On What We Did Last September

It was the Malaysia day weekend. Sarawak state government decided to have a river parade in conjunction with the celebration. And I had my leave approved then. Therefore I was home accompanying Le Parents. Le Sis, Le Soulmate and Le Buddy flew in as well. And I decided we should all be a tourist in our own city. Ta-daa... There we were, sitting on that cruise, going down the muddy river... It's quite a good experience so to speak. Pretty much the same as of what I had in Budapest, Bangkok and Saigon. Le Parents were of course, beaming all the way. I bet they hadn't been on it despite being here all their lives. Then again, Le Dad being Le Dad, he HAD to say he grew up taking small boats to the city. Meh. But still. I heart him.

On the Sharks

Sharks! Sharks everywhere!!!

Took them at the S.E.A. thingy in Sentosa down south. :P

On the Family Trip

I thought Le Sis was kinda over-mushy when she kept mentioning "family trip", and when we gotta do it again, and where we gonna go yada-yada...

But as I looked at our trip together to Penang last year, I started to well up.

I think we must do it again, as a family.

I absolutely love them. Although I may not always appear so...

On the CNY Shopping

Went down to Chinatown last weekend... Boy was it packed!

Finally some tong-tong-chiang as compared to the *ahem* town although technically it's just a bridge apart!

Burnt some hole in the wallet... but I'm sure mama will love the horsies!

Sorry bro! Too bad you're all the way in Prague this coming CNY. :-S

On the Christmas Lights of Orchard

So there are a few places people go travelling to during the Christmas period. Singapore's Orchard is definitely one of them because the whole pedestrian walkway was jammed to the extend of elbowing your way forward...

But personally, I thought the lights decoration in 2012 was very ChineseNewYear-sy.... rather than Christmas-y... It was too red to be Christmas. LOL.

On Birthday Macarones

After walking around for almost half a day, we decided to sit down at one of the restaurants in the garden. Not cheap, but I guess bearable still. In terms of SGD I suppose. But if I were to convert to MYR... Oh gosh...

But I blamed Mum for everything.

Macarones for your birthday, since we didn't have any cakes, I said. Mummy was like laughing away...

We were contemplating of crossing the pedestrian bridge towards Marina Bay Sans to pay a visit to the casino. But Dad wanted to continue shopping. Apparently, it was quite affordable to shop here, even after conversion! Yes that did brought out the shopaholic in me, and yes that was why I spent almost half a month of my salary eventhough it was just a short 4 night stay!

So we headed back to the hotel after late lunch for a nap and headed out to Orchard at night...

On the Gardens By The Bay

One of the latest installment of tourist attraction in the island city was the Gardens By the Bay, pretty much like the botanical garden. There are 2 domes here - the Flower Dome and the Cloud Dome. Or something like that. Headed into the Flower Dome first, welcomed by the vast varieties of flora and fauna from different parts of the world. Mum and Dad were super impressed.

I, on the other hand, was impressed with this snowy white plant. The frames everywhere in the bush was just like a Christmas card. LOL.

The Cloud dome on the other hand, was less impressive, I thought. THere was a huge 3 storey man-made waterfall welcoming all the visitors at the entrance. But I suppose the theme in the cloud dome was more of tropical plants, and perhaps those found a few thousand meters on the mountain. I think. LOL.

The hanging pavement was definitely a challenge for those who were afraid of heights.

What I liked most in the Cloud Dome was the misty jungle towards the exit... It was like an entire whole new world down there. So mysterious yet so chilly...

The construction was successful I'm sure. Mum and Dad loved the place. LOL.

On the 'Lavish' Dinner in Clarke Quay

The following night, we headed down to the Singapore River where all the restaurants are - Clarke Quay. Mum and Dad are not fans of western food nor Mexican or Mediterrenean... And Dad being one who probably have IBS, always prefer 'dai chao'; while we couldn't find any of such in Clarke Quay, we ended up at a Thai restaurant.

 And the bill came out to be indeed, as lavish as a proper 10 course meal in Kuching after conversion; with half the fullness here of course. LOL. Yup, we had one pint of Bicardi-Coke to go around amongst us. Didn't know it was like a 'new' drink in Singapore when the brotherhood and I had already had like... Hmmm at least a dozens in Bangkok. LOL

Post dinner, we were walking around in the area, which was introduced to us by the taxi driver as one of the night-life area. I've heard of Clarke Quay being the place to go to club at and get drunk at. But little did I know it was THAT happening. Pardon me, perhaps life as a HO for a while have kept me away from the bars and the clubs. So I was pretty excited for a while. Had it not for the fact that I was there with Mum and Dad, I might have perhaps hopped onto one of those stools in the bars already.

