imatraveller

Vatican City, Rome II. Italy Pt 11

Tue, 08 Dec 2009 14:33:55 GMT

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!

Rome I, Italy Pt 10

Tue, 01 Dec 2009 17:07:40 GMT

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!

Naples, Capri, Italy Pt 9

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 16:01:52 GMT

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...

Naples, Pompeii, Sorrento, Italy Pt 8

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 16:12:55 GMT

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.

Florence II, Italy Pt 7

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 16:28:01 GMT

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.

Florence I, Italy Pt 6

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 15:28:04 GMT

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!

Pisa, Italy Pt 5

Thu, 15 Oct 2009 03:48:34 GMT

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.

Venice, Lido, Italy Pt 4

Wed, 19 Aug 2009 14:59:36 GMT

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!

Venice, Burano, Murano, Torcello, Italy Pt 3

Tue, 21 Jul 2009 16:11:59 GMT

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!

Milan, Italy Pt 2

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 14:00:36 GMT

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, Italy Pt 1

Sun, 21 Jun 2009 15:16:57 GMT

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.

Abu Dhabi, Part 0

Thu, 11 Jun 2009 15:35:26 GMT

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...

Bangkok Final, Thailand Part 5

Tue, 02 Jun 2009 15:21:57 GMT

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!

Koh Samui Day 2 (II), Thailand Part 4

Thu, 21 May 2009 16:21:13 GMT

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...

Koh Samui Day 2, Thailand Part 3

Tue, 12 May 2009 15:12:01 GMT

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.

Koh Samui, Thailand Part 2

Fri, 01 May 2009 16:06:20 GMT

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...

One day off Bangkok trip, Thailand Part 1

Sat, 04 Apr 2009 16:15:35 GMT

Ok this is really an outdated entry. I am supposed to update this before April because of a friend visiting Bangkok on 2 April but was quite busy with work and my health as well, so this friend left without knowing where to visit this place I'm going to blog about (sorry Jia).

However, many others who are heading to Bangkok on the Good Friday/Easter long weekend have really asked me to post this as soon as possible so they can decide and slot into their itinerary (same for those going in Apr/May period). So here it goes!

Was in thailand for a week during the Christmas period 2008. I wouldn't say Bangkok cause I have covered other parts in Thailand as well (more coming up).

Basically my schoolmate went to this place called LopBuri and I saw his pics and were like WOWed, so I decided to do a one day tour to LopBuri. There was this tour thingy going on in the Thai Railway website in December 1 day trip to LopBuri by train about 15-20 SGD, and the train departs at 0645hrs in the morning and comes back to Bangkok station at 1700hrs in the evening. The whole website was in Thai and I took some time to get a Thai colleague to do the translation for me before I left for Bangkok, and finally decided to visit and get the tickets.

So I reached Bangkok and asked the hotel to book the tickets for me, but the train station staff asked me to buy at the train station. When I told them I wanted to go to the train station, they told me the tickets were all sold out. Disappointed.

Blessing in disguise. Met this Thai taxi driver (can't remember when but should be from Airport to hotel) could speak a little English and so we told him about our plans. He told us he do day tours bringing people around so being greedy we decided to cover 2 places when the price is the same and the price is for the full day. Kiasu Singaporeans.

So the next day, he came to pick us up at the hotel. Oh haven't mention where we stayed. Awesome Pullman Bangkok King Power Hotel. 5 mins walk from Victory Monument BTS station. Don't want to walk? They have free Tuk-tuk waiting for you at Century Mall. One night is ~ 180 SGD with breakfast included. Did I mention the breakfast? I won't forget their breakfast spread...

The room. Good. Clean. A bit smaller than normal hotels, I thought.

The toilet, very high class. I like.

The pool. Very inviting. Always thought of jumping into the pool from the window view.

Yea and it's just 1 min walk to the King Power Duty Free shop. Choose the items here. Pay. Collect at the airport. Cool. (For those liquids)

Ok. First stop. Ayutthaya.

About an hour's ride from the Bangkok city. Ayutthaya was the old capital of Thailand, and now a UNESCO World Heritage site since December 1991.

If you see this, you know you are right in the centre of Ayutthaya town.

Nice place, filled with splendor of historic ruins. You can spend half or a whole day moving around Ayutthaya in a bicycle, which I see a lot of Caucasians doing. Or become like a typical tourist, you can take an elephant ride which I think they bring you around the town for 30-60 minutes.

Must visit place in Ayutthaya. wat Mahathat. It's the temple located at the heart of the city.

Some poeple just see it as a jumbled pile of rocks and bricks, it's just a badly ruined place when the Burmese destroyed the city in 1767.

To me it feels like a Tomb Raider scene... Destroyed but well preserved.

There is one thing all will visit when in Ayutthaya, you never seen this, you haven't been to Ayutthaya:

The Buddha's head in the tree.

You also see a lot of stupas around.

And you see a lot of Buddha statues around the compound.

Some are just ruined without heads.

There are also a few temples in the compound which you can visit. It's a pretty big area which might take 2-3 to walk around. Very peaceful and quiet place with lush greenery around.

A paranomic view of the area around the ruined structures.

Next up, just about a 5 minute ride from Wat Mahathat, there is this interesting sight to visit. I did not know about this place, but the taxi driver drove us here.

Wat Lokayasutharam.

What? It's a Wat? Yes, it is. There is no proper building for this temple, it's just a huge reclining Buddha in the open with a tent in front and some joss stick holders. According to the web, its 37 metres long and 8 metres high.

Here's a pic of the reclining Buddha relative to a human being...
A very stunning structure indeed. The bright robe covering the Buddha statue.

It's really not a temple like it seems. The whole structure just lies on the bend of a little road.

Another paranomic view of Wat Lokayasutharam. See the little white tent in front? That's so called the altar.

Next stop. I wouldn't know if this will be interesting to you, but to me I can say that it's an optional place to visit.

This is Phra Mongkhon Bophit.

What's so special about this temple. It houses one of the largest bronze Buddhas in Thailand, about 9.5 metres tall and 12.5 metres high.

Yea, this is the large bronze Buddha I'm talking about...

Nothing much just walk one round within the temple, but some interesting happenings around the compound of the temple. You see Caucasians busking, Thai flea market selling interesting food.

Of course, there are other sights in Ayutthaya to visit like the Grand Palace and other temples but I would say the 1st 2 are the highlights and recommended places in Ayutthaya.

It was about lunchtime and we headed for a quick lunch before it's another 1.5 hours ride from Ayutthaya to the next location.

We dozed off, napped, slept in the taxi but was at times we woke and see beautiful scenery along the way.

One of the mountains. Looks interesting with the colours and the shape of the peak. Looks like some extraction or mining is going on.

Finally we reached! The place is LopBuri. LopBuri is the 1 day tour which the train will bring you to. LopBuri is also one of the places where there are a lot of ruins and Khmer temples (that of the Angkor Wat architecture).

This is the place I wanted to go to! What's that?

LopBuri, especially in the months from November to March, is very famous for its visitors, which is also why the Thai railways have catered special trips in December and January for this.

