hungrywanderingsamurai

The Travel Bug: Views from Tokyo Tower

2012-01-29T23:13:00.000+08:00

As earlier mentioned, we managed to make it up Tokyo Tower just in time to catch the sunset...

Heard someone saying that this road was also know as "Tokyo Tower #2" because of the way it runs.

Looks even more like the tower at night when the orange lamposts are lit and the headlights from traffic stream along it.

On clear days with good weather, you can actually see all the way to Mount Fuji.

We were really lucky, we caught the changing colors of Fuji-san as the sun went down.

Tokyo at night is really beautiful.

Posted this earlier (when I wasn't sure if I would get round to doing this post), but here's the shot of Odaiba and the Rainbow Bridge again. It was also taken from Tokyo Tower.

The Travel Bug: Tokyo Tower

2012-01-28T22:54:00.018+08:00

For some unknown reason, it never crossed the minds of *Shinta and I to go to Tokyo Tower during our many visits to Tokyo. This time round however, we were with a friend who had never been to Tokyo before, so we decided to pay a visit there.

We eventually ended up in the vicinty twice, and managed to take many different shots from different angles. The first time was still in 2011, we rushed over and managed to get there just before sunset. According to *Shinta, it's international standard that telecommunication towers must be painted alternating red and white.

We decided to take the elevator all the way to the top (another post on that later...) and by the time we came back down, it was night.

Tokyo Tower at night looks totally different but just as gorgeous.

The second time we were there, was to go to Zojoji Temple for the New Year Countdown. The place was super packed... At the stroke of midnight, everyone releases balloons with their wishes tied to it into the air.

This time, Tokyo Tower was lit differently from the other night. Notice how the date has changed to 2012!

One last shot of the Tower from Roppongi...

The Travel Bug: 東京にもあったんだ (Tokyo has it too..)

2012-01-21T01:46:00.010+08:00

I absolutely love going to Tokyo. Now I don't bother to lug around my zoom lens anymore, I just fix by 28mm onto my 60D and leave it there. For some reason, the black and white mood seems to fit quite well...

I love the busy streets of Tokyo.

The energy of the place is almost visible as people dance around each other.

This little boy caught my attention as he ignored the brightly lit stands and stared at the faded drawings on the ground.

Not a candidate for black and white, but I love night shots of the city with the bright white lights from offices and the streaming orange lights from traffic. Visible in this shot is also the beautiful bay with the rainbow bridge spreading across it.

The Travel Bug & Food Bytes: Yung Kee in Hong Kong

2011-12-02T23:02:00.008+08:00

The usual pilgrimage to Yung Kee for tourists... I went there twice over 2 trips, and both times involved a wait of 30min (@3pm on a Sat) to 60min (@6.30pm on a weekday). Its unbelievable how busy the place is at all times. Since I wasn't in any particular rush, I volunteered to do the waiting on behalf of the rest of the party. Making a reservation is only possible if you do it with sufficient notice. Otherwise, join the herd of walk-ins squeezing in the tiny reception area on the second floor.

List of things to order is pretty standard. The only question is whether you want a portion, half or whole goose. *Shinta has decided that instead of ordering half a goose, next time just order 2 portions of the goose leg. That way you get the juiciest, most choice part of the goose. Strangely, the standard was a little inconsistent over my 2 visits there. The first time, the goose was hot with crispy skin and tender juicy meat sandwiching a generous layer of fat. The second time round however, the goose felt a bit overdone and not as yummy as before.

I'm a fan of the cured meats, although the rest of my companions each time weren't, and I had to struggle to finish it all. Next time I'll just order a portion of my favorite liver sausage and not the entire mixed plate. The traditional sausage is not bad as well, but not particularly special. These are of course available for take-away. Just slice it up and put it in the rice cooker, and let the fats drip into the rice as it cooks.... mmmm.....

When I accidentally forgot to order the famous century egg with pickled ginger the first time round, the waiter not-very-gently reminded me about it. These melt-in-the-mouth delicacies don't have the pungent strong taste that haunts many other century eggs. Believe it or not, these can also be bought as take-away in a box of 6, which I ended up doing so for friends back home in Singapore who were craving this particular Yung Kee version of it.

I wasn't particularly keen to order this when they brought it around on a tray offering it to each table (not sure why they did that...), but my friend likes it a lot so we took a plate. It was nice and gooey, but in general a bit too sweet for my taste.

There are a whole lot of other good dishes to order at Yung Kee (the first 5? 6? pages of their menu lists all the accolades they have won), but unfortunately my party was never large enough (or hungry enough) to indulge in ordering anything more than the "must-orders". Next time I guess!

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Yung Kee
32-40 Wellington Street, Central, Hong Kong
Tel: +852 2522 1624
http://www.yungkee.com.hk/
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The Travel Bug & Food Bytes: Lan Fong Yuen in Hong Kong

2011-11-26T23:44:00.015+08:00

Other than stopping by HKIA for flight transfers to various parts of China, I had the chance to spend a few days there for my own leisure a few times as well.

A few years ago, mango related desserts were really popular in Hong Kong and there were branches of Xu Liu Shan popping up everywhere.

Now, however, they seem to be mostly on Kowloon side and I couldn't find any around Central at all. Instead, when I needed a break in between shopping, I headed to Lan Fong Yuen near the mid levels for their famous milk tea.

Obviously you don't go to this kind of place for the ambiance. Much as I wanted to try the hot version, the stifling weather (unusual for autumn) forced me to go for the cold milk tea. Exhausted and dying of thirst, I probably enjoyed this a lot more than I normally would, because it was a little bit bitter.

Since each time I went it was just supposed to be a "pit stop", I had to restrain myself from ordering the heavier dishes. Went instead for the sweeter stuff such as the toasted bun with condensed milk. While it looked great, my sweet tooth would have prefered a more generous topping of the condensed milk.

The other well-known snack there is the french toast. This one was as unhealthy as it looks in the photo below, and as delicious as it was unhealthy.

I had a bit of trouble finding this place initially. Gage Street is not exactly a major road and hard to find amongst the confusing maze of back roads. The easiest way is probably to head to Lyndhurst Terrace where the famous Tai Cheung egg tart bakery is.

Entrance to Gage Street is along Lyndhurst Terrace just before the shop, and Yan Fong Yuen is on the left at the start.

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Lan Fong Yuen
G/F, 2 Gage Street, Central, Hong Kong
Tel: +825 2544 3895
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The Travel Bug: Jiangsu, Suzhou

2011-11-15T00:05:00.005+08:00

Passed through Suzhou on a business trip and was there for a really short while only, so I count myself lucky that I managed to visit one of the many gardens Suzhou is famous for. This was the Humble Administrator's Garden.

I loved wandering around the paths surrounding by water and gorgeous green plants.

Even the flower gardens were beautifully arranged.

We could also enter the buildings and admire the old Chinese furniture.

Imagine if your study window looked out into this view.

The other area I managed to see was the Suzhou Industrial Park. There's an eating area very much like Clarke Quay by the lake where there are many both international and Chinese restaurants located. Taking a walk by the lake after dinner was a very pleasant experience with the cool weather.

There's a saying "上有天堂，下有苏杭". From the little that I managed to see of Suzhou, I think there's something in it! If you're in Shanghai for holiday, given Suzhou's proximity especially with the high speed train operating, there's no excuse for not visiting the place.

The Travel Bug: Jiangsu, Nanjing

2011-11-13T23:40:00.003+08:00

I've seriously lost count of how many times I've flown to China this year for business... Not just Shanghai and Beijing, but the smaller cities too. That's usually a pain because either transfers via HKIA or long car rides are required. One of the perks however, is getting to scout out cities to see if they're worth going to for my own holidays, and staying in hotel rooms like this:-

Was going around Jiangsu and passed through its capital, Nanjing. Sadly didn't have time to check anything out, except for a 10min walk by Xuan Wu Hu.

Our dinner was held near the Qin Huai River, allowing us a good view of the activities.

At night the entire area is lit up, and you can see the Confucius Temple which is popular with tourists. River boats also ply the area for tourists willing to fork out the cash.

Nanjing looks quite interesting if you're into Chinese history and all. For me though, I think I like Suzhou better, which will be the subject of my next post.

2011 Formula One Singapore: (Part 2)

2011-10-17T01:33:00.007+08:00

(continued...)

Food this year was catered slightly differently. Nobu had a suite open to everyone at Paddock club, while Jean Georges had their own restaurant at the lobby area, but not in the individual suites. It was super packed all the time and half the dishes we wanted had run out by the time we managed to get in.

The lobster is always good...

Not sure what these guys were doing, but I guess they are quite entertaining in their own way...

Decided to try catch the Big Bang guys at the Padang after the preliminary runs were over.

The walk was super far and the place was super crowded with tons of screaming fan girls waving placards and even an ipad!

At first we were stuck behind some barriers at the back, while the hoards of people who had probably waited for hours were in front. Luckily for us, the security guards decided to open up the front area and we managed to get a really good close up view of them.

Have to admit I'm not as familiar with Korean music as I am with J-pop, and even worse when it comes to Korean rap. Seungri I think is really good looking though!

Crossing my fingers that I'll get to go again next year!

2011 Formula One Singapore: (Part 1)

2011-10-12T00:50:00.000+08:00

This year's tickets didn't come in a fancy box, but were no less exciting to receive...

Only had tickets for the Friday practice run this time, but the excitement was still in the air. We went early as usual to check out the events and take a ride on the flyer.

Cityscape of Singapore just before the sun starts setting looks pretty good although slightly hazy.

The Singapore flyer is probably one of the fewtourist attractions I would probably bring out of town friends to.

Highlight of the F1 is not so much the race but the Pit Walk. This time I made sure I took photos of the soon to be crowned champion Vettel's garage.

View from the drivers' seat?

Managed to snap a shot of Vettel as he waits to exit the Pit Lane.

One of the key reasons I enjoy going to the F1, is to try practice my panning shots. Managed to get a nice one of Webber...

Overhead shot of Hamilton...

to be continued...

What happened in Mar to Jun

2011-07-10T18:03:00.001+08:00

It's been a super busy few months... Sorry I haven't had time to update this blog!

Trips made: 7
Countries visited: 5
Flights taken: 16
% time out of the country: 30%

MBS

2011-03-05T18:00:00.003+08:00

There's no way someone like me would cough up S$100 (~US$70) to enter a casino in Singapore, but apparently there's a viewing gallery above the MBS gambling floor that is open to public. I was quite surprised that anyone could walk in to view and take photos, and innocently took a few shots before my friend pointed out that I was actually standing right next to the "no cameras" sign.

Anyway this was only half of the entire gambling area. It's actually a pretty disturbing scene, with the sound of the machines producing a pretty loud hum at a certain frequency, the cigarette smoke wafting up from the smoking floor at the bottom to all the non-smoking floors above.

We couldn't wait to get out.

My Daily Cuppa...

2011-02-27T17:53:00.003+08:00

Even on the weekends I can't do without my daily cuppa when I get up...

Lately *Shinta and I have been trying out Papa Palheta. Sadly their original branch at Hooper Road is no longer encouraging sit-ins. It's much closer to town and a pretty nice chilling area.

Instead, they're directing everyone over to their new outlet at Kampong Bugis (near ICA) where they've set up a proper shop.

I like the concept of a place to chill and drink good coffee, but ultimately I think Oriole still wins in terms of quality and smoothness of the espresso drinks.

Fukubukuro / 福袋 / Prosperity Bags

2011-02-04T17:48:00.003+08:00

*Shinta saw an advert in the Straits Times that Taka Singapore was selling Fukubukuros /福袋 / Propsperity Bags, so I thought I would write a little post on our experience with them in Japan...

Usually on the second day of the New Year (ie 2nd Jan), department stores or brand stores would sell these 福袋. Basically the concept is that you pay $x for a sealed bag without knowing the conents. Usually the individual prices of the contents would add up to much more than $x, but of course its a matter of luck whether you like the items or not. Even hours in advance, there are always snaking queues at all the entrances of the departmental stores like Daimaru and Takashimaya, with hordes of shoppers dying to get in. One very popular item is the departmental store 1000 yen (S$17) bags containing a variety of items ranging from clothes to household goods. *Shinta and I unsuspectingly joined the queue on the ground floor which looked only about 20 persons long, without realising the entire of the restaurant floor at the top was packed with snaking queues of serious hard core shoppers.

Each person is allowed a max of 5 bags, and "tickets" are handed out at the queue on the ground floor to make sure there's enough. When *Shinta and I told the guy at the entrance that we only required 1 ticket each, he repeated his question again and looked at us disbelievingly... People actually come prepared with trolleys and all to carry the bags back! It was a slight mistake for us non-residents to queue for these, because we ended up queueing a good hour for it, and even though they're probably really great value for money, the contents were mostly household related stuff like soba, cooking sauces, instant coffee, chocolate powder and.... canola oil?

What I liked a lot more were the specific clothing/brand 福袋. These go by brand and size and are usually pricier depending on the brand. Most start off at 10,000 yen (about S$170) but the Nike one I had for example, had a really good coat, sweat pants, jersey and t-shirt with a total price tag of about x5. Even brands like Tommy, Theory, CK had them, and they disappear really really fast! I was sorely tempted by an Anya Hindmarch 福袋 at around 30,000 yen (about S$51). I think the most expensive 福袋 I saw was a Lewin one at 100,000 yen (S$1700)!! The food department in the basement where the confectionary, biscuits etc are also had them, but these are different because the contents of these are all the same and shops would display them upfront.

*Shinta loved this kind of shopping...! No need to try the clothes on, no need to wonder whether the colour is right or the cut makes you look fat... Just pick up the bag and go! Here's a photo of our haul...

I managed to restrain myself and only bought a few. I think while there were some really good finds, I'm not sure what to do with those pieces that don't fit me at all. Probably have to give them away... *sigh*

Break a leg...

2011-01-25T17:43:00.004+08:00

So yes... my injured leg. I've been wearing the immobiliser for 2.5 weeks now, few more days to go before I get it checked out by the ortho and hopefully can get rid of this really uncomfortable brace. Normally one has to wear it for 4 4-6 weeks, but I had spent a week after the fall innocently walking around Japan not knowing how hurt my leg was... Ignorance is bliss but foolilsh?

Update: Got to wear it for 2 more weeks.... grrr.....

Obviously this gets a lot of attention everywhere I go. After countless queries from colleagues, I have made the following observations:

Observation 1: People's minds can be so different, but sometimes they work all in the same way. The questions I get are always the same and in the same order:

Q1) What happened??!!

- "I fell while skiing"

Q2) So what's wrong with the leg??

- Depending how much I want to play it down or play it up, my answer varies from "It's a slight fracture" to "I broke my leg". Actually a fracture is the same as a break... but somehow calling it a break makes people think its a lot more serious??

Q3) Where were you?

- "Japan"

Q4) It must have hurt a lot?

- "At first it did but it's not too bad now."

Q5) Is there good skiing there? or What color slope were you on? (mostly from other skiiers)

- This one is a bit embarrassing so I try to give a little more detail... "I was on a red slope which wasn't too difficult but I lost concentration for a moment and fell, but the ski didn't snap off so my leg was trapped in an awkward position"

Observation 2: People will always ask at least 2 questions. Even if I attempt to answer Q1 and Q2 at one go to pre-empt them, they will then move on to Q3. *Shinta says its because they're trying to be polite and they can't just end the conversation right away. So they need to ask a following question to show they they are concerned.

