Climbing Bukit Timah & 4 types of Cheesecakes
Bukit Timah Walk
It's Hari Raya Haji today and thus a public holiday. I would have loved to sleep in late, but ended up waking at 5.30 am to climb Bukit Timah with mom and her friends.
It has been probably around 8 years since I last climbed Bukit Timah. It's the one and only mountain hill in Singapore.
Back when when I was still in school, I used to think that Bukit Timah was really tall and difficult to climb, and thus I hated it and avoided visiting the place as much as I could. But today, I realised that it was actually really short at only 164m tall. I guess after climbing to the Hallasan's Witse Oreum Shelter (1700m) in Jeju earlier this year, Bukit Timah is considered a simple walk compared to my breathtaking climb at Hallasan. (So 'breath-taking' I was panting and cursing three-quarters way up and down)
I never knew that Bukit Timah had so many different trails and routes to choose from. I had only travelled the Easiest Route 1 in my past. For today, we went for the Moderate Route 2 with a detour to the destination of Route 3 on the way back. I also discovered that there are longer routes and also more difficult and rocky trials that I might consider trying out in future. (If I were to train for Mount Fuji)
We started the climb at around 7.15am and was nearing the summit by 8am.
Summit of Bukit Timah. Sadly, there isn't really a view from the top of Bukit Timah as the trees surrounding are blocking the view. The summit consists of a small field of grass, a hut for resting and a telecommunication tower.
On the way back, we detoured to the other telecommunication tower and from there, we could catch a really pretty view of
Hindhede Quarry. I would love to explore the surrounding of the Quarry the next time I visit.
We finished the hike before 9am easily. I couldn't help thinking back to Hallasan and the Igidae Coastal Walks, which were both really difficult hikes in Korea for me. But as much as I struggled to hike through those 2 journeys, they were very memorable because of the challenge. Maybe I should seriously start considering re-challenging Hallasan to its peak and also Mount Fuji.
Homecooked Laksa
For today's lunch, dad cooked Singapore style laksa! (Though I found the gravy a little thick).
Dad has been recovering pretty well and ended his final session of physiotherapy yesterday. It would of course, still be maybe years before he actually regain a regular person's walking/running abilities, but he has progressed so much since the days of sitting in a wheelchair, such that sometimes he walks faster than me. We are thinking of having some specialist access him and consider letting him drive again.
Anyway, for now letting dad prepare more home-cooked dishes is probably the best activity for him.
The battle of Cheesecakes
After getting off Bukit Timah, one of mom's friend introduced us to Ng Kim Lee Confectionary located just outside Beauty World MRT station. It's actually famous for their old school confectionaries, but we saw that they had many types of cheesecake in their display and got curious on how the cheesecakes were different. So we ended up buying 4 types of cheesecakes from their shop to compare.
From left to right:
1. Italian Cheesecake: Strong citrus taste and cheese taste, the cheese texture is on the heavy side.
2. Carrot Cheesecake: Mix of carrot and cheese, with the cheese texture sort of moderate as well, but the cinnamon covers all the taste.
3. American Cheesecake: Light cheese taste and the cheese texture is lighter. Closer to Japanese cheesecakes, but not as light as fluffy as Japanese cheesecakes
4. New York Cheesecake: Strong cheese taste and cheese texture is heavy. Its texture is actually similar to Italian Cheesecake, the difference is that the Italian Cheesecake has a strong citrus taste.
Conclusion was that I prefer the Amercian cheesecake... probably because in general I love lighter and fluffy Japanese cheesecakes. Maybe I should bake one this weekend...lol
It's Hari Raya Haji today and thus a public holiday. I would have loved to sleep in late, but ended up waking at 5.30 am to climb Bukit Timah with mom and her friends.
It has been probably around 8 years since I last climbed Bukit Timah. It's the one and only mountain hill in Singapore.
Back when when I was still in school, I used to think that Bukit Timah was really tall and difficult to climb, and thus I hated it and avoided visiting the place as much as I could. But today, I realised that it was actually really short at only 164m tall. I guess after climbing to the Hallasan's Witse Oreum Shelter (1700m) in Jeju earlier this year, Bukit Timah is considered a simple walk compared to my breathtaking climb at Hallasan. (So 'breath-taking' I was panting and cursing three-quarters way up and down)
I never knew that Bukit Timah had so many different trails and routes to choose from. I had only travelled the Easiest Route 1 in my past. For today, we went for the Moderate Route 2 with a detour to the destination of Route 3 on the way back. I also discovered that there are longer routes and also more difficult and rocky trials that I might consider trying out in future. (If I were to train for Mount Fuji)
We started the climb at around 7.15am and was nearing the summit by 8am.
Summit of Bukit Timah. Sadly, there isn't really a view from the top of Bukit Timah as the trees surrounding are blocking the view. The summit consists of a small field of grass, a hut for resting and a telecommunication tower.
On the way back, we detoured to the other telecommunication tower and from there, we could catch a really pretty view of
Hindhede Quarry. I would love to explore the surrounding of the Quarry the next time I visit.
We finished the hike before 9am easily. I couldn't help thinking back to Hallasan and the Igidae Coastal Walks, which were both really difficult hikes in Korea for me. But as much as I struggled to hike through those 2 journeys, they were very memorable because of the challenge. Maybe I should seriously start considering re-challenging Hallasan to its peak and also Mount Fuji.
Homecooked Laksa
For today's lunch, dad cooked Singapore style laksa! (Though I found the gravy a little thick).
Dad has been recovering pretty well and ended his final session of physiotherapy yesterday. It would of course, still be maybe years before he actually regain a regular person's walking/running abilities, but he has progressed so much since the days of sitting in a wheelchair, such that sometimes he walks faster than me. We are thinking of having some specialist access him and consider letting him drive again.
Anyway, for now letting dad prepare more home-cooked dishes is probably the best activity for him.
The battle of Cheesecakes
After getting off Bukit Timah, one of mom's friend introduced us to Ng Kim Lee Confectionary located just outside Beauty World MRT station. It's actually famous for their old school confectionaries, but we saw that they had many types of cheesecake in their display and got curious on how the cheesecakes were different. So we ended up buying 4 types of cheesecakes from their shop to compare.
From left to right:
1. Italian Cheesecake: Strong citrus taste and cheese taste, the cheese texture is on the heavy side.
2. Carrot Cheesecake: Mix of carrot and cheese, with the cheese texture sort of moderate as well, but the cinnamon covers all the taste.
3. American Cheesecake: Light cheese taste and the cheese texture is lighter. Closer to Japanese cheesecakes, but not as light as fluffy as Japanese cheesecakes
4. New York Cheesecake: Strong cheese taste and cheese texture is heavy. Its texture is actually similar to Italian Cheesecake, the difference is that the Italian Cheesecake has a strong citrus taste.
Conclusion was that I prefer the Amercian cheesecake... probably because in general I love lighter and fluffy Japanese cheesecakes. Maybe I should bake one this weekend...lol