After months of hacking and renovation, Hougang 1 (previously knowned as Hougang Point) reopens with a new and refreshing look. We have been faithful patrons of the mall with weekly visit to its NTUC Xtra prior to the revamp last year. Certainly glad to see Hougang 1 reopening its door for business once again.

Hougang 1

Address:  1 Hougang Street 91, S538692

Its a combination of new and old, retail and F&B outlets. Kopitiam, KFC, McDonalds, Prima deli and Sakae Sushi still retain their operations here as we welcome Wang Cafe, Delifrance, BBQ Chicken, Powerball and Gong Cha joining in the crew.

Other retail outlets spotted are QB House, Schon, Hangten, Watsons, Hock Hua Tonic and more.

NTUC Xtra still remains at level 2 of the mall throughout the renovation works. This is still our favourite spot whenever we are at Hougang 1.

Its great to see the mall rejuvenates itself after the major overhaul. Particularly satisfied with the new toilet facilities as the old ones were very run down. Most of the stalls have opened and its great to see the crowd back once again.

11th Feb 2012 - Sunny Day! Mommy, together with 14 other bloggers were cordly invited to participate in the Greenwich V Experience Challenge! The bloggers were split into 3 teams, namely Village, Urban and Lifestyle and our task is to go on an amazing race within the new retail mall - Greenwich V which just had its grand opening! - http://bpdgtravels.blogspot.com/2012/02/greenwich-v-grand-opening.html

Our meeting point - Empire State restaurant.

We are the Lifestyle team and our dress code is RED. I guess we made a pretty grand entrance with our team's family and kiddos joining us in this event. It is a SEA of RED and it looks as if we are going to a post Lunar New Year party or National Day celebration. ^_^

Let's meet our team members which consists of mainly parent bloggers!

Team Leader - Andy Lee

Caption Writer - Klessis Lee

Caption Writer - Sandra Tan

Time Keeper - Paul Chen

Photographer - Phoebe Lau 

The rule of the game is our team's game master, Jesslyn will be holding on to the clues that will direct us to the next destination. We will need to guess the correct store, fulfil our task before moving on to our next clue and to the next station. In the event if we fail to make a correct guess, we will have to serve our punishment - star jumps!

After a sumptuous meal at Empire State, we gathered at The Plaza (level 2) for the flag off! Who will be the winning team??? Since we have a lot of kiddos joining us, SAFETY COMES FIRST! It's not an easy task having 9 young children going on an amazing race climbing up and down the stairs in a super hot day! Kudos to our macho hubbies, understanding wife and forever cheery kiddos for making this race fun and unforgettable.

We climbed up, we moved down, we went round and round and we didn't get lost! ^_^

We covered 10 stations within the 2.5 hours. In fact, we were the fastest team to complete all our stations. (It's a pity that time is not a factor to determine the winning team. hehehe). Everyone helped to keep a look out, and take care of the children. Our kiddos are energetic and fantastic eaters! Waffles, french fries, yogurt, cakes, drinks etc will not escape their eyes! Muaahhhh....

As a team, we FIND, we EAT, we POSE, we LAUGH and we had fun TOGETHER!

Our pose and various stations :)

Makan session throughout the amazing race challenge. We get to try all sorts of yummy-licious food!

The children didn't mind taking on the punishment for us. Thank you Gladys for doing the star jumps!Many loves and big hugs!

We completed our race and everyone is tired... our kiddos continue to entertain themselves with the magic show while the photos and captions are being uploaded. Mommy is still an amateur when it comes to photography and I was a bit jittery when I was tasked to be the photographer. :)

Thanks to our caption writers Klessis and Sandra with their quick thinking minds and beautiful lines for the photos. Paul has been a great sport doing his facial scrub in front of our young spectators and keeping track of the time throughout the race. Not forgetting our steady and dependable leader, Andy for keeping the team together in an orderly fashion. ^_^

We won the 2nd prize - $200 vouchers (Thank you Greenwich V!)

With Urban and Village team left for the first prize of $300 vouchers! The winner is.......... the Village Team in GREEN! Congratulations to all teams! ^_^

Goodies that we brought home after the race...

