Review: Bicycle Hut - Bike Rental near Marina Barrage

While East Coast Park is most well-known for its large number of bicycle rental shops, I recently discover a small bicycle rental shop that is located in the middle of the city! I think this is a great news for those who would like to cycle leisurely absorbing the unique ambiance for this concrete city. In fact, it is also a good place to start learning cycling if you were like me who do not know how to cycle.

The bicycle rental fee is SGD10 per hour

• Price: You pay SGD10 per hour for regular bike rental and SGD12 per hour for renting a road/mountain bike. They will charge a total of SGD18 if you rent the regular bike for two to three hours. Although you may cheaper bike rental in East Coast Park, I think the price is quite reasonable considering its location and quality of the bike available here.
• Quality of bike: As you can see in the pic below, the bicycles that they offer look quite new. Personally, I think that they are more well-maintained compared to certain rental shops I saw in East Coast Park. They also have a great variety of bicycle to choose from, including bicycles with attached basket (i.e., yellow bike in the picture) and foldable bicycles. If you would like to ride the same bicycle with your friend, they also provide a limited number of tandem bicycles.

  

  Mint-looking bicycle with different colours and cute name! 

  

  The two tandems that they have

• Beginner-friendly:  Personally, I think that the Bicycle Hut's owner is quite friendly and patient in helping their customers in choosing the right bicycle for them. During my first cycling lesson, he helped me to pick a bicycle that are suitable for beginners and he even told me that other customers have had success in using similar bicycles for their first lesson. He also mentioned briefly that they offer one hour bike lesson but I didn't ask about the details of the lesson offered since I am lucky enough to have a friend who did a good job in teaching me how to cycle. In fact, I am able to learn to master fundamental cycling skills in only 4 lessons using bicycle rent from this shop!
• Scenary: You get to cycle along the bay exploring popular tourist spots including Garden by the Bay, Marina Barrage and Esplanade. If you more energy to spend, you can even cycle to the newly built Singapore Sport Hubs! I think it will be a unique experience for both tourist and Singaporean who would like to explore the Marina Bay area.
• Location: It is easily assessable as it is located approximately 5 minutes walk from the City Hall MRT. It may be hard to find for those who not familiar with the place. Look for the sign to Esplanade Park and War Memorial Park from the City Hall MRT or the Esplanade MRT! Below are the details of the shop:

Bicycle Hut
Address: 

B Connaught Drive, Singapore 179682

 Operating Hours:

Tue - Sun: 10:00 am - 8:00 pm
Website:
https://www.facebook.com/TheBicycleHut 

 

Review: St. Ives Blackhead Clearing Green Tea Scrub

St Ives Blackhead Clearing

What do I like about this scrub?

• Price: I bought this in Guardian since they are having an introductory 10% offer and I paid only SGD13 for a 170g tube. Considering the amount of products you get, I think it is very affordable. 
  
• It contains 100% natural exfoliants. It is also sulfate-free, paraben free, hypoallergenic and Non-comedogenic.
• Texture: You can see how it looks like in the photo below. It is a green cream that contains exfoliants that looks like fine salt. I like that the finer texture of the scrub since I think those smaller particles will be less hash to skin. I have used St. Ives Apricot Scrub Blemish & Blackhead Control in the past but I like the texture of the exfoliants used in this scrub much more than the classic St. Ives Apricot Scrub Blemish & Blackhead Control because it is much finer and cause less irritation to skin when scrubbing it again my face.



The exfoliants look like fine salt to me!

• Cleaning and Exfoliating: It feels gentle to the skin and yet clean my face well. I would say that it does a good job as a facial scrub as I realized that my face become brighter and smoother after using this scrub! I think the effect become more obvious partly because I didn't exfoliate my face this week yet. 
• Can be used daily: While other facial scrubs can only be used once a week, the instruction behind the tube suggested starting using the scrub once a day and gradually increase the number of application to two or three times a day. I think this is due to the gentleness of the exfoliants used. 
• Contains Salicyclic Acid (1%): Most products for acne-prone skins contain salicyclic acid. Salicylic acid is a deep pore exfoliant which encourages pores to soften and push the gunk out to the surface. 

What do I like less about this scrub?

