Category: Mousey’s Travel

saying hello from Sardinia!

On By mouseytongIn Italy, Misc..., Mousey's Travel2 Comments
From Our Balcony

This photo is from the 1st day. We left Genoa last Thursday on an overnight ferry for Olbia in our WV van. MIL, Milo and I with M at the drivers seat in the van. My FIL on his scooter behind us and our mechanic with another van right behind him. It was the best start to the journey but we managed. We were delayed leaving Genoa by 1 and half hours but surprisingly we made up time and arrived as scheduled. Tirrenea the ferry company redeemed a few points in my eyes. It is usually the worst among the lot that services the Genoa-Olbia route.

After disembarking, we made our way slowly toward Porto Cervo. Taking in the lushes green hillsides and the bluest seas ever! Even my MIL was impressed. She wasn’t in the best of moods as she was feeling a little unwell in the ferry and the whole time leading up to this summer holiday, she was complaining about the heat in Genoa, thinking it would be just as bad here. She also said that she would rather go down south and so on. I reassured her that she would find the apartment we found here in Sardinia would be to her taste and she would enjoy the balcony immensely as she likes to sit out in the open and have a smoke. Even if the beach is not near. We are after all at a port. We prefer to have a place near to our shop since we  are opened till 1 or 2 am. After a long evening we want to just walk home and crash.

True enough, that was the best part of the apartment for her! Apart from the fact that the apartment was spotless and lack nothing. It had everything! Being used to the southern version of rental units, she was pleasantly surprised. We lugged half a home with us. We even brought along an ironing board and and iron. That is how much faith we have in the rental units here. But the north and more commercialised areas have a better grasp of the market. They have thought of everything to make your stay comfortable so that you would keep coming back. I can’t say the same for the south though. Unless they are an international chain of hotels or managed by a foreigner. Like an absolute jewel of a hotel on Ortigia in Sicily run by an English woman. It had everything, great breakfast and free wifi and most importantly air-conditioning! Something sorely lacking elsewhere.

The heat here is just as bad but we have been having some very windy days that make for a very great working environment so far. It is so hot that I can’t bring myself to go for a run. Though I did about 3.5km yesterday when the wind has been so strong it  didn’t feel like it was 42 degrees at all! 🙂 I was a little “chau ta” in the face though. The sun sneaks up on you when the wind is so strong. It is deceptive. But, at least I got a run in for this week. We found a gym nearby. We are still in negotiations for a better price for the usage of the gym. It is currently too high to for just 10 entries. At Euro 200!! We are at Porto Cervo, after all. Can you see all the yachts that are berthed at the port in picture? There has been more since Sunday.

This is our reason to be here on the island of Sardinia. To sell our vespas!

Got to go! The shop filling up with clients. Hopefully we sell ALL of our vespas! 🙂

Toodeloos for now fro, Sardinia!! ❤

Our shop

 

Annual Girly Trip 2012 – Boracay, Philippines

On By mouseytongIn AGT, Mousey's Travel, Musings, Philippines3 Comments

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I am finally writing about our Annual Girly Trip (AGT) though some of you may have seen the photos posted on FB by my friends. I hardly ever post any picture on FB so unless I was tagged, you won’t see them. 🙂 I have also trashed the other blogpost that I was working on because to me the moment has passed and I didn’t want to write about it anymore.

Anyway, lets start from the very beginning of our AGT planning which as always, starts the year before.There were the usual, where do we want to go this year. I wanted to go to Boracay! Like the year before and the one before that too. They finally caved in this time. 😛 Somehow, it was easier this time round to decide on the date as no one is flying anymore and only 2 of them have to decide between them the dates to apply for leave and then inform the rest of us. They decided on the last week of June. The MATTA fair also helped matters along. The said 2, Dee and Simone went scouting around and found a great deal that included air fare, airport transfer and hotel with breakfast! It was such a good deal, everything was locked in almost immediately! All this was done by March this year.

