Third day in Penang. Same usual process of going for the free buffet breakfast as the previous day (see A Day in Penang 1), then headed out to KOMTAR (Malay: Kompleks Tun Abdul Razak) bus station to take Bus 204 to Penang Hill (last stop). Since I reached around 10.45am, I bought the earliest round-trip ticket RM4 for 11:00am at Penang Hill Railway ticket counter. Actually, I did come to Penang Hill the previous day too (as it’s nearby Kek Lok Si) but I have to wait for 2.5 hours for the next available rail. Thought it was a time-waster to just sit and wait, so decided to come back early the next day.

Finally boarded the 11:00am funicular railway. It was really crowded and cramped!

Leaving the main station and going upwards to Penang Hill. The funicular railway will not take you straight to the top, you have to change trains halfway.

Finally arrived after 30 min duration. Another group of visitors will take the same funicular train down.

Panoramic view of the city, 830m above sea level. It’s cooling up here!

Funicular train on it’s way down.

Jungle trekking is one of the popular activities in Penang Hill. Another attraction is Canopy Walk, which is a suspension bridge hanging over the treetops. Would love to do both but I just don’t have enough time as I need to collect biscuits from Him Heang and then meet up with wifey at hotel at 3pm! Sigh….

Is that the faint image of Penang Bridge?

Waiting area for the funicular train leaving Penang Hill.

At the top of Penang Hill, there is tea kiosk, restaurants, souvenir stalls, mosque, Hindu temple and Bellevue hotel.

Another view of city of Penang. Seems to me it’s kinda cloudy today and wasn’t able to see so clearly.

Bukit Bendera is the Malay name for Penang Hill, which refers to Flagstaff Hill, the most developed peak.

Walking around to explore. Noted that are some stalls around here.

A stall selling grasshoppers that care delicately made from leaves.

Seems to be an area where you can take photo with snakes.

Food center at the top of Penang Hill for you to chill out or eat.

Somewhere on Penang Hill, there is this 32 pounder cannon, weighing 2.75 tons. This cannon was probably transported from town to hill as an ornament or to warn the presence of pirates.

Sri Aruloli Thirumurugan, or better known as the Penang Hill Hindu Temple, is one of the oldest Hindu temples in Penang.

Old wooden funicular train of Penang Hill Railway, used from 1923 to 1977.

Taking another look at the city view before leaving Penang Hill. The journey also takes about 30min down and after which I took bus 204 back to KOMTAR area.

From KOMTAR, took a short stroll to New World Park along Jalan Burma (beside Tune Hotels Penang).

Food Court at New World Park. Huge selection of food available!

Koay Teow Th’ng (粿条汤) RM4.

After my lunch at New World Park, I went to Him Heang to collect my orders – 2 boxes of Tau Sar Pneah (豆沙饼) at RM19 and 2 boxes of Beh Teh Sor (马蹄酥) at RM13.

At Him Heang, I also bought 1 packet of preserved nutmeg (sweet) RM2.80, 1 packet of preserved nutmeg (sweet & salty) RM2.80 and 1 packet of liquorice nutmeg at RM4.30. Buah Pala is the malay word for nutmeg.

Left the Him Heang products back at hotel and met up with wifey. Then took a cab for RM12 to Gurney Plaza to walk around again! There is Dragonball Z Heroic Christmas Live Show happening at Gurney Plaza. I was a Dragonball fan when I was young (hmm…maybe I still am now …)!

G Hotel Penang at Gurney Drive. Should have stayed here instead but wifey mentioned that it might be a hassle to travel daily to Hotel Royal Penang for her training. It’s such a nice hotel – surely it can make up for the travel time!

Walking along Gurney Drive sourcing for dinner.

We decided to try Bali Hai Seafood Restaurant at Gurney Drive, Penang as I was attracted to the Bali-themed decoration.

Huge selection of fresh seafood available at Bali Hai Seafood Restaurant. You can come up to this area and choose what you like to have!

Steam Live Prawns 300g RM24++.

Sambal Asparagus RM12++.

Fried mussels with Aroma Spicy Sauce RM15++.

Chilli Crab with Steam Buns RM52++. Oh yes, also had 2 bottles of Carlsberg at RM27++ to go along with the meal too!

Night setting of Bali Hai Seafood Restaurant. Very nice!

After the dinner at Bali Hai Seafood Restaurant at Gurney Drive, we took a cab to New World Park at RM15. Wanted to try Old Town White Coffee before I leave Penang.

Old Town White Coffee.

Mango and Cranberry Smoothie at Old Town White Coffee.

The next morning, we arranged for hotel limousine service to drive us to Penang International Airport after we had our breakfast. Reached the airport and immediately checked-in our luggage.