YES! Sunflower fields! Endless sea of sunflowers so romantic~~~

Yea you can run in the fields like those romantic dramas, like a bee in search of pollen. Never seen sunflower fields in my life, and I thought you can only see it in places like Europe, of all places Thailand!

You see the sunflower so BIG so PRETTY...

...and then it ends up like that... The sunflower head dried.

And then it ends up in our stomachs when we eat the sunflower seeds.

Last picture of the fields...

Sunflowers in full bloom as tall as your shoulder levels.

Finally, to the last place in LopBuri, the Chon Prasit Dam. Nothing much, just a nice place to relax and enjoy the breeze. A lot of Thais have picnics and fly kites around the area. And oh, we got ourselves sunflower drink(no kidding!) and enjoyed the drink by the waters.

Looks like a stretch of breakwaters.

And well the highlight of the train ride:

This is the Chon Prasit Dam, and the train stops on the dam and allow the people to alight and take pictures. Following that they can walk over to the land where we are and there are flea markets where people can buy souvenirs and enjoy tea by the dam.

And for us, it's another 2.5 hours ride back to Bangkok city...

Osaka Musings, Last Entry

Wed, 25 Mar 2009 13:43:43 GMT

I guess there is a final entry for Osaka afterall. It basically sums up the entire trip and some additional pictures which were not featured in the previous 9 entries (wow that long!)

Musings aren't supposed to be long. So I just keep the story short and just display some miscellaneous shots.

Something to add on from Part 2 in the Osaka Aquarium. Can you figure out what's this? It's actually a breeding tank for Jellyfish.

Add on to Part 6 what we spotted in Hakone. The restaurant in Owakudani is selling Black Curry! Perhaps influence from the hot spring water?

Yea, I didn't mention which hotspring we went to Hakone, until I found this picture. Yup, its Yunessun. Just take a bus 10 mins away from Gora station. Check out the site Yunessun and Minori no Yu. Oh pretty awesome! Kudos to the technology they use in the spa resort as well.

Add on for Part 7. Grilled oysters lightly salted with lemon juice. Heavenly.

In Miyajima, something else worth eating - the eel bun and the beef bun!

Yea, I think even I have difficulty pronouncing the name of this station. Maybe try it 10 times as a tongue twister. Nishi-naka-jima Minami-gata.

Have you ever wondered why the pastries in Japan are always so appealing but not here in Singapore?

This is also about Part 7. It's a shot taken in the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum. Depicting the time stopped when the bomb dropped at 0816hrs on August 6, 1945.

This was taken in Kobe Shin Kobe subway station.
Part 8. A pretty cool advertisement for their Kobe Design University.

Last but not least, not forgetting the Church of Light in Part 9. Feedback from people, the pictures can only bring out the beauty of the church, but there's really the need to be present itself to sense the inner calm and peace. Well said.

That's all for Japan. Next week another location!

Kyoto, Japan Part 9

Sun, 22 Mar 2009 16:00:59 GMT

This should be the last entry wrapping up the entire trip in Japan for September 08 (wow that's 6 months back! Yea I know I am slow...) I'm still thinking whether to post another musing entry and it depends on whether I have more interesting miscellaneous pics I can dig. I'll just leave it as Part 9 instead of Last Entry for now...

Kyoto is considered one of the next nearest cities to Osaka, and it takes about an hour by Shinkansen from Shin-Osaka station.

Hear we are at Kyoto station.

Much has been said about Kyoto station. You wouldn't actually know it until you step out of the station and see it in your own eyes. It was rebuilt and opened in 1997 to depict its futuristic facade in contrast to people's image of Kyoto as the capital of traditional Japan.

Entrance of Kyoto station. Oh there is this Kyoto Manga museum which is a 5 minute walk from the station. Opened in 2006 and which way to go? Follow Astroboy!

This is also part of the facade of Kyoto station taken at the 10th storey of the Isetan shopping mall. Isetan is integrated with the Kyoto station.

Kyoto city view taken from the 15th storey of Isetan. Its an observatory.

Just a stone's throw away crossing a traffice junction opposite Kyoto staion is the Kyoto Tower. It's currently the tallest building in Kyoto. There is a viewing platform which offers 360 degree view of the whole of Kyoto and overlooking Osaka on clear days. Interesting as it is, it stands on top of a shopping mall and a hotel, hence you see Kyoto Tower Hotel.

Kyoto Tower. Taken at at Japanese restaurant 11th storey in Isetan.

Talking about Japanese restaurant, we had Kaiseki again!

Kaiseki Set 1

Kaiseki Set 2

Highlight: Dessert

This konyakku jelly with Japanese red beans and gold flakes! Wah feel so HIGH CLASS eating gold!

10 minutes from Kyoto station is this interesting place known as the Honganji Temples. (本願寺)

Before the entrance of the temple. It's actually another UNESCO world heritage site.

It actually has a very interesting history behind. It used to be just the Honjanji temple but due to some threat between sects, Honganji was split into 2, the Higashi Honganji(東本願寺) and the Nishi Honganji(西本願寺) to be taken by a priest and his brother.

This is the Higashi Honganji.

The Nishi Honganji.

Think it was not really the right time to visit the Higashi Honganji because they were carrying out some restoration works. The hall is Kyoto's largest wooden structure to date, and was heard to carry out renovation works till year 2011.

Renovation in progress. Note they don't actually scaffold the temple but encapsulates it with a metallic structure instead.

Next we headed back to Osaka and took another train which brought us to this little town Ibaraki (茨木市). What's interesting in Ibaraki? You have to be someone who is very interested in Architecture to like this place. I didn't know about this place but my friend insisted taking paying a visit.

It's not easy to get permission to visit this place. It took us 3 attempts to be able to do so. If you have heard of this architect Tadao Ando, this place will not be unfamilar to you.

The Church of Light.

1st time we called up the booking was full for the day, 2nd time was a Sunday which they have worship services not open to tourists and finally the 3rd time we were granted.

A very Zen like family church, and the size about a terrace house, the service can probably hold only 150 churchgoers. The idea of this building is to contrast light and solid, which is the concrete of the church. As I am not an architect nor being able to bring out the beauty of the church, I can only provide some pictures which will speak for itself.

The main worship hall. That's what I meant by contrast of light and concrete.

You see these huge organ.

Everwhere you see intersection of concrete. That's how simple this building is. And its raw plain reinforced concrete wall.

The attendant allowed me to visit their administrative area and their mini library.

A new mini chapel which was just extended not long ago. Very serene.

Definitely worth a visit if you have some time off your itinerary.

Nightfall. Visit to Namba Parks.

Sounds like a park? No its actually a shopping complex and office tower located in Namba. It has this high office tower with a shopping mall and rooftop garden, developed by another famous architect Jon Jerde from California.

The rooftop garden at Namba parks. There are a lot of high end dining restaurants in this building as well.

Look at the amount of lush greenery between the buildings. They have rooftop gardens at different levels.

Then as usual, we headed back to the restaurant Iwasankai mentioned in the previous entry for dinner again! It's just located at the ground floor of Namba park.

This time we had sashimi!

Hotate hotate and ebi ebi!

Smells great when you start the BBQing! Too bad it's our last dinner here!

