Have you tried rebooting?

Joyriders Singapore Round Island Ride

// May 10th, 2011 // No Comments » // Blogroll, Singapore

I recently got me-self a Garmin Forerunner, and I was very keen to put it to the test. So surely, if you wanna run a test, it has to be some significant test right?

So I decided on a 120KM round island trip to see if it works… and amazingly, it also has a nice feature allowing me to plugin to me blog! How cool is that? Ok, I’m a little “kampung”…

Just a little commentary, this is the usual Saturday Joyriders Round Island route. The ride starts off at Upper Thomson Longhouse and heads out towards the East. We take a breather somewhere along Mountbatten Rd. to refuel and then soldier on all the way back to Longhouse. Easy enough…

Average speed and elapsed time might not be super accurate because it takes in to consideration, the rest and pit stops we took along the way. I didn’t actually pause the timer.

Also, as you can probably see from the map, I cheated and headed home instead towards the end. The temptation of air conditioning and a cool shower was enough to keep me away from Longhouse that morning…

Punggol Nasi Lemak Centre – Upper Serangoon Review

// April 8th, 2010 // No Comments » // Blogroll, Food, Singapore

Being Malaysian, I’m fairly picky over the quality of my nasi lemak. In Singapore, the definition of nasi lemak is somewhat different from across the causeway. In Singapore, nasi lemak is somewhat a blend of sweet sambal, coconut rice, otak-otak (otah as referred here in SG) and maybe a fried tiny fish or chicken wing. Fellow Malaysian’s would probably agree with me that the Malaysian styli is probably much more enticing, with flowing curry, beef rendang and scorching hot sambals as standard fare.

I have been on the hunt for a similar nasi lemak since I arrived in Singapore 2 years ago. Been to recommendations that were “supposedly” best in town but still no joy. Latest addition, the Punggol Nasi Lemak Centre on Upper Serangoon Road. Decided to drive past at around 1am hoping to skip the queues, but no getting away even at 1am. Fairly quick to clear however.

So did I finally find it?

Nope. Nada. Same ole, same ole. Was it good? Well yeah! Could probably go down as one of the better ones for the “Singapore Styli Nasi Lemak”. Definitely worth a try if you are around the area, but probably not so much if you are gonna go there just for that.

Anyhow, meanwhile, if you are a little like me craving the Malaysian Nasi Lemak, the closest fix is to get it at Old Town Coffee franchises around Singapore.

Punggol Nasi Lemak
965 Upper Serangoon Rd
Opening Hours : 6pm-5am

Photography on the cheap!

// March 16th, 2010 // No Comments » // Photography, Singapore

Surely, I’m not the only one that feels that photography gear are extremely overpriced (in most cases). Even in Singapore where electronic prices are much cheaper than many parts of the world, it is still fairly expensive. Given that the “good” stuff are usually made in Japan, USA and Europe, it is no surprise the pricing is as such. However, we do have the likes of China coming into play these days, which makes the ballgame a little more interesting. The big perception on China made goods are “inferiority”. So yes, China kinda has its fair share of “dodgyness” but recently, I decided to give it a go, to see how bad is bad, and can we actually live with it.

I wouldn’t recommend getting camera bodies and lens from our China friends yet, but I feel the following items would be a good start.

• Filters
  • I bought a couple of Tian-Ya filters for a fraction of a price to add to my existing filter collection. I must say that they are very similar in quality and build. Tian-Ya seems a little thicker by 1-2mm though. Do always get the shop owners to compare an equivalent filter from Cokin and Tian-Ya just to make sure that it is at least close to what you want. I realised the ND8 Cokin filters are a little darker than the Tian-Ya’s ND8.
  • UV filters, I honestly feel that there are limited or at least no difference at all. Obviously, the purist will choose to differ.
• Softboxes, Umbrellas and Reflectors
  • Do you need a Westcott or Elinchrom softbox. Sure you do! If money wasn’t an issue that is. I do not have any of these softboxes and umbrellas but I can dare say, it the results will be 95% similar. I bought myself a unnamed China made umbrella complete with the light stand and mount brackets for 5% of the price of what it would have costs for a Elinchrom setup. Surely, the Elinchroms would have special reflective surfaces and etc, but if you work with the china made goodies, its really finding small workarounds to make it work. I feel that is justified if I’m paying 5% of the price.
• Tripods
  • In recent times, I must say that the China brands are really making a stamp in the tripod market. Especially with Benro. I trialed a couple of Benro and Manfrottos on my last shopping trip and I must say they were competitive. The built quality is very close between the two brands, but the Manfrottos were more refined in the finishing. However in terms of features and usability, I seriously think they are on par. However, having used to pay low prices for China made goods, I think Benro is still pretty expensive. Obviously, it is half the price of the Manfrottos and Gitzos, but still we are used to it being priced at 10% of the big boys. Nonetheless, I will go with a Benro any day.

