Of course, during my recent trip there, one important thing to do was to makan (eating in Malay), eat, eat and eat!

I managed to try out quite a number of dishes. Although we could find most of these dishes in Singapore as well, these dishes tasted very different in Penang. I am not good in remembering and describing the tastes. (That is why I am not a food blogger.)

Anyway, these are the food which I had tried in Penang.

Popiah or spring roll.

Fried Oyster Omelette… (Look at the Oysters!!!!)

Wanton noodle

Kang Kong with Cuttlefish

Another Popiah. The difference is that, they have poured a scoop of gravy on it.

Curry Noodle. It is more of sour than spicy.

View of Gurney Drive hawker centre

Chicken Rice. Somehow, I feel that this is a mixed of chicken rice and nasi lemak, because they have coconut milk in the rice.

BBQ Stingray. It has a taste of curry.

Fried Hor Fun. It cost extra to have an egg in it.

Fried Rice. This one also cost extra to have egg in it.

Penang Laska. It is sour and not spicy.

Another Penang Laksa. This one came with a cracker.

Chicken and Pork Satay

5 Types of Satay – Chicken, Chicken Tom Yan, Pork, Intestine and mutton.

A road side Durian Store

Red Prawn Durian, so far the best I ever tasted.

Another Durian

Herbal Tea with Pastries at Ming Xiang Tai

Salted Egg Pastry… look at the salted egg….

Egg Tart – freshly out of the oven.

During the Earth Hour, I was happened to be at a supermarket. In support of the Earth Hour, the supermarket chain switched off most of the lights. The supermarket was still very bright.

So my take back from this Earth Hour is that, we had switched on too much light every day of the year. It was only slightly diner in the supermarket, and I observed that only 1/3 of the lights was switched on. In another words, the supermarket can potentially save 2/3 of the electricity on lights. Imagine the carbon reduction.

As such, I am still thinking, since so many years ago, what had Earth Hour actually achieved? Buildings, companies are still wasting electricity on non-essential lights, switching on too many lights every single day of the year.

The Earth Hour is over, the lights were switched on again, what had everyone learned from the 60 minutes? Is the statement really made? Or back to normal life?

For me, the only take back is, we do not really switch on so much light. Only if, through these 60 minutes, those participating organizations realized that they had switched on too much light in the past and reduce the amount of light from this point of time, then I believe that the statement had been made.

Moving around within in Seattle is fairly easy. You can simply take the bus/metro to Westlake Station and visit the Pike Place Market. At the Pike Place Market, you can taste the fresh seafood (with a price) or simply enjoy the liveliness of the stores there. From there, visit the first Starbuck Coffee shop (the queue is very long) or go down to the Alaskan Way. Along the Alaskan Way are the piers with a different kind of energy. The ship to Canada depart from one of the piers.

Alternatively, from Westlake Center (beside Westlake Station), take a train to the Space Needle. Enjoy the show, watching the water dances with the music at the International Fountain.

You can also take a stroll eastward to the International District Station, observing the beautiful buildings, e.g. Seattle Public Library – Central Library. The Chinatown town is just beside the International District Station. On the other side of the International District Station, there are the Century Link Field, home of the Seattle Seahawks American Football Team, and Safeco Field, home of the Seattle Mariners Baseball Team.

Possible short 1 to 2 hours tours are the Duck Tour (starting at Westlake Center) and the Underground Tour (at Pioneer Square). The Duck Tour will take you to some sights of Seattle, including Lake Union, Space Needle, etc. Whereas, the Underground Tour, as its name mentioned, took us back in time to see the old Seattle, where the ground floor used to be.

These are some of the photos taken in Seattle.

It started some time back, when my younger brother loaned me a DVD of The Phantom of the Opera movie.

Sometime last year, I stumbled upon the 25th Anniversary The Phantom of the Opera at the Royal Albert Hall Blu-Ray at a local shopping mall. I bought the disc almost immediately.

Before I realized it, I was captivated in front of the TV screen for the next three hours

When I got to know that The Phantom of the Opera was coming to Singapore at Grand Theatre of MasterCard Theatres at Marina Bay Sands, I bought the tickets immediately. The Phantom was played by Brad Little and Christine was played by Claire Lyon.

