Living the travel

The wizarding world of Harry Potter, Orlando

2009-10-27T05:21:00.000-07:00

The most anticipated tourist attraction in Singapore next year would be the Universal Studio theme parks in Genting Sentosa resort. However, if you think Universal Studio focuses only on Singapore, then think again. Wizarding world of Harry Potter is going to Orlando and not Singapore!!
If you are die hard fan of Harry Potter, then you have to fly to the other part of the world to see Hogsmeade and Hogwarts castle. The theme park will open in Spring 2010 and please take a look at their website..pretty impressive..

http://universalorlandoresort.com/harrypotter/

Why KBOX and Partyword??

2009-10-05T06:17:00.000-07:00

Sick of going to the same old Kbox Orchard or Partyworld for karaoke?
..try out the new venue for the gathering cum singing with your best friends..

Topone KTV
The price might not be cheap though but if you are looking for a new place, why not?.I think the new recording studio might be a good attraction coming soon..

Details

Topone Entertainment (S) Pte Ltd530 North Bridge road;,
#02-01 Bugis Point Singapore 188747
Telephone: +65-6238 8198
Fax: +65-6749 6146

Teo Heng Karaoke
Don't be mistaken. This Teo Heng is the one where you can sing at. Not the one selling the karaoke equipment, although they are under the same company. This KTV has been around for ages, way before K-Box ever stepped in. One of the advantages of sining in this place is the price. It starts from 8SGD/h for a small room (3-4 people) to $12 for a large room (10 people). Well..I believe the only thing that is lacking is the appearance of the KTV..

Shop unit#01-76/77/78/92,
Katong Shopping Centre865 Mountbatten RoadSingapore 437844
63456513

F1? Time to eat mooncake..

2009-09-24T18:34:00.000-07:00

Mid Autumn festival is coming again!!! If you are visiting Singapore during this period apart from feeling the heat of F1, this is a good time for you to visit some of the places where you can taste all the famous mooncakes promoted by the major hotels in one place in Singapore. Below are the few locations to recommend:

1. Event Date Time Mid-Autumn Festival

17 Sept - 4 Oct (Thu - Sun) 10.00am - 9.30pm
Once again, the full Mid-Autumn moon hangs high in the sky and it’s time to gather loved ones to enjoy a festive day filled with joy and blessings. Takashimaya rejoices with you , with the biggest spread of mooncakes and traditional confectionaries, to round off an occasion you will never forget.
Where is it: Ngee Ann City Orchard Road

2. Mid-Autumn Delights at Junction 8

21 Sept – 2 Oct 2009Atrium, Level 2
With 23 brands of scrumptious mouthwatering mooncakes to choose from, you will be spoilt for choice this Mid-Autumn!
Where is it: Bishan Junction 8

3. Mid Autumn Atrium Fair

14 Sept - 2 Oct 09, JP1 Level 1 Atrium
Check out the 14 mooncake booths at this year’s Mid Autumn Atrium Fair. Participants include Goodwood Park Hotel, Shangri-La Hotel, Singapore Marriott Hotel, Peach Blossoms and many others. What’s more if you spend as minimum of $50 in a single receipt at the Fair you’ll be able to redeem a limited edition 2GB Mooncake USB flash drive.
Where is it: Jurong Point, Jurong West

Bali, Phuket, Redang,..no no no..it is Mataking!!

2009-09-08T20:56:00.000-07:00

Sick of visiting beaches in Bali, Phuket, Chiang Mai and
Redang?? Why not to try the beaches in east Malaysia?
Mataking island is the next "in" island I would say!The island is not far from Sipadan, Sabah. It is located to
the north of Mabul of Sabah and it is three times the size of
Sipadan. It takes 40 minute boat ride away from Semporna on
the mainland of Sabah. One of the attractive features of the
beach is With its sparkling white sand, mesmerizing blue
waters and top-class resort. The Mataking Island is also the
ideal getaway for both the avid diver and non-diver. Divers
can gear up and explore the Eel Garden, Coral Garden,
Nudibranch Garden, Turtle Playground, Lobsters Lair and Hump
Head Point. Cheap tickets are available from Airasia from
90SGD oneway..http://www.airasia.com/site/sg/en/home.jsp

What do you think about her vocal?

2009-08-19T05:53:00.000-07:00

I think she is very good...

