Thursday, January 27, 2011

Shin Kushiya Charcoal Grill Restaurant @ myVillage (Serangoon Garden)

[This was an invited taste session by myVillage and Shin Kushiya]

The 4th serving (or branch) of Shin Kushiya is now available at myVillage.
(myVillage is the former Serangoon Garden Village that has been recently transformed.)

Shin Kushiya @ myVillage

Sometimes, it is interesting to meet up with the PR folks or manager to hear them 'sell' their products, you do learn quite a bit and appreciate the food you eat more.

What I learn is that Shin Kushiya imports the ingredients daily, yes daily! from the fish markets in Tsukiji (Tokyo) and Hakodate (Hokkaido). We in Singapore are quite fortunate that a lot of Japanese restaurants here gets their supplies fresh from Japan. I do know that which days some Japanese restaurants have the supplies shipped in, so I go there on certain days. I just realised I don't need to choose days to visit Shin Kushiya, because they get it fresh daily!


Shin Kushiya @ myVillage

A boy looking into the Shin Kushiya. Was he thinking about the food there, or the girl inside?

Another interesting discovery from the session was that, they grill their meats, seafood and vegetables over Bincho Charcoal. Bincho Charcoal or Binchōtan is the king of white charcoal. It cooks their Kushiyaki at 1200 Celsius so it's crisp in the outside, and still moist inside. Also the charcoal produces no smoke.


(After reading more about Binchōtan, I wonder where I can buy them to grill my food at home! I also remember the Korean drama Grand Chef, where they were looking for the best charcoal for the grilling, do any of you remember that episode?)




* Refreshing Yuku Drink *

Yuzu Drink

The refreshing yuzu drink.
Perfect to start your meal here.


* Assortment of Kushiyaki *
Assorted Kushiyaki

What's on that plate?

Ebi Shiso Maki  $3.60 - Whole sea prawn wrapped with thinly-sliced pork and shiso leaf
Buta Bara Yaki Miso Ginger  $2.80 - Three-layer pork belly with miso-ginger marinade
Black Pepper Yakitori  $2.20 - Black pepper soy-glazed chicken
Tomato Maki  $2.80 - Cherry tomatoes wrapped with thinly-sliced pork

I love them all, if you ask for my favourite, it would be the buta bara yaki miso ginger. It was grilled just nice. It's 3 layered pork, so the layer fats were basting the meat, making it succulent and fragrant.

When you order the tomato maki, please don't eat it straight away! It's hot! Let it cool down then pop one of it whole in your mouth. Then bite it to let the juices squirt in your mouth. Oh, that's so good!


Plum salt

Plum salt

Curry salt

Curry Salt.

You will see flavoured salts like this on the table. They are for the kushiyaki. I think you don't really need this because the grilled kushiyaki are good on itself. You can have some to see the flavour change a bit. See what suits your tastebuds!


Some of you might be like me, ignorant at times and call everything yakitori.
Yakitori means skewered chicken. Kushiyaki is most foods on skewers ;-)




* Kuro Goma Heaven *

Kuro Goma Heaven

Kuro Goma Heaven  $7.80 - Black sesame ice cream with homemade black sesame cream

This happens to be one popular dessert and they let us try it. It's just a sampling size, so it looks very small here. Black sesame fans, you should try it! They have two kinds of black sesame dessert in 1.

Black sesame ice cream and the black sesame cream. I prefer the black sesame cream! Hundreds of little black sesame, pounded to let the flavour burst out and made into dessert with cream like texture. There's a reason they have heaven in the name of the dessert!



Here's some good news from the good people at Shin Kushiya at myVillage:

(A)   Grand Opening Lunch Set Promotion!
Order any lunch set below and get 50% off for your 2nd lunch set
Chicken Teriyaki Set / Salmon Teriyaki Set / Bara Chirashi Set / Salmon Ikura Don Set / Tori Nanban Udon Set / Ebi Tamago Don Set / Unadon Set

Promotion Period: 7 February to 30 April 2011

Terms & Conditions:
  • 2nd lunch set must be of a lower or equivalent value as the 1st order
  • Valid from Monday-Friday, LUNCH dine-in only, excluding public holidays
  • Not valid with any other promotions, vouchers or discounts 

(B) Grand Opening Dinner Promotion!

