tart blanc & tim ho wan

went out over the last weekend to try out 2 new places = tart blanc & tim ho wan... i believed tim ho wan is no strange name to many people but it was my first time trying out that place in SG last weekend..... but first let me share about tart blanc...

my friend bought some high tea voucher from tart blanc some time ago & we only had the time to try it last week.... the shop is located in millennia walk, is next to mos burger if i didnt remember wrongly.... the shop is quite small & it doesnt really stand out so we actually walked pass it without noticing....

tart blanc

different types of tarts

our high tea set

so for our voucher, we can redeem 2 tarts & 2 drinks.... there are some restrictions to the type of drinks which you can order, i believed mocha is one of them..... so for us, we chose the 2 most popular/famous tarts = peach with salted egg yolk & raspberry praline....

the salted egg yolk is a warm tart meaning the staff will heat it up..... i would say it tasted like the dim sum custard bun... the custard really flow out when you cut the tart open, not too bad... as for the raspberry tart, the cream filling is pretty good... so me & my friend actually prefer the raspberry tart over salted egg yolk... i guess we prefer the traditional sweet pastries...  my friend also gotten additional macaron ($2.50)... i think it was some rose flavour.... pretty nice filling but i am not a fan of macaron...... i would say the pastries in tart blanc are of pretty high standard but the price is too steep... a tart (about 6cm diameter) costs $7.50 & average of $5 for the beverages..... i think is quite expensive... but if you gotten those groupon vouchers, you can try them at half price then i think is more worthwhile....

next is tim ho wan.... went to have lunch with my mama there on sun...... i have yet to try out SG outlet cause there is always a long queue but we decided to give it a go last weekend.... we went to westgate outlet since is the nearest to our home..... i was surprised that the shop actually opens at 9am on weekends!!!! we reached about 1130am & we managed to enter the place with about 10min wait...

menu

our lunch

we ordered like 10 dishes.... honestly, i think the food quality is not too bad but not good enough for me to queue for like hours..... i would say the good thing for SG outlet compared to HK is the table size.... here you have a standard table size whereby you can put the food comfortably unless you order crazy amount of food.... but in HK, the tables are so small that it could barely fit 3 dishes!!!! for those who love dim sum, i think tim ho wan is still a good choice to satisfy your appetite but do choose your dinning time wisely or else you can spend a long time queuing...... =)

housing loan from banks

For those who have read my posts before would know that I have been searching for a flat for more than a year but due to the limited supply of flats in the estates which i like & our rotten luck with BTO ballots, there is a high chance that we will need to buy a flat which requires us to get bank loan instead of HDB loan. Hence, I have been doing some little research about the housing loans offered  by different banks & want to share the information which I have gathered so far.....

Before I share some of the plans which i gathered from the banks, let me explain 4 most important terms which the banks used for the loans.... First = SIBOR. When i spoke to the first mortgage banker, i was like what the hell is SIBOR? It actually stands for Singapore Interbank Offer Rate, in short, is the interest rate in which banks lend each other $ & this rate always fluctuate. Second = fixed rate. I think most of us are familiar with this term. As the word implies, fixed rate means the interest rate will be fixed for certain number of years. Third = floating rate. This is somewhat in between fixed & SIBOR, meaning the interest rates will vary throughout out the years but not as drastic as SIBOR.... Lastly = lock in period. This means the number of years you must commit the loan to. IF let say the package has 2 year lock-in period, it means only 3rd year onward will you be able to make any changes. In the event you want to make any amendments within the lock-in period, i believed penalty will apply..... Now let me share the different packages that the banks offered me... all the information are corrected as of June 2015....

