The Omu Mid-Wing Nasi Lemak from Yoshi's Kitchen @ Toa Payoh West Market & Food Centre (Lorong 1) #ToaPayohWestHawkerCentre

Jiujiu, want to try omu nasi lemak? Those were the words from my nephew and since I had no plan for lunch and it's a long while since my last visit to Toa Payoh West Market & Food Centre; why not?

Operated under the stall name, Yoshi's Kitchen, I am guess this has something to do with its Japanese inspired twist to a local dish. Aside from the omu's Japanese reference, you also have ingredients like mentaiko chicken kaarage. 

Nasi lemak is their main draw and I went with something pretty basic; Mid-Wing Nasi Lemak, which was served on a plate that brought back childhood memories! Where could I find such plates?! I need some for my home.

At S$6.50, the price was on the high side for a hawker centre, although you get four mid-wings, a layer of omu egg etc that could have cost much high in a restaurant! Rice was a bit moist but maintained a rich coconut milk aroma. Do request for more chilli, especially if you love sambal chilli that was sweet without the intense spiciness to burn the tongue!

It's crystal clear that I love what I had. The egg wasn't the draw for me though;  it was just simple runny scrambled egg and I am better off with a sunny side up with crisp edges! Mid wings reminded me of the old school fried wingettes with light batter from a Muslim stall that I had in my primary school! So nostalgic. 

p.s. since I am in the area, I had to get my hands on these irresistible uggli muffins! Intended to get one box of about 12; but I got two boxes instead! :(

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Address

127 Lor 1 Toa Payoh, 

#02-18, Toa Payoh West Market & Food Centre,

Singapore 310127

Map

As above.

Operating Hours

9.00 am to 2.30 pm (Tuesdays to Saturdays)

4.30 pm to 7.30 pm (Tuesdays to Saturdays)

9.00 am to 4.00 pm (Sundays)

(Closed on Mondays)

Menu

As above.

Pricing

Mid-Wing Nasi Lemak - S$6.50

Sun World Ba Na Hills Day Trip (Small Group) from Da Nang via Klook@ Vietnam

I am very shallow; the main reason for my first visit to central Vietnam was due to the numerous videos and pictures of the Golden Bridge on social media! So, we signed up for a day tour via Klook.com!

Detailed Postings for the Bana Hills Day Trip

• Cable Car Rides 
• Alpine Coaster 2
• Fantasy Park
• Brasserie Restaurant
• French Village
• Spiritual Zone
• The Golden Bridge
• Le Jardin D'amour Flower Garden
• Linh Ung Pagoda

Day trip started with a wait for the arrival of the mini passenger van. We chose the small group option, which was more expensive with the advantage of being less of a rushed affair. 

Here's Mee, our assigned tour guide, who was just twenty years of age! Nevertheless, her age didn't matter as she was a joy to have; cheerful, friendly, and helpful. 

Picking up the rest of our tour mates and driving past the famous My Khe and My An Beaches; former of which was once listed as one of the world's most beautiful beach, and I shall blog about it soon! 

One thing I noted about communist countries was that they tend to have a lot of massive, imposing statues at roundabouts. Other non-communist countries also have but I think the number was much reduced.

Bypassed the above and it took me a while to find out which pagoda this was! Turned out to be Thiền Viện Bồ Đề buddhist temple; translated into Bodhi Monastery, it was blessed with a 65-meter tall tower, and a gigantic statue of Guanyin Bodhisattva behind.

Sights along the way; of course, Mee shared a lot of information about Da Nang. Known as the most beautiful city in Vietnam, it has 1.2 million people and numerous tourist attractions, with Koreans and Indians as their main market. 

In roughly 15 minutes past an hour, we were about to reach our destination! 

Obvious due to the cable car systems traversing across the hills. 

What I didn't expect was that the arrival complex appeared to be a Chinese fortress lookalike! I was aware that Ba Na Hills were more a European hill station in the past; hence, it was quite a contrast, and not knowing what to expect next.

Disembarkation and proceeding to the arrival complex.

It was wow; just wow! I don't know what that arch represents although it gave Mayan vibes! Anyway, this attraction was known as Sun World Ba Na Hills and owned by Sun Group, one of Vietnam's largest real estate developer, with seven entertainment attractions, including Sun World Fansipan Legend at Sapa! 

While waiting for Mee to collect our entrance tickets, Alex got hungry and decided to get a hotdog that cost 100,000 dong (about S$6)! Well, I am not going to waste my calorie intake with the above, and it's pricey!

Crossing the bridge.

Marble statues flanked both sides of the bridge but I don't know much about their significance. I did recognize the monkey, and guess some were based on zodiac animals.

Sky blue ceiling.

Why were there cannons here!? Anyway, I was more curious as to whether I can climb up to the top of the city wall but it appeared to be more a transient point for visitors to go up bana hills! 

Strange thing was; for a transit point, this place was huge! We actually got lost as I was busy taking photographs and before we knew it, the rest of our tour mates were nowhere to be seen! Thankfully, Mee had passed us her WhatsApp before hand, and we could just call. 

