Paying Respects To The Heavenly Deity

The ninth day of the Lunar New Year is an important day for us Hokkiens, as this is the day we have to pay respects to the Heavenly Deity (Jade Emperor).

Yesterday night, which is the eighth, I went down to Lor Koo Chye temple after my rehearsals as I had arranged with my parents to meet there to pray to the Heavenly Deity. The ceremony was supposed to take place at twelve midnight exactly, so we had to get there early to "book" a place on the offerings altars provided by the temple management. This was the second time we pray at the temple, as my parents felt that it was more convenient as they could skip some tedious preparation works. Actually to me it wasn't much of a difference, because the amount of things to buy and prepare and about the same.

The moment I stepped down from my bike, I saw my parents' car zooming past me; what a coincidence! It was barely a quarter past nine, still too early for the prayers. Therefore, after laying out all our offerings on the offering altar, I went straight to the backyard of the temple, whereby a Hokkien opera was being staged.

This year, the temple invited Wei Shann Taiwanese Opera to perform for the Lunar New Year period. Wei Shann is a Taiwanese Opera troupe from Tainan county of Taiwan, more famous for their "oh-pe-la" (fantasy-styled Chinese opera) and street shows. Years ago I've seen their theatrical performance when they came to Singapore, and I didn't quite like it. I felt that they were not good at all back then, but this time round, I think their performance was acceptable. Not that they'd improved dramatically; they still have fanciful glittery and feathery costumes, strong doses of synthesizers and western band percussions as well as flying stunts. However, I felt that for opera performances in such temple fairs, one cannot expect too artistic productions as in theatrical productions. Therefore, although I may think their performances yesterday was still not too bad, I certainly do not expect the same standard when they perform in theatres! On a side note, I find it a pity that quite a few of their actresses did not sing well.

The opera show ended at 11.30pm, and after taking a short break, the troupe performed a religious "Ban Xian" show on stage. This "Ban Xian" show is a must for temple performances, with it's main aim to thank the Gods for the good year that had gone by, as well as to giving blessings to the worshippers. The "Ban Xian" show ended at 12 midnight, and I headed straight to the courtyard of the temple where my parents were still waiting for me.

The courtyard was already full of worshippers, each holding joss sticks in their hands. I started to feel uncomfortable, as my eyes are sensitive to the smoke emitted from joss sticks. Shortly after, the taoist priests appeared and starting chanting scriptures. Lor Koo Chye temple has got Lord Cheng Huang as the temple's anchor God, and since Lord Cheng Huang originates from Qingxi county (present-day Quanzhou), the religious ceremony was very Hokkien in flavour, and the priests were riciting in typical Quanzhou accent (but not as strong). After the ceremony was completed, we started to burn our incense paper. This is the part which I felt very troublesome. Not that I have anything against this, but the incense chamber has got only 3 to 4 slots, and I had to queue and wait for my turn to use, with the heavy pile of incense paper in my hands. So it seemed to me that praying at home is actually more convenient for me, as we don't have to go through the hassle of fighting over the buring chamber with other worshippers!

By the time we finished buring all our incense paper, it was close to 1am. The crowd at the temple was much lesser now, but there was still quite a number of people praying, and the priests were still chanting scriptures. My father said it was fine to leave, and hence we packed up our remaining offerings, load them back into the car and headed home...

Buying Burmese CDs

Lately out of boredom, I searched the net for some Burmese pop music, and chanced upon this singer called Sai Sai Kham Hlaing. He's a 28 years old hip-hop singer who had been in the music scene for about 7 years , and although I'm not quite a fan of hip-hop music, I still find his music nice, just that I don't understand what he's singing. Therefore on Saturday evening, on my way to work at "Little Thailand", I decided to make a detour to "Little Myanmar" to go look for his CDs. This shall be my second time buying Hip-hop music CDs in my entire life! (Eminem's the first, while Jay Chou is not considered real hip-hop).

Unlike Golden Mile Complex where there are at least a few shops selling Thai CDs, there isn't any in Peninsula Plaza. But there are some sundry shops which carries Burmese CDs. I entered one of these shops and spotted Sai Sai's album "Sai Sai Hu Khaw", which was released in 2005. This is the album which got me interested is his music, so I bought it instantly. Before I bought, I actually asked the shopowner if the CD was an orignal, and to which she replied "Yes".

I hopped into another shop and saw another older album and MV DVD of Sai Sai, and I bought them too. Well, I think I was too rash into getting them, as I realised that these CDs are not original, and there're visible marks of DIY on the album jackets and CD labels! So the moral of the story: do not buy CDs from Golden Mile Complex (Thai), Peninsula Plaza (Myanmar) and Lucky Plaza (Tagalog), unless you're only looking for mp3 CDs which you do not intend to keep once you copied them into your mp3 player or computer. These CDs may not be expensive, but it's not worth the money, as you could jolly well get original copies of the same album at a slightly higher price off the net! Well, on a sidenote, at least now I can enjoy Sai Sai's songs at CD quality, instead of downloading poor quality mp3 from various websites. But I'll still buy the original CDs soon if I have the means to do so!

To wrap up this post, let me showcase some of his MVs here:

PS: In case any of you people out there wonder, Sai Sai's not going to replace Potato or Fahrenheit as the most iconic pop stars in my heart; he's just another new addition to the list that's all! Speaking of Fahrenheit, their pictorial book is still out of stock! God who can help me get one copy?!

Finally Arrived: "It Started With A Kiss" DVD Set

I finally received my "It Started With A Kiss" DVD set from Taiwan a few days ago. I was very excited about it, because I liked this show after watching it off Youtube. My initial liking for the show was because of Jiro's involvment, but after finishing the show, I found it to be rather nice. The female lead, Ariel Lin, by far is the first cutie pie Taiwanese actress whom I actually liked (Ella aside, that is), all thanks to this show.

This DVD set was not cheap at all, together with the postage, it cost me slightly above S$100. I can't seemed to find any cheaper alternatives, unless I get the China-produced version, or second-hand copies. However, I do have much confidence in China-produced DVDs, except for those for Chinese opera shows. I had bought pop concert DVDs produced in China, and the quality were simply lousy. As for second-hand copies, many sellers are not willing to ship overseas, so it's not an option for me as well. No doubt the high price is a pinch for me, but then, being a person who's very into anything aesthetically nice, the packaging of the DVD set still won my heart.

Having said so, I'm not about to start collecting Taiwanese idol drama DVD sets; my cupboard specially reserved for my CDs, VCDs and DVDs is already full, and overflowed to my TV shelf. If I were to start collecting, I guess I would need to allocate a room for all these stuffs instead! Or maybe in future I'd really need one, if possible, since I just can't stop buying Chinese opera VCDs!

Hana Kimi in "Meng Lijun" Parody part 2

Due to immense positive feedback on my Hana Kimi in "Meng Lijun" parody (actually, only two!), I've decided to follow up with a part 2. However, as I do have have inspiration for the "script" yet, I'll only post up the "cast photos" of the other 2 actors, Tang Yuzhe and Yang Haowei. Once again, whatever posted here are for sheer fun, and not meant to take place in real life anytime soon!

Hana Kimi in "Meng Lijun" Parody

My own take in Hana Kimi's "Meng Lijun" parody! The below is my own version of "Meng Lijun", acted out by the cast of Hana Kimi. Please take note that this is not meant to be made into a real drama serial or anything!

