Ready for the Horse?

I went for my twice a month volunteer commitment in Chinatown last night. On my way home, I finally saw the Chinese New Year decors lit up.

I've seen the decors a few weeks ago in broad daylight. That was the time when the decors were still being installed.

It's a bit difficult to decide which version looks better - the one during the day or the one at night.

Anyway... looks like I'll be alone in the island come CNY.

I checked with some friends and a lot of them, if not all, are heading out for a holiday elsewhere.

As much as I want to take advantage of the four and a half days of leave, I am choosing to stay behind since I'm saving for a "project" and I also volunteered to do extra shift at the museum.

There was a call for non-Chinese volunteers to do extra shifts since most of the volunteers will be preoccupied with family CNY celebrations.

Technically, I'm part Chinese (I have my grandfather's family to prove it.) but of course, I don't celebrate it the way I celebrate Christmas.

To be honest, I'm not a big fan of CNY. While the rest of the island celebrates, it kinda makes me lonely since most of my friends are away and those who are here, shall be busy with their families.

The good thing is I have a bunch of things I want to do. The long weekend will be a good opportunity to do those things. Haha!

Plus, my feelings for 2014 are the opposite of how I felt for 2013.

This is going to be an awesome year!

Weekend at the museum...

A few hours of my Saturday and Sunday were spent at the museum.

Saturday, I did the 2PM guided tour of A Changed World. The following day, I did the 1130AM guided tour of the Singapore History Gallery.

Between the two, I was happier with the tour I gave for A Changed World. I thought the tour went really well.

Initially, I thought either the tour will be delayed because there are few museum guests or that it wouldn't push through.

Surprise, surprise.

A few minutes before 2PM, a Japanese couple came in and said they wanted to join the guided tour. They were then followed by a group of four Singaporeans.

I started with the tour and by the time we reached the fourth painting, the group has grown to quite a big one. I counted 10 Singaporeans, 2 Japanese, 4 Caucasians.

The reason I feel that it was a good tour was that the guests were responsive to questions. At the start of my tour, I would tell guests to feel free to share their thoughts about the art pieces. That way, the tour would be more interactive and they don't have to listen to me talking for an hour. Hehe!

For this particular tour, I liked how most of the guests (especially the Singaporeans) were surprised to find out that they actually carry a piece of Singapore art with them almost every day. I liked how, at the end of the tour, a few guests shared their favourite pieces and why it was their favourite.

I was really happy when I concluded the tour because I saw smiles on the guests' faces.

The same cannot be said of the Sunday tour. Lol!

I had quite a big group, too. A family of four Indians. Two Australians. One Canadian. One Brit.

Because there were kids in the group, I had to do away with some of the sections I usually include in my tour. The tour had to be child-friendly. Hehe!

Anyway, I think I have to change a bit of my tour for SHG. I need to think of ways to keep it more interesting.

Weekend of happy meals...

Weekends are for happy meals. Haha!

Friday night, PG Boy and I went to Jollibee at LP. He said he was feeling down that day because of work stuff et al. I told him he needed a two-piece Chicken Joy. I also told him about Jollibee's tag line, "Sa Jollibee, Bida ang Saya!" Haha!

From LP, we walked over to neighbouring Paragon for dessert. PG Boy suggested we go to Bakerzin. We took a look at the cake selection. I selected my chocolate piece, PG Boy did the same. When the cakes arrived, whoa! We were both surprised! Haha! I ordered for a cake slice and what arrived was an art piece. I told PG Boy, "I'm quite sure this is priced differently from what was indicated on the cake display case. True enough, we were charged double the price. Hahahaha!

Saturday night, PG Boy and I joined his gang for din din. We went to Nam Nam at Suntec. The food was quite good. I want to go back to try the sandwiches. Dinner was followed by coffee and dessert at Pacific Coffee. There, PG Boy's friends regaled us with their adventures in Taipei during G5. Lol! If one is single and is into chinitos, forget Songkarn. Go to G5! Seriously.

Today, PG Boy's housemates and I headed to a neighbouring kopitiam for lunch. Gav reco'd the Western food stall. The man behind the counter was an unfriendly Filipino. "Koya, ngumiti ka naman!" Haha! I ordered the mixed grill plate. Initially, I thought one would either get a chicken chop or a pork chop with the sausage. Nope, to my surprise, it was a plate of artery-clogging goodies. For $8.90, it wasn't bad at all.

Tonight, I'm having a light dinner - probably just a bun and my black cherry juice.

For the next five days, it's definitely back to no rice and healthier choices (salad and yong tau foo.)

Starbucks Bearista CNY 2014 is out...

