Haw Par Villa

Do you remember Haw Par Villa?

Sunday was Haw Par Villa day! HAha.. I remembered setting foot on that place long long ago when I was ard 5/6?.. HAHa.. So after more than a decade, I went back again =)

Why that place all of a sudden? I duno.. HAha.. It was the usual Sunday brunch with Daddy and Ah qi, so it just came into mind all of a sudden.. HAha! Singapore is too small leh… So after filling our stomachs with Ya kun toast set at Toa Payoh, we drove down all the way to Pasir Panjang.. Side track a lil.. Ya kun’s soft boiled eggs are so nice.. Seriously, it’s so much nicer, fatter, rounder than those found in normal kopi tiams.. Hee! Of coz, the price is a lot nicer too..

HAha! We were so excited, like kids going on excursions you know =P Parking lots are sooo diff to find I tell ya… We had to travel in circles to find the cheapest parking around the vicinity coz the nearest parking to the villa charged a fee of $5 per entry! Daylight robbery can.. HAha..

So, we settled for some private parking compound (which obviously looks like the normal coupon parking area, but some ah pek came and collect money from all cars that came in, and gave us a parking receipt... like he own the place =P maybe he does.. nvm... HAha!) across the villa, which costs $2 per entry.. Still expensive, but it’s the cheapest..

Tadah! Finally arrived =) Posing with the big sign at the entrance which says ‘Free Admission’

I’m posing with the tiger right at the top of the man made cliff.. =)

Posing with daddy at the entrance =)

How meaningful.. Perservere and remember your roots.. HAha! It sounds very awful after I translate..

Some history about the place.. Lesson time!

Built in 1937 by the entrepreneurial and charismatic Aw Boon Haw for his brother Boon Par, Haw Par Villa is the quintessential house of Chinese folklore. Described by various visitors as "fascinating, delightful, bizarre and entertaining", Haw Par Villa is like no other place in the world.Twenty-five clusters of original statues and figurines replicate Chinese mythology characters like the Laughing Buddha and the Fu Lu Shou (Taoist deities). A must-see exhibit is the Ten Courts of Hell, featuring the ten steps of judgement before reincarnation. Literal and leaving nothing to the imagination, the statues and sets immortalise moral values and Chinese cultural heritage for generations to come.
-From the Visit Singapore Website-

Suagus were spotted too!
The cute lil Tiger balm girl..

Daddy and Ah qi with their sheep/goat.. HAha! they are both born in the year of the goat.. =)

Ah Qi with her love stone.. HAha! She wants to find her Prince Charming soon.. Some HK TVB stars? HAha.. Good luck k.... =P

Why is this here? Im not sure.. East meets West... HAha!

We wanted to visit the Ten courts of hell attraction in the Park, but due to time constraints (daddy had to go back to the shop), we decided to come back on CNY again as a family.. Haha.. This was the only chargable attraction in the park. The fee was $1 per adult, and 50 cents for children.. Fair enough.. HAha! Well, for a relatively cheap fee of $1, I recokoned it wouldn’t be very exciting, maybe just some very well preserved and nicely painted statues and figurine replicates, compared to the ones outside (free for public).. A boat ride included inside? I duno.. hee!

Posed with the vintage tiger car near the entrance of the Ten Courts of Hell =)

I must say Im pretty impressed with the art work there.. Considering the fact that it’s pretty deserted now, with only a small private organization running this humungous park.. Daddy said that there’s only a park keeper taking care of this huge park at the moment, and he is the only guy who bothers to repaint some statues with fallen paint.. How wei da! But I must say, the contractors and painters of this park did a very good job! Very detailed and skillful painting.. which obviously requires a lot of hard work.. A lot of good paint and cement/concrete as well (it’s so vulnerable to weather conditions, daily wear and tear..) The fact that it is still so nicely maintained shows how durable they are.. Tho they are not nice now.. I can imagine how gorgeous this parked looked back then when it first started.. Thankfully, I still have the pictures (When I visited many years ago) with me… Amazing =) This place holds a lot of happy memories for me..

This is Tang San Zang with the Zhi zhu Jing's sisters?.. I duno.. But this is the Spider Cave.. HAha! Tsk Tsk.. How dare they seduce him... =P

Ah Qi's role models.. HAha! mine too............ hee!

