A day of makan, movie and shopping at JB, Malaysia

Being just a causeway away, lots of Singaporean love to go into JB, Malaysia during the weekend, either to find some good local food or to buy cheap groceries. My friends and I are no different too. We have the plan to go overseas together since last December. Supposed to be going to Malacca but due to some constraint, didn't finalized on that. So ended up 7 of us went for a one day trip to JB. I love the idea of getting my passport chopped since there's so much empty space inside so I don't mind going in a few more times. Hahaha. 

From City Square Mall, we took a teksi (taxi) to KSL City Mall. The way to get taxi in Malaysia is something to learn. It's not like in Singapore whereby everything is law by law and the price goes by meter. There, when you get into the taxi, you straight away tell the driver where you want to go and the price you want first. If the driver agrees, everyone hops in. If the driver counter offer another price and we don't agree, they drove off. Best price we've gotten from City Square Mall to KSL City Mall is RM 6. One taxi driver can even offer us RM 10 which we of course rejected since we know the best price already.

Reached KSL City Mall within 10 minutes. Didn't know it's just so near only. There's quite a few shops that caught my attention but wait we need to fill up our stomach first. 

Had some local delights - Wantan Mee recommended by Jessie. Nice. Though the noodle looks plain, but it's really quite spicy and springy. I wonder if they have black sauce one. Even though we each have a bowl of dumpling soup, we still ordered an additional big bowl of dumpling soup to share. It's good to go out with a big group so that we can order a lot to share. Each person only pays RM 7 for lunch. 

After lunch, we head back to the shopping mall and had desserts! So happy to find the Blackball shop here. I've tried Singapore's one at Star Vista and find it so so only. My friends keep on telling me how nice it is in Malaysia. Now tried and tested, I really agree with her on this too. Somehow Malaysia one taste much better. We bought two types, on the left is the BlackBall Signature. It's more on the grass jelly with toppings like yam balls, sweet potato balls, Taro Q, pearls and red beans. On the right is called Jiu Fen Yam Balls crushed ice. It's more like ice kachang. Both comes with different sauce to add on. Yum Yum. After dividing the cost, each of us only paid RM 2.    

Taken using iPhone front camera.  Yay. Managed to get all our faces in after a few attempts. My seat is the chairperson seat and with me are Kaviel, Jessie, Andrew, Terence, Shu Qing and William.

After which, it's time for our movie to start. Watched "The Last Tycoon" and we smuggled in some delicious popcorn bought from the outside stalls. Haha. The movie is a bit sad. Ending everyone dies except one person. Watch it to find out who. Movie was priced at RM 12. For a Sunday ticket. It's considered super cheap.

Had Japanese dinner at Kinashi for RM 25. Bought two dresses for Chinese New Year for RM 50. The bag which is of the same design but smaller compared to my current bag for RM 20. Popcorn for RM 15. Some snacks from the supermart for RM 29.40 and Shihlin Taiwan snacks for RM 4.50. Total spending of the day is only RM 164.90!!! With the same amount of money in Singapore, I think I can only had a good meal in a restaurant and buy a movie ticket with a popcorn set that's all. Pros and cons in going into Malaysia la. The cons is the time taken to travel in and transferring around in the public transport, getting up and down the bus to clear the customs can be quite inconvenient.      

Great fun at Sentosa 4D Magix and CineBlast

We often complained about how Singapore is a boring country with nothing much to see and do. So most of us would usually flock to other countries for holidays when in actual fact, there's actually so much fun activities that can be done in Singapore.

If you are like me who is not planning to go on any overseas trip this December holiday season, you may want to consider having a staycation and spend a day or two at Sentosa island.  

Two weeks ago, I had an extremely fun time with some of the other bloggers at one of the main attractions in  Sentosa. It's a 6 year old award-winning attraction located at Imbiah Lookout, Sentosa and it's none other than the Sentosa 4D Magix!  

At Sentosa 4D Magix alone, there's already three different popular attractions to try out. They are Extreme Log Ride, Pirates in 4D and Desperados in 3D. 

All these three rides promises to bring a fun and enjoyable time no matter who you are with. The three rides caters to all ages as long as your height is above 90cm. Children below 3 years old have to be be accompanied by an adult for safety reason obviously.

  

Thanks to this group of male singers who were there to entertain us with catchy songs while we were queuing up for our turn. They sang well and got us in the mood to relax and have fun. 

