I am quite familiar with the airfares around the airports of Belgium. I know departure flights from Brussels Airport are the most expensive as compared to departing flights from Paris and Amsterdam to Singapore.

Let us take a look at a case study of how to get the cheapest air ticket to Singapore, including train tickets from Antwerp to the three nearby airports – Brussels, Amsterdam and Paris.

On a few flight comparison sites using Expedia Singapore and Zuji Singapore, results showed that British Airways offered the cheapest promotions to Singapore from Brussels, Amsterdam and Paris. I conducted a search a few weeks before his departure.

I always use these three airports to compare flights since I go there more often than in other countries. I also look out for flights departing from London. It always has the most expensive airfare and longer train journey for my friend.

1. Brussels Zaventem Airport, Belgium

For someone staying in Antwerp, Brussels Zaventem Airport would be the most convenient location to take flight. Unfortunately, it is usually always the most expensive place to depart and to arrive by plane.

Conditions of the three illustrations below:

a) Using exchange rate of 1 Euro = SGD 1.51 as of 22 June 2015

b) Have the same flight duration

• Total travel time from Brussels to Singapore: 22h 05 min (Stopover 7h 50 min)

• Total travel time from Singapore to Brussels: 16h 05 min (Stopover 1hr 05 min)

Illustrations of British Airways airfares from Brussels to Singapore

• Bottom left: Expedia Singapore € 581.65 ≈ SGD 878.30 
• Right: Zuji Singapore € 633.31 ≈ SGD 956.30
• Top Left: British Airway € 735.16 ≈ SGD 1,110.40

Expedia Singapore being the cheapest of the two most popular flight comparison sites in Singapore, it is ironic to read from the analysis that buying the airfare directly in Euro from the British Airways website is much more expensive as compared to buying airfare in Singapore Dollars from Expedia Singapore.

Logically, this is also the most relevant method for the Europeans to search for air tickets in Euro rather than Singapore Dollars because most would never discover this arrangement.

Train Tickets: It costs € 11.20 including € 5 airport tax for a one-way ticket from Antwerp to Brussels Airport and a return ticket would cost € 17.20 bought from Antwerp Central Train Station directly. The train journey will take 34 minutes. The train station to alight will be Brussel National Luchthaven.

*Important: The train ticket should be retained and not thrown away because you also use the same ticket to enter inside the airport. 

Total Cost (Lowest Airfare from Expedia Singapore): € 579.86 + € 17.20 = € 597.06 ≈ SGD 901.56

2. Amsterdam Schiphol Airport, Netherlands

Amsterdam Schiphol Airport is the next best alternative because one can take a  non-high speed train from Antwerp Centraal Station in 2 hours time or a high-speed train (Thalys) in 1 hour time.

Air Ticket purchased from Expedia Singapore on 22 June 2015 (3 days before departure)

Illustrations of British Airways air tickets from Amsterdam to Singapore
Website of Zuji Singapore and British Airways

I decided to buy the airfare from Expedia Singapore this time and choose to depart from Amsterdam because it was the cheapest search after monitoring for some time.

• Expedia Singapore € 508.08 ≈ SGD 767.20
• Zuji Singapore € 547.55 ≈ SGD 826.80
• British Airway € 540.70 ≈ SGD 816.45

The total travelling time to Singapore was also reasonable. The three illustrations above have the same flight time:-

• Total travel time from Amsterdam to Singapore: 17h 40 min (Stopover 3h 25 min)
• Total travel time from Singapore to Amsterdam: 16h 00 min (Stopover 1h 20 min)

In fact for the air ticket price stated above in Expedia Singapore, my friend had chosen to top up an additional SGD 21.30 so that the stopover time of 5.5 hours can be reduced down to 1h 20 min. For British Airways, the top-up was around € 35 to lessen the time of the stopover from 5.5 to 1h 20 min.

Train Tickets: It costs € 31.40 for a one-way train ticket from Antwerp Central Station to Amsterdam Schiphol Airport. If you check the train ticket price separately on a single trip basis, a one-way ticket from Amsterdam Schiphol Airport to Antwerp will cost € 29.40 (see image below).

If you select a round-trip ticket, the calculation based on the online booking system will be € 31.40 x 2 = € 62.80. The search came as a surprise because train tickets will usually cost cheaper if you buy a round-trip ticket instead of a single trip.

My friend went to Antwerp Centraal Station and bought a single trip ticket to Amsterdam Airport on the spot. It cost him € 26 at the ticketing counter which was cheaper than buying online.

He will buy a one-way ticket to Antwerp on the same day when he returns from Singapore to Amsterdam. It would cost him € 29, € 3 more if a person buys train tickets on the same day. Nevertheless, the train prices mentioned above are subject to change frequently.

You might notice below that a Thalys high-speed train that cost € 71.00 took 57 minutes to arrive at the destination. The train journey of the economy ticket (€ 29.40) will take 2h 13 min for arrival.

Total Cost (Cheapest Air Ticket from Expedia Singapore): € 508.08 + € 26.00 + € 29.00 = € 563.08 ≈ SGD 850.25.

Train Ticket from Amsterdam Schiphol Airport to Antwerp Centraal Station

3. Charles De Gaulle Airport (CDG), Paris

Paris CDG Airport is the furthest away from Antwerp. The train journey by high-speed train (TGV) to the airport is 2 hours. The train ticket is more expensive and costs approximately € 60.

I took a train from Antwerp to CDG Airport in January 2015. It cost me € 60 for a TGV ticket. I chose to depart from Paris because the airfare that I had found was significantly cheaper than in Brussels and Amsterdam. Even after I have included in the € 60 train ticket to Paris, the overall cost was still cheaper than departing from Brussels and Amsterdam.

Illustrations of British Airways air tickets from Amsterdam to Singapore

When I travel to Antwerp, it is usually a tie choosing between Paris or Amsterdam if not Brussels. The final decision depends on which airline runs a better promotion for these three cities.

• Bottom left: Expedia Singapore € 530.07 ≈ SGD 800.40 
• Right: Zuji Singapore € 572.58 ≈ SGD 864.60
• Top Left: British Airway € 685.99 ≈ SGD 1,035.85

Expedia Singapore and British Airway have the same flight duration overall except for Zuji Singapore. The first leg of the return trip leaves and arrives 30 minutes later than the other two companies which are not a big issue.

• Total travel time from Paris to Singapore: 16h (Stopover 1h 45 min)
• Total travel time from Singapore to Amsterdam: 17h (Stopover 2h 20 min)

Train Tickets: It costs € 157.40 for a round-trip train ticket making it an average of € 78.70 per ticket. The price of the ticket is high because it is very near to the departure date.

Normally, the price is € 60 from Brussels Midi to Paris CDG Airport for a single trip ticket. There are also no promotional prices or early bird discounts based on my past research.

Add another € 10 of taking a domestic train from Antwerp to Brussels Midi. That explains why the ticket price is € 78.70 per ticket.

Total Cost (Cheapest Airfare from Expedia Singapore): € 530.07 + € 157.40 = € 687.47 ≈ SGD 1,038.08

Round-trip trains ticket price from Antwerp-Berchem to Paris CDG Airport

Conclusion

How to buy the cheapest air ticket from Brussels, Amsterdam & Paris to Singapore?

√ 1. Use a few flight comparison sites such as Expedia and Zuji Singapore for a general guideline on the airline companies offering good airfare promotions during the period of your travel.

√ 2. Go to the airline company website which has good airfare promotion and note the price.

√ 3. Compare whether the flight comparison site or the airline website offers a better price.

√ 4. Use your country airline website and the arriving country airline website (same or different currency) to make a comparison.

Example

• Expedia Singapore versus Expedia Belgium and Expedia France (Simply change your search location in Expedia Singapore)
• British Airways Singapore (SGD) versus British Airways (Pounds) and British Airways Belgium (Euro)

Don’t be surprised if there is a significant difference in the airfares prices if you compare two neighbouring countries (Belgium and France) in the same currency – Euro.

I discovered this in 2014 when I wanted to go back to Singapore from Belgium. There was a notable price difference by changing the search location to another country. An airline company could reflect different airfares even though the flight schedules were the same.

Change in Currency Exchange

Euro was rather weak at the point of purchase (€1 = SGD 1.51). We were hoping that the Euro might strengthen over the next one month during the vacation in Singapore. If that happens, my friend can change Euro for more Singapore Dollars which mean that his air ticket will be relatively cheaper thanks to the exchange rate.

1. By Plane to Kuala Lumpur
2. By Train from Singapore/JB Sentral to Genting Highlands
3. By Coach from Singapore to Genting Highlands
4. By Coach from Johor Bahru to Genting Highlands

Direction

1. How to go Johor Bahru (JB) from Singapore?
2. Where is JB Sentral (for taking a train) located?
3. How to go to the Travel Agencies in Johor Bahru (JB)?
4. Where is Mushroom Farm Bus Terminal in Genting?
5. Miscellaneous Information

• Condition of the Coach
• Stopping at Yong Peng for a 30 mins break

Arrival in Genting Highlands

1. Hotel Room (Standard Room)
2. Facility in Standard Room
3. WiFi

• McDonald
• Starbucks Coffee

Food Review in Genting Highlands

• Lobby Café
• Hou Mei Café 好味
• Eat@B5
• Western Food inside Resorts World Casino
• Good Luck Restaurant 鸿运
• Coffee Terrace
• 2nd floor of First World Hotel
• 3rd floor of First World Hotel – East Court 东庭

4. Transport Services

• Transtar Express
• Sri Highlands Taxi

5. Shopping
6. Entertainment
7. Recommended Stay

How to Go Genting Highlands, Malaysia?

The first third of the page will provide various booking options from Singapore and Malaysia to Genting Highlands in Malaysia and subsequently, in Genting Highlands. I spent four days three nights in Genting Highlands from 14 to 18 April 2015.

There are four ways to go to Genting Highlands (also known as RW Genting) from Singapore or Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA).

1. By Plane to Kuala Lumpur

It takes 50 minutes to 1 hour of flight time from Singapore Changi Airport to Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) whereas a coach/bus will take an average of 5 to 7 hours of travel time.

You can check travel comparison websites with various budget airlines for comparison purposes. You can get a good rate for your air ticket and take a plane to save your time and energy from time to time.

Upon arrival at Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA), take a taxi to go Genting and that would cost around RM 200+.

2. By Train from Singapore or JB Sentral to Genting Highlands

If you have always been taking a coach to Genting Highlands, you may want to be more adventurous by exploring the train option.

a) You can buy online and state the departure point.

*How to use: 

• If you are going from Singapore, select “Singapore” to “KL Sentral” (Kuala Lumpur Central Station).
• The departure point is at Woodlands Train Checkpoint. The street directory map is in the link.

Random Check: Woodlands, Singapore to KL Sentral, Malaysia
on 1 May 2015

• If you are going from Johor Bahru, select “JB Sentral” to “KL Sentral” (Kuala Lumpur Central Station).
• Take a 35 minutes taxi ride (36.45 km) to go up to Genting Highlands from KL Sentral or rent a car.

Random Check: JB Sentral to KL Sentral (Malaysia) on 4 May 2015

Alternatively, you may like to plan your holiday by spending a few days in Kuala Lumpur and then taking a taxi up to Genting Highlands or vice versa.

b) You can also buy your train ticket directly from the counter in the hall after clearing your passport in Johor Bahru Checkpoint. Photo as shown below.

Train Ticket Counter in Johor Bahru Checkpoint

3. By Coach from Singapore to Genting Highlands

a) Book from any travel agency in Singapore. You have to ask about the pickup point because some travel agencies only have one or two pickup points which may be out of the way for you.

b) Book online to save you the hassle of going down to the travel agency. There will be many pickup points to choose from that convenient you. The ticket will cost around SGD (Singapore Dollars) 47.00 – 90.00 on a random check depending on the number of seats on the bus, date and time of departure. See the illustrations below.