花樣孟麗君　－－　游上林

孟麗君　　--　Ella
皇甫少華　--　吳尊
元成宗　　--　汪東城
皇甫長華　--　楊皓惟
權昌　　　--　謝和弦
太后　　　--　唐禹哲

前提：皇甫少華為了保未婚妻孟麗君，於是在金殿上透露麗君並未投江自盡，而是離家出走並後來入朝為官．皇甫少華呈上了孟麗君的字畫像給元成宗，元成宗驚見畫像中的孟麗君和金殿上的酈君玉丞相的樣貌絲毫無差，於是斷定酈君玉乃女扮男裝的孟麗君．元成宗起了色心，但又怕滿朝文武議論，於是責罵皇甫少華憑空捏造，後又私下約酈君玉游上林苑……

皇甫少華：（自言自語）這個笨蛋麗君，她難道不知道我是為了保護她，想讓她在還沒被皇上識破身分的時候恢復女兒身，才把畫像呈上去的嗎？皇上他看了畫像後心情好像有些異常，難道……不行！我一定要去暗中保護！
權昌　　：（靜悄悄地從皇甫少華身後飄過）忠孝王，你怎麼在這裡一個人碎碎唸？
皇甫少華：（嚇了一跳）權公公！原來是你，嚇死我了！不知公公可有見到皇上和酈丞相？
權昌：他們好像往上林苑走去了．
皇甫少華：（暗思量）糟糕，事情不妙！我一定要去看個究竟！
權昌　　：忠孝王，我看你還是別去了！你去，只會給自己招來麻煩！我想，你應該入宮找皇后娘娘，她畢竟是你的胞姊，由她去通知皇太后；皇太后若出面阻止，那皇上怎樣也得給三分薄面，不敢亂來．
皇甫少華：（自言自語）看樣子，我也只好這樣做了．好，那我就……

〈皇甫少華轉過頭，權昌卻已經飄走了……〉

（於此同時，在皇宮的另外一端，元成宗和孟麗君正夸馬游上林．因為之前金殿上發生的小風波，導致兩人有些尷尬，不知道該說甚麼好．）

孟麗君　：（暗思忖）少華，請原諒我在金殿上不與你相認，畢竟，伴君如伴虎；我若承認我是的女的，皇上他不知道會如何降罪於我！因此，在我還沒找到對策之前，我是絕對不能讓別人接傳我的身分的！
元成宗　：（一邊走一邊偷看麗君一邊想）酈君玉啊，酈君玉！你可知道，寡人早就懷疑你是女的了；天地下怎麼可能會有這麼美貌的花樣少男嘛！如今看了你的畫像，真的好正耶！待會兒到了天香館，我一定要把所有的侍衛給支開，到時候，就只剩下我們兩個人；我會為你彈琴、吟詩，讓你看看高高在上的皇帝其實也是個心思細膩的多情男子！到那個時候，你一定會對我一見鍾情，而我就會獻上我那深情的一個吻……（陶醉的得意忘形）
孟麗君　：皇上，你怎麼了？你的表情怎麼有些奇怪？
元成宗　：（假裝若無其事）甚麼嘛！有嗎？沒有啊！呵呵……
　　　　　（內想）不能太輕浮，要保持形象！
孟麗君　：（暗思忖）皇上，不會是發現我是女的了吧？！不可能！我裝得這麼像，這麼有男子氣概，他怎麼可能會懷疑到呢？絕對不可能！絕對不不不可能！
元成宗　：酈丞相，你在碎碎唸些甚麼？
　　　　　（話中有話地）該不會是在想剛才金殿上之事？老實說，那孟麗君和你還長得真像，我還以為就是你呢！
孟麗君　：（緊張地、故壓低嗓音）呵呵！皇上你真會開玩笑！我可是個男的耶，怎麼可能是孟麗君嘛！呵呵！
元成宗　：我只是說“像”，沒說“是”啊！怎麼，難道你心裡有鬼？
孟麗君　：？！？！

（兩人走著走著，不一會兒來到了天香館．元成宗支開所有的侍衛後便與孟麗君進入．）


元成宗　：酈丞相，寡人念你對朝廷作出了許多貢獻，就賜你美酒一壿！
孟麗君　：（緊張地）皇上，下官酒量甚差，萬一醉倒了就不好了！
元成宗　：（含情脈脈地）沒關係，你醉倒了，有寡人在這裡陪你，照顧你！
孟麗君　：（更緊張地）這……這樣不好吧！你是君我是臣；哪有君照顧臣的道理？！
元成宗　：為了你，我甚麼都願意！我的酈愛卿！
孟麗君　：（退縮地）皇……皇上，你不會是有甚麼性向問題吧？！
元成宗　：（暗示地）就算是有吧，那也無所謂！不管是怎麼樣的酈丞相我都喜歡！來吧，我的君玉小親親！

（孟麗君害怕得到出亂跑，元成宗後面追著．這時，皇后娘娘皇甫長華進來了，元成宗看了心情馬上大變．）


皇甫長華：皇上，我聽說皇上約了酈丞相談國事，怎麼談到了天香館來了？
孟麗君　：娘娘，我與皇上剛剛討論完畢，下官正想告退！
皇甫長華：好吧，酈丞相先退下吧！

（孟麗君火速離去，元成宗大為不滿．）

皇甫長華：（不滿地）皇上，剛才的事我都看到了；你身為一國之君，如此的行為若是傳出去還得了！可別忘了，酈丞相是個男的咧！
元成宗　：少裝蒜了！我想你應該有聽到風聲，說酈君玉就是孟麗君吧！
皇甫長華：就算是，他也是臣妾的弟媳，你這麼做也不對！我不管啦！我不依啦！（撒嬌）

（這時，太后也來了）

太后　　：你們是在幹嘛？我大老遠就聽到你們的聲音，成何體統！
皇甫長華：母后你不知道，剛才皇上對酈丞相動手動腳的，好像把她完完全全當成女人似的！你說，這如何使得？我責問皇上，他反過來罵我！母后，你要為兒臣做主啊！
元成宗　：母后你可別聽她亂說！我可是“正港的男子漢”，不是甚麼性向混嘵的人！
太后　　：你們不要爭吵了！這件事，由哀家處理．如果酈丞相是個男的，那皇媳就得向皇上陪不是；若酈丞相是女的，哀家就收她作義女！
元成宗　：（急忙地）母后……
太后　　：（嚴肅地）嗯？不必多言，就這麼定了！
皇甫長華：（高興地鼓掌）好也！母后萬歲！

（皇甫長華扶著太后離去，中途回過頭看了元成宗一眼，然後仰頭得意地走了，元成宗氣得快爆炸．）

元成宗　：你們好！不行！我一定要想辦法阻止你們查明她的真正身分！


（待續……）

Apologies for only posting this up in Chinese, as I do not have the time to translate into English yet!

World of Coincidence! Shanghai Yueju Opera and Singapore Xiangju Opera's "Romance Of The Carp Fairy"

This world is full of coincidence; our opera troupe is in the midst of rehearsing "Romance of the Carp Fairy", and I had news that Shanghai Yue Opera Company will be staging the same show (their version was the foundation of ours) on 26 - 28 Feb at Shanghai Yifu Stage!

