tiramisho

Togi (22 Apr)

2010-05-14T17:42:00.006+08:00

Korean food at Chinatown area (11 Mosque St, Tel: 6221 0830) recommended by my good neighbour Mavis Goh and so we went together with Uncle Derek who wanted to eat too.

Don't expect lavish decoration nor 5-star hotel service. It's not a very big restaurant, furniture is rather simple too. But there's something we couldn't stand - the sharp and loud screeching sound from dragging the chairs! The place was noisy enough with conversation from diners! Something surprised us further; the staff actually dragged out their big rubbish bin all the way from inside the kitchen to out of the restaurant right through the narrow pathway while customers were still dining.. wah liao.. cannot make it hahah!!

Free flow of side dishes.

Saba - crispy! A must order if you go!

Cuttlefish, which I think might have been overcooked cos they were so tough! Keep chewing to slim down your jaw line if you like hahah!

Beef I think. Quite juicy.. not too bad lah..

Seafood pancake which I love it too! Another must-order item! Uncle Derek finished all while I only had 2 pcs haha!

Ginseng chicken soup - so-so to me.. soup can be replenished FOC, not chicken of course!

Hilton KL Rocks! (19 Mar)

2010-05-01T12:31:00.011+08:00

I went KL for a conference and I was staying at Trader's Hotel. Decided that we should extend one more night on the final day of my conference and so we hotel hopped to Hilton Central KL (with hubby in case you wonder..). It didn't cost us an arm and leg cos we got it at RM300 per night inclusive of breakfast. Very good rate right??? Heheh!! How we got the deal? Cannot tell you hahahah!! ;p We only stayed for a night and regretted not staying for two instead.. hehe.. Hope the promotion comes round again!

The only "disadvantage"to staying at Hilton Sentral is that it is in the outskirt of the KL city centre. There are also no shopping centres within close proximity. The nearest is Mega Mall, which is about 15min taxi ride away. The other reason why we chose Hilton was also because we were going to take Air Asia flight back to Singapore. So, Hilton was a convenient hotel as we could hop on a coach from the KL Sentral which is a stone's throw away from the hotel.

Speaking of Air Asia! Another long story but in summary, it wasn't a pleasant experience. We will (probably) never go on Air Asia again! Why "probably"? Cos we each received RM200 voucher from the unpleasant incident, and has to be used within three months... We have yet to decide if we want to use the voucher.

View from our room.

The luxurious comfy king-size bed.

Another view of the room with the tea/coffee facilities beside it.

The TV and working desk. Unfortunately, the TV reception wasn't working well but we didn't call the technician cos it was just a night stay. I did feedback on the form and received from the management an email acknowledging the areas of feedback I've given. First time ever! Certainly a nice touch of excellent customer service!

Closer view of the tea/coffee making facilities.

The bathroom.

Spot the rectangular screen on the left. It's a mini-TV screen, so you'll never miss your favourite TV programme while brushing your teeth. It can be turned around and you can watch it while bathing from the standing shower too!! Hahaha!!

Very comprehensive Evelyn & Crabtree vanity items.

Breakfast venue. That's the fruits and fruit juice stall. You can order freshly squeezed juices of the day. On the day we had breakfast, we could choose to have either one of these; apples, carrots or celery, or all three! Absolutely a healthy way to start the day!

Another view of breakfast venue

More breakfast items. The range and quality were unbeatable!

Variety of yoghurt available.

What you will get on your table.

They also have on each table a "health chart" which you can refer to according to the food you will be consuming. There's a mini chart accompanying each food type they serve which will tell you if the food was of "High/Low Energy", "High/Low Carbohydrates", "High Fibre" etc. Perfect for the health-conscious!

Hilton KL Rocks! Super duper highly recommended!

Staycation @ Conrad Hotel Singapore (12 Feb)

2010-05-01T12:07:00.009+08:00

Our birthdays this year happened to fall on the first day of the Lunar New Year.. so boring! Ha! So, we decided to celebrate it just before the new year and do a staycation @ Conrad Hotel Singapore. According to hubby, the room rate was about S$150/night inclusive breakfast.

We also asked our CDD gang friends to join us for dinner then have fun in the room. We didn't tell them the occasion of course, but they know!! Hahaha!! They brought cakes as well as red wine and sang us birthday song in the room hhaha! Speaking of which, ZH, where are the photos we took???

View from our room - overseeing Suntec Convention and Mandarin Oriental

Pool view from our room

The little bear and welcome fruits in the room. Wasn't sure if the soft toy was complimentary so didn't take it haha!

View of room with working desk and don't-know-how-many-inch TV. I should have taken a photo of the TV remote control - very high-class one ok?!!!

Our king-size bed. Super comfy!

The tea/coffee making facilities

Very spacious toilet! Comes with digital weighing machine hehe...

The room rate we paid included breakfast but strangely, instead of hosting breakfast at the usual dining venues, they set the seating area in their ballroom instead...

... while the food were served outside the ballroom. So strange...

Ju Shin Jung Korean Charcoal BBQ Restaurant, East Coast Park (6 Feb)

2010-02-07T17:17:00.005+08:00

Went cycling @ East Coast Park and then dinner at this Korean restaurant.

The food was quite good but they didn't come cheap loh... In case you are wondering, they do have buffet but only available from Mon-Thu. So, you can only order ala carte dishes on weekends.

Spacious restaurant with huge seats which can take up to 8 pax per table.

Here comes the appetisers/ side dishes..

More side-dishes; includes green vege, kimchi cabbage, tofu and kimchi carrot/cucumber/squid. All side-dishes re-fillable, FOC.. hehe! They will serve a cold soup (which my friends said tasted like vinegar) and a bowl of onion to each customer as well. I love the raw onions in its sauce. Tasted so delicious when eaten with the meaty stuff!

On the bottom is the Ginseng Chicken Soup - S$20. On the top is Bulgogi (beef with clear glass noodles) which cost S$49!! They will cook the beef for customers.

These were also cooked by the staff at your table and they will help cut the pork belly. Mushrooms at S$10, and 3 slices of pork belly at S$24! I think each of us only ate 2 pcs of mushroom and 2 (cut) pcs of pork belly. My friend said we will not order the beef next time but ask for more pork and chicken.

Another complimentary dish - steamed egg which was quite good!

Generally, the quality of the food is good. Our bill came to $164 for 6 persons. I will return, but perhaps for buffet during weekdays. The ala carte prices are not worth it haha!

Ambush (5 Feb)

2010-02-07T17:15:00.007+08:00

Ambush is one of the new restaurants that has opened at Jurong Point. They are located at the old Jurong Point wing; just next to Courts on the 2nd floor. They serve European cuisine including paella, mussels, german sausages etc. I realised there is another restaurant of similar name called Ambush Pasta Bar @ Ngee Ann City which I think they are affiliated.

Anyway, we just had to try if they were authentic haha! Well, it turned out that they were not, compared to others we've tried, for eg. Don Quihote

http://tiramisho.blogspot.com/2009/03/don-quihote-27-mar.html.

From top left (anti-clockwise):
Trio meat (chicken, sausage and fish) paella - S$12.80 (single portion)
Fries which accompanied the mussells (small pot) cooked in white wine - $12

I think the prices are pretty decent. The sausages in the paella tasted quite good. The rice didn't stick to the pot so I think they had cooked it with another pan before it was transferred over. My honest opinion - I wouldn't return unless I have nothing else to eat! ;p

NZ (22 Dec): Auckland

2010-01-23T14:45:00.009+08:00

Weather: Sunny

Skipped breakfast and went for the buffet lunch (from 11.30am) at the Observatory, Sky Tower – NZD42/pax. The range was reasonably sufficient but we didn’t think the quality was worth boasting. In fact, we were glad we didn’t choose to do dinner as they served the same type of food but for NZD20/pax more. I wouldn’t recommend dining at the Observatory unless you are desperately dying to get an Auckland city view ;p

Sky Tower

Observatory

Dessert station

Savoury station

Starters/salads station

View from the Obtservatory

Bread served to all tables. Very tasty when warm!

Food..

Foood...

Fooood....

Foooood.....

Desserts.. forgettable

Ice-creams/sorbet

Did some last minute shopping – manuka and kiwi shortbread for colleagues. Sorry friends, there really wasn’t anything unique that I could buy as souvenirs for you all. In any case, I’ve more or less stopped buying souvenirs for friends – very stressful! Hahaa!!

Concluding the trip:
1. Most kiwi service staff was unfriendly, if not rude. Many just gave you a straight face, and were not sincere when they greet people. For this reason, my hubby said he doesn’t like NZ hahah!

2. NZ F&B was very expensive (more so than in Australia)! The cheapest and most decent meal one could get by would be Subway 6-inch “Sub of the Day” which cost NZD3.90. However, only the major cities offered “Sub of the Day”. Any other meal (whether western or asian cuisine) including fastfood cost minimum NZD10! Even a whole roast chicken in the supermarket easily cost an average NZD14!... See More

3. I’ve driven more windy mountainous roads in NZ than in Australia. Driving along their lakes was like driving along Australia's Great Ocean Road.

4. There were more road kills in South Island (mainly rabbits) than in the North Island (kiwis or possums).

5. Though Queenstown was buzzling mainly due to the varied range of activities offered, Auckland would be the best place for one to do shopping. Again, they weren't exactly cheaper than in Singapore.

NZ (21 Dec): Auckland

2010-01-23T14:44:00.010+08:00

Weather: Sunny

We board the free shuttle to the factory outlet (20min drive away) and once again, returned empty-handed hahaha!! Frankly, there wasn’t anything particularly cheap that one couldn’t find in Singapore, so it wasn’t really worth carrying them all the way back ;p

Back in the city centre, we took the free City Circuit bus to the Sky City Tower, and made a reservation for buffet lunch on its Observatory. It was a treat for ourselves before we go back Singapore haha!!

Free City Circuit bus

Some Korean pancake stall we found in some alley haaha! Errr... taste like think yet soft roti prata.. filling - cheese, beef and can't remember what else ha! ;p

NZ (20 Dec): Christchurch-Auckland

2010-01-23T14:43:00.015+08:00

Weather: Sunny & windy

We asked for late check-out and were given till 11.30am. After breakfast, we drove to Dress Smart, a factory outlet in Hornsby on the suburb of Christchurch. Unfortunately, we went away empty-handed.

Breakfast @ Hotel SO: Bagel with eggs, cheese and salmon. I love it!

Crispy bacon, bread and eggs

After we checked out, we returned the car at Apex Christchurch (near airport) and were given free shuttle to the airport terminal. Then we flew to our last destination, Auckland on Jetstar – NZD99/pax.

From the Auckland airport, one could purchase Airbus ticket (NZD23 return) which would bring passengers to city centre. The bus driver gave short commentaries when it reached city centre, as well as inform passengers the various stops to drop-off depending on where the passengers were going. We dropped off at Stop no. 5, at the end of Queen St and just walked 5min to our accommodation.

Accommodation:
Mercure Hotel (Customs St) – NZD79/night through wotif “Secret Deal”. Location was great! The harbour was just behind the hotel, the Westfield Shopping Centre (can give it a miss) was a stone’s throw away while the buzzling Queen St was round the corner. The Sky Tower was about 10min leisure walk from the hotel. The (free) City Circuit bus stop was on the next street (besides Britomart), while the (free) shuttle to Dress Smart (yes, another factory outlet in Auckland) was right in front of the hotel’s doorstep. Note that Mercure Hotel was the 2nd last stop for the Dress Smart shuttle bus and it could be full when it came by. Unfortunately, the Dress Smart shuttle ran only four return trips per day. The nearest supermarket called Countdown (24hrs) would need a little more walking – about 15-20min walk away.

We were in room 1107 which had street view. Room was spacious but furnishing looked a bit tired (slightly better than Kingsgate in Queenstown though). There was a guest lounge on the 1st floor of the hotel where guests could enjoy complimentary coffee/tea 24hrs a day. Hotel internet was not cheap – NZD10 for 2 hours, whereas the internet cafés around the area usually offered only NZD2 or NZD3 for an hour.

Exterior view

Room

King bed (actually combination of 2 super singles)

Bathroom

View from our room

Dinner:
Japanese food again ;p @ Daikoku, just across the street where Britomart was – we ordered Tonkontsu Ramen while hubby ordered the Spicy Ramen and Curry Don combo (thinking the ramen and rice portion would be small). The portion of the ramen was humongous! I was surprised I could finish it + half the curry rice. Jia lart, I’d definitely put on weight when I return home!! The food was quite delicious but we were thirsty after that ;( Anyway, those dishes cost NZD27.

Inside the restauant; open kitchen

Spicy ramen

Curry don

NZ (19 Dec): Tekapo-Christchurch

2010-01-23T14:43:00.012+08:00

Weather: Sunny and windy

Left Tekapo for Christchurch and witness the awesome works of nature!

As mentioned earlier, enroute to Christchurch, we went to the quaint little town called Geraldine. It was a much bigger town compared to Lake Tekapo, much more vibrant especially with the presence of a weekend market ;) There, we bought the local jam products called Barker’s. The shop offered free tasting, not just for its jam products, but also sauces, juices and curds. Yummy!

Barker's @ Geraldine, where we got our jam products

Weekend market in Geraldine. I bought a scarf from one of the stalls.. hehe..

Back @ Christchurch:
Guess which hotel we stayed when we reached Christchurch? Hotel SO again hahaha!! No doubt the room was small, we were happy with the cosy space, free wireless internet and convenient location.

Best thing was, through wotif (I swear by it!), Hotel SO offered "SO Festive Package" at NZD99/night which included 2 cocktail drinks and 2 breakfasts. Couldn’t ask for more! The cocktail drinks we ordered were worth NZD21, while the breakfast cost NZD35. We ordered coffee which wasn’t part of the package but upon check-out, as the beverages weren’t recorded in the system as yet, the reception staff offered the beverages complimentary! That was another NZD7 worth. So, NZD99 was well worth it! But we risked parking our car on the street (it was free mah hahaha!!). Otherwise, Hotel SO’s parking arrangement would cost NZD16 for 24hours.

Our cocktail drinks

NZ (18 Dec):Queenstown-Mt Cook-Lake Tekapo

2010-01-23T14:42:00.004+08:00

Weather: Sunny

Stopped by a salmon farm on way to Tekapo. You can buy fresh sashimi on the spot but they are not cheap. However, the owners were very nice - they offered fish food to all to try feeding.

On the way to Mount Cook.. cloudy.. windy! Very very windy!! If I go any faster than 70km/hr, I could feel my car sway, as if we were going to be blown away!!! Scary leh!!

Quick bite at Mount Cook

The original plan was to stay 2 nights at Lake Tekapo and do a day trip to Mt Cook. However, we drove up to Mt Cook on the way to Lake Tekapo and thereafter realized Lake Tekapo was really just a tiny town, with nothing too much to offer ;p Nice lake definitely, but nothing to do lah haha! So we decided to just stay a night. Fortunately, the owner of the accommodation allowed us to shorten our stay without charging us hehe!

Lake Tekapo. There is an explanation on why the water is of that colour.. can't remember what I've read hahaha!!

The small historic chapel by Lake Tekapo

Accommodation:
Lake Tekapo Cottages – NZD85/night for its Pottingshed Studio. Cosy little resting place, the environment was quiet, yet only 5min walk to town and the iconic historic church.

