February 30-Day Challenge: 29th Daily Photo

It almost looks like autumn in Singapore... sigh... almost.

My breakfast view

Wow!  I can't believe this is my last February daily photo.  Tomorrow I'll put up a summary of them all.

Until then...

February 30-Day Challenge: 28th Daily Photo

Infinity exists in our elevator!

What's Your Personality Type?

I'm not sure why I love doing personality tests so much.  Maybe it's because they make you pause to really think about yourself for a few minutes, or maybe it's because I like picking through the results at the end pointing out "ah, that's SO me" and "hmmm....really?".

This one my friend Patet shared with me stands out because it's pictorial and the pictures are great!

Give it a shot (click here) - its free, you don't have to sign up for the results or give away a zillion personal details.

Image from VisualDNA website

I'm an Energizer, who's motto is "variety is the spice of life". Sounds pretty spot on to me. I've always wanted to try a little bit of everything - I get huge food envy in restaurants and love tapas-style dining, I rarely cook the same recipe twice, I love exploring new places rather than going back to the same place and (this is the clincher) I decided to do twelve monthly challenges rather than make one New Year's resolution (check that out here or look for the 30-Day Challenge label on my posts).

What's your personality type? Do you agree with it?

Do you have any other fun personality tests to share?

February 30-Day Challenge: 27th Daily Photo

Living in a tropical climate, you'd think that I'd spend all my spare time in the pool, especially when it looks this good.  For some reason I don't - in fact I can barely remember the last time I swam in it...  Lounging by the pool just doesn't really appeal when you're coated in sweat after about five minutes.  Charming.

February 30-Day Challenge: 26th Daily Photo

Ordinarily, I love airports - so many exciting possibilities for adventures!  The reunions also get me a bit choked up, like the opening scene from Love Actually.  Yesterday's airport experience was bitter-sweet as it heralded the end of a fantastic New Zealand holiday and a return to reality.

February 30-Day Challenge: 25th Daily Photo

Highlights of whirlwind visits home always involve catching up with friends and family, especially in bars/restaurants that have sprung up in my absence.

February 30-Day Challenge: 24th Daily Photo

To better understand my reluctance to head back to Singapore in two days, check out the view from our balcony.

'Beautiful' is an understatement

February 30-Day Challenge: 23rd Daily Photo

Whose woods these are, I think I know,

She belongs to us, we Kiwis, so

Put on your shoes and take it slow,

And enjoy the magic from high and low.

February 30-Day Challenge: 22nd Daily Photo

Catch of the day for Photo of the Day!

Send 'im back!

February 30-Day Challenge: 21st Daily Photo

Best of: New Zealand in 9 days - incredible wedding in Hawkes Bay and Bay of Islands kicking off the 'buddy moon' with the bride and groom.

Bay of Islands... firmly in the running for the most beautiful place in New Zealand.  That's saying something.

February 30-Day Challenge: 20th Daily Photo

Oh dear, slipped up again.  Chin up! Get back on the wagon!

On the plus side, I did actually take the next  two daily photos with the intent to post them, but the first time I forgot (main excuse, distracted by the whole family being together again for the first time in over a year), and the second time I didn't know we had internet until too late.

My bridesmaid's bouquet

February 30-Day Challenge: 19th Daily Photo

My artistic boundaries are stretched contemplating a stick figure.  The real artist in our family is my sister, Bridget.  These paintings are from her last year at school.  Frustratingly, she refused to sell them to me.

February 30-Day Challenge: 18th Daily Photo

It's wedding day!  Ahead of a long morning of primping and preening, a long run is in order.

Running in New Zealand is (relatively) effortless compared to sweaty Singapore.  I felt like I could run forever - probably because the first kilometer was down hill.

A beautiful frosty morning has delivered on its promise for an incredible day.  Bring on the chapel!

February 30-Day Challenge: 17th Daily Photo

Digital is brilliant and has made photography so much more accessible, but it has been the kiss of death for the photo album.

