i'm off to Borobudur!
Thursday, August 6, 2009
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Day 01 in Yogyakarta
SINGAPORE >>> YOGYAKARTA
Took a taxi to the airport. Check-in. Breakfast at Kiliney's since we were taking the budget airline = no food on board. Shared 2 slices of toast + eggs + kopi. Changi Airport Terminal 1 was having a promotion: Spend more than $160 entitles to a $20 voucher.
1030am: Boarding time
1130am: Take-off!!! And we reached Yogyakarta about 1250pm. And we are 1 hour behind singapore time. Paid $70,000 for a taxi from Airport to Prawirotaman.
The weirdest part of the airport was the luggage belt. It was so short!!! and it was the only luggage belt in the entire airport. Needless to say, everyone was crowding at the tiny belt, and beside it were tons of luggages which weren't being claimed yet. It was such a mess!
Finally we checked into our hotel. Got onto a becak and told him to get us to Malioboro Mall, where we ate at a Foodcourt called FoodPoint.
For lunch, wj had the Nasi Ayam BBQ, $20,909, shared a Gudeg Bu Lies $25,454 (Duck drumstick, spongey taupok covered with young jackfruit = gudeg which by the way tasted really funny!!!) while i had the Bakso Kompliet $12,272 (which consists of 5 different kinds of meatballs + a strand of complimentary human hair). OK. I squirmed a little. But thinking that this is not Singapore, i shall not complain too much. The level of hygiene here is not to be compared back home.
Next, we decided to settle our lodging. As we were having lunch earlier, wj and I both realised that we had forgotten to settle one night's stay! MUAHAHAHAH... so we went down to Excelso Cafe, which was recommended in TripAdvisor for snacks+coffee etc.
I had the ice cafe latte, while WJ had a Blossom freeze. So girly! Total bill came up to $63,250 for 2 drinks. Made a few phone calls from the local map which had quite a few hotels nearby. still no results. Apparently in the next couple of days, there's going to be a conference held, so most hotels were fully booked. Rite! let's not worry about that now, might as well go sight-seeing first.
Weather's really hot here, so i got myself a cup of Jeruk by the roadside!!! Bought some souvenirs too for my family and colleagues.
650pm Back at the hotel (Duta Gardens), got ourselves onto the internet and managed to book a room. YAY!
730pm: Walked to Jln Prawirotaman, along the way, we dropby ViaVia cafe, made a booking for a cooking class for the coming sunday. Those who are interested, please make your booking 1 day in advance as there are limited openings for the day. We opted to learn "Sayur Lodeh" and "Gulai Ayam".
8pm: After making our rounds along Prawirotaman, we decided to eat at Laba Laba Cafe.
Address: Jl Prawirotaman No.2
We ordered:
Nasi Rames (for wj)
Nasi Goreng Special
Tom Yum Soup
Diet Coke (2)
total bill: $87,000
service: We waited almost 1 hour for all the food to arrive!!! bloody slow!
Before making our way back to the hotel, we dropby Indromart and bought some snacks before we called it a night.
Took a taxi to the airport. Check-in. Breakfast at Kiliney's since we were taking the budget airline = no food on board. Shared 2 slices of toast + eggs + kopi. Changi Airport Terminal 1 was having a promotion: Spend more than $160 entitles to a $20 voucher.
1130am: Take-off!!! And we reached Yogyakarta about 1250pm. And we are 1 hour behind singapore time. Paid $70,000 for a taxi from Airport to Prawirotaman.
The weirdest part of the airport was the luggage belt. It was so short!!! and it was the only luggage belt in the entire airport. Needless to say, everyone was crowding at the tiny belt, and beside it were tons of luggages which weren't being claimed yet. It was such a mess!
Finally we checked into our hotel. Got onto a becak and told him to get us to Malioboro Mall, where we ate at a Foodcourt called FoodPoint.
For lunch, wj had the Nasi Ayam BBQ, $20,909, shared a Gudeg Bu Lies $25,454 (Duck drumstick, spongey taupok covered with young jackfruit = gudeg which by the way tasted really funny!!!) while i had the Bakso Kompliet $12,272 (which consists of 5 different kinds of meatballs + a strand of complimentary human hair). OK. I squirmed a little. But thinking that this is not Singapore, i shall not complain too much. The level of hygiene here is not to be compared back home.