Final hours before heading to the airport the next day, we decided to go back to the Kuromon Market mentioned in the first entry in Osaka cause we decided to get some fruits back.

Kuromon Ichiba once more.

How I wish I can bring this box of Fugu home!!!

Guess what? Osaka is famous for something which was not mentioned in any part of the entries in Osaka, and long before I came I did some research and I managed to find this here!

Guess what's this? From the Chinese character many would have guessed. Whale meat! 100grams about 5-6 slices, price from 1000-2450 yen (16-40 SGD) meaning 1 slice is up to 10 SGD!

Never got a chance to eat in any of the restaurants, and this stall assistant told me they are the only shop selling whale meat. Demand has been low now because of trying to protect the whales, and shops which sell them will only offer at a high price. Sigh only frozen ones...

Here at Kansai International Airport.

If you are thinking of getting souvenirs in Kansai airport, forget it. Most probably you leave empty handed. It's not like Narita Airport or Changi Airport where you have many duty free shops and souvenir shops to spend your last Yens there.

Yea, I heard the last calls...

Really sad to head back home after so much fun, but I'm always on the lookout for more holidays to come.

Board the plane please!

Came back home to check my victory items from Japan. Guess most was spent on food, but I got some Paul Smith items which are real cheap and also a pair of shoes. Heard that people in Japan average wear a pair of shoes for more than 5 years so I decided to buy one and try if its really that durable.

Last but not least...

A can of whale meat! =)

Kobe, Japan Part 8

Sat, 14 Mar 2009 16:43:27 GMT

Think this is the right time to post this entry. Just happened that Kobe has been ranked the 3rd best Asian city to work in for expats after Singapore and Syndey.

Well everyone talks about Kobe beef in Kobe. Unfortunately, I haven't got the chance to try it in Kobe(but in Osaka on the last day). Actually Kobe is pretty big a city but I spent only half a day in 1 place and perhaps this might be a pretty bias opinion of Kobe.

Oh by the way, this is the view from my hotel room in Osaka.

As usual, you get the city view...

This is Ramada Hotel Osaka. Not a bad place, its linked to the Osaka subway Nakatsu station by an underpass. More as a business hotel, the rooms are pretty crammed if you ask me. SOrry forgot to take pictures of the room, seriously I wouldn't know where can I stand in the room to take a proper pic...

Kobe is pretty accessible via JR trains from Shin-Osaka. There are a few JR lines that bring you to Kobe busiest station Sannomiya Station (三宮駅).

So we arrived Sannomiya early in the morning in search for breakfast.

We had Kobe ramen instead of Kobe beef.

Good attempt. It's actually ramen but I wonder how come it tastes like our local Kuey Teow soup? Are they trying something fusion? Don't be cheated by the miso soup colour. It just taste like soup base for normal Kuey Teow soup.

Yea, we didn't step into any Pachinko shop in Japan so we decided to take a look before heading to where we wanted to visit.

Seen people playing so many times in Japan but I still do not understand how do people play this game. I did a search in Wikipedia and I still don't understand. Anyway its not a place I like to stay for long cause almost everyone is smoking inside and its too noisy a place to be in for long.

From Sannomiya, we took a subway to Shin-Kobe station. After reaching Shin-KObe station, we took a ropeway to a herb park. (1000 Yen return for adult)

View of Kobe city from the ropeway.

This is how the ropeway looks like...

The Kobe Harbour view from the ropeway as well.

After 10 minutes, we reached this Nunobiki Herb Park (布引ハーブ園).

Hmm this place doesn't look Japanese yea...

A very medieval looking building, this is actually the top of a hill and the entrance of the Nunobiki Herb Park. There's restaurants and shops here all selling dishes cooked from herbs and items made from herbs.

Another view. The air here is very refreshing and the temperature is pretty low like 12-15 degree celcius.

It's a pretty weird place. Though its a park, thoughout the whole route down you have admission gates to continue walking to different parts of the park. The main idea of this place is to take the ropeway all the way up and walk all the way down, so people don't buy return tickets, but in the end we regretted not buying...

So we decided to enjoy ourselves and started taking pictures of the place.

Harvest time!

You get to see many interesting flowers.

Yea you see a dam in the park too.

You see the greenhouse.

Its a place with four different domes and divided into different zones for learning about different kinds of herbs. There is a cafe inside the greenhouse which serves herb teas. You see some of the local fruits and plants as well considering the use of greenhouse to grow tropical plants like Dragonfruit and the Rose Apple (jambu).

The interior of the greenhouse.

Ok this is the highlight. It's a well known sculpture inside the greenhouse but I forgot about the name, think it's called 'Mother' or something.

Oh, the reason why we came to this place was because the night before we were wondering if we could see anything natural like waterfalls in a city like Kobe. We googled and got this place, but when we were here and we searched high and low, we saw this:

Wah, sorry to disappoint but it looks like a longkang!

OK this cut short the whole trip in the herb garden and we decided its time to let the food rather than the sights of Kobe satisfy us.

Before leaving we saw kids having fun and picnics in the park with their teachers. The kids are so adorable!

Instead of walking all the way down the rest of the park, like visiting the lavender hill, rose garden and the mint and sage garden, we bought the ropeway ticket back down and saw the sights from the ropeway.

Finally reached Kobe station. Did a check and found out that the New Otani Kobe actually serves Kobe beef and hence we decided to pay the restaurant there a visit.

Went to this restaurant Senbazuru located on the 17th floor of the building. To another disappointment, Kobe beef is only served during dinner and so we missed the opportunity of trying it in Kobe. We decided to take the chance and have normal but satisfying lunch instead and we ordered 2 kaiseki (会席) lunch. Kaiseki in general is putting all dishes into a Jubako(Box) like Bento style. Generally it looks like a multiple course meal.

View of the Kobe Harbourland from the 17th floor of New Otani Kobe.

The town. The train station.

Closer zoom in. That's Kobe station from the previous pic.

Meal starts.

Saizuke. The Appetizer. Fried fish.

Futamono. The Soup.

Mukozuke. Sashimi! You don't need quantity. Its the quality that counts.

The Kaiseki I am talking about. Main Course.

Since its the chestnut season, we got to see a lot of interesting chestnut dishes.

That's the white chestnut, with brinjal and a fat prawn.

A smaller kaiseki set. The one on top right is the chestnut puree and the one beside it is a steamed chestnut. Oops I forgot the rest.

Tomewan. Gohan (rice) and miso soup. The rice looks like our Chinese style 8 treasure rice. Very light and fragrant.

Highlight. Fried fish egg! AWESOME is the word to describe.

Mizumono. This is the normal vanilla sorbet...

...and this is the out of the ordinary chestnut ice cream.

1 Kaiseki set cost? 4000 Yen (~ 53SGD). VERY SATISFYING.

Oh no, we are not full yet! We went back to OsaKa after lunch (with a long nap in train) and went back to Osaka for some window shopping. Headed to Yodobashi Umeda, a place like a mammoth superstore selling electronic products/items. 8 storeys filled with all electrical items to look for.

Yodobashi Umeda.

We have not given up eating yet. Our gluttony made us look for desserts and we found this green tea ice cream shop!

