River Safari

Okays... We did a tourist thingy this time round, which is visiting River Safari! It was actually Sylvia who wanted to go lah... hehe

To beat the crowd and heat plus it's super far, we decided to meet at 8.30AM!!! Yeap. How enthusiastic we were ... hehe...

 

We took bus 138 from Ang Mo Kio MRT which is about 30min journey time, way faster than if you take train to the west.

 

The excited us! All of us were smiling so happily, maybe not linx. haha...

 

 

It's actually one big round, so you can just follow along to make sure you don't miss any areas.

 

First up was Rivers of the world.

 

Mississipi River - The largest river in North America and the fourth longest in the world.

 

You will get to see the paddlefish, super weird looking mouth that looks like a paddle. Apparently, the flat snout detects electric impulses to navigate and locate food.

Did you know??? Paddlefish eggs are sold as caviar!

Ugly also can be expensive okay?!

 

You will also get to see alligators too in this section.

 

The Congo River, the second longest river in Africa and the deepest in the world. This river is Africa's greatest source of hydropower.

 

 

And you will see the scary evil fish. Tiger Fish, Piranhas of Africa.

 

Look at its teeth!!! Super sharp!

According to the fact board, they have sharp teeth and are exposed because they do not have lips. They hold replacement teeth in their jaws and push them out to replace missing or broken teeth.

 

Passing through the River Nile, you will reach Ganges river.

 

Indian Gharial alligator. It's super long that I couldn't catch the whole body in a picture. Have to stand very far which was slightly tough cause there were other people.

 

Walking through Mekong river, couldn't recall what they have, and you reach the highlight of why we came to river safari. I think that's mostly the reason why people would come here.

 

Giant Panda forest!

 

Before seeing the panda, there's this red panda which is super CUTE!!!

 

I think this is the cutest of all the animal I've seen here!!!!!

Did my best to focus using this point and shoot camera. Not very pro in taking photos myself. haha..

 

 

So adorable...

 

And then..... there's Kai Kai who's emo-ing. Look at him!!!

Facing the tree and putting one hand on his forehead.

I didn't come here to see him emo!!!

 

At least, Jia Jia was better... well ... she took effort to do cat walks like every 2 minutes. And her cat walk route is standard. hahaha...

 

After enough of seeing pandas, we decided we should eat pandas!!!! hehehe...

Come here must try right? Might as well be a full fledge tourist for the day. haha...

Get "chop" here.

 

The popular panda bao. $2.90 each! One is custard chocolate while the other is dou sha.

Differentiate them.

 

Taste.... super normal. I think Khong Guan bao way nicer.

First and the last time I'll eat this.

 

The chicken with salt and pepper which was quite nice.

 

Ordered Bamboo Rice with fish set meal, passed. Cost like $16.90 for a meal!!!

 

After that,  we went for the river cruise, additional $5.

 

The animals you should see potentially.... haha...

 

Don't sit in the first row, cause definitely you will get wet.

Second row, slightly.

 

Unfortunately, we didn't get to see a lot of animals. Most of them were hiding one corner and taking afternoon nap.

 

The ride took only like 5-10 min? ... Totally not worth it. hahaha...

 

After that, there were a few more animals but I didn't take cause I was tired.. haha...

After eating effect, plus the sun was starting to come out. hahaha...

 

Then we reach the last area which is the Amazon Flooded Forest.

Feels like S.E.A Aquarium. Huge tank with many fishes.

 

Super huge Manatees having their lunch.

 

Otter!!!! One of my favourite animal. hehe.. cute lah. and they swim beautifully.

 

Tourist shot! Love this pic! Do-Re-Mi-Fa. :) 

 

The whole excursion took about 3.5 hrs including lunch time, and it was quite comfortable with no rush.

Overall, I think the ticket price is not worth it. Rather pay to go zoo than this.

So, you probably not see me in here anytime soon... haahhaa...

 

Nespresso x Fortissio Lungo Grand Cru

In case you didn't know, Nespresso is under Nestle group. So, this explains me cutting down on kopi during lunch and seeing me seating around the Nespresso lounge for a teabreak and trying out different types of capsules. hehe...

 

So, on Tuesday, Nespresso has generously organised a breakfast to introduce their new addition of Lungo - Fortisso Lungo.

