Lorong Halus Pedestrian Bridge [Connecting Lorong Halus Wetland and Punggol Promenade over Serangoon Reservoir]

The wetlands or the bridge? That's the question i faced as i reviewed the pictures i took in Lorong Halus two weeks ago. The bridge won as i would have lesser pictures to edit (brightness mostly).

Lorong Halus Bridge (the official term is a mystery as i could not find much information online) is one classic bridge that evokes a strange sense of nostalgia yet displays a contemporary design.

Guess the nostalgia comes about due to the maroon colouring of the bridge; it reminds me so much of those classical red steel bridges for coal /steam powered trains.

But this bridge is only limited to pedestrians! Cyclists have to dismount and push their bicycles across although this rule was blatantly ignored by the cyclists when i was there.

Most sections of the bridge are unsheltered and you bear the risk of being attacked by the unsightly bombs released by flying wildlife that thrives in the area.

Only the middle segment has a sheltered, wavy canopy (maybe around 30 meters) to protect you! This section is also the best place to rest as you immerse in a panoramic view of Singapore's 16th reservoir.

Informative panels are on hand to give you a brief summary of where you are (over Sungei Serangoon, now known as Serangoon reservoir) and the reason why we need to dam the river.

To the far right are actually the flats of Punggol town while the right bank of the reservoir (in this picture) is where you can find Uncle Leong seafood.

On the opposite side is a fantastic view of Serangoon Tidal Gates. Known also as Serangoon East Dam, you may read more in my blog entry HERE.

The end of the bridge signifies the start of Punggol Promenade Riverside Walk. My stamina could not withstand walking for another few kilometers and my brain was STRONGLY encouraging that i turn back.

Which i did. But before i end the post, please find below two more photographs of this steel beauty.

Length of the bridge?

Rough estimation put at between 150-200 meters.

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Map

As above.

Parking

I would recommend you park at Tebing Lane, where Uncle Leong Seafood is located.

There is another car park at the nearer Lorong Halus Wetland but you could find no more than six lots. You may park by the roadside outside the wetland at your own risk.

Food & Beverage Fair 2012 (美食与饮料展) @ Suntec City Halls 403-404

Assumption is the mother of all mistakes - as the saying goes, i assume that the food and beverage fair 2012 is held in Singapore Expo and only realised the mistake when i drove from Bugis all the way to Tanah Merah!

I had to drive back to central Singapore in order not to disappoint my great mother, who was really looking forward to visit this food fair.

Here i am; right outside hall 404. These pull out banners are very much preferred over real humans who tried every way and mean to push their company brochures and leaflets to you (a typical scene in any computer fair).

Spread over two main halls in Suntec City Convention Centre, this food and beverage fair features hundreds of exhibitors aiming to whet the appetite of every visitor.

For a working day on a Thursday afternoon, i am amaze with the larger than expected turnout.

The first exhibitor that caught my mom's eyes was the supplier for Julie biscuits! Offering her favourite peanut butter sandwich biscuit at a promotional price of 3 big packs for just S$10, she could not wait to grab them immediately!

Handy food processors for sale - at least this item is related to food.

But a micro washing machine booth?! Okay, i am not so unreasonable; food and drinks can spill on your clothes and a portable washing machine is therefore convenient to wash your clothes while you stand naked (or half naked) in public premises.

No one can snatch the cake from this company which offers services that are way beyond the food realm. Ear candling and shoulder massages?!?!?! And it was teeming with customers!

At that point, i was already jaded. For a person who loves to eat, finding exhibitors selling non-food, non-beverage products can be absolutely frustrating.

Have to eat my own words eventually as i could not resist buying 4 packs of charcoal deodorant for my wardrobe at a discounted price of merely S$10! Original price was over S$4 a bag which means i save over 35%!

Coming back to the 'makans', you have the normal big brands like Bee Cheng Hiang (美珍香) and Fragrance (香味) bak kwa setting up booths. Discounts are inevitable even though i would not touch bak kwa for the next few months after ingesting massive quantities during Chinese New Year two months back.