Okay, the first ride we tried out is the Extreme Log Ride. It's Singapore's first cinematic ride that presents an interactive movie experience with 4D effects that makes objects come to life, in this case, the logs. Yearly upgrades were conducted to keep up with technology advancement.

Photo taken with Shu Qing while we were inside the waiting room. They are gonna show us the safety precaution video. 

While Shu Qing and I were happily taking photos, the mask faces on the wall suddenly lighted up with different colours each time. I felt as if I'm going to enter a tribal show. Hooka Chaka! Hooka! Hooka! Hooka Chaka! Hooka!

Oh yeah, here's the blue-faced tribal man briefing us on the safety precautions. 

  We were finally inside the theatre. Altogether, there's 9 motion capsules inside the theatre and all operating on a state-of-the-art 6-axis motion system. That's Terence sitting in front of me. I only asked if he wants to take photo of not and he come out with so many poses. Haha, enough to create a collage. 

Now is our turn to camwhore before we begins our adventure as a log. In this movie, we experience the exhilarating ascent as a log in Himalayamazon to the top of the mountains, rushing down to the deepest valley as well as dodging other flying logs, coming to close encounter with a crocodile as well as with a saw. To top it off, wind blasters are added to mimic a roller coaster ride experience. It's quite an exciting ride as the movement of the whole capsule we were sitting in can get rather vigorous at times. Really love this ride. 

Next is Pirates in 4D. I've actually watched this before earlier this year but I'm still pretty excited to watch it again. It is Southeast Asia's first 4D cinematic experience attraction that has won the Asian Attractions Awards for Most Popular Small Attraction for 5 consecutive years from 2007 to 2011!

 Ahoy! I can see the pirates are coming! Had much fun playing around with the props at the queuing area! 

Photo taking time while inside the waiting room. Erm, it's Christmas season but why the effect is like Halloween? Hahaha. Terence sure looks like a vampire with his hoodie up. The next Edward Cullen, maybe?

You have been warned to enter at your own risk. 

 The specially imported seats equipped with built in speakers as well as environmental effects is good enough to keep one entertained throughout the whole film. Beside that, there's also water features, seat vibrations, leg ticklers and base shakers to more effects. This ride is the only one with a story line. It's about how Captain Lucky and his crew sailing to Pirate Island and falling into different traps set up by Davie and Chester, the monkey. In the beginning, there's a bit more vibrations of the seats as Captain Lucky keep smashing and punching into his crew, accidentally or intentionally. There's the trap with crabs, bee hive, cactus and bats. Be prepared to get your feet tickled, hair messed up and a little bit of wetness the moment they encounter the traps.   

The last ride we went to is Desperados in 3D. This is again Singapore first 3D interactive shoot-out gamng experience. The recent upgrade to the state-of-the-art 3D projection system allows audience to see bullets and objects flying off the screen. 

Once again, safety first and this time round, also guides on how to get the best out of this ride. The first round was a trial ride to let us get the hang of shooting the bad guys. 

In this ride, each individual has a hand-held motion sensor guns while riding on a moving saddle. The rocking saddles in an up-down movements adds on to the fun element in this ride. It's really a test of one's shooting skills and I think the first few row of riders has better chance to be the top shooter. I was seated around the third row and I got quite a nice score. 86 points! Thanks Zerika for the photo.  

 We can't get enough of the shooting.

Just now I mentioned that I got a nice number for my score right? Now compare my score to the top scorer! The 4th name on the board has got 841 points??? :O:O:O Seriously? You think you can beat his/her scores? Take up the challenge then. 

After the three fun rides, we settled ourselves at Starbucks. Thanks for the yummy treats.

Really enjoyed myself a lot. Can see that everyone have fun too cause after every ride, all came out with smiles on their faces. Words and photos can't really describe how fun it is. You just have to go down and experience it yourself to find out. 

For more information do visit :

Main page : http://www.sentosa4dmagix.com.sg/ 

Facebook page : https://www.facebook.com/sentosa4dmagix?ref=ts&fref=ts

Day Trip to Jurong Bird Park

Rise and shine! 

Woke up to some birds chirping outside my window and that reminded me that I'm meeting my friends for an excursion to the JURONG BIRD PARK!!! It's been such a long time since I wake up so early on a Sunday for a free and easy outing with friends and I'm feeling just as happy as the chirping birds out there! Finally out for some fresh air! We met at Boon Lay MRT station and took bus 194 that is a loop service from Boon Lay interchange to Jurong Bird Park.  