• Cause little dryness: My skin feel a bit dry after using the scrub so I had to apply facial lotion immediately after that. I think the drying effect comes from the salicyclic acid. I recommend applying facial mask after using this scrub as it makes your skin easier to absorb other products.   
• It claims to (1) Clears Blackheads and (2) Calms Redness. While my nose feel cleaner after using the scrub, I have yet to see any effect on clearing the stubborn blackheads on my nose. While it brightens my skin, the calming effect is not so obvious. However, it didn't cause any breakout to my acne-prone skin so far and it also didn't irritate the pimple in my skin. UPDATE: I recently tried to use it as a mask by spreading a thicker layer of this scrub and leaving it on for 15-20minutes since most St Ives scrub can be used as mask. I think the calming effect is more obvious especially after pimple extraction. It also helps to dry out my big pimple this way.

Would I buy it again?

I think using facial scrub at least once a week is a must. Since this is quite affordable, I will considering buy this scrub again. I also saw other flavours of facial scrubs by St Ives, including an oatmeal scrub+mask that looks quite appealing to me so I may even choose another flavour next time.

Hairy Crab Promotion at Melite Chinese Restaurant (萃英阁) at NUS Staff Club

Melite Chinese Restaurant is a chinese restaurant located at NUS Staff Club. It has a nice view overlooking the Multi-purpose sports hall swimming pool.

I have been to this restaurant several times at different times of the day and I think that this is a quiet place to enjoy your meal compared to other overcrowded restaurants.

Recently, I paid another visit to this restaurant with my friends after learning about their hairy crab promotion. They are having a BUY 3 GET 1 FREE promotion for hairy crab at SGD28 per pieces now. To qualify for the promotion, you need to call them at 67771380 / 92964518 to reserve a place to enjoy this seasonal dish! It also offer an additional 10% off discount for all NUS students and staff members so it is really worth the price!

Hair Crab

Although it requires some efforts to eat this delicacy, the hairy crab served in this place is quite fresh and tasty. The crab is cooked without much seasoning to preserve its original taste. Another thing that I like is that you even get free serving of home-made ginger tea to pair with the crab. When I order ginger tea at other restaurants, they are often overly sweetened or taste like tea from instant tea bags but I can definitely taste the subtle taste of fresh ginger in the tea that they serve. While we also order other dishes, including fried rice and asparagus with preserved vegetables  that night, I think that the other dishes fail to impress me as much as the crabs. Overall, I would recommend paying a visit to this restaurant during this tasty hairy crab season!

Review: 福苑家传菜 Fu Yuan Family Cuisine - Shanghainese Restaurant in West Coast Recreation Center

If you live near the West of Singapore, I recommend paying Fu Yuan Family Cuisine restaurant a visit.

What do I like about the restaurant?

Location: The restaurant is located in West Coast Recreation Centre with a snooker place and a bowling court. It is also close to the Clementi Sports Hall.  Although there are other choices in terms of food, I prefer this restaurant since it is usually quite quiet.

Taste: I think the most attracting feature of this restaurant is the taste of food. After visiting this place for a few times, I have the opportunity to try different dishes and I have never been disappointed with any dishes that I have eaten here. Their food is unpretentious and yet comforting.

Below are what I have for dinner yesterday:

Appetizer: Multi-layer tofu (千叶豆腐)

The appetizer is slices of tofus that are beautifully cut into flower-like shape. This dish is quite simple but I like the nice combination of silky soft tofu and century-eggs with soy sauce. Since it is an appetizer, all ingredients are slightly colder than room temperature. If you are a meat-lover, I recommend ordering their drunken chicken for appetizer.

Cabbage in white broth (田园娃娃菜)

I tend to order vegetables for every meal. I also like to eat dishes with broth, especially when I feel sick. Although I feel that this place has less choice in terms of vegetables compared to other restaurants, I often come here for their cabbage in white broth. In this dish, slices of cabbage is cooked in milky broth til they become soft and yet not too mushy, together with a few types of mushrooms and a few pinches of goji berries (枸杞). 

Seabass in sauce with oatmeal (干烧鲈鱼)

Pork with lotus buns (东坡肉)

It is my first time ordering their seabass as it is more expensive ($28) than other dishes. The whole fish is cooked in a slight sweet and spicy sauce with some sprinkles of oatmeal on top of the fishes. I like the addition of ground oatmeal in this dishes but I may be biased since I like almost everything with ground oatmeal grains. If you do not like seafood, I recommend trying their pork (东坡肉) with lotus bun. The dish is very tasty and I like the idea of serving the slices of pork in pig-shaped container (Isn't that cute?)

Price: Each dish cost around SGD12-28 and appetizers costs less than SGD10. The portion of each dish is quite small so you may be to order at least 3 dishes for a table of two. In general, I consider the price is quite reasonable considering the good quality of food served here.

