Announcement
- everything tastes good when it's deep fried...
Check it out...my next project!
www.cbfresh.com .... HAHAHA... !!!! VMC
My blog More entries >
-
We're Landing on Hong Kong side !
Thursday, Oct 7, 2010 2:25PM / Members only
Been super slack again with the blogging but this is HUGE .. so I gotta tell y'all to check it out!
What: 1st EVER ASIAN FLUGTAG
Who: Alive not Dead Team
When: 10/10/10
Where: West Kowloon Heliport ( West Kowloon Promenade)
Why: .... because you'll want to be apart of HISTORY !
That's right folks , I'm going to be part of the Alive not Dead team along with Simon Yin, Derrick Fong and Gloria Wong!
With former NASA engineer Etchy drawing up the schematics we're sure to go far!
Go Big or Go Home ... We're in it to win it ! With great strength comes great responsibility...erm well sorta ... you know what I mean!Our monstrosity stands over 5 meters high and will dwarfs all the competition...
My prediction is that it'll land somewhere near the Macau Ferry!
no matter what , we'll make the biggest splash
See you all on Sunday!
VMC
239 views Share 
-
Jeanne Hartman
Monday, May 18, 2009 11:10AM / Members only
Hey y'all I've been so slack with the blogging lately but I've got to let you all know about this...
If y'all get a chance, sign up for Jeanne Hartman's acting class while she is still here in Hong Kong. No matter what your acting experience or ability is, you will definitely take something away to help you with your craft. I just finished taking the 2 day intensive last week and it was AMAZING...
Jeanne creates a safe and fun environment to learn and play. The great thing is that she doesn't tell you what you need to do to improve... but allows you to discover it on your own...There are no blanket questions and answers here... everyone actor is different and she knows how to get the best out of each and everyone one of us. I learned so much while going through my scene work and also by observing others. I was blessed to be in the same course with some great actors and directors who all brought a myriad of experience to every scene dissection and discussion.
Thanks to AnD and Jason Tobin for helping co-ordinate these classes! Thanks Jeanne for helping me become a better "detective". See y'all at the final gathering!!
VMC
594 views Share
-
VMC X Fox Crime
Tuesday, Jan 27, 2009 6:27PM / Members only
Hey Y'all.... I'm back blogging again! Still waiting for some moollah...
You will all get to see my ugly mug on TV more haha...
The CB FRESH boys recently shot a series of promos for Fox Crime that should be airing after the Lunar New Year...
Yes I am the angelic one .... haha....
"What .. What are you looking at....?"
Apparently, with my wardrobe, I could double as Han Solo...
stay tuned ... cause sometimes.... crime does pay... HAHA
VMC
690 views Share
-
Four Hours Behind
Thursday, Dec 4, 2008 4:14AM / Members only
Team Hong Kong ... Four Hours Behind ... "Don't get lost!"
Governorate of Muscat Office
We started 4 hours behind because we were unable to complete the roadblock from the last leg and had to stay focused on our tasks..... one thing we always remembered was "Don't get lost!" We headed down the cliffs and navigated our way to the Governorate of Muscat Office. We flagged down a taxi to bring us there so that we wouldn't waste any time. When we got there we saw that there was an Hours of operation sign .. so we knew that we had caught up a little already.
As we ran towards the clue box I saw a sign that told us to keep off the grass and to "Respect the grass!" but I don't think Sam saw it and he ran on it ... that's why I yelled that out. when he ran on it.... hahaha... we're in a foreign place we needed to respect their laws and customs.
Said's Camel Farm
Getting to the farm was a task in itself. It was quite far away and off the main road. We had to navigate with our 4x4 through the sand using the other teams' tracks as a guide. When we finally got there we had to guide 10 camels that were tied up into a cage on the other side of the compound. This was not an easy task because the camels that were left seemed to be VERY MEAN. Sam tried to pull on it's leash and it flung him to the ground. I had to wrap the leash around my hands a few times so that it was secure and that way I could prevent them from breaking free.
