Singapore: China Town

Saw these very large tiger bags which Chek really likes and decided to take a photo to show him. Turns out Yingjie also really likes these kind of things (?) The Chin sisters certainly have very strange and similar boyfriends haha!

Well, I guess the bags are pretty cool to look at. However, they are still to ridiculous to be used as bags for any occasion in my opinion.

Lunch at Yum Cha!

Address:

20 Trengganu Street (Off Temple Street)

#02-01 (Chinatown)

S058479

Opening Hours:

Mon to Fri: 11am – 11pm

Sat, Sun & Public Holidays: 9am – 11pm

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Apparently, I have been here before but that was when I was very young, which explains why I don't have any recollection of the restaurant. However, the food was really good nonetheless!

Definitely coming back here with my friends or with Mama Chin! However, we got to make sure we do not clash with lunch hour period because it would be quite crowded.

We had:

Century Egg Congee (皮蛋瘦肉粥)

Pork Ribs with Garlic (蒸排骨)

Shrimp Har Gow (水晶虾饺)

Fish Roe Siew Mai (鱼子蒸烧卖)

Red Oil Wontons (红油抄手)

Crystal Chives Dumpling (韭菜粿晶包)

Lotus Leaf Glutinous Rice (糯米鸡)

Custard Buns (奶黄流沙包)

Cripsy Red Bean with Banana (三味香酥并)

Chinatown has changed quite a bit since the last time I came. They've pedestrianised the roads into eateries with pricey local delights. This street above has become much cooler to walk in. Also, I personally like glass structures so I think the newly built roofs give the rustic area a fresh look. I am just a bit weirded out by the commercialised feeling I get as I walked through the area.

I think I can understand better now the problems of re-imaging - haha woah I am applying Human Geography into real life.

- Buddha Tooth Relic Temple & Museum -

Walked passed one of these rare gems - laundry cleaning services. It's pretty uncommon to see such outlets in the city nowadays. I guess that's why it comes off as being so pleasing to the eye. It really reminds me of my Literature book, "Woman Warrior", where there is a Chinese mother running a laundry shop in America.

Pretty shells (and saga seeds) for collectors. I used to collect such items but now I don't really visit the beach as often. It's kind of sad but soon I will be able to do these things again :-)

Model Chin~ Hehe, I really quite like this picture :-)

So Papa Chin bought two random strangers' old report books off the streets of Chinatown. I would say that this is probably one of the most random things he has ever bought. However, at the same time I think it's pretty cool that he finds beauty in collecting these items of memory. Maybe it reminds him of his childhood days when report books looked like these.

To end off our already awesome afternoon, Papa Chin brought us to get some drinks at Chinatown Complex Food Centre. Justine and I shared some Soya Bean Grass Jelly drink :-) We just sat down and cooled off because the weather was pretty hot.

Lastly, Papa Chin had to use the bathroom so he left us in front of this quirky shop. He said he has always wanted to buy things from here but whenever he's free, the shop owner is not in. What luck that when we came the shop was closed as well :-( I would really like to go in and buy some of the cute items. Displayed at the window was a "Buckle Up Key Holder", which would make a really neat birthday present :-)

Update!

Sunday, 21 September

Went for a frisbee session with the ALS people from AJC! It was so much fun seeing everybody again :-) Jiamin, Miguel, Aloysius, Truman, Likxian and Jiayun! I got tanner too, so that's a bonus hehe.

Also, I got another haircut because of Friday's terrible haircut hehe, and I am really happy with the result! I got it cut at the QB House at Square 2. At least now my hair is more or less at the same length (though my fringe still looks funny). Best $12 haircut ever, now I am never going back to haircut appointments haha.

Plus points for Yingjie because he bought me pudding! Hehe, Justine and him are too cute :-) It's Paris Baguette pudding too! Oh, bless their souls~ Could not resist taking a photo of the adorable packaging.

Tuesday, 23 September

Don't usually post ootds but just wanted to share that Chek and I had the most random retail therapy session haha. We bought these batman leggings at Cotton On! They were $10 each but really adorable :-) I can't believe Chek actually bought a pair too (I think he did not realise that they were girl leggings haha).

Wednesday, 24 September

Cheryl bought Bean Boozled Jelly Beans which is some kind of prank food which people eat as a game amongst friends. Identical-looking jelly bean flavours inside the box actually have different tastes - for example, the green ones can either be juicy pear or booger.

Unlucky Juumal is unlucky and I ate the booger flavour, on my first try! What have I done to deserve this :-( Haha, but it was all a good laugh for everyone because the jelly bean was stuck on my tooth which meant that the taste lingered on for much longer :-( Not to mention, I tried to drink some ribena to wash the taste down but ended up spitting everything out of my mouth because Cheryl told a funny joke :<

Haha, overall it was a productive and fun day with my classmates :-)

Friday, 26 September

Finally got to see how Mar and my pillow design came out! We volunteered to design some pillows for Mr Peh and Ms Jiang. I am super happy that it turned out real nice! I like how it's not totally coloured and yet how it's pretty detailed at the same time :-)

I hope the teachers liked the gifts!

