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[TRAVEL] Japan in Winter (27 Jan – 6 Feb 2015) – Osaka, Kobe, Himeji, Nara, Kyoto

By furryfish March 11, 2015 March 11, 2015 Featured, Lifestyle, Photography, Reviews, Travel

Schedule
Day 1 – Arrival at Kansai (12pm)
Day 2 – Rinkku Premium Outlets
Day 3 – We split into 2 groups, one went to USJ and we went to Osaka Aquarium Kaiyukan
Day 4 – Spent it sick =(
Day 5 – Himeji & Kobe
Day 6 – Move to Kyoto
Day 7 – Kiyomizudera, Yasaka Shrine, Tofu kaiseki in Gion
Day 8 – Heian Jingu, Rozan-ji Temple, Imperial Palace grounds, Yoshida Shrine
Day 9 – Arashiyama, Togetsu Bridge, Tenryu-ji Temple, Bamboo forest
Day 10 – Nara, Todai-ji Temple, Kasuga Taisha, Kofuku-ji Temple
Day 11 – Kinkaku-ji Temple, Departure from Kansai (7pm)

*** Skip to the end of this portion if you don’t want to read about the logistics***

Air Tickets : Cathay Pacific
Travel Time : 3hrs + 3hrs, and 2 hour layover in HKIA
Cost : Roughly SGD$650 round trip

Upon reaching Osaka, get your SIM cards or pocket wifi rentals picked up at the airport.
The ordering of the SIM card of pocket wifi usually has to be done 1 week before arrival. I didn’t use this company, but you might want to take a look : http://japanwifiservice.com/en/order-guide.html .
I previously used Veltra (http://www.veltra.com/en/asia/japan/ctg/160692:wi_fi_router_rental/) and it was good and cheap. No complaints about it.
I’m never ever going to order a SIM card again because
– the data was capped at 1GB (I ordered the 4G SIM card) and ran out on the last day
– I got it to put into my Huawei device, but discovered that my device was too new and the SIM Card wasn’t compatible, so I ended up putting it in a spare mobile phone and tethering.

Osaka 3 bedroom apartment, 6 days, SGD$1000+

CHEAP AND CHEERFUL! 3BR Namba!! in Osaka

Apartment in Osaka, Japan. A great little 3 bedroom in the heart of Nipponbashi’s Den Den town. Perfect for groups of friends, small families or couples who are travelling together, this is an awesome place for those who want to be near the action but are on a budget! ***… View all listings in Osaka

We stayed at an airbnb apartment about 10mins walk from Namba station. The location is pretty decent, lots of food and sights, and 5mins walk from Kuromon Market. It has an in-suite kitchenette and washing machine, as well as 3 bedrooms; which is good if you’re travelling in a group. It was comfortable, and decent sized by Japanese standards, and a pocket wifi device was provided, as were heat packs, bath amenities, towels etc

On to the cons : the heating consisted of 3 mobile heaters – 2 blowing out hot air and 1 used heating elements… something like how a toaster works. The 2 blowing out hot air also used gas, and I was in constant fear that the hose would detatch and kill us all at night. I guess it would be ok to stay there in summer or the warmer months.
The walls are really really really thin as well. I can hear the people in the next bedroom turn around in bed, cough, mumble… This wasn’t a problem for my other travelmates, but I’m a really really light sleeper, so it bothered me quite a bit.

Almont Hotel Kyoto http://www.hokke.co.jp/english/almont_kyoto.html

I’m going to go right ahead and recommend this hotel with 5 stars.
The rooms are soundproof, clean, comfortable… the service staff are helpful and polite. Getting there from Kyoto Station is easy because the road leading to the hotel is flat, and about 10mins walk – it was easy to push suitcases and carry stuff over.
What tipped the scales in favour of a 5/5 rating from me was the public bath. It’s open in 2 shifts a day, and there’s always a steady stream of people going in and out, a testimony of how popular it is. It took a while for me to wrap my head around the idea of soaking in a hot pool with other ladies, sky clad, but I’m glad I did. There’s something therapeutic about letting the heat from the water replace the winter chill in your bones, even if it’s just for 5 minutes a night.
There’s also a Lawson across the street, and lots of food in the Station.

*** End of Logistics section ***

Day 1 – Arrival (12pm)
Day 2 – Rinkku Premium Outlets
Day 3 – We split into 2 groups, one went to USJ and we went to Osaka Aquarium Kaiyukan
Day 4 – Spent it sick =(

In Osaka, if its your first time, you might want to visit the Osaka Castle and gardens, buy a katana home and dress up as a samurai or something. We walked around dotonburi, denden town and stopped by kuromon market every day.
I planned to visit the owl cafe, but it didn’t work out because I was unwell and wasted a day.

If shopping is your thing, then the Premium Outlets is worth exploring. It’s not possible to finish all the shops in one day, so if you’re intent on combing through every single shop, you’ll probably need 2 or 3 days. I’m not a huge fan of shopping, so I could have given this a miss. It’s also only one stop from Kansai Airport, so you can plan to drop by right before you fly off.

The best part about Osaka is possibly the Kuromon Market. They sell Kobe Beef, Tuna Sashimi (ootoro, chutoro etc), soups and various other quality fresh produce, for much cheaper than restaurants.

Osaka Aquarium was a nice trip. It’s not a very big exhibit, and their main tank isn’t impressive – the viewing wall is small and fragmented because the tank is a weird shape. However, they do have a resident whaleshark, which made it worthwhile. To me, at least.

A couple silhoutted against a tank of marine life.

Oh, and super cute whale shark plushies… =D

Day 5 – Himeji & Kobe

Himeji is a beautiful place. When you visit the castle (restoration works finish this month!) make sure you get the combined ticket to the Himeji kokoen too, its the castle gardens and there are something like 9 different themed gardens.

On the day this picture was taken, it was a clear day, with light snow flurries. The wind was killer, but totally worth braving for this view.

This is a little pavillion in one of the gardens, which you can sit in if you take your footwear off. Taking winter footwear off was too troublesome, and sitting around in winter jackets didn’t appeal to me, so we didn’t sit in it. There are huge ass fish in the ponds too.

It’s really quite amazing how much effort is put into landscaping and caring for the plants. Even in winter, they look beautiful, especially when a little sun highlights everything.

Unfortunately, for reasons, we didn’t get to spend much time in Kobe. We planned to reach Himeji around 11, have lunch there and explore, then move off to Kobe in the afternoon around 3, walk around and have a good beef dinner.

