singapore 2010 : part 1:Universal Studio

Hi! I disappeared for a while. I was in Singapore with family. UNIVERSAL STUDIO !!!!!!!!! mana lagi..! newest attraction. Lamanya sudah kami tidak berjalan-jalan. 2 tahun. Excited, excited,excited.

It was a short trip, (not being school holiday) but we made the most of it. We enjoyed it. I have so much to share with you. My stories may take 3 posts in all. Bear with me.

And part 1 is about Universal Studio. Sooo much FUN. Must see. Must go.

Must also purchase tickets months beforehand. See sold out. Sila lah beli online. Jangan sudah sampai baru mau beli ya. Especially if you're going in peak season. We went Saturday. The place is packed. It's not school holidays . Maybe because the Great Singapore Sale still ongoing so many tourists on their last days.

These are the exteriors before the ticket barriers :-

Once you pass the entrance, you can claim vouchers inside Guests Services. What vouchers? Each ticket entitles to a meal voucher (MV) $5 and a shopping voucher (RV) $5. You can use them for food and souveneirs inside the park.

(I am going to be detail here, okay, for the benefit of those who are planning to come here soon).

So, you got your map. You start with a narrow lane, Hollywood-themed site. There are 7 themes in the park. Each has its own adventures, restaurants and merchandise shops.

But Hollywood is mainly about merchandises and colorful cafes only.

Our first pic inside. Still fresh-faced and not 'warm' yet.

After Hollywood, you'll see the whole park forming a big circle. Start from the left.

First park - MADAGASCAR.

There are 2 rides here but only one open-the carousel. The other - Crate Adventure not in operation yet.

Sign says coming soon. Instead they offer professional photo taking at the landmark.

Like this. Pay $12.

The Madagascar ship.

Kids will love the carousel. Named King Julien's Beach Party Go-Round.

Very colorful.very fiesta-like.

great for warm ups.

you got to move it, move it..

Casa Del Wild. The restaurant. Thai food. This has halal mark in the map.
There's another eatery, Gloria's Snack Shack, selling Japanese food (non-halal). The merchandise outlet is Penguin's Mercantile.

part of Madagascar landscape.

Second site FAR FAR AWAY. This is Shrek-themed park.

Far Far Away is popular. Everywhere there's queue. There is so much to play. The shop is cool, the cafe nice.

Here, we are q-ing for the roller coaster, called Enchanted Airways.

If you're not game for this, go straight to 4D show. Its great fun. The q is long and there'll be more waiting inside before the theatre opens but its worth it. Super exciting. Feel the seat shakes, feel water spray in your face, feel spiders on your feet, etc..etc.there..I'm spoiling the surprise for you..But really, don't miss it. Be reminded though, you're not allowed lap seating in the theatre. If you're bringing in babies, they need to sit on their own. If you think they don't like being sprayed or to be bounced in their seats, best not to risk the show. Or your hours waiting in the line will be wasted when they scream their heads off.

And then, there's Donkey Live. Its not a LIVE show ofcourse but made to feel like one with convincing exchanges between Donkey in the screen and people in the audience.

The lady MC opening the show.

Last attraction in FFA, the Magic Potion Spin. This is just a ferris wheel, small one, for little kids. Its located inside the merchandise shop. Hardly any q. We love the shop. All the stuffs are cute and funny.

And the eateries are popular. There are 3, Goldilocks and Friar's for food, mainly burgers/wraps and Fairy Godmother's Juice Bar for drinks. The foods are halal.

interior of Goldilocks.

Next adventure - THE LOST WORLD.

Even more popular than Far Far Away. Favourite among boys and older kids. This park has got the most number of attractions. Plenty to explore here.

This is called Canopy Flyer. You ride in a coaster around a track up 20 feet high, your feet dangling. Get a bird's eye view of the park. And its quite fast too. Enough roller coaster for me. Membari ijap. Human eye view cukup la.

Then there's Dino-soarin. A merry-go-round thing.

