Last week, I was at the Singapore Garden Festival. After missing the first one in December 2006, I told myself that I should make an effort to view the one this year
When I reached Suntec City, there were already quite a number of people there – presumably after work, like me. I made my payments at the counter and after getting my ticket, I entered the exhibition hall.
And what I saw just floored me. There were heaps of beautiful sights in front of me. From photography of flowers, to the many landscapes and fantasy gardens from the different designers all over the world.
Here is one done by a China representative, with a very apt display for the Beijing Olympics. Not that much flowers are used in this display, making it looks more zen than garden-like.
Here is something kind of cool that we hardly see in real life because of our tropical climate. A lavender field! It seemed to go on and on and I desperately wanted to sit in the middle and just enjoy the beauty of it all. Too bad it was behind a glass and that visitors aren’t allowed to enter inside.
A Marilyn Monroe picture made of potted plants.
There were plentiful of displays there to be seen there but there were two displays in particular that moved me. One of them was this one which depicted the beautiful rural charm of China.
Personally, I think that this picture does not do it justice because when I saw it, I just had to stop for a while and just stand there for a few minutes. It was so serene and breathtaking. Just listening to the water flowing in the pond and the koi swimming made me feel so relaxed.
And here is the other side of the display. With the little details such as the tea cups and the wheat grinder, it brought out the charm and the authenticity, momentarily bringing me to rural China. It was so beautiful!
And another display which I loved heaps was this one entitled Glendalough by an American designer. Its gorgeous and I felt my heart sigh when looking at the display. How can anyone not?
To say that this looks charming would make it unjustified. This is what faerie tales are made of, with the greenery, the little pond and the stone toadstool and especially the little stone chapel. I love it!
There is a story of how the designer of this display was inspired by how easily nature can take away man’s ambitions and beautifully make it part of her own work.
It was said that the designer proposed to his then girlfriend in a place which looked like this in Glendalough, Ireland.
There is something about fresh flowers that makes me feel happy. My only issue about the event was that, whatever illusion I had being part of the display was quickly faded with the amount of people that visited there.
It’s hard to imagine being in Ireland with other people snapping around and posing! My other issue is that we could not touch or interact with the displays. I really would have loved to bury my face in the flowers or feel it next to my skin at the very least.
Regardless, I enjoyed myself tremendously. It was an evening well spent 🙂
Here is a quick video of two of the displays that I liked a lot :
I was listening to the Talkback segment on 938live and the topic of the day was “Are Singaporeans disrespectful to the National Anthem?” and a few minutes later, I heard you call in this morning to air your views.
You said that the National Anthem was hard to understand and because it was in Malay, not everyone would appreciate it. You also suggested that the National Anthem should be changed to English.
But isn’t it such a drastic change to have the National Anthem, sung in the official language changed after 43 years? Would it really be the best solution to change it to English?
But true, that its possible that throughout the years after school, that its easy to forget.
So, here is my part in sharing with you the National Anthem as well as the translation. After all, we all do need reminders sometimes 😉
[audio:MajulahSingapura.mp3]
MAJULAH SINGAPURA
Mari kita rakyat Singapura
Sama-sama menuju bahagia
Cita-cita kita yang mulia
Berjaya Singapura
Marilah kita bersatu
Dengan semangat yang baru
Semua kita berseru
Majulah Singapura
Majulah Singapura
ONWARD SINGAPORE
(English Translation)
Come, fellow Singaporeans
Let us progress towards happiness together
May our noble aspiration bring
Singapore success
Come, let us unite
In a new spirit
Let our voices soar as one
Onward Singapore
Onward Singapore
I had the most amazing time last Friday evening with my friends treasure hunting!
Isn’t this pretty?
The was the ‘Flight of the Night Owl’ event organized by the National Museum. I only knew about the event when Juli persuaded me to join in her team. Initially, I was a little apprehensive. After all, it was held on a Friday night in the heart of the city – the traffic is crazy there! But at length, I relented since it was something that I’ve never done before. It will be an experience!
