Last Day in Malacca (Day 3)

11th August 2019, Sunday

Today is the last day in Malacca and we had to go back to Singapore. We packed our luggage and stuffs, then we checked out the hotel. We also bought a tin of the hotel's hand-made cookies as we were treated to their cookies when we checked in. It was very yummy. After that, we left our luggage in the hotel and headed down to Mahkota Parade. But we did not able to get a grab car and had to get the hotel staff to call for a cab. It was quite expensive to go to the mall from the hotel ($20 ringgits). But we just went ahead cos we wanted to go Nadeje for their millie crepes.

Cookies by Hilton Hotel

When we reached there, the shop was not yet opened but there was already a queue outside the entrance. So we quickly queued for it but i went to KFC to buy small snack while waiting for the shop to open. Once the door was opened, the place was quickly filled up and even the take-away counter was busy. We ordered 2 slices of millie crepee, a pizza and a pasta. The pasta and pizza were quite nice. After we finished the meal, we walked the mall for a short period before we headed to the cab stand. We bought some sesame street tee-shirts from a cartoon shop, the shop really sells a lot of cartoon tee-shirts (very cute). There were many cars on the road and there was only 1 cab waiting at the stand. The driver only know limited English but he was able to understand where we were headed to.

Drinks

Pasta

Salmon Pizza

Millie Crepes

We managed to reach back to the hotel where we just shopped in the adidas outlet again and bought some clothes. After that, we headed up to the hotel restaurant (Makan Kitchen) to have our late lunch. We waited until it was almost time to head downstairs to wait for the coach. There were a couple of coaches from the same company arriving at the hotel to pick up passengers. Ours came slightly late and we were hitting on the road back to Singapore. It was quite a long journey back and there was massive jam when we were reaching towards Malaysian Customs. The coaches were sounding the horn on the cars and the coach guide explained to us that the coaches drivers were actually doing that to chase the cars off the bus lane. Despite the jam, we didn't have to wait for too long to reach Malaysian Customs. We reached back the drop-off place in Singapore around 10 plus. After which, we took grab to go back home.

Late Lunch

P.S: I was lucky to get a special mama packet in one of the mama noodles snack i bought back but i don't know who had eaten up the snack.... ^_^

Places visited:
Nadeje

Hotel Stayed:
Double Tree by Hilton

Malacca, Malaysia Trip (Day 2)

10th August 2019, Saturday

The Daily Fix

Today, we woke up late and decided to head down to Jonker's Street for breakfast as we did not order breakfast in the hotel. We got ready and waited for the first shuttle bus to Jonker's Street. The bus was late for 15 mins and people started to complain and asking if the bus is in operational today. When the bus came, it was packed quickly and we were off for our breakfast. We walked along the streets to look for our breakfast place and decided on the cafe "The Daily Fix". But it was crazily packed with customers and so we were put on the queuing list. But there was limited space to wait there and we can't even stand in the shop before the cafe to wait. So we decided to walk around the streets first but there was a risk. If you are not around when the staff calls your number, you will have to queue again.

However, it was better than waiting there without any space to stand or sit. So we went ahead to shop along the streets first. We went to the Mama Museum which was new to us and there were many people inside the shop. Everyone was queuing to buy their products and decorating customised cup noodles. It was slightly cheaper as compared to buy in Singapore. We also bought some of the products back and bought 3 of the customised cup noodles for decoration. But there were too many people in the workshop area, so we headed back to the cafe first to check our queue number. It was still quite far from calling our number. So we headed out again.

Next, we headed to San Shu Gong to buy the products. Again, there were a lot of people shopping inside and it was so crowded. We ended up quite a lot of stuffs too and asked the staffs to pack for us in boxes. After we finished, we went back to the cafe but we had missed our queue number and my friend did not want to wait for another 2 hours for it. So we went to have Chop Chung Wah chicken rice balls instead. When we reached there, there was a long queue outside the place (as usual). So we just queued for it (if not, we will have nothing to eat and it was almost lunch time). But at least the queue was moving so we waited for half an hour and it was very hot standing under the sun.

