Warm lighting and an assortment of cushions

I only get to meet up with Shiyu like once a year or so because she was studying in Australia and now I am going to work in China. After a quick search on hungrygowhere, she came to pick me at my place and we went to People Like Us Cafe, one of the few cafes that open till late on a weekday. It doesn’t look like much from the outside or on the first level but the second floor was really cozy and it’s so near where I live! A pity I only just discovered it. Foster’s $7 for a stubby and $10 for a Heineken. I wanted to try their Choconana crepe but they were sold out. Hope I’ll get to give this place one more shot before I go! Photos were photoshopped, taken with my new Panasonic LX3.

Yoyo-tsuri

Taken at the Japanese Summer Festival in Singapore last Sunday. Had a great time dressing up in a yukata and joining the bon-odori dance. This is the second time I participated in the natsu matsuri. Many years ago, they had the “kingyo-sukui” where you catch goldfish with paper nets. It was fun but cruel and those poor fishies die in a couple of days (I was heartbroken)! I’m glad I got to experience it before it got discontinued by the Agri-Food & Veterinary Authority (AVA).

House @Dempsey

JH brought me to Dempsey for some Ben & Jerry’s (love cookie dough). I’ve never been to Dempsey mainly because it’s so inconveniently located (without a car) and because my friends don’t hang out there. Only one out of four photos I took that night turned out nice, I guess 25% isn’t too bad a ratio.

http://www.dempseyhouse.com/

Me with 3 chewing puppies - taken by Boon

Dogs are hard to photograph

Thanks to the new Circle Line, we can now conveniently visit the Singapore Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) by alighting at Bartley and taking a 3-minutes stroll from the station. The Singapore SPCA looked like it never upgraded in 20 years (it’s actually my first visit) with very few animals in the shelter. Drop by for a visit and you may just be inspired to volunteer.

Reminds me of a sphinx

Sleeping cat-ortionist

Ear-marked

The Singapore SPCA is closed on Thursdays and the adoption shelter is only open till 4pm (3:30pm on Sundays and Public Holidays).

http://www.spca.org.sg/

Not a good photo-taking day, I only like these 2 shots. Kenji’s camera is kinda broken while J’s Holga rewind-misfortune probably cost him the entire roll.

Reflection

J

Kith Cafe serves yummy milkshake, try strawberry yoghurt or peanut butter! Reasonably priced at SG$5.50 each. Free parking at Waterfront condominium if you let them know that you are going to Kith Cafe (limited parking lots).

I love wood and chalkboards.

http://www.kith.com.sg/

Taken with Ling's Canon 50D

Wendy, exclaiming that the strawberry’s heart-shaped.

Me, taken by Ling

Love this photo with my Afternoon Tea at Harrods bag that I bought last year in London, how apt! Reminds me of the “Faceless Portrait” angle in Hot Shots.

The Cookie Museum, formally known as the V Tea Room, isn’t really a museum per se. It’s more of a cookie lab with flavors like Rose and Lavender to Chicken Rice and Nasi Lemak. You’ll be surprised how much flavor they can jam into a tiny, penny-sized sample. I think critics use the term “taste explosion”. A pot of tea costs around SG$15 (serves 1) and a tin of cookies costs around SG$40. I bought their Rose cookies during Valentine’s Day this year because it was simply oozing with love, to me at least. They have a lovely Victorian interior but sadly, they also have a “no photography” rule.

Esplanade Mall
#01-02/04
T: +65 6333 1965
Opening Hours
Mon-Thu,Sun (12pm-10pm), Sat (12pm-10.30pm)
Last order:
9.30pm (Sun – Thu)10.30pm (Fri & Sat)
http://www.thecookiemuseum.com/

Related link:
Esplanade – The Cookie Museum

Best part about “re-uniting” with Kenji after all these years is to find a spontaneous photography buddy! Not to mention, my new friend, J – the unknowing victim who willingly jumped into our crazy whirlpool of film/digital SLR/DSLR/toy cameras after a spontaneous decision to meet in Taipei! Sooo… the 3 of us went on a little excursion last Saturday…

魔鬼！

Geek specs!

Notebooks

More notebooks

Kenji and his SLR

Cat Socrates is a bookshop that also carries a variety of tin toys, CDs, tote bags, notebooks, stationery and other zakka, with a tiny corner that serves coffee (for like only 6 people!). They’re organising a Space Tin Photography Competition, submission deadline 30th June, chekkit!

Cat Socrates
苏格拉底猫·新生活阅读·创意杂货
ttp://www.catsocrates.com.sg/
231 Bain Street
Bras Basah Complex
#03-39
Singapore 180231

As we couldn’t get seats at Cat Socrates + it was getting too dark for some lomo action, we headed over to the Mint Museum of Toys for coffee. J getting trigger happy with his funny conversion lens (wide angle) that Kenji and him bought from Cat Socrates at only SG$8.50.

J

Me & my Sony α

MINT cafe

Mint Museum of Toys
http://www.emint.com/
26 Seah Street
Singapore 188382

p/s: They sell the funny lenses at Strapya World too, but at US$9+! Pricey!

To ease a bit of the Taipei-hangover, Shaun introduced me to Casual Poet, a laidback cafe tucked away in an inconspicuous shophouse in Chinatown. I told J about it and we went to check it out on a lazy Saturday.

布告欄 with Shaun's drawing!

Owned by a very young lady-boss in her early twenties, this little hideout sits less than 20 and houses a good stock of zakka for sale.

A sunny day

Vintage typewriter

I <3 Notebooks!

The food and drinks are rather pricey at about SG$7 for a strawberry shake and SG$10 for the chilli butter chicken rice (I can’t remember exactly). I like their chilli butter chicken rice even though it was a little too dry. On the other hand, the drinks and J’s fried rice didn’t do it for me (he claimed it was alright; that, or my tastebuds are just more sensitive). There’s free Wifi but my iPod Touch refused to connect to it somehow.

Skinny girl

Yummy!

Wooden shelves are nice

I probably will not re-visit unless there’s an event going on because I feel the food and drinks are overpriced. However, it’s a nice-to-visit-once sorta place that I’d recommend to get out of the usual Starbucks or Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf monotony.

Casual Poet
http://casualpoet.com/
273B New Bridge Road
Singapore 088749