Cafe Hopping to Group Therapy @ Tanjong Pagar

I realized that I had not blogged about my experience at Group Therapy quite some time back. Can't really remember exactly when. I just came across the photos that was taken there in my phone and don't recall having posted anything on it. 

So here goes...

Group Therapy is located on the 2nd level of a shophouse, offering brunch and desserts menu. Due to the location of the cafe at the 2nd level, people might miss it or are unaware of this cafe. So while you are there in search of this cafe, you might want to keep a lookout for this sign below. We went there just purely for desserts. But their main specialty is in their lunch/ brunch. So try that when you are there:)

Keep a lookout for this sign!

Ice Chocolate
I still miss the Ice Chocolate at DOC. It's still rank at 1st. Haha. This tasted alright. But I guess DOC is hanging on to 1st place due to the addition top-up of Ice Cream that makes it special? Not sure what you all think about Ice Chocolate but for me, my favourite is still the one at DOC.

Lemon Crumble Bar
(Tangy Lemon Curd on a firm pastry base topped with buttery crumble)
Not a fan of this. Thin crust and you can taste more of the lemon curd. One thing, it's too lemony. It can serve as appetizers but I feel the lemony taste is rather overwhelming.  

Belgian-Styled Waffle
(With Vanilla Ice Cream, Chocolate Sauce, Almonds, and Fruits)
Of the 2 desserts we tried, this is something which I liked and prefer more for. For the fruits, there are actually bananas, strawberries and blueberries. Loving it~

Not All Endings Are Good Ones

Recently, I started to read a book.. Not going to disclose the title of the book which will spoil the plot for those who happened to be reading it or intending to read it. :P

So yeah, what happened was that, like many people before they start to read a book, I flipped to the last chapter of the final book to see what the ending was like. And truth is, I regretted. I had predicted it to be a happy ending, but end up I found it to be a sad ending:( This is so going to affect my mood to read the book even though I am dying to know how it happened.

We always presume that those endings for dramas and stories are happy ones. That's mostly the case, doesn't it? But happy endings don't always exists in the real world. Not saying it don't, but just that it doesn't ALWAYS happen...

But sometimes you ought to agree that dramas/ stories that have happy endings no matter how unrealistic it is, it is sometimes much more preferred than those with sad endings. People faced problems in real life and such fantasy-based happy endings provide them a temporary escape from reality and fantasy that hope still exists in the world somewhere and motivates them to be on the search for it. Motivates them to tide through low periods in their life and to find the rainbow after the rain.

To me, I personally feel that we will never know what will happen to us down the road, never know what will become of us by then, and never know if our ending will be a happy or a sad one. We can't foresee what will happen in the end, but what we can be sure of, is to create many happy memories or and live a fulfilling life as we venture down the route of our life. :) Sometimes the stories means more than the endings!

Sometimes I just need a breather

Ever come across times when you felt like you are struggling very hard to breathe and even catching a tiny gasp of air is like a million miles away, out of your reach?

If I had known that turning 23 will lead to all these, I rather time remains in the previous years. Things might be not that smooth-sailing then, but at least they are still somewhat manageable and within my tolerance level.

But now? It is like I am standing on top of a broken bridge and struggling. It's either I cross this bridge successfully, or I fall through the gaps of this broken bridge. I have no idea how to cross this bridge and unsure of what lies ahead of me on the other side of this bridge.

You have no idea what is going on. You have no idea what are the things I am going through. You have no idea that I am already starting to fake my smiles. But all you know is to rub it in into my deepest wounds. The wounds that I tried to conceal and hide from every single person. The wounds that made me cry secretly without anyone knowing. But now, after you added salt in, it is even more unbearable that even thinking about it had my tears flowing out.

Sometimes I wish I can just get out of things here and just go to somewhere else for a breather. I hate being so vulnerable and I am angry with myself for being so. So, if I flare up at you, I don't actually mean it. I am just angry at myself. I am sorry..

Time Waits For No Men

And once again, it's the month of June! This means I will yet again be one year older than before! :(
I finally get what people have been saying. That once you pass the age of 21, your life will zoom past like a rocket. Before you know it, you are already a few years older. That is so exactly what I am feeling. Like they say, "Time and tide waits for no men". Very extremely true. And you start wondering what you have been doing all these years, and you realized that there were not much major accomplishments. For me, I guess it's only the completion of my degree course.

