Sister Act in Singapore

Gosh, I am so behind with my travel posts. I'd like to think it is because I travel too often but it really is because I am so not loyal in blogging.

I've just recently been engrossed in War Films and War history, which I feel is quite questionable on the time spent because I am so forgetful. Tragic because history entices me deeply but my memory is just shit.

I'm going to backtrack a little to May when I was in Singapore. So I was in Singapore for a week, with the first few days for work and then I extended my stay alone for a few more days.
So what I did was after work was over, I moved from Mariott at Tang Plaza in Orchard to Hotel G, a boutique hotel in Middle Road, which is near Bugis. I've never stayed in that hotel before but reviews were good and it was the cheapest by the time my work trip was confirmed.

The Hotel wasn't difficult to find. It was definitely a change from the high-ceiling, posh hotel of Mariott but it was good enough for me, and it was frankly a boutique hotel for half the price. The lobby for check-in is on a higher floor so you have to enter from the bar downstairs.

The room was small. I want to say quaint but I think I use the word way too often. So this is the bed and there is a luggage-shaped hole below it for your luggage. There is also other stuff like the safe (as above), hair dryer, water heating and....

USB ports! I was very bothered that Mariott didn't have ANY USB ports (old hotel) so technology kept failing me throughout my days there. Hotel G also provides you with a phone to use but I didn't use it, because I already had a M1 Tourist line.

It is safe to say I fully utilised the USB ports almost all the time I stayed there. I brought along two phones and two portable chargers, haha. When you travel alone, it is a true nightmare to have your phone dying on you.. I practically lived on Google Maps and Google search.

The toilet was small but fine, and I kind of broke the shower, so I was really glad when I returned the next day, room keeping fixed it.

So anyway, when my trip was confirmed, I bought my tickets for Sister Act the Musical. I was so thrilled when I saw it was on when I was there!

 It was in the MBS Theatre and it was harder to find than I'd liked. I was so worried I would be late! But thankfully the signs in MBS helped! The theatre was smaller than the one in Esplanade which I last went to for Les Mis.

 my seat was shit because I bought the cheapest option :P

 I enjoyed the musical a lot, it had the same plot as the movie with Whoopi Goldberg but the songs were all different and new. I really liked "Take me to Heaven", it was really catchy. The musical was very colorful and fun!

After the musical, I took the MRT back to Bugis to go back to the hotel. I take some pride in being able to find my way around the MRT because I don't normally look at directions when my BF is around.. There was one night I took the MRT from Ayer Teluk to Rochor and walked back to the hotel at midnight.. alone :-|

I don't think I am in a rush to do that again.

Was in Bugis Junction when I came across this Thai Milk Tea joint:

 I love Thai Milk Tea! I was pleasantly surprised because this one allowed adjustment to the sugar level. :-)

When I was in Sg alone, I was really bored and didn't know where else to go. I guess traveling alone has its ups and downs. Earlier the day of Sister Act, I took a Grab all the way to IMM, an outlet mall all the way in Jurong East Hahaha. It was a big mall with 60 outlet stores ranging from Charles and Keith to electronic stores. I only came out with a steal buy from C&K and a pair of Hush Puppies for my mum. Interesting place you can check out if you want a cheaper option for shopping in expensive Singapore!

xx

Auckland War Memorial Museum

I fuel on history, especially the War stuff so naturally, we had to visit the War Memorial in Auckland. 

Ir houses collections that concentrate on New Zealand history, natural history, as well as military history.

Right across the main entrance is this Cenotaph surrounded by consecrated grounds (Court of Honor) which serves as a War Memorial to those who lost their lives fighting in the First and Second World Wars.

Tickets are priced at NZD$25 each, which I have to say is real steep for a museum entry..

So basically the Museum covered history from the time of the arrival of the Maori (Ground Floor), Natural History (First Floor) and the War histories (Second Floor).

We spent a lot of time on the Ground and Second Floor. I am not that big on Natural History.

This was taken in a replica of a classroom for the Maori children when they were taken over by the British back in in the 1800s.

History goes like this: Polynesians migrated eastward in roughly two waves, the first occurring in the Bismarck Archipelago, Samoa and Tonga and the second occuring later spreading further to the outer Polynesian Triangle, bordered by Hawaii, Easter Island and New Zealand. They sailed using voyaging canoes like the one pictured above.