We hit Kobe around 6pm and decided to try out A1. It’s not Kobe beef, but it’s still a tasty, nice steak nonetheless.

Day 6 – Move to Kyoto
Day 7 – Setsubun Festival at Kiyomizudera, Yasaka Shrine. Tofu kaiseki in Gion

One of the rare times you’ll see a Geisha/Maiko performance in public, for free!
I have to say though, that Kiyomizudera is much nicer to look at in spring. In winter, it just lacks the colours, and the snow is mostly too light to stick.

Bean throwing festival at Yasaka Shrine

Geisha/Maiko performance
Day 8 – Heian Jingu, Rozan-ji Temple, Imperial Palace grounds, Yoshida Shrine

The Largest Torii gate in Kyoto (Maybe in Japan too), Heian Jingu

I believe this is a Setsubun ritual where they take turns to drink something.

Heian Jingu

Rozan-ji Temple, Oni dance

Yoshida Shrine Setsubun festival and outdoor food and games stalls

Tying the bad fortune on a tree so that it won’t follow you home

Using ricepaper sieves to catch goldfish
Day 9 – Arashiyama, Togetsu Bridge, Tenryu-ji Temple, Bamboo forest

I would love to wake up to this view every morning… Tenryu-ji Temple gardens.
We paid 600 yen to have access to the gardens as well as the temple itself. You have to take off your shoes, but it’s worth the trouble to be able to sit on the tatami mats with the warm sun in your face.

Here’s another view of the Tenryu-ji Temple, this time from the garden, directly opposite where I took the photo above.

Exiting from the Tenryu-ji Temple, you can head directly to the Bamboo forest.

Its so calm and pretty, and silent.
This is easily my new favourite location. There’s something transcendant about walking through the bamboo forest, listening to the leaves swish against each other… Except when there are drunk Korean tourists yelling at each other. After they passed through, though, it was very enjoyable.

There was a couple having a DIY wedding shoot there too. I managed to sneak some pics of the bride as she was posing. It’s a really nice location to do a shoot!

There are lots of rickshaw pullers around too. They will try to sell you their services. The people I saw taking the rides seemed to really enjoy themselves. Kiyomizudera has plenty of rickshaw pullers around too, and it might be more exciting to take a ride there because it’s on a hill. Arashiyama is pretty flat.

Stopped by a little kushiyaki place for dinner.

This is my ultimate favourite… a meat patty with a raw egg yolk and teriyaki sauce. mmmmmm…!

Chicken skewers, with ume and wasabi topping.

This dessert was so good that I had 2 servings. Toasted bread with vanilla ice cream and maple syrup…

To die for.

Day 10 – Nara, Todai-ji Temple, Kasuga Taisha, Kofuku-ji Temple

Nara is the place to go for animal lovers. I had my funniest experience there this trip, and it didnt just involve deer.
At Nara, you can buy deer biscuits, it’s much much cheaper if you buy in bulk, I can’t remember the exact price though. So, once you buy the biscuits, the deer will throng you, so be prepared. They can get really aggressive, especially the males. We weren’t prepared and we got butted and bitten and one pile of biscuits dropped onto the floor and all the deer were munching it up happily. They even bit our unopened cookies and plastic bags out of our hand. So, just BE READY, once the biscuits reach your hand, you’re a target.

Stay away from the males if you’re worried. A couple of them were fighting each other and their heads were bloody from repeatedly butting each other.

Males can be identified by these bottle cap looking things on their heads. There’s an annual ceremony in Nara where they remove the horns of the males.

Speaking of ceremonies and festivals, there’s a hillside burning festival every year in January, and we missed it by one weekend. It’s the 3rd or 4th weekend of every January, and it seems it’s quite a spectable.

Todai-ji Temple.

It has a pair of little golden horns on top, and plenty of deer milling around.

In the inner temple grounds, there are no deer, and you have to pay to enter.

This temple houses the largest buddah statue, and it’s really quite huge.

On the way to the next temple, Kasuga Taisha, I decided it was safe because there were few deer around, and I opened up a dumpling to eat. As I took my second bite, a huge crow flew over from behind and plucked the dumpling right out of my hand. I was kind of dismayed, cos I was quite hungry, but pretty amused at the same time.

So, just beware of other animals, other than deer!

Managed to trot over to Kofuku-ji Temple as the last few rays of the setting sun shone on it, making it look peachy.

Some school girls getting harrassed by deer at Todai-ji

And a well earned dinner at the market near the Nara train Station.
The beef sukiyaki was delicious, and the homemade tofu too. I’m still dreaming of the yummy flavours…
Day 11 – Kinkaku-ji Temple, Departure (7pm)

On the last trip, I visited the Silver Pavillion Temple (Ginkaku-ji), but unfortunately, it wasn’t a sunny day and the temple didn’t look that great. I discovered the difference even a little bit of sunlight makes to these temples at Kinkaku-ji this year. The exterior practically glows and comes alight, as though it has some kind of power source within it. It’s gorgeous.

The entrance to Kinkaku-ji

Some shots of the temple, from different angles

Along the main road, there’s a little restaurant serving what looks like fusion cuisine. This meal summed up everything I was craving for the whole trip – Japanese Curry, Raw Egg and coffee.
The curry and egg baked rice was awesome, and I think it was my favourite meal there.

The coffee was soso, a nicer coffee would have made the meal even more enjoyable.

Places and things I missed doing this trip, which I would like to do next time!

– A good Japanese kaiseki meal
– A stay at a traditional ryokan
– An outdoor onsen
– Fushimi Inari Temple
– Owl Cafe
– A longer time in Kobe, and a proper Kobe beef meal
– Visit the snow monkeys at Arashiyama
– Rent a bicycle

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[TRAVEL] Planned Itinerary : Japan in Winter (27 Jan – 6 Feb 2015) – Osaka, Kobe, Himeji, Nara, Kyoto

By furryfish January 19, 2015 January 19, 2015 Featured, Lifestyle, Photography, Travel

Mitaka-shi, Tokyo

Kiyomizudera

Yasaka Shrine, Kyoto

The Philisopher’s Walk, Kyoto

Tsukiji Market Omakase Chirashi Don

Although I just went to Japan last year, it felt like I had only scratched the surface of what this amazing country had to offer. I have heard that Japan looks different in every season, and until I have seen it myself, I won’t be satisfied. So I’m really happy to be able to go back so soon, and in Winter, this time. I’m hoping for a little snow too. =D

I didn’t write about my 2014 Spring trip to Japan, so I’ll give a rough outline before I talk about my planning for this year’s Winter trip.

