Feb 2014: Excitement with HK stars & birthday trip!!

Oh wow! Before I realised it, I'm already in the middle of May! Talk about time flies!
Life has been busy peppered with excitement!

Feb 2014

After moving into my new apartment on Valentine Day, we made chanced acquaintance with the the HK movie crew filming a new movie next door and Voila! Next thing I know, Sammi, Cheung Ka Fai and Angela baby etc are standing right in front of me!

Apart from personalised signature from Sammi, it was awesome to be able to chat with her a bit and take a photo with my idol. Being the fact that they are busy working, I didnt want to interrupt them too much. However, they are seemingly all very nice people and work really hard. Angela for example despite being sick and honestly looking pale to me, brave on the long hours of shooting etc. Most of all, it was flattering that the stars would actually drank my humble home cooked soup. I am awed.

Sammi my fav artist!

Sweet Angela baby, whose bday just one day apart from mine!

With all the excitement over the international stars at our place and hectic days between the move, my man again took the time to plan a nice V-day dinner at RyuGin. The dinner was sooooo good. It deserved a separate post.


Mar 2014

My wonderful in-laws sent me a beautiful birthday card. I suspect my Father in law chose the card. He knows me well.

After the whole load of excitement, my man and I headed off to Phuket for my surprised birthday treat (esp after I worked so hard to pack for the move and unpacked etc). Man was it awesome! My man booked Trisara Private Pool Villa and we arrived just in time to be welcomed by the glorious sun set!

Fiery Sunset

Soft bed

Sunset from room

Jetty View

Dipping in our own private pool

Beach view

Sun baking

2nd night, we went off to Lotus Restaurant which was pretty good for seafood. It was the cab coming here which is ex. So stay at Movenpick if you want to eat here.

The food here at Trisara was good but it was not my fav destination. But first, my man was awesome and he completely outdone himself with the surprise dinner. I thot the trip was a great surprise but he topped it up this year. Gotto love this man. I can feel the luuurrrrvvve

Off to my surprise bday dinner!

such love

A very happy birthday gal

my personal chef for the nite

Birthday Surprise!

Lobster night

Waiting for breakkie.

breakfast area

Pool food

yummy crabcake

my fav porridge every morn

Service is kinda lacking here, the so call manager of the place welcomed us on our second day, and he saw us again on the following day during breakfast and introduced himself all over again. It was as if we never met. Considering the few guests they had, I'm surprised he couldnt be more bothered. On our last day, he buggied us back to our villa and he asked how was our hol, I kept quiet since I didnt want to lie about how under impressed I was.

The other problem?  For 2 nights, we heard scuttling scrapping and thumping noises up the roof.  There was some animal running across our roof jumping from tree to tree. I'm all for nature and all but please, couldnt you plant the trees further away from the roof? We never had this problem at Amam Resorts and the service there was top notched!

At Aman, every day, we were greeted by staff who addressed us by our name even without asking us for our room number. When I went to the beach, the Aman beach staff will water down the hot sand so that it's more bearable for us to walk. They would even come and adjust the sun shade without prompting as the sun angle changes. In fact, in Aman resort, the staff knew exactly which villa we stay at Amam but not here at Trisara. We are just another nameless face. I can be waiting for over 20mins after 2 reminders and my water never came. Only one guy was good at the pool area, the rest are all slackers at Trisara.

As well, the area is full of bitting insects which I never had at Amam..

One of the many "unwanted gifts"

The worse thing? We are to take a departing photo by the photo but the Trisara check out staff messed up and my poloraid never even turned out right. If I were to depend on that photo, I would not have any to rem by.

Travel log: Kyoto, Japan day 2. Part 1 ( 16 Nov 2013)

16 Nov 2013

There are 2 alternatives to get to Kyoto from Osaka. Either via the hankyu or the Jr train, being that we are so near JR, it only made sense for us to head to Kyoto via JR limited express train ( shin kaisoku = 新快速)

Side note: 

There are many passes options available in Japan for foreign travelers and u really need to calculate to make ur sums worthwhile. Unless u take 2 trips of Shinkansen to different prefecture, normally it isn't really worthwhile to buy the 3 day or7 day passes. 

Osaka subway

However, having the Suica train card ( bought from my previous Tokyo trip) is so useful because u don't have to look at the train chart and q to buy your ticket. There is no discount but it's the convenience that makes life easier. Unlike in Tokyo, It took me a few mins to figure out how to buy the individual subway train for my man since you must know the train line name in addition to the stop u need to make. 

