Bye, Comtech!

End of August marks the deadline for few of my projects. It also marks the last day of operation for one of my favourite food courts - Comtech.

I have been lunching there for more than 3 years. The price is decent, but the taste was (I felt) 1 notch better than the rest of the food courts. I used to love the Bak Kut Teh a lot! Then it closed few months ago and I switched to the Fish Soup. Then whenever the fish soup's queue was too long, I would take it as an excuse to indulge into sinful delicious Indian food.

So despite the norm of Friday as "long & away from office lunch", we decided to go to Comtech and bid goodbye. Well, we weren't the only way with the idea. Half of my office people was there ^^; The fish soup queue went all the way from one end to the door, so I decided to go for the Indian food. The stall owner was so sweet - they actually made some nice dessert to distribute for free as a Thank You note to all of us who has been supporting. Oh well, thanks for the nice food! Sadly the owner hasn't decided if they are going to continue with the business =(

My $5 fulfilling Vegetarian Lunch + the Orange nice sweet dessert

From now onwards, it's only Food Style Food Court available, and the queue was getting really ridiculous. The next day I went to Food Style and had their Vegetarian Tom Yum. Well, they served healthy vegetarian, but didn't taste as good as Comtech T_T

Tom Yum Vegetarian - $4

Alright, time to let go. Hope there will be more food court coming nearby!

ED

Dinner @ PappaRich, Star Vista

My next few posts will be all about food! O.O Again I never realized how much I ate until I actually browsed through. And I still wondered why my tummy started to came out.

PappaRich @ StarVista

Still on the mission to try out all the restaurant in Star Vista, this time we walked all the way to the end of Star Vista to try out PappaRich. Despite the weird name (for me), it serves a nice Malay food :D I can smell the curry when I went in to the restaurant. The pics in the menu looks really good. The actual food was decent, but the taste was nyummy!

My Fried Rice for $10.90

Winson's Signature Dish for $14 (? can't really remember the price)

We also had the Ice Red Bean ($4.9), which was really good - worth the price! I will go back there for sure incase I have some Malay food cravings :)

To the next restaurant!

ED

Hari Raya @ Hayati's

I got invited to the celebration of Hari Raya with Hayati! Along with other malay's colleague! I'm so glad that she included me - one of the first time that I feel the benefit of being able to speak malay :p

Selamat Hari Raya!

We started from office at 6.30pm and reached the place at MayFair around 7pm. It supposed to just be a gathering, but she actually prepared a full dinner for us all =.=' all the way to the dessert and tea and cookies. I feel so touched. and hungry.

The dinner! Love the Beef!

The cookies :D Looks really similar with CNY cookies :D

We had a really nice time catching up, and I got to learn a little bit more about her. Really impressed with all her achievements and how she stayed humble and friendly at the same time! Two thumbs up for her :)

There I got to meet few other colleagues as well, which I never see before :x Talk about working in my own world. They are such a sweet people. It's my first time visiting people for Hari Raya. Really fun and similar with CNY, except the Hayati brought it one level up with all her dessert and tea and snacks.

Thanks so much for the hospitality, Hayati, and really hope to see you again soon :)
ED

First Time to Esplanade Theatre

I enjoyed my first ballet show on Fitness First. They were conducting yet another lucky draw, I applied for it, and now I enjoyed my first experience in Esplanade Theatre on them too :D

My free $100 tix!

Masterpiece in Motion - modern ballet :D

Honestly this time, I don't really care about the show :p I was more excited on how it feels like to be finally inside the durian after so many years watching it from outside.

Esplanade Main Theatre

I was all ready with my big camera but alas... It got confiscated even before I entered the theatre T_T They didn't confiscated my phone, but everyone was given a stern warning not to take pics of the show, and I don't want to know what will be the consequence if I tried it.

Inside the Theatre

So I ended up only with just a pic before the show start =.=' The overall show was ok, the dance was beautiful but looking at it for 2 hours almost got me snoring. Guess I'm not an art enthusiast after all!

Thanks Fitness First for the tix :D (and its actually quite a nice seat!) I want another pair for Swan Lake pls! :p
ED

School Once More?

I’m in a very confused mode.

 It had never crosses my mind to do further studies before. I did what it takes to land me a job, and I convinced myself that experience is much more valuable than another degree. I was unable to work out the math on how the additional spend for a 2-year Master Degree (-$50,000!) would finally help me to achieve more than 2 years of working experience (+ salary!)

Do I want to be one?

Until now, I still don’t see how the cost-benefit of taking Master degree worked out, but I see myself searching for available Master Program and asking people about their study experience. What is my main reason? Peer Pressure =___=’’

4 out of 5 people I was going out with are entering / pursuing / finishing their Master degree. Suddenly I’m the only Bachelor and I felt that I have been living in my own world. I have been stagnant when all my other friends were busy applying and improving themselves. Now they have / will soon have another degree stick to their name while I’m still the same old bachelor. Hey, I don’t want to be like Blackberry or Nokia that goes down because they stop upgrading themselves and become irrelevant.

