It's SingTime

Trip – Thailand – Phuket – Phi Phi Islands

The Phi Phi Island in Thailand was our last travel destination during our internship in Singapore. We have heard so much about this paradise on earth, that we decided to see on our own how this one of the most beautiful islands in Thailand looks like.

Almost everybody knows that Phi Phi Islands, as well as Phuket and the whole Thai west coast have been heavily devastated by the Tsunami on 26. Dec 2004. We also knew it before going to Phi Phi and therefore were prepared to see many signs of the catastrophe that happened and took as many as 800 casualties. This is a huge number of people taking into account that the island is actually very small and there aren’t so many permanent inhabitants. In the dry season (Nov-March) however, there are thousands of tourists, as it was when the Tsunami came….

The greater was our surprise to arrive on the island and discover a true paradise. Actually, a huge deal of work has been done during the last 1.5 years, and in order to find the “tsunami” on Phi Phi you have to look for it pretty hard. On the opposite side to Ton Sai Beach, there are many palms without tops, and leaves, and the coast still looks a little empty. You can also see many houses and new hotels being built. On Ton Sai Beach, where the “down town” is situated everything looks NORMAL. Like nothing happened. Most shops and mini markets look and smell very new….the only proof that there has been a lot of reconstructing action taking place in the last 18 months.

Now let me present you some facts from our romantic weekend on Phi Phi We stayed in the Bay View Resort – a definitely good accommodation tip from Stephan. The chalets were very cozy and clean and all of them with closer or more distant sea view. The hotel is situated about 15min walk from the busy Phi Phi Village at the Ton Sai Beach and about 10 minutes away from the Long Beach where we spent very lazy and relaxing Saturday.

The sea was pretty rough at that time, since we went to Phi Phi in the middle of the monsoon season. Yet, we had two beautiful sunny days on that weekend, which is actually considered as very lucky! and we really appreciated and enjoyed that delightful weather! On Saturday evening we set off to town and found that you can have a real fish feast! Numerous cosy restaurants situated by the beach offer enormous variety of sea food, you simply cannot miss if you ever have the opportunity to spend your holiday on Phi Phi.

On Sunday, after a very relaxing first day, the time has come for a real adventure: a boat trip to Ko Phi Ley, a small island nearby, about 20 minutes ride. It is a real “tourist” destination since “the Beach” – the famous movie with the Lenardo di Caprio was shot there. However, since we set off pretty early, we managed to avoid the crowd and enjoy almost alone the breathtaking Maya Bay on Phi Phi Ley (check the pictures)! And the weather was beautiful again, despite the rainy season Only a bit choppy …so the boat trip to this small rocky island was really exciting! After the Maya Bay we did 1 hour snorkeling! We were really really impressed by what we saw underwater.

Phi Phi has one of the most beautiful corals in the world. And even Tsunami did not destroy too much of this nature’s miracle. We were lucky to have a very special guide during our Sunday escapade. Andrew has been living in Phi Phi for 12 years now, and he was one of those who survived Tsunami and with his “dive camp” team contributed greatly to the Phi Phi’s restoration and bringing the island back to life . He explained that they removed tens of tones of rubbish from the coast. If you would like to find out more about the Island’s restoration, take a look at the divecamp website: http://www.phiphidivecamp.com/. Thanks Andrew for the great snorkeling trip and for saving the paradise for all those that are still about to spend their unforgetfull holiday on Phi Phi.We really can recommend him and his crew from the Adventure Tours for a great snorkeling trip.

Oh did I forget to mention how we got to the Phi Phi Island from Singapore? I always have problems with the chronology, sorry about that So first we took a JetStarAsia tiny plane to Pukhet, and then took a ferry to Phi Phi (about 2 hours), depending on the weather conditions… Our weather conditions on Friday afternoon were extremely bad – meaning, I , and many other people on the boat, got really sea sick. I should have taken some medicines before the ferry trip, did not know however that it could get that bad.

Well, for the way back on Sunday I really prepared myself, mentally and physically….to our relief the weather got much better, and I managed to get by without throwing up. So after this experience I can only tell you: “always be prepared!” Don’t let the monsoon destroy your good mood and exotic holiday! It didn’t destroy ours for sure – we had a wonderful (last for me, and second last for Patric) weekend in South East Asia! A perfect end of our stay in Singapur and a perfect beginning of the next part of our lives!

