National Gallery (Children's Biennale & Yayoi Kusama: Life is the Heart of a Rainbow) + Paik's Coffee Review

Started off the trip at City Hall MRT where me and SR decide to visit Paik's coffee for their current 1 for 1 promo since it was 1:55pm that we reached and by the time we make it to their outlet at Citylink mall, the promo would have started since I walk really slow. 

The 1 for 1 is to celebrate their 1st anni in Singapore and it is available at all the coffee outlets (Citylink, Tiong Bahru and Mapletree) from 2pm-6pm daily for the month of June!!! But you do have to show them you have either liked or followed their Facebook and Instagram.

Since the free item would be of the same or lower value, we made sure both the drinks ordered had the same price to make the most out of the promotion. I contemplated between their strawberry banana smoothie and their chocolate banana. But decided on the chocolate banana because I was craving for the same chocolate banana Coffee Bean used to have on their menu. So SR decided on the Iced Caramel Macchiato since its $5 too. So we paid $5 for both drinks, which in my opinion is really worth it.

Like come on, 2 huge drink sizes for $2.50 each ??? Even if it was regular priced it would still be reasonable considering other coffee chains.

Got our drinks and they do have a sugar syrup pump right at the collection area for you to add as much sugar you like. I did witness them adding a full banana to be blended up so they sure are using fresh fruits !!!

Kind of regretted my decision on the chocolate banana because the chocolate taste overpowered any banana taste and was super rich !!! Kind of tasted like milo. Shall try out the strawberry banana the next time! SR added a pump of sugar syrup to his and I think it is just nice!! His was something I could drink frequently. Super love how they use crushed ice as well because I love to chew into the chunks that get into my straw hehe

Got our drinks and walked over to the National Gallery. We didnt manage to finish our drinks before we entered so we had to sit outside and finish them before we headed back in.

Super excited when I saw these balls suspended in the air!!! Was super hyped for the Yayoi Kusama exhibit because I saw the advert the other day for it at the MRT and went to research and tickets were $15 oh my. So I immediately dismissed the idea of going until I saw someone saying it was free for students so yep here we are! It is free admission to all exhibits if you are a local student/above 60 or below 12.

We initially were browsing this area with maps of the place and brochures and this staff came to approach us with tickets but she didn't have the one for the Kusama exhibits and told us we had to head down to the ticketing counter and oh my goodness I was in for a big shock, The other time I visited the National Gallery was when it had opened for a few months and it was way too empty but the queues were really snaking!!! Maybe it was because it is the school holidays as well.

SR persuaded me against queueing so we went back to find the staff who was offering us the tickets at the entrance area and she was like "I told you so" (oops) we headed back down to the ticketing area and SR met his classmate who told us we could get tickets from another staff at the ticketing area who is located at a corner with all access passes! We went over to her showed our student passes and wew managed to get the all access tickets.

Headed on straight to the Kusama exhibits at level 3 and there were also queues to enter but no choice so we decided to just queue. Saw quite a few of her dot artworks but main point of her exhibit would be the infinity and self obliterating concepts!!

Queued for another small room which SR calls the cheese room.

Steps to view this sight of yellow polka dotted pumpkins. There isnt any sort of time limit for this but they definitely dont let you stay in the room to take mirror shots although I think it would be really nice!!

Love the concept of this!!! Although it might be slightly terrifying!! When I was a kid I always loved those lifts with this type of mirror concept where I could see like infinite me

Headed on to another room with these mirrored half balls stuck onto the walls. Kind of reminds me of those carpark or convenience store reflectors. It is plastered all over the area and even on the ceiling!

Queued again for the very much anticipated light room!! Saw insta posts on this and it really looks like the light exhibit at art science!! But this one is in a mini room with mirrors to make it seem like there are lights all over.

We were made to go in with 2 girls and we are given 20 sec in that room. Way too quick for you to admire and slowly take photos. We could barely even enjoy the sight before the guy came to open the door.

Explored the other artworks and entered into this M18 zone which really involved quite a bit of nudity and they also displayed a film on how Kusama painted on nude bodies and really showing those body parts uhmmmm... But she did receive alot of attention for the usage of nude models so.

Came into this other part of the exhibit and those red things do represent the male body part as it represented her fear towards it.

Another mirror light box where you can view it from different corners ! Pretty interesting.

Entered into another polka dot room and this time, colourful ones!!! Really liked this one because it is super child like.

Finally moving into more colourful artworks and super abstract I cant understand but oh wells. Doing the retarded face as SR calls it but I think I look cute so who cares.

Had a view of the room from outside as we queued for another exhibit!! Basically the exhibit is sort of a recreation of how she sold these metal spheres for $2 while it was on display which is totally not allowed.

