Pisa, Italy?

Most people's memories of their visit to Pisa, Italy will be, well, the Leaning Tower. For me, yes, the Leaning Tower of Pisa was indeed a wondrous sight but it will never beat the experience of getting there and back!

Our agenda for that day was to go to Pisa in the morning and then back to Florence to catch a train to Venice. Boy.......what an incredibly long day it became.

The journey to Pisa was uneventful enough, and upon arriving, we decided to walk from the train station. To save a few Euros, I think this was the First and Worst mistake/decision we made! Due to our slow stroll (took us about 20 mins), by the time we arrived at the Leaning Tower, we realised we had only 1 hour to spare before we had to catch our returning train to Florence.

So we cancelled our guided trip up inside the tower and just hung around outside with everyone else, and snapped some photos.

Then, to our horror, it started to rain. Of course we weren't carrying umbrellas! Luckily it was only for a short few minutes. Started our jaunt back to the train station and made it onto the platform just in time! I seriously believe I have never walked this fast in my life. Reflecting back, I'm actually quite proud of myself! Heh.

Back at the Florence train station, we collected our really-heavy!!!! luggage from the luggage counter, bought some snacks and waited for our Venice train to arrive. Came time to board and dragged our really-heavy!!! luggage up the stairs of the train, squeezed past the passengers to get the luggage rack which HAD to be at the other end of the coach from where we boarded, heaved our really-heavy!!! luggages up the rack, went in search of our seats to discover they were being occupied by a family, and after some sign language and broken English (on their part), found out to our (1st) horror THAT WE HAD BOARDED THE WRONG TRAIN!!! This train was headed for Rome.

So we made a mad-dash back to our really-heavy!!! lugagge, dragged them down, and found to our (2nd) horror that THE DOORS HAD CLOSED!!! Looking around frantically, we could not see any attendants around. This is, after all Europe, where everything is automated and labour cost is sky-high.

So, I did the only thing that I could - I punched on the emergency alarm button. And we just stood there waiting 'calmly' for someone to come whilst the rest of the passengers were looking around and wondering what had just happened to trigger the alarm! In retrospect, luckily no one panicked thinking 'terrorist threat!' Hee hee. Well, in true Italian fashion, the attendant only turned up many many minutes later. After explaining to him and showing him our tickets, he pointed out to us that our train is "there", pointing towards the next train.

By the time they got the doors re-opened, (took another few minutes of walkie-talkie communication back and forth), and we lugged our really-heavy!!! luggage our of the train, we were just in time to see our Venetian-bound train pull away.......

I think my colleague was in a near-panic stage by this time, but I was just so tired that I just flopped down on my really-heavy!!! luggage. Well, we managed to board the next train but it wasn't a direct train. It stopped on the mainland and we had to drag our really-heavy!!! luggage down a flight stairs, cross underneath to the other side, up a flight of stairs to board our connecting train. By the time we arrive proper, it was about 8pm and very dark.

The rest of the night is summarised below, but just to bear in mind, all these was done with our really-heavy!!! luggage:-

1. Boarded water taxi which did not go all the way to our intended stop as indicated on the route map due to the 'late' hour, so had to change water taxi halfway;

2. Walked up and down some flights of stairs along the bridge, across San Marco square (rather eerie and creepy in the dark to 2 very cold and hungry strangers), to our little B&B.

3. Climbed up this little tine steep spirally stairs to the reception to be told that our room is in the annexe block "round the corner".

I think it was the BEST BED I have ever slept on that night.......

I deem that day as an 'Adventure'. I mean, if we'd gone with a tour group, I would never have known that I was capable of brisk walking, sign language, lugging heavy items, and best of all, would never have had the experience of activating a train alarm system :-)

As I was falling asleep, I could only think, "Thank God for small favours. I'm so lucky my really-heavy!!! luggage strap did not break..."

Pisa, Italy?

Break In Bali

Ahhhh......I had my first real break in years over the weekend. All my previous holidays were so hectic, rushing from one place to another with no real time to just rest and relax. Took a short 4D/3N break to Bali and stayed with Kanako.

Now, if I'd known her place was so wonderful, I would've gone much much earlier! It was like a page straight out of some exclusive property magazines, complete with swimming pool, the 'illusion' of a wide open space (a rarity in Bali houses) and tall glassed windows.

Kanako's dining room

The double-storey glassed windows looking out into the pool

For a small pittance, the pool cleaner comes twice a week

The entire weekend's itinerary was just eat, sleep, massage, and then eat, sleep and massage some more. Heavenly.......

Uma Ubud - view of pool and pool bar from the reception lounge

Uma Ubud - koi pond view from the Restaurant

Breakfast with Kanako in Uma

The only photo with me in it, taken on the last day before I left. Too busy doing nothing to take photos!

One word of caution for those planning a trip to Ubud, Bali. Be sure to arm yourselves with good insect repellant and spray every single exposed part of your body. Those little gnat-like insects will attack at every opportunity they get! That was the only drawback of an otherwise perfect weekend break. Will definitely be back!