Die die must try food in Sarawak

2009-08-11T06:36:00.000-07:00

If you are thinking I'm going to say Kolo mee and Sarawak laksa, then you are wrong..there are some other food which I rate as "die die must try" when you visit Sarawak..here you go:

Pumpkin cake at Chong Choon Cafe.

You can really taste the pumpkin inside and with the "chai poh" mixed on top of it make the cake so tasty and you can't resist it..

Chicken Rice at Aladin Cafe.

If you are sick of the Singaporean style of Hainanese chicken rice, it is time to try the tender and juicy chicken rice at this cafe located at Atab street. Two thumps up!!

Foo Chow Kong Pia at Song Keng Hai Hawker centre.

This local delicacy is called Kom Pia "foochow dialect’s". I like the one with minced pork stuffed into the bun. Eat it while it is hot!!! Shiok..

Chatuchak? Suan Lum market? No...now it's Ratchada Market!!

2009-07-30T06:54:00.000-07:00

A new place recommended by local Thai is the Ratchada market near Lat Phrao train station Bangkok. This market is different from the Chatuchak and Suam Lum as this market focuses more on second hand vintage and clothing. This market is only open on Saturday and Sunday night..well another choice when next time you are in Bangkok..

Melt- the World Cafe

2009-07-05T21:31:00.000-07:00

We celebrated our anniversary at Mandarin Oriental Singapore yesterday night. The heavy rain did not dampen our mood to celebrate this once a year event. We chose this place because it has good review on the Internet about its buffet dinner. We reached the place around 7pm and the waitress greeted us pleasantly and showed us where different food stations were in the cafe. The cafe was not very crowded but it gave us a secluded atmosphere and we were given a special section where it was divided from the common area by curtains. The privacy was well taken care of.

Food wise, the spread was great, it has many variety of food, from India, Chinese, Thai, Japanese, Western to local. I love the fresh oyster station where you can find the Japanese Alaska crabs, green mussels, fresh scallop, oysters, lobster, prawns and other types of mussels. In addition, the dessert, chocolate fondue and fruit stations were really fantastic. They served French Macarons and you guess what, they are not serving the standard watermelon and papaya!(which you usually get it from the standard buffet; but they serve fresh Kiwi, peach, plum, grapefruits and persimmon instead.

Well, a “recommended” from us with great service and the variety of food.

Togi, Authentic Korean Restaurant

2009-07-04T21:56:00.000-07:00

My forth visit to this Korean Restaurant. We love the homely cooked Ginseng Chicken and the assortment of side dishes. I can't explain why it is different from the normal food court stalls selling standard korean food. Maybe the owner is authentic korean and the passion to make the dish perfect makes the difference. We normally book this restaurant in advance to avoid disappointment and it is very crowded during 7-8pm peak dinner time. Well, a "must try" restaurant if you are into the Korean food..oh forget to tell you that it is closed on Sunday time as Sunday is family day for Korean!!

Name: Togi
Address: 11 Mosque Street
Tel: 6221 0830

Ubud Bali - Lotus Cafe (Part 2)

2009-06-07T03:18:00.000-07:00

Upon unpacking our luggage in our warm cottages, we set off our food hunt trip by visiting one of the most beautiful restaurants in Ubud, namely Lotus Cafe. As its name implies, it has a big lotus pond surrounding the whole restaurant. The grand lotus pond in front of the Ubud palace's family temple provides a calming effect. And at the end of the garden is a Temple area. You can take a walk around the area and get a feel how Balinese is able to make use of natural resources to enhance their ambience.

As food wise, it is just wonderful. We ordered their famous dish consists of 6 Balinese local cuisines. We do not what and how they are made of but they are just taste great!! Even by looking at them, you can't resist to say no!!..

Cafe LotusJalan Raya, Ubud, Bali, Indonesia Tel: +62 361 975 660

Aquarama 2009 Singapore

2009-05-31T06:32:00.000-07:00

Twice a year event, Aquarama 2009 was held in Singopore this year. Out of curiosity, my wife and I went there and see what was interesting. Out of our expectation, there were so many innovative fish equipments and solutions are actually available in the market and there are so many beautiful tropical and marine fishes. We took many good photos during the exibition and my favorite is the overall grand champion goldfish..I have never seen such a fat goldfish haha..

For more nice picture, please visit my Picasa here
http://picasaweb.google.com/chuaboonchin/Aquarama2009?feat=directlink

Bali – Ubud (Part 1)

2009-05-30T08:15:00.000-07:00

My second visit to this beautiful island, Bali. Our trips started from Ubud..

