Boracay Day 5 - Ariel's point

Another checked for my travel bucket list today! Today was the most 'adventurous' day for us. Time for some height and get wet!

The Ariel's point is one of the highlight of the trip. Okay, nothing fanciful for the trip but you get to leap off the cliff and dunk into the sea. Can't get to do this in Singapore, for sure. 

We pre-arranged the trip with the Ariel's point personnel. The day started before 10am where we had to gather at Ariel's House (Whote Beach Station 1) for a pre-trip briefing. This is to safeguard our safety.

After which, we took the boat out to our destination. The service was real good and they provide water and beer (yes, if you want, you can beer all day) throughout the day. The boat ride took about 40 minutes and there we reached. 

Okay, while we had to pluck up our courage to do the 5 meters jump, there were fellow tourists who took the plunge at the 15 meters. Kudos to them, for sure. 

There we stood to do our jump. I'm glad I did both the 5 & 8 meters dip and okay, leave the 15 metres for my next trip there!

Cliff dive plank @ Ariel's Point

Besides cliff dive, you can also do other activities like suntanning, kayaking, snorkelling or just swim and relax!

A buffet lunch was included in the 2,000 pesos cost. 

The other activities

The day ended at around 5pm and well, it's our last night at this beautiful island. Have another look at how the sunset paints the background for the night.

Sunset, yet again!

Time for our last dinner and it's time for seafood at 'I love my backyard'. This restaurant is situated in the centre of D'mall. Not very hard to find but believe it, it is very hard to get a table. We tried once but could not get a table immediately. So this time round, we waited for half an hour before we had our butt seated at this restaurant. Great dinner to end off the day and to round up the trip.

Seafood platter @ I love my backyard

I will be back, Boracay!

New Menu @ TCC

TCC once again. I guess this is a place where I can visit many times in a year and not really sick of the food? Not sure why, but my friends seems to like it there for a casual meal. 

Good thing about TCC, they do change and update their food and drink menu. This time round, we got to see the new menu. But well, not every item that were removed from the menu were not popular. My friend was looking out for her Salmon Mentaiko Pasta but it was being phased out this time round. I wonder what did TCC base on to update their menu. 

Okay, in my opinion, I sort of think that there are lesser food items in the new menu, not sure where, but just have a feel. Maybe this helps the ingredient procurement process and help to reduce cost? 

So, I took the step to try out the new item - Clack & Clams Crayfish pasta. Not too bad, but the gravy seems too much for the spaghetti. It was more like a 'soupy' pasta. But overall, the taste was good. The clams and crayfish servings was generous. Maybe, TCC should give a side plate for patrons to put the shell. Good customer service goes a long way!

Clack & Clams Crayfish Pasta

Zi Char @ Telok Blangah Crescent

The family just love to eat Zi Char. A nice place which we have been to a couple of times. Just below one of the HDB flats near the market.

Perth 2013 - Day 7 - Swan Valley, Cottesloe beach

Good morning on a Boxing day and when you opened the door, this is what you get. I never got tired of the view I had in Keller's and I am starting to miss the simple life there. Don't be deceived that it was late morning. I think it was merely 8am. As per the previous day, we woke up thinking that we overslept. We should really get use to it man! After washing up, I decided to capture more photos of the place. 

Keller's B&B 

Breakfast was served on time and like the previous morning, we got to choose the eggs and beverages to go with the rest of the items. Marija is very proud of her home made products that she took time to go through the food on the table - from the jams to the yoghurt. I really loved the breakfast there. They should also consider doing maybe a all day breakfast menu or offer to cook lunch or dinner as a service. 

Breakfast, Love it!

After breakfast, we packed up to leave for Perth City again as we knew that shops weren't opened on boxing day as well in Swan Valley. I guessed we really made a wrong choice to visit this place during the Christmas period but it was really a totally different experience. Before we left, we saw Philip milking the cow again and finally, we tried it too. Good. It was also during this time that we got to know more about the family and with him sharing his vision and dreams with us. 

We also asked Marija that we needed their car service back to the train station as we knew that we could no longer walk back the long journey. As they operated a farm, a ride of 15 minutes to the train station and back, it would have eaten into their livelihood. So they do charged for such transport service which I thought was fair. Marija took us with her and well, she wanted to bring us to certain shops in swan valley but they were all closed. What a pity and I was a bit surprised that they do not really tour round their area. 

Back in Perth City and after checked in to Ibis hotel once again, we proceeded to Chinatown. A very small and forgotten area in Perth, I guessed. It was quite different from the Chinatown I visited in Sydney and Melbourne. It is not that big an area as compared to the other two. Well, Lunch was up and who can resist dim sums and after days of breads and chips, chinese food proved to be a delicacy to us! 

