Happenings in January - Bukit Batok Town Park + Miam Miam with Clique

Monday 30/1/17

I have been wanting to visit Little Guilin or Xiao Guilin for the longest time, a place that is known for its beautiful landscape. So during this long weekend, we made a trip down to Bukit Batok Town Park for a stroll along the park. The nearest MRT station is Bukit Gombak.

We went in the late afternoon at around 5pm to avoid the scorching sun, turned out the sky was gloomy.

Bukit Batok Town Park resembles Guilin in China, that's how the name Xiao Guilin is derived. The towering rock cliffs make a majestic backdrop to the large lake.

The sight resembles what I always seen on ancient period drama, giving me a fantastic view of the tranquil lake.

Away from the hustle and bustle of the city. 

Little Guilin is more than just a lake, it has a spectacular view to offer.

Embracing what the nature brings us, a moment of peace and serene.

A great retreat for the city dwellers. Many families and joggers were there for a run or stroll too.

We sat on one of the big rocks for quite awhile, trying to achieve relaxed state of mind. This is one of the rare moment where we just sat down doing nothing and enjoy the present moment. We cast our phones aside, away from the internet, except for taking pictures. I really appreciate this because I like it when people give all their attention to the person they are meeting. That's the purpose of meeting up isn't it?

If not, you can just stare at your phone for my updates.

Enjoy the breeze and birds chipping. Life can actually be so idyllic.

Tuesday 31/1/17

Met up with the clique on the fourth day of CNY  and also first day of work after we were back from our long weekend. Today is the start of my unbearable one month.

The 6 of us gathered again, our last full attendance was during Christmas eve celebration. We fixed our dinner gathering at Miam Miam @ Bugis Junction.

Ryden ordered this chicken salad for sharing.

The chicken was tender and delicious. This salad is super for people who want to have low calories meal. The chicken will make you feel full, not to worry that you will get hungry very fast.

I have Carbonara.

The creamy pasta tossed with bacon, mushroom, cheese and fresh egg yolk. The yolk was in a beautiful shape of orange. Smash the yolk and mix it thoroughly with the pasta so that every mouth will taste the aroma of the yolk.

The featured dish in Miam Miam - The French Toast.

The french toast was toppled with fresh made whipped cream and maple syrup, enhancing the flavour of the toast and making it savoury sweet with every bite. 

Yogurt and valrhona chocolate souffle. 

Indulge in a heavenly decadent melted chocolate on top of our soufflé. We top up another $1.50 to get a yogurt. 

It was a great dinner gathering, I love being with this group of people. I may not have a lot of friends, but having a few groups of true friends is more than enough for me.

Happenings in January - Chinese New Year + Chinese Garden

Saturday 28/1/17

Ushering the new year with the Golden Rooster this year.

Chinese New Year (CNY) is another favourite holiday of mine other than the year end festive (Christmas and New Year) because it is yet another long weekend. It is a tradition for me to have gathering with my relatives and collect ang paos.

My nephews brought their dog to our home. It is big in size and looks adorable, drawing everyone to surround the dog.

The dog was obedient, it didn't bark and just quietly sit there.

While waiting for more of my cousins to come, I joined this younger group to play for awhile. They love my pink monster cushion very much, kept throwing and playing catching. So nice to be young.

Our yearly steamboat affair during CNY dinner. 

As we have a very big group and limited seat, we split into quite a few rounds to cater to everyone. I was assigned to the first round of eating by mummy. 

Gather and gamble time.

Activity after dinner. My luck is always bad when it comes to gambling so giving it a miss.

Sunday 29/1/17

CNY day 2 was quiet in the morning because the lion dance troupe no longer visit door by door to bai nian with us.

Went over to go bf's house to bai nian and spent time with him before he went off for his work trip. It was almost 3pm when I arrived at his neighbourhood and we have our late lunch at a Muslim-indian eating place since most of the shops were closed for CNY.

I have a plain and egg prata. I preferred the egg prata, it was fluffy with the taste of egg nicely spread and dipped it in the curry sauce gave a delicious taste.

We reached Chinese Garden at 6pm. 

It was packed with people, sitting on the grass and having their picnic. 

So nice to be back at Chinese Garden again, it seemed like almost 20 years ago since my last visit. Being back again brought back memories of my childhood. 

One of my memories of Chinese Garden is this 7-storey pagoda. I didn't managed to climb this the last time I was here because mummy told us scary stories that stopped us from climbing up.

I'm going to conquer this pagoda this time round. 

Here's my OOTD for CNY day 2.

Dress: Tomato from KSL JB

Shoe: Far East Plaza

I love this pink dress that comes with a stripe to act as a belt, creating a waistline. The dress made me look feminine and flare at the right spot. The multi layers at the bottom created a volume to the dress. I hardly do shopping in Singapore lately, all my clothes were bought during my overseas trip because they were more value for money.

Climbing up 7 storey at one shot and treated to the scenery ahead and many good spots for photo taking. It was worth climbing up.

Spending some time to admire the gorgeous view of Chinese Garden. This is probably one of the very few places in Singapore that preserves the scenery of an ancient place that we seen from the ancient period drama.

So glad to visit here again, I really forget how Chinese Garden looked like. 

Chinese Garden was especially crowded that day.

The incredible view of the picturesque lakeside with the shadow of the scenery cast in the lake. It was an unforgettable sight. 

CNY period is like the blossom of spring. The place was lifted up with liveliness.

I love visiting places with spectacular view, it just lightened up my mood.

It was 7pm when we left Chinese Garden, we made our way to Jurong Point for our dinner. Since many places were closed for CNY, we decided to dine in at The Manhattan FISH MARKET which was opened on CNY.

I ordered this set that comes with fish n chips, chicken and rice. It was really nice but too much for a person to take. I could finish everything, I tried my best to clear all except rice. The fish was moist and the chicken was tasty.

Ended our dinner with a scoop of strawberry ice cream.

I was super super full by then.

While on my way back, I was really sleepy, I guess the food coma took effect. So glad tomorrow is not a working day, I can sleep and wake up late the next day.