2 Weeks Post 60DWCC - A Week of Sinful Food & Melancholy Mood

Another week flew past and here we are still trying to shake off the melancholic mood that grabbed us ever since we finished watching the Korean Drama.

Day 68 - Saturday

Family Day at Bukit Panjang

As THL has to work till 1pm today, the 3 of us met up at Jurong East after I fetch RK from his tuition centre. We had lunch at Lot 1 before taking a bus down to visit my family.

We were there for a few hours. THL and I went to shopped around Bt Panjang Plaza at around 5.30pm and we bought dinner back for the entire family. There were discussions about making a family trip to Taiwan during this coming March school holidays.

THL and I will go source for some packages and we will see if it is feasible to go in March. We took a bus home and continued with our beloved Korean drama after we washed up.

Day 69 - Sunday

Shopping for Taiwan Tour Package at Chinatown

The 3 of us left the house early to catch a bus to Chinatown. There is actually no direct bus to Chinatown and thanks to THL, we ended up at Bt Merah Bus Interchange and had to take another connecting bus to Chinatown.

We had lunch at Yoshinoya (at Chinatown Point) before starting our hunt for Taiwan tour packages. To our disappointments, the pricing for Taiwan or any other destinations for that matter have already gone up and we reckoned that it does not make financial senses to pay a few hundreds more just to hop on a plane in March.

We collected some Taiwan brochures and we asked for pricing for Jun and we were done for the day. Hurray! After that we took a bus from Chinatown to Tanah Merah MRT and took a train down to Bedok Mall.

After hearing our friends talking about it for a while, the 3 of us finally paid our visit to this latest mall in Singapore. While it was not as good as we thought it would be, the varieties of the shops there still took us a couple of hours to browse through.

As for dinner, we had it at Pho Street - a Vietnamese restaurant. The food was quite delicious and the prices are within reasonable range. After dinner, we took a long train ride back to Jurong East and took a feeder bus home.

Despite the tiring day, THL and I still manage to catch an episode of the Korean drama. LOL...

Day 70 - Monday

A Short Retail Therapy at JEM

Today was a typical work day with usual routines. At 545pm - RK and I took a bus down to Jurong East Interchange. We meet up with THL at JEM for dinner at KFC and we shopped around. THL and RK bought a cake and we took a bus home after getting some necessities from NTUC.

Day 71 - Tuesday

Sinful Dinner at Kushinbo

Yeah, we had this sinful dinner at Kushinbo - Jurong Point and the 3 of us ate our full during this close to 3 hours meal.

THL and I had spoilt our stomach silly with snow crabs legs, prawns and Sashimi. We even managed to grab 2 plates of the hourly special food which was a half lobster drenched with black pepper sauce. THL and I were up to our neck with food before we decided to call it a day and foot the bill.

As we were too lazy and to full to walk to the bus interchange, we took a cab home. Such is the hidden cost of a meal at Kushinbo. LOL...

Day 72 - Wednesday

Reporting sick at Polyclinic

Thanks to the last night's dinner at Kushinbo, THL's stomach went on strike this morning and she had to take medical leave today. We took a bus to the JE polyclinic (our virgin trip there as we are huge fans of GP clinics) and upon looking at the huge pools of people there, we sighed and thought it was going to take forever.

But...to our surprise, the queue numbers went around fast and before we knew it, THL has seen the doctor and has collected her medications. All within 90 minutes. Yeah...it was that fast. And guess what, there was even a payment kiosk near the entrance for THL to pay her medical expenses.

The Korea Drama frenzy ended...

Since THL was on sick leave, the 2 of us managed to finish up the Korean drama series. Yeah! Finished watching after close to 7 weeks of consistent watching.

The melancholic mood stuck the both of us hours after finishing the show. It was the kind of sad when it is time to bid farewell to some good friends. As we may not be watching it ever again, both of us were in a somewhat melancholic mood for a few days...hoping that there will be a season 2. Wishful thinking on our part...:D

Day 73 - Thursday

Dinner at MIL House

After RK wakes up from his afternoon nap, both of us took a train down to THL's mum place for dinner. I have always enjoyed having dinner there as the food was always simple but delicious.

After dinner and an hour of chit chat and catching ups, the 3 of us took a train back to Lakeside and took a slow stroll back home. Nice...

Day 74 - Friday

Weekend Mood at JEM

The 3 of us meet up at JCube and we decided to have korean food for dinner at the Kopitiam foodcourt there. Nope...it has nothing to do with the Korean drama that we finished watching few days ago. Feeling sad again as I wrote this...:)

After dinner, we shopped around and I bought 3 pairs of new socks for my morning runs. The current ones are already worn out and it is time to retire them. We had a drink and a piece of fattening dessert (Raspberry Cheesecake) at Coffeebeans to enjoy the rest of the evening before taking a bus back home.

