Our 2016 Trip to Singapore

In January, we went to Singapore for a quick holiday. I was really looking forward to the trip as I haven’t been to Singapore for ages! We decided to drive down as we wanted to do some shopping and we needed the boot space.

Anyway, we started our journey as we do with all road trips; switched on Google Maps and let it lead the way. The journey was pleasant, smattering of rain but nothing too scary. We made a couple of stops to relieve ourselves and to stretch our legs.

My boys having a walk.

Liam was a gem! It always surprises me at how well he travels, so much so we don’t really have qualms bringing him anywhere. Anyway, back to our trip.

We started around 2pm and was expecting to reach Singapore by 7pm….but by nightfall, we found ourselves at some Ferry Terminal in Johor, a ferry terminal with all its lights switched off. What the hell?

Turned out husband forgot to untick “No ferry” and Google led us all the way to some god forsaken ferry terminal, which name I don’t even remember anymore, to take a ferry to our hotel which was located near the Singapore’s east coast. It’s technically the shortest route……if it wasn’t for the ferry that would only set sail 8am the next day (information conveyed to us by a night shift guard).

Seriously, has anyone taken a ferry to Singapore? Hahaha.

Oh man, I was hungry and Woodlands was 2 hours drive away. Gareth drove as though he’s Hamilton, hitting a pigeon dead on the way and we reached Johor Bahru in 1 hour 15 minutes. Not too bad? Bye bye birdy, rest in peace.

As soon as we were in JB, hubs drove straight to San Low where we had probably the best fried meehoon I’ve ever eaten. We also had wild boar curry (amazing) and fried baby octopuses (standard once you pop you can’t stop).

The meehoon from heaven – crispy and soft at the same time.

The best thing about San Low is that it’s only 5 minutes drive from Woodlands. It’s almost 10pm then so there wasn’t much traffic and we got into Singapore pretty quickly. From the border, it’s about 30 minute drive to our hotel – Village Hotel Changi. Checking-in was quick and pleasant and they even gave me vouchers for bowling and cycling!

I would have so used them if Liam were older. Cue hypothetical scenarios of baby being crushed by bowling ball and baby dropping off a bicycle lol.

We were just so chuffed to be finally in Singapore and in the comfort of our hotel room.

There’s even fresh fruits waiting for us. Loved it!

Chuffed Liam :)

After resting for a bit, we decided we needed more food. We walked out to the hawker centres that were only 5 minutes walk from our hotel. Another great plus point about Village Hotel Changi – FOOOD!

I had Singaporean Hokkien Mee.

And I have to say, it’s grown on me! I like the savoury shrimpiness of the broth and the ever so slightly alkaline taste of yellow noodles actually worked quite well with it. We went back to hotel happy and satiated. Had really good sleep on the king sized bed.

We all woke up happy and ready to take on the world. Just kidding, we planned on doing absolutely nothing lols.

Liam fooling around in bed. This would mean something entirely different when he is a teenager.

Having his first milk of the day before we had lunch.

Lunch was at the hotel at Saltwater Cafe as we decided to just have a day chilling at the hotel.

The spread was really good! Very varied and also delicious.

For carbo loading.

For health conscious.

For a taste of Land of Rising Sun.

Liam doing in a yaucharkway from the rojak section.

For people with sweet tooth.

Attention, meat lovers!

I was in love with all the Nyonya kuihs and French pastries.

After lunch it was swim time. The main reason we wanted to stay at this hotel is for the pool (besides proximity to beach and food)! What a beautiful, beautiful swimming pool!

I mean, just look at this! It overlooks the sea <3.

We had so much fun and we must have been in the water for hours.

My boys, my life :)

We spent another night at the hotel before checking-out. Really enjoyed our stay as it has more of a resort feel and is a great warm-up to our stay in the city.

Thanks for a wonderful stay Village Hotel Changi! Till we meet again soon!

From Changi, we moved nearer to the city and our hotel of choice was Village Hotel Katong!

Why?

Because of this. What a lovely room…I loved it so much!

The Peranakan influences are really beautiful and give the hotel such a character. Definitely not another bland, modern hotel.

I even loved the bathroom!!!

Right about then, Liam was at the peak of his telephone phase.

And Village Hotel Katong is located right above a shopping mall! And it’s basically about 10 minutes from everywhere…Orchard, Chinatown, Singapore Expo, Changi, Novena, Turf Club, Geylang etc. Ubers are in abundance here too!

Except for Orchard, we pretty much hit everywhere from our hotel in Katong.

Singapore is definitely one of my favourite places in the world to visit. There’s just so many activities you can do, so much interesting things to look at and the food! Singaporean food is simply mindblowing. If you want to learn more about visiting Singapore, I do recommend you use this amazing guide from Expedia.

