Wandering Fel

If you happen to stay around Tanjong Pagar area in Singapore (check out the 10 best hotels in Tanjong Pagar) either for business or pleasure and you are looking for a quaint cafe to relax for a while around 8-ish in the evening, well, you can probably only come to Flor Patisserie in Duxton Hill. It happened to us before, we just had our dinner at Violet Herbs in Tras Link and we wanted to continue our talk in a cafe. But somehow most cafes located in Tanjong Pagar close at 6PM. Even on Saturday. Thankfully, Flor Patisserie opens until 10PM. And to cut story short, here is where we spent the rest of the night talking about our lives. Hahaha.

I seriously envy those people who keep going for staycation but at the same, don't feel like spending money on staycation in Singapore. Hahaha. Oh for you who don't know the concept of staycation, it's basically spending the night in the hotel which is located in the city where you are residing. A lot of people in Singapore loves this activity (especially those with small kids who are too small for travelling). This include my friend from high school who now has a one-year-old son. It happens that this week she's staycationing at the newest hip hotel on top of Orchard Gateway, Hotel Jen. No wonder, she can easily ask me out to meet her at Som Tam, which is located a stone away at the next-door Orchard Central (fyi, she seldom asks me out since giving birth, like ever!).

There is something about Orchard Road. Every tourists who come to Singapore will surely visit this stretch of road to do some shopping. There are several friends of mine who purposely waiting for great flight deals just to come to Singapore (fyi, Qatar Airways often have flight deals to Singapore) and do some shopping at Orchard Road. For us who are working in Singapore, Orchard Road also has some weird effect on us. Whenever we are meeting in Orchard Road, we don't feel like going home so early. Okay, either the effect can come either from Orchard Road or our house in Singapore. LOL.

Anyway, if you are looking for a place to have a nice chat when it is already 9PM in Orchard Road, you can visit The Providore at Mandarin Gallery as they close quit late (either 10 or 11PM if I'm not wrong). The Providore is a nice place to have a cup of coffee and a slice of cake.

During one of my friend's visit to Singapore, the first thing that she wanted to try is the DC Comics Superheroes Cafe at Marina Bay Sands because her son would love it. And the place is just so convenient from her chosen accommodation, Marina Bay Sands (the ultimate choice for most Indonesians who come to Singapore, somehow). In her defence, she managed to get a good deal for her stay at Marina Bay Sands because she booked it for low-season dates. Hmm, not sure how true it is, I guess we must keep on opening our eyes for such deal.

Back to DC Comics Superheroes Cafe, I've visited the cafe before for the Batman black burger but this time my friend and I wanted to try their cakes and coffee. The themed ones of course. You can see the cake selection over the counter. 

Thank goodness we are staying near to Kyoto Station so that it's easy to travel from one station to another station. In fact, our hotel, Ibis Styles Kyoto Station, is located right across Kyoto Station. Super convenient indeed. Since we are in Kyoto, we were pretty curious about one of the tourist attractions in Kyoto named Toei Kyoto Studio Park (or also widely known as Ninjatown). The nearest station to Ninjatown is Uzumasa Station. It is within reasonable walking distance from Uzumasa Station (10 minutes of leisure walk).

This year, I will be celebrating my birthday by vacationing. Yeay! Sadly, I won't be able to celebrate it together with my bestie because she's going to travel with her sister at the same time. So after reading the online review on Violet Herbs, the so-called affordable fine dining place in Tanjong Pagar area, we decided to give it a try for my pre-birthday dinner (Are we allowed to celebrate birthday in advance, btw?). The restaurant is located along the shophouses at Tras Street in Tanjong Pagar. I seldom go to this area and the area turns out to be quite hipster. There are a lot of pubs and restaurants which open at night offering both casual and fine dining. If you are looking for a hotel to spend the night in this area, you may consider staying at Orchid Hotel or Amara Hotel as both hotels are located pretty nearby. 

What should you do if you are getting hungry in Arashiyama? Look for the nearest food stall of course. Arashiyama is thankfully filled with a lot of food stall here and there, especially along the main street. If you don't know which stall to choose from, the easiest hint is to follow the queue line. This stall has a line so we were pretty much lured by curiosity. Hahaha. 

Tenryuji is the most famous temple in Arashiyama district. It is a world cultural heritage site and hence, a lot of visitors from all around the world make their way to Arashiyama to Tenryuji Temple. If this is your first trip to Japan, you will notice that there are a lot of the red torii gates whenever a temple is nearby. The torii gates symbolically marks the transition from the profane to the sacred. There is a small torii gate on the way to Tenryuji Temple in Arashiyama, too.

Arashiyama (re: Mount Arashi) is not only referring to the popular district located in the western part of Kyoto but also referring to the mountain right across Katsura River. Arashiyama is literally translated as Storm Mountain but the mountain looks pretty lushful instead of...I dunno, stormy? Haha.