RWS Staycation - Day 3

Xavier seems to enjoy the pools alot so we decided to hit the pool after an early 8am breakfast (to avoid the crowd).

After a short rest we changed to our swim gear and headed to the Hard Rock Pool one last time. No pretty girls this time so Xavier got bored after a while.

So we head back to Festive Hotel's pool since we haven't been here yet. The waterplay area is of a smaller scale and somehow the wooden floor is pretty slippery. Xavier manage to regain his balance the first time but wasn't so lucky the second time round. Still he was giggling and having so much fun.


I asked Lilian to take a video of this scene as I wasn't sure if he wanted to be a fireman or a gardener.


The pool activities really drains Xavier's energy. He was stone when we return to the hotel room to pack.

We double confirmed that Xavier just need a place with swimming pool and he will be satisfied. Maybe its time we bring him to Seng Kang swimming complex.

See the pool fun on Day 1.
We visited USS for the first time in Day 2.
View more photos at my Flickr.

RWS Staycation - Day 2

Today is USS (Universal Studios Singapore) day and I have bought tickets for my parents to join us. No rain clouds in sight so we are not likely to be wet, or so I thought.

In case you are wondering what the above photo is about, well I gonna give you a very important tip of staying in Festive Hotel: Go for your breakfast EARLY. We went at about 8:30am in the morning and there was a small queue of 10 mins. But when we were finished and leaving the restaurant, the queue was all the way to the lift lobby. Madness. And to add salt to wound, I overheard one of the manager tell the very agitated guests in the queue that the restaurant was closed for breakfast and they are trying to accommodate all in queue.

We thought it might be an influx of guests that particular day but when we came the next day for breakfast (at 8am just to be safe), the long queue again stretch to the life lobby when we were leaving. So you have been warned.

The breakfast buffet spread was not too bad but it was the same spread for both days (kind of miss Club Med's daily changing menu). What got a little on my nerve was that they were playing upbeat Salsa/Merangue music. For the record, I love Salsa music. But two straight days of Salsa music at breakfast felt as if they were rushing me to quickly eat and finish my breakfast so that they could clear the queue outside the restaurant.

After my parent arrived, we set off to USS. The huge Universal globe was under maintenance and many people had to content with taking photos with a picture of the globe instead.  I rather not take. Ha.

We took the anti-clockwise route, going from "Hollywood" pass "New York" to "Sci-Fi City". There were many sights to see, performances to watch and mascots to take photos with but Xavier wants none of that. It was nearing his nap time and he was getting cranky. And he seems to be scare of mascots, any mascots. We wanted to take photos with the Madagascar crew but he was screaming and crying as if we were offering him to the Alex the Lion as lunch. So we let him take his nap in his stroller while Dad and I went for the Battle Galactica roller coaster.

There are two rides you can choose from. The Human ride is a seated coaster where you get drops, twists and turns whereas the Cylon ride is a suspended coaster including cockscrews and cobra rolls. Both rides starts out at the same time and there will be some moments where they looked like they would criss cross each other. Dad was only game for the Human ride and being the "safer" ride, the wait time was longer. After it was done, dad joined the rest while I went for the Cylon ride alone, twice (as there wasn't much of a queue for it yet). By the time I was done, I was drench in my own perspiration (not sure from the adrenaline rush or the freaking hot weather).

When Xavier woke up from his nap shortly after, he too was drenched in perspiration (so its the freaking hot weather) that we had to change his tee. We decided to look for an air-conditioned place to have lunch. Skipping pass "Ancient Egypt", we wandered into "The Lost World" and settled for local fares at Discovery Food Court. Tip: You can use the $25 gift voucher from the package to cover the lunch cost.

After lunch we backtrack to "Ancient Egypt" to ride the Treasure Hunters. Its a slow and controlled jeep ride young kids would love. Tip: If the queue time is too long, I suggest to skip this. We then went back to "The Lost World" for the Dino-Soarin ride. Xavier loves this ride as you can press the white button to make it "fly" higher. If not for the 30 mins queue time we would have gone again.

