Singapore Botanical Gardens

Moonie and I visited the Singapore Botanical Gardens and found it to be such a nice place. There were loads of people there- families with children, joggers, and tourists checking out the interesting plants and flowers!

The Botanical Gardens cover a huge area so you should be prepared to walk a fair bit. We walked around the Ginger Garden and paid to enter the National Orchid Garden. It was amazing to see all the different types of orchids- they were just so beatiful!

One of the 'VIP' Orchids- this one is named after Margaret Thatcher!

Walking around in our weather is really quite a nightmare though... :p We sought shelter in the 'Cool House' and here's one of the plants we saw- a Venus Flytrap! I was so excited to see this; and was quite surprised to find that the plant is actually much smaller than I thought!

We were bushed after all that walking and sweating. A super-tiring morning indeed!

Wacha, Singapore

Was planning to meet Harry Potter for dinner one day and he recommended this place; he sent me a link to a blog entry on this restaurant, and I was sold! There's more information on Wacha here. (Sorry, am feeling a little lazy :p)

Isn't the table so cute? It was rather ticklish though!

We settled for the 'Special Tea Leaf Course' which featured items like Green Tea Noodle Salad, Tea Leaf Tempura and Gyokuro Tea Leaf Fried Rice. It was a really interesting meal!

Food was served using lovely dinnerware

Yummy dessert!

The Live Turtle & Tortoise Museum

It cost SGD5 to visit the museum, but it was most definitely worth it. At first, I was a tad disappointed to see that the museum was so small, but when I got down to checking the animals out, I really had so much fun.

There were rows and rows of aquariums- rather like a pet shop, but not every tank featured a different species (many of them were pig-nosed turtles(!); which were rather strange looking creatures).

Star tortoises- aren't they beautiful?

I learnt that turtles can live on both land and in water, while tortoises cannot come into contact with water (apparently, they can catch a cold). Heh.

It was fascinating to see so many different types of turtles and tortoises. I saw alligator snapping turtles (which are extremenly dangerous), soft-shell turtles, star tortoises, golden turtles, side-necked turtles, and many others. Seeing all these wonderful creatures really made me praise God for the wonder of His creation!

Snake-necked turtle; a little scary, no?

I also got to feed some Malaysian turtles! I tried to feed them with my left hand while trying to take some photos with my right- now that was tough (especially since I had to watch for those snapping jaws)! As soon as the turtles caught a glimpse of food, they started rushing over (yes, surprisingly they can be quite fast), and started climbing onto one another to get a bite!

There was one particularly agressive turtle trying to hog all the food, so I tried my best to 'distribute' the food evenly. Their jaws were amazingly strong- they would latch onto the cucumber, and tug at it so hard their heads retracted back into their shell! It was quite funny to watch!

I finally lost the 'battle' when the cucumber got too short; one turtle latched on, and I decided it just wasn't worth risking my fingers (they were being threatened by the other fast-approaching turtles) just to win the 'tug-of-war'!

All in all- the highlight of my visit to the Chinese Gardens! :)

To God be the Glory!

Those of you who know me probably know that I have been taking exams for as long as you can remember. The past few years have been extremely challenging- filled with innumerable sleepless nights, heartaches and tears. Balancing work, professional exams and life in general (or rather, whatever was left of it :p) is probably the hardest thing I've ever done. There have been many times along the way when I asked myself if the nightmare was really worth it.

At long last, the long journey of exams is FINALLY over. There are no words that will adequately express my gratitude to God for His incredible kindness and grace. I really, really did not expect to clear both papers; especially since I was convinced that I completely messed up the Communications paper.

Hubby must have gotten a fright when I burst into tears upon seeing my name appear once on the pass list. When I saw my name twice (and thus registering what that meant), I started sobbing uncontrollably and just went completely bonkers.

Looking back at my journey, it is amazing to see how God has led me to where I am. The journey has been difficult, but I know that God has used the ups and downs to help me grow in my walk with Him. God is good indeed; everything happens according to His will, and in His time.

To God be the Glory!

Chinese & Japanese Gardens, Singapore

When I mentioned that I was keen on visiting the Chinese Garden & Japanese Gardens, everyone pretty much gave me the same incredulous look.

"Aiyah, Chinese Gardens nothing to see one, Botanical Gardens much better!"

