Pambudi and Dini's BBQ Party

Date: Saturday, 26 May 2007
Location: BBQ Pit, Signature Park, Singapore

On Saturday (26/5) evening, we went to the BBQ pit near the Club House at Signature Park, to attend a BBQ party hosted by our dear neighbours, Pambudi and Dini, who will be migrating to Beijing, China next Wednesday.

We also met Satya and Enon there. Inka and Irza were happily playing with Dhanis and Nadia. The hosts prepared many varieties of food to eat, ranging from grilled satay and sausages, finger foods such as chicken chunks and french fries, and even Japanese snacks.

I and Satya also managed to throw Pambudi into the swimming pool, as a "token" of our appreciation for our friendship while we are in Singapore. :) Little we realised that Irza was following suit, and threw himself into the swimming pool, with full clothes on. :) :) And minutes later, Inka and Nadia also joined Irza by throwing themselves into the water as well! So there we are, having three kids (and one adult) with full clothes, soaking wet in a swimming pool, at around 10pm at night! :D :D

Kids always follow what adults are doing. How true, indeed... :)

Heidi and Titus' Birthday

Date: Saturday, 26 May 2007
Location: Globetrotters Family Restaurant, United Square, Singapore

This Saturday, 26 May 2007, is really a day with full of activities for the whole family. In the late morning, close to noon, actually, we went to Ang Mo Kio, to buy some mallet sticks used for gateball games for Andung. Really didn't know that Andung is actually playing gateball. :) :)

From Ang Mo Kio, we proceeded to United Square at Thomson Road, specifically to the Globetrotters Family Restaurant at the second floor of United Square, for Inka and Irza to attend Heidi and Titus' birthday party. Heidi is the daughter of Om Willy and Tante Wilce.

The place is quite small, but convenient. The food is also quite nice. There's also a play area for kids to play. Inka and Irza also meet some of their friends, such as Aidan, Cherish, Cally and Celin.

That's not all. In the evening, we also went to BBQ party hosted by our dear neighbours, Pambudi and Dini. What a great and busy Saturday we had. :)

Sunday at Suntec City

Date: Sunday, 13 May 2007
Location: Suntec City Mall, Singapore

After cycling at East Coast Park, we headed to Suntec City, just 10 minutes drive from East Coast Park, for lunch. The kids requested for a lunch at KFC, so we went to the KFC stall at the basement of Suntec City Mall.

After lunch, the kids took some time to go to the Fountain of Wealth, to touch the water and circling the fountain three times, while making a wish. :)

Cycling at East Coast Park

Date: Sunday, 13 May 2007
Location: East Coast Park, Singapore

As I have mentioned earlier, cycling is one of our favourite pastimes during the weekend. Other than Sentosa and West Coast Park, our other favourite cycling spot in Singapore is East Coast Park.

Compared to West Coast Park and Sentosa, East Coast Park is a bit further away from our place since it's located on the eastern side of Singapore, while we live on the west side. The park was just renovated recently, so it's now more convenient to cycle there. I would say, East Coast Park is now currently the best place for us to cycle in Singapore.

East Coast Park is a very long stretch of park, about 15 km, next to the East Coast Parkway expressway between Fort Road and Bedok. Our favourite place on the stretch is the Marine Cove, the hub of entertainment along the park. We can rent bicycles from many of the kiosks there. There's one stall just behind 7-Eleven store, and another one further east, next to the roller-blade field.

We rented our bicycles from the latter kiosk, which had a promotion of renting 1-hour and get another hour free. :) The rental fee is quite reasonable, $5/hour for normal bike for adults, and $3/hour for children's bike. Higher rate also available for suspension bike and tandem bike.

From Marine Cove, we chose to cycle in the west direction. We cycled up until Fort Road, near the far west end of the park, and back to Marine Cove, for around 1.5 hours.

Pasar Malam and Fun Fair at Woodlands

Date: Sunday, 20 May 2007
Location: Uncle Ringo Fun Fair and Pasar Malam, opposite Causeway Point, Woodlands

On Sunday (20/5) evening, the whole family went to Causeway Point, the biggest shopping mall around the north of Singapore, at Woodlands. Our destination is the pasar malam and fun fair, which is located at the open field opposite Causeway Point, near the Woodlands MRT station.

