Daniel & PeiQi

It has been a great honor and pleasure for me to be able to be a part of the wedding team of Daniel and PeiQi as their secondary photographer. This lovely couple truly is a humble and friendly people and I would like to wish them a happy blissful marriage and may their wish of having a dragon baby be fulfilled!

**Note: All rights reserved. If you wish to use the photos from this blog, please seek permission by sending an e-mail to me.

Bali Revisited (Part 1)

Bali 28th - 29th April 2011

If you are thinking "Bali again??" I would answer you "Why not?" Seriously, do you have anything against Bali or do you have anything against me going to Bali again? After all, the Island is only an alphabet away from having the meaning of return i.e. Balik (Indonesian/Malay language). Bali in total is 5,600km² which is approximately 8 times the size of Singapore. It is a place that you can go back again and again but experience different things in each trip! For me, this time round, I am sharing this island together with 3 Hong Kong friends (N, K and M) and we are all in high spirit.

We have booked a Villa in Ubud this time round as we had more people thus bringing down the cost per head for the rental. As our flight arrived in the evening, we agreed that it would not make sense to head to the Villa directly and waste the rental, so we chose to stay the night in a budget hotel in Denpasar, "Pop! Harris Hotel". Overall, I would give the hotel a 4/5 for its cleanliness, bed and room facilities. But the best thing about this hotel is that it only costs us S$41 per room per night and that is S$20 per head! Location wise is not really good but with car rental cum driver at such low price, I am not complaining. Excited? Wanted to know more about this hotel? Go here!

The bathroom in the room is like a
mobile toilet. Interesting!

The view from the other end of the room from
the only window in the room. Small but decent
The side of Pop! Harris Hotel. Interesting color.

This time round, we've got Pak Made again to be our transport provider. What can I say? I think he offered the best rate and service! To cater for our group of 6, Pak Made provided us with a Nissan Serena and instead of driving us himself, he had asked Pak Ariawan to be our driver. Pak Ariawan is very friendly, which is common amongst the Balinese and he speaks fluent English. Having said that however, do spare him of bombastic flare of vocabulary as he is only fluent for basic conversational English. We engaged his service for 3 days at the itinerary of our choice and he also recommended us some awesome place too! The service cost us USD150 for car rental, driver, fuel and professional local knowledge too ;) Still expensive? Well, my itinerary were as follow:

a) 28th April

You will drive us from airport to POP!Harris Denpasar.

POP! Harris Hotel Denpasar Teuku Umar
Hotel Address: Jl. Teuku Umar No. 74 Denpasar, Bali, 80113, Indonesia
Hotel Phone Number: +62 21 5296 0490

b) 29th April

You will pick us up at 830am in the morning at POP!Harris in Denpasar.

Then we go to Monumen Perjuangan Rakyat Bali for a quick sightseeing.

Then we go Sanur for Breakfast and sightseeing at the beach.

Send us to Ubud. We need to be there at 1230 afternoon.

Villa Griya Aditi is located at Jl. Bhanuswari, Tengkulak Kelod , Ubud

After we check in, drive us to Ibu Oka.

Then drive us back to Hotel.

Service ends here for the day.

c) 3rd May

Pick us up in Ayana Resort at 830am in the morning.

Ayana Resort & Spa

Jl Karang Mas Sejahtera, Jimbaran Bali 80364 Indonesia

Then send us to GWK for sightseeing.

Then send us back to Ayana.

Pick us up from Ayana, then send us to Jimbaran/Kedongganan for seafood.

Send us back to Ayana Hotel.

Service ends here for the day.

d) 4th May
Pick up 3 of our friends from Ayana Resort at 5am and send them to Ngurah Rai Airport.

Pick me up from Ayana Resort at 11am and send us to Ngurah Rai Airport.
Service ends once I am at the airport.

You might noticed that there are 3 days i.e. 30th April to 2nd May is missing from the above itinerary. Well, the villa that we stayed in provided us with a car and driver for 10 hours per day so this will suffice for us.

First stop, Monumen Perjuangan Rakyat

Oh, by the way, when we reached Sanur beach, I felt that it is really not much as compared to the other beaches in Bali for instance Kuta or Legian. Having said that though, I may be wrong and stand to be corrected. For those that has enjoyed Sanur and the activity there, would appreciate your feedback so that I could explore and give Sanur a fair comment the next time I head there.

You have not been to Ubud if you have not tried Ibu Oka's
roast pork. Although many swears that this place is over-rated, I
still find the Babi Guling (Roast Pork) of Ibu Oka's to be the best after
having tried others. This one that I been to is not the one beside the
palace which is usually thronged by tourists. This one is behind the
palace or to be more precise, at Ibu Oka's own residence! I didn't
took any photos as I was busy enjoying the surrounding and the food.

