Finally finally, this shall be the last entry for Rome, but I'm still not done yet with Italy! Well, this should be a pretty short entry but still with loads of pictures (as usual).

If you are observant enough, you should know in Rome, I have covered almost all the important attractions, except for one. Which one have I missed out?


To get to the place, of course you have to take a train. I'm sure you know now, from the train station name.

Yea, where else:


Nowhere but the Colosseum.

I'm sure much has been heard about the Colosseum, especially for people who have watched movies like The Gladiator. It's basically an amphitheatre built in the centre of Rome built in the 80AD. Other than gladiatorial events, there are other activities held there like battles and executions.


Interior of the Colosseum. The arena in full glory.

Oh, I forgot this important point to advise travellers, April is one of the best, if not the best times to visit Italy. April is beginning of spring in Italy and weather is awesome. Moreover, there is an Italy Culture week in April (Do check out the exact dates online) where during the week, you get free entry to sites and attractions and also lots of special events happening in Italy. Admission fee for Colosseum is 15.50 Euros (~31 SGD) for an adult and we didn't have to pay a single cent to get in!


They actually erected a stage there for an art performance inside the Coloessum... Elton John performed here before.

We all see why the Colosseum is now in this state because of devastating earthquakes and stone robbers. And you can see even for the interior of the Colosseum it is not very well maintained, with large patches of overgrown grass everywhere...


A quiet angle of the Colosseum, admist the crowd of tourists. Here you can see the details of the Hypogeum, underground of the Colosseum.

If you are not aware, the Colosseum is the attraction which gets the highest revenue in Rome, and it's really a sight to behold when you get out from the Colosseo station. It receives millions of visitors annually, and is constantly undergoing restoration works due to the effects of pollution and deterioration of the Colosseum over time.


Ok, an interesting story about the cross here right in the arena.

There are tales about this cross being removed and placed back into the same spot a couple of times, as what I heard from the guide, there might be different versions being told by different guides, but based on my hearing what I found from the guide it seems pretty consistent that Benedict the 14th placed the cross here in Colosseum but was removed in the early 1900s, and it was placed back again in remembrance of the Christian martyrs who died in the Colosseum.


Last shot before leaving the Colosseum. The exterior facade of this magnificent structure.

Quite disappointing though, it started drizzling when we were in the Colosseum, and got heavier by the time we finished. We wanted to visit the Roman Forum, which is just a stone throw away, but it was just pretty ridiculous to walk without an umbrella.


I can only take a picture of the Roman Forum from the entrance of Colosseum.


Arch of Constantine.

The arch of Constantine is the so called triumphal arch to commemorate Constantine over Maxentius at Pons Milvius. This arch, unfortuntate which doesn't allow people to walk under it, is located right between the Colosseum and the Roman Forum. There is a long inscription which I saw on the Arch, which when translated, means:

'To the Emperor Caesar Flavius Constantinus, the greatest, pious, and blessed Augustus: because he, inspired by the divine, and by the greatness of his mind, has delivered the state from the tyrant and all of his followers at the same time, with his army and just force of arms, the Senate and People of Rome have dedicated this arch, decorated with triumphs'

Wow, Constantine is really a great man and hero isn't he?

The rain just got heavier the further we walked, and there was no way to head back to the train station because there was a parade or sorts of event going on and they blocked both sides of the road. We just had to keep walking straight.


Poor thing, even the 'gladiators' are drenched.

Dinner. Was thinking where to eat but in the end decided to go with a recommendation from Lonely Planet and decided to dine at this place.


This is a small restaurant and not easy to find. It's a restaurant inside Piazza di Pietra. Piazza di Pietra is a maze not easy to find the exact spot and there are only a handful of restaurants in that area.


A very homely and small restaurant, reservation has to be made in advance.Walk in will require at least an hour's wait.
You know how long Europeans take to finish a meal...

It's actually a 2 storey restaurant. The ground floor is actually like that of a glass house, but upon walking the stairs down to the basement, it give a very cottage feel.


Well this is the first time we ordered a bottle of wine to drink in Italy!

I'm not very good with alcohol, so usually we would just order a set meal which comes with a glass of red/white wine. Just this time we decided to try ordering a bottle which costs 38 Euros (~76 SGD). I'm not sure whether it is considered expensive or not, but to me it's definitely a waste cause we can't even finish half a bottle and we decided to share it with another couple sitting beside us. Almost every table have their own wine and so we really left our half bottle unwanted on our table.

Main courses to come:


Cheese Tortiglioni.


Fettuccine in basil and olive oil. My favourite!


This is a very awesome medium rare steak!

Dinner sets us back for 90 Euros (~180 SGD)!

Did some night shots to bring back some memories, actually Rome can be pretty romantic depends on how you see it. (=P). Here's some for you people to judge for yourself (don't complain cause my camera is not good enough for night shots):


Colosseum standard shot at night.


Colosseum from a special angle.


Arch of Constantine by night. Hmm I tot I was in Paris!


Pantheon by night. Looks spooky and mysterious?


Monument to Vittorio Emanuele II. I think it looks more appealing and majestic at night!


The Trevi Fountain. The effects look pretty magical yea?


Oops! I forgot where is this place! It's actually not an attraction, it's actually a bank which used the Rome ancient building as the office.

Well, that's all for the memories for Rome! Time to head back to Milan next!

Ok, this entry will be very short. I was thinking whether I should post this entry after my Italy trip but I suppose it might take some time and I wanted this to catch the upcoming festive mood.

This place could be a good recommendation, especially for coming Chinese New Year.

I don't usually visit town except for once a month affair when I go for my haircut in Orchard Central. I heard of this place and some promotion in the papers some time back, and today is finally the chance I get to try it myself.

Introducing the Ah Yat Tian Xia, one of the famous restaurants we might have known ages ago from the Ah Yat Abalone Seafood restaurants.


Ah Yat Tian Xia
Orchard Central Level 5

What am I going to recommend this time?


The Ah Yat Abalone Three Treasure Meal

Sharks fin? Abalone? Bird Nest? All for $29.80? No kidding. 3 treasures for such an attractive price.

You get to choose different kinds of sharks fin soup and abalone rice, so I made my choice:


Braised Premium Sharksfin Soup in Claypot.

The thick yellow broth is made from pumpkin soup, and made thicker than the normal broth you could have ever eaten. Soup is pretty enjoyable, and you and find pieces of fish maw and bean sprouts inside the sharksfin soup. Good way to start the course.


Baked whole Abalone with Fried Rice.

I like the taste of the fried butter rice. The gravy is pretty fragrant as well but a tad salty though, and you get a small abalone (don't complain its $29.80!), abalone slices (from the normal sized abalone), mushrooms, few chunks of chicken and fish meat. Whole dish is then microwaved before served. Tasty ah...


Superior Birds Nest with Fresh Almond Cream.

What can I say about this dessert? Healthy, good for complexion, made in such a way not so sweet, suitable for all ages. It might take you some time to get used to the combination of bird's nest and almond cream, but before you can get used to it, erm you should have finished it already.

Being a glutton me:


Fresh almond milk with Aloe Vera.

I shouldn't have ordered this, cause the treasure meal is already VERY filling. I was tempted by the aloe vera, but kinda disappointed when it came cause it was much of Aloe Vera jelly rather than the Aloe Vera cubes I anticipated. $6.80.

Other than just enjoying the meal, you will be able to have great view of people using the Via Ferrata. Well, we have the world's tallest indoor Via Ferrata here in Orchard Central, also known as Border X.


And well, I suppose you never get to see the lion in action climbing the Via Ferrata except for me. =)

I would say for the price you are paying, cannot complain. For me, definitely to go again.

Anyone coming to Singapore? Hee...

The last route along Via del Corso before nightfall.

Via del Corso is also known as Corso, is considered the main street in Rome running from Piazza del Popolo to Monument to Vittorio Emanuele II. This main street is wider than most streets in Rome, with main use of it as a shopping street. From this street, it actually branches into many tourist attractions around Rome.


Piazza Colona.

Situated in the very strategic spot, lies in the centre of the entrie Via del Corso. There stands the bronze statue of Saint Paul on top of the column.

Another attraction just a stone's throw away:


Piazza Spagna. Spanish Steps.

They call this the longest and widest staircase in Europe. At the background is the church Trinita dei Monti. I have been warned about this place, where the most pickpockets will be in, cause my friend got her purse pickpocketed here, so I tend to be more cautious here, but alas, we got pickpocketed way before reaching Rome...


Fontana della Barcaccia.

This is also known as the 'Fountain of the Old Boat', the Baroque fresh-water fountain in Rome just below Spanish Steps. How it is named is due to it's shapre of a half sunken ship with water overflowing the bows. However, I keep thinking that this fountain looks like a whale. Why is it so?

Other than just sightseeing we went some window shopping around Corso with all the high end boutiques, many a times wanted to buy but we were telling ourselves to carry less now and shop till we drop back in Milan.


Yea we went into Louis Vuitton and we saw the Louis Steps...

Finally dinner time! This is finally something I look forward to, being more than a week in Italy without Chinese food to me is really a torture, especially majority of times we can only have pizza and pasta. I've been craving for Chinese food for the longest time! Went to Google 'Chinatown Rome', there wasn't any Chinatown in Rome, as we have expected Chinatown to exist in capitals. Apparently there is no Chinatown in Rome but we managed to find some clues on Internet where we can try our luck.

Found this place, finally!


Lan He (Blue River)

This has to be the best Chinese food we had so far! All the staff in this restaurant are Chinese Nationals who really speak fluent Italian and serve Chinese style Cze Char local flavour! The bill was a BOMB though...


Crabmeat with Bamboo Shoots Soup... Yum 5 Euros (~10 SGD)
The bowl size is the standard soup bowl palm sized.


Chicken and Duck meat platter... Soso a bit cold 15 Euros (~30 SGD)
Never seen chicken and duck meat like this in Italy! 1 Chicken and 1 Duck drumstick.


Chinese szechuan soup... Quite authentic 8 Euros (~16 SGD)
Finally get to eat tofu and drink something SPICY! Same palm sized bowl.


Plain rice. Palm sized bowl 1.50 Euros! (~3 SGD)
10 times of our normal 30 cents plain rice!


Yangzhou Fried Rice. Tastes SG local Cze Char style! 12 Euros (~24 SGD)
This plate size is the same as the Personal Pan pizza. Get it?

Inclusive of pickles, water, wet tissue, the bill came to 45 Euros (~90 SGD)!!!!

End of day, heading back to our B&B.

If you remember the first entry on Rome, where we bought our Chinese food, this is the place opposite the train station metres away from from B&B:


This is the fearing Hong Kong restaurant, though their staff are all Chinese Nationals as well... I must say this place is very popular with people at night, God knows why...

We were staying in the Water Room but Massimo told us it has been booked for the next 2 nights so he arranged for us to move to another room which is the Fire Room. Wasn't much of a chore for us to move instead more of an element of surprise.


How the Room looks like... Simple and fiery.


Simple and nice toilet as well.

The next day we took a train and a bus to visit this so called "attraction" which is located at the outskirts of Rome. A little visit to San Callisto Catacombs.


Catacombe di San Callisto, Via Appia Antica.


Entrance to the Catacombs which are underground. Admission fee: 8 Euros with a guide (~16 SGD)

Catacombs are burial places for Christians, but also includes Jewish. This was done due to overcrowding and shortage of land and also the need to bury those persecuted Christians secretly. There are quite a number of Catacombs in Rome and the San Callisto is one of the more famous and popular with tourists.


Walking along the errie chamber, with a slight rotting smell... They call this a Galleria...


Known as the arcosolium, you see several chambers where it's usually served as a burial chamber for the entire family and then sealed with a marble wall with inscriptions and drawings.


This is the Forma. Tombs that are dug into the floor or wall of a crypt.


We saw this coffin and inside and you can actually see an outline of a human body. Can you figure something from this?

There are many underground levels so it becomes stuffy and kinda out of breathe after you reach like basement 3, and with the tinge of rotting smell still lingering in the air, you won't want to stay in the Catacombs for a long time. Anyway this is a pretty small and compact sight so the whole guided tour will end within 30 minutes.


The peace and serene surroundings of the Catacombs.

Quaint place where you see many people running around the area and walking their dogs. Air is very fresh and there are some little churches around you can peek into serving the people living around the area.

Left the place and it started to drizzle so we ran for the bus and headed back to Roma Termini for lunch.

Was having lunch at a cafe and we ordered these (Can't remember the name of the cafe but I know it's a famous chain in Italy, above MacDonalds):


Pasta AGAIN.


Oven cooked Pork Ribs! Quite nice.


Potatoes.


I think this is meant to be some lasagne.

Think this meal was pretty cheap. About 15 Euros with 2 bottles of clear water. (~30 SGD)

Was still raining after our meal, so we decided to head back to the B&B for a rest until the rain stopped. Before that we bought back some snacks to the room:


Yea, some slices of pizza would make the lunch more filling...


If not some pastries will do!