Chinatown

Alright, I have to say that Boxing day was really a big thing in Perth - almost all shops were having sales and people would queue overnight just to be the first to rush into the departmental store. Sales sales, who can resist it. We combed a bit of the sales places and decided that Cottesloe Beach was next. We had added this in on our departure day so recommended by friend and I was glad we made it there for the sunset. 

The train ride was not that far and the walk to the beach was easy. As it was not time for the sun to set, we decided to grab some dinner first. We first walked into an Italian restaurant but we did not stay on. Luckily we did not, if not, I think we would have missed the sunset. Then we saw Amberjacks at the end of the street and well, there was a queue. As usual, long queue would mean that the food could not been too bad. We queued and ordered the food, but the wait was pretty long. We decided a takeaway to enjoy dinner at the beach area. Smart Move. Here's the fish and chips with the sunset view - Priceless!

Cottesloe Beach

2 more days in Perth! Sad!

Perth 2013 - Day 3 - Fremantle

A trip down to Fremantle for the weekend market as well as for the Sunday live music at Fremantle Arts Centre (do check out this website for more information on the music Sunday).

If you think it is hard to travel in Perth without a car, you are wrong! We took the Railway Train from Perth to Fremantle and it only took us half and hour or so to reach. Personally I think that in Perth, if you planned your itinerary carefully, it would be awesome to simply take their public transport instead of doing a self-drive - you can relax and really enjoy the monent. For public transport, you can get the single ticket or like us (as recommended by the information staff at the train station), get a Family Rider ticket at AUD11.70 (for 2 adults and 5 children) and you can take any bus and train for the day. As easy as that and you would not need to worry too much about the transport  fare. A multi-trip ticket for a single adult cost AUD11.70 as well. SO, worth it, right?

Breakfast at Fremantle was super random. We did not plan or research much on the good food. We simply walked along Cappuccino Strip and found a crowded cafe for breakfast - we guessed we will not go wrong if there were people in the shop. So we ended up at Gino's Cafe. I ordered the Eggs Benedict: poached eggs ham hollandaise sauce on muffins and added extra servings of mushrooms - it was really a big portion but well, nice food, nice ambiance! Top up with a flat white made a great breakfast!

After breakfast, we headed to the Fremantle Market - it was not what we thought it would be. In my own world, I thought it would be like a big big market like that Victoria Market in Melbourne. Or maybe we did not really explore much in the market to find the beauty of it!

Sights of Fremantle

Next up, we went for a Fremantle Prison tour and it was quite interesting to see this heritage building built by the convicts back then. There are many tours organized and we just gotten the "Doing Time" tour as it was the next available timing.  A very informative tour where the guide brought us to the different parts of the prison, and explaining to us the history, stories and the evolution behind it Not sure why, but been to 3 cities in Australia (Sydney, Melbourne, Perth), I visited the prisons in all three!

Fremantle Prison

Like Perth City, Fremantle has its own Fremantle Cats (Central Area Transit service) bus. It is a free bus service that takes you round Fremantle and you can hop on and off to see the different parts of the city. However, there is a timing to it. So stick to the timing and you will be fine. From the prison, we took the bus to the Fremantle Arts Centre. There are a few rooms of art pieces that we can see for free. But the main highlight for the Arts Centre that Sunday was the free music. Australians really know how to enjoy life. While listening to free music, they can mingle and have a picnic - be it sitting on bench and tables or on the picnic mat. I love this type of freedom. Like them, we took the chairs provided and enjoyed a few songs! Thanks for the free music!

Next up from the Arts Centre, we went to Woolstores Shopping Centre to take a look. A very small one and maybe it was a Sunday, not many shops were opened. But the supermarket was! We love supermarkets and there, we bought food and souvenirs. We had wanted to visited the supermarket for the past 2 days but they were all closed before we could make it! Happy! But remember to bring a recycling bag or get a carrier when doing your marketing - they will charge for plastic bags! 

After much shopping, we went to San Churros for tea break - Australia's favourite chocolate cafe, serving the best Spanish chocolate in town. Th churros were nice but they got mixed up for my drink. Good service on their part though that they offered to let me take away my correct drink or offer to return us the money. This is what I love about the Australians - service before everything!

Arty side of Fremantle

As Fremantle is a fishing port and thus, we went to the Harbour Port for Fish and Chips - Kailis Fish Market Café. As we wanted to try other seafood, we ordered a combo set.The food was really fresh and nice! The fish was tender an you could 'taste the sea'! Trust me - furthermore, you get great view while dining. Love it! 

