holiday – ANGIE & JAMES DO STUFF

We stayed in a heritage shophouse on Petain Road and we liked it + Two Bakers, Singapore

September 29, 2018

Singapore 2017

Back in November 2017 (I think it was November, my memory’s fuzzy), we had the opportunity to stay a night in a pretty quaint Airbnb loft. The “Fitzroy Loft” (as the listing is called) is found in one of the elegant colonial shophouses that make up the colourful block along Petain Road in the hipster neighbourhood of Jalan Besar. The shophouse itself has multiple floors and bedrooms, but we stayed on the fourth floor and attic, the double-storey space of which contained a living area and two bathrooms. Here’s the actual listing on Airbnb. I didn’t take too many photos of our Airbnb space (I don’t remember why), but the bedroom one level below us was empty and drenched in beautiful natural light from the window, so I sneaked a few pics. Not sure if it’s also listed on Airbnb, but you can try your luck! The communal area downstairs is a delight–there’s an indoor pond and some very cool art on display. Everything in the shophouse screamed eclectic charm.

Singapore 2017

We stayed there on a work night, but we still found some time to visit Two Bakers at 88 Horne Road, an artisanal bakery-cafe that specialises in pastries and desserts, alongside good coffee and some decent fresh food options. We didn’t stay long, but it was a nice place to catch a break.

Singapore 2017

How We Began Our October + Labour Day Weekend Snapshots

October 23, 2014

Late post, I know. Interesting things happened over the long Labour Day weekend (almost 20 days ago). On Friday night, we rescued a wild baby koala. We found it trying to, in some strange fit of curiosity, cross a dark street near a dangerous roundabout. Good thing there weren’t many cars going past at the time (it was late). The little guy moved excruciatingly slow and kept stopping halfway as it made its way across the road. James had to get out of the car to coax it forward and to ensure cars coming around the bend would see it!

This happened just five minutes away from my house and in all my nine years of living in the area, it was my very first time encountering a wild koala. Kangaroos, sure. Plenty of kangaroos. But that koala was a rare sight indeed.

We had perfect weather on Saturday, so we went to the beach for a bit of a tanning session. It is now the middle of spring and it already feels much like summer. Surfers Paradise was swamped with people who wanted to get some sun. After that, we headed back to James’ house to have a bit of a swim in the pool. It was a wet and salty Saturday.

Sunday was a bit of a bore. Shops were closed because of the Labour Day public holiday. I wanted to buy fruit at 8:30pm, though. The only place we knew that had a chance of being open was the 24/7 fruit barn at Harbour Town. We rocked up, but they didn’t seem to have any good fruit for sale, so I bought some almonds and macadamia nuts instead. James bought a packet of jam drops. Then we drove home. Except no, we decided to drive around and explore some side streets in Coombabah. We were driving around a deserted neighbourhood. No cars around. Very quiet. Then, we came across a car just stopped in the middle of a narrow street with their headlights on. Right in front of the car was an extremely distressed girl hunched over a guy who was laying semi-unconscious on the ground. There was blood everywhere – on the road, all over the girl’s hands and clothes, streaming from the guy’s head… and there was nobody else around.

It very quickly dawned on us that we’d just stumbled upon the site of a recent accident. I won’t elaborate but the whole incident freaked me out. Turns out the guy had been car surfing and his girlfriend had accelerated too quickly and stopped the car too abruptly, throwing him what seemed like headfirst onto the road. Anyway, we helped as much as we could to calm the girl down and to wait on the paramedics. It really didn’t help that the street was pitch dark and the nearest street lamps were feet away from the scene. That really added to the surreal awfulness of the scene. That girl was terrified and I know that if I were put in her position, I’d be terrified too.

The incident was reported on the news the following day and from what I heard, I believe the guy is alright.

So that was the gist of that intense weekend for you. We didn’t bake, but I made a batch of truffle oil + sea salt + honey roasted almonds & macadamia nuts, the recipe of which I might share with you guys soon! Thanks for reading! I’ll just leave you with some additional random pictures from the following weekend… commencing sexy hair shot in 3, 2, 1…

Falling in Love with Animals @ The Singapore Zoo

August 1, 2013

White Tiger

The Singapore Zoo is perhaps one of the most gorgeous zoos I’ve ever been to. In fact, the massive award-winning attraction has been known for having one of most beautiful wildlife park settings in the world, allowing animals to roam freely in open, naturalistic habitats. Despite the drizzly weather we had while venturing out into that wilderness, we still had an amazing time, craning our necks and shuffling around other tourists to get a closer look at the various critters housed in vast enclosures. When I say vast, I mean it. Some animals are even allowed to roam completely free around the zoo.

Singapore Zoo Orangutan Baby Crocodile

The grounds are almost ridiculously extensive, and wonderfully so. Along with all the different exhibits, there are animal petting corners, elephant and horse riding areas, restaurants, cafés, amphitheatres, fast food outlets, flower gardens, gift stores, ice cream parlours, tram stations, picnic sites, scenic lookouts and kid’s playgrounds scattered over 28 hectares of lush parkland. The ambitious zoo houses over 300 species of animals, of which at least 16% are considered threatened species. It attracts about 1.7 million visitors every year.

