Batam Trip 2011

Day 1
Went Batam the first time from 26th Nov to 27th Nov, on a short weekend trip. Woke up at 4 or 5 plus and woke up my friend too. Then we met at Harbourfront Ferry Terminal at 6.30 am. After we met up, we went and collected our ferry tickets and grabbed some food for breakfast. Then we waited to go in for our ferry ride. We passed the customs and waited at the departure hall for at least half an hour to 45 mins for our ferry to arrive. There were many passengers waiting too and it was quite hot with so many people waiting inside. Some people even jammed at the escalator there, as the queue to board the ferries was lining to the escalator there. We waited until around 8 am, the ferry arrived and we were allowed to board the ferry. So we went up to the ferry, it was under BatamFast company. We managed to get seats on the middle deck, as it was free seating for all. So everyone was trying to grab seats once onboard. Anyway the whole journey was 45 mins, so we just rested while waiting to reach Batam.

Arrived at Batam, Sekupang Ferry Terminal @ 9.45 am. The terminal looks new and there were not many people there except those from the same ferry. We passed the customs and walked out of the arrival hall..There, we met up with our day tour guide. His nickname was 'Cowboy', cos he is always wearing a cowboy hat. Then he instructed us to walk outside to go the coach bus which we will be taking for the whole day tour. So we went outside and found the bus but as we were the first few who came out first and there were so more others that we need to wait, we went and walked around the jetty first. We took a few photos before boarding the bus to wait. Finally all the people arrived, and we were off for our day trip. But before we can go to the places of interest, the tout guide told us that he needs to go to a hotel and pick up a family of 12 people @ Golden View Hotel first (they are joining us for the tour too).

So when we arrived at Golden View Hotel, the guide went to the lobby to find them. We waited for at least half an hour for the family to arrive...which we all think it was a waste of time to us. So crap...Anyway, the family of 12 finally arrived, which we were all so glad. The guide brought us first to the Miniatures House, which displays all the different houses in mini size (not so mini, though) and it was outdoor...the whole place was quite of small and looked crappy (not much maintenance on the houses too, got spider webs around, if you look carefully..lol). We walked 1 round and went back to our bus. Next, the guide brought us to the mini kart, flying fox and paintball place (all are next to each other). We skipped the kart ride, cos the route was super small and nobody is interested too. So we alighted at the flying fox and paintball area. The paintball was also super miserable..it was just target shooting..The flying fox area included high elements too, a couple from our bus went and had a try on it. The worst part is, there were many many many small flies flying around the whole area. Anyway my friend and i just walked around and see whoever played. Then, we went back to the bus..too many flies..lol....

After that, the guide brought us to see a floating restaurant on a chinese ship. It was not open for business when we were there. So we just took photos of it and left. After that, we went to a place to see a performance by some people who can eat fire and glass, and can even peel off a coconut with just biting. After the performance, we were asked to donate some money for the show. Later, we walked over to a shop which is selling layer cakes. My friend and i each bought 1 cake, which was $25 sgd each. There was a mini zoo behind the layer cake shop, so we walked over and have a peek. After that, we walked over to a seafood restaurant called 'Golden Prawn' for our lunch. It was a 7 course lunch which was included in our day tour. And we were siting a family with 2 kids, sian sia...the younger kid was having cough and she was coughing in front of the table...think her cough virus was flying to our food whenever she coughed. And she was kicking on the leg of the chair i am sitting on too!! Pek chey...Luckily i was just too engrossed on eating my food.

We had crabs, fish, fried sotong, prawns, vegetables, gong gong and a soup. The food was quite ok (not too bad) but my friend and i didn't manage to eat the fish as it was placed further from us. And nobody hardly touch on the crabs, we left quite a lot..wasted. We even had to ask 4 times for ice from the staffs, they seems like not bother to get ice for our table, we even asked the guide to help to request for ice from the staffs. But he also didn't bring ice for us, we were like going to die from thirst at that time. The coconuts were very big there too.

After lunch, the guide brought us to Da Pu Gong Temple, which was very famous in Batam. We walked around the temple for a while, after that, we were brought to a factory outlet. A couple was brought for spa treatment nearby. which was 1 hour. And for the rest who are not doing the spa, were forced to stay at the factory outlet for the same 1 hour (which was stupid). The factory outlet was just a big shop selling clothes and some shoes, my friend and i walked inside the shop for 3 or 4 rounds, just to pass the time. Finally, we were allowed to board the bus..at the time, we were all feeling hot. So we were happy to board on the bus for some air-con. After that, the guide brought us to Batam shopping Centre. It was around 4 or 5 pm when we reached there. We were allowed to shop there for 2 hours, the shopping mall was very big and there were alot of shops there.

We walked level by level, and walked the supermarket there. We bought a cup corn there, we saw Shilin banner there, wanted to buy snacks from there but we were unable to find the stall. After that, we went to the meeting point to wait for our guide to come fetch us. After we boarded the bus, the guide told us that he had to drive from hotel to hotel, as we are all from different hotels. The family of 12 got off first and the hotel they were staying looked scary...lol...the kids were complaining when they were getting off. Next, we were brought to our hotel. We alighted on the opposite side of the road, the guide took us to cross the heavy traffic to get to our hotel...And the guide helped us to check in the hotel, and we went up to check out our room after we got the room key.

The room was ok, quite big for 2, it was not as bad as i thought it would be. hohoho...we rested for a while, watched tv..then we went down to Nagoya Shopping Mall for dinner. We walked some road stalls which were selling satay, seafood and ayam penyet. But we still proceeded to Nagoya Shopping Mall for A&W dinner. We spent the last bit of our money on that meal, we even didn't have enough to pay..the staff just accepted what we had..hohoho....After the meal, we went to change some money just in case. Then we went to the supermarket to walk walk, we bought cup noodles and some snacks back.
After that, we walked back to the hotel. We bought satay and a ayam penyet just to try. The satay tasted differently from ours in singapore but it was nice. The ayam penyet was tender, more nicer...lol

After that, we jumped onto the bed and watched TV. My friend fell asleep while watching, so i continued watching it alone. Only managed to sleep after 2 plus...lol....

Day 2
Woke up at around 7 or 8 am, and we got ready for our free breakfast, provided by the hotel. There were not much variety on the food. So we just ate some, my friend tried to toast the bread and she got the bread toasted real black..hohoho....After breakfast, we walked to buy banana cakes. We just bought 2 boxes as we didn't have much money left..After that, we went back to our hotel room to wait for the guide to come pick up us. We sat on the bed, watched tv until the time comes. Then we checked out our room and waited for the guide. He was late, we thought he left without waiting for us. Anyway the bus finally came and there was another family stayed in the same hotel as us boarded the bus too.And so, we were brought to the ferry terminal and our departure time was 3 plus. But we arrived there at around 12 plus. So we were stranded there for a few hours. We walked the shopping mall opposite the ferry terminal. We walked for awhile, and tried to find seats to sit as we were getting tired. I just almost fell asleep there..it was so boring there. Finally we walked back to the ferry terminal but we were not allowed to go in yet. So it was another standing wait there.

We finally got to go in and cleared the customs. We went down to the departure hall and walked for the ferry to come (wait again)...Then we went up to the ferry but we were able to get seats on the lower deck...So we just fell asleep on the ferry on the way back to Singapore, which ended our weekend trip.


Hotel Stayed: Nagoya Plaza Hotel

Perth, Australia Trip (Part 3)

Day 7

Fremantle Jetty

Today, we all woke up abit late as we were going to Fremantle today. We all got ready and went out for breakfast. We walked the streets to find a restaurant called 'The Green House'. It was located in front of an office building. It was quite expensive but we still had our breakfast there. I had a super nice hot chocolate there too. It was the 1st hot chocolate i had in Perth that was really nice. My friend got a call from  the old uncle, who was with us in the 3 days trip. He wanted to meet us to go Fremantle walk walk together, cos they were too bored at their's son place...hohoho....So after breakfast, we went down to Perth Station to meet the auntie and uncle first. Then when we bought the train tickets, our coins got struck inside the machine. We told the station staff to help us out, then he gave us free tickets for the train ride. We went down the station platform to wait for the train. We arrived at Fremantle station, then we walked towards to Fremantle market.

We arrived at Fremantle market and walked around the market. I went finding nuts for my friend, and some snacks back. After Fremantle market, we walked to the other market and shopped. We got some souvenirs back from there. After shopping for a long time, it was late afternoon. So we went to have our lunch, Fish & Chips!! We went to Kailis and had our fish & chips. It was quite dry and we ordered calamari too. The calamari was nice, but we ordered too much fish and chips. We can't finish the food, anyway we had to wait until night fall as we had booked  a night tour in the Fremantle Prison. So the uncle and auntie went home and we roamed around longer to wait for the tour. Finally, we waited until 8pm for the tour..was falling asleep soon...lol...

The tour started and we were lined up in a single line to go in the prison. We were each given a small torchlight to shine when we were inside the prison. The tour guide brought us and gave us a tour of the whole prison. It was dark in the prison and there was not much lights on. We went to the prison rooms, kitchen, the gallows, the room where the convicts spent their last night and had their last meal. We saw their small toilet and the yard where the convicts spent their time watching tv or having sports outside. Along the way, there was 1 or 2 guys jumping out with a scene to scare us. The tour lasted roughly 1 hour plus, my friends was quite disappointed on the tour, cos it was not scary enough for them. For mi, it is ok and i was too tired to think about it...lol...After that, we took a bus back to Perth. On the bus, we saw 3 young ladies. One of them was wearing just a coat and her breasts was showing out..wooo.....lol....Anyway, we finally reached Perth and we walked back to the hotel. I went to mac to buy some nuggets for dinner while my friends went up to the hotel first. We had a few rounds of monopoly deal and then went to sleep.

