My personal blog on my outlook towards life and the technology world

It’s Mid week again, Another week coming to an end soon and also we are just 2 months to a brand new year, I already saw Christmas promotions on my incoming mails. Time really flies, and it waits for no men. Which is very true, before I knew it, I’m already reaching mid thirties in just 4 Months time.

If i am able to live till 70s, then it would mean that I have already spent half of my lifetime. I’m left with another half only. What have I accomplished ? and what do I still left to do. Thinking of this, I have accomplished a lot in the past 34 years, I have grown into a man, I have gain knowledge, I built my business from zero and lots of other things.

What have I not done? I have yet to start a family, I have yet to own my first car, I have yet to gain success, I have yet to gain financial freedom and lots more.

I have to hasten my pace from now on. I have to work smart, play smart and start to enjoy what life has to give me. I can’t just slot everyday and neglect my Dad, Since my Mum passed away suddenly last year, I’m only left with my Dad to take care of, He’s getting old, getting more fragile, his eyesight is also failing him due to years of uncontrolled diabetics.

Since mid of last year, I have been coming back for dinner almost daily with my Dad. 24 Hours a day and I could only be with him for approximately 3 hours. Seeing how life has taken a toil on him makes me feel bad. He slogged all his life for the 3 of us, but what we have been bringing to him since he retired are just basic stuff. I felt that more or less he do felt disappointed with us.  I must try to change that. I must try to fulfill his expectations of me. His main expectation of me right now is to start a family. It’s a tough job, I must admit.

This evening, I was called up by my brother to babysit his child for him while he attend to his mother in law funeral procession.

Without any hesitation, I obliged and make my way over in the evening, It has been a couple of months since I last saw my niece and nephew, I saw my youngest nephew, He was only 5 months old, but he is big in size, look very much like me also. When my brother carried him over to me, He gave me one of the biggest smile, very chubby and very much likeable.

I was actually in fact needed to look after my older nephew, he is 2 years old plus now. A super hyper active child. He just cannot sit around and do nothing, must move about and if you don’t walk him, he will kick up a big fuss.

For the whole night, I carried him around the whole estate, looking at buses and cars, in between, he only slept for around 45mins. It was actually one of the longest time that I ever spent with my nephew for almost a year plus.

It was really fun to be able to spend a couple of hours with my nephew, seeing how he has grown. Naughty he was, but then it was time well spent. As I’m writing this, My hand really ache from carrying him the whole night.

Saturday October 10th, went for dinner at Sakura latest dinning restaurant at Punggol Marina, Sakura Charcoal Grilled & Sabu Sabu, Called in to the restaurant at about 5pm for reservation and was told that they were fully booked and the next available reservation based on availability and first come first serve basis was at 8.30pm. I hesitate and did not make a booking, I decided to go down and see how packed the restaurant is, It actually make me more interested in finding out more about this restaurant.

At about 7.30pm I reach the restaurant, I have been to Punggol Marina just about half a year back, and that place was mostly deserted except for diners at the Punggol seafood restaurant, Boatel Steamboat buffet, and Hot Stone buffet which actually open until 3am in the morning. There is also activity at the prawn farm with people Prawning (prawn fishing).

There is surely much more people and activity on this visit than my last visit, Most of the crown are at the Sakura Restaurant and mainly also because they offer free shuttle bus service from Sengkang Mrt Station. I went up to the waiting list counter and check with the person in charge as to how long do I need to wait as I’m not in the waiting list, He told me that only after 8.30pm then I would have a chance, same as what the lady told me over the phone, I put my name and phone down and waited.

I actually saw a lot of empty table inside the restaurant and was wondering why they do not let us in since they have quite a number of empty table, it was later that I found out that some people reserved the table and have yet to turn up, I think some got lost on the way.At about 8.10pm, I got a call from the restaurant, proceed to pay up and was led to the table by the staff.

For S$90.00 for 3 person, with S$ 30.00 stored coupon value for beverages and premium food like lobster and Wagyu beef, It’s definitely value for money. We went to the food counter for food, I was personally amazed at the variety of food available both for the Sabu Sabu and Grill. They even have a small pamphlet telling you about the stored value and to let the Sabu Sabu pot boil for at least 15mins before you start cooking and not to mix cooked food and raw food utensils to prevent cross contamination between food. A very great way to inform customer.