Next, we asked Pak Ariawan to send us straight to Villa Griya Aditi which means "The Abode of the Light". For more info, you may check it out here. I got the room for USD380 per night and it includes the following:

a) Welcome drinks and cold tower upon arrival;
b) Daily breakfast;
c) Daily personal car and driver for 10 hours exclude fuel; (I didn't pay for any fuel charge)
d) In house laundry;
e) Broadband internet access (Not really useful as it was super slow);
f) Airport pick-up service; and
g) Government tax and service charge.

The villa would also provide massage and dinner service but it will all be chargeable. Can recall how much the massage cost but it is just slightly more than the many spa that you can find in Ubud town. For dinner, they will take your order, but the stuffs from the local market and prepare for you. Charges (If I am not mistaken) is the total ingredient cost plus a certain percentage say 10%. For additional hours that you incur for the driver and the car, the cost will be as follow:

SERVICES	PRICE PER CAR (USD)
	APV(6seats)	PREGIO(9seats)	ELF(11seats)
Half Day charter (Max 5hours)	USD30.00	USD35.00	USD40.00
Full Day charter (Max 10hours)	USD50.00	USD65.00	USD70.00
Extra hours	USD10.00/hour	USD10.00/hour	USD10.00/hour

[Tips: I gave the driver tips at the end of everyday and this has allow me to go to places faster due to shortcuts, places with good food and I don't have to absorb any additional fuel charges)

The Master bedroom's toilet

Clean and comfy bed
Entertainment room with DVDs and books

The Living room and dining area is one.
Check out the height of the ceiling. Its like a
church in here!

The private swimming pool

A better view of the paddy field

The pool overlooks a green paddy field during our stay.
During harvest time, of course, it will be flooded with golden hue.

The villa comes with 1 master bedroom and 2 guest rooms.
Comfortable for our group of 6. When you open the room door,
you will be greeted by the pool and the paddy field.

We rested for awhile and let the awesomeness of the villa sinks in before we head out for a show at the town area. I have seen the Kecak dance before but am not put off by the idea of watching it again but I was surprised this time round. The Kecak dance is a musical production but in the Balinese style. The show would have a group of singers which will sing an acapella complete with "ohhs" and "Ahhs" that replicate that of a monkey. After a short while of singing, the drama would start and this time round, the story is different from the one I have seen before, so it kept me interested.

The Gamelan or choir

Fire dance performance. It really is a trance performance

After the performance, we headed to Murni's Warung for dinner. The last time I've been here, my wife has pestered me non-stop about wanting to come back here again. How could I blame her? I personally would like to come back here again as the ambiance, food, service and price is truly a gem! It is amazing that many have stopped coming to this place as when we are there, our group is the only one there... I wonder what makes people stop coming to this place but I am sincerely wishing them good business that will sustain them because I wouldn't mind going back again year after year.

We ordered dishes after dishes until
our table is full yet without feeling any remorse

Deep fried popiah or spring roll. Simple but satisfying!

Grilled chicken ala Balinese with salad and saffron rice

Balinese Nasi Goreng or Balinese fried rice. I ordered this at my last
visit but was still satisfied by this dish. It gives a taste of the local
flavor as this dish is most likely a local staple.

**Note: All rights reserved. If you wish to use the photos from this blog, please seek permission by sending an e-mail to me.

Seoul-Family Trip (Part 3)

Back 2 Seoul - 22nd March 2011

It is going to be an exciting day today! The itinerary is packed with places that are usually off the tour group radar thus it would be an eye opener for most of us! To start of our day, we had breakfast at the Seoul Residence Café which has been included in our accommodation and I am glad that none of the gang complaint about the food. To be fair, I have yet to experience a bad meal in Seoul so it is that good! Back to the breakfast, the spread is modest throughout our stay with the usual omelette & scramble eggs counter, the cereal counters, mini salad bar , soup and roughly 7-8 dishes which usually is a combo of western and local fair. I personally don't complaint eating the same thing for our entire duration and in fact I suppose I wouldn't mind having to eat the similar stuffs for perhaps another week. ;)

My wife has personally asked me not to
post this photo as she quipped that it is
Awful as it shows her morning look.
I begged to differ as she has a very sweet
and blissful look on this photo AND
since it is my blog & photo, I decided to
post it anyways >:D

This is the spread I chose. Simple choice of Korean rice, deep
fried anchovies, sautéed mushrooms, kimchi and cherry tomatoes.

