It's been a while since I last posted my very own self online (narcissist it sounds). Okay, this series will possess a lot of me inside so HOPE U ENJOYED! Bwaahahhaha! Okay, I was away along the weekend and visited Korea for 5 days which my company sponsored each and everyone of us with a brim flight bound Seoul. Jez.. never knew HOLIDAY seasons are that packed and people flocked outta town merciless, escaping the shode of Independence & silly wriggly celebrations.  

05.08.2010 – Early in the morning, I picked up my colleague and head straight to the airport. Cab is not cheap though – A total bill of S$34, but at least 2 of us shared the trip and reserved a few meals later. We checked-in and first thing was windows shopping around Terminal 3 but unfortunately, I've missed out the swirly slide! ARGH!!!! So…. I had Burger King for breakfast again (literally there's nothing much to eat since it's early in the morning), yeah I know it sounds cluttered on food choice but that's the one and only breakfast that everyone is craving for

Took SQ608 from Singapore – Seoul with approximately 6 hours 30 minutes of time spent up in the air. Comfort comes first into mind. People might wondered why we fly Korea with Singapore Airlines? Bad timing!! It was so unfortunate that we're unable to grab the amount of seats in Korean Air as the agency claimed that all seats were fully booked. No choice but to dismissed those beautiful Korean air stewardess. Howdy to Singaporean air crew in return, where there were 2 Korean chicks serving the flight. Great, so they speak Korean language with fluent English aboard. I wondered who's that fair looking lady with Hangul tags on her, those blasting smiles could melt your heart away. Okay, enough chuckling, let's fly!

I haven't get ready man and it looks like I've just woke up from slumber!

Ah, let's see what we have on the menu! 

Damn, we caught some bumpy rides along as the turbulence were strong.

Breakfast served on board : scones & muffin with fruits

Robby Boy said : Delicious! I think he puke

Here's our lunch on board : I've opt for Pan Fried Fish Fillet w/ white wine sauce, ratatouille and parsley potatoes, Pasta & Ham salad as appetizer. There's a FREE KIT KAT Ice Cream too! Now you see why I love SQ to bits.

Touched down Incheon Airport @ 3.25PM (+9GMT) That tower looks a bit odd…

But I like the overall design of the terminal, spacious & (use to be) futuristic albeit domestic airport is much more appealing but too bad you can't see it from this angle. Stay tune as I'll show it to you on the very last post

Weeeee~~~

Aircraft bound Jeju. I like the smiles @ the plane tail. It brightens my day

Transfer to main terminal via train. Train service @ 10 minutes interval. Wow, Koreans queue also… surprisingly. After immigration check, we met our tour guide Kim & photographer, Bae before heading towards Seoul City for sight seeing & dinner.

Along the route, had a snap shot of modern skyscrapers.

Most buildings here are limited to certain floors to withstand earthquake I supposed.

This is Cheonggyecheon (청계천) stream, a man made stream in the city. You can see the crowds romping in the water from the bridge here.

So water is wealth & hapiness to them

Miniature waterfall @ the stream

Ah, it's pretty windy and after this shot, it rained. -.-;

Statues along the road~

Yeah, dropped by Korea Ginseng Chicken Soup for the menu itself. haha!

Banchan Served… Noodle (누들), Kimchi (김치), Ggakdugi (깍두기), and Soju (소주)!

Here's a big bowl of Ginseng Chicken Soup / Sam Gye Tang (삼계탕) with glutinous rice inside the chicken, garnished with young scallions. Yeah, this is a young chicken in the pot! Ideally, this Sam Gye Tang is not salty and you seasoned according to your own taste. Healthy and green

After dinner, it was about 7PM and we had a short stroll @ Dong Dae Mun (동대문) market. I didn't buy much here since it was a bit pricey and wholesale wise, you ought to buy a dozen for goodness sake!

So what i did was lifestyle nonetheless.

Since Robby Boy wants a free Internet Connection to chat with his GF. I had my latte, he had his chat @ iL Mare Cafe @ Department Store

We checked-in Rasung Hotel at 11pm. Looks kinda run down and I had my spooky experience (TV was turned on before we entered the room) on Day 3 back in this hotel. OMG!

Stay tune for Day 2.

