Around The World

Paris Claude Monet's Garden

2015-09-09T04:32:00.001+08:00

Afternoon tea at Hyde and co

2015-09-08T03:17:00.001+08:00

Back in Singapore and the Haze is really bad, adding to the turmoil of the heat and humid weather!

Headed to Hyde and Co for afternoon high tea.

Location:

785 North Bridge Rd

Initially wanted to order the afternoon tea set but it ran out, so we ordered the scone set, a affogato waffles and pork pullman mantou to share.

Was impressed when the food arrived. Pretty floral teapots with interesting tea concoction, beautifully plated dishes which are photo-ready.

Pullman Pork in Deepfried Mantou! Interesting dish over here which is a western-asian fusion.

My fave is the Affogato waffles, espresso sauce, melted marshmallow and vanilla ice cream. Taste heavenly!

Hello Kitty's Secret Garden Hong Kong

2015-09-05T03:23:00.000+08:00

Discovered that Hong Kong has a Hello Kitty Cafe. I'm definitely in for it when it comes to Hello Kitty Dining!

Location:

19 Ormsby St, Tai Hang, Hong Kong

Walked from Causeway bay and took about 15 minutes. There's many tiny and interesting cafes along the stretch.

Pretty limited items on the menu. There's savory and sweet items that they serve - Pizza, Sandwich, Toasts, Salads, Hamburgers, Desserts.

That was pretty much the desserts left when i arrived and most of the popular ones were gone.

I expected the cafe to have a much bigger floor space. It's pretty tiny and could only seat around 6 - 7 groups of diners, either in pairs or in fours. By the time I arrived, it was near to closing time so it wasn't too crowded. Pretty lucky!

Hello Kitty Mousse Cake and Green Tea Latte which tasted not bad!

Hong Kong - Pier 88 Dao Xiang Dim Sum

2015-09-04T03:19:00.000+08:00

Headed to Mongkok for Dimsum. How can one miss out the delicious dimsum when in hongkong!

Location:

Pier 88 稻香超級漁港

Shop B, 3/F, Grand Tower, 639 Nathan Road, Mong Kok

旺角彌敦道639號雅蘭中心二期3樓B號舖

It was quite hard to find, and after entering the wrong lifts and buildings several times, we finially found it at one of the corner turns of the building with lifts to various restaurants

By the time we reached the restaurant it was about 330pm, and from 2pm to 5pm, the dimsums are at cheaper rates. So its pretty awesome to get a good deal from the off-peak dining. However even at the off peak dining hour, the restaurant was still so packed to the brim. The service staff were all quite rude and abrupt, which is quite typical of hongkong. Food came in 15 minutes time, and we were starving by then to leave any remmants for picture taking. The food was really yummy, and the ingredients are fresh! The custard bun was good, the custard was flowing out just as you open it. Ordered 12 dishes and was too full to finish everything. It's really value for money, with 12 dishes only costing us 78HKD each ($17sgd)

San Francisco Billy Goat Hill Park

2015-09-01T03:50:00.000+08:00

Hong Kong Hello Kitty Dim Sum

2015-08-30T03:44:00.000+08:00

Hong Kong is well know for its Dim Sum, and some creative fellow came up with the Hello Kitty Chinese Cuisine to capture the Hello Kitty craze and fever.

Location:

香港廣東道332至338號利來洋樓地下A至C舖

Shop A to C, Lee Loy Mansion, 332-338 Canton Road, Kowloon, Hong Kong

Getting there:

Nearest Train stations are Austin and Jordan, and walkable within 5 - 10 minutes.

Came here on a Sunday early afternoon and the queue was pretty long. Had to take a queue number and wait for our turn. However they don't even let you leave your phone number to call when it's ready, just have to wait in the queue or loiter around the area and make a trip back. We took a number then headed to another bakery to get some light bites and a cha can ting for a drink. It took almost 30 - 40 minutes before we could get a seat.

The interior is a fusion of hello kitty and traditional chinese setting which makes a pretty interesting mix.

