Review : TVB Series - Lives of Omission

Disclaimer: All pictures and videos are from TVB.

One of the highly anticipated TVB series of this year proves to be just ok for me. The plot is pretty typical - i.e. the undercover cop / triad gang setup. If you ask me, I prefer Emergency Unit (E.U) as the plot is more convincing and has more twists to it. Further, I think Laughing Kor is a tad too over-rated and TVB should stop riding on the character. Anyway, here is the official site of Lives.

Laughing & Michael

The Cast:

Casting was not too bad .. except for Fala Chen (Madam Jo). Thought they should've gotten someone of a more authoritative figure.

The recruit at CIB

Michael Tse (Laughing aka Leong Siu Thong). Nothing spectacular in my opinion. Too much of over-acting. Too poser for my liking. I think he did much better in E.U. He's not even good looking to began with.

Bosco Wong (Micheal aka "Pai Ko"). I have always liked the versatility of Bosco's acting skills. And true enough, he played the role as a crippled gansgter really well. There is something sinister that I love in this character. A learned, smart, and egoistic person who schemed his way up the ranks in the triad society. Nicely played. His love-hate relationship with Paris Yiu is worth taken note of.

Fala Chen (Madam Jodie). Again as mentioned earlier, I didn't like her playing the character. She doesn't bring Madam Jo's character to live. It was pretty boring and she kinda mumbled her words.

Kate Tsui (Paris Yiu). She fitted the character very well as an ambitious lawyer for the triads. However, the indecisiveness of calling off and on the relationship with Michael for fear of jeapordising her career can be a bit irritating. I can't stand fickle-minded people!

The on-off relationship 

SPECIAL MENTION: BEN WONG CHI-YIN ("LAT KEUNG aka TANG KWOK BAN")

OH MY GOD! Ben's acting skills totally blew me away!!! He has always been a behing-the-scene actor and now as Lat Keung, he really stepped up his game. No one expected that Lat Keung was actually an undercover cop who turned bad. And his acting skills was awesome. Can't stop raving about how good he is. Lat Keung is a character that I look forward to seeing in each episode of "Lives". Love the transition where he was a good cop, to being power crazy, to being bad, to being insane, and eventually to realising his mistake.

Excerpts Worth Mentioning:

(may contain spoiler)

Initially the show was kind of slow and I was getting a little dissapointed. However, towards the middle there was a twist whereby Lat Keung is an undercover cop who has been placed in the triad for a very long time by his Handler aka Director of Criminal Intelligence Bureau (CIB) Harry Sir (Damien Lau). Now that is something I didn't expect! From then onwards, Lat Keung's character has been really colorful. Love the fact that he turned power-crazy and eventualy joined the "dark-side" i.e. the triad society.

The twist whereby T-Two (Ronald Law), one of the newly recruit/trainee in CIB is actually the god-son of Mok Yat Lit (Cheong Kwok Keung). Yat Lit is the head of the triad society and he had implanted T-Two as an undercover in the CIB unit. Certainly didn't expect that.

T-Two

The scene where Szeto Sir (Derek Kwok) who everyone thought would never betray CIB ... in fact did betrayed CIB. He was in a gambling debt hence was caught and used by Yat Lit. He eventually realised and came clean with Harry Sir.

I also like the relationship between Kit Siu (Daniel Chau) and Fong Chun Long (Adrian Chau) who are twin brothers. Kit Siu, the younger twin is a trainee in CIB whereas Chun Long, the older twin is a trusted drug runner for Michael. Both characters came together and the brotherly love that Chun Long potrayed to Kit Siu is quite heart-warming despite both being from different end of the side.

Micheal, Kit Siu, and Chun Long

P/S: Noticed that I didn't mention about the four main characters? Exactly! Nothing worth mentioning.

The Ending:

(may contain spoiler)

FOR ONCE I LOVE LOVE LOVE THE ENDING OF LIVES!!!

Why?