Day 8

Nando's

Today is the last day in Perth, we were going back to singapore in the night flight. So we got up and get ready to go out. We checked out the hotel and left our luggage at the hotel first. Then we walked down to mac to have breakfast. After breakfast, we walked down the streets near our hotel area. It was a shopping arcade. My friend wanted to go to their art gallery, so we walked down to Perth station and to the art gallery. We are not allowed to bring our bags, so we had to deposit them at the counter. And the admission fee is up to individual, you decide how much you want to pay. So we went in and looked at the art pieces. After walking at the 1st level, i went up to the 2nd level. In the end, i just walked to a sofa and slept on it...hohoho...so tired and sleepy. I slept until my friends came and looked for mi, and told me to leave...lol...

After that, we walked to Northbridge area and walked around to look for food. In the end, we chose Nandos there. The chicken was more tender there, nice to eat. After that, we went to the supermarket and bought some snacks and nuts to bring back to Singapore. I was still thinking whether want to buy back potato chips...hohoho....After shopping, while we were walking on the streets, there was a public demonstration going on, against equal marriage rights for all kinds of people, be it man and woman or gays or whatever...they were shouting a protest song for the equal marriage rights too. After that, we just walked to Swan Lake there to laze around..My friends sat on the grass there to enjoy the breeze, i went to walk around at the jetty there. I also bought a cone of ice cream too...soo cooling....later we took the cat bus to go to Taka Place, where we had japanese food for dinner. It was here, that we found chilli sauce...lol....

Then we went back to the hotel to squeeze in our snacks and waited for Uncle Sonny to come fetch us. He had offered to drive us to the airport. He came at around 8 plus or 9 plus, before leaving the hotel, he ordered some pizzas from his friend's shop. So he drove us to the pizza shop and collected 3 large sized pizzas. Then he drove us to a jetty, where we had the pizza. It was cold as the wind was blowing but the pizzas was hot..it was still nice to have pizzas out in the night...the pizza was also nice and tasty, it was with thin crust...and there was fireworks at that time. Pity it was blocked by trees, we can only see abit of the lights and hear the sound. After the pizzas, Uncle Sonny drove us to the airport. Then we checked in our luggage and we wrote the immigration passes. Then we went in and got ready for our flight to leave.
We arrived in Singapore early in the morning, which ended our Australia trip.

Perth, Australia Trip (Part 2)

Day 4

Elephants' Rocks

We woke at 4 plus again today, to go to see the 75 metre high Bicentennial Tree and the valley of the giants. We had our breakfast at 6am, it was prepared by the tour guide (anyway is just cornflakes and fresh milk, tea/coffee are made using the free packets from each room.) After breakfast, we all loaded our luggage up to the bus. After everything were loaded, we all got onto the bus. The old uncle still asked my friend whether he remembered to bring his fake teeth....hohoho...joker....

First the tour guide took us to some place (don't know where), anyway he said that's where we can see wild kangaroos around. We did managed to get to see 2 or 3 kangaroos resting there.Next, we continued our journey to see the bicentennial tree. But the weather was abit wet, still wet from last night's rain, so the tour guide was against the idea of climbing the tree as it was not safe. We reached the bicentennial tree and we saw a group of students climbing up on the tree. It was a super tall tree and there were metal rods poked into the tree as a form of steps for people to climb up. There were platforms on about half the tree and at the top of the tree. It was quite an achievement if one really climb to the top..lol...Anyway no one from our group climbed up the tree, only the australian guy climbed halfway on the tree. My friends and i just took photos on the early steps of the tree...kekeke....

After that, the tour guide us to a small town, where there was a cafe called Hollowart Cafe. The tour guide told us they had the best chicken pies in town. So we ordered the chicken pies, coffee and hot chocolate. The pies are super tasty but the hot chocolate sucks (just like plain water with choco flavour)...lol....Next, the tour guide took us to Walpole and Nornalup Inlets Marine Park. But it was just like a deserted jetty...lol...nothing is there except water...and the tour guide also didn't tell us any information of the place. Anyway, we left for lunch after 15 mins or so. We went to Denmark Town, where we had our lunch. This time, is hamburger with last night's leftover salads and meat patty. I didn't had much as i was still full. The hamburgers were super big in size, my friends just had half...lol...i just went to the nearby post office and bought some stamps.

After lunch, the tour guide took us to the valley of the giants Tree Top Walk. The tour guide helped us buy the entrance tickets. Then he passed us the entrance tickets and left us to roam the tree walk. Then we just walked on our pace to the tree top.  After the tree top, we walked down to see the tingles trees. There was a tingle called Grandma's tingle, it looked just like a old granny's face where you look at it. After that, the tour guide took us to green's pool to see elephant's rocks. But the weather turn bad when we reached green's pool. The wind was blowing super hard and the rain was coming down heavily. So the tour guide told us that whoever don't want to go down can stay on the bus. So I and one of my friends went down to see the elephants' rocks. The tour guide took us down to the beach but there was a big rock we needed to climb down. So my friend backed out as he had injury on his knees, so i went ahead. But i slipped and fell down when i was climbing down the rock. I landed on my butt..lol...my pants got wet. Later, the tour guide continued to climbed a super big rock up and the rest of the tour members too climbed up. But the water was flowing down fast and my shoes were too slippery. Luckily there was a small staircase at the other side, so i was about to climb up and continued the path up to see the elephants' rock. It was large rocks facing the beach and it looked like a herd of elephants from the back. (I sure took great lengths to see the rocks...lol) We still went down to the beach and it was super cold.

After that, we climbed back to the bus. I was wet and there was a lot of sand on my pants...lol...Later, the tour guide brought us a small town nearby. He gave us half an hour time to go see and shop. So we just walked down the streets and see the shops. We saw a supermarket nearby and went in to shop, we had fun shopping inside. After that, we went to wait for the bus. The old uncle still bought sausages for our dinner for the day...(we were so happy, finally we had something better to eat...lol). After that, the tour guide took us to see the gap and natural bridge. From the gap, we saw the big big waves crashing against the rocks. It was very amazing to see the waves crashing against the rocks. After that, we went to see the blowholes. Pity it started to rain again and the ground was wet again. And the blowholes were quite down and needed to climb rocks again. So i didn't went down but 2 of my friends went down. My other friend was 'frozen' to death...hohoho...she was so scared of the cold...lol....

After the blowholes, the tour guide took us to the hostel for the night. It was at Albany, it was called Albany backpackers. So as usual, we got the room key and we were sharing with the australian guy. Then we need to help out  to prepare dinner again. This time we were cooking pasta, but the sauce was going to add in beef meat. But i went to bath 1st while waiting for dinner (to avoid rush for toilet). The toilet was common use and it was shared by everyone living in the hostel. When i was bathing, the lights in the toilet went out and it was super dark inside (I was still bathing..-_-"). Luckily my friends came and looked for me in the toilet and when they opened the door, the lights came up. Anyway, i quickly finished up my bath and went out for dinner. But the tour guide didn't want to cook the sausages that the uncle had bought...sad....anyway we finished our dinner.  My friends all against of taking shower the next morning, so we all agreed that we are not going to take shower the next day and just tahan until we returned to Perth hotel..hohoho.....We played monopoly deal and had potato chips to pass time as it was still to early to sleep.  We played until 10 or 11 plus, before turning in for the night.

Day 5

Balancing Rock

We woke up early today, and prepared to leave for the day. We all took turns to change our clothes and the australian guy took off all his clothes to go for a bath, leaving only his underwear on (luckily me and my friends are back facing him..lol). There was a big spider hanging on top of the bed i was slept...scary....Then we all returned our room keys and went out to wait for the bus. The tour guide took us to Desert Mounted Corps Memorial. We had climbed steps up to the top and saw the overview of Albany. After that, the tour guide bought us to a place, where he told us to walk down the path and he will be waiting for us at the end of the path. So we all walked slowly down the path to enjoy the breeze, sea and sun. After that, he brought us to buy some good coffee and passed by a rock at the side of the road which looked like a shape of a dog. After that, we went to see castle rocks. Once we reached there, the tour guide told us whoever wants to go the toilet,may do so except there was no water...lol....and to bring our water bottles along as it was a long long walk up to the castle rocks.

So we started our journey up, it was like hiking up the jungle. We walked super long way up to the top, just to see the balancing rock and castle rock. Halfway through when we were still climbing up the mountain, my friend's singapore phone rang. So we were all so amazed on the good reception out in the wild...hohohoo....Instead both my friends' who had got australia's local data sim card, there was not good reception on their own networks..lol..Finally we reached to the top and got to see the balancing rocks.  It was a nice view down to the lands. And there was a rock with metal bars built into the rocks and you can still climb higher up to the rocks. 2 of my friends went up, even the old couple managed to climb up.lol...so mi and my other friends waited downstairs. Later we all took a group photo at the viewing gallery there and left. It was a long way down too, same way up, same way down. After we came down, we had our lunch. This time, we left others to prepare the food, no mood to prepare the food anymore..lol..The bread was super hard due to the cold weather..cold food for the 3rd day and i am so glad it was the last meal that we need to prepare the food and no more cold food. Our last place of visit was castle rock winery, where the owner taught us how to drink red wine. She let us try some of her products, a few even won awards for it. So we all bought 1 or 2 wines back, then we left the place. Finally it was our last stop for the whole 3 days trip and is back to Perth. We stopped at a petrol station, where i bought a pack of hot chicken and fries to share and eat....nice!!