*** Skip this portion if you’re only interested in my planning for Osaka/Kyoto!***

Last year, this was my rough itinerary (29 March to 13 April 16D15N) and you can check out some facebook photos here or you can take a look at my Flickr album here :
Tokyo – Hakone – Tokyo – Shin Osaka – Kyoto – Tokyo.

For the first sector – Tokyo Hakone Tokyo, we kept a room at Hotel Mystays Kamata open from 29 March to 4th April and took a 2D1N trip to Hakone (Hotel Daihakone) and Odawara (2-3 April), leaving most of our luggage there. I highly recommend Mystays Kamata. The location is good, the rooms are beautiful and sound proof and the bed is so comfortable.
Hotel Daihakone was, in my opinion, a little too pricey. It was roughly 210USD (2pax) for 1 night, including dinner and breakfast. The room was huge though, and faced a golf course. It wasn’t very sound proof, and our neighbours were up at 6am watching TV, which wasn’t too pleasant for me because I’m a very light sleeper. The onsen was quite enjoyable though, partly because I fortunately went when there was no one else using it. I might have felt a little too self conscious if there were other people using it too.
If you have time, there are many attractions to check out around Hakone too, including the Little Prince Museum, and the ropeway (cable car).
We took the Hakone Tozan Railway line up, and it was quite an experience.
On our way back to Tokyo, we stopped off at Odawara to have lunch and check out the castle. Do check it out and take a walk around the town, it’s worth spending a couple of hours there.

Next, the Shin-Osaka/Kyoto part of the trip.
On the 4th, we checked out and took the Shinkansen to Shin-Osaka Hotel Washington which I wouldn’t highly recommend – the bed wasn’t very comfortable and the walls were really thin and not sound proof. It was very affordable though, and if you’re not too picky, it serves it’s purpose.
Staying at Shin-Osaka was a recommendation made by a friend because hotels there are cheaper than in Osaka and Kyoto, and both are accessible by Shinkansen or train which are about 15minutes away. If price of accommodation is a big factor for you, you can do this too. We had the JR pass which we used to travel to Kyoto daily.
The first day, after travelling there and checking in there wasn’t much time left, so we decided to explore Osaka. We had dinner in Namba, and walked around window shopping, and shopping. On the 5th and 6th, we spent most of our time in Kyoto.
We are pretty relaxed travellers, so we don’t rush around to see one attraction after another. We prefer to savour the sights, sounds and flavours and walk around getting lost in the culture. So in Kyoto, we only went to Kiyomizudera, Ginkaku-ji, The Philosopher’s Walk, the Imperial Palace, Yasaka Shrine and Gion (in particular, Hanamikoji Dori).

On the 7th, we checked out and went back to Tokyo where we rented an apartment from Airbnb from the 8-12 April. Our host was extremely helpful and even gave us a pocket wifi to use while we were there. Here’s the listing if you’re interested! The apartment is located in Sangenjaya in a quiet, pleasant estate with lots of hipster cafes and restaurants. It’s not very near to the nearest train station, so expect to drag your suitcase for a distance! Also, there is no lift, and if I’m not wrong, the apartment is on the 3rd floor. It was a very pleasant apartment though, and I would definitely stay there again if I had the chance to.

My most memorable Tokyo attractions that we visited are – Ghibli Museum, Kabukicho, Tsukiji Fish Market, Ueno Park and Odaiba. Other areas I explored – Meji Jinggu, Shibuya, Omotesando, Harajuku, Roppongi…
(I might do a more indepth post about my Spring 2014 trip in future. If I do, I’ll link it here.)

***—————————————————————————————–***

Winter 2015 Itinerary

So, well, as you can see, I spent a lot of time in Tokyo on my previous trip, and I realised that I really wished I had had more time in Kyoto/Osaka. As vibrant and interesting as Tokyo is, my most memorable meal was in Osaka, and I simply loved everything about Kyoto.

So, this time round, we will be going to explore Osaka and Kyoto a little more.

The first thing you should do when visiting Japan, is to check out the dates of festivals or special occassions. I discovered that 24 Jan is the date when they set the Nara hillsides on fire, and if the weather is bad, they’ll shift it to the 31st. 2-4th Feb is Setsubun, which is the welcoming of Spring festival where they chase misfortune away.

With these dates in mind, it was easy to plan the trip.

27th – fly into KIX (Kansai Airport, Osaka) 12.15pm, Owl Cafe, Abeno Harukas
28th – Day trip to Kobe/Himeji
29th & 30th – Premium Outlet, Universal Studios Japan, Osaka Aquarium
31st – Nara
1st – Check out, last visits in Osaka, move to Kyoto.
2nd to 4th – Experience Setsubun at the different temples in Kyoto (using this as a guide) – Yasaka Shrine [MUST GO! Will have performing Maiko], Rozanji Temple, Yoshida Shrine, Suga Shrine, Heian Shrine, Fushimi Inari Taisha
5th – Kyoto Hirogawara (skiing)
6th – return to Singapore (710pm flight from KIX)

Other places in Kyoto to visit :
Arashiyama, Kurama & Kibune, Kyoto Tower, Kinkaku-ji
Eigamura, Kabuki Show, Nishiki Market

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[Travel] Boracay 25 Dec 2013 – 1 Jan 2014

By furryfish February 26, 2014 February 26, 2014 Lifestyle, Photography, Travel

I enjoyed Boracay so much when I visited earlier in 2013, that I decided I had to go back again. I love the beach, the sun the sand and the sea are just awesome and make me feel so alive and happy.

This period, however, was the peak period, so I booked my lodging months in advance. Not only is the weather supposed to be excellent during this time of the year, the trip stretched over 2 public holidays (Christmas and New Year), so I was expecting lots of local and international tourists.

I learnt many things on this trip :

– there are 2 main types of lodging there, chalets and hotels.
The chalets are mostly occupied by the locals, and the hotels can be further divided into the budget kind, and the exclusive kind.

– they have cooking services at d’talipapa and d’mall!
This means that you can bring raw food to them, and they will charge you a fee to cook it. They give you a selection of ways that you can have your food cooked.

