Happy CNY and back to reality

Happy Chinese new year everyone! I am celebrating with family for the next few days, and then I'm back to reality which is SCHOOL. I have been in holiday mood for the past month and a half. I've been in South-east Asia, visiting Singapore, Penang and my hometown, Kuala Lumpur. So it's been a pretty great summer.

I am hoping not so much for prosperity this year (besides, I'm a student), but for a good school year as I'm entering my second last year of high school!

Also, I wrote a post on Huffington post about why YOU should care about the 66 million uneducated girls in the world.

Eateries

I had a diverse range of food in Singapore, all tested by my trusty uncle and aunty. I was quite surprised to learn that food of other cultures are really good, such as Spanish, Italian, Mexican etc...
Tiong Bahru bakery

Kouign amann and traditional croissant.

These were the ultimate croissants, dare I say the best I've tasted in my life. I shared a traditional croissant and a kouign amann croissant with Uncle D. Think flaky, crispy with delicate layers. The kouign amann croissant is a must, so sweet and crispy. Btw Uncle,if you're reading this, I INITIALLY THOUGHT YOU SAID 'ALMOND' and was wondering where the almonds were...

Scoop

Cute ice cream shop, also pointed out by Aunty that it's a shop that attracts so many girls! Gee, I wonder why. There are many flavours to choose from, but I settled with butterscotch and pecan. Aunty got the lychee martini, which was very refreshing and Uncle D got durian... I normally don't eat durian, but on this trip I had durian ice cream twice, suffice to say I like it!

Lei Garden

Chijmes

We were supposed to eat at the iconic Chijmes branch of Lei Garden, however there was a power trip. There was also a wedding happening, I really pity that groom and bride. Anyway, we went to the Orchard road branch. I really loved the dim sum there, some of the best baked egg tarts, bbq pork puff pastry and I also had sago with mango & pomelo. My cousins had durian pudding, which I could smell from across the table. We all also shared the glutinous rice balls, coated with peanuts and a hot sesame filling.

Zaffron

Hearty Indian food. My whole family knows how much I love roti canai, so eating naan, mutton curry with teh halia (ginger tea)is my kind of lunch. Uncle D and I agreed that the roti naan was ordinary, and we'd just order two of the garlic naans. Funnily enough, he accidentally ordered a vegetarian dish via the iPad menu, mistaken that the tandoori tofu was chicken! I was perplexed when it arrived, wondering where the meat was (let's say, my uncle is more of a carnivore) and then he realised his order was wrong and we chuckled about it.

Don Quijote

Steaming, braised ox's tail.

 Don quijote is in Dempsey Hills, a nice location with quite a few popular restaurants.

It was quite a light dinner with interesting flavours. Kind of reminds me of The black toro! My favourites were the wagyu beef with blue cheese dip, the braised ox's tail, mushrooms, calamari and to top it off, we had a chocolate lava cake! Overall, a really enjoyable dinner.

Max Brenner’s

Yes, there are a couple of Max Brenner’s around the world, but I have only tried it once, and was left disappointed with soggy waffles last month in Australia. So, after the night we had a chocolate lava cake, Uncle said we could try another one at a different place and compare. While I loved Don Quijote's, if I had to pick, it'd be MB. I felt that the chocolate was pronounced more in MB, but that having been said, MB specialises in chocolate.

So the next post is full of local eateries. These were at nice restaurants/cafes/franchises! So delicious...

Outings in Singapore

I'm a Malaysian, yet ironically I've never visited Singapore until now, at sixteen. I flew up to the tiny country (barely a dot on a world map) for five days visiting Aunty M & Uncle D. They were the ones that took my parents and I around in Beijing (and also their family went with our family to California), while they were living as expats. They are so much fun to be with, and they took extremely good care of me :) It was my first time flying by myself. Though it was only an hour flight from KL...

To my surprise, although Singapore is a small place, (going from the east to the west of the island so easily), there is a plethora of activities & sights and eateries to do. The food is great,  from your local hawker stalls to restaurants of all kinds of cuisines. Singapore is cosmopolitan.

Singapore trip will come in THREE parts; outings, eateries in restaurants and local eateries.

So things I did in Singapore....

1) I went to the Singapore zoo and also did the night & river safari. The Singapore zoo itself is huge, you can walk (real workout) or take the tram around. My favourite animal was the leopard and also seeing the splash zone show with the sea lion.  I really liked the Night safari, and also the shows. River safari: my uncle and I would not recommend. Waste of money just to go on a five minute boat ride,and some of the animals were hiding. Though, we saw the Red panda and the giant panda which was cute.

2) Shopping on Orchard Street. Of course you gotta have some shopping therapy! I had so much fun with my aunty shopping along there! I'm regretting not buying more though...

3) Gardens by the bay. The enclosures are extremely nice, obviously the project costed a lot of money but it's impressive. We went to the Cloud forest and the flower dome. I also really liked the cool temp inside, unlike the heat during midday in Singapore.

4) Take pictures with the lion and Marina bay sands hotel. I have yet to visit the actual hotel!!

5) My uncle and I went to Adventure Cove in Sentosa. According to my older cousin, Universal studios isn't really worth the money, and initially I thought so too. So even though I didn't go there, I personally think Adventure Cove would be better. It’s a nice place to spend the day. Our favourite ride was the Riptide Rocket, we rode on it about four times! You can also snorkel at Rainbow reef, which was pretty cool considering I've never gone snorkeling but the water left a nasty salt taste afterwards. My uncle says we could easily spend three days in Sentosa, however my trip was quite short. So next time, there will be more.

6) We went to the Jurong bird park and took the tram around the park to tour. The park isn't very big, so I don’t think you'd need to spend a lot of time. I do recommend seeing Kings of the skies show. I saw some owls, eagles and vultures.

I did quite a fair bit of activities within five days, thanks to my relatives’ planning!