The dim sums are around 40 - 60 HKD, while the rice and mains are around 100+ HKD. Not exactly cheap but it's the dining experience I would say.

Here comes the food! Ordered prawn dumpling, custard bun and fried chee cheong fun!

Only one of the prawn dumpling has the hello kitty face while the rest has just ribbons. It probably took too much time to make features!

Hello Kitty Custard Buns!

Fried Chee Chiong Fun, surprisingly this was one of the nicest dish amongst the other 2.

Egg milk custard pudding

Some souvenirs retailing at the shop, it cost almost 1000HKD for this set of Champagne with Hello kitty charm bracelet! Really know how to make $.

Hello Kitty Dim Sum Doll

Paris Disneyland!

2015-08-20T03:54:00.000+08:00

Paris Jardin Du Luxembourg

2015-08-19T03:41:00.000+08:00

Hitchin lavender and sunflower farm

2015-08-17T02:23:00.000+08:00

Barcelona Football Club Stadium Camp Nou

2015-08-15T03:00:00.000+08:00

Barcelona Monsserrat

2015-08-14T02:25:00.000+08:00

Barcelona - Revisiting History, Picasso Museum and Montjuic

2015-08-13T02:36:00.000+08:00

Barcelona Nova Mar Bella Beach

2015-08-13T01:53:00.000+08:00

Barcelona Gaudi's Works - Park Guell, Casa Mila, Casa Batlo

2015-08-13T01:29:00.000+08:00

Barcelona Sagrada Familia

2015-08-12T00:59:00.000+08:00

Barcelona Day 1 - La Rambla and Tibidabo

2015-08-11T00:11:00.000+08:00

Paris Mont Matre and Moulin Rouge

2015-08-04T04:14:00.000+08:00

Jamie's Oliver Perth

2015-07-21T01:00:00.001+08:00

Istanbul's asian and european fusion

2015-07-17T04:08:00.000+08:00

Dazzling Cafe Singapore

2015-06-17T03:01:00.001+08:00

Dazzling Cafe from Taiwan Opens its first store in Singapore! It's one of the popular chains in Taiwan with highly raved about Toasts and Alice-in-Wonderland decor.

Address

15 Stamford Road, Capitol Building

#01-85

Opening Hours

12pm - 12am

One of the cafes which open till late in the city hall area besides Macs and Starbucks in Raffles City. Other cafes usually close by 10pm and will be left stranded with no where else interesting to go after dinner with friends.

Stepped in and couldn't feel more excited about the beautiful interior! It has a fusion of Disneyland cum parisian cum Alice in Wonderland theme! Most of the customers are females and couples - only fellow girlfriends would appreciate these kinda setting. Boyfriends would probably complain how expensive it is for toast. We were seated at one of the tables with normal chairs and realised the 2 tables beside has got cute bunny chairs! Just then, the 2 girls at the table beside left and we requested to shift to that table. Its super cute and selfie-perfect!

Didn't take a picture of the menu, so I've taken pictures of the menu from some other bloggers. The main courses are quite limited to pastas and risotto. Ordered a Mentaiko Spagetti in Cream Sauce and a Sauteed Mushroom and Prawns to share so that we still have room for dessert!

The dessert menu is much more extensive with all these beautiful and yummy looking toasts that had me spoilt for choice! The waffles and toasts are quite expensive - $12.90 onwards and $17.90onwards respectively. The signature toast is the stack of Hazelnut, and Macha Toasts.

The Mentaiko Cream Pasta is nice!

Macha Toast which comes in 4 stacks of toasts! Gasps! It was HUGE and was glad we shared the main course! Filled with Macha Ice cream, Fresh whip cream with Macha Sauce and Azuki with Green Tea Macaroon and Biscuit. There's 3 levels off hardness for the toast - Soft, Normal, Crispy. The waitress recommended Normal which most people would choose, and said Crispy was too hard for some. Normal was a little hard, so I probably will have soft the next time!