Spider Web Lily Pad

As we trekked through Cat Country, to the lands of Wild Africa, around the Australian Outback, through the Frozen Tundra, into the Fragile Forest, we saw many amazing animals. Big, small, dry, wet, bird, mammal, reptile, amphibian, insect… they have it all. Here is a small collection of pictures (in no particular order) that we took that I hope will give you the chance to sample the zoo through your computer screen at home. Enjoy!

White Cockatoo Greater Mouse Deer Squirrel Proboscis Monkey Greater Flamingo White-handed Gibbon Asian Small-clawed Otter Lion-tailed Macaque Babirusa White Tiger Pygmy Hippopotamus Baby Crocodiles Kangaroo Cassowary Banded Mongoose Peacock Hamadryas Baboon Orangutan Animal Show Penguins Goeldi’s Monkey Chipmunk Sungei Buaya Ostrich Leopard Leopard Lion Giraffe Giraffe Giraffe Giraffe Meerkat Meerkat Meerkat Meerkat Zebra Zebra Zebra Cotton-Top Tamarin Turtle Asian Small-clawed Otter Red Dragonfly Blue Dragonfly Polar Bear White Rhinoceros Grey Crowned Crane Indian Star Tortoise Pond Terrapin Fruit Bats Orangutan Baby Orangutan Red-ruffed Lemur Pelican Pelican THE SINGAPORE ZOO
80 Mandai Lake Road
Singapore 729826
Opening Hours: 8:30am – 6:00pm (daily)
Admission: SGD$22 (adult), SGD$14 (child)
http://www.zoo.com.sg

Festive Singapore 2012: Orchard Road Christmas Lights

February 9, 2013

Orchard Road Christmas Lights

One may not immediately think that a tiny Southeast Asian country like Singapore would even consider taking Christmas seriously. That’s where you’d be dead wrong. Being a huge shopping paradise that attracts millions of tourists each year (over 13 million visitors in 2011!), Singapore takes this festive season very seriously. A week and a bit before December, the city starts to undergo a stunning transformation. The shopping district street of Orchard Road comes to life with gorgeous decorations and dazzling lights that fit right into a fairytale dream. Over 2 kilometres of sparkling, twinkling seasonal décor, it’s no wonder Singapore’s annual Christmas light-up is regarded as one of the World’s Best Holiday Lights. Each year, the theme and colours chosen for the decorations differ, bringing a unique feel to the district every Christmas. In 2012, the glowing ornaments adorning the busy street exuded a charmingly joyous atmosphere with warm reds, oranges and yellows being the primary colours used.

Want to know what Orchard Road looks like during the Christmas holidays? Look no further.

Orchard Road Christmas Lights

A Weekend Getaway on Hamilton Island

April 27, 2012

A feature blog entry by James, who attempts to summarise his weekend trip to Hamilton Island with his lovely family…

“So, after finishing my final exams on Friday night, I flew to Hamilton Island to meet up with my family and to celebrate my sister’s birthday. Saturday was a fairly relaxing day, mainly spent by the pool eating a fairly average bowl of nasi goreng and trying to tan my relatively pale skin. That night, we headed to the yacht club for my sister’s birthday dinner! Being a somewhat posh restaurant, you would expect my family to have some decorum, but instead we spent about two hours turning our napkins into chickens and pirate hats and forcing the chef to take pictures.

The next day, we took the ferry over to the golf club on Dent Island for some lunch and a tour of the back 9 holes. The views from the course were incredible! That night, we stayed in and ordered some amazing pizza from a café on the island. The next morning, my father and I went on a little adventure across the island to have a .22 rifle shooting and go-karting competition. Despite ending up with a horribly bruised back due to some harsh driving, I still beat him! That afternoon, we spent an hour driving around the island on a jet ski tour.

Tuesday was our final day on the Island, so we spent the morning packing, then got some very tasty tapas for lunch before leaving at 2! Overall, it was a really good weekend, and a nice break after two and a half weeks of studying and exams, but I was very happy to get back home to Angie.”

Salty Easter Weekend Snapshots

April 10, 2012

We spent pretty much all of Saturday basking under the terrific sun on James’ parent’s awesome boat. I managed to get a slight tan and many, many tangles in my long hair thanks to the cold breeze and sea spray. But it was good fun!

I think there were about 12 of us in total on the boat. Yes, we all managed to fit! Even Bella was there, trotting around on all fours, wagging her tail, waiting to be patted on the head. Oh, she was loving it.

James & Angie on Sentosa Island

February 17, 2012

Here is PART ONE of the James & Angie in Singapore series! Enjoy!

I’ve decided to blog about Sentosa first, even though we didn’t visit the place until about halfway through our trip. Anyway, Sentosa was a lovely little getaway from the bustle of the city! The weather was a little hot and the sun was really bright that day, but it was a gorgeous day. Lucky us, because it’d been raining and/or drizzling part of the time we’d been there (it was the monsoon season). The clouds were amazing at Sentosa! And because we chose a weekday to go and school break was over, the island too wasn’t packed. Perfect.

We went to Vivo City afterwards, where we wandered around looking at cute little stores as well as ridiculously big stores like Toys ‘R’ Us (the toys kids play with these days I tell you!). We also watched the new Sherlock Holmes movie. I was quite impressed with the cinematography and the storyline wasn’t bad. It was all very dramatic and Sherlock Holmes dies in the end, but not really, so yeah. Oops, I think I spoiled it for you guys. We also had dinner at this nice Japanese restaurant where I tried some new stuff. We had some tofu cheesecake and plum wine tiramisu for dessert.