– there aren’t that many places which open in the early morning ie. 5-6 am
But you can buy taho (sweet bean curd) from peddlers along the beach, and you can get food from some of the 24 hour places
I also stocked up on some instant noodles (the bulalo flavoured one was pretty sinful!)

– the best way to enjoy your holiday there is to SOCIALISE!
get to know the other tourists, many of them are repeat tourists, and some may have discovered other gems which are worth experiencing!
It’s also more fun when you go do cool things with more people, think cliff diving, or a boating trip.

I didn’t have a planned itinerary, I shortlisted certain things to do, and played by ear for the rest.
In general, because my sleeping times are just so weird, I was asleep around 8-10pm, and awake from 3am onwards. This meant I caught more than my fair share of sunrises.

Anyhow, let’s start with the trip there.

We took tigerairways to Kalibo. The previous time, I travelled to Caticlan from Manila, because I was already in Manila for NCCL/PGF Summer Assembly 2013.

If you’d like to read about my trip in May, click THIS.

Travelling There

Unfortunately, I can’t say I had a pleasant time travelling. After landing at Kalibo, a 2hr long slow bus ride around some hills and villages awaits you, and if you were stupid enough to have bought a package travel (bus+boat tickets in one) you’re in for a really long wait at the ferry terminal at Caticlan.
So, which airport you choose to go to really depends on your preference – would you rather have a layover in Cebu/Manila, or would like like to fly direct but take a long bus ride?

You do get to see interesting things along the way though, like many men piled on a tuktuk, each carrying his own rooster, probably on the way to or from a cock fight.

After experiencing both, I’m inclined to choose the layover in Cebu/Manila.
Also, DO NOT bother buying a 2 in 1 ticket. Just get the boat ticket from the Caticlan ferry terminal directly. You’ll have to queue to pay the environmental fee, terminal fee and register your name (so that they can track who is on the island in case of typhoons?), and also, if you get the 2 in 1, they make you wait for a really really long time before the boat goes off. This is probably because they want to get it as full as possible (save cost) before sailing off. And the boat is pretty big. So it takes quite a while before there are enough people.
I’d opt to travel the way the locals do, on wooden boats with skiffs :
They fill up pretty quick, they leave the terminal fast, and they’re cheap.

There are unlimited numbers of tuktuk’s around for you to hail, so no worries on not being able to get to your hotel. It’s advisable, especially if your lodging isn’t one of those more famous establishments, to ensure that you have a map of the area, and the address at hand.
Our chalet was off the beaten track, and it took quite a long time to find the place. We ended up trotting in some people’s backyards along dirt paths before we finally found it.

Lodging

I paid about 300SGD/8 nights to stay at a place called Amigos 2. It’s worth noting that Amigos is under a different management from Amigos 2, and that Amigos has pretty decent reviews. Amigos 2 seemed to be less popular, and less established.

If you’re spending your whole day out at the beach, you won’t have that much to complain about the room. The bed is firm, the pillows are a little flat, there’s even a wooden wardrobe in the corner to dump your clothes. There’s a mini bar, a TV, and hot water is available at the reception from a dispenser.

What was terrible, was the toilet. There was barely enough space to sit on the loo, your knees were more or less touching the wall in front, the sink is tiny and the shower area didn’t drain properly, so all the crap from the drain pipes flowed back out when the bath floor got flooded. So, after a long day out, with sunblock on, sand and salt in my hair, feeling so grossed out everytime i went to the toilet was in the end not worth the good price I paid.

After a few days of tolerating the flooding, tiny toilet, we finally looked around and moved into another chalet-style lodging. This place seemed to be a hotspot for Russians and Europeans. It’s called Nigi Nigi Nu Noos and we had a lot of fun repeating the name aloud.

As you can tell, they tried to build it in the style of their native buildings, with woven leaves and bamboo. This place was a whole lot more pleasant, simply because the toilet was larger, and drained perfectly.
There was also free wifi!!!
The only problem we had was that there were cats in heat zooming around squalling at weird times, but that was pretty tolerable.
All the chalets are named after some kind of bird, and ours was humming bird.
I liked that there was a porch to sit on! Unfortunately, if you’re there in the evening, you’re going to be a great feast for mosquitoes.
The nice thing is though, that they provide insecticide, and they clean your room daily.

Because it was the festive period, we paid 4500Php per night, without breakfast.

I quite liked the hotel we stayed in previously too, Hotel Soffia, but it’s pretty far from the beach areas, and you’ll need to take a tuktuk or the hotel shuttle to get there and back.
The best part about the 2 chalets I stayed in this trip was that they were practically on(in the case of Nigi Nigi) , or 3 minutes walk from, the beach (Amigos 2). However, keep in mind that this means you’ll have to trot out to the main road, with all your luggage, to catch a tuktuk to the ferry terminal on the last day.

FOOD

When I travel, I love trying the local food. I get excited when I spy roadside stalls selling random tit bits and snacks. I’m definitely not the kind who will only eat MacDonald’s and drink coke rather than sample the local cuisine. It does help that I very very rarely get stomach upsets.

One thing to note, is that Filipinos seem to like to use coconut oil in their cooking. I am not a fan of coconut oil, even though there are supposedly many health benefits to it, because it adds a really strong taste to the food. So, I tend to pick foods which complement the taste of the coconut oil.

So, here are the top picks for my trip:

Mang Inasal
http://www.tripadvisor.com.sg/Restaurant_Review-g294260-d2042119-Reviews-Mang_Inasal-Boracay_Visayas.html
This is the fast food version of grilled chicken and meats.
I normally eat the spicy chicken leg. Unlimited rice when you eat in too! But I normally take away.

Smoke @ D’Mall
http://www.tripadvisor.com.sg/Restaurant_Review-g294260-d1758999-Reviews-Smoke_Restaurant-Boracay_Visayas.html
My favourites include the Beef Salpicao (it comes with rice sitting under the beef). It is a super fragrant bowl of beef sauteed with garlic, onion and other delicious things. The closest I can get to describing it’s taste would be Rendang, but without the chilli. (If you like Malay food, or if you’re a Singaporean, you should know how that tastes!)

The Bulalo soup is pretty nice as well, and when you order hot tea, they serve it to you with a wedge of lemon. Perfect.

Just don’t order the kangkong, or morning glory. It’s a sinewy dried out vegetable, unlike the juicy, tender stems and silky leaves I’m accustomed to. I think its the native climate which causes it to grow that way.