I’m trying to convince myself that taking a Master degree is the right thing to do. A degree last a life time and if I’m not taking it now, when else? I don’t like the idea of procrastinating and I know that I will have more and more commitment as I aged. My brain will just get rustier as well. I will have to work for the next 40 years anyway, what’s wrong with taking 2 years to study?

BUT in the end, I still haven’t found THE reason for taking a Master degree (except peer pressure, which made my boss sweat). I told him that it might help me to get a promotion, and he totally laughed it off. I admit that I’m happy in IT and I don’t have any intention to move industry, so I’m again stuck trying to justify why I want a Master. I can still always go for certifications if I want.

There is no right or wrong. I know the facts and I can foresee on what happen in both scenarios. Now I just have to take my stand and stick with it.

Time is ticking!
ED


Note: Oh yes, I hate my friends for being kiasu and love them for giving me a thought of improving myself :)

Addicted to Plant vs Zombie 2

Exactly 3 years ago, I was addicted to Plant vs Zombie. Now, I'm addicted to Plant vs Zombie 2. History repeats itself. Despite trying to my best to stop, I find myself glue to my iPhone screen from morning to night. What a way to enjoy my weekend T_T

Plant vs Zombie 2 - After 2 days of zombie's killing

Compared with its original game, the sequel has much more game variations and harder to complete. The sequel is much richer in graphic colors, but for some reason I still prefer the earlier ones. They were so cute. Now they looked too real.

I didn't foresee myself giving up zombie fighting soon, but hopefully I can learn some self resistance. Otherwise, my blog will be dormant for the next two months.

Till then!

ED

New Calories Places

When I came back and realized that I gained 4kg, I tried diet.
I don't know how I ended up at different new places, and ordered sinful stuff :x

Burger Barn - Double Beef Patty - S$ 19.5 

Owl Cafe - Spaghetti with Mixed Seafood in Chilli Crab Sauce - S$ 9.9

de Paulo Bistro - Red Wine + Pork Belly Pizza - S$ 30 - It tasted really good :)

de Paulo Bistro - Supposedly one of the best Tiramisu in Singapore - $12, but can't really tell

China Restaurant - Sichuan Food :D Thanks Sab for recommendation - $33.1

With the way I eat, I will easily gain another kg.

May next week be better,
ED

Home Sweet Home! Experiencing Railink Train Station + Kualanamu International Airport

August means family gathering time! My parents didn't want to travel this year, so I decided to go back home for 10 days.

Changi with Hari Raya and Independence Day theme - beautiful as usual

Changi's latest exhibition! Took pic and it got posted to the huge "Social Tree" screen

Having some free time in my hand, I decided to walk around the Terminal. With the kind of speed the Changi is expanding, there are always new things to explore. This time around, I visited their Cactus Garden. Quite an impressive collection considering that the place is open to public for free. It's like mini Garden by the Bay Conservatory.

The Cactus Garden @ Changi Terminal 1

Trying out the selfies function in my camera XD

Can't resist the $5 deal for Turkey & Ham Combo - decided to buy one for breakfast

The flight home was smooth. My eyes shut down automatically as I entered the plane. By the time I awake, I was already at Kualanamu International Airport. The landing area was huge, and for the first time, the plane actually got the luxury of sliding through for few minutes rather than hitting brake as soon as it landed.

Kualanamu International Airport was so much bigger than Polonia, but it's far from being fully operational. There were constructions everywhere, and the signboards weren't even properly placed yet (based on my 10 mins experience trying to find toilet)

Finally a proper luggage belt area! No more annoying chalk

It's an announcement about the grand opening this September. There will be lots of work to do!

a proper arrival area :D Can't help but feeling impressed

From the airport, I went back home, had lunch (Garuda!) and then took a taxi back to Tanjung Balai. There were 4 people in the taxi - all ladies. I met one of my friends there as well! What a coincidence.

I stayed in hometown for few days, the routine was eat, sit, eat, watch, eat, sleep, eat, play. Mum cooked a lot of delicious stuff and dad bought me a lot of snacks :D Paradise.

Receive roasted duck from Asek! The best one in town

Mum's Mango - super sweet!

On the first day of Hari Raya, dad got few days off and we all went to Medan via Train! Rp. 30,000 for adult and Rp 24,000 for Senior Citizen. Super cheap :)

In the Trishaw - To the train station!

In the train! It was hot outside! Luckily there is aircon

Medan was another round of eat and sleep for me. I felt sick on my first day there. My bro-in-law gave me some medication and I sleep like pig for 15 hours. I woke up just in time for dinner :p Sister bought Pepper Lunch deals - 2 set meal for Rp. 100,000. The food is decent, but not so many people despite all the different promotion. Guess it's still quite pricey after all for a fried rice.

