The day I got eaten alive by fishes!

Last Sunday, I joined the Vesporeans for a trip exploring the side of Singapore that is not commonly seen. It was surprising to find out that beneath the cosmopolitan side commonly known to Singapore, there were still a less travelled, charming, urban side.

Qian Hu Fish Farm

It was a beautiful morning. We rode on the secluded, winding roads of Jalan Bahar and after traveling by a long stretch, we reached our first stop. The Qian Hu fish farm. This place is famous for it’s fish spa treatment, which seemed to be all the rage at the moment.

Qian Hu Fish Farm

It was an interesting place, there were so many fishes here that it seemed more like a museum. There were even some exotic ones which costs thousands of dollars!

Qian Hu Fish Farm

I saw one of my favourite fishes – the Blood Parrot cichlid. It’s the one in the bottom right – easily recognizable from the shape of their mouths. They seem to always be happy and smiling.

Qian Hu Fish Farm

Eventually, we headed to the fish spa area where we paid $10 for a 30 minute session. We walked past a number of children who seemed engrossed in catching some tiny fishes and then we finally dipped our feet where the nibble fishes were.

Qian Hu Fish Farm

It was a most memorable experience! At first it was scary, and then it was ticklish but after a while, it actually felt kind of nice!

Here is a quick video :

And at the end of the session, I don’t know if it was from the soak or from the fishes nibbling my feet, but my feet felt noticeably softer. It was amazing!

Qian Hu Fish Farm

Check out our sexeh feet!

On the spur, Ah James suggested that we head to visit the goat farm, which was a short ride away and thus our second stop – the Hay Dairies Goat Farm.

Hay Dairies Goat Farm

It was already noon when we reached there and we quickly seeked shelter from the hot sun and we got for ourselves a bottle of fresh goat milk. It was refreshing to drink in the hot weather. It tasted a little different from cow milk as it was not have a thick after-taste.

Hay Dairies Goat Farm

I got myself a packet of hay and we walked to the goats pen where there were a number of people who were already there. Amazingly, the area did not have a bad smell as generally perceived.

Hay Dairies Goat Farm

It was interesting seeing the goats. I was surprised to see the shape of their irises. Unlike our round ones, theirs were ellipse – like tadpole eggs.

Hay Dairies Goat Farm

The baby goats were so adorable. I couldn’t resist touching them (and even attempting to kiss them) I found out that their fur were actually rough to the touch.

The older goats nibbled greedily at the hay that we gave them and they were smart enough not to bite us (although there were a number of goats which tried to eat my bag and t-shirt) but it was their mouth to watch out for. It was really wet!

Here is a quick video :

Quick trivia

Did you know that the shape of a goats teeth will tell you their age?

Hay Dairies Goat Farm

The goat farm trip was amazing. In a way, it felt as if I went back in time and was going on a school excursion for geography – learning about the different rural practices. But I didn’t mind it one bit. It was so much fun! 🙂

Initially Ah James thought of having lunch at Jurong Point Shopping Center. It was only when he noticed a brochure that we decided to have lunch at an organic farm. So our next stop was Bollywood Veggies!

I know about the place through bloggers Shaz and Aidil whom gave raving reviews about the food here, so I know that it was good 🙂

It was another short ride, we went past a number of interesting sights. One of the memorable landmarks for me was an abandoned building in the middle of nowhere.

Bollywood Veggies

As soon as we noticed the sign “Poison Ivy”, we knew it was the right place. It seemed such an idyll place. There were so much green as far as the eye can see. By the time we entered the dining area, there were already a number of people who were having their lunch. Some of them I recognized from the goat farm even.

Bollywood Veggies

We ordered a number of items :

Bollywood Veggies

Bollywood Veggies

Bollywood Veggies
This one I liked a lot!

Bollywood Veggies
Mmmm …!!

Bollywood Veggies

Here is a quick video of our lunch :

I felt a tinge of sadness when all the nice food were gone.

