Project WWWT Day 47 of 72 - Berchtesgaden

3rd July 2017

Naaman's hair is getting longer so we decided to bring him to have a haircut at the local hair salon. It seems that the hairsalon does not do children haircut but one of the hairdresser actually broke tradition and allow Naaman to have a haircut there by quoting a mere €12. I can see that one of the hairdresser are not very happy with this decision but we coud not care less how she felt and continue to let the hairdresser giving Naaman his haircut. Well, he did not do a fantastic job and I suspect he is just an intern/apprentice but could not complain much as Naaman got his haircut at such an affordable price.

After the haircut, I have planned for a 1 day excursion today to Berchtesgaden with Panorama Tour. The price is pretty decent at only €42.00 per adults and my boys are excluded from paying the tour fees. The schedule was to visit Marktschellenberg (Where Julie Andrews sang “The hills are alive with the sound of music” in the opening scene to the movie - The Sound of Music), the beautiful Konigsee and Berchtesgaden. 

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.

Bali: The Isle of Gods Day 5 & 6

22 – 23^rd March 2010

Brian has feedback to me that for my holiday postings, it is tiring to read it on a day-by-day posting as the initial part will be interesting whereas leaving those days at the end of the holiday dry and boring... Well, its kinda hard to leave out the details in those days as the blog is supposed to be about the LTs and thus to live out the motto of the blog, it got to contain those LTs. OK OK, I will try to shorten my last two days of my Bali trip so hopefully this doesn’t get monotonous.

Most of us (Saved for a few) woke up late for breakfast but none of us felt that there is any need for apologies thanks to the chatting till the wee hours and the oh-so-comfortable bed. We left for a day of blissful massage and spa at Murano Spa for the whole family and I have to repeat myself again, IT IS SUPER CHEAP!!! How cheap??? A 3.5 hours service including Balinese oil massage, body scrub (Choice of Green tea, Milk, Javanese Lulur, Boreh), hot flower bath with fresh ginger tea and a twin combo choice of pedicure, manicure, scalp massage, foot massage or facial wash and all these for a mere IDR290,000 or approximately S$45! Do not miss this for the moon! I know there are many other famous places like “Jari Menari” and “Body Works” but I chose Murano Spa as it is not as crowded as those two, reasonable price, non-religious massage as and most importantly there are both masseurs and masseuses (Jari Menari only has masseurs). Geez, I guess I have gone overboard in recommending the place and that made me sounds just like their agent… Haha!

Bali: The Isle of Gods Day 4

21^st March 2010

I know it has been long and plenty have happened since I last updated the blog but since I have officially tendered my resignation and will be joining a new company on 1^st July, the remaining days in ComfortDelgro are less hectic as it used to be for I will only be required to do the handover work to my other colleague. Having said that, it meant I have more time to do blogging than resting after works… yay!

I shall continue with my Bali trip as there are still 3 days to go. Prior to having my in laws, my mother and sis joined us today in the afternoon, my wife + J + I drove to Kuta today after checking out of Astana Kunti to see the beach and the atmosphere there. The drive only took us a mere 10 minutes and the road is smooth, unlike the day before which is totally horrendous! Kuta has a long stretch of beach and littered with peddlers selling gado-gado, temporary tattoo (Hanna), bows, drinks, local street food and renting of surfboards. Generally, it is pretty much like Legian beach, which is situated slightly up north and the weather for that day… well, smoking hot! You literally feel the burn on your skin so remember to pack that SPF 50 sun block.

J, my brother in law. Avid angler and photographer.

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!

Bali: The Isle of Gods (Day 1)

18^th March 2010

Both my wife and I have long planned for this trip to bring both our parents for a vacation in Bali. The plan was conceived 9 months or so in advance to benefit from the cheap promotion flight offered by Air Asia. Care to make a guess of how much we paid for a return ticket? It costs us around S$55 excluding the airport tax in Denpasar Ngurah Rai Airport. We bought a total of 7 tickets for my in laws, my sister in law, my mother, my sister, my wife and myself.

[Tips: Remember to keep IDR150,000 for the airport tax while taking the flights to return from Denpasar to wherever you hailed from]

[Tips: For those that require a VISA to enter Bali, you may get it at the airport itself. As for those that do not require one, you may proceed to the right of the VISA checkpoint and keep walking till you reach the custom checkpoint]

The vacation however will be in two parts i.e. my wife and I will be traveling to Bali earlier to enjoy some of the exploration on our own from 18-20^th March whereby we will be joined by my brother in law (Last minute addition) on the 20^th itself. The rest of the group will be joining us on the 21^st March itself. I have rented a car (Toyota Avanza) for the entire trip as it will allow me to explore more and this time round, I am really looking forward to seeing more of Bali and its surrounding. Driving in Bali is very enjoyable as the people here are “gentle” drivers which I am very much inclined to believe is due to their religion that beckons its followers to respect all living things. Speed limit in general all over the island is 50kph.

[Tips: The Toyota Avanza that we rented costs us only US$20 per day and the fuel economy is decent. Petrol in Bali is cheap at ±IDR4,800 per liter i.e. approx S$0.70] 

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

Rome Day 6

18th Dec 2009

The day that I dreaded yet am looking forward to has finally arrives. We have booked a car from Europcar for the promotion that it offered to easyjet's passengers. I have pre-booked a Peugeot 308 SW and has already started to imagine how it would felt to operate one especially on a left driver seated car. One thing left me perplexed is that IF I were to rent the car for a day, it will costs me more compared to renting it for 3 days... unbelievable? Believe it! IT only costs me €75.43 plus administration cost of €3.

The view of Villa Borghese in the morn reminded me
how blessed I am to be able to behold such beauty

Rome Day 4

16th Dec 2009

Ahhh~ waking up in the morning and having a view of the beautiful Villa Borghese is truly magical! One could only imagine how beautiful it gets during other seasons especially spring and autumn. The plan for today will be to visit the Galleria Borghese, which housed a vast number of beautiful sculptures and next to the Ancient Rome. Day 3 of Rome was truly a better day compared to the rest of the days here although not without its small regrettable flaw... The metro is on strike today, which means no train service for the day!

I am still not keen on drinking from the fountain...

Phuket Island in 3 Days (Day 3)

Day 3
I know I know, it has been like eons ago, but yet this information may be useful for someone else reading this post.

We have planned for a white water rafting trip on this day and Jeff has opted out of this program together with Jayne, which is a good thing since Jeff is down with a fever and Jayne could take care of him. My wife stated that Jeff truly made good use of the accommodation amount he paid since he is in the apartment most of the time HAHA! Anyway, we have earlier booked the white water rafting at Bangla road on day 2 and the cost is the same at THB1,200 per pax excluding the transport but include lunch at the base camp.

Kuching: Borneo in 3 Days (Day 3)

Day 3

OK, I know, the postings are kinda slow. Despite having being instructed to be in self-quarantine, I still have not come up with any posting. Anyway, I will have to buck up as there are more things happening that I had blogged about, so here is the continuation of the Kuching trip.

Like I said, many people who came from Kuching quipped that there is nothing to do in Kuching but to eat, which I begged to differ. Our trip is so short we could only do a few things hahaha! We missed out on Bako national park and the Borneo heights but managed to go to a few places for the fun of it. Anyway, the tour packages are cut-throat so we decided to ask one of our local friend, Mr. Jackson (Not the recently deceased) to drive us to the places that we would like to go. Itinerary for the trip is i) watching orang utans, ii) visit crocodile farm, iii) cultural village.

[Tips 01: Drive on your own if possible, tour packages is a killer]

Here are some photos during the excursion, which unfortunately is not well taken, oh heck!