There are many coach services to go to Genting Highlands and many parts of Malaysia every day with different time slots. Choose a timing and price that you prefer.

Most of the coaches that depart from Singapore or Johor Bahru will stop in Yong Peng town in Malaysia for 30 minutes for a quick meal or toilet break.

*How to use: 

• For departure, select “Any Location in Singapore” or the location that you want to depart.
• For arrival, select “Any Location in Genting Highlands”.

You will see a variety of pick-up and drop-off points in Singapore and Genting Highlands, prices for adults and children, types and availability of seats that will depart on that day.

Below are examples from www.easybook.com for illustrations.

Random Check: Singapore (Various Pickup Locations) to Genting Highlands, Malaysia (Various Locations) on 1 May 2015

Random Check: Genting Highlands, Malaysia (Mushroom Farm Bus Terminal) to Singapore (Various Locations) on 4 May 2015

4. By Coach from Johor Bahru to Genting Highlands

a) Book the ticket online.

*How to use: 

• For departure, select “JB Merlin Tower“ or the location that you want to depart.
• For arrival, select “Any Location in Genting Highlands”.

Random Check: JB Merlin Tower to Genting Highlands, Malaysia on 1 – 4 May 2015

b) Buy or reserve directly from the travel agency in Merlin Tower at Johor Bahru.

This time, I went with my family via this option. My father bought the tickets directly from the coach company, Transtar Express located in Jln. Siu Chin (Jalan Siu Chin) 10 days before departure.

You can save 50% of the cost by buying from the travel agencies in Johor Bahru instead of the travel agencies in Singapore. The sale of a ticket is RM 55.00 per trip with the exception that during Malaysia school holidays, the ticket price would be RM 60.00 or more.

The lady at the counter said it was possible to call and reserve the tickets over the phone without making any deposit. Collect the ticket 1 hour before the departure time on an actual day.

At this point of writing, the Malaysian Ringgit depreciates its lowest at the exchange rate of SGD 1 to MYR 2.60. It is the best time to buy tickets directly from the counter or online in the Malaysian Ringgit.

My father recalled an incident where he purchased a ticket from Grassland in Merlin Tower at RM 60.00. He thought it was more expensive because Grassland is a reputable company in Singapore and usually cost a bit more.

When he went to pick up the ticket at Grassland on that day, he was asked to go to another travel agency – 707 for collection, located along the same stretch of street. He used to buy from 707 frequently at RM 55.00 until it stopped selling evening coach tickets from Johor Bahru to Genting Highlands.

My father has been buying the tickets from Johor Bahru for seven years because he goes to Genting frequently. He knows that the coach ticket costs only RM 55.00 except during the school holidays and peak season.

Of course, at that time when he bought the ticket at RM 60.00, there might also be the possibility of buying it during the school holiday period. Therefore, the advice is to compare the prices among the few travel agencies along the same street before you buy.

I have highlighted various possibilities of transportation from Singapore to Genting Highlands. The same rule applies if you are taking a coach to other places in Malaysia.

If you are really on a tight budget, buy directly from the counters in Malaysia. But for convenience sake, it is easier to buy online with just a click of a button and print out the reservation ticket.

Quick Tip: Always play safe by capturing a screenshot of the purchased ticket from your phone or print immediately after ticket reservation online in case the email confirmation does not come in.

*All prices stated are subject to change according to high and low seasons, public holidays and school holidays. It is correct at the time of writing.

Directions

1. How to take public transport to Go Johor Bahru (JB) from Singapore?

1a. Bus 160 and 170 from SBS Transit will bring you to Johor Bahru. Click the link to look at the bus routes and stations to check whether you can take these buses.

OR

1b. Take MRT (North-South line – Red) and alight at Kranji MRT station. Cross the road to take Bus 160 or 170). 160 is a faster and shorter route to JB.

2. The bus will suspend its service temporary at the Singapore Woodlands Custom Checkpoint. All passengers will get off the bus to go through the custom. Tap your card and the EZ reader inside the bus will indicate on the screen as “suspended”.

3. After clearing the custom, the passengers can take the same bus number to continue their journey without extra charge.

4. The bus will bring you to Malaysia Customs Checkpoint across the causeway in less than 10 minutes provided that the traffic is smooth.

5. Everyone will have to alight as this is the final destination.

2. Where is JB Sentral (for taking a train) located?

JB Sentral is located on the first floor towards the right side after clearing the custom.

3. How to Go to the Travel Agencies in Johor Bahru (JB)?

The travel agencies are on the ground floor of Johor Bahru Merlin Tower (map), about 300 metres of walking from the JB Custom. It is on the left side after the exit. In another word, it is along the same street as City Square Shopping Centre on the left if you are facing it.

a) The stretch of travel agencies.

b) Our tickets bought from Transtar Express travel agency

c) Bus leaving for Genting at 9 am and 11 pm from Transtar Express.

d) View of the JB Checkpoint on the left from the shop front of Transtar Express.

e) Street of Jln. Siu Chin. One side of it is the petrol station.

f) On the street opposite the travel agencies. Hopefully, you will not get lost with these photos.

g) You can take your meal on the street that is 1 to 2 minutes of walking behind the travel agencies. There are a lot of coffee shops nearby. You have choices of Chinese food and Malay food which are in a different area but near to each other.

We wanted to take our dinner in Jalan Siu Nam with a stretch of hawkers around 9.40 pm. At this time, most of the hawkers were closed or ending for the day.

h) The food that I had ordered cost me RM 5.50. It was cheap and good.

4. Where is Mushroom Farm Bus Terminal in Genting?

There will be free shuttle buses to take you from the hotels in Genting Highlands to Mushroom Farm Bus Terminal where most travel coaches stop. The coach bay area in First World Hotel is on the opposite left side of the hotel which a big signboard states “Shuttle Bus to Mushroom Farm Bus Terminal”.

5. Miscellaneous Information

• Condition of the Coach

The coach from Five Stars arrived at 10.50 pm. I have a very positive image of the coaches from Five stars because they had well-maintained, thick cushioned seats which resembled new and very comfortable. The interior was clean and pleasant looking. The inclination of the seat can be adjusted to very low, giving plenty of leg rest.

• Stopping at Yong Peng for a 30 minutes break

Most road trips to other parts of Malaysia from Singapore or Johor Bahru usually stop 30 minutes at Yong Peng after 1 hour 30 minutes of travelling from Johor Bahru for a quick meal or a toilet break before continuing the journey. After 30 minutes of break, an announcement on the coach number would be made for all the passengers to proceed back to the coach immediately.

Arrival in Genting Highlands

The coach departed at 11 pm and took 5 hours to arrive at Genting Highlands First World Hotel at 4 am. The driver told me that he would not stop in Yong Peng for his driving style which led to an earlier arrival.

In fact, many coaches have the same practice now by not stopping in Yong Peng. Expect about 1 to 2 toilet breaks. It would take longer to arrive at the hotels during the daytime due to heavier traffic.

We had booked the room in First World Hotel for one extra night in advance and hence, we would be able to check-in immediately on arrival. Unfortunately, for the rest of the hotel guests who took the same coach with us, they were told to come back at 10 am that morning to get their room because the hotel rooms were fully booked.

If there were rooms available, the hotel staff might be able to give them a room immediately. Such practice was performed in the past but expect it to be always full house during peak season at First World Hotel.

Hotel Room in First World Hotel at Genting Highlands (Standard Room)

We had both the Standard and Deluxe Room for three nights stay in First World Hotel. The one night stay in Deluxe Room was given free to my parents as a voucher. Additionally, they used their Genting Reward Points to deduct 11 points per night to book another two more nights of Standard Room.

The hotel staff was not able to upgrade all our three-night stays to Deluxe Room since we did not want to pay for better rooms, they decided to stick to Standard Room. It would cost RM 15.00 for any room request such as staying on the same floor, connecting room or room with a view. Expect to pay RM 30.00 for a specific request on room numbers.

The Management knew how to reap their profit from us. Other hotels that I have stayed in before never requested to pay additional charges for a special room request. The Standard Room that my auntie and I stayed were my mum’s birthday voucher. For many years, the Standard Room has been changed to a better room.

The Management of First World Hotel had either changed their policy by not wanting to upgrade those birthday voucher’s room or because it was fully booked. One lady that we met at the reception counter also told us that she did not have her room upgraded with her birthday voucher and this was not the same as the previous time.

I think Genting Highlands has been a very popular resort over the years looking at the demands of their rooms and the crowd there. They no longer can maintain the high standard of basic services for their members as they might not be able to handle it anymore.

i) Reception and self-check kiosk. Instructions on the usage and timing.

j) Notice to charge RM 15.00 for request of a room change.

Standard Room of First World Hotel

I believe that First World Hotel has upgraded their room. The room looks nicer now than many years ago to my impression. One thing that remained unchanged in First World Hotel is that they never have any hooks or equivalent inside the toilet for hanging clothes while showering.

Even though the Standard Room is the most economical room of all and one shouldn’t be expecting too many facilities, it is not unreasonable to expect that the shower room must have some hooks for hanging clothes or some other ways to solve this problem as this is the most basic equipment that a shower facility should have.

One can hang clothes outside the shower metal bar but it was so short that if you hang a towel at the bar, you have not much space to hang other clothes. One has to open up the door to take the clothes. Imagine staying with someone not close to you, how awkward would that be with a system that doesn’t protect the modesty of a person. How ridiculous can that be!

The hotel staff explained that the toilet and shower room in Tower 1 were separated and hence, constructed in such a manner. The shower room and the toilet in Tower 2 were built together so the problem was eliminated by not being seen by someone while opening up the shower room.

The items below are inside a Standard Room of the First World Hotel. Bring your own if you need more:-

• 2 Towels (medium size)
• 1 Soap Dispenser
• 4 Hangars

If you can afford it, please upgrade your room at First World Hotel to the next better one. Having no hook in the toilet is rather inconvenient, at least for me.

k) First World Hotel and the Standard Room.

l) 22nd level lobby view.

WiFi

With Genting being such a popular resort and earning much revenue from the casino, what a shame that they still do not have free WiFi provided in the comfort of our room and the vicinity around it.

The rate for WiFi is RM 10.00 for 1 hour and RM 15.00 for 24 hours of usage. The hotel paid WiFi is ONLY restricted to the hotel lobby area nowhere else. Genting, please upgrade your WiFi technology to give a better service to your guests!!

⇒ McDonald

Free WiFi is available at McDonald located along the linkway of First World Hotel and Resort Hotel. It is not necessary to purchase any food. Just register with your gadget and use it. There is one KFC restaurant beside McDonald. You can even tap the network standing outside Mcdonald and maybe inside KFC too.

⇒ Starbucks Coffee

Starbucks Coffee First World Hotel

Photo Shot Outside Starbucks Coffee

First World Hotel Entrance

Starbucks Coffee café is another well-known WIFI hotspot at the far end corner outside First World Hotel. You purchase something from Starbucks and it comes with a wifi password on the Starbuck receipt. The Wifi connection will last for 2 hours. After 2 hours, you can request a new password from the counter.

Do note that one password can only log into one mobile or another gadget at a time. There is no way you can log out from the first device and use the password on another phone or gadget. If that happens, the first user cannot use back the same password anymore.

In other words, you cannot cheat with one password sharing on two gadgets no matter how. I had verified with the staff that technically it was not possible. He gave me a new password to log in again because I logged into two gadgets and failed.

At the main entrance of First World Hotel, walk towards the right of the photo and Starbucks Coffee is located at the end of the corner.

Food Reviews in Genting Highlands

⇒ Lobby Café

m) Lobby Café is in the lobby area of First World Hotel. We ate Wonton Noodle, Steamed Chicken Rice and Nasi Lemak. My family reviewed that the food was not nice because there were a lot of MSG added. I tried one wanton and the meat had not much taste either. It will be our last time eating in this restaurant with lousy food standards.

n) Please see the list of food and prices of Lobby Café by enlarging the image.

