From the west to the South, from the South to the East now. Boy, we sure made full use of the car to travel around to different places in different parts of Singapore. Here we are in the Eastern part of Singapore, Changi Broad Walk. Again, I wanted to show the girl the place but without a car, it's difficult to get there. Finally, the chance came. =)

Next stop, the Southern, sunny island of Singapore, Sentosa! It was my first time driving into Sentosa. Haa. Ever since Sentosa started the flowers fiesta on a yearly basis, the girl and I never failed to show up. We were there last year, only of different status. =) Armed with a DSLR and tripod, I was there yet again to capture some of the beautiful flowers. However, this year the variety wasn't that great compared to the last. Still, the festival managed to capture lots of people and bees, even on a weekday!
Till then, Sentosa Flowers 2010! =P

Da-dah... Presenting to you another nice place in the West: Henderson Waves! Yet another place which I have wanted to show the girl, I gladly chauffeured her with "my" car after which we finished the house visiting for the day to the nice and beautiful palce. The girl was in awe of the architecture, which was so beautifully lit at night. Only that she was making too much noise, as she was in heels on that day! =P Nevertheless, it never stopped us from creating memories by photo snapping! =)

Our journey continues... to Jurong Hill Top!!! I have always wanted to bring the girl to this place as it was one of the nice scenic place at night. It's overlooking Jurong Island! Another nice and quiet place. And another new found place...

It is once again the Lunar New Year period. This year, with the girl by my side, I decided to rent a car over the CNY period to travel around for house visiting. Of course, with some touring around of Singapore. Our first stop, Marina Barrage. Both of us made our way down, together with Teck and Ronald joining us. It was my first time there as well as the girl's too!!

Upon reaching there, we were greeted by the mesmerizing colors of the beautiful fountain. It got us straight into the snapping mood.

The girl has never tried Lim Chee Guan Bak Kwa before! Knowing she has a craving for bak kwa and that Chinese New Year is coming soon, I PERSONALLY made the trip down to Chinatown and queue up for it. I can assure everyone that queuing for Lim Chee Guan bak kwa is no joke!! Safety precautions to take note:

1) Hydrate yourself
2) Have plenty of rest the night before
3) Bring a field chair
4) Bring your Ipod/Itouch to entertain yourself
5) Wear lighter clothing
6) Bring a mini fan if you have one
7) Best still, get a maid to do it if you have one!

It was more tiring than running a marathon!!! I queued up for about 4 hours just for it!! Unless you got the time, if not just send your maid to queue. There was this Bangladesh worker queuing in front of me, wanting to buy 25kg of bak kwa!!! OMG!! Almost can't get what I wanted. Heng...

After trying out personally to queue once, I seriously don't think I gonna do it again..., unless someone paid me to do it =P

Look at my new, cute working socks!! Hmm..., Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday? Does that mean we only need to wear socks on these 3 days? Although, I know that these are the 3 most boring days of the week... Then what about the other days? Haa. Does that rule out that people don't have to wear socks on the remaining 4 days? =P It is so interesting isn't it? A new pair of socks designed for each day, just like going with your mood for choices of clothes. Gosh, interesting concept I would say. They even have socks printed with days like public holiday and Sunday!! Credits to my girl who spotted it and asking me to get it for replacement of my current torn socks. Hopefully, they will come out with another set of Thursday, Friday and Saturday! =)

Don't be mistaken by the name of the cafe. It is NOT in Plaza Singapura. In fact, there are 3 outlets all in Orchard area. The PS Cafe, a place filled with colonial British style, really gives you a quiet yet relaxing mood to enjoy your meals with much tranquility.


The girl and I met up for lunch at PS Cafe, Palais, with our stomach growling and rumbling. Without further ado, we ordered our food. The portion was really small (at least for me). However, the girl couldn't even finish her share! Looks like it's another food swallowing duty for me.... =P

With that, we ended off with a little chat and made our way to do our shopping! =)

It is true that I am a Romance of the Three Kingdoms fan. I am so intrigued by the story and this time round, their movies. I would say that I have not missed out on most or in fact all of their movies made. Not to mention Red Cliff, which is such a significant part in the history. The movie, hosted by a big and well known cast such as Zhang Fengyi as Cao Cao, Tony Leung Chiu-Wai as Zhou Yu, Takeshi Kaneshiro as Zhuge Liang and Hu Jun as Zhao Zilong truely makes the movie standout, compared to other Romance movies. Most of the actors delivered their characters really well, injecting some humor into the whole show.