Trip: Cambodia – Siem Reap – Angkor Wat

The 2nd day was our “we visit all the temples” day. We got up very early – at 4.30 am to be in time to watch the sunrise at the Angkor Wat temple. Our guide for that day was already waiting in the taxi in front of our guesthouse and we headed towards the temples. Before you enter the temples you need to pass a checkpoint where you must purchase a ticket. A one day ticket doesn’t require a picture and costs 20 US$. 3 days are 40 US$ + picture. It was really busy that morning since the sunrise at Angkor Wat is a must in a tourist program.

Sunrise Angkor Wat: [+++]
We entered Angkor Wat through the main entrance and headed towards the libraries. Then we stopped in front of the small lake to the left side of the temple complex – the perfect spot for taking photos! The sunrise was nice with a beautiful red-orange color, but, to be honest, nothing special. If I went there again I would rather sleep another 2 hours to be really fit for the exhausting day.

Angkor Thom – Bayon – Phimeanakas – terrace of the elephants [+++++]:
Our first stop on our “4 temples tour” was Angkor Thom. This area was established in the late twelve century by king Jayavarman VII and was the most enduring capital city of the Khmer empire. It covers an area of about 9 sq.km with the Bayon temple located in the city centre. After having our early breakfast at one of the nearby tents (we can recomend the banana pancakes ), we went to explore the Bayon temple. This temple’s most distinctive feature is the many smiling faces on every tower. Our guide explained us that there are more than 200 smiling faces built into the towers of Bayon. Bayon is really exceptional with all those misterious faces everywhere and this should be one of your main temples to visit. Because this was our “first” temple we ran in all directions to explore the temple ourselves. I think, at one point our guide was a little irritated because of this . But once he reminded us that we pay him to explain the template we stayed with him and he had a lot of interesting stories to tell and spots where we could take pictures. After almost an hour at Bayon we went on the explore Phimeanakas-the Royal Palace, the terrace of the elephants, the terrace of the leper king and tep pranam. Everything really lovely and worth seeing. Did I already mention that after this tour it was around 9 am and it felt like it was 35 degrees with 100% humidity

Preah Khan:[++++]
Second stop was the Preah Khan temple which is located northeast of Angkor Thom. Preah Khan is one of the temples that is largely unrestored with lots of trees and vegetation growing among the ruins. There were not many tourists in this area and sometimes you could really feel and hear that you are in the jungle. We tried to imagine how it felt to stumble over the temples in the middle of the jungle in 1860. This temple is not one of the main tourist attractions, but to get a feeling of how all this looked before many people came to restore it, it is perfect.

Ta Prohm:[+++++]
Our third stop was the famous Ta Prohm or Angelina Jolie temple as they name it now, after the movie Tomb Raider was shot there some years ago. This is, after Angkor Wat itself and Bayon, the most famous temple: firstly, because of the movie (you can recognise the locations while visiting) and secondly, because of the very distinctive look of the roots of the trees that often cover all the whole roof of the buildings. Our guide mentioned that in 10 years there won’t be any of these trees anymore. It is currently restored and rebuilt since the (silk cotton) trees are destroying everything and it becomes very unsafe to visit the temple. Be prepared that there are many tourists. It is very hard to get pictures without a Korean or a Japanese guy walking into your picture.

Angkor Wat:[+++++]
Our fourth stop was Angkor Wat again. This time we used the smaller entrance to the right of the main gate. Our guide explained that the main gate was only for the king. The smaller 2 gates close to the main gate was for everybody and the large gate at the far end of the naga gateway (as it is called) was for the elephants. Angkor Wat was built in the early 12th century for the king Suryavarman II. This is the largets and best preserved temple in the whole area. It was first Hindu and then Buddhist and has become a symbol of Cambodia, even appearing on the national flag. Angkor Wat simply impresses with its huge and massive appearance. It is sooo big and an unimaginable amount of stones was used to build it. We went up to the top and adored the incredible view over the jungle and the other temples in the sunlight. This view from the top of this massive building will be something that will stay in your mind forever. I have to mention that you have to climb up the very small and steep stairs and that if you are afraid of height it could happen that you stay the night up there (Sorry Ms. P.)