Observation 3: It takes about 1 stop before people give their seat up to me on the bus/mrt. I wouldn't really mind that much except for that period of time, everyone on the bus stares at me without getting up. I mean if you don't want to give up your seat, at least pretend to be asleep or something like you normally do for pregnant women and old folks!

Anyway I can't wait to be rid of it! My injured leg is noticeably thinner than the other having lost muscle mass. Am just hoping the physio etc is not too tough and that I can fully recover quickly!

Spotted #8

2011-01-11T17:40:00.001+08:00

Seriously...

End-Hol Report Card (2010)

2011-01-07T17:33:00.004+08:00

There's not much of an end-hol report card because:

1) I had to work (remotely thankfully) over the shut down

2) This year we managed to take a trip!

3) I'm not sure when the "end-hol" fits in because even when the shutdown ended, I'm on hospital leave for a week thanks to a fractured knee (not as bad as it sounds!)

Anyway here's the report card:

General# of calendar days not working: 11 (including 2 weekends)

# of leave days taken: 5 (reduced to 3 given 2 days off awarded)

# of minutes on blackberry: a lot =( (including having to log in and reply)

Entertainment# of days overseas: 10

# of days skiing: 1.5 (cut short thanks to the knee)

# of parties attended: 7, of which…

# of parties thrown: 4, for which…

# of roasts cooked: 5 (2 beef, 3 chicken)

Food# of good meals eaten: a lot!

Moving house...

2011-01-07T10:25:00.004+08:00

Have decided to give Wordpress a try, so have moved my entire blog on Blogger over to Wordpress The link will be http://hungrywanderingsamurai.wordpress.com/ so please check it out there from now on!

So far Wordpress seems to be much less customisable and the posting interface is less user friendly than Blogger. Also the dashboard and the interface layout on Blogger is much more instinctive and helpful... But I decided to move because Wordpress offers better privacy controls and I can put password locks on specific posts. Also the labels vs categories makes more sense. I can't figure out what the point of having both categories and tags is though...!

Anyway I'm gonna try it out for a while and from now on all new posts will be on that site. But who knows, maybe after a while I'll give up and move it back to Blogger!

At the turning of the year...

2011-01-05T20:01:00.006+08:00

Even if your "3-2-1", countdown's in a foreign tongue...

Fireworks in the winter cold, are amazing to behold...

Saying thanks to God above, sending prayers with words of love...

Then we eat and drink our beer, a happy new year we cheer!

It's beginning to look a lot like....

2010-12-21T20:24:00.003+08:00

Apologies for the long silence. Rather than go into detail on the extremely busy last 2 months, I might as well jump straight into Christmas!

The tree is *still* up, re-decorated with the usual silver and glass decorations...

the roast is in the oven...

the bread is being toasted...

Bottle of wine left to breathe...

I think we're all set!

Time warp

2010-11-09T22:52:00.000+08:00

Eh? How come its November already? What happened to October?

2010 Formula One Singapore: Need for Speed! (Part 3)

2010-09-30T22:10:00.000+08:00

The final installment is of course on the actual race. Sadly I didn't manage to secure tickets to the actual day event. Its a really big pity because I would have loved to get shots of the pit, the wheel changing, the damaged cars returning and of course the one catching fire.

We did manage to get an invite to a suite at MBS though, which was about twice the size of my house complete with soundproof media room, personal sauna, steam room, gym etc. The hotel also provided free flow food and drinks, and out of the full length windows was a stunning albeit far-off view of the circuit stretch at Padang all the way to the Marina floating platform.

So we sat there for 2 hours watching the cars zoom by outside the window and on the television.

One interesting thing was watching the crane lift and clear Kobayashi's car after it smashed into the side guards and got rear ended by Senna!

Had a brilliant time. Must somehow get tickets for next year's race too!

2010 Formula One Singapore: Need for Speed! (Part 2)

2010-09-30T08:00:00.000+08:00

(continuation)

Although we went there around 3.30pm, the actual qualifiers only start at 10pm and last an hour. Other than amusing yourself with the pre-F1 races (like the MBW and Porsche ones), and visiting the Singapore Flyer for those in Zone 1, there are also numerous concerts around the various zones. This one was obviously for ladies only...

The food the year at Paddock Club was catered by Jean Georges. Last year apparently it was Nobu.

I unfortunately didn't have time to eat much, but I really loved the starters especially this foie gras special.

That's the man himself...

There's also lots of free flow drinks and a Johnnie Walker lounge that's open to everyone at the Paddock Club. SQ also had one, with sample first class, business class and economy seats there.

Finally at 10pm they started to flag off for the qualifiers and cars started exiting the pit lane.

What's great about Paddock Club is that you are directly above the pit and get to see all the action when the drivers come in for tyre changes, repairs etc. Apparently it takes an average of 8 seconds to change the entire set of wheels.

This was Webber in the pit lane...

and his team mate Vettel speeding by...

That's it for the qualifiers!

2010 Formula One Singapore: Need for Speed! (Part 1)

2010-09-29T21:52:00.011+08:00

So sorry I haven't blogged for a while. Been swamped with work and the like. Anyway I had such excellent fun at last weekend's 2010 Formula One in Singapore that I just had to blog about it, mountain of work not withstanding.

Was lucky enough to get tickets for the Paddock Club on Saturday's qualifiers.

This year the Singapore flyer is part of the circuit, and Zone One passes get free unlimited rides on it! I think not enough people know about it, which is a *really* big pity. Taking the flyer was much cooler than I imagined it to be, and it offered really excellent views of both the circuit as well as the whole of Singapore. I would have loved to have taken it a second round at night, but just didn't have the time...

In the shot below, also taken from the flyer, you can see the grid girls lined up for the flag off for the Porsche qualifiers.

We met Sir Jackie Stewart! He's got 3 world championships and is now the patron for RBS.

He even gave us a garage tour and we got up close and personal with the computer systems and equipment, and got to touch the frames of the cars. How cool is that!!!

That's David Coulthard - former F1 driver, BBC F1 pundit and now team consultant for Red Bull Racing.

We also got to do the Pit Lane walk. Don't be deceived by how empty it looks. 5minutes later the place was so packed you could barely move, much less take any photos. Anyway that's the champion's garage below. I should have taken more photos of his car...

There's a simluator there as well, its like a cross between Daytona and bumper cars, but waaaaaaay better. You drive the actual Singapore F1 circuit and the car simulates the actual feel especially when you hit the sides!

And here's Tay Ping Hui in it!

to be continued...

Messing around with my photos

2010-07-27T20:50:00.000+08:00

So when I am bored, I do what every one my generation (and younger) does and surf the internet. It's so easy to find out and learn new things nowadays when information is just a Google away. Lately I've been reading up on post-processing techniques for photographs, and all the interesting things that can be done in Photoshop. There are lots of easy tutorials out there with step by step instructions.

Here's some of my work... You should be able to click on the pictures to see the larger version. The original photos were taken using my Ixus on a pretty cloudy day. Post processing wise, I just tweaked it slightly using Photoshop's "auto levels". It change too much from the off-camera original, so I didn't bother showing those.

For the first set below, you can see from the original on the left that the colours are still pretty washed out. What I did was to adjust the colour levels and apply a mask so that the colours on the statues in the middle "pops out", without affecting the background.

The lomo effect is pretty popular nowadays. I think the iphone has an app that automatically makes your shots look like it was taken with a lomo camera, but I found an easy tutorial online that allows me to tweak my normal looking photos. I quite like the final product on the right below! It looks quite suitable for this particular shot. Definitely a lot more dramatic looking.

The last set shows a few special effects combined together. Here's the dull looking original:

... and here are the 2 edited photos. First I added a reflection in. (Yes I know the photo's not the best for making reflections of, but I didn't have a better one handy) I would have liked to make the ripples more spaced out, but there seemed to be some limitations using this particular method.

For the one on the left, I added in a graduated blue sky. Actually it could have been done better, but I was too lazy to redo it. For the one on the right, I made it into a lomo picture after doing the reflection.

Which version do you think looks better?

Frivolous Stuff: My Kelly Moore bag!

2010-07-16T22:24:00.001+08:00

I love my new Kelly Moore bag!

A friend of mine posted a link to it on Facebook, and it was love at first sight. I spent days staring at its beautiful form online, looking at it from all angles and imagining how I would pack my stuff into it. I could so see myself carrying it about town or while traveling, with my SLR safely hidden away in this nice stylish bag. When I finally dragged *Shinta down to the shop (TKFoto at Funan) and held it in my hands for the first time, I knew right away that I would be getting it. You can read more about how I got permission to purchase it here.

So here it is! I chose the heather gray version which I figured would be most versatile and fit most of my outfits(although *Shinta thought the mustard yellow was nice). The material is a man-made water resistant material which reminds me a little of fake leather that is not fake enough to say that its pretending to be leather(go figure)... Most importantly, unlike all the other camera bags out there which are bulky rectangular nerdy (man) bags that scream "I am a camera bag", this one boasts a nice slouchy hobo shape with enough structure to stand on its own.

The flap over the bag contributes mostly to its looks rather than serving any real function because the magnetic clasps for it is too weak to be of much use. It doesn't matter if the bag is not stuff too full, because there's a full zipper securing it.

Side, front and back slit pockets are too shallow to put a lot of things, but they can hold a few small items which is pretty useful.

Purple lining wouldn't have been my first choice, but it can't really be seen from the outside so it doesn't matter. The bag has a bit of padding, and 2 removable velcro dividers. The position of the dividers is not adjustable by much (unlike say the Crumpler), because only part of the lining has the velcro strip.

I've already used the bag once and I love it! My D20 fits nicely inside, with sufficient space for my 70-200mm lens and my compulsory knick-knacks like my wallet, blackberry, staff pass, handphone... There are 2 straps for the bag, so you can hold it 4 ways (on the arm, shoulder short, shoulder long, crossbody). Suits all needs and habits!

Frivolous Stuff: Camera Bags

2010-07-09T23:44:00.001+08:00

You see, the fairer sex needs the perfect handbag for the perfect occasion. For example, what we look for in a work handbag is different from what we need from a casual weekend bag, which of course is totally different from evening handbags.

And even within the world of a certain type of handbags, different situations call for the need of different functions. eg A weekend handbag for a quick-and-short-meet-up-with-friends is not the same as a handbag for a spend-the-whole-day-shopping-with-friends situation.

So this time, the trouble was trying to get *Shinta to understand why I needed another camera bag. The object of my desire this time was a Kelly Moore bag designed specifically for ladies.

~début~

*Shinta: (in stubborn tone, not willing to give in so easily) I don't see why you need another camera bag...

KK: (cautiously, trying to decide approach) I don't have a bag like this... It will hold all my camera things nicely...

*Shinta: Didn't we buy you a Crumpler specifically for your camera stuff?

KK: I will use Crumpler when I need to bring out all my heavy duty gear. This one will be when I just want to bring the main SLR only.

*Shinta: Why can't you use your Crumpler still? Or my Lowepro?

KK: Because the Crumpler and your Lowepro are heavy duty bulk camera bags. I need something for when I go shopping or travel for work and don't want others to know I am carrying a SLR.

*Shinta: (considers for a while) But you have (many) casual shopping bag(s). Why can't you put your camera in that? You can use your little Lowepro...

KK: (quick to retort) Because that's a shopping bag. It can't carry/protect the camera properly. And the Lowepro won't fit inside my other bags with my wallet and blackberry and sunglasses and handphone and...

*Shinta: (interrupts) But this one won't protect it as well as the Crumpler!

KK: (slight hint of panic in voice) But this is just nice! I can use it for both shopping with or without the camera.. I can also use it to carry the camera...

*Shinta: (decides to be nice) Ah.. do you mean to say its a "dual-use" bag, whereas your other bags are not?

KK: (sees ray of hope and quickly agrees) Yes! It's dual use!!!

pause

*Shinta: (in a "pretending to be nice" tone) Since this is a lady's bag, does that mean when we travel or go out together you will use this bag for the camera and I don't have to carry it in my bag?

KK: (cautiously, sensing a trap) er... I will use this bag when I go shopping and want to bring the SLR... (continues for the sake of being honest) ... but anyway you carry my ladies handbags for me now anyway, when they get too heavy.

pause

*Shinta: (pretends to consider) But you will use it. And its dual-use.

KK: Yes. Dual use. So that when I travel without you and want to bring my SLR, I can just use one bag instead of two.

*Shinta: Fine.

KK rejoices not so silently

~fin~

A new look!

2010-07-03T22:33:00.002+08:00

Yes, I changed the look of the blog. Actually I wasn't intending to make so many changes. But Blogger went to change the templates and once I started I found I couldn't revert back to the old look. So I had no choice but to soldier forward and make even more changes... Oh well.

Killing me softly...

2010-07-03T19:49:00.001+08:00

Nothing like a trip to Hong Kong to make me grateful I live in Singapore...

My remaning lifespan would probably be shortened by half if I had to move there...

What I'm listening to...

2010-07-01T22:02:00.002+08:00

I can't stand long traveling times in my daily routine, so thankfully I stay a 15min bus ride away from work with 2 buses to take. In the mornings, since the bus frequency is higher and the ride is so short, I don't usually bother untangling my earphones and listening to music.

On my way home however, my timings are more irregular and the frequency of the bus I can take is much lower. The evening crowd is also a lot noisier and younger. So I am more likely to want to listen to music and try to de-stress and block out the world.

On my playlist recently, is Emil Chou 周华健 . Listening to his songs makes me terribly nostalgic! This is the stuff I listened to in secondary school (I had the tapes back then!), and probably the only thing that has ever made me even vaguely interested in learning Chinese.

Here's a youtube clip of one of my all time favorites. I love the lyrics.. We used to write it in each other's autograph books.

Blogging reflections

2010-06-29T21:15:00.001+08:00

Was driving earlier today, and started thinking about my blog... I started it back in 2008 because I was bored. I didn't intentionally decide to focus so much on food & travel, although I think probably 80% of the posts have turned out to be such. (Naturally I wasn't going to not blog about them, since it gives me a "valid" excuse to i) eat a lot and ii) travel a lot.)

Anyway the point is... as time passed, my "snippets" posts became less and less frequent. Now that I think about it, the main cause is probably because I have spent less time driving. Yes, I mean driving. Non food/travel posts require thinking and inspiration, unlike food / travel posts where I can usually rely on pretty pictures to carry the story. And also, I decided long ago not to blog specifically about work despite all the interesting fodder material it often tempted me with.

Ideas used come to me while I was driving and I would mentally draft my posts because my brain had nothing else to do. (Ok, start the lecture on safety later...) So since I seem to drive less now, there are fewer such posts.

Something I hope to change.

World Cup: Favorite Moments (Part 2)

2010-06-25T01:00:00.003+08:00

It's taken me a bit longer to blog Part 2 because honestly, the matches have been pretty boring. I even stayed up for the England vs Algeria last week, but was so horribly bored by it that I feel asleep.

No Fewer videos this time because it seems Youtube has clamped down on them. Ah well.

6. North Korea's goal against Argentina. Sure they lost 4:1, but still they managed to get a nice one in...

7. The whole 2nd half of USA vs Slovenia. Almost wrote off USA after they were down 2:0 at half time, but they fought back after that to a respectable 2:2. Add on lots of body contact between players and a few yellow cards!

8. Switzerland vs Chile. A good well-fought match (especially since it was after North Korea's sad 7-nil defeat at the feet of Portugal) with lots of excitement.. 10 cards in total!

9. England's goal against Slovenia. No special reason, except that I support them and that sole goal brought them to the round of 16.

