singapore. I don't remember seeing any Singaporean Chinese women wearing KTV hostess-styled dresses as a cultural dress-up, but apparently that was what Singaporean Chinese women wore back in the day.

We had a replica of an F1 car randomly placed in the compound, with little fanfare to do justice to the Singapore GrandPrix, the crown jewel in Bernie Ecclestone's F1 circuit. An accompanying STB or F1 video advert or highlights of the past night races could have generated more buzz.

Reusing a 2008 STB video/photo montage would have sufficed

Photo Source: STB

We quickly browsed through the first floor and made our way to the second, hoping for some redemption.

To our delight, there was a queue to the second floor. What were we queuing for? We had no idea. What's next? No one told us anything.

We suffered in the hot weather as the pavilion, despite one of the few non air-conditioned ones, had few windows to allow humane ventilation.

Finally, we entered the auditorium on the second floor. The 8-min feature film was on how Singapore diversified its water resources by applying technology. Maybe not, it was more of an interview, no, it was a lecture by our Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew on the topic.

I love the old man, but it seemed like someone wanted to milk on MM's reputation and popularity in China to enhance the whole pavilion experience. They could have showed an educational video on how NEWater's made or the desalination plants around Singapore or the Marina Barrage. Or how Marina Bay was developed from nothing into the brilliant skyline we have today. Or put on a YOG video.

Anyway, if we had tried to impress the Chinese, we didn't as comments such as "Wake me up when the show's over," or "等了这么久听他胡说什么" were heard in the crowd.

We gave up on the entire Singapore experience and headed for the exit. Except that the only exit was to head up to the 3rd floor and complete YourSingapore experience before you can leave.

Reaching the top of the pavilion, trees, plants and Chinese people engulfed us as we sought for the way out. The view would have been perfect from the roof of the pavilion, but the architect decided that in Singapore, your view should be blocked by trees. You should not have a great view of other countries' pavilions. You should have an inward perspective of the world.

We felt quite disappointed with the whole visit to our country's pavilion. Of the three we visited earlier, Singapore's underwhelmed us. We visited Japan's later on, and they had a 3D-model of a water treatment process, something that we could have placed in our own.

As we left, I overheard a Singaporean remarking that the exhibitions within the pavilion felt very juvenile, very primary school. We couldn't agree more. We went on a complaining marathon about the pavilion.

So, if there's one thing the pavilion did excel in, it stirred the true blue whiny Singaporeans in us. And for all the bad valid reasons.