I wasn't in the mood to try other rides mainly due to the weather. Queuing for rides in this heat and humidity is a party spoiler. So we went for something air-conditioned next, Shrek 4-D Adventure in "Far Far Away". Lilian and I been to the same show at Universal Studios Hollywood so I kinda know what to expect but my parents had heaps of fun and surprises. Xavier however was so scared of the 3-D spiders 5 minutes into the show that he cling onto me for the rest of the show and refuse to watch it. I would be scared too if I was his age. Imagine spiders right in front of your eyes and getting closer (due to the 3-D effect). Tip: There are stationary seats in the middle of the theatre and you should use these if your kid is too young. 

Last stop for us was King Julien's Party-Go-Round at "Madagascar". Xavier chose Alex the Lion the first time round then Gloria the Hippo the second time round. And finally a ride Lilian can join in.



We head back to the hotel to rest before heading to Vivocity for dinner.

My overall impression of USS is that it's pretty small and the heat and humidity of Singapore didn't help make it fun at all. If you are bringing a young kid like Xavier's age (2 years plus) and a pregnant wife, you might not enjoy it very much as there are many rides which pregnant ladies can't participate and there are only a few rides for young kids (but then again Xavier's entry is free as he is below 4 yours old). I personally would not be returning to USS for a long, long time.

Here's the link to Day 1.
Want to see what happens in Day 3?
View more photos at my Flickr.

RWS Staycation - Day 1

We are expecting a new addition to our family at the end July so we thought of going for a vacation since it will be another 2 years plus before we can (practically) travel again.

Initially we had Hong Kong Disneyland in mind but the logistics involved for an overseas trip with a 2 year old toddler and a pregnant wife sort of put me off. So we settled on the next best thing which is a staycation at RWS (Resort World Sentosa). It will be a vacation without the trouble of travelling overseas.

I booked the 3D2N Ultimate Fun package which cost SGD788 net. The package includes the following:

1) Two nights stay at Hotel Michael Deluxe Room, Hard Rock Hotel Deluxe Room or Festive Hotel Family Room
2) Daily Breakfast for two
3) Two one-day adult passes to USS (Universal Studios Singapore)
4) Resorts World Sentosa gift vouchers worth S$25
5) Complimentary welcome drinks for two

Accommodation, breakfast and USS ticket are all free for Xavier since is is under 4 years old so it seems like a pretty decent deal. We chose Festival Hotel as it was more "family friendly" with what seems like a bigger room on picture with additional loft bed and a long sofa bed.

We start the staycation with dim sum lunch at Tung Lok Signature, Vivocity. The dim sum is pretty good and the above photo shows some of the dishes we had; Aloe Vera Honey drink, Fried Silver Fish, Salted Egg Prawn, Glutinous Balls with Black Sesame Filing Coated with Peanut and Fried Taro Strips with Pumpkin.

Fried Taro Strips with Pumpkin is interesting as the taro strip crust was very crispy but the taro and pumpkin filling in the middle was soft and fluffy. The Glutinous Balls were also lovely, very soft but packed with a punch when the black sesame filling burst in your mouth when you bite it. I find the prawns so-so (find the salted egg taste bland) but Lilian loves them. Xavier of course love the silver fish thinking they were fries.


Xavier was so excited about celebrating Lilian's birthday. He talks about which cake mummy likes and about blowing candles.

We checked into the hotel and true to the picture the room was larger and the ceiling was higher than most hotel rooms we have been to. The loft bed wasn't suitable for Xavier but if you have older kids, I'm sure they would love it. The main bed is a queen size so it was quite a squeeze with three of us sleeping on it at night. And like most hotel beds, it was too soft for me and I woke up with an aching body.

The toilet is pretty big and we absolutely love the "Raindance Air" shower head by Hansgrohe. Even Xavier had fun showering with the rain-like droplets. (He wanted the same when we reach home and I tried to imitate by inverting my shower head so the water falls like rain but he looked at me and asked, "No more rain?").

The view from our room was nothing to shout about. But being family friendly, they do have kids size comfort items like bedroom slipper and bathrobe.

The beauty of RWS is you can use the facilities in any of the hotels (I think). We heard so much about the man-made beach at Hard Rock Hotel that we brought Xavier there instead of our hotel's pool.