Green tea with vanilla ice cream + red bean with green tea jelly cubes and rice balls

Green tea ice cream with green tea cookie + cake cubes + rice balls

Yes we are exploding!

Finally dinner time. Finished shopping at the Umeda shopping belt and headed to Namba, another of the high end shopping district in Osaka.

Saw this Kabuki theatre in Namba. Very grand indeed.

Eh isn't this the Fushimi Inari Shrine that was shown in the previous entries back? They do have a mockup one at the shopping belt too HAHA.

Ok this place is a highly recommended place by me. Ever since I found out this place, the remaining dinners are all settled in this place.

Divine place for seafood. Iwasankai.

Iwasankai at Namba. There are a few other branches around. Visit the web for details.

Very simple decor. Very simple concept, but very good variety of fresh seafood and last but not least, very reasonable price.

You can eat and/or drink in the shop. Seafood goes well with beer believe me. This place goes full house after 8 until the shop closes.

Eat me! Eat me! Scallops, Squids, Prawns, Beancurd.

Sorry for the bad quality. We do have some asparagus hidden under the prawns and the bowl of oh I don't know what that's called...

Basically you just look at the menu and order the items that you want to eat, and if you don't understand Japanese just walk over to the counter where they place the freshest seafood and just point to the waitress and they will just serve to your table. Don't forget the Asahi Beer!

No marinating required, when the food comes you just start putting the items onto the BBQ pit on your table and you start cooking! If you don't know how to cook and determine if its cooked, the waitress would be there gladly to help.

This is how you do it... The one in aluminium is actually mixed cabbage, mushrooms in some seafood broth. Very nice!

Yea and you can now really start feasting when it's done!

And we are finally done after a day of BINGE EATING!
And bear with me Japan is ending!

Hiroshima, Japan Part 7

Tue, 24 Feb 2009 16:23:24 GMT

Finally, we're packing up our bagpacks and leaving Tokyo. A last look of Tokyo before the trip continues...

Last view of Tokyo city from Fraser Tokyo Level 17 window...

Check out Fraser Tokyo's lobby! Quite chic right? On the way to checkout...

Back in Osaka, next morning we got up early and decided it should be a sightseeing day and not a shopping day, so we left the hotel early to spend a whole day out sightseeing.

At the train station:

A: So early haven eat breakfast ley!
Me: We'll buy the train bento.

A: Wa! So small! Where got enough!
Me: Complain complain complain...

After 90 mins on JR train, we finally reached...

Hiroshima!

We're not going to visit Hiroshima city first, but we are going to take this train to another famous place in Hiroshima. From JR Hiroshima. transfer to the JR Sanyo Line to take the train to Miyajimaguchi station. Its a 25 mins ride covered by JR pass as well. Upon reaching Miyajimaguchi station, there is one big exit where you will be able to see a ferry pier about 3 minutes walk from the station.

The ferry pier. You take the ferry which takes 10 minutes to cross over to Miyajima. Oh this is covered by JR pass as well. Power of JR pass!

On the ferry, as you look across to Miyajima, the first thing you see:

The torii again! This is the famous one where you see in posters advertising Japan/Hiroshima. Definitely not the one taken in Lake Ashi.

Miyajima is known for its sacred island in Japan and it means Shrine Island. There are a lot of shrines in this island and many of them are well known.

Upon Arrival. Miyajima welcomes you.

Oh this place is like Nara. Its deer friendly and you have deers following you everywhere, however the deers here are not as tame as the ones in Nara, where they will move away when you try to move closer to them, the deers here are quite like the monkeys in our reservoirs, they will snatch your food. Yes, and they poo all around too.

Yea, you just cannot resist taking more pictures of the most famous torii. Different angles, different lighting. I'll tell you these are only the 2 out of the 50 plus I took.

Itsukushima Shrine. This is considered the most famous shrine in Miyajima, which is also due to the cause of the fame of the floating torii. The floating torii is considered as part of the shrine and its purposely done to be constructed over water. Hence this is a good place to experience when it is high tide.

Too bad the day I went it was drizzling almost the whole day and that time it was pretty low tide.

Oh well, another angle (more artistic heh with all the aesthetics from the plants). This shrine I believe is the only one on the island which charges an admission fee. For that we refused to enter the shrine and took the pictures outside.

Just behind the Itsukushima shrine, up a flight of stairs is the Senjokaku. Senjokaku means a pavillion of 1000 mats.

Senjokaku. Oh they charge a nominal fee for you to rest there as well. Duh.

It's one of the oldest structure in Miyajima as well and its a 1000 mat wooden hall with a lot of large paintings hung on the ceiling.

Yea now you see the paintings...

Beside this hall there is a 5 storey pagoda built and its easy to recognise. In bright orange!

Very pretty pagoda~

Another shot taken at the foot of the flight of stairs.

Further in about 15 mins walk from the main sights of the island, there is another interesting temple at the foot of the Misen mountain.

Also called the Daisho-in (大聖院). World heritage beautiful temple built from the trees in Misen Mountain （弥山）.

This temple has a lot of flight of stairs and a lot of water features.

A Kannon water feature.

A feeling of autumn can be felt here.

Intricate structures within the temple.

Happen to witness a ceremony going on a family seeking blessings from the gods.

That basically covers the trip in Miyajima but which lasted about 4 hours on the island. Before heading back to the Miyajima ferry terminal you will spend some time in the shopping streets looking for good bargains.

Yea looks like another Bugis Village or Shinsaibashi.

And yes, 2 interesting things to note:

You see this almost everywhere in Miyajima. Grilled Oysters! Yes its a hit and you see people queuing everywhere for it cause you can smell the fragrance FAR AWAY!

The so called specialty in Miyajima. Hmm looks and tastes like one of the often used ingredient for yong tau foo or steamboat. Its just more chewy and it smells nicer.

End of Miyajima tour. Took the ferry and the train back to Hiroshima JR station. Later half of the day is left for the city tour.

As we know much about Hiroshima, the place where the 1st atomic bomb was dropped. Obviously people remember this place for the incident and apparently there will be sites which are left to remember this event. I would like to highlight this interesting place, the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park (広島平和記念公園).

The Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park.

OK I tried to take a Panorama view of the Park. Success or flop?

The A-Bomb Dome

World Heritage Memorial. I find it ironic I thought the atomic bomb would just wipe out everything but this one has been preserved...

Its the Prefectural Industrial Promotion Hall before the bomb drop and it served to promote the industries in Hiroshima.

The back of the building, with a big boulder engraved 'Consoling the Spirits'.

The Cenotaph.

This cenotaph is an arched tomb to remember those who died because of the bomb. Below the arch is a stone chest with the names of the victims, estimated over 220 thousand people.

The Peace Memorial Museum. The main highlight in the Memorial Park.

Very futuristic building, depicting the sad past of Hiroshima.

The museum consists of narrating the series of events that happened before and after the bomb drop, and also the human suffering experienced by the people and also the future generations in Hiroshima. Would say that the videos and artefacts displayed can be pretty upsetting, can see lots of old people crying as they viewed the exhibits.

No photogrpahy allowed, but you know the usual me. Some artefacts collected after the incident.

