After months of hiatus from blogging, I'm back!!! The past few months were what I called peak session for myself, searching for a new job after graduating from my Diploma course and when I finally secured one, it was indeed quite a busy period, learning what I need and integrating into the new environment.

The same job scope but with more challenges and responsibilities, I'm hired as a Customer Care Officer under the business department. The training was fast paced, and being a person who can't learn very fast, I lacked behind the others. However I was thankful that I eventually caught up and passed the training, I really appreciated my batch mates for helping and giving me a memorable course which lasted for a month.  

It was then we founded out that we too are included in the list for the annual company's Dinner & Dance. This time it was at the Hard Rock Hotel in Sentosa. All the anticipation for the night sprung up often, with random thoughts such as how are we going to get home after the event and how good will the food be. Now coming to the food, it was mediocre at best. I expected it to be better but it tastes the same as any other hotel banquets I have been to. The only "WOW" was the cold dish starter, other than that was totally "whatever...".  In my most honest and blunt opinion, the event was ok but nothing memorable. The only big hoo-ha of the night was the lucky draw, the prizes were truly eye-candy and that included the consolation. As fate decided, I returned home prize-less.   

Nonetheless I thank my company for the free food and night. The fellowship with my colleagues was the main core. We got high and had a fair share of laughters during the night. I am also thankful to SingTel for giving me gregarious and helpful colleagues who are always there to back each other up.

The Four Horseman has returned to the shores of Singapore, they Seek & Destroyed while us fans continued to Ride the Lightning!!! The 20 year wait was over: it was no doubt the biggest anticipation concert in Singapore this year. 

Some fans were lucky to see them in their prime rocking out with their long hair and head-banging back in 1993 at the Indoor Stadium, but I was among the unlucky fans as I was still on pampers then. It's pretty obvious that the Indoor Stadium wouldn't be a good venue to host the Heavy Metal Gods due to limited capacity under one roof, instead it was held at the Changi Exhibition Centre, a rather alien place to most of us and it was rather inconvenient if you do not possess a transport. Lucky for us fans, shuttle buses were chartered by the sponsor (LAMC) at the cost of $10/pax. Ray and I didn't take the shuttle bus though as we had a ride home on his parent's car after the concert, instead we took a taxi in and the price was rather reasonable at $14. The area was rather spacious, windy with a serene panoramic view of the sea though we could barely feel like when the concert started with the sound systems blasting through our ears but it was in fact a suitable location for a band with a huge status.

We arrived at the area at 6.30pm just in time to see the opening band perform, which to our surprise was 1970's band Anvil, an extra token given by LAMC, and they got us pumped and all hyped up for the big thing. After waiting impatiently for over an hour after Anvil ended their set, the lights went out and a familiar video played with the song "The Ecstacy of Gold" kicking in, everyone began screaming as we all knew that they were about to come out. The screams got louder and insane when Lars stormed the stage, followed up by the rest of the band. I couldn't believe it, finally after all these years my wish has come true, seeing James, Kirk, Robert, and Lars in person! To kick start the show, they started with "Hit the Lights" followed with a familiar tune which every Metallica fans MUST know, "Master of Puppets". The crowd went insane chanting "MASTER! MASTER!" following up with a mosh-pit beside me (I didn't join in though). Familiar materials from their golden era followed, with fans chanting songs such as "One", "Blackened", and "Enter Sandman". The concert was awesome not because of the songs, but the solos played especially by Kirk Hammett ripping his guitar. When "Enter Sandman" ended, fans chanted "We Want More!" because we NEED more as said by James. Three songs were played for the encore, "Creeping Death", "Battery", and finally what everyone anticipated, the song which was their first breakthrough and it was from their first album, Kill Em' All, and it's "Seek and Destroy"!

Saturday, 24th August was no doubt one of my best nights of 2013. It was glad to finally see them and I do hope that they will return again sooner than 20 years. Lars you kept your promise back in 1993, do keep your promise once again as you said that you guys will be back. 

