Summer in Bintan Indonesia - Singapore getaways

I've been dying to dip myself into the waters of a 'real beach', so 3 weeks ago was a dream come true after so many years. I am was a beach bum. I was browsing my Multiply page the other day and was surprise about the fact that almost every 2 months we were on the beach - when I was still single. Deym. I want that again.

We had an overnight summer excursion last  Apr 30-May 1 2012. Thank God some of our beach buddies are already working here in Singapore, so friends Rocky and Karlo went with us to Nirwana Gardens Resort in Bintan Indonesia. It was our first time to visit the place.

photo courtesy - Nirwana website

Bintan is a 55 minute ferry ride from Singapore. Its quiet near so Bintan has been a common beach destination for residents of Singapore. When taking the Public Transport: Take the MRT to Tanah Merah MRT (for our case we took the cab going to TM as we are meeting our friends there), board bus 35 and take it to the last stop at Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal (12 mins).  Although it was raining when we left Singapore but Mr Sun met us as soon as we arrived Bintan. Thank you.

That's my daughter and I, lower left is a welcome signage upon arriving to Bintan, lower right is a photo of our ferry

The Gang! Manang Jiji took the photo

   We were actually welcomed by local dancers. I luv it. :D Our rooms were not yet ready when we arrived so we decided to use our freebies while waiting.

Archery

 The boys, Marv and Karl went for an air dive. :D neah, flying fox.

Daddy! Weeeee!

We didnt know what to do and where to go after these activities. It was very hot as well so we thought of going back to the hotel to take a rest. There was only one room available at the moment so we invited the couple to join us for a while. We had a nap.

Too bad I wasn't able to get photos of our room. We were all tired and wanted to just doze off.

And then of course, when we woke up, we had our chance to enjoy the beach.

and spend overtime in the pool.

It was fun! See you again beaches friends. :D


Blessings ♥

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Our Seoul Trip : Christmas 2011 : Let it Snow!

Because I have received a couple of e-mails / private messages inquiring about our Seoul trip last Christimas after posting this one, http://hahpiness.blogspot.com/2012/01/seoul-trip-story-behind-arrival.html - now I am more than happy to continue our Seoul chronicles here.

Seoul Day 1

It was still cold outside at 4 deg cel. Our planned trip for the day [23rd Dec] was canceled due to the fact that our luggages were not with us yet(remember our airlines lost them). They promised to deliver it the next day ( 23rd Dec) at our friend's pad at GANGNAM-gu. So instead of going to Everland we opted to stroll and see the nearby mall and sceneries at GANGNAM. Gangnam itself is a tourist spot in Seoul. If you like shopping for branded stuff, this is one of the places you want to go. As per WIKI,  It is one of the most affluent areas of Seoul and is located in the southeast of the city.

But we didn't shop for branded stuff because I don't have budget for that. He He. We instead visited TheFaceshop / Etude  to buy some gifts for family and friends. We had a stroll around Coex mall and ejoyed the Coex Aquarium. It was stress free.


Coex Mall / Coex Aquarium

   After our aquarium adventure, Marvin bought some more pasalubong from one of the local stores we passed by. He also got himself " I <3 Korea" shirt and some displays to put home.

In the evening we met with our friend, Stacy, who has been our knight and shinign armor. She let us stayed in her home for free for 3 days, let us use her personal stuff because we don't have out stuff with us yet, prepared food for us, made as feel at home and even let us use her own room. :D She brought us to Podo Restaurant at Appujeong-dong for dinner. She ordered some beef and side dishes, cups of rice for us and some more beef. :D It was the most tastiest beef I tasted. Super saaaaraaaaap! It was very soft and malasa. Panalo.

Stacy also ordered a soup for H. We requested for a non spicy miso soup for the kid but they failed. In all fairness to them, we saw the effort, they really tried to make a non spicy soup, they just cant. Cute.

For Koreans,  the dinner should be finished with cold noodles or what they call, nangmyun. Just imagine a noodle soup with crushed ice. Ha Ha. It was delish!

After dinner we headed to the Han River. According to Stacy the Han River is the most famous river in Korea and it divides Seoul's north and south part. It also has it's major part of Seoul's history. For more, just Google. :D

Before we left the restaurant, Stacy already received an SMS from VW sms alert that it will snow the next day so VW owners (she owns a Volkswagen beetle) has to be extra careful but we were most surprise when we went out of the restaurant and there are already snow flakes. It was SNOWING! We all got excited, my daughter went crazy.

When we arrived at the Han River, the snow was already pouring. My daughter sang Barney's song, "... Standing outside with my mouth open wide... Ah ah ahaa"




Those are snow

 It was the highlight of our evening! And we wanted more! :) We were excited to go home and wake up in the morning and see everything is covered with snow. It was a perfect night, I'm telling you.

Day 2... To be continued.


Blessings ♥

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