michellegosh

Pre-wedding Photoshoot in Taipei

2020-05-23T14:02:00.001+08:00

Unlike the many people out there who have done their wedding research, I'm the complete opposite. I got my pre-wedding photoshoot (PWS) package on an impulse. It was just a casual shopping day when the guy suggested for us to take a look at the wedding photography booths since the poster had my favourite flowers on it.

So we voluntarily walked into the trap, and ended up sitting through all the sales talk. When we left the booth, we walked away with a wedding photoshoot package. The guy thought the price of the package was worthwhile, and after trying to google them to read reviews on them and looking through the photos, we selected the first wedding photography company we talked to.

The reason why we both readily agreed to it was also because we fell in love with the photography style. I hated the typical dreamy, cute, romantic, princess kind of wedding photos. And when we saw their portfolio, they had some really cool, dark, MV-kind of photos. And I really liked their oriental look. The 复古风 kind of feel? Also, since we always take our own photos when we are abroad, we wanted something special which we, ourselves, know we can't take.

We told the saleslady that no matter how attractive or free gifts she'll throw in, we would only sign the package if we could choose the photographer. And only if he could make it during the hydrangea season.

So here's

Tip #1: Know what kind of styles you want to go for.

Before my photoshoot, I have had so many friends telling me their horror stories of how the photos did not turn out well, how the photographer and editor failed to capture the kind of mood and tone of the photos they wanted. This was the very reason why we personally picked our photographer. We loved his style, while the rest of the photographers' style did not appeal to us.

Do a lot of research and make sure you are prepared. It would help the photographer when you show him/her examples of photos and style that you want.

Tip #2: Look at their photos to get the kind of dresses they have.

This is very very important. Even if they can produce the kind of photos you want, it does not necessarily mean they have the right dresses. And we all know how important the dress is. Look at their photos to ensure that there are at least 10 dresses you like.

It is also important to check on the dresses. Some bridal studios charge premium for certain dresses so run a quick check with them to ensure the dresses you have you eyes on are not in the premium range.

Tip #3: Be clear on the costs, clarify and ask.

Another common horror story on overseas photoshoots is how they would charge you a certain base price and ask you to add on on the day itself. Therefore, you have to iron everything out with the person first.

For example, makeup usually comes with ampoule, fake eyelashes, hair accessories, etc. Ours was clear from the start that there will be additional cost for ampoule, which was optional (but highly recommended). So we were pretty good on that, and did not have to pay anymore than expected.

Transportation is another additional cost for us because we wanted to take outdoor photos. Again, the lady was very clear from the beginning about how much it would cost per hour.

And then the cost of additional photos. And you have to be clear as to whether the additional photos will be edited, whether it would be in softcopy/hardcopy, whether they will be included in the photobook.

And of course, always bargain. :)

After we have signed the package, the rest of the communication is via email and LINE. They would send a whole list of instructions on what you have to bring/do before the photoshoot. Pretty comprehensive list such as bringing your wedding heels and a pair of slip-ons so you don't have to wear the heels all the time, groom's shoes and socks, and also grooming tips such as shaving your hands/legs/everywhere visible, and even things to avoid doing the night before such as drinking too much water.

Day 1

We decided to push the photoshoot towards the front part of our trip because I didn't want to starve myself from all the Taiwan delicacies to be slim for the photos. Therefore, on our first day, we immediately went straight to select the gown.

We started at 1pm and the first thing we did was to confirm all the details with the lady coordinating our photoshoot. And after that was done, we were brought up to try the gowns.

I've heard about my friends telling me about how there were incidences where they could not find any nice gowns with the bridal studio and had to settle for dresses that they were unhappy with.

Tip #4: Always check the all the photos from the bridal studio and choose your gowns from there.

This way, you will get a rough idea of what kind of gowns they have, and also save time trying on gowns because you can simply show them the photos of their gowns.

Of course, they will definitely help recommend dresses for you

There was a strict no photo taking during the gown selection so my husband could not sneak some photos and I could not get advice from everyone else. When choosing your gown, you should already have an idea of the kind of concept and photos you want to take because the gown can make or break the concept and idea.

The studio was really nice as there was no limit to the number of gowns you want to try. And she makes the guy take a photo on their iPad every time so I can easily select the photos from there afterwards.

Tip #5: Always take a photo of yourself in the dress.

I realised how important that was on the day itself. According the the lady, not only does taking a photo allow you recall what the dress looks like on you, sometimes, the dresses look differently in photos.

And that was so true because I was stuck between two puffy dresses - one pink and one brown. And my husband swears that when he saw me in the pink puffy dress, it was beautiful, and the only time he wowed. But when we reviewed the photos, we realised that while I looked good in it in real-life, the dress itself was not photogenic.

I was so tired of trying on dresses that I wanted to just give in to a black piece. I wasn't particularly fond of the dress, but I didn't hate it either. But the assistant was really nice and she realised that I didn't particularly like the dress. Thus, she went to look for another. And that's when I found the dress that I liked.

Tip #6: Do not give up on looking for the perfect dress.

While some might enjoy trying on different dresses, I know it can get tiring, especially after a long flight. But do not give up! I'm so glad the assistant helped by pushing me to try on another dress.

For the guys, they don't have a wide selection so it was only the typical black, grey and white suits. We got the list of choices from the wedding studio before we flew over as they would prep us on what we needed to bring.

We had to bring our own shoes, for him - socks. If we wanted a white outfit for him, we had to make sure we bring matching shoes and socks, and also another set of black socks for the darker outfits. We're not fan of the Prince Charming vibe so we went on the darker tone. In the end, the husband brought his own navy suit as the wedding studio did not have navy.

And part of what we did was to match the guy's outfit to the girl's. Since I have already confirmed on my dresses prior to going over to the guy's boutique, we could decide on the outfits for the guy better. Again, no photos allowed but I secretly snapped a photo :)

Tip #6: Prepare ahead and bring what you need.

You also have the options to bring casual outfits if you wanted to take some of the shots, and even props. The wedding studio informed us ahead that we could bring anything we wanted for the photoshoots. So there was a lot of preparation involved prior to the photoshoot.

After we were done with the guy's selection, we headed back to the studio to meet up with our photographer to decide on the theme and places to shoot. It was already in the late evening by then. He walked us through what kind of styles we wanted for the photos, and tried to accommodate our venues driving route, ensuring we had enough time to cover everything. He would also work with us to decide what outfits would match which venue better. We were an ambitious couple who wanted to do different scenes, from the sea to the flowers, to the city. So he had to plan with us and told us what was possible and what was not.

Unfortunately, my makeup artist was not in that day so I could not discuss my hair and makeup with her prior. We were supposed to discuss through Line that night but I think I missed her messages so we did not in the end.

Overall, it was a long Day 1 as we worked out the details for our shoot with the team.

Day 2

Our day started at 8am. They have allocated 2 hours for our makeup to be done. I absolutely adore working with the makeup artist they've assigned me for my shoot. We topped up extra prior to have her follow us throughout the day because I wanted different hairstyles for different locations. So glad we did that.

I never knew a makeup session would take so long but she was very meticulous with her work. I am really grateful for that. After me, she went on to proceed to help my husband with his. Light makeup and his hair styling.

At one of my shoots, my hair was not long enough to have the proper effect so she even took out an extension to give more effect. She also carried all her accessories along out and gave me the options to choose. I told her I hated the princess-y vibe and I didn't want anything too princess-y, and she nailed the looks I wanted.

What was most interesting throughout the day was the places we had our clothes changed. They will drive to a 7-11 nearby the location and have the change there. On occasions where the toilet was not available for us to change, they even had a changing tent set up for us!

And this is me having my makeup touched up in a 7-11 while the husband gets to have his lunch there. I guess the cashiers at the 7-11 outlets were used to seeing people like us coming in to use their space.

More behind-the-scenes of the shoot, how I would hide under umbrellas when they are taking photos. I've gotten a hydrangea bouquet too because we paid to enter the hydrangea photo spot as a wedding photo group. Hydrangeas were the only reason why we chose to come to Taiwan to take the photos. It was also the reason we signed with them. We asked the wedding studio the first time we met them during the roadshow.

Tip #7: If you see a particular photo style that you like, secure the photographer.

Another interesting thing was that we secured our photographer and date before we signed on the package. We realised that all the photos we liked were taken by the same photographer. So it had to be him and only him. We didn't want any other photographer because we felt like the other styles did not match what we wanted. And since we wanted to take our photos during the hydrangea season, the staff had to phone the photographer on the spot to check his schedule to see if he has time to squeeze in us.

We also took a lot behind-the-scenes videos and photos, which the photographer had said that it was ok to do so. We were initially afraid because we didn't know the rules.

Anyway, this was our team that day. Our photographer had an assistant to help him with the lighting. Honestly, a great team to work with. Our day only ended at 10pm and I remember feeling so exhausted by the end of the day. But I am really grateful for the team for their hard work and working till late at night to get our shots.

I usually end my posts with a video but that was not the end of the pre-wedding photoshoot experience. But I'll just show you a glimpse of what happened during our Day 2 in this short video. We brought along our own drone to take some shots towards the end of the day as we were not rushing for time as badly as the earlier parts of the day.

Day 3

We have not finished our PWS work! We still needed to come back to select our photos. For us, we decided to go straight to Hualien the day after our photoshoot so we arranged to come back a 3 days later to select our photos. (Check out my previous post on my Hualien adventure) I think the team also appreciated that as it gives them more time to upload the photos and stuffs. We were also not in a hurry to get our photos delivered since we do not have a date for our wedding yet. So the flexibility worked out great for us because we could get someone to go over to pick up the photos for us in Taiwan as opposed to paying for the delivery costs. (The husband's sister is a SIA girl so she flies frequently)

So fast-forwarding to the day we went back to look at our photos. We ended up having 300 photos to choose from. We narrowed it down to 80 in the end, forking out more to pay for the extra photos that were not included in the package. But since the cost of each photo was relatively cheap (cheaper than what it would cost in Singapore), we didn't really mind. After all, we were so happy with how the photos look even before the edits.

They didn't have much edits to our photos in the end. The only edits they made was to cover up my pimples and scars, etc. Neither did they beautify by making us look slimmer or anything. Overall, we were really happy with the photos. We took back the unedited photos from the photoshoot while we waited for the edits to come in via email, which we later had some more improvements after I gave some feedback to their edits.

They did try to get us to pay extra for photobook design but we never wanted a photobook in the first place so we turn that down. Thus, we did not get any fanciful layouts for our photobook, and instead had an image per page, which was fine with us since we never thought the photobook would be important to us.

Overall, we had a really fun experience working with the team and we absolutely adore the photos.

You can find more of our photos on the wedding studio's website or here. Apparently, we've become their models for their photos. Drop me a comment or email if you're interested to know more about the studio we've worked with and I would be more delighted to help you out.

This is not a sponsored post, and we paid in full for our photoshoot :)

3 days in Hualien | Taroko Gorge,East Coast, East Rift Valley

2020-03-11T22:41:00.001+08:00

Hualien, just 2.5 hours train ride from Taipei, gives you a great look at the natural beauty of Taiwan. It was a week long trip to Taiwan where I squeezed in 2 nights to travel and explore Hualien.

The most popular transportation from Taipei to Hualien would be by train, which only takes 2.5 hours. TRA releases their tickets online for reservation 14 days prior to the date of travel. We've been advised by our airbnb host to login early to purchase the tickets to ensure we get the good tickets and good timings. It's highly recommended to book your tickets in advance. Even for us, we did not manage to get our ideal tickets despite logging on early.

Upon arrival, we went to get our rented car. We've decided to do road trip for Hualien, exploring the scenic areas, taking on the drive by ourselves. We dropped by the information center to get some ideas on where to visit too since we did not fully finalise our itinerary.

We ended up with this plan for the 2.5 days we had in Hualien.

Day 1:
Taroko Gorge National Park

Day 2:
East Rift Valley National Scenic Area
East Coast National Scenic Area

Day 3:
Qixingtan Beach
Qingshui Cliff Scenic Area

Day 1: Taroko Gorge National Park

Most people would cover Qixintan Beach and Qingshui Cliff together with Taroko Gorge since they're along the way, further up north of Hualien city. We've realised that most of the tours would do Qingshui Cliff before lunch and then move on to Taroko Gorge after lunch. Thus, to avoid the tour crowds, we decided to just head straight to Taroko Gorge before lunch.

It was quite easy to navigate our way from Hualien city to Taroko Gorge since there were plenty of signs leading you to the entrance. The first stop is the Taroko National Park East Entrance Arch Gate. Grabbing a quick photo of the entrance before moving on.

We've also made a couple of impromptu stops to admire the beauty of Taroko Gorge. We've intended to do Shakadang Trail, Changchun Shrine, Swallow Grotto Yanzikou Trail, Lushui Trail, and Baiyang Trail. Unfortunately things did not go as planned because we kept missing the exits and stops.

When we managed to get to the Swallow Grotto Trail, we actually drove through it with our car and did not stop at the information center, where we were supposed to get safety helmets. As a result, we did not mange to walk the entire trail. Though, we did make stops to grab a couple of photos.

We ended our drive at our final stop at Tianxiang before making a u-turn to return to all the places we have missed along the way. We also faced several traffic roadblocks on our drive in Taroko Gorge because the roads were either one-way or under repair. Each wait would be as long as 30 minutes so we spent a lot of time waiting in the car.

We ended our first day at Dongdamen Night Market, grabbing our dinner there.

Day 2: East Rift Valley

Our second day began really early because I wanted to be ambitious, covering both East Rift Valley and East Coast drive.

Our first stop was Liyu Lake. There are plenty of things you can do here at Liyu Lake - water activities, bicycling, and even some walking trails.