Method of ordering: Some restaurants in Singapore start offering digital menu that let you order using Ipad. During my first visit to this place, they only offer plain printed menu but they started letting each customer order using ipad now. This may be a plus point for a tech-savvy person.

Membership: If you plan to pay more visit to this restaurant, don't forget to apply for their membership card as you get to accumulate points that will earn you more delicious dishes for free!

Extending Life of Cut Roses

I recently received the following rose bouquet as a gift. While I do like gifts (as most girls like flowers), I often feel sad when my roses die too fast. I know it is inevitable considering the hot and humid weather in Singapore. I found a simple to extend the shell life of cut roses.

Here is how my nicely wrapped pink roses looked like on the first day

However, after three days of letting the roses sitting happily in the original wrapping paper, all of the roses looks rather deadly. So, I decided to trim my roses on the third day's morning.

Here is what I did:

1. Remove the roses from its plastic wrap.
2. Gently peel off some rose petals that are decaying or almost detached from its rose buds.
3. Put all rose in a simple vase made from mineral water bottle
4. Add clear water to the vase. Note that I also left the peeled petals in the vase to make them look more appealing.

This shows how my roses looked in the morning after performing the above steps

As you can see from the photo above, most roses become visibly smaller due to the trimmed petals . Some of the roses look down sadly indicating that they are decay soon. :(

This shows how my roses look like on the same evening after the cutting

My roses are definitely starting to look more energizing and fresh. In less than 12 hours, the stems of most roses in the photos went from curling down lifelessly to curling up happily! Isn't that amazing?

After re-arranging my roses, I took more photos of my revived roses. With the new arrangement, I think the roses look much better than before. :)

 

 

This shows how they look like after the new arrangement

This shows how they look like after the new arrangement

Review: Aegean Spa and Retreat at The Central (Clarke Quay MRT Station)

 I recently bought a voucher for Aegean Spa and Retreat from http://www.deal.com.sg/deals/singapore/23-60-mins-east-west-fusion-swedish-massage-awards-winning-aegean-spa-central-cl. As there are not many reviews written for this spa, I decided to write a more detailed review for those who are interested in purchasing the same deal as me.

What do I like about the Aegen Spa and Retreat?

• Location: It is located on the 3rd level of The Central, directly above the Clarke Quay MRT station. Although it may be difficult to find since there are many beauty salons and spa centres in the same floor, it is easily accessible from MRT. So, I think it is a plus point for this spa centres.
• Quality of the Massage: I bought the voucher for 2 sessions and I get to experience two different kinds of massage for both my sessions. In general, I found the massage quite relaxing while a bit painful at times. For my second sessions, my massage therapist tried to massage even my tummy, which makes me feel that I am going to a slimming centre instead of spa.
• Reminder of your Appointment: I usually received text message to remind me of my massage session the day before my appointment. I think this is a nice feature for those who are forgetful.
• No restriction for the duration between 2 sessions: For some deals, I saw that there are some restrictions on the duration for the sessions when buying the vouchers for the two sessions. In my case, I booked my second sessions around 1 month after my first session without any problem. However, the lady in charge required me to reserve my second sessions at the end of my first sessions as most of their evening time slots are fully booked. 
• Price: I paid SGD45 for two sessions (an hour each) of massage since I bought the voucher from deal.com.sg which is a lot cheaper than their regular price.
• Open late: I like the fact that I could go for a relaxing massage after work.  As showed in the deal website, their operating hours are:
• Operating Hours:
  11am to 9pm (Mon – Fri)
  10am to 8pm (Sat, Sun & public holiday)  

What do I dislike about the Aegen Spa and Retreat?