We reached Perth around 6 plus and we returned to the same hotel we stayed in Perth. We were soo happy to return to the hotel. We took showers and rest for awhile before heading out for dinner. But most of the shops are closed, we had our dinner at the restaurant at the hotel. The food was quite nice and we were all happy..lol...After the meal, we settled our bill and went back up to our room and ended our day.

Day 6

Kangaroos

Today is the day to visit wildlife park and the Pinnacles Desert. It was with a day tour too which we had booked before the trip. We got ready and went down to the bakery shop opposite our hotel, bought breakfast. Then we went to the bus waiting area, there were a lot of buses, all going to Pinnacles Desert too. We got onto the bus and waited for everyone to board. All aboard and we were all set to go. The tour guide told us it was a long journey there and there was a mobile toilet at the back, which we could use for real emergency...lol......There was a group of japanese tourists with a tour guide translating what the guide was saying. And the japanese guide was talking non-stop throughout the whole journey, we can't even hear the tour guide speaking  clearly. First time, we found them very annoying...We arrived at Caversham Wildlife Park, then the park guides took us round the park. First they took us to see the kangaroos, there were a lot of kangaroos, they even got white color kangaroos...hohoho....There was one kangaroo with little joey inside...so cute....We even got to feed the kangaroos with some snacks. After that, the park guide took us to see a wormbat. It was very very big in size, it weighes 30kg of muscles and it can run very fast, regardless of its size. It is a vegetable eater too. We took turns to take photo with the wormbat. After that, the park guides took us to see the koala bears. There were 2 koala bears on the bamboo tree, one was sleeping and one was having its lunch...cute cute....We took turns to take photos with the koala bears. After the koala bears, it was time for us to leave the park, but there was other animals we yet to see.

Anyway, we had to leave the park to go the pinnacles desert. The tour guide brought us to a beach first and later we went to a lobster shack. There, we got a tour to see how the lobsters are being processed  and shipped out to other countries after being caught. After that, we had lunch there, we also bought a cold lobster to try out. After lunch, the tour guide took us to the Pinnacles desert. It was a long drive ride to the desert. And the japanese guide was still talking non-stop on the bus, until we cannot take it. Finally we reached Pinnacles Desert. We all got out and walked to the dessert. It was a big place with a lot of sands and rocks, luckily the weather was good, no rain..nice weather to walk. We had a good 1 hour time to explore the desert. Me and my friend took some the sand back...hohoho....After the desert walk, we headed to sand dunes, where we can play sand boarding. It was inside a town, called Lancelin town. The tour guide drove us around the sand dunes, it was like roller coaster round...there was another bus infront of us too. The tour guide drove us 2 or 3 rounds the sand dunes before stopping the bus at the top. Then he took a sand board from the bus, and gave us a demo on how to glide down the sand on the board. Then he let us take the boards out and let us glide down the sand. It was fun, gliding down the sand but it was tiring climbing up the sand back..hohoho....we all had fun playing there. After that, the tour guide took us back to Lancelin town to wash up before going back to Perth.

After that, we had a long ride back to Perth. We returned back to our hotel first and rested for a while. Then we went down to have our dinner, we had japanese food for dinner. We had a full dinner and after that, we went to the mini supermarket to buy some snacks. After that, we went back to our hotel rooms to rest for the day.

Perth, Australia Trip (Part 1)

Monopoly Deal

Day 1
Went Perth with my good friends from 6th August to 13th August. We met at Changi Airport T1 at around 3 plus in the afternoon. We went to have some snacks after checking in our luggage. Then we made our way slowly to the gate for our flight. The flight was slightly delayed for about 10 to 15 mins. Finally the plane arrived and we are allowed to board the plane. We took Jetstar airlines, and the seat space wasn't big, it was like just nice for a person. Anyway, the plane departed and we were flying off to Perth!! My friends had their dinner on board, i just 'steal' eat abit of my friend's
meal..hehehe...Then i taught my friend to play monoploy deal to pass time. She lost twice, then she gave up..hohoho...so we tried to sleep as it was getting towards night time. We finally landed at Perth, 11 pm plus. We went and bought 2 sandwiches from Dome when we came out of the airport. Then we went out and looked for cab to make our way to the hotel. It was sooooo cold..lol....We got onto the cab and the cab driver was like introducing himself..he was an ex-singaporean and he migrated to Perth, don't know how many years again (Can't remember already...lol).

Anyway, we reached Criterion hotel and we registered at the front counter. Got our room keys and made our way up to our rooms. It was a 3-storey high hotel and the lift is super old....like it will fall apart anytime.Lol. We had corner rooms and it was at 2nd storey..at least the room was still decent, just that the flask was already rusted to the max...we don't even dare to use it...lol....Had my yummy bread and then got ready for bed, to prepare for the next day....

Day 2

View from King's Park

We woke up at around 7 plus, got ready to explore Perth. We walked around our hotel area,the streets were soooo quiet, as the shops are not open for business yet. There were not many people walking around. We had mac breakfast, bagels and coffee....lol...Then we made our way down to the bus stop to take bus to King's Park and Botanic Garden. But there is no bus coming at the bus stop we waited, so we made our way slowly down along the streets to the next few bus stops. We passed part alot of buildings, a small cottage entrance in between 2 tall buildings, bank, office buildings. Then we finally stopped at 1 bus stop and tried to wait for the bus to come. The bus stop stand stated the bus arrival time, so we just waited for it. Soon, the bus came and we boarded. The bus is similar to our SG buses, they even had posters with nursery rhymes on transport courtesy (so creative..).

Alighted at the start of King's Park and then we made our way up towards the park. From there, we can see Perth and Swan Lake from the top. Then we passed by the information booth and we got the map of the park. We then continued to make our way down to the Botanic Gardens, there were a lot of plants and trees. We saw a group of kids rolling themselves down a small slope, even the adults played with them..lol...then we walked to a bridge and from there, we can saw the swan brewery opposite. After walking for 3 hours or so, we decided to go to Harbourfront for some shopping. So we made our way out the park, to the bus stop. While waiting for the bus stop, i called up my dad's friend living in Perth. But he was busy to answer the call.

We arrived at Harbourfront, it was a 2-storey high building with all the branded warehouse shops there, not that atas ones..normal ones like Nike, Levi, etc). We tried to find food for our lunch when we arrived, but there were so many people there, like every restaurants are so full with people. We can't even get any seats. So in the end, we bought breads and fried fries for lunch and sat outside to eat. After that, we walked around the shops to see see look look. Meanwhile, i arranged dinner with my dad's friend, he wanted to bring us out for dinner and bring us around after dinner. So we agreed. After shopping, we had ice-cream from Gelare. Then we made our way to Perth station, walked at the shopping streets but it was near to 5 plus or 6pm. Shops were already closing or closed. One of my friend bought a data plan for the rest of our stay there, so that she could message her darling anytime..lol...Then we walked back to our hotel and rested for awhile. It was time to meet my dad's friend, so we went down to the hotel lobby. He arrived, his name is Sonny. Hehehe...It was my first time meeting him. He brought us to Sizzler to have our dinner (Food so-so only but is exp). He told us he had a grocery shop and a restaurant there. Beside Sizzler, is a big cinema. His daughter told us 1 movie tix is $12 aud, we were like 'WAH!!'...lol...so expensive. Anyway we just walked around to take alook at the cinema. Then he drove us to some car-selling area, and showed how cheap it was to buy a car there in Perth.Then uncle sonny drove us up to King's Park to see Perth in night view. There are no street light inside the park..it was dark inside...he told us that in the past, people got murdered and buried without any notice in the park and nobody would want to come after night fall.

He also showed us the University of Perth and told us how big it was (can up to a few streets). After that, he brought us back to our hotel. We went back to our rooms, had our bath and jumped onto the beds and slept.

Day 3

Busselton Jetty

Today we were going to have a 3-days trip from Perth to Albany, Margaret River South West. We woke up at around 4 plus and checked out of the hotel, made our way to the travel agency opposite the street and waited for our bus to come. We were greeted by the tour guide and boarded the bus. On the bus, there were a family of 3 from china, a old couple from Malaysia, a pair from Singapore and Malaysia (both guys), a guy from Australia and a lady from Netherlands. Once everyone had arrived, the tour guide drove off, and we were off to our 1st stop for the day. It was raining, we arrived at a small shop in the middle of the highway after 2 or 3 hours of driving. There, was an old lady selling fresh oranges and emu pies...lol...The Mandarin oranges were very delicious, my friends bought a bag to share. Then we continued our ride again, down to Busselton Jetty.The wind was blowing high when we reached there. The tour guide allowed us to roam around for half an hr to 45 mins but there were like alot of things to see, which we don't have the time to explore. There was even a tram to bring people in to the underwater observatory (too bad, didn't have the chance to go). After we walked for awhile, it started to rain...luckily it was a short rain but the wind was still blowing very hard. Before setting off again, the tour guide gathered us around and asked us whether we wanted to go cheese factory or the brewery. So we all agreed to go the cheese factory, so we set off to the next stop, which is the Ngilgi Cave. By the time we reached is about lunchtime, the tour guide was taking alot of ingredients out from his bus. Then he told us to help out in making our own lunch..-_-"..Then he requested some of us to start cutting the vegetables. But everyone was abit shy in doing, only the Australian guy and Netherlands lady stood forward to cut the vegetables first. Mi and my friends also went and help out abit..lol...After we got ready all the food, we made our own sandwiches as lunch...everything was cold.