Image from here

On my way to work this morning, I passed by the Starbucks at one-north.

I saw that their CNY merchandise is now out. One of the items that caught my attention was the Bearista bear. Actually, it's the only item that usually catches my attention. Haha!

Hmm, is it yay or neigh...errr, I mean nay?

I didn't get to take a photo of the item so I just "borrowed" a photo from the net.

Should I or shouldn't I? Haha! The Starbucks Bearista collection is starting to grow. Haha! I dunno if I should adopt one again.

The 2013 CNY Bearista was not very nice, imho. I thought the peg was very Zuma meets Rosebud. Haha!

This year's bear looks cute though. I should check again though. All the "horse hair" on the back of the bear looks weird.

I'm asking for the help of this friend to get me the bear.

G5 Party in Taipei...

More than Songkran, it looks like the G5 party at Taipei is the one that's more exciting.

Hehe!

Hmmm...

Buffet day at Carousel...

PG Boy and I went for our second buffet for 2013 a few weeks ago.

Carousel at Royal Plaza on Scotts Road is one of the buffet places I've been meaning to try. Two years ago, I wanted to treat PG Boy to a Christmas Eve dinner at Carousel but it was fully booked.

This year, I chose a date after Christmas and I booked several week ahead to ensure that I was going to get a table.

If you Google Carousel, most if not all the reviews you will see about the restau are positive. It's included in the "top buffet places in Singapore" lists of many food bloggers and regular bloggers. That's more reason why I really wanted to try the food at the restau.

So a few days after Christmas, I surprised PG Boy with a buffet treat at Carousel.

It was easy to see why the place is very popular among locals and foreigners. First, the buffet spread has a lot of choices - Japanese, fantab seafood station, salads, breads and pastries, Western cuisine, and a special section for Singaporean dishes. The best section I have to say though is the dessert counter since there are three (!!!) dessert stations! Next, the service was quite good. We didn't have to wait a long time to be seated. The waiters were quick to clear plates. Third, the price was very nice. I paid about $120 for both of us. It was such a good price considering how the wide range of food choices. I think I'll visit again this 2014. :-)

Carousel Buffet Restaurant
Lobby Level, Royal Plaza on Scotts 25 Scotts Road Singapore 228220 Tel: +65 6589 7799
Opening Hours: 12:00pm-2:00pm (Lunch), 3:30pm-5:30pm (High tea), 6:30pm-10:30pm (Dinner)
Prices for Adults: $46.00++ Lunch, $62.00++ Dinner (Weekday), $50.00++, $75.00++ (Weekends)

Singapore still surprises...

I had two pleasant "surprises" today.

The first one was a church in the heart of Serangoon Gardens. Though there's a church that is just a few steps away from PG Boy's place, I decided I have to go to a different church today. For the past few Sundays, I have been unable to receive Communion because I haven't been able to go to Confession. In all the churches I've been to around the island, the church near PG Boy's place is the first church I've been to whereby the priest does not give Confession 15 minutes before the Mass.

So today, I woke up early (which is not really difficult for me. Lol!) to go to the Church of St. Francis Xavier at Chartwell Drive. I was planning to take the bus to get there. However, I chose to take a cab when I realised that I might miss confession since it was already 8:15 when I left the house.

I'm glad that I decided to go to St. Francis Xavier's church. The church itself is beautiful. It's not too big. Neither is it too small. Personally, I prefer smaller churches because I feel the atmosphere is more intimate. The service itself was good. The priest gave a good homily, which didn't bore people. There was a beautiful, beautiful Nativity Scene setup which reminded me of the one at Lourdes Church QC (where I served as an altar boy for six plus years! Haha!).

After Mass, Mr. Lim picked me up from church since he lived nearby. Unfortunately, I didn't see his message that he was also free to attend the Mass. Otherwise, I would have told him to hurry up and join me for church.

Anyway, we headed first to the "central" of Serangoon Gardens to buy my black cherry. Mr. Lim was the one who's been getting me my multivits and supplements. At least, now I know where he gets it. If you haven't been to Serangoon Gardens, you'll probably ask if you're still in Singapore if you go there. PG Boy describes the place as a very Aussie neighbourhood. I would describe it as similar to any of the nice gated villages in Manila sans the gate. No towering HDB flats around here. It's mostly (if not purely) landed houses.

After I got my bottles of black cherry, we drove to Bishan Ang Mo Kio Park for a leisurely walk. I thought we wouldn't be going for a walk since I previously told him I was going to Mass. The other thing is that I'm not dressed for a park walk. Lol!

Luckily, the sun was not out today and the Bishan Ang Mo Kio Park does not require trekking clothes. I didn't look out of place in my church clothes. Haha!

