Voyage Night Festival 2011. Anyone?

Yesh! Night Festival returns this year for the fourth time on 26-27 August and 2-3 September. I’m definitely going for this!!

Description
This year, the Night Festival takes its inspiration from the Black Sea, retelling stories of cultural crossings and maritime journeys that have fed our own cultures and imaginations.

Filled with ethnic and contemporary music, song and dance, magical lights, film and visual arts, the Night Festival 2011 celebrates the unity of diverse cultures as well as the will and sense of adventure of diverse people.

Night Lights, a series of quirky art installations programmed by the Singapore Art Museum, will also be on showcase for 9 evenings, starting on 26 August – 3 September.

The main events will take place on the public green spaces of the Singapore Management University and Stamford Green, with late night openings at the National Museum, and special events in local cultural venues like The Substation.

Visit www.nationalmuseum.sg or www.singaporeartmuseum.sg for details.

SG Food Trail

A (almost) full day of travel-to-eat adventure in Singapore on National Day =)

2.30PM
Leong Kee (Klang) Bak Kut Teh, Beach Road, near Kampong Glam conservation area

We waited almost an hour for the food to come... Ordered bak kut teh for 3 (even though there were 5 of us, hahaha), salted veg, fried you tian and rice.

Bak kut teh soup is thick and rich with herbal flavour; we absolutely love the soup and requested for 2 rounds of soup refill!

Ribs are tender and meaty; and there are plenty to go around.

Soup include pieces of beancurd skin and veg as well; and i believe this is not usual (??); er, not sure... haha

For the amount of ribs plus bak kut teh soup plus sides, it's only SGD 8.00 per pax. Nice! Recommend.

We strolled over to Haji Lane and checked out the shophouses which are mainly independent fashion boutiques.

Very enjoyable!

... and since we were there, I must definitely take photos of Masjid Sultan (Sultan Mosque) and the cafes along Bussorah Pedestrian Mall.

This will definitely be a good place to laze away the afternoon... imagine yourself slipping a cup of tea, reading a book, enjoying the breeze and admiring the picturesque Sultan Mosque...

05:15PM
Durian at Tanjong Katong.

Yummy Sultan durians (at SGD 7.00 per kg) plus a few pieces of D24 and Mao Shan Wang durians (complimentary from durian stall auntie) for sampling =)

We love durians!

06:00PM
Punggol Nasi Lemak Centre

We spied this stall as we drove down the road, saw the long queue and decided to try the nasi lemak as it is supposed to be really famous.

Bought a plate of nasi lemak to share as we were still very full from the durians. Chicken wing is pretty good, tender on the inside and crispy on the outside. Chilli is good too.

For our plate of nasi lemak, it costs $4.80 (slightly overpriced I feel) and 20mins in the queue.

07:00PM
Old Airport Road Food Centre

Top Right: We queued almost 45mins to lay our hands on the famous 老伴手工豆花. This beancurd tastes really good and its texture is very soft and smooth. Seriously, this is the best beancurd we have ever tasted (or rather, BK has ever tasted, cos she immediately declared that this is the best beancurd in the whole world... hahaha).

SGD 1.50 for a box of original flavour beancurd. And each of us returned home with at least 4 boxes of beancurd in hand... hahaha... and no, I considered ourselves as normal beings... cos there were many more people who ordered at least 10 boxes lor. LOL

Bottom Left: Soft, smooth and silky handmade prawn chee cheong fun from 现做现卖猪肠粉 tastes really good, especially with their light soy sauce! SGD 2.00 per piece.

Bottom Middle: Delicious BBQ string ray with super hot chilli sauce from one of the BBQ seafood stalls. SGD 8.00 (small).

Bottom Left: Yummy charcoal grilled BBQ chicken wings from 唐记炭烧鸡翅. SGD 1.10 per piece.

Should we go another food trail soon??

SG Staycation - Day 2

Day 2 of our staycation

01:30PM

Lunch at Poison Ivy Bistro, Bollywood Veggies farm, kranji.