Frankly, i was so busy taking pictures on the move (resulting in pretty blur photographs) that i did not check the items on sale and promotions thoroughly. Only when i took a closer look at this picture at home that i realised i should have bought these instant powder beverages!

For the nuts people. It appears that the traditional camel or even tong garden brands are slowly replaced by the kangaroo brand, which enters the nutty segment not too long ago.

Chef Tony's Halal gourmet popcorns! Their parmesan popcorns were most addictive (resulting in a blog entry here) and i took advantage of the promotion (S$3 off total price) to buy one large tub and a small tub of Mochachino.

Old town coffee had a booth there as with this distributor of Vietnamese coffee. For those who are interested in the 'shitty' (literally) yet expensive kopi luwak, there is an exhibitor giving away small sampling cups.

Coral seaweed jelly that is supposed to be rich in collagen! One vacuumed pack contains four large cubes and you are required to cook them (in water) over low fire. I shall come out with a separate post on this!

Ready-to-eat (known also as cooked food) section is always the most popular in any food fair and the organiser this time has cordoned half the area for this purpose. Smart move as i could find easily find an available table! Note, i cannot guarantee that you would be as lucky over the weekends.

Alas, i have not fully recovered from the irritating hacking cough and painful sore throat and was in a big dilemma on what to choose! The BBQ squid was definitely out of the question. :(

Crayon Shin Chan's favourite snack; if i remember correctly, he loves to suck out the bean paste from an area beneath the nail. Super disgusting right?!

This stall was surrounded by quite a big crowd. I have no idea what it sells until i heard on the radio that they are famous for their humongous buns known as Ye Zi Mei (Amy Yip) buns. For the uninitiated, Amy Yip, a category III actress from Hong Kong, was famous in the 80s and 90s for her big boobs.

I love the chicken based char siew sou (蜜汁烧鸡酥) from Tarts and Pastries; the crust was of the right thickness and the moist chicken char siew filling was simply mouth watering! 10% discount with any 4 pastries purchased.

Craving for crabs? Get your fix (chilli crabs, black pepper crabs, butter crabs and i think salted egg crabs) at House of Seafood @ 180. For my review on its restaurant, please click here.

The original fried chicken from Taiwan is finally in Singapore (first outlet is located in City Square Mall)!

With over 40 branches in Taiwan, the size of their fried chicken was really no joke. My younger sister would love to get her hands on this! Just heard from my elder sister on whatsapp that both the sisters cannot wait to return home for local food!

Westlake Pork Bun - a must try!

With the above in mind, i took things easy and bought both the pork bun and glutinous rice from Westlake. There were just too many choices and i didn't want to keep my mom waiting.

Bringing along the strong and hyperactive Jovyn is seriously no easy task; my recovering wrist was dealt a few damaging blows when she chose to twist and turn at every opportunity! *cry*

To comfort myself, i bought 13 pontong ice creams for only S$9 (and came with a free styrofoam box). Only to remember a few moments after paying that i am still nursing a bad cough.

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Location

1 Raffles Boulevard,

Suntec City, Halls 403-404.

Admission Fee

Free admission!

Duration

Until Sunday, 18 March 2012!

Opening Hours

11am till 10pm

(the later you arrive, the higher the possibility that the cooked food might be sold out)

Best Cheng Tng in Singapore - Ye Lai Xiang Cheng Tng (夜来香清汤) @ Bedok Food Centre (Bedok Corner)

When a specific craving strikes, you can see me travelling from one end of Singapore (the north) to the other end (the east) just to get my hands on a bowl of liquid dessert.

And i am obviously not the only one; on weekends, it is likely to be the stall in Bedok Food Centre with the longest queue! And many of those customers hail from regions beyond the east.

Ye Lai Xiang - a hawker stall, that has been in operation since 1939 and offers a singular item (just one, nothing more) on its menu, is our main draw. There's another key factor; the damn friendly boss who can miraculously make a gloomy day appears cheerful.