Exterior view of Pottingshed Studio

Queen bed

Bathroom

Dinner:
Kohan Japanese restaurant recommended by the owner of the accommodation. We both had bento box – NZD22/pax. Not cheap but delicious food, fresh sashimi - probably from the salmon farm ;)

Inside the restaurant

Our bento box!

NZ (17 Dec): Queenstown-Arrowtown

2010-01-23T14:41:00.005+08:00

Weather: Part cloud/windy

Did a day trip to Arrowtown. I think the one-way drive was about 50min or so. Interestingly, there is a Chinese settlement in Arrowtown many years ago!

One of the restored houses. The interior definitely doesn't look as good as the external facade.

Lunch:
There were many meal options, ranging from Japanese to Thai and Italian food. One would be spoilt for choices especially lunch as many of these restaurants offered NZD10 lunch special.We had thai food which wasn’t so great. Think we ordered the wrong dish lah.. the coconut soup was really cooked in coconut milk. A bit “ger-lart” after a while.

Tham Nai Thai Restaurant - give it a miss!

Coconut soup

Err... fried vege with rice

We had wanted to do jetboating and the cheapest option we found was Kawarau Jetboating, costing NZD95/pax for an hour of jetboating on Shotover River and Kawarau River. Quite expensive hoh?? Hahhaa!! Anyway, we didn’t do it, partly because of the cost while the other was because I thought jetboating was no longer unique ;p

Dinner:

Read about this reasonably-priced fish & chips hut by the seaside so we went to look for it and found the place!

The humble hut

I don't remember how much this cost. It is good for 2 persons. Think about NZD30.

NZ (16 Dec): Te Anau-Queenstown

2010-01-23T14:40:00.007+08:00

Weather: Sunny yet windy in Queenstown!

Comparing the bigger cities such as Wellington and Christchurch, I liked Queenstown best! The compact downtown area of 1.5sqm was buzzling with people and activities which we didn’t see much of in the other cities. The warmth from the sun was definitely a plus ;)

Queenstown Mall

Seaside where all starts their jetboating activities

Accommodation:
Kingsgate Hotel – NZD70/night from wotif “Secret Deal”. We were given free upgrade to its top floor (4th floor) 2-storey 2-bedroom apartment. The bedrooms upstairs included a queen bed with ensuite (bath only) and 2 single beds with separate bath. There were 2 toilets, one upstairs (shared) and another in the common area downstairs. We were in Room 475 which had a great view of the mountains and lake! Though the room furnishing was old, it was clean and kitchen was well-equipped. The only thing missing in the apartment was the washing facility which one could do at the guest laundry for NZD3 per washing/drying load. The hotel was about 10min walk to downtown, and offered free parking, newspaper as well as spa pool (give it a miss). Though the price was well worth the amount we paid, I felt that the 2-bedroom apartment was too big for just 2 of us lah.. hehe

Hotel lobby

Exterior view

Living room with a balcony

View from the balcony

Master bedroom

Kitchenette

Master bedroom bathroom

Lunch:
Again, I read about an eating place, Fergburger which served NZ beef burgers priced NZD10 and up. Actually I forgot about it until I walked passed it and saw the place crowded with people! The burger was quite a huge one – good for sharing if you just want to snack. I love it! It was really delicious and juicy! The price of the burger was certainly not cheap, but definitely worth a try!

The huge burger!!

Dinner:

I realised I've omitted the blog entry for our dinner at that time and so I can't remember the name of the Japanese restaurant we went haha!!

NZ (15 Dec): Milford Sound day trip

2010-01-23T14:39:00.006+08:00

Weather: One of the best throughout our trip and perfect for the day tour!

Milford Sound is a fiordland, about 2hours drive from Te Anau. A cruise out to the fiordland is one of the top must-do things when one is in NZ. One could choose to either self-drive to Milford Sound and then take the cruise or do a coach-cruise-coach.

We decided to take a break and hence took the coach-cruise-coach option from one of the operators called Cruize Milford. At NZD99/pax, the day tour (8.30am-4pm) included return coach (less than 20pax) with many photo stops and commentary from the driver (who was a conservationist), a 1.5hr cruise (11.15am) on the Milford Sound as well as a light sandwich lunch + apple + free coffee/tea on the cruise. I’ve checked many other options and this appeared to be the most reasonably priced tour. This operator had a small cruise boat compared to the bigger boys, but it had its advantage too! Being small, it could get up close to the fur seals as well as under the waterfall which were highlights of the cruise ;).

The coach

Beautiful lupins - what looked like flowers to us are actually weeds!

I love the serenity!

More sights along the way....

Hommer Tunnel just before reaching Milford Sound. It's a one-way tunnel with controlled traffic lights on both sides of the tunnel.

Our cruise ship

The famed Milford Sound Fiordland

And the lazy fur seals...

Our lunch

The driver-commentator-guide trying to get near the Kea, one of the notorious species found in NZ ;p

NZ (14 Dec): Lake Wanaka-Te Anau

2010-01-23T14:38:00.007+08:00

Weather: Part Sun/Cloud with light rain

Milford Sound was the highlight to the stay at Te Anau. I’ll write more about later. The drive from Lake Wanaka to Te Anau was pretty easy, except when driving through the mountainous and windy sections on Crown Range. But the drive was spectacular and the view from the Crown Range Summit, 1,076m above sea level was awesome!

Crown Range Summit

Summit view. Look at the bald tree branches!

We stopped at a small town called Mossburn for a meal as well as to top up fuel. We had venison pie and a toast. The venison pie was served with very yummy plum sauce! I had a look at the bottle and found that it was produced in Geraldine, one of the towns we will pass by later in the trip.

Accommodation:
Aden Motel – NZD90/night ensuite studio with full kitchen. They have self-service laundry but more expensive compared to the others (NZD4/washing or drying). We were in unit no. 6 – a big, spacious room meant for 3 persons. Furnishing was a bit old but it was clean which was good enough. Kitchen was very well-equipped – good for cooking up a meal which we did ;) In terms of location, it was not situated in town centre, but an easy leisure walk of about 15min to town.

Entrance to the motel

Spacious bedroom

Separate (full) kitchen/stove

Bathroom

I read from Tripadvisor that Miles Better Pie was a must to try, so we headed to town (5min drive) and managed to grab the pies before it closed (they opened from 7am-3pm only). All types of pie cost NZD5 each – they had chicken and bacon, steak and cheese, steak, bacon and cheese and some others I don’t remember hehe.. The pie was quite delicious with chunky pieces of meat, and crust that was not too thick. It would have been better if the filling was a bit more moist. Actually for NZD5 a pie, it wasn’t cheap. Forgot to take pictures ;p

NZ (13 Dec): FJ-Lake Wanaka

2010-01-23T14:37:00.004+08:00

Weather: Sunny

Don't remember where this was but it was enroute to Wanaka

Very the beaauuttttiiifffffuuuulllll hoh??

Stayed for a night at Lake Wanaka, mainly to break the journey between FJ and Te Anau, our next destination. With snow-capped mountains in the background, Lake Wanaka was stunningly beautiful, especially with the great sunny weather!

Accommodation:
YHA Purple Cow – NZD78/night ensuite room without TV. We were in room 3 – very frills-free type of room. But it was a nice cosy hostel right in town, in front of Lake Wanaka (5min walk to the Lake). They have a TV room, a pool table and a big kitchen for guests.

View opposite the YHA

Common area. They have a TV room too (big screen).

Common kitchen

Our bare bedroom ;p

The bare shelves and ensuite toilet

View of Lake Wanaka and don't know what mountain was it behind hahah!

One of the restaurants in town.. as though in Greece hah!

NZ (12 Dec): Hokitika-Franz Josef Glacier

2010-01-23T14:36:00.007+08:00

Weather: Mostly rain with intermittent sunshine

The only reason why I included a night’s stay at Franz Joseph (FJ) Glacier Town was because I had planned to go for the FJ Glacier Walk. Priced at NZD105/pax, the packaged “tour” included a half-day walk right into the glacier valley. However, we didn’t sign up for it due to the unpredictable weather.

FJ town.. maybe just 50m in length ;p

Accommodation:
Rainforest Backpackers – NZD90 for an ensuite. We were given a free upgrade as they gave our original room to a group of tour. Not only did we have a bigger room in room 208, there was also a small kitchenette so we could cook! Great room!

Entrance to the sanctuary. I love this place! It's literally built amidst rainforest!

The smaller units. There were many other types of units available, including tree houses for those who wants to be real close to the nature and bungalows for bigger families.

The common kitchen

Our bedroom. To the left is a single bed. So, good for three persons.

The kitchenette and seating area

Bathroom

Lunch:
The food at FJ was so expensive!! A very small town, there were only three to four restaurants, a supermarket, a souvenir shop, the FJ Glacier Centre and then various types of accommodation. We settled for burgers at one of the restaurants – I had a Classic with Cheese for NZD7.50 while hubby had The Meat Eater for NZD10.50. They were the cheapest options in town!! Hahahah!! But I must say the burgers were tasty!

Meateater burger

As we didn’t sign up for the tour, we drove to the Glacier Access Road and did two short walks on our own. Firstly, the Sentinel Rock Walk, a 20min return steady climb which gave views of the glacier. It was BEAUTIFUL! In fact, the glacier had already formed back in 1750 at a lower altitude but had since resided due to global warming. I wonder if the glacier we saw today would still be present in 50 years’ time. Moving on, the second walk was another 20min return to Peter’s Pool, which apparently would give a fantastic reflective view of the glacier valley. But too bad, the weather was rainy so no reflective view ;(

Fox Glacier lookout

Mirror Lake - I'm sure the view wll be marvellous in good weather condition!

There were many other self-guided walks ranging from 30min to 8hours return, depending on your fitness level as well as the weather. Some were closed due to flooding from continuous rainfall. I think what was different between these walks and the glacier walk was that the guided tour will lead you right into the glacier valley. I believe the views would be stunning and experience unforgettable!

NZ (11 Dec): Christchurch-Hokitika via Arthur’s Pass

2010-01-23T14:35:00.003+08:00

Weather: Cloudy in Christchurch, then rain on the way to Hokitika.

I tell you, the world is so small!! I bumped into a colleague at Hotel SO when we were checking out. Met him again at the car rental company, Apex, just 5min walk from Hotel SO. We got our car, this time, a much better one – Toyota Corolla 1.8L.

Our rented car

The drive was pretty smooth, with sections of mountainous and windy roads but awesome scenic views on Arthur’s Pass!

We saw this at a rest stop along the way. If you come well-equipped with helmet, headlight, proper footwear and wet suit, you can explore the cave on your own. It says, "It's dark, cold and wet."

Beautiful Arthur's Pass!

Accommodation:
Shining Star Chalets & Accommodation – ND85/night for an ensuite room and part kitchenette. Room was good enough except for the mini TV but the surrounding was great! They had a little farm with animals including ducks, horse, pigs, and goats. Pretty much a farm stay already!! Haha!!

Bed. Part kitchenette is on the left.

Bathroom

View of the entire place, by the beach

One of the farm animals..

Hokitika is a small town but famous for jade and ruby stones. We had planned to go for walks in the vicinity but it was so cold and rainy!! We couldn’t even go watch glow worms, which was just 5min across where we stay, free self-guided sanctuary ;(

Hokitika town centre... and the rain which didn't go away...

NZ (10 Dec): Christchurch City

2010-01-23T14:34:00.006+08:00

We roamed Christchurch City on its free shuttle bus. Very useful service, compared to the City Tram which cost NZD22/pax for 2 consecutive days. The free shuttle also covered a bigger area, including stops at supermarket.

Church

Stained-glass panels within the church

City sights

Lunch:
Osaka Restaurant at Glouchester Street. We ordered fried chicken wings, Pork Bone Ramen and Spicy Beef on Rice – NZD23. They offered free flow of miso soup (self-service), and if you like to add unlimited bowls of rice of servings of salad, you just need to pay NZD1 each. Generally, the food was not too bad but not fantastic.

Inside the restaurant

Chicken wings - over-fried

Pork bone ramen

Beef on rice

Dinner:
Lazy and tired to go out anywhere, we had the NZD10 dinner meals in Hotel SO. Our fish & chips and pasta as well as dessert cost NZD30. Dessert was delicious!

Pasta of the day - can't remember what pasta it was

Fish & chips

Yum-yum dessert!

NZ (9 Dec): Christchurch Gondola

2010-01-23T14:33:00.003+08:00

Weather: Sunny and cool! Couldn’t be better!

We took the local bus no. 28 from the Bus Exchange in town centre to where the Gondola Station was. Return bus fare per pax was NZD2.80 if you could get on the bus again within 2 hours. The Gondola ride cost NZD22/pax, up to the top of Lyttelton where one could have a bird’s eye view of the town and Lyttelton harbour. I read that there might be sightings of Hector Dolphins in the harbour but nope, we didn’t see any ;( Something more adventurous happened though. On the way up and down, the wind was so strong that the cable cars were swinging from side to side!! It was really horrifying!! Imagine sitting in there helplessly 445m up in the air!! I tried to distract myself by watching the sheeps on the hills below the cable car instead hahahha!!

In case you wonder how different their bus is hahaha!!

Gondola

The sheeps on the hills (taken from below the Gondola on the way up)

The swinging gondola - we didn't tilt the camera hoh...

View of Lyttelton Harbour from the top.. waited to see if we could spot hector dolphins but none in sight.. ha!

Dinner:
Thai food restaurant called Chilli Planet, just diagonally across the Cathedral Square. Our meal which included Tom Yam Seafood and Chicken Noodle Soup cost NZD26. The food was really yummy and pretty authentic! Highly recommended too! Best thing was, my hubby chatted up the waiter, a Thai native, and thereafter the waiter gave us fried spring rolls and lamb puffs, with compliments hahhahha!!

The shop

Complimentary spring rolls and lamb puffs

Tom yum goong!

Chicken noodles - taste exactly like what we had in Bangkok!

NZ (8 Dec): Wellington-Picton-Christchurch

2010-01-23T14:32:00.006+08:00

Weather: Windy in the early hours in Wellington, then sunny in Picton and finally part cloud/sunny along the way to Christchurch

Alright, we said our byes to the North Island (except the last leg in Auckland before we go back Singapore) and headed towards the South. At NZD130/pax, we took a 3hr Interislander Ferry which connected Wellington and Picton, and thereafter a 5.5hr Transcoastal train ride from Picton all the way to Christchurch (driving will take same duration actually). Almost half the train journey was along the coast where we saw seals lazing on the rocks while the other was inland route where we saw herds of cows and sheeps. Great views and it was a good break before I start driving again later ;)

Full-facilities ferry (from cafeterias to children's play area and cinema within - chargeable of course!)

Indoor seating area

Or if you prefer the sun....

Interior of Transcoastal train cabin. All seats are in cluster of fours facing each other, sharing a table. Very likely you will be sitting opposite strangers. Seats/aisle not as spacious as Eurail's ;p

Arriving in Christchurch:
We booked Super Shuttle who charged NZD6/pax to chauffeur passengers door to door. For those who did not make any prior transport arrangement, when you exit the train station, you could also hop on shuttles who also offered door-to-door transfer at just NZD5/pax, on a first-come-first-serve basis.