The next stop on our list was Danongdafu Forest Park. The drive in was pretty amazing because we were greeted with endless flat land, with mountains in the background. The place itself was huge. We got ourselves rented bicycles to cycle the Forest Park. While the skies were scorching hot, we found shade in the Forest Park, which made the cycle enjoyable.

Liushishi Mountain is home to the daylilies, blooming from August to September. Unfortunately, we were not there for the daylilies blooming season. Nevertheless, the view was still amazing.

However, the drive up and down Liushishi Mountain was really tough. The roads were rocky and narrow. We've driven in so many different places before but the roads to Liushishi Mountain has ought to be one of the most challenging ones.

After leaving Liushishi Mountain, we headed East to the ocean drive.

Day 2: East Coast Scenic Drive

While I would not advise to complete both the East Rift Valley Drive and the East Coast Scenic Drive on the same day, we did not have enough days in Hualien to split the trip up. If I were to do this again, I would definitely choose to stay in a B&B in the East Rift.

The entire stretch of road is lined right next to the Pacific Ocean and it's a really refreshing road to drive. Hearing the waves splashing against the rocks, smelling the sea, and letting the wind run through your hair.

Shitiping was the most memorable stop for us on this road trip. It was crowded with people, especially since we've reached there close to sunset. But the view was amazing and we even climbed up the rocks.

We made a couple more stops along the way as there are many places where you can park the car to explore.

Day 3: Qingshui Cliff, Qixingtan Beach

They say the sunrise at Qixingtan Beach is beautiful so we forced ourselves out of bed early in the morning to make our way there. By the time we are there, the sun was already slightly up. But it was still a stunning view.

The beauty of Qixingtan Beach is not just the sunrise, but the fact that it is a pebble bay.

And if you head further north, you will find yourself at the famous Qingshui Cliff. You can't say you've been to Hualien without seeing this landmark. We managed to capture a couple of drone shots there and the beach looked really inviting. We saw a couple of people kayaking in the pristine waters but we never quite figure how to get down to the beach at the Qingshui Cliff.

And that ended our 3 days in Hualien as we caught the afternoon train back to Taipei.

Clearing USS Halloween Horror Nights 2019 before 10pm

2019-10-05T00:28:00.002+08:00

I went to USS Halloween Horror Night 9 and it was amazing. To be fair, I went on a Thursday night, which explained why I could finish everything by 10pm. But nevertheless, the strategy is to plan your route, going for houses with the least queue first. So here's your cheat sheet for HHN9:

1. It only starts at 7:30pm

Sure, your ticket says 7pm. But everyone is required to gather Zone B for the opening act to start before the rides and houses are open. Therefore, there's really no need to run into the park exactly at 7pm.

2. Clear the first house as fast as possible

The first house with 5 minutes, go into it! This puts you on an advantage because you can clear the house quickly, which allow you to get to your second house as soon as possible. Since everyone was rushing into the House 2 - Hell Block 9 after the opening act, we decided to avoid the initial crowd and went further down to House 3 - Spirit Doll. We were probably the first 50 people and the wait was less than 5 minutes.

3. Clear the second house

Clearing the first house quickly means the other houses are probably still quite empty too. Our second house was House 4 - Chalet Haunting and the queue stated outside was only 10 minutes. But we got in almost as fast as the first house.

Not recommended but we took a ride in the mummy because it was 5 minutes queue, which turned out to be 5 minutes of walking to the ride. No queue at all! We had all the seats in the row to ourselves too. And I'm not exactly sure why but the ride was significantly scarier than what I remembered it to be. It could be because we were spooked out from the first two houses, which made this ride scary too.

4. Avoid long queues

We wanted to get into House 2 - Hell Block 9 but the queue was 40 minutes, which we found to be too long. So we wandered down and saw House 1 - Curse of Naga to be only 5 minutes wait. And this was the main house I wanted to go because it was a collaboration from the directors of Thai horror movies (SHUTTER, Phobi4, etc). The house did not disappoint!

House 2 - Hell Block 9 is still crowded so we went to my least anticipated haunted house, House 5 - Twisted Clown University. I'm not a huge fan of clowns, neither do I find them to be creepy. The queue was 20 minutes, the longest we queued so far. Unless you're afraid of clowns, otherwise this house is pretty mild.

After the clowns, we went over to the Scare zone A. It was too crowded to be honest, which killed the mood. The decorations were nice but you're walking back to back with people all around. At least in the houses, they would control the amount of people entering.

Since we covered everything else, we are left with our last house, House 2 - Hell Block 9. It said 40 minutes but the wait was only 30 minutes long so it was tolerable. Definitely recommend this house!

5. Catch the show

We finished our last house at 9:30pm, and we realised the show was just starting so we quickly went in to catch the show, and to enjoy the air-conditioning. The show was very entertaining and a good change from all the haunting and houses. Highly recommend the show! We didn't have any expectations for the show but we left feeling entertained.

After the show, we dropped by the carnival and played a couple of games and took a couple of photos.

We left HHN9 at 10:10pm, feeling very accomplished! The thing we learnt is that a weekday is always a good idea for HHN9.

We had very low expectations for Halloween Horror Nights because our past experience was really horrible with the long waits in queues and crowds. This year's exceeded our expectations.

The props and decorations were brilliantly done, very realistic. The houses were spooky and thrilling. Very well-designed houses! My favourite house would be House 2 - Block Hell 9, followed by House 1 - Curse of Naga. The Spirit Dolls and Chalet Haunting were great too! Have to give it to Chalet Haunting because of how relevant and relatable it was for Singaporeans. I didn't enjoy the Clown house so I would put that as the least priority if you are tight on time.

How to travel from Jakarta airport to city

2019-02-26T19:19:00.000+08:00

If you're arriving in Soekarno–Hatta International Airport, there are many options on travelling to the city. My favourite is to hop on a Blue Bird taxi. It's affordable, safe and comfortable.

However, for first-timers in Jakarta, getting a Blue Bird taxi might be confusing. So here's how you can ease through the airport and hop on the taxi to your hotel in a budget yet comfortable way.

Upon leaving the arrival hall, you will see some booths on your right for taxi companies. You would be tempted but I wouldn't recommend them as they tend to be twice the cost of a normal taxi you might get.

To your front, you will see a lot of people waiting by the railings. Turn left and exit the building before the crowd. You'll see a lot more people waiting around outside too. Ignore all of them and just continue walking. You would walk past the toilets and just continue going that direction. There would be a lot of people approaching you, asking if you want a taxi. Just continue walking.

Look out for a kiosk. The kiosk will be a distance away from the Blue Bird taxi queue. On the kiosk, you'll see two buttons. Click on the Blue Bird taxi and get your queue number.

There will be a guy in the Blue Bird uniform calling out numbers for the taxis. Walk towards him and standby. There is also a TV with the queue numbers but when I was there, it was not working.

Once your number is called, wave your queue number at the guy in uniform and he will escort you into the taxi.

My taxi cost only 160,000 out from the airport to the city center, inclusive of tolls and airport charges. Half the price of what my friend got from one of the guys in the airport.

Cebu Moaboal 4D3N Adventure

2018-10-28T21:26:00.000+08:00

Last December, I visited Philippines for the first time in my life. Was looking for a beach holiday getaway and realised that many of the places have already been explored by either one of us. Krabi, Bali, Phuket, Bintan, Langkawai, Tioman, Redang, etc.

In the end, we settled on Cebu, a place neither of us have been to. Flights were relatively cheap and we flew by Cebu Pacific. Since it was a midnight flight, we managed to reach Cebu early in the morning, ready to start our activities.

One thing to take note is that the traffic is horrible in Cebu and you should expect to spend a lot of time stuck in traffic. And it's always good to arrange for transportation with your accommodation!

Our Moalboal accommodation provided transportation services - an air-conditioned SUV for 3,000 php. It took us 3 hours to get from Cebu to Moalboal.

We had the most amazing guesthouse which we booked directly through them - to avoid airbnb fees. It was a little risky but we did our research thoroughly and decided that this was the safest, nice and cheap accommodation.

Honestly, if I were to ever return to Moalboal, I would definitely return to the guesthouse. The owners have 3 lovely, friendly dogs. They were pretty adorable and when I went on a morning walk alone, one of them even followed me (until a neighbour's dog started barking at it and scared it away).

They even have hammocks in the garden, where we spent every night of our trip lying there, admiring the stars and talking. We even spotted a couple of shooting stars! That's how amazing the visibility of stars were. As we were in the rural part of the country, there was hardly any light pollution which made the nights on the hammock amazing.

Drop a comment with your email if you're interested in the accommodation and I'll share it with you!

Canyoneering

One of the activities you can do in Moalboal is Canyoneering. That was our first stop - Canyoneering at Badian. It is approximately 1,500 php per person and last 2-3 hours long.

Equipments - safety helmets, life vests, and a pair of track shoes are included in the price, along with a simple lunch after your canyoneering adventures. Price also included guides (which we had two)!

Canyoneering involved a lot of waddling in the water, sliding down rapids, and the highlight - jumping off waterfalls and cliffs. If you're an adrenaline junkie, don't miss out on this! Scroll all the way down to look at our adventures in the vlog! :)

See the people behind on the top of the waterfall, that's where you'll jump off. It doesn't look that scary from here but when you're up there, looking down, I suppose it's kind of scary. I opted out of it due to health issues.

We even had a stop inbetween where we danced with the locals and took a swing into the water. Video below!

At the end of the trip, you'll find yourself at Kawasan Falls. There, you wait for your turn to get on the raft where the guides will bring you across the water to the waterfall, and let the waterfall give you a "massage". It's really really painful for the water to hit on your back honestly. But good experience!

Osmena Peak

After a tiring adventure jumping off waterfalls, we washed up and head over to Osmena Peak. We had a lovely guide bring us up, who also doubled as a photographer.

The amazing thing about Osmena Peak is all the tiny little peaks across the area. A great place to watch the sunset. And the hike up was really short, approximately 10 - 15 minutes (depending on how fit you are). Moreover, the hike wasn't that steep so it was a really easy climb for a really amazing view.

Island Hopping & Sardine Run

The next morning, after a lovely breakfast with our hosts, we went on island hopping and sardine run! We booked through our hosts and they managed to bargain the price down for us - telling the operators that it was one of our birthdays, which was true actually.

Honestly, the island hopping was not very memorable. The sea wasn't exceptionally beautiful or clean. One of the guides even showed us a starfish (plenty of starfishes in the sea there). We only managed to catch a glimpse of the sea turtle.

But the best part was the sardine run. The location was a little unexpected as it was really near the shore and the sea wasn't clean at all. But the sardines - they were amazing. It was like watching the northern lights dance, but in this case, watching sardines dance in the sea. And if you try to scare the sardines, they would quickly disperse and make another line.

White Beach

After the island hopping in the morning and a hefty lunch, we went to White Beach to spend the rest of our day chilling and relaxing. There's admission fee for White Beach by the way, and if you want to use any of the shades, it will cost money too.

We even caught the sunset by the beach. The good thing about our accommodation was that they also arranged a motorbike taxi for us whenever we wanted to go somewhere. The driver waited for us for 2 hours as we chilled by the beach, soaking in Vitamin E.

After a long day, out in the sun, we headed over to Panagsama Beach Street for dinner and drinks. Again, our driver waited for us to finish dinner and drinks so whenever we were done, we went over to the carpark and there he was. This made things easier as we did not have to look and hail for a taxi randomly.

Unfortunately, our stay in Moalboal ended the next day as we headed back to Cebu to send our dear friend off first, before we continued the next part of our trip in Cebu. If I could plan this trip again, I would have allocated more time in Moalboal and skip the entire Cebu part of the trip.

Definitely one of the best beach getaway ever, with a good mixture of chill and adrenaline rush.

Tokyo Food Hunt

2018-07-17T21:31:00.001+08:00

Tokyo is one of my favourite cities in the world. It's a place where I can visit every year, no every month, and not get tired of.

The food is definitely one of the reasons I keep returning to this bustling city, though there are definitely more reasons than the food.

So here's a list of my favourite places to go when I'm in Tokyo.

RedRock

Chanced upon this beef bowl on my of my friends' instagram and immediately knew I had to visit this place. Read online about the insane queues so I went to the Shinjuku branch at 12pm (I like to have my lunches early to avoid queues). There were only approximately 10 people in front of me in the queue and it was a relatively painless wait.

Order your beef bowl from the vending machine and I was pleasantly surprised at how affordable the beef bowls were. There're two versions of the beef bowls so take your pick on whichever you prefer.

Personally, I liked the roast beef bowl better. Definitely a must go if you're in Tokyo.

Unagi Irokawa

Unagi, freshwater eel that is simply delicious. They're quite pricey though. A quick search online on restaurants in Asakusa and Unagi Irokawa came up.

We were a little pushing the closing time because we only reached the shop at 1:45pm. It's a good thing they're still open. I lost my photo of the unagi rice bowl but it was simply delicious.

5/5 would return again.

Tentake

This was also an online find. Have I mentioned how much I love tendons? I knew I had to find a stall that served good tendons to satisfy my craving.

I was their first customer of the day, went in slightly after 11am (repeat, I hate queues). Since they weren't too busy, we even had a little chat, in my horrible Japanese. They asked me why I was here in Tokyo alone, how I hear about this place, where I'm from, and if I had a boyfriend. Haha. I was really proud of myself for being able to hold a conversation in Japanese despite my limited understanding and poor Japanese grammar and vocabulary.

Anyway, Tendake has the most amazing tendon. Absolutely love the sauce they dipped their tempura in. I wanted to return to this place again on my subsequent trip to Tokyo but it was closed on the day I wanted to go down.

