Mercedes Benz vs. Public Transport

Which one is Faster?

A very interesting read that will put your conviction to the test:

A Neurosurgeon and an Operating Theater (OT) Nurse lives in the same neighborhood with their houses within one block away from each other. Both of them worked together and has a scheduled brain surgery at 10:30AM at Queen Elizabeth Hospital which is a mere 10 miles away from the neighborhood. The surgeon drove a brand new Mercedes Benz to work at 9AM while the OT nurse took the faithful public bus at the same time. She reached Queen Elizabeth Hospital around 9:30AM with ample time to enjoy a cup of coffee and had a chatter with the other nurses who had arrived earlier while he reached at 9:50AM. Why is that so? 

Take some time to think about the reasons before you scroll down further.

...

...

...

...

...

...

Rain In The Morning

Ahh~ The sound of rain. I find it really soothing and relaxing especially when it is in the morning. The sound of rain droplet hitting the ground, the sweet aroma of water in the air and the cooling temperature just makes you feel rejuvenated and refreshed! Its a great time to continue to snooze though...

Singapore Zoo Visit

Singapore Zoo

For those of you contemplating whether to visit the Singapore Zoo when you are on a holiday trip to Singapore, the answer is a resounding YES! Singapore is pretty small with not many things to fill up your itinerary. The usual top 5 MUST-SEE places in Singapore are as follow:

1) Esplanade (Dubbed the Singapore durian) + One Fullerton
2) Clarke Quay 
3) Sentosa + Resort World (Universal Studio)
4) Orchard Road
5) Marina Bay Sands and Waterfront

If one were to strictly follow the usual itinerary by filling up on the 5 places mentioned above, Singapore has nothing much to offer and you would be done with the city state in a 3D2N stay here. Hence I strongly recommends the Singapore Zoo (Including the River Safari and Night Safari) which is well known as the best Zoo in ASEAN and perhaps would even win a place (If not already) in the best zoo in the world. With the recent River Safari being opened to the public with 2 giant pandas loaned to Singapore by China as the main attraction and the much beloved Inuka (Read Ee-noo-ka) (Inuka has since passed on due to old age since the writing of this post) who was born in Singapore being relocated to a new climatized facility, the Singapore Zoo has became a MUST SEE if you are visiting the country.

Why Bali is worth a Revisit - Part 2

Perhaps many of you have visited Bali and places like Seminyak, Kuta, Jimbaran and Nusa Dua strikes a familiar chord with you. However, Bali is simply more than just these places and the beaches it offers. More than often, those around me will say “I don’t like Bali that much because all you get is beaches and temples” which I can empathy but will definitely disagree. How many of you have taken the path least trodden in Bali to discover its diversity and charm? I am not talking about Tanah Lot, Uluwatu or Discovery Mall but a little something that you will likely not find in any tour package or review.

Have anyone of you tried the famous Bali coffee? I believe you would have but do you know which brand is the more preferred brand? Its ‘Bola Dunia’ brand of coffee both powdered and bean form. Wouldn’t you want to know whether there are any coffee plantations on the island or better still to visit one of these plantations? I have and I will say that it’s a refreshing experience as compared to the beach activities offered all over the island. You will get to see how it was grown and roasted. To top it off, you get to sample all the coffee brews right from the plantation itself. If you have heard of ‘Kopi Luwak’ or more widely known as the Civet Coffee, you can find it here and you may also see the civet itself at the plantation. For the uninitiated, Kopi Luwak is the most expensive coffee in the world due to its out-of-the-world aroma and taste that is strong but does not leave a strong after taste. But what made this coffee so expensive is due to the low supply of the beans as these beans are harvested only after the civet has picked and eaten the best ripe coffee beans and passed out the digested beans from its rear. Yeah, so the next time when someone tells you that his or her coffee tasted like shit, probably it does!

Daniel & PeiQi

It has been a great honor and pleasure for me to be able to be a part of the wedding team of Daniel and PeiQi as their secondary photographer. This lovely couple truly is a humble and friendly people and I would like to wish them a happy blissful marriage and may their wish of having a dragon baby be fulfilled!

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 3)

Back 2 Seoul - 22nd March 2011

It is going to be an exciting day today! The itinerary is packed with places that are usually off the tour group radar thus it would be an eye opener for most of us! To start of our day, we had breakfast at the Seoul Residence Café which has been included in our accommodation and I am glad that none of the gang complaint about the food. To be fair, I have yet to experience a bad meal in Seoul so it is that good! Back to the breakfast, the spread is modest throughout our stay with the usual omelette & scramble eggs counter, the cereal counters, mini salad bar , soup and roughly 7-8 dishes which usually is a combo of western and local fair. I personally don't complaint eating the same thing for our entire duration and in fact I suppose I wouldn't mind having to eat the similar stuffs for perhaps another week. ;)

Seoul for Family Trip (Part 2)

Back 2 Seoul - 21st March 2011

Today started rather slow as I am expecting my wife to arrive in Incheon and of course , yours truly will meet her in the airport. So I have some time to kill in the morning and thus decided to do something less hectic so I brought the gang to Kimchi Museum. in COEX Mall.. I know, its boring but let's do it anyway for the been-there-done-that reason as well as to kill time. Having said that though, if you have no idea what Kimchi is and what's the rave about this national dish OR if you have kids, I am darned sure that this place will be great for you! How to go there? You can take a subway Line 2 to Samseong and lookout for COEX Mall. The mall is quite large so you will need to ask for some direction. No advance booking is needed, just pop by and buy a ticket. It costs KRW3,000 per adult, KRW2,000 for 9-19 and KRW1,000 for those below 9 years old.

 

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: