I am back from bali!

I am finally back from bali... How I wish I can have a few more days to really comb through the entire of kuta. The whole trip was tired, but enjoyable. We have covered places like the luwar coffee place, goa gajah(elephant cave), tirtul temple, mount & lake batur, ayung river, kuta beach and legian st.

One thing i must say that is their cheap massage.. I do it almost everyday. I shall come out with more pictures on my bali trip in the next post. :)

Rest In Peace, Michael Jackson! (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009)

(Picture extracted from news yahoo)

It is really hard to believe that the king of pop, Michael Jackson is dead. Michael Jackson's death age at 50 was reportedly from cardiac arrest at Los Angelas. He was pronounced dead after he arrived LA hospital. He was already unresponsive on the way to hospital. Michael is suppose to play 50 sell-out shows at London's O2 Arena starting in July, but Michael had already postponed the first few nights' shows amid claims he was suffering health problems.

Earlier this year, He was seen visiting doctors three times in one week and rumours was spreading that he was battling skin cancer.

Michael Jackson had also won 197 major awards during his 45-year career.

Five of his solo studio albums are among the world's best-selling records: Off the Wall (1979), Thriller (1982), Bad (1987), Dangerous (1991) and HIStory (1995).

His marriage life was also in a turmoil. He married Lisa Marie Presley in 1994, and divorced in 1996. Later that year, Jackson married Deborah Rowe, a former nurse for his dermatologist. They had two children together: Michael Joseph Jackson Jr, known as Prince Michael, now 12, and Paris Michael Katherine Jackson, 11. Rowe filed for divorce in 1999. He also had a third child, Prince Michael II. Now 7, Jackson (nicknamed Blanket) was his biological child born from a surrogate mother.

Thriller has remained the biggest selling album of all time with reported sales of 109 million.
Overall, Michael Jackson has sold more than 750 million records worldwide.

He has also been honoured by two American Presidents, Ronald Regan in 1984 and George Bush in 1990.

Life is short, I think all of us should learn to treasure what we have, you won't know what can happen tomorrow. Rest In Peace, Michael Jackson! We love you.

3 More WeeksTo Bali

It has been quite a while since i last updated my blog because so many things happened for the past few months and I was really depressed and busy. Anyway, it is just another 3 more weeks to my bali trip, WOOHOooo..... wanting to go with excitement, but yet with fear because of the H1N1 (Swine Flu). Singapore has more than 10 of such cases and I am soooo worried.... so, I am prepared to wear mask at the airport and on the plane. Better be safe than sorry. :)

My itinerary is not out yet, but I am thinking to go for snorkelling, surfing, volcano visiting, tanah lot and ubud bah... I have booked my hotel and will be staying at Sunset Residence in Legian. I shall update you guys again on my plan. Cheers! :)

Madam Kwan's Restaurant at Pavillion KL

When you get a chance to visit Pavillion at KL, do stop by at this very nice and authentic Malaysia food at Madam Kwan's Restaurant. Their signature dish, Nasi Lemak is one of the favourite by the locals and if you are a fan of Nasi Lemak, you shouldn't miss it!

Although it may be a bit pricey for local hawker food but I would not mind paying abit more for eating great food with better and classier ambience. :) This place will be quite crowded if you come around 7 plus to 8pm. The total cost for all the food listed below plus one beef rendang which i forgot to take picture, 2 beers and 1 softdrink was around 90+ RM.

Location: Pavillion, KL Basement.

Rating: 4 stars out of 5 stars

MUST TRY: Nasi Lemak, Nasi Bojari, Assam Prawns, Banana Fritters with Ice cream.

Nasi Lemak 14RM


Nasi Bojari 20RM



Assam Prawns

Fish & Chips 15RM (Not really very nice)

Banana Fritter 10RM

Ice Kacang 7RM

Bali, Here I Come!