Very Exquisite... Very nice..

You'll find weird things there.. Animals in human's bodies.. And humans in animal's bodies.. Folklore you see...

If you have a lazy day to spare, with no plans for the day, head down to Haw Par Villa if you happen to be around the vicinity (Pasir Panjang).. It is definitely worth the visit.. Do bring some towel/wet tissue.. hot leh! HAha.. Water some snacks to munch while admiring the statues and figurines.. Oh ya, Cameras too!

Parting Shot! Look at how pro Ah Qi is.. I'm demure ma... HAha! =P

Southern Ridges...

Saturday’s weather was extremely good.. Very sunny! Perfect for a jungle trail walk/trekking.. HAha.. I packed cans of drinks and packs of lil snacks into my bag.. Slipped on my BKK slippers, I was ready to go.. for another adventure.. This time round, at the Southern Ridges! =)

We took milo out instead coz we had to ride up mount faber, milo jr is too small and weak to ferry us up.. HAha! We *put put* all the way to mid-hill, then left milo there, while we continued the journey to the top..

Wrong decision! HAha.. but nvm.. Tho not fully recovered and fit yet, I still finished the Marang trail (full of steep steps loh) to the top =) I felt breathless and was panting like mad.. HAha.. unglam..

Then, we started our walk past the jewel box, and then some pathways which look very similar to the ones at Mac Ritchie, and finally reached the Henderson Waves.. This 247m long bridge has been in the news recently.. Impressive architecture and design.. =)

So, it was click click time.. HAha! Despite being baked under the blazing sun, we managed to take a few decent pictures.. Thankfully, we crossed the long bridge in about 15 mins.. HAha! I dun want to be tanned k.. hee…

Next up, the forest trail.. A pretty long one.. HAha! It was predictably packed, but there was still ample space for us to stroll and maneuver while enjoying the scenery and fresh air! So very close to nature..

Mosquito bites count: 1 (Not too bad)
Scratches count: 1 (from my slipper, funny leh.. hmm…)

Spotted a spider among the tress… Can u see it? It’s vv big leh! Really.. size of my palm.. It’s yellow and black.. HAha.. And the web it spun was huge…. =P (I think you need to squint, but it's near the top.. Haha!)

Spotted a durian tree too! HAha.. it attracted lots of attention, and ppl started clicking.. as usual.. But I dun wan to be one of them.. hee! I let Mr Koh do the job.. I ‘kop’ his pic can le =)

Then! We finished the forest trail after ard 30 mins.. Then we were led to the Hort Park =) Full of flowers and greens.. Beautiful place.. HAha!

We walked past the greenhouses and I was amazed by the beauty of the flowers! The flowers were healthy and fresh.. so richly colored and it’s natural.. Kept in the most desirable conditions, the plants were able to grow and bloom gorgeously…How nice! I wanna stay inside too… HAha!

After being captivated by the glorious floral and fauna, we made a detour, and went back to the forest trail.. Stomachs began to growl wor =P

Instead of the forest trail, we embarked on the ‘earth trail’.. HAha.. this time, we were really vv close to nature.. No more metal railings and supports, we were ‘down to earth’… HAha! Thankfully, my trusty slippers kept me firmly on ground.. HAha..

Back to Henderson Wave after some walking.. Now, the wave definitely looked nicer.. It was more cooling too.. Without the sun..
View from the bridge

We were lucky enough to catch the NDP planes rehearsing too =) Doing stunts.. Kids and families quickly stopped to stare into the light blue sky.. Lovely! It was indeed beautiful……..

It was a cooling stroll back to milo =) Tired and weary.. We *put put* off in search of our dinner.. HAha! I love the southern ridges.. I want to go back again.. HAha! Next time, to explore the other beautiful trails… *smiles*

Back to school...

