Pig Out @ Ma Maison 。。。

It's been a jolly long time since last dine at Ma Maison last year.... when i received the Ma Maison postcard dangling a 15% discount for their Millenia Walk's outlet's anniversary, i immediately dated my buddy ~ Denise to dine there today. It's also timely as her bday is round the corner :)  Both of us are beef lovers & of course fans of Ma Maison's signature hamburger steak!

We were surprised that there's no Q upon reaching...cos usually we had to Q at the Central's outlet. I suggested to swap our usual order of Omu Rice for Tonkatsu... cos i remembered I tried a slice of it the last time & it was really succulent! *drooling* The ala carte version is served without rice, while the set meal comes wif a macha ice-cream we dun fancy... finally, we spotted the seemingly ideal one ~ Tonkatsu Curry Rice. So we query the waitress if we could order it without curry & chg toTonkatsu Sauce instead? We were offered to serve the curry separately. 

When the plate of Tonkatsu wif Rice was served, we simply love its looks & after a few photoshoot, we bite into the crispy-licious & juicy pork! Omg! It's HEAVENLY! We tried both the curry, which turned out to be really nice & not spicy! At the same time, I also had a dose of their in-house Tonkatsu sauce... gosh, i love the mix of both sauces. I explained to Denise why the Tonkatsu is so tasty, becos' there's a thin layer of fat while the batter is juz a thin crispy layer which do not give u a taste of munching flour! Denise love the curry so much that she lap up every drop! haha!

Next, we were served our usual large serving of hamburger steak & after devouring everything, there's a sense of fullness.... However, no matter how full a gal is, we sure have room for dessert to round off the dinner rite? I recommended Denise to try the Strawberries Tart! I tried it once & fell in love wif it. After a brief break, we ordered the Strawberries Tart... Somehow, its appearance stood out among the other flavours. Becos the big red juicy Strawberries wif a layer of glistening jelly sure captured our attention. It looks as delectable on photos as well! We cut it up gingerly & savoured the tart ^o^  Both of us left Ma Maison feeling fully satisfied!

We headed for a stroll on Helix Bridge towards the Art Science Museum. I was expecting to see the sky lanterns on waters as the media reported a few days ago, they placed thousands of lanterns to commemorate Titantic's 100th year of sinking. To my dismay, the lanterns were only available for one night :(  Hence, i only managed to shoot this 'Titanic' display outside the Museum, which is ending its Titanic exhibit this month.

Afterwhich, we checked out the LV shop as we had never ventured inside... Followed by that, we headed to chill out at the MBS' deck to catch the light-show. It's pretty good feeling to relax & chat wif buddy this way & time juz seems to whiz-by! Nonetheless, it's an evening well-spent...

Memorable Weekend wif my HK VIPs (Part 2)

It's a rainy day today and luckily olive's plan was to go shopping at Orchard. She probably more familiar wif ION than me, since that's orchard's symbolic landmark to her! Since they started out late, i met up wif them at Ngee Ann City's Kinokuniya.  Supposedly she wanted to go Little India... hmm, but when i ask which part she wanna see, she told me "indian temple''. ooH, actually i myself is not familiar wif tt area, haha! But i tot visitors may be more keen in the historic Sri Mariamman Temple  in Chinatown.

As such, we boarded the NEL to Chinatown & the drizzle continued... the recently renovated temple looks great. I tried to snap some pics but it was too tedious to hold the huge umbrella wif my left hand & their Ixus wif my right hand...so end up put the brolly away! Upon entering the temple, there was a signage indicating a $3 fee if wana take pics inside! Wow! this is exorbitant! At 6pm, there was a temple service; hence they hang around to take a look.

Navigating thru' the lanes in Chinatown, I checked if they would like to try the claypot frog legs porridge! Both Olive & Alan were veri keen to sample it! So off we headed to 长城粥 at New Bridge Road. It was a long wait for the 宫保田鸡 & when it finally arrives....yum yum! I still find the 2 bowls of porridge we ordered seems little, but my cousin was full after juz a small bowl! Both of them certainly are small eaters!

