Countdown to Tasmania: One and Half weeks & cold weather packing tips.

Hey all,

It is one and half weeks till I leave for Tasmania for my delayed grad trip with my girlfriends. It has been a long wait for this trip. We pre agreed on this before graduating and when graduation came, we had all the time in the world, yet we did not have the money to travel.

Our initial plans was to go to New Zealand,  however a ticket to Auckland and Christchurch were easily SGD$1,300 and that was as good as us going to USA. So we decided to go somewhere nearer, Tasmania. Our planning process was tough, we were 4 very different girls, with different travel experience and expectations. To mash all these expectations up was not an easy task, however we did it. I don't know what those 10 days will bring, but I will put on my brave face and go for it. I will be vlogging my 10 days, so I will put up the vlog after the trip.

Anyway I will be updating on things to pack, so far, the weather has been relatively cold with it ranging from 6-15 celsius. I realise many of us tropic rats love to go to countries which are a good 10-20 celsius but cant handle anything lower than that. (Obviously there are the brave souls who love the cold) But whether you are clueless tropic rat or a fashionista who does not care about the cold. I will be talking about packing for low temperatures.

There is only one rule to cold weather packing, it is not going to Uniqolo to buy heat tech clothes (though those work to a certain extend), it is not looking for the fluffiest jacket you see and it is not going to the winter store and buying all the heat packs you find. The secret to cold weather packing is natural materials. The reason why girls always complain that having long hair is hot on the neck is because hair is a natural material and so it keeps you warm. With that being said, please don't be creepy and use hair as a filler in your pillow, blankets, jacket etc. Natural materials include fowl feathers, down and wool, anything that is not a synthetic fibre or man-made.

I bought a fleece jacket from Uniqolo thinking it would keep me cold through a winter in New York, however I wore 5 layers of clothes everyday just to keep warm.

Me in my Ravenclaw Scarf and Black fleece jacket

Thankfully my house mate told me that in order to find something warm, I needed to find stuffed with natural material. So i bought a brown coloured down and fowl feather jacket and that kept me warm all the way, even till the end of the USA trip and Japan. I still have this jacket and I will bring it to places that are cold.

With my friends at the performance of the Musical Once, all of us are in jackets with natural materials as fillings.

With it, for below 0 celsius, I only wore a jacket and a t-shirt inside at most. Above 0 celsius, I wore a t-shirt and the jacket.

Hopefully this helps everyone with cold weather packing, now on to packing my bag, perhaps I will share more travel packing tips.

Things I Miss about the Big Apple.

It has been more than a year since I got back to Singapore and the best times of my independent life was the seven month I spent in USA for school. Despite the three weeks spent in it, New York City always manages to leave a trail in your heart. Whether it is the lights, the food, the culture or even the magical feeling that you can accomplish anything, the Big Apple never cease to amaze anyone.

Here are the list of six things I miss in NYC:

1) Georgetown Cupcakes

You want a cupcake? 

Maybe the best cupcakes I ever had! Georgetown cupcakes originate from Georgetown in Washington DC. My first ever time having it was in NYC and I fell in love with Georgetown Cupcakes instantly. I know people have different opinion on their best cupcakes, but I am the sort of person that does not have a favourite cupcake place in Singapore and when I am in NYC, I have tried Magnolia Bakery and Crumbs.

I love Georgetown Cupcakes to the extend that my housemate and I were craving for it during our semester (Georgetown Cupcakes are not available in Buffalo, WHY!!!), I even considered flying it in just cause I miss it so much. The good thing is that Georgetown Cupcakes are also available in Boston and I took two road trips to Boston (8 hours drive), both times packing at least 2 dozen boxes of Georgetown Cupcakes back home.