My friends Juli, Redzuan, Raimie and Sri and I, were at the National Museum and by the time I reached there, there were already a large a number of people congregating around the area. All participants participants were given glowsticks, making everyone looked so festive!
At length, the event started with a dude wearing a Malay outfit, complete with the headgear, Samping and keris – he was roleplaying as Sang Rajuna Tapa, the Royal Treasury Officer. And he was angry that the Sultan had insulted his family name! He wanted us to recover the Sultan’s hidden treasures.
Everyone there was so enthusiastic and started to cheer loudly. And not before too long, the Sang Rajuna Tapa started the race, and everyone scrambled to get their first clue.
Off we went, running past the large group of people who were picnicking by the museum with an outdoor movie from the Night Festival. Past the Singapore Management University and past the Substation. The first place that we headed to was the Peranakan Museum where we met the game-master and were were given 5 tasks to complete in there.
The tasks were really tough! One of the challenge was to find an object that matches the one in the picture. But with the museum being spacious and about 3 stories high, it was quite a challenge! Another challenge required us to search for a particular person in there to give us a piece of parchment. With no clues to what he looked like or what outfit he was wearing, Sri ended up asking random strangers if they had the parchment to which all of them looked as us strangely and said no.
At length, we had all the answers correct and we were given the next clue. We were given a crossword puzzle with the answer to head to the next location – the only clue that was given was “This placed used to be a place for pious people, now it has been converted where many weddings and hip restaurants are”
When we saw ‘ROM’ at the side of the crossword puzzle, we immediately scrambled to the registry of marriages. But it was so quiet there, and after awhile, I was sure that something was amiss. Pious … pious … I thought to myself while staring at the crossword puzzle. And thats where I finally saw CHIMJES!
CHIMJES! CHIMJES! I screamed excitedly! And we rushed off there where we were given a new clue to figure out. It was a logic riddle where you had to figure out who was telling the truth and who is lying. If you got the answer wrong, you’d be sidetracked to the wrong location. We took a while to figure out the right answer and eventually agreed on the Arts Museum and we had to search for the 10 different symbols hidden around the area.
One of the ten symbols, sitting insouciantly on the wall
It was quite a legwork scouring the entire museum for the different symbols! It was so tiring!
Other memorable task that I remembered was to figure out a trivia such as “What was the highest watchtower in Singapore in 1903?” We were all stumped. Eventually, after a call to my sister who googled the answer, we found out that it was actually the ‘Central Firestation‘. Ah the convenience of modern technology!
And another another task was to figure out a location by this clue :
“Thousands of girls has passed by this school gate before it was relocated to Queen’s street”
I was completely clueless. What school was that? It was only by sheer luck that we stumbled across some student which helpfully pointed us to the right direction.
And when we reached the place, I actually saw the original Raffles Girl’s School gates. I was flabbergasted! I’ve walked on this road, countless of times but this was the first time that I’ve noticed it before.
I like em perky!
Finally with our next clue, we headed to the National Museum and then the Philatelic museum to do another round of searches. While scouring, I remembered wanting to linger a while longer to look and read the different displays. There have been so much changes since I last been there. It was fascinating to me. But being in a treasure hunt, I could not stop for too long!
Posing at the Philatelic Museum
Eventually we were informed that the last search was at 11.30 pm. By then, my legs felt extremely sore. This was even more intensive than any of the aerobics session that I’ve been to! We headed back to the National Museum and we were dejected that we were not able to complete all the tasks given. It was there that I saw a group of very fit looking runners triumphantly announcing to the gamemaster that they had completed all of the tasks. I felt very envious of them.
Some of us still use these mortars to blend our spices together
Regardless, I had loads of fun, it was surprising! I enjoyed discovering new things about Singapore. And the heritage trail really gave me a new perspective – it was already so physically tiring to join in this treasure hunt, that I have a newfound utmost respect to anyone who joins the Amazing Race. Nevertheless, I don’t think I’ll ever regret in participating in this 🙂
In the 1930s there were two very flamboyant and very rich brothers, famous from their tiger balm products, decided to build a park where everyone could enjoy and at the same time learn about Asian values.