⇒ Hou Mei Café

We patronised Hou Mei 好味 café located near to the shopping and the indoor theme park area of First World Hotel for dinner. We ordered Chicken Noodle 鸡丝面, Assam Noodle (also known as Penang Assam Laksa), Prawn Noodle, Fishcakes and a plate of bean sprouts. It cost RM 19.00 for a bowl of noodles. Their servings were huge and two people can share.

I have been eating Assam noodles frequently from the same café for the past few years. It is my favourite of all time. However, Assam noodle is not the type of taste that everyone would get used too especially non-Asians.

The chicken noodle also tasted better as compared to the food standard in Lobby Café described above. Prawn Noodle is my best recommendation as it has a rich flavour. I highly recommend this restaurant for trying out local cuisine without burning a hole in your pocket.

⇒ Eat@B5

On the second and third morning, we went to a food court called Eat@B5 on the first floor beside the Resorts World Hotel area because my father said the food was inexpensive and good. The food court was at the left corner beside a taxi company and Transtar Express company. Refer to Photo q) below.

My auntie had roasted duck and the portion of the duck was very generous and delicious. Highly recommended! I had nasi lemak again and it was not too bad. Better than Lobby Café that I had on the first day. My parents loved the fishball noodle soup and they had the same food for two mornings!

⇒ Western Food Inside Resort World Casino

We had western food inside a food court in the Resort Hotel Casino for dinner on the second night as my father said that they served nice western food. I ordered salmon. In the midst of hunger, I gobbled down my food and forgot to take a photo. The salmon was a bit over-fried and tasted dry. The mushroom soup was creamy and yummy.

⇒ Good Luck Restaurant

We had dinner in this Good Luck Restaurant 鸿运 located inside the Resorts World casino. I took my first photo and was told by the staff no photography was allowed inside the casino. I wouldn’t want to argue on that point even though it was the restaurant that I was taking.

I had a salted vegetable with duck soup and jackfruit for dinner. The soup tasted average. There was a variety of food inside but the menu was more or less the same.

⇒ Coffee Terrace

Coffee Terrace at Maxims Genting Hotel will always be my top choice in Genting Highlands. No matter how many times I have dined in Coffee Terrace, the food is always so good as ever over the years.

The classy restaurant serves international and local buffets so you can try all of them if you can stomach them down. What’s more, the cosy ambience is a huge plus for remaining there longer.

I paid RM 40 for my brunch during the recent trip in March 2016. This buffet restaurant has my vote for a must-have if you want to try a variety of sumptuous food.

⇒ Second floor located within the shops and Indoor Theme Park

There are not many food courts and restaurants on the 2nd level. Most of them were shops. I spotted one QiQi Taiwanese cuisine and Hot Pot at the corner beside the lift but did not try them.

⇒ Third floor – East Court 东庭

I tried another Chinese restaurant – East Court 东庭 one year later after the published date of this article. Their method of cooking some dishes caught us by surprise. The Clay Pot Tofu was in a soup form instead of the thick sauce with which we were familiar.

The minced pork was a disappointment because it had a strong disgusting taste that implied that it was not that fresh. My favourite was the custard puff 流沙包. There were three inside the basket. All of us loved it!

o) There is also one food court – Kopitiam (literally means “Coffeeshop” in English) that has a variety of food stalls such as the famous Malaysian food – Lok Lok, Taiwanese Cuisine and many others that are worth trying. With a large concentration of food courts and restaurants on the first floor, you are spoilt for choices just by walking around.

p) The view of the Indoor Theme Park taken from the 3rd floor. There were not many people on the third level due to a lack of activities.

Transport Services

q) The Eat@B5 food court is on the left end corner of the photo. There was a Transtar Express bus company and a Sri Highlands taxi company.

• Transtar Express

r) A single trip ticket from Genting to Johor Bahru Merlin Tower where we took the coach on the first day cost RM 40.00 during the non-peak period and RM 45.00 during the peak period for this particular company shown in the photo.

It was cheaper to purchase the ticket from the Transtar Express company as the departure point is also at Mushroom Farm Bus Terminal. My father bought our single trip tickets back to Singapore on the first day of arrival from a coach company in Mushroom Farm Bus Terminal at RM 50.00 per ticket.

s) Price list from Singapore to Genting.

• Sri Highlands Taxi

I enquired about some rates from this taxi company. It cost RM 90.00 from Genting to KL Sentral and RM 180.00 from Genting to Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA). It may cost more to take a taxi from KLIA to Genting as told by one staff – around RM 200 plus. All prices quoted are one-way trips and can take up to four passengers per taxi.

Shopping

t) We went to Rico Galleria, a shop in Genting Grand. I bought two accessory watches at RM 20.00 per piece. Before buying, a man took one pink watch for his wife which I wanted to buy. I told him I was buying it. He repeated two times that I had made a good judgement. Later, he chose another design in pink colour for his wife. I was pleased with my cheap purchase.

Most shops were in First World Hotel as compared to the other hotels there. Check out on Shopping Directory from a list of Things to Do there to find out the shops there.

Entertainment

You can watch some shows or concerts from your favourite celebrities all over the world. Check out the Entertainment category to see who will be showcasing their talent, the dates, location, ticket price, events and not forgetting about cinemas. I watched Jolin Tsai performance many years ago in Arena of Stars.

u) Times Square inside the Indoor Theme Park has free entertainment and shows from time to time. At the end of the performance, the performers will ask for tips from the audience. At this time, the crowd dispersed quickly. It is a hilarious sight, very “Asiatique”.

v) The man pulled up his pants on purpose to reveal the Chinese word “谢谢” (meaning “thank you”) tattooed on each leg. Unfortunately, my phone camera could not capture that shot.

Recommended Stay

I have travelled to Genting countless times over the past two decades. I always felt that three days two nights stay is ideal if you are not crazy about the theme park and casino. Any vacation more than three nights there can get kind of boring especially when you are not into shopping and casino.

With global warming on the rise, the temperature is higher now on average and is no longer as cooling as before. I would not stay there longer for the sake of enjoying the weather not as cooling as before.

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Finland

• Helsinki
  •  Good Deal from Finnair Airlines

1. Buffet Lunch in Yacht Club
2. Park in Helsinki
3. Kamppi Shopping Centre
4. Reindeer Meat
5. Finnair Bus to and from Helsinki-Vantaa International Airport
6. Shopping Streets
7. Sanoma House and Public Library
8. Cruise Around Suomenlinna Sea Fortress
9. Pizza Making at Home

FINLAND

Helsinki (20 – 24 May 2013)

Good Deal from Finnair Airlines

I had a very good deal from Finnair at this time. The planned destination was supposed to be just Belgium. I had a friend in Helsinki who asked me to stop by and visit him. I discovered that Finnair could have a transit time of 7 days in Helsinki before continuing my journey to Belgium.

I grabbed the deal for only SGD 1,083 which was so cheap! I stayed there for 7 days at my friend’s house which was too long just visiting a city. When I returned from Belgium to Singapore, I selected the stopover time for just 2 to 3 hrs.

I would just like you to take note that Finnair does offer such a service of a long stopover time in Helsinki. If you have not visited Helsinki, maybe you should just check it out and see whether you could stop by and visit for a few days like what I did before proceeding to your next destination.

1)  My first lunch after landing in Helsinki. We went to a buffet lunch in a yacht club. It cost €12.90 which I think was not expensive to eat in Europe. However, the spread of the buffet was very limited. Probably around 7 dishes to choose from comprising of salad to the main dish of 3 choices.

As I walked along the street of Helsinki later, I saw that many restaurants offered buffets at around the same price. My conclusion was that food in the restaurants of Helsinki was not that expensive as compared to some other parts of Europe.

2) I went to this park, near the city area of Helsinki. This was a very beautiful park with a lot of green for people to sit on the slab for resting and meeting. I had a sandwich for € 5. There was an exhibition of some sort for a special sports event.

3) One morning, I was wondering what to eat for brunch. I went to Kamppi Shopping Centre which was very near to where I was staying and I had this nice chicken salad. The café also had a very nice cosy atmosphere.

Some buildings around Helsinki was very nice and modern. I could not help but take some photos of the buildings. The underground train station of Kamppi had a lot of shops too. Although there were a lot of people, I still felt that Finnish were rather cold people.

I asked some questions on a few pieces of Max Factor mascaras that I wanted to buy. Although the sales assistant responded, I still felt a lack of warmth from her eyes though she was friendly. Maybe they were struggling to speak in English? I was not sure.

The Finnish generally didn’t make a lot of eye contact with me, unlike some other European countries that I had visited. Maybe they weren’t interested to look at the Asians at all or maybe it was just me hmmm…

4) Reindeer meat?? I couldn’t believe that this could be eaten. We went to a Finnish restaurant where my friend ordered a plate of reindeer meat. I think this is a common dish in northern Europe but not in other parts of Europe. I ordered cod fish which I was sure to like it in whichever way they cooked.

I tasted the reindeer meat in great curiosity. I would describe the taste to be even stronger than beef, a very savage kind of taste which you either like or hate. I would say the taste was indeed strange and unforgettable for me.

I wouldn’t say I would hate it but I think I would not want to finish the whole plate nor would I order a plate by myself the next time. I am not a beef lover so I reckoned the taste of the meat was too strong for me to handle.  At least I counted myself fortunate to have tasted such a unique dish in Finland which I never knew existed.

5) I saw a Finnair bus that would bring people to and fro the Helsinki Airport for € 6.30 in the city centre. Finnair bus schedule time was also displayed on the board. The bus driver will collect cash from the passenger. It is advisable to prepare the exact amount of the fare to expedite the queuing time.

6) I like the shopping streets in Helsinki city centre because the design of the routes on the map was organised and it was easy to cover every street.

7) The city centre in Helsinki has one of the most numbers of easily accessible free wifi that I could use in a few places without any hassle. In this shopping centre was one of them with the wifi network.

8) Stockmann was another popular shopping mall and the stretch of street was especially vibrant.

9) Right at the front of Stockmann was a café filled with patrons having a beer during summertime. I had one there with my friend chit-chatting and the environment was very upbeat.

10) I took the photo of this building because I simply love such design!

11) Sanoma House was another impressionable building that looked so vulnerable and yet trendy. The entire building was created primarily from translucent glass which gave a very pristine design. It was the brainchild of Professor Jan Söderlund and Architect Antti-Matti Siikala in an architectural competition organised by Sanoma in 1995.

12) I also walked into a public library to take a rest discreetly. I was very curious to see how their public library looked like.

13) I had spent a lot of days walking alone in the city centre and on the street covering most of the places of interest and every little corner while my friend worked. He suggested that I went for this cruise which would go around the Suomenlinna Sea Fortress.

I was a bit hesitant to take a cruise initially because it could be quite boring for me to be alone on a ferry. As I have run out of idea where to go next, I decided to take the cruise which cost € 20 for an hour ride to pass time. Inside the ferry, I paid another € 15 to have a buffet lunch as I reckoned I had a lot of time (1 hr) to eat inside the cruise.

Since I was alone, I was arranged to sit at a table with an Australian couple – Mr and Mrs Goldberg. They were so friendly and we began to talk non-stop during the trip sharing about our travel adventures. All of us were not even paying much attention to the island nor hearing the narration.

I was invited to visit Newcastle near to Sydney where they stayed and they even offered to host me for free. They told me how beautiful the beach was and that I could ride camels on the beach.

The Finnish buffet was mostly made of cold food and was rather sour. It tasted quite similar to what I had in the yacht club on the first day when I arrived. I concluded that this might be how the typical Finnish food tasted like.

On the bottom right of the image, one strange-looking jelly texture food with some meat in it caught my attention. It was something I had never eaten nor seen before in my life. I was explained by Mr Goldberg that it was likely to be compounded waste of meat. It tasted bland.

