S16 Pre-Uni outing
The S16 pre-uni class outing is organised on a random Sunday, and thus I swapped the Mandai and Beach Road tuition timings. With some extra time in between, I chose to take the 961 direct bus which goes a rather long way~
http://www.smrtbuses.com.sg/busguide/routedetails.asp?BusNo=961C&Source=WOODLANDS+REG+INT&Destination=LORONG+1+GEYLANG+TER&BusType=A&ServiceType=T
Travelling from Mandai to Beach Road via 961 is like taking a little trip around Singapore town, in a Singapore City Bus! To see:
Clarke Quay (29.5)
Raffles Place (32.1)
The Esplanade (32.8)
and all of us! Perhaps the songwriters wrote this in the 961 bus. Awesome! :D Posting about the S16 class outing, which in my opinion, kinda random.
==========
1845 hrs - The pre-meetup
Me, War and WL met up at Bugis station before we set off to the dinner place near Arab Street. Just like ODNS eat chicken rice in the morning, ODNS go to the town area in a L1 Beach attire, unless it's a shophouse. We didn't see any of the class people along the way, so I somehow thought that perhaps some of the guys have already reached the destination. Arab street brings back memories of random walking with PH's PW group, sourcing for atas spinning (gasing) tops after what seemed like endless hours of hunting, and the group was somehow satisfied with a $2 top. o.o
The fasting season brought about strong aromas of kebab, different noodles, fried goodies and refreshers along the street at a reasonable price. It's somewhat close to the break fast timing, so there were many people buying back the food for their families, friends. Cool!
WL: Skali the mosque inside got restaurants or something~
War: How can a mosque have restaurants!
Jeff: Mos burgers ^^
WL / War: -_-!!!
=====
1900hrs - Arrival at Bumbu
We arrived at Bumbu restaurant at Kandahar Street (spelt correctly?). No S16 people were outside, so we went inside to check if the class was seated already.
Staff: Hi how may I help you?
Jeff: Er hi good evening. Is there a person called Bing Han who reserved a table for about 13-15 people?
Staff: Er no... o.o How many people are there?
War: 13? Around there...
Staff: I'm sorry, but there isn't a person called Bing Han who reserved.
(Jeff: Wah siao liao. Wrong place meh?)
Staff: However there's a person called Perch who reserved a big table...
Mystery solved! So Bing Han did used his Perch name more often than expected. We were told that in case there were more than 13 people who turned up, there would be another smaller 4-seater table to accomodate the large class size. Or in another words, the 4-ever alone table. If only PH was there, we would have chosen to sit at that table. =P
Even though the place is kinda ulu in our opinion, the restaurant is quite popular as there were many families (esp. extended ones) who dined in this 2-storey air-conditioned shophouse. A feel of traditional Chinese decorations, wordings, artistic features of other cultures combined in a place, with a light mix of old songs. Rather cosy in my opinion. :)
While waiting for the rest to arrive, we browsed through the menu. Looks like the typical dishes you would see in a chinese seafood restaurant / outlet, except that it has some additional touches like coffee, coconut, fruits and other tropical related additives. Fits nicely in this small tropical island. XD
=====
1920 hrs - Arrival of class people
BH, CB, MY, ZK arrived at the restaurant, with a hint of "wow Jeff War WL so early ah" expression. It's never polite to be late, unless there is a huge stock of peanuts to go around while waiting for the guests. (lolwut)
The rest of the time was dedicated to stoning / waiting for the other people / listening to CB complained about missing out on the non-halal western restaurant / looked at laugh War laughing to himself while on Whatsapp / talking to BH.
(Scene: Jeff wants to ask BH on whoever is still not present)
Jeff: Bing Han~
BH: ??
Jeff: Woah! Ok good you still recognise that name!
BH: Wah basket, of course la.
That isn't a bad thing, even though I still don't know why the sudden change to calling Perch. Nobody in S16 seems to call BH by Perch... Used to it already. =P The Malay girls absent themselves as they had last minute arrangements to break fast with their families (wah basket, doesn't that defeat the purpose of finding a halal restaurant?). -.- There was supposed to be a 2nd purpose, to have a farewell dinner with SH, but I don't think that worked out somehow as almost nobody took notice of that.
