Yogyakarta [310819 - 040919]

Day 1 [310819]

Visited the Prambanan temple as soon as we touched down as it is near the airport.. The sun was blazing hot but luckily it's not humid. Our driver recommended lunch at this restaurant which was so cheap and good. We couldn't believe the fish, rice and drink set only cost sgd$2+. Visited the Parangkusumo Sand Dunes and the sunflower place in the evening before we rest early for our sunrise tour the next morning.

Day 2 [010919]

Woke up at 3am(!!) for the Borobudur sunrise tour. It was so cold when we took a torchlight in the dark and climbed onto the structure to wait for sunrise. Never seemed to have an affinity with beautiful sunrise/sunset.. The sun was hidden behind the clouds, plus it was rather hazy :( We only managed to take some photos after the sun was out awhile later. After a buffet breakfast (which came with the tour), we visited chicken church which was a rather cute structure.

Next up was the jeep tour to Merapi Volcano. To get nearer to the volcano, taking the jeep was the only option.. And I would say it's not for those with motion sickness.. Haha.. Even me who doesn't have motion sickness felt abit sick after sitting in the back seat. Lol. But well, the nice photos with the jeep was worth it! The guide explained about the history of the volcano along the way and it took us about 1.5 hours for the entire tour on the jeep.

Had a late lunch and visited Malioboro street (for shopping). However, we cut short our "shopping" as there was nothing worth buying as expected. We ended up going for a full body massage which was rather not satisfying.. Haha..

Day 3 [020919]

Visited Timang Beach after breakfast. Similarly, Timang Beach was also not accessible by car.. we had to take a jeep to the beach. Although the view at the beach was beautiful, Timang was just a small area made of rocks and nothing else, except the big waves which comes periodically. We were wondering how long we can spend on that small "island", and yes we were surprised that we actually spent about 2 hours there.. Haha.. Once we paid to go across the suspension bridge to the island, there was a guide who followed us the whole time. In fact, my phone was with him all the time while he asked us to do poses and found us the best angles to take pictures. So we had some nicely taken photos!

After that, we returned to a restaurant to have our lobster set meal. As we opted to go for a set meal which consist of 2 medium sized lobsters, vege, tofu, fried calamari and fish.. It was literally a feast which kept us full till at night!

Our driver recommended to visit Ijo temple for sunset after that. It was not crowded and there was a good view of the sunset. But well.. we still cannot control when the sun wants to hide behind the clouds...

Day 4 [030919]

Our last sunrise attempt (which somehow ended up being me watching sunrise alone!) at Bukit Panguk as recommended by our driver. It sure was a good place as there were little people who knows about this place. There was no crowd so you won't have to struggle taking pictures with many heads in front. But well... I lost count of the number of failed sunrise attempts..

Went back to bed after sunrise. Lol..  Too shagged. Changed our plans to visit the water castle (which was nothing fantastic) and the underground mosque. Went to Hutan Pinus Pengger (pine forest) in the afternoon which is very nice for photo taking! This door at Pintu Langit (which means stairways to heaven if i'm not wrong) is very instagrammable~ But the time we visited was during sunset, which means our faces couldn't be seen.. But it's also another form of beauty~

Lastly, finally, we got our pretty sunset to end our trip!

Yogyakarta is a simple place, but I felt the food (spicy and tasty!) and view makes it worthwhile to visit once in a lifetime.

Perth [260519 - 010619]

Day 1 [260519]

Started our day immediately after touching down from a midnight flight. Visited Fremantle market which was such a disappointment with overpriced food and items. We left after awhile without getting anything.  Took a walk around the area before checking into our hotel for a rest and visited Chinatown at night for dinner.. Not much of a choice other than Chinatown for dinner as most of the shops close early.. End up our trip consist of mainly chinese food for dinner! Which I don't mind.. and they are rather authentic and nice. Haha

Day 2 [270519]

The reason why I came to Perth - To visit quokkas at Rottnest Island! They are so adorable! Took a tour at Rottnest which includes bus rides with a guide to ferry us around to some scenic spots for phototaking. Rottnest island was bigger and less developed than I thought, and the waters are quite nice. Unlike what we initially thought, quokkas are not everywhere on the island. In fact, after a huge part of the day, we only managed to catch a few of them. Luckily before we ended the tour, we asked the guide where can we find more quokkas.. So he directed us to this area which got more quokkas and we spent the rest of our evening there chasing them for photos!

