One day trip to Wanaka today; climbed the Roy’s Peak track and saw the famous Wanaka tree.

What a day! I reached home at about 3.30pm after a tiring day trip at Wanaka today. Why do I call it a one-day trip when I’m already home by 3.30pm? That’s because I left my home for the trip at 3.00am midnight. That’s more than 12 hours out there. Two of my friends were on board and hence there’s three of us in this trip.

We drove for a little over an hour to reach Wanaka from Queenstown. Our first stop was the famous Roy’s Peak track. It is one of the most popular one-day hikes in New Zealand. We started climbing at around 4.40am. We wanted to be able to catch the sunrise view at the lookout point and hence we started our trip that early. As it was still midnight, we were in awe of all the stars (and the moon of course!) and saw a bit of the Milky Way too.

In general, the track requires 6 hours to complete including the return trip (hence approximately, 3 1/2 hours to reach to the top and another 2 1/2 hours to get back to the base of the track). But for us we spent about 7 1/2 hours in total (that’s 1 1/2 hour more than the general time required due to us being very keen to take a lot of photos and videos).

The track is a challenging one despite its mostly well-graded track surface and wide path. Most of the track is quite steep and some of the areas are slippery due to muddy surface. Certain parts of the track at the top are also covered with thick snow/ice too (expected as it is winter now). There is a lot of cow dung too along the track. It is a 16km long journey too (close to 1300m ascent to the lookout point or 1578m all the way to the summit)! I think this is by far the most difficult and time-consuming hill track that I have ever attempted. It does require a lot of stamina and a lot of breath! Haha…

We were not able to reach the lookout point by the time sun rises (around 7.30am). Hence, we stopped at a slightly lower elevation to rest for a while and to check out the sunrise from there instead. It was still a spectacular view! After that, we continued the climb for another hour to reach the lookout point; the ultimate spot for breathtaking pictures and videos! The panoramic view over Lake Wanaka and the surrounding peaks is incredible…Usually, there would be a lot of people queueing to take photos at this lookout point. However, when we were up there today, it was only three of us most of the time and hence we got the area all to ourselves! Yay…

There is still another 30 minutes climb required to reach to the very summit of the Roy’s Peak but we do not have any more energy or determination for it. View from the summit is also very similar with the view from the lookout point. Hence, we were all satisfied to end the track at the lookout point (which many people do) and proceed to head back down.

After completing the track, we went for a quick lunch in Wanaka town and then went to check out the famous ‘That Wanaka Tree’; a lonely tree that seemingly grows directly out of the pristine waters of Lake Wanaka.

It is most likely New Zealand’s most photographed tree. It is a must-do when you are in Wanaka. After that, we just do have any more energy to check out other attractions in the town and decided to call it a day. That’s okay. We would still come back to Wanaka during our road trip later this year to check out the rest of the stuff this beautiful town has.

Impromptu half day visit to Arrowtown.

I’m down with a light flu these two days but that doesn’t hamper me from going on an unplanned half day trip to Arrowtown just now in the afternoon. A friend of mine suggested going to this particular town which is only about 20 to 30 minutes away drive from Queenstown earlier today. Since I have not been to the town before and it’s quite a nice weather (sunny and not too cold with temperature reaching to 12 degree celsius) today, I’m in. Arrowtown is a former gold mining town and is now one of the most picturesque settlements in New Zealand.

Before turning into tourists and exploring around Arrowtown, we actually had a task; walking someone else’s dogs as their owners were not at home (they are staying in Arrowtown as well). The two female dogs were so adorable and well behaved. We took them for a short walk in their neighbourhood for about an hour before bringing them back to their home. We realized a lot of homes around there do have dogs as their pets. On the other hand, hardly any cats around.

We then moved on to the most popular street in Arrowtown, the Buckingham Street. This is where most of the restaurants, cafes and retail shops are located with a great heritage vibe. There is also a museum (Lakes District Museum), post office and a pharmacy here. We go for the gold panning at the Arrow River just behind the street (have to hire a gold pan for NZD 5 dollar from the museum). As expected, we didn’t get any gold in the end but it was an interesting activity though.

