The Travel Bug

Flight home and tips on travelling to NZ

2011-12-15T17:07:00.016+08:00

Day 16 (Mon, 5 Dec 2011)

I know, theoretically this isn't a day cos we left NZ on the 6.20am flight. But considering we spent 13 looooong hours on the plane, it had to be included!

First, we took a domestic flight from Christchurch to Auckland, before taking an international flight back to Singapore.

Walking from the domestic to international terminal at Auckland Airport.

Can we ever be without Internet, even when we're in transit?

Funny sign at the airport. Why is the door alarmed? Is it afraid of the fire extinguisher?

You know, when you're on holiday, it's like stepping out of reality and into a time warp - one where you don't have work or social responsibilities. For 2 glorious weeks, we existed only for playing, eating and chilling, without the usual cares in our regular world. It was heavenly and very hard to come back to earth.

I cannot rave enough about NZ as a family holiday destination.

Before we left, we wondered if the kids, especially Andre, would get bored in a nature-centred country like NZ. As it turns out, he enjoyed it tremendously. He even wanted to migrate to Wanaka! Despite having no theme parks or many shopping opportunities, this holiday is by far, the best one we've had yet, as a family. We spent 2 weeks creating memories that all of us would remember for a lifetime.

Here are my thoughts on travelling to NZ:

Cost

In the past, one of the downsides of travelling to NZ was the cost of the air tickets. This is no longer an issue, since Jetstar started flying there. We paid only $2,400 for air tickets for the 4 of us, which is dirt cheap (especially considering we flew multi-city, ie arriving and departing from different cities). True, those were promotion tickets but even Jetstar's regular priced tickets to NZ are very affordable.

Accommodation is NZ is extremely good value for money. You can usually find a comfortable and well furnished motel unit in town, sleeping a family of 4 for under $200. Some even come with breakfast. If you want to be assured of your lodging beforehand, many motels offer online bookings. If not, you can always drive into town and look for accommodation.

Food was also not as expensive as we'd expected. In restaurants, main courses tend to cost between $20-$35 which doesn't sound cheap but remember, GST is included and they don't charge a service fee. Also, their portions tend to be huge so sharing is possible. In cafes, a burger usually costs about $12, sandwiches and pies are cheaper.

To me, the drinks are expensive. A cup of tea or cappuccino is usually priced at $4 or $4.50, even in modest cafes along the highway.

The only thing I found pricey in NZ is their activities and entry to attractions. I expect the setup costs tend to be high and they're big on safety, which is always a good thing. They're very family-friendly though and many attractions offer Family Passes which can save you a few dollars.

But while they may not be cheap, they're highly memorable and my philosophy is, we didn't go all the way there to shy away from experiences of a lifetime. So just bite the bullet and go for it!

Driving

We were a little apprehensive about the driving before we started as we had to cover such long distances but overall, it's been very manageable. In general, we've been very impressed by NZ's roads. Their highways are excellent and maintained regularly - getting to all the major tourist spots and towns are usually via highways.

There are some mountain passes which are more nerve-wrecking but for the most part, it's actually less stressful driving in NZ than on Singapore's congested roads next to inconsiderate Singaporean drivers.

A caveat though: we travelled during late Spring/early Summer, when there is lots of daylight and the road conditions are good. If you're driving in Winter, the roads may be slippery and you will need snow chains. Not advisable for drivers unfamiliar with such conditions.

When planning this trip, we considered taking up one of those self-drive packages offered by tour companies. But we quickly figured out that it was a lot more expensive. Those charge per person and when you go as a family, you'll know that the land tour is never a certain amount x 4. You pay a flat fee for a car, no matter how many passengers it carries, and for the motels, a unit that sleeps 4 is usually only marginally more expensive than one that sleeps 2. So my advice is, just do a little more homework and plan it yourself.

Route-wise, there are some basics that can't go wrong. We actually deviated slightly from the popular tourist route but as long as you keep to the main highways, you won't get into trouble. When you're driving, make a mental note of which towns are enroute (for toilet stops) but you don't have to be too anal about planning stops in advance. Most towns, even the little ones, have at least a cafe and all cafes have toilets. But I do advise that you stop whenever you get tired. Bad idea to drive if you're sleepy.

Go with a good car rental company (and get a GPS!) We chose Apex Cars and it was super. It's cheaper than the big names like Hertz or Budget, and it's very flexible - it allowed us to pick up the car in Auckland, drive right onto the Interislander Ferry, continue our journey and drop it off in Christchurch. Some companies require you to change cars between islands, which is pretty troublesome logistics-wise.

For petrol, we found that the larger towns, especially those with more than one station, offered better rates. The exception is popular tourist areas, eg. the glacier towns, Queenstown and Te Anau had some of the highest prices for petrol. If you're staying the night in a big town, top up the tank before you leave, so you don't have to worry about running out along the way.

Because of the long drives though, I don't think NZ is a suitable holiday destination for small kids. Sitting in the car for hours at a time may not be fun (both for the kids and parents!) But for those with teenagers, it's stupendous. The kids are old enough to appreciate the nature and activities, and can even help pack and carry luggage.

Environment

We were struck by how clean the country is. We were especially impressed by the toilets in NZ. You can tell how civilised a country is by the cleanliness of their toilets and the ones in NZ are excellent. Even public toilets in the middle of nowhere are usually clean and there are toilets in every cafe.

The people are extremely friendly and throughout our trip, we never saw a single person using a handphone (if you do, it's likely an Asian tourist!) It's a very relaxed and gracious country.

It's also a very safe country and that's partly what makes it a great family holiday destination. Once, we accidentally left our car window down all morning at an attraction, and another time, we didn't close our motel unit door properly and came back to find it wide open, with our belongings (laptop included) in full view. Both times, nothing was taken or touched. Of course, you'll still need to use common sense and take the normal precautions but I'm saying that you don't feel any sense of danger in this country, even in the remote areas.

This is simply heaven on earth. Everywhere you go, you see vast expanses of green or blue, with rainbow hues in between. It's like God took special care to create this country. If you're looking for a holiday to get away from it all and have all your worries melt away, this is the perfect place.

End of the road trip

2011-12-13T09:58:00.004+08:00

Day 15 (Sun, 4 Dec 2011)

Dunedin - Christchurch: 355km

After 2 glorious weeks, this would be our last day in NZ :(

We spent it mostly driving, as we had to get to Christchurch - our final stop. Along the way, we stopped at the Whitestone Cheese Factory in Oamaru. Whitestone has won many awards and the cheese has been featured in the US sitcom "Scrubs".

The factory in Oamaru produces all the Whitestone cheese for NZ.

There were tastings at the shop and of course, we bought some. Hopefully, the cheese will survive the long journey home!

Not too long after we resumed our journey, we came by a funny place called Riverstone Arts and Crafts. The sign read "The best bloody shop for miles!" How not to stop?

It sells a multitude of curios and knick-knacks, everything from stuffed toys to Christmas ornaments and furniture.

The two-storey shop is covered wall to wall with stuff in seemingly random order and you have to wade through the trinkets, but there are many gems.

There was sooooo much stuff it was overwhelming. We ended up just buying a giraffe windchime.

But it was loads of fun looking around. There was even a wooden pool table (using golf balls) out side!

Our next stop was Butler's Berry Farm and Cafe. Didn't eat anything, we just wanted to look around as we had yet to see a berry farm. Originally, we thought we'd be able to stop at a farm and pick berries but it was too early in the season.

Strawberry fields forever...

The shop sold shelves of berry preserves, sauces and fresh fruit.Have you ever seen a gooseberry? I haven't. We tried it - it's sour! It's usually used for pies and jams.

Our lunch stop was at Timaru, a sizeable town.

To our delight, we saw another Speight's Ale House! Yay! The menu was slightly different from the one in Dunedin but the food was still good.

Finally at about 3.30pm, we arrived at Christchurch. We decided to stay at a hotel close to the airport as our flight home is at an unearthly hour of 6.40am. Checked into Copthorne Hotel Commodore which offered a very convenient free 24/7 shuttle service to the airport. It's only 5 minutes from the airport.

View from our room. We're gonna miss all this greenery when we get home.

We returned our car to Apex, located just around the corner.
The Camry we rented served us very well for our journey. In total, we clocked 2,929km. What a feat in itself!

To end the day, Kenneth's friend from JC now living in Christchurch, picked us up for dinner at her place with her lovely family. The place is actually her rental home as her real home was damaged in the earthquake and is undergoing repairs.

Absolutely super to enjoy a home-cooked meal among friends.

To market, to market

2011-12-11T16:49:00.004+08:00

Day 14 (Sat, 3 Dec 2011)

Our last day in Dunedin. In case you're wondering why we allocated so much time to Dunedin, our original plan was to spend one day in Christchurch. However, after all the earthquake scares, we decided to give the city a miss so so extended our time in Dunedin by one day.

It was a bonus for us. After all that driving, we were happy to stay in one spot for a few days, to enjoy the last leg of our trip.

Coincidentally, since we're in Dunedin on a Saturday, we were able to visit the Otago Farmers Market at the Dunedin Railway Station. Over 65 vendors come together every week to offer the freshest fruit and produce from Otago. This is one of the busiest Farmers Markets in Australasia.

This is a very happening place. It's pretty crowded and why not, it was a lovely, cool morning.

They seem to have everything, from plants...

to freshly baked bread and pastries,

from honey...

to newly picked cherries.

You can even order your Christmas ham from a truck!

We found one stall selling venison sausages.

Then the fun part - sampling the wares!

Why not go the whole hog? A hotdog with the works to wash down the sausage.

Looking around, it seems like the market is a popular venue for Saturday breakfast. There are even vendors selling piping hot cappucino from the vans.

The Dunedin Railway Station itself, where the market is located, is a historical site. A five-minute walk from the Octagon, it is apparently the 2nd most photographed landmark in the Southern Hemisphere, losing out only to the Sydney Opera House.

After that leisurely morning excursion, we went back to Speight's Ale House for lunch as we really enjoyed our meal there yesterday. This time, we ordered fish & chips and lamb steak.

In my original itinerary, I had planned to visit Larnach Castle in the afternoon, as I thought it would be interesting for the kids to see NZ's only castle.

But after last evening's escapade, we were all rather tired and the kids pleaded disinterest at seeing an architectural landmark. I guess after all the fantastic adventures we've been having, this one sounds a little flat. It didn't take much to convince us, especially as we'd seen the extremely narrow and winding roads up the mountain to Larnach Castle.

So it was an afternoon of chill instead.

We walked to the Octagon, the city centre of Dunedin. It's only 800m from our motel and in the cool 23-degree environment, it was very pleasant.

The Octagon is flanked by the main buildings of the city, such as the town hall and art gallery.

There was a protest going on right in the centre. I asked our motel owner, a jovial elderly gentleman, what they were protesting against. He replied, "who knows? The world, probably. I reckon it's 'Rent-a-Mob'." Heh. (We found out later it's Occupy Dunedin.)

We then walked to the nearby Warehouse, which is a very large hypermart like Target, and got ourselves 3 DVDs for $25. Came back to the motel and watched 'Home Alone'. It is the Christmas season afterall! (And yes, the motel unit came with a DVD player).

For dinner, we walked back to Jitsu Japanese Restaurant, also cos we liked the food the first time. We're such creatures of habit! Although I must say in Dunedin, there's no end of choices for cuisine. They have everything from Thai to Turkish, Chinese to Italian.

Then it's back for an early night as we have a long drive tomorrow. Very sad this trip is coming to an end.

Sea lions, penguins and chocolates!

2011-12-09T10:44:00.007+08:00

Day 13 (Fri, 2 Dec 2011)

We have a full day today. First stop, Cadbury World!

This is a must-go attraction for any chocoholic. The factory in Dunedin produces all the commercial Cadbury chocolate for Australasia, and some of the retail chocolate, such as Jaffa eggs and Roses. The rest of the blocks sold in stores in NZ are actually shipped from Australia.

At the start of the tour, we're each given a small bag with a chocolate bar. But don't worry, cos the bag quickly fills up! On the tour of the factory, we were given samples of chocolate buttons and other candy bars. You also get mini bars for answering questions posed by the guide. To me, the best tasting of the day was a tub of liquid chocolate. Oh my goodness, it was so yummy. It's like eating melted Dairy Milk.

Unfortunately, photos are not allowed during the tour, so I can't show you what we saw. But it's quite fun to see how the chocolates are made and how the machines pack the boxes of chocolate bars with meticulous precision and at high speed.

What's really cool is that as you enter different rooms, you're greeted with a heavenly waft of whatever the factory is producing that day. I'm glad it wasn't Turkish Delight or something with coconut when we were there. Ours was Jaffa eggs, so we got that delightful orangey-chocolate scent.

Towards the end of the tour, we go up to the top of the huge purple silo where the guide releases a chocolate waterfall ala Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Actually, I find this part a bit gimmicky - it's a tonne of recycled liquid chocolate released from a large vat overhead. Purely for entertainment.

If you notice, the vivid purple colour that's signature Cadbury is carried through in all their packaging and equipment. I was even rewarded with extra chocolate bars for wearing purple! That's what I call branding.

After that, we headed outside to take photos with the vintage milk trucks...

...and view the historical chocolate packaging of Cadbury's over the years (see how different the Milk Tray used to look!)

Then of course we had to buy some chocolate from the shop. They sell their candy at discounted prices here and it is much cheaper here but do shop around - the local Countdown (there's one just across from the Cadbury factory) often offer massive discounts that might even beat the prices here.

With all that sugar in our system, we headed out for lunch which was at much lauded Speight's Ale House. It's a micro-brewery and restaurant, something like Paulaner Brauhaus in Singapore.

The food is very much pub fare and the portions are HUGE. We ordered a braised rump steak and a beef schnitzel - just 2 plates for the 4 of us and we were stuffed. The beef, as always, is excellent.

In the afternoon, we're off to explore the Otago Peninsula, which is just off Dunedin city. It's a wildlife haven and we're taking the opportunity to see nature in the wild.

We signed up for Peninsula Encounters by Elm Wildlife Tours. It's a full tour, from 3.30-9pm and we were picked up at our motel. At first, we were puzzled by the odd timing but later realised it's because the animals tend to come in to shore only in the evening time.

The drive to the Otago Peninsula is via winding, narrow mountain roads. We're glad transport is provided!

Along the way, the guide pointed out many native birds spotted in the fields. One of them that got us all terribly excited was the pukeko. We've been seeing many books and stuffed toys of this very funny bird which is a brilliant blue with a crimson beak. It's so cartoony we could hardly believe it actually existed. We'd not caught sight of it despite being told it's quite common in these parts, so it was fantastic to see it in the flesh at last!

We drove by an estuary and saw a family of Paradise Shelducks.

Up on peak of the cliff is the Royal Albatross Centre and breeding ground.

It's a magnificent feeling, like you're on top of the world.

