Young Living Silver Retreat - Croatia (Day 1)

14th June 2023

Taken from atop the Walls of Dubrovnik

It has been long since I posted any new logs in this blog of mine and many things had happened, both exciting and downright depressing. However, I think it will be good to start somewhere regardless of where I had stopped. 

To kickstart the blogging, I would like to document my family's trip to Croatia to participate in Young Living's Silver Retreat (achiever retreat by an MLM company). Croatia has long been in my bucket list and I had included it in my itinerary for my project WWWT - a 2-months travel odyssey that my family had undertaken where we visited 13 countries over a period of 72 days! Alas, the Croatia leg was unceremoniously cut short due to a mishap that involves the rupturing of ligament. However, this has been redeemed through the company sponsored trip in 2023. What are the odds of that?

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.

Seoul Korea in 3 Days (Day 3)

Day 3

Today marks the last day of my recce to Seoul and I have planned to take it slowly and enjoy Seoul one last time on this trip. So today is going to be a little all over the place i.e. impromptu. The only place that I have planned to visit is the last palace for the trip and that is Changgyeonggung but since today is Tuesday, it is closed! So please remember to avoid scheduling palace visits on Tuesday because most of them are closed for the week. You have been warned!

T-Money is used to pay for your public transportation in Seoul.Similar to EZ-Link card (Singapore), Octopus Card (Hong Kong)or Oyster card (London). This is the regular card and you canget more options at their 24-hour family mart E.g. Hello Kitty design.

Seoul Korea in 3 Days (Day 2)

It has been long since my last post and let me pick up what I have left wanting and also to pen it down before it eludes my memory.

After having our fill at Noryangjin Fish Market, the next destination is Changdeukgung (昌德宮) and as the same with all the palaces in Seoul, make special note that a good pair of walking shoes are a total MUST! Changdeukgung is second only to Gyeongbokgung in size and the need for a good pair of walking shoes are necessary here is due to the steepness of the trail in the garden and trust me, you wouldn’t want to bring your old folks here. You have been warned!

One a fair side, a walk in Changdeukgung is one to be remembered if you have plenty of time to kill. Oh, remember that the last tour is at 15:00hour and if you are late, you won’t be able to enter the garden at all as it is simply too big and the management has foresee people to either get lost in there or took forever to come out. Again, you have been warned! During the walking tour, the feeling is simple serene as you hear nothing from the city and I felt that I was there back in time. You see the giant magpies hopping around without a world’s care and the tranquillity on the surface of the pond (Well, its frozen, that’s why) just completes the picture of an unspoilt ancient civilisation. In fact, I could almost feel the concubines running and playing in this garden (Of course, its just my imagination). I know it sounded a little freakish but it sort of invoke this kind of feeling to me in a good way. Try it out and do it earlier in the day so that you have all the time to explore. Remember to NOT make any other plans following a visit to this palace for the day so that you will not be disappointed.

Seoul Korea Day 2

Seoul, South Korea
Day 2 (27th November 2010)

Today's itinerary is one that I am so looking forward to for the entire trip as we are heading to Namdaemun, Myeong Dong and Noryangjin. Many of you have heard of the former two places as it is famous for flea marketing and the younger & modern shopping street. You may be thinking, what is Noryangjin and might be hitting the Google bar to see what it is. Just to give you a head up, it is a wet market in Seoul whereby you will definitely love if you cook &/or love seafood but may not like it so much otherwise.

How to Get There

You can take the subway line 9 or line 1 and stop at Noryangjin station. If you are taking line 9, once you've reached, look for the exit towards line 1 and once out of the station, look for a flyover. You will see a flight of stairs up to Line 1 subway station. Take the flight of stairs and don't stop at the station at the top, there is another flight of stairs up. Keep going up and you will see this looooong walkway. Take the walkway and walk all the way to the other end whereby you will see a car park and you will be greeted by, depending on each individual, a whiff or an overwhelming fish smell. At the car park, look for an exit and take the staircase to go down to Noryangjin wet market!

[Tips: If all else fail, ask someone for the location of Noryangjin su san shi jang]

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.

Its been a long time..

What Happened?

These 3 months has been truly a hectic period for me. From selling to buying of my house, renovation, buying of new fittings and furniture, year end, Christmas & new year, church musical cantata, financial planning, adjusting to new working environment, CNY.. the list just goes on and on I barely had time to even breathe!

For those that are concerned, I am OK and still kicking but be busy doing up my new place and preparing for CNY as well as house-warming. There are lots of postings that are due but am not able to post it as I've yet to have time to sit down and arrange my thoughts. Some of those exciting posts that I'm so looking forward to share with you are my Seoul Korea trip, Grace Baptist Ministries' musical cantata and my house renovation.

As teasers, here are some of the photos for the posts that are due:

Korea would not be Korea without the Kimchi!
I've had so much kimchi that I breathed kimchi!

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 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 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!

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/ Milan Day 1

27th Dec 2009

This is our final day in Paris and we are bound for our flight to Milan at 1100hr so we had to check out of our hotel early to make our way to the Orly airport early for check in. We made our way to Charles de Gaulles Etoile where our shuttle bus is waiting to pick us up. The pick up location is just beside the Arch de Triomphe so I managed to have my final snap of the great structure early in the morning where cars and tourists are scarce, which makes a photo!

Bar area of Marriott Champ Elysees

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...