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Posted in India, varanasi

Interesting facts about Varanasi

Posted on by harrytinkers

Banaras ki galliyan

The best part about Banaras is its gullies and these are very narrow lanes which I have never seen in an Indian city .Gali is mean Street. The roads are so narrow that only one auto is the maximum which can fit into the road but still the drivers there very understand that they help each other while riding through these lanes. As a passenger it was so difficult for us to even think about riding in such narrow lanes.

Pic from pinterest

Temples everywhere

There is temple in every nook and corner of the city and you will find lots of devotees gathered and performing pooja .Another interesting thing which we saw was the Khichdi baba where the temple would give free khichdi to everyone and the vessel in which this khichdi is made keeps on rotating while it is made. As it’s named as Lord Shiva’s place you can find a Shiva linga in every street.

p.c. :Times of India

Travel Ecofriendly: Electric Rickshaws

The whole town is filled with these cute electric rickshaws which takes the passengers to nearby places. Well the pace of this vehicle is slow and if you are on a vacation and want to relax and enjoy your ride in and around the city then this is the best means of travelling. It’s definitely a fun ride and prices are much more affordable than the regular autos.

Paintings

The city is made beautiful with paintings everywhere. On the way from the airport to our hotel the city is beautifully decorated with paintings all over pavement walls, on the bridge, on the and wherever your eyes could go.

Milk and milk products

You get fresh milk and milk products in almost available every dairy product store of Varanasi. The milk is fresh and is available so much in surplus in the city. The curd is tasty and perfect which results to amazing lassi and buttermilk. The paneer is soft and creamy. And of course the sweets made with the milk and khoya is absolutely tempting.

Flavoured milk

Chaat Varieties

As we all know that north India is famous for chaat and Chatpata snacks. And Varanasi has some more delicious varieties of chaat to offer and it’s very tasty and anyone would feel like having more. Starting from Pani Puri, aloo chaat, tamatar chat, dahiwada, ragda chaat, sev puri etc each and every item has its own charm and is a must have.

Sweets

The variety of sweet which Varanasi has to offer is endless and everything is so fresh. The best which we could choose from was the Rabadi jalebi, gulab jamun, peda ,besan ladoo and Rasgulla.All the sweet items are worth trying and packing them for your loved ones too.

Banarasi silk

One of the favourite categories of silk for most of the north Indians is the banarasi silk.Banarasi silk is one of the finest variants of silk produced in India. Primarily weaved in the holy city of Varanasi or Banaras in Uttar Pradesh, this silk attracts attention due to the zari and brocade work in gold and silver thread on the fine fabric. Banarasi silk saris are known all over the world for their splendour and exquisiteness. With their vibrant colours, intricate designs, and beautiful embroidery with gold and silver threads enhances the value of Banarasi sari and often finds a place of pride in the trousseau of an Indian bride.

benarasi saree

Paan

“Ab banaras aaye aur paan na khaye aise kaise ho sakta h” (coming to Banaras how can you miss the banarasi paan). Banaras is super famous for the paan and my father was very keen in tasting it and guess what it is special and tastes amazing. Also have the paan and sing the son “ Khaike paan banaras walaaaaa”.

Banarasi paan

Aghories

Varanasi is known as the land of aghoris and they are everywhere . You can either find them meditating or roaming in the cities or in the temples praying. For people who have never seen aghoris they may see very scary especially for children , but they are harmless and they are actually in their own world of trance and are not bothered about the surroundings.

 Chillum

You can find a wide varieties of chillum , beautifully wooden carved , in different shapes and sizes .They all are handmade and in each and every street shops you would find something different

This is what we bought from the market

Souvenirs of deities

The streets which leads to ghats and to Kashi Vishwanath temple is filled with small shops and street vendors which sells of all sorts of souvenirs and items required for daily pooja. What I found intresting is the idols made of brass and the quality is very good.Bargaining is the key for shopping here so negotiate as much as possible.

p.c. Shutterstock

Varanasi is a city of religious significance in Hindus, has the best street food and variety of things to shop. So have fun while exploring the spiritual capital of India

Posted in India, varanasi

Preperations of kumbh mela 2019 Allahabad

Posted on by harrytinkers

Kumbh at Allahabad

We visited Varanasi in January during Makar Sankranti  and because it was the festival time and also it was clashing with the ardh  Kumbh( happens in every six years) in Allahabad so people generally attend the ardh  kumbh and they come to Kashi Vishwanath temple to take Lord Shiva as blessings and also it is  believed that  taking bath in the holy Ganga River during this time  is very auspicious.Because of which the rush was more than expected during the time of our visit.