Guess what? I went anyway.

After all the feedback I heard about the place, it was certainly difficult to have anything but the lowest of expectations, heh. My experience there really wasn't that bad though, and I had quite a lot of fun walking around on my own, taking photos and chuckling at the numerous groups of foreign workers striking poses for their cameras. It was quite funny to see them!

The Twin Pagoda

Fishes Paradise

Bonsai Garden

I didn't think much of the Japanese Gardens (maybe because it was getting too hot to walk out in the open); I thought the Chinese Gardens had a lot more to offer. The highlight of my visit there was the Live Turtle & Tortoise Museum- more details in my next post! :)

Claypot Laksa, Market Street

I've never heard of Claypot Laksa before. It sounded rather weird to me, but that was because what I had in mind was the asam laksa kind. Anyway, this outlet on Market Street (near Lau Pa Sat) was jam-packed with people. We had to queue to order, but the line moved quite fast so that wasn't too bad.

I'm not a huge curry laksa fan; since the thought of all the 'santan' (coconut milk) inside is quite enough to make me shudder. Now this version had A LOT of coconut milk; talk about a heart attack in a claypot! Definitely waaaay too rich to be eaten often.

Having said all that, the Claypot Laksa was actually quite nice. Might have just been the novelty of eating laksa out of a claypot! :p

Thick and creamy Claypot Laksa

If you ever want to try it out, here's the address:
Raku Ninja Tasty House
146, Market Street

Pagi Sore (Far East Square), Singapore

This place was highly recommended by dear YZ, who took some precious time off his super-busy schedule to make the reservation (and didn't hesitate to remind us of that afterwards :p). We got there on time; and my oh my, the place was PACKED!

Pagi Sore certainly did not disappoint- the food was really tasty. Unfortunately, this meal took place a long time ago and I can't remember the name of the dishes we ordered. There was this 'otak'-looking fish dish (somehow in Singapore they call it 'otah') that was quite unique; it seemed to be the one thing that every table ordered.

Thick and creamy cendol...

The chicken was delicious!

A good place for Indonesian food- but make sure you have a reservation! :)

Asian Civilisations Museum, Singapore

This may sound nerdy, but I like visiting museums. There is just so much out there to learn.

I visited the Asian Civilisations Musuem late one afternoon, and I had a really great time. Just because I'm Asian doesn't mean I know everything about Asia, right? Heh.

There was just so much to see- in fact, I was kicking myself for not allowing more time to see everything. I had to leave because the museum was closing, and then I realised I completely missed the South Asia Gallery! Sigh.

I particularly enjoyed the Southeast Asia and the China galleries. Some of the exhibits in the Southeast Asia Gallery reminded me of those history lessons back in school, but of course the museum experience was a lot more enjoyable compared to having to learn the stuff because I had too! :p

If you're ever in Singapore and you have some free time after all that shopping *chuckle*, do consider dropping by. Find out more about the museum here! :)

Instant Eggs!

Moonie and I ate quite a lot of instant noodles while I was there (too lazy to go in search of proper food). That was when I discovered instant eggs!

I was rather intrigued- have never seen them before; and we were debating whether they were really safe to eat. Hmm.

Oh well, I'm still alive, aren't I? :p

They don't taste too bad- rather like the herbal egg/'loh dan'! :)

Great World City, Singapore

Was in Singapore again recently, and this time I stayed quite near to Great World City. In case you're not sure what Great World City is- it's a shopping mall, and apprently it's famous for their toilets. No, I'm not kidding :p

Anyway, I managed to convince Moonie to visit all the toilets with me (yes, there was a certain amount of whining and rolling of eyes on her part) but hey, it was all in good fun! Hahaha!

The toilets are painted and decorated according to certain themes, and if I recall correctly, I think each toilet is different (even the ones on the same floor), so we got to see 6-8 different themes all in all.

Bullfighting in Spain

Africa

Holland- see the wooden clogs hanging on the door? :)

Venice!

Walk like an Egyptian..

Interesting toilets, eh? :)

My Elephant: Thai Restaurant & Cafe

Seems like ages since I last posted an entry on food, so here's one that I've been meaning to post for the longest time.

