Lion Dance on New Year

After my morning rounds on the New Year Day, I went to Bukit Bintang to settle some bills when I noticed the roads heading towards Pavilion were blocked. I managed to get to the car park since it was well before noon and when I got to the main entrance, there were lion dance troupes all over Pavilion.

Apparently there was a competition from early in the morning. Many of the participants were school children and the place were filled.

The event where coming to the end when I settled in. I only managed to see the troupes clearing out after their performances. The entrance were still filled with people. There were events going on through out the day as if the Chinese New Year was just around the corner.

Quite a spectacle although I didn't bring the right hear for the occasion. The main foyer was still filled with Xmas decorations. I wonder what Pavilion would have in store this year. They always came up with the spectacular when the Chinese New Year came around.

Movie to End the Year

I decided to stay in on the New Year Eve Night. Luckily there were no calls as well and I had a nice afternoon at home in front of the TV.

For a good few months, I really wanted to watch T2, the sequel to Trainspotting. And the best way to enjoy it would be to watch the original and the sequel back to back.

All the original cast were back. The original were darker compared to the sequel. The dialogue were sharper and the storyline tighter. A lot of clips were borrowed from the original in a kind of retelling of some of the stories through the eyes of Spud, one of the main original character.

Not quite the original classic but for the nostalgic, it brought some closure to some of the original storyline, explaining what happened in the 20 years between the two movies. If you were a fan of the original movie, T2 is definitely worth a look. If you haven't seen the original, you could do yourself a favour and watch both one after the other. You will understand the reason behind it afterwards.

Scones Time

Dina and Azmel came to visit and Anita promised them scones. More to the point, the scones would have to be as good as the ones we had together at the Lake Districts back in 2001.

Fresh out from the ovenHot stuff ...A tall order but Anita was determined. She spent the day before scouring for the ingredients from the supernarket, woke up super early to prepare the dough.

All was set and the scones turned out lovely! Unfortunately I was called out to the hospital when Dina arrived. They were done with the scones when I returned and Anita baked a second tray.

Why does it always shine when I am on call ...Gorgeous end to the dayDefinitely this time around, the scones turned out better then her previous attempt. They were gorgeous ...

Civilization on iPad

I have been a fan of Sid Meier since I started playing videogames. The first of his games which I enjoyed was Pirates! back in 1988/89. The next one I picked up was Railroad Tycoon before Civilization came into the picture.

Over the years, there had been many iteration of the classic game. In 2015, the sixth installment of Civilization came to the market and it was a surprise that a year later a working iPad version of the game was available. And I wasn't talking about a watered down version of the game a la Civilization Revolution. It was a full on version and since it was hard on the processing power, it took some time to get used to the slower phase of the portable game.

But on the whole, I was impressed. I was able to play the standard-sized world game at a steady pace in my iPad Pro and had not missed any of the features available on my Mac. Even the sound and atmosphere were comparable. I only wished that I had more time to kill playing that game.

Highly recommended. Yes, it drained the battery somewhat and it was not available on the iPhone - maybe due to the resources needed. A great effort and hopefully it would open the door to more desktop-level game onto the iPad.

A Different Start

During the New Year weekend, we had a small leak at the kitchen. The workers needed to switch off the tap for 24 hours. Therefore Anita booked a hotel room for us overnight while the work were being completed.

It was more of an apartment unit than a room which she got. It was called the Gardens Residence and it came in a single, double or triple bedroom setup. Only a single was available and there were than enough room for us for the night.

If not for the slow wifi and limited cable channels - which meant no United match that evening - things could've been better.

The best thing about the place was you just had to go to the ground floor and you were already at the Gardens Mid Valley. Shopping galore! That also.made getting fried more straight forward to add to the decent room service Gardens Residence offered.

There were also a gym and swimming room available for guests although sadly I didn't have much time to explore.

Would definitely worth a visit with the apartment going at quite a reasonable price. Location was great although I had to get up early the next morning for my ward round ...