Usually, this place is gusty, which is why it's ideal for albatrosses, as they're huge birds and unlike gulls, they can't flap their wings. They need strong winds to carry them up and spend a lot of time gliding on their enormous wing span of up to 3.5m.

However, that day was exceptionally calm, so much so that the guide was not hopeful of seeing any albatrosses in flight. But we were very fortunate! After about half an hour, we saw a few circling around us and the lighthouse.

I don't know how but Lesley-Anne managed to capture this fantastic shot as the albatross was soaring towards us at top speed. Perfectly framed.

As I was gaping at the fantastic scene, I suddenly got a call from a client. It felt so incongruous - modern technology in the middle of the wilderness (which got me curious stares from the other participants).

A little about albatrosses. My only impression of them before coming here was based on Disney's cartoon, The Rescuers, where the comical albatross always had a problem taking off and landing. In real life, they're very majestic and graceful, and can fly 10,000km in 10 days.

Albatrosses are very picky. They mate for life and have only 1 baby every 2 years. This is because the chick is basically a parasite needing truckloads of food. Finding food for the baby takes a lot of energy and the baby will eat until it's bigger than its parents.

Finally, the parents will just take off, exhausted, abandoning the young chick. After a couple of weeks, the chick will grow extremely hungry and realise "hey, maybe ma and pa aren't coming back". It will then venture out of its nest and attempt to fly. According to the guide, some of these amateur albatrosses end up crashing in the cliffs and the rangers would have to go down, pick them up and deposit them back in the nests so they can try again. Funny!

Then we were on our way again, to another part of the peninsula. See these trees - it's not cos the wind was blowing - they're permanently in this position! Proof of how blustery this area is.

Romantic plains with grazing sheep.

We stopped and started trekking down a steep gravelly path towards the beach.

We came across sea lion tracks on the sand. It was going out to sea.

The thing about animals in the wild is that it's beyond human control. You can only hope to catch sight of them but if they don't make an appearance, there's nothing you can do about it.

So we were delighted when a sea lion emerged, just a few minutes after we arrived.

It waddled towards us. Maybe it thought we were other sea lions!

I don't know if you have ever experienced this - having a gigantic sea lion traverse towards you at the beach. It felt surreal, like we were in the middle of a National Geographic filming. These are wild animals in their natural habitat. To come so close to them is just magical.

However, the guide did impress upon us that sea lions are not cute and cuddly. They're aggressive predators and can run on the sand at 25km per hour, faster than any human. They're often mistaken as seals but they can't be more different. Sea lions are much larger. They eat seals and can pierce seal skulls with their razor sharp teeth.

Each time it approached us beyond a safe limit, the guide would tell us to walk backwards slowly, to show that we accept he's the boss. It would walk towards us and give a roar (which looked like a yawn but is actually an aggressive gesture).

It had us backed all the way up the sand dunes and into the grass. According to the guide, it's breeding season, so the males are particularly territorial. In fact, this beautiful creature waddled across the entire beach to another sea lion resting on the sand, and drove it back into the sea.

Following that sensational sight, we trekked further inwards to a little hut, specially erected as a viewing area for penguins.

We saw the yellow-eyed penguins, seemingly standing at attention on the hill. They stand here cos it's safer for themselves and their babies further up from the beach where the sea lions roam (sea lions are meanies - they will play with and eat the penguins).

Sometimes, you can see the penguins emerging from the water but when we were there, the sea lion's presence discouraged such emergence lest they become bait.

Penguins, like albatrosses, mate for life and they have only 1 egg each time. As their habitats have been disappearing, they've been having problems building nests, so rangers built these small wooden enclosures for the penguins to house their young.

This is a blue penguin chick in its nest. It's close to the entrance because it's evening time and it knows its parents will be back soon with dinner.

Following the penguin colony, we retraced our steps back to the top of the hill and headed down the opposite direction. It's a 15-minute walk down several hilly mounds, and steep, stony path towards a lookout among the rocks.

Among the rocks was a whole colony of fur seals, basking in the wind.

There were numerous pups with their mothers on the rocks, awwww.

Lesley-Anne took many of the photos in this post. She's been harbouring an interest in photography for a while now and her eye for composition is coming through in the photos she's taken on this trip. She's gotten some really nice shots, even with her simple point-and-shoot. I might enrol her in a photography class at some point, if she keeps up the interest.

The Kiwis' threshold for adventure is high. The tour is marketed as suitable for kids but for us city folk, we found the trek rather challenging. Each trek to the beach and to see the fur seals took about 15 mins one way. The last 5 minutes up the hill from the seals was particularly strenuous, I had almost slowed to a crawl. I thought maybe I was unfit but I looked behind me and saw all the other participants in the same shape!

But it's 100% worth it. If you're ever in Dunedin, you MUST try this. It's an encounter of a lifetime and memorable cannot begin to describe it.

As we were coming up the hill at 8.45pm, the sun set, casting an amber glow on the vast landscape. This is the picture of dreams.

Big city, bright lights - Dunedin

2011-12-07T21:41:00.004+08:00

Day 12 (Thu, 1 Dec 2011)

Te Anau to Dunedin: 296km

We have another long drive today but we know we will have 3 nights in Dunedin, so we're cheerful. After a while, it gets tiring to have to unpack and pack up to move to a different accommodation every day. So nice to stay put for a change!

Along the way, we stopped at Gore for lunch. Gore is quite a big town, with numerous cafes. We ate at this one, which had a lamb shank meal for only $14.90.

It turned out to be super yummy - tender and a generous sized portion. We've been eating lots of lamb in NZ. Surprisingly, even though there are sheep everywhere, lamb tends to be quite pricey. Beef and steak are cheaper, relative to the portion size. I'm guessing it's because you can get lots of meat from one cow but less so from one sheep.

But whether lamb or beef, the Kiwis cook their red meats exceedingly well.

I took a few closeups to show how the NZ fare has transformed my already tubby son into a rosy, roly-poly boy. His badminton coach is going to faint when she sees him.

The drive to Dunedin via the State Highway was through wide plains and valleys, so it was a smooth ride. I'm beginning to understand why some Americans like to take road trips. If the roads are anything like these, the drive itself can be enjoyable, even therapeutic (for those who like driving, that is).

These were some of the flattest terrains and straightest roads we'd driven on so far. In fact, Kenneth says driving on such roads makes him drowsy as it requires less concentration.

If ever you would use the textbook, over-quoted phrase "sapphire sky", it would be here. We had a sparkling, sunny day, not a cloud in the sky. Just a brilliant blue.

I thought I'd mention that throughout our drives across the country, we frequently encountered vacated shops and cafes like these below, as well as many houses with 'For Sale' signs. We heard on the news that many Kiwis and Kiwi businesses are leaving the country, calling it quits as they're finding it hard to make ends meet. It's so tragic that a beautiful place like this can't sustain its people.

The cloudless sky quickly pushed temperatures up and it became unbearably hot - reaching 30 degrees celcius! That's a more than 10 degree surge in just a couple of hours. I know today is the first day of Summer but still, that's ridiculous!

Sitting in the car, I could feel the sun scorching on the exposed skin on my arms and face. You really need to slather on the sunscreen, otherwise your skin will burn. It was so hot we stopped at a Caltex petrol station in Balclutha for ice cream.

As we approached Dunedin, the landscape changed. Dunedin is NZ's oldest city and this was the first city we'd been to, having bypassed Auckland and Wellington. It was almost a shock to be confronted with this many cars and people. We've also not seen multi-storey buildings for a while.

We checked into Dunedin Palms Motel, praying it would be nice since we'd be here a while. We found that it's quite centrally located, although not at the Octagon, which is the heart of town.

It's about 700m to the Octagon, still a manageable walk. But most importantly, we got the keys to our unit and it's gorgeous!

It has 2 bright, beautiful bedrooms and a very modern bathroom. Tvs in all the bedrooms and the living room plus a spacious living area. Yet it costs less here per night than the Te Anau accommodation. Bah. We're so glad we're staying 3 nights here!

Since we arrived fairly early, we decided to take a walk at the malls, to catch up on our shopping (this trip didn't leave us much time for souvenir buying). Dunedin town centre has 3 interlocking malls so it's quite confusing which one you're at.

Each has 3 floors, with rows of shops lining the exterior. This was also the first place in NZ where we've had to pay for parking, and it's not cheap either - $1 per half hour at the malls and $1.50 per half hour for street parking.

Found a couple of Christmas gifts for friends and took advantage of the free gift wrapping service. Exquisitely done, complete with elaborate ribbons and bows.

Following Internet recommendations again, we chose to have dinner at Jitsu, a Japanese restaurant.

It was a great call - only $15.50 for a sashimi bento box and the portions are large. Best of all, it was very tasty.

We miss our Japanese food! We may just come back again tomorrow.

The hills are alive with the Sound of Milford

2011-12-06T14:38:00.001+08:00

Day 11 (Wed, 30 Nov 2011)

Te Anau to Milford Sound to Te Anau: 242km

Sorry, corny title, I couldn't resist.

Milford Sound is a force of nature. It's a fjord in the southwest of NZ's South Island and a World Heritage site. It has been judged one of the world's top travel destinations and Rudyard Kipling previously called it the Eighth Wonder of the World.

Located in the remote north western part of the South Island, Milford Sound is accessible only by one road. We were a little apprehensive as to whether it would be a difficult drive but it turned out to be a very manageable and enjoyable 2-hour drive. Only in Winter would you need to be more careful as the route is prone to avalanches.

The path took us past unspoiled mountain landscapes and apart from a couple of short portions with winding mountain paths, it's otherwise a relatively straight route through impressive canyons.

We drove past vast fields of purple wildflowers, nestled in the arms of craggy mountains. Breath-taking.

Made a toilet stop at Knobs Flat. I'm amazed that the public toilets in an ulu place in the wilderness are cleaner than some of the toilets in Singapore's shopping centres.

There are several scenic stops along Milford Road. One of them is at Cascade Creek.

It was also here that we finally caught sight of NZ's more common birds, the kea. It's a green-plumed parrot.

Towards the last part of the drive to Milford Sound is the 1.2km Homer Tunnel, a one-way tunnel that bores through a mountain. The traffic light changes for each direction in 15-minute intervals.

Right at the entrance of Homer's Tunnel is where people like to stop as you can walk on the remnants of ice at ground level.

We reached Milford Sound at about 11.15am, in good time for our 11.45am cruise. We had booked with Southern Discoveries to go on the Discover More Milford Sound Cruise. We chose this one because it included a visit to the Milford Discovery Centre & Deep Underwater Observatory - not many cruises include that.

In the background is Mitre Peak, the highest mountain in these parts.

First thing that greeted us when we boarded the catamaran was the bbq kiwi-style lunch. Filling our tummies before enjoying the sights. Nice!

Milford Sound is surrounded by sheer rock faces that rise 1,200m or more on either side. According to the captain, the "steps" on the cliffs show the depth of the previous valleys. Every Ice Age, the valley floor would drop by a few hundred metres.

Technically, Milford Sounds is not a sound, which is a valley created by rivers. Milford Sound is actually a fjord, ie a valley created by glaciers. It's hard to imagine this entire area used to be glaciers, millions of years ago. Truly a natural wonder.

We passed by some fur seals sunning themselves on the rocks. According to the captain, these are young males who have been kicked out of their colonies by the adult alpha males. When they grow older, they'll go back to claim some more premier real estate.

Ever wondered why fur seals like to stay on very windy, rocky surfaces? Besides being safe from predators like the sea lions (who are unable to walk on rocks), the windy conditions also discourage the presence of sandflies.

Being on a small catamaran means we can see the seals up close.

We were truly very fortunate - it was a clear day and the entire sound was bathed in warm sunshine. It's perfect weather for sightseeing and is also very rare. Milford Sound is one of the wettest inhabited areas in the world and rainfall can reach some 250mm in 24 hours. In fact, most people I've met who have visited Milford Sound tell me it was raining when they were there.

With the abundant rainfall, you can often see hundreds of waterfalls running down the steep cliffs. The boat comes quite close to a couple of them and if you go right up to the bow, you'll enjoy a fine spray of water.

This is a photo of the boat who was at a waterfall just before ours.

This was a roaring, colossal monster of a waterfall. As we drew closer, Andre insisted on being on the front deck as he wanted to experience the full force of the water (that's him in the red jacket).

It was sublime. With the wind whipping the spray in all directions, we were sometimes right under the falls itself. Andre got drenched, but what an experience!

We then sailed on to the underwater observatory. This observatory is built on a floating platform which descends 10m underwater.

There is a spacious viewing chamber where you can have a 360-degree view of the very special marine ecosystem of Milford Sounds. By the way, in case you didn't realise, this is not an aquarium, ie what you see is really what is out there, not artificially created.

It’s a world of exotic creatures and habitats, including rare Black Coral.

Black Coral is usually found at depths of 500m or more but because Milford Sound has so much rain, the water is often very dark, so you can find Black Coral here in depths as shallow as 10m. Black Coral is not really black, it's actually white, as you can see in the right pic. The black rope-like thing you see wound in between the coral is a type of starfish - the snake star.

Taking in more panoramic views on the way back to the port.

And another waterfall.

On the drive back, we made a couple more stops. This one is to the Chasm. With a name like that, of course we had to stop! A short hike took us to a roaring creek.

Another stop was at Mirror Lake. At first, we thought the name was a misnomer as we couldn't see the reflection of the mountains on the lake.

Purely by accident, we took a photo and realised, "hey, we CAN see the mountains reflected in the water!"

When driving on NZ roads, we frequently saw the "Cow Crossing" sign but always wandered why there would be cows crossing the the highway. That day, we saw it with our own eyes!

Cows trotting right next to your car. Now, that's a sight you don't see everyday.

And then we're back at Te Anau. It's takeaway again from Ming Garden. Hot and satisfying.

Completing the Lakes District circuit with Te Anau

2011-12-04T16:33:00.004+08:00

Day 10 (Tue, 29 Nov 2011)

Queenstown to Te Anau: 179km

Breakfast was provided as part of our hotel package at Novotel. This was the biggest variety we've had, closest to the hotel buffet breakfasts you tend to get in tour group holidays. There was even an Asian selection with congee, noodles and a whole salmon.

The restaurant was filled with tourists, looks like this is a popular hotel with tour groups.

After breakfast, we went for a walk along Marine Parade to take a look at Lake Wakatipu in the morning, before we left Queenstown.

It's very scenic and many people say Queenstown is the prettiest town in NZ, but for us, we actually prefer Wanaka. It has the same very picturesque lake scene but without the crowds. Queenstown has a very touristy and commercial feel, especially with the numerous discount souvenir stores, mostly run by Asians.

It's also very crowded with cars and tourists, and this is not even the peak Summer season yet. Of course, the crowds are nothing to speak of compared to Singapore's Orchard Road but this is the most people we've come across in NZ. You tend to lose the sense of expanse in Queenstown, which is partly what makes NZ so special.

Andre liked Wanaka so much, he actually said he wanted to migrate there! Methinks he just wants to escape Singapore schools.