Sunset at Phnom Bakheng:[+++]
Our last stop was at the Phnom Bakheng temple on top of a small mountain. Again very steep to climb up, but once your are up it offers a fantastic view. At that point, I guess, it was some when around 6 pm. You hardly recognise the temple anymore as a temple, but just as piled up stones that once you climbed up, are offering a better view. We watched the sunset at around 6.30 pm with many, many other tourists. It was not bad, but again something that is nice to do; but definitely not a must! They offer elephant rides up the hill for 15 US$ and down the hill for 10 US$ per person. We decided to walk up and down the short distance.

By that time we were really exhausted and just wanted to go home to take a shower and lay down for a while. At 9pm we left our guesthouse again to visit the Red Piano Bar at the Bar Street. The Red Piano Bar [+++] is famous because Angelina Jolie was there for dinner during the time they shot the movie Tomb Raider.

All in all a perfect day!!!

Trip: HongKong – Kowloon and Hong Kong Island

Hong Kong- [Slideshow] – Last weekend we said: “Bye bye” to Singapore, and “Hello” to China…or rather: to the “Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China“. This is the correct name of Hong Kong since it was given back by the British to the Chinese 9 years ago in 1997. It is placed on numerous islands, with the 2 biggest ones: Hong kong Island and Kowloon.Hong Kong definitely does not have too much in common with the mainland China…it is a “light” version of this country, as we call it. Exactly as Singapore which is a “light” version of Asia in general But although the system, the mentality, the life standard (prices !!!) are so very distant from Chinese reality, we definitely felt like we are standing right at the entrance of China – this huge, mysterious country which offers so much of rich cultural variety!

But let me start from the beginning (always having problem with that part ) We planned 2 and half days in Hong Kong (Fr to Sun). Enough as it turned out, in order to see the city’s highlights and still enjoy relaxed sightseeing. JetStarAsia airlines had some advantages: cheap and punctual, but also some drawbacks: huge line to baggage check-in and very small planes with at most a couple millimeter space between your legs and the next seat. Since already during the flight we got used to tiny spaces, we did not mind the very small room that we booked at the Ibis North Point Hotel Actually we were already warned by some friends who visited the city earlier this year, that the accommodation in Hong Kong is both very costly and not too comfortable. For us, relaxed backpackers: not the slightest problem such meaningless details cannot prevent us from enjoying the Asian vivid financial center!

We did our touri-tours on all three days of our stay in Hong Kong. The first sight that overwhelmed us were the super tall apartment buildings, stretching trough the whole way form the modern Hong Kong airport (placed on Lantau Island) to the Hong Kong Island, where our hotel was. They did not quite make a nice impression: grey and cold, seemed to consist of millions of tiny “apartment” boxes. We couldn’t imagine that people have actually enough space to live there… It seemed like Hong Kong really has to cope with huge accommodation issues, where on the small area 8 million people need to make their living.(Actually most of those 8 million live on only 10% of Hong Kong’s area)
After taking a short nap on Friday afternoon (we had to wake up before 4am in order to catch the plane on Friday morning ), we set off to explore the most famous “Shopping Mall” part of the Hong Kong Island: the Causeway Bay district. Oh, haven’t I mentioned yet that Hong Kong is basically one huge shopping center? At least when you hear the recommendations of the Singaporeans, they will always say: “Oh, you are going to Hong Kong?? Great, you can do some great shopping there” … and then they list the whole bunch of famous malls that are simply a “must” to visit. But, we skipped that part, as easy to understand. Singapore is a big shopping mall too and somehow we didn’t feel like exploring another one, although it is said to be even cooler .

So we set off from the Causeway Bay MRT station. Leaving the malls behind we took a relaxing walk just enjoying the new views, new smells reaching us from the local fish and vegi markets, Chinese billboards and electronic commercials and much much more. Hong Kong at first sight seemed to be very modern and high tech, and well-off with its high prices and millions of shoppers; but on the other hand it had its shaggy poor nooks, with simple market stalls, ordinary people where some original Chinese culture and life style could be spotted. Right at the beginng of our Friday evening we had some very tasty Japanese food in a cozy Japanese restaurant – delicious! Then we proceeded to the harbor and next to the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Center we were for the first time confronted with the amazing skyline of the city. Although it was rather grey and cloudy on that evening, the view was very impressive! The status of HongKong as the financial and business center competing with Tokyo and Singapore has been confirmed at that moment!
[By the way, no wonder that businessmen choose the place to do business: On the contrary to China, Hong Kong has a democratic, free market system, offering the investors much freedom to establish their branches and most important: low- (or sometimes even no-) taxes. Hong Kong decides autonomously about its internal issues... it can not however avoid some political interference from the Chinese side... which obviously wants to limit the autonomy of this extremely rich and well prospering region.]