This version of "Romance of the Carp Fairy", a revised edition, will be performed by Shanghai Yue Opera Company's "golden couple" Wang Zhiping and Zheng Guofeng. Wang Zhiping is my favourite Yueju opera actress, and it was this same show which made me like her alot. She acted well in the title role of the Carp Fairy; not only did she had to act and sing, but also do fighting sequences towards the end of the show. Zheng Guofeng is a good Xu-style actress as well, and although I do like her too, she's still second place to Qian Huili (also a Xu-style actress) in my heart.

Anyway, talking about these two actresses, they may be stars now, but they're still very passionate about their work. They're always the first to arrive at the rehearsal venue, and Wang Zhiping even start each day with 20 rounds of "yuanchang" (walking in operatic steps around the rehearsal grounds), even though she had injured her back while learning some stunts recently. I don't even do 2 rounds of "yuanchang" at my opera troupe! Not just that, the duo are quite particular in their rehearsals, and they can rehearse one song over and over again just to perfect their gestures and movements, as you can see from the clip here:

I really feel like flying over to catch them in action at Yifu stage, but alas, I do not have the time and money to do so. Hopefully the show will be available in VCD, so that I can still watch it off-stage with less regrets! More information of the show is available at my other blog.

Another Completed Piece of Work!

I'm so happy today, but it has got nothing to do with Fahrenheit nor Jiro nor Hana Kimi. It has got to do with my troupe's "Tragedy Of The Song Palace" performance in 2004; I've finally finished my DVD authoring work for the show, and made into a 2-disc DVD set complete with jewel case design and disc labels!

This is perhaps the work which took me the longest time to edit, all thanks to the video quality of the original footages, which were not up to my expectation. The lighting conditions captured on the mini DV tapes were simply too dark, and I tried to do some adjustments on the lighting in my video editing software. I've spent many months working on it, but gave up finally. Afterall, it's useless adjusting as my computer monitor wasn't calibrated, and whatever I do will not appear the same when played back on my DVD player. Then there was also the problem of too frequent angle switches in the original video footage. I don't know what was the rationale for the videographers for the show to keep switching from one angle to another within seconds in a show; for goodness sake this is not a MV filming! The angle switching was so frequent that it was simply an eyesore, and I had to substitute some scenes from video footages captured by our own crew. All these, together with the subtitling work, took me close to 2 years to complete, alongside other work committments and problems.

I can't wait to show my "masterpiece" to my fellow troupe mates later when I go for rehearsals; I haven't even told them about my completed work too! Although this piece of work took me too long a time to complete, it was nevertheless one of my most satisfied one. Whether the troupe decides to release the DVD officially or not is longer my main concern. The job satisfaction gained from completing this piece of work is good enough for me!

Of Friendster, Tagged, WAYN and such

Many people around me are crazed with friend-making services like Friendster, Tagged, WAYN (Where Are You Now) and many others. To me, I'm not against the usage of it. Who knows, you can really find some good friends with it. However, what irritates me is when you have buaya (someone who simply grabs anything within reach) people who just add anyone and everyone to their friends list without even knowing you, and not following up with this new friendship. What are they trying to do? Trying to create a false image of themselves being very popular? To boost their self-esteem? In the past I've been too naive into thinking that everyone who add me really wanted to befriend me. However, after years of using such services, I began to think elsewise. Hence, from now on, I'll not accept any friend-adding request, unless they are already my friend (have at least corresponded with me via email or private message for a while to begin with). For those already in my friends list but have not even corresponded with me for over half a year(without any reasons), sorry to say, out you go too! I do not need "spiritual" friends, that is friends who looks more like spirits lingering around the cyberspace (I am not Da Shu from Hana Kimi!), thank you very much!

Tank

Tank, the stage name of talented singer-songwriter Lu Jianzhong, is from the same company as Fahrenheit and S.H.E. I have heard of his name quite some time ago, but it was only recently, due to Hana Kimi and Fahrenheit that I started noticing him, and I feel that his compositions and vocals are good. In Jiro's blog, he even mentioned that "though Tank has got a small built (he's still taller than me!), he's full of power once he stood on stage". I like Tank because unlike some other R&B-influenced singers, he doesn't deliberately put on those exaggerated dramatic accent in his singing. Thank God for that; we do not need roller-coaster divas (or male-divas) in Asia!

I was told he was of Taiwanese Aboriginal background, no wonder when I first saw him in his MV for "My Personal Angel" (專屬天使), I thought I saw a Malay guy singing Mandarin song! But nevertheless that song was still great. Anyway, this is another MV titled "When We Were Young"(我們小時後) which I think is nice too.

Stars and Road Tragedies

My mind was still thinking about the autograph session yesterday when I was suddenly shaken back to reality by a news article: Xu Weilun, a popular and pretty Taiwanese idol drama actress passed away yesterday after failing to survive a severe road accident which took place a few days ago. While on her way travelling down south to Taichung for filming, Xu Weilun's car swerved and crashed into a road barrier due to some unknown reasons, and a truck coming from behind failed to stop in time, hence resulted in the tragedy. Doctors tried in vain to save her life, and she finally lost her battle to death at 5.09pm yesterday afternoon, 40 over hours after she was admitted to hospital.

Prior to this news, I had totally no impression of her. Afterall, I was never a fan of Taiwanese idol drama, and had only seen her name when it came out in Yahoo Taiwan's news section days ago after the accident occured. However, there was something eerie here: there're many cases of Taiwanese stars who lost their lives in road accidents! Singer-songwriter Zhang Yusheng and singer-actor Yang Qinghuang are among those few. And, I'm not sure if it's mere coincidence, but 18 years ago on the same day, Taiwanese singer Wang Mojun and one-half of the now-defuct duo "Seasame & Longan" (Zhi Ma Long Yan) Lin Yuru met with an road accident together. Wang Mojun died on the spot, while Lin Yuru passed away 14 days later.

This is indeed a very tragic news, even though I do not know her. It simply strengthens my belief in that life is too fragile, and that we should make use of every possible opportunity to try achieve what we wish to achieve in life. Afterall, everything will come to a halt when the pulse is gone, not even if you're a superstar. Rest in peace, Xu Weilun!

Fahrenheit's Autograph Session

Yesterday, I went for Farenheit's autograph session at IMM. This is my second autography session in my entire life.

Judging from their popularity regionally, as well as my previous experiences (either as an attender or just a watcher), I knew I had to go very early for there'll certainly be a lot of people queuing as well. I went straight after lunch, and arrived IMM at around two, four hours before the autograph session, but I was shocked to see that the fans were already queuing out of the mall and into the carpark. I think these fans might have arrived since the mall opened for business yesterday! I quickly called Amai to informed her of the situation, because she wanted to come as well, but was not about to leave that soon. On hearing my report, she immediately dashed out of her house. Well lucky for her that I was already in the queue, or else by the time she arrived at her orginally planned timing, she'd most likely have to queue up to the open space in front of the mall.

The queue started to move at around 5.30pm, and in a matter of seconds, Amai and I were already standing inside the mall. Though we were granted entry already, the stars of the event did not turn up until around 6 something. Their appearance onto the stage immediately resulted in screams from their fans, but as we were still far away from the stage, we weren't able to see or hear much. As if this was not bad enough, it was made worse by the poor crowd control yesterday. I would not want to blame it on the security personnel hired for the event, but the management did not set up enough barricade for the queue, and many thick-skinned fans were actually cutting queue at various points in the human chain, resulting in our queue not moving at all for at least the first 2 hours. I even met a group of hypocritical young girls who purposely made loud sacarstic remarks about people cutting into their queue, but in the end they themselves resorted to such despicable moves.

