후아유 + Grandma's passing on + Yonvin's wedding + Ninja Bowl + MBS stay with Potato & Murder on the Orient Express + Journey to Hell tour at Haw Par Villa + steamboat & board games @ James's + Christmas @ WX & Jere's

Watched "후아유" for김재욱. He's the second lead... the ghost ex-bf of the female inspector (lead), who "died" on a mission and his spirit lingered ard to help his gf crack the mystery of the case six years ago before she went into a coma. Audience finds out towards the end that he is actually in coma and not dead, but sadly, the writer has decided that he shld go and the female lead shld be with Taecyeon's character instead.

Rating: 3.5/5

13/12 - 16/12 Weds to Sat: On my second last day in Chiang Mai, I received the news from mum of Grandma passing away. Attended her wake on Friday and the cremation on Saturday. The news of her death came so suddenly. She has lived to a ripe old age of 90 yrs old, and though I heard that she passed on rather peacefully, it's still pretty sad that she couldn't make it for cousin's wedding on Sun.
Mum and I visited her just a month ago, and she was, as usual, complaining how she can't see clearly nowadays. Just as she and mum were talking, she was worried that I'd be "bored", and was glad MJ came back in the afternoon so I'd have someone to talk to as well. 
She's very concerned with our studies, always asking how we fare every CNY when we meet, and my "looks" la, whether or not I hav a bf la etc... sometimes I dun even know how to ans her and juz avoided it (and well she has so many children and grandchildren she's too busy to ask a second time haha).
I can still rmb how my first "dental" experience was with her and not the sch dentist. I was in kindergarten or so, and my lower front teeth was loose, so mum told me to go over to Ah ma and that she will help remove it. I was so scared la. She sat on the sofa (same cover as the one in the pic), me on a stool, and tied a white string to my loose teeth. "Don't be scared, very fast one." is what she'd told me over and over I suppose. Well and with that, I lost my maiden tooth.
Now, she's cremated and her tablet's together with grandpa's at Poh Ming Tse. I know she went in peace, knowing all her children and grandchildren are all doing well on their own.

17/12 Sun: Attended YM's wedding at Furama Riverfront on Sun afternoon. Talked to Eddie, YL and their gfs about my work at STC too. The MRT at my area was closed that day, so we had to take cab to and fro... $41 sia.
*家家有难念的经。希望自己能尽好责任、作好本份，珍惜这个家最重要。*

18/12 Mon: Met up with Jess, WH and WL at Ninja Bowl for dinner instead, cos apparently the Ah Hoe Mee Pok outlet at Cantonment rd has long closed down liao. The salmon poke bowl was not bad la. We had dessert at Tanjong Pagar later, and sorta shared our trips a lil'. 

20-21/12 Weds to Thurs: Checked-in to MBS and when we saw the towel elephant we laughed... lol they knew we juz back from Thailand ah? Lol. Potato went for a short swim at night with the wind blowing rather strongly haha~ poor him. After late lunch with mum at Rasapura, two of us walked over to Marina Square to have late dinner too.

Watched the World Cup of Pool at night, and hey 9 Balls is pretty intriguing, and Potato obviously enjoys it a lot cos it's a tactical game la... requires the players to think way ahead even if u were juz playing ur current move.

Next morning, we went to Cathay Orchard to catch "Murder on the Orient Express".

Oh wow~ so all of them are connected somehow and were in cahoot. They didn't manage to fool the detective, but he let them all off on account the murderer sinned too.

Rating: 3.5/5
  
Then, we headed over to Far East Plaza to hav Green Cafe's dry mee hoon kuey (kinda salty imo) for lunch, and he had his hair-cut while I sold my used iPhone 6S 64gb for $300 at Mobyshop.

22/12 Fri: XY and I met up at Haw Par Villa in the evening for the "Journey to Hell" tour... $18 each. It's been more than 20 yrs since I'd been thr when "Dragon Head" company had been its operator. 

I used to think Haw Par Villa was all about the ten courts of hell and scary figurines, but it was through this 2-hrs walk that I learnt about the history of how there used to be a villa (est. $1M back then... now probably $20M wow) here situated on the top of the hill in 1937 for which Burma-born elder bro aka Tiger Balm tycoon Boon Haw ordered ppl to built for his younger bro Boon Par, and how it Boon Par fled back to Burma during WWII, and Boon Haw was trapped in Hong Kong, and aft his younger bro's death in 1944, he ordered for it to be demolished, but still kept the sculptures and dioramas around, in which ltr his nephew added more to it aft his travels around the world. 
Today, there are more than 1000+ sculptures there maintained by one old artisan and his apprentice working thr. Anyw, we walked into the "Museum of Hell", a new initiative by Haw Par Villa for ppl to learn more about the beliefs and understandings of the underworld from human's pov. I was back to visiting the ten courts of hell again, like I did in the 1990s... but no more scary audios accompanying them now. *我是相信生死轮回，善恶有报的人, and that doing more good in life helps myself and love ones ard me.*
At the end of the walk, guide Razeem allowed us and some foreigners to "burn" hell money etc. I reckon the educational tour was worth the money, but I'd like to return during some day to visit and see the other sculptures in detail in future. 

23/12 Sat: Had lunch at Francine's place with Potato and PY, and we played a bit of "Mansions of Madness" before James came by and we left with the steamboat ingredients to his place. We had麻辣as the soup base, and whoa I got sick of the麻麻的感觉not long aft. YQ reached and 5 of us played Mansions of Madness~ the beginning was gd, but as more and more monsters spawned, our inspectors died one aft another~ and it doesn't help tat YQ手气的不好lol! Ning joined us later. *Thks to PY for the hand-made coasters gift!*
By 1+am, James was desperate to solve the mystery and we neglected all the rules and went ahead with escaping LOL. Potato was super seh at the end of everything~ and Francine and I shared Uber home.

24/12 Sun: Had lunch with Potato and his family nearby his place before uncle and auntie flies off to Harbin on Weds for 10 days. We shopped at Northpt City, the expanded Northpt aft tat, and I was so tired I fell aslp on Potato's bed while he gamed in the afternoon.
Headed over to WX and Jere's place in the evening. Jere's got lots of cider and beers from all over the world that he was busy making us drink LOL. Met YB and BY thr, and also WX's neighbours Ivan and YL, as well as WX's mum and two bros. 

YF and XY came later, and brought along Nintendo Switch. It's my first time playing Mariokart with that and guess what? I finished first twice in four games leh~ hahaha not bad mah my driving skills~ came out tops overall somemore keke. Took Uber back home with YB and BY at 2+am... whoa sey amounted to $23 per pax... oh well Xmas period!

*这阵子身边有较多的红、白事在发生。传统习俗有些复杂：因为“带孝”的关系不能参加朋友女儿的满月、好友的婚礼和她爸爸的丧礼、好朋友的庆生会也要延迟了，心里难免是有些复杂的。*