Later this evening, we took a ferry from the Star Ferry Piers and crossed the canal to enjoy the “light Show” on the Kowloon part of Hongkong. The harbor part of the district is called Tsim Sha Tsui. Out of that spot you can observe the famous music light show when some of the skyscrapers on the Hong Kong Island are lit up to the rhythms of music – certainly impressive and very unusual…you almost got the feeling the buildings were dancing right in front of you (daily at 8pm, be there at 7.30pm)

Saturday was hot and sunny. During the day we took a long walk on the Kowloon part of HongKong: Mong Kok. In Mong Kok you come across many interesting market places: The gold fish market, the bird market, the flower market, the ladies market (where actually both women and men can find some interesting – Gucci and Louis Vuitton fakes ) We passed on to the oldest Hong Kong streets: the Shanghai Street and the Hollywood street where many handcraft shops are still operating. We also visited a temple and a very interesting Jade market where characteristic green jade stone jewelry is sold.

After a short refreshment in our the hotel room (and a short afternoon nap ) we were ready to explore the famous Hong Kong Peak with its tram! In order to reach the train station get off at the Central MRT station and simply walk up the hill…the signs will lead you straight to the tram station. Generally the Hong Kong people seem to be very good at navigation systems. We already were positively surprised at the airport!

I believe the tram that we took up the hill has been used for more than 100 years now. A return ticket cost us about 3 EUR and was definitely worth its price. The hill is very very steep, so the train is pulled on a line placed at the bottom, between the tracks. The ride takes only couple minutes and soon everybody can enjoy the breathtaking view of the city! We also had a very nice dinner at the Cafe Deco restaurant there (Make a reservation at least 2 days in advance and ask for a window table) ! A great experience you cannot miss while visiting Hong Kong!

On Sunday we had a dilemma whether to go to the outskirts (New Territories or Lantau Island) or to stay on the Hong Kong Island and explore another city district. We chose the last option, in order not to risk missing our plane in the evening. We got off on the Sheung Won MRT station and took a very interesting tour trough the Western Market, the Antique Street, the Man Mo Temple, the Soho district and ended up at the Central MRT Station again. On the way we had a nice relaxing stop in one of the very stylish cafes at Soho and also dropped by to a huge book and DVD store – HMV (a paradise for me – I was thrilled to find the Brazilian movie: “The city of God”!). And to close properly our escapade to one of the biggest shopping centers in the world, we took a closer look at Sogo – a huge shopping mall close to the Causeway MRT station. Patric finally got to buy his white 30 GB Ipod !!!!! and I chose 2 pairs of lovely Chinese wooden chopsticks for us which we will take back home and use them to enjoy the Chinese cuisine “made in” the old good Europe

Hong Kong recommendations:

• Ferry trip from Hong Kong Island to Kowloon – very cheap!
• Light show at Hong Kong Island at 8pm – watched from the harbor at Kowloon
• Mong Kok with all its different markets – plan at least 3-4 hours.
• The Hong Kong Peak – take the traditional tram up to the peak (queue is up to 30 minutes)
• Dinner at the Peak at Cafe Deco (book 2 days in advance and ask for window table)
• Soho and the worlds longest moving staircase
• Sogo shopping mall near Causeway Bay MRT – 13 storeys of pure shopping

Hong Kong- [Slideshow]

Trip: Thailand – Bangkok – One City A Million Faces

Bangkok – [Slideshow] – Bangkok City was our second trip with Verena, our friend from Germany, paying us a 10 day visit. We planned this trip some weeks ahead and bought thailand flight tickets from Tigerairways (they often have promotions for thailand flights) for about 220 SGD (108€). Joana and her boyfriend Micha joined us for the trip to Bangkok.
Day 1 – Friday:

