RIVER SAFARI

I did say I had enough of aquariums, but I guess the River Safari has a pretty good balance of land and sea animals, so I'll let it slide. This week was my first visit to the relatively new park, and so while everything seemed new and interesting, I must admit I was expecting more (animals, shows, areas, etc). The Amazon River Quest boat ride was too fast, short (and silent), and once you missed the animal that was it. You only get to take it once, and it seems like it is only temporarily complimentary. Now that I've sat on it, if I had to pay for the ride next time, I probably wouldn't... Haha! 

However, I did enjoy observing the pandas, red pandas, crazy big manatees, and the giant river otters. Many of the animals we came across were sleeping, but thats probably a time issue. We also learned some cool facts about animals (some hard to forget), and had a lot of fun making tons of jokes along the way. If you ask me if the River Safari is fun, I will probably tell you I can't say for certain, but its the company you have with you as you make your way around that makes it fun. :)

Eunice

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PASARBELLA

Have you heard of Pasarbella? It opened its doors in May but it sure was the first time I had heard of it when I visited it back in June. 

Pasarbella is located at a corner of The Grandstand, at the former Turf City. Its like a little indoor farmers' market. My first thought was that it reminded me of Perth's Fremantle Market, which I visited last year. Its definitely a place that takes you out of Singapore. The whole place is decorated with a vintage feel, full of wooden crates & barrels, beautiful walls with bricks and vintage images, and live music (sometimes) resonates throughout from a guy who plays his guitar and sings at the Dottinghill booth. Its a lovely place.

As with all farmers' markets, you can expect tons of organic produce. Everything looks so fresh, especially the fruits. And I don't like fruits, mind you, but look at that beautiful array of colour! There was also a large shop selling organic products such as soaps and such. But really, the most of Pasarbella is all about food, food, food!

These are only just some of the shops, there are a lot of stalls in a whole other section that were selling yummy cooked food. We didn't eat our lunch there, but there sure were many people who were! I was carrying my baby niece as we walked through that section so I didn't have hands to pull out the camera.

You could even grab a cup of freshly brewed coffee! Or beer, whichever works for you hahaha.
 

There are also a few other interesting stalls, such as a crazy balloon shop with so many, so many types of balloons, a stall selling all kinds of wooden decorative and storage items, and a Dottinghill booth! If you don't know about Dottinghill, they sell temporary tattoos designed by, well, anyone! There is a community of artists and voters that decide on the tattoos that get made, its the same system as Threadless. The designs are really gorgeous and we got some for ourselves and our niece that day! There was also this other shop selling brightly coloured tableware and all sorts of kitchen items. Really pretty.

Overall, Pasarbella was a nice and warm little place. There were a lot of people, but it wasn't too crowded for a Saturday afternoon. The shop owners were really friendly and the whole place was a feast for the eyes. I just can't seem to stop looking around at the products, the decorations, the walls, everything. Haha Its a place you should go check out if you can! :)

Eunice

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PUNGGOL PRAWNING

Despite the heavy rain Sunday afternoon, we stuck to our plan and headed down to Punggol Prawning at Marina Country Club (check out their Facebook page too). We've gone prawning at quite a few places, but remembered this one to have a nice outdoor ambience with wooden bridges in between ponds. So we were surprised when we got there and found out that they moved it! Same location, but different area. It's now operating in Marina Country Club's dry storage facility (check out those boats!), which is still pretty cool.

Prawning can get pretty dead after awhile if you're not catching anything. We started off well but after about three prawns our catching rate slowed down pretty quick. But these are my favourite people to do anything with because they don't get boring (or maybe time with them is just my favourite kind). We played with temporary tattoos (lots of them) for awhile and everyone was being super fun about it (you can see them in my next post, this one is already overloaded with photos!). At one point Monster Energy girls came around and handed out large cans of Monster Energy Drinks to everyone. We also had a few episodes of prawn grabbing. I don't think I should tell you what I mean but think of it really literally. Haha

At the end of the 3 hours, we caught a total of 19 prawns. Definitely not our best (we once caught almost 60) but also not our worst (the guys say they didn't even catch any when they went prawning somewhere else). I hate watching the guys skewer the live prawns. Look really painful. They were certainly yummy to eat though! According to their Facebook Page you can't get these 'Giant River Prawns' in the local supermarket and the meat is said to be firmer and more like lobster. Hmm, I always thought it tasted good because it was so fresh and the fact that you caught it yourself makes you like it more. Hahaha

It was fun, but a pretty expensive activity if you ask me, especially if you don't end up catching a lot. We paid $60 for two rods for 3 hours so go figure. The guys decided that maybe we shouldn't go prawning anymore. We could spend the $60 on good food for another BBQ. Haha

This wasn't the end of my Sunday outing but I'll save that part for another post. This suddenly became a three post day because I have tons of photos and I hate to choose (I already cut down a lot okay). Oh, and I also don't want to lag your browser, haha, yes that's important. ;)

Eunice

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TO THE SCIENCE CENTRE

The guys have been talking about going to the Science Centre for quite some time so the day after my final exam we went! They haven't been to the Science Centre since our primary school days, but I visited it 3 years back with my friend YeeShan. It has definitely changed a lot since then though! A lot of new exhibits. But quite a number of them I remember from the time I went 35 times in Primary 5 with my school. Hahaha

We caught the Fire Tornado show and I think it was one of the highlights of our day. It was pretty darn cool. The lady who led the demonstration said: "This will probably be the only way you get to look at this up close. If you see this in the forest, please run away." Yes, I will try to keep my eyes off this beautiful destructive force if that happens.

Moses tried his hand at the electric chair and almost went up to the very top of the scale! He says it just vibrates like crazy and that probably just mimics electrical charges, so that it doesn't hurt all the kids that try it. Haha

I beat Mo at the Battle of the Sexes game. X) (It was judged by seeing who could navigate through a maze the quickest.)

These two people never fail to crack me up every time. Their ability to find boring things/situations and make them fun never fails to put a smile on my face.

The 'Shake House' earthquake simulator! This was pretty cool. They have three different situations you can choose from, earthquake effect on a building on hard bedrock, on soft sediment, or at the top of a tall building on soft sediment. It was quite fun, although it gave me a slight headache (I have motion sickness). We had a challenge to see who could outbalance who while standing on one leg during the simulation. I was the first one to lose my balance every time. Hahaha ...I wish I took a video. X)

We also tried our hand at the Laser Maze! Its in this tiny room and there are tons of lasers depending on the difficulty level you choose. The one above is the expert level, but a lot of the beams are off because they already touched those. I especially like how the Mission Impossible theme song plays while you go along your quest, makes it feel kinda cool. Hahahaa

There were also other cool things we saw: 
Chicks attempting to hatch from their eggs. Very interesting sound exhibits. Many camera experiments. A programme that edited our faces to show us what we would like when we were 50. It was extreme. Really horrible. Haha 

I would say that if you're no longer a young child, you should find the right people to go with. Once you have that, the science centre can be quite fun! To be honest I wasn't really there to learn more about science I just wanted to play with the exhibits. Haha

We ended the day with dinner at JCube, and spent quite a bit of time watching the people who were ice-skating. Especially this one girl who must be a figure skater, skating so effortlessly and gracefully around the ring. Jo called her 'Ice Princess'. ;) I love these two people.

Eunice

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