Rice Balls

Whole Chicken

Chicken Intestines

We ordered a whole chicken and a plate of rice balls. Luckily the food arrived fast and we were glad we were able to have our breakfast and lunch. Once we finished, we decided to head back to Mama museum to decorate our cup noodles. There were still plenty of customers inside but we managed to find seats at the workshop area. So we sat down and decorated our cup noodles. There were many parents and children decorating too. After that, i brought the cups to the sealing area where the staff told me to put the cup upstairs down and over the noodles. Next, the staff asked me to rotate the cups containing the noodles over. After that, the staff took the cups over to the ingredients area where i got to choose what ingredients to put inside each cup. Next, the staff took the cups and started to seal the cup noodles. After that, she wrapped the cup noodles with plastic and put them into cute mama monster plastic bags.

Mama Monster

Finished Products

Dessert

Once finished, we decided to head back to the hotel first as the stuffs were heavy to be carried around. So we walked slowly back to the shuttle bus pick up and we also ended up in Jonker 88 for their dessert too. We waited for half an hour, the bus was no where to be seen. So we gave up waiting and called for a grab car to ferry us back to the hotel. When we reached our hotel, we went back to our room and rested for a while. However, the house keeping people were just coming in to clean the room. So we left the room and headed downstairs instead. After walking for some time, we called for a grab car and headed down to Nancy's Kitchen for dinner. When we reached there, there were already a crowd waiting outside the door. So we wrote our names down in their waiting list. We had to wait for almost an hour before we could get a table as the staff were clearing those with reservations and was clearing those walk-ins later.

We were so hungry and so we quickly ordered our dinner. Thankfully, we didn't have to wait very long for the food to arrive. After dinner, my friend bought some nonya snacks there and we left the place. We tried to call for a grab car but the price was double of the price we came as it was past 8 pm. We got lucky when there was a taxi stopped in front of the restaurant to alight some passengers. We asked the taxi driver if it is by meter or fixed price and the taxi driver was so cute that he told us he is okay to accept any amount we want to pay him. He doesn't mind on the amount as he is driving to pass time. We had fun chat with him and we paid him $19 for his services.

Big Crowd

Dinner

We went back to the Adidas outlet in the mall to check out the clothes and the prices were quite cheap as compared the other shops. Then we went back to the hotel and decided to head down to the gym where we exercised for an hour. After that, we went back to the room and showered. Time to sleep...

Places visited:
The Daily Fix
Mama Museum
San Shu Gong
Chop Chung Wah Chicken Rice
Nancy's Kitchen

Hotel Stayed:
Double Tree by Hilton

Malacca, Malaysia Trip (Day 1)

9th August 2019, Friday

Today, i am travelling with my friend to Malacca over the weekend for a short getaway. But of course, it is Singapore's Independence Day too and we ended up in the customs for almost 3/4 of the day. We arrived in Malacca very late afternoon (around 5 pm). The coach (Luxury Coach) we took was full with many Singaporeans travelling to Malacca for a short getaway. There were a group of uncles and aunties sitting at the back of the bus and were so high. The coach also had to drop the passengers at different hotels points and ours was the last stop. We booked our hotel at Double Hill by Hilton and it was quite far away from Jonker's Street. There was an empty mall named Elements Mall beside the hotel.

Pit Stop

Once we reached the hotel, we checked in and went up to our hotel room. The room was very big and spacious. After settling in, we went down to the mall to have a look. One of the shops was having 1-for-1 promotion, selling jackets, bags, caps. I bought two slight bags from the shops. After that, we took the hotel's shuttle bus to Jonker's Street for dinner. It was a 10 mins ride from the hotel.

Hotel Room

As usual, Jonker's Street was packed with people and it was crowded. There was queues everywhere too, so we went to Little Nonya restaurant to have our dinner. We ordered some dishes with rice as we were quite hungry after the long ride. By the time we finished our dinner, it was about 8 plus and the last bus back to the hotel was at 8.30 / 9:00 pm. So we just walked for a short while and we went back to the shuttle bus's pickup point. The bus was about to leave, so we ran towards it which we made it in time. When we reached back at the hotel, we just went to the mall and explored the upper levels. There was a cinema in the higher level, other than that, there was nothing... ^_^! After that, we just went back to the hotel and rested for the day.

