SG trip Dec 2011

Since my grandparents have moved to Singapore each year I will make two trips to visit them. So I was sorting out my camera memory card and I realized that I forgot to share these pictures of the trip. It's all pictures taken in Orchard Road and that time was 10 days before Christmas so the place was already decorated for the occasion. The decorations were not as beautiful as the previous year and there wasn't much to see in the daylight. There was an interesting display of elephant decorated by various people all over Orchard Road and I thought that it was better than the Xmas trees around the area. The elephants decorated by various people have a description telling what it meant.  Hope you enjoy the pictures.

Please click this link for more pictures: more pictures

It's the day where the Lunar calendar starts anew again

I know the title is long :P but I kinda like that instead 1st day of CNY. This is a day where you'll definitely wake up with a good mood, happy for sure. The Chinese believe that if you want to have a pleasant year you should start this day positively therefore no arguments, no breaking things and also no sweeping (that's because we believe you'll sweep away your good luck). Every year I wake up, get dress, snap photos with my parents giving the red packet/'ang pau' to my sister and I. After that we head over to my grandmother's place. This year we wake up, get dress and go downstairs and everyone is there.

Although this year my sister and I woke up later than usual, overslept because of sleeping late the previous night. My grandparents have already given out ang paus to my cousins and I'm late. But still we followed our tradition of taking pictures of the ceremony by reacting the part of giving ang paus. All the elders "gave" the youngsters (people who are single) their blessing in a red packet and snap snap.

After that we just spend time playing with my cute baby cousin brother, he is born on the year of the Ox which was 2009, and I'm 2 Ox cycles before him, that's a big gap >.<". He is so cute and adorable and after lunch he normally takes a nap so this is the time to play with him and bond a bit. For a baby he's already quite smart as he knows how to eject DVDs from the player and insert what he wants to watch. Other than that, he also knows how to play a bit on the Ipad. He knows how to get out of an app and return to the main screen. He even used my finger to press it for him, so so intelligent.

After lunch, some visitors came and it was my grandmother's sisters. My grandaunts have been staying in SG for a long time and occasionally during CNY they will travel back to KL visit all their sisters which includes my grandmother. So this year they need not travel to KL to visit my grandmother but of course they still will to visit other sisters. The elders all chit chatted and the so called youngsters all spend their time playing Monopoly. It was kinda a messy game as all transactions involved a credit card. It's not a real card, just  a plastic card that has dots at different spots to identify the players. Basically there is a machine that keeps track all the credit you have in the card, so you insert the card to deduct/add credits and the memory in the gadget will be updated. It's messy because all the children want to take turns clicking the thing.

After our guest leave, I manage to nap awhile before we head out to Sentosa Resort World for dinner and a circus show. When we reached our destination there was so many people queuing up to take the bus or taxi to leave the place. It was really crowded since there's a casino and I guess most go and try their luck. We had dinner at Hard Rock Cafe and the pricing if not converted it's cheaper than Msia's I think. The food price range from 20+ to 30+. The sodas are all refillable but only the mocktails and cocktails cost more. I find that it's reasonable because in Chili's those type of drinks normally cost a lot anyway.

As for the circus show, the act was called "Voyage de la vie" which is a production done by Sentosa resort world. It consists many circus acts chained into a story. It was funny, exciting, and scary at the same time. In every circus act you'll normally have the "clown" which is the magician for this show. He is the funny man that makes people laugh. Then there are other acts such as the acrobatics up in the air, rope and cloud swing acts, I was worried for the performers themselves as they were so high up in the air without any netting at the bottom. It was a 1 and 1/2 hour show and we all went home happy and tired. Everyone went to sleep after a long day and looking forward to the next.

Below are some photos of my "adventurous" day  =P.

I was absent because.....

I noticed I didn't blog anything this month, it looks like I've been lazy and not keeping my promise of one post a week. The reason was it's the festive season, New Lunar Year or some may say Chinese New Year. Being Chinese this festive is very important to me and my family. Every year I would spend the eve and the first day with my grandma and then travel back to my mom's hometown from the second onwards. What we do is we visit my mom's brothers,uncles and aunties. What the youngsters do is we collect "Ang Paus" (red envelopes with blessings/money) and eat lots of cookies :P.