There was still some time left before our flight boarding so we relaxed at The Coffee Bean and shared a cup of Mocha.

This trip was pretty short for me as I only had 1 and 1/2 days to explore around. There were several attractions that I wanted to visit but did not due to the short stay. The next time I return to Penang, I will make sure to stay at one of the resorts at Batu Ferringhi and relax!

Related posts:

1. A Day in Penang 1
2. A Day in Penang

Second day in Penang (槟城), woke up around 7.30am and headed to the coffee lounge beside the hotel lobby to have our free breakfast buffet. After the breakfast, my wife went to attend her training which was also held at one of the meeting rooms in the hotel. I had another quick look at the free map which I took from the hotel lobby before stepping out to explore.

Walking along Jalan Burma towards KOMTAR (Malay: Kompleks Tun Abdul Razak). Spotted some colonial styled shop houses along the way.

Coin-operated parking meter that are still used in Georgetown, Penang. Interesting!

TuneHotels.com in Penang. Have heard great reviews about this hotel!

Another colonial-styled houses. Love the gold trimmings on the gate as it brings out the delicate design.

KOMTAR (Malay: Kompleks Tun Abdul Razak) – the tallest building in Penang.

On the top of the cross-junction bridge, noticed that there is an old building beside it.

Street view from the bridge. It was about 9.30am, traffic was smooth.

Slowly made my way to the bus station at KOMTAR and waited for a short while before boarding the bus. As there are various prices for different destination (depending on distance) so normally I will ask for the price for destination when I board the bus. You pay during then and will be handed a ticket as above. The buses are operated under Rapid Penang and you can check out their website for journey planner.

Shops near the bus stop (in Ayer Itam) where I alighted for my destination to Kek Lok Si (极乐寺).

It’s a busy morning! Rows of shops and stalls selling almost everything. At the far end of the road, there is a local wet market as well.

The Kuan Yin Octagonal Pavilion was only recently completed on 6th December 2009.

Reached Kek Lok Si’s Kuan Yin Octagonal Pavilion.

The area where you can purchase offerings for prayers. I made a purchase for 3 joss sticks for my prayers.

A resting pavilion at Kek Lok Si.

Ticket counter for incline lift to Five Directions Buddha Great Hall.

Made the ticket purchase for return trip at RM4. Then proceeded to queue up for the lift to arrive.

Inside the incline lift to visit the Five Directions Buddha Great Hall.

Five Directions Buddha Great Hall.

A long rows of Buddhas.

Bird’s eye view of Georgetown, Penang from Kek Lok Si.

Building beside the Five Directions Buddha Great Hall.

Very colorful and interesting architecture.

Walk up the stairs to 2nd level and you will see 3 Buddha in the room.

Went up to the Kuan Yin Octagonal Pavilion for closer look and to pray as well.

My first Penang Laksa RM3 that I had in Penang at a coffee shop outside of Kek Lok Si.

The stall that sells the Penang Laksa. There are several other food in the coffee shop as well.

Realized that I have not taken any photo of the Rapid Penang bus that I have been taking so I quickly took a snap while waiting for my bus to arrive.

While waiting for bus to arrive, I saw a stall (well, it’s a stall on a motorcycle) that is selling Penang Muah Chee ( glutinous rice balls coated in toasted peanuts). Decided to give it a go!

My RM2 worth of Penang Muah Chee . It was soft and chewy!

The interior of the Rapid Penang bus.

Took the Rapid Penang bus back to KOMTAR area and visited Prangin Mall. Went up to the 4th floor to check out the tech products!

Another area of Prangin Mall. There are a total of 167 Tenant in Prangin Mall. Cathay Cineplex is on the 5th floor!

At KOMTAR Walk, chanced upon Cafe Penang Road Famous Teochew Chendol and decided to give it a try due to the hot weather.

Original Chendol RM5.50. My bad, focusing is totally out!

The interior of Cafe Penang Road Famous Teochew Chendol. Nicely decorated with many old antiques!

Ghee Hiang (义香) at 216 Jalan Macalister – one of the famous traditional biscuits brands in Penang. The huge crowd in front was bought by tour operators as there was several big coach buses parked at the main road.

Another famous and popular biscuits brand in Penang – Him Heang (馨香). There is only one shop in Penang and it’s located at 162A Burma Road. Pre-ordering is recommended due to the limited daily production. I made an order for 2 boxes of Tau Sar Pneah (豆沙饼) and 2 boxes of Beh Teh Sor (马蹄酥) to be collected the next day.