Met some friends in Chinatown. Ate frog porridge in Geyland. Had a Japanese omakase in Novena. Had an afternoon feast at PasarBella in Turf Club. Had Ramen in Liang Court. Went to Baby Expo in Singapore Expo (I couldn’t resist when I found out a baby expo was going on, hehe).

My ginormous seehum in PasarBella, a London’s Borough Market style food court.

You should have seen the spread we had, we ate so much just the two of us and by the time we finished I noticed we forgot to take picture. We had steamed fresh seafood, 8 different cheeses, foie gras on toasts, truffle cheese sandwich, bacon and cheese sandwich, and pork done 3 ways.

Liam being nosey and eating a cracker from our massive cheese spread.

At the sushi bar called 510 Sake Bar in Novena.

The sushis were outstanding!

A photo posted by Kimberly Low (@kimberzilla) on

In Chinatown.

Having a craft beer at SmithStreet in Chinatown.

All in all a wonderful trip :) Can’t wait to be back, Singapore!

Directory:

Accommodation
Village Hotel Changi
1 Netheravon Road Singapore 508502 (Formerly known as Changi Village Hotel)
+65 6379 7111

Village Hotel Katong
25 Marine Parade S449536
+65 6344 2200

Food
San Low Seafood Restaurant
Jalan Merah 1, Taman Pelangi, 80400 Johor Bahru, Malaysia

PasarBella
200 Turf Club Rd, Singapore 287994

Lor 9 Frog Leg Porridge
Lor 9 Geylang, Singapore 388752

501 Sake Bar
273 Thomson Rd, #01-06 Novena Gardens, Singapore 307644

Singapore shopping haul.

We were in Singapore over the weekend. We stayed at Hotel 81 Star in the middle of the red light district, Geylang. It was an interesting area.

The primary objective of the trip was to get myself a food processor. Since we started on a slow carb diet, I’ve had found myself pureeing and cutting ingredients much more creatively. Relying on just my old school blender and knife was more difficult than I had anticipated.

Plus, I needed a food processor to make short crust pastry…for those wonderful diet cheat days :P

Behold…my new Braun Multiquick 7 K3000 aka the Kitchen Machine.

# – The large box to house loads of accessories.

Our initial plan was to get something from the Philips Robust Collection or a Magimix, but to our surprise, none of the products were carried by the land of Singapore.

The Multiquick 7 caught our eyes and after reading 9 stellar reviews on Amazon, we decided to take it.

# – Wasted no time to test it out.

# – The french fries cutting blade was amazing! 3 potatoes cut to perfection in under a minute.

Unfortunately, as I was too engrossed with my new toy, I burnt my first batch of fries made with the Multiquick 7 :(

But it’s okay, I expect the machine to last me through to my mid 50s. That’s a lot, a lot of fries.

# – I cleared out a drawer specially just to store all the accessories so everything is within reach. The last thing I want is something to sit at the back of the cabinet collecting dusts.

In the midst of hunting for the food processor, we managed to do some unnecessary shopping too.

By the way, we dropped by DFS Galleria, that place is quite scary lor. Lots of ravenous looking rich middle aged PRC women shopping and their men dozing off in the plush sofas waiting.

I can’t say I wasn’t wishful but for now, my man & I happily crossed the bridge to Far East Plaza which is directly opposite DFS, hehehe.

This bag caught my eyes.

# – $49.90 SING for a full leather bag. SCORE!

# – It has baby skulls all over it. SCORE!!

On our last day in Singapore, we also checked out Bencoolen Plaza for cheap Casio watches.

While the man got himself a serious, features-packed G-Shock, I got myself a pink watch.

With pink illumination. Hehehehe.

# – My pink G-Shock.

# – <3

This was by far one of my nicest trip to Singapore filled with good food (yeah, I’m surprised too) and good shopping. The weather held up nicely for us too, not too hot or humid. Will blog about our food trail soon.

Have a good Monday!

micro singapore trip.

We were in Singapore yesterday from 10.30pm till 1.30am. Had kungpow frog porridge in Geylang for supper. It was awesome!!! Will blog about the restaurant properly soon.

# – Awesomesauce froggies.

After supper, we drove around aimlessly for a while and saw the Singapore Eye as well as the super trendy Marina Sands. Very impressive architectures. Love Singapore in the dead of night, cause no people. Teeheehee.

Crossed the border back into Johor Bahru and stopped by a petrol station which was crowded with Singaporean cars trying to get cheap fuel. So bent on maximising their dollars that there’s this woman who was bouncing the rear of her car up & down while her husband was refueling. Then she took over from her husband and he bounced their car instead. Am really curious as to how much more fuel can you sneak into the tank by embarrassing yourself in public. Seriously?

# – Bounce that booty yo!

By the way, meet Sasa, the new addition to our family. Mom found her walking alone along a busy road while fetching my brother to the LRT station. Took her to the vet and found she’s around 2 months old only. So precious :)

# – Meet Sasa.

Wonder how big she’s gonna be when she’s fully grown.

Posted from my Crackberry.