Walking with dinosaurs
Last Sat we visited O2 Arena for the Walking with dinosaurs tour. Due to engineering works, Jubilee line was not in service, thus we had to take the replacement bus service and took us ages to and from O2 Arena to Stratford Tube station (Central line).
Overall the Walking with Dinosaurs show was good, the texture of the dino and the blinking of the eyes were very real. Sound effect and co-ordination were excellent. However, I was disappointed that the big dino were not walking properly on 4 or 2 legs (there was a log like item in the middle of the big dino to control all the legs movements, although it's painted the same colour as the floor, you can see it very clearly).

Weekend trip to Madrid
We booked a trip to Madrid, arriving in Madrid last Sat and depart on Tues. The weather was simply too hot for us, feels like back in SG!!

Flew via BA and stayed at Hotel Praga, all booked via Expedia. The Madrid airport and the city are very well connected, we travelled everywhere via metro.

On the way to our first stop, we got lost and found ourselves at the Atocha train station.
Large plants and a pond full of turtles in the centre of the station.

First stop = Reine Sofia Museum
Modern art museum, not our cup of tea. Anyway, the entrance fee was free at the time we were there, thus worth the trip to see-see-look-look.

Realised that restaurant serve dinner late, thus we had a drink at Hardrock Cafe and walk to 25 Juan Bravo for dinner (as recommended by Telegraph).
There's not even a word of English on the menu and dinner is only serve from 9pm onwards!! However, we decide to order drinks and wait for dinner plus the waiter was very patient and tried his best to describe the menu to us. We can only guess and hope for the best for for what we ordered. The dishes were a plate of jamon (which is ham,really good), baby squid with chick pea (taste like chick pea so assume so as we can't read spanish!!) and goat cheese with crystallised onion (we thought he meant lamb stew, how wrong we were!!). The waiter was far to nice to us and we tried to finish off everything, although the cheese was just too cheesy to finish off!

Sunday
Had previously booked the bullfight online, thus need to arrive before 12.30pm to collect the ticket from Plaza del Carmen near Gran Via. Interesting building on the way.

Realised that the ticket price was only 24.70 euro each but we paid 32.40 euro each online.... At least we don't have to queue for the ticket at the entrance and had got the seats we want (first row of Category 2 and in shade).

Plan for Sunday is sight-seeing/ shopping and watch bull fight in the evening.
On the left : Plaza Mayor
On the right : Mercado de san miguel Not within my plan, but it was a great find and stop over for lunch here.

Oyster is Sam's favorite, thus a MUST have!
The smoked salmon was good.

Bull fight

The stadium was located near one of the metro station (Ventas), very easy to get to. At the stadium, you can rent seat cushion. The salesperson informed us that the fee is 2 euro each, we declined as I remember reading the forum that it cost only 1 euro. After we walked nearer to our zone, we saw the the cushion were rented for 1.20 euro, the previous salesperson were trying to cheat us (luckily I had read the forum!).
It's damn hot in Madrid, good thing Sam insisted on buying the seats in the shade, thank goodness for that!
The event consist of 6 bull fights, the first 2 were interesting, after that it gets abit boring and repetitive. However we stayed on, not wanting to miss out on anything. Our seats were fantastic as there's a father and son seated above us with the son kept asking questions (questions which we also like to ask) and his father seems to be very knowledgeable and explained all of them, with us tuning into their conversation.

Monday
The main purpose of our trip was to visit Segovia for it's suckling pig!! We saw a TV programme in UK which feature the restaurant cutting the suckling pig with a plate (see link for info), thus have decided to visit Segovia eversince. There's a fast train from Chamartin train station (Medrid) to Segovia-Guiomar, half an hour journey and a shuttle bus from train station to Segovia centre (about 20 mins). However the frequency of the train is about 1 and a half hour and we just miss the 10.30am train, thus we waited at the station for the next train at 12pm.

The restaurant we booked was Mason De Candido. We ordered a portion each and it was very delicious, juicy and the skin was very crispy. However I was very disappointed as they don't show the cutting of the suckling pig using plate.

After lunch, we need to walk the fats off!!

The Aquaduct, a heritage site. Magnificant!
Streets of Segovia and Cathedral.

Alcazar (Castle) of Segovia and we managed to climb the 152 steps in the tower of the castle.

We were back in Madrid at about 7pm and walked from Sol metro station to Plaza de la Independencia.
We wanted to take some night shots using our newly purchased Nikon D90, however we forgot to bring the tripod plus the sun sets at about 10pm, too late for us as we are too tired!

