Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Amara Sanctuary Resort, Sentosa Singapore



Hello readers! I am here to review my recent stay at Amara Sanctuary Resort
It was a 3d2n trip at Amara Sanctuary Resort.

Bf managed to book at a cheaper rate which was about $400plus for 3D2N.
In order to get there, you have to take the train inside vivocity which is another train station to enter sentosa, alternatively, you can take a bus to get in sentosa.
If you are taking the train, u will have to alight at imbiah station before walking to Amara Sanctuary Resort.
It is located near the Capella as well but i think this is better than Capella, at least its not too deserted.
If not, you can walk from Palawan Beach, there is a small route for you to walk inside to reach the entrance of the resort.

As we was going to check in at their Villa unit, it was located at a different building from their hotel lobby.
The person did ask bf if we require a buggy to drive us in, but we thought it would be quite near so we rejected the offer.
But it was a wrong decision because we took quite awhile to found our unit.
This was our unit!



 Working Desk

Our bed



We was greeted with a plate of welcome amenities upon check in!
Moving on, i went to check out the bathroom area and the suntanning bed!
 This will be the back door of our unit,


When you open the door, there is this huge bathtub and suntanning bed for you to suntan.







When you open the second door, it lead you directly to the jacuzzi and swimming pool!
This is only accessible to guests who stay in larkhill terrance, which belong to the whole stretch unit that we are staying only!
Our unit was the first unit, so the jacuzzi was located just in front of our unit. Awesome.

We stayed during the weekdays and it was not crowded so the entire pool looks like a private pool instead.  Each of those door are individual units. 

 Our unit.






After our swimming session, we went out for our dinner!
We bought tickets to watch the songs of the seas.
They had two timing daily, its either 740 or 840pm.
It cost us $15 per pax.
We went back to our room after strolling around,
i would recommend everyone to read the directory whenever you stayed in a hotel,
as i remember we could request for complimentary ice. But when we tried to call their guest services, the phone was faulty and we had to use our own handphone to call instead.

We spend the night competing with each other in this game that was available in both of our S4. 
Before that, we bought some drinks and it was so funny that le bf sprain his neck when he was trying to open the glass bottle as there was no wine opener provided in the room.
He didn't tell me initially until i asked him because he was behaving so strangely.
This got me laughing out loud though. haha
In the end, he had to go and buy the plaster because he say it was hurting quite badly.
There was a convenience store, 7-11 located near the resort, about 5 min walk to palawan beach, but it was already very dark by then.
I was actually quite sleepy, but i decided to accompanied him along.
ps: it was also quite scary to be alone in the unit. haha
The next day, we went to adventure cove!



Personally, i feel its quite overrated, we pay $29 because of bf creditcard promotion.
If not, original price was $34.
But i find that it is quite expensive and not value for money because the q are quite long for each ride.
We tried the first ride, which was called the dueling racer which you are supposed to get the blue floating board and climb up to their entry point before sliding down.
We had to wait quite long for each of the rides and it was so hot.
I enjoyed the wave pool though, which is commonly found in wild wild wet as well.
We had some fun time though while inside adventure cove.
As we spend quite some time inside, when we was leaving, i realised we was badly sun burnt. hurhur.
Which i guess it would take months for my skin to recover the original skin colour.
After that, we went to watch a movie, Percy Jackson.
which was quite a good movie!
overall i do enjoy my staycation at Amara Sanctuary Resort with le bf, looking forward to more staycations! yay!
till then!

Tuesday, September 17, 2013

Duffy. Our Baby

Hello readers!
its has been long since i updated my blog, but this post is about a new pet that we had in our house!
and she is named as Duffy!

This was the first photo that was shown to us from olm when she told mummy that she would like to have a dog after seeing her bf having a dog named truffle, which is also a poodle.
Initially i was not for the idea, because i don't really like dogs at a young age, i don't hate them, but  did not particularly love them as well, and my skin is sensitive and i was worried it might worsen my skin condition if a dog is in our house and i always thought dogs are quite smelly.
But in the end, mummy convince me to allow my sister to buy the dog as a birthday present, and my sister was quite lucky as she saw Duffy previous owner was selling her online and she was only 3 month old.
She was a mixed breed of poodle and maltese, i was actually working when duffy was brought back home happily by olm.
she was sending me the photo of her at our house when i was at work.
this was her eating her meal at our house, her new home.

I remembered when i first saw her upon reaching home, she did not approached me eagerly,maybe she know i don't really quite like her yet or she was still adapting in the new environment.
i was observing her before i head off to sleep, and the next morning, its was just me and her in the house as everyone has left for work, i still remember i hesitated for quite sometime before deciding to open my room door.
I only remember when i finally opened my door, i saw her pee in the living room, so i had to clear her urine, and somehow i started to play with her, she is a very playful dog!
The first time i find her super cute when she could stand on two legs only!
and she can stand very long walking around like a kid which was so amusing.
She give that pitiful look when she want you to hug her, so i didn't hesistate but to touch her for the first time!