Entrance 

Little Nonya

Asam Fish

Places visited:
Little Nonya
Jonker's Street
Elements Mall

Hotel Stayed:
Double Tree by Hilton

Last Day in Hokkaido (Day 15)

25th May 2019, Saturday

Time flew fast when we were having fun and yes, today was the last day of our holidays. We packed our goodies into our luggage and went down to check out the hotel once we were ready to leave. We left our luggage with the hotel and tried to query if there was any shabu shabu restaurants which are opened early. So the staff recommended us one restaurant named Sayabu Syabu Monster nearby the hotel which we could have shabu shabu before we fly (cannot get over with the one last night..haha). So we headed out the the shabu place and we took some time to find the shabu restaurant. Anyway, the restaurant was not opened for business yet, so we went down to shop around and played some games in the arcade.

Meats Selection Section

Vegetables Selection Section

Our Soup Base

After that, we headed back to the restaurant to have our shabu shabu. The place was quite big and we took a promotion which was quite cheap for us. We had the free flow of meats, veggies and the drinks. So we had our yummy time there and we took our time to eat even though there was a time limit for the shabu shabu. After the shabu shabu, we went down to buy some seaweed and cheese snacks from a local supermarket and went back to the hotel. We decided to leave slightly early to return the car so that we got enough time and won't have to rush too much. We reached the car rental car company quite ahead of our flight time and parked to return the car. When the staff did a check on the car, they questioned us on the scratches on the side of the car. We tried to explain we did had a minor accident during our stay in Lake Toya and they were definitely not happy about it. The guy who attended to us was kind of like scolding us as in why we did not make a report on the day of the accident as now they had to pay the damage themselves and unable to claim from the insurance company with no report. He was saying that they had made it clear to us that we had to make a report for any accidents on the day we collected the car. But we had no recollection that they had told us on the first day. We tried to explain that they can check with the hotel staff and she had not told us to make a report even though she had witnessed the accident. After some time, the guy introduced the guy standing beside him as his manager and it was agreed by the manage to waive off the maximum damage charge imposed (it was like $1k or $2k sgd at that time). But he told us we will have to pay for the non-operation charges and the expressway tow charges. I was glad i don't have to pay so much for the damage but i was kind of affected by the matter.

After all that, we paid the charges and waited for their shuttle bus to pick us to go to the airport. When we reached the airport, there were many shops in the airport and of course, there was a pokemon center. We checked out the shops and there were still so many stuffs that we could buy back. There were daisy products, desserts, toys, whole honey dews and many more. I bought the pikachu keychains with the pilot costume of New Chitose Airport. We had cheesecake, tart and ice-cream in LeTao and i had a chat with a Japanese lady who was waiting for her flight to Osaka to visit her new-born grand-daughter. But we were not able to get the pudding we had in Otaru's branch. After that, we checked in our luggage and went around the shops again. I saw Donburi Chaya restaurant in one of the levels and decided we had our dinner there cos it was not expensive and full of ingredients.

LeTao Latte & Ice-cream

Pikachu!

Giant Royce' Chocolates

After dinner, we made our way to the boarding gate and waited for our flight back to Tokyo where we will have to transit on another flight back to Singapore. With this, my hokkaido holidays was over but i will definitely try to go back again. It was really a nice place with plenty of food and places to eat and visit.

