A whole day of walking around the Lion City!

Harbour Front Vivo City
After meeting up with Soon Wai at Harbour Front station, we proceeded to Vivo City. It's actually located on top of the underground station itself. Then we went to this uniquely designed hawker center to have our lunch. The food was ok but the ambiance was very nice as they designed it into a very traditional chinese eating place. Very tranditional as in all the furnitures are dark brown wood based. We had fish soup rice noodles. Next, we went on top of the complex itself. It was interesting to note that the roof top was a small water park for kids. And on top of that it has quite a view facing Sentosa Island and the Merlion on that mountain. The PSA shipping yard is also located here. According to Soon Wai, Vivo City is actually the largest shopping mall in Singapore. And, Harbour Front is actually where the cable car station is, where people board on star cruises, & where some men take a bought ride to Pulau Batam to have "some fun".

China Town
The Singapore China Town is a must see especially during the Chinese New Year celebration. Although it drizzled all day long, we still went for it. Perhaps we have similar places in Malaysia like the Petaling Street, however China Town is really well preserved, neat and clean. As CNY is just round the corner, the people has already put up all those CNY goods and decorations. I'm not sure how big is the whole China Town, but I think we walked around that area for more than 1 hour. Lots to see: CNY goodies, well-preserved heritage shops, good colour combinations, again lots of food choices, assorted CNY candies and cookies all displayed in a very colorful way. Still, what really caught my attention was the beautifully preserved buildings around the whole China Town. And, another price comparison: The Thailand coconut which is selling in MY for about RM4 , is only selling here for $1. Really tasty and suckulant! China Town would really be nice place to do all the CNY goodies shopping for mommies as the choice are unlimited and prices are reasonable.

Raffles place - KPMG (Hong Leong Building)
As I was not sure where exactly KPMG is, Soon Wai brought and guided me to Hong Leong Building. Do not worry of getting lost in Singapore! At every single MRT station, you will be able to find big wall maps, showing building names, street names, and walking directions from the MRT to your destination. Hong Leong Building is not located exactly at the station itself. I would need walk about 5-10 minutes to it. However, the walking journey is mostly underground and shaded.

City Hall - Citilink - Suntec City - Esplanade
Next, as the rain was getting heavier, we could only visit places which are shaded. So Soon Wai decided to bring me to City Hall MRT Station. In Singapore, the major MRT stations are not merely stations, they are mostly filled with nice eating places, and for Citilink (City Hall Station), its almost like a shopping haven! Citilink is one of the longest stretch of underground shopping center. The shops are new, modern, clean and uniquely designed. This is something where one could not see in KL. Some price comparisons again: A good laptop would only cost $1k+; A pair of Levi's jeans - $100+; A pair of Nike's - $100+; Even for vacation trips, for only $500, you can go Taiwan or Hong Kong. Admittedly, Singapore purchasing power is higher.

At the end of Citilink, we walked up a bridge to arrive at Suntec City. However, there was nothing much to see at Suntec City. I guess it was one of the older shopping centers. Feeling bored at this place, we went to Esplanade. Not knowing what Esplanade was (Both Soon Wai and myself), we just continued our walking journey until we arrive at it. Esplanade is actually a theatre hall where stage dramas and concerts are held. However, that was not our purpose of coming here. Haha. We wanted to see if Esplanade is the building with "Durian" roofs. And oh yes it is! Its one of the sight in Singapore, something like the opera theatre in Sydney.

Raffles City - Merlion Bay
After satisfying our "sight" of the "durian roofs" at the Esplanade, we took a train ride back to Raffles place to search for Merlion (the combination of the Lion head with the fish body and spilling water out of its mouth, hence the name "Merlion"). Well, since I am in Singapore, guess it a must to see that weird creature. From the map, it says the Statue is located at the opposite of Fullerton Hotel.

[A little description of Fullerton Hotel: It's actually 6-star hotel; Huge and the building's night view is awesome. Part of its outdoor coffee house is facing the Singapore river. Nice and cosy. The building architecture is actually the traditional English building.]