The queue started to move a bit about a long wait, and everytime the queue inched a bit, everyone behind would be pushing and rushing. Fortunately, though it was a bit chaotic, nothing drastic really took place. As I moved closer and closer to the central stage, the queue cleared faster, and by around 9.30, half an hour before the official ending time for the autograph session, I could finally see the stage, as well as the four members of Fahrenheit. It was a long and tiring wait, but actually, it was equally tiring for Fahrenheit because they had been signing for hours, only taking about 5 minutes of intermission break. I guessed like us, they had not even taken their dinner yet. Therefore, as a token of appreciation, I decided not to say the usual "Oh-how-I-support-you" kind of standardised phrases, but thanked them for their autograph and also to acknowledge their tiring effort. They were still very friendly and replied that they did not find it tiring. Well it may be just out of courtesy that they said that, but at least they replied, unlike some stars or actors who were only keen to sign autographs and make you disappear from their faces immediately. As for Jiro, I gave him some words of encouragement as well, as I knew he wasn't feeling too good lately. He was kind of surprised by my words, but as with his chracter of acting tough, he gave me the "I'm-fine-thank-you" kind of gesture. That's so typical of him!

Amai and I left at around 10pm, feeling contented that our programme booklet for Fahrenheit's album was finally signed. The quartet was actually scheduled to sing one last song after the autograph session closed, but we did not want to linger around any further as we need to take care of our stomachs. So what's my impression of each individual member of Fahrenheit? Chun was more focused on his work; he was eager to finish signing every album he was presented, but it was also because of his focus in his work that made him spent relatively less time interacting with the fans. Aaron was the most shy among the four, and hence talk much as well. Jiro was the friendliest and was always smiling widely. Calvin seemed very approachable too, and is a good talker. In short, all of them are rather nice. See you around, Fahrenheit!

Two Happy Things

There're two things which makes me happy today.

First, my favourite Thai rock band Potato has finally released their 6th album "Sense" today! I feel like buying it straight away, but I'll have to wait till pay day before I can order it off the eThaiCD.com (the original album is unavailable in Singapore totally). So for the time being, I think I can only stare at the miserably small album cover on eThaiCD.com as a "compensation", because neither their website nor any other Thai music portals carry any audio preview clips for this album. Anyway, I felt a big sense of relief when I saw their new album cover; they still have got 4 members! That means they're still going strong, and I hope they will remain that way for years to come.

The second thing which made me happy is Fahrenheit's autograph session tomorrow. This shall be the second autograph session that I'll be attending in my entire life (the first one was for Fann Wong's "Shopping" album; autograph signing by Chinese opera stars and artistes not counted), and I supposed I'd have to go real early to avoid any chance of not being able to get Fahrenheit to sign on my CD. Afterall, their fame was too big, and I believe there'll surely be even more kiasu fans who would start to queue up at the venue once the mall opens tomorrow.

I can't help but feel delighted as I type this post, a completely different feeling from the past few days when I was feeling moody because of Jiro's blog. Hopefully tomorrow will be another happy day for me!

Jiro & Me

Back on the topic of Jiro of Fahrenheit, I may be one of those who got to know this talented actor-cum-singer at a very late stage. It was only when the Hana Kimi craze was blowing very strong that I started to notice him, in his role as Jin Xiuyi.

Actually it wasn't solely because of his talent in singing and acting that made me take notice of him; it was his personality. As I started reading articles about him and visiting his personal blog, I found that there are several aspects of his character that is similar to mine.

Jiro, a.k.a. Da Dong, appeared to be a happy-go-lucky person on camera, but deep down inside, he's a rather emotional and sentimental person who would rather bottle up all his feelings than to share it with others. In his latest entry in his blog, he lamented about having too much regrets, and even though he didn't really write much, I could feel for him, because I'm not much different than him. I seldom show my sadness in front of my friends, so everyone assumed I'm a carefree person. Before I blogged about our "Romance of the Dragon Princess", nobody would have imagined that I had been hurt on several occasions during my past 8 years, chasing after my Chinese opera dreams; I've been hurt when my already very minor role has been revoked to help out at the backstage, I've been hurt when my juniors surpassed me in getting meatier roles even though I know well I'm not a lousy actor, I've been hurt when the shows I've been looking forward to excitedly were shelved indefinitely without any valid reasons. I also have my fair share of regrets; I had spent almost all my free time in Chinese opera, thus forfeiting my rights to upgrade myself or further my studies years ago, and now I can only settle for my current lowly-paid job. But, I never told anyone about all these, not neither create a fuss, for I know it wouldn't change the situation much, and I would never want to burden people with my personal problems.

Looking at Jiro's entry upsetted me, because it's almost like a mirror reflecting my true self. Of course, his circumstances is different from mine, but then it was his character of making others happy at the expense of his own self coincides with my character. I am not unhappy about my own situation, but I don't wish to see him suffering from similar fate. I hope he could buck up and be a happier person; whatever he does, he'll always have the support of his huge pool of fans and me!

Note: Picture extracted from Jiro's personal blog.

Cai Luong version of "Butterfly Lovers"

I've bought this Cai Luong DVD "Luong Son Ba Chuc Anh Dai" (Butterfly Lovers) quite some time back together with some other titles from an Internet website. However, due to my busy schedule, I am only able to blog about it only today.

This version of Cai Luong was produced in 2001, starring Manh Quynh and Phi Nhung (once known as the "Golden Couple" in Vietnamese entertainment scene) as the lead roles. In terms of costumes, I think it was a big improvement from those produced in the 90s, as the clothes looked more stylish. Those produced years ago featured costumes which looked more like costumes borrowed from street opera troupes. However, the hairstyle of the male roles are still not very nice; many of them still spot those clip-on hair-pieces, which do not quite go well with the actors' real hair. As for the "golden couple"'s performance, although they looked compatible on screen, they are somehow lacking in their emotions, which I think is a pity.

Well, enough of my comments. Allow me to show you some of the clips extracted from the show!

Curse Of The Ring

There's a particular ringtone that has taken the China handphone market by storm due to it's cute and funny lyrics. However, this ringtone has also proven to be an "unlucky" one. Here is the link to this ringtone.

For those who doesn't quite understand Mandarin, here is the translation to the lyrics:
"Who's looking for me? Let me take a look at who it is that's looking for me.
Why is it you? How come it is you who is looking for me?!
I'm not answering, I'm not answering, I'm not answering your call!
I'll answer all other people's call, except yours.
Even if you die of frustration I'll still ignore your call!"

One of the "victims" of this ringtone is a female executive who is in charged to laising with clients of her company. There was an ocassion whereby she was supposed to call an important client, but due to the bad reception in her area, her call was disconnected after a while. Her clients tried calling back, but he kept hearing "I'm not answering, I'm not answering...". In the end, the frustrated client decided to terminate their business contract, and the innocent female executive was fired by the company.