Places visited:
Sayabu Syabu Monster (Address: 2-15-1, Minami three Jo Nishi, Chuo-ku, Sapporo-shi, Hokkaido, 060-0063)
New Chitose Airport

Hotel Stayed:
Hotel Vista Sapporo Odori

Sapporo, Hokkaido Trip (Day 14)

24th May 2019, Friday

Today, we woke up slightly late but my friend did not want to get off the bed. So i went out on my own and headed to Nijio Market which was walking distance from our hotel. The market was quieter as compared to the one we went in Hokodate and there were not many visitors it seems. There were seafood stalls selling giant crabs and scallops and there were also many seafood restaurants in the alleys. I just walked around to see what interesting seafood they offer and find my breakfast there. I came across a seafood restaurant which had their seafood dishes on display which looked yummy. The restaurant name was Donburi Chaya and there was not much diners in the place. So i got a bar table seat and ordered a salmon rice bowl. I was so happy when the rice bowl came full with raw salmon. The salmon were so fresh and sweet.

Donburi Chaya Shop Entrance

Salmon Rice Bowl

One of the stalls

Crabs

More crabs..lol

After eating, i walked around the market for some time until my friend messaged me to meet up for lunch later. So i bought a box of honey dew for 400/500 yen and walked through Tanukikoji Shopping Street back to the hotel to meet up with my friend. But i still went to check out some of the shops while walking back to the hotel as my friend told me to take my time to walk back. When i reached back the hotel, my friend was still getting ready so i ate the honey dew and left some for her. After she was ready, we went out shopping again but before we headed out, we told the hotel staff to help us make a reservation at the popular shabu shabu restaurant, Onyasai Shabu Shabu. But she told us the restaurant was closed after lunch and there was no one picking up the call. So she told us to come back to her again at 5pm so that she can help us to make the reservation again. But we did not want to as we will be out on the streets. We shopped in the building where there were toys shops inside and spent a very long time there...lol...After that, we went looking for lunch and went to a small eating place for a quick lunch. We ordered a rice set to share as i was quite full from my salmon rice bowl earlier.

Bowling Alleys

Lunch

After lunch, we decided to take the tram to visit the Nakajima Park. When we alighted and walked towards the park, we were drawn by the coffee smell coming out from a cafe named Marumi Coffee Stand located opposite the park. It was a cozy cafe with not many customers in it and we ordered waffles, hot chocolate and coffee for our snacks. The waffles looked yummy and were quite crispy. After that, we visited Nakajima Park and walked towards a shrine inside but it looked closed. So we just walked around the area and we saw some big stones which looked they were some memorials for some honourable people. After that, we walked further away from the park and came upon a huge pedestrians bridge. It was a bridge built in commemoration of Sapporo-Poland country relationship. We were blown away by the big river behind it and stayed around to take some photos. There were some kids doing bbqs and we could smell the nice bbq seafood from it.

Tram

Tea break

Memorial Stone

More Memorial Stones

Shrine

Sapporo-Poland Commemoration Bridge

River behind the bridge

After spending some relax time there, we decided to head down to Mount Moiwa to see the sunset up there. So we went to the nearest tram stop and took the tram to the Mount Moiwa shuttle bus stop. We had to catch the shuttle bus up to the ropeway station, where we bought the tickets to the ropeway and cable car to go up to the peak. First, we had to take the ropeway up to the half way point and then transferred to the cable car which brought us up to the peak. There were many people going up too and the view was beautiful. Interestingly, there was a bell in the middle called satellite of lover's sanctuary. It was a blessing for all lovers to have the joy and start their families happily. We spent some time taking photos of the view but it was still early for sunset. So we went walking around in the cafe and other areas and waited till it was sunset time. The sunset was quite late, almost to 7 pm and the crowd was like double of the people in the afternoon. Everyone was trying to get a nice view of the city with the lights.

Shuttle Bus Stop

Mount Moiwa Mascot

Cable Car

Ropeway Tunnel

View from the peak

Satellite of lover's sanctuary

Small Temple

We were no exception, trying to find a spot to take the beautiful view we saw as our memory. After that, we headed back to the cable car and ropeway to go down the mountain and back to the city. By the time we reached back to the city, it was almost to 9 pm and i didn't see the buildings' lights until today. We decided to find Onyasai Shabu Shabu which was the nearest to our hotel and we were hoping we could get a table for walk-in. However, we were disappointed when the staff told us they were fully packed and there was no table available for us. We could smell the soup  from the door and it smelled really good. So we kept asking the staff if she could find us a table (not sure how much she could understand us). But she did managed to tell us she will help us to book a table in another branch which was some distance away from their branch (we also forgot to confirm the location of the other branch with her before we headed off). So we were so happy and headed off to the other branch after we thanked her. We walked for around 15 mins to the other branch and took us a while to find the place as it was located in the basement of some building. We had made use of google map to help us navigate to the other branch.