Accommodation:
Hotel SO, just 5min walk to Cathedral Square (town centre). I got it at NZD70/night through the wotif “Secret Deal”. No breakfast but they offered free wireless internet (quite slow though). It was a rather new boutique hotel, with modern furnishing, but the room was really tiny hahaa!! No window either! Can’t really complain for the price we paid for lah.. hehe!! Within the hotel, you can also find self-service laundry (NZD2/washing load and NZD2/drying load), gym as well as sauna (free). They also offered NZD10/meals from 12-2pm and 5-7pm. One thing to note was that they charge NZD15 per housekeeping service. We weren’t aware and asked for housekeeping on the 2nd day and only found out when we checked out. Very expensive housekeeping!!

Hotel SO - external view. I believe none of the room has window view.

The tiny room - smallest we've ever come across! To the right is the tiny bathroom; to the left is a tiny side-table with one chair. A short flimsy ironing board is available below the bed.

The tiny bathroom with tiny sink. Fortunately, the toilet bowl is not tiny hahaha!! The standing tiny shower area is on the left.

Sauna

Gym - pretty decent

NZ (7 Dec): Wellington

2010-01-23T14:31:00.004+08:00

Weather: Chilly and windy in the early hours and thereafter sunny and hot!

Activity:
Walked to downtown Lambton Quay (about 15min walk from our accommodation) to take the Wellington Cable Car (tram) uphill to its Botanic Gardens. The return cable car ticket cost NZD5/pax.

Cable car (they should change to call it a tram haha!) ferrying passengers from city to Botanic Gardens

Botanic Gardens sights

Lunch:
Mac’s Brewery @ Queen’s Wharf. I had Pork Belly Noodles which cost NZD17.50, while hubby ordered Crumbed Beef Schnitzel at NZD18. My noodles were too saltish but the pork was not too bad. I like the beef better ;p

Mac's Brewery by the wharf

Pork belly noodles (thumbs-down ;p)

Crumbed Beef Schnitzel - the sauce on the extreme left was very appetising!

Activity:
Visited the Te Papa Museum, just a short walk on the Wharf. A 6-storey museum which offered free admission except to certain exhibitions. Huge place and very interesting exhibits. I was expecting the arty-type of museum only but they had a wide variety, from its Maori culture to animals/sea creatures and science related stuff. It was like our Science Centre + Peranakan Museum combined hahaha!!

Te Papa Museum

Dinner:
Miyashi Sushi, just round the corner where Central Stratford was. For the first time since we arrived in NZ, we had rice! My Katsu Curry Rice cost NZD17 while my hubby had Teriyaki Chicken set at NZD21.50. I think the price was comparable to that in Singapore’s Japanese restaurants. More importantly, the food was surprisingly good! Another highly recommended place! The small restaurant was crowded on a week night, so I suppose it was quite a well-known place.

Katsu Curry Rice

Teriyaki Chicken set

NZ (6 Dec): Taupo-Wellington

2010-01-23T14:29:00.005+08:00

Weather: Chilly in the morning in Taupo, sunny on the way to Wellington, then light showers and windy when we reached Wellington

The drive from Taupo to Wellington was rather long. We drove off at 8am, made several stops for meals and breaks before finally arriving in Wellington at about 3pm. After a quick check-in at our accommodation, we dropped the car and then Omega gave us a ride back to our accommodation.

Couldn't resist jumping off the car when we saw sheeps but they all ran away when they see us approaching, except for this staring one ;p

Accommodation:
Central Stratford Apartment Hotel – NZD99/night from wotif.com for an open plan apartment with full laundry and kitchen facilities including dishwasher. Small but it had everything we needed, especially the washing machine and dryer so we washed our clothes. Our room no. was 1007. Our only complain was the lack of internet, even though we were prepared to pay. Again, location was good – only 5min walk to town centre and the supermarket, New World.

External view

Bedroom/ Living room

Kitchenette (bed on the right)

Bathroom with washing machine and dryer

City sights

Church in Wellington city

The deserted city haha! Well, it was Sunday and rainy!

The deserted wharf

NZ (5 Dec): Taupo-Rotorua

2010-01-23T14:25:00.005+08:00

Weather: Chilly and cloudy in the morning but turned sunny and warm in the afternoon

Breakfast:
Quick and easy option - McDonalds (Hotcake combo which included 3pcs of hotcakes and a hot chocolate + Big Breakfast Combo which included sausage, omelette and muffin. Total cost about NZD10.

Activity:
We drove towards Rotorua to visit the Wai-O-Tapu Geothermal Wonderland. At NZD30/pax, we visited the Lady Gnox Geyser which erupted at 10.15am, followed by a self-guided tour in the park comprising volcanic mud pools and other geothermal pools. There were three routes and total length of walk for all three routes was about 75min. Hubby didn’t think the money was worth it ;p

One of the pools

Lady Knox Geyser

Lunch:
We headed to Rotorua town centre for lunch. Settled at Valentine’s which served buffet at NZD19.95/pax on weekends (otherwise, it’s NZD14.95). Well, the food was not fantastic but it was considered value for money cos other main meals in town cost well over NZD15.

Lunch @ Valentine's

Lake Taupo

Waikato River

Dinner:
Had dinner back at Taupo town centre. I read from Tripadvisor that Mulligan’s Bar served good and cheap food so we went. The backpackers we stayed at had discount coupon from Mulligan’s. Using the coupon, hubby ordered one of the selected main courses (Mulligan’s Irish Stew) + three glasses of house wine (or you could choose three pints of beer) at NZD25. I ordered a Mulligan’s Mixed Grill, also at NZD25. I’m not sure if the food was considered cheap by our standard. What do you think?

Mixed Grill

Irish Stew

NZ (4 Dec): Whitianga-Taupo via Matamata

2010-01-23T14:24:00.004+08:00

Weather: Still as rainy

Matamata was the place where the Hobbitons houses from the movie Lord of the Ring were found. However, to visit the Hobbitons, one has to take a tour which cost NZD58/pax. As you might have guessed, we didn’t do the tour.. hehe!! After 4 hours drive from Whitianga, we arrived at Lake Taupo, the biggest lake in NZ.

Accommodation:
Blackcurrent Backpackers – NZD70/night. Very cheap but basic. I read that the place has a new management who had recently refurbished the place. It looked great actually, with a shared kitchen and common area for watching TV. Very convenient location too – Pak & Save supermarket was just 5min walk, while town centre and Lake Taupo was but only a 10min walk away.

Our room no. was 12, on the 2nd floor, just beside the kitchen. Spacious as the room was, there was no in-room TV (but I booked it knowing this). As the toilet tiles were of ceramic material, it was so blardy COLD!! Fortunately, they have a floor mat. I thought we could survive on internet even without TV, but unfortunately, they were not done with the renovation and hence internet facility was not ready. Cold and no TV to watch, we literally had nothing to do, except…….. sleep of course!!! Hahaha!!

Area outside common kitchen

Bare but spacious room

Bathroom. Standing shower on the left

NZ (3 Dec): Whitianga-Cathedral Cove, Hot Water Beach, Coromandel

2010-01-23T14:23:00.006+08:00

Weather: Rainy and windy most of the time except when we were at Cathedral Cove where the sun was out!

Drove to these places for our day trip. Hot Water Beach was really interesting! While the sea water was cold, one could actually get hot water (yes, like hot spring water) by digging a shallow hole into the beach.

Cathedral Cove

Hot Water Beach

Dinner:
Instant carbonara (NZD1.80), beef steak (3 pieces cost NZD5+, very cheap right?) and yoghurt we bought from the nearby supermarket. We ate the yoghurt with strawberries we bought from Coromandel (NZD4 for 2 packs).

NZ (2 Dec): Singapore-Auckland-Whitianga

2010-01-23T14:18:00.008+08:00

Weather: Rainy

Our flight to Auckland on SIA (S$1,300/pax Sweet Deals) was 9.05pm and we reached Auckland the next day on 2 Dec at about 12pm. After we cleared the customs, we called the car rental company, Omega Car Rental (free phone number using the public phone), which offered free shuttle from the airport. Picked up our low end car, a Nissan Bluebird which cost NZD48.51/day, excluding Collision Damage Waiver at NZD13/day (reducing excess to NZD0) and GPS at NZD10/day. Drove direct to Whitianga, about 2.5hr from Auckland (but with my driving skills, I took longer than that hahahah!) Anyway, the drive was pretty smooth except when we were on the State Highway 25, where there were LOTS of windy roads!! I think the roads would make good many F1 drivers! It was rather stressful to drive with cars behind me, and so I had to make a few stops to let the cars overtake me ;p Well, partly also cos the car did not have enough power to pull off on higher grounds! Even when I’ve stepped the accelerator all the way, it was only going at 60km/hr during uphill climb! *Sigh*

Auckland International Airport

On the way to Whitianga - on NZ roads, one-way bridges are very common. There are signages indicating which side of the road has priority so the other has to stop and give way if there is oncoming traffic.

Accommodation:
On the Beach Backpackers. We booked a double ensuite for NZD96/night (I think it was quite expensive for a backpacker, but this was one of the most reasonably priced accommodation in this town). Location was convenient, just 5min drive to the town centre.

We were in Room B3 which was on the ground floor. Being on the ground floor has its disadvantage – just outside our bedroom was a sitting area and so we could hear chats/laughter (not good for light sleepers, but both my hubby and myself were so damn tired that we slept without much trouble). Size of the unit was pretty big and it had a well-equipped kitchen. The downside was that the taps (cold and hot separately), which literally dispense HOT and COLD water respectively. There wasn’t a balance, so most of the time we washed our hands in freezing water. The HOT water was almost at boiling point!! Fortunately, the water in the bath could be controlled. Another thing I didn’t like was the lack of clear TV channels so there was only one channel we could watch, with grains still ;(

B3 was where we stayed.

Inside B3, a one-bedroom unit. Notice the tiny TV

Bedroom

Dinner:
We drove out to town centre. It was a small town and hence not many choices. We settled at a restaurant called The Carvery, a roast restaurant. I opted for a small roast chicken (about one quarter chicken) with one single serve buffet which cost NZD13, while my hubby chose the pork at NZD15. Both meats were really GOOD!! They were so tender and the roast pork skin was so so crispy, yet not saltish nor did it smell porky, if you know what I mean hahah!! Anyway, we love it!! Highly recommended! Will write it on Tripadvisor ;)

The yummy spread!

Crispy pork knuckle!

Delicious and tender chicken thigh!

自然海鲜 (opp Redhill MRT)

2009-09-22T20:56:00.001+08:00

My first time at this place. We didn't know what to eat and upon strong recommendation by the lady boss (I think), we took this $48.80 set meal - 6 dishes including a dessert. Overall, I find the food just above average. The presentation is something they could improve on haha!! But I love the double-boiled soup - quite generous with the amount of sharks' fins ;p

铺田 (Jurong Point)

2009-09-22T09:05:00.005+08:00

The boss of 铺田 must be laughing his/her way to the bank! Within very short period of time, there were many branches which sprouted across the island! And most of the times, they are well-filled with curious and hungry customers! I, for one, decided to try the food cos I like the 兴化米粉 I've once tried at one of those "铺田s" at Lavender. There are so many around. Which is the authentic one? Does anyone know?

I think this is spinach and 皮蛋

兴化米粉
Duck wrapped with yam, deep fried. A little oily, I think but the duck meat was quite tender!

Sweet & sour pork with lychee. This is one of their signature dishes. Actually, this was like any sweet & sour pork, except they had 2 lychees on it haha! No lychee taste in the dish, otherwise. But the pork was quite tasty and not like most sweet & sour pork where you'd be eating the fats more than the meat, the amount of meat used was quite substantial.

Overall, the food was quite good! After the meal, we waited to test if much MSG was added. Indeed, it was! Haha!! Then again, I went back one day to "tabao" the 兴化米粉红 ;p

锅贴 (40A Commonwealth Ave)

2009-09-22T09:02:00.003+08:00

The stall (forgot name lah..) at a corner on the 2nd floor is better known for its 锅贴 (though they are actually fried), other than its 酸辣汤 and noodles. I've been there a few times and still love its food! But it seems that the quality of its fried dumpling has dropped. The dumplings used to be real crispy! Anyway, I'd highly recommend this place for anyone who has not tried eating at this place ;)

酸辣汤 I think it's $3 for this portion. Good for 2!

Fried dumplings - $4 for 8pcs (I think ;p)

I don't remember the name of this noodle. But it was really good! Think it's also $3 for this big plate enough for 2 too! They also have 炒年糕 which I'd try the next time ;)

If you want a drink to get rid of the oiliness, just pay $0.10 for free flow of chinese tea!

Pioneer Seafood Restaurant, Jurong Point (10 Aug)

2009-08-15T12:33:00.003+08:00

New restaurant at the new wing Jurong Point called Pioneer Seafood Restaurant (ground floor of the new wing). It has a branch at Mount Faber (if it's still there) which we've tried but I don't remember if the food was fantastic. Since it didn't register very well, I take it that it wasn't memorably great hahaha!!

We had tim sum brunch and also ordered its Sri Lanka crab on promotion - $33 per kg (medium size), which we thought we could try as it was priced cheaper than what is served at one of the coffeeshops in Jurong West/ Nanyang.

皮蛋瘦肉粥 - bad! tasteless!
小笼包 - err.. think it's skin was quite thick and the soup/ meat wasn't very tasty either

虾角 - forget it!
烧卖 - not nice too.. no "tim sum" taste
Blackbeans steam 排骨 - totally cannot make it. tasteless.. and we wonder what happened to the black beans??

Broccoli with minced meat fried with its famed XO sauce - I believe I can make my any dish good with the sauce too what... so no big deal... hahaha!! the restaurant sells its sauce - each bottle costs $9+ I think. Nope, I didn't buy...

锅貼 - not impressive too..

Black pepper crab - also cannot make it haha!

We were very disappointed with the quality of food served at this restaurant. All the dishes were not tasty.. it wasn't saltish which is fine by me since I'm not a fan of salt haha but I felt the chef didn't bring out the distinctive flavour of each dish, be they the tim-sum or the crab!! We ordered the black pepper crab which taste "sweet" and definitely short of peppery taste. Most of all, the crab wasn't flavourful at all and didn't have the "wok taste" (or "wok hei" as the cantonese calls it). The crab taste like plain jane crab meat while the black pepper sauce was on its own outside on the shell.. But, I must admit the meat was not too bad, quite "springy" and I suspect the meat at the end of the pincer wasn't cooked well.

In essence, we still love our Nanyang coffee shop (it's beside the Nanyang Community Club) crabs - they cost $44 per kg but they are huge and tasty! The chef cooked it very well!

Irodori Japanese Restaurant (21 Jul)

2009-07-21T22:13:00.012+08:00

This meal was to celebrate our wedding anniversary, 7th year, if you are curious ;p I think we are (or perhaps just me) suckers for japanese food cos we've been dining in japanese restaurants quite frequently. After reading good reviews of this place, we decided to go ahead - S$33++ per pax for buffet dinner, at Riverview Hotel. http://irodorijapaneserestaurant.com/. It was a weekday that we went so it was crowded.

Generally, the quality was quite good, and we were happy to receive a few complimentary dishes hehe... Service was fine since there weren't too many customers. Go in a big group so you could try the huge variety. There was only so much 2 persons could eat ;)

Menu which has lots of items

Udon (very small one-person portion). The noodle is not the usual fat and round type but rather, it's flat, so it doesn't taste as "springy" as any udon should be, I feel.