Makoto Sushi

This was a really surprise find. I was craving for some sushi and did not want to walk very far out from my hotel so I searched for a place nearby (Nishi-Shinjuku).

It was my first omakase ever. I know many visit Tsukuji Fish Market to have their fresh sushi served to them. Again, I hate queues. So I can't really compare this to the other famous omakase sushi places.

But by its own, Makoto Sushi was brilliant. Never had I ever tasted such amazing sushi before. The otoro and uni were so delicious. The plus point is that this place is quite tourist-friendly and I didn't have to have a reservation.

I don't know if I will ever return to the place because there are definitely other good and fresh sushi places too but it was a good dining experience.

Sushi Zanmai

If you're looking for cheaper sushi alternative, Sushi Zanmai is a pretty good option. They have many branches all over Tokyo so it's really easy to locate one.

I went to the branch in Higashi Shinjuku and the chef was absolutely charming and friendly. Yes, yet another attempt to communicate with the chefs in Japanese.

For a sushi branch with such prices, I was really impressed. And yes, I went back to Sushi Zanmai again.

Ichiran

A classic favourite among Singaporeans, everyone visits Ichiran to have their ramen when they are in Japan.

I was so hyped to try the popular tonkotsu ramen. Went to this place after having starved myself while spending the night at the summer fireworks festival. It was 9:30pm and I was so hungry but there was such a long queue - almost an hour long.

Honestly, I wasn't that impressed with it. It was nice, satisfying, but maybe I expected a lot more from all the hype. There are definitely nicer ramen in Japan.

Mutekiya

My best friend swore by this ramen store. Thought it was a little hard to believe that he claimed this to be the best ramen. But he was so right. It was the best ramen.

Having had so many other popular ramen in Tokyo (Ichiran, Ippudo, etc), I had never heard of Mutekiya. The first time I visited the place, it was at 5pm and there was already a queue. And it was 40 minutes long. Totally worth the wait though. And I went back to this place 2 more times and there was always a line despite my odd eating times.

The soup is extremely rich and creamy, which leaves you dying for more. And I make it a point to always visit this place every time I'm in Tokyo.

4D3N Bali

2018-06-07T13:44:00.000+08:00

Long overdue post.

Threw a surprise bachelorette party/trip to Bali for my best friend. We only told her we were bringing her on a trip and kept the location and everything else from her. We even changed currency for her so she would not know where we were headed to.

Day 1.

The first thing on our itinerary was to attend a cooking class. We booked the cooking class prior to our trip. We took the afternoon class so we did not have the visit to the market.

They picked us up in a van and upon arrival, all the ingredients have been placed neatly on the table.

There were so many different ingredients. The instructor took time to explain each ingredient and taught us patiently. It was easy to follow even for people who have never cooked in their lives.

Look at the chefs at work :)

Even made our own satay! Though most of the time, they would help us to cook if we were tired. So majority of the satay was cooked by the helpers while our biggest achievement was to skewer the satay.

And the finishing product! After a tiring cookout, we sat down and had our dinner.

It was a great experience cooking our own dinner. The amazing thing about it was that we even created the sauces from scratch. Usually when we cook at home, it is so convenient to buy off-the-shelf sauces because the process of creating a sauce requires so many different ingredients and time.

Day 2.

Woke up early in the morning at 3am to catch the sunrise on Mount Batur. I have never climbed a mountain before, much climb in complete darkness.

We had a guide with us as nobody was allowed to hike up the mountain without one. And because we were not the fittest people you'll find around, we made plenty of stops along the way up the mountain which made the hike tolerably. The guide even pulled one of my friends up all the way because she could not continue.

The climb was definitely not that tough. While it was challenging and enough to make your muscles scream, it's quite a tolerable few hours climb.

The view was definitely rewarding though. After spending hours climbing in the dark and to be rewarded with this.

Since we were staying in Ubud the first couple of days, we had to squeeze in all the attractions while we were there. Imagine having to wake up early in the morning to climb Mt Batur and then cover the whole of Ubud in the afternoon.

Tegallalang Rice Terraces is one of the most beautiful serene places in Bali. An instagram-worthy place. It gets insanely hot though so the best idea is to get to this place early in the morning before the sun heats up the rice terraces.

Ubud has plenty of waterfalls. We picked Tibumana waterfall partly because it is less crowded.

Could even go in a for a dip. Perfect for the hot weather.

And I guess you can't visit Bali without paying a visit to one of their temples. Our taxi driver was a really good photographer who helped document our entire Ubud trip in photos.

And we ended our day with the Campuhan Ridge Walk. We did not complete the entire hike but you don't have to walk too deep in to grab some nice photos.

Something I really like about Bali is how easily available vegan food are. And how delicious the vegan food are. I had this sushi thingy and it was really amazing. If I can always find such delicious vegan food in Singapore, I would definitely turn vegan.

Day 3.

We decided to get out of Ubud and move to a secluded villa to spend the rest of our days in Bali in luxury. Booked a really expensive villa that came with our own helper/cook, and our own private infinity pool. It was paradise.

The villa had two air-conditioned bedrooms, each with their own bathrooms. And the living area was huge, equipped with kitchen, pool table, tv, and sofas. There's a dining area by the pool which made it a lovely place to have candlelight dinners.

Our helper was lovely and cooked all our meals, whatever we requested. I even asked for goreng pisang (I love goreng pisang) and she made some for tea break.

I guess, this was the best part of our Bali trip. Lazing around in the villa and having to be waited on.

I guess the next time I'm back in Bali, I'll opt for a lazier trip where I can just lie in the bed or soak myself in the pool the whole day.

12 Days Japan Itinerary

2018-03-23T14:31:00.000+08:00

Last year was eventful with me having to fly to Japan on three occasions and I can't be more grateful to be able to witness the transition from Summer to Autumn. Now that I've finally settled down and have some time, it's time to catch up on my adventures from last year.

I went on a 12 days Japan trip and while I went to some of the same places as I did a few years ago, I skipped out on Mt Fuji. If you're interested to know more about my trip to Mt Fuji, check out my previous post. I'll do up another post on the food gems I've found in Japan but meantime, here's my Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, Kanazawa, and Takayama itinerary.

Day 1 - 3: Tokyo

Asakusa

Another must visit place in Tokyo is Asakusa. Asakusa is swamped with tourists and for a very good reason. It is home to the famous Senso-ji Temple. Take time off to immerse yourself in the old Tokyo.

Asakusa is also home to plenty delicious food. I had the best Tendon and Unagi at Asakua, mainly Tendake and Kawamatsu. I'll write more about it in my other post.

Another food most tourists go for is the melonpan. Kagetsudo sits just outside Senso-ji Temple and many flock to the place to have a taste of their famous melonpan. While the name suggests melon, the bread has no melon in it. Top your melonpan with ice-cream on a hot sunny Summer afternoon to make it even better.

And of course there are many other places in Tokyo worth visiting, such as Tokyo Skytree, Odaiba, Shibuya, Shinjuku, Tokyo Dome, Ueno Park, Imperial Palace, Yoyogi Park, and many more. I can go on and on about the many places in Tokyo.

Another experience in Tokyo was staying in a capsule hotel. There were two different capsule hotels that I've visited but one left a really deep impression. Nine Hours Shinjuku-North has a futuristic theme and a really clean layout. The ladies have a separate elevator leading up to the sleeping quarters and showers.

Day 4: DisneySea

Headed to DisneySea on one of our days in Tokyo. There are many ways to get to DisneySea. As we were staying in Shinjuku, we decided to hop on the bus to DisneySea via the bus at Shinjuku Bus Station.

The trick to get on all the rides in DisneySea is to get the fastpass tickets. The best part is that they're free! Each ride has a limited number of fastpasses to give out so you have to quickly grab the fastpasses for the popular rides before they run out.

What we did was basically grab a fastpass for one of the rides and while we are waiting for the time to take our ride, we would queue for another ride.

Toy Story Mania, Journey to the Center of the Earth, Tower of Terror, Indiana Jones, and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea were some of our favourite rides. Personally, I really liked Toy Story Mania and the fast passes were out in the early afternoon. Definitely one of the first few rides you should go for!

There is a lot of fuss over the little green aliens ice-cream mochi on the internet. I can see how adorable they are and they tasted good too. They come in chocolate, strawberry and vanilla ice-cream.

We happened to be in DisneySea during the Halloween period so people were encouraged to dress up in DisneySea. There were a lot of Ariel walking around, as well as many other Disney characters. One person even dressed up as an eggplant!

And the amazing thing about Japan is how seriously they are with their costumes. Both these photos (above and below) were basically random guests of the park. Though we did meet the real Jack Sparrow later in the day.

Day 5: Kamakura

We did a day trip to Kamakura for some hiking and sightseeing outside of Tokyo. Just south of Tokyo, Kamakura is easily accessible by train from Tokyo.

We started our day at Kita-Kamakura station with the Engakuji Temple. It's a Zen temple located in the forested hills.

Next to Engakuji Temple lies Meigetsuin Temple, which is famous for its hydrangeas (my favourite flowers). By the time we arrived, the hydrangea blooming season was over and there were only traces of them left.

Within Meigetsuin Temple, you can find a small little area of bamboo forest. Perfect place to take your bamboo forest photo with the crowd in Kyoto.

We hiked our way down from Kita-Kamakura station to the Great Buddha, the main attraction of Kamakura. Having enjoyed the serenity and peace at the previous two temples and during the hike, we found ourselves surrounded by crowds of tourists all of a sudden.

There are a couple of nice food in Kamakura and what left a really deep impression was the pressed crispy octopus cracker. The octopus is pressed with a high pressure and temperature machine to create really crispy octopus crackers!

Also, Kamakura is located right by the sea so you can pay a quick visit to the beach, though I did not find it fanciful.

Day 6: Osaka

We had a day in Osaka, gorging ourselves with the kansai delicacies, only because we wanted to use it as a base for our Universal Studios Japan visit. Also, Osaka was a really good place to shop (probably the only place we could shop since the rest of the places we were visiting were not major big cities).

Day 7: USJ

From Osaka, you can take a direct train to Universal Studios Japan. It's very easily accessible and quick to get there.

While USJ has plenty of rides, the highlight of USJ for us was definitely the Wizarding World. Having done our research beforehand, we were told (by everyone and every website) to get the numbered ticket for entry to the Wizarding World.

We actually spent the first 10 minutes of our time in the park searching to get the numbered ticket only to realise there wasn't one. We did not need to get the numbered ticket for entry to the Wizarding World and we could walk in and out of it as many times as we want, anytime we want.

Stepping into the Wizarding World was so magical. I'm a huge Harry Potter fan so imagine the excitement walking into Hogsmeade with the theme song playing in the background.

Look how happy these two fangirls looked. The Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey ride was my favourite ride. It felt really real and maybe it was kind of weird listening to them speak in Japanese. Also, do go for the castle tour because while the queue for the Forbidden Journey winds into the castle, the castle tour does bring you to places the queue doesn't.

We even went to put on our house robes. Yes, I'm a Gryffindor (even though I secretly wanted to be a Slytherin).

To see the beauty of the Hogwarts castle. Go to the Three Broomsticks to get the best view of the castle. You can grab a glass of Butterbeer while you're at the Three Broomsticks. I actually bought the cup as well so I can bring it back as a souvenir.

So tempted to buy everything I saw there. All the food that you've read about in the book, the jelly beans, the chocolate frogs, etc.

The Wizarding World is so magical and really a heaven for the potterheads.

The Minion Park in USJ was also newly opened when we were there. To be honest, I'm not exactly a huge fan of the minions.

Me posing with the Wall of Fame of my favourite Japanese artiste.

While we were just strolling around the park after nightfall, we heard screams and saw a lot of people crowding in an area. Turned out there was a halloween special event happening because we were there in October. Unlike USS, USJ halloween event is included in your normal admission ticket.

There were plenty of haunted houses for you to venture into. Similar to the USS halloween haunted houses, you get to enter and explore the place. We really enjoyed the Chucky Adventure haunted house. Scream factor 8/10.

There are scare zones too, with zombies walking around, chasing you down the street. Yes, we screamed whenever a zombie chased after us.

If you're heading to Osaka in October, do pay USJ for a visit because hey, you're getting Halloween Horror Night along with your day admission ticket too.

Day 8: Kyoto

Decided to head to Kyoto Arashiyama Bamboo Forest. A serene walk through the forest, we found ourselves at Tenryuji Temple. While many just visit the bamboo forest and move on to other attractions in Kyoto, I highly recommend Tenryuji Temple.

Tenryuji Temple has one of the most amazing gardens I've seen in Japan so far. A beautiful landscape garden right in the middle of Arashiyama. It'll definitely look even prettier when the leaves start turning red.

We spent a lot of time in the drawing room, sitting by the door, admiring the view.

I really loved Tenryuji Temple that I think I spent almost 2 hours in there.

Another landmark we visited was the Fushimi Inari Shrine. The sky was getting dark by the time we arrived so we were on a tight schedule. Yet again, I did not manage to finish climbing up those steps.

As much as I love Kyoto, I really dislike crowds. Finding it really hard to fall in love with Kyoto. Nevertheless, Kyoto still has her charm, especially at dawn when the humans are all asleep in their hotels, or at dusk when they leave in buses.

Day 9: Kanazawa

While most opt to dress in kimono in Kyoto, I decided to do it somewhere else with lesser crowd.

I rented my kimono in Kanazawa, which also boasts many historical attractions, such as the castle town, the beautiful landscape garden, the samurai district, and the chaya entertainment district.

The first stop was Kenrokuen, known as one of Japan's famous landscape gardens. You can't say you've been to Kanazawa without having step foot into Kenrokuen.