Before leaving Arrowtown in late afternoon, we also managed to check out the Chinese Settlements (area showing tiny little restored/preserved huts of early Chinese settlements in the Arrowtown back in 19th century), historic police camp cabin and St. Patrick’s Catholic Church. There goes the end of our quick 5 hours visit to Arrowtown. It is quite a small town and we have already managed to visit most of the attractions over there today. Will perhaps visit the town once more next time.

There goes the end of my 2-days break as well. Gotta be back to work tomorrow.

Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games closes with China climbing up to 3rd spot in medal tally.

Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games concluded yesterday with a short yet spectacular closing ceremony at the Beijing National Stadium (popularly known as Bird Nest stadium). Beijing made history as the first ever city to have hosted both Summer and Winter Olympic Games (the city hosted 2008 Summer Olympic Games).

A total of 91 countries participated in the games. Over 2870 athletes were involved in 109 events throughout 7 sports (15 disciplines). The games commenced with a spectacular opening ceremony on 4th February 2022 and was officially opened by President Xi Jinping. After running for our two weeks, the games ended yesterday on 20th February 2022.

I did watched highlights of both the opening and closing ceremonies. They were indeed impressive despite being scaled back due to the on-going pandemic. The fireworks display were spectacular! Well…that is quite certain coming from the country who invented fireworks. If you missed the ceremonies, you can watch them easily over at YouTube (they were also broadcast live on YouTube previously so worldwide audiences can watch it live).

Norway which is a powerhouse in winter sports topped the medal tally with 16 golds, 8 silvers and 13 bronzes. Germany took the second spot with 12 golds, 10 silvers and 5 bronzes. Entering the games with home advantage, China had its highest ever ranking in the Winter Olympic Games’ history by finishing in third place with 9 golds, 4 silvers and 2 bronzes.

Although there is no winter in Malaysia, but my country did participate in Beijing 2022. This is in fact Malaysia’s second appearance at Winter Olympic Games after first participated at the 2018 Winter Olympic Games at Pyeongchang, South Korea. We have two participants in alpine skiing but they do not manage to advance. The next edition of the Winter Olympic Games will be in 4 years from now (in 2026) at Milan and Cortina, Italy.

(Images in this post are from various online sources)

Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Olympic Games ended with Norway leading the medal tally.

The 23rd Winter Olympic Games, Pyeongchang 2018 concluded yesterday with a spectacular closing ceremony. This winter games did not receive much media exposure and hence I find it difficult to find any website to watch the ceremony last evening. In the end, I only managed to watch highlights of the closing ceremony from one or two news.

Norway led the medal tally with 14 gold, 14 silver and 11 bronze for a total of 39 medals. Norway, which came in second place at Sochi 2014 emerged as the overall champion in this latest edition of the games. Germany came in second with 14 gold, 10 silver and 7 bronze while Canada made it to third place finish with 11 gold, 8 silver and 10 bronze. The host nation, South Korea had 7th place finish with 5 gold, 8 silver and 4 bronze. This winter games are usually dominated by European and Western countries as winter sports are more common and popular over there than in Asia. With a bit of home advantage, South Korea emerged as the top Asian nation in this games.

This is the first Winter Games for Malaysia. I am not expecting any medal finish since my country is very new to this. There are only two athletes representing Malaysia and I can see they have placed their effort in it although they lost in the end. Malaysia do not have winter season and so it’s much harder for us to take part in winter sport. Anyway, I’m still looking forward to more participation by the Malaysians in winter sports in near future.

I have noticed one sport that looks weird to me. I have never seen it before. After a bit of research, the sport I mentioned is called ‘curling’. Curling is a sport in which players slide stones on a sheet of ice towards a target area which is segmented into four concentric circles. The curler can induce a curved path by causing the stone to slowly turn as it slides, and the path of the rock may be further influenced by two sweepers with brooms who accompany it as it slides down the sheet, using the brooms to alter the state of the ice in front of the stone. The action of the brooms is the one that made me laugh a little. It’s really the strangest Olympic sport I have ever seen and this is the first time I’m seeing it from Pyeongchang 2018 although this sport has been contested in the previous games before.