1. DBS/POSB

3month SIBOR

 3month SIBOR would means that you interest rate will be reviewed every 3 months... so the total interest rate for that month will be the rate for 3M SIBOR & the + whatever %. Example, the current 3M SIBOR is 0.4%, your total interest for year 1 will be 0.4 + 0.85% = 1.25%

FHR floating rate

 FHR is something exclusive to DBS banks. It is actually calculated by the average of 12month fixed & 24month fixed deposit interest rate, at the moment FHR is at 0.4%... FHR seem to be quite attractive but do take note that this term was only created in 2012 (if I didnt remember wrongly). So if the banker showed you like FHR values for the passed 10years, that's like total rubbish.... BUT the rate has not changed since the day it was implemented so is still quite safe to trust this value since we all know how pathetic our fixed deposit interest rates are....

fixed FHR

 similar to the previous package, the rate is also based on FHR but varying interest rate is so call fixed. According to the banker, this is like the most popular choice since it offered stability as the rate will be capped at CPF rate....

fixed rate

 fixed package, easy to understand but do take note, the rate isnt fixed forever. The rate is only fixed for 3years but subsequent years will be subjected to FHR......


2. UOB

UOB packages

The UOB staff offered me 12month SIBOR which is somewhat more stable since it doesnt fluctuate that much....

3. citibank

citibank package

I am not very sure about the effective interest rate but I would guess it's the total interest rate???? so for citibank, they provide more variety to the types of SIBOR....

4. standard chartered

standard chartered package

standard chartered offer the most interesting package in which they link it to some credit card & current account..... personally I dont understand fully about the package but according to the staff, you get some rebates of the interest rate if you put in a sum of $ in the bank....

I only went down to enquire from these 4 major banks but as you can see, they offer more or less offer similar stuff.... I would say the most important thing is to decide what do you want in the packages, is it stability? or slightly lower interest rate? fixed interest rate will be the most stable but the interest rate will not be so attractive since the banks have to bear the risk of increasing rates... & nowadays, there isnt any fixed deposit which will NEVER change throughout the term so personally I think fixed rate isnt the best option at the moment....

based on what I read online & understand from the bankers, most people go for SIBOR because of the low rates..... BUT this only apply during time of low interest rate..... my parents told me that when they gotten their first flat in HK, the interest then (like 30yr+ ago) was like 18%!!!! when the global interest rate is so high, SIBOR will definitely increase... so during those time, you WONT want SIBOR cause your interest rate will always vary & it will just keep getting higher & higher..... I am not good with the economic stuff but news have been saying that US will increase its interest rate by end of the year so SIBOR may seem too risky & exciting for me....  I would say SIBOR would be a good choice IF you can finish paying off your loan in a short period of time.... personally out of the 3 options, I feel floating/semi-fixed rates is the safest bet right now since it offers some sort of stability.....but that's my personal preference, so do make your choice wisely...

Despite saying all those things, i would strongly suggest people to take up hdb loan... of cause the interest rate may not be so attractive as the banks BUT it really save you alot of troubles.... i guess most people would have known that bank loan is only up to 80% of the property price while HDB allow up to 90% loan.... i think the additional 10% loan is very crucial for first timer unless you have lots of saving in your accounts/CPF.... another thing is that you dont have to find external lawyer to handle your paperwork!!! cause once you get a bank loan, you cant request for HDB lawyers to process your documents which would mean additional cost.... external lawyers (~$2500) cost about 2x of what you have to pay for HDB lawyers.... i find it dealing with all these property stuff is already troublesome, to involve additional people will only mean more chaos so if possible, by all means get the HDB loan!!!

JB durian tour

2 weeks ago, i went for this 1 day JB durian tour with mama.... i am actually not that keen about this kind of trip but since mama want to go so i just accompany her.... the tour was organised by some WTS company and feedback i have from this trip is that either you just want to whack durian meaning eat durian non stop (regardless of the durian grade) or plainly want to have a 1 day tour with a large group of friends.... the tour wasnt say super x, it cost $70/adult but i dont think is worth to join & you can see why as i elaborate....

the meeting point for our coach is at BIG BOX taxi stand... first impression was not  good cause there wasnt any guide or person in charge to take attendance or what... there was only the blur  blur bus driver who was super new to this tour kind of thing....