"Singapore, you kicked our ass tonight" as said by James Hetfield.

Somebody just got to ruin it...

After hearing so many positive reviews about the truffles fries at Au Chocolat from my friends, I decided to make the trip with Sandra to give it a shot.

Ay Chocolat is located at a corner of Marina Bay Sands and is divided into two sections: a retail confectionery store selling snacks, such as cakes, cupcakes, and merchandise. The other half is a bistro which has a dining menu. We didn't try the snacks as our main goal is to taste the truffle fries and not them. As it was a weekend, there was a short queue and it took us approximately 10 minutes to get a table (Guess everyone crazy over the truffle fries :P). 

The menu has a huge variety of main courses, side courses and desserts and the Au Chocolat Tower Cake ($18) looked appealing but like what I mentioned, we were only dining in for the truffle fries and the others can wait. The truffle fries serving was generous and good for a serving of two, it's crispy and drizzled with white truffle oil and seasoned with truffle sea salt. It was so good that I had to convince myself to eat slowly to savior the taste, the truffle aroma that hit me when the fries were served couldn't get off my mind and made me carve for more of those. It came with BBQ sauce and mayonnaise but I didn't really dip them because in my honest opinion, the sauce ruins the marvelous taste.  

Though the price lies on the higher side but reasonable ($15), it is definitely worth to give it a try and in the near future, I will return to Au Chocolat not only for them but for the main courses too. After eating those, I just don't have the mood to eat McDonald's fries anymore *chuckles*.

Here is comes, almost a month post surgery! Since there isn't really much to say, I shall just make it short and sweet.

The swelling on my face has either completely or 90% faded away. As for food, I'm able to eat almost everything save crunchy or any that are too hard to chew, I had been eating much harder foods the past few days such as brownies, sausages and chicken rice (glad to finally eat rice once again) and didn't experience any problems chewing on them. I'm still anticipating the sensation to return on my gums and part of my lips which takes about 2-3 months according to my doctor.

I had another appointment with Dr. Danny today and it was a thorough one, had an oral cleaning and those rubber bands were back on each side of my jaw (not again...). I was supposed to have the plastic plates on my upper teeth removed but it broke in half last Friday while having my dinner and luckily, my mum was able to assist me in removing the hooks on them otherwise I would have to spend a hundred bucks at A&E. The rubber bands gave me irritation but thankfully it didn't affect my eating habits. I have also been informed by him that in two weeks time, the metal plates at my bottom teeth will be removed and be prepared for the pain that is about to come (oh crickey!).

I'm really glad that I'm finally able to almost eat anything as it was tormenting to stay away from so many of my favourite dishes and snacks, my lifestyle is back to normal I can say.

So it was National Day on 9 August and that means it was a public holiday too. I wasn't really bothered about the National Day Parade, it was monotonous from my point of view and there weren't any appeal compared to the parades held over 10 years ago. Instead, I thought of taking advantage of the day off to visit Gardens by the Bay with my girlfriend not only to see the flowers but to take lots of pictures on my trustworthy Nikon D5100.

There are two domes, the Flower Dome and Cloud Forest. We decided to visit both domes and paid $15 for both entrances as there was a National Day promotion going on during that period of time (Usual price is $20 for local residents). We visited the flower dome first and upon entry, there were various zones with different flowers to welcome us. It took us roughly two hours to complete the first dome and my review of this dome is a worthy visit. Here are some of the pictures I took from this dome.

   

Next was the Cloud Forest, and the main attraction is the waterfall which is about 8-9 stories tall. It was quite cold the moment we entered but that was nothing for me to be honest as I'm used to even colder temperatures. The real tour starts from the 7th level and spirals down till the basement which leads to the exit, each level containing a different theme such as cloud walk which is an aerial walkway around the top of the mountain giving both a closer view of the epiphyts growing on the outside of the mountain, and a view from above on the entry level below. The Cloud Forest is slightly smaller than the Flower Dome but it is higher and replicates the cool moist conditions found in tropical mountain regions in South-East Asia, Middle- and South America. whereas the latter replicates a mild, dry climate and features plants found in the Mediterranean and other semi-arid tropical regions. Below are some of the pictures from this dome.