Next, we decided to settle our lodging. As we were having lunch earlier, wj and I both realised that we had forgotten to settle one night's stay! MUAHAHAHAH... so we went down to Excelso Cafe, which was recommended in TripAdvisor for snacks+coffee etc.
I had the ice cafe latte, while WJ had a Blossom freeze. So girly! Total bill came up to $63,250 for 2 drinks. Made a few phone calls from the local map which had quite a few hotels nearby. still no results. Apparently in the next couple of days, there's going to be a conference held, so most hotels were fully booked. Rite! let's not worry about that now, might as well go sight-seeing first.
Weather's really hot here, so i got myself a cup of Jeruk by the roadside!!! Bought some souvenirs too for my family and colleagues.
650pm Back at the hotel (Duta Gardens), got ourselves onto the internet and managed to book a room. YAY!
730pm: Walked to Jln Prawirotaman, along the way, we dropby ViaVia cafe, made a booking for a cooking class for the coming sunday. Those who are interested, please make your booking 1 day in advance as there are limited openings for the day. We opted to learn "Sayur Lodeh" and "Gulai Ayam".
8pm: After making our rounds along Prawirotaman, we decided to eat at Laba Laba Cafe.
Address: Jl Prawirotaman No.2
We ordered:
Nasi Rames (for wj)
Nasi Goreng Special
Tom Yum Soup
Diet Coke (2)
total bill: $87,000
service: We waited almost 1 hour for all the food to arrive!!! bloody slow!
Before making our way back to the hotel, we dropby Indromart and bought some snacks before we called it a night.
Sunday, August 2, 2009
Sembawang White Bee Hoon
GLORIOUS FOOD
Located opposite Sembawang Shopping Centre, with a long queue of cars trying to turn into the infamous Jln Tampang, lays this little cze char stall: You Huak Restaurant
What is causing the long queue of cars is their speciality dish: white bee hoon. Written loud and big on their doorstep in chinese figures.
It's exactly like the local Fried hokkien mee, just without the mee! haha, interestingly enough, the local staple here is bee hoon. Which is probably why they named it WHITE bee hoon.
Be prepared to wait for your food here cos every dish is cooked on the spot. Besides selling their famous dish, there are plenty other cze char dishes to choose from.
When the White bee hoon came, it looked rather blend and not to mention WHITE.
However on first bite, it was heaven!!!! The gravy was so rich and flavourful. Full bodied rich stock was soaked into the bee hoon and with its fresh ingredients of egg, squid and prawns. There was hardly anything blend!!!!
The vegetables which we ordered on the side was equally good too, i saw many tables ordering fried egg omelette, fried chicken wings, clams etc etc. I guess their other side dishes must be quite comparable too!
Taste: *****
Service: Good! cos they tried their best to sit us even though it was so packed!
Definitely worth coming all the way to sembawang to at least try it once.
White Bee Hoon
You Huak Restaurant
22 Jalan Tampang
Opp Sembawang Shopping Centre
Singapore 758966
Closed on Wednesday
Located opposite Sembawang Shopping Centre, with a long queue of cars trying to turn into the infamous Jln Tampang, lays this little cze char stall: You Huak Restaurant
What is causing the long queue of cars is their speciality dish: white bee hoon. Written loud and big on their doorstep in chinese figures.
It's exactly like the local Fried hokkien mee, just without the mee! haha, interestingly enough, the local staple here is bee hoon. Which is probably why they named it WHITE bee hoon.
Be prepared to wait for your food here cos every dish is cooked on the spot. Besides selling their famous dish, there are plenty other cze char dishes to choose from.
When the White bee hoon came, it looked rather blend and not to mention WHITE.
However on first bite, it was heaven!!!! The gravy was so rich and flavourful. Full bodied rich stock was soaked into the bee hoon and with its fresh ingredients of egg, squid and prawns. There was hardly anything blend!!!!
The vegetables which we ordered on the side was equally good too, i saw many tables ordering fried egg omelette, fried chicken wings, clams etc etc. I guess their other side dishes must be quite comparable too!
