Tag: 2014

Sound of Music re-enacted, in Salzburg.

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As we were entering Salzburg by train, my mind was already firm with a conclusion: Salzburg is my favourite city in this trip.

Never mind that we are only halfway through the trip and we still have the whole of Switzerland that we haven’t seen. But how can you not declare your undying love for a place when coming in the city by train you pass through green hills and mountains studded with small cottages? Also, this was the city where the Sound of Music was filmed, a movie that I practically grew up with. So my premature conclusion was perfectly justified, really.

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Immediately in my mind, I was humming the lyrics of ‘My Favourite Things’ from the Sound of Music.

Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kitten
Bright copper kettle and warm woollen mitten
Brown paper packages tied up with strings
These are a few of my favourite things…

We were greeted by sunny weather and clear blue sky, a perfect weather for us to go about the city in bikes. We had places reserved for all of us with the Frauhlein Maria Bike Tour, and check out the post card view that I snapped at the start of the tour.

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Everything was perfect.

Up until the point when we saw ominous clouds approaching when we were at one of the squares.

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Europa bound (and Jay Jay the Cat).

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I realised I haven’t been the most clear at conveying messages. I have every now and then for the past few weeks spoken about me going for my “trip of the year”, having to apply for visas, travelling some few thousand miles up north, receiving train ticket passes, etc. But never have I explicitly told you what I’m up to with all those ramblings. I guess if you put two and two together, you would probably have figured it out, but let me just write it down once and for all.

I am now in Europe (Paris, to be exact) and will be in this part of the world for the next five weeks.

I’m really excited since this is the first time I’m going for a long trip ever since I started this blog. I will try to update this space as often as possible with things I observe, the sights I love, the mistakes I make along the way, the things I eat, the places I stay, or simply how I feel about a particular thing.

But first, let me introduce you to my new friend here in Paris. Meet Jay Jay. She is one of the hosts at the apartment where I stay for my first night here.

2014-07-27 05.46.54 2014-07-26 12.53.54

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Taylor Swift and Ellie Goulding live in Singapore.

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As you can tell, I haven’t been travelling for a while, as testified by the number of ‘throwback’ travel posts and an increase in the content of ‘When Not Travelling’ category. It is not necessarily a bad thing since this gives me time to write my past travels before some interesting facts fade permanently from my memories (I have a lot to catch up, I’m not kidding you!). Staying put also gives me opportunities to enjoy what Singapore has to offer.

In this case, seeing world-famous celebrities live in action. Singapore is a really good place for that. With generally law-abiding population and world-class security, watching concerts is relatively safer and less life-threatening compared to countries like Indonesia, where overexcited people have proven to cause deadly stampede. I consider myself very lucky to be able to catch both Taylor Swift and Ellie Goulding in the same week!

Taylor Swift’s Red concert was nothing short of amazing. She was an incredible performer and her whole concert felt like a very perfectly-planned show. Her script was very well prepared and the transition smooth. It is no wonder that her two shows in Singapore were both sold out. I spent painfully a lot to get my seats, but it was worth it. Amidst the crowd of screaming teenagers, I felt like one again and I’m not embarrassed to admit that my throat felt a little sore the next day for singing (screaming) along to her songs.

Although I am slightly more embarrassed to admit that I did go hysterical at the first sight of her shadow.

But I mean it's Taylor Swift!
But I mean it’s the shadow of Taylor Swift!

Continue reading “Taylor Swift and Ellie Goulding live in Singapore.” →

A visit to the British High Commission.

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I think I have a thing for royalties, and I would like to think that my paths cross with them quite a lot.

And by a lot, I mean my one-time encounter with the Crown Prince of Denmark in 2012. And then last week, I was invited to an event at the British High Commission for the second time.

Okay I know the High Commission was no prince. And I mean he was not even there during the event. But how often do you get to visit a colonial office house in Singapore that has the Queen’s insignia in it? And also where Prince William and Kate Middleton paid a visit last year?

So I thought I would give you quick tour of the pretty mansion situated right in the middle of Singapore. Since I was not quite sure whether I was allowed to take pictures, I just did what I could so hopefully you’ll enjoy this little glimpse of the House.

When we came into the house, we were greeted by a pretty garden and the house was located after a little drive-in.

It feels like being transported into sunny little Britain.
It feels like being transported into sunny little Britain.

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Guangzhou highlights.

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Having not been to China for nearly three years, I have almost forgotten how phenomenal and interesting the country is. Last weekend, I was in Guangzhou and was reminded exactly that. Although it isn’t the most picturesque of all places, the capital of Guangdong province boasted itself as a key national transportation hub and trading port. In shopaholic terms, this means that it is the wholesale market of the world!

I can see why though. Buildings and buildings of wholesale markets selling everything from clothes to jewellery to toy cockroaches… However, since I’m not exactly big on shopping, I tried to spot what other things Guangzhou was made of. Here are some highlights of my four-day visit.

First up, as always, the food. I love Cantonese food. Dim sum is the obvious choice but there is so much more to Cantonese food than just that. We had this awesome fishball stuffed with crab roe just across the street from our apartment. It was delicious.

Photo and bite enlarged to show texture.
Photo and bite enlarged to show texture.

Although, to be frank, the plane food that I had on my Singapore Airlines flight was not too bad either.

I get ridiculously excited over plane food.
I get ridiculously excited over plane food.

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A beautiful wedding.

