5 things that I collect, and still do

As I have mentioned, I am a hoarder~~ so collecting stuff things is somehow my nature.. After more than 20 years of being alive, I guess I have collected quite a pile of things (maybe not a pile.. some piles) that, currently contributes to the major mess in my room.

Now, let's see...

1. Plushie, soft toys, dolls or whatever you would call these...

I can't resist cute plushies when they are on the shelves of shops.. I somehow can hear them calling out for me, telling me that I should bring them home.. I never regret getting any one of them.. quite a few in the group are actually gifts from friends and I thank every single person who contributed and gave me these precious little cuties..
People may think that these are childish stuff, only people who can't grow up keep these.. Oh well, just treat me like a 3 year old then.. I am not giving up on loving them.. You can tell them all your secrets and be hell sure that it will never be spilled out.. unless somebody is eavesdropping, of course.. looking at them will just cheer you up as they will smile at you and somehow sends a signal that they will always be by your side..


2. Notebooks, the one you write on, in case you are wondering~~

Since I really like writing.. writing as in writing down with a pen/pencil on paper.. Notebooks are my absolute favourite item.. However, I might sometimes feel that the things that I write does not deserve to be penned down in a nice notebook.. so i have a box full of new, still-wrapped-in-plastic, untouched notebooks under my bed.. since I could not decide on something worthy to be written into them...
the notebooks that I use are usually the typical, boring, leather-like organiser with a company logo somewhere on the cover.. even those are still in my storage, I couldn't bear disposing them.. not after i have written in them..


3. USB flash drive, thumb drives, storage devices, including external hard disk

I really don't know why but everytime my dad ask me if there's  anything I want from the PC fair, it would be thumb drives or external hard disks.. and when Groupon or whatever group-buy sites have deals on storage drives.. My credit card will suffer a swipe.. I really don't understand why am I so obsessed with storage drives?? maybe it's because it stores stuff and i'm a hoarder.. hahaha...


4. Bookmarks

Although nowadays I hardly buy any but I will do still if I have seen any that attracts me... I used to buy a dozen everytime i go to Living Cabin, i will walk straight to where the bookmarks' shelves are and start picking... however, the shelves are no longer there~~ which also explains why I don't buy these often anymore.. anyway, as said on the title, i still do collect bookmarks~~


5. Bags~~

Well, I'm a girl...clothes and bags are also interests of mine.. I do buy a lot of clothes but I don't think I am collecting.. so i guess it's bags.. handbags, sling bags, backpacks, clutches, i do have a variety of bags with my name on it...


That's most of my collections... I might write a post about stuff that I used to but don't collect anymore...

For now, that's all folks!

Signing off..
toodles!

Harry Potter Exhibition in the Lion City

I am not an avid Harry Potter fan, maybe just a typical fan, unlike how some people might call themselves as but I do like it, how the story goes and how it emerges into a whole new world by itself. I did grew up with Harry Potter, which means i once wondered if I would be able to receive my letter to Hogwarts..

Well, that was before.. But, not being able to go to Hogwarts does not mean that I could not imagine it and join the fun.. Well, I did create a new character alongside the storyline just for self amusement years ago.. Then, I lost my drafts and stopped writing about it... Lately, it seems that the Harry Potter trend somehow came back, although the last film was in cinemas quite a while ago.. My old ideas decided to come back.. So I revamped my initial idea and continued writing..

It really amazes me how the whole wizarding world somehow became a somewhat "real world".. as I was doing research for my story, I found a whole lot of useful facts that were not found in the book or the films.. And it was a really fascinating read~~



I was just back from the Harry Potter Exhibition in Singapore.. As somebody who did enjoyed Harry Potter and who was also from a TV and film production background, I enjoyed the whole thing.. and i should have got the audio guides for a more detailed understanding through the props but it was the extra dollars that I thought I would not want to spend... However, without the audio guides, I tried to observe all the exhibits, to make use of what may be my one and only chance to a Harry Potter exhibition.. Crammed everything I have seen into the limited brain space of mine..