Next, we headed further down to Lim Chee Guan (林志源) as Alan wanted to buy some BBQ meat back. After payment, as we stepped out, a throng of hk tourists were also queuing for it, haha! I even pointed out to Olive, ''see! that gal have the same foodie guidebk as u!'' wahaha! My cousin actually bought the latest guide book which intro the various sg food.

Our next stop was to Tiong Bahru Plaza and we went to NTUC for them to buy some local fishballs....that happen to be my cousin & family's fav sg food, haha! Apparently, they find that Sg's fishballs r way better than HK's ones! After check-out @ supermarket, I led them to Ya Kun to sample the typical kaya toast wif soft-boiled eggs & tea. Both of them find it a novelty & we had fun snapping pics before tucking in! Till the Ya Kun's aunty warned us, No Photography! Strange lo, i never saw signage that deters that? Juz when I tot we would end the nite here... Olive suggested we cab down to Helix Bridge!

So, off we went despite the on & off rain... there was a funny episode at the Youth Olympic Park. There was this grp of tourists, abt 6 guys who were taking the longest time to snap pics there. As we were holding the umbrella & waiting in the rain for them, Olive got impatient... She went up to the guys & offered to snap for them a grp pic! These guys climbed up the wall & one of them remains grounded...then, he tried climbed up & was hesitating to walk on the wall. Really hilarious scene! As we walked on Helix Bridge, I had my first time taking shoots in the rain... Remember my last Helix Project, I failed to see the colour i like. Tonite, I finally able to capture the bridge lit up in a nice blue/purple colour! But alas, I dun hv my tripod & hence it was 5 stars challenge to do nite-shots!

One of my photography ideas was to snap after a torrential rain & now I could kill 2 birds wif 1 stone... as the wet grounds on the bridge created nicely illuminated reflections! When I instructed Alan & Olive to stand at certain spots, they praised me for being so 'pro', keke! It really helped that I had experimented previously! It was actually veri fun to take photos for them, as both were veri spontaneous & would do poses tog! It would be very boring for the photographer if the subjects r not sporty enuf! So watever ideas I throw them, they would gamely follow!

After strolling Helix, Olive wanted to go to Swissotel. Off we boarded a bus over & it turned out that the bus was heading to Beach Road! So we quickly alighted & walked back... it was a blessing in disguise... cos we got to admire the illuminated Raffles Hotel & when we stopped to snap, a grp of tourists behind us also paused for photos! Wow, super tough here as the raindrops pelted down on me & my cam! As the rain got heavier, we quicken our pace towards Swissotel.

                                                                          From Boat Quay to Clarke Quay

Transported by the fast lift up to the 70th storey, Olive had intended for us to chill-out at Equinox. But we were too late & the restaurant had closed its last order. When we tried entering the New Asia Bar, we were barred as Alan was not in the appropriate dress code. Left wif no choice, we seek permission to take pics. As it was a sunday, the place was quite empty & olive pleaded wif the waiter to allow us into Equinox for a quick photo-take too! This side's view was simply fabulous & it's the highest vantage point to admire Singapore's Sky Line.

Overall, there was a sense of achievement as it's a feat for me to capture the night shots without a tripod. Secondly, it was a memorable time spent wif my cousin & is thankful that she had bought me Sammi's autobiography 《值得》! This book was so popular that it was always out of stock in HK & my copy is the 11th reprint ^o^

Project Helix: Experimenting Nite Shots @ Helix Bridge

Having done the day shots @ Helix Bridge last weekend, i decided to experiment wif the nite shots today.  Met up wif Ruby at Marina Square & i decided to queue for Kenny Roger while waiting for her... oh boy, had to wait for quite some time & I was already feeling hungry.  Finally, we managed to get a table & ordered the quarter chicken sets... It had been close to 2 yrs since we ate this! How i love the cheese macaroni & coleslaw... ruby was stunned by the huge portion, hoho! It's crucial i filled my tummy substantially cos i need lotsa energy for my photography jaunt, keke!  After i whacked finished my food, i told ruby.... ''eh, i dun feel full yet''  Ruby gasped, haha!  (left: a light bulb at our dining table bundled among bottles of sauce)

