Singapore Trip #8 - Meeting up with FC & Wan Ting, shopping in Vivo City & Bugis Mall

The next day, I met up with my online friends Foongy (I prefer to call him Earl) and Wan Ting! We've been online friends for like 4 years and that day was the first time we met up :D

I was a little apprehensive (2 Singaporeans and 1 Malaysian: I felt intimidated LOLOL) and nervous, but excited too.

We ate brunch at some Hong Kong restaurant in White Sands shopping mall, which is just next to Pasir Ris MRT station. So sweet of them to travel all the way from Clementi and Bukit Batok which are almost at the end of the line :') And they even treated me to brunch! Omgosh :')

I had no idea why we chose to pose in front of Subway. LOLOL.



I forgot to straighten my shirt so it's wrinkled which unfortunately made my stomach look like it has multi-layered fat so please ignore the lines thank you ver much.





Did you notice our shirts? (Read mine first!) Stupid sia LOL.



They were great company! It's so cool and it was such a pleasure meeting them in person :) Next time, hopefully Veronica comes along. Coz she was the one who introduced me to them :p

After the lovely brunch, I went to Vivo City with my mom, aunt and sis. Not really my kind of place, as it was really big with thousands of shops that sell expensive stuff! Saya rambang mata. And I've been there before, so... we just walked around for a while.

And then I spotted Logos Hope at Harbourfront! (It is 2 years younger than the Titanic and is the world's largest floating bookstore)



I visited the ship when it came to Port Klang years ago. It was called Doulos at that time. I didn't go on the ship when we were in Singapore though. After my A Levels, I would love to volunteer on the ship for 2 months :) I'll get to visit different countries!!!!! :D



Dolled-up "fairies" posing for the cameras. They were walking on stilts. (I would like to see them *cough* trip *cough*) LOL. They gave out candy canes to the shoppers but they purposely ignore me! =.=



We were only at Vivo City for a short while, then we went to Bugis Mall :)



I love the outside of Bugis Mall. I think the place is called Bugis Junction.







So many stalls selling cute stuff. I like! (My kind of place :p)



Camwhored in the room when we got back. LOL nothing to do =.=



The next day, we went down to Downtown East (Costa Sands Resort). As everyone knows, the public transport in Singapore is so freaking efficient - we just have to wait for the free shuttle bus to come and fetch us from Pasir Ris MRT station! :) And Downtown East is only a few minutes' drive away...

See that apartment in the distance? That's where my uncle and his family live.



And just across the street, is the MRT station. SUPER CONVENIENT. I envy Singapore.



I FOUND CHATIME IN DOWNTOWN EAST! Whooooooooooo! Well, I know they have Chatime in Singapore but I've never seen any Chatime outlet in Singapore the whole time I was there. This is the first.

After seeing the 3-digit number when it was in the (late) afternoon, I know then... that the demand for Chatime in Singapore is much lower than that in Malaysia. Maybe Singaporeans prefer Koi (according to my cousin, it's the best).



In Malaysia, you can practically see Chatime everywhere - it has become so overrated over here =.=

Well anyway. THE BEST THING WAS, they have a Buy 1 Free 1 promotion (for selected drinks) AND their Pearl Milk Tea only costs $2 per cup! Why Malaysia don't have! D:

Their Pearl Milk Tea is super nice weih! I don't know if it's because I'm consuming it in Singapore LOL, but somehow their milk tea is more concentrated with a thicker flavour and the pearls are more chewy. Hmm. Or maybe something's wrong with the IOI Boulevard outlet over here.



Or perhaps, the demand for Chatime is so high in Malaysia which unfortunately leads to workers becoming less and less productive, causing the standard to drop. Can I say that demand is inelastic?

Next up: Haji Lane :)

Singapore Trip #7 - A Moving Masterpiece: The Song Dynasty

We went to see The International Premiere of the Animated QING MING SHANG HE TU (A Moving Masterpiece: The Song Dynasty as Living Art) , which is displayed at the Singapore EXPO in Hall 3, from 7 Dec 2011 - 6 Feb 2012.



It's my first time at the EXPO :)





It's something like the KL Convention Centre, only much cooler :p



The ticket price is $18 per person.



It's cool that they have an audio guide device, to give you explanation at different parts of the exhibition.



The walkway leading in to the entrance of the exhibition, where the workers will pass you the audio guide device.



