Tuk's 30th Birthday

3rd September (Thursday)

Took a day off work to celebrate Tuk’s birthday, but ended up spending the whole morning at work anyways. Bugger… With half the day gone rather unexpectedly due to work commitments, it kinda thwarted my plans for this birthday boy.

Instead of having breakfast by the horse ranch, we had lunch. Taking a cab, we went down to The Bukit Timah Saddle Club, in search of the Riders Café. The place’s rather secluded so if you don’t have a car, it’s best to grab a cab.

As soon as we got there, we were charmed by the old-building-turned-restaurant. In short, it felt very colonial and very un-Singapore. We decided to tuck ourselves at a table on the balcony, which overlooked the horse stable. But as the sun was up (just past noon) and the weather getting a wee bit too hot, there were no horses in sight. Kinda suspected that the horse riding was done earlier in the mornings where the weather was more cooling. Darn! Had missed the perfect timing.

Nevertheless, we ordered the main courses and the food was fresh and delightful, and the service was great too! (^_~)

We munched on and talked about his ad-hoc photography assignments with a local magazine, our plans for the weekend and etc, etc, etc… But soon we realized that both of us were perspiring (it’s a non-aircon place btw), so we decided to ask for bill and head on to another place.

And you know what? We saw a horse pulling up at the stable just before we left! Lucky! \(^o^)/

Think I’m gonna head back to makan again… but either in the morning or evening instead, when the weather’s much cooler :P


Riders Cafe
51 Fairways Drive, S(286965)
Exit Eng Neo Ave from PIE or Dunearn Road.
Along Eng Neo Ave, follow the sign to Bt. Timah Saddle Club.
Average price per person: S$25

Next stop – Shaw Towers. Went to a shop there to scout for Tuk’s dream camera bag. But there wasn’t any that suited his needs, so we decided to pop by Haji Lane before heading over to Bras Brasah. That’s when trouble started!

I kinda thought that I kana heat stroke while I was walking to and lingering at Haji Lane. I was dehydrated but didn’t realized until it was too late. By the time I reach Cat Socrates (shop cum café), I felt drained.


Cat Socrates
#03-39B Bras Basah Complex, 231 Bain Street, S(180231)
Open Hour： 12:00 pm - 8:00 pm (Daily)

But the stuff at Cat Socrates kinda cheered me up. As I browsed through the interesting notebooks, stationery, books and music recommendations, my mind was taken off the fact that I was dehydrated. Well, at least it did for a while.

Cat Socrates is mainly a lifestyle shop that has a small, cozy resting corner (call it a mini café if you like) for its customers to order drinks (i.e.: ready drinks like soft drinks, spirit & etc), browse through the books/ magazines/ lifestyle items sold there, and simply have a mini break before setting off again. Also a place for photography/ lomo lovers as some of the stuff sold there were quite appealing as well. And most of the items were quite affordable too! (^_~)

Now back to my boring story of being dehydrated and feeling drained. After having work commitments that took up the whole of my morning, the heat stroke set me back for the evenings. Darn! Birthday boy’s disappointment couldn’t be helped as I really felt unwell after we left and café and made our way elsewhere. So we kinda decided that we should call it a day and arranged for a belated birthday dinner on Sunday instead. Bummer…


6th September (Sunday)

Had the belated birthday dinner with tuk at Heaven’s Loft, located at Orchard Central, level 8.

Well, the place’s ok and the food’s not bad, but it was kinda pricey for pastas though - about S$35 to S$45 per person. I wouldn’t mind going back there to makan but I wouldn’t make a conscious effort just to go there as well. Well… not unless I’m feeling rich on that day. Who knows? :P



After a rushed dinner, we headed down to GV Plaza Sing to catch The Cove. Highly recommend you to watch this!!! Check out my blog entry and you’ll know why.