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Thursday, July 17, 2014

Lombok trip (day 3)




Even the chaotah French toast looks nice in this setting.

After breakfast and checking out, we embarked on our city tour with our guide named "Done" (dunno how to spell but this is the pronunciation). Done brought us to Banyumulek, a pottery shop with a workshop behind. The pottery in the shop does not really interest us but I tried out making my own pottery.


Meet my teacher and my Lombok Cat (aka LC).

LC followed us around in the car throughout the city tour.


Next, we went to a shop which sells hand woven clothes, sarongs, scarfs, etc.


 Then to a summer palace built by the Balinese King, the Narmada Water Palace.

And lastly to the Pura Lingsar, a Hinduism temple.

We returned to our hotel at 2 plus to check in again. Sudamala Suites and Villas is just next door to Qunci Villas. I guess we didn't really check where we book, it might be more interesting to book another hotel in a another part of Lombok.

Comparing to Qunci, Sudamala has a more thoughtful design of the interiors of the villa. But regarding the overall resort landscape, layout and feel, Qunci certainly wins with a cleaner and higher quality feel.



The pool in Sudamala leads to the bathroom, so after a swim, you could just shower and dry up. In Qunci, the pool leads to the bedroom, and to reach the bathroom, you will wet a trail in the bedroom around the bed. Sudamala's is certainly a better design.

Today's dinner is at Yessy cafe in Senggigi which was recommended by our city tour guide.


A plate of mee goreng, ayam taliwang and tahu goreng.

mee goreng = instant noodles fried with ketchup
tahu goreng = fried tau kwa with chilli sauce
ayam taliwang = a very small chicken, grilled. very dry and not much meat.

End of Day 3. Tomorrow we're going snorkeling at the Gili islands!


posted by WSW at 11:41 PM | 0 comments

Wednesday, July 16, 2014

Lombok trip (day 2b)

After a nap, we made our way to Senggigi, the nearest town to jalan jalan and have dinner.


It was a really small town, 2 rows of shop houses and restaurants on both sides of the road which stretched about half a km.

The man was waving to us to take a ride on his horse carriage. But I think it's cruelty to animals to ride the small horse, considering our combined weight.

We only needed 1.5h to finish exploring the whole town.


An Art Market in Senggigi. 

We made a reservation at a restaurant, Square. My husband saw some reviews online which said it's not bad


.

First, a margarita.


Some local dishes.

Ended with banana crepe and coconut ice cream.

It was not bad but I think we could explore some other restaurants in Senggigi for the next few days.

Tomorrow we will check out Qunci, go for a city tour to see a temple, a local weaving factory and a pottery factory. Then we'll check in to another villa, Sudamala, which is right next door to Qunci.

posted by WSW at 9:49 PM | 0 comments

Lombok trip (day 2a)

Perhaps I was too tired due to lack of sleep the previous night, I was asleep by 10 plus. And we had an early start in the morning.

First time I have breakfast in such a beautiful setting - in front of the sea.


I can see and hear the waves as I enjoy the food. 

Unlike most hotel breakfast, Qunci offers ala carte sets. Just a simple fare of eggs and fruits. No over-eating at breakfast.



Agenda for the day?
Just relax on the beach bench.


posted by WSW at 9:50 AM | 0 comments

Lombok trip (day 1b)

I like the name Qayla. Nice name, much nicer than the names of other villas like Quntum (for Einstein to stay?), Qinggrass (green grass??), or Quilla (sounds like having a mental crisis).




An open air bathroom. I wonder how I should shower if it rains. Use less tap water perhaps.

Anyway, as I'm writing my blog now on the first day, I've already killed 9 ants at the patio, kena bird shit while on the bed (really! I have no idea where the shit comes from) and drank a mouthful of water from the doesn't-look-so-clean 1.5m deep pool while trying to find out the depth. Sometimes I think I'm really a city girl and shouldn't try to pretend to love nature.

The good thing about this place is if you have no photographic skills, you can also take decent photos.

E.g. A beautiful sunset


After watching the sunset on the beach, we had dinner at a local stall just outside our hotel. It claimed to have fresh seafood.

S$8 for a plate of king prawns

Not bad... Can Consider coming back again tomorrow.

posted by WSW at 8:43 AM | 0 comments

Lombok trip (day 1a)

It was a 7.50am flight so we had to wake up at 4.30am to get ready. I didn't have a good sleep because I kept worrying that we'll oversleep.



Silkair flies direct to Lombok international airport.
By the way, terrible breakfast served on the flight. Not worth the calories.


We reached Lombok around 10.30. We didn't book any airport transfers, thinking that it should be easy to get a taxi.

It's true. Before we can get out of the airport, we already got a few offers. IDR 300,000... IDR 250,000... IDR 200,000... Ok, 成交.

It was a 90 min drive from the airport to Senggigi. Very intensive driving performed by our taxi driver. There were a lot of motor bikes, heavy vehicles on a 2-lane road, he has to overtake them one by one. And also quite a number of horse carriages.


We soon saw the coastline and reached our hotel, QUNCI VILLAS.

Greeted by the beautiful sea.


We checked in a bit early so had to wait till 2pm for our room to be ready. Meanwhile we roamed round the premises and had our lunch.



Fish & chips and soto.

Qunci is so beautiful. Every spot is nearly pic-perfect. Our villa even has a name, it's called Qayla.

posted by WSW at 8:30 AM | 0 comments

Sunday, April 27, 2014

Good Friday excursion

Long weekend, yahoo!