It was the Lord of the Rings which was a fantastic "war" epic movie which made me go crazy over it. Now, I was in awe with the Red Cliff, just like a chinese version of it. And in case, you all do not know who's my favourite character in Romance of the Three Kingdoms, it would have to be none other than Zhao Yun aka Zilong. =)

Synopsis:

The story of RED CLIFF takes place in 208 AD in China during the Han Dynasty. Despite the presence of an emperor, Han Xiandi, China was then divided into many warring states.

The ambitious Prime Minister Cao Cao, by using the Emperor as his puppet, waged war on a kingdom in the west, Xu, ruled by the emperor’s uncle, Liu Bei. Cao Cao’s ultimate goal was to wipe out all the kingdoms and install himself as Emperor to a unified China. Liu Bei sent his military advisor Zhuge Liang as an envoy to the Wu Kingdom in the south, trying to persuade its ruler Sun Quan into joining forces. There he met Wu’s Viceroy Zhou Yu, and the two became friends amidst this uneasy alliance.

Enraged to learn that the two kingdoms have become allies, Cao Cao sent an army of eight hundred thousand soldiers and two thousand ships down south, hoping to kill two birds with one stone. Cao Cao’s army set up camp at Crow Forest, across the Yangtze River from Red Cliff, where the allies were stationed.

With the food supply running short, and the army vastly outnumbered by Cao Cao’s, the allies seemed doomed. Zhou Yu and Zhuge Liang had to rely on their combined wisdom to turn the tide of battle. Numerous battles of wits and forces, on land and on water, eventually culminated into the most famous battle in Chinese history, where two thousand ships were burned, and the course of China’s history was changed forever. That was the Battle of Red Cliff.

A sweet indulgence for both of us...

Having completed a 21km marathon run in year 2008, I thought it was a good start to finish another long distance walk in the start of 2009. Therefore, over the weekend, the girl and I together with Kelvin, Ailian and Ronald went down to MacRitchie Reservoir for the Tree Top Walk. It was my first time being there, so it kind of got me excited.

Initially, we were all getting excited, choosing the long route in getting to the tree top walk. To our surprise, we had actually covered about 5km, spending like 3hrs in just getting to the tree top walk. And the worst thing is, the whole tree top walk is just about 250m! Phew... At least all of us made it.

But mind you, it was another 5km of walk back to the reservoir where we had started!! And this time round, the journey was filled with ups and downs of stairs and slope. I am no quitter, having to motivate and pull along others. Haa... =P

It was not long before we hit a road and that's where we decided to follow it through and found civilization. Yup pee...

First, it was Japanese Garden, now it was Bottle Tree Park. In case anyone who have never heard of this place, it's in Khatib area, the Northern part of Singapore. The girl had found this place online and wanted to check it out. For me, since I have never been there too, might as well take a look since the place looks quite nice from the website. A Westlander like me, having to travel there was really a torture. It was really far! The whole journey for me to get there took me like an hour! It was much nearer for the girl.

Nevertheless, I shall not complain too much since it was my first time there too. We took our lunch at a nearby Macdonald's before taking a slow stroll to the park. The sky was gloomy by then and it drizzled. Thankfully, it wasn't very heavy initially. It soon got heavier and we had no choice but to take shelter in a coconut hut. That's where we started taking pictures yet again. =D



The park was actually quite small, with the Bottle Tree as the hightlight of the park.

There was a seafood restaurant and a swan lake that allows people to take a swan ride in it. However, it only operates in the evening and cost about 9 dollers per hour!

When the rain stops, we took our leave, knowing that this would not be the only park which we would explore. There would be more to come... Haa...

Year 2008 has passed and let's welcome 2009. It was an eventful year for me as well as many others, even the country was not to be spared. Hopefully 2009 would be a better year not only for me, as well as many others.

The girl and I welcomed 2009 by spending time together, window shopping at Clarke Quay, hoping that we can catch the festivities later on in the area. But before that, we tucked in at Waraku Central for a nice Japanese meal.


It was only after the meal, which we found out that the festivities only will start at a later timing nearer to 12am! Knowing that the girl hates crowded places, we decided to take a slow walk back to city hall area to catch the scene before the countdown. It was really crowded... (That's where we decide to give this year's fireworks a miss and catch it on television instead)

However, we started cam-whoring ourselves yet again, on the walk back to city hall... Haa... =)

It was really nice to spend time with her by my side...
So Happy New Year to you, my dear girl. =)