Life, Travel, GRACE

It's year end school holiday again. Since we didn't have any overseas trip for 2018, we decided to venture to the south - Johor. Obviously the place of interest was Legoland since the kids were coming along. We also went to Universal Studio Singapore (USS) for a day trip, arranged by the resort we stayed. The kids like Legoland than USS because there's hands-on activities there (building Lego blocks). They also enjoyed the Ninjago ride. As for USS, we like USJ more. However, USS didn't disappoint as well. We like the Transformer ride and Jurassic adventure ride. Unfortunately, there's no Harry Potter theme there. The disappointment of the trip was the long queue at Woodlands checkpoint. I think the Singaporean government should do something about it. The queue was smooth at Malaysia checkpoint though. The upmarket Legoland Resort View from our Airbnb apartment Discovering the Legoland Miniature Taj Mahal Miniature KLIA airport Miniatur

Was away to China for 3 weeks last month. The first I wanted to do was to catch this movie after came back. One of the best, if not the best movie of this year. Because of this movie, I've become a "partial" fan of Queen (as I like some of their tunes but not all). Although some important parts have been censored by the national censorship (related to LGBT element), it still delivers a stellar storyline with good musical performances. Now, one would weigh if next year Rocketman is going to be as good as this.

It's school holiday again. Although it was a short break, we made full use of the week to get away to nearby cities: Port Dickson and Melaka. As soon as we reached Port Dickson, we stopped by at Pusat Ikan Hiasan Port Dickson (literally translated as Ornamental Fish Centre). This place was highly recommended by travellers. You get to see some of the exotic fish. Turtles are available too. Just outside the centre, there's a famous cendol stall. Again it was recommended by travellers. I found that the taste of cendol was just ok. After that, we checked in at the Grand Lexis where kids had fun in the private pool. The next day, we drove to Melaka via inter-state roads. It was a hot day. I guessed the temperature shot up to 37 degrees Celsius. In Melaka, we took the river cruise. Our first time :) The next day, we sampled some of the local delicacy around the Jonker Street area. And we left the town after had Nyonya food. Not too bad for a three-day trip. One of the turtl

This year Chinese New Year we went back to Sabah. To make full use of our holiday, we went for a short trip to Kundasang. There's where one can get a closer look of Mount Kinabalu. We stayed at The Pine's Resort. It's the best place for mountain view. We went to the Desa Farm, where the mountain view is even more spectacular. The boys were enjoying themselves with the cows too. On our way back to Sandakan, we stopped by at the Sabah Teh farm. Not a bad place either, although much improvement is needed. Mount Kinabalu as seen from our flight to Sandakan. Mountain view from the resort. Part of the Desa Farm Mountain view from Desa Farm. Sabah Tea farm. Panoramic view of Sabah Tea farm. On a clear sky, one could see Mount Kinabalu from Sabah Tea farm. Photos taken with iPhone 6s

As some may have known, the little country of Malaysia had its general election on 9th May. And I took this opportunity to go back to my hometown to cast my vote. Apart from that, it was time to pay my parents a visit, although we've just met in last February. Immediately after touched down at the airport, my sister fetched me to the polling station. The polling process was quite smooth. Maybe because it was already late afternoon and everyone had done their voting in the morning session. Usually, on the same night everyone would stuck in front of TV to catch the election result. Well, as for me, I met up with my high school classmates. Talked about work, life and of course politics while checking the unofficial result from our mobile phones. It was a nice catch-up. And we had it another round on the following night.

Watched this year Academy's Best Picture - The Shape of Water recently and fell in love with its score and music. After all, it also won the Best Original Score. It's a very simple story - love, hope and victory. Probably that's the ingredient of winning. On the other hand, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri has my upmost reverence. In my opinion, it should have won The Best Picture. The problem with this movie is that the theme of love and hope is not there. In fact, it's a movie full of hatred, revenge and foul language. But in the end, it turns out to be redemption and acceptance. Probably that could be the reason for not getting The Best Picture. And its score and music are better than The Shape of Water. Well, that's probably my personal taste.

The next day was cold as well. Decided to take up the free walking tour around the Old Town. Well, I read from internet resource saying that the Old Town is not actually old as the area has been renovated. Anyway, before joined the tour, I walked to the bus station (called Filaret) to check out the ticket, as I planned to take a bus ride to Sofia in the next few days. Residential apartments are aplenty, plus the thawing snow which made the street wet and slippery. Not a good time to walk actually. The bus station turned out to be quite run-down. Although the building facade looked ok, inside it was quite empty and run-down. Wanted to purchase advanced ticket but it was not possible. Buy on the travel day is ok, the counter lady said. So I continued my walking journey to the Union Square, where the official free walking tour should start. Good thing about this walking tour was that the history and background of the city were explained. At least I know the social impact of the constr