Dian Xiao Er @ Tiong Bahru Plaza

It's the birthday of one of our housemates, Wei Thye.
We (housemates, ex-housemate and neighbour) picked a relatively central area for a post-work dinner at a Chinese restaurant, as per our birthday boy's indication of having a seasonal favor in Chinese food, and it turned out to be Dian Xiao Er 店小二 at Tiong Bahru Plaza.

Dong Po Pork (Braised Pork Belly) 東坡肉 (S) @ $13.90 ★★★★★


Xiao Er Fried Tofu 小二豆腐 (S) @ $8.30 ★★★★☆


Sautéed String Bean w XO Sauce XO醬四季豆 (S) @ $12.30 ★★★★★


Duck Roasted w Ten Wonder Herbs 十全烤鴨 (M) @ $25.90 ★★★★★


Stir Fried Pea Pod Tips 清炒豆苗 (S) @ $8.90 ★★★☆☆

I totally like the idea of having worn the same color for that dinner except for the poor birthday boy in white.
It was a Monday, and the color we wore is related to that, yup, blue...

Wilsen insisted that his is dark blue, but even his hair color looks lighter :P


This just 'blue' my mind...



Happy quarter-century young birthday, Wei Thye!


302 Tiong Bahru Road,
#02-12, Tiong Bahru Plaza,
Singapore 168732

Fiverr: Promoted to Level 2

What a good news! In less than a month since I was promoted to Level 1 on Fiverr, I was promoted to Level 2!

To be promoted to Level 2, a seller has to

• make over 50 orders in the past two months
• maintain excellent ratings

The purple Level 2 badge... So beautiful... LOL

But really, I didn't expect a Level 2 promotion since I was promoted to Level 1, as making over 50 orders within any 2 months seemed to be unlikely for me. Somehow miracle happened, and thanks to my translation gig, I received tonnes of orders which at one point triggered the promotion.

Now I started to feel a bit stressful for having such burdensome loads.

But hey, now I can add up to 3 gig extras (1 more than a Level 1 seller can) and buyer can order multiple gig up to 8 in quantity (4 for Level 1).
Also, I can charge each gig extra an additional of up to $40 compared to $20 for Level 1.

Although it's not a sky rocket figure, my revenue is augmenting at a pretty decent rate for me.

The next level will be "Top Rated Seller", which is manually chosen by Fiverr editors, based on seniority, volume of sales, extremely high rating, exceptional customer care and community leadership, which I can honestly tell, not gonna be me. LOL~~

Level 2 is in fact something I should be truthfully grateful of.

If you're looking into making extra pocket money online, Fiverr is a platform where you can realistically achieve that.

Fiverr: Promoted to Level 1

It's just so true that none of my friends in Malaysia and Singapore knew about this website called Fiverr, where you can create your gigs to offer online tasks and services.

So it goes like this, each gig costs a buyer US$5, and Fiverr takes a 20% commission from each sale so the seller earns $4 per delivered order. $4 is a small number to many people, but by getting promoted to Level 1, a seller gains extra features and is able to create gig extras, which brings gigs created to another level - a gig can be ordered at $5 or more by giving buyer the options of upgrading a gig.
Read more at Fiverr Levels.

To be promoted to Level 1, a seller has to

• be active for at least 30 days
• complete at least 10 orders
• maintain excellent ratings

I started joining in mid November and offering piano playing/recording and translation services. In mid December I was very sure that I've fulfilled all the requirements to be promoted to Level 1, I was however still not promoted.

On 18 Dec 2013, I submitted a request ticket to their customer support, and the attaché informed me that Fiverr's levels feature is based off of a system that assesses my account to confirm if you're eligible for the features. He checked my account and it's not in good standing with their levels system as I had a violation of their terms of service. For God's sake when since I violated their terms of service?! As he couldn't override the system, he requested me to get back to him in a month and he'll see what he can do for me. Well, what can he do if he's not able to override the system, but I can do nothing than waiting for another month.

Fortunately, just an hour ago, I WAS PROMOTED TO LEVEL 1!!

I earned a Level 1 badge on my profile page.


So far I've earned $104, not a lot, but it feels good to have a little extra money to spend.