Overall, it was a worthy visit to the Gardens with a different and a new experience but I wouldn't go too often. A great day off spent without regrets.

It's almost 2 weeks since I underwent surgery and recovery has been going well. The swelling has gradually reduced and it should take at least a few days to a week more till it fully goes away according to my surgeon.

I had another appointment with Dr. Danny in the morning today to get my stitches and rubber bands removed. The nervousness of getting my stitches removed came to me when I entered his room as I've read up from some other bloggers online the night before that removing the stitches hurt. First, he removed the remaining rubber bands and did the usual oral cleaning before taking the scissors to remove the stitches *panicked!!!*, I was so nervous that I tensed my body as I could feel him removing them and to my surprise the pain wasn't that bad as expected, just felt like an ant bite (guess it was due to the result of him doing it slowly and gently as said by him :P). Once everything was done, he said that he would be removing the plastic plates on my upper teeth on the next appointment which will be 2 weeks later and being a hungry soul for harder food, I asked him if I'm able to eat a larger range of foods and his response was noodles, fish and pasta. (Yay not too bad, but I still miss my chicken rice and steak!!!)

Now that those rubber bands are gone, I'm finally able to move my freely and had a mini celebration rewarding myself with a Sundae from Baskin Robins (yummilicious!). I'm also finally able to chew in the middle rather than the side which I had been doing for years prior to the surgery, it felt a little odd but guess that's how it goes for natural human instinct *khekhekhe*.

I'm really glad that everything has been going well and that I didn't experience any problems so far.

Hooray... one week has passed since I went under the knife and I'm feeling a lot better. 

The swelling on my face has subsided and I have begun eating more varieties of food such as spaghetti and, lasagne but solid food such as steak is still out for me. The only time I felt pain was when I laughed and being a person who laughs rather easily, I couldn't hold it and my upper jaw stung. 

Sleeping has been a lot easier and almost everything is back to normal, though I feel a little different as I have not been lifting weights and I'm waiting for the green light from my surgeon to resume doing it. Speaking has gotten easier too and I don't have much trouble moving my jaw, but the rubber bands are kinda irritating and food can get stuck in between and I will have a hard time trying to remove the food particles stuck.

Thank God that my recovery is going faster than normal and that I'm out of those ensure milk for good. I will be visiting my surgeon once again tomorrow for oral cleaning and change of rubber bands. Hope that week 2 will see the return of little harder foods. I miss my steak, chicken chop and satay!!! :(

(Day 4)

I woke up at 7.30am, to prepare for my appointment scheduled at 10am. Breakfast was the same as the past 3 days and still struggling to use the syringe, I even attempted to drink using a straw but it failed miserably.

After over 30 minutes of travelling, I finally arrived at the National Dental Centre to see Dr. Danny. The waiting time was less than 10 minutes, first he removed the bandages around my chin (like finally!), removed the rubber bands around my teeth and proceeded to clean them. I then proceeded for an X-ray and once again he was pleased with the result, to the point saying that I'm one of his best patients due to the expected speedy recovery. Lastly, he put on 2 rubber bands (one of each side) and all was done and the next appointment with him will be on Friday. 

Finally I was able to speak much clearer and the freedom of opening my jaws a little, I could even eat more varieties of liquid diet. The first thing I ate other than ensure milk was soya beancurd (tao huay) from Mr. Bean for dessert, as there wasn't anything prepared for lunch I had a can of vanilla ensure milk followed with a few scoops of ice cream with chocolate fudge (yummy!). Dinner was better as mum was home to cook those tiny letter pasta with chicken soup, boy did the sense of some sanity return. We then headed to the nearby supermarket to stock up on more liquid diets such as soup, horlicks and oatmeals for my meals the next few days.