50% off 2nd Ala Carte Sashimi!* (* except Toro, Uni and Sashimi Moriawases)

Promotion Period: 7 February to 30 April 2011

Terms & Conditions
  • 2nd plate of Sashimi must be of lower or equivalent value as the 1st order and applies to all ala carte Sashimi except Toro, Uni and Sashimi Moriawases
  • Valid from Monday-Friday, DINNER dine-in only, excluding public holidays  
  • Not valid with any other promotions, vouchers or discounts

Shin Kushiya Charcoal Grill Restaurant
myVillage Serangoon Garden
Level 2 
1 Maju Avenue
Singapore 556679

Standing Sushi Bar @ 8QSAM

Group deals seems like a huge success now! You keep seeing the deals coming in from the various websites. Three companies that currently offer things I like are http://hungrydeals.sg/, http://www.groupon.sg/ and http://superdeals.insing.com/. They somehow tempt you that you just want to click on the deals. 

One of my very first deal was the one by  http://hungrydeals.sg/
It was a 50% off Japanese Hoppy + Salmon Nigiri Set at Standing Sushi Bar at only $10 (worth $20).

* Salmon Nigiri *

Standing Sushi Bar @ 8QSAM

The Salmon Nigiri was delicious as expected. I always like the sashimi from Standing Sushi Bar. They have always been fresh and so far not disappointed me. We bought two sets of the deal, so we had 8 pieces of salmon in total.



* Hoppy *

Hoppy Beer

The Hoppy! When we bought the deal, I had no idea what Hoppy was!

Hoppy Beer

I realised what it was after talking to a member of staff. Hoppy is actually a non alcoholic beer flavoured drink (0.8 percent alcohol is considered non alcoholic)!

It is usually mixed with shochu to up the alcohol content.
Somehow the mix goes well with me! (we looked at the menu and this drink usually costs $12, so our $10 was so worth it!)

Momo was hooked on it! I don't usually like alcoholic drinks did find it quite nice!


* Sushi Take *

Standing Sushi Bar @ 8QSAM

Since we were there, we felt like eating more. We ordered the Sushi Take. $25
It came with  7 assorted nigiri, 2 pieces of maki, miso soup and the salad shown below.

Standing Sushi Bar @ 8QSAM



* Aji Shio *

Standing Sushi Bar @ 8QSAM

Feeling a bit more gluttony that usual, we asked them for some recommendation. We were told the Aji Shio ($28) has been popular with people who love fish. Oh yes, they were right.

Surprisingly the 'gut' part of the fish did not taste fishy. I like fish so I ate up every trace of fish flesh on it. The lady who took away the plate commented that the fish was so 'cleaned up'! I cleaned up even the head part. :-)


* Jo Kabubi *

Standing Sushi Bar @ 8QSAM

We decided to try out other stuff here. The only non fish we had.
The grill wagyu beef was nice and tender. Yes, it's delicious wagyu! ($35)


The meal might be a bit pricey, but it was because we ordered stuff that we liked. We probably over ordered because we were so full after that.

It also did not hurt when we asked which credit card had discounts.
We paid using "SCB" (I realise I have to use acronyms nowadays so that people won't think it is sponsored by them, you know which card right?) and got 15% off! Total bill was $84.85


Standing Sushi Bar
8 Queen Street,
Signapore 188535.

Tel: 6333 1335
Web: http://www.standingsushibar.com

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Honeymoon Dessert @ VivoCity

Two of our colleagues went over to Vivocity to shop during lunch time and came back with desserts for all of us!

They were so kind not to eat there, but buy them back so that we could have it as well!
Here are two takeaway containers of the dessert that my colleague and I who share an office had:


* Mango Pomelo and Sago Sweet Soup *

Honeymoon Dessert

The pomelo was packed separately in a smaller container. The takeaway container was in a good portion size.


Honeymoon Dessert

It was nice. The mango as you can see is a bit over ripe. (Is this the usual HK style to have it a bit ripe? I had something similar in HK a few months back and it's also over riped mangoes)

The texture is nice and smooth. It's rather creamy but with the sago, pomelo and mango chunk size, it was quite a delight to put in your mouth.