Our camels seemed not to want to move and would refuse to go in the direction we wanted them to go.
The extreme heat and sun made things worse. I watched the Omani boy who was at the Camel Farm give directions to the camels so I mimicked what he did to coax the camels into the cage. When we were finally done we got our next clue.
Road Block: Who holds the key to your destiny?
The next task was a Roadblock and we needed and by the like of the clue it seemed to be a puzzle / patience needed task. That’s Sam’s specialty so he decided to do it. We had to then navigate to ourselves to the Uber Sand Dunes in Oman… again it was off the paved roads with no clearly mapped out roads. As we drove deeper into the sands are 4x4 started to get bogged down and we were stuck. I told Sam my experience with driving in the snow….and how to prevent getting stuck.
I had to get out and push a few times but we eventually got there. On the way to the sand dunes we saw both Geoff and Tish and Tania and Ida’s vehicle pass us so we knew that we were hot on their tail. Sam had to use a metal detector. To comb through an area about the size of half a soccer field to look for a key to open a lock that would give us our next clue.
This task required stamina and patience because there were many “wrong” keys that would not work with the lock. As well, the SUN WAS AT IT”S STRONGEST during midday and we were in the middle of the desert. I told him that I would stay out in the sun with him while he looked to give him support. I had a swim coach when I was younger that made a deal with all of us and said that he wouldn’t sit while we practiced… this was psychologically motivating so I did the same for team unity. He had to stop and rest in the tent area a few times because he was getting heat exhaustion from being out there too long.
After about 25 minutes of looking for the key we were able to find the right one and open the lock to get our clue.
Travel to Phuket Thailand
We had to travel to our final destination of Phuket Thailand. We ran right for our jeep and headed for the airport. We had crisscrossed around across Muscat and a few times and so we knew how to get to the airport. At the airport the stress started... In order to to get to Phuket we had to go to Dubai first. We got to the counter and it was closed. The guy counter told us that we were too late and would not sell us tickets. We went to a few counters but they had no flights so we went back to the original counter and begged him. As we were trying to persuade him we saw the other teams happily walk by us because they had secured their tickets from Oman to Phuket already. Geoff and Tish were going to Phuklet via Dubai and Bangkok... while Tania and Ida had tickets to Phuket via Dubai and Singapore or K.L. ... which would put them way ahead of Geoff and Tish. We were happy just to get to Dubai and by God's grace we were able to buy tickets quickly ran towards the gate. It was miracle that we were able to buy tickets, clear customs and get to the flight within one hour. When we entered the plane we saw the faces of the other teams. They were quite disappointed haha... but we had not secured the next round of flights at that point in time so we had make sure not to waste time in Dubai.
When we got to Dubai we raced out of the plane and went to the ticket counters to try to purchase tickets to Bangkok... but the one that counted was closed. We used that time to research on the internet on the best possible way to get to Phuket. From what we could gather, the best possible way was take a Thai Airways flight to Bangkok and then look for a Air Asia flight in Bangkok to Phuket. The problem was that we were unable to buy these tickets online because we were looking to travel within 24 hours, the internal counter was still closed and if we wanted to go to the ticket counter outside we would have pass through immigration to go outside buy tickets and then come back in ... but there was no guarantee if there were any seats left. We decided to wait it out inside the airport and the ticket counter eventually opened. We bought our tickets to Bangkok but we had no tickets from Bangkok to Phuket.
On the plane I asked the flight attendant for the book that has all the flight schedule's and sure enough the Air Asia flight was the fastest for us at that point in time. When we got to Bangkok we raced out of the plane and headed for the ticket counter to purchase tickets. We were lucky that there was space still on the flight. When we went to check in we saw Geoff and Tish already there. They were also able to get themselves seated in the very first row so that they could be the first out of the plane.