It's my first time to that park and I thought it was very beautiful. How lucky are the people living in the area to have easy access to such a lovely park.

We came across Grub, a brunch place I've been meaning to try. Unfortunately, Mr. Lim told me there was no need to bring money nor our wallets. Ergo, no money, no brunch.

Our park walk concluded with lunch together with one of his friends. We went to one of the bak kut teh paces along Balestier. I tapau'd food for PG Boy and then Mr. Lim dropped me off at PG Boy's place. Nice Sunday.

A description of Singapore so often heard is that it's a very small island. True, I suppose. Though I've been living here for close to three years now, one thing I really love is that there are still several occasions when I am pleasantly surprised by "new discoveries" around the little red dot.

Church of St Francis Xavier
3A Chartwell Drive, Singapore 558758

Bihan-Ang Mo Kio Park
Along Bishan Road and Ang Mo Kio Ave 1

Busy and relaxed first Saturday of the year...

The first Saturday of the year turned out quite well, I have to say.

In the morning, PG Boy and I stayed at his place and worked on our big "project" for 2014. Hehe! I finally got him to sit down and talk about the project. Thankfully, it's moving forward.

In the afternoon, we went to the gym at Cathay. Ran into Tipz. I went for the 320 Combat class. The usual instructor, Alex, was away on holiday. Kenny was the sub instructor. I like both of these guys a lot! They're good Combat instructors. I like Kenny a lot because he seems to be oozing with positivity all the time. Lol! Too much endorphins?

I also went for Combat last night at Alexandra. Today's session was much more better though because I wasn't mentally drained from work.

From the gym, we walked to Plaza Sing to get a light snack. Well, when we saw that Tim Ho Wan had a short queue, the light snack turned into early dinner.

Finally, I got to try this dim sum place.

PG Boy liked it a lot. Hmm, I thought it was okay. I liked the food, yeah. But I'm kinda glad I didn't join the looong queues when the restau just started.

The next few hours were spent just walking around Orchard and window shopping. Surprisingly, it's not as crowded. I guess a lot of people are still on holiday overseas.

Got home a few minutes ago. Sheesh, it's not even 10 yet. The TV is on while I blog. This AppleTV is sooo bad! Haha! PG Boy and I can just stay the entire day watching series from my MacBook. Haha!

Good Saturday!

Back to work... I need a drink... Lol...

It's the first day back at the office and I wouldn't mind having the drink I had for New Year's Eve. LOL!

Things have been extremely busy at the office. I'm not complaining that there's a lot of work.

Having something to do is always something to be grateful for.

I'm just saying that I have a lot of things to do. LOL!

My guess is because 8 of my journals went into issue production for December. One of the journals is a big issue - close to 400 pages!!!

I'm hoping that things will slow down once all the issues go to press.

How was your first day back at the office?

2014... Day 1....

Happy New Year!

And just like that, it's the start of another year. Similar to the previous years, I have always been optimistic about the new year that begins.

I always hope that the new year will always be better than the year that just ended. I'm putting a lot of pressure on the universe to make 2014 a very good one especially since 2013 was a year I was just happy to bid goodbye.

So let's see how 2014 will be.

The first day of the year was spent nourishing the body and the soul.

I started the day by attending the 930AM Mass at the church which is just a stone's throw away from PG Boy's new place. Hmm, I kinda miss the priests at Holy Trinity and St. Mary of the Angels though. Imho, the priests at the two churches I just mentioned are better in connecting to the parishioners/Mass goers. I've only been attending Mass at the church near PG Boy's place and I'm already noticing a few points to improve on. Hehe!

PG Boy and I also had late lunch with Mr. Lim at The Banana Leaf Apollo Restau along Race Course Road. Mr. Lim was in Bangkok for a five-day holiday. He just got back yesterday night. He messaged last night to say that he wants spicy food or Indian food for lunch. Hehe!

It was my first time to eat at the this restau and I have to say that the food is good. Today was a very busy day though and it took some time before our food and drinks arrived. I also noticed that the restaurant did not have enough staff to attend to the customers. This has been something I've been noticing in a number of food establishments. Eeeep!

Thankfully, the palak paneer and the fish methi along with the cheese naan and biryani rice were all delicious. We also ordered chicken tikka masala but it wasn't so enjoyable. The mango lassi was also fantab. It is the best I've had ever.

After lunch, PG Boy and I headed back to his place and rested a bit. I then prepared to head back to my home in the West.

Tomorrow, the kids go back to school and I'm expecting the trains to be crowded. Ergo, I wanted to prep for tomorrow and I want to go to sleep early tonight.

It's going to be an exciting 2014!