I am sooooo happy that i got a very cheap deal from airasia. Anyway, I have booked a trip to bali from 2 July to 5 July. Although it is still a long way to go, i think it is so worth it for just only $50SGD per pax for the air tickets including of all the surcharge and taxes. The promotion will be valid from 24 Feb to 1 Mar 2009 and travelling period will be from 24 Mar 2009 to 31 Jan 2010.

For those of you who are interested to go bali, I think you should check out the air asia deal before the price change again. :)

Dorsett Regency Hotel, Kuala Lumpur

Airasia was having a cheap promo to fly over to KL. I paid around $72 per pax for the air ticket. Since the deal was cheap, I decided to spend my Valentine's Day at Kuala Lumpur. Overall, I spent around $114(inclusive of hotel) for a 2 days 1 night stay at KL. My choice was this hotel, Dorsett Regency. This website http://www.sg.pyotravel.com/ was actually offering a night stay at Dorsett Regency for a promotion price at 84SGD which was quite reasonable.

I reached the hotel at around 11am. We were asked to check into our rooms about half hour later because the rooms were not ready. Anyway, the staffs were polite and friendly. They suggested us to walk around the shopping centres first which were just walking distance from the hotel. The new shopping centre, Pavillion and the well-known Sungei Wang were just around the corner, about 5 minutes walk from the hotel. We decided to go sungei wang for our lunch and shopping. We came back to the hotel at around 2pm and we were given rooms at 16th floor. This is my room at unit 1606.

The room was big and clean. Although they do not have ultimately new furnitures but everything was in well-conditioned. Like most hotels, they have what was needed in the room. Safebox, hair dryer, mini bar, etc.

This is a nice and comfy King Sized Bed.

A Flat Screened TV

The bathroom have shower gel, shampoo and hair conditioner. Toothbrushes will be available upon request. They also have a long bath tub.

Their facilities also include a gym and swimming pool. You do not have to worry about finding a decent restaurant because inside the hotel itself, they already have 3 restaurants. You can also find nearby restaurants at Marriot or Ritz Carlton. Overall, I enjoyed my stay at this hotel and I would definitely list this hotel in my choice for my next visit to KL. :)

For more information about this hotel, you can check out their website: http://www.dorsettregency.com.my/

Highland Coffee at Ho Chin Minh

Many people say Vietnamese Coffee is a MUST TRY when you are there. As vietnam is the second largest coffee producer, they sell variety of coffee. You can find coffee powder almost everywhere. Although I am not really a coffee lover, but I do enjoy their Ice Blended coffee.

Since everybody was raving about Highland Coffee, I tried one nearby the hotel. It was along the stretch towards Dong Khoi area. I am not good in explaining the exact location, but it seems like you can find highland coffee almost everywhere because they have outlets mushrooming around the saigon. Another one that can be found was inside Saigon Tax Centre.

For a non coffee lover like me, I must say the coffee was really good, but their cakes was really Yucks!!! Have one recommend by the staff and they will tell you which coffee are popular.

The price of the coffee at Highland is not really cheap. It was around the price of starbucks in Singapore. Anyway, if the coffee is good, I would not mind.. :)

You can check out their website if you want to know more about Highland Coffee. http://www.highlandscoffee.com.vn/

More Post Of Saigon Can Be Found On >>>>>My Saigon Trip

Nike Expo Sales - Up to 60% Discount

Hey, Nike Sales is back! You can enjoy savings for up to 60%. Wow!!!!

For those who are nike lovers may like to hop down to Singapore Expo, Hall 6B From 5th Feb 2009 to 8th Feb 2009 (Sunday). The sales will start from 10am to 7pm daily and sunday will be 10am to 6pm.

Click The Picture To See More Details

Tutti Frutti Yogurt Saigon

If you would like to take a break after your shopping at Ben Thanh Market, you can cross over the road and head towards Tutti Frutti Yogurt Store. I am not quite sure it is opposite which gates of Ben Thanh Market, but their store is quite colorful and prominent.

