April Account 2017

April passed in much the same fashion as March, with much walking, cooking and a bit of exploring and socialising.

I continued to go on my long walks to East Coast Park, which was becoming a favourite route of mine. It was so lovely to walk along the coastal footpath and before I knew it, kilometres and kilometres had fallen away behind me as I watched wind tousle the palm leaves and clouds glide past the horizon of ships.

One day, my friend Mel joined me on the walk and afterwards we stopped for a bite to eat at Brownice - a vegan gelateria that I had been meaning to visit. Not only was the gelato fantastic, but the garlicky waffle fries were so moreish! The flavours I chose were Earl Grey, peanut butter chocolate chip, and passionfruit sorbet.

Notice the patterns on my fingers? Well, let me tell you about it. 

Mel also accompanied me on a trip to Little India, where I had henna applied to my arm and hand. It was a novelty that I figured I may as well try once! I sent this photo to my dad stating "I got a tattoo!" Quickly followed by "...a henna tattoo". It gave him quite a fright. (Teeheehee.)

Venturing deeper into Little India, Mel and I found some very charming streets with houses in the old style. 

That was where we explored the Mustafa Centre, which was a strange kind of department store (you had to walk through the perfume shop to reach the supermarket). I found so many beautiful dates at reasonable prices and wanted to purchase all of them! Managing to restrain myself somewhat, I settled on only getting some mazafati, sokkari, safawi and ajwa dates. The nut selection similarly set my eyes alight, though I just bought a packet of cashews. (The grocery photo above was a typical haul for me, with plenty of fruits and veggies from Sheng Siong - a magical place.)

Giant Hypermarket also had great deals, and how could I pass up cheap melons?!

My meals were delicious and nutritious, what with the abundance of fresh produce in easy reach. The wooden bowl holding half a rock melon was a bargain I picked up from a secondhand store I found down the road! I love a good deal. 

On the day I visited the secondhand store, tops and dresses were half price, so I snagged this gem for five dollars! I don't know if it's a top or a dress, so I was lucky that the offer covered both clothing categories (and I've since worn it in each way).

One weekend, Yannick and I visited Chinatown where we had heard tales of a cafe called Cake Spade. Famed for their freakshakes, Yannick ordered a speculoos variety and boy was it freakish. There was ice cream, speculoos biscuits, bits of speculoos cake, speculoos spread, a caramel sauce, and speculoos crumbs. It was a little overwhelming, and Yannick couldn't finish it because it was so rich. I opted for the pink flamingo tea, which matched the bright neon decor. 

On another weekend we ventured up Orchard Road, but as we're not super into shopping we popped down a side road: Emerald Hill Road.

Known for its beautifully decorated houses (built by wealthy members of the Peranakan community), we wandered along and admired each one. Some had interesting Wild West saloon style doors, which seemed odd but somehow still fit the style.

Trendy bars are interspersed between the houses, and coincidentally a cowboyesque photoshoot was taking place at one! I suppose we weren't the only ones to spot the similarity between the door styles. 

Closer to home, on one afternoon we explored an exhibition at the National Design Centre that displayed concept art from Assassin's Creed Black Flag. It was very cool to see atmospheric sketches and paintings from the piratical video game, even if I had never played it myself. We also finally got around to visiting the National Library, which we had been intending to see since we moved into our apartment in Bugis. On show were some very intriguing old maps, photos and documents which delved into the history of Singapore.


Easter was an interesting time of year, living next to a church. Bells could be heard at any time of the day and night, and choirs were frequent. I actually didn't mind the choirs, and preferred them to the other forms of celebration, which on one night included what sounded like someone singing along badly to karaoke. For some reason the church decided to put their speakers on full blast, letting everyone in the greater Bugis area hear the good news about their lord and saviour. During this time especially, I made sure to stretch my legs and walk around the city capturing invisible monsters via the Pokemon Go app. This 'big blue dude with little red umbrella' was a favourite PokeStop of mine and just around the corner from the church.