National Day Celebration (9 August)

Count on me Singapore... Count on me Singapore... Count on me to give my best and more.. Together Singapore... Singapore... Together Singapore... Singapore...... Its 9th August... The day Singapore gained its independence 43 years ago... The national day is celebrated nationwide every year of this day at the national parade previously at Singapore Indoor Stadium.. In recent years, the national parade is held at the new floating platform...

Its extremely difficult to get the National Day parade tickets every year.. So this time round.... We had gal gang gathered at my house for the national day celebration... Yeah.... Instead of watching the parade at the floating platform.. we watched it live at Home from my very own TV set. Dressed in red or white and holding the National Day flag.. boy.. we are soo... in the mood to celebrate the nation's birthday....

Enjoying our dinner of Canadian pizza and KFC over dinner whilst the parade showed pretty displays of the aero jets flying in the sky....

Jeral was the commentator of the day as she gave live updates of the parade's action.

Sing - along with us, the National Day songs.... Stand Up for Singapore! Do the Best you can......

The National Anthem

Mari kita ya yat Singapura sa sama sama luju....

And the Pledge....

We the citizens of Singapore, pledge ourselves as one united people... Regardless of race, lanuage or religion..........

At the Floating Platform.........

The crowd cheered on at the parade

At HOME...

the group enjoying ourselves with the national day parade and wii....

Our group birthday wishes for Singapore!!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SINGAPORE!!!! FROM ALL OF US!!!!

And Finally... The Fireworks....... Whooo.....

National day parade may be over...BUT NOT for us.... haha....

After the national day parade, the mood suddenly starts to change... Winnie became the stylist for the day... as she transforms Jeral with a new hairdo....

Curling Jeral's hair with the curler....

Preparing model gal for her photoshoot

And here's our very own Gal Gang cover gal...

Princess Jeral

Note: To all potential young men out there... Drop me a comment if you wish to know sweet, pretty, demure Jeral... (P.s: Jeral is going to kill me for this)

The day is finally over at 3.00+am... The gang camped over at my house that night... Here's some pictures of us in action before we zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz......................................

GOOOOODNIIIGGGHHHHTT... YAWNNN....

Exploring Sembawang (3 August)

We had moved into Sembawang for some time now... since December 2007 but still we do not really know what we have around us. To start with.. Sembawang is a very small town in the Northern district of Singapore. Compared to the big players like Woodlands or Yishun.. Sembawang is much more subtle. E.g. It only has a small miserable shopping centre.. Sun Plaza..

With our newly bought bicycle, we went on our mini expedition around this small town. Started off at 5.00+pm on Sunday (after all the houseworks are done...) Yah.. I know.. the pictures quality are a little sucky... its taken with my Nokia phone camera.. so it will be rather pixelated. Please bear with it.. I am getting a new camera real soon... waiting for the upcoming computer fair at the end of the month.

With just one bicycle, we encircle the Sembawang area going wherever we like... Finally saw the one and only wet market in Sembawang. Quite small and about 10 minutes from my house. Nothing much to see though.. Forgot to take a picture of it for posting here. FYI, its rather near the Northlink factory (industrial building which houses a lot of furniture, car, etc manufacturers.

Found this very nice park called Montreal Green in Canberra, Sembawang which we could see from the MRT whilst travelling home from work. Its rather new. It has some very interesting features. Well.. would have been nicer if they switch on the water supply...

Some of the Park's Features

Looking for a place to BBQ, they have BBQ pits for rent here. I think the booking fee is about $20. Booking could be made via AXS stations, online or through Sembawang town council.



From here, we went further out..towards the back area of Sembawang. Was told that there were alot of good food near the previous Sembawang shopping centre (now under development). But the food there were mainly seafood and looked so pricey and commercialised. Decided not to dine there for fear of end up as a "carrot head" (kena cheated)...