There were a lot of cool and authentic Maori displays like the Wharenui, which is a communal house used normally for meetings.

The cool part about the Natural History floor was the information on volcanoes because yep, Auckland is built on a volcano field. About 14,000 earthquakes occur in and around the country each year, of which between 150 and 200 are big enough to be felt. As a result, New Zealand has very stringent building regulations.

Come the Second Floor, which was the highlight of my visit.

New Zealand was involved in both the Great Wars, and sent soldiers to

 fight alongside Great Britain. Anzac Day is on April 25th and commemorates all New Zealanders killed in war and also honours returned servicemen and women.

Quick lowdown on Anzac Day from nzhistory.gov.nz:

  The date itself marks the anniversary of the landing of New Zealand and Australian soldiers – the Anzacs – on the Gallipoli Peninsula in 1915. The aim was to capture the Dardanelles, the gateway to the Bosphorus and the Black Sea. At the end of the campaign, Gallipoli was still held by its Turkish defenders. Thousands lost their lives in the Gallipoli campaign: 87,000 Turks, 44,000 men from France and the British Empire, including 8500 Australians. To this day, Australia also marks the events of 25 April. Among the dead were 2779 New Zealanders, about a sixth of those who served on Gallipoli. It may have led to a military defeat, but for many New Zealanders then and since, the Gallipoli landings meant the beginning of something else – a feeling that New Zealand had a role as a distinct nation, even as it fought on the other side of the world in the name of the British Empire. Anzac Day was first marked in 1916. The day has gone through many changes since then. The ceremonies that are held at war memorials up and down New Zealand, or in places overseas where New Zealanders gather, remain rich in tradition and ritual befitting a military funeral.

This Spitfire was never used in battle, but is nevertheless a rare example of the aircraft which was the favorite fighter aircraft of New Zealand and British fighter pilots.

This comes to a close to my pictures! Overall the Museum was a good day spent. We had a good insight to how New Zealand came about from the very beginning, and how both Great Wars affected the country and countrymen.

However if you are going to Wellington, you can pretty much see the same thing for free at the Te Papa Museum, which is the country's national museum. 

Xx

West Side Story and Fo Guang Shan Temple in Auckland

A week or two before we were due to fly to Auckland, I found out that West Side Story was in the city! The musical cast from New York was in town for 2 weeks-ish, and since we had quite a few days in Auckland and little planned, I managed to convince my BF (and his mum!) to catch the musical with me. It was going to be my 4th musical.

 We got our tickets online. Seats weren't great cos they were the cheaper ones lol and tickets were quite limited because we had 3 pax and you're not allowed to leave one seat empty. Nevertheless, I was rather excited.

 The musical was in the CBD, held inside the Civic.

 The Civic amphitheater was a rather small one, compared to the ones I've been to in Singapore and the UK. I liked how they made the interiors look like exterior- it was as if we were in the outdoors with lovely stars in the sky!

Sadly to say, West Side Story turned out to be my least favorite musical. I felt it was dry and draggy :( I was expecting so much more of it and myself to like it. I don't regret watching it. I am just glad my BF gave in to my incessant whining and pleading. Also felt bad for his mum because it was her first musical. Haha. Don't think we all enjoyed it too much. The cast was crazy talented though, thumbs up!

The next day, we went to the Fo Guang Shan Temple in Auckland because my BF's mum wanted to go check it out. I must say it was rather impressive to see such a huge and beautiful temple in New Zealand, but then again, I think Auckland is super duper Chinese-infused, what with an Asian and Asian eatery in every corner.

I am fascinated by temples and cathedrals, so this was rather pleasing.

The Fo Guang Shan temple's headquarters is in Kaohsiung, Taiwan and was founded by Hsing Yun. 

The temple was around half an hour drive from our place down in Albany.

 One with my BF's fam

The temple also acts a community centre that runs programmes like meditation classes, Tai Chi lessons and Dharma classes for children. There is also a Fo Guang Yuan Art Gallery which displays arts and masterpieces on the religion, culture and knowledge. There is also a "Tea House", the Water Drop Vege Cafe which serves vegetarian foods.

 It was a rather gloomy day as it started to drizzle shortly after we arrived

 Majestic

A pretty good selfie-stick selfie, I must admit. We had to quickly snap these as it was starting to rain and we had to run for cover!