After lunch, the guide from Ngilgi cave gave us an introduction on how the cave was found and kept until now. Then she took us down to the cave, it was amazing. We just kept walking down on the staircases. The tour mentioned that some concert was also held in the cave.  After the cave tour, we went to the Margaret River chocolate factory. By then, we had made friends with the old couple. The uncle is quite funny, he likes to crack jokes too. Hohohoho....We went in to the chocolate factory and there were a lot of different types of chocolate. We bough some chocolate back and went to the cheese factory next. It was just a small shop and selling their cheese, but we didn't buy back. My friend bought 1 tint of yogurt though..But i was very disappointed on the chocolate and cheese tour, i was expecting to have a guide on how the chocolate and cheese was made. It ended up just buying their stuffs. Next, we arrived at Margaret River town where the tour guide let us go walk walk for half an hour or so. So we just walked down the streets to see what is interesting there. It started to rain again when we were walking down the streets. I bought a pack of french fries and it was super salty...lol...

Next, we went to Blackwood River. We got to see a full rainbow when we arrived there. It was very beautiful. We stayed there for 15 mins or so, then the tour guide bought us up to see Margaret River from the top. The river was flowing down towards the sea and the sun was setting down, it was quite a nice scenery there. After that, the tour guide bought us to see the Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse. But it was closed when we reached there, so we just took pictures from outside.  After that the tour guide drove us to Augusta we were supposed to stay overnight. But the room we were going to stay had an accident. The tour guide told us that an old lady had a heart attack, and had stepped on her car's accelerator. The car went straight crushing to the motel. So we got lucky and got our rooms 'upgraded'. It was those backpacker's room, where 3 or 4 persons shared in 1 room.(I think the original room we were going to stay might be all of us were going to sleep together). Some of the group members had paid extra, so they had the whole room to themselves without sharing with others. Before we were assigned to our room, the father of the china family argued with the tour guide on why we were brought to the lighthouse so late and he could not go in. He was making a big fuss and shouted at the tour guide in Mandarin, which annoyed the tour guide more. But the tour guide controlled his temper and tried to reason with the father, by saying that he should have told him earlier in the day,so that he can plan it in the day's planning. The son stepped forward and tried to calm his father down. But the father still insisted that the tour guide bring us to see the lighthouse the next day. So the tour guide told him can, provided we leave at 5am plus. By then, it was already making me and my friends  fed-up. Cos the lighthouse was actually not included in the plan, the tour guide made an effort to bring us there. Plus the next day is the giant trees tour, i would not want to waste time on the lighthouse and cut short the giant trees tour because of him. He went and asked all of us whether we want to go to the lighthouse (think he was looking for some support)..we just told him straight it was not in the plan and we don't want to go see the lighthouse. So he just kept quiet after that.

The tour guide gave us our room keys after the argument, he told us to meet at the kitchen after 15 mins. So we took our stuffs to our room, rested for awhile and made our way to the kitchen. Again, we were needed to prepare our dinner again. We helped to wash vegetables, defrozed the beef, cut the vegetables. I helped to wash the dishes, the tour guide helped to cook the beef patty and vegetable patty, and there were salads and sausages. It was kind of sad for those who don't eat beef, cos they don't even provide chicken or fish. After all the preparation, we finally got to eat our dinner. After dinner, the tour guide gave us a meeting time for the next day, we made our way back to our room and rested, tiring day for us.

Malacca Food Trip 2011

Christ Church Melaka

Day 1
Went to Malacca again, this time a food trip from 24th June to 26 June. Went with SY, QY, PW and April for a 2D2N trip. We met at office's lobby at 5.45pm and we took cab down to Kovan Hub. Pw's bag was like weighing a few kg, i think (so heavy for a 2D trip... lol). We had our dinner at the hawker centre there and bought some breads. Then we left from Kovan Hub bus interchange on Friday evening (7pm). The coach seats was abit cramped, kekeke....April was sitting with Qy and i am sitting with Pw. It took us 1 hour to reach Tuas Checkpoint, then we passed Singapore Customs and went to Malaysia Customs. No jam there, we had our fingerprints there too when we were at Malaysia customs. Then after that, it's a long ride to Malacca.

Finally, we alighted at our destination, the bus terminal @ Malacca Central. It was already about 12 plus, then we called up Sy to come pick us up. We waited for about 5 mins, Sy appeared with his grandma's car (kekeke....). Then he drove us to Bayview hotel for check-in, we arrived at the hotel and all were amazed by the hotel's lobby....lol.We got a double and a twin rooms instead of 2 twins rooms. Qy doesn't want to sleep on double bed, so Pw and April shared the double room while mi, Qy and Sy shared the twins room. Anyway our rooms are connecting rooms, so we can run to each other's rooms. We went up to check out our rooms then, the TV in my room was not working. So i had to go to the other room to watch... : P
The hotel auntie bought us the extra pillow and towel and she was panting for breathe...hahaha....then later Pw called the room service to request for another set of toiletries. The same auntie came back with it, but she was speaking in malay with a not-so-nice attitude. But we can't understand, so Qy asked April to help translate. But she didn't say anything to us when the auntie was niaming. She just told us that she is charging for the extra set of toiletries if we want. So we told the auntie, we don't want instead. After she left, April told the auntie was actually not happy that we didn't ask her to bring the 1st time she came up. Then Qy said maybe that auntie was the only 1 working in the hotel...hahahaa...

Later we all had our bath and chatted, cracked jokes until 3am plus (i think). Finally all kept quiet and went to bed to prepare for the next full day journey.

Day 2
Woke up at 8 plus with the ground wet, after a heavy rain during the night. We each prepared ourselves, then we left the hotel at 9.15 am. First stop, Kok Keong Restoran. There, we had yam rice pork Soup for our breakfast. It was not bad...Next, we went down to the Martime Museum, which was a Portuguese sunk ship.Next we walked down to the Quayside, where we saw the Malacca River Cruise and the fortress wall which was used to defend Malacca. There was a very big wheel too. We were trying to have a group photo on the fortress wall too...kekeke...so much fun when we were trying to climb on the walls...After that we were walking to Christ church side..Sy suddenly went and lay on the ground to take a water reflection photo of the christ church, Qy was asking Pw quick take out $ and put it where Sy was lying, then Qy will take a photo of it...kekeke...So Sy got a nice photo of his Christ Church and we got a nice photo of him on the ground...Hahahaa....We spent some time at Chirst Church there and we went to have a look at the museums on top (*secret..there was a photo on Sy super gay which Qy took for him in the museum.....a must to see it....). And we went up to Malacca hill (i think) to see the leftover walls of St Paul's church. By 1 plus, we were all hungry, so we headed down to Amy's Heritage Nyonya Cuisine to have our lunch.We ordered 5 dishes there (Vege in Coconut Curry, Asaam Fish, Tofu,Chap Chye, Ayam buah keluak and white rice), nicer than Nonya Nancy Kitchen.But there was a strong fish smell in Asaam fish dish. After that, we went for shopping cos we were all sweating and wanted to find a place with aircon to cool down..hohoho....

We arrived at Dataran Pahlawan Mega Mall as our shopping place. There, we walked past a bra shop and men's underwear shop (next to each other). So April made a joke that we gals will go in the bra shop and Sy will go to the men's underwear shop, which Pw added that Sy to show us when he try out the underwears...then Sy asked Pw whether wan to have a fashion show....hahaha. Then we went for our shopping while Sy went to look for our next food destination which is somewhere in the mall. Qy bought shoes while April bought clothes, then we walked around and went up to Nadeje. Woo...it was having a queue there and needed around 1 hour to get a table. So Sy left his contact number and we went for A&W first for a cooling root beer float, curly fries and waffles. (Sy don't get why we were so into A&W.....lol...think Qy was super pleased that she got to eat her waffles and root beer float). When we are almost done eating, table in Nadeje was ready for us. So we went up to have mille crepes...It was super nice...we ordered 5 flavors (Chocolate Banana, Original, Cheese, Rum & Raisin and don't know what Malacca)...the chocolate banana crepe was only having banana taste and no choco taste. Preferred the what Malacca and the original de....When we were having the Rum & Raisin crepe, Sy went and ask whether it can be kept long for their crepe cos Pw suggested Sy to bring back for us. When he came back, the Rum & Raisin crepe was left with only 2 small pieces...hahaha...he was so shocked that we ate up the crepe so fast and he was left with only that...kekeke.....

