Christmas 2025 - Unwrapping the Presents

It's already the first week of 2026 but given the long weekend (thanks to my company's president); I was out of the house most of the time and only got to unwrapping the Christmas presents received two days ago! 

Well, not much unwrapping to do as the vogue presentation for Christmas presents in 2025 was to put everything in a bag; like a goodie bag! Frankly, it's quite sustainable since reusing unwrapped wrapping paper is harder, and imagine the amount of scotch tape and double sided tape that was saved.

Above were the items I received for Christmas 2025; a variety including chocolates, pineapple tarts, tea, cookies, portable fan, a foldable neck pillow, lamp, self care kit, a six-port international fast charger etc! 

Least unexpected present was a can of Taiwan beer from a friend and colleague! No, I love it but because she was always so prim and proper; I didn't expect her to buy me alcoholic drink! Hm... I must have commented that beer relaxes me in the midst of too much work in the office!  🥰🥰🥰

Chinatown Street Light Up (Daytime) for Lunar New Year 2025 - Year of The Snake & the CNY Bazaar @ Singapore #yearofthesnake

Happy Lunar New Year! I was so busy these few months (with work, travel etc) that I clean forgot to upload the photographs taken  on 12 January for the annual Chinatown street light up and bazaar for Chinese New Year! 

Well, it's never too late since technically, today is only the second day of the year of the snake and the street light up could last till 27 February 2025, although the bazaar had already already ended by now. Nevertheless, good to blog for memory purpose.

Sadly, the beginning drizzle started turning heavier after I was done with my teriyaki chicken rice set from Kazan Japanese Cuisine at Chinatown Complex Food Centre. Now, being an amateur photographer, seeing the rain isn't a happy thing. 

The rain tapered a bit when I reached the main centerpiece; lucky! 

Centrepiece zodiac animal; the slithering snake! Known to be the most sinister among the twelve zodiac animals, it's impressive that the designers can come out with such a cutesy snake that exuded adorable beauty! 

Said to be 8 meter tall and part of this installation called the tree of fortune, the golden snake appeared much smaller at maybe about 3 meters tall, and all lonely. 

Even the snake banner adorning the facade of Yue Hwa Chinese Products was bigger! 

Due to the rain, I didn't venture much to the back of the tree of the fortune to check out other snakes. But maybe given the shape of a snake, with no limbs, I think it's quite hard to portray them in different forms. 

As usual, I would proceed to the best spot to shoot top-down photographs of the Chinese New Year centrepiece; People's Park Centre! But something was amiss with all the barricades.

Damn; the prohibition to take photos and videos. Frankly, I am wondering if section 447 of the penal code would hold in this instance if the object of photo-taking and videography is not within People's Park Centre. 

Back on ground to check out the CNY bazaar.

Hardly any customers given the rain. 

Under the shelter of my light, trusty umbrella from Tokyo Hands, I continued my crusade to see what's on offer. p.s. I almost bought the standing piggy banks! 

Wall decorations in the images of snakes, and cats. 

To be frank, the snakes don't look right.

Snacks on sale! Aside from the common Taiwanese mochi, jelly, peanuts, melon seeds, I noticed vegetarian options like buckwheat flake, pumpkin chinese yam chips, flaxseed chips etc.

The standard long line of new year cookies / snacks! I remember one year when the prices were heavily discounted on the eve of lunar new year, and I bought a ton! A lesson learnt though as it's obvious we overbought! 

This organic dried persimmons were really good, and they came from either Korea or Japan. Prices are reasonable and sampling is a must for you to decide which "country" is better for your taste buds.

My favorite stall; every year you would see me there buying a few kilograms of phoenix melon seeds and peanuts for my mom! I always look out for the uncle who was wearing the pair of black slippers with red sole! 

Happened to check out the Tai Chong Kok nian gao. Gosh, prices seemed to have gone up a lot! Back in 2019, the price of a medium was just S$14.80, and it's now S$22.80?! Darn the inflation.

Finally, the rain lightened a bit.

But, I was already going to leave. 

Video taken of the rainy weather. Although I did notice a cameraman taking footages of the street scene, I didn't realize I was actually shoot, with Alex exclaiming that he saw me while watching the news later at night! 

Christmas 2024 - Unwrapping the Presents

Finally time to unwrap the Christmas presents! With so many people travelling in December in recent years, I personally feel that the celebrations surrounding Christmas are not as exciting as before; maybe it's a phase of adulthood, plus I have no kids to call my own.

Here's what I received from friends and fellow colleagues (whom I also term as friends)! Nowadays, presents need not necessary be physical as I also got vouchers for GRAB and ktechs, a custom mechanical keyboard store! 

After unwrapping; a mix of snacks like chocolates, honey, nuts and a portable fan, candle, soap, diffuser, a kitchen weighing scale, incense sticks etc! I am gonna get real fat with all the chocolates! 

Must ask the gifter what I am supposed to do with this crystal stone. Do I need to place it at specific locations? I know the friend who gave me this believes in crystal healing and this would likely help with the stress I was sharing with her previously.

Oh yes, the vouchers! I haven't been purchasing anything from Takashimaya recently; the above would force me to step out of Yishun and venture down to Orchard! 

Christmas 2023 - Unwrapping the Presents

It's more than a month since Christmas 2023 but as I was overseas (to Taiwan) and had been busy with work (and a study arrowed by my big, big, big boss); it was only in recent weeks that I finally got time to unwrap the Christmas gifts! 