Overall it was a nice acquaintance to meet beautiful strangers everywhere I go and whom I will call them friends later.

14) Our chatty conversation was interrupted suddenly at one point in time when we heard that the red submarine we saw afar at Suomenlinna was the last Submarine Vesikko in Finland.

15) Back to my me-time again after the ride and while walking on the street, I was attracted by this sandwich shop which was operating its business in a van. The 2 men behind the counter encouraged me with their positive gestures when they saw me taking photos of the van.

Another amusing thing was that the signboard displayed outside the shop was written in Chinese which they intended to attract Chinese customers.

16) My friend making pizza in his house. He was following a recipe on his phone. The pizza didn’t turn out to taste nice. The crust was bland although it looked good.

The more interesting thing about this photo was that my Swedish friend is tall, standing at 1.91m. Taking a photo with a giant was fun as you can see how he towered over me, even when he knelt down, he was almost the same height as me.

Cambodia

• Phnom Penh
  •  Contradicting Feeling for Phnom Penh

Day 1

1. How to Go to the City from the Airport?
2. Seametrey Children’s Village
3. You Khin House ✐ Airbnb Review
4. Four Ladies Kitchen  Food Review (i)

Day 2

1. National Museum
2. Wat Phnom
3. Phsar Thmei
4. Sorya Shopping Mall
5. Silver Pagoda and Royal Palace
6. Street Hawkers
7. Lucky Supermarket
8. Bayon Market
9. Phsar Reatrey

Day 3

1. Choeung Ek Genocidal Centre
2. Tuol Sleng Museum / S21 Killing Fields

Day 4

1. Cambodia Post
2. Koh Dach
3. Khmer Saravan Restaurant  Food Review

Day 5

Four Ladies Kitchen  Food Review (ii)

CAMBODIA

Phnom Penh (20 – 24 Feb 2013)

 Contradicting Feeling for Phnom Penh 

It is a contradicting answer to ask myself whether I like Phnom Penh or not after spending 5 days 4 nights in the Capital of Cambodia.

The Khmers are plagued by the memories of the recent wars and they have fears till today if the wars would ever come back again and would they ever have eternal peace from now on?

Indeed, a trip to the Killing Field and Genocide Museum explained all. Painful memories of the past where anyone would wish that history would never repeat itself again.

I enjoyed spending 5 hrs of my time in The Choeung Ek Genocidal Centre and Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum is also known as S21 Killing Fields learning about the inhumane acts carried out by the Khmer Rouge and empathizing with the terror of the Khmers, which were the highlights of this Cambodia trip.

It impinged my heart with sorrows and compassion for months whenever I think about it. The photos of those tortured deceased were so grossed that I stopped taking photographs in the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum at some point so as not to bring back the memories and to be reminded.

The Khmer People hope that the Government would improve their life and economy so that it could be comparative to their neighbouring country, Vietnam, which is improving their standard of living faster than Cambodia in many aspects.

There is no public transport – no bus, no train, no taxi on the road except for Airport pick-up and drop-off. The people in Phnom Penh ride motorbikes and use Tuk Tuk as a way of transporting tourists.

If public transportation does not improve, tourism in Phnom Penh would be impeded. There are no beautiful shopping centres or stunning attractions (probably one or two) to rave about or maybe I was disturbed emotionally to judge Phnom Penh accurately.

There are not many reasons to visit the same city for a second time unless there is progress in the tourism industry to attract people of various interests as it is considered a backward city. I would want to explore Siam Reap the next time when I go to Cambodia.

I love the place where I have booked from Airbnb. It was so homely, cosy and surrounded by extremely nice Khmers that it is better than staying in a hotel. The food was absolutely the best pamper here. You would hear that more of it if you continue reading.

So is my overview above a contradiction of my feeling?

Day 1

Places of Interest:  Phnom Penh International Airport  Seametrey Children’s Village  You Khin House ✐ Airbnb Review  Four Ladies Kitchen  Food Review 

1) My friend and I arrived at Phnom Penh International Airport which was a small, simple-looking but clean airport.

2) Security was enforced in the airport.

3) People could only receive their guests outside the airport which was not typical of most arrival halls which the act was done within the airport.

How to Go to the City from the Airport?

4) From the airport, we have a choice to decide between taking a Tuk-Tuk which cost US$ 7 or a taxi which cost US$ 10 per trip, both at a fixed rate. We chose Tuk-Tuk and the ride took 20 to 30 minutes time to arrive at You Khin Guesthouse which I had booked from Airbnb. It had the lowest cost but most importantly, we wanted to support and do some charity.

5) Adjoining You Khin Guesthouse was Seametrey Children’s Village, a school for the children from underprivileged Cambodia’s families and a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO).

The school is funded by donations and revenue from guests like us who book the rooms from You Khin Guesthouse. It felt really good to go on vacation and to help the less privileged children at the same time so that they have a chance to study in the school.

The school operates on the principle based on the income of the parents and how much they can afford to send their children to the school. In another word, the well-to-do family will pay more to help the less fortunate families.

A tour could also be arranged by You Khin house to visit Seametrey Children’s Village and understand more about their school environment and condition. We had the opportunity to be shown around by a friendly staff, Than Soklim.

Through the latest Facebook post, the school would be moving to a new destination. All the best to them and I hope there would be a continuous string of supporters to the Founder – Mrs Muoy You, who has pitched many years of her efforts in improving the Cambodia Education System for the less privileged children.

The BEST Place to Stay in Phnom Penh, Cambodia!!!

 Look NO MORE!!

Every inch of the Guest House is tastefully designed by the husband of Owner/Director Muoy You, who was an Architect. Unfortunately, he has passed on but left behind an astounding legacy to be shared and enjoyed by the world in the less developed capital of Phnom

6) We went to the counter to request a dedicated and reliable Tuk Tuk driver to drive us around for the next 4 days of our trip upon our arrival at a very low and reasonable rate.

7) Even at the entrance of You Khin House, I was already intrigued by the cleanliness, the organisation of the space and the cosy design which made me feel at home immediately.

8) The dining room area which was facing a small pool attracted me to come and support the Cambodian food daily without fail.

9) We could even find a pool bed between the dining room and the pool.

10) The lounge area in another block of the building where the guest rooms were located had a couch, plenty of books and artistic paintings. There were also some musical instruments on display. I could feel the designer’s artistic streak.

11) In order to maintain the highest comfort level for everyone, all shoes have to be removed before going up the stairs. The guest rooms were located on the 2nd floor. On the 3rd floor, we could find a snooker table and more interesting seat designs for resting.

12) The rooms were very clean, looked very new and maintained at the highest standard possible. The toilet was extremely impressive for us! The design was pretty and had pebbles on the floor. Not a stain could be found in any corner and even the photo reflected no fingerprint on the glass pane.

We were particular about the cleanliness and hygiene of the toilet, not just the room! At this juncture, we were completely bowled over by the cheap, reasonable price that we paid for but was getting 5-stars cleanliness!!! In the guests’ review of Airbnb, they had wonderful impressions of You Khin House.

13) We had a lovely pool and dining room view from our room. Though we never dipped into the pool, it was still something lovely to use inside a simple guesthouse if you do not mind about the petite size.

14) Our first Khmer dinner in the kitchen of You Khin’s House – The Four Ladies’ Kitchen. It was very delicious and painstakingly prepared as you could see from some of the food pictures. They served big portion at all times!

It cost US$ 4.50 for a big bowl of Tom Yum Soup. Their Tom Yum soup was cooked differently from the original Thai style as the ladies over here used carnation milk in which the strong milky taste could be distinguished. It tasted nice in its own style but we still prefered the original Thai way of cooking.

We also ordered rice with eggs and fries that cost USD 4.50 and a plate of vegetables. We had mango juice squeezed from real mango and it was very delicious and sweet. My friend and I found all the portions to be too generous for just 2 people and we didn’t know it since it was our first order. Subsequently, we ordered less food because of the huge portion.

We went to the small mini-bar next to it and ordered a Cambodian beer named ‘Ang Kor’ which only cost USD 1!!! I am usually not an alcohol drinker. The beer was so smooth and that I gulped down very fast. I was perhaps too thirsty after eating so much food and the beer was kind of light.

We also have a nice exchange of conversation with the lady staff cum bartender, Soklim to learn more about the culture and history of Cambodia for more than 2 hrs!!!

Day 2

Places of Interest: National Museum Wat Phnom Phsar Thmei Sorya Shopping Mall Silver Pagoda  Royal Palace Street Hawkers Lucky Supermarket Bayon Market Phsar Reatrey

15) Photo-taking is not allowed inside the National Museum unless you pay. I saw mostly Siddharta stone sculptures inside the museum.

16) I spotted a woman outside the National Museum who was cleaning up the poo of her baby. She walked over to me and begged for money after discovering that I had taken a photo of them. I didn’t give any money to her though I pitied her predicament. It was strange for me to see how a mother could place her baby naked on the floor.

17) Wat Phnom is a Buddhist temple built in 1373, located on the highest ground of 27 metres on a “hill” in the city. The entrance fee is US$ 1 and there was nothing much to see inside to my disappointment. We discovered later that one could avoid paying the entrance fee by going from another entrance. What a loophole.

18) Phsar Thmei is the Central Market where one could find the bazaar selling food and clothes items. There were many things to buy, new and used items.

19) Walking along the busy, crowded streets around Central Market towards Soriya Supermarket. We were told that it was the most upper-class shopping mall in Phnom Penh.

I would describe the houses and streets to be very clustered and motorbikes being the main form of transportation for the Khmers were taking up a lot of space on the street. We felt quite safe to walk on the busy street but carried our haversack on the front for precaution.

20) Inside Sorya Shopping Mall, I was banned by the security guards to stop taking photographs inside the building later. The shopping mall did not look very posh and I equated it to a similar standard of Far East Plaza in Singapore.

Nevertheless, it was the first shopping mall in Phnom Penh built in 2003 and the Cambodians were not used to escalators because it was rare. y friend and I bought 2 original Hello Kitty calculators at a good price. According to my friend, she said the Hello Kitty calculator cost more in Singapore Pasar Malam than here.

21) We had western food in a Korean BBQ Chicken restaurant inside Sorya Supermarket. A rather classy and quiet ambience which we liked very much. The restaurant served quality food and aromatic ice coffee. It cost US$ 6.50 for this plate of chicken. We sat near the window and have a panoramic view of the street.

22) Royal Palace and Silver Pagoda are erected side by side. The roads were sealed and no vehicles could enter. It was meant for tourists to walk inside the sealed area to appreciate the majestic structures. They were the most fabulous constructions in the city that should make the people proud. Smart sentry guards were seen outside the buildings. Many birds were also seen conglomerating in some areas on the road.

23) The Royal Palace was constructed over a century ago to serve as the residence of the King of Cambodia, his family and foreign dignitaries, as a venue for the performance of court ceremonies and rituals. We could sense an air of royalty with the exquisite arrangement and layout of the Palace.

24) Street food in a busy street in a typical Khmer culture. It cost approximately S$0.30 for a bowl of noodles. How dirt cheap was that! To be honest, we dared not eat street food for fear of having bad diarrhoea or worst, food poisoning because we were unsure of their hygiene level.

I had spotted a few times on different occasions where there were flies on the food and hovering on it. It was an ultra disgusting sight because the hawker could still ask us whether we want to buy. Apparently, they were quite indifferent to the flies sticking on the food. Yuck! Feeling flabbergasted and nauseous at these sights.

There was another time when the bakery stall was just situated along the road with very heavy traffic, smoke and thick pollution from the flying sand on the road. The bread on sales was displayed in the open just beside the road. My jaw dropped.

Their hygiene and awareness level were so low that what was abnormal for many people had become a norm for them and inculcated as part of their lives. Indeed an eye-opener lesson watching how other cultures’ ways of living.

