Monday, 3 February 2014

River Hongbao 2014 and City Square Mall

It's been a long time since I last went to the River Hongbao.


This year, we did most of our house visiting on the first day of the Lunar New Year. So on the second day, we only needed to visit one relative's place for a lunchtime gathering. After the lunchtime gathering, we went to the River Hongbao.

Thee moment we reached the River Hongbao, we saw some rides available in the sheltered part of it. However, those rides seemed to be for smaller kids which was not suitable for bigger kids like Lynn. Anyway, Sera also wanted to ride on the bigger carousel, so we went to the open area. Before we found the carousel, we took some pictures along the way.





Surprisingly, there was no queue at the carousel ride, so the kids could start the ride almost immediately. The horses and sea horses were too high for them, so the staff helped to carry the kids up to the rides.


Next, the kids wanted to take the bumper car ride. There was a short queue there. So we waited for a short while before the kids could get on the ride.





After those rides, we just wandered around to take some pictures.






The good thing about going in the afternoon was the lighting was good for photo taking. The bad thing, of course, was the scorching heat from the sun. Sera couldn't stand the heat so she used an umbrella to cover her face even during phototaking, lol!

Later in the day, we went to City Square Mall. We were surprised to find these Chinese New Year decorations. There were pictures of the 12 Chinese zodiac signs and the outlook for each zodiac sign in the year of the horse. Sera posed with all the 12 Chinese zodiac signs. Here are just some of the photos we took of her posing with the signs.







Many shops were closed at City Square Mall on 1 Feb 2014. However, there were some books and shoes on sale on the first floor. We managed to find some items that we liked. :)

Friday, 31 January 2014

Happy Chinese New Year!




Here's wishing everyone a very Happy Chinese New Year!



祝大家:

龙马精神,
马到成功,
马上有钱!


Thursday, 30 January 2014

《千金》("Precious")

千金》("Precious") is a TV drama that started airing on MediaCorp Channel 8 from 10 Jan 2014, at 11 pm on weekdays. 

I have read from somewhere that this drama serial was supposed to be the remake of 《小娘惹》( "Little Nonya") but was heavily edited to suit the Chinese context for viewers in China, with Jeanette Aw and Dai Xiangyu (previously known as Dai Yangtian) as two of the drama cast. I was quite eager to watch it even though I don't usually watch TV shows at this time slot.


When I first saw the shots on TV, I thought the setting of the drama was in the Republic of China (中华民国) era. However, when I watched the first episode, I was surprised to see the actors and actresses dressed in Qing dynasty costumes. As I watched further, I realized that 千金》("Precious") was set in the period of the late Qing to the Republic of China (中华民国). 

千金 usually refers to girls born into rich families. However, in episode 3, I learnt that in Xicheng, only girls who were born into rich families with some form of disability were referred to as 千金  (at least that was what they said in the show). 

Up till now, I find that the similarities between 千金》("Precious") and小娘惹》( "Little Nonya") were not that apparent. It was like an entirely different story. If I have never read about it being the Chinese version of 小娘惹》( "Little Nonya"), I probably would not notice any linkage between the two dramas.

So far, so good...