Life is an adventure

Hi there! Guess the one-sentence journal didn't really work for me. Found it unsustainable - guess my day-to-day life is well, not that interesting. Haha. Am glad I tried though. Otherwise I wouldn't know.

Been to Maldives and Tokyo in January and March. Been some other movements in my life, besides travel.

The first three months of 2017 have been exciting. Not only because it was the first time I stepped onto the soil of both, or rather sand in the former :P I also officially moved into my new place after returning from Maldives in January and moved on in my career life in March. It's not all excitement - there were some apprehension and sadness, leaving familiar places and faces. But cliche as it sounds, life is an adventure. And I am looking forward to new adventures.

Been thinking about blogging for a while. Been trying to sort out the pictures as I really want to blog/press about my trips - still struggling to.  For now, sharing 2 videos.

Maldives is indeed paradise on earth, partly because we stayed in a sea villa (over the water villa as they call it) in Cinnamon Dhonveli Maldives. For four days and three nights, we were waking up and falling asleep to the music of the waves, seeing sunrise right at your doorstep and seeing stars right above you with the sunbed on your back, walking around the resort surrounded by blue skies and waters 24/7 and good company. Very blissed indeed to start the first week of 2017 this way.

Home in Maldives :)

Tokyo was a mad last-minute decision. A break I managed to squeeze in-between my old job and new. It was crazy - booking the flight a week before, accommodation a few days before, putting together the itinerary like 48 hours before, flying off solo a few hours after saying goodbye to my ex-colleagues. Flight and accommodation were ridiculously high - for a flexible traveller like me! Guess it was all worth it for the SAKURA and well, SNOW! Japan and nature decided to give me a bonus in Hakone. I have been thinking about a white winter for a while - this was as close as I could get. Unexpectedly. Very thankful to end the last week of the first quarter of 2017 this way.

Owakudani in Hakone in the first video I made with iMovie!

No travel plans for this quarter yet - will see if I can squeeze a weekend off in June from all the happenings in my new job. Meanwhile, guess I will focus on blogging/pressing about Maldives and Tokyo now that my weekends are less packed, having gotten into the groove of my new life. Can't wait to share the pictures of my adventures :)

One Sentence Journal l 6 - 8 January 2017

Didn't get to blog the last few days, hence a 3 in 1!

6 January was our last day in Maldives. Wish we had stayed longer. The highlight of the trip was definitely the snorkeling with turtles! Also visited a sand bank which was so untouched.

Back in Singapore on 7 January early morning and rested at my parent's place for the rest of the day before heading home. It's good to be home despite the post holidays blues :p

Started 8 January, the first Sunday of the year, with Piloxing which I really enjoy. Have not really seen the results though so perhaps time to up the ante this year? Maybe join 1 more cardio activity weekly - hmmm... shall see if this comes true. Bought the very first fridge of my life today and well, had sundae at Sunday Folks for the very first time too! Yummy for a super sunny day! And no queue :)

Not bad a weekend before starting the first work week of 2017 tomorrow!

One Sentence Journal l 5 January 2017

Still beach bumming at Maldives and wondering at nature's creations. Spot the kingfisher we spotted on the way to breakfast?

One Sentence Journal l 4 January 2017

Surreal to blog under the stars in our Maldives resort tonight. For city dwellers, it's almost impossible to see stars from the comfort of our home. It's been an eat-excursion-beach-eat-swim-excursion-eat day 2. Life's a beach, for now.

One Sentence Journal l 3 January 2017

It's great to listen to the waves and blog in the water villa in our resort in Maldives. Feel blissed to be in Maldives which is indeed beautiful and Cinnamon Dhonveli is quite a nice property.

Went for the Dolphin Sunset Cruise, half sceptical that we might not see any. Very blissed to see so many! Happiness!!

And double the happiness to see the sun setting from the sea! :)

都忘记了原来幸福可以很简单. 

One Sentence Journal l 2 January 2017

Belated post. Spent the second day of the new year trying to get to Male. Going to spend the first week of 2017 in Maldives!

Good to travel with E and G again after BKK 2015, and first trip with PY.

Can't wait to hit our resort which is a 30-min speedboat ride from Male later.

Kenting! 垦丁很美！

I just pressed about Kenting in ilovelongvacation!

Half a year later, I cannot remember the name of this beach. But I remember its beauty

Half a year later, I cannot remember the name of this beach. But I remember its beauty

Half a year later, I cannot remember the name of this beach. But I remember its beauty

Half a year later, I cannot remember the name of this beach. But I remember its beauty. 

