Have you ever been on a Hippo bus? I’ve never! So I was quite excited when I received the invitation! It was part of the Night Out @ Bras Basah & Bugis precinct campaign, organised by Radio 100.3, Radio 91.3 and omy.sg. And of course, Im going to thank omy.sg again for the pair of invites extended to me and this time, I brought my very pregnant sister along for a night of fun!
The assembly point was at National Museum bus bay which I had assumed that it was the area right in front of the museum but… not. I didn’t see anyone there so I decided to follow a little crowd as I assumed (again…haha) that they are heading for the Hippo Tour too!
There was a small crowd waiting there already and we went to register and collect our stickers for identification purposes. I dragged my sister to a corner after that to take a seat. You know, Im so worried walking around with her because she’s already 8 months into her pregnancy. But my gungho sister goes everywhere with her little tummy and trots around in high heels! Hahah… hot mama!
See the hot mama! So pregnant yet still so pretty!
We took the Radio 100.3 sticker and realized that it was wrong later on. We were supposed to be on the Radio 91.3 bus.
Showing our pamphlet for the night’s tour
Our Hippo Bus!
Me and Jingyi on the bus before setting off!
And our goodies bag! Can you see what I’m holding in my right hand? Coca-cola! One of my favourite drink! Although I prefer the original Coke to Coke Zero. Still better than nothing isn’t it? heh… There’s also magazines, identification tags, pens and some car stickers…
There’s our “tour guides” for the night. Maddy and Jeremy.
Moving out from the bus bay into Oxley Road. And someone told me that our MM lives somewhere in this area.
Turning into Orchard Road. And we can see our “favourite” ERP gantry. Luckily my Ezlink Card didn’t go “beep beep”! Eh? Sala right…. Ezlink won’t beep, cash card will…. *smacks head*
This one is my favourite photo for the night!
Its rare to be able to get so near the leaves and the tall trees!
Heavy evening traffic.
And we passed by Cathay.
I remember the old Cathay building as a 3 or 4 storey, brown colour building that stood on this exact site.
Old HDB estate.
I’m bad at road names but this estate is somewhere at Selegie where there’s the famous Soya Beancurd. It just opposite The Verge. According to Jeremy, there’s some very nice Ba Chor Mee here in the past but hmm, not sure if its still around!
When I saw this block number, I was reminded of an incident that happened when I was in Primary One. I had this classmate who wanted to write down everyone’s address in her school diary. She came to me asked for my block number. So I told her I stayed in block 8(I really did!! Lorong Lew Lian has only got 8 blocks!). She got a little upset and said, “I want the 3 digit number at the side of the flat,” and she pointed to a flat outside my classroom window to show me. I told her my block number is only a single digit “8″, but she refused to believe me. Muahahah… Children are just so adorable.
The Verge. It was called Tekka Mall before isn’t it? Correct me if im wrong…
Jingyi told me that I can get very cheap items for decorations etc here, and those stalls that were formerly at concourse selling cheap stationaries in bulk are all here now!
My favourite IT Mall!
yes… im a geek…. hahahah…
Enjoying ourselves on the bus!
That little orange house! I only knew that there’s a little cafe inside that night! The ambience there looks pretty good!
This little orange house is situated at Waterloo Street and its not called little orange house, hahaha… its called Sculpture Square - a contemporary art exhibition space showcasing art pieces of local and Asian talents.
We stopped over at Chijmes for a short while…
The daddy taking a photo for his little girl!
Jeremy giving us a little introduction to the history of Chijmes. We all know that it was once a convent school and Jeremy added that there was a gate called the Gate of Hope in Chijmes where for over a century in the past, abandoned babies would be placed at the gate for the nuns to pick them up and give them a shelter. That’s so sad isn’t it… But at least the babies aren’t left on the streets to fight for themselves…
A photo of Chijmes from the Hippo bus…
Can you see the little flowers?
My hand on my little nephew! He’s moving inside Jingyi’s tummy! So amazing!
After the stop at Chijmes, we went past Fort Canning and Substation and back to the National Museum Bus Bay where we ended out little excursion. It was fun and exciting roaming the familiar streets with a new perspective and acting as tourist, domestic tourist..hahah… Of course, thanks the the entertaining deejays on board with us as our guides and peppering the 2 hours with lots of humour. It was a wonderful of experience!
) But i still managed a few photos here and there! 