My dear friend SmallBoy had just opened a restaurant, and I visited one day during lunchtime to check the place out. It was packed; good to see that business was brisk! SmallBoy himself was running around like mad- taking orders and attending to customers.

I settled for one of the set lunches- which at RM7.90, is really good value for money. I opted for the Tom Yum Noodle, which was delicious! It didn't taste like the usual tom yum in most restaurants, but I found it really tasty and refreshing.

Will definitely be back one day with the hubby- next time, it shall be for dinner! :)

My Elephant

Thai Restaurant & Cafe

Block C-G4, Happy Mansion,

Jln 17/13, Section 17,

46400 PJ.

Celebrating a year of marriage!

Hubby and I celebrated a year of marriage on Dec 2nd. A few days leading up to our anniversary, hubby surprised me with a beautiful bouquet of stargazer lilies; which he asked to be delivered to the office. They were simply gorgeous! :)

We had dinner at Bossa Nova, Parkroyal Hotel. A haven for meat lovers, Bossa Nova’s 'Churrascaria' concept is strongly influenced by the traditional Brazilian custom of cooking carefully chosen cuts of meat and seafood over an open grill. The meat is carved straight off the skewer in thin slices at each guest table.

Flip the disc over to red when you've had enough meat!

Sausages on a skewer

Grilled pineapple with cinnamon- refreshing after so much meat!

Yummy!

Dinner was quite an interesting experience, although it was a bit too much meat for my liking. Strictly for die-hard carnivores!

Flowers and food aside; we want to give God all the glory as our marriage passes the one year mark. God has indeed been gracious to us, and we pray that He will continue to guide us as we journey on together. By His grace, may there be many more wonderful years to come!

May God keep us together- for richer for poorer, for better for worse, in sickness and in health, as long as we both shall live.

Munich: Cars & Churches!

We left Krakow on an early flight; and as expected, the immigration people gave us a hard time (again). Sigh. They even asked for our accommodation details! We were LEAVING the country!! How was that relevant? Hmpph.

Anyway, we got to Munich safely, left our backpacks with the storage facility, and then went back into the city to do some sight-seeing. We had a quite a lot of time that day, as our flight back home was only much later that night.

The first place we wanted to visit was the BMW Museum. We headed for Olympiazentrum, and when we got there, we were shocked to find that the place was packed! Hmmm, that seemed a little odd. It started to snow a little, and we rushed to join the queue, which we presumed was heading for the museum. When we got to the entrance, we realised that we were at something far more exciting- it was the opening weekend of the new BMW Welt!

The place was PACKED with people! Adults and kids alike were gawking at the beautiful cars, checking out all the different features, learning more about the technology, and playing with all the interactive stuff. It was quite an experience!

Hydrogen-powered BMW

The building itself was an architectural marvel. Hubby was busy snapping photos, and it was so interesting to see how this building of glass and steel appeared so incredibly fluid. After all the excitement, we finally managed to find out where the BMW Museum was. It turned out that it was undergoing refurbishment, and there was only a temporary exhibition set up instead. Oh well; at least we were there on the right day to see the new BMW Welt! That was most definitely the highlight of the day! :)

Leaving Olympiazentrum, we headed back into the city centre. Starting from the famous Marienplatz with the towering neo-Gothic Neues Rathaus (New Town Hall), we spent the rest of the afternoon walking from one church to the next. Altogether, we saw 5 churches that afternoon- Heiliggeistkirche, St Peterskirche, Frauenkirche, Michaelskirche and finally, Asamkirche! Talk about church fatigue.....

The late-Gothic Frauenkirche, with its 16th-century twin onion domes

Asamkirche was particularly memorable- it didn't seem like much on the outside, but we were taken by surprised by the opulence inside. It was a small church compared to the others; but scarcely an inch of that space was left unembellished.

It was a Sunday afternoon and all was quiet in the city centre. Not even a single shop along Kaufingerstrasse (the shopping street) was open, so we had to be contented with window-shopping, heh.

The evening was almost upon us, and it seemed like the right time to leave the Munich city centre and head back towards the airport. We were sad as our wonderful holiday was finally drawing to a close, but at the same time, it was nice to be heading home.

Well, as they say- all good things must come to an end. Hopefully, there will be opportunities for more good things in the future!

