Chinese Garden 裕华园

When was the last time I visited the Chinese Garden? Maybe 12-15 years ago.
Thanks to Kless who is always on the lookout for new places to bring the girls out, we decided to visit the garden which was built in 1975 and spans 13.5 hectares.

Walking from the MRT towards the garden, we met an Uncle who probably just finished his morning walk and he was so sporting to pause for a photo.

Even at a peaceful & tranquil place like Chinese Garden, we still need to be reminded that Singapore is a “fine” country.

Obviously Jayne was not very happy about the “no bicycle allowed” rule.

The first thing you will see when you walked into the Garden will be the famous 7-storey Pagoda.

I think it’s a Chinese culture to build bridges, cos we can find so many different bridges in the garden. Wooden bridge is my favourite.

The Pagoda from a lower view point.

After the long flight of stairs up, the view was great.

A rare chance to see Joey posing once again. First a match up to see who has a fiercer look, then a “fake” scared look. Creative!

Jayne also did a cute pose beside the lion statue.

Along the way, we saw these 8 statues of some great Chinese historical figures.

林则徐 – Fame fight against opium resulting in the First Opium War
郑和 – Famous maritime explorer
文天祥 – Popular symbol of patriotism and righteousness
岳飞 – Chinese patriotic general
花木蘭 – Iconic heroine in Chinese culture
關羽 – Mighty warrior aka God of war
屈原 – Prominent poet in Chinese classical literature
孔子 – Great sage, politician and philosopher

Even under the hot sun, both girls are still enjoying every moment and posing.

We had loads of fun! This can be another great place for families’ gathering, a large space for kids to run around, and beautiful pavilions for adults to rest and talk.

Best of all, it’s FOC!

If you are thinking of visiting the garden, look out for the Mid-Autumn Festival celebration coming up in September. There will be the usual Lantern Extravaganza with a display of over 5000 lanterns and fireworks. Be sure to be there!

Advantages & Disadvantages Of Having 2 Girls?

I am writing this from a father’s perspective. Definitely my girls will have different views from mine. Maybe my wife too.

Advantages:
1. After going through all the hardship for the firstborn, we are more or less much prepared for similar challenges for the second girl
2. Definitely cost-saving since the younger girl can take the hand-downs from the elder daughter
3. Daughters are usually closer to Daddy
4. I don’t have to bring my girls to toilet half way through my meals

Disadvantages:
1. No opportunity to understand the differences of having a boy
2. Not quite possible to play futsal with my girls when they grow up
3. Have to face the prospect of seeing my girls bringing home their boyfriends

Advantages > Disadvantages

Islamic Restaurant @ North Bridge Road

Humans are a species of habits. We tend to frequent places we like or feel comfortable of. And we will usually eat the same food for years. Even when the shop has shifted, we will search for it and re-visit it again and again.

For Kless and I, this particular restaurant along North Bridge Road is our favourite place for Biryani.

Based on the photos of the celebrities on the walls, I think we can safely say it’s quite a famous shop.

If you have never been to this restaurant before, then you have to try their Biryani. My personal favourite is the Fried Chicken Biryani. Don’t be deceived by the portion of the biryani, it’s actually quite filling.

I would love to recommend a special and delicious side dish – fried potato, but it was already sold out when we there. It’s boiled potatoes, skin removed and slightly fried with herbs and oil, trust me on this, it’s definitely a winner!

At least I can recommend their Nann. It’s very soft and tasty, you can choose your choice of curry (vege, chicken or fish).

Finish off the lunch with a cold glass of bandung drink.

Opening Hours
Daily from 10am – 10pm
(take note that on Fridays, they will be closed from 1-2pm for prayers)

Gardens By The Bay

It was our first time visiting the super huge garden. At the point of writing this post, we have already decided we are going back again this weekend.

We didn’t purchase the tickets for the Conservatories, cos the queue was incredibly long, probably because it was a weekend, just after National Day. But if you wish to check out the hours and admission rates, just click here.

Even just walking around the outside perimeter which is FOC, we had a good glimpse of the beauty and space available for future picnics or group gatherings with friends.

The famous Supertree Grove – standing in awe at between 25-50 metres tall, these supertrees are made of four parts: reinforcement concrete core, truck, planting panels of the living skin and canopy. They stand to provide shade in the day and come alive with display of light and sound at night.

The planting panels of living skin.

Joey and Jayne demonstrating by action how tall and wide the Supertree is. Tried to coordinate a shot with both of them jumping at the same time, but Jayne is usually slower as shown in the photo.

Outside the Conservatories, the huge waiting area is packed with visitors and some unique art pieces. It seems like Singapore is really moving towards a nation that is cultivating more art sense, everywhere we go recently we can see such art pieces in display.

Every time we bring the girls out, what really matters is the girls having fun and a time of outdoor activity. They mostly spent their weekdays at home, so only on weekends they can be free and run around, sweat and have fun.

Took this photo with my camera at my hip. More a lucky shot but still quite clear. Love their smiles!

A trip to Gardens by the Bay is incomplete if I don’t show you some of the shots I took from the surroundings.

Looking forward to the next visit (Flower Dome & Cloud Forest), maybe with more photos to show you.

Singapore Botanic Gardens

The last time we brought the girls to the Gardens was almost a year back. Both the girls have grown up so much in just one year.

The Singapore Botanic Gardens have been opened for more than 150 years. Overheard this fact on radio the other day, our Botanic Gardens’ size is 74 hectare, it is half the size of the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew or around 1/5 of the size of Central Park in New York. Though we are smaller in size, our Botanic Gardens is the only garden in the world that opens from 5am till 12mn daily, no admission fee, except for the National Orchid Garden.

Much has changed since the time I used to visit the place when I was young. Now, the place is so much cleaner and you can see a lot more families gathering on the grass areas.

The girls imagined themselves to be butterflies in the gardens. So cute.

Actually at Botanic Gardens, the main idea is to enjoy the nature and spend some family time together. Just be prepared to bring an umbrella and bring lots of water especially for kids. If you want, prepare a sandwich or two.

It took us about an hour or more to slowly walked from the front visitor centre (Tanglin Gate) to the Ginger Garden. Click here to download the map of the ground.

Along the way, it’s one of the best time to educate the girls on things like photosynthesis, evaporation, decomposition, etc.. If you are not as well versed in Science like me, can consider the educational tours available.

Klessis teaching the girls about the fishes and tortoise in the pond.

Let you in a little secret, if you can’t see the swans on the Swan Lake, then take the small road turning left immediately after the lake and you will find a feeding pod for the swans, you may be able to catch a much closer view of them.

And if you walk further in along the path, you will get to another pond, you can find a few bigger swans too. Jayne was so excited to see one of it up close. I was slightly worried the swan will run up from the pond and chase us. Paranoia.

It was the first time we walked to the Ginger Garden, besides the usual greens, there was a made-man waterfall and that provided some fun for the girls. And probably some form of cooling effect.

After the cool-off, Jayne was back to her cheekiness. Suddenly she just ran off to one of the wooden benches and posed for me.

With such cutie, it made all the effort worth it.

Some other photos I took.

We will be back again. OK Jayne?

Check out the Singapore Botanic Gardens visitor information.