Shanghai Revisited

Going back to the city I lived in 2008 was very exciting because I love the energy of Shanghai. The super-sonic growth that this city has enjoyed has given it a shiny confidence to greet all visitors. I had the pleasure of showing my American partners, Amy Happ and Eric Woodworth, around Shanghai during our recent visit in October.

One of the things I really wanted to do was to visit my friends Martijn van der Valk and John Laing, who have built a new luxury boutique hotel in the heart of the city, near Jing An Temple. It was so exciting to see the fruition of their dreams, after having listened to them share their visions and plans for the place during our long champagne brunches in 2008.

Posing with Martijn and the brand new Mercedes SLS AMG on the grounds of Hotel PuLi

Kdrama Addiction

It all began innocently enough one afternoon at the end of July. I had taken a day off to nurse a slight fever and cold. After a futile few minutes of channel surfing, I decided to rummage through my DVDs in the hope of finding something to keep me entertained. My eyes spotted a Korean drama DVD set called "Winter Sonata", which was still in the original plastic wrapper from the time I bought it in 2009! I put the first disc into my DVD player and fifteen hours later, a Bae Yong Joon (BYJ)-loving ahjumma was born!

Bae Yong Joon - the original Korean Valentino who's my biggest crush of 2011

I suppose it would have been a passing phase if I hadn't declared my middle-aged crush so openly on Facebook. The confession opened a floodgate of romantic gushing from my friends, many of whom were die-hard fans of Kdramas, who thought I was too "atas" (Singaporean slang for snob) to ever join the fray. So I spent the entire month of August catching up on the Hallyu (Korean Wave) that started back in 2002 with the release of Winter Sonata. Over many sleepless days and nights, I started chasing down all the BYJ series I could find, both online and on DVDs. These included The Legend, Hotelier, April Snow and Untold Scandal (which is a "hawt" re-make of Dangerous Liaisons).

After listening to my obsessive rantings about Bae Yong Joon for six weeks, Lu Meng, one of my best friends from the Ahjumma Club, gently told me that BYJ is actually passe and it was time to move on to some newer dramas. And so she introduced me to a whole array of delightful new dramas such as Dream High, Boys over Flowers, You're Beautiful and Secret Garden.

Moved on to ogling hot young Korean actors half my age in Boys Over Flowers and You are Beautiful

So in a matter of a few short months, I have become enough of an expert to spot a few trends in Korean drama storylines. It all seems so corny and canned, but I get sucked in every time!

• All the lead actors are blindingly beautiful, super fashionable and filthy rich. Look up "eye candy" in the dictionary and you'll see a list of Korean actors. If you don't, then they should be!
• The lead actresses are innocently pretty and often economically and intellectually challenged. They seem to need a lot of rescuing!
• Boys always end up piggy-backing their drunk girlfriends home
• Boys running after bus
• Boy always gives girl a star or moon necklace
• Boy often has a "bitch" mother who messes with his self-worth and causes him to be supremely obnoxious
• Pitiful second male lead who always loses the girl no matter how much he loves her and is always there for her
• Someone always has a memory loss/amnesia resulting in an ending with a twist
• Sauna spa back rub scene for all the guys
• Girls fight by pulling each other's hair!?
• Lots of soju (rice wine) accompanied by barbecued pig skin/intestines (which inevitably leads to piggy back for drunk girl)
• TEARS!! Every actor and actress can cry to order and weep so prettily that your heart just breaks watching them  *

And the funny thing is that I had mixed feelings about Korea when I worked there in 2000. But thanks to this new obsession, I just might consider another visit soon.

SARANG HE! (I love you!)

*  Additional contributions from my KDrama group friends

• Boy always sings girl a song, even if he's grossly out-of-tune
• Beautiful boy has deep thoughts in the shower while camera focuses on his killer body and abs! (yummy)

A Special Place

Just at the end of my street lies a pocket of nature known as Fort Canning Park. It's steeped in history dating back to Singapore's inconsequential existence as a fishing village in the 15th century. This 60m hill was known as Bukit Larangan (Forbidden Hill) when Stamford Raffles set foot on the island, and subsequently became the site of his first home.

One afternoon last week, I was looking to retreat from the bustle of my city home and decided to spend a few hours in the quietness of Mother Nature. And I couldn't have wished for a more private oasis.

Fort Canning was home to my father during the years that he was based in Singapore as part of the Malaysian signals in the 1960s. On his last visit here, Daddy discovered that his barracks had been converted into the visitor centre, while his offices are now part of the salubrious Fort Canning Hotel.

I spent a lovely afternoon sitting on a wall hidden under a canopy of trees quietly thinking about the past, present and future. I counted my blessings, thought about my business, sang a few songs and was even inspired to pull out some oil pastels to capture the moment.

That afternoon, I found one of my favourite places in Singapore.

I love Durians

Can you imagine driving 350kms from Singapore to KL, resting a night, then driving another 400kms to Penang to stay a mere 48 hours? What would possess Aunty Jo Jo to do something as manic as that? DURIANS of course!

Its durian season in Penang and I had to be there for my ang heh (red prawn) and D24! Yumms..

And of course, I got to spend some time with Mum & Dad too! :-)

ArtScience Museum

The ArtScience Museum opened in early 2011 without much fanfare in Marina Bay Sands complex in Singapore. Which is rather a shame since there are three amazing exhibitions being held simultaneously

• Dali - Mind of a Genius
• Van Gogh Alive
• Shipwrecked - Treasures from the Tang Dynasty

Dali - Mind of a Genius

The word "genius" is often an overused cliche, employed by amateur art critics to window-dress their shortcomings. However, in Dali's case, it is well-deserved. I have always found his surrealist works rather disturbing until I began to understand his masterful use of imagery.

Soft clocks are the hallmark of Dali's work, and they often appeared in his dreams. The reason they appear as soft is because he views time as soft, fluid and cyclical. Unlike most of us who just declare that there are 60 minutes in an hour - hard and fast facts that would have anguished the genius of Dali. He once declared "...as for clocks, they would have to be soft, or not be at all!"

I was introduced to other religious themes in his sculptures such as this work representing Adam and Eve, as well as angels on snails.

In many of Dali's works, butterflies often symbolised the soul. These delicate nature of these female sculptures are reflected in the dainty butterflies they hold aloft.

Apart from sculptures, Dali was also a painter and furniture designer. I thought the furniture exhibition looked rather IKEA-ish, but stood to admire for almost 10 minutes anyway because it was so artfully mounted on the wall and ceiling.

Van Gogh Alive!

Words cannot do justice to this thrilling exhibition. It needs to be experienced, not just seen. Van Gogh is one of my favourites and to see his works projected on 40 giants screens accompanied by some of the best classical pieces is breathtaking!

Standing in front of these Irises projections, I felt as if I'd been magically transported into a spring day in Tuscany!