Before we left Queenstown, we also saw the famous Skyline Gondola and Luge. We didn't go on this though, because it's similar to the one at Sentosa, just much higher. In fact, both are set up by the same company. We caught some tourist doing early morning paragliding.

So we went on our way to Te Anau. In this area, we saw more livestock than in previous legs. Lots of sheep and cattle grazing on wide acres of lush pasture, the sort of picture people usually have in their heads when they think of NZ.

It's really very sweet in Spring, you see all the spring lambs frolicking in the grass, next to their mothers.

We also drove past deer farms. The funny thing is when we stopped to take this picture, all the deer turned and stared at us.

We made good time to Te Anau. Just a nugget of information, Lake Te Anau is second largest lake after Lake Taupo. Most of the lake is within the Fiordland National Park so again, it's extremely fertile and verdant.

We tried these pies cos they have good reviews on the Internet, some people calling them the best pies in the world. Meh. Didn't find them special at all. We've had better on this trip.

We then checked into Distinction Te Anau along Lakefront Drive. I booked this because it overlooks Lake Te Anau and is supposed to have spectacular views.

We had a 2-bedroom villa and it's very spacious but to be perfectly honest, I was a little disappointed. It looks like it's seen some years, both inside and outside, and although the hotel is located at the lakefront, the villas are situated at the back, with no view to speak of.

It's not worse than the motels we've stayed at but it's not better either. For the price we paid (this is the 2nd most expensive accommodation on our trip, only cheaper than the fancy one in Nelson), I guess I expected more. Calling this "a villa in a garden" is a bit of a stretch. It's more like an old-style chalet.

Anyway, we finally did our laundry here at the self-service laundry. Can't have a 2-week holiday and escape doing laundry! The benefit of travelling with teenagers is they can help with such chores. (We make them carry bags and wash dishes too. Hey, it's the parents' holiday as well!)

For dinner, we bought Chinese takeout from Ming Garden. It seems like a very popular Chinese restaurant - many tables were taken even though it wasn't 6pm yet.

Since the weather was breezy and cool, we went for another walk along Lake Te Anau. There was even a seaplane docked there.

In the face of such tranquil beauty, tempers are tamed, moods are lightened. Even siblings can become the best of friends. Love it when that happens, even if it's only temporary.

Adrenaline rush in Queenstown

2011-12-03T15:22:00.006+08:00

Day 9 (Mon, 28 Nov 2011)

Wanaka to Queenstown: 71km

This morning, we had a lovely breakfast at our motel. The Japanese manager who served us yesterday donned a maitre d's suit and welcomed us to the dining room. Unlike typical UK bed and breakfasts, this one had a notch more class, with typical Japanese precision and detail.

There's the usual buffet of cereal, fruit and juices, while eggs, bacon and crisp toast are served to your liking and on pretty crockery.

From our room and the dining room, we saw 4 rainbows within one hour. This really is God's country.

Wanaka is so beautiful we couldn't bear to leave it. So before heading off to Queenstown, we made another morning stop by the lake. It's an irresistable mesh of sights and scents emanating from fresh air, glorious sunshine and a cool sea breeze. Utterly delicious.

A nucleus family out for a walk.

And then, it's goodbye to Wanaka and we're off to Queenstown, the Adventure Capital of the World. But first, we made a stop along the way at Cardrona Adventure Park for Andre to get his shot at quad bike riding!

Andre went on the smaller quad bike and Kenneth on the regular one. They did the 30-minute trail which went through rugged terrain and water. Lesley-Anne wasn't keen so I stayed behind with her while the guys played with their boy toys.

Meanwhile, back at the shed, the resident donkey took an interest in our rental car.

It was also extraordinarily interested in Lesley-Anne and followed her around.

The place is run by a very distinctly unique individual - Ian Soanes. I had a very interesting chat with him while waiting for Kenneth and Andre. A native South African, Ian has won accolades all over the world as a motor stuntman, on bikes, cars, monster trucks, even planes! The little shack which was his reception area, proudly displayed newspaper articles of his feats.

According to Ian, NZ is now going through a recession and businesses are going under everyday. Apparently, that's why we've been seeing so many shops and homes on sale. Kiwis are leaving NZ for better pastures in record numbers and since the Christchurch earthquakes, tourism is down by 60%. Wow. I thought it was such a shame. Such a beautiful country but the people are hurting.

Makes me glad we contributed to his rides that day! Speaking of which, Kenneth and Andre had a whale of a time. What is it with boys and vehicles? We had to physically drag Andre away, he was pining for another go.

The next part of the drive through Cardrona Valley was breath-taking but there was one portion where it was about 5km of hairpin curves down a mountain. I was gripping my seat the whole time. We're in no hurry to do that again!

We made a slight detour to Arrowtown, just 20 minutes before Queenstown. It's a very pretty town that looks like it has gone back in time. It felt like we were walking through Stars Hollow in Gilmore Girls. It's very cute, albeit rather touristy and commercial.

We had lunch at Arrow Thai. The food was very tasty and it's a nice change from the kind of food we've been having.

Here's a craftsman shaping a piece of jade.

Finally, we arrived at Queenstown. This is the centre for adventure sports like jetboating, rafting, skiing, bungy jumping, para gliding and any other adrenaline pumping activity you can think of!

First, we checked in at Novotel, our hotel for the night. It's conveniently located on Marine Parade, the road that leads right to the main pier and a hop, skip and jump from the town centre.

And then we're off for another adrenaline shot! We had booked 3 of us on the Kawarau Jet - a jetboating experience on Shotover River. (Once again, Kenneth is staying put on terra firma due to his motion sickness).

Here we are, looking a bit like traditional Korean dancers in our spray and life jackets.

Let's just say the ride was not what I'd expected. First, it was raining quite heavily so the ride to Shotover River (via Lake Wakatipu) was choppy. It was like a roller coaster ride on its own, bouncing up and down the waves. At those speeds, the rain whipped against our faces like 1,000 stinging needles. We ended up having to use one hand to shield our faces while using the other to grip the handlebar. The Indian lady sitting next to Lesley-Anne yelled, "This is awesome but I can't see anything!"

Furthermore, I had my camera in one hand (the lady at the reception told me, "yeah, bring your camera!" which was utterly bad advice as you'll be too busy clinging on for dear life to think about photo opportunities) and had to hold on to Andre's specs halfway through as the rain was lashing against them.

Then came the actual ride along Shotover River. I'm convinced the driver was practising for the jetboating F1. Every time he did a spin, everyone in our row would be slammed violently to one side (usually squashing Andre). During one spin, the lady in the front row jumped so high in her seat that my heart nearly stopped, I thought she was going to fall out. Thankfully, the guy next to her grabbed her arm and pulled her back.

That got me terrified that Andre was going to be flung out of the boat as he was sitting precariously at the end of the row. So whenever the driver performed a spin, I would brace my feet against the floor, grip tightly on to the handlebar with my left hand and then with my right hand clinging a camera and a pair of spectacles, grab onto Andre. Talk about multi-tasking.

Looking back now, I can say it was quite hilarious. The driver would stop occasionally and give us a speech, possibly about the beauty of the river but with the rain, nobody could hear him. All I heard was, "blah blah blah blah blah blah. Everyone ok?" Then he would gun the engine again and off we'd go!

At first, when the driver asked, "Everyone ok?", us gung-ho participants would go "Awesome!" About halfway through the ride, we were all too stunned to reply. I don't know if we were a particularly chicken group of participants or the weather conditions that day were especially rough, but I think it was more adventure than we had bargained for. Oh, and did I mention the entire ride took 1 whole hour?

As I said, looking back, it's kinda funny and at the river, it really was very beautiful scenery. I'm glad we did just so we can say we tried it. But it's not something I would do again. Quad bikes are mild in comparison!

After that thrill ride, we went back to Novotel for a shower before coming out again for dinner in the heart of Queenstown. We tried this little French restaurant as the menu looked interesting. Run by Frenchies, the food here is excellent. Although restaurant fare looks more expensive than back in Singapore, I find the prices reasonable as they're nett. GST is included and there's no service charge.

Andre is totally cool with this sign in the restaurant!

After dinner, we took a stroll by the pier. We never get tired of these sensational lake views with a million photo opportunities.

A heli ride and wonderful Wanaka

2011-12-02T19:15:00.004+08:00

Day 8 (Sun, 27 Nov 2011)

Franz Josef to Wanaka: 295km

We woke up to a clear and sunny morning. Our prayers were answered - helicopters are operating today, hooray! As you can see, Franz Josef is nice and visible.

Lesley-Anne, Andre and I headed out to the landing pad to take a heli flight up Franz Josef Glacier. I can't tell you how excited we were - this would be the first chopper flight for us all.

Awesome cannot begin to describe it. It's extremely cool, so unlike riding in a plane which has to gather speed along a runway to take off. A chopper simply moves upwards and you get a fantastic view from different angles through the front and side windows.

This was the magnificent view coming in to Franz Josef.

The chopper landed on the glacier and a sea of white greeted us. It's breath-taking. Surprisingly, it's not very cold up on the glacier, only about 2 degrees celcius colder than in town.

We only got about 10 minutes on the ice but it's enough for the kids to make their snow... err.... iceballs.

On the flight back, Andre got to sit next to the pilot. Best seat in the house!

It's an experience beyond all expectations. There are no words that can do justice to the wonder of what we just did. I asked Lesley-Anne, "how can we possibly top this?" She replied, matter of factly, "we can't."

The 20-minute trip up to the glacier cost $515 for the 3 of us but as someone on the Amazing Race said, "you can't put a price on such experiences". Totally right.

With that, we left Glacier Country. We were very, very fortunate indeed because we heard later on, that the weather had turned grey and cloudy again, not 2 hours after we'd left, and flights were once again, suspended. God has been very good to us.

Enroute, we made a lunch stop at the South Westland Salmon Farm & Cafe at Paringa. You can feed the farmed salmon and they offer all kinds of food featuring salmon at the cafe. It's quite pricey though, I think cos it's a heavily advertised tourist stop.

Along the way, we caught sight of the Southern Alps. Looks fantastic on a clear day.

The drive to Wanaka, our stop for the night, takes us along Haast Pass which is a very scenic route as it's through several national forests. One of the great lookouts we stopped at was Thunder Creek Falls.

I don't know how many natural wonders one can absorb before we start to blank out but this was another mind-blowing scene.

We stopped at a couple more but this post is already very photo-heavy so I shan't post them all.

As we drove closer to Wanaka, it became a warm 23 degrees celcius, too warm even for a jacket. Wanaka is primarily a resort town at the southern end of Lake Wanaka, surrounded by mountains. What we quickly noticed was that Wanaka seems like a rich area compared to most of the other towns we've seen. There are some very fancy houses here.

Before checking in to our motel, we went to Stuart Landsborough's Puzzling World which is probably as close to a theme park as you'll get in NZ.

Designed as a sort of puzzle land, the external is filled with eccentric architecture where you can do funny poses to add to the optical illusion. Like so:

The first thing we did was to try the outdoor Great Maze. It has 1.5km of passages and the sign says it takes 30 minutes to one hour to achieve.

But being typical Singaporean, I insisted we solve this puzzle the systematic way, instead of trial and error. My approach to a maze is that you keep left or keep right throughout. You'll end up traversing every route but you'll never end up in the same route twice.

My 3 Doubting Thomases were sceptical about my method though and kept quizzing me, "are you sure?" and "I think you're wrong!" Folks, the right route through a maze is never the route that seems the most direct.

We completed the maze in 25 minutes so I think I proved my point.

Inside the centre are several rooms of illusion. The Ames Forced Perspective Roomshows how illusion was used in the filming of the Lord of the Rings to create the difference in height. The shape of this room is totally distorted although when viewed from outside through a window, it looks perfectly normal. It's quite fascinating. Even when we're staring closely, it doesn't look like a trick!

Another interesting room was the Tilted House. The room is sloping at an angle of 15 degrees so everything looks right but is actually wrong. It's very hard to stand up straight in this room, your brain just can't adjust to the fact that the room is tilted.

Kenneth had to get out of this room quickly, it made him dizzy.

Just a few minutes drive away was our accommodation for the night - Lake Wanaka Lodge. It changed hands last year and is now run by Japanese. The room was lovely and very clean, with lots of thoughtful extra touches like Lindt chocolate mints.

Our room was on the second floor which meant we had to lug all our luggage upstairs. But it offered free Internet (which was faster than the prepaid USB stick we paid for!) and included breakfast, all for a very affordable rate.

It is one of the nicest motels we've stayed at so far - from our room patio, we have a marvellous view of Lake Wanaka.

Since the weather was fine and Lake Wanaka looked so inviting, we decided to take a stroll along the lake. Absolutely divine.

All in all, a VERY satisfying day.

Gliding into Glacier Country

2011-12-01T16:07:00.002+08:00

Day 7 (Sat, 26 Nov 2011)

Greymouth to Franz Josef Glacier: 188km

It's NZ Election Day! We've been seeing campaign posters and placards throughout the country, and it's been hogging the local news channels.

We had a leisurely start at 9.30am as we don't have that far to go today. It feels a bit funny saying 188km is "not far to go" but after traversing 400km some days, it really feels like a piece of cake! Who am I to talk anyway, since I'm not the one driving, haha.

We stopped at Hokitika which is a town known for its jade, blown glass and traditional crafts. We were hoping to see some glass blowing but we were told the craftsmen don't work on Saturdays. So we just hopped back into the car and drove on.

Today's drive is along the West Coast, so we could see the sea for the most part. As we drove closer to the glaciers, the water in the rivers became a shimmery turquoise - so blue that it looks almost unreal.

We made a pitstop at a little town called Hari Hari. The town is so small that the cafe doubles up as a grocery store and souvenir shop. It's very quaint and cute but I've always wondered how people live in towns where they can only buy stuff from one shop and have to drive for hours if they need more supplies or services. Unthinkable for us, coming from Singapore. But then, I guess New Zealanders wonder how we can live in shoeboxes on top of each other!

Back on the road, we saw a sign for a recreation spot and decided to drive in to take a look. We're glad we did. This is the Waitangi-Taona River and it is simply magnificent. Icy blue waters rolling along smooth, grey rocks. As we have a tendency to tell each other on this trip, "it's so pretty, really buay tahan."

We drove into Franz Josef much earlier than we had planned - so early that our motel room was not ready yet. So we wandered around the town, which is basically just one street.

Sidenote: The Kiwis are passionate about rugby and are staunchly behind the All Blacks. They patriotically display the All Blacks flags, posters and signs everywhere, from cafes and shops to the sides of farmhouses! The All Blacks recently won the Rugby World Championship, beating France 9-8. A local shopkeeper told us if they'd lost, there probably would have been nationwide riots.

A little about Franz Josef. It's a 12-km long glacier on the West Coast of NZ's South Island. Next to Fox Glacier, both are uniquely set amidst a temperate rainforest. The major attractions in this area are glacier walks, hikes and helicopter rides.

