Come 1st January 2009

IT is time to buckle up the rear seatbelts.

Or else the driver (me) will be fined RM300.

Here I am blogging from Singapore. Coming Tuesday will be a new semester so I'll spend some time here before going back to UTM (Universiti Tak-tau-macam-mana-baru-boleh Maju).

Visiting to Singapore this time is a different one. Why?

Because I'm using the newly opened Customs, Immigration and Quarantine (CIQ) building (which later renamed to Bangunan Sultan Iskandar for what reasons I do not know. A place how nice also sounds not nice already).

The building is new, clean, look organised, has lots of curvy roads

There is still a problem - TRAFFIC JAM. From the new CIQ building to Singapore, the cars were moving very slowly because we had to pass through the old Immigration building which has yet to be torn down. Imagine, from two lanes to become one.

This is also the first time I'm taking my car into Singapore

Good thing that the new CIQ building is in operation cuz the officer-on-duty seldom do their jobs in the old one. Last time we just waved our passport at the officer on the counter (without stamping) and we could just go off. So it is time to say 'Bye-bye' to the old building where my friends and I always used.

This is where we used to come out after coming back from Singapore

Today my aunt family brought us (me and mum) for breakfast at Tiong Bahru. The Bak Kut Teh in Singapore is very different from the one in KL. Back in Malaysia, our soup has more herbs wherelse the one here has more black pepper.

The soup is white, not black

Then we headed to Funan DigitaLife Mall cuz aunt wanted to buy a new laptop. There is like the Low Yat of KL. Seeing the prices there made me thought that the stuff are cheap. Of cuz I have to multiply them by 2.4.

In the end, with the help of my cousin, she got a Dell Inspiron 1420 for S$1299, with a three-years international warranty.

Funan DigitaLife Mall

Some photos while on the way:

Chinese New Year's decoration is up in Chinatown

With so many 'kam'

A building

People queueing up in front of Central, Clark Quay

Then we went to Little India. My cousin didn't want to go so he took the bus/MRT back alone. At first I thought the area was going to be like Brickfields in KL or Indian street in Georgetown, selling Indian, Sami Velu and Deepavali stuff.

I was so wrong. It has more than that!

We walked in a mall called Mustafa Centre. It has almost everything!! So big and packed with many things. Name anything and you will probably find it there. Supermarket, household items, books, electronics etc.

And what's more? It even opens 24 hours, on everyday.

There is a place to go now other than 7-Eleven

By the time we came out of the mall at about 6.30pm, the streets were already filled with people. Mostly Indians and Bangladeshis. There were stalls, gatherings, and people walking all around the place. For a moment I felt like I was in India.

There are everywhere.

Since today is a weekend, they spend the day out and meet out with friends. One thing I noticed is that all of them dressed up neatly and they do not dare to do anything (harmful) or else the Singapore government will have to send them back. So don't play play with the goverment here.

As for dinner, we went to a nice food court at Balestier Road. There are also many cheap but good hotels around the area. Probably be an economic place to stay, plus it is not far away from the city.

And look what mum collected from her aunt yesterday?

Bags of used toys. But they still look new

She can be Santa Mama Claus already.

So Many People at East Coast

On Friday, my roommate and I went to Singapore and stayed at my aunt’s house for a night. On that day, we visited the newly built La Salle Art School on Albert Street before going to Chinatown. The decorations on Chinatown are already being set up and one can feel the Chinese New Year atmosphere.

Choon Wah in front of La Salle

The inorganic form

Visitor

I particularly like the articificial grass

Some art gallery

We took MRT from Little India to Chinatown

Overlooking Chinatown

Looking so red

We had our dinner at this hawker stalls area

From this point looks like KL's Petaling street

Look how the street name is translated

Some views of the area

The year of Rat

On the next day, we met up with the rest of our coursemates who came from UTM on that day. Choon Wah and I waited at the bus stop in front of my aunt’s place for their bus to arrive so that we could meet in the same bus.

First, we went straight to La Salle where CW and I went the day before. At one time all of us wanted to take a elevator up to the higher floor but unfortunately we were stopped by a guard there, saying that only students over there are only allow to access the lift.