We were famished when we reached back in perth.. It was Chinatown again for dinner and we spotted this dim sum restaurant which was having an opening offer.. Little did we know that it was a good 1 hour wait.. But have to say, it's really quite good.

Day 3 [280519]

Picked up our car in the morning, to start our long journey to Hyden. Visited some bakery, cafes, nougat and honey shops along the way, before we stopped at the supermarket to decide what to get for dinner as it would be a 荒山野岭 place where we'll be staying that night. It was so cold at Hyden at night.. But glad that we were able to catch the sky full of stars as there was little light pollution..

Day 4 [290519]

Visited the Wave Rock first thing in the morning as that was what we were here for, before we start our long drive back to Perth again.. Haha.. I seriously don't know if the wave rock was worth the journey..

We reached Perth in the evening and parked our car for dinner nearby a Vietnamese restaurant for dinner. Little did we know that there was a crisis ahead while we were having our dinner. After dinner some of us went to buy bubble tea, and that was when my friend found out that our car's back window was smashed in a theft attempt..

Day 5 [300519]

Due to the theft incident, our plans the next morning was slightly delayed. But luckily, we managed to get a replacement car without much hassle and went on with our original plans to the Pinnacle Desert. The Pinnacle Desert was a pleasant surprise, we managed to get some very nice shots there, and it was a plus point that the place was huge and there was not alot of people. So our photos turned out nice!

In the evening we returned to Perth for some shopping, but well.. Bought nothing until we visited the supermarket. Haha.. All the loots from the trip was simply food.

Day 6 [310519]

Our last day in Perth before returning on a night flight. Visited a cafe for brunch and went for outlet shopping. Visited the famous blue boat house in the afternoon. Although it's just a simple shed, the photos turned out really nice.. no wonder so many people visit this place and there was a constant queue to take photos.. So it was actually quite stressful taking photos as there will be many pairs of eyes staring at u!

And we returned for our last dinner at Chinatown (yes, again) and yes, it was dim sum again at another restaurant! It was quite a surprise that I have no craving for chinese food this trip as we have been having it almost daily.. Haha

My 2nd trip to Perth proved that it is a boring place again, but it's also the company that made the trip enjoyable. Thank you!

Hanoi and Halong Bay [270319 - 310319]

Day 1 [270319]

Reached Hanoi late afternoon. Checked into our hotel and walked around to explore the area. Hanoi is more developed than I imagined, there are all kinds of bubble tea brands around, faceshop, miniso, restaurants, etc. We were quite surprised.. Hoan Kiem Lake was nice, and we realised the locals just love sitting around doing nothing.. Haha..

We ended up at this place as we wanted to eat Pho for our very first meal. 2 tasty bowls of Pho + a plate of 3 vietnam rolls for sgd$12 made us happy and satisfied.

Day 2 [280319]

Had our city tour for the day - Literature temple, the making of Lacquer paintings, Ethnology Museum, Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, One Pillar Pagoda, Ngoc Son Temple. And we had some amazing viet food for dinner again!

Day 3 [290319]

The 3.5 hours bus ride from Hanoi to Halong Bay was not dreadful at all (thankfully!) because we were so tired from waking up early that we spent more than half the time asleep anyway. Lol. Boarded our "cruise" at Halong Bay which was also our accommodation for the night. We thought time on the cruise would be rather boring/relaxing as there don't seem to be much to do. But we were pleasantly surprised when we realised that we would be brought to some places and there were activities as well.

We did kayaking at Pearl Farm on calm waters, and it was much easier and relaxing compared to the prev experience at Krabi! Then they brought us to Ti Top Island for a short hike. Went back to wash up for dinner on board, and we spent quite some time squid fishing after dinner. First time fishing for squid (with no real bait) and it was quite interesting! Managed to catch 3 in an hour. Lol. Lazing on the top deck just under the sky was also rather therapeutic.

But just a little hiccup in the middle of the night as I was feeling unwell and nauseous. Found out in the morning that a number of ppl also felt unwell on board.. Wondering if it's the water..?

Day 4 [300319]

Visit to Surprising Cave early in the morning so as to avoid huge crowds (which is alr quite crowded even though we were so early). The cave was elevated so it was quite a climb again.. After that was some free and easy time to let us enjoy the rest of the morning on board before we had lunch and travel back to Hanoi.

And from that evening was my travel companion's turn to feel unwell. So I went out to get dinner alone.. Settled for Banh Mi and an avocado juice. So affordable and good~ The beef with cheese Banh Mi just cost $2!

Grateful that we managed to settle on something just 3 weeks before the trip. It was a short but enjoyable getaway!