They have some kind of backpacker lodging upstairs as well, it’s a really scary narrow staircase up to it…

Mica’s Kitchen @ D’Talipapa
http://www.tripadvisor.com.sg/Restaurant_Review-g294260-d1983757-Reviews-D_Talipapa-Boracay_Visayas.html
This area is actually a wet market, surrounded by cooking services. There are stalls to buy fresh seafood, poultry and meat, and vegetables.
After you purchase your meat, fish and whatever, you pick a shop and get them to cook it for you.

I visited this place quite a few times, and my personal favourite is the crab and ladies fingers.

Our first cooked meal there which costs us more than we should have paid for:
butter garlic prawns, non-spicy stir fried ladies fingers, stir fried spicy kang kong (DO NOT BUY THIS!), adobo squid and a steamed crab.
DO bargain. They will sometimes quote you up to 4 times more than they are willing to accept. And even the cooking service staff, who are not related to the market stall holders, will try to bluff you into expecting some exorbitant price for your fresh produce. It’s all a ploy to get the most out of tourists!!

As a guideline, a handsized crab (my hand size…) is about 10 SGD. So I kinda worked around that estimation for crabs.

The ladies fingers were totally delicious. They’re a tender smooth variety, and they’re cooked in finger length pieces.
I picked a live female crab, and they cost more than the male crabs. It is my opinion that FRESH seafood should be eaten lightly steamed. Grilling tends to make the flesh stick to the shell, and cooking with random sauces takes away the sweet natural flavour.
The adobo squid tasted excellent, and I tried the adobo chicken on another night, but the chicken came back kinda undercooked.
The prawns were soso. I never ate any more prawns after the first night.

Huge variety of fresh seafood available to the customer.yummy yummy yummy steamed crab…

Lemon Cafe @ D’Mall
http://www.tripadvisor.com.sg/Restaurant_Review-g294260-d804865-Reviews-Lemon_Cafe-Boracay_Visayas.html

Serving mostly western cuisine, or fusion cuisine is this little joint run by a mother daughter pair. They clean the place up very thoroughly in the morning, and the smell of bleach lingers for quite a while.
I ordered a Thai inspired beef and papaya salad, and it was kinda too wet. Otherwise, it was tasty and sour, with an additional lemon wedge. slurp.He ordered a minute steak with herb potatoes and scrambled eggs.
The steak tasted like teriyaki, but it was quite nice to eat. The potatoes were delicious too.
Apparently, the specialities of this place are the eggs benedict and the lemon tart, so you might want to try that out if you go there.Tilapia & Chips @ one street away from D’Mall
http://www.tripadvisor.com.sg/Restaurant_Review-g294260-d3160194-Reviews-Tilapia_N_Chips-Boracay_Visayas.html

I had quite a hurried lunch here, because I was rushing to catch a boat for a snorkeling/island hopping trip.
They serve a whole tilapia and fries for roughly 10SGD, which is a little pricey.
It was quite a fun munch, and I’ve seen recommendations to eat their burgers. Apparently those are great too.

The best thing about this place? Free Wifi, and they use NORMAL oil to fry their food!!

Local Cuisine, further down from Tilapia& Chips, and Budget Mart

It distresses me greatly that I cannot remember the name of this restaurant. It’s further down from Tilapia and Chips, and pretty near one of the Smoke branches.
I absolutely loved everything about this place!
The first day there, I had the pork belly, which was grilled and served with chilli, lime and soya sauce. I ordered a top up of garlic rice instead of white rice.

Their tea is pretty basic, just a lipton teabag and hot water.

My travelling partner ordered their sizzling pork sisig 2 days in a row, and he enjoyed it thoroughly.
So look out for this somewhat creepy hanging feature outside the shop. It’s made up of lobster shells and stuff.

Another place you can try if you’re craving western food is a restaurant called I Love Backyard BBQ @ D’Mall
http://www.tripadvisor.com.sg/Restaurant_Review-g294260-d3607786-Reviews-I_Love_Backyard_BBQ-Boracay_Visayas.html

The queue is insane, and some of the food will inevitably run out of stock. You can try the ribs and the onion rings are famous.Again, the food didn’t impress me much, especially since the onion rings tasted strongly of coconut oil, and the waiter who took our order seemed like he was stoned.
Here’s a pic of the famous onion rings. It’s way too much for 2 people to eat as an appetiser, because it’s fried and really really thick.

As mentioned we went during the festive season, and many of the larger hotels and restaurants had huge buffets, or special meals. We spotted 2 out door grills, grilling whole animals. One was a calf and the other, a pig.

We would have loved to try it out, but they were all full.

Activities

Sadly, this time round, the weather wasn’t as nice. It was stormy and raining for half the trip. I think this is supposed to be an anomaly, because other tourists I spoke to told me their own countries were experiencing weird weather too. Or maybe it was due to Haiyan. Either way, it didn’t seem to matter to the majority of the people, they were all hanging out on the beach 24/7, whatever the weather.

Get a massage on the beach
They do tend to give you a shorter time than you are supposed to get. So if you want to be insistent, just make sure you keep track of the time that you started.

Visit Willy’s Rock. Guilly?
There are variations on how to spell this, and I’m not sure how to spell it. Pronouncing it is all the same.

Further on from the rock is a sort of cave, and the pedestrian path goes through it. Quite interesting to take a stroll up.

Hang out on the beach.
Enjoy the different shades and colours, depending on the time of the day and the weather.
Sink your feet into the powdery white sand, and paddle in the clear waters.

Pro tip : buy your own floats to bring to Boracay, I bought 2 awesome floats and had a magnificent time floating around in them.
You might want to invest in a proper water proof handphone carrying case as well, so that you can take underwater photos, or just be able to bring your phone out to sea without fear of it getting spoilt.

My awesome Intex River Run II. It’s as huge as a raft.
(By the way, that’s the room we had at Amigos 2)

I had a smaller doughnut float which you can see in the photo of the balcony at Nigi Nigi. It’s that green thing in the right corner…

The 2 of us on my awesome 2 man float. We’ll never float away from each other!
Photo taken with my xperia z, which is waterproof. Was blasting music from spotify while floating out on the sea.

Here’s a stormy dayA Cloudy day6am Sunny morning at low tideMid morning Afternoon Stormy Evening, White beach faces the sun set.