HAHAHA, she was so small!
I guess there is some sort of affinity between her and our family because our family loves her!
Initially, my dad didn't know that we bought her as mum didn't know if dad was going to object if he know we bought her so we told dad that it was olm's friend dog and she went overseas so we was taking care of her for few days.
But, my dad loves her, so he wasn't against the idea of keeping duffy in the house because she is too adorable! She will get very excited whenever we reach home and wagging her little tail.
Then, we will need to calm her before she start to run around like a crazy dog.


We bought her some clothes and look at her, sleeping under the chair like a plush toy.


We had a hard time trying to toilet train her, as she was peeing everywhere and shitting everywhere.
My mum would try to get her out because she would be hiding under the chair when she know she is not suppose to pee or shit at anywhere except her pee tray.


When she came to our house, she don't really have any teeth yet, but after few months, her teeth started to appear one by one, as she was still teething, she have the tendency to bite people, especially my sister and my dad because they didn't scold her when she do.
But she doesn't dare to try it on my mum and me. haha

Her first walk!

She love Jeremy as well when he came to our house and she just couldn't stop jumping up to him because he was so tall.




She was so small when she first came to our house, and she has the privilege of eating alot of food because my mum cooks on a regular basis. Initially we feed her own dog food that costs $272 for 3 months, i feel like puking whenever i prepared that dog food for her because i find the smell is too strong!
Then, she saw the food that we eat and will display a pitiful look so we would try to give her some of our human food now and then, since then, she doesn't really want to eat her own dog food already!
Whenever mummy cooks in the kitchen, she would go to the kitchen and sit quietly waiting for mummy to give her some food.
We placed her inside a trolley with lm's bf dog, truffle.

She is
when she is naughty, we would put her at high area and her legs will start trembling and stay at the position itself.
and she is actually quite timid! HAHAH i always tease her by making some sound when she is approaching a particular object thn she will retreat or run away. HAHA

love to pretend dog barking to catch her attention. HAHA

this photo of her looks like she is wearing a watch! but she is biting her waffle stick!


this was taken just recently send from my sister as they are taking her for sterilisation!
all of us was worried when my sister and her bf brought duffy to the vet last saturday morning!
my mum called my sister umpteen times to ask what time her operation.
mum even ask olm to buy her a bed so that she can rest on the bed when she came back!
cos previously stupid olm bought a mini tent but she so timid, she wouldnt go in at all!

i guess the first night she was really in pain,
olm was too tired that she sleep very early,
when i came back from at midnight, she saw me and wanted to get up!
but she was wearing the cone to prevent her from licking her own wound that may cause infection.
see look so pitiful and like she is really in pain.



sayang her for awhile before mum decide to let her sleep w her for the first night because its just so pitiful for her to sleep alone at the kitchen!

her new bed, cute right! my mum and i choose one! HAHAH and that doraemon was mine but mum give it to her to play now

i bet she is thinking, what is this thing beside me? i cant even move it away now, le sighs.
HAHAHA.
talking about toilet train, we was quite frustrated because we need to clean up her mess everytime, until one day when she was keeping watch on me as i exercise and i went to the kitchen to grab a glass of water when she walk to her own pee tray and start to pee on the correct place!
i was so amazed and shocked!
i didnt even expect her to pee at the correct place!!
was happily telling oh li mei but its not consistent because she will pee wrongly again afterthat,
and then i noticed a pattern that whenever she start to smell her own ass,
high chance that she is going to pee, thus i would bring her to the pee tray and she really pee!
HAHAHAHA.
so nowsadays we dont have to keep cleaning up her mess so often as she finally know how to pee at the correct place! still need to train her because she is still so small!
HAHAHA

nevertheless i have to admit that duffy was the one who changed me from a person who doesnt really like dogs to someone who can really play w a dog now, i am not sure whether i will still touch other animals except duffy but she is so cute that it make me melt!!!!
couldnt stop praising her and tweeting about her! now since i am not working a full time job, i get to spend more time w her until i start my school! so welcome duffy to my family!
she practically just like a member of us because everyone was so uptight after her operation and tried to minimise her movement by not letting her jump around too much, today is the 3rd day but she seems to recovered already!
but still she need to wear her 'cone of shame' hahaha for 2 weeks and no bringing her out for walks!
i wanted to blog about other stuff together with this post, but i guess its too long, so i shall stop now
will update soon!!
till then! :)


Saturday, August 24, 2013

Taiwan Trip Day 4 Maokong gondola. Homebound




Hello readers! This shall be our last day at Taiwan, in fact i think the next time when we visit Taiwan again, i think i should research and plan an itinerary on places to visit as we did not visit much places.
Before that we try to visit some other night market, we went to the huaxi street, but the temple was not open and there is nothing much at night so don't bother going there.


We took the train and alight at the station named, Maokong which is located on the brown line of their mrt station.
When you exit from the station, there is some walking distance, and you will see the zoo which is located around the same area as well.
They have the vending machine where you can buy your own tickets instead of buying at the counter.
In order to sit the cable car, you will need a ticket, after you have purchase, you can queue up to wait at the platform.



They will check with you whether you prefer the crystal cabin or the normal one, the price is the same, but everyone in front of us was choosing the crystal cabin, later i get to know the crystal cabin refer to the flooring being transparent compared to the normal flooring for the normal cabin.