Sunset view

Night view

Shopping street

Onyasai Shabu Shabu

When we reached there, we tried to explain to the staffs that we had made reservation through a staff from another branch. But they insisted there was no reservation made and we even double-confirmed if we were at the right restaurant. What so funny was, they insisted the restaurant name was correct but they had no connection with the other branch. It sounded like they were under the same restaurant but the people don't know each other from whichever branch (I will expect the managers would know each other). Anyway, we tried our very best to tell them our situation and they also tried their very best to explain to us there was no table for us. In the end, there was a guy who seemed to have higher authority came and explained to us through google translation that they had run out of veggies and left only with rice. So we had no choice but to leave the place disappointed.

After that, we walked back to the hotel area and see if we could get dinner around there but we saw most of the restaurants were closing or already closed. So we headed to Meshiba Ookami to have our dinner there. This time, we sat down and dined in. There was a young lady who spoke fluent English with us and even recommended their hamburg steak. However, their ordering system also so complicated. First, she told us we had to order one drink for both of us and so we ordered a coke each. Next, when my friend wanted to order the salmon buffet alone, she told us two of us have to order if we wanted this. But i wasn't into salmon so my friend was not able to order that. So i ordered a pork belly rice and she ordered the hamburg steak as recommended by the staff. And also, we ordered five pieces of their chicken wings and we waited for our food. It really took long time for the chicken wings to even reach our table. Plus besides us were two ladies going crazy with the smoking and the drinking and they were eating a mountain of cooked bean sprouts. I think we waited for another half or 45 mins before they served my pork belly rice bowl. Then 15 mins or so passed, we asked for the hamburg steak. The same lady who took our orders told us the kitchen was still preparing the food and said sorry to us for the delay. But she told us it would be ready in another 15 mins' time. So we waited, again 15 mins or so passed. So we asked for the steak again. This time, it was another lady to attend to us. She said the same thing to us that the kitchen was still preparing the steak and will be ready soon. But by then, my friend was quite pissed off so she was pressing her how long more we had to wait. But the lady was not able to tell us how long more we had to wait and kept saying it's coming out soon.

Coke

Appetiser

Pork Belly Rice Bowl

Chicken Wings

We let her off as she said she will check with the kitchen. However, she did not come back to us and we waited until past midnight, the steak was still not delivered to us. My friend got really angry and asked for a cancellation. But this time, a young lad came to us and did not know how to communicate with us in English. So my friend took her phone out and used google translation to show him her intentions. After some time, the guy went back to the other lady who attended us earlier and asked us what we want (guess the guy did not understand us at all). So my friend told her we wanted to cancel the steak order as it was taking too long. But she told us we can't cancel the order as the kitchen had already preparing the food. It was so ridiculous, they had prepare the food like 2 hours earlier and it didn't arrive to our table. Anyway, the lady went back to the back and started to talk to the other staffs behind like having discussion. She later came back to us and said we could cancel the steak (which was a relief to me). So we paid for the food we ate and went back to the hotel to rest for the day after the drama.

Places visited:
Nijio Market
Donburi Chaya (Address: Japan, 〒060-0053 Hokkaido, Sapporo, Chuo Ward, Minami 3 Johigashi, 1 Chome−7)
Marumi Coffee Stand (Address: KC Maple Court 1F, Minami 14-jo Nishi 6-chome, Chuo-ku, Sapporo 札幌市中央区南14条6丁目KC MAPLE COURT一楼)
Nakajima Park
Mount Moiwa

Hotel Stayed:
Hotel Vista Sapporo Odori

Complete Photo Album: Click here