Wieliczka, Wawel Castle & Kazimierz

We woke up in the morning to find snow! Brrr.... Fortunately we knew beforehand that it would be snowing that Saturday, so we decided to visit Auschwitz the day before, since it involved spending a lot of time out in the open.

We set off for the famous Wieliczka Salt Mines, which was a short bus ride from the Old Town itself. The mine is included on Unesco's World Heritage List; everything there is made from salt- the chandeliers, altarpieces, sculptures, etc. The highlight of the visit is the richly ornamented Chapel of the Blessed Kinga; a beautiful chapel made of salt! Visiting the salt mine was a really unique experience! :)

We headed back to the city and finally found time to visit Wawel Hill. South of the Old Town, the hill is crowned with the Wawel Castle and Cathedral, both of which are enduring symbols of Poland. We were a little short on time, so we didn't get to see many of the attractions within the castle grounds, but it was nice just to walk around. We did pop into the Cathedral to take a quick look though.

Wawel Castle

Apparently, Krakow is a city founded upon the defeat of a dragon; hence the many dragon-related souvenirs! :)

We moved on to Kazimierz- the Jewish Quarter, where we visited the 15-th century Old Synagogue, the oldest Jewish religious building in Poland. It now houses the Jewish Museum, and it was really interesting to check out the exhibitions on Jewish traditions. We didn't have enough time there though, and it was a pity that we had to rush through the exhibits since the museum was closing! :p

It was a our last night in Poland, so we decided that we ought to have dinner in a Polish restaurant. We ended up at Chlopskie Jadlo, a really unique cellar restaurant with a country inn theme- complete with wooden benches and traditional music. Dinner was absolutely delicious- hubby had the veal schnitzel, and I opted for this...

Bacon roulade stuffed with meat and mushrooms in an aromatic herb dressing,

served with Silesian dumplings

We had beer again (of course!) and this time, it was Okocim! I have never had so much beer in my life! :)

Auschwitz & Birkenau

This was probably our main reason for going to Krakow. The site of the largest German Nazi concentration and extermination camps was something we had to see. It was such a heavy experience, and words simply cannot do it justice.

Getting to Oświęcim (Auschwitz in German) wasn’t too difficult, although we were quite shocked to discover that people who didn’t manage to get a seat (it was a really, really small bus) just had to stand the entire journey. That’s one and a half hours of standing! Gosh.

It was really cold when we got to Auschwitz. I was slightly taken aback to see so many people there, but once we figured out where to buy tickets and the guidebook, we left the noisy crowd behind and wandered onto the camp grounds.

We were greeted by an entrance bearing the words ‘Arbeit macht frei’- which ironically, translates to ‘Work Brings Freedom’. The prisoners marched through these very gates to their 12 hours (or more) of slave labour, and returned from a day’s work carrying the bodies of their dead friends. On the small square by the kitchen, the camp orchestra would play marches, mustering the thousands of prisoners so that they could be counted more efficiently. Inside the camp, there were rows and rows of buildings where people were imprisoned; these now house exhibitions detailing the atrocity of the Holocaust.

At times, it was almost too difficult to read the explanations on how people were systematically tortured and exterminated. And then, there were such powerful displays- rooms full of human hair (which were taken from the dead and sold to make cloth), shoes (belonging to both adults and children), empty suitcases, spectacles… the list goes on.

The Nazis rounded up all the ‘undesirables’ from the areas which they conquered- including Jews and gypsies, promising relocation to other parts of the German empire. The unsuspecting victims thus packed all their valuables, thinking they were headed for a better place, but subsequently found themselves at the death camps. The Nazis separated them to those who were fit to work, and those who were not. Those who were not fit to work, including women and children, were sent to the gas chambers to die. Others, like twins and dwarfs, were subjected to cruel experiments by the infamous Dr Mengele.

The Execution Wall

I had to hold back tears many times throughout that day, and I often saw other people wiping away theirs. It was so sad to know that man could be so cruel to their own kind.

Leaving Auschwitz, we moved on to see Birkenau, some 3 km away. In some ways, Birkenau was even more shocking. This vast, purpose-built and grimly efficient camp had more than 300 prison barracks and four huge chambers complete with crematoria. The camp stretches almost as far as the eye can see; and one simply cannot hide from the overwhelming, lingering despair.

