Wandering Fel

Hida beef and Cremia ice cream at Shirakawago

House and crop field at Shirakawago Japan

The beautiful vantage view of Shirakawago

Shirakawago is one of the highlight of the 8 days Avia spring tour to Japan. To be honest, it is also of the luring reason of why I joined this tour. I’ve been seeing photos of Shirakawago in Instagram and since then, I have made mental note to include Shirakawago in must-go-list when I revisit Japan. Thanks goodness the chance came.

I visited Shirakawago sometime in end March so the snow on the ground is not as thick as what you call winter wonderland. This is good for me because I am not a fan of thick snow. But at the same time, my brother who has never seen snow before could finally have a chance to see and touch the snow. I heard there is not much thing to do in Shirakawago when summer comes so spring is probably the latest chance you can visit Shirakawago before it closes and reopens toward the coming of winter.

The houses at Shirakawago are mostly used as stores and exhibition for tourism purpose. In winter, the snow piling on top of the houses roof is thick and occasionally the snow may topple to the ground. They are heavy and can cause injury so be careful when you are walking around Shirakawago in winter.

The problem with the tour is, the limited time that I got to explore Shirakawago. Walking around, taking picture, buying the famous Hida beef and Cremia ice cream, and climbing to the top of the vantage point takes time. But we have to do all within 40 minutes. I don’t think anyone else in the tour bothered to try to climb up to the vantage point (understandable cause they are mostly in their 60s) but there’s no way I’m gonna missing out the beautiful aerial view of Shirakawago from the top of the hill. The climb to the top is kinda tiring despite I’m still in my early 30s (and my brother in his not-so-late 20s). We wonder if our lifestyle need to have some healthier touches. But in my defense, I’m never good at climbing since school days. So I suppose this got nothing to do with age, right?

Do you know it feels so good to eat ice cream when the weather is cool? Thanks to Cremia opening one outlet here (I notice they like to open outlets at some unimaginable places, like the top of the mountain), I could do that at Shirakawago. This Cremia ice cream is really good. It’s milky and soft and yet not really considered soft-served. Hmm, I can’t really describe food well except for nice or not nice, so I suppose it’s better if you try it for yourself. Hehe.

Everytime I feel a bit down, I have the urge to write. It does not have to be something deep but I suppose I just to release my meh feeling into other kind of form. Probably one of the biggest culprit for my under-the-weather mood is the fact that I’ve gained weight. That and the fact that the weather is kinda chilling today with the long and heavy shower of waters from the sky. While soup is probably the best choice for dinner, I ended up going for cold theme at The Autobus.

Singapore Eats: The Autobus, Downtown Gallery

The first time my friend asked me to have lunch at the Autobus, I thought he was referring to one of the Transformers’ name. But after confirming that there’s no Transformer called Autobus (via the internet), I found out that the Autobus is a bicycle cafe at the entrance of Downtown Gallery (the entrance nearest to the direction of Tanjong Pagar MRT).

The Autobus at Downtown Gallery Singapore

Although the Autobus probably serves brunch items on weekend, it offers salad/protein bowl on weekdays. If you ask me, the concept is a bit similar to the Daily Cut (and those healthy joints popping up across the CBD area of Singapore). The drill is the same, pick up a pencil/ pen and the order chit and start ticking away your selected items based on preferred size. The cheapest bowl at the Autobus starts from SGD 10 but currently there is a promotional voucher that you can buy from Fave (you need to install the app to use the voucher). The voucher let you spend SGD 7.50 for SGD 10 worth. Not bad, I love discount no matter how small it is.

While a lot of people are raving about the Daily Cut, I have only seen brussels sprouts offered on the ordering chit in the Autobus. I was surprised I fell in love with this one funky vegetable. Love works in a mysterious way I suppose. The cajun chicken which I pick goes well with the soy sesame sauce, brussels sprouts, edamame and the hidden brown rice underneath the whole other items.

Cajun chicken salad bowl from the Autobus

I think the bowl served at the Autobus is pretty good although some people may prefer the Daily Cut. At least, the queue line at the Autobus is less daunting, especially for people like me who don’t really like to queue. Oh gosh, how am I gonna survive in let’s say, Japan, the land of orderly Q.

The Autobus is located at level one of the Downtown Gallery and it opens from 8AM to 9PM daily except for Sunday.

I’ve stayed for 10 years in Singapore and yet, I have never set my foot in Johor Bahru with the exception of passing through the custom on the way to Melacca. When bae heard this, he was pretty much surprised and asked me out for a day trip to the newest mall in Johor Bahru, Paradigm Mall. The only things that I’ve heard about Paradigm Mall is that (1) it’s not near custom and (2) the car park seems to be haunted. Since none of us has car and we don’t feel like cabbing to the mall, we decided to book a return bus trip from Take Me to Malaysia (www.takemetomalaysia.sg).