Half a year later, I cannot remember the name of this beach. But I remember its beauty

Seoul - Siloam Sauna, Sigolbapsang, Passion5, Young Plaza and Lotte Department Store

Have not blogged about my travels for a while, especially here. Been thinking of consolidating both the blogs (the other being http://ilovelongvacation.wordpress.com/) because I realise I don't have much time (and content) these days. Will see how - it's tough because both are so close to my heart...

Well, I mentioned briefly about my Seoul trip in end March (we just missed the full bloom cherry blossom by a bit :( ). Went with my sister C and my cousin SS (our first trip together) so it was quite fun :) Took Cathay Airline because it was relatively cheaper and the timing of the flights matched all our schedules. But it was a red-eye flight with a short stop-over in Hong Kong airport so we were a bit jet-lagged when we arrived in Incheon at 6am...



Headed for a local sauna after we left our luggage at the hotel. Siloam is near Lotte Mart (nearest subway station is Seoul Station). Quite interesting. Besides the sauna, Siloam houses many levels of entertainment but we didn't take any pictures inside because we didn't want to intrude into the privacy of the local community - in the changing area, many were walking around in their birthday suits! Haha.

Not really sure what we were doing - the language barrier is quite apparent here because it serves mainly the locals, I think. We soaked in many different types of pools and followed by trying the different sleeping areas set at different temperatures with different setting e.g. salt, jade. We also tried the BBQ eggs and fermented barley drinks - those you see in Korean drama! Haha. There were many other facilities available e.g. gym, karaoke, hair salon, massage spas, restaurants etc. Definitely a place where you can spend a day to relax! Cannot remember how much it costs but I recall telling my sister that the amount is value for money :P



After the bath, we went to Itaewon for lunch and decided to try Sigolbapsang, a small traditional Korean restaurant. There, we tried so many classic banchans for a flat price of 8,000 won each!



Very sumptuous lunch - I think we over-ordered. Should have just ordered 1 more ala-carte instead of 2! Didn't imagined that we will be served so many banchans!



Seafood pancake. I really like this version because it was over-flowing with seafood! Really miss it as I blogged. Yummy!



Spicy chicken stew which was also huge! Thought it would be a spicy chicken soup that will warm us, not fill us up!

After lunch, we explore Itaewon where many foreigners hang out. The area is large with shops, cafes, galleries lining the entire stretch. I'm sure there are many hidden gems somewhere in the gil and dong but we did not really seek them out. Haha. Still suffering from our red-eye flight...



Then we stopped at this place - Passion 5 - for coffee. Didn't manage to take any pictures but the  café was gorgeous with pastries both savoury and sweet! We just had coffee, no thanks to our overfilling lunch. Would have been nice to try some of the sweets... Hmmm...



My mocha - I always have this notion that in a good cup of coffee, the coffee art stays till the last drop if you don't stir it. Haha. Correct me if I'm wrong :P

Left Itaewon for Young Plaza, which was next to Lotte Department Store, which was near Myeungdong. SS checked out the SM Pop-Up Store. First time I heard of EXO. Haha. And this trip, my favourite was Mr.Mr, Mr.Mr. Haha.



While I checked out the highly-raved Style Nanda. Didn't buy any clothes but got away with some 3CE cosmetics :)



SS wanted to go back to the hotel at 6pm! Gosh! So we decided to have dinner at the Lotte Department Food Court to re-charge and to explore the Lotte Department Store a bit more before we call it a day. My cold noodles which was ok. Haha.

We found out that the departmental store closes at 8pm which I thought was really early for a shopping paradise like Seoul. Well, I guess everyone will just head to Nandaemun which we did in the later part of our trip - will share on that later.

It's like only 2 weeks since I'm back to reality. And I think I need a break again. If only we can travel every day...

BKK

 

Been quiet in October because I was out of town for a few days.

And partly because I have been trying to stay home at least one of the weekends.

Go read about my Bangkok trip in http://ilovelongvacation.wordpress.com/ :)

Hello from Bangkok!



Selfie at Wat Arun :)



And a video taken while climbing the prang (spire)!

Been struggling to be productive at work though - suffering from post holidays syndrome, I guess :P

Paddington Market

I like the concept of weekend markets because you can find so many local brands/entrepreneurs in action. Seldom go weekend marketing in Singapore though. Will browse if I chance upon one, but seldom deliberately go to one :P Funny because I do deliberately look for one whenever I travel - thought it's such a nice reflection of the culture, local brands/products!

