Category: Asia

Trips in largest continent in the world

#FoodFri Milk in plastic bag @ China

When I was on student exchange in China, I was very fascinated with these milk-in-a-plastic-bag. Besides regular milk, other types of liquid also come in these bags, eg: watery yogurt or peanut milk.

From where I grew up, liquid milk either came in a bottle or a paper box.

I like milk in a bag. It’s more convenient to pack since it won’t have the pointy edges of paper-boxed milk or the awkward shape and weight of a plastic bottle.

But I don’t like how awkward it is to drink. I either have to cut a hole and drink it like I’m sucking on an udder or find a glass to pour it in. There’s also a risk of the bags leaking because of sharp and pointy things in my bag.

If you’re ever in China, give these milk-in-a-bag a try. They taste good.

#FoodFri Silk pudding @ Tokyo, Japan

Asakusa silk purin~

On today’s menu, it’s the Asakusa silk pudding which can be found near the famous Asakusa Temple.

The store is located in a pedestrian lane, far enough from the main street for us to enjoy the quietness.

The store front was plain–a display fridge, two round tables outside. There were two bins by the wall, telling customers to recycle its glass bottle and plastic cap and spoon.

The pudding, like its name, tasted silky and the caramel tasted slightly burnt. I’m not sure if it’s deliberately like that to contrast the sweetness of the custard or if it was fluke.

Anyway, mom and I polished the glass bottles clean. Yum!

Here’s a Google Map of the place if you happen to be in Asakusa.

Travel contest to Korea

Just when I thought I was missing out on global travel contests, I found out about one for us in Singapore!

Korea Trailblazer Wanted! by Chan Brothers Travel

There’s two stages of winning, it seems. First round is resume sending and they will decide if you are worth for the challenge. After that, you’ll need to come up with a 48-hour itinerary for Korea. Have fun there, updaing your Facebook, twitter, any social accounts. Come back, edit your trip into a video. After that is the second round of contest where folks will vote which video is the best.

Prizes:
Grand Prize (Trailblazer): 2 pax 4D Free & Easy Korea Trip
Weekly Facebook/YouTube Lucky Draw: Chan Brothers Travel Voucher $100 X 5 winners
Voter Lucky Draw: Chan Brothers Travel Voucher $500 X 1 pax

How to enter: Sign up at their website and upload your resume and also a link to a video (if any).

Deadline: April 15, 2012

Eligibility: Singapore citizen or PR

May the odds be ever in your favor.

What does fugu tastes like?

The short answer to the question: Rubber.

Long answer: like rubber when raw but like silk when cooked.

I happened to have the chance to eat fugu during my trip to Japan. Before I tried it out, I imagined them to taste like salmon–melt in your mouth and smooth with OMEGA 3 fat.

So I decided during our Japan trip last October (has it been that long?!) that my mom and I will try fugu and hopefully not die from it.

We went to a shop in Osaka, a recommendation from a my super awesome Hong Kong-published guidebook which I borrowed from the library. (Yes, I’m not an anti-guidebook traveller because sometimes it saves time and energy.)

Continue reading “What does fugu tastes like?” →

Why toiletries make the best souvenir

When travelling, I usually buy tacky souvenirs for friends at home. (Sorry!) But for myself, there is only one type of souvenir–which unfortunately has multiple product categories–I need.

Regular cute souvenirs

My Achilles heel is not a killer pair of shoes nor a nice dress, but toiletries.

I dislike how the airlines limit how much liquids we can carry. But I’m secretly happy that this will give me an excuse to buy toiletries in a foreign land.

Here’s why you should buy toiletries as souvenirs (for your friends or yourself)

Continue reading “Why toiletries make the best souvenir” →

How we used Kyoto as a base to explore Kansai

During my 10-day trip to Japan last October, my mom and I spent 6 days in the Kansai region and visited Kyoto, Fushimi-Inari shrine, Uji, Nara and Osaka.

Since we wanted to see many sites in Kyoto as well as the Jidai Matsuri, we used Kyoto as a base and took day trips to the other Kansai cities. But if you are more of a city person, you’d probably like staying in Osaka better than Kyoto.

Our itinerary was like this:

Day 1: Arrive in Kyoto
Day 2: Kyoto – Fushimi Inari – Uji – Nara – Kyoto [Kansai Thru Pass]
Day 3: Kyoto
Day 4: Kyoto – Osaka – Kyoto [Kansai Thru Pass]
Day 5: Kyoto – Nara -Kyoto [JR]
Day 6: Kyoto (Jidai matsuri)

My mom and I are temple, old building lovers so three days in Kyoto was fine. (Although we did spend a large part of our last day napping in the public bus.)

Continue reading “How we used Kyoto as a base to explore Kansai” →

Skip JR Pass, take long distance night bus

During my first trip to Japan in 2008, I bought a 7-Day Japan Rail Pass–JR Pass which currently costs 28,300 yen/US$ 367.90–and took the Shinkansen from Fukuoka to Tokyo, stopping in the Kansai region for sightseeing.

While the Shinkansen was speedy and comfortable, I decided not to buy the JR Pass during my last trip to Japan in October for four reasons

  1. JR Pass is really expensive even for one person, imagine splurging for two.
  2. We were in Japan for a 10-day trip and the JR Pass came in only 7-Day, 14-Day and 21-Day form so it wasn’t economically wise.
  3. We only planned to visit the Kansai region. If we were travelling a lot farther, I might have gotten the JR Pass or flew.
  4. By travelling by bus at night, I could save on accomodation but still get to my destination. My cheapest accomodation during the trip was my Tokyo stay at 5,300yen a night while Kyoto’s was 7,980 yen.

My Japan trip through Facebook

I like to blame my lack of travel journalling on Facebook. I mean, come on, it’s much easier to upload a photo and one sentence than make the effort to type out 3 paragraphs of the day’s journey.

Also, my friend are more likely to comment on a Facebook post than a TL;DR post.

That’s why I am experimenting with “My Facebook travel journal”.

Here’s my Japan trip, retold through my Facebook updates. Continue reading “My Japan trip through Facebook” →

Munching through 7 of Lonely Planet’s Top 10 food destinations

http://www.lonelyplanet.com/blog/2011/12/15/food-travel-whats-your-favourite-destination/?affil=twit

Recently we asked our Twitter followers the question: which destinations have you (or will you) visit primarily for the food? As you would expect, hundreds of foodies replied with their favourite places to get their fill. The clear winner? Italy.

1. Italy

2. Thailand

3. Malaysia

4. Singapore

5. Japan

6. India

7. Spain

8. Vietnam

9. China

10. France

Guess what, I’ve been to 7 out of the Top 10. I’ll head over to Italy, Thailand and India soon (fingers crossed).

I love food and I live to eat.

Here are some of my favorite food I’ve nommed during my trips.

Continue reading “Munching through 7 of Lonely Planet’s Top 10 food destinations” →

Summary of my 2011 travels

2011 has been a very eventful year in terms of travelling. I was formally afflicted by dromomania.

I’ve also started on my Visit Malaysia project, visited Europe for the first time and went back to China and Japan since the last time I went as a student.

Here are the locations I went and the photos I took. Yes, I am also using this as my bragging wall. Thanks!

January

Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia [HOME]

Reflection of Mt Kinabalu

Continue reading “Summary of my 2011 travels” →