Last year I decided that it was time to bring back the album - not the photo book, but the proper print-and-stick-it-in variety. To help my inclination towards procrastination I decided to start from that day and curate two albums - one from that moment onwards, and the other to go backwards in time for when ever I had the energy and time to print and stick. So far we have two fabulous years covered and I love it! Flicking through the black pages and labeling with my white pen is so satisfying. Laying all the photos out on the kitchen table and finding the best combinations to tell the story of each of our trips - I really feel like I'm creating something special.

After our Christmas /New Year trip to North Vietnam, I made an album for Mum and Dad. Having just given it to them last night, I thought I'd share a few pictures (of the pictures).

If you've always been put off by the thought of the mountainous task in front of you, try my approach and pull it together in bite sized chunks.

 

 

February 30-Day Challenge: 16th Daily Photo

First glimpse of the Land of the Long White Cloud (New Zealand).

Home, sweet home

Review: Baker & Cook

Baker & Cook were off to a great start once I found out they served Allpress coffee.  For those non-Singaporean coffee lovers, a decent brew here is a rarity and when you find a good spot it quickly becomes a regular - especially when the food is good.

Baker & Cook is a bakery and foodstore, offering a short but delicious brunch menu, a selection of deli salads and pastries, fabulous coffee and incredible-looking bread.  The NZ support is extended beyond coffee to offering a range of Selini wines (I'm biased, Selini is Hawkes Bay-based, where I'm from) at reasonable (for Singapore) prices.

Already incredibly popular, the long line was a mix of brunchers and people nipping in for a takeaway coffee or to pick up a baguette, a loaf of dark rye or a huge round.  I can attest that the dark rye (served with my scrambled eggs) was moist, dense and delicious.  The baguettes must be equally as good, as the toddler ahead of me in the line couldn't help but rip a few chunks off the one her dad had just bought, meaning he had to top up with another one.

The owner we met was super friendly, and once he figured out we were pretty mad about coffee he let us know that the Allpress representative was coming in to train their baristas on 22nd February.  I'm definitely going back to test the results myself.

I'll also be keeping an eye on the schedule for their cooking school since I'm a huge novice when it comes to bread and pastries, although a very experienced consumer!

Sander and Kathy's eggs bene - polished off in a second

My scrambled eggs with dark rye bread

Our brunch of eggs bene, scrambled eggs, two smoothies and three coffees came to $77.

Details:
Baker & Cook, 
77 Hillcrest Road,
Greenwood,
288951 
SINGAPORE.

t: +65 6469 8834

Opening hours: 
Sunday to Thursday - 7am to 8pm 
Friday to Saturday - 7am to 10pm

Indonesia… South East Asia’s adventure playground!

Over Chinese New Year we felt the inexplicable need to climb a few volcanoes in Java (what?!) and it was the beginning of what I hope is a long love affair.

Indonesia is a volcanic mecca as it sits on the Pacific Ring of Fire.  75% of the worlds volcanoes help outline this ring, and in the list of the longest erupting volcanoes, Indonesia holds numbers 10, 11 and 12 (Semeru, Merapi, Dukono).  Semeru (the object of our affection) has been continuously erupting since 1967!

Unfortunately, with only days until our departure, Semeru decided to enter an ominously quiet period (still erupting, but not as large) and so she was closed for all hikers in anticipation of the calm before the storm.  So, with a swift change in itinerary, we shifted our sites to Arjuna and Welirang and were off.

Sulfur vent on Welirang

Sander and I are very much “let’s just wing it and see” travelers.  We never join organized tours and typically read a hastily purchased guidebook and sheath of hastily printed internet articles on the plane.  One of our favourite things to do in a new place is to wander, poke our noses around corners and down alleyways (often where they don’t belong) and just see what turns up.  This time, given our short time frame, we decided to try a tour – best decision ever!!