Previously @ Down Under…

25.12.2009 (Day 3), Sydney  - It was Christmas, I took a flight back to Brisbane via Jetblue. The flights were packed and reached within an hour 25 mins. Cab was expensive but luckily I booked the airtrain online (CBD Transferin advance since there's a 10% discount. As I walked out from the arrival hall, I glared on a 17" monitor with 'Joseph Teo' on it and chuckled. haha! Man… it looks like I am the one and only to book ticket online. The reservations were prioritize. lols!

The airtrain I sat on was equivalent to our KLIA's ERL, at least it's less noisier and cleaner than normal train. The moment I alighted at CBD Central Station… MAN! It was so deserted! Not even MacD was in business. Summer Christmas down under is all about family reunions or probably there's something hip @ Sydney that I don't know of, definitely not Brisbane! Lawrence was supposed to join his aunties & uncles till evening but was disturbed by this alien traveler who need a lift – and off we go to D-Hao's home for some Christmas reunion (refer video) dinner. Some new faces to me but glad to know that most of them were from Malaysia. What surprised me was the presence of Sarawak Laksa brought over by Shiela. haha… nom nom nom!!! Been craving that for long! Of course, everyone was enjoying themselves, after that it was time for WII Sessions & poker as well. Gawd… I gambled till 4am in the morning… How crazy could this be but it was pretty addictive to play along with those guys. lols. Should I just compile a short video session during poker? oh yes.. check below!

P / S : Click image to zoom

Weather's gloomy on Christmas Day and  taken this @ the bridge, on the way to airtrain.

Inside Aerotrain. It's clean but the seats are not that comfortable. Not too bad!

CBD of Brisbane. This is Anzac Square

Central Station… Aiks… so deserted!

Memorial to men who service NS out of the country, check here.

 

Video Session

Enjoy the video! Click here if you cannot view the above!

26.12.2009 – Boxing Day! Yay!!! It's a whole day of shopping all for us. And this Lawrence got the "bak gua" on his wiper. -.-; I don't understand the parking system in Brisbane! It was so confusing alright.

Queenstreet mall is located at the heart of the city. Surprising crowds here and yeah looks like everyone is on shopping spree. Personally, I had 3 bags with me, some guess jeans, random local brands, some souvenirs and that's it. You hardly had any time for meals since everyone is busy looking for a fit out, you follow suit as well. Ans yeah, the boxing day lasted only within 24 hours. Grab it while stocks last!

The aboriginal and his long pipe! The sound goes…. Bon~~~~~

Some chit chat, some with bags, some counting wallet and that's what people do!

la la la la la la~~~~

Inside one of the mall and saw this huge ferrero rocher christmas tree. I wonder if the choc is real hmmm

There…. Charles Chaplin was shock! haha! The busker was trying some tricks for his audeince. lol

The shopping spree lasted for hours, from noon till evening! Had Hungry Jacks (or what we called Burger King here)  for dinner…

Later, we had a stroll at South Bank Parklands. This is Brisbane Skyline taken there.

One of the footbridge along Brisbane river. Thanks to Lawrence for this shot. Credit to him. I would not have found this image identical without his guidance. It looked marvelous. 

Wheel of Brisbane! Playing Aperture here!

Din't get to try on those.. I thought it was the same as any other Ferris Wheel.. Oh well…

Read this… yes! Brisbane is so similar to Kaoh Siung. The moment I was there, it sensed the identicalness. Check it out here. After this, we head to D-Hao's home and continue the Poker saga. XD

27.12.2009 – Ah, Sunday! You know, it's really nice to have breakfast with friends but holiday season it's unlikely to get any shops open, except a few – chinese owned. I was acknowledged that there's a bread shop @ The Coles (Mall) owned by one of the Sibu (Sarawak Province) family. I had forgotten the name of the shop. I didn't believe until I tasted those bread. Oh, it feels like home.. lols. Oh, we dropped by this chinese restaurant for breakfast and let's see what we have…

The dim sum is not above par, unlike Hong Kong's, still edible. That Cheong Fun taste like Singapore's, they put thick soy + mustard sauce on it (with sesame)… EW!!!!! The pork porridge taste norm, same goes to the fried noodle. Nai Cha (milk tea) is tasteless. X_X

1.5 hours of drive down south to Sunshine Beach, Goald Coast! And visiting The Movie World Theme Park. Oh, I get the annual pass from D-Hao so it's free! LOL! The securities didn't bother to make any comparison between ID & the entrants, well be it. Check out Movie World here. Oh yeah, we got to try a number of 4G rides, it's fun! WEEEEEEEEE! SFW~ It went vertical and then slopes. That's what thrill is all about! Luckily I didn't get cardiac arrest. haha! Still young at heart heh.

