Claypot Chicken Rice

My first encounter with claypot chicken rice was in Malaysia. I immediately fell in love with this dish, rice cooked in a claypot together with all the additional ingredients such as diced chickens, vegetables and, most importantly, the spices, thrown in. Cooked over charcoal stove, and served with the pot while still hot. Wonderfulicious. :)

Since it's a Chinese traditional dish, it's quite difficult to find halal claypot chicken rice in Singapore. Normally, I would go to Johor Bahru to look for this dish, notably the food courts at Johor Bahru's City Square and Tebrau City. Therefore, it was a very delightful surprise to see this dish in one of the stalls at Banquet halal food court, located on the basement two (B2) floor of VivoCity shopping mall, Singapore.

On a side note, Banquet VivoCity is one of our favourite Banquet outlets, other than the Bagus by Banquet at IMM and Banquet Jurong Point. In Banquet VivoCity, the kids would normally go with the chicken rice, other than fish and chips or chicken cutlet from the western stall. For me, another favourite dish there is the cockles kway teow.

Julie's Biscuits also Tainted with Melamine

Picture courtesy of Channel NewsAsia.

I was very surprised (if not shocked) when I read from today's Weekend Today newspaper (which I get for free in my doorstep everyday, by the way) that some (or all?) of Julie's biscuits made in Malaysia are also tainted with melamine.

This is because our family (myself, my wife and the kids) has been buying Julie's biscuit products all this while. Inka is a great fan of Julie's wheat crackers (see above picture) while Julie's Cocoro crispy chocolate wafer rolls are also one of our family's favourites.

Yes, the Agri-Food and Vetenirary Authority (AVA) has reassured that the levels of melamine in the affected products are very low, and one has to consume large quantities of the contaminated products over a prolonged period of time before it can affect his/her health. But this still cannot much relieve our worries, especially since we have been consuming the affected products for quite some time.

Selamat Hari Raya Idul Fitri

Wishing all Muslims a very happy and joyous Eid ul-Fitr celebration. Selamat Hari Raya Idul Fitri, mohon maaf lahir dan batin. :)

Celebrating Hari Raya in Singapore

It's confirmed. Unlike last year, we will not be able to go back for our "mudik" ritual to Indonesia for this year's Hari Raya Idul Fitri. I have called Inka and Irza's school last week and confirmed that not only that there'll be no school holiday during the Hari Raya week, they will also have their SA2 paper 1 exam for both English and Mother Tongue on the following week after the Hari Raya.

Therefore, similar to two years ago, we will be celebrating Hari Raya Idul Fitri here in Singapore. Feeling sad? Of course, but we (myself, my wife and the kids) have already accepted this as one of the consequences of hidup merantau di negeri orang. We just have to live with it. :)

Based on our experience two years ago, celebrating Hari Raya Idul Fitri in Singapore is not really too bad, after all. This is because we have many Indonesian friends in Singapore who also, mostly due to the same reason, do not go back to Indonesia during Hari Raya. I remember two years ago, we went to three different places in Singapore on one day: Hougang, Tampines and Braddell, to celebrate Hari Raya together with our Indonesian friends here. My wife even conducted our own open house on the following weekend at that time.

Therefore, we are looking forward to celebrate Hari Raya in Singapore again for this year. For friends who plan to conduct an open house event in Singapore on this year's Hari Raya, please, do not hesitate to invite us along... :) :)

Love Letter

Akhirnya, "surat cinta" dari Traffic Police itu-pun datang juga...

Last Sunday, 7 September 2008, I was driving along Bukit Timah Road after picking up my wife and daughter at Bugis Junction towards Al-Azhar which is located along Upper Bukit Timah Road for us to break our fast for the day. Was held up on a red light junction while two traffic police officers were riding their motorcycles just beside our car.

When the light turned green, one of the officers then asked me to pull over on the side of the road. Apparently, he noticed that Irza was sleeping on the middle seat without properly secured by a child booster seat, even though he always wears his seat belts. The police officer explained that a child younger than 8 years old and less than 150cm in height would have to be properly secured by an approved child restraint. I had to wake Irza up so that the officer can measure his height, which definitely is shorter than 150cm.