So now with my degree in check, what now? This is something I have been thinking so far. Before completion of degree course, my goal in life is to persevere through the tough life of studying part-time and getting the piece of certificate that will open up doors to more opportunities. But now, I am no longer sure of my next goal. To find career progression? To find a partner? Or what? This is definitely something to start thinking about and doing something about it..

A song to listen to! 我不想我不想不想长大~

Stepping Out Of Our Comfort Zones & Embrace Uncertainties

I guess everyone will eventually reach a point where they have to leave their familiar and cosy enclosed space into the outside. Stepping away from the safety net that was always there to catch us when we fall and not expose us to pain. Many would rather not stay away from the safety net and rainbow-filled carefree life, but we have no choice.

Reality is in such a way that we have to step out of it somehow, into the city of wilderness. Here, you will never know what will be happening next. You will not know what lies in front of you. You will encounter many obstacles and you have to make choices and decide on your next course of action which are most likely to affect you subsequently be it in a good way or a bad way. The choice and decision lies in your own hands. Making decisions and choices given the grey area of circumstances and outcomes. And this require lots of courage.  

Yes it may take leaps of courage, but don’t wait until it’s too late to change anything and regret the things you didn’t do or decisions you didn't make or things you didn't cherish. Stop waiting to be ready to do something. It’s time to be be brave and step out of your comfort zone and embrace the uncertainties. Sometimes the person holding you back is yourself~

Just keep reminding yourself that life is never smooth-sailing. It’s like a sail boat in the middle of the sea. There will always be obstacles around and choices to be made to overcome them. But ultimately, you will be able to get out of the web of obstacles and see the beautiful horizon view in the end! :)

P.S. Just some random thoughts.. 

Day 4: Bangkok Trip (May 2014)

Finally the last day of our trip there. Time really flies~ And that marks the end of our trip indicating that we are back to face the reality:(

So on this last day, we had decided to go to the Pratunam Market again for a last and final round of shopping. Lucky for us, we managed to find more clothes than the previous days when we were there. Not sure why we did not come across some of them in the earlier days, but we are glad that at least we managed to find something on the last day. Accomplishment unlocked! Worth waking up early once more :P

We then proceed on our way to the cafes as per planned - Roast Coffee & Eatery & Mr Jones Orphanage! Directions that was being searched on how to get there states that the nearest bts station is Thonglor Station and it is just a 15 minutes walk from there.. But guess what? We walked for around more than 30 mins before we finally reached there. And we are not even walking at our usual strolling pace. We are literally brisk walking! Imagine that! And after we walked for 15 mins at our fast pace and still not reaching yet, we actually stopped to ask the locals and they replied that it's very near and that we just have to walk another 10 mins or so. That's why in the end, it was quite rushing for us as we need to be back at the hotel to check out and rush to the airport. At least now we know that if the locals say walking distance of 15 mins, we have to multiply by 2 just to be on the safe side.


Roast Coffee & Eatery

Big Breakfast Set
Their portion as usual is rather small. But they are quite generous with their portion of vegetables! Healthy living. But too bad, I am not a fan of vegetables:P 

My friend ordered this. Forgotten the name of it though. But we got a shock when her dish came. Portion really really small! 

Mr Jones Orphanage

Chocky Mud Pie (Highly Recommended!)
This pie is served hot and fresh from the oven with dark chocolate filled center. Goes really well with the ice cream:) 

Nutella Cake
Initally wanted to order the Kit Kat cake with M&Ms as it looks special but they run out of it. So we ordered this instead. To me, I find that it is too chocolaty for my liking. 

Overall, I enjoyed myself during my 4D3N over at BKK and also thanks to our "tour guide" for the planning of itinerary and lead:) I would like to go there again! But of course after their protests are over. I am glad that everything turns out well during our trip there and we are safely back in Singapore! :)

Day 3: Bangkok Trip (May 2014)

Day 3 of the Bangkok Trip.. Not much to update today as mostly is relating to shopping:) I can't remember when I have walked that much for quite some time already. Imagine walking from 6 plus in the morning up till night time 11 plus where we go for massage before calling it a day. Even more tiring than working! HAHA!

