Project WWWT Day 20 of 72 - Pisa, Italy

7th June 2017

Prego!

Finally, we are making our way to the land of fashion, pastas & piazzas, parma hams and parmagiano regiano! Before I go any further, I would like to record some incidents and information for our journey from London to this wonderful location - Pisa. We flew via RyanAir from London to Pisa and the flight is scheduled to depart from London Stansted Airport. We took UBER to the airport and the journey took around 90 minutes and costs £111.13. The reason why it cost that much is because we took UberVan i.e. a 6-seater vehicle to transport all 5 of us plus 8 luggages + a stroller. I know that is a lot but hey, we have 3 adults, 2 children and 72 days of travel? Besides, yours truly has some really good looking arms by now although my face remains the chubby fat me (its a gift). If you are opting for regular Uber, it will likely costs half of that and at that price, it is way cheaper option considering that you have the car all to yourself.

Project WWWT Day 12 of 72 - London, United Kingdom

30th May 2017

London truly has an erratic weather. One moment it is cloudy, the other moment it is sunny sky and another moment it is raining. So whenever you visited somewhere indoor, try to go in rainy days less you will miss the sunshine while you are indoors and raining when you are about to leave.

Project WWWT Dining @ Maze Grill by Gordon Ramsay

Gordon Ramsay has been one of the chefs that I would go out of my way to see. Four years back in 2013, Gordon Ramsay visited Singapore in an event organised by SingTel whereby the Singapore Citizens are engaged to vote for Singapore's top local dish cooked by respective local chefs or experts and GR will cook off with the local experts/chefs on the top three highest voted dish viz. the Chili crab, Laksa and the famed Chicken rice.I recalled that I almost got into a fight with someone just to secure a spot to photograph GR in action.

Why Bali is worth a Revisit - Part 1

Bali 28th - 29th April 2011

If you are thinking "Bali again??" I would answer you "Why not?" Seriously, do you have anything against Bali or do you have anything against me going to Bali again? After all, the Island is only an alphabet away from having the meaning of return i.e. Balik (Indonesian/Malay language). Bali in total is 5,600km² which is approximately 8 times the size of Singapore. It is a place that you can go back again and again but experience different things in each trip! For me, this time round, I am sharing this island together with 3 Hong Kong friends (N, K and M) and we are all in high spirit.

We have booked a Villa in Ubud this time round as we had more people thus bringing down the cost per head for the rental. As our flight arrived in the evening, we agreed that it would not make sense to head to the Villa directly and waste the rental, so we chose to stay the night in a budget hotel in Denpasar, "Pop! Harris Hotel". Overall, I would give the hotel a 4/5 for its cleanliness, bed and room facilities. But the best thing about this hotel is that it only costs us S$41 per room per night and that is S$20 per head! Location wise is not really good but with car rental cum driver at such low price, I am not complaining. Excited? Wanted to know more about this hotel? Go here!

Seoul-Family Trip (Part 1)

Back 2 Seoul - 19th~20th March 2011

As I have mentioned in my previous post, my trip to Seoul earlier is only a recce trip to familiarize myself with the geography, culture and economy of the city so that I would not be caught by surprise with a group of tourists whom were solely depending on me to know my stuffs and to ensure that they had a good time. The selection process is the most difficult when it comes to family trip as you have a dynamic mix of characters and preferences, what more this time around, I am bringing my housemates (PS, MM & WP) as a way to thank them for sticking with us through thick and thin.

WP is my sister and we have stayed together ever since I moved to Singapore. As the example set by my two brothers during their heydays in Singapore, I am convinced that although Singapore is small, if you don't stay together you will not see each other more than one time every month and perhaps not even once in a month! Thus, I have decided that its better for the two of us to stay together and share the rent. In the span of ten years, WP has shared rent with me and paid rent to me. She contributed to the house by cooking meals when I couldn't make it on time and currently supplying us with so much pastries that we are almost getting sick of another pastry... not there yet, but near.

Bali 3 Days 2 Nights Rejuvenation and Relaxation

Bali Rejuvenation

If you knew me or have read my blog for sometime, I am pretty sure (90% confidence level) that you will say "Bali again???" Well, what can I say? It is definitely the top choice in my list for a rejuvenating holiday away from the hectic Singapore lifestyle.