This frozen yogurt store have so many flavors to choose, you decide the toppings, flavors and how much you want to eat and pay at the cashier. It wasn't really cheap or expensive, but if you are comparing with singapore, it is definitely cheaper. They do not charge by the cup size, they will charge by gram. If i don't remember wrongly, 100g was less than 2sgd.

Anyway, the yogurt tasted quite refreshing and nice. So, if you need a short break near ben thanh market, this would be a best place. At least, they have air conditioner inside. :)

Name: Tutti Frutti Yogurt

Website: http://www.tfyogurt.com/

Location: Opposite Ben Thanh Market

Rating: A good place for resting legs, great yummy yogurts and lots of toppings to choose.

Blueberry Flavor, it tasted so healthy More Posts On Saigon Can Be Found On >>>> My Saigon Trip

Ho Chi Minh City - Cho Ben Thanh Market

This statue is located directly opposite Ben Thanh Market (at the roundabout)

Ben Thanh Market is one of the famous tourist attractions in Saigon. It is loaded with varieties of goods like t shirts, shorts, beaded hand bags, shoes, lacquerware, flowers, coffee powder, fruits & vegetables etc.

What I liked the most about Ben Thanh Market are those exquisite lacquerwares. Be sure to compare the prices before you decide to buy because there are just SO MANY over there and it is very competitive for them. Make sure you BARGAIN REALLY HARD.... If the price is not right, just walk away because the stall vendors may just lower the price again and you could probably find the same one at the next store.

T shirts are mostly around 25,000 -45,000 VND. I bought a few for my friends at 31,000(Approx $2 plus SGD) at those road side fixed price stores. Since it was already so cheap, I was too lazy to bargain with those vendors. :) Most of the t shirts are those related to vietnam such as "Good Morning Vietnam" or with vietnam flag. A good buy for souvenirs.

If you are those that would not mind to buy counterfeit goods such as addidas, nike.. Ben Thanh Market have a lot!!!

Somehow, I feel Beh Thanh Market is a little bit similar to the Chatuchak in Bangkok, but Chatuchak definitely have 100 times nicer clothes and things over there.

The things that I bought in Cho Ben Thanh Market are their egg shells painting, 2 sets of children ao dai (approx $6.50 - $7 Sgd, depending on the sizes) and coasters.

Do watch out for your bags and wallets as this place can get crowded at times. Beware of pick pockets.

Name of this place: Ben Thanh Market

Address: Le Loi Boulevard, District 1, (At the junction of Ham Nghi, Le Loi and Tran Hung Dao)

Opening Hours: 6:00am to 7:00pm daily... (Night markets will be set up along the road after 7pm)

Special Cocoction for your whiskey

The Things In Ben Thanh Market




Lacquerwares, painting everywhere
More Posts On Saigon Can Be Found >>>>My Saigon Trip

Ho Chin Minh City - Pho 24

We rested for a while at the hotel after checked in. The first thing that we do is to find our way to Pham Ngo Lao Street (Backpacker St) because the nearest Sinhcafe was just located there. Both of us were kind of blurred with the road signs there cause almost all were spelt in vietnamese. We took quite a hard time to reach there, asking around more than 5 people about the right direction. The worst problem that we had was the right pronunciation of the road and the lucky thing is we have the map so we just point and they direct us. Communication was also abit of problem for us because quite a number of them don't really speak or understand good english.

Finally, we reached Sinhcafe. There were many people from all over the countries. Business seem to be extremely good for them. In my next post, i will explain more on the package we got. After some discussion, we decided to opt for the half day ho chi minh city tour plus the half day cuchi tunnel tour for the next day. We paid extra 25,000dong for the bus pick up and drop off service at our hotel too.

In Vietnam, the MUST TRY FOOD is PHO. Hence, we decided to proceed the well raved pho, Pho 24. Since there was a discount coupon at the map given from the airport staff, we used it. This was the first proper meal that I had in Ho Chin Minh. I was extremely hungry!!! We ordered a large mixed bowl (beef & chicken), a large beef bowl(same as mixed bowl, except the ingredients were beef), Beef Balls & Spring rolls. Well, that was what they have in the afternoon, i wanted to order their broken rice but they say they don't have. :)

I can't really remember how much was the damage but i remembered most of the food prices are like 15,000, 25,000, 35,000 and the most expensive that we had was the large mixed bowl that cost around 45,000-55,000.