As a child, my family would bring me out there and we’d spend time together picnicking and just having a lovely time together. At the time, entry to the Haw Par Villa was free. It was bustling with people strolling about. I’d always have a blast in my imaginary world, believing that I was interacting with the statues there.
Then came the 90s when the government took over and did a number of changes to the park. The attractions were developed, and they started to charge money for entry. Though the place seemed well taken cared of, the entire feeling was different and commercialised. The number of visitors dwindled.
It was only several years later when Haw Par Villa became a public park again. Some of the segments being adopted by various organizations for its continued upkeep. Unfortunately, the number of visitors did not go back to its heydays. Reasons cited ranging from being unaware that Haw Par Villa was opened to lack of interest.
Regardless, I’m missing Haw Par Villa a lot. Even more so when realised how close it was by the company headquarters. A sense of yearning keeps coming back to me. The following months could possibly be the last time that I could visit it freely.
Hence, I asked a couple of blogger friends who might be interested in visiting and last Saturday, and eventually, we visited the amazing Haw Par Villa.
It was a rainy saturday morning. Fortunately, it did not last for too long and I was able to ride out and reached the Haw Par Villa Carpark safely.
After parking my scooter in the designated motorcycling parking area, just as I stepped on the entry steps, I saw Nicole, Chillycraps, Xizor and Endoh coming out of a taxi cab. Together, we walked up the hilly entrance where Mintea was already waiting.
Xizor is pointing to the disappearance of a large dragon
While passing through, it did not take too long for me to feel a deep sense of nostalgia. There were heaps of figures that I can remember from my childhood – it was as if I stepped back in time.
We stopped by the signature pool and Nicole decided to get some fish food to feed the fishes there while waiting for DK to arrive. I was amazed at how the group were intently looking at the pond animals – In the hustle and bustle of life, its been a while since I’ve seen anyone stop to admire nature’s work.
Normally seeing turtles swimming around brings me a sense of calm. But that day, it was really funny to see the turtles pushing each other to get to the food, while the fishes shyly swam underneath. And that was when we noticed something very mysterious swimming by. It was rather large and it had whiskers!
It was a catfish! I’ve never seen such a large catfish in real life before. I was enthralled when I spotted some. It was strangely captivating.
After emptying the 2nd pack of fish food, finally DK arrived and together, we went to search for a sheltered area for picnicking. We stumbled upon a large and colourful sheltered area, and shortly after we played a couple of classic games such as Snap and this odd game called Indian Poker.
It was quite amusing for me to see the losers having to eat the lovely food from our pot-luck as punishment. When can it be punishment when you get to eat yummy food? Such as Mintea’s Curry Puff, Dk’s nuggets, Malique‘s Cupcakes, Nicole’s Chips and my Chiffon Cake. I loved it all!
But at one point of time, poor CC had to stuff himself with the food as he lost as much as 5 times in a row!
After stuffing ourselves silly, what better way than to ease the feeling with a little dancing 😀
We then explored the area, where we saw the monuments that I can still remember from time back.
I remember posing by this very display when I was a little girl! In the background there is a flower vase with a human hand. Mintea thought that it was creepy. But I guess I’m used to it.
DK tells me that the guy in the middle is a priest and he was caught in the middle with some spider spirits disguising themselves as women. They believed that by eating his flesh, they will become immortal.
Personally, I thought that this diorama was strange as it was entitled ‘Gambling causes you to lose a life’ since the boy died from being careless at not looking at where he was going on the road rather than his father’s gambling habits.
And before we know it, it was already nearing the closing hours at Haw Par Villa already. Time really does pass by quickly when one is having fun. We took a group picture to remember and cherish our moments in the future 🙂
Unfortunately, I only knew about it last minute when I saw several of my friends plurking about it. By then, it was too late for me to be an early bird registrant and I missed my chance in getting a Happy Tree Friends goodie bag! Happy Tree Friends is a violent cartoon series, but the characters are undeniably cute 🙂
I met fellow blogger, ChillyCraps who was my fantastic plus one for the day. He patiently waited for me at the foyer and together we bravely swam through over the sea of humans who were already there. It was already crowded just 30 minutes after the event started.
