Review of PASSCHENDAELE

Today I did nothing really special but I finally got down to watching PASSCHENDALE. I borrowed it from a friend so I had to finish watching it somehow. It is a good show for those who understand history and people, not for dumb people without emotions and going for a quick thrill. This show basically revolves around Michael Dunne and Canadians who served the the First World War.

This show shows its abhorence for war and how naive some young men were. But I guess this story focuses more on love and how the war veteran Michael Dunne manages to throw aside all prejudices and continue to love the lady (Sarah Mann) who is of German descent but has become a Canadian. Of course there's an antagonist in the form of a British who became a Canadian major who was extremely prejudiced. He made life difficult for The Sarah and Michael, and even helped to authorise David Mann (Sarah's younger brother) to go out to fight at the front. This is the very naive boy I am talking about. Anyway he's not supposed to go as he is medically unfit with asthma. Sarah misunderstood Michael and thought he helped to authorise the recruitment of her younger brother to the front for the Canadian Corp.

To cut the long story short, this naive boy David Mann whisks himself to the front, causes the sister's lover to go along to watch over him, and eventually the sister herself - a military nurse ends up over there too. What I cannot understand is the stupid boy charges himself into the trenchline of the enemy and forces Michael to save him. Michale dies in the process but manages to bring David back to his sister. A tragic ending for a love story... but I guess the show wants to remember the Canadians who did contribute to the war (in both wars in fact) but had been forgotten. Perhaps it also reminds us not to be prejudiced towards the innocent who are already citizens of allied nations but happened to be ethnically tied to the nations that started the war.

A moving story for those who have a heart and understands humanities.

12 more days to go~~~ Acquired new toys..

Just managed to increase my toy collection by finishing on the fixing and assembling plus painting of the 94 TK Tank that was part of the Japanese invasion force that came to Malaya and Singapore in the Battle for Malaya and Singapore. Now I have an additional model to show for lessons. Also found 2 different sizes small violins that serve as great ornaments and I put one on my dearie's doll to actually find that the sizes fit. Lastly the US Marines which I bought at a very big discount (original price of one figure could allow me to purchase all 3 shown here!) to be included in my blog. OK nothing much to update now. Still having bits and pieces of nightmare over the car accident but I should be getting better...

Day 11 without her...

A most terrible thing happened today... whie going to work with Gavin it rained. So I did slow down my car at the very juncture when the accident happened. I was going at 80km/h ~ not fast already loh...

Then the car in front braked, and did a sudden swerve into my lane!!! What the hell! The car in front was so close that I did not have the chance to go forward to the left (which Mark taught me to) so I braked and the car skidded. I only remembered vaguely not to fight the skidding and just go along with it so I let the car glide itself onto the road shoulder. 3 lanes my car moved and luckily no car came along to hit us!!! The SOB who cut into our lane just went off without a care of whether Gavin and I was alive or hurt! WTH! A kind Samaritarian - an young Indian chap stopped his motorbike to see whether we were ok (at least there are still kind souls around).

Somehow I did not feel very bitter, just fed up with that driver and I thought I handled everything well... I felt sorry for almost putting Gavin's life in jeopardy, I mean like its not my fault but I still feel guilty lah... Anyway everyone was glad we were ok and it was the car that in a way protected us. LUCKY I did not drive fast. FUCK these thoughtless assholes on the road. And the asshole who threw the thrash bag onto the road and make this guy or woman cut into my lane!

Think the last thing I have to think of is to thank God, he must've been watching out for both of us because no car followed up. Damn heng lah! Thank you God for watching over both of us!

Day 10 without darling: National Museum, Gathering at my House - Labour Day

Today went with my family to National Museum to watch teh Kangxi Exhibition. At the entrance to the National Museum kenna stopped from entering and had to take body temperature first. Super sien. Only later then did I realise that the swine flu situation had worsened. However we finally managed to enter the whole place and did a lot of visiting around. It was a nice trip with my family even though it was tiring. Finally we had to rush off as I need to be home to let my students come into my house to have the gathering at my house.