After the arrival of the guests, the strength present: 12.
People who turned up: BH, CB, MY, ZK, JL, WC, Defa, Jeffery, Ronald, WL, War, Jeff~
People who didn't turn up: All the girls, ZY, JH, PH
Did anybody even mention these names?: Shawn, Iskandar, WK, others missed out.
Pop quiz: Calculate the total number of arrangements 12 people could sit around a 13-seater table, such that WL-War-Jeff must sit together, and Jeffery-Ronald must sit together too.
========
2000 hrs - Official start of dinner
One problem which arises from a rather large number of people is the ordering of dinner. The dishes are not so bad, as only a few people chose the dishes (eg War busy playing with phone). Drinks order is a total disaster, after spending about 10 mins asking what everybody wanted, the accumulated number was larger than the number of people present. Thankfully the mysterious 4 coke order was cancelled, otherwise we would have to call ZY (ZhangYi) for some cleanup.
-----
The food
Coffee Chicken: 1st time trying. It tasted rather sweet and delicious, but lacks a distinct coffee taste?
Sweet & sour chicken: Classic awesomeness =P
Mango fish (2 big ones): I didn't try the fish as it would be awkward to spend a lot of time plucking out the fresh meat from the fish, so I took more mango slices and added those to my rice.
Sambal Kangkong: Didn't try, sambal.
Fried calamari: Tried a couple of pieces, very soft. If not for allergies to seafood, I would have more.
Softshell crab: Didn't try. Crab.
I had a coconut for drinks/dessert. Not a lot of juice, but there's a lot of hard coconut meat!
For an order amount of more than $150/$200, there would be free flow of rice for the whole table. Despite this attractive package, nobody had any extra servings, including myself. Not because I wasn't hungry, but more like i was quite paiseh to take more when nobody else is taking. Not sure if there's anybody else who had the same thinking as me. The rice is quite fragrant, and does not stick like a riceball.
-----
Random topics talked during dinner
SPMS i-pad: So all SPMS students get an I-pad? War thought that the school must be desperate for students. Hmm.
NS: Listening to the fun memories of WC and War serving NS in the same unit.
Girlfriends: Wasn't paying much attention, but there's a brief mention.
Cap: Jeff why you wear cap ah?
Of course, the mysterious question everybody had in their hearts. 'Why this place?'
Jeffery: "Oh, I chose this place as I just google in 'Singapore Halal-restaurant' and this place came out, so ya lor."
The rest: O_O
It must be a great coincidence then. At first I thought that the venue would be far away from Bugis after the Halal issue came out, in the end I dismissed that thought thinking that I had thought too much after BH confirmed that the outing is in Bugis. Somebody should seriously smack the girls for being so last minute if the venue was really changed to somewhere faraway~ Nah, no bullshit about breaking fast with your family is very heartwarming, there's a whole Ramadan month to do that! The staff was listening to whatever Jeffery said, not sure whether that's a really appropriate statement to say.
The total bill amounted to $200+, and averaged out to $19.54 per person. Not a filling dinner, but I can say that if you like a nice ambience with good tasting halal dishes, this place is rather good! 10-15 minutes walk from Bugis MRT station via Raffles Hospital. :)
==========
2100 hrs - Alternative hangout place
A random suggestion about Starbucks, a 'wah so early sia' exclamation from Jeff, we left the Bumbu place with a photo.
-----
Take note, it's a class outing, not a bunk outing. Don't be confused just because it's all guys. =P
-----
The class walked back to Bugis, and that's the point when I realised that I'm seriously not the only one in SPMS! ^^ So Jeffery and Ronald are in ChemBio Science, WC is taking Physics & Maths, while I'm taking purely Mathematical Science. (See la not pro de take Maths only)
Chatted about my short-RT experience, and relieved memories about our PJ tutors. A student needs to have a caring teacher who does not scold at every opportunity for no damn of reason. Interesting statement. A Central ambulance with its ringing siren passed by us, ah, a memory of NS.
