Titanic Exhibition - Highly Recommended - visited on 29 Dec 2011

Dear All

We visited the Titanic Exhibition @ MBS on 29 Dec 2011, Thursday, and it was crowded! There was a package on sale - $80 for a family of 4 which includes all 3 exhibitions, namely the Titanic, The Cartier and the ArtScience Museum itself. The package is only till 31 Dec. If you pay by OCBC visa there's some discount.

When you purchase your tix, don't forget to also buy the tix to the 1h documentary film on how the exhibits were recovered and how this exhibition came about. The cost is only $5 per tix. We went around the Titanic exhibition for a bit as we were not allowed to miss the time of our show. Yes, it's like the rules of the cinema....you buy the tix for a particular show time so you mustn't miss it. After seeing the show, we came to better appreciate our tour of the whole exhibition.

Upon entry, each of us were given a boarding pass (below):

At the back of the pass is a summary of a real passenger we represent (below):

Photography is strictly not allowed in the Titanic Exhibition Hall. It's a huge hall with about 7 - 9 areas to cover.

There are 2 photo spots which is taken by the Titanic staff. 1 photo is $25 but if you get the $35 package, you get 3 photos of which only 1 can be from the grand staircase of the Titantic. We personally felt it was worth it to get the $35 package as you get to stand and touch the banister of the grand staircase, which is a life-size replicate of the real thing!

At the end of the hall is the memorial wall. It list the people who survived ant those who died. I think only 705 survived (most were the 1st and 2nd class passengers) and 1501 died. You can check your boarding pass to see if the passenger you represent lived or died. Out of 4 of us, only Tiffy and I lived.

At the Grand Staircase (below):

In front of the large photo of the Titanic (at entrance to Hall):

As photo-taking is not allowed, it is recommended that you get the below souvenir book from the souvenir shop. It costs $21 but is really worth every penny. It consists of real life stories of some people who were on the Titanic that fateful day. Some lived whilst others died. It also has photos of most the of artifacts shown at the exhibition.

The souvenir book. The white cup to the right is similar to those used to serve the

3rd Class passengers on the Titanic.

A sample page from the souvenir book. This 12 year old girl, Ruth,

was separated from her mum & siblings when escaping

on the life-boats. Luckily her mum spotted her and yelled

for her to board another life-boat, so she survived (below):

Board at Lift: All these exhibitions are in the price of the tix:

Just outside the Titanic Hall entrance (below):

In the theatre, waiting for the 4:30pm show to start:

This is the screen before the show started:

The gigantic posters at the lobby (below):

The documentary tix includes a souvenir book on wreckage (below):

Model of Artscience museum at the Artscience museum hall!! :)

There wasn't much to see at the Artscience museum....it's only 1 level.

The Cartier exhibition is not worth paying for to visit unless you get it with the Titanic. It has about 4 rooms of time-pieces. Photography is also not allowed.

Cartier time pieces are expensive....most are covered in diamonds. A few unusual ones are a tortoise/turtle "swimming" in a pond....it's movement is similar to the hands of a watch, so it's kinda unique and cute :)

Another unusual piece is a gravity clock. The block takes 8 full days to move from the top bar to the bottom, afterwhich, you have to manually pull it up to the top again.

There was a particular bangle/bracelet ladies watch with a sliding lid that hides the watch within...much like a spy's gadget...quite cool to have!!

There are a few mystery clocks....the mystery is you can't see what makes the hands move as the mechanism is cleverly hidden.

There's also 1 big white room that is filled with white straws, whose floor, walls and ceiling are all white, and houses just 1 watch within a glass box. It's a non-adjustable watch or something like that. There's a translucent bench which looks like the ice witch queens' props in Narnia!! The room is so sound absorbent, there's no echo when you speak in such a big empty room. I guess it's absorbed by all the drinking straws. which is really ALOT, like hay stacks high of them!!

So, do make time for the Titanic exhibition....really value for money!!

Love

Theresa

Orchard Road Christmas Lightups - Dec 2011

Dear All

Just before Christmas, we went to Orchard Road to soak in the atmosphere and check out the deco for this year.

Needless to say, it was CROWDED.

Elephants, elephants, everywhere...here's one crystal-studded one in Tangs :)

Outside Tangs (below pix):

Of course we had to wait for an evening when there's no rain, as it's been raining cats and dogs, off and on, for the past weeks before Christmas :)

Enjoy our snapshots. BTW, seems it's a parade of elephants this year...a fund-raising project to save the elephants in the wild. So the whole Orchard Road had statues of elephants placed everywhere.

Display of recycled Pink Dolphin bottles outside OC (below pix):

Carollers at 313 (below):

Roaming the streets opposite Centrepoint (below):

This year's Centrepoint's deco...Mr Moon (below):

Send me postcards from S'pore! (Below):

Caught the tail-end of a performance at OC (first time in this mall):

Couldn't resist this groovy-looking reindeer :)

Stumbled upon this roof-top at OC. Nice city-lights :) What's more, it's free!

Still in OC. (below):

There were also street performers scattered all over the public places where pedestrian traffic are.

A scene from the bible...characters happen to pass by (below):

Couldn't resist this pose :)

Love

Theresa

New Shopping Centre Changi City Point Mall @ Expo

Dear All

There's a new shopping mall next to Singapore Expo called Changi City Point Mall.