10.The last 15 minutes of the Slovakia - Italy game where i) Slovakia scored making it 2-0, ii) Italy scored (2-1), iii) the goalkeeper got a yellow card, iv) Slovakia scored (3-1), v) Italy scored (3-2). Even the commentator who had given up on Italy after Slovakia's second goal was terribly excited when they scored their first goal.

The Travel Bug: Sichuan, Jiu Zhai Gou (Part 2: Waterfalls)

2010-06-24T01:03:00.001+08:00

I'm afraid I've put off doing this second part for way too long, and have now lost interest in typing out a long story about it. So I won't! Suffice to say that since Jiu Zhai Gou is know for its water, water + mountains = waterfalls!

You can get really close to the rapids and water (spy the staircase on the rhs?), but I don't recommend putting any body part in. It would be such a shame to dirty the crystal clear waters, and this is a nature reserve after all.

We must have been to about 4 waterfall areas, each one gorgeous in its own right.

Some required a little walking to get too, but nothing more strenuous than a relaxing 20min stroll.

I tried to play with the shutter speed...

... but with no tripod (and even if I had one on me, the hoards of tourists nudging me along the narrow path would have made it difficult to use it) it was not so easy to hold the camera steady.

If you look on the left of the photo below, can you see a face with the mouth wide open? Freaky!

Another attempt at playing with the shutter speed...

Slightly more successful this time!

All in all, I was very glad that I signed up for the trip. Would definately recommend anyone going to Chengdu to make a side trip there, especially if the season is right!

World Cup: England made it!

2010-06-23T23:48:00.002+08:00

England is through to the next round!!! Yay!!!

Congrats too to USA who scored a goal in the 91min to bring themselves through as well. (That's a really ugly green though...)

Go Watch! #1: Toy Story 3

2010-06-22T23:31:00.007+08:00

Toy Story 3 is good! Especially in 3D.

The plot was predictable but not boring, sweet but not over-cloying or unrealistic. The quirky hilarious moments in the show which had me doubled over in stitches (which is rare for me).

I don't know if its because I was watching it in a different cinema (Cathay) from my usual one (Great World GV) or what, but I found the 3D graphics less headache inducing and contributed to the overall experience in natural subtle ways rather than the "in your face"-ness of Avatar and even (at some points) Up!. *Shinta also found the 3D glasses at Cathay a much more comfortable fit over spectacles.

Go watch x 3!

World Cup: Match Recap, North Korea vs Portugal

2010-06-21T22:01:00.007+08:00

0 min: Kick-off
Raining heavily. Poor players

29 min: Goal by Portugal's Miereles!
Nice shot there by Miereles! Loud cheering from Portugal spectators.

46 min: Half time
Don't mind North Korea! 1-nil still got chance...

47 min: Second half kick-off

53 min: Goal by Portugal's Simao!!
Oh dear.. 2-nil is difficult to overcome. But US managed to do it against Slovenia.

56 min: Goal by Portugal's Almeida!!!
3-nil in favor of Portugal. I think they're assured of a win. And 2 goals so close in succession too.

60 min: Goal by Portugal's Tiago!!!!
Oh dear. 3 goals scored in 7 minutes. Maybe North Korea can salvage some pride by making it at least 4 to something other than "nil"?

81 min: Goal by Portugal!!?!!
Who cares by who already! The poor North Korea supporters in the stands look really miserable at the 5-nil score.

87 min: Goal by Portugal!!??!!
Even the Portugal fans are looking a bit sheepish at the 6-nil thrashing. Why is Portugal still attacking? Give them a bit of face... please?

89 min: Goal by Portugal!!???!!
7-nil!!! *faint* *speechless*

92 min: Whistle blows
Finally the pain is over.

World Cup: Legofussball!

2010-06-17T19:49:00.000+08:00

You've probably see this already, but just in case you haven't, here's the Lego version of the goals scored in the Netherlands - Denmark game (the one with the own goal).

It's so cute and adorable, and strangely not too far from the real thing!
Compared it with the real one!

World Cup: Favorite Moments (Part 1)

2010-06-16T19:15:00.001+08:00

Well these are my favorite moments so far, each for various different reasons... They were beautiful, hilarious and/or game changing.

1. England's conceded goal against USA due to the ball spinning out of the goalkeeper's hands into the net

2. Denmark's own goal as the defender's header reflected off his teammate's back in the match against Netherlands

3. Beautiful goal line save by Denmark's defender, also against Netherlands

4. Japan's hard fought win against Cameroon, thanks partly to a clash in their defender and goalkeeper

5. New Zealand's 93rd minute goal to bring the match with Slovakia to a draw

World Cup Mania!

2010-06-15T21:08:00.009+08:00

Life these days revolves around 7.30pm, 10pm and once in a while, 2.30am.

After 2 nights of whining about being unable to watch the World Cup and having missed the England - USA match, *Shinta decided to override my complaints about spending $94.16 and picked up the phone to call Starhub. Surprisingly, the nice Starhub person managed to activate the channels within 10 minutes (usually its one working day)!

So now we're camped out at our usually under-utilised living room, watching more hours on our Samsung TV in these few days compared to the past 5 years. Our previously empty coffee table is now ladened with 2 notebooks (so that we can blog / play WOW / surf Facebook while watching), snacks, drinks and books (to flip through during the boring parts).

The Travel Bug: Sichuan, Jiu Zhai Gou (Part 1: Lakes)

2010-06-11T21:38:00.001+08:00

The day after Huang Long was the "main course" that we had come for... Jiu Zhai Gou! We were understandably nervous from the previous day, but this time the guide assured us that we just needed to take short walks on and off the bus. The park is not open to external buses, so it was either take the internal "public" bus, or pay extra to get a private bus for a group. We paid extra of course. *Sigh*.

Luckily.. JZG didn't disappoint! The next 3 shots are of "Huo3 Guang1 Hai3" aka Sparkling Lake although the literal translation is "Fire Light Sea". And sparkle it did!

Despite not being the "perfect" time to see JZG, this weekend was supposed to be super crowded because it was a holiday in China. We were quite fortunate that the crowds were tolerable, the weather was good, the flowers were in bloom and there was water in the lakes!

Well there's not much to say except that the lakes are gorgeous. Beautiful crystal clear blue waters... You can see the fallen logs and branches in the water!

Surrounded by lush green hills...

I included the shot below to show how clear the waters are. This place is like so "not Chinese"... It was well maintained and no litter around despite a lack of dustbins! Also, while Chinese tourists swarmed some spots, it wasn't *too* crowded and there were still plenty of chances to get "people free" pictures.

I think we hit a total of about 4-5 lakes while we were there... They were all a short 5-10 min walk away from where the bus dropped us.

I love this next shot for the beautiful reflection in the still waters...

The next 2 photos really display JZG at its best I think. Starting from snow capped mountains at the top, followed by hills covered in a multitude of greens and browns, and then the rainbow coloured waters with little pebbles and short grass at the bottom.

The reflection of the mountain could also be seen in the rainbow coloured waters. There was also the opportunity to dress up in traditional Tibetan costumes (for a fee) and have your picture taken by the lake. Quite a novelty for many!

The next shot was taken from one of the highest elevations in the park.

This little pond is supposed to be filled with water all the way to the brim of the depression, and then you can see the rainbow colours as well. Sadly it was still too early in the season.

Another shot of the crystal clear multi-coloured waters. You can see the details of the gravel and individual stones all the way to the bottom!

I didn't include photos of every single lake that we saw. Sadly my Chinese (and memory) are not good enough to remember all the names and the stories behind them as well. If you go there, hopefully you're with a large enough group to get a private tour bus as well, the guide onboard will know where to go!

The Travel Bug: Sichuan, Huang Long

2010-06-05T19:37:00.005+08:00

Since we were already in Chengdu for work, some colleagues and I decided to extend our trip by 3 days and do a side visit to Jiu Zhai Gou. The trip was arranged as a semi-customised private tour (read: no useless visits to tourist traps for shopping), and to be honest, most of us didn't pay attention to the detailed itinerary. So while we had in our minds that we were visiting Jiu Zhai Gou, few paid attention to the fact that we would be visiting a place called Huang Long on the first day (read: we had no idea where were going and what it was going to be like).

The experience was certain one to remember for all the wrong reasons...

1. We started off already exhuasted

Had just ended a full week of meetings and discussions. Enuff said!

2. Early hours

Not many needed the 4am wake up call because after the official programme ended at 10pm the night before, some did the usual "explore local culture" by hitting the clubs. In fact, some got back to the hotel barely minutes before the coach was due to depart for the airport at 5am.

3. Flight delays

From 7am to 10am. 3 hours waiting/sleeping at a domestic airport in China is no fun. We found out that this was because of bad weather at the other airport. Guess this one is kinda understandable, given that we were flying over mountains and valleys.

4. Altitude sickness

We were totally unprepared! Because we hadn't paid attention to the fact that we were going to Huang Long, not a single person in our group of 30+ realised that we would be hitting 4000+m altitudes. That's high enough for the guide to warn us not to fall asleep in the bus... in case we stopped breathing and they didn't realise it until too late!

We bought medication and oxygen on the spot, but it didn't help as much as we would have liked it to. Some of us were nursing throbbing headaches the entire day. Not the best condition to be in while trekking (see #6 below), and not in the best of moods to enjoy the beautiful view.

5. It's the wrong season

We didn't even know we were visiting Huang Long, much less that it was totally the wrong season to do so. Huang Long is famous for the beautiful pools of coloured water due to the minerals. But because it was the wrong season, almost everything was dried up and just boring rock.

6. We took the cable car up

Maybe it was the guide's broken English, maybe it was our own fault for not asking. Because it was the wrong season, there was only one area right at the top of the mountain which had water. So we took the cable car up 3000m, without realising we would have to walk another 1000m uphill.

This photo was taken right at the top, and was the only pool area on the entire mountain with water.

There are supposed to be 7 colours in total during the right season, but sadly we only saw a bright blue, mixed with brown and green.

7. Walking down is worse!

Some how it had slipped our minds that taking the cable car up 3000m and walking a further 1000m up meant having to walk down! I think what most of us had in mind was a leisurely stroll downhill for about.. maybe 30min? We definately weren't prepared for a 4-5h trek which was 20% uphill steps and 80% downhill steps (read: horror on the knees) while nursing a lack of sleep and throbbing headaches from altitude sickness.

Later on we found out that in the right season, the entire trek down would have been filled with beautiful pools of water and rivers running along the way. Most people in fact don't take the cable car up, but just do short treks at the lower altitudes. *NOW* they tell us!!!

I will leave it to you to imagine how bad our knees and calves felt the next day and the entire week after.

The Travel Bug: Sichuan, Chengdu's Culture

2010-05-31T22:43:00.000+08:00

Over the course of our stay in Chengdu, we were lucky enough to catch some of the arts performances, mostly during our dinners.

Sichuan Opera is famous for its Bian Lian ("face changing") where the performers changes their masks with such speed and dexterity, that it was really impossible to see how they did it regardless of how closely you looked. Two thumbs up for this, they were seriously good!

Hand shadow was also something that was very unique and well done. Amazing how it was just one person using her hands and body with few if any props.

If you think its difficult enough to pour tea from a normal tea pot without spilling, try imagine using these special pots with extra long spouts!

Wuxia or martial arts is a very unique part of Chinese culture (who hasn't watched and loved Jin Yong??!!) and these youths gave us a brilliant performance, demonstrating the different types of weapons that they trained with and how they spar.

Look how high they can jump!

You don't really need to understand much Chinese to enjoy this little mime/skit that is quite famous and had the audience in stitches and rolling with laughter

Dances are of course not to be left out when it comes to talking about arts and culture.

See the headdress on these ladies? Balancing with it and not poking out your neighbours' eye is no mean feat!

This one had a fish-related story behind it, but sadly I was too distracted to remember it.

Last but not least, there's always the dragon dance!

The Travel Bug: Sichuan, Chengdu, Jin Li Jie

2010-05-28T19:34:00.013+08:00

Was in Chengdu recently for business, but because the hotel was a good 40min away from town, only had time on the first day when we arrived to look-see. The hotel concierge suggested that we head to Jin Li Jie (Jin Li Street) which is an area with narrow ancient streets and traditional buildings.

Everything about it screamed "tourist trap" to us, but we still decided to be good natured about it since it was already late afternoon, and we could grab dinner there as well.

The area itself is not very large, taking at most 15min to complete if you speed walk. We obviously took much longer, pausing to enjoy the stores selling a variety of traditional goods lining the streets.

A few traditional craftsmen were plying their trade, including this guy which created beautiful animal figures out of an edible sweet.

You could stop at the teahouses along the way, and try their noodles (warning: extremely hot with lots of chili oil!!)...

... or try the more interesting grilled meats along a Xiao Chi Jie ("Little eats street"). There thankfully wasn't anything as exciting as what I showed in my post on Beijing, but Sichuan food is either 1) VERY VERY spicy, or 2) VERY VERY oily, or worse of all 3) BOTH!

There were some really pretty areas to walk around, this path led up to a museum of sorts where you could view some historical relics.

You could also purchase one of the red hanging items, and hang it up to make a wish (quite like the Japanese?). If you wanted, you could also dress up in the traditional Chinese costumes and take a photo under it.

The place gets much more exciting at night when the lanterns are lit up. There are lots of restaurants for you to choose from as well, most feature some kind of traditional performance during the dinner as well. (more on that in the next post!)

My top 10 visited websites

2010-05-24T21:22:00.003+08:00

In order of frequency...

#10 Internet Banking 2
#9 Internet Banking 1
#8 http://www.blogger.com/ (from home lah!)
#7 http://www.capitaliq.com/ (log in both from work and at home so at least twice a day)
#6 http://www.gmail.com/ (less often cos I use BB to check)
#5 http://www.singaporeair.com/ (both for work and pleasure)
#4 http://www.asiaone.com/ (start up page at work)
#3 http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/ (no choice, for work!)
#2 http://www.google.com/ (start up page at home + via the toolbar)
#1 http://www.facebook.com/ (how else to destress?)

I wonder... what can you conclude about me from the above list???

What happened in Jan to Apr

2010-05-12T21:59:00.010+08:00

Trips made: 8
Flights taken: 20
Hours spent in the air: >150
Foreign countries visited: 5
Foreign cities: 12
Days out of the country: about 50 (of about 120!)

and more to come...!

Yes I'm still here!

2010-03-28T20:18:00.005+08:00

Sorry everyone for not having updated my blog for so long! Have been on the road a lot, I spent most of Feb and a good part of March out of town. And I'll be spending more than 75% of April travelling too.

There are so many food places I want to blog about, that I wonder if I will ever get started because its just too overwhelming!

On another note, say "hi" to:
1) My new computer! (old one bit the dust after 5 full years of not-so-trusty service); and
2) My Canon 70-200mm F/4 IS USM!!! Yes, *Shinta finally gave in, thanks to some camera shop vouchers I received as a gift from my colleagues. That's another item on my Wish List down!

The Travel Bug: Beijing, Water Cube @ Olympic Park

2010-02-06T23:10:00.001+08:00

One of the things I didn't like about being alone as I wandered around the Olympic Park was the many touts who approached me asking if I wanted my photo taken. For a fee of course. Fortunately a simple "bu2 yao4 xie4 xie4" (or no thank you) usually sufficed.

Between the Bird's Nest and the Water Cube was an open park area, decorated with 2 rows of Christmas trees. There were a surprising number of people there, considering that nothing much was opened and it was sub-zero and totally freezing.

I liked the Water Cube enough to brave staying out a bit longer, and walked up close to take a few photos of it.

Apparently to be allowed to swim there, you need to pass a proficiency test first. It didn't look open to me, although there was a little gift shop in a separate building next to it where I sought refuge for a few minutes to thaw my frozen hands...