P enjoying her breakfast the American style, sunny side up,
toasts and orange.

Once we had our belly filled, it is time to head to our first destination of the day, Garak Market! Although this is my second trip to Seoul, it is my first time visiting this place and I am both hesitant and excited with the new adventure that we are going to have. If you are taking the subway, it is accessible by both Line 3 and Line 8. Since we are staying near to Seolleung station, we took Line 3 to Jamsil and make a transfer to Line 8 towards Garak Market. When we reached there, we had to take a little walk towards the market. If you are living in Singapore, Garak Market is like the Pasir Panjang Wholesale warehouse. If you are not living in Singapore, Garak Market is a wholesale warehouse for vegetables, fruits, dried produce and the likes. At first look from the outside, you would hesitate whether to enter the place... I did, but decided, heck, I am here already so might as well just head in otherwise I will be crucified by the gang if despite having to walk around 5mins, I were to tell them something like "Guys, think this place looked different from what I expected, lets leave". I am glad that I took the chance anyway and this place is truly a treasure! OK, you have been told so explore this place and you will be rewarded!

This is the view inside the warehouse (I randomly chose one)
and it is filled with lots of vinyl tape cubicle and the best thing
is that, as you can see, there are not many people here!
The fruits are fresh and cheap and if they are not cheap,
chances are because they are imported stuffs. I only go for
the local produce as these stuffs are not exported else where.

The strawberries are huge, ripe and smell heavenly! We bought
2 cartons of stawberries altogether but only 1 carton made it
back to where we came from. Why? No, we didn't devour them all
but instead, In our rush to leave, we left 1 carton at
Seoul Residence's lobby (+_+)
The locally grown sweet and refreshing cherry tomatoes
Not sure whether these persimmons are locally grown or
from mainland China. We bought 2 packs anyway because it
is reasonably cheap.

Strawberries packed in these lovely polyester boxes just makes
it even more appealing but we didn't buy any as we already had
2 cartons.. sigh, 2 cartons...

We bought 5 of these. It tasted average, nothing extraordinary.
Maybe we just need to have Parma ham to go with it?

Ripe, brightly red, big and luscious!

Plenty of tomatoes sold here but we didn't buy any as our hands
are full with other produce. Next time perhaps?

Have no idea what are these... help, anyone?

Cherry tomatoes.

Bought one 'pail' of these strawberries as we can't resist not to
as the size of these are truly to die for. It tasted awesome!!

The gang with our catch of the day. All happy and satisfied!

Once we're done with our goodies, we make our way back to Seoul Residence to drop off our goodies, freshen up and to bring my FIL out for fresh air (He's been sick and holed up in the apartment too long by now). Our next itinerary for the day, Noryangjin Fish Market! I have been to this place and have blogged about it in my earlier post here.

This is the view from a top the flyover that leads to the fish market

If you don't see this view while walking on the flyover, you are
heading the wrong way.

At the end of the flyover, you will reach a rooftop car park.
Take on of the exits and it will bring you down a flight of ladders
towards the fish market. You know you are at the right place
when the smell of sea produce hits your nose. ;)

Crustaceans are abundant here and
at extremely good prices!

I still have no idea what are these. Looked like corals though.
My BIL, J ordered one to try and kept giving me the thumbs up
for this morsel. My sis, P however tried and gave me 2 thumbs
down... Well, somehow, I am not too game to try and decided
to give it a pass.

Remember to haggle! This place is fast gaining popularity as one
day, it will be like those of Namdaemun whereby you are expected
to haggle and IF YOU DON'T, you only have yourself to blame
Lots of fishes here. You can either buy if to be brought home,
gutted, live or request them to prepare a Sashimi platter for you.
Note that you have to buy the fish as a whole so no mixture
of Sashimi platter unless you buy a few fishes... whole.

My FIL is extremely excited (He used to be a fisherman) and kept
telling us that he has never seen such a big Halibut before, so
proceeded to make a purchase without even bargaining because
he has decided that the price he paid is already a bargain.

The stall owner preparing the Halibut for us. We have decided
to have it as Sashimi. If you are wondering what is Sashimi,
it is sliced raw fish eaten with a dip of soy sauce and Japanese
horse radish paste. In Seoul, they eat it like BBQ meat i.e.
with the greens and chili paste but just that the meat is raw fish.

Voilá! A whole plate of Halibut Sashimi platter and mind you, that
one fish (3Kgs) gave us 2 plates of Sashimi! We couldn't finish it
and ended up asking the chef to prepare a pot of soup for us
to cook the fish in.