Taste: *****
Service: Good! cos they tried their best to sit us even though it was so packed!
Definitely worth coming all the way to sembawang to at least try it once.
White Bee Hoon
You Huak Restaurant
22 Jalan Tampang
Opp Sembawang Shopping Centre
Singapore 758966
Closed on Wednesday
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Wedding - #10 Bridal Boutiques@Delfi
OFF TO DELFI ORCHARD TO FIND A GOWN
Rene L
01-04 Delfi Orchard
tel: 6238-1498
By Appointment
Sorry girls, I didn't manage to make an appointment here and because I heard from another Bridal source that the gowns here are overly-priced for one which you can find another replica for at equally good MTM bridal boutiques. Of course, I went back and gave it some thought, perhaps the rental at Delfi could be really steep to make the bridal boutiques here cost their gowns are a relatively more expensive rates.
Sheesh, I feel so bitchy saying this here. I guess, every bride will source all sorts of crap from everywhere and somewhere. So anyway, I'm sure there will be brides who are definitely happy here if not this bridal boutique wouldn't have lasted so long over here at Delfi's.
Amanda Lee
#02-09 Delfi Orchard
tel:6333 6678
Mondays to Fridays: 11am - 8pm
Saturdays: 11am - 7pm
By appointment
Designer Miah attended to me. LURVE him! so attentive!!! Extremely.
Designed a gown on the spot for me after he studied the few gowns which i tried on that day. How did he do it? As there were certain cuts which flattered me, and certain fabric somehow made me feel 'happy' like a bride. Somehow you know. Like some gals really want embroidery, i realised that i wanted LACE! With or without blings doesn't really matter to me.
Bridal Veil(BV) by Michelle Chen Huimin
Package comprehensive, this i will explain in detail. The package that BV gave me showed me all the number of required fittings. And even specifically explain what BV will be doing at each fittings like matching of skin colours, taking measurements, trying of gowns with different cuts, personal consultation with Michelle herself regarding body contours and what type of cuts will flatter the bride. Things of that sorts.
Also the package includes a suit for the groom! Finally something for the male counterparts. Somehow, most weddings seems to be centred around the bride and it's as if ONLY the bride is getting married! The groom gets so left out!
Anyway, here at BV, rest assured that he too gets a MTM suit just for himself to keep! So happy groom-to-be!
Also included in the package are complimentary hand bouquets, flowers, corsages, a tea-dress to rent.
In general, there are 2 main packages. The 'standard' one and of cos the 'Superior' one which entitles the bride to more lace, blings (swarovski crystals), embroidery ie more HUMAN labour.
ok. Right. Here's the part where every bride wants to hear right. Everyone wants to hear the bad stuff.
So here's my personal take.
Because it was my first appointment and I did make one and not just walk-in. I was 'upset' that I wasn't 'looked' after by Michelle herself or at least the senior designers. I was introduced to the package by a girl who looked like a fresh designer who didn't seem to be very experienced. I mean first impressions count. If on the first appt, i couldn't even get a designer to attend to me, how will I feel towards my other sessions?
Even though the girl assured me that every fitting Michelle will be there or at least a senior designer will attend to me. BUT, i really felt very insecure. And I'm not going to take any chances for I'm only getting married once. That being said. It's just customer service at the end of the day. The gowns I saw were perfect.
And for the record, I saw Huang Shufang's photo with Michelle in the changing room. and of cos, there were loads more with other people to show how credible her gowns were with their pinned on ThankYou cards.
Rene L
01-04 Delfi Orchard
tel: 6238-1498
By Appointment
Sorry girls, I didn't manage to make an appointment here and because I heard from another Bridal source that the gowns here are overly-priced for one which you can find another replica for at equally good MTM bridal boutiques. Of course, I went back and gave it some thought, perhaps the rental at Delfi could be really steep to make the bridal boutiques here cost their gowns are a relatively more expensive rates.
Sheesh, I feel so bitchy saying this here. I guess, every bride will source all sorts of crap from everywhere and somewhere. So anyway, I'm sure there will be brides who are definitely happy here if not this bridal boutique wouldn't have lasted so long over here at Delfi's.
