A huge photo collage of the dishes I’ve tried at Macau.

All the dishes I have tried

Please be forewarn that the next half of this post will solely be on commenting on the interior designs of the hotels. There’s nothing much to blog about except their food and impressive architecture.

Street Shopping

We weren’t exactly shopping but more of taking a leisure walk around the town area. It’s only been a year since I last went there during my “Graduation Trip” and there wasn’t much of a change except the place was noisier and definitely more crowded. The weather wasn’t helping either as temperature soars to about 32 degrees; pretty much like Singapore except it was much less humid.

Lan Kwai Fong Macau

We took a quick look at Lan Kwai Fong as well; rather new and I adore the crystal lion “guarding” the main entrance. It’s munching on cash though; those are real notes in its mouth and not newspapers if you are wondering.

Grand Libosa

Not new and it’s also not my first time here. The grand hotel lobby totally blew me away. I can’t imagine any hotels in Singapore which can rival this. It makes me wow literally when you stepped into the hotel.

There’s also this awesome tea performance by the rather good looking waiter. He even asked if I had my camera ready to shoot him! He has ego, I’m sure of it!

City of Dreams

Modern, sophisticated and it gives off the “Singapore Marina Bay Sands” vibe. However, like the Grand Libosa, it’s interior design, lightings etc were miles better.

Galaxy

Across the road from The Venetian. Personally, I feel that it’s design is more traditional as compared to the City of Dreams. I am pretty sure the theme was “Peacock”. All the lightings in this hotel are set to change colours every few seconds. One minor complaint was that the Casino was too bright for my likings.

I can’t believe it took me more than a week to get this “wordless” posts up, I’m procrastinating and I can’t help it. Life’s busy.

Check out the entire album of photos taken on my Flickr.

Related posts:

1. Hong Kong & Macau Trip – Part II
2. Hong Kong & Macau Trip – Part I
3. Shopping loots from Hong Kong & Macau

Nice scenery, quiet place, good music, juicy steaks, cakes, pasta, you name it, we have it!

We took lots and lots of pictures. Just because, I’ll never want to forget beautiful memories like this.

Not to forget, they got me something on my wish list!

I can’t help laughing at the “Terms & Conditions” written on the back of my DIY Happy Lemon Vouchers. They are creative, I don’t deny. In fact, I am starting to believe James has some hidden designing talents while looking at those vouchers. It’s still a mystery how they managed to get hold of my National identification number. I’ve no clue!

On a last note, I am super in love with the lace skirt from Lacepipe. I’m not usually a lace person but their stuff are really awesome!

1. I hope he does not read this. I might get assassinated tonight if he does.Then again, he rarely ever wear any other colours except black, white, brown and grey.

Related posts:

1. My 23rd Birthday Wish List
2. A brand new year with lots of new memories
3. Birthday surprise!

We will never forget your “signature” teaching – “There’s no free lunch/bargain in this world”.

What we were always taught by my grandpa

One of the rare photos we took together on 3 October 2007

Related posts:

1. APB Family Day at the Zoo
2. Our DIY cake
3. My Dad is the #1 chef

I rushed home from work to be greeted by these wondering darlings and not to mention the food, food, foood. Dinner was good, supper was good. Is there anything that aren’t? Although I got to admit the day didn’t start off too well with me spilling tea all over my office desk. I hope ants wouldn’t be the first thing I see when I enter the office on Monday.

Look at these rainbow-coloured macaroons, who wouldn’t love them?

Have a wonderful day, dad! It’s my pleasure and honour to be your daughter.

1. I could not even remember when was the last. Chinese New Year perhaps?

Related posts:

1. Happy New Year 2009
2. A brand new year with lots of new memories
3. Not-so-happy experience at Prive Bakery Cafe

But still, we had joy, we had fun, we had seasons in the sun. It’s been ages since I last saw some of those lovelies¹. It seems like jump shots are the highlights of the day with us competing who is the better photographer. I am not going to comment because I wouldn’t want Sharon’s fist to collide with my face. =p

Yee Loong, also known as “The Statue” was dragged into a random shot with us. He’s the one and only who brought a book to be beach². And if you are wondering why most of us are carrying fans, they are gifts from Yee Loong from Philippines! He always gives the most practical gifts at the right time. We needed wind desperately. I think because we were constantly fanning ourselves, the guys called us “The Tourists”. Please welcome us to Singapore!

