Day 5 [19th Dec]: Chimelong Safari Park

For my last full day, I was panning to visit Chimelong Safari Park in the morning and then go to Baiyun mountain in the late afternoon. When I reached Chimelong Safari Park, I was enticed to purchase the combo ticket which includes Chimelong Crocodile Park at just ¥30 extra. That obviously means that I had to give up the plan of visiting Baiyun mountain.


Day 4 [18th Dec]: Chimelong Resort

It's finally a full day of clear skies, so I headed my way to Chimelong Paradise as planned. After travelling on the metro for almost an hour, I reached Chimelong Resort area and walked to Chimelong Paradise, which is less than 200m away from the metro station.


Day 3 [17th Dec]: Guangzhou

According to the weather forecast, the rain will stop somewhere in the afternoon. So, I planned my day such that I will be least affected by the rain. I started by visiting 中山纪念堂. While it was quite a good photo spot from the outside, I wasn't that excited about the visit inside. It's more of a photo gallery with story-telling.


Guangzhou Trip

Due to some issues with my cancelled AirAsia flight to Penang for Chinese New year, I ended up using the credit for a flight to Guangzhou instead. I was actually contemplating between many destinations, e.g. Thailand or Chengdu. Eventually, I decided upon Guangzhou as the weather was less cold compared to most other parts of China and transport in Bangkok may be slightly affected by the demonstrations.


My first leg of the flight was to fly from Singapore to KL with a 3 hour buffer to the next flight. Fortunately, I had a comfortable buffer otherwise the long immigration queues might have given me some problems. From KL, I flew to Guangzhou and reached at 8pm+. After exploring around the airport a little, I bought a prepaid SIM card for ¥100 and took the metro to the city. From 公园前地铁站, it was very easy to find my hotel after about 5 to 10 minutes of walk. In fact, I found the hotel before I was even seriously looking at the address. After checking in and settling down, I prepared my day pack for the next day before I took my rest.


Day 7 [25th Nov]: Shanghai and back to SG

For the last day of our China trip, we went to Nanjing Road in the morning to have our breakfast and walk around. We settled for our brunch in 南翔馒头店 and ordered some other dimsum dishes that we did not try the day before. The 大馄饨 sure tasted fantastic and so is the chicken served in wine sauce.


Day 6 [24th Nov]: Shanghai

The day started with a slight drizzle and we were thinking of visiting 老城隍庙 before heading to Shanghai Happy Valley. We went to 老城隍庙广场 to have our breakfast and it was quite a feast.

Day 5 [23rd Nov]: Hangzhou to Shanghai

We started the day by checking out of hotel and taking a public bus to the railway station. After collecting our train tickets, we walked in the district in search of breakfast. We settled for some noodles in a muslim halal restaurant called 兰州老字号正宗牛肉拉面. The beef noodles and the dumpling soup sure tasted great.


Day 4 [22nd Nov]: Hangzhou

We started day 4 later as we had a late night the day before. For breakfast, we settled for some 粽子, 馄饨 and 粉丝 at 五芳斋.


Day 3 [21st Nov]: Wuzhen

We booked a guided tour package to Wuzhen from our hotel the night before and started our day really early. From Hangzhou, it was about 1.5 hours of bus ride to the tourist attractions in the water town Wuzhen (乌镇).


Jiangnan Trip 2013

I was thinking of visiting China this autumn and I asked a friend along. We settled for a direct flight via Jetstar from Singapore to Hangzhou and paid just $247 for airfare after including taxes, admin fees and baggage fees. After our early dinner, we took off from Changi Airport in the evening and reached Hangzhou Xiaoshan airport at 11pm+. We were greeted by the cold winds on a Tuesday night. After about half an hour of taxi ride, we reached city centre and found our way to Ibis Hotel in Song Dynasty Street. We were pleasantly surprised that the twin room was pretty decent and costs only S$32 per night.


Short Trip to Melaka

I made a short and impromptu trip to Melaka for 3D2N after buying the bus tickets on Saturday. I departed on Sunday afternoon and arrived in Melaka somewhere after 6pm. From Melaka Sentral, I tried to ask how much it would cost for a taxi to my hotel and was a little annoyed with their rip-off price of RM25. Upon advice of a fellow bus passenger, I took the domestic bus to Chinatown.

Day 4 [30th Oct]: Taiwan back to SG

Day 4 is a simple and short day as it was check-out day and my flight was at 3pm+. I had breakfast in the hostel and chatted with some newly found friends from Czech Republic and U.K before doing my final packing (squeezing) and heading to the Taipei Main Station to take the bus to the airport. I also managed to take several photos of the humble and budget-friendly hostel before I left. I will definitely stay here again if I visit Taipei in future.

Day 3 [29th Oct]: Taiwan

I started the day by heading to the breakfast place near C.K.S Memorial Hall MRT station that I visited the day before because I wanted to try my luck to see if the shop owners picked my spectacles. Amazingly, it was really there! The friendly auntie chatted with me a little and then I ordered a simple breakfast from her.

Day 2 [28th Oct]: Taipei

I started my second day proper by heading to the MRT station and purchasing a 2-day tourist pass for NT$310. The tourist pass allows unlimited travel on MRT and also selected buses and the pass ends on 23:59 of the second day rather than 48 hours from purchase time. Still, it's really worth it if you intend to take lots of MRT rides in 2 days.

After getting the pass, I took the MRT to Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall and had breakfast in the vicinity. Breakfast was simple, but tastes great and costs just NT$45. That's very cheap if you compare to Singapore standards!

