Simplicity

It’s the time of the year again..when the instructors are allowed to have their weekends off! Come to think of it…we only have 4 chances in a year to enjoy the weekend’s fresh air. Sad, but true. What better way to spend the weekend with people who matter the most…my family,bff and Mr Poto!

Friday -went out with Mr Poto and bff to Seletar to change my evening gown. Then spent our supper bitching about our little ‘xiao rens’ at work.

Saturday - Excursion at the Singapore Zoological Garden with Mr Poto! I’m really glad that we manage to fulfil his ever lasting wish…maybe he should be working at the zoo after all. We had loads of fun, and I realised that I’m pretty good at capturing classic shots! Hee. Maybe I should really consider taking up a photography course. It was really amazing to see these animals during the various shows. However, a part of me feels sad for these animals. Just imagine a snake was slithering in the woods and oooopppss….it got caught and for the rest of it’s life, it will just lie there for people to take pictures. Oh well, it all depends on the angle we view the situation from.

Here is a nice shot that I captured on the Saturday evening.

Dinner was at Big Eater at Bedok. I’m really thankful for Mr Poto for bringing me there. Though it’s not seafood by the sea, you alone provided the beautiful scenary for me! The food was delicious…simply loved the Hokkien mee and crab! Ooohh, will definitely be visiting there again soon.

Sunday - One day trip with the family to Malacca! Daddy and Mr Poto took turns to drive. And I must say, I’m pretty impressed with Mr Poto’s driving skill and sense of direction. With good company and good food, it’s simply a perfect Sunday!

Can you imagine all these good food going into my stomach in just one day??? Counting down till the next term break!

Yes, it’s a small world after all. When it comes to Singapore, it’s even smaller! Mr Poto and I spent our Vesak day with Boyboy at East Coast Park. In the evening, we decided to go the Tapas Wine Bistro cafe at Holland Village for dinner. Parking was terrible, and I even had to go out to ’scare off’ another car, who wanted to take advantage of us. He’s messing with the wrong girl, especially one who was getting hungry.

We had made reservations for the dinner, and was somewhat shocked to see only one couple at the restaurant. I was even more surprised when the only couple there turned out to be Mr and Mrs Koh! Haha. Mrs Koh and I surfed around the internet the other day to look for nice italian food, and chanced upon this place. Who would have thought that we will go to the same restaurant on the same day and timing? This is what I would call…fate!

Here’s the happy couple! They certainly looked so blissful and happy together.

Knowing my pattern, they kindly offered to help us to take a picture too. Hee.

Well, in my opinion, I felt that the food service was a little slow. We waited for at least 10 minutes for the tomato soup. But it was really tasty, hence, I gave them the benefit of doubt. The soup was freshly made, unlike those canned soup that are served immediately. For the tapas, we had soft shell crab and calamari. I did enjoy my tapas, they were rather flavourful. However, I was a bit disappointed with my main course - Seafood alfredo pasta. The taste was just not enough to satisfy me. The carbonara wasn’t that fantastic either. Dessert was melon and chocolate ice-cream. I found the melon ice-cream to be very refreshing. Perfect on a hot day. In terms of value, it was rather good value for a set meal of $25.90. But I don’t think that I will be revisiting the place again, at least not for their mains.

Simple, unique, friendly. That’s the Harris style. They had me at just the first word - simple.

When we first reached the Harris resort, we were greeted warmly by the ’smiley sunpeeps’ (a term which I denoted for the Harris staff). They are casually dressed in their orange colour code. What I like most about the sunpeeps is that they smile genuinely at their guests. It’s like happy lala-land. Think it would be really fun to work there.

So far, so good. So, where’s the imperfections, you might wonder. Well, there were quite a number of imperfections during our stay there. For instance, the room had a couple of black spots in the room. Part of the mirror was rusted with black spots, the room just wasn’t as clean as I hoped it to be. The 3 hour spa was also cut short into just 2 and a half hours. The food there was quite expensive, and the live band wasn’t that fantastic either.

Can you spot the error?

However, despite all these imperfections, I still found it to be a perfect trip for me. The room was comfortable. The spa was reinvigorating, especially doing it together with Mr Poto. He even slept through the spa! Food was expensive, but they provided great fun and atmosphere for the guests. The themes were rather unique and creative. I love being a onlooker where other guests get saboed to play games. The sunpeeps will come and offer their handy hands to help you take pictures, and they were really quite pro at it! Live band may not be orchestra-material, but their music make you want to sing together with them. More importantly, every second was magic when it is spent with the person you love.

Our spa under the sky

Entertainment wise, it was much better than Holiday Inn. Bowling practically filled Mr Poto with soooo much joy. I almost won him, if not for that stupid shoelace! Swimming was great, except that I was practically causing a tsunami with my turbo kicking legs.

National team bowlers??

Shopping was fantastic! (clear throats) I meant supermarket shopping. Everything was sooooo cheap, especially the pads! I shan’t disclose how many packets did I bring back, but I’m good for a few months at least. Hee. At their Batam town, we had our fill of the ever-so-delicious-and-i-oh-so-missed-it ROOTBEER FLOAT!!! In addition, our stomachs express their gratitude for introducing to them the yummilious J.CO doughnuts!

We were shopping at one of the bookstores in Nagoya Hill, and I came upon something very interesting. I just happened to flip through some of their greeting cards, and guess what. There are really some very intriguing cards in Batam. They have break-up cards! There are also cards made for chasing after the opposite gender, as well as cards for rejecting them. It was simply hilarious! I would have loved to buy back all their cards for keepsake. Hee, here is a sample!

There was one funny incident. As I was trying to take a picture of the Harris resort logo, an angmoh looking guy saw us and offered to help take a photo of us with the Harris logo. I was pleasantly surprised at how other fellow guests are sooooo friendly. Have we all been influenced by the Harris gene? Well, we agreed to his offer. Mr angmoh started walking further and further away, until Mr Poto was worried that he would take the camera and run. Then, mr angmoh asked us to step further back too, in order for him to capture the logo. I was already picturing in my mind how the picture will turn out. Haha, here it is.

Definitely a keepsake! (Taken by GM wo..)

And guess what, Mr angmoh turns out to be the general manager of Harris resort! He even passed us his namecard when we were checking out. I have never seen a more amiable GM at any other hotels or resorts. This goes to show that when your management is good and proactive, you get motivated staff!

Lastly, never leave a beach without your imprints!

Tick tock.

Sun

Beach

Fresh weekend air

Holding hands by the beach

Spa

Tick tock.

Batam, here I come!

Woke up this morning with zero expectations. Even thought that I will just stay at home and play mahjong. My dearest mummy woke me up and told me her big plans for the day, and I was ready to spend my good Friday.

We had lunch together at Shang Palace (Shangri-la Hotel). The dim sum was fabulous and relatively inexpensive. I love the papaya pastry! It’s soooo soft and crispy, that it practically just melts in your mouth. And lucky us, we got that dish for free! The bill came up to about $70 plus for the 3 of us. I even met my ex-parent and child at the restaurant.

Finally, a public holiday that falls on a Saturday. Went to Timbre with Mr Poto on Friday night. The pizza there was really good. Tried having a beer due to the promotion, but somehow I’m not really a beer person.

 The live band playing that night was GOODFELLAS. They were not bad, in fact rather good as the night went on. The ambience was good, cushion seats, good scenery etc. I love the fact that it’s a clean and non-complicated environment. I had a great time. But poor Mr Poto had stomachache that night and kept visiting the toilet. Haha.

Timbre won’t be seeing the last of us…