Arrangements for stay

So this year ardh kumbh happened in Allahabad and we were very lucky to witness this event in person.

There is always a saying among Indians when they find two people who look similar “ lagta h kumbh ke mele me bichad gaye the”

The preparations for kumbh mela started months back and the area covered was really humongous . We started by morning 6 o’clock from the hotel to the Varanasi bus stop . The bus stop is  located just in front of the railway station and we took an auto rickshaw to reach the bus station . It was a supper chilly morning and we were freezing because of the cold air.

For the morning breakfast we had steaming hot Idlies and coconut chutney  with loads of mustard seeds on top from a small street vendor outside our hotel .We were  a little sceptical about  having idly from north india as being a South Indian we love Idli and don’t like to experiment when it comes to south Indian cuisine but this was really good and we were extremely satisfied.

As soon as he went to the bus stand we got a bus to Allahabad it took us about three hours to reach Allahabad from Varanasi. For in between meal our bus stopped in a dhaba where we had breakfast puri ,aloo ki sabji, jalebi.

When we reached Allahabad mid way to the city our bus was just stopped because of  the ardh kumbh preparations , so we had to walk and go to the ground where are the event was happening .The ardh kumbh was arranged at the Triveni Sangam and  so that the Rishis and devotees could come and perform the pooja. Triveni sangam which  is the confluence of three rivers (Ganga, Yamuna & Saraswati). The point of confluence is a sacred place for Hindus, with a bath here said to flush away all of one’s sins and free one from the cycle of rebirth .

The place was maintained very  clean and there were good arrangements  for all these Street vendors would sell food and other small handmade items.All these vendors were already setting up the stall so that people can come and visit.

When we were walking we saw something  interesting call the MALAI and  this is kind of a sweet made with milk it look like foam with Ras Malai flavour.

Walking  ahead reached a Temple named  bada Hanuman temple this is the only Temple in India where you will see sleeping Hanuman and seems  like he  is lying down on the floor and its a very  huge sculpture.There a pretty long  Q to enter inside the temple and people were very well behaved and were entering very quietly inside the temple .Even the Darshan was very well managed and experience

Bade Hanuman temple

We also visited the Allahabad fort near the Sangam.The preparations where at its peak and people wear preparing so much to organise a good event in Allahabad

Also the  river is very clean till the time it reaches Allahabad and after that I don’t know what happens to the river it becomes full polluted and .

The food arrangement over there was in shacks and there was a food stall where we had Samosa kachori which was pretty good and making it fresh in front of you.It was a open area kitchen and we saw staff making Gulab Jamun, Puri and sabzi just in front of the customers which is very satisfying .

Coming back from allahabad to Varanasi also took us 3 and half hours  in the evening .The journey was pretty comfortable because  the roads are pretty decent and the bus driver also drove very carefully .

Posted in India, varanasi

How to spend a day at Sarnath

Posted on by harrytinkers

On a saturday we decided to visit Sarnath, which one of the four main centres for Buddhism in India. Sarnath is a Buddhist pilgrim spot located near Varanasi. The city is famous for being the first place where Lord Buddha preached for the first time after gaining enlightenment. Later, kings who followed Buddhism like King Ashoka built a lot of stupas and structures here that are focused on Buddhism.After gaining the knowledge of life Buddha gave his first teachings to his student here sitting under a banyan tree and that tree is still preserved there .

How to Reach Sarnath

Sarnath in Uttar Pradesh India is a little town lying close to Varanasi.

The Varanasi airport is 24 km is the nearest airport to Sarnath. One can hire a taxi from the airport to reach Sarnath directly. The main railway station is also at Varanasi as only a few trains halt at the Sarnath railway station. One can hire a taxi from the airport to reach Sarnath directly.

