I was in Singapore the last weekend. Just a short trip over the weekend. Well, for many Malaccans and Johorians, Singapore is such a neighbor – in many households, there are at least 1 family member or relative associated to Singapore. Either work there, study there, or married to there.

In my family of 4, 2 are currently working in Singapore. That’s exactly 50% My gf’s second eldest sister is also working in Singapore. One of my mother side aunties (ah yi) has also settled down in Singapore with family. And the list continues..

OK back to the main topic. So yes, I was in Singapore last weekend. The last visit to Singapore was a New Year trip from 29th Dec 2007 to 1st Jan 2008.

Many people commented that there’s no nice food in Singapore. However, I don’t agree with it. It depends very much on where you are eating. If you are willing to spend some efforts locating the nice food places, it’s not hard to stumble upon drooling delicacies at many food court stalls. However, in order to enjoy your food hunting journey, of course you should avoid multiplying the currency.

Less Than 3 Hours to Reach JB

We took 707 Express from Melaka Sentral to Singapore. 707 Express is by far the fastest Melaka-Singapore express bus, as it offers a real non-stop route (just 1 toilet break, no typical stop at Ayer Hitam or Yong Peng). In 2 hours and 40 minutes, we have already reached a place where Johor Bharu City Square was just like 500m in front of us. However, there was a massive traffic jam which took us quite some time to reach JB custom.

This is Woodlands, the most popular gateway to Singapore. On the right of this picture is the railway. I always hope to capture a picture at this place, with a train passing by at the railway, but never stumble upon such a nice chance hehe.

Lunch at Bukit Batok Central

Had lunch at Bukit Batok Central food court. As shown above are the mini soon kueh (笋糕) and sweet potato cake (木薯糕) from a stall called Yi Jia (一家) Delicacies. The mini soon kueh was sold at SGD3 for 5 pieces and sweet potato cake at SGD1 for 3.

I like the mini soon kueh, which is a very close variation of chai kueh. Even though the skin was slightly thicker than my liking, but the whole piece as overall was in good combination, especially when it is complemented with the chili. The sweet potato cake was in very appealing colour. It tasted ok, but will be better if it was more aromatic.

Little wok noodle (SGD4.50), which was served in a mini wok of fish cake slices, pork balls, pork meats and pork liver with soup, as well as a bowl of noodles in broth. The wok of soup was nothing too great, but the bowl of noodles was good!

Rojak with cuttlefish, tau kua (bean curd) and you cha kuey (yao char kuai), at SGD5. Rojak sauce is the most important factor that determines if a rojak is good. Obviously, this rojak failed at its sauce. So, not good :p

Tampines Mall was Super Dooperbly Crowded

Tampines is the central and the most happening place in eastern coast of Singapore. Being blessed with convenience of MRT Tampines station, the Tampines Mall is usually super dooperbly crowded during weekend. Last weekend, there was Hokkaido Fair hosted by Isetan at Tampines Mall. Selling what?? Aiya.. Hokkaido is a very famous city in Japan ma, so the Hokkaido Fair was of course featuring various types of Japanese foods and goodies lo.

I saw a Japanese honeydew selling at SGD86!!!! Wah lao eh.. I think if anyone bought, the cashier will look at him/her with big staring eyes.

When you’re at Tampines Mall, make sure you go to the ground floor, and look for the 1A Crispy Puffs. There were curry potato and chicken puff, sardine puff, black pepper chicken puff, otah (otak) puff, crab chilli chicken puff, veggie puff, yam paste puff, sweet corn puff, and durian puff, ranging from SGD1.20 to SGD1.60 each. The curry potato and chicken puff as well as black pepper chicken puff are my to-die-for favorites. Usually, curry puff is dry in its filling. But this one, the filling was rich with wet gravy, which can make you sluuuurp! (try to imagine that)

My younger brother and mum. My brother is totally different from me. He’s a very trendy guy, sensitive to fashion, while I am the same old me for 365 days.

Cable-Ski at East Coast Park

The East Coast Park is a very long stretch of recreational park along the Singapore Straits, at least 8km long of the park is facing the sea. I’m totally impressed with Singapore government’s efforts to fully utilize the potential of East Coast Park to make it a two-thumbs-up recreational park. Even though this place is not blessed with sandy beach (all it has is a rocky coastline), but it is very well-landscaped with flat grass ground and uniform rows of shady trees, and very well-kept for its utmost cleanliness. Bike track is also very well-designed to satisfy the urban fellows with greenery. Wild Geeks will love this place for recreational cycling.