So now, this Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Olympic Games has ended. The next edition will be in Beijing for 2022 Winter Olympic Games. Beijing, China will be the first city in history to have hosted both Summer Olympic Games (in 2008) and Winter Olympic Games (in 2022, 4 years from now).

(Images in this post are from various sources throughout the world wide web)

Pyeongchang 2018 kicks off with eye-catching opening ceremony.

Pyeongchang 2018, the XXIII Olympic Winter Games is held from 9 to 25 February 2018 (some events being held on 8th and 9th prior to the opening ceremony). This international sporting event brought Pyeongchang, a once quiet town 180km from the capital Seoul, South Korea into spotlight. The games feature 102 events in fifteen sports disciplines. 2,952 athletes from 92 National Olympic Committees are slated to compete, including the debut of Ecuador, Eritrea, Kosovo, Malaysia, Nigeria and Singapore.

Wow…I can’t wait to see how Malaysia will perform in this Winter Olympic Games. I don’t think Malaysia will win any medal since this is only the first time Malaysia is participating in Winter Olympics. We have only two athletes competing (Jeffrey Webb will compete in alpine skiing while Julian Yee will compete in figure skating). Although we have lack of experience (hard to get involved in any winter sports in Malaysia where no winter is observed), but I’m still wishing all the best to these two Malaysian athletes in Pyeongchang 2018.

Pyeongchang defeated Munich (Germany) and Annecy (France) back in 2011 to bid for the hosting job of the 2018 Winter Olympic Games. Previously, Pyeongchang had bid to host the 2010 and 2014 editions but lost out respectively to Vancouver and Sochi (Vancouver hosted the 2010 Winter Olympics while Sochi hosted the 2014 Winter Olympics). Success is finally observed in the third time bidding. Third time a charm for Pyeongchang.

The opening ceremony was held yesterday’s evening at the Pyeongchang Olympic Stadium, a stadium with 35 000 seating capacity purposely built for the games and will be demolished after the games ended. The Games were officially opened by President of the Republic of Korea Moon Jae-in and the ceremony was also attended by Kim Yo-jong (representative of North Korea and sister of Kim Jong Un), Mike Pence (Vice President of USA), Shinzo Abe (Japanese Prime Minister), Antonio Guterres (United Nations Secretary General), Thomas Bach (President of International Olympic Committee), etc.

I didn’t watch the full ceremony but I do looked at the highlights of it from many news sources. Some of the major highlights of the ceremony include the marching of North and South Korea together in the athletes’ parade under a unified Korean flag, two men impersonating as Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un in the stadium and being kicked out, the world’s largest drone show in history during a performance segment of the ceremony, etc.

(Images in this post are from Vox at https://www.vox.com/2018/2/9/16995150/2018-winter-olympics-opening-ceremony-photos) 

Back from bringing my parents for a trip in Perth during their early Raya holiday.

First of all, I would like to take this opportunity to wish ‘Selamat Hari Raya’ to all the Muslims around the world especially to my Malay friends and ex-colleagues in Malaysia. Have a wonderful celebration. For the other Malaysians not celebrating, have a happy holiday! This applied to my parents who were spending the break by travelling over to Perth to visit me and also to tour around the city. I have been here for about 5 months already and since Perth is a small city, I’m quite familiar with the places and navigation around here already. And hence, I can be a free tour guide for them.

They arrived here last Sunday and had already spent four days here. They departed to airport not long ago for their flight back to Kuala Lumpur and I have just returned home from staying in the hotel with them for the past three nights. We stayed in Seasons of Perth, a four-star hotel in CBD area. It looks only three-stars rating for me to the best. It is old with very outdated finishing, but it does have large room and the good things about this hotel are that it is cheap and it is located very near to tourist places in the CBD like the popular Hay and Murray Streets.