In all, I spent a full hour walking around to take photos of the Bird's Nest and Water Cube. Even though I was warmly wrapped up, the temperature and wind chill were so bad that my eyeballs were hurting!!! Next time I come back here will be in summer...

The Travel Bug: Beijing, Bird's Nest @ Olympic Park

2010-02-04T22:46:00.002+08:00

For some reason, despite not having that much free time, I was very very keen to visit the Olympic Park, if only to view the external structures. After consulting 2 friends, a very complicated subway map involving 4 changes and more than 1.5 hours, I succumbed like the lazy tourist and decided to hop into a cab instead. It took me only 30minutes and CNY30 and was a much better decision considering I managed to leave work only around 5.30pm.

Night had fallen by the time I arrived, and the Bird's Nest was already lit up in orange and yellow lights.

I didn't manage to go in because closing time was 630pm. Believe it has been converted into an ice skating rink of sorts. If you take a peek from the gate, you can see the various country flags still hanging around the inside.

I love the complex metal patterns that encompass the stadium.

The shape of the Bird's Nest changes as you walk around it, as you can see from these series of photos I took as I walked around the huge building.

to be continued...

The Travel Bug & Food Bytes: Beijing duck!!!

2010-02-02T22:23:00.000+08:00

I love Beijing / Peking duck. There are 3 main restaurants most well known for this, and since this was one of the rare times I was in town, a good friend decided to splurge and take me to dinner at the classy (and more expensive) Duck de Chine.

The restaurant located in a small complex that they call 1949 - The Hidden City. Its an old traditional Chinese house broken up into different restaurants and clubs. It well deserves its name, considering what a difficult time my taxi driver had finding it. He had to call the restaurant twice for directions, before dropping me in a dodgy deserted carpark and pointing me vaguely in the direction of the back door!

All that was forgiven when the food came though. The Peking duck arrived whole and was swiftly carved up into thin crisps little slices. It's self wrap here, either in the thin popiah skins, or in the special biscuit for a little extra cost.

Hot soup is always delicious in sub-zero temperatures. Even if its just the basic simple "dun4 tang1" (soup of the day).

I liked the lamb quite a lot, it was soft and tender and cooked in a nice mix of garlic and onion. Unfortunately it got cold really fast.

In order to be "healthy", we also got some beancurd. I don't remember much about this dish except that there wasn't a bad dish at Duck de Chine!

---------------------------------------------------------------------
Duck de Chine
Gong Ti Bei Lu, Chaoyang District, Beijing 100027
Tel: +86 10 6501 8881
http://www.elite-concepts.com/Promotions/1949/DuckDeChine.htm
----------------------------------------------------------------------

The Travel Bug & Food Bytes: Beijing, the forbidden food???

2010-01-31T12:58:00.000+08:00

Just next to my hotel was WangFuJing Street, a large pedestrian only shopping area. While Oriental Plaza was filled with expensive high-class international brands, WangFuJing has the large local departmental stores selling more affordable fashion and local food items. Other than the large high rise buildings, I spotted this little side-alley that looked interesting...

It was lined with food stalls displaying skewered meats ready for grilling.

On closer inspection... well... Even though I am normally quite adventurous when it comes to trying food while travelling, I couldn't bring myself to try this one. I wasn't sure what the meat was either, but I heard that dog's meat was common here.

Did you spot the scorpions and seahorses too?

The starfish looked really pretty though. I wonder what they taste like! Next time if I come with a more experienced friend, maybe I won't be so afraid to try it. Maybe...

The Travel Bug: Beijing, the Forbidden City

2010-01-29T21:12:00.007+08:00

Can you believe I've never gone to China for leisure before? (unless you count Hong Kong...) Been there a few times for work before, but usually spending only a few (waking) hours in each City. My previous time in Beijing was a hurried 3 hour private tour of the Forbidden City and Tianamen while en route back to Singapore from Dalian... This time round though, I would be there for a conference with free time in the evenings to meet up with people and explore Beijing a little more.

The Grand Hyatt hotel was a pretty good place to be at for a conference. It's at the "old" financial district smack in the center of town, with easy access to the Forbidden City, Tianamen Square as well as the shopping district. The "new" financial area however is a good 40minutes away. One thing I learnt when I was there.. Beijing is BIG.

I mostly had time in the evenings only, so one day while waiting for a dinner appointment, I decided to take a walk "only 2 blocks down" to the Forbidden Palace. It looked really near on the map, but turned out to be a cold (but enjoyabe) 20minute walk. Again, a reminder that Beijing is BIG.

Everything was of course closed by the time I got there around 6 plus. Was ok with me since I had already visited it before, so I just stood around joining the other camera-totting tourists (Chinese and otherwise) taking photos of the guards in front.

Tianamen Square was just across the road, but I was a little too cold to bother looking for the underpass to cross over.

Headed back after that, to the safety of Oriental Plaza, the huge shopping / hotel / office complex linked to the hotel. With sub-zero temperatures, there's a limit to how long you can spend outdoors!

Pathetic...

2010-01-25T23:34:00.008+08:00

Isn't it bad enough that we only gave US$50k to Haiti? Must we now make a public admission that donations depend on "the nature of our relations with the affected country..." and are "not intended to match the scale of a disaster"??

Sure of course Singapore government can't very well go around donating large sums of money each and every time a natural disaster happens, but a miserable US$50k???!!!

As one reader on Mr Brown's website points out, US$50k is exactly the same amount Cambodia donated! (Coincidentally Cambodia is one of the recipients MFA explicitly mentions having supported last year in their letter of excuses...)

Me thinks it would have been wiser to
a) shut up totally about the donation; and
b) not responded to all the comments / criticism

End-Hol Report Card (2009)

2010-01-03T19:57:00.010+08:00

Was way too busy with work in Dec to do much blogging, and for a period of time I was afraid I wouldn't get to enjoy the annual office holiday shut down. Luckily I still managed to, and then I was too busy having fun to be blogging.

Here are the results:

General
# of calendar days not working: 11 (including 2 weekends)
# of leave days taken: 3 (phew!)
# of minutes on blackberry: <1 min per day (just to make sure nothing urgent)

Food & the like
# of ice-cream tubs purchased: 8, for the...
# of parties attended: 5, of which...
# of parties thrown: 3, for which...
# of roasts cooked: 4 (2 beef, 1 chicken, 1 pork) , and...
# of other meals out with friends: 6

Entertainment
# of movies watched: 2
# of hours at massage/spa: 4

Enjo Party!

2009-12-29T23:59:00.004+08:00

*Shinta and I did something very domestic (and probably uncool amongst under 30s?). We hosted an Enjo party...

A WHAT?!?!

Well basically it works like a Tupperware party.
Hosts hold a gathering to "show off" the goods to friends and neighbours, who then become so awed by how much easier their lives would be if they had the items, that they buy lots of products. The key differences were
1) Enjo not Tupperware
2) The Hosts did not own any Enjo products themselves (yet)
3) "Showing off" was done by a professional demo

Basically how this started was that while visiting a friend, we found out that she was using what I called a "magic cloth"... it requires no soap to be used while washing oily greasy plates. We didn't believe the plates would be sufficiently clean at first, and insisted on testing it ourselves. It was only when we managed to easily produce the squeaky clean sound that we were finally convinced of its effectiveness.

So we did what our generation always does and googled for the Enjo contact, arranged for a demo to be done at our place (Enjo only sells through "direct marketing"), and invited a few friends over. I must admit we had an ulterior motive, secretly hoping our house would be cleaned in the process of the demo...

Well as the 1hour presentation/demo came to a close, all of us ended up placing orders for various products in the different Enjo ranges. Since *Shinta and I don't normally clean the place ourselves, we decided to stick to the kitchen related items, which we would use more of. It should be interesting testing them out once the goods arrive!

48 red roses!

2009-12-10T23:59:00.002+08:00

My vote is for sale...

2009-12-07T21:16:00.007+08:00

So I was innocently having a coffee at Toast Box with a friend, when this young lady approached us and asked if we could help them with a survey. Spying a stack of vouchers in her hand, we decided to let her talk more about it rather than just waving her away.

Turns out that in conjunection with Toast Box running for the Singapore Promising Brand Award, they are conducting a survey and asking customers to vote for them in exchange for a nice free coffee/tea voucher. When we asked if we could just get the voucher for just doing the survey, she looked a little paiseh when she explained that she would have to walk us through the voting procedure on our handphones and only then we could get the voucher.

So basically it comes down to 20 cents SMS for a $1.50 drink.

I have mixed feelings on this. On one hand they're effectively bribing us for our vote (something the lady couldn't deny when we pointed it out). On the other hand, they're taking the initiative to garner votes in a way that promotes their products.

Hm.. time to find out who else is running and see if they will "bribe" me to vote for them as well...

Supper

2009-12-03T11:47:00.004+08:00

1.30am, Saturday morning
Newton Hawker Center
Supper with friends
- BBQ stingray
(1 large to share)
- BBQ chicken wings
(1 each)
- Oyster Omelette
(1 large to share)
- Small squid
(1 large plate to share)
- Beer (640ml each)

3.00am, Saturday morning
Totally knocked out (thanks to the beer!)

Spotted! #7

2009-11-30T00:05:00.000+08:00

Ok ok, I do feel a little mean for posting this...

...but I was just speechless when I saw this tall and actually not too bad looking guy with brown hair wearing a ROYAL PURPLE JUMPSUIT (yes, a one-piece jumpsuit) and holding an LV handbag on the bus.

Look at his nice legs!
And YES, I am sure it was a guy!

It's been a year...

2009-11-28T11:01:00.000+08:00

Happy birthday to my blog!

Food Bytes: Special Occasions (Morton's the Steakhouse)

2009-11-25T23:46:00.000+08:00

Had a special birthday occasion to celebrate, so I made reservations at Mortons. The last time I was there was before the mad cow disease and the subsequent ban on US beef, so you can imagine how long ago that was.

Telling them in advance that we were there to celebrate a birthday paid off. They had prepared a special table for us, decorated with shiny bits...

... and a customised menu. Little touches like that probably don't cost very much, but definitely help make the occasion more memorable.

After we had sat down and made ourselves comfortable they gave us their usual presentation of the menu with the various cuts of meat, selection of veggies and seafood. This practice is not really uncommon, but personally I must say I'm not that keen to see cuts of raw food, or a live lobster waving its claws at me just prior to getting slaughtered.

Mortons is famous for its beef, and they do pretty large cuts of it. The waiter was not pushy about whether we ordered 2 mains or shared 1, although he did gently remind us that they would be happy to help us wrap up leftovers to take home. We noticed with amusement that they had renamed their "ladies cut" as a "slightly smaller steak". Probably to make the guys feel better about ordering it?

The famous Mortons Onion Bread...

*Shinta ordered "shrimp" as his appetiser, so I was imagining some really small pale looking prawns and was really surprised when the waiter appeared with 3 huge grilled prawns cooked with butter. As you can probably guess, I stole some!

My oysters were fresh and juicy. I'm not a fan of the large fat ones (bit gross for me), so these medium sized ones suited me just fine.

*Shinta's medium Porterhouse steak...

My "slightly smaller" New York Strip...

Done medium rare just the way I like it!

We also ordered a side dish of sauteed buttom mushrooms to share. Really liked it a lot despite the fact that we were so full.

Dessert was the "Morton's Legendary Hot Chocolate Cake" which came complete with a candle and waiters gathering around to sing Happy Birthday with great gusto. The staff also took our photo and presented us with it in a signed card from them. During the course of our 2hour dinner there, we heard the birthday song sung no less than 5 times. According to the waiter, apparently up to 10 times a night is "normal"!

The chocolate cake was liquid on the inside. This was the slightly sweeter version, less rich and easier to finish than my favorite one at Pump Room.

At the end of dinner, we departed happy, and like most others, holding a take away bag.

The cold steak and mushrooms were still excellent the next day. Mortons is probably not as accessible a restaurant to most since they specialise in steak, but for those who do like beef, its great to pay them a visit every now and then. If only we could afford to go more often!

---------------------------------------------------------------------
Morton's the Steakhouse
Mandarin Oriental, 4th Storey, 5 Raffles Avenue, Marina Square
Tel: +65 6339 3740
Hours: 5.30pm to 11.00pm(Mon to Sat), 5.00pm to 10.00pm (Sun)
http://www.mortons.com/singapore//
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Handyman

2009-11-22T22:19:00.003+08:00

Table from Ikea: $39
# of screws and badly pre-drilled holes: 20
Handdrill from Black & Decker: $33

Total cost: $72

Spotted! #6

2009-11-17T14:05:00.006+08:00

Thanks to a friend for pointing out this one from The Straits Times Online.

Headline: Protectionism lauded at Apec

Text: Economists and academics have praised the outcome of last week's Asia-Pacific economic Cooperation (Apec) forum here for its strong anti-protectionist stance and the promise to keep...

Spin the wheel!

2009-11-16T00:48:00.000+08:00

The rear right side of the car is really an unlucky spot. All 3 accidents we've had involved denting that exact spot above the wheel over and over again. Luckily each time we had decided not to bother to repair, otherwise that would really be money down the drain!

About a year ago I somehow managed to somehow puncture the rear right tyre while turning into a carpark. It was totally flat by the time we returned from lunch and had to be replaced.

This time round, *Shinta was the one who punctured the very same tyre (stupid confusing roads at Havelock carpark where you must alternate keeping left and right as you turn!!!). We didn't realise it at first and continued to drive on unsuspectingly (testimony to the Citroen's excellent suspension!). We found out only after we entered a carpark and 3 different groups went out of their way to tell us we had a flat. Never let it be said that Singaporeans are unhelpful!

Anyway, changing tyres is expensive. We ended up changing all 4 wheels because it was "about time". Be careful when you drive!

Victor Victoria! Is She a King or is He a Queen?

2009-11-13T22:27:00.033+08:00

Caught the musical Victor Victoria with a friend. Originally starring Julie Andrews in the 1982 original, this version featured Laura Fygi as Victoria Grant / Count Victor Grazinski.

Here's my take on the 2h30min show.

(Warning: while the show itself is PG, the content is probably NOT suitable for the young, and those uncomfortable with gay themes!)

The Singing
Starting off a little shaky, Laura Fygi managed to warm up and give an entertaining performance. Her voice was easily the best and strongest of the entire cast. Matt Greg's Carroll Todd the Queen who helps Victoria with her act was easily the most fun and enjoyable character.

Nicole Ainton who played the (intentionally) annoying dumb blonde Norma Cassidy managed to bring across her high pitched whining role with such humour that one couldn't help but forgive her character. Jake Macapagal's King Marchan (the Chicago gangster who falls for Victoria) made me nervous because he had a strong Philippines accent while speaking, which somehow managed to give way to a strong accent-free singing voice.

In fact, the rest of the cast had really terrible inconsistent accents. The mixed international cast which included Singaporeans just couldn't hang on to their fake French / American accents consistently. It's a bit disconcerting to hear someone start off in a Singaporean accent only to complete the sentence in a fake American one.

The Dancing
The male dancers were pretty good, well co-ordinated and with exciting dance moves. The ladies on the other hand... it was pretty sloppy to be totally honest. They definitely needed more rehearsals.

The Music
I liked the band and the jazzy numbers, but don't expect catchy songs that you can hum along to as you wash the dishes or fold the laundry.

The Wardrobe
I actually loved the brightly sequined costumes that flashed beautifully under the stage lights during the dance scenes, but there were too many wardrobe errors to be forgiven...

