East Coast Park

Hello there! I've been staying in Singapore for more than 3 months already! 3 months and 2 days to be exact. hehe. So far, I've been doing a lot of mini traveling and I can't help but to fall in love with this country more and more. I spent last sunday with my brother hanging out in the East Coast Park and it was lovely! We rented 2 bicycles and my brother taught me how to ride a bike. (yes, I don't know how to huhu) After 2 grueling hours, I got the hang of balancing myself but I still couldn't pedal. We eventually found out that the bike I got was broken. :( Anyway, a reason for me to go back yes? I have yet to cross out "learn to bike" on my bucket list! Going back to the point, I just want to share the different activities you can do in the East Coast Park because that place is just heavenly. I mean, a park AND a beach, side by side. Honestly, what more can you ask for?

East Coast Park is along the East Coast Parkway and East Coast Park Service Road. Quite far from the city, but it is very accessible through various means of transportations, especially the bus! Whether you're alone or with your family, you can engage in different activities such as camping, biking, fishing. The park is ideal for friends and loveydovies alike! Here's a short list of activities you can do, according to what I got to see last Sunday.

• Exercise - There are fitness stations where you can actually work out. Lots of people both young and old are also jogging along the running trails. The trees are perfect for giving you some shade while running too.
• Biking/ Roller Skating - This is one of the activities that I'm definitely going back for. There are bike and roller skates rentals and they charge on hourly basis. It is really affordable and very very fun! It is a very convenient way to move yourself from one place to another too since the park is HUGE.
• Taking pictures- If I couldn't emphasize it enough, the park is such a beautiful place! With the trees and the lovely view of the sea, the park is such an ideal place to practice photography or at least a pretty place to capture the moments you have with your loved ones.
• Camping - As you can see on the picture above, some parts of the park have been filled with tents. I'm not sure if they're being rented or the people actually brought their own tents, but as far as I know, you can go camping! People also brought some food & drinks and spent their lazy afternoons in the park.
• BBQ Partyyyy!!! - okay, maybe a party is too grand..BUT there are a lot of BBQ stations where you can..well, barbecue your food! 
• Have a picnic - bring a mat, a good book and perhaps some food and you'll have a lovely lovely time at the park. The trees give you some shade, while you sit back and relax.
• Play Frisbee, Soccer, Volleyball ++ - lots of open spaces in the park where you can have fun sporty activities
• Enjoy the Beach - okay, there are endless possibilities here. I've seen kids who made sandcastles, people who went to fish along the coast too! Some people went for a swim and oh! Inside the East Coast Park, there lies Singapore's first cable ski and it seemed really fun & daring for those who are up for it.

I've seen people fly their kites and have their tai chi lessons too! Hopefully, you get the point! The East Coast Park is definitely a place you should visit! Have a great day, everyone :)

Wild Honey for the Hungry Bunny

From left to right: Raspberry scone with butter &jam, English Breakfast, European Breakfast

As they say, breakfast is the most important meal of the day! Last Sunday, my mom visited me and my brother for 3 days and we brought her to Wild Honey at the Mandarin Gallery along Orchard Road. Wild Honey is an all-day breakfast restaurant and it is known best breakfast places in the country! AND YES, their food really gave justice to its name. *drooools* hehe. The place is utterly adorable with its brick walls, hand written black board menus, to the mismatched tables and chairs to give of a quirky, yet homey atmosphere.

Wild Honey's menu consists of breakfast items of which each is named after a country's type of breakfast. (see picture below) We then settled for their best-sellers: English and European breakfast, we also ordered The Savory, which was the "special" breakfast of the day. Oh! we squeezed in some raspberry scone, while we wait for our meals to be served too! 

It was my first time to try a scone and I immediately looooved it! *love at first taste!!!* I didn't want to share it, but my brother & mom wanted to have a few bites too. The scone is a biscuit-bread type of pastry. It had a toasted golden crust, but the inner was sweet and moist. Definitely going back for it next time.

My mom ordered the English Breakfast which was probably the biggest breakfast meal in the store! The plate was filled with pork back bacon, Cumberland sausage, eggs, mushrooms, baked beans, baked potatoes, ripened tomatoes, and two slices of thick toast! Talk about eating like a king for breakfast!