Tuesday
Slept till 10am and packed up to go back home.

Our flight experience on A380

As previously mentioned, for our flight to and from Singapore, we were travelling via SQ on A380.

For the trip from UK to Singapore, we managed to get the emergency exit seats, so we got alot of leg room. The seats on A380 are defintely roomier and the LCD screen are larger (however it's seems to be too bright even though I had reduced it to the lowest).

For the trip from Singapore to UK, we managed to book seat 48D (based on looking at A380 seat plan and forum, we realised that there's no 47D seat, so there's alots of leg room for 48D, see photo!!). Need to bear that in mind for next time.

With the flight not been full, the seat next to me wasn't allocated, thus we did have alot of spare!! The next best thing was the cup holder (see photo). We need not open the tray to put a cup/ glass of water anymore.

A trip to the Ice bar London
Quite an experience to be in an ice bar, the chairs, tables, bar and glasses are all made of ice!! We paid £12.50 each (for Sat before 6pm) for a duration of 40 mins in the Ice Hotel which includes 1 free drink. Purchase of additional drinks cost £6 each.

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Go karting
After long and hard search, we decided on the go-kart place close to us, Kartsport (Caxton).

15 mins for safety video, 15 mins drivings, 15 minutes break, 15 minutes driving. All in all, 30mins of driving for £32. You are given a suit, gloves and helmet to wear for safety but there's no saftey belt!! Sometimes you do get the feeling that you might fly out!!! I drove very poorly on the first 15 mins as I wasn't very daring, but on the last 15 mins, I gave my all and got myself a decent time score (I think).

Great fun but my arms are aching now as I was holding onto the steering wheel for dear life....

Visit to Southend
Late posting of our trip.

We drove to Southend on 25/10/08 for a day trip. Managed to walk the Southend Pier (world's longest pier, 1 and a third mile) to and fro. It's too windy, that's why we have our hoods on to cover our ears from the cold winds. You can have the option of paying and take the train to the pier, but what's the fun then.... plus we really need to walk off those fish and chips we had earlier.

Cabin luggage
Been thinking about how to transport the wedding dress back to Singapore. No way was I going to check in the wedding dress!!

We were out shopping last weekend at Braintree Outlet Village and we found the perfect cabin luggage (think it fits the cabin luggage measurement for SQ just nice) at Bags etc.

Hopefully all the wedding stuff (including Sam's suit) will fit in.

Air ticket
Was trying to hold off buying our air-ticket back to Singapore as we were trying to wait for some sort of promotion/ discount. However there was NONE and the prices seems to be increasing as days goes by, so we finally decided to buy the ticket yesterday.

Flight details :-
Arriving in Singapore on Christmas Day in the evening
Departing Singapore on 30 January 2009 (Friday) in the evening

Had booked both flights on SQ A380!! Hopefully it wouldn't be a full flight on the trip to Singapore as I can't expect much people would want to travel on Christmas eve/ day. As we are flying on Christmas eve/ day, the air-ticket price was the cheapest compare to other dates which we consider. Saying that, it's still not cheap as it cost us £870 return each!! Ouch!!!

The Company Shed

Since Jaster was coming here for the weekend, I thought we can have a day trip, so off we go seafood hunting.

My colleague had recommended me a place in Essex for great oysters so a search on the internet and I found The Company Shed. Great review and you got to bring your own drinks, bread and butter......hmmm...

Long way for Sam to drive us there and with me as the navigator, there's always a chance that we're lost!! Nevertheless, we eventually reach Mersea Island after crossing the Strood. The Strood can flood at high tide, you need to check the tide time before setting off.


It's low tide when we crossed, so was ok. You can see here that it floods. So inconvenient, if it floods, you got to wait for a few hours for the water level to drop. No other mode of transport available.


Finally found the place but there was a queue so need to wait. No advance booking for this place too!! See the big dog next to Jaster, thank God, Jaster offer to switch places with me.....

Can't wait to eat, really hungry.....


Seafood platter for 2!!! Yummy, tuck in!!! A pity that the seafood platter was serve as a cold dish... nevertheless, we finish it all and the seafood were absolutely fresh and juicy!!


Cannot go without hot food, so we order the grilled prawns with sea salt. We love it soo much, this was our 3rd plate.


Scallops with bacons and beds of leaves. Never thought the scallops tasted soo good with bacon. Ordered 2 plates!! Forgot to take pictures of the Oysters we ordered, hopefully Jaster will had took some pictures of it.