First Victoria's bracelet flew off her wrist and managed to get kicked around by the dancers on stage until one of them finally managed to pick it up and throw it into the wings. Second one of the dancers lost his hat during a dance move where he had to put it on the floor, and there it remained for quite a while. Third, a white piece of cloth from someone's costume managed to fall off while dancing and there it lay on front of the stage again...

Overall, I still did enjoy the show. Our mistake was probably going so early in the run, when the cast hadn't yet polished their roles enough. Victor/Victoria is showing at the Esplanade until the end of the month, so you can still catch it if you want.

Heard #1

2009-11-10T01:18:00.003+08:00

So I was along Orchard Road and wanted to get to Suntec City. A bus I didn't normally take came along, and I wanted to make sure I was boarding the correct one.

Me: (tapping card and not looking at driver) Does this bus go to Suntec City?
Driver: (silence...)
Me: (looks up and realises driver is a Chinese national) er... Suntec City?
Driver: 车是直直走的
Me: (no idea what Suntec City is in Chinese) er...
Me: (fumbling to describe the wealth fountain) 有没有去那个"圆圈"
Driver: er...
Me: (gives up and just boards bus)

Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against other nationalities working here. Furthermore its not like the driver didn't try... When another person asked him about the route, he brought out the bus route guide and tried to help. Still, I do think bus drivers should learn at least the names of extremely key areas like Suntec City in English. After all its not like they have many names to remember if they drive the same route every day.

I guess the other thing to note is that my Chinese is really embarrassingly horrible...

Spotted! #5

2009-11-06T22:23:00.019+08:00

It's barely November and not only are the Christmas lights up, they are also already lit!

Isn't it a little early? Or is it due to Singapore hosting APEC this coming week?

Either way, its a reminder that time is passing and yet another year is coming to a close...

Not for sale...

2009-11-05T08:00:00.004+08:00

To: All the property agents in Singapore...

Our rooms are NOT FOR RENT.
Our flat is NOT FOR SALE.

Please cease the endless

i) stuffing of flyers in our mailbox
ii) shoving advertisements on to our gate
iii) unsolicited phone calls

because it
a) is thrown unread into the bin
b) creates a lot of unsightly litter
c) is just plain annoying.

If in the distant future we do wish to divest our property, we will get an agent ourselves through recommendations from trusted friends. We WILL NOT be using some random agent that has to resort to advertising via flyers.

Thank you

Yours sincerely,
The Flat Owners

Food Bytes: Customised Ice Kachang...

2009-11-02T01:30:00.005+08:00

On a hot day, my favourite place to go is Adam Road's dessert stall. Have found its opening times to be irregular, so I'm quite glad every time its actually open.

The place is recommended for its ching teng, but what I usually like to order is the ice kachang. Except that its not really ice kachang, but its my special order of "ice-kachang-kosong-with-only-lychee-and-only-brown-sugar-syrup-and-extra-milk".

I love the ice there because its super fine and soft, not horrible hard crystals. It does depend sometimes on who the person at the ice machine is though. The last time I went there, I polished off 2 bowls almost all by myself!

The Travel Bug: Things I learnt in Egypt

2009-11-01T00:06:00.018+08:00

*Shinta and I had our reservations about going to Egypt at first. We were a little nervous after reading warnings about how to behave there, what to wear, terrorism, customs, cheats and hassling. Despite some minor hiccups however, we had a fantastic time and it was definitely one of the most exciting trips ever. Egypt deserves its reputation as host of the world's most amazing wonders and everyone should go to at least once in their life.

Here are some interesting things we discovered on our trip. It's a mix of travel advice as well as interesting facts I didn't see on other Egypt guides. Hopefully it will make your own travelling experience better!

1. Independent travel is probably not possible

Many of the archaeological sites are situated in far remote places, and a scary and complicated transport system makes getting there on your own a huge pain. Tourists are not allowed to take the "local" public transport and unless you're used to driving in places like Rome or Greece, don't even think about self drive! You could hire a taxi or a driver + car, but the problem is making sure you find a reputable agency with reasonable rates and pray they don't abandon you in the middle of nowhere unless you pay more...

2. Compromise - A fully arranged private tour

Most people would probably choose to join a tour group. May I suggest you think about a private tour. Basically one company will take care of the logistics from end to end, including hotels, air tickets and transfers, entrance fees. You will be met at each city by your private guide and car. You can personalise your itinerary, have full flexibility over your time, and enjoy a better guide-to-guest ratio. Because you are not travelling in a large group, you spend less time waiting around for others, and more time admiring the sites. We managed to spend significantly more time exploring the ruins without the large crowds/groups around, and had the luxury of waiting for others to move off first, leaving us with a chance to take beautiful photos without other tourists in the foreground ruining the shot like the example below.

3. Talk to your guide - he knows a lot

Don't underestimate your tour guide. To be a guide in Egypt, you have to attend college for 3-4 years to study history, details on the archaeology sites, and read & write a second language. Guides are then given a licence for that particular language and have to take a test to renew it every 6 years. Being a tour guide is viewed as a pretty good career option, and our guide was telling us how his brother chose to become a tour guide over doing a fully sponsored PhD! If you're nice to your guide, he will help defend you from hustlers, get you out of trouble, give you advice on how much to pay for things and where to buy them from.

4. Ask your guide where to eat

If you go on a private tour, breakfast is usually provided, but lunch or dinner may or may not be. The best meals we had in Egypt were not the ones included in the package, but the ones our guide actually eats at himself and recommended to us.

5. High security??!! Er... if you say so...

Tourism being one of the top 4 drivers of Egyptian economy, the government took security very seriously after the 2005 terrorist attacks, in an effort to reassure tourists that Egypt was "safe" and encourage them to return. Everywhere throughout Egypt at the entrances of all the ruins, monuments, hotels (basically anywhere tourists might go), you will find x-ray machines and metal detectors similar to airport security procedures. Maybe they were more vigilant at the beginning, but today these are all pretty much for show. No one gave us a second glance or even looked up when we walked through the metal detectors still holding our bags in our hands and setting off all the alarms. We spotted quite a few Tourism Police nodding away at their posts, not even pretending to look around for suspicious characters.

6. Respect the place

What surprised us was how "open" Egypt was in terms of access to the sites. Tourists were free to wander around the premises, and while most respectfully kept their distance from the pillars and walls, there were the few rowdy ones climbing on the ruins or indiscriminately leaning against the intricate carvings on the pillars and walls. I guess the Egyptians think if the temples have been standing there surviving the hot sun for thousands of years, it can survive a few thousand tourists trampling on its grounds every single day.

7. Cairo and Giza stink. Literally.

Bring your inhaler if you're asthmatic. There was a constant haze in the skies and stink in the air, very much like Singapore at its absolute worst when the fires in Indonesia are raging. Alexandria in the north by the sea was marginally better, while it was very much better further south in Luxor to Abu Simbel.

8. Dress Code

Even if you don't enter the mosques, females should take more care with their outfits while visiting Cairo, Giza and Alexandria. If you don't cover up (no shorts, no sleeveless tops), you *will* feel uncomfortable and self-conscious. In Abu Simbel and the Nile Cruise areas (Aswan to Luxor), the concentration of tourists is very much higher, so the dress code accordingly becomes more relaxed. Covering up a little more does help shield your skin from the direct sun though, making the heat more bearable. Note that the further south you go, the warmer it gets. In Hurghada by the Red Sea coast where Russians seem to outnumber Egyptians, anything goes.

9. There's a lot of construction going on...?

When we first saw Cairo, we got the impression that there was a lot of residential construction throughout the city. The first few floors might look finished although not painted, while the top floor usually looked like it was half done, with no ceiling, unfinished brick walls with wires from open structural pillars sticking into the air... According to our guide, these were intentionally left uncompleted so that the owners could claim the buildings were not finished yet and hence avoid paying taxes. Never mind that families had already moved in and had been living there for years...

Along the way between cities such as Cairo to Alex, or Luxor to the Red Sea, the roads mainly passed through desert land. We did see a lot of what looked like construction of new residential / shopping compounds being built literally in the middle of nowhere. However, there didn't seem to be much on-going activity, and we were wondering if they had been abandoned halfway.

10. Shopping is not easy

The usual things to buy from Egypt are jewellery (Cartouches in gold, silver or metal), perfume essence, vases or carvings made from alabaster. I've heard so much conflicting information about whether the items are good to buy or not, that I must say I'm quite confused myself. For example, our guide brought *Shinta and I to a perfume store to get some perfume essence in oils, that were supposedly used for the base for famous scents like Chanel No. 5 and Tommy. We were later told by another guide that these oils might stain clothes, and so to be careful when using it. Your tour guide is likely to get a cut of whatever papyrus "museum" or alabaster "factory" or jewellery store he brings you to, so do take his advice with a pinch of salt.

In general for bargaining, start at 5% of their initial price they quote, and then settle around 10-15%. Seriously. I am NOT joking. The straw hats that they quote you EGP100 for? Pay at most EGP10. We walked away from an alabaster vase when they countered our 10% price with a 40% price, and only after we got into the car to leave, did they come running after us with an offer for 15% which we finally settled on.

One "safe" gift to buy and bring back is Egyptian sweets. These are not normally sold as gifts, but we got our guide to bring us to the bakery in the compound where he stays(Egyptians stay in "compounds" made up of many condo-like developments, all self-contained and with security around the period), and bought a few huge boxes back. They taste really good and can be easily shared with friends and family back home.

The Travel Bug: Wonders of Egypt #12/12 (Red Sea Snorkelling)

2009-10-29T23:58:00.008+08:00

For the last of the Wonders of Egypt photo series, have decided to do a snorkelling special!

*Shinta and I were in 2 minds over whether to snorkel when at Hurghada. Just off the coast of our resort there are a lot of dead reefs, so to see nice ones you would have to take a boat out. We didn't take the full day snorkelling trip to Gifu island (which probably would have had better snorkelling), but went for the 3h glass bottom boat + sunset on sand dune instead.

The good thing about a glass bottom boat is that even non-swimmers can go for it. Viewing through the glass bottom wasn't a large part of trip, since obviously most of us were there to snorkel really. There are some pretty shots however, that can be taken even through the (dirty & wet) glass, as shown in the photos above and below.

There were quite a lot of clams lying around...

As well as sea urchins. Was a little afraid of them because the waters were quite shallow and we were snorkelling over the reef without wearing flippers. Definately wouldn't want to step on them!

There weren't many fish, just 4 to 5 varieties and in small groups, but those that were there were pretty friendly.

After the Maldives, the coral here was pretty disappointing. Not very colourful and only a few types. A lot of the coral was also kind of languishing, probably an effect of the pollution and abuse?

Still we managed to get in a few good shots before we got tired and decided to lounge on the boat instead.

So that's all for the pretty pictures of Egypt...!

The Travel Bug: Wonders of Egypt #11/12 (Desert Safari)

2009-10-27T23:59:00.007+08:00

*Shinta and I were quite keen to try out the Dune Buggies, so we decided to sign up for the Desert Safari in Hurghada which included a 1h ride out in the sands, followed by a visit to a Bedouin camp and then riding back at night for another hour.

We absolutely loved driving our own Dune Buggies! Imagine something like a motorbike but with 4 wheels so that you don't have to worry about balancing. And since we're out in the desert, there's no road that you have to follow, you don't have to worry about hitting anything, its just enjoying the super bumpy ride and the thrill of the roar of the engines!

The Bedouin are are suppoed to be tribes that wander the desert in search of water. But these have effectively been bribed by the government with provision of resourses, so that they stay put to form a tourist attraction / theme park kind of thing.

Once we arrived at the camp, it was a mix of viewing some of the daily activities and crafts the Bedouin tribe engage in. Bread making was one such item...

A lot of the times it was set up such that visitors were "able" to purchase items that the Bendouin tribe had made. Weaved bags were one of the items I was more tempted to buy.

Basically the threads are sorted out and laid out before weaving commences. The loom needs 2 people to operate, to select the correct layer threads to appear as the design and to push these tightly against each other to form the cloth.

This guy was really skilful in making scenaries in sandbottles. It seemed fast and simple to make, but I'm sure they're a lot harder than it looked.

One thing we absolutely hated about the place was the "zoo". Basically they brought in random animals in to form a collection. It was very very sad to see them housed in very very horrible conditions. Small cages, dark and damp conditions, solitary cells.

Some of the more "fun" activities for us included a 2min Camel Ride round a bend and back...

We also paired up to try the spider buggy.

The only thing I liked about the Bendouin Camp visit, was being able to see the beautiful sunset...

The colours in the desert are really more beautiful than anywhere else.

Most of the Russians in the group tried out the Sheesha (water pipe). Luckily *Shinta didn't feel any inclination to try!

After that it was back onto the Dune Buggy for an hour drive back home. The plains were absolutely dark and there was only the headlight on the buggy to light the way back, as well as the stars in the sky above.

To be continued...

The Travel Bug: Wonders of Egypt #10/12 (Red Sea)

2009-10-25T19:15:00.002+08:00

It's approximately a 5 hour drive from Luxor to Hurghada. Contrary to what we had read online, there didn't seem to be any need for a convoy or police protection. The road was well maintained with a reasonable amount of traffic in both directions, and a nice pit-stop (tourist trap!) along the way.

For most of the journey, there was nothing much in between Luxor and Hurghada except the desert. My impression of the desert is of large mostly flat sandy plains, but along the way on both sides of the road were these amazing rock formations that I didn't expect to see.

Apparently the desert on the right side (East) of the Nile River is where the rocky formations can be found, while the left side (West) is known for the very fine sand and flat plains more commonly depicted in movies.

The view changed as we approached the Red Sea, where the coastline is dominated by self-contained beach resorts.

Main activity to do there? Laze by the beach...

You can also take a glass bottom boat out to go snorkelling, combined with a trip to a sand bank to watch the setting sun.

Chilling out while watching the sunset...

To be continued...

The Travel Bug: Wonders of Egypt #9/12 (Luxor - Others)

2009-10-24T22:00:00.002+08:00

We arrived in Luxor after passing through the Esna Lock. That's the gate that allows vessels move from the higher water level down to the lower level downstream.

Colossi of Memnon & Valley of Kings

On the West Bank (left side of the Nile, symbolises area of the afterlife) lie the Colossi of Memnon and the Valley of Kings. Of the Colossi, nothing remains except these 2 sitting statues of Amenhotep II. It's quite impressive to see them just standing there with nothing else around. The Egyptian government is supposedly restoring some of the temple ruins at the back, but judging from the way it looked its going to be a long time before its completed.

The Valley of Kings started because the land was too rocky to create the usual pyramid style tomb which requires flat land. Therefore they began building their tombs in the limestone hills of Thebes. The location was known only to the reigning King, the tomb architect and the Priests. Those working on the tomb were blindfolded and brought to the location without actually knowing where it is. Unfortunately most of the tombs were robbed (with the exception of King Tut's) and the remaining treasures have largely been brought to the Egyptian Museum. At any one time, about 9 tombs are open to visitors, although many may choose a 3 ticket option instead. Photographs are not allowed inside, probably to protect the beautiful paintings along the walls. Some looked like they had just been painted yesterday.

Hapchetsut

The Temple of Hatshepsut was built into the cliff by the last Egyptian Queen Hapchetsut (Cleopatra was not Egyptian).

In order to get power, she apparently married the young rightful ruler Thutmose III whom she locked up. He later escaped, came to power and destroyed much of the insides of the temple.

To gain acceptance by the people, she apparently dressed as a male.