After the nice tasty crepes, we walked over to Hotel Equatorial opposite as Qy and Sy were having 'feeeeling'....with the toilets...kekeke....After that, we went for Malacca Boat Ride..it was $10RM per person for the ride. Didn't enjoy the ride, it was packed with people and you can't reali see when sitting inside of the boat. And there is no guide to tell you the buildings or bridges that we passing, there was a audio guide playing and it was played in Malay for the 1st half of the ride. On the 2nd half of the ride, the audio guide was speaking in Malay and English.Those sitting near the sides were being splashed by the river waters....hohoho....and April was the one of us who genna the most....Sy was calling out to the ang mo passerby wherever the boat passed by...sometimes April oso joined in, the 2 of them super high.....lol...
After the ride, we went back to the hotel for a while, to charge Sy's camera battery. Then we went down to Portuguese Settlement for our Portuguese dinner. While walking to the dinner place, there was a cart selling Portuguese snacks..Don't know what is it called, anyway it looked like pandan chicken and chicken pie. Sy bought to try....(nobody wants to eat it again after trying...lol)
We spent abit of time searching for the place that we wanted to eat dinner, it was called San Pedro. To our surprise, there was almost no one eating in there, only 1 table of people. (Don't know it is too late, reaching their closing time or something else). Sy was searching on the net for reviews, but we still went in and try since we had already reached the place. So we ordered baked fish, Cldebal, Kang Kong and rice.Outside, it was like a small hut but inside, it was old and looked like it might collapse anytime ...lol....we waited for some time and our food came. It was quite disappointed on the food, other than spicy, there is nothing special in the food...even the rice is abit overcooked....After the dinner, we went down to Jonker street to walk around...sad..can't find the egg tarts there...we walked from 1 end to the other end and walked back again. Then we went down to queue for satay celup @ Capitol Satay. It is similar to Lok Lok but it was dipped in peanut sauce to cook. We had to queue for almost an hour for a table as the place is famous...finally we got our table, we went for the lok lok...it was charged by per stick, 1 stick $0.80rm. The shop staff had on the fire so strong that the sauce looked like a volcano, waiting to erupt soon....lol....I don't reali enjoy it, don't find the peanut sauce nice too...Sy was the one enjoying it the most, well, he was looking forward to it...kekeke.....

After that, we were sooooo happy to go back to the hotel for our showers (sweaty and sticky the whole day). Qy and Sy were 'fighting' to chong the toilet to the first one to shower...lol....We all had our bath and did our accounts for the day, Qy and Sy went to sleep first, while mi, Pw and April watched 'Drag me to hell' movie...but was unable to finish it as we were too sleepy liao....lol

Day 3
Today we all woke up late...we lazed on the bed until 8 plus...April was unable to get up...kekeke...she was the last one to drag herself up for shower....(Qy was calling for her to wake up and i was pulling the blanket...lol) 1st stop of the day, we went to Donald & Lily for breakfast. There was a man walked up to us and asked us for $5rm, he said it was for him to take care of the car....-_-" But anyway we gave him $5 to "take care" of the car while we are away. Then we just headed down to the makan place, there, we ordered nasi ayam pongteh (their special for the day), mee siam and nyonya laska. Sy was thinking to eat cendol there too...lol...After eating, Sy said he wanted to go inside to take a look...April commented that Sy might come back with a bowl of cendol...Qy can't hear it clearly, so she asked April what did she say...April said the same sentence again, but Qy interprets it as Sy wanted to borrow $10......Pw and mi broke into laughter.....(Joke of the day....hahaha...think Qy got problems understanding what april is saying....lol)
After breakfast, we went down to San Shu Gong (@ Jonker Street) to buy bians back....After shopping, we went back to hotel for check-out. After check-out, we went down to Malacca river for a short walk, where we took photos of Church of St Francis Xavier and Qy & Pw's "wedding" photo....hohoho....When we were walking back to the car park, we passed by a ice-cream shop called icily..Since we were feeling hot, we tried the ice-cream.Fresh fruits are being used to blend as ice cream......quite interesting...we bought 2 cups, and had 3 furits mixed for each cup. After the ice cream, it was our lunch time and we headed down to Bei Zhan Restaurant.....It was a very big chinese restaurant wo....there was a promotion that order 5 dishes and 1 dessert for $100rm....so we went for that promotion and ordered the dishes (chicken, soft shell crab, prawns with salted eggs, dou miao, sweet & sour pork and agar agar for dessert)......it was delicious, i like the soft shell crab and prawns with salted eggs...yum yum....After the delicious meal, Sy wanted to go for coconut shake but it was too far away and we don't have time left...so we went to Jonker Street again for cendol and asaam laska...There was a jam in Jonker street, so we alighted first to find a table in Jonker 88 while Sy went to park his car. Pw and April went and queue for the cendol while i and qy went inside to find table. After awhile, Pw came looking for us, asking us whether wan to order 1st as it was going to be the their turn soon. When we had decided not to order 1st, April appeared with 5 bowls of cendol.....-_-"

Luckily we managed to get a table, but Qy and i don't eat cendol so we shared a bowl just to clear 1 bowl....hohoho...Sy wanted durian cendol, so he took 1 bowl and asked to add durian...Later Sy went and ordered laska...Qy added in the last bowl of cendo (half of it) into Sy's unfinished cendol so as to let him eat up the last bowl without his knowledge....kekeke....he certainly didn't suspect anything when he came back....
After eating, we went and walked Jonker Street again...Pw and Qy each bought something for themselves...then we had to leave to take our coach back to Singapore....sad sad...When we reached the bus counter, Pw realised that our coach actually leaves at 5.30pm instead of 5.00pm....lol...so we ended up having another 45 mins left to pass. So we called up Sy again for kopi, anyway he had forgotten to take back his mum's hp from Pw...kekeke.....We went to Mac for drinks while waiting for him...And our April was so absent-minded...She went to buy mac ice-cream cone and she came back to the table with her change, without her ice cream. -_-".......After the last kopi session @ Mac, we said bye-bye to Sy and went to our bus...i like the coach bus (Star Express) back to Singapore...massage seat and there was much more space....
We left Malacca @ ard 5.45pm and reach tuas checkpoint ard 10 plus..there was a bit of jam....but it was still ok....finally we reached Golden Mile Complex @ ard 11 plus, and we had our dinner at the nearby food centre....After dinner, we all went home, which marked the end of our food trip.....

Hotel Stayed: Bayview Hotel


Places of Interest:
Martime Museum
Christ Church
History Museum
Statue of Zheng He
St Paul's Church
Dataran Pahlawan Mega Mall
Malacca River
Church of St Francis Xavier
Jonker Street

Makan Places:

Kok Keong Restoran

Amy's Heritage Nyonya Cuisine

A&W

Nadeje

San Pedro

Capitol Satay

Donald & Lily

icily

Bei Zhan Restaurant

Jonker 88

Nature Parks Walk - HortPark and the Southern Ridges

Went to trekking in one of the nature parks today...I started from  starting point is Marang Trail (Harbourfront Station exit D)...saw squirrels running around on the trees too...i went up to Mount Faber Park and to Mount Faber Walk next. From there, i see the nice view of the cable cars and i walked down the trail, i got to the Faber Point, where there is a Merlion statue there. Next, i walked down the trail and got down to the Henderson Waves trail. Henderson Waves is the highest pedestrian bridge in Singapore (The bridge is lighted up every night from 7pm to 2am, too bad i was too tired by the time i reached Alexandra Arch. Didn't managed to walk back.)

I crossed over Henderson Waves bridge and i walked to Terrance Gardens to get view of Singapore. There was a black cat too.. :)  There are a lot of birds flying around too. Next, i went over to Forest Walk where i walked on the long long long long metal bridge which brought me to the Alexandra Arch @ Hort Park.....Managed to see the Alexandra Arch with changing LED lights. By the time i reached there, it was already 7.30 pm and it was already getting more dark. Lighting was also coming....tired after walking for 3 hours....(To be continued next time.....)

Click here to see the complete walking trail from National Parks, Singapore.

Penang Trip

Day 1
Went to Penang from 8th April to 10th April 2011. i met with my friends @ Changi Airport T1 for check-in and our lunch. We went by Air Asia flight, they had changed the flight time to 2 plus instead of 1.50 pm. (delayed, -_-"). Anyway we reached at Penang @ around 3 plus, then we went to book a taxi from the airport. The charge from airport to our hotel is $44.70RM and we were wondering how come it was so exp...Then we saw on the receipt, it was stated 'Limo Service'. We thought that the cab was reali a limo car, but when we went outside to broad the cab. To our horror, it was a normal old taxi...(faintz.... Later then we know from another cab driver that the taxi company at the airport there is stopping the taxis from outside to pick up customers from the airport. Other cabs from outside are not allowed to pick up customers from the airport, they can only drop customers off. Only cabs from the taxi booking counter are allowed to pick up customer from airport, so they have charged it around this rate.) After we checked in our hotel, the room was soooo 'heritage' until we don't know what to say. The floor was not reali cleaned and the TV......is a 12 or 14" size with no much programme. And there are ants around....(Hairs not cleared in the shower everyday, got xiao qiang outside, heng ah..and lizard making noise at night). Luckily there was no insects crawling ard while we were sleeping..Anyway we left our bags in the room and went for the Toys Museum. We took a cab from our hotel to the museum...It was a disappointment there. 1st, we were charged $20RM for the entrance fee and 2nd, there was no maintenance on the toys. The toys are not displayed properly, some already fell inside the shelves and the toys look so cramped inside the shelves.There are different types of toys from Disney, Kungfu Panda, Batman, Ultraman, Xiao Ding Dang, Aliens, Voltron, Gundam and many more.