All the way to Marina Bay Sands, Art and Science Museum~~ All these photos are from the official website because I am not allowed to take any photos in there or I'll be taken by the Dementors and get sent straight to Azkaban (That was what the guide told me! =P)



Before going in, you will be greeted by the Ford Anglia, used in the second movie, where Ron and Harry didn't manage to get pass the gateway at Platform 9 and 3/4 as it was sealed by Dobby, so they flew Mr Weasley's car to Hogwarts.. and why am I telling you this?? You should have known..



Then, we were asked to wait for the previous sorting to end before we could go in..




There's also photo-taking stuff, the typical ones, on a green screen and you will appear to be in front of Hagrid's Hut.. It was too expensive so..
Anyway, the waiting area is like a corridor with poster posters of all 8 movies..
After the previous sorting is done (I guess),then a door opened, and there was the sorting hat on a chair.. They will ask before hand what is your favourite house and you will most likely be sorted into it.. I'm a Ravenclaw from the start~ There were a few Caucasians with us, 1 was sorted into Slytherin and 1 into Gryffindor, yah~ typical~~ I prefer brains.. Ravenclaw!! (Eagle Shrieks~)

We were led into another room, a dark room playing the growing up of Harry Potter aka Daniel Radcliffe throughout the 8 movies.. After watching all of them, the journey begins..
Okay, i don't remember the exact sequence of the exhibition, I'll just go with what I remember and some photos I have found.. I will just share a few main attractions..

 

 The Gryffindor common room, you can see Harry and Ron's four-poster bed




Professor Slughorn's office or classroom.. it does look bright and sunny comparing to the dark dungeons Professor Snape used to teach in..



Herbology?? These are Mandrakes.. they scream when you pull them out.. they can be quite noisy, all you have to do is push them back in.. their shrieks wont kill you as said in the books it will just annoy you..


You can also play chaser in a mini game of Quidditch.. I prefer to be a beater.. but throwing Quaffles can be fun too!!

Quidditch uniforms~~ The Bulgarian uniform looks nicer, in my opinion~ and in case you were wondering, the black one on the left is Madam Hooch, the flying coach's robes...

The Triwizard Cup~~ If Cedric Diggory has not touched it, he will not have to die... and the green thing is Rita Skeeter's quick quotes quill, that usually writes nonsense..

Say Hi to Buckbeak!

I heard the Phelps were there last month or was it June?? anyway.. If you don't know who the Phelps are, please don't call yourself a Harry Potter fan~~








How could a self-proclaimed Harry Potter fan not know about the Phelps??



When I say Phelps.. I meant the Phelps twins~~ James and Oliver Phelps..

Fred and George Weasley...

Please don't go "aaah", "ooohh" now and say you do know them.. You didn't in the first place.. =P

Alright, that's all I have to share about the exhibition... there're loads more but just to let you know.. there's a lot of seeing to be done.. not much hands-on whatsoever.. so if you are not ready to look and observe things.. I don't really encourage you going.. but if you are interested in their props and setting, this is the best place to be.. and it is worth the money...


Signing off
Toodles!

The Singapore rush~ Part 2

Woke up the next day at 8.30am... bathed and got ready for the day.. finished my bun that was a few bites less from yesterday as I was tempted by room mate's cup noodles..

After everything was done, we head off to Clarke Quay to meet Korean Chingu and off we go to the spot light of the whole trip ~~ The Harry Potter Exhibition!!

We took the MRT to Marina and got to know that we actually should have got off at Bayfront.. so we took the circle line from Marina and off to Bayfront we go~~ We reach Marina Bay Sands Shopping Mall (i'm not sure what was it called, it's somewhat like this).. Got directions from the customer service and off to the Art and Science Museum we go.. it's quite a distance.. and the weather was super hot.. I was sweating like a hosepipe when I was there.. I guess after being in the air-conditioned office ever since I started in Cyber, I do need to sweat.. w

We reached the museum, bought our tickets.. 24SGD scanned the barcode to get in and here we are! The Harry Potter Exhibition!! I'll blog a post about this later..

This was what the greeted us at the entrance.. The Ford Anglia from The Chamber of Secrets~ and this is the only photo I had for the exhibition ad photos are prohibited in the exhibition..

