In Memories of….

I know I have been lagging in my update but I was too tired on Thursday after watching How To Train a Dragon 3D and on Friday we celebrated my dad’s birthday.

In Sci-Fi City, one may find the following attractions: Accelerator, Battlestar Galactica – Human and Battlestar Galactica – Cylon. Transformers will only be ready in year 2011.

Battlestar Galactica is an adaption from the Duelling Dragons in Universal Studio, Florida. It is currently the tallest duelling roller coaster in the world.

 The Cylon coaster (blue) is a suspended track with legs free with vertical loops , a Cobra roll, a zero-G roll and corkscrews. This coaster will also plunge into a 5-metre deep pit filled with artificial fog to give thrill seekers the sensation of a near miss with the ground.

The Human Viper Mark II is a seated roller coaster that zooms at 90km/h and propels one 14 storeys into the air.  This coaster does not have inversions. 

I did not get to try this pair of coasters on that day as there was no one who dared to take the coaster with me. I will give the Human coaster a try one day but I don’t think I will dare to give the Cylon coaster a try.

Accelerator is a whirling twirling attraction which spin guests around. I gave this a miss on that day as we have to cater time to queue for other attractions.

In this zone, you can find a pair of pretty robots on stilts. If you are lucky, you can catch them “pole dancing”.

This part is divided into 2 themes, Jurassic Park and Waterworld. However, Waterworld was not ready when I was there on Sunday.

Main attractions found here are Canopy Flyer, Jurassic Park Rapids Adventure, Waterworld, Amber Rock Climb and Dino-Soarin’.

The only ride I’ve taken in this zone is Jurassic Park Rapids Adventure. Here, up to 9 passengers may sit on a circular raft on relatively fast moving waters. Along the journey, one can see different dinosaurs ‘roaming around’. The highlight of this ride is when the raft is elavated to a height and plunge down from a Hydroelectric Plant. As the raft is circular, one is not able to predict if the seat he has chosen will make him wet. I was one of the unlucky ones who was totally drenched from this ride.

Besides New York city, this is the only zone without any charactor appearance. Imagine taking picture with a Tyrannosaurus?

Far Far Away is inspired by the animation Shrek, a 2001 American animated comedy film. I personally would call it a ‘rojak’ fairy-tale made up of Pinocchio, The Little Pigs and Puss in Boots. Attractions like Shrek’s swamp house and Far Far Away Castle can be seen here.

Here, you can find Shrek 4-D Adventure, Donkey Live Show, Enchanted Airways and Magic Potion Spin. As time restriction is a limiting factor during my visit, I only managed to go for Shrek 4-D Adventure and Donkey Live Show.

In Shrek 4-D Adventure, the storyline goes that Princess Fiona is held captive and Shrek and Donkey will have to rescue her. You can feel the vibrations, water (Donkey’s saliva) and ’spiders on your feet’ from your own seats.

I personally find Donkey Live Show quite boring. Though Donkey is able to interact with the guests real-time, I do not find it amazing at all. Perhaps the reason is I am not a fan of talkshows all along.

Charactors appearances in this zone are Shrek, Donkey (I did not get to see him though), Puss In Boots and Princess Fiona.

Universal Studio Singapore (USS) opened its doors to its employees and family members as a sneak preview activity. As such, I had the privilege to visit the theme park and experience some of the rides and shows before its soft launch on 18th March 2010. The park was available to us from 9am to 2pm.

The ticket reads: RWS TM & FAMILY MEMBERS SNEAK PREVIEW. I guess RWS TM stands for Resort World Sentosa Team Members.

USS is the the 2nd Universal Studio in Asia and 1st in SEA. Although the park is only 20 hectares (about 1/6 the size of Hong Kong Disneyland), there are a total of 24 attractions although not all are ready in time for the year 2010.  It is made up of 7 themed zones: Far Far Away, The Lost World, New York, Sci-Fi City, Hollywood, Madagascar and Ancient Egypt.

