Sentosa Buskers Festival 2013

ABBEY: Sentosa Buskers Festival 2013 exhibited many of the local artists' talents. Our first stop is with Dharni and K-Leah. We have seen the performance of Dharni in Singapore Night Festival and his beatboxing is great. Matched it with the husky voice of K-Leah and it was superb.  

After the acapella we went to see the string duo, Off Beaters. This kids really plays their instruments well. I liked it when they play Bruno Mars' Hey Soul Sister. They can improve their show if they would interact with their audience. 

We also got a photo shoot session with Sentosa Buskers Festival mascot. Last stop is Tribal Ninjas. Hands up to these artists especially with their fire acts. The show must go on even its windy causing the fire to touch their skins. I got also a chance to pose with The Leaning Man. We're hoping to see more of the world-class talents on the next festival.

WILL: Its Sentosa's 4th year in busking! Time flew so fast, isn't? This is a new for all of the attendees as they invite their local artists to perform at the stages of Sentosa, they were located at Merlion Pitch, Bell Pitch, iFly Ground, and to cut it short, they were all over the island. 

      On my observation, more audience actually went there to checkout the performances despite grey clouds engulfed the city-state.

      First we checkout the program so we can plan our visit. We listened first to Dharni and K-Leah, amazing voice accompanied by beatbox. Then we stopped to amaze ourselves with Off Beaters. Hey, I also attended the meet and greet the Buskers Mascot. 4th stop was the nice duo that played fire, well done tribal ninjas. To stop our grumbling stomach, we ended our visit with The Leaning Man. 

      That was a great break on a very hectic and pressured working environment. 

      I wish that the local performers will practice more on how to communicate with their audiences. 

      As usual, I am looking forward on 2014 Buskers line up. :) thanks Sentosa for this free event and helping a charity through our island entrance fee.

Clash of Clans

ABBEY: Whenever I view memes through an iPad application I got ads to try Clash of Clans. But most of the time I turn them down. One day it was listed on the AppsGoneFree and it was priced at 7sgd. I don't know if this is the real price but I downloaded it anyway. It just sit down on my device for a long time. When I was bored and searching for a new game to play, I saw it then tried it. It was like Farmville-RedAlert- strategy game. Woah, Red Alert? I'm too old. 

The game is good. You must put a good defense for your camp and offense if you will be raiding another camp. You can also join a clan which can help you for your strategy. You can ask for additional troops as well. But in turn, donate some also.

I observed that you can only attack or have revenge a particular camp for a number of times. This is a breather if you're on the defense. We still have a lot to accomplish on this game. I don't know if SuperCell will release a version for Android.

WILL: Me: What is that? 
      Abbey: Clash of Clans
      Me: Is that building an empire? Like Battle Realms?
      Abbey: Yes
      Me: Let me see.

    And from there on, I took in-charge what should be done on Abbey's clan.
    I love to play chess that maybe this kinds of games lure me. A strategy/building game.
    Abbey got the iPad application for free and keep on updating to suffice the happiness of the user. Its almost a month when we started to play this and I am so addicted that I woke up in the eerie time just to check my clan. 
    Really nice game to heightened your skills and you can find some friends here too from different parts of the world. 

Hong Kong Disneyland

ABBEY: I was very excited to go to this park. As a child, me and my neighbors dreamed of going to Disneyland. We got the ticket for a discounted price of HD$390 courtesy of Hop Inn. We were there at 7:30 AM. Yes its seems early but its an advantage as you can strike you pose and take snaps to Disneyland's Welcome arch. And we also have the chance to check their port for guests that will visit via ferry. A ceremony was held before the opening where a family was chosen to meet and greet with Mickey and Minnie to open the park for the day. As we enter the park at 9, we were given golden coins as souvenir. Wilma ran to the park's garden where flowers were arranged to depict Mickey's face and told me to take pictures. We also have snaps with Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, Chip and Dale, Cinderella, and Rapunzel. At the end of the Main Boulevard, we saw the Sleeping Beauty's magnificent castle. It was smaller compared to Shrek's Far Far Away in USS, but its very detailed. 

We went first to Tarzan's tree house. We got scared when the tiger roared :) After that we journeyed to the jungle via River Cruise. Then we went to the newest attraction in HK Disneyland: Big Grizzly Mountain Runaway mine cars. We were less than 10 pax for the first batch to ride. Prepare to be push and pulled back as you enter the dark mines. Its kind of scary and funny. 

After that we went to Toy Story land. We rode the Toy Soldier Parachute drop and my most-feared ride that day, the RC Racer. It was a curved U-shaped RC track. The car was in the middle and once you're settled, it will be pulled and then be released. You will swing along the track as the momentum dies down. I felt I was gonna fall off my sit it it weren't with my safety bar. Wilma caught my lips shaking and she laughed hard as she saw me like that. That day I conquered my fear of not-that-extreme ride :) As we wait for the adrenaline rush to settle down we lined up for Mickey's Philar Magic 3d show. We also watch Golden Mickey; Mickey's version of Golden globe awards and their wonderful parade. They were good and entertaining. We also got a change to defeat Emperor Zurg in Buzz Lightyear's Astro Blaster; though Wilma for more points than me. We also visited "Its a small world" that displays dolls that sing and dance. Space mountain is having technical problem that day. But we met Stitch have fun interacting with him. 