Before I went Italy, I have a friend who passed me the address of this place, and told me this is a place I must visit in Rome:

Via degli Uffici del Vicario 40, Rome, Italy

Heh this place is not located near the Uffici, instead it is closer to the Pantheon. I didn't know my dear friend heliosrealm would beat me to it and post something more spectacular than this.


Everyone in Rome loves Giolitti!

It has been tauted as the best Gelato in Italy, and locals and tourists flock to Giolitti again and again. It's a very well known cafe, pastry shop and ice cream parlor in Italy.

Price is relative reasonable for gelato in Italy, usually about 2 Euros (~4 SGD) for 2 balls and about 3 Euros (~6 SGD) for 3 balls. I do not know about the total number of flavours in their inventory, but they serve on average 70-80 flavours and the flavours change according to the season, but 1 flavour that will never change is Pistachio! Italians love Pistachio ice cream!


Taking orders, look at the different flavours beneath....


This is not the end yet, the 2nd ice cream fridge... There are 4 in total.

Well, I was really at a loss at which flavour to choose, it took me 30 minutes to decide what I wanted.

In the end,


Left: Chocolate, Mint, Pomelo
Right: Chocolate, Fragola, Champange

Oooo, I'm satisfied!

I promise next entry will be the last entry on Rome! I'm sure you guys know what's the contents of the next entry since there is nothing much left to talk about Rome except for 1 more!

Belated happy new year to your guys here! Hope you guys have a blessed 2010! Sorry was just back from another holiday and suffering from post holiday symptoms and also now down with a bad throat and flu, dragged myself very bad to start this entry. Many people have asked me how long more will this Italy end and more interesting pics to come. seriously I have been planning for it to end, really soon! Give me a little more time ok, Italy is really a nice place to explore and of course I hope to recommend more sights and nice things to try, so bear with this for a little while more!

Because of wanting to feature the Vatican City in 1 entry which I spent 2 separate days to tour the place, I had to spend some time rearranging the pictures and hence the continuation from now on might not be really in chronological order so apologies for that.

Ok, let me first talk about some food near the Vatican city. We know that Vatican City is actually not easy to get around, especially from the San Pietro Basilica to the Sistine's Chapel. It's probably a 5-10 mins walk around the walls of Vatican City. Don't think that the walk is a boring one, cause there are actually some interesting shops on the roads opposite the wall.

Introducing Old Bridge Gelateria:


See? Even the nuns love it!

Located at Rome, Via Bastioni di Michelangelo 5, this shop is located right at the bend of the road leading to Sistine Chapel. When you hit the only curvy bend, just look across the road and you will see this shop.

It's always filled with customers!


A 3 scoop like that will cost you only 2.50 Euros! (~ 5 SGD)
Pistachio, white chocolate and nutella flavours!

Yea I forgot to mention, the most popular and delicious flavour in Italy has to be Pistachio, don't ask me why. I heard from a friend and just decided to give a try and it's really good!

Were a little hungry and decided to stop by the nearest restaurant to Old Bridge, think just 5 shophouses away. We had:


My favourite Italian Mee Pok, tagliatelle.


Just a common plate of spaghetti with tomato sauce.

A bomb, with a bottle of clear water. 15 Euros (~30 SGD). Not satisfied. Had to look for another place to eat.

Well, I got another place to recommend for lunch. Remember Vatican City? Outside the St. Peter's Basilica, facing the Piazza is the straight main road. walk along the road on the left, you can't miss this restaurant with old decor and looks like Marche.


This was meant to be lasagne. It had meat and mushrooms inside.


I had tagliatelle with mushrooms again...


Ended off with Calamari!

For 3 dishes and a bottle of clear water we paid 12 Euros (~24 SGD) and food was definitely better than the previous one.

OK, more sightseeing to cover. After lunch as you walk out the restaurant along the main street, walk in the opposite direction of Vatican City, there is another interesting place to visit.


Castel Sant'Angelo.

Well, familar place? This is where in Angels and Demons, where the bad guy hid and they found an underground route leading to the Vatican City? Is it true? I don't know cause I did know enter the Castle, was just taking pictures outside.

This is actually the Mausoleum of Hadrian, for the Roman Emperor Hadrian and his family, which was later used as fortress, castle and now a museum.


This is the Ponte Sant'Angelo. Very pretty bridge with lots of angels statues.


Here's one. This is the Angel with the Superscription.

Just walk across the bridge, you will see the general crowd heading towards one direction. Within 5 minutes, you will hit one of the most popular spots in Rome.


Piazza Navona.

This place is filled with Baroque Roman architectural and art history. A very artistic piazza, where you see a lot of baskers performing and artists drawing and painting within the piazza. A small piazza like that is so lively, and can have 2 very interesting fountains within.


This is the Fontana del Nettuno, also known as the Fountain of Neptune.


This has to be the highlight of the piazza, the Fontana del Quattro Fiumi, or the Fountain of Four Rivers.

This was taken close up so you can't actually see there is a great obelisk right in the center of the fountain. And if you remember where Water was chained and left to drown in this fountain.

Further down the lane when you take the road east, immediately on you will see a big crowd at the first junction of the road. Here's another famous spot that almost everyone will visit in Rome.


Pantheon.

The Pantheon is the temple for all the gods of Ancient Rome, was initially not called the pantheon but then renamed after the French Revolution. Pantheon here is just a generic name for any building that is used to honour the dead.


Everyone busy taking pictures inside the Pantheon. Reminds you of the scene in Angels and Demons again?

Pantheon has now been used as a Roman Cathoic church, and so happened there was a service about to start and the security were starting to request the tourists to leave the premises.


The altar of the church. St. Mary and the Martyrs church.

Two interesting things to note about the Pantheon. We would never know that this building is so environmental friendly. You wont find lights in the church, there is only one source of light into the Pantheon:


The Pantheon dome. The oculus is the only source where light enters the church. Oops of course, not forgetting the main doors as well.

Next, there is an some tombs/niches right inside the church on the walls. They call it niches but it seems to be bigger than a niche like a real marble coffin inside.


Well, who can be so famous as to have a niche here?


None other than on of the greatest artist we know, Raphael.

He is one of the most famous artist during the Renaissance era. So poor thing of Raphael, his fiancée, Maria Bibbiena was buried right beside his niche. She died before they got married. You can see there is an inscription on the niche which when translated, reads "Here lies Raphael, by whom the mother of all things (Nature) feared to be overcome while he was living, and while he was dying, herself to die".

After you head out of the Pantheon, walk along the Corso Vittorio Emmanuele, and you see another grand building:


Monument to Vittorio Emanuele II

This is actually a monument built to honour the first king of Italy, Victor Emmanuel and completed in 1935. There is a museum on the ground floor of this structure though, its the museum of Italian Reunification.

If you are an architectural fan, the next place is for you.

We took the Metro shortly and we alighted at Euclide.


This is another train system within Rome, not the normal Metro. I can't remember what this is!


This is the church we saw after alighting at Euclide station. I also can't remember the name of this church!
(Edited: Sacro Cuore Immacolato di Maria, or known as Sacred Immaculate Heart of Mary, thanks to heliosrealm)

Follow the main road opposite the station and just walk till you hit the end of the main road, and this is the structure you will see right in front of your eyes:


The Parco della Musica.

This is not a tourist spot, but we visited because we were trying to find buildings with unique architecture and this one looks like that of a whale. It's the music complex of Rome and was designed by Italian architect Renzo Piano. A place for concerts and musicals.


An orchestra rehearsal in progress...


Closeup shot of the building.

Viale Pietro De Coubertin
00196 Roma, Italy

Not an easy place to get to though...

Last place before the end of the day, we headed for dinner.


Nothing much, just a XXL burger meal from Burger King. 8 Euros (~ 16 SGD)


Opposite the Burger King we saw this: the entrance to Piazza del Popolo.

Piazza del Popolo is also known as the 'People's Square' in Italian, but it is also derived from the word poplars from Latin, which is from the name of the church Santa Maria del Popolo, which is at one corner of the piazza.


You can see the Santa Maria del Popolo at the background, this is also the place where the first element Earth died in Angels and Demons.

In the foreground you see the tall Eygptian obelisk of Rameses II in the center of the Piazza. This oblisek is known as the obelisco Flaminio which is the second oldest obelisk in Rome.


Fontana del Nettuno.

Situated on the east of the Piazza, you can see the Fontana del Nettuno (Fountain of Neptune) which shows Neptune and his Trident and two Tritons. Following the steps up to the top, you can have a good view of the Piazza and also leads to the Pincian Hill and the Borghese gardens.


There's more to that than just the fountain that evening =). There was some event on Wildlife conservation.

Last but not least, to end the day with some shopping along Via del Corso...

So many people have been asking me for this entry to be published real soon! This entry is specially dedicated to the Catholics and those who can really appreciate one of the world's greatest art treasures contained in the Vatican City.

I've prepared lots of picture and I will just do less text and let the pictures and simple description do the talking.


The San Pietro Basilica and the Obelisk.



The entrance of the Medieval Palace. Can see the Papal Swiss guards wearing the colourful traditional uniforms.


The view of the Piazza San Pietro from the Basilica. Guess there was some major even during the Good Friday.

San Pietro Basilica - Largest Christian church in the world, one of holiest Christian sites.


You see GOLD on the ceilings of St. Peter's Church! This is also known as the Maderno's Nave, Michelangelo's work.

So we started walking around, decided to buy a ticket to go up to the dome of the church. It's a pretty challenging climb though, I suggest buy the cheaper ticket and walk up instead of paying more to take the lift. I can't remember the price but I can say it's definitely worth the money when you see the pictures later. You won't get anywhere far taking the lift, trust me. Save the money to buy ice cream. I'll recommend you where to buy the ice cream.


Midway. There is a roof terrace slightly more than midway reaching the top of the dome. That is where the lift ends here. It's probably a 20 mins walk.


We're in one of the domes. Looking down, the interior of San Pietro Basilica.


Looking up, how the dome looks like...

The final leg is not an easy climb. The steps become higher and more narrow, and many people were stopping and panting along the way. And there was this Indian lady in front of me who was crying when her husband was climbing a lot faster than her. It was so hilarious when she started saying 'Darling help me! I'm dying in a church!'


Finally at the top of St. Peter's Church. Overseeing the Old Gardens.


And this is the view everyone wants to see, very Angels and Demon huh?
The view that is worth all the queue and the climb.

Everyone is busy taking pictures and it's not really a very conducive place to stay as no one wants to get down and more people are getting up, so try to get as many shots as you can and get out of here!


Stopped midway again to enjoy the breeze. Something special about that cloud.
Yes, there is not only one dome in St. Peter's.


Can you see which of these appeared in the movie poster for Angels and Demon?

Finally we got down to the ground level and we headed into the Church.


Main interior of the St Peter's church. Hmm what's that thing in the center?


This is the altar, known as the Baldacchino. 30 metres tall and the largest piece of bronze in the world, stands beneath the dome, above the altar. Bernini's work.


The altar.

Something special was noticed at one end of the church:


This is the Cathedra Petri, also known as the throne of St. Peter. This is believed to be used by St. Peter the apostle.

Also surrounding the throne is known as the 'Gloria', a sculpture of clouds and sunrays surrounded by angels covered in gleaming gold leaf.

One last interesting highlight of the church, it's call St. Peter's not for nothing. Here you can find the Saint Peter's tomb right below the altar of the basilica.


Yea, its the tomb of Apostle Peter.


If you remember Angels and Demon, it's the last scene where Camerlengo Patrick (Ewan McGregor) ran down and burnt himself.

Out at the Piazza, something interesting which might capture your attention:


Centrol del Colonnato. What's that?

These are marble discs found in the Piazza (I think there are only 2 around). By standing in the center of the disc, you will see the columns around Vatican City all aligned to the first row of columns. Have the chance try it and see the magical sight.

After finished with St. Peter's, we went another big round to the other end of Vatican. This time we are visiting the Musei del Vaticano (Vatican Museum). Entrance is about 14 Euros (~28 SGD). This admission includes the museum and the Sistine Chapel. Oh, do check the website when visiting, if I remember correctly, there is always a day in a month which is free admission. (EYES OPEN BIG BIG FOR THE KIAM SIAPS)

Oh, it happened that there was some Eygptian exhibition in the Vatican Museum.


You see mummies...


Among there a lot of other exhibits, some pretty interesting while some just OK to give a miss...


The courtyard of the Vatican Museum.

Don't stay too long in the museum, I advise you to keep your attention for the Sistine Chapel.

Sistine Chapel - Best Known Chapel in Apostolic Palace, official residence of the Pope in Vatican City.

I can say this place in Italy used up the most memory space in my camera. I took close to a thousand pictures here but I'm going to pick a few interesting ones here. I won't be able to comment or give much description as it's just art and I was too engrossed taking pictures without noticing details.


Ceiling. It's really ceiling!


Another ceiling. GASP!


Very intricate ceiling. GASP! GASP!


Ceiling again from a dome. I spent more time taking pictures of ceilings...


One of the wall frescos. Amazing almost all the walls are painted like that.


Ok this one I know, Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.


Wall painting.


You can't see the real Last Supper in Milan, you have another bigger one here in Sistine...