The sun, the sea, the fresh seafood!

Do remember that the train back and fro Fremantle has timings or rather the public transport be it bus or train in Perth has timing and they are super on the time. So please do not miss it, otherwise you would have to wait for the next train. So just be at the train station 5 minutes before - I think that is pretty safe timing! Well, we missed it and had to wait for half an hour before the next train arrived. But we were too tired to make further move that we just sat at the train station while waiting. A nice calm way to end off the pretty busy day!

Address:
Gino's cafe -
1-5 South Terrace, Fremantle WA 6160

Fremantle Prison -
1 The Terrace, Fremantle WA 6160,

Fremantle Arts Centre -
1 Finnerty St., Fremantle WA 6160


San Churros -
91 Market St, Fremantle WA 6160

Kailis Fish Market Café -
46 Mews Rd, Fremantle, WA 6160

Perth 2013 - Day 2 - Caversham Wildlife Park, Lobster Shack, Pinnacles dessert, Sand dunes of Lancelin

Day 2 marks the actual start of our trip in Perth. We booked a tour day via this website for a Full Day Pinnacles, Koalas and Sand Boarding 4WD Adventure before we departed. This tour costs AUD215 and top up another AUD15 and you will get a lobster lunch (plus a can of coke). Trust me, unless you are allergy to lobster or seafood, you should just upgrade to the lobster lunch. Most of our travel mates ended up paying AUD30 for the lobster lunch and that was on top of the normal lunch (I think is chicken or beef with salad). 

Okay, back to the morning. We woke up pretty early as the pick up timing for the trip was at 7.20am. Having researched for cafe that opens in the early morning, we had intended to visit Miss Maud Apple Straduel which is located two junctions away from our hotel. But at the first junction, I was happy to see a familiar shop - PIE FACE. I tried this in Melbourne some years back and I remembered them serving delicious pies at affordable price. Without further ado, we went to the shop to see if it is open. I'm glad we did!

I ordered the chicken & mushroom pie -  served piping hot and they are generous in their fillings. The crust was fluffy. Overall, PIE FACE has yet to let me down so far!

Pie Face

After the pick up at 7.20am, we were brought to the retail shop of the company. There, we were directed to another bus for our tour. It was quite a wait that we left for the tour at about 8.30am. What a waste of time - if only, we could have find our way there instead of being picked up at 7.20am. 

The first stop was to the Caversham Wildlife Park in the Swan Valley to view koalas and hand feed kangaroos. Some years back in Melbourne was my first encounter with Kangaroos. I thought they were really cute and were not afraid of humans. This time round at Caversham Wildlife Park, they are allowed to roam freely in their enclosed area. With us around, I guess they know they are up for treats. Following us and eating from our hands, they are simply lovely bunch of animals. They do not hop like what we see on TV, but they are still adorable. 

Koalas, on the other hand, totally ignored us. Sleeping is a super huge part of their life and well I guessed we were in luck when we saw the eyes of Koalas. We could not go near them but we were allowed to feel them with our back hand. Cool! Nice way to interact with animals! 

Caversham Wildlife Park in the Swan Valley

Well, I did not really like this segment of the trip - the Lobster Shack - but I enjoyed the food though. One of the best food I had in Perth. We had a tour of the live lobster processing plant which we put on the audio guide. Nothing fanciful, nothing that I remembered clearly except the big lobsters reared in the plant. But the lobster was great - remember to top up AUD15 when you purchase the item. 

Come the lobster meal consists of half a lobster. 3 lobster cakes, hot chips, salad and a drink. They were prepared right in front of you and of course, served piping hot. The lobster meat was clearly fresh and tender. The lobster cakes, though fried, you can still feel the freshness. The salad was a good way to reduce the sinful hot chips! I enjoyed the meal totally! Did I mentioned, a can of coke cost AUD3 and thus, we got the coke to go with the meal.

Lobster Shack

Covering 17,491 hectares, the Nambung National Park is home to Western Australia's renowned Pinnacles Desert. It is really a natural phenomenon with thousands of huge limestone pillars rise out of a stark landscape of yellow sand. Totally amused by the scenery, totally impressed that the dessert is still well-maintained though I think the limstone will slowly evolved further in future -  what we saw back then will totally be different if we were to see it all over again!

