Dim sum lunch @ Wah Lok

It was quite a few years since my last visit to Wah Lok Restaurant @ Carlton Hotel. Yesterday's experience was nice because I was with good friends and cute little companions. My favorite dishes are the polo bun (full of char siew) and the fragrant egg tart.

Feasting on Mommy's birthday

I took leave today to accompany mom at home. Mom is 63 already!

I had my usual breakfast of bread before joining Mom to feed the community cats. Back home, I cooled down by eating a sweet and juicy orange and a soursop.

Mom and I each had a maple syrup candy that cousin got from Canada. It was quite sweet but we like the aroma of maple syrup.


I did some workout by scrubbing the kitchen toilet shower area and shower curtain while waiting for the frozen spinach pizza to be baked. Dessert was sponge cake topped with our neighbour's homemade durian gelato.


Now mom and dad were cooking dinner while I was blogging away :)


I can't wait to eat dinner with my parents :)

Angel and chairs

Angel relaxing on the chairs with his eyes wide open. Hee.

Angel under the carpet

Peekaboo :)

Sky and clouds

I really like taking photos of the beautiful sky and clouds :)

Our feline friends in the estate

They are some of the cats we have been caring for the past 2-6 years.

Tombok


Fat Cat who still doesn't like being photographed :)


Oreo (who got his GI cut last month. His fur was very matted, so I sent him for grooming)


Cali


Patch whom we sent to the vet for sterilisation a few weeks back.


Three flickering her tongue like a snake


Shadow quenching her thirst in this hot weather

Last driving lesson?

The lesson this morning was quite interesting and enjoyable as it was my first time driving in heavy rain and the instructor was quite encouraging. He said I showed confidence in the circuit but he observed that I was more hesitant and less smooth outside on the road.

My driving test will be on Mon afternoon. I guess whether I will get my driving license after that will depend on my skills. And maybe some luck too. Haha. I hope this will be my last lesson. It has been fun but tiring too from all the time and money spent since 25 Jan. But I don't want to be one of those lousy or reckless drivers out on the roads, so I'm mentally prepared if the tester thinks I need more practice :)

Super hot afternoon

After the rainstorm and floods, we have to face the merciless sun again. We don't feel the heat in the air-con office, but today I took the afternoon off for my driving lesson. It was hot when I walked from the bus stop to the driving school and when I drove around the circuit and on the road. It was less hot around 4.15pm after my lesson and I could admire the clouds and sky when crossing the overhead bridge on the way home.

Lunch & dessert @ Holland Village

After the Haw Par Villa outing, we took a bus down to Buona Vista/Ghim Moh and walked down to Holland Villa. It's really convenient to get around Singapore :)

We had a simple lunch of noodle soup and rojak @ the food centre, followed by decadent waffle with 2 scoops of ice cream @ Daily Scoop @ Chip Bee Gardens!


Cute cartoons on the wall


I chose durian ice cream while my friend chose Guiness Stout. I like the durian one. The stout gave an interesting bitter aftertaste.

The above photo was taken by my friend, while the one below was by me.

Revisiting Haw Par Villa

It was back in primary or secondary school that I visited Haw Par Villa for a school excursion. I remember taking a ride through the 10 courts of Hell and seeing the various colourful life-size mythical characters.

When Straits Times reported about Haw Par Villa not too long ago, we are reminded of its existence. My friend and I made a trip down last Sunday morning. We took bus service 143 from Harbourfront to the bus stop in front of Haw Par Villa.

I don't remember having strong feelings (be it excitement or fear) about Haw Par Villa when I was a kid. But when I was there on Sun, I felt kind of awed by the colours, statues, structures and almost everything. The place looked well-managed and other than the 2 of us, there was only a handful of other visitors between 11am to 1pm.

At the entrance


Cute tigers and fierce-looking ones too

The little cubs are promoting Tiger balms! :)


The animals looked very busy with whatever they were doing.

Near the entrance to the 10 Courts of Hell, these statues greeted us. There were some scary looking ones (heads without bodies on a hill).



Inside "Hell"

I didn't take any photos of the gruesome scenes. I find the different punishments meted out for different sins interesting and for some, quite hilarious. (Click on the photos to read the text)


Towards the end of "Hell"


We spent about half an hour in "Hell". Beyond "Hell", there were more interesting sights.

Cylindrical structure with 9 panels of different scenes


More tigers


Terrapins in the ponds


Colourful pagoda with dragons


Memorials for the members of the Aw family


Some characters from Journey to the West


The colourful port containers could be seen from Haw Par Villa.


The other name of Haw Par Villa


We were tickled by the words '早生贵子' below the painting of the Goddess of Mercy.


Beautiful flower designs painted on the roof


A nice story about how a guy rescued a tortoise and released him to the sea and when he was caught in a storm, the tortoise helped him


This Jigong looked malnourished!


Above the cool looking door and wall, there was some interesting event going on.


I was more interested in the horses and metallic flowers than the war. haha.


These huge masks/faces looked familiar.


The Goddess of Mercy statue seemed different from those I usually see and reminded me of a particular Hong Kong actor :P


More dragons. On top of the wall, there were also lovely flowers and other creatures.


Piggies


Laughing Buddha


I was quite amused that sumo wrestlers were promoting Tiger balms too :)


Another pretty plant


Statue of Liberty was lost in Haw Par Villa :P


Some last shots before we left Haw Par Villa




Before STB starts to do up this place or the new Haw Par Villa MRT station is ready, you may want to visit this place when you can slowly enjoy it without the crowd and noise.