Thank you to Kanako for the wonderful hospitality, and to Thamu for the recommendation of Cheap and Good Massage :-)

In Search Of A Royal Gift

My 3rd trip to Singapore in 5 months. It's either I don't go at all, or I keep going!

This time, it was to search for a birthday present for one of our Sultans. With alternatives in KL drying up, we decided to try our luck in Singapore. Happily we set out thinking that this will be a piece of cake. After all, it's Singapore! A country that's famous for its shopping, and it will definitely have everything, including something that's fit for royalty. Boy, were we wrong.

After all the traipsing, we ended up with only ONE suitable item ~ a beautiful black glass vase with gold and silver trimmings, that was actually within our budget. Hooray! Mission accomplished and we have the rest of our trip to do our own shopping. Alas, our elation was shortlived as we found out the next day that HRH already has this particular piece. And so, we are back to Square One.

The ill-fated vase



We went through all other alternatives in our minds but to no avail.

Luckily, we had better luck with our second 'mission' - that of looking for a possible tenant for the Hotel. Our first choice 'Flair', had no plans for expansion at the moment and we were at wits' end when we were directed to another shop 'Anthropology' which worked on the same concept as Flair and had some similar items stocked. Managed to make contact with them and hopefully something will come out of this meeting.

Window display at Flair

Sneak preview of Anthropology

The rest of our time were spent exploring the 'touristy sights' of Singapore - the shopping malls :-) Managed to cover Chinatown, Raffles City and part of Orchard Road. I must say that the 'results' here were definitely more satisfactory and we managed to stuff our limited overnight luggage to well within the 15kg weight limit of Air Asia! That's also a personal record for me, as 99% of the time, my luggage has always been overweight, irregardless of what airline I take.

Scarlet Hotel.....where we made our base

The ULTIMATE durian pancake at Goodwood Park - this was the one thing that made this trip totally worthwhile!!! YUMMY!

Came across these 2 very interesting items (which we ended up buying of course) - door stoppers!

And finally, my fixation with pigs.....well, there were a lot of them in Singapore! In all sorts of shapes and sizes.

Of course, our trip could not just end smoothly, something just had to go wrong. As we were flying back on Air Asia, we just automatically assumed that it will be departing from the budget terminal. The First Mistake we made was thinking that Terminal 3 was the Budget Terminal, which obviously, we found out the hard way that it wasn't! With 5 items of luggage between the 2 of us, we had to go in search of another taxi to bring us to the Budget Terminal from Terminal 3.

After another struggle with loading the pieces of baggage onto the trolley, imagine our chagrin when we couldn't find our flight on the list of departing flights on the departure screen! The very nice lady at the service counter told us with absolute confidence that Air Asia takes off from Terminal 1. I seriously believe she must have repeated this piece of information many many times to just as many unsuspecting passengers like us!

So off we went again in search of another taxi to take us across the road to Terminal 1. By then, my already pounding head just expanded another 2-fold, and by the time we landed in KL I was experiencing a full-fledged migraine.


Me and Ju, my partner in crime :-)

What a 3D/2N. Really looking forward to my coming break in Bali.....

Airports and Aeroplanes

Here I am, stuck at Melbourne's Tullamarine, due to a flight delay. 6 hours, mind. And by the time I arrive in KL, it will be 3:00 a.m. Never thought this would happen to me!

But it's funny how things turned out. Due to the fact that Tuanku's wine was out of stock yesterday, I was to come and collect it today on my way home. As such, I have been given access to the MAS Lounge. Talk about a blessing in disguise. Otherwise I will be stuck outside with hard uncomfortable chairs.

At least here, I am able to eat and drink, with nice soft comfortable sofas to lounge in. Phew.....
Of course, this bloody delayed also cost me additional expenses! With so much time to kill, I ended buying:-
1. 4 fridge magnets
2. 3 pins
3. 1 baby t-shirt
3. 4 travel size body lotions
4. 2 pairs of sunglasses (Calvin Klein and Guess) - these ones cost me a bomb (well, a small one. a hand grenade)
After that little foray at the duty free shops, thought I'd better just hole up in the MAS Lounge in case I end up buying more stuff!

It's 6:00 p.m. now, and I have another 3 hours and 50 mins to wait.....
On a bright side, at least will be able to watch the Federer v Blake quarter final match at 7:30 p.m. later.

Melbourne airport is also not exactly the most happening airport. In fact, it's pretty sad and comparatively small. Doesn't even have a massage place! Humph.

Thinking back, most (if not all) of my flight mishaps have been from Australia:-
1. I missed a flight from Melbourne to Sydney way back in 1992. That was due to having dinner with Steven and his girlfriend (can't remember her name, but remember that she loves Andy Lau and had his posters everywhere in her room!) and by the time we rushed to the airport, the plane had already taken off. Luckily they were able to put me on the next flight, which also happened to be the last flight of the day!

2. My luggage did not arrive when I flew from Perth to Tokyo, also in 1992 (or 1993? can't remember). That trip was for one of my electives and we were supposed to be travelling for one month. Had to live on borrowed clothes for 2 days before my luggage was tracked back and returned to me.