Finished all of Kusama's exhibits and off we go to the fourth floor because SR is interested in viewing the architecture gallery but it was closed for the day (or maybe not opened yet) so we headed onto the bridge instead.

SR insisted on a shot of me by the bridge so I just went along with it. Many people were having their photoshoots at this bridge with DSLRs but I didnt really like this bridge because its slanted but before we left, we read up about it and apparently it is because the height is different between the both sides and to preserve it they had to design the bridge this way. Think we might come back another time because I think SR wants to read more about the building design.

Since we were at level 4 we went to take a look at the chinese gallery and the staff there was pretty excited that we came because I dont think they have much people visiting their side of the gallery and he was really happy to talk about the art pieces to a family.

Honestly think these artworks should have more people visiting because of how intricate it is and several artworks are from the Qing and Ming dynasty so it was pretty cool.

Exited the gallery and saw that Cherie had snapchatted me saying she is here too so I went to where she would be and said hi from a level above.

Headed on down because I wanted to have my photo taken at the stairs and SR was really accommodating about it :)))) Think I am still pretty awkward having my photo taken but wew think these turn out fine.

Went over to the marble stairs and SR says its the only time i will climb up a staircase hehe. Lighting isnt the best here so it didnt turn out as expected.

Down the marble stairs to level 1 and we ended up at the kids section! Didnt have the chance to check out the kids exhibit but they had this really cute cages with different animal toys spray painted in gold in them. There are loads of activities for kids in this area but not sure if I can join too heh would totally join in the art activities they have for fun.

While heading for the lift there were these box spaces for resting and we landed ourselves in one but could only sit there for a while because we were running out of time and we havent visited the Basement exhibits.

Went for a walk on the glass panels where they display an infinite loop and pure darkness below your feet. Pretty scary I would say. I did see people not daring to walk halfway. The last 2 in my opinion made me a little dizzy so I hurried myself to get off.

The much hyped sticker room. This exhibit is also by Kusama. You can purchase a sticker sheet for a $2 donation and they were available at the entrance. They do let a certain amount of people in and time you while you are inside and let the next batch of people in. We didnt get the stickers because there is barely any more space or space within my reach to have the stickers pasted.

Asked SR to take a photo of me but instead he went to take the merlion.

Spent the time hurriedly inside and waiting for people to leave an empty wall so I could take my photo.

Decided to just head for the Team Lab exhibit who are also the people behind the future world exhibit at art science!!

Had a mini briefing before we headed in and while waiting for the people to finish up their time. Tried my best to take shots without people in them and you definitely have to go find a more secluded corner!!! the room is fairly big but people tend to stay at the area where you first enter.

Decided to go for another round at the sticker room as I call it since there was barely anyone. Think this is the prime time to visit because most of the exhibits which previously had snaking long queues when we arrived have barely anyone left. But it was already 6pm and the place closes at 7pm so most probably many that have been here earlier would have left.

As we were queueing, this couple approached the family in front of us and offered them their leftover stickers and the baby in front of us took two stickers off the sheet and he was looking at us and waddled over and stuck one of the sticker on SR's pants. So cute!

Spot that Mcdonalds special order sticker amidst all the other stickers. Not sure who would actually specially bring a sticker down for it. But we took our time to slowly look around as compared to the first time round.

Had to rush off for a dinner meeting but the team lab exhibit also had no queue!!! We originally joined to go in as the next batch but SR told me I couldn't make it on time for the dinner if we stayed so we left. But while we were in the queue, there was this couple arguing behind us and SR said its relatable because the guy was complaining about how the girl was unhappy about the photo he took. (oops)

China Immersion Programme 2016 - Tianjin

After our week in Beijing we headed over to Tianjin where we travelled by the tour bus we always take. It was around a 3 hour drive if I am not wrong. We headed straight for the hostels because it was already quite late. We got our meal cards which were allocated to us and pre loaded with money already and this card is used to purchase our meals at their canteen.

Met up with our buddies at their library, where we were briefed and got to know our buddies a little better. They were then assigned to bring us around the school on a tour.

A cage full of doves (?) which is apparently released during graduations but I think I see them flying outside our window every morning in herds.

They actually have quite a variety of food available on campus and had the spring onion oil noodles and it was actually damn good and RMB4 ???? less than SGD1 and its super big portion (totally forgot abt taking photo because it was breakfast and I was way too hungry).

We decided on korean food which is a separate restaurant concept above their convenience store and it is super cheap and damn good eh ??? The meal you see above is less than SGD20 okay. and it was shared between 5, super filling also !!! I mostly had the kimchi stew and it was so darn good in the cold weather.