Really didn't know that he still has to use a booster seat until he's 8 years old, since he has not been using the booster seat for quite some time. The composition amount is $120 (!!!) which I have to pay by 10 October 2008, plus 3 demerit points being given.

After the incident, Irza now re-uses his old booster seat and will do so until he turns 8 next year. He was also a bit shocked when he had to wake up and being checked by the police officer at that time.

Lesson learnt: if you have a child which is not yet 8 years old and not yet 150cm in height, please ensure that the he/she uses an approved child restraint (either a child seat or a booster seat, depends on his/her age/height) in the car.

Windsor Bed & Breakfast Hotel

Windsor Bed & Breakfast Hotel is the hotel I'm staying during my week stay in Christchurch to attend the APNIC 26 Meeting. As one of the APNIC meeting fellows, the hotel cost is bourne by APNIC (thanks Sunny!) and I'm sharing a room with another fellow, Stanley Osao from Papua New Guinea.

I would have to say that their service standards are quite high for a budget hotel. The hosts (which are the owners of the hotel) are very nice and friendly, and the room is very clean, tidy and comfortable. The bathrooms are shared, but they are quite a plenty and bathrobes are provided.

Every morning, they serve a very generous English-style breakfast, which is cooked on the spot. We can choose the breakfast menu, which consists of eggs (scrambled, poached or fried), sausages, bacon, baked beans and sweet corn. I love their beef sausages, unfortunately I couldn't try the bacon since it's made of pork. On top of that, there are also toasts, fresh fruits and cereals which you can have your own servings. To be frank, the breakfast time is one of my most-waited time during my stay there. :)

They have a lounge where guests can watch TV and use some computer terminals to connect to the Internet, free of charge. On top of that, they also provide free wireless Internet connections for people like me who has laptop with wireless connection. The lounge also allows us to interact with other guests, creating a "warm" environment for the guests. Free carpark lots are also available for those who drive or rent a car.

It's conveniently located near the Christchurch city centre, just in front of Cranmer Square and only several minutes walk to the Arts Centre, Canterbury Museum and Cathedral Square. The historic Christchurch Tramway also stops just in front of the hotel.

These high standards of services for a bed and breakfast hotel makes its rates to be a bit higher than other B&Bs in Christchurch. The price for single is NZ$89 while for twin/double is NZ$128, and they have a plan to increase the rates to $NZ98 (single) and NZ$140 (twin/double) after 1 November 2008.

More pictures of the hotel can be found here.

Siam Kitchen

 

Siam Kitchen is our family's favourite Thai restaurant, providing quite a wide range of Thai cuisines.

My wife's (and also my) favourite menu is the BBQ platter, containing grilled prawn, squid and meat with a special sauce, while the kids' favourite is the crispy soft-shell crab with mayonnaise sauce.

It has many outlets around Singapore, and the outlet we often visit is the one at the second floor of Bugis Junction, just above the Bugis MRT station.

It is one of only a few Thai restaurants in Singapore which obtains halal certification from MUIS.

e!Hub @ Downtown East

It has been quite some time since I visited Downtown East in Pasir Ris, and was surprised when I went there again with Inka last Saturday, after dropping off my wife and Irza at the Singapore Expo for them to watch the High School Musical: The Ice Tour.

There's a new shopping mall called e!Hub @ Downtown East, featuring some leisure activities such as bowling at Orchid Bowl, watching movies at Cathay Cineplex, karaokeing at K-Box, and many more. There's also eXplorerkid indoor family park for the kids, and also an indoor ferris wheel similar to the one at First World Plaza, Genting Highlands, Malaysia and Bandung Supermal, Bandung, Indonesia.

How I envy those who live on the east side of Singapore. Looks like they are more accessible to many attractions and leisure activities compared to us on the west side of the island.

Cavana Chicken Rice

Some of you might have been wondering why we went all the way to Sembawang, an area north of Singapore which we seldom visit. You might be surprised to know that the reason why we went to Sembawang is to hunt for chicken rice. :) Cavana chicken rice, to be exact.

Our favourite Cavana outlet at Marina Square has closed down. :(  This means that there's no more outlet around the south and west area of Singapore, although I understand that they are going to open a new outlet at Jurong Point soon. So, the closest Cavana outlets to our place of residence are the two on the north area of Singapore, one in Causeway Point, Woodlands and the other one in Sun Plaza, Sembawang. The rest are located east of Singapore, namely Tampines and Pasir Ris.