After ordering the traditional biscuits from Him Heang, I continued my walk up Jalan Burma to visit Wat Chaiya Mangkalaram. I had some difficulties locating this area as I thought I have overshot it but actually I need walk further down (after asking a local lady). The above is Dhammikarama Burmese Temple which is located opposite Wat Chaiya Mangkalaram.

Entrance of Wat Chaiya Mangkalaram. The temple was built in 1845.

Walking into Wat Chaiya Mangkalaram.

Spectacular Reclining Buddha at Wat Chaiya Mangkalaram – one of the largest Reclining Buddha in the world, measuring 33 meters in length and is completely gold plated.

After the visit at Wat Chaiya Mangkalaram, I walked back to hotel to meetup with wifey. Then we took the 6.30pm free hotel shuttle bus (prior reservations required) to Gurney Drive and alighted at Plaza Gurney. Walking down to the Gurney Food Center.

Huge crowd was already forming at Gurney Food Center. Quickly found an empty seat and then went to order food.

Cantonment Road Famous Char Koay Teow at Gurney Drive. Can’t remember the price but believe it was RM3! It was really yummy!

Penang Laksa with additional fish ball for RM4. Wifey had this as I have already consumed one bowl during my lunch.

Oh, the “Cantonment Road Famous Char Koay Teow” stall where I ordered my Char Koay Teow from.

Hokkien Prawn Mee RM3.50.

After dinner, we headed off to Plaza Gurney to walk around and do some shopping.

Plaza Gurney is the second largest shopping mall in Penang. The interior is classy!

While strolling around Plaza Gurney, A&W restaurant caught my attention as I have not patronize it since many moons ago. This is because A&W have pulled out from Singapore for quite sometime already (since 2004) and the only way for Singaporeans to eat it is to travel overseas (nearest either Johor, Malaysia or Batam, Indonesia). The A&W at Plaza Gurney have a retro-styled design.

My order for Beef Coney Dog Set RM13.35 – upgraded with Curly Fries and Root Beer Float. Was asked to take a seat first and the Coney Dog will be delivered when it’s ready.

Eating the A&W Beef Coney Dog. It may seemed like I have eaten a lot for dinner but trust me that this is just the replenishment for the energy I used up while walking around for the whole day.

After the meal, we took a cab back to Hotel Royal Penang at RM12. The taxis in Penang do not use the meters and you need to ask/negotiate for the rate to your destination before boarding!

Related posts:

1. A Day in Penang 2
2. A Day in Penang

Recently my wife had to go Penang (Malaysia) for some training and since I was on annual leave, I decided to accompany her there and spend the whole day exploring around on my own. Actually, we wanted to catch the morning flight but it was sold out so we settled for the 3.45pm SilkAir flight from Singapore to Penang. Arrived at Singapore Changi Airport T2 early so we went for a short coffee session after we have checked-in our luggage.

Walking towards our boarding gate. The departure display was already showing “Last Call” so we hurried our footsteps.

Reached Penang International Airport after 1 hour 20 mins journey. We are staying in Hotel Royal Penang and have arranged for airport pick-up service. Arrived at the hotel within half hour.

Work desk, TV console and mini-bar area at Hotel Royal Penang. We bought the red wine on the desk at the duty-free shop at Singapore Changi Airport so that we can bring it out for dinner with wifey’s boss & colleague later.

Wash Room. Wifey noted that there was some urine stains on the toilet seat! Apparently, it was not cleaned thoroughly!

Together with another colleauge, we met up with wifey’s boss (based in Penang) at the hotel lobby and he drove us to a kampong-styled restaurant somewhere in Bukit Tambun for dinner. The journey took around 1 hour as the traffic was peaking. Anyway, the first thing I noticed when we reached the restaurant was the Horseshoe crab. Hmm….wonder how it taste like? Oh, I also heard that you might get poisoning if you eat the wrong part? Is is true?

The rest of the seafood delicacies the restaurant have to offer.

Was about 7.40pm when we arrived at Gee Seng Seafood Restaurant (義成海鮮樓) and there was already quite a huge crowd of local diners there.

Some spiked snails that you need a toothpick to dig out the meat and dunk it into sambal chilli before devouring it. First time trying and it’s not that bad!

Stir-fry clams. The gravy works well on the white rice that we having.

Chilli crab with man tou (deep-fried buns).

Baked mud crabs. Comes with a wooden stick to crack the shell!

Prawns coated with salted egg yolk. Heavenly!

Well, the total damage for the dinner for 4 person worked out to be around RM110 and I find it really affordable! So next time if you are in Penang, please do visit Bukit Tambun as there are numerous seafood restaurants with vast offerings of fresh and cheap seafood!