25) Traffic was always heavy on the road. The tuk-tuk driver drove us to Lucky Supermarket to buy some mineral waters for ourselves before returning back to our guesthouse. The mineral water provided in the guest house was not enough. It was cheaper to buy from outside.

Lucky Supermarket is Cambodia’s biggest nationwide supermarket chain providing groceries and a variety of other goods. The first one was seen in Sorya Supermarket where a photo was taken.

26) Bayon Market is one of the tourist attractions in Phnom Penh but there was really nothing much to see inside except for only household items which was considered another disappointment to me. We did not travel this far to look at household items.

Bayon Market seem to cater for the loaded people judging by the range of products that they carried and also and the profile of people who went there.

27) Phsar Reatrey is a Night Market located on Street 1 of Preah Sisowath Quay in Wat Phnom. It is open only on the weekend evenings from Friday to Sunday. This place was recommended by our tuk-tuk driver who said that a lot of Cambodians bought things from there because the prices were low and bargainable.

I liked this place as there are performances and loud music which gave an energetic vibe. Everyone seemed happy to come because it was very crowded. The clothes were rather cheap and we bought a few pieces back after some bargaining. As usual, once the staffs know that you are not a local because we do not speak their language, the price would surely be higher.

Day 3

Places of Interest: Choeung Ek Genocidal Museum Tuol Sleng Museum / S21 Killing Fields

I had taken many photos in the horrifying Choeung Ek Genocidal Centre and Tuol Sleng Museum / S21 Killing Fields. I felt uneasy when I uploaded them on my Facebook like some kind of unknown darkness was still plaguing me. So, I would rather not be reminded here.

I had been to Auschwitz Concentration Camp in Poland but I didn’t have this sort of eerie feeling which made me feel uncomfortable. This happened when I came back from Phnom Penh.

I remember going near to the skeletons in Choeung Ek Museum and I could still smell the pungency left over by the decomposed bodies through a very small hole although they had already been disinfected decades ago.

The road condition was very bad especially on the way to Choeung Ek Genocidal Museum and Koh Dach. The roads were sandy and the air was filled with the circulating sand which I had breathed in every minute.

The sand got into my eyes and even tore my contact lens giving me pain and discomfort to the eye throughout the journey in Koh Dach. Initially, I thought it was just sand getting into my eyes. I only knew it was torn half when I went back to the guest house to remove my contact lens.

Day 4

Places of Interest: Cambodia Post Koh Dach Khmer Saravan Restaurant  Food Review

28) I went to Cambodia Post which is a post office in Phnom Penh, sending a postcard to my friend. I took the opportunity to take a few photographs inside the post office before we left for Koh Dach.

29) We were going to Koh Dach Island, located at the banks of the Mekong River. We waited for the ferry to come while seated in our tuk-tuk.

30) A typical ferry where it ferries people and also vehicles to Koh Dach Island.

31) Can you see my Tuk-Tuk on top of the slope and getting onto the ferry?

32) Our dedicated Tuk-Tuk driver was the BEST! He was always ever-ready to smile and soooo polite. He brought us anywhere we want and waited for us patiently while we went sightseeing!!

33) 2 cheery smiles under the hot sun for 30 – 45 minutes of boat ride to Koh Dach.

34) In Koh Dach, you would see making fabrics as part of the livelihood of the people on the island.

35) A nice beach in Koh Dach is highly recommended as part of the itinerary in Phnom Penh. It was a unique and picturesque seaside with attap houses made of wooden stilts which was the delight of this trip. Imagine lying in one of those cute little attap houses to relax. My impression of the sea was not very clean and transparent though.

36) Boxed toilets could be found on the beach that looked like this.

37) The walk down to the seaside was a very long and steep slope on the beach to the sea. It was very thoughtful of the Khmers to place stilts on the sand for easier walking.

38) Waiting for the ferry to bring us back to the mainland. Hawkers were seen selling food there.

39) Sumptuous Khmer dinner in the Khmer Saravan Restaurant which was recommended by our full time tuk-tuk driver. We ordered about 7 to 8 dishes which cost us approximately S$ 60+ for 3 people.

The food was finger-licking good and we pampered ourselves like kings and queens in the classy ambience. The overall review from the restaurant’s customers in TripAdvisor was rather positive.

The restaurant was located along the Mekong River. The patrons in the restaurant were mostly foreigners. Looking at the relatively higher prices stated in the menu, I was quite sure it was meant for tourists and not for the Cambodians generally.

Due to this reason, the tuk-tuk driver rejected our request profusely to sit and eat together. Given no chance for his rejection arising from our tenacious compulsion to do away with the relationship of formality between the driver and guests, he relented eventually to eat together with us.

We liked him so much and wanted to give him a very good meal as a form of appreciation. The tuk-tuk driver gave us a very tip-top service, demonstrating reliability and waited for us no matter how late we arrived at the meeting place from our visit. We might not always be on time even though we have promised to meet at a certain time.

He also said that he would always remember us and asked many times when would we be coming back. We would like him to bring us around in future should we ever come back.

The daughter of the tuk-tuk driver studied in the school. As an act of gratitude, the driver volunteered his service to the school as a security guard over the weekends and earn extra cash by being a tuk-tuk driver. We pay him USD 20 for each day of service. At the end of our last day, we gave him fat tips because he was worth every cent of it!!

Day 5

Places of Interest: Four Ladies Kitchen Food Review

40) The activity for the last day before going to the airport was to have the last meal and to take photos of the fantastic women chefs behind the authentic Khmer culinary scene – Four Ladies’ Kitchen.

We ordered Fried Chicken Rice and Mushroom Soup. The mushroom soup turned out to be this way!! A very pleasant surprise for us because typically it should be creamy and thick for our expectation from the western style of cooking but it wasn’t.

It came as consistency of liquid but the taste was exactly like the Campbell mushroom creamy soup except that it was made from real mushrooms and not some artificial flavouring.

The serving of the soup was huge! I would never see such a generous portion in Singapore. The other soup we had tried was the pumpkin soup made from real pumpkin and in liquid consistency as well. I must say the cooking was very impressive for me!!

Our wonderful and pretty cook cum housekeeper from “The Four Ladies Kitchen”. Natural beauty in real person which the picture could not capture. At 22 years old, she was very innocent looking and most importantly, she smiles at ALL TIMES without fail!

In the middle of the photos were our gorgeous ladies from the kitchen who gave us a bon appétit during the trips! Thank you wonderful ladies who took care of our stomachs every day with hygienically prepared food that we did not experience any discomforts during our stay so far…!

They had also a cooking class conducted here at USD 10 per pax or USD 15 for 2 people. I am seriously considering it should I go back to You Khin the next time.

Last but not least, our friendly tuk tuk driver whom I will always remember…

SINGAPORE

Singapore (Apr 2013)

I took up french courses with Alliance Française de Singapour for 1.5 years before going to Nantes, France to continue my next level from Jan to May 2014 in Université de Nantes.

These were my classmates and my french teacher, Manu. Manu had taught us for 4 terms and coincidentally, he was also my neighbour staying at my next block. We always went back together after my class and discussed many things. He was also one of the funniest and nonsensical people that I have known, always making jokes and funny actions in class.

Some of my classmates had been around with me for most of my courses there. I actually went to Nantes with one of them, studied in the same university, the same course and stayed together in the same apartment! How cool was that! A blessing and fate in life to be able to do this together in a foreign country!!!

At the end of some course terms with AF, we would organise a party and everyone would bring something to eat. I have grown to love North Indian cuisine thanks to my North Indian classmate. Whenever she was around when we organised gatherings, I would pester her to bring us only to the North Indian restaurant.

Forget about all the other Asian delicacies. The 2 places that she brought us to eat – Mirchi Esplanade and a small restaurant in Little India had heavenly food that I never knew could get me so addicted!

My favourite dish is PAPDI CHAAT from MIRCHI ESPLANADE. I ordered them 2 rows in a night because I could never have enough of it! *love*

Australia

• Sydney

Day 1

Five Ways ≡ ✐ Airbnb Apartment Review

Day 2

1. Paddington Markets
2. Circular Quay Ferry Wharf
3. Circular Quay

• Opera House
• Sydney Harbour Bridge

4. The Rocks
5. Chinatown

Day 3

1. Bondi Beach
2. Bondi Markets
3. Watsons Bay | Sydney Harbour National Park

• Robertson Park

4. Darling Harbour

Day 4

1. Manly Wharf
2. North Head Sanctuary (North Fort)
3. Warringah Mall
4. Manly Beach ≡ ૠ Google Map – Walking Distance from Manly Wharf to Manly Beach

Day 5

1. Bondi Junction | Westfield Mall ≡ ૠ Google Map – Walking Distance from Bondi Bus Interchange / Station to Bondi Junction
2. Tamarama Beach
3. Cockatoo Island

Day 6

Kingsford-Smith Sydney Airport

AUSTRALIA

Sydney (25 – 30 Oct 2012)

Sydney, located in the boundary of New South Wales, the eastern coast of Australia, is such an amazing city with lovely litter-free beaches and dazzling sea. The nightlife is vibrant especially in Darling Harbour and Chinatown, bustling with activities till late evening.

The average temperature of 18ºC was perfect during autumn and formed a very impressionable joyful holiday for us.

It was unfortunate that we did not have enough time to scan through each and every beach because that should be the priority in Sydney. Thanks to my good friend who travelled with me and we have a lovely time together reminiscing our friendship of 2 decades.

DAY 1

Places of Interest:  Arriving in Sydney (25th Oct) Five Ways 

1) Arriving in Kingsford-Smith Sydney Airport (a.k.a Sydney Airport) at 7.30 am local time after a 7-hours flight from Singapore.

2) Glen Street – The brown building was where I have stayed for 5 nights. It took me about 40 mins of walking to locate it when the bus driver dropped us off in Glenmore Street. We have a hard time locating Glen Street on the map as it was off printing on the map. I need to ask around to get to Glen Street.

3) The apartment that I have rented from Airbnb cost me 53 USD per night for the entire house. I like it very much especially the 5-stars bed like those found in the hotels which were super comfortable to sleep in. It was really a value for money.

4) The very splendid, tranquil view from our bedroom and it was breezy at night.

5) This was our first breakfast after our plane touched down in Sydney. We stayed in the neighbourhood of Five Ways where many cafés and restaurants were located.

The small breakfast showed in the photo cost a whopping USD 26.00 which was terribly expensive for a miserable portion! The cost of travelling in Australia was crazy for tourists because the people there earn a high salary to justify the high cost of living in Sydney.

One of the cafés served the BEST coffee around!!! My friend and I made it a point to drink one cup every day in the same café because some coffee served in other places simply cannot match up to the same standard that this particular café had.

Most importantly I have matched up 2 photos beautifully!

6) Thomas Dux Supermarket – The only supermarket near to where we stayed. There was only one bus no. 389 outside the supermarket that served the street where I stayed. This bus would start and stop at Bondi Junction Bus Terminal.

DAY 2

Places of Interest: Paddington Market Circular Quay Ferry Wharf Circular Quay The Rocks Chinatown

7) The next morning, I walked to Paddington Market which is about 30 mins walk away from my apartment. This is a flea market every Saturday and Sunday from 10 am to 5 pm. The things sold there were expensive though.

8) Turkish Gozleme (Pastry) is a very popular market food in Australia. It is filled with spinach, cheese and lamb mince filling. We had both the Turkish Gozleme and Thai food for AUD 10 each. They were our brunch for 2 people.

9) While resting, a sight that could not be missed. The cheeky pilot was trying to form some letters in the sky with his plane and he managed to keep me glued to my chair for some time just to watch his masterpiece. The complete word was “DECORUM”.

10) Waiting at the bus stop for the bus to our next destination. The multi-link ticket bought for AUD 43 can be used for 7 days unlimited (zone limited) rides for buses, trains and ferries.