At that time, we decided to go to the Cavana outlet at Sun Plaza since we seldom go to the shopping mall and would like to know what other things it offers. Nothing much, though.

I really hope that the new outlet in Jurong Point will open soon.

GoThere

Learned about this new site from Tomorrow.SG, and I found that GoThere.sg is really helpful for both motorists and commuters in Singapore. Not only that we can search for any addresses in Singapore, we can also easily put two addresses in Singapore and the site will automatically calculate the best route from point A to point B under three main categories: "Train + Bus", "Bus" and "Drive".

Its map is powered by Google and the recommended route will be marked on the map. And the best thing I find on this site is that we can easily drag the point A and/or the point B markers to anywhere within the map and the route -- be it driving route or public transport route -- will automatically be recalculated. Estimation time for each leg of the route (bus, train and even the walking time) is given. For driving routes, option to avoid ERP gantries is also given. Searching can be done by entering the partial address, building name or the postal code.

For me, this site is currently the best replacement for the Street Directory site, which is still offline until don't know when.

Related links:

• Gothere.sg Gets It
• Gothere.sg Gets It
• GoThere.sg gets you there

Petrol Prices Going Down Again

I got a very sweet and delighting news from PetrolWatch's Twitter updates earlier today, petrol prices in Singapore is going down again. And for this time round, the prices are being adjusted down by 10 cents. This would be the fifth time petrol stations in Singapore has adjusted down the prices after the first reduction of petrol prices early this month.

This reduction of the petrol prices in Singapore is due to further reduction of the global crude oil price to a near 7-week low, which is now around US$123.26 per barrel.

This is really a great news for us. Let's just hope that the price will continue to slide down, not only for a greater relief to motorists, but also to further slow down the inflation rate and the rise of prices of goods and services in Singapore.

Coffee Bean is Now Halal-certified

This might be an old news for some of you, since it's already happening since May 2008. But still, it's a good news for all my Muslim friends in Singapore. Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, one of the leading cafe in Singapore, is now certified halal by MUIS.

My family and I have already been fans of Coffee Bean even before they were certified, since we knew that they are not providing food which contains pork or lard. In fact, we prefer Coffee Been much more than Starbucks. Inka and Irza's favourite is the tiramisu cake, which is superbly wonderfulicious.

Inka enjoying tiramisu cake at Coffee Bean VivoCity

Yes, I know that some people said that Starbuck's coffee is better than Coffee Bean's. But hey, I'm not a coffee lover, in fact, I always order non-coffee beverages at Coffee Bean. :) My favourite non-coffee beverage at Coffee Bean, which is the kids' favourite as well, is the ice blended chocolate. :)

Twitting in Facebook's Style

To be frank, I have been neglecting my Facebook account for quite some time. I have not logged in to my Facebook account for months. :) Nevertheless, I just found out that for some reason, my Twitter updates are synchronised with my Facebook status. I think this was started when I installed Twitter application on my Facebook account?

So, please do not be alarmed when now you see me twitting in Facebook's style. :) I don't want to explain more on what do I mean by Facebook's style, it's just about grammar, you should be able to see the difference by seeing these two different examples:

Twitting in normal style:

---cut---
indrapr Earlier went to Khatib MRT station to collect my Malsingmaps car decal. Now at IKEA Alexandra. about 5 hours ago from mobile web
---cut---

Twitting in Facebook style:

---cut---
indrapr is at home now. Earlier we visited Satya and Enon's new residence in West Coast. Were served with a sumptuous dinner. :) 15 minutes ago from web
---cut---

Can you see the difference? :)  Oh yes, I also have registered with Plurk. But to be frank, I haven't started to really fully make use of it. Is there a way I can send one update for both Twitter and Plurk? :) :)

Yesterday morning, Iko and Hera, together with Abhy and Aya, came to our house for a visit. This is the first time they visit our new house after we moved in last March. Concidentally, the fire alarm in our apartment's building was activated, for some reason. Although it was a false alarm, it caused the lifts to cease working, so they had to climb the stairs, nine stories high, to reach our apartment.