* I can't remember what this is called *

Honeymoon Dessert

It's been some time and I forgot what this was called!

Honeymoon Dessert

All I remembered that it was cold and nice bite with the little tadpoles in it.
I think the white pieces were tofu!



Honeymoon Dessert
1 Harbourfront Walk
#01-93 VivoCity
Singapore 098585

Tel: 6376 8027

Monday, January 17, 2011

Brown Sugar and Prapika Streaky Bacon - Tastes like Bak Kwa

Over the weekend, I happened to watch a few minute's of (the cooking show) Paula's Party and I saw Paula and his son prepared something really really sinful!

Paula and Bobby (his son) grabbed bacon and coated with it with lots of brown sugar and paprika.
Even though I can't smell or taste it on TV, it looked really nice. It was also a no brainer to prepare!

Brown Sugar and Paprika Streaky Bacon - Ang Moh Bak Kwa

That very afternoon, when I was shopping for groceries at Fairprice Finest, I passed by the meat counter and remembered Paula's dish. I grabbed some streaky bacon and also a pack of brown sugar.

I have a can of very nice smoked paprika from Spain, so I did not have to buy that.


Brown Sugar and Paprika Streaky Bacon - Ang Moh Bak Kwa

Since it's very sinful, I only experimented with 3 slices of bacon.

Coat the bacon with lots of sugar. Sprinkle paprika to your taste. The voila!

Tip: Use a non stick mat if you have one. Melted sugar is a pain to clean up! Non stick mats are life savers!

Brown Sugar and Paprika Streaky Bacon - Ang Moh Bak Kwa

I baked them for 20 minutes at 200 degrees Celsius.

The brown sugar and bacon will be bubbling and it caramelizing. The smell is so heavenly! I am sure you will be salivating even as it cooks!

Brown Sugar and Paprika Streaky Bacon - Ang Moh Bak Kwa

Tada! The end product!

Guess what? After tasting it, it reminded me of Bak Kwa! Home made spicy bak kwa!

I will still be getting the real Bak Kwa for Chinese New Year.
This will be treats for special friends. Try it!

Sunnyhills Pineapple Cakes 凤梨酥 from Taiwan

[These Pineapple Cakes were taste samples courtesy of Sunnyhills]

A few days ago, I got a box of Pineapple Cakes 凤梨酥 from Sunnyhills, Taiwan. It came when everyone in the office was so busy and needed a sweet treat to cheer everyone up.

Since a few of us in the office who ate it liked it, so I thought it deserves some airtime here. ;-)

Sunnyhills Pineapple Cakes

We do receive brown boxes in our office. But the brown boxes are usually IT hardware or software delievered in brown carton boxes, and plastered with courier company's airbill.

This brown box above is different. It is made from nicer and smoother brown paper box and comes with a bright orange sticker and a nice little band to give is a nice classy gift look.


Sunnyhills Pineapple Cakes

Examining the box before opening, I spotted on one corner, 3 chinese words: 奶蛋素 which translate to ovo-lacto vegetarianism. In lay man terms, it's suitable for vegetarian who is willing to take dairy and egg products.

So if you are ovo-lacto vegetarian, you can consume this.


Sunnyhills Pineapple Cakes

When I opened the box, there was a nice gift card message. The little packages of delight were covered with a nice dark brown jagged paper. Nice packaging.

It certainly pleased my female colleague in the office. She loves pretty packaging.


Sunnyhills Pineapple Cakes

For my background as a techie, we sometimes explain things or tell others how big something is by referring to things we normally see. When I say the piece of pineapple cake is big compared to the usual pineapple tarts, you can't really compare.

So here's a pack resting on top of the mouse! Hope that helps. You can see that this piece of pineapple cake is quite big.


Sunnyhills Pineapple Cakes

I posted a photo on Facebook earlier and I have friends who say that they have their favourite brand of pineapple cakes to try from Taiwan. I should try those instead.

My colleagues and I think this brand is not bad. Amongst us a few have been to Taiwan and have tasted different kinds of pineapple cakes. I personally can't remember how other taste like even if I have eaten them. Colleague told me, this one is quite good.

The pineapple cake's golden crust you see above is made from quality ingredients. The flour is from Japan, butter is from New Zealand and they use free range eggs.