This is different, my grandparents moved to Singapore with my uncle and family, therefore my family spent our first CNY there. My aunt and my cousin brother also went together, we took a plane there instead of a bus this time to avoid traffic congestion on the highways. Unfortunately we didn't visit my mom's home so I didn't see that side of the family this year. I heard spending CNY in SG is much more quiet than KL and it was quite true. We touchdown in SG on the eve of CNY, ate lunch and my uncle took the day off and brought us to Ion Orchard and 80% of the food courts are closed.

We just walked around and enjoy the breeze as there weren't many people around unlike when my sis and I came nearing Xmas. We went home and got ready for dinner. CNY eve dinner is very important as it's called the reunion dinner. In the olden days children of a family often work elsewhere and didn't visit their family often, the reunion dinner is where all the children come back and sit together for dinner. It's a good tradition to me for eating together with family is fun. 

In KL when it was nearing 12am, you can hear fireworks and in SG there wasn't any, and that I missed. I'll continue my story for the next day on a new post. Below are some pictures taken on the eve of CNY.

My Trip to Singapore part 2

2/5/2010 (Sunday)

Today I woke up early again because I have an appointment to have lunch with my WoW (World of Warcraft) friends that I've known since 2003. It was a hot day and before meeting up with them in Vivocity, I went to Sim Lim Square aka The Low Yat Plaza of Malaysia. I search for the directions on google maps and drew it on a paper.

My sister and I walked out and took the MRT from Kovan to Little India. Upon reaching we just follwed the map, after 10 minutes of walk and 800 meters I realised we were lost. So  my sister asked a passerby and apparently we went the wrong direction from the station. There were actually two exits at the station and we took the south one which was wrong, and so we continue our walk in the hot hot sun. The 500ml water is already finished before we reach the building since the weather was so hot and dry. Sadly when we reach our destination many of the shops were not opened because of Labour day holiday, what luck I have. After asking around for the item I wanted which was out of stock but they still printed it on the price list, we left and went back to the station.

Upon exiting the building we took the wrong exit and walked around the building until we found the right path, this is definitely a bad day for me. From Little India we took the MRT to HarbourFront and exit to Vivocity, piece of cake since the station was linked to the complex. We were one hour early so we walked around and looked at clothes, shoes and stuffs. It was time for lunch and it was at a Brazilian restaurant called Carnivore. The food was served buffet style, the reason that it's called carnivore because they keep serving meat, grilled beef, lamb, pork, sausages and chicken. The meat was cooked really well, it was so juicy and you didn't need any sauce for the meat. It was an enjoyable lunch meal and it was fun catching up with my friends.

Around 4 something we had to leave because my parents were going back to KL first. My sister and I were staying until Tuesday. We did some shopping before we left, my shoes was hurting my feet from all the walking so I bought a pair of Crocs =P. We went to Novena Square to send my parents off, there we waited for the bus to arrive and then my parents said their goodbyes to my grandparents. After that we went to dinner at a place called Yum Cha. The food was good and tasty, we had Lotus soup, pork, taufoo, and fried Min Sin which was good. Dinner was over and we went back home and called it a night.

3/5/2010 (Monday)

We woke up around 10 something and my sister helped my cousin sister with her homework. After that off we go to Orchard Road, as usual we took the MRT and there were many people as it was a public holiday for the Singaporeans. After we exit the station we found ourselves inside a shopping complex (Ion Orchard) and we have no idea where we were. So we just walked around and we found many expensive brands in this place. We went out to Orchard Road to find that the building had a very unique design and figured this was a new complex as I don't remember it 10 years ago.

On the walking street itself there were many display items for people to take pictures, we wondered around taking pictures and headed for Takashimaya for lunch. The place was just like I remember and there were many Japanese food there for sale. We bought takoyaki, Korean pancake, yakitori and some drinks and looked for a seat at the food court area. The food was good and we left to find Forever 21 in a different shopping complex as we decided to come back here for tea on the dessert later.