More photographs for your viewing pleasure. 

Absolutely loved how an otherwise pretty plain ceiling was transformed into a long, beautiful mural of traditional Vietnamese buildings! 

Joining the queue to take the cable car; by the way, this holds the record for the "longest single-rope cable car in the world" at 5,771.61 meters! Don't play play, the cable car system at Ba Na Hills has a total of four world records! 

The "longest single-rope cable car in the world" at 5,771.61 meters, the "highest difference between departure and arrival stations in the world" at 1,368.93 meters, the "world’s longest unextended cable" at 11,587 meters, and the "world’s heaviest cable coil" at 141.24 tonnes! Do check out Cable Car Rides! 

Arrival at Marseille station which had this carnival dome. This station serviced The Golden Bridge, Le Jardin D'amour Flower Garden and Linh Ung Pagoda which we shall be visiting in the afternoon instead.

Admission tickets to Sun World Ba Na Hills included the cable car rides and all attractions within! There are exceptions; like Wax Statue Museum, Debay Wine Cellar and this Alpine Coaster! There were two alpine coasters, similar to luge ride at Sentosa, and we went with Alpine Coaster 2 at 70,000 each!

Fantasy Park zone - an indoor theme park with rides and games, including an exhibition on the Jurassic period. My advice was not to spend too much time here, unless you have young kids and/or have too much time.

Navigation was hard and the building was massive. As you can see, something was amiss when there's no other visitor, except for us! A hint to go back to where the crowd was.

I shall check out the rest of the areas in May 2025.

Should I just go with Instagram reels instead? 

French Village - said to be "a replica of classical and romantic France in our fantasy, through a string of peculiar architectural clusters". Impressed was an understatement! At 1,500 meters above sea level, the temperature was cool and nice for us to imagine ourselves to be in Eurp

Do check out the rest of the photographs here, which was taken when we were waiting for our food at Brasserie Restaurant, recommended by Mee as a popular eatery for pizzas.

We weren't disappointed. 

I thought French Village would have encompassed the entire outdoor area but no, Sun World thought it would be better to up the game by offering an entirely different experience that heavily contrasted with each other; the Spiritual Zone!

It's such a strange combination but not when you treat it as a theme park similar to Universal Studios Singapore, where themes are just next to each other with very dissimilar architecture. 

French Village again! There were two sections I missed out on this trip; the solar and lunar sections. And I didn't even manage to get to the Lombard Street lookalike! 

Took the cable car ride back to Marseille station, where we finally got the chance to view the iconic Golden Bridge up close! Honestly, it's like ticking off one item from the bucket list although I am usually not that obsessed with things that are modernly built with no natural, historical or cultural background.

There were more than just the gigantic hands holding on to the 150-meter long Golden Bridge like their dearest precious; let's now check out two other zones in the same area. 

Going through this passage that looked kind of useless.

Until I walked through; and connecting the sections of passage were panel ceilings of colorful stained glass. It was such a surreal experience, so long you don't have kids running past you, with risk of bumping into you! 

Looks like Sun World Ba Na Hills is expanding! 

Continuing our journey. Don't you find it ironic that a pig was happily marketing a sausage made of pork?! It's like asking humans to kill humans and then selling off their meat! 

Le Jardin D'amour Flower Garden - a curated garden with nine different themes! There's also a century-old cellar with an entry fee of 70,000 dong per person. Given our limited time, we decided to give it a miss. p.s. I am not a fan of wine anyway.

Linh Ung Pagoda - One of three temples in Da Nang that formed a protective shield against natural disasters like typhoon! The other two are Linh Ung Pagoda of the Marble Mountains and Linh Ung Pagoda on But Beach of Son Tra Peninsula! 

I would love to check out this path but time was running out for us! According to the signpost, I think it was supposed to be the Meditation Place. 

There's a funicular train at Ba Na Hills?! From what I read on the website, there were actually two routes and this one didn't seem operation. The other one was located at French Village.

Purchasing souvenir for my fridge at home!

Not cheap; unique though. 

Taking the cable car back to the fortress. It was tiring alright since Sun World Ba Na Hills was like a humongous theme park and one day was sorely insufficient for us to check out everything!

Back to the mural passage that I so like!

Oh my gosh, a musician serenading us on our return! Sadly, we didn't have time to enjoy his repertoire; not when we had to be considerate to the rest of our tour mates too.

The end.

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Location

Thôn An Sơn, Hòa Vang, 

Da Nang, Vietnam

Map

As above. 

Website

https://banahills.sunworld.vn/en/

Pricing

Ba Na Hills Day Trip (Small Group) from Da Nang - S$70.09

(via Klook.com)

Additional Information

Prefer free and easy? You can consider the bus line to and fro Da Nang International Airport. It cost just 30,000 dong (less than S$2) per person and will take about 60 minutes. 

Click here for my 8 Days' Itinerary to Danang (The City of Bridges) & Hoi An (The City of Lanterns) in Vietnam