It was a mad dash for the taxi stand when we landed in Phuket but Geoff and Tish managed to be just ahead of us and took the first taxi. We had to wait for about 5 minutes for the next taxi to arrive.
Temple
We quickly found our way to the Temple and found our next clue.
Thai Trade Food Ice Factory
When we got to the Ice Factory we saw three full barrels of ice. We didn't see Geoff and Tish and we weren't sure where Ida and Tania were because we heard that they had planned to take an earlier flight into Phuket through KL. We jumped right into our task and started looking for the "souvenir" in the ice bucket. I wrapped my hands with towels because the ice was so cold and Sam put on gloves he picked up from Vietnam. I had a feeling that the "thing" we were looking for was either clear like an ice cube or blue like the barrel. We were careful not too throw the ice too far away in case we didn't see "it" ... and towards the very bottom of the bucket when all the ice was gone...
I saw the small little clear plastic block with The Amazing Race Asia logo etched inside. I exchanged this for our next clue.
Lam Hin Pier
Geoff and Tish and Ida and Tania were no where insight and we were off to the Pier to look for our next clue. But on the way our taxi driver needed to get gas and so we decided to get another taxi.
Our new taxi driver knew exactly where to go. THIS WAS THE KEY.... the funny thing is that he told us that he had moved recently to Phuket from Bangkok but miraculously he knew where all these obscure places were....
We arrived at the Pier, told our taxi driver to wait in case we need him again and ran out towards the very end to get our next clue.
Search for the Fisherman...
We ran back what seemed an insane distance just to pay our taxi driver... and then ran back to the end of the pier to get our boat ( we remembered to always pay our taxi driver since the incident on first leg).
We scanned all the boat drivers and picked the one who seemed to know where to go and also would be able to get us there quickly.
Pretty soon we had found the fisherman and the clue he gave directed us to was to Middle Island to do a detour.
Pick or Plunge
I thought that the plunge task would be easier because we didn't need to stick together and I had swam competitively when I was younger and Sam was a decent swimmer himself.
However the water was murky and after a few minutes in we decided to switch tasks. (this was the first time that we had ever decided to do that.) ... we quickly ran to the kayaks and paddled out to the look for the marked clams.
It was a miracle because Sam found the right clam out of 800 within a few minutes, When we went to exchange the clam for our clue it directed us to go dig for the chest with our money in it.
Looking for the treasure chest
We picked a plot that was shaded so that we could stay out of the intense sun. We had no idea how big the chest was , where it was or how deep it was ... so our plan was to dig from the outside perimeter on opposite sides and to dig about one arms length deep. I believe that it was about 20 minutes into digging with our bare hands when we I hit something. We focused our energy on digging out the treasure chest for another 15 minutes.
It was lodged in quite solidly. I imagine that the producers had prepared it the day before and packed down the sand and poured water onto so that it was like concrete. It was taking so long and I was so frustrated with the whole thing so I decided to kick the chest and in that instant it became dislodged.
A foot race to the finish.... we quickly pulled out the chest with our money in it and followed the arrows to the Final Pit stop. We really had no idea because Tania and Ida and were not seen and Geoff and Tish were just behind us. We could hear the cheers of the other Racers and used that as guide as well to find the Final Pit Stop.
Then around the bend we saw them... Alan... the other teams and THE PIT STOP... we ran a fast as we could and dropped the Treasure chest onto the mat and waited for Alan to tell us the results...
I'm so sad now... that it's over.... I'd rather be racing!
side note... everyone asked why we had no shirts for the final task...
well I had no idea where my shirt had gone after the Plunge task and I thought that we could drape Sam's Hong Kong shirt over the chest as we were running to the pit stop...it was all a blur and I don't remember why we didn't do that though it though... sorry to all the viewers who had to witness that scene... haha...
hmm maybe I can get into Men's Health now... with one of those "Before and After" articles haha ...
again are there any gyms that want to sponsor me while I'm training ? Alan Wu you better watch out!!! hahahaHONG KONG fights back after a 4 hour time penalty to win
THE AMAZING RACE ASIA 3Remember … “There’s No Giving Up!”