The Fo Guang Shan temple was the only Buddhist temple we visited on our trip. In case you were wondering, we didn't see any other ones through the entire trip. We did see cathedrals (we didn't actively search for them) but they were not like the grand ones we saw in other places like Europe or even Seoul. But then again, we did not actively search for them. I remember seeing a Jewish Community house in Wellington though! Not something I see everyday (or ever) :P

xxx

New Zealand 101

Kia Ora, I just got back from my holiday in New Zealand!

Ok, the lowdown: I was in NZ with my BF and his family for roughly 11 days from 24th June to 4th July. We did North Island only, from Auckland through Wellington.
I am going to briefly talk about a few things one should be aware of when going to New Zealand. I've arranged them under separate titles so you can just read whatever and whichever you want to know of :-D

Our Flight

We took Singapore Airlines. We got promotion tickets at around S$900. Normal BAU ticket prices are almost $2000! So our flight was basically from Brunei- Singapore- Auckland and Wellington- Canberra- Singapore- Brunei. The flight getting there and back is a really longgg ordeal. We rented a car and drove from Auckland to Wellington and it didn't make sense to fly from Auckland so we flew from Wellington.

The overall flight to Auckland took around 11-12 hours not including transit, and including both flights. The flight back took longer at around 13 hours. It was grueling. 

Our flight to Auckland was delayed by 2 hours because of some technical problem. We were already in the plane ready for take-off when the pilot said we had to switch to a different plane. It was quite frustrating but they gave us snacks and an international plug so fine whatever. Haha. Singapore Airlines is generally my preferred flight over Malaysia Airlines because they are better in terms of comfort and hospitality. The flight there was on a newer plane model so we had the cooler and more modern facilities while the plane back was an old one. Still had entertainment, but limited and.. old.

Getting Around

We rented a car through Apex. It was Ok; convenient because they sent a van to pick us up from the airport and to the office where the car was (less than 5 mins drive away). The whole process took perhaps an hour because we had to wait for the van and the documents before getting the car. We rented a Toyota Rav4 for 5 people, at around 1.2K total, with insurance. And yes, it was the cheapest option compared to other rental companies.

Some Tips for my Arrival as advised by Apex:

• If you are arriving on a long-haul flight, consider staying overnight in that destination. That will ensure you are fresh and ready for the drive ahead.
• Make sure your drivers licence is valid and has been translated (if required).
• You must have your current and valid driver licence with you at all times when driving in New Zealand. If you have an International Driving Permit you must also carry your current and valid driver licence.
• If your overseas driver licence is not in English, you must carry an accurate English translation issued by one of the following:

• A translation service approved by the NZ Transport Agency (a list is available at www.nzta.govt.nz/licence/residents-visitors/translators.html)
• Apex recommends the Trans National Ltd translation service (www.driverlicencetranslation.co.nz)
• A diplomatic representative at a high commission, embassy or consulate The authority that issued your overseas licence
• An International Driving Permit (issued in accordance with a United Nations Convention on Road Traffic) is acceptable only as a translation.

It is highly advisable to get a car for your trip to New Zealand, especially if you don't have friends or family there. This is because there isn't much you can do on foot as sights and landmarks are all very far apart. The only city that we felt was discover-able on foot was Wellington, sort of. If you are in Auckland, you will notice that everything is so far apart and public transport is expensive. Also, people normally do not only choose to stay in one city but to move around from city to city, like we did so a car is definitely advisable.

Our Route

 Auckland - Matamata - Tauranga (pass through) -  Rotorua - Palmerston North - Wellington

As you can see, it takes almost 10 hours to drive from Auckland to Wellington so we split the journey and made a few stops on the way. Also, there is something interesting to see and do in almost every city and town of the North Island, so it wasn't difficult picking the stops. Actually, on second thought, it was, because we had to narrow down what we could see. We stayed at least a night in all the listed places except Tauranga.

Also, we had my BF's parents on the trip so the entire itinerary is very elderly-friendly (aka no hiking, no trekking, minimal walking, no boats or any physical exertion activities). That was overall not too bad because my BF and I are not extreme-sports people. We are not the couple to jump off the Sky Tower, nope. We are the couple to take Snapchat videos of you and calling you crazy.