Went to the Paddington Market in April when I was in Sydney. Check out my press at http://ilovelongvacation.wordpress.com :)

PS: Was in Bintan for the weekend so I am feeling well and rested! :) How did you spend yours?

Malacca

 

Been to Malacca thrice - twice for department trips. Guess the proximity of Malacca from Singapore makes for a good (but exhausting) one day trip.

Always new things to discover - didn't remember Hard Rock Café when I was at Jonker Street 2 years back and it seems like there are more cafes sprouting up in the area. So I might just make a trip there again this year (and perhaps include Port Dickson as part of the itinerary) since I have leave to clear :) We'll see...

 Jonker Street - Jonker 88

 

 

Realised that Jonker Street in the day is a bit different than night. We tried the Chendol and Laksa at Jonker 88 which is quite famous. There are other local food to try too but we were full. LOL.

Yummy Chendol - we tried three types! :)

And Gula Melaka goodness in all three!

Always like the shop houses in Jonker Street. Let's feast in the courtyard!

Laksa - a mixture of coconut and Assam. It's nice but the concoction might be a bit powerful for weak stomachs...

Earlier posts about Malacca:

My Golden Half - Roll 2

Laidback Malacca

 

City Square, Johor Bahru

 

And yes, we visited City Square again! And had the Taiwanese food again at Taiwan Nostalgia Café!

 

 

 

From top left/clockwise: Oyster Mee Sua, San Bei Chicken, Fruit/Flower tea...

 

 And dinner at Old Town White Coffee before we headed back to Singapore.

 

 

Didn't knew there is a tea-time set that you can order - comprises of a smaller portion of the main course and a drink. Value for money, I say!

 



New addition to City Square. Food court with interesting designs :)



And many new cafes too - always reasons to cross the causeway, I guess :)

 

Earlier posts on visits to City Square, Johor Bahru:

Across the causeway again

Marching on - JanuarIED

 

知己 l MCA

昨天与YK去看 《歌剧魅影》， 有一点感触。
近年发现老友与从前不同了。不知是不是岁月让大家不介意拆下面具。 以真面目示人并不是不好，但有时让人觉得不知所错。 也许有一些朋友应该疏远，也许 美国作家切波斯基在《壁花男孩》说的是：“物换星移，朋友离去。人生不会为任何人而停留。” - 美国作家切波斯基，取自《壁花男孩》

"Things change. And friends leave. Life doesn't stop for anybody."
 - Stephen Chbosky, The Perks of Being a Wallflower 

Well, it's kind of funny how the opening paragraphs lead to a post about the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney (MCA). Well, I guess a museum is a place where I like to visit without friends. Although I visited  MCA with a group of friends. LOL.





 

Our guide for the day who took us through various artwork that were contemporary in a nice way. Not sure if you know what I mean but some contemporary art can be too overwhelming! 

At the entrance facing the harbour...Maybe this man was waiting for the rain to stop too... 

A peek at The Rocks from MCA :)

 

And here's a peek into MCA via below video. I like how the museum show glimpses of its surrounding through the windows. It feels so integrated, like how art should be integrated in life :) Guess I would have lingered longer if I was not travelling or if I was travelling solo... and I really look forward to my next solo trip...

 

Sydney in a Dropbox

Went to Sydney with the girls in April. As usual, tons of photos were taken. Usually we will share the pictures by:
1) Saving them into a thumb drive each
2) Meeting up
3) Transfer them to a laptop
4) Re-transferring to the thumb drive again.

This time, we decided to use the Dropbox which I must say is more efficient. Each of us just upload the pictures into Dropbox and then download the pictures we want - from 4 steps to 2 steps! The only drawback is probably space not enough as all of us are given 2GB free for a start.

If you have not gotten Dropbox and want to try, click here! If you join and install Dropbox from this link, both you and I will get 500MB of bonus space! :)

Enough said about Dropbox :P Although here's a group photo of us taken at Sydney Tower Eye that I just downloaded from Dropbox...