Franz Josef itself is a tiny township, with only 300+ inhabitants but because it's a major tourist spot, things here tend to be pricier, petrol included. We've found that it makes sense to pump up in cities or big towns which are not popular tourist spots, it tends to be cheaper.

After a simple cafe lunch of burgers and sandwiches, we checked into Alpine Glacier Motel at Franz Josef. I didn't realise it when booking this place but it's extremely centrally located on Cron Street (the main street in Franz Josef), walking distance to all the main attractions and eating places.

Once again, the motel didn't disappoint. Very comfortable and toasty.

We had booked 3 of us for a 5pm helicopter flight up to Franz Josef Glacier. Kenneth, with his motion sickness problems, wasn't keen, plus he'd done it before when he visited NZ with his family as a boy.

Unfortunately, the weather was cloudy and blustery. It was actually cold, with temperatures averaging 13 degrees celcius in the day time. The glaciers couldn't even be seen and the pilot said the conditions were not safe for flying, so all flights were halted for the afternoon.

We were terribly disappointed and rebooked our flight for tomorrow morning. That's our only window for a flight before we leave Franz Josef, hopefully the weather clears up.

So we went for dinner instead at Alice Mays, another Internet recommendation. Before coming to NZ, we thought we'd be sick of western food very quickly but as it turns out, we're more tired of fried rice from Chinese takeouts! We had lamb shank and pork belly. The Kiwis just do their meats so well.

This was probably the most leisurely day we've had. After dinner, we just chilled out at the motel and borrowed some DVDs from the reception (Jurassic Park and James and the Giant Peach) to watch in the room. With cups of piping hot chocolate!

On the road again to Greymouth

2011-11-30T13:57:00.000+08:00

Day 6 (Fri, 25 Nov 2011)

Nelson to Greymouth: 324km

In the South Island, due to its vastness, some days are spent simply driving from town to town. This was one of those days. After the difficult drive to Nelson yesterday, Kenneth was a little apprehensive about the long drive today but his worries turned out to be unfounded. State Highway 6 is a terrific route. We're discovering that the roads in NZ are generally in excellent condition. In fact, we passed by many road works on our drives, seems like they are constantly maintaining the roads.

We started out later today, so we could enjoy the Mercure Nelson to the fullest. It was hard to say goodbye to this lovely place.

Morning was mostly uneventful, except the further south we went, the more beautiful the landscape became. Gushing rivers, lush foliage. It's no wonder Peter Jackson decided to film the Lord of the Rings trilogy here.

We made a pitstop at Murchison. Not much to see here but this is considered a larger town as it has at least a few streets centred around the highway. Some of the small towns are simply drive-throughs, with just a cafe and toilets.

Our pitstops are mainly opportunities to stretch our legs and use the toilet but often, we can't resist getting a hot drink or a bite to eat. Even though it's late Spring, the weather has been chilly and gusty. Temperatures have been averaging about 14 degrees celcius in the day time, so a cappucino or hot chocolate is always inviting.

The kiwis also make fantastic chips - hot and mealy on the inside, and crisp on the outside. I think it's the type of potato they use. Even better than their potato chips though, are their kumara chips (sweet potato). We order it whenever it's available.

Enroute, we drove to Tauranga Bay to see the seal colony in its natural habitat. The kekeno is the NZ fur seal and from mid-November, you're able to see the pups in this windy part of the west coast.

There's a short easy walk just 15 minutes to a viewing platform overlooking the seal colony. Along the path, we passed by some fantastic scenes - wind-swept scape and waves crashing against the rocks.

We were there at about noon, so there weren't many seals about. According to Kenneth, the adult seals were probably out at sea hunting for their pups. We did see quite a few pups though, sunbathing on the rocks. It's really something to see the mammals in their natural habitat.

Close-up shots along the trail.

Also along State Highway 6 was the Pancake Rocks, located at Punakaiki. A natural phenomenon, the Pancake Rocks are strange limestone formations caused by the solidifying of dead marine creatures and plant fragments into compacted rocks.

It's a 20-minute round walk to several platforms to view the rocks and blowholes. Unfortunately, it started to rain quite heavily so halfway through, we had to make a run back to the entrance.

Finally, our rest stop was the Apostles View Motel just 2 minutes outside of Greymouth. It appears to be in the middle of nowhere, just one motel along State Highway 6.

To get to the reception, we had to drive past this one-lane bridge. The external of the motel is very modest and we were questioning whether we had made the right decision to stay here.

Then we opened the door and... WAH! It's very inviting, with 2 bedrooms containing 1 queen bed and 3 singles beds. Electric blankets on all the beds, a large living room and a fully furnished kitchen. It looks very new, like it's just been recently built or refurbished. Fabulous!

The living room window overlooks a quaint, rural scene.

We find that motels in NZ are generally very comfortable, spacious and well run, much better than the ones in Australia which tend to be more basic, run-down and sometimes, not too clean.

Greymouth is a city with a history in coal and mining. It's quite large by NZ standards, with supermarkets, shops and restaurants. Not much to see for us here though, it's purely a drive-through stop.

The long and winding road to Nelson

2011-11-29T10:53:00.005+08:00

Day 5 (Thu, 24 Nov 2011)

Wellington to Picton (via Cook Strait): 92km
Picton to Nelson: 113km

Today, we crossed over from the North Island to the South Island via the Interislander Ferry. From our motel, it was a 25-minute drive. Don't believe the "15-minute drive to ferry" sign on the AA Mana Motel billboard - we kept to the top end of the speed limit and didn't face any jams, yet it took us almost half an hour to reach the terminal.

We crossed over with our car and Apex Car Rentals is great cos they give you a free ferry ticket for your car, worth over $100. This means you don't have to disembark and change cars at the South Island, just drive on board and drive off after. A great bonus especially if you have lots of luggage.

The trip takes about 3 hours and the Interislander is a large liner, with restaurants and entertainment. Something like a smaller cruise ship. It is one of the most spectacular ferry rides I've ever taken, past the Marlborough Sounds.

I thought we had quite good weather and reasonably calm waters but still, Kenneth and Lesley-Anne managed to get slightly seasick, even though they had taken motion sickness pills. Both of them, Kenneth especially, have quite severe motion sickness problems.

Driving off the ship.

The disembarkation point was Picton and we decided to stay here for lunch. It's a beautiful harbour town with lots of beachfront cafes.

We then drove to Nelson via the Queen Charlotte Drive. This turned out to be a very winding road up and down the mountains, quite unnerving for those of us unused to driving through mountain passes. Even though the distance was only 1/3 of what we covered yesterday, it felt like a lot more and took a lot more concentration.

It was very, very scenic though. I think for this trip, I will run out of adjectives. There just aren't enough words to describe the beauty of NZ. Everytime we think it can't get more beautiful, we see another scene that blows our mind. I took lots of photos but nothing you see on the screen comes close to reality.

We made lots of stops whenever we saw photo opportunities. That's the advantage of going free and easy.

We saw quite a few of this bird, not sure what it is.

Throughout the drive, we passed by majestic, towering walls of conifers. Awe-inspiring.

A couple of hours later than scheduled, we finally reached Nelson - a city on the eastern shores of Tasman Bay and oldest settled city in South Island. It's not a common tourist stop because there's not much to do here.

To be honest, I planned this as a pit stop only because I was so taken by the hotel where we're staying the night - the Grand Mercure Nelson Monaco Resort. It's a little pricey and it's not conveniently close to shops or the city, but it was so pretty I had to stay here.

And if you think the pictures in the website look fantastic, the resort looks even more gorgeous in real life. It's like a dreamy English village, postcard-perfect sights at every turn.

This is our cottage. Isn't it sweet? It's like something out of a fairy tale.

The inside is very luxurious. 2 bedrooms upstairs and a posh bathroom, heaters in every room.

Downstairs, it had a self-contained kitchen and every appliance we could ever need, including a dishwasher and washing machine. It even had a fireplace! We couldn't stop taking photos.

Too tired to go out for dinner so we treated ourselves to dinner at The Orangerie, the hotel restaurant. We had scallops, angus beef and lamp chops.

Sunset view from our cottage.

We love this hotel so much we're going to leave later tomorrow so we can enjoy it for as long as possible.

Kia Ora Taupo!

2011-11-27T15:46:00.003+08:00

Day 4 (Wed, 23 Nov 2011)

Rotorua to Porirua (just before Wellington): 444km

We had a long drive ahead of us so we started out nice and early. However, driving on State Highway 1 turned out to be a breeze. The road conditions are excellent and we made great time.

We made a stop at Lake Taupo, about one hour on. At 616 square kilometres, Lake Taupo is the largest lake in NZ - almost the size of Singapore! We stopped at a scenic lookout to view Huka Falls.

Also at the Lake Taupo area is the Huka Honey Hive. Here, we tasted all types of local honey. Our favourite was the Rewarewa Honey - it's creamy and thick and not too sweet. I imagine it would taste heavenly on toast, better than kaya.

It's never too cold for ice-cream! This one is honey flavoured, of course.

We stopped at a little cafe at Turangi for lunch. It's a tiny town and they obviously don't get many tourists as we received many stares. We love their cafes. All their pies, quiches and cakes are twice the size of those back home and appetisingly displayed in glass shelves.

Steak pies, sandwiches, burgers and chips are common fare. For dessert, we're also discovering that the New Zealanders love caramel and meringues. You can find chocolate caramel flavours in cookies, cakes, chocolate, muffins and fudge. Pavlovas too, make frequent appearances.

Then it was more driving through very scenic countryside. When we stopped at a scenic lookout along the way, a tour bus rolled up and some tourists alighted. Then we heard, "Hello Chief!" It was one of the tourists from the Te Puia group yesterday!

We saw this scene where half the sky was bright blue and the other half was white. It's like God took a paintbrush and hadn't finished painting in the blue portion.

Our next pit stop was at another little town called Bulls and we were so glad we stopped there cos it's just so darn cute! The townsfolk played with the image of the bull and even the word Bulls throughout the town.

The signposts are simply hilarious!

We made it to our motel just outside Wellington, 2 hours ahead of schedule. We stayed at AAA Mana Motel in a little town of Porirua which is just before Wellington city. We had a 1-bedroom apartment that was very clean, comfortable and spacious. What we didn't know though was that it was next to a railway line so every now and then, we would hear the rumbling of the train.

It didn't really bother us though. We were out like a light that night!

The NZ experience Part 2: Maoris, geysers and a Haka chief

2011-11-26T09:41:00.002+08:00

Day 3 (Tue, 22 Nov 2011): Evening activity

In the evening, we took a trip out to Te Puia, a geothermal valley. Thermal activity is at the heart of Rotorua's tourism - mud pools, geysers and spas.

We bought the Family Pass for the combo package, which includes a day tour and a dinner programme. Here, we learnt about history, traditions and cultural heritage of the Maoris.

We visited the School of Carving...

and the School of Weaving. These are the "skirts" won by the Maoris.

Then we were taken on a tour of the grounds. Saw the bubbling mud pools which take place when steam pushes out from beneath the thinnest layers of earth.

Rotorua mud (which is actually kaolin clay) is sold as a beauty product throughout the country, it's supposed to have cosmetic benefits. I'm sure you've heard of clay or mud masks.

Next, we went to see the Pohutu Geyser. Intense heat from molten rock below boils seeping rainwater, turning it into steam. Pressure increases until it is strong enough to shoot water and steam up to 15m into the air.

Some geysers in Rotorua are manually triggered to erupt but the one in Te Puia is all natural. It goes off 2-3 times every hour. We could see the geyser all the way from our hotel, a 5-minute drive away. An amazing sight.

These are the hot springs. Some tourist spots in Rotorua offer thermally heated spa baths and hot pools, similar to the ones in Japan (except you don't have to bathe in the nude!)

As we were headed out to the cultural show, the host picked Kenneth out to act as the "chief" of our group of tourists, to accept the peace offering from the Maori chief, much to his embarrassment.

As chief, he also had to learn the Haka (Maori warrior dance), together with several other men from our group. For most of the men, the combination of enthusiasm plus bad hand-eye coordination makes for very comedic entertainment. I saw some wives laughing so hard, I swear they were crying. I'm sure Kenneth is relieved I can't post videos here.

As part of the programme, we were invited to a traditional Maori feast, the Hangi. It consists of a buffet of seafood and generous servings of pork, chicken and beef, ending with a dessert buffet. The food is delicious, especially the seafood, which I found exceptionally fresh.

To end a perfect evening, after dinner when the sun had set, the host took us on a stroll to the geyser again to see it at night. He even provided hot chocolate so we could warm ourselves while admiring the scene. We were, however, so stuffed we couldn't eat or drink anymore.

Even though the night air was chilly, we didn't need any warming up anyway as the stone steps near the geyser were naturally heated by the hot springs. They are so hot we couldn't sit down for a long period at a time, lest we burnt our butts!

We were very fortunate to catch the geyser blowing for just 5 minutes or so before it stopped. Amidst the night sky, it was spectacular beyond words.

The NZ experience Part 1: Sheep, kiwi fruit and the Zorb!

2011-11-24T11:16:00.000+08:00

Day 3 (Tue, 22 Nov 2011): Day activity

Today, we packed a full load of quintessential NZ experiences into one day at Rotorua. I have too many great photos to squeeze into one post so I'm going to put them into 2 separate posts.

Because we had a full day of activity, we decided to have a good breakfast. Rydges is very family friendly in that they don't charge for kids. We paid for 2 adult buffet breakfasts and the kids ate for free.

We then headed out bright and early to the Agrodome. Few shows are more signature NZ than the sheep show - since NZ has 40 million sheep, with 10 sheep to every 1 person.

We were shown 14 different species of sheep, the most valuable being the Merino (right on top) as it has the thickest and most luxe wool.

The host then proceeded to shear a sheep.

Gus, the sheepdog.

Petting the spring lambs.

The indoor show was followed by an outdoor show to display the sheepdog's skills at herding sheep.

Following that, we went on an organic farm tour, in the same location. The farm contains kiwi fruit vines and olive trees. Interestingly enough, the kiwi fruit is not native to NZ. It originated from China where it's known as the gooseberry. China also grows more kiwi fruit than NZ. Betcha didn't know that!

This is a kiwi fruit plant.

Also got to try kiwi fruit wine and kiwi fruit juice.

The farm now also rears alpacas for their wool. Apparently, alpaca wool is far more valuable than sheep wool as it's softer. Alpaca wool sells for $35-45 per kg while sheep wool goes for about $4 per kg.

Feeding the alpacas.

Here's our host showing us it's not all work on the farm!

The farm also rears cows. The one on the left is a beef cow and the one on the right, a milk cow.

It was an exciting morning but the best was yet to come. Across from the Agrodome is an adventure park they call Agroventures. NZ is known as the adventure capital and they have so many uniquely exciting activities for thrill seekers (in case you didn't know, the bungy was invented in NZ).