 

According to their brochure, it is created from a sophisticated blend of coffee beans from Central-South America combined with the previous full Arabica Monsoon Malabar from India.

These West Indian coffee beans are exposed to monsoon winds after harvest to recreate the conditions of the long sea journeys to Europe in the age of sailing ships, thus revealing a distinguished aromatic profile.

 

After said that, I'm not an expert in coffee, though I am starting to appreciate them.

 

 

A permanent range of coffee capsules at the lounge. The darker the colour of the capsule, the higher intensity it is.

 

Trying out the new lungo. Isn't the machine gorgeous?! Love the red hot little Maestria!!

The intensity of the new Fortissio Lungo is 8. So it kinda taste strong, bitter but robust flavour.

I added mine with a dash of milk so that it isn't that strong and it came up not bad! No sugar added.

 

The huge spread of breakfast. Taste great!

 

For more information, check out http://www.nespresso.com/sg/en/

 

Alternatively, visit their 2 Nespresso Boutiques at

 

Nespresso Boutique ION Orchard

2 Orchard Turn, #01-14

Singapore 238801

 

Nespresso Boutique Takashimaya Orchard

Department Store B1

Singapore 238873

Taiwan Railway Bento

After much recommendation and reviews of this Taiwan Railway Bento, we decided to give this a try!

Having eaten the real bento in Fen Chi Hu, I hope I could get a similar kind of "feeling".

 

We went to the newer outlet at east side which is at CT Hub. It's diagonally opposite Singapore Casket, walkable distance from Lavender MRT... around 10min?

 

CT Hub
2 Kallang Avenue
#02-16   
Singapore 339407  

 

Check their website for more info.

 

Didn't bring my camera out.. so make do with Samsung pictures.

 

 

 

They have quite an extensive menu, which couple of side dishes which includes railway wings, beancurd, oyster mushroom, fried intestine, sweet potato.

 

Wanted to try the fried intestine but someone doesn't eat that. :(

The railway wings, comes with 2 of 3-joint wings. So-so only...

Please try the fried intestine. I got feeling... better than this. haha..

 

 

My bento box which is quite impressive. Portions are actually big! I ordered Soya Chicken Cutlet Bento. The chicken is a big portion, more than Shihlin.

The gravy with minced meat was generous and it's actually delicious! Both GGH and myself like it a lot. Though, no offense, it's still a different taste from the authentic bento at Fen Chi Hu. Great nonetheless!

 

The standard ingredient for all bento is the egg, sausage, tofu, and salted vegetables.

The tofu and salted vegetables were great! In fact, the salted vegetables was the first thing I finished! Craving for more actually. haha...  

 

GGH's bento - Red Yeast Bento. The meat was chunky! Super worth it lah. Most of the bento cost $6.80, and portion is great! And delicious too! The meat has a bit of pepper/ plum, added the flavour to the meat.

 

 

 

One of the better Taiwanese food in Singapore that I can find and tried. I think this one wins the Shihlin and those commercialised one.

 

Do go there early during weekends, cause when we went there around 7pm, we were the last few customers. Everything was sold out thereafter.

 

In addition, the place isn't very big. The picture below, I was sitting on the first table near the entrance. So.. that's about the number of tables there you see.  

 

Shall hunt another Taiwan food another day! Missing my Taiwan trip already....

Magnum pop up store - Customs House

 

Over the weekend, I decided to bring the boy to Magnum pop up store at Customs House Terrace.

This store is their last instalment in Singapore, and this round, it is celebrating 25 years, and therefore has its limited edition of silver marc de champagne.

Limited edition silver magnums, cocktails and drinks are in the menu for this store.

Create your own magnum with this last leg in Singapore!

 

Visit the Magnum pop up store now till 22nd July!

Open from 12pm - 10.30pm

 

They have this motion screen where you can play and burst the balloons while it comes up.

But the screen abit blur and too fast. haha...  

 

So funny boy.. haha... :p

 

 

 

Of course, we decided to try the limited edition of the marc de champagne!

The design feels so Christmas-y... maybe because of its silver, and the decorations of the place had silver balloons as well.

 

 

 

Looks good, and the boy can't wait....