May look pretty in the kimono but it's so hard to put on. Do you know that if I have to use the washroom, I'll need to lift up 6 pieces of cloth before I can actually use the washroom? Yes, I'm wearing a lot of layers underneath.

Just opposite the garden, you can find the Kanazawa Castle. The attractions in Kanazawa are all pretty close to each other so that saves us a lot of time having to travel around to capture the sights.

And of course, Kanazawa is not as popular as Kyoto so you pretty much have quite the whole place to yourself, not having to squeeze around with tourists.

The Higashi Chaya District is a popular spot which most people visit. Lined with teahouses where geishas perform in, this is a really traditional side of the town.

It was really fun walking around Kanazawa in kimono and if you want to experience wearing a kimono, why not wear it somewhere less crowded and conventional?

We were actually photographed by a lot of people when we were walking around. Once, a tour guide, who was leading her tour group, took out her camera to take a photo of us and everyone else in the group started doing the same. Kind of felt like a celebrity!

Day 11: Shirakawago

Shirakawago is just a bus trip away from Kanazawa. While famous for its snow capped roofs, we decided to visit this UNESCO world heritage site during the autumn, which also gave us some really nice views.

You can only reach Shirakawago by bus. The best place to reach Shirakawago is through Kanazawa, since Kanazawa is accessible by the bullet train. The bus frequency is high but you'll have to remember to reserve your seat on the bus online.

You can even enter some of the houses there. They do charge a minimal admission fee. A great way to hide away from the cold. We kind of regretted not staying a night here though so if I could plan the trip again, I would definitely arrange for a night here.

They also have some really good Hida beef here. And lots of soba restaurants which you can recharge and fill your tummy with.

Take a hike up to the viewpoint to see Shirakawago from afar. Or if you're feeling lazy, you can hop on the bus up for a small fee.

Day 12 - 13: Takayama

Takayama, a city in the mountains, is a good stopover after visiting Shirakawago. Reachable by bus, Takayama is a small little town and easily explorable in a day. It also makes a good resting place if you're planning to go into the mountains.

Takayama Old Street is where you can find all the sake brewery and restaurants.

Something you have to try while in Takayama is Hida beef. Less well-known than the Kobe beef, the Hida beef is a delicious beef that rivals the Kobe beef. They do have different ranks and grades too, similar to the Kobe beef.

I've tasted high quality Wagyu beef in Tokyo and I thought that was beyond amazing. That was till I tried the Hida beef in Takayama.

It's the most amazing beef I've ever tasted in my life and I'm not even exaggerating. The beef melted like butter in my mouth. It was a little costly but it was really divine that I don't mind giving them all my money I have left.

Takayama has the most amazing beef nigiri. Using A5 grade Hida beef, the nigiri beef is the most amazing thing you'll probably eat in Takayama. You can spot the store from afar due to the long queue.

The nigiri sushi are placed on a biscuit so you don't have to carry any waste around after finishing the nigiri. They were so delicious that I cried tears of joy from eating it (I was actually having an eye infection so my eyes were tearing the entire day haha!). But honestly, the beef nigiri were so good that I almost felt that it cured my eye infection.

We even took a trip to Hirayu Hot Spring for some onsen experience. It's a short trip from Takayama and i really wished we have longer days up in the mountains.

We left Japan missing the Hida beef the most, even though we had really good seafood in Tokyo and Kanazawa. Honestly, the Hida beef was the highlight of the trip, with USJ coming close behind.

Will be updating another post on the food you should eat while in Tokyo since I've spent almost an entire month in Tokyo last year.

7 Travel Items To Have In Your Backpack

2017-11-04T14:54:00.000+08:00

[Sponsored Post]

There is always a need to pack your bags according to where you are travelling. If you're exploring a big city, the essentials in your bag differs from what you would bring on a hike or a beach getaway.

As for every trip, there are definitely some common essentials that I would always bring along with me whenever I am travelling.

1. Hand Sanitizer

I'm not much of a clean freak but sometimes it's really handy to have a hand sanitizer, especially when washrooms are not easily accessible. Also, the hand sanitizer has a really nice scent which would also come in handy whenever the place (or someone) smells.

2. Jacket

I don't always bring along a jacket since it's not always needed. Why would you need one when you're going on a beach getaway? However, I've come to realise that the jacket is really important when you're taking transportations, whether you're on the plane, train or bus. Also, sometimes the weather can be really erratic. It's always best to be prepared for the cold.

3. Headphones

Noise isolation headphones are really a good to have when you are travelling. There was once I stayed in a 10-bed hostel and I spent the entire night listening to a snoring orchestra.

4. Kindle

Long train or bus rides are inevitable when you are travelling. That's when a book can be your best travel companion. I like to store all kinds of books in my Kindle because I read different kinds of books when I am feeling differently.

5. Umbrella

I've realised the importance of an umbrella/poncho when I was in Switzerland earlier this year. I was stuck in the rain for hours and got myself all drenched and cold. I chose an umbrella over a poncho as an umbrella works well to block out the UV rays.

6. Water Bottle

This might be the most important item on the list. There's always a tendency to be dehydrated when you're travelling because you would be running all around, often forgetting to hydrate yourself.

7. Laptop

A laptop is not necessary when you are travelling but it is for us, who have to work on our photos and blog. And the problem is that the laptop can get a little too heavy to carry around and you would need a big enough bag to keep your laptop.

I am really grateful for my Gaston Luga backpack that was sent to me by the lovely Gaston Luga marketing team. Look how I could easily stuff all the listed items into the backpack without it looking too bulky.

Gaston Luga is a Swedish brand that specialises in minimalistic backpacks and takes pride in their quality. Check out their brand video:

Use 'michellegosh' for a 15% off your Gaston Luga backpack purchase. Also, on top of a 15% off, you also get a 20% off tax rebate for any orders outside of Europe. So it's a HUGE discount off. Here's an example of the price breakdown should both discount be applied.

Also, Gaston Luga has just started a limited seasonal offer for the upcoming holiday season, in which a free leather address tag will be added to every backpack order by a customer. This seasonal offer will be available while the leather address tags stocks last.

I was really excited to receive my backpack, so much so that I immediately brought it along on my Japan trip and I can't stress how great it was. It was neither too big nor too small to keep all my travel essentials and I foresee bringing my Gaston Luga backpack on more of my future adventures.

I even brought it along to DisneySea and could even bring the backpack up on the rides. The backpack actually fitted into most of the rides' front pouches.

Once again, a huge thank you to the Gaston Luga marketing team. :)

The German Alpine Road

2017-07-24T00:02:00.000+08:00

The German Alpenstrasse, also known as the German Alpine Road, is a series of roads winding through the Bavarian Alps. It features breathtaking sceneries, weaving through Bavarian towns and castles.

While researching for my Germany road trip last winter, I ended with two roads, the Romantic Road and the German Alpine Road. Unlike the Romantic Road, there were limited articles on the German Alpine Road, but the few articles promised spectacular sceneries.

I've made some changes to the original German Alpine Road, and included some parts of Austria. If you were to look at the map, the German Alpine Road is shown in pink. I've mapped out my road trip in blue and it included Innsbruck, Salzburg and Hallstatt.

I've included a video of the entire road trip at the bottom of the post so should you wish to see some of the footage, scroll all the way below :)

Hopfen Am See

Our first stop from Munich was to Hopfen Am See, a small town north of Fussen. The only reason why we ended up in this small town was because we were looking for an accommodation near the Neuschwanstein Castle.

While most people skip Hopfen Am See, this was one of my favourite places throughout the entire road trip. We found a really scenic place to capture some amazing photos. The best part about the place is that it's such a hidden gem, there is hardly any tourists around snatching the photogenic spots and you can spend hours just snapping away.

Honestly, it was a really lucky find for us. We arrived in the accommodation after nightfall and we never quite expect anything from this small town since nobody actually talked about it. And the next morning, we opened the curtains and saw this breathtaking view. It was definitely a great start to our road trip.

Neuschwanstein Castle

The picturesque castle, that has become the inspiration for the Sleeping Beauty castle, is one of the most famous and visited castles in Germany.

To get into the castle, you have to get tickets at the ticket center before either walking up the mountain or opting the bus or horse carriage. Each ticket has a specific entry time that it follows strictly. We decided to stroll up the castle and it took approximately 20 minutes to walk up.

No photography is allowed in the castle but you can snap some photos for remembrance on the castle grounds.

And if you want the iconic photo of the castle that you see everywhere, there's a road that leads up to the bridge behind the castle. Something they don't tell you is that the bridge is filled with humans, trying to take a photo of the castle.

And if you were to turn around, the view is equally magnificent and you'll be able to see the other lesser-known castle with the Alps in the backdrop.

If you are feeling adventurous, you can even go off the beaten path and do a short climb up the hill after crossing the bridge to admire the castle from afar without crowds of tourists asking you to move out of the photos.

Innsbruck

After visiting the iconic castle, we drove down to Innsbruck. The thing about driving in Austria is that you need a vignette, a highway toll sticker. You can avoid paying for the vignette if you drive on small roads and skip the highways, but we figured we'll be driving in Austria for quite a bit so why not get the vignette?

Innsbruck, the Capital of the Alps, definitely lived to its name. The city is right in the valley of the Alps and everywhere you turn, you see amazing mountain backdrops against the buildings. I'm not a city girl but I've never been so in love with a city.

One of the things I look forward the most to visiting Austria was to get my hands on their wiener schnitzel once again. I absolutely love them when I last visited Vienna and I have been dreaming of returning to Austria to relive my tastebuds. And I lost track of the number of times I ordered wiener schnitzel while I was travelling there then.

Nordkette

Being right in the valley of the Alps, you are minutes away from Nordkette, a mountain range named the Jewel of the Alps. You can hop on the cable car (which is included in the Innsbruck Card) right from the city center and you'll be on the top of the mountains in 20 minutes.

The cable car takes you right to Hafelekar at 2256m. There, you can have your lunch on one of the many benches while overlooking Innsbruck. It snowed the night before we went up Nordkette so everywhere was white.

Once you've reached the end of the cable car, you can continue to do a short little climb up to the peak. Whether you decide to stop at where the cable car brings you or to climb to the top, the view is magnificent.

We were lucky because the weather was amazingly clear and we were greeted with an endless view of the Alps. There were occasions when the wind comes along, loaded with snow and ice, and can be quite piercing to the skin.

After the amazing view up in the Alps in Innsbruck, we were on the move again, heading East towards Salzburg. The roads along the way were beautiful and it snowed the night before, blanketing the whole place in white.

The beauty of road trips is that you get to stop at wherever and whenever you want. And that's when you find hidden gems along the way, away from the crowds and tourists.

We made a detour to Lake Schwarzsee in Austria. While the lake is not a popular spot, we were just looking for a place to have a scenic romantic walk and Lake Schwarzsee was a lovely place to do that. I can only imagine the place to be really pretty in Summer.

Berchtesgaden

The best stretch of the German Alpine Road is the last part towards Berchtesgaden. The scenic road was amazingly beautiful.

Berchtesgaden is a picturesque town in the Bavarian Alps. South of Berchtesgaden, you can find Eagles Nest, also known as Hitler's summer hideout. The Eagles Nest is closed in winter so there was no way we could actually visit it.

Konigssee, one of the most beautiful lakes in Germany, is another spot to visit if you're driving along the road. Famous among tourists, it can get pretty crowded especially during Summer.

You can hop on the boat ride in Konigsee which takes you across the lake. We had a pretty bad weather for a boat ride but we still decided to give it a go, since we have already travelled so far for it.

The fog did give our photos a different vibe and feeling to them. However, we could hardly see anything when we were out in the lake as the windows were engulfed in fog. It was a pity though, since we were expecting really beautiful views of the lake and the Alpine cliffs.

The boat ride has two stops along the lake and we got off at the St. Bartholomew's Church. There was really nothing much to be seen in the area and I wouldn't allocate too much time for this place.

Salzburg

We drove to Salzburg after spending our day in Berchtesgaden. Salzburg, known as the birthplace of Mozart and the setting for The Sound of Music.

Salzburg's old town, Altstadt, can easily be explored by foot as most attractions are within walking distance. There are so many places to visit in Salzburg. Mirabell Palace and Gardens, Hohensalzburg Castle, and Salzburg Cathedral are some of my favourite points of interest.

When we were there, they had Christmas markets in Residenzplatz and it was so beautiful to walk around with the Christmas air.

Hallstatt

One of my favourite stops from the road trip was Hallstatt. Hallstatt is just a quick drive from Salzburg, which makes it a perfect day trip option.

Along the way to Hallstatt, there are also a couple of scenic towns, St Gilgen and Strobl, that may be worth spending a few moments there.

It's so easy to lose track of time in Hallstatt as you make your way through the town, admiring the 16th century Alpine buildings. There are plenty of cafes in the town but we never really found a place with exceptional food or service.

We decided to go for the Skywalk, which sits 350 meters above the town Hallstatt. There's a railway up to the Skywalk but it was not opened in Winter. Thus, we hiked our way up, with much difficulties trying to find the entrance to the hiking path.

I honestly wasn't expecting to be hiking anything that day because I wasn't paying attention to the itinerary for Hallstatt. Thus, I was in really bad footwear for hiking.

We also never expected the path up to be covered in ice. It was so slippery, both on the way up and down, and we have both fallen down countless times along the way. Doesn't help that it was dark when we were making our way down.

The views were rewarding, even before you reach the top of the Skywalk.

And as you make your way higher, you can see the entire Hallstatt town overlooking the Alps and lake.