This time around, I took advantage of the promotion from the Pan Pacific Nirwana Bali Resort. This piece of property is previously managed by the Le Meridién Group but has since been taken over by Pan Pacific Group and is going through a major overhaul of the facilities and rooms. As such, they are offering their Villa at a bargain of USD220 per night! Some may say that striking the jackpot is a once in a lifetime event, well I would say to get such a low price for a Pan Pacific Villa is in itself a once in a lifetime event.

This trip will only span for a short 3D2N but due to our flight ticket, we have to make it 3D3N instead. Our flight reached around 2340 hour and due to the late arrival, we decided to just get a budget hotel to spend the night instead of wasting the one night in Pan Pac. This time round, I took the Singapore-Bali flight on my own and has booked a separate ticket for my wife as she is having an evening event that she has to attend to and could only take the later flight, so instead of taking AirAsia, she took Singapore Airlines. On my arrival, I was being greeted by a familiar face, Pak Made! He has always been of great service for car rental and IMO, he has one of the best rates in town! So if you need his service, you may visit the following, remember to quote me (Johnathan from Singapore) for better rate:

Seoul Korea in 3 Days (Day 1)

Seoul, South Korea
Day 1 (25 - 26 November 2010)

It has been months ever since I last blogged a proper entry and I suppose it is about time otherwise I will lost track of all the events that has happened for the past few months. I last left off in September and one of the things that I would like to share is about my virgin voyage to Seoul, South Korea. The reason for the trip is simply to recce Seoul prior to the annual trip with my tenants and family. Autumn is about to end during that period but thank God we managed to savor what's left of it and yet, it is still a beauty to behold.

We stayed in Renaissance Hotel located in between Seoul Leung and Yeoksam MRT. It is not exactly the most convenient place and in fact, it is quite far from most of the main attractions but heck, most of the big names are too E.g. Ritz Carlton, JW Marriott and what not.

Our room in Renaissance Hotel. Comfortable enough and considering
that you'll not be staying in it for most of the days, its good.

Hong Kong Revisited: A Gastronomic Vacation

22nd - 26th May 2010

Hong Kong. Whenever that name comes to my mind it will always reminds me of their reputation as the Hollywood of Asia, the food and more importantly for the fairer sex, shopping! We managed to purchase a 2-for-1 return flight on JetStar from Singapore to Hong Kong for a bargain of S$350 net and a couple of friends P and C is joining us for the trip. My goal and the goal of the ladies are clear and so I have to compromise a little, besides, one couldn't eat 24 hours running, right?

In order to make it more pleasurable to read, I will blog instead of what I have done rather than a day to day journal in this posting. Let's start with accommodation first. Throughout the 5D4N trip, my wife and I have stayed in 3 hotels... the reason being, we couldn't get a room for all 4 nights in the Marriott Hotel in Admiralty. Since we only have 2 nights in Marriott for night 2 and 3, we put up in Wesley Hotel in Wancai, which is within 3 minutes walk away from the Marriott Hotel itself on night 1 and the Royal Pacific Hotel in Tsim Sha Tsui on night 4. Needless to say, the Marriott is the best and I feel so upset that we couldn't get all 4 nights. Wesley Hotel is pretty clean and convenient if you don't mind walking a little to take the MTR in either Admiralty or Wancai. The food around the hotel is pretty good and like most other hotels in Hong Kong Island, the room is small but at a rate of HK$600 per night, I guess I wouldn't complain much. The Royal Pacific Hotel is average although the rates they charge is slightly higher than the other hotels at HK$765 per night for a Premier room. Disappointed with the room in the Royal Pacific because the furnishing are old and the bed, not comfortable at all and if you are making your decision based on the hotel website, do not be deceived! The only thing good about this hotel is its location which is situated near to the Kowloon Park.

Bali: The Isle of Gods Day 3

20^th March 2010

Have you ever experience a situation whereby you are dead sure that certain thing is going to happen but yet in the end was caught by total surprise to the point of despair that what we are so darn sure didn’t happen? Well today is one of those days! My brother in law, J was due to join us today and the plan is to pick him up from the Ngurah Rai Airport in the noontime. We woke up late (Intentional) and plan to start our day slowly… hey, we’re in Bali right? What’s the hurry? I never liked hectic holidays like those offered in tours as you have to move from hotels to hotels and spots to spots and adhere to their timing… Geez, how does one enjoy those? OK, enough digressing. J supposed to board the flight at 1000hr and we gave him a couple of calls around 0930hr but no one answered the call so we thought he’s on the way or something. So I proceeded to prepare breakfast for my lovely wife while she snoozes. When breakfast is ready, I wake her up to enjoy our breakfast at the nice little hut outside our room. When we’re done, we received a call from J and his conversation with my wife is somewhere near to the following:

B: Are you boarding already?