After the dinner, we head back to the hotel to rest as wifey needs to wake up early for her training the next day. So for me, I just made some notes on which attraction in Georgetown I will be visiting the next day. After all. the inner city of Georgetown is a UNESCO World Heritage Site!

Related posts:

1. A Day in Penang 2
2. A Day in Penang 1

Recently went to Sim Lim Square to purchase a new desktop PC as my old one that I have been using for years is slowing down considerably. I have also been pondering to change for ages and now when many cool games (Dragon Age, Left 4 Dead 2, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, Mafia II, Max Payne 3, etc) are being or going to be realeased, it only motivates me further to upgrade. Total damage for the new system (without speakers, keyboard, mouse and monitor) is S$1226, which I will breakdown later in the post.

NZXT Beta Evo mid tower black steel chassis at S$79.

NZXT Beta Evo

• Black Internal finish for sleek look
• Support for up to 6 120mm fans with the option of dual 140mm at the top
• Meshed front panel allows for better airflow than traditional cases

More specification, information and product awards can be found on NZXT webby.

Intel Core i5-750 Processor for my Quad-Core Desktop.

MSI P55-CD53 mainboard and Intel Core i5-750 Processor bundle is at S$468. Both comes with 3 years warranty each.

Seasonic M12II 500W PSU at S$119. The PSU is modular and comes with 5 years warranty.

Team Elite DDR3 2 x 2GB (4GB) Set at S$146. Love the RAM heat sinks and it’s ideal for overclocking.

Samsung DVDRW 22X SATA at S$34.

Western Digital Caviar Green 1TB SATA at S$121. Actually wanted to get a Caviar Black but because I have another 1TB Green, I thought I could RAID them next time if I decide to go with network storage.

MSI R5770 (ATI Radeon) at S$259. 850MHz Core, 1GB GDDR5 4800MHz Memory and with DirectX 11 & OpenCL support.

Fixed up all the parts and spent about 15mins to do some cable management. It’s really a spacious chassis which is good for air circulation. Oh, the chassis comes with 1 x 120mm fan (with blue LED) at the front grille. I will put up a couple of the 120mm fans soon!

Connected the new desktop to my 42″ plasma TV via HDMI to try and after which continue with the installation of Windows 7. After the usual process of updating and installing the necessary drivers, the first thing I did was install Left 4 Dead 2 and played for a couple of hours on the TV. It was really cool to play games on a big screen but there was some issues as well – my wireless keyboard and mouse was spoilt so I have to use a wired set, which caused me to stretch my arms to play due to the short cable lenght. Also I have to sit on the floor to play as the keyboard & mouse was on my coffee table and this hurts my bums! Wahahaha!

Think next up, I will consider to buy

1. Wired or Wireless keyboard/mouse ( I will be using the desktop in study room)
2. 24″ LCD monitor (now using a 17″ Samsung LCD)
3. A couple of Coolermaster 120mm fans (to lower temperature when loading the CPU/GPU)

Maybe I will do some overclocking to benchmark too! But most importantly, the desktop is for me to do some work and of course, play some games when I am free!

No related posts.

I attended AFA09 – Anime Festival Asia on 21st Nov 2009, which was held at Suntec Singapore International Convention and Exhibition Centre. AFA09 is featuring merchadise, live acts and performances, anime / manga and Japanese popular culture. By the time I reached the exhibition halls, I was already greeted by a very long queue at the ticketing booth. I should have go and get the ticket first before I go for my lunch.

Anyway, regardless of the long queue, I still waited patiently for 45 mins before it was my turn to get the tickets. Adult ticket for one day entry is at S$15 and for weekend pass (2 days) is at S$25. I got the one day pass as I was unable to attend on the second day due to other appointments.

Walking to the entrance of the exhibition hall (403 to 404) where there are AFA crew to check on the tickets before letting you in.

First stop, Bandai booth for all your Gundam needs!

Art demonstration at the Imaginary Friends Studios booth.

Passed by 2 cosplayers where some folks are taking photos. Decided to take as well.

CoFesta 2009 booth.

Karaoke Joysound Wii at Xing booth.

Moe Moe Kyun Maid Cafe.

One of the few dollfie that I saw in AFA’09.

Another dollfie.

A booth that showcase artwork from various organizations as well as some individual talented artists.

Ben 10 booth.

Of course, Power Rangers are around as well.

Cospa booth, where there have various merchandise on sale.

Tokyo Figure Show in Singapore – brought to you by Dannychoo.com & Good Smile Company.

Mirai Suenaga Figma.

Otacool (Worldwide Otaku Rooms) by Kotobukiya at AFA 09.

First Regional Cosplay Championship in Asia.

Two cute girls posing for the many cameras!

Replica swords on sale at one of the booth.