Once they arrived and checked into the hotel, I brought them to the Kings Park to view the State War Memorial and also to catch a glimpse of the beautiful city skyline from the park during the sunset hour. That view never gets old for me. Then, I brought them for dinner at a restaurant called Secret Garden Chinese Restaurant in Chinatown and I ate my favourite steamed cod fish (or some say tooth fish here).

On the second day, I brought them to walk around in the city, viewing some famous places like the City of Perth Library, Perth Town Hall, London Court (unfortunately most of the alley in it is now under renovation), Hay Street and Murray Street (two popular pedestrian malls in the city). Then, I brought them to the Elizabeth Quay, a must-visit new place in Perth for the tourists for the Swan River’s view and also for all the interesting things over there like the twin-arches bridge, Spanda sculpture and the iconic Swan Bell Tower. Then, I brought them for early lunch by having dim sum at Northbridge in a restaurant that I have tried it before. The food there taste very good and my parents enjoyed it very much until we came back for the same place two days later (this morning) for lunch again. The restaurant is Fortune Five Chinese Restaurant.

 

After the lunch, we took the ferry from Elizabeth Quay to South Perth that only took about 10 minutes for a ride. South Perth is just opposite the city and that is where the Perth Zoo is, the place that we will be visiting for the whole afternoon on our second day. The zoo is not huge but contains a lot of exhibits of animals. What’s disappointing are that the quantity of animals in the zoo is very little (it’s only one for each of almost all the species on exhibit) and that the paths are not continuous. With that kind of layout, it is easy to miss some exhibits.But overall, it is still a satisfying experience visiting this zoo which is so near to the city. We ended the day by having dinner at Theo and Co Pizzeria, a famous pizza restaurant at East Victoria Park.

On the third day in the morning, we boarded train to head to Fremantle, a port city south of Perth. The train ride only took 30 minutes. Fremantle is a city full of many old and well preserved heritage buildings and streets. It also has beautiful beaches and the majestic view of the vast Indian Ocean. We walked around there and visited the Round House, the first permanent building in the city which is originally a gaol (a jail). I didn’t bring them to see Fremantle Prison because there is nothing spectacular on that prison actually and that we couldn’t spend longer time there. Then, we head to the nearby Bathers Beach and had fish and chips for our lunch at Kailis Fish Market and Restaurant at the harbourside. Before leaving Fremantle, we walked in the Esplanade Park and observed all the happenings there from the on-going Winter Festival. There are some activities especially for kids and family like the outdoor skating rink. It’s weekday and so the Fremantle Markets is closed. Too bad, my parents couldn’t visit it but it’s not a major issue.

Then, I brought my parents to visit my Curtin University campus in Bentley. They said it’s a huge complex but for me, it’s large only because of all the parks, fields and trees. Then, I brought them to visit my on-campus accommodation and also the nearby Waterford Plaza as they wished to visit the supermarket here. For the evening, I brought them to Crown Perth, the casino resort not far from the city. This is also my first time visiting the casino. We tried our luck for a short while and we won a bit to our excitement. The hotel there looks great and very luxurious. There is also a convention centre over there. That’s it for the day.

On the fourth (last) day of their trip, there is nothing I can do for them since they have to be at the airport by afternoon already. We just spent rest of the time walking in the CBD area again and had early lunch at Northbridge. Then, I bid farewell to my parents again as they left to the Perth International Airport for their flight back home. How I wish I can fly back with them since I have remaining three weeks of holiday before my next semester of study commences. It’s okay. I will be back to Malaysia by December!

They were here for four days but they were actually only visiting the city for two days technically since the first and the last day were spent mostly on the arriving and departing stuff that took up most of the time. They are sure to come back here again probably during next year’s any holiday season or during my graduation. If they are here longer, I can even bring them to Swan Valley (I have visited it and it’s quite nice over there especially with all three free tasting of chocolates, wines, cheese, nougats, nuts, honey, beer, cooking ingredients, fruits, etc), the Pinnacles, the Wave Rock, the Lobster Shack, and even a whale-watching tour (my dad is interested on it but it only runs from September to November…it has its own season). That’s all now reserved for their next trip here. My dad is also eager to return here for the casino since the minimum bet here is low and very much affordable. Okay…that’s it for my description of the trip of which everything went very well especially with the nice sunny weather every day during the trip. But it’s freezing cold especially when the wind blows at night in these few days. It’s the peak of winter season now in Australia and so there is nothing we can do besides than wearing more.