J: Nope, I am still at BR’s house. Why the need to go so early?

B: Huh?!?!?! You flight is at 1000hr!

J: Is it? But my flight itinerary shows 1530hr.

B: The timing has been changed to 1000hr. I thought you have performed the online check-in, how could you not know?

Bali: The Isle of Gods Day 2 (Part 2 of 2)

19th March 2010

After checking out of Tjampuhan Spa Hotel, we are on the hunt for Babi Guling, which is a local specialty, especially so in Ubud. Babi is Pig while Guling meant Roast so Babi Guling is… you guessed it, Roast Pig! The most famous restaurant that serves Babi Guling is a restaurant called Ibu Oka. Do note that there are two Ibu Okas restaurant with one being most frequented by tourists, which sit right on the Ubud centre itself and the other one located slightly out of town. Since we have Pak B to drive us, we headed to the one out of the cultural centre itself to avoid the many tourists that will flock to the restaurant as well as to avoid fighting for a meal in Ibu Oka for they only roasts one whole pig a day. The price is reasonably cheap but yet skewed towards the higher end for the locals. Pak B mentioned that local would usually not feast on the Babi Guling except during wedding as the price is way too steep for a meal at IDR25,000 (4 regular meals’ worth for the locals) for scrap meat or IDR40,000 (6-7 regular meals’ worth for the locals) for choice meat. The portion is generous at that price and it is truly an authentic Balinese feast. Highly recommended and two thumbs up for the Okas!

The Ibu Oka branch located outside Ubud Centre

Bali: The Isle of Gods Day 2 (Part 1 of 2)

19th March 2010
Part One

Today is going to be a long and exciting day as I have made plenty of plans for sightseeing. I managed to engage a certain Pak “B” to drive me around on the rented Avanza and the fees that he charged is very very reasonable at IDR150,000 which worked out to be around ±S$23 or ±US$16 for the entire day! Although it is fun to drive and explore on your own, when time is of the essence, it is always better to get a local driver and in this way, both parties win. I get to have a driver at a very low price and Pak “B” gets to earn roughly a week’s worth of his monthly salary for a single day’s labor! Please see below on the list of questions you might ask and the hopefully satisfactory answers to those Qs:

Q1- Tour package also provide a driver, so what’s the big deal?

An – Yes they do BUT bear in mind that tour operators charge you the driver’s cost per pax. Pak “B” charge per car and Avanza can take up to 6 pax excluding the driver! Go figure.

Q2 – Tour package shows you much more places, right?

An – Yes they do, including places that you may NOT want to go. For my case, I just pick up one of the many brochures from the airport, go through the itinerary, choose where I want to go and show it to Pak “B”, voila!

Hong Kong in 6 Days (Day 5)

Day 05

We planned to a little further today. Our plan is Stanley! It is on the southern part of Hong Kong island and is famous for being the place where rich people stay and ironically the prison. To go to Stanley, you will have to take the mini bus from Causeway Bay.

Before we head to Stanley, we had breakfast in Wan Chai again as it is within walking distance from our lodging in JW Marriott. We had breakfast at a local eatery that was frequented by many white collar worker and the wisdom is, eat where the local eat and you will get good food at good price. This eatery is located 3 shops to the right from the Crocodile Outlet Stall as shown in the map below.

Hong Kong in 6 Days (Day 04)

Day 4

Day 4 is a more adventurous day as we are more daring to try out other areas that are not so touristy that way, savouring the local culture of the country state. We had intended to travel from one MTR to another since we bought the 3-days unlimited octopus card. We traveled from Prince all the way down to Kowloon for the light show in the evening and ended it off with a ride on the ferry across the Hong Kong straits.

