The 2 years worth of complaints, life experiences, breaking news, 'illegal dealings', and shoutouts of a person as he goes through with life serving the nation. Right.
Milestones:
[130308 - Civilian No More!] [110608 - POP!] [?????? - ORD! When will it come?!]
UPDATE 280208: Went down to take pics of some more food and desserts. Gallery below is updated. Enjoy!
Have finally finished editing the pictures for my auntie's hot dessert stall at Amoy Street Food Centre. I am not a very dessert person, esp hot dessert, so i can't give a detailed review. My two cents for it is that all the desserts sure look and smell good, and the ingredients come in very generous portions. I shall let the pics below speak for themselves. =)
Went to the Jurong Bird Park today! Woot. Havent been there in ages and ages and ages. Really loved visiting this place when i was young, and yes, nostalgic cos my parents used to bring me around all these places! 好幸福喔! Decided to visit the Bird Park is also not some random idea of mine. Jus that i bought the park-hoppers package which includes a visit to the Singapore Zoo, Night Safari and of course the Jurong Bird Park for a price of $45! Value for money. =)
Was greeted by the nice entrance of the park and right smack before the entry way, was a pond full of birds! Haha. A couple of DUCKS (note: Yvonne) were swimming around and poking their head into the water. A couple of other birds were around too, of which i do not know what they are. (That explains why most pics below have no captions, cos i duno the names!)
The attractions in the park are still pretty standard for the past so many years. Just that most of the structures have either been reinforced or rebuilt. There are a couple of new attractions of which i'll talk more later. First few attractions upon entering the park were like the parrots, flamingos, and penguins.
Went for the 10am bird of prey show, Fuji World of Hawks. Honestly, i felt that the show was rather disappointing and not entertaining enough, and if im not wrong, its been the same show for the past donkey years too! The show presenters were giving off-colour jokes and apparent time-dragging, which should be cut down. Nonetheless, the birds featured in the performance were beautiful and their hunting abilities and such, truly amazing!
After the show, i carried on the route and i saw my arch enemy!! THE PELICAN!! Haha. No, i'm not afraid of it, or that i hate it, its just that, a pelican allegedly bit me on the neck when i was a little kid at the zoo! It was sitting on a rock, n i jus went close n it jus went snap! No worries, no blood or anything, i probably jus looked like a big fish. Haha. Wouldnt say much about the other attractions around, cos you can easily find more info at the bird park website.
The waterfall was just as breathtaking as ever. It is one of the few things that i actually remember of the bird park, cos its something u dont see in everyday life, although it is a man-made structure. climbed up the small hill and took a few pics of colourful, pretty birds, when a keeper was feeding them mealworms and crickets.
Just wanna quickly touch on this attraction before i end this post off with the pictures for you to enjoy. Was nearing the end of the whole park route, and i went to this attraction called The Lory Loft. Lories are actually small colourful parrots and they had that whole sanctuary to themselves. For $2, you get a small bowl of nectar, honey and water and u feed the birds! The little parrots actually fly to your hand and feed on the stuff! how cool is that? haha. I was so happy that i bought another bowl of it. Some of them are really naughty, and some simply bossy. Some would fly and perch on ur arm or shoulder and try to get some of the food, and some would try nibbling at your fingers. Each bird certainly has their own personality. COOL!
Jurong Bird Park is certainly a nice alternative to visit other than the Singapore Zoo. Its a great place for bird enthusiasts armed with their high speed cameras too cos birds are constantly moving and so difficult to capture sharp and crisp images with a normal compact. Alright! Take some time, look at the pics! =)
After leaving Jurong Bird Park, decided to pop by Chinese Gardens for a visit. This is another place where my parents had brought me, on a few occasions when i was young, to sight see especially during the lantern festival, etc. when there would be a lot of decorations up to celebrate the festivities. I have taken the train many times towards Jurong East and have always admired the serenity of the place with the waters and olden architecture e.g. pagodas etc. Haha. I guess the expression 'feeling very zen' is quite applicable in this situation.
REVIEW: Upon reaching the place, i was surprised that there is no more charge/fee for entry to the place, and relished the slight irony that 2 indian security guards were stationed there despite the place being named 'CHINESE Garden'. Haha. Nonetheless, the scene that greets you past the guard station is beautiful and serene. Water and greens certainly make a nice combination. There were many mock terracotta soldiers placed at the entrances to various structures which give the whole place a nice touch of chinese culture. The 7-storey pagoda is indeed a piece of art. (Pictures at the bottom).