I must admit, I was not that willing to part too much of my money (which I regretted later), and not really experienced in choosing seats. I purchased the first row of the second cheapest tickets. Only available tickets in the next higher tier were just a row in front. I thought that the visual will not have much different with just a row apart. Only when I got sited, I realized that it was the first row of the upper deck. There was a safety bar in front of me. If I lean back, my vision would be block. So I ended up watching the whole musical leaning forward. From my position, I could see that last row from the next tier had so much better view. Anyway, I learnt a lesson.

I could not help but to compare the three versions which I watched.

The movie version was remarkable in term of the computer graphic effect, especially the rising of the chandelier. It really brought us back to the theatre in 1881 Paris. I also found it make more logical sense on the timing of the falling chandelier. At the same time, it took away some of the mysteries of The Phantom. I was a bit disappointed that the Phantom was not that ugly as expected when he was unmasked.

I personally found that the vocal in the movie was not as good as the theatre versions, in Blu-Ray or live. Some of the stage magic could not be duplicated in the movie. Example was Christine could appear to change three very different looking costumes without actually leaving the stage.

The 25th Anniversary disc was almost as good as being there. On top of that, the camera zoomed in in a number of occasions, and this allowed us to watch the actors’ and actress’ expression. We could feel their emotions. The use of the LEDs and having the orchestras above the stage complimented the performance. On the other hand, the over use of the LEDs somehow at the same time limited the wow factor in the stage magic.

It was nothing compared to watching the performance live. Of course, we could not expect the large cast in a regular show compared to the special edition like the 25th Anniversary. But I think it was already sufficient to woo the audience. Without the LEDs, I could see the wonders of the stage magic. There was the rising and falling of the chandelier (absence in the 25th Anniversary). There was the transformation of the stage from the old ruined look to a new look. There were sudden appearances of The Phantom in the various occasions (e.g. during the “All I Ask of You (Reprise)” and “Why So Silent?”).

Sitting at the high up at the upper deck did have some advantages. I could see how the disappearing and re-appearing of The Phantom being done in ending of “Why So Silent?”.

Overall, the three versions of The Phantom of the Opera gave me much enjoyment. I would like the live viewing best, provided that I could get much better seating. If I do have a chance to visit New York or London, and it is still playing there, I think I will be catching the show again there.

Initially, I thought there was the only long wait. When I started the game, it performed an update with the server. It took another awfully long time to process “large file”. After that, I had to restart the game to start playing. Over the course of the few days, it had to be updated a few times. Perhaps, it is because it is still a fairly new game. There is much to be updated.
The first ten to twenty minutes was spent going through a sort of “tutorial” on the basics of the game. Although “basics”, it was sufficient to get me get started. Along the way, there was pop up guides to provide hints and “to-do” to proceed with the game.

At the start of the game, I had to build roads, basic infrastructures (ie, water supply, electric power, etc), zoning the areas, etc. The fun part was to slowly, from nothing, seeing a town being form, from hourly deficit to profitable, the expanding towards becoming a city.

Later, I was guided to put public services (ie police station, schools, etc) to increase the land value, so as to attract wealthier residents.

At a certain point of the time, I was prompted that, I need more residents to provide workers for the factories. I kept expanding the residential zone and yet there was very few occupants in the new areas. It took me a 2nd hour into the game, before I was “guided” that, to increase the density of the residential area, I need to upgrade the road. I think it was one of the fun parts of the game, to discover new tricks.

Before I knew it, I was prompted to start another city in a neighboring area.

I found that Simcity is an interesting game. It is opened ended, and I believe I will spend hours playing this game. And I am still learning how to play this game.

Recently, I bought a LG 3D Smart Television. This television has USB ports for me to plug in a thumb drive and has the capability to display 3D MPO files. With a viewer, I now have a sudden interest to take 3D pictures with my TG-310 camera and view it on the television.

TG-310 has only one lens as compared to a dedicated 3D camera which has two lenses. Therefore, to take a 3D picture, I have to take a picture, align the viewer to overlay image and the camera will automatically record the second image to form the 3D image.

A 3D image in make out of 2 pictures.

Initially, I had problem taking the second image. I would shift the camera to the right or left to align the image, but the camera would not record the second image. Later, I found out that the easiest way to capture the second image fast was not to shift the camera. I just had to rotate the camera slightly to the right. Most of the time, the camera would capture the second image in a split second.

I also notice that, I have to take care on the subject. I had to take special care that, there was no moving object in the picture. I was taking two pictures with time lap. If there is a moving object, this object will appear in two different places. As a result, it will create a flicking effort.