coach

another thing, the coach was kind of old so the seats were not very comfy but hey, budget 1 day trip so dont complain so much..... we went on a sat & the bus departed about 7.30am from jurong east so by the time we reached tuas, there was a huge jam so we only reached JB around 9am+.... first of all we went to have breakfast at some coffee shop near causeway & i was quite dumbfounded by the condition of the place

coffee shop 1

coffee shop 2

okay, from the external view, it looks like normal coffee shop, perhaps on the run down side but still passable... but i was WRONG!! totally FAIL!!!! the place was super dirty, floor was wet, food not covered & i saw cockroaches roaming around!!! me & mama were too disgusted & shocked to get any food... thankfully there was some mini mart nearby so we managed to get some pathetic muffin for breakfast.....

so after the not so appetising breakfast, we continue our journey to the fruit farm.... the itinerary only state JB fruit farm, i suspected it was desaru fruit farm which i went before & i was right..... so we have the usual farm tour + bee talk to psycho you to buy those expensive honey.... after all the gimmick, it's the highlight of the trip = durian + fruit lunch....

desaru fruit farm

buffet lunch area

carbo section

fruits section

i didnt try the fruit buffet last time & i was thankful for that.... the main highlight of the meal was durian so i think you supposed to eat your year worth of durian there.... true enough they let you eat as many durian as you like but you dont expect fancy brands like mao shan wang kind of quality.... i would say the durian quality is passable but my stomach just not meant to eat such creamy fruit for lunch so i only had like 3 pieces of durian.... wanted to eat other food but not much to choose from.... there was white rice & bee hoon, the staff never refill curry chicken so can practically skip that unless you were the first few to get the food.... fruits section wise was abit better, there was passion fruit, watermelon, guava, jack fruit & mango.... so i ended up eating mango for lunch cause they were quite sweet.....

after lunch, the coach drove us to AEON mall where we spent 2.5hr there.... ok, the mall is quite big but seriously there wasnt anything interesting for us to shop there... so we were just aimlessly walking around & spent most of the time in the supermarket which i saw the most interesting thing during the trip!!! the whole peeled coconut!!!

peeling coconut

peeled coconut!!!

i believed most people would have seen the youtube video whereby some roadside stall in thailand sell this peeled coconut thing..... is still normal coconut but the staff will scoop out the whole coconut meat+juice together so that you dont have to scoop like mad... to the locals maybe is the norm but it's the most fascinating thing i seen during the trip.... the coconut wasnt sweet but we just gotten for the fun =)

the final part of the tour is dinner at some sit-down restaurant.... after what we experienced for the 2 meals, we were not optimistic for dinner but to our surprise, the restaurant we went to was jumbo wor...

jumbo seafood

starter

when we first went inside the restaurant, i was very excited about what we going to eat but after the first dish, it's back to disappointment again..... the dishes were just edible, presentation wise was below average.... i think it would be fine if the food were served in some road side store but after all we were eating at jumbo lea, i think the food certainly didnt do justice to the restaurant name.... not to mention about the insufficient quantity of food... there was barely enough food to go around the table.... one word = pathetic.... since i was so turned off by the food, i barely ate much there... so after we reached back to SG, i went to eat the gourmet burger at mac....

gourmet burger meal

fries in fancy basket

i dont think the mcdonald gourmet burger is that fantastic but i like the idea that you can choose your toppings & sauces & not to mention the fancy presentation of the meal..... of cause the burger tasted way way WAY better than anything i ate during the tour..... i believed there are lots of nice eateries in JB & i am very disappointed that the tour brought us to all the horrible places to eat.... i told mama not to join any of this kind of tour again.... personally i think is a total waste of $ & time.... probably is ok to experience once but definitely not a second time for me.... i think spending the $ to buy durian from NTUC & eat them at home will be a much better choice.....