Starting from May 2018, every weekend, the bus will pick up passengers from three MRT stations in Singapore: Punggol MRT (8AM), Ang Mo Kio MRT (8.20AM) and Bishan MRT (8.35AM). We booked 2 return tickets (17SGD each) from Bishan to Paradigm Mall. You can book seat number in the bus when making the booking. Please note that there is only one fixed timing for the return bus from Paradigm Mall at 7PM.

I suppose one of the thing that you need to take note when taking bus to Malaysia is how the bus looks like because you need to board - alight - board - alight to clear both Singapore and Malaysia customs. The bus will have Take Me to Malaysia sign posted in the front but personally I find it easier to remember the color of the bus and the plate number. Back then, a white bus is used to pick all of us from the above three MRT stations.

The trip to Paradigm Mall takes around 1.5 hours but there was minimum traffic on that particular Saturday. Not sure how long it’s gonna take if there’s traffic on the road. Paradigm Mall is huge, so huge until you feel that it is kinda empty somehow. But there are so many things you can do in the mall.

1. Sport activities

There is huge ice skating rink in the middle of the mall and I suppose the price for ice skating here should be cheaper than skating in Singapore. I have retired from ice skating long time ago so I don’t bother to check out the price. But if you are interested, you should probably go ice-skate here. If you prefer active activity which is less cold, Paradigm Mall has a huge wall climbing station at upper most level of the mall (where the cinema is located). Just looking at the walls is enough to make me tired, to be honest with you. I guess I am not cut-out for these kind of activities. LOL.

2. Movies

Bae wanted to catch Deadpool since we are gonna be at Paradigm Mall for a while. If I recall correctly, the movie tickets costs RM 42 for two (that’s equivalent to less than SGD 10 each!). Bae is super excited about the price since the seats are quite comfortable (it’s leather) and the movie screen and sound quality is not bad (well, it’s new too!).

3. Foodie adventure

If you are a foodie, you can rejoice because you will see a lot of restaurant and stall selling interesting food in Paradigm Mall. Since I love eating (especially new stuff), this portion will make this post longer. Haha. My first stop that day is gotta be Tai-Croissant because well, have you seen taiyaki made from croissant before? No, right?

3a. Tai-Croissant

The waiting time for the taiyaki croissant is super long, we ended up making a round to Lavender Bakery to buy some breads (this bakery is a must try too) and came back here to pick up our order. You can choose savoury and sweet fillings for your croissant taiyaki. It can be quite filling because the size is not small but I was coughing and I did not want to pass the virus to my bae (plus I’m greedy) so we eat one each. Bae chose Oreo Custard while I chose Okinawan Mochi. My Okinawan mochi came with a lot of red bean so it’s quite yummy for those of you who prefer traditional flavour. But if you are up for fancy flavor, I think Hokkaido custard will do the trick.

Croissant Taiyaki from Tai-Croissant at Paradigm Mall

3b. Sushi Zanmai

Sushi Zanmai kinda gives similar vibe to Sushi Tei but it’s cheaper because well its price-tag is in Ringgit. They have special menu each month and I was about to order one until I realise that there’s okra in their special roll. Oh no. So we ended up ordering one of their sushi roll in the menu. Since we had just digested the croissant taiyaki, we did not order much except for a few sushi (uhm, 14 pieces to be exact) and a small plate of fried squid. Total bill came up to 65 Ringgit (i.e. 21+ SGD) for two people. Taste-wise, it’s not bad, although the maki cannot beat Koh Grill’s shiok maki. Well I’m happy for the price. #cheapskate

Sushi Zanmai at Paradigm Mall Johor Bahru

3c. D’Shanghai

I guess the saying “time goes fast when you are having fun” is true because by the time we have finished watching movies and buying some stuff at Watsons, it’s already past 5PM. Bae suggested to have early dinner because we were going back Singapore via Woodlands checkpoint and there’s no saying on how long it’s going to take with the immigration and everything. After carefully considering many dining options, bae chose to have his favorite wanton noodle at D’Shanghai. I prefer my noodle dry but he prefers the soup version. I suppose a couple can live with a few differences. Focusing on the noodle, D’Shanghai does serve pretty good char siew wanton noodle. The BBQ pork pieces are big and so do the wantons. I feel comforted after my meal. LOL.

Char siew wanton noodle from D’Shanghai at Paradigm Mall

4. Shopping

Because we don’t really have enough time to roam the whole fashion stores in Paradigm Mall, I focused on the two Korean fashion stores available in the mall, MIXXO and SPAO. I love the clothes sold in MIXXO but not the price tag. So I only got myself one skirt hahaha. Bae managed to seize a good deal on hoodie which he gonna wear for our Japan trip in December.

I suppose I don’t mind another trip to Paradigm but I probably wait until July or August so that I can check out summer collection of clothes in MIXXO. Until next time~

Wandering Fel

8D Avia Japan Trip: Shirakawago

Singapore Eats: The Autobus, Downtown Gallery

Saturday Day Trip to Paradigm Mall, Johor Bahru