See the doves (?) flying ??? Lighting here is super on point.

Buddies decided to bring us out for some hotpot because we didn't manage to have any yet and what is a trip to China without hotpot??? Didnt get to go for Hai Di Lao because it was too far out and more to the city centre but we had to take the bus to the hotpot place which our buddies frequent.

Pretty similar condiment set up like Hai Di Lao and for once I tried the sesame sauce. Usually dont add this into my sauce bowl in SG but decided to give it a try and it is damn good ??

Our sauce concoctions.

We got a mushroom soup base as well as Mala of course. Requested for the lowest level of spicyness but the waitress kept trying to psycho us into getting the medium level which we declined and it turns out the low level of spicyness was way too much for us to handle also.

But all the dishes were super good oh my. The mala was super shiok although way too spicy !!! Add it into the sesame sauce and it was good to go.

Our project group and our chinese buddies. Missing thas but bryan came along because he preferred our group as compared to his own. Joke. Super love how our buddies go dutch with regards to payment because we thought we would have to fight over the bill like in Beijing oh my. Heard the other group actually fought with their buddies over the bill. Turns our we paid RMB200 overall I think !!!! Way too cheap.

A mini funfair just outside the dinner place.

We wanted to experience the train system here since we didnt get to in Beijing so we took a longer route and walked quite a distance to this train station.

Trains here actually look pretty new !! Turns out we ended up late from our curfew oops. Explained to the teachers and notified them where we were so all is well.

Fruits on the road side and Darren got bananas which were actually q sweet.

Main purpose in Tianjin is for our industry based project with SSTEC. Which stands for Sino Singapore Tianjin Eco City. It is a joint project between SG and CN.

Went for a briefing about the place and learnt more about the place. Felt like it was very much like SG because finally super clean toilets. Also because I think not alot of people here and quite a few of their staffs are Singaporeans. We had a meal at their staff canteen and ended up sharing a table with a staff which is actually from SG where he moved over here to stay. 

Went over to their rooftop garden to check it out but it was way too hot.

I really think this place really reminds me of Singapore. Not only that but they are planning to build like a mini Gardens By the Bay here ??

We then had the choice of going to the hot springs or head back to school and I decided to head for the hot springs.

Super fancy hot springs set up. The toilets were super luxurious looking too! And the chinese are exactly like the koreans in the saunas - full on naked and showering in the open. Had quite a few interesting hot springs like milk and red wine !! Kind of felt a bit lightheaded from the red wine one.

Finally had a really good shower here because the shower area was really clean.

Korean food for dinner and I decided to be daring and try some Korean raw beef which I have never tried before but it didnt taste like what I expected it to. Really chewy and the taste was pretty citrus tasting because of the marinade but at least it was cheap.

Realise I didnt take much photos other than our meals in Tianjin so here is another one. This is actually available at their school canteen and super cheap !!! The fish was like RMB30-50 I think. Meat skewers were 10 for RMB10 i think and super good too !!!

Big bang is actually promoting the tea but the promo runs along with free water and free Big bang merch. Sigh why dont have EXO.

Leg became swollen after the trip to the hot springs and it really swelled up quite a bit ! Initially it did swell but it was like the normal mosquito bite swelling but it really just swelled up to the point my shoes became tight and it swelled all around my ankles.

I was then brought to the school's hospital/clinic thing. Really word to be signing up for consultation in chinese but it was like RMB1 for consultation at the school.

But it really looked very dodgy and old. Kinda like those haunted ones. The consultations were all done upstairs and only 1 doctor available in that gigantic place which made it really like a scene from the horror movies. But there were other students there also so not that scary.

Finished the consultation and couldn't understand half the time due to the medical jargon in chinese and was scolded for wearing jeans and shoes when i should be in flowy attire and slippers instead. Was prescribed a cream for RMB5 and basically I think it is an allergy to the bite and also because I should wash it in cold water and most probably because the hot spring made it worse as well.

Went to change into my polka dress thing and wore slippers before I headed to join the rest and we had our first lecture there! Totally didn't understand half of it because once again, jargon in chinese and can I say how old their computers are??

Alright so check out the swollen leg situation I had (Although I know my legs totally do not look flattering in this angle and just looks fat.) Right leg is the one in trouble and you can totally see the size difference.

Decided to get delivery here for once and we decided on KFC! The portions were really little but super good?? Their chicken tastes different from SG's one eh. Like they have the pizza hut hot and spicy drumlets available and their fried chicken totally taste like Korean fried chicken !!! Super yums. And their egg tarts actually taste better than Sg's one too. I was addicted.