FYI, this is a new shopping centre in Sembawang that is under developement now.. The previous one was doing so badly in business that they had no choice but to tear it down and redevelop it. It is estimated to be ready in the 1st quarter of 2010. Well.. I hope they provide free shuttle services... its quite a distance from the MRT station... Hopefully it will be as good as IMM or better.... After all, the builders of this place, Capitaland had successfully built many great malls across Singapore.....

Was trying to find where this Sembawang beach was.. but... both Dear and I are poor road navigators... so ... yah.. you guessed it, we couldnt find the beach and ended up in Yishun instead... Went for Nasi Lemak opposite Chong Pang City... Reasonably priced, it has a wide variety of nasi lemak delectables.. This place is only opened from 5.00pm onwards and sells till dawn. Long queue throngs the place most of the time. Dear and I had a selection of 4 dishes and 3 dishes respectively (including 1 drumstick) for only $6.20..... To me... its cheap liaoz... Ever paid $5.20 before for a plate of Malay rice in Raffles Place with only 1 drumstick, 1 potato and an omelette... The most expensive Malay rice I had ever eaten.

Done with dinner and we off to return to Sembawang district. Passed by some very nice latern displays in front of Jelutung Community Centre.. The actual latern display was rather nice.. however, due to my lousy phone camera... pictures may not turn out as nice as the actual... Here's some latern treats to get you in to the mood for the upcoming latern festival....

Under the Sea theme

Singapore Garden Festival (01 August 2008)

Went to the Singapore Garden Festival with Winy and Puifong recently. Didnt had the intention to go initially until kacee sent an email to us 1 day before the end of the show to check if we are going... And yes... we finally went on the last day of the show....

The flowers were so beautiful.. The artists were able to make use of the different types of flowers gathered worldwide to come up with beautiful pieces of arts. There were a number of themes in the exhibition hall. I simply couldnt believe that we could have beautiful landscapes created in hot and wet Singapore. Its really an eye opener for us all.

We were so appalled with the displays that we didnt know where to start... ?????

Felt like I am in mystical fairytale land when I saw this....

Don't really know what theme this is but I guess, it feels kind of like Autumn doesnt' it?

This exhibit here was a Gold award winner...

More exhibits at the show

Can you see Marilyn Monroe in the picture with Fangz?? FYI, this Marilyn Monroe was make up of real plants...

The flower festival show even had hospitality tentages serving food and drinks for free!!! (favourite Singaporeans word) to all at the show... and of cos... people were drove in bunches to these tentages for the free food... Not knowing that there were free food.. The three of us actually spent a bomb at the food court in Suntec... $4.50 for a plate of Chicken rice... Very expensive rightz??

Anywayz.. as we were there rather late.. (near closing time).. most of the food had already been wiped out.. leaving behind only empty trays with some scraps... sighz... should have known earlier... keke...

The atmosphere in the Singapore Garden was rather nice. There was also a tentage for couples who are getting married to hold their solemnisation there. I have a friend who held her solemnisation there to a party of 25 people. I was told that the rental was $2000 for the venue rental and food was $30 per head for hi tea or something like that.. cant quite remember the exact cost... I believe it will be rather lovely to hold the solemnisation here.. given the nice atmosphere.. Only downside was the lights were a little too dim....

The Singapore flower festival was being split into 2 levels. Level 4 and Level 6. Level 6 is the main exhibition hall with all the beautiful flower sculptures. Whilst level 4 was more like a market place selling all kinds of gardening stuff for budding or seasoned botantist who loves to have their own gardens at home. It also features orchids display and works of the schools and communities.

I was trying to scout for some nice items to buy home. However, as it was close to closing hour, most of the stalls are either sold out or are happily keeping their wares. It is after all the last day of the exhibition and they had cashed in enough sales during the first few weeks of the exhibition. There were however still some stalls trying to clear their leftovers before they pack and go. Managed to get a free packet of fertilizer for my mother inlaw though.. (Despit winy teasing me for getting a packet of fertilizer when all the plants I maintained at home were fake.)...

Well.. and of course... we ended our flower festival here.... Till next year....