Apart from the museum, dome and cenotaph, there are some other structures around the park, like:

The children's Peace Monument, a statue dedicated to remember the children who died in the bombing. It has a story of the girl in the statue believing that she would be cured from the radiation if she folded 1000 paper cranes.

The Peace Bell. People to ring the bell for world peace.

A final look of Hiroshima city.

Hiroshima is a city where people travel by trams. The trams are pretty convenient and cheap and can bring you to a lot of sights around the city.

Very clean and spacious trams of Hiroshima city. Tram 5 brings you Hiroshima JR - Peace Memorial Park - Hiroshima JR.

Finally its nightfall and we call it a day in Hiroshima. Leaving Hiroshima back to Osaka.

Hiroshima has been one of the highlights of the trip to Japan. It has been one of the memorable places to visit, enjoying the sights in Miyajima and understanding the sad past in Hiroshima. A recommended place to add into your itinerary should you visit Japan/Osaka.

Next up, the place you think of when I mention BEEF in Japan...

Tokyo, Japan Part 6

Wed, 11 Feb 2009 15:29:24 GMT

Apologies again. I wanted to complete this entry before Jan but was overwhelmed by loads of work until last week. Wasn't even spared during Chinese New Year had to support some guys working in Germany.

This time I'm gonna overload this entry as well to cover the last bits in Tokyo, think it includes the last 3 days of events before heading back to Osaka.

We got out of the hustle and bustle of Tokyo and decided to spend 2 days in Hakone. Took the train from Tokyo to Odawara and changed the Hakone Tozan Railway (those who have taken before will know how slow it is) to Miyanoshita station and walked to the hotel.

Introducing the Fujiya Hotel.

Just a 5 mins walk from the station.

Exterior.

Interior of the room. This hotel has hot spring water in their taps. Pretty cool. The water is clear blue like the copper sulphate solution.

After checking in, we decided to head for some shopping. In Hakone area, there is a famous factory outlet where almost all visitors in Hakone will visit, the Gotemba Premium Outlet

You know you are near when you see their landmark Ferris Wheel.

The best way to get there is to take train to the Gotemba JR station and there will be a shuttle bus bringing you to the Premium Outlet.

Quite crowded even on weekdays, and standing on this bridge can overlook great scenery.

Before I went Japan, my friend told me that the Muji shop is a must visit store in Gotemba, cause from the shop you can have a magnificent view of Mount Fuji. Apparently Muji closed down and was replaced by some other outlet.

We shopped until our feets ached and finally decided to leave the place at 2000hrs.

Weather in Hakone isn't very good. It rained almost everyday and its pretty cold in the morning. By 0900hrs, even the mountains opposite the hotel is covered with thick clouds, but nevertheless we decided to venture and try visiting Mount Fuji.

Take the Hakone Tozan Railway again to the last station, Gora. At Gora station, buy this 2500 Yen (~ SGD 33) pass which allows you to take the cablecar(which we call tram), ropeway(we call them cable car, so ironic) and also a boat.

This is their cable car - which is our tram. It brings you up to Sounzan. (早云山）

After that you switch to a ropeway.

Yea and this is our cable car. Confused?

Weather was pretty bad. Was raining and drizzling non stop and there wasn't much to see in the ropeway as its too foggy.

Yea, the damp weather dampened our mood.

It was then some rotten egg smell started to fill the ropeway cabin and we decided to alight and find out what was happening.

The source of the rotten egg smell. Sulphur.

We alighted at the stop which has the highest altitude, Owakudani station. Wow, I was overwhelmed by the smell and the drop in temperature. Quite choking and the temperature dropped from 17 to 10 degrees. I was shivering in the rain with a tshirt and bermudas. This is also the stop where you can see Mount Fuji in full glory, unfortunately not for me on that day.

You actually find hot springs in Owakudani, and of course its not for humans to use.

We followed the crowd to climb the sulphurous path up the so called 'mountain', then we saw people crowding round this small little window outside a hut. Yea, they sell something special here...

These guys seem to be packing something black...

Yes, this is the specialty of Hakone, the black egg, Kurotamago.

I tried the black egg, cause the person said its suppose to prolong your life by seven years if you eat the egg.

Beside the little hut you see these metal containers with the hot spring water used to boil the eggs.

After trying out the eggs we took the ropeway to Togendai station to take the Hakone sightseeing boat.

And we boarded a pirate ship!

This is a 30 minute boat ride which goes around Lake Ashi, a crater. Theres pretty interesting view of historical houses and wooded mountains and also floating toriis.

After 30 mins you reach the other end of the lake which brings you to a quaint little town.

The last stop Motohakone-ko.

Pretty quiet and sparsely populated place.

We wanted to spend some time going around but we reached at 1500hrs and the last boat of the day was at 1600hrs. So we just hang out the port and checked out some of the shops around the port.

Basically a relaxed day sightseeing but was somehow affected by the wet weather. If you have time to walk around, there are a few attractions to visit, like the Hakone Checkpoint and also the Hakone Detached Palace.

Also not to be missed, the Hakone Shrine.

After 2 days, we headed back to Tokyo and stayed in Fraser's Tokyo again. And the last day of Tokyo we took a train 2 hours away from Tokyo and reached this place for another new adventure.

Yamanashi shi. I guess most people who visit Japan would have never thought of visiting this place.

So what's so special about this place? Grapes. I'm here just nice for the season of BIG grapes.

Don't know what's this, but its the landmark outside the train station.

Not an easy place to visit though. Do check the train schedules for trains in Tokyo to Yamanashi. Frequency is not high and once you miss the train back to Tokyo you probably have to stay there overnight. If I remember, the duration between reaching Yamanashi and the train back to Tokyo is about 3-4 hours so you have to cover as much as you can with the limited time.

To save time we decided to take a taxi to the place we wanted to visit. Showed the driver the map but seems like he is not very familar with such places. We went in circles for about 15 mins before we finally reached the place. Yea, the website says its 5 mins by taxi.

Look what is this?

Was given a warm welcome by the owner of the grape farm. I called him before leaving Singapore and also in Tokyo so he was waiting for me to arrive. Without hesitation, he took out a basket of grapes and started to serve us.

This is the owner and look at the crate of grapes! Yea this place is called Misakien.(美咲園）

Look at the variety of grapes he served us.

If you visit Isetan fruits section, you will be familar with the expensive Japanese Kyoho grapes. It was actually that which made me wanted to visit the grape farm here. Notice they don't call this a vineyard because the grapes here are purely grown for consumption and not used to make wine.

Happened that it was the last week of harvest of the Kyoho grapes, the owner showed us another variety of grapes bigger than Kyoho and is in harvest. The Bioney grapes.

Yea big, really BIG and very juicy...

This is my favourite among all the grapes. This is called lady finger and it tastes exactly like the Qoo grape juice!

Of course we were given the opportunity to harvest grapes as well, quite an experience though. Before leaving we actually bought 4 kg of grapes and finished it within 2 days.

Not kidding, this is taken from someone's courtyard. I think almost everyone grows grapes!

We decided to walk back to the train station and along the way there were lots of beautiful sights, interesting houses, trees, rivers and flowers.