The fireworks were much anticipated. People flock in front of the castle as early as 6Pm whereas the show starts at 8:30PM. It was worth the wait as the exhibition is magical. It will definitely bring out the child in you. Wear light dress and hydrate yourself.

Few points to improve though:
-Use the fans in queue. I know its 14degrees and its cold. But it will be hot and suffocating when a lot of people flocked on attraction entrances and the fans are off. Turning them on will give more ventilation to the guests. 

-The entrance is narrow causing bottleneck so its a mess. As it is Chinese New Year, HK Disneyland should expect for a huge guest turnout. They should have put more rope division for proper queue. 

-Some staff cannot speak english. It would be better to train them to speak the universal language since not all guests speak Mandarin.

-Announcements for the attractions are not clear enough. Its as if the staff will catch a plane going to "i don't know" and gonna be late. Make sure the staff clearly speaks the information so the people will attend to it.

WILL: Am I wrong I will tell that every child especially the girls has a dream to step in to the magical place of DisneyLand.

      Ever since I am a child, I always ask my mom when she will bring me to DisneyLand, she never answered me "NO" on every requests but this, she answered "soon", but she never did. Ha!Ha! Well, I forgot about that dream but when DisneyLand build its home to Hong Kong, that dream rebuild its way to my heart.

      After my college, I really want to go there, have money but I do not have time, I am busy in building my career. When my name have somehow small roots in my field and that dream faded again, again lack of time.

      But when Abbey told me that he wants to go to Korea and upon checking, there are so many obstacles for us to got there, we ended up and going to Hong Kong and excitedly plan to see Mickey's friends and land.

      Abbey and I woke up as early as 530AM, took our breakfast at the nearest cafe in our hotel then rode the MTR to Disneyland Resort Station. The train from Sunny Bay station is a special one, decorated in the name of Mickey and Friends.

      My smile is from ear to ear once I saw the train. Arrived there around 7AM, and the park opened at 9, so we are only  20 visitors then. So we had the chance to take a lot of photos at the "Welcome" sign. We even managed to check out the port for the park's visitors.

      We planned to go for counterclockwise but when we saw people ran to that side, we decided to go for the clockwise direction,

      We are the first visitor at the tree house of Tarzan. Then we are the second batch of Grizzly Gulch runaway mine cars, exciting! We were toured via Jungle River Cruise. After a boat ride, we decided to go to Toy Story Land and test Abbey's courage. We fist tried Toy Soldier Parachute Drop and Abbey told me that it is amazing. Now, it is the time to test if he can stretch that courage in a U-shaped metal. While on line, I keep on encouraging Abbey that I know he can make it. It is a success that he went in RC Racer and finished it without fainting, but his jaws were shaking after.. Ha!ha! Great experience indeed.

      After that ride, we ran to take the queue to the shows, and the most amazing is the Lion King, after seeing that, I am so sad and frustrated again to myself why I let the Lion KIng passed my way when they visited Singapore.

      The parade is nice!, but the most amazing, most nerve racking show was the fireworks. Goosebumps and all I can do is hold my husband's hands while watching the glimmering sky of different colors. It feels like I am back to my childhood, feels like I am  Disney Princess with my Prince.

     This is a blessing and I am thankful that I went here with my lovable husband.A dream come true! 

The Mind Cafe (Singapore)

ABBEY: Going to this cafe is long overdue. We planned to go here when Kuya Ric went for a visit but didn't have the time. After dinner at Curry House we stopped by the place. 

9sgd per person includes free-flow of drinks of the day and 2 hours of playing any game available. We got the old-but-good Connect 4. Form 4 chips horizontally, vertically or diagonally and you win the game. I won both games with Chat and Wilma. Next they tried Battleship but haven't finished the game as they had a hard time destroy each other's ships. We wanted to play quick games so we can play as many times as we can. That didn't happen. 

We played Monopoly:Superman Returns edition. Though its a long game we totally had fun specially if you are winning. Isn't that right, Wilma and Chat? 

The cafe also offers cocktail snacks to munch in.  Singapore Book of records awards this as the cafe to have the most number of board game. This is good experience.

WILL: I am searching for a great place to fill in some caffeine craving while my oldest brother was here and then I saw Mind Cafe. It was on my list but the schedule really stopped as to go in here. 

      Chat treated us for a dinner, she got her bonus! Haha! She shared her blessings to us. After dinner, damn I am full and I want to help my stomach to digest it, I need tea. ;) 

I don't want to go to any cafes in 313 Somerset, then my brain made me realized to go to The Mind Cafe. 

    From Orchard, it is only 3 stops for bus #65. After 12 minutes, we were stepping our way up to this cafe. Actually, now I am not after for a hot drink that will help my tummy to digest my food, I am here to enjoy and play all the boardgames I can. 

     As we entered, we were welcomed warmly by their staff and  huge stacks of boardgames. Like a child, I grinned. So many games to play for only 2 hours. I played and all the games I lost. Haha! Lucky we don't bet for anything. Luck is not at my side at that day.

     For two hours, we indulged on their unlimited cold drinks and play-all-you-can boardgames for only $9.00 per pax. This is just beside SOTA, a great location for students to let the stress away. This is a great idea of a unique cafe.