Isn't this just SO beautiful?

Last but not least, the highlight of Sistine Chapel. You will definitely see this place before you leave the chapel, and its the place where you will open your mouth and amaze in AWE. They do not allow photography in this place, but you know I will find means to do illegal stuff:


The Last Judgement.


Depiction of the second coming of Christ and Apocalypse, by the wonderful hands of Michelangelo.

Take your time, scan through each and every inch of the Last Judgement...


You'll see this: The most iconic image, Hand of God giving life to Adam.

Oosh! I felt so refreshed and spiritually cleansed after a trip in Vatican!

This time is ROME! The capital of Italy! Finally left Naples and hopped on the train for a 2.5 hour ride to Rome. By the time we reached Rome it was like half past 10 and was pretty dark and quiet. We spent some time trying to find the hotel but brain too tired to think cannot orientate properly...


This is the train station of Rome, Roma Termini. This is of course taken in the morning la!

Well, time to recommend the place I am staying in Rome. Finally got to stay in a Bed and Breakfast. Initially planned for all Bed and Breakfast accommodation but didn't turn out too well, so some places naturally had to spend more.

Would recommend this place for you guys to stay if you want something simple and accessible. Visit this place: Art and Relax Suites. It's just a 10 meters walk away from Roma Termini!

I must say that the host of the place is really nice. I just called him and he came to the train station to pick us up with umbrellas when it was drizzling. Kudos to Mr Massimo.

Very interesting place instead. You know those Bed and Breakfast usually have no signboards so it's pretty hard to locate even when you are right at the doorstep. This Bed and Breakfast is just hidden behind a thick green wooden door. First thing you open the wooden door you see this:


Wa what's this thingy?


It's a retro lift which can take only 3 people! Yea, and I couldn't get in with my backpack on...

It's a very simple place with only 5 rooms, named after the 5 elements. Since we are staying 4 days in Rome, Massimo got us to stay in the Water room and the Fire room 2 nights each. Each room is 100 Euros (~200 SGD) except for the Water room which is 120 Euros (~240 SGD). He gave us the Water room because the other rooms are not available, and hence he charged us 100 Euros for the Water room as well.


This is how the Water room looks like.

And now you will know why the additional 20 Euros in the Water room. It's because they have this:


Power right? 2 people can shower at the same time with water massage and steam and radio somemore...

So we finished our shower and felt hungry. We saw this restaurant beside the place we stayed which served Chinese food! We were so desperate for Chinese food after so many days and finally after seeing Chinese food we were so HAPPY! We went down and ordered hot pipping soup noodles from a Hong Kong restaurant. Big mistake.


Wanton mee and dumpling mee. Damage? 16 Euros (~32 SGD).
Verdict: Horrible.

Noodles taste like spaghetti! Dumpling tastes like ravoli! We were so disappointed and cursing like mad. Decided to give the soup a chance. Wah brown soup first thing I thought was the prawn noodle soup. Nightmare! Tastes the same like plain water! What you saw in the pic was the end state. We just dumped the noodles into the trashbin wasting our 16 Euros...

Breakfast is served!


Breakfast in bed! So nice! Simple and fufilling.


Side of the Roma Termini taken from room window. That's how close the place is from the train station.

Ok from the hotel, we took a short walk past the train station and hit the first busy junction, Piazza della Repubblica. It's just a small semi circular piazza opposite Termini station outsdie the Repubblica station.


Oops can't remember the name of this structure...


This is the Fountain of the Naiads. Background the buildings surrounding the Piazza.

The main landmark in the Piazza other than the Fountain of the Naiads is the Basilica of St. Mary of the Angels and the Martyrs.


Very interesting basilica dedicated to the Christian martyrs. The outside of the Basilica looks to be in ruins but the interior of it is very well restored.

We headed down straight aimlessly along Via Nazionale and decided to make a right turn at one of the junctions. Right in front of us we hit this building:


Palazzo del Quirinale. The building at the background is the Quirinale Palace.

It is known as the current official residence of the President of Italian Republic. The Quirinal Palace is built on the Quirinal Hill, the tallest of the seven hills of Rome. Just another 5 mins down a steep road, you start to see people walking in the same direction. Follow the crowd along the little roads past the little maze and you see one of the most famous icons in Rome.


Trevi Fountain.

Trevi fountain is the largest fountain in the city of Rome. There is a little tale about this fountain, that if you throw a coin into the fountain, you will be ensured a return to Rome. Another method of throwing coin into the fountain is to throw three coins with one's right hand over the left shoulder into the fountain.


Another view of the Fountain with water.

We had a reason why we were loitering around this area for so long instead of going round visiting the sights. If you remember the unfortunate incident that happened in the 1st entry of Italy, you will remember that I have some errands to run in Rome...


I tell you no one will be so free to visit their Embassy or Consulate in the midst of their vacations...

We had to visit the Consulate of Singapore to get travel documents done so that we will be able to fly back to Singapore without a passport. Took us about an hour for the kind Italian lady to process the documents.


You also don't get walk in and take pictures around the Consul's office right?

Finally got our papers settled. Took us about first half of the whole morning to finish the task and now got to head back to Repubblica station to take the train and start our sightseeing journey.


So we headed back to Piazza della Repubblica and I took a picture of the Fountain of Naiads again with the Basilica in the background.


At the platform of Repubblica station.

Rome has got a pretty extensive train network, similar to the one we have in Singapore. Many of the sights can be reached by trains and they do offer tourists with 1/3/5 day passes for trains at a very cheap price.


Trains are pretty clean and new, and it somehow reminds me of the trains in the North-East line...

Taking the Metro in Rome can be quite a pleasant experience, with the clean and fast trains and also not forgetting, they have buskers playing music in the carriages as well to provide a source of entertainment.


This young chap here is playing the accordion here while his father is asking for donations from the passengers with a MacDonalds papercup.


Ottaviano Station. Time to alight. I think I do not need to elaborate further where my next stop is...

MECCA. The mecca of Catholics. I am simply awed by this place. Known as the smallest country in the world, it stands at 0.2 square miles.


The Vatican City.

The Vatican City never fails to be the most popular tourist spot in Italy. Anytime, anywhere, it's packed.


And I AM NOT KIDDING.

Word of advise: If you want to visit Vatican City, make sure you get up as early as you can, otherwise you can make it up by joining the guided tours with all the tour agents touting at the plaza.


The QUEUE. To get into Saint Peter's Basilica.

Actually I wanted to post the ENTIRE trip in Vatican City in this entry, but looking at the queue, you should wait a while more though before I bring you in and unravel the secrets and beauty of Vatican City.


I waited for hours in this massive queue so you all should wait also!

In the meantime, here's a nice shot (in my opinion) that I took while I was queuing to get in...


Heh, the Angels and Demons effect.

Next entry, Vatican City in full glory!

Ok, I said I will mention about the hotel in Naples.

Initially I booked this place Napoli Centrale Hotel. It was meant to be a cheap B&B hotel which costs like 50 Eur (~100 SGD) with breakfast, but we can't find the hotel and then saw this hotel which looks 'cool' and hence decided to go ahead to stay there for the night instead (which we were too lazy after the 1st night to search for another hotel).

The one which looks the best nearest to the train station: UNA Hotel Napoli.

Yea, this one costs 125 Euros (~ 250 SGD) a night though... (Include breakfast but exclude taxes)


Ok lah simple and chic.


Clean and simple toilet, what can you complain?

Hotel is pretty well sound proof. Why so? It's very noisy very early in the morning but we can still sleep in peace. The bus terminal and main road outside the hotel have cars that keep honking, and the noisy engines of the buses.


This is the picture taken when I opened the little window in my room.

Gosh, this market is also freaking noisy can? The moment I swung open the heavy glass window, its so noisy that you feel like shouting or throwing some eggs down. It took me less than 10 seconds to just take the picture and close the window. However the mood is pretty different when you are down at the market/bazaar.

Too many things to shop. Too many imitations they have. It's like a Chatuchak/Patpong in Naples, they sell secondhand stuff or fake bags.

After breakfast we decided to head to a very beautiful place, with the most beautiful sights and waters.

First we took a bus from the terminal outside the hotel to via Acton.

The most prominent landmark:


Castel Nuovo.

I didn't have the chance to visit Castel Nuovo, but it was built in the 13th Century and it now houses a lot of art works which originally came from Neapolitan churches.


The place I wanted to visit is Molo Beverello.

Molo Beverello is a port, where we came here to buy tickets to take a hydrofoil to our destination. Price per ticket ranges from 9-17 Euros (~ 18-34 SGD) depending on the type and company of the hydrofoil. Not to worry, the frequency is pretty frequent, they have trips to this place every 30-60 minutes.

It's about a 45 mins ride before we can reach this beautiful island which is the main star of the entry:


CAPRI!

You don't consider yourself coming to Capri unless you take the tour boat which brings you a trip round the island on the Mediterranean sea. There are several packages you can choose from upon alighting Capri, the price ranges on the route and the time taken to go round the island. I think we took the 15 Euro one (~30 SGD), a 2.5 hours trip round Capri.

Of course in the 2.5 hours, there are many things you can see and the boat driver will do the explanation in English. Some sights are just too far for my 'good' camera to capture a good shot. Nevertheless, you still get to see some of the best sights that I managed to capture.


First you see a statue of a boy atop a big boulder waving to the visitors arriving or departing Capri.


Then you will see the Grotta Bianca.

You can see the stalactites looking like huge ivory swords piercing out. Note the colour of the blue turquoise waters.


This is the Natural Arch, which shows a sculpture resembling a natural bridge balancing on 2 pillars of rock.


The Faraglioni.

These rocks survivied the coastal landslides, erosion by the sea and the atmospheric corrosion and it the habitat of the blue tinted lizard, the only place in the world where it can be found.


The postcard view.

People do not know how to identify which view is the frontal and the side view and hence the one with the cavity is known as the postcard view of the Faraglioni. It has been the most famous natural tunnel throughout the world.


This picture is to show how beautiful the colour of the waters are. It's like luminous!


The highlight of the Capri tour starts here!

Something interesting, this place is packed with tourists, by boat or by foot. And it took me 45 mins to experience one of the most awesome place I wanna be.

Price? 11 Euros. (~22 SGD) And maybe more.

As I mentioned, this is one of the most awesome place I have been, and I would recommend everyone who visit Italy to try plan to visit this place to see it for yourself. Seriously my pictures cannot do justice.

Introducing the Blue Grotto.


Look at the little hole. A boatman will carry about 4-6 passengers in his boat from the outside into the Blue Grotto. The height of the entrance is only 0.9 meters and all the passengers will have to lie down to get in.

Seize every second you have inside. I tell you I just took pictures non stop while my friend videoed the entire trip in the Grotto. It's a very nice experience when the boatman sings an Italian song while rowing the boat and you put your hands to touch the cool icy waters.


Be amazed!

No special lights hidden in the waters hor, its all the effect from the little amount of light coming in from the entrance and the deep depth that makes the Blue Grotto so special.


Another BLUE.

This experience only lasted for a mere 5 minutes with 11 Euros and also not forgetting to tip the boatman for his singing...


This is how the visitors are queuing to get into the Blue Grotto. Oh note that the Blue Grotto is not available to visitors during high tide as the entrance can reach to a height of only 15 centimeters or less.

Finally we finished the 2.5 hours boat ride back to the main jetty, and we boarded the Funicolare.


Oh what's a Funicolare?

It's similar to the tram that brings you up to the Peak in Hong Kong.


Yea, we reached the top of Capri!

And at the peak of Capri, you see a big Piazza with lots of cafes and shops. And it's time we stopped for lunch.


We had lunch at this Capri's Restaurant Pizzeria Cafe, food is not bad!


We had a Penne pasta.


And also a Tagliatelle pasta.


Not forgetting a Pizza Quattro Stagioni.

After lunch, we took a walk around the shops in Capri.


Woo, they have label stores in Capri too!

Fact: Capri is a place you see lemon trees everywhere! You can just find them everywhere in the streets!


Fool's Garden suddenly came into my mind...

The people in Capri are really crazy with lemons that most of their souvenirs have a lemon on it! They use lemon to make lemon liquer 'Limoncello' and also essential oils.

Finally, it's time to leave Capri.


A final picture of Capri.

We had to head back to the hotel to collect our luggage and have our dinner. Can't think of what to eat and we ended up in MacDonald's instead:


Other than the usuals....


We had something special: The Spinach and Parmesan Croquettes!
Pretty nice!


We are now back at Napoli train station...

Look out next, we are heading to the Capital of Italy, ROME!

And our journey of the Angels and Demons begins...

So we took the evening train from Florence to the land of Mafias, Naples. It was a 3.5 hours ride and we departed from Florence at 1830hrs so we reached Naples at 2200hrs.

It was a pretty nightmare. Caution to people visiting Naples, try not to venture out the city after 1900hrs. The environment is really very tense out there you see lots of police on the streets, groups of blacks gathering and talking loudly, and roads with glass bits all around like a fight has just ended. So those planning itinerary in Naples please try to leave the evening staying in the hotel room.