Here is the driving duration for each stop:

We used a GPS and Google Maps to navigate our way. Also, petrol pricing is at $1.8+/liter :-}

Our Itinerary

I should probably start charging for these but I guess since virtually nobody reads my blog (yet!!), that's a bit ambitious.

So this was our itinerary but of course it came out with a few changes when we were already in NZ. Example, we sadly did not get to visit a vineyard :-(

 Over the next few posts (which may span from a few days to weeks to months) I will blog about my daily activities.

The Time and Weather

NZ is 4 hours ahead of Singapore, HK and Brunei time.

We went in winter (intentionally) so it was pretty chilly! It was bearable in Auckland but as we ventured South, it got colder. The coldest we had was around 6 degrees Celsius in the mornings in Matamata and Wellington. I fell sick on my second last day because we went up a mountain and it rained (same story as in Seoul). It wasn't as cold as Seoul was so I could prance around in a thermal, sweater and thermal leggings. But maybe not on a mountain and when its raining.

SIM Cards

One thing I did not like about New Zealand was their expensive mobile plans. We got the Vodafone Tourist SIM inside the arrival hall of Auckland airport, so we got the Starter Pack a bit cheaper ($43 instead of $49). I got the 3GB, 200 minutes and 200 text plan.

You can see the information here.

It is really expensive for just 3GB. I of course, me being me, I finished the 3GB before I was even in Rotorua so I had to buy a data bolt-on. At $20 for 1 FREAKIN GB!!

It made me really miss Singapore, where the mobile operators gave 100GB for $15 (promo only). Lol.

The other mobile operators in NZ are Spark and 2 Degrees, which have the same Tourist plan prices.

Our Accommodation

For our longer stays in Auckland and Wellington, we stayed at airbnb places.

1. Auckland
In Auckland, we stayed at Albany which was 20mins drive from the CBD. The quaint house had 2 rooms with 2 beds and 1 sofa which works as a sofa bed too. My BF and I slept in the sofa bed which was in the living room. I liked it, it was bright and clean, and it also had a hot tub!

It looks very tiny here but it was adequate space inside, even for 5 of us. Its good for 3, comfortable for 4-5. The Host stayed right behind in a big open house. The location of the place was really good too, it was just a few mins drive to the Albany Westfield and many other stores like Pak'n Save and restaurants.

We initially didn't try out the hot tub because we didn't bring along spare clothing. But on one night after everyone went to bed (and almost 1 bottle down), I pestered my BF to try the hot tub with me. It felt so comfortable and made it feel like it wasn't winter at all. We were initially afraid it would be too cold! It was fun because we could adjust bubbles and lights for the water.

2. Wellington
OK- it looks like I did not take any photos of our Wellington townhouse, but of the street instead:

 Nice quiet street.

The Nairn Street Cottage, which is now a museum, is a very old un-modernized house just down the street. It apparently showcases how people used to live back in the day, 3 generations ago. I didn't get to check it out.

It was the upstairs of the townhouse and it was such an old premise, which I absolutely adore! Haha! The door knobs are so high up, it was obviously build for tall white people! The house is old but so charming. It had two rooms, with two queen beds, and a sofa bed in the living room, which my BF's brother took. The place was in Nairn Street, which was walking distance to the shopping place of Cuba Street, which was my favorite place in Wellington.

In the stops in between Auckland and Wellington, we stayed at motels! My BF's mum was so worried it would be like Bates Motel-esque where someone will murder her in the shower but the motels turned out fine and comfortable, with the one in Matamata towering over our expectations!

3. Matamata
In Matamata, we stayed the night at Tower Road Motel.

Check-in was easy, we prebooked our rooms on Hotels.com. The lady at reception was really friendly. I booked two rooms, which each had 2 beds (one queen and one single), but when they found out one of the rooms was for 3 persons, they added a surcharge of $10 or $20. I realized all the motels did this later regardless if they had enough beds or not to cater for 3.

These were cute studio type cottages but we didn't stay there. It must be slightly more expensive.

Our room! It was a nice room, and had the basic stuff like refrigerator, hairdryer, tea and coffee, hot water for drinking and showering and a tv. The room was around $120/night.

Location was good. But then again, Matamata is a tiny town so everything is nearby.