ORD LO! ^^ Hopefully Defa didn't hear that.
==========
2115 hrs - Back at Bugis
Some of the guys went to the toilet, War's Koi addiction acted up, and so we accompanied him to Koi w/o physically telling the class. Well, the queue is too damn long, so War got kinda grumpy by saying things like durians are not heaty...
[Side note: Actually we were spotted in going to a different direction, it's just that nobody said anything as they thought that we wanted to go take a look at a random shop]
A super short walk in the various gift shops and finding a proper eatery outlet, before we settled down at Mac. (What happened to Starbucks?) Talked about courses, going for camps, NS life with JL, while War played with his old songs and WL was er... I forgot wth he was doing. I always thought that all ODAC people would be super enthusiastic in going for many different camps, seems like JL proved this thinking to be wrong. While we were talking about the fun NS lives, with MY confining people for random reasons, etc, I realised there are actually quite a lot of SGT in the class, with MY as the highest SGT of 2SG, and Defa with a 2LT rank thinking 'where got time'.
ORD LO!
The last half an hour or so was dedicated to playing common orientation games. Examples:
- Fuzzy Wuzzy
Fuzzy Wuzzy likes Warren but doesn't like Wen Long. #biased
- MRT
JL: After Simei, what's the next stop?
WC: Er.. Simei! XD
JL: _l_
- Meh-meh
Listen ah. How many meh-meh jump over the wall wall wall???
- Bang bang bang
JL: Bang bang bang (diff direction), who die?
(Jeff gives WL a light smack)
WL: Ow!!!
Jeff: WL! :D
JL: Yep!
Poor MY doesn't get any of these games until the end of the outing. With that very lame ending, not referring to the outing, the class outing ended as the class stand. :)
=====
2245 hrs - Class dismissed
Last chat with MY about life. Courses, how to save money, his gf (?), bla bla bla. He read the stats book which I borrowed, not sure how much he remembered.
--------------------
That's all for the outing!
[Last side note: I thought War and WL went to club, but they didn't. So that means they really went to the toilet together.]
http://www.smrtbuses.com.sg/busguide/routedetails.asp?BusNo=961C&Source=WOODLANDS+REG+INT&Destination=LORONG+1+GEYLANG+TER&BusType=A&ServiceType=T
Travelling from Mandai to Beach Road via 961 is like taking a little trip around Singapore town, in a Singapore City Bus! To see:
Clarke Quay (29.5)
Raffles Place (32.1)
The Esplanade (32.8)
and all of us! Perhaps the songwriters wrote this in the 961 bus. Awesome! :D Posting about the S16 class outing, which in my opinion, kinda random.
==========
1845 hrs - The pre-meetup
Me, War and WL met up at Bugis station before we set off to the dinner place near Arab Street. Just like ODNS eat chicken rice in the morning, ODNS go to the town area in a L1 Beach attire, unless it's a shophouse. We didn't see any of the class people along the way, so I somehow thought that perhaps some of the guys have already reached the destination. Arab street brings back memories of random walking with PH's PW group, sourcing for atas spinning (gasing) tops after what seemed like endless hours of hunting, and the group was somehow satisfied with a $2 top. o.o
The fasting season brought about strong aromas of kebab, different noodles, fried goodies and refreshers along the street at a reasonable price. It's somewhat close to the break fast timing, so there were many people buying back the food for their families, friends. Cool!
WL: Skali the mosque inside got restaurants or something~
War: How can a mosque have restaurants!
Jeff: Mos burgers ^^
WL / War: -_-!!!
=====
1900hrs - Arrival at Bumbu
We arrived at Bumbu restaurant at Kandahar Street (spelt correctly?). No S16 people were outside, so we went inside to check if the class was seated already.
Staff: Hi how may I help you?
Jeff: Er hi good evening. Is there a person called Bing Han who reserved a table for about 13-15 people?
Staff: Er no... o.o How many people are there?
War: 13? Around there...
