A visit to Singapore

Singapore

September 27th-28th, 2009

Singapore was actually an extension from my recent trip to Johor Bahru (JB), since I thought it would be nice to catch up with some old friends over there and yes, to "Charles & Keith" shoes store in Singapore! No visit to Singapore would be complete unless I get a pair of shoes at least from here. Haha, it's not a great shoe store, nothing compared to the US but it's a good substitute as compared to the crappy ones you find in Malaysia. I don't know why but they should shut down all Vincci shoe shops. Okay, Alvin and Garry made a joint effort in planning our trip itinerary for us and a big thank you to them for making us stick to the schedule as close as possible haha. We drove into Singapore on Sunday, after Garry's church wedding on Saturday in JB. We were still staying in JB because the hotel prices were extremely high due to the F1 that was held on the same weekend. Pretty cool also as we managed to catch a glimpse of the race tracks around the city area. We spotted plenty of ang-mohs around the city and we can see that they are big F1 fans and came to support their favourite teams and also managed some sight seeing around the city and shopping.

Day One

After breakfast we drove into Singapore, Alvin drove while CCY tried to navigate. I think we got lost and reached SunTech mall later than we planned haha. Can't complain, I just slept from JB to Singapore and only woke up upon reaching SunTech mall; as I just could not sleep the whole of the night before due to my sinusitis. We headed for some burgers at Burger King and we were suprised that the burger we had was really good! Next up was trying to get to Vivocity mall, a new shopping mall here. Bought a couple of stuff and then we headed to Orchard Road to meet some friends of mine. We had some cakes and coffee at Celede, Takashimaya (another shopping mall) and it was awesome catching up with these lots and I probably hadn't seen them since I left two years ago! We had a great chit chat session especially JJ's segment, haha he never fails to entertain us with his x-rated jokes. Oppss.. Thanks guys & gals for making the effort to meet up with me, really appreciate it!! :) Till we meet again..

KPMG days: Yin Leng, Me, Cammy & Leroy, Jen Jai (JJ)

One for the ladies: Yin Leng, Me & Cammy

As we headed toward SunTech mall again to get our car, I just couldn't stop myself and I finally told the guys that I need to head into Charles and Keith just 2 minutes to look at shoes!! They were really kind, despite us already late for our next place, they "happily" obliged. The shop was packed with crazy women shoppers and I managed to squeeze my way through and just catch a glimpse at the new arrivals and picked a pair of pumps and got my size and paid for it. :) They were surprised it didn't take me long to buy something haha! We rushed off to get the car and CCY was complaining feeling tired and he wanted to head back to JB but somehow Alvin lead us to the Night Safari and we reached there around half 8 p.m. Got our tickets, watched some performances and then took the tram around the safari.

Check out the man blowing fire action. It was pretty hot (and yes, literally also!), there was a part where they blew so much fire that even though we were seated really far away from the stage, Alvin & Me actually felt the heat! We were like WOW! Hot! Haha after our dinner we headed for the highly rated animal show. Honestly, I think it is slightly over-rated because we were kinda left hanging at the end, actually expecting for more action! Should be okay for kids or the younger crowds, I think we seriously think that the Singapore Night Safari team could have done a better job! Next up was the tram ride around the safari, again; I think they could have done a better job this time with the lighting. I am not stupid I am aware this is night safari, but some strategically placed lighting and a few more extra light bulbs would be helpful so that we can actually see the animal instead of trying to guess or estimate oh yeah, that one looks like a rhino! Or pig with beard?? Honestly I missed the whole pig altogether so how was I supposed to spot the beard???? Maybe, I need more action and hopefully one day I can go to Africa for proper safari. :) The night safari was quite well organised overall, just missing out on actions and I think we were short-changed for our $32 sing dollar entrance fees per person.

Some pre-Halloween decor for the party next month.

Spotted here, two volunteered models trying to be part of the Hallowen horror decor. (CCY & Alvin)
CCY & Me.

Day Two

We drove into Singapore after having breakfast at home and met Garry for lunch and we had claypot rice. Thanks Garry!

Chinatown Singapore! We were in the dessert shop and Alvin just went mad after looking at the menu. Hence, the 4 huge, towering ice dessert for 4 of us. I said clearly, don't count on me to finish them up cause I hardly take cold stuff anymore as it is bad for my sinusitis and overall health. Haha, look at how pleased he was! He wanted to add another one though, but we said NO!
Left: Alvin- "Oh this is pure awesomeness!!"

Right: Garry- "Wah-lau weh how to finish laaa????"

(By the way, they both are brothers.)

One for Chinatown! CCY, me and Garry.