Luxor Temple

The original entrance of the small Luxor Temple on the East Bank is not used because the area is difficult to access by tourists. Hence a new one was "created. 2 Obelisks used to stand there, but one has been given to France. Apparently the second one was also "promised" to them, but so far they have avoided having to give it over.

The larger statues looked really lovely lit up at night.

Christians also occupied the temple before. Unfortunately the photograph below is really blurry, but if you look carefully, you can see the remnants of paintings of a Christian scene below on the left.

Closed Papryus were used as the capital of the pillars, in contrast with the more common Open ones.

There were not many smaller statues left inside, these are some of the few.

To be continued...

The Travel Bug: Wonders of Egypt #8/12 (Luxor - Karnak)

2009-10-23T01:43:00.002+08:00

The Temple of Karnak is actually a complex made up of smaller temples. The ruins are huge and in amazingly good condition.

The Avenue of Sphinx with Ram heads lining the entrance. These used to extend all the way to Luxor Temple about 2 miles away.

There were originally 4 obelisks in the Obelisk Court, but only 2 remain standing.

One of the fallen Obelisks remains in the premises...

...near the sacred lake that was used for purification.

Near the lake also stands a scarab statue, symbol of the Sun god. According to the guide, if you walk around the scarab 7 times it will bring you good luck.

In one of the back temple areas, a lot of the red and blue colours can still be seen on the ceilings.

Christians used to occupy part of the temple, and some of the relics left by them still remain.

In the Hypostyle Hall stand a 134 columns all with beautiful carvings on them. We loved wandering around the pillars and admiring the way the late afternoon sun shone through them.

As always, don't forget to look up where a lot of the carvings and colours still remain.

To be continued...

The Travel Bug: Wonders of Egypt #7/12 (Edfu)

2009-10-21T21:14:00.002+08:00

Unlike Kom Ombo which is just next to the river, Edfu temple which was built for Horus is located a 10min horse carriage ride inland from the dock.

As usual, one main entrance to the temple symbolising the Nile. There are 3 uses for the "holes" that can be observed from the facade. Some were used for flags, some were cut by those occupying the temple after it was abandoned to let light in.

The last use was by the priests to "imitate" the voice of the gods to the people. From the picture below you can see how it is actually much larger on the inside. This creates a distortion and amplification effect when they spoke through it.

More carvings at the entrance of the temple.

According to our guide, after the temple was abandoned, it was used by Christians who had fled to avoid persecution as living quarters. The ceilings became black due to cooking inside the temple, and when it was apparent that the drawings underneath had been destroyed, the Egyptian government left the black colour as it is.

Holy of holies with the altar.

More amzing carvings...

covering the walls of each and every room...

and the corridors...

even the outside corridors...

There was a whole series on the walls telling the story of Horus' battle with Osiris. Seth (the evil one) was jealous of how people loved and praised his brother Osiris, and killed him by tricking him into entering a chest and trapping him there. Isis his wife (and sister...) brought up their son Horus who set out to revenge his father. Seth as depicted by a hippopotamus was eventually captured as shown below.

Carvings below show the numerical system in hieroglyphics. The little figure on the left with arms lifted up is the symbol for "million", while the 3 things next to it each represent 100,000 etc

To be continued...

The Travel Bug: Wonders of Egypt #6/12 (Kom Ombo)

2009-10-20T19:13:00.002+08:00

Kom Ombo is unusual because it is actually 2 temples built together for 2 gods, Sobek (crocodile) and Haroeris (falcon). Therefore there are 2 entrances to the temple.

Some of the colours at the temple are still visible, particularly the blues and reds at the entrance top.

Looking up as you wander around is a must.

A lot of the carvings on the walls are still very well preserved. There are 2 types of carvings, those which are carved into the stone, and those which protrude out. Loved those which protruded out.

Looking through at the altar made of black granite. There were originally 2 of them together in the Holy of Holies, but the Coptics who occupied the temple after it was abandoned moved one of them out to the courtyard.

A lot of the carving told of stories or rituals.

Sometimes pictures of the gods on the walls are not enough to identify which god it is, and therefore the names are carved into cartouches like the one below.

Carvings on this part of the temple wall are of an annual calendar with a record of what are the types and amounts of offerings required on each day.

We were there early in the morning and the light was still nice and soft and the weather not too hot. Carvings had been made all around the temple, even on the outer walls and corridors.

Only the lower half of these pillars remain, but the carvings on them are still clearly visible.

To be continued...

The Travel Bug: Wonders of Egypt #5/12 (Nile Cruise)

2009-10-18T13:00:00.005+08:00

Aswan is also where a lot of people board the cruise ships for a leisurely 3 day cruise down the Nile to Luxor. By road the trip would take only 3 hours, but in addition to sailing time, the cruise ship also docks along the way for guests to visit the various sights in places like Edfu and Kom Ombo.

Unlike the large Star Cruise type of vessels which have things like casinos and entertainment facilities, there's not that much onboard these smaller boats. Most guests were happy to just chill out on the sundeck and enjoy the views along the river in between visiting the temples.

What I really loved the most, was waking up to a view like this...

Chilling out on the sundeck in the evening...

to watch the sunset...

To be continued...

明天會更好!

2009-10-16T21:47:00.002+08:00

Friend posted this video on facebook.
Got goosebumps listening to it again!
I just can't recall when we used to know this song...

The Travel Bug: Wonders of Egypt #4/12 (Aswan)

2009-10-16T20:00:00.005+08:00

Our original flight to Aswan was delayed (and eventually cancelled) due to "technical problems" with our Air Egypt flight. Sitting for 5 hours in a small airport at Abu Simbel with nothing to do is no joke. Thank goodness for Blackberries and Iphones! Anyway we were really glad when we finally disembarked in Aswan and was met by our guide.

Aswan High Dam

The High Dam had a great impact on Egypt, allowing for the water levels up and down the Nile to be controlled, increasing cultivatable land, helping to prevent flooding and also for energy generation. As a result of the rise in water level upstream of the Nile however, ancient ruins such as Abu Simbel and Temple of Philae would have been lost underwater if not for efforts to relocate and rescue them.

Completed in 1970, the Aswan High Dam took 10 years to build, and was funded mostly by the Soviet Union after the US withdrew their support.

Unfinished Obelix

Granite quarries at Aswan were where materials were mined for the temples and brought via the River Nile by boat to the building site. Lying in Aswan is an unfinished Obelisk that had already been cut and prepared. Found to have a crack however, its creation was abandoned and the structure has been lying there ever since.

Temple of Philae

The Temple of Philae was located on an island which would have been submerged underwater, and is one of the monuments that was saved by relocation onto to a nearby island with higher ground. From the island, you can still see some of the higher structures at the original site protruding from the water.

Similar to Abu Simbel, the temple was cut into large blocks, numbered and transported, then fitted back together like a jigsaw puzzle. The Temple of Philae was built for Isis, Goddess of motherhood and fertility.

Leading into the entrance of the temple are 2 rows of pillars. Most of the pillars on the left which have carvings are from the original, while many of those on the right which are plain, were recreated in order to give visitors a better feel of what it would have been like.

Like most temples, there is one main entrance symbolising the River Nile, and 2 exits 1 on each side. The right/east bank symbolises life while the left/west bank symbolises the afterlife.

Looking through the doors all the way into the Holy of Holies where the stone altar stands.

We were there in the late afternoon around sunset, and I loved wandering around the pillars and enjoying the light shining through them. Decided to post more photographs showing off the light, rather than the carved reliefs on the walls and pillars. (Will post more of those for the other temples)

One of the side external structures...

To be continued...

The Travel Bug: Wonders of Egypt #3/12 (Abu Simbel)

2009-10-15T20:00:00.003+08:00

Abu Simbel is not usually on the standard tour package itinerary, and this was one of the customisations of the trip that we requested for. We managed to squeeze it in between the Cairo and Aswan parts of our trip by flying over from Cairo. Most others will do Abu Simbel as a day trip from Aswan, departing on the 3h bus ride at about 4am in the morning as part of a convoy. We strongly recommend that you do not spend a night in Abu Simbel. There is absolutely nothing to do there once you're done with the temple.

This was probably the most tiring and most taxing part of our trip. Located furthest south, the temperature was around 40degrees celsius, and there was absolutely no shelter to shield you from the scorching sun and cloudless sky as you embark on the 15 minutes walk from the entrance to the temple itself.

The pain was more or less worth enduring, as this Hillman Wonder is truely amazing. The temple was originally located slightly further down the hill, but with the rising waters due to the High Dam threatening to flood the temples, Unesco helped to rescue both the Great Temple of Ramesses II and the Temple of Hathor by relocating them uphill.

The 4 statues carved into the face of the cliff at the entrance are all of Ramesses II. In the process of moving the temple, the damaged statue was not restored, but transported exactly as it had been found.

Entering the temple, you are surrounded by pillars lining the entrance and stone carvings on the walls. The figures are all of Ramesses!

One of the rooms inside the temple.

4 statues sit inside the Holy of Holies, and twice a year the rays of the sun would enter the temple and shine upon just 3 of the statues on the right. The 4th statue on the left was Ptah, God of the Underworld, hence it was to always remain in the dark.

To be continued...

The Travel Bug: Wonders of Egypt #2/12 (Alexandria)

2009-10-14T23:34:00.012+08:00

Alexandria is a 2.5h drive away from Cairo, and is an interesting day trip to make if you have the time. There are 2 main roads you can use to get there. If you take the Desert Road as we did, the drive itself is not particularly interesting, although you will pass the 6th of October city, as well as half built community residential housing along the way.

There's a change in the air as you enter Alexandria (or "Alex" as it is affectionately known), the air is much cleaner than Cairo (which permenantly smells like Singapore at its worst during the haze season) and the site of the blue sea brightens up the whole place. It's a pity the facilities and buildings along the waterfront are all still very old and badly maintained. It's a very far cry from other waterfronts in say... Australia or even Singapore.

Pompey Pillar

Pompey's pillar is one of the noteable monuments in Alexandria, a tall granite column which still remains standing amongst the ruins.

2 Sphinxes have been brought in from other places and (randomly?) placed at the bottom of the pillar. (Reminded me of our visit to Memphis, where a smaller collection of artifacts were just brought together for visitors to view)

Kom el-Shouqafa Catacombs

Visiting the catacombs was one of the highlights for us. The underground tunnels and chambers are in the middle of a densely populated area, and are said to have served as a tomb for those who had fled to Egypt to avoid religious persecution. The catacombs were therefore secretly built to protect the bodies which were buried according to their own customs.

You can climb down the circular staircase to access the first basement level and walk around the corridors and decorations in the various rooms.

The second and third basements remain (partially) submerged underwater to this day and are therefore not opened to the public.

Qait Bey Fortress

Nothing remains of the ancient lighthouse known as the Pharos of Alexandria, one of the 7 Wonders of the Ancient World, but a quick stop by the fortress which stands at the original site allows for some nice seaside photographs to be taken

Montazah Palace & Gardens

Montazah Palace built by the sea, is a former royal summer residence. The surrounding gardens are open to the public for them to enjoy. Also within the grounds are chalets that are supposedly reserved for high ranking government officials to use.

Bibliotheca Alexandria

The Bibliotheca Alexandria (or Library of Alexandria) is probably the most modern and well maintained building we visited in the whole of Egypt. Entrance is not free (cheaper for Egyptians), and you have to pay extra to view some of the exhibits inside. Having said that, I was still impressed with how well designed the place was, and it made me miss the days of being a student and hanging out at the library to study.

To be continued...

Is Facebook down???

2009-10-14T19:34:00.001+08:00

Has it been hacked? How will I survive???!!!

The Travel Bug: Wonders of Egypt #1/12 (Greater Cairo)

2009-10-12T23:52:00.012+08:00

Doing a blog about the 10-day Egypt trip would probably take me way more than 10 days. So while there's really tons of rich history and cultural stuff behind all the sights of Egypt, I'm going to be super lazy and do a "Wonders of Egypt" picture series with just a few cursory comments and let the photographs speak for themselves.

Note: No gurantees whether my descriptions are correct or not, I was too busy taking photos and looking around to really pay attention to the history stuff. Left that to *Shinta!

The Great Pyramids

Each pyramid is actually a "pyramid complex" with the main pyramid surrounded by temple areas, buried boats and smaller pyramids for the Queens. Shown here are the 3 most well known ones, from right to left, Khufu (aka Great Pyramid of Giza aka Pyramid of Cheops), Khafre and Menkaure. You can pay extra to climb into Khufu, or head to the back where one of the guards might let you into the smaller pyramid of a Queen for free.

Limestone still adorns the top of the Khafre Pyramid, giving it a "snow-capped" look.

It's never been confirmed who exactly the Sphinx was carved to look after. Rumours abound though!

We had some free time one afternoon, and decided to go riding in the desert just behind the pyramids...

It's deceiving how pictures show that the Great Pyramids are in the middle of nowhere. They're actually just next to the town of Giza, quite a few hotels have rooms with views of them. If you want to get a shot with all 3 together however, you have to ride out to the desert. In the photo below, you can see some of the minor pyramids belonging to Menkaure on the left.

Memphis

Memphis was the ancient capital of Lower Egypt. There's not much to the ruins right now, but a collection of ancient artifacts have been gathered in the location, including this Colossus of Ramses.

Sakkara/ Saqqara

Sakkara is also part of the great necropolis of Memphins. The Limestone entrance to the Great Step Pyramid Complex was restored.

Step Pyramid, the oldest known of Egypt's 97 pyramids. Each "step" was actually an additional viewing platform.

It's one of my favourite pyramids for the "rocky look"!

Egyptian Museum

Most of the treasures that were discovered in the pyramids and tombs were brought to the Egyptian Museum. Viewing the collection properly would probably take you a whole week. The wonders of King Tut's tomb on the second floor are really amazing, while paying extra to view the Royal Mummies is something one probably has to do at least once. Unlike skeletons, you can see the actual features of the face, sometimes even the hair as well. A new Museum has been planned near the Great Pyramids of Giza.

Khan El Khalili Market

The market is an interesting place to wander around if you don't mind the touting/hustlers.

It's a good place to pick up souvenirs, but do be careful of overpaying and buying poor quality stuff.

Coptic Hanging Church

Located in Old Cairo, the church appears to be suspended because while the main building is at today's current street level, it is actually built way above the base.

Look at how deep it actually goes...

Inside of the church is in the Basilcan style with the arches and the hall divided into 2.

To be continued...

The Travel Bug: Where to go? (Part 2)

2009-10-01T23:54:00.005+08:00

The perennial question for us: Where to go next?

A fellow well-travelled friend referred me to this list some time ago: Hillman Wonders, which she has been slowly moving down from #1. I don't really agree with all the choices, because some questionable places are on it, and there are quite a few missing ones that I think are more deserving. Still, its an excellent list to use as a guide and to pick out a shortlist of places to go.

When I was bored one day, I couldn't resist doing some analysis on it. Findings:

1. Of the 100 Wonders, there are 35 in Europe, 25 in Asia, 17 in Africa & Middle East, 11 in North America, 8 in South America, and 4 in the rest of the world.

2. I have been to only 28 of the Wonders, and most of these are either in Europe or Asia. I'm really tempted to redo the Europe ones though, because I visited those at a time when digital cameras were rare... and anyway, I love Europe!

3. I may never see all the Wonders. Especially since many of them are linked to nature-related events/items or in a category I deem as "more difficult" to accomplish.

4. I should be ashamed that I have not been to China at all for leisure, what with 7 of the Wonders located there and especially given its proximity to Singapore.

5. A 10 day trip to Egypt can cover 6 of the Wonders (including the #1 spot), and increase my "been to" percentage to 34%.