Sarnath is well connected to nearby cities in the state via an excellent network of roads. Regular state-run buses move to and from Varanasi. One can also opt for a cab from Varanasi. Hiring an autorickshaw from Varanasi to Sarnath can also be considered.Local buses are the most convenient way of travel within the city. Autorickshaws are not available in Sarnath. It is also preffered by many tourists to explore this small area on foot.

 We took  a  local auto and went sarnath well we did some bargaining for the price which included to n fro trip for a day which was reasonable.

Places to Visit in Sarnath

Thai Buddha Vihara

Dhamek stupa

Chaukhandi

Chaukhandi Stupa

Archaeological museum

The museum has archaeological excavations of buddhist history.the meusem is beautifully maintained and its under continuous surveillance and you are not allowed to take your mobile phones and cameras inside.

Archaeological museum

Deer park or Ishipatana

Jain Temple

Digambar Jain Temple

Another interesting thing which you can do is shop a handloom banarsi and jamdani silk from the nearby local weaving centres in Sarnath.Quality wise and price wise its affordable nad the designs are also authentic.

Posted in India, varanasi

Land of Gods : Varanasi

Posted on by harrytinkers

The city of Varanasi has been one of the most ancient cities in India.This city is most famous for its Narrow lanes,Ganga aarti, Kasi vishwanath temple and one of the most cherished silks of India the Banarasi silks.

The main idea of visiting Varanasi came long back when one I was checking Facebook for people’s new year celebration and I saw someone actually posted Ganga Aarti as their new year celebration and since that day i wished  to see Ganga aarti in person and the year 2019 Jan we made it possible.

Click below to check out our expreiences in Varanasi

“Every place has story , a new experience and reason to be visited there and each and every person will take his/her own experience which has changed their life after their trip”

by Tinkers
Quote• Posted on by harrytinkers
Posted in food review, singapore

Where to EAT in Singapore

Posted on by harrytinkers

Kopitiams

IN Singapore in loads of places we noticed this food courts which is named as Kopitiams and when we researched about them it turns out to be : A kopitiam or kopi tiam is a traditional coffee shop mostly found in Malaysia, Brunei, Singapore, Indonesia and Southern Thailand patronized for meals and beverages. The word kopi is a Malay term for coffee and tiam is the Hokkien/Hakka term for shop.
Luckily we have restaurants serving some Indian food in these food court and one of them was the below one wherein we had good egg curry and paratha for lunch.

Paratha and Egg curry

Lavo

Read our review in the below instagram post 🙂

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🇱 🇦 🇻 🇴 This is a restaurant situated on the 57th story of Marina Bay Sands singapore. Starting with the entrance of the restaurants beautifully lit at night and the staff is very very welcoming The restaurant is very cosy and the lighting is dim. Talking about the food cuisines served here is Italian and you get really yummy pasta so they serve you first with with complimentary starter is a bread which look like a cake. We ordered a white sauce pasta sauted broccoli and spinach pizza, we know it sounds very healthy and yes it was apparently and also we ordered for a Sunshine Paradise and because they did not have the ingredients for the same drink actually made a customised drink for us which was absolutely yummy!! So when you go to this restaurant have a view at the light show with the fountains which happens on the Singapore river which can be viewed from the 57th story restaurant at 9 o'clock Singapore time. This musical fountain is an amazing show which one can witness from top of the Singapore and also you can have the look of the full City from this place which looks splendid. On the other side of the restaurant you have a big telescope through which you can zoom in and see the major part of the city. Because usually at night Singapore becomes little breezy it's the best time to go and spend some time with your loved one as the Marina Bay Sands lavo Singapore #beautifulsingapore #lightshow #musicalfountainshow #amazingrestaurant #placestovisit #foodiecouple #foodstagram #lovesfood #foodphotography #phonephotography #singaporediaries❤ #singaporerestaurants #singapore_insta #visitsingapore #harrytinkers #lovestotravel #lovetoexplore #eatsomethingnew