It was definitely a sense of relief to be out of the syringe, ensure milks and using spoons and straws once again. Though my face is still puffy, it will eventually die down slowly within the next few days as told by my surgeon. It was also great to take my medication in tablet form as...  
IT TASTED HORRIBLE WHEN CRUSHED!!!

(Day 1)

I had a horrible sleepless night the day before but felt much better today. Gone were the dizziness and the urinary catheter was finally removed, though it stung like hell when the nurse was removing it, but hey there weren't restrictions any longer and could settle nature's call in one shot.

Finally, I woke up at 7am in the morning knowing that my surgeon along with his team would come to check on me anytime soon. They came and I told them of my experience the night before, everything sounded fine to them and said they would see once more later in the evening. I was then wheel-chaired down to the dental clinic to get my teeth cleaned and had an X-ray to check on the recovery. I was also taught on how to clean my teeth on my own, it was easy as I had no problem doing it after. After which, I saw myself on the mirror for the first time since the surgery and to my surprise, the swelling wasn't that bad as expected. Breakfast was my first time having ensure milk and it tasted jolly good, this would be used for all my meals for the next few days.

The remaining morning was spent dozing of trying to pass time and in the early afternoon, Sarah came down to visit and accompanied me throughout the next hour. It got pretty annoying having my mouth completely tied with rubber bands as all people could hear coming out of my mouth was "mmmmm" and being a chatty person, this was never my game. The only way to communicate effectively was through written or text messages. After Sarah left, I was transferred to the normal ward and attempted going back to zombie mode after having ensure milk once again for lunch but failed. When evening hit, Amri (secondary school friend) along with my mum and bro came down and kept me company till 9pm. My doctors came down once again and updated me on the recovery, they were pleased with the results shown on the X-ray taken earlier and said that if everything went as expected, I would be discharged by afternoon the day after (Sound of joy from the inside!) The IV was then taken off of me and felt the freedom of moving my left hand though the needle was still intact in case of any injections needed, I was also able to take a stroll around the hospital compound with Amri and accompanied him for dinner, ensure milk once again for myself and Ayam Penyet for himself (drools...).

The night felt young but I couldn't do much and anticipated my discharge.

(Day 2)

I slept much better last night and woke up at 7am once again, anticipating the arrival of my doctors to drop the good news. When they finally came down, they did a thorough check on me and said the words I have been anticipating "All's good, you will be discharged by afternoon". I grabbed my phone and sent a mass text to my mum, girlfriend and friends informing them of my discharge and left the hospital by 12 noon. 

I was prescribed antibiotics, panadols and supplied with cans of vanilla and strawberry ensure milks. Sandra arrived at the right time to pick me up and was my speech translator for the day, we took a cab to my home and got myself to shower the moment i arrived, I felt so fresh and excited to pass the day as I usually do.

In the evening, Sandra and I went for mass at Holy Family (Though I was just discharged, I'm still mobile and fit of course!) and accompanied her for dinner at Katong Laksa. It got real depressing after the sight and scent of the food got to me as I'm still on ensure milks and it got stale, but the words of encouragement from Sandra kept me standing firm and I said to myself that this suffering is only temporary for a lifetime result. I wore a mask out to conceal my bandages and puffy face as being a self-conscious person, I wasn't ready for others to see me in this state.

When I got back home, I had my dinner and it took longer than usual due to the sudden usage of syringes and I wasn't used to it yet. I just couldn't wait for my next appointment on Monday to remove the bandages on my chin which got real annoying,

25th July 2013 has finally arrived and it's time to fix my underbite yipee-ki-yay!!! Woke up exactly at 5.00am after receiving a wake up call from my friend whom will be accompanying me for admission (Thanks Sarah! Owe you a meal).