The recommended time to spend in the Pre-Show Hall is 20 minutes, and it consisted of Fire Zone, Wood Zone, Earth Zone, Gold Zone and Water Zone.

The ancient tea set. The tea drinking culture was widespread during the Song Dynasty and prompted the development of several forms of tea brewing such as steaming, boiling and steeping.



Song Dynasty utensils, priceless artifacts today, were generally made of porcelain.



My sister's selling wine! XD



My mom's selling tea. (One Pearl Milk Tea please!)



...And I'm helping the guy to push the cart containing sacks of rice and stuff.



Different kinds of calligraphy brushes. I hated calligraphy so when there wasn't anymore of that from Form 4 onwards, I was so elated :p



Old, wrinkled paper.



Ahhh! Pau! XD



Mini cardboard figurines.





With perseverance and respect, comes power. XD





Some Mandarin words of wisdom (名句精华) which I don't understand XD







Due to the low value of an individual coin, the Chinese have traditionally strung a thousand copper coins onto a piece of string.



The gold and silver ingots circulated as a form of currency during the Song Dynasty despite its size and weight.



Jiaozi (交子) is a form of banknote. Often regarded as the first form of paper money in history, Jiaozi started off as a proof of credit, before gaining official recognition and evolving into the legal currency in society.



Merchants generally use account ledgers to keep business records.



Xiangzhan (响盏) is an ancient advertising sound device. Hitting the Xiangzhan and capturing people's attention before reading out loud your message was a form of advertising in the Song Dynasty.



To attract customers, street vendors during the Song Dynasty would shake their rattle drums to produce a loud rhythm. This has gradually evolved into a street performing art whereby the street vendors would talk, sing and shake their rattle drums all at the same time.



The brass cymbals resonate when hit against each other and are an important alternative for the street vendors besides their own shouting.



Street vendors sold all kinds of goods all over the country. This cosmetic box with a bronze mirror was a typical item sold by a street vendor.



As they dealt in goods from all over the country, street vendors and their goods represent the prosperity of the fair trade system and commodity exchange in towns during the Song Dynasty. Song Dynasty street vendors used either shoulder poles or handcarts to carry many types of goods.



The highly developed navigation and shipbuilding technologies of the Song Dynasty made it possible to build larger ships that could carry more goods. A large ship was generally equipped with at least a dozen boatmen charged with the physical work of sailing: setting and taking in sail, and weighting and dropping anchor.



A model of a Song Dynasty ship.



The abacus was another great invention during the Song Dynasty and was an important tool for tax calculation. It is the most widely used calculation device before the emergence of Arabic numerals - due to its ease of use and affordability.



Because of their wealth and extensive free time, tax officials usually puffed their pipes to kill time.



That's my sis and I! :p We've become one of the citizens in the Song Dynasty, lol.



Porters were the primary means of transporting goods between the ships' holds and the warehouses.



Character cut-outs of a Song Dynasty citizen :p



It says 'Try me!'. These pails are light - you could lift them up easily.



But these are freaking heavy T.T What did they put inside? Stones? -__-



张择端 《清明上河图》黄金卷轴版
Zhang Zeduan's Qing Ming Shang He Tu (Golden Scroll Version)



Finally, we came to the Main Hall, which holds the Moving Masterpiece and is the highlight of the whole exhibition. It's basically a long stretch of screen which depicts the hustle and bustle of the Song Dynasty activities, with cute animated characters. The recommended time to spend here is 40 minutes.

This is the night scene.



And the daytime scene. Both scenes alternate between each other after a few minutes.



Just by watching the characters go about their daily lives on the screen with the audio guide explaining further, visitors get to immerse themselves and feel what is it like living during the Song Dynasty times :)



For me, the bad part was that the explanation of the audio guide didn't go together with the characters' activities. Because initially I had no idea how to work that thing. LOL.



So it's like, when the device was explaining halfway what the characters do during the day time, the scene changed to night time so it was very frustrating -__-



After the Main Hall, came the Souvenirs, Food & Beverages section.



Costumes in vibrant colours were displayed.



The exhibition was quite interesting (but still not as amazing as the Titanic one :p). I would recommend this to anyone, especially those who are really into ancient China art and all that stuff :)

It's until the 6th of February, so you still have time!



Next up! White Sands, Vivo City and Bugis Mall.