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Marche

Read our review in the below instagram post 🙂

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🇲 🇦 🇷 🇨 🇭 🇪 This is a restaurant located in the vivo City. The location is very beautiful and Ambience inside the restaurants is very very comfortable. It's always Rush over here and you need to book a table for you go to this place for maybe dinner this place is beautiful it up so it is advisable to go at night you and everything like arranged. So this is a buffet system and you are given a card and each item you buy will be swiped inside that called and by the end of your mail but you are going out to the restaurant you can check your card for your Final bill. Picture 1: Salad taken some quinoa and some roasted tomatoes baked beans grapes lettuce and some cottage cheese.😅🤩😍 Picture 2: So this is called the Rosti which is basically grated potatoes in shape of pancakes served with yogurt dip tomato and onion salad and green peas dip.😋 Picture 3: Freshly made waffles with Chocolate which movie sauce and strawberry.😍 Picture 4: Custom made pizza with cheese tomato and some mushroom😋 Picture 5: Chocolate truffle cake.🤩 The items which we tasted was amazing and everything was super fresh and made in front of your eyes so it's good. #marche #foodiecouple #happyhappy #foodstagram #welovefood #singaporediaries❤ #storytelling #foodphotography #foodislife #foodisfuel #foodmakesushappy #mustgoplaces #placestoeat #singaporerestaurants #singaporefood #lovesfood #Singaporeexplore #singaporewanderlust #lovestotravel #lovestory #thebestinstafoods

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Ecp food court

This is a pretty large food court in East coast park ( ECP) .Well ECP is a beach which lies on the eastern side of Singapore.This is beach which is always populated with the tourists and the residents because it has a park with the beach coastline and amazing food court.The food served here is mostly singaporean and you get loads of non veg varieties.WE had Mei goreng ( noodles) , chicken satay, egg fried rice and tender coconut juice.

Premas

Premas is a authentic south indian kerala cuisine restaurant and they serve veg and non veg both. We tried our evertime favourite Puttu and kadala,Karimeen fry, Prawns biriyani, parotta and egg roast and chicken biryani.

Ladarach chocolates

A swiss chocolate company with one of the best chocolate and flavours which we have tasted till now.They have so many flavours and they will make assorted varieties according to your taste.Its a must try .

Thai express

We really like Thai food and then we decided to try thai express in Jewel mall and they serve authentic Thai food . Some of the dishes we tried was
* Tom yum Seafood soup
*Steamed fish in lime and basil, chili garlic gravy
*Green thai chicken curry with rice
*Thai basil chicken with rice
*Red tom yum chicken glass noodle soup

Posted in singapore

The magical land : Gardens by the Bay

Posted on by harrytinkers

Gardens by the bay is a mystical garden filled with exotic flowers, beautiful sculptures and some unbelievable architectural wonders.

The nearest MRT station is bayfront station and the subway which leads you to the gardens by the bay is very beautifully decorated with floral wallpapers and huge mirrors alternatively.

Gardens by the bay has no entry fees if you just want to visit the garden and have a stroll along the place.

Walking Through the garden you will see exotic flowers and beautiful structures because we went at night we actually couldn’t see the flower dome, the cloud  dome and the exotic flower gallery so for all these three need to pay like 8 Singapore dollars for the ticket per person.

As we entered the garden, it was lit beautifully and the first thing what you see is the Dragonfly lake where there is the Singapore river which flows through the city and it has this beautifully lit dragonflies statues in between the river and you can even have a good time sitting near the lake as there are stairs to sit there and have a peaceful time.

Then you can walk towards the bridge over the river and then go to the Super tree grove which showcases light show  at 7:45 and 8:45 (two shows per night).So when we reached the show was about to start  and people had already occupied the place to sit around so what we did is just grabbed a seat front of the centre pillar and sat on the road .

And the best part about watching the light show is by lying down on the floor and watch it and the  show  will create its magic in your eyes because it really looks like stars blinking with beautiful songs. The light show is very well synchronised with of light effects and the music ,also it is presented so  beautifully that not even for a moment you feel that is actually done by a machine; you will just feel the magic in the sky and will go into another world all together, A magical fantasy world.

And the roads or the pavement in the garden is  so clean  that I wore a white shirt and I was literally lying down on the wet road of gardens by the bay and there was not even a stain on my white shirts that is like unbelievable.

