Chua Kee Restaurant 蔡記海鮮 @ Gelang Patah

I've forgotten when's the last time we had gathering in 2013, but this was the first time in 2014 that we the ex-Temasekians had a dinner gathering, in Johor. ['Temasekians' refers to those who have stayed in Temasek Hall, NUS]

Wilsen searched for a few apparently famous seafood restaurants near Johor Bahru and found Chua Kee Restaurant 蔡記海鮮, located in Gelang Patah. We boarded bus CW4 ($4) from Jurong East Interchange at 5pm and headed towards Gelang Patah, Johor.

After crossing the Johor border checkpoint, having journeyed the Bukit Indah district, we suspected that we're on the wrong CW bus. Upon confirmation from the bus driver, we were right - we boarded bus CW3 which tours around Taman Bukit Indah, instead of the original bus CW4 which would bring us to Gelang Patah, and that all happened after we crossed the Johor border checkpoint.

Left with no choice, we alighted at Taman Perling where the bus looped back, and 8 of us had to flag for 2 taxis from there to get us to Gelang Patah. I got onto the 2nd taxi which was charging by mileage, coming up to a total of RM17, while the 1st one was charging a one-time fee of RM32, which was a bloody rip off obviously.

I could tell that the waitress who was taking our order was pretty hasty and sarcastic in an indecent manner, probably sick of us not making up our mind faster than she expected.

Located along Jalan Kacang Panjang, a southward turn from the main road Jalan Ulu Choh


Clams or lala


Kangkung (Water Spinach)


Deep-fried mantou, I love this dish and eating them dry without dipping in gravy is sufficiently savoury!


Cereal prawns


Crabs

We ordered fish as well, which I didn't take photo of.
The dinner costs RM306 (around RM38 per person) - marginally affordable. Furthermore, as long as it's in Ringgit, it's often treated as something inexpensive.

I believe some Singaporeans gave a pretty good rating to this restaurant, our rating however, would rather be average or somewhere which says 'acceptable'. Nevertheless, it'd be a nice spot to have seafood away from the island.

A sweet and short getaway dinner is great for reminiscing and catching up with old buddies. We see each other's growth as an NUS undergraduate turned working adult, apart from getting useful and relevant updates (eg. Wilsen and I learnt that we could actually shift our PR e-appointment to an earlier available date, LOL...).

Chua Kee Restaurant 蔡記海鮮
No 1 Jalan Kacang Panjang, Gelang Patah
81550, Johor Bahru, Malaysia

24th Birthday

3 years ago, there's dance vetting on 7th March night, the night before my birthday. Same thing happened this year. Not only that, after leaving from dance vetting, there's band practice, and I told my band members that I need to go at 11:30pm.

One reason: Wilsen was already inside my room for my birthday and I had to go back and entertain him. Another reason is to standby, LOL~~ so narcissistic omg. My band members kept asking why, I just told them you'll know later.

Wilsen bought me a cake and a necktie. FYI, Wilsen's birthday is a day after mine. Two years ago he bought me cake as well, and that really makes me feel so bad to him that I didn't prepare anything for him.

D4, Temasek Hall

As soon as Wilsen left, I saw my band members walking towards my room, and at that point of time I realized I was tricked!! Haha. They knew it's my birthday. And what Justin got in his hand was Sheares chicken!! And I was like, ya hor, it's Thursday. My band members are fantastic, I swear I was really touched.

And the band practice was actually an excuse for them to celebrate for me in the band room. The plan was destroyed once I left the band room. That made them complain that they had to walk all the way to my block.

Besides, Justin even informed my Malaysian hall friends to refrain from celebrating for me that night to accommodate the celebration with THreshold. So nice of you all ♥♥

They bought me a Tiramisu cake


Terie was late so too bad no chicken left for her...

The next day (08 Mar 2013), which was my 24th birthday, Wilsen (09 Mar), Li Ming (08 Mar), Cyrus (25 Feb) and I (08 Mar) shared a birthday celebration with current and ex-Temasekians at Ichiban Sushi, Clementi Mall.

They are Chu Luei, Wei Zheng, May, Eric, Eddie, Lik Ling, Kar Kay and Kei.

That dinner was their treat, which made me feel so paiseh again.

2D1N Soju Bang Korean Restaurant

The next day (09 Mar 2013) was Wilsen's 24th birthday and Wilsen, Emilia, Susan, Chern Yik, Calvin and I went 2D1N Soju Bang Korean Restaurant for buffet dinner ($20++).