Went back to NTU this afternoon to collect our certs, transcripts and invitation cards for convo.. Thanks to Mr Koh, I was ferried to school on milo jr.. A nice and slow ride.. I can almost imagine myself fainting on my way there, if I were to take bus+mrt.. Bad bad flu + cough.. And a very sore throat the day before.. *sneeze*

And and.. Milo jr's right signal light dropped, it disappeared! We duno where it went.. Maybe it got knocked off by me, or it dropped along the way =(

Went to the not-so-familiar Canteen A for lunch.. Situated near the library, Level 2.. It looks so much like a food court now.. Aircon, nice seats, and increased food price!! =P I still prefer the old canteen A.. NTU is becoming so not-like-a-school.. tsk tsk!

HAha! then proceeded to Nanyang Audi.. saw alot of friends today.. HAha! I realized that I do miss school... After collecting the essentials, we loitered around, caught up with alot of friends.. Business course is indeed short.. 3 years in NTU just went past me like that.. Whoosh~

So, went off to Jalan besar area to change jr's back tyre, and in search of a similar signal light.. HAha! Fortunately, we were able to find a good replacement.. =)

Im so happy and proud of my cert and transcripts.. Finally done with studying le =)

But but! there's one thing vv wrong with my cert! Mei li mao...... After so many years in NTU, they still got my name wrong... Not the spelling, but I like my WeiShi spelt with a capital S, and 'Wei' and 'Shi' to be joined ma.. See what they did... *bleahz* kick them arh..........

Hancock..

Went to catch Hancock at Cine.. HAha! Haven been there for movies for quite some time.. Tix at cathay cinemas cost $6 bucks each for UOB card holders, but it is only applicable for movies before 6pm.. HAha... cheap! Calling all students/unemployed.. must make full use of this privilege before you start work..

Anyways back to this movie.. Another superhero movie.. But it's a lil diff.. This superhero called 'Hancock' belongs to this class of bad-turned-good superheros.. HAha! Effects were good.. It's a comedy-action-romance movie.. Not alot of romance tho..

Well, shant include the spoilers here.. But this movie did meet my minimum criteria coz just when I thought the plot couldnt get any more interesting/exciting.. Another twist came along halfway through the movie.. HAha! It made the movie so much more contentful and made my 6 bucks more worth it... HAha! Looking for a movie to relax/laugh and be overwhelmed by alot of effects? Watch Hancock ba =)

Joyful Saturday...

Saturdays are always precious and lovely.. It's the weekends! Tho everyday's just as lovely since I'm not working yet.. HAha!

I bought a skirt from This Fashion.. For work! Money spent wisely.. HAha.. A dark grey skirt.. (I've deliberately use my new bedsheets as my backdrop coz I like it alot.. HAha! And my bolster too =P)

I spent alot of money today.. Sinful! I spent the bulk of it on things I don't like..

$240+ ... on 3 driving revision lessons *bleahz* No choice! and that excludes renewal of my expired PDL.......... BOO!

Met Shiyou at SSDC to book our lessons.. Rainy day... then took our fav free shuttle bus to AMK hub.. HAha!

Ate at the food court and shopped around.. Shiyou bought her office clothes, a lovely top... HAha! though I had to resist the temptations to buy anymore clothes, it's nice enough to be her consultant.. HAha! Poor her, fell sick.. Must be due of work.. Get well soon wor!

Then... I rushed down to Bugis to meet Aunt Beh and Ah qi... And i'm shocked! The basement had been transformed...... Seriously.. I almost got lost while trying to locate Cold Storage.. HAha! The short 2 hours with them was enjoyable.. Ah qi wanted to take lovegety again.. She is vv childish =P HAha.............

So... This was how it went.. We entered the lovegety shop, discussing who should stand in front.. Coz the one standing in front will always appear the ugliest in the finished shot, coz the size of the head will be exaggerating-ly captured.. Haiz! so as usual.. to accommodate the youngest and the senior-est in the trio, I volunteered to stand in front =P

3 shots were taken.. I managed to flash a decent smile with a decent pose for the first 2 shots, and gave a 'slutty' pose for the third for fun thinking that the third was redundant... So I was pretty pleased with the 1st and 2nd shot coz I looked decently presentable.. Then this Ah Qi chose the last pic despite my strong objection! Nvm.... So this is how I looked..

Vv unglam.. vv ugly.. vv slutty, vv yin dang.. Super throw face =P

Btw, Im posing with 2 fingers on my lips.. Not my middle finger k... HAha!