Oh, we also saw this. It's the season.

Hmmm what's that? Looks like rambutan...

Its our chestnut or GAO LAK. Also known as Kuri in Japanese.

All the pretty little flowers we see on the way to the train station.

Ok, back to Osaka for more! Stay tuned...

Edited: I just realised I got some more pictures to talk about in Tokyo!!!

Tokyo, Japan Part 5

Fri, 02 Jan 2009 13:59:17 GMT

Apologies for the previous long entry to cover the period while I was away, I promise this to be a shorter one but nevertheless gonna have loads of pictures...

This time I'm gonna cover 1 tourist attraction which probably most people would know. Which place in Tokyo can you find so many pictures to talk about an attraction? It has to be the Disney Resort.

The Tokyo Disney Sea

How to get there:

The fastest way is to take the JR from Tokyo Station to JR Maihama Station which is about 15 minutes. Other than that there are alternatives like taking bus from Shinjuku JR station (60 mins) or Yokohama JR Station (65 mins).

And then you see this when you arrive at JR Maihama Station.

And then you have to pay a little fare (think its between 200-300 yen - ~ 3SGD) to take a little ride to reach Disneyland or Disneysea.

And this is the iconic Mickey window. Guess it should be the same as the one in Hong Kong but I haven been there yet.

And then along the ride you can see lots of resort hotels. They have 3 in the Disney resort and this is the Tokyo Disneyland Hotel.

Out of the 2 Disney themeparks I decided to choose the Disneysea over the Disneyland, maybe its the reason that I prefer the Marine world than probably anything else and I thought I would be able to see some fascinating aquarium in Disneysea and also mermaids swimming. I was WRONG.

A sea of lavender welcomes you at the ticket booth.

Disney has really got a lot of flexible plans for purchasing tickets, there are up to 4 day passport to visit up to both parks, ranging from 5800-15000 yen (~ 77-198 SGD). We bought the 1 day passport to only visit Disneysea.

Ok there are about 7 areas which you can see in Disneysea (but no aquarium!).

This is the entrance leading to the Mediterranean Harbour.

So from one end of the Mediterranean Harbour, we took this gondola around the park. Not really round but somehow errr, AROUND. Something to mention about the boat rowers can only speak Japanese and its really a barrier to visitors who do not understand Japanese. I had to struggle through most of what they said probably only caught 40% of the entire explanation.

Then we saw this big and mysterious errr, Mysterious Island.

This is the American Waterfront. There's a restaurant inside and it reminds me of the old boat which used to serve A&W's in Sentosa.

We became hungry after thinking about A&W and decided to stop somewhere for lunch. We remembered seeing an interesting restaurant while waiting for the gondola ride and decided to head back there.

At the Mediterranean Harbour area, there is this Ristorante di Canaletto which you can smell pizza from some distance away. Guess what? We waited for 25 mins to get a table and to our astonishment, the restaurant is only half filled. Sometimes I really wonder if the restaurants make many people queue outside to indicate that its a famous and good place to eat. Too hungry to be angry, we ordered our set lunches.

We had our drinks (Iced Lemon Tea)

Finally our appetizers came. I like the one on the right, its some crab meat thingy and the purplish cream around is actually YAM!

Then the main course...

... and the dessert.

And so, after lunch too lazy to walk we decided to take the DisneySea Electric Railway.

It's a short but a pretty cool ride around some of the more interesting attractions.

Something suddenly caught my eye. Saw this very interesting building.

Design looks very unique, then realised it is actually an attraction ride.

It's known as the Tower of Terror, and its basically an indoor free fall ride. You can hear people screaming their lungs out FAR, I mean really FAR away.

Then we saw this very cute and fun ride.

The Aquatopia. Wanted to have some fun but it makes you WET! Had to give it a miss.

Yea, and finally we decided give a shot on the rides. And we chose from the whole map one of the more interesting and exciting rides:

Yea we are going to the Center of the Earth!

No we are not following Brendan Fraser and taking this vehicle into the center!

Yea, one thing to talk about the rides in Disney finally. First Disney first, we purposely chose a weekday and visited the place on a drizzling day and the place is still so packed! And packed with locals! Simply baffling. Next, rides on average took at least 45 minutes of waiting time and so how many rides can you queue in a day? Its pretty ridiculous though. They have this Fastpass which can help you save time on rides, and each Fastpass is about 500 yen (~7 SGD) and can be used for 1 per ride only, and for paying 500 Yen you are only about 5-10 minutes faster than the normal queue which is totally not worth the money.

Yea its 45 mins after queuing when you see the capsule for the ride but its still another 10 mins wait before getting on the capsule. Total time: 55 minutes for 2 minutes ride.

Quite thrilling but I didn't scream. The 4 Japanese girls in the same capsule were screaming like mad and my eardrums almost burst.

Other areas in the park include:

I like this one, the Lost River Delta. Its the Maya and there is this ride Indiana Jones: Temple of the Crystal Skull ride. Waiting time 80 mins. Grrr.

The Mermaid Lagoon. You see all the cartoon characters except the Little Mermaid. Hmm.

Yea its just a kids' amusement park and a gift shop inside.

Finally the last segment, this is the Arabian Coast.

There is this Magic Lamp Theatre which has a 3D show for the 1st 10 minutes followed by a 3D stage performance. Thumbs up for this! The 3D effects and the live stage performance is very well coordinated.

Finally its evening time and we decided to leave the place. Its about sunset at 6pm and we were too hungry and tired to hang around anymore, though everyone who's been to Disneyland will want to stay till 8PM for the Disney parade with all the fireworks. Come to think of the massive jam after the parade, we decided to head out for dinner.

Before leaving at the foyer we saw this:

This is specially made to signify Tokyo's Disney 25th Anniversary.

And on closer look:

It's made up of a million visitor faces!

Last but not least advertising for Disneyland, Cirque De Soleil is finally open in Tokyo Disneyland November 2008. Another reason to visit Disneyland.

Before leaving Disney resorts, there is a mall at the main train station where you can shop for more Disney souvenirs and find some interesting restaurants.

They even have a Planet Hollywood there.

We found ourselves a Japanese restaurants and ordered a good meal to end off the day, a Sukiyaki set and a Shabu-shabu set.

Our appetizers:

The main course:

The shabu-shabu, and

The Sukiyaki. You really eat the meat in that half raw half cooked state dipped with raw egg!

ORGASMIC SIA!

At the end of the day, I'm still whining why no aquarium in DisneySea...

Tokyo, Japan Part 4

Fri, 19 Dec 2008 14:07:19 GMT

This is really gonna be a long and pictures overloaded entry. Tried to compile 2 days of Tokyo pics into 1 entry to cover more and finish the entry on Japan soon as I am leaving for another holiday AGAIN in 2 days! Trust me, I got a lot more Japan pictures to go as I have only covered half of the trip up to this point...

Finally arrived at Tokyo Shinjuku station...