(Copyrights reserved to all the images in this blog post)

Semester break is the time for me to turn from a student to a tourist in Perth.

Semester break has started just not long ago and there is like a month left before the next semester of my study begins. I’m enjoying the holiday but I started to feel bored already. I’m now desperately finding things to do. This is a typical student’s life. When you are in the semester, you have to work so hard and couldn’t sleep much to complete the assignments. When everything is over and the holiday begins, you start to wonder what to do during the holiday.

I started off the break by transforming myself from a student into a tourist. Last Saturday, me and my friend went to Fremantle, a port city not far south from Perth. It’s a beautiful city with many historical heritage buildings, port, harbors, museums and beaches. Hmm…I think I have described about the city in my earlier posts. So, I’ll just move on with some beautiful pictures I have taken there.

Fremantle Prison, one of the most iconic structures in Fremantle, but doesn’t look iconic to me.

View from Round House overlooking a beautiful heritage street in Fremantle.

Fishermans Wharf, the place to enjoy my fish and chips and I’m afraid of the many sea gulls over there waiting to snatch my food.

Sunset in Fremantle.

View of the ferris wheel in Esplanade Park, Fremantle. Look at the sky! Beautiful tone of colours.

We went to the Fremantle Market, Fremantle Prison (only outside view since the admission fee is expensive), Round House, Bathers Beach, Fishermans Wharf, Esplanade Park, and also wandering around some nice-looking streets surrounded by heritage buildings, cafes, shops, etc. After an early dinner of having fish and chips (a must meal over there), we took a quick time enjoying the breathtaking sunset view (it’s winter now here and so the sunset is on 5.20pm…so early) before leaving Fremantle and call it the end of the day.

Today, we went out again. This time is on city exploring in Perth. Ahh..not really city exploring since there is actually nothing much to see or visit in Perth Central Business District (CBD) since it’s very small compared to many other bigger cities I have been to. But Perth is still a very beautiful city and it’s ranked one of the most livable cities in the world. There are certainly reasons for that achievement and I can feel that since moving to here from past February. Today, we just head down to the Elizabeth Quay, the latest waterfront development of the city facing the beautiful Swan River. The quay is completed but developments in it are very slow. They all remains as flat plots of land without any sign of construction of buildings proposed over there. However, Elizabeth Quay is still a popular destination with parks, iconic Swan Bell Tower, some new pavilions selling food and beverages, jetties, bridge, playground, Spanda sculpture, etc.

View towards the city from the Double Arches Steel Bridge in Elizabeth Quay. Spanda sculpture is on the right.

Swan Bell Tower at the back. The thing that attracts me is those purple bras on display along these pergolas, marking the ‘Purple Bra Day’. What on Earth is that?

View to the bridge I went to just now and the Swan River.

In the afternoon, we proceed to the famous Kings Park, a huge park overlooking the city. I think it is the largest inner-city park in the world (and just now I have only covered a tiny bit of the overall park and even for that I have already spend like three hours there). This is a perfect spot to enjoy the magnificent view of the city’s skyline. It is not far from the city, a very popular place to relax and enjoy the nature and the view, and contains gardens, bridges, fountains, sculptures, art gallery, cafes, souvenir shop, State War Memorial statue, viewing decks, open fields, outdoor theatre, etc. We met a local man whom is a photographer and he brought us to walk around the park. Hmm…out of sudden, we got a free guided tour in the park.

State War Memorial, a monument to commemorate the Western Australian soldiers who perished in the past wars, particularly the World Wars.

The beautiful city skyline of Perth, the compulsory view from Kings Park.