Check out the local flora and fauna

Random cockerel, I think this one escaped.
Filipinos are really interested in their cock-fighting, you’ll see numerous tethered chickens, some sitting under wire cages.
I passed by this building that looked like a school, and the field was full of these tethered roosters.Someone’s future dinner, in a backyard.Someone’s unfriendly pet monkey which lunged at me when I went closer.

Someone’s pet retriever.
It’s huge, something like 40kg.Visit other beaches on the island!
Bulabog beach has beach front apartments, the they face the wind, so the waves wash up pretty close.
The wind makes for good kite surfing, something Bulabog beach is famous for. You can also go to Diniwid and Puka Shell beach, but having gone to both once is enough for me.

Diniwid has strong waves, so I didn’t find it suitable for lounging around on, and Puka Shell has rough sand, with little shelter from the sun. So it’s really really hot. The current there is strong too, so swimming is tiring.

Take a boat trip

I suggest hiring a boat for a few hours, and this is where socialising comes in handy! Share a boat with your new found friends, this saves on cost!This particular boat took us snorkeling, I like the coral garden stop the most.
Remember to buy some bread to take along with you to feed the fish. They will really come swarming around you.

We took a short stop at a small community centre-like place. There didn’t seem to be much of a purpose to this place other than for the locals to gather, have picnics and…Karaoke! (sorry, I still can’t rotate the pics!!)

It’s quite amazing that literally in the middle of NOWHERE, there is this karaoke machine and mic, sitting under some shabby looking canvas.
I’d be terrified that the equipment gets wet in a downpour.

One of our new friends, showing off his vocal prowess.

The view from the karaoke area. A nice sheltered bay, and that’s our boat! Ariel’s Point

THIS is a MUST DO when you go to Boracay.
Every morning, Ariel’s House will open up registrations for the day and you’ll pay about 50SGD for a full day of cliff jumping, lunch and free flow drinks. There are kayaks and snorkeling gear for your use too, if you can find any left around.

And here comes another pro tip : buy your own snorkeling gear to bring along! And a go pro if you’re planning to do fancy jumps

There’s a life guard I made friends with previously, and he got me fresh sea urchin roe to eat again, for a small tip.

Sea Urchins at at Ariel’s Point! Taken with my Xperia Z, underwater shot.

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[TRAVEL] Bintan Lagoon Resort

By furryfish October 16, 2013 October 16, 2013 Lifestyle, Photography, Reviews, Travel

Take a nice look at these 2 people here, because these are the two happy travelers who decided to take a weekend beach vacation at Bintan Lagoon Resort over the long weekend!

As a starting note, I took my pictures using my Olympus OMD EM5, 12-50mm kit lens, and my Panasonic Lumix LX3. I brought my LX3 to the beach, because, as much as I love it, I’d rather risk it getting stolen.

We spent 4 days, 3 nights there, and we booked the accommodation via Tripadvisor. They will give you a selection of sites with prices, and you can choose the one with the best price. We’ve been planning a trip for a while, so I’d been keeping an eye on prices. I ended up booking the hotel on the 10th, 2 days before we were supposed to be there. In general, hotel prices get cheaper nearer the date that you want to book. Something I learnt from booking Montigo Resorts (Batam) last year. It was roughly SGD160 per night when I booked.

I do have to admit that based on recommendations, I was looking at Nirwana instead, but because it was a long weekend, the rooms were all sold out.

Anyhow, when the shuttle bus from the BBT (make sure you book a trip to BBT, and not to Tanjong Pinang, we booked using Bintan Resorts Ferries and it cost about SGD90 for 2 people, 1 way) jetty drops you off at the main lobby at Bintan Lagoon Resort (BLR), you’ll be welcome by a group of dancing people in their local festive costumes along this walkway below. I felt that it’d be kinda weird to take a pic of them while they were dancing… so I took a pic when the coast was clear.

The check in counter is on the left, and the checkout counter is on the right, so that helps with crowd control somewhat. There are sofas and power points everywhere in the lobby, and it’s totally non-airconditioned.

This is a typical corridor, and this particular one is leading from the west wing to the reception area. There are shops selling beach stuff, provisions (ie. beer), clothes and even a hair salon.
It’s all open air, but surprisingly, there are few bugs around.

This is our room! 2 separate beds (I like!) and a huge wooden platform at the far end. I never figured out what it was for, but there were bolsters on it. I put all my clothes in neat piles on it, and just tried not to trip on the edge of the platform.

The toilet. Pretty basic, and not extremely well designed. The towel hanger for the sink is built for midgets (look at the bottom left of the pic, its below my knee level!!) and the hose of the shower head is about 1 metre too short.

The toiletries provided are also quite basic, just bath gel and shampoo, 2 cakes of soap and some other random things like sanitary disposal bags. So, DEFINITELY bring conditioner and your shaver, toothbrushes, toothpaste, facewash… that kinda thing.

There are obvious cracks in the tiles and it’s quite obvious that the place is quite old, but seems to have been recently re-fitted.
Everything is clean enough though you might find some stains on your linen.

The East wing, which supposedly offers a sea view. The balcony of our room opened up into a jungle, which was preferable to me. I’m pretty sure the sea would look very far away from these rooms because the hotel is set quite a way from the beach. The large field in front of the east wing, however, had the boy dreaming of bringing a soccer team of friends down to kick some ball.

More pics of the East wing. The building on the left-most is the nearest to RICE (a beachfront restaurant)

Birds-eye view of the pool from the reception. The pool is broken into 4 sections, all of which are joined together; the 2.2m deep pool on the right, the pool bar (aka Ripples the red roof building), the water sports section in the middle (its 1.3 metres deep and has waterpolo nets and basketball nets), the 1.3m play pool on the right.

There’s lots of deck chairs and even a small pavilion (the brown roof) for the visitors to sit and relax, all day, and all night. Yes, all night. Take a stroll by the pool in the evening and you’ll find people sitting in the chairs, chatting, reading their kindles, using their ipads…

The pool closes at 6pm though, which is kinda early in my opinion. The water feels heated, but I think it’s because it’s always exposed to lots of very hot sun.

You can try shooting some hoops… they provide balls

If you can’t get the basketball/waterpolo ball, you can always grab a kid to toss around. Plenty of them!

That’s the pool bar on the left, the tiles have seen better days for sure.

