Saturday at Istana!

It was labour day last Saturday~ and I read on the news that the Istana will be open to the public that day!... I've never been to the Istana (having heard much about it since young, but not sure what they had inside), so suggested going there that day! =)

And what perfect weather we had.......

Lush greenery awaits...

Entering the Istana is like entering a massive grassland.. There is no lack of green.. suddenly I feel like I'm not in Singapore.. coz it's pretty rare to find large plots of never-ending greens.. Btw, Singaporeans get in for free that day, while foreigners had to pay a small sum of $2 (I think) to enter the premises..

Entering another big gate which brings us to another large plot of grassland... haha.. The weather was too hot for comfort.. but still better than rain.. =P

As we entered the gates, we could hear melodious music played by a symphonic band from afar.. haha.. and true enough, there was a school band nicely nestled inside the tent, playing catchy tunes to entertain everyone at the Istana.. Seeing how hot the weather was, I had to bring out my 'armour' too!

Though it's black (black absorbs heat), I still need it to shelter me from the harmful rays....... =P

suave conductor... HAHA...

We proceeded up the gradual slope which led us to a white house lookalike building.. haha...

Posing with my lovely 'hor sua' =P and drops of perspiration happily soaked my jeans.. luckily my jean's dark, if not people would have thought I'd pee-ed in them...

We've reached the white-house.. haha.. think this is the place where meetings and conferences are held.. and since we need to pay to get in.. we decided to just stay put and lingered around instead..

Coincidentally, Mr Koh met his colleague there and she was nice enough to help us take a shot =)

Spotted a fountain not too far away from the 'white house'

So before we trotted to the fountain, here's me saluting to say bye bye to the 'white house'.. haha...

To the fountain behind Mr Koh........... charge!

Tadah~ Sweltering heat made the stroll around Istana a little unbearable.. but still people still gathered around to take numerous shots.. haha...

Afterwhich, we walked towards another part of Istana - Victoria Pond.. Which is a little bit off the main area..

Nice red flower amidst the green... Thankfully, there wasnt any mossies in sight..

Erm... if I'm not wrong.. this is the statue of Queen Victoria... haha..

Interestingly, we spotted a pretty large canon, which was a hot favourite amongst photography enthusiasts..

This pretty much ended our sight seeing session at the Istana.. Happy Labour Day to all... glad I'll have my off-in-lieu... =P haha...

My Monday leave after Batam Trip!

I lived like a queen (still) after my trip to Batam.. hahaha... Feeling recharged after sleeping more than 10 hrs the night before, I woke up feeling super happy as I know I have a whole day of activities lined up ahead... on a MONDAY! hahaha...

Since it was raining that morning, we decided to ditch the bike and head for the MRT trains instead.. haha.. and since Circle line's been in operation for quite some time, as Singaporeans, we should try it out and see what's in store! haha... There's not much difference as compared to NEL, but the train is definitely much shorter... a fast and comfy ride!

First up! I've finally tried the buffet porridge at suntec city.. =) hahaha.. though the dishes don't look very expensive, but being able grab so many dishes of different varieties and colours of food made me very happy.. HAHA!

See what I mean?

Wah wah wah............. I'm hungry now..

at less than 10 bucks, I was as happy as a bird.. HAHA! What's more, it was pouring cats and dogs outside while we were having our feast.. porridge on a cold and wet afternoon.. wonderful~

We decided to catch a movie that day and we trotted over to Iluma Filmgarde.. We loved that cinema coz they never fail to disappoint us with its availability of tickets.. haha.. even at the very last moment =P

We bought out tickets and we headed to our favourite arcade =) at the top most level.. haha.. don't think many knew of its existence, but gradually this place has become more crowded.. perhaps due to word of mouth marketing.. We discovered this arcade very randomly on a random day some time back and spent quite abit of money there ever since.. HAHA.. the draw: they dispense tickets for almost every game in the arcade =)

so we have been aggressively collecting tickets since then.. and aimed for a toy to redeem once we've collected enough tickets.. haha..

Our lucky machine that day.......... 400 tickets with a dollar! Lady luck was smiling at us that day... No.. she was in us.. HAHA!

Soon enough, with the streak of good luck.. we managed to collect way more than enough tickets to redeem the toy which we've been aiming for a long time... YAY!

solar powered dancing monkeys!.. haha.. they are so cute.. watching them dance makes me wanna dance along too *dance dance*

Feeling super happy, we went for our movie..

Afterwhich, we went for ice cream! =) But it's super expensive, don't think I will go back there anytime soon, unless it's free.. haha.... We were given 2 bucks discount when we produced our movie stub.. but still, it was still expensive.. haha..

Rocher flavoured ice cream mixed with almonds and gummy bears! yummy~

We walked over to Marina Square after our dinner.. haha.. so that we could digest all the foodies we had earlier in the day =) It was good exercise too... haha.. And since the Helix bridge opened not too long ago, we decided to make a trip there.. to see how beautiful and amazing it really is...

Nice~ I realise the lights on the bridge changes colour.. so it's not blue all the time..

Futuristic!

Our IR, almost completed...

Us~ we had such an eventful day... haha.. What monday 'blues'? haha..

Looking over to the other side.. we used to gaze over from the other side in the past... haha...

Singapore does have a pretty nice night view~ Reminds me of Hong Kong!