Sunnyhills Pineapple Cakes


Some people like their pineapple jam very sweet, there are some who do not like things too sweet. If you don't like things too sweet, this might be for you. The jam is made from organic pineapples from Taiwan.

One colleague commented that he likes the filling because there is some 'bite' in the jam. You can feel some tiny pieces of pineapple which gives it a slight crunch when you have it.

For those calorie counting folks (like my sister). Each one has whopping 221 Kcal!


If you want to try these pineapple cakes yourself, you can head down to Funan IT Mall to sample them! They will be there from 17 - 31 January 2011.

They are sold in 3 sizes:
6 pcs box (300 grams) for $13.80 / 10 pcs box (500 grams) for $23.00 / 20 pcs box (1 kg) for $46.00

Before the opening of their physical store in Singapore later this year, they now provide delivery service. You can call +65 8522 9605 or email them at services@sunnyhills.com.sg to place your orders.

If you order above $90, they provide free delivery. If you purchase above $180, they throw in a free box of 10.

Friday, January 14, 2011

ToTT Bistro @ ToTT Store

My sis and I went to ToTT (one of the newest kitchen hardware store in town) to spend 'a few more dollars' so that we qualify for the member's card. Sigh. Consumers like us are always so gullible right?

Halfway though, we felt a little hungry and thought we will try out the food at the Bistro.
We thought that it looked a bit Ikea-ish!


* French Onion Soup *

French Onion Soup

We had the soup of the day which was the French Onion soup. $2.50
It comes with a slice of toast which was coated with cheese. The soup's clear.

French Onion Soup

Not the nicest French Onion soup, but we did finish every ring of onion and every drop of soup.
I love onions A LOT, so this might be a bit bias. ;-)


* Oven baked Lemongrass Chicken Leg *

Oven-baked Lemongrass Chicken Leg

The lemongrass chicken leg ($7.90) was quite tasty. The coleslaw was not light and crunchy.
But the mash could do with more milk or butter.


* Fish and Chips *

Fish and Chips

The fish and chips was a small portion. ($4.90) We found consistency in this dish.

When sis took a bite of it, she did not like it. The piece she took had very hard batter. It tasted like it has been refried or reheated. I used my knife to cut the other piece and found it really crispy and light. One piece was really nice, and the other piece CMI.

The chips was also inconsistent. The more dark ones were nice, but around half of it needed a few more minutes of frying. It was a bit raw. We guess it's probably a one off slip. They are after all teaching people how to cook next door!


ToTT Bistro
896 Dunearn Road
01-01A
Singapore 589472

Bistro Hours: 10 AM - 9 PM daily.

Thursday, January 13, 2011

West Co'z Cafe @ West Coast Plaza

We heard that there is a very popular halal 'zhi char' at West Coast Plaza. My colleagues wanted to try it out, so the 6 of us went there a few weeks ago.

When we got there, true to the hearsay, the place was really packed! You might need to wait a while for seats. We just happened to be there at the right time, because a big group left and the 6 of us took over the table. (allocated by the service staff)

West Co'z Cafe

We did not know what was the 'must have' here. We flipped through the menu and finally decided on the set menu for 4-6 person that cost $68.80. It seemed like a good choice. It allowed us to choose a dish from 5 different categories and drinks were included.


* Claypot Golden Chicken *

Claypot Golden Chicken

From the meat category, we picked the Claypot Golden Chicken. It is a bit like 'san bei chicken'. Anything that has a crispy outer skin with slightly sweetish and salty sauce taste good.


* Curry Fish Head *

Curry Fish Head

From the fish category, we picked the Curry Fish Head. We picked this because we noticed almost every table ordered it!

The fish was very very spicy! The sauce is nice, spicy and makes you sniff when you eat it. It also had the ability to made a few of us crave it that we nearly soaked up every drop of curry!

There is something different or lacking about it. It's not that was not nice, it was quite good. We concluded that we are bias because we are more more used to the Indian Fish Head curry.


* Sambal Kangkong *

Sambal Kang Kong

From the vegetable category, we picked the sambal kangkong, which was excellent. A tad salty like most Malay dishes. We wished the portion is bigger though.