AS we move forward there is this floral clock. There’s something magical about seeing a floral clock, the combination of floral design and timekeeping. It’s Located between the Cloud Forest and the Super tree Grove in the Gardens by the Bay is a beautiful seven metre wide Floral Clock decorated with an array of colourful tropical plants with contrasting foliage and flowers, the clock’s hands are guided by GPS technology. The design of the clock was inspired by the Swiss watchmaker Audemars Piguet and it’s Royal Oak collection. The clock was a gift from Audemars Piguet to the garden to celebrate Singapore’s 50th anniversary

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This is a floral clock There's something magical about seeing a floral clock, the combination of floral design and timekeeping. It's Located between the Cloud Forest and the Supertree Grove in the Gardens by the Bay is a beautiful seven metre wide Floral Clock decorated with an array of colourful tropical plants with contrasting foliage and flowers, the clock's hands are guided by GPS technology. The design of the clock was inspired by the Swiss watchmaker Audemars Piguet and it's Royal Oak collection. The clock was a gift from Audemars Piguet to the garden to celebrate Singapore's 50th anniversary and its well worth seeking out. #singaporediaries❤ #singaporebeauty #lightshow #whatabeauty #magical #psychedelic #fantasy #gardenbythebay #harrytinkers #lovetotravel #lovetoexplore #wobderfulworld #beautifulplaces #citiestoexplore #singaporeinsiders #igtravel #singapore_insta #singaporewanderlust #floralclock #audemarspiguet

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So people in Singapore are really fitness oriented people so you would see lot of people running, cycling, skatr boarding ,roller skating, jogging ,walking  around the garden , as the garden area is huge with fresh air and surrounded by the Singapore Lake and huge trees.

Satay by the bay

As we were super hungry after a long walk in gardens by the bay we thought of having dinner from their food court called the satay by the Bay. This place serves amazing cuisine for non vegetarians and has very less options for vegetarians and as the  place name suggests you will find a lot of restaurants serving you satay of different meat. There are more than 25 restaurants of to choose from and most of them serve Chinese cuisine . There were two or three restaurants which was serving Italian and some English breakfast which is on a higher price side.

Also there was a fruit shop where you get really fresh fruit and fruit juices and fruit jellies which had cherries, litchis and strawberries and we had chilled the coconut water which was so refreshing and the best part about coconut water in Singapore is they will serve you in a very interesting way.

 So while walking towards the exit and we noticed a cactus Garden which had huge cactus which were more than 10 feet tall  and also a children’s park with small swings o that children can have good fun time as well.

Planning to visit the gardens by the bay we would suggest to take a full day tour of this beautiful place.

Posted in Uncategorized

A day at Universal Studios Singapore

Posted on by harrytinkers

We took a bus from clement which had dropped us to the harbour front  bus station near the vivo city mall which is about 30 minutes drive .

We got down there and noticed a food court with some amazing breakfast menu, so we had dosa and Juice .Sweet and sour juice was so refreshing as it was a mix of sugercane and sweet lime with a  tinge of lemon,

After that we headed to Vivo city mall and from there we took monorail to Sentosa with took us to the Universal Studios. This mono Rail had 3 coaches and was painted beautifully in bright colours. Sentosa is aan island so the the mono rail  goes through a water body and has a very beautifu lview  and you should definitely take a window seat to have a look at it Finally reached Universal Studios by 11:00 a.m. and that is the time when it opens so you have to show your tickets to go inside and we did not know that it was the beginning of the Halloween Party Nights in Universal Studio the whole studio in the morning was getting ready for its first Halloween Night party.

Halloween night preparations at Universal Studios

As soon as you enter Universal Studio from its big gate you would see the whole world of Minions. Because it’s a theme park it’s divided into sections and which are easily asccesible with the map. Its is divided into 6 parts and you can choose to go wherever you want first so we went to the Madagascar section where we took the river Safari and took us about 45 minutes and the ride duration was for 10 minutes which was fun and we also got to click pictures with the main characters of Madagascar as a photo booth which was really amazing. Also they have these stores which have merchandises.

Also there is Character meetup in different areas of the park wherein characters would be coming at specific timings and you can click pictures after standing in a queue with them.