Staff: I'm sorry, but there isn't a person called Bing Han who reserved.
(Jeff: Wah siao liao. Wrong place meh?)
Staff: However there's a person called Perch who reserved a big table...
Mystery solved! So Bing Han did used his Perch name more often than expected. We were told that in case there were more than 13 people who turned up, there would be another smaller 4-seater table to accomodate the large class size. Or in another words, the 4-ever alone table. If only PH was there, we would have chosen to sit at that table. =P
Even though the place is kinda ulu in our opinion, the restaurant is quite popular as there were many families (esp. extended ones) who dined in this 2-storey air-conditioned shophouse. A feel of traditional Chinese decorations, wordings, artistic features of other cultures combined in a place, with a light mix of old songs. Rather cosy in my opinion. :)
While waiting for the rest to arrive, we browsed through the menu. Looks like the typical dishes you would see in a chinese seafood restaurant / outlet, except that it has some additional touches like coffee, coconut, fruits and other tropical related additives. Fits nicely in this small tropical island. XD
=====
1920 hrs - Arrival of class people
BH, CB, MY, ZK arrived at the restaurant, with a hint of "wow Jeff War WL so early ah" expression. It's never polite to be late, unless there is a huge stock of peanuts to go around while waiting for the guests. (lolwut)
The rest of the time was dedicated to stoning / waiting for the other people / listening to CB complained about missing out on the non-halal western restaurant / looked at laugh War laughing to himself while on Whatsapp / talking to BH.
(Scene: Jeff wants to ask BH on whoever is still not present)
Jeff: Bing Han~
BH: ??
Jeff: Woah! Ok good you still recognise that name!
BH: Wah basket, of course la.
That isn't a bad thing, even though I still don't know why the sudden change to calling Perch. Nobody in S16 seems to call BH by Perch... Used to it already. =P The Malay girls absent themselves as they had last minute arrangements to break fast with their families (wah basket, doesn't that defeat the purpose of finding a halal restaurant?). -.- There was supposed to be a 2nd purpose, to have a farewell dinner with SH, but I don't think that worked out somehow as almost nobody took notice of that.
After the arrival of the guests, the strength present: 12.
People who turned up: BH, CB, MY, ZK, JL, WC, Defa, Jeffery, Ronald, WL, War, Jeff~
People who didn't turn up: All the girls, ZY, JH, PH
Did anybody even mention these names?: Shawn, Iskandar, WK, others missed out.
Pop quiz: Calculate the total number of arrangements 12 people could sit around a 13-seater table, such that WL-War-Jeff must sit together, and Jeffery-Ronald must sit together too.
========
2000 hrs - Official start of dinner
One problem which arises from a rather large number of people is the ordering of dinner. The dishes are not so bad, as only a few people chose the dishes (eg War busy playing with phone). Drinks order is a total disaster, after spending about 10 mins asking what everybody wanted, the accumulated number was larger than the number of people present. Thankfully the mysterious 4 coke order was cancelled, otherwise we would have to call ZY (ZhangYi) for some cleanup.
-----
The food
Coffee Chicken: 1st time trying. It tasted rather sweet and delicious, but lacks a distinct coffee taste?
Sweet & sour chicken: Classic awesomeness =P
Mango fish (2 big ones): I didn't try the fish as it would be awkward to spend a lot of time plucking out the fresh meat from the fish, so I took more mango slices and added those to my rice.
Sambal Kangkong: Didn't try, sambal.
Fried calamari: Tried a couple of pieces, very soft. If not for allergies to seafood, I would have more.
Softshell crab: Didn't try. Crab.
I had a coconut for drinks/dessert. Not a lot of juice, but there's a lot of hard coconut meat!
For an order amount of more than $150/$200, there would be free flow of rice for the whole table. Despite this attractive package, nobody had any extra servings, including myself. Not because I wasn't hungry, but more like i was quite paiseh to take more when nobody else is taking. Not sure if there's anybody else who had the same thinking as me. The rice is quite fragrant, and does not stick like a riceball.