The Sweet Escape! NaBeh! Look at that 90 Degree tracks. "Eh Si ar!!! (die literally )" This one!

Wow, if Singapore's MRT can bend! LOL Ahahahahahaha! How I wish there's someone capturing our moment during the ride!

Now here goes! Ascend and Descent!

Eeeee… Rabbit Teeth I have also!

Now this vehicle is so familiar!!!! Yeshhh!

It's Batman! Never knew I still had the chance to shake hand with "Christian Bale" himself! LOL!

Lalat with 2 DC Comic characters, Green Lantern & Flash Man!

Epic! I like this kinda vintage vehicle (with holes on it) LOL!

Scooby Doo Bee Doo, Where are You! Didn't get to try this spooky coaster – oh well!

This picture looks odd, as if am walking into the painted wall!

Ya… am sitting on the picture.. Everyone does that! hahaha!

Did some posing… thanks to Lawrence for the shot!
Eh… I am not narcist….. Posing was just for fun!

The Wildwest Falls Adventure Ride, which I didn't get to try cuz…. you have to get wet!!

The Famous O-Marilyn Monroe heading towards the crowd! She's lovely!

Okay I don't want to do this! But those were my fav. characters behind!

Yeap it's Bugs Bunny! But heck this is kids corner… Yieks!!!!!

Oh… Marilyn Monroe with a flying kiss, heading this way!

I tried this 4G ride (Lethal Weapon)! It's definitely heart Pumpin'!

This ship wreck is a showcase! But uh, we're actually in a factory studio!

Looks peachy!! HAHA!

I wouldn't want to stand next to Mr. Tummus if I were you! Look at stick pointed! LAWL!!!!!!

Some statues from the movie… Here's the 3 accompanied along

It's really huge!!
Yes, this is the ship that you're gonna see in 
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (2010),
still in the progress of filming…

 

Check this out!

Large dragon head!

Okay the fun was over, let's get the hell out of here and check out the following…

Did a little shopping here @ Harbour Town, a short ride away from Movie World..

After that, we head down Gold Coast!! Weeeeee!

Gold Coast town is relaxing!

Spooky stuff sold here!

Residential tower and hotels around town!

Oh yeah hard rock cafe!

Limosine! First time to see in Brisbane. That's Bentley if am not mistaken!

This is Gold Coast. It was pretty windy an sandy mate! I don't the feel there as you get sticky easily…. Eww! Cuz I didn't brought along my swimming trunks and extra cloths. Yeah again, it's windy!

Sandy shores!

The gangs were craving for Japanese food and we ran into the wrong restaurant, glaring at those scrumptious expensive menus. We decided to leave but it's kinda embarrassed that you sat down and leave within a short period of time. But whalla, luck's at out side, and we found another reasonable Japanese restaurants below….

Steamed Gyoza~ Not Bad.. just like the chinese Wo-Tie made!

Agedashi Tofu! Mmmmm Delicious!

Unagi!~~ just like any other!

Okay I have no idea what's this called, there's some chicken and shredded onions.

Tempura Rice!

Soba with Tempura! Not too bad! Cold noodle is interesting as always.

There you go with 3 fun & exciting days down under. Stay tune for more @ Day 6 and 7 (Epilogue)
Hope you enjoyed!

28.10.2008 – Last day of thrill before departing back to Singapore. In my views, Taiwanese are amicable as compared to Hong Kee at least, they greet the customers with a grin, literally the japanese greeting style, and simply euphony. E.g. Welcome , " 欢迎光临~~~" Oh that's what I remembered. I do enjoy this trip with my parents albeit following tours are quite convenient for old folks but you cannot avoid those sales people 'looting' your purse with their eloquence. That's normal incident of following tours so grab on your map if you think that free and easy suits you more!