Another victim was a student who was applying for a position in a university. This student waited for a long time for the news of his application but to no avail, and when he called up the department in charged of the processing the applications, he got the shock of his life. "Why bother to call and check? Didn't you say 'even if I die of frustration you'll still ignore my call'?" the person-in-charge of contacting the applicants told him. It turned out that the university this student had applied for for was full, and the person-in-charge had wanted to call him to ask if he wanted to try another university. However, when he heard the ringtone, he got fed up and decided to dump his application aside.

I couldn't believe my eyes when I read these news over the internet. To think that such cute and harmless ringtones can actually create such misfortunes! So I think from now on, it's best that one stick to "normal" and conventional ringtones, and not something too innovative or special. You won't know who will take your ringtone too seriously and results in any drastic consequences!

Jiro Fahrenheit

Recently the Hanazakarino Kimitachihe (花样少年少女) wind is blowing strong and many people around me are caught in it's frenzy, including Amai, who only likes Chinese opera and Takarazuka. "Hanazakarino Kimitachihe", or "Hana Kimi" in short, featured Ella from S.H.E. as the female lead and Wu Zun (Chun) and Jiro (Wang Dongcheng) as the first and second male lead respectively. Being labelled as the "most 'manly' idol drama" in Taiwan, the show enjoyed immense popularity, and anything that features Chun and Ella will bound to create a storm once released into the market.

I supposed I'm one of the very few that actually preferred the second male lead Jiro (Wang Dongcheng) over Chun, as I feel that his role in Hana Kimi is much better. Not that Chun did not do well, just that acting directly opposite Ella just makes his role look less attractive because Ella's role is simply too striking. Jiro's acting is indeed quite good; he's not only good at comical roles, which he himself is already a rather whacky guy off-screen, but he's equally good at playing sentimental roles. Those who have watched "It Started With A Kiss" (恶作剧之吻) would have known; in the show he acted as a sentimental but dreamy guy whose goal in life is to marry his dream girl, whom he had always loved since his first year in college, although he knew well that the latter only had eyes on another guy.

When it comes to singing, I feel that Jiro is one of the better ones in Fahrenheit. Although there's still room for improvement technically, his singing is still acceptable. For Chun, though his vocal quality is not bad, his singing's slightly pitchy, probably due to his "south-east Asian Chinese accent".

I may not be a "头号Fans"(imitate Ella's signature gestures in Hana Kimi) of Hana Kimi, nor a die-hard fan of Taiwanese idol drama, but I hope to see more of Jiro is future shows. He's really talented and I feel that he shouldn't be always given the role of a pitiful secret admirer or a comical second lead. With his talent in acting, he should be able to go far if given more chance. So for now, I shall make do with "Hana Kimi" and "It Started With A Kiss". Hopefully 2007 will be a better year for him, with better on-screen exposures!

Jiro in Tank's MV, "給我你的愛" (theme song for "終極一班")


Jiro in vegetable juice commercial (guest starring other three members of Fahrenheit)


Jiro in ISWAK, dreaming of singing his love theme to his dream girl




Jiro in ISWAK, these are the two scene which really made me take a different look at Jiro as an actor


Jiro and Joe Cheng lip-sync to the theme song of ISWAK

Another Cai Luong Quiz Time!

Another Cai Luong quiz time! Take a guess: what do you think is the original story of this show?

A clue: People around my age should have read a passage of this great novel in their secondary school Chinese textbook.

A Stroll In The Cemetery

As in my previous post, I had been to the MediaCorp Radio on Monday for a radio interview. After the interview was done, it was still a few hours before I started work. Having nothing to do in the mean time, I suddenly thought of going to Bukit Brown Cemetery, which is not too far from MadiaCorp. I do not have any relatives "staying" inside, nor do I have any fetish for the dead, but being a cultural freak, I think cemeteries are great cultural grounds too, especially those old ones which reflects greatly on our nation's history.

When I was much younger, I used to be very afraid of such burial grounds, especially when my father drove his car on the PIE passing by Adam Road flyover and Old Police Academy areas. That stretch of the expressway was actually part of Bukit Brown/ Kheam Hock cemetery in the past, but the land was cleared in order to build the PIE. Therefore, imagine how scary it was with tombstones "staring" at you on both sides of the expressway! Now that I've grown up, I no longer fear such places, although I still dread going to the cemetery during Qing Ming festival as Choa Chu Kang cemetery, with all the concrete and little trees and grass, is a place far too hot and humid for me to bear. Bukit Brown cemetery, however, being one of the oldest surviving cemeteries left, is very shady, and is a more serene and cool place to actually tour around.

The roads inside the cemetery are not well-built; in fact they looked more like small lanes, and if one car is parked along the side, there's no way other vehicles from any direction to pass through. But I guess back in those days when the cemetery was open for burial, not many people would drive cars, so nobody would have thought of building wide lanes. Anyway, the tombstones in this cemetery are unlike those in Choa Chu Kang cemetery (referring to those built after the late 70s), which were built in neat rows and columns in various patches of land. The tombstones here were sparsely scattered, and were much bigger, at least two times larger than those in Choa Chu Kang. Even though the conditions of these tombstones had degraded over time, probably due to neglect, some of them still looked rather grand. There was one which even had got stone benches built around the little courtyard in front of the tombstone! However, I wasn't able to take a picture of it as it was situated on a high slope.

Halfway through my journey, I came to a T-junction where I saw a small shrine by the side of the junction. Inside the shrine's altar was various statues of Goddess of Mercy. Judging from the condition of the incense urn on the altar as well as the surroundings of the shrine, I supposed there is a caretaker looking after this shrine. However, after looking around my vicinity, I did not see a single soul (living one). There was a car parked beside the road as well, and I wondered where the driver had gone to.

As I ventured deeper into the cemetery snapping pictures, the sky suddenly turned dark. I quickly stopped snapping pictures and hurriedly left the cemetery in my motorbike. It is not fun to get caught in a sudden rain in a cemetery!

Interview @ MediaCorp Radio

Yesterday, I went to the MediaCorp Radio for an interview. Not that I wanted to find a job in the radio industry, but I was there to be given an interview by News 938 on Chinese opera issues. Just last week, an agency which is working closely with the Northwest CDC on it’s Northwest Arts Festival had approached me and Art with regards to some interviews on some topics. I was scheduled for a radio interview on Chinese opera, while Art would be scheduled for a magazine interview on promoting Chinese opera to children.

The interview was said to start at 10.30am, but nevertheless I had to be at MediaCorp by 10am so that I could run through the questions which might be asked during the interview. I wasn’t the only one to be interviewed, as another representative from a local Cantonese opera troupe would be in the recording studio as well.

This wasn’t the first time I got interviewed, but previous interviews were pre-recorded, so I was more nervous this time round. Also, as News 938 is an English station with perhaps non-Chinese DJs, I wasn’t sure if I would be asked some funny questions which I might not have the answers to. Luckily, the atmosphere was rather relaxed in the recording studio, all thanks to the 2 DJs in the studio, Mahesha Thenabadu and Stanley Leong. However, I fumbled in my speech at various times, which I felt like banging my head against the wall. Perhaps I needed to go to the loo, and hence I wasn’t able to react well! But anyway, the interview ended in less than half an hour, which was a bit too short for me; I just got started to enjoy the interview!

It was a fun interview session, and I hope there would be another chance to go on air, as long as I am an invited guest and not a DJ! Actually, I had once dreamt of being a radio DJ, but looking at how Stanley Leong do news reporting, I don't think I would be able to make it. Stanley was reading rather fluently from a newscript with a font size of perhaps only 10, and I think if I am asked to do the same, I'd probably had to stick the newscript onto my forehead! Nevertheless, this is one interesting experience which I don't think I'd ever forget.