Reached one of the busiest cities in the world Tokyo. Been here before but nevertheless has always been an exciting place to visit. Nice things to see, nice stuff to buy and nice food to eat, a place you never get tired of. Looking for a place to stay in Tokyo? I'll recommend the Fraser Place Shinjuku, convenient location at the sub centre of Shinjuku station. Its a 2 min walk from JR Okubo station (which you need to tranfer from the Yamanote line 1 stop from Shinjuku station) and you can get pretty good deals especially using the Singapore Airlines boarding pass. Rate is about 14400 Yen (~190 SGD) a night.

Welcome in to take a look. I like rooms with kitchenettes as I be able to bring supper back and use the utensils and cockery available.

Quite well equipped with players, on demand TV, cable channels, recorders, sound systems.

Yea not to forget the most important thing, the BED.

It's always nice to have a good view from the room, and I wonder if this is considered good for you:

This is what you see when you draw the curtains every morning...

Another view taken from another angle same window. That's Okubo station by the way.

Day 1

Shibuya. This is the mecca for all the fashionistas wannabes in search of the latest and most trendy items in fashion. It's a place of endless shopping malls and label stores which stretch all the way from Shibuya to Ginza. And this is one of the place you get to see people with the weirdest outfits you can think of.

JR Shibuya main exit.

One of the main chains of shopping malls in Japan. Is it pronounced as I O I O or one-zero-one-zero or EEOEEO (according to the japanese pronounciation)?

I don't know whether its a wrong choice to be in Shibuya on a Sunday, the whole place is so packed! People have to queue to use escalators and you squeeze in malls like trains in the mornings! I don't remember the situation to be so bad the last time I visited the place. If If you are at the top floor of the escalator looking down to the 1st floor, you see it occupied with 2-3 people on every step all the time! If you think its faster taking the lift, forget it.

Guess what? Sep 14 happened to be the Kichijoji Autumn Festival 吉祥寺秋まつり. The main roads of Shibuya are temporarily closed and a kind of parade is happening along the streets.

See the people carrying the Mikoshi (神輿), also known as the portable shrine. This festival is to honor and celebrate the arrival of autumn.

Look how packed the streets of Shibuya are. And so many handsome pretty people right?

Nightfall. Headed down to Ginza. Very impressed by the lights and sights in Ginza. Last visit there was just at the popular junction where the Sony Building was and also a bit of walking and buying famous waffles from the shop opposite Sony. This time round decided to follow the crowd to another shopping district not far of the Ginza subway.

I'm sure people to Ginza will remember this Fujiya building at the famouse cross junction.

And also not forgetting the Sony Building adjacent to the Fujiya building. The one place I will definitely visit in Tokyo to look out for the latest Sony gadgets.

Finally reached the high end shopping belt. I have to say the Japanese are really good in showcasing technology with fashion.

This is the Chanel Tokyo flagship store.

See the visual effects on the buildings. Almost all the buildings along the stretch are like that.

Walked back to the main Ginza area and decided to look for dinner. This has to be the best dinner you can find in Tokyo. Check out the best buffet you can find in Japan!

Presenting the Ginza Toujindako!

Sorry I was too engrossed with the meal I only took 2 pics from the entire dinner. But I had to say I visited this place 2 times in my 4 days stay in Tokyo. Cost? I took the 6000 Yen (~80 SGD) 90 minutes all you can eat buffet. It's the cheapest but I tell you its good enough to keep you satisfied. Very satisfied.

You are eating the high end stuff. Wagyu beef, scallops, prawns, chicken, pork, snow crab and alaskan crabs! Buffet menu here. Sorry its in Japanese.

Just go 1 round with as many things you can try from the menu. 2nd round onwards, hit the wagyu beef and the alaskan crabs. You can never find this anywhere.

You get a free dessert which is the famous melon and the restaurant specialty, yoghurt ice cream. Out of the world.

From Ginza back to hotel, walk the direction to Yurakucho JR station and hit the Tokyo International Forum (東京国際フォーラム).

Exterior. Pardon the quality taken with a mobile phone. Let the Photo Site do more justice to the building.

It's designed by famed architect Rafael Viñoly and completed in 1996 and is shaped like an elongated boat and functions like an exhibition and concert hall and conference center.

The interior rooftop structure.

Day 2

Camera started getting a bit cranky and had to use the mobile phone to take some of the pictures along the way. Rose up early and decided to take a good breakfast outside instead of having the one provided, we headed to the place best we thought for fresh and satisfying breakfast. Took the subway and headed to Tsukiji market.

Eh, something looks not very right here...

The best time to hit the market is usually before 9am where you get to see the hustle and bustle of the market and also the fish auctions, but it seems weird to see the road leading to the market so quiet and peaceful.

Ahhh, the shops are closed today!

Went around asking and realised that its actually a National Holiday, Respect for the Aged Day (敬老の日) which falls on the Monday of the 3rd week of September. Well no choice we have to make do with the few shops which are open for breakfast. A word of caution here, always check on the internet or with hotels to see if Tsukiji market is open before heading there. Sometimes they have different activities which will deter tourists from enjoying the trip to Tsukiji. Like the period of mid December to mid January they will prevent tourists from watching the fish auctions as its the busiest time of the year.

Found this Sushi Sen restaurant at a little corner near the auction area which is opened for business and decided to have breakfast there. Its so appetizing to have raw fish for breakfast!

The chef busy at work preparing my breakfast. He told me not to take his picture but I still did while he wasn't aware of it.

Our breakfast:

The last 2 items come in a set and the whole thing costs less than 50 SGD! Great breakfast!

On the way to the Tsukijijo Station on the Subway Odeo Line, we passed by this building and realised its actually a temple. Its the Tsukiji Honganji Temple. There are several sections of this temple and this one looks very Indian style while the other one at the side looks very Thai style.

Tsukiji Honganji Temple. It looks like some Indian government building to me!

The interior of the temple. This is the main hall worshipping the Amida Buddha.

Next up we took a train ride to this place which I have always wanted to visit. I have never been to this place before but heard so much of it in the news. It has got so many controversies surrounding this place, especially you see Japanese ministers and Prime Ministers visiting this place.

The Yasukuni Shrine 靖国神社

This shrine is said dedicated to the spirits of soldiers who died fighting for the Emperor of Japan. And more relevant to our history, enshrined war criminals in the World War II. Hence it is really a sensitive place for the ministers to visit as its a symbol of paying respects to the World War soldiers.

The main shrine. The interior is not opened to the public except for some festivals where rituals are held.

Another 'artistic' view of the Shrine.

Opposite the shrine there is a connecting park which has a few interesting institutions. It is a very big park and has various routes you can choose to take depending on the sites you want to visit.

The Kitanomaru National Park. Look at the design of the building behind the board so cool!

We were just taking the shortest route possible to the JR station to bring us to the next destination. Along the way we saw the Nippon Budokan which is the main official place for martial arts events.

Just so happen that day was having an Aikido competition. It has also been a concert hall that hosted famous acts from L'Arc~en~Ciel and LUNA SEA.

And we were there a bit too early, but we managed to have a feel of the beginning of the Autumn season.

Been to this place before, just wanted to revisit again to try something I have been thinking of since stepping foot into Japan. Took a Shinkansen to Yokohama (横浜市).

I like this building. This is the Yokohama Landmark Tower (横浜ランドマークタワー) which is also the tallest building in Japan, standing at 970 feet.