Anyway, we went to MBK, and while you are there, you should go and try Mont Nom Sod - The Milk and Toast Cafe! Must Try! It is actually located at the second level and operating from 11am - 9pm. When we reach there, there is already a long queue and the tables are all occupied. We have to wait for a while before we finally got seats. The exterior of the cafe looks really ordinary and reminds us of the Ya Kun over in Singaore. But I guess you just have to try it yourself to conclude that it's not as ordinary as it looks!

Basically, they have two kinds of bread namely, the toasted bread slices topped with a spread (they actually have a few varieties of spreads), and another will be the soft steam bread with a dip (coconut custard or chocolate). 

We only tried 3 flavours of their toasted bread slices - Coconut Custard, Condensed Milk, and Chocolate. Their highly recommended ones includes their Coconut Custard (which tasted just like kaya), and Condensed Milk. After trying all 3 flavours, we had a vote and guess what? The Condensed Milk win the votes! And this is followed by the Coconut Custard and lastly the Chocolate! 

Toasted bread slices - Coconut Custard, Condensed Milk, and Chocolate

Their Ice Milk Tea
Super duper sweet!

After drinking the Milk Tea, it was so sweet. And then we realized that the menu board actually indicated this "If you want less sugar, please inform our staff when you order". A little too late as we already started drinking. Why did we never see this earlier? :(

Day 2 Part 2: Bangkok Trip (May 2014)

Well, we spent the rest of the day shopping around. Our next stop was initially to Chinatown but then the Tuk Tuk uncle told us that there is protests over there. That is why we changed venue to the next in our itinerary which is to Sukhumvit Night Food Street which is famous for their Sticky Rice and Wanton Noodle.

On our journey to Sukhumvit Night Food Street, we actually checked social medias to see if there is really protests over there. The power and usefulness of social medias nowadays. But there are no news at all. And my friend went to check with Richard Barrow, a blogger, on the protests at Chinatown. The reply that we got is that there is no protests being held there at all and it is safe for tourists to go there. Kenna bluff by the Tuk Tuk uncle:( Thus our decision to go to Chinatown after Sukhumvit Night Food Street.

We are only able to find the famous Mango Sticky Rice stall but not the Crab Meat Wanton Noodle. All the tables along the roadside are filled up so we only get to sit all the way inside in an enclosed area and there is not much ventilation and is too stuffy.

Mango Sticky Rice!
Not too bad with the freshness and sweet taste of the mango.

Durian Sticky Rice
We saw that they also have this so decided to order to try as well. I prefer the mango better. The combination of the durian and coconut tastes rather weird. Think they are more specialize in Mango Sticky Rice instead. haha!

Pad Thai
The Mango Sticky Rice stall lady recommended us the Pad Thai from this particular stall. A lil salty for our liking.. 

After the meal, we went to buy coconut to drink. I still remember that while I am drinking, I am facing the pavement to the enclosed area which we were at a short few minutes before. And the next moment, I saw one whole group of people running out towards us. The first thought that came to my mind is protests or something. But after we moved out of the way and realized that the reason is due to fire, I then processed that there is no way there could have been a protest breakout there as there is no way to enter from other routes other than the path we are standing at while having coconut. Thinking back, the process is real funny even though the actual encounter is shocking as we got no idea what is happening at that point in time.

Thereafter, we proceeded to Chinatown....

Their Chinatown really looks like the one in Singapore! I should have taken a photo of it from the middle of the road while on the Cab. The similarities are even more obvious.

Shark Fins Soup in a Claypot!

Bird Nest with Ginko Nuts!

The scary moment is when we are trying to cross the road at Chinatown. The number of vehicles on the road and there is no way you can cross even if you continue to wait until there's no traffic. The vehicles will just keep coming! So you have to just cross one lane at a time. Stressful to the max! HAHAHA!

And again, we end the day with Thai massage, but this time I chose to do a shoulder massage. And I regretted! Cuz the person who helped me do the massage is really trying to murder me. Literally. After the whole process, my shoulders hurt more and it is very red! Never going to do shoulders again... But I guess the process and results varies based on the person who is helping you with the massage. You can just pray hard that the person you get is good.