Outside the theme park itself is the rotating USS globe.

Tickets prices for Adults (Ages 13 to 64) are as follow:

One Day Weekday Pass: $66
One Day Weekend Pass: $72
Two Day Pass: $118
Annual Pass-Fun Pass: $318
Annual Pass-Superstar Pass: $1098

I will try my best to blog about the 7 uniquely themed zones by this week.

For those who have been to Plaza Singapura recently must have noticed this kiosk opposite Marks & Spencer that sells fashion watches: Monfae (www.monfae.com.sg) .

Monfae means “my trust” in French. Established only this year, Monfae’s philosophy is to strive to offer quality watches are are both stylish and classic in designs and also valued for money.

Watches are being sold at prices between $39 to $59 here.

I bought 2 watches for myself. With this, I gotten myself a free lifetime membership card and 20% discount on each watch!

A pink watch with 5 movable diamante. $49 – after 20% discount is $39.20.

An elegant looking diamante black chain watch at $59 – after 20% discount is $47.20.

All watches come with 2 year warranty and a 3 months 1 to 1 exchange.

Did I mention that they come in in-house watch boxes so that they look presentable as gifts?

Monfae will be opening a new branch in Bishan Junction 8 in Jan 2010.

Do support local brands!!!

As promised on my facebook, I will post my ala carte buffet experience in Si Chuan Dou Hua, top of UOB Plaza branch.

The 1st thing I would like to say, the view of Singapore from 60th storey is really breathe-taking!!! I did not manage to take a good shot with my shakey hands though. The reflection from the glass doesn’t seem to help as well.

One thing impressive about this place is how tea is being served. The tea master skillfully fill up our teacups with a teapot with an extremely long spout. He told us he has been mastering this art for near to 10 years.

The way he keeps his teapot is so fast such that the camera couldn’t capture him!!!

Appetizers were served in tiny portions so that we still have the capacity for main dishes later.

For main dishes we had stir-fried beef with spring onions and garlic  (which I don’t eat though), shark fin soup, soft shell crabs, fried butterfly prawns, roast chicken in Thai sauce, sweet and sour prawns, sweet and sour pork, braised egg tofu, steamed Soon Hock, black pepper scallop, 8 Treasures seafood soup and Ee Fu noodles.

For dessert, we ordered almost whatever was available.

An unintended scene: a chef was serving Peking Duck at the next table:

If you wish to know how is the food, I think QJ’s satisfied face should be more than enough to answer your question.

We have been to East Coast Road several times just for its famous Katong Laksa. Those who go there often should notice that 2 shops down Katong Laksa, there is this 亨记烧腊 which roast meat looks quite appealing.  So, we decided to give it a try today.

Here is the roast meat combination ($12).

Their prawn dumpling soup ($3):

While it is not too expensive, I do find their roast pork and Char Siew a little too oily though. However, it’s one of the better roast meat in Singapore.

For those of you who prefer the fatty char siew, you’ll like it here.

I have done 1 re-bonding, 3 perms to my hair before but have never dyed my hair before. Ironically, I was often caught in school for ‘colouring’ my hair as my hair is naturally “non-black”

However, this little product has been appearing in all major supermarkets, Watsons and Guardian such that I can’t help myself but pay some attention to it – Liese Bubble Hair Colour.

After reading up forums for reviews on this product, I realised about 95% were good reviews. Therefore I decided to try the Marshmallow Brown over the long weekend so that I have time to get use to it.

I took about 30 minutes last night to get the solution to become foamy enough for my whole hair and little doggies were starting to get impatient and barked outside the bathroom.

Another 30 minutes for the colour to set in before I could finally rinse and shampoo my hair!!! The 1st shampoo was a little dry though but I felt that the effect was not too bad. It didn’t differ much from my natural hair colour though. I will post pictures up if I take any pictures these few days.