The day ended with us having dinner at Vivo City. How about a short getaway trip the next time?

1. I reckon Huaian may send an assassin after me for calling him a lovely.
2. I think he brings a book everywhere he goes to.

Related posts:

1. Farewell gathering for our dear friend
2. Christmas Gathering 2008
3. My first food hunt!

This will be a rather wordless post so enjoy the (poor quality) photos.

I went food hunting with the gang and seriously, it’s the best day ever!

Bumbu Restaurant

A Thai-Indonesian Restaurant at Kandahar Street. Food was pretty good, fresh fish as well! Though I’m still wondering why the interior deco of the place has some Chinese “flavours” in them. It was about SGD70+ for 6 dishes. Definitely a must try!

Bumbu Restaurant

Interior decorations in the restaurant

Old paintings on display

Group photo of the day

Check out their website at bumbu.com.sg for more details if you are interested!

Ah Chew Desserts

A very popular dessert shop at Liang Seah Street. It was very packed when we arrive and waited for seats for a while. Not bad but I still prefer the ones from Hong Kong and Macau (definitely right?).

Ah Chew Desserts

Sneak peek at the menu

Our desserts!

Tom’s Palette Homemade Ice Cream

We visited the branch at Shaw Tower and they have lots of unconventional flavours for their ice creams. Tried the Lavender, Oreo Cheesecakes, Lychee with rose etc. Good except that James nearly dropped my iPhone after taking the following shot.

Tons of ice cream sticks after trying the different flavours

Visit their website at tomspalette.com.sg for more information.

Rive Gauche

Take-away cakes at Suntec. Shared the Strawberry Shortcake with Jess. My only comment: The strawberries were really sour!

Delicious French Cakes

Say hi to the snowman

Nantsuttei

Discovered this when Chewy wanted to try it desperately since he’s a noodle lover. I have only tried the normal ramen and “Happy Couple” Gyoza. Funny name for dumplings! Not to mention the adorable pig at the bottom of the bowl. Some of the staff are Japanese and they are really friendly.

My favourite ramen

I promise I will take more photos during the next food hunt!

Related posts:

1. A brand new year with lots of new memories
2. Teddy bear christmas tree and lots of food
3. Adding another slack day to my schedule

The main activities there would be kite-flying, toy speed boats and picnics! It would be a good place to watch the fireworks though. National day is coming, anyone’s up for fireworks at Marina Barrage?

Related posts:

1. Missy’s 2008
2. APB Family Day at the Zoo
3. My first food hunt!

They taste as good as they looked which reminds me I should get the recipe from Jess and try this at home sometime. The custard tastes heavenly!

We dropped by Mind’s Cafe and found a new game which was really fun! True colours is a game where players attempt to best anticipate how others perceive them. Each round consists of several private ballot votes on who best fits a particular question. Once votes are entered players guess at the number of votes they received for that particular question. The better your estimate the more points you make and the winner being the player who best understands how others see the player. I ended up as the one with the lowest point. Hopefully James will get this for his board games rental site! It’s really fun and entertaining playing with people whom you know.

We went to Bottle Tree Village for dinner and got lost on our way there because the taxi drivers didn’t know how to go there. We chalked up to about SGD 30 of fares. That wasn’t the worst part because the walk back to the bus stop was so creepy. There wasn’t much street lights and no one was walking along the road. It was like a mini night adventure similar to the night walk during our secondary 4 adventure camp but I swear I’m not going there again without a car. It was horribly inconvenient!

On a last note, thanks guys for the gift, tarts and wishes! I really appreciated your thoughtfulness and everything.

