A case of mistaken identity or Sabotage?

Just to keep those of you who are reading this blog updated, I am selling my HDB housing at Serangoon North and will be moving to Potong Pasir comes November 2010 (Just in time for a pre-Christmas house warming). Truly excited about this new place as it is nearer to the MRT (800m), bigger and comes complete with full marble flooring. The best thing about this new unit however, is that I will be able to have a bigger master-bedroom with attached study room, a walk-in wardrobe and twin sharing basin.

Well, to stay relevant to the topic, my front gate was splashed with black paint on Sunday morning. Yes... paint splashed by Loan Sharks (LS) or what the locals here call Ah Long. Why am I questioning whether it being a case of mistaken identity or sabotage? The circumstantial evidence gave me the reason to be suspicious. To provide all of you some information that I have gathered via a CSI investigation, please see the info below:

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.

Gem Island for 3 Days 2 Nights

28-30^th May 2010

I am back again to Gem Island or Gemia Island, which is situated in the East Coast of Peninsular Malaysia’s Dungun town in the state of Terengganu and if you have read my posting on my first visit to this island in September 2009, you will have most of the details to this island.

The difference between my first trip to this island and the current one is that this time round, we will be heading there on the Malaysian school holiday period, which means crowd. The reason I am heading back to this place is due to 2 reasons. Firstly, to organize a long overdue island trip for my church pastor in Singapore, which eventually became an 18 people group. Secondly, due to the heavy traffic during this school holiday period, all other resorts in other islands are either fully booked or does not have the capacity to house 18 of us. Initially, I was planning to head to Lang Tengah Island where I got married in but as mentioned, due to heavy traffic we have to consider other options. Don’t get me wrong by having the impression that just because we could get an 18 pax group in Gem Island while the others are fully booked means that Gem Island is a crappy place/resort and is not a destination of choice. While your impression might be true in some situations, Gem Island fortunately lives up to its name… Gem and gems are by no means cheap and crappy.

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] 

Brian ^v^ Natalie

This is my first wedding photography attempt and I know that its not near to what it should be but I am sure this will prepare me well for future weddings.

Brian and Natalie knew each other in the UK or more precisely, Birmingham. Chemistry is natural between the two and in no time, both of them got into the river of love. The dawn of their union beckons as the two decided to make a covenant to stay by the other person come what may until the wick of their candles cease to emit light.