I'm in Melbourne.

I'm now in Melbourne waiting for shuttle bus to hotel. I won't be updating the blog for a week.

Flying to Melbourne!

It's weird.  I thought we be flying with Emirates but it turns out to be Qantas airline. Anyway I quite like Qantas airline.

Tampines Hub: One Stop Service Centre Shopping Mall

Tampines Hub, a giant one-stop service centre with many facilities is now officially opened. 
There are bowling alley, swimming pool, library, public services (HDB, ActiveSg and many more), stadium, shopping mall, hawker centre, restaurants, gym and many more!

After holiday, I will be using ActiveSg gym to exercise. I need to shed off extra weight after eating so much.

 Restaurant

 Inside the hawker centre. 

 There are different Tray return station. This is non-halal tray return station.

 To encourage diners to return tray, there is reward system. You need a card to scan for reward points.

 There is bak kut teh stall which is pork organ soup. 

 Singapore kindness movement.

 Many senior citizens like to watch the giant screen. 

 This place is very big. Need a few hours to really explore all facilities. 

 Hawker centre

Modern Yaki Pasta at Miam Miam

I love the modern yaki pasta at Miam Miam restaurant. It is actually aglio olio with mushroom, cabbage and omu egg topped with mayonnaise sauce and seaweed. The pasta is aldente and tasty with garlic fragrant and sesame seed. A plate of modern yaki is about $14.50. 

French toast with drink cost $8.80. I don't really recommend it. 

Going to Melbourne Again this Week!

This Wed evening, I be flying to Melbourne, Australia with my buddy. We will arrive on this Thursday early morning. This will be my third trip to Melbourne. This time I'm going there to decide if I should go there next year for a short course. Frankly speaking, I'm still not sure if I should go there to study next year. I only like 3 of the subjects but don't like the 4th subject offered as there is a lots of calculation and I don't really like complex Mathematics.

I wanted to fly with Singapore Airlines but the timing is not so good compared to other airlines.

We be going to Yarra valley, Philips island to see cute penguins  For me, it will be my second visit. But I'm looking forward to it as I like nature. 

One place we will visit is Victoria State Library in Melbourne!

HDB Showflats My Nice Home Gallery

I'm currently taking a short course at Toa Payoh central. In the vicinity, there is a Housing Development Board (HDB) Hub where many properties transactions take place. Near the HDB hub, there is a showflat gallery where you can see different room types from 2-room flat to 5-room flat. For HDB which provides public housing for Singaporeans, a 2-room flat actually has 1 bedroom and a 5-room flat has 4 bedrooms. In Singapore, about 80% of Singaporeans live in public housing flats. Currently I'm staying with my family in a 5-room flat in Tampines. Older flats are much bigger compared to new flats. The flat I'm staying is about 120 square metres. All HDB flats have 99-year lease. So actually we don't own the flat. After 99 years, we have to return to HDB or if we have descendants, they have to return to HDB. Anyway, not many Singaporeans live beyond 100 years old. 

For me, I plan to buy a 2-room flat since now there is single housing scheme which allows Singaporean singles to buy a brand new 2-room flat. In the past, singles have to buy from the resale market. It is very competitive and challenging to get a brand new 2-room flat as interested parties have to ballot for the unit as there are many singles in Singapore. I really hope to get one 2-room flat as the size is just right for 1 person. For me, I'm interested in the 45m square size flat as I have many bookshelves. Looking at the 45m square size living room, I'm not sure if it can fit all my bookshelves. 

Anyway, what I like about the new 2-room flexi flat is there are many elderly-friendly facilities like emergency alarm, handrail holding. I reckon I be staying in this 2-room flat till old age alone. So these facilities are quite useful for me in time to come. 

Click here to view HDB My Nice Home gallery. This is like an online interactive gallery to view different flats from 2-room to 5-room flat.

How to get there?
Just alight at Toa Payoh MRT station. It takes about 5 minutes to reach HDB hub. 

45 square metres 2-room showflat.

 36 square metres 2-room showflat.

Living room inside 45 sq m 2-room flat. For me I don't like black and white theme. I prefer Scandivanian style with lots of wood material and pastel colour. 

Kitchen inside 45 sq m 2-room flat.

  There is 1 toilet inside 45 sq m 2-room flat. 

Bedroom inside 45 sq m 2-room flat. 

This bedroom is small. Just enough space for a Queen size bed and wardrobes. For me I'll buy single bed, study table and a wardrobe. Living in the older 5-room flat, I'm used to spacious space. My current bed room has a single bed, 1 wardrobe, 3 bookshelves and  two study tables. My bedroom size is twice or triple the size of current bedroom in new flats.

Living room Inside 45 square metres 2-room showroom

 There is 1 toilet inside a 2-room flat. Not enough room for jacuzzi bathtub. 

This is the shelter room. Guess most people will use it for storage too. I can keep my luggage inside here.

 Inside the shelter room.

 Next, explore the 36 square metres 2-bedroom showflat.

 This is the living room in 36 square metres 2-room flat. I prefer wood tiles and Scandinavian design with pastel colour. 

 The bedroom is just behind the living room.

 The toilet don't have room for bathtub too.

 Inside the shelter room.

 I like this kitchen design with wood cabinet. I love wood material so if possible, I also want to have wood flooring.