And… a bunch of teens playing waterpolo

A kid finishing up her icecream (a Magnum costs SGD6 from the pool bar). Towels are provided, but you have to sign in and out when you take them from the counter.
As you can see, there are plenty of foreigners!

The pool at night.

The Mojo Cafe in the hotel lobby offerrs window seating, or you can take your food/drinks to the sofas which are positioned all over the lobby.
The Mojo cafe also has 2 PC terminals, and you can surf the net there for free. They also have a printer, which is useful if you need to print out the hotel booking (like I had to).

While waiting for transport to town, or transport of any kind, there’s plenty of seats for you to stretch out on and enjoy the breeze.

The beachfront restaurant with alfresco dining. I didn’t try the food there because the selection wasn’t that extensive.

The decor is really nice though.

Here’s how RICE looks from the beach at night.

The resident Japanese restaurant. I definitely wouldn’t recommend dining there. They charge you Singapore prices, but give you terrible quality, and tiny portions. On that note, the currency that is accepted throughout the resort is Singapore Dollars.

Attempt at a zen feel, outside the Japanese restaurant.

On the whole, the restaurant I had the best meal at was Kopi-O, and that was on the night we arrived. They have themed dining, and that night it was steamboat and grill. Their selection of food isn’t extremely wide, but the seafood was fresh and tasted great.
We chose tom yam steamboat, and had a few servings of teppanyaki.

The BEACH

It’s a beach resort, so of course the beach is going to feature very strongly in your visit there!

Here are some important items that you’ll probably want to bring!
1. A donut float, or a large float of some kind (it costs SGD 18 at the resort, and SGD6 at Pasar Oleh Oleh)2. Slippers of course!

The sand is decently fine and it’s very clean. The water is clear and clean too. You can see all the way to the bottom for quite a way out.
They do “restrict” where you can swim though, they mark out the area with some floats. I say “restrict” because I don’t think there’s actually anyone who will really stop you if you swim out of the area. No one tried though, there were warning signs posted up about currents and stuff.
Although the sun is scorching hot, there was a strong steady breeze which actually made me feel chilly after soaking in the sea then getting blown by the wind a few times.

Snorkeling gear and towels can be obtained from the seasports counter. There’s a separate counter near the beach where you’re supposed to get your towels from (They’re a different colour! And you don’t have to sign them in and out like you have to at the pool)

Towels are free, but the snorkeling gear is SGD11 an hour, per set.

Each set comes with flippers, which we didn’t use, because we had the donut float!
And in case you’re wondering if it’s worth it to rent, I’d say, yeah! We were floating around on the donut when this school of fish swam by all around us. There were at least 4 different kinds of fish, and maybe about a hundred odd of them. Some were as large as my 2 hands put together, and some were finger length. After seeing the school from the donut, we went to rent the gear and proceeded to stalk them.
There are also quite a healthy number of jellyfish around too, so expect to get stung. The pain wears off pretty quick, and it just feels like an irritation, not a sore.

Some people rented kayaks. And we spent some energy avoiding them because they were paddling in the designated safe swimming area. A little annoying, but tolerable.

You can also get your face painted. Seems like it’s quite waterproof too!

A view of the bay.
There are little pavilions and beach chairs to the right of this pic. They were all taken most of the time, and kinda far away from the water, so we didn’t bother with trying to get one.
I prefer to have my belongings in sight on the beach when I’m in the water. Even though I’ll probably never be able to swim fast enough to catch the person who takes my things, I still feel better knowing I can see my stuff from the water!

Pasar Oleh Oleh, the local Food Market and Massages!

A cab ride out (It’s not really a cab, more like chauffered) is SGD22 one way. If you do contact one of the massage/spa places there, some offer 2 way transport to and from your hotel.
Pasar Oleh Oleh (POO) is near the BBT Ferry terminal, and is about 15minutes drive from BLR. You can also catch the shuttle bus out, but the timings are weird, something like 10am and 2pm, which is probably the time you’d like to be at the beach or pool.

Here’s where you get swindled into buying “local” stuff at Singapore prices. I’d recommend only stocking up on provisions, and donut floats if you go to POO. Other items like shampoo, sunblock, conditioner etc are at decent prices.

Random pavilion at POO with many many bats!!

Opposite POO, there’s the Polo Ralph Lauren outlet. The prices are definitely better than retail, but I’m still not sure if they are authentic.

Locals lounging on the pavilion at POO.
Most of them will approach you to get you to go to their spa. We booked at Bintan Natural Spa beforehand and had to pay a deposit, so we didn’t really listen to their offers.

A 5-10minute walk from POO is the local food market. This is the one and only best of the best nasi padang store (that’s how the locals describe it!)
Lamak Basamo closes around midnight everyday, and has a nice selection of food. My favourite is the rendang and fried/dried mutton. The fried fish with green chilli was pretty tasty too, and the nanka curry was very flavourful.

Clockwise from the 12 o clock position : nanka curry, fried fish with green chilli, rendang with potatoes, a dish of green chilli, and the fried/dried mutton with red chilli. There’s also some ayam goreng on the plate with rice, which was tasty, but kinda pathetic because 2 out of the 3 pieces was neck.

We were definitely overcharged, all that cost SGD10, but we were in no position to argue or haggle.

I also ordered a teh o. This was the tag! It had a nice floral taste to it.

Definitely pay a visit to the provision stores next to the food market. Prices are cheap – SGD0.60 for a can of sprite!

There are other stores there, and there are some dishes which they serve that Lamak Basamo doesn’t. Some suggestions on what you can order are kangkong fried with belachan, ayam penyet and nasi goreng.

On to SPAs next!
We visited 2 spas at POO, the first day we went to Bintan Natural Spa and 1 spent about SGD78 on the comfy aromatherapy massage and scrub package, and he spent SGD75 on a 120minute aromatherapy massage.
You get to choose your oils and your scrub scent. I took Rosemary oil, and had an orange scrub. He had lavender oil, I believe.
Bintan Natural offers complimentary one way transport back, and we met a foreigner there who was stationed in Bintan for the past 11 months and she was all praise for their treatments.
On the whole, the Bintan Natural was a good experience. However, they could have improved on the comfort of the customer by having some kind of neck support while lying face down. Most spas have a bed with a hole for your face to fit into comfortably, but this spa only had a flat mattress.
The staff however, we professional and experienced.