Registration went smoothly and once again I was on the receiving end of the needle for blood test (counted to a total of 8, had blood donation for this surgery a few days earlier and the nurses ran into some trouble, oh great!). Thank goodness I had companion to chat with as I would be completely silent 9 hours later. After donning the surgery gown, it was time to proceed up to the operation theatre. Said goodbye to my friend and sending messages to my mum and other friends to update them, after which I proceeded up and was being stretched to the operation theatre. A team of surgeons were there (along with Dr. Danny Tan) to greet me and were all prepared for the 7 hours long surgery. Once again I received the needle not once but twice (that made it a total of 10 times for the week) for IV drip and my pack of blood to be donated back to myself, the last moment I recalled was Dr. Tan saying "Everything will be fine" before getting passed out by the general anaesthesia.

I woke up at approximately 5pm and the first words I heard were "The surgery was a success", 9 hours have passed but I felt like only a few seconds have passed. There wasn't any pain, but the dizziness made me uncomfortable and nauseous, vomiting while my mouth was shut wouldn't be a pleasant experience so I tried my best not vomit and made myself as comfortable as I could. It took 30 minutes for my ward to be ready and by 5.45pm, I was on my bed. The first thing I wanted to do was for my hand-phone to be returned to be my side as I wanted to update everyone and inform them of my current ward. 

I had a few visitors for the night though I didn't had the energy to open my eyes nor speak due to the dizziness. First were my friends from secondary school followed with my mum and lastly my girlfriend along with her family and by 9pm the night was all to myself, the first thing that struck my mind was for this dizziness to fade.

Hello everyone!

I had been hiding this from my friends for years (self-conscious :P) and it only surfaced to them as I have decided to drop the news a few months prior to the operation which I will be going for tomorrow morning as I do not see any reason to hide it further and that it's only right for them know.

 I was totally oblivious on such cases until 2011 after reading up online. All I had to my knowledge was my upper and lower teeth not meeting evenly as my lower jaw was protruding, initially thought of it to be nothing. Anyhow, I started to suspect that something wasn't right and decided to consult an orthodontist. It was only then that the word "underbite" came to light and I was diagnosed with class III underbite, with the only way to correct the bite was through surgery. The word "surgery" gave me chills down my spine but I knew that it would have to be done if I wanted to my bite to be corrected. It was an optional surgery but I made a firm decision that I will correct my bite and gave Dr. Danny Tan, my surgeon the green light to begin treatment on me. Treatment was not immediate though, as braces were needed to be worn to get my teeth in their proper position in order to accurately measure the length needed to push back my jaw.

It has been 1 year 8 months since I first put on braces (November 2011) and remembered the first week with braces was crazy, I simply felt like ripping them off as my teeth were sore to the point that chewing on noodles got depressing. This time however, it will be about a week of pure liquid diet and probably a month +/- before I'm able to resume my eating habits. In the weeks leading up to the surgery, I was educated on the risks, what to expect post-surgery and was totally prepared for it as I just want this to be finished asap. The past few days were filled with excitement and nervousness at same time as it will be the first time that I will be experiencing going under the knife (not that I will be awake but whatever...) and filled my stomach with as much delicious food as I could to prepare for the weight lost and liquid diets.

Like every surgery, there is a risk. There's a chance I may face permanent numbness on my lips and chin but the intercessions from my peers and the faith in God gave me the much needed boost in confidence to go for it. I have complete trust in my surgeon on this as he has years of experience performing this surgery and does it 1-2 times a week. Time to take a good rest as my surgery is scheduled to take place at 8.30am tomorrow (25/7) and reporting time is at 7am, therefore the need to wake up at 5.30am is mandatory due to the travelling time and preperation. Goodnight world!

One of our sisters in the community has left us to answer God's calling, to be a Carmelite nun. We will never see her in person again as she has sacrificed the luxuries to live a consecrated life and that means never seeing the outside world ever again except certain circumstances such as illness.

