Jane's Journey

My first outing ever since I am back from the Central Asia journey. Went to the movie primere, Jane's Journey that was held in National Museum this afternnon.

The movie is a documentary about the life of Dr Jane Goodall, the inspiring woman that devotes 5 decades of her life on chimpanzees and conservation. There was a question and answer session after the movie where she personally appeared. Since 1986, she has been travelling 300 days each year raising awareness about environmental sustainability and promoting her various projects. Is pretty amazing considering her age. She must have a lot of passion and conviction.

Just like to leave a code from her book - "If you really want something, and really work hard, and take advantage of opportunities, and never give up, you will find a way."

Fighting spirit

Went back home late today and was walking pass the block of flats where many uncles like to play chess etc to pass time. Just next to them was an elderly worker still working hard slotting flyers into the letter boxes, earning his keep.

Actually these are not uncommon sights. If you take the train at Tiong Bahru MRT, taking the escalator up you will see an elderly doing busking to earn his keep. Nearby there is another elderly selling tissues.

Meal times outside, it seems increasingly I have encountered disabled and elderly selling tissues.

All these people are working hard to earn their keep. Possibly it is their only way of survival, which means they likely have no choice. Their working hard probably only earn them enough to survive another day. Income inequality staring in your face can be quite painful. Life can be quite unfair. But really have to admire their fighting spirit. Hopefully life will offer them a fair chance.

Election

They say politics is a dirty game. I am not sure I can totally agree. Of course there are people who play it for their own benefits but there is also a group of people who are willing to sacrifice themselves for others.

Like to share some quotes from leaders that I admire.

You must be the change you want to see in the world. -- Mahatma Gandhi

The probability that we may fail in the struggle ought not to deter us from the support of a cause we believe to be just. -- Abraham Lincoln

Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power. -- Abraham Lincoln

National interest should be above partisan interests. That is why I admired Obama for putting in strong republicans members into his team even though his is a Democrat.

Railway Trip plus Organic Farm

The Tanjong Pager Railway Station is going to close for travel in the next few months. I heard it may be earmarked for conservation after that. We took the opportunity to take a train ride from there for the last time (first time too for many people).

Thus the day outing is Train Ride to Johor -- Zhenxin Organic Farm -- KSL City Mall Shopping -- Singapore.

The train ride was at 7.15am. Ticketing only opened half hour before as it was a unreserved train unlike the 8am train. Reached around 6.20am but the queue was already quite long. Looks like many people have the same idea to take the trains from the station before it closed. Finally got the ticket after 45 mins in queue. SGD 3 for adults and SGD 2 for children. Seats were oversold, so a number of us had to stand throughout the journey.

The train was supposed to reach at 8.11 am at Johore Sentral but ended we reached at 9.40am.

Went to lunch at Three O restaurant that ex-TCS actor Xie Shao Guang helped out. Friend is quite a big Xie Shao Guang's fan. Seeing him made her day! :)

Then we went to Zhenxin Organic Farm, about a 1.5 hour ride to Kluang. A 100 acres organic farm with dragon fruit, vegetables, mushrooms etc. It also have a small mini-zoo with fishes, rabbits, ducks and chickens. The rabbits are sick though. Hope they will get medical help for the rabbits soon.

Todai @ Marina Bay Sands

Went to Todai at MBS for a farewell lunch. It is a newly opened restaurant that served only buffet.

Called them a few times to check as we had a budget to keep and their weekend price was too expensive. They confirmed that they treat friday as a weekday lunch contrary to what we had read in other reviews. Thus it was $42 instead of $58 per person. And plus there was still a 10% discount currently for opening specials.

When we arrived, I was quite surprised and impressed by the wide spread. There were italian food, japanese sushi, korea food, western & chinese food. The choice of sushi available was dazzling indeed.

As for a vegetarian, my choice was quite limited as their strength was in seafood and not vegetables. However I still got to enjoy the dessert. There were many cakes that were cut quite small so that you could take a variety. The cakes were delicious.

The korea influence was quite notable throughout the restaurant. Many of the staff were koreans and photos of Korea stars were used as decorations in the restaurant. The TVs were also playing Korean MTVs.

Overall the Todai Buffet experience was enjoyable.

Tea Bone Zen Mind Cafe

Heard about this place but never gets a chance to go until recently. It only opens till 7pm and does not open on sunday, thus it is a bit hard to arrange for working people.

From the address, I know it is the at seah street besides Raffles Hotel. The thing is I often walk pass the street but have never see a tea cafe there before. Where exactly is it?

Oh it is nicely tucked on the 2nd floor of a shop house, which is why I have missed it so many times.

The place gives a laidback & cosy feeling. The setting is simple yet elegant. There is not many seats, I guess the maximum capacity is around 20 people.

I ordered the Melon Tea ($12) and my sister ordered Lemongrass Tea ($12) & Grilled Fishstrip ($6).

When we first sat down, the waitress brought towels to clean our hands, a small cup of refreshing drink plus some chips. This was really a nice start.

The teas come in a set, with a small snacks each. I am a fan (not a crazy one, just ordinary fan) of lemongrass and found most lemongrass drinks rather ordinary. I must say this lemongrass tea is one of the better ones I tried before. I can smell and taste the lemongrass distinctly! Nice!

For my melon tea, the taste is great! I was not sure what to expected since I have never drank a melon tea before. I was glad to find my melon tea refreshing. Is much better than I expect. Also like the snack that comes with it. The snack tastes like hawthorn.

The total bill comes up to $31.90. The tea is on the costly side I have to say. The menu has tea eggs that cost $3 each (i think so, cannot remember exactly) and other items that I find expensive. However the tea tastes better than most other tea cafes I have been. And these days quite a number of tea cafes charge prices like this or even more expensive even though they have teas that taste rather normal.

I am already looking forward to going there again to try out the other teas in their menu. Just that it may be a headache for planning with their limited opening hours.

Central Asia

Decided to chronicle my journey to Central Asia in this blog http://windvallacentralasia.blogspot.com/