Grilled pregnant fishes - very yummy actually

Teriyaki mushrooms. The sauce was too salty.

Kimchi with errmm... can't remember if it's chicken or pork strips.. good starter!

Inside of restaurant

Tempura prawns - crispy!

Teriyaki chicken, I think ;p

Unagi handroll on the left and spider handroll on the right. I like the spider one ;)

Fried chicken.. what do you call it?

金针菇 wrapped with pork slice, I think.

Soup in a pot - sorry forgot its name hahaha!

We love this best! Grilled chicken wings!

This was served complimentary as appetiser, but frankly I don't remember what it was. Think it's fried salmon ball.

Grilled fish - forgot what fish hahaha!

Variety of sashimi - yellowtail, salmon and swordfish. There are others but we chose these.

These were complimentary starters too! Grilled king prawns with mayonnaise and fish roe. Think anything grilled with mayonnaise taste good hhaha!

Were these complimentary too?? Hahaha!! Don't remember what roll they are ;p

Ok, this was complimentary - the first dish that came when we sat down. Think the green piece thinggi is tofu.. topped with fish roe and condiments

Kuala Lumpur (4-7 Jul)

2009-07-11T11:39:00.013+08:00

No special mention from this trip to KL, of which the main purpose was to "attack" the Malaysia Mega Sale. Unfortunately (or fortunately), I didn't buy anything.. yup, nothing at all... so disappointed... Not that the sale was not good, but I did not manage to buy things I had in mind to get.. like, I wasn't looking for shoes nor t-shirts so the shoes/t-shirts sale wasn't a big draw.. BUT I was glad I bought something in Singapore, just the day before the trip hahah!! So, that was the only consolation... hehe.. ;p

Lunch at The Chicken Rice Shop at Times Square.

This was the "Family Feast" set which costRM$38 if I'm not wrong. Nothing fantastic lah..

The next highlight of the trip was our Jap buffet dinner at Gonbei, at the Starhill Gallery. RM95+ per pax for dinner from 6-10pm. The items were authentic jap dishes, and the raw items like sashimi and oysters were very fresh and yummy! Basically there are 4 stations you can order your food from: sashimi station, teppanyaki station, tempura station and grill station. You can go to each station and pick any items you want to be cooked and they will be served to you. Free flow of green tea, ice lemon tea and can't remember which is the other drink. Generall Gonbei offers great variety, so it's good value for money ;)

We were there at 6pm cos we were hungry!! The meal before was just brunch at our hotel (Impiana KLCC http://kualalumpurhotels.impiana.com/) mah... We were the first and only customers from 6-8pm and so it kinda felt strange that the staff/ chef had nothing much to do hahahah!! At first, we thought perhaps the place wasn't popular or over-priced. But more and more people started streaming in after 8pm... In fact, before we visited the restaurant, we read reviews of people spending more than RM500 for their ala-carte dishes! We found out from one of the waitresses who told us that the buffet promo started only 3 weeks prior to our visit. Frankly, if not for the buffet, I don't think I'd patronise ;p !!

The sashimi bar

Anti-clockwise starting from bottom left: Unagi sashimi, octopus, sakae sashimi, kajiki sashimi (which was lightly cooked and we love the sweetness!!), maguro sashimi

More sakae and kajiki sashimi, and raw oysters!
The grill and dessert station
Soft shell crab and tempura
The teppanyaki station
Teppanyaki prawns and beef

Grilled chicken wings, cod fish and unagi. The chicken wings were very well grilled! Very crispy!

Since I didn't manage to do shopping, I had a wonderful spa session in the hotel we stayed in. Swasana Spa http://kualalumpurhotels.impiana.com/spa.php was offering 50% off its 2hr spa packages. I chose the Asmara Dana package which included full body scrub, rose petal milk bath followed by full body massage. BLISS! How much? After 50% discount, the SGD equivalent was S$85 ;)

Our return coach - Grassland which has a ticketing booth right opposite the Times Square. We bought tickets for its Royal VIP Coach at RM55/ pax (which otherwise will cost RM70 for Sundays). It was a double-decker, with entertainment system.

High-tea @ mezza9, Grand Hyatt (27 Jun)

2009-06-27T21:37:00.011+08:00

S$20++ per pax for the high-tea at mezza9 from 3-5pm. Thinking it was buffet, we were disappointed that there was only one serving for the items on the menu. Yup, just one serving (quantity based on the number of pax) and then end of high-tea. Kena cheated! Hahah!

The menu - 6 savory items, 4 desserts, and any choice of 1 non-alcohlic drink

Savory items - this was for 3 persons, not one person hoh.. (see menu for description of items)

The range of desserts also served to 3 persons. All items were WAY TOO SWEEEEEETTTT!!!! Cannot take it!

It isn't worth a 2nd visit nor will I recommend to anyone for even 1st visit ;p

Sze Chuan Court, Fairmont Hotel Singapore (23 May)

2009-06-08T20:20:00.007+08:00

Another buffet treat which I booked quite immediately when hubby alerted me about a promotion Sze Chuan Court was having ha! Its Dim Sum buffet from 12-3pm cost $28.80++ per pax.

Within the restaurant

酸辣汤 - hubby had 2 share

Winter melon with duck meat - I had 2 share too!

The dish on the left is Drunken Chicken (cold dish) and the other is spicy 饺子.

Siew Mai, and wanna guess what the other is? It's squid ink 虾饺. Both items were not nice cos they don't taste like what dim sum tastes haha!!

排骨 which was not too bad

Only item I like - it's baked pastry with unagi in it. When I ordered a 2nd round, it was already sold out! ArrghhH!!

(top left clock-wise) another type of 饺子, 凤爪, 小笼包

More cold dishes - on the left is chicken strips with I can't remember what and the other is jelly fish. Nothing uncommon leh...

Fried 金针菇 - oily!

Desserts!! - Mango sago and Longan with Ice jelly and something else which I can't remember but it was very refreshing!

Pineapple tarts offered to us FOC after we asked for the bill. Too full to eat already lah!!

Generally, the fried stuff were tad too oily.. and the dim sum dishes were not anything to rave about either.. Perhaps we went with too high an expectation, especially since it is under the Fairmont Hotel brand.

Verdict: Thumbs-down 不直得! Hahaha!!

Bali (24-28 Apr)

2009-05-03T15:16:00.019+08:00

Together with 3 other couple friends and one kid, 9 of us embarked on a 5D4N trip to Bali. Took SQ flight which cost S$412nett/pax (adult).

Accommodation
4BR villa at Pat-Mase http://www.pat-mase.com/default.asp, Jimbaran Bay, which cost USD275nett/ night including breakfast for 8 pax. After conversion, each couple paid S$439 for 4N. I think it’s very reasonable. Well, value for money perhaps cos while the pictures on the website look fantastic, the truth is, the villa was not well-maintained.

1. One of the bedroom’s aircon was not working, and as occupancy was full over that weekend, they could only give us another 2BR villa. So, we had a 4BR and a 2BR villa – 2 couples stayed in each loh.. No extra cost, of course!

2. The living rooms at both villas are not equipped with ceiling fans! The villa’s an open concept. Other than the bedrooms, all common areas are non-airconditioned.. very hot leh! Actually, the villa next to us has ceiling fans.. we wonder why the inconsistency. Anyway, we requested for standing fans.

3. The amenities did not meet the basic requirements. 1stly, the housekeeper did not refill the items consistently – you will find either one face towel was missing, if not the bath towel. No big deal actually as we could always phone them to deliver lah.. What was worse was the condition of the bath towels, which showed very clearly how old the towels were!

4. Though they have WIFI, the connection wasn’t good at all.

5. The breakfast was the only saving grace, actually haha! Guests can choose to either have breakfast cooked and served in your villa (yes, the chef will come and cook for you), or have it at their café. Trust all of us, we love the breakfast served at the café MUCH MORE than those served in the villa. Ok, here’s what the café had which we didn’t get when we ate at the villa (we ate twice in the villa and twice in the café):
a. Mushroom
b. Bigger share of fruits
c. Coffee taste much better at the café too

6. The pool water wasn’t very clean but we swam in it nevertheless haha!

7. Generally, the entire villa needed a good refurbishment!

Overall, I couldn’t complain too much considering the price we paid. If you really want quality accommodation, there are many options in Bali where a 4BR villa could easily cost US$550 per night (2 times more).

Villa main entrance/ Reception

One of the bedrooms. Each bedroom has a different style/ design

Bathroom which has only a see-through sliding door. The toilet has no door too.

Living area of our 4BR villa
Dining area with a small private pool for 4BR villa

Shared pool for a cluster of villas

Staff preparing breakfast in the villa kitchen

Our breakfast - 3 choices: continental set, american set or indonesian set. Choose your choice of fruit juice, how you like your eggs to be done, whether with bacon or sausage and coffee or tea.

Transport
Pat-Mase Villa is located off the main street and there are no convenient stores, tourist facilities etc in the area. So we had to book transport to take us everywhere in Bali. Through a friend’s friend, we got a driver who charged IDR325,000 per day (for 10hrs) for a 7-seater vehicle. This worked out to be less than S$50 per day. Beyond the 10hrs, it cost IDR30,000/hr or S$4 per hour. Spreading the costs among 4 couples, the transport was totally worth it!

Driver’s contact:
Mr Gun (pronounced as ‘goon’), Mobile: 081 246 08759

Shopping
At Ubud Market, of course! If you do, remember to 杀价! Don’t hesitate to bargain and cut their offered price to ONE-THIRD of what they told you! Yes, they will relent!

Spa/ Massage
How could we not do spa/ massage when in Bali right? Hahah!! One of my friends have been to Bali a few times and he recommended a cheap and good place. Name of the place is called Cozy in Kuta area. For 1.5hr of full body massage, it cost only IDR86,000 (S$12!!!)!! The other highly recommended massage is the head, shoulder, neck massage with foot reflexology – 1.5hr cost IDR76,000 (S$11). They have bathing facilities too! Hiyoh…. Tell me where can you find in Singapore????

Ok, I must admit, for the price we paid, the massage place was totally frills-free. Don’t expect beautifully decorated individual rooms like you’d see in Singapore. They separate each bed with drawn curtains – just one bed in each “compartment”.

Was the massage good? YES! The masseurs’ strength was consistent throughout! We did twice in 2 days ha! Had wanted another on the 3rd day but we didn’t have time ;(

Contact (call to book in advance):
Cozy
Jln Sunset Blok A/3 (North Simpang Siur)
Tel: 0361 766762, 766 743, 7472 762/3

Beach/ Place of interest
1. Black sandy beach in front of Anantara, Seminyak

2. White sandy beach at Dreamland
The vicinity is still be developed so nothing much. Waves were HUGE - good only for surfing, and swimming prohibited. Oh, if you want to use its beach benches, it cost IDR20,000 per bench. Use of toilet cost IDR3,000 per person.

3. Tanah Lot
Famous for sunset more so than the temple itself ;p

Water rafting
IDR250,000 per pax including transport, rafting (5km) and lunch. Took us 1+hr from Pat-Mase to Ayung River where the rafting was. Ayung River is great for beginners or first-timers and it is so. Too easy, we thought. So, next time, we could go for the advance level rafting! Haha!

Though it was supposed to be a half day trip, the actual rafting duration was about than 1hr (including time when we stopped in the middle of the River for a break). Other than the usual safety gear, they’d also give each group a water-proof bag for you to put your valuables you want to bring along (the rest can go into their lockers). You can also bathe - they also provide shampoo and shower foam (don’t ask me what brand or its quality).

Lunch was buffet style with just a few dishes. From the stack of brochures we took from the airport, we reckon this was the cheapest deal and so we didn’t expect much. Oh, all the rafting guides are all well-built and most are quite good looking hahaha!!!

While half the group went rafting, the other half (with kid and one pregnant) went Tanjung Benoa for sea sports. They said it was fun and more importantly, cheap! Jet ski, para-gliding cost only US$10 per activity! I don’t think Bintan/ Batam or even Phuket would offer such activities at this price, right?

Food
1. Bebek Bengil, in Ubud
Famous for crispy duck. The locals call it ‘dirty duck’, I don’t know why. But it wasn’t cheap loh.. IDR63,000 (S$9) excluding 21% GST. Since it’s a local specialty, if you like, can try loh.. after shopping at Ubud! Just tell the driver the famous crispy duck in Ubud and they’d know ;)

Crispy duckling, with choice of potatoes or rice

View of a padi field, just beside the crispy duck restaurant - so you can enjoy the view while enjoying the food too!

2. Warung Made (pronounced as ‘ma-deh’), in Seminyak
Famous for its Nasi Goreng and Ginger Tea. We forgot to try the Ginger Tea haha! I had Strawberry Lassi instead. Very good!

Nasi Campur (pronounced as 'cham-poh') which I think it mixed rice lah hahah!

Nasi goreng which was great!

3. Ku-de-ta (pronounced as ‘ku-deh-ta’), in Seminyak
Famous for enjoying sunset while sipping sunset drinks, which were quite reasonable. Drinks were good!

My drink, called Lychees (lychee with mascarpone cheese!) Very nice leh... I never knew we could 'drink' mascarpone cheese like that!

4. TaKe (pronounced as ‘ta-keh’), in Seminyak
Fantastic Japanese food, recommended by my friend's friend!! Very fresh seafood, and cheaper than in Singapore, of course!

Stir-fried clams - not so good but the rest was yummy!

Lobster roll
Dragon roll

Pork belly with vege - oh my, the fats just melt in your mouth! Haha!

One big boat of sashimi!!! Darn good!

Ox tongue which you pan-fry on the hot stove. First time eating ox tongue for most of us - none of us regretted!!

KL & Genting (12-14 Apr)

2009-04-19T15:35:00.009+08:00

Family trip to KL and Genting. There were 7 adults and 4 children. Self-drive, 2 cars, one of which was a MPV rented in JB (RM180 per day). Stayed a night in KL at Crown Regency Serviced Suites http://www.crownregencyservicedsuites.com/, which was only about 5min walk to KLCC. I think it was really value for money - RM438 per night for a 3BR apartment. Actually the one priced at RM438 was a smaller unit (1,040 sqft) but the aircon in the living room of that particular unit we checked in broke down! My sis complained and made it sound bad and hence they upgraded us to a bigger unit at 1,400sqft. No add'l charge haha!

There was one and only computer terminal at the apartment lobby but the connection simply couldn't make it! Gave up trying after 15min. If you were to bring your own comp, you can use it at the Coffee Bean just beside the apartment lobby.

fully-equipped kitchenette

Living & dining area. Spacious enough for the kids to run all over!

Bath tub in master bedroom
Master bedroom. The other 2 rooms come with 2 single beds which you can just push to combine them if need be.

Next day, we continued and drove to Genting. Stayed at Resort Hotel - Deluxe Room at RM183 per room per night without breakfast (booked direct on the Genting website). No photos of this. It looks as it is shown on the website.

My sis-in-law told us about an eating place about 5min drive down from the hotels called 蘑菇村 (or mushroom farm). It's actually at where the Billion Court and Amber Court are. They provide complimentary shuttle to-and-fro their restaurant and hotel. Food was certainly more tasty and price more reasonably compared to those in Genting. We had 5 dishes - total bill came to less than RM90 for all of us.