 

Day 1 [27th Oct]: SG to Taipei

I spotted a good offer for Scoot flight to Taipei and decided to book it just 2 days before departure. The fare came up to be about $142 inclusive of 15kg check-in baggage allowance. And so I took off to Taipei on an afternoon flight and landed in Taoyuan Airport in the evening.  I managed to purchase a prepaid SIM card with 3 days of unlimited internet usage and NT$100 of credit for just NT300.

 
Shortly after, I took the bus 1819 to Taipei Main Station and it costed NT$130 for 1-way and NT$260 for round trip. After about 40 minutes of bus ride, I reached Taipei Main Station. It took me a while to get my bearings and navigate my way to 阿羅國際旅館(Taipei Traveler Hostel Holo Family Home). I checked in to the hostel quickly and made my move out to meet a friend to visit a night market.


Highlights of Japan

It's been a long while since I last did any recommendations for a city/country, which can prove to be more useful summaries of my trips. I've created a new tag for trip recommendations and will slowly add more entries to them. I realised I've only done summaries for Seoul and Venice so far, so there's probably alot more work to be done. I will do it in point form like what I did for Venice so that it can be a guide that is easier for reading.

Here are some of my experiences/recommendations in general:
  • It is probably cheaper to go to Hokkaido by flying to Osaka/Tokyo and then flying to Sapporo via Jetstar. Jetstar's domestic flights can cost below ¥8,000 one-way inclusive of taxes!
  • Feast lots! I love sushi, sashimi, crabs, scallops, prawns, ramen, udon, soba, tonkotsu, tempura, shabu shabu, and the list can go on and on. Japan has so much to offer for feasting. Throughout my 19 days in Japan, I hardly get to try all the kinds of food I listed down to try.
  • Visit the public bath houses or hot springs. It's quite an experience.
  • When you take the JR trains, do consider hopping on to the Limited Express trains. The fare is the same as the normal trains. By waiting just a little longer for the Limited Express trains, you might still end up reaching your destination earlier. It's faster because they stop at significantly less stations.
  • If you love seafood, you MUST visit Hokkaido.

Maps & Fave Places

I've made more of my Google custom maps public to share with everyone and you can check the maps link on the top or on the right side of this blog. I haven't made my Hong Kong custom maps available for public cos it's still kinda messy though. However, I've already made all my Japan maps available for public, but do note that not all the marked locations are places I've been to. Some of them are just results of researches over the web.

Finale of Japan Trip 2013 [12th to 13th June]

It has been a long trip but time sure flies past and my holiday in Japan is coming to an end. It feels as if there are still several more places I want to visit in Japan, e.g. Hokodate, Jozenkei, Furano, Noboribetsu, Himeji and more places in central Japan also. After packing my luggage, I went to the train station and looked for paid lockers to keep my luggage while I go shopping/eating. With 1 suitcase, 1 backpack, 1 more luggage bag and another cloth bag, it sure was a challenge to squeeze everything into the locker.

Day 17 [11th June]: Otaru

Today is my last full day in Hokkaido, but I keep having thoughts of visiting Otaru again instead of hanging around in Sapporo. After struggling through the decision for some time, I went to the train station and hopped on to the train heading for Otaru. When I reached Otaru, I went to Ajidokoro Takeda in Sankaku Fish Market again for my meal. This time round, I ordered chirashi don, which comprises of crab, scallop and prawn. I also ordered grilled scallop amd clam. The clam comes with sauce in it that tastes really sweet. A pair of scissors were also provided for me to handle the big juicy scallop. Eating seafood in Otaru is just such a delight as they are just so fresh, juicy and sweet.


Day 16 [10th June]: Otaru

Part of my itinerary in Hokkaido is to go to Otaru, so I took the train to Otaru at 10am+ hoping to grab my brunch in Otaru. After about 45 minutes of normal train ride and enjoying the nice scenic journey, I reached Otaru Station and collected some brochures at the train station before proceeding to search for food.


Day 15 [9th June]: Sapporo

I started my day by making my way to Nijo Market for my late breakfast. Along the way, I passed by the lovely Tokeidai (aka Sapporo Clock Tower) and also Sapporo TV Tower.

 

Day 14 [8th June]: Tokyo to Sapporo

My flight to Sapporo is at 3:25pm, so I checked out of the hotel at about 11am to make my way to Narita Airport. I took the inexpensive Keisei Limited Express to the airport and it costs ¥1,000. I reached the airport a little earlier than the check-in time, so I had to wait awhile before I could check-in. After checking in, I went to a restaurant to have my lunch.

Day 13 [7th June]: Tokyo

I left the hotel slightly later today to avoid the peak hour train crowd and went to Tsukiji Fish Market again for my breakfast. I decided to buy the 1-day pass for Tokyo metro and Toei subway at ¥1,000 since I figured I will be visiting many places today. When I reached Tsukiji Fish Market, I decided to try the egg omelete which costs ¥100 and the taste was just great! Along the way, I was thinking of trying one of the popular sushi restaurants but the queues still scare me off. So, I ended up trying a random restaurant that had a promotion of ¥2,000 for a sushi set. Unfortunately, they do not allow photo taking so I had to take photos very discretely and secretively using my phone. Compared to Yamazaki, the quality of food here seems very average only. The chef also didn't ask me if I wanted wasabi, so I didn't really enjoy my food as I disliked wasabi.


Day 12 [6th June]: Tokyo Disneysea

With my shocking train experience yesterday, I decided to start my day earlier and reached the train station before 8am. There was still quite a crowd but definitely more breathable space compared to yesterday. From Maihama Station, I had to switch to the monorail on the Disney Resort Line to go to Disneysea. When I reached Disneysea at about 9am, I realised that it was before the opening time of 9:30am and there was a queue outside.