Finally Leonids suggested that we head to Petal Leaves for a tea break. By then I was already tired out of the activities. Hence the lack of pictures. I spent the time plonked out on the seat.

Petal Leaves

However, Leonids mentioned that it was a nice place for wedding ceremonies as there were a plentiful of flowers and greenery. The only problem was that the place was very secluded and difficult to get to, unless the person had their own transportation. Nevertheless, the place seemed a lovely place 🙂

Eventually, it was time to get back home. As I stayed in Jurong, I said my goodbyes to the rest of the gang who were heading to Kallang, and I left alone, feeling euphoria from the wonderful activities that we had together.

It was such a nice day. I’d love to do it again!

Links :

Sidenote : I’d like to watch Leap Years. Care to join me? 🙂

An Evening of Southeast Asian Music and Dance

A most spectacular event. It was surprisingly captivating that I enjoyed every minute of it!

Singa Nglaras Gamelan @ NUS

Recently, my friend, Mus invited me to attend the event, An Evening of Southeast Asian Music and Dance.

Having already hanged out with the Singa Nglaras group during their jamming session, I was definitely looking forward to watching the concert.

I brought my mum as a date. By the time we got into the theatrette at the Arts Faculty, it was completely full of people! We had to content ourselves by sitting on the stairs instead.

But the music was beautiful and hypnotic. They sounded so put together since their first day of their jamming session. Mum was going on and on about how powerful the Indonesian singer’s voice was. Whereas I was captivated by the hypnotic sounds of the musical instruments.

Here is a short clip of the first part of the concert :

I think they were great! Thumbs up for the concert! 🙂

Links :

Chingay parade in Singapore 2008

Last Friday, I went to watch the Chingay Parade.

The Chingay Parade is an annual parade held in Singapore as part of the new year festivities. I’ve been to one in 2003 with Geri and I quite enjoyed myself, looking at the many display of colours and costumes.

Chingay Parade 2003 @ City Hall

After noticing the vigorous advertisements for the current chingay, my interest in attending was roused. After all, this could possibly be the last chingay that I’d be watching.

Chingay Parade 2008 Banner

I went with my friend Attilio to City Hall on Friday evening for the previews. By the time we reached there, there were a lot of barricades and we had to show our passes numerous times before being allowed to enter the area.

Eventually we approached the audience area where there were already a number of performers who were getting ready – some were practicing their moves, some were joking around, all of them in interesting costumes.

At length we got to our seats and waited for the performance to begin. There were a number of glitches, but it was understandable as it was a preview.

Chingay Parade 2008 @ City Hall

There were a number of memorable highlights from the performance, such as the F1 Car show, dances from various organizations and of course, the floats. It was a much grander scale as compared to the more modest one of 2003. There were a plentiful of flashy displays. But I felt that the heart element was missing.

However there was one display that I truly enjoyed would be the fireworks after the grand finale. It was gorgeous and it went on for a good 5 minutes! I didn’t mind having a neck cramp looking up!

Here is a quick video clip of the event :

Did you go to the chingay 2008? What did you think of it?

Links :

Cardio? No sweat!

On Valentines day, I spent the evening sweating with a tall, dark and muscular man. After we were done, I was left tired, but feeling really good! 😉

Nicholas of Jurong West Sports Complex

This is Nicolas in all his sweaty glory after a cardio workout. He’s a fitness instructor for the sports council. I was introduced to this workout class when fellow blogger friend, Lizan recommended it. And for the past few weeks, my friends, Lizan, Dolly and I has been attending cardio-mix sessions with him in the hopes of becoming more fit.

The first session was pure torture. I didn’t realise that it was so high impact!

As soon as we entered the room, Nicholas started to bark the instructions … “Grape Vine! Easy Walk! Double! Step Touch” and he would laugh maniacally when he noticed us slowing down. It was so exhausting, I thought I was going to die! And that was when he announced, “Alright, that was your warm up. Lets start our session!

