A Hen's night

Thanx to my Bff for roping me in to help out in G's hen's night, i get the opportunity to have a one day staycation at one of the suite rooms in MBS with few other gals. It was a fun night, taking lots of photos at the infinity pool, having prepared a hi tea party for our bride to be, enjoying the wine we bought, dolling ourselves up, walking around in our WIB theme and chatting through the night :) 

The preparation: Heart shaped balloons, cupcakes, drinks, snacks, the hair accessories...

The day and night view from the 57th level of MBS and the hotel sky park with its infinity pool

Finally, the ladies in black and our hair accessory.

This is the 2nd time i joined in a hens party for my friends. I liked this idea of having this gals only party and giving everyone a chance to get together once in a while. We do not need to go too crazy or drunk and yet we can still have a jolly fun time. :)

The newly opened trick eye museum in RWS

Trick eye museum, a place where artists used special art techniques of optical illusions to transform 2D paintings that look like 3D. I first visited such museum in Hondae in Seoul Korea. 
http://jadebottleparadise.blogspot.sg/2012/11/the-return-of-jadebottle-part-6-spring.html

Singapore is the first stop for the trick eye museum overseas venture. Some of the art paintings are quite similar to the one in Korea. "the giant and the dwarf" concept is one of them. However, there are still some new exhibits different from the one in Korea and it is still interesting and exciting to take funny pictures there. 

 You get to pose some dance moves, be involved in some magic tricks...

 Dive with the whale, sky diving, or even save the twin from the ferocious monster

 Dance more ballet...

It is a place for people who like to act and go drama mama...everyone just posed to take picture, no need to be paisei.

Interesting place to visit if you have not been to a trick eye museum before. We took about near to two hours to finish a round, taking pictures with almost everything there. Tickets are at $25 dollars per adult, i manage to get it at 20% discount though.

Birthday Month of feasts

A month of feasting. I want to thank all my friends for their birthday wishes and i am blessed to have known you all!

Bday lunch treat at Prive by bff! Thanx sooo much gal!

My series of treats from twin...seafood paradise

Lunch at Wheeler's Yard. An interesting bike themed cafe  :) Food? to me so so...

Dinner finale at Equinox. Go there for ambience, super like the night city view

Christmas in Singapore 2013

  I never really spent Christmas in Singapore as during the previous years, i was always overseas and would be pretty tired when i returned during the Christmas season. Last year December 2013, i did not go travelling as i have delayed my plans for my world tour in 2014. With my twin, we decided to go around Singapore and embarked on a journey of discovering Singapore during Christmas season. Most lights would be up in December, some places and decorations would be up as early as late November.

  Our first supposingly Christmas discovery was at Keppel Bay, actually Christmas discovery was not part of the plan, we were just there at Prive for dinner. However, i would like to mention, the place is very nice and quiet for little chats, it is near to Harbour Front MRT station, it would be better to drive in or take a cab in from the station.

  Our second Christmas discovery was at Marina Bay Sands area, this place is along the circle line, Bayfront station. That place really is a good photo spot. And along the little river area, there are Christmas trees that lined up the pathway, sponsored by many big companies. There was also this big Christmas tree in the Marina Bay shopping mall.

Lastly, how can anyone miss the Christmas lights at Orchard road. Every year, Orchard road would always be lighted up with decorations and bright lights, making everything so wonderful and magical.

A glimpse of what happen before 2013 ends

It has been 4 months since my last post.

I was really busy, was planning  for the year 2014... at least for the first half of the year and yes, FINALLY i can blog about it.

But before i moved on about my plans, the last two months in 2013 has been really dramatic, but it is definitely on the good side. Tons of activities and planning, wanted to revise my korean language in Nov and practise cooking in Dec, but in the end, did not do much of those...

Halloween 2013
I spent halloween quietly, realise that as one grow older, halloween is like a waste of money, from renting of costumes to the dressing up, its all $$$, i still have my witch costume ( the black frock which i threw away last year) and my witch hat ( which i still keep and thinking of selling it off if anyone wants).