* Oats Sotong *

Oats Sotong

For the seafood category, we picked the Oats Sotong. The reason we picked sotong over prawns was probably everyone was lazy to peel prawns!

It was quite fragrant and spicy. You can see bits of the fiery cili padi in it. Few colleagues were seen nibbling the fried oats until it was almost empty!


* Oyster Omelette *

Oyster Omelette

There was a 'main category' in the menu which had 'Hotplate Beancurd', Salad You Tiao, Mango Salad and 'Oyster Omelette'. We wondered why it was called main.

We picked the oyster omelette which was something totally different from what we expected. We thought it will be something like the Chinese style oyster omellete. But it was totally different. It is more like scrambled eggs with oyster with lots of chilli!

You might just grow to like this!

* Rice oh rice *

Steamed Rice

The rice was pretty decent rice too. You might need more of it if you intend to pour the curry from the fish head over it.

The drinks that most of us had was lime juice.

One of the places that you can go with your Muslim colleagues.


West Co'z Cafe
154 West Coast Road
#02-23 West Coast Plaza
Singapore 127371

Tel: 67791303

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Whisky Tasting by VisitBritain @ Quaich Bar

[This was an invited whisky tasting session courtesy of VisitBritain]

Interesting Fact 1: The Scots call whisky the 'water of life'. If you do an online search on whisky you will realise that whisky is a shortened form of usquebaugh (never mind if we can't pronounce that). It literally translate to 'water of life'.

Interesting Fact 2: In 2010, more Michelin stars have been handed to UK restaurants than any other time in the 35 year history of the gastronomic award.

Interesting Fact 3: Scotland has 15 Michelin-starred restaurants from capital city Edinburgh all the way up to the Highlands.

Interesting Fact 4: International Culinary Tourism Association recently declared Scotland as one of the most “unique, memorable and interesting” places for food and drink on the planet.


VisitBritain recently organised a Scotch Whisky Trail for a few bloggers and I was quite intrigue by it. I don't drink alcohol but I attended it hoping to learn more about Whisky. The session was held at Quaich Bar at Waterfront Plaza.

Quaich Bar

Quaich Bar / The Whisky Store is opened by husband and wife team, Khoon Hui and Joyce. They have more than 100 types of whiskies for you to try!


Quaich Bar

Khoon Hui led us through the Whisky Trail, explaining so passionately all about Whisky. I have never drunk whisky before this and I learned so much from the expert.


A piece of peat

We were introduced to single malt whiskies in Scotland. If I remember correctly, the major regions that produced them for the whiskies we tried were from the Highlands, Lowlands, Campbeltown and Islay.

Malt whisky is made from none other than malted barley. The barley will then be steeped in water to allow it to get to a point of germination. When the desired germination is reached, it is dried using smoke. Peat like what is pictured above, is added to the fire to give it a peaty flavour.


Whisky Tasting

I was quite overwhelmed by the different tastes and smell of it.
You could actually smell the countryside from one of them. Personally, I like the smell more than the taste!


Auchentoshan Single Malt Scotch Whisky, 12 year old


Smokehead Islay Single Malt Scotch Whisky


Deanston Highland Single Malt Scotch Whisky




Auchentoshan Single Malt Scotch Whisky, Three Wood, Finished in Spanish Sherry Casks

I tried to recall the difference between them, but I can't recall.
The 46% of alcohol made me giddy though I only smell it. :-)

If you are into Scottish Food and Drinks, you will be glad that VisitBritain has a Scotland Food and Drink Online Supplement. It features Scotland's finest gastronomical fare and its fresh produce.

Featuring Scotland’s Michelin-starred chefs, this supplement draws attention to Scotland’s amazing natural larder, and the importance of seasonality in their menus. Of course, no Scotland food story is complete without a thorough lowdown on whisky, the “Water of Life” as the Scots call it.



Hope you enjoy this Online Supplement.



Quaich Bar
390A Havelock Road,
Waterfront Plaza, #01-09/10,
Singapore 169663.

Tel: (65) 6732 3452
Web: www.whiskystore.com.sg

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Adventure on the Legend of the Seas - Part VIII : Outing to Phuket

This post is part of a competition I am entering. If you think I deserve to win the the Grand Prize which is a cruise 7D5N Western Mediterranean Fly-Cruise on board Liberty of the Seas, please visit http://contest.omy.sg/royal-caribbean/ and vote for me! You stand to win prizes too!


