vkeong loves good food, travel and photography!
Photography
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A day at Singapore Zoo
Oct 15th
When: 29th Aug 2009
Where: Singapore Zoo
How: Take bus 138 from Ang Mo Kio bus interchange
Admission Rates: Adult – $18, Child (3 to 12 years old) – $9
My first visit to Singapore Zoo was about 7-8 years ago when my brother was working there. I remembered that time I was still using a film camera, it rained and I bought a t-shirt printed with a pair of tiger eyes that glows in the dark lol.
My CF card containing the photos was mistakenly placed in water for more than 2 days, and these are the images I could salvage from that stupid mistake of mine.
Best Ramadhan Bazaar @ Shah Alam Stadium, Section 13 Shah Alam
Sep 7th
First thing first, enough of Ramadhan Buffet. I think I have blogged enough of it for this year. So, what’s better than Ramadhan Buffet? Definitely Bazaar Ramadhan. Every year during Ramadan month I will go to the bazaar nearest to my place, which is usually smaller in scale. But this year I decided to do something different and visit a more grand one instead. Many people are saying that the Bazaar Ramadhan at Shah Alam Stadium is very huge and also the best in Malaysia.
When I reached Shah Alam Stadium’s entrance yesterday evening, I was shocked to see not a single tent in sight. Luckily there was a guard around and he told us that the bazaar is actually held on the other side of the stadium, on a carpark to be exact. If not for that I would have gone home already lol. For me I feel the best time to visit the bazaar is around 4pm (weekends, of course) when there’s lesser people – you get to survey the stalls more comfortably and freely.
The first thing that caught our attention was the Ayam Golek. It was simply the highlight of the Bazaar Ramadhan. It’s hard not to feel fascinated by the number of skewered whole chickens being barbecued slowly over gas and charcoal in a rotational movement. They were also perfect for photos and I am going to show lots, and I mean lots of them lol.
Some Ayam Golek stations have an automatic roller, while some still required manual rotation.
When they are ready they will be taken to the stall front and sold hot and fresh. The price for a whole bird ranged from RM12 to RM15, depending on the size.
Because Ayam Golek is barbecued over slow fire the meat is very juicy and tender, even the chicken breast part.
We bought half a bird from Restoran Jaring @ RM8 and it was sooooooo good. The marinate was just a simple combination of honey and lemongrass but the taste and aroma of the chicken was just so so great.
They say better buy Ayam Golek barbecued over charcoal than gas because gas might be poisonous? I don’t really know lol.
Food on sticks, not exactly tasty but the children love it.
Barbecued Chicken Wings @ RM1.50 each.
Pan fried skewers.
It’s good to know the chefs were wearing face masks amidst the H1N1 flu outbreak.
Jugs of cendol selling for RM3 each, so tempting and colorful. Click here to continue reading >
Singapore Flyer – Tallest Ferris Wheel In The World
Sep 2nd
The Singapore Flyer (Chinese: 新加坡摩天观景) is currently the tallest Ferris wheel in the world. Described by its operators as an observation wheel, it reaches 42 stories high, with a total height of 165 m (541 ft), and is 5 m (16 ft) taller than the Star of Nanchang and 30 m (98 ft) taller than the London Eye.
Located in Singapore, on the southeast tip of the Marina Centre reclaimed land, it comprises a 150 m (492 ft) diameter wheel, built over a three-story terminal building which houses shops, bars and restaurants, and offers broad views of the city centre and beyond to about 45 km (28 mi), including the Indonesian islands of Batam and Bintan, as well as Johor, Malaysia.
The final capsule was installed on 2 October 2007, the wheel started rotating on February 11, 2008 and it officially opened to the public on March 1, 2008. Tickets for rides on the first 3 nights were sold out for S$ 8,888 Singapore dollars (US$6,271)(£3,150.83GBP), an auspicious number in Chinese culture. The grand opening for the Flyer was held on 15 April 2008.
Because we flew to Singapore with Jetstar, each of us got a complimentary ticket to the Singapore Flyer. All we had to do was present our boarding pass to the ticketing officer in exchange for the free ride. If you are paying, it costs S$29.50 for an adult! Not exactly cheap yeah.
Personally I feel evening is not the best time to visit, but then if you visit in the day the weather might be hazy or rainy and you won’t be able to capture nice night views. Ah! Decisions decisions.. For us, it rained during the day so it made taking photos even more difficult because of the raindrops on the capsules’ windows, damn frust one. And do click on the photos to view them in full size! (1024 x 684)
A capsule just arrived to pick up passengers. Each capsule can only carry up to 28 passengers at one time.
On the way to enter the capsules..
Our capsule arrived! Actually photography is not allowed here.. But who cares? lol
First view from the capsule.. you can actually see the F1 grandstand on the lower right. By the way all the photos were taken hand held so please pardon the blurs or noise, I left my tripod in Taiwan lol. The wheel was always moving anyway so I doubt a tripod would really help? I dunno lol.
And to make things worse, the capsules were lit with blue, red and purple colors. The colors’ reflection on the window makes the already difficult situation even trickier to take photos..
Click here to continue reading >
vkeong’s Taiwan Trip Day 3 Part 1 – Yehliu Geopark & Ya Rou Bian
Aug 27th
On our third day to Taiwan, we decided to venture out of Taipei to some other tourist attractions like Yehliu and Jioufen. The package we bought to tour Yehliu and Jioufen cost NT$1000 and NT$1100 respectively. Both packages were from the same company and they included hotel pickup by van, entrance tickets and tour guide.
Well the tour guide was actually the driver himself too lol, it was basically an one-man show. After we came back from the trip only we realized there were companies offering cheaper (by NT$300 to NT$400) packages for the same tour. The thing was, it was only advertised on brochures. So if you don’t get hold of it, you wouldn’t know. If I remembered correctly we got the brochures from one of the hotels we were scouting to stay.
On the way to Yehliu we made a brief tour of Keelung town, just to know how it looked like and all. Not getting to stay at places at your own pleasure is one of the worst thing about taking tour packages, sigh.
For your information Keelung is actually a port city situated in Taiwan’s northeastern part. It is also Taiwan’s second largest seaport after Kaohsiung. Chung Cheng Park is one of the attractions here, located at Keelung’s east side.
This huge bell is said to bring good luck to whoever strikes it.