Us and fireworks over the Sydney Harbour Bridge! :)

I must say Sydney is really good at creating experiences and making money at the same time. Haha. At the entrance of major attractions, there was a photo stop where a crew member took a photo of us and then superimposed it onto beautiful backgrounds which were almost impossible for us to take on our own. At the end of our visit, we were asked if we wanted to buy the photos which were put into a nice album of the attraction. Being the laid back Australians, they were never pushy and yet we ended up buying 2 albums - one at Sydney Tower (see above - nice, right?) and another at the Sydney Opera House (see below :))

We took the essential tour! Sydney Opera House is gorgeous, I must say. Will definitely be dedicating a post to share my thoughts about it :)

I really like this fireworks picture. It kind of reminded me of our dinner at Cockle Bay Wharf where we also enjoyed a splendid display of fireworks which I captured in a video. Visit ilovelongvacation to watch it :)

Any plans for the weekend? Looking forward to it - I'm going to watch The Great Gatsby today (Saturday) and off to the Marina Regatta on Sunday!

Laugh, Kookaburra

Happy Labour Day. My first post after returning to the workforce. The first post of May. A post-travel one of Sydney. Wanted to share a picture of Kookaburra seen at the Wildlife Sydney Zoo :)



Happy to see Kookaburra for the first time!

And the Australian Kingfisher brought back childhood memories of The Kookaburra Song.

 

Kookaburra sits on the old gum tree,
Merry merry king of the bush is he.
Laugh, Kookaburra, laugh, Kookaburra,
Gay your life must be!

 

Kookaburra sits on the old gum tree,
Eating all the gum drops he can see.
Stop Kookaburra, stop Kookaburra
Save some there for me!

 

Kookaburra sits on the old gum tree,
Counting all the monkeys he can see.
Laugh Kookaburra, laugh Kookaburra
That's not a monkey, that's me!

At the close of a long vacation...

By the time you read this, I will be in Sydney where I will spend the last week or so of my long vacation. Come to think of it, I am glad that the first and last leg of this vacation is a trip overseas :)

I have not figured out how to mobile-blog on blogger yet and I will try to update my wordpress blog ilovelongvacation, twitter (@ilovelongvacatn) and instagram (@ilovelongvcation), so do check them if you like to know how I am sydneyING :P Meanwhile, I might schedule and post some long overdue posts of the last few weeks.

While it is a cliche to say that time flies, it is true that 6 months have raced past for me, especially in the last few weeks or so - I felt an urgency to do more as I count down to the final days and also look forward to new career challenges very soon.

By then, this long vacation would have lasted exactly 191 days (yes I decided to do a count :p). I know I am lucky to have been able to take a break of more than half a year, a 'luxury' that excludes many because this is LIFE - the life they wanted, the life they think they should live, the life they have to live. Such is life.

While I do not have much to show for my professional life for the last few months, I would like to think that I have more to show for my personal life.

• Travelled to Scandinavia (partly solo, partly with my brother) and visited Stockholm (Sweden), Helsinki (Finland), Oslo (Norway), Copenhagen (Denmark) and Reykjavik (Iceland). Glad I have travelled alone more than once in my life! So agree with Huff Post Travel post: Why Every Woman Should Travel Alone (At Least Once in Her Life)  :)

At Unesco site, Suomenlinna in Helsinki, Finland. Read more at Suomenlinna Story.

• Blogged more. In this blog, the total number of views was 4746 and last month alone saw 568 views! In the other blog, the number of followers have grown from under 10 since it started in late 2011 to over 50 today! Happy to share my stories and thoughts with more people.

• Learnt more about social media and became more active! I twittered more @ilovelongvacatn @chan5013 and joined Pinterest @ilovelongvacatn and Instagram @ilovelongvcation.

• Reaffirmed what I want to do professionally. Communications is still close to my heart. I really want to use my strength/experience in this area to make a bigger difference. Taking various courses and talking to career coaches have definitely given me a clearer direction. I have also learnt from people I met in the course of it all.

• Explored the backyard and learnt to enjoy life more at home. There are so many places in Singapore I have not been to for a long time - it was good to revisit them. There are so many places in Singapore I have never been to - it was good to discover them. There are so many new and interesting places to chill out - it was nice to be able to continue to FIKA(coffee/tea break in Sweden) after coming back from Stockholm.

I cycled from East Coast Park to Changi Beach Park. Read about my Weekly Photo Challenge: A Day in My Life l Cycle.

• Jogged more. Walked more. Swam more.

Rediscovered swimming - it is a luxury to swim at the public pool on weekdays (I am going to miss doing so :( ).

• Volunteered again. Not sure about the cause I am truly passionate about yet but I am definitely going to try to find that cause in the days to come.

