Bishan Park

Have not been to Bishan Park for quite some time and was eager to go down especially after hearing all the nice things about the park after the makeover.

Now there are stylist signs at both park

A "river" runs through the park. Previously this was a storm canal. Now it has been "landscaped" and is really beautiful winding through both parks.

Even the small drains have been transformed!

The culvert that is now camouflage

The small drain is now a steam

The old canal going underneath Marymount Road before it transorm back to the beautiful swan

The theme for Bishan Park is water and there are water water everywhere. A close up of the main stream

A reef pond

A pond

Another pond or is it the same one as above?

Bridge over the pond

Unlike most other park, the public are welcome to play in the stream and catch longkang fish

A park user enjoying a snooze on one of the unique park bench

The dog run has been relocated to a new location within the park are there are pooches everywhere

The spa is still around

All in, Bishan Park is a beautiful place. Too crowded though especially in the late afternoon and early evening what with all the children and dogs running around and the cyclists and runners everywhere. But still worth a visit.

Kong Kee Seafood Restaurant

We went looking for a place to eat Malaysia style hokkien mee and found this place.

It looks like we were in the wrong place though. Signs everywhere was promoting their deep sea giant grouper. Of course we didn't dare order that. Our pocket may not be that deep. But we cheapskeate, die die must try so we ordered the fried grouper skin. The skin comes deep fried like keropok. There is a whole lot of oats, I think, on top. Not too bad.

The waitress recommended the black chicken soup. It was served in a claypot but the waitress served up the soup in individual portion. The chicken meat and the herbs were placed separately on a plate. I believe this is the first time the kids have black chicken soup. The black chicken meat didn't look too appetizing although they were actually quite tender but the soup was good. Not too herbal and yet strong enough.

We opted for a white pepper frog leg since we had never had frog leg in this version before. We were disappointed. It was not spicy enough and not flavour full enough unlike the usual diced chilli frog leg.








And of course, we had the hokkien mee. The noodles look more like the udon style type but it was okay no complain.

Overall, the food was a tad disappointing. Maybe we went to the wrong place for the wrong type of food since their specialty was grouper and we didn't really order that. Also, it was a bit too high class for Malaysian food and the prices reflect that.

So we shall continue to hunt for a better cheaper version of Malaysia Hokkien Mee in Singapore. Any recommendations?

Erotic Bali -

Balinese are very erotic. Maybe it is their Indian blood - kama sutra and all that. But there are many sex symbol all over.And nobody blink an eye. Like these:

Wooden carving in a batik shop

Painting for sale

The buttock of a statue

Another nude couple!

And all these phallic bottle opener!

And these lot that looks like plant!

Uniquely Bali - Head Strong

Balinese women are head strong, err I mean  strong with their head. They can carry practically anything on their head as these few photos show

This street vendor has some t-shirts on her head

This one has knife, scabbards and all sort of killing objects

This lady is carrying canangsari 

This one has 3!

Fruits are commonly transported on top of the head

Like this street vendor

These ladies going to the temple

Bananas!

Look no hands!

Uniquely Bali - Flowers

Balinese are very religious. Everywhere, there are temples, shrines and unique little trays of flower offering. These cute little flower trays called canangsari (I hope I got that right) are placed as offering to the spirits and for blessing. Hence they can be found everywhere.

Stack of canangsari for sale

A vendor at the market in Ubud

On car dashboard

Another one on a vehicle but this one on the outside

On a sidewalk

On a hotel table

A bigger version in a hotel lobby

Another one in the hotel we stayed at

Makan Bali - Seafood

This one is not so much about good food but about seafood in Bali. Bali, being an island surrounded by the sea, should have plenty of seafood right? Well, yes there is Jimbaran Beach which has a whole cluster of seafood restaurants. Naturally when we said we wanted to eat seafood, our driver cum guide brought us there.

The nice but so dark beach restaurant

The atmosphere was fantastic. We sat on the beach on beautiful wooden chairs. There was a band of roving musicians moving from table to table. There was also traditional Balinese dancers. Great for a romantic night dinner until we saw the price of the seafood.

It was super ex by our standard. Coming from a place where a lobster can cost close to a $100.00, when I said expensive I mean it is really expensive. After looking through the menu which was basically just a list of seafood items with prices on a per kg basis, we settled for the set menu for 2 which looks the most reasonably priced.

This is a platter of seafood - 4 Tiger prawns which seems very small, 5 squids, 6 mussels and 1 fish. Plus of course the kangkong and 2 beer and a tiny plate of fruit. All that for RP800,000 excluding tax which came up to about S$110.00.

Not satisfied, we went to Kuta Beach on another evening and this time we went to this very atas looking place.

Bali seems to serve seafood in only 1 way ie barbecue and the restaurant had a similar menu to what we ate at Jimbaran but for a quarter of the price. We ordered the mix combo which was again 4 Tiger prawns, 4 squids, 6 mussels and 1 fish plus a tiny plate of fruit. No drinks included.

Fish and mussel

Prawn and squid

We threw in 2 beers, a soup and a desert of chendol and the bill came to RP400,000 or thereabout, about half of what we paid for earlier and we got the beach, nice comfortable sofa seat in a gazebo overlooking the sea with candle light of course.

The lesson we learnt was never to be led by the tour guide. Do our own research first and choose only those place we have heard good review of otherwise be prepared to be butchered!