Well, Chern Yik was acquainted with Calvin on that day. Calvin, Wilsen and I were in the same project group for ME3101. Emilia and Susan know Calvin during our trip to Jakarta and Bandung in Indonesia last December.

The buffet was sumptuous, but they only have refillable plain water and lime juice, and because I don't drink lime juice, I drank only water that night. Oh, the beef was juicy, tantalizing and really delicious.

The girls bought us cakes, and it's already my 4th cake. :)

We wanted to chill somewhere for a drink and chat after the buffet dinner. We ended up drinking tea, beer and playing card games at Calvin's house. Pretty random.

It's been two cycles of the Chinese zodiac since I was born. Old enough, I am. I'm graduating in a few months, stepping into another dimension of the society. There're too many things to miss after this.

Thank God for protecting me all the way till today. In the past I had 'near-death experiences' before but I survived.

To those who spent time celebrating my birthday, a 90º bow for you. I feel fortunate having you all accompanying me on my big day, as well as everyday.

Last but not least, I really really do look forward to my birthday wishes to come true! ^^


For more photos, please check out my photo album 24th Birthday on Facebook.

Dian Xiao Er @ VivoCity

Phew, and finally it's the week marking the end of lectures, tutorials and projects for this semester :), as well as the beginning of those stressful exams ahead of us. :(

Both as celebration and motivation, a few friends from Temasek Hall and I had a relatively luxurious dinner at Dian Xiao Er 店小二, VivoCity.

Seriously, I'd rather be seated inside than outside facing the sea.
Despite the little bit of resemblance of a gazebo, firstly it's so warm outside and secondly, there's no light that favors photo capturing without flash light.

Please bear with the angle and quality as it's snapped with timer.

It's pretty uncommon to see such comprehensive surface-level nutrition facts on a menu.

Apparently I didn't bring a tripod, and the dishes had to be captured using flash light.

鐵板菜香豆腐 Hotplate Beancurd w Minced Meat & Pickled Vegetable ($16.50) ★★★★★


媽蜜雞翅皇 Marmite Superior Chicken Wing ($14.30) ★★★★★



當歸烤鴨 Duck Roasted w Angelica Herb ($23.20) ★★★★☆

My friends kept comparing the dishes with hall's. It's indeed incomparable (just look at the prices) but we should actually be thankful because hall food is considerably nice and in fact, quite delicious sometimes, with fruits and free flow of drinks and soup.

It can be foreseen that the upcoming weeks are going to be the extremely stressful ones, let's chiong instead of holding onto God's leg during the last minutes.

#02-137/8 VivoCity
1 Harbourfront Walk
Singapore 098585

Night Cycling

Night cycling is an activity that one should try or at least experience in Singapore as for example in Malaysia you won't be able to night cycle because it's too dangerous (you might get robbed, kidnapped etc.) to do it there. In Singapore, people night cycle overnight and yup, you have to sacrifice your normal sleep hours for that.

It's my second time night cycling and this time was the one with hall people. Temasek Hall Outdoor Activities Committee (TH OAC) rented hundreds of bicycle from the east coast and placed them in the communal hall on the Friday night. Those that signed up will depart on bicycle from hall all the way to the East Coast Park.

In a group of 15, we paid $15 each as registration fees and some goodies, and our journey then started with two OAC attaches who'll led the way and made sure that we're safe.

Of course there're stops for us to rest and have late supper.

Redhill

The two pretty ladies in green were our group's attaches.

Clarke Quay


The place where we had bean curd and soya milk


After a super crazy inclined slope

At the end of more than 8 hours of ride, we finally reached East Coast Park, and no words can describe how painful our inner thighs were, on top of the painfulness on our calves and glutes.

Some concluded that this will be their last time night cycling, tiredness was indeed what we paid for the fun.
I think it can only be fun with friends cycling with you - we joked, laughed, teased each other, sang songs during the journey.

For me, it's therefore one good and unhealthy experience - you might get calories burnt, but you are awake when you're supposed to be lying on your sleeping bed.

What we did next was just waiting for the dawn to break, when the sun rises like a red egg. That would be the reason for us to gather at the dock, facing the south-east horizon of the sea.

Taken by Calvin. Isn't it just beautiful?




Give yourself a round of applause if you managed too find me in this group photo.

It's past 7am and we returned our bicycles and collected our breakfast - Sausage McMuffins and Milo.

Thank God OAC catered buses for us back to hall and we're able to easily fall asleep on our way back.

Immediately when we reached hall, bathe, sleep... zzz....