It was really scary!
Nevertheless, it was all worth it because as soon as we entered through the doors, it was like being in another dimension altogether. Wonderful displays of toys were all over the place. CC and I instantly hyperventilated over the sheer awesomeness of it all!
The first thing that caught my eye was the Wii fit. Having already watched the viral video of the Wii fit girl, I was very curious to experience it for myself.
Above is a short video CC took of me while I was trying out the Wii Fit. It was a very interesting experience and actually curiously fun! I was so tempted to get a set for myself, but a Wii unit with the tablet would cost about $900 altogether, a tad bit steep, I think.
Pretty soon, guess who I saw? It was Darth Vader roaming around the convention. And the interesting thing was that there were loads of people clamoring over him trying to get a picture session with him and his soldiers.
The picture is a little bit blur because CC and I had to be really quick before someone else pushed us away for their photo-op! I looked a little to happy even with Darth Vader seemed like he was about to chop my head off with his lightsabre 😛
CC then stumbled upon one of his favourite characters – Ultraman! The both of us, like most Singaporeans, grew up on ultraman! 🙂
We then explored around the different toy displays.
There was the wierd
Like the popular but creepy Blythe dolls. They might be cute to some, but with those type of eyes, its easy to imagine that they’ll come to life when you are sleeping and do bodily harm to you.
We were fortunate enough to see some of the artists at work. One of them was Mori Chack, famous for his Gloomy Bears as seen as in the pictures below.
Actually, I thought that those bears are kind of creepy with the blood stains on the mouth and claws. Its probably an acquired taste to get one of these, perhaps.
For some reason I was quite fascinated by these toys. Partly because they are gold perhaps, but also because they were sort of like transformers, but morph themselves as golden lighters instead of cars.
The cute
Here are a couple of Kubrick and Tofu dolls that CC and I were rather crazy about. It looked simple, just a rectangular head over a plastic body, but owners are able to do their own customizations by drawing over the head – which I thought was pretty cool 🙂
And these are rather cute too. Tofu dolls with them holding up their noses! They are smelly Tofu!
And before going to the Toy Convention, I’ve never heard of Monsterism before but I love these figurines very much! They are so kitsch and I love the retro design as well. The website looked pretty spiffy 🙂
And I love this giant plushie by dooodolls! The plushies are easily recognized by their boogly eyes. But I like this one specifically because it is big and smooshie! It feels just like cuddling Cartcart 🙂
The wonderful
I quite like this Homer Simpson action figure, spoofing Thor! The clerks must have had a sense of humor as they put Homer and Thor side by side!
There was also the very popular Tokidoki! Over here in Singapore, it is so famous that it has been inspired and even copied in many designs, especially bags and purses.
Unfortunately for me, that entire counter was extremely crowded! I could not even see what was on display. I could only see the heads of the clerks running around busily attending to their customers.
Regardless, I managed to capture these pictures. Aren’t they adorable?
There was also a booth which showcased some displays from many famous movie scenes. Can you recognize which movie these came from?
The old school
I was amazed to see Lau Fu Zhi being exhibited. Its’ so old school! I used to read these comic books a lot during my primary school days. Most of the cartoons were wordless which made it simple to understand 🙂
And who doesn’t know Astroboy? The famous robot boy who has graced our television and magazines since childhood 🙂
The interesting
While roaming around, we stumbled upon a kiosk and I noticed loads of bread. I called out to CC. “Look! There is even a refreshment stall here. Lets take a bite!”
It looked like bread. It smelled like bread. It even felt like bread to the touch. It was only when I squeezed it repeatedly and the bread did not disintegrate was when I realised that it was not true bread.
What cool stuff! I got one for myself, for the novelty factor. Besides, I could use it as a stress ball 🙂
These are stickfast. A popular Singaporean made toy. CC mentioned that he used to collect them before. And I thought that, it was very well done as well as affordable.