Mr. Dessert 2009 & me
Sorry about the Lion facing its back towards us. I ran out of steam to get a proper picture. Singapore!

One of the rides we took. Pretty fun, but too short.
Next up was the memorable LUGE rides. We bought tickets for 3 same rides plus the cable rides. I had a lot of fun and pain on this one. I went quite cautiously on the first ride. On my 2nd attempt, I went a bit faster and they commented I was quite fast haha. We were all trying to race down to the bottom. So the third time, I went EVEN FASTER. I learnt a lesson, speed kills. I crashed at the final or finishing line simply because I went too fast and the brakes were not good enough for me. Thank goodness no serious injury just minor injuries. Hurt a bit honestly, I landed on my left side, so I was in pain for a couple of days. I told the guys, man good job I had those helmets on HAHA. They commented I was really fast and kinda lost me halfway, so we concluded that I crashed because of the speed. Oh well, we should always live life to the fullest and it was really fun! :) They were really concerned and worried but we laughed it off and headed for dinner after that before going back to JB.

Opps, we actually went for this show before my final LUGE ride. Very nicely done, fireworks and water display bearing the "Sounds of the Sea" theme. Very good! I think my $10 (SGD) was well spent here on this show.
The settings of the "Sounds of the Sea" show.

Ok back to JB and we left for Melaka the next day after having lunch. I might find some time and post the lunch entry. Will see.

Ok people, back to packing now.

Have a good one!

Seafood at Seri Kembangan, Selangor

September 20, 2009

Family outing to Kajang & Serdang (sound weird for an outing place but our main purpose was to do some family visit)

Since it was the first day of Raya and Melaka town was overflowed with balik kampung & raya visits and also tourists coming from all over the places, we decided that this was a good day to head out from Melaka. We saw the crowd lining up for the chicken rice ball and we just had a good laugh among ourselves. What goes round comes around they say. Proved to be very true when we (about 3 cars filled with people) arrived at the famous Kajang sate shop (chinese one) and we saw people all over the shop standing and waiting for table. Not a bad scene compared to Melaka but yeah, it was hot weather and the smoke from the burning sate didn't help much and we just decided to skip the sate. I used to come to this shop for Kajang sate and I really love it, have a good friend who lives in Kajang. :) Pity him, I know how it feels when you get visitors and they want to eat at those really famously packed places; I know. Very frustrating to wait especially you know you can always go there on a weekday morning and probably have the whole shop to yourself. Anyway, Kajang town was packed too. Went to visit his family and it was good to see almost everyone and hope to see them soon again! We also went to visit my aunty because she lives in Kajang too and managed to catch up with my cousins and nieces after a long time!

We went to dinner with Zin and his family. Thanks to him for recommending us to this awesome seafood restaurant and for the great dinner! I am quite familiar with Serdang town, having sort of lived there for a couple of years, in my younger days but have never discovered this restaurant. We will definitely come back here again for more seafood, as Dad is already chasing me to make a booking soon for the geo-duck feast. Yay!!

OK time to show some photos of our dinner.

#1 Sang yue (Ikan Haruan, if I am not mistaken) Oh this is absolutely good! I love the way they cook it and present it, very good for sharing if you are here in a big group (say 8-10 people). The fish was sliced up nicely and deboned!

#2 Steamed ming ha (prawns). Very fresh and succulent. Very simply cooked to maintain its freshness. Just dip it with some chilli for the extra ommph! Quite easy to de-shell the prawn, I like it.

#3 Yam basket with some stir-fried chicken and cashew nut. Honestly, this was the disappointment of the night. Would not order this dish again.

#4 Tofu with some onion and sweet chilli. I love the texture of their tofu, very soft and smooth. Yummy!

#5 Stir fried eggplant with braised peanuts. Oh this was truly delicious and tasty. A must order dish.
#6 Steamed frog with essence of chicken. I love this one too! Fresh, tender, succulent frog meat. Would recommend this also.
#7 Kam heong mud crabs. Very fresh seafood served in this place and the crab claws were huge! But Dad preferred medium sized crabs, so I think you maybe would like to remind them while you place your order or just pick the crabs before you send them to the kitchen. :)
#8 Stir fried mantis prawn with salted egg yolk, curry leaves and bird's eye chillies. I like the texture of the mantis prawn because they were really succulent and also fresh. Bite into them and you can really taste the meat instead of those smaller mantis prawn which are often de-shelled and fried with batter, where I usually struggle to taste the actual meat. The bigger ones like this are usually cut into 5 pieces and stir-fried with the shells on.