Of course, we walked back to our car feeling very satisfied. Think I ate too much, only had some bread in the evening as dinner and this trip had put me off seafood for a while... too much seafood (I guess).

Going back to Singapore

Booked our air tickets yesterday, we are flying back to Singapore to sort out the visa!! Will arrive in Singapore on 5 Aug (Sun) and depart on 25 Aug (Sat).

Looking forward to see everyone again!

Oslo = Sunburn
Our weekend trip to Oslo from 8 June (Fri) to 10 June (Sun)

Day 1
Woke up at about 3++am cos the flight was 6++am from Stansted airport. We managed to check in and have about an hour before the flight depart. However the check in lady inform us to run as the gate is closing!! The departure board also states 'Final call'!! Doesn't help that the security is tight now and takes ages to go pass. We ran and ran and when we reach the gate, it wasn't open yet!! Not cool Ryanair, not cool... I could have shop at Duty free. :(

Being bargain airline, you don't get food, etc but the condition of the loo is just appalling! (I even warned Sam not to go unless he's terribly urgent!). The loo STINKS, the floor sticky and dirty, condition even worst then some kopitam toilet in SG! That's the price to pay for buying a 99 pences (exclude taxes and charges) air ticket. :(

Reach Oslo and got onto the bus that takes us to the City (approx 2 hours journey).


Taken on the bus ride, I love yellow houses!!

Can't believe that the weather in Oslo is abt 30 deg cel (warmer than England), very hot and humid. The weather forecast I saw the day before seems to suggest that it's about the same as England so we were caught unprepared with no shorts and slippers (Sam blame it on me!).

Check in hotel and we bought the travel card which is valid for 24 hours and you can take the metro, tram, bus & ferry) all for the price of NOK60 per ticket. Great, cos it was just too hot to walk around (plus I forgot to bring sun block :P)

First stop - to supermarket to buy water to dehydrate ourselves. everything is Oslo is expensive that why it's the most expensive city in Europe (more expensive than UK).

Our 10 litres of water which still wasn't enough for both of us.

Off to Munch Museum next. Our main purpose was just to see The Scream painting.

Sam being very ya ya, don't want to look at the camera, want to look at painting (as if you know how to appreciate it)

After a bit of shopping/ wandering around, we reach the harbour and bought some food.

Mixed plate. Sam loved the fish, very fresh


Dish of whale meat. Taste like beef but don't like the way it was cooked.

After dinner at Hardrock Cafe, we head back to the hotel (Best Western West) to find the room boiling hot! NO AIRCON!!! We spoke to the front desk person and the best they can do was to provide a fan! This is truely a 'summer' holiday.

Nevertheless, we were too tired and have no trouble going to sleep in the heat.

Day 2
After stuffing ourselves with the breakfast buffet, we head to Holmenkollen Ski Museum & Tower. While waiting for the metro, we saw this superclean (from the outside) train.


Labelled as 'SIEMENS Designed by Porsche Design Studio'. Too bad it was the train we were waiting for.


Almost reaching the Ski Museum, just a bit more walking upslope.


Ski tower, a view from below. Ski tower used for Winter Olympics before.


Ski tower, a view from on top of the tower. Very high up and thus can see the City.

Next, we were off to Vigeland Scupture Park.

Scupture not that big according to Sam!


Love this crying child.

Last stop, we decide to go to one of the island using the public ferry covered by the travel card we bought. Queue for more than half an hour and got onto the ferry, apparately it's an hourly ferry for the island we wanted to go. Nice to feel the sea breeze..... and love the scenery.

Taken on the ferry. Can see the Ski tower from here!

Got to our stop but we didn't get off the ferry cos we can't face another queue plus that will mean we miss our dinner reservation.


The queue on the island.

On the way to the restaurant for dinner, we pass this store giving our free cooked salmon.

Salmon for free, cooked at store. Don't know what they were trying to promote here, cos the leaflets were not in English.


Nevertheless, we did queue to get the free salmon each. Look and taste good. :)


Off to our romantic dinner for two at the seaside. Most expensive dinner we ever had but very enjoyable. By this time, we were sunburnt.

Day 3
Check out and managed to grab some breakfast by 8.10am so that we can catch the tram to the bus terminal for the coach to the airport.

Reach home at about 3++pm. Home sweet home, love my cold bed.... and have been praying for miserable weather in UK ever since so that I can enjoy the cold weather.