The fun fair itself is a makeshift theme park operated by Uncle Ringo, the leading amusement park operator in Singapore. However, even though it's only a makeshift theme park, you can find quite a lot of big and thrilling rides, similar to those found on permanent theme parks like Genting or Dunia Fantasy. There's even a very big (or giant?) ferris wheel called Euro Wheel, although of course you cannot compare it with Dunia Fantasy's Bianglala or the new upcoming Singapore Flyer. :)

The only downside is the ticket price, which is quite high. They sell it on a per-token basis (the token is actually a ticket) at S$2.50 per token, and most of the rides will require 2 tokens (or 2 tickets) per person, including children. Some more thrilling rides even require 3 or 4 tokens per head. Meaning, each ride will set you back from $5 to $10, per person. Very expensive.

Inka and Irza tried the (a bit slow) roller coaster and the pirate ship. Inka also tried the Sky Rider, which is similar to the Spinner ride in Genting, which is her favourite. However, this Sky Rider ride is spinning much faster than Genting's Spinner! No wonder why the minimum height limit for this ride was 125cm, which Inka was just reaching. For your information, the minimum height to ride the Spinner at Genting is only 107cm. I had to calm my wife who was very shocked to see that Inka was whirled that fast. :) Luckily, she was OK.

There's also the bumper cars! Definitely Inka and Irza's favourite. To ride these bumper cars, we had to buy separate tokens at $5 per car (not per person), and each car can take 2 persons. I rode the bumper car with Inka, while my wife shared the car with Irza. We really had fun! :) There are also some various games stalls where you can try your luck to win the prizes.

Just opposite the fun fair, nearer to the Causeway Point shopping mall and the Woodlands MRT station, there's a very big pasar malam where you can buy lots of stuff at cheap prices. Those include VCDs/DVDs, accessories, and of course, food and drinks, including the famous Ramly Burger. :)

Dinosaur Movie at Singapore Science Centre

Date: Saturday, 12 May 2007.
Location: Omni Theatre and Kinetic Garden, Singapore Science Centre, Jurong East.

Inka is a fan of dinosaurs. She always borrows books about dinosaurs every time we go to the library. My wife found out that there's movie screening about dinosaurs at the Omni Theatre, Singapore Science Centre, so she offered Inka to take her to watch the movie after a week of her semestral examination.

We went there last Saturday evening. Singapore Science Centre is located at Jurong East, and the Omni-Theatre is on a separate building, sandwiched between Singapore Science Centre and Snow City. Outside the theatre itself, there's a gallery showcasing dinosaurs and everything related to it. There's also a very big skeleton of T-Rex, which reminds me of the Night at a Museum movie, which Inka also likes very much so that we had to buy the DVD. :)

Since Irza didn't want to watch the movie, only my wife and Inka went in to see the movie. The ticket price was $10 for adult, and $5 for child. Inka said that she liked the movie very much. There's also a dinosaurs simulator ride, however we didn't try it. The price for the ride itself was $4 for adult, and $2 for child.

While waiting for my wife and Inka watching the movie, I took Irza to Kinetic Garden, which is located on the outer (and free) side of the Singapore Science Centre. There are quite some exhibits for the kids to play for free. There's also a McDonalds outlet there in case you're hungry. Irza was having a great time playing with all the exhibits there.

More exhibits are, of course, inside the Singapore Science Centre and the ticket price is $6 for adult, and $3 for child. There's also a new water play area which is actually located outside, but we can only enter the area from inside the Science Centre itself, therefore only those having tickets can go in. We didn't go in since we've been there before, just last year.

Fish Feeding at Chinese Garden

Date: Sunday, 29 April 2007
Location: Chinese Garden, Jurong

On a Sunday morning, we went to Chinese Garden, with Om Pambudi and Tante Dini's family. Our main destinations within the garden were the pavilions which are built at the edge of a very big pond. There, we can feed fish, turtles and even birds, with slices of bread. Again, another great time for the kids! :)