It was still a bit young after Clarke Quay, so we walked along the river downstream and reached Boat Quay nearer to the financial district, where the bar scene was less loud. Great place to hang out. Cooler, and quieter. Sat by one of those restaurants that would slit your throat if you fall into their trap of ordering prawn/crab, and ordered a plate of Fried-Kway-Teow to share...

On Mummy's Birthday Dinner

Sis was expecting some lavish dinner in conjunction with Mum's birthday considering I was the only child out of all 3 siblings who already started working. But while we were in Singapore, and with the high conversion rate, lavish dinner was just... practically unpractical. So after going to the 'top of the world' at 1-ALtitude, according to Mum, we came down to the Old Market Place "Lau Pat Sat" for her birthday dinner.

It would probably be an anti-climax for many if  one would be expecting meals at Fullerton Hotel or the bars by the bay or something. But for someone who grew up in the village and lived moderately in rented quarters for half our lives, ikan bakar and fried eggs with the loved ones would already be sufficient. Mum and Dad were both full to the brim. We even had this idea that we actually eat until we are full rather than going for taste...

And there was a band! I'd say the one at the street in the Curve was nicer though. :P

But I was glad I could finally do something to celebrate Mum's birthday.

On Top of The World @ 1-Altitude

 On Mummy's Birthday, we headed up to another tower in the Lion City. LOL. Yes yes... Like MBS is not enough, we decided to go up 1-Altitude... It's located up the Raffles Place tower, and only open at 6pm, pending on the weather.

It was unfortunately drizzling the evening when we arrived. But it was about 5-ish. SO we were waiting out at the sports bar one level below. Mum was again, super excited and was busy taking photo by the window and What-sapp-ing Le Sister...

Entrance to the Sky-bar was finally open at 6pm. For some lucky reason, the rain stopped. And it was a ladies night! Mum got to enter for free!

But all of us fell in love on our first sight when we came out from the bar. It was a 360 degrees view of the whole city...

But there were no sunset sadly. Sun was nowhere to be seen after the drizzle. But as the night draw close, the whole city began to light up like magic. Mum of course, couldn't stop taking photo and camwhoring. It was the first time I saw Dad smile in photo-taking. Perhaps for once, he was actually travelling almost for free...

Burnt almost half of my salary in December last year for the hotel stay of 4 nights and other expenses. But to see Mum and Dad smiling so happily in the photos...

Priceless...

On Wander Full

 

After Ku De Ta and dinner, Le Parents decided to sit at the patio in front of the mall to wait for the latest water and laser show installment in Singapore. It wasn't before long that the first sound of music was being played, and the first screen of water being put up. I've watched this show a few times before when I visit with  friends in Sg, nice on the first one, bland on the second, and kinda boring after...

 

But it's a new thing for Mum and Dad. Dad just dropped his jaw watching the show for a while... And Mum was only half looking, largely because she was too busy Whatsapping my Sister!

 

Need to find a new attraction in Sg.

Otherwise the island city is pretty boring. LMAO.

On Ku De Ta in Marina Bay Sans

So we went down south and decided to go up to the 'boat' of the new icon in the Lion City. After much research, we found out that one can actually go up to the standing bar on the skybar and skip paying for the entrance fee to the sky-park, and get the same view from the rooftop. By saying that, yes I did hear that you don't have to pay some 25$ to get the same view at about 15$ of drinks from the bar... But lo and behold...

The management decided enough was enough, and baricaded the entrance to the sky park with some huge potted plants to prevent those who went up for drinks from entering the sky-park. So, yes, one would need to pay to enter the sky-park of MBS by hook or by crook. No more cheapskate tricks to go up for a drink AND enter the skypark. Although yes, you still get pretty much the same view from the standing bar...

Just that, it wouldn't be as nice from up in the sky bar as you get quite a big chunk of your vision being occupied by the deck of the sky-park in stead. Then again, while we were there, Mum and Dad was like, super excited already. Mum kept saying she's on top of the world, literally.

Yes we did went up to Ku De Ta, but in the end, we went down to the basement for mixed rice. Bloody hell it's 1SGD to 2.5RM now leh. Don't play play... A plate of mixed rice cost like 10RM! Which, okay, is the norm in downtown PJ nowadays. LOL