Nothing to do much on that particular day as our flight were scheduled to depart @ 3PM. So I woke up as usual, had breakfast with parents and off for a stroll via train – not far but only a few stops for some sight seeing. Parents nagged that time was a constraint that we moved early to avoid being late. Oh dear!

Had breakfast @ our hotel restaurant at the balcony (Fortuna Haiyatt Hotel) and I was dang disappointed with the menu. Look what we have here? Sweet potato (okay that's fine), Braised egg (omg), Fried spring roll (omg), veggies…

Fried vermicelli (oh dear)

But…. good to see sandwich brother on the menu.. and… ham, and some Taiwanese sausage. Ugh… I never like the taste of Taiwanese sausage, German bratwurst better!!

This Meal : 

Don't get me wrong.. this praise is for brother sandwich that save the day! Wuhahhaaha!

The sign are mostly written in mandarin so you have to watch your route closely. From Zhong Shan (中山) station, we traveled to Jiantan (剑潭) which I had no idea where we head to, but according to the tourist guide, it says there's a national park somewhere here, named Yang Ming Shan (阳明山) but eventually it goes LOL, that we're required to travel some distance from this train station. Oh well, looks like my mandarin are heading towards unproficiency level.

Not too bad! I discovered Rolls Royce!

So we head for airport @ 11.30AM

Reached the airport within 30 mins

This is Taoyuan International Airport

Early check-in to avoid any mishap and paid that tour guide Lin a lump sum of compulsory tour fees before heading to departure hall.

Ah, but before that this is the only food that could be found in the departure hall. Looks like Nandos – not! Just some local braised chicken rice.

A340 on tarmac

Ready to take off~

And this is what I had on the flight, pork chop rice! Yummy! But I dislike that sponge cake (top left) – reminds me of those chinese sponge cake for ritual offerings.

Alright let's recap my Taiwan trip for the year 2008.

[ Day 1- Arrived Taiwan - Prologue ]

[ Day 1 - Visited Fisherman's Wharf @ Dan Shui (Taipei County) ]
Lover's bridge & hot destination for wedding photography.

[ Day 1 - Dan Shui Old Street & Shi Lin Night Market (Taipei County) ]
Check out Ah Po Steel Egg @ Dan Shui & Try to bargain hard with the locals in Shi Lin Night Market.

[ Day 2 - Jiu Fen (KeeLung City) ]
Buy your souvenirs here from customized stamp to keychains & chopsticks. Also, try their Taiwanese style ABC!

[ Day 2 - Yilan National Traditional Arts Center (Yilan County) ]
Rich in adobe brick architecture 

[ Day 2 - On the way to HuaLian County ]
The locomotive is here to fetch us to HuaLian where I get to see those games played in the 80s' + Fireworks on the shelf too.

[ Day 3 - Take a tour to ChihSing Tan & Takoro Gorge (Hualian / Taitung County) ]
The scenic was simply breathtaking and such beautiful waterfall never be seen.
Late evening, we arrived Taitung's Hot Spring Resort.

[ Day 4 - Visited Fo Guang Shan Monastery & Dream Mall (Taitung County / Kaohsiung City) ]
Late evening, we arrived KaohSiung and witnessed some local protested. Check out Love River & Liu He Night Market (六合夜市)

[ Day 5 - Visited Wen Wu Temple & Formosan Aboriginal Cultural Village (Kaohsiung City / Nantou County) ]
Sun Moon Lake was awesome but we didn't get to enjoy the scenery, Late evening, we arrived Nantou County and ascent the mountains for our Sweden Holiday Homestay, also one of my favorite destination. It's really cool up there.

[ Day 6 - Enjoyed that breathtaking view & check out Chingjing Veterans Farm (Nantou County) ]
You should visit this destination as the weather up there is generally mild all year round and the veteran farms is 1750m above sea level where you get to see those sheep grazing hard. 

[ Day 6 - Travel north to Taichung via THSR + Zhong Lie Si Ancestral Hall + Taipei 101 ( Taichung / Hsinchu / Taipei City) ]
The High Speed Rail are competent with Japan's Shinkansen but I don't find Taiwanese snack savoring my gastronomy – maybe am way too Malaysian to gobble up those.

 

Day 7 refer above and there you go, that's a wrap for my Taiwan Adventure with my parents. Now it's time to blog about other countries after all these while. I do hope that in days to come I can update future post in greater speed.

~再会~

Joseph.

