After-Dark Bras Basah & Bugis HiPPO Tour

On the 31st March I was invited to go for the after-dark HiPPO Tour organized by omy.sg. Together with the 91.3 and 100.3 deejays, as well as other bloggers, we were brought around the Bras Basah and Bugis precinct on a cultural tour onboard an open-top double-decker bus. I gotta admit, though I complain about Singapore's weather so much, sitting on the upper deck of the Hippo Bus at night was quite an enjoyable experience. (Same goes for riding la! Riding at night = shiok, especially when there is no jam and you can cruise...woot~)

I was kinda excited about the tour. You know, being Singaporean and not knowing about Singapore's own history and cultural spots is kinda embarrassing. I remember when I was flying, speaking to some of the foreigners and listening to some of them telling me about what they learnt about Singapore on their short holidays here...made me a wee bit shy (and still tried to look like I knew what they were talking about).

 

 The orange area was where the tour would cover that night.

Did you know that Bras Basah was home to 10 popular schools, including SJI and CHIJ? I didn't! Many of the buildings you see now were restored from these schools!

We started the tour from the National Museum of Singapore, formerly known as Raffles Museum and Library. Coincidentally, I met Elson that night. Haven't seen him in quite a while and though we've said we wanted to meet up on countless occasions, somehow we never did. I was supposed to be on the 100.3 bus but Elson asked me to join him on the 91.3 one. I later joined the 100.3 bus after the first rest point, so I was lucky enough to be a part of both buses that night.

I'm gonna start complaining about my 10-year-old camera again...I can never take nice pictures at night. ~.~

  See what I mean?

Right, forget about the night mode. I don't have a tripod to take nice night-mode shots anyway. 

This is what the HiPPO Bus looks like. Seen them around in Singapore? I think there're quite a few of these buses parked around Suntec, if I didn't remember wrongly. 

I have a confession - I wasn't really listening to the deejays in the first part of the tour cos I was too busy enjoying the view and the cool breeze...

We were brought to the stretch of Selegie Rd, where the famous Rochor Beancurd is. Frankly speaking, I couldn't remember much of what the deejays said, except that there is an old building opposite the tau hway place which used to be a school. The school is no longer around, but the building still stands.(Too dark, couldn't take picture, but do keep a lookout next time you're there!)

I saw this particular sign outside Singapore Art Museum

Singaporeans are so rigid meh? We actually need to be reminded to flirt? In a designated "yellow-box' area??? Lol~ Next time you know where to make out in public. ;)

 The bus also took us to CHIJMES, where we would make a stop.

Noticed something when the bus stopped outside CHIJMES:

咦? 那是什么???  好像大便....

 看起来亮亮湿湿的。。。

Being the ever-so-inquisitive kid...I decided to check it out....at a closer view....

Cheh!!! 石头而已啦！我还真以为是哪一个缺德鬼把一块大便放在上面破坏美景。。。呵呵呵~

Back to CHIJMES...

I bet you didn't know CHIJMES has got something to do with CHIJ. See the link? =) Chijmes was once the Convent of the Holy Infant Jesus (CHIJ), established in 1854. 1854 was a looooong time ago man...可能那时的我是里面的其中一个nun也不一定。。。

 CHIJMES was also home to a Catholic girls' school, which later moved out to the neighbourhoods - what we know today as CHIJ St Nick's and CHIJ Toa Payoh. 

Now CHIJMES has been refurbished and is home to alfresco restaurants, bars, cafes, boutiques and galleries set in a sunken courtyard. Pretty neat, huh?

That's the sunken courtyard. (And a rarely successful slow-flash shot taken with steady hands.)

Saw this poster when I was wandering around the place...

 Talika bust serum:  +1 cup in 6 weeks leh! 真的假的。。。我要!!!!

Kk my point is there is even a spa in CHIJMES (that you can buy this bust serum from!!!! Wahahahha~~)

Anyway it's wrong la... +1 cup = 3 cups already leh...scary....

Taken at the gate.