The sand is clean and the water ain't salty, it's a good way to introduce beach and sand to kids. Xavier also had heaps of fun at the waterplay area.


Sometimes being silly is fun when you are with your kids. We had fun at the waterplay area of Hard Rock Hotel. Unfortunately the water slide was under repair. Xavier seems to be extreme friendly to girls when we are on holiday. You will see two-thirds into the above video where he tried to make friends with a French "jie jie" (older girl) by offering his watergun.


And then literally chase after another "jie jie" from Hong Kong next.

We had dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe. Xavier totally knocked out after the swim. I ordered the Hickory Smoked Pulled-Pork Sandwich and Lilian had the Grilled Hawaiian Chicken. Had a Kilkenny since I wouldn't be driving.


Xavier woke up in time for dinner and he became the fries machine, finishing each of my fries in 30secs while dipping into my BBQ baked bean sauce in between bites.

We took a walk around the waterfront area after dinner. There was a fountain show at 9pm but we missed it.


We ended the day by celebrating Lilian's birthday in the hotel room with a mini cake from awfully chocolate. Xavier was so eager to blow and cut the cake.

Link to Day 2: USS day.
Link to Day 3.
View more photos at my Flickr.

Xavier starts to sing...

Xavier is at a stage where he would start singing songs on his own without prompting, because he wants to and not because we told him to. Although there are usually missing words and we sometimes take awhile before realising what he is singing, we thoroughly enjoy it.

However, getting him to sing on video is a different matter and despite all the coaxing and asking and begging, he has never finished a song on tape. Here are the "NG"s.

Ba Ba Black Sheep NG 1:


Ba Ba Black Sheep NG 2:


Twinkle Twinkle Little Star NG 1:


Twinkle Twinkle Little Star NG 2:


I'm A Little Teapot NG 1:


I'm A Little Teapot NG 2:


A Dance He Learned In School:

Hup Seng Duck Rice

Hup Seng Duck Rice is my favourite stall when it comes to braised duck rice.The perfect balance of the oil, the fats and the dark sauce never fails to make me drool.

Popular coffeshops usually have one super stall that majority of patrons will order from. As the chinese saying, 一山不能藏二虎, having two super stalls in a single coffeeshop is a rare sight. Unless they complement each other. And complement they did. Lilian and I would always order a plate of Hup Seng braised duck to go with Rong Chen Bak Kut Teh. And we would usually order Hup Seng's duck porridge for Xavier. 

We love Hup Seng's braised duck as it is juicy and tender. One bite and you feel like you are in paradise, as the aroma oozes out from the meat. Like Lilian says, "很入味". The other popular dish is the Salted Veg Duck Soup. We are not a fan of the soup but we always see many patrons ordering it.

Blk 22 Sin Ming Road

Eng Ho Hup Coffeeshop, #01-258
Singapore 570022

Tel: 6454 3810

Smile! :-D

Time seems to fly by this year and before I know it, one quarter has passed. I recently bought a new AIO (All In One) printer and was excitedly looking through my photos to print some out and test the print quality.

I then realise that I didn't take a single photo using my Canon 50D and S95 for the whole of March. In fact when I took out my 50D last weekend to take some photos of Xavier's first self-assembled Lego robot, it took me a few minutes to familiarise with the camera again.

Anyway two photos below are one of the few that I really really like. The few that I go "Wow" and couldn't believe I actually took them. Enjoy.

Xavier's First Lego "Robot"

Lilian proudly declare to me this morning that Xavier did this Lego "Robot" all by himself. Well done my boy.

Compression Run 2011

I signed up for the 12km Compression Run 2011 as a means to force myself to be ready for the Sundown Marathon 2011. Before you look at me in disbelief, no I didn't register to run a 42km marathon. I signed up for the 21km half marathon.

The Compression Run and the Sundown is about 6 weeks apart so I thought it was a perfect "checkpoint". But I have been slacking with my run preparation, procrastinating from Chinese New Year to my reservist to 2 weeks before the Compression Run before I did some real running. And even then it was just a 4km and a 5.5km run in that 2 weeks. So I was not having high hopes of completing the 12km run in 1 piece.