Contact as below:

Mie Grand Seafood Restaurant (7am-9.30pm)

Tel: 03-6101 2566, 012-294 7962, 012-285 7817, 017-665 2236

The food was quite good actually. Or perhaps we were hungry! Haha! Whatever it is, it's definitely worth going! Genting food is so ex!

High-Tea @ Goodwood Park Hotel (30 Mar)

2009-03-30T22:41:00.004+08:00

Friends and I (4 of us) decided to be tai-tai for half a day haha!! Well, one of them is not working, while the 3 others took PM off to enjoy high-tea at Goodwood Park Hotel. Cost $33++ per person from 2-5pm at L'Espresso.

I must say we've had a great time, as we've always had, whenever we meet up. These friends of mine are really "crazy" people. We talk about anything and everything under the sun, and laugh like nobody's business. I always look forward to meeting up with them cos it's very therapeutic! Haha!

Pool view from L'Espresso
Inside L'Espresso

I had Sencha green tea and also ordered Cafe Latte. Each guest is allowed max. of 2 choices of beverage.

Items from the high-tea

Vege/ biscuits with different types of cheeses

More items
Scones which I think I don't know how to appreciate leh.. are all scones "dry"? Even those in Australia could only be swallowed with drinks ;p

Desserts! Creme brulee was great! I couldn't and didn't get to try all the different types of desserts.

Verdict: Hmmm... both range and quality of food were so-so only.. not impressionable, wouldn't go back a 2nd time ;p

Don Quihote (27 Mar)

2009-03-30T22:37:00.007+08:00

Hubby found this place on hungrygowhere.com. Don Quihote (pronounced as "ki-ho-teh"). Tucked away at Lor Kilat, not noticeable from the main road opposite Bukit Timah Shopping Centre.

Very small yet cosy little restaurant. Good service and yummy food! This was our 2nd visit within 8 weeks..so you say leh..?? Hahah!!

Inside the restaurant
Pumpkin soup

Scallops

Squid ink seafood angel hair pasta. We had the squid ink seafood rice the last time and prefer the rice actually.

tapas items (clockwise from left): sorry, don't know its authentic name so can only give brief description haha - asparagus wrapped with bacon, prawns wrapped with eggplant, salmon wrapped with omelette. The prawn dish was the best!! Must try!!

close up

close up

With 10% discount from Citibank credit card, the bill came to S$90+ for one pasta, 5 tapas dishes, 1 soup and 1 sangria. My hubby said I don't know how to chill cos I can't drink with him ;( tsk!! Hahaha!!

Malacca (23-24 Mar)

2009-03-26T20:52:00.009+08:00

3rd work trip to Malaysia - Malacca. Colleagues arranged car to and fro Malacca from JB so I just followed ;) Accommodation at Avillion Legacy Melaka Hotel. Corporate rate S$88 including breakfast. The lobby looks grand but the guest room is damn lousy! I'd give it only 2.5 start (of 5 stars). Hotel is not situated in town centre where Mahkota Parade is. Taxi ride from Legacy to Mahkota cost RM15. The return trip was RM12.

Hotel lobby
The linen has a smell ;( My colleague in the other room said he felt itchy!

TV remote was not working. Not many channel options, bad reception for some channels.

Bathroom which needs refurbishment too. The bath tub was definitely "uninviting" haha!

View from the 14th floor - I suppose this was the best loh haha!

The breakfast was as bad hahaha!! We only had a few mouthful and headed for tim sum recommended by a taxi uncle the night before. For 5 mini dishes, 3 pork buns, 1 lor-mai-gai and 1 pot of tea, it cost only RM13 for 3 persons. Food was ok and I love the pork bun! So soft!

Best thing that happened that morning was the lady boss of the tim sum coffeeshop. She was such a big-hearted lady! It rained heavily and we couldn't get back to our hotel (which is only a 5min walk). Waited for taxi in vain for about 15min. Then the auntie came forward and offered to help us find taxi drivers in her coffeeshop. And so, we got one ;) She even got her staff to shelter us with big brollies to the taxi. So nice of her! Next time when I go Malacca, I must go to the tim sum place again. Everyone, please go too!! Err.. I don't know the address but you can ask based on the name of the shop ;p Apparently very famous wor...

Penang & Ipoh (18-20 Mar)

2009-03-26T20:46:00.008+08:00

My 2nd trip to Penang for work and this time, Ipoh was included. Accommodation at Trader's Hotel. Cab cost RM38 from Penang International Airport to Trader's Hotel. Compared with the other Trader's Hotel in KL and Singapore, Trader's Penang is not as grand. Definitely not a 5-star, by my standard ;p

RM4 nasi goreng ayam from a ulu-deserted hawker on top of a shopping mall, Praggin Mall, just behind Trader's Hotel.

Ginseng chicken dinner. Quite tasty actually! RM4.50 I think.

鸡丝 hor fun from Ipoh RM3. Taste like the one I've tried in KL ;p

Dinner back in Penang at MaCallister Street, less than 10min walk from Trader's Penang
Stingray - not exactly the sambal most hawkers used in Singapore and JB. RM15.

Fried oyster omelette - chewy oysters!

Chee Cheong Fun - eaten with prawn paste and black sauce. Quite nice actually ;)

Penang (28Feb & 1Mar)

2009-03-04T20:26:00.010+08:00

Ok, I'm going to make this really short & sweet! Went Penang for a work trip and stayed over just one night.

A professor on the trip is a Gold member of the SIA Krisflyer and hence he brought me into the SIA Premier Lounge for breakfast. A first time for me! Impressed with the range of food and drinks - ranging from noodles/ sandwiches to freshly brewed coffee and even hard liquor! Yum! The Lounge also offers complimentary use of computer and massage chairs ;)

Stayed at Vistana Hotel, 10min drive from the Penang Airport (taxi fare cost RM26 - standard fee which you pay at a counter before boarding the taxi). The single room cost RM207nett inclusive of breakfast (quite pathetic range ;p). However, you can enjoy free use of internet in-room or at their business centre (can even scan and print FOC!).
My comfy king bed!
Flat screen TV

View from 14th floor.

Took a cab down to Gurney Drive (hotel is at least 20min to Georgetown) for dinner.

Our food!

On the return trip, yup, once again, the Prof brought me into the SIA Lounge at Penang Airport. As expected, it is smaller (both size and range of food) compared to the one in Singapore but good enough, I suppose.

Will be going to Penang and Ipoh in the 3rd week of Mar again.. but this time round, the Prof not going.. so no more such privileges ;(

Pearl River Restaurant @ Suntec City (11 Jan)

2009-01-14T20:36:00.005+08:00

Friends and I were deciding between ala-carte lunch buffet at Pearl River or Fullerton but decided on Pearl River after Stephane's "intensive" research. He found Fullerton's to be too gimmicky hahaha!! A quick comparison for everyone's info:

- Pearl River: S$30.80++/pax (adult). Unlimited orders from the list of 54 items (excluding perhaps another 10 options of desserts) from 11.30am-2pm. We were pleasantly surprised that they offered complimentary yusheng for 6 persons and above + one round of sharks fins.. hehe

- Fullerton, Jade: S$28++/pax (adult). Unlimited orders from list of 23 tim-sum items only.

Yusheng
Sharks fins
Either beef or ostrich meat
Cuttlefish
Either beef or ostrich meat
Wasabi fried prawns
Steamed live prawns - one round and only 100g per person hoh..
Pig shank.. don't know why the picture upside down but too lazy to reload lah haha!
Roast pork - the men's favourite dish tim-sum pork ribs with pumpkin - I like!
Chicken feet - only my hubby eats
Siew mai - strange they don't have har-kao in their tim-sum list..
Desserts - everyone's favourite, especially mango pomelo - I had 3 or 4 servings!
The stack of our order slips

Parkroyal on Beach Road (31 Dec)

2009-01-01T15:10:00.009+08:00

Not getting enough of holidays (like who does? hahaha!!), hubby asked if we wanted to stay a night out on new year eve at a local hotel. "OF COURSE!" I exclaimed hahaha!! So, we booked Parkroyal on Beach Road which was having promotion - S$180nett for superior room (after 10% discount for online booking) including breakfast for 2, and a $50 spa voucher at St Gregory, Parkroyal's resident spa.

I didn't have to work on 31 Dec (but not hubby.. hehe), so while waiting for him, I went for a haircut, then checked into the hotel, and had my Balinese massage (topped up S$70 after the voucher). Whhhooohoooo!!!

Why twin-bed?? Cos I booked too late and all the King beds were no longer available! ArrrgghhH!!

Bedroom
Bathroom
St Gregory Spa reception.. I think St Gregory is one of the pioneers in the spa industry. The masseur who served me didn't sound like a local and her skills were not too bad.. except I find her a bit rough in handling customer. Not the way she massaged, but little ways that showed she wasn't as gentle as other masseurs I've had... hehe

.. by the pool

After shopping at Bugis Junction, dinner was Leong Kee (Klang) Bak Kut Teh which is diagonally opposite Parkroyal on the Beach. We didn't quite like the "powdery" soup base which my hubby said has too much herb taste. I find it just a little bitter, but fine by me. The bak kut was quite value for money - S$5/person share, you get 6 pieces of meat - quite tender too ;) I liked the kidney which was quite "fresh" hehe... Overall not too bad but guess we wouldn't go back (so soon). We will continue to hunt for better bak kut teh.. hehe

Leong Kee (Klang) Bak Kut Teh

BTW, we were supposed to watch fireworks but I was too tired to go out haha!

Breakfast the next day was at Plaza Brasserie. Hmm.. I wouldn't say the range was fantastic but the quality was fine. We took our time to enjoy breakfast and spent 2hrs - our longest time we've spent for breakfast haha!!

上海浦东小馆 Pudong Kitchen (25 Dec)

2008-12-27T15:54:00.007+08:00

Chinese meal for lunch on Christmas day after church service. This little restaurant is hardly "attractive" and not noticeable by many except for frequent customers (address: 271 Bukit Timah Road, #B1-02 Balmoral Plaza, diagonally opposite the ACS Barker Road. Open Mon-Sun, 11am-2.30pm and 5.30-9.30pm. Tel: 6732 8966).

We didn't know what to eat for lunch (as usual haha!) and didn't want to go Orchard on Christmas day. So we headed over to Balmoral Plaza as my hubby read that there was a Chinese restaurant which served authentic Shanghai food.

Indeed good, the meal was! Will recommend all to go and try ;) I asked my hubby to go check with in-laws to see if they'd like to eat at this restaurant on eve of CNY hehehe hahah!! The staff said reservations need to be made for CNY when they would be open every day, even on eve, day 1 and day 2 of CNY.

Cold dish - can't remember the name.. some "Ham Hock" thinggi hahah! We both like this! I seldom eat or like cold pork but this was good! Not too salty and you won't feel like you're eating a piece of "oil" hahah!

小笼包 - yummy soup! Skin abit thick but I like haha!

锅贴 - the ingredient within was good! The meat within has been marinated with some dark sauce I think, so it looked dark, not the usual white meat (if you know what I mean hehe). Plenty of soup within the skin too!

Sweet & sour soup - a bit too salty for me but my hubby like (as usual)

Pork chop noodle or 大排面 - I was expecting pork rib but came a pork cutlet which was all the better cos it was easy to eat mah hehe.. the pork cutlet was not too bad but the noodle was too soft and soup a bit bland lah..

干煸四季豆 - nicely stir-fried, retaining the moist within the vege (not as dry as what I have tasted at other restaurants before). A bit spicy due to the chilli, and too salty for me too.. hehe..

Total cost: S$48.80 for the above including chinese tea (S$1/pax). Will go back again!

Australia Day 17-19 (Sun-Tue 14-16 Dec: Port Campbell to Melbourne to Sydney)

2008-12-22T22:08:00.014+08:00

Weather was cloudy and windy. Drizzling too ;(

Planning to leave early Port Campbell at 8am for Melbourne so we had a quick cereal breakfast and packed the bread to eat along the way. We had planned to drive from Port Campbell all the way through the Great Ocean Road to Melbourne (passing by Apollo Bay and Lorne) but the staff at the Information Centre said that there were rock falls due to rain in between Apollo Bay and Lorne (which apparently is the best scenic drive route!). Given that we both are not steady drivers (ahahha!!), we decided to just head to Melbourne loh..

Along the way heading towards Geelong, the sun came out! So we make a detour back to go Great Ocean Road via the Anglesea route. Given the time limit, we could only do part of the Great Ocean Road and so the furthest point we drove to was Lorne. Aiyah.. better than nothing loh.. this way, we have an "excuse" to go back some day mah hahaha!

Great Ocean Road "entrance"
Part of GOR

Anyway, I lang-gah the car when making a sharp U-turn hahah!! Blind spot lah! Paiseh!! But fortunately, we need not pay damages as we had bought the max. insurance coverage ;p *sigh*... another adventure eh??!!

OOooopss!

We reached Melbourne city at about 2+pm to return the car. Though the city is well planned in a grid like manner, driving certainly wasn't easy! We were going round and round looking for the hotel we have booked, and what made it worse was finding parking near the hotel. We finally got a spot but it only allowed a 5min parking round the corner where the hotel was! So we had to "cheong" to check-in, put down the luggages then rush out to get the car. It was really a huge sign of relief when we finally got to Hertz!

Accommodation - Pensione Hotel AUD100/night through the wotif "secret deal". Room #333 (3rd floor on a 3-storey hotel). Rather new modern boutique hotel along Spencer St within the Melbourne CBD. Room size was small but fine for sleep, BUT the bathroom was soooooo tiny!!! All time winner of the "smallest toilet we've ever seen" hahaha! The basin was amazingly tiny and with the shelve above the basin, it was not possible to even brush the teeth properly haha!! The standing shower did not have curtains too so the bathroom mat would get all wet. Rating: 6.5/10.

Pensione Hotel external
Room with toilet on the left behind the sliding glass door.

Super small bathroom

Then, we had to "cheong" to Queen Victoria Market hahha!! It was a Sunday when we arrived in Melbourne and because QVM does not open on Mondays and we were going to leave on Tuesday, that was our only chance at QVM. By the time we reached, we only had 1.5hr ;( Also, personally, I think it was quite a disappointment leh.. undoubtedly, QVM is huge but I felt it was like a "pasar malam". We didn't buy anything at all... :(

We went to Chinatown for dinner. We were told we have to try the vietnamese noodles and so we did at this one which had lots of pictures the owner took of big stars like Jackie Chan, Sumo Hung and don't remember who else hahah!! Quite authentic I must say, but we think a lot of MSG went into it cos we both got really thirsty after that ;p

Shop front
Our noodles - yum actually!
Pork chop

The next day was the only and last day we had in Melbourne so we could only do sightseeing around the CBD area loh.. the furthest we went to was Docklands where we had buffet lunch at The New Quay - for AUD25 nett, the buffet was well-worth it ;) Certainly better than Jupiters Casino (Gold Coast)

Horse carriage
St Paul's Church
Federation Square
Buffet @ New Quay
Desserts!

On the day of return, we booked airport shuttle Skybus http://www.skybus.com.au/ which cost AUD15/pax (door-to-door). We flew Virgin Blue from Melbourne to Sydney (AUD79/pax) before connecting to international flight back to Singapore. Return flight to Singapore was on A380! We sat on the Upper Deck hehe!