Andre, being the adrenaline junkie in our family, went on 2 rides. One was the Agrojet. It's a jetboat that skims over shallow water. The driver goes round the course 3 times and does spins so it's pretty fun. I wanted to upload the video but I have limited wifi bandwidth in NZ, so only pictures for now.

The other ride Andre went on was the Shweeb which is basically horizontal cycling in an enclosed cylinder. Wacky! You can either race against another rider or pit your best time.

This was Andre's time for 4 rounds. He would have been faster if he didn't obligingly slow down in the last lap for photos.

We then headed to the next adventure ride which was only a 3-minute drive away - the Zorb! Here in Rotorua, this is the flagship site and one of the only 2 locations in NZ which feature the Zorb. If you haven't heard of the Zorb, shame on you!

You get into this giant globe which is pushed down a hill. Trust the New Zealanders to come up with the human version of the hamster ball. Again, I got a video but can only post photos here.

First you get into a van which takes you up the hill.

Then you get into a monster ball and down the hill you go!

Experiences are not cheap in NZ - eg it costs $70 for the 2 of them to go on the Zorb. That's a very costly 2 minutes! But these are unique experiences and there's a likelihood we may never get the chance to visit NZ again, so we're going to try everything we want to.

We concluded a very meaningful morning with lunch at the Agrodome cafe. Al fresco in the garden seating, very pretty.

Part 2 of the day continues in the next post.

Glow, worm, glow

2011-11-22T16:07:00.001+08:00

Day 2 (Mon, 21 Nov 2011)

Auckland to Waitomo: 196km
Waitomo to Rotorua: 146km

After a quick breakfast of pizza (bought from Countdown yesterday) and a goodbye to Mac, the resident dog of Grange Lodge Motel, we got ready to head off to the famous Waitomo Glowworm Caves.

This is the first long drive of our trip and it was pretty manageable, thanks to Karen, our GPS. She's a little flighty - yesterday she sent us on a roundabout route to Countdown and at times, tells us to turn right at a left-turn only junction but other than that, she's pretty useful.

We quickly learnt that 75km is a good time to make a pitstop, after about an hour's drive. We stopped at Pirongia, a little town. Many of NZ's towns are quaint, teeny places with perhaps just a couple of cafes, a grocer's and a few motels.

We ordered some hot chocolate (everything is supersized here!)

Waitomo is pretty amazing. The external centre and entrance is welcoming and very well designed.

The tour itself starts with a walk into the limstone caves, before the highlight of the trip -a ride in a boat to see the Glowworm Grotto. It's spectacular in a slightly surreal and eerie way. It's dark and silent so the slightest sound echos across the walls.

The lights of the glowworm larvae glitter on the roof, with the magic only broken by the thought that preoccupied us scaredy cats, "do the glowworms drop on people in the boat?" (No, they don't. At least not when we were there, although Andre kept spooking Lesley-Anne by whispering, "I think there's something crawling up my leg.")

We're not allowed to take photos in the caves. Apparently a flash can cause the glowworms to stop lighting up for a week. Hence, I can only show you a pic of a boat exiting the cave.

After that pretty sight, we set down at a bench in the park opposite to have a simple picnic lunch - our leftover pack of fried rice! A little cold but still fine. With the weather this dry and cool, food stays fresh for a long time.

Andre is never too old for playgrounds. Especially one with a slide this high!

Then it was off to Rotorua, our stop for the night. We encountered some rain but nothing like Singapore's tropical storms. The drive was long but very scenic. I hear it gets even more picturesque in the South Island.

We made a pit-stop at Whakamaru where we ordered a Fluffy at a cafe. It was supposed to be milk but we got this! My kids went, "Now, THIS is milk!"

For those who don't know, Rotorua is a major tourist destination, known for its geothermal activity, with geysers and hot mud pools. It has the nickname Sulphur City and we could smell the “rotten eggs” scent as we entered the city.

We stayed at Rydges Rotorua which supposedly has the largest hotel rooms in Rotorua. When booking, we found that NZ accommodation is extremely affordable and great for families. Rooms are usually large and motels often offer 2-bedroom units which can fit four comfortably without breaking the bank. The hotel is on Fenton Street which we discovered was the main street in Rotorua - it is lined with motels and restaurants.

For dinner, went to Pig & Whistle - a nearby pub. This was a place I found on the Internet with good reviews. I love how nowadays, you can research eating places before arriving in the country. You can even see menus beforehand!

It was a worthy recommendation, exceeded all expectations. We ordered the lamb hot pot, the braised beef cheek and the kids's size macaroni and cheese.

The lamb and the beef were divine - unbelievably tender and with fantastic flavour. You can't really tell from the pictures but the portions are gigantic. When ordering food in NZ, be prepared that they're usually about double the portions back in Singapore. Prices are also very reasonable. I would come back here in a heartbeat, if I had the chance.

The signs on the exit doors say it all!

A well-fed family is a happy family.

In and out of Auckland

2011-11-21T02:39:00.001+08:00

Day 1 (Sun, 20 Nov 2011)

In case you haven't figured out by now, this family runs on angst. Some families treat holidays as adventures, which includes getting lost, missing the train and running on spontaneity. We are not that family. Taking a wrong turn is likely to send us into fits of anxiety (with lots of shouting). Sure, we'll go home and later laugh about our mis-adventures, even turning them into engaging stories for parties but at that moment, all we can think about is, "OMG, WE'RE LOST!!!"

Which explains why our trips are always planned to the last detail. So when we decided to take our family holiday in New Zealand this year, we had to go into major planning mode, including the routes, pitstops, accommodation, and even possible meal locations.

The decision to go to New Zealand was fueled mostly by Jetstar's super deals - with air tickets to NZ cheaper than to Seoul, it became too good to resist. We were rather apprehensive as we'd never taken a budget airline before, let alone on a long-haul flight. Would we be half comatose by the time we reached there?

In the end, it turned out much, much better than we'd expected. The Jetstar seats are surprisingly comfortable (leather seats) and I didn't feel half as claustrophobic as I did on the ANA flight to Tokyo. Going with online tips, we booked 2 seats by the exit which gave us a lot more legroom. You pay a little more, but totally worth it for long-haul flights.

We arrived at Auckland Airport at 11am and proceeded to have a simple fast food brunch at the airport before collecting our car from Apex Cars. We chose Apex cos of its good reviews online.

A little confession: we didn't plan to see anything in Auckland. We chose to stay at the Grange Lodge Motel just a short way from the airport, outside of Auckland city cos we didn't want to be caught in rush hour traffic when we leave tomorrow. We also figured we would be too tired to do any sight-seeing and we were right. Even though we managed to catch a few winks on the Jetstar flight, we were still zonked out by the time we reached the motel. So if anyone wants to know, the only thing we saw of Auckland was the airport.

The motel is very homey, loaded with facilities and run by a super friendly lady called Bernie. We got a very comfortable 2-bedroom unit with a self-contained kitchenette and even a private patio. Rental car is parked right outside our unit.

Bernie welcomed us with a basket of home-made apricot muffins - yummy! Tea, hot chocolate and milk (all provided) with muffins managed to perk us up, out of our stupor.

We all took a short nap before heading out to a nearby Countdown at Westfield. Call us crazy but we love to go to local supermarkets. It's interesting to see what sort of groceries they have stocked up. This being NZ, the milk and cheese selections are awesome.

On the way back, we stopped by a little shop (run by an Indian family, ala mama shop) for some fruit...

... and then a Chinese takeaway to bring back some dinner. We only ordered two packs of fried rice and one sweet and sour fish but gosh, the portions are enormous. We had one whole pack of fried rice untouched.

This being late Spring/Summer, the sun rises at about 6.15am and sets only at 8pm, which gives us plenty of daylight. The weather is nice and crisp at 18 degrees celcius in the day. Having said that, it was early to bed for us. The real adventure starts tomorrow!

"Lions and tigers and bears, oh my!"

2010-12-30T18:30:00.013+08:00

Day 4 (Wed, 22 Dec 2010)

Just a quick note about breakfast. The place Lilian is staying offers a buffet breakfast spread so we were fortunately able to enjoy a hearty breakfast every morning before we started our day.

I'll be honest, I only added this pic cos it's such a delectable one!

This was our last day in Bangkok and the destination was Safari World. Yet another local gem, this animal leisure park is like a zoo and safari rolled into one. Entry is not cheap, tickets are THB 800 (S$35) per adult and THB 500 (S$22) per child, but you do get entry to both sections. It's worthwhile to hire a car and driver for the trip here so that you can view the animals in the safari segment at your own pace. If you take a cab here, you'll have to ride on one of the park's coaches which I imagine would limit your viewing somewhat.

We've never been to a safari so it was a real treat seeing the animals up close and sans boundaries. An ostrich even sauntered up to the car and pecked at the side mirror!

Why did the pelican cross the road?

The animals looked pretty comfortable despite being in an artificial habitat. Scores of birds were building nests in the trees.

We then drove past a Jurassic Park-like gate to the enclosure for dangerous animals. There were rangers strategically parked, probably to make sure no dummy turns himself into life bait by getting out of his car.

After we had completed the safari section, we went to the zoo portion and honed in on the next highlight - giraffe feeding.

Did I mention that Lilian's elder son, Brian, came along with us for this outing?

The Safari Terrace is a specially designed, two-storey platform where visitors can view the gentle giants. These are the same giraffes we saw at the safari but now, we get to see them up close. The giraffe is Lesley-Anne's favourite animal of all time - for her, this was the highlight of the whole trip.

For THB 40 (about S$1.80), you can buy a bucket of giraffe food to feed the many that will instantly come a-gallivanting. It's a very clever way of earning some side cash cos it's so fun, you'll end up buying multiple buckets! The three kids went through 7 buckets.

You can even pat them, they get so close.

Ever seen a giraffe up close? They have dreamy, shiny eyes ala Japanese manga characters and long, fluttery eyelashes. They also have long, creepy, lizard-y tongues though and drool a lot. Don't let their placid demeanours fool you, some of the males can be quite aggressive. One of the alpha males was head-butting any other giraffe that got in his way of a meal.

Giraffes feeding. By the way, a group of giraffes is commonly referred to as a herd but it can also be called "a tower of giraffes". Appropriate, don't you think?

The rest of the zoo was so-so. Not quite an open-zoo concept as Singapore's but way better than Beijing's. On the way out, we passed by a bird enclosure with hundreds of brightly hued lories, a concept similar to the one at Jurong Bird Park. Brian managed to get his hand on some bird feed.

We drove back to Bangkok to meet Lilian for lunch at Greyhound - a fusion cafe at Siam Paragon. Very interesting dishes like the squid ink pasta and complicated noodles (below) where you wrap this kway teow type pastry and minced meat in lettuce.

The food is on the pricey side (by Bangkok standards) but it's definitely tasty!

Kenneth and I dropped by MBK (another popular budget shopping centre) for some last minute shopping while the kids went back with Lilian to enjoy the rest of the afternoon before we left for the airport. Pic on the right is a view from the apartment. Check out the notorious Bangkok traffic.

All in all, it was a great holiday. Lots of shopping and eating, peppered with fun activities for the kids. Some of our family and friends were concerned about the red shirt commotion but we never saw a single protester during our time there. It really is a pleasant destination, especially at this time of the year where the weather hovers at around 27 degrees celcius, so it's like walking in air-conditioned comfort. If you're looking for a short and cheap holiday, Bangkok is a great option.

Dream World - a local theme park

2010-12-28T14:55:00.004+08:00

Day 3 (Tue, 21 Dec 2010)

Few people think of going to a theme park when visiting Bangkok. In fact, most people would be surprised to learn that there's even a theme park in Bangkok. But that's the perk of having friends living in the city, they have the insider information.

Lilian and her kids had previously visited Dream World and thought it a fun day out for families with kids, so she recommended it to us. It's about an hour's drive from Bangkok city and it's quite large with a wide variety of rides. We took the promotional package where for THB 1,000 per person (about S$43), you get unlimited rides in Dream World, entry to Snow Town, a buffet lunch and most importantly, transport to and from any Bangkok hotel.

The entrance looks suspiciously like Disneyland's Small World, doesn't it? The park is quite well maintained, considering it's a local theme park, definitely much better than the one at Genting, Malaysia. The decor, well, all I can say is, it looks familiar. Imagine a mashup of Disney, Warner Brothers and Cartoon Network, except without using the actual names of characters.

The first ride the kids took was near the entrance, the Speedy Mouse coaster. It's like a blast from the past, didn't we used to have these old-style rides in the 1970s at the now defunct Wonderland?

Paddle boats.

Then we came across the big one - the Sky Coaster.

This coaster works on shoulder harnesses and your legs are left dangling.

Andre immediately wanted to take the ride. The rest of us were not quite as courageous so he decided to brave the adventure alone.

After the guinea pig had gone and emerged unscathed, he told his sister it was very fun, so she agreed to go on it with him.

Shoeless!

This next one was a ride the whole family enjoyed tremendously. It's called Bump Boats and it's the same concept as Bumper Cars except it's on water.

Grand Canyon, which is a rapids ride. You'll definitely get wet so wear your ponchos! We bought ours inexpensively at the park.

Another ride that Andre went alone - Super Splash. The rest of us were too chicken to take the plunge.

There's no subtlety to this ride, it's just a ride up up up, and then a very steep drop and a giant splash!

Everything within a 50m radius gets wet. I foolishly ventured too close with my camera in an attempt to get a better picture and got soaked. Not to mention, not much of a photo!

Snow Town is an attraction in Dream World that costs extra but our package had entry included. It's probably similar to Snow City in Singapore. You experience sub zero temperatures - always a novelty in tropical cities.

They give you boots and a jacket to shield you from the cold but unfortunately, as you can see from the picture on the right, we were wearing bermudas so our legs were freezing!

The highlight of Snow Town is the snow slope, where you sit on an inflatable snow tube and slide down. It's fun but pulling the snow tube up the stairs is quite a chore, especially when you have frozen hands and the handles of the snow tube are ringed with ice.

There are many other rides in Dream World, but some of them, like the go-kart and bumper cars, have a height requirement that Andre didn't meet so he was pretty disappointed about that. There's even a section with rides for toddlers and little kids so I guess there's something for everyone!

The lunch buffet that came with the package is apparently a standard for tour groups so though the food was ok, the typical kiasu rush and queues were rather off-putting. However, it did save us the trouble of finding our own lunch (didn't see many great options in the park) so I can't complain.

As we were walking towards the exit, we came by the Giant's House which was quite interestingly done and obviously based on the story of Jack and the Beanstalk.

The only drawback of taking the package is that you have to leave by 3pm to catch the free transport. On the other hand, it probably beats leaving later and getting caught in the horrendous Bangkok traffic for a couple of hours.

We were back at Lilian's place by 4.30pm, leaving us plenty of time to rest and shower before dinner, which was at Je Ngor - a restaurant Lilian also previously blogged about. I didn't take many pictures of the food but what we had was pretty good. I think Lek Seafood was better but this was still a worthy contender. The sweet and sour pork, as well as the morning glory (again!) was excellent.