We started our digestive stroll towards Helix Bridge & while strolling over, loud bangs of fireworks & colourful sparks in the air filled the skies intermittently.... Juz as we quicken our pace to the YOG Park (at the beginning of Helix), the full blast of fireworks from the National Day Preview filled the skies... i told ruby, ''quick! take out cam to shoot lah!'' Hence, i tried to capture the fireworks free-hand, since not enuf time to set up my tripod. Not too satisfied wif the results, but one of my wonky shots gave an 'electrifying feel' of the fireworks thou!

When the fireworks finale ended at about 8.20pm, we had some warm up shots at the YOG (Youth Olympics Games) Park.  When night falls, both kids & adults enjoyed playing at the neon-lit hexagon grids at the park. Then, i suggested that we proceed to the area below Helix as i saw on Flickr some nice views from there.  However, i was utterly dismayed that the LED lights on the Helix tonite was a red/orangy colour, instead of the purple/blue colour i had envisioned! Ruby & I lamented that the colours contrast juz dun looks good on our LCD. We waited veri long but the same colour LED remained thru'out the nite :(

                             Aptly labelled my pics as 'Spilt' & 'Closer' respectively ~ my fav for the nite!

I was feeling rather discouraged as I couldn't get the angles I wanted.... juz as I strolled down the stretch, I finally discovered a spot I like! That's to frame the Marina Bay Sands in between the vehicular highway & the pedestrian's Helix Bridge! I experimented different variations of the angles here... At one point, i even plonked my tripod onto this tall wall to see if could capture any interesting angle.  Wif all these tripod-ing acts, I was droused in sweat again!

When I checked my watch, we had unwittingly spent over an hour at the same area! So we moved to the other side & a group of tourists asked me to snap for them. Din expect the group lingered at that area for quite some time, hence we had to wait for them to walk off before we could take the wide angle shots. At one point, my cam's autofocus refused to cooperate &  no matter how I tried, I couldn't snap the angle I wan... But Ruby's cam could! **Hair-pulling** Felt really drained by now & gosh! We had spent close to 2 hours liao, yet we had not even proceed to walk across Helix! Poor time management... tsk tsk!

                                                 Tough cookie to stablise free-hand

As expected, the bridge was flooded wif many visitors & i got ruby to pose for pics... By the time we completed the span of the bridge... i had a hilarious conversation wif ruby. I asked Ruby, '' hey, i think my vision is blur, i'm like seeing stars leh!'', Ruby replied, '' seems like me too''.... I added, '' it's as if i'm drunk.... i can't even see clearly now!!!'' wahaha! Both of us strained our eyes too much on the viewfinder for the past 2hrs plus & starring at the Helix' lights for too long really would see STARS leh! LoL

By the time we popped into The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands, the boat service had stopped & the supposedly lit-up pool in the centre area was switched off... Hence, I led Ruby to the terrace area... when I saw the huge outdoors soccer screens, i tot the area was inaccessible. Luckily, we could still get to the terrace area for some shots of the area spanning Collyer Quay to Fullerton Hotel. We were dead-beat tired & exhausted as we made our way to catch a bus to the station. Best part was wif the limited energy left, I ran for my last train! Phew, managed to make it in the nick of time for the journey home!

Touristy Venture @ Flyer, Helix & MBS!

Michelle & I had been talking abt wanting to mit up but seems like we couldn't sync the perfect time... then an impromptu msg came from her yesterday! So, we caught up at City Hall Mrt today :) It had been raining cats & dogs for past few days, wif flash floods & storms ... so i had been praying the previous nite, hope that the weather be good for us! Else, we shld fall back on my Plan B ~  to juz hang around the malls...