A friend, had organised a halloween dressed up party at his place, and both M and me decided to attend, and told ourselves not to spend too much. So, our costumes were all sewed. She got this green spaghetti skin tight dress for me for just 10 dollars and i went to buy this material at spotlight to sew and pinned on the dress. Fortunately, i managed to borrow a pair of wings from my colleague and i manage to pass off as a very simple tinkerbell. Make up does wonders, looking at all sorts of youtube videos, i manage to make my eyes bigger for the make up, and settle the make up in an hour. Not the best but whatever la...

November is a month of feasting. Be prepared for food pictures coming up...

Thank you to my twin for the wonderful Japanese food at Mikuni restaurant at Fairmount. It is quite pricey but i think Amex cardholders have 50 percent off so overall, the price for the food still seems pretty ok.

Another food experience was eating food on this river boat, http://www.riverboat.com.sg/

It is at Marina South pier and the restaurant is called Santa Fe. We took the promotion of this 1 for 1 deal on Tuesday and decided to check out this place. Food was okay, the ambience is quite nice and quiet. Occasionally, you might feel the boat shaking abit as there were boats that went past but other than that, it was an interesting experience.

Last but not least, November was a time for me to say goodbye, i resigned from my current job, would talk more about this in my next two posts. So i attended the last staff learning journey with my wonderful colleagues.

Tourist in Singapore 4: RWS Sea Aquarium

M and me just visited the RWS Sea Aquarium last Saturday. It is situated in Sentosa, we took the sky train and alight at the Waterfront station. It was super crowded!!! The ticket costs like 38 dollars but with POSB credit card, managed to get it at 32 dollars and a 5 dollar meal voucher. We entered the place welcomed by exhibits from some ZhengHe story and display items from various countries.

The place was crowded. We were told we need to queue for 45mins to 1 hour just to enter the place. The lady at the ticketing counter told me, if i pay extra 12 dollars, i get to go into the express queue but i am like, not in a hurry, so we just queue. Upon reaching the entrance ( maybe we would enter in 15mins), one of the staff noticed the red colour wrist band on M. She got the ticket from her brother and that was supposed to be the express queue ticket. Win already, we wasted 45mins queueing. The staff allowed me in although i do not have the coloured wrist band! So nice of him, that is the advantage of being a female and going in small groups.  :) I doubt that would be allowed if its a big group of 3 or 4.

While viewing the beautiful fishes, was humming the tune of "under the sea" from little mermaid. 

Because it was so crowded, we did not get to touch any starfish, i could not find any also, maybe the place is already packed and covered by the crowd. There was a restaurant inside, where you can dine and watch the underwater creatures while eating, think it should be quite an experience. Lunch menu seemed affordable at 68++, dinner would cost more than 100 already. When we exit, there is this shop which sells cute soft toys made in the shape of various sea creatures. We took a few and start snapping pictures since pictures taken in the aquarium are not so nice.

We took like 1 hour plus and we finished viewing almost everything, cannot really stop longer to take pictures as there were alot of people. I think it is advisible to visit during the weekdays, less queue and less photo bombs.

After that, we went for high tea at W Sentosa in Sentosa Cove Village. Sentosa Cove Village is one of the new hangouts to check out this year. The place is very quiet and would look pretty romantic at night to walk around. We were told to go to beach station and from there take a beach tram to Tanjong beach and walk to the cove. It sounded so troublesome, we decided to wait for MZ and F to arrive and take a cab in.

The price is at 68++ for two. I liked the savories and wanted more but they were not refillable. However the sweet stuff is quite filling when i finished my portion. The walk back to Tanjong beach was long, but along the way, we saw alot of nicely built houses in sentosa cove, never knew there were so many rich people in Singapore. There was one that even looked like The White House. It seemed that the security in Sentosa Cove is very strict, we could not get out of this gate to walk to the beach until a resident came and opened the gate for us. Lesson learnt, if you want to go to Sentosa Cove village, it would be better to drive in.