Bigger screen with more features including word or excel program, photo viewing etc

Compartment by the side of the window seat

Australia Day 16 (Sat 13 Dec: Healesville to Port Campbell)

2008-12-18T22:14:00.011+08:00

Again, weather was rainy, rainy and rainy ;(

Breakfast was Beechworth Bakery (at Healesville), which apparently is the best bakery in Australia. I don't know how to rate as we only tried the savory scorn and coffee. But one thing we were sure was the items were not cheap haha! Like the scorn we had, it cost AUD2.45 each.

Call me "mountain tortoise" but I was impressed that such gadget was used to inform customers that their orders were ready for collection. Any of such in Singapore?

Cherry factory we passed by at don't know where hahaha!!

Then we started our journey again to Port Campbell, a long drive passing through the suburb of Melbourne. Using the GPS, it directed us through the toll way!! We only realised it when we were on the freeway! Jialart! Kena fine liao! Haha!

The moment we reached Port Campbell, we headed to its Information Centre and asked about the paying for the toll. The staff wasn't sure but said we could pay at any post office and so off we went to the nearby post office. Fortunately, we were told that we would be fine so as long as pay within 3 days of using the toll. *Phew*! (We bought the pass on the internet at AUD11.90. Other means include phone or at any post office)

Accommodation - Port Bayou B&B AUD110 including breakfast. Hmm.. nice spacious cosy room which was part of the owner's house except that the entrance to this B&B was independent of the main house. The owners were not around when we got there but saw a notice to call and we did. They had left the key on the door and hence we could access. In terms of location, it is very near to the town centre - just few minutes walk. Rating: 7/10.

Bed & storage space
Toilet
Pre-prepared breakfast. The bread was soft & good!

Though it was raining, we had no choice but to still head out to Port Campbell and visit the places of interest (in case weather condition did not improve the next day). Everything was done in a rush because it was COLD! Raining and windy! So, it was just snap & go! We'd like to return some day and do a proper visit, with walks ;)

12 Apostles
Lord Ard
Blowhole
Fallen London Bridge

Australia Day 15 (Fri 12 Dec: Holbrook to Healesville)

2008-12-18T22:12:00.007+08:00

Weather was rainy, rainy and rainy ;(

Woke up at 5.30am. Hubby told me we forgot to retrieve from the lousy car the Mandarin albums I borrowed from my cousin - jia lart! There was no way we could get it before we leave Holbrook so we thought we could come back after getting a replacement car.

6.30am - Keith and his wife picked up us from the motel and drove us to Albury. They even checked up where Hertz was and wanted to drive us to where the company was but they were going to be late for the doctor's appointment and hence dropped us along Young Street where Hertz might be (the street was a long long street). We sent Keith a thank you email when we got back to Singapore.

We reached Albury about 7.10am and then went to look for breakfast before we went Hertz (since it would not open so early anyway). Found Hertz and then got our replacement car within half an hour! I suppose this could be considered a good service?

Toyota (Aurion) - the trusted brand!

Anyway, I decided to not head back for the CDs cos the return journey would take us >1.5hrs.. on top of the drive from Albury to Healesville which would take another 3.5hrs. I hope my cousin would not kill me ;p SORRY, KC!!

Accommodation - Maroondah View Motel AUD96/night for a Queen Room. Simple, moderate size room with very small standing shower area (probably about 1x1m ;p). Ok lah, except that the location was slightly off the main Healesville town centre (gota drive about 2.5km). View would have been better if not for the rain and fog. Oh, the (old styled) aircon was really loud & noisy! Rating - 6.5/10.

Front of motel

Queen room

Toilet

Healesville is known for its zoo named Healesville Sanctuary. As it was raining, we didn't visit the zoo but just drove there to have a look. Think the admission was AUD23 per pax.

Healesville Sanctuary entrance

Dinner was pizza & chicken wings from Sanctuary Park Pizza. You should see the generous spread of ingredients they put onto the pizza which cost only AUD10 for any large pizza!

Australia Day 14 (Thu 11 Dec: Berkeley to Wollongong to Holbrook)

2008-12-18T22:10:00.007+08:00

Weather was rainy in Berkeley and Wollongong. Sunny beginning mid day along the way and in Holbrook.

After breakfast at Mac, Zee went to return the 8-seater, while hubby and I went to pick up another car (also from Hertz) to continue our journey to Victoria. Zee used his dad's car and drove my uncle and family back to Sydney airport to return to Singapore.

We were assigned a Hyundai Elantra and happily drove off cos it had a cruise control mode (good for long journey). Then, KNS, the car broke down in between Holbrook and Albury (about 5hrs drive from Wollongong)!!!! Actually our destination for the night was to be Beechworth, another 1.5hr drive from where our car broke down! And the spot where the car stalled was the "best" - just about 2-3m from a dead wombat (road kill) - smelly lah!!

Can you see the dead wombat in front of the car?

We didn't even know where we were except we were on Hume Highway (a VERY VERY long highway) so we couldn't tell the Hertz roadside assistant we rang. No choice, I had to flag down cars travelling along the highway (nope, I didn't roll up my pants hahaha!!). A group of Highway workers in a vehicle stopped and told us exactly where we were. In fact, there were a few more good guys who stopped by and asked if there was anything they could help, and even asked if we had food and water etc. Aaawwww.. So nice of them!

Anyway, we waited for almost an hour before the mechanic came (it was 6.25pm). He said it was an engine problem and there was nothing he could do on the spot and hence called the nearest tow truck service from Holbrook (about 15min drive, vs Albury which would be about 30min drive).

Mechanic checking on our car - want to buy 4D or not? Car # 312 hahaha!!

As the Hertz car rental companies have closed by then, there was no way we could get a replacement car. So, no choice, we had to follow the tow guy back to Holbrook. The tow guy was another nice chap. He dropped the stoooopid car off at his repair garage and drove us to the nearest accommodation (diagonally across the repair garage) which he said was not bad.

We were both really pissed off at what happened! KNS! No more Hyundai cars!!! Arrrghhh!! I don't know why, but I was really really upset at the whole incident! It just disrupted my plan, and spoilt my holiday! Thank God for his angels again - I called up the accommodation I had booked at Beechworth (The Rose Cottage), told the owner what happened and that there was no way I could stay there for the night. I took the chance to ask if he would still charge me for no-show, and he assured he wouldn't (was to be AUD110 B&B). Phew!!

Accommodation - Jolly Swagman Motor Inn (Holbrook) AUD98/night. As it was a motel, we didn't have high expectation and were happy to be able to stay anywhere so long as it was decent and not too expensive. We were surprised to see the nicely managed motel, from the warmth hospitality to a classy reception and spacious bedroom! Rating - 8/10, more for the friendly service! Read on..

Motel sign
Motel front
Reception
Bedroom
Bedroom
Toilet
Restaurant

We told the couple who owned the motel, Keith and his wife about our situation, and that we needed to head to Albury where the nearest Hertz was. Coincidentally, Keith told us he needed to send his wife to the hospital in Albury the next day and could offer us a ride! Thank God! Though it was very early, like 6.30am, we were really grateful! Wouldn't know how to manage without transport (it would take 40min driving at 110km/h from Holbrook to Albury)!

We also paiseh, so we settled for in-room dinner from the motel. Homemade soup, swaggie pies and calamari cost us AUD34 - not cheap but we just wanted to give ourselves a treat after the stressful situation!

Australia Day 12 & 13 (Tue & Wed 9 & 10 Dec: Robertson to Wollongong, Kiama and Berkeley)

2008-12-18T22:06:00.011+08:00

Weather was sunny but turned cool by evening.

We checked out after lunch (again, thanks to Zee's dad's friend who extended the check out hours, which otherwise would be 10am), and left Cedar Mist for our next place of accommodation at Berkeley.

Accommodation - Pilgrim Lodge (Nan Tien Temple, the biggest temple in Wollongong). AUD85/night for a double room and AUD140/night for a family room comprising 1 double bed and 2 singles. My uncle and his family are buddhists so hubby and I stayed for convenience.. hehe.. Nice, clean rooms. The total area where Nan Tien Temple stood was about 50 acres, given by the government apparently.

Pilgrim Lodge reception

Double room - narrow bed lah..

Small TV in double room

Shower in Double room

After settling in, we headed out to Mt Kiera Lookout and the Kiama (pronounced as "ka-ear-ma") Blow Hole as well as Sea Cliff Bridge. Dinner was at Zee's parents, who cooked us sumptuous vegetarian dinner.

Mt Kiera Lookout

Kiama Blow Hole - not enough water leh..

Sea Cliff Bridge

Christmas decorations by the residents near where Zee stays. I thought this was fantastic and gave it the "winner" title until.....

This was amazing I tell you!! This has to be the "all time winner" hahaha!! It was such an extensive decoration!! We were all very impressed! The owners said these were collected over >10years! Whoa!!

Close-up
Close-up

The next day, Zee's dad came around in Nan Tien Temple and gave us a tour round the place. Zee's dad is a volunteer at the Temple.. Lunch was vegetarian food at the temple and then we went to the Wollongong town centre to buy nuts. Zee's dad also bought some fishes and brought us to feed pelicans. Paiseh.. dinner was at Zee's parents' place again haha!! This time was finger food - homemade rojak, banana walnut muffins and savoury rolls (with olive!). Nice!! Forgot to take pictures.. hehe

Feeding the pelicans

Australia Day 10 & 11 (Sun & Mon 7 & 8 Dec: Jamberoo Mountains)

2008-12-08T13:52:00.011+08:00

Weather was cloudy in Sydney. We drove down South of Sydney to Southern Highlands.

Lunch was at Zen Oasis, a vegetarian restaurant halfway to the Southern Highlands (about 1.5hr from Sydney). Buffet cost AUD28/pax. Nice food, reasonable price ;)

Outside Zen Oasis
Inside the restaurant
Salad
Food & dessert

Then we went to the supermarket at a town called Bowral before we continue to drive up the Jamberoo Mountains to our place of accommodation.

Accommodation - Cedar Mist AUD300/night/cottage which comprised 3 bedrooms (2 with king beds and 1 with 2 singles + 3 rollaway beds). This was a special price that Zee's dad's friend gave. Normal price was AUD400+ or more depending on the season. Great place for retreat and bonding! Well, it was "meet-the-parents" or rather "bonding" for Zee with my uncle and auntie hahah so this was really a good opportunity. Totally out of civilisation (30min drive to the foot of the mountain). Saw kookaburas and few other bird species just outside our cottage and wild kangaroos too just a few minutes drive from our cottage. Rating: 8/10. Highly recommended!

Very big area right? Enough for everyone to run wild! Haha!

Master bedroom
Kitchen. See the table full of stuff? That was the amount we bought for a 2N stay haha!! Cost AUD150 but good for 5 meals for 7 persons.

Living area which has superb comfortable sofa!

Wild kangaroo not far from Cedar Mist. They are good at staring, you know?!!

Next day - After breakfast, Zee drove us to Fitzroy Falls where we took a short walk. By the time we went back, it was 2+ before we prepared lunch followed by rest. We stayed indoor most of the day as it was raining, but we had a good time together, preparing dinner and play card games ;)

Croissant

Fruit yoghurt

Fitzroy Falls

Lookout from Fitzroy Falls

Australia Day 8 & 9 (Fri & Sat 5 & 6 Dec: Blue Mountains to Sydney)

2008-12-08T13:49:00.009+08:00

Weather was bright & sunny at 21 degree celcius. Chilly if you are in the shade ;)

We checked out and went for brunch at Subway. Didn't know what to eat so had the same Subway stuff again hahah!! Cheap & good mah haahha!! Took train back to Sydney (AUD12.20/pax/way) and walked to our next accommodation.

Accommodation - AEA Central Serviced Apartment AUD498 (2N) for a 2-bedroom apartment + AUD30/night for a roll-away bed for my cousin. About 10-15min walking distance from the Sydney Central Railway Station, which was good. There was no supply of coffee and tea in the apartment. The worse was I felt it was such a badly engineered building! There was only ONE main aircon in the living/ dining area! Nope, there was no aircon in the bedrooms at all!! Wah liao eh... *faint*. The guy had the cheek to tell me that the aircon air would flow to the bedrooms which were on the same side of where the aircon unit was.. sorry mate, I had to totally disagree (see picture below). So, what was the purpose of the room door then? Also, I believe all the 2- and 3-bedroom apartments' bedrooms faced the courtyard where the sun came directly through, and people from units above and opposite you can look into your bedroom. Quite jia lart leh! I'm gonna give it a lashing on Tripadvisor review! Rating? 2/10 - 1 point for cleanliness, 1 point for easy access to Railway Station (not like one will be using the Railway every day anyway!). Such a disappointment!

Bedroom
Kitchenette

Dining area. See where the air-con unit is, and the corridor leading to the bedrooms. You think the air-con air will flow right, then down the corridor and into the first bedroom, then left to the next bedroom meh?)

Living room - small TV ;p
Backyard

View from balcony

One funny incident - some dumb dumb cooked sausages but burnt it and it set the fire alarm off. So all of us had to evacuate and wait for the firemen to come haha! What an adventure! We've always had fire drill but this was "real"! ;p

Dinner was Harry's pie @ Circular Quay. I read about this on Tripadvisor and requested my cousin to bring us there. They have vegetarian options so my uncle's family had pies too.. hehe!! Not too bad.. looks small but it could be very filling cos of the heap of mashed potato! With limited time, we were chauffered to Sydney Opera House - quite a happening place by night with the bars and perhaps it was a Friday night, and Kings Cross ("red light" district in Sydney)

Harry's Cafe de Wheels
Harry's pie (can't remeber how much, think about AUD6ish)

(Bars by the Opera House)

Next day, 6 Dec - Zee drove us to Haymarket, Chinatown and we walked around Darling Harbour, took a cruise to Circular Quay, walked up to The Rocks Market (things were not cheap hoh!), then ferry back to Darling Harbour (AUD5.50/way/pax). Actually, we started the walk quite late, like 11am which was the hottest time of the day! Last stop in Sydney was to Paddy's Market and then to Newtown for Thai vegetarian dinner (recommended by Zee as well), as my uncle and family are vegetarians. Not too bad!!

Haymarket

Paddy's Market

Pyrmont Bridge - rotating for show only on weekends.

Tadah! Sydney Opera House (taken on ferry)

Sydney Harbour Bridge. Apparently, every piece of it was put together by hand hoh!

The Rocks market - more classy compared to Hay ;p

Christmas "chairs" at The Rocks

Green Palace Thai Vegetarian at Newtown

Tom yam soup

Pad thai

Didn't capture photos of all dishes and some photos abit blur so didn't put them up.. hehe..

Australia Day 6 & 7 (Wed & Thu 3 & 4 Dec: Gold Coast to Blue Mountains)

2008-12-08T13:46:00.015+08:00

Weather at Gold Coast was another great sunny day. Weather at BM was sunny yet chilly when we arrived about 6pm (about 20-22 degree celcius).

After we checked out of Meriton, we drove to Gold Coast Airport or Coolangatta Airport to return the car as well as take a domestic flight back to Sydney. Virgin Blue cost AUD59/pax. Realised that the domestic flights in Australia were not on time one... Our flight was supposed to depart 1205pm but it was already 12.25pm when I typed this sentence. Sianzzzz! We got worried for another of our domestic flight from Melbourne back to Sydney two weeks later.. cos we were scheduled to connect to international flight back to Singapore. Jia lart man!! Finally, the flight departed at 1.40pm, and we reached Sydney at 2.40pm (think they flew faster hehe).