Sydney!

23.12.09 – It was a dang chilly morning and took me half an hour to reach the domestic terminal, thanks to Adam's lift. One thing good about the domestic terminal is no passport required – yes, just flight itinerary. When I stepped in the terminal, all I see was a mediocre public concourse and security check was just right in front of me. I was puzzled that their domestic airport could get as simple as this , being scanned by the security channels and head straight to the first floor. I lingered around and thought something's not right until I realized that I had forgotten to print my boarding pass entirely. Holy SXXX! I ran down the stairs and lucky to find a kiosk to print off my boarding pass immediately. By that time, all counters were closed and my flight was scheduled to depart @ 5am (+10 GMT) sharp. Security check done for the second time and dashed off to the passenger bridge in scurrying manner. Man… I was hasty and looked almost wrecked.

Hop on the plane and first impression goes like this…

"Gosh, Virgin Air is way better than Air Asia! I got an LCD screen in front of me!! LOL!"

There's this chap sitting next to me. He sounds a bit awkward, asking the air stewardess if he's sitting on the right place. The air stewardess replied if he'd look at his flight ticket for verification. Then he nodded with a grin. What the… Can't he read those labels on the compartment? duh! Think he's trying to flirt the air stewardess or okay, maybe we – budget frequent flyers are use to allocate our own seats.

5AM looks pretty bright out there. see yourself. The flight took 1 hour 30 minutes and I hardly could do anything on board but ah, luckily I had my dramas loaded in my Iphone The shimmering sunlight touched my cheek and from certain angle of the window, I witness iridescence. That's a wonder indescribable but looking out the window, I saw jungle of buildings scattered across this metro – this is Sydney! I had a gradual feel that the the locus does looks like The Big Apple (New York). Not quite yet but the aerial view are much colligated with. 

The plane touch down Sydney at about 7.30AM (+11 GMT) and I was kinda lost for the first time in Sydney domestic terminal. I might say the directions printed on the signage was subtle and not conspicuous enough. Heck, the train was just down 2 escalators. Sydney public transportation & guidelines – well….. still below par!

Note : Click on the photo to enlarge …

Took a train downtown at A$15 per way. Man, there's an awful stench in the train and moreover, some lethargic being slept on the seats as if it is their bed or something. So, that's life for some in the metro! The stations sound indications were soft and I hardly could hear what the locomotive engineer said. There's also no door indication of where to alight. Oh…. poor system!

There I reached the central station and you could see lots of passengers traveling around the clock but not as exaggerating as Tokyo Metro. The Sydney Central is the largest railway station in Australia and most of the intercity & interstate rail networks are connected. I was lucky to book a hotel that's very near to the central and some walking distance from it.

Oh that's a Scooby Doo van!

I was really confused with the tram service operating. There were no sign of tickets being sold until I checked the information counter and told me that the ticket are sold on board. The light rail (tram) are relatively expensive as compared to the daily pass. One way is around A$3.40 but I was lucky to have skipped those since my stop was just 2 stations away.  Day pass for both Monorail & Lightrail is more worthwhile @ A$9.

I alighted at Haymarket and continued to walk towards my hotel (Aspire), which is just some walking distance away. Chinatown is just located next to Haymarket and much to my cognizance, these locations are pretty easy to access and convenient for tourist to dropped by anywhere they wanted.

At a glance. When Internet booking made things easier, it's likely for you to have a decent ample room for the grab. A$79 per night (off peak season) not including breakfast & Internet. Can't really live without Internet so I purchase a A$10 internet access from the hotel instead which lasted for 24 hours. Well, I checked-in earlier and they allowed – not too bad since there's not so much room taken.

I was unlucky enough to get this room with a malfunction air condition which they transfer me to another room later on which in other words, the WIFI connection was weaker than the previous room because it was situated nearby the lift and I was exacerbating with such poor connection for 2 freaking days. However, I managed to get a decent connection by sitting in front of the main door. LOL! Looking out my balcony, I could see the Sydney tower and cityscape some distance away. I had a short nap before my adventure begun and that short nap was great!

Neighbourhood along Macarthur St. [ gmap ]

Noticed that building there? They are selling pies. It's Hannah's Pies! Show ya later!

