Tuesday, May 31, 2016

Singapore Trip (Part 6) - May 2016


Final morning, we went for breakfast at Tai Hwa Hill Street Bak Chok Mee. Some say the best in Singapore. Go early (9.30am)to avoid long queues. It's said you could wait 1 hour or more.


Hmmm... The wontons maybe extra tasty?


 Each bowl prepared individually by this SIFU. He's friendly with a ready smile.


 The $5 and the $10 bowls. Pork slices, liver, mince, wontons... chilli and vinegar.


MY bowl. Yummy.

Looking through all the photos :
~ it seemed mostly eat, eat, eat
~ we no longer go to shop
~ new ways creative, but basic stays
~ phone camera lower resolution
~ easier and more photos taken though


I started 6 posts ago with the seats at Kota Kinabalu International Airport. Here are the seats at Boarding Gate D30, Changi Airport.

Easy care and comfortable.

Singapore Trip (Part 5) - May 2016

Sunday morning breakfast at Chye Seng Huat Hardware...


Yes, a hardware shop...


 It's a nice coffee & breakfast joint...


It looked better than you might expect...


With the proper "hardware"...


For in house coffee beans roasting.


With a cup(s) of fancy Ethiopian beans...

And a smoked duck salad. A good breakfast.


Sunday was spent at Westgate Mall (amongst others in the same area in Jurong East).  The women folk wanted cake at Lady M.


Surprisingly, I found the Green Tea Crepe cake to be very enjoyable. I am not a cake and dessert person.


Then had a very heavy lunch at a German restaurant... Burp!


I was so full I couldn't  eat at Mak's Noodles in the late afternoon (as we were meeting a friend for dinner at another mall). Notwithstanding, I still took a photo of it.


Jurong Point Mall (in Jurong West) had a good idea to make some of their food court areas into "places specific" countries like Hong Kong, Korea, Japan, and Malaysia. This was their Hong Kong street...


 Milk tea and a poh loh bau...


At The Legendary Hong Kong Restaurant. They serve the cha chan tang stuff. Not worth coming here specifically. Only if you are passing by.



Singapore Trip (Part 4) - May 2016

On the way to breakfast the next morning, I passed by this Buddhist temple...


Where you can ring the bell and turn the prayer wheel(?)...



And the "Coming Soon Buddha". I meant that literally. It's covered and on a pallet; so I presumed it just arrived and was to be installed soon.


Breakfast at The Bao Makers (on Horne Road)...


Chinese Bao "open sandwich" with many fillings available (salted egg shrimps, bulgogi...)...


Of course the pulled-pork and braised belly pork ones were very nice. Great truffle fries as well.


Visited Marina Bay, as we had not gone there before...


Not being a gambler or branded stuff aficionado, I went to Din Tai Fung instead. Queueing by number, but pretty quick guest turnover.



Obviously their 18-fold Xiao Lung Bao...


And their 18-fold pork Bao...



And their shrimp fried rice. Good and very efficient service.


 Spent the rest of the day in the Garden By The Bay...


Admiring the AIR-CONDITIONED domes, until I realised we the visitors paid for it!


A lot of pretty flowers and some very weird trees.


The lighted up artificial super trees. Obviously they haven't seen the real trees in Borneo.

Singapore Trip (Part 3) - May 2016

Went to eat and drink at Glutton Bay. Nothing to shout about. Good for real foreign tourists. Cold beer on a hot day was good...


Waiting for the skyline to turn into night...


When all the lights came on.


There was a performance that evening by a Japanese comic (included good juggling skills). The good thing as a comic was that when he dropped the orange while juggling, he could pretend it was deliberate!


The best I could do to take a digital full zoom, hand-held phone camera photo of the Merlion across the bay.


The young kids were excited when the transformers appeared.


A touristy night photo taken on the Jubilee Bridge (Singapore 50 years old in 2015) of the Merlion and Sands Marina Bay.

Monday, May 30, 2016

Singapore Trip (Part 2) - May 2016

I joined the longest queue there in ION Orchard. As Singaporeans say, "If long queue, whatever they sell must be good!"


It's for the BAKE Hokkaido Cheese Tarts. The shop just opened in May.


So, there I was, with all of them, queueing, for 1.5 hours...


The professional brought her own little stool....


The practical but not so professional just sat on the floor on a piece of paper and scoot along on his backside. So no need to stand up!


After waiting that 1.5 hours, I bought 6 (each customer allowed maximum 12 tarts).



I got a nice yellow bag...


And even a set of instructions on how to eat the tarts! I was told by the staff that the tart casing, cheese mousse, box, bag and printed materials were all made and sent from Japan. Only bake in Singapore (making the shop's name really appropriate!).


It was very nice; cheesy and tasty. Best to go after the crowds have moved on to the next new thing.

I read there's no queue in Bangkok.

There's also a branch in Causeway Bay in Hong Kong.


While at the 4 Finger Korean fried chicken shop, I saw the Singaporean way to "book"  your table, while you go order.

But we guys can't leave our wallets on the table, can we now?


Then we went and did the touristy stuff at the esplanade.


It was more fun to people-watch though (all them people trying to catch the water from the Merlion)...


higher? lower? a little left?...


If you are travelling alone...