This is the Minato Mirai 21 (みなとみらい21), it means the future of the Harbour in the 21st century.

In Yokohama, there are some things you definitely won't miss:

This is one of the prominent structure you see in Yokohama. You wont miss it from the point you get out of the train station. The ferris wheel in Cosmos World.

One of the nice places to visit in Yokohama, the Red Brick Warehouse. It's now a shopping mall which offers a lot of dining by the Yokohama Bay.

This is something I have been craving for. The Kua'aina burgers! I just love the pineapple with the succulent meat patty! Yea I know its weird craving for Western food in Japan!

Finally, last stop of the day, the high end district in Japan. Home to the rich and famous, the westerners and the expats, Roppongi (六本木).

Roppongi is a place filled with night life. There are a lot of high end designer label stores, major shopping malls, clubs and also upscale companies like Ferrari and big investment banks located in Roppongi.

Yea we also have the big brand chains the Hard Rock Cafe and Tony Romas(hidden) in a corner of the high end Roppongi district.

Am I seeing things? Is that the Eiffel Tower in Tokyo? Nah its just the Tokyo Tower. Been there last time so not going there again just viewing it from a far distance away.

Nice. I like this effect.

Ok, Im off packing for my next trip sorry for making such a long entry to keep you occupied reading in parts for this 2 weeks if you find it a tad too long.

I be back and I make sure I have more interesting Japan pictures coming up.

Osaka, Japan Part 3

Mon, 08 Dec 2008 13:02:48 GMT

Ok before I start going into this entry, I just wanted to clarify that due to editing of pictures, it doesn't do justice to the size of the objects. People have been asking me how does an arapaima so small is capable of eating monkeys and the Mola mola looking so cute, in face Arapaimas are about 3 metres long and at least more than 100kg, and the Mola mola is about 2 metres in circumference and weighs about an average of a tonne (no kidding!),so don't be surprised that the Arapaima can actually eat monkeys in the Amazon basin.

This entry might be a tad boring cause I'm going to tour round some historic sites and temples. First up, one of the UNESCO site the Nijo Castle.

World Heritage ok don't play play...

How to get there: From Kyoto station take the Karasume Subway to Karasuma Oike then change the Tozai Line to the Nijojo Mae station.

Entrance fee: 600 Yen (~ 8 SGD)

Entrance to Nijo Castle

It's an interesting place and the compound is pretty big. Its separated into 2 palaces, the Honmaru which is the main palace and the Ninomaru which is the secondary palace.

This is the entrance to the Ninomaru.

This is the original Honmaru.

Sorry I couldn't take any pictures inside the palace as photography is strictly prohibited. As you know I am the kind of person who would risk my life taking even if its prohibited, I must say the attendants in the palaces are really sharp to detect people taking pictures. I got caught twice and was asked to delete my pictures.

One very interesting feature of the palace is the Nightingale floors. The floors give out a chirping sound when its walked upon, its really innovative used as a security device by guards as a protection against ninjas.

Yea they have the Zen gardens around the palace, and the trees with the 'bonsai' effect.

Up next, the Fushimi Inari Shrine.

This is the 伏見稲荷大社. See the big big torii (鳥居), an icon of Japanese gate outside a Shinto temple.

Located at the JR inari station, its only 2 stations away from Kyoto in the JR Nara line, very easy and nice place to visit.

Do take a short walk outside the station before heading into the temple, there are nice shops serving food and traditional trade to look at.

I like the olden nostalgic and Edo era feel setting of the shophouses.

What can you see in this temple? It's basically very big temple with huge nature walk behind the temple. It's divided into the main gate, main shrine and the mountain area . Inari here means rice and so here they worship the god of rice here. A feature here is you get to see lots of fox statues in the temples as they are regarded as messengers of the rice god.

The Japanese will not forget to ask for blessings when they visit and pray in temples.

This is the majestic view of the shrine. Note the similarity in architecture with the Nijo Castle.

Let's take a walk into the mountains after a walk in the shrine...

What's so special about this place? Toriis. Countless toriis.

Don't believe? Start counting them as you walk.

These toriis are gifts and offerings by worshippers. Can see that the people who offered the toriis are generally merchants and manufacturers who worship Inari god for wealth.

Yea they have the names of the companies inscribed on the toriis.

Don't bother counting them, just walk along the trail, take pictures of the endless toriis and enjoy the breeze while walking to the hilltop, where you see even MORE toriis.

And more.... and they come in different sizes as well. And these are tskua (mounds) for private worship.

Interesting, you get to see taoist statues in this temple as well.

Finally, last stop of the day:

We have reached Nara! (奈良市). Sorry if you can't see the word.

A very interesting place indeed. Here you can see the old streets and lots of old women in kimonos. They have loudspeakers on the streets playing some chants as well. A bit scary though, but a pleasant place to walk in.

I think this place is especially different from other days as many of the shops are making preparations to celebrate the mid autumn festival.

Nara looks like a farm to me, everywhere you walk you can see deers. The deers roam through the town of Nara and cars stop for deers to cross the road. It is said to have more than 5000 deers roaming in Nara, and they are protected by the locals as they are regarded as heavenly creatures to protect the city. Beware of the deer droppings though...

A tame deer resting under a tree. They can follow you and chew your bags if they smell food!

I walked past this Kofukuji temple and this is their pagoda, also known as the 五重塔.

Well, time was running a bit short as it was 1600hrs and we were on our way to visit a famous temple in Nara. We sort of lost our way and walked the long way and reached the temple a 1650hrs. The temple was closing at 1700hrs so we decided to stay just outside and snap a few pictures.

Yes, I am talking about the Todaiji, 東大寺, also known as Great Eastern Temple.

A far view of the Todaiji... sigh

What's so special about this temple? It's the head temples of all Buddhist temples in Japan and it houses Japan largest Buddha statue, AND it is the world's largest wooden building OK? A place not to be missed.

A very grand temple entrance. Very big premise with many areas around the temple.

Finally, its time for food to end of a long day of sightseeing. Look no further, this is a must try in Osaka when it's September. Its the FUGU season! What's fugu (河豚)? It's the cute but poisonous blowfish or commonly known as the pufferfish. Where to find it? A lot of restaurants in Shinsabashi or Dotonburi are selling them.

We ordered a Deluxe Fugu Set costing us 6000 Yen (~80 SGD) and gosh we really ate a lot a lot! See what can be done to a poor Fugu...

Ok this I think is the fugu skin and some cooked fugu meat.

This is the most precious Fugu sashimi.

This is the Fugu egg, don't bite just swallow the whole thing, it will explode in your mouth if you break it and you will feel so ARGH!
ARGH factor: 4/5

I never knew fugu meat tasted so tender with the deep fried fugu fillet.

This is the fugu pot, also known as the Tecchiri, with the fugu and the vegetables in a nabe (hotpot). See the bottom centre the fugu with the black skin intact.

No fugu meal can be considered complete with Fugu-zousui. Its made by mixing the remaining rich stock in the hotpot with rice and a raw egg thrown in. Heavenly.

Time to pack and next up to Tokyo in search of more interesting places and food.