Since we were both not feeling hungry yet, I proposed that we shld head to the Singapore Flyer first! I had been wanting to visit for months to practice photography but somehow it juz never happen... so it juz stayed unchecked on my list of 'locations for my photography projects', haha! We were wondering wat's the shortest way to get to The Flyer... end up, we seems to have walk a long way! I remember if based on Circle Line from SMRT's website, there's an exit at Promenade station to the Flyer.... but our starting point was City Hall, it would sound silly to board the MRT for a mere short distance! It's good exercise, for a ''pc-potato'' like me... so i tot of myself being a tourist, venturing to a never-been-there spot!

Upon exiting Millenia Walk, we finally spotted the Flyer a stone throw away! Upon entering, i was abit dismay that i couldn't find an ideal spot beneath the Flyer for the shots i visualised.  However, there were some unexpected spots i discovered at the Garden beneath the Flyer & juz by looking at our pics, you would never figure out where it's taken! Mich & me even joked that these doesn't look sg huh? Again, living in our holidays dreams....keke! Then we saw a water-feature in the garden & i decided to play wif slow shutter speed... juz have a penchant for 'smooth-flowing' water, haha! In fact, this was juz the beginning & my forehead was already pelting down a 'mini-waterfall' too ~ my sweat! It was extremely humid!

When done wif the Garden's shots, i noticed a series of creative murals which depicts the Flyer in an artistic splash of colours... i told Mich my idea of framing ourselves at one of the murals! As it's a sunday, many tourists walking around also tested our patience... to let them walk-past first. In fact, we spent quite a long time, esp on my individual shot till i'm so tired from smiling... Think some tourists muz be bemused by us ~ 2 gals, kept trying out diff poses here, cos i noticed this tourist watching us for quite some time, haha! I simply love the shots here, cos it's unique & the colourful murals bring out vitality in life & youthfulness! I really wish that's how our lives will be & i noe we would if we had the strong desire to squeeze lemonade out of lemons when life throws us lemons? haha!

At 2pm, we took a break for lunch @ Popeyes ... while i was snapping pics of my Popeyes meal, michy shot my candid shots! haha! Michy always have her pink Canon Ixus wif her &  seeing numerous of her self-shots wif her frens, i tot she muz be damm pro at it....2day i realised i'm better than her! wahaha! After awhile, we decided to take a walk & somehow we ended up at The Helix Bridge. Yeah! another location on my list. The skies were overcast but seems alrite to take a stroll, rather than head back to Marina Square. There were an influx of tourists & foreign workers hanging out here! Luckily, the crowd was interspersed along the 280m long pedestrian bridge leading to the Marina Bay Sands Integrated Resorts (MBS).

When we stepped into MBS, an immediate claustrophobic nerve dwarf upon us... an extremely long Q formed near the entrance to purchase the $20 tix for admission to Sands SkyPark, a sky terrace which connects the 3 buildings. Being the cheapo us, of course we had yet to venture up there! In due time, when the whole MBS is completed & the construction in the area are done, i will consider a visit ... thou i hope it won't be a hefy $20, so the average locals like us can enjoy the panaromic view too!

It's my first time here & i found the place was quite a maze to navigate. We had to walk quite far to get to the other side... humongous! Many luxury brands ranging from Jimmy Choo to Chanel etc were getting ready to be opened. There was a little venice replica inside The Shoppes, where boat-men can give u a leisure ride on the canal... Hmm, wonder how much this would cost again? I was more excited at taking some shots here! After numerous attempts, we got a nice self-shot on the 2nd level, wif the sparkling pool as our backdrop \(^o^)/

I like the globe-like transparent glass feature which allows natural light to stream into the mall... decided we shld get up there to see see! Ahha, so there's an open-air terrace at this level too! Great! It's about 5pm now, hence caught sight of the setting sun's rays streaming thru' the thick clouds... more shots done here & we were both so tired! When it's time to leave, Michy suggested taking a cab ~ brilliant idea! We were figuring how many km we had walked & i quipped, prob had walked 10km! Our legs went jelly when we hopped onto the cab, haha!

Nevertheless, i'm glad we could talk abt anything under the skies & you treated me as your confidante... despite knowing each other for not too long. Oh yeah, thanks for helping me wif the tripod & all the positive encouragement during our shoots!