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Travel

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Date visited: August 2018 Let’s Sea Hua Hin: website here. The girls and I were planning a nice getaway to celebrate my bff’s upcoming wedding, and being such fickle-minded people we couldn’t decide if we wanted a city adventure or a beach getaway… so we decided to have both – a 5d4n trip to Hua Hin & Bangkok. Side note: I was particularly excited about the beach because I’d been in Auckland winter for the past 4 months… and I was CRAVING for some sun and beachside relaxation. Although we planned to do lots of things in Hua Hin, like visit the pretty Santorini Park, our hotel Let’s Sea Hua Hin was so delightful that we opted to spend more time indoors and around the hotel. Here’s more info so you can plan your next trip there pronto! Getting There. Initially, we wanted to take the bus from Suvarnabhumi Airport…

Date visited: July 2018 After 3 months of being in New Zealand, we finally got around to visiting Waiheke Island for a weekend getaway. Since Waiheke Island is only a 40 minute ferry ride away, I have basically no excuse as to why it took us this long to check it out… we’ve just been so incredibly busy doing adult stuff (and watching my plants grow.. but that’s beside the point). Fun Fact: I’ve started harvesting spinach and lettuce from my garden to EAT! Yum!! Fun Fact 2: I’ve caught over 10 slugs last week… ugh. Back to the main topic, I really wanted to escape the city life for a couple of days and soak in some nature without travelling too far, so Waiheke was the perfect choice. Despite crazy rain on the last day, we had a gorgeous time surrounded in nature. The biggest highlight for me definitely…

Date of Travel: July 2017 So we planned another trip to BKK (rather last-minute, I have to admit) because we needed to get new suits for J – that was actually the main purpose of the trip, so you can imagine how much shopping time I sacrificed. If anyone is interested, we got them done at Jesse & Sons – they were slightly pricey, but undeniably good. My time waiting at the couch was also made more bearable with free coffee/whiskey – brownie points. Because I wasn’t going to get much shopping time, I had the full say on our accommodation choice (that’s a lie, I was always going to do the research anyway), so I searched till I found a good pretty one at a reasonable okay price. Here’s more about it! LOCATION One of our concerns – since we wanted to be relatively close to the tailors. Also,…

Date of stay: March 2017 Since it was J’s birthday, I decided to surprise him with a luxurious-ish pampering staycay, to get his mind off work and away from all the crazy house reno, wedding, planning stuff. I decided then on Oasia Novena because it looked peaceful and quite luxurious, and had a good location (near food, yay!) without an exorbitant price tag. At the very last minute, I decided to get the Club Room (for the first time) for extra pampering. With the club room, we were to have Club Lounge access – a private lounge and pool area with refreshments and snacks, as well as a nice room with a bathtub! Did we enjoy the staycay? Yes. Was it worth it? Hmm. Let me share more and you can decide on your own.  ROOM The room was slightly on the small side at 25sq-meter. No complaints there though,…

Cloud Nine Estate: Jalan Rsi Markandya 2. Banjar Sebali. Desa Keliki. Date of Visit: February 2017 Guys, this is definitely NOT a sponsored post in any way, but I just had to share this gorgeous villa with everyone (though a little reluctantly, because I’m definitely looking forward to going back there, and I don’t want them to be fully booked or have their prices increase haha). Since we travelled there in February for a pre-wedding photoshoot, we were looking for somewhere a little more luxurious (but still affordable) to stay at, so as to complete the whole happy experience. My good friend recommended Cloud Nine Estate long ago, but it was slightly out of budget so I never got around to treating myself. Until this trip. Let me tell you, it was so worth it. It’s literally a little piece of heaven in a quiet corner of Ubud! Every corner was…

Date of Travel: November 2016 It’s been awhile since Part 1, which I wrote about the touristy sights in Bali (Ubud) which I was definitely not impressed with – too much crowd, too high expectations. So I’ve finally gotten around to writing about Part 2 (amidst my crazy renovation planning and ROM shebangs) – the two hidden gems YOU HAVE TO VISIT! Melasti Cliff (Ungasan Cliff) Green Bowl Beach #1. Melasti Cliff / Ungasan Cliff After getting super disappointed the day before with all the touristy touch-and-go sights, we spent the night doing some thorough research and digging before we found this spot – and everything seemed too good to be true! I mean, hidden cliff…gorgeous blue waters… and no one to disrupt your me-time? That’s just too amazing!  Getting There. This was the only hard part as it was not well-known amongst the drivers. We had to use our google map…

Date of travel: November 2016 Recommended Driver: Mano (+62 856 3778 685) (let him know you got the contact from Jeremy!) Bali has always been reverently known as the Island of the Gods, aptly so, as almost every corner finds you in a breath-taking landscape you never knew could exist. Prior to this trip, I have hardly ever been to Bali, except for a few times MANY years ago, staying at Hard Rock Hotel (what a shame to have missed out on the gorgeous villas available everywhere) and travelling no further than the beach down the road. This trip has been quite an eye-opener and I am certain there will be many more trips soon to explore more parts of Bali! Check out the video here! (Bump the quality up to HD!) Although we stayed in a villa 30minutes from Ubud, it took us one day to realize that touristy…

Travel Date: September 2016 Anyone who has ever been to Seoul knows that 4 full days in this busy city is wayyyyy too short. Unfortunately, because my girlfriends J, S, and I booked a last-minute trip to Seoul over dinner 2 weeks before (#yolo right?), beggars can’t be choosers and the return flight prices were the most ideal during those dates. So with only 4 days and approximately 13 meals – every meal had to count. We planned most of our trips according to food (and shopping) in the area, and here’s 10 things you absolutely have to eat on your next trip to Seoul! Special thanks to J who did most of the planning this trip haha!  #1. Budae Jjigae This was definitely on the top of our list to eat – Budae Jjigae (army stew) is shown in almost all Korean shows, making us salivate every single time.…

Sweet Studio @ Seoul Station (click link) First time on Airbnb? Get $40 credit! Date of visit: September 2016 Perfect for : 3 -4 pax Seoul was a very impromptu trip for my girls and I, having decided and planned only a couple of weeks in advance. Air tickets were pricey at $800+ (Korean Airlines) due to last minute booking, and we could not spare too much time for accommodation research, in case everywhere would be booked out! That being said, it was my FIRST time in Seoul and I’ve been watching Running Man and various K-dramas enough to be a little giddy over it, sarang-hae! Hotels.com provided quite a few options, however as we had 3 pax, the comfortable places were quite pricey, at least $190/night. 5 nights would be a huge dent for us, less moolah for shopping yo! With this thought, we turned to Airbnb in search for…

Lotte Mart Wholesale – Jl. Engku Putri, Batam Centre Core kel. Gulf Tering, district Kota Batam, Batam, Riau islands Date of visit: July 2016 Having stayed in USA for a year, I’ve grown to appreciate Costco and their wholesale supermarkets – being able to buy things in BULK (like serious bulk) and feeling like I’ve saved a ton of money. I think I’ve once bought like 60 packets of instant Quakers flavoured oatmeal for $15 or something… cool right?? That’s something I miss in Singapore, going grocery shopping with my friends and buying the staple things in bulk. So imagine my excitement when I stumbled into Lotte Mart Wholesale on a weekend trip to Batam! WHAT IS LOTTE MART Lotte Mart Wholesale is a super-sized grocery store aimed to provide businesses (retail, hotels..) and SMEs with quality products at very competitive prices. They use a membership system with these businesses (sending…