Transport Expenses (Day 68 to 74): $49.00

Day 68: $9.63

Bus Ride: $6.86
Home to Boon Lay Interchange (THL) => $0.83
Home to Jurong East Interchange (RK and I) => $0.73 + $0.36 = $1.09
CCK to Bt Panjang => $0.73 x 2 + $0.36 = $1.82
Bt Panjang to Home => $1.27 x 2 + $0.58 = $3.12

MRT Rides:
Jurong East to CCK => $1.11 x 2 + $0.55 = $2.77

Day 69: $17.44

Bus Rides:
Home to Bt Merah Interchange => $1.55 x 2 + $0.58 = $3.68
Bt Merah Interchange to Chinatown => $0.93 x 2 + $0.46 = $2.32
Chinatown to Tanah Merah MRT => $1.51 x 2 + $0.58 = $3.60
JE Interchange to Home => $0.73 x 2 + $0.36 = $1.82

MRT Rides:
Tanah to Bedok => $0.73 x 2 + $0.36 = $1.82
Bedok to Jurong East => $1.81 x 2 + $0.58 = $4.20

Day 70: $3.74

Home to Boon Lay Interchange (THL) => $0.83
Home to Jurong East Interchange (RK and I) => $0.73 + $0.36 = $1.09

JE Interchange to Home => $0.73 x 2 + $0.36 = $1.82

Day 71: $8.52

Bus Rides:
Home to Boon Lay Interchange (THL) => $0.83
Home to Jurong Point => $0.83 + $0.41 = $1.24

Taxi Fare:
Jurong Point to Home => $6.45

Day 72: $1.46

Home to Polyclinic => $0.73 x 2 = $1.46

Day 73: $4.47

Home to Boon Lay Interchange (THL) => $0.83

MRT Ride: $3.64
LS to PN => $0.73 + $0.36 = $1.09
Joo Koon to PN (THL) => $0.73
PN to LS => $0.73 x 2+ $0.36 = $1.82

Day 74: $3.74

Home to Boon Lay Interchange (THL) => $0.83

Home to Jurong East Interchange (RK and I) => $0.73 + $0.36 = $1.09

JE Interchange to Home => $0.73 x 2 + $0.36 = $1.82

Weekly Afterthoughts:

Wow. The transport expenses for this week was a hefty $49. While it is a huge jump from last week, it is still within reasonable range as we did quite a bit of traveling this week. We have been to Chinatown, Bedok Mall, Bt Panjang and not to forget we even took a cab home on Tuesday after our sinful meal at Kushinbo.

So, all in all, this amount of traveling expenses was expected and it is so insignificant when compared to that of owning a car.

Day 59 of the 60DWCC - Dinner at JCube Foodcourt

As it was already 5.30pm by the time I finished the last bit of my scheduled work for the day, RK and I quickly took a bus to Jurong East to meet up with THL to deposit some cash (mostly from RK's CNY red packets) at the POSB ATMs outside the CPF building.

There was quite a long queue but it was nothing compared to the one I saw last night at Jurong Point - can you imagine some 50 to 60 people in front of you queuing up to deposit cash? What kind of horrible nightmare is that??

After we are done with the cash deposit, we make our way to JCube. We checked out the food court at the basement to see if it was already packed. To our delightful surprise, the foodcourt was only half full so we had our dinner there. We order the pepper lunch from one of the stalls and since it was having a discount, we ordered 3 set meals for only $6.90 each. It is not everyday that you see such delicious deals. :D

After dinner, we walked over to West Gate for THL to grab some breads for breakfast. After that we walked over to JEM where THL bought herself a piece of neck wear. After that we took a bus home and ended the evening watching the Korean drama again. :D I guess we are truly addicted to the Korean drama already, aren't we?

Transport Expenses: $3.74

Bus Rides:
Home to Boon Lay Interchange (THL) => $0.83
Home to Jurong East => $0.73 + $0.36 = $1.09
Jurong East Interchange to Home => $0.73 x 2 + $0.36 = $1.82

Daily Afterthoughts:

One more day to go and we are at Day 60 of the challenge already, time really flies, doesn't it? As the days gone by, the urge to quickly get another car diminishes and for now, I will really want to see if there is really a true need to get one.

My mum's health has gone downhill since last 2 years and if I had to get a car, it would probably be for the convenience of fetching her for her many medical appointments at NUH and SGH every other weeks.

Day 32 of the 60DWCC - Shopping for CNY Clothing at IMM (Round 1)

After we are done with our usual routines, RK and I went took a bus and went down to JCube to meet up with THL. We had earlier on arranged to go IMM to do our shopping for CNY clothing.