We got up early the next day because we wanted to squeeze the impossible itinerary of what people would do for 2 days in Naples into 1.


A view of Naples from the restaurant at the rooftop of the hotel.
Oh, I saved the hotel pictures for the next entry!

13 degree celsius. Nice and cooling. We quickly finished our breakfast to beat the rush hour crowd.


The morning view of Piazza Garibaldi. The busy bus terminal, carpark and at the background, the Naples train station.

We hopped on a bus to bring us downtown about 5 stops away from Piazza Garibaldi to the Circumvesuviana. This Circumvesuviana train is the main train line that brings you to various sights around Naples, not to be confused with their Metro line though.


The very old Circumvesuviana trains.

We took a 30 min ride before we alighted at this place. I never thought I would visit this place in my life, and the only time I could recall something about this place was my 'O' Levels English Comprehension passage in erm... 1996.



YES! It's Pompeii!
Take the Napoli-Sorrento line and get off at Pompei Scavi. It's about 2.50 Euros (~ 5 SGD)
Entrance fee is 11 Euros (~ 22 SGD)

As we all know in summary, Pompeii is the poor town which was buried by ash and soot when Mount Versuvius erupted in 79AD.



The remains of Pompeii... As seen from the main entrance.


This one looks like what you can see in Greece...

Basically Pompeii is a very big plot of land where if you want to understand things in details you can actually spend the whole day within Pompeii Scavi with a guide, if not you can just be able to cover within 3-4 hours.



Ruins? Still very nicely preserved. Backdrop you see Mt Versuvius.


They preserved the kitchen in one of the homes then.


Someone who did not manage to escape from the eruption of Mt Versuvius.

It's purely a walking site, and some areas within Pompeii are pretty exhausting to walk, with uneven grounds and steep slopes. If you are really interested in the history of Pompeii, there is another site which you can visit. It's the Herculaneum which is also known as the sister site of Pompeii.

I personally do not recommend visiting both. If you read reviews there are actually mixed reviews comparing Pompeii and Herculaneum. Some say that Herculaneum is a better preserved site than Pompeii while some feel otherwise. Just go with your gut feel which one you prefer to visit and JUST DO IT! Perhaps someone would like to visit Herculaneum and give another review? In terms of transportation and easy access, Pompeii would be a better choice.

We did a 4 hour walk around Pompeii and our stomachs are growling. Without further ado, we took the Circumvesuviana train 20 minutes down to the beautiful town of Sorrento.


The train station at Sorrento.

Sorrento is a very attractive spot in Naples popular with tourists. It's a pretty old town which is situated on a plain above the sea, overlooking the Bay of Naples.


A very old but nice town indeed.

Found this interesting restaurant for lunch. It was actually recommended by Lonely Planet as the place with the longest menu in town.


Ristorante Sant'Antonio

We ordered a few ala carte dishes and of course, 2 set lunches.



This is the lasagne.


Mussells in white wine sauce. See how black the mussells are compared to the ones here.



Chicken chop in their special BBQ wine sauce. Main course 1.


Chicken cutlet? Fish cutlet? No, its Pork cutlet.


This is the seafood platter. It should be the seafood PATHETIC platter. See they cheated using Yabby as Crayfish again!


Ok, they made it up with a excellent slice of Raspberry pastry.

Damage for this bill? I think its about 60 Euros (~ 120 SGD) and it comes with 2 glasses of red wine. Not too bad though.

Ok after lunch we decided to take a short walk around Sorrento. Basically Sorrento is pretty small, you can cover the whole town within a matter of hours as well, but the highlight of this town is the magnificant view that you can get.


It's really plain above the sea overlooking the Bay of Naples.
The hotels at the cliff are freaking expensive OK?


The little harbour here which allows ferry to dock. There are some interesting places where the ferries here can bring you to.


It's time to leave Sorrento. Back at the train station we see this statue. His name is Giovan Battista De Curtis and he wrote this famous song Torna A Sorrento (Come back to Sorrento).

Last but not least, we had to make a quick rush to the last spot of the day. From Sorrento we took the train back towards Naples direction and we alighted at the Ercolano Scavi train station.


Yea we are heading to Mount Versuvius! How can we miss that out if we visit Pompeii!

The Versuvio Express is one of the affordable tour operators that brings you to Mount Versuvius. The shop is just outside the exit of Ercolano Scavi station and 16.50 Euros (~33 SGD) is the cost of the minivan and the entrance to Mount Versuvius Crater admission.


We are getting close...

The climb up to the crater is simply not easy, believe me. The timing the tour operator gives you to get up and down Versuvius is simply for the fit and young. To meet the 1 hour deadline, you really need to walk fast up, and you can just keep running on your way down since its just downward sloping.


Not very clear here but it's midpoint and you can see Pompeii from here.


FINALLY reached the crater.


Another view of the crater. Is Versuvius dormant or extinct? You still see smoke spewing from small vents.


City of Pompeii in full glory...

It's definitely a feat to climb this mountain. Be prepared before trying this. Not forgetting that it's also very awesome experience.

We realised its actually 1745hrs and we had to beat the time to get back to hotel before 1900hrs again.


We're back! Piazza Garibaldi again at 1900hrs.

Wanted to get some food on our way back but couldn't find any along the way. Had no choice but to head to the rooftop restaurant back for dinner.


The alfresco rooftop with a view, but no one sits outside because its 12 degree celsius in the evening.

What did we have for dinner?


Steak. So small! Where got enough!


Grilled Chicken breast fillet with fries.

32 Euros (~64 SGD) leh like that! What to do? Naples.

Stay tuned for the best of Naples next entry.

More of florence!

This time round I won't have much to cover on Florence except for the last day in Florence. Didn't really do much as we were about to depart for the next destination.

First, let me talk about the hotel I stayed in Florence. Not a bad one though. There aren't many hotels in Florence per say (near the train station I mean). I always try to find one near the train station as it would be easier to lug the bags around. I thought this one is pretty near the station, but then was a long 10-15 mins walk from the train station. Probably it should't take that long, but there was quite a bit of construction going on outside the train station so we had to take detour.

Introducing Star Hotel Michelangelo.


Hmm if you see the interior in the web and the exterior of the building, somehow it's a big contrast...

Well we all know we cannot trust online pictures, cause hotels will always take the best spots they have and photoshop the pictures. This one is still not so bad though, and I got pretty good rates for this hotel so cannot complain lah.

The only thing I still have to complain is... NO AIRCON.


Decent room, but had to open the windows let the cold air enter and shut them before I sleep. Traffic is too noisy!

Ok back to the trip. Today we will be visiting 2 places. First let's move around some of the familar places we see in the previous entry.


Early morning along Arno river. It's not a jam as everyone would think, they are actually cars parked along the bridge on 1 lane...


After a turn, finally back to Piazza della Repubblica again. Yea other than the arch, the Carousel you see is also the landmark of the Piazza.

Finally, we reached the place we wanted to visit previously but was closed when we reached there.


Basilica of Santa Croce.

The facade looks a bit like Duomo though, we didn't plan to visit this place but we heard it's the largest Francisan church in the world with something interesting inside.


The main pulpit. Restoration of the building is ongoing.


Some interesting frescoes on the walls of the church.


Interesting stuff. Guess what? They are actually tombs. Lots of them, but as a mark of respect we were told to avoid stepping on them. There were too many to avoid!

You see some of the tombs have been protected, they belong to the more well known people of Florence.

And so, now the highlight of the church. The main reason it attracts so many people queuing to visit this church is because of 2 people:


To see the tomb of the famous painter, sculptor, poet Michelangelo.
I did a Wiki of his life, he died in Rome though...

And also someone you never expect to find:


Our well known physicist, mathematician and astronomer Galileo Galilei.
He died in Tuscany, and hence we have a Galileo Galilei airport in Pisa as well.

Back of the church, there is this area where they keep a lot of restored artifacts, managed to take a few but here are the better ones:


See the colours are restored back as close as the how the original one would look like.


This entire fresco on the wall.


We passed by the Duomo, again. Yea on purpose, I wanted to take more shots.

Next up, time for lunch. We had to find a place for lunch real quick. We had to walk back to the train station cause we had to catch a bus. This bus comes only 30-45 mins interval, so we had lunch at a small little restaurant near the bus terminal.


This is one of the tastiest plain pasta I have ever eaten. Maybe I was too hungry.


Seafood pasta in white wine sauce, erm but it's just clams...

It's not easy finding this bus terminal, cause the people don't really speak English, and they have a few terminals near the train station because each bus operator have their own terminal. Be prepared to print out the place you are going or some keywords to remember. For me, I had to tell the locals "SITA".

Yea, Sita is the bus operator and the bus terminal is hidden under a building opposite the train station. A good enough keyword for the locals to point to the right direction. Where are we heading to? Shopping!

The most famous factory outlet in Florence, The Mall.

A 30 minute bus ride, costs 3 Euros (~ 6 SGD). Don't worry where to alight, almost everyone who takes this bus will alight at the same stop.

.
The Mall. We all know factory outlets are meant to be ULU....

Lots of things to shop, but didn't expect me to go back only spending 200 Euros.


Another view. Outside the Burberry and Prada store. Items going at 60% discount!


This is what you see around The Mall. Nice scenery all around.

Now the trick comes. We know how to alight from the bus, but we didnt know where to board the bus back and what time it will come. Check out with the information counter, there is actually a Shuttle bus back to the terminal again free, if you keep your bus ticket when you come.

Ok, had to rush back to the hotel to pick up our luggage cause we are taking an evening train ride to the next destination. Before that, we stopped by another restaurant opposite the train station for a quick bite.


Ravioli ravioli...


And last but not least, pasta with basil and olive oil. Nice!

Next up, if you know where I mean, I'll be at the land of the Mafias in Italy.

Time for the fortnightly update! This time gonna bring you to the loveliest place in Italy, Firenze!

In my opinion, Florence is just like a small little town where you can get to anywhere on foot. Place is clean and the people there are so helpful, and it's definitely a scenic place with lots of interesting things to see. You can basically cover Florence main sights by walking, stop scrap the buses or taxis!


Fortezza da Basso.

This structure can be seen right the moment you walk out from the Stazione FS SMN. It used to be a fortress built in the 16th century but is now actually the main Exhibition Centre in Florence. Heh, didn't actually mean to come across this fortress but we walked in the opposite direction of where we wanted to head to.

Finally we reached the destination we wanted to head to. Piazza del Duomo.


S. Lorenzo

Basilica di San Lorenzo (Basilica of St. Lawrence). This has to be one of the largest churches in Florence and was built in the 4th century. I didn't get to enter the church because it was closed.


The Duomo of Florence. The structure on the right is the Baptistry.

Wow factor 4/5. Also known as the Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore, very interesting Gothic cathedral. I didn't have the chance to step into the church as it was closed as well, such a pity isn't it? The facade of the cathedral (structure in front of the dome) is actually known as the Porta dei Canonici (Canon's Door) and was dedicated to the Mother of Christ.


The Canon's Door, Dome and the Campanile, also known as Giotto's bell tower.

Fact: You won't believe the whole Duomo and the bell tower took 170 years to complete.


In awe of the Dome. Many foreigners call it the Red Roof Cathedral.

5 mins from Duomo you head to the main Piazza of Florence, Piazza della Repubblica. Also known as the Republic Sqaure, it is the main city square of Florence where you can find the oldest cafes and meeting places of famous artists.


The famous arch at Piazza della Repubblica.


Well, I never thought I would see this in real along Piazza della Repubblica. I always thought what we used to received from emails were fake.

Walk down 5 minutes from the Piazza and you get to another tourist spot at Piazza della Signoria. The Uffizi.


Very interesting building, but it reminds me of a building I saw in DisneySea Tokyo...

It was actually a palace built for the Florentine magistrates, hence the name Uffizi (offices). It was only over the years the paintings and sculptures collected were placed in the Uffizi and gathered and hence became a art gallery which opened in the 18th century. Again I did not visit the Uffizi because I admit that I am not someone who can appreciate art, and you want to go in by chance, be prepared to queue up to 5 hours. No kidding!


Our dear Neptune posing in front of the Uffizi.


This Cupid here is not an art exhibit but rather a basker...

As you continue to walk about 20 metres along the narrow courtyard, you hit the main Arno river again and right in front of your eyes:


Ponte Vecchio! Pretty shops on a bridge! Resembles that of the Rialto Bridge in Venice.

This bridge has really a long history dated back to the 10th century and it has been noted as Europe's oldest stone segmental arch bridge.

As the day is getting to an end, we decided to make a brief stop here and head to the last destination of the day before wrapping up for dinner. Just by standing along the Arno river looking on the left, we can see the destination we are heading towards.


Hmm maybe not very clear here, but it's at the background... The bridge in the centre is known as the Ponte alle Grazie. We have to walk along that bridge to get there.

Phew, it's not as near and easy as it seems. After crossing the bridge we had to cover a number of long winding roads and finally to an upslope. The walk up the slope took about 15 mintues and I must have been too old to finish the walk at one go I had to take 2-3 stops to catch a breather, but not forgetting to take pictures.


