Intermission: Enter the wonderland?

" Do I turn you on at all when I kiss you baby,
does the sight of me wanting you drive you crazy. " - Do I, Luke Bryan

On the night of my Birthday- which was also the start of the mid-sem break, we drove up to Penang's Autocity to have dinner with my family for the celebration. I was fed-up eating uni food and given the first time being in Autocity, i was really spoilt for choice. There simply was so much to offer. In the end, we ended up eating in a Western restaurant. The food was delicious and it was my first time eating in such cafe.

The place really comes to life at night. If we have such places in KL, i bet it'll be crowded almost everyday. If it's during a festive season, i can't imagine the pool of people. Certainly, an ideal hang-out place for people to meet up or have reunions.

We didn't stay overnight in Penang and instead, left to Sg Petani. The next day, we visited the Penang Island. And the first place we visited was the Kek Lok Si temple. We skipped the lower part because we have been there before and straight went up to the higher peak of the temple and laid eyes on the new bronze Goddess statue. It was really amazing!

Dad and i in front of the statue. It is big. There was some on-going repair work so we could not go any further inside.

There were statues of the 12 Chinese zodiac, and mine was the ram or goat or sheep. The garden is beautiful, although i felt that there is a need to maintain and repair some statues. With that, i would place my money on making Kek Lok Si one of the best attraction for tourists to the island, whether you're worshipping or on a visiting tour.

After the Kek Lok Si, i visited my friend who was doing her intern training in Hard Rock Hotel. Might as well take this opportunity to visit the place. Two words, jaw-dropping amazing!

Stepping foot onto the hotel instantly teleports you into another part of the world. You will not feel like you're in Malaysia. There was great entertainment, great deco, great ambiance.

I loved the whole concept of the hotel. Just sheer relaxation and entertainment to keep us all occupied. There was music playing by the poolside, pulling people to dance along. There are cafes inside the hotel and near the beach, serving pizzas. Swimming pool right in front of your doors for the first floor occupants! Wow, i'm overwhelmed in admiration.

I have set my target and raised my mark. I will spend one night in this hotel in the near future! It is expensive and exclusive, yet, with the facilities there are, i'm sure it's worth a one night stay in the Hard Rock Hotel Penang. The next time i return to the hotel, it would be for a stay and not just a visit!

Alice in Wonderland opened in the cinema on Thursday and for the first time, i watched it in the Grand Cineplex in Sg Petani. It is a newly opened cinema but the entrance was impressive. As for the interior, nothing much better to the one in MBO Ampang. Onto the show, it simply has too much Tim Burton and Johnny Depp's signatures, all over the movie. Yet, i thought that given the duo's success in the past, they could have deliver this movie better. Depp's role in the movie didn't differ much from Jack Sparrow, observing the way he walks and speaks. Anna H don't look as pretty as she is in the movie, given her the make-up. I thought they should have promoted and advertised more of Alice instead of the Mad Hatter, with all due respect to Depp, as this movie centres on Alice.

Nonetheless, this movie also has it's moments. Which movie can you hear someone shouting 'Pig!' or watch the cute pair of fat boys? It has a battle scene in the end but it was rather mild. May be it caters more to the less action-packed movie-goers. It has very colourful graphic, although green screen, but i liked the richness in colour of the movie. As for the story-line, not much variation to the original especially the eating of cakes to minimize Alice or drinking the potion to enlarge Alice. All in all, the movie isn't mind-blowing or fantastic, it was just alright, known it's Tim Burton, and it fits more into a mild adventure genre and good humour.

Finally, i completed The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks. As many people would claim this book to be his best, i have, no doubt, that it is and it has the best concept or purpose in this romantic tale of two people. But my favourite still remains to be The Wedding.

The Notebook is written in flashback style, from the day he met the girl during a summer break and began to fall in love. They both come from entirely different background and social status. For the summer, they spent most of their time together eventhough the girl's parents were disapproving their relationship. And when the summer ends, they departed to separate ways.

Yet, they still thought of one another and he began to write letters to her almost everyday for years. But what he doesn't know is that the letters were not received by her and she did not read what he had written. Slowly he decided to stop writing. For the next thirteen years, the ghost of her started to appear again, showing up once again in his life. He was determined to have her back but she was then being engaged to a man whom she had also loved. The final choice came one day to her.

The love story in their past wasn't very interesting or nothing much spectacular. However, what i like in this book is how he dealt with her Alzheimer, trying everytime to defy science and believe in miracles. It simply shows his eternal and unconditional love to her. It shows that if we love someone so much, it comes naturally for us to simply do the right thing even if it means sacrificing other things. A beautiful love story.

I shall end here for this intermission and get back on track with my work. If you have noticed, once again, i was caught up and entangled with much other obligations. Now, they are finally over and i promise to go on with my series of uni life. Until then, wait for me, wc10, for time waits for no man!