Visited: Mint Toy Museum, Singapore

I had the chance to visit the Mint Museum of Toys courtesy of a Groupon which made the entrance fee slightly less than half price.

The museum is located right opposite the Raffles Hotel, there’s a sign pointing to it right where the street begins. It’s not that difficult to find since the sign is pretty big.

The place has five floors–entrance on first floor with four exhibition levels. The levels are themed and you start from the top floor: Outerspace, Characters, Childhood favorites and Collectibles.

The floor space is really cramped and half the time I have to wait for someone and their date to finish staring/photgraphing/commenting on the exhibitions before I could politely look at the stuff.
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Singapore Art Museum, interesting exhibition

The first time I went to the Singapore Art Museum was a long long time ago. The artwork that were exhibited were a bit depressing then and I did not have a good impression of it.

But last Friday night, I went with J who had been on Curator’s Tour of the museum. She shared very interesting things about the exhibits that I would not have known.

My favorite exhibit is the interactive piece where you open the door of a wadrobe and enter a narrow corridor. Much like Narnia, without the snow. The corridor brings you to a room of a writer. A small small room with desk, cupboard and half a TV.

I like how the Art Museum lets me participate in the piece, unlike other museums where you just stand about nodding your head. (Although I’m still a big museum fan.)

Do you have a favorite museum? Which is your favorite exhibit?

8 reasons you should visit Kota Kinabalu, Sabah

BootsnAll has a post on why you should visit Southeast Asia. I want to bring you deeper into SEA.

Welcome to Kota Kinabalu.

I was born and raised in Kota Kinabalu, the capital of Sabah. I’ve always been fiercely proud of being a Sabahan. In fact, I think myself as a Sabahan first, a Malaysian second.

Where is Sabah and where is KK (pronounced keh-keh in our local accent)? It is in the northern part of Borneo–the third largest island in the world. The second largest state in Malaysia.

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Video: Lion Dance during Chinese New Year

Acrobatic Lion Dance while I was home for the lunar new year.

Before this year, I really disliked Lion Dances because the drums make my heart uncomfortable.

But this year I enjoyed it better because I thought I must *feel* the Chinese New Year. Do I make sense>?

Free things to do in Changi Airport

I blame my stinginess to being a Taurus. I love bargains and cheap buys. But most of all, I LOVE free things.

For this fortnight’s Travel Local series, I’ll be sharing some of the free things you can do in Changi Airport right after you land (or before you fly off)!

(Most of these are available in the posher terminals and might not be present at the budget terminal where airlines such as Tiger Airways leave.)

Changi Airport lost to Hong Kong International Airport for Best Airport 2011. I’ve not been to HK’s airport but can it really beat all the free stuff you can get at Changi?

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Upcoming trip: KL light bulb trip

I’ve bought a return trip ticket to KL for the Feb 11 weekend. This will be my first time taking the overnight train in Malaysia.

I named the trip the “KL light bulb trip” because I’m joining N and her boyfriend (whom I’ve not met) who are both coming in from overseas. “Light bulb” in colloquial Chinese means a third person among a couple. (Coincidentally, my first overnight train trip in China was with N.)

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Shopping for vintage clothing in Kota Kinabalu

If you are planning a trip to Kota Kinabalu (or KK–pronounced “keh keh” locally instead of “kay kay” the non-local way–for short), you probably would have sun, sea, mountain in mind instead of vintage clothing.

OK OK, I’m stretching it a lot when I say vintage, it should be second hand clothing.

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5 free touristy things to do in Singapore

Unlike its neighbor countries, Singapore–my current adopted country–can be a lot more expensive if you factor in the currency exchange.

If you’re on a stopover here heading to Thailand/Indonesia and do not want to break your budget holiday streak, here’s a list of 5 touristy things you can do for free on this sunny island.

When I say touristy, I don’t mean it in a negative way such as “This is not what a local would do so it’s not an authentic experience.” I actually wish more people would get around and do some of the stuff because travelling doesn’t only mean getting away.

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2012’s first sunset

Watched the sun set at Port Dickson.

Sights (no sound) of Muar, Johor

D and I visited Muar during the Christmas weekend. It was our first trip which we have made no real plans: no pre-booked bus tickets, hotel nor list of places to visit.

We mainly feasted on Chinese food (another blog post) and walked around the town going into random boutiques (they have A LOT of random boutiques).