And finally, the Skywalk, rewards you with a breathtaking view of Hallstatt and the Alps. I'm expecting this place to be pretty crowded when the railway is working but since it was winter and everything was closed, we had the whole Skywalk to ourselves.

It makes a lovely place to watch the sunset too and while the sun was rather shy that day, we managed to catch the skies changing and it was a beautiful sight.

Hallstatt was our final stop as we made our way back to Munich the next day, ending our 8 days road trip across the Bavarian and Austrian Alps.

I've been on a couple of road trips and I think this has to be one of my favourites. It was such a scenic drive and there was never a moment when we were disappointed with the scenery or place.

If you would like to check out how our road trip went, video's below :)

Thank you for reading and if you have any questions on my trip, feel free to contact me :)

10 Days All Around Taiwan Travel Itinerary

2017-05-01T23:08:00.000+08:00

Last year May, I spent 10 days travelling all around Taiwan. Well, the initial plan was to travel around the entire island but due to unforeseen circumstances (like our driver miscalculating the time to travel to the ferry terminal), we had to make some major changes to our itinerary at the last minute.

Our first stop was Taichung. Upon arrival in Taiwan International Taoyuan Airport, we took the bus to Taichung. Our initial plan was to take the HSR but we realised that travelling by bus has more economic value. The buses can be found at the basement of the airport terminal. It only cost NT240 for the trip and the journey was approximately 2hours long.

We had to lock our luggages with the luggage storage at the Taichung railway station as we were too early to check-in to our accommodation. Our first stop was the Rainbow Village.

Honestly, I felt that the place was rather small and unexciting. However, they turned out pretty well in photos so it wasn't a wasted trip. I don't see anything else you can do there besides taking photos though. It's definitely a place you can skip if time is not on your side.

The highlight for Taichung ought to be Miyahara Ophthalmology Department (宫原眼科 Gong Yuan Yan Ke). The famous bowl of ice-cream located near Taichung station. My waiting line was relatively shorter as compared to what I've seen in other blogs so we only waited for 20 minutes. There were so many flavours for the ice-cream, one can really be spoilt for choices.

A few stores away, you can actually buy the famous sun biscuits in a really pretty shop with amazing interior. As the sun biscuits do have a short expiry date, you can actually place orders for the sun biscuits to be delivered to your accommodation right before you return to Singapore. We had them deliver to our Taipei accommodation.

As our accommodation was really near Fengjia Night Market, we spent the night stuffing ourselves with street food and shopping.

And that pretty sums up our short stay in Taichung because we left for Cingjing the next day. We hired a private taxi driver to drive us all the way to Cingjing. Our first stop was to say hello to the sheep!

They also have a really good horse show in the farm too. So besides watching sheep, you can actually be wowed at the stunts of the horsemen. Besides the sheep, there are also a lot of other attractions in Cingjing including Small Swiss Garden.

We ended the day early because we've signed up for a sun rise tour at Hehuanshan. The tour started at 3am and they picked us up from our accommodation. As it was early in the morning, it was freezing on Hehuanshan so it is extremely important to bring along something to keep you warm.

After catching the sun rise on our second day of Taiwan trip, we took the taxi back to Taichung train station to catch our train to Chiayi. The train ride cost NT244 and to get to Alishan, we would need to switch to a bus to get our way there.

By the time we finished finding our way to our accommodation, it was near evening and we were all exhausted from all the travelling around. We booked a firefly tour & Yushan sun rise tour with some random person at the carpark.

I felt her tour was rather bad considering she just threw us at the firefly place and expected us to explore the place by ourselves while we watch other tours being led by a guide. So you might want to check if you would have a guide for the tour.

Once again, we had another early morning as we went to Yushan to catch the sun rise. The weather was a lot better than our sun rise the day but that's really based on one's luck with mother nature.

The rest of the day in Alishan was spent exploring around. We hopped on the nostalgic train to Zhaoping station.

Trains do not get any prettier than this.

We followed the trail into the woods from Zhaoping station. It was really therapeutic to walk among the trees but as you walk closer to the tourist attractions, the horde of tourists start shattering your peaceful moment.

We left Alishan that evening, headed towards Kaohsiung. By then, we were really exhausted because of the tight schedule we had the past 3 days, covering 3 different places. We quickly just checked into our accommodation.

I do not usually advertise my accommodations unless I really like it. Our Kaohsiung accommodation was one of the coolest airbnb place I've stayed. It was actually the attic of someone's place (no lift) but he had decorated the entire place to what looks like a music studio so it was a really amazing experience. He was also friendly to give us tips on where to visit in Kaohsiung.

And here's Kaohsiung summed up in a few photos.

I actually realised I do not have many photos of our adventures at the night markets but you can safely assume we visited night markets every night while we were in Taiwan. For Kaohsiung, we went to both Liuhe night market and Ruifeng night market. If you want to see what food we ventured into at the night markets, watch the video at the end of the post.

And our trip went down the hill from Kaohsiung. We were supposed to be headed to Green Island, off the coast of Taitung. Unfortunately for us, we met with a really irresponsible taxi driver who took us to the wrong place and we ended up missing our ferry. We had to forgo our Green Island accommodation.

Instead, our driver decided to bring us to Kenting, found us a random accommodation to stay in. Not complaining about the accommodation because the hosts were really kind and nice to us, giving us free rides to the police station because my friend lost her wallet in the midst of all the mess.

Our hosts booked us a snorkelling session and drove us there out of goodwill. The snorkelling included free photos too. But having been on so many snorkeling trips, and even a diving trip, I would say that it wasn't the most amazing experience. However, it was always nice to build new experiences with friends who have never done snorkeled before.

We spent the next day in Kenting, exploring the place with our private taxi driver. And spent most of the time snapping photos away. Ended up day in the night market, and also found ourselves watching a pole dance show.

We were supposed to spend one night in Hualien but as our plans were ruined, we ended up staying the extra night in Kenting. So after two nights in Kenting, we headed back to Taipei.

If you have followed my travel adventures since (who knows when I started penning it down on this domain), you would have known that I've been to Taipei way too many times. So this time, I spent most of my time walking around Yongkang street, exploring cafes and trying out all the food.

And of course, you can't miss out on Din Tai Fung when you're in Taipei.

However, something new I've never done in Taipei was to climb Xiangshan. So while my friends were off busy getting their hair done, I decided not to be a vainpot and climb Xiangshan alone. Found my way from the train station and climbed the flight of stairs up, all while busy fighting off mosquitoes and insects.

The view was definitely rewarding and I couldn't ask for a better last night in Taipei than to watch the entire city lighting up as the sun went down. I spent a total of 2 hours, just standing there watching Taipei 101 light up.

And that ends my really packed 10 days trip around Taiwan. There were mishaps but there were also a lot of new experiences. If you want to know more about what we did during these 10 days, check out the video below.

Till then!

Flying first class on Emirates

2017-03-12T13:00:00.000+08:00

After a month's stay in Prague, I returned to Singapore the day after Christmas. The flight back was approximately 17 hours long, including a transfer at Dubai. The fortunate me had one of my flights bumped up to First Class.

Honestly, I have no clue how I was upgraded to First Class. I was checking in over the counters as usual and was given a Business boarding pass, which was what I purchased. Sensing everything to be the same as usual, I went to board the plane. However, as I was handling my boarding pass over to the ground crew right before boarding on the plane, my boarding pass was rejected. The staff went to check with the system and broke the news that I was upgraded to First Class.

Before I even had the time to register the fact that I was upgraded to First Class, I was ushered into the plane and brought to my seat. The stewards and stewardesses were coming up to me, greeting me and introducing themselves.

The seat was unfamiliar and the steward was more than willing to explain the seat functions. The personal legroom for First Class was amazing. Similarly to the Business Class, the seat was able to recline flat, perfect for sleeping. The First Class came with a remote controlled privacy door which was lovely because I could sleep in peace without having someone looking over me. The entertainment screen was also significantly bigger. The drinks bar was also remote controlled but the drinks selection was similar to what you get in Business Class.

I think what was the most surprising thing I experienced in First Class was the ability to have a hot shower on board. The bathroom was huge and beautiful, and came with showering capabilities. There was a need to book a timeslot to use the shower spa though. Also, there was a limited 5 minutes usage of water so you can't simply waste too much of the water in the showers.

Honestly, I felt really pampered and had a really amazing experience on board with Emirates. If you would like to have a sneak peak into my flight experience, here's a short video :)

Kutna Hora Day Trip

2016-12-06T07:24:00.000+08:00

Since I am in Prague for a business trip, I made use of the weekends to do some exploring. If you're interested to read more my adventure in Prague, check out my older travel post on my Prague trip in 2014. I'll be updating a new blog post on my current Prague trip when I return to Singapore (which will be in 2017).

Kutna Hora is a historic town located an hour train ride from Prague. Kutna Hora is actually a UNESCO World Heritage site, home to some of the most magnificent churches. Kutna Hora also sits on a silver mine.

Kutna Hora is an hour train ride from Prague. To get to Kutna Hora, buy your train ticket either online or at the Prague main train station (Praha Hln). The train will take you to Kutna Hora Hln and you'll have to switch to a connecting train to get to the town center, Kutna Hora Meso station. So make sure your ticket brings you to Kutna Hora Meso instead of Kutna Hora Hln. The return ticket will cost 209czk. The train comes at an interval of 2hours in the morning so make sure you check the timings, especially on your way back.

I alighted at Kutna Hora Meso and walked to the town center. It was winter, and one of the coldest days, so nobody was on the streets. The shops were all closed too so I highly recommend not to come in winter.

The first stop is to the Church of St Barbara.

It's such an amazing sight just walking to the church. I took a rather long way, winding some alleys, because I got kind of lost and I was refusing to take off my gloves to navigate the map on my phone because it was freezing.

Church of St Barbara is a gothic style cathedral that began construction in 1388 but was only completed in 1905.

The entrance fee for the church is 60czk and you can actually get a bundle ticket which will include the other main attractions in Kutna Hora.

To be honest, I did not do much research before going over so I had no expectations and idea of what the main attractions looked like. Neither did i know that there's an entrance fee. So I went in on a Sunday when there was service and managed to sneak in for free. I only realised that there was an entrance fee when I was buying tickets at the other attractions and they were showing the bundle package which included Church of St Barbara.

Before leaving, there's this hidden gem with a great view of Kutna Hora just next to the cathedral.

This is the Stone Fountain in Kutna Hora. Kutna Hora Stone House is around the corner and unfortunately, it's closed in winter. During warmer days, you can actually go on a tour into the silver mines.

As mentioned earlier, it's winter and not a single shop was open. So at the sight of an opened store, I went in immediately. The chocolate museum serves chocolates made in Czech and they allowed tasting. So I kind of left the store with a little more chocolates than expected.

Church of the Assumption of Our Lady and Saint John the Baptist is the other attraction in Kutna Hora. While the Church of St Barbara is located at the Kutna Hora Meso station, the Church of the Assumption of Our Lady and Saint John the Baptist is closer to the Kutna Hora Sedlec station.

It takes 30 minutes to walk from the town center to the Church of the Assumption of Our Lady and Saint John the Baptist. Would not really recommend it so it's better to take the train.

While the Church of the Assumption of Our Lady and Saint John the Baptist has a gothic style, the interior of the church has a clean look with the minimalistic style.

But the key attraction of Kutna Hora has to be the Sedlec Ossuary. My colleagues, who recommended me to visit Kutna Hora, was raving about the bone church where they used bones to decorate the interior.

It's a little unusual to use bones to decorate a place but it's definitely an interesting sight. There's piles and piles of bones lined up as decorations.

To be honest, I felt Kutna Hora to be a little underwhelming in the winter with the empty streets and closed shops. But it was definitely worth the escape from Prague to visit somewhere less crowded. If you have extra time on your hands, do drop by Kutna Hora.

Will be updating the blog again real soon as I will be clearing some of my backlogs from my other previous travel adventures.

Till then!

7 Days Tasmania Road Trip Itinerary

2016-10-29T23:58:00.001+08:00

Today, I'm breaking hiatus and featuring my first trip to Tasmania, which was back in May earlier this year. It was near the end of Autumn so the weather was chilly and the skies were gloomy.

Tasmania is one of the 6 states of Australia and is an isolated island off the coast of Australia. While it may look small on the map, Tasmania is actually more than 68 times the size of Singapore, with a population of only approximately 500,000.

There are no direct flights from Singapore to Tasmania but the best bet is to fly to Melbourne and catch a slightly more than an hour flight over to Hobart, the capital of Tasmania. My flight was in the night so I touched down at 9pm, hailed a cab over to the airbnb.

Day 1: Cape Hauy

The next morning, we had the same cab driver come and pick us up to drive us over to the car rental to grab our car. We dropped by Sorell Cafe along the way to Tasman National Park. Point to note for visiting national parks in Tasmania, make sure you have a national park pass. You can get it online and have it printed out.

Our first stop was the Tessellated Pavement. When I was researching online, they were comparing the Tessellated Pavement, Tasman Arch, the Blowhole and the Devil's Kitchen to the Great Ocean Road in Melbourne. Honestly, I thought it was rather underwhelming.

But the highlight for that day was definitely the hike up to Cape Hauy. The hike was a 8km round trip, which took 4.5 hours. Despite it only being 8km, the hike was quite intensive for a group of people who are not trained. It was definitely hard when you have no visual of the end point and the hike was basically climbing up and down and up and down. It was never-ending.

The reward for the hike was definitely worth it. The view was amazing and breath-taking as you overlook what looks like a Game of Thrones scenery. The hiking path doesn't have any railings so you'll have to be careful.

By the time we were heading back, the sky was getting dark and we were famished because we clearly only had breakfast. We found a random store along the way out of the national park and had Tasmanian Scallop Pie for dinner. Apparently the scallop pie is one of their more famous food in East Tasmania.