Related posts:

1. Sing towards your 21st
2. Farewell gathering for our dear friend
3. My 23rd Birthday Wish List

We arrived at about 9.30am and the place was pretty packed. I had not expected such a big crowd since it wasn’t a weekend or school holiday. I was very impressed with the architectures, buildings and design because they are gorgeous! I don’t feel like I’m in Singapore once I stepped into the park. The friendly staff directed our ways to collect the dining and shopping vouchers and we started our day via taking a picture with my favourite animal in the world – the famous Kungfu panda, Po.

Honestly speaking, I don’t really like this photograph because I’m so tiny in it. I can’t even see my own face clearly. The shot taken by the cameraman of Universal Studios Singapore did a better job and we ended up purchasing the photograph which cost us SGD 10 from the photo studio; The Dark Room. Quite a creative name instead of the usual “Kodak Express” I see in the malls!

Why doesn’t Singapore have such beautiful newspaper stands (or is it called the papers vending machine)? We headed straight to Madagascar and managed to catch a 15 seconds performance of the penguins. I was so glad I got the chance to take a shot with the super duper adorable penguins. What’s his name again? Skipper? My personal favourite is the short chubby one. I should have asked him for his name (the penguin not the person)! =D

Our first ride was the King Julien’s Beach Party-Go-Round which is basically just a ordinary Merry-Go-Round without the horses. You will find all kinds of characters in Madagascar on this ride. I love the penguins so I chose to ride with them! The ride was really slow so don’t worry about getting dizzy. The kids are having a really good time on this but for someone who has lived 2 decades on this earth, it was all right. The characters were adorable though.

There was really nothing much at Madagascar but the shops are beautifully designed. I took a picture of the penguins hanging from the ceiling. I applauded the management for taking the time and money to beautify the ceilings. Most wouldn’t even spare a glance at the ceilings. On a random note, you are going to love Sissy’s photographs, she has the most hilarious and coolest pose! And one of the joke of the day?

Mum: Excuse me, may I know where to get to this roller coaster (pointing at the Enchanted Airways ride)?
Staff: Oh, you have to walk to far far away.
Mum: Huh? I still have to walk far far away to get there?
Sissy: LOL! No, no, that place is called “Far Far Away”.
Mum: Oh (laughs), thanks!

I couldn’t get a full view of the castle because of the blue shelter built right in front of it. I remember seeing a photograph of it taken by my friend a few weeks ago and I’m pretty sure the blue shelter wasn’t there at that time. Perhaps it was built to cater to the queue. After taking the Enchanted Airways which is a small family roller coaster, we went to watch the Shrek 4D show. Frankly speaking, the pre-show talk was way too long. We were brought into this empty room with a few big screens right at the top. I had a stiff neck after looking up for 15 minutes during the pre-show talk. The grandma standing behind us was getting tired as well. Seriously, no seats? The screen is way too high up and the speech was terribly long. My anticipation for the show decreased by a fair bit after the long speech. My verdict of the show: it was mediocre. Just rocking seats, splashes of water and maybe some wind. The 3D effect wasn’t fantastic either.

Mum suggested having an early lunch to avoid the lunch crowd. Since she wasn’t a fan of western food, we decided to have lunch at Hollywood China Bistro. On our way back, Sissy spotted this interesting sign and asked me to take a photograph of it. All shopping malls should be using this. Dolls FTW! We had Chinese noodles and dim sum which cost us SGD 30+ after deducting 30 bucks using the complimentary dining vouchers. Lunch was pretty good. The restaurant was beautifully decorated in red and gold (typical colours used in Chinese restaurants). In addition, the friendly and polite staff makes it a good dining experience for us.

Our next stop was at Jurassic Park. We went to watch the WaterWorld show and Sissy nearly fell asleep in there. I thought the show wasn’t too bad. Explosions, lots of water, stuns, rather good storyline and a wee bit of fireworks. The performers can really get the audiences to participate and at the same time, get them soaked as well. Lots of small children were crying halfway through the show. I’m not sure why parents will want to bring their young children to the show when they have been warned that this show involves lots of loud noises, explosions and requires parental guidance due to the use of (fake!) guns and stuff.