Notice the sliver car on the right lane. It was moving, resulting a flicking effect on the final 3D image

When we arrived at LEGOLAND, I was surprised by the long queue at the ticketing counters. Lucky for us, we booked the package from the official travel agent. On top of the transport from Singapore Flyer to LEGOLAND, we already had the physical tickets on hand. We did not have to go through these queues. Furthermore, due to the large turnout during the December peak holiday session, they had put notice that they limited the number of visitors.

There were a few roller coaster riders in the LEGOLAND theme park, e.g. the Dragon at the LEGO Kingdoms. Due to the peak session, the wait for each of these rides was expected to be around 45min to 60min. I am not a fan of roller coaster, so this did not bother me at all. Furthermore, I was not keen to get myself wet at the Dino Island.

Even without going for these rides, LEGOLAND was still an enjoyable trip for the whole family. There were many family orientated games and rides. And the queues to these were much shorter.

Personally, I quite enjoyed the 4D show. We watched the “Spell Breaker”. The show was designed for the 3D experience. When the hero was stretching out his hand, a few children actually stretched out their hands, too, to reach for the hero’s hand. The wind and the water effect enhanced the overall experience.

I was also fascinated by the models in the Miniland. They had built these models which looked so much like the real landmark. On top of that, they had made wonders on making these model cars and ships moving in the scenes. We could also fire water jet from a pirate ship model. I think I spent at least an hour there just to take pictures of the models.

Overall, I found that LEGOLAND was a giant playground for the whole family. Spending a day at LEGOLAND may not be sufficient for us to fully enjoy the theme park. To fully enjoy the day at LEGOLAND, I would suggest purchasing the tickets prior to going there, reaching there when it opens at 10am, if possible.

Maybe, we shall wait till the LEGO theme resort beside it to be opened, and we shall spend a few days there, enjoying ourselves.

There are two sides of the collection book – the Light side and the Dark side. Of course, the Light side refers to the Heroes, the Jedis, the Alliance, etc. And the Dark side refers to the Sith, the Empire, etc.

Light Side Front Cover

Dark Side Front Cover

In each page, there is at least a stamp featuring a major character in the Star Wars movies. There are also 2 sets of middle pages, featuring the blue prints of the vehicles from the movies. There is also a very long poster included.

Light Side Page showing Anakin Skywalker and Luke Skywalker

Dark Side Page showing Darth Vadar

Light Side Middle Pages with the Alliance Ships Blue Print and the Poster came along

Huawei Mediapad

I do not like that my tablet is the same as most other people, as such I would avoid the dominating players.
I was not looking for the latest device. I just need a tablet for my occasionally weekend usage, to check mail or latest news, etc. I do not play processing intensive games, for now.

Huawei’s Mediapad caught my attention. Without thinking much, I bought one 7” unit during the recent Tech Show in Singapore.

The Mediapad look very similar to most other Tablet on the market. It came with a power charger and a microUSB cable. I was quite disappointed that, it was not using the commonly used microUSB charger like those in the mobile phones, despite that the voltage was the same – 5V.

The operating system was Android 3.2. I thought it would be Android 4.1 Jellybean. But this does not really concern me, as long as I can use the Apps I need.

My understanding was that, it has phone function. Amazingly, I could not find the phone icon. I checked on the net. I found out that, I need to do a firmware upgrade. Since my SIM card is a purely data plan, and I can use the Apps I need, I put the firmware upgrade on hold. Unless, I want to use the Mediapad as my mobile phone. However, I do not think it would be any time soon, because I found it too big as phone.

Over all, I find that the Huawei’s Mediapad could be a good choice for an alternative from the dominating players. It provided the basic functions required as a Tablet. I can easily download addition Apps.

Bottom Connectors for Huawei Mediapad

These are some of the photos taken during the event.

A Red Power Ranger

A Lego Town with Star Wars Storm Troopers Parade

Lego of Star Wars Rebel Hanger

Lego Incredible Hulk under Millenium Falcon

Figure of the Incredible Hulk from the Movie Avengers

Figure Captain America fighting Loki from the Movie The Avengers

Scale Model of The Bat from the movie Dark Knight Rises

Figure the Black Widow from the movie The Avengers

A Gundam Model, I think

2 Cosplay

Cosplay Kamen Rider Faiz , standing behind is Kamen Rider Black and a Green Power Ranger

Cosplay Iron Man

Cosplay from the Game Halo

Cosplay Predator