• Hard-selling talks about their "package" and add-ons: 
• Add-ons Talks: Before each massage session starts, my massage therapist will ask if I would to pay around SGD20 more to have a lavender oil massage instead of using regular massage oil and I will kindly reject this as I found it a bit expensive to pay almost the same price just for the oil. Apart from that, I didn't hear any hard-selling talks during my first session.
• Package Talks: At the end of my second sessions, they finally popped the question: Would you like to sign up for our 12-hours massage package that cost SGD650++ (original price for the package is SGD750)? They also showed me the pricing list for their massage sessions and claimed that I would need to pay SGD90 for 1 hour of massage if I didn't sign up for the package. If you do the calculation, signing up for the package may be cheaper than the SGD90 per hour regular price that they claimed but it is still twice the price that I paid for the voucher(SGD22.5 per session). I think that there are many other choices to choose from if I were to pay around SGD54 per hour for the package. Moreover, I do not like the fact that the lady kept recommending putting some amount of deposit for the packages.
• Criticism from massage therapist: Since they required using your id during registration, they know that I am a student. During my first session, I overheard my massage therapist whispering to her manager that they feel disappointed when they found out that I am actually a student as I will be less likely to come often since a student will not be able to afford the price of the massage. Personally, I don't like being judged for my wealth when going to a place to relax.
• Unable to choice from the two kinds of massages: The deal.com.sg mentioned that there are two kinds of massages to choose from: East West Fusion Massage or Swedish Massage. Ideally, I would be able to try both kinds for my two massage sessions but my massage therapists did not even ask me about my personal choice of massage
• Size of the spa: From the pictures listed in the deal.com.sg, you would imagine going to a luxurious spa that is big and comfortable. They also claimed that the spa won award likes Best Luxury Day Spa in Singapore and 2013 & 2014 World Luxury Spa Awards. However the spa only consists of two small shops in the third level of The Central, which make it difficult to find for those who have not visited the place before. I remember walking passed other spa centres in the same level that are slightly bigger.
  
   
  Would I visit Aegean Spa and Retreat again?
  As I mentioned earlier, the regular price for the massage session is a bit too expensive for me (SGD90). While I enjoy the relaxing massage sessions, I may consider visiting other spa centres next time. However, I think it is worth the price that I paid for the deal voucher. For those who have a tight budget, I recommend buying the voucher for two sessions to get two hours of good massage.

Review: NaturaSync GarnetRed Herbal Hair Coloring Essence

NaturaSync

 

 

This is what you get in the box: 5 pairs of gloves, 5 sachets of hair dye (30ml each) and 5 sachets of conditioner (10ml each) .

 

You can also find an instruction written in English and Chinese.

                                                           Before                                                           

After

What do I like about this hair dye?

• Smell : It doesn't smell as chemical as other hair coloring products.
• Natural ingredients: It contains Chinese ingredients like Panax Ginseng, Chinese Gall, Wolfberry and Angelica Roots.
• Ammonia free and lead free: I am usually repulsive to the smell of ammonia.
• Price: The original price is SGD15.8 but I bought it in NTUC Fairprice by paying only SGD13.80. I say other coloring products with similar price so I think it is competitive price-wise
• Separate Packaging: This kit comes with 5 sets of coloring products so it can be easily used for 5 separate coloring sessions. For my first coloring session, I use two sachets of hair dye for my shoulder-length hair. 
• Color: I choose red color thinking that it will be more obvious on my black hair. As you can see from the pictures, it gives a hue of purple to my black hair. It also makes my white hair a bit reddish. Except for its effect on white hair, I would say that I like the color in general as it looks quite naturally. To be honest, I am glad that it doesn't make my hair completely red as stated in the box because I bought the color with the intention to cover my gray hair.
• Made in Singapore: I would like to show my support to locally made products.

What I don't like less about this hair dye?

• Ease of use: While other hair coloring kits often come with combs, this product are to be used by pouring the products into your gloves-covered hands and mixing them with your gloves. When I use the first sachet of hair dye, I tried pouring the whole packet of products onto my hands but it created a big mess in my room because the hair dye keep dripping from my gloves. It is definitely not a good experience seeing your floor covered with blood-like hair color. For my second attempts, I tried pouring the products onto a box and this save me some troubles of cleaning the hair color. If you would like color your own hair with this product, I recommend pouring the product to a bowl or a container instead of following the stated instruction.
• Gray Coverage: Although it claims to cover white hair effectively, I think it doesn't work as well as some of my white hairs are still visible after the coloring session. However, this may due to my poor coloring skills and also my inability to look into the mirror while doing the coloring.

Would I buy it again?

If I have a friend who will help me to color my hair, especially my white hairs, I would buy this again due to the natural ingredients stated. Otherwise, I would look for other products that are easier to apply.

Update: It has been almost a month after I dye my hair using the NaturaSync GarnetRed Herbal Hair Coloring Essence. The red color on my hair is almost invisible and my hair has become slightly more brownish compared to my original hair color. I am a bit disappointed with the short lasting hair dye. Overall, I think the color didn't last long because (1) red color hair dye is known to fade away faster than other color; (2) the ammonia-free formula gives less lasting result. However, I think I may give ammonia-free hair coloring products another try just because they cause less damage to my hair and don't irritate my sensitive scalp.