-----
Random topics talked during dinner
SPMS i-pad: So all SPMS students get an I-pad? War thought that the school must be desperate for students. Hmm.
NS: Listening to the fun memories of WC and War serving NS in the same unit.
Girlfriends: Wasn't paying much attention, but there's a brief mention.
Cap: Jeff why you wear cap ah?
Of course, the mysterious question everybody had in their hearts. 'Why this place?'
Jeffery: "Oh, I chose this place as I just google in 'Singapore Halal-restaurant' and this place came out, so ya lor."
The rest: O_O
It must be a great coincidence then. At first I thought that the venue would be far away from Bugis after the Halal issue came out, in the end I dismissed that thought thinking that I had thought too much after BH confirmed that the outing is in Bugis. Somebody should seriously smack the girls for being so last minute if the venue was really changed to somewhere faraway~ Nah, no bullshit about breaking fast with your family is very heartwarming, there's a whole Ramadan month to do that! The staff was listening to whatever Jeffery said, not sure whether that's a really appropriate statement to say.
The total bill amounted to $200+, and averaged out to $19.54 per person. Not a filling dinner, but I can say that if you like a nice ambience with good tasting halal dishes, this place is rather good! 10-15 minutes walk from Bugis MRT station via Raffles Hospital. :)
==========
2100 hrs - Alternative hangout place
A random suggestion about Starbucks, a 'wah so early sia' exclamation from Jeff, we left the Bumbu place with a photo.
-----
Take note, it's a class outing, not a bunk outing. Don't be confused just because it's all guys. =P
-----
The class walked back to Bugis, and that's the point when I realised that I'm seriously not the only one in SPMS! ^^ So Jeffery and Ronald are in ChemBio Science, WC is taking Physics & Maths, while I'm taking purely Mathematical Science. (See la not pro de take Maths only)
Chatted about my short-RT experience, and relieved memories about our PJ tutors. A student needs to have a caring teacher who does not scold at every opportunity for no damn of reason. Interesting statement. A Central ambulance with its ringing siren passed by us, ah, a memory of NS.
ORD LO! ^^ Hopefully Defa didn't hear that.
==========
2115 hrs - Back at Bugis
Some of the guys went to the toilet, War's Koi addiction acted up, and so we accompanied him to Koi w/o physically telling the class. Well, the queue is too damn long, so War got kinda grumpy by saying things like durians are not heaty...
[Side note: Actually we were spotted in going to a different direction, it's just that nobody said anything as they thought that we wanted to go take a look at a random shop]
A super short walk in the various gift shops and finding a proper eatery outlet, before we settled down at Mac. (What happened to Starbucks?) Talked about courses, going for camps, NS life with JL, while War played with his old songs and WL was er... I forgot wth he was doing. I always thought that all ODAC people would be super enthusiastic in going for many different camps, seems like JL proved this thinking to be wrong. While we were talking about the fun NS lives, with MY confining people for random reasons, etc, I realised there are actually quite a lot of SGT in the class, with MY as the highest SGT of 2SG, and Defa with a 2LT rank thinking 'where got time'.
ORD LO!
The last half an hour or so was dedicated to playing common orientation games. Examples:
- Fuzzy Wuzzy
Fuzzy Wuzzy likes Warren but doesn't like Wen Long. #biased
- MRT
JL: After Simei, what's the next stop?
WC: Er.. Simei! XD
JL: _l_
- Meh-meh
Listen ah. How many meh-meh jump over the wall wall wall???
- Bang bang bang
JL: Bang bang bang (diff direction), who die?
(Jeff gives WL a light smack)
WL: Ow!!!
Jeff: WL! :D
JL: Yep!
Poor MY doesn't get any of these games until the end of the outing. With that very lame ending, not referring to the outing, the class outing ended as the class stand. :)
=====
2245 hrs - Class dismissed
Last chat with MY about life. Courses, how to save money, his gf (?), bla bla bla. He read the stats book which I borrowed, not sure how much he remembered.
--------------------
That's all for the outing!
[Last side note: I thought War and WL went to club, but they didn't. So that means they really went to the toilet together.]
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