Then our journey begins. I flew in from Italy and Von flew in from Indonesia. We were missing another person but this year she has too much on her plate to leave Malaysia for this trip. So it was just the 4 of us, or so I thought. I got both good and bad news 2 days before leaving for Singapore. Suffice to say, the travel will not be very good for her. So She dropped out. But was with us in spirit! We missed her filming..she always does the filming while Simone and I took photos. This time, I filmed instead and Simone took the artistic pictures.

We left Singapore on the 28th/29th June. Check in was the night before as our flight was after midnight. After 4+ hours we landed in Manila International Airport in time for dawn to break. By 6 we have gone through immigration and customs and we were making our way to the domestic terminal. Once we checked in, we found a slice of home! We found Ya Kun Kaya Toast! It was funny! We were a little hungry so some strong coffee, kaya toast, half boiled eggs and bowl of hot noodles was welcomed with open arms. We had almost 3 hours to kill. After breakfast we sat around. Von caught up with her trashy magazines as she calls them, I, with my “1431” book and Simone with her sleep, only for her to wake up to knuckles on her face! LOL!!! what a sight!

Then it was time to board for Kalibo. Oh, I have to mention that Philippine Airlines has a very interesting and funny safety video. We all found it very entertaining! Made us laugh and smile each time. We had hot food on the first leg, but since this 2nd flight was only an hour they served us biscuits and something else, I forgot. I only remember the biscuits because they were really good. Not my first time eating them but I was happy to have them again. Spicy tuna crackers! Yums!!! Their service was good too for both the flights! A very good first impression for me. 🙂

All this, we were still not there yet. When we arrived, we were met and ushered onto a bus. That bus took us another 1 and half hours through winding roads uphill and down. If we were not so tired and didn’t sleep through the journey, we would have been really sick. Which is what happened on the way back. This time it took us even longer as it rained! *choke* *squemish* *choke* After that bus trip we finally arrived at Caticlan, to be met by the reps from our hotel La Carmela. Ushered onto a van only to be dropped off 5 minutes later at their jetty reception. 15- 20 mins wait and we were loaded onto the boat (though I am sure they have a better name than my generic term) for the 30 minute ride to Boracay. Next up, into another van for another 15 minute ride to the hotel. FINALLY! we arrived…..it took us nearly 12 hours! Now we know why the tickets was such a good deal. 😛

Then….another long wait to check in. It was nearly 2pm and we were not in a very good mood. So we snapped at the reception when the rooms were not ready and they told us to wait. Not happy campers! 😦 They also took FOREVER to check us in. Photocopying our passports took eternity while the machine was just there, right in front of us! They were writing and writing and writing and shouting into their walkie talkies. We couldn’t understand why it is taking so long. We were tire, but we couldn’t sit and wait for our rooms but have to stand there at reception while they “check us in”. Apart from this little hiccup, the rest of the stay was really good. The hotel was at a good location. We had the beach right in front of us.

Now the holiday begins. First day, Simone and I didn’t get very far. We headed out for lunch and then both of us crashed till the next morning. I crashed earlier. Simone made plans for diving the next day. Only Von, the strong woman that she is managed to go for dinner and did a little exploring. I woke up bright and early the next day. Up and about and on the beach by 6am. The breakfast from the hotel was not the best, but I was hungry. The voucher didn’t entitle me to the buffet but just a plate. Bummer! 😦 Then I rolled and lazed around till the girls got up and finished breakfast at 8.30. Simone was planning on a dive at 9am. We tagged along with no intention of diving but then got sweet talked into diving. We were pushovers! So easily talked into diving! We didn’t have anything better to do anyway…LOL!!!! It has been years since I last went diving. It was a really good experience. We saw, turtles and a very long black and white sea snake! urgh!! I don’t like snakes! After the trip I realised I didn’t have proper sunscreen on so my freckles were out with a vengeance! Darn it!! have to work extra hard to care for my skin and not look so “chau ta” (burnt).