RK and I arrived first and we decided to check out the shuttle bus service stand at JCube. When we step out to the waiting area, there was not a single soul waiting so we walked back and talked to the service concierge at JCube. The concierge told us that there is no longer any shuttle bus service from JCube to IMM, the service has been moved over to West Gate.

So after we met up with THL at JCube, the 3 of us walked over to West Gate and took the shuttle service to IMM. The shuttle service was a medium size mini bus which was quite cooling and comfortable. The journey was short and the ride was easy. :)

We had our dinner at one of the Wan Chai Hong Kong Cafe outside Daiso.

After our dinner, we bought some stuff from Daiso and walked around the rest of IMM to shop for some CNY clothing.

Since there isn't much brand varieties, we decided to call it a day and took a bus ride home. We took a feeder bus and then transferred to another connecting one home.

Transport Expenses: $4.24

Bus Ride:

Home to Boon Lay Interchange (THL) => $0.83
Home to Jurong East Interchange (RK and I) => $0.73 + $0.36 = $1.09
IMM to Jurong West Ave 1 => $0.73 x 2 + $0.36 = $1.82
JW Ave 1 to Home => $.20 x 2 + $.10 = $0.50

Daily Afterthoughts:

We ran into a little bit of a challenge when we were trying to figure out what bus to take that will bring us home at the shortest time possible. Since Bus 502 was no longer possible, it left when we reached the bus stop, we took a feeder bus and another connecting bus to reach home. It took bus about 30 minutes to reach home and it would have taken us 5 minutes to reach home had we drive a car. This is one of the rare cases whereby it is actually more ideal to have a car than to switch in-between buses.

Day 22 of the 60DWCC - Last Day of 2013

2013 has not been an easy year for the 3 of us but I believe we have manage to live through it pretty fine (no severe dents and bumps found the last time I checked). :P

In my opinion, living through life is very much like driving on a new and foreign road, you never know what's ahead and what's coming your way from a distance. But no matter how tough the roads ahead are in 2014, I believe the 3 of us will be able to 'drive' through it together as a family.

AT 11am, THL and I both agree that we do not want to stay at home since it is the last day of 2013, we wanted to enjoy the every last bit of 2013. We left the house around 1pm and we took a bus to Jurong East. We had lunch at JCube followed by THL ordering some ice-cream waffles for us at a popular ice-cream stall (Gelateria Italia) beside the foodcourt.

After we had our sinful desserts, we shopped around and THL managed to get another pair of 3/4 jean for herself. This is probably her last shopping spree in 2013. I hope...

Spent 2 Hours at West Gate

Yeah, i could believe my eyes when I looked at the watch, we spent the next 2 hours (almost) walking around West Gate, mostly around Isetan and basement stalls and shops. We had another round of tea-break at a Vietnamese stall before leaving for JEM. We tried one of the vietnamese popiah and it was very nice, the ingredients inside were very fresh and juicy. I am very sure we will be back soon to savour more items on their menu. :P

We bought quite a bit of necessities from NTUC at JEM and I was thinking that it should not be problem as we can always take a cab home. Well, to our dismay and utter disappointment, the entire taxi stand was very packed and after 5 minutes of waiting in the queue, THL and I decided to just carry our stuff and take a feeder bus home. While it is a kind of a hassle to have to carry all the stuff up the bus, it is far better than to stand in the queue and wait for at least another 1 hour for taxi.

To our surprise, the bus trip home was not as horrifying as we initially thought  since we were carrying quite a lot of stuff in our hands. The bus came within a minute the moment we reached the bus interchange and we were home before we knew it. We were so glad that we did not spent the extra money on taxi in which we would end up reach home at least an hour later. :D

We had claypot rice for dinner (from coffeeshop nearby) and we spent the rest of the evening in the comfort of our bed watching the countdown party at Marinebay on our 40 inch HD TV.

The 3 of us celebrated the coming of 2014 with a BANG! Yup, we fired a few party poppers and the 3 of us look forward to a better year ahead.

Happy New Year everyone!

Transport Expenses: $3.64

Bus Ride:

Bus to Jurong East => $0.73 x 2 + $0.36 = $1.82

Jurong East to Home => $0.73 x 2 + $0.36 = $1.82


Daily Afterthoughts:

Today is a very good example on why taking taxi is not always the fastest mode of transportation. While I do agree that we would have reached home much earlier had we drove a car but when it comes to justifying the cost of maintaining a car and reaching 10 - 15 minutes earlier vs taking a public transport, my wallet just could not agree more that taking public transport is a much better deal from a financial perspective. Don't you agree?