After the exhibition, we reach the souvenir shop.. typical.. but it was amazing, seeing wands for sale, the school books, brooms, quills and ink, parchments like Harry Potter's admission letter and the signed parchment of the Dumbledore's Army, and many others things you can think of... Of course, there were chocolate frogs and bertie botts every flavoured beans... But they were all super pricey.. nothing for less than 10SGD, i think.. There's so many things that I would like to keep but I am on a budget.. after a round, maybe 2.. or a dozen rounds of thinking.. I bought the Ravenclaw scarf!! What a splurge!! I have been planning to get the scarf ever since I knew it was going to be on sale at the exhibition.. i struggled due to the price.. 40SGD is not a small amount... Anyway, I got it.. and people will be asking.. Why Ravenclaw?? Harry Potter is in Gryffindor.. well, that's too typical.. and besides.. The first time I tried the sorting, I was sorted into Ravenclaw.. before I even understood about the 4 houses in Hogwarts... So, Ravenclaw, it is.. besides, typical is so not me~~ the whole world will be fancy-ing over Gryffindor and Slytherin.. I prefer the one least chosen, than you very much.

After this, we went to Orchard Road had lunch at Ion's food court... Fishball soup and mee pok 5SGD... really nice but i had to wait for 15 minutes for it.. the queue was super long for this stall.. After that, we took a stroll at Lucky Plaza and then took off to Little India...

I actually grabbed this through Google Search.. it was too sunny for me to think of taking photos.. so we walked and walked and walked.. unable to open my eyes due to the sun, I bought shades for 1.90SGD.. after a few rounds under the sun, Korean Chingu called it a day coz she was still jetlagged from Paris, so she headed back to get some sleep and we stopped by Bugis again for a fina round of shopping..

I was planning to get a bag.. so we reach a stall that sells bags with a huge 10SGD sign on it.. There was a girl holding one of the bags sold, I caught a glimpse at the bag and it was pretty.. So I decided to wait for her to leave and then ask for the same one.. in the meantime, we looked around at other bags while the girl bargained.. assuming that all the bags there are 10SGD, we wondered why was she bargaining.. only to hear that that bag was actually 25!! oookaaay... not within the budget we change our targets.. good thing that girl was there to distract the stall owner, so we were free to look around at others after shifting from a 15.90 to another 15.90 and then we finally found a nice one for 10SGD.. bought one each and head back to the hostel for our bags..

We lost track of time and was kinda late.. -hence the title of the Singapore Rush- desperate to not miss the bus, I freaked out and forgot the way back to The Plaza.. Good thing chingu still as a calm mind and we managed make it ON TIME!!! phew~~
Back to Malaysia~~

We stopped at Pagoh for dinner and got up the wrong bus.. realising someone was sleeping at our seats.. it took us a few seconds to realise that we were on the wrong bus.. luckily there was only one person on the bus that time to save us from total embarrassment..

I got home at around 11pm after a fulfilling trip, tired legs and a very satisfied mood..

I spent RM156.50 on my accommodation and transport.. and 99.70SGD in Singapore which includes food, transport and shopping~

 The stuff I bought.. the shades, Ravenclaw scarf and the bag, the red one, just if you were wondering... I just had to put the paper bag in..

Well, that's me and budget travel.. mind you, if you did not buy the scarf or go see Harry Potter, you will have more than 60SGD to spare and that's quite a lot for shopping and food..

Signing off~~
Toodles!

The Singapore rush~ Part 1

A sudden plan of mine, to be in the Lion City for a night.. Took the First Coach instead of AirAsia because it is cheaper, unless you are lucky enough to grab the zero fare tickets which are very very rare now... so, booked the earliest trip to Singapore and the latest one back.. for RM115~~ This is the promotional price that does not exist anymore.. I bought it a week before they cancelled the weekday promotion price and standardise the fare for all days.. hehehe.. Lucky me.. the current flat rate is RM128~~

So, took off at 7.45am.. and arrived at The Plaza, Singapore at 1.30pm.. skipping the journey since nothing much happened besides me dozing off and wakes up occasionally to watch silent Kung Fu Panda, a Caucasian beside me was watching and he had earphones, so I could only watch the moving animation..