11) We decided to go to Circular Quay after Paddington Market to visit The Rocks (Flea market) and see the daytime view of Sydney Bridge and Opera House. This was the last bus stop near the Circular Quay where everyone had to alight after we went to Paddington Market.

12) Far view of the bus stop.

13) Front view of Circular Quay.

14) Circular Quay Ferry Wharf – There are many public ferries that can take you to many places in Sydney. It is free if you have a multi-link ticket.

15) Various wharves for different ferry destinations.

16) Various brochures of the ferries’ schedules.

17) Ferries’ schedules on the digital board.

18) A street performance along Circular Quay.

19) Walking along Circular Quay towards Opera House where the Sydney Harbour Bridge can be admired.

20) Even the birds know how to enjoy themselves under the sun.

21) There were a lot of people basking under the sun with some beer. It was very sunny but very windy as well. What a perfect weather combination!!

22) Walking towards The Rocks which was a flea market located very near to the Circular Quay within minutes. The Rocks was a more interesting flea market than the Paddington Market and have more exquisite Australian-made products. I didn’t buy any souvenirs as the prices were exorbitant!

23) Looking at the signboards outside the shops, one can guess that we had arrived in Chinatown. We came here on the second day to buy some instant noodles in case we were hungry and also planned that as our breakfast (Ya… I know it was boring…).

We wanted to spend our money on a better lunch. As you can read from No. 5 above, one simple breakfast in our neighbourhood cost us AUD 26.00 which was way beyond our budget for such a tiny wee portion that would not fill us up.

24) In Sydney, Chinatown Shopping Centre was one of the places that we had discovered to have longer operating hours up to 8 pm compared to most of the shops in Sydney which closed at 6 pm.

The people inside the shopping mall were almost all Asians and hardly any Caucasians inside. At one point, I almost forgot that I was in Australia. The shops in the street of Chinatown had a lot of people and bright lights.

We walked into one fashion shop in the shopping mall and the shop was preparing to close at 8 pm. The Chinese shop assistant asked us rudely whether we wanted to buy anything. Otherwise, she wanted to close the shop. She asked in a very nasty and unfriendly tone.

We had dinner in the food court of the shopping centre. It cost an average of AUD 10 for one dish. We bought from 2 stalls – one Vietnamese stall and the other was suspected by us to run by Singaporeans because the dishes looked so familiar to us.

Plus, the variety of food offered in the ‘Singapore stall’ was plentiful just like our ‘Zi-Char’ stalls in Singapore. We had nice food from both stalls.

25) What I did like about the trains in Sydney was that the windows were semi-opaque and blurry which obstructed us to see the view outside. I prefer to take buses most of the time to enjoy the scenery.

26) Smart looking police vehicles in Sydney.

27) This signboard caught me by surprise. “Alcohol-Free Zone. Consumption of alcohol is prohibited from 14/11/2011-13/11/2015.” Why was that so? Did it mean that one could not drink alcohol even during the daytime?

28) Cigarettes pricing in Sydney – Very very expensive cigarettes as compared to Singapore pricing. I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw it. Upon further research, cigarettes in Australia are the most expensive to buy.

It was of no surprise that the staff in the 7-11 stores would ask you discreetly whether you want cheaper cigarettes at AUD 10 per pack. The whole market was filled with contraband cigarettes in Australia hitting a record level!

DAY 3

Places of Interest: Bondi Beach Bondi Markets Watsons Bay Robertson Park, Darling Harbour

29) Bondi Junction Bus Interchange

30) Bus Signage to show how to go to two of the most famous beaches in Sydney, Tamarama Beaches and Bondi Beach. Take Bus No. 361 for Tamarama Beach and Bus No. 380 and 381 for Bondi Beach.

31) We are going to one of the top travel iconic beach destinations in Sydney, Bondi Beach in which the popularity was justified by the number of visitors there. It has a huge sandy beach characterised by a litter-free environment and roaring waves.

32) 400 metres away from Bondi Beach located in Bondi Beach Public School, we walked 5 minutes to the Bondi Markets which was another flea market opened only on Sundays.

We didn’t spend a very long time in the market because it looked like one of the flea markets which we had been to and the size was smaller. This time, I felt that the market was nothing special if one had been to the Paddington Market and The Rocks.

33) We took a bus by mistake and we ended up here in Watsons Bay in Sydney Harbour National Park. What an incredible discovery! The bus driver told us that many people committed suicide in Watson Bay because the cliff was very high.

Watsons Bay was also the oldest fishing village in Australia. It had a deep blue sea and even from afar, the alluring blue beckoned us to run towards it.

34) Adjacent to the sea, is Robertson Park in the middle of Watson Bay.

35) Crossing Robertson Park and walking towards Watsons Bay Ferry Wharf.

36) The restaurant in Doyles Fishermans Wharf served Australian food and was established in 1885 by the Doyle family. It was conveniently located at the Watsons Bay Ferry Wharf.

37) This was the ferry that we would take to Darling Harbour for our next destination.

38) We took a ferry from Watsons Bay Ferry Wharf to Darling Harbour with our multi-link ticket for our next destination. The ferry passed by Sydney Harbour Bridge and Opera House.

39) A quick snapshot upon arrival in Darling Harbour.

40) Darling Harbour is one of the must-visit places of interest in Sydney. It is a very vibrant and dynamic city hub with commercial skyscrapers and plenty of dining options – restaurants, cafes and pubs. Even at night around 8 pm, a lot of people were still hanging around to have a drink.

It dispersed the prejudice that I had initially that Sydney would be a quiet town at night when the sun sets and there would be no place to visit at night. Far from it, Darling Harbour and Chinatown proved my biased judgement and limited knowledge on Sydney wrong.

There were a lot of opportunities presented in Darling Harbour to take beautiful photos while strolling on the busy street. Sometimes, we just went up any buildings and realised there were hidden gems and quirky backgrounds to see.

41) The IMAX Theatre which was similar to Singapore Omni-Theatre has the biggest screen in the world (123 x 97 ft). I am an avid IMAX supporter and thus took an interest to explore further. The ticket pricing in Sydney was very expensive as compared to Singapore pricing (SGD 10.00 per IMAX show).

They even had an AVATAR movie screening in IMAX. I wonder how the atmosphere was like looking at the largest screen in the world.. hmmm… Click and enlarge to see the ticket pricing.

DAY 4

On this day, our main itinerary was activities in Manly and we spent one whole day there.

Places of Interest: Manly Wharf North Head Sanctuary (North Fort) Warringah Mall Manly Beach

42) We took a 40 minutes ferry ride from Circular Quay to Manly Wharf. Other than the ferry, there were other public transport options too.

43) The beach and the sea around Manly Wharf were very attractive as well. We couldn’t help but take some photos to capture the beauty.

Upon arrival in Manly, we went to the tourism office to check out the activities in Manly. There were several places of interest that we could visit in Manly and so eventually we chose to take a bus to North Head Sanctuary in North Fort.

44) In this photo, this was the area of the bus stop which we alighted.

45) We realised it was a very silly mistake to alight so early because the bus could actually drive us all the way to the North Head Sanctuary without us walking for 20 – 30 minutes from the bus stop.

46) Finally, arriving at North Head Sanctuary. Looking at the map given by the tourism office, one could do tracking around the area which was about 10 kilometres where many places were interlinked to one another. There were not many people in this place and was quiet surrounded by nature.

I would think that if one was not going for the 10 km track, then this place should be given a miss as there was nothing much to discover in my opinion. North Fort tours can be booked on-site every Sunday.

47) Pathway to Australia’s Memorial Walk in memory of those who support the defence of Australia during war and peace for the past 150 years.

48) Read : 1. The Attack on Sydney Harbour, 31 May 1942

49) Read : 2. Midget Submarines Discovered

50) Read : 3. The Defensive Action

51) Read : 4. Aftermath of the Attack

52) After North Head Sanctuary, we proceeded to Warringah Mall for a change after our nature walks with the bus. Before we stepped into Warringah Mall for shopping, we spotted this sushi shop on the way having promotions at AUD 2 and AUD 4.

We didn’t plan to eat so early but when we looked at our favourite food with such a low price tag, we got excited and decided to eat there. The shop was run by the Koreans. Although the sushi was on promotion, it tasted great and fresh. We were really happy like we have found a treasure among the slit-throat restaurants.

On the first night, we were having sushi in a restaurant at 10 pm nearby our house because not many shops were open at that time. It cost us around AUD 18 with only a few plates of sushi that were not the fresh and limited choice of food because the restaurant was about to close. The food was not nice at all. It was the cheapest type of sushi that we have eaten and yet, it was so expensive for just a few pieces.

53) Warringah Mall was so damn quiet and had only a few heads inside where you could count easily. Looking at the price tags and the number of flea markets in Sydney, it was not difficult to figure out the crowd size. The most important contributing factor was shopping on a weekday.

Taking a bus from Warringah Mall back to the bus stop outside Manly Wharf, our next destination would be Manly Beach which was about 15 to 20 minutes away from the Manly Wharf’s bus stop.

54) Manly Beach was a much simpler beach with the least attraction compared to the rest of the beaches that we had visited. It had the least number of people on the beach too.

You can have a game of beach volleyball or simply jog on the beach like what the people did. One thing remained unchanged – The beaches were always spotlessly clean and pleasant to look at.

55) We stayed for a short time in the Manly Beach and strolled back to Manly Wharf. Along the stretch of the shopping street, we were amused to spot a fast food restaurant named “Hungry Jack’s” that was an exact copy of Burger King.

56) We had dessert for dinner in a restaurant along Manly Street before catching a ferry back to the city. The cake and coffee were very delicious and fragrant. The ambience was cosy. There was one more customer sitting beside us.

I wondered why the restaurant had so few customers at 7 pm and how did they survive with that. Nevertheless, from a customer’s point of view, we had a very quiet environment which we liked.

57) Back to Manly Wharf to take a ferry back to Circular Quay. There were not many people inside the ferry and it was very clean.

58) Since it would be a 40 mins ferry journey, we were lucky to catch a stunning sunset and it was already night when we arrived at Circular Quay. That was the end of a fruitful day in Manly.

DAY 5

Places of Interest: Bondi Junction  Westfield Mall Tamarama Beach Cockatoo Island

We went to Bondi Junction shopping street which was located 5 minutes away from Bondi Junction Bus Terminal and Station.

59) Shops along streets of Bondi Junction towards Westfield Mall.

60) The Thai food cost AUD 17.20 per plate in Westfield Shopping Mall Food Court. It was very delicious and the food court had many choices of food that looked really appetising. We had a hard time choosing what to eat, going round and round many times admiring the food presentation as well.

The food court was also spacious to move around and easy to find places to sit. The view outside was nice too. It has the right amount of crowd for lunchtime. I wish the Singapore food courts would look like that. If that happen, the cost of food would be much higher than now.

61) Spotted this notice pasted outside a bank and thought it was interesting to share.

62) After a hearty brunch in Westfield Mall, we walked back to Bondi Station to take a bus. Bigger bus signage showed the bus numbers going to Tamarama Beach and Bondi Beach.

63) A notice inside the bus, “The bus is limited to carrying 15 standing passengers” for safety, I would suppose. Singapore could never afford to do that.
64) Stated “Tamarama Park”.

65) There were a lot of people here and school children in their uniforms were seen in the park.

66) Umbrella seats outside the one and only café in Tamarama Park.

67) This was the most perfect spot for us to sit for an hour or so and we were not going anywhere because we loved it so much.

68) We didn’t plan to go to this Tamarama beach from the start of our trip. I am generally not a beach girl because the beaches and waves in Sydney were too beautiful, we hopped on to any bus that would bring us to any beach and this was the most wonderful idea here.

Searching for more beaches to visit at the bus stop became a focus at the end of our trip rather than visiting the city when we covered everything we want to visit and have lots of free time.