Moving on! One of the main, if not only, reason to visit the Chinese Garden is because of The Live Turtle and Tortoise Museum! Saw on the news a few years ago about this guy who has a collection of turtles and tortoises, which are rare and of course, illegal to trade in Singapore. He is the only one (i think), other than the zoo n such, to be licensed to rear such animals. For $5/entry and $1 for a pkt of fish feed or a whole cucumber (optional), you can view and even have a petting and feeding session with the turtles. (Again, pics below!)
You'll first be greeted with the many turtles in many glass tanks in the viewing area. Many rare turtles are on display and the snapping turtles are truly a sight to behold. One snap of their mouth and there goes a couple of your fingers. Too bad the turtles in the tanks are out of bounds for you to feed.
Out of the viewing area is an outdoor landscape with a pond and a few enclosures. My, are there many, and i say, MANY tortoises in the pond. The various enclosures around the area house many different species of tortoises as well, which you can feed, pet, and take pictures with/of.
Last words: Chinese Garden is certainly a nice place to bring ur family for a picnic, visit the turtle museum, and that is about it. There is practically nothing much to do around and the place if you are looking for fun, games and adventure. But the turtle and tortoise museum is certainly worth the trouble if you are interested.
Chinese Garden Take MRT to Chinese Garden Station Entry: Free
The Live Turtle and Tortoise Museum Entry: $5 Misc: $1 for pellet food or cucumber
Today Was over at my Aunt's vegetarian food stall this morning again to take pictures of her hot desserts that she has jus started selling. Gotta do another menu for this set of yummy stuff. Will update more on this once i finish with the pics. =)
After leaving Amoy Street Food Centre, was comtemplating whether I should go home or take a walk around. Decided to take a walk around the Esplanade waterfront and eat my packet of vegetarian food (courtesy of my aunt!), and take some pictures as well. *grins*
Finished my food and took a couple of pictures of the Shenton Way skyline which you can view in the gallery below. After that i decided to walk all the way to the Singapore Flyer, which is the Ferris Wheel at Marina! Wanted to take a ride but found out it is not opened to public rides yet, but the whole building was open to public. Took a number of beautiful pictures of that place, and my, it is a nice place to go to indeed. The wheel was actually moving when i was there, so it was pretty cool to see it in action, and the building has its own indoor garden and landscape! Really nicely done. Pics in the gallery again!
After that, walked all the way back to the Esplanade and proceeded on to the Merlion. The Merlion sort of brought back a couple of memories where my mom used to bring me to sight see the Merlion back at its old site, the statues of Stamford Raffles and such. Nostalgic! Took really nice pics of the esplanade skyline as well.
I didnt know that the city had such beautiful sight if i didnt make the effort to take a walk through. Wanted to go see Clifford Pier but too bad it was closed as the whole area is being close for construction of new structures. Little did i know i had walked all the way to Raffles Place as i was actually contemplating to go to the museum if i was still near City Hall area. So i decided to head home instead to rest my aching feet.
Helloo. Decided to pull this blog of mine back from the depths of the Mariana Trench onto dry land, and blog about my remaining days as a civilian. Haha. Have planned to do many interesting things and blog about it before i finally get my buzz cut and get my green I.C. Hehe. Got a couple of updates plus loads of pics for you to see. So pls take your time, enjoy urself, and have a good look through. =)
Last Week Have been busy the past week mainly with my 2nd Aunt's (Gillian's Mother) new menu for her vegetarian food stall located at Amoy Street Food Centre, #02-111. Helped her to take pictures of the food, design the menu and send it for printing. It was quite an enjoyable process as i learnt many things as i completed the tasks. *Great sense of achievement*
Brief Food Review: The food sold at my aunt's stall is really good. No, im not saying it because she's my aunt, but the food's really tasty and having some just makes you crave for more! Many people stereotype vegetarian food to be related to jus bee hoon and mediocre-tasteless-glutin-laden mock char siew and such, but such is not the case for my aunt's. She has a wide spread of selection (you can see from the pics below), and trust me, she doesnt only have 'char siew' but 'fish', 'mushroom nuggets' etc, and they're really great tasting! Her stall was even featured in an episode of a food review programme on Channel 8!
So enjoy the pics and gimme a tag or call if u wanna go down to have some mouth-watering vegetarian food! =)
Amoy Street Food Centre Near Telok Ayer Street, Beside Telok Ayer Chinese Methodist Church #02-111
Enjoying life as it is with good food, drinks, and not forgetting the most important, good company. Life may suck at certain points, but its how you make the most of it. Carpe Diem!