We finished the day on a sweet note - bagging a couple of slices of cake from a nearby cake shop, Secret Garden. This is their famous crepe cake. It's thin slices of crepe sandwiched between dollops of fresh cream and topped with strawberry syrup. Heaven on a plate!

A mis-adventure leading to a temple trail

2010-12-27T12:42:00.010+08:00

Day 2 (Mon, 20 Dec 2010)

It started out innocently enough. We had breakfast and prepared to go to Rose Garden, a cultural centre which showcases Thai traditions and arts and crafts. The driver was supposed to pick us up at 9am. After several calls by Lilian to the agency, the driver finally pulled in at 9.30am. We were a little anxious since the hands-on activities at Rose Garden only took place between 10am-12noon.

But we were on our way! Or so we thought. The driver assured us that the journey to Rose Garden would take about 40mins so it seemed we were still in good time. However, for the next half hour or so, we inched forward in Bangkok traffic, including possibly 15mins at just one traffic light. Then, to our horror, we saw that we were heading back in the direction we started from! When quizzed, the driver replied, "oh, now I think maybe taking the highway is better." Don't ask me why the thought didn't occur to her right from the start. When asked what time she thought we would get to the Rose Garden, she started looking worried and said, "uhh... maybe 11am?"

By then, we were pretty frustrated but the final straw came when she said, "I need to stop to go to the toilet." Gaahhhhhhhh. Kenneth threw a fit right there and noticed that we were driving by Platinum, the shopping mall that we'd planned to visit that afternoon, and insisted she dropped us there. Needless to say, she didn't get paid.

The lesson is: give yourself a buffer and go with reputable transport companies! You pay more but at least you lower the risk of spoiling your holiday. The Thais are very gentle and friendly people but reliability is not their strong suit. Thank goodness with us, it happened for Rose Garden which was not one of our main attractions in Bangkok. Live and learn.

Well, no point crying over spilt milk (gosh, see how many cliches I've used already!) so we decided to do early shopping at Platinum instead.

Platinum is a mall which sells mostly clothes but also trinkets and accessories, all at wholesale prices. Lilian tells me there are ladies who can shop all day at Platinum and I can see why! There's something attractive in every corner and each floor is brimming with bargains.

Lilian and her kids met us at Platinum, then we shopped some more before heading out to lunch.

Lunch was at a Chinese restaurant at a fancier mall (can't remember the name). One thing I noticed about the malls in Bangkok is that they are all elaborately dressed up for Christmas, even more so than in Singapore.

The highlight of this restaurant was the Peking duck. Thin and crisp, wrapped in pancake - it was absolutely yummy! The best part? The price - only THB 600 (about S$26). How do you beat that?

With full tummies, we deliberated on what to do next. Since we'd missed out on our cultural experience this morning, we thought it would be a good idea to substitute it with another, instead of doing more shopping (which was starting to bore Andre to death).

So on the spur of the moment, we decided to head out to Wat Pho. Wat Pho is Bangkok's most famous Buddhist temple and is home to the world's largest reclining Buddha.

The Buddha is 46m long and covered in gold leaf. The feet themselves are 3m long. Here you can see the head and the feet.

The temple grounds are very picturesque, with lots of ornate architecture. Interestingly, the Grand Palace is just across from Wat Po and from the exterior, the two looked the same! They both have the distinct Thai, temple-inspired look.

After the visit, we returned to Lilian's place for guess what... a badminton game! Andre was so envious that she has a badminton court right at her disposal. Of course he brought all his gear! Lilian invited her friend with her two sons to join in the game.

Incidentally, in case you haven't guessed, Lilian's place was Andre's FAVOURITE destination in Bangkok. There were two main reasons for this: Xbox and Nerf. We have neither of these at home, Xbox being too addictive and Nerf because I don't allow any sort of toy weapons in my home.

So Andre had a field day, playing to his heart's content. Here he is, shooting at imaginary enemies.

And to top it off, the kids insisted they were too tired to go out for dinner so Lilian ordered McDonald's for everyone. Auntie Lilian, you are the best!

Shopping and eating in the Land of Smiles

2010-12-26T12:27:00.002+08:00

Day 1 (Sun, 19 Dec 2010)

Since our first day in Bangkok was a Sunday, we decided to spend it on a favourite Singaporean pasttime - shopping!

So early in the morning, we trooped off to Chatuchak. For the uninitiated, Chatuchak is a weekend market popular among tourists for its ginormous range of goods. Bargains beckon at every corner in this 35-acre shopping monstrosity. Go in the morning before it gets hot. It wasn't so bad for us since Bangkok weather is kinder in December but I can imagine how sweltering it can get when the temperature soars from April-July.

There was so much for sale it's hard to know where to look! You can find practically anything from textiles to crockery...

Toys to cooked food - even eggs from the back of a truck!

A piece of advice given to me by a friend was to just buy what we fancy when we see it cos we might not see it again. Turned out to be good advice. Most things were awfully cheap by Singapore standards though we found to our surprise that there was little leeway for bargaining. Prices named by most shopkeepers were low to start with and often, they weren't keen to haggle, allowing us to walk away when we countered with even a slightly lower offer.

At about noon, lugging several bags of purchases, we took a short cab ride to Chinatown for lunch. Our lunch destination was a friend's recommendation - Nam Sing, a Chinese restaurant specialising in shark's fin and bird's nest.

We ordered fried rice, stir-fried morning glory (kang kong), beef and a medium sized claypot of shark's fin in red soup.

The food was FANTASTIC. The beef was tender and succulent, and the morning glory very tasty. Side note: we ordered morning glory as our veg almost every time in Bangkok and it was always great. I don't know how the Thais cook it or what sauce they use but it's so much better than back in Singapore. The meal was perfectly accompanied by cups of hot, sweet chrysanthemum tea.

The shark's fin was so good each of us easily polished off two bowls. I know animal activists would baulk at this eating shark's fin but hey, we only eat this at special occasions now, maybe once a year and it's sooooo good.

You can watch them prepare the shark's fin at the counter.

Our lunch came up to about 1,400 TB or around S$60. Extremely good value.

After lunch, we crossed the road to Sampeng, another popular wholesale market. Just crossing that one major road was like an adventure in itself. Even though there was a zebra crossing, it seemed like the vehicles barely slowed down. We followed the locals who brazenly stepped onto the roads, forcing the cars to screech to a halt.

Chinatown is a vibrant, bustling place of sights and smells. Seafood by the roadside,

the tempting waft of roasting meat,

rows and rows of toys, hair accessories, stationery and trinkets.

After a full day of shopping, we headed back to Lilian's place. That evening, Lilian and Eddie treated us to dinner at this modest Thai eatery called Lek Seafood (which she had previously blogged about here). The venue may be unassuming but by golly, the food was exceptional!

Lilian and Lesley-Anne shared a platter of fresh oysters.

Baked seabass.

Bbq river prawns - so yummy!

We ordered a lot more but I didn't take photos of everything. No photos of us enjoying our feast cos Lilian insisted that I was not allowed to take her picture. So camera shy, that woman.

A fabulous end to a fabulous day!

Movie magic at Universal Studios

2010-07-01T08:14:00.006+08:00

Now that I've discussed the rides, let's move on to the shows. The first one we caught was Shrek 4D which turned out to be identical to the one in Movieworld, Gold Coast. It's still fun though and the effects are excellent.

Of the four shows we watched, the best was WaterWorld. It's a live stunt show with real fire explosions, cool water vehicles and three-story free falls that made me nervous.

Another excellent show is Lights, Camera, Action. Steven Spielberg appears on screen to introduce a movie set which you'll experience first-hand, with all the special effects that Universal Studios is famous for.

The only show that was a little ho-hum was Donkey Live, featuring an animation of Donkey in an interactive sequence. It's probably fun for a younger audience, especially if they get picked to engage with Donkey, otherwise you're not missing much.

Overall, I find the stand-out shows at Universal Studios are the ones that showcase their strengths - their stunts and movie special effects. Apart from those, the shows at the Disney theme parks are of a higher quality, in my opinion.

For lunch, we had burgers and fries at Mel's Drive-in which is a 1950s themed restaurant like something out of a Grease movie set. Typical theme park fast food and the portions were pretty generous.

Later in the afternoon, we made a rest stop at the Discovery food court in Lost World. Right in the centre of was a huge T-rex skeleton like the one in Jurassic Park. Very nice touch.

And I must say Universal Studios really knows how to milk their themes to the hilt - they even offered the very local Milo Dinosaur on the drinks menu! Which of course Andre had to have.

One thing I noticed at Universal Studios was that unlike other theme parks, there weren't many costumed mascots walking around. We only sighted two - Woody Woodpecker and Kung Fu Panda while waiting for the park to open and didn't come across any others throughout the day (although Kenneth did spot a couple walking by when he was waiting for us at Mel's Drive-in).

My guess is that these appearance are limited because it must be sweltering in those costumes, more so here in our tropical climate. Seeing Kung Fu Panda keel over of heat stroke wouldn't be cool (literally) and probably send flocks of kids into therapy.

I thought I'd share a few tips on making the most of your visit to Universal Studios.

Do buy your tickets beforehand, online. Universal Studios has a daily quota for the number of tickets they sell, to ensure the park doesn't get over-crowded. During school holidays, tickets can be sold out as early as weeks ahead so don't count on buying them at the park.
One of the pitfalls of having a theme park in a tropical climate is that rain can ruin everything. Some parts of the park are covered but many of the rides are weather-dependent and tickets are non-refundable, so PRAY for good weather. On the day we were there, there was intermittent rain, the kind of petty, sniffly rain that is just miserable and puts a dampener on things. What we did was catch the shows when it was raining and went for the rides when there was a reprieve. However, we were pretty grateful for our pithy rain when we realised that there was a torrential thunderstorm the day after our visit. Everything is relative.
I've had friends who visited the park and never got to go on some of the popular rides. Time management is key. The park is less crowded about one hour from the opening and closing times, so be there when it opens and immediately head for the popular rides first, which would be Rapids Adventure, Canopy Flyer, Treasure Hunters and to some extent, Enchanted Airways (although the last one clears more quickly because it seats more at a time). When the park is crazy crowded, go for the shows and the other rides, take your photos, do your shopping, have your meal breaks. At its peak, the queue for Canopy Flyer was 1½ hours which is plain ridiculous. If you plan your time well, you can experience everything without wasting too much time queuing. The longest we queued for any ride was 35 mins. The park is small so you can keep checking back your favourite ride to see if there's a sudden lull. When the crowds started to thin by about 6pm, Andre honed in on Enchanted Airways where the waiting time had dropped to about 10 mins. That's how he managed to chalk up 9 rides on this goodie.

This trip confirmed in my mind that we are very much a theme park family. All the vacations we've enjoyed the most so far have featured a theme park. Andre especially, is the ideal theme park companion as he just launches himself into every experience with enthusiasm bubbling from every pore - that childlike exuberance is very infectious.

As an indication of how much Andre enjoyed himself, as we walked out of the park, he kept turning back and saying "bye bye Universal Studios" in a mournful, my-cat-just-died voice. This was despite our reassurance that we would visit the park again some day.

Theme park + fancy hotel + great food = our dream vacation. Funnily enough, even though this vacation was one where we didn't even travel out of the country, it turned out to be one of my kids' favourites. A friend once mentioned that going on holidays was buying memories. If so, this one was worth every cent.

Thrills and spills at Universal Studios

2010-06-28T08:37:00.004+08:00

After breakfast at Toast Box at the Forum, we walked over to the highlight of the day - Universal Studios.

Just a quick side note: there are a couple of interesting stores outside Universal Studios which we had explored the day before. One of them is Garrett's Popcorn which is supposedly one of Oprah's favourite snacks. I don't know how she can keep her diet under control while munching on these cos we sampled the caramel one and it was cloyingly sweet, even for a sweet tooth like mine. But I have to admit the buttery scent was rather enticing.

Next to Garrett's is Hershey's Chocolate World and THAT really sent my kids over the moon. As Andre described, it was like being in Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory.

Back to Universal Studios. The park opens at 10am but by 9.30am, queues had already begun to form. I love the atmosphere outside a theme park before it opens. The swell of movie music and the excitement of the crowd always makes me feel like I'm about to enter a Very Happy Place (the type without narcotics).

Just before 10am, the attendants start letting the increasingly impatient people in and off we go! Immediately we made a beeline for Lost World as we'd heard that it has some of the more popular rides.

First stop, Rapids Adventure. This ride is similar to the one in Dreamworld, Gold Coast, Australia. Up to 9 persons sit in a circular raft which goes through a watery path of gushing rapids. It begins with pleasant scenes of the more placid dinos and halfway through the ride, you'll hear an emergency announcement that the T-rex has escaped and for everyone to evacuate. The raft then goes into a pitch black tunnel with T-rex screams (at which point my two chicken kids closed their eyes and missed out on the occasional flashes of T-rex. The finale is a sudden end to the dark tunnel and a short drop.

Concept-wise, the ride is sound but there are two major flaws in execution which makes it inferior to the Dreamworld ride. First, with similar rides, the passengers usually get slightly wet with at most a damp patch on their clothes. With this ride, there's a high chance you will get completely drenched, some have emerged looking like they fell into a pond.

I don't know about you but I don't relish having to walk the rest of the day with clothes sticking to my skin and squishy shoes, it's extremely uncomfortable and annoying. Luckily I had read about it beforehand online and was warned by friends so before the ride, we donned unsexy disposable ponchos and changed into flip-flops. My kids were worried that it would be terribly embarrassing to go on the ride dressed for a dunking but guess what? Almost everyone we saw on the ride had the same idea! News travels fast in Singapore.

The second flaw is that due to the design of the ride and the seat, you can get bumped around quite violently. On one of the turns, I whacked my hip against the seat and had a large bruise to show for it the day after. Owww.

Any ride that is so inconvenient and potentially painful is just not worth the effort. We didn't bother to take that ride again and likely never will.

We then headed to the Canopy Flyer where a car of four (two facing front, two facing back) is suspended over a track with mild drops and turns. It's fun, albeit short (53 secs) and a good alternative for little kids who are not brave enough to face a junior roller coaster. We took this ride twice and I would recommend you try both the front and back facing seats for a different experience.

The rest of the rides I'm describing here are not in the order we took them as we spent the rest of the day taking and re-taking rides, interspersed with shows.

Another ride in Lost World is Dino-saurin', which is your traditional kids ride - take a spin in the air in one of these pterodactyls. You can control how high you go although with Andre, this can become one bumpy ride as he attempts to inject thrill by pressing and releasing the button incessantly.

Ancient Egypt has the most impressive landscaping, in my opinion. Its giant obelisks and pyramids make you feel like you're on the set of The Mummy. You almost expect Brendan Fraser to make an appearance.

The picture below shows the entrance to the Revenge of the Mummy. It's an indoor roller coaster in darkness, something like Disneyland's Space Mountain but scarier as it also has backward drops.