Then Amber Rock Climb. We didn't check out this place. Its deep in the back. Tapi, rock climbing. Motif? Behapa kan rock climbing ditengah-tengah park? Orang mau bermain. But it's up to you. If it's your cup of tea, go ahead.

Next to Dino-soarin, there's Jurassic Park Rapid Adventure. Its a river raft ride. But it was under repair when we came. Too bad. Sounded fun.

Ok the last one, Water World. Now, you don't want to miss this. Its a thrilling live show of stunts and explosions. There are 3 shows: 1pm, 3pm and 5pm. So time yourself nicely. I repeat , you don't wanna miss this.

I can't describe it but these are stuntmen showing how they do it in a movie. Amazing. Pro.

Try to come early to get a good seat in the middle row but not too front or you'll get wet. I mean it. Soaking wet. Back up a little.

For refreshments, there's Discovery Food Court (local dishes) and Fossil Fuels (drinks). For merchandise, go to Dino-Store and Jurassic Outfitters.

The fourth theme - ANCIENT EGYPT.

This is the most fascinating park of all.

picturesque,

, and awesome, don't you think?

Although, attraction wise, there's not much to do here. There are only 2 rides - Revenge of the Mummy (it's an indoor roller coaster) and Treasure Hunters. My advice - forget Treasure Hunters. Boring. It's a buggy ride through an Egyptian looking site. But its too short a ride and nothing that spectacular.

These are what you can see along the ride :-

Nothing is real. They are all stones. Actually it won't be so crap if we didn't have to endure the ridiculous waiting q.

It's too slow moving. More than 40 min.

The restaurant, Oasis Spice Cafe is a favourite for muslims. Middle eastern buffetaria.

Jam 3 petang sudah ni, kelaparan..

The shop is nice too. Carter's Curiosities. Made to look like a cave. We didn't get pics. Kelaparan tu kali.

On to the next site - SCI FI CITY.

This is coming to the end of the loop. This site didn't look fully developed. There are 3 attractions, 2 of which are roller coasters, one in blue track, the other in red, and the other is bumper car ride. But the roller coasters were not opened. Whether not yet operating or not in service then, I'm not sure.

So that's left the bumper car. It's called Accelerator. It's not your normal bumper car. It's automatically controlled, you don't steer it. It twirls while zig zagging across in a fast jerking motion , missing colliding with others by inches. Fun but we wish it was longer. Each car can seat about 5 people.

There is no restaurant in this park, just a souvenier shop - Galactica. Not promising.

The last site - NEW YORK.

You must go to Lights,Camera,Action! . Its a sound stage and special effects show. See how they stage the set for hurricane action. Not allowed photography. But its awesome. Simply awesome. You shouldn't miss it.

See also Stage 28. Another about film production.

The rests - sightseeing and photo taking.

It won't be NY without the yellow cab.

There are 2 restaurants in NY site, Loui's NY Pizza Parlour and KT's Grill. None of them halal.

And that's a wrap. Or do I need to tell you how to get there? It's in Resort World, Sentosa. Any public transport will carry you there. We took a cab from the city (orchard road) in the morning. It took us 20 min and $9. But coming back , we were charged $15.60. Maybe Saturday night, traffic jam (we left at 7.30 pm).

Ok, until the next tale.

Nite nite.

kitchen makeover

Hello ! Just popping in to let you know I'm still here. I just seem to have nothing new to say at the moment.

How about I show you my new blinds for the kitchen.

Dry kitchen.




Wet kitchen.


And since I did some tidying up around the dry kitchen, I show you the new arrangement of my vantage collection.

This is before. The new cake tray not visually attractive with the dark background. So I moved it inside the cupboard together with blue&whites.

There. The new look. Color coded. What do you think?