• Bonded more with my brother (in Scandinavia) and my sister (in Singapore) Need I say more?

My brother and I in Þingvellir National Park, Iceland. Read more about Þingvellir!

And many more that are difficult to put into words. For example, I had more time to reflect more and meet more new people. Somehow I wished I had done more e.g. read more, travel more... However I know I only had so much time and I wanted to follow my heart. So this was the life I chose to live in this long vacation. While I felt uncertain at times, I tell myself to enjoy it while I can because I really don't know when will be the next one...

I want to close this vacation with an extract from the movie The Curious Case of Benjamin Button that has been inspiring:
Benjamin Button: [Voice over; letter to his daughter] For what it's worth: it's never too late or, in my case, too early to be whoever you want to be. There's no time limit, stop whenever you want. You can change or stay the same, there are no rules to this thing. We can make the best or the worst of it. I hope you make the best of it. And I hope you see things that startle you. I hope you feel things you never felt before. I hope you meet people with a different point of view. I hope you live a life you're proud of. If you find that you're not, I hope you have the strength to start all over again.

Hello Pandas!

Really happy to visit River Safari with GT and XF on Sunday! :) It is one of the latest attractions in Singapore under Wildlife Reserve Singapore and is Asia's first and only river-themed wildlife park!

 

While it is a pity the river boat ride and some exhibits were not ready yet, some good came out of it: we paid $25 for admission (will be $35 later) and the park was not very crowded. We could visit the pandas twice without having to queue at all! All good reasons to visit now and again later (more reasons to visit next year perhaps to try the ride and to see Jia Jia and Kai Kai again? :)). They were so cute! Pardon me, but I think I will be repeating 'cute' many times in this post :P

 

Taking a picture for keepsake at the entrance of River Safari, next to the Singapore Zoo! I am like so dwarfed by the giant pandas :P

 

The park was designed by the river theme and we saw different animals as we walked through the different river zones e.g. Yang Tze, Amazon, Nile etc. We were impressed by the animal enclosures - thought they were really clean and spacious for the animals, and enhanced our viewing pleasure as well.

 

The animals looked so 3D from our angle - very 'real' as though we were swimming next to them :P

 

Besides fishes, we also saw alligators!

 

Lunch was at mama panda kitchen, right next to where the pandas were. Food was ok. Price was also ok for a tourist attraction - we paid about SGD10 each.

 

Hello Panda! Bun with red bean stuffing. According to the menu, this is the favourite of Jia Jia and Kai Kai. LOL. Almost every customer ordered one (Really!).

 

Typical (and literal) Chinese-theme decorations - bamboos and red lanterns :)

 

The beautiful red pandas were the giant pandas' neighbour. Very cute too! They were very active - running around all the times, chasing each other up and down the trees and fooling around :) Kept us so entertained! So cute!



Kai Kai, the male giant panda! He was sleeping the first time we saw him and then woke up for a while the second time. Found him to be a bit grumpy and clumsy as he moved around his enclosure a little before disappearing into the cave behind him :P Such a teaser! Very cute!



Jia Jia, the female giant panda! She was hiding in her cave the first time and we could only see a bit of her head and view Jia Jia via a live feed from a CCTV installed in her cave :) Apparently she is very shy! We were lucky the second time and spotted her eating bamboos! A hungry panda is shy no more! LOL. Very cute! Jia Jia is more dainty compared to Kai Kai, although she was ripping her bamboos apart!

  

Me and Jia Jia in the background :p

 


There is a serene air about River Safari. A bit quiet, a bit rustic... unlike Singapore Zoo which is more lively... Not sure if it is because the crowds have not arrived yet. But I do hope its serenity remains. Would be a very nice place to think away...



Graceful were the mermaids (Dugongs) despite their size!

 


It was a pleasure to see them dancing in their enclosure. And heart-warming to see happy adults and children dancing with them :)

 

Would say the mermaids are very lucky to have such a big and beautiful home! River Safari is beautifully and environmentally built, I must say!

 

The squirrel common monkeys were very cute too! You can see them up close and person in their enclosure :)



And I do think we have one of the best souvenir stores in our zoos that enticed even the locals (me!)! See the green hat and cap adorned with River Safari animals? Was so tempted to get them. Nice!

More cute souvenirs to make you happy! :)

 
It was drizzling most of the time and fortunately, River Safari is well-sheltered. It was a simple trip that made my day. Yes, happiness can be so simple! :)