Ah qi said she chose this coz I looked vv ugly in it.. HAha.. How evil!!

Next stop... Geylang MongKok Dim Sum.......

Met Mr Koh in the evening for dinner... To satisfy my sudden craving.. I dragged him to Geylang for Dim Sum.. That's all.. HAha...

Had a lovely stroll through the messy Geylang roads on Milo Jr.. His new flame..

And saw alot of Ah Tiong "Social Escorts"... Endowed with voluptuous figures, long and slender legs.. No wonder they are the fantasies of men at Geylang.. HAha! And hor, I think local men are not the only customers, I saw Ah Tiong men lurking digustingly around the girls.. My goodness! They have infiltrated every part and bit of Singapore........ Someone please do something!! It's getting out of hand....

So back to my dinner.. DIM SUM!

This is my craving for the week... HAha! We ordered Siew Mai, Har gao, Glutinous Rice Wrapped in Lotus Leaf, Chee Chiong Fun, Xiao Long Bao, Guo Tie.. I Love so much! HAha........

Bill: $14.50... I think it's cheap.......... =)

Then.. knowing that there's NDP rehearsal tonight, we intended to proceed to the kallang area to view some short display.. BUT! Thinking that it was still early, I suggested gg back to the Ah Tiong Babes lane to check out how men approach them.. I'm vv kpo de..

We finally went back to Milo jr after a short walk around the vicinity.. HAha! Then! I heard thunder-sound-alike loud bangs in the sky... I felt a lil sad coz I think those sounds I heard were made by the firewoks.. I couldnt see a thing can... Coz we were still in Geylang surrounded by shophouses and hotels =P

Nevertheless, we made our way to Kallang Leisure Park.. For some after food stroll =) On our way there.. I saw some brilliant flashes in the sky.. Something golden and magnificent! HAha.. The fireworks! (They saved some for me coz they noe I've missed the earlier ones).. The funny thing was, I couldnt hear a thing while on the road.. Just the beautiful flashes.. with the breath-taking city landscape as the background =) It was the first time viewing fireworks on a bike..

That was it.. Another Lovely Saturday.. With good food, company and fun....... =)

Singapore Toy and Comic Convention 2008

Last Sunday was a 'Toy' day for me.. Went to the Singapore Toy and Comic Convention 2008 with Dad and Ah Qi in the morn, at Suntec.. Pictures! =)

It was a toy fan's heaven.. Saw alot of people in Cosplay/Lolita/Anime costumes.. HAha.. Flashlights shone like nobody's business.. HAha.. Photographers went clicking away.. Of coz the more beautiful and sexy ones got more attention from the crowd..

Dad was amazed, or should I say shocked.. He couldnt understand why kids these days would go all out to dress like their favourite anime characters.. Bold hair colour/styles, extravagant dressing.. HAha! I couldnt tell him why coz I'm pretty puzzled myself.. =P

But nevertheless, they brought much life and colour to this exhibition..

We walked to this area where a bunch of 2D posters/boards were displayed.. Ah Qi and I saw bugs bunny, tofu man, a very gothic looking doll which I totally adore =) We started clicking away, oblivious to the occasional looks/stares from curious passer-bys.. hee!

I Love gothic~ =)

Daddy and Ah Qi had to leave after a while, coz Daddy had to go back to tend the shop..

So, I met up with Mr Koh, and continued with part 2 of my toy fair tour.. HAha!

More clicking now.. hee! With lao fu zi and da fan shu...


Mr Koh with his 2D 'friends'

Guess what...... I saw the artist (Simone Legno) who created the brand tokidoki (Refer to my blog banner).. HAha! He did a live art demo earlier at the fair, and this was his completed art.. Cute ba!

HAha... I saw him drawing live, when I came with daddy and Ah Qi... but unfortunately, he had already left when I revisited the booth with Mr Koh =P

Aniwae, I saw Naruto too.. HAha!


I love gothic looking dolls.. totally spooky, with an aura of mystery around them, which is hard to explain.. But I like! =)

In Hello Kitty outfit somemore loh.. HAha!

And........... I totally adore these dainty lil miniature art.. HAha.. Exquisite is the word to describe them.. Tastefully created.. *Yum yum* HAha...

Another week gone~