Conclusion on where to go: Isnt it obvious?

The Travel Bug: Business trips... Fun or Not?

2009-09-26T11:06:00.002+08:00

People seem to think that travelling for work is equivalent to an all-expenses-paid semi-holiday...

But next time, ask these questions first:
(+1 for "Good", 0 for "Neutral", -1 for "Bad")

1. Where is the trip to?
- Developed country -> Good
- Undeveloped country -> Bad

2. Are you flying business class or economy? How long is the flight?
- Business class -> Good
- Economy class but short -> Neutral
- Economy class and long -> Bad.. very bad

3. How many places in how many days?
- One place -> Good
- Many places in few days -> Bad

4. Who is going along?
- Colleagues you like -> Good
- Boss you hate -> Bad

5. Are you buy-side or sell-side?
- Buy-side with bankers helping with logistics -> Good
- Sell-side with self-arranged logistics -> Bad

6. Is there a lot of pre-trip / follow-up work?
- A little or None -> Good
- Yes, a lot -> Bad

7. Possibility of going up earlier or extending the trip?
- Yes -> Good
- No and you want to -> Bad

8. Any free time to sight-see?
- Yes -> Good
- No -> Bad

So recently I was on a trip that managed to score a total of 4 points. Not too bad! Excluding the time where I went up earlier, we covered 6 cities in 7 days. Was super tiring, lugging my heavy bag up and down the trains and flights of stairs every day. Luckily the trip was in Europe and we usually had free time from the late afternoon onwards, which kind of made up for it.

Food Bytes: More Ice Cream shops are always good! (Marble Slab)

2009-09-21T22:50:00.004+08:00

Spotted a newly opened (and the first in Singapore) Marble Slab store at the 4th floor of Iluma, so of course we had to check it out.

You can go with one of the suggested combinations, or pick your own mix of ice cream and ingredients. The choice of ice creams may seem a little "normal" or "too classic", compared to the local flavours found at stores like Island Creamery / Ice Cream Gallery / Daily Scoop, but they're still pretty good. It might just be the impression I got, but I think flavours and toppings at Marble Slab tended more to the sweet and creamy type (eg chocolate, coffee, caramel), compared to the trend of more fruity ones we found at Milca and Cold Stone Creamery in Japan.

We decided to try one of their more popular combinations, the Caramel Peanut Butter Crisp which was "Sweet Cream with Crushed Butterfinger, Chocolate Chips and Caramel". Here's the shot of them mixing up the ingredients and chopping it up for us.

The finished product! We suspect that the Marble Slab wasn't cold enough for Singapore's humid climate (not withstanding we were in an airconditioned shopping center), because the ice cream had melted quite a bit already. Still the ice cream was really good, and reminded me of the ones we had in Japan.

There's also a selection of coffee and other food items there. This store is probably going to do reasonably well, especially given the likely popularity of Iluma amongst the younger crowd.

---------------------------------------------------------------------
Marble Slab Creamery
201 Victoria Street, #04-01 Iluma, Bugis
Tel: +65 6884 5933
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Iluma... not just another shopping center

2009-09-20T23:21:00.012+08:00

*Shinta and I decided to check out the newly opened Illuma just next to Bugis Junction. Was not sure what to expect since we hadn't really heard much about it unlike others like Ion and Orchard Central.

Must say that the place was a pretty pleasant surprise!

What I like about the place is that it although it markets itself as a hip and happening place, unlike others like Orchard Cineleisure, it doesn't intimidate me with an overly youthful feel and is much less crowded. Just walking around is a much more enjoyable experience because of the well planned layout, high ceilings, open spaces and bright airy atmosphere with a large central open area.

Shops in Iluma are not the usual ones you find in generic shopping malls. The first few floors are sports shops while the next few levels are an assortment of shops including clothing, anime/comic speciality stores, etc.

On the 4th floor, there's a huge central area with tons of interesting restaurants, including a whole section with Japanese stores. *Shinta and I are quite eager to try out some of the izakayas there! There's also a Marble Slab store! It's along the same lines of the Cold Stone Creamery that I reviewed earlier.

The 5th floor onwards is where it starts to feel a little young and happening. Half of the space is taken up by a huge open Arcade with lots of interesting game machines including this ice-cream grabbing one. Unlike most other arcades which are usually dim and cramped with low ceilings, black walls and poor lighting, this one was open, spacious and brightly lit with white walls and surfaces.

The cinema which spans the other side of the 5th floor as well as the 6th floor came as a surprise because it wasn't run by the usual suspects: Golden Village, Eng Wah or Cathay, but by a newcomer, Film Garde.

Taking the escalator up to the 7th floor, we were surprised to find yet another arcade there, this time dark and poorly lit, but with a different range of machines including the more sporty ones like the ball throwing, ski simulation etc.

Just next to it was another area, which at first we thought was a club because of the huge signs outside saying "Ladies Night on...". Curious, we wandered in only to discover...

Haha... Dedicated gaming area with huge screens... they even provide Cup Noodles for those hardcore gamers!

The last interesting thing at Iluma would be the small restaurants and bars that are in this open area on the 7th floor. Unfortunately it wasn't open yet, but with the probably excellent night view of the surrounding buildings, it'll probably be pretty popular among the yuppies looking for a place to chill after work.

The Travel Bug: Getting to and around Hokkaido (Part 2)

2009-09-14T20:00:00.004+08:00

The great thing about Japan is that it doesn't matter what time of the year you're going, there's always something different to see and do. You can also vary which part of Japan you go to, so that the weather suits you better. For example if you want to see the sakura but can't catch it in time in Kanto, you can head north instead, where it blooms slightly later.

The same applies to Hokkaido. Each season offers different things to see and do, even if you've been there once you might want to go back there again during a different season.

One main consideration of independent travel however, is how to get around Hokkaido. Train services in Hokkaido like the rest of Japan, are highly efficient, punctual and a very convenient way of getting around. If you're sticking to just a few places such as Sapporo, Hakodate, Noboribetsu or a ski resort, you might want to consider just getting the rail pass and sticking to the trains.

If you're interested in heading further north and east to the national parks though, you might want to consider driving. Access to these areas is difficult without a car, and most of the time, it takes just as long by train as it does by car. Driving offers much more flexibility, the beautiful scenic routes are an attraction in themselves, and you can make stops at the attractions along the way. Car rental is pretty painless with companies like Toyota present in almost every city. They entertain last minute changes and one-way drop offs, and you can just pick up the phone and call them for bookings.

A GPS system is installed in almost every car, and although its only in Japanese, the "mapcode" system whereby you just key in the code of the location you are going to makes it easy for non-Japanese speakers. Alternatively, you can also key in your destination by the phone number. English driving maps are abundant, and most including this one come with the scenic drives and relevant mapcodes nicely planned for you. GPS directions are very detailed with nice big arrows and things like traffic lights, junctions and lanes, and even facilities like convenience stores and banks clearly marked out.

Just 2 things to note. Firstly, you need to get an International Driving Permit (painless procedure in Singapore). Secondly, Hokkaido is obviously subject to really low temperatures, and I haven't experienced driving there in snow conditions. As most of the roads in the national parks have wide lanes and are really well-maintained (even the second-tier roads), I don't foresee that this would be a problem with good tyres and snow chains.

Driving trips are really fun because you never know what wonders you might stumble across on the way, such as random fields of potato flowers or sunny yellow flowers.

The Travel Bug: Getting to and around Hokkaido (Part 1)

2009-09-12T23:16:00.011+08:00

Japan is a fantastic place to go for a short holiday with optimal leave efficiency. You can fly out from Singapore on a Friday night and arrive on Saturday morning, and return on the Sunday the week after. 8 full days of holiday while taking only 5 days of leave. Flights from Singapore to various cities in Japan are frequent and just the right length for a red-eye without feeling too tired the next day. Especially if you take SQ's A380, even economy class is pretty comfortable! (hint: Pick the upper deck. It's much more private and quiet, and the 2 seater configuration by the window also has extra storage/ledge space)

Travelling around Japan by yourself (ie without a package tour) is really not as difficult as people seem to think it is. If you're sticking to the key tourist areas such as Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka, there's tons of information online, its pretty easy to manage all the hotel bookings and even transportation. Quite a lot of the train station names are marked in Ryomanji, and even if you do get lost, the Japanese are very friendly people who would go out of their way to get you back on the right track.

Getting to Hokkaido from Singapore is slightly more difficult because there are no direct flights. SQ was supposed to start one last year, but due to the economic situation, they decided not to after all. So getting to Hokkaido means either taking a domestic flight or the Shinkansen.

Internal flights are extremely expensive if you try to book them independently, and a one-way 1h flight may cost you as much as S$400! If your international flight is JAL or ANA, prices drop about 50% if you do the booking together. Alternatively, you can fly one of the "budget" airlines such as Skymark from Haneda. This is a little of a hassle because you would need to have a 45min bus transfer from Narita to Haneda, but at least the fare is about 25-50% cheaper. The Shinkansen is a cheaper option, but it take a full day and the departure time doesn't match with the morning arrival for the international flight. So its not really time efficient unless you want to spend a day in Tokyo before heading up north.

The first time we went to Hokkaido, we stayed 1 day in Tokyo before taking a full day train trip up the next day. The second time however, efficiency in use of time was preferred, so we ended up flying over on a low cost airline via Haneda. For the return legs, usually we want to do intensive last minute shopping of seafood (cooked and nicely packed in a styrofoam box with ice packs to help it last the trip back to Singapore) at the New Chitose Airport, so we fly direct from there to Narita on the more expensive JAL or ANA.

To be continued...

Screenings #5: Studying for JLPT

2009-09-04T20:15:00.003+08:00

I'm focusing on J-dramas currently, and trying to justify it by telling myself that I need to practice my listening skills for the JLPT exam at the end of the year. Wiki D-addicts is an excellent site to use to check what the most recent season dramas are and their respective ratings (ie how popular the show was in Japan).

Here's my take on some of the recent ones I've watched:

1. Mei-chan no Shitsuji (Mei-chan's Butler)
Guys will probably find this show way too ridiculous for them, but really its so funny that its hilarious. Give it a chance and watch 2-3 episodes before you decide. Before you know it, you will have fallen for the elegant classy behaviour of the butlers, especially the graceful bowing!

The next 3 are Kimtaku shows that I watched because the ratings were pretty high...

2. Mr Brain
Saw part of this when we were up in Japan earlier this year. For some reason, detective/ police stories seem to be really popular. This is sort of modelled after Galileo (see below), but unfortunately the scientific part of the crime solving isn't very coherent, and Kimtaku's "Tsukumo Ryusuke" really can't hold a candle to Fukuyama's "Yukawa-sensei".

3. Change
This is a slightly older drama, with Kimtaku as a school-teacher-turned-prime-minister?! Pretty unbelievable but still a pretty good plot with a nice mix of humour and drama.

4. Karei naru Ichizoku ("The Great Family")
Watched this based on the extremely high ratings (high 20s!) of most of its episodes. It's totally different from Kimtaku's other dramas, as its done documentary style and in a very gloomy style. The episodes are tightly scripted, music is epic and the plot gripping. The only horrible thing about this show is the extremely sad ending that's very non-typical of J-dramas.

5. Galileo
I was so unbelievably depressed after watching the previous drama, that I had to rewatch Galileo to cheer myself up. Who wouldn't love the quirky Yukawa-sensei, the clips of him playing squash / boxing / rock climbing / sculpting art / cooking, admire his intelligence in finding the scientific solutions to puzzles and the hilarious banter between him and Shibasaki Kou's "Utsumi Kaoru keiji".

This is by far the best J-drama that I've ever watched. And if you check the rankings, you'll see that the rest of Japan agrees with me... It was the top watched drama in every single week that it showed. Not even Kimtaku's dramas have such a strong pull! If you haven't watched it already, GO AND WATCH IT NOW!

Spotted! #4

2009-09-03T10:34:00.006+08:00

I mean I don't expect AsiaOne to be like the Business or Financial Times.... but seriously? How is this news??!! I mean there's nothing wrong in writing the 2 articles below, but I fail to see how they could be the most important "headline news" under each category.

She didn't pay extra for extra/better Carbonara sauce, she paid extra because she changed the sauce from another cheaper tomato based one to the more expensive cream based one! And what's it with quotes like "The authenticity of a dish is at stake...." If you pay peanuts, don't expect to get monkeys!

How in the world can that be the headline news item??? You mean that's the most important news item relating to Education? That a young boy wants to be *like* MM Lee? And I totally don't get how a "Be Yourself Day" equals dressing up as aspiration/roles such as a pharaoh/MJ/Anime characters? How is that embracing what you are?

The Travel Bug: Where to go? (Part 1)

2009-08-20T23:13:00.005+08:00

So how do people decide where they want to go to for a holiday? Some of the common reasons include:

1. Visiting friends & family (free accommodation!)
2. Going for an event (eg wedding)
3. Watched a drama/movie/TV (eg LOTR -> NZ, Winter Sonata -> Korea)
4. Running away from the cold/hot climate in winter/summer
5. Activity based holiday (eg beach bumming, snorkeling, skiing, hiking)
6. Saw a friend's photos and was envious
7. Another friend wants to go there

Note: I am of course referring to holidays where only adults are involved. Having kids brings in a whole different dimension and people in that category are automatically excluded from the normal thought processes that singles / SINKs / DINKs have.

For *Shinta and I, other than trips we take for reasons #1 and #2 above, we usually waver between going to Japan (*Shinta's choice) or Europe (my choice). Usually Japan wins because i) I like going Japan as well, and ii) its just nice for a 9 day trip (the usual optimisation of leave days). Occasionally, we may be swayed by #6 and #7, resulting in our trips to places like Maldives and New Zealand.

However, having been to Japan about 5 times in the last 4 years, I have now put my foot down and will be objecting to any Japan trips that are not made for a specific purpose such as:
1) Skiing or snowboarding
2) Seeing the Sakura
3) Watching a concert of my fav Jap singer (probably impossible though...)

The above of course, still give us a lot of flexibility to go there as long as we can find a valid "excuse"... but at least it makes sure we take into consideration other destinations as well!

Things that don't work anymore...

2009-08-18T23:17:00.001+08:00

After just 4 years:

1. Doorbell (spoilt)
2. Kitchen light (broken)
3. Main Bedroom light (broken)
4. 6 out of 12 of the dining room bulbs (needs replacing)
5. Bathroom light (hopefully just blown)
6. Corridor light (hopefully can repair)

and counting...

Wish List #1 (Update 1)

2009-08-17T22:22:00.002+08:00

I am now the proud owner of a 50mm F1/1.4 USM!

Was actually going to get the much much cheaper 50mm F1/8, but *Shinta convinced me that since I probably won't ever be buying a 50mm again, I might as well get the better lens and be done with it.

Unfortunately that kind of logic can be applied to a lot of things...

Wish List #1

2009-08-12T22:43:00.002+08:00

In order of preference...

1. EF 50mm f/1.8 II
Probability: High
Reason: Cheap

2. EF 70-200mm F/4L IS USM
Probability: Uncertain
Reason: Ex

3. Canon EOS 50D
Probability: Low
Reason: Current 20D is perfectly adequate (although needs heavy duty cleaning!)

The Travel Bug: Things I like/hate about coming home after travelling...

2009-08-10T11:17:00.007+08:00

Things I like/missed
#5 Using my computer -> checking email and facebook on a BB is a huge pain
#4 Downloading photos from my camera
#3 My own toiletries -> especially shampoo & conditioner!
#2 My comfy pillow and bed
#1 Friends!