The gem lying in the dust... Apliu Street

Hong Kong in 6 Days (Day 3)

Day 3

Today is the day whereby my wife and I will take a trip down to our childhood memories and where else would it be if its not Disneyland Hong Kong? During my childhood days, Mickey mouse and gang is the best thing that could happen on TV and my brother would record the cartoon down on our then sophisticated VCR to watch. Watch we did! In fact for so many times that we could memorize the dialogue/lines from the start through till the end and perhaps that was one of the ways that my siblings and I learnt our English.

Our morning breakfast spread consists of (Clock wise from 12 o'clock position)
Chicken porridge, stocking tea, hotdogs + toast + eggs, French toasts, Rice dumpling in soy sauce

Seafood Paradise

SEAFOOD PARADISE RESTAURANT @ SINGAPORE FLYER 2009

When I was in Hong Kong last December 2008, both H and K brought my wife and I to the best roast goose restaurant in Hong Kong at my request and the meal was truly a delight! No one does Roast Goose the way the restaurant did~ crisp yet juicy, golden brown and fragrant (Not mentioning that it is very affordable too)! That alone has teased me numerous times to head back to Hong Kong just for this dish. Using the photo of the roast goose’s drumstick on my desktop certainly doesn’t help curb that urge and who’s fault is it? Nevertheless, can you blame me for that?

Roast Goose (4.5/5)
Yue Kee Roast Goose Restaurant
Crispy yet juicy, golden brown and fragrant.Highly recommended! It is located at
Sam Cheng ("Deep Well"in cantonese) in Hong Kong.

Vienna Buffet Restaurant

VIENNA INTERNATIONAL SEAFOOD AND TEPPANYAKI BUFFET RESTAURANT 2009

It has been long since I last had a seafood buffet dinner partly due to the high price that I had to fork out, which could easily fetch me some pretty decent ala carte dinner. On one fateful day, I chatted with my closer-than-neighbor neighbors, we realized that it has been long since we last hang out together for some fellowship. So uncle G, proposed seafood buffet at Vienna and proceeded to make reservation but much to his disappointment that all the seats in the restaurant has been booked and the ones still open for reservation are seats outside of the restaurant which also means no air-conditioning.

Nice view outside the restaurant

Imperial Treasure Noodle & Congee House

IMPERIAL TREASURE NOODLE AND CONGEE HOUSE
@ B3-17 ION Orchard

A shot of Singapore Post Building while waiting at the bus stop.

DK is a dear sister that we got to know at the church my wife and I (Now the whole household) attends. The bonding betwen us and this sister grew stronger over the years and it was truly sad to see her going to the States (She studies there). She would come back once in a while and stayed for a week or two and this time round a month+. So they say that happy times pass by in a flick of an eye, its about time she will have to return to the US so we decided to bring her out for dinner. We asked her to pick the place and she has chosen Imperial Treasure Noodle & Congee House at the newly opened ION Orchard. This place is the "Thing"of Ochard as it is a huge shopping mall (CK Tangs..ahem... step aside please~).

Crystal Jade LMXLB

Crystal Jade La Mian Xiao Long Bao @ Holland Village

I have heard of this place from my colleague TLM and according to him they have a promotion (I believe it is an ongoing thing) for their steamboat buffet at S$19.80++ which also included free-flow of xiao long bao (XLB)! So if you are a sucker for these soup dumplings, this is the place for you. The branch in Jurong IMM has similar promotion with the exception of Pekingese Duck instead of the XLB and heard the price is cheaper too! Drinks are free-flow too. The free-flow beverage options are home-cooked barley, chinese tea and some other gassy drinks.

We ordered the Pork Bone+Corn

& Ma La (Szechuan hot soup) soup base

Irodori Japanese Restaurant

It is the time of the year for our department to have our annual department dinner and this time round we are having it at Irodori Japanese Restaurant. The restaurant is situated in River Valley or to be precise, the Riverview hotel. Japanese food is one of the food that I liked due to the way the japanese took pride in preparing their food by placing much emphasize on the colour and the taste (One short of the "wei" or fragrance fragrance of the chinese famous "se" "xiang" wei" combo) of the food. Of course, I will not be expecting such quality especially in a restaurant that serves it the Ala-carte buffet style. So usually the best bet is to go about food that cannot and MUST NOT go wrong ~ sashimi!

The setting is not much to rave about. For started, we were served with some raw salmon with some tangy dressing... guess my taste bud doesn't reveal the combination of the dressing. Also, they served us Hiyayako (Cold tofu), which is pretty refreshing.