After half an hour, we left the museum and walked down to Paradise Beach Resort, to walk down to the beach. There are water skiing service and the hotel guests are suntanning. After that, we left and crossed the road to buy some drinks. We decided not to take cab down to Gurney Drive Hawker Centre, and the next bus is like 30 mins later. So we decided to try walk down from the toys museum to the Hawker Centre.We started to walk from 5 plus, and we walked until 7pm, where we stopped at a hawker centre (Viva Local Food Haven) to eat something. We had Satay, Char Kway Teow, Fried Chicken and Gan Cao He Fen (Yum yum...). After that, we continued our journey (by walking) down to Gurney Drive Hawker Drive for our 2nd round of dinner. We walked until 8.30 pm and we still haven't reached the hawker centre, so we gave up and waited patiently for the bus to come. Finally the bus came and we boarded the bus, the bus fare is only $1.40Rm per pax (super cheap than cab). But the funny part was the Gurney Drive Hawker Centre is just 1 bus stop away, we got off at the next stop..lol. We found a table and starting to order food... we had asam laksa, rojak,and ma chee. Next, we went down to Gurney Plaza for shopping, where i saw waffles with ice cream...(I wanted to eat...but my friends are too full to eat..) After that, we are just too lazy to take bus back to the hotel and we just took cab back to the hotel.

Day 2
Woke up at 7 plus, we got ready and went for our breakfast. We had nasi lemark for breakfast provided by the hotel (Not tat good.....faintz). After that, we crossed over the road outside the hotel and went and bought tao sai piah (Him Heang brand). Then we returned to hotel to put down the piah, we went to take a cab to the blue mansion (Cheong Fatt Tze Mansion). But we had reached 1 hr early for the 11pm tour, so we just walked around the streets to pass time 1st. We passed by Hainan Temple, Love lane, Goddess of Mercy Temple, St George's Church. Then we walked back to the Cheong Fatt Tze Mansion again for the 11 pm tour. The entrance fee is $2RM and there are 3 guided tours, 11am, 1.30pm and 3.00pm and the tour lasted for an hour. The mansion is built in 1890s and the outside of the mansion is blue color and there are 38 rooms inside (16 of which are let out as hotel stay). The The lanterns in the main hall are hanging upstairs, from what the guide had told us is that before Cheong Fatt Tze left home to start out his fortune, his uncle made a bet with him. If he was to make a fortune, his uncle will hang the lanterns upstairs (which Cheong Fatt Tze reali did made his fortune). When the mansion was first taken over by Laurence Loh Architects, the mansion was in a very bad shape as it was rented out and there were more than 100 people. They took 7 years to restore the mansion back to the original stage. All the furniture are being sold away and the current furniture placed inside the mansion are not originally from the mansion.Cheong Fatt Tze had 8 wives and only 3 of the wives (forget which no) live in the mansion. The guide had told us the feng shui of the mansion. The mansion was built in the way that it is sitting off the 'back of the dragon'. And in front of the mansion, it is facing the sea and it is facing a mountain (Penang Hill) at the back of the mansion. (It is very interesting to learn on the feng shui on how the mansion was built). Cheong Fatt Tze had built windows of western (vernacular timber louvre windows) and chinese style (Butterfly-shaped on the walls). There are 7 staircases, each with 28 steps around the house.In the center courtyard,there are 8 pillars instead of the normal 4 pillars. Under each of the pillars,cheong fatt tze had placed gold chinese coin for feng shui purpose. And in the center of the courtyard,the guide told us that it was the heart of feng shui of the mansion.There is 'chi' coming out of below of the mansion if we are to stand there and do tai chi early in the morning (hohoho....).After the guide introduced to the lower floor of the mansion,then we went to the upper level.Up there, we were shown the bedroom.There are Decorative Mosaic Porcelain Works (Chien Nien) in the balcony on the upper level. It was done by putting the glass pieces from rice bowls and they are done beautifully.After that,we are brought to the gift shop there (there was a fluffy cat lying lazily at the mansion, very ke ai...). Anyway after the tour,we took a bus down to Penang Hill but we were told by the bus driver that funicular train service is not ready yet (soo sad.....). So we just took the bus down to Ke Lok Si Temple,which it took like...2 hours? hahahaa...got traffic jam along the road.....Finally we reached the temple,by then we were hungry.We ate laska and wanton noodles at the coffeeshop there before climbing up to the temple.After that,we walked up the temple,along the way,there are alot of stalls selling souvenirs and t-shirts.

We reached the temple and we walked around the temple, There was a gaint Guan Yin status standing on top,we needed to pay to take the lift up to see the status and admission fee is also required to go up the pavilion.My 2 friends paid to go to the pavilion but didn't manage to climb up cos they are too lazy to climb (Kekeke....).I climbed up myself but i didn't climb to the top (damn,i thought it was the last floor when i reached on a level that doesn't have anything inside...actually there are 1 or 2 more floors).After that, we went down to Gurney Plaza again to walk around the mall. My friend bought clothes and i had curly fries from A&W for before dinner snack.By 7pm,we are all hungry and made our way down to Gurney Drive Hawker Centre.We ordered Sotong with kang kong,Char Kway Teow,Otak,Fried Oyster,pancakes and fruit juices.After finishing the food,we took our drinks and moved to the stalls in front. But when we were to put down our drinks on the table,the assistant from the drink stall chased us away,saying we cannot bring drinks from other stalls and drink there.So we went abit further down the tables,the same man chased us away...pek chey...spolit our mood,caused me cannot eat satay and indian rojak.Anyway i bought a popiah and finished it.
After that, we walked back to the mall and we saw Lin Fan (Penang Singer) having new album signature session outside Gurney Plaza. We watched abit,then we went inside the mall again to buy mineral water.But we bought waffles with chocolate,yum yum.....

After that,we went back to the hotel.On the way back,the cab driver told us the green house coffeeshop sells good hokkien mee and it only opens during the night.So we decided to eat for supper later.We went back to hotel 1st and use the wi-fi for chatting.Then my friend asked mi to go buy supper back but in the end we went over to the coffeeshop.We ordered a bowl of prawns noodles and white chicken,i wanted to try the bak kut teh 1 but my friends are too full. (hohoho.....).Then we went back to hotel to zzzz...but i was woken up by the noise of lizard,made mi wake up every hour...so noisy..didnt't get much sleep in the end.

Day 3
Woke up for breakfast, and after that,we went back to our hotel room to bath and packed our stuffs.We checked out at 10am and headed to the airport for our flight back to Singapore.Then we just hand around at the airport and waited for our flight.The flight timing was changed too from 12pm to 12.30pm.Anyway we boarded our plane and went to Singapore.That's the end of our Penang Trip.


Hotel Stayed: 1926 Heritage Hotel

Places visited:
1. Toys Musuem
2. Paradise Beach Resort
3. Bypass by Island Plaza
4. Gurney Plaza
5. Gurney Road Hawker Centre

Seoul, Korea Trip

Viewing of North Korea

Day 1
Went to Seoul, Korea from 17th Feb to 23rd Feb 2011. We met up @ 5.45am in the morning and made our way to Changi Airport T1. Then we checked in our luggage and waited for our plane to KL. We took AirAsia airline, we waited in the airport until 8.55am. Then our plane took off to KL, and reached there around 9 plus. Then we went to the KL Plaza Premium Lounge in the budget terminal, in there, we had shower, lunch and waited for our next plane to Seoul.  We started to make our way to the gate at around 12 plus, then i got delayed in the Malaysian Customs. I asked my friend to go ahead 1st to clear the checkpoint, by the time i was done with the checkpoint, i was unable to find my friend after the checkpoint (Don't know ware she went, 吓死我). Finally i saw her already inside the gate,waiting for me. Then we went up to the plane, which took us 6 hours plus to Seoul.  We played monopoly card game on the plane (My friend kept winning...lol), ate our dinner and slept on and off on the plane. Finally we reached Seoul, and the temperature was like below 0 degree (Shiok!!). Then we collected our luggages and tried to make our way to our hotel. It was located in Dongdaemum (East Gate) area, where all the fashion shopping malls are located. Then we checked in our hotel, then we went out nearby for a walk and tried on the food sold by the roadside stalls (yummy!!). Then we went down to coffee bean and bought hot chocolate drinks, after which we went back to our hotel to rest.

Day 2
Woke up in late morning which we prepared to go the Gyeongbokgung Palace. But we went down to the hotel lobby to settle the data roam first, which took us 2 hours. By the time we reached the palace, it was already 2 plus in the afternoon. But we still managed to go for the mandarian guided tour, so we waited for the guided tour. There was a changing of guards performance at around 3pm, were unable to watch it due to the guided tour (My friend "很凶地" called mi to go liao..hohohoho). Then we went around the palace, guided by the tour guide. The palace was very big and there were alot of interesting things inside. The guide took around 1 hour plus, then we went to the museum cafe for a small snack (which was our breakfast and lunch). It was nice, then i took a nap while my friend chatted on her phone. By the time we left, it was past 5pm and we was not able to go to the palace museum, as the last admission was 5pm. But we still went in to take a peek inside the museum displays. Then we left at around 6 plus, which the sky was already getting dark and the temperature was getting lower. Then we made our way to Jogyesa temple, which was @ Anguk station. The monks were chanting in the hall, so we just see the surroundings of the temple (Anyway it was kind of dark, as there was no street lights outside the temple). Then we went to have our dinner, we had bibimbap (with no beef, only vegetables..hohoho). It was nice with all the side dishes, and were very full. Then we went back to our hotel to rest (as we were going to have our DMZ tour the next day).

