randomness at its best!

Cancun and Playa del Carmen (Mexico)! 25th Nov to 3rd Dec 2010!

2010-12-08T18:20:00.068-06:00

Mexico was a fun getaway for Thanksgiving! Great food, weather, people and company! What else do you need for a good time?

We spent the first 3 days in Cancun and then went south to Playa del Carmen. The 7 nights in Playa was courtesy of the girlfriend, Jenn's dad as her graduation gift from him.

Just for the record, the exchange rate was about USD$1 = 12 Pesos.

Day 1

Arrived in our hotel, Westin Resorts & Spa. The fact that it is located at the end of the Hotel Zone is probably the reason why we got such a good deal on Priceline! This was not a problem at all since the public buses run very frequently and costs only Pesos 8.5 per person!

Jenn and I definitely made it a point to be very adventurous with our food. The first night was a place recommended by our Fodor's guide book, called Santos Mariscos.

Jenn and I very excited for our unorthodox Mexican Thanksgiving meal.

The feast included Chips & Guacamole with Oysters.

Tamarindo Margarita - a unique drink recommended by Fodor's but would not have made it to our books.

Shrimp tacos on a Fried Cheese tortilla.

Octopus Tacos. Delightful!

Day 2

The next day we joined a one day tour to Chicen Itza - an ancient Mayan pyramid voted to be one of the new 7 wonders of the world.

A Mayan lady making corn tortilla.

One of the stops before the main attraction was a cenote, or a sinkhole. The entrance to the underground cave.

The underground pool.

Getting ready to go for a dip!!!

Ticket to Chichen Itza!!

Jenn's photography of the pyramid and the ruins surrounding it.

After the tour, we requested to be dropped off at a local taco stand. The task of picking a dish itself was fun since neither of us knew Spanish well enough to know what we were ordering.

Tacos Chorizo & Tacos Bisteck!

This huge piece of meat that they were grilling which Jenn ordered by pointing. We found out after the fact that it is called Tacos Pastor.

Day 3

We decided to finally relax on the beach today. Cancun has beautiful waters with fine white sand. We would definitely have liked it more if it was not for the fact that it was too commercialized. Nevertheless, you cannot go wrong with Corona on a Mexican beach!

After checking out from the Westin, we took the public bus to El Centro to look for a ride to Playa. Of course we were hungry and had to stop at this charming looking restaurant for lunch.

Chorizo Torta and Pollo Quesadilla.

Jamon Quesadilla and Salchicha Tocino con Milanesa Torta.

After lunch, we boarded the Playa Express to Playa! This is a van that leaves as soon as it fills up and we were the only non-locals on board. Of course it cost us only $6 in total compared to the $40 that we would otherwise have to pay.

Being adventurous comes with a price though. We were dropped off at the entrance of the hotel, not knowing that we had quite the walk ahead. From the front gates to the lobby, the distance was about 1.5 miles (2.5 km)! Not very fun considering we had 6 pieces of luggage in total!

It was all good in the end as we arrived at the Royal Haciendas, Playa del Carmen.

We got dinner at the Hotel's Beach side restaurant.

Fish, Pasta and drinks (They had this really delicious mix drink called Miami Vice - half Pina Colada half Strawberry Daiquiri)!

Day 4 - My Birthday!!!!

The day started out just right when we found out that there was a party going on and that there was an open bar!

Three cheers to Corona, Sol and Dos Equis!!

There were also games that were going on. Love the candid shot of Jennifer!

Went back to relaxing at the beach after hydrating ourselves.

Went down to 5th avenue in the evening to look for food.

Stumbled into a hidden gem called "Madre Tierra".

Delicious Ribeye Steak.

Red wine Mignon.

Ended my night with a birthday cake!

Day 5

We found out that we were invited to a Taco Party hosted by the hotel today. All you can eat Tacos and open bar again!!!

Getting ready to go downtown!

We wanted some comfort food today so Jenn opted for Pizza.

I opted for McDonald's and got a McTrio Cuarto De Libra (Beef, Guacamole and Nachos)!

After walking about 5th Avenue, we noticed a cart on the sidewalk. We found out that these girls were selling tamales. Tamales is a traditional Mexican snack made of a corn base and wrapped with leaves. Sometimes, meat is added.

Tamales!

I had had tamales in Des Moines before and did not like it so I was not too excited.

But after taking a bite of Jenn's I had to have my own! In fact, I liked it so much that I went back every single day (almost) to get one!

Day 6

We spent the next day relaxing in our hotel. The books that kept us company through most of the trip was Stieg Larsson's trilogy. (Look it up if you have not heard of it! Highly recommended!)

Free flow of chips with different types of salsa!

Mango Daiquiri

Banana Monkey

Jenn checking out her tan.

Obedient dogs waiting for their owners.

Went to Yaxche for a Mayan dinner.