3. And now, flight delayed for 6 hours. Apparently there is a problem with the hydraulic and they had to fly in another plane. Sigh......MAS, MAS.

Shopping in Singapore

I had my first Christmas break in 13 years this year, and headed down to Singapore with my mum. It was also my first time spending Christmas in Singapore. Most people raved about the lights, but sad to say, the only lights I saw were inside a shopping mall. Hah Hah! I was a substantial donor to the Singapore retail industry! So much so, I did not even have time to take the camera out from my bag! Reflecting back on my 5 days there, I feel kind of disgusted with myself!

So I did the next best thing - I took some pictures of my shopping spree.

At the end of our First Day

At the end of our Fourth Day

The next time I go to Singapore, I shall not drive anymore. It was just too great a temptation to buy without hesitation as for the first time ever on holiday, I did not have to worry about luggage space!

My car boot

My general shopping tally:-

6 pairs of shoes

13 bags (all sizes)

11 pieces of clothings (1 white, 1 red, and 9 black!!! Only realised it when I was packing to go home on the last day)

1 Chinese teapot and 2 teacups

6 Kopitiam cups (got an earful from my mum when she saw it Heh Heh)

All my shopping, minus the clothes....

Culture Shock...hee hee

Hoteliers tend to be more critical of other hotels when we travel, and at the same time, are always on the lookout for new ideas from other hotels. I went to Kathmandu with 2 other friends - one a hotelier, and the other a banker. Well, imagine our astonishment when we saw our room door lock and hotel safe.

This is the 'hotel safe' located at the reception. We were asked to place our valuables inside the envelope, and just sign across the sealed flap. After which, the envelope was locked inside the Manager's office. We really learnt the concept of 'Trust' quickly!

Our room door lock was just as hilarious. I had to hold back my laughter when we saw it for the first time as the poor hotel staff just climbed 3 flights of stairs with our luggage to show us to our rooms.

Guess we really have to travel to appreciate what we have back home. But overall, it was a nice hotel and the manager and staff were really friendly. In fact, the manager actually took time out to walk with us and showed us all the nearby sights in the city.

Our Hotel

Having a welcome drink with the Hotel manager at the courtyard

Disneyland, LA

This was at one of our earlier trips to USA ~ Disneyland. This was one of the few trips that quite a substantial of the Tan Clan were able to go. Of course, it was also during a time that most of us cousins were still 'single' and 'sponsored'! Hah! It was in Year 2001, I believe.




This picture taken with Mr. Walt Disney and his most famous cartoon character ~ Mickey Mouse.

Some memories of this Disneyland trip that I still have:-

1. Listening to the "It's A Small World' song over and over again in the ride. Became absolutely irritating after a while!

2. Queueing up for some mountain ride.....ok, so I forgot what was the ride. But it was a damn long queue.

3. Being amazed at the efficiency of all the queues - they were long, but moved quite fast.
4. Absolutely loving the Indiana Jones ride.
5. Thinking 'what an absolute waste of time' inside the Haunted House.

All in all, we had an enjoyable time although I was kind of expecting there would more rides available.

Hanoi

Spent 4 whole days in Hanoi browsing through the varied shops along the narrow streets, braving motorcycles and fellow tourists. However, did manage to 'squeeze' in one morning of sightseeing - went to the HCM Museum and Residence. Unfortunately, his mausoluem was closed as his body has been sent to Russia for its annual 'maintenance'.

The weather was just nice this time of the year, sunny (but not hot) in the daytime and cooling during the night. Its strategic location around the Hoan Kiem Lake was also an additional appeal, and it was immensely enjoyable having coffee and even breakfast next to the lake.

There were lots of shops selling homewares, lacquerware, bags and shoes galore, etc and we spent many hours just browsing from one shop to another. The locals were overall friendly, and it is very normal for them to offer you a chair/stool to sit whilst you slowly browse through their products and negotiate the prices with them. We were even offered tea in one stall!

Another highlight of the trip was the trishaw ride - which seems to be a 'must' in most tour groups' itinerary. So...when in Rome...(in this case Hanoi), we also joined in the experience. Although the price was rather steep by Hanoians standard, it was a most pleasant experience and left me with free hands and eyes to take lots of pictures of the streets.

Oh My God!!!! A Rainbow!!!!

That's how polluted our city air has become, so much so that seeing the rainbow over Lake Fewa in Pokhara, Nepal created such a stir of excitement in us. In our excitement over this little 'discovery' we did an overkill on the photo-taking, and ended up with about 30 shots of that same rainbow!

Lake Fewa was truly tranquil and peaceful. For city folks like us, it was a stark contrast to our noisy lifestyle. A really good place to just meditate or reflect!

Seafood Restaurant in Guangzhou, China

In China, everything is built on a grand scale.

We were invited to a seafood restaurant in Guangzhou and it was no different. It is a stand alone double storey building, with at least 20,000 square feet of space per floor. The ground floor is segregated into an open air dining on one side, and live seafood on another side. The upper floor comprises 90+ private dining rooms of various sizes.

And as the saying goes, the Chinese eat anything.....

Crocodiles

Geoduck Clam

Looks like a shark, but I'm not quite sure...

Lobsters