Kaohsiung: Takao Railway Museum

Do you know that Kaohsiung was called Takao (打狗)? I didn't. After visited Takao Railway Museum, I learnt that, Kaohsiung was a small fishing village named Takao, meaning "bamboo forest" in local aboriginal name. The name was changed to Kaohsiung by the Japaneses, which was also pronounced "Takao" in Japanese, as they found the name of ta-kao (beating the dog)  to be vulgar.

The main building of the railway station was kept intact- the open counter, the maps and train schedule on the wall, the desks and the chairs of the workers, the stationery, the blackboard with white chalk, the waiting benches... (can see more from here)

And I thought, the museum was just the station building.

Kaohsiung: Fongyi Academy

I first learnt about this place was from a well-known Writer- Selena, through her blog. It was a place after years of restoration and renovation to retain and repair the Academy's origin and uniqueness. Those funny figures scattered around the Academy sure attracted me to put it into our itinerary. Good place to introduce a brief history of the ancient Chinese Education and its civil examination system to the girls, I thought.

First built in 1814, the 19th year of Qing emperor Jiaqing (嘉慶), the Fongyi Academy is considered a third-grade heritage site. It has 37 rooms and the academy's internal altars, as well as desks and chairs; it was a place where prospective examinees took the initial exams and the largest Confucian academy preserved in Taiwan. (source)

Grateful

1.

This is part of the daddy's reporting since the beginning of the year, letting me know of Little Bomber's behave in the morning when he sent her to childcare center. I've resume full time working scheme and no longer able to do the sending-the-kids-to-school, witness their (either) cheeky face or grumpy face, give a hug and bid goodbye. But the daddy did one little but brilliant initiative by reporting the situation via WA (What’s App) message, almost everyday. In a line or two, he would shared with me his joy if Bomber didn't bomb him, or his achievement of handling an outburst. Sometime, I felt my presence with them and mentioned the morning incident unconciously during our dinner chatting, and Bomber would asked, "how did you know? You were not there?" Hmmm... 

She later realised that the WA conversation (between mummy and daddy) in daddy's phone containing many of her mornings' picture...

Bangkok: Eat and Shop

This was an impromptu trip. As in we were chatting about shopping and then decided to make a weekend trip to Bangkok 3 weeks prior.

Departure on Friday after work and return on Sunday night. Practically, we only had 1 full day in Bangkok. So, it was just SHOP [verb: visit one or more shops to buy goods.]

Though it was only the three of us. (Previous trip had more friends joined)

Carrbridge, The Kitchen and Carr-Bridge

On the last day of our amazing adventure in Scotland. we continued our journey, via A9 down south from Drumnadrochit/Inverness. It was a beautiful sunny day, we needed to head back to Edinburgh to catch our sleeper train back to London.

After an hour drive, I thought we were bypassing an ordinary quiet town and will be picking a regular cafe for a brunch. The town itself has an unique name- Carrbridge, the cafe that we walked into had a very common name on its front wall- The Kitchen.

Chinese Glutinous Rice Dumpling (II)

I had it last year. I am having it again this year. 

This time, coincide with our trip home, I sought my mum's consensus to do it together, to rejoice our good old family tradition. I also thought, perhaps I can show off a little of my matured skill of rice dumpling wrapping.

Pezzo and Club Rainbow Children Broke Record of the Largest Dessert Pizza for Good Cause

Last week, Pezzo Pizza and 70 children from Club Rainbow (Singapore) came together to create the largest yummylicious dessert pizza in Singapore at NUS Sheares Hall, which have made them earned an entry in the Singapore Book of Records. I was late, due to work, missed the historical moment. However, I felt the jolly atmosphere from the event. I think the kids were not just had fun, they were proud of achieving the local record-breaking pizza.

And this is to give a shout-out for a good cause.

Named Club Rainbow pizza, the pizza is topped with everyone’s favourite cocoa spread, Nutella chocolate as well as caramelised bananas and marshmallows, and then finished with heart-shaped sprinkles. In support of Club Rainbow Charity, Pezzo Pizza is making this pizza available for sale as well. One slice of the Club Rainbow Pizza goes at S$4.90; three slices at S$12.90 and a full pan at S$24.90. Part of the sales proceeds of the Club Rainbow Pizza will be donated to Club Rainbow, offsetting expenses it incurs from helping children with various chronic and life-threatening illnesses.

Review: Zno's Layflat Book

I like to do photo album, digitally or not. The process of browsing and handpicking photos, attempting to layout the pages chronologically and flipping through the pages back and forth is therapeutic. And the outcome of the hard work is... pleasing, because of the achievement of memory-calling and collating sets of photos into a book. 

When I chanced upon Zno, I decided to try my hands in making the Layflat book. I was drawn to its thick pages of high quality printing. The pages of the book are not just done on conventional paper quality, but it mounted on thick inner substrate with silver halide photo paper, which gives the book an excellent premier characters. The uniqueness of no bulging and no gutting when layflat is another special feature. Think grand and once-in-one's-life-time high quality wedding album, but in smaller and manageable scale. What's more, the special offer - $5 Trial was very attractive. 

The special offer is not just for its premium flush mount photo album but also wood custom photo frame and canvas print.

Eligibility: 1 trial item per household/account;

Note: Shipping & tax (if any) not included.

Here, I am sharing some tips of making a layflat book via Zno.

Bukit Timah Nature Reserve

We were late, in getting up from bed and out from house and breakfast on the replacement holiday of Labour Day. Yet, at 11am, Bukit Timah Nature Reserve was not too hot for a late morning trekking and mountain biking. Naturally, the microclimate of the forest is lower and the layers of green filters the sun penetration directly to the ground.

This time, from the car park at Hindhede Road, we randomly picked the nearest trail which led us to a Quarry, and a very fun playground. Swings, obstacle course, flying fox, climbing trees, etc. One part of the playground was cordoned off though. 

Not too far from the playground, there was a short hanging rope bridge for trekkers to cross. The girls were extremely thrilled with themselves conquering the fear of crossing the swaying rope bridge.

Edinburgh: The Elephant House

Right before we head to National Museum of Scotland, we stumbled upon the Elephant House- the birthplace of Harry Potter. Even we were not sure from far, it was confirmed when we approached closer to the cafe frontage, in English and Chinese! We went in and had an impromptu brunch here.

When J. K. Rowling was writing her series of Harry Potter at the beginning, she was in a needy stage, that she found it cheaper to buy a cup of coffee and wrote in the cafe the whole day than paying heater bill at home.