This time, we stayed in a simple cottage located in the busy street called Monkey Forest Street. The location is very convenient. Shops, restaurants, cafes and SPA centers are all within walk-able distance. We were so happy that we were able to make the reservation because the booking was always full during peak season. There are only 8 rooms in the cottages and the room space was reasonably huge. I like its breakfast area where you face the swimming pool with peaceful environment around you. Having the breakfast under this environment will definitely perk you up and have a nice day ahead!!

View outside our room..

Our room..romantic hor..;-)

Nice swimming pool..

Where we had our breakfast..very nice..;-)

Grasshopper Right Now 2009 Concert In Singapore

2009-05-17T06:20:00.000-07:00

We know we still crazy about these pop concert thing, but it was really fun to have our Saturday night spent together with almost thousands of Singaporean singing and dancing in Indoor Stadium. The stage was impressed and the colourful lightings that imported from Hong Kong really gave you a "wow" feeling..well one thing to regret is that they only sang 2 mandarin songs and most of them were cantonese, which I don't understand;-(

New mall at Bugis - Iluma

2009-05-06T07:15:00.000-07:00

If you are thinking to go to this newly open shopping mall at Bugis with high expectation, you will be disappointed. The interior design of this mall is fabulous but the space is more than the shops open, leaving you a feeling of "Huh?, what else?". We spent about 15 minutes there and end up shopping in the old shopping mall opposite to it. '

It is not surprised that people are anticipated with such exciting malls popping up in Singapore, however, I would suggest not to open it before the occupancy reaches 80%, else you are gonna lose more customers in the long run. To me, I am not going there anymore at least for the next one year unless there is valid reason for me to go there!!

Visited Singapore Flyer..

2009-04-19T20:55:00.000-07:00

This year marks the first year anniversary for Singapore Flyer and you know what, I have never ride the capsule before untill yesterday night with my parents in law. Well if you asked me is it worth the visit, I would say yes for at least one time only!! It is not cheap as many Singaporean are aware of that and I have found that there is a discount to the tickets to it. Please see it here:

http://www.singapore-attractions.com/

It took 30 minutes for a ride and we had the whole private capsule for us, not bad ha. The ride is a bit boring as the speed is very slow and there in fact nothing much to see. The view is spectacular at 165m high and the night scene in Singapore is not bad indeed. Well..we also had a free 6R family photo as sourvenir..

Yachts at West Coast Park..

2009-04-12T01:26:00.000-07:00

You do not have to go Raffles Club at Tuas to see the beautiful scenary of yachts parking at the bay..West Coast Park is another venue where you are able to enjoy the scenic view all day!!!

This place is situated at West Coast Highway which you can take bus 176 or 175 from Clementi MRT. It takes you about 4 stops and you will alight at opposite the newly rennovated West Coast Park. The park is huge and equipped with many amenities. Next to this park is where these yachts are parking. You can do your cycling to one of the jetties and enjoy the peaceful view which you hardly get it in Singapore. So why stay at home during the weekend? Go out and explore !!!

2009-04-09T23:59:00.000-07:00

We stayed in Clementi for about 1.5 years and we never realised that there is a famous stall selling "wanton" noodle (云吞面)". This stall was recommended by very recent Mediacorp Channel 8 showbiz program called "《排排站、查查看 3》Where The Queue Start ".

This morning, we decided to take the challenge to queue for the noodle. It took about 30 minutes for us to get the food. You know what; I normally hate waiting for food especially when you out of energy and the breakfast is the first must-have thing in the morning.

After the long wait, the noodles were served hot and it looks very good. The small serving costs SGD2.50 and bigger one is 50 cents more. The price is reasonable as it comes with 4 wontons and 5 wontons respectively which you normally will not get it in Hawker center elsewhere. The texture of the noodles is just nice. Not soggy but juicy with its special black sauce in it. You have to eat while it is hot and at the end of fulfilling your hunger, you will have a thumb up with “it's worth the wait!" in mind…

Yummy..Oyster..

2009-03-31T07:36:00.000-07:00

You've probably heard of how good the oysters served by 5 star hotels in Singapore and you probably think that those oysters are imported from countries like Australia and French. Now you may need to change your mind set as nowsday many such hotels are using oyster 100% homegrown in Singapore! Here's the link to the farm..http://www.lighthouseseafarms.com/facts.html

I am completely obsessed with oyster when having an international buffer dinner in a hotel. I will normally go to a hotel buffer dinner where they serve oyster. It has become one of my criteria and I never fail to meet them.

