October and November in a flash

Photos mostly herein.

Been waiting so long for graduation and finally comes convocation. Everything was so rushed. In case you're not already aware, I'm taking my degree with Murdoch University via Kaplan Singapore. So here's the thing. Kaplan Singapore does not deal with your graduation stuff. It's directly coordinated by Murdoch from Australia via emails. Everything is done online, including the rental of your regalia (convocation attire) set.

I think my mum measured my head size wrongly. So my mortar board was a bit tight. And it couldn't sit well. So guys, point to note: give additional allowances! Hahaha.

Anyhow. Everything was over in less than 2 hours. The past 16 months of hard work and sleep deprivation from struggling full time work with 3 unit per semester/ trimester. I guess this is the time to say everything paid off? Hahaha. Life's hard man. We just gotta suck it up.

Finally! Milestone checked...

The "must-have" photo with the parents...

At the end of Oct, I went on a somewhat graduation or healing trip to Korea. With my parents. Hahahaha. It was definitely healing enough but now that I'm back to work... all I can say is, reality sucks! Hahaha. Work days are getting hectic and I just gotta bull through till Christmas. Goodluck guys. Just enjoy the photos... Selected a few from each day.

Day 1 - Headed to Seoul

Starting wefies right from the boarding gate

Landed. Right out of Incheon Airport

Dinner. You will see more food. Muahahaha

 Day 2 - Seoul/ Jeju

Lunch before flight

Dinner in Jeju

Day 3 - Jeju

Messy hair.. Don't care. I'm at the top of Sunrise Peak.

BBQ Lunch... The animal you see above! 

Teddy Bear Safari

Seafood Dinner @ Jeju

Day 4 - Jeju/ Busan

Abalone Porridge for Breakfast

Gamcheon Village

Day 5 - Gangwondo

Spot the squirrel

Mandatory autumn shot. If only the leaves were red.

 Day 6 - Yongpyeong/ Seoul

SNOW! For the first time...

Yes. BBQ again! Muahahaha

Street food. Ddeokbokki! 

Day 7 - Seoul

Namsan Tower

How can we not eat Chicken in Korea right..?

Day 8 - Seoul

Last meal before flying back to SG

Final Loot. Muahahaha

THE END...

September is the month of New Stores...

Few days back, I mentioned the opening of Singapore's largest store - the first ever Global Flagship Store in South East Asia. And all the questions I get is, why is this called a Global Flagship Store. How is this store different from the other stores in Singapore – or the other stores in SEA?

Allow me to clarify or just briefly explain.
A flagship store usually means that this store is larger and has more collection that the rest of the stores. I took the liberty to google "Flagship Store Meaning" and here's what I got...

"...the designation of "flagship" is given to a retailer's primary location, a store in a prominent location, a chain's largest store, the store that holds or sells the highest volume of merchandise, a store location with decor or merchandise mix that is distinctly different from the rest of the chain, or the store location in a chain which carries the most high-priced merchandise catering to the most upscale customers.
Depending on the level of their uniqueness, individual flagship stores can actually become a tourist attraction in their own right.  When grouped together within a shopping district, a collection of high profile flagship stores - like 5th Avenue in New York, High Street in London, and Nanjing Road in Shanghai."

Hopefully that helps to reduce a few question marks in (on) your head. Then, we move on to addressing why UNIQLO ORCHARD CENTRAL is a global flagship store.

• Like I mentioned earlier, it's the first Global Flagship Store in Southeast Asia. It’s a 3 floor store, each with a slightly different ambience. See it for yourself!
• There is a dedicated UT corner on level 1 – special shoutout for all the UT fans out there. Something similar to what you’ll see in Uniqlo Ginza (if you’ve been there before). There are also few selected designs that will be exclusively launched in this store first – including the Disney City Logo UT that features the 2 iconic Ms - Mickey and Merlion.
• This store has a more than 250 digital screens in store – including a 360 degree circular display on level 3, more than 300 mannequins to showcase more styling and coordination, as well as revolving mannequin display tables.
• Uniqlo Orchard Central features a “Studio” work space on the sales floor on level 3 where customers can come in for weekend workshops or activities. Subscribe to our eDM for workshop updates!
• Daily surprises from 2^nd September to 4^th September. First 500 walk-in customers daily will be entitled to a limited edition tote bag – not the ones you already have at home! It’s specially designed for the Global Flagship store opening by “Tell Your Children”. You are also entitled to redeem this tote bag with a minimum spending of $100 on a single receipt. Do visit the store to find out more details as there are also lucky dips where you can participate in.