Tourist in Singapore 3: River Safari

This post is overdue too. It should have been written 3 weeks ago.

Thanx to the organisation i worked in, i managed to get corporate passes to River Safari ( 河川生态园）and i can bring 3 friends in for free. The admission ticket for adult was 25dollars so the pass was really worth it. However, the only drawback was that the Amazon River Quest Boat ride is not available till later this year, and i think that boat ride can allow us to see more animals.

I would not show a lot of photos this time as somehow the photos did not turn out too well. Basically River Safari...you will see creatures from rivers like the Mississippi River, Congo River, River Nile, Ganges River, Yangze River, Mekong River and Murray River. I can only remember a few animals, the rest i really cannot recall.

 Off we go to see the pandas, the red panda is very very cute and cuddly and it kept running around the whole enclosure. Kai Kai did not come out until meal time, we waited awhile to see it crawl out and lie there eating away oblivious to the many tourists looking at it. Jia Jia is very shy, it would not come out at all.

We went to the Panda cafe and the place is good at bringing business, having paos at 1 for 2 dollars plus is pretty expensive, but for the cute picture on it, we just buy.

The weather was quite good, hot though. No mosquitoes and quite a lot of sheltered areas. We headed to the wild Amazonia area to see the last few creatures before we headed for lunch. The whole trip takes about 2 hours and lesser,depends very much whether you want to take pictures of all the creatures. I did not take all though. Nice place to venture if you have kids, i think i would make a trip there again next time when the boat ride is in operation.

Night Festival 2013

I attended the night festival for the first time. It started last Friday and would only end tonight. It is a festival where art and culture come alive on the streets of Singapore. You get to see street performances, music gigs, magic shows, museum visits and many more. I went last Friday and yesterday.

One of them that i visited was the Absolut Canvas where there are displays of limited edition volka bottles.

 There are also performances outside the national museum and night lights along various spots in that area.
Yesterday, i went to visit the museums on the second floor and got to know about fashion, film and food in the past. After which at 10pm, we went to watch this magic show bu the Magic Babe Ning and JC Sum. Tonight they are performing as well.

This is definitely something different. Go, see, experience and bask in the crowd in the city. :)

Blind date and Color Run

Wicked Weekend Blind Date Edition

Ok i attended this wicked weekend blind date edition yesterday by lunch actually
http://www.lunchactually.com/wicked-weekend/

I was into this blind date idea as it is really interesting to do some speed date in the dark, and hearing only the voice of the other person. Isn't it challenging? The moment lunch actually sent me this, i registered for it immediately. After being shortlisted, i put on my best dress and took the trouble to doll up for the event. When i entered the ballroom in Hotel Fort Canning, i see flashes of light everywhere. Oh ya, did i say that SET (Sony Entertainment TV) is filming this down. There was a hall for the ladies and make up artists were there to do touch up for the ladies. DJ Shan Wee and Cheryl Miles were the hosts for the event, & Shan Wee is really tall. I was sitting right in front, and have to sit back abit so that my neck would not be too strained. We were divided into 4 groups and brought into dark chambers. Each gal has a cubicle to talk to a guy on the other side. I felt that i was like punishing myself, cos when i punished my pupils, i always asked them to go face the wall , (面壁思过) . And it also feels like, i am there to confessed to the pastor " pastor, i have sinned for still being single at my age!"

