Day 4: 13 October 2009, Tuesday For our third day in Paris, we made a trip to Château de Versailles, or the Palace of Versailles. The UNESCO World Heritage Site is one of the most-visited monuments in Paris, coming only behind the Louvre, according to 2017 visitorship numbers. The Palace is located about 20 kilometres […]
Day 3: 12 October 2009, Monday Today, it was just KP and I exploring Paris on our own as QM had to work. For our first stop, we paid a visit to Notre-Dame de Paris, or Notre-Dame Cathedral. This grand, old cathedral is certainly one of the must-visit sites in Paris. The first stone was […]
England | Europe | France | This Was It Europe 2009
This Was It Europe 2009 – Day 2 (London / Paris)
Day 2: 11 October 2009, Sunday After a good night’s sleep, I adjusted well to the seven hours’ time difference and woke up full of energy and anticipation. It was an exciting day ahead because KP and I were making the trip across the English Channel to Paris! I deposited my big suitcase with the […]
England | Europe | France | This Was It Europe 2009
This Was It Europe 2009 – How It All Began / Day 1 (Singapore / London)
How It All Began It’s time to turn back the clocks again and revisit my maiden trip to Europe from 10 to 24 October 2009. This trip was very special for a number of reasons: it was my first time visiting Europe, it was the furthest I had travelled away from home, and it was […]
Day 3: 10 March 2021, Wednesday Woke up today a year older, but I didn’t feel any wiser for that matter. I tell you, birthdays are overrated. Nevertheless, it was still nice to be able to celebrate it while on vacation with my loved ones. In fact, I had some of my most memorable birthdays […]
Day 2: 9 March 2021, Tuesday After a restful night’s sleep, we woke up at around 8am on the second day. The feeling of drawing the curtains and being greeted by the wide, open sea was just wonderful. It was a beautiful day, with wispy clouds in the sky and the endless ocean stretching as […]
Day 1: 8 March 2021, Monday After three weeks of anticipation, the day had finally arrived. We booked a Grab car and reached Marina Bay Cruise Centre Singapore (MBCCS) at 2:20pm. The ship would only sail at 8:00pm but we wanted to maximise our time onboard, so we selected a 3:00pm check-in timeslot. I think […]
How It All Began When the Singapore government first announced last October that two cruise lines had been given the green light to offer “cruises to nowhere” from Singapore starting in November 2020, I thought there was no way I would go on board a cruise ship with thousands of others and risk contracting Covid-19. […]
Day 6: 20 November 2007, Tuesday For our sixth day in New Zealand, we headed north from Rotorua to Paihia, the main tourist town in the Bay of Islands. It was a long journey of over 450km and about six hours of driving. It was late afternoon by the time we checked in to our […]
Day 5: 19 November 2007, Monday – Rotorua After having had our first taste of adrenaline yesterday with the bungy jump, my cousins and I were thirsty for more. We had picked up a few brochures along the way and contemplated what other extreme sports activities we could do. I was quite interested to try […]
Day 4: 18 November 2007, Sunday – Rotorua / Lake Taupo The fourth day of the trip was a very good one, definitely one of the most memorable days of my life. The reason being, it was the day I literally took a leap of faith and did a bungy jump for the first time […]
Since international borders are still closed and I don’t expect to do any travelling in 2021, it’s time to take it way back to 2007 and revisit my first and only trip to New Zealand so far. As this trip occurred more than 13 years ago, I don’t remember the minute details now. At the […]
Asia | Japan | Tokyo Escapade 2013
Tokyo Escapade 2013 – Day 10 & 11 (Daikanyama / Narita / Singapore)
23 February 2013, Saturday In the blink of an eye, 10 wonderful days had flown by and I would be returning to Singapore in the evening. As I still had time to spare in the morning, I made a trip to Daikanyama for breakfast and to spend some quality time discovering new music at Tsutaya […]
22 February 2013, Friday I started my last full day in Tokyo with a visit to Asakusa Kannon Onsen, a historic bath house just three minutes’ walk from my K’s House Tokyo Oasis hostel. It was conveniently located between the Hanayashiki amusement park and Sensoji temple. Established in 1961, Asakusa Kannon Onsen was one of […]
21 February 2013, Thursday It was Day 8 of my trip and I would be heading back to Tokyo today. But before that, I decided to visit an onsen in the morning since Hakone is an area rich with hot springs. After checking out of my lovely Fuji-Hakone Guest House, I took a bus at […]
20 February 2013, Wednesday I had an early start to the day today. After a surprisingly good night’s sleep in my tiny pod, I woke up at 5:30am, packed my things and checked out of my Shinjuku Green capsule hotel an hour later. I then had a quick breakfast at McDonald’s before walking to Shinjuku […]
19 February 2013, Tuesday After a good night’s sleep, I woke up at 7:30am feeling fresh and energised for the day ahead. At 8:45am, I vacated my room at Nikkorisou Backpackers but left my luggage at the lobby because I would first spend the morning exploring the historic shrines at Nikko before heading back to […]
18 February 2013, Monday After spending the past four nights in Tokyo, it was time to head to Nikko, a town about 150km north of the Japanese capital. At 7am, I woke up, did my final packing and checked out of my hostel. I then walked to Asakusa station to catch the Tobu Nikko train. […]
17 February 2013, Sunday Today, acting on my friend MB’s recommendation, I made a day trip to a coastal town called Kamakura and the nearby island of Enoshima, located about an hour south of Tokyo. I had not heard of these two places before so it was great that MB suggested them to me. At […]
16 February 2013, Saturday This morning, I woke up relatively late at 9:15am. At 10am, I left my hostel and took a leisurely walk through Nakamise Shopping Street, just a short distance away from my hostel in Asakusa. I enjoyed looking at the colourful Japanese lanterns and other exquisite souvenir items on sale. They all […]