It was the longest 60 minutes of my life. For an entire week my body ached and felt beaten up. And now after going for a couple of sessions, it is still tiring, and many a times my coordination is completely off. But I think I’m slowly getting a hang of it and I am looking forward to the next sessions.

Lizan, Dolly and Rinaz looking completely unglam

Here we are after our cardio session. I look completely unglamorous in here, while Lizan and Dolly still look amazingly fresh faced. Nevertheless, I felt really good. Its been such a long time since I felt that rush. Its a great feeling 🙂

You may be interested in :

Sidenote : On Monday, I went for my first class of level 2 yoga. The next day, I felt like the after effects of running the marathon. Yikes!

Wow my very first ang pow!

rinaz gets an ang pow!

A friend of my mum asked her to visit during Chinese New Year. Hence mum asked me to join along. With the day free, I decided to join in too. It was an interesting experience for me, as this was actually my first time visiting a Chinese house during the lunar new year.

This year is the year of the rat. Momentarily I remember the tale about the Zodiac origins of how the rat tricked the ox to finish the race first.

When we arrived, Iris, one of mum’s friends told us that it was a custom to give a pair of mandarin oranges to the oldest member of the house. Oranges symbolises gold as the word orange sounds like gold, in Chinese.

balbasaur protects rinaz gold orange
My venusaur protecting my gold

Inside, it was very lively with the chatter of the other visitors already inside. There were a plentiful of food and drinks. I looked around and there were a number of decorations such as calligraphy in bright red parchments. These were pasted on the walls and the doors. These was supposed to bring in wealth and luck.

Girls pasting chinese new year parchments

And that was when the granny handed me the ang pow – little red packets with money inside. Ang pows are given from the married to the unmarried people. I’m not too sure why though. But being given the red packet made me surprisingly happy. I felt like a kid again during hari raya, being given our own green packets 🙂

After spending a lovely time snacking and talking with mum’s friends, we made our move. Interestingly enough, the host took out a box of oranges and asked us to take a pair. She said, “You’ve given us gold, so we are repaying you back with gold”

Those gold are going to go into my stomach 😀

Chinese New Year Rat

Happy Chinese New Year everyone. Enjoy the wonderful weekends 🙂

You may be interested in :

BBQ Chicken at Cineleisure – A rival to KFC

Updated : BBQ Chicken is now closed for business.

Barbecued Chicken may not be a true Korean invention, nevertheless the chicken here was rather delicious!

BBQ Chicken @ Cineleisure

Recently my friend Juli, asked me out. She had read an article in Berita Harian, a Malay newspaper. Every Sunday, there would be a segment where it recommends good eating establishments. That particular week focused on a place called BBQ Chicken.

Naturally I was game to try something new and we hopped on the scooter and headed off to Orchard.

The place

It was relatively easy to get to. Just a stroll from Orchard Mrt Station. Motorcyclists like me may have issues parking near the area though as the parking area across the road is perpetually full. Located in the basement of Cineleisure, it’s hard to miss while going down the elevator with the bright and cheery decorations around the restaurant.

BBQ Chicken @ Cineleisure

By the time we reached there, it was not very crowded. There were a diverse group there ranging from couples and groups of friends but what I was most surprised to see was that there were actually quite a number of Koreans patronizing. Turns out that BBQ Chicken restaurant really did originate from Korea as seen from their website.

One of the things that stood out about the restaurant was the LCD display on the wall. It was playing clips of Korean concerts. I am not familiar with Korean Singers, but watching it was entertaining for both Juli and I.

BBQ Chicken @ Cineleisure

The service

The staff was generally pleasant. After being handed the menu, we were quite confused at what to get. The staff helpfully recommended us on what to eat according to what was popular in the menu. After a while, Juli decided on the Hot Hot Drum while I had the Original Chicken. We both topped up our meal to have rice, coleslaw, wedges and a drink.

BBQ Chicken @ Cineleisure

Waiting for our meal was a slow process though. It took a good 15 minutes for our chickens to be done. Thank goodness for the Korean Concert. It entertained us enough till the food arrived!

The food

But the wait was quite worth it. This was my original chicken.

