Wednesday, June 27, 2012

FREEDOM!




So I'm done with exams and have a whole week free.

Some movies and shows I'm hoping to catch up on:


Movies
21 Jump Street
Shame
The Deep Blue Sea
War Horse
Melancholia
Warrior

TV Shows
Girls
Teen Wolf
Happy Endings

Also, I really want to see the Harry Potter exhibition, and if no one wants to go with me I'll go alone ):

Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Crystal Hello Kitty iPhone case

Yo check out my new bling:







Got it for about $50 from Gmarket, oh wait I mean Qoo10. Seriously tho, why did they have to change from a perfectly good name to that? Anyways, saw it while browsing on there one night and was like 'ooh shiny, I gotta have it' and then ta-dah, it arrived at my doorstep 5 days later.

Marina Bay Sands Hotel and Skypark

Some photos I took back in April but was too lazy to upload...

The room:




View of the Gardens by the Bay from the balcony. I think it was still under construction at that time.


Loved the room! Very spacious, nice, big bathroom and amazing views.


My cousin at the kiddie pool.


One major gripe I had was how crowded the pool was! It doesn't look like it in the shot above but it was actually really crowded, like a community center swimming pool. But I suppose it can't be helped given how many guests they have at any one time.


The Skypark:







At night:





The infinity pools at night. This was after they just re-opened the pools. They had to close it earlier due to the rain. But yeah, I think the pools are much less crowded in the evenings.

Thursday, June 14, 2012

Photo Spam

So we were out with Little J the other day and this guy took some great shots of him and then sent it to over :)



Come closer...
Closer...

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close lol


A photo I took the other day:


DSC01866

Merlion - i Light Marina Bay 2012

Some photos I took at the i Light Festival a while back...


Marina Bay Sands

Marina Bay Sands



 
Louis Vuitton Island Maison
 

CHILI'S TOGO

Had some take out from Chili's the other day, there's an awesome 50% discount for all to go orders right now!


Classic Nachos ($13)
Southwestern Eggrolls with Avocado Ranch dipping sauce ($11)
Grilled Baby Back Ribs - Full Rack ($39)


So worth it with the discount! I think I will order it again before the end of the promo :B

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Paris Day 5 - Le Relais de l'Entrecôte

Our last day in Paris! Checked out of the hotel and then went for lunch at Le Relais de l'Entrecôte, one of the go to places for some good old classic steak frites in Paris!



interior.


The restaurant only serves one thing, steak frites, so it's gotta be good right? The waitress will just ask you how you want your steak done, what drinks you want, and that's it. Lots of locals and tourists alike while we were there.


Ordered a glass of wine to share.
Some complimentary bread.
The set comes with a free salad as well.



And at last... the steak!! This was only half of it. Once you were done with this portion, they'll serve you the second serving of it. They keep it warm for you at a side table with tea light. Gosh it was so delicious, loved the sauce. And the fries were perfect, even better soaked with the mouth watering sauce.




Cost us nearly $100! And the goddamn Evian cost more than the glass of wine ;_;

Oh well, YOLO! I'd definitely recommend this restaurant if you are in the Champ Elysees area, it has a very classic French bistro vibe and the food is awesome. The beef is not exactly top quality but the sauce is TDF, a must try while you're in Paris.

Later we walked around the Champ Elysees area before sitting down for a drink a Starbucks cos it was getting hot as hale. We went back to the Starbucks that we were at the last time we were in Paris, I have great memories of the place.


A Venti Chai Tea Latte. Is it just me or does this look larger than the one served in SG? The straw is certainly longer lol.


Anyways, my mum finished like half the cup in one sip. See, that's why I don't like sharing drinks with her. Who does that? Who inhales half a cup of expensive coffee in one gulp as if it were just some water? I mean, it's as if she's not ~appreciating the taste of it and merely using it to quench her thirst. Don't even get me started on how she pops macarons in like they were some tots, but I digress. /lol jk mum, I love you!


my fave dessert from Laduree, a little worse for wear but still utterly delicious!


Then it was off to the airport, and this was when everything started to go downhill...

So we actually left pretty early and arrived at the airport about four hours before the flight was to take off, giving us lots of time to get our tax refund and whatever else. Then when the check in counter open and we were about to get in line, I rummage through my purse and, horror of horrors, realize that my passport was not inside! My heart was in my mouth as I dumped the contents out and prayed that I had just somehow missed it but it was no where to be found. I called the hotel to ask them to check if it was there and just as I thought it was.

There was about 3 hours before the plane was to take off at that time so I figured that I would have time to run to the hotel and back, so I quickly took off and rushed on the train back to the city. I thought it would be better to travel by train since I knew it took about an hour each way and if I had gone by taxi, I wasn't sure what the traffic conditions would be like.