Despite only knowing her for a short period of time (1 year to be exact), her words of wisdom and preaching the word of God gave each and everyone of us in the community the inspiration and understand Him more than we thought we had, and she is Karen Wee. She had left on July 7 2013 to return to her hometown of Sarawak, Malaysia as she chose to join the Carmelite monastery there and joined the other nuns on July 16 2013. Prior to that week, the Amplify community held a surprise farewell potluck party for her with some or shall I say most us sharing our tribute and thanks to her when we were given the time when it was nearing to the end of the program.

I loved how the event planners decorated the room with pictures of her with us throughout the years. Credits to them for the wonderful event and for being gregarious hosts.

Saying grace before meal, hoping that I will be able to pray spontaneously and willingly like her one day.

She was truly a mentor to all of us and with her intercessions, that surely kept us standing tall. Her kind and approachable nature gave me the trust and confidence in speaking to her about my faith and troubles at times and bring ministered by her occasionally also gave me a feeling of peace and security.

Thank you Karen for everything, like what Royston said, you are the "Mother Mary" on Earth. Though I'm happy for you, at the same time I'm sad that you have left us. It was a joy and privilege to serve with you in the intercessory team for Awaken 7, your words had truly touched me.

What a memorable night

Despite being a staunch Catholic, my spiritual life has never exceed the D grade. Long and charismatic prayers were never my cup of tea as I'm a person who prefers short prayer (that is 5-10 minutes). However God had a challenge for me and I had a choice, to accept or reject it. The verdict was to accept the challenge.

Awaken is a 4-day youth retreat held by the Amplify youth community and conducted by Archbishop William Goh in June and December every year. During this retreat, participants will experience the love and reality of God through music and life-giving talks. Having attended Awaken a year ago as a participant, I received the calling to be part of the service team once again for Awaken 7. This time a big surprise hit me, to serve in the intercessory team. Being poor in spontaneous prayer, I had doubts but eventually I chose to accept the calling and got all pumped up, ready to serve as an intercessor. My job was to intercede for miracles and conversion to shine upon the 132 participants who were awaiting their breakthrough, some came willingly and some didn't (eg. dragged by parents or friends). Among the participants in attendance was my girlfriend, Sandra. She was looking for a closer relationship with God which I, along with my fellow intercessors had to ensure it will happen not only for her but the other participants too.

I assumed taking up the role of an intercessor was just another walk in the park but I was given a slap on the wrist. In Awaken 6 which was held 6 months prior to Awaken 7, I served in the Environment team which primary role was to handle the logistics and was used to the long breaks I had and it wasn't that bad as I thought it will be. However, the intercessory team had only 10-15 minutes break in between sessions which was indeed a shocking factor for me. Each session lasted for an hour and a half with spontaneous prayers and as time passed, tiredness kicked in and I began having mood swings and felt antsy. I admitted to my peers that I wasn't happy and just couldn't wait for the retreat to end, the only thing that kept me alive and on-going was by playing the guitar (my hobby) for certain sessions. Somehow I felt a connection with God through that. Day 2 eventually improved for me, felt more energetic after a much needed rest and more willing to pray during sessions. The next 2 days was indeed my breakthrough, as much as not being able to put words into my prayers, spreading the words of giving praise and thanks to the Lord was adequate.

Being affirmed by my peers was indeed heart-warming, hearing words of encouragement from Ethelyn and Teresa (intercessory heads) to Amo (fellow intercessor) gave me the muscle to carry on. I had realised how my cockiness and self-centered attitude caused my defiance to God. I can be such a great servant of God, journeying with His people but I have to remember to be humble and surrender to Him whenever I feel the need to. It was also a privilege to recite the prayer for the faithful on the last day during mass, that was a much needed remainder for me that prayer wasn't for myself but for everyone. I am thankful for journeying with the other intercessors, they have been supportive throughout the retreat because without them I would have struggled more than I already had.

Awaken 7 intercessory team with His Grace, William Goh

Being in the Awaken service team was such a wonderful time to be used as God's instrument. Not only did the service team helped change participant lives but the time we went through together, from the times feeling electrified and to the times feeling zonked pulled us together for we are servants of God.