At this point it looks pretty awesome that you can capture both the Duomo and the Uffizi in a shot...

A must stop by spot for anyone visiting Florence. Noted as the most romantic spot in Florence, you get the birds' eye view of Florence, and also a lot of interesting people you can see here... =P


What a breathtaking and magnificant sight to behold... Piazzale Michelangelo.
Best time to visit? Before sunset.

Not to worry, you definitely find someone you know here:


You'll definitely find our Michelangelo at Piazzale Michelangelo.

Last stop to visit around Piazzale Michelangelo is the San Miniato al Monte just a stones' throw away.


Looks like another fortress or sort taken across the road. It's the Bishop's palace.


Exterior of San Miniato al Monte.

Known as St. Minias on the Mountain, this basilica stands at one of the highest point in the city and is described as one of the finest Romanesque structures in Tuscany. To me the facade looks like a mini version of the Canon's Door.


Interior of the basilica.

This is a very interesting church. Looking at the interior of the church, one would expect this is a very nice and conducive place to conduct services, but majority of the services are carried out in the crypt.


I sat and listened to the priest speaking in Italian and I just couldn't focus and kept taking pictures of him...

Was almost hitting 1900hrs and we had to take the reverse way down to the main city, but luckily this time is walking down instead of climbing up. Would have been faster if I rolled...


How bright the skies are at 1930hrs... Pardon my lousy camera cannot take high quality shots that DSLRs can deliver...

Last but not least, dinner spread! Had dinner at this place called Gustavino, one of the top end and Florence most stylish restaurant near Arno river.

Location: 37r, Via della Condotta


Think this is some appetizer seafood soup or something, can't see the soup...
Yea, and they call the yabbies LOBSTER! Wow, what do they call a lobster then?


Pasta. Don't ask me the full name, I forgot.


Ravioli.


Highlight of the meal. A whole fish! Covered with potatoes and tomatoes. 30 Euros (~ 60 SGD) ok?

Total damage is about 85 Euros (~ 170 SGD). That's what you call TOP END.

More of Florence up in next entry!

Hey guys, sorry for the long hiatus. Lots of things happened be it personal and work, and more importantly my home PC crashed and I was too lazy to fix until weeks later, so the fortnightly update became a 2 months update instead.

Anyway now I'm in vacation mode so I got more time to cover the posts before I head somewhere again! (In fact I just went 2 places!) Ok hopefully this time I make this a reasonably short entry since this place only requires half a day to cover.

This time, to Pisa, I'll cover Florence in the next entry.

Well, we departed from Venice in the evening and it was another 3 hours ride before we reached Florence. I'll leave the details of Florence later but it was just sleep and moving on to visit Pisa the 1st morning.

Headed to the Firenze railway station to take a train to Pisa.


You take this train from Trenitalia to Pisa. It takes about 45 mins to reach Pisa.

And this is what you see after 45 minutes:


Here we are, Pisa Centrale station.

From the Lonely Planet, they recommended us to take a shuttle bus from the station to our destination, but we decided to explore and walk ourselves there. Was quite a long walk though, about 20 minutes, but we saw some nice sights along the way.


This is the Arno river. One of the most important rivers in Italy.

Weather was pretty cool and we didn't sweat at all, and kinda saw many others trying to walk their way to the destination hence we were all like blind leading the blind. Was walking along a row of shophouses when someone suddenly shouted "SEE!" and I looked up:


We finally knew we were heading the right direction!

Actually Pisa is a very small place. You only have the Piazza dei Miracoli and all the main sights in Pisa is located in the Piazza. Do remember if you want to cover as many sights, buy the combined ticket which costs about 10 Euros (~ 20 SGD) from the ticket office, but note that this does not cover the admission for Pisa tower though.


This is Piazza Dei Miracoli.

Ok, let's cover the sights, first the Camposanto. (Included in Combined ticket)


Camposanto is also known as the monumental cemetery.

Nothing much I can remember from this place, but its a resting place for many of the prominent figures who used to live in Pisa in the 15th century.


You see very elaborate tombs, and in the background are the frescoes.

Next, the Baptistry. (Included in Combined ticket)


Baptistry. Awesome structure.

Also known as the Battistero, this is a very interesting place where its famous for its acoustics beneath the dome.


You have a lady there demostrating to you how remarkable the acoustics are in the dome.

And if you look at where the lady is standing, that is actually a pulpit. However, this can be used as an immersion pool for baptism by total immersion as well. There's a long flight of stairs which can lead up to the gallery to have a great overview of the whole Baptistry. It's the largest Baptistry in Italy and is dedicated to St. John the Baptist.

The Museo Dell'Opera Del Duomo (Included in Combined ticket)


That's the museum tucked at one end of the Piazza.

It's a simple museum actually, but it highlights the overview of the architectural masterpieces of th artworks of the buildings around the Piazza.


Exhibit on the architectural background of Baptistry.


Some other art exhibits.

The Cathedral (Not included in Combined ticket - 2 Euros (~4 SGD))


The Cathedral with the Pisa Tower. (Front view)


That's the other view. (Back view)

The interior of the church is actually built with white and black marble with the mosaic of Christ. And this is the place rumoured where Galileo Galilei formulated the theory of the swinging pendulum by watching the swinging of the incense lamp in this Cathedral.


See for yourself, black and white marble and the mosaic of Christ.

Also in this Cathedral, you see the tomb of the Roman Emperor Henry VII.


That's the Emperor's body.

Not forgetting the most elaborate item you can find in the Cathedral, the pulpit.


Interestingly, this pulpit built in the 14th century survived the fire in 1595.

Last but not least, the highlight of Pisa, the Leaning tower.


Glory of the tower in awe....

Be warned. It's not easy to get up the tower so if you really wanna get up, be there early. They only allow 40 people up at 30 minutes interval. I was there at 1000hrs and the next available slot is actually 1500hrs. If you don't like to queue, book in advance. Children below 8 years of age are not allowed up the tower as well, and the cost to go up the tower is 15 Euros (~30 SGD)!

Be it a gravity defying experience, it's up to you whether you want to take the chance.

The whole trip in Pisa lasted about 4.5 hours and it's time for lunch and head back to Florence. Before I end, here's a picture which I loved a lot. I didn't realise I took this picture until I was looking through them!


Pisa in a nutshell.

Till next entry, see you in Florence.

Now I'm left with about slightly more than half a day in Venice, what should I do?

We've been walking towards the main touristy direction but never actually walked around the hotel, near the railway station. Since it's still very early, we deicded to walk back to the railway station and then head back down to St. Marks from there.


The bridge not to be missed, Ponte del Scalzi.

Well, as we know, Venice has many bridges, big and small, and this is also one of the more famous bigger bridges we know other than the Rialto bridge. Of course, there are famous small bridges too, and I will show you one later.


Venice main railway station. The Stazione FS Santa Lucia. In the foreground you see the so called stops where the Vaporetto allows passengers to board and alight.
That's the Ferrovia stop.


It's only 0800hrs, and we took a little munch from the hotel breakfast, and we decided to head out to have a more satisfying one. Buffet! I see BUFFET!

Haha, well, don't be misled by the word, just like me. It's not the buffet that we all know, but the concept is just like Ikea or Marche here, pick the food you want to eat and then pay for it. Of course, all you can eat if all you can pay! In EUROS!

Decided to take the Vaporetto from Ferrovia to the St. Marks Square. It's nice to be resting and enjoying the scenery and the light breeze, but somehow it's pretty sad to see a lot of nice buildings along the sides of the canal that are abandoned. Guess many people left becuase it's really difficult to live along the banks when the canal floods.


I think this used to be a hotel or something.


Very nice right? Abandoned. =(


Very nice right? Hardly you see only a handful of souls on the Rialto bridge. Looks nice but closeup, it is really in need of maintenance.

Finally, we alighted at the St Marco stop. 0900hrs.


0900hrs. Basilica di S. Marco. Damn. Look at the queue.

The queue is really horrifying. At 0900hrs. We decided to try something else first. Campanile di San Marco. We took only 10 mins to get in.


Hmm this campanile doesn't look very tall huh? It's 97 metres tall and costs 6 Euros (~ 12 SGD) to get in.

Really good place to go, if you want to have a 360 degrees bird's eye view of Venice. I took a few shots, but I guess this one has to be my most liked one:


It encompasses the domes in Palazzo Ducale.

Spent about 30 minutes up taking tonnes of pictures, and we came down the queue turned out longer than before.


Hello is it free? I had to give up visiting the Basilica. I will come again!

Went to the Palazzo Ducale. This one took about 25 minutes of queuing time. I think it costs about 12 Euros (~ 24 SGD) to get in. Seriously, I would advise all tourists visiting places like Italy to purchase admission tickets online. That really saves the hassle of queueing. For me, I would have done so to save time, but on the other hand I want to be flexible with my itinerary so I decided not to. If you are someone who adheres to timetable planning and make sure you visit the site on this date and this time, it's best to book the tickets online.

Check out http://www.tickitaly.com. I must say booking of the Last Supper is a MUST! The only thing you need to book way way in advance else don't expect to enter ( like me =( )


The queue is not this short ok? I'm just trying to take the entrance and the name of the museum.

This place is really impressive. It used to be the seat of government of Venice and also the home of the Doge, elected ruler of Venice. Throughout the centuries it just kept expanding until how it looks like today.

This place is quite heavily guarded and most areas of the palace do not allow photography. If you do a search on Internet I guess you would only see the exterior of the palace. Of course, here I am going to show you some of the pictures I have taken inside the palace, just a few to sample, and I'm sure it's good enough to make you want to visit and see the real thing yourself.


One of the most gorgeous stairs I have ever seen. The grand Golden Staircase...


One of the halls in the palace.


This is the main hall. The guy in the centre of the pic, he is one of the security guards.


The compound of Palazzo Ducale.

The highlight of Palazzo Ducale, is that there is a small but famous bridge. I looked at guide books and maps and I can't find it until I came across it in the map of Palazzo Ducale. It's actually a small bridge built within Palazzo Ducale by convicts, connecting the old prison to the palace.


The bridge of Sighs. Also known as Ponte del Sospiri. It looks so gross in this picture, see how the actual one looks like here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bridge_of_Sighs

After the palace, we headed for lunch. Walked into this restaurant and saw a bunch of Hong Kongers having lunch there as well. Saw this lady eating something and shouting 'HO HO SEK!' and I turned around and looked. Her mouth is so black!

And I am so thrilled!


Finally I see squid ink pasta in Italy! And never more for the rest of the trip!


My friend ordered this. It was pretty good as well.

Still got some time left! We took the Vaporetto to this little town called Lido. A nice and quaint residential area. Looks like an American town if you ask me, too bad I didn't take many pictures of this town.

I got some nice gelato though:


3 scoops only costs 2.50 Euros! (~ 5 SGD) With so many flavors to choose from somemore!


One of the hotels spotted in Lido.

Oh and Lido has a pretty clean beach, but for the waters, I'm not sure...


Many people enjoying building sandcastles and sunbathing.

Finally, it's time to head back to the hotel and pick up our bags to the railway station as we got an evening train to catch to the next destination. We finally decided to try the 'BUFFET' we saw and guess what, food was just average.


Oh that's the first time I'm taking rice in Italy, risotto and also some corn mushroom soup.


Some seafood pasta, fries and potatoes.

See you in the next entry for an amazing place to be!

OK, so based from the last picture from the last entry, I guess you people should know where is the next destination. Today am gonna bring you sight see a little of Venice as well as taking the main transport in Venice, the Vaporetti (or most called the Vaporetto).


Here I am, right in Venice...

The place looks like some wonderland if you ask me, a feeling that it's very artificial. The water is not very clean you ask me, and there is a pungent smell when you are near the waters. Oh accommodation in Venice is VERY expensive, especially those by the canal, can reach up to like 350-400 Euros a night! ( ~700-800 SGD). The one I stayed was a mere 2 star hotel and it costs like 99 Euros ( ~198 SGD) already. It's one of the recommended cheap (yea compared to the rest) and convenient hotel in Venice. You cannot complain cause its only 100 meters from the Santa Lucia train station and they serve pretty decent breakfast.

No pics for this hotel, cause it was a pretty culture shock for me. You can refer to the pictures of the rooms from the website though, and I must say the website did a very awesome makeover of the room. Enough said.

Hotel Zecchini Venice: http://www.hotelzecchinivenice.com/

We got to Venice pretty early, hence immediately left to venture the place when we left our luggage in the hotel reception.


The interior streets of Venice leading to Rialto.

I have to wholly agree Venice is a place where the number of tourists is more than the number of locals living there. Most of the people who are walking on the streets are still lugging their suitcases, doing shopping and sightseeing on their way to the hotel.


What everyone knows about Venice, the Gondolas...

You see gondolas everywhere, but not many people would want to take cause I heard from people they charge like 100 euros for maybe an hour or so for 2 people, and that's like 200 Sing dollars! Venice is not a big place actually, so you can actually consider walking around to venture about. Anyway not to worry getting lost, cause its like everyone is walking in the same direction!

After a short walk, this is the thing everyone is waiting to see. It appears right in front of your eyes...