Before we knew that it was a false alarm, we were also puzzled on why the fire alarm kept on ringing. Normally, during normal test, the alarm would only ring for a short period of time. After realising that all the lifts were down, I immediately grab our keys and our passports and together we all left our apartment and took the stairs down for evacuation. We then met Iko and family at the fourth floor, who were on their way up to our apartment. Only that time then we knew that it was a false alarm, after Iko and Hera informed us.

Earlier today, I saw the Asus Eee PC 4G is being offered for only $398, at an exhibition in Suntec City. The 8G version is being offered for only around $528. Very tempting. The reason why I'm eyeing this mini notebook is to accommodate my needs in checking e-mails, browsing, blogging, twitting and kronning on the go. :) I am very lazy in bringing my laptop while on the go, although it's considered one of Dell's lightest laptop, I still find it too heavy to be carried around. Yes, I can still rely on my Dopod 818Pro PDA phone for twitting and perhaps kronning, but I still cannot rely much on it for checking my emails or browsing the web.

Last but not least, I would also like to congratulate Pangeran Panda and Putri Panda for the birth of their newborn baby, Jamie. Just heard the news from the Indo-Sing mailing list. Semoga kelahirannya membawa berkah bagi kerajaan Panda. :) I would also like to congratulate the Indo-Sing community for getting a new nephew.

Gelanggang Samudra, Ancol

This article is originally posted on ABN's Asia Travel Blog here.

 

Gelanggang Samudra is an animal-based theme park, which is one of the attractions at the Taman Impian Jaya Ancol recreation park located in Jakarta, Indonesia. Ancol itself is a popular recreation park among Indonesians, located within the shore of the Jakarta bay, north of the city. However, being an aging attraction, it seems that Gelanggang Samudra is not as popular as other attractions such as the Sea World, which is located next to Gelanggang Samudra, the Atlantis Water Adventure and the more thrilling Dunia Fantasi.

For me, I found out that the Gelanggang Samudra is more educative to the kids. There are three animal shows, namely dolphin show, sealion show and other various animals show, staged several times a day, and each show is being conducted at different times, to ensure that we can attend all the three shows at the shortest time possible. There's also one 4D show which we can attend, and the kids also can have unlimited access to some rides, such as bumper car and balloon ride.

The MCs and the trainers of the animals who are staging the shows are also very professional in bringing up the shows with some jokes here and there. However, the shows were being presented in bahasa Indonesia, so foreign tourists might have difficulties in understanding them although they can still enjoy the animals' talents and capabilities during the show. That might be the reason why this attraction might still be appealing for domestic tourists, but not for foreign tourists.

On top of Ancol's entrance fee (12,000 rupiahs per person and 12,000 rupiahs per car), we needed to pay the Gelanggang Samudra's entrance fee of 60,000 rupiahs per person. That would set you back around 72,000 rupiahs (around SGD $10 or USD $7.79) per person, which is quite reasonable. The best way to reach Ancol is to drive your own car or take a cab. Alternatively, you can also take the TransJakarta busway.

More pictures can be found here.

Back in Singapore

I'm now back in Singapore after my mudik holiday to Jakarta for about 1.5 weeks. It was quite a rewarding holiday for me and the family. Managed to take the kids to Ancol, specifically the Gelanggang Samudra and Dunia Fantasi, and we also had a fruitful 3D2N getaway to Bandung, my hometown.

As usual, I will be uploading the pictures to my Multiply site, soon, hopefully...

Treetop Walk at MacRitchie

This article is originally posted on ABN's Asia Travel Blog here.

HSBC Treetop Walk is a free-standing suspension bridge, which provices a bird eyes' view of the forest located at MacRitchie, which is part of Singapore's Central Catchment Nature Reserve. To reach the bridge, we can follow the MacRitchie walking trails from MacRitchie reservoir or from a carpark along Venus Drive, off Upper Thomson Road. Walking distance from Venus Drive carpark is notably shorter compared to the walking distance from MacRitchie reservoir to the Treetop Walk.

Nevertheless, we still have to be prepared for a long walk. From Venus Drive carpark to the entrance of the Treetop Walk is a good 2.5 km walk along the Treetop trail, passes by the Singapore Island Country Club (SICC) and Terentang trail, before reaching the Ranger Station, which is equipped with toilets and drinking water dispenser for us to "recharge". From there, we still need to climb the Bukit Peirce hill, where the entrance to the suspension bridge is located.

