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!

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-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.

Paris in 6 Days (Day 6)

26th Dec 2009

The itinerary for today will be the Les Invalides, shopping and KLKK (“Kia lai Kia Kee” meaning walking around aimlessly in Hokkien).

We made our way from the Champ Elysees to the Les Invalides and surprise surprise, we walked pass Gucci and my wife told me that she wanted to have a look inside and asked me to take some photos first as she will be out in a jiffy. Oh well, girls will be girls and there I was alone, taking photos and trying to make meaning out of my surrounding. I have to admit that it did squeeze the creative juice in me. I read somewhere (I believe it is Ken Rockwell’s blog) that says you will take great photos when your subjects are limited as that is the only time that you will really see and think hard before you press the shutter. I am not sure whether I have did exactly that or produced any great photos but here are some of the photos that I have taken during my lonely time out there.

Metro station

Paris in 6 Days (Day 5)

25th Dec 2009

Christmas!

In Paris, most shops are closed during Christmas so its ironic that there is really nothing much on the street during this festive day. Thank God that Disneyland Paris is open and this makes a perfect place to spend our Christmas!

We are not too sure how to go to Disneyland and proceeded to the hotel lobby to ask for assistance and to our horror, the reception staff told us that the train to Disneyland is on strike! He mentioned that we could still go to the train station and try our luck. Otherwise, we could take a taxi from here to Disneyland or take a metro to somewhere nearer to Disneyland and then take a taxi from there. Either way would cost us quite a bomb, so we decided to try our luck at the train station.

Some kinda custard pastry we bought yesterday for our breakfast today.
Don't really know what its called though...

Paris in 6 Days (Day 4)

24 Dec 2009

Maybe the long vacation has taken its toll on us, as we felt a little lazy to wake up early in the morning to explore Paris but rather sleep in till 0930 and sometimes 1000hr. Should I attribute this to the comfortable bed that they provide us in the Paris Marriott Champ Elysees? Perhaps…

We are supposed to head to Gare du Nord early in the morning about 0530hr to take the Eurostar to London. I have booked a one-day tour there and have made plans to meet up with my colleagues in the UK and all. Due to the terrible storm in the UK and some technical issues, the Eurostar was stuck in the channel and many passengers were stranded. The next news was that there would not be any trains departing from London to Paris or beyond and to add salt to injury, twenty thousand odd passengers are stranded in the London station waiting for a train (Any train) to head back to their respective hometown to spend Christmas with loved ones. In view of this, I have called Viator to cancel my booking and requested for a full refund. Thank God that I’ve got my full refund and to make way for these people to head back to their hometown. Why should I do that? Well, firstly, even if I get to go to London, it doesn’t mean that I could get back to Paris on the same day so why jeopardize my holiday on that? Secondly, I am only going on holiday whereas many of these people on the queue is heading back to spend one of the most important day of the year with their family and loved ones, why hog the precious seats? So, off with London and exploration continues in Paris.

Paris in 6 Days (Day 3)

22^nd Dec 2009Musee de Louvre

The Louvre museum is the largest museum in the world followed by the British Museum and The Vatican Museum! The total area of this museum records approximately 1000 square meter. It is totally impossible to truly appreciate all the items housed in this museum in one single day. Our own experience taught us that even to do a quick touch-and-go on all items, it is impossible to see all the collections here (That is if your leg and neck doesn’t kill you first… keeping high motivation for the whole day towards arts and sculptures and artifacts will definitely finish you off). Anyway, to start it off, we didn’t really spend the whole day in the Louvre per see as we woke up a little late thanks to the comfy bed and strolled to the Louvre instead of taking the metro.

The Museo de Louvre from the Tuileries

Paris in 6 Days (Day 1)

Day 1
20^th Dec 2009

It is with a sad heart that we have to bid Rome goodbye this morning as this city is truly beautiful and I vowed to come back again in future perhaps with both side of our family… if I can afford it, otherwise, most likely it will just be the two of us. We took the metro to Anagnina and from there a bus to Ciampino airport. Taking a bus to this airport is the cheapest mode (around €1.50 per person) and it is surprisingly not too difficult to do so BUT since we are a little behind schedule, we managed to share a cab (€20 for a one way ride) with a pair of Italian young couple. I am bad with names and even more so with Italian names and naturally, I don’t remember their names. I have given them my contact and blog address though so hopefully if they are reading this, they would leave a comment… otherwise, que sera sera.