Original Chicken BBQ Chicken @ Cineleisure

At $10.50, it was quite a generous portion. Looking at the size of my chicken, I was almost worried that I would not be able to finish it. But the chicken was tender and crispy outside. Being cooked with olive oil, it claimed that this was a healthier option. Nevertheless, it was yummy! KFC has better watch out as it has a rival in its hands now.

The wedges and the coleslaw was nice enough but they aren’t anything to cheer about, but the rice tasted really good. The taste reminded me a little bit of biryani, a buttery tasting rice with spices. I liked the rice a lot.

Hot hot drum Chicken @ Cineleisure

This was Juli’s Hot Hot Drum ($11.50) Juli says that it was actually quite hot. Personally, I didn’t think that it was that hot nevertheless, I liked the chicken very much. The chicken was tender and the gravy was a myriad of tastes, a bit of sweetness, a bit of sourness all covered up in heat. It was really yummy. I actually prefer this one to the original chicken.

In the end, we enjoyed our meal so much all that was left was bones! 😀

Here is a quick video of us after our meal :


BBQ Chicken @ Cineleisure

BBQ Chicken, yummy chicken that would rival KFC.

You may also be interested in

Sidenote : On the same day, Juli and I had durian puffs at Puteri Mas, I dare say that that was the best durian puff that I have ever had.

Roadtrip to Pengerang – Where heavenly seafood awaits!

Map of Pengerang

Pengerang is a town in the southeast of Johore, Malaysia, about 80km from Singapore. Being near the sea, it was rather famous for its seafood. Imagine being stuffed with all the seafood that you could eat and having to pay about only $20!

Rinaz loves to eat

A couple of weeks ago, the vesporeans announced in the forums about an outing to Pengerang for seafood. After the successful convoy to Malacca, I immediately jumped to the chance as soon as I found out about it.

Our meeting point was at the Jurong Bird Park. Prozzie was one of the first people there and we waited for the rest to arrive one by one.

Once everyone was assembled, we rode all the way to the Tuas Second Link Checkpoint. There were a number of other motorcyclists there already. I noticed a large group of scramblers with huge backpacks behind them. They looked as if they were going on a camp.

The custom check did not take very long. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that we did not need to fill up the white immigration cards anymore. That speeded up the process. In just a few minutes, we were out of the gantry and on our way across the sea.

Beautiful morning in Johore

And it was such a beautiful morning! It was just lovely to see the lovely blue sky with the fluffy white clouds and the glorious sun rays across the sea. At this point of time, I wished that I had a video camera installed on the scooter. I would have loved to show a streaming of the journey live.

Vesporeans having breakfast at Gelang Patah

We stopped at Gelang Patah for some breakfast. By the time we reached there, it was already crowded with people – people at the tables, people queuing up for food. It took us a good 15 minutes just to search for a place to sit.

After a sumptuous breakfast, (Nasi Lemak for me!) we quickly topped up our scooter with petrol at the petronas petrol station. I met with the quirkiest cat ever.

A cat sleeping very soundly

This cat was sleeping right in front of the payment counter. There were a number of people who accidentally hit it while making their payments. But the cat kept on sleeping and would not wake up! Maybe it was tired after working the night shift.

I noticed Kah Woon and Gmoh having the most interesting face covers. I’ve never seen anyone having these type of covers on the roads before. Have you?

Kah Woon

Gmoh

Incidentally, Gmoh installed in a horn to his scooter. Not just any horn. But a bicycle horn!

After our fill up, we were on our way!

Riding in the Malaysian roads is much different compared to riding in the Singaporean roads. For one part, the maximum road limit is 120km/hr while in Singapore it is 90km/hr. Imagine our amazement as we see the other motorists zooming by. They were really fast!

Prozzie watching the locals zipping by
Prozzie watching the locals zipping by

It was a very long ride. For the next couple of hours, I amused myself by listening to the radio station on my ear piece and looking at the scenery. It was nice seeing all of the vegetation and plantation around. There were loads of palm trees, as far as the eye can see, at one point.