Haha we finished everything, all of the 8 dishes and there were 8 people on our table. Price was quite reasonable and we will be back for more seafood soon! Good company and great food, what more can we ask for?? :)

Till then, take care everyone. I will be heading to Johor Bahru for a friend's wedding and we are going to Singapore for a couple of days, so will only update my blog when I am back.

Have a good one.

Wendy

My 100th post!! And its not on food entry.

Bukit Serindit Jogging Park, Melaka

Hello everyone! I have finally succeeded posting one hundred entries on my blog and yeah, I know I could have done more with the amount of time I had; but just seemed like a million of things to do before I go to England. Anyway I was thinking quite hard about my 100th post and I finally decided to do something different, something not related to FOOD? This reminds me of Laughton's comment when he tries to understand our conversation (me and my friends in Bermuda during our open house or makan-makan (pot luck) sessions); he would be asking, what are you people talking so happily about? We spoke so excitedly in Malay and yeah, I told him, about FOOD we missed so much back in Malaysia. And he would just laugh out loud and say, why are you talking about FOOD when you people have tons of food on the table and best part, still eating and yet we spoke about how much we enjoyed FOOD back at home!! I think he probably understood a little bit by now after his journey to Malaysia last summer. Let's hope I get him "Malaysian-ised" in February 2010 when we head home for Chinese New Year! I am excited thinking about it already.

Okay, this is where me and my sisters "hang out" or diligently drag ourselves at every 5 or half 5pm to, we try to do this routine maybe about four times a week. Bukit Serindit Jogging park. We do our brisk walk for about an hour and then head home for FOOD. Maybe that's why we aren't seeing our desired results much sooner. Anyway, Rome wasn't built in a day. :) And now, I keep making excuses for me to enjoy food because I am leaving in approximately three week's time haha. I try to make my session as interesting as I could, recently my cousin Edward taught me more functions on my iPod classic and I am really enjoying my iPod after owning it for almost one year. I transferred some of the TVB (Hong Kong) Chinese drama series into my iPod and hey, exercise was never more fun than this! Haha, brilliant!

OK, some photos since Belle suggested we needed some evidence to show that we did some form of exercise today. I think Mum is checking on her. :)

Belle, me and Caroline.

I was really surprised when she was willing to pose for a photo with me. Must be in the raya spirits.

I don't know why she is taller than me especially when she is younger than me. I should be taller. Why? Why? I could really use that extra couple of inches man.. Not fair! Oh did I mention that my brother is 6ft tall?

That's all for now as it started to drizzle a little and we found a great excuse to leave earlier for today, anyway its only Monday. Probably just the Monday blues haha. Have a good week y'all.

Taiwan Mee

Melaka town's famous Taiwan Mee.

The shop is located just outside my house, probably around 10 mins walk. Been eating this ever since I could remember and the lady boss is from Taiwan if I am not mistaken. They have another branch in Damansara Utama in PJ but the original branch in Melaka here is better.

Pork ribs flat noodles topped up with extra chilli (sambal) and preserved salted vegetable. They go so well when you mix all of them up. :) Awesome! They do beef noodles here too. Strongly recommend this!

Rojak, Laksa, ABC & Putu Piring

Sunday Ice Cafe, Melaka

September 15, 2009

Firstly, wishing all my Muslim friends "Selamat Hari Raya" today and happy holidays to my other friends!!

I remember during my younger days (not like I am quite old or anything- lah!), I used to come to this cafe quite often, especially it is opened by my granduncle and this cafe has been here for ages ever since I could remember. Anyway, it is located at Klebang, on the way to the Klebang Beach and towards Tanjong Keling area.

The rojak. I like this rojak, a different styled rojak and its pretty good. I always order mine with extra "taupok" (fried tofu). So good, especially cause the taupoks does a great job at absorbing all the sauces into them.

Mihun Laksa. Traditional home recipe from my grandaunt. They used to run this cafe on their own, but now my uncle is helping out too. The laksa is a milder version and the gravy is lighter than the usual fare. I have had this since young so I like the taste of it, perhaps it reminds me of my younger days? :)

ABC (Air batu campur) for dessert. We usually order their special dessert Number 1 ABC. But we wanted something lighter to share as this meal was just our pre dinner meal. Hahaha. This is good, we like it!

Next on the road, Mummy stopped and bought me another favourite snack of mine, Putu piring at Tengkera! This is the best putu piring in Melaka and we used to live just across this shop. The putu piring is 10/10, the gula melaka tastes just right and it was so fluffy and just awesome. Rm0.80 per piece.

A close up shot.

Before I get cursed from the low quality of the photos taken above, please bear in mind that all these were taken with my crappy old Nokia handphone with basic camera function. :) Have a good holiday to all! Cheers!!