Pinnacles Desert at Nambung National Park

Another highlight of the trip would definitely be the Sand dunes of Lancelin - massive white sand dunes, the biggest in Western Australia. It was the first time I tried sandboarding. It was really cool but remember to bring your shades along! You could barely open your eyes without shades. But you need to walk up the sand slope first - Minutes to walk up, seconds to come down. Totally love the experience. Before the sandboarding, we were 'treated' to a 'roller-coaster' ride in the 4WD coach. Super! But the downside was - you were be filled with sands for the journey back!

Sand dunes of Lancelin

After the bus trip back to Perth City, it was already around 7pm. Time to dinner hunt. After walking down Murray Street, we decided to walk into Breve Cafe & Bar - it is the few shops that are open and serve FOOD. Looking at the long list of items they serve, we decided to order the Avocado Quesadilla with waffle as desserts. We did not really want to over order for dinner as we deemed servings in Australia to be quite big a portion for us. Furthermore, we love to snack!

Alright - I have to say, it is the first time I tried Quesadilla. It was quite nice with the meat filling and the avocado spread completed the taste experience. The waffle with ice-cream was a pleasant way to end the tiring day. 

Breve Cafe & Bar

Address:
Pie Face -
110 William St, Perth WA 6000
Breve Cafe & Bar -
158 Murray St, Perth WA 6000

Macpherson BBQ Seafood - Clarke Quay

Do not be mislead by the shop name - Macpherson BBQ Seafood is not located at Macpherson but at Clarke Quay. It is always crowded during weekday lunch and the selling point of this shop is the affordable 'Tze Char' menu. For a price of $5.80 nett, you can enjoy good bbq stingray rice that comes with a poach egg. The chili that is served on top of the Stingray was marvelous. Not too spicy for me and if you can't really take spicy food, you can jolly well scrap the chili off the stingray. Seriously besides the fresh stingray, the chili is the selling point. It goes well with the steamed rice too. The serving of the stingray is just nice for me. 

Stingray Rice

Besides stingray rice, they also sell many 'Tze Char' dishes ranging from sweet and sour pork rice to fried hor fun to slice fish bee hoon. Just a  point to note if you are heading there for lunch - reach before 12pm or go after 1pm. In this way, you will be able to find a table easily. 

34 South Bridge Road
Clarke Quay

Redhouse Feast

Hurray! Been looking forward to this December as Miss H has promised to treat us to a Seafood feast. Crab was on her mind and she suggested going East Coast Park. However, as we were meeting on a Friday night, we decided to go somehwere nearer town. Redhouse at Robertson Quay was the final decision and that's great as I have never been there.

This restaurant is located further down from the Alkaff Bridge at Robertson Quay, away from the main stretch of restaurants. It is walking distance away from Clarke Quay MRT station and we reckoned it might be nearer to walk from Chinatown MRT station as well. 

First to be served the Red House Combination Platter (小红楼拼盘). It consisted of 4 dishes, namely birdnest fried with egg, prawns, seafood cake and some meat (I forgot what's the meat). We ordered  the small share which was just nice for the five of us. This appetizer was not really appetizing. Can give it a miss to save the stomach. 

Next up was the Wasabi Mayo Shelled (芥末沙律虾). This dish was great. First of all, you needed not deshell the prawns yourself. Secondly, I like wasabi. Topped the dish was strands of cucumbers which makes it very refreshing. The prawns were fresh and the i is a good combination for a seafood dish. 

The third dish was the Tiger Garoupa (老虎斑) steamed with Superior Soya Sauce (豉油皇汁). Fish is a dish that really test the chef's cooking skills. I had to admit the fish is fresh but I am not a fish lover. I guess that applied to my friends as well. This was the most expensive dish on the table (yes, much more expensive than the crabs) and we did not even finished it. What a waste. Go for it if you really love fish. I guess fish-lovers will really appreciate it. 

Got to be healthy was one of our beliefs. We ordered the Sautéed （蒜茸炒) Broccoli (香港芥兰). A very simple and refreshing dish from the heavily flavoured seafood dishes. 

Feasting at Redhouse

Here's the anticpating dishes - Sri Lankan Mud Crabs. We ordered two crabs with two different cooking style - Golden Salted Egg Yolk (黄金咸蛋螃蟹) and Red House Chili Stew (辣椒螃蟹). Marvelous!!!

Let me start off with the Golden Salted Egg York crab. A relatively dried version as compared to others that I had tried before. But this was great. You could literally eat the salted egg york. As it was not the gravy type, it was less messier to attack the dish. 

For the Chili crab, with the thick and sweet chili gravy, everything had to be put on hold. Delicious gravy paired up with the fresh crabs is the best combination. With the sweetness added to the gravy, this dish is not very spicy and everyone including children can definitely try it.  We ordered the or Fried Buns (炸馒头). Fantastic Combination. The bun is a great way to finished up the gravy. But basically, dip anything with the gravy and it can never go wrong. 