Birkenau

International Monument to the Victims of Fascism

I leave you with a quote seen in Auschwitz, by George Santayana:

‘The one who does not remember history is bound to live through it again’.

May we never forget this part of history.

Off to Krakow, Poland!

We got up early in the morning to catch the S-Bahn to the airport. We were greeted by a nasty surprise though- there was a public transport strike going on, which meant that only one train was going to the airport (instead of two). So there we were, rather stressed out by the thought of missing our flight! Groan.

Thank God we managed to get there on time; and we checked in quickly using those check-in kiosks; very convenient.

Munich airport

Our adventures for the day were far from over. When we arrived in Krakow, the Immigration Officer at passport control gave us SUCH a hard time. He inspected our passports with a magnifying glass, asked for our return flight and accommodation details; and through it all he wore such an unpleasant expression on his face. I think that was seriously the longest I have ever had to wait to get into any country. Was so darn annoyed- duh, seriously, if I were an illegal immigrant leaving my country in search of a better life elsewhere, would I choose Poland???

Anyway, we finally got through, picked up our backpacks and then proceeded to catch the bus to town. I have to say that the signs in Krakow, in general, are really not that easy to follow. We finally found the bus stop, waited half an hour for the bus and then off we went to town. The route to town was rather odd, because the bus seemed to be going through small villages all the way (i.e. not a highway or trunk roads).

We finally got to town, and then decided to be gung-ho and walk to the hotel, instead of catching a taxi, and we ended up getting lost. Walking up and down with a huge backpack was certainly no fun at all. :p

The hotel was situated very near the Old Town so that was nice. Hubby commented that the layout of the town was rather unique, as there was a ring of greenery around the town centre, which made the walk quite pleasant.

The beautiful Old Town Square (Rynek Glowny) is the largest medieval town square in Europe. It is dominated by the spectacular 16th-century Renaissance Cloth Hall (Sukiennice), the 14th-century St.Mary’s church, and the Town Hall Tower. One thing I noticed was that people seemed to be really like flowers- quite a lot of people brought bouquets to greet their loved ones at the airport, and you can see people buying and carrying flowers everywhere. Even Rynek Glowny was filled with flower vendors!

The beautiful Cloth Hall

Munching a pretzel we bought from one of the many street vendors, we walked down ul Florianska right up to the Florian Gate and the Barbican, a defensive bastion built in 1498. After exchanging Euros for Polish Zlotys, we went in search of dinner.

We stumbled upon this nice restaurant called Nostalgia, featured in our Lonely Planet. I was so excited about trying Polish food, heh. Hubby ordered the pork loins in green pepper sauce, and I ordered a traditional Polish soup called ‘zurek’, which had sausages and slices of hard boiled egg in it. Now I’m not sure whether ‘zurek’ is meant to taste like that (*cough* *splutter*); if I may say this in the words of dear Fatboy- it was saltier than the Dead Sea! :p

My super-salty 'zurek'

I was so stuffed from having to eat the soup with some bread, that I had little room left for my main course- Russian dumplings, which were dumplings filled with cheese, and complimented with a sprinkling of bacon bits. They were so filling, and I simply could not manage to eat all of them.

Oh, and beer was Zywiec this time! :)

Farewell dinner at Hofbrauhaus, Munich

We left Salzburg and arrived in Munich in the late afternoon. The highlight of the evening was the farewell dinner at the world-famous Hofbrauhaus.

It was a buffet dinner, and while the food wasn’t great, it was decent enough. It was the atmosphere that was so memorable! People were packed tightly at long tables in a big hall, enjoying the food, the Bavarian music, and of course, those HUGE mugs of beer!

The hall we were in was filled with tour groups; it was so hard to get in and out of our chairs.. :p (But I guess it’s a small taste of what a beer tent at Oktoberfest would be like!)

The performances were quite entertaining :)

We sang, danced, and made a lot of noise! We tried to finish the 1 litre mug of beer, but it was just too much- what with all the food we already ate, heh.

Look at this monster mug!

Overall, it was a wonderful evening indeed. Later, back at the hotel, we said our goodbyes to our wonderful fellow travellers, with promises to share photos and keep in touch.

Our COSMOS Bohemian Rhapsody tour was over, but we still had a bit of travelling to do! Watch this space for more!