Self check-in & print boarding pass

I didn't know the domestic flight has inflight entertainment too but of course gotta pay lah haha!!

Reached Sydney. Bought the CityRail train ticket from Domestic Airport to Katoomba (where Blue Mountains were). Cost AUD25/pax/way (gotta change train/platform at Sydney Central Station). 2-hour ride but enjoyed the mountain views. After driving for 6 days, I could rest! Heheh!!

Sydney Central Train platform

Inside the train cabin. Not new but we were surprised that the seats could be pulled over to change the direction.

Accommodation - Kurrara Historical Guest House AUD80/night for the Bluebell Ensuite Room we booked. Very small room, little room to walk but alright for sleep lah.. Free wireless, free coffee/ tea anytime from its dining area. Oh, TV not included in this room but we can go to its main TV lounge. Good for the price we paid. Quite an enchanted classic house - literally 'historical' haha (>100YO)!

My only gripe was the distance from the Katoomba Train Station. Well, technically, it wasn't that far, say about 15-20min walk but with a 7kg backpack on each of us, plus the route was up and down slope, it definitely "looked" further than it was as indicated on the map!

Main entrance

Common area
TV room
Dining room
Bluebell room
Bluebell room toilet

Our "in-room" dinner. Too small and no table space for proper dining lah.. so sit on the floor loh.. hehe

Day 7 - Thu 4 Dec: The weather in the early morning was cloudy and it drizzled so it was darn COLD!! 11 degrees celcius! Frankly we didn't expect this weather. The owner of the Guest House said it snowed about 1 week ago!

Anyway, we headed out early to do the Hop-on-Hop-Off Trolley Tour Bus that brought us around 29 attractions in Katoomba and nearby town called Leura. The all day bus cost AUD20/day/pax, with commentary from the driver (pretty soft actually and we couldn't catch everything cos of accent as well ;p). We topped up AUD18/pax that included 2 rides in Scenic World - Railway and Cableway. We also did bush walks which burnt some fats off me so I could eat more hahaha!

Our subway breakfast (1ft AUD6ish + AUD3 for coffee which yucks ;p)

Trolley bus
Leura Falls.
Toilet within the park, for caveman hhaha! Kidding!
The famous 3 sisters. Know the legend? Read below..

Errr.. can read if you click it?? Haha!

Giant steps. Aiyoh so steep!! Can you see me hanging onto my dear life on the railings hahah!

Scenic World with 3 naked sisters & dad hahah!

Scenic cableway

Scenic railway - steepest incline 52 degree

By noon, the sun came out and the temperature was 18 degree celcius. Soooo much better! We took the bus to the neighbourhood town called Leura, a quaint charming town for a bite - beef chunky pie, coffee and shortbread.. hehe..

Leura town

Then we went back to the Guest House for a rest before dinner in town. I was so reluctant to go out cos the sun went hiding again! We settled for something quick - hamburgers & fried prawns haha! AUD20.40 for the meal.

Fish & chips dinner

We went back to the Guest House for a cup of coffee and met the owner as well as a Canadian couple in their 60s. The Canadian couple was very funny actually haha! The husband used to be a Geography teacher in Ontario but has since retired 7 years ago. We had a good time exchanging each other's culture (Singapore-Canada-Australia). Had a great chat for almost 2hrs before we all went back to our rooms.

Australia Day 4 & 5 (Mon & Tue 1 & 2 Dec: Coffs Harbour to Gold Coast)

2008-12-08T13:41:00.015+08:00

Weather - Sunny & cool! Another great weather!

Hubby went out to buy Subway breakfast at AUD3.95 which included a 6-inch bacon & egg sandwich + coffee (forgot to take picture).

Then we headed to Gold Coast but stopped for a lunch break at a small town called Ballina (break the 4-hr drive journey). This "box" of fried rice cost AUD10.90. Hubby didn't like it cos too bland for his salty taste bud haha!

Our first meal of rice after 3 days in Australia

Accommodation - Meriton Gold Coast AUD99/night through wotif.com. Room #1214 (asked for high floor). Very new fully-contained serviced apartments. Parking at AUD10/night. Apparently, part of the building was still being constructed and hence the "pre-opening" offer. Well, we didn't hear any construction noise at all with the doors shut. It was really value for money! I LOVE every single piece in the apartment! Aiyoh!!! I told my hubby I wanna stay put, and not go back to Singapore. So, friends, please come visit me in Gold Coast hahhaha!! Well, I guess the next best substitute was to make our next house in Singapore similar to Meriton hahaha!! OOnnzz!! Anyway, very highly recommended if you could still get this deal. Within few minutes walk to shopping malls, and behind the building was a police station (safe right? hahah!) Rating: 8.5/10

View from our balcony
Bedroom - very comfy bed!
Living room
Laundrette

Kitchenette
Pool

Gym

We went out to the beach (Broadbeach) which was about 5min walk from the apartment. Then went to the nearby supermarket to get dinner. Since it was an apartment with a full kitchenette, we decided we could do some light cooking. So we bought a can of soup, chicken & bacon carbonara, a whole chicken (medium size) and some cherries. Total cost AUD21.40. Not exactly cheap but good to be "home" for "home-cooked food" hahaha!! After dinner, we let the dishwasher clean up our crockery.. first time using it.. hehe

Dinner was pasta salad, one whole grilled chicken and beef chunky soup

Next day after breakfast at the balcony, we drove to Purlingbrook Falls @ Springbrook. Technically, the drive time was to be about 35min but because we were negotiating mountains (imagine Genting/ Cameron), it took us an hour to reach there haha!! Safety more important mah..hoh.. hehe.. To enjoy the best part of the Falls, there was a 4km circuit route through the mountains. Great experience but tired out by the end of the 1.5hr walk (return) - our first exercise on this trip haha! Within Springbook there was a "Best of all Lookout" (another 0.6km return).

Our breakfast at the balcony
Purlington Falls from front
The Falls from the back - super cooling especially after the exercise ha!

We had wanted to visit Mt Tambourine (think about 30min drive from Springbrook?) as well but didn't have time cos it was way past lunch time when we finished our mountain climbing. So we went to this Fudge Shop nearby the Falls and bought 2 pcs (AUD3.80 each). Wah liao... damn sweet!! It was really really very sweet! Haha!

The Fudge Shop

Went back apartment to have a rest and freshen up before we took the monorail (AUD2/pax/ride) from Oasis Shopping Centre to Conrad Jupiters, a hotel with a casino within. Not that we were going to gamble but just to have a look. We settled for its buffet dinner at AUD39.95/pax. Ate lots of prawns! Overall the food was ok, not that fantastic ;)

Australia Day 3 (Sun 30 Nov: Port Macquarie to Coffs Harbour)

2008-12-04T15:28:00.008+08:00

Weather - Sunny & cool! Great weather!

Our in-room breakfast. Basic, but good enough to fill our stomachs. 4 slices of bread (with jam & butter), cereal with milk & beverages (the coffee was bad haha!)

After breakfast, we checked out and headed to the Koala Hospital, a sanctuary for injured koalas (free entry). Small little place with a few koalas. Really cute! The volunteer said they don't encourage people to carry koalas as they have really sharp nails. Fact of the day: did you know that koalas have 2 thumbs and 3 fingers on each hand? Hehe..

We left Koala Hospital after 30min and headed to a market bazaar along Hastings River Drive where we hung around for another 30min as well.

Then we drove up to Coffs Harbour (about 2.5hrs). We reached Coffs Harbour at about 1pm, checked in and walked out to the nearby town centre for lunch.

Accommodation - Toreador Motel AUD75/night. Room #3 - Ground floor, undercover parking. Cheap right? So cannot complain loh hahah!! It was supposed to come with free wireless but we couldn't connect to the network successfully for very long. So lousy haha!! Rating: 5/10

External view

Room - this was supposed to be the "refurbished" room. Well, it was clean, just small and old furniture

Our lunch - The Beef Bistro. 9 options of lunches at only AUD9.95 each, ranging from beef to chicken and pasta. Included in the price was a drink each as well, either a beer, wine or soft drink. We ordered a beef and chicken - not too bad lah..

Tex-Mex Grilled Chicken

Rump steak (200g)

Thereafter, we walked around the little town centre.. again, most shops were closed already leh... good life eh? Hehe.. We went to supermarket to get fruits again. Passed by a cheesecake shop and so picked up one as well.

We went back for a short nap before we drove out for dinner @ Hog's Breath. We ordered their specialty prime beef (traditional cut), a beef & potato soup and a drink to share. Bill came to AUD46.40. Supper was cheesecake which wasn't very good leh.. ;(

Forgot to take picture before we split the share ;p
Beef & potato soup - yummy chunky beef

Australia Day 2 (Sat 29 Nov: Port Stephens to Port Macquarie)

2008-12-04T15:27:00.009+08:00

Weather - Cool & sunny, then cloudy, afterwhich passing showers in the late morning.

Checked out by 10am and left for town to look for breakfast. Nice little town centre. We bought coffee and some bakery items, then took our car to Shoal Bay. The Sydney custom officer said there was a fantastic lookout at Shoal Bay so off we went. We reached and found the lookout, BUT it was a lookout on top of a hill leh!! My goodness!!! I was expecting some breakwater lookout leh hahaha!! Anyway, it rained!! So we were stucked in the car and ate our breakfast in the car loh hhaha!!

Tomaree Lookout right at the top of the hill

The drive from Port Stephens to Port Macquarie took about 4hrs (we stopped for a rest at a small town called Bulahdelah). So, by the time we reached Port Macquarie, most shops have closed! (Weekend lah - they close by 4/5pm).

Town: Bulahdelah

Accommodation - Best Western Lord St Motel AUD99/night with continental room service breakfast. Room #105 - Ground floor, opp. the Reception.Room was great! Though small but modern. Very relaxing hehee.. Free wireless internet too! Very good value! Rating: 7/10

External view across the Lord St

Bedroom (can sleep up to 4)

After settling in, we drove out to nearby beaches for walks then went to look for dinner in the main town centre. Errr... by then, not many choices of food as well so we bought seafood platter. Aiyoh, very hugh servings! We regretted ordering 2! Haha!!

Our dinner

On our way to supermarket which was near the port, some guys were feeding pelicans with fish bones. Very big pelicans!! If you stretch the fellow from its head to toe, it'd probably be as tall (or short haha) as I am! Haha!

Pelicans feeding by the port

Australia Day 1 (Fri 28 Nov: arrive Sydney, then to Port Stephens)

2008-12-04T15:23:00.010+08:00

Weather - Cool with sun, then passing showers in the afternoon and evening.

We picked up our car direct from the Sydney International Airport. We booked through vroomvroomvroom.com - cost AUD238 for 5 days without insurance. Being 1st time drivers in Australia, we decided to purchase the insurance that give max coverage at AUD35/day. This was more expensive than car rental itself but with this, it meant that we need not be liable for any damages hehe... We had ordered a basic compact auto Toyota Hatch (smallest in the category) but were told it was not available so they gave us a free upgrade to Toyota Sportivo! Great car, but tad too big for just 2 persons lah hahah!! Of course this meant more fuel consumption. Think a full tank would easily cost us AUD60-70!

Anyway, we took the car and relied on the printed map I had, and attempted to drive to my cousin's place in the suburb (Homebush Bay). Wah liao eh... by right, the drive should only take 35min but it took us 2hrs! KNS! Somemore, we didn't manage to find her place! We were going round and round some Highway, then managed to get near Homebush Bay but it was the business park. In the end, we decided to just stop and call for help! Hahah!! We called my cousin's bf (Zee, who just got off work) and he came round to find us and brought us to their place, which was only 5min away from where we were stranded! Sigh... Quite an adventure but a very stressful one! The signs in Sydney were really not enough to get you around if you are new. I'm not kidding!

Patiently waiting in the car for Zee's rescue at Bombay St

After a late lunch at 4pm, we headed up to Port Stephens, our next destination. Thank God for Zee and his GPS! It was our lifeline!!! We managed our way to Port Stephens but it was late.. almost 9pm (part of the delay was because of peak hours in Sydney + it was raining!). Though it was summer and daylight was longer, it wasn't a very pleasant experience driving in the dark (small roads without lamps leh...). We really thank God for keeping us safe! By then, we were too tired to do anything, not even dinner!

Accommodation - Marina Resort Nelson Bay AUD99/night. Room # 007 - Ground floor, 2nd room next to the Reception. Rating: 5/10Cheap accommodation so didn't expect much. Basic, and room is spacious but seriously need to be refurbished. Found 2 dying crickets in the bathroom haha!

External view - very old! Needs refurbishment!

Bedroom

Toilet

Australia, Australia, Here I Come!! (28 Nov - 16 Dec)

2008-11-27T11:08:00.003+08:00

Yours sincerely will be heading downunder for 19 days! I need a good break lah.. hehe.. Anyway, many have asked where exactly I'm going. So, here's my itinerary. I will try to blog if I have time and if there's free wireless haha!!

28 Nov - Arrive Sydney, drive to Port Stephens (1N)

29 Nov - Drive Port Stephens -> Port Macquarie (1N)

30 Nov - Drive Port Macquarie -> Coffs Harbour (1N)

1 Dec - Drive Coffs Harbour -> Gold Coast (2N)

3 Dec - Fly Gold Coast -> Sydney -> train to Blue Mountains (2N)

5 Dec - Back Sydney to meet family (2N)

7-11 Dec - Family trip down to Wollongong and surroundings (4N)

11 Dec - Drive to Beechworth (1N)

12 Dec - Drive Beechworth -> Healesville (1N)

13 Dec - Drive Healesville -> Port Campbell (1N)

14 Dec - Drive Port Campbell -> Melbourne (2N)

16 Dec - Fly Melbourne -> Sydney -> Singapore ;(

Ok, that's it! Byeeeeee!!!

Ishikawa Japanese Restaurant (26 Oct)

2008-10-26T22:44:00.005+08:00

My hubby chanced upon this Japanese restaurant located at Bukit Timah Shopping Centre. After reading up some reviews on hungrygowhere.com, we decided to give it a try as all of its 6 reviews gave very good rating. So, it was lunch after service today.

We ordered 2 noodle sets and 2 ala-carte dishes, and total amount came up to S$49.10 after 10% discount off the ala-carte dishes (DBS credit card). Frankly, we didn’t think it was worth the amount nor were the food as good as they were reviewed. So it was quite a disappointment ;( Have a look below:

Maguro Tataki S$10: 5 slices of tuna with the edges slightly cooked – it was only so-so, not fantastically sweet.

Kaki fry S$10: 6 pcs of fried oyster – over-cooked and hence the oysters were dry and not sweet at all. The batter was a bit too salty for my liking. So far, I find the fried oysters at Tonkichi one of the best ;)

Tori Teriyaki RamenS$12.80 – teriyaki chicken with ramen. The noodle wasn’t ‘springy’ at all, probably over-cooked and the teriyaki chicken wasn’t worth praises either ;p

Ishikawa Special Ramen (I changed it to Udon) – came with 2 grilled prawns with wasabi mayonnaise, and thin pork slices. The prawns were not warm when served. The only saving grace was the thin pork slices and I like it only because they were ‘sweet’ haha!!

When we came home to double check the information on the website (just to be sure it was the right restaurant we went to which the reviewers raved about), we found the recommended dish to be their special maki (something like what Sushi Tei offers eg. Dragon maki).

