Singapore: Men's Health Urbanathlon 2014

It was another mad weekend in Singapore at the start of March and this time, the OBC gang and I were there for the Men's Health Urbanathlon 2014. Along with several other friends, my mom and my sister, I stayed at the same hotel as my previous trip, Fragrance Hotel - Riverside as it was a 20 minutes walk to the Float at Marina Bay which was also the start point of the race.

Singapore's Urbanathlon has been hailed as one of the best obstacle races in the region and having caught the obstacle race bug last year, I wanted to try it out for myself. The race was a 14km course around the city's riverside and had 9 obstacles for us to look forward to and tackle. My auntie asked me which obstacle did I dread the most and I answered, "The running. I just want to try out the obstacle but I don't want to run from obstacle to obstacle."

Indonesia: Bali Day 2 (Part 2) - Bali Mall Galleria, Kuta

After a busy morning in Ubud, racing from attraction to attraction, we were beat and were eager to move on to the next part of the holiday - Kuta. 

The drive from Ubud to Kuta took about 1 hour and a half and we slept the entire way while Joe from Bali Joe's drove us in his ever comfortable van to the main tourist hotspot. Our hotel, Grand Mega Resort and Spa, however was in the outskirts of the town center, a good 10 to 15 minutes drive away. Fortunately, it wasn't completely devoid of shops and stores as there was a shopping mall across the road. Unfortunately, that road was a busy freeway with no traffic light to stall the rushing cars and motocycles for us to cross.

Indonesia: Bali Day 2 (Part 1) - Ubud by Foot

I love Ubud. Quite possibly even more than Kuta. I love how simple the road is, it's just one long road that has everything including a Starbucks! That's right, Ubud has a Starbucks. But I am getting ahead of myself.

After a day of temples, monkeys and rice field with our guides from Febris Bali Tour, we only had the morning to explore Ubud after a slow and leisurely breakfast. From our hotel, we headed into town and it took us only 10 minutes by foot. Walking on the street can be quite dangerous though as there was no pedestrian walkway on the very narrow roads. However, the locals seem quite adapted at dodging us. To be safe, we struck to the edge as close as we could.

William's Corner, Taman Mayang

The famous Williams Corner in Taman Mayang and their gigantic portions of fusion mamak italian food has been circulating the world wide web for some time now and I have always been curious to try their dishes and their just-as-huge drinks.

So one fine day my girlfriends and I popped over to Williams to catch up over dinner. As warned by multiple blogs, there was no clear signatures or signboard of the place. Your only hint would be the tables and chairs set outside an open lot-turned-into-a-kitchen.

As soon as we sat down, a waiter came up to ask if we had ordered. We told him no and took turns checking out the menu on the wall inside the lot-turned-kitchen. They don't offer the typical book menu but here's a glimpse of they offer.

Indonesia: Bali Day 1 - Temple Tour, Ubud

A month before my trip, it suddenly dawned upon me that we had no idea how we were going to carry out our itinerary. We had no transportation or sense of direction to get to our intended sites. So I consulted Lord Google and came across Febris Bali Tour. Reviews of this tour group have been positive and assuring so I shot them an email and received a prompt reply confirming my tour booking in Ubud.

After a stressful night of delayed flights and missing purses, I was looking forward to a day of visiting the historical and cultural landmarks that made up Bali. Our guide, Mathir and driver, Putu were at our hotel, Sri Ratih Cottages in Ubud, early and waited patiently while we finished up breakfast. Mathir was very polite, courteous and spoke good English as he explained our itinerary for the day.

Our first stop was Taman Ayun Temple, located in Mengwi Village and is about a 40minutes drive from Ubud and 30minutes from Denpasar. The pond and garden surrounding the temple were huge and well-maintained with a clear pathway leading to the temple area.

5 Interesting Facts about Cellphones

I forgot to bring my iPhone to work one day and I just went into a complete mental meltdown upon discovering the absence of my phone right there in my office. Thankfully, all of my bosses were on  leave and only two of my colleagues bore witness to this. *hm, I would have to kill them now...*

Anyway, the point being that, without realizing it, our phones have become such an integral part of our daily lives. Try to think of a time when all we needed it for was to call and text people. If you can, do you think you would be able to go back to that time with a smartphone? Most probably not and if you can't recall such a time, you might have been just a toddler then.

But from a device that was once used for simple communication, phones has evolved into a multitasking tool. Courtesy of Lion and Lion, here are 5 Mind-Blowing Facts About Cellphones!

Indonesia: Bali Day 0 - Strings of Bad Luck

My first trip of 2014 to Bali started off on a bad note.

To start, my evening AirAsia flight to Bali was delayed by an hour plus and the staffs did not even have the courtsey to inform us of that. I supposed it was expected considering that it was AirAsia but when did it become accepted for airline staffs to not inform passengers of delays?

A line of waiting passengers had formed at our assigned gate and no one was sitting less we had to board soon. We watched as the flight after ours took off for Singapore, me wishing I was on that flight. The gate next to ours to Bangkok was allowed to board. It was near 8pm when we were finally allowed to board our plane.

The flight was supposed to be at 640pm. 

Logitech M557 Mouse Review

What do you look for in a mouse? No, seriously. Think about it. The mouse has become such a vital accessory in our daily habit of surfing the net and yet we never realized its significance and appreciate the thoughts that goes into designing one.

Without the mouse, would you even know how to nagivate around your browser or even your computer using only your keyboard?

Keeping the ease of use and comfort in mind, Logitech has recently launched its new Bluetooth mouse, the M557. Removing the need for an USB receiver or wiring, the M557 is compatible with multiple platforms ranging from Bluetooth-enabled PC, Mac or Windows 8 devices.

Chinese New Year at ESG

I first came across the art of cutting paper on a holiday to Beijing, China but because I was a kid and had no idea how intricate it was, I never really did appreciate it. The same way, I didn't appreciate the historical landmarks all over the city simply because I could not understand a thing the tour guide was saying in Mandarin. I am a banana, you see. Yellow on the outside, white on the inside. Basically a non-Chinese speaking Chinese.

Singapore: Day 2 - River Safari Adventure

It just so happened that when I was in Singapore in December 2013, the Amazon River Quest of the Safari River Park had just opened the previous weekend and until further notice, the boat ride was complimentary. However, there were limited slots at a few time slots available and it was first come, first serve at the counter in front of the River Safari entrance.

My mom and I had bought our ticket online at SGD25 per person and only had to print out the e-tickets to get in. After we got our Amazan River Quest tickets, in we went!