HSBC Treetop Walk is opened between 9am and 5pm on Tuesday to Friday, and between 8:30am and 5pm on Saturday, Sunday and public holidays. It is closed on Mondays (except public holiday) for maintenance and research. Since it's closed by 5pm, it's advisable to reach the Ranger Station by 4pm.

The view from the suspension bridge is spectacular. Unfortunately, the bridge is quite narrow and it's a one-way traffic flow so we can't spend much time on the bridge, otherwise we will block people behind. And since it's a one-way traffic, we have to move on and follow the Petaling trail to go back to the Ranger Station and further back to the carpark. This is quite a long detour via Petaling Hut and then follow Sime track eastward back to the Ranger Station, adding around 30-45 minutes of journey time.

The total length of the journey from Venus Drive carpark to Treetop Walk and then back to carpark via Petaling hut is more than 7km, which is quite a long walk (about 3 hours walk in total, depends on our walking pace). With some quite difficult terrains found along some of the trails, the walk might not be suitable for very young kids and the elderly.

Note: More pictures can be found here.

Indo-Sing Photographers' Lighting Workshop

Last Saturday, I and Irza went to Indo-Sing Photographers' lighting workshop. This event is hosted by Andre, one of the active members of the mailing list. The workshop itself is conducted by eRBe.

As some of us might have known, my presence there was just a "penggembira" :), since I don't consider myself as an avid photographer. I believe I was the only one who came to the event with a pocket camera. :) :)

That's why, while the others were busy attending to the workshop and trying all the various lightings to take pictures of the models (who are actually Andre's friends who volunteered to become the models for this workshop event), I chose to bring Irza and his friends (Wawan and Ahmad Dasuki's kids) outdoor and create our own photo sessions. :)

We went around the swimming pool area, as well as to the water fountain area and the BBQ pit area and I took their pictures while they were happily playing and running around. The result? Beautiful Wina and Marsya, as well as handsome Rafli and Rifqi, together with Irza, really look great in front of the camera. And the most important thing, they were really having fun! :) :)

More pictures can be found here.

Related links:

• IndoSing Photographer Lighting workshop - 26 April 2008
• Andre's photo results
• Ahmad Dasuki's photo results

Sedap Corner, Bukit Batok

This hainanese chicken rice stall is located inside the S11 Food Court in block 640 Bukit Batok Central, not far from Bukit Batok bus interchange and the MRT station. It has a halal certification from MUIS.

When I went there yesterday afternoon for lunch, this stall has the longest queue compared to other stalls in the vicinity. However, surprisingly the service is quite fast and efficient, and despite the long queue, I didn't have to wait for long to get my chicken rice set.

The price is also, surprisingly, reasonable. Normal chicken rice dish will cost you only $2.50 to $3.00, while more "complete" set with egg, tofu and gizzard like what I had yesterday only cost me $4.00.

Apologise for the lack and the low quality of the pictures, I took them using my mobile phone.

Quicklink: Another Jakarta-Bandung Travelogue by Rush Murad

(Pictures taken from the article)

Being involved in a accident last year -- while the car he was taking had the brakes failed when cruising down the steep slope of Mount Tangkuban Perahu -- does not prevent Rush Murad, a Malaysian traveler and blogger, from again choosing Jakarta and -- especially -- Bandung, for his holiday destinations. He revisited both cities recently and again, he wrote a nice travelogue about his journey, in Malay. The travelogue can be found here.

Again, thanks for writing such a nice travelogue and helping to promote our country's (and especially, my home town's) tourist attractions.

Kedai Kue-Kue

This small shop is selling traditional Indonesian snacks. It's located at the basement of Bugis Junction, next to Delifrance, below the escalator. The outlet also have some tables for dine-in guests. I remember they also have another outlet in Great World City, but I'm not too sure whether the outlet still there or not.

Some people said that the ketoprak is quite nice. I tried the ketroprak when I went there couple of weeks ago. It is nice, although you still can't compare with those which we usually buy from tukang ketoprak street vendors in Jakarta.

More pictures (not many) can be found here.