Mayan Cucumber Margarita

Shrimp Mayitas - grilled shrimps fajitas marinated in axiote.

Cochinita Pibil - Axiote and sour orange marinated pork wrapped in plaintain leaf, then baked.

For the finale, we ordered Mayan coffee!

Day 7

The next day we decided to check out Xplor, one of three famous Yucatan theme parks.

The Amphibious Vehicle that we drove through many terrains.

The underground river kayaking adventure which we had to steer by using paddles on our hands.

Hammock Zip-lining!

After Xplor, we went dropped off at Fifth Avenue for dinner. We opted for margaritas at Blue Lobster.

For dinner, we went to a local restaurant called El Fogon. The food there was delicious!!

Taco Pastor with Extra Pineapples.

Bisteck Torta

Taco Chorizo

Taco Bisteck

Ended the night with some Churros for dessert.

Day 8

On day 8, we decided to rent a car to explore the area. The only car available was one with manual transmission. Having only driven a manual car about 5 years ago, this was indeed quite a challenge. But we made it!

The first stop was the Tulum ruins.

Tulum is situated by the beach, which makes it different from the other ruins. It was very beautiful.

There were iguanas all over the place. Jenn calls this one El Presidente.

More pictures by the beach.

More pictures of the ruins.

We read about a Thai restaurant called Mezzanine in Fodor's so we set out looking for it!

Pot Stickers.

Green curry with chicken and rice.

Fried noodles of some sort.

Jenn and I at the restaurant.

We found a tamales stall in downtown Tulum!

Naturally, we had to try it! There were two kinds - chicken and egg tamales. We tried them both although we just had lunch. Became a huge fan of tamales during this trip! : )

Day 9

We spent the last day chillaxing at the resort.

Calamari and wraps of all sorts for lunch!

Last night on 5th Avenue!

Went back to El Fogon for dinner.

Got ribeyes. It was decently price but definitely not as good as the ones from

Random picture:

Introducing - Wyley the Puggle!

St. George and Hamilton, Bermuda 12th to 19th Mar 2010!

2010-03-23T10:00:00.020-05:00

Bermuda was fun because of the beautiful beaches, the great company and the many random things that we did. The weather was not as warm as we had hoped but we found our own fun.

I stole several pictures from Ching but I think that is the best way to summarize our experience.

10-03-12 Day 1 Arrive in Bermuda

The "grandmother" who greeted us at Aunt Nea's Inn in St. George's, Bermuda.

I feel like it's almost tradition that we have one Asian meal in every country that I visit. Sung Sing was a take out Chinese restaurant that we bought our first meal!

10-03-13 Day 2 Walking around in the rain

As the title above says, we walked around Hamilton and we invested in the most important item of the trip - ponchos! Yes, unfortunately, it rained quite a bit while we were there.

10-03-14 Day 3 Krystle's Birthday, Katherine Beach, Lobster Pot and Swizzle Inn

When the clock struck 12, we celebrated Krystle's birthday with style - with a Bermudian cupcake and Bermudian rum!

The next day, we set out to find Katherine Beach. The journey there was an adventure itself because the view was breathtaking.

Katherine Beach!!!

Random pictures taken on Katherine Beach.

Lobster Pot to celebrate the evening!

Getting some Rum Swizzle in Swizzle Inn whose moto is Swizzle In, Swagger Out! Pretty catchy! :)

10-03-15 Day 4 Horseshoe Bay and Ferry

Today was not very eventful due to bad weather but we got a free upgrade to an entire house due to an alarm malfunction!

10-03-16 Day 5 Cave in Grotto Bay, Beach on Granadier Lane and The Unfinished Church

The next day we found Grotto Cave in a hotel! That's me jumping in the underwater river in the cave with all my belongings in my pocket.

That's me regretting that move, attempting to dry out my stuff.

After Grotto Cave, we set out to find the prettiest beach in Bermuda, according to an online source. We found it after a tedious journey, stumbling across "the beach by Grenadier Lane".

Some pictures to commemorate our great find!!

On the way back to our hotel, we stumbled across an unfinished church with a lot of history - none of which I can recall today.

10-03-17 Day 6 Horseshoe Bay Revisited and Flanagan's

Today, we visited Horseshoe Bay again. It was probably one of the prettiest beaches I have seen in my life. The water was the bluest blue I have ever seen and ......

....there was pink sand!!!

Random pictures on the beach!

Celebrated St Patrick's Day in downtown Hamilton at Flanagan's!

10-03-18 Day 7 Crystal Cave, Fantasy Cave and Shopping

Visited an underground cave and went shopping the second last day. Bermuda was fun! But definitely not for Spring Break. Would highly recommend it during warmer seasons. Loved the company though. Miss you guys!

Random picture:

Recognize this? Yup - it IS a Myvi!