A group of cosplayers in the exhibition halls.

Live art demonstration at Storm Lion booth.

2 kawaii girls from Storm Lion handling out free paperbacks to visitors to hold the stuffs and information they have gotten from the exhibitors. Thanks!

Wow, they sell guns in AFA 09 too! Errm, replica guns ….

Evangelion branded UCC Coffee at S$3. There was a few designs available but I chose the one with Shinji Ikari and Evangelion Unit 01. ^^;

Danny Choo special appearance on the stage at 3.30pm, where he spoke about his background, what he does, life in Japan, etc.

Danny Choo, the Tokyo Dance Trooper… in SINGAPORE!!! (Part 1)

Danny Choo, the Tokyo Dance Trooper… in SINGAPORE! (Part 2)

Danny Choo talking about his Storm Trooper armor maintenance.

Son Goku (Dragon Ball).

PG 00 Raiser. Pre-odering available at the Bandai booth at special price.

Level 1 of Suntec Singapore International Convention and Exhibition Centre taken from Level 3. There seems to be some other events going-on as well.

At level 3 of the exhibition centre, there are many cosplayers that gathered here for photo taking and is drawing a huge crowd. So of the cosplay photos below for your viewing!

Related posts:

1. Gundam Fiesta Singapore 2009
2. GCA 2009 – Cosplay/Games/Babes

Here I am at Marina South Pier (滨海南码头) to take a ferry to Kusu Island (Singapore). There are also other regular ferries service heading for Saint John’s Island as well. It’s my first time going to Kusu Island!

Also I am not going to elaborate more about Kusu Island, as Wikipedia already contains huge information on it. In brief, Kusu Island is also known as “Turtle Island” and located on the island is a popular Chinese temple – Da Bo Gong or Tua Pek Kong (The Merchant God or God of Prosperity).

Bought the return ferry tickets to Kusu Island at S$14 and was quickly hurried to board the ferry as it was about to depart. Took this when I was already comfortably seated in the ferry.

The interior of the ferry. During Kusu Pilgrimage Season (18 October 2009 to 16 November 2009), ferry services to St john’s island are suspended. The annual Kusu Pilgrimage Season traditionally falls on the ninth month of the Chinese lunar calendar and more than 100,000 devotees and visitors visited the tiny Kusu Island. Yup, I visited on the last day of the pilgrimage season so as to avoid the crowds.

After a 15mins ferry ride, I reached Kusu Island. Signboard above detailing about the history of Kusu Island.

Walking along the walkway and towards the popular Da Bo Gong temple (on the right).

Before you reach the Chinese temple, there is a wishing well where you can try to throw coins and hit any of the 3 bells in the lotus. If you manage to hit any of the bells, I believe it means that your wishes are heard and will come true!

The pavilion where the wishing well is located. Looks like most visitors try their hands at the wishing well!

Heading towards the Da Bo Gong or Tua Pek Kong (The Merchant God or God of Prosperity) temple.

In the Tua Pek Kong (The Merchant God or God of Prosperity) temple, you can find many tortoises that are reared by the attendants. Some visitors use coins to strike the back of the tortoise, I suppose it’s for luck, wealth or prosperity, which I promptly followed as well.

The main building which houses several deities, of which, the two main deities are the Da Bo Gong (Tua Pek Kong) and Guan Yin (Goddess of Mercy). Offerings are sold at S$2 each.

After my prayers and offerings, I went to the food centre to grab some drink to quench my thrist. Although it wasn’t sunny but the weather was still pretty humid. Washrooms are nearby here too!

The food stalls at the food centre seems to be like a temporary setup, which occurs only during the Kusu Pilgrimage Season. There was only 3 stalls available during this time, maybe because it’s already the last day of the pilgrimage. Anyway, the nostalgic setup prompted me to try the food.

This was what I had – Pokka Green Tea S$1.50 and Oyster Omelet S$4.

Walking around the coastal line of Kusu Island, it seems to be a nice place to have a picnic. I also noticed that there were a few barbecue pits around but your barbecue will have to take place way before 1700hours as that’s the last ferry back. Overnight stay is not permitted on the island.

Pristine beaches and tranquil settings, away from the bustling city life. The swimming lagoon seems to be a nice place to enjoy the sun and sand.

Tortoise Sanctuary, where there are enormous amount of tortoises.

City skyline from Kusu Island. I can see the Singapore Flyer as well the upcoming Marina Bay Sands Integrated Resort. The skies is turning black and seems like it’s going to rain pretty soon.

Didn’t want to get stuck on Kusu Island because of the upcoming rain, so quickly hurried back to the ferry terminal to catch my ride back to Marina South Pier. Last ferry is 1700 hours and 0vernight stay is strictly not permitted on the island.