Our guide, Monggang, was with us the entire week and was brilliant.  Everything was organized for us – transport, meals, camping equipment, porters… We barely had to lift a finger apart from carting ourselves up and down a few volcanoes.  We could have taken it to a whole new level, but it goes against the grain sitting by the camp fire while someone else pitches/pulls down your tent when you didn’t even carry it up the volcano in the first place.  Our porters were total mountain goats, completely dominating us in stamina despite wearing flip flops (I kid you not), smoking like chimneys and carrying 20kgs attached to two ends of a bamboo pole.  We weighed our packs at the sulfur miner camp and felt a bit sheepish when our small packs came to about 7kg each… we had a few laughs though.

Our mountain goat porters

We were climbing in the low season (summer, but rainy) and unfortunately we didn’t have any luck with visibility at both of our summits.

Summit of Arjuna

Welirang in particular was especially miserable which just highlighted to me how tough the sulfur miners are.  Similar to its more famous sister, Ijen, Welirang is mined for sulfur by hand.  These hardy miners trek up from their camp (it took us two hours) with a trolley, chip blocks of sulfur from the vents with a metal pole, bag it, stack it and lug the 20kg sacks back down the mountain and then do it all again probably at least twice.

We struck the jackpot with Monggang as our guide.  He’s completely in love with volcanoes, especially Semeru, having climbed her thousands of times (his estimation).  It’s this passion that meant Sander and I had the opportunity to perch on the side of the lava dam at dusk for three hours waiting for Semeru to erupt and then to go back again at 5am and patiently wait again while the sun rises behind you.  We missed anything major, but managed to see a few lava spots during the nights.  These moments were some of the most peaceful I can remember in a long while.

Lava on Semeru

Monggang also knows everyone.  This led us on an interesting side trip up to the geology office of the national park where they measure Seremu’s constant eruptions – turned out we’d missed an eruption the previous night by about an hour.  This was the first time I’d ever seen a seismograph in action – very cool.

The tremors we just missed

After a seriously long and windy climb up through the jungle we hit the lip of the Tengger Caldera.  The original volcano was thought to be over 4,500m high but erupted around 150,000 years ago with the ash fallout causing summer blackout in Europe, and then imploded on itself forming a caldera.  Standing on the lip of the caldera, all we could see was lush green from wall to wall, but after winding down and driving through the greenery we rounded the corner to a sea of black sand.  The contrast was incredibly stark.

Grass sea

Sand sea

We were well accustomed to early mornings by now, but this 4.30am departure time to the viewing platform was one to remember.  Thick mist blanketed the caldera making it impossible for the jeep drivers to find their tracks across the sand sea to the start of the track heading to the viewing platform.  Monggang saved the day for us and two other jeeps as he’d previously tracked the path on his Blackberry’s GPS so he was able to guide our driver through complete white-out conditions to the start of the track – awesome!  Again, no luck with the visibility.  We huddled around a bucket of ashes sipping on coffee and slurping down a breakfast of noodles, waiting for the clouds to clear.  We eventually gave up around 9am and dropped down to the lower platform where it was miraculously clear.  By now my tummy was really grumbling (uh oh!), so the trip to the Bromo crater was a quick steep walk (lots of puffing). 

Bromo crater

After breakfast we headed back to the airport, very sad to be leaving.  Two volcanoes and a caldera later we were madly scheming how soon we could get back to Java to climb Semeru.  Eureka!  This year is a big birthday for me… what if I was to turn 30 on the side of Indonesia’s most active volcano?  Lock it in Eddie, and stay tuned for that adventure.

If anyone has any recommendations for other adventure holidays, I’d love to hear about them, especially if they’re in my South East Asian backyard.  And if you’re inspired to climb your own Indonesian volcano and want Monggang’s contact details, let me know.  It will be a trip that you never forget.

Details: Base Camp Indonesia organised our tour, but you could skip the middle man and go directly to the locals.

Continuing the Vietnam Love Affair in Hanoi

It’s official, I have a love affair with Vietnam.  We first met here in Ho Chi Minh , but I fell passionately in love in Hanoi and Sapa over Christmas and New Year.

Dust of your sneakers or flip flops and get walking.  The best of Hanoi can be experienced on foot – soak up the street activity, stop for a coffee or a restorative bite to eat, duck into random alleyways… You never know what you’ll find!  We stayed for five days and Hanoi got better and better.  