Excited for tomorrow? Can't wait to see the store for yourself? Well, be there tomorrow from 10am and first 500 walk-in customers get a limited edition tote bag! In the meantime, you can also take a look at Today's Article about the 5 things to look forward to at the new Uniqlo Global Flagship store.

Lastly, before I end off this seemingly never-ending post, do check out the campaign films, intriguing stories and interesting pictures of fellow Singaporeans at www.yourstagenowlive.sg! Everyone can participate and hashtag your Instagram posts with #yourstagenowlive #uniqlosg!
See you on 2^nd Sep if you’re around!


P.S. Side note.
If you're in Indonesia - specifically Jakarta, do check out our latest store - PIK Avenue opening on 7-Sep! There are also special collaborations with local Indofood POP MIE as well as attractive offers...

3 paragraphs and then come September

Frankly, I have not written a blog post in months (yes, I know. In fact, I am very aware). Initially this update was supposed to come in July before my exams in August. But seeing its already the end of august, it shall be not a slightly longer one – with a few mashups in between before September begins tomorrow. (Wanna know what’s happening in September? Read on or scroll till you see “UPCOMING SEPTEMBER” in big bold font…)

Anyhow, don't say that I’m biased for not posting pictures of Father’s Day. It was really a peak period of ultimate busy-ness that I’ve failed to consider anything else other than my work and assignments. So, finally, all assignments have been submitted and presentations completed. But work is not ending because September is coming…!

So yes. Back to father’s day update... I brought my parents to “Crab in da Bag” at Sports Hub. Frankly, my dad was craving for crabs so I just googled and decided on something a little more different than the usual Chilli Crab in Singapore. I can’t really recall details but overall, ambience was good and the serving crew was awesome. Thumbs up and Kudos for the service. Enough for the words, I’ll let the pictures do the talking..

It's a bit of a walk when you drive but its good to take in the fresh air. 

How the Menu Looks like with the plastic bib in the background

View of the Restaurant

Our orders for the night. Fathers Day Special - Whole Alaskan King Crab!!!

Love the concept... "ALL ABOARD~"

Right… UPCOMING SEPTEMBER

What’s this buzz all about for September?

Off the books, I am waiting for my final results to be released – which according to the latest email I received from Murdoch, it should be some time in the first week of September. *Fingers Crossed*. Once the results are out, I shall deliberate on whether to check it immediately and bite my fingers (figuratively) and open the website. Once the results are positive, I will be able to graduate and officially be done with school, i.e., my degree in international business and management. All that’s left is the actual convocation and hello there Bachelor of Commerce. Hahaha.

Not too exciting? Well, work-wise, there is more build up.

Uniqlo Singapore is opening the first ever Global Flagship Store in South East Asia on September 2 (Friday) at Orchard Central. Do pop by if you're around the area. I'll be writing more about it in another post. For now, BYE~

Mothers' Day 2016!

Happy (Belated) Mother’s day to all mothers out there!

What did I do on Mother’s day? Nothing much actually, except dinner. There were no special plans, but my dad was saying to find somewhere different – somewhere we’ve never really been before. So, I start scrolling through the net and I found this little interesting place called Rider’s Cafe at Bukit Timah Saddle Club.

Rider’s Cafe is a small cafe nestled within Bukit Timah Saddle Club so you get to see the horses while you’re there. When we got there, it was pretty dark so no pretty horse pictures but if you go there earlier in the day, you may even see some riders – literally.

Upon reaching the cafe, you will see a blackboard with a few dishes listed. These are their daily blackboard specials. 

The blackboard specials for Mothers' Day.

Once you climb up the stairs and enter the cafe, there are no written copies of this menu. So, either take a picture at the door or get the waiter/ waitress to recite it for you. Their menu on their website is not entirely updated but then again, the mains are mostly the same as the previous 2015 menu. There are just a handful of additions. Frankly, I didnt try any of the Blackboard specials that day because they didn't appeal to me as much as the main menu did. 

We ordered the following with a bottle of red:

Dad's Moroccan Lamb Shank

Mum's Bone-In Pork Chop

My Medium Well Steak Frites

And a dessert - Death by Chocolate cake

Frankly speaking, my steak was awesome. And according to dad, his lamb shank was good too. However, mum's choice was not as good for her. And on top of that, we realised the meat was not cooked well. So we requested the staff to cook it again. 

Although there was this little setback, I am very amazed by their service. Service is awesome! As someone in the retail industry, I am always paying attention to customer service and when I say its good, trust me - it's definitely good enough! There were no unhappiness at all even with the semi-cooked pork chop. The waitresses and waiters were full of smiles and they were very concern about the remaining dishes and how well they've done. Kind and good staff. Kudos for the training!