We arrived at Maokong station after taking the cable car.







They was popular for their tea leaves, so we bought some before heading back.
 As this was our last night, we went back to the hotel early to start packing all our stuffs first before heading back to the nearby area like ximending to have our last shop before we was going back tomorrow!
Bought some of the laneige products from their departmental store!
 Hahahaa, this was our loots for 5D4N! We went to check out the various public transport we could take to get to Taoyuan airport. Jeremy's friend told him that we could take a high speed rail to Taoyuan before taking the bus that will bring us to the airport.
The cost will be definitely cheaper than taking a cab.
 So we went to check out the tickets at taipei main station and we purchase the business class tickets since it cost only like $15 per pax! Hahaha

So on the last day, after checking out from the hotel, we walked to the taipei main station to take the high speed rail. It was also our first time taking and i thought it was very spacious and clean too!

There were even chocolate muffins served to us
From Taipei main station, it was only a stop to Taoyuan, so after we reach Taoyuan station, look out for the green color buses parking outside and it would cost NT30 per pax and the driver will help you with your luggage too.

Overall, the cost is cheaper than taking a cab, but i do suggest to consider taking this route when you are coming and probably a cab when you are heading back, since you luggage should be more heavier than when you first arrived. Haha

I do enjoy visiting Taiwan and i will be back again next time to explore other parts of Taiwan.
Till then!

Tuesday, August 20, 2013

Taiwan Trip Day 3 Jiufen old street, Shifen waterfall, Shifen Old Street, Taipei. Ximending


Hello readers, for day 3, we decided to visit Jiufen, so we went to bought the ticket, to get to Jiufen, there are several option, you could choose to take a cab, taking the bus or taking their train. 
When i mention train, it's not the metro station but rather you have to buy your ticket as the train come at a specific timing. Starting, we was not sure how to buy the tickets, so we went to the counter where there was a queue for people to purchase their tickets, but when we checked with the information counter staff, they told us we could go the vending machine to purchase the tickets.

The train was due to depart at morning 11.30am, it was about an hour trip and i was so sleepy especially when it was drizzling when we finally reached Ruifang station.

Since it started raining, we decided to take a cab from the station to Jiufen.
We boarded this cab and the uncle was introducing to us the package, there were two different type, the two different package include the different tourist destinations he can bring us.

For package A, it includes to Jiufen old street, Shifen waterfall, Shifen old street and to Yeliu before sending us back to Taipei.

For package B, it includes everything like package  A excluding Yeliu.

In the end, we choose the package B, it cost about 2300 NT dollar which is about S$100, which i think it was worth the value because we could shop whatever we want at Jiufen without going through the hassle of taking the train back to Taipei after that. 

If you guys are interested to engage him, this is the namecard that he give to me the other time. Pardon the blur quality!
The uncle is quite friendly, so what we do after we confirmed the package was to pay him NT$1000 first, the remaining balance will be paid upon us returning back to Taipei, our hotel.
With the cab, it was easier to get around and we only give him a call once we are done at each stop. We had about 2hour to shop at Jiufen and he reminded us to had our lunch first at Jiufen as there are no food stalls available at shifen waterfall and shifen street.

Didn't take any photos in jiufen as i was busy looking at all the stuffs and was having a quick lunch before we meet up with the driver to bring us to shifen waterfall!



It was a short distance to walk to the main entrance of the shifen waterfall.


We paid for the entrance ticket, actually i find there is nothing much to do so unless you have lots of time, this tourist spot is not exactly interesting to explore. We left this place shortly to Shifen old street! The street is famous for releasing the sky lanterns!


By then, it was around 4-5pm, so we could already see some sky lanterns in the sky, it took about 5-10mins via car to reach the shifen old street from the shifen waterfall.

The place was crowded as everyone was busy buying their own lanterns to write on it their best wishes. Basically, you get one of this sky lanterns from any of the shop, i don't think it's necessary to compare the prices because their price should be all the same. The pricing depend on the number of color you would like to take. We took all the colors available and it cost only about S$10.




We started writing and after we was done, there will be a guy to help you to take photo while standing on the railway tracks. The railway track is still in operation so you would hear people screaming to make way for the trains that is coming over.








After that, we was tired and get the uncle send us back to our hotel to put our stuffs before heading to Ximending. We took the metro and it will be the blue line, to alight at ximen station. Which is just one stop away from Taipei main station.

It was very happening when we was leaving the station, immediately there will be huge billboard everywhere on the tall building, there are street performers on the street too. I was hungry and we started looking for this particular stall that Jeremy was trying to find because he came before Taiwan and wanted to eat the  鲁肉饭!

Eventually, we managed to find this stall! I took this photo so that we can remember the stall signboard next time, because Jeremy couldn't recall the signboard name so we spend quite sometime trying to find.

Must order dish will be their 鲁肉饭, we ordered the oyster, meatball soup and vegetables too!




 The meal was so satisfying, we went to stroll around in ximending, before heading for dessert!



Shall end this post for now. 
Till then!