Not sure if I mentioned it but China doesnt actually sell ice at convenience stores?? but also its because they like everything hot/warm instead. Even the soft drinks.

The KFC wasnt enough for us so we also got korean fried chicken (also KFC if u realise) and it was really good too!!

We went to get our meal cards refunded here because we wont be using it anymore and we had deposits in it as well. And we totally got scolded because we needed to fill up this form before getting the refund done.

Came back to all our taobao loots and look at the amount of pokemon keychains. Pokemon Go was still the craze then and everyone tagged along my orders of pokemon keychains for my bros as souvenirs for friends and the amount turned out to be as below.

My side of the table which is really messy (oops).

Ordered KFC again because we didnt want to eat in the canteen and we bought new items to try out! Such as skewers which were really good too!

Had project discussions at night once again with our chinese buddies and alice brought along this rose ice cream and it was pretty yummy!!!

Update on my leg and it grew way bigger. And it was actually really painful to walk!!! Kwan had to carry me back because I was struggling to walk and I felt real bad (oops)

Buddies came over once again and we ordered skewers! which were halal so thas could join us too. We totally over ordered but the meal was fairly affordable still! Everything was really yummy too and because we couldnt finish, we invited everyone to come eat our leftovers.

Headed back to SSTEC where we had to present the slides we have been working on the past few days to management and it was pretty challenging for me because I had to speak chinese the whole time while presenting and really difficult to memorise my script.

After the presentation we went to have our lunch at the convenience store downstairs because there isn't much food available. Got some random cup noodles but it didnt really taste that great but no choice ah.

Our group! Best group in my opinion!!! We were the most talkative group when we first met up for discussions and we were most bonded as compared to other groups. ^___^ wearing slippers in formal because my feet could barely even fit into my formal shoes and it hurt.

Went back to the uni where we had our farewell dinner with our buddies which was in a buffet style!! Tried out this drink which is basically yoghurt and it is served warm.

We then requested to go to a supermarket but the ones outside of school were closed so we headed for the mini one within the school for me to stock up on chips to bring back and definitely the salty milk candy!

Our official last day in Tianjin so a few of the buddies came to send us off before we left the hostel.

We then headed for some tourist areas in Tianjin because we have yet to really explore Tianjin other than the university. Not sure where this place is but it was in like a Italian theme.

We were starving so we strayed from the group when we were given free time to roam the shops and went to find food instead. Saw a queue for this so we just decided to get one too. It is like a pancake which I think is made with green beans? with this dark and salty sauce/paste + youtiao which is like doughsticks. Pretty yummy I would say

A shot at becoming typical tourists while I sat there to rest.

We then headed to their ancient street and first thing I got was this cotton candy! Because it is so insta worthy!!! and RMB10 for such a big fluff!!!

It was such a struggle trying to finish the cotton candy as it was so huge. Ended up throwing quite a bit away because it was getting difficult to finish.

Went around with Kwan and we came across this melted sugar arts so he requested for La Bi Xiao Xin but I dont think it really resembles. But it tasted really good though!!! super crisp.

Saw the others buy this which is abit like honeycomb so I bought loads back!!!! But end up never finish because it is way too sweet!!!

Also bought the niu pi tang for the parents and grandparents to try!

Place for our final meal and it is just right next to macs. It was a rather okay meal because I had Pork liver and it was really good!!!!

Finally reached Beijing Airport after a long drive and luggage did not turn out overweight!!! Wearing slippers and flowy clothes because the feet is still swollen >_< With joy, who I really got a whole lot closer on this trip and she always requests for me to call her unnie HAHAHA

Mandatory shot with the I love Beijing sign at the airport but totally cant even see me.

The transit area of the airport is rather sad as compared to the outside area which is way more bustling and with a whole lot more shops but we didn't really get loads of time outside and instead stayed at Burger King which was our meeting point and I tried their Mala Chicken fries which were actually pretty good!!!

Story time: While we were at the cashier and waiting for our orders, this random guy comes up to order another meal and the cashier then told him to queue up as there was a pretty long line going on. But the guy told her he already ordered and is now ordering extra and I think she was just too lazy to argue and just gave it to him. WOW. what logic.

Food on the plane was rather meh as the rice was all mushy and didnt taste good at all.

HKIA transit where I literally ran to buy my dried mangoes since I missed it the previous flight and managed to get into the store just 2 mins before closing eh!!! Bought like 2 1kg packs.

Went on the plane and got into a total knock out stage before we even departed the airport because it was a red eye flight and woke up halfway and was way too awake to go back to sleep.

A really long post and I am just too lazy to type anymore. Next post will most probably be my KL trip so it is going to be a really long one as well.