Showing the interior of the ferry as this is a different model from the one I took when I came. You can go and enjoy the cooling sea breeze on the open upper deck. But it’s not a good choice for me as it’s going to rain soon!

After alighting the ferry, at another berth, I noticed this Chinese style cruise boat and believe that you can also take this and cruise around the Singapore waters. For more information, you might have to check out Singapore Island Cruise. Anyway, leaving you with the directions to Marina South Pier. Those who are driving, there are parking facilities nearby too!

Photos on this blog post are taken on Panasonic DMC-LX3K 10.1MP Digital Camera.

No related posts.

Just visited the Singapore Zoo (opened on 27 June 1973 with total land area of 28 hectares) on a Sunday noon. Yes, I got free tickets as well so did not visit the tickets counter.

For more information on tickets, please visit Singapore Zoo official website. The day’s weather was pretty bad – it was raining and sunny at one point or another. Made it really difficult to roam around as well as taking photos.

Ah Meng Kopi at the entrance where you can grab some snacks – coffee, tea, toast, eggs, etc. Ben & Jerry’s, KFC, Pizzafari can also be found at the entrance area too!

Went in through the entrance and went straight to check out the map of Singapore Zoo as well as the animal shows timing. By the way, you will be also given a hand-held map when you go through the entrance.

Despite the weather conditions, there was still quite a crowd visiting the Singapore Zoo.

First up – Otters.

Babirusa.

Typical open-concept landscape that you will see in Singapore Zoo. Either you can walk around or go on Wild Discovery Tour, Tram Ride or Boat Ride where various tickets prices applies.

Beautiful landscape at Singapore Zoo. Made me feel that I am not in Singapore.

Hamadryas Baboons at “The Great Rift Valley of Ethiopia”.

An exhibit of a typical landscape that you will see in Ethiopia. If I remembered correctly, the above huts are used for grain storage.

African Spurred Tortoise having a humping good time!

Elephants of Asia – Seats are available for you to view the “Elephants at Work and Play” show.

Two playful elephants having a splash at the water and also to cool down from the hot weather.

“Rainforest Fights Back” show at the Shaw Foundation Amphitheatre.

Elephant rides at S$8 for each adult/children. Other rides such as wild animal carousel, horse carriage, pony are available as well.

Some ice for you at Ben & Jerry’s. Food also available at this area too!

An Meng Restaurant – which was themed after the beloved celebrity orang utan, Ah Meng. You can also attend the award winning programme “Jungle Breakfast with Wildlife”, where you can have breakfast with orang utans, elephants and snake. The programme runs daily from 9.00am to 10.30am.

One of the 3 white tigers we have in Singapore Zoo. The 3 white tigers are named – Omar, Winnie and Jippie.

Giant Tortoise are known for their long life, with average lifespan of 100 years or more.

Rhinoceros Iguana.

Horned Lizard.

Komodo Dragon.

Meerkat.

Zebra.

Female Nyala.

Rhinocerous.

Mandrill.

Agile Wallaby.

Kangaroo.

Orang Utan.

Thanks for looking although I didn’t take much photos due to the rain. Anyway, Singapore Zoo offers more that what I have posted as it contain 315 species (16% of which are threatened species) and the total number of specimens is 2530. Also, Singapore Zoo also gets around 1.5 million visitors per year! So do consider to visit if you are in Singapore!

Photos on this blog post are taken on Panasonic DMC-LX3K 10.1MP Digital Camera and Canon EOS 400D Camera (aka Digital Rebel XTi).

Related posts:

1. Jurong Birk Park Singapore

Wow! It’s been a while since I last done a weekly series of my life in Singapore so will continue with this blog post before I starting for forgot the details. Starting off with a set lunch at Yoyogi Japanese Restaurant – Tori Karaage Set S$14.50++.

Saba Shio Set at Yoyogi Japanese Restaurant S$14.50++. Both set lunch comes with green tea. Overall, I find the food tasty, fresh and worthwhile. Will be back for more!

Some home cook food (not cooked by me).

Stir-fried Vegetables with Abalone.

Spicy stir-fried prawns with spring onions.

Steam Red Snapper.

Lotus Root Soup.

Pork In Sweet And Sour Sauce. Errm, what’s the sauce?

Here is the Sweet And Sour Sauce. It is purposely separated so that the pork will not be soaked soggy and still retain the crunchy outer layer. Need sauce? Just dunk the pork in the sauce!

Sea cucumber stewed with mushrooms, black moss (fa cai) and vegetables in gravy.