Day 3
Woke up early to prepare to go to our DMZ tour. We left hotel at around 6 plus and made our way down to Samgakji station. We had problem finding the USO office from the station. In the end, we took cab down to the place (Luckily, we still managed to find the office, thanks to my friend's GPS, which she used it to guide the cab driver). By then, it was already almost 7.30am, luckily, the bus waited for those latecomers. And so, we managed to go for the tour (which was worth it, eye-opening too).  The bus left at 7.45 am and we were on our way to the DMZ zone. There was a checkpoint that the US army was required to check on our identifies before we can go in. The tour was guided by US army, so our guide was a new soldier who was just posted there. He introduced to us on the JSA area and the meeting place, where South and North Korea was divided (so the conference room was also divided by half, and was determined by the doors on South and North Korea side to determine who get to use the room for their own meetings). There are 2 villages located at that area too, one was called Freedom village (in South korea) and another was Peace Village (in North Korea). There was also a flagpole war between South and North Korea. South Korea had placed a flag up on their area, North Korea responded by placing a much higher flag pole, which was 160m tall, the world 2nd highest flagpole. There was an incident called Axe Murder Incident, which was quite an incident where 3 US soldiers were up against more than 20 North Koreans soldiers, all because of a poplar tree.

After which, we made our way to the 3rd tunnel. There were total of 4 tunnels, which the south koreans found out, and they opened the 3rd tunnel to public for visiting. We had to walk a super steep walkway down to the tunnel. Then we just walked to the end of the tunnel, to see 3 small windows which can see across to the other side of the tunnel. Then we made our way back up to the walkway, we had to climb up the steep steep slope, it was tiring. By the time we reached, we were both sweating and the temperature outside was like still below 10 degree (Had to take off our thick sweaters to cool down, hohooho...).  After that, we went to the observatory to have a better view of North Korea. At there, we were only allowed to take photos from a yellow box drawn on the ground. Then we had our lunch at their canteen there,and then we went down to Dorasan Station.
There, we took a look around of the train station before making our way back to Seoul. After reaching Seoul, we made our way to Myeong-dong for shopping and dinner. There were alot of shops and stalls selling clothes,food,etc. There were people selling hugs for free too, you just have to walk up to them and they will hug you for free..Kekekeke..... When we were at the hotel, we got a call from the ski tour agent to inform us that there will be maintenance going on in the ski area on monday. So she requested us to change to the next day instead. So we went ahead with the plan, to go skiing the next day. And so we went to bed to prepare for the next day.

Day 4
Went up early morning to prepare for our skiing tour. The tour van came and picked us up at our hotel at 8am. Then we went to a nearby hotel to pick another 4 persons that had joined the same tour. The tour guide's name is Summer. She is very funny, told us alot of jokes along the way. The other group of friends are also super funny, they also chatted and told jokes with the guide. We headed down to the ski place, where we rented the ski equipment before we drove up to the mountain. Halfway up, the ski rental shop had forget to pass us our gloves, so we u-turned back to the shop to get them. Then when we were on the way, my friend found that her gloves were of the same side. Kekeke......thgt we need to u-turn back to the shop again, but the guide called up the shop and 'scolded' them for the mistake. In the end, they brought the correct gloves up for my friend. Then we started to try out to ski in the beginner's slope. We both had our fall there, twice. Both of us fell at the same time before we went off, and we couldn't get up on our feet. Luckily there was a kind lady who pulled us up. Kekeke......We also tried to make a snowman (which doesn't even have the shape of the snowman) there.  We played until 12.30pm, then we went to pick the 4 ladies from the ski sled area (which was meant for small children). Then we went down the mountain to have our lunch. We had BBQ chicken, it was so yummy (Best meal of the whole trip). After the yummy lunch, we headed to Nami Island where Winter Sonta (korea drama) was filmed. But we didn't managed to walk the whole island due to time constraint. We took the ferry back, then waited for our guide to pick us up and went to a Ginseng factory. At there, they explained to us when the ginseng can be cooked. There was a total of 6 years, by the age of 2, ginseng can be used to make Ginseng Chicken Soup.
By 4 or 5 plus, we reached back our hotel. My friend stayed in the lobby for internet accessing and i went back to our room. I fell asleep while watching tv in the room, ke lian my friend, cannot come in to our room while i slept (hohoho...). In the end, she took another key from the reception to come in. And i was awoken by the opening of the door when she came in. Then we decided to go down to Seoul Tower for night viewing of Seoul. We went to have our dinner @ TwoTwo Fried Chicken, but by the time we finished our dinner, it was reali getting late. So we dropped our plan of going to the tower and went back to our hotel instead for early resting.

Day 5
Went up abit late today, since the previous 2 days we had been waking up early for the tours. Today we went up to Seoul Tower. We found the Namsan cable car building and went to buy tickets for cable car ride up to Seoul Tower. Everyone was being squeezed into the cable car and being brought up to the tower. On top of the tower, we still need to buy admission tickets to the Observatory and the teddy bear museum. Plus, we paid for our lunch at the top of the tower @ Han Cook. After that, we went to the teddy bear museum first. It was quite small, with all the teddy bear miniatures display in it. Then we went up to the tower observatory to have a 360 degrees view of Seoul. Audio guides are available at the tower to help you identify the places down below (but seriously, it was hard to see the buildings even with the audio guide was explaining the different building standing). After that, we went for our lunch. It was buffet-style for the side dishes and we were required to order only 1 main dish for each.
(Lunch was at around 2 plus or 3, why we always eat meals very late de?)
After lunch, we went down to Namsangol Hanok Village, which was someware near Namsan area (which i don't know ware). We went to a bus stop and took bus no. 2 down, it was 2 bus stops away. Then from the bus stop, we walked a short distance to the entrance of the village. We walked around to see the traditional houses of Korea, there were a spot for traditional Korea games too. After that, we headed to watch JUMP performance. We went down to the metro station and headed to the Korea Tourism Organization Office and queried for the directions. While i was asking for directions, my friend called her mum using the free international phone there (3 mins free). Later we called back to our office and disturbed our office friends. Kekekee......
Then we walked down to JUMP theater, bought our tickets and bought our food @ the coffee bean there. After that, we went for the show. It was a (around) 90 mins performance and it was funny. I bought their program book and had it autographed by the cast (^-^, happy happy). After the show, we went to cheonggyecheon stream walk walk, and the fashion malls around our hotel. Then we ended our day.

Day 6
Today was the last day in Seoul, we went for shopping in Namdaemum Market. At there, we walked around the streets, then we walked to the central post office to buy some stamps for posting postcards back. After that, we had lunch at a small shop @ Namdaemum Market. It was just selling soup noodles there. After that, we went to buy some seaweeds and candies to bring back..... Then we went back to our hotel 1st, after which we went to walk Cerestar shopping mall. It was sooo empty inside, the shopping levels were only up to level 6 and it was a 20 plus high building (weird....). After that, we headed down to the airport, which we had to take the metro down to Seoul station. At there, we had our light dinner first before taking the airport express train down to the airport. Upon reaching the airport, did our check-in, then my friend wrote her postcards and sent. Then we went around to see if there is any restaurants opening. Then later, we took the airport shuttle train to our gate. And so, we left Seoul and we arrived back in Singapore @ Noon the following day (which we also spent the whole morning in KL budget airport, doing nothing except sleep. And the KL-SG plane still delayed some more).

The Seoul Metro can be very confusing when you first take, because there are 14 different lines. And there are alot of different exits and staircases (the lifts are 'hidden', need to try finding). You will need to go from different stairs to get to the correct platform and if you need to decide the platform first before tapping your card, make sure you watch out for the direction that you want to go. (Encountered once, we had to walk until the next line platform so that we can get to the opposite platform)

Hotel Stayed: EastGate Tower
Places visited:
1. Dongdaemum (East Gate)
2.  Gyeongbokgung Palace
3. Jogyesa temple
4. Anguk Street
5. DMZ - JSA, 3rd tunnel, Observatory, Dorasan Station
6. Myeong-dong
7. Ski Place (don't know where it is)
8. Nami Island
9. Ginseng factory 
10. Seoul Tower
11. Teddy Bear Museum
12.  Namsangol Hanok Village
13. JUMP Theater
14.  Namdaemum Market
15. Central Post Office
16. Cerestar Shopping Mall
17. Cheonggyecheon Stream
  
Complete Photo Album: Click here
 

Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam Trip

Day 1
Went to HCM, Vietnam from 30th Dec 2010 to 2nd Jan 2011 with 3 of my friends to celebrate New Year. We met at Budget Terminal @ 5.30 am, had our breakfast at Mac there and got ready for our flight to Vietnam with Tiger Airways. We got on the plane @ 7.05 am, the plane was soooo cramped (Don't like budget planes, cramped and no entertainment, Lol). Then the plane took off, and it was quite a shaking ride, and at 1 point, the plane did went down suddenly (My heart almost jumped out).
Anyway we landed @ around 9 plus (Vietnam Time) and we went to take a cab down to our hotel. The traffic there is sooooooo horrible and the air pollution is soooooo bad. The road is basically filled with motorcycles and motorcycles and motorcycles. Lol. And the cab driver was honking all the way to the hotel. The air is also having too much pollution due to the numbers of motor-vehicles on the road everyday. The traffic is like super heavy everyday, and it looks like it is impossible to cross the road. And the whole ride from the airport to the hotel, the cab driver was honking all the way. Other cars are also honking away. But weird thing is, the motorists will try to avoid you by swaying their way to another path when you are crossing the road. Hohoho.....

Traffic: Super heavy, everyday traffic jam
Air: Super polluated, there is so much smoke in the air (blurry)
Road Crossing: Almost impossible to cross. Get a male friend who will take the 1st step out and just walk across and try to follow him (hahaha....), the motorists will just try to avoid you.