This epic cheng tng in Ye Lai Xiang is the sole reason why i patronise the hawker centre; ordering from food stalls are merely spillover effects. To put it bluntly, Ye Lai Xiang is like the anchor tenant for the hawker centre.

Unlike most cheng tng in other places, the one here was filled with a wide array of yummy ingredients that complemented perfectly with the fragrant soup which was added last. You can read more about my first review on this stall here.

My order today was the more expensive "special' cheng tng. So how special was it? I don't have any idea except it seemed that there were much more liao (ingredients) than either the small (S$1.50) or big (S$2) serving. Taste wise, the light broth remained as thirst quenching as before!

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Location

1 Bedok Road, Stall #31

Bedok Food Centre

Additional Information

There is another Ye Lai Xiang next stall selling only cuttlefish kangkong but it belongs to another person.

For my review on other stalls within the hawker centre, please click here.

Glass Sky Walk @ Heavenly Gate Mountain (天门山), Zhanjiajie, Hunan, China

Whenever anyone asks me on my favourite tourist spot(s) during my trip to the birthplace of Mao Zedong, Hunan, two places come to mind.

The little yet charming centuries-old town known as Phoenix old town and Tian Men Shan (directly translated as Heavenly Gate, Sky's Door, Heaven's Door or Sky's Gate Mountain).

A major regret for the trip that took place in 2009 was that despite paying an exorbitant 500 RMB, i was at Heavenly Gate Mountain for merely half a day. Most of the time was spent within the main attraction; the big hole that gives the mountain its name and fame.

But i know, from internet sources, that there is more to the mystic mountain.

Its latest attraction is this walkway suspended precariously by the side of the cliff at a height of more than 4,700 feet (equivalent to over 1,400 meters)!

Okay, it's just a walkway by the side of a mountain and there are hundreds of such man-made paths all over the world!

There is one key difference; this one features a see-through floor!

For someone who has a phobia of heights, this is one challenge i might have to decline although the glass bottomed walkway spans only slightly more than 60 meters.

I am not afraid of trying (not even dying)! In fact, i am more afraid i would embarrass myself by crawling across the walkway like a robotic baby doll!

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Thanks to Ms Sandra Chui for sending me the powerpoint slides!

For my travelogue on Tian Men Shan (天门山), click HERE

For my travelogue on Phoenix Old Town (凤凰古镇), click HERE

Tetsu Very Rich Paitan Tsukemen @ Ultimate Ramen Champion [iluma Shopping Centre, Bugis]

In Singapore, almost everyone (i can't be 100% sure) knows what ramen is. Tsukemen, however, is an almost unheard term although its Japanese link is undeniable.

That brings me to Ultimate Ramen Champion once again to try what is Kon's favourite competitor in this supposedly fierce competition between six famous ramen restaurants from Japan; Tetsu.

So what's Tsukemen?

Known simply as dipping noodles, the obvious difference from ramen is the separation of broth and noodles into two bowls. To a certain extent, it does give the impression of soba noodles.

Consistency of the soup was thick; almost sauce like and the flavouring was too salty for my liking.

But once I dipped the cold noodles and twirl them in the very rich chicken-pork stock like sashimi to soy sauce, the taste changed. Dramatically.

Ohmigosh, the drenched noodles tasted almost like takopachi (the Japanese balls with squid, prawns or cheese and ham) and were indeed a very unique Ramen variant!

My review was so far quite favourable although there is a problem here. Tsukemen forced me to finish the noodles, thus increasing my carbo intake, while leaving slightly less than half the soup aside. That's a bloody waste!

A solution is available though - add S$2 for another serving of noodles!

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Location

201 Victoria Street,

Iluma Bugis Level 4

Price

Very Rich Paitan Tsukemen - S$11

[Subject to GST]

Additional Information

For my review on Gantetsu, click HERE.

For my review on Ikkousha, click HERE.