Accor has hotel deals~

Hmm, seems like Accor Hotels is having some good-looking deals if you pre-book from 10th July to 30th Sept (this year, of course). You have until next Monday (29th June) to get your bookings in, so don't tarry! :)

Savings of up to 60% in Asia Pacific, over more than 25 cities in the following countries -- Aus, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, India, Malaysia, NZ, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. Rates start from as low as $25 per night, though a preliminary search on Saturday at Sydney showed the cheap $99 deals had already been snapped up for next Friday. See if you can get any of the rest..=)

China:
NOVOTEL BEIJING PEACE - RMB 408
NOVOTEL BEIJING XIN QIAO - RMB 408
SOFITEL SHANGHAI JJ PUDONG - RMB 588
SOFITEL WANDA BEIJING - RMB 888
NOVOTEL BEIJING SANYUAN - RMB 408
GRAND MERCURE BAOLONG HOTEL - RMB 408
GRAND MERCURE XIDAN BEIJING - RMB 408
GRAND MERCURE HONGQIAO - RMB 408
PULLMAN BEIJING WEST WANDA - RMB 408
PULLMAN SHANGHAI SKYWAY - RMB 408

Hong Kong:
NOVOTEL HONG KONG CENTURY - HKD 488
HOTEL IBIS NORTH POINT - HKD 350
NOVOTEL HONG KONG CITYGATE - HKD 488
NOVOTEL NATHAN ROAD KOWLOON - HKD - 488

India:
IBIS GURGAON - INR 2400
IBIS PUNE - INR 2400
NOVOTEL HYDERABAD AIRPORT - INR 2400
NOVOTEL MUMBAI JUHU BEACH - INR 2400
MERCURE HOMESTEAD RESIDENCES - INR 2400

Indonesia:
NOVOTEL BOGOR - IDR 488000
NOVOTEL YOGYAKARTA - IDR 418000
MERCURE REKSO HAYAM WURUK - IDR 408000
THE PHOENIX HOTEL YOGYAKARTA - IDR 468000
MERCURE CONVENTION CTR ANCOL - IDR 408000
NOVOTEL JAKARTA MANGGA DUA - IDR 488000
NOVOTEL BANDUNG - IDR 488000

Malaysia:
NOVOTEL KUALA LUMPUR - MYR 175
PULLMAN PUTRAJAYA LAKESIDE - MYR 155

Philippines:
SOFITEL PHILIPPINE PLAZA - PHP 4437

Singapore:
GRAND MERCURE ROXY HOTEL - SGD 108
NOVOTEL SINGAPORE CLARKE QUAY - SGD 128
IBIS SINGAPORE ON BENCOOLEN - SGD 88

Thailand:
NOVOTEL BANGKOK ON SIAM SQUARE - THB 1575
NOVOTEL BANGKOK LOTUS - THB 1575
CHATEAU DE BANGKOK - THB 1575
SOFITEL BANGKOK SILOM - THB 2900
GRAND MERCURE ASOKE RESIDENCE - THB 1575
GRAND SUKHUMVIT HOTEL BANGKOK - THB 2100
GRAND MERCURE PARK AVENUE - THB 1575
NOVOTEL SUVARNABHUMI AIRPORT - THB 1575
LE FENIX SUKHUMVIT - THB 875
ALL SEASONS SIAM - THB 875
PULLMAN BANGKOK KING POWER - THB 2100
VIE HOTEL BANGKOK MGALLERY - THB 2100
IBIS SATHORN BANGKOK - THB 875
ALL SEASONS GOLD ORCHID - THB 875
ALL SEASONS SATHORN BANGKOK - THB 875
IBIS BANGKOK NANA - THB 875

