Staycation

Being a tourist in own country for a day or a weekend is called 'staycation'.

Changi Boardwalk: stretching 2.6km, the scenic coastal boardwalk views the sea and Ubin.
Ketam Mt. Bike Park at Pulau Ubin: it's a 45ha park opened this year for both competitive mountain bikers and leisure riders.
Ubin Lodge is located next to Ubin jetty with all units facing the sea and Changi coastline. Rates start from $100 (6220-8623).
Aloha Changi is of colonial-style bungalows are chalets, which are great for a quiet stay with friends or family over the weekend. Rates start from $100 (6545-2343).

Guided walks at parks and nature reserves: Pasir Ris Mangrove tour ($4, 6465-3305), Lower Peirce Reservoir Park - Bt. Timah Nature Reserve - MacRitchie tour (free, 6554-5127), HortPark tour (free, 6471-5601), Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve walk (free, 6794-1401), Pulau Ubin Sensory Trail ($60 for a group of up to 15, 6542-4108). A good eatery place opposite HortPark is worth mentioning: Gillman Village Little Bali.

Trek and explore: Southern Ridges (9km over the rolling hills from Mt. Faber park to West Coast park), HSBC Treetop Walk at MacRitchie Reservoir (25m above ground ideal for bird-watchers), Labrador Park (explore World War II bunkers).

9KM Scenic Walk

The two recently-added pedestrian bridges, Henderson Waves and Alexandra Arch, complete a 9KM chain of greenery in the Southern Ridges, which consist primarily of three hill parks (Mt. Faber, Telok Blangah Hill & Kent Ridge Parks).

Henderson Waves, of 36m height and 274m across Henderson Rd, is Singapore's highest pedestrian bridge.

The Southern Ridges now boast the Forest Walk, a 1.3KM long elevated walkway at Telok Blangah Hill Park.

With 20 theme gardens, HortPark is South-east Asia's first one-stop gardening and lifestyle hub. The 23ha park has been open since Dec last year.

On paper, it would take about 2.5 hrs to complete the 9KM trail from HarbourFront MRT station to West Coast Park. But realistically, one probably needs about 5 hrs considering stops for drink and views. First-timers are advised to stick to the more scenic walk, from Marang Trail to HortPark.Bring along water, snacks and insect repellent. Parking lots may be limited (try Kent Ridge carpark B).

Phuket, Phi Phi island

I made the second trip this year to Phuket and still much enjoy it. See photos of some beautiful scene...

The return airfare by Tiger Airways costs S$140 plus various taxes & surcharges of $146 -- nowadays the hidden "extra" for taxes & surcharges exceeds the airfare itself, especially when it comes to budget airlines and short-distance flights. Probably due to the peak season, it is more expensive than my previous trip in March, when the Jetstar airfare was only S$76 + taxes & surcharges $123.

I stayed with the same hotel, Patong Beach Lodge, at US$82 per night per room of 2 adults incl. breakfast. It was US$53 last time in March. The hotel is conveniently located in the short walking distance to Patong beach and to the main street for bars & massage houses. Though not as elegant as the near-by Holiday Inn, it is pretty clean, cosy and non-expensive...

Taxi fare from airport to Patong is standard, at 550 Baht per cab payable at a counter inside terminal; the driver does not take cash payment. Our driver drove very fast (probably... rude :) and took less than 45min dropping us at the hotel. He said he usually does as many as 7 round-trips a day in peak season.

The Phi Phi island day tour is at 1400 Baht, picking up at hotel lobby at 8am and back around 6pm. The ticket is available in many tour desks along the street, with list-price ranging from 2500 to 2800 Baht. It includes drinks & fruits on board, a buffet lunch and about 6 places / activities for sight-seeing, relaxing on beach and snorkeling, among them are Maya bay / beach, Phi Phi lay, Khai Nui Island... I'm also impressed by the tour guide who is friendly and caring and thanks everyone for coming back after the tsunami.