"Romance of the Dragon Princess": Performance Afterthought

It has been a few days since "Romance of The Dragon Princess" has been staged at Bukit Panjang Community Club, but I have yet to blogged anything about it due to my busy time schedule.

Looking back at last Sunday's performance, this show can be considered a success, as we received a few positive feedback from the audience, and our troupe has been approached to be interviewed over radio as well. From artistic perspective, I like this show as the music was well-composed, all thanks to Mr. Yang Senlin, the composer we had invited from Zhangzhou City Xiang Opera Troupe. This is despite the script was just average, due to the fact that the original Huangmei opera show was adapted from a folk legend. However, I don't quite like this show personally, as this is one show that almost made me totally discouraged in acting.

In 2001, when our troupe announced that we would be acting this show for our bi-annual theatrical performance in 2002, I was disappointed to know that I would be taking on the roles of miscellenous characters. Not that I am ambitious to want to take on lead roles, but having been in the troupe for almost half a decade, and in terms of capability or opera knowledge I certainly do not belong to the bottom ranks. This was not all; as we started our rehearsals, I was told that the musical ensemble was short of one percussionist, and hence I had to be withdrawn from stage to help out in the musicians' pit. I initially joined the troupe because I want to perform, and now that I did not have the chance to act in our bi-annual theatrical performance was a big blow to me, and almost resulted me in quitting. However, I did not leave in the end somehow, after my leader thanked me for "sacrificing" my role. Luckily for me, I was able to get back one of my slightly more significant roles, a heavenly general, in subsequent re-runs of this show in 2004. I also took the initiative to do the projection backdrop for the performance at Tampines East Community Club, which was my first attempt, but was well-received by the audience too.

Back to our performance last Sunday. Bukit Panjang Community Club was one of our "not-so-hot" performance venues, as our previous performance experiences there only received lukewarm responses. That night, however, it was close to full-house, even though it was raining dogs and cats just before the show started. I believed the "miracle" was due to the fact that the show was fully sponsored by the Northwest CDC. Not that I'm belittling our troupe's capabilities, but this is the real world: Hokkien opera-goers in general only watch Hokkien opera if it's free! Or unless the troupe is from Taiwan. I remembered in Chong Pang, an uncle came up to me and asked if we are from Taiwan. When I told him we're all local, he gave an uninterested face and commented "I'm a Teochew, I don't understand Hokkien!" (Give me a break, please! Taiwanese opera artistes do not speak Teochew as well!). Anyway, I still feel thankful that our show were sponsored. At least it made more people willing to come and watch our show, which is good, as it makes people more aware of our existence.

We still have a few upcoming shows in conjunction with NorthWest CDC's arts festival programme, and hopefully after these shows, they will continue to support us in our future shows.

Hectic Sunday: Potato Live In Concert

After our performance at Chong Pang Community Club, I quickly removed my makeup and made a dash to Golden Mile Complex to catch my favourite Thai rock band, Potato in concert. Luckily, I arrived there at 10 minutes past 11, which means I only missed out 10 minutes or so of the show.

As the concert was held in a discoteque, there was a cover charge of $25 per person. It was sort of expensive for me, since I can't consume the beer that comes with the cover charge as I was riding a motorbike, and secondly I won't be staying throughout the entire concert as I wasn't feeling really well, and that I still had to work the following day. Nevertheless, I still paid for the admission, since it won't be easy to catch Potato in Singapore!

The discoteque was already packed with lots of people, just like what a friend of mine had fore-warned me. I managed to find a good spot quite near to the stage, but then the distance was still too far for me to actually video-record clearly the band performing on stage. Potato is a really good band, and they managed to make the people on the dance floor high. The group of people behind me enjoyed the music so much that they were jumping up and down while singing loudly to the songs. I guess Pup, the lead singer, noticed them too, as he kept pointing towards my direction from time to time during the songs. I wanted to be as crazy as them, but I can't, as I had completely lost my voice due to my flu, and that I don't really know the lyrics to all their songs and hence am not able to sing along.


Potato singing รักแท้ ดูแลไม่ได้ (Ruk Tae Doo Lae Mai Dai)


Potato singing ไม่ให้เธอไป (Mai Hai Ter Pai)+ กล้าพอไหม (Glaa Por Mai) medley

I was enjoying myself, but alas, it was soon midnight and I had to leave unwillingly. The news of this concert came to me out of a sudden, and hence I wasn't able to plan in advance. If I had known of this concert long ago, I could have requested off day for the following day as well to "recuperate" my health. Hopefully I can catch Potato again live, and it was indeed a unforgetable experience attending their concert!


Original MV for ไม่ให้เธอไป (Mai Hai Ter Pai)


Original MV for กล้าพอไหม (Glaa Por Mai)


Original MV for รักแท้ ดูแลไม่ได้ (Ruk Tae Doo Lae Mai Dai)

Hectic Sunday: "Butterfly Lovers" Performance

It was a hectic Sunday, as I had 2 events to attend to, one after another. The first was our opera troupe's performance of "Butterfly Lovers" at Chong Pang Community Club in the evening, and another one was Potato's live concert at Thai Disco, Golden Mile Complex at night. Luckily for me, both events do not really clash with one another, but since the concert was to start at 11pm, and I don't expect my performance to end before 10.30pm, the north-south travelling time would be a bit of a problem.

For our performance, we do not just solely put on a show like in the past. We were told by our organisers to hold a small opera exhibition as well, showcasing some props, costumes and information on our opera. Luckily for me, I had to act on stage, so I was spared of the task of introducing the various props and costumes to the member of parliament VIPs, who had been invited to host the opening ceremony to the show. Art was not acting in this show, hence she was delegated this task. She was afraid that her knowledge might not be adequate enough to give an introduction, but I thought she did a good job, as I can see that the VIPs were very pleased.

Chong Pang Community Club was our stronghold performance venue, partly due to the fact that there were alot of Hokkien opera lovers living in the area, and also because our performances there had so far been free of charge due to some generous sponsorship. The crowd yesterday was huge as usual, but it seemed larger than previous times. Perhaps "Butterfly Lovers" was an all-time favourite among opera watchers, hence they do not mind watching it again although they might have watched it years back when we performed the same show at the community club. It is always a good feeling when the turnout rate is good, because it will boost one's morale in acting. I remembered once we performed at a temple fair, and the foul weather then resulted in almost no audience, and it really made us moody.

Our performance started at 7.30pm, and ended at around 10pm, which was actually quite early, but not to the community centre's staff, as they knock off at 10pm sharp. The response from the audience was great; they applauded thunderously during the finale of the show, when 2 butterflies emerged out of Shanbo's grave after Yingtai jumped into it. This is an indication saying that our show was overall a success, despite various hiccups along the way.

The show may have ended, but my day had not come to an end; I still have to rush to catch Potato live in concert! (to be continued...)

Testing mic. time for our actors

Our show in action from the backstage

Opera Rehearsal for "Butterfly Lovers"

Yesterday, we had our 2nd last rehearsal for "The Butterfly Lovers", which was to be staged next Sunday at Chong Pang Community Club. I haven't been attending rehearsals regularly due to me doing permanent afternoon shifts at work nowadays, and I am not able to get regular weekend offs.