Then we explored though the other side of the convention where there were heaps of artists displaying their works.
One of them was this lady from C.D.S who is showing off her manga illustration. Looking through the portfolio, the works looked good enough to rival even commercial ones from Japan.
I also saw a digital artist doing a live demonstration of how he works, drawing on his tablet using Photoshop. This guy here was from ‘Imaginary Friends Studios’. I admired his skilful and deft touch.
I also saw a couple of wacom products which fascinated me. Having worked on a wacom tablet myself for my artwork, they can be quite useful. But drawing in such a small tablet can be quite cumbersome and I’ve always wished that they could integrate it to the monitor instead.
And thats when I saw this :
You can draw directly on the monitor itself! Very useful for a designer.
After spending about two hours in the convention, CC and I reluctantly left for our appointment. Regardless, I love the Toy Convention! Even with the amount of people there, in a claustrophobic environment. I enjoyed myself thoroughly 🙂
I didn’t get a Happy Tree Friends T-shirt in the end. But I guess posing with a display works too.
P.S. After we left the convention, we saw Darth Vader queuing up for a bowl of noodles. I guess even a fearsome evil ruler like Darth Vader needs to eat.
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
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.
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.
We ordered a number of items :
This one I liked a lot!
Mmmm …!!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
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.
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.
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.
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 😀
Happy Chinese New Year everyone. Enjoy the wonderful weekends 🙂
Though we were both worn out by the end of the day, we both enjoyed ourselves immensely and had the loveliest time at the zoo.
Sun, 30 Dec 2007
Longtime netbuddy Geri, who was a staff at the Zoo, has very generously offered Cart and I tickets there. As the Singapore Zoo is famous for its open zoo concept, I was quite excited to bring Cartcart here. The last time that I was here was in 1998 and I was curious to know what new developments was in there.
We reached the place in the early afternoon after taking a long and leisurely bus ride. By the time we reached there, it was already quite crowded with people.
The place has certainly changed since the last time I’ve been there. It looked much modern with its decor and felt more spacious. I made a quick call to Geri and she popped out to say hello and met Cartcart for the first time.
I was happy to see that they were able to get along with each other so nicely 🙂
Sang Kancil having lunch
As we entered the animal exhibits, I was pleasantly surprised to see much changes being done all around. The zoo was divided into different segments according to the types of animals they were like primates and birds, and the continents they were from.
One of the first animal that we saw were the otters. I nearly had a headache when I approached this exhibit as they smelled really bad! But this was the way that they mark their territory. I’m glad that I did not live next to an otter!
The beautiful red fox
As we explored, Cart was very impressed at how natural the surrounding was that he even quipped, “This doesn’t even feel like a zoo”. Nowhere were any of the animals were in a cage. Instead, the zoo uses hidden barriers like moats and shrubberies.
I was amazed at how close we were able to get to some of the free roaming animals. I was so close that I could pet them if I wanted to.
I wonder how the lemur coat will feel like. Is it soft? or is it rough like steel wool?
While we were in the Australian exhibit, this handsome little emu came over to me so close to me.
The dangerous animals on the other hand were kept in a safe distance using moats and bridges :
For some reason this white tiger was very restless and kept pacing around. Luckily for us, we were separated between a deep moat. But for the species that are able to climb high, they were kept behind glass displays where we could admire them :
Like this stunningly beautiful Jaguar. Did you know that although both look similar, the difference between the Jaguar and the Leopard is that the Jaguar has a black dot in the middle of its spots.
Cart and I tried to go to one of the live animal show, but unfortunately for us, by the time we reached there, it was full of people. We could not even see the stage. I felt like we missed a great show.
Thus, when we were determined to see the next show and we headed there early and we were rewarded to a very entertaining elephant show.
The trainers and the elephants, as well as the emcee had such great chemistry with each other. Everything just flowed and it was apparent that everyone enjoyed it.
Here is a quick video montage :
In the end, I think that we did not have enough time to explore the entire zoo. There were still a number of exhibits that we did not go to. And we were so reluctant to leave the zoo, even though it was already closing for the day.