Amanda Lee
#02-09 Delfi Orchard
tel:6333 6678
Mondays to Fridays: 11am - 8pm
Saturdays: 11am - 7pm
By appointment
Designer Miah attended to me. LURVE him! so attentive!!! Extremely.
Designed a gown on the spot for me after he studied the few gowns which i tried on that day. How did he do it? As there were certain cuts which flattered me, and certain fabric somehow made me feel 'happy' like a bride. Somehow you know. Like some gals really want embroidery, i realised that i wanted LACE! With or without blings doesn't really matter to me.
Bridal Veil(BV) by Michelle Chen Huimin
Package comprehensive, this i will explain in detail. The package that BV gave me showed me all the number of required fittings. And even specifically explain what BV will be doing at each fittings like matching of skin colours, taking measurements, trying of gowns with different cuts, personal consultation with Michelle herself regarding body contours and what type of cuts will flatter the bride. Things of that sorts.
Also the package includes a suit for the groom! Finally something for the male counterparts. Somehow, most weddings seems to be centred around the bride and it's as if ONLY the bride is getting married! The groom gets so left out!
Anyway, here at BV, rest assured that he too gets a MTM suit just for himself to keep! So happy groom-to-be!
Also included in the package are complimentary hand bouquets, flowers, corsages, a tea-dress to rent.
In general, there are 2 main packages. The 'standard' one and of cos the 'Superior' one which entitles the bride to more lace, blings (swarovski crystals), embroidery ie more HUMAN labour.
ok. Right. Here's the part where every bride wants to hear right. Everyone wants to hear the bad stuff.
So here's my personal take.
Because it was my first appointment and I did make one and not just walk-in. I was 'upset' that I wasn't 'looked' after by Michelle herself or at least the senior designers. I was introduced to the package by a girl who looked like a fresh designer who didn't seem to be very experienced. I mean first impressions count. If on the first appt, i couldn't even get a designer to attend to me, how will I feel towards my other sessions?
Even though the girl assured me that every fitting Michelle will be there or at least a senior designer will attend to me. BUT, i really felt very insecure. And I'm not going to take any chances for I'm only getting married once. That being said. It's just customer service at the end of the day. The gowns I saw were perfect.
And for the record, I saw Huang Shufang's photo with Michelle in the changing room. and of cos, there were loads more with other people to show how credible her gowns were with their pinned on ThankYou cards.
Olive Suite
402 Orchard Road
Delphi Orchard
#03-26
+65 6733 8832
Opening hours by appointment only.
Mondays to Fridays: 1pm - 7pm
Saturdays: 1pm - 6pm
The sweet lady who attended to me was Jessica. Didn't really sound local though.
Wedding - #9 Bridal Boutiques
Bridal shopfronts!
i guess when a bride goes for a bridal boutique hunt, it will most probably be her first time so here are some photos of the bridal shopfronts which i blogged about in my previous posts. So like some brides, i can get really blur, especially on a sunny afternoon, heat stroke an all, perspiring like a horse....AND I'M SEARCHING FOR SHOPS which i never noticed before in my life and now it's a meaningful journey of my LIFE!
Hopes this will help to all future scouting brides!!!
i guess when a bride goes for a bridal boutique hunt, it will most probably be her first time so here are some photos of the bridal shopfronts which i blogged about in my previous posts. So like some brides, i can get really blur, especially on a sunny afternoon, heat stroke an all, perspiring like a horse....AND I'M SEARCHING FOR SHOPS which i never noticed before in my life and now it's a meaningful journey of my LIFE!
Hopes this will help to all future scouting brides!!!
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Day out with parents+doggies@ Marina Barrage
The Marina Barrage has been opened for quite some time now. And it's free to public!!! WJ and I had visited the place just about a weekend ago, and we decided that it's such a fun place and that we should bring our family down together with our dogs for a real good outing. and the boys really love that stroll down to the marina barrage.
one visitor thought owen was a cat! imagine that! How can that be man!!!!
the dogs are really enjoying the view from the roof top of marina barrage as they watch children run around with kite strings in their hands.
one visitor thought owen was a cat! imagine that! How can that be man!!!!
the dogs are really enjoying the view from the roof top of marina barrage as they watch children run around with kite strings in their hands.
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