Osaka, Nara, Kyoto [011018 - 091018]

Day 1 [011018]

2nd visit to Osaka and it has been as awesome~ Stayed at Daiwa Roynet Hotel again and roomie agrees that it is an excellent choice! This time round we have a massage chair in our room instead of the leg massager! Late dinner at my fav restaurant just opposite our hotel - it's still so good.

Day 2 [021018]

Nara to visit the deers again, and we managed to finish combing the area in half a day. So we went to Shinsaibashi & Dotonburi for some shopping and Ichiran for dinner!

Day 3 [031018]

Universal Studios Japan on our 3rd day. 2 main highlights of this USJ trip - The harry potter 4D ride which got me all nervous, and a mental note not to visit such places during halloween again. I hate zombies appearing all around us!

Day 4 [041018]

Moved to Kyoto. Found the Tsukemen which I really liked from the previous trip, the noodles are still as good but i missed the pork flavour.. they only have chicken now..

Visited Nishiki market in the afternoon, quite liked this place! And also finally got the chance to visit an Owl's cafe for the experience.

Day 5 [051018]

Visited the Bamboo Forest in Arashiyama, which is nothing impressive in my opinion. Haha! Photos looks better than the actual sight. Ate lunch at this famous steak restaurant which has very long queue. Thankfully we read that we could write our names to be placed in the queue early in the morning, so we managed to get a seat when the restaurant opened.

It was then shopping and cafe hopping at Arashiyama area till the evening. And we had awesome and cheap sushi at Kyoto station for dinner! The tuna in Japan is really good, considering I don't even touch tuna in sg. 

Day 6 [061018]

Back in Osaka. Went to the Cup Noodles Museum and then it was shopping at Umeda. Quite like this Hep Five shopping centre which has quite a number of things suitable for us.

Dinner at Red Rock Americamura. Their beef is really raw for my standard, but surprisingly, it didn't have much of the bloody taste and prices are quite reasonable for the quality.

Day 7 [071018]

Visited Kuromon Market in the morning. It was quite an eye opener! The sashimi and other food choices were really quite impressive. We have been buying the Kyoho grapes almost daily at the supermarket near our hotel after we found out they taste really good.

At this point in time, we have already given up on visiting any other tourist attrations. We just spend the rest of our time shopping. Haha! And we had my most anticipated dinner that night. Shabu Tei surely didn't disappoint! Still as good as ever~

Day 8 [081018]

Our last shopping day was spent shopping and purchasing whatever we still felt like buying (although we were almost bankrupt at that time!) Tried Endo Sushi too, but somehow find that it is not worth the price, compared to the cheap and good sushi meal we had in Kyoto. And one of my favourite buys, will definitely be the 2 mao mao bags I managed to loot! So much love for them!

Osaka is definitely a good place for shopping and food~ Will be back another time!

Iceland, London and Edinburgh [081217 - 251217]

Iceland - Day 1 [091217]

Got our tickets at a steal from Norwegian Airlines and took another flight to Iceland. Finally reached after 25 hours! Rey Apartments which we booked was nice! Quite big, comfortable and clean. Didn't do much as we only reached in the evening. Had dinner at this cafe and walked around in Reykjavik.

Food is really expensive in Iceland (at least $30+sgd for a simple meal which may not even be nice LOL), but thankfully the portions are huge so sharing makes things slightly better.  

Iceland - Day 2 [101217]

Started our 3-days Golden Circle and South Coast Tour in the morning. Visited the Pingvellir National Park, Geysir Geothermal Area, Gullfoss, Seljalandsfoss, Skogafoss, etc. (I seriously cannot recognise all the waterfalls...) I thought I've been through the coldest weather in Finland, but i somehow find the cold in Iceland more unbearable.. Lol. Maybe it's because Iceland is more windy than Finland. No doubt the sights are quite spectacular :)

Daylight is really short in winter, so we end up rushing through the itinerary and meals so that we get to maximise the places we can visit daily.

Iceland - Day 3 [111217]

Sightseeing continues for the 2nd day of the tour. After which we went to Solheimajokull for glacier hiking. Glacier hiking was tiring but a brand new experience! I didn't know how I climbed up the slopes with no barriers (lose your footing and that's it!), stomped on the ice till my legs were tired, so cold that the mucus cannot stop flowing out of the nose hahaha.. But we did it! A very tiring few hours but such a memorable experience. The view that greeted us was amazing~

Iceland - Day 4 [121217]

Visited the Jokulsarlon Glacier Lagoon (one of my fav!), Diamond Beach, Black Sand Beach Reynisfjara, etc. A pity it was raining heavily when we reached the glacier lagoon. We got our down jackets, boots and handphone all soaked while taking pictures!