VMC
821 views Share
-
THERE’S NO GIVING UP !!!!
Wednesday, Nov 19, 2008 7:20PM / Members only
THERE’S NO GIVING UP !!!!
4 hours back but still in the RACE…
Baja Caves
We had to travel to Baja caves, which was 60km away. When we got there it there was an hour of operations so we decided to go to rest at a motel nearby. In the morning all the teams bunched early at the hours of operation and we hiked up the steep steps to get our clue.
Travel to Pune by train
We then had to take a train to Pune and then look for a statue at the station and take note of the information stated on it. The train was packed to the brim with people. I was lucky to get a seat for the 1 hour journey. When we got to the station we followed Geoff because he had talked to a local who was going to bring us to the statue but our guide brought us to a statue that was 10 minutes away.
We figured that it was the wrong statue because it wasn’t even near the train station so we had to double back.
When we got station we saw a statue and it was of Gandhi. We copied all the info down and head to the Standard Charter bank to look for the next clue.
Bank
When we got to the bank the clue asked us to key into the designated bank machine the birthday year of Gandhi. That information wasn’t on the statue but luckily Sam was talking to the taxi driver about stuff and Gandhi’s birthday came up during the conversation. We keyed in 1869 and received our next clue.
Muscat Oman
We next had to travel to Muscat Oman. We went to a travel agent to book our flights out of Pune. While waiting for our flights we bought some long sleeved shirts because we knew that the sun would be intense…and we were not properly prepared for the desert.
All the teams took the same flights which transferred in Mumbai to Oman.
Al Alam Palace
When we got to the Oman we had to search the airport for a designated jeep. From there, our clue asked us to drive to Al Alam Palace to search for the next clue. We hired a taxi driver to lead us to the right place. The funny thing was that he couldn’t understand that we were racing and he would stop at all these tourists sites … even on the shoulder of the highway to show us his city. He told us to take pictures and was being basically a tour guide. What nice guy but … we were RACING haha… We got to the palace but had difficulty finding the clue box… it was hidden obscurely in the corner and we drove everywhere in the complex looking for it.
Nizwa Fort
We next had drive to Nizwa Fort to search for our next clue. I asked our taxi guide to show us the way to the fort and but he wanted to park his car and then ride with us there. We told him that he couldn’t come with us because we were in a race and we couldn’t bring him back to his car… so he reluctantly go back in his car.
Well .. the reason that he didn’t want to go was because the fort is actually outside of Muscat…. 140 km away. We had to drive through the night and we had been up quite along time since when we started in Pune the night before. I had to stay awake in case Sam fell asleep at the wheel.
We finally got to the fort and it was an hours of operations…. GREAT …all the teams bunching together again!
We decided to rest in jeep for a few hours because we were all dead tired. The other teams also did the same. When the fort opened we raced in and started searching the grounds for the clue box… I thought that we should go right to the top and work down. It was a maze inside and when we got to the courtyard I spotted the clue box and ran up to get the envelope. We raced back down to see open it because we didn’t want the other teams to see where the box was. We thought we had it but when we opened it up the clue was a decoy … and when I looked around … there were multiple boxes… GRRR… that meant that we had to run up the different steps just to check each one to see if it help the real clues….
I think that on the third try we were able to find the correct clue and it directed us to drive back to Muscat and look for Mutra Souque.
Mutra Souque- Carpet or Count it
By this time I had read the map and figured out where all the places where ,,, we were driving BACK to the city where we were the day before… out taxi guide from the other day actually tried to park his car in that area. SO… we then started to drive off but when we left Sam wanted to make sure that we went to the right place..so we split the fare for a taxi guide with Geoff and Tish.