The two besties (used to be enemies) Amazing how time changed people :p

My Aglio Oglio :)

The pricing list - it's almost the same price as SG! O.O

After the whole day of rest, I felt much butter the next day. On Saturday, I decided to join Dad and the rest on the whole day rafting adventure. It's located around Tebing Tinggi area. The place is called Ancol Arung Jeram. The rafting was awesome, but the transportation was a big pain. The road was really bumpy and instead of a nice bus, we're all asked to stand behind an unsheltered truck for an hour to go there. The truck wasn't even clean. There were rubbish and timber and iron all around. 

Luckily the rafting was worth all the pain. It was a very nice clean open water (OK I admit I don't know the name of the area). There were 6 of us in a boat + 1 professional instructor. We rowed through fountain, tried out mountain mineral water, played splashing with other boats (There are around 10 boats that day), swam, high jumped, and enjoyed the awesome scenery. Too bad I didn't have waterproof camera. The current was quite strong at some areas, I got thrown out once - thankfully nothing dangerous. 

We finished at around 5pm and I got 3 tones darker with few bruises at my hand (didn't know when I got it). We head back to Medan thinking that we're reached in 2 hours time just nice for dinner. We never guess that the traffic was so bad, we ended up sitting in the car for 6 hours. It was 11pm when we reached back home. We cooked some instant noodle, ate, and collapsed. 

The rafting poster!

The rafting End Point :D

On Sunday, we travelled half Medan to find lunch. All the places that we wanted to go was closed. We ended up at Pizza Hut ^^ I loved it ^^ It's so expensive in Singapore. Here I picked all the exciting crust that they offered :D We even go for the salad, which is not available in Singapore.

Group pic!

My salad-arragement skill. Sis said I was a real noob T_T

It was already 3pm by the time we finished lunch. We went to Cemara Asri for some walk, went home to rest, and then had dinner at 7pm at Semarang. I was so spoilt for choices, but decided to control my appetite, for I have buffet coming up the next day!

Crystal Jade Dim Sum + Ala Carte Buffet! Rp 88,000 net! O.O

First time seeing people ordered so many veggies with no meat on a buffet ^^; thanks to sis

Monday was my last day before I flied back to Singapore. Bro-in-law decided to give me a quick tour of Medan. We went to Wonders Water World - most probably the largest water park in Medan :D It looks so grand - Not fully operational yet, but has the promising look :p

Wonders Water World - The enterance

We walked around until dinner time - I had Tiong Sim at Selat Panjang, and then spent some nerdy time at Gramedia Sun Plaza reading comic books :D Sis and the rest went to Starbucks to get some Wifi.

Read few chapters of Marmut Merah Jambu and burst out laughing

Tuesday morning, all of us went to train station. Mum and Dad took 7.00 AM train back to TB. I took 8.20AM train to Kualanamu. The train station for Kualanamu is separated from the main station. It's new and I'm honestly impressed with how grand it looks for a train station. Plus free wifi. I don't mind paying Rp. 80,000 for this! (and they happened to have Rp20,000 discount until end of the month).

Railink Train Station - Waiting Area

Train Station - Boarding Area - too bad their trolley were still being ordered

Inside the train! all clean and tidy :)

I spent sometime browsing while waiting for departure. When it departed, I switched from browsing to game. 35 mins is really fast when you're playing candy crush.

The train stopped directly at Kualanamu. I dragged my luggage to the departure area and greeted by Helios and Rina :D Went to check-in and tried to get a seat near them - which is not required actually, because I dozed off right after the flight departs.

Check-in area!

Waiting area - that's our airplane!

Boarding Area - looking good :)

And... that sum-up the whole 10 days in Indonesia :)

ED

Yet another Farewell Lunch with Glen @ Himawari, 991 Alexandra

Few more days before Mr Gu flying off to US. This is really the final lunch with him for this year. Hopefully. Few days before he came back, he said he wants to eat some Japanese food. Sab proposed Himawari and Kushin Bo. I prefer the first one for some personal nostalgia. It used to be the place we went for Friday lunch, back when we were still in the Alexandra office.

Pic with Future Boss

This time around, we went to the buffet. I had a secret desire to try the buffet since few years ago, and it's finally coming true! Well, the food is definitely not disappointing. The sashimi was so so good and fresh - worth all the 10km running effort in the morning!

I don't know which one is which - all were really nice!

Shabu-Shabu!  Sadly only come in 1 size - slightly too big for us

The fresh nyummy beef :D

Guess what is this! Yes, my favourite natto! I was so excited to find this. Called two portion and a bowl of rice ^^

This crab thingy looks good but tasteless

Yet another round of freshly served Sashimi. Nyummy!

Mochi Dessert!

There are lots of other things which we ordered, which were gone before I even got a chance to take pic ^^; Sab and glen ordered lots of good stuff, I ordered mostly nice looking but cheap stuff ^^; *feel bad afterwards. Total damage was $49 / person - which I think would have been around the same price if we ordered aka-carte anyway.

Craving satisfied :) Now Glen, wish you the very best in US. And congrats for being -no longer single-
ED