Christmas Eve

Finally my exams are over! I would say that I’m a very happy man this semester – although my revisions started really late compared to my previous semester, I kind of loved every single moment of this semester.  Be it hanging out with my usual heptameric gang (of 7 members) from my school, or with this bunch of amazing exchange students from different parts of the world, I truly enjoyed the most.

In fact, I would be lying if I didn’t say this is my happiest semester in NTU thus far.

Lunch with Melisa and Susanna

Susanna and Melisa

Susanna is from Canada and Melisa is from Mexico. Both of them are awesomely funny people. So we’ve decided to have lunch and dessert at this Indonesian restaurant and boy, they serve the best food (and dessert, of course!) ever.

Ayam Penyet

If you ever visit Singapore, you have to try the food from the Ayam Penyet Ria franchise. They have the best chicken and chili. The prices are quite reasonable too – mine was $6.90.

Mixed fruits with blended ice, and green beans with blended ice.

I had the mixed fruits with blended ice, and Susanna settled for green beans with blended ice. Their desserts are seriously awesome, and it would be a travesty if you don’t try them out.

Coffee time at Starbucks

Coffee time at Starbucks with the ladies ;) we decided to settle for Starbucks after milling around the mall looking for things that we weren’t buying. Nonetheless Melisa finally found the charger she wanted, so it wasn’t a lost cause afterall.

Christmas tree at Jurong Point Shopping Center

The beautifully decorated Christmas tree outside the shopping mall. The crowd around the tree never ceased, and the constant flow of commuters to and from the MRT station makes it absurdly impossible to snap a good photo of the tree without any people’s heads in it.

Christmas eve coffee time

Later in the day I met with Patrick, Jacqueline and Alvin for coffee after their movie in town. Patrick brought us to Jones the Grocer in the Mandarin Gallery.

Strawberry cake

Sugar cubes

Alvin's machiato

Patrick's latte

We left the restaurant at around 10.30pm and walked briskly to Somerset MRT because we knew the last thing we wanted to happen is to get caught in the crazy Christmas crowd along Orchard Road. Orchard Road is infamous for their annual Christmas and New Year Eve celebrations where random people will start spraying foam and strings into each other. Of course avid party goes will totally love all the action but we didn’t want to get our clothes dirty. Plus, things can get pretty rough when fights break out, or when piss drunk people start throwing up on each other, so the best plan is to plan an early escape.

My heart skipped a beat when we walked past this group of punks who suggested that they try their foam spray on us. Luckily we were walking fast enough and they weren’t quite ready to randomly victimize a passerby, so we were kind of let off the hook or something. Only if I’m big enough, like 6-feet tall, then I could threaten to beat them to a pulp.

On the train back to my dorm, I drowned myself in the songs from KT Tunstall’s 2007 Christmas album titled Have Yourself a Very KT Christmas. I really love all her covers of classical Christmas songs. Fairytale of New York is one of the best covers.

Before I caught the last bus heading back to the campus, I snapped a photo of the same Christmas tree, but now at 11.58pm and when the crowd was reduced to nothing but commuters rushing to get their last buses from the terminal.

Christmas tree at night

Have yourself a very merry Christmas!