Things I hate
#5 Unpacking
#4 Loads of laundry
#3 Cleaning the house
#2 The hot and humid weather

and most of all...

#1 Going back to work

The lists were supposed to be much longer, but I realised the weightage of each item wasn't really the same. In fact, the "#1 hate" kind of ruled out everything else!

Food Bytes: Finally! Les Amis!

2009-08-01T01:33:00.012+08:00

So it was time for the annual birthday celebration (aka excuse to eat good food) and *Shinta being ever so "considerate" and knowing that I was suppose to watch my diet after spending the whole of July doing practically nothing but eating, sleeping and shopping, chose French for dinner, under the misguided perception that "french portions are small"... Sure the portions at Les Amis are "not large" especially if you order the degustation menu, but its really filling given the number of courses both on and off the menu!

That aside, I was quite pleased because I had been wanting to try this place for ages, and somehow we just never got round to it... (price could of course have been a reason!!!)

Anyway it was a pleasure to finally be privileged enough to step into the simple entrance at the ground floor of Shaw Center and enter the tastefully decorated but still glam restaurant. Simple settings for the tables and chairs, but offset by the lush curtains, relatively high ceiling and sparkling chandeliers. I loved the little mini sofa they provided for my hand bag!

I forgot to bring my camera along (plus I was too pai seh to openly take photos in such a posh place), so I only managed a few shots discreetly taken by my handphone camera which unfortunately doesn't perform too well in low lighting conditions.

*Shinta and I both ordered the 6 course degustation menu, which had a little bit of all our favourites... Foie Gras, Lobster, Beef. This was preceded by a very nice selection of fragrant and tempting breads, followed by 2 simple appetisers: salmon on a cracker and some tomato-basil mix that I couldn't really identify. The first was a pretty unexciting combination, but the good quality of the salmon was pretty obvious at first bite. The second was more interesting, but unfortunately made of ingredients that I wasn't too fond of.

I started getting much more excited when the first of the degustation courses arrived. The terrine of foie gras was smooth and rich without being too oily, and went wonderfully with the balsamic glazed cherries, moscato foam and dried apple bread brandied cherry that accompanied it. I could have eaten much more of this!

The next course was black truffle with chopped lobster, small shrimp with pasta and spring onions. While I liked the overall dish and the truffle/shrimp combination, I have to say that this tasted a little Asian, and unfortunately I really couldn't see any signs of the lobster.

I've forgotten what this course is already, although I really liked it! Believe it was mushrooms on the side, and the center being crispy something or other enveloping a poached egg? I also forgot to take a picture of the cod fish that followed this. Found that to be not too exciting, although *Shinta had a more favorable opinion of it.

The main course was Char-grilled Japanese Kuroge Wagyu entrecote with baby spinach leaves and truffled french fry (singular!). Very very pleased with this! Even though the slice was so thin, they managed to keep it "medium-rare" as requested. In fact the tasting portion was just nice, because the meat is so rich and buttery, that it fills you up really quickly and a full portion (available on the a la carte) might be a little too much for most. I passed on the spinach and french fry (to *Shinta's delight) because I was already feeling really full at this stage.

For dessert, I swopped the peach melba (which *Shinta later described as "ok") for the tiramisu souffle with cherry ice cream. Was quite pleased with my decision, the souffle is definitely something I would recommend to others.

Coffee followed shortly after, accompanied by a small platter each of 4 macaroons and little delights, as well as a selection of chocolates.

A nice surprised followed shortly after, when they brought out a cake specially decorated for us. At first we shuddered because we were so full we thought we would be unable to eat it, but their choice of cake (Lime with Pistachio base) was excellent because it was palate cleansing, light and very refreshing after all the heavy chocolate desserts.

Just when we thought we were done with eating, they appeared with freshly baked Magdalenas!

It was in total a 3.5h meal, although I must say that I didn't notice it at all! After the many many courses of food and dessert, I finally decided I really couldn't eat anymore. So with 3-4 bites of the cake and half a Magdalena left on my plate, *Shinta called the waiter over to ask for the bill.

That's when the most amusing thing happened. Service the entire evening had been excellent, but our waiter couldn't hide the look of shock, horror and disappointment that flashed briefly across his face when he heard us ask for the bill. Worried that we might have somehow unknowingly insulted him, *Shinta couldn't help but asked him about it. The poor guy sheepishly replied that he thought we would have wanted to sit down and enjoy ourselves a bit more... and finish the cake and Magdalena! We were profuse with apologies and excuses that we were terribly full, and had to assure him repeatedly that we really loved it. Wracked with guilt, I had no choice but to finish off at least the cake...

It kind of struck a note with me that the waiter was so concerned that we hadn't been able to finish our food, and that we appeared to be "rushing off". We're not used to it in Singapore, but on my recent trip in Europe, I was reminded how it was normal over there to start dinner at 8pm, and have it last a good 3 to 4 hours. This evening in particular, the service and food were excellent, and the company really made time fly by.

Another thing is, I can't help but compared Les Amis to Saint Pierre which I ate at just a month ago. For a slightly cheaper price, Saint Pierre provided more courses (overall) with much more unusual concoctions and combinations of flavours. Les Amis however, had more classic dishes (although there were hints of slight experimentation in the garnishes at the side), better quality ingredients, extremely well-trained staff and truly excellent service. While Saint Pierre is probably a good place to go to now and then for its exciting new creations, I found Les Amis much more friendly, cosier and more likely to become a favorite for those very special occasions. It's probably the kind of place where if you were rich enough to go there often, you would be able to make friends with the waiter and have them recognise your name and know your favorite wines and dishes. Pity I don't belong to that group!

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Les Amis
1 Scotts Road #02-16 Shaw Centre
Tel: +65 6733 2225
Hours: 12.00 to last seating 2.00pm (Mon to Fri), 7.00pm to last seating 9.30pm (Mon to Sat)
http://www.lesamis.com.sg/
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The Travel Bug & Food Bytes: Sorry! (+ Update 28 Jul)

2009-07-19T06:15:00.011+08:00

Yes I know, one whole month without a blog entry is a really long time for me... Don't worry, I haven't forgotten about it, nor have I given up on blogging. Just that I've been travelling a lot this past month and so I 1) have too many things to blog about and therefore am too lazy to start; and 2) am too busy having fun to blog about it.

Am in my favourite city currently (no prizes for guessing where), and I just had a really excellent day with one of my best friends, rounding off with dinner together with her hubbie. Before the meal started, he asked me whether I wanted to take photos of the dishes (which were really very pretty). I thought about it for 2 seconds, but finally said no, because I am really having too much fun here to want to think about interrupting it for photo taking or for thinking about blog entries.

Plus honestly there are really too many good restaurants here and way way way too little time for me to even begin writing about them. In fact, I don't think I will even be able to go through my usual "must eat" list on this trip, because I am only here for a few days before moving on to the rest of Europe for work... =(

Here's the status so far:
1) Salt beef sandwiches at Selfridges
Status: DONE!
Comment: Not just at Selfridges, but at Harrods too! The one at Selfridges is much more salty compared to Harrods, which is good if you like your salt beef with a bit of kick. Some may find the less salty one more palatable if they are not a fan of cured meats. Both are good though!

2) Roast duck from Goldmine
Status: DONE!
Comment: Just as good as always. Goldmine didn't exist when I was living here, but opened only "recently" when the chef from 4 Seasons left it and opened his own a few doors down the road...

3) Dim Sum / Scallops / Crispy seaweed / Lobster noodles from Royal China or Chinatown
Status: ~~Pending~~ DONE! All!
Comment: ~~Might not have time to eat all these items unfortunately.~~ What I crave the most surprisingly, is the "crispy seaweed"!!! That stuff just melts in your mouth. Am not sure why they don't sell it in Singapore. ~~If I get a chance, will definitely take a photo of it for this blog.~~

4) High Tea at Covent Garden or somewhere similar
Status: ~~Unlikely to complete~~ Not done
Comment: All my days are already booked... Most definitely no time to do this =(

5) Mussels at Belgos
Status: ~~Unlikely to complete~~ Not done
Comment: Have not been able to do this on my past 3 visits!

6) Mr Burger at Trailer of Life
Status: ~~Impossible to complete~~ Not done
Comment: They only open around... 8pm was it? And I'm only doing a day trip there.

My usual "must do" list is an absolute nil for the Arts (no time), but faring much better in terms of the shopping (tail end of sales are on!). I've already visited 5 different Zaras cos the range at each is different. And today I just learnt that they update their stock every week!

Anyway, stayed tuned for August when I have more time and will update on the delights of Hokkaido in summer.

Please help...

2009-06-24T23:32:00.001+08:00

Dear everyone,

*Shinta's ex-colleague's 4 year old daughter, Charmaine Lim, has stage 4 Neuroblastoma cancer which has spread to her bone marrow. She has just undergone surgery and will be starting her 5th round of chemotherapy soon. Her chances of survival while undergoing treatment in Singapore is only placed at 20%.

There is however, a 3F8 treatment available only in New York, which would help to raise her chances to 40-50% instead. The problem is that initial payment of US$350,000 (about S$500,000) must be made to the NY cancer center, and that's not including additional costs such as flying up, living expenses and so on. The window of opportunity for this treatment to be most effective for Charmaine, is by end July.

Charmaine's mother, Cynthia Lim, is only 29 years old and divorced with 2 kids (Charmaine and a 5 year old son Jase). They live with her parents and younger brother in a 4 room HDB flat in Punggol and gets by on savings and monthly maintenance from her ex-husband. You can find out more about her situation on this page. Understandably, affording half a million dollars in her situation is going to be difficult.

Although I knew about Charmaine's case earlier, Cynthia and her friends have all along kept things low key, probably because support from friends and 1st/2nd degree well-wishers was just about enough cover the Singapore medical bills. With the large amount needed for the 3F8 treatment however, they have had no choice but to appeal publicly and on a larger scale for a specific amount of targeted funds. They are targeting to raise sufficient funds by 13 July.

*Shinta and I don't normally do things like forward emails / stories / appeals etc. The reason why we've decided to try help raise support this time however is because:

1) *Shinta knows Cynthia, and has met Charmaine before. There is therefore assurance that this is not some email hoax meant to cheat people into donating to an imaginary person.

2) Even with family support, being only 29 years old, raising 2 kids as a single mum must be difficult enough as it is. Fighting so hard for a daughter's life while having to worry about financial resources? How many of us have the courage to face that?

3) While this is not a registered charity, you're not going to get your tax deductions or fancy auditors presenting fancy reports on how your money was spent, Cynthia and her friends have done a lot to verify their appeal to the public, including
- Regular updates on Charmaine's status
- Openly using doctors' names and dates/details of procedures
- Obtained a medical report from NUH on the proposed US treatment for Charmaine
- Given those donating some choice in how they want the funds to be used (Charmaine's medical / personal expenses / ease family expenses)

There is of course nothing to 100% guarantee that any money donated will definitely go towards treatment. After all, who would have thought that funds donated for kidney dialysis would go towards paying for gold taps? But the above is as good as it gets. I myself can't think of what else they could really do to provide more reassurance and transparency than what they have already done on their blog.

Do contact them directly if you wish to ask more questions, find out more information, donate or make a pledge of some kind. There's tons of stuff on their blog though (fundraising events, forum support, FAQs), so I recommend you check that out first. You can also drop me a note if you want me to do/ask anything for you.

Thanks in advance on their behalf.

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More information

You can get more information from the following links:

Blog & Updates: http://ourfeistyprincess.blogspot.com/
How to donate: Donations
Fund raising: http://ourfeistyprincess.com/
Newspaper Articles:
AsiaOne March09, AsiaOne June09 , TNP, TNP Soccer Match

Shop shop shop... til you drop!

2009-06-17T22:08:00.010+08:00

Apologies for not updating the blog for so long. Been busy with various stuff.

Anyway a quick update on the findings at the GSS so far:

1 casual top (for play)
2 skirts (for work)
1 pair of pants (for work)
2 dresses (1 for play, 1 for both)
2 pairs of shoes (1 for work, 1 for both)

My work wardrobe is pretty miserable actually. I have an adequate number of formal shirts, having found a good tailor to help out there. But my collection of pants/skirts is really sad and dates back to the few pairs I've had ever since I started work.

Also, I tended to favor pants which can be easily thrown into the washing machine over skirts which had to be dry cleaned... Until recently my colleague enlightened me that items with the label "dry clean" can also be thrown into the machine!

I'm on the lookout for soft non-shirt tops and smart easy-to-wear dresses that could double for work and play, but so far the ones I like are like way over what I consider reasonable...

Lucky me, having an office in town definately helps with the shopping!

Food Bytes: Chilling in a greenhouse... (Double Bay)

2009-05-31T12:59:00.003+08:00

Ever since CapitaMall and CapitaCommercial trusts took over Raffles City, its been surprise after surprise as they revamped the place, increased rental area and brought in a whole new series of restaurants on the ground floor from space that appeared out of nowhere.

DoubleBay is one of these restaurants built outside the building in an area that used to be absolutely nothing. It's a snazzy Australian dining/bar that's got fantastic ambiance. The walls are entirely glass, so you can sit inside in peaceful air-conditioned comfort, while enjoying the bright sunlight, city buzz and fantastic view of Raffles Hotel opposite.

Another thing I really liked about the place was the drinks. Sure its not exactly what I would call cheap, but the mocktails and frozen blends come in really bright cheerful colours, taste good, and come in these really trendy cups. In fact what I liked was not just the drinks, but the huge range of really interesting cups the restaurant uses. Some may look normal, but they were using these double glass cups that weigh a ton but feel really good to hold. Sadly I only managed to take 2 pictures.

Oh the food! I was happy with my pot of mussels which came with a slice of hot toast smeared with what tasted a bit like crab paste. The stock was nice and rich, full of a seafood flavour that I soaked up with the bread and chips (from fish & chips).

*Shinta of course couldn't resist the crispy roast pork with apple sauce as a starter. The problem with roast pork is that in this humid weather, its really difficult to get it totally crispy. And if you fail, the resulting product is something that is hard, chewy and unpalatable. I would say that Double Bay managed to get it 70% there, which is not too bad a result, but not fantastic either.

And if you're the health conscious kind, just forget about ordering this!

For mains, we decided to share the fish & chips and a pie. You can select what fish you want to be used, and while it comes nicely beer battered with a generous yummy fillet of fish inside, *Shinta found it a little too oily overall.

Beware of the pie! There are quite a few selections of pie, but we went with the chicken and mushroom special of the day. We were expected a nice medium size pie that a single person could finish off, but what came was this humongous place which probably 2 people could very easily share and not order anything else.

The inside was hot and oozing, but because it was so huge and so creamy, we just couldn't even pretend that we could finish it. Strangely we saw someone else order the beef pie, and the radius of that pie was probably about half the size of this one?

Dessert was the chocolate fondant, which in one word.... "Fail!!!!!" The outside pastry was dry and tasteless while the inside chocolate was diluted, boring and a total waste of calories. Please please skip this. It was horrible.

I think I like chilling at Double Bay on a lazy Sunday afternoon, especially with the fun drinks and mussel pots. We were there at 3pm, but there were still other customers going in to get a drink or snack. It's got the cool ambiance of a Dempsey Road restaurant, but with the plus points of convenience in terms of location. You can always pop by to Raffles City after that to do your weekend shopping.

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Double Bay Restaurant
252 North Bridge Road, #01-22A Raffles City Shopping Center
Tel: +65 6334 6530
Hours: 11.30am to 11.30pm (Mon to Fri), to 1.00am (Sat to Sun)
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