Thank you so much Geri, Cart and I really enjoyed our trip to the zoo, very much! 😀
I took Cartcart to Little India to for Indian vegetarian food. Ever since the first time he ate here, he has enjoyed eating Indian food a lot. I think that it is rather convenient since we have a peace of mind, without having to worry about the food containing any animal products.
We headed to a little place called Komala Villas where they served Indian food in a sort of fast food restaurant. Cart ordered the North Indian set while I had the Naan set.
A slightly eaten Naan bread before I remembered to take a picture
Cart’s meal had a piece of deep fried dried chilli in the middle of his meal. He started to pick it up and ate it! I was horrified as I’ve never seen anyone eat an entire chilli before. I stared at him with my mouth open as he muttered out a satisfied “Mmmmm”.
What? He ate an entire chilli? Unbelievable!
We took the bus to head to the bnb where we caught on tv mobile, news about the assasination of the ex Prime Minister of Pakistan, Benazir Bhutto. The first thing that came in my mind was how unreal it was.
Fri, 28 Dec 2007
After Cart’s Islamic studies, mum, Cart and I headed to the Geylang Food Center for a spot of lunch. There were so much things to eat here. There were rows and rows of stalls selling wonderful local fare.
Mum and I ate Ayam Penyet.
A slightly eaten Ayam Penyet before I remembered to take a picture
This was one of my favourite food. Ayam Penyet is deep fried marinated chicken that you eat with raw vegetables and chilli paste. The hotter the better! Granted that it was a much different variation of the Ayam Penyet that I was used to, with that particular chicken being drizzled with soya sauce, it was still very good 🙂
Mum asked me to let Cart try the Serabai
This was a traditional Malay dessert made up of glutinous flour and eaten with gula melaka (palm sugar) Yum!
Mum decided to show Cartcart a couple of the everyday things that we had in Singapore so we walked to the wet market that was nearby.
She showed the local vegetables, and foodstuff like spices, pandan leaves, tempeh (fermented soybean) and others, while she amiably chatted up with the ladies that were manning the stalls. That was when Cartcart spotted out some babas brand curry powder and said, “I want to make curry!” and proceeded to buy all three types that he saw in front of him.
As mum had prior engagement, Cart and I proceeded to go to the furniture shop called ‘Barang-barang’. In Malay, Barang-barang is a plural form of stuff.
Actually Cart needed some respite from the hot sun, while I just wanted to have fun and then take a nap after our lunch. I spotted a chair that looked almost like the one I saw in Secondlife.
We reached our aunt’s place later in the evening where she was already waiting for us. My aunt has been looking forward to meeting Cartcart that she’s been trying to make me feel guilty for not introducing him to her when he came last year.
My aunt’s colourful house
But I was glad that we came over this time because Cart seemed to enjoy himself. He commented that my aunt had a great personality – very friendly, hospitable and a great cook.
It was funny because just a few moments ago, my aunt told me that she was a little worried as she has never cooked vegetarian food before. She had to crack her head and wondered what to cook. And in the end, she made Omelettes, Chap Chye (stir fried mixed vegetables) with mushroom sauce and some fried Macaroni.
My aunt, having already been to Italy some years back, started to talk about her experiences there to Cartcart. And one of the topic that they talked about as seen in the video below, was about coffee :
It was hillarous!
We then quickly said our goodbyes and went up to say hello to my parents since both my parents were home.
Cart started to ask about my dad, whom was hurt during the accident and was surprised to see the well made prosthetic fingers that the doctors made for him. It looked natural, he said. And my dad seemed happy to hear that and even invited Cart to touch his fingers.
Cart handed some chocolates (which was the first and last time I saw, since my siblings were all chocolate monsters) as well as this very interesting thing :
This was a Panforte. I guess its a sort of hard pie which is made up of spices and dried fruit. Mum couldn’t wait to open and try it out.
And we all loved it. Yummy!
Next : My 10th year Jurong Institute school reunion!
