40 Minutes is Too Long

15 August 2020

Met a friend of many years today at Paya Lebar Quarter, my first time there (and it's not bad actually).  Since my dream of visiting new countries every year has failed, I can only settle with visiting new places within Singapore *sobs*

Nothing much to be highlighted though, since it is a mall, not a big one at that, and everyone knows malls are more or less the same. The only things special was that I finally tried this tea brand called Chichasanchen 吃茶三千 that many people have been raving about lately. Being the curious cat that I am, I just couldn't pass off the opportunity to try. 

Kind of disappointed though, for a drink that costs S$4.90 and a 40 minute wait (although I was told it would be a 50-60 minute wait when I purchased it). I normally wouldn't have waited but since I still had a couple of floors mall in the more to see, why not I guess. The roasted tea had a bit of a bitter aftertaste. I guess people here have not been spoiled by Chatto, much cheaper and tastier and less waiting!! Anyways, one try is enough then.

Had lunch at Collins, always worthwhile and true to expectations

The fabled 40 minutes tea, I have to admit that the packaging is cute though

Had tea at this place called XiXiang Kaya Kopitiam, worth a revisit for the toast

My happiest moment from that day was scoring 3 pieces of clothing, 2 pieces from H&M below $20 each and 1 piece from Uniqlo for only S$9.90!!!! El cheapo me super happy! I was so surprised when as I was ready to pay S$19.90 for it as stated on the sales label (in fact it was the only piece on the rack that had that label on)

By the way, I have decided to only purchase basics from now on, can wear repeatedly and no need to pay as much. Let's see whether the new strategy works/lasts. lol

So overall it was a happy Saturday for me =D

Too Young to Die

A friend passed today. 

I considered her a good friend back in secondary school. I remember vaguely she was the first person that I ever baked for. We kind of lost touch after graduation. I checked my message history and realised that we had talked about meeting up back in 2016 but it never happened and now it never will. 

So yeah, we have not been close friends for the past few years but it still hit hard when I heard the news today. She had been suffering from a weak heart and I know she had undergone a major operation before. So it is good that she can move on to a better place.

We are at this age where we are not that young but then also not that old, not old enough to die. There is so much more of the world to see, so many things to be experienced, so many things to learn. What a pity to have to leave at 33. It is too soon to go.

Although I do not keep in touch with many of them, I sincerely wish the best for every one of my ex-classmates. May we all live our lives to the fullest and have no regrets when it is time to go. At least  a good 30 years later I hope.

RIP Nurshela Bt Md Shariff (1987-2020) 

I shall keep you in my thoughts and prayers.

Sg National Day Eve 2020

8 August 2020

Met up with Jamie whom I went to Harbin with last year (argh, another interesting story to be noted down when I'm in the mood) to settle my Thai food craving at Ah Loy Thai. Note to self - next time set an even earlier timing to counter this chronically late friend of mine. I estimated that she would be 30 minutes late but turned out to be one hour. As the restaurant is constantly full, I ordered the food once I was ready and ended up spending close to 20 minutes pecking at the sides of the dishes so that it wouldn't be too obvious that they had been touched XD. 

Anyway, we had a good time chatting about past, present, future. It's always a joy to be around people with 'glass half full' mindsets~

I knew about this restaurant back when it was located at Shaw Tower and it's become more and more popular since then (look at all the recommendation stickers on the door!). I once had to wait close to one hour to get a table during dinnertime. This time, I was lucky to get a table almost as soon as I arrived. Pity the people who came slightly later as it was so hot outside where they had to wait.

Yummy Pad Thai

Must order item - Thai Garlic Pork

Pineapple Fried Rice

Thai Fried Bean Curd

I'm salivating as I'm typing this -_____- 

The funniest thing was that we were at a Thai restaurant without any spicy food on the table as we are both scaredy cats with below average tolerance to spicy food hahaha

After lunch we headed to Bugis Junction/Bugis+ to search for a place to sit down and enjoy a nice beverage and chat some more. However, it seemed like everyone had the same idea to be out and about during the long weekend and it was full everywhere (even Intercontinental Hotel which we tried out of desperation). 

In the end we decided to talk a walk to the National Gallery at City Hall station to take a look at the place (which we found out was closed to the public due to some conference after we arrived). To prove that I was there, some obligatory shots were taken XD Sort of like my uni days when we could only take photos of building exteriors when we couldn't afford entrance tickets.

T'was a nice sunny day for touristy pictures

The podium had been set up in preparation for Singapore's National Day the next day

Padang + Part of Raffles Place

After lots of walking (13k steps!!!) we ended up at Marina Square, quite a distance away from our original location XD even at such an out of the way mall, we still had to wait for a table at Dal.komm Coffee, haih.

Perfectly happy despite the long walk and wait to get a hot drink because I found my orange sweet potato latte at last! Almost 5 whole years since I tasted the magic in Seoul! Oh, and also I had been craving cake for awhile (drastically reduced bread and cake intake during the past few months), so all the more reason to be happy! 

All in all, I had an enjoyable Sg National Day Eve =)

Fort Canning Park

I arrived at Plaza Singapura on Orchard Road at 8.30 am on a Sunday to have breakfast, how very unthinkable! There was hardly anyone in the mall at that timing and even the escalators were not switched on yet. I was doubting myself all the way whether breakfast would even be available.

After several wrong turns, Ya Kun craving satisfied with Breakfast Set B:

Anyway, the reason for my being in town so early was because of a planned outing to Fort Canning Park to 'hike' (walk would be more apt when Fort Canning Hill is only 48m high) XD. Since it was my first time to this park located right smack in the CBD, it was a good opportunity to do some sightseeing at the same time.

An average sized park, 1.5 hours is more than enough to explore the area which consists of 9 historical gardens and several historical landmarks.

So apparently there's this spiral staircase near the entrance to the park where everyone is supposed to take a picture at. We actually had to queue to take a picture -______- 

I was quite surprised to see chicks in the CBD.

From afar I thought this was a remote control car belonging to some kid, turns out it's a robot lawnmower, don't think it's that practical though looking at the capacity XD

I take photos of people but no one takes photos of me T_____T

Special mention of this area called Pancur Larangan (Forbidden Spring in Malay) as we had to purposely search for it. Nothing breathtaking but you can imagine that you're in an exotic country while you're there.

Rare view (for me) of Clarke Quay in the morning

We ended up walking from Fort Canning Park to Havelock Road for dimsum brunch at Peach Garden @ Hotel Miramar. Google maps said 16 minutes but I swear it took us close to 30 minutes. I clearly remember leaving Fort Canning at around 10.45 am and it was around 11.15 am by the time we arrived at the restaurant. The funniest thing was that we had to enter through the staff entrance were led by the staff through a series of corridors like some secret hideout. Turns out the hotel was being used for quarantine purposes hence the main entrances were out of bounds.

Looks nice but actually so-so only. Luckily there's a promotion going on and we got a 30% discount so not so bad.

All-in-all I quite enjoyed my little Sunday outing since it is always a treat to explore new places. Poor old me had to go lie down for a bit in the afternoon after all that walking though.