Returned to Reykjavik in the evening and explored the area a little while looking for the place which supposedly serves good fish and chips. The fish was fresh and good but all the fried stuff is too much...

Iceland - Day 5 [131217]

The day which we signed up to go snorkelling in Silfra. Not only feeling freaking cold but also feeling scared thinking if the wet suit can keep me afloat. Lol! It's my first time snorkelling without a life jacket and I was supposed to know how to swim to sign up for the activity! :X But ok, other than feeling so cold that we cannot even feel our fingers, the wet suit was very buoyant (phew!). But I felt kinda cheated when I saw that there's no fish in the waters hahaha.. We must be out of our mind to sign up for snorkelling in sub zero temperature! :P

The hot dog bun must be the nicest food I had in Iceland. I'm serious!

Went to chase northern lights at night but didn't really get to see any. The good thing about booking such tour in Iceland is that you can join the tour for as many nights as you want at no additional cost till you get to see it.

Iceland - Day 6 [141217]

Our last day in Iceland. Visited Blue Lagoon like everyone else.. Entrance ticket was freaking expensive! About $100sgd and it comes with only towels, some mud mask and a free drink.

Ate at the Lobsterhouse for lunch. Don't really like lobster bisque... (even the most expensive food can also be not satisfying.. lol)

Our 2nd and last night chasing the northern lights as we are leaving the next morning. Luckily someone heard our prayers :) and we left Iceland with no regrets!

Iceland to London - Day 7 [151217]

Arrived in London and the first thing we did was to get separated when boarding the train. Haha.. End up we had some time to take pictures at Paddington station while waiting for Gina and Jean. Our apartment in London was quite small (almost no space to open our big luggages), but thankfully clean. Had "Burger and Lobster" for dinner and we waited almost an hour to get a seat.

London - Day 8 [161217]

Started our 1-day London walking tour with Tour Guide, Jean! Visited the usual places where tourists will visit - Tower Bridge, Buckingham Palace, London Eye, Piccadilly Circus, etc.

Had dinner at Heddon Street Kitchen but it was quite a disappointment. And they made us wait so long as they screwed up our beef wellington order!

London - Day 9 [171217]

Trip to Bicester Village outlet shopping in the day. Finally visited Winter Wonderland at night after shelving this plan for many days.. It was really nice and huge! And they have the best churros~

Bath - Day 10 [181217]

Our day trip to Bath. Walking around to visit the Roman Baths, Pulteney Bridge, The Circus, The Royal Crescent.. And ended our day having chinese food at Chinatown in London. Although we were happy to have chinese food again after so many days, the food at Four Season is so-so... So salty... But better than nothing. Lol.

London - Day 11 [191217]

The making of Harry Potter Studio Tour! Not really a Harry Potter fan but this place is better than I imagined, esp the life sized castle at the end of the tour, simply magnificent!

Went to Borough Market after, and caught The Book of Mormon at night. Not really my kind of musical..

London to Edinburgh - Day 12 [201217]

The last leg of our trip, and only 4 of us left. Lol. Edinburgh is a pretty and quiet place worth staying for a few days. Visited St Giles Cathedral and Edinburgh Castle and walked around the town. Visited their christmas market at night before settling for some thai food near our hotel. The thai food was surprisingly quite good.

Edinburgh - Day 13 [211217]

Took a 1-day tour out of Edinburgh to visit Loch Ness and other attractions. Overall, the tour was quite a disappointment. The distance we had to travel to reach those attractions is really very far, so it was a torturous many hours drive since early morning. And bcos daylight was short, we didn't manage to visit a lot of places before the sky turned dark again. Basically it was a hop off for 15mins visit to most attractions before being on the bus again. And the most cheated thing is we had to pay for a visit to Urquhart Castle, which is nothing but some ruins -.- We were awake at the end of the tour as we slept so much on the long bus rides!

Edinburgh - Day 14 [221217]

Had breakfast at a small cosy cafe before looking for Arthur's Seat. The climb was ok for me, but climbing the steps in my down jacket proved to be too warm afterall. Haha.. Despite the cold weather, I had to take off my jacket before we even started the climb as I was sweating! Took us about 2+ hours to complete and the great view at the top (well.. almost the top lol) is worth it~

Spent the rest of the day strolling around the town before we got onto our flight back to London.