Though it was just a week away from our performance, we're still not totally prepared, and we encountered hiccups along the way. Nevertheless, our leader did not flare up as much as in previous shows, hence the atmosphere during rehearsals was still calm. Lucky for us!



"The Butterfly Lovers" will be staged on 26th November 2006 at Chong Pang Community Club Multi-purpose Hall, 7.45pm. Admission to the show is free of charge, but members of the audience are to obtain admission ticket either from Hokkien Konghuay or Chong Pang Community Club directly. This performance is in conjunction with Northwest CDC Arts Festival

Potato Is Coming To Singapore!

Lately, I have been seeing posters of Thai pop group Potato being pasted in parts of Golden Mile Complex, the place where I work. However, a few days, I noticed that the posters had been amended to include some text. Upon reading, I realised that they are coming to Singapore soon to perform!

I got to know of this fantastic group in 2003 when I was browsing through some CDs in a music shop in Bangkok. I came across their album "Go... On", and it was available for preview listening. I found the tracks in the album very nice, and instantly bought it, although I had no idea what they were singing. Anyway, this five-man band album was one that had many ups and downs in their music career as they have experienced two changes of members over 5 years. The first change took place somewhere before their release of their second album (which was in fact "Go... On"), when their lead singer Pee passed away in a freak accident, and another member Nuch (guitarist) left the band to concentrate on her studies. Pup, the other lead singer at that time, became the main lead singer while two new members, Win and Ome, were recruited into the band subsequently to replace the two empty slots in the band. However, by their third album "Life", which was released in 2005, another pioneer member, Note, left the band as well. Now, Potato was reduced from a quintet to a quartet. Hopefully the one another pioneer member Bom won't be the next to go, neither do I want to see any change of blood again!

Back to Potato's performance in Singapore, they are scheduled to perform on 26th November at Thai Disco in Golden Mile Complex at 11pm. I was very excited, as I finally had the chance to meet them in person. But the only problem was that I had a performance on that night, and even if I rush down to Golden Mile Complex straight after my show, the place would be too packed by the time I arrive. I'm still considering if I should go attend this concert, as if I don't go, I don't know when will they be coming to Singapore again, and it's not quite possible for me to fly all the way to Thailand just to catch them in concert!

Singapore Hokkien Festival - Cultural Performance

The Singapore Hokkien Festival, organised by the Singapore Hokkien Huay Kuan, was was held at Bras Basah Complex last weekend. It is the first of such festival to be held locally, whereby different Hokkien groups like the southern Min (mainstream Hokkiens in Singapore), Fuzhou (Hockchew) and Putian (Henghua) get together to showcase their cultural essence. Other than having stalls selling traditional Fujian food at the festival venue, there was also a makeshift stage where different cultural performances like music, dance and opera were put up by various societies and performance troupes. Another event in conjunction with this Hokkien Festival was the cultural performance over at Drama Centre, just a street away, which showcased excerpts from classic shows of various Fujian opera genres.

Our troupe was one of the participating troupes, and we were scheduled to staged 2 shows, "The Street Paddler" and "The Storm Pavillion", at the makeshift stage on Saturday afternoon. The weather was still clear when "The Street Paddler" was being staged, but by the end of it, the sky turned dark, and it started to rain heavily. The rain was so heavily that even the ground got flooded and our percussionist had to stand on her feet to play her music! I joked that this was one of our most "successful" version of "The Storm Pavillion", as we had got real rain to compliment our sound effect. If we'd acted "Flooding the Golden Monastery", the effect would be even better! Jokes aside, it was tough acting in this kind of weather as the actors and musicians had to beat the rain in terms of volume, and I wonder if the audience downstage could hear us at all.

The rain was still pouring after both shows ended, but that was not the end of our work. We still had another performance at the Drama Centre, which was just across the street. Hence, we had to brave the rain in umbrellas while trying to avoid ruining our makeup and costumes. Over at the Drama Centre, there was another cultural performance in conjunction with this Hokkien Festival. This time round, fortunately, was an indoor performance. However, this Drama Centre performance was more stressful to me as compared to the outdoor one, as we would be acting alongside professional troupes from Fujian Province, among them were Experimental Major Liyuan Opera Troupe and Gao Jia Opera Troupe from Quanzhou, Experimental Minju Theatre from Fuzhou and Putian Academy of Arts. Though stressful, I was still excited in this performance, as I would have the chance to meet some of my favourite artistes like Zeng Jingping and Zhang Chunji from Quanzhou Experimental Major Liyuan Opera Troupe. I did not have time to interact with them on Saturday, but I managed to catch them during their afternoon break on the following day when I was not acting, and got them to autograph on my Liyuan opera DVD. They were very friendly and they left a great impression on me.

It was a great experience to perform together with these fine professional artistes, even though we may not be acting side by side at the same time. Hopefully there'll be a second year for this Festival, and that we would be able to meet up again, to interact and to perform together!

Cai Luong Finale

This shall be the last of my posts on Cai Luong, unless I've got something new which I think I should strongly recommend. Anyway, this is the first Cai Luong video which I've found on the net, sung by popular singer Manh Quynh.

Actually, this is not authentic Cai Luong, but a parody version meant to make people laugh. Nevertheless, it was this video clip which made me more curious to know how does Cai Luong looked like, as I had previously seen promotional pictures of Cai Luong shows over the internet. Futhuremore, from what I had read before, it has got strong influences from Chinese opera, though not as strong as Hat Boi (Hat Tuong), the Vietnamese rendition of authentic Chinese opera. Unfortunately, I've only managed to see a few small and blurred pictures of a Hat Boi performance, but not any video or music, hence I won't be able to comment much on how Hat Boi is like. However, I do hope that one day, I'd be able to catch it in action somewhere.

Loy Krathong in Singapore

(A continuation of my previous post...)

To be honest, I was oblivious to the fact that Loy Krathong Festival was approaching until last Friday.

On that afternoon, on my way to work, I decided to drop by a music stall just a stone’s throw away from my office. I noticed that they had got these lotus lanterns on display at their counter, and it was only then I was reminded that Loy Krathong Festival was just around the corner. I asked the sales assistant when Loy Krathong Festival was, and she gave me a surprised look before telling me that it was on Sunday. I then asked her where do the local Thais float their lotus lanterns, and she told me that most of them do it at Kallang River, which is just a traffic light junction away. That was exciting! I didn’t know Kallang River was the venue for floating the lanterns, and if I had known it earlier, I could have celebrated it for the past 2 years. Anyway, I did not buy any lotus lantern from her yesterday, as I didn’t want to buy too early only to have a dented or damaged lantern on the actual day of Loy Krathong. Hence, I promised the sales assistant that I’d return to buy the following day.

On the following afternoon, before I go for my Chinese opera rehearsals, I purposely make a trip down to the stall again to buy lotus lantern. There were a number of colourful lanterns for sale, with price range from $5 to $10. That seemed a bit expensive, but then again, the “labour cost” as well as the cost of the raw materials is not cheap either, so I still decided to get one anyway. The cheaper ones did not appeal to me, as they were only decorated with some ribbons and I felt it looked too plain and not worth the money. I decided to get the $10 one, which was decorated with real fresh flowers and banana leaves. It looked nicer, and what’s more, it’s more environmentally friendly! After buying the lotus lantern, I suddenly remembered something; I had to work the following evening, and I wasn’t sure if I would have time to float the lantern. The sales assistant rest assured me that the floating of lanterns will start as early as 6pm, and would carry on until late in the night.