But the actual run went pretty well. I guess when you are running with so many other runners, you tend to get motivated. Weather was cooling and there was a slight drizzle during the run. A few eye candies help to make the run more bearable. And I finish the run in 1 piece with a timing I'm very happy with.

Next up, Sundown. Hope I can get some 10km runs before the attempting the 21km.

Cookyn with Mervyn: Our Tribute To Japan

Cookyn with Mervyn organised a "Our Tribute to Japan" session today to raise funds for the unfortunate events that have happened in Japan. Mervyn and his team shares their Japan experiences as well as cooking skills and all proceeds from the session will be donated to Red Cross.

I had thoughts of donating to Red Cross myself for Japan disasters and when Cookyn with Mervyn decided to hold this session, I signed up myself and Lilian without hesitation. This session prove many firsts for me: first time attending a cooking class, first time doing real food preparation work (like cutting fish, peeling potatoes, making my own seasoning, etc) and first time seeing such "power" kitchen appliances (more on that).

We prepared four dishes in the session; our starter was "Hamachi Salad with Calamansi Dressing", with two main courses, "Cold Soba with Smoked Duck" and "Oven-Roasted Potatoes with Mentaiko Mayo and Seaweed Powder", and "Orange and Sochu Jelly with Whipped Cream" for dessert. Kitchen Culture sponsored their kitchen space and boy was the kitchen huge and beautiful. Huge island table top with mixture of induction and gas hobs set in marbles and with an equally impressive wet area at the back, littered with cool kitchen appliances and flanked by two rows of oven and a super cool fridge. Mervyn starts off by proposing a toast with Sochu courtesy of the ingredient sponsor Greengrocer.com.sg.

Then it's off to work. First up, our dessert as it takes the longest time to "set". We needed to dig out the orange flesh and mix it with gelatin powder to form the jelly then pour the mixture back into the intact orange "shell" before chilling it to form the jelly. It normally takes 4-5 hours for the jelly to to be firm but Kitchen Culture have this machine which can quicken the process by "blast chill" (sounds uber).

Next up, potatoes. We split the job with some of the class peeling the potatoes and some cutting them into wedges. Then we season them with canola oil, garlic powder, salt and pepper and its off to the high-tech ovens. The traditional way is to blanch in salted boiling water followed by airing them to dry and thereafter putting them into the oven. These ovens however, will steam the wedges followed by oven-roasting them to perfection, all by the touch of a few buttons. And they also come with high-tech price of slightly above $10,000.

High-tech oven at work

While the ovens does their job, Mervyn demonstrated with how to do the dressing for the salad and prepared the sauce for the cold soba. While he was on the topic on how to Flambé (French for flaming or flamed) the sauce to burn off the excess alcohol, he shares what not to do.


Once the sauce is done, we were left with the easy job of twilling the soba into the plastic shot glass, placing slices of smoked duck to the side and adding the sauce, topped with sesame seeds and chives.

Mervyn went on to prepare his version of the salad, explaining how we should try to slice the fish as thin as possible. On the left is Mervyn's version of the Hamachi Salad with Calamansi Dressing. Nice thin slices of the yellowtail kingfish and blue fin tuna drizzled with the calamansi dressing. And on the right is my interpretation of the dish. Thick sashimi slices soaked with sauce. Can see that I'm either very hungry or not playing attention to the words "thin slices" and "drizzle".

As we are enjoying the first two dishes, the golden wedges were taken out from the oven and ready to be served for the next dish. So crispy on the outside yet soft and puffy on the inside, it is paired with the yummy sauce made with mentaiko and Japanese mayo. This dish is just so irresistible that almost all of us went for second helping.

Finally, the desserts are all chilled and set. Top it with a dash of whipped cream and orange peel strips and it's ready to be served.

We sat down and while enjoying our dessert, we shared our experiences in Japan, what we liked and admired about them and what Japanese food or restaurants we love. It was an enjoyable and light-hearted session and with the $3,000 raised, we hope to help Japan in our little way. Gambatte Japan!