Back to the whole event, guys were rotated every 5mins, so every 5mins when they rotate, i be like " hello hello, testing 123, anyone there" It was quite fun at first, there were young voices, matured voices, intelligent voices...etc...etc. So after supposingly dated with 13 guys( actually there were 12) , i was totally exhausted, talking about almost the same things and cannot remember what i have told them. We were supposed to rate as we talk, giving 5 hearts to the person who can communicate with you very well. After everything, i was approached by this lady from another group, quite pretty and matured around my age, she asked me" you are very pretty, why are you still single?" Actually, deep down in me, i have this same question for her, and i believe our answers are the same, we are not choosy, we just cannot find the person with the same chemistry as us who can communicate with us. After the speed date, we were brought to the main hall, where we can mingle with guys from the other groups, there were 2 or 3 guys i thought i can talk to, but apparantly i could not find them in the hall. Perhaps, the organisers should first use 15mins to group those in the same groups together before opening up to other groups. I talked to 12 but i only manage to identify 6 of them. I could not find the rest. Its ok la, if i am fated to see them, i will see them somehow, somewhere, sometime...

Lastly, there were some games, and the winners for the staycation were announced. I did not get the staycation. It is ok, i still enjoy this blind date event and get to know some new friends. I would have stayed and interacted more if not for my Color Run after that.

Color Run 2013 in Sentosa

Color Run! I have waited for this for one month plus and was very excited about it. Alot of friends asked me, why is it that i do not join marathons, you know like 10k, 21k...Sorry la, 21k is too demanding on my knees, and i feel that i do not need to pay so much money to run with people in marathons. I ran to maintain my fitness level and i can do that on my own. This run is interesting, as it is not a competitive run but a fun run along the way. Anyway, It is finally held in Singapore. I remembered the day it opened up for registration, the early bird registration was full after two hours for the one on the 17th, i have to ask around if anyone has CIMB card to do the registration. Thanx to one of my friends who helped me with it!

At the run, you see happening people around, some dressed in wigs and afro, in colourful angelic skirts and white clothes. Very interesting sight. Everyone seemed to know each other, cheering people along the way, giving high fives as we passed by. Seeing the whole atmosphere, you just become happy automatically. I would say it is one of the most crazy things that i have ever done since i left university.

Here are the photos of the run.

After everything, we had a "good time" washing off the colour, my white bag became red. My neck still have pink patches...But still, i really had a good time! :)

what's up this weekend?

Chilling at Catalunya Singapore

Thanx for F, we enjoyed ourselves a good deal at Catalunya Singapore, this little floating restaurant and bar next to One Fullerton. We went up to the second floor where it was supposed to have a bar, it was closed but it was open to people. The place has a scenic view of the MBS hotel. The restaurant serves Spanish food, we had some bites, and one was this olive with some kind of oil inside. I cannot describe the taste.      ( Just like some people love durians, some people hates them ) It is my problem, i think i am still more into Asian cuisine.

In the restaurant, the dinner area overlooks the same scenic view, the place has a very nice ambience for dinner, I would love to have one of the main course there one day, perhaps it would change my perception for Spanish food.

Trail Run at Dairy Farm Nature Park

I promised S to join this group of runners for some trail run at Dairy Farm Nature Park. In the end, i was so late i did not meet up with them. At first i thought ok i shall run alone but after that i got to know another lady who was also late and we ended up running together. Thanx to her, i had a good workout and an enjoyable time being in touch with nature.

A few times, we had to stop because one of the trails was the mountain bike trails and some paths were very narrow. The bikes has the right of way. We had to stand at the side and wait for them to pass. Most of the people were friendly in the morning and often we greet each other with a good morning. Some paths were very uneven, there was once i twisted my ankle because of a little hole covered by the brown leaves, and certain paths were steep and slippery, i had to be extremely careful. It was very challenging! And btw, my friend told me, normal running shoes are not very suitable for such trail runs, you need those with lost of "spikes" at the soles to tackle those rocks and stones during the trail.

Wolverine

Finally get to watched Wolverine. As usual, the muscular Hugh Jackman amazes me with his great built. There was quite a desirable amount of action, enough to keep me awake after an early morning run. There is quite a large number of scenes in Japan which was an eye opener for me since i have never been to Japan before. The "scratching" of those claws against metal never fail to make me cringe in my seat. Oh! Please do not leave immediately when it shows some of the ending credits, an important character would appear after that.