CNY Visitation in Malaysia (Feb 20)!

2010-03-09T08:34:00.012-06:00

One of the things that I will definitely miss is Chinese New Year visiting! I have a small suspicion that it will be a while before I have the chance to go around collecting "ang paos" while helping myself to the endless supply of cookies and playing the occasional Black Jack.

Fortunately, I think I had one of the best CNY trips this past year with old Drake friends so it was definitely very memorable.

First stop - Chan Wei Hoong!

Next was Wong Khai Shin

My house!

Lee Beng Hui

Lim Shie Meng

Esther looking lost!

Ong Shze Yeong

Shze Yeong's rabbit named Jun Jun!

Esther Lee

Tan Su Fang

Metrobus - probably owned by Su Fang's family!

Unfortunately, we had forgotten to take any pictures at
Lim Jun Hong's house. This was cookies that he made so it will suffice for now.

Kuah Hooi Ching

Random fact: I think the first one of us to start giving out angpaos will be Chan Wei Hoong and Kuah Hooi Ching!!

Ho Chi Minh City, Hue and Hanoi (Vietnam)! 1st to 8th Feb 2010!

2010-03-04T10:20:00.034-06:00

When I was back in Malaysia after my graduation, one of my very good friends - Mahesh Kumar - was coincidentally back home too. He was (and still) is in Indonesia completing his degree to be a doctor and it was great to be able to meet up with him again after about 2 years!

Anyhow, we were in a mamak one day when I randomly asked him and Nicholas Tong if they were interested in traveling to a random neighboring country. Both agreed but Nick had to pull out due to unforeseen circumstances.

After confirming a few logistical issues, Mahesh and I decided on Vietnam and hence booked our flight into Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), our flight back home from Hanoi, our first two nights of accommodation and we were on our way! The rest was pretty much us going with the flow!!

A quick note though, Mahesh does not eat beef or pork. This proved to be our biggest challenge in Vietnam. Looking for dishes that have chicken instead!

Day 1

Vietnam is still a relatively poor country. Motorcycles are very, very common. At first sight, traffic seems almost unreal but it is the perfect epitome of "organized chaos".

I learn very quickly that the best way to cross a street here is to "just walk and be confident that somehow everyone will avoid you".

The view from our cab. A couple of times I thought we were for sure getting into a wreck but that never happened.

These motorcycles and cars are all moving simultaneously in different directions!

Upon checking in, the first thing we did was to find a place to eat! Lots and lots of roadside stalls to be explored!! Mahesh and I at the first of many to come.

Pho - Vietnamese Beef Noodles.

Since we only had our first two nights of accommodation and flights booked, we had to figure out how to get from Ho Chi Minh City (South Vietnam) to Hanoi (North Vietnam). The whole situation was complicated by the fact that our traveling period was close to Tet - the Vietnamese New Year. Hence, flights were extremely expensive but taking the train would be too long.

We finally found this travel agent who booked us our flight from Ho Chi Minh City to Hue (Central Vietnam) and then got us bus tickets to get from Hue to Hanoi. However, there is more to just this story.

As you read on, remember the lady in this picture! She's a lying vixen!!!!!

Day 2

The next day, we decided to visit the legendary Cu Chi Tunnels. Built during the Vietnamese War, it is a testament of the resistance that the Viet Congs (Vietnamese guerrilla) demonstrated. The tunnels are an intricate piece of art and it was probably the reason why the Vietnamese held their own at war.

The entrance to one of the many tunnels.

A guard demonstrating how the tunnel entrance works. See how it is completely hidden after he shuts the door?

Checking out the entrance. It was pitch black when the tunnel shuts.

A tourist trying out the tunnel but getting stuck in the process. Lol.

Next, we tried our hands on some guns. Looking at the long list of options, the only model I recognized was AK-47 from playing Counter-Strike. Naturally, I chose that. The recoil was strong!!

Crawling through the tunnels for the heck of it. Mahesh could barely fit and had to squat all the way. However, these tunnels have been widen to accommodate tourists! It was really really small back in the days!

Stopped at our first sit-down restaurant for lunch upon returning to HCM City.

Vietnamese Coffee - something I learned to like from Pho All Seasons!

Vietnam's very own Bia Saigon!

Dried Pork Rice

More Pho!

Vietnamese Spring Rolls!

We were walking around in the back alley and stumbled across this woman cooking something with eggs and meat.

Naturally, we took a seat.

No idea what this was but it was delicious!!

Walked around the streets of HCM City and stumbled across more food. Had to try them Fried Beef Noodle. This was so-so. Poor Mahesh could not try any of these unfortunately.

Day 3

The next day, we took a flight to Hue - situated in the middle of Vietnam. The moment we got off our flight, we took a bus into the city and was approached by 2 motorcyclists who told us that they would take us to the travel agent where our bus to Hanoi was departing at night.