Jenny, Choon Wah, the lampost and Han Chee

The guys

So feeling tulan, we left the place and looked for something to eat. I brought them to the lower ground food court inside Bugis Junction but not knowing that the place has already been renovated so there was no more food court but restaurants.

The National Library

So Wei Chin suggested the food court at Bugis street which is just located at the opposite and we went there for lunch. We met Steven and Michael Teng there. Looked like Michael was enjoying shopping as he was carrying big packs of stuff. We also saw a familiar face from our faculty: a girl from the landscape architecture course. And while eating Lim kept on saying that the girl selling drinks in front of him is very chio!

Halfway eating, Tiong left us to meet with his friends at the Suntec Shopping Mall.

In Bugis street

After lunch at about 1.30pm, we decided to separate into smaller groups and shopped on our own for 45 minutes. Han Chee and Jenny quickly disappeared into the crowd and the rest of us went to the Guan Yin Temple nearby OG.

Guan Yin Si

Colourful staircases behind Bugis street

After meeting up again we then went to the National Library and saw some books on architecture. There were so many people in their library. I think compared to Malaysians, the people there seem to enjoy going to the library.

Inside the library

Chiou Yann and I done some reference on our 2nd studio project. Han Chee wanted to find books on hair styling but there weren’t any books on that in that library. Hmm..I wonder what she wants to do with her hair now.

Anyway, we didn’t stay in the library for long cuz it was sien staying in the library for so long when we were suppose to enjoy somewhere else.

Shoooting up

So we headed to East Coast Park! From the library we walked to City Hall interchange and took a MRT to Bedok which then we took the 401 bus straight to the East Coast. The journey took about one and a half hour.

During this time trip, we’ve done a lot of walking seriously. But I’m sure Jenny did a lot of jaywalking cuz her Jay Chou was in town for his 2-days concert and therefore everywhere she walked she must be seeing jay.

Somebody insisted that I put her pic

When we almost reached the park, raindrops started falling and I am sure everyone started cursing the sky. Luckily, it stopped after awhile so we could do our activity there. Yup, cycling again!!!! This was my 4th time cycling at the East Coast already. But this time it has the most people.

Never have I seen this many before. Perhaps it is because it was a Saturday evening. And therefore there were so many chicks! Either jogging, cycling or rollerblading. Some even with just bikini. Wow! That day must be Chin Keng’s happiest day.

Lim (right)

Chin Keng

Han Chee

JayJenny

Chiou Yann

Wei Chin trying to fly

Chin Keng hurt his brother

Such a big dog

We rent the bicycle at 5.15pm and we cycled for two hours. That is about 8km of journey. CK kept on showing his bike drifting skill to impress us and the girls nearby. And Choon Wah has finally learned how to cycle a bike properly. (Tutored by ACY, supported by Jenny and documented by Han Chee)

On the jetty

Me

Wei Chin

Lim and CK

Two trying to follow the yellow shirt girl

We also met with Tiong and his friends at the beach. Wow, his Thai-Chinese mixed friend is pretty. But too bad all pretty girls are already attached nowadays..or most of them.

Sandcastle

Exhausted

At 7.15pm we returned our bikes and cleaned ourselves in the bathroom. Lim, Wei Chin and I bought a cotton candy each. OMG, for soooo long I’ve never eat that! And WC, CK and I also bought a pair of Billabong pants each for only S$5/pair. But fake one of course. Hehe.

Very sweet..the candy

We left the coast to Bedok station by bus 401 but we wrongly board the bus at the opposite direction so the bus took us one BIG round journey and wasted quite some time. I made full use of the time by taking a nap in the bus.
Our initial plan was to head back to City Square, JB for Secret Recipe but it was kinda late and we afraid it would be closed by the time we reached back so we took our dinner in the food court next to Bedok Interchange station.
Dunno what happened on that day, there were so many people until we hardly find seats so we gotta share our place with the others. After dinner we took the MRT straight back to Kranji station and board the 170 bus back to our beloved country. =]
As it was kinda late and there were so many of us, we took cab back to UTM instead of public bus. It was 12am when I reached back my hostel.

*till now I still can't forget the girl at the locker. =p