Under the Sea - Snorkelling in Hilutungan, Cebu

2015-06-17T02:57:00.001+08:00

Cebu is a popular destination for diving and Marine Reserve, so this time in Cebu, we booked for a Snorkelling trip. We planned to head to Cebu City on the check in day to source for a tour but didn't manage to head down to the city due to the limited timings of the Shuttle bus. Instead, we went online to book for a tour at http://www.cebuislandhopping.com

Picked up from the hotel at 8.30am to their office where we set sail

Booked for a Standard Package with Lunch, for just 1 island Hilutungan Island at 2600peso each for 2 person. That's almost like 90sgd per person and I was thinking why it was so expensive when the cost of living in Cebu is rather low. Felt abit ripped off until......... when I realised it was just the 2 of us on the boat. I was a bit shocked, just 2 people for this huge boat?! YAY!! Felt like a VIP with private boat and having everything at our own preferred timings, and some alone time without the rest of the tourists.

Excited at the pier! We were wondering where these people were heading with this small boat?! It's actually a transfer boat to their bigger boats for a trip out to the sea as the bigger boats weren't able to dock at the shallow waters nearer to the pier.

Got ushered to out boat and guess who were our crew - the children of philippines! This young man is sooooo strong, he was using all his muscles to steer the boat from the dock towards the deeper sea. This other boy also very cute. They are both the sons of the Captain who powers the boat. It's actually a very simple wooden boat powered by the pump and steered by a long rod into the sea.

Getting ready to snorkel! The 2 boys will help us to get ready by helping us put on life vest and the leg peddle. It's much easier to swim with the leg fin.

All sorts of beautiful fishes in the sea. These 2 are the most common ones. Interesting thing noted about the fishes - they swim in a organised pattern with equi-distance from each other in a formation! Spotted other colourful fishes, long beak fish, nemo and beautiful corals!

Then, this man suddenly popped out and started to PR with us and saying how he thought JD was a celebrity. Then, he told us how someone is already picking coconut for us from the tree on the island, and how the coconut is good for the stomach. Also started introducing the kind of fresh seafood we could have for our BBQ lunch and it's much cheaper than the hotel charge. For a moment, I thought he was someone from our boat who came to talk to us.... until I realised he's probably from the other boat trying to sell us seafood, drinks and add-ons. We paid for a lobster, abalone and 2 coconuts for 1200pesos, kenna chopped already =( So, I realised he's just trying to sell us things with all those sweettalks and pretend to be nice and friendly. Well, but just thought we could try out some fresh seafood fresh out from the sea.

Preparing for the BBQ on the boat with this mini grill!

When it was all ready, it was laid out on the table and looking very sumptuous! Pork skewers, grilled chicken, fish, squid, abalone, lobster, mango, banana and rice! Too much food for us to handle, so I gave 2 skewers to the 2 kids who have been working hard to power the boat and serve us. I saw the family of 3 sharing a pack of rice hidden in a corner and thought while I'm enjoying these huge amount of food, they are sharing a pack of rice with a piece of fish. So I went over to pass them more food to eat! Sharing is caring.

Continued to snorkel for awhile more before calling it a day and heading back to the shore! Will always remember how fortunate I am after seeing the simple and minimal lifestyle of the locals.

Bohol Day Trip from Cebu

2015-06-17T02:26:00.004+08:00

Beautiful Rose Garden in Provins

2015-06-11T06:51:00.002+08:00

If you love beautiful blooms and lovely arrays of flowers, this is the place to visit - Rose Garden in Provins, opened in 2008. Gaelic roses in generous forms, pom-pom shaped roses, tea roses and roses from Damas, white, yellow, pastel or vibrant: their perfume lingers in the air of this extraordinary place. One thousand five hundred roses, from all four corners of the globe, are arranged on three hectares of completely renovated greenery to recount the history of the rose.

Opening hours

10am - 7.30pm (Summer)

Prices

High season: 7 € - low season: 4,50 €.

Entrance to Provins Pass: 6,50 €

Annual ticket: 20 €.

Free for visitors 12 years of age and under.