D'resort at downtown east

went down to the downtown east chalet 2 weeks ago for our annual cosplay event.. wanted to do some costume this year but was so occupied with the house hunt, end up not doing anything... so the goal for the chalet was just to relax & chill out with friends..... i am not going to talk about the cosplay event in this post cause i didnt spend much time at the event & nothing fancy me there... instead just share the changes in downtown east chalet...

i believed most people know the downtown east chalet is under costa sand = operated by NTUC.... since last year there has been quite alot of renovation but when we stayed there this year, it had MAJOR changes!!! is like a total make over!!!! first of all the name has changed to D'resort, no longer costa sand.... they have also closed down the pasir ris chalet since end of last year..... next, the entrance to the chalet changed.... the entrance is so OMG far from the car park!!! for those who stayed in downtown east chalet before, you will know that the entrance was just next to wild wild wet... that entranced has closed, instead it has shifted to somewhere way behind the multi storey carpark, close to the link to pasir ris park.... but the place is still undergoing renovation so i believed it will be more convenient to stay there next time.... now let me share some photo

entrance to D'resort

super different right!?!??! from this angle, it looks like some sort of hotel rather than chalet.... & the reception area is on the second floor in the building on the left.... there are 2 types of rooms now, those that are chalet style which are nearer to the BBQ pit or "hotel" style which are located inside the 2 tall buildings.....

reception area

drop off porch

buggy service

since the chalet is so far from the downtown east mall, it provides buggy service only on fri & sat... dont expect too much from the frequency & each time can only accommodate 5 people.... so we just end up walking to & fro since you wont know when the next buggy will come along....

chalets

this is how the new chalet buildings look like... compared to the old blocks system, now each building has a name to distinguish themselves.... the buildings have 3 storeys compared to the old ones which had 2 floors.....

our room

wardrobe/luggage space

bathroom

toilet area

simple amenities

balcony

we stayed at beach cove, 3rd floor.... i think our room is 35sqm, which is much bigger compared to the old rooms.... you have much more space so you can accommodate more than 4 people..... the toilet is much more spacious & i like the idea of having the additional sink outside... however, i dont understand why are there so many cabinets at the sink area!?!?? i am not going to set up the whole kitchen if i were to stay just for a weekend....

balcony view

new BBQ pits area

our friend managed to get the room at NTUC staff price so the room cost $220 for 4D3N which is  quite a steal compared to the norm of about $200/night during the weekend.... the BBQ rental now cost $26.75, which shot up from last time $10.... but that's not all, i dont know where NTUC has the brilliant idea of building 48 BBQ pits to accommodate more than 100 rooms!?!??!?! seriously!?!?!?! most people stay at the chalet is to have BBQ!!!! & now you have pits to supply less than half the population!?!??! OMG!!! what's wrong with you people!!!! & i heard from our other friends, the booking system screwed up so they had problems booking the pits even several months in advanced!!! as a result, we couldnt get the pit for sat & had to shift our BBQ to sun =(

i think the new look for the chalet is nice, i think proposed idea is to build the whole swimming facilities surrounding the chalets.... oh, i forgot to mention.... the old swimming pool in the chalet has torn down so the staff compensate with tickets to wild wild wet.... but seriously, you want to walk all the way back to the chalet dripping wet!??!?! definitely not for us..... so that's another disappointing thing in addition to the BBQ pits.....  on the whole, i think no harm trying out D'resort since there are very limited chalets in SG... but do book early if you intend to have BBQ =)

June HK trip - Macau portion

among the few days we went to HK, we spent about half a day going to macau since the tour package came with a free ferry ticket to macau....  just fyi, there are 3 ferry terminals in HK, 1 in airport and 1 each in hk island & kowloon area... similarly macau also has 2 ferry terminal, 1 that goes to macau (the main terminal which most people go to) another 1 at taipa... so depending which place you want to go, take note of the different destination.... unlike china which uses a different currency, you can use HKD in macau... of cause its own currency = pataca.. the exchange rate is 1hkd:1.03pataca but i think it's not worth to purposely change pataca for your trip..... as macau is a very small place, personally i felt one day trip is more than enough cause macau hotels cost even more than HK... but unless your main goal is to visit all the casinos then you will definitely need more time there....

for this trip, we took the ferry at the kowloon ferry terminal which is located in tsim sha tsui.. it's quite a walk from the mtr station so you may want to consider taking bus or even cab if you carrying luggages.... the terminal is inside the shopping center = china hongkong city

china ferry terminal

so call check in place

linkway towards ferry

the golden building is the china hongkong city

inside ferry

i think the ferry gotten bigger compared to last time... & there are several ferry companies in HK.. i would say the most famous one is turbojet but i think the price isnt much different among the companies so just take your pick....the ride to macau is about 1hr.... but if you intend to have a day trip to macau, is always good to start early.....