Wandering around at Raffles City, while waiting for a friend to join for lunch. Think it was a Monday noon and there wasn’t much people around. Wanted to do some window shopping but my friend turned up early.

Take-away dinner – Seafood Mui Fan (white rice served “wet”, with sauce or gravy on top) S$3.50.

Take-away dinner – Yi Mian S$3.50. We usually eat in front of the television and will lay old newspapers on the table so that no wiping is required after we finished the food. Wahaha!

Whampoa Food Center. You can find a lot of tasty food here!

Went to the older food center instead to have breakfast. It was about 9am when I reached.

Large Wan Tan Mee at S$3. Delicious! But I seldom pass by Whampoa area so maybe I have pen it down somewhere to come back and try other tasty food available.

Off to Clarke Quay to grab some booze. Day view of The Cannery @ Clarke Quay.

Wheat Ale 500ml (1-for-1 before 8pm) at The Pump Room @ Clarke Quay S$12++. Remembered that the happy hour 1-for-1 promotion on Monday is till 10pm. Will be back with whole gang then. Ha ha!

Second round – India Pale Ale 500ml at The Pump Room @ Clarke Quay S$12++. Those who have UOB credit card, please use it to pay for the bills as you will be entitled to 15% discount.

Night view of The Cannery @ Clarke Quay. It’s a nice place to chill out, dine and drink. Love the ambiance!

Passing by Kwan Im Thong Hood Cho Temple and went in to offer my prayers.

The outside of Kwan Im Thong Hood Cho Temple, where you can buy fruits, flowers, stuff as offerings for Goddess of Mercy.

Went to a nearby food center to have Prawn Noodles S$4. This is one of the popular prawn noodles in Singapore and it’s very yummy!

Oh, beside Kwan Im Thong Hood Cho Temple, you can find Sri Krishnan Hindu Temple as well. Most devotees who came to this area usually will pray at both temples.

In front of the Sri Krishnan Hindu Temple, there was a tentage and offers free food to the devotees who are queuing patiently for their turn to be shown their seats. Must be some festive or auspicious day!

Walking around in Bugis area and saw a car with many balloons sticking out of the sunroof. Are they trying to fly?

Claypot Chicken Rice S$10 (for 2 person). Well, you have to fish out the chicken, Chinese sausages, vegetables from the claypot and put them on a plate. Then add dark soy sauce and oil into the claypot (both to each preferences) and mixed well. Once done, it’s ready to be served. Believe the main reason that most people separate the ingredients out is that we just want to season the white rice.

Side dish to go along with Claypot Chicken Rice – Herbal Black Chicken Soup S$3.

Also ordered some healthy Stir-fried Vegetables with Oyster Sauce to go along as the vegeables that comes along with the Claypot Chicken Rice is not adequate for us.

Queuing up to pump Shell FuelSave 98 promotion at S$1 per litre. I waited for around 45mins before it’s my turn to pump. Also heard from the media that this promotion cause huge jams all around as Shell offers this 1-day promotion island-wide. For info, the usual pump price hovers around S$1.80 to S$1.90 per litre region (before discount).

Selera Rasa Nasi Lemak (Ang Mo Kio). My above combination is S$4.

Take-away dinner again as we seldom cook at home. This time is Xing Zhou Mi Fen S$3.50.

Chai Tow Kway (Carrot Cake) S$2.50.

Some fashion event happening at Ngee Ann City. Passing by to head off to ION Orchard (check out my ION Orchard Walkabout post).

Large Katsu Curry at Tonkatsu Ginza Bairin (at ION Orchard) S$15.90.

This week post consists mainly of food. I will take photos of more places in Singapore to show you in the next weekly series!

Photos on this blog post are taken on Panasonic DMC-LX3K 10.1MP Digital Camera.

Related posts:

1. A Week in Singapore 3
2. A Week in Singapore
3. Burger King® Whopper™ Bar Singapore

Yo Guys! On Sat 11am (31st Oct 2009), I made my way to Google Singapore office at Temasek Tower to attend Code Android Singapore meetup. Didn’t park at Temasek Tower as there are hourly charges before 1pm. Instead, I parked at UIC Building which is S$3 per entry for the whole day but have to walk around 5 mins to Temasek Tower. Morning walk is good!

Code Android Singapore is basically a Google Android™ Developers and User Group, where the community can learn about the platform, latest news, reviews and such. In the Code Android Oct 09 meetup, Hongster (Leong Hean Hong) will be talking about “ColorFilter For The Dummies” and Royyuru Avinash on “Monetizing on Android”. I didn’t take much photos during the Code Android session as I was really focusing on the talks (due to the unfamiliarity of Android platform).