Anyway, Pho 24 can be found almost everywhere in Ho Chin Minh. They have many outlets. :)

Name: Pho 24

Website: http://www.pho24.com.vn

Rating: 3.5 stars out of 5 (Cheap & Good Food Fare)

Crispy and Yummy Spring Rolls

Few miserable beef balls cut into half (very very small portion)

Large Mixed Bowl (YUMMY!)

More Posts On Saigon Can Be Found>>>>My Saigon Trip

My Stay with Lavender Hotel at Ho Chin Minh

I reached the hotel around 10am but i was not allowed to check in because my room was not ready yet. I decided to explore the hotel and enjoy a cup of coffee at their saigon view restaurant & bar since my room will be available in less than an hour time.

Lavender Hotel was opened since May 2008. Although it was a small 3 stars hotel but I would say everything was new and stylish. The staffs were helpful and friendly. In fact, I would give them an overall 4.5 stars for their excellent service.

Just like its name, many things were in purple and you will see lavender flowers all around. Even inside your room or bathroom. What I liked the most about their Lobby is the two purple chairs below. I think it is unique and cute.

On the other side, they have cool and comfy european style sofas. Christmas decor outside since it was christmas season. :)


This is the picture that I took at the saigon view restaurant, located at 8th floor. Diners can enjoy paranomic view because of the outdoor dining area that they have.


This is Ben Thanh Market. I can oversee the whole of Ben Thanh Market at the restaurant. Lavender Hotel is just located across Ben Thanh Market and it is only 2 minutes walk from the hotel.



At around 10.40, we finally checked into our 5 days 4 nights home. Wow! It was spick and span. Although this was a smoking room, it still smell good. I am glad there was a small window because some of the 3 stars hotel in Saigon do not have windows. The standard room that I am staying was small but comfy enough for the 2 of us.



The Tv Console area. There was a mini bar, fridge,tea making facilities. 2 Bottles of complimentary drinking water everyday. They have almost everything that was needed in a hotel including a Safe Deposit Box.

You can tell how small it was but both of us were quite fine with it because the positive points have already covered the flaws found.



You do not need to worry that the TV Channels are boring. They have many channels, it was just like our SCV. They have HBO,Discovery Channels, Hongkong Serial, Chinese,Hindi. I am sure it will definitely be enough for you to watch.


There was nothing special about the bathroom but it was at least modernly equipped to meet our needs. What I liked the most about their bathroom was the electronic weighing scale inside. I used it to measure the weight of my luggage so that it won't exceed the luggage weight requirement. I think this is quite thoughtful of the hotel to think of that.




You will be given chocolates and a card every night around 8pm. The card will indicate "Have a sweet lavender dream". How sweet they are! Another thing that I liked about this hotel is their tied up service with Vinasun taxi. Vinasun taxi was the more realiable source of taxi in Vietnam and there will be a lady in Vinasun uniform standing just outside the hotel. Hence, everytime when you need a taxi, you just need to inform the hotel staff and they will assist you in calling a cab.

During the time upon check in, I actually left my addidas jacket at the restaurant. However, the jacket was brought to me by the restaurant manager personally after 10 minutes without even knowing I left the jacket there. I think that is a thing that it is worth mentioning about their service.

Overall, I would give 4.5 stars for this 3 stars hotel in saigon. :)


Name: Lavender Hotel
Address: 208-210 Le Thanh Ton Ben Thanh Ward Dist 1 HCMC
Tel: (84 8) 2222 8888, 2220 2120
Fax: (84 8) 2220 2121
Website: www.lavenderhotel.com.vn

More Posts On Saigon Can Be Found >>>>My Saigon Trip