Beautiful morning in Johore

Halfway along the journey, we stopped by for a much deserved rest to stretch our legs. Riding for two hours straight is not very comfortable!

guys selling roasted chestnuts

I met a few guys manning a roasted chestnut stall and they were quite amazed to see our Vespa Convoy. All throughout our conversation they were curious and kept asking me questions, since I was the only one in the group who could speak Malay.

What nice looking scooters!
What club are you?
Where are you guys from?
Where are you all going?

After a couple of minutes later, we said our goodbyes and continued with our journey.

Red Mini Looking for directions

At length, we reached a sort of residential area. Even for being in the middle of the day, it looked kind of secluded. There were hardly anyone to be seen. We then entered a path to a village and finally saw a seafood restaurant.

We tried to park in front of the eatery, but as seeing that the parking area was rather small and there were quite a number of us, the kind lady who was working at the eatery offered to let us park in her verandah which is just a stones throw from the eatery.

By then we were very hungry! We ordered heaps of food to feed a platoon! Here are the food that we ate :

Chap Chye

Stir fried vegetables

Sambal Cockles

Sambal Cockles

Steamed baby lobsters

Steamed baby lobsters

Fried Kangkong

Fried Kang Kong

Black Pepper Crab

Heavenly Black Pepper Crab

Deep fried lobsters

Deep fried lobsters. These lobsters were really huge!

Oh I tell you, all of the food was so delicious! It was just heaven. I especially loved the black pepper crab and the lobsters. It was so juicy and succulent, that momentarily, I didn’t care about risking to having a weight gain.

We ate everything and in the end we were all stuffed! I had to sit slumped on my chair for a long time, too full to even move. I just sat there in contented bliss.

When the bill came, I was mightily impressed as when divided with the people sitting at the table, each of us only had to pay about RM45 dollars. That’s about $20 Singapore dollars.

Nothing was left when we were done as seen below :

No more food

A long ride back to the customs. Such a relaxing day. I admired the beautiful fluffy white clouds among the blue skies. It was such a beautiful day.

It was nearly 6p m and for some reason, the group headed to the Woodlands Checkpoint. The good part about this checkpoint as there was no fees to cross the gantry. The bad part was that it was usually very crowded.By the time we reached there at about 6 pm, it was already quite congested with cars. Fortunately for us, being scooter riders, we were small enough to squeeze through.

Congested Road

But it was when we were approaching the gantry that was the most trying. There must have been at least one hundred motorcycles(!!!) trying to get into the gantry. And the progress was so slow. It took a very long time for us to get closer.

Congested Road

Many of the people there were feeling hot and frustrated that they started to hit on their horns repeatedly. It was chaotic. The smoke all around, the loud horns. I kept my focus on to listening to music keep myself calm.

It was only after about 45 mins that we finally crossed over back to Singapore. I was just thankful that the entire ordeal was over. Nevertheless, I still enjoyed the trip today, solely for the beautiful view and the yummy food. I would love to do it again. Thank you so much for organizing this trip, Vesporeans 🙂

Links :

You might be interested in :

My new glasses is teh sexeh

I haven’t changed my glasses since 2001. The only issue that was holding me back was how insanely expensive glasses are for me. My last glasses were about $350. Being cheapskate frugal, I procrastinated upon getting new ones.

However, last week, I got so tired that I went to take a nap with my glasses on and accidentally bent them slightly as I slept. When I woke up, I felt dizzy when looking through the unaligned lenses.

I had to make new ones.

There were so many types that I didn’t know what to choose. Under the recommendation of the optician, he chose this pair for me and since being the neighbourhood optician, it wasn’t that expensive.

rinaz going for the hot secretary look

And I love it! It was surprisingly stylish and <shameless>I look really hot with the sexy secretary look going on</shameless> Forget contact lenses. I’ll be wearing glasses all the time now 🙂

What do you think?

Link : You just got to look at Moby’s glasses post 🙂