[Tips: We fly with easyjet as it does not have other hidden charges that will inflate the airfare unlike RyanAir which has additional hidden charges once you confirmed your flight details]

We touched down in Paris’ Orly airport at 1215hr and both of us are pretty thrilled as we saw snow covering that area! After collecting our luggages, we headed to the information centre to enquire on how to get to our hotel in Champs Elysees. The helpful personnel suggested to us to purchase a return shuttle bus tickets which will bring us to Charles de Gaulle Etoile, where you will find the Arc de Triomphe. We however did not noticed that there are more than one buses and each stop at different location and we took a wrong bus that goes to Montparnesse Bleuvenue instead. No fear as Montparnesse is a metro interchange, which means we could take the metro to other parts of Paris. We took metro Line 6 (Light green line) towards Charles de Gaulle Etoile and from there transferred to Line 1 (Yellow Line) to George V. We realized fairly quickly that the Paris Marriott Hotel Champ-Elysees is actually nearer to the Franklin D. Roosevelt metro although the map shows that the hotel is in the middle of the two.

[Tips: The rooms in Paris Marriott hotel Champ-Elysees are generally small and it is unlikely for the hotel to offer an upgrade all year round as this place is packed even during winter time and we also noticed that there are hardly any other hotels on the famous street]

Our room in Paris Marriott Champ-Elysees

Rome Day 7

19th Dec 2009

Today is effectively the last day that we had in Rome, as we need to wake up early to do the checking out tomorrow and head to the Ciampino airport to catch our early flight departure towards Paris, France. The itinerary for today is the Roman Forum/Palatino hill, the Isola Tiberina and Trastevere.

Anna, the best hotel personnel in Rome Marriott Grand Flora Hotel

Rome Day 2

14th Dec 2009

After a night of rest and the late night drama, we got ready for our day. But before setting out, we gave the reception another call and to ask whether they could upgrade our room as we were promised a Villa Borghese view prior to our checking in.The hotel personnel that attended to us was Anna (Yes, same name with our Venice reception lady but not the same person). She is very helpful and managed to help us secure a better room. Its an Executive suite!!! The room is huge! But the only down side is that it is facing the Via Veneto street, not the Villa Borghese. We are very tempted to keep the room but the urge to have a room with a Villa Borghese view got the better of us so we insisted from Anna on that. After a few moments, Anna called us with good news. There's a room for us on the 5th floor overlooking the Villa Borghese! Yay! At least something makes our day in Rome.

Room 506 Rome Marriott Grand Flora Hotel

Venice Day 2

13th Dec 2009

I have planned to wake up early today to snap some photos of the dawn and thank God I woke up around 6am+. After a quick wash, a 3-in-1 hot chocolate and packing up my gears, off to the San Marco Grand Canal jetty we go. Temperature was around 2 to 3°C, which is bearable. Due to it being so early, there is practically no one on the streets apart from the cleaner and the restaurant suppliers and of course, yours truly.

Venice Day 1

12th Dec 2009

Finally, the time has come for us to head to Europe...our maiden voyage. Much time and energy has been poured in to plan for this trip and let us not forget the financial resources too. We have planned for this trip 2 years back and am glad that it could be realised. Praise God for His blessings that enable us to be able to do this.

View before crossing the bridge to Santa Lucia, Venice islands

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

Hong Kong in 6 Days (Day 1 - 2)

Day 1 and 2

Come the end of this year, both my wife and I have planned for a vacation to Europe. Well, someone once asked where's the rest of my Hong Kong honeymoon posting which happens like one year ago, so before I go for my Europe trip, here's something that happened last December.

Room view of our Executive room in
JW Marriot Hong Kong
(Great location! The Admiralty MTR is just opposite the road)

3 Days 2 Nights in Bali

Under my previous employment with United Fiber System Ltd (An SGX listed company dealing with pulp manufacturing for the production of papers), I have to travel to Indonesia quite often to understand the operations of the mills as well as to liaise with the mill's third parties e.g. bankers, auditors, government officials, etc. The 3 usual location is Jakarta, Banjarmasin and Ale Ale (You don't want to be here!). Anyway, my point is that my very first virgin voyage on flight is given to the company and Indonesia is the very first overseas country that I have ever travelled to, thus, I am supposed to be excited BUT due to its much ladened ugly news on the Jakarta riots coupled with gorish photos, I have very bad impression of the place and believe me when I said I had this nauseous feeling when I stepped onto Jakarta's ground.