Loving age

Warning: Spoilers ahead!

What's with the 'spring-autumn romance' theme? Of course I know that in real life, younger men do go out with older women. I'm just surprised the idea has turned up as often as it has in Korean drama. I thought Koreans were rather conservative about these things. Perhaps producers want to 'challenge steoreotypes'.

My Name is Kim Sam Soon

Sam Soon (30) and Jin Heon (27)

She's definitely more mature than he but the tragedy quotient in his life is pretty high and he has many work and family responsibilities so he isn't immature or anything. Just less mature. They don't look too bad together. Anyway, a 3-year age gap is no big deal what. I think.

(pic from here)

Dalja's Spring

Dalja (33) and Tae Bong (27)

The age gap is very obvious here. Plus, Dalja is independent, has gone through a lot, etc, while Tae Bong still has so much to experience in life. In the end, though, she does find a sense of security with him. It also helps that both are cheerful, optimistic types.

(pic from here)

What's Up, Fox?
Byeong Hee (33) and Chul Su (24)

This one is more like spring-winter! How is it possible to fall in love with the baby you helped take care of? I really cannot fathom this relationship.

(pic from here)

Daring Sisters

(a.k.a. Rude Women)

Mi Ju (39) and Rookie (32)

A popular baseball player falling for a divorcee with a teenage son - talk about challenging stereotypes! It helps that Rookie is over 30 (though both of them are really young at heart) and his tragedy quotient is also pretty high (orphaned at a young age, injured at the prime of his career, etc). I suppose they could identify with each other's lonely struggles in life. Very feel-good, this one.

(pic from here)

Interestingly, the guys with the 'bigger' age gaps (i.e. more than 3 years, i.e. the latter 3 shows) are more single-minded in the pursuit of love. A refreshing change from guys who are caught between two girls because of blackmail / gratitude for some past favour / parental pressure / some deep dark secret, etc.

All this just brings me back to my old point that there's something about the creative juices of K drama scriptwriters and producers. Well, some of them...

No wonder

According to a poll of about 300 people, reported in yesterday's Sunday Times, (how come nobody ever asks me these things?), the Seven Wonders of Singapore are (in order of merit):

1. The Esplanade (a whopping 82 votes)

2. Changi Airport (53 votes)

3. Sentosa

4. The Merlion

5. The Singapore River

6. Food

7. Mount Faber and LKY (tie - 10 votes each)

Some 'offbeat choices' which didn't make it to the top 7: aunties selling tissue paper at coffee shops, Singlish, kiasuism, 4D-Toto outlets and Newater (said someone of Newater: 'We are probably the only country with branded recycled sewage.' Well said, ha ha.).

Maybe it's a personal bias but I feel that a 'Wonder' must also have strong historical and cultural/social value (so I'm rather miffed that Angkor Wat didn't make it to the 7 Wonders of the World; in fact it was never in the running for the top 7). Therefore, these choices are a little too modern for me. The Esplanade, for example, is arty and cultural, I suppose, but in too modern a sense. I'd rather go for the original Esplanade, that stretch beside the sea, where the Satay Club used to be.

Anyway, how did Mount Faber make it to the list? I didn't know 'natural' features were considered 'Wonders' of this sort. Well, I can think of some better natural wonders, e.g. all the off-the-beaten-track natural habitats for birds, marine and other creatures. And that 80-year-old Braddell Road angsana tree (chopped down already).

What I would choose:

1. Fort Canning Hill/Bukit Larangan (i.e. whatever remains of the palace, fort, excavation site)

2. City Hall, Supreme Court, Padang and the old Esplanade (the whole area)

3. National Museum (revived!) and the old National Library (chopped down already) at Stamford Road

4. Sultan Mosque and former Sultan's Palace (the current Malay Heritage Centre)

5. National Stadium (going to be chopped down)

6. Nicoll Highway (still there) and old Kallang Airport (chopped down already)

7. My dear school, CHIJ Victoria Street and the old SJI (both partly still there, partly chopped down) -- wah, so biased, choose her old school one

pic from Pastel Portraits

Okay, I know I cheated by having pairs, but some of these really go together what. By the way, notice how 'wonders' have a habit of being chopped down?

As for the non-building and non-food choices, I really wouldn't argue with LKY being on the list. Here's what else I would choose:
1. The Peranakan sarong kebaya, complete with kerosang, silver belt, beaded slippers, the works
2. The song 'Singapura'
3. Singlish, as chosen already by others
4. 'The Awakening' (Chinese drama serial)

Any other biased and unbiased suggestions, anyone?

From 20th to final

Four S'porean sailors have ensured that Singapore will sail (in at least one category) at the Olympics!! Woo... woo... claps... whistles...

pic from CNA

Apparently, the guys have done well enough to be assured of an overall position of nothing worse than 20th in this World Championship they are competing in. So, let's say they finish 20th. What are their chances at the Olympics?

Well, they can look to Marion Bartoli for inspiration. Ranked 20th in the world, she beat Ms Impossible-is-nothing world #1 Justine in the semis for a place in the Wimbledon final. As she (Marion, i.e.) was inspired by Pierce Brosnan rooting for her from the stands (after which she got the tag 'licensed to dream' -- ha ha, cute), perhaps the sailing people can get a Bond girl or two to cheer the guys on next year.