The Forever 21 store that we were looking for has 4 floors as described by my sister and so we walked and walked and followed a direction where many ladies was holding the bag. Somehow we got lost again and we asked a young man but he seemed lost too. Then a lady overheard and pointed us to the right direction of 313@somerset. The moment we walked in, the atmosphere was different, it was another new shopping complex and was nicely built. Everything inside was new and we could see that the brands there were also more expensive. The Forever 21 store had 4 floors and was crowded with many ladies, even the dressing room had a long queue. My sister and I looked around and had a few pieces of clothing to try on. I think we spent about 30 minutes or more there and I bought a tunic type shirt.

We went back to have tea in Takashimaya and went to Kinokuniya. We spent some time exploring the book store but didn't buy anything as the books in KL were cheaper after the exchange rate was applied. We continued walking around and waited to meet with my sister's friend for dinner. Since we were so tired we decided to eat at Ion Mall food court because it was next to the MRT station. We tried the Singapore laksa there and it was delicious wished I could eat another bowl but maybe next time. There was also Japanese food for sale at the same floor the food court was located and we bought Hokkaido steam cakes to bring home and share with everyone. We went home and tried the cakes and it was delicious, I'm definitely trying other flavours the next time I came back. It was a fun day walking and shopping at Orchard Road, too bad it wasn't the sale season as things will be cheaper. And so the night was over and we packed a bit before we went to bed.

Ion Mall

4/5/2010 (Tuesday)

 We woke up feeling sad as it was the day to go home. My cousin sisters were in school and my uncle and aunty were at work. I spent some time chit chatting with my grandmother asking her whether she had gotten used to this new home. We talked about my aunts who were living in Belgium and Paris and that they were coming to visit my grandmother this summer.  My grandmother asked my sister and I to go out and buy McDonald's which was nearby. We had lunch together and I went upstairs to finish up my packing. While half way packing my grandmother suddenly went "EH??" and I went downstairs to check what's up. Apparently my cousin sisters convinced the bus driver to send them home first because they wanted to say their goodbyes to us, so adorable. We took some pictures before we left and took the MRT to Novena Square. We felt sad that we were leaving and my grandfather said the next time we visit, we should visit longer. This ends the journey of our visit and we reached KL at 9:30pm.

 For more pictures visit: Singapore Trip

My Trip to Singapore part 1

The last time I went to Singapore I was 15 years old, so now after ten years has passed I went there again. This time it was to visit my grandparents who have moved there. It was a four day, four nights stay and to me it wasn't enough. 

30/4/2010 (Friday)

6:30 p.m. was the time the bus was leaving and at 6pm my family and I have yet to get a taxi to where the bus departs. My parents drove out to the streets to find a taxi, luckily by 6:15 we got one. Once we were there we just rushed onto the bus and then my dad's phone rang, First Coach was asking my dad to register first. It was funny because this is the first time we took a bus to Singapore and we didn't know what needed to be done. Our 1st trip to Singapore as a family started with anticipation and excitement. The journey on the bus took more than 5 hours, my sister was watching the movies provided by the bus, my mom was recalling her time in Singapore when she was younger and I was sleeping as I couldn't watch any show from my seat.

We reached the Singapore customs after 11:30 and went into Singapore, it took about 30 minutes to reach the drop off point for the bus. My aunt and uncle also came at the same time to pick us up where the bus drops us, Novena Square. My grandmother was inside the car waiting for us, it's so good to see her, missed her so much. My grandmother insisted to look for food for us as we have been on the bus without dinner. We passed by a place selling chicken rice and so decided to pack it back to eat.

At home we all shared the food and it was good and tasty. The packaging was really clean and neat, the chili was in a sealed plastic bag. In Malaysia the rice and chicken are packed in polyester packs and in Singapore it's inside nice plastic box.  We were all tired and so we went to bed in the third floor.