It was the first time Mommy took part in a blogger event! Thanks to OMY, Far East and all the other outlets, we got to know new friends, enjoyed a lot of delicious food and had a lot of excitement roaming around the mall.

*Special credit to Andy and Alvin for the group photos! They are beautifully taken!

More photos on our Greenwich V Experience at BPDGTravels fanpage!

Check out our team's experience on the blogger event too!
Andy's - http://sengkangbabies.blogspot.com/2012/02/greenwich-v-bloggers-challenge.html

It's Friday and also the Grand Opening of the new retail mall - Greenwich V. We brought the kids down to have a feel and look at what's happening at the 'party'. The lifestyle hub definitely attracted a crowd on its opening day and as anticipated, it was a challenge to enter the carpark due to the limited parking lots. :)

We went up to level 2 - The Plaza where the stage and carnival is located. The water fountain is a chill out spot for the little ones!

There are a couple of fun activity booths and free treats for everyone to enjoy! Since we are in Greenwich V, there's a lot of green goodies giveaway! ^_^ Green & white coloured balloons, green popcorn, green candy floss and even green apples! Not to forget our best treat of the day - mint chocolate chip Cold Stone Creamery ice cream!

The official opening ceremony was held at level 1

The hosts for this evening - Joe Augustin (Lush 99.5FM) and Vernetta Lopez (Class 95FM)

The party begins and our kiddos had fun spinning the plate, taking pictures and enjoying their little free treats.

Fairies Stilt-walkers

Balloon-sculpting clown

Main stage performance with the mediacorp DJs.

Taking a little walk around the mall, apart from the little eateries and restaurants, there is Cold Storage and Kopi Seletar (part of Kopitiam).

Although the 2-storey mall is not very big, it is an addition to the area which will serve the residents staying in the vicinity. Greenwich V is now open and carnival will be held for 2 weekends. :)

Earlier this week, we received a pamphlet on the opening of another new lifestyle hub  - Greenwich V which is located along the junction of Yio Chu Kang Road and Seletar. The 2-storey retail mall will have it's Grand Opening & Carnival this Friday which promises a lot of FUN activities, FREE treats, FABULOUS entertainment for EVERYONE at the Village.

There will be 2 weekends of fun at Greenwich V! Check out the details:

FREE TREATS

Yummy Treats For All

Green Candy Floss, Green Popcorn, Cold Stone Creamery ice cream (YUMMY!!!!)

Free Balloons

- 10 Feb, 4:30pm 

- 11, 12, 18 & 19 Feb, 2:30pm

Candies Giveaway

- 18, 19 Feb, 4:30pm

Green & Healthy Apples

- 11, 12, 18 & 19 Feb, 8pm

FUN ACTIVITIES

Story Telling Session

- 11 & 12 Feb, 4pm

Magic Show

- 11 & 12 Feb, 5:30pm

Balloon Sculpting Workshop

- 11, 12, 18 & 19 Feb, 2:30pm

Play Dough Sculpting Workshop

- 18 & 19 Feb, 6:30pm

Washable Tattoo Art

- 11 & 18 Feb, 12:30pm

Sand Art

- 12 & 19 Feb, 12:30pm

No wonder our kiddos are extrememly excited upon seeing the yummy treats and freebies!  We'll be hopping by to the new mall to have a sneak peak. :)

In addition, Mommy, together with 15 other bloggers will also be joining in "The Greenwich V Experience" this coming weekend! We'll be participating together with our families and I can't wait to be part of this fun-filled and exciting event! Stay tune on this page for more information and photos!

Last weekend, we ventured into another new shopping mall in the Eastern suburb of Singapore - 112 Katong (formerly known as Katong Mall). The name was emerged from its strategic address, 112 East Coast Road. Somehow, I got confused with the logo as it looks like "I12" (aka I want to) instead.

