Anime Festival Asia [07/12]

It's the time of the year again - the Anime Festival Asia. I recalled coming to AFA for the first time in 2008, and watched how it has grown these 7 years. We have cosplayers around the entrance area as we proceed to buy tickets.

I bought the exhibition and stage access pass.


There are many more international exhibitors in the AFA now.

With continuous live stage entertainment below.

And also real-time gaming competition with players from another country.

Next we have the special AFA stage where anime singers are invited up to perform.

And not forgetting domo-kun below.

The ticket I bought allow me access to the day stage area where there are short performances by anime singers and singers-wannabe.

There is a section where visitors can try the training that cadets go through in Attack of the Titan.

There are also some special games showcase.

And here is the performance by a singer who is giving us a preview of Death Note the musical.

River Safari [29/11]

My brother passed me a free entry ticket to River Safari that can be used during the month of November only. Using this as an opportunity, AJ and myself plan a visit to the River Safari on the 29th November.

We took a taxi from Balestier to Choa Chu Kang as the way is faster and more direct. We arrived in around 20mins and begin our journey to the River Safari.

Pass the gates, we were greeted by the river and the equatorial rainforests.

The River Safari are grouped into different river themes such as the Ganges, the Yangtze River, the Amazon and so on. And in each theme house the different aquatic creatures behind the glass.

We continue walking to an indoor enclose area and noticed this furry creature (Red Panda) walking around the branches. It can get really close to us (1-metre away) from the branches to the visitors below.

And here we have the two pandas. Here is the more outgoing panda (Kaikai).

And here is the more introvert panda (Jiajia).

It is coming close to lunch time. We decide to have lunch at the Mama Panda Kitchen.

We ordered wanton noodles bamboo rice and two panda buns.

From the cafe, there is quite a good view of the river that discharges out into the reservoir. There is also the bridge linking the other side of the river.

It's going to rain soon. And it did. It rained for the next 2 hours. We just sat at the entrance dimsum restaurant, while waiting the rain to go off.

As it started to rain, we explored the Amazon theme area, with the piranhas below.

At this place, there is a large aquatic showcase.

After the rain has slowed to a drizzle, we tried the $5, 10mins Amazon River Quest.

The front of the boat can get a bit wet as it plunge into the river beyond.

Here we have flamingos.

Next we went for the $5, 20mins River Safari cruise. It is a journey around the reservoir, where we can have good views of the animals living by the river in the zoo.

Here is the tour guide explaining to us the habitats living around. She went around letting us feel the texture of the tail of a giraffe.

The quiet boat ride.

With elephants up on the hill...

Shanghai [20/10 - 05/11]

I'm returning back to Shanghai again. The evening sun greeted me as I journeyed from Pudong airport towards Shanghai city center. 

Over the course of the next 2 weeks, I will be staying at the Westin Bund. The hotel looks nice and spacious.

Here is the bathroom.

I rendezvous with my colleague for dinner at the hotel restaurant. We are having seafood buffet.

Teppanyaki dish prepared by the local staff.

As the hotel is a short distance walk from the Nanjing East Road. We visited the street to take a look at the hustle and bustle of city life.

On another day, we visited the Bund.

And took some photos of the great view across the river.

24th October 2014 (Friday)

One of my colleague would like to tailor-make suits. After asking around, we arrived at Lu Jia Bang Road textile market. There are lots of tailors here.

For dinner, we checked out the famous Xiao Long Bao shop at Yu Yuan.

25th October 2014 (Saturday)

I like to do supermarket shopping over the weekend. It is also the hairy crab season. Here are the actual prices of the crabs as sold in supermarket.

I visited my good friend DK's house over the weekend. His house has very good view of the city skyline.

He brought me to Renmin Garden where they have matchmaking activities going on every weekend. I blur out the photos deliberately below. Most of the people are parents who put their children profile for prospectors to look at.

Most of them are ladies. But there are also men.



One of my favorite restaurant in Shanghai this time round is Xi Bei below. It serves very affordable modern style spicy dining.

After dinner, we took a walk around the city area and came upon Jingan temple.

26th October 2014 (Sunday)

On Sunday, I brought my colleague to a western cuisine style hangout at Xintiandi.

Here is Xintiandi during the day.

In the evening, I catch up with my good friend DK again for steamboat dinner.

31st October (Friday)

This evening, I decided to have Japanese dinner.

2nd November 2014 (Sunday)

It is back to steamboat again this evening.

When I got back to my hotel, I am greeted by a Birthday cake from the hotel.

3rd November 2014 (Monday)

My boss bought for me birthday cake on Monday.

In the evening, we went for Xinjiang cuisine.

We visited to Han City along Nanjing East road. It sells a variety of goods and I'm fascinated by this USB drive below. Is there a 1TB flash memory the size of a thumb?

4th November 2014 (Tuesday)

It is the final night in Shanghai and I caught up with DK again for supper. This has to be one of the best barbeque I have tried so far. The mutton skewers are prepared by 2 girls from Xinjiang by the side of the road.