Once we got all our stuffs, we proceeded to search for a restaurant to prepare our catch and please NOTE that the fish market has many runners/touters on a watch out for potential people to bring to their restaurants. We had a bad experience this time round as my FIL has been earmarked by one Chinese boy and has helped my FIL to haggle and close the deal on the Halibut. He insisted that we go to the restaurant and caused a little bit of a ruckus. I am inclined to head to the BBQ places but after a little bit of discussion and research, we just go with the Chinese boy as my FIL was kind of pissed that we didn't... oh well~ At the restaurant, this is where my mum threw off her second tantrum. As all the table are seated on the floor, the guest will have to sit on the floor to eat. My mum has had a hip operation before and couldn't sit as much on the floor as it will be very difficult to stand up (I understood that) but she got angry when she saw that there was no chair there. I took a beer keg to let her sit on so that she could stand up again later. Oh, one other interesting happened, while we are having our meal there, the restaurant creditor came and caused a huge scene! He shouted at the top of his voice and demanded to look for the owner who is not around. Some customers was intimated and left the restaurant in a hurry. We just stayed and enjoy the food and the scene hahaha!

Oh, we tried the raw octopus this time round
and it tastes crunchy and sucky... literally!
The raw octopus is served with sesame dressing.
My MIL was upset and near to blowing her top
as my SIL kept playing with her raw octopus.

We are back to devour more lobster this time round and we've got
an even bigger one this time! That piece I'm holding to is the claw.

How about this for scale? As the crustacean is too big for us,
there are plenty of left-overs and my mum is more than happy
to eat our share. She even wanted to go for the stuffs on the
lobster's head!!! I know its the good stuff, but think of this,
my mum has blood pressure issues, so you get my drift?
She was kind of unhappy that we stopped her from eating the
whole head. Wonder whether she will tell her friends that her
son ordered lobster and wouldn't allow her to eat it (O.O)
Anyways, she suffered swollen eyes and lips after the trip
and I would be very much inclined that the lobster is the culprit.

When we belly full of seafood, our next destination required a little bit of exercise, wait, did I say a little? I mean a lot of exercises! The next destination is Seoul N'Tower at Namsan. The story is this, I read somewhere that we could walk from Myeong Dong to the cable car and the signboard somehow confirmed my understanding. But little did I expect that the walk is uphill and took about 15 minutes! The old folks was about to kill me and throw my decapitated body to the dogs. Anyway, tips on this location.. take a taxi OR go along the main road instead of the alley! We realised at the end of the tour that we could walk the main street for 10 minutes odd and will reach an elevator that could bring us up to the cable station (+_+)

The gang is about to knife me!

OK, we've made it anyway and I am still in one piece...

After we reached the cable station, we are required to purchase the ticket to head up to Seoul Tower. The ticket costs KRW7,500 for round trip or KRW6,000 one way. For more information, you may go to the Korea Tourism Website. Take note that when you reached the top, you still need to take a steep flight of stairs up unless you took a taxi earlier. Here, my mum threw her 3rd tantrum which is largely attributable to my fault. Anyways, she refused to take the flight of stairs anymore as she has walked a lot earlier (My FIL made this statement "The distance that I have walked these few days is equal to the distance I have walked in my last 3 years!"). My mum asked us to go ahead to visit the top while she wait for us at the cable station. Refused to let her have a reason to sulk and complaint later (If we do what she says) and refusing to cause disappointment to the whole gang, I asked my sister to help me help my mum up the stairs. Thank God, that move saved the day. My mum was seen smiling and happy while posing for a shot with my sister. There is a Bear Museum on the top of the mountain too and you can find more information from the Korea Tourism Board.

Seoul N'Tower

Seoul's night view from the top of N'Tower.

There is a cafetaria and plenty of souvenir shops at the top of
N'Tower. Tickets cost per adult is KRW9,000.

We send the old folk on a taxi with the business card of Seoul Residence to ensure that they reach the right location and the youngsters proceeded to roam Seoul on our own! We headed back to Myeong Dong again for some late night shopping and frankly, the shops here close early and so, we didn't linger here for too long. Instead, we head back towards the direction of our apartment and scouted for a supper place. We found this place at an alley and it is perhaps the cheapest eatery that I have been to in Seoul!

If you can read Korean, this is the menu and price

Actually, this menu is clearer.

We ordered quite a number of dishes. This one is Kimchi soup.

Bummer, can't recall what's this. Think it is Bulgogi rice.

Small serving of bibimbap

Korean dumpling.

My BIL demonstrating how to eat noodle
with your nose!

Happy reading and happy planning!

**Note: All rights reserved. If you wish to use the photos from this blog, please seek permission by sending an e-mail to me.