(1) Because it is not typical

(2) It is not a happily ever after ending

(3) Good people die too! *yes*

Lat Keung escaped from prison and went crazy because he could not take the stress of being an undercover cop. He died in the hands of police officers. Eventually, he realised his mistakes but is unwilling to head back into the prison. Before dying in Harry Sir's arms, he professed that being chosen as an undercover cop is the happiest moment in his live. Nice! :)

Paris Yiu was shot in the chest by Michael and her body was dumped into the sea (this I didn't expect!). Michael did it to save both of them from being killed by international triad members. The twist was that Paris has a medical condition whereby her heart is borned on the right side not the left. So, he arranged for someone to save her and put in a safe haven to wait for Michael to return to her.

Jodie died too in the hands of Michael. This too I didn't expect!

In his fury, Laughing actually took matters into his own hands and killed Michael. He ended up in prison. And of course, Paris ended up being alone although she survived the ordeal.

AWESOME RIGH?

NOT TYPICAL RIGHT??

There is an alternative ending though that TVB shot; Jodie and Laughing end up marrying each other. Paris will be the one who killed Michael either because she is an undercover or she was hired to kill him at the wedding altar. (there are two alternative endings to Michael's death).

I am so glad that TVB didn't choose that alternative crappy ending. *phew* Here is the short clip of the crappy ending as mentioned.

Conclusion:

The series only started picking up in the middle and of course ended with an explosive ending. Worth watching. Please keep an eye on Lat Keung's character ok! Shall end this with the theme song.

Love;

Mrs Lee

Secret Getaway at Le Meridien Khao Lak

Yup, there's where we went for our secret getaway. It was such a pleasure planning for this getaway when Bear was totally clueless on where he was going. He was so sure that we were heading to Phuket but obviously yours truly me won't plan something that is that obvious ok. I'm the self-declared queen of surprise ok! 

Reason for a secret getaway? My birthday weekend and to have an early celebration of our first year wedding anniversary *heart*

Our romantic hideout for 4D3N was none other than Le Meridien Khao Lak. Thinking about that awesome place brings a smile to my face. And it was indeed a perfect choice for us to be with just only us, to spend some quality time together, to be in each other's presence. It was totally relaxation bliss.  

Now where is Khao Lak you may ask? It is a small town which was hit by the tsunami back in 2004. Khao Lak is about 1 and 1/2 hour drive from Phuket. Away from the hustle and bustle of Phuket's sleazy nightlife, this area is THE area for honeymooners. 

Why Le Meridian? Because I got it cheap on AirAsiaGo. A 5-star resort plus flights was only RM1,700 for two persons. Comes with awesome buffet breakfast too. What more could you ask for? :) Here's a tip: It is much more cheaper to book flight+hotel on Air Asia than buying only the flight alone.

Day 1:

The minute we were ushered into the resort, we were sheer-shocked by the architecture and most of all by the hospitality of the staff there. Such beautiful resort. All in all, it was really a pleasant stay and we thoroughly enjoyed every single minute of it.  We are jakun we don't get treated with 5-star hospitality nor could we afford to stay in a 5-star resort as and when we like

Caution: No doubt we got a good deal to stay in Le Meridien, however please take note that everything else that is in the resort is also 5-star pricing. That means food is expensive and shuttle/transfers are expensive too. One way out to Khao Lak town is RM20 per person and it only starts from 5:30pm to 9:00pm. Taxi is RM75 return. Mind you Khao Lak town is only about 15 minutes away!! 

Try to book during off-peak season like September. Le Spa is cheaper (this will be separated into another post) and it is not too crowded. Yeah, upon arriving we checked ourselves into the spa for a 60 minutes massage. Bliss~!

However, bear in mind that it is rainy season around September and snorkeling/diving activities around Similan Island and Surin Island is off. Throughout our stay there except for the last day, it only rained for a short while in the evening. So yeah it was a blessing to us. :) Not to worry, Le Meridien does provide you with an umbrella should the need arise.

Our room was to die for!!! It is so romantic it's even better than our bridal suite back in Putrajaya Marriott! Really beautiful. Loved the combination of green, yellow, and brown tones .. such earthly and warm colors. 