The next day, we went for a spa at Martha Tilaar, which is facing the food market. Bintan Natural is a block away, and is a little secluded.
The first impression upon entering Martha Tilaar was that the staff weren’t as professional as those at Bintan Natural. We decided on a leg massage each, because he was sunburnt and didn’t want his shoulders rubbed (lol) and because we just had a full meal.

One reason why I have photos of Martha Tilaar and not Bintan Natural is because Martha Tilaar didn’t have lockers (that I saw, at least) for us to put our stuff, whereas Bintan Natural did.
So this is him, next to me about to get our legs rubbed.
Despite the feeling that the staff weren’t as professional, their massage was definitely up to standard. We chose olive oil, aromatherapy oil is an additional SGD2. I think we paid SGD24 per person.

Some random decor on the floor.

The Bintan Lagoon Terminal

The BLR has it’s own adjoining ferry terminal, so you can actually arrive and depart from here without going to BBT. It’s about 2 minutes walk from the reception, and it costs about SGD90 for 2 pax, one way, which is about the same as BRF from BBT.
BRF will always have shuttle buses available at all the ferry arrival times, so you don’t have to worry about not having free land transport to the hotel. BRF also has many departure times, whereas Bintan Lagoon terminal only has 2 arrival and departure timeslots per day. For this reason, we were unable to arrive here, and had to take the 5pm ferry from Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal (TMFT) to BBT.
The return ferry also lands you at TMFT, and you can get the tickets at Journeyful.

That’s the queue of people waiting to clear customs.

The bridge out to the ferry.

A last look at the beach…

And that’s one of the ferries that docks at the terminal!

Other Comments and tips

*BLR couldn’t find our booking, so they had to hastily prepare a room on the spot and they didn’t offer any form of compensation etc. We had to wait quite a while for everything to be ready, so we went to eat at Kopi-o first.

*Remember to bring your hotel booking, printed out.

*Bring some of your own food along, in case you’re not super hungry and don’t feel like spending at the restaurants there. Canned tuna/salmon and bread/biscuits for example!

*Don’t buy anything from the provision shops/stores at BLR if you can help it, they have the same stuff at POO, and cheaper!

*There is NO FREE wifi available, it’s apparently the only bintan resort not to have free wifi in certain zones. The wifi in the room is about SGD20 per 24 hours, which is EXORBITANT. I applied for Singtel 3G data roam, which cost me SGD15 per 24 hours.

Closing thoughts :

4 days 3 nights was actually quite a good length for a getaway. Just enough time to experience the full spectrum of activities, but short enough so that you’re not bored yet, and would want to go back again in the future.
I’d probably opt to go to club med bintan the next time, if I’m looking to be a “captive audience” because at least most of the activities and food are an all-in fare.
I’m keen to check out Nirwana as well, since I’ve heard that the amenities are better… and… free wifi.
All in all though, it’s pretty chill and nice for a weekend getaway.

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[The International 2013] Grand Finals Day 4, 2 Post Event Break Days

By furryfish September 2, 2013 September 2, 2013 Gaming, Photography, Travel

Hi everyone. OK I’m totally aware that this is a super belated post, but better late than never!
In case you’re wondering why I’m skipping day 3 and moving from day 2 to day 4 (and also, thank you, if you noticed this, because it means you’ve been following my posts!), it’s because on day 2, during the zenith vs iG game, I puked my guts out in the Benaroya Hall after suffering from a migraine all day long.
This very same migraine lasted til mid day on day 3, so I spent my day 3 in the hotel, watching the stream and resting.
Therefore, no event photos on day 3.

Here’s a photo that moose from joinDOTA took of me on day 2, when I was trying to rest my migraine away in the player’s lounge. Hope it makes up for the lack of coverage on day 3! (a little? I hope?)

Do check out the event photos that moose took over at this link!

Grand Finals Day 4

Decided to make full use of my purple manager pass and check out the media area. There are a few different passes, and they are all colour coded. Different passes give you different levels of access to the areas at the Hall, and the purple pass gives one of the highest levels of access.
Anyhow, the media area is where the shoutcasters are located, and where all the news writers are sitting.
I was curious to see and hear the Korean casters, and I wasn’t disappointed.
Check out the mass water that they have! Now we all know their secret to their crazy loud and perma excited casting!

One of the most requested for pics, is this following pic.
One of them is Zenith’s xy- and the other is eternalenvy. Can you tell them apart?

Gabe Newell making a short announcement before the private screening of Free to Play.
He told the audience to feel free to chain stun their neighbours if they caught them attempting to film the movie in any way. lol!
The movie won’t be out for a while, because they’re clearing copyright issues, and also editing it a little bit more.
The estimate was 2months or so.
The movie was great, and there were way too many ninjas chopping up onions in the hall. That’s about all I’m going to say about it, just be happily surprised when it comes out!

This sorta moved me last year when I read it. It’s an inscription outside Benaroya Hall.

THIS, MY DEAR READERS, IS THE GUY WHO IS THE VOICE ACTOR OF PUDGE AND STORM SPIRIT!!!!!!
Incidentally, his wife is a voice actor too, and she did the voice of death prophet.

The movie poster for Free to Play.

a look at the hall from the second floor of the lobby. This photo was meant to show the size of the Free to Play posters.

Synderen, right before he gave me his virtual autograph. I think he was talking to iceiceice.

The LGD vs Alliance game…

Cheese passing ceremony!

It starts with Bruno…

to iceiceice…

to… another guy!
How much would you give for an iceiceice hug?

A pic of the confetti raining own on the audience after Alliance wins

A pic of Alliance holding the Aegis.

Break Days

Dinner with many people at monsoon, a vietnamese inspired restaurant at Old Main.

Dendi stealing my bag with Bruno acting cool.

Bruno and self-proclained fan boy of Bruno, Ant.

Playing fighting games and console wrestling and DRINKING. ALOT.

Here’s a video of Toby half casting half playing wrestling:

Bruno fashioning a soccer ball out of tissue paper, rags and tape.

iceiceice’s divine rapier, the trophy from the 1v1 competition.

feeding ducks again at the nearby pond/park.

Dog outing!

Was invited over to Jeff’s (one of the valve staff) house for dinner on one of the nights. Awesome experience at an American house bbq! Here’s some of the other people who were there.

We also popped by the beach, the water was cold, even though it was supposed to be summer.

and random lobby gatherings. =D always have people in the lobby to chill and hang out with.

and a video of these ogre magi cosplayers being very happy during the Alliance/Na`Vi game because it was picked.