*** Excursion to Phuket ***

One good turn deserves another! We enjoyed ourselves to the excursion to Kuala Lumpur, we were looking  forward to the excursion to Phuket.

Before boarding the cruise, we were presented with an array of choices for the land excursion. Phang Nga bay was the one I picked with Catherine. The night before the cruise, we were told there was a change of plans. The organisers decided my new partners will be Estelle and Christine. (aka the Bikini girls)


* tender *

Legend of the Seas

"Tender", that's a new term I learned on this cruise.

Definition from wikipedia: "A ship's tender, usually referred to as a tender, is a boat, or a larger ship used to service a ship, generally by transporting people and/or supplies to and from shore or another ship"

Legend of the Seas

This was a photo of the tender beside the cruise ship. You can see how huge the cruise ship is!

If you are a photo buff, you should grab your camera and get ready to take photos! I think I took at least 20 photos of the cruise ship while I was on the tender. The first photo above was where the Legend of the Seas anchored in the Andaman Sea.


Everyone on the tender was taking photo, when you stop taking you seemed like the odd one out!


* arriving at Patong beach *

Big Belly Man

You know you have reach Patong Beach when you see men and women ready for sun tanning!
Sun, sea and sand. That's what tourist come here for right?


Juliet our tour guide in Phuket

Juliet our tour guide was waiting for us at the floating platform. Our very chatty lady who loves to talk! She can tell you story after story to keep you entertained. Her family owns a durian plantation too! She said the next time we visit her, we can go to her place to have durians!

The moment we touched land, we were quickly escorted off to a nearby van. We were like stars!  Omy and Royal Caribbean folks shielding us from the paparazzi waiting for us. The van then quickly drove off!

That was my imagination. The reality is that we were hurried up the van by the tour guide because our itinerary was jam packed! In total, it was over 3 hour ride on van and a 2 hour ride on a long boat. We were driving out of Phuket Island!

We must be lucky to have Juliet as our tour guide. Her chatty nature entertained us on our arduous long journey.  She even had quizzes for us!

Something we learned about the Thais from Juliet, she said the Thais each have their own personal colour. Their colour is the day they were born. How many of you even remember the day you were born? I remember the date, but not the day.

Thai people's personal colour is as follows:
Monday - yellow, Tuesday - pink, Wednesday - green, Thursday - orange , Friday - blue, Saturday - purple, Sunday - red.

The current King of Thailand was born on a Monday, that is why yellow is the King's colour, you see Thais wearing yellow shirts on the King's birthday month!


* Suwan Khuha Temple *

Temple in the rock

Our first stop on the excursion was to the Suwan Kuha Temple. It's locally known as Wat Tam. It means Temple in a Cave. Inside the cave is a 15 metre long reclining Buddha.

I will post the photos of it in my Flickr later. It will be disrespectful if I post I post the photos of Buddha with the photos of people in different stages of undress in this blog post.

* Koh Panyee *


We also visited Koh Panyee also known as the Sea Gypsy Island. It's a village built on stilts with a giant rock as her background. I will also load the photos I took here on Flickr later.

I found the visit to Koh Panyee boring though. I think it's more meant for tourist from outside of Asia who have not seen life in a kampung. It's literally a kampung.


* Phang Nga Bay *

Long Boat

The highlight of the trip was to Phang Nga Bay. Phang Nga Bay is a 400 km² bay between the Andaman Sea and between Phuket and the Malay Peninsula of southern Thailand. (In layman language, between Phuket and the tiny strip of land above Malaysia that connects with Thailand)

For the trip there, we sat on the long boat for over 2 hours. The area has 42 islands and we probably saw more than half of it during our long boat ride.


Our organisers

Some folks that joined us on our excursion was the crew from Omy and Royal Caribbean Asia.
The two guys  Alvin and Wei Ding are from Omy. The ladies Nicole and Phyllis are from Royal Caribbean Asia.