As mentioned food in the resort is not cheap, the cheapest is around the range of RM25 per dish. On the first day, we were rather hungry and was lazy to walk around, so we settled for simple Thai food by the beach at Bamboo Bar & Seafood Grill. Food was not too bad but nothing to shout about. The view and the sea-breeze however was fantastic. :)

That night, we had really AWESOME Thai food at Baan Thai. Expensive but really really mouth-watering dishes! So good.. thinking about it makes me drool. Ambiance was secluded, quiet, and pretty romantic. 

After dinner, we headed back to Bamboo Bar & Seafood Grill where there was live singing from a duo-team from the Philippines. Nice voice and nice choice of song. I had a cup of latte whereas Bear had his Singha Beer.

Did I mention that the staff at Le Meridien actually has a full itinerary planned out daily for their guests? You may choose to participate - most of them are free, some you are required to pay at a nominal sum of around RM20 for say Thai cooking class. 

That night at 9:00pm all guests were ushered to the beach where we released paper lanterns into the sky. Really good experience. 

Day 2:

We booked from the hotel via an outsourced tour agency for a half-day elephant trail in Supaporn Elephant Sanctuary for RM160 per person. The excursion includes an elephant ride, bathing the elephant, bathing in the waterfall, and lunch. Not too bad eh? 

Tip: You may book other excursions in the town. It is much cheaper.

The elephant ride was fun! Our 40-year old elephant is a female and her name is Khayala. Real gentle giant *hugs*.

Thereafter, we gave Khayala a goooooddd scrub! She loves bathing time!

We also had a fun time bathing in the cooling and refreshing waterfall with the other British couple from our group ... until the Russians invaded. urgh ~ 

A simple lunch followed thereafter. Not too bad.. but would rather the curry chicken be a little more spicier.  Food was plenty and we couldn't finish them.

That night we decided to head out to town to try their local and authentic  Thai food. I highly recommend Jai Restaurant. Clean, decent food, and reasonable pricing. One dish costs approximately on average RM6.

That night upon returning to the room, the staff sent an anniversary cake to our room. It was really thoughtful of them *heart* 

Day 3: My BIRTHDAY~!

Today was a free and easy day for us. Total relaxation and nothing planned. Basically to just go with the flow. And to me, that is the epitome of a great holiday. Our daily buffet breakfast was served in Cafe Lilawadee. Fantastic array of food and not to mention really yummy too. 

Took a leisure stroll around the resort to kill some time before heading to Le Spa again for a full-on 1 hour 20 minutes of sheer pampering. 

After the spa session, we took a walk on the beach cos I read on Trip Advisor that there is a good restaurant just about roughly 500 meters to the left of the resort which serves fantastic and cheap Thai Food. 

The place is called Rim Lay and true to the recommendation. It was really good food! I had fried flat noodles extra spicy and Bear has a Thai Fried Rice. It costs us RM6 per dish. We were told by the owners that the entire stretch of beach was swept by the 2004 tsunami and it was a pretty devastating sight. Water was swept 2km inland!

After lunch, we took the shuttle to the town for a quick walk. Before that, we stopped by Ban Niang, another small town before Khao Lak to see the police ship which was swept inland by the tsunami. We were totally taken aback. The driver told us that there were 7,000 people who lost their live that fateful day.

We headed back to the resort just before sun set to shower and decide where to go for dinner. Finally, we settled for Baan Thai again. Can't get enough of those Thai food! That night the Italian restaurant, Bangsak Grill was serving Italian buffet for RM99 per person. Yes, very steep pricing right? That was another reason why we opted for Thai. :)

Again, dinner was perfect, I couldn't have asked for more. And the sticky mango rice was heavenly! Didn't regret one bit choosing Baan Thai over Bangsat Bangsak Grill.  

Upon reaching the room after dinner, I was surprised that the staff actually arranged to send a birthday cake to the room~! And we didn't even mentioned that it was my birthday. Just that when we signed in our details on the first day, an alert staff took note and wished me. That's all! So sweet of them! Could someone shout first class service please??? :)

Day 4: We left for home. It was such a pleasurable and memorable stay at Le Meridien Khao Lak. I would highly recommend them. No flaws at all except for the hefty pricing and they do take the meaning of service a notch higher. Amazing!

p/s: another post on my birthday pressie from Bear.

Love;
Mrs Lee