We bought coffee in a café over because we wanted to find a spot, do nothing and just watch the waves. The sea colour was even more beautiful than Bondi Beach as it had several hues of blues and green.

While our ‘hop and go’ kind of trip to an “unknown” beach didn’t fail us, the diluted coffee unfortunately sucked big time and was truly a disappointment while we admired the beach, listened to the waves roar loudly which were really addictive and last but not least, took abundant photos.

69) Top view of Tamarama Beach. It was voted as the most beautiful beach on this trip and definitely the most impressive of the 5-day trip. Never miss it!

We took the ferry to Cockatoo Island from Circular Quay. This was last-minute planning since we still had some time left before flying home to Singapore the next day. We went to Circular Quay, ran through the ferry schedule and picked one destination to explore.

70) It was quite refreshing to take the ferry as a public transport because I had never experienced it before. The photos showed 2 of the ferry stops and how they looked like.

71) Many houses were located at the bank.

72) Arrived at Cockatoo Island at 6.35 pm. Cockatoo Island is a UNESCO world heritage listed island. Past office hours, there was no one around on this island except for us and the MANY NOISY, AGGRESSIVE BIRDS!!

It was a bit frightening to wander around on this island because we did not know what to expect here and whether it would be dangerous because we saw some old buildings and sawmill, my imagination got the better of me.

73) We saw 40 to 50 sailboats in the sea perhaps in competition. What sheer luck!

74) There were some birds in the nests on the log. When we walked near to the birds, they seemed very angry as they looked at us defensively and ferociously chirping louder and louder at us. It looked as if they were asking us to back off because they had their babies with them.

Suddenly, a flock of birds came a few metres away from me and they seemed to be fighting in the air, poking at each other in an aggressive manner rather than playing. A few of them charged towards me and I started to scream loudly and fled.

My friend was frightened by the sight and we hurriedly left the place before the birds really attacked us. We were seen as unwelcomed intruders and occupied their territory. It was a strong sense of communication between us and they wanted us to get lost.

Day 6

Places of Interest:  Kingsford-Smith Sydney Airport

Always a sad time to bid adieu. I wasn’t so enthusiastic about Australia before coming and after spending a few days here, I could now understand better why Australia is one of the top choices for emigration because I like Sydney very much.

I didn’t have much contact or communication with the Australians here thus I have not many opinions about their service level or attitude towards tourists.

75) Kingsford-Smith Airport was not a very fanciful or attractive looking airport for me but the lounge was great to relax before boarding the plane back to Singapore.

Useful Link

Transport in New South Wales https://www.transportnsw.info/

Belgium

• Ghent
• Leuven
• Antwerp

Luxembourg

BELGIUM

Ghent (Jan 2012)

Ghent is one of the most popular cities to visit in Belgium. True to its name, the landscape in Ghent is very beautiful and has a lot of calm rivers with mirror images reflecting sereneness and soothing the soul.

Even the park and the lake have an indescribable extraordinary beauty in them.

Flea markets of second-hand goods are very common in Belgium over the weekend. One can go to a few of them in one city. I also love to discover some of the furry second-hand winter clothes which is one of my favourite clothing items.

They are very cheap and sometimes as low as € 10 for very good fur quality. I take the opportunity to emphasize here that I do not support buying real animal fur and against animal cruelty. I only buy synthetic fur that feels soft on the fingers.

Why do I love winter? Taking leafless branches against the deep blue sky is one interest of mine. I could go on talking non-stop just for this genre.

The castles are grandiose! I was blown off believing that I was in a fairy tale land where the kings, queens and horses still existed.

The fortress was one of the attractions which I would want to go in to explore but unfortunately, it was closing time and I could only take a quick photo of the interior. One full day spent in the splendid Ghent city which is the largest city in the East Flanders province was indeed an eye-opener.

Leuven (Jul 2012)

Leuven is a small city but still beautiful on its own. I spent half a day shopping in Leuven.

In Europe, sandwiches are often taken for lunch because it is easy to grab one on the street and also cheaper compared to a meal in a restaurant. The average cost of a sandwich is around € 3.50 in Belgium.

Panos has one of my favourite sandwiches – Oriental Chicken. I have discovered another speciality of Belgium which are the sauces that are very tasty and unique which I liked very much.

I have the Asian mentality and like to compare eating a sandwich and a satisfying meal in Singapore with the same amount of cost.

I also have this feeling that eating a sandwich will never make me feel full and that something is always missing – like I should eat rice or noodle instead of a sandwich.

Such a stereotyped mentality changed much later when I stayed in Nantes, Paris and Antwerp in 2014 and that one can feel satisfied and full just by eating the sandwich. It is a matter of getting used to it.

When one is hungry outside, one would eat anything. The trick for me to curb such a problem of eating outside is to have a very heavy breakfast (which I am capable of) and so around noontime, I will not feel hungry or tempted to eat any food until much later.

I will then have a heavy meal (lunch cum dinner) between 4 pm to 7 pm at home (in Europe in 2014) depending on my hunger level. This definitely helps to cut down some weight.

By taking dinner as early as possible, we could allow the body to have more time to digest the food before storing the excess as fat. Early dinner also ensures better sleep quality without sleeping with a full stomach.

Antwerp (Jul 2012)

When asked for one national dish, mussels would come up as one of the top lists. Belgians love their mussels and were obsessed with them. During summer, people can be seen eating mussels with the famous Belgian fries outside the restaurant basking under the sun.

The photo showing mussels cooked with Hoegaarden Beer and Creamer was my wild stimulation after watching it on a TV programme in Singapore 9 mths prior to the trial.

There was no actual recipe for it. I just use my own method to cook it on my first time eating with food cooked in beer (with creamer??) make me nervous with anticipation.

I have asked a few Belgian friends and they have all never tried mussels cooked in beer. They have tried mussels cooked with wines but beer, they didn’t even hear of it!

I would describe briefly how the recipe goes and you can vary the ingredients. The end result was superb! My Belgian friends loved this mysterious mussels dish that I have cooked for them as a foreigner.

Special Recipe: Mussels with Beer and Creamer (For 2 pax)

I realised that sugar is released from the beer while boiling and thus the soup will be naturally sweet. Another part of the flavour has to come from the creamer that you buy.

I tried the cooking 2 times in different years and used 2 different types of creamer bought in Antwerp. The taste was almost similar. I used Hoegaarden beer both times.

Have fun experimenting. I am sure you will love the delicious taste because all my Belgian friends said so.

LUXEMBOURG

Luxembourg (Jul 2012)

Luxembourg is one of the smallest countries in Europe and is situated on the border of France, Germany and Belgium. It is a landlocked country meaning that the country is entirely surrounded by lands and had no sea resources surrounding it and no fishing activities. The country is so small that many Non-Europeans have not heard of its name nor know about its existence.

Luxembourg is one of the world’s most developed countries, with an advanced economy and the world’s second-highest GDP (PPP) per capita, according to the IMF. It is also scored as one of the safest countries in the world to live in according to a survey in one of the years.

I took a train from Antwerp, Belgium to Luxembourg and it took me 4.5 hrs to reach there. I felt excited and honoured to visit such a country initially. I stayed 2 nights there. The country is so small that you could finish the city centre and its vicinity in 1 day’s time.

It was mostly surrounded by a lush green landscape which I must applaud for its green effort. This was the unique focus of Luxembourg which other cities paled off. I personally felt that there was nothing much to see and which was why it was not on my top list of recommended places to visit because the travelling time was long and so was not really worthwhile in my personal opinion.

The buildings were not nice looking as compared to the buildings in some of the European countries that had a traditional and intrinsic design which I am particularly fond of. The buildings had not much design and none were made of bricks which would definitely enhance the look esthetically. The people weren’t friendly either as compared to the Europeans in other countries whom many would readily give you a smile.

A Chinese restaurant in Luxembourg that I had been to. There were 2 Chinese symbolic lions and no more laughing Buddha outside the entrance, (or maybe there was one inside?). We had dinner in this restaurant. The food was quite good.

The beer “Diekirch” was produced in a city in Luxembourg called Diekirch :).  It seemed that the British Cider “Bulmers” was rather popular and could be found in the menu of the restaurant and bars that we have been to. It tasted very nice and sweet with a choice of apple and pear cider. I drank this whenever I had a chance.

Related Articles

• Food and Travel Overseas [1] 2008 (Vietnam, Germany)
• Food and Travel Overseas [2] 2008 (Poland)
• Food and Travel Overseas [3] 2008 (Slovakia, Hungary, Austria)
• Food and Travel Overseas [4] 2010 (Singapore, Sweden)
• Food and Travel Overseas [5] 2011 (Indonesia)
• Food and Travel Overseas [6] 2011 (Belgium, Singapore, Malaysia, China)
• Food and Travel Overseas [7] 2011 (Netherlands, Belgium, France)
• Food and Travel Overseas [8] 2012 (Indonesia, Singapore)
• Food and Travel Overseas [18] 2015 (Malaysia)

Belgium

• Spa ≡ ✐ Hotel Review and Google Map of Hotel Le Relais
• Jalhay
• Spa
• Liège ≡ ✐ Hotel Review of Companile Luik, Liège (Belgium)

BELGIUM

*South Belgium: Spa, Jalhay, Liege

People in South Belgium speak French and everything you see is in the French language. I never recalled seeing any English words. In the northern part of Belgium, people speak mostly Flemish, similar to Dutch except for some differences in pronunciation. In Brussels, 50% of the people speak Flemish and 50% of them speak French.

I went to South Belgium the last few days before I went back to Singapore. I went to a city called “Spa” which produces their own mineral water “Spa”.

As South Belgium is located in mountain areas, the purpose was to visit Les Thermes de Spa to swim and to enjoy the sauna. The water was from the spring and is good for the skin. Spa Les Thermes also has specialised luxurious treatments to pamper you.

I went to South Belgium hoping to get lucky and catch some snow. The temperature was 1°C – 3ºC in the day and -2°C to -3ºC at night. It was not really snowing in Spa but I managed to catch some snow in Jalhay, Belgium (my next section).

I missed the outdoor swimming in Spa Les Thermes very much and I would like to go there again one day. I spent 3 hours inside the Spa for € 17. Everything I did at this place was unique and memorable, different from the usual travelling trips in the typical city areas.

Spa (Jan 2012)

1) A cable car will bring you up to a spa on top of the mountain.

2) Picture taken inside the cabin.

3) The cable car will stop directly inside the spa.

4) They also produced the SPA Mineral Water because the spring water they used come from natural minerals.

5) The water on the left has a taste of strong iron and tasted really disgusting. You can see the rust residue inside the basin. The one in the centre is normal water, tasteless and the one on the right is spoilt.

6) Operating hours and activities.

7) I swam in the open outdoor spa with a temperature of 1°C – 3ºC. The feeling of swimming in such windy and the cold temperature was amazing. I thought my face would be freezing but no. It was perfect and I loved it.

8) This was the result after my shower in an 80ºC sauna for 15 minutes repeated for 3 times. I was in pain… Ouch…

9) Going down again in the cable car.

10) Cable car station.

✐ Hotel Review of Hotel Le Relais, Spa (Belgium)

11) Good morning breakfast in Hotel Le Relais still feeling half-awake and puffy. Checking email every morning is a typical habit of many Singaporeans that are hard to kick even when we travel overseas.

But most importantly was to check the current temperature then so as to wear enough to cover me well for the forest walk later in Jalhay and Waimes. The reported temperature on that morning was 0°C to 3°C.

Only bread, bacon, coffee, tea and juice were served. Only a knife was given, no fork!!! Cannot even see a single fork lying around because they did not give a fork for breakfast. So weird for me.

I found myself handicapped without a fork. The knife had become the lone ranger. Furthermore, the food was rationed and not free-flow like most hotels that I have known of. Frankly, I was still starving with such a miserable small portion of food.