Interestingly, I got many large parcels this year and befitting the more common environmental theme, some friends did away with wrappers and just put the presents in unsealed paper bags. p.s. that's fine for me actually. 

Some were double wrapped though! Like this humongous, and heavy, box that I had a hard time bringing home from work! Note that my commute from work to home is about an hour! 

Unwrapped presents, including mug, chocolates, tea, coffee, biscuits, spa treatment products; latter was likely because this particular friend was aware of the increasing stress I am having nowadays. I should also pamper myself by signing up for a snorkeling package to Tioman Island. 

Don't be mistaken by assuming this would be a perfume. It's perfumey alright although the purpose was more for your poo! I might be full of shit but how did this colleague know that my shit can be so insanely smelly that this would likely dampen the stench?! 

Two piggy banks to add to my stash! Just a note: I like piggy banks in the shape of pigs; even though the left one looked more like a reindeer, I believe drawing a pig snout might change its intended species. 

Orange rinds filled with white chocolate, from the famous Jeju oranges! This would be the kind of supposedly psychologically "healthy" snacks that I could indulge in. 

These were unhealthy but who can resist the delicious bar chocolate from Royce?! You know what's another thing I can't resist from Royce Chocolate? The potatochip chocolate and this is coming from a guy who doesn't crave for potato chips!

As a kid, there were things I told myself I would buy when I am older, and can earn my own money. Plasma balls were one of them and another would be the Sandscape Moving Sand Picture display! Only problem is that I don't really have much space for these displays, and I don't use night lights too.

Another reason why I was so delayed for this gift unwrapping post. I met up with a few friends recently and Christmas gifts were also passed round the table!

Thermal mug, tea bags from Gryphon Tea Company (where I typically paid S$5 per tea bag in ice cream parlors) and silicone straws; I am going to pass maybe one or two straws to my parents as they would be much safer than those metal straws.

红美人 (Hong Mei Ren) - The Red Beauty Oranges

Lunar New Year takes place in about a month's time and we have already started seeing boxes after boxes of mandarin oranges stacked up at supermarkets! Apart from the usual species (like lu gan, jiao gan, peng gan etc), a special one appeared to have been marketed earlier. 

红美人 (Hong Mei Ren) - directly translated as the red beauty, I had noticed this special species, said to be a "hybrid between tangerine and orange" last lunar year and a friend passed me one to sample. Thing was: it's expensive and if memory didn't fail me, one fruit cost between S$2 and S$3!

 Lucky me, NTUC Fairprice has a promotion these two days; a box of 10s with an original price tag of S$19.95 now cost S$8.90, a hefty 55% discount! With no shopping bag, both Alex and I can manage, sadly, only two cartons.

Unravelling the red beauties within. Individually covered with two layers of protection, I can't wait to rekindle the taste I first experienced almost a year ago! 

Do handle with care as the beauties are delicate.

One key advantage of the red beauties was the ease of peeling off the skin! To be fair, that's quite easy for most mandarin oranges but can be a feat for normal oranges. In addition, the skin for the red beauties was so thin! 

Another noticeable feature of the red beauties was the reduction of the white spongey fibrous substance that connects the orange segments. Known as piths, I don't mind them but a friend of mine detests them for reasons unbeknownst to us. 

Look how "clean" it was! 

As mentioned earlier, please handle with care. The red beauties were literally bursting with juices and it's quite easy to damage the edible parts. Not that it matters that much to me as it would eventually end up in my tummy. 

See how juicy it was! The taste was definitely on point; with losing the sourness from typical oranges, there was a sweetness similar to the lu gan species of the mandarin oranges. My friend who introduced me to red beauties told me this brand isn't as sweet but honestly, I am still happy consider one fruit was less than a dollar! 

Get yours soon as promotion ends today!

While stock lasts! 

Red Packets for The Lunar New Year of the Rabbit in 2023

Celebration for the year of the rabbit is finally over and I hope those celebrating the lunar new year have an enjoyable time meeting up with family and friends after all the visitation restrictions in 2021 and 2022! 

I sure had a great time and despite my not-so-young age; the custom for the unmarried to receive red packets means I continue to receive them, unabashedly. Put it this way; people sincerely give, I sincerely accept. Number collected: 22 red packets.

Since young, my siblings and I would actually return all the red packets we received from relatives to our parents; reason being that they would have to give red packets to our relatives' children too. Hence, I could only keep the money from red packets received from my parents, my married sister, and friends. 

Total collections: S$657.00. It may seem like a lot but you have to keep in mind that as a working adult; my siblings and I make it a point to give red packets to our parents, for good health, luck and fortune. In addition, I would also distribute ang pow (hokkien for red packets) to my niece and nephew too. 

One particular friend has a quirky item in her red packet; a Singapore Sweep ticket! If we indeed have the luck during the new lunar year, maybe we can get the top prize of 2.3 million dollars! I never have such luck, in spite of the hope. 😢

An interesting ang pow this year would be the electronic red packet, which was supposed to cut down the massive printing of new notes every lunar new year, and is environmentally friendlier. 

Using my PayLah! account, I scanned the QR code from the gift card; a pop-up animation would greet me and let me know monetary blessing received! 

My very first e-ang pow!