On the evening of Loy Krathong, I was greeted with bad weather, and I was worried that I might not be able to celebrate the occasion if the weather did not improve. Luckily, the rain stopped as fast it came. I then proceed to Kallang River happily with my lotus lantern. I guess it was still early, as I did not see anyone launching lotus lanterns into the water. I was about to head back to office and come back again later in the night when I saw a group of 4 elderly people carrying lotus lanterns in their hands. They were speaking in Hokkien, and I thought they might be able to help me find a place to launch the lanterns. It turned out that this group of elderly people were fans of my Chinese opera troupe, and one of their nieces was actually a dancer in our dance group too. It seemed that fate had drawn us together, and hence I decided to just follow behind them.

We walked for a short while before coming to a spot where we saw people crowding around. Some people had already launched their lotus lanterns while some were taking pictures with their lotus lanterns. We then decided that this would be the place for us to launch our lanterns into the water. I then realised that I had forgotten to bring out a small paper packet, inside which consist of a few strands of my hair and fingernails. You see, the sales assistant told me that before launching the lotus lantern, what some Thais do is that they would snip off a bit of their hair and clipped their fingernails, and place them on top of their lotus lanterns. As the lotus lantern floats away in the water, whatever bad luck and illness which you had for the previous year would go away with the lantern too. I then quickly searched my bag for my scissors and starts snipping a bit of my hair and fingernails. I guessed it must have a funny sight, as I noticed some Thai people looking at me in a strange manner. Anyway, I managed to get some of my hair and fingernails just in time to launch the lotus lanterns together with the 4 elderly people.

I felt happy and relieved once I saw my lantern floating away in the river, as I had finally realised my wish of celebrating Loy Krathong Festival again. Hopefully, the next time I celebrate this occasion would be in Big Thailand itself and not in “Small Thailand”!

Thai Floating Latern Festival - "Loy Krathong"

It is the fifteenth of the 9th lunar month for us Chinese, but for the Thais, it's the fifteenth of the 12th lunar month for the Thais, a very important day as it coincides with Loy Krathong festival.

Loy Krathong, also known as festival of light or floating latern festival, is the day where the Thais would launch small floating lotus lanterns into the canals and rivers. There were many sayings with regards to the significance of the festival. As this period is the time of the year where the farming cycle for the year comes to an end, the Thai farmers would "loy" (float) their "krathong" (lotus lantern) to thank the River Goddess for the good year they've had, as well as to seek forgiveness for polluting her waterways. Another saying was that this act of floating the lotus lanterns is to pay homage to Lord Buddha's footprint which He had left at the bank of River Narmada in India. There is another Hindus interpretation that this lotus lanterns were offerings to Lord Vishnu, who meditates in the center of the ocean. Whatever the real significance it is, this festival is nevertheless a beautiful one comparable to the Chinese mid-autumn and Yuan Xiao festivals, as the candle-litted lotus lanterns filled up the canals and rivers on this full-moon night, complimented by fireworks in the air. In northern Thailand, Loy Krathong festival is also celebrated with beauty pageants as well as the rising of "Kome Loy" lanterns (similar to the Chinese Kongming lantern) into the night sky.

In 2003, I had the chance to experience this festival on my own in Bangkok. On the night of the celebration, I headed out to Lumpini Park after the sunset, and along the way, I saw stalls selling Krathongs. Some were very simple lanters, with just a styrofoam base and some shredded ribbons and lace on top of the base as a decoration. There were others which uses real banana leaves and decorated with real flowers, and these were of course more expensive. I bought one from a stall at the park's entrance and proceeded inside. There were already people launching their lantern vessels into the pond. I walked up to the pond and choose an ideal place to float my own lantern. However, as the banks of the pond were wet and slippery, and that I was wearing slippers at that time, I almost lost my balance and fell into the pond. If I fell, I'd have become a gigantic krathong myself! Anyway, it was a beautiful sight to see so many lanters floating in the pond. I tried taking photographs of the scenery, but alas my digital camera just could not take photographs in such low lighting, and most of my photographs turned out blurred or grainy.

As I was about the leave the park after floating my krathong, the sky was suddenly lit with fireworks. It was indeed magnificant; lights in the sky as well as on the water surface! I quickly bring out my camera again to try snap some pictures, and though the quality was not very good, it was much better than the earlier pictures I tried to take of the krathongs in the pond.

Loy Krathong festival is truly a very beautiful festival, and one have to experience it yourself to see it's beauty. I hope I would be able to experience it again in Thailand next year or so. In the meanwhile, I've bought a krathong at my workplace, and I shall be floating it in Kallang River tonight!

Another Clip From "Manh Le Quan"

This is another clip from "Manh Le Quan" (Legend of Meng Lijun), but from a much newer remake by pretty pop singer Phi Nhung. Listen to the songs; there were more familiar tunes!

Take a Guess: Vietnamese Cai Luong

This is a clip from Cai Luong (Vietnamese folk opera) titled "Manh Le Quan". Does it bear a bit of resemblance with Chinese opera? In fact, this show is taken from a very famous Chinese opera story. The Chinese version has been acted before in Taiwanese opera, Minnan Xiangju opera, Shaoxing Yue opera and Anhui Huangmei opera. Even in Hong Kong, it has been adapted into periodic drama serial. Miko, Amai and Juanjuan, take a guess! See if you can guess what show this is. A clue: The title of this show in Chinese has three words, and it has already been mentioned in the clip before.

My Other Chinese Blog

I had just created a new blog for myself once again. This time round, however, it is a Chinese one, and is hosted by sina.com.cn. Like this blog here, my Chinese blog will be a collection of my own thoughts. However, I would not be able to guarantee that both my English and Chinese blog will feature the same content, because I will update whichever I feel like updating. Having said that, it does not mean that I will favour one and neglect the other. But do come support both my blog, nevertheless!

Revenge Of The Haze

I had almost recovered completely from my flu, when I suddenly started coughing badly again last night at work. It was so bad that a colleague asked me if I had still not recovered. I thought I had taken some food or drinks earlier on which had aggrevated my cough, but it was only when I finished work that I realised that it was the haze that had caused my cough to worsen.

Actually, I'm not someone who falls sick easily. In fact, for the past 12 months, I had not taken any medical leave, or seen any doctors for any illness (before my Taiwan trip), whereas the rest of my ex-colleagues in my previous companies had paid visits to clinics for at least twice for common illnesses. However, I had two weak points. First, if I fell ill from flu, it usually took me over a month to get totally cured (without medication), and second, I'm very sensitive to haze. I was so sensitive to haze that my body starts to give way even before I can even smell the smoke. Either I can cough for no reason, or I get diarrhoea.

The haze this time was very bad, as the PSI level rose to about 140 today, the highest for the past few years. Hence, I decided to wear a mask to work, so that I can minimise the smoke intake during my travel to work by motorbike. It does feel uncomfortable wearing the mask, but I think I should take some protection against the haze. Afterall, I'm still an unconfirmed crew in my company, and I don't wish to fall sick again just because of the haze and get no medical claims. Well, hopefully the haze would go away soon. It's such a pain and agony to me as it had upset my lifestyle quite a little!