From their website they state more than 200 variety of food items, I did not do a manual count, but I can tell you, in one sitting, even if you take one of each food variety, I can tell you, you won’t be able to finish it. The variety is really huge, Ice cream and dessert inclusive. One very nice feature of this restaurant is that they serve very high quality food and even the beef for Sabu Sabu and some other non marinated pork is individually packed and wrapped to maintain the hygiene level and to prevent contamination. I especially like the Salmon, which they give an aluminum tray for you to grill, They salmon tasted great, although the other meat also taste great, just that I enjoyed this particular salmon and got myself a second helping. Seafood are lay on top of shredded ice to maintain it’s freshness.

When compared to other similar restaurant, this restaurant will be one of the highly recommended choice by me, First of all food hygiene and quality is great. Environment is also good, although it is a bit way off for some, but then it is very near my house. Restaurant is very clean but lighting is a bit poor on certain area, hard to gauge whether the grilled food is cooked or not, but then this is just a minor minus point, I never tried the premium item because, I spent all my stored coupon on drinks, they have Wagyu beef at S$ 16.00 per 100 grams. 

This time round, I remember to take some picture to tempt your taste buds,

Sausages, beef, pork, and my favorite Salmon inside the aluminum tray

Fresh Seafood

Satay of different meat

A shot of how the charcoal pit looks like

Another shot of the Steamboat

This is a delayed post because my dad ended up in hospital again, But he should be out in a day or two, I just hope and pray that he gets well soon and do no stay so weak.

Cool, I’m now going to finish up this part of my recent trip. Day 2 brunch was at a coffee shop just below our hotel. we had chicken rice and some side dishes to go with. After which we proceed straight to the cable car station. We are going downhill on cable car. This is definitely one of the longest cable car ride that I have, and the exciting part is the downhill, if you have phobia of height, then you better think twice before stepping into it, My friend got the worst fright of his life, he almost close his eye throughout the ride. I think the ride is approximately 25mins plus minus.

Start of the journey, You can see the cloud and the height we are at.

Down down down….

A nice view of the cloud and mountain

Reaching the other end of the cable car station

Nothing much after we reached the other end of the cable station. Only have a couple of shops selling local products and some souvenir, that’s about all. stayed for about half and hour and we decided to head back uphill, as it was getting warm.

Up And away we go

The sleep way up to the hilltop

Getting closer and closer to the cloud

Yes we are inside the cloud again

  Reach Hilltop again.  

During the whole ride beside clicking away on my E71, I was laughing my head off just by looking at my friend who has a terrible fear of height. I just could not stop laughing.

Spent some time at the casino again and soon it was dinner time again, we went to Kampung cafe at our hotel, Local food was the theme, RM 38+++ per pax, but then food was just normal, service was lousy cause they are under staff.
but they do have a wide range of vegetarian food and Indian Cuisine, catering to the Indian tourist.

Went back to the Casino again to look and play on some machine again. Stayed until about 2am in the morning. Decided to head back to sleep, as we need to head back to Singapore in the afternoon.

Day 4, Last Day

We all sleep until around 9.30 am in the morning, Went down with my friends to have breakfast, damn expensive, 4 half boiled eggs, 2 coffee, 4 slices of bread, cost us around 30RM, which I can get in Singapore for 10RM, But then don’t cannot complain, it’s a tourist place, so definitely food will be more expensive. Went back to pack up after breakfast and we were lucky to have a clear sky when we reach the hotel, I took the opportunity to snap some quick pictures.

View of the car park below and a portion of the theme park

A nice view of the mountain and the small hotel at the side

A bird eye view of the theme park

Another different view

A top view showing theme park hotel on the right the theme park

Another view of the hotel and the mountain

A view of the temple on the lower part of the mountain 

They road down

I did not really have the chance to snap pictures during other part of the journey, Maybe it is because I’m still not used to it. Will have to keep note of this. Anyway, thanks for reading and for me, this was definitely a nice getaway from my busy schedule and it is definitely the weather that is worth going for.