Cameraman

Oh, this huge camera and Jack the camera man followed us everywhere! He's the real paparazzi!
If you want to see the videos he took and scripted by Alvin and Wei Ding, view it all at: http://project.omy.sg/royal-caribbean/media.html



Boatman

Our boatman who navigated the complex waterways around the rocks. This bay is quite shallow, so we all depended on him to navigate us throughout thePhang Nga Bay Marine National Park.


Of rocks and hills

This area was declared the a protected Ramsar Site in 2002.
Curious clickers, you can click on this PDF file on the Ramsar Website and check out site no 1185.

The area is filled with limestone cliffs with caves, mangroves, sea caves with the most beautiful natural interiors. It's like a real live version of the geography textbook!

Look at this low lying sea cave, we entered it!

Of rocks and hills

This was the other side that we exited.

I was day dreaming again and imagined we were being chased by Scaramanga. He discovered that we had the Solex Agitator with us. Christine and Estelle were spies and had made a fool of Scaramanga. 


Do you know where Solex Agitator was hidden, it was inside Jack's video camera. If you scroll up to Jack's photo, you notice that watch, that's the rolex watch lookalike from "Live and Let Die". 


Now that we are all in the dream, let me tell you, the blue camera that Phyllis is holding, that's not a camera at all. In the movie, the golden bullets were stored in a cigarette packet. How old school. In modern day, the bullets are hidden in the camera. 



Christine and Estelle

Introducing the Bond Girls / The Spies / my partners in crime for the excursion. Estelle and Christine.

Spending a half day excursion with them, hey, these girls are so brilliant and intelligent not at all bimbo girls that you might think they portray!



The Rock at James Bond Island

Scaramanga's Island in the movie.
Ko Tapu the limestone rock around 20 metres high in the geography books.
James Bond Island to silly billy tourist like us.

All the long journey, we finally saw the tiny islet! James Bond Island!


Korean Couple


We landed at Khao Phing Kan island which consists of two forest covered island with steep shores. It's the main island where tourist will arrive from the boats.

There was a group of Korean tourist and they were taking turns taking photo at the slanting rock. Heard that they were filming a new Korean drama. It's called Sea Cave Sonata. Look out for it!


The Bond Girls

The Singapore contingent saw the Koreans filming and Jack the Cameraman said let's start working.
Our Bikini girls Estelle and Christine started to pose with the famous Ko Tapu.

Click here if you want to see the video that was produced!

Some of you saw a similar photo on Business Times, Straits Times or MyPaper. For those of you who saw the supposedly saw the photo of me between the two girls, it's doctored lah. See this photo shows I was not there. LOL...


What are they all watching?

When our dear girls started to go into the water, look at the expressions of these people!
Our tour guide was in total shock! She was speechless? Priceless photo!


Google Maps telling you where you are

Techie talk again:

Everyone was sleeping on the trip back! I was bored and what do techies do when they are bored?
They turn on their phones. I was contemplating. Should I roam? It's only $15 per day.



Bored beyond description, I decided to pay for my entertainment! First thing I did was to find out where on earth I am! Turn on google maps and 'tada!' I felt so comforted although that does not change anything. 

It was one over hour of checking email, tweeting, whatsapping again. What an addict!
The signal is not '3G' though, sometimes it is faster at 'E' (Edge) and sometimes 'O' (GPRS).






* food *


Buffet Lunch

We were really hungry and our first Thai meal!
It was a Buffet Lunch at one of the local resort. We were joined by the rest of the Royal Caribbean tourist.

Thai food in Thailand just taste good! It's probably the ingredients right? We always hear of Thai folks saying it's not easy to find the exact ingredients for some of their dishes here.


Thai Beer, Singha Beer

Thai Beer. You could pick bottled water or Singha Beer. Guess what everyone picked?



* bye bye Phuket *

Legend of the Seas at night

After the early dinner, it was another long ride on road back to Phuket Island.





I was so glad I decided to turn on roaming. Since I know it was $15 max a day from my provider, I was not going to waste any cent of it! Did u all read by tweets that day? 

We stopped by a tourist shop on the way back to get some Thai goodies. Oh man, I bet everyone could tell we were from Singapore! We bought enough to be packed into boxes! The van brought us back to Patong Beach with so many boxes of junk food!

It was another great excursion out! I heard the rest who went on other excursions enjoyed themselves too! Head over to http://project.omy.sg/royal-caribbean/ to read all about it!