 

Not only the design looks good, the marc de champagne taste just right too!

Not very strong taste of the champagne and it doesn't have the after taste of the bitterness, you know, like rum & raisin has hat sort of after taste.

 

Of course, if you are someone who like it strong, then this is probably not for you.

 

Really like it! Think I'll buy some at NTUC! It's available at major supermarkets as well!!!

 

Nice deco, must take! So glittery!

 

Pleasure seeked! Satisfied tummy! Happiness!

 

JB day trippin

After so long, we finally pinned a date for our JB day trip!

Can't remember when was the last time BANANAS actually went out man... this year lagi worse.. they are going to Bali in December!!! There goes our annual Christmas affair~~...

 

Anyways... coming back to the topic.

 

Our lunch in JB is the standard usual Bak Kut Teh. But this time round, I brought them to Soon Soon Heng which is just across KSL. We used to go the one at Taman Sentosa. I just recalled this place was recommended by 4F peeps.

 

Luckily we reached slight earlier and beat the crowd.

 

Oh! There's a bus from the interchange that goes to KSL by the way. We usually take taxi but this time we had Sylvia joining so taking bus is really quite convenient! I think next time can take bus better. haha... RM1.50 only!!!

 

Note: Most photos were taken by Karin. Lazy me didn't take photo.

 

 

This is the ultimate saver for such a hot day! Ai yu jelly drink!

Very refreshing and not very sour.

 

The no garlic smell and non peppery Malaysian style BKT! Their sesame chicken claypot is fantastic too!

 

After that, we walked to Holiday Plaza to check out massage places and also did our nails!

My first time doing nails there... and it's so cheap!!!!

Long time never do nails, so suddenly got craving to do!!! :)

 

Tried this nails lab and it's not bad!

 

It's at Holiday Plaza, 3rd Floor, Unit F7.

Tel: 07-331 4105

 

They got a huge TV playing movies too while you do your nails.

 

The virgin boys doing a SPA Pedicure!! hehehe...

Psycho-ed them to do. Never do before try lor... somemore it's good to once in a while scrub that dead cells at your ball of your foot!

 

And, my finished product! First, it's my first time choosing a baby pink-ish colour. Second, my very first time drawing such sweet stuff!

The staff asked me whether wanna draw anything, I said anything lah. I thought will have patterns only which usually the case when I do it in Singapore. Didn't expect... ribbons..... haha...

But quite nice lah. so... I shall be more demure these few weeks. To it my nails theme. haha...

 

Overall, I think it's quite affordable. But there are other little shops which are cheaper as well.

I think Holiday Plaza prices are definitely much cheaper than KSL or City Square.

 

I did a Spa Classic Mani & Pedicure with the drawings cost about RM130. Spa is a lot more expensive, so do one time can liao. Nothing much fantastic, except your legs look shiner and moisturized. Never try before? Try once. :)

 

 

Next up: KTV Session! Super cheap! medium room (6-8pax) cost RM98 for 3 hrs.

Had lots of fun singing and laughing!

 

 

 

Our Msian-but-don't-like-Msia friend drove us to this Pekin restaurant which serves great food!!!

 

 

 

 

This cod fish fried with some sauce is super nice!!! Usually cod fish is best with steam, but this place is famous for its fried cod fish. My favourite!!!

 

"Paper wrap chicken" - one of their must order dish too!

 

You either like this or you don't. The sauce has very strong wine taste. If you like to drink, maybe you will like this. haha... it taste abit too strong for me. But the lala was big!!!

 

We also ordered a Beancurd tofu which we all forgot to take. But it's surprisingly my 2nd favourite dish. hahaa.. taste quite special with a little spinach inside.

 

All in all, the bill came up to RM270 for 6 pax dinner.. super worth it!

 

Shall try and make this more often! Craving for more delicious food at cheap prices!!!

Oh, and durians are in the season right now! Fantastic excuse to go in eh?

hehehe... when's my next JB trip????!!!!

 

 Been thinking about when I can go for a long trip ... but doubt I'll be travelling this year... trying my best to save up quickly to repay every next year and then can travel without thinking about debts.

And always feeling bad towards the boy cause cannot travel together, though he has been really supportive towards my debt free days...

 

Wish I could do a short trip somewhere this year ...