Thats all folks, have a restful week during the coming National Day Holidays and Selamat Hari Raya Adilfiltri to all my Muslim friends!

My Birthday

My birthday is on racial harmony day and this year it falls on a Sunday. I organised a dinner gathering with some of my closest friends at Hyang Tol Gol restaurant in Amara hotel two days before it. It was supposed to be a dinner for 14 people but apparantly, some of them told me last minute, that they are tied up with work and could not make it so it was reduced to 10. But still, i am glad i have them to agree to celebrate this day with me.

Food at the restaurant was relatively good. The waitress would help to barbeque the food for us and i enjoyed the nong ju ( they said it was the makgeoli), the drink does not have a strong alcohol taste and is a little on the sweet side. We had a good time catching up and sharing on the latest updates of what is happening in our lives now. To end it all, they had planned a cake for me and with it a bday song. :)
Thank you my dear friends!

Not forgetting other friends who have sent me birthday greetings through other modes of communication, be it whatsapp, facebook, thank you for your birthday wishes despite all your busy commitments. I feel very blessed to have you all! :)

First yacht trip

Thanx to M who took the trouble to organise this, i finally got the chance to be on a 6 hrs yacht cruise. We booked this from Lloyd Marine Yacht Charters catered for 27people maximum.

We were brought to the Southern Islands where we get to canoe. I did not really dare to swim as the water is not so clean, after that, we went to St John's islands, nothing much, just some greenery on a hot empty island. It was a fun experience especially when we had sporty and enthusiastic friends for company :)

Universal Studios at night

Thanx to my company for organising the family day, i managed to get very discounted tickets to visit the universal studios at night on the eve of Vesak day. Usually, Universal Studio closes in the evening, so there would be no opportunity to visit it when the weather is cool at night. I was there about two to three years ago. It was a weekend and it was extremely crowded and hot. We have to wait almost 45mins for each ride then.

Yesterday, most of my waiting time for the rides takes only 5 mins, the most i waited was the transformers ride. I took the mummy ride again and it still got me screaming big time. I took the Shrek 4D show, the Space chase at Sesame Street and Jurassic park rides. We went back around 1130 rushing for the last tram. I parked my car at the beach carpark, it was only 1dollar for parking from evening onwards, and entering Sentosa in the evening takes only 2dollars. I think compared to squeezing with the dinner crowd in vivo city, i made the right choice parking there.

I still have two $5 retail vouchers that are unused, and it is valid till 22nd June. Meanwhile, if any of you has plans to go Universal Studios, you may want to get the vouchers from me!

Bday dinner at Pizzeria Mozza

It was my bestie's birthday 2 weeks ago, and we decided to have a mini celebration with her.

春浪2013 SPRING WAVE FESTIVAL 2013

  上两个星期的5月4日， 我和朋友买了$98  的票，去观看春浪- 一个大型户外演唱会。那一天，天气真是热！我们准备好雨伞，我也带了帽子，防晒膏和一大瓶水。当然，跟同事借的三张折叠椅也带去了。

  举办当位真的做得不完善。首先，他们没给清楚的指示，该往哪一个入口处。起初，我们排在GATE A，排的位子是相当不错的。过后，有个工作人员告诉我们去 GATE B。我们在猛烈的太阳底下东找西找，就是找不到那个入口。最后，还是倒回来，而这次问多几个人，他们却说GATE A 这里也可以排。

  然后，我们可以进去的的时候，他们检查我们的包包，把刚买的面包和点心没收起来，说我们不可以带食物进去！什么道理嘛？网上也没有特别注明与强调。有些人刚买的矿泉水就一整瓶被丢掉了。多么浪费！

我们找了一片最靠近舞台的草地坐下。掀开序幕的是Olivia Ong，她的音色挺不错的，有种 SLOW JAZZ的感觉，听了她的歌声昏昏欲睡。接着，有一些本地歌手，张震岳，陈绮贞等。过后，我们到那儿的小摊位吃台湾小吃，每一小碗 $5，真的是不值得！难怪他们不准我们带食物，要我们在这里销费！