After a satisfying dinner, we drove up to Coles Bay and it was really dark by the time we reached our accommodation. It was a really cosy little home that was located minutes away from Freycinet National Park.

Day 2: Freycinet National Park

We picked our overnight accommodation near the sights we were planning to visit the next day because the days were short and we didn't want to waste the daylight on the road. Instead, we drove to our accommodations after dinner when it was dark so we could start our day sightseeing.

Our first stop was the Wineglass Bay. The Wineglass Bay is probably the most well-known natural attraction of East Tasmania.

It's a mere 10 minutes drive from our accommodation and a relatively mild hike. We were exhausted from yesterday's 4.5 hours hike up Cape Hauy so we took the simplest hike up Wineglass Bay and did not descend to the beach.

The entire hike up to view the Wineglass Bay took an hour. If you have the time, and the daylight, I think going down to the beach is really worth it.

After the mini hike, we drove to the Cape Tourville Lighthouse. Another relatively short walk to the lighthouse. Along the way, someone spotted seals on the boulders in the ocean and pointed them out to us. We were pretty psyched to be able to see them. The place is also perfect for whale spotting during the migration season.

It was still a little early for lunch but the Freycinet Marine Farm was along the way towards Friendly Beaches so we just had to stop.

What's a trip to Tasmania without some oysters. Freycinet Marine Farm serve freshly caught oysters, and other seafood goodies such as abalones, scallops, and mussels. The oysters were going at $18 for a dozen and we just couldn't get enough of them. They were probably the best oysters I've ever eaten in my life.

The Friendly Beaches is a long stretch of white sandy beach that stretches across the east coast of Tasmania. The beach is perfect for long romantic strolls and I can't see any reason to hate it. We were also the only ones on the beach that day, which could be because it was close to winter by the time we were in Tasmania.

The Bay of Fires is a 2 hours drive North from Friendly Beaches. Famous for their burning orange red rocks against the turquoise blue ocean waters, it's no wonder the Bay of Fires is on almost all the must-go attractions lists in Tasmania.

Also, the Bay of Fires is near St. Helens, which has some pretty famous seafood restaurants. As the place is near the coast, the seafood is beyond amazing. By the time we finished exploring and covering our sights, we returned to St. Helens, hoping to find some good food. Unfortunately, everything closed pretty early so we were left famished, yet again. We had to make a trip to Woolworths to grab some groceries to cook at our accommodation.

Day 3: Tamar Valley

We spent the night at the most hospitable farmstay. This is the only one accommodation I would highly recommend to everyone. Craig and his wife were really kind and nice and the house they had us in was gigantic. We had an enjoyable night at his farmstay, which was in Tamar Valley, the famous wine route in Tasmania.

In the morning, we even had the opportunity to feed the alpacas in the farm. The host took time out and brought us around the farm, showing us the chickens, sheeps, and alpacas. It's a really refreshing sight and experience for a city girl, like me.

We visited vineyards, which were bare in May. Holm Oak Vineyards and Moores Hill Estate were one of the two better vineyards which we visited. It was a rather relaxed day today because we were mentally preparing for the Cradle Mountain hike we had planned for the next day.

One of the people we met during the wine tasting was raving about Christmas Hills Raspberry Farm so we decided to drop by the place to have some raspberries. No regrets. We had the crepes and waffles but the highlight was definitely the raspberry jams they were selling in jars and the chocolate coated raspberries. Even if you're not planning to eat in the cafe, you can easily pop by and grab some raspberry-related food to bring back.

We travelled to our next accommodation and inched closer to the Cradle Mountain. The accommodation for that night was also amazing. It was a tiny little wooden house for 4, and the host baked fresh bread for us. We also had a clear view of Mt Roland from the bedroom window.

Day 4: Mole Creek

We had plans to visit Cradle Mountain on this day but there was a storm and it was raining the entire day. We decided to change our plans and went to explore the Mole Creek caves instead.

We went for both the Great Cathedral and glow worms tour and the King Solomons cave tour. I loved the guide for the King Solomons cave tour as he was just so passionate about the cave and the topic. You could feel the love and passion just by the way he spoke. The glow worms were a little underwhelming but the Great Cathedral was definitely amazing.

So we spent the early part of the day exploring the caves and we figured we needed to find a place for lunch in this random place. A short google and we found a salmon farm just round the corner.

41 South Tasmania is a salmon and ginseng farm. I guess, you can't leave Tasmania without having tried their salmons. Either I was famished and starving, or they really do have delicious salmon. You can even get a vacuum packed salmon to bring it home with you. I bought one for my family and kind of regretting not getting more.

But the highlight of the day has to be the honey ice-cream. Melita Honey Farm in Chudleigh has a wide collection of honey. But you should never leave the place without the honey flavoured ice-cream. The guy at the salmon farm was telling us to get the honey ice-cream and so we tried it out.
They have many different flavours but only 2 of the flavours are honey. Try their signature leatherwood honey ice-cream. It can never go wrong.

Also, if there are too many types of honey in the store and you cannot decide which honey to buy back as a gift, go with leatherwood. The leatherwood honey can only be found in Tasmania and it makes a really good unique souvenir.

And because it rained so much that day, we spotted at least 5 different rainbows on the road.

Day 5: Cradle Mountain

The storm has calmed down overnight and I didn't want to leave Tasmania without having seen Cradle Mountain. So we took the chance since it stopped raining to visit the magnificent mountain. We were not trained or prepared so we clearly did not do the famous overland track which would take 6 days.

Unfortunately for us, it started raining pretty badly the moment we reached the carpark. The peaks were hidden behind the rain. The initial plan to climb up to Marions Lookout to have a full view of the picturesque lake was scrapped because of the weather.

Instead, we took the Dove Lake circuit trail that circles the Dove Lake. It is the simplest and easiest accessible trail in the Cradle Mountain region. There was little elevation and the road was pretty easy to walk.

As you can see, the rain stopped after we started the trail and we had a clear view of the Cradle Mountain peaks. Lucky for us, we managed to leave Tasmania having seen the Cradle Mountain peaks.

There were clearly a lot of instagram worthy photos to be taken in this area and I could not stop snapping the camera away.

And by the time we reached the famous hut by Dove Lake, it started raining again and the rain blocked the view of the mountains.

After the Cradle Mountain trail, we drove 4 hours back to Hobart and settled comfortably in our little accommodation.

Day 6: Hobart

Every Saturday morning, Hobart's outdoor market, Salamanca Market, comes to life. There, you can find all kinds of Tasmanian produce and products. A perfect place to spend your Saturday. The reason why I planned Hobart to be the last stop was so as to accommodate the Salamanca Market, which is only held every Saturday. So remember to plan your travel itinerary wisely!

The second part of the day was spent in Mount Wellington. Mount Wellington towers over Hobart city and is just right outside Hobart. You can also drive all the way up to the peak, which is really convenient.

If you're in Hobart, you should not miss visiting Mount Wellington. Two days before we went, it snowed (remember the horrible storms on the day I went to the caves). There were snow on some of the peaks in Tasmania. And Mount Wellington was one of the lucky mountains to be covered in snow cap. There were leftover snow all over the place when we reached.

We ended our day at the Barilla Bay restaurant where we ordered 3 dozens of oysters - for 3 pax. So we pretty much had a dozen each. It was our last night in Tasmania and we didn't want to leave without indulging in oysters one last time.

And of course, dessert at Honey Badger Dessert. Their panookie, which is a cookie in a pan, topped with a scoop of ice-cream, is to die for.

Day 7: Singapore

The last day was pretty much heading to the airport, and then travelling back to Melbourne before hopping on another plane back home. Honestly, I felt that the 6 days spent in Tasmania had been really short and if I could, I would definitely return for a longer trip. Maybe try the overland track, and spend more time soaking in the wilderness Tasmania has to offer instead of rushing through the road trip.

Freshmen Orientation Camps

2016-08-13T12:00:00.000+08:00

I apologise for the lack of updates. The transition from a carefree university student to a working adult is taking a toll on me. All you want to do after a long day of work is just to get home and catch some pokemon.

So, the whole NUS orientation camp situation has probably died down since everyone's concentrating on catching pokemon. Thought I'll talk a little about it since I'm a huge supporter of orientation camps, as you can tell from my previous blog post on freshmen orientation camps.

It's really a pity how a few rotten apples can destroy everyone's impressions of orientation camps. The fact that the media has been putting these camps in bad light does not really help at all.
One of the reasons why I'm a huge supporter of orientation camps is that I've met my best friends in orientation camps, people I would have never met in my university life if not for the camps because we're all from different faculties. This is something I want my freshies to experience too - to find some of their truest friends through these camps.

I admit that I do not agree to some of the activities the orientation camps have, and when I'm uncomfortable, I just simply sit out or try to avoid being chosen for it. Freshies need to understand that they can opt out of activities if they tell their seniors. As a senior, I would never force my freshies to do something they felt strongly against.

I remembered there was an instance when I was a freshie and the seniors were being mean to us, scolding us after a long day of activities (it was 3-4am and everyone was dead tired). I went to look for a female senior who was very comforting. She assured me that there was a reason why they acted that way and it was all part of a story plot. I felt a lot better after that and she kept a lookout for me.

It's always good to keep an open mind, voice out when you feel uncomfortable, and have fun during these camps.

Why a Psychology graduate is in UX

2016-06-23T21:32:00.000+08:00

Today marks the one month’s into my first UX job. I dived into UX immediately after graduating with a bachelor in Psychology. Within this month, I’ve had so many people asking me what exactly am I doing and how is this relevant or related to what I’ve studied. Eventually, I grew exhausted from answering these questions and I even came up with a standardised answer.

“Psychology is the study of human behaviour, attitudes, and emotions. UX is all about understanding the cognitive and perceptive capabilities and limitations of humans and applying these knowledge into designing systems and environments to complement the capabilities and limitations of humans.”

This week’s topic would further explore why I got into UX and how relevant Psychology can be in UX.

Firstly, what is UX?

UX, short for user experience, is all about the behaviours, attitudes, and emotions about the interaction with a product, service, or environment. It all began when Don Norman, a computer scientist and cognitive researcher, came up with the term user-centered design.

I took up Human Factors Psychology as a course module while I was still doing my Psychology Diploma in Temasek Polytechnic. I never really thought much of it initially but at the end of the course, I found myself in love with Human Factors Psychology. Eventually, I took on an internship with NUS HCI Lab and that really ignited the passion.

In UX, we use applied psychlogy, which is the use of psychological concepts and methods to solve practical problems of human behaviour and experience. Psychology concepts and theories can be applied into almost anything, from organisational behaviour, to even designing technology and engineering.

I enjoyed the applicability of what I’ve learnt in my academic years and the more I got into UX, the more I realised how relevant Psychology was to UX. The skills I’ve picked up in Psychology, such as qualitative research and cognitive psychology, were extremely useful in UX. I was also glad I could apply these knowledge into something besides writing theses and dissertations.

Cognitive Psychology is all about the study of mental processes such as human memory, perception, decision making processes and thinking. In UX, the ability to understand humans’ cognitive abilities is essential when developing a system, environment, or experience for humans. With a better understanding, we can develop something that does not strain on the cognitive abilities and also to reduce humans’ cognitive load.

Moreover, UX is all about understanding the users, and as a Psychology graduate, humans intrigue me and I’ve always wanted to understand more about humans, their behaviours and thought processes. Naturally, I felt a connection with UX as it allowed me to get into the minds of users and understand their behaviours and thoughts.

Active listening and empathy are skills that are very useful (some may say it’s a requirement). These are skills we, Psychology graduates, develop. We always empathize and put ourselves into the shoes of others. We listen to people talk about their lives, their experiences and not be judgmental. This is exactly what a UX professional does. As a UX professional, we often have to try to see things in the users’ perspectives and apply listening techniques when talking to users.

While Psychology is quite relevant to UX, not many in Psychology in Singapore do venture into UX. There is still a lack of awareness of how relevant Psychology can be to UX. I really do hope this blog can inspire more Psychology graduates to take on more applied roles and join me in the dark side, UX.

5 Travel Hacks for Budget Travelling

2016-05-28T19:00:00.000+08:00

I travel leisurely frequently and people are often asking me how I get the money to continue this hobby. Here's the secret, I'm always getting the cheap deals and travel on a budget. For example, my return flight to Sydney/Gold Coast only cost me $375. My Osaka hotel accommodation was less than $25/pax/night.

I'm going to share some of the tips to travel on a budget (because we are all students here!)

Cheap flight

Flights are getting cheaper with competition from budget airlines. I mostly book my flights through FlyScoot because they're my favourite budget airlines (even though they can be quite unhelpful when you miss your flight). Tigerair and Jetstar are other great alternatives.

Catch them during their promotion period. For example, Jetstar has its promotion day on Fridays and that's when you'll get cheap fare deals!

There are promo codes at times too. Some promo codes give you discounts for flight, some provides discounts for the baggage. I do know Scoot do give out baggage allowance promo codes from time to time. This helps you to save money on baggage because baggage allowance on budget airlines cost way too much.

Cheap hotel

I booked a lot of my hotels with Agoda (or used to till I had a bad service experience with them). I've been using Expedia since because of their exceptional service and experience. Expedia is great because they help secure the cheapest prices. Haven't had any problems with Expedia!

There's another option to cheap to hotels - hostels. I love hostels, especially when I'm on the road in Europe. They're cheap and hip. Booking.com and Hostel world are perfect sites to look for cheap hostels and I've used them way too many times when I was in Europe.