Peeping over to see what's ahead... coz they've blocked 1/4 of the bridge.. think they are still doing some final construction... haha..

Go visit the bridge when you're free... It's worth a visit =)

Batam Getaway.. 3rd edition

I went to Batam last week... again for the third time.. haha.. with surplus rupiah left from the previous trips to batam, we decided to head over to batam again for a short weekend trip.. it was really short, but enough to recharge our minds and souls... =)

Awaiting to board Jet Raider - our ferry to batam =)

Chose a good seat and got ready for the 45 mins journey.. stomachs were growling already as we boarded the 920am with empty stomachs.. haha..

But fret not.. we bought breakfast to savour during the journey.. =) haha.. What a way to enjoy your breakfast.. Initially I thought it would be nice to eat bfast on a ferry, hearing the splashing of waves while you eat.. let the cool sea breeze caress your face..

But I was a little wrong.. HAHA... I realised I have serious motion sickness =P Real lousy, but I have to admit that I felt nauseous midway.. coz my bfast was wobbling in my stomach for 45 mins in a moving ferry.. It was pretty horrible.. haha..

Finally, we reached KTM Resort! haha... Not as glam as Turi Beach and not as happening as Harris.. It was.. how should I put it.. haha.. it was budget! haha..

Nevertheless, still posed for a shot at the counter.. behind me is the place where we will be having our bfast the next day =) We got our keys.. and trotted to our beach front villa.. they call it so..haha..

We thought we had a whole villa to ourselves, coz it looked pretty reasonable and logical that we should have the whole hut to ourselves (the whole hut didnt look too big anyway).. but we were very disappointed to know that we were actually sharing the hut with others.. our room was actually half the hut, and we had to share the balcony with the 'neighbour'... whom we've never met during our stay there.. haha.. not sure if there were anyone staying beside our room anyways =P

Take pictures first! =)

Behind me are small little spa huts.. facing the sea.. =) We didnt have any complimentary spa package provided in the tour package we bought.. so we could only peep from far.. HAHA..

Time to go out for a stroll after settling down.. our room number was B16 =)

KTM is actually full of steps and is actually very hilly.. we had to climb numerous steps to get to places, and it was defintely a good exercise for us (we were acutally super hungry coz we havent had lunch yet)..

We walked around the resort and posed for more pictures..

The humongous man-made stone reminds me of stone age flintstones.. haha.. It was burning hot.. =P chao ta already..

The lake behind me contains water pumped from the sea (in front of the spa huts).. I think there's this pumping system which regulates the amount sea water being pumped into the lake.. During afternoons, the water level would be very low and the reverse happens in early mornings...

We climbed high and low and took a nice shot at the 'peak'... hahhaa... I must re-emphasize again, it was super hot!!! =P

This is one of the main attractions at KTM... This 21m tall statue of guan yin at the resort and is said to be the tallest statue of guan yin at batam =)

We basically finished touring the whole of KTM within half an hour.. haha... we took the shuttle bus (paid $5) which brought us to Nagoya Shopping Mall and dashed into A&W immediately upon reaching.. haha.. We were famished!

A&W!! hahaha... nothing very special about this, and it's not very cheap either.. But bcoz we don't have it in Singapore, we MUST have this when we're there.. =) For the 3 times we went there, we never fail to eat that.. haha..

*Slurp*

After lunch, we walked around the shopping centre and realised that the shopping centre remained pretty much the same.. We see the same old shops and suddenly the mall became like our 2nd home in batam.. haha.. I rem how lost we were on our first time here.. haha.. now, we can navigate around quite easily.. haha..

Arcade games were still as cheap! Bball game costs around 50 cents per game =) This is Mr Koh, shooting in action... and he got the ball in.. haha..

While he was very engrossed in his game..

We found our favourite game there too - the drums game.. =) We had good practice in Batam.. haha! and wow-ed the crowd at the arcade (I'm kidding).. but I would say we're not bad already.. If we were in SG, give me money I'll also not 'throw my face' in front of the experts at the arcade.. haha..

We went for some grocery shopping at the hypermart and da bao-ed dinner back to our little hut.. haha.. Wished we had more time at the mall, but we spent too much time at the arcade that we forgot we had a shuttle bus to catch =P

Good morning~ 2 sleepy heads in specs... haha!

Look! It's high tide... And the water carries a weird stench.. =P smells like ammonia.. haha.. Rem the tide was very much lower in the afternoon.. We could spot fishes in the 'lake' too..

Time for bfast.. I was not hoping for a full fledged american breakfast buffet (coz I've read reviews on some random blogs).. haha... so was not expecting alot =P Wells, I wouldnt say it's fantastic.. but it's not too awful either.. it's enough to fill up empty stomachs.. haha..

It's a half american / half local breakfast selection =)

View from the restaurant.. haha.. see our little hut?

From where we were seated, we could see Singapore! =) But it was a little foggy.. Think coz it was abt to rain over in Singapore..

We spent the rest of the morning watching TV and munching on snacks we bought from the hypermart the day before.. haha.. Such a food-filled trip =P

Ordered a glass of avocado juice and coconut while waiting for the bus to bring us to the ferry terminal.. it was time to go back to Singapore..

On our return trip to Singapore, we headed indoors and had an ultra comfy journey back to Singapore =) haha.. It was so comfy that I dozed off in the ferry~

Home sweet home........

Still very happy coz we both took leave the next day! woohoo~~~~ =)