We didn't try this one, I like to see when I'm going to drop or be hurled over to one side, thank you very much! With the Battlestar Galactica coasters still out of action, this is the most thrilling ride in the park at the moment.

The only other ride in Ancient Eqypt is Treasure Hunters, where you drive a vintage car around an excavation site. The description on the website certainly sounded way more interesting than the ride, which was soooo boring I can't believe we queued 35 minutes for it. It's on a track so there's really no driving involved and the sights you see along the way, like a cheetah, cobras, rocks with scarab beetles, are uninspiring.

Maybe I'm being too harsh, this ride is obviously for little kids. I mean very little kids, like two-year-olds who get a kick just from turning a steering wheel. Do note though that this was one of the rides where the queue never seemed to wane, it averaged about 35-40 minutes all day.

Moving on to Sci-Fi City which had become something of a ghost town since its star attraction, Battlestar Galactica was grounded. However, this meant that its only other ride, the Accelerator, had relatively short queues.

Accelerator is basically a typical teacups ride but in zippier cars. Lesley-Anne and Andre tend to like the these types of rides, they're simple but spinning round and round at top speed is fun in its own way and short waiting times are always attractive.

Far Far Away is the trademark land for Universal Studios, based on the movie Shrek. It's like Disney's Fantasy Land, except the castle belongs to Princess Fiona instead of Sleeping Beauty.

It's here that we discovered our favourite ride - Enchanted Airways. It's a junior roller coaster in the form of Dragon, Donkey's partner. As junior coasters go, this one packs a punch. I rate it as more thrilling than both Gadget's Go Coaster in Tokyo Disneyland and Flounder's Flying Fish Coaster in Tokyo Disneysea.

Lesley-Anne usually shuns all roller coasters and at first refused to go on it. An hour before the park closed, she suddenly decided to brave it and went with Andre. I saw her crouching in the seat as the coaster hurtled past and thought she had regretted her decision. To my surprise, she proceeded to go on it three more times! It's always the fear that paralyses her so I was glad to see her overcome it.

How much do we love this ride? Well, Andre went a total of 9 times, 5 with me and 4 with Lesley-Anne. He managed to sneak in one last ride at 7pm, just before the ride closed for the day.

I had intended to write about Universal Studios in one post but what with my verbose rambling, I realise this has become one very long piece! So I'm breaking this up into a two-parter, this one is mainly about the rides. Look out for the next piece about the shows and some tips coming up next.

Channelling the inner rock star

2010-06-24T20:51:00.016+08:00

Technically going to Resorts World doesn't classify as "Travel" since we live in Singapore but our 3-day, 2-night stay was as much of a vacation to us as any of our previous holidays so I'm going to blog about it here. Plus it gives me an excuse to update my otherwise woefully inadequate travel blog.

We'd planned to bring our kids to Universal Studios during the June holidays and decided to stay two nights at a Resorts World hotel just to make the experience seem more like a real vacation. It was a toss up between Festive Hotel and Hard Rock Hotel, the latter being just a tad more expensive. In the end, we went with Hard Rock Hotel even though Festive Hotel is billed as the family hotel because I saw pictures of the Hard Rock pool and was sold.

We were glad we went with that decision when we walked by Festive Hotel and were confronted by Ikea hues and hordes of screaming kids. In contrast, although there were also families at Hard Rock Hotel, it wasn't noisy and it never felt over-crowded.

The edgy, hippie-chick ethos of Hard Rock suits us and brings out the party mood. Everything about Hard Rock Hotel has that retro glam ambience which I love. From the bling bling in the lift (we were excitedly taking pictures, to the amusement of someone who walked in and probably thought we were mountain tortoises) and the dimly-lit corridors to the Rock Shop (bottom left), the check-in counter (bottom right) and the lobby, it was all too cool for words.

Throughout the hotel, there were windows displaying costumes and paraphernalia of the musical greats, like this one below.

The room had a very luxe feel with dramatic "rock-star" touches. You can see how enamoured Andre was with the room, even though he wasn't too thrilled by the groovy montage of Jimi Hendrix over the beds, whom he pronounced "the creepy weird guy". Sacrilegious!

Despite being something of a boutique hotel, the room was surprisingly large. There were two double beds and another pull out bed, meaning it can sleep five. I imagine families with three kids would especially welcome such an arrangement.

The cordoned off bath area had separate shower and toilet stalls but really, it's more design-worthy than practical. The shower stall had no facilities to hang up your clothes so you still had to emerge to change anyway, thereby negating anyone else from using the toilet while you're in the shower unless you're the type of family that bares all at home.

Apart from that impracticality, the bath area too had rock-and-roll features like the cute guitar-shaped amenities holder (left) and a large mirror studded with light bulbs.

The room also featured a verandah and we were fortunate enough to get one with a pool view - breath-taking.

View from verandah at night:

Amidst the many "stars" at Hard Rock Hotel (sorry, bad pun), this pool truly gets the award. I have been to many hotel pools in my lifetime and I've honestly never seen a pool like this one - it's the motherlode of all pools. It looked impressive in pictures and even better in real life.

The free-form pool has more features than the car in Knight Rider. There's a children's play platform with fountains and a slide, a sandy beach area with palm trees, even a beach volleyball court.

For adults, there's a lap pool and a sunken bar where you can savour cocktails to the strains of the Beach Boys, Eric Clapton and Bob Dylan. Instantly transports you to the 1960s blues, chill mode. Very Forrest Gump.

I had a lychee martini in the middle of the day. How very decadent! Lesley-Anne had a more age-appropriate cranberry juice while enjoying her book at the cabana.

We visited the pool twice during our three-day stay. Fortunately the weather held up.

Here's Lesley-Anne cooling off her feet at one of the half-submerged deck chairs. Pretty nifty idea, I thought. Yeah, she's reading again. Once a bookworm, always a bookworm.

And here's a very happy little boy.

Ok, enough about the pool, moving on now. What we love about Resorts World is its convenience. In most cities, theme parks are located in isolated, sprawling pieces of land in the middle of nowhere, necessitating long walks which can be tough on little legs.

Resorts World however, is a fully self-contained entity. Right next to the hotels is the Forum which is a covered complex housing mostly F&B outlets as well as the entrance to the casino. We appreciated the fact that there was a good variety of culinary choices within easy reach and we weren't limited to over-priced hotel buffets.

As you can tell, soccer fever has taken over the Forum, there were mini competitions being held (Ben & Jerry's was giving out prizes to those who could guess the top player of each LOSING team) and nightly screening of the World Cup matches. Bleahh. As an indication of my soccer expertise, I have been known to remark on a couple of occasions to Kenneth, "hey, there's another Ronaldo!" To which he'd roll his eyes and reply, "there's only one Ronaldo, it's the same guy."

Getting to the Forum from Hard Rock Hotel can be tricky. On the map, it's just next door but the first time we walked over, we ended up manouvering an elaborate labyrinth past Festive Hotel, up and down escalators that never seem to end. The signages left much to be desired and we were convinced that the arrows were randomly arranged (or maybe someone changed the directions every night just for fun).

Anyway, after several dead ends and mis-directions, we finally found it - a three-minute stroll through the Convention Centre that leads right from Hard Rock Hotel to the centre of the Forum. Seems like it's not a well-known route since we didn't meet many people along the way, the few times we used it. We called it our secret passage.

We were at the Forum for every meal (except the one lunch at Universal Studios) and believe it or not, we only ate at two places. One of them was Toast Box. I'm partial to the BreadTalk group as they're one of my clients but apart from that, we really like their teh, otah thick toast and quirky assortment of buns. Cheap and good, Toast Box serves up a hearty breakfast that leaves us satisfied.

On our last morning at Resorts World, Kenneth and Andre woke up early, nipped over to Toast Box and tar-pau-ed breakfast back to the hotel, which we enjoyed out on the verandah.

The other restaurant that we patronised was none other than Hard Rock Cafe. I was stoked when I found out that they'd recently opened an outlet at the Forum. I mean, staying at Hard Rock Hotel without dining at Hard Rock Cafe is a little incomplete, isn't it?

I know eating three meals there in three consecutive days seems excessive but let me say this: we LOVE the food at Hard Rock Cafe (especially when there's an irresistible 1-for-1 entree promotion by DBS cards). The steak and beef fajitas are exceptional, and there's a new item on the menu - Twisted Mac 'n Cheese which my kids tried and adore.

And of course part of going to Hard Rock Cafe is to soak in the music culture, which was an apt complement to the whirlwind rock tour my kids had been receiving at Hard Rock Hotel. U2, Led Zeppelin, the Doors, Police, the Killers - all the legends in their full glory blasted on large screens and surround sound.

If you haven't gathered by now, our hotel and food experience at Resorts World more than lived up to our expectations and I would recommend it to anyone. At just under S$300 a night (before GST) per room during off-peak periods, admittedly Hard Rock Hotel doesn't come cheap. But if you consider that we didn't have to pay for airline tickets, our whole staycation cost us less than if we'd travelled out of Singapore to the nearest theme park, which would be Hong Kong. All in all, it was well worth the splurge.

Coming up soon, Universal Studios. Stay tuned.

R&R on board

2009-12-08T10:38:00.006+08:00

Day 4 (Wed, 2 Dec 2009)

All too soon, it's the last day of the holiday. Nothing interesting to report today since there are no stops - the ship makes its way back to Singapore. So the focus will be on, what else, food!

One last breakfast photo. For the record, Andre ate two croissants every morning, with eggs, bacon, cereal and sometimes even prata, washed down with juice and milk. Thank goodness he has ongoing badminton training, otherwise he'll be a likely candidate for the Fat Awards.

Incidentally, before we left on this trip, Andre kept asking anxiously, "Is there internet on the ship? Who's going to sound our Mousehunt horn then?"

As it turned out, there WAS internet on the ship, albeit at an exorbitant rate - 23cts per minute. But since you're talking to three true-blue Mousehunt diehards here, we actually logged in once a day (in the game, you have to sound the horn once a day to get hourly checks for the next 24 hours. Doesn't matter if you don't get it, it's something only fellow Mousehunters can understand).

Imagine three persons hovering over a computer with internet connection at snail speed, eyeing the timer and willing it to go faster. In case you're wondering, we utilised 6 minutes and 5 minutes on Days 1 and 2 respectively. Kenneth thought we were crazy but indulged us. Like I said, only Mousehunters will understand!

Since we had time on our hands, we decided to catch a movie (there's a mini cinema on board). They were screening Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, which none of us had seen. As it turned out, the quality of the film wasn't very good. The picture was fuzzy and sound quality was muffled in parts. But overall, it was still reasonably enjoyable, if you're not fussy for surround sound and all that jazz.

Lunch was at Bella Vista but we opted for the Chinese menu. (Since the Chinese menu is always more popular than the Western, Bella Vista offers this option besides Pavilion, the Chinese restaurant, to cater to demand). We figured that we should at least try the Chinese food once on this trip. Again, the food isn't great. They had this vinegared pigs' trotters which was quite tasty but I wondered how many people could actually appreciate this dish, particularly those with kids.

The rest of the day, we just spent a relaxing time doing practically nothing. Some pictures taken on the deck (these were actually taken on the first day, that's why you can see Jurong Island in the background).

Part of the afternoon was spent at the Activities Centre playing carrom and pictionary.

Since this was our second cruise, we didn't explore many of the locations on the ship or other activities organised on board. But for those interested, there is actually lots to do. Here are some pics from our 2007 cruise:

Miniature golf (left) and kids' pool (right)

Basketball court (left) and miniature rock climbing wall (right)

Finally, we partook of our last dinner on board at... you guessed it! Bella Vista. To be honest, when you've had this sort of dinner for four days straight, it starts to get a bit jelat. Except Andre, who looked so comical with his oversized menu, telling the waiter, "I'll have the goat cheese and tarragon tart." To which the waiter replied, "Yes sir!" LOL

Here it is, the goat cheese and tarragon tart appetizer

Assorted tempura with papaya rice. Soggy and the rice was tasteless, not very nice.

Andre digging into his main course of pork loin in cilantro sauce.

With that, we said staggered off Superstar Virgo, a little heavier than before this trip. The diet can begin tomorrow... BURP!

Fun in the sun

2009-12-06T23:34:00.005+08:00

Day 3 (Tue, 1 Dec 2009)

Early in the morning, the ship arrived at Phuket. We'd decided to do a free-and-easy day at Patong Beach, accessible via a small ferry at the tendering deck.

It was bright and sunny - super weather for a day at the beach! The thing is, since we had also come to the beach two years ago, we didn't really take many pictures this time. So here are some pictures we took in 2007. We'd rented two deck chairs, same as this time around. The beach is simply beautiful.

In 2007, Lesley-Anne had gone para-sailing. It's quite an experience, rather like flying! We decided that Andre was still too young for it, so nothing quite as exhilarating this time.

Some pics taken on this trip. Can you believe how much my kids have grown?

We spent the whole morning at the beach, then headed back to the ship. When we got back to the cabin, we saw this on the bed:

Housekeeping had fashioned a bunny out of towels! What a lovely extra touch.

Lunch was at the Mediterranean. As usual, dessert was visually more exciting than the main courses.

We had the afternoon free, so headed to the activities centre for a game of carrom.

Then the kids got more water action at the pool and the slide. This time, Lesley-Anne joined in the fun.

Dinner was at Bella Vista once again. This was the gala dinner night so diners dressed up a little more and there were four courses instead of three. We were lucky to get the 6.45pm sitting, we were put on wait list but managed to get a place. Otherwise dinner would be 9pm, far too late for our eager tummies!

Smoked salmon rillettes (appetizer)

Baked fillet of halibut - really melt in your mouth quality

Seafood thermidor

Baked alaska (this seems to be their standard gala dinner dessert, we had this two years ago too)

Petit fours

In the main concourse, the cast of one of the shows was performing Christmas carols. Lovely addition to the festive atmosphere.

I should add that each night, there was a different show at the Lido theatre but since photography is not allowed, I haven't shared any photos. The show on this night featured a combination of Eastern European dancers and Chinese acrobats. A glitzy, sometimes verging on cheesy affair, but admittedly rather entertaining. Afterall, that's what cruising is about!

A little whiff of Penang culture

2009-12-04T16:03:00.007+08:00

Day 2 (Mon, 30 Nov 2009)

We started the day with breakfast at the Mediterranean on the open deck. Fresh crisp sea air - great for perking up the appetite!

After a short rest, Andre headed off to the pool. The reason he was so anxious to go was this:

That's right - a mega monster slide. This slide is relatively new, it didn't exist when we were on board two years ago. Anything that involves water and an adrenaline rush is a-ok in Andre's books!

It looks scarier than it actually is. The slope is quite gradual so you don't slide down very quickly, in fact he was trying to streamline himself as much as possible to gain speed but it was still slow (slow enough for me to take a picture!)

He went so many times he lost count. Then it was just soaking and relaxation in the jacuzzi (heated no less!)