Vietnam:
SOFITEL METROPOLE HANOI - USD 130

Australia:
NOVOTEL CAIRNS OASIS RESORT - AuD 99
NOVOTEL SYDNEY DARLING HARBOUR - AuD 99
NOVOTEL ST KILDA - AuD 99
IBIS MELBOURNE - AUD 79
NOVOTEL BRIGHTON BEACH - AuD 99
NOVOTEL ROCKFORD PALM COVE - AUD 99
NOVOTEL BRISBANE - AuD 99
MERCURE BRISBANE - AuD 99
MERCURE PERTH - AuD 99
IBIS SYDNEY DARLING HARBOUR - AuD 79
MERCURE CAIRNS HARBOURSIDE - AuD 99
NOVOTEL PERTH LANGLEY - AuD 99
IBIS PERTH - AuD 79
GRAND MERCURE APARTMENTS - AuD 129
GRAND MERCURE FLINDERS LANE - AUD 129
IBIS BRISBANE - AuD 79
NOVOTEL GLEN WAVERLEY - AuD 99
MERCURE SYDNEY - AuD 99
MERCURE MELBOURNE SPRING ST - AuD 99
MERCURE PARRAMATTA - AuD 99
IBIS SYDNEY WORLD SQUARE - AuD 79
NOVOTEL SYDNEY OLYMPIC PARK - AuD 99
IBIS SYDNEY OLYMPIC PARK - AuD 79
NOVOTEL CANBERRA - AuD 99
PULLMAN REEF HOTEL CASINO - AuD 129
THE MENZIES SYDNEY - AuD 99
NOVOTEL ROCKFORD DARLING HBR - AuD 99
THE SWANSTON HOTEL MELBOURNE - AuD 99
GRAND HOTEL MELBOURNE MGALLERY - AuD 129
IBIS LITTLE BOURKE STREET - AuD 79
MERCURE WELCOME MELBOURNE - AuD 99
THE CROSSLEY HOTEL - AUD 99
IBIS SYDNEY AIRPORT - AuD 79
SOFITEL SYDNEY WENTWORTH - AUD 159
NOVOTEL SYDNEY MANLY PACIFIC - AuD 99
THE VICTORIA ALL SEASONS HOTEL - AUD 79
MERCURE SYDNEY AIRPORT - AUD 99
ALL SEASONS CAIRNS GATEWAY - AUD 79
GRAND MERCURE DOCKLANDS - AUD 129
PULLMAN AT SYDNEY OLYMPIC PARK - AuD 129
IBIS SYDNEY KING STREET WHARF - AuD 79
IBIS GLEN WAVERLEY - AuD 79
ALL SEASONS PERTH - AuD 79
GRAND MERCURE ROCKFORD - AuD 129
MERCURE CAROLINE SPRINGS - AUD 99
ALL SEASONS KINGSGATE HOTEL - AUD 79
SWISS GRAND RESORT AND SPA - AuD 99

New Zealand:
MERCURE AUCKLAND - NZD 99
MERCURE WELLINGTON - NZD 99
IBIS WELLINGTON - NZD 99
IBIS AUCKLAND ELLERSLIE - NZD 99
NOVOTEL AUCKLAND ELLERSLIE - NZD 119
NOVOTEL WELLINGTON CAPITAL - NZD 119
MERCURE AUCKLAND WINDSOR - NZD 99
IBIS CHRISTCHURCH - NZD 99
MERCURE WELLINGTON WILLIS ST - NZD 99
ALL SEASONS CHRISTCHURCH - NZD 99
--From this list

Did I say last post? I lied. XD

Hmmm second last exam today. Exams are always a pain...worrying about them doesn't help either. :( Will have to go shower and study for the last one later. On the good side, lots of stuff arrived today! The Kagamiku Figma I won from alafista-san -- shipping seems to have been a whopping $30+ SGD. Thank you so much! :) The shiny colourful thing I got niisama, and I'm making more of it, as well as Daniel Merriwether's new CD, Love and War.

It remains to see whether I'll like it -- not all that impressed by the cover and lyric book. But his work was interesting the last time I heard it, so..:)

Last post here!

I have to finish something up in an hour's time before niisama comes, but I figured might as well post...this'll be my last post on the blogspot blog, since Scribefire doesn't work well with it. I might sporadically post, but I'll probably do it on LJ instead. Friend me if you know me.

Those who've noticed this blog languishing should know that I spend most of my blogging time/energy on my anime blog, [*Anime By the Books*]. Yes, I post once a day there. Yes, I'm grateful about getting paid to post. XD If you'd like to know more about it, please leave a comment with your email and I'll get in touch..(not expecting many to be) I get 5USD for referring people, which I can route back to you.

In any case, I'm once again happy that I know both Chinese and English. It makes watching ChiSubs..possible. -wry- And somehow Chinese subbers are relentless and super fast. I mean, I just got Koukaku 10...should go and watch that. And almost done with Kemono 10.

I remember in school a lot of us used to drag our feet learning Chinese, but in Australia now, my middling-standard Chinese and even my half-bucket Cantonese is a lot more than most people can speak. Surprising, really...I don't want my brother to turn out like a typical only-English-speaking ABC, but I guess aside from dumping him in Chinese school..

Books with no ending --

Lately I realise I've become dissatisfied with books. I don't know what happened..but somewhere along the line I've become tired of the mundane. Romance thriller homicide FBI? Yawn. Epic quest and dark villain? Been there, read that, skipped on the T shirt.