once you reached macau, you will definitely be approached by people asking if you want to get transport to tour around macau.... personally i think it's not necessary unless you want to save time & go to very specific places.... macau is a very small place so many attractions are within walking distance.... i would recommend taking the hotel shuttle bus since they are free & have high frequency..... depending where you want to go, take the hotel shuttle closest to your destination then walk over from there....

underpass towards shuttle bus terminal

bus terminal

our first stop is try out the famous Portuguese egg tart = Margaret's cafe e nata..... & the closest hotel is grand lisboa

 the shuttle bus will stop at the basement so take the escalator to street level....

walk towards the exit facing restaurant tack hsin, turn right & go straight... is the same direction towards the old city hall or the souvenir street.... the shop is just 1 road down from the hotel....

sign towards the cafe

there will be this small sign on the side of the road, follow the direction cause the cafe is pretty hidden.. it's NOT located on the main street...

the egg tart cafe

as you can see, everybody also read the travel guides & they recommend this cafe, hence the crowd....

famous egg tart

each egg tart cost 10pataca, i wont say it's very expensive... taste wise is definitely not bad, much better than those you can find in SG... the cafe also sell other pastries & sandwiches so you can drop by for a quick bite before you check out other attractions.....

as you walk towards the old city hall area, you will pass by the famous  義順牛奶...

姜汁撞奶

papaya milk

actually i suspect that we went to the fake 義順牛奶 cause the signboard say 義順鲜奶 instead... but nonetheless we went in for dessert cause the weather was just too hot!!! we ordered the famous 姜汁撞奶 (33pataca) & papaya milk (33pataca) to try.... i would say the taste is not bad, quite nice but for that price, i think is way too expensive..... so after resting, we continue our walk towards the old city hall area.....

post office

old city hall area

fountain at the city hall area

once you reach this place, you more or less in the heart of macau shopping/attraction area.... you just follow the pavement, you will be lead into the souvenir street.... basically is all the food places.... all the famous stores will be there... you will start to see multiple shops of the same name.... you may think you had deja vu but nope, there are really that many souvenir shops there.....

souvenir street

st paul's ruin

at the end of the souvenir street will be the st paul's ruin.... seriously is just a piece of wall remaining from a church but after all it's an important landmark in macau, i still recommend people to visit this place at least once.....

after which we went back to grand lisboa to take shuttle bus back to ferry terminal & change to the venetian shuttle bus..... venetian is located in taipa, so if your main goal is just to go venetian, take the ferry to taipa ferry terminal instead....

on the way to veneitan

grand lisboa from afar

the galaxy

fancy looking hotel

entrance to the venetian

nice ceiling

nice chandelier

hallway towards casino

i havent been to venice but i would say the venetian has one of the prettiest design among the hotels in macau..... it really what you expect to see in venice = godola.... compared to the pathetic godola you see in MBS, the one in venetian looks much better... & the guy can sing better =p

godola

venetian shopping mall

compared to the souvenir street in macau, there are much lesser souvenir shops in the venetian but fear not... at least it has the 2 famous stores = 咀香园 & 钜记.... they have 2 outlets in the mall... the bigger ones are at the further ends of the mall... but there are 2 small counter side by side near the exit towards shuttle bus terminal..... bear in mind, the drop off & pick up point for shuttle bus are different... drop off point is at main lobby entrance, pick up point is in the west lobby....

咀香园

钜记

just nice during the period i went to hk, uniqlo release a new series of tshirt in collaboration with tsum tsum.... all the tshirt comes with a tsum tsum toy... i am not a fan of the game but the tshirts are cute so naturally i gotten them for myself =)

uniqlo x tsum tsum tshirt

after venetian, we took the ferry back to hk & we accomplished our goal within 8hr... i would say macau is still a nice place for a day trip if you never been there before..... if you are a fan of Portuguese food then you will probably find some nice restaurants there =)