Random lego racing car put up at Velocity! Pretty cool though.

Chek + my delicious dinner! He had tomyam noodles and I had a Japanese set meal. It was really good - I like Kopitiam but it can be a little more pricey that I'd like it to be :-( Please remember us kiddos who are not working yet! Hehe.

Post Prelims: Part ➁

Started the morning with a haircut at Bishan - worst decision to follow Chek to his $3.80 haircut! My hair is ruined, for the month or so. SIgh, but what's done is done I guess.

We then went to swim at Thomson 800! The sun was great because it warm and the pool was really cold. We had a good workout by swimming up and down a few times + working out our cores by carrying each other haha. After that we had an awesome warm sun tan under the hot sun :-) I've never just laid down and do nothing but tan myself, and it was a pleasant first experience!

Chek says he likes this picture because he looks slim in it, hehe.

So sad that Chek says my legs look like his (hair ones) :-( Fat legs for life, huh?

Those beautiful sun rays! It was really such good weather.

((Inserts bad quality selfies))

Chek's really into making (apparently) cool looking-into-the-distant poses. Well, at least he's happy that he looks good haha. 

Love this shot :-) The vivid blues turned out well!

Childhood swimming area - jumping on and climbing up the rocks, hehe.

Olympic Foo

Ahh, he's my cute koala bear :--)

hehe, probably the best photo of us of the day.

Our failed attempt at being Vogue. I'm totally not used to doing such poses because I look more like I'm really to murder someone.

Mr. Chek teaching me physics - though I do not really understand it, the ripples/waves he created were pretty!

(he cheated and sucked in his belly, hehehe)

We headed to the Jalan Besar area to check out the URA's Park(ing) Day exhibitions. I was really disappointed though :-( I imagined that there would be quite a crowd with many exhibitions/stalls in public car parks. I guess I was expecting too much (?)

Chek suggested the reason could be that the are we visited was further away from the URA, where possibly there was a greater crowd. Oh well, guess it was not fated!

So, we started our journey again in search for the parking lots in the CBD, nearer to the URA. However, we side tracked and explored the area instead hehe.

Hmm, I love this alley and its grey walls. The window with stark green plants on the inside really stood out! This is near the Lavender Food Square Centre. 

Hehe, Chek's artsy photo he wanted to take of me. I quite like it!

Model Foo in the house! I plucked up the courage to whip out my camera and ask him to pose for me despite the people standing around the bus stop. Good choice :-)

Chek brought me to Parkview Square, saying that I would like the place. Turns out I had already visited the building haha! But I had fun nonetheless :-)

I really like this composition of Abraham Lincoln with the clouds and the trees in the background.

The interior + exterior design really reminds us of The Great Gatsby and The Wolf of Wall Street. The resembles is crazy. (We are not suppose to take photos inside but Chek managed to get a shot before the security guard told us to stop hehe)

The colours are amazing, along with our fabulous model Foo.

Suntec City has changed quite a bit since I've been there! The whole front automatic glass doors have been removed in exchange for this digital screen system. I quite like the change though, especially the lighted escalators.

hehe, I really like this shot because of the blue, desaturated colours of the CBD. I also like the composition of the Esplanade (where we wanted to go but found out it was closed due to the F1) in between the two closer buildings.

Visited St. Andrew's Cathedral as it was on the way to our destination.

Beautiful coloured glass.

The clouds were really scary, and we thought it was going to pour. I love it when the sky splits into two, where its bright on one side and totally gloomy on the other. hehe, Sir Stamford Raffles is protecting the clear skies in this picture :-)

Pretty pinkish cumulonimbus clouds in the distance!

Chek's and my favourite Starbucks :-) The hospitality is really good and I like the ambiance of the outlet.

We managed to see real F1 cars racing for the first time ever! We were really impressed with how the government managed to block out every location to prevent non-payers from being able to view the race. Haha, guess we kind of found a spot they did not close up properly.

Overall, we felt that the F1 race was pretty cool - there was an adrenaline rush through our bodies as we approached the CBD are where the sounds of the race cars zooming pass were getting louder. However, other than that the whole event overflows with negative externalities - noise pollution, major inconvenience for drivers on the roads and pedestrians trying to get through the CBD area.

The above photos really prove that the day was incredibly fun! Hehe, exploring places with my main man is one of my favourite past times ^_^ It be really cool if we could travel together in places out fo Singapore. One day, I'll make it happen!

Hehe, we did not take photos of our dinner because we just stuffed our faces when we got our food. We had pasar malam food at Toa Payoh, something we had been planning since last week. We had Ramlee Burgers, Vada, Takoyaki and sweet drinks :-) So so satisfying despite our complaints of being overweight hehehe.

To end off the day, we meet Yingjie, my sister's boyfriend! It was pretty awkward at first because he is quite a shy guy, but it got quite fun when we started eating our Chinese desserts and talking :-) I hope my sister stays happy! ^_^