Recently I read about the news that oyster is good for men especially with its high content of zinc and Dopamine. Well, believing it or not, I do not care what is in it, it's the taste that is more important to me. I managed to know a place in Geylang that sell oyster at a cheaper place. It is called Allswell Marketing..Do you know why they are selling it at Geylang??

Sungei Buloh...back to the Nature

2009-03-21T05:49:00.000-07:00

This week my dear and I tried somewhere interesting, it's Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve. The place is located at Neo Tiew Crescent, near Kranji MRT. We took the 2 dollar Kranji express at 9 am and surprisingly the small van was able to transport around 20+ people in a trip!
It took you about 10 minutes to reach there and you need to walk pass a wooden platform to the vistor center. You know what, it is a hidden paradise at first! The scenery was nice and it gaves you a feeling of going back to Kampung!

The entrance fee is free during weekday and it is $2 per adult during weekend. There are 3 routes you can take, first will take you around 1 hour and the second about 2 hours. The third one will roughtly take you 3-4 hour to finish. We didn't try the third route as the weather was relatively hot and humid as once you finished the second route, you will not feel like continue walking..trust me..it is tiring as there are not much thing to see as there are trees, trees and trees. We were disappointed as we only managed to see 2 types of birds and our newly bought binocular was under utilised. However, before we left the park, we were surprised by several giant lizards with close proximity and they were really huge!!

With more and more shopping malls opening in Singapore in the next few months, why not spent your time with the Nature and you will get different inspiration in life...

Try these stores....

2009-03-17T06:44:00.000-07:00

Sick of KFC or Macdonald or fish and Co? Why not try these new stores in Bugis??

Yellas Fellas

http://yellafellas.com.sg/index.html

Fisherios

http://www.fisherios.com/

$15 dollar set lunch?

2009-03-16T08:00:00.000-07:00

If you think that $15 SGD is reasonable for your lunch budget, then go for this event..
http://www.clarkequay.com.sg/lunchtime.htm

Our favourite - Choco and cream wassant

2009-03-14T08:32:00.000-07:00

These wassants are our all time favorite and we will never miss it whenever we are in Holland Village..You can get it at 6SGD for 8. The price is slightly at the higher end but once you taste it, it worth the money..They are sold in Provence Bakery and Cafe..

17A Lorong Liput Holland Village
Singapore 277731
Tel: 6467 6966
Fax: 6469 6566

First time to make Oreo Cheese Cake

2009-03-14T07:21:00.000-07:00

This is the first time we try to make Oreo Cheese Cake. We got the recipe from the Net and list out all the required ingredients we need to buy. Next, we looked for a shops which sell those baking stuff. Luckily, recently there is a new specialty shops from Phoon Huat Pte Ltd in Clementi. They sell all sorts of things required to make any types of cakes. At the end we got the round pan, mixer and the Australian Cheese cream with reasonable price. It was not too difficult to make Oreo Cheesecake as it do not require any baking. It only needs time and patience to mix the Cheese cream with eggs evenly. After 4 hours's wait, the end result is satisfactory but still got room for improvement..haha

Everyday's Valentine's day...

2009-02-15T00:26:00.001-08:00

Not going out anywhere this Valentine's day especially when the economy does not look good ahead..To cut down budget but with sincerity, I've decided to cook a simple meal for my dear. At the end, I created a menu of 1 appertiser, 2 main courses and desserts to surprise her..well it may not be as good as the taste from restaurant but it was showing my sincerity and it costs only below SGD60!!

CityVibe Clementi..Opening now

2009-02-06T05:51:00.000-08:00

The long waited newly renovated shopping mall next to the Clementi MRT stn opened finally a week before the CNY. Now we have more places to go for dinner.
Restaurants such as MOS Burger, Sake Sushi, Long John Silver, Subway, Uncle TOM's claypot and Ramenten can be found there. However I felt that the shopping mall is very small and no surprise in terms of the types of the shops. Well..better than none. In fact..I'm looking for Thai, Indonesia or even peranakan restaurants in Clementi..well maybe the developer should consider more variety of restaurants when the new Megamall (the new Clementi interchange) opens soon...