1/5/2010 (Saturday)

Early in the morning I could hear my cousin brother crying, but I continued to sleep until 9 something my sister and I woke up. We got ready to go to the nearby market for breakfast, one thing good about Singapore's area structure, every housing area have a market, food court and a train station that is walking distance. It took less than 10 minutes and less than 1 km to reach the place, my aunt, cousin sisters, my mom, sister and I walked there, it was fun. We had beef ball noodles and my aunt showed us more of their new home and the area. There was a small shopping mall and the MRT was very near too. We walked home to rest as lunch time we were heading to Resort World Sentosa.

At 11:45am, my uncle drove all of us to Resort World Sentosa, my aunt's new work place. My aunt treated us lunch there at a VIP restaurant, the food was good and special. After that, we walked around the hotels and took some pictures, in our next trip we decide to visit Universal Studios, for there were many people as it was a public holiday in Singapore. It was a hot afternoon, we also went in the casino. The casino was so crowded, many gamblers at roulette table, blackjack table and poker table. Even the slot machines were full of people sitting there and gambling. My grandmother gave my sister 10sgd to try her virgin luck, she won back the 10sgd and then lost it to the classic slot machine. It was a confusing game as we don't understand how we got points. We went home tired and took a nap until dinner.

For dinner we went into the city to a restaurant that had the same reading sound as my grandmother's name. The food that was served was Hainan style, the pork chop was very good. After that my uncle drove us around town awhile and we passed by Little India, there were many people there and mostly are Indians, it's like looking at Brickfields, KL that is 5 times bigger and more crowded. My parents went to visit my grandaunt who lived nearby after that and all the children and my grandfather went to bed. 

Trip to the market

Resort World Sentosa

BUM 2008

It was a very fun trip that I've gone to in a long time. The meeting time was 6:45am at A&W at PJ, buses left around 7:50am. It was a long ride to the hotel, reached there at pass 1pm. After registering, I went to my room and put down my stuff, changed into shorts and headed for lunch. After lunch was the opening ceremony, it was good, didn't take any pictures cause I was busy watching :P. The next thing was meetings according to break up of industries of the company, I didn't attend because I had to practise with my performance team on stage. After practise, I got to rest a bit and then went to register for the DOTA championship that I'm taking part with my project team members at 10pm. Then rush to get ready for performance, we had to put on body paint on our faces, my group performance is on Greek fashion show, it was one of a kind where we have 3 Gods, Apollo, Poseidon and Aphrodite. The "gods" performer has to have body paint on the whole face and hands, where else the "workers" halfed face. I'm the so called workers so I have half of my face painted in silver colour.

It was a great performance. After that, I ate and went to wash my face for the DOTA championship. It was a tiring game, three rounds to determine the finalist, and my team (The Illuminati) entered the finals. For the preliminary, we won 2 games and lost 1 to KNN, they were very good. 2 more games in the finals, and we won 1 and lost 1, took second place. BTW, there was only two girls playing, myself and another girl, both of us used Lina Inverse (Slayer). I had great team mates, they are the good players and I'm still noob, but I still did not too bad, didn't die too much, had a few kills, manage to solo one on one too and killed ppl. They come backstab me and I manage to kill them back. I definitely improved my game :P.

Well the second day was good, I've always loved buffet breakfast :P. After breakfast it was time for games, lots of it too. Everyone was broken down into teams of 10-15 I guess, but my team only had like 10 of us. It was really tiring, we had math games, torch relay, throwing/hitting all kinds of balls (tennis, football, golf,...) into hoops to score points, creating protections for eggs and tossing them, synchronised swmming. It was all in the morning till lunch time. After lunch, I went cycling with my project team members, just me and some of the guys, the others went to rest. It was really tiring cause I havent been cycling for a long time. The view and the breeze was definitely good but cycling back was killing me >.<. Night time was dinner time, it was okay, then there was dancing, and people were tossed into the sea. There was also lucky draw and prize giving. It was the last night and I was really tired, went to sleep at 2am. The next day came and it was time to leave. Overall it was a wonderful weekend and good to meet new people. Okay here are the pictures below:

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