The revamped six-storeys shopping mall has two basement levels (car park) and a rooftop landscaped garden with wet playground on Level 4. It seems like a trend/attraction to have a wet play area within the shopping malls. Probably to attract more families with children. Unfortunately, we didn't knew about the playground and missed out the fun. :(

If you keep a good lookout, you may noticed the Peranakan-inspired motifs within the shopping mall. Golden Village has a Penarakan-themed multiplex with 8 cinema halls, 2 Gold Class halls and a Gold Class lounge which we tried to take a peek.

There are many more retail shops withing 112 Katong, adding a new trend of lifestyle and bringing customers back for an enjoyable shopping experience in the neighborhood.

Good news for those staying in the East! Frasers Centerpoint Malls has added another new shopping mall under its wings - Changi City Point. Located in the heart of Changi Business Park, directly opposite the Singapore Expo MRT, CCP is described as the “Garden City in the East”.

Last weekend, we drove down to explore and have a peek at the new shopping mall. Carpark space seems to be limited (only 1 level at the basement). Not sure if there are more parking lots outside or within its vicinity to cater for the increasing crowd.

Singapore Expo MRT is just across the road. Very convenient and accessible.

Many shops are still under renovation but I presume they should be in operation soon to be in time for the Christmas and New Year period.

Within CCP, you can find a lot of eateries located mainly at B1 and L1. Those staying near or working in Changi Business Park now has more dining options to consider.

The factory outlet shops (e.g. Adidas, Crocs, Timberland, G2000, Skechers etc.) are located at L2 and visitors to the Singapore Expo can pop by and continue their shopping spree.

There are three shopping levels within Changi City Point (B1 to L2). At level 3, you will find the rooftop garden and an outdoor amphitheatre -  “The Arena @ L3”.

The children are excited to spot a playground which is located at L2 (just outside Koufu). Very similar to that at Nex Mall although smaller, the playground is separated into wet and dry zone. 

No big water bucket or slides but there is a mini tree top trail for the kiddos to cross and climb.

Despite being afraid, Gladys completed the obstacle course on her own. ^_^ Its getting late and time to go home.

There is a foot washing area and toilet near the playground but we did not spot any shower heads. We also noticed there are leaves and debris at the play area. Not really sure if this is due to the construction that are still going on around the shopping mall but children better to be wary on what they are stepping on. I believe once the mall is in full operation, we would be able to see more improvements. ^_^

Orchard Road is very well known as the shopper's haven in Singapore. There are various iconic shopping malls occupying both sides of the one way street which draws a lot of tourists as well as the locals. Due to the crowd (especially during weekends) and more expensive parking, we only go to Orchard Road once in a very blue moon.

One of our favourite hide-out is the Takashimaya Department Store (retail giant in Japan) at Ngee Ann City. The 7 storeys (B2-L5) store is filled with Ladies', Men's and Children's Fashion, Beauty & Cosmetics, Sports, Toys, Books, Electrical, Home & Interior, Food outlets and many more.

The children's favourite is the Toys section at Level 3 while Hubby & I will occasionally look around to look at the clothing or the Home & Interior area at B1. Basement 2 is where the supermarket and the various food outlets are located. If you are thirsty or want to grab something to eat, this is where you should go. Alternatively, KFC and McDonald is just located a level up at B1 but seatings are limited. :)

Besides the various promotions at the "Talking Hall" event at B1, there are always sales events/fairs (e.g. Toy fair, Fashion, Home & Interior, Sports etc) held at the 1000sqm Takashimaya Square at B2. Since Mid-Autumn Festival is around the corner, there are many stalls from different hotels, restaurants setup at the square promoting sales of their mooncakes. From the traditional White Lotus, Snow skin to Durian, Yam, Champagne, Ice-cream flavoured mooncakes. There are so many to choose from and you just cannot stop sampling them. Hahaha

There are many more shops around Ngee Ann City and if love to shop, it'll take you sometime to complete your shopping. :)

Outside Ngee Ann City is the Civic Plaza. It is a big open area where many roadshows, concerts, events are held. There is a water fountain in front of the Civic Plaza and Gladys will not miss the chance to take some photos here. :) She loves to see the fountains and play with the water.

Anyone in a shopping mood? :D