Wasting no time, we exited The Plaza and head to the Park Royal Hotel planning to use their washroom.. The washrooms of 5 star hotels ought to be more comfortable than those in rest-stops, i reckon... as we were searching for the washroom a bellboy came forward and ask if there's anything he could help.. I couldn't tell him that I was looking for a toilet so I just asked him how do I get to Ophir road.. which was my destination anyway.. The boy then led me to a man outside the hotel and he directed me to Ophir road which was actually very near.. but... I still want to go to the washroom!! Why did you lead me out?? Now I feel awkward getting back in and the man is looking at me making sure that I follow the way he directed.. Haiya~~~

So decided not to go to the washroom, we walked to Ophir Road and then turn left into Victoria street where we reach Bugis station.. Bought the 2 day pass for 16SGD and set off to Lavender where our hostel is situated.. I think it started raining once we reached Lavender.. so we decided to have our lunch first.. I had fried meehoon with a piece of chicken wing for 2.80SGD.. after lunch, the rain has stopped so we walked off to our hostel, ideal backpackers at Tywhitt Rd.. it was RM83 for 2 per night, including all whatever charges and fees required when you use you credit card online~~ so it came down to rm41.50 per person, we had a bunk bed and TV.. typical backpackers.. we dropped our stuff and head off back to Bugis for our first round of shopping~~ Chingu bought a lot!! She was so thrilled and excited seeing Korean fashion stuff in Bugis.. As I was on a budget and saving for something the next day.. I decided to keep my purse close for this session... then Chingu's brother came and join us around Bugis.. 

After Bugis, we head off to Clarke Quay to meet another Chingu.. a Korean Chingu at her hostel.. she touched down at 4.30pm and we made an appointment to meet her at her hostel, Rucksack at 5.30pm.. Took off at Clarke Quay and walked off to Rucksack.. We actually got lost as I forgot to jot down the address but a very helpful someone from Dynasty Travel... i'm not sure what you call the person who introduce travel packages and make bookings, are they promoters?? not really~ anyway, he was super helpful, he helped me search online and directed me there!!! so we got there and coincidentally saw Korean chingu checking in.. we waited for her to settle down and off we go to China Town!!

Finally~~ Photos!!!

We walked around China Town and stopped for dinner...

We had seafood.. Grilled swordfish with sambal, fried lala, prawn omelet, veggie and fried baby squid~~ Chingu's brother's treat!! Gamsahamnida!! No photos of the food.. as I don't have the habit of photographing food.. I listed down the food we had, so imagine them yourself~~ pictures of food will only make you hungry, and I am kind enough to not trigger your hunger in odd times to avoid you from gaining weight =D

Our next stop, Marina Bay~~ Chingu's brother said he only know the way to Marina Bay from the City Hall station.. so instead of the Marina Bay station, we alighted at City Hall.. since we don't know how to go there from whichever station anyway so we followed and walked a well deal until we reached Marina...

Behold~~ Photos!! I took the most photos here~~

 That's me with Chingu and Korean Chingu~~

 That's the rehearsal of the upcoming Singapore National Day.. I think the lights were too bright that you can't really see how many people were there..

Marina Bay Hotel..

The Merlion~~ Korean Chingu said it's really cute..

We were actually in time for the fountain and light show from Marina Bay~~

I thought the lights looks nice shining up to the sky...

Back in the hostel.. We had a bunk.. There were 2 in the room, one was occupied by a girl who seem to have stayed there for quite some time.. This is the only time you'll see Panda and moomoo... as I did not take Panda out for photos.. Hence the lack of photos..

The girls bathroom in the hostel was big and clean.. not bad.. I bathed and head back to my room.. I couldn't on the TV coz chingu is already asleep in the upper bunk.. so i hung around in my lower bunk while waiting for my hair to dry.. Then, the room mate walked out and came back with cup noodles that smelt so good it made me hungry.. unable to stand the temptation, i walk out and check the vending machine for the price of the cup noodles, it was 1.30SGD.. not really in my budget and supper makes me fat anyway.. so I went back into the room took a few bites from the bun I bought for breakfast in Malaysia.. enjoyed the free wi-fi.. Luckily I borrowed bro's phone, so I could access the internet using the wi-fi.. Then, became sleepy, off the lights and slept.. I think my hair is still wet.. but all those walking really exhausts you..


Alrightey.. That's all for today..
stay tune for the next day~~

Signing off!
Toodles