A nice-looking bridge in the park, but this is quite far from the main entrance area of the park.

A short timelapse video I made just now showing Perth’s city skyline from Kings’ Park in the afternoon.

The weather started to get really cold once after the sun disappeared. My hands were freezing. Nothing is better than a hot meal for dinner at Waterford Plaza near my house to end the outing today.

(Copyrights reserved to images and video in this post. Kindly ask for permission if you wish to use any of the images or video above)

 

128th IOC Session in Kuala Lumpur; Beijing chosen to host 2022 Winter Olympics and Lausanne for 2020 Winter Youth Olympics.

The 128th International Olympic Committee (IOC) Session is currently on-going at Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia from 30th July to 3rd August 2015. Eventhough my country did not get to host any Olympic Games yet, but I’m already glad that we got to host an IOC Session this year, an important agenda in Olympic calendar. The IOC Session is where the meeting of all the members of the International Olympic Committee takes place, and is also the event when host cities for future games will be selected.

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia defeated Lima, Peru to be the host of the 128th IOC Session. It’s a great start to introduce the country to the Olympic body before seriously planning for bids in future games. Recently, Prince Imran, the chairman of the session’s organizing committee, chairman of Malaysia’s National Olympic Council and also the President of Commonwealth Games Federation, suggested a joint bid with Singapore to host the prestigious Summer Olympic Games in 2028 or 2032. Joint bid proposal is made possible after the Olympic Agenda 2020 recently introduced by the President of IOC, Thomas Bach. He also mentioned that the committee would be glad if the games can be held for the first time in South East Asian region.

Malaysia’s Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak whom also officiated the opening of the IOC Session yesterday agreed and strongly supports the joint bid proposal. On the other hand, Singapore finds the concept interesting and may give it a try together soon. So, let us wait and see. Since either of these two countries can’t host the games on their own, a joint-hosting job will be a great solution. I would love to bring Olympic Games to Malaysia (and Singapore together) in 2028 or 2032. Malaysia had previously hosted 1998 Commonwealth Games while Singapore had hosted 2010 Youth Olympic Games. When both join hands, it will be easily a successful bid. However, there would be many new details and conflicts on this proposed collaboration, and let’s hope it all works out.

Back to the on-going IOC Session in Kuala Lumpur. Today is the day when the voting is conducted to choose the host city for 2020 Winter Youth Olympic Games and the bigger 2022 Winter Olympic Games. The results are as follow; Lausanne, Switzerland defeated Brasov, Romania to be the host city for 2020 Winter Youth Olympic Games. This Winter Youth Olympic Games is very new in Olympic history as it had just started in 2012 with Innsbruck 2012, and then second edition coming soon in Lillehammer 2016. Beijing, China defeated Almaty, Kazakhstan to be the host city for 2022 Winter Olympic Games. Beijing will be the only city to host both Summer and Winter Olympic Games in history. Wonderful. Congratulations to both Lausanne and Beijing. We look forward to the games in your city in near future!

(Images in this post are from various sources throughout the world wide web)

Movie review – Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)

Great! Really great! For quite some time, I had never been feeling this excited after watching a movie. The movie I’m referring to for now is ‘Captain America: The Winter Soldier’, the second instalment of this particular superhero film franchise. The story sets two years after the Battle of New York (as seen in The Avengers), when now Captain, Black Widow and Falcon join forces to uncover a conspiracy within S.H.I.E.L.D. while facing a mysterious assassin known as The Winter Soldier. After the 2012’s The Avengers, we had seen the return of Iron Man and Thor in their respective stand-alone films. Now, Captain is back too, and the outcome turns out to be much more exciting than the others.

The previous ‘Captain America’ film sets in 1940’s during the World War period where we saw the transformation of a skinny military man into a superhero with exceptional physical abilities and thus being called as the first avenger. After an encounter with the villain Red Skull, HYDRA leader, he is lost in the middle of the ocean, being rescued and slept till the present day (a bit of flashback to what’s happened on the first movie). Later in The Avengers, we didn’t see much from him coping with the current era which would be fun to see but there are many other superheroes to focus on in that film too, hence no time for that. We do see a bit of that part in this current sequel, but still I think it is not enough. It would puts in a bit of comedic touch to turn this movie into perfection, but it didn’t in the end. But don’t worry. There are still some light funny moments in this one.