I told myself, I must find a place to go and play, mustn't waste. So off we (my husand and I) went to Sentosa. The mission was, no spending money on entrance fees. We shall have to entertain ourselves with the FOC attractions.

I even went back to my mum's home to get my backpack the day before. I haven't carried a backpack for years!

My backpack is a FOC bag I got from a course I attended years ago. I never use my money to buy any backpacks since uni days. See, even my backpack met my FOC mission.

Actually I just visited Sentosa a week before this. I brought a Belgium colleague there for dinner. It was evening time and we only spent about 15 min walking around. My colleague was very impressed with the night scenes and was praising the place. It made me realize, I never really take time to appreciate my own country's places of attraction.

 

We left the house early morning 8am+. We stopped at Seah Im food centre for breakfast. Due to my mission statement, we walked to Sentosa via the boardwalk. It was quite short, half a kilometer, and there're travellators along the way. Anyway, we still have to pay a dollar each to enter Sentosa.

We then wandered around aimlessly, pretending to be tourists. First we walked around Resorts World. We saw loads of people outside the Universal Studios but of course did not go in. We walked all the way to Festive Hotel to re-visit the place where we stayed for our honeymoon. Then we walked up to the Imbiah Lookout. We passed by many attractions but the entrance fee were all too expensive for us to go in. Images of Singapore $10; Skyline Luge $13; Butterfly Park $16. 



We spotted a bus pulled up at a bus stop outside the Butterfly Park. We wanted to board but were worried we have to pay for the ride. This is how scared we are, the whole place gave us the impression that it's going to squeeze out wallet dry.

Ok, luckily the bus ride is free.

We alighted at the Underwater World. It was nearly deserted. It must be because of the new S.E.A Aquarium. The highlight of the whole trip took place here.


At the carpark behind Underwater World, we spent some time watching this peacock knocking on this car with its beak. I went really close up to him yet he  ignored me and continued to knock on the car.

I masked the license plate of the car because my husband sent this cute photo to his friends and all of them went to buy 4D. Singaporeans....

We then took a walk along Siloso beach. My husband was immensely disappointed we didn't see any bikini girls. 



After a small picnic of an apple each near the beach station, we took the monorail back to Resorts World. We decided to go eat lunch and head home.

 
We had a heavy lunch of Coca steamboat. It was only $26++ per pax. We were pleasantly surprised that at this price, the steamboat ingredients were very fresh and of course, free flow. We had to pay 50 cents for the iced water but it was a 50 cents best spent. I guess we're really too tired and thirsty. The restaurant was also quite empty so the waitresses were quite attentive and the atmosphere was quiet. I don't think I will mind walking to Sentosa for lunch because sometimes the queues outside the Vivocity restaurants are really quite kua zhang.

Lesson learned from this excursion - it was really difficult not to spend money if you want to visit a Singapore's tourist attraction. Thanks to all the tourists who visited Singapore for your contribution to our economy.

posted by WSW at 11:10 PM | 0 comments

Wednesday, April 16, 2014

Hong Kong trip (part 3)

It was raining in the morning on my 3rd day in HK. We just randomly picked a 茶餐厅 in Sheung Wan for a traditional Hongkie breakie.



I picked the porridge and chee chiong fun. No offense to my friends who picked  the 2-eggs-plus-ham-and-toast and macaroni, but those really looked like I can make my own in 5 min. Haha. :p
very nutritious I must admit.

As it was still raining quite heavily after our breakfast, we discussed about dropping the plan to go to Stanley market. It's really not the weather to try to go to a seaside. The news we saw on the previous night's storm was pretty mood dampening. 

We decided to just spend the day at Mongkok. If it continues to rain heavily, we can at least hide in shopping centres.

We were so early that the shops in the shopping centre are not opened yet.

This is where I bought a little sling bag.

There's a yellow alert. Saw this signboard at the shopping centre. Don't really understand the English.



Just an hour after our breakfast, we stopped at Tsui Wah for a 波萝油. Very nice and huge, I couldn't finish it.



We continue shopping at this shopping centre which has many many small boutiques. 

I started to control myself as I have limited hkd with me. These small shops may not all accept credit cards. 

I bought this top from one of these small shops. 


It may not be entirely this reason but the salesgirl did say this top is super popular because Gianna Jun wore it in My Love from the Stars. At that time, I haven't watch this drama. The day before yesterday, I was on mc at home, so I decided to watch it. Oh, I saw the top in the very first episode.


It turned out that what she's wearing is not a top, it's a jacket.


Aiyoh, the salesgirl really can link leh. Only the prints look remotely alike. 

Feeling a bit cheated...

Anyway, after spending more money we got hungry again and stopped at a fast food chain 茶餐厅 for late lunch.


I was carrying so many things that I suggested going back to the hotel to put down our shoppings before heading to Tsim Sha Tsui.


I was able to control myself in the evening, didn't buy anything. Haha.

Saw Mr Spider-Man at Harborcity.


Luckily the weather was more forgiving this evening. We had a long walk from the Ferry terminal to the MTR station in a small drizzle. Still a bit wet but not as bad as the 2nd night, spent less time drying my boots also.

It's also time to start packing. And praying for a smooth flight home. It would be awful if the flight is delayed as I need to work the day after!

posted by WSW at 10:36 PM | 0 comments