1. Golden Salted Egg Yolk (黄金咸蛋螃蟹)
2.Red House Chilli Stew (辣椒螃蟹)

Ending the dinner was a plate of Deluxe Seafood Fried Rice (红楼海鲜炒饭). A sumptuous meal with great companions made a wonderful day. This dinner took me two hours or more to complete - mainly due to savouring the crabs. One thing to note that we realised that the restaurant is patronised by more foreigners than the locals. But no worries, the service crews were very attentive and they would promptly changed our plates or to fill up our tea. No complains on the service. A good downtown place for a nice seafood feast. 

Red House Seafood Restaurant (Quay Side)
60 Robertson Quay
#01-13 The Quayside

Hairy Crab meal at Mouth Restaurant（地茂馆）

Sister's treat to Mouth Restaurant (地茂馆) for the Hairy Crab set meal. Initially she had a date with her friend but her friend was busy with work. Thus, I got a free meal from Sister as she had craving for Hairy Crab since long. 

If I remembered correctly, this is a November promotion and for $30++, you get to eat - 

1) Double Herbal Boiled Conch meat with Black Chicken Soup

2) Steamed Hairy Crab Meat Dumpling

3) Steamed Hairy Crab

4) Crispy Noodle with Chicken & Egg 

5) Ginger Tea with glutinous rice ball 

Not a bad combination but to a dim sum restaurant, it is quite a must to order Liu Sha Bun (流沙包). It is actually salted egg custard filling. Nice way to start the dinner as it took quite a while to serve the dishes though we had made reservations. Nonetheless, the bun was great. The first bite and the salted egg filling was oozing out. Yummy is the word to describe it despite the fact that I had 2 ulcers sitting at the top and bottom of the left side of the mouth.

Liu Sha Bun (流沙包）

The dishes did not arrive in order. We had the Steamed Hairy Crab Meat Dumpling served first. It tasted like normal xiao long bao (小笼包) and I did not taste any crab meat. Could it be the mixture of the meat that stole away the crab meat taste? I was not sure about it and seriously, before I looked carefully at the menu, I really thought I was eating the normal dumpling. What a waste that was!

Steamed Hairy Crab Meat Dumpling

Next up was the Double Herbal Boiled Conch meat with Black Chicken Soup - served pipping hot. I liked this soup. The chicken meat was tender and the soup was tasty. Get a chance and try the herbal soup in the restaurant, I think it is worth the price!

Double Herbal Boiled Counch meat with Black Chicken Soup

Next up is the highlight of the meal - Steamed Hairy Crab. The service crew helped to de-shell the crab first and removed the innards. Initially we thought that she will help to de-shell and gave us the meat. But fat hope. We needed to put in effort in order to enjoy the crab.

I took nearly half hour to forty-five minutes to finish the whole crab. As small as it was, it really needed time and patience to eat crab. I guess the smaller it was, the harder to do it. As the crab was steamed, we could taste the freshness of the crab - Nice. Best food is one that we can taste the original taste - No sauce, no nothing, just the meat.

Steamed Hairy Crab

Sis was complaining that the crab was small and she was not full. She was still suggesting to head to Chinatown for second round. But next dish up was the crispy noodle. The order of food was like that of a wedding banquet where the staple food was served well before the desserts. They did not take note that I was still enjoying my crab and served the noodle. Thus, by the time I get to the noodle, it was no longer crispy and had become soggy. Nonetheless, the noodle finally gave sis and me the full feeling.

Crispy Noodle with Chicken & Egg

Last dish of the meal was the Ginger Tea with glutinous rice ball. Oh crap, personally I do not like Ginger Tea. The glutinous rice ball was sesame and it tasted quite good for dessert. I really could not complete the tea, not that I was really full, but the taste was too strong for me. Ginger tea is good for health or whatever purpose, thanks but no thanks. Maybe the restaurant could give some options to desserts. That would be fantastic!

Ginger Tea with glutinous rice ball

A nice meal with a nice ambiance. The meal I took more than one hour to complete. Not fine dining but savouring on crabs really needs time and patience. The restaurant was not crowded and their service crew were very attentive to us - making it a point to refill our teacup, clearing the plates the soonest we finished the dish. A bit stressful for me as it seemed that someone was staring at you while you ate. Quite a nice place to have dinner. They have a branch at China Square and another at Plaza Singapura. Go for the outlet at China Square as it is less crowded. 

22 Cross St,
Singapore 048421