Entrance to the garden and tasting of rose specialities: 13,50 € (only on request).

Adress

11, rue des Prés.

www.roseraie-provins.com

Be greeted with a bountiful of blooms.

The shop retailing all kinds of products made from roses, its just spoilt for choices if you are a rose lover like me. Needless to say, the rose printed chinabone ware are soooo beautiful, however I shall wait till my own home before I get them.

Beautiful outdoor cafe in the garden!

Scroll down for the galore of roses of different species, colour!

Such a beautiful bloom of rose, which is as big as my face!

Lastly, ended off the visit to the gardens with some rose tea, choc fondant and snacks for the afternoon. The table is really cool, we can draw on it with chalk - so here's my little rabbit with a stalk of flower!

Provins Medieval Town

2015-06-11T06:34:00.004+08:00

It's a beautiful day in France, and I've decided to take a day trip to Provins, a medieval fair town which is 80 minutes away from Paris.

First, started the day with a hearty french breakfast in one of the cafes near the train station. French style breakfast - Croissant, Baguette, Omlette, Juice, Coffee - simple continental style.

Getting to Provins

Take a train (RER) from Gare de l'est. Provins is in zone 5, and I would think the cheapest alternative would be buying a Moilis day pass Zone 1-5 for 16.50euros.

Getting Around Provins

There are buses/minivans that runs around the town hourly, and there's a stop right outside the train station. However we are unable to understand the buses as it is all in French. Provins isn't exactly very tourist friendly so it was a little tough initially.

After getting off the train we were abit lost and didn't know where to go without a map, so this is the map I found online! After missing the bus, we decided to get on our foot and head to the tourist office as indicated by the signs being put up. We followed the signs but still couldn't see the tourist office in sight. So instead, we headed to the medieval cite to the upper grounds. We were joking like how the "tourist office" sign leads you around the whole town and by the time when you have reached the tourist office, you have seen everything in the town that you won't need to head there anymore.

Introduction to Provins

Provins is one of the best preserved medieval cities in France. Every street corner evokes the great splendour of the old capital of the Counts of Champagne. In the 12th and 13th centuries, these great feudal lords offended the kings of France, defying them from the ramparts.

They were the first to introduce a passpoer ensuring safe passage across their territory for the merchants. Thanks to this guarantee, the fairs of provins became the most important in Europe. Once one of the first financial markets in Europe, the city's prosperity declined in a few decades at the beginning of the 14th century. The modification of the commercial routes, wars, plauges, the slow dissapearance of fairs, as well as the joining of the lands of Brie and Champagne to the kingdom of France led to the town's decline. But this fall from grace enabled provins to become an extremely well preserved town of the Middle Ages.

The Saint-Quiriace Collegiate Church

Erexted in the 12th century by the will of COunt Henri le Liberal, it has never been completed due to the French kingdom's financial difficulties under the reign of Philippe le Bel. The dome was built in the 17th century following a fire.

Caesar's Tower

This keep was built in the 12th century as a symol of the counts of Champagne's power. It was used as a watch tower, prison, bell tower. The scenography will take you back in time to give you a glimpse of the everyday life at the castle 8 centuries ago. The last floor offers a panoramic view over the town and it's a beautiful sight.

Entrance at 4.50euros

View from the top of the tower - a beautiful view of the town.

Initially there were 6 bells, but the remaining were destroyed.

Souvenir shops selling local products. Roses are their local produce and many of the items are made of roses. The shopkeeper was really friendly and gave us try some of the rose products she made - rose honey, rose liquer and rose jam. The rose jam is very unique - basically eating petals of roses filled with cirtus jam. Totally sold by it and bought a jar at 8euros. She made the products personally so it was pretty organic and natural!

Road to the ramparts

Finally at the Saint- Jean's gate and ramparts

These splendid fortified walls were built in the 13th century, has are still in the process of being restored. The gate ensured the protection of the old road to Paris.

Beautiful Sunday in Paris

2015-06-11T06:09:00.000+08:00