And now I'm encountering yet another species of books - the No Endings. The past three or four books I've read (and held -- i.e. not ebooks) have had no decipherable ending. They just dropped the reader at the end. Granted, two of them are biographies of sorts (Grant Stoddard's Working Stiff and Belle de Jour - diary of a working call girl) -- the other two, were, however, just normal chick lit. That didn't really have an ending.

It's sad, really. I did enjoy the books. Not so much Stoddard's -- he writes like a guy, and does rather dumb things a guy would do; shows no visible character development; and writes in semi-linked. While Belle de Jour does much the same thing, the protagonist is at least greatly likable to me. Not to mention her life's more interesting. -wry-

Now, I know it's the nature of life to be unfinished. But sigh. What books have you guys been reading?

Personalised USB gifts~

As Christmas approaches, more people are scrambling for gifts. It's probably too late for you if you're looking for something that'll be delivered before Christmas, but why not consider personalized holiday gifts for future presents? :) It adds a touch of 'hey I bought this just for you!' to any gift...unless, of course, you know five people with the same name. XD

Pexagon is offering 20% off from now until the end of the year (that's just one week left!) for the below four gift options: personalised thumb drives, personalized pens, business card flash drives, and wooden usb flash drives.

I was mainly interested in the personalized thumb drive, since giving someone a pen seems a bit...well...free stuff given out. XD A 512MB personalised USB pen goes for $7.99, 1GB for $9.59, all the way up to $55.99 (16GB). I personally loved the 14 colours available (I liked that rose colour!), but the exchange rate is still pretty horrible here. On the other hand..I think shipping is available only to US or Canada. :( Sighs! Ah well, might as well look at the rest available.

Personalised pens don't get as many styles, only four styles with 1-4 colours. (Striped, dimpled, or sure grip, or wooden) Personalise it with up to 30 characters (I think the USB pen allows images too). It is, however, certainly cheaper at $1.59 per. Ironically enough, the personalised business card drive is cheaper than the usb pen -- only one option for $5.99 for 2GB. Maybe because it's larger...? Lastly, the wooden USBs come in two colours (dark or light wood) -- $5.99 for 2GB, and $8.99 for 4GB. Now I'm really wondering why the USB pen is cheaper. ._.

Productive day~

Yay! I finally got Christmas cards mailed out (I fear they'll be late...sigh XD), and went to Westfield to get the rest of niisama's Christmas presents. Unfortunately, the Ben 10 briefs at the Korean Artbox place were sold out. :( Guess I'll have to get bro just the Bakugan books for his Christmas. :)

So now, everyone's gifts are set! :D I think this year I'll only get one gift...even though it's my 21st. It makes me feel kinda lonely, but then I remember I have niisama and that's all that matters. (Well not really, but I'm super duper ultra zoongly grateful for having him. -hugs imaginary niisama-)

Sigh. This week has seemed strangely empty. :( Because of work, didn't get to see niisama until Friday. Though staying over the weekend was awesome, even though I was emo. Sorry, dear. -sighs-

I found and posted to this singing competition thing...if you ask me, Nami is the best singer, though I like Ms. Newman's voice as well (potential!), and Rumi-ka really should have done it with a better karaoke version, cos her voice is awesome. I entered as Lady Jezebel, singing Sakura Kiss. Was tired and only got to it on the night of the day it was due. But if you like it, please vote for me!~ XD

Movie galore~

I've been watching many many movies these days, mainly since when at home with niisama/eating, it's the easiest thing to do. :) Let's see if I can come up with short summaries for them.

Don't Mess With The Zohan: This was obviously poking fun at Israeli/Palestinians. -wry- Adam Sandler was funny, but as a film it didn't make me all that attached. Not to mention I wonder how the groups of people parodied feel...
Kung Fu Panda: Very fun romp. Wonderful colours, great animation, sweet story, likeable panda (Jack Black, haha!), and awesome action sequences. Watch! ^^
Dragon Hunter: Another animation, but not as likeable as Kung Fu Panda. (The girl is kinda annoying) Still rather cute, and whimsical besides. All I can say is - knitting needles.
Hancock: Three words - Too Many Loopholes. It wasn't bad, I just didn't really get this one. And the chemistry between Will Smith and Charlize Theron was dubious at most; torturous more than anything. Loophole bit: still don't get the pair/lose power thing. -wry-

I think there were a few others but I forgot. XD Gonna watch Titanic this weekend, yay~~