The next stop was the Transformers because we wanted to witness roller coaster ride and it was thrilling ,this ride would definitely rush your adrenaline level. The wait time was 45 minutes long and Wait was worthwhile, the ride blew our mind . So there are basically 2 roller coaster rides in the Transformers section and a very fun 3D ride which I would definitely recommend everyone to have an experience for,  it was really amazing but the wait time is too long for about an hour the we lost a lot of time over there .Also if you have to go to the roller coaster ride you basically have to leave all your belongings in a locker which takes about 2 SGD for 2 hours and 2 SGD for every half n hour.

After the ride we were exhausted and dehydrated so we decided to fuel ourselves up ..The food court near transformers section offers  for both veg and non veg options and  we had mushroom and corn noodles ( this was amazing), fried  chicken ( good),olive rice ( too much olive ), some fresh fruits ( no so fresh) ,iced Milo ( very bland) and a rainbow cake ( the best part about the meal).The food was tasty but highly overpriced as all the other theme parks.

Also there is section called lights camera action which is about this old city and you get really vintage pictures. You would literally feel you have come back to the cowboy era .You would see these old Vintage cars and  restaurant’s and marketplace and the Gotham ice company. Every inch of this place will actually remind you of vintage village surroundings.

Then we move to the Egyptian era where we went for a Treasure Hunt which is basically a ride for kids and its absolutely relaxing.

Next we went to the Prehistoric area where it was everything about dinosaurs with a cute ride with flying dinosaurs, a tour to the Prehistoric era and rivers Safari (the best one) and is highly recommended. By the time we were done with the river Safari it was6 p.m. (closing time) and we did not know that.

When we came out of the Universal Studio in the evening it was a totally different place the whole place was ready for its Halloween Night and everyone was dressed up in Halloween costumes. And there were some creepy things to eat, Halloween props and the universal globe was turned into a red colour globe it was really Spooky and creepy and we wondered that how did they do everything in such a small time because at morning it was all normal and by the night it turner all spooky and creepy .

Overall It was such an amazing day at Universal Studio and everyone must go where and have a really fun day all together

Posted in food review, singapore

Awaken your inner kid again!!

Posted on by harrytinkers

If you are a candy lover this is your place .A candy land called candylicious.

Explore the colourful world of Candylicious and treat every sweet craving with pleasure. Visually mesmerising pillars embedded with candy, and a canopy of a colourful lollipop tree covered with dangling lollipops make Candylicious is a vibrant candy filled store representing fantasy, joy and irreplaceable childhood memories. With walls and aisles featuring endless varieties of sweets, the young and young at heart will find it hard to leave this candy heaven.

Posted in food review, singapore, streets to visit

Fashion forward shopping street:Bugis

Posted on by harrytinkers

Bugis is the best place to shopping for all shopaholics in town.

For street shopping go to bugis  street and for brands go to bugis mall.

Bugis mall

Clothing

There is  whole street full of funky and quirky clothes and these are really good in quality but the only sizes available are XS, S and M, Can’t blame these shops because everyone is super petite in Singapore including the men . So to buy clothes from the streets you need to be petite. Also as Indians our body is on a curvy side and its little difficult to fit into these pretty, cute and beautiful clothes  which you get it at a very reasonable cost only if you bargain well.Also there is no fitting rooms in most of the shops so buy it on your own risk.

Just after the street you can see a beautiful building which is the bugis mall and there you can find almost all the good brands to shop from.

Happy to see some of my designs in the store

Accessories

Talking about the bags we got some really beautiful bags which was in offer got 3 bags for 10 SGD.Also tnere are many shops which sell earring ,necklaces and other pretty accessories in a n offer such as 8 for 10SGD and 4 for 10 SGD depending on what you are buying.Also there are many options for footwear also , the only main important factor is bargaining. Bargain as much as you can.

So many options to chose from 🙂

Bugis food street

Bugis food street has so much to offer to a foodie couple like us ans because we were really tired after so much of bargaining ,walking , window shopping that our stomachs were grumbling with hunger.

Pic 1: Taiyaki-Japanese traditional sweet fish shaped pancake
Pic 2: Kaya balls – coconut jam filled buns
pic 3: blueberry juice(must have) n apple cherry juice
Pic 4: choco chips from shinchan….they really exist
Pic 5 : herbal tea eggs
Pic 6 : Fried hong kong noodles

Visit Bugis for an amazing shopping experience