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So here is the deal: I did not go to Bali just to eat, as this post and this post seem to have suggested.

Instead, I was there to attend a wedding, a very beautiful one if I may add.

It may not have started perfectly. It rained heavily and the venue for the vows had to be moved from a beautiful spot by the beach to a sheltered open hut. (And I arrived extremely late that I missed the saying of the vows, but the bride and groom do not have to know this. For a valid reason though since my hairdresser was an hour late!). But as the afternoon and the night progressed, it just got better.

After the ceremony, there were cocktails and canapes, which were amazing. I did not even know what cocktails I had and did not bother asking, but they were really good and the appetizers tasty. Not much good picture from the first part and this was the best one that I got.

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After that came my favourite part: the wedding reception. It was set in a beautiful tent with a row of 6 tables (I think), each table decorated with beautiful flower arrangement. The whole setup together with the fairy lights surrounding it created a very dreamy atmosphere.

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Borobudur Temple: righting the wrong.

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No visit to Jogjakarta is ever complete without paying homage to the world-renowned Borobudur Temple. Situated in Magelang, about two-hour car ride away from Jogjakarta city, Borobudur Temple is worth the journey – it is after all the biggest Buddhist temple in the world and at one point in time was one of the seven wonders of the world.

We made a grave mistake of visiting the temple not only in the weekend but also on the eve of an Indonesian public holiday. Which was definitely not the wisest thing to do since Borobudur is one of the cheap destinations for pretty much everyone living in Java. Also, because we are not the earliest risers in the world, we only got there at around 11 AM. Considering some dedicated photographers would have already been ready with their tripod set up at about 5 AM, we definitely deserved the huge line forming at the ticket counter, not to mention the baking hot sun.

The line to get the tickets for local.
The ticket counter for locals.

At least among the things we did wrong, we got a couple of things right. Like the fact that one of my friends is non Indonesian and could get her ticket at the Borobudur International Visitors Centre. Check out the queue for that.

Nothing.
Nothing.

She did have to pay for the price for that, being a foreigner and all. Her entry ticket was USD 20 while ours was less than USD 3. Reminded me of my time in Taj Mahal when I had to pay a much higher ticket price as a foreign tourist (750 Rupee or USD 12) while my Indian friend paid close to nothing (20 Rupee or USD 30 cents). The best part of this arrangement was that we had the spillover effect from her being a foreign tourist and a very kind guy in the counter helped us to get the local tickets through the backdoor and did not even want to receive any tip! Truly hospitality at its best.

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Jogjakarta getaway.

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Jogjakarta is like a sneaky little person with a lot of tricks up its sleeve. At first glance, it could barely call itself a city. With an international airport that just about works and a city so small that it spans around 32 square km, I really did not expect much out of it save the legendary Borobudur Temple.

The terminal.
The terminal building, which was just 50 steps away from our plane.
Cue chaos.
Cue chaos.

A closer look, however, will reveal that there is so much more to the place than a mere small town behind its time. The city may not be massive, but the province stretched far and therein lies a historic place with rich culture and lively art scene.

As is customary in most of my posts, I will start my praises of any place from its food.

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Kuala Lumpur in 23 hours.

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Different people have different reactions when faced with unexpected situations.

Some people take selfies after they survived a plane crash.

Some others go hysterical, or even come up with interesting theories surrounding a crisis.

For me, as long as the unexpected situations do not manifest themselves in the form of cockroaches, flying prawns (there really are such insects, I swear), lightning or someone tickling me from the back, I generally remain calm and composed.

Until the next day, when the reality of the situations start sinking in – I spent pretty much the whole day thinking of the events that happened over last weekend and playing every scene in my head. I think this is what psychologists would have analysed as a case of delayed shock (or in layman’s terms: v e r y   s  l  o  w  ).

Before you jump into conclusions, nothing disastrously bad happened to me nor someone I know personally. But one thing was for sure: it was a very bizarre weekend.

I wrote in my previous post that I was going to have a weekend trip to KL for Future Music Festival Asia 2014. It was meant to be straightforward – reach KL early in the afternoon, get changed, head to the festival and take a bus ride back to Singapore the next day.

But of course nothing in travelling is ever that straightforward.

We reached KL two hours later than expected due to the traffic, and the moment I had access to WiFi from our hostel, I was greeted by a text from a friend informing me that the festival had been cancelled.

Cancelled. The festival we took a 5-hour bus journey for. The festival where Pharrell Williams was supposed to play! Poof. No more.

In our disbelief, we searched the net for more news and found a few articles confirming our news and when the official website finally released some sort of confirmation, we knew that it was time for Plan B. Except that we did not have a plan B, so we had to come up with something on the spot.

Apparently this is the only sign that could be found at the venue.
Apparently this A4 piece of paper is the only sign that could be found at the venue. Photo courtesy to ST Communities.

So I think it is of utmost importance that I write a guide of what you can do, should you find yourself stranded in Kuala Lumpur for 23 hours because the festival you came all the way for was cancelled at the last minute:

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To the Future.

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Some girls go shopping. Some others indulge in yummy food. But for me, the way to let off some steam is by travelling.

So you can tell that I have had a really long week when my upcoming travel count has increased from 1 to 4 in just one week. The first one is as early as this weekend, going slightly north to Kuala Lumpur. Never mind that I only know 3 out of the countless artists performing – Future Music Festival Asia, here I come!

Rumble in the Jungle

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