Bench outside the powerhouse museum

Sydney cityscape at a glance. It was a sunny day and everyone was preparing for christmas. You could see shopping crowds downtown.

There's the Haymarket. Looks pretty deserted at this part of the city.

The monorail is yet another intercity transportation for you to enjoy the attractions around, well other than buildings, there's buildings & offices! Nothing fancy! Some more, the air condition doesn't seem to function properly. It felt like a hot sauna inside seriously, those public transports are not well maintained. Shabby shabby!

The convention center are just behind me and look, I just found a waypoint here!

Things in chinatown are rather expensive and of course, not to mention those oriental food that starts at A$8 per bowl. The chinese words read, Within the four seas, all men are brothers! Meaningful idioms. 

And I saw 3 monkeys! 3 Wise Monkey Pubs @ Liverpool Street. Though am not a frequent pub goer but reviews said the security officers are rude, arrogant & causing dismal… and it's an Irish Pub. [ read reviews ] Skipped that!

And all I did was a little shopping here and not forgetting Moon's & Shirley's postcard on the go. It's A$1.30 for a stamp (overseas) & A$1 for a postcard. This is the World Square Shopping Centre @ George Street and yeap, the post office are just around for me to drop those postcards.

Looks like a dragon for this swirl

Busy streets & predestrians doing their last minute shopping. Well, I was busy hunting some fast food as well… and that would be Hungry Jacks (or what they called Burger King in Asia) Ugh.. burgers…

There's a lot of shop in Market City (Halymarket) as well and I bought tons of souvenirs there, from soft toy to house decos.

Can see the busker performing on the streets for hours. I think he's a chinese.

There, I bought this vegetarian pie from Hannah's. A$4.

I didn't get to visit the observation deck of Sydney tower but from here it looks like an airport tower.

I took a short nap before realized that it was already 6PM and the sky was dark and city lit up with wonderful lights. So I made a short stroll around Tumbalong Park and spotted this ferris wheel. Ah, this place is peaceful and playground for couples.

There were buskers around the Darling Harbour performing and the crowds seemed pretty elated with the act. There's nothing much you could do around at night except for some leisure walk, movies and dine-ins along Darling Harbour. The above, nightscape as you can see, is not chromatic / breathtaking enough if you compared to Hong Kong's. But still a popular attraction in Sydney alone. Somehow, the breeze by the bay was gentle and relaxed.

The Harbourside shopping centre @ Darling Harbour. I returned the day after for some windows shopping! And yeap, I remembered 24th December 2009, 8pm when I was in the tram, I saw this little fireworks fires off the sky. Argh!! Timing faulty and I should have be there for the fireworks shootout. Oh well….

From Prymount Bridge to King Street, I chance upon this bakery shop selling CUPCAKES!!!!! Aw… isn't it lovely? This is christmas chocolate muffin cupcakes taken outside the glass panel.

Variant of cupcakes on display. I kinda like the burger cupcakes. Looks good hey!

And there's this huge basket cupcakes! LOL!

French Macaroons – these are huge macaroons that I loved. Small ones was just a mouthful. Served along with red wines, you gotta enjoy every bite from it. The flavors well, it's a wild guess here.

More & More cupcakes. Lemon mousse is refreshing! I kinda like the idea of M&Ms above it.

Now there's even branded cupcakes for sell! LOL!

It was 7.30PM and the train was deserted? Gosh! How could this be? Oh no.. I really don't get use to such scene. I believe most people are driving instead of using the public transport or the booze down under has just started? LOL!!

From King Street to York Street and later, took a ride from Wynyard Station to Circular Quay. Destination? The Opera House Pictorial Session.

I was enfeeble to walk far so I dropped by Copenhagen for a short Ice-cream treat. A$4. I chose Chocolate & Mango, My fav.

A 15 minutes walk from the station to Campbells Cove and standing right just below the Sydney Harbour Bridge… Opposite is Luna Park.

Main purpose here is to shoot this beautiful icon of Australia – The Sydney Opera House.
Download wallpaper here for free – specially designed for your desktop.

Sydney Harbour Bridge. Wish to return and climb this birdge one day!

It was 12AM. Had a little McDonalds meal and walked back to Haymarket by foot! Woah!! LOL! Walkathon was fun! Ah.. this is Harbourside Shopping Centre. There's the information counter!

Stay tune for more coming your way!