Hi friends of Urban Salvation!
Time flies, a third of 2022 is almost gone. How was your December in 2021? It was a joyful one for us.
BabyK finally mustered her courage to learn cycling. Travel locally, double yay, staycay!! Did a terrarium workshop. Preparing for next year studies, of course, boring. Food and more food, workouts and diet out of the window.
Mesmerizing, our 3 days 2 nights local expedition, with BabyK and PapaE, was simply blissful.
Room was not ready, but our spirits were not dampened. High-spirited, we carried on with our itinerary, especially designed for babyK. No homework, all-day play only.
Walking to our first stop, The Cat Café at Bugis, which is about 20 minutes’ walk away, seemed near suddenly. The felines are too adorable though I am not a cat fanatic. They strutted around, must be thinking, more ‘hoomans’, another working day. Now, my phone has almost 100 pictures of them. Booking is recommended to avoid disappointment; we saw walk-ins being rejected.
Popped over to Bugis Junction to check out if it is still how we remembered it was, when PapaE and MamaJ were dating teenagers, nostalgic. Shortly, we made our way back to the hotel, where we would call it home for the next two days, for dinner. Wrapped up the night by playing Mario Party on the Switch Console which we brought along.
Next day, 9 o’clock, breakfast. Here comes the highlight, our trail…
10.30 am, a walk to Kampong Glam, Haji Lane and Arab Street area, soaking ourselves in the rich culture and local heritage. We combed through the lanes, beautifully street-art walls, shops selling textiles, perfume, and eateries. A small signage that read “The Gem Museum” caught our attention and we went in to learn more about gemstones. Their mission is to create a place to share knowledge of gemology to the public.
2pm, still feeling full from our breakfast, we decided to take some traditional toast and Teh-O instead. Carrying on the journey with well-fed tummy, we roamed and stumped into a pop-up concept shop, Curbside Crafters@NBR, where a group of local start-ups selling their crafts. There were an elderly couple that do gemstones accessories, polytechnic girls that do cute portraits on the spot, polymer earrings, books, hand-sewn items, mother-and-daughter showcasing their postcards and handicrafts. We spend some time here talking to them and bought some items. Support local!
By 4pm, hot and tired, hence we settled for early dinner at Funan. We found some interesting shops: Brompton Junction where appointment booking for foldies purchases is required, sorry to disappoint any walk-ins sales, BaWangChaJi SG, Green Collection which is a shop that sells majority local sustainable products.
Almost 6pm but it was still bright out!
As we walked along the Saint Andrew’s Cathedral, we felt the sunlight shining through the widespread branches of the tree while the path was shady. We stopped and looked up. Some ferns seemed to like to grow on them. Their barks were rough and flaky, looking furrowed, seemed to be telling us the stories of time. Rain Tree (Samanea saman) is one of the most iconic trees in Singapore.
I used to think that Umbrella Tree was another name to Rain Tree, its actually not, till I read them up on Nparks website.
8.45pm a dip in the pool to chill ourselves after a long day march and a super late-night supper due to the messed up in the hotel ordering system. Sweet dreams.
Checking out day, we slept in till 10am, packed our bag and by 11.30am, we dumped our bags in the car. Brought babyK to Bras Brasah, students’ “heaven” or was it for parents?
Followed by shopping and lunch at Suntec City. About 5pm, we officially ended the 3 days 2 nights local-tour, home sweet home, a simple dinner, and an early night.
Not bad for a first-time right? While I sat back and let babyK dirty her hands ~grins.
This is her masterpiece from the open terrarium workshop, we attended at Urban Salvation, led by Hanafiee. US is running some irresistible promotion from time to time, grab yours before its gone. Check out the resilient succulents, charming-fiee and the glass blows. Each one-of-a-kind piece of the hand-blown molten glass on driftwood is sourced from the Indonesia villages, uniquely crafted by the local elders.
Okay, coming back to reality. But… I am already hatching a plan for an end of year, 4 days 3 nights round island walk. Hope we could materialize it. Cannot wait!
# SuddenLeeFam # babyK # mamaJ # papaE
# travellocal # supportlocal # localexperience #terrarium
# AphorismXinLiveBy “Happiness can be that simple”
# 芯的人生格言 “幸福其实可以很简单”