Another option is to go for home stay aka airbnb. They can be pretty cheap, and there are some hits and misses with airbnb. My only advice is to read the comments very carefully. I actually prefer going with airbnb in Australia but when I'm in Asia, I would stay away from airbnb.

Offline Maps

If you do not have a mobile data connection, it may seem like it's going to be very difficult to navigate your way around. You wouldn't be able to find wifi anywhere either. When I was in Tasmania, I had poor connectivity because I'm always out in the mountains. That's when offline maps come in handy.

I adore the app maps.me and it allows me to download maps in advance so I don't have to worry about them not loading when I'm overseas. If it rings a bell, that's because I've mentioned about maps.me before in my other posts. You can also use Google Maps to save an offline map so you'll be able to use it without connectivity.

Do you know that you can actually use GPS without data connection? Simply make sure you have GPS turned on and it'll work without incurring costs!

Plan

A great way to save money while travelling is to plan well. Why do you need a good plan? Because there are early bird promotions, especially when you get accommodation or transportation deals.

If you're planning to travel by HSR in Taiwan, booking early saves you money. If you're travelling to Japan, you might want to calculate if a JR pass is worth the money. It can actually save you money if you plan to do a lot of travelling around.

Therefore planning your route before hand may be a wise idea. Planning in advance also allows you to better understand the area you're going. You can easily find cheaper alternatives when you're planning rigorously.

Save with Rebates

The last hack I'll be sharing will be the use of rebates.

Shopback allows you to get rebates from making online purchases. They have a long list of partners ranging from Expedia, Agoda, Booking.com, HostelWorld, Jetstar, Tigerair, Singapore Airlines, and so many more. The rebate amount depends on each partner site.

I've saved so much from Shopback just from booking my accommodation and flights. So here's how you can go about doing so.

Firstly, create a new account using the referral link!

https://www.shopback.sg/?raf=QYoCbl

After signing up, you're ready to start saving! Whenever you want to shop at a certain site, simply go into ShopBack first. Look for your site from the long list of partners they have (or simply use the search function). Click Shop Now and you'll be given some terms and conditions and a notice that you have to stay on the same window while making the purchase. You'll be redirected to the site of your intention and you can begin making your purchases! Again, I emphasize on staying on the same window whole making the purchase.

The rebate is not immediate (as how credit card rebates are not either). Thus, be patient and you'll be able to see that your transaction is pending after a couple of hours.

After the money is in (the days differ between different partners), you can cash out your money! Kaching!

It's simple as that! And here's the extra catch! If you sign up using my link, you'll get a $5 immediately which you can cash out together with your first cash out. That's $5 just for signing up an account!

https://www.shopback.sg/?raf=QYoCbl

So these are 5 tips I use when travelling to save money and I hope you find them useful!

The Undergraduate Life

2016-05-13T18:14:00.003+08:00

Many of you are aware that I'm doing Psychology in NTU. Well, I've officially finished my last paper in NTU. And that means I'm all set to graduate and transit into the working world. I'm actually afraid of the uncertainty in my future, yet excited to finally be able to contribute something meaningful at the same time. Yes, I can't wait to start working and maybe someday, get back into the academic world.
I have enjoyed every single moment of my undergraduate life and am grateful to have met some of the most important people in my life during this period of time. Here's some key milestones in my 4 years of undergraduate life in NTU.
I realised I don't have much photos of my life in HSS. I guess I just wasn't active in my school to have much memories of it. I do remember the exam welfare packs every semester though. Being the typical Singaporean, I love it when there's free stuffs, especially when the exam welfare packs come with useful and practical items such as sanitary pads.

I will definitely miss going for 3 hours long lectures. I've had some of the most amazing lectures in my life in NTU. I've found my love for numbers and statistics and am proud of my A* in statistics. But I guess my biggest regret in NTU was not taking Engineering Psychology and Consumer Psychology because I've finished taking all my level 3000 modules by the time these modules were offered. I have met some amazing people in HSS (as you can see from the above photo). These girls were some of my first friends in NTU. Honestly, I don't remember all 6 of us having a common module at all for the past 2 years because we had different preferences. But I'm still grateful for these girls, especially when it comes to FYP. I spent half of my undergraduate life in Hall 10. I couldn't ask for a better hall. I loved the canteen's food. Even though it's a little far off from school, the shuttle buses made up for it because there are two bus stops nearby which meant you can hop on both lines of the buses.

And I guess, hall is where I met someone really special. It's where we had our first meal together and where he picked me up for our first date. And cheerleading will always have a place in my heart. It was my escape from school and academic. Training allowed me to stop thinking about school work for a few hours and focus my energy on something else. Yes, it took up all my energy and time, leaving me with minimal time for revising, but I guess it's still one of my happiest moments in university. I gave my entire (almost!) undergraduate life to CAC. I've met precious friends in CAC, friends I hold close to my heart. There's so many memories here in CAC. Spending almost everyday in the CAC room, burning weekends attending events, and all the sleepless nights. School ECA takes up a lot of time and don't necessarily guarantee you a hall stay. But that's where you'll meet people who are passionate and genuine, people who are not there just for the sake of hall points. Similarly to hall activities, it also allows you to meet people outside your course. My closest group of friends are all from different course background, Marketing, Business Accounting, Economics, Engineering, Computer Science, and even NIE. I spent a semester studying in the UK. Not the most prestigious university but I took some of my most interesting modules there (Psychology of Performing Arts). Traveled around Europe on weekends and having all the freedom in the world. To be honest, exchange is all about cooking your own meals. Unlike Singapore, where you can get a chicken rice takeaway easily, it's really expensive to eat out in UK. Groceries, on the other hand, were cheap. So much of the time was spent on grocery shopping and cooking. I'm really do miss those exchange days. There were lot of independent living and jetting off after school to another new territory. I would really recommend going on an exchange, not because you'll get to travel around the world, but because that's where you'll actually learn and grow up, living away from your family for months.
One of my biggest regrets in NTU was to not have enough internship experiences. I've come to realise that relevant internship experiences are really important and essential in helping you to secure your dream job. Honestly, I'm really grateful I've managed to find an internship that opened my eyes to the industry I wanted to get into and managed to secure the job with a degree that may not be the most preferred for the role.

There were occasions where I do question if I made the right choice of choosing NTU over NUS. But it's because of the people I've met in NTU that made me grateful. If I chose NUS, I would have never been exposed to so many experiences and activities, and would never have met all these people who are really important to me.

I'll end off the post with one of my highlights in NTU - a selfie with the PM.

Surf & Dive in Byron Bay

2016-04-17T11:00:00.000+08:00

Byron Bay holds a really precious place in my heart. Located south of Gold Coast, it's only an hour drive away. On the first look, you might feel that there's nothing really special about this place and it's just another beach town. However, the place grows on you and all of a sudden, you can't help but feel at peace and in love with the place. The next thing you know, you're already planning your next visit back even before leaving.

Yes, that's exactly how I felt when I set foot in Byron Bay. It was August and whenever I show my itinerary to my fellow friends, they would comment on how crazy I was to go out to the sea to surf and dive in winter. I was insistent (and maybe stubborn) and was sure the ocean was warmer than the land in winter (you know, how water is a poor conductor of heat and loses heat less easily than land etc etc..).
The weather was being really nice to us and it never once rained in the entire road trip. In fact, the temperature was so good in the day that it even went up to 28°C. But most of the time, it was hovering around 22°C - 25°C, which wasn't that bad. It gets really chilly at night so that's when the outer layers come in play. The landmark in Byron Bay is the Cape Byron Lighthouse. Cape Byron is situated at the most eastern point of Australia, you get an unobstructed view of the majestic Pacific Ocean. The Byron Bay Lighthouse walk leads you straight to the lighthouse and the view is magnificent. Keep an eye out for humpback whales along the way as they can be sighted during migration period. The traffic in Byron Bay can get congested so it's actually faster to cycle around. It can get really hard to find parking lots during peak time too. I drove around though! There's a Woolworths in Byron Bay so that's my pastime when nightfall. I booked a sea kayak expedition with Go Sea Kayak. They picked me up from my accommodation and everything was settled really quickly. As I mentioned earlier, it's winter so it can get really chilly. Fret not, everyone was equipped with a wet suit and helmet. I felt that I was in good hands and never felt unsafe.

The moment we head out into the water, we spotted dolphins. What better way to see these creatures! I'm a huge lover of sea creatures so I'm a huge fan of being able to get out into the sea in a way where it does not hurt the ocean and the sea creatures. Sea turtles were spotted too! Adorable creatures. If you're looking for an adventure, go with Go Sea Kayak! :) Great time with them! And if kayaking wasn't enough to tire me out, I booked a surfing lesson in the afternoon after the morning sea kayak. Lets Go Surfing Byron Bay is the one to go. They're a little hard to locate because they're behind a building but I learnt a lot from the lesson. They have great instructors and I had a wonderful time with them!

Surfing was exhausting. Sure, it's really nice to be swept away by the waves but I didn't enjoy the part where I had to drag my surfboard back into the ocean, against the waves. But I'm proud to say that I managed to stand a couple of times! :) If I stayed longer, I would have booked more classes with them. And the highlight of my Byron Bay trip, actually it's the highlight of my entire Australia road trip, is with Sundive Byron Bay. Do I have a diving certificate? No. But after flying 3,800 miles to Australia, I thought I just had to get down into the ocean. Moreover, Julian Rocks was a beautiful place to dive and I didn't want to miss out a chance to do so. Plus, it was the season of the grey nurse shark so I really wanted to dive with the sharks. Thus, I got the PADI Discover with Sundive and it was almost a full day activity.

In the morning, we were given a crash course on diving and had a go in the pool. After the lesson, we had a break before we drove out into the sea for our real dive. My friend and I were attached to a master diver during the entire dive.

Unfortunately, my friend got sea sick even before the dive and he refused to go down into the water (partly because of a phobia of great white too). He wanted to sit on the boat and forgo the dive but the instructors were encouraging him to go for it as he'll only get worse on the stationary boat. Plus, it'll be a waste of his money if he sat out. So in the end, he went down and he never regretted.

As we are newbies, we only hung around the nursery area but WOW. There were A LOT of fishes, all kinds. I even had a connection with one of the fishes as we had eye contact for almost 5 seconds. You'll be surprised but you can actually tell if the fishes were looking at you or just swimming past without caring.

We spotted wobbegong sharks and turtles! I just had to talk about the turtles because they were just simply too adorable! They were trying to hide into a rock when they saw us, but.. a rock? And as mentioned, I wanted to dive because I wanted to see a grey nurse shark. They're normally deeper in but during the last few minutes of our dive, a HUGE shadow suddenly appeared in front of me. It took me a few moments before I realised it was a grey nurse shark. And gosh, it looked ferocious. It's the typical scary shark kind of look, with the mouth open. Even though it's really scary looking, it's actually safe to dive with them.

It's a real pity our sports camera broke down a day before the dive because the view was simply mind-blowing. So it was a packed itinerary in Byron Bay. And I had lots of fun in the ocean. And if you're looking for food recommendation, I have it! Beloporto was recommended by a friend and we went there after our dive. Their takeaway burgers were tasty and cheap. Food in Byron Bay can get a little expensive but the burgers there were value for money so it's highly recommended! And another recommendation is the Pat Morton Lookout. Approximately 30 minutes drive south of Byron Bay, it's this beautiful lookout point where you can just sit and enjoy the view. I sat there and watched the surfers in the ocean. And I had a shock when I saw something jumping out of the ocean. Turns out that the dolphins were playing in the ocean with the surfers. Yeah, I counted, there were more than 4 dolphins spotted. Plus, I saw humpback whales in the far distance too. I believe you can feel the love I have for Byron Bay just from reading this post. I truly love this place and if you were to ask me to list my favourite travel destinations, Byron Bay would definitely be in the list. And I'll end off this post with some of the snapchat videos I took when I was there! Follow me on Snapchat @michellegosh :)

Getting to Jiufen & Shifen from Taipei

2016-04-02T18:00:00.000+08:00

When I was in Taipei previously, I made a short trip to JiuFen. The gorgeous JiuFen and ShiFen is easily accessible from Taipei. To get to ShiFen or JiuFen, you can hop on a train at the Taipei Railway Station heading north towards RuiFang. To get to ShiFen, change onto the PingXi Line at RuiFang. One word of advice is to get a train timetable as the train frequency is inconsistent. You can find the train schedule and more details on how to get to the PingXi line here. Our first stop was ShiFen. And we lighted a paper lantern there and explored the streets. Unfortunately, we didn't allocate much time in ShiFen and only spent an hour there. The next stop was JingTong. The last stop on the PingXi Line. The crowd here is significantly lesser as majority just hang around ShiFen. There are a lot of places worthy of photo in JingTong so if you're heading there, drop by the place! And I mailed myself postcards from Taiwan, because I didn't have my address book with me and couldn't send my friends postcards. The sky was getting dark and we decide to leave and head back to RuiFang. Unfortunately, we were too early for our bus to JiuFen so we explored the area and found a nearby market which sells really good sushi. It's like an indoor market that has various sushi stalls. The bus heading towards JiuFen is across the train station. Take the Keelung Transit bus and the journey will bring you up to JiuFen. You can easily find the JiuFen Old Street, which is the main street in JiuFen. There, you can find good food! Yes, I was eating non-stop and never felt happier. Our accommodation was Sunny Room. The host was really nice and I think we got lost while finding the place. But we managed to find our way there after getting directions from the host. The room was beautiful and the view was amazing. I'll definitely recommend Sunny Room. :)

4D3N Ireland Road Trip

2016-03-20T12:00:00.000+08:00

One of the most life changing trip I've embarked on was visiting Ireland. It was the first time I went on a road trip and I can't stress how much I enjoy going on road trips.