I quickly got back home to have a few of them already waiting downstairs. Finally let them in and they started getting everybody here and prepared. It was a tiring and hot and warm time but I got to watch 'Wolverine' and "Role Model' with the kids before we took a few pictures and said our goodbyes. The food was overwhelming again and I think 2 days of unhealthy food is really terrible to my stomach and body. :OP

Day 7

Day 7 with someone being not around.

Today my workplace decided to break a Guiness World Record by having the 'Bangla Dance' and somehow our level meeting was cancelled so we could support this event. It was hot and really heaty but kinda fun. I had done some event with over half of my class who was also there to support the event. These guys are so wild. I think only I can put up with them to a large extent....

Cambodia - Reflections

First of all, the experience was not far off compared to Vietnam Ho Chi Minh City, however the remarkable difference was in the temples which the local Cambodians, who called themselves Khmers were proud of. The only other country that can claim heritage of having built such temples - called Wats would be Thailand - which inevitably lead to the recent border dispute.

Siemreap was the area for the visiting of all the Wats. The greatest of all the Wats would be Angkor Wat - making all other Wats dwarf in comparison to its immense size. The time I spent at Angkor Wat was perhaps 3 times more than any other Wats I visited. The most disappointing moment was when I reached the 2nd last tier of the temple only to find the highest point is under renovation.... a project that will drag into year 2009. Angkor Wat was build by Suryavarman II (refer http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suryavarman_II)
The other Wats also had their own distinct features and showed a splendour in their days of glory. Most well remembered (I really meant well remembered caused its either a lot of walking or a lot of climbing) would be the
Phimeanakas (Khmer: ប្រាសាទភិមានអាកាស, Prasat Phimean Akas, 'celestial temple') or Vimeanakas - the place where the then king had to spend a night on top of the temple with a Naga (snake or reptilian) girl every night. Otherwise either the kingdom would fall or he would die. (refer http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phimeanakas) One must remember that such myths or folklores are severely exaggerated at times.
Since King Jayavarman VII (7) was someone that was prominent enough to be found in the history textbooks I read before, it was no wonder he was a traditional hero to local people. He was the one who brought the Khmer Empire to the peak of its power (according to both local and foreign sources). Angkor Thom - which was preceded by high walls guarded by statues of guards - was said to be his playground (refer to http://i-gotta-go.blogspot.com/2008/11/angkor-thom-king-jayavarman-viis.html) . He also build Ta Prohm in honor of his mother and Preah Khan in honor of his father. I had the fortune to visit all three and take pictures of them.

Enough of Wats, I visited so many I lost count of them... as well as most of their names. Most of the Wats are undergoing reconstruction - or I should say projects that aim to strengthen the structures without too many changes as much as possible. The life of the boat people (which I visited on the 3rd day) was both interesting but also a reflection of living standards of most Cambodians. The Tonle Sap Lake was so massive that I felt like I was at sea!

Phnom Penh turned out the be the least interesting place of all. Even the museum itself felt stifling. The Killing Fields and the School (known as S21) where many were tortured and killed for crimes they never committed is worth one look (I really meant ONE) as you can read up the rest of the story yourself. I missed the video at the school which airs at 10am and 3pm but I don't really felt I've missed much as I've bought a related video years back by myself. Despite knowing what had happened, it was still chilling and eerie to be there particularly when it was close to evening.

Another great place was the beaches of Sihanouk Ville. Just imagine you are visiting Phuket in its early stages before more tourists and human activities corrupted the place. I was literally looking at fishes on the beach and crabs running across my feet! Its a great place to nua.

If you're going Cambodia.. brings lots of US dollars... these people do not seem to holdtheir own money in high regard. Their money is better used as small change - e.g. USD 0.25,0.5 & 0.75.

Backtracking to Saturday 15th

Went out for a celebration with the ex-JW kids - Kah Han and Andy's birthday. They've changed slightly over these few months. A pity Tinglei didn't join them. It was one outing that- for the first time I did not see her join them. The highlight of the whole gathering ... to me before I lef

t... was Mardiyah spoiling her slipper in the middle of Orchard Road of all places .... :oP