Overall, the cafe is pretty dim but provides good ambience.

Of course, being in a saddle club, there are bound to be smells. But, it isn’t that bad. Although the cafe was not air conditioned, it wasn't very warm. In fact, it was pretty cooling the whole time I was there.

Happy faces after dinner!

In case you’re looking to try a dinner in a rather nature-like environment, operation hours are:

Sunday – Thursday 8am – 9pm, Friday & Saturday 8am - 10pm, and Closed on Mondays.

You can either call +65 6466 9819 for reservations or do so online via their website with Chope. 

Do note that it is best you drive there and if you do not have a car, it would be most convenient to take a cab. We called a cab before leaving the restaurant too! We spent a total of 230odd dollars there. With a bottle of red, 3 mains and 1 dessert. Felt it was a pretty decent amount and we were all very full. So, again, kudos to Rider's Cafe for the good job well done! Thanks for the wonderful experience!

Redang... #热浪234

Back from redang means back to reality. But reality isn’t so bad when you’re all refreshed and energized. Hahaha.

So yes, I’m back from my first resort trip of 2016. Do nothing but ‘lepak’, eat, sleep and snorkel. In case you don't know, ‘lepak’ is a malay word that more or less translates to ‘relax’ in English.

Don't ask me why google translates says loungers.
I don't even know what loungers mean in English. Hahaha

We stayed at Wisana Village, a very quiet and mostly family run resort. I realised I didn't take any photos of the room so, descriptions it is. Our room was pretty basic – 2 queen sized beds, a mirror, a wardrobe and a closet, a bath room with a sink, toilet bowl and most importantly, hot water heater with a pump louder than the water pressure itself! Hahaha. 

Under the umbrella where we mostly sat after our snorkelling trips. 

A pretty shelter with a pretty view of the sea

The entire stay was pretty pleasant because everyone – I mean all the staff there – were very kind, approachable and friendly. The first sight that greeted us when we arrived was the clear water and white sand – an interesting sight that the water is clear and turquoise nearer to the beaches yet darker or navy-er away from the beaches. The sea looks like there is an invisible line that divides and separates the clear and dark waters.

The water is so clear and pretty that photos underwater look a little like the swimming pool instead of the sea. Hahaha. 

Looks like a pile of seaweed right?
But its actually an entire school of small fishes.
Probably the size of larger ikan billis? Hahaha.

Among the snorkelling trips that we went, there were quite a few dead coral reefs that were quite disappointing. 

The fact that coral reef take up to 10 years to grow yet there are so many out there destroyed. Sigh. Even on our way to Redang and back, on the wide ocean, we could see PET bottles floating and plastic bags under the sea, trapped with the coral reefs.

Borderless ocean. 

Enough about the depressing information, I managed to catch glimpses of 2 baby sharks and a rather big sea turtle – roughly the length of 1m or so! Didn't manage to snap photos of the baby sharks cause they were swimming away from me too quickly but we managed to take a few photos of the one and only sea turtle we saw on the entire trip. Hahaha. 

Looks like nothing but a rock? Look again...

Success! Finally found one sea turtle.

And there it goes, swimming away from us. 

Other than that are deep sea fishes and corals that we see from the snorkelling trips. 

We also went for jungle trekking – but I think the more apt word would be hiking. Hahaha. In anycase, we didn't complete it so we didn't get to see the overall island view. As per the advise of the locals, it was a relaxed trek. But to us city girls and boys, it was more of a challenging hike. And adding on, we actually believed the relaxed trek and went up with slippers instead of shoes. So yes, it was slippery and we removed our slippers, climbing barefoot. Still, it was too much for me. Hahaha. Probably the first time in my life that I perspired like it was raining sweat droplets. 

On our nights there, we managed to catch the red moon. Well, you can't really tell that it's a red moon in the picture below but I tried. Hahaha. I also tried to take a photo of the starry starry night but of course, I failed. Hahaha. The only image I got was pitch black screen as if my phone has broken down. 

The supposedly red moon. Looks better to the naked eye though.

The early morning sunrise on our last day. The famous salted egg yolk hanging in the sky. Hahaha.

好大的蛋黄啊！

Regrettably, our boat ride back to the jetty.
From clear turquoise waters to grey-green waters.

A rare sight. In Singapore, we can hardly see this anymore.

A little entertainment on our 10-hour journey back to Singapore

Did I forget to mention that it took almost a 10-hour bus ride to Trengganu and a 40min boat ride to Redang. So yes, the same repeated when we were on our way back. And we ended the day with an awesome Mookata Dinner/ Supper. Hahaha. 

Happy Mookata @ Golden Mile Tower