2) Shake Shack

Shack Stack and a Shake

My first meal in NYC, the moment I touch down, checked into the hotel (near Grand Central Station), my friends and I headed for Grand Central Station to try Shake Shack for the first time. I love how the buns are soft, the beef feels clean and the cheese and fried Shitake mushroom melts in your mouth, be careful when eating the fried Shitake Mushroom because it has melted cheese inside and it might spurt out when you bite on it, it can burn your tongue. The good news is that Shake Shack is available in other states, so if you are interested in trying great american burger (minus the greasy feeling), Shake Shack is for you.

3)The view of Times Square

Panoramic view of Times Square (Day Time)

 View of Times Square (Night Time)

Times square is beautiful in the day and night, I guess it is the feeling of being part of a crowd that I love and miss. Just the feeling of being in the center of NYC makes you feel like a true blue tourist, the night lights at Times Square are so popular that they have open top tour buses for tourist to enjoy the lights from the top of the bus.

4) Food truck

Food trucks are available all over the city and they are a great source of cheap food, well the cheapest in the city. With a fast food meal costing about $10- $15, these food trucks charge about $6-$8 for a simple chicken over rice (there are other things. They are just one of the few cheaper options for a meal, the food truck brand Halal Guys is also quite famous. I had Halal Guys once and despite the long queue, the food felt satisfying in the cold and sharing it with friends made the experience more awesome.

5) Empire State Building

View from the top of the Empire State

The Empire State Building gets as touristy as it can be, the view up there is just like most tall buildings in the world, however it is one of monuments the big apple is represented by. On the special festive events, such as independence day, the view on the Empire State Building is spectacular, not only does the Empire State has its own celebration (tickets for this event are very expensive, I went after the event). Standing at the top of the Empire State on 4th July, you can see that different celebrations going on in each part of the city, it makes you remember that despite the large area, everyone gathers together to celebrate Independence Day.

The wind is especially challenging up there and only the best hair spray can keep you hair intact. On the other hand, the gift shop does sell merchandises with Empire State Building references, they had a little plushie of King Kong.

6) Central Park

Ice Skating in Central Park

I had the pleasure of seeing Central Park during the colder season. It is chilly and cool, the trees are bare, but the place is beautiful for ice skating. It is the feeling of skating in the middle of the city lights that gets me excited (plus I can skate). 

Living in Singapore, I like to compare each city I go to with my home, NYC might have its similarity with this Red Dot, but every city has it's difference. I look forward to going back to the Big Apple soon.

Funempolyed Part 1

Hello All,

I am starting out this Funempolyed blog series in hopes to share with everyone things to do in Singapore during transition period (aka School Holidays, Jobless Moments, etc...) of your life. Funempolyed is inspired from the WongFu Production shorts with the same title, where people try things out for fun.

A good friend of mine E and I took on the challenge to cycle from my place to Marina Barrage, had a picnic and cycle back. I broke out my roller blades after a very long time and E cycled my bike with the basket full of food, we could not go too fast because of the heavy basket of food.

Off we go! (Our basket full of food)

The trip took almost an hour and a half and we both had painful butts and legs, but we kept going. We cycled from Area F to Area A in East Coast Park, past one steep bridge which I was afraid to zoom down on my own, so I held on to the back of the bike and we had an awesome time going up and down the bridge. Past East Coast park, we reach the quieter part of Gardens by the Bay. The view there is beautiful.

 View from the quieter side of Garden By the Bay

Trying to take a selfie on my roller blades.

 Green Grapes, Cherry Tomatoes and Sandwiches.

We found the little benches near the glass entrance of the Barrage and set up camp there. It was a good catch-up time we had because E had exams way before that, we talked about everything, my jobless situation, relationships, eating healthy and what god has done in our lives. It was a time to encourage each other in our situation.

 Packing up, just before we set off

Halfway mark on the way home, trying to keep our spirits up.

It was an awesome day of exercise and catch-up after a long time of not talking to each other. Marina Barrage can be awesome challenge you can take on with your friends, turn it into a picnic and have fun with people the people who you love.