London - Day 15 [231217]

Our last full day in London. We girls spent it shopping at Harrods and Oxford street before meeting cw for dinner at Flat Iron. The steak was cheap and good~ I was looking forward to be back home after the 10+ days.. Mainly bcos of food! The daily western food choices almost killed me.. (only thing i wasn't sick of was pizza) Western countries are definitely not suitable for long stays! 此地不宜久留 hahaha.

I'm glad our big 30s trip happened although it is not easy to coordinate for a big group like us. And it definitely left us some memories for life :)

Bandung [16 to 20 Aug 17]

Day 1 [160817]

My first time in Bandung. Only read about how you can't get a SIM card at the airport few days before we flew. Luckily, ade's fren helped us booked a driver to get around in Bandung and he sent us to somewhere nearby to buy a SIM card.

Travelled to Lembang after having a short lunch, and we visited the Farmhouse, where the hobbit house is. After that, we checked into SanGria Resort and Spa. Wanted to visit more places before the day ends, but most of the places were closed by 5pm. We ended up at the floating market, which closes at 7pm. I had imagined the floating market to be similar to the ones in Bangkok.. But I was wrong.. Haha. Floating market in Bandung is just like a concept, none of the people are selling things on the water and we didn't have to take a sampan. It was made like "Japan", even the souvenirs sold there says "Japan" instead of "Indonesia".. Lol.

As it will be an early day the next morning (we planned to watch sunrise), we asked the driver to drive us to some nearby eatery to da bao food back to the hotel. All the eateries along the street are empty.. so much so that it looks like all of them are not operating. We just dropped by a decent looking one and bought some simple dishes and satay back. They tasted surprisingly good! And needless to say, cheap.

Day 2 [170817]

We woke up damn early to view the sunrise. But the place we intended to go to only opens at 7am?? Until now I still don't know where's the right place to view sunrise in Lembang. Well.. so we woke up early for nothing. But since we're up, we went to Maribaya natural hot spring resort, stopped by to take some pictures of the tea plantation, and visited Tangkuban Perahu (volcano). Temperature was surprisingly low at 14 degrees celsius that morning!

First time I did so much before returning to resort for breakfast. Haha.. Then it was a massage session at the resort~ Visited The Lodge for photo-taking in the afternoon, but the crowd and jam was terrible as it was their national day. In the evening, we had dinner at Sapu Lidi which was rather nice (except the flies which refuse to leave our table -_-) Moved back to the city for the night.

Day 3 [180817]

My unlucky day. Not sure whether it's the overwhelming eggs at Herb and Spice during breakfast, or is it that ice cream I had at Lawang Wangi Cafe.. vomited everything out after the foot massage and at Lereng Anteng.

In the evening, we still went ahead with the plan of viewing sunset at Tebing Karaton. The car can only stop at some point at the bottom of the mountain and we can either walk or take their motorbike up at a fee. From the experience, walk is definitely not an option... It's been really long since i last sat on a motorbike! And it was uphill all the way... but it was disappointing that the sun hid behind the clouds while we were waiting for sunset.. Haiz.. No sunset view!

Day 4 [190817]

It was a 2.5 hours drive from the city to Ciwidey. First visited Kawah Putih which is the famous blue lake, then visited Glamping Lakeside which seems to be the latest in-thing in Bandung. There are a few attractions around and the view there is quite nice. After that we drove to a camping place nearby and there's actually deers in Bandung!


If you are craving for a short break nearby with cooling weather.. Bandung may not be a bad choice!

Guangzhou & Hong Kong [18 to 23 Mar 2017]

Day 1 Guangzhou - 180317

First time in Guangzhou, our eating and shopping trip! Walked around Beijing Road Pedestrian Street.. Hai di lao was much cheaper but offers lesser varieties as compared to sg.

Day 2 Guangzhou - 190317

Visited their wholesale 天马 and 白马 in the morning, and 上下九 thereafter. Shop till we drop, look at the tired faces at the end of the day with our loots!

Day 3 Hong Kong - 200317

Back to HK for 许留山! Line store in Langham Place. Itinerary in hk is really free and easy..

Day 4 Hong Kong - 210317

Disneyland with the new Star Wars section. Enjoyed the Iron Man Simulator! Very enjoyable trip this time round as there were much much lesser C____ tourists!

Day 5 Hong Kong - 220317

Just hanging around TST and a night walk to view the ferris wheel :)

Day 6 Hong Kong - 230317

Am glad Guangzhou is kinda like HK.. A short and good getaway!