You might underestimate this kind of earning, but what if I tell you, there's somebody who bought a house with his Fiverr's income?
Seller Buys a House With Fiverr Income

My more popular gig is the translation gig (from English to Chinese and vice versa). The documents which I've translated before range from someone's private letter and some US legal documents. It's pretty scary translating these kinds of thing, I was grateful that I'm entrusted by the buyers to translate all these crucial documents. So far the translation orders are mostly for smartphone apps.

Thanks Fiverr for the promotion, and I shall look forward to a Level 2 promotion. :)

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

Tim Ho Wan 添好運 @ Plaza Singapura

I queued from 6:15pm to 7:30pm (1 hr 15 minutes).

The very basic attribute that one should have before patronizing Tim Ho Wan is patience - you can't make any reservation.

An exaggerating advice given by one of my friends, "Go in a group of 4 or 5 and take turns to spend half an hour queuing".

Assuming that you're going with a group of friends, or at least with your partner/spouse, talk to each other to kill time. If you're the pity one who needs to queue alone first before the rest of your friends arrive, play games or read something, but remember, you're only allowed to enter when all of your friends have arrived - Tim Ho Wan is doing big business and they can't afford to have a single unfilled table.

If you're starving really badly, you might want to think twice before putting yourself in the dilemma of continuing to queue or leaving the queue.

Tim Ho Wan 添好運 is a Michelin-starred restaurant originated from Hong Kong, which accounts for its popularity.

Meanwhile in Hong Kong, people are queuing for two to three hours for this highly sought after dim sum restaurant.

添好運 is pronounced as Tim¹ Hou² Wan⁶ in Jyutping (粵拼) or to those who're not familiar with the Cantonese phonetic system, it's Tīm Hóu Wǎn in Pinyin (漢語拼音), although the script tim doesn't exist in Pinyin, but those who speak Chinese and English definitely know how to pronounce tim (which sounds like team).

It's a birthday celebration dinner for one of my housemates Alison, who's turning 24. =P

I took the responsibility of queuing prior to everyone else's arrival as I am the one who ends work the earliest (4:45pm), while Wilsen bought the birthday cake. I boarded one of my company buses which drops me at Bishan MRT, and from there I traveled southwards to Dhoby Ghaut via MRT. The stupid me who still find Dhoby Ghaut MRT a maze took the wrong exit and ended up in Dhoby Xchange, leaving me with no choice but to take an extra couple of minutes to figure out how to get to Plaza Singapura by walking across the road, when I could have taken the right exit and reached Plaza Singapura directly.

I was given an two-page order sheet which is slightly smaller than an A6 paper, so that I can think of what to order in advance.

鼓汁蒸肉排 Pork Rib with Black Bean Sauce @ $4.20


香煎蘿蔔糕 Pan Fried Carrot Cake (3pcs) @ $4.50


臘腸北菇雞飯 Rice with Chicken, Sausage & Mushroom @ $6.00


古法糯米雞 Glutinous Rice Dumpling (1pc) @ $5.00


蜜味叉燒腸 Vermicelli Roll with BBQ Pork @ $5.50
The most colorful Chee Cheong Fun I've ever seen.


晶瑩鮮蝦餃 Prawn Dumpling (4pcs) @ $5.50


鮮蝦燒賣皇 Pork Dumpling with Shrimp (4pcs) @ $5.00


香滑馬來糕 Steamed Egg Cake (1pc) @ $3.80


酥皮焗叉燒包 Baked Bun with BBQ Pork (3pcs) @ $4.50

I'll feel sorry for you if you didn't order this Char Siew Pau during your last visit(s) to Tim Ho Wan.
Don't they look exactly like the buns which most Western restaurants serve together with butter prior to serving the main courses? And these crunchy buns are filled with BBQ pork.
Experience this extraordinary fusion culinary yourself by taking a bite out of the sugary crust, although it does give foreigners the wrong impression of how the authentic Char Siew Pau looks like.

Dim sum are usually expensive, and those in Tim Ho Wan cost a bit more than average. However, the dim sum taste really unique, and you can tell that Tim Ho Wan is trying to make their dim sum distinctive from the exceptionally customized names of the dim sum.

Dim sum cravers, you know where to go now, if you have an extra hour to wait in line.

(From left: Emilia, Wilsen, Harry, Alison, Calvin, me, Shuhui)
Happy birthday to you, Alison (the centermost pretty lady) !
希望你今日食咗嘅點心會俾你添多D好運啦。 ^^

Plaza Singapura
68 Orchard Road #01-29A
Singapore 238839