When we got to the square I spotted the box on top of the steps and we all ran to get the clue. It was Detour! CARPET OR COUNT IT… I thought that it would be easier to count limes because at least it’s not a luck based challenge … it would require concentration but it wasn’t a searching task. When we got to the market we saw Ida and Tania counting already… I’m not sure how long they had been there but they did leave the fort slightly before us. I don’t remember exactly our formula for counting but I think each took 10 limes out of the sack and put them into the basket and at each transfer we would tally on a paper as “1” so that at the end, all we would need to would be to multiply our tally total by 10…
This was a good strategy and we actually had the right number 1601 on one of the first few counts ... but Sam thought that we must have made a mistake with the extra “1” so we gave the answer as 1600…. WRONG… that meant that we had to go back and count the limes ALL OVER AGAIN… we couldn’t just stand there and keep guessing around that number.
We again had a wrong number the second round through and after a few more times we got 1601 again so we submitted that to the judge and we got our clue.
Wadi Tanuf
Are clue asked us to drive back to the opposite direction taking the same highway towards the fort. Argh … back again on another long drive… 2 ½ hours away.
Periodically we would take stop to ask locals to tell us where to go… and EVERYONE told us the same route… so we listened to them… and we got LOST… Most people refer to the area of WADI TANUF as one side of the mountain range … but we had to actually be on the other side of the range… We were driving around EVERYWHERE in that area… even going into places that we not meant to be driven on …we went into an areaw where there were WILD GOATS and a STREAM … it was NOT A ROAD haha…
We during our search we saw Ida and Tania and shared our information with them… we kind of worked together for a bit but then they decided to take off on there own… so we continued to drive and search… We then went towards the city area close by and saw Geoff and Tish.
They had been searching EVERYWHERE too… we decided to stay together until we could find the right area… while asking for directions at a petrol station we bumped into Fuzzie and AD… so all of us searched together … we finally got to the right entrance to the area and Tania and Ida came right up behind us.
So all four teams drove along the cliffs towards the right destination…the scenery was beautiful but it was a little scary because it was basically a very narrow road without barriers … it would be very easy to drive off especially since Sam was driving ( he was more experience at driving standard but being from Singapore and now living in Hong Kong he is used to driving on the right side of the car not the left… and he would often veer to the shoulder when driving.. YIKES… !)
Roadblock Tyrolean Traverse
We were first to get the clue and when we opened it was a Roadblock. After reading the clue we thought that it was something that had to do with heights but not strength and since I had done four roadblocks Sam should do this one to even up. Little did we know that this was going to backfire on us. The task was to travel across a canyon on a zip line to retrieve the and to then return to the other side to open it.
The task seemed simple enough but it was quite physically demanding. I knew that we were in trouble when Sam was slowing down and was unable to move when he was almost at the end.
The angle was quite steep and he had no more strength to pull himself up. All I could do was encourage him by telling him not to give up… but I was really frustrated sort of like a coach on the sideline watching his team lose.
Ida and Geoff finished already and after attempting to get back on his own for almost half and hour I finally agreed with him that it was not possible and we took the four hour penalty as a consequence… I think that this was the first time that I was really emotional .. I can only describe it as feeling like being on the losing end of the SuperBowl … you’ve come so far but yet… you didn’t win.
Lots of things went through my mind but I couldn’t blame Sam for not completing the task. After all this is a team game and you win and lose together…. He tried his best that’s all I can ask for... we would have to wait to see if team Singapore would be able to complete the challenge or not.
Fuzzie chose to do the Roadblock and was unable to complete it.. and we were saved from elimination. Who knows what would have happened if AD did it...they also thought that it was a walking task ….
I don’t know if even I could have completed it…
We pit stopped 3rd but now with a 4 hour penalty.
But one thing remains…Thank-you God because we’re still in the RACE!
Watch AXN this Thursday night Nov. 20th for the Final Episode to see what happens.
VMC
827 views Share
Stats
- Occupation: Actor , Stand-up Comedian , TV/Radio Host
- Gender: Male
- Total visits: 79,798
User menu
RSS feed
|