Anyway, the above shows the pantry corner of Google Singapore office, where the Google staff can help themselves to the drinks and food. Thanks to Google Singapore that attendees of the Code Android and Singapore Google Technology User Group (SG-GTUG) enjoys the same privileges!

Fast-forwarded the Code Android session, I continued with Singapore Google Technology User Group (SG-GTUG) Oct 09 meetup, which is held at Google Singapore office as well at 2pm.

Singapore Google Technology User Group, or SG-GTUG for short, is a Singapore-based non-profit developers group to learn, share and know more about Google technologies. The group was started by a group of Google fans and enthusiasts who are interested in using Google’s evolving technologies and APIs.

Today’s topic is “Learn How to Ride the (Google) Wave” which attracted quite a turnout. Also, this is the second meetup session organised by SG-GTUG (more information here).

1:30-2:00pm Registration
2:00-2:10pm Announcements by SG-GTUG
2:10-2:45pm Talk + Demo 1 — Pamela Fox: Google Wave APIs Overview (via VC)
2:45-3:10pm Talk + Demo 2 — Nazrul Kamaruddin: Hello Roboto!
3:10-3.30pm Break for refreshments
3:30-3:55pm Talk + Demo 3 — Lim Chee Aun: Pentago on Wave
3:55-4:20pm Talk + Demo 4 — Shinchi: Video Conferencing with Google Wave!
4:20-4:30pm Upcoming Google Wave Hackathon, SG-GTUG matters, prize giving, Q&A
4:30pm onwards Refreshment & mingle

Ming from SocialWok setting up the video camera to capture all the talks/presentation for the day. Those who missed this or previous session may want to subscribe to SG-GTUG channel on YouTube so that you can view all the videos uploaded. By the way, Google and SocialWok are the corporate sponsors for SG-GTUG.

Pamela Fox, Google Developer Relations joining us via video conferencing from Sydney, Australia and speaking on Google Wave APIs overview. It took a while to get the video conferencing running, but after figuring for about 20mins, it was running smoothly and was awesome!

A short break for refreshments and some snacks. Attendees patiently queuing in-line for their turn.

Break-0ut area at Google Singapore office. Well, you can have a game of table tennis here or just relax at a corner! What a nice office!

The far-right of the photo leads to Google Singapore employee’s work area, where, of course, we the attendees are prohibited from entering. Well, it will be nice to be brought around, just to have an insight into their work culture and blog about it.

More free food and snacks for Google Singapore employees. Just need to watch the intake!

I got the above SG-GTUG T-shirt for S$18 in support and contribution to the non-profit SG-GTUG so that we could still continue to have more of this meetup sessions where ideas are shared among the attendees. Moreover, SG-GTUG was started by a group of Google fans and enthusiasts who are interested in using Google’s evolving technologies and APIs. So it will be good if any form of contribution/help can be rendered!

Next session of SG-GTUG will be touching on Google Maps and Google Earth. Please do check back on SG-GTUG webby if you are interested!

Photos on this blog post are taken on Panasonic DMC-LX3K 10.1MP Digital Camera.

Related posts:

1. Web Wednesday Singapore 19.0
2. BeerOut! Oct 09 by The Digital Movement

Last evening (29th Oct 09), I went to an event organized by The Digital Movement (TDM) called “BeerOut!”, which was held at Loof (roof top bar). This is only the second time BeerOut! is running and it’s actually a monthly casual gathering for the TDM community where interested attendees can engage in talks about digital and technology.

For those who are not familar with TDM, please refer to following excerpt from TDM’s website :-

The Digital Movement (TDM) is a dynamic, global community of digital professionals and enthusiast. Founded in 2006 by a group of passionate young people, TDM’s vision is to bring thought leadership in the digital space and is the catalyst that enables the community to learn and grow from each other.

It’s my first time attending this event so pretty much everyone I met initially is new. But later in the event, I did managed to see familiar faces whom I met in other networking events too!. BeerOut! can be also considered as a networking event where you BYOB (Buy Your Own Beer), chill out and meet folks from the digital community.

I had an awesome time at the event and was also pretty engaged in a number of interesting and constructive conversation. I hope the rest of the attendees enjoyed it as well! Look how happy we are with the ice-cold beer in our hands.

View from Loof where you admire the nice scenery. Oh, by the way, actually there was a lot more people attending BeerOut! Oct 09 but at the earlier stage, a lot of us was concentrating on networking with other attendees so there was no photo taking. Also, some of the attendees left early for other venues or to head back home. Anyway, if you are interested, you may want to register at TDM to be a member (free at the moment) and get email updates for the next BeerOut! session. See you then!

Related posts:

1. Code Android & SG-GTUG Oct 09 Meetup
2. Web Wednesday Singapore 19.0