Back to Merlion. We have arrived at the Singapore river and Fullerton Hotel, but our dear Merlion is nowhere to sight. Wondering if it had been "kidnapped", Haha! So we continued walking along the river until someone passed us by and shouted in Cantonese, "Hey, I've found the Lion lah!" Then only we realise that dearest Merlion is located opposite the other entrance of Fullerton Hotel. The Merlion Statue is located stragically with all those high rise buildings as its back ground. From the Merlion Bay we could actually see the Esplanade building, then only we realise we could actually walk from there, instead of taking a train ride. Haha, silly Malaysians, well perhaps the next time, we'll be smarter.

Boat Quay
From Merlion Bay, we walked to Boat Quay. Boat Quat is a streched of restaurants (huge variety of cuisines from Chinese to India to Arabian to Western to Thai) located at Singapore river banks. It has a very nice touch and feel. The Buildings are again well-preserved heritage designs. And you can see by the river banks to enjoy your meals. 90% of the customers are westerners. Somehow they just crowded this place and nowhere else. Since its already almost dinner time, we decided to pause our tour and have a break. We had dinner at this Punjabi restaurant. We had a whole grilled chicken and chilli deep-fried cauliflower. Soon Wai's girl friend joined us later on and we order additional Naan with fruits. One would expect the food prices at places like this would cost a bomb, fortunately, it only costed us $50.

Clarke Quay
After dinner, we walked to Clarke Quay. Another famous tourist spot. Clarke Quay is more happening than Boat Quay. The night view is quite breath taking. Again with restaurants at the river banks and also with bigger boats as restaurants. Also, all types of cuisines can be found here. It's a nice place to pamper oneself after a whole week's of hard work. Full of westerners and africans. One thing really surprised me was that they actually have "Hooters" here! [Hooters is a famous drinking place in the States where bar-girls dressed up in extremely hot pants and extremely tight tubes/ singlets to "magnify" their "assets"] Interesting, I guess you would never find such a sight in our dear old Malaysia.

Well, Clarke Quay was the last spot of the day.

We had been walking almost non-stop from 2pm t0 6pm, then 7pm-8.30pm. Fooh! Total transportation fee spent was less than $6. Next spot to go to in the future: East Cost park, with skating, jogging, bicycling and beach for one to relax and let loose - and that's my kind of place.

New Country New Life

Hi all, surprisingly i am here again.

It has been ages since i last post here, and would like to apologise for do not post anything for long time as well as thanks to SV for her effort always "heating up" this blog even she knows that all of us is hibernate at all time.

Sorry for lost contact for sometimes and some might even think that i am missing from this country. Well, indeed I am because i am now working in Singapore, Renesas Solutions Pte Ltd which is located in Harbour Front as a system software engineer.

Well, life is still all right here and somehow still need more time to adapt.In this company, working hour mean working hour and there isn't any culture of browsing for personal purpose or even checking personal mail. This situation maybe due to the reason that my company is a Japanese company gua.And this explain the reason why you guys out there will no more see me chatting online.I am here today because i steal some of my working time for this blog to update my news to friends out there.

Well, working in Singapore is always not so easy ,but don worry i am still fine here as i believe some difficulties and obstrucles in life will always be a very precious experience in our life.

Responding to Ridz engagement, really feel happy for you and my sincere wishes to both of you. For cherrie and Sv, we will meet soon as our annual chinese new year gathering will coming soon.hehe.......For Woon,looking foward you to Singapore, give me a call when you already here ya.For Thai Kiat if i do not received your call after you reach, then you'll know...............hahahah

Cheers to all my friends out there.

Regards,
Soon Wai
~Although we do not share the troubles now , somehow we all shared an unforgettable moment together~

Welcome Back Thai Kiat~~

Glad to inform you guys that Thai Kiat will be back on 31.1.07 reach Malaysia on 1.2.07

Since he is so busy, i just being his representative to spread the news~ Well, this is my task always~

Congratulation upon completion of his Master degree as well~ All The Best, friend