BTW, the ocha and wet towels are complimentary items. The owner also served us complimentary vege sticks as starters, which otherwise costs S$3 (or S$5, can’t remember).

Anyway, don’t think we will go back again ;(

Starry Starry Stars...

2008-10-17T08:55:00.007+08:00

Mediacorp came to campus for filming. Chinese drama to be telecast in Feb 09. Request was made through my office so I had the chance to bring the crew to the location. Other than a group of young calefares, the only actor who came was Shaun Chen - Michelle Chia's BF and soon-to-be hubby next year ;) Very charming man hehee!!!

I forgot to bring camera and so could only take a picture using my mobile haha!! Before the filming started, Shaun did talk to me BUT after we ended our short conversation, I walked away!! Darn!! I realised I could have prolonged our conversation but shy lah and didn't know what to say at that point in time! Darn!!! Needless to say, I missed the chance to take a photo with him too! Arrgggghhh!!! Actually, very paiseh to request also lah... not like I'm still in my teens, so no longer that garang anymore!!

I think I need someone to nudge me. There was once my hubby and I met 刘青云 and his wife (err.. can't recall her name right now but I like her!!) at Far East Plaza. They were asking for directions to a famous chicken rice stall with the Plaza. After we told them and went away, I hesitated very long and it was my hubby who encouraged me to turn back and get signature from them hahaha!!

Anyway, Mediacorp has a few more scenes to do on campus. One coming up next week but I don't know who the artistes will be. This time, I must arm myself with camera! Haha!!

Hai Tien Lo Brunch Buffet (24 Aug)

2008-08-31T11:08:00.011+08:00

Yoohoo!! Another yummy buffet. Ala carte style. $58++ per pax from 11.30am to 2.30pm. But I tell you, it was really worth it. Every cent of it! I'm not kidding! Better than One-Ninety at Four Seasons Hotel haha!!

Went with Yen and Stephane, on his birthday - a coincidence actually hehe.. The company was great of course, especially since we could try more dishes with more people mah... hehe... So here are some pictures. The menu has many many many items including tim sum and chinese delicacies hehee... SHIOK!! Well worth a return. All who are reading this, please GO! HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!

view from the 37th floor, Pan Pacific Hotel, Marina Square

3 of us. Yen and Stephane were all dressed up! Didn't even warn us!! My hubby and I were in t-shirt and jeans haha! Fortunately, we were not the worst dressed. Someone came in berms and one in shorts (probably a hotel guest lah...)

佛跳墙 - fantastic! Like double-boiled, so it was very fragrant!

Sharks fins - all the better! There was more than enough for me!! This is the first time I come across a restaurant who is just so so so so generous with the amount of sharks fins!! I'm not kidding! By the way, one can only choose between the 佛跳墙 or sharks fins hoh... and only one serving.. hehe..

Bird's nest egg tart. One serving and one per person only hehe... smooth egg tart - bird's nest ok lah..

Lobster dumpling - one each too. Can't tell whether it was prawn or lobster inside. But very fresh and crunchy lah.. ;)

Sea perch with preserved vegetable (梅菜) - very nice!! Fresh fish and the 梅菜 is not too salty! We ordered a 2nd round ;)

Cod fish... errrmm.. can't remember cooked with what haha! But nice, of course!

Diced beef - Stephane didn't take it too well. He said too sweet haha!! The beef's tender but I find it a bit salty.

Wasabi prawns

Tofu and mushroom. Very smooth tofu!!

Fried white bait fish. Stephane's favourite! Quite nice actually but the dish that came 2nd time was "too fried" and so too crunchy - like eating keropok haha! But I like leh.. hah!

Roast pork and duck
宫保 Monkey head mushroom. Those who have not tried, monkey head mushroom has a texture similar to that of meat! They are quite expensive in vegetarian restaurants.

Fried beancurd skin with I can't remember what's inside haha!! Tasted like fish cake within so nothing unusual. We call it a dish that wasted our tummy space haha!!

虾饺 - very fresh ingredients
焼卖
Errr.. some vege & scallop? Can't remember haha!
北京饺子
Vege with lily buds and wolfberries - good for eyes haha!!
Pan-fried chee cheong fun. Tasteless on its own so it came with a sauce. Nothing spectacular lah.. err.. this was another "waste tummy space dish" hahaha!!

Ohhh!! These prawns were the bestest of best! VERY FRESH AND SWEET!! AND BIG TOO!! Haha!! It took quite a while before these were served so we didn't get to re-order. Anyway, we were all quite stuffed with food already haha!!

Spring onion garoupa. Fish was fresh but plain lah..

Garoupa (again haha!) cooked with century egg in supreme soup. I had expected it to be better given that it was "supreme soup" mah but quite plain also... hehe

Finally, desserts!! Of course there were more than just these pastries. There were some Chinese style desserts which were also the only buffet dishes served for all to take, anytime.

All in all, the meal was superb!! As you can see, we had lots and lots of seafood especially fishes!! Think should have enough fish oil to last us through for a month haha!!

How? Yen and Stephane? Game for a 2nd round?? Hahah!!

P/S (20 Oct 08): I realised I forgot to put how much it cost - S$58++/pax. Our damage was S$75nett/pax including tea.

6 Years! (21 Jul)

2008-07-26T15:38:00.013+08:00

Yes, we’ve been married for 6 years! Not too long nor is it short.

We took ½ day leave to go "park-tor". Watched "Dark Knight", sipped coffee, go shopping at Vivocity before heading to Four Seasons Hotel for ala carte dinner buffet at its One-Ninety restaurant. We came to know about this from someone else’s website hehe..

For S$52++, the “Smaller Bites” buffet allows one to choose from 30 dishes of appetizers and main courses (ranging from cod fish to lobster and foie gras) as well as 9 different types of desserts. You can take a look at its menu from http://www.fourseasons.com/singapore/menu_120.html.

It’s called “Smaller Bites” for a good reason – all of its dishes are really of bite size per serving. Given the variety, it was quite a pity that 2 of us couldn’t savour everything on the menu but we did try all the 9 types of desserts, which I especially reserved stomach space haha!! Perhaps we had too high an expectation, we felt there were only a few good dishes and desserts deserving of our praises ;p. The best of all? WARM CHOCOLATE CAKE!! I had 2!! Yum yum!!!

Anyway, I gained more than just a dinner treat from my hubby. He sent a bunch of flowers to my office, bought me a BIG watch and a new moo-moo wallet. What did I give my hubby? Errrr…. Nothing! Hahaha!!! OOppss..!!

KL again (28 Jun-1 Jul)

2008-07-26T14:50:00.010+08:00

Another KL trip, the 2nd this year. This time round, my hubby found a website introducing the kopitiam/ hawker style makan places from http://www.journeymalaysia.com/M2_foodkl.htm.

We reached KL close to 3pm cos there was a slight jam at the Tuas Checkpoint, all thanks to Mr Selamat. We wanted to eat lunch at Weng Heng Coffee Shop (one end of Jalan Imbi, opposite Honda Showroom), which was said to serve the best pork ball noodles, Penang kway teow and popiah. Unfortunately, by the time we reached there, the stalls were already closed!! No choice, we had to eat at the coffee shop next door. We ordered chicken rice and Ipoh hor fun. Very tasty!! I love my hor fun - very smooth kuay teow and tender chicken breast meat! The wanton soup was a bit too salty for me hehee...

At least our walk from Times Square wasn’t a wasted effort. Including a bowl of wanton soup and 2 glasses of lime juice, the bill came to RM$20. Can lah… hehe…

Dinner was settled at Chinatown, Petaling Street. My hubby recommended this claypot rice – very nice! Ours was chicken + salted fish. I love the salted fish! Thinly sliced and very fragrant! Bak kut teh was another not to be missed.

We also ventured to another coffee shop, which according to the above website served “great wanton noodles with roast pork” and “yuan yang” (mix coffee and tea). So we walked all the way from Impiana (the hotel we stayed) to the end of Jalan Bukit Bintang where this coffee shop is, called Toong Kwoon Chye. It’s along Jalan Bintang, across the road from Century Hotel. Quite disappointed actually, cos nothing that special. I think my Segamat wanton noodles are better haha!! Worse is, the bill came to RM14 for 2 plates of wanton noodles and 2 glasses of cold “yuan yang”!!! Felt ripped off!! We are not misers or are stingy, just didn’t think simple dishes like these will cost so much in a coffee shop setting. Anyway, not recommended for you guys out there unless you stay nearby and wanna just give it a try ;)

The last night before our departure, we went for something more high class but were equally disappointed. It’s a Spanish restaurant called "La Bodega" at Pavilion (the newest shopping mall in KL). We ordered its tapas dinner promotion which cost RM78++ – came with 4 choices of tapas and paella (pronounced as “pa-eh-ya”). Aiyoh, these dishes REALLY CANNOT MAKE IT! So, I'll not go too much into introducing each of these dishes ;p cos these were the worst tapas dishes I’ve had before hahah!! The place I've tried really good tapas? Barcelona haha!!

Life's Simple Pleasures

2008-07-18T12:59:00.002+08:00

Something to think about:

What are some of life's simple pleasures?

What are some of your life's simple pleasures?

Are you contented with your life's simple pleasures?

Why and why not?

Please don't tell me "tour the world" hoh... cos the keyword here is "simple"!

And don't think too much into these questions. They are not trick questions

Merely to reflect on it ourselves ;)

Nanbantei (5 Jun)

2008-06-06T09:42:00.012+08:00

Someone has reviewed Nanbantei as the "Pioneer of Japanese Yakitori". Apparently, Nanbantei has been around for more than 20 years at Far East Plaza and has received many "Wine & Dine" Awards.

Hubby brought me there after he had a lunch experience. Very small humble place where all the actions are. From what we could see, it could only sit 30 pax. We suspect there is more room inside but which we couldn't see. So make sure you are there super early, or leave your name & contact with them, go take a walk & shop around while waiting for them to call.

Nanbantei's specialty is yakitori, and of all sorts ranging from vege to meat/seafood and even gingko nuts! Yes, it was the first time I've had grilled gingko nuts!! Never thought it could be done that way. I was very skeptical when I was served but the minute I put it into my mouth, I fell in love with it! The chef splatters natural sea salt on the items and I read that the charcoal they use is directly imported from Japan.

The range of items is quite good and because we don't know what to order, we took the easy way out and went for its set orders. We ordered a Set A (S$34) and Set B (S$32). Set A includes... err... don't know how many and types of sticks... My Set B came with sashimi and chef's choice of 8 sticks of yakitori. The sets came with rice and miso soup and at the end of the meal, dessert which is red bean with one piece of mochi.

-> sashimi
-> asparagus wrapped with pork + some meat
-> mushroom + lady's finger wrapped with pork
-> lady's finger + cherry tomato wrapped with pork
-> some fatty pork + don't know what meat haha!
-> fresh king prawn!
-> think that's beef + something else hahha!
-> dessert - red bean + mochi

Actually the sets weren't filling enough.. yah, not enough even for a small eater like me (well, I was hungry)... so we ordered 3 more items: oysters, salmon and squid. Most of the vege and meat ala carte items cost between S$4 to S$6 for 2 sticks. The oyster cost S$7.50 for 2 sticks which has only 2 pieces. Quite ex but it's very yummy!

oyster wrapped with pork topped with grated radish. VERY GOOD!

salmon topped with butter. we thought this dish was "so-so".

sweet juicy squid which doesn't break your jaw while trying to chew it. you know what i mean? quite a big portion - good for 3-4pax

Oh, the minute you sit down, they will serve you vege appetiser - cabbage, carrot & cucumber stick. If you don't like or don't want, you can ask the waitress to take it away cos this is chargeable. Not sure how much. No charge for green tea too. Our meal came to S$105 ;p

It's another "must-try" places I want to recommend. Perhaps try lunch first cos its set lunch prices are less expensive - less than $15 according to my hubby. I definitely will go back for lunch some day... kakis anyone??

Recommended items: asparagus wrapped with pork, oyster wrapped with pork, gingko nuts and squid.

Tonkichi (25 May)

2008-06-06T09:13:00.005+08:00

I was first introduced to Tonkichi by a couple friend few years back. It was really good! Well, according to its website http://www.pokkafood.com.sg/tonkichi/index.php, Tonkichi serves authentic Tonkatsu and claims to be the only Tonkatsu Specialty chain restaurant in Singapore.

We had lunch at one of its branches at Shaw Centre where we were heading for a movie too. They had a set lunch on promotion and so we ordered that. Can't remember if the price was S$23 per set. It came in a buttock-shaped bowl - one side filled with ramen and other salmon sashimi & tonkatsu topped on rice! Appetiser - smoked duck slices. Very nice! No duck taste at all - more like ham actually hehe!! A bit filling for small eater actually.

If the dishes you order are served with (raw) cabbage (and most do), you can ask for free refill of cabbage. So, if you feel guilty gobbling pieces of fried items, you can stuff yourself with EAT-ALL-YOUR-CAN cabbage and you can go without vege the next few days!! Hahah!!

The pork loin is really good!! MUST TRY! Here's the menu to whet your appetite!
http://www.pokkafood.com.sg/tonkichi/includes/tonki/ismenu1.php

BTW, they don't charge you for ocha and wet towels ;)

Kids or parents?

2008-05-24T22:29:00.006+08:00

Was having brunch at a cafe at Jurong Regional Library this morning. A little boy (maybe 8 years old) came by wanting to share the table with us. He asked with his most gentle and innocent look, "Is... anyone... sitting... here.. ?" I was impressed! Happy with his good manners and courtesy! He made my day :)

It's been some time since I've met any kid so well-mannered. Most of the times, yes, unfortunately, these were what I've seen:

1. Kids rushing into MRT to get seats

2. Kids with shoes standing on MRT seats

3. Kids raising their voices at their parents/ elders

4. Kids who hit their parents/ elders

5. Yelling kids or kids crying to get attention

6. (Reasonably grown up) Kids getting seats in MRT/ buses instead of parents or (aging) grandparents.

I'm sure there are more.. Do you blame the kids or the parents? I blame the parents. Ooppsss ;p

Why, why & who

2008-05-23T22:41:00.005+08:00

Took a bus ride to town today. 106 passes through the Holland and Orchard area before reaching Raffles City, my destination. Made many interesting observations on the way. If you like, you may attempt to answer some of my queries below but no crap answers please... so Mr 'boliao' Eng, you are banned! Hahaha!!

1. A girl board from opposite Singapore Poly. I presume she's still a student. She was sitting in the seat in front of mine. Saw her dark, black, curly, fake eyelashes. I wasn't sure at first until I saw her real eyelashes. Imagine two layers of eyelashes. Anyway, my question: do students nowadays put on such heavy makeup for school?? I can understand if one's attending party or perhaps has landed herself a role in a wayang theatre. But a student??? And she was dressed more formally than I am haha! If my girl becomes like this in future, I'd cane her hahah!! Joking!

2. Passed by Tanglin Mall and saw long queue of expats queuing for taxi. I've always noticed expats like to patronise Tanglin Mall. Why ar?

3. Saw a Porsche car plate number SJG1S cruised down Orchard Road. I don't know what model it is but I believe any of it is probably enough to last me half a lifetime??!!! Hahah!! Anyone knows who the owner is??? Argghh!! Tsk tsk tsk!! I'm envious! Ok, actually I'm jealous hahaha!! Kidding! ;p