The tigerairways flight was scheduled for 1pm. Since we took a whole day off, Agusia came up with a brilliant idea – Why not go to the German bakery “Werners Oven” to have breakfast before leaving for Bangkok? So we packed our stuff and took a taxi to the Upper East Coast Road to enjoy the famous Brezel at Werners Oven (They taste good, but no comparison to the Tübinger Brezels from Bäcker Walker )

Unlike our previous flight to Hanoi, we flew from the new Budget Terminal at Changi Airport that recently opened and where TigerAirways is operating. The flight was relaxing and nothing special, everybody was excited to see Bangkok.
As we deboarded we could immediately feel the overwhelming heat! Bangkok is definitely hotter than Singapore. After Aga got her Visa (1000THB for all new EU members), we took a taxi (surprisingly they drive with meter!) and headed for our hotel using the expressway (2 toll stations 20 + 40THB). Our hotel – The Twin Towers Hotel – made a nice and clean impression at the first glance. It was pretty luxurious even though it wasn’t really expensive. In our package the price for a double-room was 1650THB++ (Don’t forget the ++ 1650*1,17=1930,50THB – 40€).

We changed quickly and left the hotel very soon again, curious to explore Bangkok: There were two really memorable things we experienced during our first evening in Thailand’s capital. We had a very very local dinner, some fried noodles prepared on the street! Delicious, simple and very cheap! (15THB-0,30 EUR).
And the second thing I obviously need to mention and highly recommend is the Sirocco Bar (Thanks Thomas for this perfect hint). It offers a truly breathtaking view of Bangkok, from an open terrace on the 64th floor of the State Tower! We had to admit that the Bagkok Scirocco Bar rates much much higher comparing to the famous New Asia Bar at the top of Swiss Hotel in Singapore.

This is a quick overview of what we did in Bangkok that day.
(Our rating: [+++]= must see | [++]= ok-lah | [+]= if you have enough time)

• [+] Rehearsal 60th anniversary of the king on the river
• [+] Chinatown flower market
• [+++] Wat Po – The temple of the reclining Buddah at night
• [++] Fried noodles prepared on the street
• [+++] Sirocco Bar 64th floor of the State Tower
• [+++] PatPong night market – the local “red light district”, nice Thai ladies tempt …and seem to be pretty convincing if you look inside any of the loud bars apart from THIS kind of pleasures, there is a market, a real bargaining paradise selling all possible fakes you can imagine!
  

Day 2 – Saturday:

On Saturday morning we got up early, since we were told to go to the Chatuchuk market in the morning because of the heat. We took the Skytrain from the MBK Center to the last very northern station Mo Chit. From there it was just a couple minutes walk to the Chatuchuk market: we just followed the crowd, as everybody was heading there. The weekend market is supposed to be Thailands largest market and consists of almost 15.000 stalls. It is really crowded and very hot! But most important- very interesting! You can find everything there from jewelry over jeans to dogs and cats. Actually the pets they sell there do not have an easy life – most of the times, the poor poppies are packed into tiny cages, squeezed together, sweating and whining. Amazing, if you compare to it the European attitude to animals, treated like humans almost or even making up for babies in some families… (sad but true). Anyways, you should plan about 2h for the market tour, and if you are a “shop-aholic” 3-4 should be enough
Our plan was to visit the temples after the Chatuchuk market, but after we got more and more into shopping mood we changed our minds and postponed the temple tour to Sunday. Verena and Aga decided, they still need to train bargaining… and in order to do that they needed some more shops to visit So the next stop was the MBK or Mahbunkrong shopping center. You can buy a lot of clothes there ! If I remember right it was on the 4th of the 8 floor high building. We bought some jeans (Diesel) and t-shirts. After another 2 hours of shopping, in order to polish the almost perfect bargaining skills, we headed for the Paragon shopping center at Siam Square. In the basement, we discovered a brand new Aquarium. We didn’t go in (cover charge was 450THB) but it looked pretty impressive on the leaflets we saw.
Back at the hotel after a nice chill out in the hotel swimming pool we decided to continue the shopping marathon an went to the Suan Lom Night Bazaar.