Singapore has a population density of 8,000 people/km square whereas Ireland's population density is at 73 people/km square. Even though both countries have similar population size, there is so much more space and land in Ireland.

Transportation around Ireland is not frequent and the preferred mode of transport is to rent a car and explore Ireland in it.
I touched down at Shannon Airport and got our Thrifty Ford Focus. Upon arrival, we drove our way up to the Cliffs of Moher. Did you know that one of the scenes in Harry Potter & The Half-Blood Prince was filmed here?

As we arrived at the Cliffs of Moher slightly before sunset, we were welcomed with this view of the cliffs. It was so surreal and blew our minds. We spent our first night at Doolin Cottage B&B which was a lovely cottage along the Wild Atlantic Way road. The host was lovely and the breakfast was delicious. After recharging for the night, we drove along the Wild Atlantic Way towards Galway. It was really therapeutic to drive along the Wild Atlantic Way, having the ocean breeze against our faces. We even made a couple of pit stops along the way because the view was simply too stunning.
We had to cross over a field where a couple of cows were grazing. Imagine all the cow dung we had to carefully avoid while heading to this place. It looked really dangerous at where the waves were hitting because they were really strong so we did not dare to go to close to the ocean. And this taken at the blackhead, which was part of the Burren National Park. Driving along all the black rocks was really amazing. The rocks were smooth and looked as if they eroded gracefully. We went over to the edge of the cliff which was really terrifying. There wasn't a single soul around so if my partner was to push me down the cliff into the ocean, nobody would have known and my body will probably never be found. This signifies the importance of getting a travel buddy whom you have absolute trust in. Also, take note of your travelling time because as you can see, there are no street lights! It'll be extremely dark and hard to navigate when the sun sets. Plus, some of the roads can get really scary because they are only one lane with cars from both directions.

We were travelling in one of the shortcuts and it was two-direction road with only one single lane! The roads were hilly and surrounded with tall grasses so when we were ascending, we had to be really careful because we could not see the car in front of us. There are plenty of tiny villages and towns along the way which made it easy to stopover for meals. One of my recommendations is Bofey Quinns Bar & Restaraunt. It is along the way to the Burren National Park. Try their traditional Irish stew, definitely the best Irish stew I had while in Ireland! The buildings in Western Ireland are really pleasing to the eyes and I love driving through these towns. Their vibrant colours stand out from the natural environment along the Wild Atlantic Way. It'll be really nice to retire and move to Western Ireland and live in one of these houses. The drive from Galway to Dublin took three hours and it was easy to navigate as it was a straight expressway across Ireland. I didn't really like Dublin as much as I love the Western Ireland and Wild Atlantic Way.

Ireland is definitely deeply missed and if I have the opportunity again, I would love to do another road trip in Ireland.

5 thoughts on TSL's Psych Fresh Grad jobs article

2016-03-06T20:41:00.000+08:00

I love The Smart Local, especially their travel articles. After reading their latest post "10 Surprisingly Well-Paying Jobs Fresh Grads Can Get With A Psychology Degree" on 3rd March 2016, I simply have to write about my thoughts on it (after all, I'm a Psychology undergraduate whom is due to graduate this year).

1. This is a sponsored post by MDIS.

It's always good to take note of the partners involved in the post as it can really affect the credibility of the post.

2. You can't be called a psychologist with just a degree.

Sports Psychologist? Industrial/Organisational Psychologist? One of the basic requirements for these occupations is to have a Master's in the respective fields. Thus, refer to point 3.

3. Many of the jobs' pay listed are for a master's fresh grad.

To be qualified as an I/O psychologist or sports psychologist, you'll probably need a Master's. Thus, the pay listed on the page is not accurate for a fresh grad with a psychology degree. Instead, this is the pay a Master's grad will get instead.

4. Psychology ≠ Social Work.

As pointed out by one of the comments, to be qualified as a social worker, one has to get a recognised degree in Social Work (see NUS FASS). Yes, I understand there's a lot of misconceptions about this so to clear the air, psychology ≠ social work.

5. Gov jobs are high paying but they tend to only hire local grads.

It's no secret the government tends to prefer local grads over private uni grads. Considering this is an article written by MDIS to promote their psychology course and to inform the public on the job opportunities they can explore with a MDIS psychology degree, I would like to think that placing MINDEF and MFA jobs in the list is a little misleading.

This article does not really assist students who are exploring options in Psychology as it provides inaccurate information. It's definitely not easy to get a job in Psychology with NTU Psychology having the lowest percentage of grads with a permanent full-time job after graduation.

Have I heard of psychology friends earning 4k/month in their first job after graduating?

Yes.

Have I heard of psychology friends not being able to find a job upon graduation?

Yes.

The point is that even though there are a few of us who manage to get a high-paying job, majority of us psychology fresh grads tend to find it hard to find a satisfying job with a good pay. The only good paying jobs tend to come from the government sector and that's where many of us land into when we graduate.

& I apologise for the lack of updates as I am currently on my last leg of my uni life, with final-year project pulling me down into darkness. I'll be back as soon as my thesis is finally done! :)

12 Days Road Trip - Sydney to Gold Coast

2016-02-06T17:00:00.000+08:00

I love road trips. The planning is tedious but I love being able to plan my own travel route, visit only places I am interested in.

Booked a flight to Sydney and back from Gold Coast and the road trip began. This post will be a rough outline and itinerary of the road trip. I will go further into the details of each location in the other posts!

You can watch the entire trip in this video. A pretty amateur video. Both our action camera and DSLR died halfway through the trip (we suspected it was because of a short circuit in both the cameras when we were charging them).

Day 1 & 2 - Sydney

We spent two days in Sydney. I'm not exactly the city traveler so two days was enough to explore the major attractions. We stayed in a really affordable airbnb accomodation which was near Bondi Junction. The host was extremely nice and even offered me some vitamin when I was feeling under the sun from the cold.

Day 3 - Blue Mountains

We rented a car and drove up to Blue Mountains. I definitely recommend staying a night here as it was one of the most memorable nights I ever had. The milky way was visible with our naked eyes and it was beautiful beyond words. It was definitely a lot more beautiful when you can see it.

Day 4 - Hunter Valley

Hunter Valley is the place for wine and good food. It's where we had the best meal in Australia, and tasted some of the best wines. My favourite wine tasting place was Scarborough Wine Co. Definitely one of the best.

Day 5 - Nelson Bay, Port Macquarie

Nelson Bay is the place to go if you want to whale watch. We got on a 3hour cruise and unfortunately, luck was not with us. We were near a whale but she was sleeping under the surface so there wasn't any show for us to see. We did see some seals though! And we had a free cruise again because even though we did see the whale blowing water, we didn't actually get to see much of it.

Day 6 - Port Macquarie, Coffs Habour

We did not make it to Port Macquarie before sunset so we missed that stop. A pity though as I was looking forward to it. Coffs Habour is the right in the middle of Sydney and Gold Coast, which made a perfect stop for the night. The weather was getting warmer for us by then so it was perfect to drop by the beach. I love my airbnb accommodation here so I'm highly recommending it! It was lovely and much better than the pictures have portrayed.

Day 7, 8, 9 - Byron Bay

One of the locals I met there said he moved to Byron Bay after a short vacation there made him fall in love with the place. Byron Bay definitely has its charm. This was the place where I first learnt to surf and the first time I dived (and was within 3m away from a grey nurse shark!) Diving was definitely a highlight and was incredibly glad to be able to see the endangered grey nurse shark just when we were about to end the dive.

Day 10 - Brisbane

This photo was taken on the road to Brisbane. I highly recommend going to the Mount Coot-tha Lookout to have a view of the Brisbane city night skyline. If the weather is good, you may even get to see Gold Coast.

Day 11 & 12 - Gold Coast

We ended at Gold Coast because we were flying off from here. We covered both Dreamworld and Whitewater (despite it being winter). It was close to 28 degree Celsius at noon time so it was a nice weather to play at the water theme park (also, there was no crowd because it was winter). We even made a day trip to Springbrook National Park and stayed to admire the glow worms under the natural bridge.

Montigo Resorts Nongsa Getaway

2016-01-28T19:00:00.000+08:00

Montigo Resorts Nongsa is a luxurious getaway which boasts beachfront villas, only a 30 minutes ferry ride away from Singapore. It is the perfect short getaway retreat to paradise. Montigo Resorts Nongsa has three variations to their villas and we picked the beachfront villa, thinking there was direct access to the beach. Nevertheless, we enjoyed the perfect view of the ocean that was unobstructed by other villas.

There is a pax limit for Montigo, with the maximum number of occupants at 5, the fifth will be charged at $100/night. Honestly, the price for the stay was a little steep but we truly enjoyed the service. They had a shuttle to pick us up from Nongsa Ferry Terminal and we arrived at the resort slightly after 10. The staff were helpful and quick to explain the facilities in the resort to us. As there were rooms available, we were checked in to our villa by 11am, way earlier than the supposed check in time at 3pm. The villa had a really huge air-conditioned living area with a tiny kitchen at the back. There was a tv and wii game console set. We borrowed two games from the lobby for the wii game console at no cost. However, they only had two wii controllers. There was a tiny bar fridge with complimentary drinks. There was even a induction cooker with all the cooking equipment. However, I felt the refrigerator was a little too tiny. Would be perfect if they had a larger refrigerator. The balcony door from the living area led to the personal plunge pool, what Montigo was known for. It was a really nice place to sit and chill. I spent all my time here. When I was not in the pool, I was sitting by the edge, enjoying the serenity of the area. There are two bedrooms on the second floor. Both rooms are equipped with their own bathrooms. This is the smaller room with twin beds. And this is the master bedroom. The bed was huge and could easily fit three of us comfortably. As we booked the room for 5, they had an additional bed in the room for us. However, the bed was definitely not as comfortable as the king sized bed so we ended up squeezing on the big bed instead. There are a total of three bathrooms in the entire villa and this is the biggest bathroom. There was a rooftop balcony and it was simply amazingly beautiful. We had the staff lay out the cushions for us and we laid there gazing stars at night. However, we could easily see the other hillside villas' plunge pools and it was quite awkward, which was why I preferred our beachfront villa as there was more privacy for our plunge pool. Besides the villa, there are other areas that are accessible to guests. This is the play area for children. There's a mini ball pit on the ground level and on the top level, there are plenty of games that can engage your children. A mini foosball table and lots of other activities to keep your children busy. Montigo Nongsa has a famous landmark, their jetty. You may have seen this on many instagram feeds. Next to the jetty, you can find a small shack that rents out water activities equipments, such as jet ski and banana boat. Besides your own plunge pool, you can always hop into the bigger pool for a swim. Or lay and bask in the sun while watching people play in the water. The only downside of Montigo Nongsa is the availability of food choices. I was not impressed by the food or the price. There were mainly two kinds of choices at Tadd's, either the western or the Indonesian. We didn't go over to the Pantai restaurant as we already had our fair of seafood meal outside of Montigo for lunch. Moreover, the price at Pantai was definitely more expensive than the food we had outside the resort. I guess, the prices are meant to extort Singaporeans. The bill ended up similar to a meal in Singapore and as the food wasn't outstanding, it was a disappointment. Tadd's is where the complimentary breakfast is served. Contrary to the dinner, it was so much better. There is something for everyone for breakfast. Cornflakes. Pastries. Bread. And plenty of cooked food as well. They even serve some Indonesian food for breakfast. No complaints here. Besides Tadd's and Pantai, there's also Tiigo, a beach club that serves drinks and bar bites. We had pizza from here before leaving for our ferry that afternoon. There are also plenty of bar games you can indulge in while overlooking the people splashing in the water not far from the bar. And I really liked the design of the place. Overall, Montigo Nongsa is definitely a paradise a sea away from Singapore. Though they have limited water activities (and basically any activities), it was a nice getaway for the family. I would definitely return.

Zalora discount codes with ShopBack

2016-01-23T17:00:00.000+08:00

Chinese New Year is round the corner and it’s a good excuse to shop because we all need new clothes! Being busy (and lazy), I hardly have the time to spend a day out shopping. It has become so much more convenient to shop online and have them deliver to my doorstep.

Zalora’s a great platform to do your online shopping as they have so many different brands, all in one site. It’s like, instead of going to different shops to browse for their clothes, you can simply stop by one mega store. Like a supermarket for clothes.

If you’re shopping at Zalora this Chinese New Year, here’s a good way to get discounts. ShopBack is where you can find voucher codes. ShopBack is a cashback site based in Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines and it helps you get the best deals and discounts on as many as 300 stores, such as Zalora, Lazada, Groupon, Taobao and Expedia. Basically, when you’re shopping online, ShopBack gives a portion back as Cashback. You can easily save a lot when you use this! Imagine spending $200 for every time you shop online, and the cashback is 10%, you can save $20. That's enough to buy another piece of accessories to match your new set of clothes.

How Shopback works is that they get commission from the merchants whenever they refer someone to their site. Thus, they're sharing the commission earned with everyone in return.

Simply access the store you wish to purchase from through ShopBack website to be redirected. Then, shop as usual on the store's website and make a purchase. Your Cashback will be in your ShopBack account within 48 hours. You can cash out at the end of every month as long as you've reached $10. Remember to use your discount codes from Zalora the next time you shop. There are also coupon codes and discount codes from other stores such as Aliexpress and Reebonz too! You can look for more here!

ShopBack is having a special promotion just for this Chinese New Year. If you have yet to purchase any Chinese New Year outfits, you can purchase your outfits this Chinese New Year promotions! Click here for more information on the deals available!

Sign up now HERE and get $5 when you make your first payment!

I was invited by ShopBack to review its platform.