Jurong Bird Park, when was the last time I came and visit the feather friends? It has been awhile. 

Nice group photo taken at the Penguin Coast signboard with Shu Qing, Jess baby and Felicia.  The Penguin Coast is the first attraction the moment you enter the bird park so there's no way anyone can miss it. It is also my favourite attraction point in the whole bird park. I seems to be deeply attracted to black and white animals like penguins and pandas! Lolol. Also, penguins are one of the rare species of birds that can't fly so that makes them very special. 

More photos taken outside before we enter to meet the little men in tuxedo!!! Hehe. So excited.    I think I can spend the whole morning looking at the penguins without feeling bored. Maybe I should change my job to be a penguin keeper but I'm super afraid of the cold temperature.

The skinny penguin on the left loves to swim and just came up from his swimming exercise. We had a panoramic view of about 100 penguins, across 6 species. They looked so cute especially when they started waddling about. Left, right, left right as they waddle. 

Interesting and sweet story about the penguins

Did you know that when a male penguin falls in love with a female penguin, he searches the entire beach just to find the perfect pebble to present to her! If accepted, the penguins become mates for life! Even if separated by storms, they still stay true and faithful to their first accepted mate searching forever for them. Awww!!! Sweet, sweet love! 

 Next destination is the Flamingo Pool! I always wonder how they could balance themselves on their long stick-like leg. Don't you think they look like they are presenting the yoga pose when they stand on one feet? 

Interesting facts about the flamingos

Flamingos have very long legs to wade in deeper waters and feed on food not available to other wading birds. Their upper legs are naked and this means not having to worry about wet feathers as they wade. 

 As we move on, we came to the playground with four swings. Just nice for the four of us, but as I'm wearing dress, it's quite inconvenient for this swing has a bar and we have to put our legs across the bar. I became the photographer for them instead. 

Marabou Stork is well known for its bald pink head! Not a very attractive sight huh. 

Saddle-billed Stork is easily identified by its long orange-red bill. Looks like some dangling earrings to me. Haha. Differentiate the male and female from the colours of their eyes. Black for males and yellow for females. 

The ducks just refuse to look at my camera. Pout like the duck. Hmph.

Inside the World of Darkness to see the owls. Can't take photos of them as the flashlight from the camera will hurt their eyes. I actually felt kinda sad here and I asked my friend, "that means they forever stuck in here and can't see the sunlight anymore?" Ok, I know owls only came out at night but if 24 hours all is night time, I think it's quite sad right?

Interesting facts about the owls

Owls cannot roll their eyes because they are fixed in the eye sockets. To see what's behind them, they have the amazing ability to rotate their head 270° and almost upside down.

Different species of the birds. 

Milky Stork also very cute! This is the first time I see birds bend their feet 90 degrees to rest.

Toco Toucan nest in the same hole for several years. The young has pads on its heels to cushion against the rough floor of the nest, which gradually disappear as they turn adulthood. 

Parakeet only hangs upside down when they are in a good mood. This is something new I learnt too. Like a bat. 

This colourful parrot don't really like to be fed. It likes to hold the container by itself and eat from there. 

This ostrich looks friendly! Hahaha.

Interesting facts about the Ostrich

The popular belief that ostriches bury their heads in the sand when they are alarmed is actually not been observed. The ostrich has the largest eyes of all living land animals. Each eye is almost the size of a tennis ball!!! Wow. Not only are their eggs big, their eyes also so big?!!

Interesting facts about the Cassowary

Helmeted head - The cassowary is the only flightless bird that is adapted to living in the rain forest. The casque on its head helps it to push through the forest vegetation without getting hurt. I swear it looks like a stone growing out on top of its head. :O:O:O

We went into the bird discovery centre and were amazed with the facts learnt there.

Elephant Bird of madagascar was the world's second largest bird. It was too huge to fly but has strong legs for running. It became extinct about 1,000 years ago. 

Hummingbird from the America are the world's smallest birds and measure no more than 7cm in length.  

Interesting facts! So if next time people call me bird-brained, should I be happy or sad?

Into the jungle jewels we go. we found the fruits laid out nicely on the branch but there's no birds around. Maybe cause it was drizzling a bit and they are finding shelter. 

Pelicans are intriguing birds that scoop fish for their meal. 

  

Swan lake. 

Big thanks to Shu Qing for the ticket. I really enjoyed myself with my friends during this trip. Learnt a lot, see a lot and appreciate a lot more.