I wondered was that the common way how they serve their breakfast – no fork and …???  Or maybe I couldn’t expect too much from a € 70 per night, 3* hotel. It was the cheapest accommodation I could find in that region and the room condition was so-so, not impressive and small.

The only advantage that I could think of was that it was within minutes of walking distance to Spa Les Themes. There were also hotels in Les Thermes de Spa but they were more expensive and certainly looked much more posh and comfortable to stay in.

I happened to recall my hotel review about Hotel Le Relais in Agoda which I have written in January 2012. You can click on the link to read it.

• Google Map

Although the walking distance from Hotel Le Relais to Les Thermes de Spa states that it is 1km and 16 minutes of walking, in fact, the walking distance is about 100m to the cable car which you can take to go up directly to the interior of Les Thermes de Spa (Image 3).

Hotel Rating Reviews: Hotel Le Relais, Spa (Belgium)

★★☆☆☆

Jalhay (Jan 2012)

This was one of the memorable trips. I had never really seen snow be it in Europe or Korea during the winter when I travelled in the past. I was damn unlucky in this sense.

Even when I left Belgium, it would start snowing the next day. To guarantee that I can see snow, my boyfriend brought me to the highest altitude in South Belgium for a few hours of trekking.

Signal de Botrange is the highest point (694 metres, 2,277 ft) in Belgium and Baraque Michel is the third highest (674 metres, 2,211 ft) in Wikipedia.

One of my most enjoyable trips was to be able to go to the peak of the mountain to walk inside two forests for hours to admire the sight of the snow in nature which I have never seen before.

The journey from the hotel to the mountain got foggier and foggier as we drove higher up the altitude. I was beginning to see snow accumulation getting more along the way and the visibility was only a few metres in the foggy condition.

The temperature was 1°C and it was not snowing when we arrived there. The snow on the ground was the result of the overnight snowing with a temperature of -3°C to 4°C.

Indeed, I saw a lot of snow but on the ground in the morning. The sight was heavenly. The temperature was about 1°C to 3°C but I have learnt that without the wind, numbers mean nothing. It did not imply that one would feel the cold at 0°C.

In fact, after some walking, I was actually sweating during noon time when the temperature was around 3°C. I began to remove my gloves, my scarf and my jacket one by one and walked for a long time without them. Then, I was warned that I would catch a cold this way.

In the afternoon, the sun shone and melted the snow which was initially there. You can compare the 2 sets of the same photos especially those photos taken on the bridge.

The melted ice on the bridge was really slippery and I almost slipped several times. When I came out of the forest 2 hours later, all the snow melted on the bridge.

12) The top beam of the light was the sun and the bottom beam was the moon!! An unusual sight to witness both sun and moon together.

13) Looking around for the Tourism Office but I simply love the pretty environment.

14) Stated “The Highest Point in Belgium” with just a flight of stairs indicating the highest point.

15) Stated ” Altitude 700 00″ ft. Is it that high?

16) How it looked like at the highest point in Belgium. The footprints were neat and routine?

17) This was the entrance of Signal De Botrange looking from the top of the stairs. Going in for a 2 hrs walk soon.

18) A smug smile from the top of the world.

19) Entrance outside Signal de Botrange which we would be going in shortly.

20) It was very foggy and visibility was low when we went in. There was melted ice on the bridge. It was slippery to walk on the bridge.

21) Left and right view prior to crossing the long bridge. The mist obscured the view.

22) This bridge took me about 10 to 15 minutes to walk. I estimated about 400m…

23) The close-up view of the bridge was full of melted snow, rough and slippery. I walked slowly and uncomfortably because of the uneven road which I was afraid of falling down.

24) There was no snow on the bridge on this section and the sky was still dark. The distance of the walk seemed endless.

25) A smile after the first completion of the walk after the bridge and wondering what lay ahead??

26) Another bridge that I have crossed. The bridge was built to protect nature so that we would not walk over the green and destroy them. Look at the gloomy grey sky.

27) We reached the end of this bridge and walked towards the right of the road. We proceeded back into the forest using another route when we saw the next entrance.

28) Another bridge walking in from the main road towards the forest. Walking cautiously on the slippery bridge feeling very cold. I used my scarf to cover my head, my neck and sometimes my face when it turned windy.

29) Oh dear!!! How am I going to cross over the river? My legs were not long enough to jump over. I was caught in the photo thinking for a moment whether to cross or not and hopefully I would not get my non-waterproof sports shoes wet.

30) Finally the rays of light was seen for some time. The heat was melting the snow gradually on the slippery bridge. I have to tread on gently to prevent slipping.

31) I was asked to climb up the rock so my friend could take photos of me. I might have stepped into holes and lost some balance.

32) The snow had mostly turned into water in the middle of the road which resulted in the road turning muddy. Yucks! Imagine walking on the mud.

33) This was a long road that I had walked. At this juncture at 12 noon exactly, I was beginning to feel the heat even if the temperature was only 3ºC. I took off my scarf, gloves and jacket. I was feeling hungry too.

34) Forcing out a smile through my frozen face. Hope it looked natural.

35) Surprised to see a lake in the middle of nowhere. The photos started to look clearer and brighter now and the distance of visibility was so much better than the morning when we arrived.

36) This was a hunting chair that could be found anywhere inside the forest and was my first time seeing it. I climbed up wanting to have a peek but alas it was locked. Hunting was still common in Belgium.

37) Animal footprints were seen. Which animal was that? The animal walked in a line???

38) A magnificent sight! Heavenly combination of the sky, the water, the greenery and the snow.

39) The same bridge that I crossed this morning (Image 22) but the snow has melted completely.

40) I like this picture a lot as it looks like one of the typical scenes from a movie during wintertime.

41) The same flight of stairs climbed this morning and the view somewhat looked different without the fog (Image 14).

42) I was so tired and famished after the 2.5 hours walk in the first forest. 3 mins drive from Signal de Botrange where we parked our car, my boyfriend promised to find a good spot in the second forest Parc Naturel Hautes Fagnes-Eifel to take our lunch.

Left with no choice, I continued walking with him inside this Parc Naturel Hautes Fagnes-Eifel.

43) Peculiarly, this area was freezingly cold and windy compared to the previous forest, Baraque Michel which was less than 5km away. I started to mask my face, leaving only 2 eyes looking like a ninja turtle.

The bridge was very slippery with thick melted snow as compared to Baraque Michel where the snow had melted almost completely on the bridge (Image 39).

44) I knew it instantly that we were going to have our lunch here sitting on the bridge and admiring the vastness of nature while lunching for an hour, enjoying the tranquillity and wondrous scenery that was presented right in our eyes.

45) We had chicory with salmon and olives, cheering it with some champagne. Not feeling full this way (damn sure) with so little food but I could not be asking for much. Who wanna carry a heavy bag full of food for a party in the cold for hours especially when I was not the one carrying it?

Smiling on a frozen stiff face was indeed a challenge. I began to imagine at that moment having some hot food such as slurping down some spicy Thai Tom Yum soup would be the most comforting lunch ever. Yum!! Yum!!

46) We decided to call off for the day because it was unbearable to stay in a cold and windy place for long and we have enough of walking (Maybe it was just me?).

47) Trying to upload a photo into facebook about my lunch while walking out but the signal did not allow the transmission to go through. What a pity.

48) Look at the melted ice that I had walked and almost slipped and fell a few times while trying to balance and walk fast. Sliding frequently on this thin layer of ice stressed my knees terribly. It was extremely slippery here and had absolutely no friction on my shoes’ soles.

~ End of the journey and my fun ~

Spa (Jan 2012)

49) After a walk in the morning, cold and starving due to not eating enough, I was eagerly looking forward to having a great full meal in the restaurant located below our hotel, Hotel Le Relais.

The restaurant has a Michelin Stars award so the way they cook must be skilful. Oh my! I had high expectations of the quality from an accredited restaurant even before I smelt it!

I was asked for the first time how should my duck be done? Rare, medium or well done? I chose mine medium but it still looked bloody and a bit scary to see the bloody red colour on duck meat.

I asked myself warily prior to eating – would I be able to taste the blood on it? The fish that was served still retained a beautiful pink skin.

My overall review was extremely positive. The food was very fresh and delicious. You cannot taste the blood or rawness of the duck meat. Juicy and supple. The fish was excellent. The restaurant was full-housed. The menu was completely in French which was a disadvantage for people who did not understand french.

The owner who served us cannot speak English at all so forget about asking questions. Just point to her what you wanted and hope that they did not serve you something funny that you did not like because you could not bloody understand a single french word that was being written there. Nevertheless, the restaurant lived up to its reputation for the Michelin Stars accreditation.

Liège (Jan 2012)

✐ Hotel Review of Campanile Luik, Liège (Belgium)

50) Very satisfied with Campanile Luik Hotel. For only € 50 per night (back then) and newly renovated, everything was brand new and fresh. The environment was very cosy and homey. I appreciated it even more as compared to the Hotel Le Relais in Spa. The structure of this 3 stars hotel looked like a school to me.

The disadvantage of staying here is that it is near to the highway and not to places of interest and thus it would be quite inconvenient for travellers who do not drive.

This environment would have a lovelier view if it snowed as I hoped. It did snow a little but was barely visible on the last day when I was going back to Singapore from Brussels.

51) Reception and restaurant of the hotel are separated from the hotel.

52) View inside the room. All new and some of the rooms around us were still under renovation.

53) View from outside of the hotel. The disadvantage of staying here was that it is situated near the highway. In the daytime, it was a bit noisy (who cares anyway since we are supposed to be out on the street) but nighttime was a hell of silence and perfect for a sound sleep.

Hotel Rating Reviews: Campanile Luik, Liège (Belgium)

★★★★☆

54) The city of Liège is french speaking since it is located in South France. The Flemish/Dutch spelling of Liège is Luik. The lovely shopping street of Liège was bustling with a lot of people and vibrance beyond my expectation because I thought that people would go out lesser during the winter. The things were cheap there which made shopping enjoyable.

55) Fortunately I did not climb up this flight of stairs… *faint*… but I did walk down the fear-evoking stairs and went up by walking a very long steep slope somewhere which was no fun.

56) Finally I had reached the first peak where I could have some rest and admired the scenery after many flights of stairs.

57) Another steep set of slopes where I walked up. I fell one time because my leg couldn’t carry me anymore. I wonder how the people staying there could manage to walk up and down daily. They must be very fit since the road is really long and steep…!

58) I walked for an estimated 30 minutes at 1ºC temperature. Under such a temperature, I was sweating all over and began to remove my outer jacket. Oops yes…! I was panting like a dog in this photo as I need to rest every few minutes after walking the damn steep slope which I felt frustrated and unfit. The person who took my photo in this state was obviously mocking my inability.

59) This was the second peak after another steep walk. Liège has a lot of slopes since it is located in a mountainous region. Another round of photo-taking sessions to celebrate my completion of slopes and stairs climbing. Hmm… Ought to give me a good pat

60) So now I would be walking down from the long flight of fear-evoking stairs. It was more difficult than I think as my legs had gone soft and weak like jelly after a whole day of training thanks to my commando-trained boyfriend who said that I was not fit enough which resulted in one fall earlier.

61) One of the trees that I had spotted bearing ¿¿flowers¿¿… I dunno what was that but the texture definitely felt like cotton and had seeds inside.

62) This was a Chinese restaurant operated by the Vietnamese who can only speak Vietnamese and French. The interior of the Chinese restaurant looked typical everywhere in Europe. I had a similar photo posted in Berlin, where you can see one laughing Buddha. I had the idea that they could be run by one Asian syndicate.

Although beer is relatively cheaper in Belgium, I still prefer to drink my ice lemon tea.

Next Page

• Food and Travel Overseas [10] 2012 ⇒

•  Ghent, Leuven, Antwerp (Belgium)
•  Luxembourg (Luxembourg)

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