• [+++] The Chatuchak market – only on Saturday and Sunday
• [+++] Mabunkrong MBK shopping center – a must if you want to buy jeans
• [++] The Paragon, Siam Paragon, Aqaurium – nice but ,compared to the markets, expensive shopping center, Aqaurium looked nice
• [+++] Suan Lom Night Bazar – a government financed market with nice local food and a lot of art pieces and handcraft, a heaven for poeple that love to shop for interior decoration, next to the market there is a – oktober fest like- huge open air pub serving German beer (Erdinger & Paulaner) and playing live music.

Day 3 – Sunday:

We started this very exciting day with a boat tour on the small canals of Thonburi, the oldest part of town, even a former capital during the reign of King Taksin. Thonburi is also called “Venice of Asia” because of this small canals. We started our boat tour at a pier near the Grand Palace. It was about 1500 THB for 1,5 hours. This is something you definitely should not miss in Bangkok. Pictures enclosed speak for themselves!
After the boat tour we visited the Grand Palace and Wat Po Temple – the huge temple site. It was all in all very impressive, but the heat was almost impossible to stand! In order to close the Bangkok visit in a perfect way, you should choose the very original Thai massage at the Wat Po Massage School. The atmosphere there was really amazing! And the massage felt really good after 3 days of exhausting sightseeing! The place is not easy to find but you will get a half an hour massage for 220THB and an hour for 330THB. Value for money!!

• [+++] Boat tour on Chao Phraya River and the small canals of Thonburi - Experience it and you will know why they name Bangkok the Venice of Asia
• [++] TucTuc tour – Actually the rating is [+++] but once you got stuck in traffic you would wish to sit in a taxi
• [+++] Grand Palace - mandatory
  
• [+++] Wat Poo - mandatory
  
• [+++] Thai Massage at Wat Po - very relaxing and very unique, almost spiritual experience, do not miss !
• [++] Starbucks – finally the price meets the quality of the coffee, enjoy

Bangkok prejudices:

• Bangkok is a dirty city – Hmm yes and no! The air is polluted due to the heavy traffic and the TucTucs, but there are also very nice and clean areas in Bangkok
• Bangkok taxidrivers want to scam you all the time – Yes they try, but once you understand how to bargain, 80% of them will drive with meter.
• Bangkok is only for sex-tourists – NO, definitely not!
• The Chatuchuk market is HOT and it is HOT there – Yes and Yes indeed! better go there in the early morning
• Bangkok is cheap – Yes, almost everything is cheap there

What else is there to say, actually nothing more except – Thank you all (Joana, Micha, Verena, Aga & Patric) for this great trip to one of the most exciting cities we have visited in Asia so far.
Photos are to follow soon ….

Trip: Indonesia – Weekend On Bintan Island

So finally we can be proud of “beautiful” stamps in our passports that we got from Indonesian immigration officers . Apart from the stamps, there is also a big, one page-size visa that we had to apply for in order to spend a weekend on Bintan – an Indonesian island neigboring directly (1 hour trip by catamaran from Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal) with Singapore.

Unless you stay longer than 7 days, you pay only 10 USD for the Indonesian visa. A longer holiday in this country costs you about 3 times more.

The 2 day stay at Nirwana Gardens Resort belonged to those very relaxing, pleasant weekends when you enjoy doing nothing but swimming in a nice pool, walking up and down the beach and having some delicious food (a huge buffet with meat and sea food variety on Saturday evening and a delicious breakfast on Sunday morning ). It was also one of the 2 weekends when Verena – our friend from Tübingen – Patric’s home town is visitng us. Despite some funny typical clichés , which so many of us bring over from very distant and different Europe, she is getting more and more open to the Asian culture and its citizens and obviously enjoying her stay here in Singapore very very much !

The only chance to get a little more active during our stay – wakeboarding offered by the sport club at the nearby ManaMana Resort – was blown away by the windy and cloudy Sunday weather . Well, since that was something we definitely could not change, we continued enjoying the sweet laziness .

Bintan is very close to paradise … very nice beach, clean transparent water, beautiful hotels … perfect for a relaxing and not too challenging holiday close to Singapore, but … still far away from the real paradise like the Perhentian Island in North-East Malaysia where we spend delightful 3 days at the beginning of our stay in Asia.

More photos will follow soon!