back on land for lunch and lookee-here! Look what we found! Nespresso!! Both Von and I are huge Nespresso fans!! Coffee was the order of the day! 🙂 Lunch was good too! Then we wandered off to the beach to “nua” our afternoon away while waiting for Simone to come back from her dive. We saw a couple of girls posing away a la FHM or Sports Illustrated while taking photos of each other in those poses. They attracted quite a crowd. It was really entertaining! A good hour was wiled away watching them. This day was also the day we had cheap and good buffet dinner, polished off our wine which we bought at Changi and went for drinks AND witness amazing poi (hopefully spelled this way) fire dancing. We even explored a little and chanced upon a bar with table top dancing which left us with a sight we wish to forget! @_@

The next day was THE best day! Simone went diving again while Von and I “nua-ed” again but this time at another bar. Right next to the previous one. We had an adventure searching for bubble tea drink kiosk up and down the beach when all the while it was right next to us! We thought it was further down the beach. We walked under the hot sun back and forth, got bitten by ants (cause I stepped on an ant hill, silly me!) and sweating buckets. Finally, we decided to wait for Simone to come back and tell us where it is. We walked back to the cafe where we were at the day before but decided to go next door. If only we walked a few more steps forward, we would have seen the kiosk!! Imagine Simone’s face when we asked her. All she said was “you girls are so funny! It is right there! (pointing straight ahead)” We were mere 5 metres away!!!!!!!! @_@ We waited 2 hours for Simone while Von kept going “I want bubble, bubble, bubble !”

The sea was so refreshing on such a hot day! We were told that we were very lucky as it is monsoon season and the weather was predicted to be good over the weekend and then rain on Monday which was the day that we were leaving. Just nice! It really happened as predicted. Lucky us!! We lazed around till about close to sunset. Von suggested we go see the other side of the island. So we did. Got a tuk tuk like taxi and made our way to Puka beach. It is a very nice and quiet beach. The view was amazing! Off in the distance it looked like it was raining fire as the sun set.

We got back just before the heavens opened. We stopped near the shopping area so we had to walk back in the rain to the hotel. A quick shower and braving the rain, we made our way back to the wet market which Von had kindly showed us. The concept here was to buy all that you want from the wet market and all the shops surrounding it and bring all our produce to the restaurant nearby. They charge a fee for cooking the items but we get to choose how it is going to be cooked. It was THE best dinner of the lot! We bought prawns, lala (shellfish or vongole), crabs, ladies fingers, eggplants, squid…..what a feast!

Because it was raining we didn’t do much. Went back and finished off the last bottle of wine just chatting. Last day, Simone wandered off early to take pictures while Von and myself squeezed every ounce of rest we could get before checking out. One last dip and some packets of amazing out of this world ‘siew yuk’ (roast pork) we were on our way to make the long, long journey back to Singapore.

That folks is our uneventful, beautifully relaxing holiday. Even if we wanted it to be more exciting, the place didn’t help or maybe we were just to tired… 😛
P.s: I don’t know what I did or how to undo it. Been at it a few times but I can’t get my photos in the right order. 😦 Just enjoy the pictures then…

Por-ce-lain Hotel

On By mouseytongIn Mousey's Travel, SingaporeLeave a comment

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So, I was back in Singapore on the first leg of my journey to meet up with the girls for our Annual Girly Trip (AGT). Because I arrived really early and Dee was already leaving for work then, I wouldn’t be able to make it in time to her place so I decided to get a hotel for 2 nights. Asking the hotel to hold my booking from the night before so that I can check in early and not have to wait for the normal check in time at 2pm. I was browsing my usual websites for good deals when I was intrigued by possibly a new boutique hotel on Mosque Road on www.booking.com. It looked interesting on the website and was at a really good location. Just a street away from Chinatown MRT station which is where incidentally is the main Chinatown street. Which also means I can just cross the road to People’s Park mall or is it shopping centre via underpass or the overhead garden pathway.It is also cheaper than my usual hotel which is a darn good 3 star one!