We skipped the opening and past few weekends because of the various travel, then IT fairs at Singapore Expo. The carpark was full and traffic was lining the main road!!

So, after all the fan-fare and after all the exhibitions, we explored the place yesterday.

The queue to the car-park to the mall was terrible! Don't bother to park there! Best to take a train to the Expo station...the mall is just across and there's an underground pass. Otherwise, you can either park at Expo or illegally along the roads lining around the mall, as the other buildings are mostly business parks.

Dinner @ Spoon Soup....yummy hot soup on a cold "winter's" night :)

Christmas deco at the atrium (below):

Testing my camera skills, heheh...

The mall is spacious. There's generous empty space for shoppers to move around. I wonder how long this luxury would last as past experience show how quickly little shop kiosks would take up these spaces very soon.

As the mall is near the airport, it's only 3 storeys high with 1 basement level.

Couldn't resist this candid shot of the kids & dad looking at more food after a hearty meal!!

It's a food paradise. Basement and level 1 are filled with food outlets. It also has 2 relatively big electronic outlets - Challenger and Gain City located just opposite each other, so that you can compare prices. There's also factory outlets like Adidas there. Bert checked out the factory outlet and says even after 50% discount still quite hefty.

Oh, did I mention there's a kiddie playground for kids shorter than 130cm too?

All in, quite a pleasant change in routine. We enjoyed our dinner at Soup Spoon with a promo family set which comes with 3 choice of soups, 4 buns, 2 salads, 1 potato wedges dish, 4 ice lemon teas and 4 chocolate muffins for just $34.90

The toilets are semi-open concept, a bit like our Zoo with an airwell filled with plants that's opened to the elements within the toilet. Since it was raining that night, a little rain was falling onto the basins. At least there's some natural ventilation :)

Within the mall are little glassed up airwells filled with water features like pond for children to walk through. As it was still raining, we just opened the glass door to have a better view but dare not walked in as the stone steps looked kinda slippery.

There's also a hotel wing construction going on. It will be connected to the mall in future.

If you want a new place to explore with your kids this Dec, visit this mall.

Love Theresa

How to save money...Combine BD treats! :(

Dear All

It's been raining almost everyday over the last few weeks. Feli is complaining how come it rains on during the school holidays!! I often wonder myself, why Singapore puts the longest school break during the monsoon season!! It really makes the home gloomy. We can't do any outdoor activities or even travel out without getting drenched!

The dark clouds threatening our outing:

Tiffy and my birthdates fall during the children's exam period. When they were smaller, exams were not that bad....it was manageable and wasn't so stressful. Now, however, the girls are so stressed out to enjoy their birthday!! It's the same for Tiffy's classmates!! Any birthday celebrations for friends were held after the exams :(

Happily seated immediately upon arrival:

The happy family :)

The appetizer from the set menu for 4: Consist of baby octupus, toufu with fish paste I think, and prawn salad, and spring rolls. All very yummy!!

If you noticed, some porkribs are already gone before I can take a photo of it! (below).

The expensive bamboo clam!

As the weather was so unpredictable, with stormy dark clouds threatening a heavy downpour, Tiffy insisted we celebrate hers and my birthday at a seafood restaurant. It had to be one next to the sea, and chilli crab must be on the cards. I was thinking of contingency plan like several seafood restaurants that were sheltered and not next to the sea. But she insisted. You know how persuasive she can be when she's very determined!!

So off we went to the cluster of seafood restaurants along East Coast. This time, we went back again to Jumbo. It's the nearest to the carpark. This time, we went there much earlier, so that we can get a carpark lot!! And did I mention, so that we'll have a table?? The last time we came, we were late, like 7 or 8pm, and we waited for ages and still were not served? We learned our lesson well this time round. Also, Tiffy reminded us and "chased" us out of the house very early!!

Wow! The prices for ala carte was so expensive. The smart staff didn't hand us the set menu till I asked for it! Lucky we were not greenhorns here! Yay, chilli crab is on the menu but the fried buns were not. At this restaurant, the buns were so tiny! Lucky I asked before I placed an order for 8 pieces.

The highlight - Chilli crab! Birthday girl Tiffy's fav (below):

See how tiny the buns are..already 4 are gone in a flash!

This time, they gave us better apparatus to crack and dig out the flesh! Bert bz at work!

The birthday girl wanted bamboo clams. For birthday girl number 2 though, anything was OK for me. They really charge high for ala carte items....it was $8 per clam. Later on, Tiffy told us that another restaurant she remembers, charged $10 for one! So, does that mean, this was a steal? Such a miserable strip of mussel flesh!

Anyway, the fine weather held! This time, the restaurant was smarter and had retractable awnings in case of rain! Tiffy was right....the ambience is so important! After the delicious dinner, we strolled along the pathway next to the sea. There were planes flying by, by this time, in the night, recognisable only by a moving light with blinking red light in the black sky. The sea breeze was cooling too. We went to watch some people water skiing holding onto a cable that drags them in a circle around the pond. Some braver ones tried stunts like going up the ramp or somersauts.

This is to show you the big red ants capturing a flying ant, on the litted signboard.

Now the close up look at the ants, working as a team...

Watching the stunts at water-skiing (below):

The spectators!!

It's good to give ourselves a good treat, especially since it's our belated birthday! Bert sure saved a little bundle on this one, this year!!

Love Theresa