Nevertheless, the story here is solid and wonderfully developed enough to have it being critically-acclaimed as it turns out to be now. It’s interesting to see Steve Rogers (the Captain) teams up with Black Widow (she previously collaborated most with Hawkeye in The Avengers) and also later with Falcon (new appearance) on many challenging tasks ahead in this movie. Nick Fury also had more significant role here which is of something good to see. The storyline is extremely engaging and the plenty of intensifying action scenes made it further fun and exciting. I just couldn’t get my eyes off the screen for even a second from the start to the end. The actions (crashes, explosions, blasts, gunfight, combat) are awesome here! I couldn’t expect more from this superhero of whom has the lesser power compared to the other superheroes and yet could contribute to this amount of climax-reaching actions in this film.

Chris Evans did not only proves himself to being a favourite by many girls out there due to his handsome look and superb fit body, but also shown good acting performance here alongside with Scarlett Johansson as the Black Widow. The other aspects to compliment are the great visual effects (must be using up a lot of budget). Every action-packed scenes looks very realistic and convincing enough to keep us at the edge of our seats. There are also some very nice twists, and interesting character’s development. Bucky Barnes as the old friend of the Captain and as the Winter Soldier here (the villain) isn’t really evil and I’m happy to see him rescuing Captain in the end (sorry for a bit of spoiler) and then looking to discover more on his past (check out the post-credit scene if you haven’t watch it) after he is brainwashed by the true villain of the film, Alexander Pierce as the secret agent of HYDRA within the S.H.I.E.L.D. There are a mid-credit and post-credit scenes. Don’t miss both.

I have to say this is by far the best superhero film I have seen after The Avengers. I would rate ‘Captain America: The Winter Soldier’ a total of 8.0. Solid story, great flow, plenty of actions and intriguing suspense. Nears perfection.

(Images in this post are from various sources throughout the world wide web)

 

Sochi 2014 Winter Olympic Games concluded.

After over two weeks of showcasing the best on winter sports among the athletes from across the world, the 22nd Winter Olympic Games, Sochi 2014 ended yesterday with a spectacular closing ceremony. The host nation, Russia topped the medal table as expected with 13 golds, 11 silvers and 9 bronzes for a total of 33 medals. Norway came in second with 11 golds, 5 silvers and 10 bronzes while Canada is third with 10 golds, 10 silvers and 5 bronzes.

The opening ceremony on 7th February was troubled with a serious technical malfunction when one of the five Olympic rings failed to open in a performance’s segment. Well. That’s a big FAIL to the iconic Olympic rings display which is in tradition of every ceremonies of Olympic Games history. Other embarrassing incidents surfaced one after another during the games which had almost made the host nation of the world’s most expensive Olympic Games in history a major laughing stock.

But the hosts hit back in fine style at yesterday’s closing ceremony, with hundreds of dancers choreographed to form the Olympic rings – with the fifth and final ring failing to open AGAIN, as it had two weeks ago – only this time the malfunction was entirely planned. I’m quite surprised that they did this on purpose this time and I actually like it. The organizers showed a welcome willingness to put in a bit of humour based on a major glitch they had about two weeks ago to purely entertain the audiences this time. Interesting!

Well, the games officially ended. Before the games, no one knows Sochi. Where is it? It is not even a capital or a major city of Russia. It was just a small resort town. But now after the games, it can call itself proud for having successfully hosted Winter Olympic Games before, one of the biggest sporting events in the world. The high spirit of sports over there hasn’t end yet as Sochi will be hosting the Winter Paralympic Games too, from 7 to 16 March 2014. After that, we will be looking forward to the next edition of Winter Olympic Games; Pyeongchang 2018 at South Korea.

(Information and images in this post are from various sources throughout the world wide web)