2008 In Review - TV

Continuing the 2008 Review with the TV shows and games that made my year.

TV Shows
2008's the year I discovered and thoroughly enjoyed Doctor Who and its spin-off Torchwood. :~ So much that many other TV shows now pale in comparison.


But one that has in no way paled is Dexter. In fact, Dexter's had a much better season in 2008 than last year. For me, this is the best US TV show by far.


My other favourites in 2008 include Burn Notice, Lost and Pushing Daisies. I'm especially sad Pushing Daisies is on its way out, I feel this was one of the gems of US TV.

The new US fall TV season has been a big disappointment. The only 2 shows I'm enjoying are Life On Mars and Eleventh Hour. I'm not sure whether the fact that both are remakes of British shows has anything to do with it.

Another Thailand screwup

You just had to know it was coming. PAD started it all. And now we've got a group of Thaksin followers, dubbed the Red Shirts, staging a protest in Bangkok.

This all has the potential to turn into a never-ending story that will send the country spiralling out of control.

Apparently the current government granted a five-day-long holiday to the working people to celebrate the New Year. At this rate, there won't be a lot of working people in Thailand pretty soon.

Fun Bit 009 - Stealing handbags after sex

News:

Yew Kin Wah, 39, went to Geylang and picked up a 34-year-old China woman for sex on Sept 4. He drove her to an open carpark at Aljunied industrial estate where they had sex outside the car. After sex, he drove off with her handbag containing $600 and a cellphone.

Five days later, he approached a 33-year-old China woman for sex. He took her to the open carpark at Geylang East industrial estate where he made off with her handbag with about $520 after sex.

On each occasion, he had agreed to pay them $50.

His lawyer, Mr Laurence Goh, said his client was having sex with the victims when he did not know that his $1 condoms broke. When the Chinese prostitutes realised that they had had unprotected sex, they were very angry and demanded $50 to a few hundred dollars more as compensation.

When Yew refused to give as he had no more money, the victims started to assault him and refused to let him leave, said the lawyer. So Yew drove off and tossed out their handbags while driving off. But in the case of the two victims, Mr Goh said they had apparently not seen the handbags being hurled and presumed Yew had taken them.

Fun:
1. Not sure who's more pathetic here: Yew Kin Wah or his laywer Laurence Goh for telling this crock of shit in court (and probably coming up with it too).

2. Those Chinese prostitutes are either very careless about carrying a lot of their money around or doing very well every night. Gotta be 10 pops each before they even met up with Yew Kin Wah. That's some loose pussy.

2008 In Review - Trips

As 2008 comes to an end, it's time to reflect back on some of the good stuff it brought. I'll start with my great trips of 2008. This excludes 2 short trips to KL in January and August.


08-16 June - Hua Hin and Bangkok, Thailand
Stayed At:
08-11 - Hua Hin Marriott Resort & Spa, Hua Hin
11-13 - Hilton Hua Hin Resort & Spa, Hua Hin
13-16 - Eastin Hotel and Spa, Bangkok

Background:
All thanks to a Team Conference held in Hua Hin. In my first visit to my favourite country since Chiang Mai in Feb 2006, happily extended the company-sponsored 3 nights with 2 more nights to fully explore Hua Hin and surrounding attractions and 3 nights in Bangkok.

Impressions:
A new destination to explore + an old favourite, good value hotels, free booze, Iron Man in a Bangkok cinema and a total of 8 nights in Thailand. Overall, a great fun trip.


09-13 August - Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Stayed At: Blue Lime. It had opened just days before we arrived, so new in fact that there wasn't a sign at the front door - that cost me some walking around with luggage. But nice hotel with pretty much all the furniture in concrete, loved the pool, great value for money at US$40 per night.

Background:
Booked this trip just 2 weeks before the departure date. Had considered Phnom Penh for the trip in November but dropped it in favour of HCMC. But when the long wait to November and a Jetstar promotion gave me itchy feet, Phnom Penh it was! Then dropped Jetstar because of their crappy schedules and this ended up as our first time flying SilkAir.

Impressions:
Was fun to visit a new city, a new country, even one with such a sad history. The motorcyclist taxis constantly hounding us and the beggar kids were a pain. But it was a beautiful place, easy to get around, easy to book sightseeing tours, with plenty of great and reasonably priced food.

Big fan of Cambodia's e-Visa system. Easy to use, pretty fast processing and it only cost US$25. This definitely makes it very attractive to visit Cambodia.


01-05 November - Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Stayed At: Blue River Hotel. Continuing our trend of staying at cheaper but good hotels. This one cost US$27 a night. Will be hard to find a cheaper hotel anywhere else that's as good as this one.

Background:
Booked this trip way back in early July, before even the Phnom Penh trip. Our first time flying one of the budget airlines went to Jetstar. Our flights were alright and on time, so will probably use them again.

Impressions:
Again a city in a country I hadn't visited before, always fun to explore. Had read and heard a lot about how hard it is to cross the streets because of all the motorcycles but didn't really have that much trouble.

Loved Pho 24 and their Yoghurt dessert drinks, the excellent coffees available just about everywhere, the majestic Jesus statue and sunbathing in Vung Tao, the water puppet shows.

Not a big fan of the tour companies in Ho Chi Minh City. Limited tour choices, the prices really aren't that great and they're just too happy dumping 40 people in a coach instead of having smaller groups. It got even worse at the Cu Chi Tunnels, where our group got merged with at least 3 others. The tour guide, although funny with this $3-note jokes, didn't get a tip from us.

Also definitely not a fan of the hefty Vietnam visa fees which cost more than my plane ticket. Vietnam is a beautiful country but those visa fees will make me think twice before heading to Hanoi, Da Nang or any of their many places of interest.

Pussy Generation

News:
From Clint Eastwood's interview to Esquire a bit more than a week ago:

We live in more of a pussy generation now, where everybody's
become used to saying, "Well, how do we handle it psychologically?" In
those days, you just punched the bully back and duked it out. Even if
the guy was older and could push you around, at least you were
respected for fighting back, and you'd be left alone from then on.

Comments:
Pretty damn true. I'm sick of the constant over-analysing and resulting hypocrisy and ass-licking this world has come to.

Thailand Situation

For more than a week, the just-short-of-terrorist but short-sighted and terribly stupid PAD sent their idiot followers to Suvarnabhumi Airport. And stopped what is essentially the biggest source of revenue for the whole country. And paralysed and dirtied the name of my favourite country.

The main problem is that greed is ruling the minds of the guys in charge and the guys who want to be in charge. Too bad both sides have plenty of idiots around to follow their orders.

And I wish Thaksin would shut the fuck up too. He's only making everything worse. Doesn't he realise by now that there's no way he'll ever get back in power?

Anyway, since the siege stopped, there have been reports of the hotels in Bangkok running at 30% capacity, some luxury hotels even at 10%. Weirdly though, no mentions of discounts anywhere or I could have been tempted.