Veggies are gathered from the farm, cooked and served to your plate. It can’t get any fresher than that!

Food is delicious and prices are really affordable =)

Highly recommended.
PS: You definitely require a car to reach there!

A pity that it was going to rain while we were there and thus for safety reasons, we were not allowed to enter the farm for a tour around the plantation.

Views of the farm outside the bistro

02:40PM

Visit to Hay Dairies to view goats and purchase goat milk.

General view of the area to house / bred goats

Goat milk tastes slightly different from cow milk and there isn't any "goat smell" (I think). Guess it's a matter of time to be acquired with the taste...

While we were there, we saw quite a number of people who came in with their own freezer container to pick up / buy goat milk.

Top left: A male goat chasing a female goat around the small enclosure

Top right: Thirsty goat?

Bottom: A row of young goats (young goat = kid) with their backs towards us on the other side of the farm

03:45PM

Tiger brewery tour at APB to gain an insight into the ingredients which go into brewing Tiger Beer, the packaging process and the history of the company.

SGD 16.00 includes 45mins of unlimited beer sampling at Tiger Tavern and a souvenir - magnet cum bottle opener in Tiger design and bottle cap shape)

Pretty fun!

07:00PM

Dinner at Jurong Hill Top Restaurant for teppenyaki.

Surprisingly, with the restaurant at such a ulu place (place on top of jurong hill and you need to drive up a poorly lit and winding road), there are quite alot of diners.

We had salmon, scallop, chicken, pork, mushroom, bean sprouts, olive rice and ice cream. Food is yummy and in decent portion.

Bill comes up to about SGD 31.00 per pax

Views from Jurong Hill top

... and we concluded that the brightly lighted area should be 2nd Link (Tuas Checkpoint)

SG Staycation - Day 1

Day 1 of our stay-in-singapore-holiday (i.e. staycation)

10:00AM

Bowling session at Bt Batok Civil Service Club
SGD 2.40 per game (member)
SGD 1.20 shoe rental

Pretty fun!! It's been a really long time since we last went bowling =)

12:15PM

Dim sum buffet lunch at Prosperous Kitchen at West Coast Plaza (formerly Ginza Plaza).

We had initially wanted to go for sakae sushi buffet, but alas, the buffet is no longer available there.

Quality of food here is average though...

For this staycation, we rented a car for 2 days and took turns to drive around the various places.

Gotta hone my driving skills!!

02:30PM

Changi Chapel and Musuem

Quoted "In honouring the spirit and commitment of those who rose from the depths of adversity, the Museum inspires future generations to come and deepen their appreciation of the heroic and inspirational stories that unfolded in Changi during the war. The Changi Museum is dedicated to all those who lived and died in Singapore, in particular the Changi area, during the dark years of World War II.

Through documentation of significant events of the Japanese Occupation, the Museum also serves as an important educational institution and resource centre. As for the Prisoners-of-War (POWs) and their families, it is a site that allows for closure of the many emotional scars inflicted by the war years."

Check out the official website for more details, click here.

05.15PM

And it's tai-tai time!! hahaha

We went for classic manicure pedicure at Nail Palace, Tiong Bahru Plaza. 90mins, SGD 42.00 (special price under package), pretty good services.

Look at our beautiful finger nails and toe nails!!

08:00PM

Dinner at House, Barracks n Camp, Dempsey Road, Blk D

This is a nice and cosy restaurant with live band and superlicous food in generous portion.

Great place for friends to gather, chill out and relax.

Highly recommended.

11.00PM

Check in for one night stay at Robertson Quay Hotel.

Room and shower are kinda tiny though...

Well well well, for SGD 153, I'm actually expecting a bigger room... Guess we check in a bit late and all the nice and bigger rooms are taken up =P

Rate includes complimentary breakfast (no one checks lor, so anyone can come into their cafe area in the morning to have free breakfast) and parking.

To be continued...