The Rialto Bridge.

Yea, nice from afar, but when you get closer you see that it's actually not very well maintained. I fear the bridge collapsing cause almost every tourist would want to be standing somewhere on the Rialto Bridge.


There are actually shops on the Bridge itself, selling all the masks and the jewelery. From the previous picture you see the green window frames, they are actually the back of the shops.

And everyone on the bridge would want to be at the center of it, capturing the best image you can get in Venice. Of course, I wouldn't give it a miss.


And this is what I got. The main channel in Venice, the Grand Canal.

We decided to skip the main attractions and leave it for later, in the meantime, we decided to take the Vaporetto to visit the nearby islands. My suggestion for people travelling in Venice is to get travel cards, 24 or 36 hours depending on how you plan your schedule. For me, I got the 36 hour pass for 21 euros (~ 42SGD). Unlimited rides for 36 hrs within the 1st time you tap the card, it's very worth it compared to a single trip ticket which costs 6.50 euros (~ 13SGD).


This is the nearest island to Venice. Cimitero. Wanna see what's there? It's a cemetery for the folks living in Venice.

1st island to explore. Murano.
Murano is the place where it is famous for glass and crystal making.


The 1st glass structure you see when you get off the Vaporetto in Murano.

It's a small little town where you see almost every shop selling souvenirs made of glass or crystals. Quaint and peaceful town, not many folks live there and its a pure tourist stop.


See all kinds of insects made from stained glass.

Ok, we walked till 2pm and our stomachs started growling. We walked past this restaurant and was attracted by the set menu they were serving. Without further ado, we placed our orders.


Never seen mussels so black and shiny until in Murano!


A large serving of fries, fried calamari and lasagne. 12.50 Euros (~25 SGD)


Another large serving of spaghetti, fish and chips and the greens. 12.50 Euros too.

After lunch, we took a final short walk to the end of the town before heading back to the ferry station.


A nice town with glass artworks all around.

2nd island. My favourite of all. Burano.

There is actually nothing much to see in Burano, it's a small little town but with quite a number of people living there. People visit Burano because of...


The brightly painted houses! So pretty right!

I really love the vibrancy of the town, its quiet yet vibrant, a bit of oxymoron here.


You see coloured houses everywhere! Note not only Pisa is leaning, look at the bell tower it's leaning too... A lot of things in Italy are actually leaning though...


There are many cafes around and tourists just like to laze around with a cuppa enjoying the surroundings.

Last island to visit. Torcello.


Torcello Vaporetto station.

Nothing much to see in Torcello though, but it used to be the most important settlement in Venice until the people in the island started moving over to Venice and left this place largely abandoned. However this island stands one of the most impressive churches in Venice, the Basilica of Santa Maria Assunta.


Basilica of Santa Maria Assunta.

And beside it there is another church, the Church of Santa Fosca.


Church of Santa Fosca.

There were supposed to be many interesting things to see inside the churches but we reached Torcello at 1650 hrs and the church was already closed at 1600hrs.

There are actually trips to cover the 3 islands at the price of 30 Euros with a guide for 3 hours, but I guess it's better to travel around at your own pace you can't really see everything in 3 hours, we took about 5.5 hrs to finish them. One thing to note about Torcello is that it is the furthest island away from Venice and the frequency of the Vaporetto is low like one every hour or so, hence it's very important that you remember the times of departure and plan your time in the island itself. Generally 1 hour should suffice.

By the time we headed back to Venice, it was pretty late about 1930 hrs. We were feeling a little hungry but we wanted to find a good place to settle down for dinner, so the most important place we cannot miss in Venice is....


This amazing structure! I love this shot personally.

The main attraction of Venice, the Basilica di San Marco.


Very grand but looks fake from afar LOL! This was taken at 2000 hrs which was still pretty bright.

And the surrounding of St. Mark, we have:


Piazza San Marco. Very romantic place to dine....



Palazzo Ducale. Also known as the Doge's Palace.

More coming up the next entry! Meanwhile it's dinner!



Seafood Spaghetti!


Tagliatelle Funghi!

To end it off:


GELATO!

Too much for this entry, more of Venice next!

Ok, time to continue the 2nd half of Milan. Not many pictures this entry though, and I will revisit Milan again before the end of the entire trip.

Everyone knows other than famous for its label goods in Milan, there isn't actually much to see. I tried lots of guide books and the places they recommend can be pretty limited.

Can't remember how I got to this place, but I presume it's pretty near the Last Supper place as well (Cadorna Station). Took about a 10 minutes walk to get here, but there is another station (Cairoli Station) which brings you right to the doorstep.


The Castello Sforzesco from the outside.

This place is actually a pretty nice place to relax. It's actually a castle but now is a place which houses a few museums and art collections. It's a very big compound with the gardens and parks as well. Right in the middle of the castle you have green grass patch where people will just lie down and chat or nap under the nice cooling weather.


The center compound of Castello Sforzesco.

Not being a very big art fan, we just decided to lie on the grass and enjoy the breeze after a disastrous morning....

After some rest, we continued our away to the shopping belt of Milan. Took another long walk instead of taking the train, because we wanted to see more things along the roads, and also Milan city is pretty small if you notice, majority of the sights are actually connected from the Duomo. Will teach you how to cover them from Duomo as the starting point later on.


We reached Piazza Cavour. One of the famous structures.

The shopping belt starts 2 minutes walk after Piazza Cavour.


This is Monte Napoleone.

Haha, don't be fooled by the picture. This is the beginning of the street only, the crowded area is actually further in, where all the branded labels are. Seriously, think this is the only picture I took for the first visit (more in final entries) cause:

- I was busy keeping my sling bag close to my body to prevent further loss of belongings and cash, and
- I was also busy checking out the shops and doing my shopping!

Things are about 15% cheaper than what you can get in Singapore, and not forgetting you get additional 11-12% of VAT refund at the airport. So irresistible that I walked in the shops and walked out with many shopping bags!!!

Do visit Monte Napoleone early, quite disappointing that most shops close at about 1930hrs, just as when I thought Japan is bad enough to close at 2030hrs.


They even have label hotels in Monte Napoleone. Armani Hotel Milano.

Dinner time! First serious Italian meal. We were thinking of where and what to eat, walked around so many places when we finally decided to head back to Duomo, as I was thinking of taking some night shots around the area. Headed back to Vittorio Emanuele.


Night view of Vittorio Emanuele. The sun just won't set until 2030hrs... Taken at 2100hrs.

There are a few high end restaurants there and we decided to choose something more in the middle range. Of course, I got warning that meals in Italy isn't going to be cheap. I finally got the experience at the very first meal.

Sit down at this restaurant. We decided to order 2 set dinners, and an additional dish. A set dinner come with either a glass of white/red wine, main course and bread. 22 Euros (~ 44 SGD) per person.


The red wine, white wine and free flow of bread. One thing I must mention, the bread is very tasty anywhere in Italy.


Main course 1. Some sliced beef with artichoke. First time eating a WHOLE artichoke.


Main course 2. Mine. Fish salad. Not too bad, could be better though. Pathetic serving.

So hungry after main course, we ordered pizza.


Pizza Quattro Stagioni. Standard 4 items: Olives, Mushrooms, Artichokes, Ham.

The whole meal for 2 came up to be 52 Euros (~ 104 SGD) for 2 after the taxes. Freaking expensive! Wonder how it's going to be for my whole trip!

Seriously you ask me, food is only so so and I'm sure I can find better food at cheaper price just because this is a tourist location.

So we took a short walk before heading back to the hotel.


And you get to see the Duomo again at night.

Got up pretty early in the morning to prepare for our departure.


The crowd at Milan Central Railway Station.

We're on our way to the next location. No need to rush because our reserved seats are allocated and we just have to be a bit early to check the track which our train will depart. Pretty confusing cause there are about 24 tracks in the railway station!

First time taking the train in Italy. Left us a pretty good impression.


Our 2nd class seats. Pretty clean and new. A little crammed though, and don't really like the stranger looking at you feeling. Follow Trenitalia.

It's a 2.5 hours ride, finally we have reached the next destination before lunchtime.


And here we are...

To be continued...

Milan adventure begins on a high note, seriously dramatic.

From Malpensa Airport, we took the Malpensa Express bus which costs 7 Euros (~ 14 SGD) and 50 minutes to central Milan. We landed in Milan at 0700hrs and with the customs and the bus, we reach central Milan around 0900hrs.

Weather is superb, temperature was about 12 degrees and we were in t shirts and berms. The locals were looking at us, weather is pretty cool but still withstandable then.


Yup, this is the Milan Central Railway station and the Malpensa Express stops here.

1st thing went to check in our hotel. Quite a nice and quiet place, this hotel is about a 5 minutes walk from the railway station. For the entire trip, almost all my accommodation are near the railway station for easy access.

Can recommend this place for you guys, it's the Prime Hotel Mythos Milan. Photos of this place will come in later entries. stayed for 1 night at 95 Euros (~ 190 SGD) for a double room including taxes and breakfast. It's a 4 star hotel with lifts. My female classmates who just came back from Italy emphasised on the importance of lifts while travelling. I guess it's due to hand luggage which is a tad too heavy or bulky, but for me I'm carrying a backpack so it doesn't bother me whether a place has lifts or not.

We can't check into the room since it's not 1300hrs yet, so we just left our luggage in the store and left for our day 1 of sightseeing. First thing first was to fill our hungry stomachs.


MacDonalds!

This is the burger you won't get in Singapore. CBO means Cheese Bacon Onion, quite an interesting combination. You get curly fries too, and the cost of the meal is 7 Euros (~ 14 SGD). You don't get any sauce in MacDonald's, and you have to pay 20 cents Euros (~ 0.40 SGD) for every pack of Tomato sauce or Mayonnaise.

After breakfast, it's time we headed for the subway.

The subway is just below the main railway station, but first we bought a 6 day Rail Pass for Italy and decided to make reservations for all our tickets first. Sad to say the system is not like that of Japan where you make reservations free, but in Italy it's compulsory to make reservations for most train tickets and each reservation costs about 10-30 Euros. In the end we paid 150 Euros for all our reservations.

Everything in Italy is expensive, but there are some ways to save in Italy, especially in transport. Think every single trip in Italy costs 1 Euro, but you can get a day pass which lasts 24 hours at 3 Euros, so you really save a lot when you visit a lot.

My friend paid 6 Euros to get us 2 1 day subway ticket.


And we proceeded to take the subway. Centrale FS.

That was when the disaster came. My friend changed 1000 Euros (~ 2000 SGD) for the trip and placed all his Euros in the wallet, and I think someone saw the stack of cash while my friend was paying for the day pass. So in the train on our way to the 1st stop, got pickpocketed.


We were still unaware and enjoying the accordion buskers playing in train.

We reached our stop and before alighting, my friend was trying to retrieve the wallet from the front jeans pocket to realise it missing. Darn, we just lost 994 Euros within 5 minutes! My friend asked me to check my belongings and to our shock, my friend's passport got stolen from withing my sling bag as well! What a way to start Day 1 of the whole trip, within the 1st few hours somemore! We headed back to the hotel first, my friend called up to cancel all credit cards in the wallet while I checked with the hotel staff address of the police station.

Yea, he told us not to be alarmed, pickpocketing is VERY common in Italy. And yea, there is only ONE police station in Milan.

My friend was still pretty calm and composed, while I was totally dampened by the incident. We decided not to let it affect us since it was the first day, and I promised I cover all the charges with my cash and cards.

So first stop, you can never miss this in Milan:


DUOMO.

Be fascinated when presented in front of your eyes. No words can describe this structure. Right from Duomo station underpass when I saw the building from the exit, I made a dash for it. Awesome.

2nd drama came. I just stepped out from the underpass and this black guy came to me. Without talking he placed corn on my palm and hit my wrist, which attracted the pigeons to land on my hands. The pigeons came nibbling the corn and he told my friend to take pictures of me, and after the pigeons finished eating the corn and flew off, he asked me for money.

I was about to dish out 2 Euros when he demanded 20 Euros. Daylight robbery! I insisted on 2 Euros and he almost wanted to punch me, in the end I gave in to give 20 Euros when 2 of his accomplice walked over, now 3 people asking for 60 Euros. Holding on to the 20 Euros, I waved to the police patrol and the men just grabbed the money and ran off. How audacious! So angry.

Enough of the bad incidents, just hope to forget and enjoy the trip despite all the bad things that happened.

Duomo is really a sight to behold. It took 5 centuries to complete the construction and it's the 4th largest church in the world.


Taking a peek into Duomo's interior. Admission is free.


The altar.

Wow, I have never seen such a grand cathedral before. There are so many things to see inside Duomo and everywhere you walk you will hear 'wow' from people.

The trip to Duomo will not be completed if you do not take a trip up to the rooftop. Access by stairs is 5 Euros and 7 Euros by lift.


I'm not kidding. The money is worth paying when you get up to see how intricate each structure is...