Among the two local beers, Chang and Singha, I prefer Chang beer as it is stronger and tastes like Carlsberg at some extends.

I can't remember the street name that is full of good bars and night activities, it faces the Fantasea at its east end and links the beach and the main commercial road (Raj-U-Thid Rd). It is the place that one shouldn't miss... Sitting in a bar by the street or walking along the street seeing people at the bars are both of fun and form an interesting scene for each other parties.

Christmas 2007

Merry Christmas!

See photos of X'mas@Singapore at my flickr... more photos are coming in the next a few days...

Pulau Tioman

Tioman is off the east coast of Malaysia on the South China Sea. Having clear blue seas and white sands, it is ideal to spend 3 days there over a long weekend.

Driving from Causeway to Mersing ferry terminal takes no less than 2.5 hrs along highway No.3 heading south-east. Most of the 132Km journey is on a single-lane road so one can't drive fast as often beening blocked by slow-moving vehicles, especially at night. But the good thing is that it's toll-free all the way. When entering Mersing town, make a right turn at a round-about and you can't miss the ferry terminal. Monitored car park is available at only some RM7 per 24-hrs.

We took the Bluewater (Tel: 07-7994811) speed-ferry that is scheduled at 7am, 11am & 3pm in this non-peak season, at RM70 for a return ticket. However, the ferry is not punctural and likely delay due to tide (excuse?) and passenages (the real?). We experienced nearly a hour delay when heading to Tioman and as much as 2.5 hrs when coming back. It is always wise to call & check on the exact schedule & arrival of next ferry prior to going to the jetty.

Once starting off, it takes about 2 hrs to reach Tekek where most tourists stay. It's aircon'ed so the ferry riding is not too bad but one may need to prepare that it's very cold inside the cabin. Berjaya hotel is pretty good: we took the standard room at RM136 (weekday) / RM221 (weekend), excluding breakfast. It owns private beach area and golf, tennis etc. sport sites. Actually it is the only 5-star resort hotel offering chalets & rooms. It even operates a private daily air service between Seletar airport directly to the Berjaya beach, by 48-seater Dash 7 plane at about S$222++.

We purchased a round-island tour by speedboat at RM60 per head. It starts off at 9:30am and returns at 3:30pm, stopping in 6 places for snorkeling & beach activities. This is our main tour among the 3-day getaway (since we have to spend some 17 hrs on the two-way journey incl. waiting times).

What about the packing list? Well, sun block (>SPF100 for ladies) and mosquito repellent are important. Shorts, wet gears & a pair of slippers for the humid weather are necessary. We also pack with sun glasses, tiger balm (my favor :) and basic first aid kit. Toiletries and beach chairs & towels are easily available at the hotel. Oh, you may like to bring along some instant noodles for breakfast (they don't sell it there)...

Be alert when eating outside the hotel restaurant. I got minor food poisoned at Taman village during the day-tour, which had bothered me until we finally got home.

HuanShan, China

Day 1: ShangHai. Jinjiang Inn By The North Band 锦江之星（北外滩）, walk-in rate RMB 199. Tel: 021-65867555

Located at the cross of 大连路 and 长阳路, the hotel is pretty good for leisure trip and can be booked via Ctrip (RMB189). It is in short walking distance to subway (line 4) station and about 3Km to city centre.
银树restaurant at NanJing Rd is our favor especially for its vegi-won-ton. We really love it that we did not eat there once but twice.

It takes less than 1.5 hrs by (fast) train from ShangHai to HangZhou at RMB 30~50+. Pay attention that there are more than one train stations. ShangHai South station is new and quite modern.

Day 2-4: HangZhou. Overseas Chinese Hotel 杭州华侨饭店, 湖滨路39号. Tel: 0571-87685555

The hotel is at some 10 meters by the West Lake and very convenient. We booked it with Ctrip at RMB 348 incl. breakfast.

