Category: unique [奇趣特別篇]

Hong Kong Sinfonietta Conducted by Yip Wing-Sie Toronto

I left work early today and went down town because tonight, I had the pleasure to see Hong Kong Sinfonietta North American debut 2012 conducted by Yip Wing-Sie at Koerner Hall, their third stop, Toronto 😀  I have listened and watched the Sinfonietta on TV/DVD a lot but had never seen it live, the experience was enchanted.  All the musicians are amazing and as a music director & conductor, Yip Wing-Sie does a pretty good job on collaborating.  If they come again, I am sure I will go again no doubt :-p

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Rating: 10.0/10 (1 vote cast)

Town of Richmond Hill – 2012 Fire Prevention Week Open House

Town of Richmond Hill – 2012 Fire Prevention Week Open House.  This neat event was for the residents of Richmond Hill to come out for a fun-filled day of great food, fun games and educational activities, including auto extrication demonstrations, the Fire Safety House and a fire truck simulator, well mainly for kids really :p  I had never been inside a fire station before so I figured why not go with little Marcus and his family :-p  It must have been fun for the kids because everything was made for kids :-p  It wasn’t like what I expected, whatever I saw on TV inside a fire station, like fire fighters with 6 packs, awesome 3 storey dorms with sliding poles and exciting rescue demonstration etc…  non of that was there…  instead, we saw fire fighters with big bellies, boring interior and super slow rescue demonstration…  A little disappointing really 🙁  Or I must have watched too much TV…  Anyways, I did take some really awesome pictures to share with you all tho which is good 😀

Facebook link here for more pictures http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151224856840211.507029.689775210&type=3

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Rating: 7.0/10 (1 vote cast)

Caribbean Cruise Experience (Oasis of the Seas)

at the back of the ship (Oasis of the Seas)

at the back of the ship (Oasis of the Seas)

Being on the world’s biggest cruise ship “Oasis of the Seas” was quite enchanting and fun, on the other hand, the hot and humid weather drained us pretty good (in a good way) and most of the time we only got 7 or fewer hours to sleep :p.  The whole west Caribbean trip was a 7-day trip which includes the destinations Haiti, Jamaica and Mexico, so packing was quite challenging especially being a first timer on a cruise.  After the whole experience, we have learned and seen a lot so I will try to put everything into words below so people know the details.

– Sun protection is a must, I brought 2 bottles of regular sunblock, used them all in 7 days but bring sun to protect lip balm as well (which I didn’t bring…)

– Cash, brought $400 USD, ended up using only about $200 for alcohol, cigarettes, and coffee beans.  A credit card was already bound to your sea pass so nothing else needed cash; -D

– Was told a lot of different stories about the drinking water on board like bring our own bottles and stuffs like that, but what we ended up doing was buying the Pop package because it would make everything much much easier. We figured carrying a bottle to everywhere you go is heavy since we had shit loads of things in the bags already (camera, sun block/lotions, wallet, sandals/shoes, towel, etc.)

– Not including the stuff I was wearing the first day, I brought 6 t-shirts, 2 tanks, 4 shorts, 8 underwear, 8 pairs of socks, 2 sandals, 1 extra pair of casual shoes, 1 pair of dressed shoes, 1 suit, 2 dressed shirts and 1 tie.  What I ended up not using the most was the socks, only half was used since most of the time we were wearing sandals.  I also regretted not bringing enough tank tops because t-shirts are just not cool enough for the weather :p

– Brought 2 cameras, but ended up using only one…

The food everywhere on the ship was very good, mostly free unless you want to try some of the speciality restaurants, which we did 😀

Here is what we did the whole trip below…

Day 1 – flight, boarding, tons of exploring of the ship, watched the show “Oasis Dreams”

Day 2 – on the ship the whole day, enjoying the sun and pools a lot, watched the show “Hair Spray” late afternoon and dressed dinner at night

Day 3 – Snorkeling and jet skiing at Haiti, super bright sun, smart causal dining, casino and some drinking at night

Day 4 – Best of Jamaica, more walking, boating and sun 😀  Umm… maybe a little shopping :-p

Day 5 – on board the whole day again, more sun most of the day, dressed dining at night again plus a few more exploring of the ship

Day 6 – Mexico, a shit load of walking at the runes and a very relaxing beautiful beach

Day 7 – on the way back to Ft. Lauderdale so more sun and fun on board (zip line, flow rider etc.)

Day 8 – flight back…

Overall, I didn’t expect the whole trip was actually quite tiring, especially on our day 6 at Mexico, even drank lots of water and still felt like it wasn’t enough.  Anyways, I took a total of 1319 pictures so here are some highlights 😀

P.S.  I just picked a few here randomly because there are just too many :-p  For full albums, please check out my facebook links here Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4, Day 5, Day 6, Day 7&8Panoramic view and Cruise Pictures taken by cruise staffs

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Rating: 9.5/10 (2 votes cast)

Richmond Hill Ribfest 2012

About a year ago, I went to the Markham ribfest, unfortunately I missed the one this year which was 2 weeks ago and I would be very disappointed if I missed the Richmond Hill ribfest at Richmond Green Park.  Though the size of this is smaller than the one in Markham but with 6 professional rib teams would be enough to fill our stomachs, after all, we could only try maybe a couple at a time :p  We got there at about noon and the first thing I went for was a deep fried blooming onion because I hadn’t had one for soo long, of course I would not miss out the ribs and pulled pork 😀  Anyways, my pictures below would tell you the rest of the story 😀

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Rating: 10.0/10 (1 vote cast)

Beauty and the Beast

Beauty and the Beast, a very classic cartoon from Disney that had become an award winning  Broadway musical which I was hoping to see for sometime.  When I heard that they were coming to Toronto again, me and my friends booked the tickets right away no doubt :p  The show was at the beautiful Four Seasons Center, a new/modern theatrical experience for all ages.  I was totally amazed by all the powerful singers performing the whole musical and the stunning settings of every scenes.  I would definitely recommend this for everyone, it’s a must see performance out of most musicals out there, a big thumbs up!!!

P.S.  Photography of any kind is prohibited during a performance. Audiotape and videotape recordings are forbidden under copyright law. If anyone is found photographing or taping the performance, their photos or recordings will be deleted and they will be asked to leave the theatre without a ticket refund. :p

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Rating: 9.0/10 (1 vote cast)