Happy weekend !

thursday treat

the foodies gathered around on thursday for the usual (eat,relax,news-catchup) at the usual venue. we feasted on 'jawa-themed' menu - soto ayam and rojak , the side being sandwiches and cakes. we're not so much about food nowadays. tidak kuat makan sudah kami. what with the gals intent on slimming down. kurus banyak sudah c shabbymom o ! c whimsy pun maintain slim.



i baked a chocolate cake with a new recipe i found in allrecipe.com. it turned out moist and delicious, if i'd say so myself. i'm thinking of baking another & doubling the recipe this time. the kids really loved it.


oh there's another reason for thursday party. my belated birthday present from Whimsy and Shabbymom.

pandai kan dorang? nda sah dorang dua saja ada ini cake tray. mesti kasi cukup korum tiga.

after all we are the 3 musketeers. all for one and one for all !

the trays are lovely. i could so use it for Hari Raya. thank u very much frens !

humdrum

did you all enjoy the long weekend? what did you do ?

i'm sure (and hope) you had a better time than me. didn't go nowhere except to weddings and endless weddings from 30th may up to yesterday. B-O-R-I-N-G. a planned vacation had to be cancelled because my son has to attend extra classes during the holiday.

attending weddings = migraine. always the case for me. not because of occassion. because of the weather. and the weather is extreme these days. ridiculously hot in the mornings and rain & thunders in the afternoons. so when i don't attend wedding, i wander about the house trying to stay indoor as much as possible.



i end up doing this. decoupaging an old basket and a biscuit tin.



have a cheerful day !

he's adult

he is seldom featured in this blog, my eldest son. today i'll make him the star cos he's just got his MyKad. it makes me feel he's grown up so much, so fast. he's no more on child rate when i renewed his passport and booked the airline. now 3 adults in the house.



first-borns. what do you remember about them? everything i guess. the most anticipated, hyped about, doted on babies. pride and joy of the parents and grandparents.




he isn't the first grandchild but he is the first grandson and my mother-in law was over the moon when i gave birth to a fine and healthy baby boy.




i know all mothers think their child is the most beautiful in the world. but i really did think he was a very handsome boy when he came out.


he's got sharp features and fair skin. one of the things i remember is, he loved the camera.

i also remember he's got many admirers in his kindergarten days. i was always finding love notes in his school bag (should have kept them). when i picked him up, i'd find girls trying to make friends with him but he would walked quickly straight to me, not looking at them and turned deaf to their calls . sombong. it was his way to mask the awkwardness and embarrassment.

and then he grow up to be shy. the girls still like him (this i got from my daughter whose friends always asks about him). maybe thats why he's shy.

he is very close to his grandma as any favourite grandson would. they share a special bond. their birthday is on the same month, only 3 days apart. they celebrate together every year. i used to resent it (when i was younger & stupid). i was jealous. i wanted him all to myself. that jealously stopped when i had my second son, my youngest child who adores me more than anybody else in the world. (err.. i think, at least when he was a baby, nowadays he looks up to his brother and wouldn't stay anywhere without him).

i thank God everyday that i have him and his 2 siblings and hope He continue to bless us with this happiness forever. Amin.

birthday bits

Hi. I'm Fabmom. I'm a blog abandoner. ("Hi Fabmom" says the supportive crowd).

3 weeks after my last post and this would only be my 3rd post in 5 months.


Anyway I'm here now and today its about showing off my presents (only a couple) I got for my birthday last week.

Low-key affair as usual. Had a nice dinner at my favourite restaurant with hubby & kids. The owner kindly served me my fav choc cake, on the house.

(By the way, shabbymom - he said he's making special treat for Hari Raya this year.No details yet but he's planning it.I'm talking about Brass Monkey).



And then, a fabulous lunch with best buddies a few days later stuffing my face so full that I fell asleep right after I got home.



Ok, now the presents. Tadaaaa!!!!

An elegant watch from hubby & kids. (yes, they forked out their pocket money for the wrappers). It looks masculine here but it's pretty in person. I love it.

A pretty serving bowl set from mother in-law. Very thoughtful of her. I like it very much.

I'm still waiting for the present from best buddies. Cough.

Till next post!

World's Best Mom Award

Kamu ada ? Aku ada.

Baca tu. Sijil penghargaan atas penat lelahku menjadi ibu terbaik dan tercantik.woohoo...
And I had to sign the certificate before I put it up on my dressings mirror..

happy mother's day everyone !