4. Rotorua
In Rotorua, we stayed at Rotovegas Motel. I realize now that I didn't take any photos of the motel. The rooms were also pre-booked, and it wasn't as clean as I would've liked. The motel had an outdoor hot pool and there was designated parking.

Location was good. It was in a stretch of many motels and was near a Countdown grocery shopping store and other restaurants. Price: roughly $120/night.

5. Palmerston North

We stayed at Fitzherbert Castle Motel :-D I remember picking it because it was sort of a castle and it is in my bucket list to stay in a castle for at least one night in my life. Turned our it wasn't much of a castle. 

Basic rooms. What irked me was that the "free wifi" was only for 100MB. PER ROOM. Please. What the hell can I do with 100MB?!!??!! This became very significant to me because it was around the time in Palmerston North where I got reeally desperate from finishing my 3GB data from the Tourist Plan -_-

Location was good, it was near the Plaza for shopping and restaurants. Room was also roughly $120/night.

How Much Money to Bring

Probably should've started off with this eh?
New Zealand is not cheap. Food, petrol and shopping. Fast food is cheap-ish in New Zealand but everything else isn't. Expect at least 20-30 per person for a meal. 30-40 at a Western place. Alcohol is around $10/glass or per beer glass/bottle when you dine-in. Petrol, as stated earlier, is $1.8+/liter.
Shopping in New Zealand isn't much. Malls aren't big, and most of their stores are Australian brands. Most stores close by 5-6PM.

I spent most of my money on New Zealand snacks like Whittaker chocolates (for myself, my family, friends and colleagues) and biscuits, wine (one bottle per day please! but only cheap wine, nothing above $20 LOL #cheapskate) and I don't know what else. I definitely didn't shop much. I didn't pay for petrol or food.

I brought close to 1K BND and I spent it all, including credit card use. This was excluding flight and accommodation. But bear again in mind, I did not pay for food or petrol.

The NZ dollar is just a little higher than the Singapore dollar, its almost 1:1 but I guess to be more accurate, its around 0.94 BND to 1 NZD.

I bought a lot of Whittaker chocolates, Griffins biscuits, Cookie Time cookies... I was really fascinated by their grocery shopping and we spent a lot of time in Pak'n Save and Countdown (we went to one of those at least once a day). Because nights end early in New Zealand, I had a couple of glasses of White wine every night (one bottle each on the first few nights). I get asked for ID every time I buy wine in the bigger grocery stores, and I was blatantly refused the first time because my BF was with me and he didn't have his passport. Yep, we both looked like minors to the big White peole.
Really did not know to feel flattered or flustered. I read that the legal age for purchasing of alcohol is 18 but if the staff feel you look below 25, they will ask for ID.

Me, in my natural habitat hahahhaa

Kiwis and What to Eat

When I say Kiwis here I mean the people of New Zealand. They're generally very nice. When we landed in the north of the North Island in Auckland, we were very surprised to see how Asian-ised it was. There were Asians and Asian eateries in every corner we looked. Auckland is the biggest city in New Zealand. There are a lot of Asians, many of whom are Vietnamese residing there. There were Chinese, Thai, Vietnamese, Japanese and Korean cuisines everywhere.I really felt like I wasn't in New Zealand.

As we ventured more south, Asian restaurants got lesser and the Kiwis, how do I say this... were more stereotypical of all Chinese to be from China. I am not sure if I am being too sensitive, pardon if I am, but they expected us to want to have Chinese subtitles and Chinese pamphlets. Hmmmm. Lao niang got an A1 for English and English Literature please.

On our plane back from Wellington, I sat next to a sweet old man (Wellington-native) who spoke to me. He was surprised we spoke good English and was very intrigued when he found out we were from Brunei ("Do you all live in mansions?", "But you are not Muslim?"). 

But all in all, it is safe to say Asian food is aplenty. Halal restaurants may be tougher to find as I think I only saw a few through my trip that stated they were halal. My BF's mum really likes Japanese food so we had Japanese food very regularly.

There is of course Western cuisine too, and we love their local fast food burger chain, Burger Fuel. They serve grass-fed beef burgers which are so juicy and heavenly. We loved it so much we had it twice on our trip. Good thing is that its all over so we saw one in every stop we made.

This was the smaller bun version. Yum yum. SO good. My friend, Denice's husband, Jon recommended it to us before going. Glad we got to try it.

Will blog about our daily activities soon!