  夜幕降临，照片也拍得不是很清楚了。到了萧敬腾上场时，全场开始热了。有些迟来的人竟然还硬硬挤到我们前面。那时我们很生气，我们从两点多就坐在这里，这些人凭什么这么挤进来，前面的位子都不多了，还硬挤。简直就是厚脸皮的人嘛！

听了伍佰唱了几首熟悉的歌，也都晚上九点多了，我们都很累，很想赶快回家。这是一个不同的体验，也将会是我最后一次。天气热到极点，加上举办当局，加上超贵的食物和厚脸皮的观众，我不会再花钱来这种演唱会了！

Chingay 2013

Due to my nature of work, i get to attend the Chingay 2013 preview show on the 2nd of February.

That day was a really hot day. We need to gather at the F1 pit building spectator area at 5pm and while taking our dinner, the sun was shining at us mercilessly. Although it was hot, it wasn't so bad around 6plus when the show was about to start. It has been 8 years since i last attended a Chingay show personally. The last time, we were in Orchard and we only get to sit by the road side on the hard cemented ground. This year, there are seats allocated, just like watching F1 race, so it was really much better!

This year's theme is called Fire in Snow, 雪中火，the song is very nice, for more details, you can check it out at this website.  http://www.chingay.org.sg/

Here are some photos i have taken.

What i enjoyed most and the things you can look for:
1. The Taichi sword performance
2. The ukulele and choir contingent, the 10 yr old boy can sing really really well. I was mesmerised by his voice!
3. The performers to the song "Phantom of the opera" and 周杰伦的霍元甲.
4. Look out for Yam Ah Mee in the cooking part. I heard he was supposed to be cooking something.
5. The dragon dance and the stilts
6. The finale was grand, with the majestic lion and condor floats, fire that was lighted up with fire torches carried by 1000 resilient singaporeans, "snow" falling and finally fireworks!!!

High Tea at Fullerton Bay Hotel

I had a high tea gathering with the gals at the Landing Point in Fullerton Bay Hotel. The place has a nice ambience and the food mostly consist of sweet desserts. You get 20 different kinds of tea from the TWG brand to choose from.

It is a nice and quiet place to chill with friends. However, the sweet cakes are not so much to my liking. I am more into the savouries. The bill came up to 46 per person instead of 53 as HSBC got a pretty good discount. If you drive, you can choose to valet as there are no carparks in the hotel, if not can park at One Fullerton. They give a complimentary carpark coupon for every 100 dollar spent. :)

A colour test (seemed more suitable for the singles)

Just for Fun...my friend sent to me...

between four colour combinations, please choose one:
a. Orange + Yellow
b. Red + Yellow
c. Purple + Pink
d. Green + Pink

What did u choose? Here's the analysis...

Orange + Yellow
你过于保护自己让人觉得太过现实，考虑太多现实层面的状况会让你太过理智，显得过于保护自己，一旦觉得不快乐的时候就马上拒绝对方，这样的态度自然阻挡了追求者的出现，而且记得要把对旧情人的爱完全放掉，才能重新找到新感情。

Red + Yellow
因为你的强势而把追求者吓跑了，基本上你太过大男人或大女人主意，具有强烈的掌握欲望，处处想要占上风，所以你会想要约束对方，但这样的态度反而会让人不敢接近。

Purple + Pink
太过被动的等待爱情是你的致命伤，如果想要被人追求就得先转变生活圈，才有可能遇到好的对象。选择这个颜色的人个性会比较保守而且对爱完全理想化，虽然平时给人家的感觉是非常开放的，但是她的内在却非常传统，一旦谈恋爱就做好嫁人的心理准备。

Green + Pink
眼光太高而且爱挑剔别人的你，让人有距离感不敢靠近你，试着把标准放低一点，追求者自然会出现。

BTW i chose purple + pink...i tink quite true only la...not very true for the last part...i thought