Singapore Breakfast All Day – Wild Honey, Mandarin Gallery

// March 13th, 2010 // No Comments » // Blogroll, Food, Singapore

Nothing beats waking up on a Saturday morning after a hard week’s work to a nice cuppa and breakfast with fresh morning breeze in your face and warm sunshine on your skin. Something I sorely miss from my days in Sydney. My favourite Saturday hangouts back then were Campos and Urban Bites.

When I moved to Singapore, I enjoyed a style of breakfast which I’d always had growing up. Kaya butter toast, half boiled eggs and steamy hot Teh C. Love it as a daily breakkie for my Mon-Fri grind days, but come the Saturday or Sunday, I still prefer the usual hearty westernized breakfast like I used to love in Australia. So I set out in search for a similar joint in Singapore, and after 2 years, I finally found something worthy! (tried and tested many, none made the cut… )

The place is known as “Wild Honey”. It is located right smack on Orchard Road in a new shopping mall, Mandarin Gallery. This place serves up a variety of breakfasts classified by countries. For example, they have an Italian themed breakfast with frittata, fontina cheese, and tomato. Then they have a Tunisian breakfast with chorizo, eggs and tomato stew. Besides these 2, they have Japanese, English, Mexican and California just to name a few. They don’t have menus and you self-order at the counter. Alternatively, their pictorial menus are loaded onto 2 x iPod Touch near the ordering counter. This is really borderline funky / annoying. It is a fairly small joint, so it is best to go early to put your name down and go for a stroll. Coffee is fairly good at Wild Honey. They use Australian Roasted Vittoria Coffee, which I’m used to. However, I must say that the serving sizes aren’t all that huge, and you don’t really get to customise your breakfast anyhow you want it (or at least I didn’t try, pretty much just the sets). While the breakfast is good, they also don’t have the Aussie favourite. Vegemite toast and maybe a bacon and egg sandwich topped with BBQ sauce.

For me, this is as close as it gets to “fresh morning breeze and warm sunshine with good breakfast”, or if you prefer “cool air-conditioning and warm downlights with good food”. I do highly recommend this place. And btw, did I mentioned that breakfast is “ALL DAY”?! Enjoy.

Wild Honey
Mandarin Gallery,
Orchard Road, Singapore.
Telephone: +65 62353900

www.wildhoney.com.sg

Note : Didn’t bring my camera, so I just nicked photos from their site.

Tom N Toms Coffee, ICON Village Singapore

// December 30th, 2009 // 9 Comments » // Blogroll, Singapore

Recently, the F&B shops in ICON Village Tanjong Pagar were refreshed as part of a move by the management to make it a cooler/hip place to be.

One noobie was a Korean coffee chain called “TOM N TOMS COFFEE”. I was a little suss initially about it, given that the tagline for this store was screaming “Korea’s Famous Coffee”, and (seriously) Korea isn’t all that known for being the greatest coffee in the world. Anyhow, gave them a fair chance given that I love coffee.

Tom N Toms Coffee, ICON Village

Ordered a Cappucino and Plain Pretzel (given that it was on special) with Honey Mustard dippings.

The cappucino tasted fairly ordinary, but I must say they made good with the frothed milk (close to Campos in Newtown). However, what surprised me was the pretzel! I was half expecting the commercial pretzels like Aunty Anne’s, soggy and bunched up dough, but this was fluffy and most importantly baked fresh. It tasted even more heavenly with honey mustard. Yum…

Apparently, they have another branch at Far East Plaza. So if you guys are around Tanjong Pagar or Far East Plaza, do swing by and grab yourself one of these yummy pretzels.