I was there at 9.30pm, too dark for nice shots of the landscapes. Or else I could post some pictures here to better visually elaborate the above descriptions.

There’s a lake, known as East Coast Lagoon, which is housing an interesting sports called Ski 360, a cable-ski facility. Every player will be fitted with skiing-board, and ski on the lake in a big circular form, by hand-holding a cable guided by the circular track on top. There are skippers and jumping boards on the lake for the players to ski with some stunts.

I was attracted by the far horizon which has horizon-level clouds appearing in bright reddish and orangey colours. It was dark in the park, and so I used a fence to support my camera, and took this 20 sec long exposure shot.

Geylang for Frog Porridge

Geylang is one of the oldest townships in Singapore, surrounded by British colonial buildings which are now enriched with heritage values. Historical values aside, Geylang is very well-known for 2 major purposes among the locals and tourists - as food heaven where one of the best night eating experience is found, and on the other hand, as red light district where hunger for flesh is fulfilled!

Surprisingly, this small town is very well-organized and systematic hehe. The odd number Lor is where food heaven resides, while the even number Lor is where *ahem ahem* .. lonely men found their heaven.

So was I there for food or hookers? :p Hehe.. see the above pictures? Odd number Lor la.. means for food lo haha

Geylang is very famous with frog porridge. You can easily find abundant of restaurants all serving various cooking of frogs. We went to a corner-shop restaurant at Lor 9 Geylang, ordered 2 frogs cooked in kong pao (dried chilli and spring onions) and a claypot of porridge. We paid SGD8 for each frog and SGD2 for a claypot of porridge. Wow~~ simply savory and drooling haha

Most of the restaurants in Geylang open from lunch time till early morning (to 3 or 4am). Well, some people exercise liao will feel hungry ma.. so nearby foods are just perfect choices

Breakfast at Alexandra Village

If I’m asked to suggest one breakfast place in Singapore that I truly enjoy, I would suggest Alexandra Village food court without thinking twice. It’s located at 150, Bukit Merah Lane 1.

This is a stall called Tiong Bahru Lien Fa Shui Jing Pau, which is famous for shui jing pau (水晶包) in 3 different fillings: shrimps (SGD0.60), red bean (SGD0.70) and yam (SGD0.70).

The skin was perfectly made, with ideal chewiness and thickness. Wah sounds so tempting to you right? :p I like the shrimps-filled and read bean ones. The shrimp fillings were quite crunchy, while the red bean paste was naturally sweet. The yam-filled one is not my favorite though; I find it too sticky.

If you like curry laksa, then make sure you don’t miss out the Depot Road Zhen Shan Mei Claypot Laksa. The price was recently adjusted with 50cents increase. Now, the small one is SGD3.50, medium one at SGD4.50 and big one at SGD5.00.

Looking at the above picture, is enough to make you realize how thick the savory gravy was. It’s in fact, an excellent pot of laksa! It’s just too good and drooling.

I never eat avocado fruit or drink avocado juice in Malaysia. Some how, avocado fruit is not very common. However, after my first encounter with avocado juice in Singapore last year, I just have to love it.

Thanks a lot Lee Fang sis (my gf’s second sis). She was the main sponsor on food during our stay in Singapore last weekend. Else it would be quite painful multiplying the currency :p

Colourful

On my way to the bus terminal at Queen Street from Bugis, I was happy to have captured these colourful buildings in the town. Red, yellow, blue and green; all these highly saturated colours are standing tall in the town with their vibrant tones.

A Long 7 Hours Journey Back to KL

The journey getting to Singapore from Melaka is fine. However, getting back to KL from Singapore is certainly not a fun thing to be done frequently. The whole journey took me 7 hours, including time spent at customs. Obviously I couldn’t sleep for so many hours in the bus, but luckily I had Digital Camera and Malaysian Business magazines with me, as well as my laptop for 2 episodes of a series hehe.

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Tags: Alexandra Village, Bukit Batok, East Coast Park, Singapore, Tampines