When we reached the hotel, we were unable to check-in as it was too early for us to check in. So we left our luggage at the hotel and went out to look for our land agency around the area. One of the local people gave us some directions when we got struck at one of the roads. The people there are still friendly but some can get quite aggressive. Anyway we managed to find the tour agency and we also booked for Mekong Delta - 1 day tour for the 3rd day. After that, we walked the nearby areas to try to find some food for our lunch. We went to a roadside shop and had our lunch there. We ordered Chicken and Pork 'Pho' (Vietnamese noodles soup), Summer rolls (rice paper rolls that often include shrimp, herbs, pork, rice vermicelli and other ingredients wrapped up and dipped in nước chấm or peanut sauce.) After our lunch, we walked around the area and bought some fruits from the roadside vendors. We bought Mandarin oranges and longans. My friend opened up 1 longan and wanted to eat it. Instead he found maggots inside, so he threw the whole packet away (Ekkkk.....). Then we went back to our hotel to check-in (Weird thing with this hotel is they took our passports as deposit instead of photocopying them).
After check-in, we took a taxi to the big wholesale market in Cholon. It was big but it was super packed with goods and people. There is just a small gap in between the stalls and the stall owners are carrying big boxes and they will just push their way in. And it gets hot and stuffy in the market. But the market is quite organized in the sense that those stalls selling the same products are arranged together (like clothes section in 1 area, slippers/shoes section in another corner) and there are 2 levels. After shopping in that hot and stuffy market, we went for dinner (which made me soooo glad, getting hungry at that time. Hohoho....) We took a cab down to a restaurant in Distinct 1, we got 'chopped' by the cab driver. He took a longer way and the meter is jumping like mad. And the aircon was also not on, so we had to breathe in the pollution all way and a strench smell from a super dirty big drain (the water is black in color,don't know what is being thrown inside and don't wish to know too) near the expressway until our destination. And the stupid cab driver didn't even drive us to our destination, he just went into a road which can't do right turn and asked us to walk to the restaurant instead. So one of my friends tried to argue with him on the price and the aircon, anyway we didn't paid him the exact amount. Horrible cab driver....... Luckily we had a yummy dinner, we had chicken wings, pork ribs, sotong and a big hot pot. The food are quite nice and the total bill is not that expensive too for our meal (around SGD$30 plus). After the nice dinner, we went back to find some shopping areas near our hotel, but we cannot remember where are the places...lol. (Streets & traffic too messy already). So we took a taxi back to our hotel, took a nice bath (super sweat for the whole day) and went to sleep on the nice nice bed.

Day 2
Woke up early to have our breakfast provided by the hotel, my friends went back to get ready for our half day tour - Cu Chi Tunnels. We took taxi to the tour agency and we passed the agent for our ticket. But the agent was unable to help us print the e-tickets due we don't have our IC/Passport for verification and the e-ticket was not printed out. Stupid thing is the agent does not even have internet access and she asked us to send the softcopy to her. Haiyo....pek chey. In the end we paid for another set of tickets and the agent will refund us back the amount for the previous transaction. And we got on the bus just in time for the tour. The whole ride took around 1 and half hour from Saigon to Cu Chi Tunnels, and the tour guide was explaining to us of the tunnels' history. The tour guide's name is Lee, quite young and his english is not bad. Basically there is nothing much to do on the bus except to sleep, hohoho......
After a long ride, we finally reached the place. We were 1st brought to a hut where there was a video showing on the history of Cu Chi Tunnels. Then we went in, the guide showed us a manhole that was being dug on the ground. And a guide from the camp demonstrated to us how the soldiers hide inside the small manhole. Then the guide asked who wanted to have a try, 1 guy and 1 ang mo kid went to have a try. The guy almost got struck in the manhole, lol. Then after this, we were shown a trap with bamboo spikes. It was a rectangle area, created with a door that will turn 360 degrees and the bamboo spikes are planted at the bottom (Scary....). Then the guide showed us a super big termites nest, which was being used to cover the smokes during war times. Then later the guide showed us the weapons and traps that were being made during the Vietnam War. After that we went for guns firing, 2 of my friends went and tried to fire with real AK47 guns. The price is based on how many bullets you want to fire. The gunshots are super deafening, super loud. Another friend and i went to try the corn that was selling near the shooting range. The corn was so plain, no taste one, not very nice to eat. After that, we walked past a guy who was making slippers using the rubber of tyre. Then we got to try to walk inside of the tunnels. You are free to try 25m, 30m, 60m or 100m or more. First the guide let us try 25m, we went down, it was super dark inside and we had to squat down to walk in the tunnels. But it was a good experience to get a feel how it was like inside the tunnels, hohoho.......After that, we went to the kitchen where we had a snack, Cooked Tapioca with peanut and salt (but the guide was saying with sugar, we can't really find the sugar. Lol) After that, we left the tunnels and we went to a handicrafts factory. It is created by the Vietnam Government for those handicapped (as a result of war) to let them have a job. They used egg shells to create nice arts and then sell them for a price. After that, we went back to Saigon which was around 2 or 3 plus (Vietnam time). Actually we wanted to walk to the War Remnants Museum, but we ended up eating our lunch at Angel Garden, which we just happened to come across. It was a internet cafe style place, the place was nicely decorated with christmas deco. We ordered our food and drinks. The food was nice, but the portion is abit small for a normal meal and it is a bit more expensive. After that, we went down to Ben Thanh Market @ Distinct 1. It is also a big market that sell everything, coffee, sweets, clothes, etc. My friend bought 2 different types of coffee, 500g each, total amounting to around $27 SDG. But the coffee prices were much lower when we went further in. (The moral, don't buy from the stalls outside, walk further in and you will get a cheaper prices.) After shopping in the market, we went back to our hotel to put our things and rest for a while. Then we walked to find shopping malls there. We went to Saigon Centre and it was sooooo empty inside, not many people are shopping in the shops. Eventually we walked for a while and then went off. Then we walked further down to another mall, which had a very big supermarket. We went in and shopped for coffee and snacks. (And i managed to find Mung Bean Cake which selling much much cheaper than the ones i saw in Ben Thanh Market. Luckily didn't buy from the market.)
We bought a lot of stuffs back, then we went out. The road is closed for New Year's countdown and the road was decorated with green lights and there are alot of beautiful deco at the roundabout of the main road. Everyone was getting ready for the big countdown party there. Then we walked to MOF for our dinner. When we wanted to order, we called a waiter. He kept laughing and when he saw us, his 1st question was asked us whether we are calling him and he spoke in a girly way. And he keeps laughing, don't know what is so funny. But he gave us comments on the food, whether it is nice or not nice. So we took his advice and tried the dishes which he said not bad. (Hmm... his recommendations are quite ok.)
After dinner, we went back to the hotel. We wanted to try the hotel spa, but it was packed. So we reserved for 11pm but we all ended up sleeping instead. Hahahaa......

Day 3
Woke up for early breakfast again but this time we were getting ready for our 1 day trip - Mekong Delta.
We reached the agency at 8am, and got on the bus. It was a 2 hours bus ride to the jetty and the tour guide.....'best'. We don't understand anything he was speaking, in english don't understand, in vietnam language, also don't understand.....Anyway he didn't say much throughout the ride, so we just sat back and enjoyed the bus ride. Then we reached near the jetty, which we still had to walk for a short distance to take our boat ride. We waited for everyone to go for toliet break and headed for our boat ride. We went to a snake wine farm, coconut candy farm and then we had our lunch with vietnamese food. One of the waitresses also sung us 2 vietnam songs, it was like singing opera while having your lunch (Basically, cannot eat when she started to sing). There are 5 dishes, only the dish with pork is slightly better than the rest of the dishes. The fried fish was having a very bad smell too. And the soup is very sour. After the lunch, we went back to the boat and travelled for 1 hour to our next destination, which was the mekong market. We didnt walk much around the market, the vendors were selling fresh fruits and vegetables. After that, we headed back to Saigon. Along the way, we stopped for a break @ Mekong Rest Stop. Then we continued our way back. After we reached the agency, we went to KFC for our dinner. We got a 6 pieces family meal and we went to the beef noodles soup eatery next door for our 2nd dinner (Hohoho...KFC not filling....don't like the original chicken & the whipped potato). Then we went back to our hotel to rest. My friend was trying to pack all her stuffs in her small luggage bag but she can't squeeze in. So she got my the other friend to help out and agreed to pay her 10 bucks if she can squeeze all the stuffs in the luggage.Lol, and she managed to do it. After that, we all went to bed.

Day 4

We started our day by going to the Independence Palace. It was abit toooo modern, not like what we expected. Anyway we went in to have a look. It was destroyed during war times and it was restored after that. After that, we went to Notre Dame Cathedral and the Post Office, which was just beside the church.
Joke of the day: "There is a very big 'Chris' statue standing outside of the Cathedral, why don't go and take a photo of it?" (-_-")
We went to post office and bought some postcards which we posted to each other. After that, we went to the Coffee Bean opposite the streets and went back to hotel for check-out. Then we went back to the 1st restaurant where we had our lunch there. After that, we went to the airport and waited for our flight back to Singapore. The flight back was shaky and my ears were blocked most of the time on the flight. Glad it was so a short ride back to Singapore. We reached Singapore Budget Terminal @ 8.30pm which marked the end of our Vietnam trip.


Hotel Stayed: Hoang Hai Long Dragon Hotel
Places Visited:
1. Cholon Market
2. Ben Thanh Market
3. Cu Chi Tunnels
4. Mekong Delta and Market
5. Independence Palace
6. Notre Dame Cathedral
7. Post Office 
8. Saigon Centre
9. TAX Supermarket
10. Zen Plaza