The room was relatively cheap for Singapore’s prices and it is supposed to be a 4 star hotel. It had a very interesting name too. Porcelain as it said on the site. I was intrigued. I immediately booked and was looking forward to the stay. It was so new that the taxi driver had a bit of a problem finding the place though now that I know where it is, it is hard to miss. The road is one way anyway, so there is no way you can miss it. It is at the end of the road. It is much easier to spot at night when the whole building it lit up. Blue lights with Chinese motifs and the little round blue lights with the hotel name on a white background. It really stands out at night.

There are many restaurants on that same street which none were open yet when I arrived and was dying of hunger! The nearest according to reception is McDs, and I am not about to eat that when I just got back to Asia. Plus I was dead tired. In the end I gulped down water after a hot shower and crawled into bed till 5.30pm when I reluctantly dragged my ass out of bed to get ready to meet the girls for Korean food. But I must say, the next day, I did walk over to the opposite side where I was told there is a food court and I got myself a hot bowl of noodle soup for breakfast. Bliss!

Now to the rooms. I had quite high expectations for the rooms as it boasts 4 stars and a “boutique” word in its description. Though I must admit that the room was nice, clean and very comfortable, the main thing it didn’t have was WINDOWS! I had a window-less room. My first, EVER! The strange thing was that the reception told me that they “upgraded” my room! I am curious to find out what was my original room. My room was on the ground floor and it is one that is equipped for the disabled. One thing great was that because it was a disabled room, I had a huge ass toilet. The size was exactly 50% of the entire room! The toilet is as big as the room! Though if I went there with M, we wouldn’t have any space for our luggage. 😦 I barely fit mine in there without it being in the way all the time. But we will have ample room to boogie in the toilet! 😛

Then, there was no closet space. The only space I had to hang anything was the hangers they provided that was mounted on the walls above the desk. A very strange place to put them since this is a room for the disabled, I doubt they would be able to reach it to hang anything. Unless they climbed on the table. Which I think would not support anyone’s body weight, at least not prolonged use. Their tv channels were also severely lacking. Never mind that they had only 5 channels, that is still ok with me BUT out of the 5 channels ONLY 2 were watchable!! And I don’t even mean content wise. The rest was so blurry, fuzzy and very bad sound that I ended up with only AXN which I was lucky had good and interesting content. They had free wifi which is a plus but since their bed is like a built in bed, I have to crawl in and out from the bottom of the bed, I found it troublesome and really inconvenient to not have at least 1 power point next to the bed. I had to charge my mobile phones and the laptop only at the table. Which means, I can’t surf the net in bed for long. And I can’t charge the phone while I am sleeping either because I am too lazy to get up and get out of bed just to reply an sms and crawl back into bed. It works wonders if you have an early morning and the alarm on your phone is at the table, you are then forced to get up. 🙂 I don’t see this as being disable friendly either. I find it troublesome to get out of bed to answer the phone while it is charging, so I think it would be extremely inconvenient for someone in a wheelchair, don’t you think?

Overall, I had a good experience. Not sure if I will stay here again but maybe I might if the price is right! A few snags here and there. I really do think that whoever designed the room especially for the disabled, did not think through their design or have never really stayed in that room before. Aesthetically it is beautiful but practically in the finer details, not so much.

If anyone has stayed in this hotel before and did not get the room I got, please let me know how it went.

Mousey is on her way to…..

On By mouseytongIn Misc..., Mousey's TravelLeave a comment

Boracay!!!!

The prolific entries stopped for a while cause I was stumped for a new blog. I had so much to write about I didn’t know where to start! It happens, even to the best of us! LOL!!! that is my story and I am sticking to it!

Flew out of Italy on Tuesday and am now in Singapore meeting up with the girls. Tonight we will be flying out to Boracay!!!

Our annual girly trip in ON!!!

See y’all in a week!

toodeloos!!!!!