Our ride!!

We left our bag at the bus place and I was feeling adventurous so I decided to check out a road side stall again. Unfortunately, they only had beef and pork so Mahesh was out of luck again.

Finally, he had to settle for Vietnamese Maggie Mee. Mahesh was definitely grumpy quite frequent due to difficulty in finding food.

Our first stop in Hue was Emperor

Khải Định's tomb.

Several other pictures of the famous tomb.

Out next stop was the Thien Mu Pagoda. The pagoda has seven stories and is the tallest in Vietnam.

It is also home to the car which a monk drove to an intersection in Saigon in 1963, got out and positioned himself in a Lotus position before burning himself in protest against Nao dinh Diem's regime against Buddhism. Refer to link below for a pictorial explanation.

Warning, pretty graphic:

(http://www.olmec.co.nz/abode/43/images_43/2008/Thich-Quang-Duc-Colour.jpg)

After the pagoda visit, we stopped by at a local store for some Vietnamese Spring Rolls and other local delicacies. At every chance that Mahesh had, he would stop for any non-pork/beef food! Vietnamese taufu-fa.

Our last stop was the Citadel in Hue. We tried to sneak in with a group of tourists in order to avoid paying the entrance fee but failed. Not feeling like spending more money, we resorted to walking around on the outside.

Finally we went back to the bus station where we were going to board a bus to Hanoi. Unfortunately, the conductor informed us that our tickets were not on the list. Apparently, although we already paid for our tickets back in HCM City, the lady had not called to confirm our seats. She had been dishonest and we realized that we were conned. Remember the lying vixen above???

Through looking pitiable and with a lot of pleading, he finally agreed to let us board the bus but warned us that we might have to end up sleeping on the floor (It was one of those buses with beds and not seats).

Bunk beds in the overnight bus.

There were empty beds when we got on! We made it! : )

2 hours into the journey, more people boarded the bus. And of course, we got kicked off our beds : (

Ended up sleeping on the floor the rest of the journey. Maybe this is self-consolation but I honestly thought that it was more comfortable on the floor anyway. The beds were shaped weird!

Day 4

We had not booked anything in Hanoi yet so upon arrival, we signed up for an overnight trip to Halong Bay (Bay of Descending Dragon).

The picturesque scene of paddy fields on the way to Halong Bay.

The traditional junk boat that Halong Bay is famous for!

Thien Cung grotto with its magnificent limestone formations.

More random pictures from the junk boat cruise with my Vietnamese t-shirt souvenir!

Day 5

The beds on the junk board. Nothing fancy but it was fun to hang out with the other people on board.

The other people on board of the boat with us.

First night in Hanoi, enjoying the various road side stalls.

We discovered this sit-down restaurant which Mahesh decided was his favorite restaurant in Vietnam because they had a variety of non-pork/beef meals.

Day 6

The following day, we decided to sign up for day trip to the nearby Perfume Pagoda. I like this picture because I think I think it describes a lot of Vietnam with one picture.

Taking a boat down the river which leads to the pagoda.

Mahesh bought a local Vietnamese farmer's hat to protect himself from getting a tan.

The serene ride down Yen River.

Huong Tich Cave after a cable car ride and a little hike.

KFC in Hanoi after the trip - safe food for Mahesh.

More road side food!

Day 7

On the last day, we decided to visit the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum. It is the memorial building built to remember Ho Chi Minh. His body is preserved till today in honor for all that he has done for Vietnam.

More FOOD! :)

Went shopping at Dong Xuan Market. Mahesh's favorite sales people ;)

Another non-pork/beef snack that Mahesh bought every chance he had.

Ended the trip with some Vietnamese road side, home made beer known as Bia hơi. Yum.

Random fact: Vietnam was a lot of fun! Definitely worth visiting for many reasons. I would, however, recommend spending more time in HCM City than in Hanoi since there was more to do there. Also, there were more places around HCM to visit.

Family Photos and Seafood with ex-Drakies!

2010-02-13T09:08:00.013-06:00

Well a big hello to my faithful readers! Thought I would update about with some Malaysian happenings.

Anyway, when I was home, my mum suggested that we took family photos to commemorate my graduation. The studio was nice to allow us to take soft copies since that is usually not an option. But here they are:

Of course, tradition also dictated that we have a seafood meal in Klang. ShieMeng brought us to an awesome, awesome place which I liked a lot! It was definitely great to meet up with old Drake-ians again!

HooiChing, WeiHoong and BengHui

KhaiShin, Kenneth and Esther

JunHong, SuFang and Me!

ShieMeng, ShzeYeong and JunHong

Of course, after stuffing ourselves silly with oh-so-yummy food, we decided to stuff ourselves even more with Cendol and ABC!

I miss you guys!

Random fact: Life decisions are fast approaching!

Nissan or Toyota?