I run like a mad woman all the way through the train station and streets to the hotel but it was taking a bit longer than expected so my heart was racing the whole time cos I was afraid that I wouldn't make it in time. Then, on the train halfway back to the airport, I got a call from my mum, who was waiting for me at the airport, and she said that they were closing the check-in counter in 5 minutes! Seriously, I felt like everything was crashing around me. She had asked if they could wait for another 10 minutes but they just shooed her away from the counter cos she couldn't speak English very well. I was about to break down at that point, there was nothing I could do! Even if I got off the train and on a cab, there was no way I could get there in time. Sitting there on the dingy train with the lights going on and off and knowing that I might very well miss my flight was literally one of the worst moments of my life. I had bought the plane tickets on sale and they were strictly non-refundable, I knew if I really missed the flight, I would probably have to buy brand new ones at about $1000 each and cursed myself for my own stupidity of forgetting something so important UGH!!!

So I reach the airport shortly after receiving my mum's call but the counter was closed and there was no one from the airline I could speak to. I found someone at another counter (I think it was a counter for all the airlines or something) and asked if there was any way they could help me. There was like 50 minutes before take off at that point and the check in counter had closed like 10 minutes before I had gotten there. The guy was about to help me but this other bitch came out and when he explained the situation to her she was just like LOL NO and refused to lift a finger.

I was going out of my mind and kept reasoning that there was still plenty of time left and what not. I mean, back in SG, there was once when the check in counter opened like an hour before take off cos the previous flight check in was taking so goddamn long. But that's just not how they roll in France, when it's time's up, it's time to go packing home.

I could see there was no reasoning with her so I resigned myself to my fate and asked her where I could purchase new tickets and guess what, there is no place to buy tickets in the airport and she had no idea where I could procure one. Could this day get any worse? I was shocked, and started thinking that I was going to be stuck in France forever.

It was like 9 pm then and nearly everything in the airport was closed! Unlike in SG where there's lots of people getting on and off flights at all hours, the CDG airport was like dead by that time. Thankfully, I met this nice guy who was waiting for his flight in the morning, he showed me to an internet station thing in the airport, and which websites we could buy plane tickets from and that's when I found tickets on Singapore Airlines leaving the next day for $750 each, so it was not as bad as I thought it would be.

Getting on the A380 back to Singapore, I just felt so relieved. Relieved that the traumatic experience was finally over. The seats were great, the inflight entertainment was awesome, the service was friendly and I just thought to myself I'll never take any other airline other than SQ again.

When I got back to SG, in typical Singaporean fashion, I tried to contact Qatar Airways to complain about my experience but they just didn't respond. Not to be ignored, I filed a claim against them at SCT and they finally deigned to give me my refund. So this trip did have a happy ending after all. The moral of the story is: Triple check to make sure you didn't leave anything behind in your hotel bedroom.

Kudos to anyone who actually read this :)

Sunday, June 3, 2012

Paris Day 4 Pt 2 - Galeries Lafayette, La Rotonde & Le Souffle

The famous dome


Surprisingly, you actually have to queue to enter the Chanel boutique in the malls here. A lot of people were affronted when told they had to wait for their turn to enter.

Since it was our last night in the city, I decided to get this with the last of my Euros.




There was an area for people to sit around and chill out on the rooftop.


The Opera Garnier opposite...
The place had a pretty nice view.


My mum then decided she had to use the bathroom before we went to the next spot on our itinerary. We followed the signs pointing to the toilets and were led to this place...




And we were like 'huh, where is the bathroom?' and walked around the place looking, another Japanese tourist was also looking for the bathroom so we were like walking around in confusion together lol. Then I looked again and finally realized that the colorful things on the walls was actually colored rolls of toilet paper! Point WC, WC meaning toilet, DUH! At first glance I thought this was a spa or something. LOL it was such a wtf moment, but the biggest WTF was that there was an entrance fee of EUR1.50 to use these toilets! My mum really had to go so she just paid to go in while I waited outside for her. Anyways, for EUR1.50 you would think they would have the colored TP for people to use inside but no, just regular boring white ones...


Next we went for dinner at La Rotonde.




 
My fave French onion soup, wonderfully cheesy...
Escargots were pretty blah, not enough garlic butter.

Saved some room for dessert at Le Souffle...



Raspberry souffle. It looks so pretty but I didn't like it, the raspberry was a little too sour, needed something to balance the acidity.
The Grand Marnier souffle on the other hand was just amazing!

Went for an evening stroll after...







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