Really happy to see that your desire to know God better came through during the 4 days. Despite not seeing you often during the entire retreat due to my duties as an intercessor, I have always been there supporting and praying for you. Hope that you had a great experience, looking forward to serve alongside you in the future. God bless you my dear.

Credits to Dominic Lee for the picture

What a well spent day at the Singapore Zoological Gardens. We have decided to make the trip on that Wednesday as it was Labour Day, a public holiday in Singapore. It has been almost 4 years since I've been to the zoo and being an avid photographer, I thought of it to be a great location to put my photography skills at work.

Ray, Sandra and I stopped by for breakfast first at Choa Chu Kang interchange before our adventure kicked off, settling on McDonald's. It has been awhile since I last had hotcakes so I said "Why not?". It took us approximately 20 minutes to reach our destination, the weather didn't seem too friendly on that day and we feared that it would rain and our it turned out to true as it rained heavily in the later afternoon (Oh crikey...) but thank God it lasted for a short while, therefore not hindering our trip as time was precious. Looking the at sign above the entrance relieved the happy moments I had at the zoo during my younger days. I recalled the days my Godfather used to bring my brother and I here during the school holidays when we were in primary school. Not much has changed since my last visit, except an additional sign beside the zoo which reads "River Safari", a park recently opened and it houses the pandas, I shall pay a visit in the future but not too soon. Upon entering, the childlike excitement surfaced just like the good ol' days and I had one goal in mind, complete the park without missing any exhibits.

Was lucky to capture this shot

We roughly spent 10 minutes in each exhibit observing the animals (with me on the camera lol), I wasted a little time figuring out the best settings on my DSLR Nikon D5100 to get a splendid picture. Ray and Sandra went with the flow while I was the "leader of the pack", couldn't forget the two of them trying to hide from me while I was distracted with the pictures, I usually caught them in the act  but they succeeded a few attempts (=.=!!!). The hardest picture to take was probably the cheetah as it just couldn't keep still, the easiest were probably the crocodiles and the komodo dragon as they were stationary (no effort needed :P). We managed to catch a show on the way called "Rainforest Fights Back" which educated the audience on preserving the wildlife, after which we headed for lunch at KFC which is the cheapest dine-in at the zoo (Still prefer the old KFC layout to the current one). The skies were dark for a period of time and rain finally started showering down, fortunately we have arrived at the restaurant, otherwise we would have looked like we just came out from the shower as it was raining cats and dogs. 

By the time we had lunch which was about 3pm, we had covered half of the zoo, popular animals such as the white tigers and orangutan had been covered, but the lions and the giraffes weren't. There was an elephant ride at one of the attractions on the way but paying $8 for a one small round which probably lasted less than 15 minutes didn't justify the worthiness of the ride. It may be fun for the little ones, but not us adults as we are the ones who faces the butterfly flying out of our wallets. One of my favourites was the reptile garden which houses various species of snakes such as the king cobra and python. The fragile forest we visited near the reptile garden lets the animals such as the lemurs roam free

and they are harmless anyway, though I received a little pinch from one of the birds (couldn't remember what bird it was) after allowing it to climb onto my hands (naughty bird using it's beak to pinch). Overall, it was a pleasant day at the zoo spending time with a good friend of mine and my girlfriend. The only disappointment I had was that the polar bear exhibit was under construction at the time and that was one of the iconic attraction. The weather was also something we took note. As Singapore is a tropical country, it will be humid so we didn't expect to leave the zoo dry (if you know what I mean) and our expectations were right.

I would certainly visit the zoo some time in the future, my next destination to visit will be the River Safari. Just hoping that the entrance fee of $35 will be worth my money. In my opinion, Night Safari was a disappointment as I could barely see the animals and majority of the time was spent riding a tram.

Friendly lemurs

Somehow the statue got bigger in 2013

Back in 2009

The popular white tiger

Adopted by Tiger, how ironic 

Ray's turn