My brother ordered The Savory which was the day's special, meaning it isn't actually part of the official menu. Unfortunately, I don't have any picture of it, but I'll try my best to use my words to describe them! The Savory consisted of a fish cooked in a metal pan together with scrambled eggs, herbs, and spices. Two slices of grilled toasts and ripened tomatoes were on the side too. I had a taste of my brother's order and it was light and tasty.

Finally! *drumroll pleaseeee* My order, the European Breakfast, was voted the favorite among the three meals! yayyy hehe. ( My family and I have this thing of whoever orders the tastiest meal gets the pride of having good taste. ) The European Breakfast is Wild Honey's version of eggs benedict. The meal consisted of two poached eggs with sauteed  mushrooms underneet the eggs, imported Italian proscuitto and homemade Hollandaise sauce,which tasted like cheese, on their brioche. Everything all went together very well. Omnomnom.

That wouldn't be my last time to drop by Wild Honey, for sure. 

mini midnight escapades

The love for reading actually runs in the family. It was a quarter before midnight when my brother and I suddenly decided to grab some coffee, both of us wanted a quiet atmosphere to read. Immediately, we headed to the nearest 24/7 Starbucks and ordered some latte as spent the wee hours fully engrossed in our books. We finally decided to go back home when my brother couldn't hold his bladder any longer. At 1:45 am, the time where most have already gone to bed, my brother and I slowly made our way back home. It was then I realized a few things: 1. my brother and I have such a queer relationship and it's special in it's own way. I mean, who else would just go to a cafe and read books without talking to each other? 2. Singapore is so safe that we can actually walk home without being scared of what might happen. It's a beautiful peaceful country, indeed.

What's up, Ketchup?

Hello there! How are you? things have been pretty busy for me lately, projects are piling up but thank God for our term break next week! From September 6-15, I would be able to have time to catch up with my projects and re-touch them if I have to. Some of my friends would be going back to their hometown/ countries, and I'm quite envious of them, really. Especially knowing that my best friend will be turning 18 this saturday and I wouldn't be able to attend her celebration. It'll be the first time in our 6 years of friendship that I wouldn't be there with her to celebrate. On the bright side, I will have 10 days to relax and visit the places around Singapore that I haven't been able to see yet!

Here's a jist of what I've been up to lately!
A Sketch A Day venture:
I've posted a short blogpost about this and fortunately, I've been quite consistent so far! Instead of wasting my blank hours doing nothing, I've tried sketching and doodling to discover what my style is and so far so good, hopefully I'll keep this up! Also, I'm planning to make more sketches to put it into my portfolio so that I wouldn't have a hard time when I have to apply for internships next year :)

Interior Madness:
One of the things that really take a HUUUGE chunk of my time is the interior designs of pretty houses. Lately I've been browsing through blogs looking at beautiful houses with nice kitchens and living rooms with the most adorable decorations. I guess I'm being too excited for the future, yeah? I really want to have my own house and decorate it myself! Not to mention trips to IKEA!!!! hehe, someday, Princess, someday.

Yummy Yam:
One of Singapore's signature street food is the ice cream stalls along the streets. Ah pe/ old uncles sell ice cream with the yummiest flavors! From the usual chocolate, mango, to corn, peppermint, blueberry...the flavors goes on and on, not to mention the 1 SGD price is pretty cheap too. You can also choose to eat the ice cream on cup, on wafer, in cone, or on bread. I got to try the famous Yam flavored ice cream and well, it tasted like yam. hehehe. It was sweet and cool, perfect for the sunny weather here :)

Thrift shop finds:
Deconstruction and Reconstruction is our latest lesson in our 3D Fundamentals class. In this project, we are to take some item, preferably an electronics gadget, and break it down to its individual parts then use thdestroye parts to reconstruct it into something else. In search for items that we could destroy deconstruct, my classmates brought me to a street near Raffles place, a 15-20 minute walk from NAFA. This street was full of street vendors selling hand me downs and useless electronics. From broken cameras, to motherboards, to empty Wi-Fi modem and DVD players. I didn't even know that such place exists and there are people who buy such things. A new adventure everyday,yeah? anyway, it was an odd place and the lady that we bought junk from happily told us to go back next week!

Another thrift shop I've discovered was New2U inside Singapore's Council of Women's Organization. All proceeds go to the funds of the said organization and one book caught my eye! It was only worth 1 SGD and it looked brand new. I bought it because I fell in love with its illustrated book cover and you know, I love pretty book covers.