We were actually planning to ride the Canopy Flyer but the queue was an hour long. Since the park closes at 6pm, we don’t think there will be enough time so we skipped and proceeded to Dino-Soarin. The sun was blazing that day and I felt like I’m melting into a puddle of goo. Up next is the Jurassic Park Rapids Adventure and I got to say this ride was a disappointment! Sissy wanted to get the poncho initially but we didn’t realise that we have to get it in the Jurassic Park merchandise store and not at the ride itself. Mum and I convinced Sissy that it will be fun to get wet because it’s no fun when we get off the ride dry. The lockers were rented at $4 for the first hour and since we were without the protection of the ponchos we rented one to keep our bags dry.

The first half of the ride was so slow and mundane. We were just floating down the river looking at (very) fake dinosaurs that open and close their mouths like robots. The raft entered a dark tunnel with flashing lights, a door opened and we were “flushed out” of the tunnel. The ride ended with a big splash and I was pretty much drenched. Even the raft ride at Sunway Lagoon is way better than this. Is this all they can come up with?

I tweeted that I almost died that day on the Revenge of the Mummy’s ride and it was true. i swear I’m never going to take this ride again. Like I said, I’ve a low threshold for thrilling rides and I’m surprised I still have my voice after screaming the entire time while I was on the ride. Just the walk from the main entrance of the ride to the actual queue took us about 15 minutes. A rather long walk I would say. To top if off, the passage way was really dark with lots of turns and corners. Interestingly, I saw someone in front of me wearing a pair of sunglasses in the dark. I wonder how he sees in the dark. Anyway, is the walk suppose to build up our tension for the ride? People that cut the queues really spoil the fun for me. I do not understand why some people let others cut the queue in front of them without saying a word. I would have told them off but I was too far away at that time.

In the Sci-Fi City, Battlestar Galactica was closed so there wasn’t much to see. Mum and Sissy went onto the Accelerator ride which has the same concept as the Mad Tea Party in Disneyland. Both of them said that it wasn’t much fun because it’s slow even when they control the speed manually. I didn’t take the ride because the last time I rode a similar ride at Escape theme park 10 years ago, I ended up puking really badly. It started to drizzle and we headed to New York because it was sheltered. We spend some time snapping away on our cameras. There was lots to see but nothing much to play.

The only attraction we went at New York was Lights, Camera, Action which actually showcases what happens to a boat house in New York City during a category 5 hurricane. The effect was nice and the sea look very realistic from the fake windows. But again, it wasn’t anything exciting. I was expecting more than just a few broken windows, fire etc.

It’s nearly 5 when we exited Lights, Camera, Action and we decided to go for a quick bite. We wanted to have tea at this princess-looking pink cafe, Hollywood Celebrity’s Cafe but after looking at the menus, we thought we should go for something fuller and cheaper. True to its name, the menus especially the price tags are really celebrities’ class.

We settled for Mel’s Drive-In. They have a shiny looking junk box and the retro interior decorations suits the theme very well! The servings are huge and very fulling. The place was pretty packed, perhaps due to the more economic price of the burgers. I caught the appearance of a few retro dancers right outside the dining place. I love their colourful costumes and how they tried to engage the audiences and get them to dance together as well.

With only an hour left, we went on a shopping spree. I love all the merchandise sold there! They have the best souvenirs such as toys, cushions, mousepads, pins, notepads, caps, t-shirts, towels, mugs and lots of other stuff. Admittedly, the best attraction at Universal Studios Singapore was their merchandises and not exactly the rides. Here’s the other joke of the day:

I was looking at 2 tees which look exactly the same with different price tags.

Me: Excuse me, may I know why these tees are priced differently? The size L tee cost SGD 21.90 while the size S tee cost SGD 23.90.

After pausing for a few seconds, he replied.

Staff: Oh, the smaller the tee, the more expensive is it because it’s more difficult to manufacture.

Me: Huh, okay. Thanks!

After I went home and look at the photos on my computer screen, I realise the size S tee was a men’s tee and hence it’s more expensive then the ladies’ size L tee. The ladies’ tee are priced at SGD 21.90 while the men’s tee are priced at SGD 23.90. So much for “the smaller the tee, the more expensive it gets”! He (the staff) was really friendly though but I just thought the above was hilarious!