After all the climbing, you get to rest on the roof enjoying the view of Piazza Duomo and the surroundings, and also the Madonnina spire (the bronze structure on the top left corner)

I tell you, after visiting this Cathedral, the rest of the churches you see anywhere else might just be worse off cause you already seen one of the best. I got better pictures of the Duomo coming up.

Just beside Duomo is Piazza Duomo, a large square followed by rows of shops. You get all the fashion outlets and al fresco restaurants/cafes. And in broad daylight you can see so many locals shopping and hanging out in the cafes that you wonder: Don't they need to work?


The streets of Piazza Duomo. Nice backdrop of the Duomo.

Yea of course, something that you cannot miss is:


Gelato!

Gelato everywhere, and it's the only thing you can consider it cheap in Italy. You can get a generous 3 scoops for 2.50 Euros (~ 5 SGD). Gelato stores are almost everywhere, it's just a matter whether the display can attract you to walk to the cafe and buy them.

Just beside the Duomo, there is one big structure you won't miss:


Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II

Looks grand huh? It's actually a shopping arcade. It's named after the First King of Italy.


The interior of the shopping arcade. Some people says it's like Bugis Junction. PLEASE, you can't compare with Bugis Junction OK?

This is one of the places where you can find luxury goods, like Gucci, Prada and LV. Of course, it's also where a lot of upmarket restaurants (but not very good food) are.

From the Duomo where you walk in and walk out of the opposite end, you reach Piazza Scala. Piazza Scala has one of the most important buildings in Milan, La Scala, which is also one of the world's most famous opera house. And from the arcade before you can hit La Scala, you see this famous statue:


Yes, that is the Italians beloved Leonardo Da Vinci.

Next we took the subway to Cardona. Wanted to visit this place, but it was a bit difficult to find. Had to ask some locals for directions before we found this place. It's a bit difficult to ask for directions in Italy as the people can't really speak English. So when asking for directions it's important on your luck to find people who speak little proper English.


We wanted to visit this Santa Maria delle Grazie, though it's not the highlight..


This is the highlight. Cenacolo Vinciano.

What's in there? It's the famous Last Supper painting. But guess what? It's full, I can't get to see it. And I have to make reservations online, and I checked online tickets have been booked up to 3 months in advance! Well I thought of making reservation before the trip but wasn't sure of the exact date to visit this place so I dropped the idea, and I see that people have tried walk ins with chance of getting in. Well, since its fated I just have to walk in and have a look at the church...


The interior of Santa Maria...


Ooh, this is a very elaborate area where the choir sits...

Oh yea, there is a good gelato place near this church. A 5 minute walk from the church towards the subway.


Chocolat!

Exact details: http://www.chocolatmilano.it/

Sigh... Time to head to the police station and make a report, then I continue the next entry for the remaining day...

More to go.

Guess you guys have seen enough of all Asia entries and especially Thailand (Bangkok), the upcoming entries I promise are going to be pretty happening and I hope can glue you guys here for the next few months. I have loads of pictures to post and I will try to make it as exciting and informative as possible.

This entry is going to be a pretty short one.


Yay, I'm flying again!

Actually this trip was not too long ago, just for 2 weeks in April, and it's just been about 2 months, so most of the things are still pretty vivid in my mind. Where am I heading this time?


!! You sure you are heading to the Middle East?

Abu Dhabi is just the transit, not the final destination. First time taking Etihad Airlines, and people around me have never tried Etihad before so I didn't have any first hand reviews. I'm gonna give you mine this time round. =)

Etihad Airways is the National Airline of the United Arab Emirates. It's based in Abu Dhabi the capital of United Arab Emirates, hence the transit location. Many people have compared this airline to Emirates, which operates out of Dubai. I believe both should be pretty good considering that they are usually serving the rich and the famous in UAE anyway.

Seats are good, so is the inflight entertainment and the food. Excellent service from the stewardesses. My verdict: On par with what SQ can offer. Total flight time to Abu Dhabi: 7.5 hrs. Other than spending time on the plane having dinner, supper, watching Marley and me, I slept for the remaining of the time.

Reached Abu Dhabi at about 0030hrs and this was what greeted me:


Woo, what an interesting looking airport! Erm looks like a vase? I feel like i"m trapped inside a vase!

This is Abu Dhabi International Airport Terminal 1. We gotta wait 2.5 hrs for the connecting flight. Duh. What can we do? Went to check out the Duty Free Shops.


Their duty free shops at the ground floor, walk 1 round only takes 5 minutes :X

Went back to the upper level where there are a few cafes and we had some light snacks. A cinnamon bun costs 23 AED (~5.75 SGD) and a pack of fries cost 19 AED (~4.75 SGD). Food in Middle East is freaking expensive! Tested and proven by a lot of people.


It's better resting in the transit area catching some winks or watching the tv.


This is the long passageway leading to another Terminal. Oh this is where I saw our Minister Teo Chee Hean transiting his SQ flight.

The 2.5 hours ordeal is finally over and we boarded the connecting flight to our destination. Where?


Yea, now you know where I'm heading to...

Another 6 hour flight. This time, the moment the plane took off, I just went into deep sleep.


Finally we're reaching! Daybreak!

Oh this inflight entertainment is really pretty cool. Its a 12" LCD monitor in front of you, and its touch screen! They're really generous with the monitor size but please bear with the touch screen, workable but can be a little insensitive.


A picture taken half an hour before landing. I thought we were above the Alps, but the map doesn't say so.

Pretty good timing for Etihad to arrive at Milan. You take the evening flight 2040hrs at Singapore and you reach Milan Malpensa Airport at 0705hrs. Same goes for the return flight you depart in the evening and reach Singapore in the evening as well.


Finally arrived! Thank you Eithad!

Cleared the customs and moved to the luggage pickup area.


Malpensa airport looks pretty empty, don't be disappointed why you don't see leading label stores in the airport.

More pictures of the airport when we return. For now, get ready for the adventure to begin...

Ok, this entry is going to be the last entry for my Thailand trip in Dec 2008. I guess many people would be quite bored reading about my entries especially for Bangkok because its like I make my pilgrim trip there a few times a year. Something fresh and special about Bangkok please...

One thing fresh about Bangkok is that I almost change my accommodation every time I'm there. Though I have my favourites like Lebua and Sukhumvit Millennium Hotels, I will try to find some cheap and good offers during my stay. This time I found a pretty affordable one.


The Fraser Suites Sukhumvit. Quite a nice place. About 60sqm. This is the one bedroom superior room.

Sorry for the dark pics. Cool right? Very cosy like a home. You have everything you need in the living room, with an attached dining room by the side. You also have kitchenette, one thing most important in Bangkok where you buy supper back every night. One thing I must mention, they have a washing machine. Really neat. I don't have to do my own laundry every night before I shower, just dump everything into the machine.

.
From the previous picture, you can see the balcony at the background. Walk out and look down you see the pool...


This is the bedroom. Fraser beds are pretty similar, looks identical to the one in Tokyo Fraser.

Its pretty convenient (so to speak) about 10 mins walk to Nana station. I would have loved it if I continue to make my clothes in Ambassador Hotel. Its slightly further in from Ambassador Hotel, and before you reach Frasers, you would definitely not miss this place:


Bangkok Bed Supper Club.

Rate per night? It's only 3850 Baht (~160 SGD) inclusive of taxes and a pretty proper buffet breakfast. However, you can find lower rates in other Fraser Suites in Bangkok. There are currently 3 Fraser Suites in Bangkok.

New place to recommend for the clothes makers. Sorry this time didn't get to take pictures about this tailor, but he has a pretty decent website. Nice guy, you can spend between 800-2000 Baht (~ 30-85 SGD) in making a shirt depending on your budget and the fabric. If you are really into Raoul style clothes (be it male or female), this is the place to visit:

Pinky Tailor
Beware! Look at the pictures on the website! The boss actually resembles Mini-mee!
Jokes aside, the clothes are really of superior quality and he is a very nice and friendly guy =)

As I said, my must go dinner place in Bangkok, Tawandang German Brewery.


Tawandang.
2 Branches. The one with the best ambience:
Rama 3, 462/61 Rama 3 Road, Yannawa
Telephone: 02 678 1114-6 (REMEMBER RESERVATIONS IS A MUST!)

Must order items:


Grilled Squid. Fresh. Juicy. Dipped with the special Chili sauce, FIERY!


Garlic fried Morning Glory. Where is the morning glory? Don't ask me.


Tom Yam soup. That is not chili sauce on the prawns, just some marinate sauce. Don't be deceived by the colour of the sauce, its just something like cornstarch. The spicy one is the soup.


This is the highlight. The pork knuckles. Definitely wise to go with their German beer. 5* for this!

Don't just indulge in the good food, you have performances whole night to keep you entertained.


See how packed it is. The mood of the people there: Super HIGH.

If Thai/German fusion food is not for you, perhaps you can just head down to Chinatown.


This time, forget about the sharks fin and bird nest soup I recommended last time.

Walk along Chinatown, before you start hitting the bird nest and sharks fin shops along the main road, the 1st junction you can see 2 gangs of people operating the Seafood stalls, the Red Gang and the Green Gang.


You can choose from the array of fresh seafood available then ask the different ways to cook them.

A lot of people from travel guides preferred the red gang, so I chose the red gang as well.


So you will see the people in red taking orders, cooking and serving the food, the Thais/Chinese and the Indians. Prawns grilling in progress...

Quite cheap, we had for 2 people with prawns, crabs, fish and rice for about 60 SGD. After this, we took a Tuk Tuk to a place for dessert. Never been to this place before, and we got to know this place from a guidebook "Bangkok CityScoops". Awesome place, but the people can't speak English.


Look at the different kinds of ingredients they have!

You get to stand on the roadside in front of the guy, he will make the ice kacang and you will choose the ingredients you like. Up to 40 kinds to choose from you be spoilt for choice! After you finish the pointing you walk into the shop and sit down and the dessert will be served within minutes! Price of 1 bowl? 25 Baht (~1 SGD). Cheap right?

Erm, where is this place? Haha, ask me if you are keen to visit, I will go ask my friend to dig out the address from the guidebook. If you ask me I know its about 10 minutes ride from Chinatown and this dessert shop is facing a Chinese Tua Pek Kong temple? How I know?


They are having Teochew Wayang to celebrate some event at the temple. Pretty rare sight in Thailand to see operas.

Last but not least, to end the trip,


A nice sunset visit to the Temple of Dawn. Erm sounds pretty ironic here...

Ok, finally end of Thailand! Next up, more interesting places to go! Come venture with me but first see if you know where is this place...



You get some clue to where I'm heading next! Ciao!

This entry continues from the previous entry to complete the later part of the day tour in Koh Samui. This entry should be pretty short but as usual, with lots of pictures.

It started to drizzle while we were walking around the Wat Plai Laem (in previous entry), and we started getting a bit tired on the feet and hungry, so we decided to find a place for tea. Right in the map we spotted on the Northern tip of Samui there is this interesting place to visit, which I came across online while doing research for the Koh Samui trip as well. I was thinking probably I could stay a day in there but well...

It's actually not a very accessible place to be in. Even driving we had to pass many small and winding roads, and the signs leading to the place actually can be found already 2 kilometers away, with one almost every 100 meters apart.

Presenting, the Six Senses Hideaway Samui. The best hotel in Koh Samui.


View of the pool from the restaurant. Name of the restaurant is called Dining on the Hill.

Cool huh? Awesome place to be. We sat down at the restaurant and the waitress brought us the menu with the bread:


Yummy...

We got this interesting mint and basil drink complementary and it was simply out of the world. Just a small portion from the shot glass is able to perk and revitalize you.

Other than that, we only ordered:


Signature Quesadillas, and


Ice cream. The one in green is actually Rosemary and the one in Beige is Cinnamon. Cool flavors!

As it was still drizzling after tea, we decided to head to the Main Counter and asked them if they could bring us around the place. Without much hesitation, they arranged for a guy to show us to the resort.

I was wondering where the guy could bring us, we asked him and he told us he is going to bring us to see the second best accommodation in the resort, the Pool Villa. Yea, that was what I was planning to stay in Koh Samui initially!


We went in, first thing we saw:

Your own private little pool by the ground floor.

A very cosy area you can swim, else you can just sit on the wooden chairs or the sofa at the back, overlooking the Gulf of Siam. So peaceful or relaxing to just laze the whole afternoon quietly with your loved ones.


Leading up the stairs.... You wouldn't believe what you see on the upper deck...


Outdoor shower before you enter the indoors! Very cool and primitive! Woo, I'm starting to love the whole place!

Presenting the bedroom:



Jaws dropped. I don't know what word to describe the place. Setting looks a bit like the house the vampires stayed in the show 'Twilight'. This place is like heaven man..



First thing you can see when you wake up and open your eyes. Just pure lush greenery and the sea. Now it suddenly feels like a tree house. A house I would ever dream of.

Yea, they do have an interior bathroom as well. The bathroom is like almost the size of the kitchen in a HDB flat. You can laze inside the bathroom as well.



Nice right? Yea it comes with a hefty price tag. For this pool villa, 1 night is 25,800 Baht a night excluding 18.7% tax and service charge ok? After taxes and conversion to Singapore dollars, its about 1332 SGD! Ok now know why I gave up the idea and stayed in that Samui Cliff instead.

