2nd Year Anniversary!

We are 2 years old!!!! Just celebrated our 2nd year anniversary on 19 Nov 11. Thank you everyone for joining us in our joyous celebration, especially Gil and Mr Wong who came all the way down from KL just to join us! :)

Honestly, we did not have much pictures. I was drinking since 8pm when the food arrived, and did not stop till 1am. It was a good, tipsy night! I think the only 2 pictures we took were on Mel's phone.

We catered a 9-course dinner so that our guests/friends can taste our local delights and gave each of the guest a free beer to join us.

Some people may wonder why did we spend so much money on a celebration? Honestly, our profit margin is not high (I am not sure about other hostels) and this celebration itself, has cost me about $600-S$700 (including the free drinks that I gave to my staff). Well, I think it is an achievement to have survived for 2 years in this dog-eat-dog world.  This is also sort of like a staff party whereby most of my staff came back to the hostel to eat and drink. Quite a good timing for them to relax since most of them are in the midst of their exams.

Well, nothing much to write about since it is just a eating, drinking night. Hope to see you guys during ZoukOut! :)

Iain and I, and a few of my previous guests who are now staying in KL should be coming. Hope to see you guys!

Singapore World's First

Was bored one day and just googling about Singapore. I was quite amazed to see certain facts that I did not know about a country which I have stayed in the past 20+ years! Yes, I am not that old, I am still in my mid twenties. :)

• The Guinnes Book of Records named the old Kandang Kerbau Maternity Hospital as the hospital where most babies were born in a year. In 1966, 39,835 babies were delivered.

Well, I was born in Malaysia (Johor Bahru) but I know that many of my elementary school classmates are born in KK Hospital. I guess since Singapore has one of the highest population density in the world, it is not all that surprising. 

• World’s Highest Man-Made Waterfall - With a fall of 30m, Singapore houses the world’s highest man-made waterfall. This is located within the aviary at the Jurong Bird Park which was opened in January 1971.

I just went to the Jurong Bird Park 4 days ago and saw the waterfall. Well, I will say that there is nothing very special about it. No much comments on this.

• World’s First Night Zoo – Found in the north western part of Singapore, The Night Safari is the world’s first night zoo, spreading over 40 hectares of land. It was opened in May 1994 and entertains about 900,000 visitors a year.

The Night Safari is actually quite interesting. Basically it is like a night zoo but some of the animals are more active because they are nocturnal. However, it really depends on luck because if the animals do not stand where the spot lights are, you basically cannot see anything. The Creature of the night show is a must see if you go to the Night Safari!

• World’s Largest Orchid Display - The National Orchid garden within theSingapore Botanic Gardens has the world’s largest orchid display with more than 60,000 plants.

The Orchard Garden in the Singapore Botanical Gardens also has an area where they showcase plants in temperate climate. After walking around for a couple of hours in the heat, it is really refreshing to go into the greenhouse where it is air-conditioned! :)

• Worlds Largest Fountain - The Fountain of Wealth at Suntec Cityentered in the Guinnes Book of Records in 1998 as the World’s Largest Fountain. It has a base area of 1,690 sq m and from this base is a four-legged bronze frame that weighs 85,000kg. Water from the fountain shoots up to as high as 30m.

This fountain has laser display on certain nights (can't seem to find out which nights they have the display). Have been there during the display a couple of years ago and remember it as being quite beautiful. Apparently, it also brings you good luck to walk 1 round around the fountain while touching the water.

• World’s Fastest “SMSer” - Kimberly Yeo, a 23-year-old Business Administration student, took only 43.24 seconds to sms “The razor-toothed piranhas of the genera Serrsaalmus and Pygocentrus are the most ferocious freshwater fish in the world. In reality they seldom attack a human.” That earned her a spot in the Guinness Book of Records as the world’s fastest SMSer.

This is a bit weird. I know that Singaporeans love to text message more than anything else. We will rather spend 20 smses than talking on the phone for 5 minutes. Kids in Singapore also start getting handphones when they are still in elementary school.  Maybe Ms Yeo got lots of training! 

F1 Drinking Night!

Dear all,

I should really update my blog more often! We bought a portable BBQ pit and had a BBQ a few weeks ago, unfortunately, the pictures are with Sean (a colleague) and he still has not sent me the pictures until now. Thus, when he finally (if ever) send me the pictures, I will post the pictures on the blog!

This entry is really about an F1 drinking party that we had about 2-3 weeks ago. Well, after I got Gerald to help me doing the operations, I had a lot more time to think about events to organise and F1 is one of those event! Thank you Gerald, if not, this event will not be possible.

I started off the night by giving a free bottle of Gin to guests of the hostel. Someone has to start the ball rolling right? Beers are also sold by the bucket which is cheaper than if you buy individually (which is cheaper than if you buy in pubs/clubs). This has to be encouraging to a certain extent. But let me emphasize, we encourage people to drink responsibly.

Most of us were drinking outside the hostel at the beginning.

After a couple of hours when everyone is getting a bit tipsy, we decided to play a drinking game: Ring of Fire. For those who did not know what game it is, it is basically a drinking game where everyone will most probably get drunk pretty quick.

First, you lay all the playing cards in a circle (hence the name). Next, everyone will take turns to pick a card from the circle. Whoever break the ring will have to finish whatever he/she has in his bottle/cup.

Each individual card will have a specific meaning (Eg. Girls drink, Boys drink, Rule card where the rule master has to set a rule where everyone has to follows, if not, he/she will have to drink, Point to the Sky where the last person to point to the sky will have to drink... etc etc)

We ended the night at around 12 midnight. I was really tired. Think I am getting old and I really can't stay up as late as I used to. Anyway, it was quite a successful night! Thank you everyone for attending the drinking night! We will have more of these to come! :)