With all the self control I had, I only bought 2 tees and a penguin clipboard + notepad. On the other hand, Sissy got a tee, pin and mousepad. I regretted not getting the mousepad. It’s really cute! Sissy’s going again next week so hopefully the stores will be open so that she can grab an extra for me. This concluded our day at Universal Studios Singapore. We didn’t manage to visit all the attractions due to time constraints. I wish the park would extend it’s opening hours till about 8 to 9 at night so that we’ve more time. Although I wasn’t too wow by the attractions, I had a rather enjoyable time. Maybe it’s my first time visiting a theme park, hence I don’t have a very high expectation. For more photographs, check out this album on my Flickr.

Related posts:

1. Hong Kong & Macau Trip – Part I
2. My first look at Resort World Sentosa
3. Our DIY cake

We planned to head to the Sentosa island to take our first look at Resort World. All of us haven’t been there and we thought it will be a good idea to tour Huaian around the new sections of Sentosa before he leaves. The place was unusually quiet and empty. I would have expected it to be bursting with activities and music. It wasn’t what I had expected but perhaps with the opening of the Universal Studio, it will be a livelier place. We discovered the Hershey’s chocolate shop beside the entrance to Universal Studios. I love this shop because they sell a huge range of Hershey’s chocolates¹, they even have peanut butter chocolates!

Besides the chocolates, they also carry other things like toys, bags and even ear phones. The first thing I noticed when I entered the store was the trademark silver tear-drop shaped toy of Hershey’s on display. Initially I thought the Bubble Yum ear phones were edible and designed to look like a real one but my buddies have confirmed that it’s a working pair. Looking at the rows and rows of chocolates on display, tell me you aren’t drooling over them? :P

We snapped a photograph at the famous Universal rotating globe. The photo is taken by Huaian’s girlfriend, Ming Xian. Thanks so much for taking the picture so that I can be in there! I love this couple because they always pose at lighting speed when they see my camera. Huaian is still in training so he might be a bit slower.

We took the escalator down to the basement and I’m actually impressed the designers even took the time and effort to add some music and a few Nemos² specially for the escalator’s ride. The only crowds we saw were at the entrance of the Casino. Is it the only attraction of Sentosa that garner that much attention?

A large section is still under construction so there isn’t much to see but we decided to visit the Hard Rock Hotel and that’s our first step into a maze. We were directed into a corridor by the staff who told us that was a shortcut. Staff always know their way around right? How wrong we were. We entered a rather dark hallway with weird looking spotlights and that began our adventure to find the way out.

I love the ceiling’s star lights so much that I took at least a dozen photographs of them. That’s Hotel Michael by the way. It’s one of those lights that’s perfect for Christmas! Don’t ask me why there’s a huge hole on the wall, it’s like a window overlooking the hallway downstairs. It is gorgeous but I thought it was slightly dangerous too. Along our quest, we asked a few of the constructions and renovation workers for directions. We went from the West lobby to the East lobby, from Basement 2 to Basement 1 and did some exercise on the exit stairs. I really think the design of this hotel is simply breathtaking. Green and woody brown looks perfect together, not to mention the high ceilings! I feel like I was touring a castle.

After what seems like hours, we have finally arrived at the lobby of Hard Rock Hotel. My first reaction was “This is it?” so you can safely assume I wasn’t so impressed with what I was seeing. We can see a modern looking bar with blue lights, lots of chairs and a few artistic looking paintings. That’s about it! I think the concept was suppose to be simple, artistic and modern looking and they had it there but maybe it just wasn’t what I had in mind.

We left after that because there wasn’t much to see anyway. I will be back after Universal Studio opens and hopefully by then, more shops will be open. On a random note, check out the last photo we took at the De-Coder’s Cafe. The red wig looks fabulous, no?

1. I am not a huge fan of chocolates but I’ve to admit, Hershey’s chocolates are good!
2. The orange fish with white strips in the movie, Finding Nemo

Related posts:

1. My first trip to Universal Studios Singapore
2. Missy’s 2008
3. Merry Messy Christmas