Love Letter/The Contact

I just finished reading a review of Made of Honour by The Star yesterday, and got to thinking - when was the last time I saw a really good romance movie? After digging for a while, I have to go back all the way to "Love, Actually" which was released in 2004. If I have to name something more recent, I would be forced to choose "Iron Man" (bear with me here) which, in addition to all the usual action scenes, had a very sweet subplot concerning Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) and the hero.

Apart from the Before Sunrise/Before Sunset combo, two of my other all time favourite love stories from the silver screen came from Japan and Korea.

The Japanese one is actually pretty well known - Love Letter. I first saw it at Midvalley in 2000, and have since owned a VCD of it (still hunting for a proper DVD copy).

The movie handles the themes of loss, memories, and things unspoken with tenderness wraps things up with a coda that is heartbreaking but yet uplifting.

The second movie was more conventional (think You've Got Mail's predecessor), but it's execution is much more superior to Tom Hank's movie. The movie's protrayal of the loneliness of our modern existence amidst all the comforts and choices we have is something that most of us living in Klang Valley can really relate to.

The Korean movie came with the bonus of a really cool theme song - Velvet Underground's Pale Blue Eyes. Enjoy :)

Ipoh Trip

Was up with Ipoh last weekend with wife and kid to attend a wedding. We stayed at Heritage Hotel, which was nothing to shout about, but it was quite clean and comfy.

The dinner at Sun Lee How Fook, however, was another matter. The food was REALLY good, all the dishes had the freshest ingredients and was superbly cooked. The finale, however, was a puzzle - Nestle ice-cream??

Going round town was made easier thanks to the superb map drawn by Wai Yin, and also the help of a local friend (thanks, Victor!).

On Sunday, we originally planned to go to Foh San, but was warned by Victor that it will be difficult to get into. So, we decided to go to Yuk Fook Moon, supposedly one of a trio (Foh San being one of them as well) of excellent dim sum places in Ipoh.




After breakfast, we went to the famed toyshop near Sun Yuen Loong in Old Town (thanks again, WY!) and got some toys for Cynthia.



Then we paid the Ipoh train station a visit. I was surprised to see a brand new platform had been built there recently. Victor explained this was in preparation for the double-tracking project.





We finally rounded off the trip with a visit to the Salted Chicken shop and also bought some Heong Peng.

On the way back, my wife commented that things in Ipoh seemed more solid and authentic, in contrast to KL. I have to agree - somehow, KL has become a pale imitation of the real thing.