End of tour. We thought of staying for the dinner buffet in another restaurant, Dining on the Rocks, which is also very famous and well known in Samui. Sadly, they were serving Western Food buffet so we decided to give it a miss.

Headed back to the hotel for a shower then picked another place for dinner. Since it was Christmas eve, we decided to find a good restaurant near the beach and we found this restaurant that serves very good food:


A must visit restaurant in Samui, the Baitong Restaurant and Terrace Bar

Oh, they had Christmas set dinner so there's nothing to fret about. We just ordered the set and ordered different dishes so we could try each other's food.


Grilled scallops on Toasted


Seafood Pasta


Brazilian Shrimp Soup with Coconut milk, rice, tomato and lime juice. Unique combination but really tastes great!


Salmon Steak


Roasted Lamb Rack


Caramel Custard with Fruits Salad and Ice Cream

We were served with a choice of a glass of sparkling wine or red wine. And the bill was 1,100 Baht nett per person. (~48 SGD) Pretty worth it for a dinner on Christmas eve.

After dinner, we decided to take a walk and get some food for supper back in the hotel.


The Lamai Beach Night Plaza is just outside.

We bought some food, and of course we saw something interesting and we decided to buy too:


Hmm what's this? Paper bag?

We went back to the hotel, and then we start fiddling with this new toy. Took out a pen, wrote our names and wishes on it, and off the beach we go.


Yup, its the paper lantern, or people call it the Kong Ming lantern (孔明灯/天灯), known to be invented by our famous Zhuge Liang's hot air balloon.


So we finally lighted it and off it goes....

Well, that pretty marks the end of the Samui trip, and after that night the next day we headed back to Samui airport.


Resort like eateries and shops outside the Samui airport. A very East Coast feeling..


Last view of Samui airport.

And off we go. Back to Bangkok. To be continued...

I actually wanted to cover the 1 day Koh Samui exploration tour for this entry but I think I can only cover half. Samui is actually not a big island but the pictures to show and talk about the island is quite a handful and can be divided into 2 entries.

We rented a car to get around the island. Left the resort at 8am, had breakfast at Baan Lamai market, ate cheap and good soup noodles, fueled the car tank and started with the expedition.

First, we headed to this temple. Temple Khunaram.


Temple Khunaram. Near Baan Durian.

What's so special about this temple? I can't remember the name of the programme, but it was featured in a Taiwanese documentary on SCV hosted by this boy band. I remembered the time I watched it on TV it made my hair stand. Right in this temple there is a mummified monk. This monk died ages ago in a sitting mediation position and then was kept there in the same position with little signs of decay till now.


Shivers. This monk is called Loung Pordaeng, the most famous sight in Koh Samui.

After the temple, we headed to the waterfalls. Samui has a number of waterfalls, Namuang being the most famous. However, there are 2 Namuang waterfalls with Namuang II being the taller one (79metres) with more tourists.

You can drive to the entrance of the park, from there are means which you can get to the top of the waterfall. There is a little tourist trap at the park entrance, where you have monkey performances and elephant rides.


You can ride me up to the top of the waterfall.

3 ways up to the top of the waterfall:
- you can take an elephant ride (think its about 10sgd)
- you can take a jeep up (think its about 25sgd)
- you can walk up (free - takes about 30 mins)

The first 2 ways are faster, but you will only reach 2 stops. The first one being the middle of a forest or something, where you can see the waterfall afar, then up higher to the so called 'peak', where you can just hear the sound but can't see the waterfall at all.

We chose the 3rd way, it's very tiring and is all the way up slope. Difficulty level is much much harder than our treetop walk at MacRitchie.


Yea, halfway there, reaching...

Finally, we reached the top of the waterfall. No pics here (censored) cause we decided to jump into the water naked! Of course we already planned beforehand so we brought the towels from the resort along!

Had a good cooling dip which made us feel so energized to continue, and it's now far easier to walk down slope. Continued our journey and we saw this:


Wa! Samui got rum distillery!

We drove in and parked our car. Got out, walked one round, not a single soul in sight. The place looks like a house more than a distillery. You don't see barrels, no sugar cane... I googled I still could find a site for it: Magic Alambic Rum Distillery

Lunchtime! We followed a recommendation of the Samui website and found this restaurant (basically our eyes open wide when we see the word 'seafood').


The Big John Seafood Restaurant located at Lipa Noi.

Restaurant with a very good view. Would be better if we had dinner there. Price is pretty reasonable and food portion is pretty OK.


Oh, this is the 'transformers' car we rented. 1200 Baht (~ 50sgd) a day.

And here comes the food...


Popria Thod. Spring roll with vegetables, glass noodles, pork and crab. Their signature appetizer.


Seafood Tom Yam soup.


Seafood platter. Squid, prawns, fish and crab. Crab is like our flower crab too small...

Of course with drinks the meal came up to about 35SGD. Pretty decent. They do serve steaks but only for dinner.

Moving on to the next temple, Wat Kiri Wongkaram.


The interior of the temple.

Similarly this temple also houses another mummified monk, seems like its one of the highlight here. This one is not as famous as the previous one, wonder why.


This mummified monk is older than the previous one, placed further from the public in a glass case and surrounded by a metal grill.

Perhaps the mummified monk is further from what people can see from the previous one, and also the location of the temple is further inland compared to the previous one which is near to the Namuang waterfalls. Just my guess.

All the while we have been driving around Samui in a clockwise direction. From the resort on the east coast, to the waterfalls and distillery on the south coast, then Big John on the west coast and now driving up to the North.

On the north is famous Samui's Bo Phut beach and the shops along the beach.


Bo Phut beach is pretty out of the way but they definitely have a few good restaurants and shops you can dine and spend a lazy afternoon. Spent about 2 hours walking around and lazing at restaurant eating ice cream with a sea view.

There are a few sights in the North eastern part of Samui, and also where the airport is. On our way we saw a market and thought it would be nice to get some fruits to eat. We visited the wet market as well, and as usual you see:


The normal stalls with the hawkers selling fish, chicken, etc...

and also the HORRIBLE and GROSS ones!


Oh my god I almost fainted. Ok you can see for yourself. Freak out!

5 mins drive from the market, there is this gigantic thing you can see before the plane lands in Samui airport, and you can see on the boat/ship whenever its on the way back to the pier. No doubt the famous icon of Samui, the Big Buddha temple.


Big Buddha temple at Bang Rak. 12 meters tall golden statue. Also known as Wat Phra Yai.

You walk up the dragon stairway leading up to the statue where the Big Buddha sits. From there, you can walk around the sheltered walkway around the statue where the bells are hung and have good view of the surrounding.


Peaceful and serene...

At the other end of the temple, something interesting caught my eyes. You see a few brightly painted figures planted on the little sandy area. I did a search and was only told these were some of the mythical statues from Thai legends.

Another 5 mins ride from the Big Buddha is another interesting temple, Wat Plai Laem.


If you observe this picture, you will know how interesting this place is.

It's considered the most colourful temple in Koh Samui and it has a combination of Chinese gods which you don't usually see in other temples.


They call it the 18 arms strong Buddha statue. Pardon my ignorance but is this supposed to be Guan Yin?


I suppose this should be the Mi Le Fo, the Maitreya Bodhisattva.


And of course, you see the Thai Buddhist statues.

Ok, it's starting to drizzle and time to find a spot for tea break. More good places and good food to come for the 2nd half of the day.

Almost about a month didn't blog. I was away for a vacation and also busy with work when I came back.

This entry gonna talk about my trip to Koh Samui. Actually, the entry for Koh Samui was supposed to come first but because of the benefits of friends going to Bangkok, the Bangkok pictures had to come out first, so the order of the places travelled in Thailand will not be in order.

Was actually thinking where to go for 1 week holiday in Bangkok and saw this 1 for 1 promotion in Bangkok Airways with American Express so decided to get the tickets to Koh Samui. Not really accessible by roads though need to take bus somewhere from Bangkok and then transfer to a ferry and the entire trip might take up to 13 hours, so it's recommended to take a plane to Koh Samui if anyone is keen. Bangkok Airways do serve direct flights from Singapore to Koh Samui as well!


Bangkok Airways is actually a boutique airline. It takes about 1h/1h30mins from Bangkok to Koh Samui. Just landed.

I knew something was wrong, when the entire plane was full of Caucasians except 2 Asians, me and my friend...


Koh Samui Airport. Very resort like and one of the smallest airport I have seen.

We hopped onto a minivan to send us to the hotel. There's actually this minivan service which you buy tickets outside the airport stating your hotel and then you board the minivan. There are about 10 minivans which drives to different sectors so you need to be careful and make sure you board the correct one. And also, most of the time the drivers will only leave when the van is at least 80% full, so we got this American teen who reached Samui Airport at 1000hrs and was stuck on the van till we came at 1330hrs!

To the resort hotel. Its about a 20 mins journey from the airport to the hotel. Hotels in Samui are pretty expensive, wanted to get a boutique hotel but December Christmas period was considered super peak price. Had to settle for a normal one.


This is the Samui Cliff View Resort and Spa. Compare with the website. Somehow I always feel I am easily cheated by pictures on the net.

Yea it was 7000 Baht/night (~304 SGD) for a room. I called up and bargained until I got it for 5000 Baht/night (~217 SGD) for 3 nights. All these for a Beachfront Villa Seaview.


OK the bed was big, clean and comfortable enough...


Yea, you shower with a sea view too...

This hotel is right in the middle of Samui, so do not know whether you call it convenient or not. People will usually choose to stay either at Chaweng Beach or Lamai Beach but mine is the middle of both beaches. As the resort is sort of on a "cliff", the resort reception is at the top of the "cliff" by the main road and the rooms are down the "cliff" nearer to the sea. So whenever we need to get out of the room or back into the room, there will be a buggy picking us up. The buggy also provides shuttle to restaurants nearby and also Lamai beach. So immediately after check-in and dropped our luggage, we decided to check out Lamai beach.


Sian. Throngs of Ang Mos.

Walked a bit in the streets of Lamai, signed up for a day tour, saw the beach, and it was evening time for dinner.We took a turn back took a cab to Chaweng to look for this Samui Seafood restaurant.


A wide variety of seafood to choose from.

Nice and recommend restaurant. Prices are relatively reasonable and cheap. Just pick the seafood and tell the chef the way you want it to be made, simple as that. Ambience is good, you have waterfall sounds, traditional dance and musical performances to enjoy while feasting. Note though it's recommended to take an indoor table cause there are lots of mosquitoes!


Pampered ourselves with a Lobster with cheese.


Ordered a steamed fish in bean sauce.


Not to forget, the signature Tom Yam soup.


They served rice in a star shape...

Of course, served with some drinks the total bill came to about 2000 Baht (~85 SGD) which was really good.

Went back, got a good rest and the next day we set of for a one day tour to Koh Nang Yuan. There are quite a number of islands around Koh Samui, but was recommended by the tour agent that this is one of the best islands compared to the Ang Thong National Marine Park.


A view from the resort reception. Mine is the one lowest and nearest to the sea. Took it while waiting for the tour transportation to arrive.

Took the minivan to a pier, was a 30 mins ride cause the driver had to pick up other tourists from other hotels. From the pier it was a 2 hours boat ride to Koh Nang Yuan. Tiring but worth it. The view of Koh Nang Yuan is really beautiful.


Koh Nang Yuan welcomes you! Can see the colour of the water?

Koh Nang Yuan is made up of 3 small islands. From the boat you alight at the middle island, and around it, you have the northern and the southern island. Koh Nang Yuan is now one of the most famous diving spots in Koh Samui.


Nice waters right? See the sand spit? The sand spit is for people to walk from island to island.

So from the middle island, we followed the guide and walked to the northern island. He led us to climb a lot of steps and up big rocks till we reached the top of the northern island.


See? Standing on the northern island, then the middle is the middle island and furthest is the southern island all connected by sand spits.

Basically is just a lazing day tour. You spend the morning in Koh Nang Yuan venturing the islands and lazing on the beach, then after lunch you head out in a boat to Ko Tao island 10 minutes away for snorkeling. After that, they bring you back and you gather and return back to Koh Samui again. Brought along some clothes intending to snorkel but due to lack of showering facilities we decided to spend the day lazing on the beach.


And you see all the Ang Mos again, and you have to fight for the chairs with them. When it comes to tanning, they are always faster than others.


And this is the boat leading to Ko Tao island.

Reached back Koh Samui pretty late in the evening and decided to have dinner nearby. There is this recommended restaurant just 5 mins walk from the resort, so we reached back hotel, made a reservation, showered and got the buggy to shuttle us there in a minute.


The Cliff Grill and Bar Restaurant

Very famous restaurant with well known chef from Italy, and ambience is pretty cool too to be dining by the cliff overlooking the sea.

Here's what we ordered:


Prawns and Sea bass Combo


Spaghetti Frutti Di Mare


Cheese Lobster (again!)

As suggested from many websites, reservations is definitely recommended! Food is awesome!

Back for more rest. More of Samui coming up...