Notice the grill I'm holding's actually crafted like a sword? The infrastructure of the grounds are quite exquisite, right down to the pillars.....

When I got up the 100.3 bus, Jianwen and Kemin were telling us about this particular white lizard on a pillar, and that there was a saying that it was actually a real lizard painted over...I didn't notice the said pillar, so I went to google to see if I can find any such picture. Found it on the URA website.

  There. You think it's crafted on, or painted over? =)

I don't know if they spoke about Bugis, I was super dreamy that day. But I did some homework and found out that Bugis used to be a hotspot for transvestites, prostitutes, and drunken sailors. Basically, a lust haunt for seamen. So different from what we know Bugis for now huh? Bugis Junction, Iluma, Bugis St White Sands and Hotel Intercontinental....Shopping, makan, and ktv~~

一直在讲冷笑话的坚文和克敏立志要把全巴士的人冻僵。。。

但其实也蛮好笑的~ 哈。。哈。。。

There was a nice surprise lined up for the people onboard the 100.3 bus! (The 91.3 bus didn't have~)

We were brought to POMO for dinner!!! YAY!!!!! Was getting hungry!! Nam nam nam nam nam~~~~

For the clueless (like me), POMO is this shopping mall opposite Prinsep Street. Yeah where all the bars are. It's along Selegie Road. Previously Paradiz Centre.

POMO. And that's the Marketing guy from POMO. It's thanks to him we have our free meal!!!

If you drive, you gotta turn left into Kirk Terrace, cos that's the way into the POMO carpark.

Dinner at IshiMura! I never knew this place existed!!!

While waiting for food...

 With Jiang Jian Wen...

and Luo Kemin...

Those who have no idea who they are...they are 2 of my many favourite deejays at 100.3fm!

Some of the great food served to us.

Then comes the dessert...

Waaah!!! Super round...Super firm man!!!!

They're ICE CREAM!!! Special ones imported from Japan! They're packed in a rubber tubing blown up to become this size. You gotta like the "nipples" to get the ice cream flowing out...talk about being erotic foods....

So you lick the "nipple", or bite it. Think it was either caramel or frozen ice cream, to stop the inside contents from flowing out. Once it's off...

The ice cream will start oozing out from the hole... mmm-mmm...sounds damn....

......okay I won't go there...

*squeeeeeeeeeeze!!!* (heart-shaped leh~)

You can either squeeze or suck out the contents....

One still firm one...and another (sucked) shrivelled one...

Notice the rubber band? Yeap so the outer casing is a rubber tubing.

Okay I know these balls aren't the the emphasis...but I couldn't help it...They were so...intriguing...lol~

After dinner I decided to check out what else POMO has to offer.

There's Cosmoprof, for aspiring makeup artistes...

Danz People...for aspiring dancers...

Secret Skills...for aspiring Magicians...(You can take magic courses here!!!)

There's even a Mixed Martial Arts School for those who are keen~

There are lots of eateries here man...

There's also Mad Jack Cafe, TCC, Lerk Thai....to name a few...

This particular sign caught my eye. The Big Bird is a chicken rice specialist restaurant...

Look around the signboard guys...

OMG!!!

Real chicken feathers!!! Damn innovative can!! =D

Cute escalator footprints...

Singapore Pools Main HQ is here too! So if you won like more than $5k in Toto or something, you can come here to collect your winnings! (Winnings more than $5k can only be collected at certain outlets only.)

I finished my tour off walking back to the Fort Canning carpark behind National Museum...(cos our special tour ended at POMO), but taking a leisurely stroll through the area was a nice way to end the night... =D

For those interested, the HiPPO tour costs $23 for adults and $13 for kids, and you can choose to hop on/off at any of the stops to discover the nooks and corners of Singapore. They have the City HiPPOtour, Heritage HiPPOtour, as well as the HiPPO River Cruise, just to name a few. Information can be found here.

Those interested in the Night Out @ Bras Basah, Bugis Precinct project, you can find more info here.

 

BoobieIceCream&ChickenFeathers,

*~Silver~*