Being Chinese, we believe in auspicious starts, what better than to start it off with a 年 年 有 鱼? Hope this auspicious ‘HUAT’ post brings a good start to the many adventures we will have!
Whenever TGIF draws close, we will never forget life’s main purpose, which is CARPE DIEM, meaning to seize the day in English. As Philosoraptor once quipped,
Yes indeed, being poor and pathetic little low-life undergrads who have no $$$ :(( (Yes very sad IKR), we have decided to scour more places in sg which charge very low, if better free admissions! YES that is our goal! And this week, we might just have something interesting swimming by!
With the Euro 2012 brewing on, the most happening event is definitely lazing around your usual watering holes, enjoying the beautiful game, right?
Yet someone disagrees, and that certainly sounds fishy to us, yes! It may have occurred that there might be copycats trying to emulate the success of Paul the Octopus during the Worldcup in 2010. Now however, local aquarium Qian Hu is leading the charge, bringing to us not an oracular octopus, but 2 golden crossback arowanas to predict the scores for the Euro 2012.
OK, enough of these politically correct salesman talk, we head down to see for ourselves what all these brouhaha is about!!! Let us bring you back one week!
Here we are at the characteristic fish farm (actually, no need for introduction right! the ginormous logo of a high fin loach fish gives it all away).
We are accompanied by not just XL’s bro, but also her awesomely, heart-melting, uber cuddly, so-fluffy-I-want-do-die Shih Tzu. Yeshi! Apple the shih tzu will be joining us today! Of course, being the gentleman there, elson is tasked with the responsibility of carrying the Apple around. And don’t belittle this little thing, she sure is heavy! Ehh that’s worth at least one gym session in Maju Camp for him. *XL grins evil-ly*
The plethora of fishes distracted us from heading straight to the main attraction; we went towards the west of the farm and caught glimpses of the all-too-common kampong fishing paired with fish spa combo. Sighted were a few children looking rather amused and another visibly bored couple having their dead skins eaten by fish. We will pass. We, the dynamic duo, are only interested in the wild and dangerous. Longkang fish? Bleah!
Apple makes contact with kois!
Say Hi to Apple!
Care for a swim?
Guess what’s in the bag?
In front of the Kampong fishing cum fish spa thingy
Apple asks for the more ‘advanced’ fishes. Let’s go guys! 😀 woof!
This is the fish gallery, basically it’s an euphemism for the fish store. And yup we get to see more dangerous fishes right over here!
elson and Apple are eggcited toooooo!
This is a birchir over here, and it is a kind of prehistoric fish. Hey take a closer look at this because it would cost you upwards of $20 to see it at the Underwater World. This is a great lobang for us today.
prehistoric birchir. some ppl pay more than $20 to see this. it is free here, beat that. :p
Along the way, we spot more weird fishes, including the weirdly skinny Green Spotted Puffers. elson keeps them at home and they are definitely much fatter and rounder than what we see here!!
(XL: like owner, like fish! 😉 )
And here we see the Qian Hu logo in the flesh! The high fin loach.
Couple of archer fishes (left) and a baby goliath tiger fish(right). The latter packs a mean bite! OUCH!
Awwwww… do not disturb the sick fishes, how sweet!
After the myriad of photos, let’s head on down to the main reason we’re here.
We humbly seek an audience with your majesties, Big Huat and Little Huat!
Yes, the two golden cross back aros that Qian Hu have been swooning over. And alas! Here they are. Behold the two ‘Huats’!
Huat the fish! To our bewilderment, we were shocked that the fishes did not appear as majestic as we had expected. Their sizes were definitely not imposing, but they look good enough, period. For fish enthusiasts who love aros, do not be disappointed by their appearances. Perhaps they have something up their erm, gills.
And here is Little Huat, who according to Qian Hu, is the nephew (???) of Big Huat, the bigger fellow who got his predictions right for the opening games of Euro 12.
And… here is ‘Big’ Huat. Not exactly big by arowana standards but yup, definitely bigger than his, erm ‘nephew’.
Ah crap! There will a prediction even just one day after today, which is.. tomorrow, how unfortunate! We must be back tomorrow to see how these fishy little slim rods predict the winners of the England vs. France game. Yep, guess we have to come back tomorrow, what a bummer! :((
Without the prediction marketing hype thingy, nothing much is happening in the two Huats enclosures. Apple was nudging us into a corner (EL had let her down to stretch her furry lil paws, and mainly because his arms are getting damn shagged!) where we saw the gaudy neon lights shouting ‘House of Dragon’ which is just another creative moniker for their arowana enclosures. We jumped right in, dog leading the way, while human only got to follow.
Upon entering, the most obvious difference is that the darkness within is long gone. We are enveloped by whitewash florescent lights. A big no no and the ambience for admiring the fish is all gone. How could you do this Qian Hu? We so wish that it was like in the past, where the Chow Yun Fatt arowana was still there. Anyway, Apple wanted to pee too, and coupled with a new sense of disappointment, we left the enclosure.
Almost the end of whatever happenings possible here, we went on to the snack bar to grab bottles of drinks after Apple was done with her business. As we walked back to say our sad goodbyes to the ‘Huats’, let us share with you our 2 cents pertaining to this fish farm.
The Good:
- Plenty of interesting species of fish for those who do not have the privilege to enter the now-defunct Van Kleef aquarium.
- If you are on a budget, and want a completely free admission into an aquarium, this is the closest you can get. Plus, the species of fish on display changes from time to time, so one will never get bored!
The Bad:
- Sections of the Fish Gallery are under re-construction, and we highly suspect that the flagship House of Dragons are still work-in-progress, so it may do you well to visit it somewhere in the near future.
- The two ‘Huats’ oracular arowanas might just be objects of media hype. Do NOT expect fantabulous, uber attractive arowanas with high levels of psychic powers.
Getting There!
By car: From the KJE, exit at Sungei Tengah Road/Bricklands Road exit.
From Sungei Tengah Road, turn left into Old Choa Chu Kang Road.
Head straight until you spot the Home Team Academy. Before that, you will get to see this sign board
Turn right into Jalan Lekar. Head straight all the way until you see the gigantic Qian Hu logo.
By Public Transport:
Take an MRT train to Choa Chu Kang station. Qian Hu has shuttle buses ferrying all of us into their farm!
This is the detailed schedule.
Alternatively, a detailed schedule can be found here : http://www.qianhu.com/content/phase1/corporate/contact/busscheduleCCK.asp
bye bye fishes!
On the way back!
Apple bids good night!!!!
Adios! Kindda sleepy after this post *Yawns* TGIF TMR! WHERE TO GO???
Signing off,
elson
what to do in sg? 