Best memory of this year's Wimbledon:

pic from the Wimbledon site

Great match, great sportsmen. Too bad neither of them made it past the semis... again... Never mind lah, they can try again next year. After all, impossible is nothing...

Well, if it does come to nothing, Djokovic may have it in him to make it in the entertainment scene when/if he retires from tennis. This hilarious clip shows him impersonating various other players. Best appreciated if you are a tennis fan.

Watch it here: N

Babies versus giants

Here is another of my ominous post-China visit posts. Every time I go there, I think there is no way we can compete with China. In fact, I think we will be overwhelmed. Actually, one doesn't need to go there to think that, I'm sure.

Shunde

I'll bet the majority of Chinese Singaporeans don't even know this city exists. I was one such Singaporean till I learnt that it is my father-in-law's hometown. It's about an hour's drive away from Guangzhou and a very much less busy place. This lady working at our Guangzhou hotel exclaimed, 'Shunde? What did you do there? Such a boring place.'

Actually, Shunde (Sun Tak in Cantonese) is a really successful city and a manufacturing hub. All sorts of things are made there, including furniture, home appliances, and even Little Tikes toys! Shunde people are also astute business people. I'm told, though, that they are not keen on their city becoming a mega bustling city so they are content with enjoying their wealth and living a more 'relaxed' (comparatively) lifestlye.

So, it isn't swarming with people and cars, and I could actually get across this major road without running for my life. In some other parts of China, I don't even dare to cross at the traffic crossing.

Along the way from Shunde to Guangzhou, aside from huge factories and warehouses, there are also huge condo developments.

So... it's rich, successful, and still growing... where do we stand in comparison?

Guangzhou

Guangzhou's success is well-known, so I won't go into it. I'll just put these pictures of huge expo/convention complexes being built.

Imagine all this construction going on along, say, the stretch of the ECP (I'm not really good at estimating distances). These are just the ones being built. There are complexes already in use. In comparison, Suntec City and those Expo halls in the East are like babies. Apparently, when there's a big convention or expo in town, the city's hotels' seams really burst and people stay all the way up at the Shunde hotels. Why are we not quaking in our boots?

If I'm not wrong, the hordes of MICE visitors descending on our IRs/casinos are supposed to invigorate our economy. But are we even going to get hordes coming here, when they can go somewhere more spacious, with the requisite facilities and supporting infrastructure, and cheaper?

Even the 'entertainment' segments of our IRs will be like babies. How big can our Universal Studios park be? Plus, I foresee we will face the visitorship problems that the 'small' HK Disneyland faces. Also, Macau opened its 25th casino earlier this year. I'm not a fan of the casino idea but, you know, these guys have already got 25 of them, with the 25th already up and running. How are our 2 (am I right about the number?) going to compete?

What are the odds for us, really? And this is just in relation to a part of southern China.

Had lunch yet?

Besides HK, we also went over to Guangzhou and Shunde (more about this city another day). If your taste buds are as Southern Chinese as mine, you will probably enjoy the food there. With the huge portions they serve, don't be surprised if you put on weight after a few days there! After all, some Cantonese dishes are also rather oily (and salty).

Yummy dumpling noodles, not too different from what you can get here, except that the bowl is much bigger...

Water cress soup, again not unlike what you get here, in a huge pot (diameter about 30cm I think). The pot is sitting on one of those wheely serving trolleys because it's too bulky to leave on the table.

Generously large bowl of porridge, char siew/siew yuk, very fresh choy sum. Strange, we only got the stems of the choy sum. Wonder what happened to the leaves. In the top left of the picture is the brown lid of the huge soup pot (also on a trolley). Vegetables are really fresh but, as my sister constantly reminds me, you don't know what the plants and animals there are fed. That's true...

Shunde serves all sorts of food, including stuff like deep fried locusts and dunno what else, but I am not that adventurous and stuck to more conventional food. A few examples of what you can try there:
(I know this is a lousy photo, and also, we forgot about taking pictures of the food until it was half gone.)

Top left: from the bittergourd soup - they wrap the soup bones with the bittergourd
Top centre: roast pigeon - this was suppposed to be mine and I refused to eat it (see, not very adventurous). I guess it tastes alright and it's all in the mind but, while I like chicken, duck and goose, if you serve me any other bird, like owl, swan, parrot or canary, I will definitely not touch it. Anyway, everyone else liked the pigeon so it was eaten up in no time.
Front left: deep fried lotus root slices, with some fish cake-like stuffing - yum!!
Front right: fried milk, a Shunde speciality - not sure how it's done but it tastes like egg tofu

Another thing about food in both HK and China is that when you ta pau (pack) something that comes with soup, they pack the soup separately, unlike here, where they put the soup into the same container (or plastic bag! - and charge you more for the container some more) as your noodles or whatever. Very environmentally unfriendly, as my other sister would say, but it keeps your noodles or whatever from getting soggy.