The limited expres train ticket can be bought from the same ticket counter as per the normal trains, I wasn't too sure if that button that says Kyoto is the correct train, so I had the lady at the gantry to help me. I was correct but it's always safer to ensure it's the limited express (新快速) ( about under 30mins to Kyoto)  and not the standard normal train (普通) which stops at every station. 

We headed to the F&B section for breakfast. Not much that appeals to us really so we settled on fried rice. It was way too salty for mine so I couldn't finish it. I had the normal dry crab fried rice but my man had their popular egg topping crab rice. His was ok initially but after a while, he felt the thirst come on. I tried the add on (tsuika = 追加) homemade traditional almond pudding for 100 yen and that was nice.

I can't rem why it was more confusing the last time traveling from Osaka to Kyoto several years back then. Now, everything and signage is so darn clear that it's impossible to get lost I think. I could read the signs and instructions better this time round...but I'm sure they have made vast improvements with the streams of foreigners visiting Kyoto from Osaka daily. For one, I'm pretty sure there were no blue stickers on the ground in the past to differentiate the lines.

The train is jammed pack and very often u will be required to stand. I was lucky to get a seat but not my man. 

Tip

Very often, I find japan trains to be very warm inside each cabin so I have gotten smart over the years. Have a sturdy warm but light weight jacket that u can strip off and leave u with a Tshirt or loose top so that u don't have to sweat like a pig inside the warm train, and ur arms won't ache from having to lug the jacket the entire way. 

If u want a seat and are not rush for time, u can always stand in line and wait for the next train and u will be first in line. The trains depart about every 15mins apart though depending on the departure time, not all trains are limited express I think. U can check the website in advance for the train schedule. Else, grab the train schedule from the train station master before or while u buy the ticket.

Travel log: Osaka, Japan day 1. Part 2.

Osaka day 1 - part 2.

After the Yakiniku meal, the first place I simply must head to is towards my grilled crab place. Several years back when I came to Osaka, the grilled crab leg was the singular highlight of my stay. It would be a sin to pass it up! 

Before that, it took us a few turns to get to the right lane...had to find this lane that leads to the temple first...

My man was amused by all the huge cartoon like ornament depicting the food that was being sold, from cute puffer fish to octopus etc. despite the wide array of food options, I didn't stop till I hit my destination. Good thing the store remained where it was and so I could find it, though the shops opposite has a drastic change to the current tatsuya.there are also now Starbucks which was currently non existent back then.

The crab legs were as good as before, soooo freaking sweet. It is alittle tricky to eat while standing since the flesh is kinda hard to pick out with chopsticks with one hand. Took a little balancing but it was worth the hassle. Completely. I still rem taking my elder brother and sister in law here previously and we love it so much that we pack a whole lot back to my room since my hotel was nearby. Was staying in cross hotel back then. Lovely hotel by the way and though much smaller than ritz, for for a solo occupant, it worked out perfectly and a good size. Still rem they had great bathroom.

Any case back to Dotonburi, the street wasn't as packed as I last remembered, and despite filling up quickly, I bought a pack of 6 octopus balls for my man to try since he had never eaten tako balls all his life. As expected, I knew he didn't like it as it's too much of a flour dough for him. 

Next thing I knew I spotted Mizuno which is another crazy popular okonomiyaki place. Everyone seems to eat there tourists and locals alike. I didn't bother since we are stuffed. Next trip perhaps!?

After having a good look, we decided to grab the subway back. The Osaka metro subway station was a nightmare. We wanted to go to Harbs and ended up in the wrong building. Thankfully this girl knew where it was and gave me directions to the hankyu mall which was on the opposite end of where we were. My man really wanted Harbs ( I should not have got him addicted to it back in Tokyo as Harbs is my fav haunt) so off we go....

It wasn't easy to find honestly and even the aunties working there didn't know where is Harbs but a young chap overheard our conversation and volunteered the directions. Amen! 

We had our usual mix fruit cake since the other one I wanted was sold out. I'm in japan too early and so the seasonal queen of strawberry shortcake isn't available yet. Darn. I miss that...the fresh cream still lingers in my mind after all these years....

The Harbs here is either offering a smaller menu or they had taken out my fav "wedding tea" which I had in Tokyo branch. So we settled for flora herbs tea instead. Once our sweet tooth was satisfied...it was a long walk back to the room....but hey, it was a satisfying first night in japan. Gotto sleep early for Kyoto tomorrow!