Other than the West Lake and its nearby, I would recommend 六合塔, 林彪行宫 & 胡雪岩故居 if you like to spend more time in HangZhou. Visiting WuZhen 乌镇 takes a full day by long-distance bus (RMB50 for return bus ticket & RMB100 for entry) -- the so-called eastern Venice is actually a small old town surrounded by artificial water-way. The people there are very attempting to sell goods to everyone who passes by.

The long-distance bus from HangZhou West to HuangShan city takes about 3.5 hrs at RMB 78. The aircon'ed bus ride is not bad at all.

Day 5-6: HuangShan. Hua Shan Hotel 华山宾馆，黄山市屯溪去延安路3号. Tel: 0559-2328888. Pai Yun Lou Hotel 排云楼宾馆，黄山风景区西海-丹霞峰下. Tel: 0559-5581558

Hua Shan Hotel is right at the entry to Lao street 老街, the famous night market in TunXi district. Its rooms are clean & comfortable at RMB 350 incl. breakfast, but we didn't spend much time in it other than sleep :) Pai Yun Lou Hotel is on top of the mountain so we shouldn't complain about its lack of service after dark. All bar & restaurant are closed after 8pm but anyway people usually sleep very early -- tired and also prepare to start off at dawn for seeing sun rise. We booked the room via Ctrip at RMB 790.
HuangShan entry ticket is sold at RMB 200. The cable car is at RMB 65 per segment and transfer bus costs RMB 13 for each single ride. Tourist must use the bus service to get in but the cable car is optional (climbing up takes 5-6 hrs?). The food being sold up there is quite reasonable, I think. For example, cucumber at 5 Yuan each, a cup of Nescafe at 20 and a meal costs 230 Yuan for five of us.

Besides the HuangShan main tour, I personally think 花山谜窟 worth of us spending the 2 hrs. The ancient man-made grottoes are of some 200m depth & several ten thousands sq.m area but the mysteries lie in when and why they were made and how many undiscovered grottoes underneath -- no documents have been found so far.

Hong village is at some 70Km away from HuangShan (entry ticket at RMB 80). Despite its picture-alike scene, it is kind of live specimens of the ancient villagers. BTW, I learnt the villagers, usually old now, receive a percentage of the ticketing income collected from us tourists. This at least gives me some justification after being there :)

We had also visited the arches 牌坊群 and Bao's garden 鲍家花园 near TunXi. They don't seem very interesting to me but the bonsai may be worth of spending some time...

An over-night train took us from HuangShan directly back to ShangHai (21:48 - 10:44), at RMB 94 with bed to sleep on.

Tanglin Village

We went down to Tanglin Village yesterday. It's a new place introduced on newspapers, at Dempsey Rd (turn in from Holland Rd west-wards) near botanic garden. Besides the old antique furniture stores, there are now quite a few bars & restaurants, art and spa houses newly set up, some are still renovating and yet to open. It will become a good leisure place especially for the nearby westerners.

Jacky's concert

'The Year of Jacky Cheung World Tour 2007' concert was held at the Indoor Stadium last night. It's the 3rd day of his Singapore show. Jacky brought in 30min. musical (abstracted from his '雪狼湖'?) which is pretty good and a surprise to me.

Unfortunately our seats are too close to the subwoofer so I can't really enjoy most of the loud songs -- that's a lession I've learnt :(

Fort Canning Park

Together with a few friends, we go to Fort Canning Park in the afternoon. Surprisingly I've never been there for once although been staying in the island for some 14 yrs. It's just by the Orchard Rd & oversees the river (& Clarke Quay) from top.

Changi Village

Changi Village or Changi Beach Park is at the east end of Singapore island or actually at the north of Changi airport. It is by the Serangoon harbour and looking at Pulau Ubin at its north. I used to drive there by Changi Coast Rd that is a beautiful tree-lined main road but quiet.

Today is my 3rd time being there in the recent 1-2 yrs. I still very much enjoy the scene. It is of countryside style & usually less crowed, making me feel like rest in a vacation place.