Headstone engraving by hand

Cyclos ready and waiting

Soliders taking time out

One of the most interesting streets we stumbled upon was dedicated entirely to motor spare parts.  Each store seemed to specialize in one particular part – seatbelts, mirrors, suspension…

Do

Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, Palace and Museum Complex

To get into the Mausoleum line up two-by-two: no hands in pockets, no arms crossed, no talking, no hats, no smiling and no stopping.  Ho is heavily guarded by four armed guards and a thick layer of bullet proof glass.  Honestly, he looks like a tiny wax doll, probably due to the embalming and maintenance process.  Walk through the grounds of the palace (you can’t go inside) and head to the museum.  The lower level of the museum is dedicated to the history of Ho, and the upper level is an odd combination of cubist art (think cars half sticking out of walls at eye level) and historical conceptual installations from Vietnamese students and artists.  You’ll shuffle passed the One-Pillar Pagoda - don’t expect much.

Museum of Ethnology

Dedicated to the minority tribes of Vietnam, the museum is a reasonable hike out of Hanoi center (~45 mins by car), but is well worth the effort.  Employ a guide for inside the museum (we had so many questions) and don’t let them rush you through.  Then spend some time wandering through the grounds, which are fabulous.  The museum invited each of the minority tribes to build their traditional buildings in the grounds and you can wander through/up/down/in and out as a brilliant complement to the displays inside the museum.  The most impressive for me was the rong communial house – built 20 meters high so it is easily found in the forest. 

Many of these minority tribes are in danger of dying out completely and as Vietnam becomes more urban the language, customs, traditional dress and much more are slowing fading.

Communal 'rong' building

Ho Chi Minh Trail Museum

The museum looked so deserted that we thought it had permanently shut down (they were having an extended lunch).  The signposting here is terrible, so make sure your driver/taxi knows exactly where he’s going.  Don’t look at a single exhibit until you’ve seen the amazing display presentation upstairs.  It takes you through the history of the war and highlights trails/regions on a room-length installation dotted with LEDs right in front of you.  Armed with this fresh perspective, you can better appreciate the museum.

Old Quarter

Spend hours wandering around the streets of the Old Quarter.  The people-watching is incredible and I challenge you to try to count the various things you’ll see being transported by bicycle or motorbike.  Here’s my (by no means exhaustive) list:  five dining chairs, a full length mirror, crates of Hanoi beer, four 44-gallon drums, gas cylinders, kitchen cabinets, 2m tall purple tree, a family of five.  Hiring a motorbike is not really that scary though, just use a scarf to cover your mouth and nose.

If you have a bit more time up your sleeve head towards the river (you’ll need to cross the main road) into a decidedly non-touristy area.  Twist and turn amongst the alleyways, keep your eyes and ears peeled for motorbikes and peak through open doors to glimpse briefly into Vietnamese family life.

Street barber

Temple of Literature

Built in 1076, the Temple of Literature is a Confucian sanctuary of calm in the middle of buzzing Hanoi.  As it houses Vietnam’s first university, it’s considered one of Hanoi’s most significant cultural sites and is incredibly peaceful.  Definitely worth a visit.

Eat

Vietnamese food would have a good nudge at poll position in the race for my favourite food.  I love the freshness, the vegetables, the sauces – there’s a lot to love and Vietnamese food loves your hips as well (by and large).


For a full account of my Vietnamese culinary adventure, read my post on Vietnamese Street Food (here).  I created it separately because I honestly didn’t think I could do justice to my favourite topic in a short space as part of this post, but couldn’t bring myself to cut certain things out – it would be like trying to choose your favourite child.

But, I will say it again, do your stomach a favour and skip the hotel breakfasts.  Lower your butt street-side onto those rickety-looking plastic stools and get slurping, chomping and sipping.

Stay

Anywhere you stay in Hanoi you will need earplugs – seriously, don’t forget them.  Hanoi wakes up early!

HongNgoc 1 – Dong and his team are brilliant, rooms are large and clean, hot showers have good pressure.  Be prepared to walk up the stairs though, there aren’t any elevators.