My love for piggy banks means I am always on the lookout, whenever I am overseas, to add to my collection at home and just in case you are wondering; the current number stands at 36!
Hence, you can imagine the shock on my face when I chanced upon a stall selling nothing but only piggy banks with super adorable designs like ultraman, pokemon, characters from Winnie the Pooh cartoon etc.
And there were other sizes; I was so tempted to secure a humongous one so that it can become an iconic feature in my house! However, the thought of bringing it back to Singapore with an increased risk in breaking it kind of stopped me from further action.
I had to make do with a slightly smaller one which cost me 150 baht. With cashless transactions on the rise, it's unfortunate that I don't get many coins nowadays and many of my empty pigs are currently starved. :(
A month ago, i attended Chan Brother's Whirl Round the World Suntec Travel Fair and signed up for a tour package! Fast forward to one month later and i would actually be on my way to Changi Airport in just 30 minutes' time.
From 23-30 March, i shall be hiding behind the Great Firewall of China! Not so much hiding as i wouldn't be able to access blogger.com while i am there and any update for this blog would have to wait until i am back!
In the meantime, i am hoping that i would enjoy good weather, nice people, breathtaking scenery and delicious food in this 8 Days Spectacular Guizhou Tour! I am appending the highlights of the tour as above.
My intention was to check out this stall called "roast paradise" at Old Airport Road hawker centre but it had already closed for the day when i arrived at about 4.00 pm on a Saturday!
With 168 stalls, i am literally spoilt with choice! However, i was mindful to ensure the calories don't go to waste and only sought stalls with a queue. Tucked at the back of the food centre is OAR Seafood Soup and at that ungodly time; there were about three persons queuing for their food.
Now, I have been craving for seafood soup from Yan Ji (炎记海鲜汤) for the longest time and i can see from the menu that this would be the same type of seafood soup that deviates from the common type you see from banmian / fish soup stalls.
Presenting to you the seafood soup from OAR. Now, i wonder why it's called OAR and it dawned on me when i saw it's Chinese name; OAR is simply the abbreviation of Old Aiport Road. For the price of S$6 (no rice as it's charged separately at S$0.50 a bowl), i thought the chef was super generous with the ingredients (minced meat, fish); the prawns especially were actually pretty big.
Took a sip of the seafood broth first; gosh, it was comparable to Yan Ji! Rich and heavy with the sweet taste of seafood, i wonder if i could ask for a second helping of the soup at no additional cost! Fish was tender yet not to the extent of being mushy and the minced meat had a high fat / meat ratio that totally agreed with my taste buds!
The fresh, meaty prawn!
Everything was gone in no time and if you think i could order another bowl for maybe supper later at night; it's a no go since the last order went to the guy who was 4th in the line after me.
=====
Address
51 Old Airport Rd, #01-122,
OAR Seafood Soup,
Singapore 390051
Location Map
As Above.
Operating Hours of Stall
11.00 am to 8.00 pm (Closed on Mondays) p.s. note that it's while stocks last!
Those who frequently patronize hawker centres might have noticed the proliferation of the above stall with a simple brand name that directly refers to the item it's selling; Nyonya Chendol.
Rarely would you find food stalls that have just four items on the menu (namely original, red bean, sweet corn and XO durian) and to me; it implies the confidence the operator has on his/her food as the food industry in Singapore is insanely competitive.
I can do without red beans and decided to go with the cheapest option; the original nyonya chendol at S$1.50 a bowl. It's, honestly, a tempting bowl of ice ball that's drenched in fresh, creamy coconut milk with a scoop of aromatic gula melaka and a generous sprinkling of the green rice-flour jelly!
Critics of Jin Jin's Power Chendol would likely be pleased with this as it was definitely not as cloyingly sweet. Unlike many people who would comment only on the gula melaka; i actually placed quite a high emphasis on the green, worm-like, rice-flour jelly as the better ones had an alkaline taste with just a teeny-weeny bit of bitterness! The one here definitely didn't disappoint.
I wonder why i torture myself sometimes when i am overseas. It's a vacation and i should try my best to sleep in; hence, why did i book a flight for 8.45 am and had to wake up at 6.00 am to prepare?!
Oh well, reasons aside (which i can't remember anyway since i booked like 7 months in advance), it's nice to find the road so empty although traffic wasn't bad in Langkawi except for maybe the Cenang beach area.
Pity we didn't manage to check out the fun fair that reminded me so much of those in Singapore in the 1980s when i was still a kid!
We had driven so many times along this stretch that we knew this archway for a 2017 exhibition would infer a close proximity to the entrance of the airport.
Our three pieces of luggage! The excitement of not knowing the total weight as the luggage scale i had was broken; i am horrendous in estimation and was keeping my fingers crossed that i wouldn't have to wear multiple layers before boarding the plane.
The staff from the car rental company was late and we were in the midst of freaking out as we really didn't want to miss the flight. Thankfully, he did arrive; albeit about 30 minutes later. I was in such a haste to pass him the car i didn't realize i had left my can of Pokka Oolong Tea on the car roof!
Finally stepping into the airport!
Checking in; luckily Alex thought of one person queuing up while the other waited for the car rental company's staff as the queue was insanely long when i came in.
We still have a balance of 7.8 kilograms; darn, i should have purchased more chocolate from the duty free shops in Langkawi although they were, honestly, not significantly cheaper than the ones sold in Singapore.
Boarding the plane about 20 minutes before official departure. Don't you just love walking on the airport tarmac instead of over an aero-bridge?
And it's so nice that we can take photos; back when there's a budget terminal in Singapore, we boarded the planes via mobile staircases or "ramp stairs" and you would be barred from taking any photos for security reasons!
More pictures as i climbed up the ramp stairs from the back of the plane. Although aerobridge provides the comfort and shade from weather elements, i thought the mobile staircases were more efficient in loading passengers.
Our enclosed space for the next 1.5 hours.
Getting ready for take off; Langkawi, i promised i would be back as i personally think it's a great place to rest and relax and things are not sold at ripped off prices like in Phuket.
Departed at 8.56am!
Flying past a Malaysian island that i visited back in 2016. I actually didn't know where the plane was until something caught my attention.
The appearance of this longest bridge in Malaysia; the Sultan Abdul Halim Muadzam Shah Bridge or Penang Second Bridge! Yes, it's Penang!
Can you guess where this is? Definitely not the Penang International Airport and i was only half correct as i thought the white section with parked planes was Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA).
Half correct because that's klia2 which is in fact also next to KLIA.
That's Alex all wrapped up; he will always bring a towel from home so that he can cover up and have a snooze! I envy people like him as i find it extremely uncomfortable to sleep on a plane despite my short stature.
