Chinese Garden & Japanese Garden

View from Chinese Garden MRT Station

Every time I travel to Boon Lay, I pass by Chinese Garden Station, and I remember seeing a pagoda due south without realizing that there's actually a Chinese Garden 裕華園 there, until I found out from other people's blog, and for a moment I thought it's somewhere in China.

Japanese Garden 星和園 is located adjacently to Chinese Garden, connected by a bridge.

My dear Joling came to Singapore for another visit and these shall be few of the places I'd bring her to.

Travelling there is easy - take MRT and alight at  EW25  Chinese Garden along the  East West Line  and take a 5-minute-walk from the station towards the direction of the pagoda along the pathway to the entrance (entrance is free).

We visited the Chinese Garden first, particularly the Garden of Abundance 豐園, where the statues of the 12 Chinese zodiac are located.




Bridge of Zodiac 生肖橋


Bridge of Romance 情人橋

This is the bridge connecting the Chinese Garden and Japanese Garden, separated by a lake.

雙秀橋

We crossed the bridge and reached the Japanese Garden. Actually some elements and textures of Japanese and Chinese architectural design are quite similar.

It's advisable to bring along an umbrella (to block the sun in this case) if you plan to go before evening, despite being possible to hide under some shady places like huts or trees if you're able to find.

Remember the bridge connecting both gardens, there's no shade at all and that's why.

We've been walking close to each other to be able to walk under one umbrella's shade. Haha...

We have to cross the shadeless 雙秀橋 again to go back to the Chinese Garden as we skipped some spots there in the beginning, like the pagoda.

This is the 7-storey-pagoda - 入雲塔
It seems to be forbidden to be entered, but anyone can actually entered, however there's an opening hours for it. Let's start climbing to the top of it!

Be really careful when taking the stairs because the stairs create a vertical spiral shape and so the center is hollow from the ground all the way to the top.
Furthermore, the handrail is like a piece of wall without holes or extra bars to grab on.

And this is the 7th storey. Phew, take a deep breath first...



Not sure whether people with acrophobia should come here...

Along this stone pathway to the Bonsai Garden 盆栽園, I saw a tortoise resting on another stone. A good thing about taking snapshot of a tortoise is, you take your time finding a perfect spot of shooting, sit and relax with whatever posture you like, because it won't run away. LOL~

Did you notice the two big bonsais at both sides? They're actually two big sheeps. So cute...



Pity little tortoise... Awww...


Stone Boat

Our last stop was the Statue of Confucius, together with some other famous Chinese historical persons (whom Joling only knows two of them -_-lll).

關羽 Guan Yu　　　花木蘭 Hua Mu Lan　　　屈原 Qu Yuan　　　孔子 Confucius


岳飛 Yue Fei　　　文天祥 Wen Tianxiang　　　鄭和 Zheng He　　　林則徐 Lin Zexu

Thankfully Singapore has places like these - historical-heritage-like spots. They make you wonder "is this Singapore?" while you're in this busy workaholic city.

Unfortunately, not many people have known about this place and not many of my friends have ever been there before.

It's a scenic place to go, although the spots within the gardens themselves are not as many as I thought. :)

For more photos, please check out my photo album "Chinese Garden & Japanese Garden" on Facebook.

Pork Rib Soup @ Alexandra Village Food Centre

It's another lunch after Sunday service. This time's somewhere near Queenstown - Alexandra Village Food Centre.

We should've alighted at Opp Queensway Shop Ctr from bus 195, but we walked there from Bef Ikea Ind Bldg after alighting.

The food centre is quite big however quite a number of stalls weren't opened, probably due to Sunday.

As we're finding what to eat, we noticed a lot of people eating 肉骨茶 (Bak Kut Teh, or Pork Rib Soup) and there're a few Bak kut teh stalls. They look delicious but which stall to choose from? Ok lah, the one with the longest queue then. Lol~

Anyhow ordered from the Bak kut teh stall which was having the longest queue there.


諒記砂鍋當歸肉骨茶 Leon Kee Claypot Pork Rib Soup, next to Mr. Avocado
(I was told by Emilia that it's famous of its avocado milkshake, so we got each glass for one of us)


Tempted by the smell of the boiling soup in the claypots. By the way, I spent more than 10 minutes queuing.


當歸肉骨茶 Pork Rib Soup [literally it should be Angelica sinensis Pork Rib Soup] ($4) with rice ($0.50)


油條 Oil stick ($1) is often eaten with Bak kut teh by dipping it into the soup

Avocado Milkshake ($2.50)

Despite having only garlic and 3 pieces of pork ribs in the soup, it was considerably rich in taste, probably due to the smell of Angelica sinensis, which for me the most aromatic Chinese herbal of all. Haha...

The soup was not very concentrated as well, yet it brought up the taste.

For the avocado milkshake, well, I hadn't even tried any drinks of avocado before until then and therefore I didn't know how does avocado taste like. After my first time trying avocado milkshake, I think: "Avocado + Milkshake = Pandan". That's funny but it really tasted like pandan to me, perhaps due to the milk.

Luckily the milk somehow covered the avocado smell because I think maybe I won't like the mere avocado taste. Or it does really taste like pandan in fact, since I've never tried avocado before.

Olive Vine @ Marina Square

After the city tour with Malaysian freshmen, a few of us, the seniors were trying so hard to find affordable restaurants in Marina Square to have our dinner because set dinner is usually not cheap.

At a very isolated corner in the mall at level B1, we found an affordable one - Olive Vine.

This is the menu of their very cheap set meals


And the menu for a la carte dishes
Set Meal: Add $2 for drink
Deluxe Set Meal: Add $4 for drink, soup and dessert of the day (your choice)

As we entered the restaurant, the music played was You Raise Me Up, ok nothing's wrong, but it followed by In Christ Alone, and followed by more Christian songs. I was like, huh, how come?!

While we're queuing to order, I saw this tiny little rock in front of the cash register.
Awww~~ suddenly I could feel the warmth...

After I checked out their website, I saw scriptures even in the index page - this restaurant must have something to do with Christianity. Awww~~

Then I also found this scripture on the table:

Some awards of theirs


Soup


Crispy Chicken Arrabiata - Spicy ($9.90)
The extreme spiciness comes from the spaghetti, not the chicken


Chicken Steak - BBQ Sauce ($8.90)


Chicken Cutlet w/ Fries ($8.90)


Fruit Punch and Ice Lemon Tea (The glasses are quite big)

Coffee

Carrot Cake (Dessert)

　　　　　　　　　　　


Custard Balls (Dessert)

I had a great time there. You don't easily find a restaurant where you can listen to Christian songs while having your meal.
Thanks for being soothing Olive Vine. :)

6 Raffles Boulevard
Marina Square #B1-17 (Marina Link)
Singapore 039594