In the late morning, the ship docked at Penang. You can sign up for various day trips, go free-and-easy or choose to stay on board. The last time, we stayed on board, so this round, we thought we should expose the kids to some of the Penang sights, since they've never been here. Initially, we'd wanted to visit the Snake Temple but after reading all the unfavourable reviews online, we opted for a cultural tour instead.

The outskirts remind me of Singapore in the 1970s, it had that old-world charm that modern Singaporean kids don't see any more, which is kind of nice. Especially those road side hawker stalls.

Our first stop was the Wat Chaiyamangalaram Thai Temple. This temple houses one of the world's largest reclining Buddhas. Obviously since we're Christians, we're not visiting for religious purposes but to take a look at the architecture and culture. We especially thought it would be good to expose Lesley-Anne since she would be learning about Southeast Asian history next year.

Next, we paid a visit to a local produce shop which sold foodstuff ranging from bat kut teh packs and banana chips to local candy and tao sar piah. We could see the tao sar piah being made right there in the shop.

Next stop, the Kek Lok Si Temple. It's on a hill and to get to it, you have to walk up a winding path strategically lined on both sides with little shops selling knick knacks and cheap garments.

The architecture of the temple is quite impressive and large-scale. The pic on the left shows the Liberation pond where devotees release turtles for longevity.

Here's Andre on the bus with his new toy, Mr Bean's Teddy, bought from one of the shops. Another kid sighted him with it and yelled out, "Hello Mr Bean!" Hehe.

Last stop was Gurney Plaza, one of the poshest shopping malls in Penang. Sure must have shopping lah! It's upmarket with all your big names, very much like Takashimaya or Paragon in Singapore. Not surprising since it's owned and managed by Capitaland.

The mall faces the north channel and we went to take a look. It was low tide so you could see the mudflats with many migratory birds.

Then it was time to head back to the ship.

Aside: Usually this evening, there is a barbecue dinner at the Mediterranean. It's quite pleasant enjoying barbecue prawns, steak and so on at the open deck, watching the sunset. However, you need to get there early to reserve a good table and since we arrived back at the ship after 6.30pm this time, we decided to opt for a quiet dinner at Bella Vista instead.

But here are a couple of pics we took on the last cruise to give you an idea of the barbecue dinner.

And this was the actual dinner we enjoyed at Bella Vista. As usual, it's a three-course set dinner.

Beef stroganoff with fetuccine. Tastes better than it looks.

Roasted duck ala orange

Black forest cheesecake

Andre's assorted cheese platter for dessert

A-sailing we will go

2009-12-03T13:02:00.005+08:00

Day 1 (Sun, 29 Nov 2009)

As you can probably guess from the picture, we went on a cruise for our family vacation this year. We'd actually gone on the very same ship on the same itinerary two years ago, but since this was a hectic year for everyone, we all felt like we needed a break where we didn't need to plan anything. A cruise is a perfect holiday if you just want to vege out and do nothing - there's no need to plan meals, trips, hotels, etc.

So here we are for the second time, waiting to board Superstar Virgo for the 4-day, 3-night Penang/Phuket cruise.

Immediately on board, we headed for our cabin which was pretty much the same as the one first time round. We had booked a cabin with window.

Andre clammered for the bunk bed - this was his favourite spot as it also directly faces the tv, with the Disney channel on.

Lesley-Anne got the pull-out sofa bed. All in all, it's a small but comfortable cabin.

And this is what the bathroom looks like, it has two partitions for the WC and the shower stall. Again small but functional.

The ship was very prettily decked out in a Christmas theme, giving it a festive atmosphere.

But first, it's time for lunch! Just a short explanation: there are three free restaurants - Bella Vista (western), Pavilion (chinese) and Mediterranean (buffet). There are several other restaurants including Italian, Japanese and Indian but you have to pay for meals there, unless you're in the balcony class where you can utilise food credits allotted to you.

We went to the Mediterranean for lunch. Lots of choices. Cruises are notorious for indulgences of gambling and food. And since we're not gamblers, this holiday was going to be seriously food-focused! (Yes, I brought my fat pants).

The food at Mediterranean is ok but it's always the desserts that tempt me the most. Check out the dessert station - complete with Christmas decor!

After lunch, we explored the ship a little more. I thought it would be interesting to show pics of the kids two years ago (left) and now (right).

The kids went for a swim but it wasn't much fun as it seemed like all the passengers had the same idea and it was one big elbow-fest in the pool. So it was just a short dip and back to the cabin.

Dinner was at Bella Vista. As a family, we love western food and based on our experience at Pavilion during the last cruise, none of us enjoyed the Chinese food there so most of our meals were at Bella Vista or Mediterranean.

Initially, I had intended the posts on this trip to be very food-centric. If you know us, you'll know we are a very food-loving family, Andre especially. It was so comical because the waiters would take one look at his diminuitive size and hand him the kids' menu or assume that I would order for him. Andre was terribly insulted when they kept replacing his wine glass with a water tumbler. In actual fact, he often ate more than us adults, sometimes three or four adult courses at every meal, gamely trying every exotic sounding dish.

As it turned out, the lighting at Bella Vista was very dim which made photo-taking a challenge, dang it. Anyway, here are some of the pics from dinner that night.

Sirloin steak

Pan-fried fillet of river trout

Tiramisu

Tips on travelling to Beijing

2008-12-06T12:13:00.019+08:00

My tips are kind of limited to only my experience, so this post should rightly be entitled "Tips on travelling to Beijing in early winter with kids while staying with family." As you can see, the tips would be slightly skewed! But there are some general tips about Beijing that are valid no matter what season, where you stay or who you go with. Here are some of them:

Language

You may think that you wouldn't have a problem in Beijing if you're Chinese and speak Mandarin. Sure, it's less foreign than being in say, Japan, but shamefully, we still struggled quite a bit. The Beijing-ers roll their tongues a lot when they speak and that makes them hard to understand to the untrained ear. Taxi drivers are the worst. Many of them come from provinces and have very heavy accents, plus they're not the most communicative lot to begin with. Often, we couldn't be sure if the driver really knew where he was going or we were just going on a scenic tour. So we ended up having to write the name and address of each place we were going to, so we could flash the card at the driver and trust that his grunt or silence meant he knew the destination. (Funnily enough though, we never have communication problems with savvy shopkeepers at Silk Market!)

As typical English-speaking Singaporeans, our written Chinese is even worse than our spoken. This makes reading signs problematic, especially when you're in a restaurant where the entire menu is in Chinese with no pictures (remember the cuisine tends to be different from back home so we sometimes can't even hazard a guess what the dish is).

Oh and to add to the confusion, many of the Chinese phrases are different in Singapore than in China (and you thought it was just plain ole Chinese!) Eg. in Singapore, supermarket is 超级市场 but in Beijing, it's just 超市. Taxi is not 德士, it's 出租车. If you want the driver to go left, you don't say "转左", you say "左拐".

On my last trip to Beijing, the driver told me a funny story of an ang moh who tried to display his Chinese prowess by speaking Mandarin. He wanted to say "右拐!" (turn right) but because of his inability to pronounce the correct tone, he ended up saying "有鬼!" (got ghost), prompting the driver to ask bemused, "哪里有鬼?" (where's the ghost?) So his advice? If you can't handle the Mandarin, just speak simple English. They'll know you are an ignorant foreigner and treat you with kid gloves.

Transport

Taxis are by far, the most convenient way to get around. They're cheap and abundant. Starting fare is RMB 10 (S$2.20) and it gets you a long way. When we were travelling in the city, even with the usually horrendous traffic, a 45-minute ride generally only came up to about RMB 30-40 (S$6.50-8.80). But be warned, the taxi drivers we encountered were mostly surly and sometimes incomprehensible. Although they usually soften up a little when you talk about how wonderful the Beijing Olympics was. They really are very proud of it, as they should be.

But if you're planning to go further out of the city, like to the Great Wall, it's preferable to hire a driver and car. It costs more but for RMB 500 (S$110), you can usually get wheels for the whole day, giving you the freedom to make multiple stops. Also at the Great Wall, it's not that easy to find a cab when you're done so having a driver waiting for you is very convenient. By the way, you can't "call" for a cab in Beijing. When we ask the concierge at my cousin's apartment to call us a cab, she actually intercoms the guard at the external gate of the estate, who directs a taxi outside to enter the compound! That's right, it's manual. No fancy fleet management systems here... yet. We didn't realise this until we asked a waitress at a restaurant to call us a cab and she went outside to try to hail one. Doh!

Food

There are cuisines galore in Beijing, so you'll never starve. There's also street food everywhere but we gave most of this a miss as China is not particularly known for its hygiene standards in food preparation. But some, like this cart on the right, sells steaming hot sweet potatoes which are so good on a cold, wintry day.

What with the melamine scare, fake eggs and so on, you really want to be careful, especially when you're travelling with kids. I would recommend eating at respectable restaurants. The food tends to be cheap anyway, compared to Singapore, even the upmarket ones.

Don't think that Chinese food is Chinese food. Beijing food tends to be terribly greasy and salty. Even when my cousin's 阿姨 cooked for us, the food was delicious but oilier than we were accustomed to (and it seems this is already an improvement!) Maybe because of the harsh weather, the locals have to top up the fuel (literally) to stay warm. My cousin's colleague was mentioning that when she first came, she was startled to find out that it is not uncommon for the average Chinese to consume some three litres of cooking oil EACH MONTH.

The Beijing-ers, being northern Chinese, don't as a rule, have rice at every meal, so if you want some, you have to ask for it. And it may not even be available on the menu. The Chinese eat early, so try to have your lunch before 2pm and dinner before 8.30pm, otherwise you'll find your choices sorely diminished as many places would be closed.

Toilets

I'm giving this a separate mention because they left such an impression and for the wrong reasons. I thought the public toilets would have been spruced up for the Olympics but apparently, not enough. At many of the major tourist attractions, the toilets are still filthy (although as a general rule, they are better once after the paid entrance area) and most of them are still squat toilets, not Western ones. I nearly died when I saw the one at the Great Wall at Mutianyu.

And forget about the ones in bargain shopping areas like Panjiayuan and Silk Market. They are revolting and many don't even have doors that go all the way up. In fact, my cousin says that if she needs to visit the ladies while she's at Silk Market, she takes a short cab ride to the nearest 5-star hotel! Lesley-Anne was so put off by the toilets she usually waited till we were back at the apartment.

But if you really have to go, the ones in the larger and newer shopping malls are pretty decent. So are the ones at upmarket restaurants. So plan your visits!

Packing for winter

We were there only in early winter, where the temperature ranged from 2 to 12 degrees celcius, yet many days, it was freezing. For kids, you should pack a down feather jacket, long johns, a woollen sweater, woollen gloves and socks, and a hat that covers the ears and cuts out the wind. That's the basic. If you're going to be there mid or late winter (why???) where the mercury can plunge to -20 degrees, pack like an Eskimo. There's something about the winds in Beijing that's just relentlessly cruel.

Apart from cold, it's also desert dry. Within a day of arrival, Lesley-Anne's skin starting itching - it's a sign of the skin flaking and breaking up from dryness. Pack loads of body moisturiser, especially the thick gooey types that are too sticky in humid Singapore, you'll be glad you have them in Beijing. Lesley-Anne practically finished a full size tube on her own for this one-week trip. Also pack lip balm and hair conditioner. On the bright side, Lesley-Anne's teen acne disappeared while we were in Beijing - everything dries to a crisp here!

Other than keeping you moist, the lotion also helps stave off static. We kept zapping each other throughout the trip, it was painful and not funny. At one point, I even refused to hold on to the camera, I kept getting shocked even through my gloves. Only Andre was spared so he became our doorman, opening all cab doors for us.

Oh and if your kid has a sensitive respiratory tract (like Andre), I strongly recommend you bring a Ventolin inhaler, just in case. I brought this as advised by my doctor and it proved to be a life-saver. Even though Andre doesn't have asthma, the combination of smog and cold, dry air would irritate his throat and hinder his breathing - the inhaler helped open up the airways almost instantly and made him much more comfortable.

That's all I can think of for now, so I'll just end by saying Beijing is not as child-unfriendly as you might imagine. It's a terrific mix of the old and new, often right next to each other. If you want a rich dose of culture and history with a tinge of fun and without breaking the bank, Beijing is the place to visit.

Thank you Beijing, we had fun

2008-12-04T14:48:00.013+08:00

Day 7 (Tues, 25 Nov 2008)

All too soon, it's time to leave Beijing. Sniff! Why does time always fly when you're having fun? My cousin asked Andre, "So which part of Beijing did you like best?" Without hesitation, he answered, "I like your house best. Because it's warm like my house." My son, the diplomat.

Well! Since it's his favourite part of Beijing, we spent a good part of the morning taking photos in my cousin's apartment.

I've not yet talked about my cousin's two cats, whom she calls her sons. They deserve a special mention as they'd shared the space with us (or rather, we invaded their space) for a week. They are absolutely beautiful long-haired cats who share her bed and rule the house. The one on the left is 乖乖 (obedient) and the one on the right is 桃桃 (peach).

乖乖 is a stray my cousin picked up four years ago and 桃桃 is a companion she just recently adopted from a pet shelter. 乖乖 completely resented our presence. He would hide under my cousin's comforter sulking when we were around and emerge only when she returned home from work, yowling and complaining of neglect. He only warmed up a little towards the end of our visit, granting Lesley-Anne the privilege of stroking him and allowing his picture to be taken. 桃桃, on the other hand, is a socialite, indulging in our petting and attention, and helping himself to the usually dominant 乖乖's food while the latter was on strike.

But both were a great source of amusement for us - cats are such characters!

We took a last minute detour to a tea shop within the apartment's estate where again, the shopkeepers rush to serve my cousin fine tea and snacks. (She gets the royal treatment everywhere she goes!)

Then we piled all our luggage into a hired car and drove off for lunch enroute to the airport.

The restaurant serves Mongolian hotpot and is right next to where my cousin works, so she and her friend/colleague (the one who bought us that delectable Peking duck dinner) could join us for lunch.

This restaurant is more upmarket than Little Sheep that we patronised earlier. Each person gets his or her very own hot pot with tonic soup. According to my cousin's friend, this tastes almost the same as the Japanese shabu shabu, right down to the sesame dip, but at a fraction of the price.

We ordered several platters of very finely sliced lamb and beef - delicious. I could eat a mountain of these, especially since you generally don't get served rice in Beijing, so no carbo to load up on!

Here's just part of what we ordered.

And then it's off to the airport for our flight home. I think Beijing was a bigger success than we could have imagined. All that history and culture that I was worried wouldn't sit well with the kids turned out to be quite palatable, probably due to the breathtaking beauty of the scenery. In many places, the scenes looked like something straight out of your chinese literature book.

I'm not sure if we'll ever make it back to Beijing although it's tempting as my cousin has so generously extended an open invite. But for now, the kids are savouring their memories by replaying Kung Fu Panda over and over - yup, we brought it home with us.